Psiberzerker
08-20-2019, 10:49 AM
Author Note
There aren't story codes for this, partially because a lot of people won't find it very arousing. The narrator discovers something about herself, with the help of someone else that isn't homosexual, nor is there any other term which really covers it. Nerd is about as close as I can think you might respond to, but basically strip everything emotional from the act, and do it simply for what it is. Auto-erotic, it's not quite asexual, but extremely analytical. So, fair warning, most of you may find this weird-to-boring.
;
Jenny (ff Nerd)
It turned out that I had nothing to fear. I suppose that all the movies I'd seen, and stories I've heard over-exaggerated what High School was supposed to be like, but I didn't think that being a Freshman would be so easy.
Junior High might have given me the wrong idea, because that was a lot worse. It seemed like everyone hated everyone else, even friends teased each other, and said horrible things, but high school was fine. It wasn't as boring as sitting in the same class, with the same teacher, and the same students learning different things all year.
I was worried about having multiple classes, and having 5 minutes in between to get to my locker, and switch out books, but I printed out a map with all the numbers on it, and my locker number. That was essentially it for paper, they put in computers, and there was a big flat screen instead of a white board to write on. One of the first rules that came up was [Don't Throw Anything.]
"This is a touch screen." She tapped it, "And it's extremely sensitive. So, if you damage it, then your parents are going to have pay to replace it."
It made sense, but I looked down, about to pick up a pen or pencil, when I didn't have any out. I brought some, thinking I'd need it, but then the teacher said. "Now, if you look at your terminals, you should see this screen." She turned back, and stepped out of the way. Pulled up a keyboard from the bottom, where the chalk, or dry erase markers would be. "Just use your last name, middle initial. Then first name to log in. The box in the corner of the keyboard is a Biometeric. Just hold a finger, or your thumb there, still until it reads your fingerprint, and you won't need a password to log in."
"Any finger or thumb?" She nodded, and turned back to the touchscreen.
It was a snap, "You can log into the school system from any computer, or mobile device that's connected to the internet, but it's not the internet. It's a private server, and it's connected to the national databases for colleges, and private schools around the network. Now, you should see the first icon is for this class."
I looked up, but she just tapped in the top left corner, so we clicked on that. It came up with an outline, which she talked us through, but I only half listened. "No Plagiarism, that means copying, and pasting anyone else's work as your own, and there's filters in the system for what can, or cannot be loaded from the internet, on other devices."
"I can't get on the internet?" I looked back at a guy, sitting behind me. He put his hand down.
"Again, this isn't the internet, it's the school network, and the local terminals aren't connected to the regular internet."
"Why not?"
"We have a lot to cover today, so if you'll save any questions 'till the end, then we should have time to cover them. There's a FAQ sheet at the top of every page, you can read any time."
He just looked disappointed, but what did he think, they'd just let you surf the internet in class?
"Banned materials include pictures of nudity, abusive language, sexting, or."
"Uh, miss?" Another girl on the other side, behind me. "The system filters keywords, and even phrases that might be mean. Like you're stupid."
"That's right, automatically." The girl kept typing, really fast, and barely waiting for the words to turn to *s, and flash red.
Huh, so I tried that, just to see what words it filtered. I mean **** obviously, and **** flashed, then changed to feces. **** became Urine automatically, and that was kind of fun to play around with, for a while until I started running out of things I could think of to try. *** Mule.
Oh right, mules, donkeys, and Jennys were technically asses. I learned that, when it turned out that a Jenny was a kind of female donkey. So, what if you have to write about something anatomical? You can still use Feces, so I found out that Rectum, and Anus still works, but not Anal, because that could mean Anal sex, I guess. That came up Posterior, but then the teacher asked "Now, are there any questions," and I figured I could find any answers I wanted in the FAQs, which I could read later.
The teacher just said: "You can go, and find the next class," so I got up, and took the paper out to navigate down the hall, and around the corner to the stairs. It had all my class numbers, and the times, but then a bell tone sounded over the speakers. It wasn't like a school bell, and not at all unpleasant.
Then, I got to the next class early, the first one, and put the paper back in my empty book bag. This bookless system was great, but as soon as I logged in, I got a message.
[You like Posterior?]
I didn't know you could even log in, without your name, or face popping up, but when I looked up in the corner, I saw a picture I don't remember taking, and mover the pointer over it.
[Click to retake profile photo.]
Oh, I was frowning, and looking at the corner, not the camera. It just took another one, when I logged in. So, I looked around for the little spot, it was in the top, right where I was expecting it, and this time I smiled. Looking right at it, instead of off to the corner, where the photo was. I looked around for a Save feature, but it just stayed that way when I mover the pointer, and another message popped up.
[Never mind]
[Oh, who is this? Do you mean anus,] It just auto-corrected to Posterior, and Anus is a lot quicker to type [As a Noun, or an Adverb?]
[The part of the body, or the kind of activity?]
He really talked around it, but it was kind of helping me figure out what words to avoid, and what forms could be shorthand, like using Anal instead of Posterior.
[You must have seen me checking the language filters in class, but in answer to your question, no. I'm not an Mule girl.]
"Uh!" I looked back right after I sent it. That's how I found out that it didn't change An into A when it translated Ass into Mule again. [Who RU, and how did you manage to log onto the system without your name, or picture showing up?]
...
The teacher came in, and the back row of seats filled up first, but I didn't even think about sitting down, and logging in to the closest one to the door. I just sat down, but that ment that pretty much anyone that was close enough could read my screen, so I deleted the entire message stream, and asked the teacher how to adjust the text size.
"Control Plus." That made the font larger, so I tried Control Minus, and that made it shrink down so I could barely read it, if I pushed my glasses down. I could look over them to focus on fine detail, like tiny text in Messages, but it took him a while to get back to me.
[Well, I tried everything I could think of to tell you, but it turns out that the system doesn't want you to tell how to circumvent it. I'd have to show you in person, but there's terminals in the Archives.]
[On lunch?] I got out the paper, and looked it over, through my glasses. [Where's the Archives?]
[Next to the office, on the other side from the Dining Hall.]
It said Lunch Room, then Staff Offices, and then Library. [You mean the Library?] I waited for it to change, but it didn't.
[Yes, that's the Archives now, since they're moving to a paperless system.]
[Except the flier I got to get to class.]
[I guess they didn't update the fliers.]
[What grade are you in?]
[9th grade, the same as you.]
