Conintor walked back down the hall after another lesson, deciding to pay a visit to the Elk herd outside. He had always loved the creatures- the herd at The Keep was massive- he loved watching them run and socialize.
He bumped into someone as he thought about the elk, jostling him back to reality. He looked down in dismay as books and papers fell to the floor, the girl he had bumped into scoffing with disgust.
"Sorry- here, I'll help." Conintor leaned down to gather her books, looking up at her to see the girl from the day before. Only… he definitely wasn't a girl.
"Oh- you're a guy." Conintor said, and flinched when he realized he had said it out loud. The man looked up at him, a flush on his cheeks as his purple eyes turned angry.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, picking up his papers quickly.
"Ah- nothing! It's just, the other day I thought…" Conintor sighed in frustration, deciding it was better to just shut his stupid mouth now.
"Probably because of the purple. Typical." The man muttered, his long blond hair falling over his shoulders.
Conintor handed him a purple and blue book, yelling in surprise when two hummingbirds started whizzing around his head. He covered his face as their buzzing wings flapped around him, chitting angrily at him.
"Pipper- Twitter- stop it." The blond man said, the two pink male hummingbirds stopping in mid-air, hovering as they looked to the magi. "He didn't mean it."
The hummingbirds both twittered in protest and turned back around to Conintor, sticking thin tongues out of their beaks teasingly before zipping away.
"You have hummingbirds?" Conintor watched the two males duel for a minute outside the window, zig-zagging downwards out of sight.
"Yeah. I got them just the other day." The man said, looking at Conintor with curious purple eyes after picking up the last of his books. "Say… I don't want to be nosy, but, why do you never accept any of those girls' offers? You're good looking enough that dozens must have asked you out."
Conintor shrugged. "Not my type, I guess." He said, uneasy about discussing the subject with a stranger.
"Hmmm…" The man looked thoughtful for a minute and smiled. "My name's Novilo. I'm an air magi." He put his hand out to shake in greeting.
Conintor took the hand with a grateful smile. "Conintor- earth magi."
"That element fits you perfectly." Novilo snickered, and broke the hand shake. "It was nice to meet you. Hopefully I'll see you around sometime, huh?"
Conintor smiled. "Yeah- see you later." Conintor watched Novilo walk down the hall, his stomach doing a small strange flip. He frowned uneasily, wondering what that meant.
Conintor walked into the cabin, setting his books in their usual spot and sniffed the amazing smell of roast meat swirling through the cabin. He walked into the cabin to see Arya standing over a large pot, a spoon stirring stew with one hand, a book on earth magic in the other.
"Multitasking again?" Conintor laughed at the sight, sitting down at a small table beside the stove.
"My my, aren't we in a good mood today? Goofing around and everything." Arya chuckled, setting her book down on the counter. She raised the spoon out of the stew and put her hand under it as she brought it over to Conintor. "Try it- but blow on it first, it's really hot."
Conintor blew on the stew and ate it off the spoon, humming happily at the taste. "Amazing as always, Arya."
She smiled happily and brought the spoon back over to the pot, stirring again. "So, what's got my brother smiling like a love struck jackelope, hmmm?" Arya smiled at him over her shoulders.
"I'm not sure." Conintor shrugged.
"Well it must be something. Did anything out of the ordinary happen today?" She smiled over to him.
"Well I met someone- but other than that, not really."
"ooooh, a girl?" Arya squealed happily.
"No, it was a guy." Conintor rolled his eyes. "He was nice though- an air magi."
Arya glanced over at him curiously. "A new friend?"
"Maybe. I only met him for a minute. It was kind of weird though…" Conintor looked over at his sister uneasily. If he were to ask anyone about it, it would have to be her.
"What was, Con?" She said idly, stirring the stew.
"My stomach did a weird lurch thing when I met him. I think I may be sick or something." He said uneasily, hoping he wasn't coming down with anything.
Arya froze, glancing at him with wide eyes. "Your stomach felt funny? Were you warm?"
"Yeah, come to think about it. Why- what is it?" He looked up at her reaction, starting to get worried.
"Con, bro… I think you might be gay." She said uneasily, stirring the stew to distract herself.
"What?" Conintor laughed in disbelief. "Why do you think that?"
"Well, you never felt that way about any girls, right?"
Conintor shook his head. He had never felt any woman was really sexually appealing. They were pretty yes, nice yes, but not 'hot' as the other guys would talk about.
"And you first felt that way when you met that guy today, right?" She offered, putting out a hand suggestively.
Conintor's eyes widened in realization. "B-but… I can't…." He said uneasily, starting to panic. Was he? Could he be?
"There's nothing wrong with it." His sister added, turning the oven off. "Not to me, anyway- but some others think differently."
Conintor stared at the table in front of him, his eyes wide with shock. He had never thought of that possibility- he had always found men far more attractive than women… was that why he was so different from other men in The Keep?
"Don't look so panicked. You're fine. Just don't spread it around or anything. No one will think any differently of you." Arya smiled sweetly, pouring a bowl of stew for him. "Here- eat, and you can start enchanting that sickle. I know that usually takes your mind off things."
Conintor nodded, still looking uneasy as he started eating his stew.
