Tanya arrived at reception.
"Hi," she said. "I'm here to see Mr Thomas."
"We have no one here -" the receptionist started then looked up. "Oh, it's you. Yes, we're expecting you. Just go on in."
"Thank you."
Christian
Christian was working on a new mural in the art room with a new student named Rex keeping an eye on his progress when he heard the door open behind him.
"Sorry, classroom's closed until 2pm," he called over his shoulder without noticing Rex's sudden silence.
Tanya
Tanya grinned to herself.
"Oh, well, that's a shame," she said. "I have to leave by then so I guess I'll have to come back another day."
Christian
Christian froze, then turned. His 3/4 brown eyes immediately lit up.
"Rex excuse us," he glanced toward his classmate.
Rex still stared at Tanya - quite obviously nervous - before slinking from the room like a beaten cat. When he was gone, Chris put down his pencil.
"Long time no see," he tilted his head with a small smile.
Tanya
"It has been," Tanya agreed. "It took a good deal of arm twisting, name calling and reminders of every thing single I've ever done for YIRAAS - which is a very long list, let me assure you - but not only did I get to convince Wayne to let me visit today, I can also visit once every month."
She grinned at him, then nodded towards the mural.
"Looks good so far."
Christian
Christian chuckled, then scratched his head almost embarrassingly as he turned to look up at it.
"Yeah... it's not much right now, but once I get to the paintwork I figure it might brighten up the room a bit. A lot of kids said the drab grey walls were kinda depressing and you know this place is supposed to help them so I figure I'll con them into letting me dress it up a bit one room at a time."
He shrugged, before levering himself up to sit on the bench.
"Still working on the common room," he winked, "but I'm sure I'll wear them down."
Tanya
Tanya laughed heartily.
"If anyone can manage it, I'm sure it'll be you," she said.
Then she paused, and frowned, looking carefully at his eyes.
"Aren't your eyes supposed to be blue?" she asked, a little confused at the brown. "Or do they change colour and I never noticed until now?"
Christian
Chris hesitated, then jumped a little as he figured out what she meant.
"They've always had brown in them," he explained, rubbing at his nose absently, "it just decided to slowly take over in the past year for some reason."
He shrugged.
"So how's Kit?"
Tanya
"Ahh," Tanya said, and her face lit up at the mention of Kit's name. "Kit is good. Talking to him is all so much fun. He just babbles on and every now and then you can actually make out a word."
She grinned.
"If I weren't a telepath there's no way I'd figure out what he's talking about half the time. I don't know how non-telepaths do it."
Christian
"Really?" Christian's face also lit up.
"I guess it won't be long before he's stringing whole sentences together. Even if they're only a few words. How big is he now?"
Tanya
Tanya measured her hand at around knee height.
"About here," she said. "And he's a little rascal at times. We've had to resort to plastic toys while he figures out his metalkinesis. You won't believe the places I've found handprints."
Christian
"The tv... the stove...?" Christian hazarded a few guesses.
"A good thing you're there to keep an eye on him. What are you doing now anyway?"
Tanya
"The usual," Tanya replied, sitting on one of the desks. "Mostly Ga'Revali classes with the high end students. Consulting for YIRAAS. Amphlifier testing. Finally got myself a secretary. Her name's Cynthia and she's very talented at blowing off people I don't want to talk to. Well, she's also able to discern if they actually have something important to discuss too, but yes. Marvellous girl."
Christian
"I'd be interested in meeting her," Christian gave a small smile as he started picking at his nails, "but I doubt that'll ever happen. She sounds very helpful."
Tanya
Tanya shrugged.
"You never know. Okay, at the moment it doesn't seem likely, but that's now. Later? Who knows?"
Christian
Christian smirked.
"Come on, you know Wayne as well as anyone," he shook his head.
"It doesn't matter how rehabilitated anyone thinks I am, as soon as he decides I'm too old to be here it'll be off to the isolation prison and that'll be the last anyone sees of me. I've given it a lot of thought. There's no way he's going to let me walk out of here a free man, ever."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"You're probably right about Wayne," she agreed. "But it's not just up to him what happens to people here."
Christian
"I know," Christian nodded, "but he's the one with the strangle hold. And there aren't that many people in a position of power to back me up."
He clenched his jaw.
"Speaking of which, I have intel if you're interested at all."
Tanya
"Sure," Tanya replied, with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. "Aside from it being nice being able to take some of these guys down, it irritates Wayne like hell. I don't think he knows what to make of it when you offer him good intel."
Christian
"I swear, I'm becoming like the snitch of the place or something," Chris joked lightheartedly.
"Anyhow. I don't know if you knew him personally, but there was kid that just left here in the last few days by the name of Duncan. He would have been about 15, 4'10, caucasian, short cropped brown hair. Word is that he has contacts on the outside that might lead to Squire - remember him? He worked with Lucious on the... the Rhode Island thing? With all the black market stuff? Anyway, apparently they actually sent this kid the get caughted and rehabilitated at this particular centre so that he could get close to this other kid - Cole. Because his father was a part of the trade and they wanted to find out the location of something or other to do with a large up- and-coming shipment from Asia. And once that kid got that intel, he claimed rehabilitation and was let go. And of course someone like you would have picked up on it, but the kid had a block on his motives so no one else could figure out what was going on. Are you with me so far?"
