ArchivedLogs:Still Hanging On

Still Hanging On
Dramatis Personae Kai, Kisha, Kris, Sophie
In Absentia	2013-05-20 Dances are planned. Horrifying rumors are dispelled.
Location <XS> Great Hall
The largest room at Xavier's, the Great Hall is designed to hold all of the mansion's residents and then some. Built for the mansion's bigger functions, it serves as the school's dining halls on ordinary days, and ballroom when needed. On school days, long trestle tables stretch across the hall, high-backed chairs with plush cushions offering seating for the students. Hey look, it's kinda-sorta like supper-time. Or some other kind of late-ish meal. Whatever the case, KRIS is eating at her usual table. She is even being a little bold today. A yellow sundress! Well. Not that bold. She still has some kind of shawl of sorts covering her shoulders (it doesn't really go with the dress). Otherwise, though, Kris' current occupation seems to be cramming down the tray full of food she's got before her. Like some kind of mutant with vaccuum powers. Kai doesn't /generally/ sit in the main hall during meal times. The crowds and the noise often prove too much for him. But, the rainy, cool weather has earned him a warning to stay inside, and here he is. The Korean boy is dressed in an oversized hoodie in navy blue, with a large patch of Doctor Whooves on the back, and a pair of jeans that are new-looking. His feet, of course, are as bare as ever. He carries his tray carefully as he moves through the tables, looking this way and that before spotting Kris in her cheery yellow dress. Then there's no question where he's heading, beelining for the girl's table. When he's almost there, he suddenly stops like a puppet whose strings have just been jerked, and he tilts his head as if listening. Then there's a deep coloring in his face, and his head /ducks/ down over his tray as he tries to quietly turn away. Maybe /another/ table will be better.... Fear. For science girl has deigned to dine in the great hall. Perhaps something to do with a chemical Kisha has been using that induces nausea. "Honestly the food here is terrible. Is it too much to ask for pizza?" she complains to anyone nearby. "Not /every day/. Simply most days. Six of seven at most.." With no-where better to sit she makes for the empty-ish space near Kris. "With something involving bacon on the seventh." Her own attire? Standard black pants and t-shirt. No fancy slogans today, nor any major science related damage. Sophie is, as usual, seated at the Cool Table, across from Kris, dressed in one of her usual blouse-and-skirt ensembles. She's eating at a slightly more reasonable pace, though the girl is drinking like a fish out of water. Not that fish drink, but you can't blame her for a faulty idiom. In fact, she's just tilting her glass back for another sip when she spots Kai out of the corner of her eye. And before he can make his escape, she waves a hand. "Hey, Kai!" You're doomed. "There's room over here." The girl lived in a jungle killin', raidin', hidin', and huntin' her own food for THREE years. So Kris knew when Kai drew near. She WAS just going to let the boy withdraw with his dignity intact... But dignity is for people who don't have friends! Just as she is turning to greet Kisha, Sophie is calling attention to Kai. "Oh, yes, Kai! Come sit! Really, there's plenty of room, friend." She looks over at Kisha, then opines,"I used to order pizza a lot when I first got her. Then mom and dad asked me to cut back on it because it was running up the credit card bill." She sighs. Pizza misses her. Ooops. Kai's busted, and he freezes at Sophie's call, his body going momentarily rigid before Kris is calling out to him, too. And he stands there, wavering, for a long moment before his shoulders sort of sag, and he turns around. His face is neutral as he joins the girls, slipping in beside Kris on the safest side (i.e., using her as a very poor shield or wall against Sophie and Kisha). "Hello," he says in his soft voice, although he doesn't really look anyone in the eyes as he unfolds his napkin and places it carefully in his lap. His food is simply stared at, for a moment, his mouth pursed in concentration. As if he's trying to remember what it's /for/. Kisha stomps over and sits with a thwump. "I don't even understand 'meatloaf'. The very concept revolts me," she opines, Kai receives a glance "Who is your friend? I don't think I have seen him anywhere before..." Idly her fork begins poking at her food choices, trying to pick out the bits which appeal. Mostly this is the fries. Sophie gives Kris a /look/. A hopefully meaningful one, because she just sort of... keeps making it. All intently. Eyebrows lifted at Kris, subtle nod toward Kai. Eh? Eh? She shovels a mouthful of food into that big mouth of hers, nomming on that a moment, thoughtfully. "When they lift the chaperone thing we should go out for pizza. I'm sure there's someplace in town." Sip from