…or, Rubbing The Wrong Way
Eleven in the morning Sunday, Marlot came knocking on my door. I’d been passed out since about four or so. Little promptings from my next-door neighbor had kept my always fertile imagination going strong long after the point I would normally have been bored with myself.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Marlot said when I opened the door in my boxers and a t-shirt from the floor. “Are you alone?”
“Yeah,” I said, stepping back so she could come in. “Why?”
“I heard you had a visitor last night,” she said, heading to the couch. She flopped down on the end and kicked off her sandals, then pulled her legs up and swung them around across the cushions.
“Oh, yeah. He couldn’t stay,” I said. I squeezed in at the other side of the couch and picked up her foot.
“Why not?”
“He had to get a foot removed from his mouth before he got one in his ass,” I said.
“Kinky,” Marlot said. “Don’t get any ideas about my foot.”
“I won’t,” I said.
I wasn’t a foot person to begin with. I guessed Marlot’s feet would be considered cute, though. They were the only part of her that was petite.
“You should think about painting your toenails,” I said.
“I don’t even paint my fingernails,” she said.
“Well, you do wear a lot of sandals,” I said. “If you’re going to have your toes hanging out all the time, it just makes sense to pretty them up a bit.”
“Are you volunteering for the job?” she said.
“If you get the polish, then yeah, I guess so.”
“Then no,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not paying to have discolored toenails,” she said. “Next, you’re going to want me to use my own money for the fragrant oils to anoint my own forehead.”
“Wouldn’t that just make your hats greasy?”
“My hats are oil resistant,” she said. “Like hummingbirds.”
“Hummingbirds are oil resistant?”
“Have you ever seen an oily hummingbird?”
I chuckled. It was time to ask the question, to raise the topic I’d been avoiding.
“So, uh, how is she?” I asked. “Missy, I mean?”
“She was asleep when I woke up,” Marlot said as I started to massage her sole. “And gone when I got back from the temple.”
“Oh,” I said. “Is she pissed?”
“Well, it was hard to tell if she was sleeping angrily or not, since her face was to the wall. But there was definitely a surly, brooding quality to her absence.”
“Heh.”
“Seriously, Jamie, if you’re that concerned about her feelings, you might have picked a better time to dump her than the middle of the dance.”
“Actually, it was closer to the beginning of the dance,” I said. “And it seemed kinder than waiting until she had a chance to build the whole thing up even more than she already had.”
“So, I guess Iason is next on the chopping block?” Marlot asked.
“Funny,” I said.
“What?” she asked. “You can’t tell me he isn’t getting even further ahead of himself than Missy was.”
“Well, he talks like he thinks I’m going to want to marry him someday, but I think we’re starting to come to an understanding about what I want in the here and now,” I said.
Marlot responded by bending forward to grab my arm by the wrist with Iason’s wooden bracelet stuck on it.
“That was before the understanding,” I said, pulling my arm back and resuming the foot rub.
“Is it because he’s more conventionally attractive than Missy, or because he has a rod of lordly might and she doesn’t?”
“Seriously, Mar, you aren’t funny today.”
“I’m not being funny,” she said. “I know you’re not that into jewelry, so it isn’t that.”
“Yeah, I am more attracted to Iason than Missy,” I said. “Is that a bad reason to stay with him for now?”
“It’s a good enough reason to have sex with someone, I guess,” she said. “As long as you’re being careful.”
“He could turn into a decent guy,” I said. “If he grows up a little.”
“He’s twelve years older than us,” Marlot said.
“There are probably thirty-year-old humans who are that childish,” I said.
“Seriously, Jamie. Don’t hang your hopes on the idea that you can change him.”
“I’m not,” I said. “But he’s got time to change himself. If not, the sex is still good.”
“How long you going to give him?”
“Well, I’m going to graduate sooner or later,” I said.
“Did you ever give Missy a foot massage?” Marlot asked, leaning back and closing her eyes as I worked her toes between my finger and thumb.
“No, Iason gave me a back rub, but Missy is kind of a down-to-business kind of girl,” I said.
“She doesn’t know what she’s missing,” Marlot said. “On several scores.”
“What?” I asked, dropping her foot.
