Elise and Jean-Louise's Room: Eye of the Beholder

by **Elise Holdrust** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:55 pm

"I've never really taken the chance to try. We aren't apart *that* often. That's pretty stellar though! I know how I could test it out, too. There's a guy here who can make portals to places. I could test it that way."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:11 pm

"You could try cooperating with Frankie for one. She could probably tell you how far she's roamed."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:31 pm

"It's true. Popular to contrary belief, I *do* have useful information sometimes."

"Oh...yeah. I suppose that would be the smart thing to do, right?" she said with a bit of a sheepish smile. "I really should listen to her more often."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:02 pm

"That's the idea." she smiles.

by **Elise Holdrust** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:17 pm

"I think...I think Frankie and I need to have a long talk and get some things settled," she says, meanwhile popping a few more berries into her mouth. "You're really great, you know that? Thank you." Frankie slowly stepped off of Teri's head down her hair and onto her shoulders, sending a message to Teri only. "Your help has been invaluable. She would be blessed to have you as a friend, if you can be patient with her."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:44 pm

"We're just doing what we can to help." she smiles, holding out her hand for Frankie to climb onto it. "Paying back what Professor McManus has done for us. Or forward? It might be forward."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:47 am

"Yeah I think it's called paying it forward," Elise confirmed, watching Frankie climb onto Teri's hand. "She really likes you. That means you're pretty cool."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:54 am

"She probably just thinks we're made of delicious food." she chuckles.

by **Elise Holdrust** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:49 pm

"Please, you two are too skinny. Would hardly be anything there good to eat." Frankie joked. Elise giggled and offered Teri some of the berries. "Well, at least we won't get eaten by a spider. The whole web cocoon thing and being melted from the inside is kind of a bad way to go, I think."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:43 pm

"Fine, no choice bugs for Miss Crankypants." she says, munching on the berries and poking Frankie in the 'face'.

by **Elise Holdrust** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:07 pm

Frankie grumbles, but she was actually having a good time. She felt relaxed, like a weight was lifted off her shoulders, (so to speak). "So what's your favorite kind of bug? You have to have one."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:05 pm

"Hmm. That's a tough question though. They're all so different. Crickets can sing and dragonflies can fly like you wouldn't believe and spider silk is incredibly tough and mosquitoes have this really weird heat sense and ants are really intricate... It's hard to pick a favorite."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:28 pm

"Dragonflies are so stellar. I love how they fly. It's so neat! Like hummingbirds, only better!" she said excitedly.

by **Teri Napliotis** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:44 pm

"Yeah and they're fast. Just sending them in one direction they really zoom along. And they're though."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:49 am

"Is it true that they bite?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:48 pm

"Not anything that's bigger than them, really. Unless we make them, in which case they probably hurt."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 5:38 pm

"I knew it! See, one of my friends back in New York always said it was just a hoax and that they didn't bite and that they were just the cutest little things. Which, I mean they are, but I KNEW they bit! If they have teeth, then they can bite! Ha! I've totes got to text her and tell her now." She was rambling a bit, which could be seen as annoying, but for her to ramble on like that meant she was very comfortable and happy.

"I could have told you that..." Frankie chimed in.

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:57 pm

Teri doesn't seem to mind the rambling at all. She's probably used to it from the chorus of voices in her head. "They can bite and still be cute. Like dogs!"

