Apr 19 19:58:14 <Knave>	In the common room, Austin lies on the couch. The position does not look comfortable. Every thirty seconds or so, he squirms into what can only be a less comfortable position, letting out an incoherent groan.
Apr 19 20:03:00 <Antichthon>	And a fellow student in distress would have drawn Athene like a moth to a flame, even if she hadn't been looking for Austin. It was almost like she could //smell// unhappiness. Because she could. Austin was making some very miserable smells, and Athene had tasted them from her room. She entered the common room, sympathy in her expression. "Hey, Austin. Anything I can do for you?"
Apr 19 20:04:26 <Knave>	"Uwuuuurgh." Austin answered pathetically, rolling over onto his back and casting a miserable look at Athene. Incidentally, one of his legs is straight vertical and hooked over the back of the couch. Don't worry about it.
Apr 19 20:05:45 <Antichthon>	"Can I get you something to eat, or drink? Maybe a blanket?" Austin didn't smell sick, but he was sure acting like it.
Apr 19 20:07:45 <Knave>	"No..." Austin pouts. He gesticulates with one arm off the couch, "I don't deserve it anyway..."
Apr 19 20:08:18 <Antichthon>	Athene approached, as close as she could get without invading Austin's personal space. "Want to talk about it?"
Apr 19 20:09:23 <Knave>	"I guess so..." He heaved himself up into a sitting position, "If you don't mind, that is."
Apr 19 20:10:12 <Antichthon>	They weren't close enough for Athene to feel comfortable putting a hand on his shoulder, but she did give him an encouraging little smile and a nod.
Apr 19 20:11:36 <Knave>	"I messed up, Athene." He slumps back down to lie his head on the opposite end of the couch, "I think I really upset Yuki."
Apr 19 20:13:43 <Antichthon>	"Oh," Athene said. "Well, um. Things always look a lot worse than they really are, at first. And Yuki's really forgiving. She forgave me."
Apr 19 20:14:32 <Knave>	"What did you do to her?" He asks lightly, apparently out of curiosity. He's got his hand resting on his forehead, the dramatic bastard.
Apr 19 20:15:09 <Antichthon>	"...Threatened to eat her." She gave an awkward smile. "She sort of hit a nerve."
Apr 19 20:16:43 <Knave>	"Oh. I guess that's maybe as bad as what I did." He says evenly. Both of his arms snake up and over the armrest while the rest of him slumps down.
Apr 19 20:18:27 <Antichthon>	"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is," Athene said, trying to be comforting. "Honest."
Apr 19 20:21:11 <Knave>	Austin looks up imploringly at Athene, "Yuki and I were dating, kind of. There was kissing." He's telling the story with his hands now, "But I didn't get the impression we were exclusive, and I was also dating this other girl called Tara. And today Yuki said that was fine, but right after she started acting like she didn't want anything to do with me." He indicates the front doors, "Then she was gonna go, and
Apr 19 20:21:11 <Knave>	said she'd never be happy, but I stopped her and I said that someone would make her happy even if it wasn't me, then she looked really upset and went running upstairs."
Apr 19 20:21:40 <Knave>	"Then I was on the couch for a while that pretty much brings us to now."
Apr 19 20:26:33 <Antichthon>	"Well..." Athene sideglanced. "I think for most people, exclusiveness is sort of, um. Taken for granted once there's kissing. And I'm not a very average girl, but I'd like to think I'm a girl. And speaking as a girl, sometimes we say nothing's wrong because we think our emotions are stupid and we don't want to make others suffer for them. But they're still there and sometimes we need to be alone to let them go away on their own." Athene looked back at Austin. "Or maybe that's just me. But that's what it sounds like."
Apr 19 20:29:26 <Knave>	Austin thinks this over with a little frown on his face. "Why doesn't everyone just say exactly what they're thinking, all the time?" He slumps.
Apr 19 20:30:19 <Antichthon>	"I just said. Sometimes we don't want to make others suffer for our problems."
Apr 19 20:30:57 <Knave>	Austin looks at Athene sardonically, "And look how well that worked out." Then he flops over onto his front.
Apr 19 20:31:16 <Antichthon>	Athene shrugged. "We're just kids. We don't know anything."
Apr 19 20:32:33 <Knave>	"Honesty's the best policy." Austin says, muffled by the couch, then pulls himself up to flop over the armrest, "I learned that when I was like six."
Apr 19 20:36:50 <Antichthon>	Athene mulled that over for awhile. She then turned around and put a hand on her ass, clad in a scaletight jean skirt. "Does this skirt make my butt look big?" In truth it wasn't her butt at all, but where her snake half started. But it sure looked like a butt, and a hell of a badonkadonk at that.
Apr 19 20:39:42 <Knave>	Austin props himself up onto his elbows and inspects her snake-ass critically. He tugs slightly at his collar. When he says "Yeah," it's in the choked voice reserved for declarations of hotness, accompanied by an enthusiastic nod.
