Author: self_composed | Bella attends her classes with faultless punctuality, every time. She sits in the second or third row on an aisle in the middle section of seats, in the classes that take place in big auditorium lecture halls like the main section of Bio; she's willing to put herself closer to the professors in smaller classes like OS and of course her flute chair (third; she hasn't been quite ridiculously showoffy enough to climb beyond yet) is assigned. But right now, she is in Bio, learning tidbits about auxin and tropisms that the textbook didn't cover fully. She's running at about one and a half speed, just enough that she can trivially listen to and process the lecture against her memory of the text while also permitting some mind-wandering. She liiiiiikes her cognitive speedup power. |
Author: regularsized | There's a new student in the class today. Older, with glasses, dressed for comfort over fashion. She sits two down the row from Bella, with an empty seat between them, and she takes sparse but thoughtful notes. |
Author: self_composed | Bella has a notebook. It's mostly for show. Her politics teacher wants notes turned in periodically, and she wouldn't be too astonished if another teacher took up the habit, so she writes insightless outlines of the lectures - "Auxins are a type of hormone found in plants; they elongate cells among other functions", that sort of thing. She doesn't know who this new person is. Maybe she was sick a lot before, or just not very punctual, or she only just added the class? Hm. |
Author: regularsized | A little more than halfway through the class she leans forward, tilts her head, then sits back with a slight frown. Her pen taps against her latest page of notes; she scribbles something down and then quickly returns her attention to the lecture. |
Author: self_composed | Bella's wondering if there's any point to adding some kind of plant-related superpower. It's not really like she plans to take up gardening, but it could be a nice symbolic thing to grow a vegetable to be the size of a house or something, after she's taken over the world sufficiently to make public appearances and wants to roll out programs to end world hunger or something. She notes the other student's behavior with a small fraction of brain. |
Author: regularsized | At the end of the class, she flips back to that page, then leans over toward Bella. "Excuse me," she says. "Do you remember what the professor said about sufficient concentrations of auxins?" |
Author: self_composed | "Uh, yes," Bella says, and she repeats back a simplified paraphrase - she's not "out" as having an eidetic memory like Alice is. "It's weird that they generate their own herbicides. Although I guess there's probably stuff in human bodies that would kill us if you dumped a bucket of it on our heads." |
Author: regularsized | "Plenty," she agrees, smiling. "The human body is a complicated and delicate machine. It's possible to have a fatal overdose of anything from chocolate to water. Thanks, by the way. I'm Bridget. I make it a policy to have at least one friend in every class; would you like to be my Biology friend?" |
Author: self_composed | "Sure," says Bella. She likes this person, on the basis of a couple sentences. "What is the fatal dose of chocolate? Approximately? It seems like that might be important to know." |
Author: regularsized | "The LD50 of caffeine in humans is estimated to be between 150 and 200 milligrams per kilogram," she says. "How much chocolate that adds up to depends on what kind of chocolate and who's eating it." |
Author: self_composed | "I suppose it's probably not something that happens from eating cake, or there would be news stories about it," Bella says. "I don't think I've seen you in this class before. Did you just transfer in?" |
Author: regularsized | "It would probably take more chocolate than your stomach could physically hold, unless you went for the really, really dark stuff. I just started auditing," she explains. |
Author: self_composed | "How come?" Bella asks, putting her notebook away into her bag. |
Author: regularsized | "Oh, a long time ago I got half a degree in medicine. I'm thinking of getting the other half." |
Author: self_composed | "Isn't medicine graduate-level?" Bella asks. "Why would you be in first year bio, learning about plants?" |
Author: regularsized | "I got an entire degree in physics in between. I'm thinking I probably forgot a few things." |
Author: self_composed | "Huh." This isn't how Bella would do it, but Bella's already pretty used to remembering everything that's ever happened to her. "Okay. What does being your Bio Friend involve, anyway?" |
Author: regularsized | "Exchanging email addresses, studying together? I'd say 'being go-to assignment partners where applicable', but—auditing." |
Author: self_composed | "Are you even planning to show up to the lab sections?" Bella asks, reaching into her bag to tear out a blank notebook page and write her school-assigned email on it. |
