ArchivedLogs:Making Peace

Making Peace
Dramatis Personae Jack, Ororo, Shane
In Absentia	2015-08-17 "The world is always trying to erase those they don't understand."
Location <XS> Gardens
From indoor gardens to outdoor, though without the protective greenhouse glass the back gardens do not last all year round. Still, the gardens out here are well-tended and well-worth spending time in, as well. The paths wending through the beds of flowers and herbs and vegetables spread out through the school's back grounds, tended by students as a credit class. Benches offer seating and a small pond is home to koi and turtles, as well as a few frogs. At the far back edges of the garden, a droning buzzing marks a few stacked white boxes as beehives. It's growing late on Monday, long since past dinner and creeping into the night. With today being the first day of exams many students are tucked inside, studying or getting an early night. Out in the garden things are quiet, mostly. A chirp of cicadas, a croak of frogs from the pond. And quietly, a soft strain of violin music drifting through the leaves and closed-up flower blossoms. Quiet and mellow and then fading away into nothing. Brief and soft enough that it could almost have been imagined -- if not for one tiny blue shark perched by the edge of the pond in slacks and a crisp black and silver tunic. Shane holds his violin in one hand, almost lazily as his enormous black eyes focus down into the water. His toes curl over the lip of the stone, dipping down into the pool. Jack's taking a bit of a study break this evening. He can only put up with so much of it before he just has to get up and do something else. Combined with the relatively bad mood he's still in, he really needed the break from the books. Walking through the gardens, he appears to just be a pair of old sneakers and a floating pair of cargo shorts at the moment. A shirt is floating at about where hand level would be, Jack having pulled it off since he was feeling a little overheated. When violin music reaches those invisible ears, Jack hums faintly and heads towards it. Spotting Shane up ahead, Jack smiles a little. "Something in the water?" he asks when close enough to not need to yell. Ororo is also taking some time to herself and relaxing with a quiet stroll through the gardens, periodically pausing to stop and smell the literal roses. Every so often, she'll examine a blossom or leaf closely and then wave her hand, creating a tiny little cloud of thin air to hover about a foot above the chosen plant. Tiny raindrops fall, misting the plant and moistening the soil as she moves on, letting the clouds dissipate on their own. As she nears the pond, the sound of music playing piques her interest and she wanders over, smiling softly at the sight of Shane. "Peaceful and gentle, a side of you that has sadly been quiet lately," she says, her voice carrying a light-hearted friendly tone. She catches the floating clothes nearby and offers a smile and nod. "Good to see you too, Jack." Shane's toes flick lightly at the surface of the water, his eyes not lifting though his nose twitches at the arriving people. His bow dangles in his hand, fingers tapping slowly at the neck of his violin. "Koi." He turns his head slightly, a very faint smile showing a sharp sliver of teeth in the moonlight. "Hard to stay gentle and peaceful when the world wants to erase you. That kinda just leads to -- being erased." He tips his violin slightly upward, slightly outward towards the others. "Kinda learn to make your own peace when nobody else'll give it to you." Jack gives the flattest look he possibly can to Ororo, not that anyone can see it. "You'd be the first to say it," he remarks. Attention returns to Shane for a moment and Jack looks down at the water. "Trying to catch them?" he guesses. "Erased or woese," he murmurs. The grin on Ororo's face very much implies that Jack's reaction was not lost on her. It does fade a bit as she responds to Shane. "Finding your own peace is good. The world as a whole seems to be severly lacking in it lately." Ororo makes her way to the pond and sits down a few feet away from Shane, slipping off the sandals she's wearing to dip her toes in the water. "The world is always trying to erase those they don't understand. It's not a mutant exclusive issue. There are ways to avoid being erased without causing war." "No. It's not exclusive to us," Shane agrees quietly. "Just need to look at the news for two seconds to see all the people the world keeps trying to --" His gills flutter quickly, eyes dipping back to the water. "No. Just watching them. I'm not in a murdering mood tonight." His claws flick at the water again, watching the fish gliding beneath its surface. "I don't think we're causing the war. /I/ didn't mean to cause one here. If people get outraged because you point /out/ inequality, you're still not the one causing the conflict." "A few people out there aside...Shane's right," Jack remarks, pulling his t-shirt on. It's just a school shirt today. "We're just