Chapter 3: uncalled for


After Roll Call, we're scheduled, by Aeon, to have a free block, just before Recoloring. They're the ones who spend hours of hard work on our timetables.

I break into a small run, while tapping in 7-2-3-8-5. Seth's tracking code. What we always do to make sure we make it to the edge of the Central Area together. I hear, with a slight satisfaction, a continuous little buzzing noise near me. On my left side, slightly behind. Seth's catching up.

Just like when we were Reds, with our little Red Fingers, we'd compete (the three of us) on who'd touch the cool metal bar first. It was so...Red-like to do such a thing. Now I find myself looking down on it. But, as my body dictates my mind, I still rush through the crowd, ducking past clucking Yellows, whispering Greens, Blues checking their new Rulebooks and Reds doing the same thing I'm doing. I find myself almost smiling.

Dayn's already there, leaning against the rail not unlike the way Faern was, coolly checking her grey shirt for any signs of the slightest wrinkle (there isn't any). She looks up at the sound of sneakers and their slight squeaking.

“You got your shoes washed?”

An unconventional friend, with the strangest conversation starters.

I nod the affirmative. Seth huffs up behind me, pursing his lips after he realizes (for the millionth time) that I beat him. Again. He thinks it's a matter of skill, so he practices a lot. What he doesn't get, is that it's a matter of how you run. If you run and flash grins to everyone you cut in front of, not to mention saying “excuse me” and avoiding Blunders, you get, very quickly, to your destination in hardly anytime at all. Seth, king of Blunders and Discourtesy, has yet to learn these essential steps to moving faster through crowds.

“I left them outside and they got cleaned. Same as always.”

“But you put in that little tab for special cleaning cases. The one that specifies special cleaning of the soles of all things?”

“Hey hey! Nothing's wrong with getting things cleaner!”

“But something so stupid as to clean the soles of the shoes you're going to run on dirty floors with?”

The regular bickering of trivial matters. Seth breaks off, as he does, after a short exchange. He doesn't have the stamina, the same with his running, to keep up with a cool-headed Dayn. Arguing with her, it makes you feel like you're throwing silly cliches and hopeless silly Red-speak that bounce off her cool exterior. She may talk a lot, but she gives the odd impression that she's stoic.

It must be something with the fact that she talks, but appears never to listen. Maybe she really doesn't.

Right now, she realizes one of her two friends is spacing out on her. She says so.

“Lia? You're spacing out on me.”

Straight and to the point. Not a question, for there was no need for one. This was a statement of facts.

In retrospect, I've realized that the two friends I was dumped with, at the start of my Blue Days, wouldn't have been my first choices on any list. Nowhere, nowhere was there a Form, a dotted line that I signed on for an eternal subscription to Death by Mad Friends.

“Yes, Dayn-Kreul?” My face feigns indifference though my traitorous lips upturn. Very, very slightly.

“We are not going to spend our free block just standing around right?” Her voice holds nothing, no distaste, no scorn, but her derisive eyebrow that raises slightly, that little downturn of the lip, shows everything.

The question, like her other ones (“Are you really that stupid?” or “Why are you smiling?” or “Let's go out and make miscellaneous Trangressions just for the fun of it.”), demands no answer. She'll come up with an answer for her own question either way. But for this particular question, there is only one plausible answer. This question, while literally, merely asks whether we would like to waste our time, also asks a subtler question of where else to go to. And to answer that, there's only one other thing we can do, only one place that we can go to together.

She takes our silence as the answer she would have liked to hear.

“We better not be.”

I lift my body from its slouching position on the cool banister. My knees make that creaking, clicking noises I've gotten used to.

“Faern isn't here.”

Dayn's oddly perceptive mind manifests itself in her abrupt sentence, with its hint of amusement. I smile. Faern-Kai hates the sound. My ears can almost hear the soft, yet deadly voice (“Weakness, all weakness. You want to go to Aphrodite? You want to waste your time? You better not.”), with its measured tone, and she quavers, with anger and the effort of keeping herself from shouting.

