Event: The Talk Part 3, Dr. Neville's Revenge

It was astounding how great a difference a single year could make. At this time last year, Sean had been in the midst of one of the worst (purely) personal crises he’d faced as an adult. He and Josh had gotten into the worst argument they’d ever had; and despite how quickly they’d worked through it, it had been more emotionally draining than the argument with his sister that remained ongoing. Yet, a single year later, he and Josh were approaching their first anniversary in their renewed relationship. Rather than coming from an empty house, or facing returning to an empty house after this, he would be able to discuss the events of the lecture with his partner over takeout.

The psychiatrist dearly hoped that there wouldn’t be much to vent about tonight after the Talk. Certainly nothing to the magnitude of last year’s events. Last year had been an unmitigated disaster, and it had clouded the Talk with more notoriety than was necessary or deserved. Fortunately, all of those students involved in the cruel disruption and humiliation had been severely disciplined and then had also graduated and weren’t allowed back into the auditorium to visit. With this graduating class, most of the disruptive students had graduated, which made this year have better potential than last year.

At the same time, Sean had taken no chances; he had asked for a security presence in addition to the faculty assistance he received every year. In addition, he had requested that Cee monitor the technology this year, just in case. Vincent had been lured into the library and locked in a room, courtesy of Eli Morrison.

Beyond that, he was prepared for the Talk. As he did every year, he had placed the anonymous question box outside of his door for the week before the lecture was scheduled. He had then sorted them, the serious and the absurd, and had copied down the serious questions to be answered during the question and answer portion of the lecture. He had prepared his slides and updated his materials in anticipation of the lecture. He wanted them to receive the most accurate information possible, while being non-judgmental of their developing needs and inclinations and while properly warning them of potential dangers.

Today, he had cleared his schedule of appointments and had arrived at the auditorium early to set up and to conference with the other chaperones. While it had been very hot and there had been a draught this summer, rain had come through to cool the temperatures a bit. That called for actually wearing suit jacket. The students arrived, the seniors to satisfy their graduation requirement and others thirteen years and older by their choice, some from curiosity, others from boredom, and others from peer pressure.

Stepping onto the stage, he tapped the microphone attached to his shirt to test it, and then, satisfied, he turned to the audience to begin. “For those of you who may not know me, I’m Doctor Neville. Let’s talk about sex.”

He set up the first slide, the one of standard female and male anatomy. It was always necessary to cover the basics. He then continued, “Some of you are veterans of this lecture, but for others this is your first time. As such, I will say this once. There will be no euphemisms or slang in this lecture. I don’t want to hear anyone say ‘boobs,’ ‘tits, ‘thing, ‘pole,’ ‘lady parts,’ ‘meat,’ ‘dick,’ ‘cock,’ ‘pussy,’ ‘twat,’ ‘balls,’ ‘jizz’ or anything similarly crude. If you are old enough to be here, you are old enough to speak like an adult when discussing this subject.”

The psychiatrist stepped back to make sure that everyone could see the slides clearly. “Additionally, many of you have either heard rumors or were privy to last year’s lecture. As I’m sure you’ve all been warned, none of that behavior will be tolerated. Particularly in a lecture about the importance of respecting ourselves and one another’s boundaries and comfort.” Between that and the administrative warnings, he believed that was enough on the subject, and they could move on to the prepared material.

“Is anyone here unfamiliar with basic mechanics of anatomy? If not, you can think loudly and let me know that way, rather than speaking aloud. There’s no shame in not knowing the basics. But, if everyone is familiar with that, we can do a truncated lesson in basics and move on.”

Mia walked into the auditorium, wearing a jacket with the hoodie resting on her head. She rather not draw attention to herself when entering something like the sex talk auditorium. And she knew if people saw her pink hair they would be staring at her and she rather not have that. She didn’t care if people knew she had showed up to this thing ; she just rather not have people staring at her. She looked up at the stage as she tried to find a place to sit. It was weird to see Dr. Neville outside of his office, though she was glad they wouldn’t be having any serious talks about her pas this time around. No it would be about sex, and He isn’t actually talking to her one on one. So she felt better. She rather talk about sex than her past; though she didn’t have much to say about it..

She found a spot in the middle, not too far back but not too far in the front either. She was also alone as of now; she didn’t really feel like talking while this was going on. She sat in the seat sideways, her one leg bending so she was sitting on it. Mia wondered why she was here; it wasn’t like she didn’t know about sex. She knew about the anatomy of both genders; thanks to her not being afraid to ask her biology teacher about it and her not having a problem explaining it to the fifteen year old. Mia wasn’t having thoughts about having sex, she was set in her ways to wait till marriage. Any guy or girl who wouldn’t wait wasn’t worth Mia’s time.

Mia was just curious about it all. She also did have a question and had put it in the anonymous box thing in front of his office door. She wondered if he would answer the question or ignore it. She started playing with her tongue ring just thinking about. She wondered if it would be okay to ask him afterwards. She shrugged she guess she would have to wait and find out. She took out her notebook and a pencil when he started talking about the anatomy of both genders. Mia knew about this already, so she wasn’t curious about it at all. She wasn’t the type to make a big deal about something like biology. It was life, so she started doodling and writing random lyrics from random songs.

There wasn’t much that could bug Cee, and definitely very little that could embarrass him. So when Sean had asked for him to help with the tech for the Talk, he’d agreed with his usual amiable friendliness. He’d gotten a few hesitant questions from his siblings after Sean’s Talk, and had answered them without much difficulty because for Cee, sex was just another part of life and really tended to be somewhat distracting from the things that mattered, like coding and virus prevention.

