She laughs. "Oh, I know I don't have enough creativity or tolerance for the industry to work in gamedev, plus I hate doing UI work and games are at least half interface. No, I want to design the logic behind tools for more-intelligent data analysis, help people piece the info they have together better. Maybe write shitty amateur fiction in my off-time."

Sable's probably getting a peach danish too. The classics are classic for a reason.

"I wanted to go into erocore writing, even given the... well... everything, you know how competitive it is... but my family wants me to go into sexual therapy instead. You know how it is, your family always wants you to be a doctor or a lawyer if you show any interest or aptitude at all for either profession." She shakes her head. "I like therapy as a career, for sure. I've certainly gotten my share. But, well, my experience on the practical side is kind of lacking what with the trans part and all. So, um..." She looks away a little and runs a hand through her hair. "Thank you. That was really lovely, and I needed it I think a lot more than you knew." 

The line's long, but it moves real fast. Gloria grabs her danish from the display and pulls out her phone to pay. 

"I'm working on a novel, actually. It's really hard to work on both it and my class work, but, well, it seems to be going okay. I'm tired a lot but I'm acing psych and my novel's slowly growing. Progress is what's important, right?"

"Exactly and precisely," she replies. "Keep going a step at a time, and then turn to look behind you and be surprised how far you've gone. And seriously, it was my pleasure. You are an utter delight."

Sable does the same, and then leads the way to the sex building.

"What's your novel about, if you don't mind my asking?"

"It's a mess, honestly. It's trying to be about a vampiress and her asshole of a sire, but dark stories like that are kind of a niche market. I write to process kinda, a lot of my stuff is sort of about being trans. I've been working on this piece since I was a kid but I think that honestly I might have to shelve it. College is just so much better than high school that I feel some of my impulse to write's drained away, with... less to process, yeah?" 

She shakes her head. "Hannah'd say that my mistress is beauty, but really I feel that I'm missing a muse lately. Which I guess is a good thing?" She shrugs and laughs. "Maybe you can be my muse?" She reaches out and taps a finger on Sable's chin. "You've got a good face, suitable for painting."

That manages to spark a blush from violet-haired girl. "I certainly wouldn't mind helping out, though I can't say anyone's used me as a muse before."

She shakes her head. "I can't say I'm as familiar with lost inspiration like that, but all you can really do is follow where the spark leads, right?"

"Yeah, something like that. I feel like I need to get my feet beneath myself in this new world of college before I'll be able to... sort myself out. It's just easier to be myself in a way that feels good now that the hormones have really kicked in and I'm not dealing with cliques constantly. I was such an awkward kid in elementary and middle school. I guess undiagnosed ADD'll do that to you." 

She takes a bite of her danish and hums to herself. "Like, if I'm honest with you you're only the third person I've ever had sex with. And one of the other two was my therapist, so..." She spreads her hands. "Is it any wonder I turned out a sex nerd, when I got introduced to it by someone who was a real professional?"

She smiles and nods. "Not surprising at all. Honestly, you sex nerds are some of my favorite people — hence why I keep showing up in your club rooms from time to time. Y'all get how fascinating the variety can be, and how lovely it is to help someone else come undone in a beautiful orgasm."

Sable holds the door for Gloria as they reach the sex building.

Aw, how sweet. 

Gloria leads the way through. The central kiosk holds a "Calway Calvera Co." shop, and around it scatters tables and loungieres. There's nice big glass walls looking out onto the university gardens, and a skylight high overhead. Elevators along one wall ascend into the tower of the sex building, while the opposite wall hosts a wrap shop that's doing a slow but present business right now. People are scattered around, feeling each other up on the loungieres or reading at the small tables with a wrap in hand. It's a lot quieter than the main student hall though, only about half-full even during the lunch rush. 

Gloria heads over to the kiosk — there's no line — and buys a calvera from the barista at the cashier. It comes in a disposable paper cup with a heavier cardboard liner sleeve. 

"So," Gloira says. "Do you want to hang around here to eat, or does your surprise come with somewhere to drink calvera?"

"Absolutely somewhere to eat and drink. Come see."

And Sable leads the way down a few back hallways to a stairwell Gloria's heard of but never visited. "Up for braving the underground, beautiful?"

"I, um, uh..." 

Gloria laughs uneasily, then takes a long breath.

"... Guess you had to have some downsides," she says after a moment. "Sure, okay, yes, I will brave the underground with you but only because you're incredibly charming and I think I have a squish on you. My therapist probably wouldn't approve. My parents definitely wouldn't..." 

"... But I have to admit I've always wondered what's down there, so if you're willing to be my guide..."

"I absolutely am," Sable replies with a warm grin. "I won't pretend the whole place is pleasant or safe, but I wouldn't risk a cute new friend like you, even if that squish you mentioned wasn't mutual. I think you'll like this."