[RU] Auto-translated to [Are you male, or female?]
[Female, same as you.]
;
Guest (Anon)
I recognized her from her pictures, but she came to the Archive room, as planned. Since we aren't supposed to have outside devices like phones, or personal computers, we can bring them, but you might as well leave them in your bag, or your locker. If you get caught using them in class, then you'll have to put them away, or even get them confiscated for trying to connect with the system.
"Hey, Jennifer."
"You can call me Jenny, everyone else does. So how's this work?"
"Come on." She followed me around the Reference books, but since they converted everything over from paper to a database, they're mostly kept as an Archive. Until they find something to do with them, or the money to recycle everything. "The best ones are back here." By the windows, everything is facing inward, so you have to look out, and listen for anyone coming, but there's not much for them to do in here besides dust the books, and use the computers. I got the piece of paper out, and pulled it over the edge of the desk to flatten it. "Just watch." I typed in [Guest] for the log in, and held the piece of paper up to the facial recognition camera.
The image blurred out, then went black, so I could hit [Enter]
"What's that?" She took the paper, and turned it over. "Ngk!" She looked around, and gave it back, so I crumpled it up.
"How long have you been going here?" She didn't ask about the picture.
"First day, same as you, but my mom uses the same system at work, and my brother went to school here. They figured out how to use the system against itself."
"So, they're a hacker?"
"No? Well, I guess he wants to be a hacker, but he took Advanced Security Programs last year. That's where they figured it out."
"Is it him, or they?"
"Oh, no. He's not transgender, he just figured it out with some friends, in A.S.P. class. Seriously, we wouldn't be here unless we're intelligent, and talented with computers. You'd think they'd at least update the system to close down back doors like this one."
"Let me see that picture." She sat down, and started logging on as Guest.
"Sorry, it's too crumpled, so it probably won't recognize it, but you can draw your own." I pulled a slip of paper out of the reuse box, and the stub of a pencil.
"Not that good, probably."
I nodded, "It might take a little practice to get all the details right." I came around the bottom, and carefully traced around to make a couple semi-circles, and another line up to the head. "Here, try this."
"Just hit enter?"
"When it recognizes it, and the filter blocks it out."
"You must draw penises a lot." She just smiled, then looked down, and hit [Enter.] Shook her head.
"Well, it's the simplest image for the filter to recognize, so it's fast, and easy to draw. In private, you can just pull your top down, nipples will trigger the filter, too."
"So, this is a temporary guest login, if we both log in at the same time like now, it's not the same?"
"That's right, and it only lasts for about 4 minutes, but if you know someone's name, then you can search for them, and it'll bring up their."
"Oh, what's your name?"
;
Jenny (f Zen)
"I think I'll change my elective," they're not locked in years ahead of time, "This security stuff is interesting."
I get it, she doesn't want me to know her name, and she doesn't even login with a picture of her face, that's why she uses the Guest login trick. It doesn't even require a thumbprint, but I kept the penis picture she drew for me. So, I don't have to draw a new one every time I want access without logging in my face. "So, it's A.S.P. or ASP?"
I logged in, and looked at the camera this time when I hit [Enter] with a Smile.
[x] Online.
Bringing up the course correction, which is Alphabetized. "Oh, here." [ASP] Click. [Qualifications.]
"Just click on the classes in red. You're already signed up for the green ones, but." She pointed, "You have to take these first, to get into A.S.P. She spells them out, and I just realized.
"Hhihn, I guess they couldn't call it Advanced Security Systems without the class changing to Mule automatically."
"I guess that makes you an ASP girl," she jokes back. "You can use keywords like that." She typed in, and the message popped up, for me to click on.
[You have a nice ASP.] "Like the eggplant Emoji."
"They don't allow Emojis."
"Well, they don't have any in the system. I'm sure they have some way to input them from the internet, but I haven't found it yet. I figured you weren't bought into the school."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, all this cost money, especially the changeover to paperless, that cost almost a million dollars, but of course the people that payed the money, or the companies that invested in this beta."
"So, this is like a beta version, for the school system?"
"Basically, we're developing the system for all the schools, as soon as the funding is gotten. It's probably going to cost trillions for the whole 9th through 12th grades, but they're working on the colleges and universities first. Eventually, they should extend it all the way down to first grade."
"That'll take years, but my little brother." I thought, "You said your mom works for one of those companies."
"No, I didn't." Mathematician answer.
So, I scooted out, and looked at her when she looked at me. "So, she works here," she looked away, "as a teacher?" She didn't even smile, but she didn't have to.
So, I just got up, and slipped the penis picture in my pocket. My purse has one on the outside, that might not be the best place, but I can snap the flap over it, and it should be stiff enough to keep it from getting wrinkled.
"See you later." I looked back, but she was using both mouses, and looked back and forth to close out our logins.
I figured she would message me, but I ate a big breakfast just to avoid having to deal with lunch food. It's just regular school food, but it's also a free period to look around too. I had a while to find my next classroom, which was open, and empty, which made me wonder why we had to meet up at the Archives, when we could have just gone in any classroom that wasn't full.
This time, I went straight back to the corner, where nobody could sit behind me, and got out the picture to login as Guest.
Sure enough, Nobody messaged me in the time it took me to find it. [How would you like to hook up after school?]
[Sure,] I like her, she's interesting, and I should probably tell her that, instead of keeping it to myself. [I like you, yoU'Re interesting, and analytical. Especially when talking in person about things that the system would filter.]
[Thank you.] Also, she just leaves things out, like her mathematician answer, but I looked up, and realized, it didn't change Analytical to Mulelytical, so I tried that real quick, and it didn't **** out Anal until you hit [Space.] analbutsex [**********] "Huh." Didn't even try to come up with a better way to say that, but it deleted everything, and jumped the cursor back to the beginning of the line.
[Is that all you like about me?]
[Lesbian?] ******* Back to the beginning of the line. [I don't know, I haven't given much thought to dating, and activities that might lead to.]
[RUA Virgo?]
I don't even know what month that constellation corresponds to, so I decided to try my hand at one of her Mathematician Answers. [Yes, what is your sign?]
[Binary.]
[I may be binary as well. {10, 00..}?]
[Yes. That is a good code to break down the relation between genders.]
[Sexes] Genders. [Sex] Gender. "Huh!" [Posterior Gender]
[100?]
