ArchivedLogs:Extra-extra-curricular Activities

Extra-extra-curricular Activities
Dramatis Personae Allison, Harm, Kyle, Nessie
In Absentia	2017-09-09 "That's not in the true spirit of underground knitting."
Location <XS> Playground
Set on the still-expansive grounds around the side of the school, this area is to the outdoors rather what the rec room is to the indoors. There's a large basketball court out here; a fenced-off tennis court adjacent. Further distant there are setups for other sports -- a large track, a soccer field. Closer in to the school, though, in its own large enclosure adjacent to the basketball and tennis courts, is the playground, a huge expanse of equipment set up on alternating plots of slightly squishy flooring and mulch. Centrally there is a large sprinkler-fountain, not always /on/ but it can be turned on with a push of a button; spreading out around this is the actual playground equipment, sturdy and varied. A huge dome constructed in honeycombed interlocked poles and rope netting rises hiiiigh for climbing; a large swingset holds four pairs of swings. A large roundabout in bright colours stands in one corner near a long see-saw. The huge bridge-and-tunnel castle structure at one end has many routes of entry, from poles to climb up (or slide down) to a small climbing /wall/. Monkeybars. Four different slides of varying lengths and spiraling. For the adventurous, between things to climb on and jump between and bounce across it is probably possible to skirt one end of the playground and back without touching the ground, though it might take a particularly adept feat of balance and agility. Or possibly wings. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, sunny and warm. There's lunch being served inside, but quite a lot of students either choosing to eat theirs outside or delaying lunch in favor of extra time out of doors -- with the year only just begin, too, probably any number of the brand-new arrivals have yet to /quite/ figure out the rhythm around here. The grounds are full of students, sprinkled around in pairs or small group clusters; some playing, some eating their lunches, some just enjoying the sun (and a couple /really/ enterprising ones actually engaged with textbooks, getting a jumpstart on next week's assignments.) Currently far away from any of these groups is Nessie -- kind of a /striking/ figure even at a School For Weirdos, the scorpion-esque mutant has a glass of soda in one hand and a half a sandwich in the other and no other students coming anywhere near her. Her many legs are folded underneath her where she sits, her long spike-barbed tail swishing slowly overhead. Dressed in a plain kind-of-dingy white button-down, it's probably hard to really even tell what gender the monstrous arachnoid student might be. Though she /has/ a book sitting nearby her, she's not reading it right now. Just nibbling her sandwich, eying the other students scattered around the grounds with a thoughtful expression. Off in the distance, a tad across from nice Nessie, was a tall but athletic looking kid playing with a soccerball. He wears a beanie, jacket and T-shirt and of course, somewhat baggy pants. If one were watching him, he was fantastic! Presently, he was effortlessly juggling a ball, and bears no (possibly permanent) outward mutations like Nessie does. He looks like your everyday human. Though he turns his head to Nessie, and offers her a kind smile, kicking the ball upward so he can catch it in his hand, he approaches "Hey there." he smiles, though it's a shy one, like one trying to get out of his shell a little. "Can I ask your name?" he asks softly, though he has a -strong- scottish accent. As Kyle approaches, Nessie tenses up. Her fingers clench tighter at her glass, her shoulders curling inward. She flinches slightly at the movement of the soccer ball, vaguely relaxing again only once Kyle catches it. Her long barbed tail swish-flicks a little faster. Her central pair of eyes widens a little, and she dips her head, taking a large gulp of her soda. "Oh. Um. Nessie. It's Nessie. Did you -- need something?" She's looking behind herself, then back at Kyle; her tone doesn't sound /un/welcoming so much as a little puzzled. The young man kept a warm, but perhaps small smile towards Nessie, and when she answers his question, his smile grows a little wider. He maintains eye contact, and doesnt seem repulsed or afraid by her appearance. "I just wanted to come over and say hi. You looked lonely." he comments as an observation, he stretches out his hand "I'm Kyle. I'm a freshman here." he smiles in a friendly manner. "Me too." Nessie looks at Kyle's outstretched hand uncertainly, then down at her own hands -- the two more standard-looking ones occupied with Lunch, the pincer-tipped pair beneath that per/haps/ not ideal for shaking. "Um, I mean," a little darker tint to her cheeks here, "I'm a freshman too -- I'm new. Not that I'm -- also Kyle." Her brows crease, and eventually she lowers the sandwich from her upper pair of arms to her lower, grasping it carefully with one pincer so that she can rise -- up and up and /up/, once she's standing on her looong segmented legs she kind of looms over even the tall youth. She takes a tentative step forward to shake Kyle's hand, delicate and brief. "I'm not lonely, I just --" Her lips purse, twist slightly to one side. "I don't know. This whole first-week thing has been a lot and we've barely even started any class yet. Are you, um --" The sandwich-bearing hand waves generally in Kyle's direction. "From -- somewhere? Your accent is -- I don't know it." She sounds apologetic, here. Kyle laughs smiles to Nessie, though he does whistle a little when she fully rises, but it's more of awe than fear. He happily shakes her hand, equally gentle and brief. "Nice too meet ya lass." he smiles, and he does chuckle when she speaks, nodding af ew times like it totally makes sense. then she says what was really going on, and he nods a little "I've been a wee bit overwhelmed to. So let's be friends and be overwhelmed together eh?" he smiles, still holding a soccer ball under his left arm. "Where am I from? Oh, I'm from across the sea yeah. I'm from Glasgow, Scotland. I immigrated legally with my family when I was 9." he smiles. "Where are you from?" he asks curiously. Wandering up across the grounds from the lake, Harmony is wrapped in a lightweight knitted shawl in a slightly sparkly green-blue-purple ombre, undyed linen wrap pants billowing around their bare feet as they walk. They're carrying a shoulder bag made from bicycle inner tubes (there's a bit of bright pink yarn trailing out of it) with a pair of hemp sandals carabinered to the strap. They change their course slightly and approach Nessie and Kyle, waving and smiling a shallow, cautious smile. "Hey! What's going on?" "Immigrated -- legally." Nessie presses her lips together, settling slowly back down into a lower crouch, though not entirely sitting this time. She nibbles at her sandwich (it's fat and heavily loaded with fillings, seeming to be composed primarily of roast beef and cheese and tomatoes), washing it down with another swallow of cola. "That's, um -- 9? So you've been here a while, then, that's -- that's cool. Do you miss it? Do you like it -- here?" Her nose scrunches, head shaking. "I've only ever lived in New York. I'm not from anywhere exciting." Her shoulders tense once more as someone approaches, but she relaxes when she turns her head and recognizes Harmony. "Oh! Lunch? Did you get any lunch? There's food inside. Well, /I'm/ doing lunch, I think Kyle was doing --" One hand waves to the soccer ball. "You looked like you were pretty good with that." Kyle turns his head to Harmony when they approach, offering them a kind smile "Hello there." he looks up to the taller scorpion-esque Nessie "I was just meeting this nice lass over here. I have a new friend." he smiles, extending his right hand now to Harmony "Kyle." he introduces himself...in a -strong- Scottish accent. He glances then back to Nessie "I like it here yeah. It's a little louder than home, but it is what it is I guess." he shrugs "I do sometimes, miss home I mean. I like seein' the long plains and hearin' aunt Agnes tryin' to sing." he laughs at that memory. Clearly there was more, but more for another time. He looks back to Harmony for a small moment when Nessie speaks to them, then looks to Nessie again "Aye, I was just playin' some soccer by me self. It's my favorite sport." he shrugs a little, dropping the ball back to the ground when he starts kinda rolling the ball around with his foot idly. "Oh, yeah, I ate down by the lake. It's /so/ beautiful." Harmony's smile grows a little less shy. "Nice to meet you, Kyle." They hesitate very briefly at the offered hand, but then shakes it anyway. "I'm Harm. Are you going to try out for the soccer team here?" They nod at the ball as Kyle starts rolling it around again. "The mansion with everyone back for class is a bit much, yeah. But there's woods if you like some quiet, and I think you can take boats out on the lake? I'm not sure if you need permission or anything..." "It can be a lot, being apart from family on /top/ of all this new stuff. Is your family close by, at least? I mean not -- your aunt Agnes," Nessie's smile is quick and small, "but your folks?" She takes another pull of her soda, swishing it around in her mouth and then swallowing. Harmony's words earn a small excited /bounce/ that she soon curtails, settling carefully back down into a practiced stillness. "Oh, that sounds great! I don't know anything /about/ boats, though, I