ArchivedLogs:Scandal!

Scandal!
Dramatis Personae Ghost, Kelly
In Absentia	2013-12-03 Are the staff at Xavier's biased against obvious mutants?! (After Ghost's encounter with Shane)
Location <XS> Computer Lab
All modernism in contrast to the old-world elegance of most of the mansion, this room has been dragged into the twenty-first century wholeheartedly. Rows of top-of-the-line computers provide internet access to any students who lack their own in their rooms, and sleek tablets give the mansion's artists a place to practice their digital art when the art studio does not suffice. Whether knuckling down to pull an all-nighter on a research paper or simply killing time browsing, students can be found in here at all hours in front of the glows of the screens. The computer lab has several students in it at the moment, one of whom is Ghost, furiously typing on one of the computers, instead of her laptop this time. Her PRESS hat is on her head, indicating serious business. In her mouth is a pen, which she has used to write down notes on her arm, indicated by a long line of ink per arm. Ghost slowly mumbles to herself. "So, need to talk to Taylor, possibly Sebastian, maybe Ivan though I don't think that's the best idea..hmm...". "What's not a good idea?" Kelly says looking up from one of the lab's tablets in his chair nearby. The screen glowing with some colorful education software focusing on English grammar lessons a few years behind where Kelly should be at the moment. "You've kinda got your full fifth estate thing goin' on right now, don't ya?" "Huh-wha?". Ghost turns around, not having noticed Kelly in all of her craziness. "Oh, hey Kelly. Yeah, I guess, but, man, do I love your roommate. Gave me the scoop of the century. No, the millenium! I'd tell you, but you might sell it to a rival..". She ponders for a moment, before speaking again. "Okay, I'll tell you, but keep it quiet.". She leans towards him, whispering. "Apparently, there's a bit of discrimination from the administration towards..mutants like me and Shane.". Ghost points to her skin as an example, before continuing. "I just have some people to talk to and didn't know which ones to talk to, so, yeah.". "What do you mean?" Kelly asks a little confused, getting a bit worried when she mentions Shane giving her the 'story of a century', and then relaxing QUITE visibly when she tells him what it she thought it really was. He bites his lip, punches another large button on his tablet, and is rewarded with moving stars and a cartoon goat telling him 'You did it!' "Uhm, I promise, but what do you mean mutants like you and Shane? Blue Ones? You're not really blue but... purple is a kinda blue, itn' it?" "I mean, physical mutants. The ones who you can tell are mutants just by looking at them, compared to the ones who look completely normal. Like, Ms. Winthrop compared to her assistant, for an example.". Ghost pauses, looking back over the notes on her arm. "But, yeah, huge story. And if the paper doesn't let me publish it, fuck them, I'll print my own paper." "Like me?" Kelly asks, looking at his barky patches and vines, offering himself as an example, even if his skin wasn't completely green yet. "But how are they being discriminated against?" he wondered, biting his own lips to figure it out. "I haven't seen anything, but I've only been here long enough for, well, just in time for the Zombies to make everything else kinda not matter." "I can't tell you the whole story, but Shane told me that one physical mutant was being attacked by a non physical mutant and they attacked the non-physical mutant to stop it. The non physical got a day of detention whilst the physical..got suspended for a week. And then gave me some people I could interview as well, so, going to follow up on these leads.". Ghost pauses from her rambling, looks back at her notes, and continues. "Yeah, I guess you'd count. I haven't really been discriminated against myself but that's probably because they know I can hear them. They'd probably do it when I'm not in the room. Also, yeah, zombies was pretty bad.". "Yikes!" Kelly says, more than a little surprised by the story. "So has it happened to anyone else, or just Shane's friend?" Kelly wonders next, "And why would they be like... anti-blue people, or... horned people?" he added next, curiously. Thinking on it he adds: "I haven't had anything bad happen to me, except like, they made sure I was SUPER bundled up and wearing a scarf when we went shopping today, but... I think that was so I wouldn't scare anyone." "It's not so you don't scare people, it's so that they aren't bigoted assholes. People hate us just because we're different, and the ones who can't hide it, they get the brunt of it. I was locked