…or, Violet Thoughts
Marlot and I sat there just bullshitting comfortably with each other for a while. I told her as much about the dragon show as I could put into words while the music box played. I was craving a cigarette, but I knew there was no way in hell Marlot would want to come with me. I wouldn’t have asked her to go up and down all the stairs, either. I toughed it out. Not wanting to get dressed made it easier to put it off.
After half an hour or so, somebody knocked on the door. I got up to check the peephole. When I was halfway there, Marlot called, “Come in, the door’s open!”
The door swung inward and there was Missy. We swapped facial expressions; I put a smile on as hers fell away.
“Why are you in your underwear?” Missy asked me, eyeing Marlot.
“We had to check for stirges,” Marlot said.
“Oh, okay,” Missy said. She was just standing there. I closed the door and grabbed my jeans off the floor before anybody else decided to show up. “So, I was going to tell you about—wait, stirges?”
“Yeah, they nest and breed in guys’ bathrooms,” Marlot said. “Guys usually check each other after they shower, but Jamie’s a little shy about asking now that everybody knows about him.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Missy said. “So, anyway, I was going to tell you about that Mack girl.”
“The Harlowe one?” I said.
“Yeah, her,” Missy said. “Guess why she’s in Harlowe.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“No, guess!”
“I seriously don’t know, Missy,” I said. “I look at her and she looks more human than a lot of the people in our dorm.”
“Really?” Missy asked. “Like who?”
“Like me, for one,” I said. “Seriously, just tell me.”
“Okay,” She took a big breath “She’s a demon.”
She stood there waiting for us to react, but Marlot and I both stared at her like she’d just told us one of her classmates was a demon.
Yeah.
Simile failed me.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“I’m not sure I did,” I said. “Unless you actually just said that she’s a demon, for some reason.”
“Well, I did,” Missy said. “Because she is.”
“I’m pretty sure somebody else would have figured that out and done something about it,” Marlot said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Last I checked, the rule with demons was still ‘destroy on sight’.”
“Okay, well, the way I heard it is her parents have a lot of money and they threaten to sue anybody who hurts her,” Missy said.
“Her demon parents?” I said.
“Don’t make fun of me,” she said. “I told you, that’s what I heard.”
“I’m not making fun of you,” I said. “I’m just trying to make sure I understand what you’re saying.”
“Well, that’s how she got into the university in the first place,” Missy said. “Her parents sued and there was this huge court case and now they have to let demons in.”
“Missy, don’t you think if that was true, we would have heard something about it?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, and I did,” Missy said. “It’s all over the school.”
“What I mean is, if it was a huge court case, don’t you think it would have been in the news?” I asked.
“Maybe it was,” she said. “I don’t know. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the news.”
“I don’t really pay a lot of attention to it, either, but something like that would have had people up in arms all over the Imperium,” I said. “We would have noticed.”
“Well, obviously, the university hushed it up because they don’t want people to know there’s a demon coming here,” Missy said. “Maybe they got a gag order?”
“Gag orders don’t work that way,” Marlot said. “And you can’t ‘hush up’ a court order. That’s on the public record. And all of that is ignoring the real problem with this theory.”
“What’s that?”
“Demons don’t get to sue people in the first place,” Marlot said.
“Maybe she’s adopted?” Missy suggested. “Her parents could be human.”
“Demons don’t get put for adoption,” Marlot said.
“But what if there were a pair of demons and they were killed and the killers found they had a baby?” Missy asked.
“I’m pretty sure the baby would be put down, too,” I said.
“I don’t think demons come to this plane to reproduce,” Marlot said. “At least, not with each other. Now, maybe if she had one human parent, that might be different.”
“Yeah, I could almost believe that,” I said.
“Why would you believe her story if you won’t believe mine?” Missy asked.
“It’s not a story, I’m just making a point,” Marlot said. “A half-human baby would have human rights. I think.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of plausible,” I said. “I don’t really know if they’d let it go to college or not, though.”
“But if it had human rights, they’d kind of have to, wouldn’t they?” Marlot said.
“I guess,” I said. “Yeah, that does make sense. Maybe there’s an exception for half-demons, though? I mean, I’ve never heard of one that didn’t go crazy and try to kill a bunch of people, have you?”