wouldn't have the first idea how to -- to boat. Sail? Something. But eating on the lake sounds -- relaxing." Though her nose crinkles, as she adds: "With someone who's good at it anyway. If I did it /alone/ me /and/ all my lunch would be swimming. And I'm not a great swimmer. Do you?" Hopeful, to Harmony. "Know how to do the boats?" Kyle smiles gently to Harmony "Nice to meet you Harm." and at his question, he shrugs "I think I'd like to. It'd be fun I think yeah." he chuckles lihtly, juggling the ball with one foot fairly effortlessly. Practiced to perfection! He glances between them "I've never been a fan o' boats, ironically enough." his accent more fluid as he speaks. Though he looks to Nessie "Me Parents live in Brooklyn, so it's not too far away...though when tey discovered my powers, they may 'ave been overjoyed.." a small sigh on how easily he was given up "Oh well. It is what it is...besides, I like this place." he looks around "Never been to a mansion before." he shrugs lightly. "I can try teachin' ya how to swim if ye like?" he says to Nessie. Harmony flinches, barely noticeably, when Nessie bounces up in excitement, but doesn't move away. "I can paddle a canoe...not very well, but I do alright in a small body of still water. Canoes are kind of /small/, though..." They look Nessie up and down. "The rowboats and ones with motors are bigger, but I don't know how to do those. Is it still 'sailing' if they don't have sails?" They settle down to sit cross-legged in the grass near Nessie, opening their bag to pull out a squarish bit of fabric wrapped around a pair of polished wooden knitting needles, tails of pink ombre yarn trailing back into the bag. "There are /so/ many clubs and teams and organizations here. Are there any you're interested in, Nessie? Or you, Kyle, I didn't mean to imply you're all about soccer and nothing else..." "I --" Nessie looks over at Kyle, then down at her own body with its long thorax and sharp-tipped jointed legs. "I'm not sure that would work very well. My body doesn't exactly move like yours. Out or in the water." Her head bows slightly, eyes dropping as she takes another bite of her sandwich. "That sucks about your parents. I guess sometimes it's a lot for families to. Adapt to." Shrug. She takes a slow moment chewing over her food, then looks back up at Harmony. "Is it? I don't know. Probably /someone/ here could tell us. Looking at all the clubs and everything it seems like there's someone around here who does just about /everything/." She is watching Harmony's needles move, now, with interest. "Clubs? I don't know. Do you think they'd even let me play sports? I'm thinking about maybe the chess club though..." This sounds a little uncertain. "I don't know, what about you? Are you interested in any? Have you checked any of them out yet?" Kyle chuckles faintly to Harmony "I don't mind, friend. I was thinkin' of joinin' the archery club. I'm not too terrible a shot, if you could believe it." he smiles warmly, then looks to Nessie "ah...sorry, I didn't mean to add anything downtrodden. Just thought I'd offer." he says kindly, feeling terrible though if he brought up something she may not be able to do well. then his family is brought up and his hands go down to his pockets "It's alright..." he looks up at the sky for a bit "Gotta happen, I guess. Best not put them in any danger..." though he does watch as Harmony and Nessie have a small talk, but then he turns and asks Harm "So, uh, forgive my forwardness with this question, but eh, what can you do? Like, what sorta..'powers'" he moves his hands like he's trying to ask about his mutation, albeit blatantly assuming they had one. He is polite enough to wait until Nessie's asked her question. "Why wouldn't they let you?" Harmony frowns. "Is it because you have so many legs? Oh, is that rude?" They turn a little red. "Just, I imagine there must be a lot of students here who have pretty extreme advantages in some sport or another..." They shakes their head, not even watching their hands as the needles move across each other, laying down a new line of yarn. "I haven't had a chance to check out any clubs in person, but the nature club sounds kind of neat? I would love it if there were a knitting circle or something." They perk up a little. "I guess there /could/ be one if I start one!" At Kyle's question they initially just look blank, until he gets to the word 'powers,' "Oh...uh...I -- it's kind of -- I'm not very /good/ at having powers. I guess they can teach that, here." They do not sound particularly convinced, though. Heading out to the playground is Allison with a guitar over her shoulder. She is wearing her Knicks jersey with a simple t-shirt beneath it, and a pair of flexible skinny jeans. As she spies her roommate, she lifts a hand to wave as she heads