ArchivedLogs:Better

Better
Dramatis Personae Kai, Kris
In Absentia	2013-05-13 '
Location <XS> Treehouse
Built by enterprising students of yesteryear, this treehouse has weathered generations of Xaviers' students coming up here to study -- or escape from studying. A cozy retreat, its wood planks are sturdy and well-sanded, fit snug together to keep out draft. Snacks occasionally find their way up here, and the roof keeps the rain off well enough to pass a night -- so long as the teachers don't catch any students at it. For anyone agile enough to make the jump, a lucky leap juuust might carry them from here to the school rooftop, so long as they're careful of the drop... It's Spring -- technically. But cool weather has set in again, and even though it's sunny there's the bite of cool in the air. It's not really /bad/ to be outside, but it's not altogether pleasant, either. But in the treehouse, the air is blocked, and even though a jacket is still necessary, it's not as bad as being out in the breeze. It's almost cozy, even. Kai has finished his classes for the day, and is now going about making the place a little cozier. Dressed in jeans and a green plaid shirt with a blue zip-up hoodie, he's even wearing shoes in deference to the weather. (Or the several teachers who told him to put on shoes before leaving the building.) He's also managed to liberate a thick-looking blanket and a couple of throw pillows from the rec room, all of which he's set out in a sort of living-room layout. In the middle of the blanket, there is food. A bag of cookies and a plate with sandwiches that appear to be tuna salad. A bottle of soda sits off the blanket, with a stack of paper cups. Kai himself sits on one of the cushions, half a sandwich in one hand with a couple of bites taken from it. The Korean boy seems thoughtful as he stares at the wall of the treehouse, perhaps reading the various carvings there. She's dressed to the nines today! With a little help from a friend, she has, to her opinion, improved her look. It was scary for Kris leaving the house without a kerchief around her neck, but with the makeup, she has managed to play down the appearance of certain embarassing aspects of her body, like the little bump of her throat. Subtle makeup to bring out her mocha skin and dark eyes. And for a wonder, an honest-to-god blue babydoll tee with a superman logo on it is her shirt today! It doesn't really match with her dark purple pleated skirt all that well, but it's incredibly girly. Even her hair is bound in a braid with a bright purple ribbon at the base! She is, however, quite barefood. Some things never change. Her head peeks over the edge of the tree house, then looks down beneath her to make sure noone is below (modesty!), before scrambling, with a grunt, into the tree house and dumping a backpack on the floor,"Oof. I almost wondered if I'd get this up here. Kai! I have been looking for you everywhere! What were you doing, hiding out up here? I had a present I needed to give you! I saw it online, and new I had to order it for you. Well, I bought three. Two of them are so you can share with your friends." The noise of someone coming up into the treehouse is enough to shift Kai's attention from the wall to the entrance. He sits, quietly chewing as Kris works her way into the small room, and gives the backpack a long look. Once Kris has gotten completely inside, he studies /her/ for a long moment, continuing to eat his sandwich. His head tilts, sloooowly to one side, and his expression turns listening for a moment. Then he pinkens, and swallows. "I am not hiding," he offers, looking up at Kris with a shy smile. "I came out here because it is quiet. There is much yelling and laughter from the Rec Room. It is...unsettling, sometimes. Still." He takes another bite of his sandwich and chews slowly, wide eyes fixed on the girl. "You look very pretty," he offers softly. "I like your shirt, and the way your hair is twisted up." The mention of a gift gets another head tilt, although this one comes with a confused look. "You got me a gift?" he verifies, and he sounds like he's verifying his understanding. Kris blushes fiercely at the compliment. Then again, she probably wouldn't have dressed that way if she didn't want compliments, so... mission-accomplished? Regardless, she is graceful enough to THANK the boy,"The hair, it is in a braid. Thank you. I liked the look. I did not know if it suited me, though. I just wanted to feel... pretty." A toothy smile is flashed at the boy, and THEN she finally manages to get her backpack open. Withdrawing its contents, it proves to be a small series of three plastic cages of some sort. Inside? "Archispirostreptus gigas. Giant African Millipede. There was a breeder in Florida, and they were not expensive." She points at one,"This is Lord Adopholus, this is Lady Santoyo, and this is baby Santeria. They are still all very young, but they will get, I am told, over a foot long. You pick one, and give the others to Ivan and Peter?" "Do you feel pretty?" Kai asks, tilting his head again, and biting into his sandwich. "If so, it does not matter if others think it suits you." Someone's been watching some