“No, but why would you hear about the ones who didn’t?” Marlot asked. “I don’t think they’d advertise. They’d probably keep to themselves.”
“That kind of precludes things like going to college,” I said. “But I guess it would be hard to write a law that says half-demons are legal as long as they keep to themselves.”
“Yeah, that would be kind of hard to quantify,” Marlot said. “On top of getting into all sorts of sketchy areas. I think the nearest they could get to that would be to have half-demons be illegal but not enforce it unless they cause a problem, but that would go against a bunch of legal precedents.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Hey, you should be supporting me, not her,” Missy said to me. She was pouting big-time now.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re taking her side over mine,” she said.
“I’m not taking anybody’s side,” I said. “We’re having a hypothetical conversation. It’s the kind of thing Marlot and I do. Like when we were talking about if I had different parents, remember?”
“And you didn’t support me then, either,” Missy said. “You never support me.”
“I do support you,” I said. “But I don’t think you’re right.”
“If you supported me, it wouldn’t matter if I was right,” Missy said. We had differing ideas about that, but I kept my mouth shut. There wasn’t any percentage in hashing that difference out. Missy wasn’t done, though. She pointed at Marlot. “You’d support her even if she was wrong, wouldn’t you?”
“In the unlikely event?” Marlot said. “I’d expect my best friend to be the first person to tell me.”
“Yeah,” I said. “My dad told me that somebody who always says you’re right wants to be your friend, but somebody who tells you when you’re wrong already is.”
“Well, whatever, that’s not how most people are,” Missy said. She pointed at the silk shirt crumpled up on the floor. “Aren’t you wearing that to the dance?”
“I actually wore it yesterday,” I said. “It’s wrinkled and dirty.”
“Oh, it isn’t that bad,” Marlot said, poking at it with her toe. “The wrinkles from throwing it on the floor just counter out the ones it has from being worn.”
“Isn’t this a casual thing, anyway?” I said. “The dance, I mean.”
“Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look nice,” Missy said. She picked up the shirt and tried to smooth it out. “Don’t you have anything else like this?”
“I have two other silk shirts, but they’re purple and green,” I said.
“Purple! Perfect!” Missy said.
“My mom bought it for me for some stupid thing where we had to wear school colors, but it doesn’t really suit me,” I said.
“Of course it does, it’s a very elven color.”
“I don’t know how it will look with my sapphires,” I said.
“No, blue and purple are perfect,” Missy said.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll trust your judgment.” The way her face lit up, I might have told Missy that she was the source of all wisdom and power. Whatever. I still needed a cigarette. “You two want to go and get some dinner?”
“I don’t really want to walk all the way over and back when we’re going to be going to the dance in a bit,” Missy said. “And I still have to get ready, and anyway, I don’t feel like burgers and fries.”
“Okay, we’ll just get something from the corner store,” I said. “But I need to make a little stop outside.”
“That’s such a bad habit,” Missy said.
“Maybe you should make a list of which thin, white, flaming things are allowed in his mouth and which ones aren’t?” Marlot said.
“Yeah, maybe,” Missy said. In her defense, I don’t think she was serious about entertaining the idea. It was more that she didn’t have a clue what Marlot was on about and was saying something to fill the gap. “So, is anybody taking you to the dance?”
“No, I’m going to hang out in the party room and let all the disaffected rebels who are too cool for school dances teach me how to shoot billiards and play cards,” Marlot said.
“Don’t you already know?” Missy asked.
“Yes, but it’s more fun to learn things you already know,” Marlot said.
“Oh, totally,” Missy said. “That’s the only thing I like about my thaumo class. If we spend the entire semester going back over high school stuff, I’ll be just about ecstatic.”
“That’s tuition money well-spent,” Marlot said.
“Yeah, no joke,” Missy said, nodding.
We headed downstairs. Marlot and Missy poked around in the store while I headed outside for a quick smoke. Violet was hanging out by the ashtray. She had a messily rolled, spicy-scented herbal cigarette.
“Hey,” she said as I pulled out a cigarette. “Need a light?”
“No thanks,” I said, raising it to my lips. “I’ve—”
I stopped when I saw the tip was glowing. I took a drag.
“You’ve got to be faster than that,” she said. “Is that platinum?”
“Funny, you’re the first one to notice,” I said.
“You don’t seem to be all broken up by that.”
“Not really,” I said.
