* * *
If Sally thought that her little "moment" with Mikhail was going to get him to relax any, she was wrong. Lucky for her then that she harbored no such illusions. But even she didn't expect the strength of his reaction. Almost the second after he realized that he had been talking to Sally like a friend, he immediately tensed up and avoided looking in her general direction. Almost as if he were actively reminding himself that he had to hate Sally. Sonic mumbled several suggestions to Sally about the cause of his reactions, which involved a either lack of fiber in his diet or an excess of starch in his trousers.
Sally was so intent on watching Mikhail Sergeivich, she only barely acknowledged the introductions of several female denizens. Liu Han, a Chinese panda, Thanh Phan Nguyen, a Vietnamese cat, Nazdar Obaidullah, a Kurdish ferret, Anna Talonescu, a Romanian canine, and Svetlana Bailzow, a Roma squirrel. She smiled politely and returned their various greetings as best she could, but she kept her attention fixed on Mikhail.
He didn't quite feel...right. He just seemed to switch from persona to persona with the ease that most people change their socks. One second he's like big kid, and the next he's as serious as a statue. Diplomatic one moment, then blunt and tactless. Friendly then hostile. Idealistic then cynical. It just didn't add up.
While Mikhail was busy trying to explain to Rotor just how the barracks managed to obtain its minimal electricity and heat, Sally paused to mentally tally all of the little details and oddities that were tugging at her mind.
Needless to say, it was a fairly long list: The presence of the Overlanders and their relationship with the Mobians here, Olivia's dodges, Mikhail's apparent hatred of Sally, the general shabbiness in which the Mobians, at least, seemed to live, and the apparent lack of anything beyond the bare necessities. Even medicine and food seemed scarce.
As Sally heard Mikhail describe the barracks where he and the others lived, Sally couldn't help but frown at the dispassionate way he described the place he had spent the last eleven years of his life. Sally still thought of Mobotropolis as home, but Knothole wasn't someplace she could just discard with a wave and a shrug.
When Mikhail actually led them into the barracks, Sally found that she had been, if anything, overly optimistic about their living conditions. Calling the place spartan would have been an understatement. The ground floor was simply the mess hall which itself was just a couple of tables and a stove. The top floor, where they slept, was little better. It was nothing more than a wide open space that was cleaved in two by a wall. One side was the actual sleeping area. All they had was some sleeping bags, a few cots and blankets, and a single actual bed. That was all. The other side was the bathroom which consisted of an open space with multiple shower heads and the sinks and stalls along the wall. The only "luxuries" were the plumbing, the minimal electricity, and the heating system. Other than that, it was completely bare and drab. The Overlanders lived in the administration building, which by all accounts looked in better condition than the barracks did.
Try as she might, Sally couldn't imagine herself living in a place that was devoid of warmth, of personal touches. The entire building seemed completely empty of any personal effects. If Mikhail hadn't told her otherwise, she'd have thought that they moved in this morning, not a decade ago.
"How could anyone live like this?" Sally wondered. The complete absence of anything even resembling privacy here was one thing, what could one expect when twenty people shared a single room, regardless of how big it was? But the lack of any sense of 'home,' that was something else entirely. While Sally and the others in Knothole still thought of Mobotropolis as there home, Knothole had become a sort of second home. A temporary retreat, not home but not unpleasant either. For the people here, they seemed to think of this place as nothing more than four walls and a roof, if even that. And she STILL didn't know what the deal was with the Overlanders there. Or how so many different Mobians could end up here. Add to that the mystery of why Olivia seemed to be deflecting her lines of inquiry and Mikhail's incomprehensible hatred of her...She sighed.
"The worst part of all these little mysteries," Sally thought to herself, "Is that I can't ask anyone here about any of them!" If Olivia insisted on avoiding Sally's questions, If Mikhail refused to even speak directly to her, and if the Overlanders proved biased, then who could Sally ask? No one else spoke English and if she needed someone to translate she would have to get Mikhail. And that brought her back to her original problem. It was a conspiracy of silence.
As Mikhail led them back outside again, he abruptly stopped walking. Sally looked over his shoulder and saw a raccoon heading towards them. She thought for a moment that it was Rosa again, but no. This one was male, though he shared the same blue eyes and other characteristics of Rosa.
"This is David Nussboym. You've already met his sister Rosa." Mikhail said curtly. Sally smiled as she shook his hand, but her attention was on how David and Mikhail were acting towards each other. Or rather, how they WEREN'T acting. Everyone Sally had been introduced to so far seemed relaxed and friendly towards each other. Not so with Mikhail and David. There was a restrained manner in which they spoke around each other, even when they weren't directly speaking TO each other. Even after David had left, Mikhail still seemed tense and reserved. There were issues between the two of them, just below the surface. Sally sighed.
"Just one more mystery to add to the list." She thought with more than a little dejection. Unfortunately, just at that moment, another one chose to reveal itself. Only this one made more of a dramatic entrance.
Sally felt a breeze as something swooped down from above. She caught it only out of the corner of her eye, and then only for a second. It was long, white, and lithe. As it landed next to the freedom fighters, she could see its features in better detail. It had a long, thin body almost as if there was no distinction between its neck, body, and tail and was covered with a long blue mane that arched down his neck all the way to his tail. It walked on four talon-like claws and was covered in gleaming white scales that were almost too bright to look at. It's snout was also stretched out, it's eyes a burning red flame. It's most distinctive feature however, were the two long bat-like wings that were currently folded against its flank. All the freedom fighters were stunned, none of them more so than Dulcy.
It was a male dragon.