PBS kids' shows or something. He chews thoughtfully for a moment. "But I do think you are pretty. The color on your face makes your eyes seem..." he frowns, unable to come up with the proper word. So there's more chewing, and his attention is focused on the backpack as the girl begins to pull out the boxes. Then his smile is wider, and more confident. "This is a wonderful gift, Kris!" he says, setting his sandwich aside so that he can shift to his knees and reach for the box with Lord Adopholis. "Thank you very much. I am sure Ivan will like his very much." Then his expression falters, and he frowns. "I hope. He is very sad, with Peter missing." Kris feels her smile widening moments before she even realizes she is smiling. More blushing. "Well, it does not matter, technically. But girls like to feel pretty... and like to know others think they are pretty. Especially people they care about. I suppose that is what makes you such a nice boy, thoughtful Kai." The reception of her gift? If being called pretty got a smile, then her current expression is downright sunny,"That is why I bought them... Everyone is down lately, and I know that it has been rough on all of you. So I thought, maybe this would help you all feel a little closer to each other." She crosses her legs in a lazy sort of way, and reaches for a bag of muffins and some bottled smoothies in her backpack,"Sit with me? Share? I brought snacks. How are you doing, Kai, with everything?" Kai absorbs the information on girls, nodding as comprehension sets in. He turns the box in his hands, watching the millipede as it moves slowly along the plastic walls. Maybe it's looking for the ESCAPE HATCH. "Thank you for saying so," he says at the compliment, and he glances up through his eyelashes. "I do not wish to make anyone unhappy, especially if they are a person that I care about." That seems to remind him of Ivan's current state of mope, and his shoulders sag. "They will be good pets," he assures Kris, holding up the cage. "Ivan has one like these already, but he will still be happy to get another one." The question puts him back into thoughtful silence, and he gently sets the cage down on the blanket. "Everyone is acting strangely about Peter," he says. "I do not understand most of it. I think they are worried that he has wound up with the doctors, like I was." He inhales deeply, and sighs. "It is making Ivan very unhappy, and he is acting strangely. I am his good friend, but I do not know how to help him to be..." he wrinkles his nose. "Maybe not /happy/, but...not sad." Kris reaches out to rest her hand on Kai's shoulder and squeeze it gently,"I do not think you could ever make any of us unhappy, Kai. You are a very genuine young man." A bit of the imp creeps into her for a moment, and she even teases,"And you are not hard to look at besides. Worry less. Unhappiness, it will pass. I trust Professor Summers and the other instructors. If he needed rescuing, you and I, we would charge to the rescue ourselves, were there a need. I think you know this." She passes a bottled smoothie,"Have you asked him how you can help? Maybe he needs more things to be happy about to balance out the difficult. Peter is well, I know it. I do not think that boy's luck has run out just yet. I cannot believe it." She totally can, but that's not what needs saying right now,"You, too, should be searching for things to make you happy. We could expand your collection, or take Ivan to the insect exhibit in New York with the Professors' permission. Would helping your friend make you feel better?" Comments on his own appearance seem to flummox Kai, and he reaches up to touch his face with a confused look. His fingers land on the scar on his chin, and then he pinkens. "I do not know what it is that is easy to look at about me," he says modestly, furrowing his brow. "I just look like me, and I am no different than any other boy. To look at." He takes the smoothie bottle, and juts his lip out at it like it he has no idea what to do with it. "I do not know if the Professor would let me go to rescue Peter," he says slowly. "But I would rescue him if he needed it. He is my good friend, and Ivan would be very happy if he lives." He says this in a mix of matter-of-fact and mildly sad. At the questions, he shakes his head. "I have not asked, because he is acting strangely, and he is often with Rasa." Kris reaches out with the apparent intent to put a finger On Kai's scar as well, but otherwise does little more than open the bottle for Kai,"I am not sure. I like to do it, though. You are pretty, but not like a girl. Somewhat... delicate. But there is strength in your eyes and in your heart. And that pleases me." She returns her hands to herself and moves to help herself to a muffin. Omnomnom. "If Peter needed a rescue, I doubt you would let anybody tell you whether or not you could help him." She seems... pretty certain of this statement,"I think you should ask him. But if Rasa is his romantic partner, then maybe she is working hard to give him what he needs as well. I think people derive great strength from that in rough times." When Kris reaches out towards him, Kai watches as the finger lands