Pilot [3]
Broken Bones and Teacups
Ghosthelm
469Please respect copyright.PENANAviJfdeR51A
There were few found memories Pilot had of his younger days, or few that he could really remember. One, was of a babushka doll his uncle had given him as a gift, of a woman with dark skin and white hair, and with every doll within they grey younger and younger, until the final doll being a peaceful white dove.
It was the only thing he could think of to describe his situation now. One mystery after another, but there had to be a wide dove in the center somewhere. A new doll had come to form a new layer, what was this mark on his hand?
They’d called on his squad for a tour of the barracks, and Pilot had waved Kat to go on ahead, as he felt something was wrong with his left arm. And so he stood in the small bathroom, and pulled the glove from his left hand with his teeth. Shaking ever so slightly, Pilot held his left wrist, and gaped wide-eyed at the strange tattoo on his palm.
It was a crow. A water painting of a crow, dark as night, its feathers scattering about his fingers and down the wrists of his veins. It tingled slightly, and his whole arm just felt off.
What in the goddamn Forgotten World is this?
Pilot twisted the tap, desperately trying to wash the mark away. When he discovered his efforts were for naught, Pilot held his shaking hand, and slowly collapsed onto the floor, all the while staring, as if the mark could offer some kind of guidance.
Did they tattoo this onto me while I was unconscious, if so, why, just, why?
“Got a little ink, do you?” A female, muffled voice said from the room behind him.
Pilot started, and stood to face the intruder.
“Who…are you?” He asked the strange girl sitting on the table. Her hair was the same white as her silk dress and gasmask, yet her skin was dark as the oak table she sat comfortably on.
She giggled and kicked her legs over the table, swinging them almost childishly, despite how she seemed to be the same age as him.
“My name’s Elise, nice to meet you Pilot,” She said, offering a hand to shake.
Hesitantly, Pilot shook her hand.
“How do you know my name?” He asked worriedly, remembering the young girl that had caused him to fall to his death, or at least, should have.
Could she be the person in the blue mask that tried to save me?
Elise tilted her head and stared at him with hidden eyes.
“We’ve met before, not so long ago, but you wouldn’t remember, it’s so good to see you again!” She lent in from the table and hugged him close.
“What…I…” Unsure of what to do, he patted her back slightly. Pilot pulled away and held her shoulder, “Just…stay here until I get back, ok?” Elise, obediently sat cross-legged on the table, and watched him as he left the room, pulling his gloves back on.
Wandering down the wooden hall after his squadron, Pilot fumbled with the dog-tags between his fingers in absent thought.
“Wait…” He whispered to himself, staring at the tag in disbelief.
How had it not clicked before?
On the tag, it read GENISIS HOST: Elise La’mour
And…the Midnight Crow, the same crow as the one on his hand? There was no way they weren’t connected somehow. At the realization, he spun round back into his bunk, only to find her gone.
Another layer to add to the doll. Pilot wasn’t entirely sure whether this served as an answer or just gave him more questions. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed deeply.
“What is this…” He hissed to himself.
“-Pilot!” Kat called from the other end of the hallway.
“Huh..?” Pilot sighed.
“They’re starting the tour now, you gotta hurry up!” Kat warned in the most aggressive way he was capable of, which varied between the innocence of a new-born puppy and a ticked off marshmallow.
~ ~ ~
Their squadron was led on a tour by possibly the most bubbly military officer alive, a young man of black hair and blue eyes by the name of Takashi Rae. He led the five around the barracks, introducing them first to the Dojo, a rectangle shaped room mostly made of an elevated white mat.
Takashi explained (with far too much enthusiasm) that this would be the place where they would be beating the living shit out of each other. The two brothers, Naoki and Icho looked to each other with a challenge in their eyes, whilst Kat looked to be the picture of absolute anxiety, and Viola, well, she seemed indifferent about the whole thing.
I should…talk to her. She’s in a group of strangers, and all of them guys, she probably feels like an outsider.
As nonchalant as he could, Pilot shuffled around to her whilst Takashi continued to blather on.
He couldn’t find the courage to look her in the eye, and instead faced the dojo.
“Uh…hey, Viola,” Pilot mumbled.
Slowly, she turned to him, smiling shyly.
“Hello there,” She said, waving slightly.
Pilot opened his mouth to say more, before Takashi interjected.
“So, any volunteers for a demonstration?”
Almost immediately, Viola raised a slender hand. Takashi waved her up, smiling and asked, “Just one more volunteer, who will it be?”
Viola turned back to Pilot, and asked, “I didn’t catch your name?”