over to the trio with a smile upon her face. "Hey guys." She calls over to them as she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind an ear. "What's shaking?" She gives a longer look to Kyle for a moment, mulling over if she's seen him before. "I don't know, my friends told me that they can be really -- finicky about who's allowed to compete in what. Because if your mutation gives you an advantage they -- don't want that, I guess." Nessie brightens, smile wider: "If you started a knitting club would it, maybe, /teach/ people to knit? I think it'd be /so/ cool to learn. I'm not very good at..." Nessie trails off with a slight widening of eyes, a definite clench of her jaw, when she spies the waving in the distance. By the time Allison is in close enough range for her facial expression to be easily discernible, though, the tension in her expression has shifted back into a small smile. "Hi." Her teeth scrape against her lower lip, head cocking slightly at Harmony. "Hopefully /someone/ here can help? They've probably seen -- a lot of powers." She doesn't sound /very/ certain herself, though. Harmony blushes at Kyle's drawn-out 'okay', their eyes dropping briefly to their knitting. "If they're going to stop anyone with an advantage from playing a sport, that'd probably be half the school. If not more." They look back up, smiling shyly again. "I would /so/ teach people how to knit. And how to spin, I like doing that, too. Do you have to get a teacher's permission to have a club here? Oh, hey." They smile at Allison as she approaches, studying her hard for a moment. "We're just chilling. How are you?" "I'm Allison." The girl says to Kyle, reaching out to take his hand with a squeeze. "Hey, you like soccer? I love soccer. I played for my last high school. You on the team here? I'm hoping to make the cut if I can try out." She gives a smile to Harmony as well, lifting her hand once it's retrieved from Kyle. "Hi there! Nice to meet you too. How's it going, Nessie? Was fun getting breakfast with you and Mina earlier." She rocks a bit on her shoes, then grins to Kyle. "Hey, pass the ball over." "I don't really know how they decide." Nessie's tone is more muted than it was earlier, quiet and a little more diffident. "But I doubt they'd ban anyone from /knitting/ anyway! That sounds really excellent." She gives Allison a quizzical look, brows pinching inward. "Oh... you mean... days ago?" Biting down on her lip, she looks down at her sandwich. "It's going okay. Nice weather today." Kyle shakes Allison's hand with a warm smile "Nice to meet ya Allison." his eyes -widen- when she says she loves soccer. "Really? I used to play all the time..well, back when I was allowed to play. I had those parents ya see." a small, soft laugh there. "I'm not..at least not yet. y'see, though I was plannin' on at least seein' if I could maybe look into joinin'." he smiles, and when she asks for it, he happily kicks the ball softly enough to pass it to her "'ere ya go." a smile to see how she'd do with it...wonder if she'd show off? he glances to Nessie then "I think you'd be rather great at Knittin'." he says encouragingly! then he looks up "Aye, that it is. it's nice, perfect weather to go for a run or do some archery." he smiles to everyone. "I'm Harm, nice to meet you," Harmony says, blushing. "Sor -- uh, apologies, I thought maybe we'd met before? Everyone kind of looks vaguely familiar after this week, with all the orientation..." They nod at Nessie. "The basics are /way/ easy to learn. Probably /are/ people with advantages at knitting, but it's not that makes the knitting any less fun for /other/ people. And if they /did/ want to ban anyone we could have a secret underground knitting circle." They nod, watching Kyle and Allison play soccer. "Maybe there could be underground sports teams, too. For people who want to play, but aren't allowed to?" Catching the ball with her foot, Allison pops it upwards and gives it a few juggles between her feet and her knees before letting it pop back over to Kyle with a grin. "Cool, then I'll see you at try outs then. I'm a half back but I can flex to striker if I need to." To Harmony, she says, "You do look familiar ... I think we did meet maybe. I've seen so many faces over the last few days it's become a blur for me as well, but I'm hoping to make some new friends here." To Nessie, she flushes a bit. "Oh. Well .. yeah, the other day. I just been so busy and in and out of the room I haven't had a chance to really hang out since. I guess that sounded a bit silly." As her phone beeps in her pocket, she slips it out and takes a peek, then waves. "I gotta go guys. Grandma wants to facetime with me." As she heads off, she grins. "See you on the field, Kyle." "Why would I be great at knitting?" Nessie is in the middle of scarfing