"Squeaky-squeak" means Hello (Rhiiiiii-Rhi~!)

[godsibb]

Nyline was in her new room, barefooted and attempting to make her bed.

With her feet.

While standing on her hands.

She was in uniform (minus the coat, which was hanging off the back of a chair) and her hair was done up into a large bun on the back of her head. Her rodent friend, CottonBall, was sitting on the desk, watching passively as she kept trying to grab a blanket with her toe. Obviously, Nyline was making absolutely no progress. Every time she reached her leg down far enough to get a hold of the blanket with her foot, she would end up falling over onto the bed or floor, small thumps sounding from inside the room whenever it happened. Around the fifth or sixth time she fell and got back up, CottonBall finally had enough and scurried off the desk and over next to her hand, squeaking something.

She turned her head slightly to look at him upside-down as he spoke, his rodent words translating into human language as they flowed into her head. Nyline made a confused face and squeaked a reply back.

"Huhn...? But I can’t make my bed with my hands... I’m using them to hold myself up right now."

With that, she bent her leg over, making an effort to grab her bed sheets once more. Instead, she fell yet again, narrowly missing CottonBall who ran under the bed for cover.

[Rhi-Rhi]

This was a first.

Gabriel tended to have the worst luck in the history of ever when it came to meeting new candidates. It always just went straight to awkwardville somehow, and none of his colleagues seemed to have the same issues. Y'know, the issues of arriving just as some kid was getting out of the shower, or just got done bumping uglies, among other things. His timing was always off even though he sent out a message stating the time and place so be prepared. It just never seemed to work out.

The thumping was his first sign that things were gonna be interesting. Gabriel heard it as he was approaching and paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

For the love of any gods out there, please don't tell me that means what I think it means.

But the second noise? The squeaking? That was a new one.

He wasn't even going to ask. Besides, he'd gotten kind of used to getting all the weird ones. He swore Roman was trolling him there, even though he wasn't sure Roman even knew what trolling was.

Striding up to the dorm-room door, dressed in casual street clothes (a colorful band shirt, jeans, and bright canvas shoes), Gabriel cleared his throat and knocked. "Candidate Doriance? Pilot Gabriel Tierney here. Are you ready?"

[godsibb]

Hauling herself back up onto her hands, Nyline blinked as she heard a knock on her door. Instead of going to go answer it, for some reason, she just stood there, allowing her mind to wander. Realizing that she wasn’t actually planning on doing anything, CottonBall squeaked at her from under the bed.

Oh yeah, the door. Nyline walked over on hands and kicked at the wall a few times, finally pressing the button with her foot. As the door slid open, she stood back, her toes wiggling in the air.

"Hullo, Pilot Gabriel Tie-" She cut herself off suddenly, seriously contemplating something. After a few seconds, she spoke again. "I like your shoes."

[Rhi-Rhi]

...Yep.

This took the cake. This took the whole freakin' banquet.

For several long moments, Gabriel could do little more than stare, mouth open with a greeting he never got around to saying. And yet, mixed in with the utter sense of "OMGWTFBBQ" (because some scenarios just did not inspire more eloquent thoughts) was a great deal of admiration:

He sure as heck couldn't walk on his hands, much less answer the door that way.

He was still staring when she spoke up, commenting on his shoes. Snapping out of it, he glanced down at his shoes--bright neon and checker-printed--and let out a small laugh.

"Oh. Uh. Thanks! I, uh...I like 'em too!"

Man. First the fae kid that takes everything literally, now...well, who knew where this would go.

Right! Professionalism! That thing!

Clearing his throat behind his hand, Gabriel did his best to wrangle his expression into something a little more neutral and a little less "gawking fool".

"So! Anyway! Uh, hiya! You probably know it already and all but I'm your mentor and everything! This isn't like a serious business meeting or anything, just figured, y'know, we should meet. Normally I'd say chillax and don't fret 'cause I know some people get all nervous about Pilots and all that, buuut...I'd say you already got that down." He paused. "You'll probably wanna get your shoes on, though."

[godsibb]

Nyline turned around and swung her legs down, finally standing right-side up. She stared up at Gabriel with her huge eyes for several seconds, unblinking, before giving him a lighthearted smile.

"Mine aren't as cool as yours, though..."

She was still on the subject of his shoes as she went over to grab her own plain pair. When she sat on her (mostly unmade) bed to put them on, CottonBall scurried out from underneath it and ran up her pant leg, settling comfortably into her pocket. Nyline paid him no mind.

"Does this mean we're going somewhere?" She finished putting on her shoes and looked over at Gabriel. "...like to a circus?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

...Oh for the love of.

