Cassia's mommy and daddy seem more upset than usual and she can't understand why. They should, she thinks, be happy that she and her brother, Damocles, will be able to go to an actual school where they can actually learn alongside the friends they made in Miss Denaya's daycare. She could barely wait to see what Miss EDI had to teach them and even hoped she could become as smart as her daddy so she could one day join him as he worked on the tech around the house.
So why does her father have a look of concern on their faces as he frantically paces the entryway of their home as they wait for their mother to prepare a lunch Cassia and Damocles can take to school? Shouldn't he be happy to see the twins off to a day of learning and being on their way to being big kids?
"I'm almost done!" Her mommy calls from the kitchen, the clinks of hers and her brother's lunchboxes coming from where their mom is packing what Cassia knows will be the greatest lunches. Better than the other kids', even.
I really wish she packs a bag of Blasto Crunch chips. The cheesy ones. They're the bestest.
Her dad stops with a hum and flares his mandibles once before his eyes dart from Cassia, to her twin, and back to the door as he continues his short back and forth. "No rush, Jane." Pausing, he stops again and runs a hand over his fringe. "Dammit, I'm not ready for this," he whispers, as if Cassia and her brother can't hear.
But they do hear him, and giggle amongst themselves at their daddy slipping a bad word even when he always sighs and flicks his mandibles when mommy does it. He looks over to them and smiles with a warm purr, and Cassia easily returns the gesture with a wide, excited grin of her own.
She likes making and seeing her parents happy; she sees sadness too much even when they like to pretend otherwise.
Seemingly as upset as her dad, Cassia's mommy comes from the kitchen with a a bit of a rush to her steps. She gives a smile that's both joyous and, strangely enough to Cassia, worried. Perhaps she and daddy are concerned about the same thing, and the young child wonders how she could make sure they know that she and Damocles will be perfectly okay at school. And not just okay, but having fun, Cassia knows without a doubt.
"Well," her mother says with a deep breath that she lets out slowly, "Now or never, right?" She makes a funny sound with her lips that only she can make and Cassia smiles, wiggling in impatience. "Fuck… Can't we just teach them at home? I mean, you can teach them about tech, we can both teach how to shoot a gun, and you can spar with them. That's enough."
The two children snicker at their mom's typical bad words as the two grown ups talk what seems like a completely crazy idea of not going to school. Why wouldn't they want Cassia and Damocles to be with their friends? And even learn?
Mommy and daddy are really strange sometimes.
"We can't." Her dad shakes his head and lays his hand on her brother's head. "This will be good for them…. Right?"
"You don't sound convinced." Her mommy sighs again before looking down at Cassia, giving her one of those smiles that always makes her warm inside and smiling back. "You ready, my princess?"
"Uh huh!" Cassia nods rapidly and looks to her brother to see his same answer, but frowns a bit to see his ever present shyness.
She's always wondered why Damocles seems so upset around the other kids. They always ask questions, and Cassia and her brother always answer, but sometimes Damocles seems more sad about being different. Cassia likes it, knows she's special just like her mommy and daddy say, but she knows that her brother doesn't feel the same. Of course she feels bad when they will stare or call them names, but she can forgive. But her brother is different. He stays by himself most of the time.
Cassia thinks he wouldn't have any friends if she didn't always choose to play with him above any of the other kids, and it hurts to think that. She loves him like no other because only her twin could understand, and she wishes he could be happy like she is.
"Come on, you two. EDI would kill us if you were late on your first day." Mommy offers Cassia her hand and the little child takes it quickly, chirping in delight at the soft squeeze her mother gives.
Cassia hops with each step, fighting not to run and drag her mom, and Damocles rumbles in nervousness as he walks hand in hand with their dad. She can hear their daddy purring soothingly to her brother, but looks back to comfort him too.
"Don't be scared, Damo." She chirps and grins, but her mandibles draw in at his angry look.
"I'm not scared, stupid!"
"Damocles," their daddy says sternly, rumbling in his chest as he looks down. "It's not nice to get mad at your sister and call her names."
"But she called me scared!"
Her voice raises as she looks between her dad and mom, afraid of getting in trouble for name calling first. "I didn't mean it like that!"
"Easy, easy." Their mommy turns to walk backwards in a silly way as she smiles in that warm way. "We understand you both didn't mean it. We're all a bit anxious for today. It's a big thing for everyone."
Damocles still gives Cassia a mad look, but daddy tugs his arm softly. "She didn't mean to say you're scared, just anxious. Like mommy said."
"What's 'ang-shush' mean?" Damocles draws out the word, trying to repeat it like their dad, before he looks up to their tall daddy. Cassia looks to him as well, not knowing the word herself.
"It means…," their father says before humming like he does when he's thinking, "unsure. You're unsure about today, about school, and that's okay." He smiles first to Damocles before herself.