down the last of her sandwich but stops, blinking slightly, her lower pair of pincer-arms fidgeting with each other. She watches the others play with a faint tilt of head, her sharp-tipped feet poking into the dirt with her restless shifts of weight. She swallows, gulps at her soda. "Oh /wow/ an underground knitting circle sounds /hardcore/." There's been an eager uptick in her tone, a slightly brighter note that is still at least a touch muted. When Allison heads off, though, she relaxes -- visibly, shoulders less tense, smile brighter and warmer. "Can we make one whether we're allowed to have an official knitting club or /not/?" Her eyes turn out -- past the grounds, toward the mountains beyond. "Archery sounds like a really neat thing to learn, too. Lots of my friends are good at it but I'm --" Shrug. Smiling wide and clapping a little at Allisons footwork with the soccer ball, he laughs a tad "Awesome! Look at ya!" he smiles wide, happy as can be. Soccer was one of his passions after all. When she kicks it back to him he juggles it so it lands right between his foot and his shin, doing a few one-foot tricks with the ball before letting it drop harmlessly back to the ground. "Really? I play best as a wing, but I can hang on defense and striking." he smiles and when she has to go, he waves "Bye Alli! you bet lass." already with nicknames. He then looks back to Harm and Nessie "an underground sports club? I mean, sounds excitin'..but I would prefer not to get into possible trouble in me first year." a small chuckle then, looking now to Nessie. He shrugs though "I dunno. I just wanted to be encouragin'." at least he was honest. "I think you could do archery fairly well. When was the last time ye shot?" he asks Nessie. "Wow, you're both really good. Oh, bye!" Harmony watches Allison go. Then, happily, "Definitely. We'll make underground knitting circle happen." They lower their voice conspiratorially. "Maybe we can sneak out of our dorms after curfew, go knit in the woods by /moonlight/. Have a secret password or handshake or something." They consider Kyle's concern, frowning slightly, but nodding. "That's understandable! But if they won't let everyone who /wants/ to play play...maybe it's on /us/ to make it more fair. But anyway I think secret /knitting/ is worth the risk." Their smile is still shy and close-lipped, but just a /little/ bit crooked. "Oooh, I would like to learn archery. I've never tried it, but I like /The Hunger Games./" Nessie opens her mouth, frowning, but then just closes it again. "Yeah. I guess that's. Probably a risk you wouldn't want to take." Her tone has eased back into a quieter one again, and she gulps down the last of her soda, slowly rising back higher on her long legs. "I've shot -- about never, but if they teach it here maybe that'll change. And if you've seen all the movies too /you're/ probably halfway there already!" She gives Harmony a quick smile -- bright, but brief. "I am /so/ down for midnight knitting." Waggling her empty glass at the others in a pseudo-wave, she plucks her feet carefully out of the dirt, wipes their tips delicately against the grass, slower now as she picks her way away. "I'm getting more caffeine. See you around, I'm sure!" Kyle smiles faintly to Harmony "Ey, thanks." he smiles, humble in his skill "Practice practice practice." he shrugs faintly, kicking the ball back to his hand. Though he looks between Nessie and Harm with a small sigh "You two are gonna get me into trouble ain'tcha?" he laughs playfully. Though when Nessie rises to leave, he waves at her lightly "Nice meetin' ya Ness! Take care 'til next I see ya." he says in happy goodbye, and then he looks Harmony "If you like, I can teach ya how to shoot really well. It's an art, ya see." he smiles, always happy to help out friends. "Oh, yeah, my dad took me to see all the movies." Harmony bobs their head excitedly. "Deal. I'll let you know real /secretively/ when we're ready to meet up." They tip their head at Nessie. "Bye, I'll see you." To Kyle, though, "No one's gonna make you get into any kinda trouble you don't want. That's not in the true spirit of underground knitting." They look very serious about this. "But yeah! I'll give archery a try sometime." Opening their bag again, they put away their knitting. "For now, though...maybe I'll go get seconds, after all." Climbing to their feet, they wave. "See you around!" Before trotting back toward the mansion. Kyle smiles to Harmony "I've never seen 'em. Maybe you'll show me 'em sometime yeah?" he smiles though when they say that he won't get into trouble or make him do so, which adds some relief to him. "alrighty, I'll holdya to it. I'll see ya around friend!" he waves lightly, kicking the ball a little bit and practicing his feigns as they talk "enjoy yer meal!" he waves again.