ArchivedLogs:Casting Stones

Casting Stones
Dramatis Personae Harmony, Marcus, Mina
In Absentia	2017-09-11 "I don't think I'd go to work if I was dying."
Location <XS> Lake
Bright, bright, bright; the lake glitters wide and expansive here, stretching off into the distance. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, it catches them all. Lapping at the rocky shore, its deep waters are frigid in winter and cool even in summer. A stone pier stretches out a ways into the water, wide and smooth, though often icy in winter. The water teems with life nevertheless, home to myriad species of fish that provide for ample fishing or just lazy watching on a slow summer day, for those who want to take a boat from the boathouse out to the center of the lake, or perhaps lounge on the pier and try their luck. Classes have finished for the day, and it's still gloriously warm and sunny out of doors. Elsewhere Around the grounds there are a few sports practices underway; the fields are loud and boisterous. Down here it's not /quiet/, either. The slap of water on stone, some waterfowl noisily squabbling in the rushes. The plucking of a ukulele, cheerful but not skillful, on the pier. Mina sits on the edge of the stone pier, bare feet dangled into the water and instrument in her hands. She's in a strappy sundress in ombre blue, a huge hibiscus flower pin tucked into her dark hair. Her backpack and sandals sit on the stone nearby. Harmony is walking along the shore barefoot in muted green capris and not-at-all muted rainbow knit tank top, a patchwork backpack hanging from one shoulder and, a pair rope sandals clipped to their belt. Every few steps, they stoop to pick up a stone. Most they drop again, some they skip on the water (or /try/ to, at least), but the latest one they turn over and over before finally slipping it into a pocket. Spotting Mina they wave, the motion small as if they are unsure if they really want to attract /too/ much attention. Still, they pad up to the base of the pier. "Hey, what's up?" Marcus isn't adding much to the noise out here. Skirting his way around the lakeside, he's occasionally stopping, stooping, to pick up something(s) off the ground before continuing on (giving the quarreling birds a /wide/ berth.) For all his somewhat eerie uncanny-valley features he's dressed aggressively boring: blue Levis, a black tee with white collar and cuffs and white stripe across the chest, black and white sneakers. He reaches the pier a bit after Harmony. Tips his head up to peer at Mina a moment before presenting (both oddly elongated hands out, with kind of a proud flourish) a cupped handful of flat wide roundish stones to Harmony with a smile. "Oh hey!" On a chord more jangly than the rest, Mina bounces, smiles, splashes toes lightly through the water. She rests her fingers across the strings, looking down off the edge of the pier. "It's Harmony, right? Did you survive all the orienting? Are any of your teachers /heinous/? Do you have chill roommates? Have you figured out all the seven hundred clubs yet? I swear I'm just going to move out here, it's the only place that makes --" She breaks off with a slight widening of her eyes, blinking down at Marcus. "... sense! HiI'mMinaWeHaven'tMet?" Harmony blinks a few times at the onslaught of questions, but doesn't seem particularly put off by them even if they can't get an answer in edgewise. They wave at Marcus too, as he comes up to join them, eyes lingering on his face, and then his hands. "Oh!" Their eyes widen suddenly, and so does their smile, briefly showing teeth. "For skipping? Thank yooooh no I'm sor --" They manage to clap a hand over their mouth before the /second/ forbidden word comes out, eyes even bigger now, cheeks flushing pink. With an embarrassed duck of their head, they pick a few stones out of Marcus's outstretched hands and steps up on the pier, waving him along. "I'm Harm..." They draw the "m" slightly. "...and I've totally forgotten what you asked me. It's been /kind/ of a week!" Though from their tone, it does not seem as if they mean this in a negative way. They heft one of the stones, line up their shot, and…throw it right into the water. Sploosh! "Wow, I am /not/ good at this." Marcus shakes his head to the question of meeting Mina. Carefully depositing his stones on the pier, he pulls himself up afterwards, clambering kind of ungainly up alongside the others. "Marcus," he offers, after a moment. His smile at Harmony's splooshing stone isn't mocking. He picks up one stone from the pile, tucking it between forefinger and thumb. His wrist swings back and forth a couple times -- slow and demonstrative, stone held more or less parallel to the water before he flicks it. It skips four solid bounces over the water before sinking. "Oh! I guess I asked if you're settling in okay. Okay teachers, okay roommates, haven't gotten lost on the way to class too many times. I /totally/ went to French by accident instead of Chinese. I kind of wish I'd signed up for that instead, the French teacher seems like a total goof. Although I heard," her voice drops into a conspiratorial whisper and she leans slightly toward the others, "that he's kind of /dying/." Her eyes have gotten big at this. "I don't think I'd go to work if I was dying. Oh wow!" Just like that, shock over! She's on her feet, delighted. "You're good at that! OK show me the trick again?" "Oh, I'm...yeah, I like it better now that there's more people on campus." Harmony runs the ball of their thumb over the smooth surface of the stone in their hand. "I feel