unknownrival | [RL - Tea with Vanessa after lunch.]

"That's all right," he answered amiably, with a self-deprecating laugh. "I've probably had more social interaction this year than any other year of my life, and I'm still not quite used to it."

He probably should be doing something to make things a little less awkward for her. Ask her about herself? ...No, that was a bad idea, he didn't want to bring up that sort of thing. Hm, he'd have to think about this...

Yes, asking about the life of a sex-slave caught up with the people she was caught up with would have probably been a very bad idea. Smart lad for not going straight into that one and winding up with an explanation of things that were not pleasant and perhaps even revolting to some.

Like the nun. Or the ponygirl trainer. Or...a number of things, really.

"Most men 'enjoy' my company in much...more intimate manners." She quirked the side of her lip up a little, trying to keep on a happy face. "I'm not used to...just sitting with a man or a boy and talking."

Issei blushed at the implications of that that even he could catch. "W-well, there's a first time for everything, right?"

...She didn't get to talk to men as friends? That was really sad, he couldn't imagine not being able to just sit, relax, and talk to someone... Then again, she probably talked to women all the time, and he needn't be concerned.

He'd offer to play Tetris with her, except she probably had bad memories of that. Stupid Eris.

"Of course," she replied, looking around the kitchen. This was so strange. Issei was a man and she was a slave. And she wasn't feeling the urge to jump him in the least. It was like it had been with Ban, with Ichigo. Suddenly she was having platonic relationships she never, ever would have had if it wasn't thanks to this community. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not yet, but she'd been so busy with Excella and Albert and William and well...it was nice to just be able to sit, even if the conversation was sorely lacking in any sort of experience. She wasn't exactly a geisha, trained in the art of holding conversation well and pleasing the client. Kind of hard to speak to the client with a gag in her mouth, isn't it?

"How long have you lived here?" she asked after a few moments, sipping at her tea again. She never thought she could be awkward around a male of the species; guessed wrong.

"My entire life," he answered amiably. "We're Japanese monks, so unlike other sects we're allowed to get married and have children. My father is the head of the temple, and my older brother is the heir once he passes on. Either of us could have chosen to not become monks, and I can't speak for my brother, but this has always been my chosen career."

He sipped his tea again, pausing for a moment of reflection. "I mean, occasionally I've talked about joining the circus, but that's what I say whenever my father is embarrassing me. I've never meant it."

"The circus?" she laughed quietly, holding her cup in both hands and leaning forward, interested in how to keep the conversation flowing and ignore the awkwardness of it all. He wasn't staring at her chest. He wasn't asking her what sort of underwear she was wearing. He wasn't taking her to his room and ordering her around.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to get used to it.

"That's cute. How does he embarrass you?"

"Well, it's kind of like this..." He took in a deep breath, and began to speak in an attempt at a deep, boisterous voice. "A true monk should be able to live on a single slice of bread without complaints! The greatest joy in life is solitude and a tatami mat! I don't have an indoor voice!"

He laughed and shook his head. "My father is a little strange," he added in his regular voice.

"I had a strange father, too." Yes, past tense. They weren't her parents anymore. They were just people who'd shoved her into pretty dresses and mass and ignored otherwise. Oh if they only had known what she was doing behind their backs, what she and the boys in the youth group got up to it, anything and everything...well. She would have been out on her ass two years after hitting puberty. "He was obsessed with being the perfect Catholic family. I never got into it as much as the both of them did. I don't believe a word of it."

Somehow, Issei got the impression that Vanessa didn't mean strange in the 'has many quirks, but I still love him dearly' sense that Issei meant.

"...I see." He might have had the fridge stocked with mostly plain food, but his father would never have tried to control his own family to any great extent. It was difficult for him to know what to say to that.

She swallowed around her collar, which was visible when she moved her neck in certain ways, but she really didn't seem to mind it all that much. He was from the community, he knew, it should make sense to him by now, unless he was completely sheltered and knew nothing about alternative lifestyles...which she wouldn't put past him at this rate.

"What do you believe, exactly? What does your temple teach?"

"How much do you already know about Buddhism?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. "Sometimes I forget that it's much more common inside of Japan than in the Western Hemisphere, so I don't usually need to explain it to people. But you know about reincarnation and trying to reach Nirvana, don't you?"

"Yeah, and sacred cows and stuff like that," she responded, waving her hand dismissively. She coughed into her shoulder...she hadn't been feeling too great lately. Had all the stress with William and Albert and Excella given her body cause to get sick? Hopefully not. No one wanted a congested slave.