“Hey, don’t stop,” she said, wiggling her toes.
“What did you mean, though?” I asked, resuming the foot rub.
“We were talking about foreplay and stuff,” Marlot said. “And I asked her how you were at oral.”
“Why would you do that?” I asked, dropping her foot again.
“It’s girl talk,” she said. “And quit that. Anyway, do you know what she said to me?”
“Do I want to know?”
“Do I actually care?” Marlot said. “She said, ‘Nice girls don’t do that.’ And I clarified that I meant you going down on her, not the other way around—though it would be bullshit either way—and she said it didn’t matter. ‘Nice girls don’t do that.’ Can you believe that?”
“Well,” I said. “Different strokes for different folks, right?”
Marlot snerked.
“You know, that’s why she has so many toys, too,” she said.
“Because she likes different strokes?”
“Because she doesn’t believe girls should masturbate,” Marlot said.
“Isn’t that like owning a closet full of daggers because you don’t approve of stabbing?”
“I think it’s more like owning a closet full of daggers because you don’t approve of fistfights,” she said. “She sees a distinction there, somehow.”
“So, do girls actually like that?” I said.
“Daggers? We’re crazy about them.”
“No,” I said. “The whole, uh, oral thing. You actually let guys do that?”
“We put up with it, somehow, yes,” Marlot said.
“Well, I don’t know,” I said. “I thought it might just be something that turns guys on, you know, getting in close like that. Most of what I know about sex with girls is from porn, and I don’t want to just assume that’s an accurate representation of female sexuality.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Marlot said. “The best thing to do is probably to ask a girl what she’s into.”
“What, just work it into conversation?”
“Well, how do you approach a guy?”
“Iason approached me,” I said. “Before that, mostly, I’d just go up and ask if I could suck their dick. Somehow, I don’t think that line would work on most girls.”
“Might get you some points for originality,” Marlot said.
“Might,” I said.
“The best thing to do is play to your strengths and look for cues from her, though,” Marlot said.
“Play to my strengths how?”
“Like what you’re doing now,” Marlot said.
I looked down at her foot in my hands and froze.
“What?” she asked.
“This is good foreplay?”
“It might be good foreplay if it was foreplay,” she said. “I mean, it could be a good lead-in to actual foreplay, if that’s where you were going. With another girl. Who’s not me.”
I cleared my throat and put her foot down.
“Hey, you didn’t finish,” she said.
“My hand is cramping,” I lied.
“Well, give it here.”
“No, thanks,” I said. I got to my feet, grabbed my jeans, and pulled them on. “You want some pudding? My mom sent me a bunch more.”
“Come on, let me give you a hand massage,” she said. “We always take turns. Quad pro tat. Tit for pro. All that stuff.”
“I’ll take a rain check on it,” I said.
“I was just trying to give you some tips,” she said. “I hope I haven’t talked my way out of any future massages.”
“No,” I said. “Let’s just not talk about sex during the next one.”
“Okay,” she said. “I hope you know the only reason I put up with you is those clever elven fingers.”
“Seriously, Mar, this is the wrong time to joke about that.”
“But you know I’m joking.”
“I know.”
“Pudding?” she prompted.
“Chocolate or vanilla?” I asked. The opposite wall was full of cubbyholes, mostly stuffed with snack foods.
“Surprise me,” Marlot said. I tossed her a cup of applesauce. “Surprise me less,” she said, tossing it back. I grabbed a pack of vanilla pudding cups and a couple of plastic spoons, and carried them back to the couch.
“Here you go,” I said, holding out a spoon and a pudding cup.
“Aren’t you going to open it for me?” she asked, taking the spoon.
“Do you want to smell the foil, too?” I asked, peeling the wrapper off for her and then handing it to her.
“You don’t actually smell the foil,” she said. “You inspect it to make sure the pudding has been stored properly on its side. So, are we planning on hiding in your room all day?”
“It seems like a good idea to give Missy some space for a couple of days,” I said.
“You guys weren’t together that long.”
“No, and hopefully she’ll realize that and not make it into a whole big thing,” I said.
“So what exactly was the tipping point, for you?”
“No one thing,” I think. “She wasn’t listening to me. She was fetishizing my relationship with Iason. She was kind of a bitch about a few things.”