lightly on his chin, and color floods into his ears. "Oh," he says in a small, awed kind of voice, when she opens the bottle. "That is very nice of you to say. I--I like to look at you, too." He toys with the opening of the bottle before tipping it to his lips. He sips it hesitantly, and then drinks more deeply. "If Peter needed rescuing, I do not think I would rush off like the others speak of doing. That seems a foolish notion. There are many here who have more skill than I have, and it would benefit Peter more to have one of those people in charge of his rescue." Practicality, thy name is Kai. Suggestions about Rasa and Ivan get a deep furrow of his brow. "I am glad they have each other," he says. "But it makes me uncomfortable to be around them when they are together. Like I am intruding upon something private." He shifts, and takes the final two bites of his sandwich. "I do not know what she can offer him that I could not, though." Kris flushes all the way to her ears, her mocha skin darkening... rather fiercely, but taps the boy on his lower lip,"Besides, scars are very manly." She was not expecting that exact response, but there it is,"You are welcome to look as much as you like, then. You are more polite than most, and you do not... stare, like some people. I like it." The drink is a mango smoothie, and a moment later, Kai gets passed a blueberry muffin,"Here. I tried my hand at baking these, since Megan does it so often. It seems a useful skill." "Anyway, I do not think you would charge in restlessly. But you would charge in if it were needed. Just not without a plan." She toys with her muffin for a while, trying to think of how to diplomatically offer a response to Kai. She eventually goes with direct honesty,"I think the things Rasa can offer him that you cannot are sex things or sex-like things. You could offer him that, I suppose... but I do not know that you have that type of relationship with Ivan." Kai blushes at the further compliment, and focuses on his smoothie bottle. "It is rude to stare at people," he says softly. "And staring would make you uncomfortable." He takes another drink before accepting the muffin. "Megan makes very good cupcakes," he says, nodding as he peels the wrapper from around the stump. "But it is not fair to ask it of her all the time. You are good to want to learn it, too." He takes a deep bite of the muffin, making a small hum of pleasure as he tastes it. "Miff erf ffry goom," he says around the overlarge mouthful, chewing carefully. "Ooo biff a goom jomm." Then he gives up on English, or speaking, and settles on chewing. Kris' explanation of Rasa's use to Ivan gets a blank stare. Something is not connecting. There's a slow, oh-so-slow swallow, and a rinse of mango smoothie before his head slowly tilts. "Sex-like things?" he echoes, the words empty of any meaning. "Do you speak of the things like in the movies? The kissings?" Kris eyeballs her own muffin and goes back to tackling it for a while. She makes no noise for a while. When she does, it is another 'thanks',"Thank you. You are in a very complimentary mood today. I think it will not be long until many young women, and a few young men are flocking to get to know in a romantic manner, I think. You must be careful not to lose yourself in them. I am told it can be a heady feeling, especially when you are still finding yourself." She is quiet for a time longer, then she too takes a drink from her own smoothie,"Kissings, touching, that sort of thing, yes. You are of an age, Kai, where you will likely soon learn such things very soon. It is only a matter of time before someone shows you themselves. Do not, though, until you feel ready. Such things are not to be rushed, and we are, neither of us, adults." "I do not think it is complimentary to say things that are true," Kai says, picking at his muffin shyly. "But if the things I say make you feel good, then I am glad of it." He blushes, and shakes his head. "I do not think that time will be soon," he says with a small laugh. "I do not think people see me in such a manner. I am small, and easily overlooked." He doesn't sound sad, as he says these things. Rather, he sounds rather matter-of-fact about it. "Many would have to bend down to see me, and I do not think many in this country bend so easily." He shrugs, and pulls off a chunk of muffin and pops it in his mouth. "The whole idea is very strange to me," he admits. "I do not see why there must be more than friends." Kris actually laughs a little bit at that,"Kai, you are the most positive attention I have ever received from a young man. I am already halfway to seing you in such a manner. But I think as you do. There does NOT have to be more than friends. You are pretty to look at, and fun to talk to, and you understand me. That makes you an attractive boy. But I also value my friendship with you intensely. That comes before anything else. You already give me the thing I most value from you anyway. Your time." She thumps down on the ground, on her belly, chin on top of her hands,"I am somewhat more... practical in that way. Besides, I am more focused on hoping our friends come home okay. It will continue to intrude on my