Logs:Conservation of Secrecy
| Conservation of Secrecy | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia | 2024-12-17 "I trade. It's a good deal if you ask me." |
| Location
<XAV> Conservatory - Xs First Floor | |
Tall panes of glass and a many-gabled glass ceiling protect this large indoor garden from the elements, while welcoming in sunlight to keep it warm year-round. Adjoined to the southern face of the venerable mansion and surrounded by more conventional gardens beyond, the conservatory is all Old World elegance from the outside. Within, however, it is lush and green and in certain corners--whether despite its careful tending by the groundskeeper or because of it--seems practically wild. Footpaths and a burbling artificial steam wind through the space, connecting its disparate parts. Benches are scattered throughout, thorough soft grasses or mosses under certain trees also invite rest. The outside wall is lined with tropical and subtropical plants. The ferns and cycads and epiphytes are kept moist by artfully hidden misters that also give the place a sort of magical ambiance, dense foliage wreathed at times with drifting patches of mist. Nearest the building is a desert in miniature, with a few impressively sized cacti as well as palo verde and other trees adapted to arid climes. Between these, and by far the largest section, is dedicated temperate zone plantlife from around the world, the beds growing more carefully manicured and the pads less winding as one approaches the center, where a clearing with a small ring of seats is a popular spot for some teachers to hold court. It's actually balmy outside, by December standards, and many students are taking advantage of it out on the grounds. Sera, meanwhile, is taking advantage of the quiet in here, helped along by the fact that the dorms are no longer in the mansion. She's wearing a violet swing dress trimmed in pink to match her pink ballet slippers. She's got a book held open in one hand, and is swiping something out on her phone with the other, radiating amused contentment in subtle waves. Perhaps the unseasonable warmth of the day is in fact what has drawn Echo to the conservatory, with all its powers to further concentrate it. A warm satisfaction is chasing the actual warmth around her body as she winds her way slowly along her chosen path; she's pulled out a pair of shorts from a closet somewhere to go with a lime green tee. Her hint of surprise on seeing Sera is brief, subsumed by general good will. "I guess there's always someone else with the same idea," she says, lifting up her own book (also green, a hard copy of Tress of the Emerald Sea) in greeting. Tok is darting through, and perhaps they’d just been using the conservatory as a shortcut into the mansion, with the mission they seem to be on. They have their cargo pants with patches at the knees and a sweatjacket (despite the warmer weather not even needing it) unzipped over a faded plain grey t-shirt. They glance back behind them, quick with a small grin on their face, like they’re checking for someone. They’re radiating an antsy untamed amusement, with a good deal of skittishness in there. Their amusement, at least, is what amplifies as they near Sera, but as they turn the corner and nearly barrel into Echo on the path, the skittishness spikes, “Oh shit!” A soft white glow burns along the too visible blood vessels on their neck, but doesn’t rise any higher than that. Their feelings turn pleasant quick, “Man you scared me! Hey hey what’re you guys reading? Is this a secret book club?” They’re asking rapid fire, distracted. They’re maneuvering around Echo and then around Sera, which could easily be chalked up to trying to get a better look at the book—but to the extremely observant, it might seem like they’re hiding behind them. They carry an underlying tiredness that they usually seem to drag around, a slight sting at the end of their tail from tugging at the fur, and newer is a prickling behind their shoulders that causes them to pull at the fabric of their t-shirt occasionally when it grows too intense. “Can I join?” Sera's amusement resonates with Echo's, and lends some measure of her own calm. "Great minds think alike," she says breezily, and lifts her book so Echo can see its colorful cover -- The House in the Cerulean Sea. "Even if the color is a bit --" This breaks off when Tok barges in. Her easy smile does not fade, but her amusement shifts sharper for just an instant. Then she's smoothing it back over, easing the skittishness. "Club?" she asks, smiling wider. