Author: subtly_artistic | Bella is seriously considering refusing to tell anyone else what her major is. Honestly. The way people flinch -
Well, no, that's not fair. She'd flinch too if she were unprotected and a subtle artist walked by. Just because most don't, in fact, casually or unintentionally read thoughts, doesn't mean that none of them do. Her tutor back home thought that her aversion to having her mind read was why her arts were set up so defensively and everything else was secondary for her.
She doesn't like the flinching, but it is fair. Maybe she'll go to the lab and scribe off a few copies of a mini fact sheet so she can hand them out when she meets people. No, that would be obnoxious.
She'll wait for it to wear off. Eventually she'll make some friends who'll know how she works. Or who are other subtle artists; she's probably more likely to make friends in classes than in the dorm, anyway.
She's not sure how she feels about the mixed-sex dorms. The rooms are singles, at least - that's why she's in Thatcher Hall, automatic single rooms for no extra charge at the price of having to maybe live next door to somebody who's not all human. There's a short list of species who qualify to be out of Harlowe and in predominantly-human Thatcher. None of them scare Bella. The orientation guide called Thatcher a "salad bowl". The junior who was wandering by at the time called it a pit.
The building looks nice. Bella's room looks nice. She unpacks her stuff and then goes back out to explore a little and encounters a stark naked man.
"Dude!" she exclaims. "Put some clothes on! This is a mixed sex hall!" |
Author: pythbox | "Nice to meet you too," he says. "I'm a nymph. You're an asshole." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella considers this information.
Then she abruptly turns right and strides briskly down the hallway.
He's either telling the truth or lying, and neither result leaves her wanting close proximity.
She's in sockfeet. She forgot to put her boots back on when making up her mind to leave her room. She catches a toe on a loop of carpet fiber, pitches diagonally into somebody's doorknob, and comes to a graceless heap on the floor, with what would untended become a massive bruise. Godsdammit, those boots were expensive and she can't even remember to wear them. "Ow, ow, ow..." |
Author: pythbox | "Fuck's sake," snorts the alleged nymph. "You want that healed?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I know where the healing center is," she mutters, pulling herself to her feet. But it's a hike. And he's between her and her room, where her boots are. |
Author: pythbox | "If you wanna walk there, I'm not stopping you," he says. "But if you're okay with divine healing, my way's quicker." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You are kind of stopping me. You're between me and my boots of dexterity that I obviously need to get anywhere without getting myself killed, and you're either a dude who hangs around naked in semi-public for no obvious reason, or you're the world's only male nymph and you can therefore discern creepy things about me just by standing close enough and I do not think subtle arts shields will block that." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," he says, and he walks past the door of her room to stand between it and the next room down the hall, giving her a clear path. "Just so you know, I was going to read you off to make the point that I actually am a fucking nymph, but I'm not feeling anything specific enough that you'd even be able to tell I wasn't just making it up. So congratulations on your boring fantasy life." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella gets up and goes to her room for her boots. "I'm so proud," she seethes, jamming her foot into one and doing up the laces. "You know, I'm not the kind of subtle artist who inadvertently reads people, those are actually very rare, but the ones who do are generally expected to work on controlling it and not casually invading everyone's privacy. I knew there were nymphs sometimes in this building. I did not know it about the hall." She gets the other boot on. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm not a subtle artist," he says. "I'm a fucking nymph. We're not expected to do shit except get on top of a dick a few times a week, but I like bucking expectations, so I'm a martial combat major. Seriously, I could heal you, that looked like it hurt."
The aggressive tone fades out of his voice over the course of these few sentences. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I know you're not a subtle artist, a subtle artist would be asking about my unfriendly brain by now whether they autoread or not. My point was about learning things about people's minds without permission. Not about the subtle arts as a specific way to do it." She shifts uncomfortably. "How close do you have to get to heal me?" |
Author: pythbox | "Are you uncomfortable about me getting close because I'm naked or because I can read your sexuality? Not that I can do much about either. I'm still feeling you from here, I'd still be feeling you from the other end of the hall, I could feel you from inside my room with the door closed if you were having sex in yours but I'd bet my title deed you're not gonna be getting any this month, especially not after I said that. And I have to touch you to work a healing." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "If you're really a nymph, which I am gradually coming to believe, then I don't care if you're naked. And if - kheez, the other end of the hall, seriously? Am I the first person to even object or do you just not give a shit?" |
Author: pythbox | "I'm not a subtle artist," he says. "I go to school, I live in dorms. I live in dorms, people are going to be fucking nearby. And I can't just shut off my connection to sex any more than you can shut off your connection to breathing air and drinking water."
He takes half a step closer, holding out his hand. "I can heal and argue at the same time," he adds. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I would look into not needing to breathe if I inhaled other people's private business whenever I did it!" exclaims Bella, but she flings her hands into the air and drops one into his offered extremity. |
Author: pythbox | A bright light flares; a golden warmth wells from her bones. All pain stops.
He drops her hand.
