ArchivedLogs:Overcrowding

Overcrowding
Dramatis Personae Derek, Kaine, Taylor
In Absentia	2015-10-04 "Welcome to Freak Cabin."
Location <XS> Derek, Kaine, and Taylor's Dorm - FL2
The influx of new students this year has led to a bit of overcrowding at Xavier's, and it is starting to show in the dorm arrangements, many rooms like this one refitted for three students where they had once been built for only two. The standard two closets have been joined by a large armoire against one wall; three dressers have been moved in, three desks. A bunk bed on the left side, a lofted twin with its desk underneath it on the right. So far, this new school year has been busy busy /busy/ at Xavier's. Maybe not any busier than usual in terms of classwork but -- the public outing of the school has led to a steady and still growing influx of New Students, far moreso than in previous years. And in the dorms, this weekend, it is evident that the school is still struggling a little to keep /up/ with the sudden expansion. Things in the hallway are in kind of a state of disarray as new furniture is shifted into some of the dorm rooms -- rooms where two people had been living suddenly being refit for three. And today it looks like Kaine and Taylor have drawn the latest Overcrowding Short Straw. Not that it makes a whole lot of /difference/ to Taylor's usual state of organized chaos -- his things tend to be in kind of a cluttery mess /anyway/ so today is no different, belongings pushed around and crammed to one side and into a closet to make room for the sudden introduction of New Furniture, replacing old beds, adding dresser. The only thing of Taylor's that appears to have escaped the whirlwind of Moving Clutter is an enormous birdcage near the window -- it's had a thick blanket tossed over it to spare the parrot inside at least /some/ of the stress of Big Things being shuffled around the room, but intermittently there's still quiet twittering and muttering from under the cage's cover. Chirrup twitter chirrup... then a soft grumbly, "no way dude. No no no no way dude." Inside the room, Taylor, at least, seems unbothered by the sudden shuffling. He's dressed in jeans, sneakers, a plain blue t-shirt; one pair of his enormous tentacles are wound around his midsection, one pair draped forwards over his shoulders. The rest of the limbs just hang down towards the ground -- except for one which is currently attempting to shove a gym bag into his overcrowded closet. The telepath himself is eying the three beds, now, lips pursed. "... Up or down, Kaine?" "Down?" Kaine asks, he seems red eyed and confused, probably from his impromptu nap in the rec room. He's dressed in a vintage 'Dwarves' t-shirt and a pair of blue and plaid pajama pants. "I am so glad I don't have a cleaning disorder. You'd never be able to find anything of yours then." He shuffles over to where his bed used to be, claiming that one as his instead. "Coldest part of the room." he explains, flopping into it and digging his phone out, "You listen to any good punk recently?" Sure enough when he finishes talking it starts snowing onto the young aquatic mutant. The wireless speaker next to Kaine's bed clicks green and starts playing the middle of a song by the band on his shirt. "I masturbate me, like a Catholic escapee. Touch the hand of the man with the gland in the band in the stand, when they rape me!" Clearly not a family friendly band. It's been an interesting sort of day, to say the least, for Derrek. From the change in location to the sheer size of everything, the interesting school curriculum and the rules, Derrek's had an interestingly overwhelming day. Now that the tour is over and he's gone through all the initiations, he's been directed to his new room. After navigating the hallway, Derrek give's a quick knock on the door before entering, after all it's his room now too. He's wearing a worn jean jacket over a plain red shirt over equally worn jeans, an overfill backpack slung over one shoulder. He stops short at seeing the two others in the room already and raises a hand in greeting. "Hey." Taylor bobs his head, nodding along easily when Kaine claims the lower bunk. His head is turning towards the door a moment, even, /before/ that knock comes. A second long tentacle, sharp hooks nestled into the suction cups that line it, snakes out towards the closet to snag a set of bedsheets from where they've been tossed atop Taylor's Pile-O-Stuff. "Yo." His chin jerks upward to Derek, one hand lifting to wave as well. The longer limb is moving to set the bedsheets atop the lofted single bed; given the /length/ of his tentacles he doesn't actually need to climb up the ladder at all to start making the bed, arms moving to stretch the fitted sheet over the mattress as he stays on the floor. "Derek?" A quick smile accompanies this question. "You gonna need a hand moving shit in or anything?" His head tilts at Kaine's music, listening for a moment before giving a shrug. "Who's this? I dunno. What's good? I don't think I know good punk. Past the education I'm getting from you so far this year." "It's the dwarves." Kaine supplies, tossing Derek up a salute. "Yo." he greets casually. "How's it going?" Taylor gets his attention next, "Depends on your taste, I like everything from the Ramones, to the Circle Jerks, to the Hillbilly moon explosion. But that last one is a psychobilly band." "Uh, yeah, hi, that'th me, Derek." He says a bit awkwardly, offering a hand in introduction. He can't help but stare at the tentacles, unsure of how to react to them. "No, thankth. Thith ith everything." Derek indicates the backpack, at least he's a roommate without a lot of stuff to make a mess. His eyes keep going back to Taylor's tentacles. "I've never lithened to punk musthic mythef." Taylor steps forward -- though behind him his looong arms