Response to my lack of symbols for languages has been positive, so I’m going to continue not using them and try and convey the language through context and writing. Thanks to Silentcook, Oddball, griffon8, and everyone else who’s read and commented. It’s great to be considered part of the community here
As to the chapter ahead: I regret nothing.
Previous Chapter
Chapter Five: For the Emperor!
Thursday afternoon found Misha making her way to the Office for International Students. Henry had agreed to meet her for some ASL tutoring, and she wanted to double check some questions she had about her other courses, as well. The building was easy to find, having a bit more glass than the rest, signifying it as a newer structure. The large sign labeling it helped, too. Walking inside, the layout looked like any other office building; bland paintjob, lobby, front desk, and hallways and stairs that led deeper into the building.
Remembering what Henry had said about finding him, Misha asked the young woman at the counter where Will was.
“Will who?” the secretary asked.
“Er, Henry Donovan’s~ Will?” Misha asked, realizing she didn’t know Will’s full name.
“Oh, that guy. Will Benson. He’s in storage room one, down in the basement. Take the stairs on your left and it’s the first door on the right.”
Misha thanked the secretary and descended the metal and tile stairs down. She easily found the metal white door marked as “Storage One,” though someone had placed tape above the words and written “Student Lounge Two” in black Sharpie.
Opening the door, Misha expected a room full of boxes and totes. What she found was definitely not that. A corner on the far left was full of boxes and totes, but most of the room was empty. Almost empty, at least. Two fold-out tables were laid out parallel to the wall to the left of the door, with a layout of oddly painted miniatures arrayed on opposite corners on a field of fake grass, sand, and buildings. Will was standing against the wall, dressed in a gray trenchcoat with a gaudy gray hat with red trim, a large pin of a silver double-headed bird pinned to it. A red scarf was tied around his waist as he pointed dramatically to a tall young man with sandy blond hair Misha didn’t recognize. The young man was wearing something that she slowly recognized as a costume Viking helmet on his head.
“You greenskins don’t stand a chance against the might of the Emperor!” Will said to the other man.
“Bring it on, dah bigger dah fight, dah better!”
“Will you two get on with it already; I can’t play winner if you never play the damn game.”
Misha hadn’t noticed the young woman sitting in a folding chair against the right wall, but now that she did she was surprised she hadn’t. She had long black hair, with bright brown eyes, and wore a short blue skirt and matching shirt. She was also wearing a bright purple cape that hung behind her over the black metal chair she sat in, her smooth legs fidgeting as she sat. Noticing the door was open, the woman turned her head to face Misha, “the cute brunette a friend of yours?” she asked Will.
Will turned to the door, “oh, hi Misha.”
“Hi, Will. Who are your friends~?” Misha asked, keeping an eye on the other woman; she seemed to keep glancing between her and Will.
“The ork warboss is Jerry,” Will said, and Jerry nodded, not taking his eyes off the game, “and the eldar wytch is my stepsister Lynda. She’s visiting for the weekend from Toronto.”
“Hi,” Misha said to Lynda, ignoring her confusion at Will’s standard enculturation through osmosis technique. Lynda looked Misha up and down, taking in her almost normal colored hair, her light pink dress, and the bag of books and notes at her side hanging over her shoulder. Misha raised her eyebrow, “something wrong?”
Lynda smiled, “no, you just have nice eyes.”
Will coughed, and Misha turned back to him, hopefully hiding the slight flush from Lynda in the process, “I assume you’re here for Henry, and not to be eye candy for my sister.”
Lynda stuck her tongue out at Will as Misha nodded, “I need his help for tutor-ing,” she said.
“He’s in his office, second floor, room seven, dealing with a serious matter that only he is qualified to decide,” Will said, his outfit somewhat underscoring his normally pompous tone.
“Please,” Lynda said, “he’s picking the movie for tomorrow’s movie night,” Lynda looked back at Misha, their eyes meeting for a moment until Misha glanced away- Lynda’s gaze was one of examination, and it made Misha uncomfortable, “hey, you wanna come, we could make it a double date. You, me, and Will and Henry.”
“Uh…”
“Lynda, could you play nice with the international students?”
Lynda rolled her eyes and ignored Will, “I can show you his office while these two finish their game, assuming they ever start it.”
“Thanks,” Misha said, still not sure about the young woman’s interest in her, if that’s what it was. Stepping aside for her to walk out, Misha followed Lynda up the stairs, watching the purple cape twist and rustle as she bounded upwards. Her hair caught the light of the halls in sheens and glimmers, and when she looked at Misha, her bright brown eyes conveyed a confident and inquisitive nature that reminded Misha of Shizune, much like the earlier stare of evaluation had.
“Here we are,” Lynda said, jerking a thumb at the door, “sorry for being a bit blunt; I prefer the direct approach, leaves less chance for people to think things through. I would appreciate it if you came along, though. I don’t like being the only girl there sometimes.”
“…I don’t know you,” it was both the smartest and dumbest thing she could have said, but it was the truth. Still, she was intrigued by Lynda’s forwardness and confidence. The contrast between her and Misha had piqued Misha’s curiosity. Still, random movie nights with her tutor, his friend, and his friend’s stepsister seemed like an odd thing to ask of a complete stranger.