"Do you get angshush too, daddy?" Cassia asks, looking from him to her mommy so that she too knows the question is being asked of her too.
Their father chuckles, his voice that deep sound that often helps to soothe Cassia to sleep. "Of course. I always do."
Mommy smiles and nods down to Cassia. "In fact, both of us are anxious right now."
"Why?"
"We want you guys to have fun, but we'll also miss you so very much."
"But we're coming back."
"Yeah," her brother agrees, chirping. "And we go away all the time to Miss Denaya's."
"That's a bit different," Daddy says with a warming rumble. "We could always come get you then when we were missing you. EDI won't really let you go now." He chuckles. "No matter how much we beg or hang around her school."
Mom laughs and nods as they walk across the sand and towards a somewhat big building. It's only one floor high, but it's long. Its size makes Cassia think that there will be lots of other kids, big and small like at Miss Denaya's.
She can't wait to meet everybody.
Miss EDI awaits them, a smile on her face and her hands behind her back. She tilts her head a bit when she sees them before stepping down the few steps from the front of the school and down onto the sand.
Miss EDI, Cassia has always thought, looks so pretty when the sun shines off her silvery body. She tends to cover it most times with clothes even though she's a robot, though, and she's done so today with a fancy shirt and pants. Mommy says it's because EDI both likes to feel and look more human, and that it seems 'more appropriate for a setting with a bunch of children', but Cassia isn't quite sure what that means. A robot is a robot, so it's not like Miss EDI is walking around naked, or else mommy and daddy would want her and Damocles to cover their eyes.
"Hello, Damocles and Cassia." Miss EDI smiles and looks to their mommy when she hands over their lunch boxes - a Blasto and asari maiden, Glamora, for Cassia and a Blasto one with Blasto swimming through what daddy calls the 'Presidium' lake. "I'll make sure these are put away for later. I have found data on the extranet of created 'cubby holes' for the children to store their personal items."
"Eh, okay?" Their mom shrugs. "Really, whatever works." She looks down to Damocles, then Cassia before turning to face them. She crouches, smiles, and takes each of their hands. "You two little shits be good, okay? And maybe after we can, I don't know, watch a marathon of Blasto or something."
Both of the twins gasp and their vocals go high in excitement as they squeal a "Really?!" in unison.
She chuckles and nods, standing up only to be replaced by daddy as he crouches down. He reaches for the cool computer over his eye and pulls it off. "So, you guys remember how you always want to play with my visor?" They both nod, neither speaking and Cassia completely confused why he'd ask that. "Well, how about you take this with you? Like a show and tell, but see here?" Pointing to the inside of the visor, he shows Cassia, then Damocles, a tiny red light. "Make sure this is on, okay?"
As he goes to hand it over, Miss EDI leans over and plucks it from his hands. "Garrus, I assure you that you won't need to record my teaching sessions." She smiles before pressing the inside of the visor with her finger and hands it back to their pouting dad. "I will make sure they are alright. You don't need to worry so much."
"Cunning bastard," their mommy whispers to their daddy and he chuckles, nodding. "Too bad she's got your number."
Cassia doesn't understand what that means, but daddy seems to and chuckles, leaning over to kiss mommy on the cheek. Cassia smiles at their happiness after they seemed so angshush earlier, but Damocles says a near silent 'yuck'.
Daddy hears, though, as he rumbles and smiles down to them. "Yuck, huh?" He kneels down and opens his arms for a hug that Cassia and her brother jump into, wrapping their arms around him. "You'll really have fun today. Despite how we look, mommy and I are so proud of you both. Don't worry about us."
"Okay, daddy," she says with a purr and presses a kiss to his cheek before releasing him. "Love you."
"I love you too, princess." His smile makes her warm and fuzzy inside as he butts his head to hers before looking to Damocles.
Without needing to be asked, her brother presses his forehead to their dad's. Even though he wants to pretend he doesn't, Damocles purrs and flares his mandibles in a smile at the touch.
"Alright. My turn!" Mommy playing silly makes Cassia grins and chirp in laugh and she immediately jumps into her mother's arms for a big hug. "You be good, my little monsters."
Cassia nods a lot before mommy presses her lips to her plated cheek in a human styled kiss. The little girl grins and purrs, returning the kiss on the cheek. Stepping away from her for Damocles to say goodbye, Cassia skips over towards Miss EDI where she waits in front of the school house.
Damocles likes to pretend he doesn't like the attention and rubs their mom's kiss off his cheek. Cassia knows better, though, as she trills and bounces on her feet when she sees her brother hug their mother. Even if he tries to act tough and not kiss her, he does, and mommy smiles that warming smile as she kisses Damocles' forehead, which he doesn't wipe off this time.