“Oh, yeah. Did you notice that the only time she actually swears is when she’s complaining about minorities?” Marlot asked. “She could be like, ‘Oh my kosh, I accidentally cut off my toe!’ and then, ‘They let Arkhanites use the drinking fountains? That’s bullshit!’”
“She isn’t that bad.”
“The biggest difference between her and Juliana is that Missy’s interest in your winkie was benign,” Marlot said.
“She’s your roommate,” I said.
“Yeah, and I get along with her well enough to occasionally hang out with and be unconscious in the same space as her,” Marlot said. “But I wouldn’t date her.”
“Well, all sorts of reasons for that,” I said.
“Just you wait,” she said. “I’m getting gayer by the day. I’m already starting to question the assumptions of my meaningless small town existence. By mid-week I will dye my hair green. Two days later, I will shave it off.”
“Seems like a waste of dye,” I said.
“No, I can use the green hair in a collage celebrating the bounty of nature,” she said.
“Did you really go to temple services this morning?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You didn’t go last week,” I said.
“That’s why I made sure to get up bright and early this week,” she said.
“Are you going to go next Sunday, too?”
“Did you want to come with me?”
“Um, no,” I said. “I’m just wondering where this came from.”
“This isn’t something new I just started doing,” she said. “We’ve been going to the Universal Temple all our lives, Jamie.”
“Yeah, but, we’re on our own now,” I said. “We can make our own choices.”
“Well, I choose to keep going,” she said. “At least some of the time.”
“Okay,” I said. “It’s just kind of surprising, that’s all. You want to come downstairs with me?”
“Smoking?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“No, thanks.”
“Okay, see you in a bit, then.”
I hung a left out my door and went all the way to the corner instead of cutting through the lounge , heading down the boys’ hallways all the way to the stairwell. I got outside to the smoking area just as Violet was lighting up one of her herbal joints. She looked a little out of breath.
“Hey,” she said, looking at me kind of sideways.
“You can come hang out in my room if you want,” I said.
“No, thanks,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “The offer stands, though. I guess you can tell when I’m in and feel like company.”
“Yeah, I guess I can,” she said.
A couple of guys lit up as they came outside. They started towards us, then skidded to a halt and kind of turned away, going to stand by the other ashtray at the other end of the pavement.
“Oh, yeah. Missy’s been telling stories about you,” Violet said.
“What kind of stories?”
“Something about her dumping you for being a faggot,” she said.
“Nice,” I said.
“You do spend an awful lot of time thinking about the cock.”
“That’s not all I think of,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “But honestly, you come off about seventy-thirty, to me.”
“Seventy percent gay?”
“About,” she said. “Maybe eighty. I might have queered the results a little, so to speak, by interfering last night.”
“I would have thought about girls eventually,” I said.
“Sure,” she said. She took a drag and blew a puff of sweet-smelling smoke at me out of the corner of her mouth. “Who was that guy, anyway?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Saw him at the dance.”
“Gay?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Your imagination seemed to be awfully generous to him,” Violet said.
“So are you Temperance or Beth?” I asked.
“I’m Violet.”
“I think I would remember somebody introducing themselves as Temperance on the first day,” I said.
“So you think that’s me,” she said.
“I don’t know.”
She was keeping her face half-turned away from me. She wasn’t the hottest girl on the floor—that was Iolana, hands down—but there was something about her that went beyond looks.
“So, you’ve still got a hard-on for Lonnie,” she said.
“She seems nice,” I said.
“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “You didn’t bring her up at all last night.”
I shrugged.
“It seemed like it would be rude,” I said.
She sent me a sound like tiny bells ringing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I like the way you think, but that doesn’t mean we’re going steady,” she said. “It isn’t like you’re the only one I can hear from my room.”
“Oh,” I said. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“But you are the only guy,” she said. “And you’re among the more interesting minds I’ve ever overlapped, at least when you’re grappling with the purple worm.”
“You know, I don’t usually talk about my personal habits with girls like this.”
“We don’t have to talk about it,” she said. “It isn’t a big deal to me, though.”
“You don’t worry about people’s privacy?” I asked.
