ArchivedLogs:Newish Kid

Newish Kid
Dramatis Personae Broderick, Rasa
In Absentia	2013-12-08 '
Location XS Great Hall
The largest room at Xavier's, the Great Hall is designed to hold all of the mansion's residents and then some. Built for the mansion's bigger functions, it serves as the school's dining halls on ordinary days, and ballroom when needed. On school days, long trestle tables stretch across the hall, high-backed chairs with plush cushions offering seating for the students. Meals at Xavier's can be hit or miss with attendance, as the student body has so many options for where to sit and eat after they pick it up. As it is snowing and cold outside, a bit too wet for the comfort of most, a good number of the teens have opted to sit in the great hall and eat there. Rasa is moving hir way through the food lines, peering at the heartier lunch offerings, lips twitching as ze grabs a bowl of chili and a couple grilled cheese sandwiches, sliding them onto hir tray and lifting it as ze moves on. Ze snags a mug of cocoa and turns away, going to look for a place to sit. Ze is wearing loose and comfortable sweats, all in Xavier's navy and gray, an orange tail to match hir sherbet colored flesh. Broderick already has his hot chocolate. Well, there might be some chocolate in the mug. As it appears it's actually a mug stuffed to the brim with soggy, cocoa stained marshmallows. He's stowed himself away in the corner of the room, bashfully poking at his meal that seems to come in second place to the marshmallows that keep finding their way to his mount instead of his skirt steak sandwich. The chairs around him are empty and it so happens he looks up right as Rasa is moving around in the daily seat hunt tradition of lunch. He swallows a hard lump of whatever it is marshmallows are made of, awkwardly croaks at the other student, and shuffles himself and his tray into tighter quarters to make room. Rasa raises an eyebrow as ze spies Broderick choking on a marshmallow to get hir attention. Ze smiles a little and wanders over, settling into a seat next to hir classmate. Ze then takes the dishes off hir tray and stows it out of the way, giving them more room. "Hey. You okay? I think it's okay if you chew those things a little more, or let them melt on your tongue." One hand raises to scritch at the back of hir neck before grabbing a spoon and stirring hir chili, which has been overloaded with crackers and cheese. Broderick taps a balled fist on his chest, coughing a few times and managing a weak smile. "Oh, ech, yeah." Color floods his cheeks and he turns to his food and fusses with the arrangement of it on his plate. "Guess...I had too many at once," Broderick explains lamely. He falls silent for a moment and finally nibbles on his sandwich after another little cough. The new student eyes the mutant next to him and clears his throat. "So, um. Do you like the snow?" "Oh, It's okay. I mean, I'm not actually a cold weather type, but it's New York, so it's pretty much natural. It's fun from time to time, but it's not like I'd want to move any further north." Rasa takes a heaping spoonful of chili sticks it in hir mouth, taking some time to chew and clear hir mouth before speaking again. "How about you? I realize that I don't know much about you. I mean, I've seen you around, but I haven't had many classes with you." Broderick snorts a small laugh, though it doesn't appear to be condescending. Just amused. "Oh, me? I'm from Minnesota. Blows this place out of the water as far as snow and cold goes." He runs his fingers through his sideburns and chances a glance over. "I'm pretty new here. Few weeks, tops. Most of that has been getting caught up in tutoring and private lessons. I... I was out of school for a while." The corner of his mouth tightens, only to be loosened for a marshmallow. Only one, this time. "M'Broderick. Or Brody. New kid." There is a wavering, nervous smile on his face. "This place is pretty wild, huh?" "Well, we've all been a bit out of sorts lately. Kind of a shitty time to get started, but at least you seem to have fared the disease okay." Rasa chews on a smaller bite for a moment before waving hir spoon at him in tiny little circles. "I'm mostly just happy that food is more readily available again. It was really hard watching people grow thin." Ze presses hir lips into a fine line as hir shoulders slump. "Did you get sick at all, or did you manage to avoid it?" "Nope, healthy as a horse," Broderick offers with a dip of his voice. It was almost apologetic. "But I haven't been around much, really. Since I'm new and all. In fact, you're the first person I've actually managed to hold a conversation. I...stick to my room a lot." His hand scratches along his chin. "With good reason, too. I'm an absolute baby when it comes to a day cold, not to mention an /actual/ illness." He pauses. "Did you? Get sick, I mean," Broderick clarifies quickly. "Really? You've been here for weeks and haven't spoken to anyone?" Rasa frowns, considering quietly as ze stirs the the sludge of chili, "Don't sound so down about staying healthy, I mean, I guess it was the best way to survive the plague, but not talking to people has to suck, too." Ze takes another bite to give hirself a chance to take a breath before answering Brody's question. "Yes. I got sick. It was terrible to be sick, but then to be confused and dying... that was its own kind of hell. I'm glad you missed it. Still not sure I believe it's over, deep inside." "Not really. You know, being new it was hard to really get to know anyone when they were sick as dogs. I think it's best I was mostly preoccupied with catching up on a year of studies." Broderick nibbles more on his sandwich and slides a paper out from under his tray to look it over. "Bah. Speaking of... I have my last placement exam in an hour. I should go do some last minute studying. But, hey. After this it's regular classes for me. So maybe we'll have one together?" As he stands his face brightens up at the idea with a grin. "Sure. Maybe! New term just started and all." Rasa lifts a hand and waves as Broderick starts to get up. "What math... Oh never mind. We can talk when you don't have an exam impending." Hir attention drifts back to hir food for a moment, fingers moving to dissect one of hir grilled cheese sandwiches, tearing off a crust to dip in hir chili then pop in hir mouth. "Good luck!" ze offers, that morsel of food stuffed in the corner of hir cheek. Broderick laughs. "Yeah, don't try to pack any more into my head than is already there! It might explode." He stalls as he picks up his tray. "Which I couldn't survive, by the way. That's not my power. Exploding head abilities. Ew." The boy shakes his head and twiddles his fingers from the held tray as he turns to waddle off and begin tedious last minute studies.