Author: regularsized | "Well, once I find out if I'm welcome." |
Author: self_composed | Bella tears the paper in half and hands over her address. "What's your email, then?" |
Author: regularsized | Bridget snags the other half of that page and writes her own email address on it—personal, not school-assigned. Apparently her chosen username is 'supersymmetric'. |
Author: self_composed | "Cool. It might be hard to schedule study time with me outside of class, though. I have a lot on my plate," Bella says, tucking the paper away. |
Author: regularsized | "Such as?" |
Author: self_composed | "Orchestra, soccer, other classes," Bella says. "Personal projects. Occasionally, I squeeze in leisure time." |
Author: regularsized | "That does sound like a lot. Maybe I'll need a backup friend," she muses. |
Author: self_composed | "I wouldn't blame you for seeking one," Bella says. |
Author: regularsized | "I'll keep the option in mind." |
Author: self_composed | "I actually have an orchestra rehearsal next. Which is silly because it's just going to be a giant violins sectional; they're having problems." Bella gets up, shrugging. |
Author: regularsized | "Problems as in... a surplus of violins?" she wonders, getting up also. |
Author: self_composed | "Problems with dynamics and phrasing, more - they have the correct number of violins as far as I know." |
Author: regularsized | "Ahhh. Well, that's good, I guess. No one wants too many violins." |
Author: self_composed | "They'd be terrible clutter." Bella's moseying towards the door now. She does not wish to be late to orchestra, or wish to use magic to be not-late. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget is cheerfully following! "What do you play?" |
Author: self_composed | "Flute!" Bella says. She pulls the case out of her bag. "I'm third chair." |
Author: regularsized | "Is that like third place?" |
Author: self_composed | "Maybe? I'm not sure what you're thinking of. It's not exactly special; only the first chair per section does anything that everyone else doesn't. It sort of means that they think I'm not quite as good as the occupant of second chair and a little better than the occupant of fourth chair." |
Author: regularsized | "So, exactly like third place, then." |
Author: self_composed | "Sure." |
Author: regularsized | "I guess the real question is, third place out of how many flutes?" |
Author: self_composed | "Four. Orchestras usually don't have that many, but the conductor really likes woodwinds, and even our fourth chair is really good so it'd be a pity to kick him out." |
Author: regularsized | "A surplus, you might say." |
Author: self_composed | "Yes. But only of flutes, not of violins. There are lots more violins and there are supposed to be." |
Author: regularsized | "I wonder why." |
Author: self_composed | "Well, there are two sections of violins, and only one of flutes, but their individual sections are bigger too. I'm not sure why. I guess they just get lots of emphasis in orchestral music." The music building is a ways away from the science area. They are about halfway there. |
Author: regularsized | "It's a mystery," Bridget says agreeably. "We can only speculate." |
Author: self_composed | "Well, we could also ask a historian of music, or maybe a music theorist," Bella shrugs. "If we really cared." |
Author: regularsized | "And do you know any of those?" |
Author: self_composed | "No, but I bet there's one on campus or in regular contact with someone who is. I just don't care enough to seek them out." |
Author: regularsized | "So, back to speculating, then," Bridget agrees. |
Author: self_composed | "Flutes can be very piercing. Maybe we'd overwhelm the strings in quantity." |
Author: regularsized | "That sounds like a reasonable theory." |
Author: self_composed | And there's the building. "It was nice to meet you." |
Author: regularsized | "Nice to meet you, too, Bella." |
Author: self_composed | "Likewise, Bridget. See you next bio class. Or lab if you go to lab and wind up in my section." Bella waves and heads in to listen to the extended violin sectional. Her lab section meets the next day. And who should be there but Bridget. "Hi. Are you just hanging out or are you going to do the lab?" Bella asks her. |
Author: regularsized | "I am going to do the lab!" says Bridget. "Hi!" |
Author: self_composed | "Cool, you can be my partner then. We rotate around so I'm not already claimed." Bella heads for a lab table. They are going to witness the behavior of unidirectional membranes with something that has an application in dialysis. Then they are going to write stuff about that down. This is only somewhat better than high school. Maybe there can be interesting conversations to accompany boring lab, and Bella can run at 1x, and she will be only a little bored. |
Author: regularsized | "It's nice having a Biology Friend," says Bridget, following Bella to the lab table. |
