Completed How to make "redacted" and influence people.

[Orchid]

Lunch was an awkward time for Orchid.
First of all he was typically unimpressed with the state of the food and secondly it was usually a time in which he had to do maximum nothing. This all but physically hurt him to do as pacifism was not his nature at all. The hustle and bustle of the mess hall was deafening but he endured it best he could, with only minimal attempt to deliberately force himself to no longer have ears.
Today he deliberately tried to engage with another student, one who had been here about as long as he had and so, by the law of averages, was someone he automatically had the most in common with.
"Hello Lachlan Irwan."
Orchid sat next to the other initiate as if it was the most natural thing in the world and set his tray down on the table. Today was fish pie and mashed turnip. Orchid looked at it like it was about to start moving, because he secretly hoped it would. That at least would be interesting.
"I think I would rather scream than eat this, how about you?"

@Lachlan Irwan

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

"Uh, I think you mean Ir win." The blond Initiate turned to the table with a snicker, which died when he realised his usual gaggle of adoring girls were not seated with him. They had to go tend to some sort of emergency or something. He half expected Natasha to be there, keeping him company because Lachie didn't like spending time to himself.

That was a waste of his presence and what he had to offer.

So now, he turned to the newcomer, then to the slop they were always served. Lachlan knew not to insult the cooks after his run with cooking food sent several of his classmates to see the medics.

"Fucking awful shit. I drowned mine down with some juice but that didn't go down well. I just... abandoned my plate at another table and left it."

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

Orchid smiled a very toothy smile and gave a nod of concession.
"Of course, Master Irwin!"
*Always be gracious to others.*
He made no attempt to even pretend he was going to eat this "meal". Even as Lachlan seemed to speaking as though he was someone else. Perhaps he was ill or simply unstable. It was a jolly thought.
"You're not wrong to leave it but then you're down a meal and you need to keep your strength up. How do you subside?"
Now he turned back to Lachlan and leaning his elbow into the stinking pie crushed it under his weight, letting the foul sludge spill from the fractured crust.
He did not seem to mind at all, because he honestly didn't care that he'd carry the stink all day.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachie shrugged, continuing to sip from his steaming cup of tea and staring out the window. "One of the gi-- uh, a friend volunteers to do the dishes for the cooks and is often rewarded with a boon of sweets, cakes, and best of all, fresh bread and a wonderful stew!" She had called those moments between their classes quality time and Lachlan did not think anything of it.

"Dinner tonight usually makes up for it. If there is a shit lunch, then dinner will be good. Lunch was really good? Then Dinner will be disappointment on a plate."

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Yes, you have a lot of gi-friends don't you Lachlan."
Orchid smiled like a spider at a fly.
"So fortunate. Tell me, how do you get them to do that?"
For all of his frightening intelligence Orchid did not yet grasp the delicacies of certain social movements so when he saw something he did not understand he asked.
How Lachlan controlled those dim witted meat sacks might be a useful skill to have.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

It was now that Lachlan slowly turned to look at Orchid. Funny guy, asked many questions but they were such thought provoking ideas that really had people wondering.

Or guessing, in his case. "Well, they come up to me and I smile. I am really nice to them. They are the most supportive friends to have. You feel low or not confident in yourself, they are there to pick you up and make you feel like a king!" Lachie shrugged. "I guess I am lucky to have found such nice friends."

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

Orchid narrowed his eyes at Lachlan.
"Really nice. See that sounds easy but... well I'll be sickeningly honest with you Lachlan, I have someone in my life I'm trying to be friends with and you see, they're not the easiest person the "be really nice" to."
Idly he picked up his drink and brought it to his mouth.
It was tea and it was bland as the many faces of the uniformly attractive initiates he found himself surrounded by so he spat it back into his cup and poured it onto his plate. His sleeve eagerly soaked up the new moisture as it mixed with the fish juice.
Typically he would not ask because he detested Lachlan and most others but it seemed a silly thing to not consult one on their expertise merely because they were expendable.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan snorted. "Oh, must be a girl. They are so fickle, but oh so simple too. Compliment them. That is my first bit of advice. Give them a reason to come to you with something. Anything. Some of the girls that I am friends with... ask for help with training in combat. Sometimes I make them look good to give them that confidence."

He winked at Kid. "Tried befriending that Zeee.. Xylaph... that red headed girl that can make things. She told me to fuck off and do something suggestively rude with my face... Thing is, what level of not easy are we speaking, mate?" Orchid came to the right guy!

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

Orchid was a bit puzzled.
He had not considered Fennec being a girl to be any sort of factor in his interest in her.
He liked her because she was solitary and interesting, determined and ruthless. She knew who she was and for a shapeshifter like him (not that many were like him, not that any were like him) that was a lot considering the vile disgusting mass of unchecked stupidity they both shared this Academy with.
"You are wrong, she does not want compliments nor does she gravitate to others for any reason other than total necessity."
His eyes drifted up towards a corner of the mess, there, atop the hall on a beam a mouse was eating a beetle.
"I'm sorry, did you just tell me you failed to make friends with this... person?"
His eyes snapped back to Lachlan as he began to feel he had come to the wrong guy.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

"Hey! Don't change the subject! There are some idiots out there, Kid.You just need to know if they are worth the chase or not. Is the girl you're wanting to be friends with, worth it?" He swung a long leg over the bench, straddling it as he faced his new friend with a serious look.