[If you mean threesomes, ] *********. "Uh!" <<<<<<<<<<<<<< [Maybe 101, that sounds a little advanced, but you could tutor me in 00 later?]
[{0} After School?]
[Possibly.]
[Okay. CUL8r.]
[CUL8r.]
I looked down at the little slip of paper, I left face down beside the keyboard. Built into the desk, I felt under it, but all there was were round heads with no slot, + cuts, hex hole nor * for a Torx bit. They weren't even painted, i ducked down to see they were stainless steel, with washers.
New message: [I'm not a Nepotism student. I qualified for this school on my own.]
[I know that. I never would have questioned it, even knowing about your family members here.]
[It's good to be intelligent here, and bad to be rich. Any other school, that I know of, you would be teased for being smart, and popular for being rich, but it's the other way around here.]
[It helps to be pretty too, so I know you will be popular here.]
[I know that you will too.] The most interesting thing I learned, the first day, was how to get around the Sexting filters, so we could flirt, and when other students started to show up, I just had to put the paper in it's pocket. So, I didn't knock it off, and get caught with a picture of a penis, but she offered, or agreed to show me some 00 extra-curricular activities, or {0}? That may mean the single set, an O for orgasm, or just a graphic that the filter doesn't recognize like CUL8r. I even picked that code when she came out as Binary, because the 1 is phallic, and the 0 would be symbolic of the other gender. Whatever that word is, I tried [Phallic] in an empty field, before the next teacher came in, and I had to log out.
Apparently, that's not filtered, but then again, they teach Psychology here, and you can't do that without at least mentioning Freud. I don't know how much they will get into that, but if I am going to be taking ASP instead.
[Do you really like my ASP?]
[I don't know. I never actually looked. I like your face, and your glasses.] That warmed it up. [Bodies are not as important.]
[Why not?]
[They aren't as expressive. You can't look into somebody's pants, and see what they are feeling.] Well, you can look in a boy's pants, and see that he's erect, but I suppose that the pubic hairs would mask anything you could see in a female.
[I can't see what yoU aRe feeling. You keep it off of yoUR face too well.]
[I don't feel the same as most people. IDKY.] The acronym filter only seems to recognize ones that are common, like UR to make yoU'Re, yoUR, or yoU aRe. I learned all that, and there/their/they're in elementary, but I knew other kids as late as 8th grade that always got that wrong, and I'm starting to feel more like an adult today, than the relative child I was last year, because of her.
I don't even know her name, but it's not like I think John, or Christ, I know who I'm thinking about, and now, I'm thinking about her face. Not her body, her body is another. Teenage female body, but it just occurred to me how childish it is to think of each other as boys and girls in high school, but kissing? Yes, I could kiss her.
What else? I don't even know how I could ask her over the system, even if I could risk the penis picture guest log in trick, but she said that in private, I could flash my nipples to trigger the filter to wipe out the picture.
I pushed the track ball around in circles, then nudged it up to my profile picture, and tapped it. Wow, I look made up? I know I didn't put on any makeup, but I was expecting the blush in my cheeks. I felt my lips, and they weren't just deeper red, they were fuller, and the tiny wrinkles I was used to seeing in my own lips were smooth, and warm. So yes. Of course I want to kiss her, but then she might want me to kiss her lower.
That would be a deeper, more intimate kiss than I honestly ever even gave any serious thought to, but now, another part of my mind is wondering if the wrinkles in my other lips fleshed out. Red, and swollen, as if I put on lipstick, instead of ignoring the teacher, and thinking about her lips. Plumped out so they're smooth, and kissing her way down my body, like the sweat starting to dew up on my chest, and run down to stop at, and soak into the bottom of my bra in the middle.
I certainly could see myself touching her, and like her, I never really looked at anything but her face. I have to smile a little, because I suppose it is pretty, but I don't have the frame of reference to compare it to mine. Saying that one face is prettier than another is like saying I am smarter, not the same as saying one is older, or younger. I suppose that you could test relative beauty by taking pictures, showing them to men and women, then having them rate each against the other but it wouldn't be empirical. It would just be a collation of statistical opinion, but it's not even that.
It's not even beauty, if I can appreciate it, like art. I never really got art, I suppose because my mother ruined it for me, by pointing out what it means, and how the artist does things like offsets the subject, or uses spacial relation, perspective, when i can see the intended meaning, but the Beauty? There isn't much practical use for beauty, and I half expected some swell of emotion, or at least a thrill when she said I was pretty. Her too, but that's almost inconsequential, like our bodies. We are both female, and that may complicate the physical connection relative to the standard intercourse between 10, or 01?
"But," a guy raised his hand. "The word But works.'
No one laughed. He looked around, and his grin disappeared, but before he put his hand down, I saw his watch. The gold ring around the numbers engraved in black, and I believe that may be a diamond set into the face over the 12 spot.
"So does the word The. Now, if you're done joking around." Everyone else frowned, and shook their heads at each other. I shook my head back, then put my head up on my hand, but I lost my train of though.
Oh, right. [I don't feel the same as other people.] Neither do I. Can anyone really say, with any surety how other people feel, when I lack the words to describe just my feelings. No one else that I had met, except for the one person, so far that i shared any emotional connection with before, but love?
I can only imagine falling in love with her, but not until. No? That's strange.
I don't care what her name is. It's as inconsequential as our bodies, but she never tried to talk about her feelings, other than to say that she does not feel normally, and I believe that I may have prompted her to say that.
She wrote out that i have a pretty face, or implied it, but i can't really imagine her saying it out loud, in any way other than she does out loud. As a statement of fact.
You are pretty.
So are you.
Moving on...
;
Tutor (ff)
She follows the dress code like a uniform. Practical, and her lack of affect is something that people ignore. To most of the students, she is just there, a nobody, and the glasses don;t really stand out, because this school filters for students the way that they modified Facial Recognition Software to prevent someone taking a nude photo, or drawing a lewd picture to use on their profile. Someone found that out right away, the first year, so the fixed it, but the photo update every login is just there so that we can recognize each other.
I spotted the black band she wears behind her ears. Just to keep her hair out of her face, instead of tucking it behind an ear to let it spill out when she leans forward to look over her glasses at one of the screens. "Jenny." She waited up. "You take the bus here?"
"Yes."
"Good, my mom parked over here." No nonsense, I like that she doesn't waste time adding words like really to extends her sentences, or keep talking to fill in silence. She can talk, and listen, which makes conversation efficient as well.
