ArchivedLogs:Cramming and Eggs

Cramming and Eggs
Dramatis Personae Lyric, Rasa	2014-02-27 '
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. With exam period starting today, the Great Hall isn't quite as crowded at breakfast time as it often is -- with many students still doing last-minute cramming or still /asleep/ with no exams till later in the day the tables are only sparsely peopled. Lyric is tucked into a central seat at one long table, a sheaf of notes in front of her with many geometry theorems. She's kind of half looking them over and half still maybe-drowsing, chomping her way slowly through a bowl of Apple Jacks and stifling a yawn. She's colourful as she often is, long peach-coloured kurta with intricate silvery beaded embroidery, a black-and-blue batik-dyed floor-length skirt, lightweight blue scarf wrapped around her head. She's not alone at her table at the moment; sitting opposite her is a taller young man, dark-skinned and dark-haired definitively out of high school age, more casually dressed in jeans and Columbia sweatshirt over a blue-and-white striped long-sleeved tee; one of her two interpreters, Iq is a common enough face around classtime even if not as often seen outside it. /He/ is at the moment also eating, a plate of scrambled eggs with a tall glass of juice beside it, a textbook of his own -- also math, multivariable calculus -- beside him together with a notebook. He looks about as sleepy as Lyric, at the moment. Rasa rushes in a little later, hir geometry book soon becoming a shelf in which ze rests hir food tray, grabbing scrambled eggs and pancakes with the red syrup before snagging a cup of coffee and turning to examine the room. Ze looks less put together than Lyric and Iq, seemingly having pulled on rumpled(they do not appear to be slept in)clothes (loose jeans and navy tee shirt) after tumbling out of bed this morning. Hir hair is still damp and forming ringlets where it has escaped the quick pony tail at the back of hir neck. Hir tail, and well most of hir skin is a fuzzy gray, mathematical symbols, equations, shapes, and formulas surfacing in such a cluttered way, they are almost impossible to make out. Ze grabs an apple from the fruit basket and bites into it, committing to walk over to Lyric's table and settle hir books down heavily, careful not to spill hir food. Mouth still full of apple bits, ze waves to hir classmate and then rubs hir hand against hir forearm, making the print on hir skin will disappear like chalk on a blackboard. Back to a base white, ze intentionally displays, 'you ready? or should I leave you alone?' Lyric stifles a yawn as she looks up, pressing the back of a hand to her lips. She spoons another mouthful of cereal into her mouth after the yawning has passed, squinting over at Rasa. Her lips curl up into an amused grin s she watches the formulas getting wiped clean of skin. Her fingers wiggle in Iq's direction for a brief moment, dropping into signing when the young man looks up. 'I totally want skin-notes. Though I guess they'd still only /stay/ skin-notes if you actually do remember the formulas, right? So maybe less helpful more just regular studying.' Iq swallows his mouthful of eggs, relating Lyric's words aloud as she signs. And chasing the sentences with a gulp of orange juice. "Eh. I wouldn't say less helpful. If you're a visual learner, it can be tremendously helpful. You know, if you're one of those people that can almost see what you're trying to remember on the page, and if you could only focus a little better, but your sight is not in your brain, so it's all fuzzy and you can't. Sometimes" Rasa attempts to explain, looking a little confused as ze digs hirself into a very specific example. "Also good for associating things with what you're writing, or reinforcing visually what you're conceptualizing in your mind." Ze licks hir lips and picks up hir fork, resorting to talking as ze sets up all of hir belongings, Geometry book open to the index in the back, looking over things starred and their definitions. Blue words appear on the back of hir other forearm, 'it comes with a tremendous appetite, so that's a downside.' Iq sets his glass down, starting to sign as Rasa speaks -- though he's /also/ looking a little bit confused by the end of this explanation, briefly stumbling and then backtracking to clarify. 'Wait, your sight isn't in your brain? Where is it then? Mine's in my brain,' Lyric answers after a moment of consideration. 'At least that's where my eyes talk to.' She crinkles up her nose at the words on Rasa's arm. 