ArchivedLogs:Crutches

Crutches
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Shane
In Absentia	2013-01-02 '
Location <XS> Attic - FL4, <XS> Roof
Dark and cluttered, this place is a treasure trove of Xavier's history, years of lost items packed away and forgotten about in the depths of the fourth floor. Remnants of students and teachers of years past are left over here in bits and snatches, tucked away in dark corners. Students come up here often, to sit and study or sit and think (or sit and smoke), up by a dusty old window on a dusty old pillow -- although that last may not always be such a good idea, given that the one bedroom up here, tucked away in the back of an attic, /is/ inhabited, and by a teacher at that. One of the less-creaky windows looks out onto the roof, and is big enough to squeeze through. As the winter holidays have cancelled classes for a little while and whisked some of the students back to supportive homes, Rasa finds hirself free to do whatever ze likes for once. Not in any mood to be crammed into a single room, ze has taken up darkening one of the shadows in the dark corners of the attic tonight. A cloud of black fabric obscures hir limbs and body, making the window about her eyes stand out, as well the bluish gloves that cover hir fingers as they cling to the binding of a red book. Most of the lettering on on the outside of the novel has faded, but some of the text remains. It is the Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Ze seems to be in the beginning of the book and reading intently. Finding Shane around school is a hit or miss proposition even /when/ classes are in session. This pattern has not changed over the holidays; though his brother has been notably absent all the while, Shane drifts in and out of school grounds with the same lackadaisical sporadicness that he does -- always. Currently as he makes his approach it is not from below but through a window, weaselling his way through it and pulling his coat through after before shutting it back into place. He is unwinding a scarf from his neck as he straightens, and then stops. Nostrils flaring, briefly, and dark eyes scanning dark attic. "Yo," is casual, directed out towards the corner. Rasa's eyes shift over toward the window when it opens, brows disappearing into hir burqa. Ze looks away after a moment, studiously fixed on the book in front of hir and not on the undressing individual. When addressed, Rasa's voice answers, "Hello." Ze shifts, hir layers lifting and fluffing before setting once more around hir form. "Chilly out?" "Fucking freezing," Shane agrees, rubbing webbed fingers together briskly. "I tried growing a winter coat but I couldn't get the weight to stay. What'cha reading?" "Bradbury." Rasa gives the author's name helpfully, but leaves the title out of hir initial announcement. "Winter coat? I am sorry that it did not work out. Was the food eaten at least tasty?" Ze folds the book closed and keeps a digit between the pages. "Is the roof nice? I haven't ventured out there yet. A bit afraid I couldn't get through the window." "Sure you could. Man, if Taylor can, you can. The trick is finding the right angle. Worming through with someone else to help is good, too." Shane flicks fingers towards the window, draping his peacoat over an arm. "Wanna try? Roof's got a great view. I mean, right now it's kinda all snow. But that's cool, too. The lake's frozen." He shrugs a quick shoulder, looking at the book but then dismissing it once the author's name is given. "I think most food's tasty. I'm not picky. It was bloody." "I thought you were freezing," Rasa queries, glancing at the page number in the book where hir finger is holding and closes it completely, getting to hir feet. "I wouldn't want to put you back outside if you were cold." Ze moves over to the window, hands patting down hir layers to see how wide ze is at the moment. Hir form stretches a little taller and narrows at the same time. Hir hands pull a couple smallish bags of nuts from hir pockets. "Though, I guess you could help me wiggle and wait inside. I mean, if you were offering." "Said it was freezing out." Shane is heading to the window, too, wiggling it open quickly with nails tucked at its corners. "Go from this corner," he advises, tapping nails against one edge of the windowpane. "Headfirst is best. Once your shoulders are through you're golden. I'll get you if you snag." Rasa nods and narrows hir eyes in concentration on the window. Ze sticks her head out first, then slides one hand out under hir chin. The fabric around hir binds around hir shoulder, so she withdraws the hand and gathers handfuls in hir gloved hand and tries again. Once hir elbow is out, hir arm starts to bend to gain purchase against the building itself and starts to pull herself through. While hir torso stretches a little thinner, the swaths of cloth still swaddle about hir waist and keep hir pinned. "Oof." Shane tugs the window a little bit wider when Rasa gets stuck, lean muscles flexing as he strains it against its hinges. His other hand snakes through, rearranging fabric in quick smoothes and tugs to free the other student up. "S'aright," he says with /bright/ cheer, "if you fall there's a shitton of snow to pillow you. Uh. On the roof. Just. Don't roll off the edge. I /guess/ there's snow down there too." "I have no desire to fall... anywhere," Rasa admits, effort straining hir voice. Ze pops out hir hips out and slides forward, hands gripping the surface of the roof and pulling slowly forward until ze is able to lower her knee to the