Stilletos and Six Strings

Chronicling the endeavors and misadventures of one Porrim Maryam through her education at Skaia University

[greaseandmagic]

All he saw was a flurry of black hair and anger before he was pushed back into his room. For a moment he stumbles, quickly regaining his footing. Porrim comes into his dorm, yelling at him in his native language? I don't think so. He gains back his ground with one step, his frustration feeding into his anger.

"Ifreann , ní raibh mé ag smaoineamh gur mhaith liom a fheiceáil riamh tú arís tar éis d'fhág mé Éire . Ní raibh tú glaoch , téacs , fear , ní raibh fiú Facebook dom! Conas a bhí ceaptha agam a fhios agat a rabhadh duit faoi do beag crush spidery ? Níl mé psychic !"

With a sigh, he stepped back. He was ultimately too tired to yell any more than he had already.

"Now, will you calm down and get inside before someone files a noise complaint? I'm too bogged down with homework to deal with the cops."

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim grit her teeth, taking a deep breath, and followed him into his dorm. She took another deep breath, then a third for good measure, before sighing and leaning against the wall.

"Spidery EX, thank you very much. And I'll thank you to keep it to yourself that I'm still this stupid for her, okay? Actually...I think the break-up was right around when you were leaving which...would pretty handily explain why I didn't contact you for a while. I guess that's my fault, I'm sorry Cro..."

She sighed again, as if remembering herself as she ran her fingers through her hair looking harried and, for a Maryam anyway, apologetic, "How've you been back stateside anyway?"

[greaseandmagic]

Why is the raven like writing desk?

The long awaited answer to the question is that it isn’t at all. Ravens could fly away from it all, while Cronus seemed trapped to his desk for the foreseeable future. Poetry was an extension of song writing, something Cronus did impeccably well, but this Creative Writing project seemed like it had no reasonable answer. It had been over an hour and he had wasted whole forest’s worth of paper trying to make some combination of these words flow like his music.

It was exactly when he finally had his big epiphany that he heard his doorbell ring. Cronus groaned loudly, he didn’t even realize he did have a doorbell. This was wonderful, just wonderful, the beautiful sonata of words he had finally conjured had disappeared. He stomped towards the door, flinging it open with all the fury of a banshee.

"What the ever lovin’ hell do you need at this fuckin’ hour .Better be amazing, or you have all of three seconds to run."

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim Maryam was a force of nature. This was an absolute fact. She was also a five page essay on the art of unraveling. She rarely let others see her get QUITE so upset as this, but with the words Cronus had used when she'd knocked on the door, she had absolutely no choice but to push through the door, backing the poor boy into his own dorm.

"Cronus fucking Ampora. Cén fáth ar an ifreann raibh a bhraitheann tú ar an ngá a chur in iúl dom go ndeachaigh ARANEA go dtí ár scoil? An bhfuil tú ar an smaoineamh CHÉAD conas a bhraitheann mé faoi di? UGH!"

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim herself was more than a little pierced, nose ring, eyebrow, and a couple that weren’t visible in relatively polite company, but she was the LAST person to judge someone on their appearance, eccentric or prudish and whatever colour comes in between.

"Nah, I couldn’t have you do that. Even if my pride would allow it, and it wouldn’t, I want it done at it’s own pace. It’s an organic and growing thing, y’know? And besides…"

There was a pause, the vocal equivalent of a wince, before she continued, “It would feel weird having you pay for stuff after what went down with me and your bestie.”

Porrim Maryam. The best at avoiding subjects.

[teetotalgnostalgic-deactivated2]

Porrim’s rejection of her charitable donation didn’t really phase her, they were Porrim’s tats after all, she could go at whatever pace she wanted. It wasn’t like it affected her in any meaningful way, so subsequently Meenah didn’t care one way or the other.

While subtlety was low on the list of her skills, she was still trying to angle some information out of her sort-of friend, and was trying to think of the best way to go about that, having buttered her up with alcohol, but suddenly, the fish jumped in the boat. Porrim seemed to have surrendered the game and Meenah smirked quietly into her drink, as she pressed for more.

