Logs:Target Practice

Target Practice
Dramatis Personae Gaétan, Spencer, Tomas
In Absentia	2020-09-28 "AND YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT NOT KNOWING ABOUT PEOPLE. TAYLOR IS AMISH" (Followed by some conversations.)
Location <XAV> Grounds - Xs Grounds
Xavier's School is situated on grounds as luxurious as the mansion itself. The tree-lined drive brings you up to the lush green sweep of front lawn and the wide front porch with its bench swing, often frequented by students studying in pleasant weather. The large oak tree in the front yard is home to a tire swing, installed long ago beneath the sturdy old treehouse. The lawn rolls out all the way down to the thin rocky pier at the edge of the glittering lake. The water stretches huge and wide off into the distance, the boathouse a small blip at its shore. Along its bank, forest stretches dense and shady to one side; to the other cliffs start to rise, high and rocky, providing trails for hiking or climbing, for the adventurous. Sports practices are winding down for the day; there's still a bit left till dinner and the grounds are much quieter than they were an hour ago. A good distance off from the mansion one lone figure is still out near where the ground starts to turn rocky and slope into the hills. Gaétan is still dressed from earlier cross country practice, running shoes and quick-dry green tee and lightweight black joggers. A target has been set up a good distance from him; slightly behind is a zipped-up black gym bag and open black carrying case, sized for the recurve bow in his hands. There's a black and green leather armguard on one wrist, a small fingertab in his drawing hand and a quiver on one hip from which he's currently drawing a new arrow. The ones in the target already have kind of a spread -- a few cleanly centered, a few scattered around the outer rings. He's careful to visually check the wide open around around him before drawing his next shot to let it fly, hitting unimpressively somewhere in the middle blue ring. Spencer appears beside Gaétan, still dressed sharply in a white button-down, a blue paisley tie, black slacks, black oxfords, and a plain black velvet kippah, though he's lost his jacket somewhere along the way. "Hey -- oh!" His eyes track to the bow, the target. "Sorry -- I should have texted. Um." He squints at the target, trying to divine the most recent arrow to land on it. "Nice shot?" Tomas wandered around the grounds, he had a become fond of this new evening activity, he wasn't normally a outdoor person, but the outside provided a respite from the noise of the inside, the buzz of every light and circuit in the mansion, the static in every computer or phone, the world had become so much louder since his powers manifested. He had on a pair of cargo pants and loosely tied boots and a black hoodie with a Dead Kennedy's logo on the back earbuds in. He hadn't wandered this far from the main building, he saw Gaetan ahead of him shooting archery, he thought that would be interesting to watch and wandered over. He walked up near Gaetan and waved, jumping a bit when Spencer appeared and gasping before smiling and waving at him. He nodded and gave Gaetan a thumbs up, agreeing with Spencer. Gaétan's shoulders tighten as Tomas approaches, his jaw tightening. There's a small delay before he jerks his head up in hello. When Spence appears too he twitches, startled; the next arrow he's been starting to fit to his strings falls to the grass unshot. He exhales, slow, eyes dropping to the ground. "Not really. Kind of sucked." His jaw has unclenched again by the time he's done stooping to pluck his arrow back up. "How was the. Fasting." Spence waves back at Tomas. "Fasting was -- kinda easy? Didn't feel like eating anyhow." He sounds oddly cheerful about this. "Everyone was trying to tell me I shouldn't, but I have cancer, not uh..." He trails off, frowning. "...something that would get worse from not eating for a day. Staying awake through services was a bit rough, though. How was your regular, atonement-free day off?" He glances at Tomas uncertainly, then adds, "Both y'alls?" Tomas lowers his head as Spencer talks about his cancer he places his hand over his own heart and nods sympathetically. Tomas shrugs, seeing it seems that spencer wants to change the subject, he then pulls out his phone and types: "IT WAS GOOD, SLEPT IN, CAUGHT UP ON SCHOOL WORK, ENGLISH CLASS" he rolls his eyes at the phone says 'English class' "AND NOW IM GOING ON A WALK, THIS IS A BIG PROPERTY, IT IS NICE TO WALK, IT IS QUIET OUTSIDE" He leans down and picks a flower off the ground and puts it in his