ArchivedLogs:Nice to See You

Nice to See You
Dramatis Personae Jack, Lia	15 December 2014 '
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. It might look like someone left a set of clothes in a chair in the great hall at first glance. An oddly body-shaped pile of clothes that seems to occasionally be moving. That'd be Jack, new student at Xavier's. He's been having a pretty good day and combined with the previous evening's conversation with Ash, he's in pretty high spirits. At the moment, he's rereading through school rules and eating a simple sandwich. It might be an odd sight, the bites of the sandwich vanishing as Jack eats them, but Xavier's is a school for odd sights after all. There is a Lia in the lunchroom, gathering up an odd assortment of food onto her tray. There is hardly more than a bite of any one thing, but /many/ things to add together. A few grapes here, a few squares and slices of other fruit there, a salad bowl with every conceivable vegetable represented sparsely, a tiny cup of lentil soup, a slice of bread, a dinner roll, tiny pieces of several varieties of cheese and lunch meats. The girl herself is also rather a motley collection of clothing, a black Xavier's sweatshirt pulled on over an electric blue leotard and violet leggings. Her long, ash-brown hair is swept up in a bun. Someone likely has a dance class today. Odd sights are not in any way unfamiliar to Lia. Not even in the form of clothes that seem to be moving themselves. Her eyes widen excitedly and she veritably prances over to Jack's table. "Kismet! Are we going to dance again? I liked dancing. Did you practice more? Where are you? I only see your clothes." Setting her tray on the table, she bends at the waist to inspect /under/ the furniture, her face mere inches from the floor. Slightly startled out of his attempts to memorize things he'll need to, Jack glances around when Lia speaks to him. "Wait, did you mean me?" he asks, confused when he sees the girl examining under the table. He leans down so he can see under the table as well and waves a seemingly empty sleeve. "Uhh, hi. I think you might have mistaken me for someone else. And that's a new one for me," he chuckles. "I'm Jack." A delighted smile spreads broadly across the girl's elfin face. Lia continues the conversation right under the table, because that is where she is just now. "Oh! Oh, you also talk. You do not just move. Kismet only makes his clothes move sometimes. Shirt. Dancing shirt." That is possibly intended as an adequate explanation. "You are not Kismet," she deduces simply, no hint of disappointment in her voice. "You are Jack." This she repeats back with a nod before finally coming out from under the table to perch herself on the chair next to Jack's, legs tucked up on it like a frog. Or Peter Pan on a windowsill. "Shake and say hello." The girl extends a hand, pale and with a tracery of scars disappearing up under her sleeve. "Hello. I am Lia." "I certainly hope I do," Jack chuckles. "So, this Kismet guy can make clothes dance? Is he invisible too?" Jack asks curiously. He sits back up as well, blinking at the girl's odd way of sitting. "Isn't that uncomfortable?" he asks. He offers an unseen smile before shaking the offered hand though. His hand can't be seen but it can be felt and he's got a bandaid on one of his fingers which helps indicate where his hand is. "Nice to meet you, Lia." "Yes. Yes, he moves many things with his /mind/. He danced a shirt with me." Lia's head cocks to the side, bird-like. "I have seen him before. If he is invisible sometimes, I have not seen him." It's hard to argue with that logic. The question of discomfort earns only a blink, though Lia is quickly otherwise engaged in /giggling/ at the hand...lack-of...but /hand/ in her own. "Oh. Oh! Solid. Warm." She holds the handshake a little longer than is typical, impressed with the tactile qualities of the invisible thing. "Nice to meet you. You are invisible. Cannot say 'nice to see you'. Do not see. Nice to feel you? No, that is not right. 'Meet' is good." "Oh, he's telekinetic!" Jack says, finally getting it. He does want to meet Kismet now, eager to talk to another telekinetic. The logic earns some blinking and then a laugh. "That makes sense," he replies with a nod. He doesn't seem that bothered by the extended handshake but he does rub the back of his neck with his free hand. "Yeah, I'm still here. The ghost thing just doesn't come with an off switch," he says. He ends up smiling the more Lia speaks though. "Could go with hear too," he says, amused. "Yes, he does that," Lia confirms with a nod, finally letting go of Jack's hand. "He is a Jedi." For all the girl's giggliness /that/ doesn't seem like a joke. "You are here. Here, feel-hear-meet, hello." This comes with a small wave, as if greetings had not already happened. "You are a ghost? Oh! I have never met a ghost before. Do you have unfinished business? Did someone kill you? Do I need to find a murderer?" Her eyes narrow slightly, regarding Jack closely...as if there is much to see aside from band-aids and clothing. "Was there poison?" It could be that she reads /way/ too much. "A Jedi? Like Star Wars?" Jack arches a brow at this news. "Seriously?" it doesn't seem like a joke but it doesn't seem real to him either. "Oh," Jack pauses and laughs a little. "No, no I'm not dead...at