Greetings, might I be in the presence of a psychic? (mdu)

[Anonymous]

The ATC had an unusual aura about it tonight. Few would notice it but Alei did. It was an aura of discovery and mystery, similar to that which an explorer would feel when entering a long forgotten tomb for the first time in thousands of years. Strange that such a modern building with all its white and silver and metal and plastic could feel so ancient and full of potential wonder.

     Alei rarely slept so would often spend the nights wandering the ATC, mapping it out in his mind and familiarising himself with its atmosphere. Knowing your surroundings helped you better cope with unforeseen events that might occur. And the pilots had their share of unforeseen events.

     Every year, with the new candidates that arrived and those that graduated, the ATC’s aura changed and Alei had to acclimatise to the aura once again. Tonight however he was simply following his instinct that something would be discovered there.

     As he wandered along the corridors carefully mapping every molecule of their structure the strange sensation kept getting stronger until he eventually found himself stood outside the bathrooms opposite the main entrance to the ATC. Inside he could hear scrubbing and running water. Not all that odd, this time of night was when the cleaners made their appearance. But what was odd was the faint psychic energy coming from inside. Perhaps it was a candidate being disciplined. It was not unheard of for pilot mentors to force their candidates to run round after the janitors all night.

     Curious, he pushed the door open and was a surprised to be met with only an empty bathroom apart from a single janitor. And the psychic energy he had noticed was coming from her, even though it was quite faint. She had to be using a block, quite advanced for an untrained psychic, assuming she was one.

     “Greetings, might I be in the presence of a psychic?”

[Anonymous]

Calico Smith thought she heard footsteps coming towards the male toilets. She didn't realise that what she was in fact hearing was a hunch based on psychic abilities. She didn't even look up as the "footsteps" came closer. She just assumed that it was someone off to go wherever Pilots went at night. It wasn't unheard of for them to go wandering, tormenting candidates and what not.

Calico continued mopping, brushing a strand of red hair from her face and tucking it behind a slightly-pointed ear with a bunch of brown ones. She didn't even look up when the door opened. She was invisible. She was a cleaner; somebody that nobody noticed until they needed something cleaned. She looked around the room, thinking there must be someone else in there, other than her and the pilot even though she had a hunch that it was in fact her that he was talking to.

Finally she looked up at him, up up at him. He wasn't a high ranking pilot but his height made up for it. It made her nervous as she stood there, in her messy cleaner's uniform with mop in hand. She saluted him and tried to brush herself down a bit, hoping her dirty uniform didn't offend him. Pilots were scary when they got angry and she really couldn't afford to lose her job. It was the only thing keeping her off the streets and out of the brothels of lower Haviah.

'I'm sorry Sir. I aint a psychic; perhaps there was someone here 'fore me that left somethin,' she said. Even as she said this she felt that it sounded wrong but she still knew she couldn't be a psychic: she couldn't read people's minds for starters.

[Anonymous]

Alei was amused when the girl looked around the room as if to say someone couldn’t possibly be talking to her. It was rather sweet and not surprising considering the janitors were mostly ignored. The only reason he had noticed her was because of the faint psychic aura she exuded.

     When she realised that he was talking to her, she looked up him and seemed a little scared, most likely because he was a pilot. Alei was not a very high-ranking pilot however and did not have the most menacing glare that he had believed pilots had before he became a candidate. No his eyes tended to have permanently glazed look, like he was always away in his own little world.

     He wasn’t fazed by her denying she was a psychic. It was possible that she didn’t know or she didn’t want to be a pilot, which wasn’t unusual. Which was a little strange was why nobody had noticed before. The pilots could be rather wrapped up in their own lives but they would normally notice potential psychics.

     “No, I am quite sure I am in the presence of another psychic. There is an energy in this room that is not mine and isn’t coming from the room itself. It is focused around a person, that person being you.”

[Anonymous]

Calico resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. The pilot in front of her seemed to be looking through or behind her. A closer description would be that of someone daydreaming.  Perhaps he was daydreaming now, instead of talking to her. Again the explanation didn't feel right. It was just silly (or at least that was her excuse for thinking the explanation was wrong). He was definitely talking to her.

The man in front of her seemed very strange, but not just in the way he spoke and his purple hair. There was something about him that made the saying "off with the fairies" pop into her mind. It was something her mother used to accuse people of when they slacked off but this guy fit the description much more easily.

