ArchivedLogs:Civilization, or Some Approximation Thereof

Civilization, or Some Approximation Thereof
Dramatis Personae Arline, Isra, Rasa, Sebastian
In Absentia	2012-12-11 New faces
Location <XS> Kitchen
The kitchen staff at Xavier's tends well to the needs of its residents. Always cognizant of its students and faculty's dietary needs alike, the menu has a wide variety of choices, and the longtime cook works wonders in the kitchen. The pantry, too, is kept well stocked for those who want to come prepare themselves their own snacks. The shelf, fridge, and freezer space is ample, though if anyone wants to keep their own food there, they'd better make sure it's labeled clearly, and even that is no guarantee it'll last. Arline can be a bit of an oddball, and today is no exception. Having settled in for the day, she's reflexively gone to the kitchen for a snack: A glass of cola and a chocolate snake cake of some sort. Except, she's not ACTUALLY eating it. She's just sitting on a stool at the counter, staring at it with her chin on her folded arms as if expecting it to pop up and run away. Rasa enters the kitchen quietly and hesitantly, the hefty black fabric of hir burqa swishing against the floor and doorframe as ze pushes the door open. Ze looks around, eyes wide in the small window on the head, gloves covering hir fingers. Hands release the door and soft steps take hir further in, heading toward the cabinets that no one is looking at currently and starts rummaging, much exploration to be done. Arline actually gestures, in an almost 'bored' manner to one of the cabinets alongside the side of the kitchen,"Hey there. The Halaal foods are usually kept in the third cabinet over there, next to the kosher ones." She scratches at her nose a little bit, then goes back to staring at her snack. Isra glides into the room in Rasa's wake, her footfalls very nearly silent. Her black chador hangs open over a gray khimar and robe. She pauses and tilts her head. "Good day," she says, "I feared I had lost my way in the vastness of this mansion, but it seems I have found civilization at last!" Sebastian is unhesitant in his own entry, skittering in shortly behind Isra and ducking behind the door just as a small green Nerf disc baps into the wood by his head. The short blue teen has a small curl of smile on his face as he leans his (admittedly insignificant) weight back against the door, ducking his head half-sheepish, half-amused at the thudding that ensues from /someone's/ fist pounding against it. He has a (Nerf!) gun of his own held at his side, which he grips tightly in one webbed hand as he looks around the kitchen. "-- Civilization?" He perks up at this, brightly hopeful. "Where'd you find /that/?" "Um. Okay." Rasa continues searching all the cabinets, absolutely curious. Ze turns quickly around when Isra speaks up and takes in the similarly dressed individual in with a look of horror which fades when recognition does not follow. Ze curls hir shoulders inward as ze turns back to the cabinets and humphs, peeking back over hir shoulder at the noise that follows Sebastian's entrance. This time, hir eyes stay wide. If her eyes looked like anything but pools of darkness, Arline's eyes would likely be veritably sparkling with amusement. "It's easy to get lost. I've only been here a few days myself, but it's real easy to get lost." After resettling herself, Arline takes note of Sebastian's entrance. Like an unerring missile, the nerf disc that had almost nailed Sebastian sails into her hand from the ground, and then she playfully sails it at him,"Shane, who'd you irritate this time? Adult on deck!" Isra gives Sebastian a quizzical smile. "Some anthropologists consider cooking a fairly solid indication of civilization, although that is still arbitrary." She walks over to the sink, locates a glass and fills it with water. "I am to be teaching astronomy, though, not anthropology, so civilization is optional." Behind Sebastian, the door thumps a few more times, but then there is a squeak, a loud, "Hey!", and the pounding of sneakered feet away off across the dining room outside. Sebastian's huge black eyes, meanwhile, widen, and then he grooooans. "-- /Shane/," is a strangled sort of noise, and he straightens, tentatively, away from the door. But backs away from it with his Nerf-gun trained at it, just in case. "/I/ didn't irritate anyone, I don't take any responsibility for whatever he's done now!" He looks between the others, flicking his gaze from Rasa to Isra. "Hi!" It's a friendly sort of chirp, which he follows up with rapid questions, "-- What'chu looking for?" to the former, and to the