Bent World: Chapter 33 Selective Avoidance

Chapter 33

Selective Avoidance

Monotony, or rather returning to the ‘norm’ has got to be the worst part of multiple existences. Just when breaks come along to introduce needed and preferred changes to set schedules, there is one constant that always seems to come back into play in order to cause issues. This can be anything from going back to the daily grind, where you focus on those brief moments of sun and relaxation that you just experienced in order to cope.

Or, as is my case, you can find yourself going back to a true punishment meant to weed out regressors and those living a second life. Yes, the dreaded school. It was boring the first time, when I was being taught the correct methods, theorems, and  equations to solve problems of the world.

Now that I am going to a world that is not as technologically or scientifically masterful as my last the pain of attending and not breaking down is even worse.

Stoic, calm, and breathe, my mantra for getting through this process.

The whole process wouldn’t be so bad if I had something I could relate to, but here in my class, there is just one other boy, and a bunch of bigoted sexists that are in the form of overly muscular little girls.

As is typical, I put on my clothes in the west wing, where the only maid who is really allowed to attend me is Sarina, my apparent clothes fixer, and all-around caretaker.

Nervously she goes over my classroom uniform. I can tell as she is now focusing on combing nonexistent hairs behind my ears.

“Are you done?” I ask.

“Aww, you are so fussy. I just want you to look perfect for this your final leg of elementary school,” Sarina declared.

She was right, after completing this year and having completed my official profiling ceremony in private by Auntie, I would have met all of this worlds requirements for officially passing Elementary school. Pausing I think about it, and realized that this world does emphasize the elements in Elementary school, more so than my home world did. I wonder if that is ironic, or if it goes to the realm of coincidental now that I have recognized it as seeming to be ironing?

“Oh, stop making that face, I promise I’ll stop now,” Sarina states, ending her fussing over me as she drags one last finger across my forehead. “If you fuss like that too much, you will get wrinkle lines.”

Apparently, Sarina thought it was her constant fussing, and not my being lost in my own thoughts are what caused me to make a face. Still, the goal had been accomplished as this final few minutes of torture ended as we were allowed to leave.

“You sure you don’t want some makeup to help cover your wrinkle lines?” Sarina asked.

“No, I do not need make up as I am not trying to impress anyone.” I retort for what has to be the hundredth time by now.

“True, all the really interesting girls are in the higher grades, aren’t they?” Sarina teases.

Long sigh.

I let out an exasperated sigh at this, as I feel that I am mentally losing my edge. Still, this is good practice, for every second that I spend here with my arms out horizontal, or vertical, and Sarina focuses her full attention on me. I take this same time to focus on improving my Telekinesis lifting objects like couches, my bed, the dresser in the corner, the squirrel outside the window. Hundreds of items all getting grabbed, moved, and then released.

Every moment I sit still and get complacent, that is the minute I no longer move ahead and attain my own autonomy.

It’s weird, it isn’t until I came to this world that I realized how little autonomy I actually had. While I was not considered a minority in my past life, I was a slave to the unbendable rules that governed our old world. A corporate slave who worked day in and day out, only to die thanks to a series of bad decisions. Decisions made by people who were not me and did not request my input at all. Heck, had it not been for the fact that I was found to have an aptitude for mentalism, I would have likely had to create daily spreadsheets and data points that would be briefed to no one.

I still wonder what they found, or what exactly was being looked for when we all took that nationwide test. It was a test that everyone had to take, and I along with ten others managed to get accepted. Then after the first few years, only three of us remained. Just me and two other females who managed to stay in the advanced testing stages.

A part of me wonders what happened to those two, well all of them really. Did they die alone, getting incinerated twice, once by the warriors of this world, and again by the sun? Or did they too get out?

When the war started, we were sent home to get our stuff and come back. I was slain while getting my gym bag. I didn’t even see the strike, only saw my, now-mother, as she gave a cursory check to ensure I died.

Thinking back to that time, that was also my first time seeing a much smaller, but no less excitable Sarina. Sarina’s face also got close to my old face, her face being one of the last things I saw with my old body. Ironically, I thought at the time that if they were the last faces I saw then I could die happy. Then I got mad as I realized they were the ones that killed me, but those feelings only came later.

“Come on,” she cried out.

Shaking.

Suddenly Sarina, the real Sarina was next to me, shaking me and drawing my attention back to the present.

Thud-thud-boom.

Of course, such a random scare caused me to lose focus and drop all of the objects I had been Telekinetically lifting.

“What?” Sarina cried out as she looked around the room. Only a few things moved, the shifting of my bedspread, the ruffling of a few pillows. Nothing major, but if you knew what I was moving, then you would know where to look.

Long exposed rolling sound.

And of course, one round ball that I had been moving about silently across my writing desk chose that exact moment to start rolling off the now stationary table.

Klink-plink.

Where it rolled off and rattled to the ground.

“You and your haunted room,” Sarina declares as she stares at me.

“What did I do?” I question.