"See, fixed," he says. "Do you actually think I can stop looking?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I have no idea. Have you bothered looking it up?" |
Author: pythbox | "Look it up how? Mom and I don't talk much." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella runs a hand through her hair. "In the library? Ask a lore professor, maybe? I don't think I could do it, but depending on how it works maybe some subtle artist could set up a sensory valve?" |
Author: pythbox | "I don't sense it, I am it," he says. "Anyway, whatever, I'm off to get yelled at for walking around naked some more." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm off to get asked what my major is and watch people justifiably flinch," sighs Bella, stepping out of her room, closing the door behind her, and heading down the hallway. |
Author: pythbox | Thanks to Thatcher Hall's architect, only one end of this hallway leads to the stairs. They are off in the same direction.
"Great," he says. "We can be really uncomfortable buddies." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Faaaaaantastic." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm not going to feel anything more from you than I've already got unless your desires change or you start getting horny around me," he sighs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'll be on the lookout for those possibilities, then, I guess." |
Author: pythbox | "I'm sorry," he says. He sounds it. Exasperated, yes, but also sorry. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Well, I mean, look, I've got a boring fantasy life, right, it doesn't include nymph spying." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," he says, "I don't actually have to embody sexuality to know you don't get off on my existence. You're making that obvious all by yourself." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella sighs and decides to stop talking. There's the lounge. She's going to hang out in the lounge and see if anyone less disturbing is around to befriend. |
Author: pythbox | In the lounge, the nymph - he never gave her his name, if he even has one - drops onto a couch, sprawling all the way across it with his head on one armrest and his feet on the other. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Ooooof course he does.
Bella strikes up a herbalism major. His name is Joe. She introduces herself to him too; the nymph could have read her door but that wouldn't tell him that she prefers the shortened version. Joe does flinch when he learns that Bella is -
"Majoring in subtle arts. I'm not reading your mind, it doesn't happen automatically for most of us. And a minor in public policy."
"That's a weird combination," says Joe.
"The minor is just for personal interest," shrugs Bella. "Some of the classes I'll take for it will count towards gen ed anyway." |
Author: pythbox | People seem to be avoiding the nymph, until one girl comes up to him, biting her thumbnail nervously, and asks him something too quiet to be heard across the room.
"Guess again," he says. "I'm a nymph."
She giggles softly and asks him something else.
"Yeah, but you can't pronounce it," he says. "Call me Celo." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella notes the name, but makes no outward sign, and compares course schedules with Joe until his pocket mirror goes off and he leaves to answer it. She sits at a bit of a loose end, waiting for another possible opportunity to get to know someone to open up. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is still chatting with the girl, and now he's matching her volume.
At one point he laughs and gestures to his crotch. She hides her face in her hands with a giggle, then peeks - most definitely at his face and not anywhere else. |
Author: subtly_artistic | If that turns into anything, then Bella's going to react either negatively - in which case she'd rather not be in the room - or positively - in which case she'd rather not be near Celo. She doesn't think she knows how to pull off indifference. She'll work on that. She gets up and heads out of the lounge. |
Author: pythbox | No one remarks on her departure. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Certainly not.
Bella goes back to her room. She shelves her books. She goes exploring a bit around the campus around Thatcher: there is the nearest dining hall and there's the food court, there's the subtle arts building, there's the building her WP will meet in, there's where she'll go to her Imperial History class.
It's started to get dark and Bella has just realized that she's not wearing her dagger when she slips back into the dorm. Luckily, no one weapon-checked her. |
Author: pythbox | There are soft giggles coming from a room in her hall, three doors toward the stairs from hers. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She has to pass it to get to her room. She glances at the door. It says Celosia. Probably his kind of plant. She goes back into her own room and gets her knife and heads back out; she wants to grab dinner at the food court. She's back again forty-five minutes later. (There's a line.) |
Author: pythbox | Celosia's room is no longer giggling. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Good for Celosia's room. Bella puts her knife away and goes to hang out in the lounge again. The nymph's not there; she meets four other people before the RAs call a general hall meeting.
Celo will be at that. Sigh. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is indeed at the hall meeting. This time, though, he sits on the floor. |
Author: subtly_artistic | The RAs introduce themselves as Zack and Thea, and they want everyone to go around the room and say their name, their major, and something worth knowing about them. "At least three sentences," clarifies Thea.
Bella is third. "I'm Bella," she says, "and I'm a subtle arts major. I don't automatically read minds, you don't have to police your thoughts around me or anything. I'm minoring in public policy. And, um. I like to read," she adds lamely. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm Celo," says Celo, when it's his turn. "I'm a nymph. I have a double major in martial combat and domestic arts, so the next time somebody tells me to put some pants on, I can cut their head off and cook them for dinner." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm sure that won't be necessary," says Thea. "And I didn't count three sentences," she adds singsong.
"Do you want to explain to everyone how there came to be a male nymph?" asks Zack encouragingly. |
Author: pythbox | "No," says Celo. "Which, in case you were wondering, is a complete sentence." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "O-o-kay then!" says Zack, and he signals the next person. Presently everyone has introduced themselves. The RAs talk about hall policies and how to get in touch with them, reiterate a few rules from the orientation packet like the weapon policy and the ins and outs of the meal plan. They advise everyone to leave their doors open during the day when they're not busy and get to know their hallmates, and to check out some clubs. And Thea points out a bulletin board on the far end of the lounge where everyone is welcome to post notices about things of general interest. The students are then dismissed with a reminder that "Oh, almost forgot, everybody, DRY CAMPUS!" |
Author: pythbox | Celo is one of the first people out of the room. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella has no significant interaction with him just from living on the same hall. Even if nymphs needed bathrooms, he wouldn't be in the girls' one. And once classes start Bella doesn't hang out in the lounge much.