"Tell me, what exactly DID go on between you two? Always wanted to hear what went down from your side. ‘sides, Serks tells me lotsa things, most of ‘em at great length, but this whole sunken ship aint one of em."

[balefulpolyglot]

Oh god Meenah not fish puns at a time like this. Porrim tried her best to make a sip of her drink last forever, and by the time she put the glass down it was damn near empty, and her cheeks were a lot hotter than she remembered them being. Shit, would it be out of place to try and squeeze something to eat out of Meenah, or was there going to be a stumble home in Porrim's future...

"It's...kinda a long story, and not wholly mine to tell...phew," She shook her head a bit, running her fingers through her hair and trying to get her feet back under her

Your name is Porrim Maryam, and you are a three piece study in the art of unraveling. AND you're drunk.

"I don't even know if I could explain my side of things. Too much bullshit emotional stuff that I can FEEL but I can't...put into words..."

[balefulpolyglot]

An Ill Advised Date

[articulategrisette]

If Aranea thought it inappropriate, she kept it to herself, smiling brightly and fiddling with the ends of her hair. It’s a bad habit, she knows, but she still periodically tucks it all behind her metal-studded ears, only to shake it all loose a few moments later. It was simply too thick to stay back unless kept still, and even then, it was arguable… Not that she’s musing about her HAIR right now, given that Porrim’s got an awful lot of leg out for show and— No! Aranea Serket you stop that immediately, behave yourself. Think about work. Think about Meenah.

Sighing with relief as she’s told she hadn’t kept Porrim waiting, she still lets out a nervous little twitter and smooths her skirt, whether because of the comment or having caught that ‘dear’ at the end. Talking came easier than normal, immediately.

"Oh, no? That’s a shame, your designs are always so creative. I still remember that dress you made for Meenah a few years back, the one with the tentacle streamers for the skirt? It took her almost a week to figure out it was supposed to look like a squid," she says, chuckling. There, that was much better. Meenah was always a safe topic to pick when she needed to keep herself in check. "Actually, she started doing this thing for formal events… Every time she found out she had to wear a dress, she would just sigh like the event had been organized to inconvenience her personally…”

She pauses briefly when the waitress comes by to ask for a lemonade, then fiddles with the straw, stirring it as she smiles and talks. “Then once she’d settled down, she would always say things like, “They’ve left me with no choice, Serks. Looks like it’s time to RELEASE THE KRAKEN.”” Even though she’d surely told the story a hundred times before, she still chuckles at it herself, head cocked.

"Sorry, I suppose it’s not Meenah you wanted to talk about today… She hasn’t really changed much since—"

There’s a beat.

"Well, since ever." YES. SMOOTH RECOVERY, SERKET. “How about you? What have you been up to, besides the obvious with school?”

[balefulpolyglot]

"Well, creativity doesn't count for everything, and with classes being what they are I haven't exactly had a whole world of time for personal projects...I can't say that I'm entirely PLEASED with what I'm producing for school, at least, not enough to WEAR it, y'know?"

She tilted her head a little with a smile, as if this wasn't something Aranea had heard a dozen times. Porrim with some frequency went on about 'expression of self' when it came to appearances and what someone wore, both as clothes and on their skin. It was one of the reasons her tattoo went as yet unfinished. That combined with lack of funds and that Porrim wanted to have some connection with the person inking her. Things like that mattered to her, after all.

She nearly choked on her drink when Aranea started to talk about...that. She managed to keep her composure through what she was very certain didn't seem at ALL like a sneeze, but which she desperately tried to play off as one before smiling a genuine smile, leaning forward a bit without thinking(though it was to advantage) and pretending as if she hadn't heard the little slip.

"I'm happy to talk about whatever interests you dear." FUCK "You're always so animated on topics of your interest it's hard not to be infected by that interest." SHUT UP PORRIM "Anyway, it's mostly been class and parties for me. You know how I do like to mingle on weekends and such."

