ArchivedLogs:Bullying

Bullying
Dramatis Personae Nom, Shane, Daiki, Horus
In Absentia	2014-05-08 '
Location <XS> Roof
The view from up here is phenomenal, a panorama of the expansive Xavier's grounds, forest and lake and rocky cliffs alike. Even without the view outwards, the rooftop itself holds its own delights, in the form of the tiny jewel of a flower garden tucked away up here, tended by one of the school's teachers. From the edge of the roof, with a veeery careful jump, it looks like it just might be possible to reach the treehouse in the old oak tree. It's the break in between classes, at the moment; though it's not lunchtime yet there are snacks out in the cafeteria to tide students over /until/ lunchtime and with no assembly this Thursday many kids have gone to eat or scramble madly to finish last-minute assignments before last period. Up here it's quiet, or has been quiet. There's soft voices coming (in low-murmured Japanese) from beneath the eaves of the roof where cigarette smoke curls up around the roof's edge. Or /was/ curling, anyway; smoke finished, now there's just a pair of clawed blue hands reaching up to pull tiny-blue-form up and over the precarious scramble from some unseen ridge beneath the roof back to its surface. Shane is in a deep purple button-down, today, pinstriped in white; a pair od dark slacks, a bow-tie; his vest has been unbuttoned, shirt a little rumpled and getting just a little /more/so as he leans down to help his companion over the roof as well. Daiki, less innately agile, /needs/ the help to make the tricky scramble-climb, lanky-long limbs /help/ but a strong helping hand helps more as Shane pulls him back up onto the roof. The taller boy is neatly dressed as well, long pale-grey trousers and a deep silver-bordered blue mandarin-collared tunic that hangs down to his knees; he smoothes it back into place neatly once he's back on the roof. "{-- ground /can/ you cover in a weekend?}" he's asking thoughtfully. "{Just me and B on our own? A fuckton. Less if we're saddled with company. But other people could cover more on /their/ own too.}" Shane is tucking his shirt crisply back into place so that he can button his vest back up. There's a flutter-flap of wings, a large shadow darkening the roof briefly before Horus swoops in for a landing. The enormous -- bird? He certainly /looks/ like a bird, not much /humanlike/ about his appearance -- drops in in a swoosh of speckled brown-and-white feathers, landing on the roof a short distance from Shane and Daiki and tipping his head up at them with one brief-excited chittering bout of greeting. He doesn't approach immediately, though; he keeps his distance, watching Daiki more than Shane wih bright alert eyes. His talons click on the roof and then he settles down -- tooootally in Daiki's eyeshot -- to start So Nonchalantly preening his wings with long strokes of his long beak. And then there are still others. She's got her black hoodie and a pair of black bicycle short, and she is covered in enough blood that one might think she just murdered an elephant and rolled around in it. She's currently skittering up the side of the roof like an insect, on hand distended in some sort of deformed claw with the relatively small remains of some sort of beastie haunch. She's not looking at first when she starts to heave herself up the side... Then she sees a passel of people up there and she immediately gives them the owley eyes. She swings down slightly so only her eyes peek over the edge of the roof. At first she is totally dedicated to remaining quiet... Then she sees Horus... and points,"BIRD!" Her impulsiveness rarely... sometimes... almost always gets the better of her. "Big bird! BIG BIRD!" Shane finishes buttoning up his vest, reaching up to straighten his bow tie afterwards -- though, unsatisfied, he ends up just untying the whole thing. "Don't look now," he says with a small twitch of amusement as Horus comes in for a landing and starts /preening/, "but I think you have another admirer." "Tch." Daiki's smile is bright and warm and strongly magnifies the attractant /pull/ of his mutation. "Those feathers already look gorgeous." He says this to Shane, though his voice is raised enough to carry over. "A bird's eye view would help a lot with searching," Shane adds, suddenly (he's also kind of inadvertently drifting a liiiittle closer to Daiki as he ties his tie.) And then there's a Nom and he drops his hands mid-knotting. "Oh, /fuck/." Daiki is quieter. "Hello, Nom." His voice is warm as ever. He steps in to pick up where Shane left off, teeth caught between his lip as he knots the bow-tie. "This is always stranger on someone else." Preen. Preeeeen. Horus is being very conscientious about the /precise/ placemen and sheen of his feathers, beautifying