own hair and grins at the two boys. "Yeah, it was quiet outside." Gaétan doesn't shoot his next arrow. "I think you can actually do atonement anywhere." His eyes fix on the target, but his arms have dropped, arrow held in one hand and the bow slack in the other. He taps the arrow lightly against the outside of his leg. "Mostly I slept. If you sleep through all your meals does that count as a fast?" Spencer ducks his head slightly, his eyes darting to the target, then back to the arrow in his friend's hand. "Sorry. Shouldn't assume whether anyone else was doing atonement. It's not like we have the monopoly on that, on any day." He bounces up onto his toes. Sways slightly. Drops back down. "Sleeping in is great! And I think it...technically counts as fasting, but not in spirit? Unless you intentionally slept so you wouldn't be tempted to eat?" He chews on his lower lip. Turns to Tomas, "What do you think? Tomas shrugs and types on his phone: "I DO NOT KNOW I AM NOT RELIGIOUS, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE DEFENITION OF FASTING IS, THOU I WOULD ASUME IT HAS TO BE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE . SO I GUESE SLEEPING TO PREVENT TEMPTATION WOULD COUNT, BUT I WAS JUST SLEEPING IN BECUSE I AM LAZY" He chuckles a bit. "You don't have to be religious to fast." Gaétan grinds the tip of the arrow into the ground. "Does it count as fasting if there is no temptation? Like if you don't even have an appetite --" His eyes flick to Spence, then down to the grass with a small shake of head. "Nevermind." Now he fits the arrow to his string, drawing it again. "What's lazy even mean. Is it lazy to want to get enough sleep?" "Different people have different definitions." Spence sounds nonchalant about this. Then, more thoughtfully, "I think that depends on the reason you're fasting. If it's to help you focus on prayer -- or whatever you're fasting about -- then I think it counts whether you're tempted or not. I guess if the point is resisting temptation then not so much." He fiddles with tail of his tie. "I guess if you fast by sleeping you can't really do either of those, huh? I don't think sleeping in is lazy. Teenagers need a lot of sleep! I'm glad you got the extra rest, and I'm glad my people helped make that happen." Tomas listens very lenitively as Spencer explains nodding along with a soft grin. He types more on his phone "YES, THANK YOU FOR THAT, THE SLEEP WAS NICE, THE PAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN A LOT, NEW SCHOOL, NEW LIVING SITUATION, AND NEW OTHER STUFF" he rubs the back of his neck and sighs. "Yeah. Sounds difficult. Exhausting." Gaétan draws the bow, lets the arrow fly. Not quite a bullseye, though this one lands closer to the center than his last. "How do you actually. Do atonement. How does fasting help? You gotta do other stuff too, right? Like not eating, that doesn't help anyone you've hurt." Spencer blinks huge gray eyes at Tomas. "Yeah that's -- a lot! I hope you're settling in ok so far." This sounds a little stilted. He brightens, seeing Gaétan's arrow hit home. "Oh! That's a good shot," he declares confidently. "I mean, I'm sure different religions have different ideas, but we have a whole process that would probably bore you to tears. Fasting is supposed to help keep your mind free to focus on that process instead on worldly stuff like...eating food. The part that helps the people you've hurt is forsaking the sin and doing what you can to make up for it." He frowns, considering. "It can be real hard figuring out how to do that last part." Tomas gives Gaetan a thumbs up before clapping his hands a couple times and smiling. He nods a bit and rubs his the back of his neck, he types: " YES IT HAS BEEN HARD, I HAVE BROKEN A LOT OF LIGHTBULBS, THOU I MOVED TO LED LIGHTS, EASY TO CLEAN UP, AND I THINK EASIER IN GENRAL, NOT SURE I NEED TO EXPAREMENT MORE WITH IT, BUT ITS NICE HAVING OTHER KIDS THAT ARE GOING THRU SIMILAR THINGS, AND THE TEACHERS AS WELL, YOU ALL ARE NICE" he smiles softly. Gaétan's jaw tightens again. He rocks back, heels digging into the earth and one hand falling to his quiver. "Yeah. Sounds hard," he says again, softer. "What if you don't have any idea how to..." He shakes his his quickly and draws another arrow out. He looks back to Tomas. Very briefly. His eyes turn back to his target quickly. "Dude, you're really oblivious if you think we're all nice here." "I think...it's ok to ask?" Spencer suggests, though he sounds uncertain. "I don't just mean like asking a rabbi, but people who have experience, people in your community, maybe even the people you hurt. It depends, right?" He