Author: self_composed | "What else are you auditing?" Bella asks, pretending to read the instructions that she memorized on first glance. |
Author: regularsized | "Organic chemistry and statistics. I like statistics better." |
Author: self_composed | "Rumor has it organic chem is terribly hard," Bella says. "What kind of doctor do you want to be?" She's moved her eyes back and forth across these instructions enough times; she starts setting up, and hands Bridget some stuff to do too. |
Author: regularsized | "I haven't decided yet. That was one of the problems that got me out of it in the first place. Particle physics is much easier." |
Author: self_composed | "In my admission essay I wrote something about how I wanted to be a medical researcher maybe because I got hit by a car this one time," Bella says. "I'm not actually as sure as I made myself sound, though. I certainly didn't have a kind of research picked out." |
Author: regularsized | "Hit by a car? That sounds exciting. I have to admit, though, it probably wouldn't make me want to do medical research." |
Author: self_composed | "I went into more detail than that in the essay, obviously. And I don't think I'd use the word 'exciting'. By the time I regained consciousness there was no further excitement." |
Author: regularsized | "Things that sound exciting often aren't. Particle accelerators, for example. Actually, I lie, particle accelerators are the most exciting thing on the planet." |
Author: self_composed | "What's so exciting about particle accelerators? Baseball bats accelerate particles. They're not exciting." Lab lab lab. Bleah. |
Author: regularsized | "I'm sure under the right circumstances a baseball bat could be very exciting. But no, I mean the big ones. The ones that let us study the basic components that make up our universe. I happen to think that's exciting as hell." |
Author: self_composed | "I know the kind you meant. I'd probably call them 'fascinating' instead though. If you do them right they shouldn't be exciting - an exciting particle accelerator might irradiate you or turn itself on unexpectedly or something. A well-designed particle accelerator should be pretty stable and, except for whatever experimental results you're gathering, predictable." |
Author: regularsized | "The experimental results are the exciting part!" says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "Then the experiment's exciting, not the accelerator," laughs Bella. "I'm sure we could use these materials to do something a lot more interesting than watch one-way diffusion, but these materials we have here? Not exciting." |
Author: regularsized | "What exactly is the difference?" |
Author: self_composed | "You could be using a particle accelerator to just replicate what someone else was doing with their particle accelerator and always get the same results they did. That would be dull." |
Author: regularsized | "Yes, but why would I do that?" |
Author: self_composed | "Because a whole lot of studies turn out not to be replicable, and we can't trust those, so we have to figure out which things do and don't replicate. Doesn't make it exciting just because it's important." |
Author: regularsized | "There aren't so many high-end particle accelerators in the world that any one of them will find themselves running out of new research to do. And given the choice, I wouldn't choose to spend my time exclusively replicating other people's results." |
Author: self_composed | "That's probably why there are so lamentably few replication studies done," says Bella. "It's a real problem, actually - the people qualified to redo studies aren't interested, so they don't, so we go by old results that one study got one time, and for standard p-values that means that one in twenty results we're relying on is just wrong. Coincidence." She looks at their lab experiment with a small sigh. "One thing I can say for this kind of silly make-work is that if it turned out these dialysis membranes didn't consistently work as advertised? Some undergrad class would've noticed by now." |
Author: regularsized | "If I had a particle accelerator of my very own," she says, smiling slightly, "I'd be more likely to check my own work before other people's." |
Author: self_composed | "Sure, but then the idiosyncrasies of your particular accelerator could still throw you off. If you're, I don't know, too far north or there's a little scratch in one bit of the machine or you're using different software to run it or it's too sunny out. You want someone in Switzerland or wherever to help you." |
Author: regularsized | "And if I had a particle accelerator of my very own, I'm sure I'd take that into consideration. Why, do you know where I can find one for sale?" |
Author: self_composed | "Nah, I have no idea how you'd go about getting one. Don't they have to be built onsite from near-scratch anyway? I think they're big. Can't put them in a shipping container readily." |
