Room 322, Monday Morning

[not_every_mage]

Anders had left his room with plans of buying breakfast in town, but was faced with a dilemma before he even made it off campus grounds.

Namely: Why buy breakfast when you could break a chunk off a building and feast like a king for free?

He worried briefly about whether he might bring the castle tumbling down, but the castle had so many bits of architectural fancy on it that it wasn't hard to find a ball of gingerbread atop a railing that seemed to serve no function at all. He whistled as he came back to the room, pound of gingerbread wrapped in his handkerchief and ready to be feasted upon.

[OOC: Door/post open!]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"Oh," Anders said, turning the jar and watching the blue sugar catch the light.

Then, as he thought about the implications: "Oh. So you could use it anywhere you liked."

On the body, he meant. Not, like, in the room vs. in the halls. But his tone probably made that obvious.

[boneyard_girl]

"Well, you should probably ask b'fore usin' it on somethin' that ain't yours," she mused, eyes sparkling with mischief, "--but that's th' general idea."

She gestured to the glitter covering her arms. "It's what I wear most days."

[not_every_mage]

"It's pretty," Anders said, eyes appreciatively traveling up those pale, shiny arms. "I've noticed you like glitter. Didn't realize you made your own."

[boneyard_girl]

Ada laughed. "You can take th' girl out of the carnival an' send her to boarding school, but you can't take the carnival out of the girl," she said with a wink. "B'sides..."

She licked her thumb and ran it across the inside of her forearm, leaving a very clear delineation between skin cleaned of glitter and her newer, smallest scales still sparkling in the dorm light. "--some habits are hard t' break."

[not_every_mage]

Anders watched the gesture, frowned up at Ada briefly. "That looks like scales," he said, curious but not judging.

[boneyard_girl]

She always hated this part.

"'Cause they are," she said, watching his reaction carefully. "Most people ain't expecting to see a mermaid-girl running around on land, so th' glitter makes it easy t' hide them in plain sight."

[not_every_mage]

"I wouldn't have thought of it," Anders admitted, arching an eyebrow. He raised an eyebrow at Ada. "Would you hate me if I asked to touch it? Not for any reason. I'm just nosy."

He hadn't even been sure mermaids were real. But after the last two years, it seemed an odd point to get hung up on.

[boneyard_girl]

She relaxed slightly.

"'S generally th' first thing people ask, if'n it's not 'how th' hell did I not notice that before?" Ada replied, going over to sit down next to him on the bed and offer him an arm. "Sure. It don't hurt me none when someone touches 'em."

Sometimes quite the opposite, but this was 'Ada's a Mermaid 101.' That was advanced studies.

[not_every_mage]

Anders reached out a fingertip and ran it delicately along her scales. "And here I thought I'd be the first," he said.

"But how does the mermaid bit work? Do you sprout a tail at night?"

[boneyard_girl]

"Not exactly," she said, watching as his fingers explored. "More like a little bit more each night."

"I was born lookin' almost as human as anyone else. But th' older I get, th' more my scales grow in. Eventually, m' legs will give out completely an' be unable t' support my weight. That's when they'll start t' grow together into m' tail."

It was as painful as it sounded, yes.

"These weren't even here a month ago," she said, tapping the scales on her arm. "Exposure to water makes 'em grow faster, an' I spent one of those Weird Weekends out in th' rain all hours. This is th' result."

[not_every_mage]

"That's terrible," Anders said, finally glancing up from her arm. (His fingers stayed just below the crook of her elbow.) "I'm sorry. Seems as if there should be some way to slow it down, at least."

[boneyard_girl]

"Not eatin' meat an' stayin' dry are th' only things I've ever found that slow it down," she said with a shrug. "I probably got another ten years or so b'fore my legs give out, but with a little glitter an' gesturing with m' hands together so people don't notice this--" she spread her fingers and the webs between them flexed and expanded with the unusual exercise. "--I can pass so long as no one pays attention."

"'S part of why I showed you now. Since we're all gonna be out on our adventure, an', well, Isabela can get handsy with 'em--" because Riviani pirate and bling, "--and I didn't want it t' be a bad surprise."

[not_every_mage]

"Maker knows I never paid enough attention," Anders said. (He thought Ada deserved more than ten more good years, but he suspected she knew that already. No point bringing the conversation down sobbing over it.)

"But no, thank you. Even if there isn't handsiness on the adventure" -- though he rather hoped there would be -- "I'm glad you trusted me."

[boneyard_girl]

"You're a good person," Ada replied easily. "And you know about how being Different makes other people uncomfortable or downright mean, so I figured you'd get it."

Cassandra. Ada still wanted to punch her in the face most days.

"Though you did kinda get th' short straw in how you found out," she continued with a wink. "Most people find out because Fandom's Fandom an' we end up kissing an' it's suddenly 'surprise! Ada's got scales on her shoulders and th' back of her neck!"

[not_every_mage]

"Too bad," Anders said, with a startled little laugh. (He was wondering how to take that wink.) "Not that I'd object to kissing you sometime, but I guess we need to wait for Fandom to be Fandom again."

[boneyard_girl]

Ada blinked. "Huh. If'n I'd known you were interested, I woulda offered t' show you how t' use th' glitter, and gone about it that way. That woulda been much more fun than stressin' about how t' say 'I'm a mermaid' without sounding nuts."

[not_every_mage]

Anders held out his hands in a gesture that was almost gallant. "I didn't think you were interested either," he said. "I guess we should have spent more time together, hmm?"

[boneyard_girl]

"Well that's an easy enough problem t' solve," she laughed, offering him her hand. "Would you care t' go get some hot chocolate with me, t' go with all this gingerbread?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders squeezed her hand. "I would love that. Washing down gingerbread with water is just sad, anyhow. And it doesn't go with beer."