My Mentor (Kurai)

[Anonymous]

The water was warm, the flow strong.  Perch tilted his head up and shut his eyes, raking his fingers through his hair.  He opened them to peer in the mirror.  Did he have to shave yet?  Ran a finger over his jaw, then his upper lip.  Maybe a little.  Maybe later.  He shut his eyes again and turned up the water pressure, twisting under the faucet.

La, la, la.  

He tried not to think of too much of anything.  Particularly not the years of empty time stretched out in front of him. Just focus on the water.  He'd been cold, in that sweaty aftermath of exertion sort of a way.  You'd think they could afford some better fabric for the Candidates' uniforms, his jacket kept scratching at the back of his neck.

Perch stepped out of the shower and wanted to collapse sideways onto the floor.  He didn't, just stooped over the sink for a minute, stretching out a kink in his back.  Possibly magball was asking a little too much, but there weren't that many other ways to kill time.  Anyway, he'd lose his touch, which was no good, Niko would tease him.

But he wasn't going to see Niko again for years and years, maybe ever, so it didn't matter.

Rubbing his hair dry with a towel, he stepped out of the steamy embrace of the bathroom and into his dorm, toeing a pair of underwear off the floor as he did so.  He'd only just gotten them on, and had one leg half in his pants, when someone knocked on the door.  

"Uh--"  Well, his pants were on.  Perch dropped his towel on the bed and picked up his undershirt.  The knock had sounded officious, was there something he was supposed to be doing?   He could read disapproval in the nearby mind but not much else coherent.  "Uh... yes?"

[Anonymous]

There's a Candidate for you.

A loud, deep thrumming in her mind was what had woken her up that morning, and a groggy Fala awoke with heavy lids and a rather unenthusiastic groan. She wasn't a particularly spectacular morning person, and this wasn't exactly a way she wanted to be woken up. Her dream of being in a world where she could beat her mentor's face in was vanishing quickly, and she'd struggled to hold onto it before it faded altogether.

What do you mean? Alik didn't do anything, did he? Fala inquired to her dragon as nicely as possible, keeping all the snarling she wanted to convey out of her mental voice. She didn't like communicating this way, exactly, but it was better than sending him emails. They made his tail tickle, apparently, and he would hit it against the ground until the tingling went away. And then he'd bitch to her about not doing that for a good few minutes before locking her out of the Network for day or two.

Did I say your other Candidate did anything? Jorinth asked smoothly, a touch of impatience spicing up his mental tone.

Other? I don't have another Candidate, stupid. She didn't bother hiding the mental eye-rolling image or the snap in her voice.

She only had Alik. It was all she needed. He was a handful as it was, but just enough to keep her on her toes and, with dedication, he had a chance of getting past Stage 1.

Sad, how she didn't count on his chances of actually becoming a Pilot.

You do now. The reply came simply, candidly, and left Fala staring slack-jawed at her ceiling. Snapping up her visor and putting it over her eyes, her world went that familiar rose color as she hastily did her morning rituals and ran out.

If she had another Candidate, she'd better get to him before they did the rooming. Alik didn't have a roommate anymore, for better or for worse, and if the new kid didn't have a room yet, she'd throw him with her flamboyant little coffee-brewer. Made things easier that way.

Where is he? Who is he? And by god, why another one, Jorinth? If I get two flunkies, I'm fucked. Immediately, she was sent a few files, and given just the basics. Thucydides Perch was his full name, though he loathed being called by it. Not that she cared, at the moment. The green-haired woman was up, irritated, and hadn't had her morning cup of joe. His name could have been Fish-face, for all she was concerned. Finding his room with Jorinth's help, she kicked it sharply... which might have only sounded like a knock from the inside.

"Thucydides, I'm your mentor. Freshen up and get the hell out."

Well, that was a nice way to greet someone in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Uh. What?  A mentor?

A female mentor?  Whoa, maybe she's hot.  That would be... no, that was entirely inappropriate.  Ahem.  Ahem.  Perch yanked on his undershirt, tugging at the hem so it fell properly, and then pulled open the door.  So she sounded a little... angry.  Actually, very angry.  He could feel it thrumming off her in waves, which was surprising, since usually he couldn't get the slightest read on any of the pilots.  Was she testing him or something...?

It didn't seem out of the question, it seemed like something they'd do here.  Cautiously, he tried sending out a soothing, ingratiating sort of a feeling, the way he did with his parents when they were mad at him.  

She'd called him Thucydides, which was, wince, not so great, but that was probably just a test too.  

And holy shit.

Yes.  She was hot.

He had never seen boobs like that on a real person before.  Look up, look up.  It wasn't easy.  He'd never actually felt boobs before, but he could imagine it.  

"Hey, it's nice to meet you, Pilot."  He tried his best relaxed, friendly smile, the one that always worked with the kids at school, and held out a hand.  Keep working the charm.  It was best when he did it in waves, the whole calming, 'you like me, you know you do' deal.  Sometimes it even worked on Niko, who was really spiny.  

Green hair... pink visor-slash-shades.  Classy.  That had to mean something a little nice about her.  Right?  Yeah, she seemed to be warming up just a little.

"Oh, and it's Perch, actually.  Easier to pronounce."  Was she going to introduce herself?  He didn't want to push.

