Logs:Of Flowers and Foresight (Or, Treading Lightly)

Of Flowers and Foresight (Or, Treading Lightly)
Dramatis Personae Harm, Kavalam, Perseus
In Absentia	2021-09-13 "I'm not really into how he killed Medusa for basically no good reason."
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 not yet fall in Westchester, but the summer days are growing milder. Though it is still hot out today, it's no longer the fierce blistering heat that gripped the city for so long. Once classes finished many students have headed out onto the grounds, to boat or fish by the lake or picnic on the rolling lawn or play sports in various courts and fields. Harm, however, is sitting quietly by themself by the koi pond. They're wearing a loosely woven green linen tunic, brown wrap pants in the same fabric, and no shoes, giving very little hint as to their gender. They also have a carved wooden drop spindle with which they're spinning a fluffy pile of blue ombre fiber into yarn, but their attention is wandering, following a butterfly there or the ripple made by a fish there. They're singing, not loudly but their voice is clear and sure and melodious: "Who will redeem, heed the call for America? Who'll rise or fall, give his all for America? Who's here to prove that we can..." Everything happened so fast in the last twenty-four hours of his life. He found out he wasn't human, he and his dad drove thousands of miles to the furthest east of America possibly, and then finally dropped off at this...really big mansion. After a man named Xavier, who was like...really bald, talked to him and his father, he didn't really know what to do. He assumed they were still talking after he brushed his dad off and told him he needed air. As he pushed past other students, the door on the end of the hallway pushed open to a garden area. Smells flower their way into his nose, his eyes say rows of colorful flowers and petals. "Whoa..." Harm stops singing and looks up from where their eyes had been tracking the big kohaku koi's graceful glide through the pond. When they spot the source of the exclamation they flash the newcomer an easy smile. "Welcome to Xavier's." They lift a slender hand to wave him over, their other hand still holding the yarn-in-progress and the twirling spindle at its end. "It's a lot, at first! I'm Harm." Was there a third person out here in the garden? A moment ago, perhaps not; Harm and Perseus had been apparently alone by the koi pond, but in the very next moment Kavalam is simply there, seated beside Harm as casually as if he's been there all along. It all feels perfectly logical, once he appears -- not abrupt or as if he'd teleported in, not sudden or jarring as if he'd been invisible and then suddenly appeared out of nowhere -- simply there! and perhaps they'd failed to notice him somehow! -- but despite this there's a niggling déjà vu-esque weirdness about the boy. He's otherwise extraordinarily plain; jeans and leather sandals and a crisp yellow button-down, slim half-rim spectacles perched on his nose, through which he's studying Perseus with an oddly intent curiosity. "Have you never seen a garden before?" he asks finally; his English is precise, albeit with a distinct heavy accent (south Indian, for anyone who can manage to place it) to them. "If you think the garden is a lot, you'll be overwhelmed by the rest of this place, for sure." "I...uh..." Before he spoke an image flashed in his mind, the future showed itself to him, and the others could see his irises go white for a split moment. "Your spindle! Don't let it unwind-" He suddenly blurted out to the other boy, and then quickly glanced at the kid who seemed to just...apear. This place was getting weirder by the second, and mostly, he has to now come to terms that he's...a Mutant. They've been discussed, talked about, seen down upon. Humans didn't like them...like...him. They were jealous or afraid, and ever since the big incident he's heard of, people have become more wary of their existence, though thankfully the Avengers keep everyone on a safe edge. Harm does not seem surprised or alarmed by the sudden surplus of boy, other than to shoot Kavalam a sheepish sidelong glance, but at the change in the new kid's eyes their own widen. If they planned to comment on this they're sidetracked by warning. They pluck up the spindle just as it starts to wobble wildly from an inadequately pulled out lump in the wool. "Thanks! I don't have to pay that much attention to this but I do have to pay some. What's your name? And..." They nod at the boy beside them. "...are gardens like this new to you? It is pretty amazing." "This place is quite swank." Kavalam allows, his dark eyes pulling away from Perseus to skim the well-manicured surroundings. "I don't know if all schools for freaks are quite this nice but they spare no expense here. Do you have a name?" He's leaning a bit forward, now, the curious gleam in his eyes only brightening as he turns his attention back to The New Kid. He's perched an elbow on his knee, chin in hand, his gaze fixing on the other boy with a frankness that is probably well past rude, now. "Your eyes have done -- ah. A -- thing." "S-sorry they uh...do that when I see the future...or something..." He looked at the ground with intent. Conversations were never his strong suit, and even though he did kickboxing for a hobby, social interaction never came across as a skill to him. The two other boys in the garden seemed like they were just...okay with being who they