ArchivedLogs:Pretty

Pretty
Dramatis Personae Nom, Sebastian
In Absentia	2014-05-02 '
Location <XS> Workshop
A large barn-like building situated at the far end of the gardens from the mansion proper, this makerspace functions as a classroom for many of the more hands-on classes. An expanse of workshop space, it is subdivided into smaller segments for the different types of activities: Woodshop, Welding shop, Machine shop, Electronics, Bike shop, Screen Printing and Photography, Fabric Arts, and the Rapid Prototyping Lab with a trio of 3D printers. The space comes complete with a large host of tools available for use, although many of the more dangerous require prior clearance from administration to use -- students with appropriate clearance to use them can gain access to locked equipment with their student IDs. From sanders to MIG/TIG welders to soldering stations to industrial sewing machines to its own darkroom, though, this space is well equipped for teaching students how to /make/. Classes have ended for the day, and even the bulk of the extracurriculars as well -- meetings less frequently scheduled, practices a little bit shorter on Fridays in mild concession to the fact that many students have already mentally checked out for the weekend by the end of the class day. It's a ways yet till dinner though and with warm weather and bright sun outside the grounds are bustling with noise. In here it's quieter, and maybe that is why B has chosen this spot to sequester away. Dressed today in red plaid corset-styled tank top and lacy black skull-patterned miniskirt chunky silver-studded ankle boots adding a few inches to their otherwise diminutive height, they're standing by a table in the machine shop, a long board-like thing upturned on the table in front of them. It's shaped kind of like a skateboard, though it has no wheels; at the moment, anyway, it's peeled open into two halves; the teenager is bent over it, teeth digging into their lower lip in concentration during some apparently focus-intensive fiddling with the wealth of tiny electronic components inside the thing. Beside B on the table there are other Very Important tools to the construction process. A tupperware container filled with an enormous amount of lemongrassy-smelling grilled chicken. A tablet whose /screen/ is dark though currently /projected/ into the air above it is a holographic rendering of -- the innards of the device B is currently working on. And a bright cobalt-blue metal dragonfly that, currently, is doing nothing more interesting than sitting around looking like a clunky decorative piece of statue. Cue that nose coming around the corner, its owner not far behind it. Does she have super-smell? No. She just pays more attention to her sense of smell. She WAS going to come here to do WOODSTUFF, but then she smells CHICKEN. Sniffsniff. Sniff. SNIIIIIIFF. Sniff. She creeps into the workshop, sees the chicken is occupied, and immediately fills with envy. Still, she's behaving herself... Then she focuses on who it really is, and her face gets even more grumpy. She makes a face, then calls out towards B,"B! Me am have argument with Pottymouth! Me am upset him. Me am sorry." She goes to the woodshop area to begin clattering through pieces of wood, searching for one that meets whatever no doubt insane criteria she has. She picks something thick and relatively flat, and finds an empty bench. Then with no measurement whatsoever, begins to trim the thing with her fingernails. It's painstaking, and about as focused as she ever seems to be. "Me am have temper. Me not am know that." Seems she's conquered pronouns recently. Pause. "You am look pretty. Me am like you fashion." She pauses, and reaches underneath the mandarin collar of her dress, pulling free a simple black choker. It makes her tracheal bulge a little more prominent. But she tosses it towards B,"Here. It am hide throat-bump. You take!" B's nostrils flare at the arrival of another person in the workshop, head tipping very slightly to tilt an ear in the direction of creeping-feet long before /eyes/ or perhaps even conscious-brain has registered Nom's arrival. Sniffsniff. It's slow, the shift of focus, up from the task at hand to turn enormous black eyes towards Nom. "Huh?" B blinks, first one clear inner membrane and then the second outer pair of lids. "With -- oh. Shane, no, I don't know, he's -- really stressed right now it probably -- well. What were you arguing about?" She sets down her tools, rocking back to lean elbows up against the edge of the counter but then lifting a hand to swipe right at the holographic display over her tablet. The diagram collapses, minimizing itself; another quick hand-gesture pulls up a browser window with B's email, and a similarly holographic keyboard that she pulls through the air to sit closer in front of her. "Doesn't everyone have a temper? Somewhere?" Her eyes open wider at the offer of necklace, a sudden deep flush darkening her cheeks. The grab for the necklace is reflexive and unthinking, hand whisking it out of the air before registering what the tossed object /is/. Her other hand flies up from the keyboard to cover her neck, her head dipping to stare very intently down at the project in front of her. "Oh -- am -- I -- was -- oh." She swallows, fidgeting from one foot to the other; along the sides of her neck her gills flutter-ripple quickly. "Thank -- you. I don't -- want to take your -- you should keep. Your necklace. It's pretty." Nom frowns