tuesday afternoon

[deepest_magic]

Elizabeth's house is within walking distance. Bella goes over to it the following day, after lunch, carrying two extra clumsily-frosted but perfectly baked cupcakes in her hands and notebooks in her backpack.

Comments

[deepest_magic]

"I could look ten years old forever, but I couldn't be ten years old forever," says Bella. "I suppose my brain could quit growing, which would be bad, but as long as I could still learn things it wouldn't be all that bad. And I would have forever to figure out how to not look ten, if that was a drawback of however I was immortal that needed to be fixed."

[neverbeatme]

"I mean 'be' as in physically, not chronologically. Looking ten years old would be the thing that'd confuse people, but only because they'd be assuming that you'd only lived for ten years and your brain and body worked like a ten-year-old's. Probably if your brain and body worked like a ten-year-old's forever, people would want you to keep being all cute and innocent and stuff even when they found out how old you really were; I don't know how they'd feel about it if you were an adult who just looked ten."

[deepest_magic]

"I don't think anyone really knows how much of ten year old brains working different is because they need to physically grow more and how much of it is because the people who live in them have all only been around for ten years," says Bella thoughtfully. "I mean - how would you check?"

[neverbeatme]

"There are developmental differences and stuff. But yeah, I don't think there's a way to get adults with ten-year-old brains and ten-year-olds with adult brains, at least not ethically."

[deepest_magic]

"Yeah. How would you do it unethically?" muses Bella.

[neverbeatme]

"Science can do some pretty weird stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody at some point figured out how to change how fast people's brains develop."

[deepest_magic]

"I suppose. People sometimes talk about 'mental age' but I don't think that's the same thing really."

[neverbeatme]

"I don't think so either."

[deepest_magic]

"I am looking forward to being grown up. My parents know I'm pretty responsible but they don't always act like it, and other people don't even know as much as they do."

[neverbeatme]

"Chris is good about that, and everybody else I can pretty much work around."

[deepest_magic]

"Do you have any good tips on working around people?"

[neverbeatme]

"Not generally applicable ones. Why, who do you need to work around?"

[deepest_magic]

"Nobody in particular right now. Teachers sometimes, unless I get good ones next year."

[neverbeatme]

"I can probably help you work around teachers, but I don't think I can tell you how without knowing who. It's not the kind of thing where there are general principles you can talk about easily."

[deepest_magic]

"Oh. And I go to school in Phoenix so you couldn't meet them really."

[neverbeatme]

"You can meet them, and I'm sure your observations won't be completely worthless."

[deepest_magic]

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

[neverbeatme]

"You're welcome!"

[deepest_magic]

Bella sticks out her tongue.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth laughs.

"No, really, though. Even if you're not especially better than other people at figuring people out, I think you would be better than most peole at giving me the kind of information I can use to do that."

[deepest_magic]

"What kind of information? Maybe I can practice before I go home, so you can check my work."

[neverbeatme]

"Okay, imagine you are having a problem with someone that you want me to help you solve," she says. "Think of a specific example. What would you tell me about it?"

[deepest_magic]

Bella closes her eyes. "Uuuum, last year we had to do group projects in English with assigned partners and mine wouldn't do any work and the teacher didn't believe me. I'm not sure whether the right place to solve it would be with the teacher or the other kids though."

[neverbeatme]

"What can you tell me about the conversation you had with the teacher about it?"

[deepest_magic]

"She said that part of the assignment was teamwork, and that if I couldn't work with my team I needed to 'cultivate those skills', and that she was sure they weren't really going to sabotage our project because their grade depended on it too, and that if I kept complaining no one would want to work with me when we did get to choose groups."