She nodded when we got to the Faculty parking lot.
"I find that it helps me to reset emotionally, especially after school."
"Your sexuality?"
"Sexual release. Like it, or not, I started to develop physical needs that were distracting."
"I missed an entire class. I don't even remember the teacher's name, or what he was teaching, I was so busy thinking about you, but i noticed feelings that were completely new to me."
"Hi, mom." She turned around, and nodded.
"I'm Jenny, I haven't heard anything about you, but what do you teach?" She doesn't look back, congratulate herself, or anything.
"Security Programming. You don't have any homework today, so get it in."
Jenny nodded, and pulled the door handle, as soon as the locks went off. I checked, honestly couldn't tell you what a nice ASP looked like if you asked me, but she just sat down, and I got in the other side.
"Practical car."
"I see you found another robot girl to befriend this year."
"Robot girl?"
"I don't like friends that are too emotional, or histrionic."
"I don't hate them, but the ones that point out the fact that they're vegan, or bisexual in every conversation waste a lot of time."
I had to laugh, when she winked. Well, it goes without saying at this point. "I'm not Vegan."
"I usually eat a salad for dinner, because most of your fat is sequestered in your sleep, but the trace nutrients take the longest to metabolize. If you eat a large breakfast, than the calories burn off during the day, and you don't need lunch. That way, I can avoid the school food, which is impossible to control, or know exactly what you're eating."
"So, you're on a diet."
"My father is an athlete, so he taught me how to eat efficiently."
Mom laughed, "She's the most robotic one so far!"
"I know." I took her hand, and squeezed it, to let her know that I like it. Mom's one to talk, she makes fun of me for hanging out with kids that are for lack of a better comparison, like her. I guess she was probably teased, and called Robot Girl, because she's one of the driving forces for this educational experiment. She pitched it, and of course takes care of most of the Security Features, like identity protection, and login biometrics. To keep us out of each-other's logins, so we can't use them to dox each other, or say things like I have an admission to make, everyone. I'm gay. That never happened, on the school system, though guys still do that a lot on their cell phones. She has nothing to do with the language filters, I don;t know who handled that database of keywords, but I have some idea how it works, like a grammar, and spell checker, capable of even recognizing some implications, like common euphemisms. For instance Giving head, but only the ones that the devs thought of, and it's only been about 5 years worth of building a database.
The Facial Recognition, and shape filter, that blocks anything that's shaped too much like a penis, or a picture of nipples, that's all Graphics department. You could just print out ( . Y . ) on a piece of paper, and it would recognize that as nipples, to block it. Because for some reason the school board is under the delusion that the sight of breast could be traumatizing for children, but there's a stillness about her. Jenny just sit there, when nobody asked her any further questions about her diet, nor her day in school. She looked over when i looked at her, then smiled, and looked back, and the back of mom's head.
Honestly, I like that. I understand tech, machines, computers, and people are more of a mystery to me. "Ada, take your friend back to your room, or down to the den. I have work to do, but there's salad, and veggies in the fridge if you get hungry."
She nodded to Jenny, who nodded back, then she looked at me, grinned, and winked. She didn't say that she knew where I get it from, she didn't have to. "So, we have to keep it down, so she's not distracted."
"Yes." I showed her the door to the stairs, and she followed me.
"You are into posterior gender?"
I shook my head, and held up my finger. "My brother." Next to his door, she nodded. I nodded back, "I found that it helps me reset, emotionally." I assume that she typed Anal Sex into a school terminal at some point, and I can guess what result it would make of that input.
"I never tried it," she dropped her almost empty bag, but I assume that added padding was the uniform she got for Activity. That's the kind of school we have here, it's not PE, or Gym, the instructors told us that they're not coaches, just there to make sure that nobody gets hurt, and answer any questions. They don't teach sports, they have basketballs, goals, and a volleyball net if you want to use it but it's closer to Recess than anything else. We don;t have a mascot, we don;t even have teams, except for Scholastic ones. Our chest team is the Mid-town Technical Academy Chess Team.
It just satisfies the mandated hour of physical activity, required for us to be healthy in with the other 5 hours of sitting at desks, and running to the next class. "Huh, so what do you do, take your clothes off?" She just unbuttoned her sleeves.
I nodded, and swallowed, but it's just more direct, Frank, and matter of fact than anyone has ever. "Do you kiss? I'd like to try kissing you first." Her sleeves unbuttoned, she just waited.
"You don't have to ask." So, she held my shoulders, stepped forward, and rubbed her lips against mine. Back, and forth, her nose slipped past mine the other way, but she didn't open her mouth, or try to slip her tongue past. She just kissed me, then felt her lips. Smiled, and reached up to touch mine. Not to shush me, she just brushed them with her fingertips, almost exactly the same way as she had with her lips, and looked at me. "When you posted that zero in braces, I couldn't if that was a single set, meaning masturbation, or a graphic vulval symbol."
"Vulval?" She nodded.
"The distaff counterpart to Phallic."
"Oh. No, I. Don't remember honestly."
She nodded, "You ment bisexual instead of binary, because the filters would have just changed it to bigender."
"I don't know, I just discovered it by accident, but it was just curiosity at first."
"Bicuriosity?"
"Anatomical curiosity. I resented having these parts of my body that I had never seen, so I tried to get a better look with a mirror, and then I used a phone, so that I could hold it up closer to my eyes, and you can see all right without the glasses?"
She took them off, after she already kissed me. "Up close, but I'm myopic, so anything farther out than about 10 feet (3 meters)" She actually said that, out loud, and I just kissed her again, because I love her brainy practical mind as much as to stop her from talking. I didn't want to stop her talking, I just wanted to feel her lips again, without her glasses in the way, and i peeked, but she opened her eyes, right after me, and our eyes met in the most intimate connection i had ever had with anyone.
I noticed that her eyes were brown, just like her hair, but it was too close to see any detail in her irises and i imagined that she possibly could in mine. Neither of us moved, and I don't think either of us breathed, for an indeterminate moment, then she blinked, and I gasped for breath.
"Huh, wow, that's intense."
"Yes, it is." she wasn't even out of breath.
She's right. My mom is right, I do have a thing for Robot Girls like her, and me. Especially Jenny, she picked up on it right away, and just left off all the extraneous things that other girls add to enhance their personalities. I don't want some affected personality, I like her, just the way she is.
;
Author
You see what I mean? There's no word for the opposite of Romance, about the closest one I can think of is Zen.
