ArchivedLogs:Meditating
| Meditating | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia
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2015-10-23 Derek holds up the almost gone cigarette he's smoking. "Thith ith my meditation." |
| Location
<XS> Forest | |
Quiet and shady, the trees rise all around here high and thick. In stillness, woodland creatures make appearances, though sudden noises scare them back into the cover. Dappled sunlight filters down between the thick foliage, and the ground underfoot is heavily overgrown, though here and there paths have been worn, by deer or years of students wandering familiar trails. It's quiet, crisp and cool in the morning-time forest. Likely at the school things are bustling; people taking showers, grabbing breakfast, hitting the gym, finishing up last-minute homework, going through all their pre-class-time rituals, but out here it's peaceful far and away from the hectic mess of the mansion. Shane may not be the first (ex-) student that comes to much of the faculty's minds when they think 'peaceful', but here on one stretch of trail the sharkpup is tucked quietly beneath a tree, head tipped back against the trunk and his legs folded lotus-style beneath him. He's dressed in hiking boots, khaki convertible hiking pants, a leather kutte (it has a small patch on the chest with a horned shark-toothed skull over a pair of crossed violin bows; the words MUTANT MONGRELS MC surround the logo) worn open over his bare chest. Slightly marring the otherwise idyllic forest scene is the slaughtered bloody deer carcass sitting beside him. A rather /enormous/ iridescent blue dragonfly -- the size of a /very/ large horse, in body -- is tucked on the ground next to him, as well. Quiet tearing sounds come from the deer as the dragonfly munches happily on the freshly-killed meat. Shane has only a small amount of blood on /him/, a bit of liver held in one clawed hand that he nibbles at occasionally -- though mostly just stays still. Watches the trees. Watches the dragonfly. Sergio walks leisurely down the forest path, moving at a noticeably slow and deliberate pace to avoid a dizzy spell. Wearing jeans, a v-neck, and a letterman jacket from his old school, he takes a massive bite out of a wheat bread sandwich that he holds. Half of his attention flits down to the book on meditation held up in his other hand. He was supposed to look over /a few days ago/ for his Yoga as Meditation class, but he hasn’t on account of how boring it is. Bringing a fist up to his mouth, he clears his throat before chomping into another bite. ...And uh, while ‘clearing his mind.’ As the former jock comes to stand a yard or so from the dead deer and Shane, he lowers both book and sandwich. “That is awesome,” he gawks quietly, continuing to chew. Opting not to attend his morning classes, there are two reasons Derek has decided to disappear into the woods this morning. The first is that he didn't complete the assignment due today and the other is that he found another student to bum a cigarette off of and he felt the need to satisfy his much neglected smoking habit. He hasn't explored the forest yet but he figured it was probably the best place to disappear for a few hours. Not paying attention to where he's going, Derek's worn sneakers still make a bit of noise crunching over the dead leaves on the forest floor. Dressed in faded jeans, an equally faded and worn jean jacket over a plain dark green t-shirt, Derek stops his wandering when he hears another voice his heart freezes for a second but he's relieved that the two forms don't appear to be teachers. Then his eyes spot the carnage, not exactly sure what to make of the scene. "That'th.. that'th not thomething you thee every day" He's really not sure if he should run or not. Shane's nose twitches as other people approach; after a couple sniffs his brows furrow and he tips his head down, examining the newcomers with a frown. "Who what? Oh." A quick smile flits across his face, bright and very full of too-many too-sharp teeth. "Yeah, that's," with a jerk of his bloody thumb towards the hungry dragonfly, "Sugar. She's having breakfast. And no, not every day. She's mostly out in the woods or off in the city. Though she moves into the stables once the weather gets cold. Who're you?" Both of them, really; the upward tip of his head includes both Sergio and Derek in this question. From over his shoulder, Sergio offers an amused conspiratory look to Derek before turning back to the unique scene. “Serg,” he answers, raising his hand with the book as if in roll call, “You?” The teen takes another bite of his breakfast sandwich, sidestepping to ease into the curved base of another tree. He lets the thin paperback fall closed on his thigh, opting to hold the sandwich with both hands. “I’m supposed to be trying to meditate, but this is way less boring.” Turning over his shoulder, Sergio offers an amused conspiratory look to Derek before turning back to the unique scene. "Serg," he answers, raising his hand with the book as if in roll call, "You?" The teen takes another bite of his breakfast sandwich, sidestepping to ease into the curved base of another