ic Child Psi-cology

[Brown Dynamite]

Cline Home
Port Regal, Freedom City, New Jersey
7:22 PM Saturday, February 21st, 2015
 
 
During Next-Gen's weekly training sessions, which had increased to bi-weekly since alien robots failed to destroy the planet, Will had expressed to his teammates that his parents needed a babysitter for his sister.  Professor Psion's recent bout of being alive had left the family on high alert.  Though before their teammate could spit out the request in full Thaelia had already gleefully volunteered.
 
It went without saying that there was a moment of relief when Errant volunteered afterwards to help the overly ambitious demigoddess.  The ever optimistic Glamazon was many things.  An experienced hand at watching children was not at the top of the list.  The fact that her mind was an open book was equally a mixed blessing in that she'd be someone not bothered in the slightest about watching over a telepath.  As her telepathic partner in arms could attest.
 
The princess of Atlantis had neither the patience nor the inclination to wait for a taxi, Thaelia had sped alongside traffic from the academy to the private Cline estate.  A blur charging in an out of traffic without even the slightest notice of the below freezing temperature.  Upon arriving she gave the premises an excited visual scan from the outside.  Thaelia's familiarity with the living situation of her friends was mainly limited to the academy dorms.  The Cline house was no dorm room for sure.

 

The powerhouse babysitter would take a rare moment to wait for the other youth before starting a trek to the front door.  Despite his lack of ability to encroach upon the sound barrier, Thaelia had never known Errant to be anything less than punctual.  

[Electra]

Inside the Cline house, the atmosphere was controlled chaos, hardly unusual, though with a more sophisticated edge tonight. Paige was already dressed for the evening, in a garnet Zac Posen halter dress and four-inch heels, an outfit she didn't even like to contemplate the cost of despite picking it up secondhand from an LA friend. With her short hair styled into a chic wave and her makeup expertly applied, she was red carpet ready. Just in case, you know, the photographers and reporters were interested in a couple of minor celebrities and minor superheroes attached to a documentary that was a long shot to win a prize even at the Independent Spirit Awards. She calculated it at about a fifty-fifty shot, depending on who else was attending and whether the more well-known attendees were feeling gregarious. Richard, of course, always made time for the press. 

 

"Holly?" she called up the stairs, "come on downstairs, we're going to be leaving soon. There's casserole leftovers in the fridge, and fruits and carrots in the crisper if you get hungry. Did you finish your homework?" 

 

"Almost," Holly replied as she descended the stairs, choosing inexplicably to bump down on her butt instead of descending like a normal human being. "You look pretty, Mom! Can I try on your shoes?" 

 

"Not right now, maybe later. Did you do the math?" 

 

"Almost. Can I try on your makeup while you're gone?" 

 

"No. Does 'almost' mean "I've started it," or "I've almost thought about starting it but then I didn't?" 

 

Holly tried on her most angelic smile. "I looked at the problems and thought about them in my head!" 

 

"Try thinking about them on the paper, that's how you get credit for it." Paige kissed her on the forehead, leaving a faint lip-print. "Now I want you to be good tonight for the babysitters, okay? These are Will's friends, so we'll hear about any crazy shenanigans." 

 

That got Paige a roll of the eyes. "I'm almost eleven, Mom. I don't even need a babysitter. Gwen's dad lets her stay home alone after school." 

 

"Gwen's dad lets her stay alone for half an hour after school in the daytime, with us across the street and the Jacobis next door keeping an eye on her," Paige retorted. "Gwen's dad does not have to worry about a rogue supervillain trying to steal his daughter the minute his back is turned! Give me a break, kiddo, I'm still getting over the heart attack from last time!" 

 

Holly frowned. "That wasn't my fault." 

 

"It wasn't anybody's fault," Paige soothed. "And once we catch Dr. Psion, I'll feel a lot better about letting you out of my sight. But we have to be careful right now, okay? So be good for the babysitters, and go to bed when they say, and we'll be home when you wake up." 

[Avenger Assembled]

For all that he usually dressed down, Richard Cline knew when it was time to dress up - and when 'dressing up' didn't mean looking like Huey Lewis. If his black hair with just a touch of grey was longer than the usual for a man these days, and if his suit was maybe a little out of fashion, he still looked very good if he did say so himself. Zipping downstairs from the master bathroom (where he'd been carefully putting just the right amount of mousse in his hair), he took one look at Paige and whistled. "You look totally awesome, babe." He kissed her forehead, careful not to smudge her lipstick, and even that got an "Ew!" from his younger child. 

