ArchivedLogs:Under the Influence

Under the Influence
Dramatis Personae Jack, Shane, Autumn, Sugar
In Absentia	2015-08-02 "How much of that have you had?"
Location <XS> Playground
Set on the still-expansive grounds around the side of the school, this area is to the outdoors rather what the rec room is to the indoors. There's a large basketball court out here; a fenced-off tennis court adjacent. Further distant there are setups for other sports -- a large track, a soccer field. Closer in to the school, though, in its own large enclosure adjacent to the basketball and tennis courts, is the playground, a huge expanse of equipment set up on alternating plots of slightly squishy flooring and mulch. Centrally there is a large sprinkler-fountain, not always /on/ but it can be turned on with a push of a button; spreading out around this is the actual playground equipment, sturdy and varied. A huge dome constructed in honeycombed interlocked poles and rope netting rises hiiiigh for climbing; a large swingset holds four pairs of swings. A large roundabout in bright colours stands in one corner near a long see-saw. The huge bridge-and-tunnel castle structure at one end has many routes of entry, from poles to climb up (or slide down) to a small climbing /wall/. Monkeybars. Four different slides of varying lengths and spiraling. For the adventurous, between things to climb on and jump between and bounce across it is probably possible to skirt one end of the playground and back without touching the ground, though it might take a particularly adept feat of balance and agility. Or possibly wings. It's wearing on towards evening at the school now; the sun is setting on what has been a truly gorgeous day and is now a spectacularly pleasant dusk. Fireflies are starting to light up the twilight as the sun sets over the grounds, the air cooling nicely. There are still voices coming from the sports fields where a game of soccer is finishing, distant; it's much quieter on the playground, though. Just a soft tearing rending meat and a soft clicking of teeth against glass. Underneath the netted climbing dome a huge horse-sized metallic blue dragonfly is ripping her way through a pile of raw venison. About halfway up the dome, Shane is perched in cargo pants and a black X-jacket, unzipped over shirtless torso. He's holding a bottle in his hand, and though his webbed fingers obscure the label, close enough proximity could probably identify rum by the /smell/ as he takes a swig. Jack's not trying to sneak right now but he can't really help it sometimes. Especially when he's just a floating pair of jeans and a worn pair of sneakers with a folded up hoodie hovering at about where arm level might be on a person. He's wandering his way into the playground to investigate the strange sounds, just getting back from being out somewhere. He pauses when he spots the big dragonfly though, staring at the sight. "Huh..." he trails off. When he notices Shane too, Jack lifts the hoodie in a sort of wave. "Hey..." Autumn is wandering across the school grounds, wearing an aqua sundress and white sandals, carrying a battered Turn-A Gundam messenger bag. She suddenly veers toward the playground. "Jack!" she calls out, waving. Then suddenly stops short as she catches sight of the dragonfly. Dark brown eyes flick up to Shane, taking in his relaxed posture, then back down to the dragonfly, and finally over to Jack again. "Hi," she says, smiling nervously. "Oh! I'm sorry, it didn't occur to me you might be a /different/ invisible person." Shane's nostrils flare. He sways slightly where he sits on the ropes, takes another swig from his bottle, squints over in Jack's direction. Beneath him, Sugar dips her head protectively over her pile-o'-meat. "Nn-uh," Shane answers Autumn. "We only got -- the one. Invisible. Right now. Used to have -- others. Well. Sometimes my pa's invisible -- and Faelan -- but. Only... sometimes. Does that count? Hmm." Jack twists when he hears his name, surprised when he sees Autumn. Shane speaking up gets Jack chuckling though. "Yeah, I'm the only perma-ghost around," he says. "I didn't know you were going to be here today," he says. "And I think it counts sometimes," he adds for Shane. "Oh, good!" Autumn's relief is visible, though not complete. "But still, I should remember not to just...assume every empty set of clothes is Jack. Matt and Jax brought me here, to see the school. Though I have slipped the leash for a