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

[balefulpolyglot]

She shook her head, smiling but inwardly wincing that the conversation topic was pushed so firmly back on herself. Damnit Meenah, why can’t you be as dim as people think you are.

She twirled the useless little bar-straw in her drink before taking a small swallow from it, slowing her pace since she was actually in company now, “Nah, still haven’t found the time or money to get any more work on the major project done. Not going to lie, starting to like the look of the unfinished half-lined tendrils on the back.”

She shifted a little and turned some so the shoulder strap on her left slid down to her upper arm and she could show off the way the half-finished trailing tentacles started to sort of ‘break down’ towards what would, when completed, be a big black mass on her lower back, with(eventually) a small as yet undecided symbol in the middle. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to put there yet, but she knew she’d know it when she figured it out.

"What about you? Any thought to any ink?"

[teetotalgnostalgic-deactivated2]

It had been something Meenah had considered actually. Seeing as how her parents let her do basically whatever she wanted, it would be no great act of rebellion, so she had free reign to pick and choose. In fact, that made it all the harder for her; with nothing to push back against a tattoo would actually have to mean something.

"Yeah a little. Still flipper-floppin around on the subject. I mean, I could easily afford to get it removed if I hate it, but you know," she took a sip from her drink and shrugged, "hassle."

Body modification was one of those things she had toyed with. Certainly she’d had her ears pierced a few times and her lip and nose on top, but she wanted people to see them, and didn’t want to go over the top, so had never really ventured below the neckline. Maybe if she got her tits out more often, but that would probably detract from her credibility as a businesswoman.

"Speakin of," she said, eyeing Porrim’s half finished work, "I could front ya the money to finish that off if that’s an issue. I try and look after friends."

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim herself was more than a little pierced, nose ring, eyebrow, and a couple that weren't visible in relatively polite company, but she was the LAST person to judge someone on their appearance, eccentric or prudish and whatever colour comes in between.

"Nah, I couldn't have you do that. Even if my pride would allow it, and it wouldn't, I want it done at it's own pace. It's an organic and growing thing, y'know? And besides..."

There was a pause, the vocal equivalent of a wince, before she continued, "It would feel weird having you pay for stuff after what went down with me and your bestie."

Porrim Maryam. The best at avoiding subjects.

[balefulpolyglot]

An Ill Advised Date

Porrim sat kicking her feet a little bit, having worn a knee length dress that clung to her frame and, if she was being honest, made her look a little saucier than was really appropriate for a lunch date between friends. She was rapidly losing control of herself regarding the Aranea situation, and she was sure even the waitress noticed her biting her straw, even if the woman had no idea that that was anything out of the ordinary. Her red shoes clicked together occasionally, but no ruby slippers could rescue her from the world of bullshit that her feelings had become.

Nervous, so she was early. That and she had nothing else to do so she was nursing a soda while waiting for Aranea to show, and hoping she wouldn’t say anything else unspeakably stupid in the process

[articulategrisette]

The subject of the situation in question wasn’t quite SO early, but she was definitely one of those people who thought she was late if she wasn’t at least a little early. So, ten minutes in advance it was. She checked her watch anxiously as she approached, dressed a bit more conservatively than usual… Her long, dark skirt swirls around her ankles, and her peasant blouse was the usual deep blue she favored, so between the two there wasn’t much more than collarbone and neck to be seen.

There’s a flash of unmasked surprise across her face as she spots Porrim already there waiting for her, her recently painted nails digging into the cover of the book she habitually carried, but it’s overtaken by a smile a moment later and she half-jogs the last few yards to the table.

"Hi!" she says, perhaps a bit too brightly, then fussily tucks her own hair behind her ears to hide her embarrassment. "I mean, uh, hello Porrim. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long." She hangs her bag on the back of the chair, smoothing her skirt to take a seat and keeping the book, as always, in her lap.

