On the topic of throwing off, everyone’s train of thought was subject to that when a bright blue haired girl barrelled in. Her gym uniform was explicitly different from the others, shining in the light and being skin-tight. Plus, a gold ring hung from the middle of her nose, and a dozen other golden piercings were scattered across her lips, ears, and eyebrows. When her mouth fell open to pant, the glint of a ring in her tongue could be seen; making it obvious that this girl really enjoyed getting piercings. Kiko wondered if they were anywhere else as well, but gave herself a quick mental slap at that. Queenie was not going to turn her into a deviant.

“I’m sorry I’m late Mistress, I set the alarm for pm, rather than am” She told Queenie, still panting hard. Kiko’s eyes bulged at the title, and looked to Queenie with suspicious eyes. Mistress?! The whole idea that the girl’s voice was cute and light didn’t even find purchase in Kiko’s mind, despite how many piercings were adorning her face and the rather amusing disparity between the two.

“It’s fine, Ceal. Not like this is important or anything” Queenie replied, sarcasm dripping heavy and thick from her tone, before snapping her fingers and pointed to a point next to her. Queenie caught Kiko’s glare as she waited for Ceal to come, but just gave an apologetic smile. Which turned to a grimace when Ceal tripped over her own feet and hit the mat.

“This miscoordinated klutz is my assistant Ceal. She might seem a useless bint right now, but I like her. I am Overseer Queenie; you can call me Overseer if you wish. If any of you decide to be over familiar and call me Queenie, then I will drag you to my bedroom and roughly exhaust you there before forcing you to repeat today’s training” It was a threat that was just like the Demon woman. The sudden explicit threat had shocked the recruits, and there were a few flushed red faces, which allowed Kiko to hide her own pretty well in the crowd.

“For the people joining us for the first time, Welcome to SIR. Some of you have been physically active before you joined, but now you are here and you will learn how I say. I do not care about what you know or how long you have known it, and if you dislike that then I invite you to come up to the stage and show exactly what you know with dear Ceal here” Queenie finished. A ripple of giggles ran through the recruits. Ceal looked to be the kind of person to swing a punch and hit herself. And you just had to tug on one of her nose rings and she was on the floor. This thought clearly ran through the mind of a rather large man, who stepped up with a laugh.

“Hey Tiny” he said, looming ominously.

“H-hello, sir…” Ceal replied, a gentle stammer to her voice. This whole situation was so obviously a trap, but the guy was in his own little world, or had such an ego he couldn’t back down even from a trap.

Queenie nodded at the man, and gave an order for everyone to clear some space, clearing the mat for Ceal and the man.

“Alright. Three-minute round. First to surrender loses. And, let’s make it more interesting~ If you lose, then you will be punished by making you have to follow everything she says for a day. Of course if you win then she will have to do everything you say” Queenie explained. A lewd grin stretched across the big man’s face, as he towered over the girl. It was going to be over in seconds, and then the cute girl was going to be forced into indentured servitude for the day, all because of Queenie’s boasting. Kiko had half a mind to step in and stop this, but that would be troublesome on her first day... “Ok. Take stances” Queenie ordered. The big man took a solid position, showing skill as well as size and strength. Ceal just looked on, as awkward and shy as the moment she had entered. “And, begin!”

The big man wasted no time and rushed in, quick for his size, and agile as well. An unrestrained fist flew towards Ceal’s face and the girl looked liable to have her face disintegrate when that connected, but it never did. The earlier prediction that the fight would be over in seconds was correct, but nobody had guessed to whom it would go. Leaning almost casually out of the way of the punch, Ceal grabbed the wrist, stepped in and kicked his leg while dragging him down with impressive bodily control and incredible kinetic sense. In that few seconds Ceal had the man on the ground, standing over him with his arm in a clutch just shy of dislocating it and a foot on his shoulder. A simple twitch and he would have an arm popped from its shoulder. The loud thud of him hitting the mat shocked several people, one of them even letting out a cute yelp of surprise. The man struggled, trying to use his formidable strength to force his way out of the hold, but it was perfect, and kept him latched to the ground as if he was stuck in a tar pit.