bit." Her eyes stay on the giant dragonfly as she skirts around the edge of the playground toward Jack. "Are you both students here, too?" The question seems to be addressed at Shane and /Sugar/, with a great deal of uncertainty. "Sugar's a shitty fucking student," Shane replies with a rough snort. "Do you know, she doesn't even," he leans down to confide, "fucking -- /go/ here, and goddamn, Professor, shitface, just, tried to give her fucking, detention for, drinking." He sounds a little incredulous. "Dickbags." He takes another gulp of the bottle, then offers it out to the others with a lift of his brows. "Good plan. Wouldn't want to end up talking to an actual pile of empty clothes," Jack teases Autumn a littl. He snickers a bit wehn Autumn seems to ask if Sugar is a student. He looks up at Shane and frowns as he finally gets a good look at that bottle and catches the scent of its contents. "No thanks," he declines the bottle. "How much of that have you had?" "Hey, if the pile of clothes seems animated enough, I'll take the chance." Autumn smiles at Jack. "Anyway, hi," she waves timidly at Sugar. "I'm Autumn." She looks briefly conflicted, but then reaches out to accept the bottle. "I don't go here, either. Think I might get detention for this?" She grins and takes a small sip of the rum, then returns it to Shane, cheeks already flushing a little. "Thanks." "Naaaah." Shane shakes his head. "/You/ won't get detention." He waves a webbed hand dismissively. "They only give you detention if you're a freak." His knuckles scrub against his eyes, then drop down to his lap. "I had," he answers Jack with a briight toothy grin. Then a looong. Long. Long. Pause. "... some." "I hope there aren't many other piles of animated clothes running around," Jack remarks. He watches the bottle get passed, shaking his head invisibly. He lets it go though, watching Sugar for a few moments. "Some, huh?" Jack asks eventually. "Why so much?" "Up until a pretty short while ago, there weren't any animated piles of clothes in my life, so I'm trying to keep an open mind about it." Autumn looks up at Shane quizzically. "I thought this was a...freak school? I get lots of detention at /my/ school, I don't know if I can hope for much of a change in that department even if I do transfer here." "No-no-no, it's a mutant school," Shane corrects with an exaggerated patience in his tone. "Mutant," this explanation comes with a gesture towards Autumn. Followed by a gesture towards himself and Jack: "/Freak/. There's a hierarchy, see. Mutants good. Freaks -- detention." His teeth click at the bottle, though this time he doesn't sip. "My old math teacher just tried to give me goddamn. Fucking. /Detention/." There's a rough bark of laughter in his voice. "I don't. Even. Fucking. /Go here/, shit. Guess it was just habit, you know? Look at Shane, he's fucking -- /bad/." This last sentence is offered down to Jack in the tone of explanation. "Been pissing people off lately. /As/ per usual." Jack lets out a bitter little sigh as Shane explains the hierarchy. He does his best to ignore it during the day and act like better spirits but he gets some ire for being so obvious with his mutation. "You'll be fine," he assures Autumn. "Transferring here will be good," he offers. "Do anything in particular or just in general?" he's curious as he asks Shane this. Autumn chews on her lower lip, frowning. "That...sounds like it really sucks. At least you don't have to /show up/ for the detention now?" She grips her elbows, hugging herself. "I don't know. Hierarchy or no, I'm just not that smart and not that obedient and, I have to think of my brother, too. Sorry, by the way..." She half-bows at Jack "...for not texting you when I got back last week. My head was all over the place. Still kind of is. Thanks for taking care of DD while I was gone." "Nope." Shane pats a hand against one of the X's on his jacket. "This means I don't gotta show the fuck up. You'd /think/ it means they wouldn't even /try/ but --" His fingers brush down the gills at the sides of his neck. His eyes close, and he leans back, head resting against one of the ropes of the dome. "Welllll --" His gills flutter, rapidly. "I had /opinions/. About how this school treats obvious mutants." He offers the bottle back to Autumn. Wagglewagglewaggle. "This," he says seriously, "helps get your head. Back. On." "Hey, problems aside this place is pretty great. I'm sure it'll be good for you