beverage. "Heck, maybe we can find a teacher with nothing better to do than pick up a bunch of pizzas, sometime. Oh, maybe for movie club." Hmm. Braingears are turning, on that thought, but her attention is caught by Kisha. "Oh, you haven't met? Kisha, this is Kai," she points with her fork to the former, then the latter. "Kai, Kisha." Point, point. "I don't really know him well either, but he's a friend of Kris's." And she gives a little wave, there, to Kai. Hello. Kris is all ninja when she's in fite-to-deth mode, but is more like a fat man trying to sneak another cupcake at a Jenny Craig meeting when it comes to social nuances. "Kai, I did not see you there." Just, you know, sensed like Rambo. "Why don't you eat, Kai?" Then she turns to watch the others,"Kai is not just a friend, but one of my best friends, I would say." She taps the side of her head,"He gets me." She eyeballs Kisha,"I went for the vegetarian option when I saw meatloaf. I think horse would've been a better choice." She makes a face at that, then just stares at Sophie as she moves her eyebrows,"Are... are you having a seizure?" "I am easily overlooked," Kai offers softly, reaching up at last to pick up his fork, and jab it at the slab of meatloaf on his tray experimentally. "Hello," he says when Kisha is introduced, although his attention remains on his tray and its contents. "I am Kai." When Kris labels him as one of her best friends, his chin slowly turns so that he can regard her with a curious sort of look. But, it remains unremarked, and he opts to spear a few green beans on his fork instead, shoveling them into his mouth and chewing while watching the girls with occasional sidelong glances. "Horse is very good," he offers suddenly. "In soup." "How do you know it /isn't/ horse?" Kisha asks, fixing Sophie with a frown. "Have you been sipping methanol? That would account for your strange behavior... Unless you are trying to perform romantic match-making of some sort. In which case you might be terrible at it." She turns again to Kai and not quite stares, but scientifically inspects. (The latter has more Hmmm'ing) "Would you be offended if I asked what you can do? Actually I should extend this question to Kris too. For while we have met I don't think the topic ever came up." Sophie just stares at Kris for a minute, and idly slips a shoe off so that she can kick the other girl's leg... a little less painfully barefoot than beshoe'd. "No, I am not having a seizure." She /is/ eating the meatloaf, but finds it easier to do so when she just.. doesn't /look/ at it when doing so. "---/KISHA/." Bare foot goes to kick /her/ too. "I am /not/ doing /anything/. And if I /was/, I would be /awesome/ at it, oh my gosh." She does, however, look about ready to bury her face in her food tray. Kris nods in agreement with Kai,"Really? I've had it as a cube steak, usually. Very tender. The beef here is very good as well, though, to be fair." Discussing the merits of horse meat. As for Kisha... well... she gets a laugh,"No, I would think she knows better. Kai and I do not have that of relationship. We are simply friends. How is Adopholus, by the way, Kai?" As for her power? "I have a persistent energy construct I can transform into a duplicate of virtually any weapon I've had enough time to examine." She points to her violet eyes meaningfully,"Thse are the trick." Then she's oofing as Sophie kicks her. She frowns at Sophie,"That wasn't nice." Kai nods at Kris. "My mother would make a soup with it that had carrots and onions and noodles. It was very good." He smiles weakly. "Especially when I got some of the meat in my bowl." He cuts into his meatloaf, then, which suddenly seems huge in comparison. "They are all very good," he answers the first question with a nod, relaxing a bit. "I have not given Ivan his, yet, because --" he breaks off, and shakes his head. "I have not given Ivan his, yet." Meatloaf is shoved into his mouth just as Kisha asks her question, and he blinks first at her, then at Kris when she answers. When she finishes, he swallows, and presses his lips together briefly. "I turn into a dragon," he says. "Who is named Foom." His mashed potatoes look interesting, suddenly. Look how easily he can make potato sculptures with his fork, then mash them into an almost-grid. Kisha blinks a few times. "Please don't take this personally, but I hope to never have that confirmed. Dragons sound large and potentially dangerous," she decides. "If anyone else would like the meatloaf then feel free. After careful consideration I am convinced my life will be better if I don't partake..." Then what Kris said sinks in and she almost drops her fork. An excitable barrage of questions follow and Sophies kick seems to be entirely forgotten. "You do? How interesting. Very very interesting. How does ammunition work might I ask? Does it let you make a grenade? Would you like to conduct /tests/?" Sophie bites her lip a little as Kisha