“I’m not going to go around telling other people what you think about,” she said. “I’m not going to tell Lonnie how you feel about her, or tell you if she thinks something about you. Talking to you about your fantasies isn’t expanding the circle of people who know about them, so your privacy is intact.”
“Except for the fact that you had to invade it in the first place,” I said.
“Who’s invading?” she asked. “If I don’t mind other peoples’ thoughts poking through my head, I don’t see why they should mind.”
“That’s a weird way of looking at it.”
“I suppose you’re the expert on telepathy,” she said.
“So, uh, you liked what you saw last night?”
“I had a time,” she said. “Several of them. But don’t get cocky. I might pop in again, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to buy you a ring or anything.”
“That’s fine,” I said. Honestly, it was nice to have somebody kind of interested in me who wasn’t interested in picking out floral arrangements.
“I figured it would be,” she said. “I’m more of a ‘sit back and watch’ type, anyway.”
“So, you’re a voyeur,” I said.
“Given that I’ve spent my whole life being bombarded with other people’s wet dreams and sexual fantasies, it seems like a viable choice,” she said. “Well, you know, it was either that or go nucking futs. I think I made the right call.”
“I think you did, too.”
yaaaay Mook!
I really like the Jamie/Violet dynamic. A lot.
“Surprise me,” Marlot said. I tossed her a cup of applesauce. “Surprise me less,” she said, tossing it back.
Priceless.
Violet seems eminently reasonable.
Mental RSS FWT once more….
So Missy does the typical post breakup deal, spreading shit and all. Funny how it was the kinda shit she was into anyways…
One has to wonder though, why even bother talking out loud to Violet? Force of habit most likely, still great interaction between Jamie and Violet. Additional kudos to the chummy interactions with Marlot.
hehhehe she said nucking futs >>
<<
anyways as someone else said i do like the Jamie/Violet dynamic alot as well
I wonder if Violet ran down to talk to Jamie ahead of him once she knew that he was going to go for a smoke.
“No one thing,” I think. “She wasn’t listening to me.
Should probably be “Not one thing,”
I think I like Violet a great deal….
Perhaps more intriguing is the fact that the young lady seems…extremely powerful. Jamie’s new elven spread is enchanted (in part) to stop mental effects. But Violet doesn’t seem to have even noticed his additional protections in their, er, psychic frottage.
Sure, what he’s wearing may not stop him from projecting his thoughts, but what about when she was communicating back to him?
Intriguing….
Also, I note that she used the phrase ‘overlapping.’ That strongly implies that Violet has little to no control over her ability.
Violet is rooming very close to a half demon.
Infernal minds and mental contact are very, very bad.
Be careful, witchy girl!
@7 I think you are putting the wrong emphasis on the sentence in your head but AE was right the way she wrote it. Your way is right too though.
Turns out I was right about Violet not choosing to hear people’s thoughts. People talk about her invading their privacy but what about her privacy? She can’t even find peace in her own head.
[ “No one thing,” I think. “She wasn’t listening to me.
Should probably be “Not one thing,”]
No… No one thing means there is no particular complaint, tho there may be a number of complaints, and often are.
“Not One thing” means there are no complaints, tho the statement is frequently immediately contradicted by adding a complaint to it.
“Violet is rooming very close to a half demon.
Infernal minds and mental contact are very, very bad.”
It would seem that Violet is at a safe distance. Indeed, she is probably at a safe distance even when in the same room. Our lizard lass was trying to force her way in [and as I recall, Mack then proceded to let her in], which would produce rather massive contact. Violet likely also needs to have much deeper contact than she will get by casual contact. And since she is better trained, she may well know better than to try.
great chapter just wondering was this an error: r go nucking futs <- did you mean fucking nuts?
personally i think violet headed downstairs when she felt jamie had a longing for nicotine.
@suryn
“Nucking Futs” is a way of not swearing while getting your point across. Its not a typo, its an odd way of speaking. It was actually kind of common in my area for a while.
@erewhon
I might have missed something, but how close do you think Violet rooms to Mackenzie? They aren’t in the same dorm are they?
Also, I think that Violet seems to have a very open mind, in more ways than one. Her telepathy seems to work more like “hearing thoughts” than “reading minds”, or “picking up frequencies”. More like ears than eyes or a radio. Although the mentally speaking back part sure seems controlled and directed.