kind of in too deep with the actual classwork already, but maybe I'll get used to it." They watch Marcus's skip carefully, shifting their grip on the next stone to match his. They are sort of working through the motion of the wrist flick when they come up short, looking sideways at Mina. "Dying? Is he really old or something?" Marcus picks up another stone, carefully holding it. He's starting to demonstrate the correct motion to Mina again when his hand drops. His brows crease, a slight sag to his shoulders. Shaking his head, he's quiet when he replies: "Cancer." And a moment later, a little more defensively: "Mr. Tessier is not an -- old." Here, now, the clearer notes of a francophone accent can be heard. "Are you serious, that /sucks/. And no! He's totally young! He'd probably be a hottie if it weren't for the --" Mina flutters a hand toward her -- face? Evidently where the CANCER is stored. "Anyway I feel you on the schoolwork, I already feel like Chinese is going to kick my ass and I only even made it to one class." With an exaggerated sigh, Mina flumps down on the dock. Only to get right back up again and snag a rock, watching Marcus closely. "Are you two going to be trying out for anything? Like a team?" The color drains from Harmony's face. "Cancer," they say, frowning. "I hope he gets better." They've gone back to rubbing their thumb on the rock. Then they blink as if just remembering something. "Oh, right, I meant to say... Well, you could probably /switch/ to French, since class has barely started and they're at the same time? But if you want to try sticking with Chinese, I could help you. I'm not a great student but I grew up speaking Mandarin." They shrug. "I'm going to check out the nature club when it meets, but also I want to start a knitting circle. Or maybe just a /crafting/ circle, if there aren't enough people who knit? People who are really into crocheting also get mad sometimes when it gets lumped with knitting." They tilt their head at Mina. "What about you?" "His cancer is over." Marcus says this with a determined fierceness. He watches Harmony for a moment, thoughtful, but then goes back to hefting his rock, careful and demonstrative once more. Brighter: "I do chess. Team." Still holding the rock, he now mimes picking it up and placing it back down. Neatly. On a /board/, one must presume. His brows crease again after this, and he looks back over his shoulder in the distant direction of the sports fields. "Oh. Did you mean a..." His long fingers flutter toward the sportsballs as he shakes his head in negation. His eyes skim back to Harmony after this. "You grew up -- somewhere else?" Almost hopefully. "Oh. That's good. That's good, right?" Mina nods to herself, taking a rock to copy Marcus's motions -- maybe a little more enthusiastically. "There's a chess /team/?" A dubious frown, though she's curious when she asks: "Are you /good/?" She tries the flick -- her rock drops down into the water with a small splish. Undaunted, she picks up another. "A crafting circle sounds /awesome/. Wait, do you have to /be/ crafty? Like, already?" She follows Marcus's glance back toward the sports fields. "If chess is a team then I could totally mean chess! I guess I didn't know -- there's so much to do here. I was /thinking/ of trying out for soccer but --" For a moment her smile collapses into a grimace. Quickly enough it slips on into a perkier, "Maybe volleyball instead!" "That's good!" Harmony, at least, sounds sure of this. "I play chess, but I'm sure I wouldn't be able to make a chess /team./ Do you have to try out?" They raise their eyebrows high, skeptical. Studies Mina thoughtfully for a moment. "Oh no, you don't have to know how to craft! I can teach people how to knit and spin, at least." To Marcus she nods. "California. I lived in this...hippie witchy commune, I guess. It's pretty different! But that's not why I speak Mandarin -- I spoke it with my parents, and some people in my dad's family didn't speak much English." Marcus nods firmly. "Good." Whether this is affirmation of the goodness of No More Cancer or his own goodness at chess is left to the others to speculate. "No tryouts. Just playing chess." He pokes the tip of his tongue up under his upper lip, studying Mina, too. "Why not soccer?" With a small quirk of smile: "Are you /good/?" His brows furrow as he spins slightly on a heel. Looks at Harmony in some puzzlement. "Hippie witchy commune? You do... magic?" "You probably have to be really smart to be on the chess team, huh? I don't think I could do it." Mina shakes her head slightly. "I'd /definitely/ appreciate study help, though. My parents would /kill/ me if I failed anything. Probably not literally that'd be an expensive flight." She doesn't sound /sure/ sure though. Eyes a little wider, brows a little higher, only /slightly/ defensive: "I'm good!" Her nose scrunches up, fingers raking through her hair. "I just, I think my roommate's trying out and I..." A hesitation. "Have you all done this whole boarding school thing before? What do you do if your roommate's just, you know, /bad/? Did you have that kind of problem in your --" A flutter of fingers. "Hippie commune?" "I'm not smart, but if I can't get kicked off the team for sucking, I'll give chess a try." Harmony's smile is small but hopeful. "Magic? Yes...well, I'm not sure I'm very good at /that/, either." They smile wider, but somehow it's not happier looking. "It's just been strange, I guess. I'm used to doing magic /with/ people." They tilt their head at Mina like a dog who's just heard