ArchivedLogs:Duck Tour

Duck Tour
Dramatis Personae Daiki, Ducky, Jackson, Rasa
In Absentia	2013-05-15 '
Location <XS> Foyer and <XS> Great Hall
Xavier's foyer provides a suitable introduction to the opulent mansion. Teak-paneled, wood floors immaculately polished, vaulted ceiling ribbed with dark wood boning, there is no doubt this school was built with no expense spared. The hallways branch off to the separate wings, with the grand staircase spiraling upwards to the residential dorms above. It's been a long ride out to the city. Jax has pilfered Ryan's car again, a sleek red Tesla so at least it is a long /smooth/ ride. But then they arrive! The grounds are quiet, at this hour, just dappled sunlight through the tree-lined drive, quiet empty front lawn, glinting light sparkling off the lake. Jax makes for a chatty ride, even early in the morning, fueled by too much coffee and too much sugar and too much sunlight. His topics are erratic. Baking and rock climbing, the school and Horus, the birds on his farm back home. If Ducky talks he is equally good at quieting and listening; if she doesn't he is chattery enough to spare. She might perhaps be glad by the time they arrive and he leads the way into the foyer. This is indeed a grand foyer, and Ducky has never seen the likes of it before. Her parents weren't poor, but for a kid who has lived on the streets for over a year, this level of opulence is just jaw dropping. Despite having been relatively chatty on the drive up, the teen is now silent, gaping in amazement at the lavish setting. She's made an attempt to dress nice again, although that is pretty much the least stained pair of jeans she owns, and an relatively unfaded black M.R. Ducks hoodie she had found at some point. The dappled gray and white pigeon had followed the shiny red car, doing the best it could to keep pace with the impressive ride - as such, it arrives shortly before they head inside, landing deftly on Ducky's shoulder and snuggling up to her. If she is allowed, she will take the bird in with her, the pigeon nested in the hoodie of her sweatshirt, if not, it will invariably follow her, peeking in the windows to keep sight of its friend. After several long minutes of silence and staring, Ducky looks to Jax and raises an eyebrow, saying quietly, as though she were in a library, or a church, "So, are you sure this place isn't too good to be true? I mean, holy crap." Rather than going directly back to classes like ze expected, after two days off, Rasa is asked to meet Jackson in the front foyer first thing in the morning. Ze is dressed in loose jeans, belted by a long belt in front, the tail of said belt wrapped around hir midsection. Ze is wearing a pink shirt with floral details on the long sleeves, with black gloves covering hir hands. Hir feet are in flip flops. Hir dark blue hair is tied back at the base of hir neck, little tendrils of wavy strands framing hir blue face. Ze has little gold fish, much like the cracker, swimming around on hir cheeks from time to time, mind occupied by the study of those crunchy fish and their swimming habits. A new addition to the young person in question is a tail, spade tipped and dark blue, swishing lightly behind hir, but mostly standing up and dancing a bit. Ze pads quietly into the foyer and waits, waving hand (and tail unconsciously) at Jackson when ze sees him. The new girl is studied for a moment, hir head tilting a little to one side, before a polite smile appears. Ze focuses on Jackson. "Good morning, Mr. Holland." The school in the morning is quiet, too. Upstairs students are busily preparing for classes or sleeping in till the last possible minute. A few trickle down the stairs to get breakfast, to get to class early. Among them there is one pale dark-haired teenager, tall and slender with Asiatic features. He is dressed neat and tiny, pale linen pants, a dark tunic-like shirt with silvery embroidery. His black hair is tied neatly back into a short low ponytail. There's an indefinable sort of warmth to him, a quiet understated pull that encourages warm feelings. Friendly feelings. He slips down the stairs with a dip of his head low enough to constitute a small bow. "Jax-san," is quiet, mild enough he might well just be saying Jackson. The smile he offers to Ducky is just as polite, and increases the warmth coming from him just a touch. "You must be Ducky. I am Daiki. This is Rasa. Welcome to Xavier's." Jackson returns the smiles, quick and warm. "Rasa. Dai. Thank you so much. This is Ducky, yeah, she's here to --" His hand waves, vaguely, towards the room at large. "Well, you know the drill. You'll be in good hands," he assures Ducky. "And I'll be around if you need anything." But he has class to prepare for! So he is getting. Ducky offers a nervous, but polite smile to Rasa and Dai as they arrive, and she fidgets nervously as she stands there. While Rasa is looking her over, she is returning the curious look, a bemused smile on her face, "Oh that is amazing," she says, eyes tracking the little goldfish, her smile widening, but then she falters, and looks down, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, that's just, um, really neat looking. