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Lily Flyer has no blood family, much like many of her comrades. They’re the closest thing she has to siblings, their superior officers the closest thing to parents she’s ever known. Obedience is natural in a world without anything else. Devotion is all that’s needed, and she pays her family what they’re owed.
They add more to her training as she grows older, alongside the runs and hand-to-hand combat. Tactics drills, pilot simulations, shooting at ever-farther targets. It’s one day after she’s finished the latest round of pilot simulations that they deem her ready for a mentor. Someone to get some real-life experience with. Someone who can show her the ropes on both land and air.
She shows up to their first meeting dressed as she always is, in the plain standard-issue uniform. Pilot Jody Summer stands beside her F-Zero machine, dressed in nonstandard pink armour. Her smile morphs into a faint frown as Lily walks closer. Has she already messed up somehow?
“Lily Flyer, reporting for duty,” she says.
“Jody Summer, but just call me Jody” says her new mentor. “You’re…quite young, aren’t you?”
“I’m twelve,” says Lily, trying to stand up straighter despite her back already being stiff as a ramrod. “My age won’t be an obstacle to our training. I’ll perform any tasks you order without complaint.”
The declaration doesn’t make Jody’s frown any smaller, instead deepening the furrow between her brows. “That’s…not what I was concerned about.”
The statement is both soothing and unnerving. She doesn’t see Lily as an unruly pupil, but something else still bothers her? “Is it my abilities? I may be young, but I’ve passed all the tests so far with top marks. I understand that doesn’t compare to your field experience, but—”
“It’s alright,” Jody says softly, cutting her off. “Come on, let’s take a look at the machine together.”
Jody takes her through all the specs of her machine, the White Cat, before having them both get in for a test run. It’s Lily’s first experience riding in an actual F-Zero machine instead of a simulated one, and it takes everything she has to not press her face against the window exclaiming about just how fast they’re going.
“What do you think?” Jody asks when they’ve finished, extending a hand to help Lily climb out of the machine.
Lily doesn’t need it, but she takes it anyway. “It was…” exhilarating. Amazing. Super, duper cool! “It was very helpful, thank you. I know what to expect now.”
Jody sighs, once more making Lily wonder if she’s done something wrong. But she smiles not long after, shaking her head. “Alright, I’ll take it. Meet me here tomorrow, same time.”
***
Jody’s mentorship is a mix of spoken and practical, with Lily hanging onto every word and demonstration. Jody takes her out in the White Cat some more, quizzing Lily on manoeuvres. She takes her to meet her mechanic, John Tanaka, and has her watch as he happily points out all the White Cat’s moving parts. She dutifully completes minor repairs under their dual supervision, then blanks out as both of them clap for her. Why for such a simple task?
“I was thinking of grabbing some dessert at the cafeteria,” says Jody once her clapping tapers off. “Would either of you like to come along?”
Lily’s mind blanks—there’s no specific protocol about eating with her superior, but she’s never been directly invited to share a table with one. Would it be rude to accept, or rude to refuse?
Tanaka makes the decision for her, loudly exclaiming about how sweet Jody is before ushering them all along. He talks enough for the three of them as they walk, Jody making vague noises of agreement about the merits of sherbet versus pudding. Lily has nothing to contribute, so she stays silent.
The cafeteria isn’t very busy due to the odd hour, so they march right up to the front of the line. Lily perks up once she sees her favourite fruit parfait, and carries it to their table like it’s the most precious treasure she’s ever held. She waits for both adults to raise their spoons to their lips before she starts digging into her beloved parfait, sweet berry flavour bursting on her tongue. A low chuckle draws her attention, and she looks up to see Jody with a hand pressed over her mouth.
“Sorry,” says Jody, “it’s just—I’ve never seen you so enthusiastic. I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile.”
Lily’s cheeks warm, and she sets her spoon down before she can stuff the last few scoops of parfait inelegantly into her mouth.
But Jody only shakes her head, waving her hand. “No, no—I didn’t mean that as admonishment. Eat to your heart’s content. Would you like another one?”