 

"You gimmie some sugar too," he said, pecking Holly on the head. "C'mon, lady of the house for an evening! It'll be awesome. I'm counting on you to give me a full report on these friends of Will's," he joked. "Make sure they're not getting up to any mischief. You know teenagers." Of course, it wasn't that much longer now that Holly herself would be a teenager, a thought that was more and more appalling the more he put it in his mind. It still wasn't too late to drop Holly off at his mother's place...but his ma was not the right kind of babysitter. Not now.

 

"If they're going to get into mischief, maybe I should stay with Nana-" 

 

"No," he said, not quite sure if she'd actually read his mind. "She's on the emergency list, along with your ma, me, Will, his school, and the Freedom League. You're a big girl, kiddo - you can handle some babysitting. Besides," he added, "I bet they'll both have some radical stories about growing up super! Man, you were just a baby when we went to Atlantis." 

[TheAbsurdist]

Errant was on his schedule, still hurting from the running ragged.  Caffeine, meditate, repeat.  Keep pushing.  He did more routes than the others of the Next-Gen, and he was also the least able to get around so readily.  Not that it ever seemed to bother him.  Errant was where he needed to be.  Even as he retreated more and more, growing more stand offish as graduation loomed.

 

He paid the cabbie and slide out, as he pushed the door closed, seeing Thaelia, and he paused, before resuming his walk.  Tonight would be more of a trial.  He volunteered, not to be close to Thaelia, but to distract Holly.  Hopefully.   

 

Pausing a moment, to open a water bottle, and take a drink before he moved up towards the front of the house, and behind Thaelia.  He didn't try to hide his gait, so she'd hear him, right?  It was a bit too late before he realized that might not be the case.  So he grunted, with all the power of his eloquence to let her know that someone was coming up behind her.

[Brown Dynamite]

For the first time in their history of him surprising her by sneaking up near her, Thaelia had heard Errant's arrival. It helped that she was actively waiting for him this time.  She had been paying more attention to him, since Errant's mom mentioned the way he looked at her.  Still not fully grasping what she meant, the knowledge kept her attentive.  But, not so attentive as to be uncomfortable around him that would have required too much overthinking.  

 

Turning around she flashed Errant a smile waving enthusiastically overhead.  As rare as it was to get him to come out and do something as social as this, she thought it a cause for celebration.  "Salutations!  Errant.  Let us conquer the sitting of babes on this night most rigorous."  She didn't expect more than his grunt for the opening.  But, that would do for her.

 

Once satisfied she'd turn back around walking ahead of her antisocial cohort.  Knocking on the door with the same amount of energy as the Atlantean had poured into her greeting.  Her night had not been as rough as her peer.  To the point she actually taken the time to wear her school uniform and intramural varsity jacket for once.  Knowing that walking around in an armored toga style dress stood out a tad in the suburbs.

 

Tell me of the progenitors of William?  Thaelia mentally inquired in the interim waiting for the door to be answered.  Having not seen a single episode of their show, she really didn't know what to expect from the people who raised the fastest flirt on campus.

[TheAbsurdist]

He had enough social.  He was perfectly adjusted.  If you asked him.  No one ever did, however.  Just like no one noticed when he looked, he waited for it, he knew the gaps of perception, he felt her weight shift, read her intentions, and when she wasn't looking, he did.  Brief glimpses here, he didn't need to stare.  He knew he'd remember all the pieces and stitch them together.  He knew she wouldn't know.  That wasn't her world.

 

It was the place he lived.  In that space that they assumed was silence, he lived among the susurrus.  All monochrome gray.  Much like what he was wearing, a black raincoat, with a dark grey hoodie under it, and gray slacks.  Only the skate shoes had anything resembling color on them, with red laces against the more gray.

 

"Mm."  His sound of assent to her assertions.  

 

I like them.  And that was all he needed to say.  It spoke volumes, because it wasn't something he ever really said, ever.  And they are all... somewhat telepathic.  That part he added because he did have a sense of humor.  Pinky swear.

[Electra]

Paige answered the door with a smile, ushering the teens inside. "Elias, Thaelia, so nice to see you. We really appreciate you coming over to look after Holly tonight." The Cline house, like most of the homes in the Nicholson Family Village, was fairly spacious for a home in Port Regal where most of the homes tended towards post-war two-bedroom boxy affairs. When the school had bought up and renovated the neighborhood surrounding its campus, it had ensured that families of all sizes could move in with no difficulty. The Clines had only been in the city a year, but they'd made themselves at home.