and DD if you come here," Jack offers, shifting his hoodie to the other shoulder. This lets the big purple stain on the chest be seen. "It's okay...I've got to teach him how to make an origami dragon though like I promised," he says with a shrug. Shane's explanation gets a wince. "Damn...tried to give detention over that? That sucks..." Autumn doesn't hesitate quite before taking the proffered bottle this time, and the swig she takes is slightly more liberal. "This is so much better than the gao-liang my dad drinks." Handing the bottle back, she gives Jack an apprising look, her eyes swimming a little trying to focus on a face she cannot see. "You really think so? Even though they treat you bad? What happened to your shirt." Then, after a beat. "Wait, you're topless." She covers her mouth, blushing fiercely. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." "Nooooo," Shane says, "detention cuz /rum/. Students aren't allowed to /drink/, see. Being angry at me was," though there's a heavy dose of skepticism in his voice now, "/separate/. Just a /coincidence/. M'a shit-stirrer. Stirring the..." He waggles the bottle at Jack once he takes it back. "Shirt turned purple," he explains to Autumn, as though this is Perfectly Normal. Though a moment later he asks Jack: "Why purple? Blue's way better." He holds up one hand in /demonstration/. See? Better. "I don't have it as bad as other people with the obvious mutations. Easy to just...overlook me, y'know," Jack replies, shrugging. "But I figure there's going to be asshole teachers in every school," he adds. He hums a little at Shane again, debating taking the bottle but eventually deciding against it. "Yeah, some...jerk decided a mutant trying to get on the subway was so bad he had to throw a slurpee or slush puppy or whatever at me. The drink was blue but," he shrugs, holding up the red hoodie. "Had it on me too but I washed off when I got off the train," he explains, not as bothered by it now as he was when it happened. "Most teachers aren't all that, and I've had at least one jerk every term since...pretty much forever." Autumn looks down at her (lightish) blue dress, shrugs. "I like purple, but I just can't see throwing a slurpee on someone on a hot day. Much rather drink that." She looks up at Shane, thoughtful. "Why you here, anyway? Not that you shouldn't be, just...I mean, if you caught so much crap here when you were a student..." "Shiiit." Shane winces, glaring down at the purple stain. "Fuck those assholes, man." There's sympathy in his voice. he offers Jack the bottle again. "Fuck the -- /world/." There's another flutter of gills, a small creak of teeth grinding together. His eyes dip downwards, focusing on Sugar where she has given up on /eating/ her pile of meats and is just -- lying atop it, protectively hovering and keeping a wary eye on Jack and Autumn as though they might steal her mulch-laden hamburger. "Gotta be here," he answers finally. "I mean. Because. It's so fucking shitty. And there's nowhere else. You know? In the whole -- fucking -- country. There's nowhere else. S'a raw fucking deal." "It was a sad waste of a cold treat," Jack agrees. He finally takes the bottle and after making sure there's no teacher about to swoop in and make a fuss, Jack takes a quick swig. "Ahh...okay, so that's what rum tastes like," he murmurs, shaking his head as he offers the bottle back. "Raw deal...not like the place is all bad. There's good things too." "Sure, it's not all bad. It's way swanky, and the library is amazing. But the adults, they made it sound like there was this whole community that was all supportive and all looking out for each other. Freak solidarity." Autumn leans against the nearest vertical structure, a support for one of the monkey bar sets. "This kind of thing happen to you all the time, huh?" she asks Jack, shoulders sagging. Then she glances at Sugar again, her reflection multiplied a thousand times in the dragonfly's compound eyes. "Can she talk? Or...brain talk, or something?" "Tastes like rum." Shane nods firmly. When he takes the bottle back he just sets it between his knees, flopping backwards to drape kind of boneless between the ropes. "Nowhere's all bad. But it's. It's just. The /only/ -- only place, right? And they pretend -- they like to pretend. That it's supportive -- fucking. But it's bullshit, is the thing. It's not all good, it's not all bad. It's just -- a place. That's fucked up and broken as any