Logs:Family Proclamations

Family Proclamations
Dramatis Personae Bryce, Dallen, DJ, Hive, Polaris
In Absentia	2024-04-08 "I met a boy he's amazing and I like him."
Location <XAV> Phoenix Room - Xs Third Floor
The guest rooms at Xavier's are spacious and comfortable, well-furnished suites readied for visitors. This one is among the smallest of the available suites, consisting of a small sitting room, a bedroom with queen-sized bed, and a large bathroom. The windows look out over the side yard, with its playground and playing fields. The decor in here heavily favours rich reds and dark woods, and the artwork that graces the wall leans fiery in theme. There is a fireplace, here, stocked with wood in the niche beside it; on the mantlepiece above it, small glassworked figurines of birds in reds and oranges and yellow look half on fire themselves, when they catch the light. Family Home Evenings here aren't exactly like what the Smallreds were used to at home, and Hive is almost exactly nothing like their mother, but they have adapted with earnest enthusiasm to helping him set up. They've got the routine down by now and need no prompting or directing, in fact they seem to be doing more each week, if only by small increments. The entertainment of the evening is in the process of assembly, the colorful box for Evolution opened and its fiddly contents sorted out into piles while Dallen pores over the instruction booklet. His hair has grown out to a slightly awkward length, and he's wearing a yellow button-down that really does not suit his complexion and crisp dark blue jeans. He reads each paragraph several times, connecting each instruction with the relevant game components and rearranging them in his mind into what he finds a more intuitive shape. That shape in fact resembles how the game is actually played, if the pieces were playing themselves, pulsing with more colors than most people can see and humming their own distinctive tunes, and the species boards were little animated creatures with the traits that had been played on them. "I like the ones like this," he declares without looking up from the manual. Bryce has, meanwhile, just recently come trotting back up from the kitchen with a tray laden for dinner -- a tangy stir fry, coconutty rice, spicy-sweet chicken wings. He's laid these out neatly on a sideboard beside the lemonade and water that was already up there, and drops down to sit beside Dallen, peering over his sibling's shoulder at the instructions. His own green shirt makes a bright cheerful contrast with his brilliant red-and-purple plumage; his arms and face are otherwise covered with an extraordinarily downy-soft layer of fur. "Woah, that's wild --" He's picking up one of the cards, peering at the strange multicolored horned lizard on it and trying hard to will similar horns onto his head (unsurprisingly, this does not work.) "-- these are like, me-animals." He's kind of wondering if The Adults chose the game on purpose for this reason, kind of tickled by the idea. Hive is just emerging from the bathroom, still rubbing some post-washing lotion into his hands. He trudges the short distance to a seat at the table, dropping into it as heavily as if he's just walked ten miles and not ten yards. His "thanks" is gruff, head drooping forward to rest his cheek against his knuckles. He's less colorful than both the boys, jeans and a black tee with the cursive script 'ceci n'est pas une lune' beneath an image of the Death Star. "Shit, no wonder you and Jax get along." This isn't actually a grumble, his voice just Sounds Like That. He's scrunching one eye up as he shoots a glance over at the kids. "Could take you to the zoo some weekend. Find you some wild horns. If that's what kids are into these days." "Wait what are the kids into these days?" Polaris is just stepping inside. "I heard the '90s are back. Yes, dinosaurs still roamed the earth then," she pre-emptively clarifies for the Zoomers. << (or whatever the frak their generation is called these days) >> "Oh hey, speaking of dinosaurs!" She's looking at the game, then at Dallen's setup. "You all played this before?" Veering aside, she goes to pour herself a lemonade with a wordless mental press at Hive to see if he wants something to drink and an also wordless lift of eyebrows over her shoulder at DJ for the same. "-- wait, you guys don't have dinosaurs here, still?" It's DJ who is looking puzzled at this clarification as he enters in Polaris's wake. "Do I want to know what you did with them?" He's idly trying to pick through what scattered and arbitrary media he knows from this world to see if something might hold a clue but after a lightning-flash riffle through the movies he's been shown realizes he does not have even an inkling how to place any of them in this universe's chronology. He takes off his shoes and makes a lazy half-circuit of the room, nodding to Polaris's silent query. The box of pastries they've brought over from Evolve blip themselves into place beside the food. He's heading for Hive after this, one hand dropping to give a gentle squeeze to the other man's shoulder as he leans down for a gentle kiss. It's soft and chaste though there's an exhausted weight behind it (somewhere in the restless background buzz of his mind, flitting memories of the day are clarifying that this is nothing any more