keeps asking questions about Kris's power, and she gives Kris a sympathetic sort of look. She's not quite sure if she should say anything, here, though for the moment she does opt to remain silent on the subject. Kai's answer does get a bit of a surprised look from the girl, who awkwardly attempts to joke, "I think I'm with Kisha on that one. Um, no offense or anything." She fusses with her hair for a bit as she pokes at her food. "Oh, uh, I'm okay, this is more than enough for me," she adds, regarding Kisha's offer of loafy meats. Kris nods slowly to Kai,"That does sound delicious... Do you know anywhere that sells horse around here? I've had a devil of a time finding any. Well, okay, I haven't looked PARTICULARLY hard, but still... Actually, Kai doesn't really like to talk about Foom. I can't really blame him. For... reasons that are hard for certain people to... uh... get." Then Sophie is going Frankenstein on her. "I... uh... what? I... I just sort of... will it to reset or not run out of ammunition... and it doesn't. I can't actually turn it into something that is totally consumed when it is used. I could fire grenades from a launcher, but not create a thrown grenade, for example. Is... that it?" A pause follows,"I... I think what you mean to ask is 'will I let you conduct tests'. Nobody is going to get hurt?" Kai nods as both girls beg off meeting Foom, and his potatoey fork is lifted to his mouth. "He is not very nice to meet," he agrees, and lifts a thin shoulder, listening to Kisha's questions as he picks at his food. When she mentions tests, though, he lifts his head and leans forward to regard her carefully with a neutral face. There's a small flicker of yellow around the edges of his irises that could be light being reflected before his lips press together. "You sound like the doctors." It doesn't sound like he means physicians. In fact, it sounds like an accusation, and he shifts a bit closer to Kris. Or maybe he's trying to reach Kisha /through/ Kris. "They liked to do tests, too." Sophie slides hand down to a bag at her side at the vague sound of buzzing, bites lip to stifle a chuckle at a text message, then spends a moment or so texting back and forth with someone /mysterious/. "Anyway," she starts to address Kisha, still half-distracted, but eventually setting her phone face-down on the table. "Anyway, is this really the right place to be talking business?" It's a pretty transparent attempt at changing the subject. "So there's a dance coming up, anyway, like next week? Were you guys planning on going? I mean, I know Kris is." Kris meanwhile looks sideways at Kai, covertly drops her own phone into her pocket, and reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, and squeeze, and then tells Kisha,"This isn't the place to be to discussing this. Come by my room later, and we'll work something out? Maybe ask Mister Jackson what he thinks first?" She turns, as if that's settled,"Oh, I can't wait! It will be so much fun! Kai, why don't you come with me, Sophie, and Megan? Rahne might be there too. I dunno." Kai continues to regard Kisha with that same studiousness, and his head tips to one side gently. "I do not know what I might like," he says finally in answer to the offer, sinking back into his seat. "But thank you for the offer." Sudden dance excitement baffles him, and he looks as if he's attempting to sink into his tray. "I do not know how to dance," he admits. "I would do it wrong, I am certain." Kisha blinks. Then blinks some more. "I was talking about fun things?" she points out, bemused. "Also. You will see me at the dance when someone drags my cold dead corpse there. Even then I can guarantee I would not enjoy the whole affair. Because /eugh/ dancing." Sophie shakes her head at Kai. "Honestly? School dances aren't always a lot of dancing. It's kinda.. half-n-half. A lot of kids just sort of hang out on the side, or if they do dance they just sorta... move their arms and wiggle. I bet Ms. Reynaud would be willing to help, though, if you wanted lessons. But... really, you don't have to worry about it." To Kisha, she points her fork and levels a stern gaze. "Right. So we have Bobby Drake freeze you and take you as his date--oh my god that was funny in my head but out loud it's just gross." She holds her hands up to grip the sides of her head, eyes going wide. With /horror/. Kris lifts a shoulder,"I would not worry so much about it Kai. No boy your age knows how to dance. I'm a girl and I STILL don't know how to dance." Then she's asking Kisha and Sophie,"Is it just me or does he LEER a lot? Like... a lot. Is he just mean, or is he a perv, too?" Kai looks confused, and BLINKS at Sophie and Kris. "If there is little dancing, and no one knows how to dance, why do they call it a dance?" He gives both girls a patient, sad sort of look. "It does not /sound/ like it would be very much fun." Kisha snaps her fingers. "And that my good people is why I don't