fandomhigh | BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

One moment, there was nothing in the lounge except seating, banners, balloons, and a sign reading 'FANDOM HIGH'. The next moment, a swirl of a portal opened up and a small, white cat-like creature hopped out of it with a flirt of his tail. The concept of interplanetary travel was not new to Kyubey and he was mostly of the opinion that it just made sense that interdimensional travel was not much different, aside from the scale.

With a jump up onto a nearby bench, Kyubey glanced around at the airport—it looked much the same as any human airport that he'd seen--before settling down, head resting on his paws.

He was early, as he'd meant to be, which meant he was the first one here. Good, good. He'd get a chance to see the quality of the new students before gauging the potential of the current ones. The lure of so much energy, just waiting to be harvested… well, he couldn't be careless.

With a twitch of his ears at that thought, Kyubey waited.

Watched.

[~~Please to be waiting for the~~ OCD is up, up, and away!]

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Tisarwat found herself far more interested in the trunks themselves rather than the content of them, remembering how they moved earlier and how the one Kuroko opened responded to her touch. Just how autonomous were they? What level of command did they require? They seemed simple, especially compared to something like the Geck spider mechs...

...how did she even know about Geck spider mechs? Tisarwat blinked, fought the urge to shake her head, and tried to ignore it by smiling at Kuroko's question, even though it really proved just how far flung she was right now, that someone would ask what Radchaai was.

"It's who I am," she offered, after thinking of how best to explain, "it's my people. The Radchaai control almost the entirety of the known universe, where I'm from. To think that someone would have to even ask what Radchaai is, is...."

Disturbing.

Exhilarating.

Tisarwat laughed. "So weird!"

"Aha!" Kuroko held up a pair of delicate lace gloves in black silk. "I did bring them." She pulled them on, wiggling her fingers for a moment to get a feel for them.

"Better?" she asked as she tapped her trunk again and it closed itself and moved back into line with the others.

"Also, that sounds kinda like a big deal."

"Much better." Tisarwat didn't even bother holding back a sigh of relief, even though she was a little surprised by just how much she felt it, and the grateful smile that went with it. "Thank you, Kuroko. And those are beautiful; they suit you so well! Were they a gift?

"And, yeah," she laughed again, "it's definitely a big deal."

Kuroko heaved a dramatic sigh. "I wish they were a gift." She rolled her eyes. "But for some reason, no one ever buys me sexy stuff to wear."

"And most of the people I know, if they tried, I mean, it'd be a nice gesture, but there's no way it'd actually be sexy." Poor Kuroko. It was hard being blessed with the only sense of adult fashion among your friends.

"So are you, like, a big deal, too, then? Like, from an important family or something?"

Well, if things didn't go too badly once this shuttle they were waiting for took them somewhere hopefully much better than this terrible Station, Tisarwat was pleased to already have something already to tuck into her pocket to pull out later to earn a bit more of Kuroko's favor, she hoped.

But the question was enough to distract her from that.

"Who? Me?" Tisarwat laughed, shaking her head. "Oh, no, definitey not me. My house isn't very important at all, I'm honestly lucky I was able to land a position as a lieutenant. I thought I'd been doomed to some boring desk job where I'd have to fight to climb up the lowest rung of the social ladder."

It was weird, too, how just a few months ago, that exact scenario was actually Tisarwat's goal.

Lucky.

Sure.

"Lieutenant, you say? That's not bad at all for someone your age."

Kuroko paused and considered what she'd just said. "Well, assuming that the rank is similar to what it'd be here, and that you're as young as I'm assuming you are."

Which, given that Tisarwat wasn't even from Earth was, maybe not the best set of assumptions to go with.

"I'm seventeen," Tisarwat offered, her smile amused as Kuroko worked through that, "which is how old most Radchaai are when they complete their Aptitudes, but very few get placed into a lieutenant position so soon. My circumstances were...unusual."

Which seemed a fitting enough word to describe the Lord of the entire Radch forcing her consciousness on you to send you to spy on a rogue spaceship bent on killing her, really.

And hardly made for good, light, getting-to-know you banter between two new, civilized friends.

"What about you, Kuroko? How old are you? And tell me about yourself. I think I've hogged the conversation with stuff out me more than enough."

"About myself?" To her credit, Kuroko really did try to sound like she was modest and a little uncomfortable with the idea, but... One of Kuroko's favorite subjects was Kuroko.

"It's not as interesting as your own story, but if you're curious."

"As you know, my name is Kuroko Shirai. I'm 16, and have been a Level 4 Esper since I was 12." She sounded quite proud of that fact. "I graduated from Tokiwadai Academy's junior division near the top of my class, and I'm a senior field operative in Judgment." Oh, wait. Kuroko frowned. "Actually, I suppose I'm on reserve status because I don't think Judgment operates here in America."

It took a couple of seconds, but then Kuroko realized something important and sighed.

"And none of that means anything to you, does it?"

Tisarwat grinned and made a small gesture with her hand. "Not the detail," she admitted, though she'd been soaking it all in, "but I think I understand the important parts, especially that that all sounds much more impressive than just a lieutenant at seventeen. I might need a it more context, though. Like Esper? What's that? And you say Judgement like it's something much more than just looking down on someone for having a tear in their gloves."

"You don't have Espers in all that big space of yours? Like, you know, ESP? Um... it's, like, powers, I guess? The ability to impose your imagination on the world around you?" They were kind of a Big Deal back home. Maybe even The Biggest Deal, depending on who you talked to.

"And Judgment's, like... police, sort of? I mean, not like we don't have actual police, but for a lot of things Judgment just takes care of it so they can focus on important stuff?"

Little things like directing traffic, rescuing kittens, and foiling bank robberies.

The ability to impose your imagination on the world around you. Now there was a phrase that made nearly every last fraying bit of Anaander's consciousness fraying and sizzling. Of course a power like that existed. It just sounded a bit like Kuroko's Espers made it much, much easier than sweeping over the galaxy and leaving other no choice in the matter.

But what she said was, "We don't have anything quite like that that I can think of, but, like you said, it is some pretty big space. Were you...born with Espers, or is something that you learn? How does it work? Is Level 4 very high?"

"You're not born with it, exactly? I mean, sometimes there's a genetic component, but it's not that standardized? Like, the different types of powers are categorized, but things in the same category aren't identical, just similar? And different people develop their initial abilities in different ways?"

Kuroko shrugged. "And it works by, well, knowing it will work? It can take a lot of training to push yourself beyond the limits you've imposed on yourself, you know?"

"And I don't know why I brag about the level thing. Habit, I guess? I mean, in theory it's all supposed to be very objective, and Level 4 is supposed to be really impressive, but I've started to suspect that the levels aren't really about power or difficulty. They're probably some scale those old bastards made up to measure usefulness or something."

BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

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