“P-Pilot…” He answered, smiling shyly.
Viola, with a small smile, turned to Takashi and said, “Pilot volunteers, too.”
Pilot lost his smile when Takashi yanked him up onto the mat to face Viola.
“Rules are simple, since neither of you are supposedly trained, your aim is to just incapacitate each other.”
Pilot mirrored Viola, raising his fists into a protective stance.
“Woo, go Pilot! Kat called.
“Go purple-haired chick!” Icho called with far too much enthusiasm.
“Go mutual, opposing parties…” Naoki said flatly.
Despite a life in the slums, Pilot had never gotten into many scraps. He was the King of Crows after all, and escapist by nature. So now, he could amply say he was chocolate fudged.
Viola swung first, surprising him in the speed and ferocity of the swing, yet he dodged easily enough, side-stepping to the left, Pilot found an opening, if he kicked hard into her side now, it’d send her toppling to the ground ifs she wasn’t fast enough. But…he hesitated. Time slowed, and he felt something inside him twist and flex, almost like a muscle. Then, she was there, beside him.
“Elise?” Pilot whispered softly, curious as to why she stood beside him.
“It’s simple, she’s off balance, kick her to the ground and give her a god-damn lesson in respect,” Elise snapped, her anger muffled by her gasmask.
“R-respect?” Pilot stammered, just as Viola swung round to knee him straight in his jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Elise sighed, saying, “Too late.”
His bearings skewed, Pilot was a confused child as Viola stared down at him, plain fury in her lavender eyes. With far too much ease, she skirted her foot underneath him and flipped him over onto his stomach. The others simply watched as she straddled him, grabbing his right arm and twisting it an angle that cause him to cry out in agony. Elise simply lent over at him, and tilted her head ever so slightly, “I told you, little Pilot, now you’re her bitch.”
Viola lent in close, and spoke so soft even Pilot had to strain to hear him properly.
“My name is Violet, you’d best remember that,” She gave one more painful yank, and left him where he lay.
“Ah, I believe we need to move on to the next feature in the barracks….I think, we’ll just leave Pilot to have a minute…”
Kat came up to him, crouching by him he put a reassuring hand on Pilot’s arm.
“She probably takes…herbs or something,” Kat tried to comfort him.
Pilot groaned, and waved him away, saying he’d catch up.
And so, for a moment Pilot lay wallowing in pain and shame. But only for a moment.
“You’re not very smart, are you Pilot?” Elise spoke up, sitting beside him.
He sat up, wiping away the blood from his lower lip he’d received from his rough landing.
“I thought I told you to stay in the apartment, but besides that, I’ve got a whole lot of questions for you.”
“Oh, please list them out for me,” Elise sighed sarcastically.
“First off, how did no one see you just now?” Pilot asked, his head spinning.
“I’m only meant for your eyes,” She answered, picking at the white mat like a bored child.
Pilot simply sighed, “Right…well, why did you help me in the fight?”
At that, she perked upright, almost giddy as she said, “Because that’s what I’m here for, to help you!”
Well, if you’re here to help, maybe start actually answering my questions, Pilot thought grumpily.
“Next question,” He said, taking off his dog tags to dangle before her.
“Why does it say, genesis host: Elise La’mour, on these tags from my uncle, do you know my uncle, can, can you take me to him, please?” Pilot asked pleadingly.
Despite the fact that her mask hid her face, Elise peered at the tags sadly.
“I cannot take you to your uncle, no, but I can tell you one thing,” She took his marked hand, and pulled off the glove he’d worn to hide it, revealing the crow that shifted ever so slightly.
“You’ve inherited The Midnight Crow. I’m here to help you, keep you alive and teach you of the Midnight Crow, but…now is not the time…and this is certainly not the place. Remember, this mountain is your enemy.”
Pilot looked the crow-mark, and then to the tags, “But still, why is your name…-” He was cut off when he realized she’d disappeared.
“Oh, strawberry snaps,” Pilot swore violently under his breath.
He eventually found their bubbly guide and his squadron in an equipment locker room in the far left wing of the barracks, fitting MUNC trainee uniforms.
“Youngblood,” Takashi barked at Pilot, motioning him through an locker aisle and to a table filled with piles of uniforms. They had trouble finding a uniform that fit his lean, yet just average height requirements. Eventually they found one close enough, and Pilot went to try it on in the adjoining room filled with silk privacy screens, dimly lit with paper lanterns strung down the room.
“I can’t deny I like the design taste…but why is everything Asian centric?” Pilot muttered to himself.
Kat, on the other side of the slider piped up, “You really don’t know anything about the Valkyries, do you?”