thoughts until it is solved. And I have so much more of myself I need to learn." She pops more muffin into her mouth, and sighs with satisfaction,"This is... very nice. This is a good day. What do you want to accomplish at this school, Kai?" Kai listens intently, even if a few concepts are lost in there (like romance). Still, he nods thoughtfully, and smiles. "I am happy to give you my time," he says. "You are my good friend. And I would hold your hand, if you asked me," he says, picking out more muffin and popping it into his mouth. "I would do this for any of my friends." He picks at his muffin more, making short work of it in comfortable silence. Then he's smiling as Kris re-settles herself. "It is a bit cool, but it /is/ very nice," he agrees. A thin shoulder rolls at the question. "I would like to learn how to not let Foom be in control, sometimes," he says. "So that I can use his strength, and not hurt people who do not deser-- not hurt people." Someone's been paying attention in Ethics. "And I would like to learn what I am good at, so that I might do it as my profession." He pulls his feet up, and begins picking at one shoelace. "What do you wish to achieve?" Kris holds up her hand and looks at Kai's, then laughs, and drops it,"I will hug you whenever you wish, but I do not think we should hold hands. It would be different than holding hands with your other friends. Maybe just different for me. It means a different things for girls who like to look at the boy whose hand they are holding. But just about anything else, I think I can do." Her eyes take on a sleepy quality,"I have an idea bout that. About how you could learn. But it is not my place to try to 'fix' that. I think... Foom is your response to feeling helpless. When you feel you can take care of yourself without him, I think he will no longer be able to exert so much control." She kicks her feet back and forth in thought, considering the answer to the boy's question,"I want to look the way I see myself in my mind. I want to be smart, and graduate. I want to stop seeing the faces of those I killed when I go to sleep. I want to curb the reaction I have to do violence when I am hurt or upset or startled. I think I just want my life back on the track it was before I was kidnapped. It sounds like a small thing, but it feels enrmous to me." Kai examines his hand when Kris looks at it, frowning lightly at it. "You mean it would be like when Ivan and Rasa hold hands," he realizes aloud. "It would mean that for you, and you think it would not mean that for me, as well." He frowns at his hand, and drops it in his hand. "In this I am afraid you are right. But it does not mean that I am not your good friend. I will always be this, to you." Suggestions on Foom get a slight coloring, and he dips his head. "Perhaps this is the way it will be," he says. "The Professor says it is possible, and he is a very wise man." He leans forward, then, his eyes wide, and his voice dropping to a whisper. "Do you know that this house belongs to him? And that it was not given to him by the President?" He says this with a wondrous sort of tone. As if he /still/ can't wraphis head around that fact. "And his family has held onto money for many years." He furrows his brow. "I am not certain, but I think it is buried somewhere in the gardens. That would be the best place for it." Kris' wish gets a small smile, and Kai leans forward to pat the girl gently on the back. "It is not a small thing to wish to feel secure," he says. "And safe. Do not think that is true. I, too, wish sometimes that my life was more..." he scrunches his nose. "Perhaps not like it was before the soldiers came and took us, but perhaps a bit /like/ it." Kris smiles at Kai, though not in a sad way, oddly enough,"You are correct, Kai. That is what it would mean. Like I said, I enjoy what we do have, and your friendship means the world to me. Besides, if we are honest, I need a good friend more. I suspect things will ease when I get used to positive attention a little bit more." Eyes closed, she considers for a while,"Professor Xavier... He is an amazing man. I think he is better than the president. The Professor, we are like his children, and he is like our father. He loves us, and it is a very patient and wise love. We are very blessed, I think." Still, at the mention of 'buried treasure', she shakes her head,"I believe he keeps his money in banks and investments." She still sounds impressed though. Investments are very strange, arcane, adult practices that she doesn't quite get yet. She smiles when she is patted on the back, and offers,"I think it can be better than before. Do you?" Kai wrinkles his nose. "I do not know what investments are, but I have read of banks. They do not seem very stable, though." He frowns. "The gardens would be much better. He could guard them better here." He ruminates on that point for a long moment, chewing on his lip as he considers this. The response to his sentiments gets a small smile, and he tilts his head. "If you had asked me that question six weeks ago, I would not have thought it," he admits, and grins as he reaches for another muffin. "But now, I am more certain of it."