ArchivedLogs:Intense

Intense
Dramatis Personae Chelsea, Ghost, Sebastian
In Absentia	2013-12-09 '
Location <XS> Library
Xavier's librarian might hope the library is a quiet place to sit and study, but with a school full of teenagers that is not always the case. Nevertheless, it is certainly a treasure trove of knowledge, well-stocked with a wealth of books on its high shelves. Its reference section is vast, though its fiction is as well (much to the delight of many of its students.) The wide octagonal tables and smaller armchairs are often crowded with students, though the whispered conversations that often take place leave some doubt as to how much work is getting done at any given hour. It's Monday at lunchtime at the school, and Chelsea is here, wandering into the library. She dosn't have any classes today, and is instead supposed to be familiarizing herself with the grounds, and her new smart phone, and just generally living in civilized company. She's in a full sweatsuit, XS sweat pants with an XS hoodie, all light heather gray. She's also gotten her kinky hair somewhat under control, cut in a super short style, tight, uniform curls about an inch thick on her head - the Afro-Latina version of a pixie cut. "Uh, hello?" she calls out. Apparently she doesn't know that very few students will be in the library at /lunch/ time. Very few students perhaps exceeeept here is Sebastian because free time, what's that? Something for other people, perhaps. He's utilizing his lunch break in the pursuit of work, a laptop and a tablet both on the table in front of him. He's rather focused, schematics on his screen for some sort of machinery though at the moment he's ignoring it in favour of a rapid-fire conversation in gchat with one of his coworkers. He's dressed colorfully as is his norm, leggings decorated with galaxies and constellations and other space-imagery, a blue plaid pleated skirt over top, a black shirt with detachable long sleeves held on to the shoulders with silver buckles. Silver makeup, too, eyeshadow and lipstick glimmering noticeably sparkly-metallic against his blue skin. He doesn't look up at the sound of Chelsea's voice, though he does /answer/, library-hushed: "Hey, Chelsea. Need help?" Unlike most students, Ghost is a sort of a weirdo, okay well, like a lot of students but in her own way, and /is/ currently in the library at lunch time, breaking the sacramental rule of no food in the library. With a peanut butter sandwich, on a paper plate, a small apple, and her laptop in front of her, Ghost is working on her 'big article', typing away whilst eating. As she does this, she spots Chelsea, speaking with her mouth full. "Oh, hell-". She stops speaking when Sebastian talks, apparently her first time noticing him in here, her eyes widening. "Wait Sebastian when did you get here, I don't remember you entering, then again, I may have came in after you and just not noticed you, that happens sometimes.". Ghost pauses, before getting to the /big picture/. "Oh, yes, I've also been meaning to talk to you, super important journalist business, big stuff.". Speaking of which, Ghost is dressed in her all important PRESS hat, a blue t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and no shoes, as usual. "Need to ask you a few important questions for a big article.". "Whoa..." Chelsea says. "My middle school last year didn't have a library like this... It was like, just a little room with kids' books." She walks past the stacks and pulls up a chair at Sebastian's table, but nods at Ghost when she speaks up too, just a little shyly. "Hey B, I'm ok, thanks. I just... looking around." She glances at his screen, but doesn't look long. Just looking around in general. She nods at Ghost then too, and adds, "But you're... it's just for the /school/ paper, right?" "Ghost works for the school paper," Sebastian affirms, switching windows from chat to lines of code. Though here his typing stops; he just /frowns/ at the work with a hint of exasperation, scrolling slowly through. "I've been here," he tells Ghost softly, "I'm just quiet. What article? What did you need to ask?" He glances up here, looking around the library with a very small closed-lipped smile. "I love it in here." "Your more..'charming' half clued me into a massive story, and basically gave you as a reference. Stuff about the administration being prejudiced against physical mutants like us, big stuff. And for once, I got permission to run it. Then again, I asked politely.". Ghost smiles, replying to Bastian, before turning to Chelsea. "Journalist extraordinaire, possibly the most important task in the /entire school/. The news doesn't report itself, y'know.". She exaggerates quite a bit, but has a wide smile on her face, obviously believing it herself. "I'm Ghost, yeah. Nice to meet you.". Ghost then turns back to Sebastian. "I needed to ask you about the incident with Ivan?" Chelsea watches the older girl grill Sebastian, and slowly slinks around the table she shares with B, to subtly put the table between herself and Ghost. She looks more than a little worried about potential discrimination at school, but she doesn't say anything out loud. She crosses her arms on the table and leans over to rest her chin on the back of her hands, just flicking her eyes back and forth to watch the conversation between B and Ghost like a tennis match. Sebastian's smile fades; at the sides of his neck, his gills flutter rapidly. His clear inner eyelids blink closed, too, his attention focusing in on his laptop screen. "He /is/ my better half." He gives this answer softly, flicking his fingers back and forth over what looks like a large trackball in front of his computer. Not really a trackball, though; the flicking summons up a small holographic projection of the schematics on his screen. They vanish a second later with another flick. "That incident was a while back." "Yeah, I'm aware. Just, well, Shane told me about how Ivan attacked you guys and you basically defended yourself and got into more trouble than he did, so, I needed confirmation, details, all the important journalism things! It's what I do, okay?". Ghost is showing /way/ too much enthusiasm for this than is healthy, grinning madly. "The people need to know the truth, after all, tis' be why the presses were made in the first place. Well, that, and money. But I don't get paid, sadly.". She is paying no attention to the computery-stuff, focused much more on Sebastian. "So..what's your side on all of this? Eh? Eh?" "Um," Chelsea says, biting her lip. Her eyes flick to Sebastian at the topic of violence. Her face is