were. Mutants. Humans who can do more, be more. He wasn't sure why he was so angry at the world, but maybe this is a chance to get along with people just like himself. "I've lived in Alaska most my life, so gardens aren't very prominent. My name is Perseus, but, call me Percy." Harm's eyebrows hike up far enough to almost disappear into their shaggy and admittedly long bangs. "You can see the future? That's amazing!" Then they frown, glancing at Kavalam again, furtively this time, and blushes. "Unless it's not so amazing, for you." Their fingers deftly pull the uneven lump of wool smooth and they start spinning again without much apparent impact on their ability to converse. "Alaska! I've heard it's beautiful, but I'm a warm weather enby, like, even New York is too cold for me." Their smile comes again, easy and warm. "Nice to meet you, Percy!" "See the future? You're kidding, right?" Kavalam's eyebrows hike up high over the top of his glasses. "If you can see the future what are you doing wasting your time in high school. I can't see the future and I can tell you this place sucks." His eyes do not get any less big at Percy's introduction. "Perseus. Perseus." Blink. Bliiiiink. "My gods. And I thought your parents were loony enough with Harmony. Do they have -- witch communes in Alaska, Perseus?" This kid was weird, definitely, well, they were both kinda strange in a way with their mannerisms. Talking about his...powers. The mutation in his body allows him to see moments in the future which will happen depending on his actions towards it. It's only begun to resurface recently, and sometimes it's almost like a drug. The more of the future he sees the more he wants it, he needs it. "It's...fun sometimes. I just, I can't see years further ahead...yet. As far as I know my maximum range is ten days, and my shortest is five seconds." Trying to focus back on the other kid, he couldn't really focus on his...well, himself as a whole. The guy was hard to look at for some reason he couldn't quite understand. It's like he was both there, and...not there. "Uh, no, my dad is a business man, and my mom died a long time ago..." "Hey, there's nothing wrong with Harmony," Harm says. There's no heat behind their protest though, and it's only at a noticeable delay that they add, "Or Perseus, but I'm not really into how he killed Medusa for basically no good reason." They smile just a little wider. "That was a joke. I know you're not an ancient Greek hero. Probably." The smile fades quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry. Um, about your mom." In that moment, Perseus' power can tell Harm is going to be injured in the next few days, though he cannot say how. "The school does kind of suck. But there's nice things about this place, too. Not just the...swank." Their smile returns, smaller. "And some pretty amazing people. There's not a lot of places we can be around so many mutants and so few humans." "Huh." As abruptly as his staring had begin, Kavalam leaves it off, sitting up straighter and dropping both his hand and his gaze. "Yes," he agrees, getting to his feet and brushing his hands against his jeans, "incubating in a vat of untested unpracticed superpowers -- it really spices up the school experience, no? Amazing." He bounces slightly on his toes, dips his head to Percy. "It was nice to meet you, gorgon-slayer. Good luck with the -- eye-thing." There's very little time to say goodbye -- almost as soon as he's slipping away down the path he's slipping out of mind as well, vanishing from their thoughts as thoroughly as though he'd never been there at all. "Oh, uh thanks I-" He stopped talking as the kid practically disappeared. It was a neat power, but it made his head hurt a little more than he would have liked. Trying to shake off his strangeness, he turned to the other kid, Harmony, and smiled as he was about to respond, but his eyes flashed again. Multiple images and blurs of scenes showed in his mind about Harmony getting hurt, and he wasn't sure exactly how. "I-uh...Harmony. I saw something but...it doesn't make sense...you should be careful the next couple of days. Tread lightly." He attempted to smile again, but felt a little bad he couldn't specify. "Also, thanks for being so nice, I appreciate it." Harm blinks repeatedly, they may be slower to forget Kavalam's part in the conversation, but forget they do all the same. "It's a good name, but I prefer if you call me Harm," they say, firmly but not angrily. Then their eyebrows are going up again. "Um...okay? That's kind of creepy. Maybe it's not so awesome sometimes, huh. Anyway, I try to be welcoming to new people. I know a lot of us end up here because something awful happened, and then on top of that you're suddenly in a new place full of strangers. So, you're welcome." They wind the yarn they've just spun onto the spindle and tucks the whole bundle into their shoulder bag. "I have a jam session scheduled, but I'll see you around." They stand up start down the path, then suddenly turns around and walks a few steps backward, bare feet sure and graceful. They flash Percy another smile, this one kind of mischievous. "And I'll tread lightly." "Alright...see ya. Thanks for the advice again..." He smiled and waved at Harmony, not sure how to feel after the scene that just took place. It was definitely something he won't forget. Finding himself standing alone in the garden, a sense of awkwardness washed over him and he decided to leave, giving one last glance to the blooming petals.