"That, ah, that’s a lovely dress; Not that any of your clothes ever AREN’T lovely, 8ut, you know what I mean…”

[balefulpolyglot]

Seeing Aranea, she was somewhat smacked in the face with the fact that she may have dressed inappropriately. She had resigned herself to the fact that she'd asked her ex out on a date, but being that she was, of course, an absolute idiot, she'd worn what she would have on any normal date. Which meant that while she wasn't entirely at her peak as far as 'seduction' was concerned, she definitely had it at a 7 or an 8, which was far higher than 'ex that she NEEDED to keep an ex' would warrant.

Still, she smiled when the girl arrived and the smile was, more than anything else, genuine. Her company was pleasant, and she was absolutely lovely in her chosen outfit. Contrast and counterpoint to Porrim herself, and she had to put effort to keep her eyes from twinkling at the girl. She wasn't sure if she succeeded.

"Nothing I made for myself this time, unfortunately, but I'm between projects, and working space, at the moment. Roommate shenanigans, shuffling of students at all. And as to waiting..."

She shifted, glancing pointedly down at her watch before looking back to Aranea with a smirk twisting black painted lips, "You're early, you couldn't have kept me waiting, dear."

An inward flinch, not visible on the surface. Porrim was usually so tidy with her words, too.

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

[teetotalgnostalgic-deactivated2]

"I pretty much own the fuck outta this town, so yeah, always nice to see the little peeps workin hard, maybe put the fear of cod into them."

Now this was interesting, why was Porrim here alone? If she was being mean, she was being mean, she would say that it was unusual to see her without someone on her arm, but she actually liked Porrim so she wouldn’t say that. Still, there was clearly blood in the water and Meenah wasn’t the sort to let that sort of interesting secret go.

"But enough about me, what you up to lately? Got any more rad tats since I last seen ya?"

[balefulpolyglot]

She shook her head, smiling but inwardly wincing that the conversation topic was pushed so firmly back on herself. Damnit Meenah, why can't you be as dim as people think you are.

She twirled the useless little bar-straw in her drink before taking a small swallow from it, slowing her pace since she was actually in company now, "Nah, still haven't found the time or money to get any more work on the major project done. Not going to lie, starting to like the look of the unfinished half-lined tendrils on the back."

She shifted a little and turned some so the shoulder strap on her left slid down to her upper arm and she could show off the way the half-finished trailing tentacles started to sort of 'break down' towards what would, when completed, be a big black mass on her lower back, with(eventually) a small as yet undecided symbol in the middle. She wasn't sure what she wanted to put there yet, but she knew she'd know it when she figured it out.

"What about you? Any thought to any ink?"

[balefulpolyglot]

An Ill Advised Date

Porrim sat kicking her feet a little bit, having worn a knee length dress that clung to her frame and, if she was being honest, made her look a little saucier than was really appropriate for a lunch date between friends. She was rapidly losing control of herself regarding the Aranea situation, and she was sure even the waitress noticed her biting her straw, even if the woman had no idea that that was anything out of the ordinary. Her red shoes clicked together occasionally, but no ruby slippers could rescue her from the world of bullshit that her feelings had become.

Nervous, so she was early. That and she had nothing else to do so she was nursing a soda while waiting for Aranea to show, and hoping she wouldn't say anything else unspeakably stupid in the process

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

[teetotalgnostalgic-deactivated2]

Propped up against the bar with the most expensive drink available, it didn’t take long for her to spot Porrim hiding away trying not to be talked to, largely because there wasn’t much of a crowd to conceal her. Hmm, this was interesting. Back in high school she used to love getting all the juiciest gossip from her, finding out who was banging who and so on. Then she dated and broke up with Aranea and the whole thing became a lot more awkward. Meenah knew that Porrim was at Skaia U but had chosen to keep her distance.

Shell, that was a while ago now, and it wasn’t like she could even saw Aranea as much as she used to, so what was the big deal? Plus, she had just bought her a drink apparently, so now would be an opportune time to say hello and pry information out of her.

Meenah strode across what could generously be called a dancefloor, sat down opposite her, and spoke.

"Sup Maryam."