tree. He lets the thin paperback fall closed on his thigh, opting to hold the sandwich with both hands. "I'm supposed to be trying to meditate, but this is way less boring," Sergio says, bringing up the back of his hand to cover his mouth as he speaks. When the hand returns to his meal, he smiles closed-mouth. "Derek." It's hard to not look at the giant firefly and his eyes keep on glancing at it. Taking a drag off of his cigarette he finally looks away from Sugar and down at Sergio. "If it'th boring then why are you doing it?" He pushes his hair back and leans against a nearby tree. "I really thought I couldn't be thurprithed at thith place any more." If he's talking about Shane's appearance or the giant dragonfly is up in the air. "Shane. I come out here to meditate." His grin is kind of crooked. "But if that's not your thing, y'know, s'cool. That's --" He waves towards the book Sergio is holding, "a class book, right?" He chomps down another bite of liver, glancing over at Derek. "When'd you get here? I'd say it probably takes at least a few mo... uh... years," he amends cheerfully. "Before the surprising starts to wear off. "I think she used to be a normal dragonfly but there was this woman with strange-ass fucking /bug/-mutating powers? Blow them up huge, make them smarter, control them? So -- Sugar." "Oh, cool," Sergio coos. Already impressed, he nods a little -too- much, "Yeah, it's for class." He shakes his head as he finishes his last bite, "I just can't /do it/ /right/, though. I'd rather be moving or actually doing something /real/. So, I've been putting it off." As the question is asked of Derek, follows Shane's attention over to the other student. "Aw, man. Those would be the coolest powers to have," he mutters, side-eyeing Sugar. Derek holds up the almost gone cigarette he's smoking. "Thith ith my meditation." His mouth forms a small smile. "A few weekth now, but thith plathe ith better than anything back home tho I can deal with a bit of weird. Okay, a lotta weird." He has a roommate who has tentacles and read minds, it helped him get over the initial culture fairly quick. "Bug mutating powerth? Well I gueth you got a unique pet? friend? companion? out of it." "Friend, I guess. Not really sure? She turned up on our roof one day like a fucking puppy. Followed my Pa home and never really left. Guess she's gonna be part of our family till she decides to fuck off and go somewhere else." Shane shrugs, reaching his cleaner hand out to scratch behind the dragonfly's enormous eyes. "Where was home?" His nose twitches at the cigarette Derek holds up, lips pursing. He resettles, head tipping back once more against the tree. The hairless ridge of his brows lifts, and he offers Sergio a smile. "Right? The fuck is right, anyway. Meditating's for /you/, isn't it? So /right/, that's what works for you. If sitting doesn't help you, then sitting isn't the right kind of meditating. Swimming helps me meditate. Archery. Playing violin. For my sib it's fighting. Building shit. If sitting still just makes you fidgety and restless and more aware of your body then there's totally nothing wrong with moving to help get your mind where it needs to be instead." Under any other circumstance, getting up and moving would be the right kind of meditating. Unfortunately for Sergio, his mutation complicates that. Either way, he keeps his woes to himself. “Yeah, but I mean, this is for a class,” he smiles goofily, lifting the book and slapping it back down. “Archery? /And the violin?/ Everyone here is so good at everything. It’s a little crazy. And I bet you’re an /awesome/ swimmer, too. --I used to love surfing.” He draws his attention up and over to Derek from where he’s sitting, raising both black eyebrows, “Can I try your cigarette?” "You're Dad'th Jaxth right? Unleth there'th another Thane?" Derek remembers it being mentioned in conversation. "Kanthath tho New York ith like a whole new world. Thill haven't explored outthide of the thchool yet." He holds the cigarette out to Serge, there isn't much left. "Feel free to finith it off. I bummed it from thome other kid here. Not everyone Therg, I'm thuck at everything from thports to thchool work. Maybe that'th part of the problem, even if thomething ith for a clath, doethn't really mean much to me." "Yeah, but if your teacher isn't working with you to find styles of meditation that work /for/ you then your teacher is for shit. Archery isn't for everyone. But sitting down isn't for everyone either. There's hella styles of dynamic meditation like," Shane grins brightly, "uh, without the fighting, even. Just walking in a circle can be more restful than sitting down if that's making you antsy." Shrug. "Never been surfing but it looks pretty rad. -- And yeah!" This makes his expression brighten. "Jax is my Pa." He doesn't elaborate on this, but there's a definite Very Happy note to his tone, here. "Wait, Kansas. Derek -- hey, you're Taylor's new roommate, then? I was his roommate last year, sweet." He leans forward, holding out a curled fist (thankfully, it's the /not/ bloody one) for a fistbump. "Pssh, school's not for everyone. What /does/ mean something to you?"
