@ Shewolf13: Aurum's got her own goals, so read on!
@ Ombradellarosa: It could happen. On the moon.
The college stuff may last for a few more parts -- if you guys get tired of it, let me know and I'll try to compress.
Part 3: Aesthetics and Art CriticismWe have some slightly different records here for this section – While I have a variety of sources, I’d like to stick to just the one for now. Which means there’s some general book-keeping to keep up with.
Ferrus got a job as an architect, which was interrupted by graduation. Due to the, well, blatant lack of actual school days, neither made Valedictorian. Ferrus was worried that his mother would be angry, but she simply shrugged and said,
”I believe, my son, that your talents lie elsewhere. Unfortunate, but… It is no use arguing with talent.”
If that sounds disappointed…Well, perhaps it was. We all have hopes for our children. Still, she seemed as proud as anyone when he was voted “Most Artistic.” You can’t argue with talent.
Diane’s award was “Most Likely to get Married,” and she had a hard time deciding whether to laugh or launch a formal protest against assuming that, as a girl interested in romance, she had to get married, like other options were not available. Well. From a letter from Ferrus to his brotherDear Stan,
College is interesting, to say the least. The move went alright, and we all showed up with no problems at all! I know you’re not really interested in going, but that may be exactly why I’m telling you everything I can.
We decided to rent a house, so it’d give us lots of room for alteration and space for our own activities. Diane wants me to add that ‘activities’ means ‘parties.’ I’d like to add that ‘activities’ apparently also means ‘reading letters over my shoulders.’ Oh, well. It’s not like I really mind.
Mom started settling in by making some…Uh, pretty drastic changes. There’s a loft over the garage for a workspace, and an alchemy bench in her room, and…Well…
A pool. …She knows we’re just renting this place, right?
There was a big event to mark the start of the semester. The air is so warm and summery, like a thick syrup of sunlight draped around us. The climate’s so different here, just the quality of light – It’s really stunning. Oh, but I guess you don’t want me to talk about the weather, right?
Well, Diane’s a natural hit with the college crowd – but you’d guess that just by looking at her, right? Still, she’s as excited to meet people as they are to meet her; she was restless, living without any other people besides me her age, in a small town like ours…
You can just tell what’s on her mind. The guy in the photo’s Nicholas, and they seemed to hit it off. His response to the blown kiss was something like
”Gosh,” Which is about what I would have said.
Me?
Nothing’s really changed with me. I talk too long about stuff no one cares about, I fumble with my words, I apologize and apologize until they’re mad at me for being sorry. I’m not going to give up, though. Even a twisted-up person like me has hope, right?
Speaking of which…
I have no idea what’s on Mom’s mind, but she’s taking the opportunity to
“conduct studies on the status of the local morphogenetic field in applied amphibian cases.” Maybe she’s just bored at a big meet-and-greet.
Diane and I have a date to explore the town…Looking out at a different set of stars, a warm fire at out back… There’s something pristine and dreamlike about it. The landscape has a rustic, enclosed feeling to it – it’s so green and warm at the same time, the greens sort of somehow rusty and deep. I want to get into trying to capture some of the rock forms in the more mountainous bits of landscape, the surrendering of stone to the sea.
But I’ll have time for that in art classes. For the meanwhile of what I’m doing…I’m trying out different things. I want to find myself, to pull some piece out of me, um, well, out of myself. To be a person who’s good at a lot of things, like a renaissance artist. I just admire that sort of drive to express, to understand, to see creation in the limitless facets of the – oh, wait. You probably want specifics. Sorry. Nevermind.
A violin had been left at the house by a previous renter – I’d never really played music, but I always loved the sound of something so elegant and versatile as a violin, and anyway, I know a bit about it from living in a house with three musicians.
It was something to pass away the time and relax me a bit. Anything to drive away the nerves preceding the first day of classes.
Diane went out instead of sticking around here. She met a guy, name of Mugsy. They hit it off well.