want to go," she states. "Dancing. Poorly done. Bad music and too many people. Eugh." She eyes Sophie. "Also who is 'Bobby Drake'? Does this mean you are no longer swooning over Mr Wagner? Not that I actually care, just trying to keep track." Sophie gestures vaguely with her fork. "Because every so often you get a DJ who thinks we're old enough to have any idea how to do the Macarena." She leans back to take a long sip out of her glass, perfectly timed for a comedic response to Kisha's inquiry -- which results in a spit-take and fruit punch spraying all over her food tray, since she at least had the presence of mind to aim away from anybody. WELL PLAYED, DOROGOI. "He's not-- I don't--!!" She lets out a little noise of frustration, clambering for paper towels to clean herself off, along with any juice that got on the table, and the rest are dumped onto her tray. "Bobby is some older kid who is a complete creepy jerk. He's a human ice dispenser, belongs on the front of a fridge." Kris eyeballs Kai,"You've never tried it... but I'm not going to badger you into it. There will be people, there, though, and a few of my friends. I'll bring you a party favor or something?" Then she's looking between Kisha and Sophie,"That's a dirty trick, Kisha. She's sensitive about that." Still, she, leans over to help Sophie clean up her juice,"He's nice sometimes, and then others, he's a complete jerk. I swear, I don't know what goes on in that boy's brain." Kai furrows his brow. "I did not say I would not go. The way you describe it does not sound like a very fun thing, though." He sounds almost apologetic about that, and then he frowns. "What is a party favor?" he asks, although it's mostly to himself as the girl talk ramps up. He really has no input, so he opts for watching the various responses to this Bobby Drake person with interest, chewing on a green bean slowly. "I do not understand... What trick?" Kisha asks, bemused. "But anyway I better go. Science calls and I must obey. You may have my meatloaf if you wish." She has somehow managed to eat all the fries without disturbing a single vegetable or the meatloaf itself. "It was nice speaking with you all. I shall drop round with some suggestions Kris, perhaps even a prototype or two." Or more from the grin which accompanies the notion. Then without waiting for a response she springs to her feet and heads off. Smiling ominously. Sophie finishes cleaning herself off, pushes wet tray aside, and idly dabs at some leftover liquid on the table. "Right." She kind of stares at Kisha as the younger girl strolls off, and shakes her head quietly. "She didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure." Her tone suggests that she might just be saying this so that she can sleep at night. Literally, given the roommate situation. "Anyway, Kai, dances are fun it's just kind of hard to describe it if you haven't been to one. It's like... a time to hang out with your friends and eat bad food." Kris just STARES at Kisha as she departs, then looks over at Kai. "She is very strange. Anyway, party favors are things that parties, dances, etc tend to give out. Something usually fun and cheap. Like a small whistle or something." As for Sophie's description of a dance? "That actually doesn't sound like to too much fun when you describe it like that. Maybe we should just let him find out for himself?" Kai tilts his head at Sophie's explanation, and he frowns. "You spend time with your friends and eat bad food?" he verifies, and then lifts a hand to motion around the table with a lift of his eyebrows that speaks volumes. Kris' assessment gets a nod, then a worried frown. "What is right to wear, for a dance? I do not have very many clothes." Sophie waves a hand vaguely. "Sorry, I'm suddenly a little scatterbrained." No idea what could have caused that. "I mean, like, junkfood. Not like.. juice-soaked meatloaf." She sips from her glass, which does somehow still have juice in it, and hrms. "But uh yeah. Friends, food, music, let Kris explain." She pushes herself up to stand. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna take care of this mess and see if there are any fries left." Kris is an incredibly helpful person. She looks at Kai, and merely shrugs,"Actually... I have no idea... Something nice, but not, like... Tuxedo-level nice?" Then it occurs to her to put it in Kai-themed notation: "I think you need to dress in the way you should when trying to attract the notice of a potential mate." Kai does not look any less confused, blinking as Sophie leaves the table. "I do not understand this country, sometimes," he confesses, his upper lip curling slightly in what might be mild annoyance. "It is very different than what I am used to." Kris' explanation of the appropriate apparel gets a deep coloring from the boy. "I...do not know how I would do that," he says, and his voice is very soft, now. "I..." then he's /really/ blushing, and he digs at his