Second Time Around (Rhi-Sugarpants)

[Anonymous]

Delilah sat flicking a see through sort of shiny circular shaped disc. Her father had given it to her years ago when she was hyper. It helped her to keep from moving around too much and breaking things. She'd flick it for hours to keep her hands busy. The rest of her remained still her black eyes staring forward. They had started to get a red ring where the iris would be, she was getting hungry really hungry.

Walking through the ATC halls was like being a Seeker at a Gospel meeting. Plus she still had this damned collar. She stopped herself from reaching up to grab at it again. If she had been mortal she would have worn her neck and fingers raw playing with it. Hopefully this new mentor would find it in their heart, if Pilots even had one, to let her take it off, and maybe get fed. They'd find out soon physical things would be beyond her if they didn't let her eat something human...and soon.

Keziah, that had been the Pilot's name. She hoped this one would be different than Marshal. She might have prayed for it if she believed in a higher power.

She sat in one of the chairs outside the library flicking the coin up and catching it then flicking it again. Someone might have thought she was a robot from how still she sat despite that one movement.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"So, you must be candidate Delilah Mackie," Keziah announced as she strode up to meet her, taking in the girl's thoughts as she projected all over the place: annoyance with her collar, wanting to drink human blood, curiosity over her new mentor...Keziah found it a little amusing that a vampire was wondering if the Pilots had hearts, but she kept that thought to herself. Nothing against non-humans, just a little bit of irony if you went by literary examples of what vampires were supposed to be like.

She came to a stop in front of the candidate's chair and held out a gloved hand to her in greeting. "Keziah Fabel, Pilot Noble," she said with a smile and winked with her one visible eye; an eye-patch covered the other, or would have if there was an eye still in that socket. Oh, sure, there was technology that could give her a new, fake eye, but she was still waiting on something that wouldn't make her look like an android. Besides, it made her look tough.

Currently she was in uniform, having just gotten back from a mission only an hour ago and not yet having the time to change or bathe. First it was filling out the necessary paperwork, then meeting her candidate. Ah, at least life never got dull with busy schedules.

"And as you already know, I'll be your mentor from here on out! Well, barring me dying on a mission or something, but that's neither here nor there, eh? Now, lemme ask you something. I see you have that collar containing...certai n urges of yours. So what's this about needing human blood? And is it a matter of need or is it just want?"

[Anonymous]

Delilah resisted the urge to stand up quickly when she heard someone address her. Too much damn time in the ATC, she might start acting like a real candidate. She let her eyes rise to look at the person in front of her. She realized first that the woman was a Pilot, she was still in her uniform. Then Delilah noticed her hair, which even the vampire had to admit was pretty...amazing. Then the eyepatch. Overall the Pilot already seemed more interesting than Marshal ever was, or would be in his life. Ugh, he was so gross.

She stuffed the coin into a pocket and sat up a little straighter. Her new mentor. She should try and be nice. She could be nice when she wanted to right? She wasn't sure anymore. She just knew she felt tired and sorta grumpy.

"It's nice to meet you." Her hand went to the collar as soon as the Keziah mentioned it. Would she let her out? She hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since she got here. It was like not giving a human water.

"Well, technically..." She thought about lying, then remembered that was a pointless venture. "...I just can't bite people with it on. Some of my powers are tied into that act though." She felt hungrier just thinking about it. "I have barely gotten anything since I've been here, cause of my old Mentor." She looked up at her new mentor hoping that she would turn out to be at least different.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Keziah's friendly smile slowly faded. So this was what Marshal had left her? A sullen, poorly disciplined student that couldn't even rise to speak nor return a handshake? While Keziah's greeting had been casual, she was still this candidate's superior by leagues and that owed her respect--which this candidate was not giving, and judging by her thoughts, seemed under the impression that she didn't have to be courteous.

Luckily for Delilah, candidates weren't punished for their thoughts in this stage. But they were for their actions.

"I see your last mentor did a bang-up job with you," she sighed, letting her hand drop. "But poor mentor or not, that's no excuse. If you want me to start even considering letting you go collarless, then you'd better start addressing me properly, Candidate Mackie. You'll stand when a Pilot enters and you'll address them by their rank and last name unless told otherwise. And you'll do this every time. Are we clear?"

[Anonymous]

Delilah shot up out of her chair, her eyes forward. The last thing she had wanted to do was offend her. She'd learned that was the wrong direction to go. She had thought that maybe things would be different. They wouldn't be. Every Pilot was a hard ass somehow. She understood it though, she'd had a different kind of mentor before.

"Pilot Noble Fabel, I apologize." She swallowed and for a moment felt like she should salute, that was probably more humorous than protocol. She took a deep breath and looked at Keziah for a moment. She looked forward again. She thought about saying she didn't have a mentor for very long. Excuses were probably worse though. She took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted was to upset the person who held her life in her hands.

"It's clear."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Keziah smiled at that. At least she was a quick learner and didn't have to be told twice. "Good! Now that's taken care of, be at ease. Take a seat, and we'll discuss your...issue."

She pulled out a chair for herself and sat, crossing one ankle over her knee and sitting back to study Delilah up and down. A vampire, eh? That was different, and presented a lot of unique complications--namely the whole blood-drinking thing. If the girl didn't get any, would she die? She seemed to believe she was starving. If it would kill her, then that would just be negligence on their part if they let her waste away instead of finding some alternative or middle ground...either that, or it would just be yet another casualty of the system, another candidate that just didn't work.

Seemed a bit unfair to condemn someone for a...medical condition, but that was just what happened sometimes. But a vampire...well, they already had one candidate that could control blood, and he had a lot of potential if he could pull through. A vampire wasn't too much of a stretch after that, though Keziah's concern was the safety of the other candidates. While bullying was just an unofficial part of the program, they couldn't risk some candidate deciding to make meals of the others.

Keziah leaned forward a little. "So you're starving. What kind of blood will sustain you?"

[Anonymous]

Delilah was looking at the ground now. She was ashamed of herself. She knew she wasn't the big bad anywhere. For a little while she had believed she was here, for some unknown reason. Keziah however had made it clear, she was the one in charge and Delilah had to get used to it. She demanded authority like she had earned it, so Delilah figured she had. At least more than her.

"Human is the best obviously, and I don't have to...kill them. I tried not to when I was on the outside." She swallowed once, her throat feeling dry. "I can drink some sort of animal blood though, or blood already out of the body, like the kind they'd use in hospitals." She looked up at Keziah, nervous and scared for her fate.

This is the way she should have been since the beginning but something kept her from it. She had felt like Frazier and Jericho would be disappointed, but they weren't here now and they were barely there then. Keziah was the one to impress now and she would do her best for the Pilot.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Keziah nodded at that, feeling the girl's fear. Fortunately for her, the Pilot had an answer that didn't end in doom and starvation and trimming.

"We can't allow you to feed on other candidates," she began, holding the girl's gaze, "for obvious reasons. 'Trying' not to kill someone is not good enough; we can't take that risk, not when you don't yet have a reliable level of self control. Similarly, your peers are not items on a menu, so that is an urge we want to discourage. Your peers are your team mates and allies and could one day save your life.

"That said, I'll have you put on a diet of synthetic blood. It works in blood transfusions, so it should also provide you all the nutrients you need the same way human blood would." She frowned, tilting her head. "I have no idea why your last mentor let you go hungry like this."