the experiment

[instar]

When Andi has gotten one of Charlie's friends to give her a ride to the grocery store and the unauthorized residents of the house can come out of hiding, Bella goes looking for Trouble, so to speak, and finds him in the kitchen.

"Hey," she says, "I have some more questions that I'd be asking Aspret if she was here. Charlie didn't have answers; Esclan wasn't the talkative type or the experimental type."

Comments

[instar]

Bella inspects memories for sample violence-inducing conversational openers.

[aeskhyne]

When there is no one else around to care how they talk to each other, Ethan has been known to make some pretty vile sexual advances—in explicit and often degrading terms, with hints or more than hints that 'no' will not be considered an acceptable answer. Trouble thinks it's hilarious and doesn't mind at all. He suspects Bella would have a different reaction.

[instar]

<It's really very interesting how I can access your memories with as little delay as if they were mine - I don't have to know exactly what I'm looking for or how it's sorted, it's just there.>

She doesn't comment on whether she'd deck Ethan.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble is terribly curious. He doesn't think she would necessarily specifically deck him, but he is extremely confident that she wouldn't be able to laugh it off as casually as he does. The art of telling Ethan to go fuck a log if he's that hard up is its own kind of creativity. (Now does she see what he meant about so many things being like that?)

[instar]

<I'd be tempted to reuse a previous quip if he started acting like that to me under the impression that you were alone in here. I don't think my brand of snark is similar to yours and I don't seem to be coming up with anything you-style whatever I try.> She sits back down, all Trouble-sprawled.

[aeskhyne]

<Guess that's an answer to the creativity thing, huh?>

He likes it when she Trouble-sprawls. He likes it a lot. She's better at it than he expected. She's not him, but she's picking it up fast. He wouldn't swear to anyone else being able to tell, if she didn't slip up and do something Bellifluous.

[instar]

<Partially. I mean, I'd still have your voice, and if I didn't already know English I could get a handle on it just by inhabiting you and by the same token I think I could talk through your understanding of the language and with your accent instead of mine, which would go a long way - I wouldn't make any vocabulary mistakes or anything that way. It's the fine details of making things up de novo that'd be the problem. I bet Yeerks probably use previously rejected ideas for things to say or just reuse lines a lot...>

[aeskhyne]

<Yeah. And I mean, if your host didn't have a really distinctive way of talking, you could probably get by. I'm just inconvenient like that.>

[instar]

<Yep.> She writes some more, abandons sprawling in favor of a position more finely optimized for writing.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble goes back to just being in the moment. It is a good moment to be in.

[instar]

She looks at the clock with his eyes, scribbles a last note with his hand, sits him on the floor again and puts his hand near his ear.

<Out I go.>

She doesn't anaesthetize on her way out, although her path has already been paved by her trip in.

[aeskhyne]

He loves her all the way.

And then he puts her back in the cake pan and hugs his knees. His ear hurts. And feels faintly slimy.

[instar]

She demorphs. It's pretty gross.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble is nothing but delighted.

[instar]

"You good?" she inquires, stepping out of of the cake pan and shaking water off of her feet.

[aeskhyne]

"I'm good," he says sunnily. "I love you."

And now she knows what that feels like.

[instar]

She does. She blushes.

She steps back into her shoes once her feet are dried off on the rug.

And says, "If Ethan ever overdoes it - I don't know where you would actually draw the line, but if he ever stumbles over it - I will help you if I find out."

[aeskhyne]

"Thanks," he says, more surprised than he should be but an entirely appropriate amount of touched.

[instar]

Bella puts her hand on his shoulder briefly, then picks up the cake pan in one hand and the notebook in the other and lets herself out.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble just sits with it for a while. He doesn't know if this is ever going to happen again; every part of the experience is worth savouring.