Aberrant: Prometheans Unbound - Fiction: Leiko Takei

[BlueNinja]

Leiko sat in the café, drawing a few looks from the nova-otherness she couldn’t help broadcasting on some level that was sensed without being consciously noticed. She sipped quietly at her soda, and waited for the person she asked to meet her. He would show, of course – she knew just how to manipulate him. Soft flattery, the kind that he wouldn’t notice on the first read though. Her name, clear and obvious on the envelope. A quick sketch across the back of the envelope where it had been sealed – and sure enough, he had scanned it and added it to the fan website before he’s opened to read the letter.

The door opened, and she saw a flash of dyed hair before a chunky man slid into the booth across from her. “Um, h-hi,” he stuttered, and tried to subtly dry a hand on his pants before offering a handshake. Leiko took it anyway, knowing just the right amount of pressure to give the handshake, before wiping her own hand clean in a way he wouldn’t notice. “Um, I’m Piro.” Her lips quirked in a slight smile, guessing the reference for the name was an in-joke between this otaku and his online friends.

Leiko nodded, running through the options in her mind. “Yes, I know,” implying she had been watching the fan club more closely than she had. “It’s why I wanted to meet with you,” making him think he was more important than he was, when all she really wanted was a link into her largest group of fans. “Do you know why?” giving him a chance to brag about putting together all of the obvious clues she had put in the letter.

He cleared his throat a little too noisily, and Leiko leaned back in the booth. “Well, it sounded like you wanted to be able to talk more openly with some of your fans. I mean, most of us thought you were kind of, um, reclusive and all, but I always figured you wanted to talk to fans outside of conventions.” He sort of stumbled to a halt, and Leiko mentally shook her head. This Piro was everything she’d thought from her single read-through of the fansite about her.

“Something like that,” with a tilt of the head and eyes downcast just so that would make him more confidant. “I’m sure that some of your fellow fans,” with a hesitation just long enough to back up his own separation from the more intrusive members, “picked out that I took a visit to Cuba recently. I wanted to see some other novas I’ve spoken with before. One of them,” another pause, glancing around the café furtively to make him think she was sharing a great confidence, “spoke to me of how much he valued his interactions with baselines.” A scowl, making him think she disliked the Utopia-coined word, with her shoulders tilted forward at an angle to distract his eyes from her face. “He said it helped him to avoid some of the quantum side effects that other of being a nova, and it made me realize that I,” looking up to capture his gaze, lock his eyes on her own ordinary brown ones, to make him think she was more normal than she was, “have few normal people I can speak to. And it is difficult for me, because of my skills, to easily start conversations. So I chose to start with those who have something in common with me.” A more genuine smile, that he would think was an attempt to open up.

“Um, yes. You said that in your letter,” he stumbled over a word or two, and Leiko sipped at her drink again, knowing that the pause would let the poor fool a chance to collect himself. “So you wanted to start speaking with us?”

She nodded, letting her hair slide around in a way that would catch his eyes. “Yes. I was hoping to start posting on the OpNet site, perhaps for a few weeks before I try meeting more of them in person. Could you help arrange it?” A vocal tone to imply confidence in his abilities, the right tilt of the face to imply sexual interest, a smile at the corner of the mouth to keep him watching her.

He just nodded, stalling for time by sipping at his soda. “I’ll help set up a login name and try to get some of the better people prepared for you. Some of them probably will think it’s, um, a prank,” shift in the seat to set him at ease, make him think she’s not going to hold it against him, “so it’ll take a little bit of work.”

Leiko nods, pushing her glass away, and pulling out a small piece of paper from her lap, where she’s drawn him in a heroic pose, far better than he looks in real life. “I have commissions to do today. My OpNet contact is on the back.” She slipped out of the booth, one last eye contact before he stopped to stare at the sketch, then slipping out of the door and into a waiting cab. “You know where to go,” she said, her voice crackling with her no longer trying to hold it back.