“I suggest you surrender, big guy. Ceal’s got a rather disturbing fetish, she likes to hear people’s bones snap, and you are in prime position to indulge her” Queenie put in. Ceal’s focused face turned a deep red and she looked to Queenie frantically.

“Mistress! I don’t do that anymore!” She exclaimed, keeping the big guy in the hold as if all his squirming and writhing didn’t matter in the slightest. ‘anymore’ implying that she did it at one point, was all that the man needed to tap rapidly on the mat, surrendering to this waif of a girl.

“Well, that’s game. And a good first lesson. The creatures you are going to be up against can’t always judge what they can do from first glance. You’ve got to be on guard and never underestimate your opponent, or you will probably be eaten” She told the group. Ceal had let her opponent go the moment he had tapped, but he stayed on the ground, wallowing in self-pity.

“Don’t feel too bad. Ceal here, is a Slyph. They get a magical compulsion to focus their mind to a single task, and while focusing they learn and grow at a startling rate. Only mastery will allow them to move on to something else. Ceal’s mind focused on Combat, which she mastered a few years ago. She has about a hundred years of combat experience, so you stood no chance against her. It was a rigged fight from the start, I just wanted to demonstrate that you shouldn’t judge a klutz by her stumble” Queenie continued, ruffling the girl’s blue hair and smiling down at her. Ceal had such a look of contentment on her face from the petting, Kiko thought she might blow a gasket right here in front of everyone. But she kept it together, even when Queenie whispered in her ear. No doubt lewd and horrifying to hear, from the way Ceal turned into the same colouration as a tomato.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Right, now we are done showing off, listen up” Queenie exclaimed, looking to everyone and then back to Ceal. “Form up into pairs, and we will begin unarmed sparring. I want a good five-minute match so I can see where you need help and what you excel in” she then started pointing out pairs, leaving Kiko out as there was an odd number. Then paring Kiko with Ceal, like Queenie had planned it or something. The blue haired Slyph came forward and Kiko had a much greater appreciation for her abilities, which led the five-minute match to be one filled with a deeper air of caution than she would have ever given the girl before. Ceal managed to restrain herself and match Kiko, making it a hard-pushed workout rather than an ego-destroying match that she had had with the man. Kiko even managed to get a conversation out of the girl while they fought.

“So, Mistress huh?” Kiko started. Ceal blushed deeply and faltered for a moment, but the young Kitsune didn’t take advantage of that and let her recover. It took a whole minute of mock fighting before Ceal even spoke, however.

“She sort of owns me. It’s our culture to give ourselves to one that can best us in our chosen art. Although I was a fool to accept a challenge from the Ever-Burning Lady. So I honour our culture, and my ancestors” Ceal then finished her explanation with a rapid movement that launched Kiko over her flip and saw her deposited none-to-gently on the floor.

“Ow…” Kiko muttered, getting up as Ceal looked worried.

“Was that too much?” She asked, an intense look of concern plastered over her face. Kiko gave her a disarming smile and got back up, brushing herself off.

“No, no. It was fine. So, what all this about Ever-Burning Lady? I have never heard that term before, definitely not referring to Queenie” Kiko’s curiosity pushed her to ask what this title meant. It was clearly related to her Demonic heritage, as they could use fire, but what it meant…she was unsure. And it seemed Ceal was not in the mood to share that little tit-bit.

Mumbling something about not being hers to tell, Ceal pushed the next two minutes so that Kiko couldn’t focus on anything other than the fight. And so she did just that, getting her ass thoroughly, but educationally, kicked by the piercing-covered Slyph. When Queenie finally called an end to the match, Kiko caught her breath in the break, and made a plan to get information from the girl. A teasing whisper entered her head as she thought on the plan. Wait till she as naked, and then take advantage of the rings most probably located elsewhere around the cute girl’s body. The thought snapped Kiko out of the planning session, and she shook her head, denying that she would ever do something like that. Where did that come from? And from who? Fortunately, Queenie gathered the recruits and got them in a line, and began to speak, which gave Kiko something to focus on.