With Damocles now beside Miss EDI and Cassia, ready for their first day, Cassia gives their angshush parents one last wave before hopping up the stairs and into Miss EDI's school house. Inside is big, bright, and full of pictures and drawings of all sorts of things she can't wait to learn how to read and understand. They enter into a large room full of other kids, many bigger than Cassia and her brother and some she recognizes from Miss Denaya's. Connected to this big room are three equally, if not bigger, ones with more vid screens of pictures that must be lessons, each room looking harder to understand than the last. In these rooms, too, are desks for students, one room with small enough chairs for Cassia and the others big enough for the older kids.
She and her brother slow their following of Miss EDI until they come to a stop just before the group of other children. Cassia can tell Damocles feels more scared - no, not scared. Angshush - than at Miss Denaya's because of all the looks from the older kids, but Cassia stands as his protector, puffing up her chest and taking his hand. That seems to help him feel strong, too, as he rumbles and lifts his head high like the superheroes in the vids. Hand in hand, the two siblings join the others just as EDI stops before a large window showing the pretty ocean and bright blue sky.
"Hello, students," Miss EDI says with a smile as she hides her hands behind her back and looks over all of the kids. "I am very proud to announce that today will be our first day together of learning." One of the other kids Cassia remembers from Miss Denaya's day care raises his hand as they were all told to do when they want to speak. Miss EDI smiles and nods. "Yes, Phillip?"
"How come the babies aren't here, like my little sister?"
Cassia, too, wonders that and why Miss Denaya isn't here to see their exciting first day, but she starts to understand that baby kids are too little to start to learn like the big kids like herself and the even older ones. It wouldn't make any sense for Miss Denaya to be here, either, if there were still children that needed to be looked after, so that must be why she isn't here.
Miss EDI says just what Cassia is thinking when she looks over the whole class and nods. "Those younger children are not yet at the age of the beginning lessons. When they are ready, they will join the youngest group of students."
An older student, an asari, snorts and crosses her arms as she asks, her voice sounding like she's holding her nose. "Are we all going to learn baby lessons? 'Cause I don't want to waste time reading baby books and learning the alphabet."
Some of the older kids nod and talk all together so that actual words aren't really made out, but Miss EDI raises a hand to make them quiet. "No, you will not be attending the younger students' lessons." She motions towards the other rooms. "There will be three age groups - beginner, intermediate, and advanced - all divided among these three rooms. Each will learn the appropriate material as designated by your age group."
"How are you gonna teach us all at the same time?" An older, but not as old as the bigger kids, turian girl hops a bit with a raised hand as she talks. "Is there other teachers?"
Miss EDI simply smiles before her voice comes from speakers in the room. "No, Liana, I am the sole instructor." The sounds scare some of the younger kids the same age, or close to, as Cassia, but she, her brother, and the older kids aren't as shocked. After all, Miss EDI is her mommy and daddy's friend and she lives in a computer both here on Virmire and in the Normandy, so she can talk through radios when she wants. "I will physically divide my attentions between the three rooms, but, in my absence, I can communicate with all of you through my interfaces located throughout the facility. If I am needed immediately, I will only be a few steps away."
She stops and looks between the group of kids and the first room, pointing to it. "This shall be the beginning stage classroom. Cassia, Damocles, Phillip, Jewl, Intona, and Leon. I would like you to be in here." She hides her hands behind her back and smiles. "I except a few others to join within the next few days, so do not worry about those of your friends you do not see." Swinging her hand towards the room, flat and palm up, she says, "Will you six please take a seat? I will begin to detail our intended studies while I divide the rest of the students. Once done, I will come to you and hand out our first assignment."
Even if Miss EDI cannot see, Cassia nods in understanding before tugging her brother along. He makes a grunt of unhappiness at being pulled, but follows along as they step into the colorfully decorated room. There are little boxes on the walls with their names on them - that being one of the few things Cassia knows how to read - but they're empty, so she can't quite tell what they're for. She supposes Miss EDI will tell. In the corner is a large playmat and more boxes in the walls for colors, blocks, and toys, and she wonders what kind of teaching they'll learn with those. Other items are put away in clear boxes and chests, giving her an excitement for all the many things to learn in store for them.
Skipping to the front of the class, Cassia takes the seat directly in the middle so that she will be able to have the best few of the lessons on the screen before them. She can tell her brother doesn't like the choice, but he sits beside her anyways, giving a huff.
"Aren't you excited, Damo?" She shakes his shoulder and he grunts, brow plates frowning.
"No. I wanna go home." He sighs and looks around the room to the others sitting down. "I don't like it here."
She frowns, trilling in sadness, but gets up and steps closer to hug him. "It's gonna be okay, you'll see. And Miss EDI can teach us how to be as smart as mommy and daddy. Maybe even smarter!"
He snorts, but smiles a bit. "No one's as smart as daddy."
"Wait til I get outta school." She grins and puts her hands on her hips, puffing up her chest. "I be the smartest in all the galaxy."
He grins now and nods his head rapidly, throw a fist in the air. "And I'll be the strongest!"