ArchivedLogs:Meteor Showers

Meteor Showers
Dramatis Personae Arline, Rasa
In Absentia	2012-12-13 '
Location <XS> Rec Room - FL2
School this may be, but life for Xavier's students certainly isn't all studying. Outside classes, this is a popular spot to find students in their downtime. An enormous tribute to slacking off, this room is a wealth of fun and relaxation. Comfortable armchairs, couches, and beanbags offer plentiful seating scattered throughout the room, and the cushioned windowseats by the high windows offer a cozy nook to curl up and look out on the grounds. The room is often filled with the noises of gaming -- whether it comes from the big-screen television (tall racks of DVDs beside it, if nothing can be found on the multitude of cable channels), tricked out with consoles from retro to the latest releases, or the less electronic clatter and thump of the pool table, air hockey, or foosball. For those a little more subdued in their gaming, the cabinets hold stacks and stacks of board and card games, ranging as classic as chess and go to as esoteric as Dixit, Catan, and Gloom. (Beginning of the log lost.) "Geminids are stardust and space stuff." Rasa stiffens when Ego grabs hir shoulder, but there are many layers of fabric between them. Ze continues as best as ze can. "They believe that they are fragments from one of the few rock comets in our solar system's orbit." Ze turns back toward the window. "They are pretty and burn up in the atmosphere?" The girl wrinkles her nose a little bit and then releases Rasa, leaning back to prop herself up on her hands,"Oh, that, I get! That what causes all those sparkles and crap when you're out at night? If you wanted those, why didn't you say so." A look of concentration passes her face, and suddenly, the sky (viewed from the window) seems filled with the sparkly bits. "I... I didn't... know?" Rasa is a bit confused and then awestruck, staring at the sparkly bits quietly. Ze turns and looks at Ego once more before rising up to hir knees and touching the glass affectionately. "That's a amazing." Arline lifts a shoulder at that, all full of false modesty,"Nah. It's not, really. It's actually pretty easy since you're at the window. I just had to limit the vision to the window, rather than blanketing the sky over the mansion, which would've needed a lot of concentration. Plus, unlike Arline, or ID, I'm really good at making the visible stuff." Rasa nods stoically and turns to look at Ego. "You... all... are quite special. Do you like it here? Do you find it a good place to be? I am very new." Ze hangs hir head a little and settles into a sitting position on the window seat. "I don't know how to be around people very well either." Ego lifts a shoulder at Rasa,"I dunno. I don't really have the... uh... full range of emotions. Only Arline does. But she's a good kid. I'm here to help her out, you know? Sometimes I get in a little bit of trouble, but... that shouldn't reflect bad on her. I like it though, anyway. What's not to like? Noone calls you a freak and we're livin' in a friggin' MANSION. I mean, come on... how awesome is that? Either way, though, you'll learn. You're nice, and that's all that counts for most people here." "Oh, sometimes, I only act nice." Rasa admits, sullenly. Ze lets hir feet swing a little, from side to side, a fidgety nature surfacing. "What do you like? I mean, besides being not a freak anymore?" Ze moves to stand up and look back at the window again. "I'm afraid I'm going to be a freak amongst freaks. Do they have those here? Those that don't fit in despite accepted as a mutant?" Ego laughs, apparently quite amused,"What do I like? Everything! I'm in love with my own existence! I've never felt like a freak, or thought I am one. Ego. My name. That says it all. There are no holes in my self-confidence. I'm not capable of low self-esteem. Not like Arline. Arline... As long as she's happy, I'm happy. And she's happy here, so that's what she likes the most." She snorts, at that. "She used to have a big crush on the captain of the cheersquad, way back when. Then she got played. Broke her heart, nearly ruined her life. I agreed not to hurt the girl, otherwise, for what she did to Arline... I'm surprised Id didn't attack her on sight. Brain damage, they say. That's why I exist." She stands and yawns,"Anyway, I really somehow doubt you're as strange as you think you are. Have you met Taylor yet? He has more to worry about than anyone, and they all love that guy. Lot of transhuman mutants around." Rasa considers and sighs. "Do you know any telepaths?" Ze questions quietly, hands wringing at hir gloves. Arline lifts a shoulder to that,"I'm a psionophage, which is kind of related, but only barely... Yeah, there are a few here. I mean, there's an instructor or two, and there's the Professor of course. Why You need them to psycho-analyze? Huh. You seem really bummed. Uh... I think Arline's a lot better at this sensitivity thing. You wanna talk to her instead? Or you could