fandomhigh | Sex, Dating, and Self- Confidence [Tuesday]

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sex ed

Sex, Dating, and Self- Confidence [Tuesday]

Today, when the students entered the classroom, they wouldn't find Irene perched on her desk. Nor would they find last week's assortment of art supplies.

No, today the room was filled with racks upon racks of expensive ~~yet fully moddable~~ clothing. Don't ask where Irene had gotten it all; she had connections for such things, even now.

"The semester's rather flown by, hasn't it?" Irene asked, frowning a little from where she was rearranging a rack of cashmere scarves. "Today, we're going to tackle a huge, huge portion of developing some self-confidence, or maintaining it." She grinned at them, spreading her hands out. "Faking it. And the best way to fake it, in my well-traveled opinion, is by looking confident. Clothes that make you feel comfortable will help, yes -- no one here needs to lace themselves into anything restrictive, or anything like that. But today, I want you to peruse the racks here and see if you can't find something that makes you feel stunning."

"Clothes," she added, straightening her skirt, "are just a tool, yes. But someone who walks with their head high in something well-tailored and sexy -- that's someone who looks confident. And looking confident is half the battle. Now, that's going to mean something different for all of us. You've seen how I dress -- " Irene gestured expansively to herself. "This is what works for me. Maybe you'd feel more confident showing a touch more skin in your every day -- that's fine, if it works for you, though it's always a good idea to be aware of what situation you're dressing for. Maybe you'd feel more at ease in something with much less skin showing -- great for you. The idea here is to look presentable in a way that makes you feel ready to take on the world. So browse, try things on," she waved towards the privacy screens she'd set up in the back of the room, "and feel free to ask questions."

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Raven's eyes widened a little, and she clapped softly. "You're a fighter!"

Kaylin blushed a little. "I'm a Hawk. Or almost one anyway. And since we're like the police here we need to be able to protect people."

Yes, she was touched that Raven had applauded.

"Hawk," Raven said. "That's a good name. Do you guys fly, too?"

"Only the Aerians," Kaylin said, her face full of wistfullness. "They have wings."

She sighed. "I wish I had wings. I'd love to fly."

"I can have wings," Raven admitted. "But I'm afraid to try flying."

Kaylin's eyes went huge. "You can have wings?" She said with astonishment. "How Why don't you have them all the time? Would you ever try to fly? Maybe from a low place or - oh! In the Danger Shop where you couldn't get hurt!"

Yes, more questions than poor Raven could handle at once.

And one more comment.

"I'd help!"

Really, Raven should have anticipated this. "I'm a shapeshifter," she said. "I can be any shape I want. But if I try to have armor or something, it's not really made of metal, it's still just me. So I'm not sure if I have wings they'll be real flying wings or not." She tipped her head thoughtfully. "I bet I could glide, though. Like a flying squirrel."

"Ohhhhhhh...." Kaylin looked even more like the little girl she had never been. "Gliding... that's awfully close to flying."

She shifted a little closer, hands clasped in front of her. "Could I touch your wings? I wouldn't pull or tug or anything, but just, wings."

Raven shrugged. "I guess. What kind do you wanna see? Feathery ones? Bat wings?"

"Bat -?" She shook her head. Those weren't real wings. "Feathery. Definitely feathery. Kind of like in pictures of angels."

Raven knew at least one vampire that would beg to differ. "Okay, angel wings." She shrugged, rolling her shoulders, then leaned forward to counter the weight of the bright white feathery wings suddenly coming out of her back. She frowned once at the placement, then shifted them a little higher, fussing with the musculature to slim them down into something less fluffy cheruby and more -- well -- hawklike.

"Like that?" she asked. She'd never tried having wings while still human shaped, before.

Kaylin's face was all wide-eyed awe. "Ohhhhh, those are beautiful."

She reached out a finger to touch, then pulled her hands back and clasped them in front of her. "They're perfect. Can I... can I touch? I'll be gentle, I swear."

"Go ahead," Raven said. She was curious to see what it'd feel like, too. She slowly stretched one of the wings out towards Kaylin, not wanting to knock it into anything. "You can tell me if I got the texture right."

Kaylin gently touched the edge of Raven's wings. "So soft..." she smiled up at her shyly. "They feel right to me."

Her fingers traced over the wings, carefully avoiding the flight feathers. "Clint says I shouldn't touch those," she explained. "They're the flight ones, he says."

Raven craned her neck a little to look. "So if I don't get those right, then flying won't work?"

Kaylin chewed on the inside of her cheek a little as she considered. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "Maybe? I guess if they're flight feathers, you'd need them right for flight."

She looked them over critically. "They look pretty much just like Clint's and the Hawklord's though, so I think they're okay."

"There's just so many little details," Raven said. "Don't birds have hollow bones to make them lighter? When I turn into other people or land animals, the stuff on the inside doesn't matter quite as much."

Kaylin? Soooo not the one to ask about that sort of thing.

"Um... do they? I... maybe?"

She'd have to ask Clint when she went back to Elantra.

"I guess I never thought about that. It's kind of... book stuff, right?"

Her face showed the hint of panic at potentially being expected to know book stuff.

"Exactly! I don't know all that stuff!" Raven was not the book-stuff person of her family. What she knew, she picked up from random conversations with her brother. "What if I tried to fly and I didn't get all of it right and then I fell and broke all my bones?"

"I don't want you to do that!" Kaylin said, face looking horrified. "I would never want you to get hurt. Especially not just to humor me!"

Though she could and would heal Raven if anything bad happened, no matter what it took out of her.

"Clint would know. Maybe... you could come back to Elantra with me sometimes and we could ask him?"

"That could work," Raven said. "I like getting to see other people's worlds."

"It's... pretty different from here," Kaylin said. "But I don't mind bringing you. And I'm always glad for an excuse to go home."

Teela and Tain would tease her mercilessly, no doubt, about her bringing home one of her 'little friends', but she could handle them.

Advantage of being a shapeshifter: Raven could be a very large friend, if need be. "Are you going to go home over the holidays?"

Large really didn't matter much when you were facing a Barrani. Not pissing them off did. Or running really fast. Things like that.

But it's okay. Teela and Tain were friends. Friends who liked to tease her about her mascot status, but true friends nonetheless.

She nodded. "We don't celebrate anything like this, but I go home whenever I can. To train with the Hawks and work with the Midwives' Guild and at the Foundling Hall. Are you going home?"

Raven nodded. "Can't miss Christmas with my brother. He'd have no one to hide in the corner and make fun of all his mom's holiday party guests with."

Sex, Dating, and Self- Confidence [Tuesday]

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