Sable leads the way downward, squeezing Gloria's hand warmly. The light fades as they descend, and she flicks the flashlight to life on her phone to light their way.

The stairwell opens onto a tunnel, with walls of chipped white plaster covered here and there by graffiti. The cement floor looks grimy — though a keen eye might notice there's oddly no litter, and the apparent dirt doesn't seem to change the texture under their shoes at all, nor is it disturbed by their footsteps. About halfway from sex to comp sci, they reach a narrow, windowless doorway.

Gloria looks around anxiously, as if she's going to be discovered at any moment. The gloomy surroundings don't help too much. 

She squeezes Sable's hand firmly in return as she follows her.

Sable opens door and leads the way further inside. The girls enter a surprisingly clean corridor, with a cement floor and much more deliberately artful graffiti replacing the usual tags and sloppiness. Small LED lights provide a warm amber glow at knee height every few meters, providing enough visibility to walk, though Sable continues using her phone's flashlight to illuminate the art on walls.

Some of the murals depict competing interpretations of the peachgivers, while others portray personal struggles, or the rise of noble trickster nomads, and others still show characters from popular media.

The girls pass several more doors on either side, many decorated with various designs, before eventually stopping at one decorated with a stylized lotus blossom in green.

"Ready to see one of the better-kept secrets of the university?"

"There are people down here? What in forest -"

"Yes, absolutely. I can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeve."

And with a grin, Sable taps her phone to a spot just below the bottom-right petal of the lotus blossom. 

The door clicks and swings open, revealing a room with walls of deepest midnight blue decorated with glowing murals everywhere — and in every mural, whether central and proud of tucked discreetly away, a lotus of some form or another. Three loungeries form a semi-circle facing an enormous screen on one wall with game consoles resting below it, with a pair of guys (one with green hair, the other black) snuggling on one and casually groping each other while they watch a movie, headphones in their ears. Another loungerie against a different wall bears a nude, blue-haired girl painting digitally on a pair of tablets supported by a swing-arm stand, while another girl caresses her as she watches in admiration. A different loungerie has a pair of androgynous-looking programmers tapping away at laptops on swing-arms. Three girls play a complicated-looking board game at a table.

Orchestral electronica fills the air, previously inaudible beyond the soundproofing of the door.

"Welcome to the lotus lounge," she murmurs.

Misfortune looks up from her tablets, registers that Sable's just come in — and brought a friend, too —  and swings her tablets away to the side so she can get up and greet her guest. 

"Hey," she says with a wink. "Glad to meet you. No need for a name if you don't feel like sharing. Sable's got a good eye, but please, keep this place hush-hush. We've got a small arrangement with the maintenance staff, but this was supposed to be their breakroom once upon a time about fifty years back and technically still is." 

She offers her hand to shake. "We're Misfortune — Jinx, Hex and Curse, there's three of us in this body. Bipolar and DID. You?" 

Gloria shakes Misfortune's hand. "I, um. I'm Gloria. And I'm ADD? And also trans, I guess that sort of counts. You really have a whole setup down here, don't you?"

Misfortune twists one of her braids around her finger. "Yeah, that definitely counts. And yeah, it's been upgraded a lot over the years but everything still works fine." 

She passes Gloria a small card with a luminescent three-petaled lotus on one side. "Here. This won't get you through the door, but it's your safe-passage. If you stumble across a maintenance worker in the halls down here you can show them this and they'll know you're no trespasser. Don't lose it, don't pass it to anyone else."

"I, um, okay?" Gloria takes the card and slides it into her pocket next to her phone.

"All that said, enjoy. This is a place for you and people like you. You'll get a full membership if you attend here as a guest enough; till then, you'll need to be accompanied by Sable here."

Misfortune flops back onto the couch and returns to her sketches without another word more.

Sable gives Misfortune a warm smile and drops casually into a chair, pulling out another next to her for Gloria.

"Welcome to the secret haven of everyone who wants a break from making their differences palatable to others, the place where you're free to be completely and unapologetically weird. Everyone here is neurodivergent or outcast in some way, and you can only get in by invitation."

She takes a bite of her danish, and then a long sip of her calvera.

"No one's quite sure how long the lotus lounge has been here. Three decades, minimum. Possibly as long as the university itself."

"I... wow. That's... I never knew. I probably would've gone on not knowing if I hadn't blundered into you."

She juggles her danish and her calvera so they're back in each of her hands, and sits.

"How did you discover this place in the first place? Friend of yours? Or did you just go exploring and stumble on it?"

She lays her danish in her lap and takes a deep sip of her calvera, cupping her hands around its comforting warmth.

She takes a breath, looking down at her calvera for a moment, before looking back up at Gloria with a light smile.

"Misfortune found us."