a little bit, as she plops down on a stool, then goes back to her pruning of the wood. No doubt this will turn out lopsided. "Yes. Shane am Pottymouth. Words easier than name. Not remember EXACTLY. We argue about fate and choice. I say disagree. He call stupid. I call hypocrite. Get worse from there." She taps her chin in thought,"Right. Wrong. Not help. Also, possible me am say offendy things. Not always sure." She makes a deeper frown, picks up the wood, and examines it. "This take too long." She starts biting off larger hunks of the wood. Looks like patience isn't her strong suit. After several chunks are missing, she burps up some sawdust, and mentions,"This am faster. Better." She goes back to that constant *scritchscritchscritch*,"You keep. Nom have more. You am pretty. Feel pretty am important. Nom feel pretty. Want you am feel pretty." Okay. So maybe she hasn't QUITE mastered pronouns yet. "Oh." B's brows rumple in further together at this explanation of the fight with Shane. "Fate? I don't know what that means." She has turned her eyes down to look at the necklace in her hand, other hand still curled in against the front of her neck. Slowly, she sets the necklace down on the table next to her tablet. "I did feel pretty." Her hand drops to the holographic keyboard, but ultimately she swipes it away to one side without typing anything. She leans forward again, resting forearms against the countertop. Her eyes shift to track Nom's carving. "What are you making? There's tools -- I guess you don't need tools." The dark blush hasn't faded from her cheeks. The girl frowns. "Me am not say you not feel pretty. Me am not say you not pretty. Me am think you am pretty." Pause. "Words am hard..." She actually slams her fist down on the table, pushes the pieces of wood off it and plops her chin in her hands. Nom is definitely temperamental today. "Frustrating." She finally actually gets around to the question she was actually asked,"Me am making guitar. Am know nothing about it. It look stupid." Well... the wood IS vaguely guitar-shaped. "People am say things get better. Take forever. Am sorry." After a huff, she gets up, shakes herself off, and bends down to retrieve her piece of wood. She sets it on the table and begins staring at it as if she could drill holes in it with her gaze. After a moment, she points at choker,"Me not give because you am need for throat. Me am give because it make me am feel pretty. Me am think you nice. Me am want give thing. Me am not have much. Me am do have that." She frowns a little bit,"Words hard. What you am making?" She fishes around until she finds a pencil and begins sketching on the wood with it. "Woah. Building a guitar? I -- know nothing about that, too," B admits, "but it sounds fun. The internet probably knows lots about guitar-making." Ze's bending back in over hir current piece of machinery, though not before snapping hir fingers in the general direction of the silent-still dragonfly. "Hey. Blackberry. How do you build an acoustic guitar? Show me?" Hir teeth scrape in against hir lower lip, eyes turning back downwards as ze returns to work. "Words are kind of annoying. That's why I like it in here, maybe. Less talking. More doing. Wait, what are you -- sorry for?" For a moment ze looks up and over at Nom, puzzled. "I'm making a -- board. To ride on. Are you okay? You seem kind-of-a-little more. Frazzled today." The dragonfly, meanwhile -- well, okay, it's still just sitting there. Though now it's sitting there with a few tiny monitor lights on its side woken up. The display over his tablet is starting to change, though, new windows popping up. A tutorial on building acoustic guitars. Contact information for someone in the city offering lessons in guitar crafting. A build-your-own guitar kit for sale. B glances up, reaching out to tap at the tutorial and blow it up wider. "This is what I mean. Woodworking. Thanks. -- Guitars," ze decides after a moment, "might take a while?" The girl watches B do her thing with 'Blackberry'. "Me am apologize... because me am make B feel notpretty?" Again that frustrated sound. "Words... soundright in head... then come out... soundwrong." She flexes her fingers experimentally,"Life withpeople hard. Learn speak. Goclasses. Usefork. Bathing. Alone notnice. Alone easier though. Just eat. Just sleep. Hard work. Not... not adjust well." She looks at the tutorial a little blankly, then informs Sebastian,"Me am learn to read. Not understand... most that." Still, she seems intent on absorbing all the pictures, if her increasingly wide eyes are any indication. "Whatboard? Floatyboard? Skatyboard? Flyboard?" Pause. "Youbug... verysmart. Bverysmart. Howsosmart?" Another pause. "Wantbesmart. Like B." "I like alone mostly fine," B says, quietly, twisting the floating browser window around to face Nom better. "There's plenty to do besides eat and sleep. Like build robots? I get most of my work done alone. But life with people is --" She shrugs a shoulder, straightening again to slide the top half of the board back onto to the open segement, closing it back up. "Is okay. You just watch them. And do what they do. That's pretty much all it is." Her cheeks flush dark again, and she shakes her head. "I'm not anything special, I just study a lot. Go to class? Read books? That's all I did. You'll get there. Classes can be hard to get into the hang of." "When alone too much... Hunger get big. Bigger. Feel empty. But... when alone... not feel strange. Me