ArchivedLogs:Good and Tough

Good and Tough
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Shelby
In Absentia	2013-03-03 Shelby returns from the medlab; Rasa's there to greet her.
Location Rasa & Shelby's Dorm, Xavier's School
Shelby has been keeping a low profile for the past couple of days. Early Friday a note was delivered to the room by one of the medlab staff, which probably did not help any worry Rasa might have been feeling. It read simply, "im bak pls dnt tel NE1 -shelby" in a scrawl that could only be described as childish. If questioned, the lab aide just shook her head and said she couldn't share patient information. Friday passed without word, as did Saturday. And now it's Sunday. Shelby has been released following a battery of tests, poking and prodding. She has passed despair, shook free of depression and entered into the anger phase of grieving. She's wearing a pair of soft blue scrubs, and her right arm is strapped securely to her chest, with her hand swathed in enough bandages as to entirely hide the appendage. She shoulders her way into her shared room, her street clothes packed into a plastic shopping bag which is tossed without ceremony into a corner. Rasa jumps when Shelby enters, keyed up and on edge for days as to hir roommate's whereabouts and conditions in that order during the course of the weekend. It was easy enough to ignore her absence during classes, but once the slothfulness of the weekend began, without the friend picnic Ivan invited hir to, Rasa might be climbing the walls (in a less literal fashion). So when the errant roommate returns, bandaged, Rasa jumps up and hovers nervously. "Are you okay? You are hurt. Is there anything I can do? Gosh, you don't look happy." Ze is a little silver colored today, hair and eyelashes blue. "It only hurts if I move my arm." Which accounts for the snug strapping used to secure the arm. Shelby's grumbling begins there and moves on to, "I dunno why I /should/ be happy, I'm a fucking cripple now." PC she ain't. With a hmph and a huff, she lets herself topple onto the bed--only to wince when the impact jostles the aforementioned arm. A moody look swings over towards Rasa. "...the blue looks pretty sweet with the silver," she comments, after struggling for a moment with remarks that were probably not quite so generous. The concern being shown brings about a grudging attempt to be civil, at least. "You okay?" "Yeah. I... Uh. I was concerned." Rasa gnaws on one lip, looking a bit embarrassed by hir concern now. "They just told me you were in the infirmary. They wouldn't say how bad. A person gets creative with no information." Ze shrugs and sits tentatively on the edge of Shelby's bed. "I... um, I didn't mean to say that I would help because of your issues. I just though... hurt and recovering meant... um." 'fuuuuuck words' scrawls across the side of hir face. "Meant normal people offer to help?" Shelby suggests. Her smile is brief and crooked but after it shows up, she flaps a hand at Rasa. The gesture is intended to sweep away the embarrassment, the awkward--maybe even her own resentment. It isn't directed at her roommate, anyway. Right now, the ceiling gets the brunt of it as she stares upwards. Her good hand gingerly adjusts the sling around the bad one. "Yeah. I'm sorry I worried you, anyway. I've been in a lot of shit before but this is kind've...new. I dunno what I'm gonna do about it." "Did they do surgery?" Rasa asks, getting a more comfortable purchase when Shelby doesn't kick her off the mattress. "It's okay, the worrying. I just - it happens. You know? Like waves causing the sand to get wet, rather than taking it all with them when they go back to sea." Ze watches the hand with some curiosity, then folds hir hands in hir lap. "I won't ask about any of that until you're ready to talk." "No, just X-rays and scans and shit. It was a mutant who did it. They're still figuring out what they can fix about it, he fucked it up good." Shelby's eyebrows knit together at talk of sand and waves and sea, tilting a puzzled look down at Rasa. The look is classic 'what the fuck?'