truly an open book, and it's clear that a whole cavalcade of emotions are at play there. Without lifting her head from where it rests on her arms, she says quietly to Ghost, "You are super intense. Anyone ever tell you that?" "Ivan's pretty," Sebastian answers blandly. "And, well, look at me." His gills flutter faster, words uneven as his breath starts and stops. Around the hitching, though, his voice is quietly calm. "Rasa was having trouble with hir powers. Shane was carrying hir down to the medbay so ze could get help. Ivan came in with a swarm of bees and attacked Shane and Rasa with the bees. I attacked /him/. Bit him? I just wanted it to stop, I don't really do well watching people hurt my brother. Anyway, he got detention. I got suspended for a week." He glances up from his screen over to Chelsea, a smile almost appearing on his face though it dies before it fully forms. "I like intense. I live with Shane so I think I'm used to it. He's sort of in /all/ the faces all the time." "Well, /I/ think you're pretty.". Ghost says to Sebastian, honestly, laughing. She then turns to Chelsea, grinning. "A couple times. I take it as a compliment.". Ghost begins tapping at her laptop again, writing up this new information, before turning to Sebastian again. "Thanks! I'll probably avoid asking Ivan anything since you just told me all I need and I don't want to be bee-attacked.". She pauses, responding to him again. "Shane's not actually that bad, but he told me that I should be afraid of him or something and that he's pretty terrible. No idea what he meant by that.". "What? Shane's not terrible..." Chelsea looks genuinely confused, but remains with her head on the table. She looks pretty comfortable, all things considered. She looks at Sebastian and asks, "Wait, I don't get it. You got suspended for defending another student? Is there a lot of fighting on campus?" She nods to Ghost at the received compliment, and just shrugs. "I had... plenty enough intense before my mutation showed up. I could do with a little less, honestly. I get freaked out, just /being/ here, with all these people. I don't know how you do it." "No, there's not much fighting here. I mean, a little. It's high school. Not a lot. They're pretty strict about it." Sebastian's teeth bare, rare for him though he's not /smiling/ so much as grimacing. "And stricter if you're an animal." His lips close over his teeth again. "A teacher actually called Shane that, you know. One of the /ethics/ teachers, moreover. There's a kid here -- you're Pa's advisee, right, Ghost?" He glances up briefly, then looks back to his screen. "Have you seen his scars? Probably haven't, he mostly hides them at work. Horrible ones all down half his face, arms, everything. A student here did that -- they weren't a student here yet. Nearly killed him, nearly killed Flicker, /did/ kill another person on their team. Teacher called Shane an animal for getting angry about it. The other kid," he says with a note of amusement, "is very pretty, too." He rubs at his eye with his knuckles, tipping back in his chair slightly to look up at the ceiling. "It's for our own good, I'm sure." He sounds cheerful again, here. Warmer, brighter. "Get us ready for real life, after all. We're /always/ going to have to be three times as good as them. /Always/. So I do." He shrugs a shoulder, fingers squeezing down at the edge of the table. "That's how I do it," he explains to Chelsea. "You can't be freaked out. Or upset, or angry, or scared. Be three times as good as they are, /all/ the time/ for the rest of your life, and maybe you'll get half as far." "Oh, god, poor Elijah. That whole day was a terrifying mess.". Ghost shudders at remembering, before sighing. "Yeah, I'm one of Jackson's. Haven't seen his scars, no, but, gah. Sounds terrible.". She turns to Chelsea, nodding at what Sebastian says. "Yeah, totally. I myself don't give a fuck what people say about me. I'm going to try and achieve my dreams, because I am not an animal, but a fucking human being. We're no different, really, except, well, all of our abilities and stuff. But then again, everyone's different. Ugh, I'm being confusing, aren't I?". Ghost sighs again. "Then again, I don't think you have to worry. You're super pretty, and I don't mean that in a sarcastic rude way like I usually do stuff.". "Wow, I thought the teachers here would be different, and not calling us shit like that," Chelsea glances around, the younger girl still probably paranoid about cussing in the library. She's quiet for a long time, through the rest of Shane's story, and Ghost's reaction, until the compliment Ghost gives her. She shudders and lays her face on her arms, "You wouldn't say that if you saw me last week... I only look ok now because of Shane and Sebastian, but it won't last. I can feel it. Like... water pressure. Building up. You know?" She's a little hard to hear, face down like that, but she carries on like that anyway. "They are different here," Sebastian insists, quietly. "Here they treat us like animals that they /love/ instead of ones they want to put down." "They're good for the most part. I haven't been discriminated against myself but that's probably because everyone knows I can /hear/ them if they try and whisper around me. And also, I'm pretty lucky, I guess.". Ghost sighs again, tapping at her laptop again. "Last week? Wait, what did the twins do to you? I have absolutely no clue on what you could mean and my imagination isn't helping.". Ghost's curiosity gets the better as her, as she peers over to Chelsea. "Uuhh," Chelsea begins, and then lifts her head to glance first at Sebastian, and then back at Ghost. "No comment." She grins, clearly having checked off a life-goal of saying that to a reporter. What, she has weird goals. Sebastian's cheeks flush dark, tinting purple with another flutter of his gills and a tiny shy smile. "We -- helped," he explains, but that's all he explains. He closes his laptop, tucking it back into his backpack. "I should maybe actually eat before class. Good luck with your story. -- Most people here are nice," he adds to Chelsea. "But there's always going to be some who can't look past --" He shakes his head, shouldering his bag. "You come find us if anyone gives you problems." Ghost groans playfully when Chelsea refuses to comment, before laughing. "Curses, foiled again!". She turns to Sebastian, smiling. "Thanks! Wait..lunch? Oh crap, almost forgot about my sandwich.". Ghost turns to her sandwich, picks it up, and begins hastily devouring it again, before talking with her mouth partially full. "See you, Sebastian!".