 

The front door opened into the living room, where comfortable-looking couches and chairs faced a large flat-screened TV, and several bookshelves were entirely full of DVDs. A set of stairs across from the door led up into the second floor, with the wall along the whole ascent covered with baby and childhood pictures of Will and Holly, family pictures obviously dating back into the nineties, and group shots with what seemed to be various casts and crews, to judge by the lights and equipment. Beyond the stairs, the room opened up into a kitchen and dining area. The whole place was clean, if slightly cluttered around the edges, with the perfume smell and slight humidity of somewhere where people were preparing for an evening out. 

 

"Elias, you remember Holly," Paige introduced, leading them into the kitchen where Holly and Richard were waiting. "Thaelia, I'm not sure whether you two have met before? And this is Richard, Holly and Will's dad." 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey, kids," said Fast-Forward with a paternal smile as he shook their hands. Up close he really did look like an older version of Will - enough that they could have switched outfits and passed for time-travelers. Huh, didn't realize it was a boy and a girl. Well, lucky guy. He was pretty sure that Errant, who Will spoke very highly of, wouldn't be putting the moves on Thaelia right there in front of little Holly. "Nice to meet you, Thaelia." He gave a traditional Atlantean greeting - the one that they told tourists meant "Hello." "Thanks again for doing this - you guys are real life-savers. We left you thirty bucks for pizza, and there are some movies in the DVD player if you guys are interested. The real stuff's downstairs." By which he meant the VCR with the actual video cassettes, like civilized people. "How's my hair?" he asked Paige, turning so she could see the back. 

 

"Hiii, Elias," said Holly, with a shy smile on a pretty face that looked more than a little like her mom's. She gave Thaelia a curious look. "Are you really from Atlantis?" 

[Brown Dynamite]

To her memory it wasn't often Errant spoke highly of someone.  The fact that she considered Errant stating he liked Will's parents speaking highly meant she had set the bar a bit lower when it came to speaking highly when it came to the boy who measured his words far more carefully than she.  A rare bit of cognizance did not stop her from coughing out when the door opened.  Not really expecting the everyone's a bit telepathic part of the statement.  The thought of speaking behind their back could have been viewed as unbecoming.

 

Thaelia returned the Atlantean greeting.  As could be expected with the tourist version of language norms the exchange was a bit formal.  The small bit of difference between saying hello instead of hi or a hand wave instead of a subtle head nod.  An effort she appreciated with Tsunami having graduated she had no one on campus that spoke Atlantean.   "I thank the house of Cline for your warm welcome.  Know that your trust is well placed.  The Daughter of the Seas shall defend the Cline estate from all manner of threats.  Oh..and your daughter shall be well looked after."

 

Thaelia smiled after giving a small glance around the home.  Not due to Richard stating pizza was an option.  Though that bit of knowledge was nice.  But the source of her smiling came from what she could see on the staircase.  The large amount of family pictures in view.  As unpopular as the surface could be viewed by her people, she had learned they at the very least knew how to hold onto their memories.  

 

Shaking her head the Atlantean demigoddess answered Paige's question of whether she had met Holly before.  "I have not met the little one before.  It is with great pleasure that we meet now"  The statuesque girl dropped to one knee so as to speak to Holly.  "It is true.  I am a princess of Atlantis."  Extending her hand as if to offer it out for a handshake.

[Electra]

Holly studied Thaelia with wide eyes (blue like her father's), then took the princess' hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you." Thaelia could feel a slight brush across the surface of her mind, almost like a tickle as their fingers touched. 

 

"Careful," Paige cautioned her daughter with a half-smile. "I know it's easy to slip, but best behavior tonight." Ignoring Holly's pout for the moment, she turned to Richard. "Your hair looks fine. Very distinguished," she teased, then backed quickly out of reach before he could retaliate. "There's a whole list of phone numbers on the kitchen counter, all the emergency numbers, our cell phones, the neighbors, the Freedom League. Our neighbor across the street is with the FBI, he'll be home around midnight and promised to drive past and make sure everything is still quiet." 

 

"Can Gwen come over, mom?" Holly interjected suddenly, reminded again of her best friend. 