Of course, then there's her Subtle Arts Tutorial Lab.
"Oh," she says, and she bites down on "you have got to be kidding me", when she sees who they paid to have his brain poked at by student psions. |
Author: pythbox | ...Celo laughs and shakes his head. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella sighs and turns to her lab checklist. "Have you," she reads aloud, "consulted with Professor Winters about signposting anything you'd like me to avoid interacting with?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yep." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Did you receive a psionics lab consent form and understand everything on it?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yep!" he says brightly. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Do you have any questions about what I specifically will be working on today before I start?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, what are you gonna be working on?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella doesn't even have to look at her personalized assignment sheet. "My native affinities are defensively and introspectively oriented. I will be working on paying sustained attention to your surface thoughts and emotions; ideally I'll be able to do it for five minutes at a time by the end of the lab. If you happen to think about something that you've had signposted, I'll have plenty of warning to drop out of your head before I see it, but I'll find it most useful if you think about things you don't mind me watching." |
Author: pythbox | "It's not really about what I mind you watching," he says, "it's about what I think will give you nightmares. I'll do my best." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yeah, well, I get marked way down if I look at something signposted," says Bella. "Are you ready? It won't feel like anything, but you're still entitled to know when I start." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, fine," he says. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Okay." Bella puts her first two fingers to her temple; this is only for show, but since he's not going to feel anything, the show is useful. And she reaches out for the mind sitting across from her and looks at it. |
Author: pythbox | The mind sitting across from her is not really thinking.
He has a deeply involved sensory experience of the world, from considerably more angles than the human one. His body, sitting comfortably in his chair and experiencing the textures of air and wood, is only a small part of it; in a slightly different direction, and almost closer to the centre, is the landscape of sexuality around him. Bella's closest, and his attention is on her more than anyone else in the room, so he feels her the most clearly. He's not getting any more from her than he alluded to earlier, but he's getting it in depth. Her sexuality is kind of vague. His perception of it is not.
And along yet another dimension, different again from the embodied self and the metaphysical/sexual self, there's his field. Or something like a field. It's a patch of ground with plants growing in it, but it's surrounded by a gated stone wall, adjoining a small house and surrounded on three sides by larger buildings. Apparently Celosia is the fertility spirit of an urban garden. It's doing pretty well; he feels contentment and restful growth from it.
After all of this comes conscious thought. But he's not really having any at the moment. The totality of his experience is enough for him; it doesn't also need a running commentary. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella makes sure her concentration is stable, and then she starts taking notes. "You may look at anything I write down about this," she murmurs, "it's not going to be about the content, just about my experience of it."
So far her notes say extra sensory tracks (nymph); minimal verbal loop (individual/species? unknown). |
Author: pythbox | He laughs; something about her underlying expectation that he's serious about his mental privacy is funny. "Okay," he says agreeably. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Most people who come through here are doing it for the money and aren't actually fully comfortable with being inspected for money. The consent forms and the signposting and the permission to look at our notes are for them," Bella murmurs. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I figured," he says.
He doesn't really need that shit. He gets a kind of vicious satisfaction from the fact that anyone who looked at things he didn't want them to see would probably regret it, and that's enough for him.
But he doesn't feel that way about Bella. (He thinks of her mostly by sexuality, somewhat by face, a little by the memory of their first conversation, and barely at all by name.) Her, he would rather protect from his worst memories. He doesn't know why, and it doesn't bother him not to; he just goes with how he feels. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella writes predominant person-identifier along sexuality channel (species/individual? unknown) and signposts evidently for protection of observers.
She checks her timer. It's been a minute and a half. She's doing better than she usually has, but she's not at her goal for the lab yet. |
Author: pythbox | He doesn't try to read her notes while he's writing them. He does watch her pen, but he's not interpreting its movement on the level of language. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella underlines her remark about the verbal loop. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is now having vague - and nonverbal - thoughts about the connection between calligraphy and sex. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella tries to think of a genteel way to describe him as having a one-track mind. This, unlike timer-checking or reporting on lab consent arrangements, is too complicated for her to maintain concentration. She loses it, puts her hand at her temple down, and writes 2:03. |
Author: pythbox | He laughs. "What threw you?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Trying to figure out how to phrase something for the lab notes. Professor Winters is going to read them even if you don't want a look first." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," he says, shrugging. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella notes the time, puts her hand back to her temple, and starts up again. |
Author: pythbox | Now he's thinking about his combat classes. The primary identifying feature of the coach is that she has a serious thing for watching hot boys get fucked up. It makes class a little more interesting, especially since Celo has a serious thing for getting fucked up. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella grits her teeth and concentrates and writes single topical thread common to many thoughts (focus issue? individual/species trait? unknown) |
Author: pythbox | He wonders whether the part that's getting under her skin is the violence, how much he likes it, or something else he hasn't thought of. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella writes subject curious about my visible reaction to thoughts - work on suppressing that? focus of healing sessions = subject, not me |
Author: pythbox | "No, really, which is it?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I show up to skirmish games sometimes like everyone else. If you weren't a nymph I'd think it was sketchy to react like you do to something ostensibly for a non-sexual purpose, in public, and I'm reserving judgment given that you are a nymph." She almost, but doesn't quite, lose concentration. |
Author: pythbox | People react sexually to things in public all the time, and given the wide range of people's sexuality, those things are only usually things that are commonly acknowledged as sexual in purpose or nature. Celo sure isn't bothered. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella supposes he would know. She keeps her arts fixed on his thoughts carefully. |
Author: pythbox | Anyways, if it bugs her when he thinks about sex, he'd rather think about something that's not sex.