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Echo's lips curve upward with genuine delight as she sees Sera's corresponding cover. She's opened her own mouth to exclaim something, surely, when instead she grunts as Tok speeds past, head jerking up with a spike of alarm. Though she relaxes again, it's just a bit more heightened than before. "That has been on my list for a long time, but I think a club would need a little more coordination," she says, angling her obviously different cover to where Tok can see. Her eyebrows draw a little bit together as they move around. "You...good? Been a long time since I scared someone by standing." Tok’s tail, which had been twitching behind them, now eases into a steady flick back and forth as Sera eases over their skittishness. “Just- wasn’t expecting you is all! I’m totally good.” They say to Echo. Their long ears twist at a far off sound in the conservatory, then quickly turn back forward, skittishness still smoothed out enough that it doesn’t spike at that, even though it certainly seems to try, “Oh but this totally a secret club. That’s what someone running a secret club would say.” They grin and lean in much too close in Sera’s personal space to try and get a peek at the page she’s reading, tilting their head at a sharp angle, “Don’t worry I won’t say nothin’ tho!” "Well, evidently we've managed to color-coordinate titular oceans," Sera allows with a whisper of delight. "And that one's on my list, too." She tilts her head at Tok, only now slipping her phone away. She has not, however, closed her book. "Not to be indelicate, but you do seem a bit jumpy. Are you suffering under the strain of all the secrets you're keeping?" "Trade you after we both finish?" Echo ventures with a brief smile before turning her full attention back to Tok. It's with a great deal of reluctance that she's looking them over rather more carefully than is normally polite. If she thinks she notices anything unusual, she doesn't say, instead giving a bit of a shrug to acknowledge Sera's point. "If that's the case, finding out about another secret club would mean you'd need to let a different secret go," she grins. "Conservation of secrecy." There’s a surge of pleasant surprise, that they don’t outwardly express aside from a slight downward tilt of their brow, when they enter Sera’s space and stay there. It continues to ripple to the surface the longer they’re able to scan through the page. There’s a moment of hesitation before they quickly hop back out of her space. “Me? Secrets? Nahhh I don’t got any! I’m an open book! Heh.” Perhaps encouraged by their success with Sera, they’re now darting over closer to Echo to stand on their toes behind her, in an attempt to get a better look at her book page now over her shoulder, “But I mean, if thats what it takes to join this secret club I’m sure I got some secrets to trade. Don’t wanna break the laws of Secret Physics.” They grin, sharp, “What’re you guys in the business for?” "Certainly!" Sera's flush of delight at Echo's proposal is palpable. She doesn't evince any discomfort at Tok's proximity, though she's rather still until they retreat again. "I'm sure that if there were some sort of secret Conservatory book club, it would be a fantastical secret indeed." She sits up straighter now, the focused weight of her interest sudden and infectious. Her bright, bright eyes fix on Tok as she snaps her book shut with one hand. "Why, truths, of course! It must be fresh -- and yours, not second-hand." Echo is doing less admirably at following Sera's composed example, leaning slowly in the other direction as Tok's head appears over her shoulder. She doesn't step away, though, at least until Sera's attention gains magnetism. That makes her step around to face Tok instead, tilting her head to the side as she fixes them with a second quite engrossed gaze, though she's got a relaxed smile on. "Value's proportional to your feeling about it," she's adding. "I'm sure that's the usual rule in these stories." Tok skims the page of Echo’s book despite how she leans away, then looks up to roll their eyes at Sera’s theatrics, but there’s still a good natured smile on their face and an amusement that reveals their enjoyment of it. They’re easily pulled into the infectious interest, their tail flicking back and forth just a bit more eagerly. Their eyes widen slightly and they take a small step back when Echo turns, and now they rub at the back of their neck and avert their gaze at the sudden amplified attention, “Heh- Uh- yeah yeah! I’ve got somethin’ good I’m sure!” Some hesitation is sliding in, wariness, but it’s having trouble bursting the infectious bubble. They tug at the fabric of their t-shirt at a rising uncomfortable twinge behind their shoulders, then their ears perk up, “OHOH! I’m scared of mannequins! How’s that? I think that’s a pretty good one, don’t think anyone knows that yet.” They bounce a few times on their heels, “How ‘bout you guys!” Sera nods her firm agreement to Echo's qualification and waits patiently for Tok to flounder. At their answer she arches one slender brow and fixes them with an exceptionally flat look even while soothing their wariness. "Is that fresh, really?" She sounds less skeptical than simply underwhelmed, and certainly that is how she feels. Her index finger taps her chin thoughtfully. "Do we find that adequate?" she asks Echo (magnanimously, no doubt). Some corner of Echo, no doubt one she brought back from a more dangerous social setting, is feeling conflicted about how hard to push a classmate, but her high baseline curiosity would be heightened even in the presence of any other friend, and she doesn't