his wings /just/ so. And skittering a teenytiny bit closer to Daiki, inchinch -- /squawk/. His sudden cry is loud and screechy at Nom's sudden outburst, hard work forgotten as he spreads his wings to flutter up into the air, landing again on Daiki and Shane's other side, closer to the edge of the roof /they/ climbed over. His talons scratch against the roof's surface, feathers fluffing up bigger. "Hello Daiki. You am look nice today." She examines him thoughtfully, having forgotten, for the moment, that anyone else is there. He's just looks so damned pretty. "There am trick to it. You am have big occasion?" The girl, having obviously been caught, drags herself and the last bits of the haunch up onto the roof and plops down on her butt. Then Nom is looking at Shane,"HI." Her nails lengthen and slice off a chunk of meat, and then hold it perched between thumb and forefinger,"You am want?" The rest is lifted to her mouth for a couple of good bites, and then a swallow. Her scaring of Horus? That actually does net a sheepish expression,"No worry pretty bird! There am plenty share!" Totally misunderstanding. "Occasion?" Daiki tips his head, puzzled as he finishes knotting Shane's tie, straightening it neatly. "We have class," he explains, with a mild note of confusion. He steps away from Shane, holding out a placating hand to Horus. "It's alright, this is --" "Some crazy-ass motherfucker," Shane completes this intruduction sharply to Horus, cutting in over Daiki's gentler tone. "/No/ I don't want your goddamn food what the fuck is wrong with your --" His voice is an irritable snap; he steps back, too, the back of his hand brushing down lightly against Horus's ruffled chest-feathers. "We're not fucking /friends/, and you can't just fucking /pretend/ that everything's okay and have it magically be true. It's not /friendly/ or /nice/ to pretend like nothing happened from one day to the next, it's just /creepy as fuck/." Horus leans into the touches, his feathers slowly unruffling. Slightly, at least. But only slightly. And only for a moment; there's a continued tremble to his posture that's hard to see but easy to /feel/ beneath the feathers and after a second he just skitters backwards. And backwards and backwards, eyes fixed (alert) (terrified) on Nom up until the moment he topples back over the edge of the roof. Possibly intentionally? It's hard to tell, really; there's just another small squawk, a flap of feathers, and then a speckled birdcreature winging off rapidly towards the trees. "SHUT YOU GODDAMN MOUTH! ME AM NOT CRAZY! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" Nom's actually swelling as she says this, bloating in her own inhuman way. "Me am try be nice because that am right! You act like dick every step of way! Me am try to leave it behind." A maw, full of teeth and rumbling crocodile noises and AWFUL opens on her,"When you am badmouth me to other people!? It am hard enough make friends without you holier thou bullshit! Dick move!" Her voice is twisting into a rumbling snarl of conflicting emotion,"Stop callme stupid, stop callme crazy, just stop, stupidbullyman!" And then she loses the foot or so of inflation suddenly and starts bawling like a child. That's a vicodin and a half. "Never said you were stupid, /you/ just called /me/ that. But you're making a reeeeally good case for not crazy here, right." Shane's gills flutter once, and he turns to watch Horus go with narrowed eyes. "You don't /leave shit behind/, that's not how people fucking /work/. You don't just fucking /hurt/ people and then /pretend/ it /never goddamn happened/ and expect them to be /okay/ with that and turn around and like you. I fucking hate you. You're annoying and obnoxious and you don't seem to have any fucking idea how what you /actually/ do affects anyone around you. You know that was a /kid/ here you just terrified off? /You're/ a fucking bully. /You/ get to flounce around like a goddamn bulldozer without stopping to think but nobody gets to have opinions about you? Around you? Because you'll what burst into fucking tears if you're not treated with kid gloves? I'll take goddamn honesty over emotional fucking manipulation any day. Dai, you deal with this bullshit I sure as hell goddamn won't." He's shaking his head, turning towards the door that leas back into the attic. Daiki, meanwhile, is just rubbing his hands against his face. He /had/ turned towards the edge of the roof to watch Horus leave but now he turns back, looking between the other two. Then up to the sky. The strong empathic pull of his is growing; he takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. "I don't," he admits, "even understand where the problem here started." He takes a half-step closer to Nom, though his hands fold firmly behind his back as