Event: The Talk Part 5, The Path to Enlightenment

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

John and Jake started grinning despite how completely awkward this whole thing was. They couldn't help it. Anytime Rain smiled, or so much as looked at them, the brothers started to grin. They'd started to worry their mouths were going to get sore and fall off. Then again, they had always been more inclined to smile than frown. But lately it felt like they had even more of a reason to.

"Uh...yeah...well..." Jake said, shifting in his seat.

"We uh...gotta come sometime, right?" John said, shrugging. They brothers had heard that they had to come to the Talk in order to graduate. Not that they were doing that anytime soon, but it was as good an excuse as anything.

But it made them wonder, why was Rain here? Did that mean she was ready or wanting to...take things further? The smiles slowly faded from the brothers' faces as they considered this.

Luckily there wasn't much time to ask or worry about it before Dr. Neville launched into question time.

They were glad that Rain had turned around to listen. But not because they thought she needed to hear this stuff. Rain was so cool. And she lived in the dorms. For some reason, that combination led the twins to believe that Rain knew everything about all this relationship stuff. Even with twins like them. They, on the other hand, still felt hopelessly lost even with the smalls bits of dating advice Kai had given them at the mall.

No, they were glad she had turned because Dr. Neville seemed to launch right into the topic of gestalts. And right into one of the questions they had asked. And now they were sure they'd die of blushing.

They hadn't blushed when Dr. Neville mentioned twins switching. Although they might try to get away with that, they wouldn't do it...like that. That was just wrong. Plus they had the feeling Rain was getting to the point were it'd be hard to fool her.

Still, they had to sigh a little in relief at the answers the psychiatrist's answers. Not that they had anything against homosexuals. They weren't even entirely sure they were strictly straight, but that was mostly because some of their older brothers leaned that way and they figured they might to at some point. But it was nice to have a solid answer that might start them on the path to figuring themselves out.

And not that they were anywhere ready to have kids. Heck Kai didn't trust them to even babysit on their own. But it was good to know they weren't dooming Rain to no kids ever if she stayed with them.

"You think she thinks about kids?" "You think she thinks about kids?" The brothers whispered simultaneously to each other, hoping Rain wouldn't overhear.

They quickly turned their attention back to Dr. Neville, each of them wishing they'd thought to bring a notebook to take notes...or maybe a tape recorder.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean could almost consider Marcus’s personal revelation to be an accomplishment, although that was a more extreme length than he would recommend. In general, he would prefer that people interact on comfortable levels, but avoidance was preferable to assault or otherwise taking advantage of someone’s trust through deceit or manipulation.

Not every question would be as simple. Nor would everyone take so quickly to resolution when receiving an unfavorable answer. Victories came where they did.

In that same way, if even one student came out of his lecture with confidence and knowledge about enthusiastic consent, he considered the lecture a success. Sean knew that many – perhaps most – sexual education courses in middle school and high school failed to address concepts like enthusiastic consent. As it was, increasingly more schools turned to abstinence-only education programs, because state and federal funds had been tied to such misinformation. The psychiatrist would resign his position and find alternate routes for instruction before he catered to such demands; fortunately, Hammel had additional sources of funding, and Vermont was ahead of much of the country on this topic.

The psychiatrist was a product of Catholic school education and telepathy, neither of which he recommended as forms of instruction in this area. Not that either was available to everyone. In Catholic school, sex had been dubbed sinful outside of Holy matrimony, only for procreation. Of course between one man and one woman, and only PIV, never anything more. No birth control, no abortion, and none of the details were discussed. He had been more fortunate than many, in that his father was a doctor, and thus he had access to anatomy books. Then, at the tender age of twelve, his telepathy had manifested. Soon after, he had learned far more about the down and dirty aspects of sex than he was prepared for, certainly more than he had needed at that age.

Nobody should learn that way. This was why, as unexpected as the initial assignment had been, Sean never passed this duty to other teachers. He could give the students what he had lacked: formal, inclusive, fact-based instruction.

From the corner of his eye, Sean watched Lucas. Although the boy had been compliant with his warning, in that he had sat down, the lecture was not yet finished, and so far, the boy had proven to be the greatest wild card. At least he had Vincent Romanov as his backup; the Chief of Security was formidable: by stature, by training, by position, by attitude, and by power. When this was over, he would buy the younger man a drink. Then Lucas pulled out a ball and began to toss it, and the psychiatrist sent a quick mental message to Vincent. Confiscate that from Lucas, please.