How to answer the pilot though? She couldn't lie to him and say yes, she was. That would be lying to a pilot and she could get into a lot of trouble for it. On the other if she said no he might see it as being objectionable. After a pause she answered, 'Sir. If I were a pilot I'd be able to read people's minds and move things with m' mind. I can't do any of the like.'

[Anonymous]

[OOC Short and sucky >.<]

The girl seemed to be hiding something or at least holding back. Because of this Alei kept constantly brushing across her mind to see what she was thinking. And he had been right about her block, not a particularly advanced one, a pilot could easily pass through it but a low level candidate would have a harder time with it. It seemed the girl didn’t know she was psychic though but also was not quite sure that she wasn’t either. The block was probably an unconscious thing she didn’t even realise she was doing.

     “I didn’t say pilot, I said psychic,” Alei said cheerfully, “If you were a pilot you would not be in here cleaning. And if you can’t read minds or use telekinesis that does not mean you aren’t a psychic either. Many just hear voices to begin with and some have no sign at all…”

     The girl ‘Calico’, seemed to fit the latter, unless she had been hearing voices, she had no idea. Those who did hear voices usually thought they were just going mad.

[Anonymous]

OOC: more like short and sweet. It had enough for me to reply to so it's all good.

There was a worm in her head. At least it felt like there was a worm in her head. Calico tried to push the wormy-feeling aside, which seemed to work a little. She felt silly standing there in front of a Pilot worrying about worms in her brain and looked up. He was still right in front of her. She stepped back from the pilot and bit her lip nervously. She was sure he wasn't trying to be imposing but him standing there smiling at her while something wiggled in her head still had the same effect: it frightened her. His voice was so cheerful and friendly that she wondered why she was so uncomfortable around all pilots.

She'd never really had much to do with them before the short time she'd been working here but she had been uncomfortable at the thought of them ever since she could remember. To her it was a natural instinct to feel uncomfortable around them. What she didn't know though was that this was another way she was unconsciously protecting herself. Fearing pilots meant that she was less likely to go near them, thus drawing her attention. In her normal environment, she was less likely to be found out because she did not draw Pilots' attentions to herself. The mind of a psychic is a wonderful thing.

She averted her eyes from his and looked at her mop; mops weren't imposing like friendly Pilots were. She could still feel the "worm" and "realised" he was probably playing around in her head. She had tried to push it away! The pilot would not like that she had tried to do that and she nervously gripped tighter on the mop, not that she was going to use it on him or anything. It just made her feel safer.

'I'm sorry, Sir,' Calico said, blushing bright red.

[Anonymous]

Alei found it both interesting and amusing that Calico compared his psychic link into her mind to a worm. When he channelled it he always pictured it is as smoke, a weightless substance that gently entered without the recipient noticing. What she was probably feeling was her block resisting him.

    Calico seemed confused as to why she was uncomfortable around pilots but most candidates were when they first arrived, it was mostly due to rumours that circulated about them, some of these were true and some weren’t. Alei liked to think they weren’t true in his case. Not that he was claiming to be an angel but he felt some of the violent acts the pilots performed were rather pointless. Particularly those performed by a certain pilot who ironically looked like an angel.

    There was also an alternate reason why Calico distanced herself from them; it was possible her powers were unconsciously making her stay away from them as much as possible. Tonight she had simply been…unlucky that he had actually sensed her and sought her out.

     “I am not ‘playing around in your head’,” Alei chuckled at her thought, “I was simply searching your mind for the things your mouth is too nervous to say. And I can tell you have a block around your mind restricting your powers. If you wish I could release it for you.”

     It was probably in her best interest to let him do it; he would be a lot gentler with it than some of the other pilots. But he wasn’t going to tell her this and influence her decision, he’d let her make the decision of her own free will.

[Anonymous]

Before she had started working as a cleaner, Calico had heard rumours about how mentors traumatised, sexually abused, mentally assaulted and twisted the limbs of their candidates; everyone had. To her they seemed silly, why would anyone want to destroy those that served them, that would one day become one of them? Even before she knew what really went on, Calico had been scared of pilots.

Calico didn't know anything about psychics so what Alei said still sounded a lot like playing inside her head. Now that he'd admitted he was in there she wondered what else he could do without her noticing. Well, she had noticed this time but she didn't know how long he'd been in there beforehand.

If she was a psychic, a fully trained pilot would know better than her. It couldn't be that bad, being a psychic. She just couldn't do any of the things she'd heard they were able to. Sure, she was good at navigating, guessing and had the occasional hunch come true but being a psychic was more than that.