There aren't story codes for this, partially because a lot of people won't find it very arousing. The narrator discovers something about herself, with the help of someone else that isn't homosexual, nor is there any other term which really covers it. Nerd is about as close as I can think you might respond to, but basically strip everything emotional from the act, and do it simply for what it is. Auto-erotic, it's not quite asexual, but extremely analytical. So, fair warning, most of you may find this weird-to-boring.
;
Jenny (ff Nerd)
It turned out that I had nothing to fear. I suppose that all the movies I'd seen, and stories I've heard over-exaggerated what High School was supposed to be like, but I didn't think that being a Freshman would be so easy.
Junior High might have given me the wrong idea, because that was a lot worse. It seemed like everyone hated everyone else, even friends teased each other, and said horrible things, but high school was fine. It wasn't as boring as sitting in the same class, with the same teacher, and the same students learning different things all year.
I was worried about having multiple classes, and having 5 minutes in between to get to my locker, and switch out books, but I printed out a map with all the numbers on it, and my locker number. That was essentially it for paper, they put in computers, and there was a big flat screen instead of a white board to write on. One of the first rules that came up was [Don't Throw Anything.]
"This is a touch screen." She tapped it, "And it's extremely sensitive. So, if you damage it, then your parents are going to have pay to replace it."
It made sense, but I looked down, about to pick up a pen or pencil, when I didn't have any out. I brought some, thinking I'd need it, but then the teacher said. "Now, if you look at your terminals, you should see this screen." She turned back, and stepped out of the way. Pulled up a keyboard from the bottom, where the chalk, or dry erase markers would be. "Just use your last name, middle initial. Then first name to log in. The box in the corner of the keyboard is a Biometeric. Just hold a finger, or your thumb there, still until it reads your fingerprint, and you won't need a password to log in."
"Any finger or thumb?" She nodded, and turned back to the touchscreen.
It was a snap, "You can log into the school system from any computer, or mobile device that's connected to the internet, but it's not the internet. It's a private server, and it's connected to the national databases for colleges, and private schools around the network. Now, you should see the first icon is for this class."
I looked up, but she just tapped in the top left corner, so we clicked on that. It came up with an outline, which she talked us through, but I only half listened. "No Plagiarism, that means copying, and pasting anyone else's work as your own, and there's filters in the system for what can, or cannot be loaded from the internet, on other devices."
"I can't get on the internet?" I looked back at a guy, sitting behind me. He put his hand down.
"Again, this isn't the internet, it's the school network, and the local terminals aren't connected to the regular internet."
"Why not?"
"We have a lot to cover today, so if you'll save any questions 'till the end, then we should have time to cover them. There's a FAQ sheet at the top of every page, you can read any time."
He just looked disappointed, but what did he think, they'd just let you surf the internet in class?
"Banned materials include pictures of nudity, abusive language, sexting, or."
"Uh, miss?" Another girl on the other side, behind me. "The system filters keywords, and even phrases that might be mean. Like you're stupid."
"That's right, automatically." The girl kept typing, really fast, and barely waiting for the words to turn to *s, and flash red.
Huh, so I tried that, just to see what words it filtered. I mean **** obviously, and **** flashed, then changed to feces. **** became Urine automatically, and that was kind of fun to play around with, for a while until I started running out of things I could think of to try. *** Mule.
Oh right, mules, donkeys, and Jennys were technically asses. I learned that, when it turned out that a Jenny was a kind of female donkey. So, what if you have to write about something anatomical? You can still use Feces, so I found out that Rectum, and Anus still works, but not Anal, because that could mean Anal sex, I guess. That came up Posterior, but then the teacher asked "Now, are there any questions," and I figured I could find any answers I wanted in the FAQs, which I could read later.
The teacher just said: "You can go, and find the next class," so I got up, and took the paper out to navigate down the hall, and around the corner to the stairs. It had all my class numbers, and the times, but then a bell tone sounded over the speakers. It wasn't like a school bell, and not at all unpleasant.
Then, I got to the next class early, the first one, and put the paper back in my empty book bag. This bookless system was great, but as soon as I logged in, I got a message.
[You like Posterior?]
I didn't know you could even log in, without your name, or face popping up, but when I looked up in the corner, I saw a picture I don't remember taking, and mover the pointer over it.
[Click to retake profile photo.]
Oh, I was frowning, and looking at the corner, not the camera. It just took another one, when I logged in. So, I looked around for the little spot, it was in the top, right where I was expecting it, and this time I smiled. Looking right at it, instead of off to the corner, where the photo was. I looked around for a Save feature, but it just stayed that way when I mover the pointer, and another message popped up.
[Never mind]
[Oh, who is this? Do you mean anus,] It just auto-corrected to Posterior, and Anus is a lot quicker to type [As a Noun, or an Adverb?]
[The part of the body, or the kind of activity?]
He really talked around it, but it was kind of helping me figure out what words to avoid, and what forms could be shorthand, like using Anal instead of Posterior.
[You must have seen me checking the language filters in class, but in answer to your question, no. I'm not an Mule girl.]
"Uh!" I looked back right after I sent it. That's how I found out that it didn't change An into A when it translated Ass into Mule again. [Who RU, and how did you manage to log onto the system without your name, or picture showing up?]
...
The teacher came in, and the back row of seats filled up first, but I didn't even think about sitting down, and logging in to the closest one to the door. I just sat down, but that ment that pretty much anyone that was close enough could read my screen, so I deleted the entire message stream, and asked the teacher how to adjust the text size.
"Control Plus." That made the font larger, so I tried Control Minus, and that made it shrink down so I could barely read it, if I pushed my glasses down. I could look over them to focus on fine detail, like tiny text in Messages, but it took him a while to get back to me.
[Well, I tried everything I could think of to tell you, but it turns out that the system doesn't want you to tell how to circumvent it. I'd have to show you in person, but there's terminals in the Archives.]
[On lunch?] I got out the paper, and looked it over, through my glasses. [Where's the Archives?]
[Next to the office, on the other side from the Dining Hall.]
It said Lunch Room, then Staff Offices, and then Library. [You mean the Library?] I waited for it to change, but it didn't.
[Yes, that's the Archives now, since they're moving to a paperless system.]
[Except the flier I got to get to class.]
[I guess they didn't update the fliers.]
[What grade are you in?]
[9th grade, the same as you.]
