ArchivedLogs:Prospects

Prospects
Dramatis Personae Marinov, Liv
In Absentia	2016-12-27 "Graduating's scary when you have no idea what you're doing after."
Location <XS> Forest
Quiet and shady, the trees rise all around here high and thick. In stillness, woodland creatures make appearances, though sudden noises scare them back into the cover. Dappled sunlight filters down between the thick foliage, and the ground underfoot is heavily overgrown, though here and there paths have been worn, by deer or years of students wandering familiar trails. The forest is starting to get dark, because it is getting later in the evening and when the sun is low on the horizon, the trees do the rest of the work. However, it is at least a relatively warm day, and so Marinov is out wearing just a grey tank top that has their name spelled out in blocky all cap letters: MARINOV. This is paired with a new looking skort (an article of clothing that Marinov is somewhat invested in bringing into style) with an asymmetrical sort of style. These kinds of light clothes are only possible due to the teen's built in fur coat and because they happen to be exercising in a way that would probably get anyone's body temperature up. They are travelling through the trees above, leaping from branch to branch where possible, dropping down when it is not, and climbing back up whenever it looks like there could be a good stretch of sturdy branches. Occasionally, they see an animal, and give chase to try and catch up to it. At this time, Marinov is giving a squirrel a real hard time. Liv, by contrast, is out wandering the forest in search of relaxation. She keeps to the ground, wearing a thinner winter jacket over a floral dress, black leggings, and ankle boots. Her green hair is twisted up into a bun and she seems rather lost in thought as she slowly walks between the trees. She catches the gentle rustle of a squirrel running above her, pausing just in time to catch sight of the much larger creature rush above her, knocking a bit of wet snow down from the trees. She screams and jumps out of the way, but not before a wad of snow lands on her head. "Hey!" she yells, quickly brushing the quickly melting snow out of her hair. Marinov is distracted from their chase, which has mostly been done on auto-pilot, by the word called up at them. They slip off the next branch and then tumble downwards, using their tail to right themselves like any good felinoid creature should. They land on the ground, using both their hands and feet to absorb the impact. Marinov starts to adjust all of their clothing into rightness after landing, in order to make it look like that whole fall thing was intentional. By the time that they draw their clawed fingers through their blonde-streaked-with-black hair, they pay more mind to Liv. "Hey what!" says Marinov, having delayed a fair bit on answering Liv, "What's going on?" Liv is still brushing water out of her hair when Marinov drops, a quick look of recognition follow by a sheepish smile. "Sorry, didn't mean ta scare ya. I just...wasn't expecting anyone to be running around the trees." She fixes her hair as best she can before glancing up towards the trees, brows pressed together in confusion. "What /were/ ya doing up there?" "I wasn't scared! Just surprised," says Marinov, a bit defensively. Their pupils are still dilated, which might indicate that the surprised had a bit of scared in it. "I was getting a workout in," they say after considering the question, "You know, running, climbing, jumping. I saw a squi- Er, it's like parkour, yeah? It's not really cool on social media anymore or anything, but I think it's pretty useful to get away from sorta undesirable situations." "Hey, don't matter ta me. I mean, ya know where we are, right? Lotsa people with odd hobbies and...habits," Liv says, glancing back down towards Marinov with a grin. "That does look pretty useful. And more fun than walking along the ground. If I could, I would." She gives a slight shrug. "Anyway, it's nice seeing someone out here. Gets me away from my head for a bit. Graduating's scary when you have no idea what you're doing after." "Heh, yeah, I'm already trying to figure out what I'm gonna do after I graduate from here. This place seems too good compared to the outside world, I sorta want to be held back a year just to delay what's coming... but I did alright on my exams, so there's always next term to be a total screw up," says Marinov, kicking the ground lightly. "And you could learn to do parkour, plenty of folks do it, just takes... well, lots of time and practice I guess. It's sort of surprising the shit people can do when they put their mind to it." "I guess. But I doubt I could do what you were doing. I don't exactly have the...assets," Liv says, glancing down to her rather bland and human looking hands. "But yeah, this place is...really great. It's nice to be able to just be myself, ya know? Nobody judges ya or hates who you are. Well, besides the usual high school stuff I guess." Liv glances towards a low hanging branch and reaches for it, holding it in her fingertips. Slowly, despite the weather and temperature, a small