“The fact that you are okay with all of this,” Sarina declares while waving her hand at the room full of practice items, “is the problem.”

For a moment, I wonder if she is afraid that my room is haunted. Then an even better idea comes with, if she thinks the room is haunted, will she spend less time hemming and hawing over my appearance everyday?

I just stare at her like she is clearly losing it, which she seems to be. Sarina opens her mouth as if to protest, but then decides against such an act.

“Come on, we don’t want to be too late,” Sarina declares.

“We are only late because you make us late,” I retort.

By now Sarina is already moving, but she does take the moment to talk over her shoulder at me as we head down the long hallway.

“I can’t help it, if you won’t help yourself look your best, then it falls upon me as your caretaker to make sure you look your best.”

I want to protest and say that part of this is her taking this obligation way too seriously, but I avoid trying to be seen arguing in public. Or outside the confines of my room, which is apparently not gentlemanly, according to this world’s etiquette. Meaning that if I want to avoid extra classes on gentlemanly trends of being seen, but not heard, I need to follow the unspoken rules. That is, don’t speak unless spoken to, and try not to appear as defiant as you truly are. A typical Jane Austin protagonist with a sex-shift, that’s me.

Still, I have my plan. Get a bit older, a bit stronger, and accidentally go missing on one of my little excursions into the rift worlds. While I’m not confident enough in my skills to survive currently, especially while I am still growing, I do feel that I am getting close to where I can be self-sufficient in one of those realms.

Also, I’m fairly certain that if I did transition to one of those worlds, then I would be able to find my way back here, somehow. Again, there is more to test, but I remember that feeling of being in the other rift. That knowledge that I knew exactly where home was at all time and roughly how long I had to get out before the closest point closed up.

Going out to the entryway I was somewhat unsurprised to see that mother was there, waiting for us to arrive.

“Oh, don’t you look so handsome,” mother chimed out with the confidence and love that only a parent could muster.

“See,” Sarina hissed at me as I took my spot of waiting.

There was an awkward moment of tension as I took up a rigid position, while Sarina and the others looked down the east wing expectantly. Finaly, Sarina relaxed her posture letting the rest of us know that my sister was coming.

I turned back to watch as she came into the hall. Not going to lie she looked a bit rough. Her clothes had that ruffled look that only comes from being slept in, while her long and bedraggled hair looked the same. Appearing to not have had enough time to drag a comb through the hair before making her way out her. As she moved, she was also putting on the sleeves of her jacket top, her face showing a lack of wanting to be awake. She was in the middle of a yawn before she noticed me already standing here. That’s when her face went from being completely tired, to locked up and wide awake. Gone was the half yawn that was being released, gone was the slight lean in her posture.

Instantly Pandaline rushed over to stand next to me, going to a state of full military attention in a matter of seconds. I watched as her face went red with embarrassment, as she stared forward locking gazes with mother.

I don’t know how I expected mother to react, but for her part, mother just seemed to enjoy the seeming discomfort that her daughter felt while in her presence.

Chuckle.

“Well, come on Missala, let’s give Pandaline a moment to fix herself before she joins us,” Mother called out somehow managing to embarrass both Pandaline and me in the same sentence. Pandaline for apparently not being fully prepared, complete with an awkward hair clump, and lack of buttons being used. Me for the fact that I still hate my name. Mother even gave a quick glance to Sarina, followed by a nod towards Pandaline that made it clear she was to stay behind and help the poor girl get ready.

I watched Sarina nod out of my peripheral vision, but was already making my way out to the family car. A car that I now knew to be so much more than a standard car, at least compared to those of my world.

Ceecee was the driver today, and with her at the wheel, I could feel the unmistakable use of Fire and Lightning being used equally.

“You feel the energy being used?” Mother asks.

I nod.

“Good, you need to practice that whenever and wherever you can. This is a hybrid engine, and while I will not bore you with all of the technical details, it means that this engine can run on either combustion power, generated by flames, or via electrical circuitry.” Mother spoke.

As she spoke I looked up to her with wide-eyed amazement, hearing perhaps the first interesting thing about this world in a while. Mother just stated at me for a moment, apparently reading more into my gaze than I intended to share.

“You are intrigued by engines aren’t you?”

I nodded, still knowing that despite this being a conversation, I was intended to answer in as minimal a way as possible.

“Hmm,” mother replied, biting her lower lip while contemplating something.

I looked up to her with a questioning glance, one that she instantly read and responded to.

“Oh, you likely are wondering what I am thinking?”

I nod.

“I’m thinking that you truly are the first-born daughter that I wanted. In every way possible, other than where it counts most.” Mother stated, letting her gaze shift from my eyes down to my crotch, then back up.

Once again, mother managed to both compliment me and cut me down I the same sentence. I didn’t say anything, only biting my own lower lip and nodding in acceptance. There was nothing that I truly could say to that, for how do you counter somehow who is steadfast in their sexist views?

