audio;

[springlocking]

-- okay, it's on.

[The video is briefly on, just long enough to display the curious face of the person making the broadcast. She looks average enough, aside from that scar on her left cheek, though she manages to get the camera back off before continuing. Not much analysis/staring time there.

There's a brief inhale before the voice belonging to the face (a teenage girl, no more no less) starts in with her statement.]

Hi, my name's Charlie. I just arrived on the ship, and I've got a favor to ask.

See, I've been assigned to stealth operative duty. I haven't done anything like that in my life up until now, so if someone - anyone - could train me in...anything that's got anything to do with this? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

Comments

audio

[springlocking]

All right...What does networking mean, exactly?

[She's a 90s kid, forgive her her trespass.]

text

[a_shadow]

Making connections with people. Finding out who are the right ones to know or who can get you a connection with someone else who can help you.

audio

[springlocking]

I...okay.

[She gets the feeling the writer might not be willing to help beyond that. From the looks of it, she's already made a bad first impression here. No need to make things worse.]

I'll try to keep that in mind in the future. Thanks for your advice.

[And the thing is, she's being completely sincere.]

text;

[a_shadow]

[ Even after that exchange, she's not going to try to find out more? Tex sighs and composes another response. She doesn't know why she's persisting after that. ]

Stealth was my specialty in the special forces. Maybe if you work on your networking skills you can find a way to get some tips off of me.

audio

[springlocking]

[... She has direly misread this, and when she replies, she sounds a bit panicky.]

I misread all of that! I'm sorry. I thought, well, I thought you were annoyed because of how not-stealthy I'm being. It's kind of the opposite of the job title, right?

Still, all right, I'll work on that.

audio

[a_shadow]

[ Tired of the back-and-forth, she finally opts to speak in return. ]

You read it right. I'm willing to help if you're willing to learn, 'cause I think you can learn, but I have concerns about your temperament. Try not to freak out if I say you're doing something wrong.

audio

[springlocking]

[Oh thank goodness. Now she can tell the tones of voice and whatnot. She's a lot calmer now.]

I would really like to learn, yes, and I'll try not to panic. That won't help in a bad situation, I know that.

[Again with the sincerity, she's not even being petulant with those last few words. Just thoughtful.]

audio

[a_shadow]

I'm a teacher here on the ship. We'll consider that part of your schooling. You are one of my new students, right?

[ Yes, the powers that be had decided to assign a stealth operative from the military to be a schoolteacher. They certainly had interesting ideas of how to get people out of their comfort zones. ]

[springlocking]

It was the start of summer break back home, though.

[That was a touch of humor in her tone right there.]

Joking aside, I understand. All right, I'll go with that.

[a_shadow]

Good. You don't mind spending some extracurricular time on it, do you? At least if you want to get good.

[springlocking]

That sounds like a good plan. Sure, I don't mind.

[It isn't like she's got anything else to do around here anyway, aside from getting used to it all. Also, if she's got this responsibility, she's going to try and do it well. If that means Eye of the Tiger montage time training her butt off and sore muscles, fine.]

[a_shadow]

We'll get started tomorrow.

[springlocking]

Okay. Where and when?

[Always good to make sure she has enough time to get lost successfully locate the place in question.]

[a_shadow]

I'm usually at the classroom by 1000 hours. We wing it from there—depends on who shows up and when.

[springlocking]

[It takes her a sec to decipher "1000 hours," but she manages it. Now she just needs to figure out where the classroom is.

....OR she could be a sane person and ask for directions.]

All right. Where is the classroom?

[a_shadow]

[ Good lord, is she really going to have to spoon-feed everything to this child? ]

It's on the map.

[springlocking]

Oh, okay. I was worried that it wouldn't be, or that it would have a specific room number or something like that.

[She's trying, okay.]

[a_shadow]

It's there. You'll work it out.

[ At least, she'd better. ]

[springlocking]

[She will. This would be her logic behind asking when the class is. Now she can plan out when to get up so that she can find the friggin' room in question. It's just like the first day of high school all over again, except on a ship.

She may even get there early, though more likely she'll just be on time.]