 

"No, Gwen's grounded for making an illusion of her history test to fool Mr. Mattis, remember? You'll see her at school Monday." There was renewed pouting, which Paige also ignored. "You guys can help yourselves to the fridge and the pantry if pizza isn't enough, but Holly gets no dessert till after her homework is done. Hmm, let's see.. oh, the wifi password is 'SUPERCRIME,' and if the phone rings you can answer it, but if it starts whooping like an alarm, just let it go. We should be home no later than 4am, and it's totally fine if you sack out on the couches, just make sure the alarm system is armed. Did you have any questions before we head out?" 

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias had a ghost of a smile on his lips when the door opened and Paige Cline was there, with Thaelia coughing and slightly embarrassed by what happened, and she couldn't really admit it.  He got as close to laughing as he ever did.  Even if he knew that Paige wouldn't be reading their minds,   Holly perhaps, but the others had a sense of tact and propriety.

 

Once Thaelia was inside, he followed suit, nodding to Paige and then Richard in turn.  "Hello."  He looked to Holly, and waved to her, in a small gesture, then the parents were feeding instructions to them, which he expected.  "Thank you Mrs. Cline."  He took all the information in readily.  And there was a moment, and he seemed to realize the faux pas he was making as he removed the rain coat, and putting it on a hook near the front door.  "Do we need to take off our shoes, and... how do we arm the alarm?"  He and Will had interacted, they had never actually gone over the security specs of his family's house.

 

Of course the media blind Elias looked at both when they mentioned television and such, and he just nodded.  He had no opinion about either, really.  "Sure we can get pizza."  He'd follow Holly's and Thaelia's lead on food.  He had nothing resembling a sweet tooth, or anything of the sort.  In fact he rarely ate in front of people that he hadn't eaten that random plant in front of Thaelia, she might not know of him doing anything of the sort.  He didn't ask the standard questions, about what time Holly should go to bed, or any of that.  He assumed those were given things he wouldn't have to struggle with the girl over.

 

He looked over to Holly, in fact, in question over what she wanted for food.  Knowing that she was less concerned with things like mental privacy than her mother was, and he had already braced himself over it.  Though he did like the girl.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia's mind was the opposite of a steel trap when it came to mental intrusion.  A cellophane trap? Regardless of the metaphor in question, the Atlantean's surface thoughts were far from hidden.  Which mostly gave Holly a front seat access to the overeager enthusiasm that sat inside her head.  Thaelia was simply a bundle of emotion.  The most complex secret she had to worry about would be the little conversation Errant and her had in the doorway.  Of which some embarrassment lingered.
 
"Your phone whoops?"  Thaelia asked excitedly.  Not exactly the most reassuring sentiment to express for a parent.  Thaelia actually lacked a sweet tooth as well.  So, to her missing desert did not seem like motivation to rush one's homework.  But the instruction would be repeated to show her affirmation while nodding.  "No partaking in confections or pastries most delectable until she completes her coursework." 

There was one question she wanted to ask.  "How does one arm the alarm?"  The Atlantean wasn't technologically illiterate technically.  It was just easy to note that even a few years on the surface hadn't changed the fact that Atlantean technology tended to be of a very different nature than what could be found around them.  Some primitive by comparison, some advance.  Whichever way home security fell on that spectrum it was clear that a keypad alarm system was not the norm.

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward showed the teenagers one of several alarm panels around the house, and gave them the special password. For this, anyway, the older speedster slowed down. "32783679273 - and the red one's the panic button. That rings for us, Nicholson's meta security, and the Freedom League. We've got some FL kids at the school and they take shenanigans in this neighborhood real serious." He looked at Errant. "You can keep your shoes on, just don't scuff up the place. You don't want to have to cleanup without super-speed, ha-ha," he added with a quick little chuckle, zipping over to rejoin his wife. "We ready to go, babe?" he asked, his arm around her waist. 

 

"Bye," said Holly with a little wave to her parents, evidently quite ready to get them out of the house and have her sitters at her mercy - even if it meant her mom and dad were going to be on the other side of the country. But of course her dad had had speed powers since long before she was born. The idea of a cross-country run was something she'd grown up with. "Say hi to Mr. Chu if you see him." 

[Electra]

"And remember, text us if you have any questions, even little ones. Be good Holly, we love you!" Paige put her hand on her husband's shoulder and grinned at him. "Watch out for my hair." With that, they stepped out the  front door and were gone, with nothing more than a blur of color and a quick rush of wind as the door shut behind them. 

