Don't Tell Zenith...

[Anonymous]

Summer had never actually sat down and counted the exact number of recreation rooms for Pilots within the Citadel. Vaguely she wondered if they had more of them than they needed. Probably. And why not? Pilots had the biggest and best of everything. Heh, huge waste of space and money if you asked her. Hell, the rec room she was in right now would have probably proved more than sufficent. In fact, she was the only person there. Sure, not all Pilots were off on the same days, but come on? Really?

Oh well, she wouldn't complain about a little solitude. Actually, she generally kept to herself anyway. The only reason she wasn't in her apartment here in the Citadel was because Zenith had pestered her to get out. Damn dragon. She wished he'd mind his own business for once and stay the hell out of her head. Summer didn't feel the need to socialize more, but Zenith was going to get his way, one way or another. Cooperation was always the easiest method.

The giant screen lit up, tuning in to a music station, playing videos of some of the latest hits. Flopping down on one of the lounge sofas, she put her feet up on the coffee table, her combat boots making a few soft thunks as they settled. Opening up her laptop, the machine fired up. It only took a moment to load up WoW. Zenith had told her to go to the rec room, he hadn't told her what she had to do when she got there!

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel been kicked out of his apartment for the day--or rather, he'd fled it while the technicians went in to do some standard repairs to his AC unit; too much banging and they had to get into the ceiling vents for who knows what--and so had headed to the rec room, because it had comfy couches and he wasn't yet dressed. He'd pulled an all-nighter that had kept him up well into the AM--like, the sun was up and bright by the time he finished and got to flop into bed--and then, bam. Scheduled maintenance.

Drowsily, he'd yanked on a baggy shirt, pulled some sweatpants over his boxers, and headed out--in his socks, because he'd forgotten about shoes. His hair was a mess, poking up in every direction. He could collapse on a couch and life would be good, barring any emergencies or interruptions.

Opening the door and slipping inside, he blinked blearily when he saw that another person was there, and it took him a second to recognize her as Pilot Meadows, a Royal. Well, Roman might have a cow seeing him walk around the Citadel like this, but hopefully she wouldn't complain and he could just sleep.

He gave her a polite wave to acknowledge her and started to shuffle over toward an empty couch, but that was when familiar music reached him over the sound of the TV. He paused, blinked several times, and took a couple steps backwards so he could peer over her shoulder at her computer screen.

Was that...?

"Dude, is that WoW?" Gabriel blurted, suddenly a lot more awake than he had been all night. "You play WoW? For cereal? That's flippin' awesome! What faction are ya? I'm Host!" He held up his wrists as he said it, flashing his new tattoos. He and Alaric had gone in together and gotten them; on his right wrist was the Host symbol and on his left was the symbol of the guild he and Alaric ran, Teh Bamf Corps.

Because Host kicked Allegiance's ass.

[Anonymous]

Summer's peaceful gameplay didn't last long. Her eyes glanced up as she heard someone enter the rec room. So much for being alone. Obviously he was a Pilot, a single glance told her that much. Only Pilots and Stage 5 Candidates would even have access to this room, and no Candidate in their right mind would go anywhere looking that much a mess. She recognized him, if vaguely. Didn't he work in the same department as her? Yes, she was almost certain that he was a tech. He waved and she gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement.

He didn't have any business with her, that was for sure, not looking like that. Hell, who ever did have business with her? She avoided most of the other Pilots when possible, burying herself in her work, or leaving the city altogether on special assignments. There was plenty of work to be done outside of their dysfunctional little home. Hmm, that reminded her, she would need to schedule an assignment, something small, outside of Aedolis, for her Candidate's sake. The boy was Stage 5 now, getting him out into the thick of things, in a slightly subdued setting, would be good for him. She had the feeling he wasn't going to be a major combat Pilot no matter what she did to him, though. Ah well, at least she'd managed to keep him going this far.