I notice Dayn doesn't use the customary “honourific” suffix when she refers to Faern-Kai. The only person I've heard her call by that name is Sai-Kai, her rarely-seen Coach, the best Yellow Jumper. Sai-Kai. She will be Relocated by the end of Recoloring. Dayn would never let on it, but she would miss her.

“Is it okay?”

She turns her full attention to Seth, who is currently resting his left heel on the silver rail, seeming to look at his ankle with discomfort and anxiety. Whatever his attention was on, it was immediately diverted as Dayn's innate ability to attract attention, whether intentionally or not, came into play.

She accompanies her words with a careless gesture vaguely in the direction of his leg. She's never one for showing concern (or affection, or hatred, or...any feeling really.) so it's always a little bit awkward. Normally, no one else can see that twinge of upset in her expressions. But if you've watched her for as long as I have, searching it for a hint of recognition of yourself, laughter in the corners of eyes and lips, fatigue yet rugged determination during any combined Physical Training, any slips in her facade that could remind me that she was as human as...I was.

Seth seems surprised, and immediately lifts his foot from its precarious perch and smiles evasively. He has the air of a Red trying to cover up an inevitably uncovered Trangression.

“Oh, just another nothing ache. Aye Okay.”

“You sure you don't want to go t-”

“No!”

The exclamation shocks all three of us, maybe Seth most of all. It reverberates around the Central Area, which has become deserted as quickly as it filled, the silence cracked by that single noise. Seth hastily rectifies his mistake, his hand jumping to his hair to pull it uneasily.

“I mean...umm...I'd rather not?”

The sentence comes out like a question. The two of us Kreuls pick it up immediately. Dayn's eyes narrow. As do mine.

“You said so.”

My voice comes, after it was silenced for the past few minutes, making everyone turn to me again.

“And she speaks!”

Seth says, effectively removing the attention away from himself.

Dayn raises her eyebrows slightly. In that, I translate it into a plea to the Gods what she did to deserve such friends. In fact, that's a question I ask myself every day.

Seth, understandable. We were the two misfits, the two who didn't bother much about the things every other Kreul and Krono jumped at, the two, who whether because of an acute lack of courage, or because of sheer laziness, who didn't concern themselves with who they sat together with in Academics, or who they were with in Training. We were the last two marbles in a bowl that just kept rolling towards each other, clacking a few times, and ultimately stopping at the bottom, irrevocably together in the end. It was hardly by choice, yet all by choice at the same time. The moment we made the choice that we weren't going to care about friends, we signed our one-way ticket to each others' company.

Dayn is more complicated, Never have I tried to fool myself that I understand why she chose our presence to grace. I suppose she was drawn to us for the same reason she is drawn to what she does. She lives for the thrill and the excitement almost as much as she lives for Jumping and her Coach. She probably picked us for a wholly different reason I picked Seth. She picked us, possibly, probably, because we were a challenge. And Dayn-Kreul does not give up a challenge.

Faint calling raises me from the depths of musing. Dayn waves at me irritably. I break into a slight Run as naturally as I breathed out a sigh. Then something catches my eye, From behind, while Seth does not lag behind Dayn's disappearing back, I can see that he's limping.


We head for the only place that we can go to together. As we're from different events, we don't have the same KeyCards. Seth and I can access the Training Centres, as Dayn can too. But we can't get into the Mat Area and Dayn can break into our Training Sessions at the Running Track.

Training Centre 5 sits, like a greyhound on its haunches, ready to spring, on the intersection of many small roads. As it is one of the least-frequented place in Olympus, we are happy to have it mostly to ourselves, on most days. Which gave us a pretty good percentage of days when we were the only people there. Some people said that was where Whities (I shudder at the word) trained after curfew, but no one knows for sure. I don't like to believe it.

