When the first message came in, Kattie looked up and saw Lana's bright smile. That Blaine really does like her. Her watch dinged a couple more times and her expression changed to shock. She resolved to ask him at breakfast what he was doing with her roommate.
-------------------------
Lana confirmed [Yes] though she was quite weirded out by the whole thing. Words appeared in front of her face, hovering in the air like a phantom story-teller decided to write her a monetary sonnet. She heard her watch ding and looked down.
[1,000 credits deposited, transfer from Paul Techno; MEMO: Birthday.]
Lana sat there stunned for a few moments.
She shook the cobwebs out of her head, "Kattie, are you ready for our meditation? It's been a long day and I'm getting tired."
Katte wasn't tired yet but she agreed to do the meditation so her roommate could get some sleep. Plus, the next day was another PT day.
After meditation, Lana pulled the new blanket from her brother out of her closet and put it under her issued blanket. She couldn't make it into the bed but the chances of a night inspection were low. The chances of an inspection during the day while in classes, that was a different story.
While the privacy of families was respected, the military also had the responsibility to ensure their buildings were properly cared for and clean. Beds were not expected to be made before PT but before breakfast. Anything proprietary to the families needed to be properly stowed. If there was no accommodation, then one needed to be requested to ensure those secrets could be safeguarded.
Lana took a few moments to savor the very idea that she had her very own blankets. The image on the blanket from Dobin was that of a bench under a willow tree. She didn't know how long he spent trying to find it but she was grateful. In truth, all he did was type in willow tree blanket and choose the first one that came up.
Their watches beeped the 15-minute curfew warning as she climbed into bed. Kattie turned off the overhead light and studied by lamp light. They had been taught so many things over the last few days and she was starting to get confused. The fact that Lana was studying the plant books instead of their course material had her a little worried for her roommate.
In room 2217, Dobin had tried on his new clothing and thought he was looking at a whole new person. He reflected back on his time by the fire with Blaine. He was shocked at how nice Blaine appeared to be. He didn't know if this was because Blaine was interested in his sister or if something else was going on. He was a level-0 when he got to school. People don't just talk to level-0's. Granted his watch now said 3, which remained a mystery to him, did people forget the 0 so easily? He decided his sister needed to be cautious around the mysteriously nice guy. He would have to discuss it with her in the morning.
In room 2215, Blaine recalled to Chekof how Lana and her brother reacted to their gifts from him. He was pleased to hear it.
"Has she told you anything about those who made her this way?"
Blaine shook his head, "nothing yet. I can't imagine what kind of person would treat people that way." In his head, his memory took him back to when he was 9. A group of 16 kids, all the same age, all forced… He shook his head and refused to relive that day.
The next morning, at PT, Lana was cussing internally. She wasn't even sweating. She didn't understand what the purpose of this was.
At breakfast, the residents of three different rooms all sat together eating. Dobin and Chekof had an actual race to see who could eat faster. Chekof won. Dobin frowned but vowed to himself he would win some day.
"Blaine," Kattie asked, "what did you text Lana last night just before curfew? She was positively glowing!"
Blaine looked shocked and Lana looked confused.
He looked at Kattie then Lana then back to Kattie, "I didn't text her."
"OOooohhhh," Kattie looked at Lana, "so who's your boyfriend?"
Blaine's eye was twitching.
"I'm quite confused. Kattie, what makes you think I have a boyfriend?"
"Your watch kept going off and you looked really happy."
"And you couldn't ask me and wanted to make a scene instead?"
"I didn't think any other person could put a smile like that on your face… I'm sorry."
"If you must know, my classmate has agreed to help me with my experiments in food. Why would I not be happy about that?"
Lana threw her bacon that was in her hand onto her plate, put the dishes where they go and went outside to wait for formation time.
Blaine saw what was happening and grabbed the bacon off her plate before the kitchen staff grabbed it then placed his own dishes on the counter.
Outside, he called to her, "Lana, wait up."
She slowed but didn't stop until she got to the area her class met in. She turned around and looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"How do you know he doesn't have an ulterior motive? Maybe he's interested in you. I'm not sure I like it."
Exasperated, "Blaine, I'm an orphan with no backing. There is no one who is interested in dating me."
Blaine's eye twitched.
"This person is not a threat to me. If I were a robot, that would be a different story," she chuckled as she remembered the contents of his room.
"Robot? He's into robots?"
Lana laughed, "I don't know but I don't know that he's interested in relationships either. Science, he cares a lot about."
Blaine nodded, "now open." He held up a piece of bacon and she let him feed her the piece while she took the rest from him.
"Is he in your agriculture class?"
She shook her head, "homeroom but he's hardly ever there. I just don't want to pry and ask him why. I think it's because he's busy with his machines."
"Can I meet him?"
"I don't know. He doesn't like social calls. We'll see what the future holds."
Soon the bacon was gone and the classes were emptying from the dining facility into the meeting areas. Forming up was becoming second nature by this time. There was still the one kid who didn't know his right from his left, though. His name was Duff
After the normal classes, Lana had another place to be instead of agriculture. It was her first time assisting Doctor Tall. She was both nervous and excited to gain some experience.
She asked Sergeant Rage how she would get there since she would have no one to march with. He agreed to take her personally. When they got to the clinic, there were injured everywhere. It had been two hours since lunch time but there was moaning, crying and screaming coming from all over.
"Sergeant Rage, I know he's not your student but could you go get Blaine Abel from Elemental class? I think we need his help."
"Is he a healer?"
Lana shook her head, "but he can copy the doctor's healing ability."
"I'll speak to his teacher before asking him."
Lana nodded, took a pot out of her bag and got to work. Soon, she realized there was a pattern. Every single student she saw was level 0, 1 or 2. She finished treating one and the doctor appeared from an exam room.
"Lana! Thank goodness…"
"I'll take care of who I can. Take the worst cases."
Doctor Tall smiled, "I was going to say that."
Just then, Blaine showed up. He took one look at everyone and touched the doctor. Healing was an ability he had a lot of practice with. He didn't say anything or ask for instructions. He just got to work. While the doctor was running low on MC, Blaine could hold three abilities which meant he could use the MC from those three abilities all on healing.
While Blaine was knocking out injury after injury, the doctor was recovering his MC and Lana was burning through hers. More injured students were flowing into the infirmary. Some were simple accidents but others were obviously malintent.
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