I2DT: Where is fancy bred? In the heart, or in the head?

[Basil Benson]

Thursday morning was mostly spent in the cafeteria eating a filling, greasy 'full breakfast', and then in class half paying attention, and half working on a side project on his laptop which came to fruition in the afternoon hours.

A dress shirt, slacks, and vest paired with a set of shiny shoes and sunglasses was wandering the halls and stopping briefly to check the name plates of the females that lived in the dorms there.

He found what he was looking for, 119, and knocked, hoping she was in.

[Colette Rosenhof]

From inside of room 119 came the sound of some movement and thumping before the doorknob rattled. The door was pulled open and the pink girl stood before Basil... or at least the pink thing. Wearing a very over-sized grey t-shirt as a sort of night-shirt, her "legs" were a single pink mass reaching down to the floor, her head a, egg-shaped orb atop her neck. Her good was quite translucent, the black spherical mass floating within her head quite visible, the room behind her somewhat discernible. An eye opened where there hadn't been one, blinking once before a mouth that hadn't been there before opened in surprise. "Oh, it's you!"

The speed at which her body took on a more familiar appearance was rather impressive. Her surface grew more opaque as her features took on her usual human appearance, her "skin" looking very much like a fresh piece of bubblegum. The shape under her shirt was more defined, more feminine, her hands changing from featureless mittens to slender digits, and legs from a hatstand to a more appropriate bipedal form.

"Je suis désolée. I had just gotten up from a little nap so I had not yet properly composed myself, as you can see." She gestured down to her current attire. "How may I help you Basil?"

[Basil Benson]

This was another one of those moments where it was really better for all involved that Basil couldn't be seen right now, because the expression on his face was horrified as he watched his new acquaintance form and mold into the person he had met the previous night. He didn't run though, nor did any of his body language give off the appearance of being scared, though his arms had been tightly tucked behind his back when she had opened the door anyways so his muscles tensing up was obscured by them already being tight.

The other reason he hadn't booked it was because how many other pink slime monsters could there possibly be on campus? This had to be her.

"Ah, yes! It is I."

Basil sighed, and this did take on a physical form with a shrug of his shoulders and a tilt to his shirt collar as he rolled his head to the side.

"I came to apologize. I was very rude to you last night."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette tilted her head slightly, the lack of pigtails somewhat apparent.

"Basil, you were tired and a little embarrassed after your upset. Zat is nodzing to apologize for."

[Basil Benson]

"The first time you met me I got so drunk I couldn't set upright." Basil clarified as if she was somehow sugar-coating what had happened.

"That wasn't right of me."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Baseel" She stressed his name with a soft sigh. "I sat down, uninvited, beside a complete stranger. If you wished to become intoxicated zat evening, I had no business in impeding zat.

"At least now I know zat you are only half-Vulcan."

[Basil Benson]

"There you go again knowing more about Star Trek than you should for a usual girl..."

Some of his distaste for Colette's physical appearance was starting to subside as she talked.

"Anyways... I brought you something to say I am sorry. Close your eyes."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Women invented science fiction, silly." Colette shook her head, looking at Basil curiously at the mention of a gift.

"Basil, zis really is not necessary." She said bashfully, closing her eyes more out of modesty and awkwardness than for a chance to get a present.

[Basil Benson]

It took Basil a moment before he said- "And open!"

For a moment when she opened her eyes, she wouldn't see anything. That was because, like his food once it passed his lips, the object he was holding was being obscured by a part of his body which made it, too, invisible. He lifted his hand from what he was hiding, and a small red metallic box materialized before her eyes, like magic.

"Tada!"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette was confounded by the little magic trick, letting out a startled little "oh!" as the box was revealed. She watched with eyes wide and shiny in the florescent lights. "You really enjoy zese slight of hand tricks, non?"

[Basil Benson]

"Well, it's one of the few things I could do with this... condition that isn't violent."

He held it out for her to take from him. Inside were four little chocolates inside, the design a soft swirling pattern that looked similar to a jello mold.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Emphasizing your strengths, you are learning already." Colette gently took the box from Basil and opened it. From how widely she smiled one would think he'd just given the girl some jewelry.

"Aww, zank you Basil! Zis is very sweet of you. Oh, how is it you English say... ze jest was not deliberate?"

[Basil Benson]

"Pun not intended." Basil offered. Now that he'd finished his magic trick though, he found himself with a lack of things to say, so he just started blathering, as one does...