[RU] Auto-translated to [Are you male, or female?]
[Female, same as you.]
;
Guest (Anon)
I recognized her from her pictures, but she came to the Archive room, as planned. Since we aren't supposed to have outside devices like phones, or personal computers, we can bring them, but you might as well leave them in your bag, or your locker. If you get caught using them in class, then you'll have to put them away, or even get them confiscated for trying to connect with the system.
"Hey, Jennifer."
"You can call me Jenny, everyone else does. So how's this work?"
"Come on." She followed me around the Reference books, but since they converted everything over from paper to a database, they're mostly kept as an Archive. Until they find something to do with them, or the money to recycle everything. "The best ones are back here." By the windows, everything is facing inward, so you have to look out, and listen for anyone coming, but there's not much for them to do in here besides dust the books, and use the computers. I got the piece of paper out, and pulled it over the edge of the desk to flatten it. "Just watch." I typed in [Guest] for the log in, and held the piece of paper up to the facial recognition camera.
The image blurred out, then went black, so I could hit [Enter]
"What's that?" She took the paper, and turned it over. "Ngk!" She looked around, and gave it back, so I crumpled it up.
"How long have you been going here?" She didn't ask about the picture.
"First day, same as you, but my mom uses the same system at work, and my brother went to school here. They figured out how to use the system against itself."
"So, they're a hacker?"
"No? Well, I guess he wants to be a hacker, but he took Advanced Security Programs last year. That's where they figured it out."
"Is it him, or they?"
"Oh, no. He's not transgender, he just figured it out with some friends, in A.S.P. class. Seriously, we wouldn't be here unless we're intelligent, and talented with computers. You'd think they'd at least update the system to close down back doors like this one."
"Let me see that picture." She sat down, and started logging on as Guest.
"Sorry, it's too crumpled, so it probably won't recognize it, but you can draw your own." I pulled a slip of paper out of the reuse box, and the stub of a pencil.
"Not that good, probably."
I nodded, "It might take a little practice to get all the details right." I came around the bottom, and carefully traced around to make a couple semi-circles, and another line up to the head. "Here, try this."
"Just hit enter?"
"When it recognizes it, and the filter blocks it out."
"You must draw penises a lot." She just smiled, then looked down, and hit [Enter.] Shook her head.
"Well, it's the simplest image for the filter to recognize, so it's fast, and easy to draw. In private, you can just pull your top down, nipples will trigger the filter, too."
"So, this is a temporary guest login, if we both log in at the same time like now, it's not the same?"
"That's right, and it only lasts for about 4 minutes, but if you know someone's name, then you can search for them, and it'll bring up their."
"Oh, what's your name?"
;
Jenny (f Zen)
"I think I'll change my elective," they're not locked in years ahead of time, "This security stuff is interesting."
I get it, she doesn't want me to know her name, and she doesn't even login with a picture of her face, that's why she uses the Guest login trick. It doesn't even require a thumbprint, but I kept the penis picture she drew for me. So, I don't have to draw a new one every time I want access without logging in my face. "So, it's A.S.P. or ASP?"
I logged in, and looked at the camera this time when I hit [Enter] with a Smile.
[x] Online.
Bringing up the course correction, which is Alphabetized. "Oh, here." [ASP] Click. [Qualifications.]
"Just click on the classes in red. You're already signed up for the green ones, but." She pointed, "You have to take these first, to get into A.S.P. She spells them out, and I just realized.
"Hhihn, I guess they couldn't call it Advanced Security Systems without the class changing to Mule automatically."
"I guess that makes you an ASP girl," she jokes back. "You can use keywords like that." She typed in, and the message popped up, for me to click on.
[You have a nice ASP.] "Like the eggplant Emoji."
"They don't allow Emojis."
"Well, they don't have any in the system. I'm sure they have some way to input them from the internet, but I haven't found it yet. I figured you weren't bought into the school."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, all this cost money, especially the changeover to paperless, that cost almost a million dollars, but of course the people that payed the money, or the companies that invested in this beta."
"So, this is like a beta version, for the school system?"
"Basically, we're developing the system for all the schools, as soon as the funding is gotten. It's probably going to cost trillions for the whole 9th through 12th grades, but they're working on the colleges and universities first. Eventually, they should extend it all the way down to first grade."
"That'll take years, but my little brother." I thought, "You said your mom works for one of those companies."
"No, I didn't." Mathematician answer.
So, I scooted out, and looked at her when she looked at me. "So, she works here," she looked away, "as a teacher?" She didn't even smile, but she didn't have to.
So, I just got up, and slipped the penis picture in my pocket. My purse has one on the outside, that might not be the best place, but I can snap the flap over it, and it should be stiff enough to keep it from getting wrinkled.
"See you later." I looked back, but she was using both mouses, and looked back and forth to close out our logins.
I figured she would message me, but I ate a big breakfast just to avoid having to deal with lunch food. It's just regular school food, but it's also a free period to look around too. I had a while to find my next classroom, which was open, and empty, which made me wonder why we had to meet up at the Archives, when we could have just gone in any classroom that wasn't full.
This time, I went straight back to the corner, where nobody could sit behind me, and got out the picture to login as Guest.
Sure enough, Nobody messaged me in the time it took me to find it. [How would you like to hook up after school?]
[Sure,] I like her, she's interesting, and I should probably tell her that, instead of keeping it to myself. [I like you, yoU'Re interesting, and analytical. Especially when talking in person about things that the system would filter.]
[Thank you.] Also, she just leaves things out, like her mathematician answer, but I looked up, and realized, it didn't change Analytical to Mulelytical, so I tried that real quick, and it didn't **** out Anal until you hit [Space.] analbutsex [**********] "Huh." Didn't even try to come up with a better way to say that, but it deleted everything, and jumped the cursor back to the beginning of the line.
[Is that all you like about me?]
[Lesbian?] ******* Back to the beginning of the line. [I don't know, I haven't given much thought to dating, and activities that might lead to.]
[RUA Virgo?]
I don't even know what month that constellation corresponds to, so I decided to try my hand at one of her Mathematician Answers. [Yes, what is your sign?]
[Binary.]
[I may be binary as well. {10, 00..}?]
[Yes. That is a good code to break down the relation between genders.]
[Sexes] Genders. [Sex] Gender. "Huh!" [Posterior Gender]
[100?]
[If you mean threesomes, ] *********. "Uh!" <<<<<<<<<<<<<< [Maybe 101, that sounds a little advanced, but you could tutor me in 00 later?]