meatloaf, suddenly voracious in his eating. Kris nods in agreement with Kai,"It IS very different. Still... I am not certain this is actually a bad thing, my friend. Just difficult to acclimate to. Painful, sometimes. I do not always understand it myself, truth be told. But it is better than it was." She even nudges the boy gently with her elbow,"That is why you have friends, Kai. Maybe a very pretty button-up and a pair of khakis. Some patent leather shoes?" Still, he's... BLUSHING. "Kai. Do you have a mate on the hook we don't know about?" She actually giggles. Because 'lol, gossip'. Kai bobs his head. "I have those clothes," he says. "They are for special occasions. Is a dance a special occasion?" He seems genuinely curious about this, although there's still color in his ears and he won't meet Kris' eyes. "I did not know they would attract a potential mate, though." He chews at his lip as he stares at the tray. "Now I am back at being stupid about what I will wear." Hey! Maybe he's getting this teenager thing, after all. The nudge and the question blooms new crimson in his ears, and he shakes his head. "No," he says. "There is no one who -- inspires a reaction from me." He sinks a bit lower, and hunches his shoulders over his tray. "Not that I am looking at anyone in such a manner." It /might/ be a little quickly offered, that last bit. Just a tad. Kris nods to Kai now,"This is a special occasion of low to medium importance, if that clarifies the matter for you? And they only MIGHT attract a potential mate. Think of them as... tools... They'll only get you a mate if you go looking for one, usually. It's just one purpose they're useful for. You are not stupid, though. The term is 'ignorance'. Ignorance only implies that you lack knowledge. Stupidity implies you are mentally deficient." She pokes at her own food, now, a sort of amused smile on her face,"I would never accuse you of doing such a thing. But it's quite alright to do so." "Well I would /not/ be looking," Kai asserts, and nods firmly, stiring his mashed potatoes fiercely. "I will go, and I will have fun with my friends, but I will not be looking for /that/." He sniffs. "Shelby told me a thing or two about it, and it sounds...unpleasant." There's an actual shudder, and he rolls his head to look at Kris with wide eyes. "Please do not ask me to tell you what she said." Right at that moment, Sophie casually sliiides back into her seat, and with her a clean tray with new glass of juice and fresh french fries. "Tell who what what said?" Yep, right in at the very last couple words of that last remark. "I suppose Kris probably did a better job of explaining things while I was gone. I didn't mean to make it sound weird, just... like I said, I got a little flustered there. I'm alright now." Kris just STARES at Kai. STARES at him. Several long moments,"You don't have to. Having fun with your friends is quite enough, but... Well... if Shelby told you about it and it sounds unpleasant... Then she told you wrong. I know why I'm often uncomfortable with Romance and Sex-things, but... I'm in an unusual situation. What on earth did she-" Then she's being asked not to ask. CONSTERNATION. She looks over at Sophie,"Don't expect it to get better, now." Kai stares back at Kris, helplessly. He really /can't/ bring himself to say it. In fact, he looks as if he might flee. And then Sophie is returning, and her question adds to his flight response. But something anchors him, there. Some curiosity that works its way out in a rushed confession. "IaskedShelbywhyIwouldwanttobemorethanfriendswithsomeoneandshesaiditwasbecause-theymademyboypartstiffandifIdidnotusemyboypartitwouldfalloffandIdonotwantthattohappen." And then he's taking a deep breath and beginning to slide under the table as his face goes bright, almost fully blood-red. Seriously. His ears might combust. Sophie just.. stares at Kai for a moment. A french fry was on its way to her mouth, but that hand just kinda.. goes.. limp. For what may seem like quite a while she just /looks/ at Kai, in sort of 'blue screen of death' mode, before she finally manages to fishmouth for a moment. "I-- I don't-- I don't think that's how it. /Works/." She's suddenly got a very weird mental image, then, and shakes her head repeatedly to get rid of it. Aaagh. "Why would-- no, that's not how it works. Why would she say that?! No. No. God, no." Yep. That earns Kai a hug. Kris, tall as she is and sitting next to him, is of good size and location to provide huggy comforts. "Ooooh, Kai, Kai, Kai... I wish it worked that way. If it did, I'd be halfway to looking like Sophie by now, and probably the happiest girl in the world. Ssssh, sssh. See, even Sophie knows." She tries again,"Wanting to be more than friends is... You get a fluttery feeling in your stomach when you see them, and you want to see more of them without knowing quite why. Looking at them is pleasing, and it may make your... uh... boy-parts... stiff, make