(no subject)

[sythyry]

[15 Chirreb 4261]

I rather slunk into Nendrai Ethology, somewhat concealed behind bits of Esory. I was not so lucky as I had hoped; Prof. Phrass called me out immediately, and demanded to know what the nendrai had been up to that day. Half of our conversation was a state secret, and the other half was arguably me betraying a friend. I don't think Phrass was particularly pleased with my non-answer. Too bad for them -- that's what they're going to get more often than not.

(Well, I'd just as soon not arguably betray too many more friends. It's not delightful, and I wouldn't have any friends left if I did.)

Prof. Wynge gave the actual lecture, though. He's much better when he's standing on an ottoman in front of a classroom than when he's sitting on a couch with Prof. Phrass' tail flapping against his (the Rassy's) ankle. This lecture was about various forms of their skin structures. I can't imagine what it would be like to be made of silk, say, as a couple of nendrai were. I cannot wholly endorse the activities of Gnarn. Unfortunately, she doesn't need my endorsement.

Ilottat made up some freakish little excuse to get out of having dinner in public with me, so I collected Esory and Leiska and Seeks-the-Octahedral-Remedy and Tethezai. Seeks, of course, invited Rhedwy. I was rather upset about Ilottat, so I sort of ordered a beetles-in-brine appetizer in place of dinner, and sulked.

Rhedwy:"Rrahi, we have girls' night at Square Nollie's."

Esory:"Oh, that's just 'cause Ilottat had to butter his bees." (Not his exact excuse, but not much worse.)

Tethezai:"Sythyry's a girl now?"

Esory:"Sure, why not? Zie's an Orren girl half the time I see zir."

Tethezai:"Not that much, surely. I more or less live with zir, and I don't see zir as an Orren more than four or five hours a day."

I don't think it's that much! Maybe two or three, on a good -- which is to say, Ilottat-ful -- day. If I'm not seeing him, I rarely am to be seen in anything but Zi Ri shape.

Me:"No, no." With all due respect to ... um ... I don't see why this has anything to do with respect about anyone. I wasn't feeling as pleasant and social as sometimes.

Rhedwy:"Oh, Sythyry, you too are bipedal now? I am now alone in the having of four legs!"

Me:[shrug, peer at beetles in brine, ignore Sleeth.]

Tethezai:"I beg your pardon!"

Rhedwy:[ostentatiously peering at Tethezai]"Ah, I forget that you have two of the ordinary kind of legs, and the two other legs which are the invisible kind of legs. You must forgive me, and quickly!"

Tethezai:"Fool of a Sleeth!"

Rhedwy:"Precisely! This highly follysome reason is why you must forgive me."

Strenata:"What do you mean?"

Tethezai:"My sweetie has twice as many legs as you do, Strenata. Twice as many genders too."

Strenata curled up her tail and flattened her ears. She still hasn't become accustomed to just how brazen me and my friends are. I'm quite sure she'd rather live on a Tree where nobody did more than occasionally ogle another species. (Except, well, what is she doing with Nestrune? She's still riding with him regularly. Hmph.)

In any case, she started an argument of sorts about Enchantment, between Esory and Rhedwy. She kept trying to incite me into it, too: "Well, Sythyry, can a skeropythrope be made from glass and arken wood?" I just looked woefully at her and sat on my wings and mumbled incoherently. She stopped prodding me, after a while.

They looked like they were getting ready for an evening of chattery and enjoying of small amounts of brandy, and I didn't really want either one. I tried to leave a lozen (more than enough for the beetles) and slink off without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, it is not possible to slink away from a Sleeth without anySleeth noticing, not even by slipping under the table and levitating, so I got a long round of goodbying and are-you-OK-ing.

And, instead of getting an apology sort of thing and a come-over-and-visit from Ilottat, I got a very limp apology sort of thing and a stupid-reason-why-I-can't-come-and-visit. He's considering changing his name and he has to do some research. Now. Right now. He can't just, say, write down the name he's considering, and investigate it over the next two days. Or accept the possibility that it might mean "Square Duck Fart Levitate" in Old High Drunken Squeamish Umtangeian, which nobody but linguists has spoken for two thousand years.

No, no. When an Orren wants to do something, he wants to do it now, and even a day or two of delay is simply unacceptable.

Am I allowed to swear off Orren for life if I'm actually in love and involved with one?

[Poll #540290]

Comments

[redbird]

One of my lovers is very fond of pan-fried cheese, and would probably like it with raw crushed garlic and lemon juice. (I'll leave it to zir to comment on this point, if zie wishes.) I haven't asked the others, but we're all pro-garlic.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Pretty much everything you do that involves smelling a lover's breath is inherently gross enough that adding garlic smell to it hardly registers, really... maybe I'm just nose-deaf, though.

[dracosphynx.livejournal.com]

How can pan-fried cheese with raw crushed garlic and lemon juice be too salty? Where did the salt come from?

[mazlynn.livejournal.com]

Since my husband is the cook, and puts garlic in nearly every meal, I don't think he's allowed to complain about the resulting garlic breath.

[(Anonymous)]

It's very salty cheese

[bard was thinking of feta cheese]

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

See, here I thought you ment something like saganaki... now I really can't picture it...Still, tis good...

[goodluckfox.livejournal.com]

Hey, Sythyry!

Unrelated to ANYTHING, but we just got one of our skyboats successfully away. Not our run-of-the-mill skyboats that never fly higher than a few miles over the land, but one of our rare, expensive, and special ones that flies at 20,000 miles an hour as it circles our ball shaped world. It basically goes nowhere, at an extreme rate of speed for about a week, and lands again after performing some tasks. And it only cost the eqivalent of 500 million lozen a year to operate our remaining two vehicles. We, er, lost the other two.

I just had to brag, because things like this are our people's biggest achievement in our search to understand and control the world we live in.

Loxley

(who has always had a thing for flight)

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that pan-fried cheese dealy is anything like a Chupaqueso.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

With the cheese, I think halloumi. And thus I responded, "I am so dearly in love that I permit my lovers to eat it." Because that means, to me, that I am so dearly in love that I'm willing to let my lovers have some of MY MY MY CHEEEEEEEESE!

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I must try making that cheese dish sometime. It sounds divine.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

*grins* Hey, some or all of you should come and visit us! We will serve you garlic, and, perhaps, other foods!
No terrestrial analogs of chub beetles, though. Rhys isn't eating them 'til October.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I, personally, have not found kissing to be that gross, unless Ilottat has been immoderate with this or that strong herb. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[OOC - I was thinking of saganaki, actually. I had forgotten what cheese was used. When I have had it, it was very salty cheese, which I thought was feta.]

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[I do that too! -bb]

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

That's incomprehensible, yet, somehow, impressive.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[OOC - I ought to too! It's based on
this. -bb]

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't have told him how much it costs -- think of the Duke's taxes if we have to ask Vae to pop over and rescue the crew if this one looks like it's going to blow up like the last two!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Er, zir. Her? Them! Them is best.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't think to correct you, since you seem to be having so much more success with it than I am.

But... ewww, slime. }:)

[niss-the-ai.livejournal.com]

Right, a hideously expensive, severely obsolete skyboat whose main mission is to fly up to a similarly expensive, unfinished-but-already-damaged platform in the sky and get inspected for damage. The universe's least efficient repair shop, in other words.

We really need to scrap those things and focus on building something better.

(By the way -- hello, Loxley. -K)