latter, "Astronomy, /cool/! Astronomy /plus/ civilization would be awesome, though. /I'd/ go colonize Mars. I usually eat my food raw, though. Is that uncivilized? I /have/ been called a monster an awful lot." "Um." Rasa stares for a moment, then shifts to take a better look at Arline. Ze clears hir throat and then straightens up. "Um, not looking /for/ anything, but... um, looking? Just want to know where things are." Brows rise cheerfully, but the skin around hir eyes is starting to turn red. "Is no one breaking in?" The accent is American, East coast. Focusing her power on the snack before her, Arline floats the snack cake and the cola over towards Sebastian, "Here. You can have this. I thought maybe if I pulled it, I'd get hungry. Since moving to the mansion, though, I just feel full most of the time. I think it's because of all the people here. Interesting energy, you know?" She streeetches a little bit, then asks of Isra, "Does that mean telescopes? 'Cause telescopes are kind of cool." Then she's addressing Sebastian again, "Sorry. You and your brother look kind of alike. I see the difference now, though." Then Rasa is speaking, so she replies in her own southern-accented voice, "I think they're just playing. Nice eyes, by the way." She idly begins to spin her stool, the way a younger kid might. "That does indeed mean telescopes," Isra replies, turning around to lean on the counter beside the sink, "although we might work with some data from the Mars rovers if computer equipment allows. Not as fabulous as /colonizing/ Mars, but one thing at a time." She takes a sip of her water. "Come to think of it, I eat my food raw sometimes, too. I suppose we had better not tell the anthropologists, then." She winks at Sebastian, then scans the other inhabitants of the room. "Isra al-Jazari is my name, by the way--not 'Al Jazeera' like the news service. You are all students here, then?" Sebastian lowers his toy once it becomes clear (hopefully?) that his pursuer has abandoned him in favor of other targets. "Oh, well, Taylor /might/ break in but the worst you'll get if he does is a nerf disc to the chest. They're not very effective attack, really." He heads towards the counter, leaning up against it and giving Arline a curious look. "-- You do? Cuz I don't," he admits with a quick smile. "Looking at Shane's like looking in a mirror. A mirror that, uh, curses at me sometimes. I'm a student!" He wiggles webbed fingers at Isra. "'Bastian. S'nice to meet you, Professor al-Jazari. I'd be okay with Mars colonizing us, too, but that'll probably come from a planet farther away." His black eyes skip towards the others in turn. "And y'all, too. Did you just get here?" "Today," Rasa's bright red skin begins to fade, slowly, as the teacher takes up most of the room's attention. Eyes blink rapidly as ze performs a curt little bow toward the professor and clears hir throat before speaking up again. "Rasa Djalili, Student. New." Ze draws closer to the group. "Can anyone help me find some nuts? I kind of like cashews, but brazilnuts would be nice too. Peanuts are fine and all, but peanuty." Arline focuses on another cabinet. Almost immediately, it swings open and a can of cashews zips out to float before Rasa as if pinned in the air. "I also saw hazelnuts, I think. My name is Arline. Arline Yamashima. Student, no surprise ther." The snack cake and cola she was holding mentally set themselves down on a counter. Then she refocuses,"Taylor. I accidentally tried to shake his hand once. I was so mortified, but he was really nice about it. Anyway, nice to meet you Miss al-Jazari!" "Nice to meet you all." Isra sets the water down and watches Arline retrieve the can. "You are a /bit/ younger than the students I have worked with previously, but I will accord you the same privileges so long as you are willing to learn." She gives the top edge of her khimar a slight tug, as it was slipping up far enough to expose her hairless eyebrow ridge. "Well, in my classroom, anyhow. The rest is up to your headmaster!" "So we get to look at stars in your class? Does that means going outside past curfew at night? I might even be able to get my brother to /come/ to that class!" Sebastian has snagged the snack cake and cola out of the air, though he quietly places the cake back where it came from. The cola he considers, for a moment, but sets down on the counter too. "The peanuts warn you how peanutty they are," he says, lightly, "in case you thought maybe they didn't have peanuts in. Taylor's nice. He'll shake your hand, I bet. The tentacles don't hurt except, uh, the big hook-y ones." This draws a wince out of him. He