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:50 pm

"Ohemgee you're right! Or like kittens!"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:03 pm

"Exactly. Except most people like those. Wasps, okay, they can be mean, but most things don't bother anybody, yet everyone's bothered by them."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:13 pm

"Wasps are scary," Elise said seriously. "I was trying to take trash out one day and just out of flipping no where, this wasp came and attacked me. It scared me so much. Are they that aggressive?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 11:18 pm

"If you're too close to their nest. Bees are the same and some ants, but they don't chase you as far and only when you really mess with their nests. Still, running away usually works when they lose the attack-smell they leave on people. 'Mean' is probably the wrong word anyway, they're just wired to act that way when they're signaled to attack and defend their lives. The same way grasshoppers physically change when enough of them congregate in one spot so they can swarm instead of eating everything nearby and then starve. It's just something they do."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:36 am

"I wish I were as smart as you about all of this! I think it's totes fascinating. People don't pay attention to bugs, but bugs are important, you know?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 4:18 am

"Oh, very! They're a huge part of the ecosystem and they are everywhere. We can feel them if we reach out. The grass swarms with them, they're in the ground and the trees, in the walls, in corners, ceilings and floors. It makes everything else seem small in comparison."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:30 am

"Whoa, the walls? Really? Like... These walls?" she asked, patting the wall of the dorm room.

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:50 pm

"Well, between the walls. But yeah. There's a couple spiders there and there." she says, pointing. "Grain bettlees, a fly or two that got lost, itty bitty mites, a couple cockroaches further down. There's all kinds of spaces where cables and pipes go. We keep ants and termites and such out, because they're bad for the building but the rest don't harm anybody. And they show us where everything is." she says, closing her eyes. "All the little critters are like tiny sparks in our mind and they paint a picture of the mansion." she says, fingers tracing walls and such in the air.

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:46 pm

As Elise listened, her eyes sparkled with fascination. "The way you describe it is so pretty. I bet you can see a lot of stuff. Even outside of the mansion. It's like a journey every day, isn't it?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:02 pm

"Most things don't really change so much. They go about the things they do and we keep them out of the way and away from peoples' rooms so we don't accidentally spy on them. It's relaxing to just take it all in sometimes though."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:15 pm

"Oh I bet! I wonder is it like...does everything seem bigger when you're looking through their eyes? Like...I dunno, when you're connected with an ant, say. Like can you see the flowers a hundred times larger and stuff? Like it's own little world of awesome big plants and grass?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:45 pm

"Oh, no, their eyes don't work like that. It's all blotches and blurry. But they feel the ground and smell all kinds of things. And flies feel the air move so when someone talks it's like it washes over them. None of it makes any sense unless we push ourselves into enough of them and it all comes together like a big puzzle. The ants feels a footfall and displaced air on the fly and we get an impression of someone walking. With a dozen bugs in the air we feel their general shape and the more there are the more details get filled in from all their senses. Narrow blotch from this angle, wide blotch from that one and the more eyes the more we can see. Like... that movie with the invisible guy? And when he walks through the sprinklers and the water runs over his shape? It's like that only with everything."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:45 pm

"That is so freaking stellar," she says, a wide smile on her face. "It's so neat that you've experienced that through your power. Like, that you take the time to understand it and truly be a part of it."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:42 pm

Teri frowns ever so slightly and opens her eyes again. "Can't be too much part of it. It's... soothing but it empties our head. Too much of them, too little of us. We have to make sure it's us pushing into them, not the other way around."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:29 pm

"So like a perfect balance?"

by **Teri Napliotis** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:33 pm

"That's a good way to put it all." she nods. "Balanced. Or... averaged out."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:19 am

Elise smiles brightly. "You're pretty awesome, you know that? From what you've said about from the time you first found things out until now...I mean, wow. It's really admirable."

"You could definitely learn a few things from her."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:22 am

"It took us years and years to not get distracted for hours by a bunch of butterflies." she chuckles.

by **Elise Holdrust** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:02 am

She giggles. "Heck, if it were me I -still- would have been distracted by them. I love butterflies."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:05 am

"Not very many around anymore this time of the year. It's mostly moths now."

by **Elise Holdrust** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:16 am

"My wings are based off of a butterfly's. A lot more colorful and stuff, but still. I can't wait for spring to come around. I wonder if the ones here are different than the ones in New York."

by **Teri Napliotis** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:26 am

"Probably a little! Why did you get butterfly wings? Just because they're pretty?"

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