ArchivedLogs:Transformations

Transformations
Dramatis Personae Kelly, Rasa
In Absentia	2013-11-25 Breaking from farming, Rasa and Kelly talk about getting used to appearances and changes. (Part of Infected TP.)
Location <XS> Conservatory
Tall panes of glass keep this large indoor garden warm year round. Tended to by the school's groundskeeper, the conservatory is lush with plant life, a carefully cultivated paradise within Xavier's walls. The room serves as a classroom as well; in the center of the garden a ring of seats forms a small circle, a favorite locale for some teachers to hold court. The serine flow of the Conservatory has been quite disrupted lately. With the focus shifting less away from beauty and study, and much more closely towards survival and optimum production. The classroom area has been shifted to the side, the seating now quite cramped in front of the board, and to its left several rows of pots and troughs of dirt spring up with support stakes, twine, and little hanging clip boards tracking exactly what was planted in each row, and how recently it was harvested. Several baskets are set to the end, one of them already full mostly of peppers and cucumbers, while two more sit empty. There are also a few strange creature comforts here as well. A padded chair sits next to the baskets, (though form the wear and tear on it, it was likely pulled out of a long period in storage), and two huge portable water coolers and a stack of cups rest next to it on a flimsy folding table. Several students have been tending to the effort, each bringing either skills or raw muscles to the equation under the direction of Miss Munroe... but one student has made this his almost constant home: One Kelly Walsh. At the moment he's the only one in the room, squatted down in front of what is labeled as potatoes, with his hand shoved under one of the bunches of flat leaves, half vanishing into the dirt, eyes closed. Sweat is obvious on his brow, and his skin tone is several shades lighter than it should be as he works in one of his modified T-shirts (the neck hole widened to allow the leaves on his shoulders and bark plates open air), and a pair of shorts synched tight with a belt. But as he waits there, the leaves begin to spread wide, grow deeper green, and even the dirt itself starts to shift as something beneath the surface there grows and expands. Rasa wanders in quietly, having disappeared for a few days to counteract the ravages of the plague within hir. Ze is more timid now, hanging back in entrances to examine the room with a hint of wonder rather than fear. Instead of a violent green with yellow undertones, ze is settled into a deep and quiet blue, fuzzed over and looking a bit small. Hir tail hangs behind and drags on the ground like the limbs of a stuffed animal. Ze is still wearing scrubs, the clothing a bit too large for hir and in mint green. Ze wanders around further into the room when ze sees that Kelly is the only person in, turning hir eyes upward after a while to take in the sunlight streaming in from the windows, breathing in deep breaths. At length, hir feet take hir to Kelly's side and ze leans over to look at his work, hir brows high on hir forehead, curious. The leaves continue to grow and spread out wide, their wrinkled edges almost seeming to ripple like water as they continue to spread. The ones to its right are much much smaller, simply a collection of small stems with a few baby leaves seeking sunlight, while to the left of it, two large empty holes of dirt sit open. With a huff, Kelly grunts and his arm bulges slightly as verdant shoots just under his his skin swell, and with a determined pull, he unearths a humongous tangle of roots and oversized potatoes. Dirt splashes out around him, covering the boy in the soil and fertilizer... but he was already quite dirty from his previous work so the effect is mostly a wash. It's only then that he notices that he has new company, and despite an initial jerk of surprise, he actually smiles. "Yikes, hope I didn't get dirt on ya." He says tiredly as he lifts the bundle up. And that's' when it's clear that he isn't holding the plant. His fingers and palm mostly disappear into the stems and roots of the plant, boy and vegetable merged as one. "You're up! and... you're looking good in blue." He compliments with a wide exhausted grin. "And you on the other hand look exhausted," Rasa replies, concern hiding in hir tone. Ze doesn't really mind the spray of dirt as ze moves over to one side to examine the potatoes that he withdraws from the earth and wets hir lips a little. "How goes the farming. How are you holding up? Is there anything you need in order to keep working? I heard that the quarantine