Logs:Mutant Social Skills

Mutant Social Skills
Dramatis Personae Chloe, Nessie, Harm
In Absentia	2021-01-14 "I know you've probably heard it plenty, but welcome to Xavier's."
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. While it has been cloudy for most of the morning, the sun has courteously decided to grace the grounds with it’s presence in time for lunch. It’s light sparkles pleasantly off the water of the koi pond, warmed by a heater floating in the water that the turtles gather around while the koi go about their day. Sitting on a folded blanket on one of the nearby benches, Chloe is dressed in a periwinkle sweater dress with a belted waist and deep v-neck back to free her wings, a cashmere shrug in a matching color pulled around her shoulders to fight off the remaining chill that even sunlight can’t vanquish. Black flannel tights, navy suede ankle boots with block heels and crimson soles finish helping block out winter, while pearl stud earrings and a single silver twisted bangle on one wrist complete the outfit. Her hair is pulled back, black curls tied off with a navy scarf, silver stars dotted throughout. She has a bowl filled with a very leafy salad carefully balanced in her lap and seems to be working on it with more determination than enjoyment, fork held in her right hand while her left moves along the bench beside her, fingers tapping the surface seemingly at random. Harm is strolling along the path with their own bowl in hand, dressed in a glittery purple knit poncho over a moss green tunic and brown wrap pants, with their bicycle inner tube satchel over one shoulder. Their glossy black hair has grown long and keep falling across their face -- an they keep pushing it back. "Maybe one of the new kids? Like Lael's new roommate, Avi. Or Sera, the girl who came back with us." They frown and cock their head. "Maybe she won't want to talk about all that, but it can't hurt to ask. If you don't want it to just turn into, like, New Student Profiles, you should ask Gae. He looks like the most boring white boy, but he has so much going on." Their eyes widen when see Chloe, and though their wave is a little jerky their smile is friendly enough. "Oh, hi, um --" They glance aside at their companion. "I know you've probably heard it plenty, but welcome to Xavier's. I'm Harm." "Gae?" Beside Harm there is a constant quiet clicking; Nessie's many legs are moving in a rapid arachnoid skitter against the stone path. Her kind of shapeless baggy black sweatshirt contributes to the androgyny of her build. She sounds a little skeptical, as does her follow-up: "He does seem like the most boring white boy." She's been tapping something into a notes app on her phone but one pair of her several black eyes rivets onto Chloe when Harm addresses the other girl. "Oh!" She freezes momentarily, dropping her weight lower on her jointed legs. Over her head, her enormous barbed tail coils in closer to her back. "You're Chloe, right?" Chloe does her best to school her suddenly hopeful expression into something more casual when she looks up at the sound of approaching voices. It does absolutely nothing to stop alarm from taking over and making her already wide, black eyes grow wider at the sight of Nessie. Tension tightens her shoulders and makes her wings buzz nervously behind her, her grip around her fork and the edge of the bench suddenly tight. It’s difficult to tell if she glances toward Harm or not—it is, however, very easy to tell when her attention turns to Nessie’s tail. The color in her face fades to a sickly green as she looks up at the barb. It takes her salad nearly falling off her lap a second later to snap her out of it. She turns to grab it before it can fall, color rushing back into her face in an emerald blush. “Yes, that’s me,” she answers, clearing her throat. “I apologize for being rude, I’m still adjusting to... all of the differences at boarding school. Thank you for the welcome.” Harm's eyes dart between the two girls a little nervously. They skid back half a step at the buzzing of Chloe's wings, then blushing, tries to cover it by scuffing their other foot against the path. "I think," they say a little uncertainly, "we might have more...differences than most boarding schools. Though..." They shrug. "This is the only one I've ever seen!" Nessie sinks lower still at Chloe's reaction, her tail curling further in. Her own smile is wan and short-lived; her hands wring uncomfortably against her phone. "I'm not really a boarding school expert. Honestly, I'm not really a school expert, I haven't been to much school that wasn't, uh, here." Her small shrug is mostly swallowed by the baggy sweatshirt. "I didn't really have a lot of other basis for comparison that isn't, like, Sabrina and somehow I don't think that's very true to most experiences." “I’ve never been to one. My old school was a Catholic school in the city.” Setting aside her lunch, Chloe turns on the bench to face the other two, smoothing any wrinkles in her skirt. “One nice difference here: I’m able to wear my own clothes instead of the Marymount uniform. I doubt they would be okay with my wardrobe suddenly going backless," she jokes, trying for a smile again. "So, you both know my name. I guess that comes with being the new girl. And I know you're Harm. Who are you?" she asks Nessie. "I was mostly home schooled before I came here, so I guess...that makes you the school expert here, Chloe." Harm turns the bowl between their hands. "I'm glad you don't have to wear a uniform anymore," they say. "It is a really small school, which -- I guess there's good and bad parts to that, too." "Oh I'm Nessie." Nessie's forehead scrunches, confused. "... why wouldn't they be okay with that? Where else would your wings go?" Her head has tipped just a little too one side to peer at Chloe's sweater-shrug combination uncertainly. "My parents home schooled me for a while, too. Not really any uniform there! Though," she admits, a second pair of pincer-tipped arms emerging from beneath her sweatshirt to fidget uncomfortably with its fraying hem as her eyes flick between the others' outfits, "I wouldn't mind a uniform so much honestly. Long as they made sure to make it work for everyone." “Knowing the best time to sneak in late to Morning Chapel doesn’t seem very useful here,” Chloe giggles. “So I’m not sure how much that knowledge will transfer over with me.” Her gaze flicks past them to look at the school, head turning to take in the grounds as well. “Honestly, I don’t know if they would have been okay with it or not. This,” she motions to herself, head