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude" And the teen just shuts up, putting her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie and looking at the floor, which is quite nicely maintained and all that. When Jax says he is heading off, she looks momentarily terrified, but takes a deep breath at his reassurance, and offers a slightly nervous smile to Dai and Rasa again, finally answering Dai's question, a bit shakily, "Um, yeah. Hi. I'm Ducky." "Nah, don't worry about it. You're going to see lots of really interesting things while you're here, so they kind of make sure you see some of it up front by people who don't mind so much.. kind of take the shine off of it a bit, maybe?" Rasa gives a little shrug and wets hir lips. Being around Daiki is helpful for Rasa as well, but ze keeps a little distance between them for the most part. "We're here to show you around, but it'd be good to know what kind of stuff you'd be interested in. There are classrooms and gyms. But, given how early it is, do you need food? Breakfast is almost over, but we can still get food. We can almost always get food," Rasa shuffles hir feet a little. "Some of us need that." Hir smile is warm too, friendly and polite. "The food here," Daiki assures Ducky with a brief glance over his shoulder, Great Hall-wards, "is excellent. They do their best to cater to a wide range of tastes. Not to mention needs. And yes, being here can be a little overwhelming, at first. I think after a while you get used to the strangeness." The response to her apology makes Ducky relax a bit, visibly, and she goes back to standing in a more casual manner, instead of looking like she's afraid to be yelled at. "I suppose that makes sense. I'm still sorry for staring initially, you are very striking, erm, pretty, I... I'm just going to shut up now," Ducky says, her tone quite ernest in the attempted compliment, ruffling her short tawny hair nervously, looking around the hall, before she makes more of an ass of herself. "Food might be sort of nice," the teen muses, looking in the direction that Daiki does, her stomach apparently growling in protest, "I got out earlier than breakfast was served at the shelter." She looks sheepishly toward the dining hall, "Lead on, then, I suppose." Rasa blushes a bit, a pink color mixing like food dye in milk on hir cheeks and across the bridge of hir nose, but ze doesn't respond more to the compliments. Ze just nods. Hir feet start to lead the way toward the Great Hall, gesturing with hir hand first. "Did you have questions? Did you Dai or me to tell you a little about how we came here, or what we do here? This is sort of my first time showing someone around, so I'm not quite as polished, but I really want to help you get used to stuff." Ze glances toward Daiki and looks for a little guidance. "It's alright," Daiki's quick-bright smile only heightens the emotional pull of his mutation, but it's quiet and brief before it fades back to default levels of friendly-warm feeling. "I think the first time I came here my eyes were as big as dinner plates and I told everyone I ran into that they were --" A hint of colour touches his cheeks, and he tips a hand upward in a shrug. "Pretty," doesn't seem quite the original way he'd intended to finish this sentence, but it stops there with a slight bow of his head. "I don't know how much you have heard about this place," he adds, turning to gesture Ducky along with them as he follows after Rasa. "Mutant school covers the basics. /High/ school rounds it out. It is a school for mutants, but it's a school first and foremost. They have dorms for us to live in, we go to classes daily, there's rules and homework. And they help you get ready for living in the /rest/ of the world after. If you have any questions we'll be glad to answer them. Where is it you've come from?" Looking up at the taller student, Ducky blushes when he relates to her reaction, and she looks a little bit mortified, "It's all kinda too much. I mean, I've been living in shelters for over a year. I'm still kinda half convinced I'm dead, and this is some sort of delusion, or heaven," she pauses momentarily in her speech and shakes her head, musing half to herself "Nah, not heaven. Not enough birds." As they get closer to the Great Hall, and presumably food, she seems to be opening up a bit more, and being less stumbly and awkward. Somewhat, anyway. "So, what about if I've missed a year and a half of school? I should have been graduating this year, I think, but I kinda ran away," she mutters that last bit, looking away, "Can I make up for it? And still get a high school diploma and stuff? Or is this sort of a massively fancy GED program for mutants?" She glances out the nearby window, to see her dappled gray and white pigeon friend sitting on the window sill, prompting her to ask, "And, um, silly question, but, well, what is the policy on keeping pets? Like birds and stuff?" "If a GED is what you want, you can definitely get that, but you can also just resume classes where you left off and get a regular diploma, which universities generally prefer in the long run. In addition to standard high school classes, we have a number of advanced classes in many of the sciences and liberal arts that might inspire you to put off graduation for a while." Rasa clasps hir hands behind hir back, hir legs swinging forward with a slightly more exaggerated step, smiling to hirself. When they reach the doors to the great hall, ze pulls them open and shows off the long tables to eat on, some still occupied by students, some just sitting down to eat and others getting up to leave. In