Candidates' Day Off (open!)

[Anonymous]

Perch woke up with his stomach a lump of leaden dread.  Then he realized: it was his day off.  Oh, well, then.  More sleep.  Ahh.

He couldn't sleep, though.  Oh, yeah: he was hungry.  He was going to eat so much food today.  Waffles, did they have waffles?  He chanced a look at the clock and recalled that he hadn't set his alarm last night.  He'd missed breakfast-time.  Oh well... they'd have something in the Candidates' rec room kitchen, protein bars or something.  Milk.  

First to get dressed.  It was no small thing that it was the first day he could wear real clothes.  In the Real World, as he'd already begun to think about it, he liked to dress meticulously, in a sort of modified version of his magball uniform: solid colors, very fitted, stripes on the side.  He was getting some serious biceps, or at least, y'know, something there against the bone, and paused to flex in front of the mirror and make a face.  

"Rargh."  

He looked good.  He was going to grow what, six more inches?  He'd make six feet, for sure, his dad was just about there, and he had big feet.  And he didn't have to shave yet or anything, so he still had a few years.  Hm.  What color to wear?  Aqua-blue.  He pulled on the t-shirt and smoothed it over his body, twisting sideways to get the full effect.  He was on the younger side of the Candidates he'd seen, maybe just a year or two younger, even than a lot of the Stage 1s.  There were some pretty girls, but they were all older.  Val was older, but just a month or two, and she was one of the guys.  Here, he wasn't even one of the guys.  Yet.  He would be.  People tended to like him.

Still, he grabbed his pod player and earphones, just in case he didn't... like anyone.  It was weird, being around other psychics.  He felt like his will was kind of repelled, or something, or there was something a little scary about it.  Or whatever.

He tucked his pod player into his belt and put in his headphones, then turned on some music, the latest from the Indigenous Fairies.  Far out that Vaughan was here.  It made it seem more bearable that he was here too.

Or it made it suck more, but it didn't really matter.  

He made his way into the rec room and immediately headed for the kitchenette, rummaging in the cabinets for a protein bar.  Or two.  Or three.  He stuffed two in his pockets for later, and unwrapped one, which he stuck in his mouth while he opened the fridge and pulled out the milk.  Definitely milk, not juice, he was on a muscle-building campaign here.  

They had colored glasses.  It was almost like home.

Except it wasn't.

He carried his glass of milk over to the rec room and sprawled out on a couch, blissed out on food and rest.  He only took out his headphones and opened one eye when he caught the touch of a nearby mind.  "Hey."  He stood up and stretched, then wandered over to the kid sitting on another couch nearby.  "What's up?"  He stuck his fingers in his belt-loops and lounged, hoping he looked older than he was.  "I'm Perch."



[[NOTE:  this is pre-lockdown!  So go wild]]

[Anonymous]

It was snowing in Vyomini’s room. She was a mage so being around something she could easily control soothed a bit…and she was an ice and water mage. Obviously she’d pay for it later when everything was wet but the only person who’d mind would be Demya and she hadn’t been seen in ages. The harpy would be gone when Vyomini woke up and didn’t come back until after Vyomini was asleep. There were telling signs that she hadn’t been TRIMed yet though. For one the grace period wasn’t over, also fresh feathers often appeared on the floor and Demya’s name hadn’t been removed from the plaque next to the door. As annoying as the harpy could be, she was one of her Vyomini’s few friends in the ATC and she missed her.

     Whenever Dyerlich sent for them she would see Devi and Phenyo but after Dyerlich left, they had been assigned new mentors. Vyomini however had not. She was worried no-one wanted her. And who could blame them, though she had a pretty good grasp of her psychic abilities she struggled in both the physical training and the academic things. Which was why she was sat on her bed, amongst the snow, reading one of the textbooks for the eighth time, willing herself to gain as much knowledge from it as possible. And aside from practicing her hydrokinesis and cryokinesis all she had been doing when she didn’t have classes was reading.