shrugs, eyes flicking between Gaétan and Tomas. "I think there are nice people and not-so-nice people at every school. Nice isn't all that counts, anyway." He bounces up onto his toes again, wobbly or no, a fey look in his eyes. "Nice is different than good." Tomas nods and types: " WELL YEA SOMETIMES PEOPLE PRETEND TO BE NICE" he shuffles his feet a bit "BUT SO FAR MABYE, IT IS BETTER, I MEAN I GOT A SCOUL THE OTHER DAY, BUT THAT IS BECUSE SHE WAS ORGINIZING BOOKS, I THINK." He thinks for moment, before continuing to type: "OH LAST TIME WE TALKED, YOU TWO HELPED ME FIND THE KITCHEN SO I COULD GET PUDDING, WELL I THEN FOUND THE LIBRARY, AND THERE WAS A GIRL THERE THAT LOOKED LIKE A SCORPION AND SHE SCOULED AT ME FOR ASKING WHERE AN OUTLET WAS, BUT I THINK THAT IS BECUSE SHE WAS BUSY AND I INTIRUPTTED" he nods and stops typing on the phone, however the phone, without him typing, says "CoOL SCORpion LaDY, Big ClAWs" in a more distorted staticky voice, Tomas blushes a bit at this, clearly not meaning for that to happen. Gaétan's grip tightens on his bow. He takes in a very deep breath as Tomas's phone continues talking, lets it out slow. "Oh my gods." His words are muttered under his breath. "You not noticing anything that's happening around you isn't the same as people pretending anything. Learn to read a room, dude. You walk around in a little bubble staring at everyone but not bothering to actually learn anything about them. I don't know how you can be so curious and so uncurious at the same time. What do you actually know about anyone here?" The next zing-thud of his arrow flies harder, truer, burying itself just at the edge of the bullseye, now. "Your classmates kidnapped the Headmaster and punched him in the face -- probably because he was invading people's brains, by the way, he had it coming. Your roommate's a freaking creeper who assaulted a girl because she didn't want to talk to him and got rightfully punched over it. Everyone thinks wandering around staring at people like you do is weird as hell but everyone stares at the monster kids just as much. But yeah. Sure. Everyone's nice here." "I think..." Spence starts, but trails off, biting his lower lip again, his eyes widening more and more as Gaétan speaks. "Reading rooms can be hard," he says finally. "I'm not always so great at it either. But it's important to listen to what people are saying, and ask if you don't understand." He watches the arrow fly. "Great shot," is quiet, sincere. His fingers flutter gently at the seams of his slacks. "You alright, though?" Tomas takes a step back and slouches his posture before taking a deep breath and typing: "IM SORRY. IT IS HARD. I GET ANXIETY ABOUT TALKING TO PEOPLE. AND IM NOT VERY PERSEPTIVE. MY POWER IS MAKING THAT EVEN HARDER. I CAN LITERALLY HEAR LIGHTS AND COMPUTER CIRCUTS. AND I DO KNOW SOME THINGS ABOUT PEOPLE. MARINOV TOLD ME AND KIRT A FUN GHOST STORY. AND MARCUS LIKES TO COOK" He glares at Gaeton as the phone dictates, before continuing to type seemingly ignoring the comment about the headmaster instead focused on his roommate: " AND YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT NOT KNOWING ABOUT PEOPLE. TAYLOR IS AMISH HE PROBABLY HAS TROUBLE INTERACTING WITH NON AMISH PEOPLE. AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME, YOU EVER FUCKING HAD YOUR HEAD STUCK IN A TOLIET By.. bY BUlllllllll .....eeee" the phone seems to glitch out and emit static as Tomas' face scrunches up and his eyes water. When it does this Tomas throws it on the ground. Tomas flips off Gaetan before giving him a glare. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure you're the only person here who has anxiety." Gaétan does not roll his eyes, honest, but the dry tone of his voice practically rolls them for him. "Definitely the only person at this school whose power's ever made their life hard, been a distraction, made it hard to think." He starts to draw another arrow from his quiver but stops, lowering his bow and pivoting on a heel to look at Tomas, his brows hiking up higher. The side of his mouth twitches, and for a moment he's just silent. "I'm sorry," he says, finally, "you're trying to lecture me about not knowing about people, and you care so little about anyone but yourself that your roommate tells you they're from a minority culture and you didn't even spend five seconds on Google to look up even one single fact about the Amish? That level of self-involvement is almost impressive, honestly." He turns back to his target. Teeth clenched. Breathing deeper, though his jaw is still tight. "I'm --" Zzz-thunk -- this time dead center. "-- great."