he does. The girl wipes at her eyes desperately, suddenly flushing,"Yes. You am call me stupid first time you am meet me! Me am say me disagree, you am tell me full of shit. Everytime... Fuck it. It not matter. Me am say you hurt me, you am say me hurt you. Fine. Me am sorry. But me am NOT have any idea. Me am learning it all over. Two weeks. Am all me have. Me am doing best me can." As for Daiki,"It start because me am stupid, apparently. It not matter. Nothing matter. He am need you right now." She pulls the last of her meat up and begins to chew on it in a slow, blank sort of way. Almost like a small child playing with a pacifier. "No. I /didn't/ fucking call you stupid, I called your /ideas/ stupid and /you/ can't tell the fucking difference because god forbid anyone fucking /disagree/ with you, that's totally bullying. /You/ called /me/ stupid. And a hypocrite, and a child, and a bully, and decided I /obviously/ have it so much easier than you." Shane's words are starting to hitch, unsteadily broken up as his gills flutter faster. "Boo fucking hoo, do you know how much of a shit I give about your goddamn sob story? Half the people here have horror stories of our own and /we/ don't goddamn /use/ it as an /excuse/. You know mine? You know Dai's? I guess you're the only one whose hurt goddamn matters, right? Everyone here's fucking broken." "Need me?" Daiki looks outright flummoxed at this assertion. "Ah -- no. He's leaving. I'm pretty sure if he needed me he would tell me." His hands unfold to rake through his hair, then fold again behind his back. "There's a lot of things that /matter/, though. Would -- you like to go back inside? You seem more than a little upset." "Nom never say you have it easier than Nom. Not once. You not put words in Nom's mouth. You hear what you want hear. Not once me ever say it. Not once. NOT ONCE. And that am truth. You only hear what you am want. Nom am think she had good. Plenty food. Plenty space. Plenty help. Nice people. But you am hear what you want." Nom gnaws on the meat without really letting it go. "Nom not go inside. Nom make mistake. Nom not belong here." And still that aimless gaze. "You am important him. Of course he am need you. Obviously he am love you. Always need you. That am important." She finally runs out of meat and scrambles for a branch to chew on. "Me am just..." She doesn't actually finish the phrase though. Just sort of trails off. "Stop it. Just fucking stop it. You /definitely/ don't know shit about me and Dai /or/ what I need, why the fuck do you keep spouting your goddamn bullshit?" Shane doesn't even sound angry any more. Just a little tired, an a little disgusted. He turns, now, to go inside, wriggling his way back through a cracked-open window into the attic. "Are just what?" Daiki doesn't follow after him. Doesn't even look after him, really. Just settles down into a crouch a short distance from Nom, long fingers steepled against the rooftop to keep his balance. "I don't really know if anyone belongs anywhere," he says with a small exhaled laugh, "but this is kind of a place for everyone who doesn't really belong." "Me am just very tired. Me not fit in here either. Just feel lonely. Me am try say something nice or stand up for self, and am just make everything worse. Me am upset B, me am upset Shane, me am upset bird." She doesn't really look at anything but her branch for the moment,"Me not even know why it am matter he not like me. Me am just want go home. Feel lonely always. You am nice. Most people am nice. But that am all. Only friend I make..." She holds up her wrist, showing the bracelet Sera gave her,"Me am have make one friend. Only see once, in city, at doctor." Daiki's eyes lower to the rooftop at the mention of going home, a very small tug twitching one corner of his mouth. "Do you think Shane fits in here?" It's a quiet question, absent and a little distant. "Or B? Or --" His dark eyes slant sidelong off towards the trees where Horus disappeared, smile briefly curling a little wider before it vanishes. "{I'm sorry}," is in soft Japanese, "that you've been feeling lonely. It's not -- easy starting in a new place with a lot of new people. I bet there's probably other people less prickly than Shane that get along with you fine, though?" His gaze slips back to fix on the bracelet with a brief moment of curiosity, a thoughtful hum in his throat. "What did you differently with your friend at the doctor?" "People am seem like him. Am like B. Me am not know other, Bird. He leave too soon." Still, Nom does offer to Daiki,"Me am not just start new place. Start new... everything. Learn speak again. Me find out yesterday me am know how cook gumbo. Me not know if me like gumbo. Me am have family? Me am have friends once? What am name? Me am know other