     Sighing and looking up from her book she glanced at the time. It was still pretty early and today was the candidates’ day off. Maybe she’d take a break. Not she minded studying all that much, it was a much better way to spend her time than she had been doing only a few months ago. It was less painful for one thing.

     From a nearby chair she grabbed a pink hooded sweatshirt. It had the added feature of a pair of rabbit like ears sticking out from the hood. Dyerlich had bought it for her the day they went to the mall in Haviah, Devi had chosen it however. Still Vyomini liked it despite its overbearing cuteness.

     After tucking a couple of textbooks underneath her arm she headed off to the candidates rec. Maybe a break could just be reading in another area. There would most likely be other candidates in there but she wasn’t very good at talking to people. Watching them could be entertaining though, some of the candidates she had seen so far were certainly…interesting.

     She was surprised when she reached the candidates rec however, to find no one was there at all. They were probably sleeping in or ‘hanging out’ at other parts of the complex, she knew for a fact very little studying went on during the free days. The other candidates were probably tired of studying from when they were at school previously. Vyomini on other hand, before recently hadn’t been in a classroom since she was nine.

     Sitting down on one of the couches she glanced around the room in case there were some candidates but they were just standing out of view. But she couldn’t sense anyone else in the room. Still it would be rude to make it snow in there.

     Opening her text book she flicked to where her bookmark was, which was only really a dried leaf that Demya had given her, but it served its purpose.

     She only managed to read the first paragraph when the door opened. It was a boy who was obviously a candidate as well. His rough age was difficult to determine but he clear wasn’t old enough to be a pilot. That and the fact Vyomini could tell just from the presence of his mind that it wasn’t as well honed as a pilot’s. He didn’t seem to notice her there since he was distracted by his music player. He just walked straight past her and headed to the kitchenette. Not that she had expected him to make any acknowledgement of her presence, few ever did. Demya tended to over acknowledge it, causing everyone in the vicinity to stare and Vyomini hated being stared at by lots of people.

The boy sat down away from her but a moment later he stood up, stretched and walked over to her.

     “What's up?” he said, “I'm Perch.”

     Vyomini froze for a moment, a little surprised but then managed to say, “Um, nothing’s up…” then realised rudely she hadn’t introduced herself, “I’m…Vyomini…nice to meet you…”

[Anonymous]

Day's off. They were so very lovely. Devi grinned happily as she stared at her closet, standing around in her underwear. Her roomie was still fast asleep and she was doing her best to not wake the Gorgon, she deserved to get to sleep in a bit. But Devi wanted to enjoy her free time, and she loved getting to wear real clothes.

Though she had no idea what had possessed her mother to pack mostly her old clothes, from back in the days she had been a little hooligan. Shaking her head, the pink haired candidate sorted through the clothes, making a mental note to see if her mother would ship her some real clothes.

She finally settled for a skintight sleeveless mini dress, an off the shoulder sweater, a pair of leggings and some boots. Humming softly to herself, Devi started on her hair and makeup. Nothing too fancy as she was just bumming it around today, though it was a pain trying to camouflage her damn scar and nothing ever really worked. Though when she became a Pilot she would actually be making enough money she could get it fixed.

Heading out the door, Devi started to wonder absently. She didn't really have any sort of plan. She should probably try and catch up on some of her classwork, but that seemed like such a dreary way to waste her day off. And really, Devi was finding it mildly distressing that she had yet to really get to know many of the other candidates. She had hung out with Chica a bit, and Vyo and Phenyo when Dyerlich had been mentoring them. But that was kind of it.

Devi was a social creature. She needed interactions to keep her sane. And she found herself heading in the direction of the rec room. That seemed like a good place to chill out and maybe run into some other people. As she got closer she could sense the icy cold tingle she had associated with Vyo and she perked up a bit. The tiny girl was so adorably sweet and Devi wasn't ashamed of the fact she got to use her like an oversized dress up doll.

Striding into the room, Devi quickly located Vyo shyly talking to.....either some new boy or just one Devi hadn't met yet. But she gave a wave and headed over, "Vyo darling! Haven't seen you in ages." Devi reached down and hugged the girl, nuzzling her face against her soft white hair, "You look so cute in that hoodie."