Cooking! Cooking is not sex. (It can be combined with sex, but he'll leave that alone for now.) Cooking is fun. Eating is fun. Bodily skills and bodily sensory experiences are fun even when they're not the ones nymphs are known for. He thinks about domestic arts - baking muffins and cookies and cakes, making pancakes or hot chocolate. He has an extremely vivid memory for taste and smell. Also, his muffins are fucking delicious. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella doesn't mean to visibly relax - she does mean to be a healer; this will require being calmly able to hear thoughts and if she couldn't avoid tensing she can at least avoid slumping gratefully in her chair. She writes vivid sense-memory. |
Author: pythbox | Sewing is also among the domestic arts. Celo is fond of handcrafts. (Despite her efforts, he notices her relief.) He thinks he'd like to be a clothing designer when he graduates. A nymph in fashion should get people's attention nicely, and he bets it'll be fun, not to mention the wicked little thrill he gets when he imagines wearing his own creations. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Odd. She wonders but doesn't ask why he takes such exception to people who don't identify his species opting to ask that he put pants on. |
Author: pythbox | It occurs to him that she saw that thought, and that she was there when he threatened to kill and eat the next person who orders him to clothe himself, and that she might be curious; consequently he thinks about his reasons.
The parts that aren't heavily signposted are not especially comprehensible or articulable.
He consciously chooses to go back to thinking about muffins. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella steers clear of the signposts, but in so doing drops out of his mind altogether. She drops her hand, writes down 3:17, and starts up again. |
Author: pythbox | Chocolate-chip banana muffins with coconut flakes and ground almond. Carrot muffins with cinnamon. He remembers eating those with significantly more loving detail than he gave to his memories of classes. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Those do sound tasty...
She writes Some contagion of sense-memory interests; unsure of potential extent. |
Author: pythbox | They tasted tasty. And they had that warm fresh smell, and they were springily soft in his hands when he broke them open to put a little butter in the middle.
Well, now Celo's kind of hungry. He wonders if he has time to find a kitchen he can use and whip up another batch of those before his next class with Coach Sadist. Probably not. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella watches him think about muffins. She thinks about lunch. She peers at her timer occasionally. |
Author: pythbox | Muffins. Tasty muffins.
He wonders if he should come back and do this again later. It pays pretty well. But despite having looked it up, he doesn't have a clue how to shut off his sense of sexuality, so Bella probably doesn't want him around. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "There are other students in psionics lab, it's not just me," says Bella. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, but you're here and I'm also here," he points out. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You probably wouldn't be assigned to me again. The point of hiring people is variety or we'd just work with each other all the time. There's also another section that meets Tuesdays, I think." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," he shrugs. That works out nicely, then. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Mindreading mindreading mindreading. |
Author: pythbox | Intense mouth-watering sense memory of delicious food! |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella's stomach growls, she winces, and she loses the read. 2:59, she writes. |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. "Maybe I'll bake cookies for the hall tonight." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm sure they'd be delicious." She underlines her remark about contagion and starts up again. |
Author: pythbox | "Do you want some?"
The association to innuendo is automatic, but the innuendo is not actually intended; he literally does just want to know if she is interested in eating his literal cookies. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "If they're for the whole hall I'd try some." |
Author: pythbox | "Course they are. I'm a nymph. I always bring enough for everybody," he jokes, grinning. |
Author: subtly_artistic | |
Author: pythbox | Celo cracks up. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella resolutely continues to read him. But humor is nearly as contagious as sense-memory, and she cracks a smile. |
Author: pythbox | The joke wasn't that hilarious, but the face she made at it totally was. Celo giggles. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Read, read, read. |
Author: pythbox | She has a cute smile, too. It gives him nice feelings to look at. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Heh. |
Author: pythbox | Well, now he's not sure if he just weirded her out or not. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm all right. Don't worry about me," says Bella. |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," Celo says agreeably.
In that case he can go back to having nice feelings about her smile. |
Author: subtly_artistic | And Bella will go on reading them. They're easy to pay attention to. |
Author: pythbox | That works out nicely then!
Nice warm snuggly happy feelings. (Not sexy ones. By now he has figured out enough about Bella that if they were sexy ones, he would not be dwelling on them in front of her.) |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella sustains five minutes, and is so surprised by having managed to do so that she loses her concentration right then. She writes 5:01 and positive attention easy to focus on; part of the importance of telepath/client rapport? and then picks up again to see if she can repeat the feat. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is distracted; now he wonders if it would help or hinder her purpose if he was talking more. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I cleared five minutes, which was my assignment. I'm getting an A for the day," says Bella. "At this point learning to multitask will help me in general and trying for it won't hurt my grade." |
Author: pythbox | "Awesome," he says. "What do you wanna talk about? I guess the topics that get the best result so far are muffins and how cute you are, but it's probably different talking about it." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Not overwhelmingly different. In my Utility Psionics class we're learning to have relatively ordinary conversations in perfect silence. By the time I'm a sophomore all my psionics classes will be conducted silently." |
Author: pythbox | "Not the direction I meant," he says, and illustratively renders a sense memory of drinking rich creamy bittersweet hot chocolate at a not-quite-scalding temperature. (It's impressive how he almost manages not to consciously entertain any sexual associations to the act of swallowing.) "Put that in words, I dare you." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm actually memorizing an impressive glossary of subtle artist jargon for Intro Perception, but I don't have it yet, and it would lose something in translation, I give you that." |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins.