Completely compatible. They flirted for a while – I don’t exactly know how long. I didn’t ask. She was just having fun, and he was a very fun guy to have fun with. It was all exactly as she liked it.
And when she was bored with flirting with him, she went to protesting and ranting about the government, like nothing ever happened. Like he’d not existed, onto the next little compartment of life.
I don’t mind – I really don’t. I know you, and basically, everyone, wants me to be less passive about this sort of thing … But I don’t mind. She is who she is, and I want her to be happy. It’s just…Sometimes…
I don’t know what I’m trying to say.
Anyway, classes!
Oh my goodness, the first day of classes. The throngs of people, all pushing for a door, desperate and at the same time indifferent. I felt like I was trapped in a tornado of glances, everyone. I stood at the back of the crowd at the door and waited, trying desperately not to call any attention to myself. I know, I know – I call attention to myself by existing, but as long as no one says anything, I will be OK.
The class itself, though I arrived late, was really nice. I could actually respond to what the music teacher was saying, and I mentioned my background – specifically, Aunt Darleen – and she seemed impressed. Even if the people are a bit much for me, the learning is really nice.
Diane’s first class (we have different classes most of the time) went unremarkably, and Mom really loved being an institute of learning. I mean, she didn’t say as much, but it’s clearly what she felt, and clearly how she would have worded it.
He’s not wrong. Kind of makes my job superfluous. Not that I’d ever stop, oh readers and shadowy patrons. I know I’d never get away with that.I stay home after that, sitting with Amethyst and making drawings of the leaves. Amethyst is really a sweet little thing – I’m sorry I didn’t get more photos with her.
And Diane…Well, she’s too busy to stay home.
Diane, as Ferrus does not say, went on a date with Nicholas, the guy she had met at the meet-n-greet.
To be honest, she is as nervous as she is excited. She likes Nicholas – likes the softness of his hair, likes touching him, likes the red of his face when she blows him a kiss. And at the end of the day, she’s never dated anyone but Ferrus. This was, somewhat, fresh territory. Seeing what she wanted from the world was new.
”Hey, I think I see stars in your eyes. Whole constellations,” She’d say. ”Really? I don’t see --“ She pulls him close before he can finish responding. 
”…Oh. It’s Capricorn…” Nerds. You had to love them.
Mom’s doing well with her studies, and I think she’s enjoying having all the resources a school can offer, and all the time in the world. She sends her love, of course.
This was translated somewhat – Aurum, according to her own notes, said she sent her regards and inquiries as to the health of her younger son, including his current pulse rate and temperature. But it was the sentiment that counted.She spends hours just running equations…
And testing the animations of her terrible, creepy skeleton-thing. Ugh! Don’t remind me of that horrifying maid!
Diane spent the morning of our first big seminar lesson organizing a protest on a cause she’d heard about from her new friends and “friends.”
”We must not allow the yetis to be called ‘a yeti menace’ just because they menace towns! Yetis are monstrous, ravaging people too! Come to protest this unfair treatment of yetis!”Our lecture itself was…cancelled. Or something. No one could get in the doors, so we called the whole thing off. I talked Diane into breaking from organizing her protest to study with me for a bit.
In exchange, when the protest started, I helped. I carried signs explaining that Yetis are not clowns – clowns are the real clowns (As slogan ideas go, I am dubious)
…Away from the crowd. Well, not “away,” more “from a comfortable distance.”
To be honest, I kind of thought the whole thing was a joke. Neither the university town nor our own Lucky Palms has a yeti population to speak of. Nothing we say can effect real yetis, however serious their plight.
But listening to her speeches, the fire in her voice, speaking passionately about something far away and detached, the vision so strong in her mind’s eye that we, riding her words, are taken to it. Her heart’s in each syllable, and I can’t imagine everyone doesn’t admire that heart, which cares so deeply about so many, sometimes so frustratingly many, things.
I know I do.
It was a big success, and I was proud to be a part of it. I was proud to be useful.
Will write more – got a date tonight.
Love,
Ferrus