go find the professor. He loves to help." "Human minds are messy," Rasa begins, sitting down once more. "have you ever tried to keep track of just one thought and one thought alone, in a way that is linear, that can be read in a book? Or do you have little other thoughts that pop up a long side and comment on the thought or remind you of other things or just pop up and disappear again?" Ze scritches at hir headdress. Arline lifts a shoulder,"Eh... well... Both. I can and DO think in that way... But it's because of what I am. Arline, though... Arline's about as flighty as a hummingbird. Couldn't keep a thought in her head if it had bucket handles. "Why do you ask? You got some troublesome thought you're trying to nail down and examine?" "Examine? No." Rasa pulls hir knees up against hir chest and holds hir arms around them. "There is this thing humans also do. They pick the words they wish to say and do not say all of the other things that come up in their brains. Sometimes they are mean things. Sometimes they are insulting. Sometimes they are extremely off topic. I... can't stop these things." Ego frowns a little bit, then holds up one finger as if to say 'one moment'. She pulls what looks like some sort of voice recorder, and plugs some headphones into it. She fools with the buttons, listens for a moment or two, then tucks it away,"Okay... Sorry. I had to check the notes Arline gave me about the last couple of days... You're talking about the writing on your skin, aren't you? Huh. Don't feel to bad, though. We've got a mutant that smells like rotting fish. That's at LEAST as offensive." Rasa bows hir head down and scratches more at the back of hir head. "I don't think smells exactly compare." Ego frowns, and with little bit of concentration, the room grows... quieter,"Everything to the right of us in this room is blanketed with the illusion of 'silence'. Can't hear us. So come on. What's up? Was someone mean to you? Why are you so... wound up? You're nice enough, after all. Look, if you're that worried, I know a way to cover every inch of your skin. We'll totally take you shopping for some goth clothes, get you some thick white face makeup. If there's, like, a layer of pancake makeup between your skin and the world at large. Problem solved. And with your eyes, it'd be totes hot." Rasa says, "Make... up?" Rasa considers this, straightening up and unwinding. "It'd have to be think enough to cover tattoos... And sometimes, I am not the same shape. I don't know if it would crack." Ze scrubs gloved hands over hir face. "White won't do though. White is not... me. White looks very lovely on you though. Have you done the make up thing yourself before?" Ego nods emphatically, and says,"That's why we get you a makeup back. You could really do any color you like, though. And as thick as you need. Use hard-wear stage makeup if you need to. We'll totally get you some." She gestures to the girl's face, then makes a flicking motion. A curtain of darkness separates the two from the rest of the room as well. "Mind if I take a look, get an idea what we're working with for now? Well, until it changes anyway. Anyway, thanks, but /I/ look more normal than the other two. Id is barely human. Arline, though... Arline wears a lot of makeup, though, and sunglasses and gloves when she goes out. She did it a LOT when the changes first started. She's worried she won't look even a little human by the time it's done." "Is Id all hair? Because I never really liked those parts of the Japanese horrors. All hair, everywhere, in the throat - that's the worst." Rasa rubs hir hands up and down her upper arms, nervously. The thought is dismissed fleetingly. "I asked about telepaths because they already know the words on my skin and know how to deal with them. What if all it says is 'fuck you' and 'go away?' I don't even always know what I am thinking until it appears or is dismissed." Ego crouches a little bit now in a very frog-like position,"No... Id is more... Think furless bat moreso than a wolf. She's not... agressive, but she's much more willing to engage in violence. She'd rather run than fight, but... Well... Anyway, there's a reason she doesn't get much playtime. Id would understand what you're going through the best. Imagine a being who runs entirely on impulse and instinct with no real self-control to speak of. That's Id." She stands from her crouched stance and streeetches. "You don't seem like a particularly mean person. If it says that, then maybe they deserved it. I can't speak for everyone, of course. Here's what I see... Pvc pants... High-necked black blouse and some opera gloves. Get you some three inch soled boots... Maybe some fun accessories, like an umbrella, thick makeup... The opera gloves can be nice and close-fitting so you can keep manual dexterity. And it'd make your eyes pop. Give you this neat, feral look." "Feral?" Rasa sounds unconvinced. Ze does, however, begin to untuck hir headdress from behind hir back and loop it up around hir