isn't letting up just yet so we're still out of food for the most part." Ze reaches out to touch one of the potatoes and starts brushing away some of the dirt. "Don't want stop your herculean efforts, but if you need to rest, none of us want you to get sick or injury yourself permanently trying." "Just a little. I over did it the first few days and now they're pretty strict at making me stop before my freckles disappear." Kelly admits, and then starts to... giggle? As Rasa brushes off the dirt from the potatoes, they start to move and wiggle a bit, the one in hir hand actually shifting a little on its own. "Its going good! Glad to get some potatoes today, they're one of the longest cycles for us." And while he explains, he keeps using 'us', moving a hand to the set-up. "I can make 'em grow faster, but because we have to harvest the whole plant, there's nothing left after I do, so we have to plant them again and wait for the first sprouts to spring up. I help 'em cheat there, too, but it still takes a few days. Its why there's been so many peppers in everything lately, I can grab those every day." Standing up he motions to the table where a white cloth sits in bowl of water, the water stained light green. "Can you hand me that? I could probably use a break. And... did they let you out, or did you sneak out?" he asks next. "Oh shit, was that ticklish?" Rasa pulls hir hand away and tilts hir head to one side as ze examines the potatoes closer. Hir attention shifts back to Kelly's face as he starts to explain cycles, hir brows remaining high as ze takes in all of the information. "Hmmm. Well, I guess that makes sense. What's the turn around time on beans, out of curiosity?" Ze straightens up and moves over to the table, carefully lifting the bowl of water and stepping back to Kelly's side. "Oh, well, I finished the first part of the treatment a few days ago, but I was feeling so sick, I didn't want to move. I could have left at any time, and returned for the booster shots, but ... Meh." Ze purses her lips, eyes narrowing on the aforementioned freckles. "Now, I feel better and I've had all my shots, so I guess I'm a free citizen, barring reinfection." "Just a little ticklish, and its fine, just don't go plucking any leaves or snacks before I let go, THAT hurts." Kelly jokes out lightly as he takes the bowl and moves away from the trough, setting the potatoe bunch down on a towel where the previous two plants were already placed. His freckles are indeed still there! Not quite as bright as they usually are, but he's not quite overexerted himself yet. He starts to pull his hand out of the plant, and it works up until the very end where there is a small series of wet tearing sounds, and Kelly quickly wraps his hand up with the wet cloth, green stains starting to soak into it as he winces. "Beans are like, the easiest, could harvest 'em twice a day if they'd let me... but we just didn't have very many plants when we started, so its been a little slow gettin' enough of 'em. I think we've got a good batch, lately, though... so that's been helping 'cause the meat's so hard to get now. I can't wait until I can just go get McDonalds again..." And while Kelly is still quite the chubby mutant, he's lost quite a few inches on his stomach since he came here the first day. "I can't believe you can still get it /again./ That isn't fair, like at ALL, but I'm still glad you're better... when I saw you the day Jax came back... gosh, I almost cried and stuff, cause it was lookin really really bleak. Uhm... don't tell Shane I told ya that." "Eh, don't let Shane's bluster turn you off. He's a great guy underneath and the closer you get to him, the more you see it. Granted, the more you see his snark, but I really don't think he'd think less of you for feeling overwhelmed just then." Rasa moves to settle down on the ground, resting hir back against a large pot, arms loosely around folded legs. "But... yeah. It's been really shitty. I ... honestly don't know if I feel like it's over yet. Everything's so... disorienting. I'm supposed to be happy, but there's still no food." Ze pauses and shakes hir head. "I mean, easy food. Life isn't back to normal yet. You're helping keep us alive and that's great. I'm not ungrateful, just... wondering if the shoes are going to start dropping again." "I guess it just isn't really over. People are still..." Kelly starts to say dying, but he can't bring himself to spit it out, instead he substitutes "...getting hurt. We found a few in the barn just a few days ago..." and he pauses a moment to shiver at the memory. "I don't think there is ever going to be a 'normal' again, just an 'after.'" He motions to the plants as he waits for his hand to