As its unfavourable position, the furthest Training Centre from most Training locations, including the Swimming Pools 1 through 5, the Diving Pools 1 and 2, the Gymnasium and the Courts. Which included every single type of Court you needed. Only the Mat Area and the Running Track are remotely close to this Training Centre. Hence our presence being the only one in the Building.

Each Training Centre has the most basic of basic equipment. Specialized equipment can only be found in your respective Training Areas. Treadmills line each East wall, dumbbells and weights on the West wall. Mats, lined two by two, over at the North wall, and windows covering the whole of the South one. The layout was kept strictly the same in every Training Centre. Not that you can move anything anyway. They're bolted to the ground.

Today, the Training Centre is characteristically deserted. Even though there's no one on the centre Treadmills, the ones with a larger variety of distances and speeds, not to mention free Vit-Drink, we head to our usual treadmills, the ones off in the corner near the mats. By sheer force of habit, I take my place at the one tucked furthest into the corner, with Seth and Dayn next to me.

“I'm doing 2. You?”

The dreary, albeit needed, conversation starter, offered by me, is punctuated by my fingers tapping into the monitor the distance and the desired speed.

“Me too. At 16 per hour?”

I shrug. Dayn's fingers dance on the touchpad in front of her.

“Might as well. Seth?”

Seth ignores my question and stares pointedly at his ankle, as if berating it for some unknown reason. His forehead is a mass of lines as if he's tackling one of those terrible problems we get in Academics that has him swearing at Athena, the Gods in general, our teacher Rina-Kai, or anything he can find to pin the blame on.

“Olympus to Seth! Seth-Krono! A response would be appreciated.”

He's shaken effectively from his reverie after my second remark.

“Hmm? Oh yeah. Sure!”

His abrupt response, the two quick flick of the head up, the slight pained expression that's immediately wiped away, makes me cock an eyebrow at him questioningly. He seems to think that I can't see through his "disguise". After being with him for the last 5 years, I'd thought he'd think more of me than that. After all, I can still remember that limp that he had not fifteen minutes ago.

"You sure you're alright? I mean, you can always sit out-"

"I'm fine okay?"

His nostrils flare slightly, as if daring me to question his decision further. His green eyes narrow into a uncharacteristic stare. He looks like an animal, wanting to lick it's own wounds.

I shrug. I decide that I'll leave him be this once. I press the "Start" Button, listening to the whir of the machine as it starts up. The rubbery surface under me mechanically heaves my weight backwards. I lapse into my trance-like state reserved just for running. Two more identical whirs, one after the other, start next to me, as well as the comforting thump-thump-thump from my two friends.

Were they friends? I find myself hesitating on that word more than once today. What else could I call them? Acquaintances? No. That seemed to formal for the casual relationship we had of looks and smiles and the chatter. Compatriots? No, that was better, but still not the correct word. Then almost by mistake, I stumble over the next word.

"Companions."

This fits us to the T. We aren't just passing people who know each others' names and a bit of bio-data. It's safe to say that I've known Seth for as long as I've been in Olympus, at least give or take a few days. Dayn joined us about mid-way through that year, at our first joint-Training with the Jumpers.

"Lia? What companions?"

It takes me a while to realize that I said that out loud. I bend my head slightly, keeping my eyes on my feet, moving slowly, surely.

"Oh. Nothing."

Dayn looks at me with eyes that remind me of Faern's hawk-like gaze.

"Okay..."

Her tone makes me certain that she doesn't believe me, but she's letting it pass. Just like how I let Seth's evasive words go, to prevent the hassle.

The treadmill begins to get ahead of me. My foot almost slips of the edge of the machine. With that little mistake, my heartbeat quickens as I berate myself for losing concentration.

Silence falls over Training Centre 5, save the noise of the treadmills and the beating of feet, each with its own rhythm. I smile at the familiarity of the situation. Just like always.

I've gotten so used to the monotone of Training Centre 5 that, when I hear a softened bump of a back against the unforgiving, hard floor, my head whips around so fast that I give myself a crick in the neck. The noise bounces around the room, echoing despite the fact that it wasn't very loud. the groan that follows it does the same.