"They're called Madeleines." He explained needlessly. " A shop in Colchester makes them. Minvera's."

He'd apparently remembered her unnecessarily long name.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Awww! You remembered! Zat is so sweet of you Basil. You truly are a gentleman." She stood back from the door slightly.

"Would you care to come in?"

[Basil Benson]

"Uhm... Sure, I suppose... if you didn't want to nap again.

Eh, should I give you a minute to find some trousers?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Oh?" She looked down at herself. "Oh, yes, please wait one moment."

Colette mostly closed the door before putting on a pair of rather comfortable looking pajama pants, then opened the door again.

"Better?"

[Basil Benson]

"Well, I mean... I'm not going to complain if a lady wants to wander around without her trousers, just felt like the gentlemanly thing to do was to warn you, in case you'd forgotten."

In truth, her bare legs was the last thing that bothered Basil about her.

Basil quietly inspected her room, specifically the side she inhabited, to see what kind of information he could glean by what she'd felt was important enough to bring from home.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette's room was pretty typical of most of the dorm rooms, though it appeared she hadn't been assigned a roommate yet from the condition of the bare bed on the other side of the living space. Her side was sparsely decorated, not a single poster on the walls and just a few framed photographs on her otherwise bare dresser, no jewelry box in sight. A dresser that apparently wasn't enough because at the foot of the bed stood a collapsible mobile closet. The underside of her bed was filled with presumably empty luggage, the edge lined with footwear, all plainly visible from the lack of bedding over the mattress. Instead there was a modestly sized rectangular inflatable pool, big enough for Basil to lay inside if he curled up into a fetal position.

"Have a seat Basil. You will have a chocolat wiz me, yes?"

[Basil Benson]

It took Basil a moment to figure out where to sit, being as she didn't have a bed. He decided to plant his bottom on the vacant one, being that it seemed unclaimed currently.

"Alright... Only one though, the others are for you to enjoy." It took Basil a moment to collect his thoughts about Colette's belongings.

"I take it you like clothes quite a bit then?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette sat on her own bed, pushing the pool a bit aside.

"We all have our indulgences. Jewelry does not work well for me, and most technology does not appreciate my touch. But clozing... well, clodz make me happy.

"And zey do get used. Perhaps not every day, but zey do. Much of it is... second hand I believe you say? As it has to be. Can you imagine how much such a wardrobe would cost if it were all new? Who could afford such a dzing?"

She took one of the chocolates and popped it into her mouth, the girl closing her eyes and giving herself a little hug with her elbows, as if she had just come in from a cold winters night and been placed in front of a warm fire.

[Basil Benson]

Basil thought of his mother, who easily had double of all of this, some of which never had the original tags removed.

He said nothing.

"Do you have a style you follow then, or just whatever catches your fancy?"

He smiled a bit at her child-like excitement for candy.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Some are for style, some are out of necessity." Colette kicked her legs slowly. "I usually dress to cover, because my clozes act as a second skin. So long sleeves or gloves. long boots or stockings, et cetera. I do enjoy form-fitting zough, perhaps for obvious reasons."

Colette offered Basil the little metal box. "And you, you prefer to dress formally?"

[Basil Benson]

Basil took just one of them as he had stated he would. The jaunty tilt the candy had as it floated in mid air suggested he was handling it rather delicately.

"Forgive me, but I can't say it's that obvious to me. Before I was sent here a month ago, I'd never really met anyone else with my condition, so I'm not too up on mutant lifestyles. Care to elaborate?"

After he asked her to explain, he split his candy in twain with his invisible incisors a little too delicately, causing the contents to seep out onto his bottom lip. He said something under his breath lightly (most likely a swear) and his weird body posture thereafter suggested he was trying to solve the problem between an unseen tongue and the thumb of his left hand.

"It's.... kind of to cover up the problem. And sometimes the other suit. Before I didn't always dress this formally." He answered the question honestly, since she was being so honest and open by letting him into her 'bedroom' in the first place and talking about her own problem.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette thought of the best way to explain her situation. "Well... dzink about your legs. You wake up every morning and zey are zere. Zey are always ze same size, ze same shape. You do not have to zink about zem at all odzer than when you put on your shoes and socks, zey hold dzeir own shape. Mine do not do zat. I do not have to zink of it constantly, or on purpose. It is like breazing; you do it in ze back of your mind, and do not notice until someone mentions it. But it can still be tiring.

