ArchivedLogs:Full of Bees

Full of Bees
Dramatis Personae Mina, Rasa
In Absentia	2018-09-16 "You're not afraid of bees, are you?"
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. Perpetually an known and unknown figure around Xavier's Campus, Rasa walks up from the drive, not straying in the lease from hir normal path, making hirself recognizable through habit to compensate for the manner in which ze changes appearance nearly every time ze arrives. There is something recognizable about hir features, in that hir unconscious mind has settled in comfortable shapes and postures over the years, but even that shifts with mood and thoughts. Today, garbed in beat up jeans, heavy boots and baggy layers, ze appears pale and lithe, almost doll like, with large blue eyes and pale skin. Hir hair appears to be dyed black and swept back into a ponytail, heavy bangs falling across hir brow. In one hand, ze holds a cellphone to hir perfectly made up face, lips parted as ze listens to the person on the other side. In the grip of hir other hand is the strap of the bag resting on hir shoulder. When ze finally replies, ze swears loudly in Russian. It's a rather lengthy diatribe about the possiblity of the recipient having been dropped on his head as a child, repeatedly, as all of his other brothers were faaaar more sensible than he. As those heavy boots come to a halt in front of the school's beehives, hir voice softens, speaking finally in English. "Look, I have to do this thing for Vanya. We can talk later when I get home if you still think you need to." Barely waiting on a response, ze turns off the cell and slides it back into hir back hip pocket, kneeling down in front of the wooden boxes. Mina does not understand a lick of Russian, but there's something universal about swearing. She's making her way through the gardens barefoot, in bright yellow leaf-embroidered sundress and a giant purple cloth flower in her hair. She catches the tail end of it as she approaches, looking up from the text message she's been in the process of sending. Her head cocks, light steps pausing a moment as she sizes up Rasa. "Is someone getting chewed /out/ when you get home? That sounded like a /Talk/ kind of -- talk." "Eeeeehhhhhhh," Rasa draws the noise out, maybe shifting from a surprised note to something more thoughtful and deliberating before it ends. "He just... gets these ideas and he thinks he knows everything, but if I'm not firm with him in such a way that he understands that I do not approve of his suggestion, he tends to take everything else as encouragement to do what he likes. And no." The Russian accent is definitely tempered with natural born American, which becomes more and more New Yorker as ze draws to a conclusion. "I will not actually see him tonight. He is likely onto his next victim." Ze pulls hir bag in front of hir and pulls out a delicately made wood box, the size of a pencil case. "You're not afraid of bees, are you?" "Victim?" Mina's eyes flutter open wider. Quick steps bring her closer to Rasa, voice dropping confidentially lower and accentuated with an urgency. "This isn't your boyfriend, is it? Because that sounds --" She cuts off. Brows furrow, eyes flick to the hives. The shake of her head is kind of too emphatic. "Bees are great. I mean, I love flowers, and they come with the territory, right?" "It is my person's overly ambitious brother. And 'victim' is a loose term. Target perhapse?" Rasa glances over at Mina as one side of hir mouth pulls into a smile. "I can see that. Very much into flowers. And yes. Bees are a flower's friend. Or, Cupid, however the case may be." Ze slides the lid off of the box gently and exposes the hollow inside to the open air. One singular bee crawls out and hops around a couple times on the surface before stopping to stare up at its former captor. Rasa gives a little finger wave as ze watches. "Your -- person?" Mina's tone lifts, quizzical. "Brothers are harder to get rid of, I guess your. Person. Is just sort of stuck with them for life. What kind of ambitions?" Despite her confident previous assertion, Mina rooocks a step or two backwards when the hive is open. Her toes curl against the ground, and she sucks in a small breath before leaning just a bit closer to peer, curious. "You take care of these?" "Yes. Person. Um... well, relationships are awkward at best and people make strange assumptions when I use any other terminology. His name is Ivan. He used to be a student here." The small bee is ignorant to the conversation taking place and simply starts up its little wings, fly around Rasa's previously gesturing finger, and zips off back to its hive. Rasa exhales and turns hir attention back to Mina. "Not