Art Trade: My Friend, My Lover, And Me...

Sitka was not sure if it was a good idea. In fact, he was more and more convinced that it was a horrible idea and a big mistake. But he was also running out of options. When he had first mentioned Lace towards Yasmine, she seemed already tp be jealous simply because she assumed the name was referring to a girl. To top it all off, the weaver for some reason had decided to write her letter with more than strange contents. At first Sitka had laughed when he read it. Then he had laughed some more. then he had tried to explain to Yasmine that Lace surely had gotten into some kind of trouble which resulted in him sending off the letter. Frankly, it was amazing the weaver was not getting more frequent into trouble. He was without any healthy amount of suspicion. But he somehow managed to simply befriend everyone, even Stren. How or when that did happen was beyond Sitka, but asking Lace would not help him either. The weaver was already confused by the concept of friends, it was doubtful he himself knew what he was doing, aside of the obvious "breathing" and occasionally "talking".
Yasmine's arrival disrupted Sitka from his thoughts. He look at her and had to smile. She was dressing up, trying to invoke a good first impression.
"Do you think he'll like me?", she asked, obviously nervous. Sitka almost laughed out.
"He will have no other choice", he answered instead. It was the truth, in a way. There was probably not a single person Lace disliked. Sitka worried much more about Yasmine. The weaver's awkwardness was almost a guarantee to make Yasmine nervous and a nervous Yasmine tended to talk much and to talk fast, two traits which would make Lace uneasy in return. The meeting of these two people just had to end in a disaster. Hooray...

Lace was waiting for Sitka in the lounge of the blood dormitory, possibly freaking out everyone who hadn't met him yet. Or he was about to get himself into new strange situations which were going to result in strange questions. Once more Sitka was wondering why nobody had slapped a warning sign onto the weaver. But then again, the majority of the campus would need such as sign as well.
When he and Yasmine arrived, the place was empty. Lace was standing near the fireplace, which gave him an interesting dramatic effect. Well, interesting for Sitka, scary for Yasmine.
"Sitka.... the creepy statue is watching us", she whispered and clung closer to him.
"Hi Lace", he greeted.
"Hello", Lace answered. Sitka was sure Yasmine was just suffering through a small heart attack. It was a good thing the weaver wore his mask. Otherwise Yasmine might have fainted already.
"Yasmine, this is Lace, one of my best friends. Lace, this is Yasmine, my girl-friend", Sitka introduced his two weirdos to each other.
"Yes", Lace simply stated and Sitka miraculously managed not to facepalm or sigh. Why did he still expect a slightly normal response. This meeting was already doomed.
"Uh, hello. Uhm.. It's nice to meet you, Mr... er, I meant miss Ms. er... n-notthatyoulooklikewhatevergenderyouaren'tbecauseyoudon'tifthatmakessenseandI-uh... nevermind...", Yasmine began, successfully confusing herself and thus starting to babble with high speed. How did she manage not to suffocate while doing so? It would probably remain an unsolved mystery.
Lace simply stared at the two students before him and Sitka would have sworn he could see the gears behind the mask turning as he tried to untangle the mess or words and make sense out of them. Good luck buddy.
"Uhm...", Lace began, his slow and monotone voice strongly contrasting Yasmine's nervous one.
"I'm not... a mister", he stated. Yasmine was about to answer, but Sitka signed her to give the strange student time to answer. Oddly misplaces artistic silences were a common part of any conversation involving the weaver.
"Uhm.., I'm a weaver. Uhm... I didn't fully... understand... the last words. Uhm.. I'm sorry", Lace added. It was not exactly a helpful statement though. Much to Sitka's surprise, Yasmine seemed to have calmed down as well. Was this a weird weaver thing or simply due to the fact that he took no offense in anything?
"Hahaham it's okay! I meant, it's nice to meet you!", Yasmine exclaimed as if that statement was a life line saving her from drowning and extended her hand. As usual, Lace stared at her before taking it.
"He is so  creepy", Yasmine managed to whisper while the smile on her face froze. She managed to keep her voice so low, it was barely more than short range telepathy.