She didn't even know why she was scared of pilots; they didn't look all that scary, they always behaved courteous and they were there to protect the city. This was the first time she'd actually spoken with a pilot and he seemed nice.

Instead of answering his question or asking anything that was on her mind what came out was, 'I'm not going to be able to see my family again, am I?'

[Anonymous]

Alei could see some of the images of things Calico believed the pilots did. And unfortunately all of these things did happen but usually when the candidates really deserved it or when they needed to be taught a lesson. Such things were necessary with the more rebellious candidates and sometimes with not so rebellious. It was all about teaching and preparing the candidates for the life of a pilot. However Alei preferred a less violent approach which probably explained why he was yet to become a mentor. He felt the responsibility to great to be given to him any way.

     Calico question struck Alei as rather strange. What made her say that? Was it because of the torture, she linked it to being deprived of her family as well? That was certainly not the case.

     “Of course you will,” Alei replied, “Most of the candidates and pilots still keep in contact with their family, that’s what letters, emails and phones are for.”

     Unlike many of the other pilots he didn’t keep in contact with his family. Mainly because he didn’t have one anymore.

[Anonymous]

Having someone inside her her, knowing someone was inside her head was making Calico very uncomfortable. He could be looking at anything, doing anything in there and she wouldn't be able to to tell. If it hadn't been for the worm she'd never have noticed he was doing it. In fact, she had no idea how long he'd been in there for.

Calico shook her head. She had thought that candidates weren't allowed to leave since she'd heard one complaining they couldn't go clothes shopping. Calico had wondered if she could buy and sell clothes to them but had been too frightened of the pilots (and the candidates) to do so.

She realised that he had probably seen that thought and blushed. 'It was just an idea,' she muttered. She was looking down at the bucket now. The bucket was safe. It didn't really matter where she looked though, he was still in her mind and there was still the worm.

She was in front of a Pilot and apparently she was a psychic too. This was one bind she would not be able to get out of. At least if this is real I won't have to work on the streets. Maybe Mum could take up this position instead.

[Anonymous]

“I’ve ‘been in there’ since you started staring at the cleaning supplies,” Alei replied brightly to Calico’s thought.

     The mind link seemed to be distressing Calico so Alei lessened it slightly, he could still get the gist of what she was thinking but she shouldn’t be able to notice it, at least not without proper training anyway.

     “The Candidates have to be authorised to have visitors and to go visit their families but it isn’t completely prohibited.”

     Alei pitied those who believed being a pilot was the worst thing in the world, it certainly wasn’t, there were far worse fates and for the candidates who came from the lower level or had even worse lives than that, becoming a candidate was an improvement on their existence.

     He then caught her thought about whether or not it was real and helpfully pinched her arm, though he wasn’t sure where that idea about pinching yourself to discover if you were dreaming or not came from. Surely dream pain would seem real in a dream?

[Anonymous]

Calico lifted her head and blushed. She kept telling herself that the man in front of her wasn't that scary. If you got over the fact that he was a pilot and looked like he'd be better sitting cross-legged in the middle of a pixie ring, he looked friendly. In fact, she did picture him in the pixie-ring with a daisy chain in his lavender hair.

The worm in her mind disappeared and Calico relaxed. 'Thank you Sir,' she said, offering a small smile. She looked down at the bucket quickly, she'd shown her share of bravery in the face of a Pilot.

'Eep!' The mop swung round and hit the pilot in the leg as Calico jumped out of her skin. Well, perhaps not literally. She'd seen it happen and the guy had only found it funny on hindsight, when he'd managed to explain how his shapeshifting worked and how he was not a mage. It was just the way his body worked.

The Pilot had pinched her and she had hit him. That could not be good. Calico went through several motions in an instant: confusion, realisation, shock, fear and finally, she bolted. The bucket and mop clattered to the floor and she ran, ran as fast and far as she could from the Pilot without a second thought to how stupid it would look. When she did finally stop she wasn't entirely sure where she was. She hadn't been in this part of the ATC before and she had mainly come to this doorway based on instinct and the need to run.

She sank to the floor, leant her head against the door frame and pulled off her hair tie so that her multicoloured hair hung about her shoulders. She wondered if she should make her way back, the Pilot would be furious with her even if he was really nice. Unfortunately, she was still only new here and had no idea where she might be. It wasn't near any place she'd ever been stationed. Maybe she could ask someone where she was.