“You'll rarely be in a position to punch your enemy, but most of this will be refine your physique and keep your reflexes sharp. That is not to say that close quarters is useless, however. Guns are good, but knives don’t jam or run out of ammo, and give you more satisfaction that whatever it is you are swinging at is dead when you stick it through its skull. Specialized close quarter weapons shall be available on request, but a silver knife and an iron knife are standard issue to all SIR agents. Knowing how to use this seemingly small bit of kit may save your life in the field. They may lack the reach of a sword and the punch of a gun, but they are easy to pull out, quick to use, and can slip through gaps better than most” She explained, before smiling. “But that is for later. Right now, we are going to make use of the expansive building to get some cardio done. Being able to outrun a Hell Hound is literally a matter of life and death” Queenie didn’t sugar coat anything, it seemed, and got everyone lined up on the track, before getting them running.

She set a harsh pace, anyone who fell behind would get eaten, she said. What being eaten entailed, was unclear, but by the eight-hundred-meter mark, most were falling behind.

“You’ve got hooves, it’s totally unfair” Kiko exclaimed breathlessly as she ran. The rest of the group joined in, voicing exhausted disdain of Queenie’s extended run because she had the legs to do it whereas the lesser Quasi-humans, and the humans, did not. So Queenie stopped and grinned broadly.

“It was only a Kilometre, but fine. Reme wasn’t razed in a day” She'd stop the running and drop her form, then pointed over to a door in the distance. “That way are showers, no peaking on the other person, or I will set fire to your genitals. You are encouraged to pick up some extra activities related to the division you wish to join, or to solidify an idea if you don’t know. I head the Assault Teams, generally found here or at my quarters, of which you are welcome to come by any time and try to broker some preferential treatment. Assault Teams are close quarters and physically demanding, so don't step up simply for pride.

Elis is the head of the Intelligence division, mostly found by following the smell of nerd and takeout food to the Computer labs. Though don't expect to see the sun or other people if you pick her up, they tend to be very insular and idiosyncratic.

Bruyn is the head of the Rifles, located in the firing range. She's got strict aspirations for capabilities and violently hates misuse of firearms, so only go there if you are passionate about firearms.

Lasadora is in command of the Infiltration Operation Squads. You don’t find Lasadora, she will find you if she thinks you will fit in with her squads. If you want to try attract her attention, she focuses on espionage, undercover operations and stealth.

If all of these sound too stressful for you, then Rem is the Captain of the Standardized Foot Teams. Nothing particularly notable or glorious about these, but you've also got no real stress that comes with the specialist squads”

Queenie didn’t seem worried at all that she made Lasadora sound like some psychopathic nutjob, or that she had casually advocated for sexual favours, and just made sure everyone had heard her before heading off, letting people mill off to the showers.

Kiko, for her part, scratched her head intensely and tried to get the idea of tormenting Ceal out of her head. Still, from the looks of it it seemed a few others were still glancing in the direction of the woman, even after she had demolished that guy.

Deciding to trust once again in the power of the shower, Kiko would head that way. Getting her clothes off and into the shower, she rolled into the stall next to Ceal, and saw that she did indeed, have shiny golden ring in many, many places of her body.

“So...what’s with the whole…” Kiko trailed off, looking at the Sylph’s body.

“Decoration. I guess it looks good or something” Ceal replied, in a teasing, bratty tone.

“You...make my head spin” Kiko was about to say something else, but shook it off and just excused herself.

“Mmm, that is an effect I have. It affects them much worse than you, so don’t worry about that” Ceal replied. That was, an interesting way to end the conversation, but end it, it did. And so Kiko just cleaned herself up, got dressed, and headed back to the dorm for her schedule and map. She killed half an hour taking a quick nap to recover from the run. And then had another half an hour before her next session. So she would spend that, wandering around getting her bearings. Eventually, she got up to a mirrored door and saw herself in it. She was smart, in the SIR uniform, tail swishing behind her...it hadn’t been a week and she barely recognized herself...