#rutgers

Cupid Chimera buzz the area, but they're not alone since the menagerie was shut down

Sylvi cringes at the sound of wings today.

Something is following as she's heading home. One is gaining on her as she's getting to her door

She turns and POINTS at it. "No! No puppy love, no love-at-first-sight, no courtly romance. There's too much aftermath when you guys show up."

"How about a case of the HOTS?" The Cupid's question is rhetorical as it pulls the string back. Shit!

"Don't you dare!" she says, raising her backpack like a shield.

She tries to get in the door at the same time.

The door opens behind her, perhaps Symon... but it's no sluagh that comes out.

Rather, a one eyed cat leaps out, and pounces the Cupid!

She doesn't even think about who's opening it, but hurries through.

Then she realizes that Odin is the welcome interloper. "Good kitty!"

Odin pins the Cupid, and makes gnawing like motions at a wing, then hears sylvi get him his due praise, rips off a feather to take with him, and goes back indoors

"Bug somebody else!" she says to the chimera before slamming the door.

Odin is back in with sylvi, and looks at her as if to say 'what would you girls do without me?'

"My hero," she says.

"C'mon, I'll give you a treat."

The fridge is sure to yield some leftovers from a Rivervale care package. "Here you go."

"Hey" Jimmy says in the kitchen. Possibly startling her, as she didn't know the piskie was here

"Oh! Hey! I wasn't expecting you."

"Sorry, did some study with Symon who is.." He looks around "Well, he could be anywhere now. I kind of ducked in. The cupids are out for blood" He looks worried

"I wouldn't be surprised if Symon's hiding in the plumbing or something, with those things all over the place. One almost got me just now, but Odin intervened. S'cuse me..." She moves past him to get Odin the promised treat from the fridge.

"Rrrrow" THe cat says already impatient

"Sylvi, if you get shot, any guy you get a crush on is lucky as heck, and you'll charm him in no time . I'm so average my ID says 'some' under hair, and 'two' under eyes. My crush would not yield results easy." Jimmy tells her, "So not sure if tha'ts a comfort, but at least you have game"

"Well, thanks, but the problem is that Cupid-crushes wear off...but I don't want somebody to think it's a permanent thing, y'know?"

"Oh true... you'd have to let them down gently" He nods "And that's not easy. We guys are fragile.. like your dad says"

That may not be exactly how Olgar worded it

"Hey, everybody's fragile in some way."

Then she blinks and looks at him. "Wait. Oh, no....you didn't get shot, did you?"

"THIS close" He says "But relax. if I gawk, it's just because you're gawkable. I'm really trying to avoid getting shot. I have to focus on my studies right now. Got to keep my grades up"

She relaxes a bit at that. "Me too, grades-wise. And avoiding-wise."

"Symon is helping me a bit with math," He explains "In small doses. I'm getting my ass kicked in Poli Sci.. who has trouble with Poli Sci?"

Odin has received his tribute, and she gets herself a Dr. Pepper and offers him one. "Don't know, since I'm not taking it. What's challenging you about it?"

Odin dines...

"The professor seems to think I lack convictions in my arguements and essays. Like i'm not SuRE of my sources and such even when I have them listed. I can't help it. I'm a Piskie, i take sides with the crowd, or at least blend in"

"Like, you're playing both sides on the topic?"

"I guess. I do tend to use passive language. My professor HATES passive language. I mean, what's agressive language like that makes it better?"

"Well, I mean, maybe it doesn't need to be aggressive but just more active? Want me to take a look?"

"Could you?" He reaches for his back pack

"Sure."

He shows his work to her on the tablet he brought over.

She takes a seat on the couch and reads through it. Passive voice issues?

Soon she is reading... oh good lord, it's the very soul of passive writing.

Passive voice? It's positively timid

"Um...okay...so I think I see what he means. Like, here you say, 'the decision was arrived at by the Supreme Court' ...but if you say, 'the Supreme Court decided' -- it's a lot less wordy, and a lot more firm. So there's that for a start. But that's just mechanical stuff, y'know?" She reads more, thinking....

"Hey...what if...how about if you wrote a longer paper where you give both sides...and then edit it down to show only one side?"

"oh" "Huh" then at her last advice "twice the work?"

A shrug. "Until you get the hang of it?"

"well, we piskeys aren't afraid of work" He nods "I'll try it. Thank you, Sylvi"

"Sure. I hope I'm giving you good advice, though. Like I said, I'm not taking the class, so this is all just a guess."

"Well, at least I'll be trying something different. The same isn't getting me there" He heads to the door after getting his stuff packed anew "I.. oh almost forgot. " He gestures over himself "How dreary to be somebody..." And his veil is up, and he exits out quick!