have difficult. Most am nice though." She snaps off a piece of the branch, chewing and swallowing... Then she burps. "Me not know. Me am act like me am always act. Only thing different, she much younger. Um... me am give her me pet rock, Princess Sarah AND she not go here. She have sister go here. Desi?" Another piece of the branch goes down her throat. "Lyric and Lia. Me am get along best with them." "They can probably help you with some of that, here. Not -- overnight. Or easily. But figuring out where you came from and who you were --" Daiki turns one hand palm-up, fingers spreading slightly. "If you want to go home, it probably helps to know where that is, first." He listens to the rest of this in quiet, hand returning to rest against the rooftop. "Is there a reason the other girl is your only friend and Lyric and Lia aren't? What makes someone a friend?" "Me am not sure. It am... they nice. We have fun. Me am only really talk to them once. But... Sera am only person Nom feel... am like Nom... Everyone else... so much smarter, know so much more. Sera am just like me. Like am equal. Which am silly. She am tiny." She holds out a hand to indicate Sera's height. "There am connection. Lyric and Lia am nice, but am not feel deep connection. Not am feel deep connection with anyone else." She raises her fingernails to gnaw on them, which makes THE most horrid grinding noise until she stops in surprise. Huh. "What am make friend... connection... trust." "Does she feel the same?" Daiki's shoulders tense very faintly at the grinding noise; contrastingly his tension only makes the warm-affectionate pull of his mutation that much stronger. "Connections can take time to build. I don't think it's always like in the movies, where you just -- meet someone and instantly feel --" His head shakes slightly. "A lot of good things take working at. Friendships as much as anything else." Nom the girl shrugs,"Me am not ever see movies." Unconsciously, she scoots closer in Daiki's direction,"Me am think so. She give me bracelet, for helping. It nicest Nom feel since Nom remember know anything." She goes for another branch to chew on. "Am tired. Me am wait because me am have no other choice... But am very alone. Many people. Very alone." She snuffles, then stands,"Me am need not complain so much. Plenty food. Nice people. Nice house. Swallow it. Move on." "Many people. Very alone." For some reason there's quiet amusement in Daiki's tone when he echoes this, his eyes focused outward briefly. He gives his head a sudden shake, pushing to his feet when Nom does. "I don't know. There's a middle ground. Between wallowing in problems and ignoring them? I think that's why they have counsellors and all here. You can talk to them. And talk to the people you have problems with -- maybe," he hedges carefully, "without yelling at each other. Or find new people you /don't/ have problems with. I don't think ignore-problems-and-be-miserable fixes things either, though." "Me am apologize for that. Me am not not know how deal with constant verbal abuse. Me know yelling wrong after do it. Just sick of being called names." She wrinkles her nose as she looks over at Daiki, and asks,"It am very difficult be you, huh? All eyes, all time. You get tired?" She frays the end of the branch with her teeth while thinking on it,"Me am not think problem with Shane ever get fixed. It am make me sad. Don't know why." She holds out her hand as if for to shake,"Me am feel little better. Like not want run away and hide. Me thank... Thank you." "Oh, I don't know if the yelling's wrong in itself. Shane and I yell at each other kind of a lot, actually. Though I don't think I'd call him /abusive/. It's just not productive." Daiki tilts his head slightly to one side, and pulls in a slow breath, his brows lifting slightly at the question. "Everyone gets tired. Then you rest and try again." He takes a half-step back at the offer of handshake, instead lowering his hands to his side and giving Nom a small bow. "Are you ready for class, maybe? It'll start again soon." Nom doesn't push the issue. Instead, she shrugs and wraps her arms around her back and walks to the end of the roof... Then turns and does her best to mimic Daiki's bow. "Giga-waabamin." Then she frowns a little bit,"Huuuuh..." She shrugs,"I go class after wash off blood. Me try be productive. Me am hope you have good day." With nary a further sound, she hops down. Presumably, she has a way to catch herself, or land without injuring herself. Daiki's brows furrow faintly at the unfamiliar term, but all he says, quiet, is, "I hope you do as well." His eyes open just faintly wider when Nom hops off the roof but -- this /is/ Xavier's. When no ensuing /screaming/ happens, he turns to climb back in the window, shutting it behind him.