[balefulpolyglot]

She was sort of hoping to avoid Meenah, since of all the people she'd considered telling about her problem, she was just slightly ahead of that skeleton guy she hadn't had the chance to introduce herself to yet. She still smiled though, and nodded to her, taking a sip of her shitty drink and ducking her head in thanks

"Not much. You, decided to see what owning a place looks like in person?"

It wasn't a jab or anything, though it obviously wasn't an actual question either. Porrim was just trying to set the conversation topic to 'Meenah' early on, so the reason she was getting sauced like this wouldn't come up

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

[teetotalgnostalgic-deactivated2]

Meenah couldn’t quite remember if she owned this bar. Back when she had started university, her mother had made a point of buying as many businesses nearby as possible, so that Meenah could get preferential treatment wherever she went. Those that didn’t sell got muscled out or suddenly found their landlord didn’t want to renew their lease. But that had been a while ago, before Meenah made it apparent that she could look after herself, and in the interim she had lost track of the ones that were a subsidiary of CrockerCorp and the ones that had sprung up in the meantime.

Still, uncertainty wouldn’t stop her from acting like she owned the place. It didn’t actually matter if her drinks were free or not. Hell, it became hard to even tell if they were expensive or cheap when you were personally richer than a lot of countries. Probably cheap, this seemed like a studenty kind of place.

"Yo, barkeep," she ordered, leaning on the bar and looking around, "Give everyone a free round or somethin will ya? Place is deader than the dead sea."

This missive was followed by a short argument, followed by the fetching of a manager, who took one look at Meenah and gave the order for free drinks. Turns out she did own it.

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim blinked a little at the sudden activity by the bar, catching sight of Meenah and sighing inwardly. Not that she didn't like the girl, Porrim definitely did, but seeing her reminded Porrim of a different girl, and that was sort of why she was set on trying her best to emulate poorer role models and drown her particular frustration in the cheapest rotgut available. Seamstress didn't pay terribly well, especially not for a girl her age

So, the sudden free drink was actually sort of a nice surprise, in that it permitted her more easily to continue to behave badly. She kind of wished she had ordered something more expensive if someone as rich as Meenah was buying. Still and regardless, she took it with a sympathetic look to the server and finished her last in one gulp, so she only had a single left in front of her

[balefulpolyglot]

So Few Secrets

The local bar was not the sort of place a person really should go when seeking solace from their choices or secrets. Largely because Porrim didn't really have the money to get sauced and it also definitely wasn't in her character to do so alone at a bar. In a group at a party or at a club or something, yeah, sure, she'd get loaded and hang out, be cool, her usual thing. But right now she wasn't feeling up to partying. Or being cool or hanging out. Right now she wanted to sit in a quiet corner of a nearly-empty bar on a weekday night(probably skip class tomorrow morning. Or just tomorrow in general) and nurse a very, very cheap mix drink of orange juice and incredibly bad vodka. Luckily poor choices came cheap as a double.

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

[articulategrisette]

"Oh no, no, that’s not too soon at all. Saturday sounds fine to me. I’m not working that day and there’s no homework or studying I’ve got scheduled that can’t be pushed back a bit. Won’t my roommate be surprised to see me out and about for something beside books for once?" She laughs a little, just an amused little scoff as she pokes fun at herself in the hopes of making Porrim smile. "I haven’t actually 8een there yet, 8ut I’ve heard good things from my classmates now and then. It sounds fun, what time would you like to meet up?"

Aranea’s endlessly grateful that Porrim either doesn’t notice, or is ignoring, her faltering behavior. She’s not usually such a wreck, and she hopes she gets some equilibrium back by their next encounter, or else the entire thing promises to be thoroughly humiliating.

…

She really hopes Porrim isn’t doing this TO humiliate her. The girl knew how to hold a grudge but surely she would never do something so cruel to HER…

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim had, (un)luckily already done what was likely the cruelest act of kindness she ever would to the Serket girl. And now she was waxing poetic about it in her own head, nice. She gives a smile, and tries her best not to look forward to the drink with her. She was, in spite of all of this, happy to be seeing and talking to Nea again. Which was really, really bad and she seriously had to cut it out, but...well, if it was going to happen why not at least enjoy it, and go back to keeping her at arm's reach afterwards?