Author: regularsized | "Yes, they're not exactly portable. But then, neither is a house." She cracks a grin. "Now, find me a house with a particle accelerator in the basement, and I'm there." |
Author: self_composed | "If I find one, I will certainly tell you." |
Author: regularsized | "You are turning out to be an excellent friend so far, then." |
Author: self_composed | "Anything else I should be on the lookout for? Giant Tesla coils, islands full of subtly diverse finches, Leaning Towers of Pisa off of which you might drop objects?" |
Author: regularsized | "Didn't we just go over how I prefer not to replicate other people's results before finding out new ones of my own? Giant Tesla coils sound like fun on a recreational basis, though. I wouldn't mind one of those." |
Author: self_composed | "I was just listing minimally portable scientific items," Bella says, shrugging and noting the required notes in her lab notebook. "Not filtering beyond that." |
Author: regularsized | "In that case, well done." |
Author: self_composed | "Why, thank you." Lab lab lab. "Do you have any non-science-related interests?" |
Author: regularsized | "That depends. How science-related is origami, in your opinion?" |
Author: self_composed | "Not particularly so!" Bella says. "Fold anything cool lately?" |
Author: regularsized | "I'm working on a design that I hope will eventually be a duck." |
Author: self_composed | "Is it currently an egg?" Bella asks innocently. |
Author: regularsized | ... Bridget cracks up. |
Author: self_composed | Bella grins, self-satisfied. "I actually know nothing about how origami designs are made." |
Author: regularsized | "Guesswork and math," says Bridget. "In my case, heavy on the guesswork, light on the math." |
Author: self_composed | "Would have expected a physicist to go the other way around. Doesn't physics have lots of math in it?" |
Author: regularsized | "Yes. I just happen to think origami design is more fun if it involves a lot of crumpling up paper and throwing it at the walls." |
Author: self_composed | Bella giggles helplessly. This affects her handwriting, but she recovers after a minute. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget grins. "And now we're even." |
Author: self_composed | Bella grins back at her. "Are we keeping score, now?" |
Author: regularsized | "Yes. Measured in giggles." |
Author: self_composed | "All right then." |
Author: regularsized | "At least until it's been long enough that we forget the score." |
Author: self_composed | "How long do you think that'll take?" |
Author: regularsized | "Well, that depends how funny we are, doesn't it?" |
Author: self_composed | "I've never particularly defined myself as someone with a great sense of humor," Bella says. She's drawing a lot of attention to things she isn't unusually good at - suspiciously good at. She's not sure if that will help, but it probably won't hurt. |
Author: regularsized | "I think that depends as much on your audience as it does on you." |
Author: self_composed | "Probably," Bella agrees. "Although there are some really humorless people in the world." |
Author: regularsized | "That is very true." |
Author: self_composed | "My dad's not very funny. I wouldn't call him completely without a sense of humor, but he won't usually crack jokes, or laugh too much when he hears them. My mom can be, though." |
Author: regularsized | "Oh, parents," says Bridget, enigmatically. |
Author: self_composed | "Oh?" Bella asks. "What about yours?" Pause. "Are they funny?" |
Author: regularsized | "Not particularly." |
Author: self_composed | "What are they like, then?" |
Author: regularsized | "Deceased. Previously, not funny." |
Author: self_composed | "I'm sorry," says Bella sympathetically. |
Author: regularsized | "Thank you. It's all right." |
Author: self_composed | The lab is at last completed and written up. Bella hands in her lab notebook and starts tidying everything up. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget helps! Bridget is helpful. |
Author: self_composed | She is! "Thanks." |
Author: regularsized | "You're welcome! What are Biology Friends for?" |
Author: self_composed | "Approximately this," Bella concedes. |
Author: regularsized | "I see you're beginning to get the idea." |
Author: self_composed | "It is a compelling notion." |
Author: regularsized | "I thought so!" |
Author: self_composed | "Have you got friends for your other classes yet?" |
Author: regularsized | "Statistics yes, organic chemistry no." |
Author: self_composed | "Best of luck then. Who's Stats?" |
Author: regularsized | "A very cheerful computer science major." |
Author: self_composed | "I haven't declared a major yet," muses Bella. Their stuff is all cleaned up; she packs her bag and heads for the door. |
Author: regularsized | "Any thoughts on what it's going to be?" she asks, following. |