Lynda shrugged, “that can change- and you do know Henry and Will,” she said, opening the door to the second floor. Another white hallway, with blue carpeting this time, greeted them. Room seven wasn’t too hard to find. The door was closed, and Lynda knocked loudly, “It’s the Dean, we have some reports about a misuse of school property!”
“Very funny, Lynda- that room is legit and you know it,” Henry’s muffled voice said. A few seconds later his door was open and he gazed down at Lynda, looking somewhere between amused and annoyed.
“Hello, Henry,” Lynda said, brushing past him into the small office. It looked like several people used it, as the small room had four cheap wooden and metal desks, with eight matching chairs, and a couple of bookshelves on the wall opposite the door. A green plastic potted plant in the far left corner attempted to break up the monotony, since there were no windows. Lynda quickly took a seat in a chair across from one of the desks.
“Come on in,” he said to Lynda, rolling his eyes, then looked at Misha, “you can come in, too. I just need to finish up before we can tutor; we can do that in the lounge down the hall.”
Misha stepped into the office and sat at another chair, after angling it so it faced the same direction as Lynda. Henry sat behind the desk they faced and started signing forms from a small stack, “I just need to sign some forms for some landfill somewhere. You can go now, Lynda.”
“I wanted to ask you something,” Lynda said, crossing her legs, “can Misha come to tomorrow’s movie night?”
Henry stopped signing forms and looked at Lynda, “and you want to invite a complete stranger to our movie night why?”
Lynda shrugged, “she knows you two, how strange can she be. Besides, you and Will are always going on and on about enculturation, what better way then through cultural participation. And I like her hair, makes her seem like a fun person. Are you a fun person?” she asked Misha.
Misha nodded, ignoring her confusion, “I think so~.”
“See, she admitted it,” Lynda said, earning her a glare from Henry. The two entered a staring contest, neither one blinking. Both their gazes pierced into each other, but it was Lynda who cracked first, sighing quietly.
“Fine, you want the truth?” she asked.
Henry nodded and muttered a quick “sorry about this” in Japanese to Misha, who was too focused on the battle of wills before her to worry about being ignored.
“She has that lost look in her eyes I used to have, okay?” Lynda said.
Henry turned to Misha, looked at her eyes for moment, sighed, and turned back to Lynda, “if she wants to come, she can, but,” Henry pointed a pen at Lynda, “ignoring the rules of the Office that violates, if she comes over, I am going to warn her about you.”
Lynda shrugged and turned to face Misha, “my name is Lynda Long, I’m a nineteen year old sophomore at the University of Toronto, I’m bisexual, and suffer from type 1 bipolar disorder,” she turned back to Henry, “that cover it?”
Henry gave a stunned nod. Lynda smiled and trotted off back downstairs.
“Take your meds tomorrow!” he barked after her.
“I will!” she called back.
Henry grunted, “that’s a relief, at least.”
Misha’s brain slowly recovered from the overpowering aura that had filled the room with Lynda- fortunately she was used to such people, “what just happened?” she asked, stunned into her native language.
“Lynda happened,” Henry said, also using Japanese as he quickly recapped what Lynda said, since Misha had missed most of it.
“The choice of going is of course up to you,” Henry concluded, “you going technically violates a couple of University policies regarding mentors and their mentees, but I can wave it off since a visiting international student would be present- and she has a point about enculturation. Besides, the school has bigger issues to worry about, like its students using a storage room as a tax write-off.”
Henry’s smile as he finished gave Misha some confidence, so she didn’t mind asking what Lynda meant by a “lost look.”
Henry shifted a bit, glancing around before answering, speaking in slow English- more from nerves than anything else, likely, “you’re not the only one who’s questioned her sexuality. Her disorder didn’t help with that. Her saying that you remind her of herself when she was younger may be the truth- I don’t know, it’s not my business. Either way, she does have a habit of looking after the younger members of Toronto’s LGBT movement,” Henry chuckled, “her own mentoring program, you could call it. It might be good for you, and she definitely has an interest in you- she normally doesn’t tell people about her disorder; it tends to make them nervous.”
Misha nodded, “that makes sense,” Misha paused, her reluctance and her curiosity fighting each other before curiosity got the better of her, “Tell her I’ll go- it will be a good enculture-ation experience, at least~.”
“I will,” Henry said, smiling and getting up from his desk, “these papers can wait, we should start on the tutoring.”
Misha started to follow Henry as he walked out of the office, but stopped. She had an idea, and she wanted to say it out loud before she left the room, and the last vestiges of Lynda’s confidence that it contained. Besides, who better to tell then the closest person she had to a friend in the States and a complete stranger who wouldn’t judge her?
“Henry?” she asked. He stopped just outside the doorway and turned around.
“Lynda told me about her disorder, so tell her…. Tell her I might be bisexual, too. Maybe,” Misha stared at the floor and bolted down the hall. It was quick, random, out of place, and probably too soon, but she had looked into her past and addressed it to someone. That and the muttered “okay” from Henry, were worth the embarrassment and anxiety that flooded Misha’s system before focusing on performing proper ASL could drain them.
+++
Next Chapter
Dakkadakkadakkadakka…
Never enuff dakka.
But I can say that cameos are always nice, which is why I liked Shizune's appearance.