Lessons

Classes have ended but an hour remains until dinner. Free time for the young men and women who are training at the Companion temple on Shinon. In the background of the great hall, a woman in a housekeeper's uniform carefully controls a series a drones as they move through the room, sweeping, dusting, and polishing. Another person, perhaps as old as twelve and obviously related to the housekeeper, slouches against a far wall, eye glued to the screen of a portable Cortex reader. Dressed in a pair of cargo pants and an oversized t-shirt, the young person's gender is almost impossible to determine from a single glance.

A few minutes later, a young woman - her gender quite apparent, and her beauty quite radiant, as well her stature quite impressive - emerges from one of the hallways deeper in the temple, dressed in one of the simple but exquisite robes the trainees wear during the earlier stages of training, her blonde hair artfully arranged in a complex 'pile' atop her head. Radiant, the young woman enters the room and bows her head briefly and respectfully towards the cleaning professional, then crosses the room towards the reader. "Hi, Michi." she offers, doing her best to be sneakily silent and perhaps surprise the other. Maybe not, though, given how striking her physical appearance may be, if her angles were off.

Being noticed is one of those things Companions do. There are literally classes and tests just on the topic of "how to enter a room". So, stealth? Not so much a Companion's best skill. Michi notices their friend coming from a mile away. Or, at least, from the length of the great hall, anyway. "Carrie." Michi says, pushing off the wall while, at the same time, pocketing the Cortex device, "What's the matter? Don't you have a ten hour course on make up tonight?"

Carina shakes her head, grinning with amusement at the other's comments. "It's only a four hour course, and I have two hours free until then." she responds, a twinkle in her eyes as she stands before Michi. "What're you reading?" she asks, her face making a grimace as she speaks more in her native accent than in the proper diction she is supposed to use as a trained Companion. Whoops.

"Uh, oh. Sounding like a commoner? You get demerits for that." Michi says with a smirk. "How do they punish you for that? I mean, they can't spank you. That's, like, the advanced class, right?" They glance over to their mother, making sure the mention of K I N K Y S E X isn't overheard. Michi's still a tween, despite the attitude. "Specs on the new HLX-3397. I heard Roberto Manuel was planning on racing one in the Redhill this year."

Carina shakes her head, smirking a bit at Michi's humor. "Punishments usually result in extra assignments, or in loss of privileges." she explains. Like the loss of her precious free time, one of the best ways for her to have time to spend with a certain gearhead friend. "So. Do you think he'll win? Is the three-three-nine-seven strong enough?"

"Don't know. The Redhill's a stock race. You've got to drive it right out of the box." Michi says, diving down into their favorite topic. "Stats are good but not better than Blue Sun's new bike. So, toss up. It'll come down to the course and the rider." They pause, then as if realizing the conversation is all about Michi's interests, add, "You look good."

Carina listens, paying rapt attention to her young friend's interest, despite not truly sharing it for herself; she loves to see Michi inspired and engaged, so that's a treat for her. But when Michi instead compliments her, she blushes prettily and lifts a hand to lightly touch her piled-up hair. "Thanks. It took almost the whole two hours to get this right." she offers, proving what class she was in before getting free to come find Michi.

"It... umm. You smell... nice, too." Michi has never taken a class on flirting. Or on any social interaction, really. "Is that one of the scents you made? Mom says all the actual Companions here are talking about how a chemistry wonder kid in the temple made up the latest shiny perfume."

Michi may not have taken classes in flirting, but she does flattery really well! Carina almost positively glows at the praise, dimpling adorably. "Yes, this is one of my new scents. I had heard that several of the Companions were very pleased with my works. Sister Taylor even promised me that a portion of their purchase price is being kept in an account to be released to me upon graduation." What Carina doesn't know is how rare such a thing is, but she's very proud of it nonetheless. "I could work on a cologne for you. If you wanted that." She could also work on helping Michi with a hairstyle to come off a bit more male, but she doesn't offer that. Not just yet.

"Oh. Maybe. Mom complains when I wear a body spray." Which Michi does on occasion. "Of course, she complains when I don't wear nice clothes, too. She keeps asking me when I'm going to grow out of my tomboy phase." The roll of the eyes comes next, as only a teenager can.

Carina nods. "Well, it's up to you. But I'd be happy to make you one, if you want." When Michi were to wear it would be up to her. "Have you been able to discuss things with her? Try to help her understand how you feel?" She figures it must be hard. If it weren't, Michi would have already done it. So Carina doesn't judge, she just supports.

"Sometimes mom can be so... so... Korean." Michi sighs. "Traditional, I mean. I read some of the stuff you found for me. Ummm..." Michi's blushing now, too, to talk so openly about this. "I guess they're more accepting of things on Londonium but here, especially in my family... I think it'll take time, maybe? I don't think my dad cares but everytime we come here mom comes home babbling about how nice the clothes are and how she wants to take me shopping."

Carina smiles just slightly and nods. She understands traditional. She respects tradition, and serves it in her own way. But she also supports Michi unquestioningly. She always has. "Well, what if we work on some nice clothes that are more like what you want, making you feel the way you want to feel?" Carina won't put Michi in a tuxedo, but she is pretty sure she could come up with something nice that was still a lot closer to Michi's desired 'niche' than what the other is wearing now.

"Nah." Michi waves off the idea. "I like my clothes." Which tend to be a little ratty. "Besides, you've got a lot to do. Science classes. Companion classes and you're not allowed out unsupervised for, like, another year or something, right? Don't worry about it."

The blonde pouts, just a little. She thought it was a great idea. But sometimes things just don't go the way she expects them. She isn't yet nearly as good at reading people as the grown-up Companions. She has much more yet to learn. "OK. If you say so." She doesn't want to alienate Michi. "So, you're looking forward to the race?" she asks, heading for safer territory.

"Huh? Oh. Totally." Michi says, warming up to the topic. I'll just be watching it on the Cortex feed but it should be shiny. Seriously. Some of the best racers across the 'verse will be there this year because the prize money got doubled. I bet there'll be a few Companions getting jobs out of that."