Squib: First Day of Session

Tuesday 28 October 2014 - Filed under Squibs

Forms of Energal Control, a third-year course. Unassuming in name, but the scuttlebutt said otherwise. The instructor was legendary. He was a deep tan, medium-height, a little heavy, bald as an egg. Seeing him from a distance, or in line at the school commissary, you’d never guess him to be faculty unless he was wearing his office gown. He rarely did. He wore white or cream blouses with a dark grey tunic, indigo divided pants, heavy boots, bracelets of various metals. Unassuming at first glance, yet there was a sense of power in his movements. Perhaps the bracelets would clue in the savvy. Or not; plenty of students would cop this pretense.

Students of Senior Fellow Jokolomon Porquo knew better. He was the stuff of legend. And it wasn’t typical legend, swashbuckling deeds done to a fevered gallery, or showy pyrotechnics dazzling a wowing crowd. No, the legend was the calm, the control, the smile quirking on his mobile mouth as he gently lead a grisoneur through a choreography of postures, or the casual invoking of the delta-level fight response in a tethered golblocq. All the while cautioning with a gentle patter, “Now I can tell you exactly why you shouldn’t do this without proper lockdown procedures, but you won’t listen to me, so I’ll simply end my comments with the note that most alpha-level responses can be mitigated by oral potassium and subcutaneous fluids. Otherwise, suboptimum outcomes are entirely possible.”

2014-10-28  »  Edward Semblance