"Hey, did I ever give you my name?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "The Pax rendering, I got. I haven't observed the original." |
Author: pythbox | He shows her.
His name is - intense. Summer heat, sun on ripe grain, a complex grassy smell carried on the warm breeze. Like turning a corner and walking into the gardens of Paradise.
It suits him perfectly. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You have," she murmurs, "a lovely name."
She turns it over in her mind, once, and then sends it back. "Am I pronouncing it right?" |
Author: pythbox | "Basically, yeah," he says. "You could get closer if you wanted, but people'll know who you're talking about." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "If I ever need to refer to you to someone else who knows you by that instead of Celo, then I will." |
Author: pythbox | He grins.
"I like my name." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "And you've had at least three chances to learn mine, which is less interesting." |
Author: pythbox | Celo shrugs.
"It's Bella, right?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yes." |
Author: pythbox | He observes that if he had to translate how he refers to her in his head into words, he'd probably go with 'Boring Hallmate', even though she isn't actually boring at all. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella sputters with amusement briefly, loses her read, writes 4:21, and picks up again. |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins.
"What part of that was funny?" he wonders. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "The contrast between thinking I'm boring on your primary people-identifying axis but not thinking I'm boring in general, yet being so attached to that axis that it's how you'd label me." |
Author: pythbox | "You're not boring on that axis, though," he says. "You're only boring out loud."
He called her boring, when they first met, but it's a shallow descriptor. Sex doesn't have to be kinky to be fun, and sexuality doesn't have to be unusual to be interesting. He would happily fuck her, if she wanted to, and he bets it would not be even a little bit boring. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She loses her read again.
She writes down her time and raises an eyebrow at him. |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs.
"Sorry? Should I be sorry? I'm not sorry," he says. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You can think about whatever you want. I already have my five minutes handled, though, so if that's what you want to think about, I can turn in my notes and send you to work with one of the students who's working with another subtle artist today instead." |
Author: pythbox | "It's not something I want to dwell on for the next half hour," he says. "But I'm a nymph. I'm not going to act like sex is unthinkable. I can't act like sex is unthinkable; without sex I would die." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yes," says Bella. "I am aware of that." |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs.
"So - I'm sorry but I'm not sorry," he says. "I'll try not to get in your face about it again." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Thanks. I'm not planning to become a sex therapist," she snorts, and she reads again. |
Author: pythbox | Well, now he's giggling.
"Maybe I should be a sex therapist. What does a sex therapist even do?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Sex therapy," says Bella, deadpan. |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles harder.
Hey, he already combines sex and healing! Twice! One way that is the usual nymph combination of having sex a lot and having divine healing properties, and another that is... a more novel way of having divine healing properties. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella blinks.
"Well, that's unheard of," she says, "but I suppose you already were." |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," he says. "Apparently nymph semen is amazingly restorative."
There are a lot of signposted memories clustered around that thought, but he's doing his best to stay away from them. Some bad stuff happened. The fact that he ejaculates some kind of healing potion/elixir of youth combo was involved. He's trying not to go into the details. |
Author: subtly_artistic | And there's signposts. She falls out of his head again and writes her time. She gives him fifteen seconds and then starts again. |
Author: pythbox | Fifteen seconds is long enough for him to start thinking about muffins again. Mmm, muffins. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Mmm. |
Author: pythbox | Muffins are tasty!
"Do you cook at all?" he asks idly. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I did at home. I didn't love it for its own sake so I don't think I'll do it that often here, unless I get royally sick of what's available on the meal plan." |
Author: pythbox | "If you don't like cooking but wanna eat stuff the meal plan doesn't cover, I can make stuff," he says. "I love to cook."
This seems like an extremely reasonable allocation of resources to him. One person wants to cook new interesting food but not necessarily eat it all; one person wants to eat new interesting food but doesn't want to cook it. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I think you mentioned something about cookies for the hall," says Bella noncommittally. |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah, I'll probably do that," he says. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Cool." |
Author: pythbox | Aww, there's her cute smile again. Celo smiles back. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella laughs a little. |
Author: pythbox | Her laugh is cute too! |
Author: subtly_artistic | That just makes her laugh again. |
Author: pythbox | Awwwww. Celo grins and hugs himself. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She keeps up this read for six minutes, twenty seconds, before her attention flags. She marks her time, starts again. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is still thinking about her laugh.
The way he sees it, what he is as a nymph is not just about fucking. It's about love, too, every form of love. Liking Bella's smile and telling her so and bringing her joy that way are part of it too. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Well, that's mildly interesting. |
Author: pythbox | He wonders what she's thinking.
And grins. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella snickers. |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles!