am know Nom strange. Am not always okay with." She drums her fingers along the table, nodding at B,"You am special. Very special. You am what me am want be. Smartypants. Pretty. Nice. You am make robot. Robots SO cool. Transformers. More than meets eye." She even does a commendable rendition of the 'transformation' sound. "Gundam. SO MANY SHOOTY ROBOTS." She claps her hands happily, then turns towards her wood, doing her best approximation of what she can with the pictures,"Youdadsnice. Me am like. Glitterdad am making pretty shapes for Nom. Let Nom have TWO cupcakes. Me am like cupcakes. Youdads amokay?" "I'm /not/," B says, a little more insistently, shoulders tensing up as ze starts to seal the board back together, "special. There's a lot of nice-pretty-smart people. Especially here. What makes you think you're not? I mean there's a difference between knowing-a-lot and being-smart. Just because you haven't had a chance to learn yet doesn't make you dumb. That's what the school part's for, right? Learning. Things. Do you want to learn to make robots? 'cuz you can learn that, here." Hir nose crinkles up at the mention of Jax. "Pa's nice. Both my dads are nice. And he's a really good baker. Ba's a good cook but he can't really bake." "Why you am disagree? This thing, am opinion. Me feel that you am smart, pretty, and nice. That am all you ever seem to me." She sits up more straightly,"Why you am resist be special? You am know BEST fish." Yes. That seems a big deal to her. "You am know hunt. Nom learn just by watch you... Role Model. Yes." Yep. Seems Nom has attached herself pretty quickly to her fellows at the academy. "Me am learn much from school. So much. Things wantlearn... not always teach." She wonders,"Me am make robot one day. First me am make guitar. Then me am learn play guitar." Pause. "Me do one thing good. Me am cook good. Make dessert. Make meat. Am kick up notch. Spice!" Pause. "Glitterdad am help me make garden." B's gills ripple slowly open, along the sides of her neck, fluttering open and closed in slow shift as she continues her work. The clear nictating membranes over her eyes shift more rapidly, blinking a few times and then settling in closed. She's silent as Nom speaks, focused downwards. "I don't actually know the best fish." When she finally answers her tone is a good deal lighter than before. "Shane knows them all way better than I do. He's really into --" But here she just trails off, fingers running against the seam in the board and checking it over again before flipping the whole thing over and lowering it to sit on the floor. "It might be helpful to learn to play the guitar /before/ you try making one. That way you know what you should be aiming for. Cooking's -- one pretty great thing to learn. And Pa grew up on a farm, he knows lots about --" Again she breaks off, just shaking her head. "What um -- what things do you /want/ to learn?" Nom watches B's guild work and ripple for a moment. She seems to concentrate very carefully for a moment... Then she opens her own gills. Well. Gill slits. She has no idea how to make REAL gills. She tries them out for a moment before letting them close. Her movements with her nails are more careful and she FREQUENTLY glances up for reference,"I am play rockband. That good enough, right?" She reaches for a piece of sandpaper,"Everything. Science. Math. Sewing. Dancing. How pick up boys!" She offers a confiding tone to B,"Me am have new hobby. Looking at pretties and handsomes." "Actually, I think they /do/ kind of teach all of that here?" B's brows rumple inwards for a moment. "Definitely the first four. And Pa's sex ed class kind of teaches the last one? Though I don't think you really need a class in just /looking/ at pretty people." Their cheeks have flushed near-purple again, words coming out slightly uneven, a little more breathless. Their gills work faster though here on land this really doesn't /help/. "Is that hobby -- very -- fulfilling?" "Sex Ed weird. Me am look at pretties and handsomes... heart am beat faster. Feel very warm." She thinks very carefully on this,"Want eatmore. Fulfill... Me... Me look... me like looking. It good. Me am maybe want more, but..." She frowns, and for once SHE blushes,"Me am have body weirdgross. Class make otherstuff sound weirdgross. You am like looking at handsomes and pretties?" She wriggles her toes happily for... some reason. "Me am have new friend, like boys. You am like boys, girls, others?" She swings her legs as she sits there on the stool,"Next time me am go sit in gym and watch, you am come with me?" "Pa's class doesn't make anyone sound weird and gross. I don't know what other sex ed classes are like. He doesn't teach the one about puberty and how bodies work I'm pretty sure the middle-schoolers get that." B's cheeks stay darkened, words still oddly hitched as her gills flutter. "His is more about. I don't know. Healthy relationships and consent and what different things sexuality and gender even mean to people and how to be safe about sex and. Have fun? And respect? Sometimes parents complain I guess." She lifts her hands, pressing her palms down firmly against her gills. She shakes her head at the last series of questions. "I fence, in the gym. I don't think I'd want to go just to watch other people. Some people like to watch the sports practices. Nobody'd mind you sitting and watching I'd guess but I don't -- really -- want to --" Her teeth sink against her lip again. "New friend?" She