She really needed to drag Vyo to her room sometime and see what clothes she had that the tiny girl might be able to fit into. She gave the new boy a bright smile ad held out her hand, one arm still cuddling Vyomini, "Hi there. I'm Devi, a friend of Vyo's."

[Anonymous]

Alik sat up abruptly from his rather flamboyant bed as Perch left. He had been between sleep and waking, and had bothered to make himself alert enough while Perch dressed himself. Sure, he was a kid, but he was attractive...

"Ah, but that's cradle-robbing," he said to himself, rubbing his eyes to free them of the remnants of yesterday's makeup. "He's my last resort." He swung his legs out from under the silk sheets, stood up, and stretched. What to wear, what to wear...

He flung wide the doors of his armoire and flipped through the outfits therein about three times before he decided he needed to go shopping. That'll have to wait, though. He took out a tight pair of light blue pinstriped bermuda shorts and a matching dog collar with a gold buckle, and a short-sleeved, fitted button-down shirt. Casual wear, he thought, if such a thing exists for a high-maintenance boy like myself! He dressed himself and pulled a pair of white high-top sneakers on his feet, then headed to the bathroom to fix his hair.

After altogether too much deliberation, he walked out in a ponytail, barrettes in his bangs as usual. Perfect. He sashayed down the hall to the rec room and saw Perch, Vyomini and Devi... Impossible! the newbie's getting more female attention than me. Alik flipped his hair and walked over to sit just a bit too close to Perch. "Heeeeeey, roomie," he said, grinning and looking at the girls more than at his roommate. "Got your day off all planned?"

[Anonymous]

Perch smiled at the girl.  She looked young, maybe younger than he was, though maybe that was because she was so skinny and that rabbit hooded thing.  She was kind of like some of the girls at home, probably.  Pink and... shy.  Usually he didn't make friends with that type of person, but it was a little weird that she was here, for Pilot training.  He had thought the girls would be more like... Fala.  Or something.

"Hey, Vyomini."  He reached over to the table he'd put his milk on and took one last sip, then replaced the glass and stood back again.  "Nothing's up, huh?  Are you new, too?"

Apparently not, because she had a friend, another girl he hadn't met yet.  Her shoulders were bare, which Perch always found nice to look at, and he spent a quarter-second trying to peer down her sweater when she leaned over to hug Vyo... she called her Vyo, he was going to stick with that.  

"Hey!  Devi."  Repeating names was the best way to remember them.  How many Candidates were there, anyway?  It felt like hundreds, and so many he hadn't met.  "I'm Perch, I've only been here about a week."  She was still draped over Vyo, the way girls did.  They were very touchy-feely.  He wondered, briefly--as he always did these days--whether they were strong telepaths.  He could get only the sketchiest feelings off of them, but it didn't take great psychic talent to see that Vyo was shy and Devi was friendly.  Was she flirting a little?  Oh well, plenty of time to see.   He shook her hand, smiled again, and retreated to the couch opposite, half-sliding down into a sprawl with his hands laced together over his stomach.  He was getting a serious six-pack.  Sweet.

A vaguely familiar set of sounds and feelings, and Perch half-turned his head.  Aha, his roomie.  He'd almost forgotten about the guy that morning.  Aw.  Had he seen him getting dressed?  Kind of... weird... Perch wasn't homophobic or anything, but Alik was a little offputting sometimes with the whole... thing.  But they were roommates, and it was tough for both of them, so he would just have to deal with it and try to be his friend.  

"Hey, Alik."  Dude sat just a little too close to him on the couch, which was one of those niggling things--was it on purpose or not?  He'd have to go with not.  "I was planning on doing nothing.  Eating a lot.  Maybe magball, hey, do you guys play?"  He flicked an eyebrow up and gave a half-smile, starting with Devi and turning his head until he'd come around to Alik, to be inclusive.