 

The remaining trio stood for a moment, quiet, waiting. Then Holly asked, "If you're a princess, don't you have to wear crowns and dresses and stuff like that? Nobody will know who you are if you dress like that." She gestured to Thaelia's outfit. She looked at Errant, blushed a little, and folded her arms across her middle. "I mean, when we meet royalty, they're usually all dressed up." 

[Brown Dynamite]

"I wear dresses."  Thaelia replied as if it was some bold declaration.  "Less so in my domain.  Never without underarmor.  The sea is too...buoyant."  Not that there was a good way to express that swimming around all day meant formal dresswear had to be tight underwater.  Lest there be underwear for all of Atlantis to see.  Suffice to say there was a reason Nereid fought crime in a one piece bathing suit.
 
"Crowns are worn for ceremonies.  They are unsightly and hurt to wear."  Sharing the same problem with living an entirely different environment.  Loose fitting jewelry wasn't exactly easy to walk everywhere with.  At least not at the speeds Glamazon enjoyed moving around at.  "I have a tiara for surface wear.  It is quite catching. Do you remember it from the holiday party?"

The last question was presented towards Elicas.  Her frankness may have been less ideal than what a little girl would like to hear about princesses.  Not that it was on purpose, when Thaelia could she loved to romanticize or dramatize things to the umpteenth degree.  But, something as mundane as her clothing wear, which was usually pretty flashy, didn't seem to register as something a child would think of as interesting.  Unlike tales of monsters slaying or heroic deeds.

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias was back on his heels when the elder Clines left in a rush.  And boy was it a rush.  Every time.  It was always mildly disorientating due to the disruption to the web that Richard would do when moved like that.  Like William would do.  It was like falling for a moment in a dream.  A blink, and Thaelia was addressing him.

 

"I don't forget anything."  Said with a good deal of conviction, but then Elias always seemed to always to be severe and emphatic, when he bothered to say anything at all.  And he moved, slowly sinking to the floor, and folding his legs as he did.  He hated to chairs, preferring to sit on the floor where possible.  He didn't answer the question, at least not directly.  He could, however, pick out every bit of hers attire, and anyone else he had seen that night.  

[Electra]

"If I had a tiara, I would wear it every day," Holly said with great certainty. "It would have sapphires to match my eyes, and diamonds, and be made of platinum, because that's even more valuable than gold. I drew a picture of it for school, and my mom's going to get one of her TV friends to make one like it for me for Halloween." She bounced on her feet, snuck another glance from under her eyelashes at Errant, who was much easier to see all of now that he was on the floor, then looked quickly back to Thaelia. "Do you know how to put on makeup?" 

[Brown Dynamite]

"I might have an orichalcum tiara in the treasury that no one would miss."  Not sure why she was competing with the value of precious metals.  Thaelia did in fact want to toss in that precious Atlantean ore for consideration.  That precious magical Atlantean ore that perhaps someone should not just be offering out all willy nilly.  "Only if your mother's friend cannot finish it in time."  Thaelia looked at Errant as he slinked on the floor.

 

It was always the floor.  Whether he was eating strange plants off the ground.  Or simply resting.  He found his way to the floor far more often than not.  If anyone made understanding the surface world any more difficult it was Errant.  An aspect she would never openly admit to enjoying about his sometimes infuriating always confusing company.

 

"I can put on makeup."  Thaelia assured.  She wasn't quite as good with the stuff as some of her friends.  Due in part to always having other people put makeup on for her.  But, she could do it.  At least she assumed she could.

[TheAbsurdist]

He arched a brow.  And it was the absence of so much that spoke volumes.  He caught the girl's look, and he knew that Holly was likely not giving permission, but he didn't know. "Are you finished with your homework?"  He didn't add his own thoughts about the whole crown thing.  Elias was as anti-pretty as one could be, everything he had was as unadorned as possible.

 

He wasn't here because it was Thaelia, though her being well... her  He was here because William was as close as a friend he got, and he liked the Clines, and all of that.  So he was going to right by them.  But, he still caught that look, before asking about make up, though he didn't draw any connection, beside her maybe trying to avoid homework.

[Electra]

"it's almost done!" Holly claimed, drawing herself up defensively in both body and mind. She'd obviously been getting psychic training, probably from her mother, but her power was such that it couldn't help but leak around her shields sometimes. "And it's really early still! I don't have to go to bed for, like, ever yet." She pouted at him for a second, then turned back to a hopefully more receptive audience. "Maybe you could show me how to put on makeup," she asked hopefully. "We've got tons of it, we could experiment with colors. It'll be fun!" 