"No, really, though!" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yeah, um, I mentioned my arts are very defensive. I don't casually volunteer what I'm thinking to people I'm not close to." |
Author: pythbox | ...Celo finds this a bewildering assertion. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I can't even pair off and do this kind of work with the other students, not if they want to take turns. I have an unfriendly mind." |
Author: pythbox | "What kind of unfriendly?" he asks, distracted from the original point. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Psionically unfriendly. I can send deliberately, like I did your name -" She does it again. "But apart from that I can't be detected by any but the most sensitive, reception-oriented, well-trained subtle artists. Most of them can't even tell I'm there, except by looking. My tutor in high school thinks that it's related to the fact that I really wouldn't want anyone reading my mind." |
Author: pythbox | "Huh. Okay," he says. "So do you not want to talk about nymphs and love, or do you just not like how I asked, or were you thinking something totally different that's none of my business at all?"
He supposes 'd) go fuck yourself' is also a valid answer, but he doesn't assume she'll give it. Actually, he's pretty sure that telling him to go fuck himself is not something she's likely to do. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You can talk about nymphs and love, if you like." |
Author: pythbox | "One person talking is not a conversation," he says, and refrains from making the obvious analogy out loud. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I may choose to say things, I'm just not going to tell you everything I'm thinking. Even if I were capable, you couldn't drag me into doing what you're doing for your pocket money without involving a straitjacket." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," says Celo, "I am officially confused. Do you have anything to say about the thing I was thinking, or don't you, or do you not know?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I do not care to volunteer any comments on the thing you were thinking." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," he says. "Then it's kind of pointless me talking about it more, because - that was it, really." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Okay." |
Author: pythbox | But he is still confused. Bella is confusing. He's not even sure exactly what confuses him, he just feels like there's something he's not getting here. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I don't go around intending to stymie people, but the point of this exercise isn't actually to give you a better understanding of me." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah?" he says. That is also confusing, in the sense where he's not sure why she felt the need to point it out. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella puts her chin on her hand and reads silently. |
Author: pythbox | Celo continues to be confused. It's a state of mind that doesn't directly involve sex or anything signposted, so she can probably keep looking for a while. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She does. She beats her record, then loses it and shakes her head and writes her time. She checks the clock.
"You can go now and still collect the full period's payment unless you want to hang out for the last five minutes," she says. |
Author: pythbox | "I don't really have anywhere to be," he says. "Want me to get lost anyway?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "No, I may as well practice for another five minutes if you're not in a hurry."
She reads some more. |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," he says. He wonders idly if Coach Sadist is going to need him to heal a fellow student again this afternoon. Odds are she won't, but in one of her courses, you never know. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Is healing instinctive, or just easy for nymphs to learn?" Bella wonders idly. |
Author: pythbox | "Inherent, not instinctive," he says. "Comes with the package."
Which is, yes, another dick joke. But a somewhat ironic one, considering the sex of most nymphs, and also perfectly true on a non-dick-joke level. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella snorts softly. |
Author: pythbox | Celo grins. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Where'd you look up the thing about suppressing the involuntary spying thing?" |
Author: pythbox | "Asked a lore professor. Nothing. Had a look in the library. More nothing." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Hmm." She nibbles her lip. "If you actually care you could mention it to Professor Winters on your way out when she offers to remove your signposts." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," he says with a grin, "I actually came around wondering about that, but then somebody offered me money and I got distracted." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella laughs. "Is that how you started doing this." |
Author: pythbox | Cheerfully: "Yep!" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "And Professor Winters told us it usually took a few weeks to filter in volunteers from the ad in the school newspaper and we shouldn't expect anyone but us to work with for the early sessions, and then there was you." |
Author: pythbox | "I like money and I don't have a lot of privacy issues," he shrugs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Are you paying your own tuition or something?" |
Author: pythbox | "Nope, I've got landowners for that," he snorts, and all kinds of signposted thoughts pop up around that word. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella drops out of the read again. She writes her time. 4:36. "End of lab," she announces. |
Author: pythbox | "'Kay," he says. "See ya."
And he bounces up out of his seat and wanders off. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella turns in her notes to Professor Winters and heads to Basic Knife. |
Author: pythbox | The next time she sees him, he is giving a blowjob to a tall brawny human boy outside the dining hall. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Of course he is. She goes around, and has lunch, and goes out again to attend history. |
Author: pythbox | That evening, the kitchen on their floor is emanating delicious smells. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella meanders in that direction, her history homework under her arm. |
Author: pythbox | Celo is baking.
Celo is also, at the moment she enters the kitchen, laughingly telling another hallmate that he doesn't want to fuck while he's got cookies in the oven. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella sits in a corner of the kitchen and spreads out her homework to wait for cookies.
"Come on, dude, have some, like, species pride," says the hallmate. "Only difference between a naked person and a nymph is that the nymph is down to fuck." |
Author: pythbox | "This nymph is baking," says Celo. "If my cookies burn because I'm too busy experiencing your glorious cock to check on 'em, I'm gonna be sad. You don't wanna make me sad, right?" He bats his eyelashes outrageously. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella snickers in spite of herself in her corner.
"Dude, I can't wait for your cookies, I have a club meeting, come on," says the gloriously cocked hallmate. "I mean, you say you're a nymph, you gotta be happier fucking than waiting for the oven to beep." |
Author: pythbox | "Nymphs have hobbies, too, hon," he says. "Don't worry about missing out on the cookies, I'll save you some." He winks. "Save you something else, too." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Why're you making this difficult, I said I didn't wanna wait, the point of you is that you aren't supposed to play hard to get," says he of the presumably glorious cock, reaching for Celo's shoulder.