[Anonymous]

“N..no I’m not that new really…”

Vyomini was secretly relieved when she sensed Devi heading in the direction of the rec. She was more comfortable around familiar faces but was a little surprised when Devi hugged her and nuzzled her hair. At least she didn’t freak out as much when people touched her now, she had Demya to thank or maybe blame for that.

     Still, Vyomini blushed slightly when Devi said she looked cute in the bunny hoodie.

     “Th…Thankyou…”

     When she had first worn it she had been worried people wouldn’t take her seriously, but she was so small and childlike that people tended to see her as adorable and weren’t intimidated by her in the slightest. She was going to make one interesting pilot…if she ever passed.

     Then Ailik made an appearance, and again Vyomini had sensed him approaching. Even if she was hopelessly weak and unintelligent at least she could make stuff float and always knew when someone was coming…

     Vyomini had first met Ailik at Devi and Chica’s party and his ‘aura’ was very distinctive just like his appearance. He was definitely one of the more colourful pilot candidates of which there was a surprisingly large number. When Vyomini had first been brought to the ATC she had a mental picture of what the pilots and the candidates would be like and had been wrong…mostly anyway. The violence and torture did happen but there was camaraderie amongst the candidates and they were a very varied group most of whom seemed friendly. She envied friendly people, they were always so confident.

     From what she could gather from Perch’s description of what he was doing that day and the other thoughts drifting around the room, none of the other three were likely to include reading or studying in their day. She felt a little ashamed at herself for intending on studying all day, but she really needed to pass the program. There was no way she was going back to TRIM, she’d rather die first.

[Anonymous]

Ruffling Vyomini's hair, Devi straightened, still grinning, "You're welcome." The tiny candidate was always so sweet and shy. It reminded Devi of her younger sisters back at home. She always wanted to take care of her, "You should drop by sometime. I bet I have clothes you can fit." It just wasn't right how few clothes Vyo had.

It was rather amusing watching Perch trying to look down her shirt. He was practically a baby! But it was still nice to know she still had it. And ego boosts were always nice. But she shook his hand, her expression slightly surprised at how new he was, "Wow. You haven't been here long. Have you gotten a mentor yet? The Pilots can be pretty scary."

Flopping down next to Vyo, Devi stretched her legs out, elbows propped up on the table. Her grin reappeared, bigger then ever when Alik appeared. She liked the redheaded candidate quite a bit. He had been one of the few people at the party that had actually seemed to want to have a good time, "Alik! Man, it's turning into a real party in here."

Devi wasn't going to lie. She thought Alik was pretty cute and made sure that when he was looking over at her and Vyo she was giving him a good view. Nothing wrong with a bit of flirting, "Can't say I have much planned for my day. What about you?"

The new kid spoke up from the couch, drawing Devi attention briefly from Alik to where he was sprawled out on a couch, "I can't say I have ever played." Devi was pretty good at sports, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to run around on her day off. It was nice to have a break every once in a while.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it was just Alik, but ever since he and Perch had met, the kid had seemed kind of... uncomfortable around him. Alik, of course, had chalked it up to sexual tension first off, but now he kind of wondered whether or not Perch really had something against him. He'll come around, he thought, projecting nothing but sunshine, lollipops, and the ever-present rainbows, or I'll make him come around. No one hates Alik without Alik's permission.

He gave Devi a million-credit grin, first. "Of course it's a party, Devi! I mean, I'm here, aren't I?" He laid the joking tone on thick, so he didn't sound like a complete narcissist. Even though I totally deserve to be. He recognized Devi's effort to show off, and arched his eyebrows appreciatively.

"Ehh, I hadn't thought of anything yet." He shrugged. "I was gonna look through some catalogs... my wardrobe is sucking, lately. I mean, there's no weather in here... think of the possibilities!" The comment was mostly directed at Devi, since Vyomini and Perch didn't really seem the shopping types. Devi, however... she had style.

Alik crossed his legs. "Sounds like a plan to me." He tilted his head infinitesimally to one side when Perch mentioned magball, though. He rifled through his encyclopedia of knowledge he never used until he recognized the game. "Ah, I completely suck at it. I could try, though..." After training sessions with Fala, dodging balls a good percentage of his own weight in increased gravity, a game of magball seemed tame enough.

