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"Seeing as how I think it hit seven digits, I think it's safe to say they did." So much money. He did have to shake his head at Clyde's declared allegiance, though. "Being on any sort of team kind of associates you with it too much, don't you think? And it sounds like you need to practice your driving a bit more." That... was almost a laugh. Did he seriously make a joke? Really? What was with this guy?

"Use both, use one, add things, ignore things. All the attempts at personalization have succeeded in doing is make it impossible for them all to get around. They all want to be right, and most of them can't take the idea that someone or something else might be as or more right than they are, even if it doesn't necessarily mean that they themselves are wrong."

Darn it, this conversation was too active. He might still be sitting still, and it might be just as environmentally calm as before, but the effort required to converse was starting to tell. Aiden tried to be subtle as he adjusted his ponytail to let more air reach the back of his neck. Borderline almost-not-too-hot seemed to be too-hot-with-company. This place really should have accessible freezers of sufficient size and design to allow people like him to make effective use of them.

Missed part? Aiden supposed the Clyde guy did kind of look a little distracted or something. Maybe he'd noticed whatever it was that Aiden had almost noticed? That could do it. "I met someone who kind of got dragged into the movie version of that horrible book that's so popular with preteen girls." Aiden rolled his eyes. "They paid him well, though."

A thought occurred to him. "Isn't there already kind of a sequel in the Bible, though? What with the Old and New Testaments and all?" He probably should get around to actually reading it properly. There'd always been one on the shelf, and he'd tried cracking it open a few years before, but the awkward language had chased him away in the first few words. It was too much like the stuff he had to read in English class, full of stuffy, formal phrases that had no proper flow and lilt to them. Had Conri ever read it? He thought so. He hoped so, anyway. He glanced briefly at the manga Bible. Would that count, maybe, as having read the real thing? Not that he expected or wanted to die any time soon, but that was rather obviously a poor excuse.

"You're annoying. Why are you so stubborn? It's hot, okay? Hot is bad. Maybe it just fried your brain already. Frying everything else." Like him. No, what was happening to him was somewhere between boiling and melting. Neither was good. Melting was probably less bad, though. Kind of appropriate too. Horrible but unpleasantly undeniably appropriate.

"Oversensitive implies that it isn't real or appropriate. You shouldn't say things like that," Aiden declared. It was rude to try to say that people were imagining things. Hadn't already Persi tried to say that he was seeing things before? Continuing in the same vein after Aiden had already proven him wrong on that very point was just weird. Oooh, ice cubes! Ice cubes would help!

Except getting up was gross and probably going to make him more miserable. Would their acquisition be worth the pain and effort? He pondered this very hard. It was a very serious matter, after all. To be completely and totally honest, he wasn't convinced that he was capable of staying on his feet long enough to find the ice cubes. Sure, he might be able to just climb in the freezer when he got there, since that might be nice, but it would be so hard... He cast a slyly contemplative glance in Persi's direction... or would have if his eyes were open, but it took too much effort to push them open right now. His head hurt too much to fall asleep, and anyway it was indeed far too hot to sleep, but being awake was hard too. He shifted enough to dig his head more comfortably into his mattress. "Good brothers would go get ice cubes," he said plaintively, just loud enough for it to be audible but still sound like he was talking to himself. Conri always got him soup when he was sick. What was wrong with getting ice cubes when he was hot?

Sounds like a perfect person for Aiden to meet! Any particular places/times of day around the mansion she tends to frequent?

Taking the book and skimming over both covers, Aiden had to admit that it sure looked like a straight-up conversion of the Bible into manga format. They must have dug up a pretty desperate artist to draw it, though he couldn't say the style or artistic quality was any worse than most other novels. He checked the artist's name, but fortunately it wasn't one he knew. Some newbie, probably, scrambling for enough work to make ends meet. Looked a bit more suited to shoujo than religion, though.

"Wow." What else was there to say? He flipped to the first page and skimmed into the book a bit. "If this is a parody, it's a really subtle one. I think they're actually serious." Interesting. Aiden really wasn't a Bible or churchy sort of guy, though he always kind of subconsciously figured that there was a God and Heaven and Hell and all that stuff, because so many people couldn't be totally off base (when he bothered to think about it at all, that was), but this still seemed... odd.

"If it works, probably just to cover themselves until they can make their own versions," Aiden said drily, passing the book back. "Given the shelf it was on, though, it's probably a total flop, one of the books the library could get dirt cheap because no one wanted it. So I figure most of the competition are just shaking their heads and laughing."

Aiden shrugged shyly and edged the sketchbook so it was a little more hidden and made him feel like she wasn't looking at it so much. "A dragon and a kelpie..." he said quietly. He could still pick out the curve of the dragon's neck as it struck at the kelpie with its fangs, the angle of the kelpie's powerful legs, but that was probably just his imagination and memory conspiring to taunt him with the picture's loss. "I could draw something similar, but it wouldn't be the same. You can never draw the same thing twice."

What did the crazy circus girl think she was doing now? Aiden twisted to follow her movements, only to realize that twisting was going to knock him over again and if he just turned around all the way there was a pointy nub of root digging into his backside. He hopped enough to catch his feet beneath him, finding it infinitely easier to balance without worrying about the sketchbook, and watched the weird mouse girl with confusion from an easy crouch. Her temporary accent made it far easier to follow her... jig? than her words, even when Adeline evidently translated her own blur of words.

Wow, the kid was good. He blinked and watched, rather amazed, as Adeline attempted and succeeded in doing what looked like that famous Russian or whatever thing. He'd seen it in the odd movie or show type deal, and some manga tried to involve it, but it really needed animation and was infinitely more impressive in live action than in animation.

And then she tossed a metaphorical giant sickle of doom with free biohazard bombs attached at him. That was fun, to choke with the shock and find his feet had already slipped out from under him and left him sitting on the root with his feet in the mud. Really, it was great fun?

He turned away from the still-dancing, utterly oblivious girl and stretched to collect his lost pencil. Cleaning it off occupied a few moments quite well, but not answering would be rude.... and no matter how rude she had been to ask like that, it wasn't right to be rude in return. He swallowed and tucked the pencil into the ring binding of the sketchbook. "I... make it snow sometimes," he said slowly. Deciding to accept the situation so did not make it easy to discuss it. "But mostly I don't get cold. I do get hot fast, though..." he trailed off, eyeing the sunny expanse of horror so nearby.

"I don't care if we're inside. It's hot. What, you think that just because I don't get cold I can't tell when it's hot?" He'd had enough of this. Persi thought this was annoying? Well it was way worse to someone at serious risk of overheating if they so much as got up and walked around the room! He didn't need this aggravation. His brain hadn't fried enough to keep from reminding him that he was in no shape to go anywhere else, though, so evidently the only way to solve this was to drive Persi away.

"I don't care what ski slopes do," Ai growled. He also wasn't interested in Persi's snarky answer. Couldn't he tell that Aiden was being rather sarcastic about what the request entailed, and see how inappropriate a request it truly was? "Well, I'd rather not overheat and die in some corner on the way. Just go already." If he weren't lying on his back with too little energy left to try to get up again, he would have fixed his roommate with the nastiest glare he could manage. "Really. Go." Then they could all get away from this conversation.