Logs:Lying in Wait

Lying in Wait
Dramatis Personae K.C., Lael, Naomi
In Absentia	2020-08-29 "I think it's darn smart to be scared right about now." (Part of Final Boss: Xavier TP.)
Location <PLC> Conversation Room - Midtown East
'<PLC> Conversation Room - Midtown East' This is the heart of the Pure Life Center, an expansive living room most notable for the conversation pit in the middle, filled with ovoid cushions in bright primary colors. A more traditional set of couches in red bracket a flatscreen television in one corner, and another set in blue is arranged around a little library with both books and board games. An entire wall of windows, including a pair of glass french doors, let in ample light, and the balcony beyond them affords a spectacular view southward while also providing smokers an outlet at the retreat. Naomi is on edge - she had been expecting a tour of Xavier's, not a whirlwind about-face back to the city. She doesn't know the city and it makes her nervous, though she has been trying to play it cool in front of other people - mostly Marcus, but Lael's other friends (friend?) too. She didn't sleep well - there are bags under her eyes and she's still in a blue "WHITE COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL" sweatshirt and some flannel pajama pants. Naomi runs one finger over the spines of the books once more before getting bored and leaning back onto the couch. She looks over at her companions on the couch and says what's on her mind: "This place don't looked lived in. Hell of a place to hide out." Suga Mama is enjoying her time in these new environs; the stocky black-and-white pitbull has made a nest for herself among a pile of cushions, looking very pleased with the situation. K.C., sipping a Coke on the couch, is far more sedate. Unlike her Very Fashionable cool cat roommate she looks boring as always. Jeans, baggy tee shirt featuring a print on the front styled after Obama's "Hope" poster, but with baby Yoda replacing Obama's face. Her free hand bobs restlessly at her side, fingers tapping lightly at the air. "Not hiding," she tells Naomi. "Waiting." "Does looks like the kinda place they shoot TV shows in, don't it?" Lael comments lightly. Dressed in a heather gray Xavier's Athletics t-shirt and torn blue jeans, he's been skimming through a book plucked from the shelves: Pure Focus: The Pure Life Success Story by Tasha Gillespie. He closes the book. "We waitin' on these folks to go to the school about it?" He taps the cover of the book, his brows furrowing with skeptcism, his hair twisting slow and serpentine. "Like The Bachelor or something. America's Next Top Model maybe," Naomi agrees, curling one leg under the other as she settles on the couch. With one hand she reaches out hesitantly for Suga Mama, eyes darting to K.C. in case she cannot, in fact, pet the dog. She doesn't know quite what to make of K.C. yet, but she's intrigued by her whole... energy. "Waiting," she repeats. <<Like, to strike?>> "Is that a good idea?" In her head, the image of a CNN story about the RNC attack flashes, along with some uneasy feeling. She looks at K.C., choosing her words carefully. "Why we waiting for them? Lots of us here now, we could -" Naomi shrugs, "-do something, just us kids, couldn't we?" Suga Mama, at least, is happy for any and all attention, wriggling her way nearer and shoving her whole blunt square head into the outstretched hand. K.C. doesn't seem to mind it, just curling further into the corner of the couch, legs pulled up under her. "Telepath," she answers with a small frown; drumming lightly at her knee; her own mind, as usual, has little to disclose past this save for a ceaseless cacophony, an endless jangling screech that is -- surely very pleasant for Lael to be around. "Dangerous. Can't sneak up. Charge, though? Maybe charge." Her frown does not leave. Her fingers snap together rapidly. "Shane was talking to teachers -- but. Now. In jail. Waiting was a good idea. Now --" A small shrug. "I don't know about all that, Naomi." Lael is shaking his head, tapping the spine of the book restlessly. He nods at K.C.'s explanation. "Folks say he's the most powerful telepath in the whole world. Whether that's true or not--well, we don't even know what's really goin' on, now do we?" He starts, coming up short, looks to K.C. with disturbingly slitted eyes. "In jail? They done locked him up for meddling, you think? That don't bode too well for waiting more." Naomi sinks her hand into Suga Mama's fur, giving the new friend a good scritch with her silver painted nails. "So y'all got -" she's counting in her head, "- one terrorist teacher, one teacher in jail that ain't the terrorist, and the Xavier in Xavier is the world's most powerful telepath?" It's a lot to take in - her mind is flicking through the school website in her head, trying to recall if there were any hints. She looks up, past Lael straight to K.C. <<He knows just a bit more than me, seems like.>> "Would people charge? Or are folks too scared?" <<Should I be scared?>> K.C.'s frown is not going away. "Lot of telepaths. In the world." Her fingers drop to drum at her knee, then return to the air, flicking lightly at nothing. "Locked him up for terrorism too," she says, followed swiftly by: "Silly. Nonsense. Rubbish. Not a terrorist." She's rocking very slightly where she sits, head shaking. "-- huh. Silly. Nonsense. Rubbish. Maybe -- maybe." Though here she shakes her head harder. Reconsiders to say, instead: "Don't know why they locked him. Made someone mad, maybe." She slumps back in the seat now, huffing a quiet breath. "Don't know what's best. This is -- a mess." "I don't think as Mister Holland is actually any kinda terrorist," Lael says evenly. "Or, if he is, he's sure the nicest terrorist on the planet." He gets up and returns the book to its place on the shelf. "I don't rightly know if folks'll be ready to charge. Seems like a mighty dangerous plan to me, but maybe if the grown-ups can't get their act together it's got to be on us." His hair squirms and strains at the air as if trying to escape him for a moment, then settles again. "Don't mean we should or shouldn't charge, but I think it's darn smart to be scared right about now." <<Nice terrorist. Huh.>> She looks up from the dog under her hand to up to Lael. K.C. seems to have a good read on the situation, Naomi thinks, a faint sense of admiration for the other girl being quitely cultivated in the back of her mind. "Sure seems messy." She has settled on being frightened, with a wave of anger washing over the fear every so often. "It's just all bullshit, seems like. We come here to be safe, but then the school eats our brains, or whatever?" She snorts, her scales making a slight noise as her brow creases. "Just goes to show, ain't no place for us. Anywhere."