alarming than a particularly trying work day) that has to determinedly resist the urge to melt in further. He settles for a small touch of his forehead to his partner's and by the time he straightens, the smile he's giving the Smallreds is warm. "Oh, you all picked a good one. How was your day?" “Bryce wants horns but can't get them from the card so Hive's going to take us to the zoo," Dallen supplies, then instantly second-guesses his summary. It comes in brief snapshots of the difficulty the man has getting around the the school, projected onto to his limited experience of zoos. He's also trying to remember other times he's heard of "what the kids are into these days" -- difficult to isolate because he's heard it so often, but he thinks it's usually sarcastic? Outwardly he just frowns down at the tiny wooden blocks he's arranging and re-arranging, and it would be easy to think he's no longer listening until he looks up startled. "We still have birds," he says in a tone of reassurance despite the anxiety that he's being disrespectful to DJ, who obviously knows about birds. "All other dinosaur clades --" This sentence and the nature program he lifted it from both fall away when DJ kisses Hive. He reflexly compares the countless times he's seen his parents kiss each other with the forehead and cheek kisses they give him and his siblings. He's only just started scrambling for appropriate and respectful words to put to the half-formed questions blooming like strange flowers in his mind when the press of the two men's foreheads blast all of that away again. Something tightens behind his sternum, which should maybe alarm him but all he can think of is Quentin cupping the tiny glowing figure in his image, and the words pour from him with such unthinkable ease he doesn't have time to stop himself: "I met a boy he's amazing and I like him." "Oh they probably got wiped out by a big asteroid," Bryce is supplying quite gleefully as Dallen attempts to reassure DJ; in his mind the Dinosaur Cataclysm is rendered in gloriously explosive detail, "the size of a whole mountain with like, thousand foot high tsunamis -- probably the ones that didn't get incinerated instantly starved to death in the, like, basically nuclear winter that came after. But that was long before the 90s, did your dinosaurs --" There's not even a thought in his mind now that DJ has not personally met dinosaurs, and together with the image of his Angelic Big Brother riding on a Triceratops he's starting to form an eager question about the state of Rift Dinos. The question is knocked out of his head when DJ kisses Hive, though. His eyes dart swift and wide to Dallen; there's some mingled relief and delight there already forming before his brother has reacted. But then Dallen is speaking and all he says, bouncing slightly with excitement, is: "'What'!" Hive curls his arm around DJ, indulging that instinct to lean in with a brief and supportive squeeze. When his arm drops there's still contact that lingers, a heavy squeeze of mind against mind that curls roots down in silent request. Through the contact there's a sharp prickle of amused disbelief, and his sledgehammer of a voice thuds into Polaris and DJ's minds: << What in the fuck did they think I was doing here. Maybe Dallen just thinks collecting Asians is normal. >> He's grinding his knuckles against his eye, beckoning gratefully to Polaris for Lemonade. Despite his admittedly paltry efforts, a groan escapes him, but he keeps his mildly exasperated << Oh, that boy >> to his partners as well. There's a grateful shift in DJ's mind, yielding to those questing roots with a sense of relief. His thoughts are darting rapidly between dinosaurs -- both modern and prehistoric -- and whether Hive will need help navigating the zoo (there's a background grousing, not for the first time, that he really should just get over his pride and get a wheelchair) -- and whether the weight of horns would lead to extra headache or spinal problems. He's on the verge of asking what type of horns but instead -- just drops his hand back to Hive's shoulder for a steadying squeeze. << Oh, probably you're just here so I can convert you, >> he offers to his partners, light and amused. It's an effort to school the amusement out of his face, but he manages it well enough. "Oh! That's big news, Dallen." In his head a mess of factors centered on queerness and the Church and the family that is not-really-his (and the not-really-him they kicked out, and Dallen's life in Flicker's long and never-spoken-of shadow) are resolving into a confident: "I think that's worth lifting up in our starting prayer, don't you?" "Whoa, congrats!" Polaris's excitement for Dallen is sincere, but she's not surprised despite their relatively brief acquaintance. << Heteronormativity is a heck of a drug. I think you should give him points for not rationalizing the kiss as some kind of exotic show of manly platonic affection. >> She pours one glass of lemonade, then another, then another. As she picks up the first two, a long woven-wire bracelet unwinds itself and snakes over her hand to take one glass from her so she can pick up the third. She hardly even thinks about metalbending logistics as she delivers the beverages to her partners, the entire process second-nature now where it would have taken care and concentration