leans back against the counter. "Where'd you come from before?" This might be directed towards Isra at her mention of teaching older students, but really seems more generally tossed out to all the newcomers in the room. "We were in Chicago last," Rasa offers quietly, hands reaching up to fetch the can out of the air, gently, in case there is resistance. Gloved fingers pull the lid off and but cannot quite get the seal off the top. Ze strips off one glove to work it open. "DC before that." Ze looks over hir shoulder. "Tentacles? Really? Does everyone... look not... like the Professor Xavier?" Arline blinks her eyes a little bit,"Mmmm. Ma'am, in case I have you for any of my classes soon, I'd like to apologize for Ego, because... she's certainly not going to. She's kind of a jerk." She hops off her stool, finally, and begins rifling through some cabinets for cooking utensils and ingredients,"I don't really eat anymore, but... Any of you like cajun food? I like to cook, myself." She wonders of Sebsatian,"Lemme guess... eat alot of fish, right? I know this recipe for crawfish etouffe... I could give a try for sushi, though, if you'd like that more." She's humming as she rattles pots, noting to Rasa,"No. Just several of us are unusual and have very poor prospects otherwise. I'm one of the 'problem cases'. Here, let me get that for you." The seal appears to tear itself free and float into the garbage. "We get to look at stars in class, yes, but living in the Information Age means we needn't do it at night," Isra explains. "We can get live data from observatories anywhere in the world if we wanted. Once I get my own telescopes set up, however, I will petition Professor Xavier to allow stargazing sessions--outside, past the curfew, at night." She watches Arline search the cabinets. "There is very little I can teach someone who does not want to learn, but even jerks can have curiosity. I found that out teaching college students, who sometimes have trouble with ego. That is where was before," she nods at Sebastian, "the doctoral program at Columbia, in New York City." "Most of us aren't bald," Sebastian says, turning a quick smile to Rasa. "Um, actually most people here look pretty normal. I guess you just happened to fall in with all the freaks right away." His nose wrinkles at Arline. "He-ey, you're stereotyping," he complains, but it's an amused sort of offense. He shrugs a shoulder. "I like fish well enough. I eat a lot of meat. Um. Not a lot else. -- woah." His eyes widen, looking at Isra. "Cool! I want to go there. Some day." A big, scrawling 'Thanks' is written on the back of Rasa's hand as ze dips it into the canister before retracting a handful of nuts under hir layers to hir mouth. "OH good. I was concerned about the hair." Rasa steps toward a chair and takes a seat, the tops of hir feet showing now from beneath the burqa. Arline nods to Isra,"Ego is a person, in this case. And, more like Ego in the Freudian sense. She's... pretty awful." She flicks her eyes over to Sebastian again, though,"You're much more academicallyminded than your brother, huh? And you carry yourself differently... Does that make sense?" She's already measuring out some rise by this point, though she does peer at Rasa's hand for a moment,"Oh, neat! Is that your power? You make writing? I bet you kill at calligraphy. Aiya, I'm so jealous. Ya'll got such nice eyes." Isra straightens her chador self-consciously. "Ah, I see. Well, then, I really ought to get to unpacking." She rinses out the glass and heads for the door, then pauses and smiles despite herself. "I do look forward to meeting your fellows, however awful you think they are. Oh, and remember to pick out your favorite heavenly bodies if you want to see them in a scope!" She slips out the door as silently as she came. Sebastian waves, cheerfully. "Bye, Professor!" He flicks a glnce to the writing on Rasa's hand, brightening. "Oh, hey, cool! That's -- cool. Um. The hair's not mandatory. But Professor Xavier's head is good luck if you rub it. Not Taylor's, though. If you rub his you get shot with nerf darts." His nose wrinkles up a little, then, and he nods to Arline. "Y-yeah, he carries himself differently. I'm trying to get him to focus on class more, though." "Um. Sort of. I guess." Rasa's little bits of visible skin turns fire engine red again and ze drops hir glove. "What did I do?" Ze moves to stand over the glove and squat down, fishing around under the burqa to get it. The nuts get left on a countertop near by. "I... don't know." Arline smiles at the boy,"Oh, he's nice enough. Likable even, when he's not being a jerk. Skips class a