The gym, after CV2

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia didn't feel up to going and finding her friends and their parents just yet. She was still feeling weird after her argument with Pippi the night before, and the fact that she knew she wouldn't have anyone there for her just made her less than enthusiastic about the whole Parents' Weekend thing.

So she headed to the gym and grabbed a quarter-staff, and was currently moving very slowly through several defensive moves, taking care to remain as calm and focused on exactly how she was moving as she could.

[ooc: open in the way that gym posts always are]

Comments

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Cally said. She shook out her hands a little. "You want to talk about Pippi at all?"

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia shrugged. "It just seems like she's always talking down to me lately. Apparently she has problems with the fact that I went to learn how to be a spy, so now I know things that she doesn't necessarily know."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Cally made a face.

"That doesn't make any sense."

[nadiathesaint]

"I never said that it did. She said she hopes I never get a chance to even be a spy, and every time I try to tell her about something, she starts looking at me like I'm an idiot. And I'm not. I know what I'm talking about."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Why would Pippi not want you to be a spy?" Cally asked.

[nadiathesaint]

"I have no idea. I mean, I know I'm not right about everything. But neither is she. And there are some things that I really know about. And I didn't want to hurt her stupid monkey!"

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"You hurt Mr. Neilson?" Cally bit her lip.

[nadiathesaint]

"No! I wouldn't do that! I was just saying that he could learn something new, and she got all defensive and started talking about how I was going to brainwash him, just because I knew about how conditioning can be used to teach."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Cally's jaw dropped. "That seems a pretty big leap."

[nadiathesaint]

"Thank you! Just because conditioning can be used to do horrible things like that doesn't mean that's what I was talking about doing to Mr. Neilson. And the fact that she just assumed I would . . . and wouldn't listen when I tried to explain. . . ."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Wait... but you still were gonna try and use conditioning on him?" Cally asked.

[nadiathesaint]

"Conditioning isn't wrong! It's not evil. It's just one of the main ways that we learn things. We answer the phone when it rings because we're conditioned to do it. We know not to touch fire because of conditioning."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"What were you gonna condition Mr. Neilson to do?"

[nadiathesaint]

"He stole Pippi's keys and wouldn't give them back. I said that wasn't very nice, and then we started talking about teaching him some manners."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Okay, yeah that? So not the time to use the word 'conditioning'," Cally said.

[nadiathesaint]

"It's just a psychological term for one of the main ways that people and animals learn things. I don't understand what's so wrong with that."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Because it's associated with bad, bad things," Cally said.

[nadiathesaint]

"It's also assosciated with making your hair soft, and she didn't assume that I was going to give Mr. Neilson a bath. I've been friends with Pippi since only a little while after I got to this school. How could she just assume that I'd do something horrible to her monkey?"

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Because you've been a bit... not the same as you were back then, since you came back from Spy school?" Cally said.

[nadiathesaint]

The briefest flicker of some emotion went across Nadia's face before she blanked out her expression. "What do you mean?"

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"You grew up. A lot," Cally said. "And I don't mean just cause of the time, Like... I dunno."

[nadiathesaint]

"That happens. That's life. It doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to be cruel to a monkey."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Except you're not as happy as you used to be," Cally said.

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia put her hands in her pockets again and looked down towards her shoes. "I was never that happy in the first place."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Well, you sure seemed more... I dunno... carefree, I guess," Cally said. "Like you came back, and suddenly everything is all more serious."