"But I really don't know all that much about it, save that people quite often confuse statues of Buddha with Hoti. Buddha has the snails on his, Hoti's the fat jolly guy."

Issei frowned at her. "...That's Hinduism. And India," he commented. It had been a while since someone had mixed up the two, at least in front of him. "I'll commend you for knowing the difference between Buddha and Hotei, though."

He paused and chuckled. Vanessa would probably get a kick out of hearing this. "This isn't very important to the religion, but the Digha Nikaya describes his physical characteristics, and it says that his private organs 'have a pleasant odor'."

Vanessa stared at him. It was a good stare. It lasted quite some time. Half-way through the stare, her jaw dropped slightly. It was a good jaw drop. Just a few inches, mouth ajar, her white teeth showing slightly. She grew so still, yet still tense, which was good because she would have dropped her cup if she'd just gone numb all over.

"...good-smelling genitalia," she said after several moments. She snapped back to, blinking her eyes and sipping at her drink again. "Well, if that don't beat the piss, I don't know what does."

No, she wasn't going to go into the different odours that could come from genitalia. She had to stop thinking about work, otherwise she'd start sexualising him in her eyes and then she'd get all bothered and undo the top two buttons of her shirt and...oy vey. This platonic thing was hard.

There was another long pause on his part, before Issei let out a long sigh. "Evidently, I am not very skilled at making things less awkward for you. I apologize, I was trying to help. Serves me right for attempting anything approaching humor, I know I'm not good at that," he mumbled, looking away from her.

Note to self: just because your guest has sex, a lot, and talks about sex, a lot, does not mean she wants to talk about sex with you. Err, talk with you about sex, that other way meant something else.

"Oh no, it's fine!" she assured him, smiling pleasantly and holding out a hand. "That's really interesting. I think if you said Jesus' junk smelled like something sweet and savoury you'd get kicked out of church. It's fascinating, what I've read, Eastern religions. Not that I know too much...I didn't take any religious courses in college because I was so sick of listening to people blathering on about it at that point in time that I didn't care for one much. I opted to take Philosophy and Ethics instead. Boring as hell, but I made the grade and got my AA before becoming an intern..."

Issei smiled at her, relieved that he hadn't completely killed the conversation dead. "Oh, no, Eastern religions are very anti-blather. I'm just as against pompous religious leaders who talk to hear the sound of their own voice as anyone else is. More so, even. I believe religion should be personal, and I can't understand the way it's sometimes made formal and rigid and impersonal in that way. N-not that I usually focus on this specific aspect of our lore, but it gets the message across that we're not taking everything that seriously."

Vanessa listened, setting her tea down again and putting her elbow up on the table. How manner-less of her. She rested her chin on her knuckles and watched him as he spoke. "You sure know a lot about this," she said after a moment, swallowing around her completely visible collar. "You're a lot different when you're not blushing and stammering every five seconds."

Hearing that surprised him, and it showed on his face. "Well, no one's one-dimensional. And religion is one of my greatest passions. ...So should I take that as a compliment?" he asked.

Well, she seemed to like the blushing and stammering side plenty, so maybe not, but he could hope.

"Yes. It's a compliment," she replied after a moment, the side of her mouth quirking up a little into a half-smile. "You're just too cute, Issei. Really. Hiding yourself in that closet like I wouldn't look there. I'm really not all that scary, you know."

Issei blushed, turning away from her again in a failed attempt to hide it. "At the time, you were very angry with me, and I didn't want to take chances. And I'm not cute."

"Oh yes. Angry barely covers it. So infuriated. I'm not very prone to violence, but that was the breaking point, I'm afraid."

She took another sip of her tea, almost done by now, and smiled quite hugely at his little resistance to her compliment. "Uh, yes. Yes you are. Anyone who says otherwise is blind."

"I'm sorry for that, really. I would have done the same thing had I known you were surrounded by crazy people, but still..." Issei sighed. Apologies were difficult when you wouldn't have changed what you did.

"And I am not! People keep saying that and it isn't true at all, so why do they keep saying it?!"

She leaned forward, not back down from this in the least, looking quite like someone who was going to win an argument, cocky about it, but fully capable of doing just that. She set her tea to the side, smirking. "Because it is true. You're fucking adorable, more so then most any of the other ducks I've met so far."

His face heated up even more at her words. "A-adorable is for small children, or kittens, or things like that," he stammered. "I really do think that you're exaggerating, Vanessa."

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