lot, I'm guessing. Which I didn't wanna say in front of the teacher." She starts brown some meat in a pan at this point, moving with a bit more animation than normal. "Oh! You have mood-ring skin, don't you. And I'm embarassing you. And I'm putting my foot in my mouth. Really, you don't need to cover it up. Sebastian and Shane are fish people and I look like a Shinto ghost for crying out loud. At worst, it's interesting, and at best, it's somewhat tame. Especially compared to people like me or Taylor. Eat your nuts. Don't worry." "You didn't do anything," Sebastian assures Rasa with an easy smile. "You wrote thanks. It was neat. And you'll be okay around here," he adds, lightly. "I mean, with other people. Wear what you like to wear. But most people here aren't going to give you any trouble for what you look like. Or do." His clawed fingers flick between himself and Arline. "You're in good company. Or, at least," he laughs, "you're in /plenty/ of company." "I..." Rasa stands up, giving up on the glove and moving back to hir seat, hand coming out of hir burqa once more. "I guess that's okay." Eyes focus briefly on Sebastian, searching his face. "Wear? I haven't been out of this thing in years." Color drains from hir hand and face slowly as ze sighs. The words 'tired, tired, tired' drip across hir hand before dropping right off hir fingers into nothingness. "Don't know if I could wear what I want to wear. You have a brother?" 'Change the subject!' announces itself boldly on the bridge of hir nose. Arline begins to dump seasoning from various places over the rice,"Don't worry. One day, you'll feel comfy enough around here, you'll be able to wear whatever you want to. I'm hoping one day, personally, that I figure out how to eat with my teeth. They're kind of fragile even if they look nasty. Anyway, Sebastian, if he's anything like his brother, is basically a good guy. Friendly, in their own way. They ARE good company." She asks a moment later,"So you're not muslim, then? That means you can have shellfish?" Sebastian colors a little darker at the words that print themselves on Rasa. "I don't mean to press," he says gently, "and I won't, just. I mean, this is high school. There's jerks everywhere. But the teachers don't stand for any kind of bigotry so -- I dunno. I walk around looking like this and I'm fine. 'less you're running around naked, nobody's going to fuss over if you want to go to class in jeans or a tux or a skirt." After this he is willing enough to change the subject, albeit with a wrinkle of his nose. "I have a brother. A twin. If you see me and I'm cursing a lot, it's probably Shane. But he's real -- um. He's good. He just can be -- prickly. -- How do you eat if you can't use your teeth?" he asks Arline, curiously. "OH, I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Rasa lifts hir hand to cover hir face, where Sebastian's eyes are trained, and rises. Unfortunately, ze used hir bare hand to cover. It now reads 'Oh shit, oh shit.' Ze bends over and grabs hir glove and takes up the canister of nuts. "It's probably just been a really crazy day and I should hide out in my room or something. You're all really nice. I'm just... not good with people yet. So, if you'll excuse me." Nuts tucked under one arm, Rasa starts to flee the room, tugging on hir glove as ze goes. Arline notes to Sebastian,"I eat... uh... sort of... Well, people give off emotional energy and it sort of 'soaks into' places. And I eat that. So like, you're feeding me, and she's feeding me..." She points at Rasa,"And it's all very good. I don't eat or drink anything solid. I mean, I could digest it, I'm sure." And then Rasa is departing,"Come hang out sometime, okay? Really, you're very nice. Don't worry!" She snaps,"Darn. I've never scared anyone off before. I thought noone was gonna be as shy as me. I get that." And then she bends her head to the dish. Why? Cause cajun cooking needs spice! "Oh, gosh, sorry," Sebastian says, watching Rasa take off with a slight, worried frown. "-- G'night!" Brow slightly creased, he leans more heavily against the counter, crooking a small smile at Arline. "Woah. That's neat, I've never heard of that. I mean, my pa kind of eats sunlight, but he totally still needs other food, too. Just needs both. Energy, though, from people, that's like --" His face lights up in a smile. "I bet you'd have the /best/ vampire costume at Halloween," he says with a laugh. "What all are you putting in that? I'm not great at cooking, yet, but I like to watch and learn." Which he slips around the counter to do, likely with a whole host more questions for Arline as the evening continues.