Lily’s mouth opens, then closes. Her eyes dart to the food counter, then back again. “I…wouldn’t want to take more than my share.”
Jody gets up, tossing her hair. “Well, I think they won’t mind sneaking Miss Galactic Space Federation another helping. Don’t tell anyone, alright?”
Lily nods, befuddled, as Jody strides over to the counter and Tanaka props his hand on his chin to watch with a wistful sigh. She returns soon enough, carrying a fresh parfait. She sets it down, then looks at her first half-eaten one.
“Oh dear,” she says, sliding the fresh one to the middle of the table. “It looks like I’ve gotten too much. Won’t someone do me a favour and help me eat this one?”
Lily blinks at the parfait, then back up at Jody, who pushes the dessert a bit closer to her. She keeps staring until Tanaka nudges her in the side, stage whispering “take it!” before her hand finally darts out to pull it towards her. It’s an obvious ploy, a sign that her refusal hadn’t been convincing enough, but…she can’t bring herself to care with both adults smiling at her fondly and the sweet taste of berries filling her mouth once more.
***
Jody indulging her in the cafeteria on occasion doesn’t mean she slacks in her training, and they continue preparing for her upcoming pilot test. She drives around the track in a training vehicle with the White Cat cruising behind her, much slower than she knows it can go. The Wonder Wasp accompanies them sometimes, trailing along behind them both. She has no idea why Tanaka comes when he hasn’t specifically been saddled with her tutelage, but sometimes he brings them snacks to eat after and really, refusing would just be rude.
“Don’t you have…other things to do?” she asks carefully one day, inspecting the pack of frog-shaped gummies he’d dropped in her hands. It’s kind of him to always stop by, but surely he has more important things to be doing than indulging her.
She doesn’t expect the question to make Tanaka start sobbing theatrically into his arm. “Jody! Our daughter doesn’t love me anymore!”
“She’s not your daughter!” Jody hollers back from the other side of the hangar. “Get your own, stop trying to bribe mine!”
Tanaka gasps, tearing the arm away from his (completely dry) face to press the hand to his chest instead. “How could you say such a thing? The Wonder Wasp’s ratings are D-A-D!”
“So are the Golden Fox’s, that doesn’t automatically make Doctor Stewart Lily’s father—”
“Maybe it does! You should tell him!”
“You can tell him, do you know how it’ll look if I walk up to a man and go ‘so, you’ve just become a father to my child’—”
“You did that to me!” Tanaka shouts back, then turns red for some reason. “Ack! I meant—you asked me to help with her! And now she’s trying to get rid of me!”
“Maybe your gummies were shit.”
Tanaka gasps even louder, then clamps his hands over Lily’s ears. “Jody! No swearing in front of the children!”
“Fuck,” Lily pipes up, because she’s heard way worse in the barracks.
Tanaka releases her and starts making sobbing noises again (his face is still dry, though). “See! You’ve corrupted her!”
Jody makes her way over, taking one look at Tanaka before rolling her eyes. “Stop that, you look like more of a child than she does.”
Tanaka only pretends(?) to sob harder, wailing something about a mountain and martial arts training as Jody shakes her head and pats him on the arm. They both turn to her as her shoulders start to shake, a muffled squeaking noise escaping her, then another, and another.
“John,” Jody says very seriously, grabbing Tanaka by the shoulders.
Tanaka’s face reddens again. Is he warm or something? “Y-Yes?”
“Look,” says Jody, pointing at Lily, “you’re being laughed at by a twelve-year-old.”
The hopeful look on his face morphs into a betrayed squawk as he draws himself up to his full height, rarely seen given how often he slouches. Privately Lily thinks Jody still looks more intimidating even if she’s shorter, but that doesn’t seem to deter Tanaka from pleading with them both to respect their elders as Lily’s body starts to shake anew. She tries, she does, but Jody’s stone-faced expression in contrast to Tanaka’s renewed fake(?) waterworks leave her clutching her stomach as wheezing gasps erupt from her mouth in between great peals of laughter.
Distracted as she is, she doesn’t notice Jody’s expression soften, the quiet murmur of “that’s the first time I’ve heard her laugh,” and the even softer “thank you” that follows. She doesn’t notice Tanaka stopping his theatrics, laughing sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck as he promises Jody to swing by again soon.
