fandomhigh | Library, 1/09

"Hi, Parker. Not exactly afraid, but he is an orangutan. And he doesn't talk. If you just process that and stay calm, he's probably okay? I'm not sure."

Angela rubs her forehead. "I brought Lyta Alexander here as part of the big sister thing and we ran into him. I think he kind of broke her brain, if it wasn't already fractured."

"Ah. Beautiful." Parker grimaced. "Okay. Must research orangutans."

"Yeah, I'm surprised the new kids are handling stuff as well as the are. Although, since a lot of them are *part* of the weirdness," she said, thinking of Blair, "I shouldn't be. Lyta, hunh? I'll have to meet her at some point."

"Lyta. She seems nice. Very together, for a freshman. And she was all happy to see the books -- said she came form a place without many of them."

She studies Parker's face for a minute. "So, um ... did you get my message last night?"

"That's cool, at least." Someone besides the aides should be happy about the books.

Parker lets her head hit the counter. "Yes. I'm afraid to ask what Motor Mouth Morgandorffer is saying, actually. For the record? Not true."

"I didn't seriously think it was," Angela says, not exactly telling the truth. "She said your boss's ex, and I didn't think Ms. Cregg was your type. But I also told her not to run around telling people, because the phones were so screwed up Firday that who knows what she heard. Hopefully she, like, listened."

"At least the Tentacle is gone."

"Thank every god in every universe for that," Parker said fervently. "And I don't even think Dr. Pierson has broken up with C.J. Or... uh, anyone else. The whole thing is so confusing on multiple levels-- I'm not seeing *anyone* other than Jack, how the hell did they get from Point A to Point OMG? Gahhh. I'm going to hunt down Morgandorffer and threaten her with press-on nails if she didn't keep her mouth shut."

"Which Jack? I didn't know you were dating anyone, period," Angela says, because sometimers she's just that oblivious.

"Harkness. And 'dating' is probably an exaggeration, since we're not exclusive." Parker grinned. "Okay, there's an image I can't manage: Jack Harkness sticking to one person. We went to New Year's at Caritas, and we're having fun. Otherwise, I'm working towards my goal of kissing every guy who is not dating my friends by the end of the year."

"Oh, weird," Angela says. Then, realizing how this sounds: "I mean, not you seeing him. But Isabel Evans was telling me she got a bizarre message about his parents' sex lives. I wonder if it was the same message and you somehow got mixed up in it." She shakes her head, clearly ready to stop thinking about old people having sex, because ew.

"How's your progress on that goal? I've still only kissed Marty ~~dammit~~."

Parker did a full-body shudder. "Oh god, I hope not. Eugggh! I left a mesage for Jack that was mostly a joke, mentioning handcuffs, and... I seriously hope it didn't end up somewhere else like Marty's to you did." Parker's lips twitched. "Tell Muskrat Boy that he's really got get over the rodent thing."

Parker grinned. "So far: Alex Krycek, Jake Gavin, Jack Harkness, Archie Kennedy. I'd count Cam Mitchell except it was a trick and without tongue, and kissing Lee on the cheek doesn't rate either. Still. Many guys left. Although the itsy freshman are probably too terrified of me."

Angela rolls her eyes. "Crichton called me Ferretina. There are some things that should just not be public."

"And that's about half the decent guys, which is sort of sad.I mean, unless you're into pervs like Han Solo. And Anakin has that whole celibacy thing going on."

"Uh-hunh," Parker says, cocking an eyebrow. "So he wouldn't kiss me. And yeah, most of the rest of the guys are taken. Although I'm hoping," she says, looking way too cheerful, "That a few of the girls we know wouldn't mind volunteering their guys for experimental kissage in the name of science. Kawalsky, say, or Cam Mitchell for real. Or Lee. Heh."

"I wouldn't mind experimenting with Lee," Angela volunteers. "Or even Cam, if he shut up about the second floor."

She gives Parker a speculative look, wondering how much Rory has told her. "I thought Anakin wasn't supposed to kiss anyone."

"I don't know why he's on about the second floor. ~~Though we are the coolest.~~ Can's weird, sometimes." Parker blinked at Angela, then smiled slowly, giving her the same speculative look back. "So I hear. Not that I care, of course, but someone might...?"