'I could use some of that, I get so nervous during exams I barely have an appetite.' "Oh. Well. Yeah. Your sight ends up in your brain, but the sense is generally outward focused - on all things not... in your brain?" At least Rasa does not have a test on the human body: organs and senses today. "You don't... see what you think. You ... visualize it." Hir eyes shift between Iq and Lyric, watching the signs that hopefully explain this concept. Ze turns a wrist over to make a transcript of what ze is saying while ze chugs down some coffee, hir cheeks pinkening with the heat. 'Have you tried ginger?' ze adds to the end. Lyric's brows crease as she watches Iq translate this into sign, head tilting to the side thoughtfully. 'I don't know what the difference is,' she admits. 'Between seeing and visualizing. It's all just in your brain in the end anyway right? I mostly see thoughts. I think I mostly see thoughts?' She pokes her spoon into her cereal afterwards, shaking her head. 'I don't know about ginger. I think what I need to try is more studying. And exams being over. And /vacation/.' "It's possible you just have a more amazing memory than I do, or it's another downside to my mutation. When I try to recall images, they lose resolution, like I took a picture with a crappy camera, but what I do try to remember comes much clearer on my skin. I have to look at myself to reinforce my memory." Rasa slumps a little, elbow bending to hold hir head up, hir eyes closing a little, still pushing hir eggs around with hir fork. "Vacation is coming. Only one more week." 'Maybe my memory is just really visual,' Lyric suggests with a shrug of one shoulder. 'I mean what else would it be? I can't /hear/ myself think either.' She bounces happily in her seat at the one-week reminder till vacation. 'Are you doing anything? For vacation. Anything vacationy?' "True," Rasa responds thoughtfully, eyes opening once more and straightening to shovel some pancake bites into hir mouth. Ze munches thoughtfully and flips the page in front of hir before glancing to Lyric once more. Ze shakes hir head. 'No,' ze signs, knowing that one. 'Maybe go to Manhattan. Maybe sleep. You?' 'Sleep is a good one, I like sleep. I'm going to visit friends down in Maryland though. I might sleep there, too. And not even /think/ about studying.' Lyric pushes aside her half-eaten bowl of cereal, picking up her small cup of juice to gulp it down quickly. 'Do what in Manhattan anyway? /I/ heard there's still zombies there do you see zombies?' "I go see Shane and Sebastian sometimes. We went to the circus recently, trying to cheer B up." Rasa works to eat a little faster, pausing to sip coffee and clear hir mouth before speaking again. "I hope your sleep is amazing. I will definitely not be studying. It will be wonderful. So..." And there it is, ze pauses and eyes Lyric for a moment, studying her expression and perhaps looking to see if she has any notes out. "That lesson on the quadratic equation. I can't find my notes anywhere. Can I copy yours really quick?" 'The circus?' Lyric's eyes light with excitement. 'Woah I didn't even know there was a circus, what circus? Was it fun?' And then, 'What's wrong with B?' She crinkles up her nose and grins, shuffling through her sheaf of notes until she finds a few pages with the requested one. She slides the pages over towards Rasa with a bright smile. 'Here. I'm pretty much done anyway I think at this point if I don't know it it isn't getting knowed. Going to go -- pray. And then I guess hopefully pass this exam.' "B's down a lot. We hoped the bright colors and the pure athleticism of the circus would help him have fun, but I think his sad might be strong." Rasa lifts hir coffee to finish it as ze accepts the page of notes. "There are lots of circuses around. You just gotta know where to look. Did you want to go to one some time?" Ze looks over the notes as ze puts down hir cup, hir attention focusing on it. "Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Prayer. Maybe spare a thought for me. I think I'm ready, but sometimes I get so nervous." Ze looks up. "Thank you, and good luck." 'But things have been getting better --' Lyric frowns at the information about Sebastian, sliding up out of her chair to gather the rest of her notes into her bag and then pick up her dishes. 'Going to the circus some time sounds awesome. I haven't been since I was little.' She nudges her chair back into place, bobbing her head in a nod. 'OK. Prayer for me and prayer for you. Maybe just prayer for everyone. Good luck!' And then she's trotting away to put her dishes to be washed, leaving Iq behind to finish his own breakfast in peace.