other place. But they don't want to fix it. Is the problem? And we just have to fucking take it. You know why? Because there's /nowhere fucking else/. That's the thing. There's /no options/. And they know it. /Freaks/ like us," the bottle waggles between him and Jack, "we just /have/ to suck it up no-matter-what because there's /no way in hell/ we could /ever/ go to school any-damn-where else. They made a community for the normal mutant kids and it's great. For /them/. And the rest of us get to like it or fucking. Lump it. /That's/ why I'm here. Still." His eyes close, claws clicking lightly against the glass of the bottle. "My sibling, she did every-damn-thing right. Followed all the rules, got the grades, never put a toe out of line. She was the good -- one. And the /one/ time she messed up, they /suspended/ her and the student who /attacked/ her first? Detention. Because she was an animal, right, and he just was 'having trouble with his powers'." His head shakes. "S'always like that. Always been like that. She played it straight as a fucking arrow just to /get/ herself an education and now she's --" His teeth grind. Haaaard. Head shakes, his fingers tightening around the bottle. "... And Anole's not even coming /back/, he hates this place so much. So yeah, they've made a supportive place -- for the kids who pass. So who's gonna look out for the kids who don't? That's why I'm still here. But pointing out that they're not perfect, it's making people angry." His legs swing, setting the ropes to swaying. His head shakes again. "Her? Nah. She's just a bug. I mean, way smarter than a regular bug, I guess. More like a -- dog. Smart. She lives with us, I guess. My pa's -- friend. Pet? Companion? I dunno. She goes hunting with me and B. Sometimes. My pa's /steed/. Ride her into /battle/. Kinda badass, huh? Actually I don't think he'd ever take her. To battle. That'd be -- mean." "Slurpee attacks? Not these days. Worse stuff happened when I was on my own in Jersey. Course I prefer them to like...rocks and bottles," Jack remarks. "Get more community among the students than from the adults. Just...have to find it," the invisible teen adds. "Never had rum before. Only beer and wine," he says. The invisible teen falls silent as Shane speaks, eyes on the ground at first. As much as he hates it and doesn't like to think about it, he's seen and experienced some of the troubles for obvious mutants Shane mentions. Of course when Shane mentions his former roommate, Jack looks up quickly. "Wait, he's not? I thought they just shuffled roommates for a new term..." Jack trails off, frowning invisibly. "I just ran into him today in the park," he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. Autumn sinks a little lower against the post as she listens, blushing a bit redder when Shane explains about Sugar. When she finally speaks again, it's just, "Raw deal, for real... Wish there was something I could do." "Find it, make it," Shane agrees easily with Jack, offering the bottle back again. "And yeah, he's not. Went back to his family in the tunnels. /Got/ community there. S'shitty, you know? Kids fall through the cracks and they don't want to -- /see/. Don't want to admit -- kkkh. Like I -- said. S'not -- all. Bad. S'just not -- fff." His head shakes. "Needs fixing. But can't get fixed if they don't. Want to /admit/ what's broke. So hung up on -- assimilating. But if you /can't/ -- assimilate --" SHRUG. He slides down off the ropes, oooozing down to the ground. "What you can do," he says with an oddly cheerful grin, "is come. Swim. With me." "Damn," Jack pauses a beat. "wait...tunnels?" and then comes the sound of a facepalm. "Oh you have gotta be kidding me. The whole reason I came to New York was because I heard rumors about a community of mutants under the city...but I thought they weren't real and now I find out I was sleeping across the room from..." he trails off, taking another swig when the bottle is offered his way and then offering it to Autumn. "Sucks he's not coming back...I know he didn't really like me but he was still a cool guy..." he sighs. When Shane offers swimming, Jack glances at Autumn again. "Wanna go swim or continue evading your tour guide?" "Easier to pretend there's nothing wrong if the wrong isn't happening to you." Autumn straightens up and accepts the bottle from Jack, drinks deep. "All right! I swim like a...uh, well, okay, not as good as Shane. But sure! Let's go swimming."