you want to do sex-things with them... But the only thing that happens if you don't use your boy parts is that you generally just end up a little frustrated." By now she's reaching to her pocket to text without looking, a sort of stricken look on her face. Kai is pulled into the hug quite easily; mostly because he's /really/ confused, now. He furrows his brow. "Shelby seemed very certain. And Ivan said she knows a lot about this type of thing." He doesn't sound completely disbelieving when Shelby Sex Ed is debunked, but he doesn't sound convinced, either. Then he's scrubbing at his still-red face with the heel of his hand. "This is very complicated," he says petulantly. As if it were someone's FAULT that being a teenager is Hard. "It makes my head itch inside." Sophie just continues shaking her head a bit, rubbing her face with both hands and then lowering her head for a moment. "Okay, look. I don't know /that/ much," though this is one of those times when she really wishes she did, "but in sex ed they have never talked about anything like that. Shelby was probably just.. trying to freak you out and-- I don't think she's your friend." Sophie lets out a long sigh, lifting her head up to look Kai in the eye. "I mean, okay I don't know, but it seems like that is not the kind of thing someone should be saying to their friend if they know it's gonna freak them out and... it's not gonna fall off. Look, we have... school has a sex ed class and even though it's sorta... this is probably something you should ask a teacher about. Or at least a /guy/." Kris gets this look on her face that looks... kinda painful, and looks at Sophie,"You probably don't wanna hear this. Like... look away or cover your ears or something. I'm about to talk about transwoman body-stuff. And then I'm going to want candy, and probably a cry." She takes a deep breath, pushes Kai back a little, and looks him directly in the eye,"I know the hard cold basics of... biology. Looks. THAT happens to my... um... parts all the time still, and I don't do anything about it. Now Kai, it is my fondest dream for my... parts to fall off. A lot of the stuff I do to be a woman frequently revolves around forgetting them or getting rid of them." She clears her throat and with a rather disgusted expression manages,"... and despite having never done anything with them, they have failed to kindly fall off as I wish them to. So if, after all that, mine have not... Then I assure you, yours are not going to. I am not an expert on... sex-things, but I understand... biology down there. I have good reason to be certain of this." The good news is that Kai is no longer blood-red, after Sophie's input and Kris' very personal explanation. The bad news is that his lack of blushing is because /all/ of the color has drained out of his face, and his expression is one of dawning horror. As if he's just now realizing the gravity of what he's just shared. "But...I do not..." he furrows his brow, frowning. "Why would she tell me such a thing? I only asked because I wished to know." His expression darkens further, and he shifts away from Kris to hunker thoughtfully over his tray again. Then, softly and distractedly: "Thank you for explaining it." At Kris's urging, Sophie does indeed cover her ears, looking away for the moment, though she does steal glances over to see if the other girl is finished with her explanation yet. Sharp ears may catch her quietly humming the theme song to Sesame Street; it was the first thing she could think of, okay?! Once Kris is finished, Sophie returns to the discussion, looking a bit uncomfortable at Kai's words. Scratching the back of her neck, and realllly trying to put off saying anything, but, well. Eventually she figures she probably.. should. "I don't really... /know/ Shelby, so I don't know what she was thinking, but... it just seems to me that if she really was your friend she wouldn't be trying to traumatize you." She bites her lip, looking over to Kris, expression sympathetic. "...are you okay?" Kris is pretty pale by the time she finishes explaining, and offers only,"I do not know. Maybe she was being mean." As for thanks,"For anyone else, I'd let it go... but you are a good friend, Kai. You do not deserve bad information on something so important to you." She gets up, looking a little sick and a little woozy, and gives a sort of half-smile to Sophie,"It's just... stuff. I think... I'm going to go lay down. Would one of you dump my tray for me? I owe you." She disentangles herself from her chair and turns for the exit. Kai nods at the general assessment. "I do not know her very well, either," he confesses. "She is Ivan's friend more than mine." Still, that doesn't really explain the motives, and the girls seem far wiser on the subject. He watches with a small furrow of his brow as Kris stands up, and his bottom lip juts out in a concerned expression. "I hope you feel better soon," he offers earnestly. "I