Better not to have distractions or projectiles during the lecture.

To Marnie, he added, Don’t be nervous. He realized that this was a tall order, but it was all that he could do to reassure her in this public environment.

He also heard Axelle’s cascade of nervous thoughts, and he took the moment to project to her as well. People aren’t one-size fits all, so bright-line rules don’t always work. But if you want one, keep this in mind: given your powers, never use your full strength if you’re using your hands anywhere on a man’s penis or scrotum. Some people like pain, but that will go far beyond the realms of what the body could tolerate. Don’t worry as much about PIV, but we can talk later.

Sean had been about to answer more questions regarding gestalt pairs, when Lucy Serrano stood and voiced a question. Since the psychiatrist had encouraged active participation, anything asked in person – aloud or via telepathy – would take precedence over a written question that he had prepared. So he listened.

Inelegantly phrased, possibly done to provoke or to brag, but it had some potential value. While she spoke, he sipped from his water, as his throat was a bit dry from how much he had been talking uninterrupted. When she finished, he set the water down and took his turn. “I’d say that it’s a law of averages more than a hard and fast rule. Not that they keep statistics of this, since part of it is subjective and even Kinsey was more interested in what and when and with whom than with measuring strict quality. But I’d say that the worst lover anywhere in the world probably has no experience and no curiosity while the best lover anywhere in the world has a great deal of experience and curiosity. The rest of us fall along that spectrum. I can’t stress the important of communication here. You can be a terrible lover with lots of experience, if you’re selfish and don’t listen to your partner. You can have as much stamina as the Wabash Cannonball and look like Helen of Troy but if you’re selfish and don’t listen to your partner, you can’t possibly have absorbed skill or pluck. Mechanics aren’t as important as responsiveness.”

He spread his hands then. “Curiosity can substitute for experience to an extent, and generosity and responsiveness go a long way, even if someone has never had any form of sex before. That’s for everyone,” he remarked, looking out at the audience as a whole. “But, for you, Lucy, I’m glad you found someone who makes you happy, and I hope you two are being safe.” He said safe rather than emphasizing any particular form of safety, since he knew who her partner was, and he wasn’t going to put particular pressure or draw particular attention there.

“This actually gives us a good segue,” he announced, as he stepped over to his supply table and picked up an acrylic water bottle. From his pocket, he withdrew a standard-sized condom. “For anyone having sex with people who have penises, and for people who have penises, I know that popular culture puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of size. Of course, size only matters when it comes to choosing a position that doesn’t cause your partner discomfort, but culture pretends otherwise.”

With that, the psychiatrist unwrapped the condom and began to unroll it over the water bottle. Carefully, so as not to rip the prophylactic. “Most of the people who make this excuse are men, and for those of you who might have sex with such men, it’s likely that you’ll hear an excuse about why they shouldn’t have to wear a condom. That they’re so large that it won’t fit. Inevitably, that will be a lie. It either means that they’ve never bothered to try using a condom, and you shouldn’t sleep with them because of that disregard for safety and health, yours, their past partners’ and their own. Or, what it generally means is that they know better and for whatever reason would rather not use one, but they want to make it about how impossible it is to accommodate your request for protection, rather than admitting that they have a selfish preference. And that they’re willing to lie to you about it. Again, my advice is not to have sex with them.”

By that point, he had finished unrolling the condom, and he held the water bottle up to show how the condom had managed to fit around the entire container without problems. This was projected onto the screen for a larger view. “This is how you know they’re lying. If anyone ever tells you that they’re so big that a condom won’t fit, remember this. Or they’re a shapeshifter, at which point you tell them that they should return to their baseline form first.”

The psychiatrist set the bottle down on his supply table and then returned to the questions that he had prepared.

“Several people have asked how to tell whether you’re ready to have sex. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size fits all answer for that question. It varies from person to person, because some people will be emotionally and mentally ready before others. Talk to your partner about your concerns. Think about whether you’re doing it for them alone because that’s what you think they want, or for yourself because that’s what you want. If after that, you still feel ready, then that’s a good starting point. If you think you’re doing it to please them or for fear of losing them, it’s a communication issue not a sex issue. You’ll feel worse rushing in. But if anyone wants to discuss their specific situation, let me know, and we can talk after the lecture.” He set down that index card and moved on to the next.