Bella is watching the interaction more warily now. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm busy," says Celo. The tone of his voice is distinctly flatter, the flirtatious note disappearing from both it and his body language. He steps back, out of the hallmate's reach, leaning his hands casually on the counter behind him. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "You're just standing there, I bet you could've got me off in the time you've been taking to argue about it," complains the glorious cockbearer. "If you're even any good."
Bella asks Celo silently: Do you want me to get an RA? and listens for a reply. |
Author: pythbox | "Well if I'm not any good, I guess there's no point fucking me," Celo says brightly.
Depends whose side you think the RA is gonna take, doesn't it? |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm not picky," says the unpicky and gloriously cocked hallmate. "But I'm in a hurry, dude."
I bet you RAs are not in favor of burning cookies in the shared kitchen? offers Bella dubiously. ...If you want the path of least resistance you could go off with him and I could take them out when the timer dings. |
Author: pythbox | The timer dings.
"Gotta check the cookies," says Celo, reaching for the oven door. "Bet you've still got time to jerk off." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'd call you an asshole but you're not even doing that right," snarls the operator of the glorious cock, and he shoves past Celo to exit the kitchen. |
Author: pythbox | Celo snorts.
He checks the cookies.
He determines that they are not quite ready and sets the timer for another two minutes. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Does that happen a lot?" Bella asks. |
Author: pythbox | "What, people whining when I've got something better to do than bend over for 'em? Yeah," he shrugs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "...Okay, well, if you ever need an RA gotten, I'll be able to hear you if you think about me really hard and I'm not more than a hallway away at the time." |
Author: pythbox | "Thanks," he says, with a surprised smile. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She shrugs. "I don't know how much help they'll be. I think it might be considered legally impossible to sexually assault a nymph?" She's not sure, but this sounds right; she scratches her head. |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," says Celo. "Turns out keeping one chained in your basement is blasphemy, though." |
Author: subtly_artistic | ...Bella blinks. |
Author: pythbox | He checks on the cookies again and pulls them out of the oven with his bare hands, then heals himself as soon as he's set the baking sheet on top of the stove. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "...Why did you not use oven mitts?" Bella asks. "Or at least a dishtowel, there's one right over there." |
Author: pythbox | "No point," he says. "Didn't hurt that much, barely had time to blister." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "If I tried to do that I'd drop the cookies," Bella says. "Even though you can heal yourself whenever it's a weird thing to do." |
Author: pythbox | "I can heal myself whenever," says Celo. "Which makes me more casual about injury, which makes me more casual about pain because I'm more used to it, which makes me more casual about injury... get the idea?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I guess you could build up a decent pain tolerance that way," says Bella dubiously. "But the dishtowel is right there." |
Author: pythbox | "I don't care about the dishtowel," says Celo. "The dishtowel is a solution to a problem I don't have." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Okay then. Can I have a cookie?" |
Author: pythbox | "Wait'll they're cool," he says, smiling crookedly, "you'll burn yourself."
And he starts laying out the next batch on the baking sheet. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Cooler, sure, but cookies are best still warm, I think." |
Author: pythbox | "Very true," he agrees. "But I better check to make sure they won't burn ya."
He grabs a cookie off the tray and pops it in his mouth, closing his eyes and doing a little wriggle of happiness while he chews.
"Perfect," he announces, wiping a smear of chocolate from the corner of his mouth and licking it off his fingers, then collecting the rest of the cookies onto a plate. "Help yourself." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella stares intently at a cookie for a moment, then gives up and picks it up. "I have," she sighs, "no talent to speak of at telekinesis. Professor Winters thinks I might be able to get a little bit, but I sure don't have any now." She bites her untelekinetically retrieved cookie. |
Author: pythbox | Celo laughs. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella eats her cookie. This is good, she comments with her mouth full. |
Author: pythbox | "Damn skippy," he says with evident satisfaction. |
Author: subtly_artistic | She giggles and takes another one. |
Author: pythbox | "I love it when people eat my cookies," says Celo, leaning against the counter again. "Makes the whole thing feel that much more worthwhile." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "That's why recipes make so many." |
Author: pythbox | He laughs again. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Can I take a couple for later? I get munchy around an hour before bedtime and the vending cabinets are highway robbery." |
Author: pythbox | "Sure!" he says. "Take as many as you want, nobody else seems to be showing up for the cookies anyway." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Did you advertise that they're for sharing?" Bella asks, forming a stack of six of them. |
Author: pythbox | "Sure, but I guess everybody figures 'cookies' is a euphemism," he says with a roll of his eyes. "I'm a nymph, for fuck's sake, I don't need to eupheme, if I wanted to advertise that I was hanging out in the kitchen waiting for someone to fuck me I could just say so." |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella rolls her eyes. She tucks her homework under her arm and holds her stack of half a dozen cookies. "Well, more for us, then. Thanks. I'll tell anyone who asks me where I got these." |
Author: pythbox | "Thanks," he says, casually blowing her a kiss. "I'm making more kinds if you wanna come back in an hour, and leftovers are going in the fridge if you don't." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I might come back for more kinds and I wish you'd warned me before I ate three of these," she says. "No blowing me kisses, please, that's weird." |