Has it been established whether subtle artists only address one person at a time with mental speech? or can they broadcast?
I also like the Violet/Jamie pair. Seems to be a more fitting male/female relationship to offset Jamie’s male/male train wreck.
@erewhon Jamies’ elven spread is magically enchanted to resist mental attacks of a magical nature. Subtle arts don’t work the same way. That’s why they are called thus. Mack said herself only about a long time ago.
Dee picked up a stray thought from Mack and it didn’t hurt her. It was at the cafeteria and was how Dee know the paper messed up her mom’s name. Also “nucking futs” was in that movie with David Spade “Dickie Roberts: child start” I think was the title. There are other examples of that. I live in Tennessee where football is big and you may occasionally see a bumper sticker that says “buck fama”.
So, the biggest thing I want to point out from things that were mentioned from the bonus story about Violet is that while she can, yes, go drifting into other people’s thoughts, she’s also learned manners. Just because she knows what’s going on in your head doesn’t means he’s going to go spread it to the world. ^_^ And, it doesn’t look like she has a huge amount of control over it. She hears thoughts, just the way we hear things with our ears, whether we want to or not. She might be able to damp things out, the way we cover our ears, but that doesn’t mean we can completely not hear something, usually. Are there mental ‘earplugs’? ^_^
As for the story, I love it, as always. Gotta love Marlot too. ^_^ I think Jamie and Marlot /could/ be a good couple, if they chose to pursue it. Perhaps Marlot /does/ have unspoken feelings but she’s smart enough not to voice them or let them get in the way of her close friendship with Jamie. Who knows? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if something pops up later on in the story about it though. I’m not going to say guys and girls can’t ever be friends, but I’ve found that close friendships between guys and girls usually has one side with unexpressed romantic feelings. Not to say they can’t ignore them and it always ends up with drama… People can be adult and ignore those feelings for the betterment of their friendship with someone.. *shrugs*
Violet FTW!
We’ve only seen a little of her, so it’s hard to be sure, but, out of all the people at MU who are innately weird in one way or another, she seems the most put-together and well adjusted personality-wise.
So…. if it was all in (his) head… but she was watching and encouraging(?)… did they still have wildhotsex?
So, unless Violet is an evil, EVIL, EEEEEVIL manipulator, making her dissembling way towards the culmination of her twisted designs, she looks like she might be OK. Perhaps she had already picked up enough from Jamie to know that he wouldn’t object to her impinging on his fantasies. She’s clearly very interested in him, but prepared to keep things cerebral for now. Actually, their mutual mental masturbation sessions could be good practice. If Jamie gets used to the practicalities of communicating mind-to-mind, he’ll be able stop himself from broadcasting his thoughts when expedient.
Also, I wonder how good Iason is at screening his thoughts. Obviously (presumably), Violet does not breach mental confidences lightly. But if she and Jamie became really close, and Iason thought of something to raise serious concern…
I say that too! Well, I say “nugging futs” but I dunno why. I guess it’s just a quirk of mine. ^_^; And hah at Missy spreading fibs involving that which she’s into. It would have been good if she just decided to keep relatively quiet about the whole thing, but, ‘y know. I wonder how long it would take the other girls to work her out. >_>
And instant classic. XD
Uuuugh, Missy, why must you do these things? She’s turning into a horrible stereotypical Angry Ex-Girlfriend. Soon she’ll be calling him at four in the morning to ask why she wasn’t good enough for him.
@11, 12
It’s word play called a Spoonerism- switching the first letters of consecutive words. It can be used to not-swear, but there are plenty of other phrases where it can be amusing at the very least, if not add extra emphasis. They’re usually best when the form different words.
trig bubbles
swell foop
Ar ones I can think of off the top of my head. Wikipedia is an amusing read on this point, lots of good ones assembled there.
Violet: I want one!
MOOK!
Bingo! I was right! (At, like, comment 100 and something on the bonus story) This points to manipulation. I bet Violet bolted downstairs the fast way. And, if shes that capable, she may have planted the suggestion in his head to walk the long way. Without letting him know or leaving a trace.