existing. It's the...people out there that have such a problem with that fact that they attack us that are causing the war," he mutters. "War is a funny thing in that no one can really agree who started it. It's not the beginning of the war that matters either way." Ororo turns towards Shane as he brings up causing war here. "Everyone's been a little on edge lately. Nobody blames you for causing a war. We are all just...unsure of what's going to happen and it's unsettling. The only thing we can do is remember who our friends and allies are. It's easy to forget and take out our frustations on the ones we should be standing by." "A lot of people blame me." Shane's tone is a little wry. "You should hear the things the other teachers have been saying." He lifts one shoulder in a small shrug, turning around to set his feet down on the outside of the pond now, heels resting against the rocks. "It's unsettling," he agrees with Ororo, a small frown on his face. "But I've been /trying/ to stand by ---" His gills flutter briefly. "... it's just been tiring. Hasn't felt like many friends /here/." Jack is quiet as Ororo speaks, just looking down at the water and fish below. "I'm here," he offers quietly when Shane speaks up. "Unsettling is a bit...too nice of a word for it," he adds. "Wonder if maybe...what's planned is going to get delayed. Or we won't go through with it with everything going on out in New York..." "I'm here, too. And I think you do have more friends here than you realize. You just need to remember that." Ororo leans back on her arms, staring out over the water until a slight breeze mysterious picks up, creating small ripples and waves over the pond. "I don't know if we'll delay or not. It does seem to be a bad time to go through with it but then I don't think there will ever be a good time. I very much doubt the school will change their minds though. We've already put so much preparation into it." The smile Shane offers the others is small and quick. "Yeah. You're here." It's not sarcastic; just a soft and grateful agreement. "You're right, though. S'never going to be a good time. People will always find reasons to hate us. And honestly that's just going to make it so much harder for the kids who are /out/ there and could benefit from knowing about us before they get -- fucking /lynched/ or some shit." Slowly he gets to his feet, instrument stll held at his side. "It's gonna be an interesting week." "Never a good time but some have to be better than others," Jack shrugs. He gives an invisible but genuine smile in return to Shane but the cheerful expression doesn't last. "Hopefully the school prepared enough..." "I believe the idea is that once the school has been outed, it will be easier for those who need us to find us. Goodness knows we can't find everyone ourselves." Ororo frowns slightly as she thinks for a moment. "I don't know if we could ever prepare enough. Part of the reason I didn't support the decision. If somebody or some group decided to attack the school, I don't know if we'd be able to protect it and all of the students here." "See, even if I was so in favour of coming out that's at least a reason I can respect." There's a distinctly disgruntled grumble underneath Shane's words. "Not like this bullshit about how it's not fair because then students won't get a chance to stay hidden anymore. /Completely/ ignoring all of us who never had that choice in the first place and desperately need a place like this just to have /any/ chance at safety." One arm curls around his chest, fist still closed around his bow as he wraps his hand around himself. "Guess we'll just have to train. Harder." Jack snorts a bit. "I'm still annoyed with the people I hear complaining about that," he says, "And if I hear the 'oh, I didn't see you there' excuse when I call them on it one more time," he shakes his head. "Train harder and be ready for anything from psychos with guns to loud idiots with signs." Ororo decides to remain silent on that particular issue. "I don't know if there is a right or wrong reason to this. It can go horribly wrong either way so the best we can do is hope it doesn't and prepare for if it does." Ororo pulls her feet out of the water and sits cross-legged on the grass. "As much as I hate to say this, training harder might be a good idea. I'd sleep better at night knowing everyone can take care of themselves if this all goes wrong. But don't forget to train the mind as well. The brain is a very underappreciated tool and weapon and I don't just mean psionics." "Bite them," Shane suggests to Jack. "Clearly they need proper incentive to stop the tired invisibility jokes." His eyes skate back over to the mansion building. "Isn't that what this whole school thing is about? Training the mind?" He lifts his violin, tucking it back beneath his chin. "-- Which I should get back to doing. Have a good night." His head bobs in a quick nod to the others before he starts heading out of the gardens, over towards the woods. The quiet strains of Debussy follow him out.