Apr 19 20:41:10 <Antichthon>	Oh, well. That didn't go the way Athene wanted. She turned back around and put her hand on her chin. "Would you have said that even if you knew it would have hurt my feelings?"
Apr 19 20:42:52 <Knave>	"Well I'm not gonna /lie/ to you." Austin says, gesturing with his whole arm, talking like it's obvious.
Apr 19 20:44:26 <Antichthon>	This wasn't boding well. "Um. Would you be confused why I was upset if you told me the truth?"
Apr 19 20:48:45 <Knave>	"Well, no." Austin says, sitting up, "Some people are sensitive about their size, and stuff. But if you care enough about what I think to ask me something, it's my duty to tell you honestly, right?" He turns his hand over as he talks, "And if you don't like what I say, either you care enough to do something about it, or you don't care that much, so who cares what I think, really? But if I just lied to you, then
Apr 19 20:48:45 <Knave>	I've betrayed your trust and I've denied you an opportunity."
Apr 19 20:49:49 <Antichthon>	"So...why do you seem confused why Yuki is upset?"
Apr 19 20:52:52 <Knave>	"I'm not. I just think she should have talked to me about how she feels, instead of hiding it and running away." He slouches forward.
Apr 19 20:56:12 <Antichthon>	"Well, I mean. You can't control other people. And sometimes we need to cool down before we can talk about it. I have to do that a lot."
Apr 19 20:58:15 <Knave>	Austin frowns, but nods. "I don't even know what to do, though." Austin looks up at Athene's face with concern, "Because Tara's great, and now she wants us to be a couple. But the way Yuki talked made me want to make her happy, and if I can do that by..." He starts to turn red, "By being her knight in shining armor..."
Apr 19 21:01:06 <Antichthon>	"Well, uh. Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe remember this next time and um. Don't try to romance so many girls at once?"
Apr 19 21:01:48 <Knave>	"I didn't /try/ to." He says defensively. He prods his fingers together and looks down, "It just sort of happened..."
Apr 19 21:03:45 <Antichthon>	"Well, you probably should have stopped it, then. If you try to have it all, you're going to keep hurting girls' feelings."
Apr 19 21:04:56 <Knave>	"It's just..." He knits and unknits his fingers between his knees, then looks up at Athene, his hair a floofy mess from all the shifting around, "They both made it seem like they needed me, y'know?"
Apr 19 21:06:40 <Antichthon>	Athene looked down. "You're just one boy. You can't be The One for everyone. It's either letting them down gently at first or..." She shrugged. "This."
Apr 19 21:08:25 <Knave>	"You're right." He says. He slaps his palm into his forehead and shunts into the backrest as if the force propelled him. Slowly, he lets the hand slip off him and to the couch, "Thanks for listening to me whine, Athene." He gives a little, weak chuckle, "You must think I'm a real jerk now, huh?"
Apr 19 21:09:57 <Antichthon>	She shook her head. "No." Small smile. "I don't." Beat. "I think you're a little stupid, though."
Apr 19 21:11:10 <Knave>	"Yeah." He agrees, "I am little and a stupid." He chuckles again at his own joke.
Apr 19 21:11:35 <Antichthon>	The smile widened. "Well, I mean. Everyone is little compared to me."
Apr 19 21:13:02 <Knave>	"That reminds me." He sits forward, his grin coming back, and he says with all earnestness, "You have an amazing body, Athene, and anyone that says otherwise is unlucky for not being able to see that."
Apr 19 21:14:42 <Antichthon>	The smile fell. "Um. Thank you."
Apr 19 21:16:07 <Knave>	"Just wanted to make sure you knew." He sits forward and pulls a sheaf of paper towards him from the table, producing a biro from his pocket, "Now I'm gonna get started on what I came in here to do and think about our D&D setting."
Apr 19 21:18:16 <Antichthon>	"Oh, okay. You're busy, then? I was kinda hoping to make my character. Or should that wait until after you're done with the setting?"
Apr 19 21:19:12 <Knave>	"We can make your character if you like." He smiles brightly, and takes up his laptop from the table.
Apr 19 21:23:00 <Antichthon>	"Actually, um. On second thought, maybe I should wait until you're done with the setting. Would probably be better for the character, right?" She was inching out of the room. "I have plenty of studying to do anyway, so. Probably for the best?"
Apr 19 21:24:23 <Knave>	"Uh, sure. Okay. Thanks again for the talk." He says, sounding just a little disappointed.
Apr 19 21:28:36 <Antichthon>	"No problem. We can do my character tomorrow. Or, whenver you're done with the setting." Or whenever Austin got it into his head that flirting with a girl right after admitting the dangers of flirting with multiple girls was probably not the best idea. She gave a big smile, waved. "Talk to you later." And she was gone. Took a while for the rest of her to leave, though.
Apr 19 21:31:20 <Knave>	Austin sighs and stares at the blank paper for a while. Then he starts to write.
Apr 19 21:31:38 <Antichthon>	-Scene Break-