stop bleeding in the cloth, sitting down across from hir. "I'm just doing this to keep from going crazy, really, and I couldn't do it without like, the dozen or so others that help keep it going. I think everyone's really doin' their part right now. I know I'd be dead like a dozen times over already if it weren't for the help I've gotten since coming here..." He tilts his head back and just melts in place as he enjoys the sun on his skin, his vines literally shivering as they enjoy the sensation. "How much can you change?" he asked after a moment of this, curiosity getting the better of him. "I mean, the tail is rally cool, and the skin is neat. But like, what all can change?" "How much can I change?" Rasa considers this question quietly, lips pursing as hir gaze goes out of focus. "I can change every part of me, every little bit, into something composed of pretty much the same material as I am. I don't do animals. I also can't do inanimate objects." Ze shrugs. "I couldn't tell you if I don't do animals because some part of my brain doesn't want me to or if there's just that part of my brain telling me I am unable to. It's self preservation or inability. But I know for sure I can't be rock or plant." One foot itches the other as ze considers Kelly for a moment. "I suppose you can ask more questions, if you like." "Being a plant is totally over rated, don't worry. Only good part is I think I'm now the only ginger on the planet who doesn't blister like a cooked lobster in the sun anymore." Kelly snaps back with a laughing tone as he opens his eyes and leans forward again. "I don't wanna be rude or nuthin', its just... well, curious I guess." He looks over hir carefully and then asks next: "Is there like... a 'normal' Rasa, like, what you go back to when you aren't anything else, or is it kinda... always changing on ya without you wanting it to?" He holds up his own hand at that last point with the constantly wiggling vines, which he doesn't fully control. "My body seems to be a construct of how I think of myself. While I have no real base 'me,' I tend to look like myself a lot of the time. Which, incidentally, isn't exactly like the person I am without powers. I mean, it's like trying to imagine your face after you've looked in the mirror. You... never really do. It's just a hazy memory, all of the things you don't like exaggerated, or glossed over in your memory. I'm kind of idealized, I guess." Rasa holds hir hand up and studies it. "Also, probably partially programmed by other influences as well, what is broadcast as pretty or attractive, and what makes other people more readily recognize me." "That's... gotta be tough to keep up with." Kelly says with wide eyes as he tries to imagine it. "But I bet it isn't all bad, I mean, you can be blue sometimes, or black and white... and you even did the word thing, which means I guess you can do bunces." Shaking his head he pulls his toes under him cross legged. "So, there was a before though? I guess that's true of most of us, isn't it?" "I suppose," Rasa admits, sniffing lightly and leaning forward to rest hir chin on hir arms. "There's a lot, but a lot of it is unconscious, so it's more of a show for other people, and that's kind of an uncomfortable situation." Ze draws in a deep breath and closes hir eyes. "One of the teachers, Mr. Wagner, he was born blue. But no. I wasn't. I just turned abnormal sometime a couple years ago." Ze cracks an eye open and studies Kelly. "How about you? Sudden transformation or slow shift?" "Couple years ago I had a flower grow here..." Kelly pointed to one of his flowers, on the right side of his head, near his ear. "Plucked it, and tried to pretend it wasn't there. That was before I started bleeding green. It just started getting' worse and worse from there, until I couldn't hide it any more. It's still growing, I think." THIS point actually manages to rob the smile from his face completely. He puts his hand on his side. "There's a whole new patch that grew in since I started /here/ for instance. I'm... not sure when it's going to stop, but I hope its soon. I don't think it's going to be, though. I just hope I don't end up to look like... well, what I look like when I grow." "There's nothing wrong with being planty, just as long as you're not permanently fixed in any spot. I mean, I guess I shouldn't speak. There's a lot that could go wrong with that, but right now, as your are, mobile, able to communicate, seems okay." Rasa frowns as ze scrubs the back of hir neck, hir coloration growing dark. "Excuse my ... word salad. Just kind of wanting to be encouraging. I mean, the point of the school is to help us figure out how to control what is happening to us and use it in our