spend that long considering Sera's question. "Mm, I feel like if you felt that strongly about mannequins it would have come up during Halloween," she says, spreading her hands apologetically in Tok's direction. "Not that I'm judging, they are kinda creepy. Do you have something more...fun? In the spirit of Secret Conservatory Clubs, and all." Tok splutters indignantly, “They’re freaky! How many mannequins y’all seeing during Halloween?” They cross their arms, but their prior suspicion is suddenly fading at Sera’s soothing of it. “Something fresh? Like…recent?” A wave of emotions are rolling in here, nervous and excited giddiness and guilty all wrapped up in a nauseating sort of spiral that forces their mouth shut and triggers their tail to twitch up into their hands so they can run their claws through the fur. It seems to help them keep their voice casual at the very least when they’re able to open their mouth again, “Uh…I mean-” They hesitate, “Nothin’…coming to mind.” They offer a quick grin, and a their eyes dart between the two of them, “C’mon ain’t this a trade? Mayyyybe I just need an example.” They raise their eyebrows. "Mm, it's not the mannequins you see that you have to worry about," Sera points out, but then concedes, conciliatory, "They are quite freaky, but everyone knows this. But yes, fresh as in recent, and fun." She cocks her head, picking up Tok's excitement and amplifying it apart from the less pleasant sensations that attend it. "Only I thought it would be a simple matter for someone as sly and spontaneous as yourself! If you must..." She settles the book in her lap and folds her hands primly over it, dropping her voice to a confidential not-quite-whisper. "Only the other day, my brother and I were accosted by brigands at the Bazaar, and rescued in the nick of time by a pair of teenaged superheroes!" "Come on, mannequins are a classic ghost story trope--" Echo is protesting, though her voice is turning uncertain, perhaps realizing that elementary schools are all different in their own ways, even if Tok had been the average fifth grader. "Huh, and here I thought secret book club was the thing we were trading," Echo remarks, her curiosity extending towards Sera at that conclusion. "I, uhhh," she's squinting now, a slight discomfort rising as the pause drags on until she says, pleasantly if anticlimactically, "oh, I have been running experiments this week on whether chamomile in cookie form works to make people sleepy. Don't tell my wing. I'm sure you're thinking of something that can top that, though, right?" she adds, raising her own eyebrows as she directs an anticipatory smile in Tok's direction. “Whoa what?” Tok’s tail is sliding out of their grip and picking up speed in a wave behind them. An excited click click click sounds from them and they tamp it down once, then have to once more when it starts of its own accord. “Wait- You- you got attacked? And THEN-” they’re stumbling over their words, like they can’t get it out fast enough, “I hope your oka- wait wait how’d they rescue you? Was it cool? I bet it was cool!” They make a happy trilling sound this time, and their hands have joined the whole body effort of attempting to rid themself of the sudden extra energy, shaking out at their sides, “Why are you trying to make your wing go to sleep? Are they annoying you? Heyhey you can test them on me!” There’s a pulsing flare of white in the visible blood vessels around their neck, but it doesn’t grow much higher, “Not because I think I’m annoying, I just don’t sleep well. I think I’m secretly nocturnal. Hey maybe that’s my secret! Just kidding that’s really lame. But maybe so is the cookie secret.” Their words come rapid fire, like they couldn’t stop it if they tried, “I think Mr. Summers might think I’m annoying now. I like, accidentally messed up his whole garage earlier this week and got detention SO maybe I don’t blame him. Y’know Mr. Summers is really cool actually? He like, nailed a shot through a coin? It was sick!” Sera blinks rapidly, at that flare of white. It's hard to tell how much of the unsteady push and pull of emotions is deliberate on her part -- or how much more or less than it had been before -- but there's a kind of tidal wash between them from alarm-fear-annoyance to calm-amusement-interest and back. And forth, and back, before she reels it in somewhere around the region of still intense if manageable curiosity. "Mr. Summers seems like a very patient man," she opines, only a little abstractedly. "What did you do to the garage?" She blinks again, looking down and slowly, deliberately uncurling her fingers from the book under her hands. Another measured breath, and whatever just happened doesn't seem quite so unmanageable anymore. "He must be used to messes, considering what he teaches." "Not individually--" Echo is starting to respond, but she cuts off, eyes widening at the onslaught of inputs, verbal and not. The shrinking discomfort from before is trying to make a reappearance, and her shoulders and arms are pulling inwards, her book digging into her side. Her eyes, though, are flicking first up at