green leaf grows from it before she releases it. "And then there's just the whole...find a job ya don't hate. Start a future. I don't even know if I want to go to a university or not." "I sorta know what I want to do for my future, and I'm trying not to be discouraged by having a face like the one that is attached to my head, but sometimes it's tough!" says Marinov, gesturing up at their face. Perhaps suitable for being a background cat in Cats, but otherwise not a great face for career building. They shrug, "And... yeah, you might not be able to do what I do with the whole parkouring thing, but there's still cool stuff you can do." The peer at the green leaf, sniffing at it in surprise, "I mean, parkour stuff, but the stuff like that you can do is actually a lot cooler than... well, the powers of biting people and balancing on branches." "I mean, the internet and cats, you could probably be a really popular YouTube or Instagram celebritiy," Liv says with a grin. "Everyone loves cats, right?" Liv glances towards the leaf, tilting her head slightly as she takes it into consideration. "I guess. I still don't know what to do with it. I mean, I could probably become a florist or something, spruce up bouquets." She glances towards Marinov and grins again. "You could be a bodyguard or bouncer. No one would mess with you. Maybe a cop?" "Oh, yeah, I guess I could probably try that," says Marinov, with a dry laugh, "I'd be able to find out if the internet likes cats more than it hates mutants, at least, but I'm guessing that giant scary cat-faced people aren't quite enough for them to get on board with the X-gene. If it were up to me, I'd be working in fashion or design, though, that's sorta my dream. I imagine I'd be fine at those other things, even though my gut told me to say 'fuck the police' when you suggested it. What's something that you'd like to do? Just like... that you like, yeah?" Liv looks over Taylor a moment before nodding. "I could see that. I mean...I haven't seen a lot of you things but you always look great. And that would be fun. I mean, I've always liked clothes, too. Maybe I could be a stylist. Ooh, or bridal consultant! I have been watching so many wedding reality shows lately. I dunno. There's a lot of things I like. I really like chemistry." She glances down towards the leaf she helped grow. "I kinda don't want to do anything with plants. It's like...you know how chefs cook all day so when they come home, they just eat cereal? My abilities are fun but they're already so much of my life, do I really want to make a career out of them?" "Chemistry? Me too, actually, that's my best class! I've always been sorta interested in just like... I dunno, it's crazy how elements come together to make things, really interesting," says Marinov, nodding along. "And yeah, I sew most of my own clothes, 'cause of the weird body shape, so... thanks for saying that you like my clothes, it's a big compliment to me!" Their ears perk slightly and they continue, "I guess if you wanted to cook, though, you have the advantage of always having the freshest plant stuff at your fingertips. But I get what you're saying. If I were into biting people as a hobby, would I really want to turn it into a job? Not really!" "Yeah! And how one thing reacts with one thing but not another and they break up and create something new," Liv rambles excitely before catching herself. "I don't know about being a cook. I mean, I've never made anything more complicated than toast. But ya never know." She can't help but chuckle a bit at Taylor's comment. "It's a good thing you aren't into biting people. But does that mean you could make it a career then?" "Haha, yeah, I'm actually not much of a cook either... and now, my diet is pretty simple, pretty much opposite of what it used to be, but I used to be all about those fresh veggies," says Marinov, patting their stomach idly. "But... yeah, you're right, I guess I could make it as a part of a career. I guess I could just include it in cop or bouncer. I'm sure that the police wouldn't mind having a bitey officer on the force. It'd be very progressive." "Well, if you're ever hungry for fresh veggies again," Liv says with a quick grin. "That would be pretty awesome. And foot chases? They wouldn't stand a chance." Liv glances up towards the sky, much darker than when they began talking. "Oh wow, is it this late already? I should probably head back." "Oh, well, I can't eat vegetables anymore," says Marinov, flatly, "My stomach just... converts vegetables into throw-up I guess. I'm not a fan..." They look around and say, "Ahh, yeah, and nightvision, sorry I kept you out so late. If it's too dark for your eyes, I can head on back with you, but otherwise I might do a bit more climbing." "Oh. That...sounds kinda depressing actually. But just a perk of being special I guess." She glances towards the sky again as if considering the offer, but shakes her head. "Thanks, but I think I can manage. There's enough light," Liv says before giving a quick wave to Marinov. "I'll see you around classes!" She gives him one last, final smile before turning and heading back towards the mansion.