That way lied disaster, and she knew it. Like a slow motion train-wreck, she swore to herself.

"Haha, look at you. You're smarter than anyone, y'know. And not just cause of all the book stuff, that's just diligence, one of your other myriad good features, but you really are brilliant. Half-twelve for lunch?"

...Fuck

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

[articulategrisette]

Visibly brightening like a puppy who’s spotted a treat, Aranea has to tamp down the reaction right away, hooking a wicked canine into her lip as she looks away. She lets out a little cough, then a moment later the smile is back again, but simply ‘pleased’ this time.

"Oh good, I wasn’t sure. I never delete a number myself, you never know when you’re going to need it or need to know who’s calling YOU, you know?" Unlike Porrim, that was a full truth. Aranea hated to lose knowledge of any kind, even seemingly inconsequential phone numbers.

Aranea had a BIG address book.

The comment makes her roll her eyes, and the restraint with which she keeps herself from face palming is obvious in every line of her body.

"Mmhm— Call me Pollyanna, but I’ll always see the good in her despite… well. Her. Is there anywhere particular you wanted to meet up? Or anywhen? I joke about the ball and chain, but really, my schedule is quite flexible.” Lie. She hated rescheduling things. “So perhaps not IMMEDIATELY— I uh. I’m honestly having kind of a DAY, today, which I only just remembered. But tomorrow or after would be…”

A heavy pause ensues, where she forgets to keep up the amiable smile and instead her gaze is faraway. She snaps back a second later. “…Fantastic.”

[balefulpolyglot]

Right now would be fantastic. We could grab coffee and I could hold your hand and we could talk like it's high school again and everything is fine, and we could giggle and press our cheeks together in favor of making anyone complain by actually daring to kiss in the halls. What had started as sarcastic self-berating had gone a little too far into self-destructive fantasy in Porrim's mind and she had to shake herself internally again. Lunch was an awful idea, but there was no backing out now.

"Well, Saturday I have the day off, we could hit up that cute coffee shop just down the block from the dorms and see if they're any good for lunch. Or is that too soon?"

Porrim is doing her very best to pretend not to notice any of the myriad small things wrong with the way Aranea stood or reacted. She was sure she was being every bit as obvious, but they were both trapped together in this dance, neither with the tiniest inclination to be rude to the other and both already quite thoroughly hurt by Porrim's past behavior. She was going to turn this into a train wreck a second time, the elder Maryam could just FEEL it

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

[articulategrisette]

"Ahhh, I see." Aranea can’t help but be reminded of those cartoon ponies she’s been seeing around, with that comment, and it’s hard not to say something about a particularly Porrim-like pony who had that very word as her name. But she knew her own deflecting habits when she saw them, and stomped it down as hard as she could.

'Sore' was definitely a word one could use to describe both their feelings on this matter. It hadn't been a good situation, but those seem par for the course with Aranea's social connections, so she doesn't even question it.

"If you’ll forgive the predictability of it all, I actually do work at a book store, so that’s a legitimate statement to make. It’s become less of a hobby and more of, ‘my life is the bibliophile singularity,’ at this point." She rolls her funny-looking eyes, then turns her bright smile back on Porrim. "But to actually answer the question, absolutely. That would be fantastic. Do you still have my number…?"

She tries not to wince at her own question.

"I, uh, my screen name is still the same if you don’t, e-mail… I can never really be bothered to change all that stuff, you know, it seems silly to do so. Besides, a certain somebody gets huffy if I dare make her remember new handles."

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim gives a genuine laugh, no posturing or anything of the sort, and has to force herself inwardly not to get too comfortable. Like slapping yourself when you're falling asleep, only in her case, she was feeling herself slipping back into familiar habits. She was a generally 'close' person, and keeping her distance from Aranea PHYSICALLY was hard enough without relaxing and accidentally doing something stupid.

Aside from the BRILLIANCE that was asking her out to lunch. Fuck. Well, sleep in the bed you make Porrim. She almost visibly winced at her own poor mental word choice. Whelp.

