An Unconventional Education

Rinslet's idea of a good time doesn't usually mesh with Train, Eve, and Sven's, but her uncanny ability to manipulate them puts them in a situation that never expected.

a.n.

Here's part number two! I didn't expect it to be so long, but it looks like this story will go for more than I thought.

Train's reaction to Rinslet's second pronouncement was just as negative as it had been to the first, but this time Rins expected it. She held her ground firmly as the yellow-eyed brunette gaped at her, rather like a suffocating fish. The image made Rins giggle slightly, which snapped Train out of his shock.

"What did you just say?" he growled, glaring at her. She grinned.

"You know exactly what I said." She winked coyly at him, which did nothing to improve his mood.

"Rinslet Agatha Walker —" he began, but Rins cut him off, her voice layered with confusion.

"My middle name isn't Agatha. It's —"

"I don't care what it is!" he hissed. He really was like a cat, she mused. His hair was nearly standing up on end and he looked ready to bolt; the same reaction any cat had when you surprised it. "I'm not doing it."

Rins raised one eyebrow delicately and took a step towards him. They were in the kitchen again: it was Train's favourite room in the house, and so it was the room in which it was easiest to ambush him. Eve was in her room, trying on the seven different dresses that Rinslet had picked out and bought for her earlier that afternoon.

Train back away from Rinslet, worried by the intensity in her eyes. The woman could really be intimidating, he thought as his backwards progress was stopped by the kitchen counter. No wonder Eve had been unable to stop the woman from forcing her into dress after dress. Speaking of which . . . Train's head turned toward the kitchen door and Rinslet followed his gaze.

"Oh, Eve!" the older woman gushed, stepping away from Train and appraising the blonde girl in the doorway. "You look beautiful!" Eve shook her head very slightly from side to side. Rinslet frowned. "What's wrong? You don't like it?"

"Rins . . ." Eve's voice was so quiet that even Train, with his ridiculously heightened hearing, could barely make out her words. "I look like I'm getting married."

Neither Rinslet nor Train could deny that. The dress was white and strapless, curving around her body and poofing out at the bottom. The bodice was beaded and sparkly. It did look beautiful, but Train couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about seeing the princess in a wedding dress.

"Next." he said in a gruff voice. Eve looked relieved and practically skipped back to her room to change.

"Now, where were we?" Train looked away from the door and caught Rins' eye. The expression on her face made him want to hide for the next fifty years. "Oh, right. You refused to do it."

Train was trapped against the counter and was forced to look right into the thief's face. He felt like swearing. He was good at hiding his feelings, good at lying, but Rinslet was trained to pick up on signs of discomfort and anxiety. He knew from experience that she was very good at it.

"That's right. I won't do it." His voice sounded stronger than he'd expected it to. The woman's eyes narrowed into slits and she tossed her purple hair away from her face.

"Why not?"

Train was saved from having to answer by Eve's reappearance in the doorway. She looked disgruntled, and Train couldn't blame her. She wore a black dress with one strap that had a thick, bright red ribbon around the waist which flowed into a long, violently red train behind her. It fit her perfectly and complemented her body shape, but Train couldn't help but think that she looked like a . . .

"Vampire." Eve snapped, glaring at Rinslet. "I look like a vampire." Rinslet's face was stoic for a moment, but then her composure cracked and she burst into laughter.

"You're right, you're right," she gasped, ignoring the piercing glare that the girl was sending her way. "It looks great but . . . go change." Looking relieved, Eve left again. Rinslet's laughter died away slowly — Train guessed that she was imagining Eve flying around in that dress and preying on innocent victims — but by the time it did, there were actual tears of mirth in her eyes.

Train watched her, hopefully. With the shock she'd just been given, and the consequent two minutes of hilarity, it seemed that their previous conversation had been completely forgotten.

Or not. When Rinslet finally raised her eyes to him, they were burning with that mischievous fire again.