their surroundings, then toward Sera, then back to Tok with a tilt of her head, lingering on each with some concentration. "Also, of course he did, he's had a really long time to practice." “Oh! Uh- it kinda got- laser beamed? Heh- Don’t know how that happened- It was a…bigger mess…than usual…probably.” Tok is stagnating at the sudden fluctuating emotions being pressed upon them, and with each jump to alarm-fear-annoyance the glow rises a little higher, then fades again at the calm-amusement-interest, in a sort of tug of war. They eventually settle and the glow fades with a deep inward breath, and a short outward one. Their eyes snap to Sera, down to her hands uncurling from the book, and then over to Echo, scanning how she pulls inwards. Concern manages to poke out from beneath the waves of emotional influence. They manage to continue, albeit distractedly, “I-It was a total accident though. I’m helping fix it.” They look between Echo and Sera again, and continue on as if they hadn’t just said what they’d said, “Heyhey I wasn’t the only one who felt that right?” They glance at Echo, as if for confirmation, then to Sera, “That was you right? Are you like, good?” They ask, egged on by the intense curiosity. Sera's eyes widen. The curiosity is piling up on itself, now, though not unpleasantly, now that it isn't attended by a runaway feedback loop. "Laser-beamed," she echoes, both eyebrows lifting. "Oh, did you -- do the laser-beaming? How extraordinary!" Her composure is returning to her rapidly. "I'm quite alright, and I do apologize for the spillover. Only sometimes it is very hard to avoid, when people around me are excited, it can go 'round and 'round." She sort of waves the concern aside with an elegant turn of her hand, and leans toward Tok again, head tilted to one side again. "Did you...take his eyes? That is how your power works, no?" Echo is still somewhat pulled in on herself, but her discomfort is receding slowly as the heightened moment seems to pass, to be replaced by consternation, mostly. Upon Tok catching her eye, she shrugs the shoulder closest to Sera and gives a wry smile. "Happens to the best of us." Turning back to Tok, she gives their eyes a once-over, as though expecting to see something red about them, and then squeezes her own shut for a moment. "Damn, you went for Mr. Summers? That's..." a twinge of anxiety, a touch of surprise, "...bold, yeah?" Tok’s eyebrows jump up in surprise at ‘extraordinary’, and a relief-excitement slides in that smooths out some of their anxiety from earlier. They quickly shake their head at Sera’s apologies, “Oh- nah s’fine, really! Just- wanted to make sure you were…good.” They say, scanning Sera up and down, then glancing away, that concern still lingering, but fading at least. They tilt their head at Echo, “And c’monnnn I didn’t go for him, makes it sound like I hunted him down—well I did! But not for that.” They swallow, nervous, and a hesitant grin flickers onto their face, accompanied by the snap back and forth of their waving tail, “And I didn’t take nothin’.” They tilt their head back and forth in consideration, “I trade. It’s a good deal if you ask me.” They look curious between the two of them, “But for the record! Wasn’t me. So don’t go tellin’ everyone.” Sera tips her hand at Echo's possibly rhetorical question. "Quite bold, I should think!" It's hard to judge by her tone whether she thinks it's a good thing, but all that ripples from her still is intense curiosity. "Trade, hm? So you gave him your eyes." She leans forward and peers at Tok's eyes, as if trying to discern whether she thinks it was a good deal. "But truly," she ventures guilelessly, exuding calm assurance, "if it was but a fair trade, and the only problem with it was the accidental mess that resulted, why is it such a secret? Wouldn't you want bragging rights?" The skin around Echo's eyes tightens a little, her brow wrinkling just a little bit as Tok checks in on Sera, uncertainty rising off her. She lets out a brief exhale of a laugh as Sera gives concrete definition to the trade. "Oh, that's a whole image. I wasn't saying you were out to hurt him," she says to Tok slowly, though there's a lot more uncertainty upswelling with that, "I just assumed he wouldn't have agreed--" here she shrugs, shifting her weight onto her right leg and crossing her arms. "Rules, and all." “Yeah- I’m not tryin’ to hurt nobody. Serious.” Tok’s ears flick and twist back at the added attention to their own eyes, and they clearly fight to hold still and not look away. Their awkward smile turns into a wince, “What’s there to brag about?” Their eyes dart between Echo and Sera, curiously, and prior nerves are getting soothed under Sera’s calm, leaning into something trusting. It gives way to an intrigue. “I mean- Would you guys?” "I believe you weren't trying to hurt him!" Sera reassures Tok, her sincerity plainly sensible. "I don't know if I believe he agreed to it, but I wasn't there. But you see..." She spreads her hands before her laying out the situation very matter-of-factly. "If I pulled something spectacular and daring and ultimately