Logs:Roll With It

Roll With It
Dramatis Personae Astrid, Harm, Nanami
In Absentia	2020-10-21 “I think this might warrant a little more in-for-mat-ion.”
Location <XAV> Classroom 1 - Xs First Floor
Desks arranged into neat rows make up this, a fairly typical classroom. Chalkboard in front, teacher's desk in front of that. Windows along one wall look out on the grounds, providing plenty of opportunity for distraction for daydreaming students. As the long class draws to a close in an even longer day, many of the students flee the room eager to take advantage of the cool autumn day outside. Harm is packing their things away a bit more sluggishly, glaring down at their recently returned essay with a red "C-" at the top before they shove it unceremoniously into a folder, surreptitiously peering at other grades on other essays still visible nearby. Pausing mid motion with their colorful composition notebook in hand, they turn half-kneeling in their seat to Nanami. "Did you tell people to meet you somewhere, or is this going to be like a wild quest to gather the troupe?" They give a small, embarrassed twitch of a smile. "...Maybe a bit less wild if you just shoot a text, I guess." Nanami is slower to gather her things, though her own essay and its bright red C has already been shoved unceremoniously inside a notebook. She's leaning down from her seat to haul her black and pink backpack onto the desk to start cramming her things back in it. "I told people, but I think it may still be a quest. Everyone's kind of -- scattered lately. School has been very un-festive with all the..." She trails off, nose crinkling just slightly. "But I am not having my birthday down at a riot. That was very last year." Windows in classrooms are the bane of Astrid’s school career. Far too often she finds herself staring outside thinking of all the things she could be and probably should be doing over sitting inside another stuffy classroom. She slowly turns her attention from the window down to the marked up essay sitting on her desk and lets out a low, elongated sigh. It too has a “C-“ scrawled in red at the top, and without any fanfare, she grabs the paper along with her notebook and pens and forces them down into her solid black backpack. An over exaggerated yawn slips from her lips as she stands up, grabbing her backpack and slipping both arms through the straps. She turns to face the other two lingering students as she overhears talks of some sort of plans. “Oh, is it your birthday today?” She looks at Nanami. “Mine is next week.” She starts scratching at the top of her right hand, trying to squeeze her fingers as far into the cast on her right wrist as possible. Harm slips the notebook and their pencil case both into their much-patched hemp knapsack. "Happy early birthday!" they tell Astrid earnestly. Their eyes drop to the cast on the girl's wrist. Then they look away. "Alright, so we can just roll through the mansion and gather people up like a..." Their mouth pulls aside, "Ok, I have no idea if snowballs work like that in real life. Have you picked a place yet? Far from the...rioting. Wait, did you actually have a riot birthday?" "Woah, sweet. You got any plans? I guess," Nanami considers, looking over at Astrid with an uncertain frown, "you might not have been here long enough to know who to make plans with." Her mouth twitches at Harm's speculation, almost making it into a smile. "I'm not wise in the ways of snowballs. And," she's forced to concede, "it wasn't entirely a riot, but there were lots of riot cops shoving us around like assholes. Worth it, but this year I'm going skating." “Hey, thanks.” Astrid says while momentarily cracking a toothy grin. It does not last very long. “Naw… no plans yet.” She ponders the last thing Nanami says and nods in agreement though says absolutely nothing to indicate what exactly she is nodding along too. “Not entirely a riot?” She questions, looking from Harm to Nanami. “I think this might warrant a little more in-for-mat-ion.” The last word is pronounced slowly, each syllable drawn out one second longer than it should. "I can help with plans, if you want plans," Harm says. "Best coast solidarity and all that. Not that there's anything wrong with being spontaneous!" They brace their hands on the back of their chair. "I haven't gone skating since I was little, but! My body is ready." Their expression turns pensive, their eyes a little wide. "Oh...you had your birthday at Mauna Kea, then?" "I don't know about next week, but you wanna come skating with us?" Nanami looks Astrid over and is quick to clarify after this: "I don't mean -- uh. I mean roller skating. There's a rink in town. It's way retro but it's got a cute vibe. We're gonna do some falling down together. Some of the others, too. Once soccer practice is done." She does stand, now, shoulders rolling in slow stretch. "Yeah. Um," she considers her words as she looks first at Astrid and then down at her backpack, "there was a volcano back home that we were -- defending. People tryna build one big-ass telescope on sacred land. Cops and haoles stayed big mad about the encampment." Astrid nods her head rapidly. “I would love help with some plans. Not even sure what to do around here to be honest.” She scratches at her cast again, this time on the forearm side. “Hate to admit it, but really haven’t ventured much outside the school.” She eyes Nanami, brows slowly rising over the top edge of her thick glasses frame. “You betcha.” Excitement starts to creep into her usual monotone. “Haven’t roller skated in years, so I’m sure I’ll do plenty of fallin’.” She adjusts her glasses with her good hand, watching between Harm and Nanami as the near birthday riot is given some background. “Cops suck.” Probably an understatement coming from a recent Portland transplant. “Haole? I’m sure they suck too.” "Awesome." Harm straightens up and bounces onto their toes. "But today, skating." They eye the cast on Astrid's wrist again. "Does that still hurt, much? Hopefully your skateboard skills help at least a little. Or...maybe it's very different kinds of rolly wheels under your feet." Their eyes skip between the two girls rapidly at Astrid's last statement, and they bite their lower lip hard, ducking their head. "Today skating, next week --" Nanami sweeps an arm out expansively, but then drops it. "I actually don't know what you like besides skating, but we can workshop." Her hand flits to her mouth, fingers briefly stifling her small giggle and her eyes a little wider. "Oh -- oh," she says when she drops her hand, "I mean, yeah, they -- uh. It mostly just means white people." “Yes, today skating.” Astrid nods her head enthusiastically. She turns her head towards Harm. “Definitely different. Skateboarding I am good at. Roller skating? Not so much.” Eyes fall down to her cast as she wiggles her nose in an attempt to keep her glasses from sliding down. “Yeah… but doesn’t hurt too bad. Mostly just itchy as hell.” She looks slightly disappointed as her attention turns to Nanami. “Oh… well… yeah…” Gazing down at her shoes, she pauses while nervously tapping her left foot in rapid succession. Then she looks back up with a huge grin. “Yeah, that still stands. Haoles definitely suck.” "I...might be able to help you with that, too," Harm says hesitantly. "If you're not running off to sports or whatever. Not the roller-skating. The wrist." They finally allow themselves a smile. "Well, you're still way better than cops, of any color." They shrug. "Low bar, I guess. Have fun at soccer," they say to Nanami, "and after we'll meet you...somewhere?" "'Better than cops' is barely a compliment." Nanami seems amused at this, though, a small continued twitch at the side of her mouth. "You're cool, though. Just don't pinch my cheeks or make bad anime jokes and we'll be good." She slings her backpack onto her back, bobbing her head in agreement with Harm as she starts to duck out of the room. "Don't worry, I got a phone and I know how to use it. See ya." Astrid shakes her head. “Nope, don’t have anywhere to be right now.” She looks towards Harm with a hint of curiosity. “Any help would be appreciated.” She can hardly stifle the laugh that comes bursting out after the cop comment. “Hey, not being the bottom of the barrel is better than being the bottom, right?” She looks between the two, a toothy grin cut across her face. “Noted. No cheek pinching or bad anime jokes. Seems simple enough.” Her head nods one last time. “Cool. Text and I’ll be there.”