shoulders, still hesitant at taking it off. "I do not know about those clothes. It's been a very long time since I wore anything that showed my limbs. It is weird to be unreligious and still to feel completely naked without a religious garb." The burqa stays on for now. Ego peers carefully at the girl, expression relatively neutral,"Feral. Yeah. Some mutants, they don't QUITE look human, but somehow they look... attractive because of unique combinations of traits. Sharp, angular features, for example." She slicks her hair back a little bit behind her ears,"Hell, if the words-thing is your main worry, we don't even have to necessarily make you look /normal/, catch my drift? If you don't want thick makeup, we could probably even just find some heavy duty concealer that matches your skin tone." For all that, she does try to comiserate,"What you wear is sometimes as important to your identity as your thoughts or your body." "I am sorry to disappoint, but I mostly look human, when I am not distracted by things." Rasa exhales deeply and pulls the burqa off, dark, wavy hair spilling all over hir face and shoulders, obscuring the view. The robes beneath are still voluminous, covering hir completely, but there is some skin showing, pale and bronzish, of Iranian descent. Ze takes more deep breaths, concentration evident in hir silence. When ze looks up, a fairly human face is presented under the hair. Wide amber eyes focus on Ego, a trail of gold begins in the corner of one eye and trails down hir cheek, beside her nose, spelling out 'oh please don't stare.' Ego claps hands to her mouth and says,"Oh my god, you're gorgeous! Look at that hair! And that skin! Wow. You're practically committing a crime hiding all that! Oh, honey, you got nothin' to worry about! And really, trust me on this one. I don't have a conscience, so I don't actually care about sparin' feelin's. Aaagh, I'd kill for that hair! And those eyes! I got tiny little chinese eyes. I'm actually a little jealous. Yeah, hun. We can work with this. We'll get you some ethnically appropriate concealer and you'll be good as gold." She claps her hands together gleefully,"I can't wait to go clothes shopping with you. We'll look for some stuff online, then once we get you some good stuff, we'll go to the stores. It'll be amazing." Rasa flushes gold entirely, skin, eyes, hair, every bit of hir visible body, but it starts to tarnish quickly like silver and fades to black. Ze doesn't seem to notice any changes until grabbing a handful of hair and pulling it into view. Ze scowls and shivers, appearing to shrink a little where ze sits. "Ah... Okay. I just... I have hidden for so long. I'm not sure if it is right to show things." Ze grabs hir burqa and begins to rearrange the layers of fabric to cover up once more. Ego claps her hands together,"Oh, nonono... Don't cover it up... It's really very pretty! You don't have to cover up, especially in front of me. Seriously. It's literally impossible to offend me. I do not process that emotion. You're beautiful, and the way your skin changes is soooo cool. Aaagh. Okay, at least agree to join me for morning skin care and I-" She suddenly sways in place, looking a bit... dizzy. "Oooh. Er... I think Arline's about to wake up from her nap." She sits down suddenly,"Arline's gonna be sooo jealous." She pulls up her record and speaks into it,"Her face is normal. Actually kind of pretty. Nyaaah. I know something you don't!" She starts to lay back on the floor. "This'll just take a moment." Rasa looks around, particularly at the walls and window before tugging on hir burqa, smoothing it down a bit, but not entirely. Ze does just enough to not show off, body stretching back into its normal size. Ze remains quiet during Ego's transition. It's actually very quite and undramatic. So fast that it could be missed if one blinks. One moment, there's Ego, and then the next, there's Arline in all her inhuman 'glory'. She actually is blushing when she realizes she is in front of someone (odd on her white skin), and banishes the curtain of darkness Ego had created. "Oooh... um... Sorry. One moment..." The earbuds from the recorder go into her ears, and she plays the a few recordings back, then sighs,"Did she do anything mean or embarassing?" "No, no, Ego was fine. Ze was very nice and offered to take me clothing shopping." Rasa bobs hir head to back up hir words, her hands working to smooth wrinkles out of the half of the burqa that hangs in front of her chest. "You have nothing to worry about." Arline wobbles a little as she stands, then yawns noisily. A bit of a stretch and she comes to pull a chair over,"What kind of clothes were we talking about? I've got some things in my room if you want to try some things on. Really, thanks. She's... not evil, but she's got no tact whatsoever and brutally truthful." She pushes her hair back just a bit,"Wanna get something to eat? I think I'm feeling adventurous enough to drink some cola." "Yeah," Rasa agrees, "food would be nice."