V5 Incline 41: Test-Taker Larishazza

He burps, Nin burps out across the kitchen, a flash of the person beyond the paranoia coming through. One of his hands goes to his belly, rubbing at it affectionately while the other tries to clean his mouth things. I had tried to help him a moment ago, but he lashed out at me the moment I got near. So I dived away and cleaned a plate instead.

It was an experience, to say little about it, but a reminder. I want him happy, and that means trying to learn what he is fine with and what he isn't. And helping him floss and clean out bits stuck on those teeth of his? A boundary I need to respect. Though I have to admit, I would find it pretty funny to have someone brush my teeth for me, personally!

Still, I have to admit to myself at the very least... I'm bored. I'm trying to keep myself occupied by going through different humming tunes, but it lingers. Oppressive. I sniff the air, its smells mostly lingering stuff from the meals no longer present.

Nin picks up his glass of water and tries to swill the water about. His jaw, though, doesn't take well to how I might clean my mouth. The water just dribbles out the gaps and then spills across his chest. I watch carefully, offering only a wide smile as his growing glare turns to me.

"Yes, Nin?" I ask him, brimming with joy and energy because he enjoyed my cooking so much. Though, to admit another thing to myself... I want to see Nin taste Omb's cooking. It's *so* good!

"Can... Can you... Can you help me clean my teeth, please... Please?" he asks of me, and I purse my lips straight as he looks away with his growing scowl. He's frustrated by the idea of having to rely on another. Like those who are stuck in wheelchairs or crutches because of unfortunate magic problems. Or even simply the problem of age.

But he's suffering none of those problems, his body simply can't handle-

"Certainly!" I chirp, interrupting my own thoughts to focus on my friend's worries. I hold his hand tight, taking him back towards the stairs so we can begin our return journey back upstairs.

"Take that damn blanket off!" my sister loudly barks as we go through the doorway, and I ignore her for the moment. Carefully, precisely, I hop up the stairs. Thudding and banging a specific tune as we ascend the steps and, as I get too far ahead, I linger, bouncing between my pads. And Nin crests the last step!

I let his hand go and dance on, back into his room, and I let the blanket fly off to his bed. I rush back to him, cheeks rose-tinted and caramel-skinned. My grin keeps growing, his eyes wandering off to my naked body. A dancer's only essential tool!

"One mo'!" I go, rushing off into mine and my sister's room. We've not used it all that much seeing as we've been in Thrurstradtur's Ibenoroccon district for the most part... But, finding my clothes is easy!

And, with my door left wide open, Nin follows me on through. His eyes take it in, shifting away from how different our doors are instantly. He looks over all the varying pieces of memorabilia from my homeland. Mine and Tiya's. The Grand-Kingdom of Ibenorocco as its known in its greater whole. A proud land with a proud people that are just as ancient as each other. Not as mountainous as Jherikra at all.

Lots of sand, savannah, river valleys and oases as far as the eye can see. The Orbital-Halo is so inexplicitly harsh, but, also just so right in so many places. Even what mountains we do have, have no snow on them at all! Just the rivers that spew out our continent's god-mountain resident, the Water-Mountain.

Still, I'm curious as to what gets Nin's attention the most, so I cling near him. Close, but not too so. I try to follow his eyes at first, but the fresh breeze coming in snatches my attention. A wave of goosebumps go over me and I dive for my clothes, popping back up in no time at all.

'Dressed in barely anything,' so says Quinshuu so often to me, but never my sister. I think he's just targeting me... Or, he likes me too much to admit to it! Heehee!

But, my northern friend is not a concern now, my lonely friend is. And he's all curious about my homeland's memorabilia. Unlike Quinshuu, who must be so full of himself and how his people dress, I mean, honestly! I come from a land of bright daylight and warm sands with cool ocean breezes and endless openness to dance in! My traditional dancer's attire is more than covering enough. Hmph!

"So... What's this?" Nin asks, snapping me out of my thoughts and straight to a model of my home. It makes me smile warmly, in a way I don't think I've smiled today or for many days gone.

"That's a model of the walker-city me and my sister come from." I tell him, informing him of the specifics as I watch his limited fingers carefully move the legs about. Huffing in amusement, I lean around him, taking it off of him so I can turn it on with my dainty little digits. And I set it down, letting him watch it move in a crude, toy imitative way of how the actual thing moves.

