"Well you look completely washed out. Ghost-ified or something."
"Hey, check out our new profile pics. -A" She sent quickly to Thyra.
((I only had one ink pen on hand and it was quickly runnin out of fuel. Instead of being smart about it and choosing another medium, I decided to risk it and it died on me. I finished the rest of the portraits by dipping it in water and hoping to God it works out. It didn't.))
Good grief. Thyra looked at her picture with rapidly mounting dismay.
ReplyDeleteWhy did Aedha have to send this to me now? She groaned.
It really looked horrible. Her face was so pale, and was her nose really that big? And this picture was going to go on everything. She liked to be recognized for achievements but not with a picture like that...
"God. This is horrible. I am so not photogenic. ~T"
She quickly sent the message to Aedha and tried to focus on memorizing pressure points of the human body. But she couldn't concentrate. This was just going to annoy her until she finally convinced herself to let it pass. Aedha's picture was just as bad, honestly, but she was able to convey so much through a simple picture. Thyra always tried to look serious in pictures, to get that air of professionalism, but this really wasn't what she had been going for.
Aedha grinned at the message. She glanced up at the teacher, who was still busy swiping away at the large 3D monitor showing some sort of battlefield or other. Convinced that the senior agent was preoccupied, Aedha quickly hashed out a reply.
ReplyDelete"You're way past the point of un-photogenic. You run away at the sight of cameras. -A"
Chuckling to herself, Aedha made a mental note to hack into those files and replace those horrid pictures with some of her own. She scribbled down some notes to take on some semblance of productivity, before the teacher finally finished the lesson and dismissed the trainees.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Aedha all but flew out of the classroom in search of Thyra.
A notification popped up on Thyra's communicator, informing her that Aedha had sent her a message. She forced herself not to look at it until class was over.
ReplyDeleteFinally the professor dismissed them and she waited for Aedha at their designated rendezvous location. She sat down and opened up Aedha's recent message and rolled her eyes, but knew that Aedha was right.
She looked at the time; one hour before her next class. And she had two reports to write and another project to start for her Military History and Tactics class. Looking through her notes, she marked up the information that would be beneficial to her project. Her notes were clear and concise; she had her own system of taking notes. If anyone looked at them they wouldn't be able to understand much, but it wasn't difficult for her.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Aedha yelled as she crashed into a younger trainee. The poor girl muttered an apology before scurrying away. Aedha didn't stick around to hear it; she was already sprinting through the passing-period crowd. By the time she reached the niche in the wall, her hair was even messier than usual and somewhere along the way she lost her stylus. Again.
ReplyDelete"Wow. Don't tell me. Ms. I-Have-Everything-Color-Coded forgot to do an assignment? Raise the alarm! Send in the riot control agents!" She peered over Thyra's shoulder to glance at her notes. "...just kidding. You're working ahead, of course you are. I knew that was too good to be true."
Turning on her tablet, she logged in and switched from her yet unfinished Anatomy report to what she was working on all night; a code to hack into the Military Tactics' class simulator game.
Thyra barely looked up when Aedha came running up, hair messy and books messily placed in her bag. Ignoring Aedha's comment about her homework habits, she got out her tablet to look up some information on battle formations.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed Aedha had lost her stylus again. Luckily, they weren't expensive.
She looked over to see what her friend was doing. She's been working on that code all night, she thought, sighing. How does she get such high marks in class without studying? She knew Aedha actually earned her grades, as opposed to hacking into the system.
"Still working on that?" she asked. "When are you going to start on homework? And when do you even sleep?"
Aedha shrugged without looking up. "Sleep is for the weak. Agrypnes Palevvome." She snickered, quoting the Agency's motto. However, among students, the motto took on the meaning of "good lord we never sleep". Unlike most students, however, Aedha simply chooses not to sleep.
ReplyDelete"And I'll start homework when I feel like it." She entered another line of code, fingers flying over the 3D input hologram she made herself. Both she and Thyra knew that she never felt like starting homework.
She reached for her stylus, which is usually tucked behind her ear, before realizing it fell somewhere. She cursed under her breath and settled for using a small screwdriver she keeps in her jacket.
Then I guess you think I'm weak then, Thyra thought, slightly hurt. She knew Aedha didn't mean it in that way, but sometimes she wondered. Aedha was such a brilliant cadet, just without the necessary motivation and priorities. Thyra had to work hard to earn the marks she got. Of course, she often wanted to do other things than write reports, but if she got distracted, then she would have to stay up to finish her homework. And she was one of those people who can't function well without sleep.
ReplyDelete"How's that invention of yours coming?" Thyra asked. Aedha had been working on a sort of all-purpose gadget for a while. She often got frustrated, but every time something turned out right, she could be happy for days.
Aedha made a face. "Ugh. So I was working on it again yesterday, but I had the wrong size metal connector for the whole thing so I had to take it apart and start over. I mean, if I can't even get the basis structure right, there's no way I can even start programming."
ReplyDeleteShe typed away at her tablet, before frowning and erasing an entire line of code. "So you planning on doing anything after classes today?"
"I might go to the training arena," Thyra answered, peeking over see the lines of code Aedha was working with. She recognized some small parts of it, but most of it was completely foreign. "Why? Did you have something in mind?"
ReplyDeleteAedha snorted. "Training, again? If you train any more, you'll become a robot. Besides, we have a free evening tonight." She was about to say more before she suddenly frowned over the tablet for a moment. Her eyes lit up and her fingers sped over the input hologram.
ReplyDelete"Hold on to that thought, Thy. I think I've got something here."
'Thy' sounds too much like 'thigh', Thyra thought, not for the first time, chuckling to herself.
ReplyDelete"I haven't had time to go to the training arena recently," she explained as Aedha typed away. "But I could go tomorrow I suppose. I only hope that you're not thinking of bringing us to some party. I'm not feeling up to socializing today."
Aedha whooped suddenly. "HA! Take that, Luke! Try cheating the system now!" She smugly looked at her program, which was running data and numbers, showing a success message in monitoring the Military Tactics simulator game.
ReplyDelete"And no, of course we're not going to a party." She scoffed. "We're crashing one."
Thyra didn't know whether to roll her eyes or run away in horror. Or both. Part of her hoped that Aedha was only joking. But who was she kidding? Aedha never joked about things like this.
ReplyDelete"God. Can we not?"
Aedha grinned slowly. "It'll be fun! I mean, if you want to be all business about it, I guess you can think of it as practice undercover work. Come on, it's just a regular civilian party." Well, it was more than just a regular party, but Thyra didn't need to know that.
ReplyDelete"Field work is very different from a party," Thyra stated flatly. "You can drag me to a party, but I won't be happy about it. I can make better use of my time in the training arena."
ReplyDeleteAedha tucked her tablet somewhere into her cargo pants, and checked the time on her wristcom. "Ha. Well, trust me, this is gonna be much, much better than training in the arena." She looked at Thyra and grinned. "Plus, I get to see you in a dress."
ReplyDeleteThyra blanched. "You know how... exposed I feel in dresses." Thyra thought Aedha of all people would understand - she was the one who wore cargo pants.
ReplyDeleteShe gathered up her supplies. The hour had gone by quickly. "Have fun at your party. I won't be coming," she stated adamantly.
Aedha huffed, blowing the hair out of her face. "Fine. Guess I'll be getting the extra credit myself then." She smirked to herself, knowing that would certainly get Thyra's attention.
ReplyDeleteThyra froze. And slowly turned on her heel.
ReplyDelete"Tell me more."