Logs:Of Schoolteachers and Swallowtails (Or, Contemplating Revenge)

Of Schoolteachers and Swallowtails (Or, Contemplating Revenge)
Dramatis Personae Kavalam, Mina, Harmony
In Absentia	2019-09-09 "My ass is just too easy to kick, I think."
Location <XAV> Gardens - Xs Grounds
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. It's only the first real week back at school, but Mina already looks kind of Over It. Class has only barely gotten out and already she's fled to the gardens, barefoot in a bright yellow sundress, a huge fabric sunflower blossom pinned into her long hair. Her backpack has been carelessly tossed aside -- she's lying belly-down on the path, watching intently as a large blue-and-black swallowtail perches lightly on a thistle. Unsurprisingly, Kavalam is fairly unobtrusive as he makes his way down the path. Not that he's actually being stealthy -- bold red button-down, a pair of headphones in his ear, tramping straight down the center of the path towards Mina as he repeats "Donde esta la zapateria?" he's repeating, kind of stilted, aloud to himself -- only the tail end of this probably falls within Mina's awareness as he focuses his attention. Lifts a hand -- first to remove an earbud and second to wave. However unobtrusive he may be, Harmony follows quietly in Kavalam's wake. They are wearing purple linen wrap pants and a lightweight azure blue tunic, satchel slung across their chest, carrying their sandals in one hand, having kicked them off as soon as they got outside. They look sullen and distracted, dark eyes staring down at the path in front of them, and on Kavalam's feet, though when they spot Mina they break into a thin smile, waving as well. The smile grows wider when they spot the butterfly. "Oh, pretty!" "What?" Mina jumps twitchily when Kavalam speaks, looking up with sudden wide eyes. "It's a pipevine swallowtail. We've been talking." She rolls over onto her side, propping her cheek against her fist. "Hey!" is very chipper -- so is the follow up, "You look like crap." She's looking Harmony over with a lift of her eyebrows. "Tell me geometry isn't kicking your ass already?" "Talking to the bug?" Kavalam's eyebrows raise skeptically. He crouches down besides Mina, hands resting on his knees, and peers at the butterfly -- still sounding rather dubious when he asks, "Does it have much to say?" His eyes flick to Harmony -- briefly -- then back down to the butterfly. "Geometry is easy, that teacher is just terrible." "Thanks? My ass is just too easy to kick, I think." Harmony folds themselves down into a cross-legged sit near the others, holding their chin up in the palm of one hand. "How were your days?" Their shoulders droop. "I don't know if he's a terrible teacher, but he flat-out refuses to use my pronouns." They blow out a long breath. "Whatever. Class is over now and there's butterflies. Pipevine swallowtails." "Wait, are we talking your actual ass or like your... mental..." Mina's brow scrunches up deeply. "Academic? Ass?" She shakes her head, rolling up to sit cross-legged beside the others. "He does? What a douchebag. Are you allowed to complain? Does anything happen if you complain?" Her expression lights eagerly. "If you can't complain I bet Kavalam could go haunt him. Drop all his clothes in the toilet. Steal all his sheets. TP his room. -- I saw some tiger swallowtails, too." This all comes in the same cheerful gush of tone. Kavalam's eyes widen at the talk of Teacher Retribution. He pokes his tongue into the side of his cheek, leans forward just a little to prop his arms on his knees. Stares more intently -- kind of more through than at the butterfly, now -- as he gives a veeery contemplative hum. Harm winces, but there's a smile beneath it now. "In general...both? But no, my math teacher isn't beating me up." They shrug. "I'm sure I'm allowed to complain, but I don't know what that will accomplish except making him hate me. And honestly it's not like what he's actually doing is all that different on my end from the teachers who say they'll use my pronouns but just...don't." They sit up a little straighter and dig a new phone out of their bag, snapping a picture of the butterfly. "You don't have to haunt him," they add to Kavalam, their voice cracking with the attempt at emphasis. "Though I would not object if you did." "The ghost of transphobia past," Mina declares brightly. Her fist pounds into her opposite palm, head shaking. "Oh if he was beating you up it'd be on. -- let's make a list." She's bouncing just a little where she sits. "Like, all things you'd want to do to him if -- just hypothetically, you know? -- you were kind of invisible and could get away with it totally unproven." Her teeth dig at her lip, momentarily. "How come there's nobody cool on the administration? Like, honestly, they should let us have a vote on which teachers are in charge of running this place." Her fingers wiggle down into the dirt and she volunteers, "I'd pick Ms. Munroe." "Mmm." Finally, the butterfly decides to flit off, fluttering an erratic path through the flowers. "I don't have to haunt him," Kavalam agrees quietly. He reaches out a hand, brushes a finger lightly against the feathery thistleflower once the butterfly has vacated it. "I'm not sure I'd pick anyone here. The teachers are --" He pauses. Frowns, deep. Drops his hand back to his knee. "Well. You've met them." Harmony covers their mouth with one hand, but does not stifle the giggle behind it. Their "Thanks" is not so dubious this time. "Maybe if all his stuff just all ended up in the wrong place? Bet he would hate that. Don't think he'd learn anything from it but...it might be funny to see." Their eyes follow the butterfly's erratic path up into the air. "I'd vote for Mr. Holland," they say after a moment's consideration. "Ms. Munroe seems pretty cool, too." They tilt their head at Kavalam. "Are they a lot worse than teachers other places? This is kinda the only real school I've ever been to, so..." "They're pretty much all colonizers so that's a strike against them." Mina sounds oddly cheerful about this, too. "At my last school most of my teachers were Hawaiian and the food was much better. As swank as this place is, you'd think the food would be better. Mr. Holland's desserts make up for it a little. I still wouldn't want him in charge of things, though, he's so..." She blushes, glances to Harm, shakes her head quickly. "Oh! What if you dumped all his stuff in the pool?" "Gay?" Kavalam fills in when Mina trails off. "I do not think that deserves dumping his things in the pool. And the paint would be terrible to get back out." He stands slowly once the butterfly has taken off. "Ms. Chavan cooks delicious things. Just less so for the meals. She has to make food the white kids will eat. You go ask her, off-times, she'll give you things that are great." His shrug is small, a lazy roll of one shoulder. "Teachers everywhere are terrible. I do not think it is /worse/. I just don't know how anyone is meant to learn in school." "Why shouldn't gay people be in charge?" Harm sounds -- only a little defensive. Then they give a long, disappointed sigh. "But he is also very white, like you said. It seems kind of like if you actually want to learn, sometimes you have to...workaround the schooling?" An uncertain shrug. They look up at Kavalam thoughtfully. "I think dumping all of anyone's stuff in the pool is going to make a giant mess." Still, they are, not altogether successfully now, trying not to smile. "Oh! That's great, because I am starving." They rise in one smooth motion, dropping their sandals back down and stepping into them. "Wanna come beg for snacks at the kitchen with me?" "White!" Mina agrees with a rush of relief, "he's so white. Ohmygosh," she bounces to her feet, snatches her pack up. "I so want to go scam snacks with you I barely touched that casserole stuff at lunch. Let's go are we supposed to bring a bribe or anything?" Just in case she's plucking a large red rose blossom off of a bush in passing as she trots back toward the building.