By now she'd almost completely forgotten about Gabriel even being in the room with her, she'd gotten back into the game, her teletechnopathy linking into her laptop's mainframe and uploading to the game. Controls were for people that didn't have her unique skills. She was much more efficient simply thinking about what she needed to do, rather than trying to mash a bunch of keys. She contemplated doing a little PvP, but suddenly her thoughts were interrupted.

For several moments all she could do was stare at Gabriel as he began babbling about WoW.

For cereal? Who on Earth are you talking too, Summer? I sent you to socialize, not join the geek squad.

Pilot Echo Gabriel Tierney, he's in the Tech Department. And can-it you overgrown lizard with wings. You're the one that told me I don't talk to other people enough. And will you PLEASE get out of my head! Can I not have just one day to myself, with my own thoughts, without your irritating commentary?

But...does it always talk like that?

How should I know? Just be quiet for a minute, would you?

The conversation with Zenith had taken no more than a ten or fifteen seconds. She arched a brow at the younger Pilot, torn between irritation and amusement. The kid had an excited energy to him, didn't he? Well, if she could put up with Dakota's cheerfulness, how bad could this kid be?

"Yes, Host, of course, everyone knows Allegiance is full of prepubesent children with too much time on their hands and not nearly enough discipline. And...are you serious? Tattoos...of symbols from a game...And I thought I had problems..."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Damn straight I'm serious! Seriously awesome. I mean it's Host, bitch!" Gabriel said with a tired grin while flashing the WoW sign with his fingers, gangsta style. Sleep deprivation had made him a little delirious--but not much different from how he normally was. "And this sure ain't henna. It's ink."

With a tired groan, he sprawled out onto the sofa next to hers and leaned on the arm so he could get get a better look at her screen. "Sooo, ya in a guild yet?"

[Anonymous]

Summer gave Gabriel a quizzical look as he continued speaking, and of course flashed that ridiculous hand sign. Okay, this kid had serious problems. Rolling her shoulders slightly, she watched him sprawl out on the next sofa. Poor kid looked like he was about to pass out. Now, that was something she could actually sympathize with. She'd spent enough nights up working to know how it could get.

I send you to meet people, and this is the best you can do? A hyper-active nerd with a gangster complex? Tsk. Tsk. I expected better of you, my pet. Really, why don't you just let me talk to the other dragons, I'm sure I could find you a r---

Summer snapped down on her connection to Zenith. His annoying thoughts reduced to a tolerable buzzing. She felt the block in the connection gently probbed on his end, then felt his mind retreating from hers. Holy shit, that really worked?

"Eh? A guild? I've run solo since day one...and I do mean day one...of the entire game." Oh yeah, she had pre-ordered her copy of WoW, and had been hooked since. It was a mind-numbingly addictive game, and it gave her something to do in her down time.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Lucky! It came out just when I went into the program. Like, I got to play it for a week and then it was all, BAM. Drafted. Talk about withdrawal. I don't even remember my username and password from back then. Probably got purged by now. But yeah, me and Ally--I mean, Alaric--we run a guild. Solo's alright, but it's more fun when you got a big group. Makes dungeon grinding fly. Anyway..."

Yawning, Gabriel folded his arms on the couch's arm and rested his chin atop them. "I always knew you Royals were closet nerds."

[Anonymous]

Summer smirked slightly when he mentioned that he'd only got to play it for a week before he'd been brought into the Candidate program. Poor kid. That had to suck. Well, the first few years of being a Candidate sucked pretty hard, depending on your mentor. Her mentor had been a firm believer in tough love, but man, that had been ages ago. She felt so old.

His comment about Royals being closent nerds brought a snort from her. "Oh yeah, I'm really in the closest about this. Even Royals have to have some fun now and then. Meh, dungeons are a pain with PUGs...but at least once the dungeon is over I don't have to pretend to care about what they do or don't do."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Yeah, that's why I like guilds. You don't get annoying griefers and can boot them if they are. And sure, sometimes you get some kill stealing punk tag-along, but when your whole party tells them to G-T-F-O, they get the picture. Power in numbers, man."