He caught Vyomini watching him, and flashed a smile at her too. Jeez, he thought, A little shopping might do her good. Does she even have a body under that hoodie, or is she just a head attached to a metal frame? He looked away, so not to make her too uncomfortable, and grinned to himself. At least we know she has legs.

[Anonymous]

Devi was flirting... with Alik.  Perch found himself kind of confused.  Wasn't Alik... gay?  Maybe he wasn't, maybe he was the other thing, bi, though Perch had sort of thought only girls were bi.  That was what his dad said once, when he was on the phone with someone and Perch had been listening.  It didn't matter anyway.  Suddenly the kid seemed a lot nicer, even though he was flirting with the girl who seemed to like him back.  She rearranged herself and Perch tried not to be blatant about checking her out.  He was pretty good at that once he had time to arrange his expression so it went in sort of quick darts between eyes and cleavage.  He practiced a lot during class.

"Yeah, I just got this one's Pilot."  He jerked a thumb at Alik and settled back against the couch.  They were still a little close, but now it seemed more just friendly (maybe now that he was flirting with a girl Perch felt safer, though he knew it shouldn't have that effect).  Maybe later he would ask him how he got girls to like him so much.  He wasn't that much older.  Devi did look a bit older, with that scar and the way her body looked.  Did he like 'older women'?  What a strange thought.

He would have liked younger ones, if they weren't so irritating most of the time, likely.

"They are a little intimidating, the Pilots, but Mauburin is OK, right, Alik?"  Wishful thinking.  "I like her shades."  That would be an icebreaker, he knew Alik liked fashion, and Devi had commented on Vyo's hoodie earlier.  

"And you should play with me sometime--"  He elbowed Alik.  "--I have an extra racket and I can go easy on you, no problem.  It's not really a hard game unless you're playing on L-12 or something, and I usually keep my settings down*.  But it's probably a day to chill.  What do you guys usually do on days off, or are you too tired to do much most of the time?"



*(until Rhi posts the info on the game--magball uses an electromagnetic  ball, and it has various settings for speed and charge, which vary game difficulty).

[Anonymous]

[Short >.<]

Vyomini wasn’t so sure about Devi’s suggestion of borrowing some of her clothes, the pink haired girl was much prettier than her. And Vyomini preferred clothes which covered as much of her body as possible. She was thankful now that she didn’t have to have show off the scar along her collarbone now that Dyerlich had left. Still, she kind of missed him.

     When Perch mentioned that he had a mentor already, Vyomini was a little disheartened. Even though it seemed that there were now so many candidates that there couldn’t possibly be any free pilot mentors the new candidates still managed to find them. Her’s had left and now she didn’t have one whereas Phenyo and Devi did. Maybe she was right in thinking no-one really wanted to take her.

     Vyomini blushed slightly when Ailik smiled at her but he looked away again thankfully, he seemed to be more interested in Devi.

[Anonymous]

The mention of going through catalogs had Devi sitting up a bit straighter, leaning toward Alik, beaming up at the redhead. She was so tired of gray uniforms and drab colors. And even the Pilots, who could wear what they wanted, all seemed to stick to boring ass t-shirts and jeans. Sometimes, when one was feeling crazy, there would be a button up shirt.

"Doing a bit of shopping? Reeeeally?" Devi's voice was almost a purr, "Do tell me more. I am so sick of these shitty uniforms and for some reason I only got sent my old clothes." She gestured at her current outfit. Not that she could actually afford to get anything from the catalogs, but it was nice to dream.

Perch's question got a shrug from the pink haired girl, "Ummm...I tend to mostly crash on day's off. DyerBear used to be hardcore. But it's been less work with him gone. So, I donno. I'm in the mood to be social, so whatevers clever."

Tilting her head, she glanced back over at Vyomini. She didn't want the younger girl to feel left out and she was hardly talking, "What about you love? Did you have any plans? We can let the boys go play their game and go give you a make over if you want."