"Uhm.. it's nice... to meet you... as well", Lace answered in his usual way.
Sitka dared to breathe again. So far, nobody had been too awkward, or adorkable, he had no idea where he had heard the term before, but it was perfectly describing his current company. It was probably something Blair made up, or that fairy cousin of his.
"Say, Lace", Sitka began, mainly to keep his thoughts from trailing off and to keep the conversation going.
"What is the... reason you wrote that letter?"
He had meant to ask fort he story behind it, but then again, he was talking to a guy who answered "the sky" when asked "What's up?"
Lace remained silent, in his case, longer than usual.
"It... upset you", he said.
"No! Nonono! Not at all!", Yasmine hurried to assure him.
"It... was, uhm, a bit confusing, that's all!"
Sitka recalled the expression of sheer panic on her face when she finally came to him with that thing. A bit confusing, suuuure.
"I think it was hilarious", he announced with a happy smile on his face.
"Hulios said... it was going... to be funny. Uhm... I didn't get ... the joke", the weaver admitted.
"Who is Hulios?", Yasmine wondered, looking at Sitka. As if he knew every student on campus. If anyone was about to do that, it was the weaver, not him.
"A new student. Uhm.. he said writing the letter... would be fun. Uhm... he said he found the instructions... in the library..."
Yasmine's facial expression upon this revelation was the same as if someone had told her that they summoned an ancient evil god out of boredom.
"You... you just... but.. it could have been part of an old curse!"
"Hulios said... it's harmless... and fun", Lace insisted.
"Hulios agreed to be Noriél's guinea pig for potions. I don't think he is a very bright person", Sitka commented and notice too late that he had made a mistake. Two mistakes, actually.
"And by bright, I mean smart", he corrected himself quickly, to avoid at least one misunderstanding.
"He... agreed... to become... a pig?", Lace repeated, which caused Yasmine to chuckle, much to Sitka's relief. It was a good thing she was laughing around the weaver, right?
"To be someone's guinea pig means, that you allow that person to... perform.. experiments on you... He did what? Butwhywhouldanyonebodydothat?", Yasmine began to explain when sudden realisation hit her mid-sentence.
"He can read... and write he has to be smart", Lace stated.
"Everybody can read and write", Yasmine decided and Sitka failed to stop her. he could only watch the catastrophe taking its course.
"It's not a sign of smartness to be able to to do that."
"Uhm... I can't... do... either of it", Lace admitted. Yasmine panicked, just as Sitka had predicted it.
"I'msosorryIdidn'tknow. Ididn'tmeantosayyou'restupidbecauseyouobviouslyaren't,notatall!"
Lace stared at her, which didn't help improving the situation.
"What Yasmine is trying to say: she didn't mean to insult you", Sitka translated.
"Uhm... you did not", Lace answered. Yasmine blinked, confused, but also happy.
"I didn't? Oh, thank God!"
As a reaction to her statement, Lace asked:
"Who?"
"Nevermind, it's another figure of speech", Sitka hurried to say. Explaining the concept of a god, or any religion for that matter, was something he really didn't want to do. So far, simply labelling something as a figure of speech usually satisfied Lace's curiosity.
"Oh."
The silence that followed didn't last long as the weaver began to speak again.
"Uhm... you didn't. Uhm.. you said it's not a sign of smartness... if you can read and write. Uhm... this means... not being able... to do so... is not a sign... of not being smart", he explained to Yasmine. She opened her mouth and closed it again. It took Sitka a while to understand what Lace had just said. As soon as he did, he laughed.
"Uhm, yes, hahaha, I did say that", Yasmine realised and laughed as well. It was a unique mixture of nervousness and relief. The weaver still stared, but Sitka was tempted to say he was at least smiling behind the mask - or would be, if he could.
Maybe he didn't need to worry about these two meeting after all. Lace's strange way of taking everything literally somehow made him immune to insults, especially the accidental ones. Maybe that was why he was getting along surprisingly well with everybody he met.