[Anonymous]

Trying to calm herself down outside, Perch's wave of influence actually helped her along with a mental mantra that normally never worked. Oddly, and surprisingly, she felt herself calm down, and didn't question it at all. For once, she thought, she'd actually succeeded! ...Had she known it was the kid that did it, though, Fala would not have reacted nearly as positively to this new development.

When he stood at the door, she looked at where his eyes went, and scowled. Nonono, one did not just stare at the boobs from the get go when business relationships were concerned.

"Hey. Kid. My eyes are up here." Wiggling her fingers at his eye level for a moment, she pointed to her own face, only satisfied when he'd looked up to see her and smiled. At least the kid had enough sense not to keep gawking at her chest after that.

"Ah, Perch, is it? The name's Fala. Pilot Cardinal Fala Mauburin." She softened a bit at his easygoing smile, but still kept herself relatively alert. Well, damn. If this kid was for real, he was a natural Gabriel- hard to hate, but still easy enough to make fun of, when it came down to it. Though she wouldn't tell him that for the world.

Realizing that she'd forgotten something- two things, actually- and she added another note.

Alik still needed a roommate. And if he called her Pilot Cardinal Fala Mauburin more than once, she was sure she'd go utterly insane from the frivolous use of honorifics.

"Drop the title, though. Fala does fine... unless you see another Pilot. Then it's Pilot Mauburin, to you. You got a roommate, kiddo?"

[Anonymous]

At her rebuke, Perch felt his ears turn hot and quickly flicked his eyes up toward hers.  It was hard to read her gaze under the visor, but he definitely felt less antipathetic vibes.  And she hadn't noticed anything.  So maybe she wasn't so much with the telepathy?  Or maybe he was super-hot shit.  No, no, he shouldn't get cocky.  Aw.  Bad image.  The eyes, Perch, the eyes.  He could reconstruct a lavish mental image of the rest of her later, when he was alone.

Unless she was going to spy on him or something.  Or get her dragon to spy on him through the Network.  Could they do that?

Aha, she liked the smile.  Everyone liked the Perch smile.  She was Pilot Cardinal Fala Mauburin.  Pilot Cardinal Fala Malbarin.  No--wait.  Mabarin?  Maburin?  She had one of those names Perch found nearly impossible to recall with any great accuracy.  Mauburn, Mauburin, that was it.  OK.  He was gearing up to try it out when, thankfully, she let him know he could call her Fala.  

Whoa!  It was like the leadup to that movie, the one his dad had tried to say he couldn't watch.  At first.  It was about this guy and his teacher.  There was a lingerie scene.  

Easy Perch.  He wasn't actually in a porno, this was real training, she was probably just being friendly.  It was hard not to interpret the roommate question as kinda, maybe--nah.  Not really.  Rawls would've been all over this, but Perch wasn't stupid.  Anyway, the 'kiddo' kind of... killed it.

"Nope, no roommate."  Dammit.  She was going to make him live with some guy he'd never met?  Unless her other Candidate was a girl.  Still.  Perch had never lived in the same room as anyone.  Suck.  "I kind of like living alone, to be honest."  Another half-smile, a pulse of charm.

[Anonymous]

Fala grinned to herself- it looked like the kid was a blusher, and didn't look like he was prepared to be busted for wandering eyes quite so soon. She didn't know anyone who liked being told that the girl noticed when a man's eyes were deadlocked on her breasts and wouldn't move for the world. She often found it quite annoying when she was trying to make eye contact, and couldn't... unless her chest could spontaneously grow eyes.

Well, there was a creepy thought. Fala shook her head, making sure to file that one away, and never think it again.

He looked like he'd been ready to calm himself down after... what? Arching a brow, she wondered if there was something running through this kid's mind that was decidedly less-than-legal after she'd given him her name. It wasn't as if she'd given him her name, number, and measurements.

"No roommate? Good." She completely ignored the second half of his sentence- it was for Alik's own good as well as his that they didn't live alone- and misinterpreted the wave of charm as a sense of approval from her own psyche. That sense of slightly sadistic satisfaction had taken that little bit of charm and absorbed it, quite literally and accidentally using it against him.

Well, too bad for him.

"I've another Candidate, see. Alik's his name. He's been needing a roommate, and hell, I don't want to walk to two different ends of the ATC just to mentor you guys. Savvy?" Beckoning him out with her finger, she pointed towards where Alik's room was, and really didn't care whether or not Perch had already unpacked his things.

Her face temporarily blanked as she sent a message to Jorinth.

Alik's gonna get a roommate. She sent simply.

As I suspected. An appreciative sentiment was sent back, albeit full of a smug energy that made her scowl mentally at her partner. It figured that her scaly partner had this all figured out from the get go. However, she didn't miss slipping in a comment that had made her want to laugh from the moment she heard what he wanted to be called.

...You got me a kid that wants to be called a fish. You trying to tell me something?

He needed a rough mentor. And I needed a laugh.[/i]

With that, he abruptly cut off the connection.

Fala was left slightly irritated, but still calmed significantly by his earlier psychic treatments. Maybe the kid was going to be therapeutic, if this kept up.

"Be prepped to move in six hours. You're gonna get a new roommate."