ArchivedLogs:Dances are Stupid

Dances are Stupid
Dramatis Personae Ivan, Kai
In Absentia	2013-05-31 Ivan finds a Kai in need of support. How unfortunate.
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 been a couple of hours since Kai fled the dance with a flaming red face and yellow eyes. A casual search by interested parties would reveal the boy is not in his room, although his dress clothes are wadded up in the corner. They might look a bit /stomped on/, too. No. Kai is nowhere in the mansion. He is flouting the rules again, hiding out in the treehouse instead of being inside getting ready for curfew. Now, in pajama bottoms and a thin t-shirt, he snuggles into the nest of blankets and pillows he smuggled out here for that very purpose. His eyes are no longer yellow, but they are red and moist-looking, and there are definite tracks along his cheeks. The noise of after-partying drifting up from somewhere nearby makes his face twist again, and he buries his head in the pillows with a half-choked sort of sound. More noises from below the tree house filter in-- climbing sort of noises, quiet but still definitely coming closer. And closer. Until finally, there is an Ivan standing in the treehouse. Clip-on tie askew, blue dress shirt crinkled and an absent sort of expression on his face. His eyes are on Kai. Or past Kai. It's really not very clear which one. "{I couldn't find...}" He starts in Russian, swallows with no change to his expression, then starts over in English, but with a deadish sort of tone to match his features. "I could not find you." Kai moans at the sound of someone climbing, and he rolls to face the interloper with one eye cracked open. He also seems to be looking /past/ the other boy. There's a long moment of that before his gaze comes to Ivan and focuses. "I did not wish to be found," he says in a ragged, raw sort of voice. Then, dully: "Dances are /stupid/." Ivan's gaze lingers in Kai's direction, before trailing downward at the admittance of not wanting to be found. Turning as if he's just going to head straight /out/ again, when Kai continues. Dances, stupid? His eyes stay down on the floor, and he, too, takes a little while to answer, though admittedly more relaxed. "Do you not like the people?" "They are /stupid/," Kai re-asserts, a drop of liquid squeezing from his closed eye to slide across his cheek. "They put emphasis on silly things like d-dates." He struggles with the word, sucking in a shuddery breath. "And /kissing/. And holding /hands/." He screws his other eye shut, and another spill of liquid joins its twin across his cheek. When he speaks again, his voice is much lower. "Ivan, do you think it is possible to hate someone who has not done a thing to you?" Ivan doesn't move, standing... idly by. Like an android someone's forgotten to recharge, the only visible sign of life being his breathing. Calm. Steady. And perhaps the only thing he's focusing on right now, because the next thing he says, lifting his head to aim that glassy stare at Kai again, is simply, "I am sorry. I was not listening." Kai opens his red-rimmed eyes to STARE at Ivan. Not listening? This is not Best Friend S.O.P. (a term learned from the television). In fact it borders on /rude/, and the younger boy's eyes flicker yellow for a moment. "I /asked/," he says in a less-than-patient voice, the words snapping a bit in spite of his ragged throat, "if you thought it was possible to hate a person who has not done a thing to you?" He sits up to peer through misty eyes at Ivan. "Do you hear me /now/?" Sarcasm. It's a new tool for Kai. Not quite aware, not quite /there/, Ivan stares at Kai as if he's not a person but instead some weird puzzle that's falling slowly in and out of place. "A... thing? Which thing?" He straightens again, as if in an attempt to call himself back to this world by standing at /attention/. It doesn't seem to be helping much, and- his eyes close, on top of everything else, eyebrows lowering as if it is suddenly required for listening. He tries again, voice strained but barely loud enough to carry across to Kai. "Many people-- hate. Which- thing?" Kai frowns, both in frustration and a bit of concern for his friend. It's a long moment before he speaks, some of the heat out of his voice. "I do not like Shane," he confesses. "But he has not done anything to me." Which doesn't sound entirely accurate, as jealous as Kai sounds. Particularly when his face twists again. "I kicked Peter. In the leg." Kai adds dully. He points at his shin in illustration. "He is also /stupid/." Alas, Ivan has no mind for picking up on jealousy in voices on good days, and right now? He does not appear to be having one of those. His mouth opens but his eyes flit somewhere else. Back the way he came. "Peter is stupid?" He mulls this over for a few seconds, but his expression doesn't particularly signify it going anywhere that /sticks/. "Okay." He finally concedes, blankly and at the ground rather than at the only other person present. "I am sorry?" It's a little like he's got a barrel of little papery responses in his head, and what's being said is the result of him occasionally plunging a hand in there to fish a random one out. "... I have to leave." "Peter is stupid," Kai confirms a bit miserably. "He--" he can't finish that thought, though. Something about Ivan seems far more concerning, and Kai shifts to his knees to peer at the other boy with a deep furrow of his brow. "Ivan, what is wrong?" Then it /all/ goes wrong when Ivan makes his announcement. All the color drains out of Kai's face, and his frown threatens to take the lower half. "/Leaving/?" His voice rises as panic begins to set in. "But why? You just went away /last/ --" More tears spill across his cheeks as he flops despondently into the blankets. There's a small shuddery intake of breath that borders on a sob. "Okay," is sullen, and muffled by pillows. Ivan's eyebrows twitch closer to one another as Kai continues, and his mouth opens long before he actually uses it to say something. "Find Peter. Talk to Peter. You will be okay." These are Ivan's last words, and then, he sluggishly turns, one hand lifting to press at the side of his head, before he's simply off, back from whence he came. Accompanied by the drone of music elsewhere on the grounds, of people undoubtedly enjoying themselves more than in here. Not that there's anyone here after Ivan departs. A minute or two later, pillows and blankets tumble out of the treehouse, followed a moment later by Kai's thin frame down the ladder. Once at the bottom of the tree, Kai looks around, taking in the lights and distant music with a bitter twist of his face. Then he stoops to gather up the bedding, and turns towards the forest. A moment later, he moves in that direction, disappearing miserably into the dark and empty (of people, anyway) woods. Dances are so /stupid/.