Author: pythbox | "Okay," laughs Celo. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella goes off with her cookies and does homework in her room with the door open. She goes back into the kitchen an hour later. |
Author: pythbox | There are platefuls of three more kinds of cookies lined up on the counter, and Celo is watching over a fourth as they bake. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Hullo again," says Bella, taking one of each sort. |
Author: pythbox | "Hi!" beams Celo. "That nice girl from the other end of the hall came by and ate a bunch." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Uh, Miki or Corrine?" asks Bella, trying to remember girls from the end of the hall who she'd describe as nice. |
Author: pythbox | "Don't remember her name," he shrugs, "probably shouldn't tell you how I think of her." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "What color is her hair?" suggests Bella. |
Author: pythbox | "Um... kinda dark brown I guess?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Corrine," identifies Bella. She has taken discreet notes on her hallmates. "These are all really good, I'm having trouble imagining you actually need any of your domestic studies classes right now." |
Author: pythbox | "I totally learn things in my classes!" he says. "I don't need them, but I want them." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Fair enough." Om nom nom. |
Author: pythbox | Celo nabs a few cookies, too, but mostly he leaves them on the plates. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "These cookies," Bella determines curiously, after going back for a second lemon one, "are not vegan, either that or you loaded them up with some serious magic. I thought nymphs were vegans? Is that a myth?" |
Author: pythbox | "It's a choice," he says. "A lot of nymphs choose it. I don't." He grins. "I'll spare you the jokes about whether or not I eat meat." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Much appreciated." |
Author: pythbox | Celo giggles. |
Author: subtly_artistic | Bella collects little stacks of each kind of cookie, gamely attempting to float them and failing, and carries them back to her room.
She's up a bit later, reading ahead in Intro to Psychology for Subtle Artists, and Miki, the other nice girl from the end of the hall, drops by to chat. She wants to know if Bella wants to go to the elementalism club with her, on the grounds that Bella was in AP magic classes in high school.
"I have a six-course load this semester," Bella apologizes. "Even if my lab is only once a week and Basic Knife doesn't exactly give homework, I don't think I want to commit to any clubs while I'm still settling in. Maybe in the spring." |
Author: pythbox | "You're in Basic Knife?" comes a familiar voice from just down the hall. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Considering that I need enchanted damn boots to walk down the hall without breaking my neck, yes, I am in Basic Knife!" Bella calls back.
Miki titters. |
Author: pythbox | Just-down-the-hall laughs good-naturedly. |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Well, if you change your mind about the club let me know," says Miki, and she wanders off.
"Will do," promises Bella. She even writes this down. |
Author: pythbox | Celo appears in her doorway.
"Basic Knife," he says, shaking his head. "Can I come in and mock you some more?" |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I'm not kidding about needing the boots," Bella says. "I was exempted from high school melee because I was a lawsuit liability. My knife is enchanted not to cut me, but that won't stop me from getting a serious bruise when I fall on it or accidentally fling it into my forehead. Basic Knife is a joke, but I'm not equipped to do anything with a sharp object other than standup comedy, you know?" |
Author: pythbox | He grins.
"Okay, okay, fair enough. Not everybody can live through a class with Coach Sadist." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I really hope you don't mean that literally." |
Author: pythbox | "The first thing she ever said to me was - well, no," he amends, "the first thing she said to me was 'Fucktoy! Catch!' The second thing was 'And here I thought you'd be a solution to all those regulations against killing students for effect.' She's been doing her damnedest to send me back to my garden ever since." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Okay, that would be inconvenient, I imagine, but it wouldn't be killing you in the ways that most matter. Isn't it a rule that teachers have to use formal address? I've been called Ms. Swan so many times in the last couple of days that I keep expecting to sprout wings and fly." |
Author: pythbox | "Yeah," says Celo, "the question is, does Coach Sadist care? The answer is no. The answer is always no." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Then why does she still have her job?" |
Author: pythbox | "Because she is insanely fucking good at it." He grins. "And I think her bosses are a little bit afraid she'll kill them if they fire her." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "She's good at her job and her way of being good at her job involves verbal abuse and the next step down from death threats?" |
Author: pythbox | "Yep," says Celo. "I like her." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I like not ever having to interact with her, I think." |
Author: pythbox | He shrugs. "If that's what floats your boat." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I can live without finding out what repulsive nickname she'd give me and worrying if my parents are going to spend the rest of their lives in debt to the friendly neighborhood clerics trying to get me rezzed," Bella says. |
Author: pythbox | "I'm not totally sure she'd kill you," he says. "But I bet she'd try at least once." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Yeah, I don't want people to try to kill me. I want to live." |
Author: pythbox | "If you expect somebody to try to kill you, taking Jillian's classes is a great way to make sure they won't succeed," he says. "Kind of why I'm in 'em." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "Except," says Bella, "that I am an embarrassment with weaponry. I'd be much better off taking Arcane Self Defense, which I might actually do. Or learning to teek or pyro, like, at all." |
Author: pythbox | He grins. "Well, it's not for everybody, I guess." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "I also don't expect anyone to try to kill me. I don't go dangerous places, look locally atypical, or piss off anyone with a short temper who could get away with it." |
Author: pythbox | "Good plan," he says. "Keep it up." |
Author: subtly_artistic | "That's the plan." |