Year 3: Line Needs a New Tailor

…

The flash blinded the boy, causing him to immediately look away from the pictographer. Massive spots filled his vision, and he slowly stepped away from the background screen while he tried to blink them out. He hated having his picture taken, especially since he had not been in a decent picture since he was seven. Somehow, he could never smile right, or something caught his eye and caused him to look away at the last second. Last year, the airman in line after him told a dirty joke that burned a horrified image into the scrapbook.

A hand caught his left arm, and he spun. "Well, Link?" the blurry airman in front of him asked. "Not so bad, right?"

Link pressed his hand into his eyes and rubbed. "No, it still sucks," he groaned. "What's with the umbrellas? All they do is make the flash brighter."

"That's probably the point."

Link's vision finally cleared enough to see his best friend, Airman Line, standing in front of him. His blue airman's tunic was clean for once, leaving Link to assume that he had recently bought a new one. He wore a black body suit with a pipe neck and brown slacks, both looking appropriately cleaned and pressed for the crew's picture day. The brown work boots, however, still sported dried dirt on the caps of the toes from what Line had been doing last night: stomping and kicking soil so he had a hard chunk to fling at a rival airman from the Dayhawk. Link had yet to see any progress in that aspect of Line's rivalry and, generally, found it easier not to ask.

"Still," Link said with a sigh. "I wish we didn't have to do this every year."

"Big deal, Link," Line told him, using the back of his hand to smack Link's shoulder. "So you look like a dork for a second out of your life. You know what's going to happen years later, when that scrapbook gets put next to the Grand Sails' logbook in the Skyrider's Archive? 'Look here. This is Captain Link when he was just ten years old and already in his third year of service. Now that's dedication.' Right?"

"I'm only dedicated because I don't know anything else, Line," Link said. "Besides, I don't know I want to be a captain."

Line stepped beside him and pushed him into walking with a hand on his back. "You're not going to have a choice in the matter. That's all up to the fleet captains; they say who gets a ship and who doesn't."

"I think I'd prefer to just stay on the Grand Sails. I'm just not that ambitious. Besides, I screw up a lot. Captain Alfonzo's disciplined me four times last month for poorly tying down rigging."

Line shrugged. "A bump in the road."

"Six times for hauling up signal flags in the wrong order…"

"So we got ignored by the Northern Tern. They still got the message, right?"

"Three times for dripping ink on business reports…"

"I keep telling you you use too much ink in those pens."

"Once for not replacing the berth bedding correctly when he was punishi—d'ow!"

Line had just smacked the back of his head. He coolly jammed his hands into his trouser pockets and put a bored look on his face. "I was wondering who did that."

"Come on, Line," Link whined, trying to smooth out the blond hair on the back of his head. "We're supposed to keep up for the big picture. It took me half an hour to style my hair."

"Ha!" Line laughed. "Half an hour, huh? So how long did it take to pick out the outfit?"

Link twisted his face into an offended look and glanced down at his clothes. He wore a blue tunic with a pointed v-neck over a lime-green body suit which ended at the base of his neck. His brown work trousers were the cleanest pair he had, not to mention the only pair without patches or a need for patches. And he had shined the boots the night before and remained on the stone path all the way to the studio. He looked back up at Line. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"Link, you're wearing a green body suit with a blue tunic. You can't tell me you don't feel at least a little stupid."

"I wear this all the time!"

Line swept a hand out at the older airmen around them. "Do you see any of them wearing the same thing?"

"I like these suits. They're the only ones Silva makes that don't itch."

"So? What's the point in being comfortable if you can't coordinate your colors?"

Link put on an annoyed look and glanced up and down at Line. Then he put on a sly grin and said, "Well, at least my clothes aren't irregular."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you looked at the tunic you're wearing?"

Line looked down the front of his tunic. "What's wrong with my tunic?"

"The hems are all wrong. One side is longer than the other."

"What? No they're not."

"Yes they are." Link pointed at Line's butt. "Your rear is longer than your front."

Line looked around at his butt for a moment. "No no no no. Ha. Sorry, Link, but the guy I bought this from has been making airmen's tunics for years. He's never messed up a tunic."

"It's a first time for everything."

Line dropped his jaw in insult before stopping and turning to Link. "Okay, you want to see it?" he asked, taking off his belt.

"I can see it just fine, Line," Link told him, trying to stop the amused look on his face. "I'm telling you, it's long."

"We'll just see… about…" Line had to cut himself off as he pulled the tunic over his head. "That!" He shoved the tunic at Link. "Well?"

Link turned the tunic upside-down and showed Line the slit in one side. "See?" he asked, pressing the two hems together.

Line could see that the two hems did not match up. The rear hem looked to be longer by about the width of his two thumbs. "No, no, you're not holding it right," he accused, snatching the tunic back. He held it up and forced the hems level. "See? Look, it's just fine."

"Yeah, but there's a large gap in the side," Link said, pointing out the slit. "It doesn't look right."

"Well, show me your tunic if yours is so perfect!"

Link turned to one side and pressed the hems of his tunic together. "See? Mine's just fine. No gap."

Line wrinkled his nose. "Oh, whatever!" he shouted.

Then he reached forward and wrapped an arm around Link's neck. "Line!" Link wailed.

"This is for pointing out my tunic!" Line declared as he rubbed his tunic all over Link's styled hair.