“You didn’t have those yesterday,” she said.
“No,” I said. I didn’t elaborate.
She smiled.
“Ah,” she said.
“What?”
“That sounds like one hell of a date,” she said.
“What does?”
“All the stuff that’s spilling out of you,” she said.
“Do you just go around reading peoples’ minds?” I asked.
“Some things I don’t have to go looking for,” she said. “Some things just come to me.”
“Don’t they teach you how to block that out?”
“Yeah, it’s the first thing you learn in subtle arts class,” she said. “It’s right up there with not casually lighting things on fire with your mind.”
“I thought you weren’t taking those classes,” I said.
“I’m not,” she said. “Relax, I’m not about to tell Iolana you masturbate while thinking about her, or anything.”
“How would you know that if you’re not prying?” I asked.
“Some things, I do go looking for,” she said. “No, I’m kidding. It didn’t take a mindreader to know what you were thinking when you were peeking down her top. And with my room right next to yours, it’s kind of hard to miss how much you—”
“Your room’s not next to mine,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s on the end of the hall. Right between yours and Kira’s.”
“No, it isn’t,” I said.
“Yeah? Whose room is that, then?”
“I don’t know, but I know your name’s not on that door,” I said.
“Violet’s a nickname,” she said.
“What for?”
“Purple.”
“Funny,” I said. “What is it, really?”
“Guess,” she said.
“Tell me.”
“Guess,” she said. “If you know my name’s not on the door, then you know what names are, and you should have a fifty-fifty chance of guessing it.”
“I don’t remember what it said,” I said. “But I’d remember walking past a name like that, especially after I met you.”
“Flatterer,” she said.
“That isn’t what I meant,” I said. “You just stick in my head.”
“You’re going to make me blush,” she said.
“Why won’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and look?” she countered.
“I’m down here with Missy and Marlot,” I said. I held out the cigarette. “They’re waiting for me to finish this so we can get some dinner.”
“How do you feel about Missy?” she asked.
“Oh, she’s alright,” I said.
“Yeah, I kind of think so, too,” Violet said.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” she asked innocently.
“Respond to things I haven’t actually said.”
“Oh, were you thinking something different from what you actually said?” Violet asked. “Because I was totally screening right there.”
“Funny,” I said.
“You should just say what you think, anyway,” Violet said. “I see so many people sticking by people they can’t stand because they can’t spit something out. It’s sad. I was never afraid to say exactly what I think, because when I was little I didn’t understand that people couldn’t automatically tell anyways.”
“Yeah, thank heavens you grew out of that,” I said. I stubbed the cigarette out in the tray. I’d had enough of it, anyway. “Obviously, I can stand Missy or else I wouldn’t be spending time with her.”
“Obviously,” Violet said.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said.
“Later,” she said.
MOOK, Finally
ook
“Maybe you should make a list of which thin, white, flaming things are allowed in his mouth and which ones aren’t?” Marlot said.
so sigged
Ooooooooooooooook!
I like how we see more of violet in this chapter. I really liked her in this one. Missy is getting more and more annoying though.
I think I rather like Violet. Missy makes me angry though.
And, yeah, Missy’s more obnoxious by the meeting.
And I like Violet!
heh, I wasn’t responding to Dominique specifically, but that works too.
OOK!
OMG Missy is teh dumb. At first I almost liked her, thought maybe she was just nervous about meeting new people, etc. But no, she is just majorly dumb.
I don’t care for Jamie right now but maybe I would if he would just put Missy in her place and point out her incredible dumbness.
Interesting…
Now I’m not measuring close enough to be at all sure, but the plan was that the 2nd tale would catch up with the first and the two continue more or less at the same rate thereafter.
At a casual guess, our 2nd tale doesn’t seem to be gaining very fast. It may not have lost ground, but it may be 2010 before the two tales are in scyn.
“Maybe you should make a list of which thin, white, flaming things are allowed in his mouth and which ones aren’t?” Marlot said.
Amazing. Honestly, I got what I *thought* was the joke (Missy doesn’t understand she’s referring to cigarettes), then I got the actual pun about 30 seconds later and just laughed out loud. Win.
Violet == Win.
@David Argall:
That (catching up to the other story and keeping them more or less in synch) was and is the plan.
Gonna have to go back and check, but aren’t Ian and Mackenzie at this dance too?