"Having boots like zese - " Colette tapped a pair of knee-high leather boots with flat soles, perfect for wet and stormy weather. "- molds me, and acts like a sort of... armor, like insects have. Or like a cake mold. It is less work for my mind, and so less stressful and tiring dzroughout ze day.

"Zat, and ze air can be so dirty, especially in London. You have been zere of course, you must notice how grimy one feels after a short time. Now imagine how much worse all ze grime and dust would stick if your skin were moist, like you just stepped out of ze shower.It would be like putting flour on a chicken breast."

The girl let out a little twitter of amusement at Basil's trouble with the chocolate, able to interpret his movements well enough.

"So, in a way, we are very similar, no?"

[Basil Benson]

Basil put the last bit of candy in his mouth, licking the tip of his thumb.

"Mmmm- I suppose. You probably look better than I do most days however. You ladies get a lot more fancy clothing options.

With all the Americans on campus, I think most students that see me outside of the library think I am going to a wedding, a funeral, or church on any given day.

The ones who happen to notice me, of course."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Well, people wish to be comfortable. And casual is often comfortable. At least zat makes you stand out, no?"

[Basil Benson]

"I'm not really one who likes to stand out. I prefer to blend in." The statement seemed entirely contradictory to his seeming dislike of his mutation.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Well, welcome to Wonderland monsieur Benson; where standing out helps one blend in, and blending in makes one stand out."

Colette crossed her legs, slowly swinging them forward and back as she sat on the edge of the mattress across from him. She looked down at the box of chocolates with a little smile before carefully closing the lid.
"Zank you again, Basil. You really did not need to do zis. I know zat... it was probably difficult for you, so I wished to make certain that you knew of my appreciation."

[Basil Benson]

Basil remained silent. Great. Welcome to the nuthouse Basil.


"Oh it was nothing." He replied at her praise.

"They deliver." He laughed. "You're still welcome though.

I should let you get on with your day. I suspect you'll have classes or unpacking or other boys to visit. Important things."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Oh, zat is convenient." Colette did not feel the need to explain that the present itself wasn't what she had been eluding to. She lifted her head to give Basil that same smile.

"Of course. Do not let me keep you, Basil. I am certain wiz your studies and your work in ze library zat you have a very busy schedule as well."

[Basil Benson]

Basil shrugged, not just with his shoulders but with his arms too. " Eh. Not really!" He sounded a bit too enthusiastic about that. " It's... a bit like I am an intern I suppose.A fair portion of my studies are 'on the job' as they were, and I don't work full time, there's really not a need for a full time assistant at the moment. In order to keep me on as an assistant, the school wants me to keep up my good grades and get my bachelor's in library sciences. If I don't pass, I'm out. And there's really no promise I am in, as they could find someone better I am sure. Or just burn all the books and replace me with a computer.

But I'm not really any busier than the rest of you."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"People said ze radio meant ze death of ze newspaper, cinema ze death of books, television ze death of radio, and computers ze death of television. Ze book industry is dzriving better today zan ever before, and radio stations can now reach audiences around ze world. Do not be so quick to assume you and your work are so easily replaced, or not of value.

"You will pass. Anyone can pass if they do ze work. You do not seem like a... layabout, is it?"

[Basil Benson]

"When it comes to studies no but in general all I do is be a layabout." He was joking again but it felt like one of those 'kernel of truth' jokes. She must have gotten the word right since he used it back.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Zen you are not a layabout in ze areas zat count. And zat is what matters."

Was she a gummy bear or a fortune cookie damn it woman make up your mind or body or both.

[Basil Benson]

Basil took her attempt at Zen more like 'I am French and therefore must affect a mystique.' It seemed difficult and taxing really, to be so Yoda on purpose at such a young age. But again, he refrained from commenting.

"I suppose you're right." He stated as he stood.

" Have a pleasant rest of the afternoon Madame Rosenhof."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"And to you as well, monsieur Benson." Colette gave the young man a soft pink smile but remained seated as he stood to leave.

After he'd left she looked down at the little metal container and made a little chuff before opening it again. She carefully took one of the chocolates from the tin and popped it into her mouth before closing the box and placing on her nearby dresser. She laid back upon the bare mattress with her legs dangling over the edge in their pajama pants, closing her eyes and savouring the little morsel as it floated within her head.