"Seth!" Dayn's reflexes and customary good grip on unforeseen situations immediately bring her to our injured friend's (I hastily correct myself), companion's, side, unheeding of her treadmill continuing to move.

Seth lies on the ground, eyes staring up at the ceiling. I see them following the crack on it, up to the North Wall, and down to the South Wall. He can't believe it. He's as surprised as we are, really. I feel the tense situation is in dire need of one of his quips. The trouble is, he can't make a wise-crack in the position he's in (breathing hard, chest rising and falling erratically). I feel the responsibility fall to me.

"For the life of me, I've never seen such a stubborn fool like you." I interject, shaking my head. I'm strangely unconcerned. After all, he's the one to blame, if anyone, for this.

Dayn flicks her head around and glares at me for my indifference. I wisely keep quiet (something Seth would never learn to do). Seth's eyes catch mine, something in them dancing with amusement that's both heartening and somewhat irritating to see. I give him a lopsided smirk and scout around for something to occupy myself with. I have the sudden urge to do something.

My eyes come to a rest on the treadmills, their rubber tarp still revolving. I slap my hand on all three "stop" buttons in one swoop. The room quietens immediately. The silence, unlike the comfortable one before this, is still thick with unease. I need to break it, whether with a helpful statement or not.

"Shall I get Aphrodite to send a medic?"

My hand's already retrieved my InterCom by this time, thumb over the speed dial number of Aphrodite.

Dayn presses her lips together in thought. I can literally see her mind spinning with musing and thinking. A medic would be helpful in a situation like this.-I'm not sure if Aphrodite will be done with him in time for Recoloring!-Dayn-Kreul does not ask for help!-There'll be the hassle of procedure and formalities after this-We'd have to secure a Special Circumstance Form verified by Faern and Jace (the deliberately left-out suffix is glaring).-Which would be tougher than forging their signature-Arguably, yes.

It pleases me to see that my interpretation of her mind was not such a far cry from reality. She turns her head away, making a decision in her next movement. She pulls his outstretched hand, causing him to struggle into a sitting position.

"Can you stand?" She says louder than necessary, her face seeming to crack with the effort not to show emotion.

Seth shot her a forced grin and transferred his weight almost fully onto his right foot, pushing up with his right hand. His left claws for further support and leverage, which I quickly give him. I tighten my grip and haul him up, looping his arm around my shoulders. meanwhile, to keep her hands busy, Dayn takes out an unopened packet of Vit-Drink and 3 Meta-Pills from her pocket. She thrusts them at Seth.

"You sure?"

His first words come out raspy and hoarse, as if he'd screamed
for hours. His query not only questions her decision to give them to him (after all, this would deprive her of precious Meta-Pills from her daily ration), it also asks her if she's certain he should eat them, considering that they're an overdose.

She simply pushes them into his free hand and close his fingers over them.

"You need them more than I do."

She seems to disregard the second, subtler meaning behind Seth's words. He shrugs and downs it all in a single gulp, the slosh of the Vit-Drink and the soft clacking of the Pills in his mouth before they're swallowed, are sounds our ears have been aching to hear, sounds that we pick up even when they're small in volume.

His hand's still in mine as we move slowly to the door, each step steadier, more independent of my support. His pulse begins to race with the added power of the Pills in his bloodstream. Dayn follows quickly after, scanning her KeyCard as we leave the room. The doors close, the lights automatically turning themselves off. We leave silently as we came.

It's almost as if we weren't here at all.

Which is the thing that gets me these days. We Greens are so invisible thanks to our "limbo state" as Seth dubbed it. Reds are lost enough to be noticed, Blues loud enough to be heard and Yellows with enough honour to be recognised. My eyes go skyward for the first time today that wasn't because of some smart-aleck comment made by Seth.

I thank the Gods that we're Recoloring today.

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This Chapter was happily 3305 words long. All hail Write or Die. xDD

Anne (off to work on...chapter 5!)