. "...okay." There is a longer before she decides that Rasa's remark is an invitation. Then she pushes herself up to sit facing the other student. Two days in medlab leaves plenty of time for thinking. "Okay, so, like. Shit happens, right? /Bad/ shit. And I /know/ that and I just...you keep going, right? That's what I always do. Something bad happens, I take off and I /go/ and it's okay 'cause I can still manage." "Okay." Now it's Rasa's turn to look confused. "So you're leaving the school?" "No!" Shelby snorts with enough force to flare her nostrils. "Where the hell am I gonna go? I'm right-handed, I can't even fucking get /dressed/ now. I can't busk, I can't art, I can't do /shit/ because some crazy asshole decided he was gonna turn my arm into a fucking /balloon/ animal." She gets a little energetic at the end of that and begins to gesture with both hands, only to wince immediately after and sink back into sullen stillness. "So I'm /stuck/." Rasa's face registers absolute shock when Shelby finally lets slip what is going on with her hand. Hir skin takes on an extra solid silver tone as ze tries to process all of this, but thin lines of half buried words still leak out. It's not very legible. Ze is quiet for a moment, eyes slowly returning to a more normal size of openness, when ze speaks again. "Ah. Being stuck is pretty terrible. I am sorry. I will do whatever it is you need to alleviate the stuckness." "Yeah, well, short of tracking that douchebag down and making him change it back, I think I'm fucked." The girl looks down at the arm in question before squeezing her eyes shut. A long minute passes before Shelby breathes out again and lifts her eyes to Rasa. Her smile is forced but it's /there/. "Least I managed to sucker the Prof into letting me go here. Means I won't starve or anything for the next coupla years, right? You didn't really like...worry, did you? I figured you'd maybe have other shit to think about right now." "Yes, I worried. You were gone and then Ivan said we were all supposed to do something Friday night and then you were still gone and then the person from the infirmary gave me your note." Rasa shakes hir head and frowns a little. "I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to, but the more I know about a person, the more their wellbeing is important to me." Ze kicks hir feet out a little, just to fidget. "You talked to Ivan?" This provides a small sliver of light to an otherwise dreary day--although Shelby isn't entirely sold, as can be seen in her rumpled brow. "I'm, uh...sorry for fucking Friday night up then. I know he was kinda looking forward to it," she says, slowly feeling out what may or may not have been agreed upon between the pair. "Yeah. We invited Peter too." Rasa rubs at the back of hir neck as ze stares down at the floor. "It's okay to put it off though. It's still kind of very cold and picnics are nicer when one isn't shivering too much to eat." "Oh." That answers it for Shelby, then. Oddly enough, she isn't /too/ disappointed--so much of her excitement rested in having the best date night idea ever, and now that she's unable to perform for it... "I guess waiting makes sense, yeah. When it's warmer and people aren't...busy. I guess," she sighs, rubbing her beslinged arm, up and down. "Sometimes I think I should've stayed in Florida." "Are picnics in March that important?" Rasa asks, curiously. "Because if you want, we can totally have a picnic tonight or something and it'd be great. We could even hav it right here." Ze stands up and looks around the room. "We might need to push stuff around a bit to give the place a little more floor sitting space, but it could work. Or get a plastic tarp and do it out by the lake in heavy blankets." "What, here?" Shelby is pulled from her brooding to blink at Rasa, to blink at the room and her vision of it. "I dunno. I mean, it wasn't that big a deal. It was just..." She pauses for a beat before admitting, "Ivan wanted to ask you out, so the twins and me were gonna play some music while you guys ate or whatever. That's all. And anyway, they're back in the city this weekend. They had something to do for their dad. Maybe when they get back, if you wanna." "Yeah, I explained to him like I told you that I'm not interested in dating right now and that I'm unsure of my gender, let alone my sexuality. He said something about alien fire slugs, but wanted to still be friends." Rasa sums up the conversation quickly as ze looks around the room. "Maybe we'll just shove the desks in one corner or something." Ze is thoughtful as ze turns back to Shelby. "It could be fun, if you are up for fun." "Alien fire slugs?" Score one for Rasa! The reference gets Shelby to briefly forget her plight, and causes her eyebrows to go all wonky. "Oookay. Well, whatever works for you guys. I'm glad you're like...friends'n'shit." She glances down and catches at her lip with her teeth. "Shit, I still gotta...no, Shane would've told him. Double shit, he's gonna wanna see it. Fuck...um...huh? Oh. Yeah, fun. Sure, whatever. Maybe we can see if someone has a stereo system we could borrow." Heresy! It escapes grimly, without much of the fun that Rasa speaks of. Rasa blinks at Shelby as she goes of on a rant that makes little sense to the girl. Ze latches on to stereo system and runs with it. "There's also the AV department. They've got some stuff if none of the students