are /still/ making up his bed, lifting a corner of the mattress to tuck the sheet over it, shaking out the non-fitted sheet so that he can drape it over -- and clasps Derek's outstretched hand firmly. One quick shake. His other hand lifts, rubbing knuckles against his temple. "Taylor," one of the smallest tentacles points towards his own chest, the introduction coming after a brief delay once Derek is done speaking. "And Kaine." With a gesture towards the other teen. He turns back towards his bed -- though even if his eyes are no longer on the other two, his mental attention still is, picking up rather automatically on stray surface thoughts or feelings from the other two. "I've been listening to it a lot more since moving in with Kaine. A lot more rap, on my own time. Where'd you roll in from, Derek? Have an OK trip?" "That's the joys of rooming with me, everything from punk to opera. Might even listen to some David Allan Coe." Kaine says, attention shifting to Derek long enough to notice his eyes glues to Taylor's tentacles. "Guess they didn't let you know beforehand you got moved into one of the obvious mutant dorms. Welcome to Freak Cabin." he says cheerfully, spreading his fingers enough when he waves the webbing becomes obvious. Derek finally shuts the door behind him and takes in the room. "Kanthath. Firstht time on a plane, wathn't too bad. Ath for muthic though, motht thuff I lithen too came out at leatht ten yearth before I wath born." He rubs the back of his head, messing up his hair even worse than it was before. "Thorry, I don't mean to thare, thith is all jutht new. I'm thtill getting uthed to the thize of thith place." Taylor finishes smoothing his bedsheets into place. Steps aside from the bed to tug the blanket off the covered-up cage, uncovering a very large iron birdcage with a few ladders and perches sitting over top of the cage. He opens up a hatch at the top, leaving it open for a large grey parrot inside to start climbing out. "No no no," the bird is still saying, quietly. "No way dude." "You don't mean to -- oh." Taylor repeats Derek's words slowly before nodding. Also slowly. His arms -- most all of them -- fall back to his sides. "It is kind of a change from a lot of places, huh? My last school before this didn't even /have/ a basketball court at /all/. Uh. Top bunk is yours." One limb points towards the bed above Kaine's. "Hope you like it chilly." Kaine says, nodding at Derek. He reaches up to collect a few snowflakes. "You can thank Taylor for the air conditioner not being bottomed out. But your ass is definitely going to be cold." He switches the song over to a song by the Zombies, but turns the volume down so it plays quietly in the background. "Also an Olympic pool in the basement and a lake. I sleep out there sometimes." Derek nods and tosses his backpack on the top bunk, climbing up after it. "Where'd you live before coming here?" Since Taylor asked him. "I don't know what thportth thtuff my lastht thchool had. Can't thwim either, never really the athletic sort." His lanky frame makes it seem a good gust of wind would knock him over. "I'll make thure to keep extra blankets handy. How cold doeth it get up here? Wait, did you thay theelp out at a pool or lake?" "We are past air conditioner season, dude." Taylor shakes his head with a small snort. "You been out there lately? Yesterday it was goddamn /cold/." The bird is making her way up out of the cage, climbing higher to settle onto a perch. Swing herself back and forth happily. "Me? Before here? Uh --" One of his tentacles rubs slowly against the back of his bald head. "I --" There's a distinct pause before his answer, "-- grew up in SoCal. Lots of beach. Swimming, kind of essential. And they won't let us have water tanks in the room so sleeping in the lake now and then --" Shrug. "Pool's harsh on my gills." Kaine explains, "So usually the lake. And I'm from Alaska, way up in the bush. Always cold, felt great. Snows here at least, but it doesn't get cold enough I need more than a light jacket, usually." The snowing stops and the water that collected on his bed seems to just dry up. "It's unfortunate. But at least we can have snow forts." Derek's eyes look to the bird for a moment. "You're allowed petth here?" He's trying to take everything thing in, a roommate with tentacles and another with gills who sleeps in the lake. It almost feels like he's entered into a different world and Derek's not sure how he feels about that. "What'th the thchool like here?" "Yeah. Well, sometimes, yeah. You gotta get approval first, you can't just bring a pet in without asking. And they won't let you keep them if you don't keep them properly -- y'know. Clean and housebroken and trained and all. But if you're responsible about it, yeah." There's a smile on Taylor's face as he looks at the bird, one tentacle lifting to rub lightly at her head. "The school is --" He puffs out a quick breath. Sharp. Kind of a laugh. "Complicated as hell. Classes are tough. Food's good. Most of the people don't suck. It's better than the rest of the world -- usually." "It's a good place to meet good people, but it doesn't really prepare you for bigots. Hard to hide when you have gills, or tentacles." Kaine lifts his shoulders in a slight shrug. "Usually awesome, get to go into the city and see stuff when you don't have classes and we aren't in lock down. Sure you'll like it here." Derek figure's he'll be his own judge if the people suck or not. He does his best not to express his skepticism at their words. "Clathesth are tough? I'm fucked then." He gives a half smile and pushes himself off the bunk, leaving his backpack behind. "I'm uthed to dealing with athholeth back home, not bigotth about being a mutant but, just athhotheth. I've got a few more new thudent things to take care of, nice meeting you two."