“For those with anxiety or with vivid imaginations, yes, it’s possible to fracture your penis. It’s also possible to dislocate a shoulder or sprain a wrist or ankle, injure a hip, get a concussion, or throw out your back. Most sex won’t be that way, and for this topic I assume this is all accidental rather than the result of abuse, and many of those injuries come from being overly-vigorous and older, or trying something varsity-level when you’re still learning the ropes. Or getting carried away. Just mind your surroundings, mind your partner, mind your position, mind yourself, and you can avoid most injuries.”

Sean’s thoughts briefly turned to the telephone call that he had received at the end of last year. When Vincent had required him to drive him to the hospital, because the younger man had been injured with his wife. Such were the hazards of strenuous activity. As promised, the psychiatrist had not breathed a word to anyone else.

“I also received a few various on this question, for males attracted to other males. The idea of bottoms and tops is also a law of averages. It isn’t applicable to all acts or situations, and many people don’t fall into either category, because they enjoy both roles or don’t enjoy those acts at all. But if you’re into rigid roles, and your partner is into rigid roles, it’s best to talk about that and see if you can find a way to compromise. Either you have less intercourse and do other acts more often, or else you work out a way to trade off. Some people only enjoy certain acts or roles with certain people, and those change depending on who they’re with.”

Again, the psychiatrist paused and reached for his water bottle. He needed to take a sip, and the students surely needed some time to absorb that information, and the prop demonstration.

[Cameron Tyler]

Cameron finally found the hall where this mandatory lecture was being given, matching up the number on the slip in her hand to the door number. She whispered a polite 'excuse me' to the daunting looking man standing guard at the back of the room. The guy had a jaw with which you could break granite.

The petite brunette felt eyes on her as she looked for a seat. There was only spots to sit up by the front of the room. There was no choice but to move to the front. She felt her cheeks turning pink, looking up to finally see Dr Neville mid lecture. She gave him a quick little finger waive before turning to take a seat. But before she could sit down, she felt that now-familiar surge of sensation.

No, not now!

Her human form with no warning to observers became a shimmering volume of silvery liquid metal. She no longer had any resemblance to her human body--No face, no head, no limbs, no clothes--just a blob of silver. Fortunately, this particular transformative episode was brief. In a matter of seconds, her human form was back.

Cameron's face was back, grimacing from the pain of the transformation and beet red from mortal embarrassment. She gingerly sat down in the front row seat, the fresh ache of restored joints and solid flesh spiking in her hands. She rubbed them together to try to make the pain go away as she looked up to Dr Neville with a whispered apology.

"Sorry."

[Matt Davis]

It was a great day. The kind of day where you just had to pull your indoor activity outside, which was exactly what Matt did. He was sitting in the middle of the campus, off by himself, fiddling with something he spent five cents on at the dump. A metal and plastic contraption with buttons and chords. He had no idea what it was at first, but that didn’t matter. He could figure it out. Hours had passed while he fiddled. Focus completely drawn to the object and ignoring people that passed by. His ears skimmed what they said, put it to memory, but didn’t respond to any noise at the moment. ‘The scene in the elevator was good, but Splinter looked weird’ was washed over as he finally closed the door to the device. ‘I hate mandatory lectures’ was pushed aside as he neared completion!

Behold! Matt held out the device when he had repaired it. His thoughts completely focused on finishing this...thing he had started. His smile of accomplishment quickly drained as he looked at the device. “What the heck is...A walkman?” He turned his head while reading the faded blue letters on the plastic. “Ah damn…” He shrugged and tossed it back into his backpack before leaning back and looking towards the building nearby. A cute little brunette was walking into the auditorium. She had a nice walk to her. Suddenly it came back to him. Did someone mention a mandatory lecture? Crap! He wasn’t going to miss the first mandatory thing!

Matt lifted up and grabbed his stuff: Bits of metal and random scrap he bought with the Walkman’s rubbage, assuming it belonged to the device, as well as a gallon of water that was half empty. He ran towards the door, adjusting his jersey and making sure his golden hair was sitting right on his head before he plowed into the door. Much harder than he had planned, swinging it open with a bang.

When he stepped inside he came to a quick stop and his eyes went wide. He looked around the dim room quickly, with his glance first settling on the hoss standing by the door. They looked to be about the same height, but this guy had that look that said ‘I could kill you with a tea-cup’. Matt could only imagine what he could do with...whatever he probably had hidden on his body. Matt gave a polite bow of his head and a whispered ‘Sorry sir...’ before moving further into the auditorium. He would normally have wanted to be quiet with his first entrance. Way to drop the ball on that, Davis. Just keep your head low now. Now onto the next dilemma, one far more important than how he entered: Where to sit.

