Logs:Normal Rumors

Normal Rumors
Dramatis Personae Cassy, Gaétan, Spencer
In Absentia	2019-07-09 "You can be ten corvids in a trenchcoat /and/ a superhero, I think."
Location <XS> Roof
The view from up here is phenomenal, a panorama of the expansive Xavier's grounds, forest and lake and rocky cliffs alike. Even without the view outwards, the rooftop itself holds its own delights, in the form of the tiny jewel of a flower garden tucked away up here, tended by one of the school's teachers. From the edge of the roof, with a veeery careful jump, it looks like it just might be possible to reach the treehouse in the old oak tree. Lunchtime during summer session is a quieter affair than during the schoolyear proper, and the grounds reflect that. Only sparsely populated even on this gorgeous and mild day, a scattered handful of students electing to eat or goof off outdoors. Gaétan has chosen a perch where he can look out over all of them, tucked up on the roof's edge with a thermos between his knees and a bowl of mac and cheese that he's been tucking into hungrily. His phone is in his other hand; he's scrolling through Twitter with a vaguely disinterested frown. "... these qanon numbskulls were only interested in pedo rings when they were totally fake pedo rings, now that /two/ presidents were probably /actually/ part of a pedo ring the conspiracy theorists want no part of it." Sitting beside Gaétan, Spencer has long since devoured whatever was in his bowl, and is currently working his way through a 20oz bottle of Code Red Mountain Dew. He's wearing a (newish and slightly oversized) lavender t-shirt with a twist of rainbow DNA splashed across the front, bracketed by the words 'B'tzelem Elohim' in Hebrew, black cargo shorts, and purple-and-cyan sport sandals. "No respect for the long anti-authoritarian history of theoretical conspiracy studies." He gives an exaggerated shake of his head. When Cassy pokes her head out from the Attic window it's as sudden as it is unannounced "What the President did wh....?" she blurts from her whole body, without moving her mouth. "Oh.. Wait no caught it on the echo. I think." Her face twists into a frown of effort. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude or listen in... Just sort of happens from time to time." Her red hair is pulled back into a ponytail that can't quite bring itself to stay still while she talks. She's opted on a t-shirt and skirt combo, bright anime design on the shirt and a whole host of cheap plastic bangles down her arms. While the skirt's a considerably more plain grey with pleats and instead of opting for shoes she's just scooting around in socks. "Was part of a pedo ring," Gaétan supplies helpfully. "But honestly, c'mon, it'd be more surprising at this point if this president /wasn't/ molesting kids." He lies back against the roof, looking upside-down towards the window as Cassy emerges. "Like what news could possibly come out about him that's actually a surprise anymore?" "Hey Cassy!" Spence twist around and waves. "I'm sure there's all kinds of things that would surprise people. Like. Um..." He scrunches his face up. "He's a brilliant tapdancer? Or like. Actually ten CEOs in a suit pretending to be a person?" His skinny shoulders hitch up in a shrug. "Anything showing basic human decency?" Cassy offers with a grin, opting to lean halfway out of the Attic window rather than come out onto the roof itself. "I know that'd shock me anyway. The multiple people inside a really gross fat suit less so, there's probably room in there if you're reaaaaaaaaly friendly." She shrugs. "Although I've heard a lot of really weird stuff. Especially up here... Sound carries in weird ways, so sometimes I get these snippets of random Westchester life. Like... Ah yeah so Rover needs his worming tablets." She peers around and shrugs. "Not that I have a clue who or where Rover is. I'm guessing it's a dog but you never know..." "Ten CEOs in a trenchcoat, I'd believe were /exactly/ as terrible as Trump. If I found out he was secretly ten ravens in a trenchcoat, then I'd start to get surprised. I think the birds would make better choices." Gaétan shovels more pasta into his mouth. Washes it down with a gulp from his thermos. "Do you hear anything /interesting/ from there? Does anything interesting /happen/ in Westchester? In my head I just picture people talk a lot about -- golfing. Or stocks. Or their summer houses." Spencer hums thoughtfully. "I guess they'd still have to be pretty /small/ CEOs." This rather solemnly. "I would have thought you'd hear much weirder things from just, the school. I guess maybe not as much in the summer?" He looks out over the sparsely populated grounds. "But probably everyone has interesting parts to their lives, sometimes!" "I mean I try avoid listening in to the school," Cassy points out with a sigh, although there's no actual sigh noise to