Author: self_composed | "I'm probably going to wind up with a double. Comp sci and bio perhaps, maybe a minor in a social science of some kind." |
Author: regularsized | "Comp sci and bio, that's an interesting combination." |
Author: self_composed | "Is it? Why?" |
Author: regularsized | "Well, they're just not two things you see together a lot." |
Author: self_composed | "I don't see why, if so. They're both STEM fields." |
Author: regularsized | "Sure," she says, shrugging. "But there's a lot of possible pairings in that range, and not all of them are common." |
Author: self_composed | "Which ones are? Is physics and medicine common?" |
Author: regularsized | "No, I don't believe it is," she says, smiling. |
Author: self_composed | "Well then." |
Author: regularsized | "So we're both interesting." |
Author: self_composed | "So it would seem. Or at least I'm leaning towards becoming interesting. What combinations are common - as double majors go?" |
Author: regularsized | "Math and computer science—although not as common as it should be, if you listen to some of the computer scientist mathematicians I've known. Math and physics. In general, any two fields that are either closely related or directly useful to each other. If I could go back and do my education in a sensible order, I'd do math and physics instead of physics and biochemistry as my undergraduate majors. But then, if I'd done that in the first place, I wouldn't be here trying to find out if I really want the rest of that medical degree, because I would never have started it." |
Author: self_composed | "When you said you had an entire degree in physics, you didn't specify what kinda entire degree. Masters? Doctorate?" |
Author: regularsized | "Doctorate." |
Author: self_composed | "Doctor Bridget," says Bella experimentally. "Hm." |
Author: regularsized | "Dr. Banner, if you must." |
Author: self_composed | "I needn't, but I felt like it," says Bella cheerfully. "I doubt I'll go to graduate school, really, unless I do decide to be a doctor. I don't like academia that much and there are so many other things to do." |
Author: regularsized | "I like academia. A little too much, some might say." |
Author: self_composed | "Too much for what?" |
Author: regularsized | "If I agreed with them, maybe I'd know." |
Author: self_composed | "What do you like about academia?" inquires Bella. |
Author: regularsized | "What don't I? It's just more fun than almost anything else," she says. "Research is definitely my calling." |
Author: self_composed | "So you looooove writing grant proposals, and playing department politics, and doing literature review," says Bella skeptically. |
Author: regularsized | "All right, correction: The list of things I don't like about academia is a lot smaller than the list of things I like, and I don't keep either one of them on hand in case of nosy undergrads." |
Author: self_composed | Bella snickers. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget grins. |
Author: self_composed | "Well," says Bella, as they approach the soccer field, "I have a practice. I'll see you later." |
Author: regularsized | "See you!" |
Author: self_composed | After a few days, Bella finds a time when both she and Bridget are available to get together and study. She proposes her own room. (It has a giant bean bag in it and is therefore obviously the best.) |
Author: regularsized | Bridget is swayed by the giant bean bag argument! She shows up with her Biology notebook and a head full of interesting ideas. |
Author: self_composed | Bella doesn't really need to do any studying, between eidetic memory and cognitive speedup; no one is expecting original insight from a freshman and she's not trying to stand out that much. She'll let Bridget steer the study session as much as she can without being conspicuous. (Having a study session at all instead of just hanging out with Bridget recreationally is also to be inconspicuous. It helps a little that Janine's going to be around to witness the "studying".) |
Author: regularsized | Consulting a scrap of paper to verify that she has the right room number, she knocks. |
Author: self_composed | Bella gets the door. "Bridget, hi! How are you? Janine, this is Bridget, Bridget, this is my roomie Janine." |
Author: regularsized | "Hi," says Bridget. "Hi!" says Janine, waving from where she sits cross-legged on her bed. "I think my first question," says Bridget, "is: who gets the bean bag?" |
Author: self_composed | "I think it's big enough for two or three people as long as we don't care very much about facing in the same direction," says Bella. |
Author: regularsized | "Well, I care about not facing in opposite directions, because that would make conversation awkward," says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "We can turn our heads," Bella says. |
Author: regularsized | "Well, let's try it and see." |