Now there was a rat? Where did she get that? How did she smuggle it inside? Aw, maaan. Gabriel fought the urge to face-palm and instead just stared at her, hating that he'd been put in a position where he had to play the bad guy.

"No, not exactly a circus, but, uh, hey...you know pets aren't allowed here, right?"

[godsibb]

"Oh, that’s good. I don’t really like the circus."

Nyline's head tilted slowly at the mention of pets. A genuinely confused and curious look replaced her normally thoughtful expression.

"Yes... But I don’t have any pets."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Oh dear. This was not going to end well, he just knew it.

Gabriel put on a patient smile and spoke as he would to one very young. "I know what it's like, pets being like friends and family and all. I mean, my dog Mocha? She's like a hairy sister. But okay, lemme clarify. Animals aren't allowed here."

He motioned to her pocket. "This isn't a very safe environment for them. Nor is it, uh...sanitary." Where was she even keeping it? How was she caring for it? And having it live in her pocket? Gah. Rodents were like constantly peeing and pooping! He let out a sigh. "I'm gonna have to call your folks, see if they'll come pick it up."

[godsibb]

Luckily, she was a fairly obedient girl, all strangeness aside.

"Ohhhh, ahhh, hmmm..."

Nyline let out a series of thoughtful noises and looked off, seemingly ignoring what Gabriel said. After making a variety of different sounds, she appeared to come to a decision and squeaked down at her pocket, speaking to CottonBall. The fluffy rodent poked his head out, listening. Once she finished talking, he ran up out of the pocket and stood on her head.

From his vantage point atop Nyline's head, CottonBall faced Gabriel. He then leaned forward, making a motion that could only be described as a little mouse bow, and said several things to the Pilot. Once he finished his speech, CottonBall sat down and squeaked again, this time at Nyline.

"Hmmm? Oh, umm, Cotton says I should translate... He said 'Hello, Pilot Tierney. My name is CottonBall, and it is very nice to meet you. It seems that having me here is against the rules. As you can probably tell, I am no ordinary animal. However, if my being here is going to cause problems, I will gladly and willingly pack up and leave. Though, be-'"

She paused unexpectedly. CottonBall gently tapped her head, reminding her to continue.

"...oh. 'Though, be warned, Nyline’s mind works quite differently from yours or mine. Nonetheless, she is an excellent learner and fighter, so please try to be patient with her. Thank you for your time.' Mmm, yeah, that’s what he said..."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Okay.

That had to be the weirdest thing he'd seen in his life. It bowed to him. It bowed. Sure, dragons did stuff like that! And dragons talked to them. And some psychics had faunapathy--heck, Roman was one of them! He talked to Blank! But for some reason, a little rodent having a conversation with him through his candidate was a lot more jarring and weird than the countless deep conversations he had on a regular basis with the dragon that lived inside his head.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then held up a finger in a "just a sec" motion. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone, sent off a quick text, and pocketed the phone again. That done, he smiled.

"Aaaalright, lemme get back to you on that one, 'kay?" He looked at the rodent. "Er. Nice to meet you too, uh...Cottonball. Anyway. Let's be on our way! Otherwise you'll be late for breakfast."

[godsibb]

Nyline stood and waited patiently while Gabriel did something with his phone, looking around vacantly.

"CottonBall," she corrected him, unnecessarily, seeing as there was no way for Gabriel to know which letters in the name were supposed to be capitalized, nor was there any way for her to know how he thought it was spelled.

Squeaking Gabriel's reply to CottonBall, Nyline walked over and peered up at the ceiling, the rodent moving down to sit on her shoulder.

"Okay. Breakfast. Break...fast... I don’t like bacon. It has a funny name."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"You don't have to eat bacon if there is any, y'know," Gabriel said with a laugh. "Though you should be sure to get plenty of protein! You're gonna be working your butt off here, and it's good for the muscles."

He lead the way down the hall and toward the cafeteria, striking an easy pace so she could keep up. "Speaking of, how do you like things so far? How's Basic going for you?"

[godsibb]

Nyline walked slowly behind Gabriel, still staring vacantly off into the distance and thinking about protein. She finally blinked and looked up at his question.

"Oh, it’s going well. Good. Pretty good. Good and well."

With that, she fell silent, staring off again.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Good and well? You wanna elaborate on that a little?" They reached the cafeteria then and Gabriel pulled out a chair for her. "Y'know, with details and things?"

[godsibb]

"Hmmm..." Nyline sat down in the chair, folding both of her legs under herself.

"It's very...physical-y. Like...when you're trying to walk downstairs and you're going upstairs instead, but there are no stairs. You know?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel furrowed his brow and tilted his head, slowly, like a dog trying to parse a strange sound. "So like...difficult? Strenuous? Challenging? Impossible?"