Part 15: Veiled LadyFrom the diary of Diane DreamerDear Diary,
Everyone’s busy trying to get Stan ready to be a person. That’s not what they’d put it, but it’s true: they’re teaching him how to do people stuff. We can’t help, though. It’s totally unfair! I know a lot of naughty words I bet he’d love to know! Like…Like fart! And Vivisection (which is a word Aunt Aurum likes to use, but it makes my mom go green. Which means it’s a totally a naughty word!)
Instead, Aunt Aurum wants to teach him about flowers. But flowers are basically just the bits plants use to woo-hoo, so maybe she’s not totally dull after all… Even if she does make it all sound like the dullest science book. Or…Or…
”It is from this we see the unfolding multiplicity of potential, the lines traced by the dance of bees in the air, connecting flower to flower with nothing more than the current of wind.”
“Wuv?”
“…Perhaps. Watch your enunciation.”That.
It’s around this time that Aurum’s studies, having taken on a somewhat metaphysical turn, influence her speech and notes, in the somewhat oblique, metaphorical fashion of the old-fashioned alchemist. It’s an unusual contrast to her normal voice, but I believe her florid metaphors to be as analyzed and carefully encoded as her normal speech.
Perhaps she was afraid of someone understanding who shouldn’t, or simply found the limit of words.
He is a little doll, though.
Hey, hey, did you see that? I saw it! And Ferrus did, too. It’s a monster! I bet it’s lonely and misunderstood because it’s got big ol’ fangs that Ferrus thinks could rip out his spleen.
Ferrus is just scared off by it. He should have talked to it! I bet you could make it scare all sorts of people, and not just you!
He spends the night in his mom and dad’s bed. He needs to get stronger…But, you know?
I saw his mom come in and tuck the covers in all soft and night, like she was someone…I dunno. Normal? Like, you think Aunt Aurum’s really cold inside. Ferrus kind of does. But I think that’s just how she looks when you’re awake. Like a fridge light that always turns on when you open the door, so in your head, the fridge is lit inside.
And then she goes and does crazy stuff and chants and talks to jewels about souls and writes it all down very quickly, like…
Ah, you were expecting her notes when this segment started, weren’t you? Well, this is my reason. You can look all you want, but you’ll never find her findings on the philosopher stone…I will be a wicked genie to the wicked, and an honest one to the honest.
Aunt Aurum turns things to gold on the lawn. Who even does that?
….As it turns out though, it was so Mom could get her new lifetime wish. I didn’t guess that, though; Ferrus guessed it for me. Mom got her wish just after we sold all the sculptures. It wouldn’t surprise me, that he can see it, the little light flicking on and off.
When I asked him about that, he said:
”It’s not like that at all. She doesn’t pretend, or change… Um… It’s like a shape. Sometimes it’s rounded and sometimes it’s angled…She’s sharp and soft and twisted around…But she never changes.”He’s real perceptive…
But he didn’t catch onto that! Ha-ha!
The entry cuts off here, and starts up later in the day.Dear Diary,
School? School went…Better, I guess? Ferrus didn’t get laughed at to his face…But he didn’t really talk to anyone, either. He just sort of hid in the back. I think some of the other kids were whispering about him, though. I think he noticed.
But when I asked him about it, he just smiled this thin little smile, and said it was OK.
I don’t think it was OK at all.
They taught the rugrat to walk, too, so everything’s done with him.
Even if Ferrus doesn’t do well with the other kids, he gets along great with his dad. I’ve got to be careful, or he’s bound to snitch! I’m lucky he never told anyone about my shower-prank.
My parents? I cause trouble, but they don’t mind nearly enough! I want to see my dad get really mad someday, but he just pats me on the head and says he’s proud of my strong will. Daaaad! I don’t want to be supported by the maaaaaan!
They’re all over each other, especially with their anniversary coming up. It’s...Really sweet. I want to be loved like that one day. I want to share love like that…
But I’m not sure I’d want to be married, like, always. That’s boring. I mean, that’s just letting the system tie you down!
I heard Aunt Aurum talking to the cat about all sorts of things.