Author: self_composed | Bella occupies one-third of the beanbag with no further ado, and opens her biology text on her lap. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget perches on the remainder. As is the way with beanbags, 'on' quickly becomes 'in'. "Comfy," she declares. |
Author: self_composed | "Isn't it?" Bella agrees. "What did you want to cover today?" |
Author: regularsized | "Well, I was thinking..." Bridget does a lot of thinking. One of the real tests of a Class Friend, the things that make the difference between someone who will stay a friend past the end of the class and someone who won't, is whether or not they can keep up. |
Author: self_composed | Bella can. She turns up to one-and-a-half to be sure, but she can! |
Author: regularsized | It quickly becomes apparent that Bella is going to be a very fun study buddy. That makes Bridget's life a whole lot easier. She becomes increasingly cheerful and animated as the study session continues. |
Author: self_composed | "We're going to wind up overqualified for this course," Bella predicts. "Aren't the tests mostly multiple-choice because there's a hundred of us and the professor doesn't want to read our handwriting?" |
Author: regularsized | "Are you not having fun? Because I'm having fun," says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "I'm having fun, I'm just kind of wondering why you aren't in a 300-level specialized class. I mean, I wondered that before, but I wonder it again." |
Author: regularsized | "Because I like to be thorough," she says. |
Author: self_composed | "It's a peculiar notion of thoroughness that puts a physics Ph.D. with half a degree in medicine, in Bio 101 because she may want to finish being a medical doctor," says Bella. |
Author: regularsized | "I'd rather go through it all from the beginning and risk boredom than pick up where I left off and risk missing something. And, conveniently, I'm not bored." |
Author: self_composed | Bella pauses for a moment, then shrugs and returns to their original topic. It is admittedly not boring. |
Author: regularsized | A few minutes later, during a lull in the scientific speculation, Bridget asks, "What has you so curious about my unusual educational preferences, anyway?" |
Author: self_composed | "They're different from mine. I left high school early; I tested into an advanced programming course; I'm just about the right qualification level for this one but it's moving a little slowly and I'd be terribly frustrated with it if I didn't have other classes and stuff to keep me busy. I'm impatient. I can learn fast, so why shouldn't I?" |
Author: regularsized | "Good question," says Bridget. "Sadly, not one I can answer." |
Author: self_composed | "And you're obviously brilliant, if I were you I'd just have applied directly back to medical school, and if I ran into any gaps I'd find a book about it and fill it in that way." |
Author: regularsized | "Ah, and there we have it. The main value of institutional education is in teaching you things you didn't know you needed to know," says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | Bella shrugs. "You could still get that more efficiently by swiping a copy of the syllabus. Did you learn anything from the lab the other day, the tedious one with the dialysis membranes? It took an hour and a half of your life." |
Author: regularsized | "I'm having a little trouble with your definition of efficient. Maybe I just value my effort more than my time. If someone else has gone to all the trouble of streamlining the process of learning for me and packaging it for sale, why should I interfere?" |
Author: self_composed | "Do you eat a lot of prepackaged food even when you have access to a kitchen and go on guided tours when you travel, too?" Bella asks, wrinkling her nose. |
Author: regularsized | "I'll admit to the first one, but I don't actually travel that much." |
Author: self_composed | "Huh. I guess I'll chalk it up to personality differences," shrugs Bella. "One-size-fits-all doesn't reliably fit me. I can often get more of what I want by finding it myself." |
Author: regularsized | "In that case, why are you here?" |
Author: self_composed | "Unreliably, not never - and as I get further along, I'll be able to take more highly specialized classes and mix those up according to how I like. I just have to slog through some introductory prerequisites." |
Author: regularsized | "Well, that's fair," says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "I'd hope so," laughs Bella. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget giggles. |
Author: self_composed | Studying-slash-discourse-on-vaguely-biol |
Author: regularsized | "No, I think we've covered it," says Bridget. "Should I clear out?" |
Author: self_composed | Bella shrugs. "Up to you. I blocked out the entire period before the sectional." |
Author: regularsized | "Well, I don't have anywhere to be." She glances up at the occupied bed. "How are you doing over there, Janine?" "Recalcitrant electrons," says Janine. "...I think that's a what, not a how," says Bridget. "And also possibly more information than I needed." Janine giggles. "Homework," she clarifies. "Whew." |