Gabriel stretched out a little and grabbed one of the sofa's throw pillows, curling up with it. "Man, I shoulda brought my laptop. But I was planning on napping."

[Anonymous]

Summer was leaned back comfortably, remarkably comfortable, actually, considering she wasn't in her own apartment surrounded by her calming decor. Maybe it was actually feeling like she was alone in her head for a change. Zenith rarely completely retreated to let her think and feel as she pleased. Still, as she listened to him talk about guilds, she still wasn't entirely sold on the idea. Group interactions, even as a Candidate that had been one of the harder parts of training for her. She didn't like to make connections with people, not deep or meaningful ones, anyway.

When he complained about not having his laptop, the wheels in her head started turning. She remotely patched into the game, logged herself out, then streamed the game data to the huge screen. The log-in screen appeared and she quickly signed back in, not logged into the game remotely, streaming through the TV. Checking her laptop, she made sure that there was nothing that Gabriel could get into that she would not wish for him to see, then offerred the computer to him.

"Here, use mine. Let's see just how awesome you are, hm? A duel, if you please, Pilot Tierney."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Whoaaa..."

Gabriel didn't know how technopaths did it. If he could manipulate tech with his mind--well, it was probably a good thing he couldn't, because he'd never do anything else ever again. And that's why the gods gave him a skill like, well...kickass shielding, and decent telekinesis, instead. Every now and then he wished he'd gotten one of the flashier skills, but in the long run? Probably good he didn't. He'd get way distracted.

Summer's voice brought him back.

"Duel? Ahh, you wanna PvP? Alrighty, then! It's on, biznatch!" He took the laptop and got settled and adjusted on the couch, stretching out on his belly with the laptop in front of him. He was probably too tired and out of it right now to properly PvP, but it sounded like a good idea at the time, and he quickly logged into his Paladin character.

[Anonymous]

Summer couldn't help but give a faint smirk at his reaction to her ability. It wasn't the most common psionic gift out there, and probably a techno geek's wildest wet dream, but she was so used to it, that it was just second nature by now. Sure, she could appreciate how totally awesome it was, but hey, she didn't like to let the inner nerd show. Couldn't go ruining her reputation as a hard-ass.

Summer's character was already loaded on the screen. She had an end-game Warlock with the latest tier of PvP gear. PvP was her favorite part of the game. Dungeons were okay, but they were so repetative and dull. Of course, the same thing could probably be said of PvP, too. Personal preference, yo. Already she was throwing up her buffs, making sure she was ready for battle.

"Name the place, pretty boy, name the place." Oh yeah, it was on.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Pretty boy?" Gabriel blinked over at her and grinned tiredly. "I prefer virile and studly and dashingly handsome."

Moving his character through the world and looking at the map, he found the town closest to him--River Gale--and headed there. "Meet me outside River Gale!" he said, and cut down some random enemies (mainly cows) along the way. He let out a yawn--of exhaustion, not boredom--and played one-handed while he waited, chin propped up on his other hand. "Bring it, biznatch!"

[Anonymous]

Summer snickered at his response. "I call 'em like I see 'em. You're cute, wouldn't call you dashingly handsome, though."

When he announced River Gale to be the stage for their duel, she groaned. Of course it would have to be on another continent. Picking up a throw pillow she threw it at him just as he told her to bring it. Okay, throwing the pillow was a little childish, but eh, she was already on her way and it did make her feel a little better.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"What about virile and stud--ah!"

The pillow hit him in the head and bounced away onto the floor. Reaching down, he picked it up and tucked it under his chin, resting on it. "Hey, thanks! I needed that!"

[Anonymous]

Summer touched down in River Gale, dismounting and immediately rebuffing herself, checking her summoned demon, and throwing down a duel flag. This was going to be fun. It had been a while since she'd really been able to tear into someone one on one.

"Now, when I beat the tar out of you, don't cry, okay?" She flashed a devious grin at him.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Not worried! 'Cause I'm gonna make you bawl," Gabriel said--and didn't wait for her to begin. As soon as the duel flag was down, his toon was on hers, attacking her full-on.