the back, nearest the kitchen, there are buffet serving dishes. Rasa leads the way back to them. "I believe that pets are okay as long as they are cleared with the teachers. Ivan has special permission for all of his friends, as he has a lot, and sometimes his room is a bit crazy with all of his bugs." Rasa stops in front of the stack of plates and hands one to Ducky and keeps one for hirself, offering one to Daiki, but not insisting he take it, as he /may/ have already eaten. "But mostly, it's a dorm. A lot of people generally keep their pets at home, if they have a home." "Yes. It might take you a little bit longer if you have been out of school for a while, but they will work with you to catch up. Get a regular diploma. We have many students who have had their education interrupted for --" Daiki's smile is a small, private thing. "-- Various reasons." Breakfast is plentiful; there are scrambled eggs and sausages, pancakes (one dish marked Vegan, the other not) and oatmeal, hashed potatoes. Daiki accepts the plate with a quiet thanks, a tip of his head. "So long as you keep your pets well cared for and they pose no danger to others, yes. Taylor has an African Grey parrot who lives in his dorm. The twins --" There is a faint hesitation in his voice, a slightly stronger /tug/ of the strange emotional magnetism that surrounds him, though this fades again soon, "-- often bring their beagle. I keep a fish. Less exciting. But he is quite calming when I am doing homework." He fills his plate, not heavily, with one pancake, a small helping of eggs, a small helping of potatoes. Ducky's eyes go even wider when she sees the spread of food, licking her lips as she looks over the spread of food, "Oh. Oh wow. I," she stammers, accepting the plate from Rasa with slightly shaking hands, "That's a lot of food." Her stomach growls at the site, and she blushes again, muttering an apology under her breath. The answers about pets brings a smile to her face, and Ducky has a bit of spring to her step as she helps herself to some pancakes, and eggs, and sausages. "So - if the teachers permitted it, I'd actually be able to keep a pet bird, or, um, two? They," she looks a bit nervous, "Wouldn't mind an increase in the number of birds around campus? They sorta tend to flock towards me when I'm in one place for a long time." The mention of the twins gets a head tilt, but Daiki's reaction makes her not want to question it, at least not right now. Rasa opts for eggs and breakfast sausage, pouring maple syrup over the links. Ze adds a hand full of granola/trail mix at the end and a glass of orange juice before turning and examining the room. "I'm surprised that the insect eater population hasn't increased due to the increase of available food already." Ze shrugs and smiles. "They will make more exceptions for people who have needs that relate to a person's mutation. I really don't think they'd let any other student keep hundreds of bugs in his room, like they do Ivan. If this is important for your comfort or your mutation, they will likely be okay with it, barring the harm of said birds or the other students." Ze sets hir things down on a table and settles into a seat. "No, I don't think they would mind. As Rasa says, Ivan keeps quite a number of bugs, because of his connection to them. They have concerns about safety and hygiene and the well-being of your pets, but if they are well-behaved and well-cared for they are usually granted permission." Daiki gets a glass of cranberry juice, and follows Rasa to the table, seating himself across from hir. "It is a lot of food." His smile is quick and small. "And once Ms. Chavan learns your tastes she tends to sneak in people's favourite foods here and there. Personally, though, I find the classes the most appealing part. Our options for what to study are expansive. You might appreciate the grounds. There are many places for birds to live. The lake is often full of --" His fingers uncurl, indicating Ducky. "Ducks. Among other waterfowl." Ducky follows the two other teens to their table, bouncing happily at the idea that she might get to keep pet birds again. Her priorities are apparently a little out of wack, "Don't get me wrong," she explains, around a small fork full of eggs, "I'm looking forward to school again, really. I miss getting to study, and I want to get back to learning. But, well, birds are sort of my thing, and um, I certainly don't intend to keep hundreds of them, by any means, but I haven't had an actual pet since I ran away. I'm good at carring for them, ‘cause they talk to me. So I tend to know what they want before they start acting out for it." Ducky looks sheepish, but smiles at the potential for being around more ducks. "So - do they let kids off campus, or is it like one of the old fashioned type boarding schools? And what kinda classes are there? You mentioned advanced sciences - are there higher level or focused biology classes? I'm crap at physics, and at most other stuff, but I find biology fascinating, and I kinda was looking forward to studying it more, but then, well, yeah." She shrugs, and continues eating more for a few. "Normally, we are able to leave campus nights and weekends, depending on our ages, the availability of guardians... and.. well, I'm explaining this poorly. If you're under 16, you have to be back by 9pm, or be signed out by an adult caretaker. Sometimes, we go over to