[{0} After School?]
[Possibly.]
[Okay. CUL8r.]
[CUL8r.]
I looked down at the little slip of paper, I left face down beside the keyboard. Built into the desk, I felt under it, but all there was were round heads with no slot, + cuts, hex hole nor * for a Torx bit. They weren't even painted, i ducked down to see they were stainless steel, with washers.
New message: [I'm not a Nepotism student. I qualified for this school on my own.]
[I know that. I never would have questioned it, even knowing about your family members here.]
[It's good to be intelligent here, and bad to be rich. Any other school, that I know of, you would be teased for being smart, and popular for being rich, but it's the other way around here.]
[It helps to be pretty too, so I know you will be popular here.]
[I know that you will too.] The most interesting thing I learned, the first day, was how to get around the Sexting filters, so we could flirt, and when other students started to show up, I just had to put the paper in it's pocket. So, I didn't knock it off, and get caught with a picture of a penis, but she offered, or agreed to show me some 00 extra-curricular activities, or {0}? That may mean the single set, an O for orgasm, or just a graphic that the filter doesn't recognize like CUL8r. I even picked that code when she came out as Binary, because the 1 is phallic, and the 0 would be symbolic of the other gender. Whatever that word is, I tried [Phallic] in an empty field, before the next teacher came in, and I had to log out.
Apparently, that's not filtered, but then again, they teach Psychology here, and you can't do that without at least mentioning Freud. I don't know how much they will get into that, but if I am going to be taking ASP instead.
[Do you really like my ASP?]
[I don't know. I never actually looked. I like your face, and your glasses.] That warmed it up. [Bodies are not as important.]
[Why not?]
[They aren't as expressive. You can't look into somebody's pants, and see what they are feeling.] Well, you can look in a boy's pants, and see that he's erect, but I suppose that the pubic hairs would mask anything you could see in a female.
[I can't see what yoU aRe feeling. You keep it off of yoUR face too well.]
[I don't feel the same as most people. IDKY.] The acronym filter only seems to recognize ones that are common, like UR to make yoU'Re, yoUR, or yoU aRe. I learned all that, and there/their/they're in elementary, but I knew other kids as late as 8th grade that always got that wrong, and I'm starting to feel more like an adult today, than the relative child I was last year, because of her.
I don't even know her name, but it's not like I think John, or Christ, I know who I'm thinking about, and now, I'm thinking about her face. Not her body, her body is another. Teenage female body, but it just occurred to me how childish it is to think of each other as boys and girls in high school, but kissing? Yes, I could kiss her.
What else? I don't even know how I could ask her over the system, even if I could risk the penis picture guest log in trick, but she said that in private, I could flash my nipples to trigger the filter to wipe out the picture.
I pushed the track ball around in circles, then nudged it up to my profile picture, and tapped it. Wow, I look made up? I know I didn't put on any makeup, but I was expecting the blush in my cheeks. I felt my lips, and they weren't just deeper red, they were fuller, and the tiny wrinkles I was used to seeing in my own lips were smooth, and warm. So yes. Of course I want to kiss her, but then she might want me to kiss her lower.
That would be a deeper, more intimate kiss than I honestly ever even gave any serious thought to, but now, another part of my mind is wondering if the wrinkles in my other lips fleshed out. Red, and swollen, as if I put on lipstick, instead of ignoring the teacher, and thinking about her lips. Plumped out so they're smooth, and kissing her way down my body, like the sweat starting to dew up on my chest, and run down to stop at, and soak into the bottom of my bra in the middle.
I certainly could see myself touching her, and like her, I never really looked at anything but her face. I have to smile a little, because I suppose it is pretty, but I don't have the frame of reference to compare it to mine. Saying that one face is prettier than another is like saying I am smarter, not the same as saying one is older, or younger. I suppose that you could test relative beauty by taking pictures, showing them to men and women, then having them rate each against the other but it wouldn't be empirical. It would just be a collation of statistical opinion, but it's not even that.
It's not even beauty, if I can appreciate it, like art. I never really got art, I suppose because my mother ruined it for me, by pointing out what it means, and how the artist does things like offsets the subject, or uses spacial relation, perspective, when i can see the intended meaning, but the Beauty? There isn't much practical use for beauty, and I half expected some swell of emotion, or at least a thrill when she said I was pretty. Her too, but that's almost inconsequential, like our bodies. We are both female, and that may complicate the physical connection relative to the standard intercourse between 10, or 01?
"But," a guy raised his hand. "The word But works.'
No one laughed. He looked around, and his grin disappeared, but before he put his hand down, I saw his watch. The gold ring around the numbers engraved in black, and I believe that may be a diamond set into the face over the 12 spot.
"So does the word The. Now, if you're done joking around." Everyone else frowned, and shook their heads at each other. I shook my head back, then put my head up on my hand, but I lost my train of though.
Oh, right. [I don't feel the same as other people.] Neither do I. Can anyone really say, with any surety how other people feel, when I lack the words to describe just my feelings. No one else that I had met, except for the one person, so far that i shared any emotional connection with before, but love?
I can only imagine falling in love with her, but not until. No? That's strange.
I don't care what her name is. It's as inconsequential as our bodies, but she never tried to talk about her feelings, other than to say that she does not feel normally, and I believe that I may have prompted her to say that.
She wrote out that i have a pretty face, or implied it, but i can't really imagine her saying it out loud, in any way other than she does out loud. As a statement of fact.
You are pretty.
So are you.
Moving on...
;
Tutor (ff)
She follows the dress code like a uniform. Practical, and her lack of affect is something that people ignore. To most of the students, she is just there, a nobody, and the glasses don;t really stand out, because this school filters for students the way that they modified Facial Recognition Software to prevent someone taking a nude photo, or drawing a lewd picture to use on their profile. Someone found that out right away, the first year, so the fixed it, but the photo update every login is just there so that we can recognize each other.
I spotted the black band she wears behind her ears. Just to keep her hair out of her face, instead of tucking it behind an ear to let it spill out when she leans forward to look over her glasses at one of the screens. "Jenny." She waited up. "You take the bus here?"
"Yes."
"Good, my mom parked over here." No nonsense, I like that she doesn't waste time adding words like really to extends her sentences, or keep talking to fill in silence. She can talk, and listen, which makes conversation efficient as well.
She nodded when we got to the Faculty parking lot.