“Well, I know they kill monsters and kidnap poor people. So, that’s like, two things I know?” Pilot replied with as much sarcasm as he could muster. (As a bonus to living in the slums, he never really had a great grasp on arithmetic.)
Kat chuckled, “Uhuh, that’s very impressive, you should become an Abby master-”
“A what now?” Icho cut in, on the other side of Pilot’s slider.
Kat simply sighed, “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to stress your brain out too much Icho.”
“I’m not following,” Icho said, possibly sincerely.
“And that’s why you’re not the leader,” Naoki said, getting changed in the furthermost screen.
Pilot ignored them and asked, “Well, Kat, what do you know about the Valkyries that entitles you so?”
Before Kat could reply, Icho interjected (again), “Oooh, the slum dog has a vocabulary?”
Pilot snorted in indignation, tingling slightly at the cold metal of the tags against his bare chest, he slid on the grey singlet and then the black short-sleeved shirt over it.
“I read a lot of books, but, back to the point, before a certain ox decides to interrupt again, Kat please continue with your infinite array of scholarly wisdom on the MUNC.
Kat took in a deep sigh, pausing to think for a moment before he said, “Well, a corporation independent of the Empire, or any beacon of power such as the MUNC relies heavily on the support of the people and cities they save for funds…but, for the last six years, give or take, the Valkyries have been more or less inactive. It’s been as if most creatures that pose a threat to humanity have been hunted to extinction…or, for some strange reason, gone into some strange form of hibernation, as if waiting for something. But I think… I think that something could possibly be this Monolith creature, and, for the MUNC, the surfacing of this creature couldn’t be any better fortune for them. For the most part, the reason why everything here has been Japanese centric, instead of the Anglo-Saxon design that the general Blacksteel Empire has inherited is because the MUNC is being funded by the Japanese descendant merchant princes in Colonies state capitol city, the Eastern Eamory.”
“Those rich pricks have as much power if not more, than bloody Terraghar, the both of them reliant on trade,” Naoki brought up, a sour streak in his tone.
Pilot slipped on the short-cut black jacket, the two Phoenixes Haine in red and Amor in blue, dancing and twisting on its back, then black strap boots and close fitting black pants padded with protective layers of leather on his calves, knees and upper, outer thighs. Then, finally, the jet-black cloak, dark, sweeping and graceful as the darkness its pigment reflected, at its center a single rising phoenix, ablaze with fiery tongues of magenta, its wings wide and courageous.
He tugged a new pair of black gloves on, quickly discarding the old pair he’d hurriedly put back on after Elise had disappeared.
Pilot, wearing the flattering uniform actually felt a bout of confidence, striding down the locker aisles, before he ran into a wall. And, before he realized that wall was in fact Icho. The towering blonde haired young man stared down at Pilot, wearing a matching uniform and stony faced for a moment until he broke out into a grin, and locked Pilot in the crook of his arm, laughing haughtily, “You…got your ass handed to!”
Pilot laughed nervously, visibly blushing as he cringed at his failures.
“Yeah…I don’t think Viola likes me very much…” Pilot joked, making Icho bark in laughter even more. And just as he said that, a bristling Violet stormed past them, slamming her shoulder into Pilot’s on her way.
“Ow!” Pilot yelped, shuffling away. Violet left the lockers, leaving Icho to pat Pilot on the head pitifully.
The others, now dressed in the same attire came into the lockers as Takashi announced their rosters, handing them out to each of them. Just as Pilot began to leave for the mess hall with the others, Takashi stopped him saying, “Hey, give this to Violet, would you?”
Pilot stood there with a look in his eyes that was so innocent, so pure, that Takashi felt inclined to kick his ass out the door and in the direction of their bunks.
When Pilot returned to the wooden hallway, he found himself hesitant. Despite her actions earlier, and outright violent nature she’d gladly displayed, Pilot couldn’t help but feel bad for her.
But…I won’t be her doormat if she’s going to act that way, besides, I don’t even know why I feel bad for her in the first place, it’s not like she’s seems the type for a damn pity party…
“It’s because your projecting your own fears onto Violet, a complete stranger you can make many assumptions about, or in your case, project your own emotions onto her so you don’t feel like you’re wallowing in your own fears, well, so you can justify wallowing in someone else’s emotions,” Elise chirped, sitting by Violet’s slider door, her head rested on her knees.
Pilot peered at her curiously, with slight annoyance. The gasmask muffled her voice, so it was always a toss up as to whether she was being sarcastic or not.