Jax's house for the weekend, and he's not really my guardian, but he's adult enough. Anyway, over 16, you can stay out as late as you like, as long as you sign out with permission." Rasa mostly plays with hir food right now, rolling the sausage around in the syrup to make sure it is properly covered, also, not wishing to talk with hir mouth full. "Dai, do you know about the biology classes? I've... well, I'm learning stuff right now and focusing on school work and all, but at the same time, a lot of my class credits and attention are taken up with advisor time and work with Professor Xavier to help me get a handle on my mutation." "There are a number of focused biology classes. I take Advanced Placement biology myself, this year. You can even get as far as introductory genetics if you take enough bio and chem. And I believe we -- /potentially/ have a new teacher signing on next term to offer, perhaps, a few more advanced classes still for those who show an aptitude." Daiki is eating slowly, tiny mincing bites of his food. "Students over sixteen have no curfew on weekends," he adds to Rasa's explanation. "Though still on weekdays, and everyone needs to be signed in and out. Given the climate in the rest of the city -- they take our safety quite seriously, here." His expression doesn't change, voice still calm, but once again there is a strong increase in the /pull/ of his mutation. Probably a good thing that all this does is make everyone around him feel /more/ pleasantly disposed to him. "Some students find it restrictive," he acknowledges, "but I have always found there to be so very much of interest here. And in most normal circumstances the faculty is fairly permissive with letting students sign out -- and even arranging transportation for us to the town nearby, or the city itself. It is -- quite a long haul to the city, otherwise. But there are trains that will take you." Ducky nods, listening to the explanations as she eats, trying desperately to not inhale her food, but failing a little bit on that part. She finishes off all but the last few bites of her pancake, and looks a bit apologetic, saying, "Sorry. I haven't had that good of a breakfast in a while." The description of science classes gets a smile from her, "Cool. I was kinda at one time hoping that I could go into doing, y'know, zoo keeping, or something with birds. Someday. But," she shrugs, looking between Daiki and Rasa, "Um, you had mentioned earlier asking how you got here? Do you care to share that, or, um, if it isn't something you want to talk about, I totally understand. I'm just, curious, how people find out about this place. I imagine they don't exactly scour the homeless shelters for random teens and stuff." Ducky looks a bit nervous, glancing around the cafeteria, "I don't think I've ever seen this many mutants in one place. I didn't even really believe there were this many in the state." "I am okay talking about it, which is why I brought it up," Rasa offers immediately, in case Daiki is less willing. There's no time for awkward silences here. "My parents were very good to me when I was young, but when I started to manifest mutant aspects, they first were very scared for me as they thought I was sick, and then slowly became more worried about what everyone else would think of me and them for having me. They tended to hide me from sight, beneath burqa and away in my room, treating me like a terrible secret or … something worse." Ze takes a moment to chew a bite of sausage, eating much slower than the new girl. "Eventually, I started looking on the internet for places that could provide an option for education that was not home, and I found the website. The website is very hard to find and sometimes I think it requires you to actually be a young person in danger to find it. I thought it was a very welcoming environment for people with issues who wished to pursue an education, and it turned out to be full of mutants in some ways like me." Rasa takes a deep breath and smiles as ze looks up. "You can get more if you think you can handle it. There are as many servings as you need." "Sometimes," Daiki admits with a small smile, "they do look through the shelters for youths in trouble. But my path here was -- different." For a moment this is all he says about it. He picks up his glass of juice, taking a slow sip, and his eyes drift away -- over towards a table nearby where a young girl with braces and frizzy red hair is stealing a bite of pancake from the cheery blonde beside her; opposite them a muscular boy with jet-black skin and a wealth of tentacles of varying sizes is using the thickest of those tentacles to guard his own tray from Karrie's THIEFING. He watches this, for a moment, and then looks back to Ducky, smile still in place. "My parents were -- also good to me. And my elder brother -- but his mutation manifested a lot more /noticeably/ than mine. They wanted to help but it was difficult to -- know how. And even if they were understanding, the people in our town were less so. Staying was making it dangerous, to our family. Some people came and told us of an institute where they could help. Help -- get control of our powers. So we left to -- hopefully find a way to live without endangering those around us." His eyes drop back to his plate, for a moment. he takes another sip of juice. "The place we were brought was /not/ like this. Not -- a safe place. Not