Author: self_composed | "I'll bite. How are the electrons being recalcitrant?" asks Bella. |
Author: regularsized | "They are refusing to flow in a logically consistent way!" says Janine. "They do that," Bridget says sagely. |
Author: self_composed | "They do?" Bella asks curiously. |
Author: regularsized | "Two of the trickiest things in the world are subatomic particles and homework," says Bridget. "I distantly recall that they get even worse when you combine them." Janine giggles again. |
Author: self_composed | "But electrons aren't actually logically inconsistent, yes? I mean, if they are, someone needs to revise their axioms of logic." |
Author: regularsized | "It's an issue of conflicting models," says Bridget. "Not that I think that's what's going on here, but the representation of electron flow in a circuit diagram and the actual behaviour of individual electrons is very different. It's a problem in microchip design, I believe; if you make a conductor thin enough, below some threshold number of atoms wide, you start getting quantum effects that turn your chip from a tiny intricate logic machine into a tiny intricate ongoing accident." "No, I think this is just me making a silly mistake I haven't found yet," says Janine. "Yeah, that happens too." |
Author: self_composed | "I used to do that sort of silly little thing in trig all the time," Bella said. "I kept turning SOHCAHTOA into various kinds of spoonerism." |
Author: regularsized | "I have never been able to make that so-called mnemonic work for me," Bridget confesses. "Me neither!" says Janine. |
Author: self_composed | "I got it memorized eventually, but it didn't help when I needed it - it got to the point where I reconstructed the mnemonic based on what I knew about the functions," says Bella. |
Author: regularsized | Bridget snorts. "I think that's what we call an ineffective teaching aid." |
Author: self_composed | "It seemed to help some people," Bella shrugs. "Just not me." |
Author: regularsized | "Well, partially effective, then." "Can you name any of these mythical people?" wonders Janine. |
Author: self_composed | "Jessica used it all the time," Bella says. "She was who I used to study trig with the most. And the guy who sat behind me talked to himself under his breath all the time, and he seemed to lean on it pretty heavily." |
Author: regularsized | "Huh," says Janine. "It does happen," says Bridget. "In fact I dare say we're the outliers." |
Author: self_composed | "None of us in this room are typical people, I daresay," Bella says. "Probably half the folks who make it to Stanford aren't. The people we went to high school with are normal - for our socioeconomic classes, anyway." |
Author: regularsized | "No one I went to high school with was normal, I'm pretty sure," says Janine. "No one I went to high school with was memorable," says Bridget. "At least not after this long." |
Author: self_composed | "Did you go to an unusual high school of some kind?" Bella asks Janine. |
Author: regularsized | "Yes!" says Janine. "It was ostensibly for gifted children but in fact seemed to accept anyone who was any two of rich, smart, and weird." Bridget quirks a smile. "That sounds interesting." "Extremely!" |
Author: self_composed | "Okay, so your high school doesn't count. I went to public schools in middle-class neighborhoods," shrugs Bella. |
Author: regularsized | "Same here," says Bridget. "My school had many advantages, but no kind of normality was ever one of them," says Janine. |
Author: self_composed | "I went to a big normal school in Phoenix and a little normal school in Forks and met normal people there," laughs Bella. "And a statistically typical number of abnormal ones." |
Author: regularsized | "Which kind did you make friends with?" inquires Janine. |
Author: self_composed | "A mix. You've met Alice, of course, so there's that, but Jessica and Angela and Eric were pretty normal. Angela I even still email occasionally." |
Author: regularsized | "Alice seems nice," says Janine, "but definitely abnormal enough for at least three people." "Who is this Alice of whom you speak?" asks Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "My boyfriend," says Bella cheerily. |
Author: regularsized | "...Please tell me more about your boyfriend," Bridget requests, "if only so I can erase the image of you dating Alice Cooper from my mind." Janine laughs. |
Author: self_composed | "That's actually one of the reasons he goes by that name, if I recall correctly," says Bella. "He's - hm, I don't think I actually have any picture of him handy, I should fix that for just this sort of situation. He's tall and he's got wavy brown hair just shy of shoulder length and he makes extremely distinctive facial expressions that defy verbal description. He sews dresses and bakes." |