to toe, “happened during lockdown last year. Once everything went back to normal, the school year was basically over. Then over the summer I tried getting in touch with some friends…” Her hands clasp in her lap, though her voice stays unchanged. “Well. People I thought were friends. Anyway, I didn’t go back.” “It must be really different,” she muses, looking back to Nessie and Harm, “coming someplace like this after homeschooling...” Her eyes widen even more when Nessie pulls out another pair of arms, but it is quickly replaced by her own confused expression, a slight frown. “The school doesn’t help find clothes for students that have physical mutations?” she asks. “They are giving some students, like, basically everything else, aren't they? "I'm sorry," Harm says softly, their eyes wide. "About your friends, I mean, that's awful." Their fingers interlace over the smooth side of the bowl in their hands. "I'm -- pretty sure they don't?" They glance aside at Nessie for confirmation. "Wait, you had to go to church? At school?" Nessie's confusion doesn't seem to be going anywhere at all, not with this nor with Chloe's gesture to herself: "What happened?" She's looking over the other girl's clothing with a puzzled scrunch of forehead. "You went shopping?" She bites down on her lip, tail starting to sway again as she looks Chloe's clothing over with a growing skepticism. Still, her tone is gentle enough with the cautious question: "Are -- you -- having trouble finding -- clothes?" “I was sorry too, for a while. But it makes going to another school easier.” This doesn’t sound entirely truthful, but Chloe continues on as if it does, answering Nessie’s question. “We went to Chapel every morning. With longer services on certain holidays.” She seems ready to talk more, as ever, when the next questions asked strike her dumb. “Oh. Um.” She stumbles a bit through words while gathering her composure. “I wasn’t always, like. Green? Or had the--” She motions over a shoulder, wings fluttering with a short buzz. Tucks an escaped curl behind her ear and clears her throat again. “No, I’m... in a unique position that allows me to find clothes easily enough. I was wondering if you might have trouble with it, though.” "Oh..." Harm's eyes widen again. Then they bite their lower lip, seemingly unsure what to say. "I'm glad you can find clothes easily, though. Otherwise it would be especially hard getting used to -- not that I think it would be easy even if you have clothes --" They blush faintly, then seem to gather themself. "I just mean it's good to have one less thing to worry about." "Oh-h-h," Nessie nods slowly, comprehension dawning, "right. You weren't always a freak. That's gotta be an adjustment. I was just born like this so there wasn't really a lot to, um, get used to." She shrugs, small, but right after the confused furrow of her brow has returned. She looks helplessly to Harm as if for backup, then back to Chloe. "Unique position? Uh --" Her laugh is a little awkward. "What's that like you get your own tailor or something? Know a special freak store you can steal from? Wait, is there a special freak store?" “That part is good,” Chloe agrees with a reassuring smile. “I’m really lucky on that front. But I miss sleeping on my back.” Her smile fades a tick at the ‘f’ word, but doesn’t fade completely. She straightens her shrug and smooths her skirt again. “Or something. I don’t know if there’s a... special store, but my family tree probably has the trunk of a dress form. I’m a Corlioni,” she says, as if that explains everything. “So if you do want some clothes, I could maybe find someone to help with that.” Harm blinks uncertainly, their glance back at Nessie entirely unhelpful. They tilt their head in even further confusion at the comment about the family tree, but when Chloe explains they emit an almost silent "ohhhh". "Do you have your own fashion line? Lines?" "Huh?" Nessie just looks blank. She's eying Chloe's dress, her hands tucking into her pockets as her second arms fold back beneath the ragged sweatshirt. "What? You mean like your sweater?" “I wish!” Chloe laughs. “Mom says no business for any of us until we can take internships in university. Education first.” Her last few words take on a hint of a Brooklyn accent, the tone a bit more forceful in a mimicry of the aforementioned mother. She smiles to herself, taking a moment, before answering Nessie’s question. “Maybe like my sweater. My family owns a fashion house, and some cousins in the city helped me with my wardrobe when I changed. I’m sure with your measurements and some time, they could send me some ideas for you to look over.” Harm blushes again. "Sorry, I have no idea how -- being from a fashion dynasty actually works. Though I kind of meant whether someone else designed a fashion line for you personally." Their eyes widen, and they rise up onto the balls of their feet before dropping back down. "You'll have to meet Marinov when they come back to visit, they're an amazing fashion designer! Unless -- you already know them, obviously." "Oh -- oh!" All of Nessie's eyes open wider, her brows shooting up. "Oh. You mean like. Oh." Her tan cheeks have flushes just a bit redder, her tail swishing a little more sharply. "Um -- I --" Her brows scrunch, then relax. "... have clothes." She offers a smile, tense and quick. "I'm going to go. See if there's any dessert left. Nice to meet you!" She doesn't leave time for any reply before skittering off, startlingly quick on her many legs. “I don’t know who Marinov is, but it sounds like I would like to! Are they coming back soon?” Perking up even more, Chloe’s burgeoning excitement quickly fades at Nessie’s even quicker departure. “Oh... bye,” she says, unheard even if it wasn’t quiet. Her shoulders slump with a sigh. “I keep doing that. I need to work on my…” Her hands circle as she searches for the term. “...mutant social skills.” "I'm not sure, but I can let you know." Harm tenses a little, hugs their bowl closer, starts after Nessie but, perhaps recognizing they could not possibly keep up, relaxes again. "I think...there's definitely some social things that are specific to -- well, maybe not all mutant communities, but here, anyway. It can be hard, especially when people have had really, really different experiences of -- existing as freaks." They lick their lips. "Or maybe just really, really different experiences of existing. But -- I'm gonna go check on her, okay? I'll be seeing you around, of course!" Their smile returns, small but friendly, as they wave and head off in the same direction as Nessie.