"You never answered me, Train Ambrose Heartnet." Train knew better than to correct her about his middle name. She wasn't in the mood for playing games, and he knew it was payback for balling her 'Agatha'. "Why not?"

"It's just . . . it's just . . . I just . . ." He was stuttering, trying to come up with some explanation that wasn't the truth. "I just don't want to, Rinslet. Can't that be reason enough?"

"No." The word cracked like a whip, making Train reach out and grab the fridge for support. "You and I both know there's an actual reason, Train."

"If you already know it, why do I need to tell you?" The words tumbled out of him in a rush, and he flashed a smug smirk at her that did more harm than good. She reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. She opened her mouth to speak, probably to yell at him, but she was interrupted by the rustling of material. She quickly released him and turned to see Eve. Apparently, dressing Eve up like a doll was more important than threatening Eve's partner.

"Princess, you actually look like a real princess," Train told the bioweapon, looking her up and down.

"I know." But she didn't sound happy about it.

Rinslet, meanwhile, was glowing. "That colour is perfect on you, and that shape! Oh Eve, this is the one, I know it!"

"No." Eve spoke forcefully enough to make Rinslet's entire demeanor change. She looked crestfallen. "I'm not very fond of purple, especially not a purple this dark. And look at the bottom, Rins. It poofs out about a mile and I half. I can barely get through the door." And she demonstrated this fact by literally squeezing the pile of fabric through the kitchen door.

"But . . But . . . that little bow on your hip is so cute!" Rins seemed desperate to cling onto this dress, but Eve's determination was far stronger. One look into the teenager's eyes and Train could see that she was ready to fight to the death in order to not be forced to wear this dress. "Fine," Rinslet said, crossing her arms. "Show us the next one."

Eve squeezed herself out of the kitchen and headed back down the hall to her room. Train heard the sound of fabric against the walls, and knew that Eve's dress filled the entire corridor.

"You have to say it, Train, because you have to admit it to yourself." Rinslet picked up the conversation right where they had left off, leaving Train confused for a moment, since he was imagining Eve in that dress atop a high tower in a castle. The mass of purple definitely fit into that scenario.

"Look, Rins, it just isn't a good idea." He sighed and pulled himself up onto the counter, letting his legs dangle just above the floor.

"Why not?"

"You really like saying that, don't you?"

"Of course. So why is it not a good idea, Train?"

"Because . . . because . . . because it isn't!" He rubbed one hand over his face. "You know me, Rinslet, probably better than I know myself. You know what could happen."

"You're scared." She said it like a fact, not a question. Train was ready to be offended, but the sight of Eve in a very pink, very pretty dress distracted him.

It was more than pink; it was fuschia. It was magenta. It was fuschia and magenta and coral and salmon and every other way to say 'violently pink' all rolled into one. The straps were thin, and the bodice was decorated with silver filigree flowers. The skirt reached all the way to the floor, but bunched up a little near her waist, like an open curtain.

"I like this one. . ." Eve began. Train heard the 'but' coming. "But . . . it's so . . . so . . ."

"Pink?" Train supplied helpfully. Eve winced and nodded.

"Well, it looks great on you." Rinslet said, assessing the dress in one look. "But I don't know if you're ready to wear that much pink."

Eve grinned. "Thanks, Rins," she sighed gratefully before disappearing again.

"I'm not scared." Train snapped the moment the princess was out of earshot. "I'm being responsible."

"Responsible?" Rins gaped, looking up at him. "You've never been responsible in your life! You're just trying to avoid any situation that might make you uncomfortable."

"And what's wrong with that?" he nearly shouted back. "It's not going to be fun, we'll both end up feeling awkward and then things will far apart! I'm not going to risk that, Rins!"

"Why not?"

"BECAUSE!" He was annoyed now, and frustrated, and he just wanted Rinslet to leave him alone. "BECAUSE I LO—"

"Are you two okay?" Eve's voice wafted gently from the doorway. Rinslet and Train, she looking triumphant, he feeling winded, both turned towards the sound.

And both burst into peals of laughter.