only a few months earlier. << Is the "that" because the Amazing Boy is straight, or because he's not going to appreciate how lucky he is? >> At DJ's invitation to prayer she stills and looks up at him, brimming with wonder and affection even before she consciously recalls her own coming-out to the Danes. There's simply no comparison here with their awkward attempts to hide their own discomfort behind God and ultimate decision to ignore what they hoped was just a phase. "Our Heavenly Parents know what's in your heart, but I'm sure They would love to hear it from you anyway." She bumps her shoulder gently against DJ's. << You're amazing and I like you. >> Dallen has only now started turning red, though he hasn't decided yet whether he regrets blurting out what he blurted out. Maybe it was premature? The instant he saw DJ press his head to Hive's he knew that was what he wanted to do with Quentin. He wanted to do a lot of things with Quentin, but he hadn't imagined that one, and some part of him knew the picture was missing. Now he's imagining it, though the picture is hazy. And thrilling. And terrifying. He's still staring at the two men, at the arm Hive curls around DJ, more and more certain he's right, less and less certain that being right in this case is a good thing. He's slow to process what the adults are saying to him -- it's harder than usual because the world is getting too loud and too bright the way it does when it's about to swallow him up. But Bryce's reaction cuts through the arcane shapes and textures of language instantly. His brother thinks it's okay, and that's enough to keep the world where it's supposed to be and keep him from tipping over into it. Though that doesn't actually stop everything being too loud and too bright, so it's another moment before he answers, still blushing. "His name is Quentin. I'm not good at praying." But he's folding his arms and bowing his head anyway. "Heavenly Father, thank You for blessing us with family, the ones who are here right now and the ones who aren't. I just found out that I like a boy and also how Hive is my family. I think. But I still have a lot of questions, so please be patient with me and help me use my words better." DJ's borrowed memories of The Boy In Question are coming up with just a question mark as to his potential heterosexuality, but an overall impression of cocksure arrogance that gives him a bit of worry with Dallen and his self-effacement. << They're kids, >> comes his reply, neither dismissive nor overly worried, << if this boy doesn't appreciate it, there'll be other crushes. >> The unwinding and winding of the bracelet stirs a twinge in DJ, deep and aching but brief. << only as amazing as the family around me. >> He's plucking his lemonade for a sip and then setting it aside to move closer to the boys. His arms fold across his chest, his head bowing, and when he joins in it's with: "Heavenly father, thank you for blessing Dallen with this understanding of his feelings. And thank you for his loving brother Bryce and the joy that he's expressed tonight. And for the trust you've blessed our family with, that we know we can talk to each other in love and support about who we are and how we're feeling. And for the gift of love and first crushes all because I know you put us on this earth to be happy, and the joy of companionship can be a sacred part of that." Polaris gives a soft smile that doesn't necessarily belong to any specific part of the thoughts flowing between and in and around the gathering, but she does add, << yeah, I guess we're pretty amazing, too. >> She folds her arms, too, and closes her eyes, though she does not bow so very far. "Heavenly Parents, thank you for blessing our family and community with these rad young men. Thank you for reminding us that we can always learn new things about ourselves and those around us, and those things can be wonderful. May we all grow in love and courage and imagination for all the wonders yet to come." Bryce has, meanwhile, been keeping a thousand and one questions to himself though there are many more things he wants to ask Dallen. He promptly foists at least some of this off on God: "-- oh and please bless that later Dallen is going to tell me all about this. And thank you for sending DJ to this earth so he could be a model for us and so many people. And thank you for sending him Hive because he cooks way better than DJ no offense. All this we humbly pray in Jesus name amen." This last sentence somewhat spills together in his rush to get it out -- kind of because he's real hungry, kind of because he wants to pester Dallen for more details. But when he unfolds his arms and opens his eyes, the very first thought that comes out when he's looking at DJ again is: "-- oh wow you know it's so funny because before just now I totally thought you were dating Polaris." Still at the table, Hive has been politely quiet through the prayer. Out loud, yes, but in the brain as well, where his current practice of mindfulness is attending to each of the others in turn, letting each of their prayers and desires roll into and out of him with each breath. When they conclude he's just lifting his lemonade for another sip, and the clap of his hand to his mouth does not entirely stop the spittake that follows. "Wow funny c'mon leeeet's not let dinner get cold."