favor." "Yeah, I get that, and I know its kinda a double standard." Kelly says, looking down at his feet and then back up to Rasa. "I mean, a lot of the other kids here look so much different than normal and I don't think it's bad at all. Guess it's just... like worrying if you're going to go bald when you grow up or something, to me, now. Heck, with Dorian, Shane... or heck, especially you, I think it looks... really nice actually." A point that he has to meet with a slightly desaturated blush. Rasa shakes hir head. "No, it's more of a matter of perspective. Your perspective of the world is entirely different from your own view of yourself. They kind of two actually different things, and yeah, sometimes they don't mesh, but maybe one can help you with the other. The more you notice that other people are different looking, but still nice and attractive may help you start to accept yourself. It may also help you maneuver around the fact that a lot of them feel like you do about their changes." Ze scrubs a hand against the side of hir face. "It's still a mine field, but you'll have a different perspective than those who don't have appearances to worry about." "So you felt this way, too, when it started? I mean, or did you always like what was happening?" Kelly wondered aloud as he squeezed the cloth on his hand and then pulled it off, revealing several small little cuts on his hand that have mostly started to heal over now. He dips the cloth in the water, lets it get rinsed off, and folds it extremely neatly when he's done. "I used to /hate hate hate/ all of it, like, thought it was the end of the WORLD. But..." he motions to the plants. "If I hadn't have had it... I couldn't have helped here. I know we would have made it without it, but... it's helped, ya know? So, I have to be a little thankful for it, even if I'm still not... well, a fan of it just yet. You seem to, well, you seem to accept it a lot better than that, but... I guess that wasn't always the case?" "It's just... amazing how the end of the world can change things, isn't it?" Rasa shrugs and lets hir legs straighten out in front of hir. "The other thing to consider is that if you didn't have your gift, you wouldn't have arrived here at all. You weren't from New York City, were you? Would you have been touched by this plague at all?" Ze crosses hir arms over hir chest as hir chin drifts down to hir chest. "I may be showing you a braver face than normal, since I was kind of your student ambassador to the school. You haven't really had a chance to see me relax yet." Ze licks hir lips. "I have also had to deal with so much more shit since I moved here, that sometimes, worrying about my physical appearance is less important. Priorities shift." "Probably, I was going to get outta that house one way or the other. But I guess my timing couldn't have been worse." The plant mutant says as he pushes up to his feet. "And yeah, having to come together to survive all this... kinda got a whole lot of things right out'ta the way. But... I guess no use focusing on what mighta been and things, cause... we sure got enough to worry about now." He dries his hands off on a paper towel and moves over to the next plant, poking it with one finger as he lets the tiny little plant start to bloom and grow... taking it slow as not to exert himself. But as he does so, another little flower blooms on top of his head next to the one by his ear. Their number twice as thick as they were when he first came to the school a month ago. "And the first thing I need'ta worry about is supper, cause if they're gonna make me eat double rations, I'm sure'as'heck gonna earn 'em." He turns back to Rasa and grins wide. "I think you did a good job at it, ambassador, that is. If it helps. And... let me know if you need anything now that your walking. And especially if you got your appitite back... let me know what ya want to eat, cause... I guess I kinda get to decide what it is we're going to be chewin' on at the moment. Well, at least the green stuff." "I'm good with getting all of my nutritional needs met by plants for the foreseeable future. Save the meat for those who really need it." Rasa starts to get to hir feet, stretching toward the ceiling. "I can also offer to clean the windows for you, if you want. Me and Peter can probably get them shined up so well, you'll get every bit of sunlight these short gray days have to offer." Ze sniffs and lowers hir arms. "I should probably go check on Ivan. He's still under the weather. Not sure he's ever gotten over being under the weather with this stuff, but that pretty much means he never got close to dying." Ze brightens a little at thought. "Um. I like chickpeas. I guess. And black beans."