Neither Jody nor Tanaka tell her off after for unseemly displays of mockery or emotion, and seem confused why they ever would. Training continues on as usual after that, though Tanaka drops by even more often. It’s a rare day when she doesn’t have both the White Cat and the Wonder Wasp flanking her as she practises the latest manoeuvre or cruises down the track wishing this machine could go faster.
He tries to get her to call him by his first name too, citing her use of ‘Jody’ as an example. Lily cocks her head and says Jody is special, then watches in bemusement as Tanaka bursts into fake(?) tears as usual.
Jody beams at her, so what she said can’t have been too bad. No matter what Tanaka cries about favouritism and rebellious daughters.
***
“Do you know what day it is?” Jody asks weeks later, walking with her into the garage.
“Monday,” says Lily, cheeks heating when Jody laughs. “Did I get the date wrong?”
“You’re not wrong,” says Jody, “but there’s something else that makes today special. Take a look.”
They emerge from the hallway into the garage proper, and Lily’s breath catches in her chest. Tanaka stands there with his hand swept out towards the machine beside him—a miniature grey fighter jet with its armour and cannon removed, presumably for speed. Which means…
“Is that…for me?” she asks, too eager to notice she’s speaking out of turn.
“You bet,” says Jody, beckoning her forward. “Come on, let’s give it a name and a paint job. You can’t have F-Zero without flashy, after all.”
The newly-named Bunny Flash is ready the very next day, despite Lily’s worries about the overly cutesy name and colour scheme. But Jody had only pointed at her own pink clothes, encouraging Lily to pick without worrying about the impression.
“Your skills as a pilot will be what they look at,” she’d said, and that was that.
Tanaka looks tired but pleased with himself when they come in to test the vehicle, and Lily learns from Jody’s prodding that he’d stayed quite a bit after hours to help work on it. Her protests are waved off by Tanaka, who just tells her to try it out already. He cheers when she climbs into the cockpit, Jody climbing into the White Cat nearby.
Driving her own machine is like no training she’s ever done. The Bunny Flash hums around her, zipping down the track as the White Cat zooms after, scenery blurring until there’s nothing left but her machine and the track. The machine that was made for her, that people across the galaxies will see as she races alongside her mentors.
Lily is breathless but grinning from ear to ear when they finally wind down the practice, climbing out with a spring in her step. Her eyes land on Tanaka (slouched in a chair, lightly snoring) and Jody (walking towards her, smiling) and she runs up to Jody like the child she always insists she isn’t.
“Did you see that?” she asks, just barely resisting the urge to hop up and down like her machine’s namesake animal. “I drove it! My own machine!”
“You did well,” Jody praises, poking Tanaka in the side as he jumps up with a startled exclamation. “John, wake up. Your child is graduating.”
“I thought you claimed she wasn’t mine,” Tanaka mutters, then reaches out and ruffles Lily’s hair. “They grow up so fast…to think, now she won’t even have her daily frog snacks—”
“Will you—not see me anymore?” Lily asks, heart sinking. But…it’s only to be expected. Her apprenticeship is done, there’s no reason for he or Jody to go out of their way to see her any longer. Her eyes sting despite the lack of irritants, and she blinks them rapidly to dispel it. It doesn’t seem to work, so she looks down and blinks them harder until a hand lands on her shoulder, and another one rests atop her head.
“We’ll see you anytime you like,” Jody says, “won’t we?”
“You don’t have to even ask,” says Tanaka. He ruffles Lily’s hair again.
It should be embarrassing. Patronizing, even. Instead it makes her throat burn like an illness has come over her, makes her heart thud loudly in her chest. She’s not sure if she loses control and launches herself forward, or if Jody gathers them all together, or if Tanaka is the one to drag them all in. All that matters is that she’s being embraced like she can’t remember ever being, held like a child between two sets of arms.
“Welcome to the racetrack, fellow pilot,” says Jody, rubbing her back as she shudders and both of them hold her like the family she’s never known.