surface and pull hirself back up onto hir feet. "There. Thank you!" There is some joy in her voice, hir tone rising a few steps higher in the contralto scale. "Most people don't. Although I've seen a couple people throw themselves off to see if they can fly." Shane is much quicker out the window, tiny size a boon to sneaking in and out of school as he first shoves his coat through and second wiggles his thin frame up and out. His hands hit the snow first, but he drops easily into a crouch afterwards. "There's one spot you can climb down and sit under the eaves if you're trying to ditch class. You can't really get spotted from the ground /or/ the window." <XS> Roof The view from up here is phenomenal, a panorama of the expansive Xavier's grounds, forest and lake and rocky cliffs alike. Even without the view outwards, the rooftop itself holds its own delights, in the form of the tiny jewel of a flower garden tucked away up here, tended by one of the school's teachers. From the edge of the roof, with a veeery careful jump, it looks like it just might be possible to reach the treehouse in the old oak tree. "If I had not spent several weeks already here, I would fear you were speaking light of suicide." Rasa laughs dryly, pulling hir layers tightly around her. Ze gets to her feet and looks out across the campus. "Being here changes the definition of trying to fly, doesn't it?" Ze turns to watch the ease in which Shane exits the building. "Huh. Is class so bad that it needs to be ditched?" "Nah, You gotta get higher for effective suicide," Shane replies with another hitch of shoulder in a shrug. "There's some good cliffs out in the hills," He gestures with one hand over towards the forest, and the mountains distant beyond, "be a better bet." He is trekking through the snow, moving to the edge of the roof to crouch down, arms curled around knees. "Being here changes a lot of things," is offered quieter, black eyes fixed out towards the lake. "Class -- mnh." His head turns, fixing his gaze on Rasa. "S'not terrible. Just pointless." "Ah," Rasa offers quietly in response to Shane, eyes following where he gestures and to the lake after that. Ze comes to sit down next to the sharkboy and pulls hir knees up to hir chest as well. "Does it change things for the better? Or is it more of the same in different and unfortunate ways? People seem very accepting of the different that I am, but they still seem to want to see what I can do more so than... I don't know... know me." "Nope. Changes things for shit," Shane answers, blunt rather than particularly upset. "You come here and it fools you into thinking there's a way to fit in. It's a crock of shit they're selling you, here." He doesn't ask what ze can do. He just grunts with a shrug of shoulder and a curl of webbed fingers down into the snow. "Thaaaat much," he says, teeth flashing in slow wry smile, "is the same everywhere. Whether people are stabbing you for it or fetishizing you for it. You're never going to be more than your genes." "Ah, Yes. The fetishizing. That is the word I was looking for. Some people here, well, they seem to want to flaunt to the point of worship." Rasa's head shakes and hir breath curls out from through hir hood in a burst. "I do not mean to mock anyone for that, as ... well, to each their own, but I am having trouble transitioning the fear of stabbing to -- well... whatever that stuff is." The covered head turns once more to study Shane. "So, this is just a larger place to hide, isn't it?" "S'the best you can hope for," Shane answers, quick sharp grin not fading despite this fatalism. "But, hey. I'm not big on hiding, c'mon." His sharkteeth bare wider. "If you got it, flaunt it. Fuck the world." "Flaunt it, eh?" Rasa chuckles lightly and nods, smiles creasing the skin around hir eyes. "I would like to be brave like you." "Brave, eh, or stupid." Shane gets to his feet, stretching his arms out in front of him and seeming heedless of the fact he is perched on a bed of snow and ice at the edge of the rooftop. "But done with hiding, either way. So where'd you come from before you tucked yourself away here, eh?" His fingers flick towards Rasa, and hir burqa. "That religious, or s'it just a safe place to hide?" "This? This was my parents' idea," Rasa admits, staying seated for a while longer. "As to where? We moved around a lot. Chicago and DC, most recently, I guess." Highlight cities named, ze turns hir head down to examine the outfit. "I consider taking it off and wearing something more form fitting, but I have difficulties keeping a form, per se, and this continues to be practical." Shoulders rise and shrug, but after a pause, hir voice continues. "That... is... um. Untrue. I fear feeling naked without it." "Mmm. Everyone's got their crutches," Shane says, blunt if without the weight of attached judgment. Also blunt, unapologetic for his prying: "Your parents trying to keep you safe, here, or did they just want to be rid of you?" "Here was my idea," Rasa replies bluntly, bitterness hanging on the edge of hir words. "I do not know what would have happened if I had not found this place, but it was ... getting bad." Ze stands up and starts dusting snow off of hir bum, the fabric starting to soak through. "It's sad how people will ..." Ze trails off, shaking out hir skirts and letting them fall, hands balling into fists as ze stiffens. "Will --?" It's all the prompting Shane gives, together with a lift of ridged brows that lack entirely in actual hair. He kicks at the snow, sending a shower of it scattering over the roof's