accompany the physical motion. "I don't want everyone to think I'm this horrible gossip that just snoops on private conversations...." She shrugs again. "As for Westchester sure lots of stuff that people might find interesting. Like this one time I was looking out a window and someone was on the phone with their bank doing security questions. People have affairs all the time. I'm pretty sure one of the local soccer moms is also involved in selling painkillers illegally." "Thinking of Trump as a bunch of Lilliputian CEOs is a way better mental image than he deserves. CEO after the Oompa Loompas revolt and take over the Wonka factory. A bunch of fairies coming over for cross-cultural corporate espionage. -- Actually," Gaétan's brows have scrunched, "if they were from Faerie that would explain a lot." He half-turns, tucking a knee underneath him and looking over at Cassy with a shake of his head. "Psh. That's all normal stuff. I want to know if anyone's secretly doing international espionage or planning a major diamond heist or on the run from the mob or they're a retired assassin getting reluctantly pulled back into the life after their puppy dies." Spencer has started bouncing up and down where he sits, his soda churning into foam inside it's bottle. "Oh man oh man that's amazing I'd say you should make a Twitter account that's just about exposing various members of the administration as faery spies but then they might take it seriously and like --" He breaks off abruptly, paling. "Sorry. Um." He recovers quickly, beaming a smile at Cassy. "But yeah I'm sure there's Westchester-ers with lurid secret lives like that, though if I had your power and randomly overheard people talking about stuff like that, I'd probably just keep convincing myself that they were role-playing or something." "Not overhearing that sort of thing is why I'm probably gonna be staying every Summer until I graduate," Cassy remarks glumly. "My moms a defence lawyer so... yeah don't wanna overhear anything assassin related." She forces a smile back at Spencer. "Well mostly up here I just hear the wind and the woods. It's really hard to pick out voices at this distance. I have to concentrate and kinda..." She gestures her hands as if trying to mimic waves. "Wibble everything back to what it used to be until it makes sense." Gaétan's eyes dart toward Spence. He reaches out, snags the soda from the other boy. Replaces it with the thermos of (uncarbonated!) Arnold Palmer. "I guess if there are assassins at the school over summer you'll just be out of luck. Why school, though? Don't lawyers have money? Couldn't they send you somewhere nicer and also assassin-free? I bet O'ahu doesn't have that many assassins, and it's not boring." Spence doesn't seem fussed about his drink being swapped out. It's hard to say for sure he /noticed/ the change, not even when he pops the cap for a drink and it /doesn't/ spray him in the face. "Not all secret identities are like. /Assassins/ though. What about superheroes, or supervillains, or...you know, ten ravens in a trench coat?" His eyes sparkle with mirth. "Hey, you may be stuck with classes now, but you can still go to O'ahu before fall term, right? Or somewhere else. Oh, you could go somewhere super quiet!" He's started bouncing again. "There are some /really/ quiet deserts out there, and caves." "I'd be more afraid for the assassin if they turned up here," Cassy points out. "Some of the teachers are scary as heck." She shifts on the window sill and adjusts the bangles on her arm. "They could afford to if I wanted but.. engines make a lot of noise. Cars are uncomfortable but a plane? I wanna try figure out if I can tone my ability down before I travel a lot. And hey where better to get the practise hours in?" Of course no sooner has she resumed speaking and the bangles shift back out of the position she'd put them into. "It's... well you only think those places are quiet. I could maybe... try let you both hear what the wind sounds like to me if you want? It won't be quite the same. A desert would probably be more scratchy from all the sand." "You can be ten corvids in a trenchcoat /and/ a superhero, I think." Gaétan's fingers drum on the roof briefly. "Or an assassin, it's already right there in the name." He stirs at his mac and cheese, pushing the remains around the bowl, now, without taking more. "I'll pass, thanks. I like my ears unbothered. I'll just. Take your word for it. World seems loud enough already. I wasn't thinking about getting away from sound. Just -- from teachers." "Yeah, I think I'll pass, too. Maybe a place with /soothing/ sounds is better than a quiet one." Spence frowns. "Right where in which name?" But the question is hardly out of his mouth before he exclaims, "Oh! Hahaha /murder/!" Then he slaps a hand over his mouth, blushing a little. "Sorry." His smile is sheepish when he uncovers