Logs:Of Bamboo and Brothers (Or, Out of Context)

Of Bamboo and Brothers (Or, Out of Context)
Dramatis Personae Kavalam, Kelawini, Kieow
In Absentia	2020-10-02 "Chee, I do not know what you are talking about anymore."
Location <XAV> Workshop - Xs Grounds
A large barn-like building situated at the far end of the gardens from the mansion proper, this makerspace functions as a classroom for many of the more hands-on classes. An expanse of workshop space, it is subdivided into smaller segments for the different types of activities: Woodshop, Welding shop, Machine shop, Electronics, Bike shop, Screen Printing and Photography, Fabric Arts, and the Rapid Prototyping Lab with a trio of 3D printers. The space comes complete with a large host of tools available for use, although many of the more dangerous require prior clearance from administration to use -- students with appropriate clearance to use them can gain access to locked equipment with their student IDs. From sanders to MIG/TIG welders to soldering stations to industrial sewing machines to its own darkroom, though, this space is well equipped for teaching students how to make. At the moment the workshop seems empty but for one Kelawini wending her way among the various machines, trailing over fingers over some of them as she goes. She's wearing a cropped jacket of deep red with black and gold braidwork at the cuffs and collar, indigo bootleg jeans, and chunky black lace-up boots. "So is there a huge difference how the pictures come out in the end?" she asks idly. "I can't tell the difference between no digital and analog for nothing, but maybe that's just--untrained eye, you know?" Though his mutation, as ever, casts an obscuring veil over his presence in the workshop, Kavalam has been making his unhurried way toward the darkroom, meandering with an idle curiosity to trail his fingers along some of the woodshop tools in passing, but stops, turns, brows lifting. "Oh, ah --" His fingers drum lightly against the table they've come to rest on. "Honest? I think most things, now, a good digital camera will make better pictures probably. Maybe. I'm not so good to say for sure. But --" His shoulder lifts, falls. "I like the doing of it." Kieow makes her way into the workshop, dressed for fall. She's wearing loose purple yoga pants and a long sleeved shirt in light yellow, but the arms have been bisected and tied back together to make room for the ruffly pumpkin leaves and vines that are peeking out from her skin and scalp. Her skin itself is rather rough and bumpy, the texture of the vegetation she's taken on. She is humming to herself as she walks inside, letting her eyes adjust to the shift from natural light to illumination. She stops herself when she hears a voice, smiling brighter. She turns to find the source and sees Kelawini first. A little confused, she rocks back on the ball of her foot and looks around again. "OH, sorry, Am I interrupting something?" Kelawini nods. "That make sense, you enjoy da kine." She indicates the darkroom with a vague sweep of her hand. "I never take no pictures except on my phone." She turns at the sound of Kieow's voice, her eyes widening only slightly. "Howzit? Workshop's for everyone, you no--you're not interrupting anything. If anything I'm interrupting Kavalam's photo...chemistry." She studies the other girl. "You come here to make something?" "I took some classes before. For those. For Yearbook. I use a digital camera. But sometimes --" Kavalam's head-wobble is affirmative. "It's peaceful. A ritual to it." He glances up at first when Kieow enters, studying her intently and then returning to looking at the tools. "Do you," this comes with a hand tipped out to Kelawini, "know about the carving of pumpkins?" "Well, that was why I asked... Is it like.. a video call or something?" Kieow continues to look around for the other person. "I wouldn't want to be around if you needed space for filming something." She finally just settles on looking at Kelawini. "Oh, Maybe! I came out here because I hadn't really been before and I have some more energy and wanted a good look around. I used to make stuff back home, mostly because I had free time, but there's not a lot of bamboo hanging around." "Pumkins?" Kelawini echoes. "Not much. I know about carving pumpkins. You wanna find some pumpkins to carve?" She seems distracted, but now stares blankly at Kieow. "Video call? Is what like a video call?" But she evidently puts it together herself in short order, her mouth falling into an "O" though no sound comes out. "You can't see him. Uh..." She glances at Kavalam. "No, I'm talking to a person you can't see because of powers. I didn't think you meant that at first because usually people don't even notice him indirectly like that." She tilts her head. "What you make with bamboo?" "I know nothing of pumpkin carving." Kavalam turns, glance shifting to Kieow with a faint surprised lift of brows. It takes a second, but for her the scene shifts -- it's not so much that he appears as that he seems to have been there all along, only a vague disorienting wrongness to the interaction that fades soon enough. "There are many bamboos. Not here, though. Other gardens. Probably," he decides after saying this, "not everyone would like you to chop them. But also -- perhaps some people would. It is hard to get rid of." "OH... Uh. I ..." Kieow dwells in the