No one had said Cee was normal. And that was a good thing, because he really wasn’t.

He was seated toward the stage where Dr. Neville was lecturing, his contacts in for once, but a pair of glasses settled low on the bridge of his nose just in case he needed a little more power. So far, things weren’t that difficult. He was seated in front of the computer with the slides, the microphone box and controls, a projector remote and, if all those failed, the power outlets for all items. Hard for a technopath to operate if the programs had no power to work with. He also had his computer as backup in his bag, battery out.

After a year at Hammel, Cee thought he’d picked up on most of the tricks. Of course, he could be wrong, but he wasn’t too worried. They’d have to see how it continued to go. But he offered the doctor a friendly smile—as well as the security detail—before bending his head back to look at the computer.

Why was she even sitting here?

This entire thing was so stupid. Cat really really really did not want to be here, or even broach the topic at hand. Unfortunately, she did not have a choice in the matter. It was required of seniors to attend the sexual intercourse lecture by Doctor Sean Neville. To think you couldn't graduate because of such a stupid requirement.

The sooner she could get out of this school the better. It was bad enough that she had to be here, yet she was required to participate in it as well? That was just horrendous. To her what you did in your spare tim was your own business, and as long as you were safe about such things, one did not broadcast it to the world. Private meant private.

No matter what.

Which is partly why she held no pity for the punishments that were bestowed on the participants of last year's pranks. Not to mention it was a hinderance to her, as she had to deal with Robbie afterwords. It was more a punishment to her, then to him.

No Pity.

Hopefully she wouldn't have to deal with such idiotic things this year, and just get through the next few hours as soon as possible. Hopefully if she just closed her eyes and tried to sleep, this wouldn't even have to be apart of her actual consciousness.

Since she was such a rule follower Cat had arrived early, filing into one of the seats, and pulling out her book. she would do her best to ignore Doctor Neville. It really was the only optimal thing. Though, when he looked specifically at her she had to put her book away. She wasn't getting detention over something so small.

Looking around she sighed and noticed all the empty seats by her. Again, yet a reminder she had no friends. How could she have ever forgotten?

Jean was going to be fourteen in September. Which meant he figured he was old enough for The Talk. His parents gave him the normal Talk when he was twelve, but he had completely missed out on the drama last time and that had been a total bummer! He hadn't known what was going on for the rest of the school year and he wasn't gonna let that happen again.

He looked around for someplace to sit. There were a few empty chairs by a blonde girl around RC's age. Awesome! Time to make a new friend. He snuck over so that Dr. Neville wouldn't think he was being disruptive and stage-whispered to the girl (Cat, he thought?), "Psst. Can I sit here?" He pointed to the seat next to her.

Here it was. The Talk. Ravyn had avoided it in years past, simply because she had learned much of what she knew about sex from friends, TV, books, and the internet, and did not feel the need to learn more. She simply thought that when the time was right for her to do it for the first time, it would be easy and natural.

But from the moment Sean said "Let's talk about sex", she had a feeling she had been wrong all these years. She had submitted a few questions for him to answer, and she wondered if he would go over them. She really did know very little, and supposed this would be a good experience for her, if slightly uncomfortable. She knew she was less experienced than many kids in this room, and so she walked into the auditorium with her head down, trying not to draw too much attention to herself (which was hard when it was hot outside, you were wearing a green tanktop, and your fourteen-foot wings were plain in sight for all to see). She glanced around the room, looking for a familiar face somewhere among the crowd.

It came to her in the form of a blonde-haired boy with a baseball cap. She hesitated for a moment. Cameron had been the closest she'd ever gotten to losing her virginity, and she wondered if she should sit by someone else. After a moment's thought, though, she decided it might be interesting to sit next to him while they learned all about sex, in case they ever... Well. Got back together. She maneuvered her way around the seats as best she could, apologizing here and there when she accidentally bumped into someone, until she found herself in a previously empty seat next to her dorm neighbor. "Hey Cam," she said, offering a tentative smile. "Mind if I sit here?"

She glanced up as Sean began to speak, flinching a little internally at the slides of male and female anatomy. She tried not to show how inexperienced she was, though, and watched the slides without pause. "Yeah, totally stoked," she murmured in reply to Cam, eyes riveted on the screen. When Sean paused she glanced over at Cameron and, seeing the look of concentration on his face, asked,"What are you asking him?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Once again, Levi didn't have to go to the Talk, but he was there anyway. Last year he'd showed up to offer moral support for his boyfriend, and they got outed for their trouble. He'd had no intention of walking into the auditorium and subjecting himself to more embarrassment, but he had questions. Questions he couldn't just walk up and ask Dr. Neville, and Evan had asked him not to talk about it with anyone.

But thinking about it to a telepath didn't count as talking, right?

Levi kept his sunglasses on as he scanned the room for an empty seat. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. Most of the other stars of Mia's little sideshow had graduated and left, but he was still here. Sammy wasn't there yet (If he was showing up at all.) and he didn't really have a lot of other friends now.

After looking around the rows (and not making eye contact with Dr. Neville as he listed the words they weren't allowed to say), Levi edged his way to an empty seat near the demigoddess he couldn't really believe went to Hammel. Why the hell would the daughter of a god even bother with high school? She, of all people, should have been able to get an exemption. "Uh, is it okay if I sit here?" Levi asked.