Another perspective on “OH GOD DON’T EAT ME”
Oh and BTW…
MOOK… or is it ARF
“Demons don’t get put for adoption,” Marlot said. – should that be put up for adoption, or did you mean it that way?
In response to David Argall’s comment about the pacing of this…. weekend after the First week of classes was “the Weekend Shift” aka Book 3…. in MoarMU were only 38 chapters in. This one is flying.
Wow. Violet is my hero now. Seriously, MU needs Moar Violet.
heeheehee! Missy – no brain, no pain. Oh, and Oook!
At first I was about to jump in and join the Moar Violet crowd, but I’m not actually sure I like her either, I’m just comparing her to two of the most unlikable characters in the MUniverse.
I’d support more Violet, but in I’d in general support more likable characters period.
Violet seems like an interesting character. Like Iolana and Kira, I hope we’ll see more of her.
Missy really is an insufferable fool, it seems to me. And if Violet thinks Jamie can’t stand Missy, then I bet that’s what he really feels about her, too, despite what he tells us.
It’ll be interesting to see how that first dance will go, with that panic attack Ian had and all…
Does Missy just get more stupid with every story?! Can’t wait until she attaches herself to someone out of the mainstream of OUR story! Still loving Marlot. Want more “Violet”.
Yeah, I used to like Missy, but now I kind of want her to be stabbed in the face. Except it’d probably go over her head. Oh ha ha, I’m so funny.
I really enjoy the interaction between Jamie and Marlot, the comfortableness of old friends is well done.
And I almost,almost feel sorry for Missy, she just doesn’t get it. Does she?
MOOK!
MOAR Violet please!
Oh, look at that. I have a new favourite character.
Violet rocks!
Hg
@13 AE tells us that eventual synch of the two MUs is still the plan. Just to be contrary, I’ll ask if there is a target date. [hat is intended as a joke, heavy handed though it may be.]
My wishlist includes a bonus story bringing Marlot and Dee together; of course, that would be difficult to set up.
ARF, MOOK, whatever.
Violet is intriguing, and I’d definitely date Marlot. Smart, snarky, and easy to talk to are very important in my book. Missy is none of those. She’s dull, dumb, and racist. Violet’s right, Jamie needs to dump Missy with haste.
Urgh, Missy continues to be a shining example of idiocy. At least she got the blue/purple combination right (they really DO go well together). But if her only redeeming feature is that she picks colour schemes well, that doesn’t say much about her.
Violet’s great. I look forward to seeing more of her character. I enjoyed Jamie and Marlot’s banter too, as always.
But now I want to know Violet’s real name! time to go search archives and see if he mentions the names on the door next to him or something in the first couple days
“I see so many people sticking by people they can’t stand because they can’t spit something out.” … “Obviously, I can stand Missy or else I wouldn’t be spending time with her.”
Funny, when I read that the first time, I thought she meant… pretty much everyone BUT Missy.
And… This isn’t a double post. There are at least two people who go by Ren. Of course, AE knows that, but… we need some way to differentiate.
I don’t know, I think continually baiting and making jokes at others’ expense is mean. And mean is worse than dumb and needy, in my books.
Actually, I don’t really think Marlot intends to be mean; her sarcastic wit is obviously her shield, and she probably can’t be any other way. Violet, on the other hand, flaunts using her art against others’ privacy – not cool. But interesting.
Eek, Missy in this one – and Violet’s observation about Jamie’s relationship with her – really pushes a few of my buttons…
I remember having done the “Oh, we had sex — I guess that means we’re in a relationship now, even though I’ve never put any thought into whether you’re someone I really want to be in a relationship with” thing when I was younger, and it never ends well…
And if they start the “You are my SO and therefore must pretend I’m right even if you think I am actually wrong, because sleeping with me means you are no longer entitled to independent thought,” as more than one of my exes has, run very far away.
Nice to see MOARMU back at last. I have to agree with those who want Missy gone, because she has become this story’s Puddy: a useful foil in the early chapters who has outstayed her welcome.
Violet, OTOH, is made of winsome. She’s cute, bright, playful and warm, just the kind of girl I used to dream about finding.
OOK!
Half-breeds face half-truths:
Quod erat Demon-strandum—
Durkon gets Hammered
Which thin, white, flaming
Things are allowed in Jamie’s
Mouth and which ones aren’t?