And the guys backing off?
Oh yea, people randomly stop turn around and walk in the other direction all the time. All of them. At the same time. Happens often. I swear. {End Sarcasm}
I forgot about Violets pyrokinetic skills… Not only would she be useful to find out what the HELL is iasons problem, she can light your smoke (Or anyone you happen to be pissed at) anytime ^_^
@Karl: Don’t forget “cupid stunts.”
ARF. MOOK, whatever
@8 & 13 Mackenzie lives in Harlowe. Violet lives right next door to Jamie, and they’re in a different dorm (I’d go look it up, but I want to type the comment). Everyone in this dorm is for the most part, human, whereas Harlowe is for non-humans (excluding, it appears, elves and dwarves, for the most part).
@24 Wow.. you’re suspicious. Maybe Violet picks up on his thoughts and rushed downstairs so she could talk to him, without manipulating him. And perhaps she is telling the truth about what Missy. I’ve seen people walk towards something, realize what they were walking towards, and turn to go somewhere else. I’m not saying you’re wrong.. it’s a possibility, but you’re definitely overly negative of Violet.
Squeeeee!!! An update full of Marlot and Violet!
If there was a safe way for Violet to meet Mack, I’d be very very relieved. Especially for when Mack gets really hungry.
To be honest, I think Jamie thinks he CAN change Iason…it’s a common dynamic between men and women, I’m afraid.
Also, like everyone else:
“Surprise me,” Marlot said. I tossed her a cup of applesauce. “Surprise me less,” she said, tossing it back.
FTW. Seriously. I giggled like a schoolgirl at that.
Also. I love Violet. She is so full of win she’d beat out Michael Phelps at the Olympics.
This is my favorite chapter, seriously.
Oh, and “rod of lordly might?” Heheheheh, yay Belkar!
@27 pixiekhatt: Okay, so I didn’t make that clear. Even if Violet is manipulative and scheming, I LIKE her. Hell I’m manipulative and scheming and its exactly what I’d do in her situation. And yea, Missy was bad news and she was doing him a favour in pushing him to leave her. But she was also doing a favour for herself as well, whats wrong with that?
Bottom line: I’m not negative toward Violet, Violet FTW!
@AE
That one did slip my mind, but I was trying to work on examples of completely clean phrases anyway.
There’s also the classic “I’m not as thunk as you drink I am.”
Seriously loooove Violet, even if she turns out to be evil, course I like it better if she isn’t, but still looooooooove her! Favorite character from any MU right now. Marlot is a close 2nd. I love this story AE thanks for the update!
Violet is great friend material, but not great dating material. At least from my point of view. Great character though, and despite what I just said in the previous chapter, I’d have a hard time not being interested in a few dates. I’d be much more interested in Marlot long term though.
MOOK
seriously, I loved all the characters who had speaking roles in this chapter….except Jamie, he pisses me off.
But Violet rocks, and Marlot is AWESOME……I hope something happens between Jamie and one of those girls……so that he dumps that asshole Iason, and at LEAST finds someone better.
I’m not against gay relationships, but this one in particular pisses me off….a bit a awesome se is NOT good reason to stay in a relationship.
@24:
I thought that was probably due to homophobia. Ever since Jamie started dating Iason, the other residents of the dorm seem to be gradually catching on and mostly being stupid about it. So the sudden turning around may have just been a case of “Uh-oh, don’t want to be seen hanging around near him, people might get the wrong idea.”
Just for the record, interactive fantasizing is friggin’ hot! Violet is just too awesome.
Violet is awesome! To me she comes across as remarkably well-adjusted for a psion, so I’m guessing her mom was very right to get her away from schools that would opress her. And I’m wondering if Jamie figured out she ran down to be there to smoke with him
@22
“It’s word play called a Spoonerism- switching the first letters of consecutive words. It can be used to not-swear, but there are plenty of other phrases where it can be amusing at the very least, if not add extra emphasis. They’re usually best when the form different words.”
WOW. Someone else that knew what it was called! The question is, have you seen the master of it at work? (Skip Wagner, Oneida Village Inn in Minocqua, WI)
Rindercella:
“And the Prandsome Hince was at the door, charging people admission. And do you know what he was charging? He was charging a…”
SKIP. Skip there’s a nun in the back!