* * *
If Sally thought that her little "moment" with Mikhail was going to get him to relax any, she was wrong. Lucky for her then that she harbored no such illusions. But even she didn't expect the strength of his reaction. Almost the second after he realized that he had been talking to Sally like a friend, he immediately tensed up and avoided looking in her general direction. Almost as if he were actively reminding himself that he had to hate Sally. Sonic mumbled several suggestions to Sally about the cause of his reactions, which involved a either lack of fiber in his diet or an excess of starch in his trousers.
Sally was so intent on watching Mikhail Sergeivich, she only barely acknowledged the introductions of several female denizens. Liu Han, a Chinese panda, Thanh Phan Nguyen, a Vietnamese cat, Nazdar Obaidullah, a Kurdish ferret, Anna Talonescu, a Romanian canine, and Svetlana Bailzow, a Roma squirrel. She smiled politely and returned their various greetings as best she could, but she kept her attention fixed on Mikhail.
He didn't quite feel...right. He just seemed to switch from persona to persona with the ease that most people change their socks. One second he's like big kid, and the next he's as serious as a statue. Diplomatic one moment, then blunt and tactless. Friendly then hostile. Idealistic then cynical. It just didn't add up.
While Mikhail was busy trying to explain to Rotor just how the barracks managed to obtain its minimal electricity and heat, Sally paused to mentally tally all of the little details and oddities that were tugging at her mind.
Needless to say, it was a fairly long list: The presence of the Overlanders and their relationship with the Mobians here, Olivia's dodges, Mikhail's apparent hatred of Sally, the general shabbiness in which the Mobians, at least, seemed to live, and the apparent lack of anything beyond the bare necessities. Even medicine and food seemed scarce.
As Sally heard Mikhail describe the barracks where he and the others lived, Sally couldn't help but frown at the dispassionate way he described the place he had spent the last eleven years of his life. Sally still thought of Mobotropolis as home, but Knothole wasn't someplace she could just discard with a wave and a shrug.
When Mikhail actually led them into the barracks, Sally found that she had been, if anything, overly optimistic about their living conditions. Calling the place spartan would have been an understatement. The ground floor was simply the mess hall which itself was just a couple of tables and a stove. The top floor, where they slept, was little better. It was nothing more than a wide open space that was cleaved in two by a wall. One side was the actual sleeping area. All they had was some sleeping bags, a few cots and blankets, and a single actual bed. That was all. The other side was the bathroom which consisted of an open space with multiple shower heads and the sinks and stalls along the wall. The only "luxuries" were the plumbing, the minimal electricity, and the heating system. Other than that, it was completely bare and drab. The Overlanders lived in the administration building, which by all accounts looked in better condition than the barracks did.
Try as she might, Sally couldn't imagine herself living in a place that was devoid of warmth, of personal touches. The entire building seemed completely empty of any personal effects. If Mikhail hadn't told her otherwise, she'd have thought that they moved in this morning, not a decade ago.
"How could anyone live like this?" Sally wondered. The complete absence of anything even resembling privacy here was one thing, what could one expect when twenty people shared a single room, regardless of how big it was? But the lack of any sense of 'home,' that was something else entirely. While Sally and the others in Knothole still thought of Mobotropolis as there home, Knothole had become a sort of second home. A temporary retreat, not home but not unpleasant either. For the people here, they seemed to think of this place as nothing more than four walls and a roof, if even that. And she STILL didn't know what the deal was with the Overlanders there. Or how so many different Mobians could end up here. Add to that the mystery of why Olivia seemed to be deflecting her lines of inquiry and Mikhail's incomprehensible hatred of her...She sighed.
"The worst part of all these little mysteries," Sally thought to herself, "Is that I can't ask anyone here about any of them!" If Olivia insisted on avoiding Sally's questions, If Mikhail refused to even speak directly to her, and if the Overlanders proved biased, then who could Sally ask? No one else spoke English and if she needed someone to translate she would have to get Mikhail. And that brought her back to her original problem. It was a conspiracy of silence.
As Mikhail led them back outside again, he abruptly stopped walking. Sally looked over his shoulder and saw a raccoon heading towards them. She thought for a moment that it was Rosa again, but no. This one was male, though he shared the same blue eyes and other characteristics of Rosa.
"This is David Nussboym. You've already met his sister Rosa." Mikhail said curtly. Sally smiled as she shook his hand, but her attention was on how David and Mikhail were acting towards each other. Or rather, how they WEREN'T acting. Everyone Sally had been introduced to so far seemed relaxed and friendly towards each other. Not so with Mikhail and David. There was a restrained manner in which they spoke around each other, even when they weren't directly speaking TO each other. Even after David had left, Mikhail still seemed tense and reserved. There were issues between the two of them, just below the surface. Sally sighed.
"Just one more mystery to add to the list." She thought with more than a little dejection. Unfortunately, just at that moment, another one chose to reveal itself. Only this one made more of a dramatic entrance.
Sally felt a breeze as something swooped down from above. She caught it only out of the corner of her eye, and then only for a second. It was long, white, and lithe. As it landed next to the freedom fighters, she could see its features in better detail. It had a long, thin body almost as if there was no distinction between its neck, body, and tail and was covered with a long blue mane that arched down his neck all the way to his tail. It walked on four talon-like claws and was covered in gleaming white scales that were almost too bright to look at. It's snout was also stretched out, it's eyes a burning red flame. It's most distinctive feature however, were the two long bat-like wings that were currently folded against its flank. All the freedom fighters were stunned, none of them more so than Dulcy.
It was a male dragon.
* * *