Angela attempts to hide a grin -- she knew that if Rory has told anyone else, Parker was a good guess. "I know Rory wouldn't be interested -- they're just friends. It's completely bizarre how people are so convinced more is going on. People at this school need lives."

She's not being sarcastic. Nope, not at all.

"God, yes. How can they think that? Skywalker's not even allowed to date." Parker grinned. It figured that Rory would tell Angela too. Well, at least not-lie; Rory couched every reference to herself and Anakin in hypotheticals. "They are just friends."

The smirk doesn't look sardonic. Not really. Really!

Angela nods vigorously. "Exactly! And even if they might in theory like each other as more than friends, it would just be too bad, because of Anakin's whole Jedi thing. (Which I think is kind of creepy, but whatever, it's his culture.) So it's good that they totally and completely don't. At all. And they wouldn't, like, have kissed, or anything."

Parker stifled an un-Parker-like giggle. "Of course not! And even if, hypothetically, Rory had lost a bet to me about kissing said friend, it would *totally* not count as anything more than friendship, because attachments and Jedis don't mix. (No matter how crazy-diastrous that sounds to me, because priests as policemen? Way uptight.) So I think everyone should just pay attention to their own dating lives, and stop trying to hook up Rory with her friend. Sheesh."

It's very hard to talk when you're trying not to laugh. Angela takes a second to compose herself before talking again.

"See, it's a good thing Rory would never make a bet like that, because she would have no reason to," Angela says, then breaks off and suddenly frowns. "If I asked you kind of a serious question in code, do you think you would know what I was getting at?"

Parker blinked, and sobered a little. "Probably. Take a shot at it, anyway, let's see."

Angela nods and lowers her voice, waiting until the crowd around the library desk has dispersed. "Let's say someone had kind of a problem with trusting people who maybe weren't ... trustworthy. And let's say that person was getting close to someone who had done something kind of disturbing, even though he -- or she -- promised never to do it again. Do you think the first person is going to be safe, or should someone stage an intervention or something? Because people really don't want to see the first person get hurt, again." She speaks earnestly, voice low and steady.

"Riiight..."

Parker listens to Angela's entire cautious, carefully-worded speech, and sighs. "How disturbing? As in, possibly, hypothetically, using a power that usually floats glitter to do something else?" She sighed. "On the intervention, I'd say no, for now. Mostly because possibly, the first person is really, really stubborn underneath the Alice-in-Wonderland exterior. But if I knew what you were talking about, I'd be as theoretically worried as you are."

Angela nods, sure Parker had followed her. "As in, theoretically using that power to change the way someone felt about something. Which is disgusting -- if anyone did that, it would be like drugging someone."

She smiles bitterly. "I would be more okay with writing it off as a cultural thing if Alice hadn't spent a week in the clinic the last time she decided to befriend the differently-moraled. Not that this guy is anything like the first one, but ... hell, I have no clue what to think," Angela groans.

"I guess we watch and wait, and call her mom if we think anything's happened," she finishes tenatively. "Alice listens to her, sometimes."

"That would be an excellent example. And while I might have instigated something like that myself at the beginning of the year, my one encounter with it personally put me off it for life. Eugggh."

Parker sighed. "I know it a cultural thing, partly, but... From something Alice mentioned, our hypothetical person doesn't have a coach or tutor nearby to keep an eye on him. So how can we be sure he knows what he's doing? I like him too. But honestly, this possibly-happening-thing is just a little too freaky for me."

"That's probably a good idea. Her mom's pretty solid, too. My only other thought? Was research into the culture of the person we're not talking about." Parker grimaced. "I'm thinking of signing up for an independent study on the Paranormal, just to have an excuse to ask for a Special Collections pass for the subject." She sighed. "God, I'm glad someone else has no idea what I'm talking about."

"I'm taking Sociology of the Paranormal," Angela asks, clearly in agreement with everything Parker has said. "I could ask Dr. Grissom for a pass."

She makes a face. "Someday, I'm going to spend a month without going into that place. And it will be the best month ever."

"As for the rest of it ... yeah, it's freaky. And the cultural thing almost makes it worse, y'know? It's not as simple as "this is wrong, don't do it" to him, and he is a cool guy most of the time."

Library, 1/09

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