He first looked ahead to the cute thing that came in before him. She was late too, not a bad choice. He started to take a few steps before something strange happened. What the hell was that?! She just...Melted!? His eyes quickly shot up to the Doctor leading the event. He didn’t even seem to notice the projector, or what he was doing with the water bottle. Matt just knew if the people who walked up front -melted- he’d best keep to the back and not to piss of the Dr. who may have done it. Even if the girl did get fixed right after.

Matt walked down the aisles looking at different people. Well, semi-people. These weren’t normal students, they were mutants. Though, according to everyone else, so was he. He was a good one, though. Matt tried to sum up people as he walked, trying to guess what they could do. That guy with the spikey hair -had- to shoot metal spikes out of his skin or something. When he noticed the larger student with his feet kicked up sitting in front of the blonde boy, he considered sitting near him. He looked cool… but that weird look he was giving the china boy was strange. He probably exploded or something. Matt tried to measure a good blast radius from him. Seven chairs was a good distance.

When he spotted three girls sitting bunched together, he smiled to himself. They were cute, and he could try and make a good impression. They didn’t look scaley or abnormal. Just a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette. Standard, non terrifying people. The jock took a deep breath and slid in to the seat beside of them, leaning in a bit before speaking up. “Hey… Mind if I sit here. I’m Matt.” He asked with a large and bright smile while giving him some mental props for wearing the jersey that made his arms look good. He noticed the bruise on the redheads face but didn’t give it a second glance. It wasn’t polite to show interest in something like that when first meeting someone.

Finally he gave himself the chance to look up to the front of the room, just in time to hear about a fractured penis. Yeah, Davis. Good time to introduce yourself. ‘I’m Matt’ ‘Did you know you could fracture a penis? Which I have one!’ Real hot stuff. He didn’t have nerves one way or another about the subject, though the thought of a fracture… ooh, it made his legs close in on himself as he sat down. He had helped deliver a calf on a few accounts and he had an understanding of how it all worked. Well, how it should work on a basic, biological level.

His eyes dropped towards the condom stretched across the water bottle and blinked. He knew they could get big…He and some of his buddies had filled a few unused, expired condoms to make water balloons... but he didn’t know they could stay effective that large. And with those little introductions, he knew the topic of this talk. He got it, he knew how it all worked, so would be able to keep his cool.

“I also received a few various on this question, for males attracted to other males. The idea of bottoms and tops is also a law of averages.”

The fuck is he talking about that for?! That isn’t sexual education!? That’s disturbing as sin! That’s disturbing -and- sin! Matt’s attention was drawn to the Dr. and the projection now. His eyes wide only for a moment, with his mouth slightly agate for a bit longer. He thought he knew it all… But this is the kind of stuff he didn’t need to know, and more importantly, why a school was condoning it was beyond him. That sort of stuff was usually left to be hush hush.. and besides… guys couldn’t get pregnant, what was to warn them?!

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

In honesty, it was the best, most absolute answer Lucy could have hoped for. Her fingers curled into the fabric of her own shirt on instinct, as if it would somehow most definitely press the memory into the material she wore. Because she couldn't stop the way she wanted to grin hard, and she couldn't help the tickle at the back of her neck that dragged excitement to the forefront when things very much did go her way.

She exhaled a quick, amused breath, which threatened a laugh that she did her best to swallow before it could breach her already faltering demeanour.

"Cheers for the insight, sir." She somehow managed, before falling into her seat alongside her voice mimicking counterpart. Immediately, she though to message the psychometrist but she decided to hold off. This, like many other things in life, was best when sprung on the Brit.

Right amongst a squabble of a melting girl and a conversation about fractured junk, a random blonde guy took tentative steps right across the Australian's sight line. She liked the spare chair in front of her. It meant she could kick her feet up and not have a bloody conversation about it. But there, it was taken before she got the chance to remain comfortable. And he was flinching a bit, like woah. At a guess, Lucy'd have to figure every guy was cringing hard over the idea of a shot to the balls sharp enough to break them.