"I know." Eve deadpanned, grimacing. "I look like a zebra, don't I?"

"Let's just say . . . that vertical . . . black and white . . . stripes . . . don't exactly work . . . for you." Train choked out around his laughter.

"Fine, fine," Eve mumbled, blushing fiercly. "I'll go change, quit laughing at me, geeze."

Both the thief and the sweeper were lost in their mirth for at least five minutes. It took them so long to finally finish laughing that Eve was back wearing a new dress before the chuckles had completely died away. But the sight of Eve blushing head to toe in the new dress was enough to stop Train's laughter in its tracks and leave him feeling slightly warm, himself.

"You are not wearing that." he choked again, this time for a completely different reason. "Not ever. No where. EVER. Do you understand me?"

Eve nodded fiercely, her expression in total agreement with his words. She turned to leave, but Rinslet stopped her. Train glared at her, but she shot him a contemptuous look before focusing on the blonde girl.

"Well, that colour of blue is amazing against your skin." She pointed out. "And where it comes in at the waist really shows off your curves." Train wanted to scream at her for prolonging his agony. Eve had to leave the room, and soon, or something terrible would probably happen. "And damn girl, you've got some killer legs." Train coughed, rubbing his throat. His Adam's apple suddenly felt too big.

She did have killer legs. That fact was made inherently obvious by the dress she was wearing now; the dress that ended more than halfway up her thigh, exposing what seemed like miles of delicate, pale skin.

"But Rins," Eve stammered, her blush creeping down her neck and up to her ears. "It's so short."

Rinslet considered this for a moment, knowing that the longer she took, the more uncomfortable both Train and Eve became. Finally, when Train felt as though his blood would boil and Eve looked more like a tomato than a human being, Rins nodded.

"You're right. It might look bad." Eve sprinted away and Train's heartbeat slowly returned to normal. "What was that about?" Rins had a knowing look on her face; a look that annoyed him so much that he had to restrain himself from hitting her.

"What was what about?" he muttered, feigning ignorance and avoiding her gaze.

She didn't let him. Standing on her tippy-toes to reach him on top of the counter, she grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her eyes. "You didn't seem very comfortable with her in that dress."

He swallowed. Even just the mention of that dress brought the image of Eve wearing it back into his mind. "It it it it was much too short." He sounded like Sven. He tried again. "I mean, what were you thinking, buying her something like that? People will think she's easy! They'll attack her!"

Rinslet released his chin. "So you're saying your reaction was just because you want her to be safe?"

"Exactly." He sighed in relief.

"Hmm." She walked around the kitchen, trailing her fingers on the counter as she went. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Eve, I mean."

"Yeah." The image came back; he forced it away by imagining Sven in that same dress. "She really is."

"And her legs . . . man. Gorgeous. Did you see them? Her skin is so smooth, it looks like satin, and —"

He wasn't aware of moving. The next thing either of them knew, he had grabbed her by the throat and was pinning her against the wall. He didn't hold hard enough to choke her, but he was sending a message. "Don't you dare talk about her that way. Don't you DARE."

Rins grinned. "So, how about it, Train? Will you do it?"

His answer was interrupted by Eve. Eve in a long, silky, flowing red halter dress that clung to ever curve elegantly, that showed everything but hid everything, that made her look much older than her meagre 18 years. He choked again and released Rinslet, who stared at Eve with as much shock no her face as he felt.

"That's the one, Eve. That's the one."

"OKAY!" Train yelled at Rinslet. "Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it."

Rins grinned and clapped her hands together with glee. "Well then . . ." She gestured at Eve. Train sighed, moved to the girl, and grabbed her hands.

"Eve . . ." he began, staring down at her. Her blonde hair shone as much as the red dress, and her eyes were confused. "Rins told me that you don't know how to dance."

Eve blushed until she was nearly the same red as the fabric that covered her. "Well, no."

Train smiled down at her. "I'll teach you."

a.n.

Did you see that coming? Did you??