Dauntless Initate ||Eric Coulter||

|XIV|

Max climbed up onto a table and he held out his hands for silence, mostly getting it in the process.

Tempest stands between Eric and Mia, the former Amity transfer and they all looked nervous, except for a bored-looking Eric, which unnerved Tempest and the others a little bit.

But apparently he sensed that in the room, since his expression became a bit less bored, and more excited.

Tempest turned to Max, who was whistling in an attempt to get all of the Dauntless members to calm down for a minute or three.

"Only a scarce few weeks ago, a group of scrawny, scared initiates gave their blood to the coals and made the big jump into Dauntless,"

Max says and he looked around at their crowded dining hall, as Tempest was shuddering a little bit for sure, as the environment was getting a little more tense. "To be honest, I didn't really think that any of them would make it through the first day-- but I was proven very wrong indeed. But I am more pleased to announce that this year, all of our initiates in their groups attained the required scores necessary to become Dauntless!" He called and everybody cheered, and at the same time most of the initates had nervous expressions on their faces.

"Well, no more delays. I know that our initiates are probably jumping out of their skins. So, here are our twelve new Dauntless members!"

The screen lit up with the names and the pictures of the initiates, and Four's eyes lit up.

Tempest laughed in shock at the rankings, as she saw that she took the top spot and Four was just below her now, in second.

Eric was in third and when she dropped down, she saw that Shauna was in eighth and Zeke was in 6th.

She smiled and congratulations were flying at her from every direction and she saw that Mia, was on her one side, and every one of the initiates were all trying to get to her.

Tempest was surrounded by the initiates, who were all shouting at each other and at her, in a quite grand attempt to be heard.

Tempest got away from the chaos as quickly as she could. As she got out of the dining hall and sat alone in a dark hallway, she was still well able to hear the sound of celebration from the hall and she leaned her head back against the wall.

She inhaled a deep breath and held it for as long as she could, until she was unable to hold it anymore she exhaled and did it again.

She looked at the bottle of orange juice that she had managed to grab in the chaos, and she sighed quietly at the orange color, that looked a murky green in the dim blue light of the hall, that she sat in.

"Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor." She murmured the results of her aptitude test, being very careful to not say it out loud again. She sighed at her own words and opened the bottle.

"Carefully, I have a feeling that there is alcohol in everythin' here." Tempest chuckled at Eric's usual appearance as she looked at the orange juice.

"Today, I'm not concerned. I don't really have a habit of falling into the chasm on a regular, so I'll be okay. I'm hoping." She said and drank the juice back quickly. "Congrats on third, by the way. Top three have chances of being leaders, according to a couple of the Dauntless born ini-- well members now, I guess." She said, as she finished the juice quickly.

"So I have heard from others all around here. Congratulations, since you got first." Eric pointed out and he dropped onto the ground opposite to her. "I told you that you would be fine." He added and Tempest rolled her eyes a bit.

"I absolutely knew that, that was coming at some point." She said and he shrugged his shoulders at her, and the cheering got louder. "I'm going to be glad that I'm smaller than my twin in five, four, three--" She counts down and the Dauntless came rushin' out of the dining hall, as she leaned against the wall to avoid getting stepped on.

Eric however, he had to jump up to stand flat against the wall to avoid the sad reality, of being quickly trampled by a huge wave of adults.

Tempest smirked a little, at the sight of the usually fearless Eric, now stuck against the opposite wall, looking a lot more terrified about it, then she ever would have expected.

The crowd finally passed them and he'd sink back to the ground and she chuckles at him. "You can fight dozens of people, you can shoot guns, throw a lot of knives, beat your own fears, and yet, you are scared of a crowd?" She'd ask and chuckled, as he looked over at her.

"Irony at its absolute finest." He muttered and she chuckled, as she looked at a flask that someone had just dropped in the commotion.

He narrowed his eyes at it and both sets of eyes flick between each other and the flask, as Tempest's smirk was clear, even in the darkness.

They both dove for the flask and it exchanged hands quickly, almost too fast to be seen and Tempest finally got ahold of it. She held it in her hand and Eric raised his hands up in defeat. "All right, I'll give it to you. You won." He'd say and she raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you won again." He said and she grins and handed the flask over to him.

"Your reward for swallowing your pride for once. Again." She said with a grin, and he unscrewed the lid, as he winced at the taste.

"Real funny. Catch." He muttered and he tossed the flask over to her and she caught it. Tempest takes an single look at it and she took a swig and winces at both the taste, and burn of it. "Right, I forgot about the clear lack of alcohol in your old faction." Eric stated as she handed it back to him.

"Tastes like medicine. Yuck." She said and shakes her head quickly now and she leans back against the wall, and a quiet chuckle came from her. "Once a stiff, always a stiff." She murmured as he looked over at her, over the flask.

"Not really Tempest," She raised her eyebrows at his words, as she moved her head back down, so, that she was actually looking him in the eyes. "That I just mean, you got first in Dauntless initiation. You can fight. Maybe you've got a problem with mirrors in your space, still, but so what? You are not the same quiet stiff, that I insulted on the rooftop up there." He said and he held out the flask to her.

Tempest shakes her head at the flask and he took it back, as she sighed a bit at his words. "Yeah, maybe... Maybe, I did grow a little bit. But my fight with you, I got way, way too lucky on many of those." She insisted and Eric put the flask to the side with a raised eyebrow at her words.

"You want to test that theory?" He asked and she grinned at his words and they both stood up, before they walked to the training room quickly.