ArchivedLogs:Pretending

Pretending
Dramatis Personae Kai, Sebastian, Shane
In Absentia	2013-06-21 '
Location <XS> Rec Room - FL2
School this may be, but life for Xavier's students certainly isn't all studying. Outside classes, this is a popular spot to find students in their downtime. An enormous tribute to slacking off, this room is a wealth of fun and relaxation. Comfortable armchairs, couches, and beanbags offer plentiful seating scattered throughout the room, and the cushioned windowseats by the high windows offer a cozy nook to curl up and look out on the grounds. The room is often filled with the noises of gaming -- whether it comes from the big-screen television (tall racks of DVDs beside it, if nothing can be found on the multitude of cable channels), tricked out with consoles from retro to the latest releases, or the less electronic clatter and thump of the pool table, air hockey, or foosball. For those a little more subdued in their gaming, the cabinets hold stacks and stacks of board and card games, ranging as classic as chess and go to as esoteric as Dixit, Catan, and Gloom. The first day of summer classes has finished, and the fortuitously placed weekend has begun. Most of the older students have opted to take in the carnival, and many of the younger are involved in some nighttime hide-and-seek game (no predators or telepaths allowed), which leaves the rec room remarkably empty. The big television is on, The Princess Bride offering entertainment to whoever might wander in to watch. On the screen, Westley and Buttercup are picking their way through the Fire Swamp, something that does not hold Kai's interest. Changed out of his school togs and into cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt, the Korean boy is sprawled on his stomach on one of the sofas with his sketchpad in front of him. He's intent on what he's drawing, a number of colored pencils clutched in one fist as another, green pencil, scrubs its way across the paper and adds color to the field that serves as backdrop to...a dragon's birthday party. Complete with a cake. The soft noise that underlines the dialogue on the screen? It's Kai. Humming. Happily. The twins are probably not here to take in the movie; they come in arguing, albeit in quiet voices. Nearly identically dressed at the moment in cargo shorts (one pair khaki, one pair black) and ribbed sleeveless shirts (one black, one white) there is not a /whole/ lot to distinguish them past dialogue -- though unhelpful dialogue for those who do not speak Vietnamese. "{-- /not/ staying here the fucking weekend, /I'll/ eat someone.}" grumbles Shane. And Bastian, "{I'm not /saying/ the weekend I'm saying just till the /morning/ -- he could use some --}" "{-- /babysitting/,}" Shane interjects, "{he's still got Spence.}" "{Liam's got Spence. We can go to the lake, I really want to finish this --}" "{-- this every fucking person staring at us like we're about to eat them? /Yeah/, I want to finish that, too. -- Ugh, are you /sure/ you left --}" "{It was right here.}" Sebastian rubs at his cheek with the heel of a palm, gesturing to a small table by Kai's sofa that is very notably empty. His eyes cut around the room, too, but don't actually find what he was looking for. "Hrgh," is a disgruntled sound that transcends languages. "Yo. Kid." Shane jerks his chin upwards to Kai. "You seen a notebook here?" The strange language catches Kai's ear, soft though it might be, and he pauses in his drawing to twist his head around and observe the twins in their approach. He doesn't seem overly concerned with their immediate presence, other than to knit his brows slightly. "Hello Sebastian. Hello, Shane," he says when they get close enough, and his gaze follows the gesture towards the table even as Shane is posing the question. "Oh, yes," he says, bobbling his head. "That small girl who picks things up with her mind? She put it over on the bookshelf." He points helpfully, then tilts his head. "What language was that you were speaking?" "Thanks!" Bastian says with a quick smile, slipping over to the shelf to peer at it before nabbing a purple spiral-bound notebook off of it. Its cover is decorated in a multiude of metallic paintmarkers, in vivid geometric designs that -- at the moment have been scribbled over with black Sharpie instead. Sebastian's smile fades as he opens the book, lips compressing. "Quenya," Shane answers Kai, drifting over to nock himself by Bastian's elbow. Peeer -- frown. He snatches the book from his brother, folding it open to blank pages instead. Bastian does not protest the stealing. "{... maybe we should go home tonight,}" he agrees with Shane. In Vietnamese. Not /Quenya/. "You been here long?" Shane asks liiiightly, gesturing one hand around the room. Ambling closer to the couch to shamelessly peer at Kai's drawing. "Quenya," Kai repeats, rolling the word around on his tongue experimentally. "Quenya. I do not know that language. What country is it from?" Sebastian's success at finding the errant notebook gets a flash of a smile. Then the younger boy is pulling himself up into a kneeling position on the couch, making viewing the pad that much easier. The picture on the paper is a dragon's outdoor birthday party, with a number of non-human attendees sketched in and clearly awaiting finishing -- a bee, a spider, a duck with a crown, and the beginnings of a pair of identical creatures sketched out in blue -- just blobby outlines at the moment. For the question, Kai has a shrug. "I have been here for about an hour," he says, looking at the clock. "I had to feed Ivan's bugs, first." The pencil gets another twiddle. "How was your first day back at school?" "Eldamar," Sebastian answers in a quiet distracted voice, and then: "-- you don't speak /Quenya/." "I'd /like/ to," Shane answers a little huffily, "/Flicker/ speaks Quenya. -- You see anyone else touch that 'cept Marijke?" "First day was --" Sebastian's gills flutter. He shrugs, glancing away to the bookshelf. "/Delightful/," Shane says with a sudden fierce smile. "Is it your birthday?" Sebastian asks. "Eldamar." Kai is a skinny little parrot, echoing the names of things as he commits them to memory. "I do not know that country. Perhaps I will learn about it in my class on geo...gra...phy," he says optimistically, stumbling on the still-unfamiliar word. "Have you been there? Is it pretty?" He shakes his head at the question. "No. It was on the table when I came in, and then she moved it. I do not even think she looked to see whose it was." He shrugs, and furrows his brow at the response to his own question. "The way you say delightful does not sound delightful," he notes slowly. "Does this mean it was not good for you?" Sebastian's question gets a small blush, and Kai shakes his head. "I do not know when my birthday is," he says. "Ducky asked me about it at lunch, and we spoke of birthday parties. Which made me start thinking of what sort of a party I would like for my first one, when I know it. If I am allowed." "We're not from Eldamar," Sebastian says this with a small tightening of his jaw, his arms crossing against his chest. He moves over to the bookshelf, teeth sinking against his lower lip as he frounds at it. "It's not even a real place." "I think it's pretty, though." Shane rocks back on a heel, but otherwise stays where he is, notebook hugged against his chest. "Why wouldn't you be allowed, people throw parties here all the fucking time." "Ask Ines, she'll probably organize one /for/ you. She likes any excuse to have a party." Sebastian is still looking over the books. "We /could/ go to Eldamar," Shane decides, fierce smile fading into something more wistful. "It is not a real place?" Kai tilts his head at that bit of information, and he rubs at his chin. "Oh! You mean it is a place like Narnia, or Ponyville," he says, bobbing his head. "A place in books." He considers this. "It has its own language? And it is called Quenya?" Now supplied with the facts, he nods, and sinks back into the couch. "That is very interesting." The question about a potential party gets a shy sort of shrug. "I do not know much about giving them," he admits. "I would not want to do something I should not. But you say a true thing. The Professor would probably not object." He stretches his legs, wiggling his toes as he scrutinizes them. Shane's wistful statement gets a sharp tilt of the younger boy's head, and he narrows his eyes inquisitively. "How can you go to a place that is not real?" "It's got a lot of languages," Shane answers, "One of them is Quenya." Sebastian finally pounces, tugging a copy of /The Fellowship of the Ring/ off the shelf. He sets it down on the arm of Kai's couch. "This world," he says. "The elves in it speak Quenya. Well -- some of them. Well --" His nose wrinkles. "-- if you like it there's a lot more that go into way more detail." "In the Holodeck." Shane looks back down at the book. His jaw tightens. "-- S'probably /actually/ why they don't let us go in the DR alone. I'd never leave." Kai takes the book when it's deposited, handling it carefully as he examines the spine and then opens it. "'The Fellowship of the Rings' -- this is a book that is like the movie? With Gollum and Frodo?" He smiles a bit. "I have seen that movie. It is very good. I will look forward to reading this." There's a bright smile for Sebastian, and a nod. "Thank you. I like to learn about new books." THe book is carefully set aside so that Kai can PEER at Shane. "What is a holodeck?" he wonders. "And what is a DR?" His eyebrows hitch. "Oh, wait, I know! 'D-R' means doctor!" This is a bright revelation, but the context makes him frown. "They won't let you go in to see Doctor McCoy by yourself?" "DR. Danger Room. It's not actually dangerous. I guess it's just a nickname." Sebastian shrugs his shoulders, slipping back to his brother's side. He sets himself just behind Shane's elbow, chin resting on his brother's shoulder and gills slowly flickering. "A holodeck is some Star Trek shit." Shane is unhelpful in answer. He lifs a hand, pressing it to the side of Bastian's neck but then just curling it around behind his head. "Why would I want to see Dr. McCoy, fuck doctors." "Danger Room." This doesn't seem to be of much help to Kai in understanding what it is, exactly. Neither does Shane's answer, and the younger boy sinks back with a thoughtful expression. "What sort of room is it, if it is not dangerous?" This is almost a zen question, apparently, as Kai reflects on it for a long moment. Shane's statement about doctors gets a slow nod. "I do not like doctors much, either," he agrees. "But Doctor McCoy is all right. He is very nice." He waves a hand over his shoulder. "Other doctors, though...." he makes a dismissive noise. A rude one. Seriously. "A room for pretending." Sebastian says this quiet and a little heavy. His eyes close, gills quieting at Shane's touch. "Like I said. Who'd fucking leave?" Shane straightens abruptly, one arm still curled tight around Sebastian's notebook. There are noises -- footsteps passing in the hall, a head peeking into the room and then just as quickly leaving. Shane's fingers squeeze down against Bastian's neck and then he straightens. "C'mon," he says, "we've gotta get if we want the train home." Bastian just nods, a little tired. "Dr. McCoy's alright," he agrees. "-- we gotta go. Have a good weekend, Kai." Kai nods. "A room without danger /does/ sound nice," he says, offering a small smile. He glances at the head peeking in, then back at the twins. "Be safe, traveling home," he says earnestly. "I hope you have a good weekend, too." He sits there, watching, as the twins leave, twiddling his pencil thoughtfully for a long time after they've gone. Then, with a surprised-sounding "Huh," he's back to his drawing. Slowly giving the blue blobs solid forms. Sharky ones.