so much 'take care of' but rather 'deliver messengers.' Ivan... Vanya, he's the one who cares for the bees here." Ze studies he student's face and presents a gloved hand to hir in greeting. "Rasa." "/Oh/ you mean like a boyfriend. Is he better than his brother?" Mina is relaxing again as she watches the bee on Rasa's finger, though she still doesn't venture too much closer to the hive itself. "/Messengers/? What, like the bees? WAIT," Her eyes have widened again, hopeful, "do you /speak/ bee? Like --" She gives a small and somewhat circular butt-waggle into the air. "Sor --" One hand claps to her mouth; she stops, amends, "E kala mai i a'u -- it's none of my business I just mean being able to speak /bee/ would be so cool! I bet they know /so/ many things about the plants /oh/ right no hi, I'm Mina." This mostly comes out in one long breath. She takes Rasa's hand for one firm pump after. "/You're/ not a student here, though?" Only halfway a question. "He is the most important person in my life. Boyfriend seems... less useful, but if it helps you understand, you may use it." Rasa watches the little dance with a stoic face, but bright pink infiltrates hir face in bands of tie-dyed joy. Ze sits back on hir heels and relaxes. "Oh, that was pretty. What language was that?" Ze is nonplussed by the pseudo-apology. "I... can make bee... things?" Ze considers hir words quietly. "Vanya has the bees in his head. So, he has taught me some things. I do not understand bees. I might be able to repeat what he has shown me, but responses are lost on me." There's a short pause and then, "No. I graduated a few years ago. I come back here to speak with an available professor, usually Dr. Grey or Dr. McCoy, about... my difficulties." "Like are you going to get /married/? Wait, how old are you? Graduated how many years ago? Are you /old/? It's always so hard to tell around here. Yesterday there was some /gross/ old guy --" Mina shakes her head with a small /huff/. "What was wha -- oh, Hawai'ian. Well, it's not really /sorry/ we don't have a word for -- oh /crap/ I said it that ruins the whole /point/!" Both Mina's hands scrub against her cheeks, now. "Is his head really full of bees?" Now she's wandering slightly away -- not far, though, just bending down to brush a fingertip lightly against a feathery aster petal. "Difficulties? They must be serious I'd probably /shoot/ myself if I was stuck coming back to high school for /years/ -- uh, no offense." Hastily tacked on. "They are... unique enough that this is the place best equipped to handle it." Rasa shrugs, lifing hir box once more and looking to the hive. "Eh, I mean it more... in the idea that there are songs in a person's head, yeah? it's not like you could take an xray and find actual songs there, but if you are nearby you can hear them hum." A set of three bees makes their way from the hive to the box, one after the other, sniffing the outside for a while and dancing at each other in a busy little conference. "I don't know about married. It's not something we talk about. We just are and that's fine." Instead of attempting to close the bees in the box, as they seem to still be engrossed in conversation, ze reaches out and rests the box next to the hive and rests hir hands in hir lap. "And, Mina, I hope you never have the need. I just... had a couple really bad years and someday, I would like fewer nightmares." "I guess that's what sticks us all here, huh?" Mina sounds light about this, amused and not resentful. "There's not really a lot of competition in the -- sheltering potentially explosive teens market." Her head ducks after this, and she at least has the grace to look a /little/ abashed. "Apologies, I -- yeah. I hope they help. With the nightmares." Rasa shrugs and starts to gather hir feet underneath hir once more, moving to stand. "They are. And don't worry about this too much. I really do hope you never have to find out." Ze stretches hir arms behind hir back, slipping stature by about six inches. Hir features turn a brownish golden hue and hir eyes shift to an amber hazel. "Stay here, learn some things, leave when you feel ready, because at some point, you'll feel ready. Because, one day, you'll feel ready. And then come back if you need to." Mina straightens as Rasa stands up. "Did you feel ready?" "For a while, yes." Rasa smiles and pulls hir bag back up on hir shoulder. "Maybe just enjoy it while it is high school, yeah?" Ze turns to head inside. "I do have an appointment. I hope you will excuse me." "I /totally/ plan to." Mina's eyes dart back to the box, then the hive. She smiles at Rasa bright, lifting a hand to wave. "Good luck! I hope there's some pleasant dreams in your future."