[Brown Dynamite]

Well Paige did only say that Holly couldn't have desert until after the homework was done.  She didn't say that Holly couldn't put on makeup.  But, that sounded like Sam logic.  And Sam logic was sometimes considered questionable.  This was potentially one of those times.  Or it was one of the times in which said logic was considered sound.  Thaelia wasn't sure.  But having her put on makeup just sounded fun.

 

Thaelia looked between Elias and Holly a couple of times.  She was going to lean to indulging the whim and saying yes.  But, Errant's questioning probably meant to fight her natural instinct. "If you complete your studies we will experiment with all the pretty colors.  You have the word of an Atlantean princess."

[Electra]

Holly considered that offer for a moment, then nodded once, firmly. "It's a deal. But I'm probably going to need some help," she admitted. "My teacher is trying to get us to divide decimals, which is stupid because if you divide decimals then they're obviously fractions and not decimals anymore, but when I tried to point that out she just said I was wrong and not paying enough attention, but it's hard to pay attention even when I want to because of stupid having-to-shield all the time when everybody is so bored that they're just wandering around in their own brains and making a ton of noise, and I still think I was paying attention and she didn't want to admit that I had a point." Holly glowered at this grave injustice. "But anyway, I don't know how to do it and we're not allowed to use calculators. Which is also stupid." 

[TheAbsurdist]

He unfolded his legs out before him then, and he slowly pushed himself up to his feet.  He moved over to the table then and he looked down at the table, and her homework.  And then he looked to Holly, as he pulled up a chair and he eased down into it.  "We'll start with math, alright?"  And with that he moved a hand to tap at the numbers.  "You aren't wrong, fractions and decimals are both representatives of portions of whole numbers.  Though, in general using the decimal way is going to be easier.  They are going to teach you contradictory stuff, and a lot of times they wont be able to tell you the why you are leaning this."

 

Elias leaned back with a finger press to the words.  "So if the divisor is not a whole number, move the decimal point to the right to make it a whole number and move the decimal point in the dividend the same number of places.  We're just going to ignore them for now, to save us time.  Alright?"  Pausing for some measure of confirmation from Holly she got it.  "Then just divide like normal, in this case we're not going to worry about remainders, we'll keep dividing until it starts to repeat or it ends.  So just long division.  When you're done, put the decimal point directly above the dividend.  Does that help?"

 

Whatever curtness he had with people his own age wasn't there when he talked to Holly.  It was still Elias, but he was different around the girl, gentler at least.  "Here... like this."  And then he wrote out 9.1 divided by 7 for her using what he just explained, giving her the answer of 1.3, and he showed her the work to arrive there.  "It helps to see it.  You know that, you know how thoughts are.  It's like that, the thoughts of the people in your class aren't just their words, it's more right?  There is weight, and context, and memory in there.  It's ideas, and their feelings too.  Numbers are kind of like that.  They have interactions, relationships.  Each equation like this is the context, the explanation for how this... thought behaves right now."

Edited February 28, 2015 by TheAbsurdist

[Electra]

Holly listened raptly to Elias' explanation, though it was unclear how much of it she was actually absorbing. "I just don't see why we have to learn this stuff at all," she finally said. "Every time my mom or dad needs to use math, they just use the calculators on their phones. Everybody uses calculators, except the super-smart kids, and they've got like calculators built into their brains and that's not even fair." She slumped with her elbows on the table, but laboriously worked her way through another one of the problems. "We should listen to music while we do this. I've got tons of music on my iPod!" she suggested with sudden cheer. 

[Brown Dynamite]

"The fact that one is armed with a spear does not guarantee you the opportunity to plunge your blade into your foe's neck, lungs or heart.  The weapon is merely a tool to enact your instructions.  Arithmetic is the instruction, the calculator your spear.  Your lessons will teach you to better wield your weapons in defense of the house Cline.  That is why you are taught arithmetic."  Glamazon answered.  Although her point was supposed to be that a calculator never did anything on its own.  And one actually needed to know what they were doing to put the commands in said calculator.  The argument could be made that the point was at risk of being lost with the way she chose to describe it.

 

She dropped her fist into the top of her palm with enthusiasm afterwards.  "I do enjoy the musical arts."  Thaelia caled out.  Not at all against the attempt at distracting from the task at hand.  Not that she noticed it as more than an honest desire to listen to music.  Giving the young girl more than her fare share inch of trust.