Another starting memory that lives in my heart.

Year Three: Fear as an Aphrodisiac

Three Years Ago - Rogers House

It's the middle of the night and Angela is in the kitchen getting a snack. She's on her toes, keeping herself on high alert since her mom always gets mad at her, Xavier, and even their dad for snacking in the middle of the night. Angela blames Xavier for eating a whole box of bagel bites. It was really their dad, but there have been no confessions so everyone blamed Xavier.

Still, that doesn't stop Angela from snacking. She's smarter than her dad and way smarter than Xavier. Since she's the only vegan in the house, nobody will eat her food which is why her coconut milk ice cream pint could disappear and nobody will notice.

Angela closes the freezer, her ice cream freezing the skin against her chest. She's about to run back to her room and eat in peace but then the worst happens.

She drops her spoon. Her reflexes are cold from digging in the freezer and holding her ice cream, and her mind has been focused on eating in her room in a sweet victory. The spoon clatters on the floor and her fast reflexes act only after the spoon clatters on the floor. Angela swipes it and is about to sprint back to her room, hopefully just jumping up the flight of stairs without climbing them, but she stops when she hears a door open.

Angela pauses, peeking out of the kitchen. She looks at the top of the stairs, expecting to see her mom but nobody's there. Her eyes travel down the stairs and she sees Xavier coming in the front door.

Angela stares at him, unaware that he wasn't even here. It's troubling that he doesn't see her right away and Angela isn't surprised since she recognizes the stupid lovestruck daze on his face (emphasis on stupid since he came in through the front door instead of his bedroom window which was probably how he left). Xavier should be scared of getting caught but his love for Britney Braun is too strong to activate his fear, at least for now.

He sees Angela seconds later.

"You're in trouble," Xavier whispers in a mocking tone as he locks the door.

"Am not!" Angela whisper-yells. "At least I was here the whole time."

"Goodnight and enjoy your fake ice cream."

Angela mocks his tone and he cracks a smile. He's about to head upstairs but stops when he sees Peggy at the top of the stairs. She's frowning at Xavier and Angela, which annoys Angela.

"Mom, you either ground Xavier or I will fight him to the death and my fists are already up," Angela states, one fist has her ice cream and the other holds her spoon.

-o-

Present Day - Common Lecture Hall - 11:17 AM

Merida isn't enjoying the day. She's sitting in her Gift of Fear class, listening to her SO talk about fear as a powerful aphrodisiac. While ignoring the lecture, she's typing a paper for her SO's other class that's due later today. Don't tell Agent Iyu but she started it at the beginning of the lecture. Merida's eyes flicker up often to look like she's paying attention but her SO would always make eye contact with her with an evil grin and without breaking her lecture's pace.

Merida knows that her SO knows she's suffering and why. She caused it.

"Beware of romantic passionate love," Agent Iyu says, keeping her eyes locked with Merida's. "Any form of arousal, pleasant or not, can influence feelings of romantic love. Intense experiences are more likely to cause sexual energy because it lights up the parts of the brain that arouses attraction. Adrenaline fuels extreme levels of romantic passionate love. Various exciting events may increase your love for your partner which happens because one aspect of romantic love is the exhilaration and excitement of high arousal."

Merida goes back to her paper, unaware of what she was typing since she stopped mid-sentence. She closes her laptop, figuring she'd make it a later problem. She slouches in her seat as Victoria swivels her chair to face her.

"I doubt you'll need that information," Victoria whispers, "and I'm not talking about your paper on data collection."

"Then why was Iyu looking at me?" Merida asks.

"Maybe she'll set you up with someone or fail your paper. Maybe both."

-o-

Wakanda's Royal Gardens - 12:51 PM

Imanu was glad to be released from a session on international relations. It was interesting to learn but the cultural etiquette and the names of officials and diplomats went over his head. It never helps that the roles change whenever he has to visit. All he grasped was Wakanda's relationship with other countries. Imanu isn't sure he'd ever been fully prepped for any social event, but he's glad his wife does all the talking and negotiating.

He passes through the gardens and pauses when he sees Iqadi sitting in the middle of a grassy patch, surrounded by flower bushes. Imanu stops walking and looks over, seeing that his wife has zoned out so much that she doesn't notice him looking at her. That's the expression he'd have at social gatherings with country officials and diplomats.

Her training doesn't even kick in when he walks up to her and sits crossed-legged in front of her. She jumps a little when he puts his hands on her knees to get her attention. Iqadi is spooked for a moment but eases when she sees it's only him. He never thought he could catch her unaware.

"Clear schedule?" Imanu asks. He knows his wife would have some training session or debriefing meeting right about now.

"No," Iqadi responds, "I just wanted a moment that wasn't on that schedule."

Imanu nods as he leans forwards to kiss her temple. "Darling, I'll make some time."

-o-

Academy Congress Hall - 13:27 PM

Angela thought she'd finally get her first assignment when her SO emailed her to join her at the Academy's Congress Hall. But no, it wasn't. Agent Moore chose to make it an experiential learning experience by having Angela accompany her to a debriefing. Angela wasn't sure if she had to change since she was in her training uniform, but Agent Moore said she looked fine. She wasn't wearing any special clothes, just a similar uniform with her badge clipped to her waist.

Angela walks beside Agent Moore, taking in everything. Agents talking in their earpieces, rushing to and from offices. Fresh graduates she recognizes now properly uniformed and armed, shadowing their SOs or another superior. Angela wonders if she'll still be with her SO by then or if she'll be transferred after graduation. She thinks her mother got sent somewhere else and Angela believes Xavier would be shipped to Camp again.

Still, back to the present day, Angela didn't think the debriefing session was that important since she was allowed to listen in. She figured it'd be classified.

"This is a lesson they don't teach you in the Academy," Agent Moore tells her. "It's important but they don't lecture you on it since it's just an answering questions recounting your mission. It's basically you telling your parents when they ask how school was. In debriefings, when you fail a mission and get asked what went wrong, they'll know that you knew you had a chance not to screw it up. Why, you might be wondering? Because if it was in your head at the debriefing, it was in your head on the field."

"But can't you make the argument that you realized your mistake after?" Angela asks.

Her SO grins a little from the corner of her mouth. "You work your way around it."

"How?"

"When your parents ask how your day at school was, what do you say?"

"Fine."

"And when you had a bad day, what do you say?"

Angela pauses. She thinks it over for a second before mimicking Agent Moore's smile. "Fine."

As I'm outlining this chapter, I just finished planning a PNG arc where Merida did use those aphrodisiac lessons. (As I'm publishing this chapter, I finished that arc a while ago and you'll get to read it soon!)

Also, I've done the thing Merida did: typing a paper for a prof while sitting in another class taught by the same prof. She knew what I was doing and was thriving.