harmless on the Residential Dean, I'd only keep it secret if I'd gotten away with it and didn't want to get caught. If I'd already been punished for it anyway -- and only a detention, at that -- why not get credit for it?" She punctuates this with the lightest of shrugs. "Aren't you a prankster, after all?" Echo gives Tok one considering nod. Whatever she's considering is translating into an anxious indecision, but she tamps it down before it gets too strong, shifting to the other leg now to watch Sera argue her case. Echo squints just a little at this train of logic, but all she says is, "I wouldn't, but I'm," she gestures briefly to herself, as though her appearance is self-evident, "not the audacious plan-hatching type. Was there something else you were hoping to get out of it?" Tok rocks back and forth from their toes to their heels, and they huff out a laugh, “I’unno if it’ll do good for my reputation like you think it will.” They smile, less awkward and more genuinely now. “But- you guys took it well!” They continue to rock, forward and back and forward again, “So…maybe other people will too.” They glance at Echo, and shrug, “Not lookin’ for bragging rights, can at least tell you that!” They tilt their head, and study Echo, then Sera, “Why’re you guys so…curious?” "I don't think we get our kicks the same way, so it's a all a bit theoretical for me and Echo." Sera's smile is earnest and just a touch sheepish. "What's 'good' for your reputation is different for everyone, no? You like to recruit others into your pranks, and that might work better if potential recruits knew about your bigger exploits." She perks up, the brightness of her sudden inspiration rippling out into the others. "Oh! Consider Sriyani's reputation for mischief. They get into far more trouble than you do, and I daresay they like that reputation!" She gives a quiet hum, her thoughtfulness faintly sensible. "I guess that's why I'm so curious, when it comes down to it: I can feel your excitement --" She echoes her best approximation of Tok's untamed amusement from earlier. "-- but I don't understand your motivation. And here is the truth about Secret Conservatory Book Club." She turns her book cover-out toward Tok, and indicates Echo's in turn. "We really just happened to be reading books with charmingly coordinated titles and that we were mutually interested to read. There was no book club until the moment you suggested it to us!" Her joy is like the warmth in a patch of sun. "It's serendipity, which is frankly far more interesting than if there had been a club to begin with that we were hiding from you for no good reason." Is that how Echo would describe her reaction? She's looking skyward (or glass-ceiling-ward), possibly to cover up any further squinting. Luckily, she's certainly feeling lighter the longer Sera continues, enough to look back down and give a nod. "Things can get really fun when you discover you're on the same page." Echo is just glancing at Tok here, then pulls her book out from where it was pinned under an arm by her side, brushing her hand over the cover. "That was lovely, by the way. I was just going to say that we are students. Being curious is part of the job." “Heh- I’m kinda used to people being like- in a totally different book. Let alone the same page.” There’s a warm, pleasant feeling, that Tok is exuding that takes the feelings Sera radiates and swirls them into itself. Their eyes dart between Echo and Sera, searching, lingering on Echo a little longer, something doubtful wanting to rise up but hopeful is still winning out. “Things just make more sense when I trade shit. And I mean- laser beams are so cool.” They admit with a grin and a shrug, “Guess it’s no biggie if a few people know ‘bout it. Like you said, already got detention.” They shift their weight now to a side to side rocking motion, and there’s a building excitement again, similar in flavor to earlier…along with a barely there quiet worry. They take a quick step away as if to leave. “HeyHey we could make this a real thing if you guys wanna! I’d get into reading for it and everything.” Their tail flicks back and forth, “Could be funnnnn.” "Please." Sera flutters her hand lightly in playful dismissal. "I'm from another universe. Most people are in a different library from me altogether. But things making more sense with you trade -- that makes some amount of sense to me, even if it's quite different for me in the particulars. Plenty of people are put off by my power, certainly." She turns the same hand up, a gesture of mild and generationally loaded fatalism. "And plenty people will be put off by knowing about this, but they probably already dislike you. You know that. You can either deal with that, deny it, or live in fear of it. No one else can decide for you. At any rate." She's idly leafing through her book again, seeking her place in it. "It is a real thing -- weren't you listening? If you want to pick up reading for it, then go pick a book with a color and an ocean in the title. Once you are done, we can trade -- books." Her smile is just a little sharp. "In secret." | |