an unusual noise. "I never even went to a real school before this year, and this is my first boarding school, but yeah, I lived with /lots/ of people at home. When I was little I shared one room with my mom's lovers' kids. At one point there were five of us together. We didn't always get along, but like...you know, there were mediators and they would help you talk things out?" They shrug, splaying their hands (skipping stone still palmed in one of them). "Do they have those here? They have /counselors/, maybe they do the same thing?" Marcus just shrugs. Skips another rock across the lake; it bounces far into the water before sinking. "Bad?" His head tilts, too. His hand drops back to his side once more. He looks out over the water before volunteering: "Some people here. Maybe do magic." "I don't know," Mina admits with a soft puff of breath, "I should just suck it up it's not like she's stealing my crap or anything it's just --" Another scrunch of nose. Kind of frustrated: "I thought it would be so great here and then one of my roommates is like a /monster/." After a beat, more thoughtful: "The other one is this huge scorpion girl, I'm still getting used to /that/ too. Anyway if I do /all/ the extracurriculars it's not like I'll be in my room much. Back home I never was anyway!" This seems to perk her back up. "Do you do /real/ magic?" Harmony has finally gone back to lining up their stone and throwing it, imitating Marcus clumsily. This time when they let it fly it skips twice before diving into the water. They gasp with delight and immediately take up another stone, but stops short this time, looking at Marcus. "Really? Is there a...like a student group? Or a coven?" Blushing slightly. "I don't mean to...I'm just not really sure how folks do magic out here in the real world." At Mina's question their shoulders pull in slightly. "I...yes...? Like I said, I'm not very /good./" They turn the stone over and over in their hands, tracing its edges with slender fingertips. "A.../monster/? In what way?" There's a distinct note of alarm in this. "Wait, if your other roommate is Nessie, then do you mean Allison?" Their eyes go wide. "Is there /more than one/ huge scorpion girl here?!" "... maybe." Marcus bites his lip, frowning uncertainly. "Not... sure." His shrug is a little apologetic. But, brighter: "I will ask." His frown returns, dark eyes fixing curiously on Mina. His fingers wiggle at his side, though he stays quiet, just listening for her answer. "Sorry -- I mean," Mina cringes slightly, "Gomen..." Her head shakes. "I don't mean to be a pain I just don't know much about..." Her shoulders slump, a little. "... about /much/, I guess." Her toes curl absently against the stone, leaving small wet splotches behind. "I don't know, /is/ there more than one? Nessie's my roommate. She seems cool. Allison is just --" Her face scrunches up again. "You know, like, I feel like I'm in a movie. She breezes in first day all, 'Wow this is like some kind of reality TV to see if we can /survive/ having /girls/ for /roommates/. Let's hope we /catty drama/ because you know that's how /girls/ do. /Other/ girls of course, like the total bitches at my last school. But not /me/,'" Mina is batting her eyes exaggeratedly, fingertips pressing to her chest, "'/I'm/ not like other girls, I'm one of the cool ones.'" Her eyes roll, both her palms scrubbing at her cheeks. "/That/ kind of monster. I seriously don't know if I'm going to survive." "Oh, thannnn --" Harmony catches the word before it comes all the way out. "I mean xie-xie. Gracias...? I /appreciate/ it, really." They flash a smile at Marcus, very brief. Maybe it's brief on account of Mina's description of her roommate situation, though. "Wow, um, I've never seen any reality TV, but that...doesn't sound very pleasant at all!" They bite their lower lip. "I guess talking to her about it yourself would probably be...I don't know. Inviting catty drama? Oh! Maybe you can ask your advisor? Not necessarily to ask them to step in, but maybe they can suggest someone to mediate? Or tell you how to get a different roommate, if you'd rather do that?" Marcus's face scrunches up as Mina talks, nose wrinkling and forehead creasing and lips pressing together. "Oh." Quietly. "You also seem like. Cool." He shrugs, small, nodding along to Harmony's suggestions. "Advisor can help with a lot." "Mmm," Mina considers this, frowning slightly. "I don't know, I don't want to be like a /snitch/." She sounds very uncertain, though. "Anyway thanks for letting me vent some. I think once it all stops being so overwhelming maybe it'll be fine." She scoops up her sandals and her ukulele both, smiling bright at the others. "And meanwhile I'll learn to get really crafty. Hey I heard there's cupcakes in the rec room, you guys down?" "I don't think it's snitching to ask for help with something difficult..." Harmony also sounds pretty uncertain about this. "But I hope you she can sort it out. Maybe you'll end up friends after all this." They finally line up and throw the rock that's been in their hands: skip, skip, splish. "Yes! Ooh and I want a cupcake." They cast one last look back at the lake before turning to pad after Mina, waving Marcus along. "C'mon." Marcus claps brightly, smile broad and delighted at Harmony's skipping rock. TWO (long and oddly pointy) thumbs up given to the other teen. He watches the others for a moment. Stoops, briefly, to arrange the few rocks left into a neat pyramid on the edge of the pier. Then scampers quickly to catch up with the others, cupcake-bound.