nods. "He make me sundae. We talk about boys. He say Daiki and Peter pretty." She scratches at her nose. "It okay if you not like it. Pretties and handsomes not for everyone. Not all like romancey or sexy stuff." Nom 'knocks' on the piece of wood as if that could somehow tell her the quality. She taps her fingers lazily on the bench,"Life complicated. What you like do? Me am talk talk talk, me am not listen so much. You talk, Nom listen." "Everyone thinks Daiki's pretty. But it's sort of impossible not to think he's pretty? You'll think he's pretty if you meet him. He got elected student council president twice and he wasn't actually even running either year." B's lips curl upwards very faintly at imparting this information, though hir voice is mostly just quiet. "You could go watch boys in the gym with your new friend?" Ze drops hir hands from hir neck, gills lying flat and hir voice evened out once more, breathing more steady. "Maybe I like listening. I have good ears. -- Maybe you could /join/ a club, too. Something like archery or rock climbing then you get to watch pretty people doing pretty things and -- /do/ things with them?" Nom actually giggles about that one. "He serve with honor? He good president. Daiki must get tired. Be difficult, always being watched." She leans over, and then asks of B, now pointing at his gills,"Me wish me am have gills. Water be much easier. Useful. Am make gills, breath only air." She asks though,"You am like listening?" As for joining club,"Not know what clubs have. Me am want hunting club. Like videogames. Anime. Cartoons. Cooking." Then on closer introspection, she decides,"Also... robots. Want make robots. Flying robots. That deliver pizza." "No, the first time he refused the spot but he took it this year. He's a pretty good president to have, the teachers have a hard time saying no when he brings up things we've wanted." B hitches up a shoulder uncertainly at the thought of Daiki getting tired. "There's -- definite downsides to his mutation. I think he'll be glad to graduate this year." Her fingers lift to touch at the gills again, cheeks flushing dark. "They're not that great," she demurs with a quick open-shut blink of inner eyelids. "You could get scuba gear instead, maybe. -- There's a lot of clubs. Um. There's /definitely/ a cooking club. And I think there was an anime club but I don't know if they're still around. You could probably start a hunting club? It'd need a lot of supervision, we're not allowed to have weapons. But if you find a teacher to sponsor you you can start a club for pretty much anything. I started a club for robots but it's -- pretty much just me and Kisha." "Me am make sure he knows he am be good pressy. Getting what want, not always best thing. Nom am think eat peoples tasty, but not think eat them am good." Having thus dispensed her usual food-related wisdom,"Me am not need scuba gear. Me am just hold air or make nose long." She DOES think on the hunting question for a time longer, before going on,"Glitterdad am say Glitterborg gohunt with guns. Maybe Glitterborg sponsor huntclub? We hunt, noweapons." She looks over her piece of wood, and grunts,"It no work." Her mouth widens until it nearly splits her face in half... and then she chomps the board down until she's swallowed the whole thing,"Worry less gills. Am pretty. Motion are soothing. Like watch." B's face darkens again at the mention of eating people. Her gills open once more; she presses her hands against them to keep them closed. "I went hunting with Ba before, yeah. It's harder. I don't think /I'd/ be any good in a hunting -- club. There's not many people who /can/ hunt the way Shane and I do. But when there were zombies the school needed food so that was -- he helped with --" She drops her hands -- lifts them again as her gills start to open -- drops them once more once they're lying flat. Her nose crinkles at the notion of worrying less about them. "There's more important things than pretty." She looks down at her board on the ground, biting at her lip once more, and tentatively steps onto it. "You could ask Ba? About the hunting club? Maybe he'd like that, I don't know. -- What doesn't work?" He watches her eat the wood with a puzzled expression. "More important thing, yes. They useful. It you, though. You expert on it." She streeeetches, as if working the kinks out of her back,"I ask him. Maybe he say yes. Maybe he say no. That point of asking." Nom stretches again, finally getting some crackles out of it,"It are time for Nom cook. Nom are cooking beefhearts and cheese dish. Nom am cook one for you, too?" The girl dusts herself off,"Me make guitar. It not am work. Me try learn guitar like you say. Then me am follow instructions, make guitar. You am show me make robot sometime?" She's already walking for the door, though,"Me am hope your board work... You deserve nice thing." "I just can't breathe when they're doing that," B explains with a small duck of hir head. "They're more -- broken than useful, my body isn't actually good at breathing most of the time." Ze looks up -- and immediately back /down/ with an apologetic shake of hir head. "I can't digest cheese. I like beef hearts though. Um -- and good luck. With the guitar learning? There's classes. I --" Ze glances up again with a very small curl of smile. "Sure. I can help with the robot -- teaching. I'll -- see you later?" And then hir attention is focusing back on hir tablet, reaching for its holographic display once more.