”I don’t think my current resources are sufficient, Quicksilver; if I took the samples – some of his hair, I think, and some skin… What would I do with them? I don’t often analyze materials for conventional findings…
But nonconventional ones would be thrown off by the magic, certainly. That which looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it would say, must be a duck or duck-substitute, and may allow itself to be crafted to duck a l’orange.
However…The magic that fuels Ferrus is definitely the same as the magic that allows my existence. Is that evidence enough, the effect on the world that tells me of the motion of particles, the bending of light by which to find alien worlds?
…No, of course not. I’ll start by pulverizing some plant samples for analysis. Empirical data – that’s the ticket! I will send for new equipment! Nothing will keep me from knowing.”…It was so creepy. What was she saying about taking bits of Ferrus?
What sort of dark, demented thoughts are in that lady’s head? It’d be pretty rad to find out. I bet she knows all sorts of neat science-pranks!
Well, I told Ferrus, right? So he wanted to ask his dad.
”Mom’s…Alchemy thing…She’s not…doing anything dangerous with it, is she?”
“…Dangerous to who, Ferrus? I don’t think she’d…Well…She wouldn’t do something permanently dangerous, anyway. She may get…a little carried away. Don’t worry.”His dad is sometimes not all that comforting. Ferrus looked worried, since that’s what he thought, too.
Oh, yeah. We have baby chickens now! I bet Aunt Aurum wants to do science to them. Like, electrodes and stuff!
I’m against animal testing. I bet Ferrus would agree with me – he likes the chicks a lot.
”They’re just…very small and fragile. And they live their life in this pen, because the world’s a big and scary place… But… They can learn to fly. They can be strong birds, too. I’d like to see them fly. I want them to go free and fly to far-off places…”“Absolutely! When they get big, we should set them free!”
Yeah! I won’t let anyone cage them!
Since it’s a day off tomorrow, and my childhood’s running down the drain as I write, I’m throwing an amazing slumber party!
It’s got older kids from our school,
And pizza!
We’re gonna have so much fun!
I’m going to finally get to use the dance floor I disguised as a carpet in my room!
There’s another reason I’m throwing it, too. Ferrus has got to make some friends!
He’s so quiet, though…So I’ve got to break some ice for him, and let people get to know him! Once they do, they’re bound to like him!
He just gave me this bug-eyed look when I told him.
“…How many guests did you invite?”
“I dunno, all the guys from school?”
“…”
“…Did you swallow a bug or something? Your face went all funny.”
“I-it’s nothing. It’s nothing. I am OK… I’ll…Just try out what my dad said.”
”I was thinking about Raffaelo Monti… He made these marble statues where the marble looked like soft, transparent cloth. The marble lost…something about marble in it. But in doing that, in not being like marble anymore, it was the most amazing thing that needed the marble to happen. Isn’t that… Marble-ous?”
“…What? Who cares about dumb sculptures done by dead guys?”It was time for a tactical retreat.
”N-nothing, nothing…I’m sorry… Oh, look at the time…I left my…room! In the oven. I’m going there to check on it now bye.”Otherwise known as ‘fleeing to an introvert’s safe place.’He left after that, since he said the party was boring.
Well, I’m glad he left. Ferrus has great ideas, even if he is a natural snitch.
…Ferrus went and slept in his room. In a sleeping bag even.
”Because that’s what you do at a slumber party, right? I don’t want to be doing it wrong…”UGHHH! Why does he say something like that, with that dopey, nervous little smile… It’s not like talking to people is hard. It’s easy. It’s fun. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, and that’s what makes it fun.
There was something else about the party, too…
Maniacal cackling filling the night. I guess Aunt Aurum got her equipment.
We had a good time at the party, and everyone went home in the morning!
And then the next day was our birthday!
We had cakes outside!
I guess my thinking about my parents is something I want to follow up on – I guess that makes me a hopeless romantic. But my rebellious ways make me think…What’s wrong with a little free love? I’m maybe gonna be more aggressive about it than the patriarchy wants a girl to be, but I guess you could call me a flirt.
And Ferrus? A guy as nerdy as him couldn’t help but end up shy, for all my best efforts… But I guess he’s taking his interest in his dad’s Sculpting to new places, and I think he could have some Savvy with it.
As previously, their new wardrobes will be given their own section.