edge. "They will cling to embarrassment and appearances, as if someone else's situation makes them terrible in conjunction." Rasa breathes a last, watching the snow skitter. "People cling to all sorts of dumb shit," Shane answers with a shrug. "I mean, how do you measure yourself without other people as a yardstick? It's hard to do." He kicks again, this time dislodging a chunk of ice to tumble down over the roof as well. "Do you /like/ it here?" "Yes. I like it here." Rasa answers resolutely. "I find it infinitely better than my bedroom back home, better than the parents who fight all the time about me, and the classmates that harass me for being either religious or a freak or both." Ze relaxes a little and wraps hir arms around hirself to rub at hir upper arms to warm them. "I am not sure I know enough about this place yet, to like it for anything but what it isn't." There's a pause and then, "How about you?" "My brother's here." This is the only answer Shane gives to Rasa. He glances to her arm-wrapping, and picks up his coat, tossing it underhand at her. "What'll you do when you get out?" "That depends." Rasa admits, digging hir toe into the snow. "I..." Shane's movement causes hir to pause. Ze nods as ze accepts the coat, slipping it over hir shoulders. Ze has no problems making it fit. "If I can learn some modicum of control over my appearance, I could try for a job. If not, I may stay as some sort of fake religious academic at some university. I don't know." There's something a little wry-edged to Shane's smile at Rasa's words, but he just grunts a quiet acknowledgment. "Sweet. People will hate you for being a Muslim instead of for being a mutant. It'll be a good life." "Yes, I know." Rasa looks over at Shane, something inky dripping along the side of hir nose. "It is incredibly fucked up and assish. I am just unoriginal tonight. The book - well, it's getting to me and the burqa is convenient." "Yeah? And will anyone here care but you if you don't have it on?" Shane looks right back at Rasa, brows raising again. "Shit, man, maybe I should wear one." He is backing away from the edge of the roof, ambling back towards the window in a lazy sort of saunter. "Unfortunately, I care," Rasa admits, hesitantly following Shane. "It's... a mess under here, and it keeps changing... and displaying and saying things and people - well, I mean, you've seen some of the new telepaths here, right? Reading people's thoughts without the ability to control it? They get confused and freaked out and... I make everyone feel like that." "You make everyone feel like that, or you worry about making everyone feel like that so don't wait to see how they actually feel?" Shane pushes at the window, once he gets back to it, shoving it more open once again. "Not that I'm saying you shouldn't. Whatever makes you comfortable." "Fine, fine," Rasa agrees reluctantly, the skin around hir eyes turning black, hir irises shifting to a deep cobalt blue. "There were a couple people that I actually read. I am using their thoughts as example." Hir voice drops low and remains husky. Ze takes off the coat and hands it back to Shane. "But no. I haven't reexamined my situation here. I did startle your brother though. I don't think he liked my thoughts." "I think you'd be surprised. 'Bastian likes --" Shane pauses at the window, shrugging, and glancing back at Rasa as he takes the coat. "Most people. Thoughts and all. I'm going to eat." This sounds more like announcement than invitation, even though Shane extends a beckoning hand towards the window. "Wouldn't want that thing to get you stuck out here. S'cold as balls." "Bah. I wouldn't get stuck." Rasa admits, taking Shane's proffered hand. "I'd strip naked rather than be stuck, but I'd sure as hell make sure no one was around for it." Slowly, Rasa's skin begins to fade back to a blue shade similar to Shane's, hir form shrinking down to his size as well. The burqa is a pain, but is less hindered by the transformation. "I am sorry to sound like I am speaking ill of Bastian. I... think I just startled him." "Pretty gorram cold for stripping, too." Shane watches the shift of skin, but doesn't comment on it. He is quick to duck through the window, holding it open after and guiding Rasa down through it as well. He shrugs at the mention of his brother, and glances around the empty attic, head tilting as though listening to something else. "It'll be loud around here again soon," he says, lifting a hand in what is probably a wave goodbye. "Enjoy the quiet while it lasts." "Oh." Rasa stands awkwardly by the window, closing it after hir journey through it. Hir skin lightens once more, shifting back to hir natural shade, but ze remains small of stature. "I... um. I guess. Thanks for the... um." Ze glances toward the window once more then back to Shane, then squats down to pick up the things ze removed from hir pockets before. "People think it's prettier in spring, but I like it how it is now." Shane's clawed fingers flick towards the window, and with that, he jerks his head up in a nod towards Rasa and heads out the /normal/ way. "No, I... uh." Rasa sighs and slides the nuts back in her pockets. "Thanks for spending time with me." Hir down turned face is quite red for a few moments, but ze recovers and wanders back to hir book. Shane's mouth hooks up in a grin, lopsided and toothy. "Oh, yeah, sure, anytime. You might not want to make a habit of it though. I hear my detentions are contagious." One last flicked grin, and he slips out of the room, shoes thumping as he takes the steps three at a time.