have one to lend." Rasa finally flops on hir bed and considers. "Peter was worried about us being friends too. He's a nice kid, if a bit over dramatic." Another hand flap indicates that the AV department is a-okay for stereo stuff. Shelby is none too invested, still a little distracted by whatever thoughts are running through her head. "What, about you and him, or you and me? He's kind've weird, huh? Like super geek or whatever. Dunno how Ivan got stuck with him, Peter never shuts up and you're lucky if Ivan says three words to you." "I think Ivan is getting better about speaking. It seems like he might have had problems before he came." Rasa is quick to defend. "I think Peter was mostly worried about Ivan. He seemed a bit strange around me too, but he was really worried about Ivan because he didn't think he could take rejection well." Hir silver starts to fade into more fleshy tones, fingers scratching at hir hair as it shakes out dark brown again. "Who hasn't?" Shelby's tone isn't the nicest but she sighs and then shakes her head, to dismiss her own comment. "Sounds like he took it pretty well, if ya'll are still gonna stay friends." After spending a moment watching the transformation in hair color, she pulls a face and sinks back against the pillows piled on her bed. "I haven't talked to B about this yet. I guess I should maybe do that." "Are you worried about his reaction?" Rasa is more serious as she asks, concerned again. "I don't think he'll have a problem with it. He seems to accept people no matter what." "I'm maybe a little worried he's gonna wanna go out and eat the dude who did it, more than anything. He's like...I dunno. He probably won't care I've got a gimp arm, but /I/ care. And like...all Shane's doing right now is making lobster jokes but Bastian isn't like that." Shelby rolls her head on the pillow, looking across the space between their beds. "Shane fucks around, Bastian doesn't." Rasa nods quietly as ze listens, a small wrinkle appearing in hir forehead. "Is that why you like Sebastian?" Ze turns and lays down too, looking at Shelby from the same angle. "What is it that you like about him? I never really did ask that, did I?" "Huh?" The question is an unexpected one. Shelby blinks as she considers it--and from the look on her face, it's clear she's debating whether or not to tease the topic in a different direction. Both her expression and the sudden tint of red beneath the freckles decorating her face give it away. In the end though, she grimaces and says, "He's...I dunno. He's the first guy I've known who's been like...shit, this is gonna sound stupid, but he's like the guys you see in movies and on TV, y'know? The /good/ ones who don't...smack you around, or grab your ass, or..." She takes a breath. "He treats /me/ like I'm nice." "Is that what you look for, or is there more to it?" Rasa tilts hir head up and rests it on hir arm on hir pillow. "Or do lots of guys not treat you like your nice?" Ze inhales deeply and lets the air out when ze's had a moment to think. "Sorry. I don't have to pester you about this if you don't want to talk." Shelby snorts at this. "I'm /not/ nice. You maybe noticed," she says dryly. "But like...Bastian thinks I am, and that's...nice." Lots of nices. It's /almost/ funny and so she makes a sound that is /almost/ a chuckle as she wedges her good arm in behind her head. "The easiest way to get by, when you're like thirteen, fourteen, and on the streets, and you're a girl? That's to hook up. But you gotta be smart about it, right? Some dumbasses, they just grab the first guy who says they'll take care of them and before they know it, they're strung out and turning tricks because the dude says they need the money. /I/ figured out, I'd just stick around with a guy while he was still playing nice, trying to pin me down, and when I could I'd just...move on, you know?" "It makes sense, I guess. I wouldn't have thought of that when I was thirteen." Rasa frowns and gnaws on hir lip. "Though, if I hadn't found this place, I probably would have been out on the streets by now. I really... I'm not good at being tough." Ze continues to face Shelby, studying her face. "Maybe that's why it's good that you're my roommate. Maybe I can pick up some of your toughness." "I only thought of it 'cause the chick who introduced me to the first dude was a fucking mess, and I got to see what might happen to me," Shelby confesses with an unpleasant little smile. "If it was you out there you'd maybe surprise yourself. You do shit you'd never think you would when your back's up to the wall." She says this as she carefully sits up and rolls her shoulders, wincing lightly. After that, she stands and proceeds towards the door. "I gotta pee." Stay classy, Shelby.