“Thanks, for giving me an answer to question I never asked,” Pilot said, knocking on the wooden panel of the slider. Elise just smiled as the slider opened, two glaring eyes appearing in the gap.
“I have your roster-” Pilot began, putting a hand on the slider door, cut off as Violet slammed the slider close, right over his fingers. He leapt backwards, cradling his hand and making a long, high-noted sound from his throat as he slipped to the floor beside Elise. After the pain had waned, Pilot looked to the white haired girl to find she’d disappeared into nothingness. He almost jumped, when he turned to see Kat standing in front of him, a hand extended. With a sigh, Pilot handed Kat the roster, and waited for her to fatality injure the boy in some fashion…yet, to Pilot’s surprise, she let him in. He got up, and stepped forward, only for her to slam the door an inch from his face.
And so, Pilot slumped back to the floor, and rested his head against the wooden wall, smooth and warm, and he listened.
-“My name’s Katsuo, as you probably know, but, it’s nice to meet you Violet.”
“Yeah, it’s good to meet you too, Katsuo, thanks for bringing me my roster,” She said almost nicely. Pilot clicked his tongue, pressing his boots to measure up against Elise’s, who’d deigned to appear again, sitting opposite to him.
They talked about a whole lot of nothing, exchanging common pleasantries and conversation, and Pilot began to nod off slightly, until…-“I know he didn’t mean any harm…I just…I’m on edge with everything that’s happened. I…grew up in Sourthraport, and, they just…they just took me. From my home, from my life, from my…f-family.” There was a whimper, a crack at the very end of her voice.
A crack that resonated and woke him up. Violet had…family? Pilot supposed he hadn’t thought about that, or the fact that any of the recruits might have a family back at home…he’d brought his family, Leo, and Bass, with him. He’d adapted quickly enough, being from the slums, growing the way he did Pilot had to. Besides…what kind of life had he had in the City Above anyway?
Here, there was a life mapped out for him, a mysterious message, photo and tags from his uncle, somehow coming back to life from snapping his spine and drowning…and now a white haired girl with a gasmask had made a habit of appearing and reappearing at will.
“I…understand, what it’s like to lose everything…” Kat said so silently, Pilot strained to hear. “My family and I…we lived in an isolated fishing village, out on the eastern coast. So isolated, it would take hours for any authorities to help us if something were to happen. My older sister, Yara, would sell the fish my father would catch, and I’d help her, while my mother would stay home and look after the house. No one was sure what started the fire, but it spread so quickly we didn’t have a moment to react. My sister and I made it to the docks, and there was only one rowboat left…She…Kara couldn’t leave without going back for our parents, so she pushed the boat out onto the current…I was…I was too weak to turn the boat back and go get her. When I woke, it was morning, and I was on the deck of a MUNC airship, they’d seen my little boat, and taken me to safety, then, they put me below deck with the other children they’d ‘rescued.’
Kat’s voice had been shaking all the while he’d been talking, but when he finished, Pilot could only fold his arms when Kat began to sob. The boy apologized hastily to Violet, and left, accidently knocking over the chair he’d been sitting on. Kat left the room, slamming the slider door close behind him, he tripped, falling into Pilot’s embrace. Kat cried unashamed, his face buried into Pilot’s chest as he shook. He rested his head on Kat’s, and patted his back.
“It’s ok, Kat. It’s ok, I can be your brother now.” Kat looked up him, tears rolling down his cheeks, and Pilot wiped away his tears with his sleeve, “I’ll be your big brother now,” Pilot smiled. Kat adjusted his glasses, but they still remained slightly crooked as he smiled tiredly. Pilot shouldered Kat onto his back, and carried him down the hall into their bunk, and lay Kat down onto the bottom bed. He folded his glasses and tucked them away, rolling onto his side and facing the wall.
“You should probably go talk to her…” Kat began, yawning.
“Night, bro.”
Pilot gave him a small smile, and tussled his hair.
“Night.”
He left the bunk, and went to Violet’s, finding that the slider had been ajar the whole time.
“Oh…ah, hey?” Pilot said cautiously.
She stood directly on the other side, staring down at the floor, lost in thought, then closed the slider.
After a moment of silence, Violet spoke through the cotton.
“I’m sorry. Really, I am. It’s just…”
“I get it,” Pilot said, stern and silent.
She was gone for a moment, then returned, sliding the door open slightly Violet handed him a porcelain cup of lemon-scented tea.
She actually smiled, saying, “Yeah, maybe you’re not an idiot. Just, weak, that’s all.”
“Soft?” Pilot groaned, taking a sip of the tea.
“Yeah, Pilot. You’re weak, but I really hope you’re not an idiot.”
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