But she was more pissed about the seat thing. So she raised her boot-clad feet, kicking one into the back of the chair and resting the other on it. And there, she stayed. Pressure to his back as her arms folded and she feigned interest in the rest of the lecture.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Okay, okay.... This was going alright. Kuni was still incredibly uncomfortable as the Talk went on and those around him reacted to various things that the psychiatrist was saying. He ignored any distractions for the most part, keeping his eyes on the screen, unable to look at anyone or anything for fear of his embarrassment at being here exploding into something tangible, like... Well, like a whale.

His arms were folded tightly against his chest as though that could keep his ability from coming into play. This had to be over pretty soon, right? There was only so much one could talk about with... With this subject, right? Kuni knew this stuff was important and he tried to take as much from it as he could, but he was so awkward and embarrassed by his lack of knowledge on such topics that it was hard to concentrate. The screen kept getting unfocused in his head.

Okay, he just needed to make it through a few more minutes, he told himself. It would be fine.

It was fine... Until Dr. Neville went for the condom demonstration.

The combination of both the visual aid and the comment about people with shifting abilities were what did it for Kuni. He had a sudden visual of himself in such an activity with a woman where he suddenly and violently shifted with disastrous consequences. Immediately, Kuni knew he had to get out of there.

He tried to make his way out of his seat as quickly and quietly as possible, but with his panic and with his size, it was impossible for Kuni not to cause a distraction. Fortunately, the door outside was close by. He could make it, he could make -

Kuni had barely reached the door frame when it happened. He couldn't contain it any more - he felt his body blossom in pain as he suddenly expanded, growing larger and larger, impossibly large, while his limbs shrunk into barely anything and he found that he could no longer move.

Oh no, I smashed everyone in the auditorium! he thought in a panic. The blue whale that had only moments before been a man could do nothing but lay uselessly on the lawn. Fortunately, his worries weren't true - he had made it entirely outside except for his tail, which was stuck in the doorway that he'd passed through.

Well..... This was embarrassing.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle looked over as a (frankly huge) boy sat next to Marcus. "Hey," she offered back, voice still a bit strangled from the mental images that were swirling around in her head. Sean's advice had sort of helped, but only in the way that a damp sponge sorta absorbed water. It was not helped that now all she could think about was a comically broken erect penis bent at a right angle. Of course she knew not to use her full strength, but the thought of even touching one now scared her half to death.

She was startled by a sudden and rather violent rattling of her chair and turned sharply to see Lucy Serrano with her foot pressed against the new kid's (Matt right? Mike?) chair. She'd kicked it so hard Axelle had felt it a few chairs over since the pieces of plastic been attached to each other. She narrowed her eyes at the other girl but before she could say anything there was a rather abrupt commotion and poor Kuni was running out the doors....right before he turned into a whale. Normally Axelle would have been all too happy to jump in and help, but she was still feeling rather put off by her statue accident AND George's comment AND this entire Talk had made her jumpy and not entirely willing to extend a hand to the flapping tail. Besides, what was she supposed to do anyway? She couldn't lift a whale...well she didn't think so anyway.

[Deleted]

Marcus too was feeling just a mite uncomfortable about the thought of a fractured penis…even though he didn’t have one at the moment. And despite it not being there, she still felt phantom sympathy pains at the thought of it. Marcus shook her head sharply. “I don’t ever wanna hafta experience that, nope nope nope!” she said softly to herself, though her friends around her might’ve heard it anyway.

She lifted her head as a…wow, a really cute blonde approached the three girls. “Uh…hi,” she breathed, her knees still together and her overall posture incredibly rigid. Her face was probably burning with a crimson flush…which only made her more embarrassed. She nodded like a dork to…Matt? “I’m…Marcus…” she said quietly. She opened her mouth to say something further, but a kick to the back of Matt’s seat interrupted her thoughts. Marcus turned to look at the Australian girl with an eyebrow of “what the fuck?” but then just shrugged it off with a shake of the head.

“Heh heh…weird, huh?” she said to the blonde boy. “That whole condom thing, right?” Yes, Marcus was the kind of person who had to talk to the people sitting next to her like they were going to be best friends in the next five minutes and forever. Her thoughts were interrupted once again when a giant suddenly ran past them like he had the hounds of hades on his heels…and then there was a noise…Marcus turned around in her seat, her knees up on the chair, just in time to see a tail grow into the door of the auditorium…a fish-like tail…? “….I am so glad that wasn’t me….” That is, random shifting out of pure embarrassment. She couldn’t help but giggle.