"I find that it helps me to reset emotionally, especially after school."
"Your sexuality?"
"Sexual release. Like it, or not, I started to develop physical needs that were distracting."
"I missed an entire class. I don't even remember the teacher's name, or what he was teaching, I was so busy thinking about you, but i noticed feelings that were completely new to me."
"Hi, mom." She turned around, and nodded.
"I'm Jenny, I haven't heard anything about you, but what do you teach?" She doesn't look back, congratulate herself, or anything.
"Security Programming. You don't have any homework today, so get it in."
Jenny nodded, and pulled the door handle, as soon as the locks went off. I checked, honestly couldn't tell you what a nice ASP looked like if you asked me, but she just sat down, and I got in the other side.
"Practical car."
"I see you found another robot girl to befriend this year."
"Robot girl?"
"I don't like friends that are too emotional, or histrionic."
"I don't hate them, but the ones that point out the fact that they're vegan, or bisexual in every conversation waste a lot of time."
I had to laugh, when she winked. Well, it goes without saying at this point. "I'm not Vegan."
"I usually eat a salad for dinner, because most of your fat is sequestered in your sleep, but the trace nutrients take the longest to metabolize. If you eat a large breakfast, than the calories burn off during the day, and you don't need lunch. That way, I can avoid the school food, which is impossible to control, or know exactly what you're eating."
"So, you're on a diet."
"My father is an athlete, so he taught me how to eat efficiently."
Mom laughed, "She's the most robotic one so far!"
"I know." I took her hand, and squeezed it, to let her know that I like it. Mom's one to talk, she makes fun of me for hanging out with kids that are for lack of a better comparison, like her. I guess she was probably teased, and called Robot Girl, because she's one of the driving forces for this educational experiment. She pitched it, and of course takes care of most of the Security Features, like identity protection, and login biometrics. To keep us out of each-other's logins, so we can't use them to dox each other, or say things like I have an admission to make, everyone. I'm gay. That never happened, on the school system, though guys still do that a lot on their cell phones. She has nothing to do with the language filters, I don;t know who handled that database of keywords, but I have some idea how it works, like a grammar, and spell checker, capable of even recognizing some implications, like common euphemisms. For instance Giving head, but only the ones that the devs thought of, and it's only been about 5 years worth of building a database.
The Facial Recognition, and shape filter, that blocks anything that's shaped too much like a penis, or a picture of nipples, that's all Graphics department. You could just print out ( . Y . ) on a piece of paper, and it would recognize that as nipples, to block it. Because for some reason the school board is under the delusion that the sight of breast could be traumatizing for children, but there's a stillness about her. Jenny just sit there, when nobody asked her any further questions about her diet, nor her day in school. She looked over when i looked at her, then smiled, and looked back, and the back of mom's head.
Honestly, I like that. I understand tech, machines, computers, and people are more of a mystery to me. "Ada, take your friend back to your room, or down to the den. I have work to do, but there's salad, and veggies in the fridge if you get hungry."
She nodded to Jenny, who nodded back, then she looked at me, grinned, and winked. She didn't say that she knew where I get it from, she didn't have to. "So, we have to keep it down, so she's not distracted."
"Yes." I showed her the door to the stairs, and she followed me.
"You are into posterior gender?"
I shook my head, and held up my finger. "My brother." Next to his door, she nodded. I nodded back, "I found that it helps me reset, emotionally." I assume that she typed Anal Sex into a school terminal at some point, and I can guess what result it would make of that input.
"I never tried it," she dropped her almost empty bag, but I assume that added padding was the uniform she got for Activity. That's the kind of school we have here, it's not PE, or Gym, the instructors told us that they're not coaches, just there to make sure that nobody gets hurt, and answer any questions. They don't teach sports, they have basketballs, goals, and a volleyball net if you want to use it but it's closer to Recess than anything else. We don;t have a mascot, we don;t even have teams, except for Scholastic ones. Our chest team is the Mid-town Technical Academy Chess Team.
It just satisfies the mandated hour of physical activity, required for us to be healthy in with the other 5 hours of sitting at desks, and running to the next class. "Huh, so what do you do, take your clothes off?" She just unbuttoned her sleeves.
I nodded, and swallowed, but it's just more direct, Frank, and matter of fact than anyone has ever. "Do you kiss? I'd like to try kissing you first." Her sleeves unbuttoned, she just waited.
"You don't have to ask." So, she held my shoulders, stepped forward, and rubbed her lips against mine. Back, and forth, her nose slipped past mine the other way, but she didn't open her mouth, or try to slip her tongue past. She just kissed me, then felt her lips. Smiled, and reached up to touch mine. Not to shush me, she just brushed them with her fingertips, almost exactly the same way as she had with her lips, and looked at me. "When you posted that zero in braces, I couldn't if that was a single set, meaning masturbation, or a graphic vulval symbol."
"Vulval?" She nodded.
"The distaff counterpart to Phallic."
"Oh. No, I. Don't remember honestly."
She nodded, "You ment bisexual instead of binary, because the filters would have just changed it to bigender."
"I don't know, I just discovered it by accident, but it was just curiosity at first."
"Bicuriosity?"
"Anatomical curiosity. I resented having these parts of my body that I had never seen, so I tried to get a better look with a mirror, and then I used a phone, so that I could hold it up closer to my eyes, and you can see all right without the glasses?"
She took them off, after she already kissed me. "Up close, but I'm myopic, so anything farther out than about 10 feet (3 meters)" She actually said that, out loud, and I just kissed her again, because I love her brainy practical mind as much as to stop her from talking. I didn't want to stop her talking, I just wanted to feel her lips again, without her glasses in the way, and i peeked, but she opened her eyes, right after me, and our eyes met in the most intimate connection i had ever had with anyone.
I noticed that her eyes were brown, just like her hair, but it was too close to see any detail in her irises and i imagined that she possibly could in mine. Neither of us moved, and I don't think either of us breathed, for an indeterminate moment, then she blinked, and I gasped for breath.
"Huh, wow, that's intense."
"Yes, it is." she wasn't even out of breath.
She's right. My mom is right, I do have a thing for Robot Girls like her, and me. Especially Jenny, she picked up on it right away, and just left off all the extraneous things that other girls add to enhance their personalities. I don't want some affected personality, I like her, just the way she is.
;
Author
You see what I mean? There's no word for the opposite of Romance, about the closest one I can think of is Zen.