confusion, blinking rapidly at Kavalam and his proximity to Kelawini and the workshop again. "UH. Well, yeah. I guess. I don't know. My brother is in my brain a lot. Maybe it's a little weird in there because of it." That must be it. "but I couldn't hear or see him... til now." She gnaws on her lip and pushes down the disorientation and inhales deeply. "Yeah, I don't think I would take bamboo from a garden. That's kind of like... claimed. No one needs shorn off, sharp stumps in a garden. But I guess I can ask." "You just like, scoop out all the squishy insides, then you cut holes in the shell so light shines through when you put a candle inside." Kelawini mimes the actions she describes, though admittedly a bit vaguely. "Really fancy holes, sometimes." She does a double take at Kieow. "Wait, did you say in your brain?" Her tone is cautious, uncertain. "Back home, you could either just find some growing wherever or sneak some bamboo from a nursery. They cut it down there anyway to grow more, they get choke stumps." Though here she shrugs. "Don't know if there are any around here, though." "What?" There's a touch of sharpness to Kavalam's voice, his eyes narrowing for a moment on Kieow. "Your brother? Are you seeing him... now?" His eyes sweep the workshop, then return to the wall. "Ah. Scoop first. I was not sure on the correct steps." He turns, leaning up against the side of a table. "Once you have played a bamboo thief, what do you do with it?" "I don't see him. He doesn't do stuff like that. Bua just ... well, it's kind of like roots? They dig in sometimes and I can hear him and Fon and other people sometimes, but he doesn't stay in there.. I think." Kieow is nonplussed by the end result, shrugging. She's quick to move on. "OH. What? Scoop out the stuff first? Is that important? I tried it once... but I started with the fancy holes. And I make baskets and well, other things. Just.. kind of based on need." Kelawini's eyes narrow as Kieow speaks. "Chee, I do not know what you are talking about anymore. Roots--is this about the bamboo or the brains? I guess either is fine as long as no one is messing with our brains." She licks her lips. "But yeah, you gotta clean it out first, at least the way I know. Maybe there's other, fancier ways to carve pumpkins." Here a shrug, though she brightens a bit. "Oh, that's cool! I guess you can weave baskets out of just about anything that's long and flat and flexible. What was your name again? Someone told me, but." A shrug, and no further explanation. "I'm Kelawini, and this is Kavalam." "What? This is notably more curt than the first time, though oddly Kavalam's tone evens out to much more neutral for the following. "What on earth rubbish are you on about?" He lets out a very quiet chuff, his eyes lowering. "That is Kieow. You are very optimistic with your introductions. How -- many baskets," his attention is suddenly riveting back on Kieow, "would you say is needful. On average only." "Oh, Oh, Don't worry. You would know if Bua was in your head. People say it's like pressure or cringy. It's not his fault his brain is always heavy when it comes to visit." Kieow nods affirmatively as she explains like the pain of Hive's mental contact is a good thing. "What he said. Kieow. and I don't know exactly. it all depends. They can be laundry baskets or baskets for those fancy organization youtubes where they stack things up to make them more accessible. I made a basket for my mother for going to the market. And then a basket for rinsing vegetables and..." She stops to think. The scrunch of Kelawini's face looks equal parts skeptical as perplexed, but she shakes her head. "I'm still not sure what's going on, but I guess the takeaway is there's probably no telepaths mind controlling us right now." She fetches up against one of the 3D printer, tracing her fingertips over its protective casing. "Kieow. Okay. I don't think it's that optimistic, I mean she noticed you--sorta? Before you even tried. You might forget him," she tells Kieow, kind of off-handedly. "How many times you introduce yourself to me? I do it some so you don't get so sick of it." "Are we -- meant to get that? Or is it your habit to just continue on about things the people you are talking with have zero context for understanding?" Kavalam's mouth twitches, slightly. "Mmm," his tone is more offhand, his eyes searching the ceiling now. "A -- few. I did not keep track." He's continuing, now, on his original path, drifting off towards the darkroom. "Good luck. Finding your bamboo." Though he may as well not have offered this last; almost as soon as he says it and disappears into the room, the memory of his presence is ebbing away. "Oh. I .. thought you ... you know what? Never mind. I don't think I'm keeping good track of the conversation either. Between my brother's telepathy and basket making, there really is no linking context." Kieow glances between Kavalam and Kelawini, her brow creasing. "Forget him? Okay." Kelawini frowns, studying Kieow closely. "Aue, that again." This in a quiet murmur as she glances around the room, brows still furrowed. Distracted, "Yeah, his power makes people forget him. Where did he..." Her eyes land on the door to the darkroom and her brows clear. "Oh, right. It was good to meet you for real, Kieow. I'll see you around!" This cheerfully as she goes to knock on the darkroom door and duck inside, herself.