Logs:Of Friends and Fear (Or, Real Actual Jerks)

Of Friends and Fear (Or, Real Actual Jerks)
Dramatis Personae Kavalam, Marinov, Mina
In Absentia	2019-04-22 "Some people are fuckin' assholes."
Location XS - Treehouse
Built by enterprising students of yesteryear, this treehouse has weathered generations of Xaviers' students coming up here to study -- or escape from studying. A cozy retreat, its wood planks are sturdy and well-sanded, fit snug together to keep out draft. Snacks occasionally find their way up here, and the roof keeps the rain off well enough to pass a night -- so long as the teachers don't catch any students at it. For anyone agile enough to make the jump, a lucky leap juuust might carry them from here to the school rooftop, so long as they're careful of the drop... It's getting on in the evening, and there is a small amount of rain pattering on the top of the treehouse and there is the sound of light music coming from earbuds that are not quite in properly. While Marinov seems to be trying to study a biology textbook (even wearing their serious reading glasses for extra serious points) they are too often distracted by trying to sing along to the tune that is playing. While their singing voice is actually not bad, their range is not quite so good as Ryan Black and suffers even more for the lack of accompaniment. They are wearing a pair of high-waisted khaki pants, with a gold coloured top a shade or two darker than their fur colour, baring part of their midriff. Their tail wraps around their waist loosely almost like a belt. There's a quiet creak on the ladder, a dark eyed slightly damp head poking up and in. "Ohsorrydoyoumind?" Mina is BARGING in anyway, a crocheted floral bag slung over one shoulder, her gauzy yellow sundress clinging slightly to her thighs. She's barefoot, hair tied back in a messy braid, and has a strip of jerky hanging from her mouth. "I've been trying to find somewhere to study and these jerks are being /so/ noisy in the library!" Kind of self-consciously she blushes, after this, clapping a hand over her mouth as she scoots in and scrunches herself into a corner. "Oh I love that album! -- Do you want?" From her bag she's extracting a notebook, an Algebra textbook, a ziploc full of more jerky -- it's this last and /not/ the math that she offers to Marinov. Marinov jumps in place a bit when Mina barges on in, and then immediately goes about pretending that they weren't startled and were just going to adjust some of their fur and clothes. Their expression turns brighter, though, both at the recognition of the album and the offer of jerky. "Aw, yea, definitely! Thanks!" They take a piece of jerky that's offered to them and give it a small sniff before taking a bite. "I like it up here 'cause it's quiet, jerks usually don't bother so much with it. Sometimes I study out in the forest proper but it's wet right now and I don't want to be." "It's ahi," Mina explains with a waggle of the bag, though the fishy smell of the tuna is plain enough, "my sister makes it." She folds her legs up under herself, arranging her skirt carefully and patting at its damp hem. "Yeah! I like the trees but the rain doesn't go so well with math. I guess not so well with fur either, huh?" She's squeezing with a wrinkle of her nose at the damp trailing edge of her braid. "I haven't figured out all the /best/ study places yet but I like this one good. It's like a forest-compromise, kind of." Unlike Mina, Kavalam makes very little noise on his arrival. Or at least, whatever noise he did make went unnoticed. At some point shortly after Mina settles in, he is just /there/, cross-legged up against a wall. His hair is damp, too, his jeans and blue-and-yellow cardigan very lightly rain-flecked. "It is quiet here," he agrees mildly, as if he /belongs/ in this conversation, "and away from jerks. These are a good." "It's good," says Marinov, raising up the jerky, "I've never had- ahi?- jerky before. And nah, that rain's cold enough that if it gets in my fur it's just-" When Kavalam 'appears' they jump once more, startled, and once more they try and pretend that they weren't. This time they remove their reading glasses and fold them up and again brush some of their fur back. "I didn't hear you come in here, did you just... get here? Do I... know you?" They squint at Kavalam. "Ohmygosh!" Mina's jerky falls from her mouth, her hands flapping beside her face when Kavalam suddenly /appears/. "Do you -- have you considered wearing like --" She waggles a hand toward her neck. "Like a little. Cat-bell?" She leans forward a little, peering at Kavalam uncertainly. "I think you're in my... are you in my math class?" Kavalam sniffs a little disdainfully, pushing his glasses up on his nose and looking down, briefly, at Mina's Algebra textbook. "I am not," he replies -- his already heavy accent just that much thicker with the /touch/ of