“Were ready,” Sarina called out, opening the door and revealing an almost completely different Pandaline. Her clothes were now straight and less wrinkled, her hair was clearly combed, and her face was wide eyed and awake.

I almost thought that would be everyone, but I was surprised to see that Auntie was already in the vehicle, apparently waiting for the rest of us to arrive.

“Oh there you are sweetums,” Auntie cooed out lovingly towards me, as she holds her powerful arms out for a hug.

Bleh.

Almost on reflex I moan and roll my eyes back. Normally I wouldn’t be opposed to someone who looks as young and vibrant as Auntie to want to hold me, but my body seems to react on impulse, using some innate form of aversion that all kids are born to exhibit.

Still, dutifully I lean forward and give a hug, where I am held in place long enough o receive a kiss on the forehead. I am about to resist and get away, but I am pulled in for a second by the pleasant smell and softness, then let go.

Chuckle.

Pandaline of course chose that moment to make her presence known as she chuckles getting in.

“Don’t think that you are getting away without a hug and kiss either,” Auntie demanded in the way that only Auntie could.

Then as if on cue, Pandaline also looked dejected and disgusted as she made her obligatory way forward to get her now mandatory hug and kiss from Auntie.

While I barely contained myself from laughing, the look that Pandaline gave said she didn’t dislike the act as much as she was currently pretending. Seeing her shared misery, I pause for a moment, realizing that there were moments in this life that weren’t half bad.

With that in mind, I stared out the window as we made our way towards the school and officially ended this all too short of a break.

***

“Bye Auntie, by mom,” I call out being the first to be let out by Ceecee.

“Oh, you aren’t getting rid of us that easily,” Auntie stated as she was the next person who was allowed out, followed by Pandaline, mother, and Mother’s guard.

“We aren’t?” Pandaline asked, apparently not seeing the trap.

“Oh, trying to get rid of us already?” Mother chirped in from behind, a knowing smile on her face.

At that I just shook my head, knowing that there was no way they couldn’t put some kind of spin on that.

“What, no, I just…” Pandaline began, only to be cut off by two smiling heads of the Andry family.

“Relax, we are just joking with you. Though we are here to discuss something serious.” Auntie began.

“Wait, what?” Pandaline asked.

“Just wait, no reason to spoil the fun too soon,” Auntie smiled malevolently.

Hearing them conspire, I could only remember the last part of the conversation that I had with Auntie. Well, it was more of an after meeting, meeting, where she spoke about one key concept that had slipped her mind.

To be clear, all I was told was, “don’t worry about school your mother and I have worked out a plan.”

Now after seeing both Auntie and Mother’s conspiratorial smiles, I realize I should have asked a few more questions.

***

That was why no less than an hour later everyone had been gathered in the auditorium for an impromptu meeting.

“As you no doubt have heard there is a confirmed Pathfinder amongst our ranks,” Principal Nef began, her voice calm and composed as she let her subtle power seep into her words.

Just hearing that introduction, I knew this was going to be bad.

“Also, as many of you are aware, we have our very own Profiling Ceremony that will be conducted within two weeks’ time.”

Murmurs.

At this an odd, hushed enthusiasm stretched across the gathered mass of students.

“Well, we are pleased to announce here for you all, that you all will be able to see the Pathfinder in all her glory, as she will be here to assist with the Profiling ceremony.” Principal Nef continued.

ERUPTION of Applause!

At this, everyone began erupting into joyful enthusiastic cheers. All while, I could only feel the beginnings of a headache forming within the back of my mind, as I realized there would be a catch. Almost as if reading my mind, Principal Nef chose that moment to raise her hand and once again gain the attention of everyone present.

“There is one catch, as has happened a few years ago, there was a Profiling Ceremony that went horribly wrong. Since then many efforts have been made to ensure that such events never happen again. That said, know that we will be having all the males done independently by household.” Principal Nef noted.

“Awe man,” a bunch of the male students around me began all but crying at the idea of not getting the chance to meet the Pathfinder, even from a distance.

“Don’t worry, as Dr. Andry, of House Andry, and one of the primary Wayfarers of the Pathfinder’s party will be there.”

More moans.

A that the principle gave a coy smile, as she knew she had the audience eating out of her hand.

“Did I forget to mention that the Pathfinder will also be there, along with Madame Andry, also a Wayfarer?”

Eruption of cheers again.

At that, I realized I was being pimped out to market how amazing House Andry is, and that our house was the only one with a certified Pathfinder.

“Questions?” Principle Nef asked.

As we finally got over the worst part of this meeting, I at least relegated myself to the fact that I didn’t think it could get any worse.

“If our brothers are part of a Profiling Ceremony, can the other family members attend?” A girl I vaguely realized to be Calen’s younger sister asked, though I was certain Calen also had a few older sisters as well.

Hearing the question, Principal Nef turned to mother who smiled and nodded, confirming that I would be made into even more of a spectacle.

That’s when I realized I might have just jinxed myself by thinking it couldn’t get any worse, which I am almost certain is a form of predetermined coincidence, and likely not irony.