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

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."

"No. I'm really not."

And to prove her point, she leaned across the way and gently rested the back of her hand over his cheeks, stroking them carefully. "You're so red. I can feel how hot your face is from over here, pretty much. You need to learn how to take a compliment, kiddo."

Not that she was any better at taking compliments herself. But that was neither here nor there.

Physical contact, red alert!

Issei squeaked and pushed his chair away from her. "D-d-don't say things like that! It's embarrassing, you know...!"

Why had he thought inviting her over was a good idea?

"How is it embarrassing?" she inquired, leaning back in her chair and watching him curiously. He was an interesting kid, she had to give him that much. But the smirk was still firmly planted on her face. "You're darling, really. One of the cutest boys I've ever met. And my school was huge."

Issei took in a few deep breaths now that the immediate danger had passed. "I don't want to hear people compliment me when I can't agree with them. It makes me feel as though I've - misled them, somehow. I can't see why everyone thinks I'm so cute, so..."

"Well, let's see here..." she trailed, tapping a finger to her chin and thinking. "You're a monk who was wrangled into stealing other people's shit in order to save one of your friends. You're self-aware of your orientation at an age where many people are not. You blush and stammer at most anything I've ever had to say to you. And, even after I physically abused you, you still said I could come stay in your temple for a few days if I needed it. You're a good kid."

Issei raised an eyebrow at her. "Aside from the blushing and stammering thing, I don't even know how most of those are supposed to be considered cute. I won't argue with being a 'good kid', although I think most anyone would have done what I did in order to save a friend."

"It's possible that my idea of cute is different from other people's ideas of cute, now isn't it?" she asked, leaning back and finishing off her tea. She sat still a moment, unsure of where to head the conversation now. "When did you realise you were gay anyway?"

He'd actually been asked this question earlier today, which made it easier to answer. "Technically, I did like one woman once. Briefly. That probably doesn't count enough, though."

Issei shrugged. "I've always interacted more with males than females, even at school. I had a few suspicions in middle school that I wasn't exactly typical in that regard, and confirmed it in high school by falling for my best friend."

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