stiffness in his reply, "in your math class." After a moment he relents: "... we do have an English together." He folds his hands in his lap, looking over at Marinov. "I am Kavalam. You could know me. I have been trying to know people." This comes out just a little bit tired, but he pushes on past it a moment later. "Unfortunately so far knowing people has been a --" He holds a hand up, finger and thumb pinched a small distance apart. "Just the smallest bit difficult. But you two, you know people, hmm?" "Yeah, I mean, I'd be happy to know you," says Marinov, their head just slightly tilted as they regard Kavalam with curiosity, "I'm Marinov. Or Taylor if you'd rather, but most people around here call me by my last name. But yeah, I know lots of people, I've been here for a pretty long time so..." They tap their fingers together, tips of their claws clacking against one another in a non-specific gesture, "Usually at least know everyone's name. So, uh, sorry that I must've forgot yours." "Kavalam," Mina repeats this carefully, but not carefully /enough/ that she still doesn't mangle the pronunciation somewhat. "Right. Okay. Um. It's probably easier to know people if you don't like -- creep around like that?" She picks her fallen jerky back up, brushing it off against her skirt and returning to chewing on it. "I'm kind of new but I /talk/ to like /everyone/ does that count?" Kavalam's brows pinch together, mouth pressing into a line as if he is giving all this serious thought. "Know lots of people, talk to lots of people, yes. I am looking for some help, you see. I know they tell me, this school it's supposed to be a safe place for those who are, ah, different, but --" He leans in closer, voice dropping slightly as if confiding in the others: "Maybe sometimes it is not like that? I don't know if /you/ have these problems, but, a friend of mine, they have been. Having some troubles. People are not always so nice. Maybe you see things like that?" "Some people are fuckin' assholes," says Marinov in agreement with what Kavalam is saying. They shake their head. "I dunno who your friend is but... yeah, I think that school can be pretty bullshit when you're different, and they," Marinov gestures vaguely upwards, "act like it's all safe here..." They trail off and huff, taking a vicious bite of their jerky. Mina ducks her head, her cheeks flushing and her toes curling against the ground. "I think maybe sometimes /I'm/ not good with... I mean at home there weren't a lot of people who were -- I say a lot of dumb -- maybe that's not what you mean," she catches herself hastily, swallowing a mouthful of jerky and scowling briefly down at her feet. "But yeah there's some people who're real /actual/ jerks it's not cool! Everyone says the Headmaster reads /minds/ you'd think he could pay better attention to that kind of thing!" Kavalam nods, very solemnly. "Real actual jerks," he agrees. "Some of them have been giving my friend a hard time because of the..." A long hesitation. "Gay. Do you suppose we really /want/ the teachers to poke in our heads though?" His own head tips to one side. "Maybe this kind of problem, we do better to solve ourselves? I have been trying to figure ways. The longer I watch the Real Actual Jerks for the more I see it is not only my friend they bother. I do not think," he says apologetically to Mina, "they are so nice to you always. And you maybe have a friend? Kerri?" "Yeah, uh, I actually think that Xavier paying less attention is better, 'cause... he's a weird, stern old guy and the less of my thoughts he knows, the better..." says Marinov with a slightly awkward glance in Mina's direction. Their gaze turns towards Kavalam, "Yeah, I have a friend named Kerri. It's... are the 'real actual jerks' doing something to her? Like, messing with her at all?" They scowl at the thought. "Ohhh... woah I didn't think about that /actually/ when you put it that way it sounds way creepy." Mina shudders, clamping her hands to the side of her head as if this might help in telepath-prevention. Her shoulders curl a little inward, toes wiggling against the wood boards again. "I mean there's some older guys that -- but that's just how guys are, right? They're like. Obnoxious. It's not /serious/ it's just --" Her nose wrinkles. "Are they doing something serious to your friend? Or /your/ friend?" Her eyes dart between the other two rapidly. "I do not see why we should put up with this. 'How they are'. I find harassment itself to be a serious matter, no?" Kavalam unfolds his hands, spreading them in front of him. "They do it because people are afraid. I see Kerri giving them money. She also looks afraid. I have not yet found the reason but I imagine it is not a /good/ one." His hands swing inward, clap together as he presses on, a little more breathless now, a little more intent: "We could make /them/ afraid. It would be a good change, hm?"