"My thtither." The answer comes quickly to Derek she's the only person or thing even he really cares about. He returns the fist bump and his smile brightens as well. "Yeah, Taylor'th really cool and your Pa ith my advithor. They both theem pretty awethome. Jaxth ith probably one of the cooletht people I've met. Then at the question from Serg, Derek's smile vanishes and his tone turns guarded. "It thuckth, that'th what Kanthath ith like. Glad to be gone from there, and thorry, didn't realithe you'd get all coughy with the thigarette. Anyway, thurfing, you from thomewhere near the othean I athume?" Either Sergio's coughing or Derek's quick answer puts a bright warmth back in Shane's expression. He polishes off his piece of liver, licking his fingers clean and resting his hand on Sugar's head. It's probably Derek's answer, though, given his following: "S'a good thing to care about. My sibs are pretty much the most important thing on the planet." He rolls up slowly to his knees, shoulders stretching. "They are awesome. And I'm glad you're /here/ now if Kansas is a shithole. New York is -- only half a shithole. But it's big enough you can /find/ the not-shithole places and stick to those." He gets the rest of the way to his feet, untucking a pack of cigarettes of his own from the inside of his vest to tap one out and tuck it between his lips. He offers one to Derek, too, before returning the pack to his vest pocket. "I should get." His grin is quick, again, the cigarette bobbing between his lips. "Meditating of my own to do." Sergio starts to smile as his coughing tapers out. Eventually it transforms into a bit of laughter, "I knew it would. I just wanted to try." He grins, moving to put out the cigarette in a patch of clear dirt. "Honolulu--" He starts to answer, but turns to watch as Shane rises, laughing at the meditating comment, "It was cool meeting you." Derek takes the offered cigarette and gives a nod. "Thankth dude. Thith'll be perfect for later. Daithy will be grateful too. I'm glad I'm here too now, anything'th better than back home. It wath good meeting you and Thugar, Thane, tell your Pa I thaid hey." He puts the cigarette into the pocket of his jacket to share with his sister later and gives Shane a quick wave. "Good, now I don't feel ath bad." He grins at Sergio. "Hawaii, wow. That'th almotht a whole different world." “Yeah, I don’t know how anybody lives /here/. It’s so cold,” Sergio says, a goofy smile forming over his mouth. For dramatic effect, he bundles his thin letterman jacket closer to himself to shield against the autumn breeze. “I asked my mom to mail me a coat and /this/ is what she sent me. She’s got no clue.” He laughs. "Thith is the only jacket I own tho I'm not thure how I'll thurvive come winter. Untheth thith plathe doeth thomething to provide warmer jacketth." Derek shrugs and glances up to the sky, not really able to see much but leaves. "It getth colder back home and thometimeth we get thnow but I've heard it can get pretty cold in the winter here." Sergio follows Derek's gaze, "My roommate got his coat from one of the professors, so I guess they do." He continues to smile, "I'm /stoked/ to see snow, though." Carefully, the jock uses the tree for balance as he stands. "Ugh, I should probably get to class. They usually let me get away with being late because I get dizzy and pass out all the time--" At that, he smirks. "--You skipping?" Derek lets out a big of a sigh. "Yeah, didn't get my homework and thuff done in time tho..." He shrugs and follows with a grin. "I'll be paying for it later. You're gonna be okay getting back to the thchool right?" He grows a bit concerned after hearing about Sergio's passing out. "It wath nithe meeting you Therge. Good luck with the whole meditation thing. Ya know, I find thtargathing to be relathing." “If I’m not,” Sergio brings up his middle and index fingers to tap on his temple, “I’ll let you know.” He laughs warmly, “Thanks. You, too -- don’t knock the ‘my powers ate my homework’ excuse if you can swing it.” Grinning still, the teen shoves his book under his arm and makes back towards the school. | |