Tanya
Tanya raised her eyebrows.
"I believe so, yes. I remember the Rhode Island incident, but I can't say I'm familiar with Duncan," Tanya nodded.
Christian
Christian snapped his fingers.
"That's the whole idea. It's almost like they got this completely random kid off the street, implanted him with this command or something, and just set him loose to be caught by the YIRAAS," he mused.
"Which would not at all surprise me. He could have been one of Guffery's kids for all we know. But the kicker right now, is that I know the location of what they're after - Cole came and told me as soon as Duncan left, because he was actually afraid of what the kid might do if he'd known Cole squealed. So I'm pretty much willing to bet this week's meals that either Squire himself or some of his highly regarded henchmen are going to be at this place within the week. Now I don't know if it's actual merchandise or if it's maybe a classified file or what, but it's something important."
Tanya
Tanya nodded thoughtfully.
"If what you say is true - and I don't doubt that it is - it's going to require a serious overhaul of the system here." she replied with great consideration. "Thank you, Christian."
Christian
"Don't thank me, it was Cole," Christian insisted, "but he'd rather be anonymous. They could come after him if this goes down the way we hope, and he is only looking out for his father after all."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Well, thank Cole for me then," she said. "I'll deal with this as soon as my visit here is over."
She smiled at him.
Christian
"Good," Christian nodded.
"And if it brings down Squire in the meantime, let me know. I for one will sleep better."
Tanya
"Will do," Tanya replied.
Then she clapped her hands together.
"Okay," she decided. "Enough shop talk. How have things been for you? How's the band doing?"
Christian
Christian shrugged, immediately diverting his eyes.
"Fine," he shook his head.
"I'm taking a bit of a back seat in the band. We practically have an entirely new lineup now that it's only Shane and me from the original guys - well, when I came in at least. And some of th eguys were trying to teach me more guitar but I'm not picking it up very well."
Tanya
"Ahh," Tanya nodded. "Well, I suppose rotating band members is a hazrd in a place like this. I see your art's coming along well."
She gestured to the mural she had complimented earlier.
Christian
"Yeah," Christian couldn't help but smile a little as he looked up at it.
"I've gotten the go-ahead to paint quite a few of the kids' rooms. Or I'll just draw an outline and they paint it themselves. I'm taking art as a double course, so morning and afternoon classes. Still only drawing though, I'm not quite the physical artist yet."
Tanya
Tanya nodded, clearly impressed.
"Sounds awesome," she said.
Christian
"It's something to do. To keep me out of boredom," Christian shrugged.
"Been spending time in the gym with Hugh too. Other than that, just doing what I'm told."
Tanya
"Hugh?" Tanya repeated. "You've been spending time with him? How's he doing?"
She didn't know whether she should be surprised or not.
Christian
"He's... a conflicted individual," Christian kept to nicer terms on purpose.
"Very high-rise. I'm hoping to knock some sense into him the best way I can from here."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"I have a particular interest in getting through to him," she admitted.
She paused, considered and blithely continued:
"Hugh isn't just a telepath. He's got Master potential with proper training."
Christian
Christian's eyebrows rose.
"I sure know how to pick them," he scratched at his head.
"It's not gonna be easy, I already know that for sure. I think - rather, I hope - that some of what I've said to him hits near home. It may not be such a good idea in hidsight, but I'm basically teaching him to defend himself physically. I think sometimes it helps point out just how vulnerable he really is, and I hope he's taking it to heart."
Tanya
Tanya nodded slowly.
"I hope it hits home too. I hope a lot of things hit home," she said. "It can be very hard to throw off the things you were taught to believe growing up, but all he was taught were lies. I want him to realise that."
She frowned a little to herself.
Christian
Chris hesitated, then looked up at her.
"Was that a sort of unconscious jeer at Craig?" he asked innocently.
"I mean I don't blame you if it was, but I guess I of all people should know how hard it is to throw off lifetime beliefs. Not that I've been forced to and I should thank you for that..."
Tanya
Tanya blinked, a little surprised.
"Well, I... I wasn't even thinking of Craig then," she said. "I suppose it could have been, but then I guess... Actually, no. Not even Craig stooped to mass generational history revision."
Christian
"Very true," Chris concured with a smirk.
"So I guess you guys don't have the brainwash-reversal machine up and running yet then?" he added as a joke.
Tanya
Tanya chuckled.
"No, not yet," she laughed.
Then she smiled and added seriously:
"I hope that you're able to get through to him. Peers usually have a bigger impact than authority."
Christian
"Not that we truly are... 'peers'," Christian shrugged, "nor would he probably ever consider us to be. But for now I'm working myself up in the ranks."
Tanya
Tanya smiled.
"Probably the closest thing to a peer in this place," she said.