"You come from a walking city?" he quietly asks, tilting his head ahead of me as we watch the toy and its dozens of legs move up and down. All that overlapping movement making such a mesmerising pattern to watch. A pattern caused just as much by the artistry of the model as it is by the limbs simply moving. Squeezing, tensing, stretching, like skin on my legs when I dance. Part of how I like to dance taught me how to treat myself like a mirror, how to sculpt the light to aim where I want it.

I've been taught to help people be lost in my movements as well as the way my body shifts the light and glows... The model teeters off the desk and I catch it, my mind snapping away from my love of dance instantly.

"Why thank you!" I say as I turn it off and put it back where it belongs, "And yes, I do, specifically the Walking-City of Ayiy. What you see there."

"Ayiy? As in, Sl'Ayiysab? Your name comes from the city?" Nin asks, his piecing together of the details making my smile swell even more.

"Only some of it, the rest is to do with the role of my family and the generation it is from. The first bit being that we own the city while the last part has to do with it being rather young in the grand scheme of things. Sl is what our family is, I guess you can call it a governor? A lord? Ayiy is the city. Sab is the duration of time we've had the role... Don't ask me on the specifics there." I explain, recalling what I can with a wavering grin of smuggery to my lips. I might not have my sister's focus here, but I know I'm right!

"How peculiar..." Nin goes, his words awfully inward sounding.

"What is?" I go, unable to read minds.

"Most of the girls I know... Knew... Knew to any degree come from fancy backgrounds..." he mutters with a sullen gaze as he turns to leave, his thoughts distracting him. He tries to leave, but, before I can reach to stop him, he stops of his own accord. His head jarred to the left as he stares at the little shrine me and Tiya have. A modest thing dedicated to the cultural centre of my people.

"Is that a slug...?" he goes, and the blunt simplicity of it makes me giggle in a way that I just don't even knowing this already. In Ibenorocco, it's just, you know, a slug. The slug. But here, across the All-Coast Sea and up to the peaks of Jherikra, it's... A slug, that slug.

"Heehee! It is, indeed! It is, indeed. One that ate a whole mountain to get as big as it has!" I giggle, covering my mouth as I flinch into the joy. It keeps hiking my gut up, and I take his hand, guiding Nin off to one of the dorm's smaller washing rooms.

The building has plenty of them, like everything else. It's all built with a full dorm in mind, but our building is empty of everything and everyone... Leaving lots of room for me to throw parties if I want! Dancing space everywhere and anywhere!

Though, from a purely pragmatic eye, this works a lot for Nin. I know these washrooms are intended for the more private kinds of personality, which he certainly is. Though, it's hardly private when you're nearly the only one on this end of the building! All the better, though!

We're pretty much guaranteed a room even with how big even these basic Oddity House dorms are.

"Alright... Open wide for your favourite dentist, soon-to-be if not! And... Done!" I chirp, squirting water from my finger to clean out his mouth and wash it out over the safety of a sink and nearby towel.

"Thank you..." he mumbles, moving his tongue about his mouth as he seemingly tastes the magic my power left in his spit. With a touch of caution to it, actually. He's been cautious a lot about my magic, but I'm getting things done regardless of his concerns. Though he seems to be easing up to the idea of my magic, even with how little time we've been friends!

Whatever his thoughts, his mouth won't stop moving. He keeps flexing his thingies and tonguing his teeth. His jaw settles down, a few chitter noises escaping him. He lets out what must be his kind of a smack of the lips, and I giggle as I remember his words.

"No problem, I am here to help! Now, anything you want to do here, or do you want to go outside?" I tell and ask, hoping to find out how I can worm my way into his plans for the day. But...

He instantly reacts. Allergic. He backs up, shaking his head. Not a word.

A finger pats away on my chin, and I find a window to look outside through. I mean, I've heard things being spoken, but I've always made a habit of tuning that stuff out. The weather is wonderful today, so I can't be that.

It has to be because of the noise back in his room. He'll have to deal with that noise more outside of the dorm. I... I can work around that, it's fine by me. I know many places on Academy grounds that we can go to that are quiet. And where there's absence of one noise, I can fill in and if there is noise? I'll be louder than all the noises!

"Come on, Nin, what do you say?" I ask, smiling as sweetly as I can, humming a tune and dancing ever so slightly to it.

But he just stands there, quiet and uncomfortable, his eyes doors to wounds that scare me, "I need to get back to my studies..."

And, it just doesn't sound right hearing him speak those words at all.