up in a lab for half a year because of what I am.". Ghost becomes a bit angry, not directed towards Kelly but instead to just the thought of it all. "People like the Brotherhood of Mutants and other mutant criminals make us look bad, and with this leak that the person who made the zombies is a mutant themselves, shits just going to hit the fan now." "I know, I've been hoping they wouldn't find out about that." Kelly says with a whimper. "I mean, like, how are we going to convince them to stop tryin' to hurt us when like... so many people." This was a bit of a touchy subject for the kid, so he tries to get past it. "But why do you think the school is discriminating against us, though? I mean, they always talk about how it doesn't matter what we look like?" "I know, I've been hoping they wouldn't find out about that." Kelly says with a whimper. "I mean, like, how are we going to convince them to stop tryin' to hurt us when like... so many people." This was a bit of a touchy subject for the kid, so he tries to get past it. "But why do you think the school is discriminating against us, though? I mean, they always talk about how it doesn't matter what we look like?" "Yeah, I don’t think Shane even knows how to lie." Kelly agrees disheartened as he sinks back into his chair, punching another colorful button, and that same goat comes up with some sad music saying: 'No, why don't you try again?!' "And we should know, if it's true... I mean most of us are here to get away from that stuff... we can be treated like garbage, anywhere." "Meh. I don't think they're trying to really be mean to us, just..they see us as lesser. Shane had this allegory or something about them being missionaries and us being native Africans who need to be taught or something.". Ghost begins typing at her computer again. "Even if they're like that, I'm better off here then back in that shit-ass lab." "I don't feel lesser." Kelly says, but when the goat tells him he got the answer wrong again, and removed two of the incorrect answers from the screen... he grunt. "Ok, right /now/ I feel kinda lesser." He huffed at the infernal homework box and jabbed a finger at the only answer that could be correct at last. "But just like the shopping thing, we're the ones who are going to bring trouble on 'em. The other kids and teachers can hide and stuff... but like... you're going to attract attention all the time. It'll take a whole buncha make-up just for a pizza run." "I actually feel..stronger, I guess? I mean, my mutation doesn't hinder me in any way except socially, really. Unless, you know, you blow an airhorn in my ear, then I might go deaf. But other than that, feels like an improvement.". Ghost says, brushing her hair back again. "I don't think make-up could help me. It'd be obvious it's make-up anyhow, and besides, I don't mind who I am. I like being purple.". Kelly tips his chair back and considers it. "Well, you look really cute purple, s'why. And I'll remember never to take you to a Knicks game, then." He says, echoing his first opinion on the subject. And then he raises an arm to point at a bark patch. "But... I don't know, see, this was like only THIS little last year..." he says, holding his fingers only an inch and a half apart, "And now its almost a foot long, I keep hope'n its gonna stop growin' but... I'm pretty sure before its done I'm gonna end up lookin' like a flower bush with a doughnut problem." He isn't completely depressed on the subject... just... mildly disappointed. "Stop calling me cute.". Ghost blushes intensely at the compliment, before tipping her hat. "Well..the way I see it, every mutation has to have some use, right? Well, probably not, but still..I mean, even if you look like a plant, there's probably cool things you can do that regular people can't, right? That's how I got over it. At first I didn't like what I was, and then, well, I realized, most people can't climb walls, I have that over them, yeah?" "Err... sor- erm... apologies." Kelly said, trying to avoid the list again. "I'll try not to." But he gave it some thought and he nodded. "I guess I can do a lot of stuff I couldn't, and it has kept me good and /not/ dead a few times." With a sigh of his own, he resigned himself to a self depreciating laugh: "I'm sure I'll get used to it, and I know you guys will... but we just got everyone else in the world to worry about, don't we?" "See? We're all special, or something, I don't know what those psychologists say.". Ghost laughs, looking at her arm again as the ink begins to bug her mentally, as she itches it. "Of course we do. They're all jealous of us and the cool things we can do.". She smiles, before turning back to her computer to continue writing. "Because we're amazing.".