~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fitting In
Kitten pondered over the young boy as she expertly guided the craft toward the planet's surface. He was strong, intelligent, and an excellent storyteller. He fit into their team uncannily well, and he was already joking around with Dae as they retreated into the back of the ship for decent clothing for the kid. She wondered idly if Hali would invite him to join their band - he'd proven himself capable, if his stories were true. And besides, 7 would be the perfect number for our group! Thought Kitten with a wry grin, recalling the superstitions of her home planet.
She landed the ship without so much as a bump, choosing to set down as far from civilization as possible. Or rather, she thought with some amusement, as far from habitation as possible - these people are hardly advanced enough to have a "civilization". Time to inform everyone over the intercom…
"Touch down everyone. There're some nice homey caves over to the left that I think will be a welcome change of scenery to talk more in."
"Yeah, and that way you can see the lad's ship, right Kitten?"
"Why Ryl! I'm surprised at you - you think I'd place my curiosity before your comfort?"
"Yes," Sassy inserted dryly.
Kitten gave a noise of wounded astonishment as she coded the air lock to open. Strapping one of her smaller guns to her waist as she went, she headed towards the fresh air and the chance to see this miracle ship that could fit into a child's pocket.
Gohan followed Daerentii into one of several cubicles at the end of the ship. It was small, with a bed, a closet, and a desk crowded together. A quick glance showed Gohan papers full of another language strewn over the desk and beautiful pictures of a foreign landscape covering what little wall space there was. Daerentii ushered the child to stand next to the closet as he rummaged through it, talking all the while.
"This is my room, kid. The pictures on the wall are from my homeland - my sister Iiryn created them for me. The Chief doesn't care what we put in our rooms - as long as it doesn't smell funny and the clothing is always kept clean in the closet, we have complete freedom."
Gohan smiled slightly. "Well, you can't exactly do a whole lot of mischief in such a small place, ne? I think that freedom is slightly more superficial than you seem to think, Daerentii-san."
Daerentii chuckled, bringing his head out of the closet long enough to beam at Gohan. "Yeah, you're right - but I can dream, hey? And none of that full-name crap – 'Daerentii' is the name people use when I'm in trouble. I'm 'Dae'. And don't bother calling the rest of them by their full-names either - I don't know why the Chief introduced everyone so formally… it's annoying, it really is." By the end of the spiel his head was back inside the closet, and his voice slightly muffled.
Gohan's smile grew. "Alright Dae-san!"
As Dae's head re-emerged from the closet, Gohan noted the lifted eyebrows at the continued presence of the suffix. "Here ya go kid, try it on."
Gohan took the wad of black clothing from the mercenary and, looking around for a place to change, opted for simply turning his back. They were both guys, right? His mother might have tried to teach him modesty, and it had worked to an extent, but he was still his father's son - being naked around others was nothing to be squeamish about.
He pulled the outfit on silently. It consisted of a strange ribbed shirt with a turtle-neck and no sleeves, black pants that were a bit too skin tight for him to feel really comfortable with, and a pair of black boots that were a size to big. It was an exact replica of Dae's outfit, and he had to wonder if they all wore the same outfit all the time. Dae answered before he could ask his question, startling him into staring with wide-eyed wonder.
"Yeah, we all have a special outfit that we wear - we choose it, then we have copies made. This is mine. If we choose, we can alter them however we want, it's not so much as a uniform as… a personalized… I dunno, symbol?" He suddenly laughed at Gohan's stricken expression. "Whoops! Did I fail to mention that I'm telepathic? My bad…" He gave Gohan a cheeky grin that said he wasn't at all sorry, but by then Gohan had recovered.
"Yeah, you're bad. Should've told me earlier." With that, the child put up strong mind-barriers of the type he used when he wanted Piccolo out of his mind. He grinned at Dae's surprised expression, arching an eyebrow at the older man. "Whoops! Did I fail to mention that my sensei was telepathic, and that, as a demi-Saiya-jin, I have a rather minor gift for it as well? My bad…" He gave Dae an exact copy of the cheeky grin that had been in place on Dae's face moments before.
So it was that, both laughing, they walked out to join the others in the nearby cave.
A/N: Lexi: sorry this is late and short – I had my hands more than full with a paper, and this chapter is a transition one – they'll get longer again. *looks pointedly at AAS* ^__^ I'll try to find time to get the next one out by Sunday this week, kk!
Kat: *glares at Lexi* we had this one done earlier, you know.
Lexi: *winces* uh, yeah…
Kat: *twitches*
Lexi: *laughs nervously, runs away*
Kat: *smiles in relief* excellent! I'll explain the important notes for this chapter then…
First of all, I'd like to point out the presence of the name "Iiryn" in association with Dae. As some of you might know, Iirynallia Avhmaelin is a character from Lexi's "Getting Together at Last". When I introduced the character Dae as being of the same species, we had a blast formulating their history together. It isn't all that important, but ya know… It was worth explanation, ne?
Second, I'd like to mention the Gohan/telepathy thing. As you probably guessed, I'm applying two common elements here. One is Gohan and Piccolo's ability to speak mind to mind. The longer the distance, the harder it is for them, so once Gohan is out of the Earth's atmosphere they can no longer communicate without very intense meditation on both sides, which is why Gohan didn't try and reach home that way. The other element that I'm working off of is the Saiya-jin Bond theory. Gohan will have full telepathy when he finds a mate (since this is a Gh/V, I s'pose y'all can figure out who that'll be…). He has the ability to block others' minds from his, but he doesn't have the ability to project his thoughts to anyone but the two aforementioned, and he doesn't have the ability to read the minds of anyone but those two as well.