one that helps." His long fingers grip his glass very tightly, but his tone is even. "We were trapped there for -- some while. But eventually some very brave people risked their lives to free us. When they told us there was /really/ a place that -- /does/ help I thought it must be a cruel joke; another trap. But they brought us here, instead, and --" For a moment, his small smile is wider. Just a little. "I think every day I wake up wondering when I /will/ wake up. It feels still too good to be true. But it is real, and I am glad for it." Listening to the tales, Ducky nods slowly, looking rather sad at the stories of the restrictive homes. She looks sort of confused by Daiki's mention of another place, but doesn't ask further, since it seems to be a painful subject. She idly pokes the last little bit of pancake around her plate, drawing spirals in the syrup with the cakey breakfast food, "I get the feeling that our parents generation doesn't really know how to deal with mutant kids, even though it's not really a new thing anymore. It's still surprising, I guess." Ducky ruffles her short hair, random strands sticking up at odd angles when she does this, "My parents are probably still in denial about it, if they're still looking for me. They were certain I was crazy, or had a mental break, or something. They took away my pet birds, and tried to have me sent away. So I ran," she grimaces a bit. She then smiles at Rasa, shaking her head, "Nah, it's excellent food, but I know I'm gonna get sick if I eat too much of it. Thank you, though." "No problem." Rasa replies, finishing off hir sausage a moment later. Hir fork spears another. "Our parents' generation may have an idea of the fact that mutants exist, but it is quite another issue when they have one of their own that they are related to and that they feel … surprised and connected to. It is not exactly like they have public organizations right now that will support them, like PFLAG or really the know how on how to raise a mutant. Perhaps we should write pamphlets." After that sausage, ze starts in on hir eggs. "Coming out guides?" Daiki says this with a quiet note of amusement. "For youths and parents both. I think it would be good, really. Many people could use them." He still picks his way through his food, a little bit faster now that Ducky is nearly done. "Perhaps your parents will come around. I know the school -- the faculty here has helped more than a few families come to terms with their children. There is always some hope." He drains the juice from his glass, dabbing neatly at his lips with a napkin. "Perhaps we should start with showing you the grounds, first? And then move inside again." Ducky smirks at the thought of pamphlets, "It is an interesting idea. Although I can't help but picture those sort of cheesy 1950s style ones that they hand out in public school sex ed classes. "Your Mutation and You!" with a cheery pipe smoking father figure looking all thoughtful." She giggles at the mental image, and shrugs, "All kidding aside, it might be sorta nice." The offer of getting to see the grounds gets her to perk up again, an excited smile on her face, "Oh - I would love a tour of the grounds. But, um, don't rush your breakfast on account of me - I eat fast. It's sort of a bad habit," she offers with a nervous chuckle and a glance to her nearly empty plate. Rasa takes Ducky at her word and does not rush hir eating, picking slowly at hir eggs and cutting up some more sausage to mix with it. Ze is nearing the end of hir meal though, drinking down juice from time to time. "It's probably only bad if it gives you indigestion. Otherwise, it's just a style and everyone has their own style for doing things." Ze taps hir finger against hir fork. "We should have pamphlets on the internet at least. Perhaps I will ask Professor Xavier or one of the tech teachers how to do that without a trail leading back to us." Gears, they be spinning! "There are many -- hmm." Daiki finishes his breakfast, setting his fork down on the edge of the plate. "People who know about printing your own materials. Perhaps we can speak with Jax-san. Or Mr. Black." Anarchists KNOW things about DIY printing, right? It comes standard with their molotov cocktails. "We can print them with a cheery pipe smoking father figure. Do you think," his voice is very solemn, but the twinkle in his eyes betrays the humour beneath, "that the Professor owns a pipe?" Ducky giggles a little at the thought of the pamphlets, pondering out loud, "Actually, I wonder if that would make them a little less innocuous. People might think they're all old and out dated, and not pick them up, unless they were really needing help. Since, um, I know it was sort of hard finding information - I got the feeling people weren't really willing to help, after a while. Spreading them online would be good. Or maybe seeing if they can put them at shelters and stuff?" The question about the Professor and a pipe goes right over Ducky's head, but she just shrugs and idly nibbles on the last little piece of pancake while waiting for Rasa to finish breakfast. "As far as I know, Logan is the only one who actually smokes," Rasa considers, "but I wouldn't put him on a pamphlet that you wanted people to feel safe reading." Ze clears off hir plate and then gets to hir feet, carrying hir dishes with hir. "Let's go outside then. I'll take your plates if you want."