I’m looking forward
To much more gratuitous
Sex and Violets
@Phexar (28): Even that is a stretch. It depends on the red-balance in the violet and the green-balance in the blue. You can mix two pretty close together reds with two pretty close together blues, and while one of the mixes looks purple, the other looks brown. At the same time, the blue and red that mixed into purple almost always fit better together than the blue and red that mixed into brown does.
*attempts to transmute Missy’s head into Gold.*
With every appearance Missy, who made a reasonably good first impression, grows less and less likeable. Marlot, on the other hand, started off iffy and grows with every line like this:
I seriously laughed out loud at that. I don’t think Marlot is being mean so much as she thinks anyone could figure it out if they bothered to think. This would be why her opinion of someone drops every time they believe one of her jokes.
I’m adding a Violet to my list MU people I want. So, that brings the list to an Amaranth, a Mack and a Violet. I know they’re all very different people, but that’s the fun of it.
Is it just me, or does Violet remind anyone of Dee. Not just the mind-reading, but the dry humor that we got later on in the story. Almost like a mix of Dee and Steff, now that I think of it. It’s a good mix. Very funny. She’s a keeper.
Missy by the way, is not. There are some stupids that just should not exist.
i like violet ^_^
Seems like Violet and Marlot would get along as both are as blunt as a stump, yet I’m sure they would find some qualities in each other that they dislike, like Violets mind peeking and Marlots sarcasm, which I find very awesome.
Please please don’t reduce Violet to a plot device, which would be astonishingly easy. Shes kinda cool, can read your thoughts, gives advice that you know that you don’t want to accept and pulls off the mysterious aura effect that makes people listen and think about what you say.
Make her a real character please? I don’t think we’ve met anyone as naturally gifted in that area as Violet. Hissy didnt seem as competent with hewr mind reading skills…
Oh and i agree with the “Dump missy” “Marlot is awesome” and “I want a Violet” comments
I find your lack of cliffhangers…
refreshing!
I wonder if Violet might be limiting her intrusive behavior to Jamie; if so does that mean something.
Wow. I find Violet’s casual invasion of minds a bit disturbing. Wouldn’t there be laws against that sort of thing — or at least ways to prevent it? It seems creepily close to a mental “copping a feel” without permission.
Everyone is commenting how Violet is invading minds. I’m guessing that most of them have never looked at a person and just known what they are thinking. I’m sure Violet isn’t invading anything, so much as Jamie is thinking very loudly.
And, I want more Violet. I want a Violet of my own. She seems like she would be an awesome friend.
I really liked this chapter, but for some reason I really like it because the Jamie/Marlot/Violet combination totally reminds me of Star Harbor dialogues whenever a Kitten shows up.
I’m a sucker for witty characters!
@46 Kitabare: Actually I frequently use body language to get a very good idea of what someone else is thinking. It’s one of the reasons I feel strongly that a little sensitivity and discretion is advisable in those situations, since it’s far too easy to accidentally hurt someone if you just blurt out what they believed was a private thought.
Further, Violet is intruding into Jamie’s thoughts. Even if you choose to take the entire above conversation between Jamie and Violet as her faking being able to read minds (which I consider both unlikely and unwise in this story universe), there’s still the scene where he first meets her, and she mentally tells him not to stare at Iolana’s breasts.
“Guys usually check each other after they shower, but Jamie’s a little shy about asking now that everybody knows about him.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
Yeah, Missy’s not the sharpest marble in the box.
Similarly, I’m not sure whether the exchange about Mack is hilarious or disturbing.
I think the thing about Missy wanting Jamie to “support” her just gave me a major revelation.
She’s not just a dumb blonde.
At her high school or whatever… she was the POPULAR ONE.
She’s clueless, thoughtless (isn’t it kind of odd that those mean different things?), theoretically fairly attractive but jealous, believes everything she hears from the rumor mill, holds a number of truly ridiculous opinions to be absolute truth because “everyone” believes them, and expects her friends to back her up whether she’s right or not. If Hollywood has taught me anything, all of this clearly adds up to The Popular Chick.
Oh, and Marlot is still hilarious, Violet is awesome, and anyone who hopes/thinks/thought Violet wasn’t talking about Missy rules.