"I uh, I do still have your number, actually." Lies, technically. Deleted from her phone to eliminate accidents or poor choices. But she DID still have it memorized, since she can't exactly scrub her own memory clean. "Your screen name is so apt, especially now given your newly employed status, I could figure it out even if I had forgotten it." She barely kept from wincing again at that. STUPID Porrim, the longer you talk to her the more likely you are to make more mistakes like that, but you already offered lunch to catch up, and you couldn't SURVIVE disappointing her again after...

The comment about her friend was something to latch onto. A floating, partially ruined door in the icy ocean. She managed a slightly airy smile, making a twirling motion with artfully painted fingers, "Ah, toujours le requin obstiné, eh? Le plus qui change le plus qui reste le même"

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

[articulategrisette]

Aranea traces a little circle on her book with a polished fingernail, an expression of pleasant interest on her face, but internally she’s got a vice-grip on her own breathing.

In and out, in and out, quirk your smile a little. Tilt your head. Tuck your hair behind your ear. Be natural.

Cocking her head a little to the side, she laughs a little, sweeping some of her pale hair out of her eyes. “Well, color me shocked. Porrim Maryam, artistic soul of the century, taking organized classes on the subject? Mind that the institution doesn’t stifle your juices, my friend.”

The comment makes her stop, eyebrows shooting up in surprise, but she beams a half-second later, hugging her books tighter to her chest.

"She’s as steamed as a clam that I wouldn’t room with her, so of course she drags me into every mess she can find. I would like that, though. Seeing you more, I mean. It’s been a while. We should have a proper chat sometime, I can tell you just what she’s been digging up for me to sort out."

STUPID STUPID DUMB

[balefulpolyglot]

Porrim probably could have recognized mechanical reactions, if she weren't so busy making sure she didn't glance at her fingernails more often than she should, or that she didn't look bored shifting on her feet but also wasn't standing stock still like a deer in the headlights. Though, that sort of described her and her increasingly out of control reactions.

"Well, you do know me so well." Porrim you're an idiot. "But I've got to make sure I see what everyone else has done, so I can be absolutely certain I don't do any of it a second time. If I'm not a rarity, I do a disservice to everyone."

You give a genuine smile, until you're done speaking, and your eyes are on your ex. You had a lot of them, but you didn't exactly pine like you did for her. Different circumstances, and a much sorer wound.

"That would be wonderful. Coffee or lunch or something?"

No, Porrim, it wouldn't be wonderful, it would be awful. Sitting through a whole lunch of pretending you still aren't into your ex who you absolutely CANNOT date sounds like a punishment reserved for people who talk in theaters.

"If you can get away from the books long enough."

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

[articulategrisette]

The twittering little laugh Aranea lets out can’t be mistaken as anything BUT nervous, so it seems Porrim got her wish. She’s primly tucking her hair behind her ears a moment later, having to switch her books from one arm to the other to do so, and smiling brightly over the stack. There’s only a slight moment of hesitation before she takes the book back, settling it neatly into her arms with the rest of them.

"Ahah, ah, y-yes! I’m working on my degree this time around, they have a wonderful library science program here. It’s rather incredible, the amount of specialized career education that one school can offer. Still, Skaia’s an awfully large place. I suppose that’s why we didn’t run into one another sooner. I mean, I hardly even see Meenah around sometimes, and she actively seeks my company. N-not that we’re not friends, of course, I just mean it in terms of… Well. You know how Meenah is. You’ve met, I think? Or is it just that I tell so many stories about her I forget who was actually there…?”

Classic Aranea self-defense: start blabbering about nothing until you get your composure back. She’s just an ex-girlfriend, Aranea, nothing to panic about. Sure it ended badly but you can still be friends. It’s Porrim. You -adore- Porrim. Just breathe, act natural… It seems to have done the trick, since by the end of it she’s not shuffling constantly to keep the books balanced, or otherwise fidgeting. In fact, she looks downright at ease.