Author: regularsized | "He sounds fascinating," says Bridget. "Does he or does he not wear stage makeup on a regular basis?" "I have never seen him in any," volunteers Janine. "But I have not seen him that many times." |
Author: self_composed | "Makeup very occasionally, but not stage makeup. Dresses, though, he will occasionally wear." |
Author: regularsized | "Where does he live?" wonders Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | "Still in Forks, but he visits me here sometimes." |
Author: regularsized | "One more question. Where the heck is Forks?" |
Author: self_composed | Bella chuckles. "Little nowhere town in Washington State." |
Author: regularsized | "A long-distance relationship. Congratulations. I've never been able to hang onto one of those." "He visits a lot," says Janine. |
Author: self_composed | "Yeah, we keep in close touch," Bella says. [You're being talked about,] she informs Alice. And turns the read on, because why not, she can speed up if she needs to in order to juggle two conversations. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | Alice is in the middle of making dinner. Currently that means sitting on the kitchen counter in his lair, waiting for water to boil. [By who?] he wonders, smiling at nothing in particular. Bella has that effect on him. |
Author: regularsized | "Is he also in college, or...?" |
Author: self_composed | [Me and Janine and my biology study-buddy Bridget.] "No, he's not in anything at the moment, although he has a lovely little startup business for the dressmaking - Janine is among the customers," Bella says, waving a hand at her roommate. |
Author: regularsized | "They are beautiful dresses and I wish I could afford more of them," says Janine. "Maybe I should look him up," muses Bridget. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Why do you have a study-buddy?] wonders Alice. |
Author: self_composed | [She wanted one for Bio and I like her. She's actually got a doctorate in physics and she's just being weirdly thorough about going back through school for medicine.] "If you want a dress I can put the request through for you," Bella offers. |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [She sounds awesome,] declares Alice. [Is she hot?] |
Author: regularsized | "I think I'd want to know what his dresses are like first," says Bridget. "No offense, but I expect your opinion to be biased." "I could show you the one he made me," says Janine, "but it is not really representative." |
Author: self_composed | "I have two," Bella says. She gets out the little black dress and the autumn one. "They're different for everyone, he does everything custom." [I'm straight, Alice. I guess she's kinda nerd-pretty? Glasses, brown hair, doesn't dress like she expected to leave the house on any given morning?] |
Author: regularsized | "...I like," says Bridget, quite sincerely. Janine gets out her own example, of which Bridget also voices approval. "What kind of commissions does he take? What's his price range? Not too exorbitant, I hope." |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [I like her already!] says Alice. His mental image is not very precise, but is more or less accurate. |
Author: self_composed | "It's been about a hundred bucks per, depending on the design. He doesn't really care about the money, he has enough, but he doesn't take every order that comes in," Bella says. [She likes the dresses, too. She might want one.] |
Author: edgeofyourseat | [Ooooh,] says Alice, clapping his hands. |
Author: regularsized | "Does he expect creative input?" asks Bridget, as Janine puts her dress away. "Because I have no creative input, I just know I want one." |
Author: self_composed | "Not necessarily, but ideally you'd have some idea - where you want to wear it, what season, if it needs to be machine washable, that sort of thing," Bella says. "And he needs measurements too." |
Author: regularsized | "It definitely needs to be machine washable," says Bridget. "I am not a dry cleaning person." "I can tell," Janine dares to comment. Bridget grins at her. |
Author: self_composed | "What colors do you like? What fabrics? How much skin do you want to show?" Bella presses. |
Author: regularsized | "Purple, I don't know, and... you know, I'm not sure," she says musingly. |
Author: self_composed | "My boyfriend is the kind of person to consider taking an 'I'm not sure' there and turning it into 'see how much dress you can make out of a roll of dyed dental floss'," Bella says dryly. "I advise you to pick a minimum neckline and hemline." |
Author: regularsized | Bridget cracks up. "Noted!" |
Author: self_composed | "Lemme know when you have everything you want to specify picked out, and I'll tell him," Bella says cheerfully. |
Author: regularsized | "I will do that," says Bridget. |
Author: self_composed | Bella puts her dresses away and sits back down on the beanbag. "Good good." |