"There are those difficult girls that are like... those crocodiles from the Empire." Lachie shrugged, going with the flow. "It's really hard to express how much I love them. Seriously, if I could kiss him on the lips, I would." His brows furrowed, pausing. "A girl, not a crocodile."

inspiration

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"You changed the subject, well she's definitely not stupid, a chase? Am I supposed to hunt this person?"
The idea was novel but then...
"What happens when I win the hunt and they're dead? I can't be friends with a corpse."
He'd tried and his mother, Sepia, was not happy about it.
"Imperial Crocodiles don't kiss, they release scents that induce arousal and trill to alert others of their intentions to mate."
Lachlan did not seem to know much about them.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan deadpanned at Kid.

"You really are not seeing the picture here, mate. Girls are a mysterious thing! They are like every predatory creature out there, but also like the cutest little kittens!" he sighed, looking to Orchid with disappointment. "No wonder you haven't pulled any of the pretty ladies here. Who's the lass that's got you curious and asking me for advice?"

Lachlan continued to sip his drink.

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Her name is Fennec Vel Olera and there is nothing "cute" about her. I don't think I would like it if there was but she is indeed like a predator in many ways."
Orchid remembered how skittish she seemed, how he could sense the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"When you say, pull, do you mean fuck?"
He looked at Lachlan with a strange suspicion. That Lachlan was fucking a lot of girls and potentially seeding many offspring... who would need to die so that they do not create problems.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

"Pffffft!" Lachlan coughed, dabbing at the tea that dripped from his chin. "Fennec?!" He was alarmed, and rightfully so! His new friend was going to die if Lachlan did not help him!

"No, Kid, not always does pull mean to bed them!" Lachlan stared intensely at the Initiate next to him. "Not all the girls here want something to casual, anyway. I don't want to put up with their whines and insistence on being together every waking minute." He rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you are wanting advice on that one too, because you can run on over to the library and read up on it. Can't give away all my secrets now, can I?"

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Lachlan, I know how to fuck and I do not feel any lust for Fennec. I simply need to understand what it is about Fennec that I like. Can you help with that?"
Lachlan sure had a round about way of thinking.
Mother told Orchid to choose a mate based on power, influence and cunning. Sure enough Fennec had power and cunning, animalistic though it was but no influence save what influence it took to keep others away, which he didn't seem effected by so in essence it did not really exist for him.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan made a face, as if he truly did not want to help Orchid at all when it came to the idea of understanding Fennec.

"I mean... yeah, alright." he sighed, downing the last of his tea. "What was the first thing that had you find interest in her?"

He raised a brow, leaning against the table and lounging. He may as well get comfortable, he could be here a while if Kid was the kind to ramble.

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"The smell of her face paint first drew me to her. It made me kinda hungry."
Orchid's tone was serious. He was not accustomed to lying though he understood it's necessity. Especially as a shapeshifter but when not in disguise he preferred simple honesty.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

The fuck was he on about?

Face paint?

Face paint...

The same face paint that made her look like something you wouldn't want to see behind you in a mirror? But now Lachlan was wondering if she slept with that paint on her face, or if it could withstand the weather...

Or...

No, let's not imagine that visual.


"Face paint made you... hungry? What, she had fucking strawberries on her face or something, Kid?"

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Don't be a fool Lachlan. The face paint is made from bees wax, chalk, soot and egg whites. It's not even basic alchemy, keep up."
What did they teach nobility at homes these days. Mother had always insisted on a good education. She said it was the cornerstone of success.
"Please, focus Lachlan. What do I do?"

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan snorted, leaning back a little and collecting his thoughts before sitting back up straight and looking Orchid in the eye.

"Mate, I gotta tell you... no, never mind. Alright. The face paint. That interested you... have you told her this? Have you spoken with her, had a conversation? What's the nature of your talks?"

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Fennec does not speak. She signs and makes dismissive hand gestures, and scowls. Mostly it's scowls."
Orchid remembered the truly offended look she gave him when first he walked up to her at the lake.
It was such a welcome memory.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Lachlan did his own signing by waving off Orchid's words. "Don't care on the specifics... wait. Do you not know  how to sign or understand it?"

Kress, how fruitless was this... pursuing for him?

"How have you actually had a conversation with her?"

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

"Yes I understand her perfectly when she uses it. Like I said sometimes she just scowls."
He replied while picking fish bits off his elbow as if he wasn't listening but he was.
"We have had a short informal... communication. It wasn't much but I
enjoyed it and I got a free painting."
He still liked looking at it and how it blocked the light from his window.

Lachlan Irwin

 

[Lachlan Irwin]

Just scowls?

Why would anyone want to look at an unhappy face when a smile made a girl much prettier?

"A painting..." He said slowly, trying to grasp where such a thing could inspire this... desire? Longing? Whatever Orchid was feeling, it was definitely nothing Lachlan had puzzled over in the past. As if he struggled getting the attentions of a pretty girl.

"To me it sounds as if she is not annoying to you and you actually enjoy the company. A friend. A true one. You said you don't lust her, so the sheila is considered a friend." To think of Fennnec as anything worthy of attachment... it was the equivalent of dangling your feet over the end of your bed lest something grabs them and pulls out under.

Orchid

 

[Orchid]

Orchid listened and understood, or at least he thought he did.
"But why? Why am I so... comfortable around her when so many of these stinking... mewling fools utterly disgust me?"
His honesty might have been shocking but he had ceased to care Lachlan would provide the answer or not. As he tried to wrap his mind about it a spider drew his attention to the floor, it ran, stopped then ran again.
Solitary and at ease.

Lachlan Irwin