"A-anyway yes! Um. I’ve been fine, thank you. You know me, study study study, no time for anything else, haha…"

[balefulpolyglot]

Her excited speaking was...something else. Porrim realized full force how much she'd missed it, and immediately pushed those feelings to arm's reach, bathing willingly in the wash of painful self-recrimination that came. It was distracting, and necessary. A scourge to keep her from making some sort of awful mistake.

Instead, she smiled a winning sort of smile, showing off teeth and dark lips, and nodded, "Yeah, I'm taking fashion design and a couple cool art secondaries myself..."

She drops a joke she almost made because while Aranea had approved of bad pervy puns when they dated, there was nothing to indicate she would after. Porrim had. Sort of unilaterally broken up with her

"No time for anything except whatever bullshit Meenah is pulling you into, that is. And I might make it a habit to actively seek you out now that you're here, of course."

No, STUPID Porrim, first off, that was a lie, and second...well, second it HAD to be a lie, since if it wasn't...well, that didn't bear thinking about at all

[balefulpolyglot]

A F8ted Encounter

Porrim was rarely, if ever, late. This is, of course, by her own scale. If class started at 10:00 and she showed at 10:15, she did so on purpose, and for some reason or another. Be it to prove a point or because she simply did not want to be there until that time. As a result of this careful bit of planning, and the fact that she’d no intention of showing up to this particular math lecture, she the tallish girl’s path today ended up taking her, through early afternoon, down a side hall in one of the wings of the school frequently used by the fashion design students. After all, if she was going to skip a class irrelevant to her degree, may as well use the time to get more work done towards aforementioned degree.

Today was a dress day, so her legs we on display as she wore an ankle length sarong in light greens and cream tones, and a tank top that showed off both tattoos, and lightly tanned olive skin. Her bag was over her shoulder, a little messenger bag with a sort of swirling pattern on the front of it that she was rather a fan of. She wasn’t sure what brand it was a logo for, but she saw it around occasionally and generally snapped up whatever it was printed on

[articulategrisette]

Aranea on the other hand was compulsively punctual, and even the slightest setback tended to ruin her entire day regardless of whether it actually made her late for anything else. She had an impression of immaculate perfection to keep up, and settling for anything less just wasn’t acceptable.

Thanks VERY much for that, mother, you despicable, rotten—

Too lost in her own sullen thoughts— she had been an entire ten minutes late for a lecture— she nearly walks right into the next person who turns the corner. With her head down and her hair falling in a curtail around her eyes, she hadn’t even NOTICED, and her jolt of surprise sends her armful of books off balance. She has to scramble to catch them, and one still slips out the crash down right on her foot.

She doesn’t curse or jump, just flinches and lets out a whimper of defeat. It’s becoming one of those days, and she dreads looking up to see who she almost walked into— probably Meenah in a mood, or some important official, or…

"P-porrim!?"

Even worse.

Her ex.

[balefulpolyglot]

"Oh, sorry dear, I didn't see you...oh."

She was very rarely caught off guard, and even rarer still were situations where Porrim Maryam didn't at least pretend like she still had control of herself, or the situation she was in. So that made the little 'oh' she made, a sound choked down at the back of her throat, and those moments where she just stood, staring and taking in Aranea's features, all the more uncommon. And, in spite of her best efforts, incredibly intimate.

She brought herself back together moments later, fluttering in her chest or no, and pushed the voice in the corner of her mind back into it's chair and firmly replaced it's 'DUNCE' cap. She righted herself, involving a visible adjustment of her shirt, and picked up the book Aranea dropped, glancing at the title before offering it to her, putting on a smile that was a little less believable than usual, and trying to salvage some composure.

"Hey Nea, I didn't know you went here too. How have things been?"

Keep smiling. Deep breaths, but not too deep. You have a whole bunch of exes. No reason running into one is that big a deal. Except you adamantly refuse to run into any of them if you can in the LEAST avoid it, and of all of them, it had to be her. You hope she's as shaken as you are, at least, so maybe she doesn't notice how much seeing her affected you, and that wish made you feel guilty all over again.