“He was charging a buck fifty. *crosses self*”
Hee hee. The Gairy Fadgother. Hee hee.
Just wanted to say how much I am loving Violet.
LOOOVE Violet! For those guys that think dating her would be hard because she can read your mind, NEWS FLASH!! Women have always been able to read their men’s minds! Lets face it, in general, we aren’t subtle, and we aren’t complicated and I know darn well my wife can read my mind.
@ 31 Davo: Ah. Took your previous note in the wrong tone then. ^_^ You /are/ suspicious of her, but don’t dislike her for your suspicions (and in fact, it appears, like her regardless). ^_^
I’m sure there will be Violet-haters down the road, when we get to know her better though. I can’t think of a single character so far in either story that /someone/ doesn’t hate and can’t wait to see kicked out of the main character’s life…
As I’ve said in previous comments, Violet is now my favorite character in either story, and scenes like this one only reinforce that choice.
I do hope we get to see a bit more of Beth, if she’s still around; Violet’s mother is provides a good argument for awesomeness being genetic.
As far as the prospects of a Jamie/Violet romance, I kind of prefer the current “friends that sometimes fool around” dynamic that seems to be developing… but I guess if anyone could remain good friends with you through a romantic relationship, it would be the person who knows what you’re thinking.
Marlot is also awesome, as usual; I hope the three of them (Jamie, Marlot, and Violet) start hanging together soon. I’m also wondering if we’ll meet Violet’s roommate anytime soon, and what she’s like.
Excellent work as usual, AE.
@42 pixiekhatt Including the main characters. Some people want them kicked out of their lives so they can see more of the people they find interesting.
Jamie and Beth share
Anything-but-subtle arts—
It’s all in their heads
That magic bracelet
May already indicate
A marriage of sorts
Iason already
Thinks Jamie belongs to him—
‘Til Beth do them part?
I’ve been reading Mu and MOAR Mu for a long time now and I think Violet is my absolute favorite character in both stories
Thank you, lady author for keeping things interesting…
@ the various folks wondering at my concern:
Yes, Violet lives in a different dorm than Mackenzie does, but she’s still in close proximity. There is a complex of three dormitories, Harlowe, Burlewe, and Pelinor. Mackenzie, infamously, lives in Harlowe. Jamie and The Gang live in Pelinor. (Assuming my memory serves, I’m not paying nearly as close attention these days….)
Harlowe and Pelinor are literally right next to each other, close enough that they share a common annex. Indeed, that’s where Jamie saw Mackenzie when the grubby little demon girl arrived her first day. He even planned to be chivalrous and help her carry her (non-existent) bags.
If Jamie can bump into her, then so can Violet. I suspect that would be Bad for poor Violet, although it is possible that she has had some training in dealing with infernal minds.
This goes to the issue of how common demons are. If they are common, with a mortality rate in Imperial society approaching the toll cancer takes on the US in real life, then it’s quite possible she has had training in dealing with infernal minds. (There is evidence in canon that this is the case.)
On the other hand, if they are rarer, then she may not.
Mackenzie was probed by Hissy, a subtle artist good enough and powerful enough to actually play skirmish with her powers, and Hissy wound up having a good chunk of her mind cut out, just so she could survive.
Be careful, Violet. I’m liking the witchy girl. I laughed hard at her sitting there all casual, breathing hard. Jamie must be hella good looking. Not to mention bi, multi, and possesing serious stamina in the sack.
You go, boy!
@ erewhon 47:
I think you’re right about Harlowe being near Pelinor, but I don’t think they’re connected.
About Violet stalking:
You know, I read that she was smoking an herbal-smelling cigarette and was out of breath, and I came to an entirely different conclusion. Though I don’t actually know if anything you smoke would put you out of breath.
Best. Chapter. Evar.
Or at least in a while. Have I mentioned I like Vi?
Marlot is annoying me less by the chapter, too.
@Phexar: Nugging Futs is common here. It is because you are mentally starting with Fugging Nuts. It is very common for consonants between vowels to soften (in this case k became g), in a phenomenon called intervocalic lenition. Not that you wanted to know or anything