will put your tray away for you." When the girl has made her exit, he sighs, and rubs at his face briefly. "People are hard to understand." "Kris..." Sophie looks up at her friend quietly, then shakes her head. "...Text me if you need anything." She gives a weak little wave as Kris departs, turning back to Kai and lowering her head rest the side of it on the table, sighing a bit overdramatically. "I feel like I've been ruining everything lately," she remarks to nobody in particular. "The problem with people is there are like six billion different categories you have to memorize and nobody knows how any of them work." Kai shakes his head. "You did not ruin anything," he assures Sophie, offering a small smile. "You were very helpful in explaining things just now. I just think that it is a difficult subject for Kris to discuss." He sighs, and closes his eyes, lowering his head in a mimick of the girl. "I think you are right. There are too many people, and too many rules, and they are always changing." Sophie shakes her head a little. "I didn't mean that, I meant the part where I had to leave so she could explain the dance thing better." Gradually pushing herself back up a bit, she half-heartedly sips at her juice. "I don't know, I think I'm a little more excited about the dance thing than... well, Megan, anyway. I guess Kris is excited too, but I still kinda feel like I might be pushing people more than I should be. I just... sometimes I miss doing regular kid stuff. School here is more advanced than school at home, which I'm fine with, but then you throw in all the requirements they have because we're mutants, and now needing to be escorted out if we wanna leave campus. Maybe I just have cabin fever." "She explained it all right," Kai says, mostly to the table. "I do not think that was the part that made her uncomfortable." Then he's pushing his head up slowly, bringing his arms up to fold them in front of him and rest his chin. Watching Sophie sip her juice, he half-shrugs. "If it is a thing that you are looking forward to, and you hope to have fun, it is understandable to be excited." He wrinkles his nose thoughtfully. "Is a dance a regular kid thing?" he wonders, then tilts his head to one side. "What /are/ regular kid things?" Sophie almost gives Kai an odd sort of look, but ... well, from the conversation so far, she's pretty much figured out that he's a little unusual. "Yeah, dances are regular kid things. Um.. jeez, I dunno, lots of things are. Going out for Slurpees, going out for pizza, going out for ice cream..." There's a pause, there. "...lots of going out and getting food. Movies, hanging out and playing games, just... pretty much anything you'd do yourself, I guess, but with... other people." Kai's eyes widen, just a bit. "I have never done any of those things," he says. "They sound interesting. I would think they /would/ be more fun with good friends to do them with." He smiles a bit, and scrunches his nose. "What is a Slurpee?" Sophie sits up a bit more upright, finally looking a bit more /comfortable/. Talking about teen stuff is something she can /do/, as long as boy parts aren't involved. "Yeah, I mean like, there's nothing wrong with doing stuff by yourself if you want to, but in my opinion a lot of stuff is just more fun if you have people to do it with. When they start letting us leave campus without teachers again, we should totally start taking trips into town or to the city or something." Looks like Kai just got adopted into Sophie's clique. The question about Slurpees gets a stifled laugh, but she lets it fade into a grin quickly enough. "A Slurpee's a drink that's like... sorta half-frozen soda? It's like slushy snow. ... But soda." Kai smiles. "Yes, we should do that," he says, jiggling his chin against his arm. "Although, I think that they will want me to have a teacher, for a while. To be safe." He doesn't need to explain why; it is just a fact he accepts. He tips his head thoughtfully, and chews on his lip. "A half-frozen soda?" he echoes, and his nose twitches as he tries to imagine what that must be like. "Do you mean like the floats, where you have ice cream in a glass of soda?" He lifts his eyebrows. "I have had those, and they are very good, although the ice cream tastes funny when you eat it." Sophie tilts her head a bit at the mention of teacher supervision, but opts for now not to ask about it. She's already put her foot in her mouth regarding things of that nature enough times in recent memory. "No, like... it's like half-ice. Just... slushy. I guess it really is hard to explain if you've never seen one before." She frowns thoughtfully, then eventually accepts that there isn't a common ground here, and just sort of smiles. Ohhh well. "Floats are good, too. I like how the ice cream tastes, but I guess I can see how it might be weird." Pause. "Some places call them Icees instead of Slurpees?" Ringing any bells? Kai is very patient, with