it. "There's probably teachers in O'ahu, too. But not /your/ teachers. I'm always ready to wisk people away from their teachers, even though I mostly like mine." "Predictable or consistent sound is probably better than soothing. It's easier to tune out that way," Cassy muses from her perch. "And I could totally have turned down the volume you know." She purses her lips and there's a low roaring noise. Anticlimactically it just sounds like a regular breezy day just a bit deeper. "See? I guess it's not really that impressive if I do that though." Cassy shrugs again, then grins "I'm a little surprised you don't have some sort of desert island tropical secret base Spencer with.... Huh. Now there's a thought.... Could you jump all the way to Scotland? I was trying to find out if we had a lake monster here at school the other day. But wouldn't it be a million times more awesome to find the Loch Ness monster?" Gaétan's brows furrow, his gaze drifting out across the wide grounds toward the lake. His head tilts at the rushing of the fake-wind, but he only gives it a brief lift of eyebrows. "Mina's in O'ahu. I'm pretty sure she went to at least /some/ school before she came here. That, or she's just some kind of prodigy." He shovels more mac into his mouth. Very carefully taps at the cap of the Mountain Dew, opening it over the edge of the rooftop -- it only spills over a /little/ -- and gulps down a swallow. "Spence can jump anywhere. I'm pretty sure he has secret bases all over the world. He /definitely/ has friends all over the world but I don't know if they're, like. Superhero friends." His eyes grow wider with sudden mock alarm. "Wait. Are they super/villain/ friends? Maybe it's /lairs/ all over the world." Spence bobs proudly and snaps his fingers in Gaétan's direction. "/Any/where," he reiterates. "I'm not gonna divulge anyone's super identity, but I /definitely/ have secret bases and/or lairs all over the world." His smile dims, just for a moment. "I'm /so/ totally ready to go on the run from the government. Or to go find the Loch Ness monster. /Or/ go chill in O'ahu. Oh hey!" He grins bright and wide. "You wanna go visit Mina? She seems pretty cool." Cassy chews at her lip. "I'd probably need to check what sort of weather Loch Ness even has. Don't wanna turn up ready to swim and find snow everywhere," she muses. "Doesn't running from the Government sound exhausting? Like they'd have drones everywhere and if it's anything like the movies everyone would call you 'the asset'." She hrms. "Then again I guess it couldn't hurt knowing one pleasant climate non-extradition treaty country." "She is pretty cool." Gaétan finishes off the rest of his mac and cheese, licking the spoon clean as he gets to his feet. He nabs Spence's empty bowl, too, stacking it with his own. "Running from the Government does sound exhausting," he agrees very mildly, "but so does having the kind of government that makes you always think about what you're going to do when you need to run from them. -- Did you want seconds? I'm getting seconds." He waggles the bowl at Spence in indication as he heads towards Cassy, nodding at the window to indicate his own need to climb back /in/. Spence scrunches up his face. "I hope I wouldn't be an /asset/ to the government more like um...the opposite of -- oh! Liability!" He bites his lower lip, nods and snaps his fingers at Gaétan again, much less snappily than before. "Yeah, both of those. Are pretty exhausting." His smile comes back bright and quick, though. "Yes, please! /Probably/ thirds, too. Merci!" Cassy springs out of the window, one of her be-socked feet slipping out from under her and almost sending her sprawling. "I should maybe... Go find shoes. This experiment I'm trying isn't really working out quite like I planned anyway." She bites her lip. "I was thinking I'd maybe be able to hear soundwaves better through the ground without the soles in the way. I maybe need one of those... Uhm, sciencey things." She makes a finger snapping motion although no noise is generated. "Controlled environment?" Spencer vanishes from his perch when Cassy slips, reappearing beside her reach to steady her, though he doesn't seem in the least bothered when she manages to catch herself. "Oh wow you mean like Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender?" His eyes are wide and excited -- wider and more excited than usual. "You should try doing it in the music room there's great acoustics there! Or -- I don't know -- maybe also not wearing socks may help? Good luck, though I hope it works that's /so/ cool!" "The music room's soundproofed," Cassy points out with a grin. "But I'll give it some more work and who knows maybe it'll work once I'm a bit better at it. Anyway for now at least I'd rather not constantly be about to slip and land on my butt." She gives Spencer a wave, then ducks back into the Attic. "Cya around."