people who are unfamiliar with his story. He smiles gently at Sophie's confusion, and lifts his shoulders. "I am from a very small farm in a place called North Korea," he says slowly. "We did not have such things as you have in this country. And when I left my home, I still did not have those things, because the bad doctors kept us in our rooms when they were not doing their tests." He exhales in a long breath, and smiles again. "So there are many things that I am hoping to try, when I am able." "O.. oh." Sophie bites her lip, looking down at her tray a bit, sheepish. "Sorry." She coughs a little awkwardly, takes a looong drink of juice to wet her throat a bit. "I know about North Korea-- er, sort of. Not that much, I guess. I guess nobody really knows /that/ much about it they're really.. secretive." Shaking her head, she hurriedly then-- changes the subject again. "So uh, yeah. Yeah, we'll have to help you out with trying things. Another thing people do sometimes -- not all the time -- is they'll have an 'after-party' after... y'know, a party, or a dance or whatever, if they still want to do stuff but the dance or whatever is over. I should see if me and Megan can make some more cupcakes and we can like, hang out in the rec room after the dance or something." "You probably know more about it than I do," Kai says. "Our farm was very small, and we only saw the government man at harvest time, when they came for the food we grew. But he did not talk, except to my father." He sounds kind of far-away, now, gazing off into space. That yellow light flickers in his eyes briefly, and then fades. "I think I like it better here," is an idle observation, and he rubs his nose along his sleeve. "An after-party?" This seems as alien a concept as a dance. "Oh! In the Rec Room. We could play video games," he says, lifting his chin. "Do you like the Katamari game, with the rolling ball and picking things up? It is very silly, but it is a fun game." Sophie grins widely. "I /love/ Katamari." That this is almost the title of one of the games is not a fact that evades her notice, but she doesn't dwell on the joke. "I can't play it too long, though, cause I like... don't blink, and after a few levels my eyes get /super/ dry they're like sandpaper. Maybe I should get some eyedrops or something. I think the first time I played it I figured I'd play it for a couple minutes, then next thing I knew it was the next day..." She lets out a quiet sigh, shaking her head. "--Ahh, anyway, after-parties aren't really a thing everyone does... but like I said, it's cool if you can get together a bunch of people after the dance who don't want to go to bed yet." Kai nods. "But if you are playing it with friends, then you can take turns, and then you would be able to blink," he offers helpfully. "So it will be a good game to play, even if we are the only ones who are there." His smile is a little looser, and he pushes up, leaning heavily on his elbows. "I do not know if the dance will be fun, but the after-party sounds as if it will be, so I will come." He lowers his brow thoughtfully. "Is there anything I should do, to help you?" Sophie sip drink, nod at game remarks. "Well, if nothing else the dance is something to /do/ instead of just the same old hanging around. And if you don't have fun... well, you know for next time, right? And I'm sure Kris at least will hang out after, I'm not sure I've ever seen her tired before." A pause. "Okay, maybe once or twice, but anyway, we can teach her how to play it if she hasn't yet." She pushes herself up to sit up a bit more straight, munches thoughtfully on a fry. "I don't /think/ there's anything you need to worry about. Only thing I was really thinking of was cupcakes, but if there's anything else you'd rather have for snacking on, that's totally great too." Kai nods at the assessment. "I do not remember if she played it before or not," he confesses. "But I taught Ivan how to play it, so I can teach her, if she needs it." Then he's thinking. "There should be cookies," he offers. "And maybe some of the popped corn that you can make in the microwave." He smiles a little wider, diving into this activity with a sudden straightening of his shoulders. "And there should be those sour things that are like string, but are sweet inside. Those are very good." Sophie nods briskly. "Oh, hey, yeah, I didn't even think about popcorn." Obviously, given that she didn't suggest it!! "Yeah that all sounds great. See? You aren't so bad at kid stuff." There's a grin, there, and she lifts a hand to run through her hair. "I need to head back upstairs and work on homework, but I'll let the others know that you're in for that." And here she pushes herself to her feet, collecting her bag, and moving to pick up her tray. "I'm sure either me or Kris or someone will run into you before the dance but if somehow we don't, we'll find you there, okay?" And, assuming a positive response, she's off.