least I'm pretty sure I'm not. I've still got a pulse and stuff," he replied, waving it off. "But I'm all invisible and sometimes I used to pretend to be a ghost to get away from trouble. Helped avoid getting into fights and stuff like that." "Yes, yes. There are also movies. Books." The girl gives another firm nod at this. "Oh, you are a /pretend/ ghost. I have done that before. Not a ghost. I was a skeleton. Boo! Very scary in the anatomy class. Skeletons are not so bad when they are pretend for the class. Being dead bodies is not fun." Lia's spine slips at that pronouncement, a little shiver that leads into her sitting slightly more appropriately in her seat. She picks up a grape to chew on after inspecting it closely. "I should read some of those books sometime. I heard some people in the library say they were good," Jack remarks. "Okay, I wanna meet this Kismet guy now if he's a real Jedi. That sounds pretty awesome," he adds. "You turned into a skeleton?" He's not even sure how that would work. "Skeletons aren't really scary when they're just by themselves, too. Just...uhh...unsettling I guess," he says with a shrug. He takes a couple bites of his sandwich before speaking again. "Have you been here at the school long?" "I do not know. I read many books but I have not read those. I saw the movies. There are many people who said to watch the movies. I like Yoda. He is maybe a faery. Space-faery. Also C3PO. I think I could be a robot if I wanted to." Lia looks thoughtful for a moment. "A C3PO kind of robot. Arms, legs, head. Like a shiny golden doll." She picks at her food in the same way it was collected. A piece of this, a bit of that, never lingering on one item long. For all the picking she makes her way through the meal at a good clip. "Not so scary until it moves. Boo!" Her grin at this reiteration is downright impish. "Not long. Not long. One year. I came and then there were zombies. Zombies are always scary." "I thought he looked a little more like a goblin. Fairys have wings, don't they?" Jack grins at the mention of C3PO though. "C3PO and R2D2 are just fun. They were two of my favorite characters from the movies," he says. The invisible teen eats a little more slowly but eventually polishes off his sandwich. "Oh, so you spooked the class. That sounds like it was fun," he laughs. "Is the school still as cool after a year as it is after a day?" he then nods. "Yeah, zombies are bad." "Faeries come in all kinds. Even gnomes and goblins. All sorts!" Lia grins wider, nodding at Jack's assessment. "There is a thing they do here. Halloween. You are supposed to be scary." Her head tilts again at the question of 'cool', perhaps first going through a literal interpretation and then ruling it out. "I did not like it when I came. There were zombies. I hid in a room. Under the bed. It was like the rooms before Mr. Fairyjax and Duskwings brought the sky back. Hide. Wait. Scared. People die." "I thought gnomes just sat on lawns all day," Jack replies, attempting a joke. "Oh yeah, Halloween is good. Get to be scary and free candy. The school does stuff for Halloween? That'll be cool next year," he says. "Fairyjax? Who's that?" he asks. He's assuming Duskwings is the same Dusk he knows. "It got better after all the zombies though, right?" he asks, frowning a little. "Not on, usually. Under. Underground gnomes." Lia eats a bite of cheese, a bite of bread, a bite of lunchmeat. All separate, like a dissected sandwich. "The school does many things. Dancing. Decorations. Food. Costumes." She smiles broadly at the question of Jax. "Mr. Fairyjax is a fairy and a superhero and has the map to Neverland on his back. He glows and brings us cupcakes. Also he teaches classes, sometimes. I lived at his house before it exploded. That was bad. But then I was a statue and I found Mr. Fairyjax's dog in a bathtub. He /also/ has only one eye, did you know? They match." Yet another series of fervent nods follows the last question. "Everything is better without zombies. Now there is dancing and reading and classes and pretty clothes and food whenever you want." "Underground? Huh, must only be in the suburbs," Jack laughs a little at that, leaning back in his chair. The description of Jax gets an unseen but confused expression onto Jack's face. Eventually connections get made and he realizes who's being talked about. "Oh! I met him too. Him and Dusk are pretty awesome," he says. "Exploding is usually bad," he adds. "There being food all the time is a big plus in my book. I had a pretty huge lunch today." "Suburbs?" Gnomes, Jedi, and zombies, Lia gets. Suburbs are a mystery. "Exploding is bad. People died again. But Mr. Fairyjax made a new house and it is even a better house. Horus and the twinfish live there. They go away a lot to the house." The girl's eyes and smile widen simultaneously, a rather Cheshire cat-like effect. "You should eat all the food. Also, you can /make/ the food. There is a class and a club for making the food. There is glitter that you can eat! Also-also, Mr. Fairyjax leaves cupcakes and other goodthings in the lounge sometimes. Usually early in the morning! You get up early and they are not gone yet." Jack nods. "They're the uhh...place between farms and places like New York are. Houses, lawns, and all that. "That new place is really cool. I was staying there for a few days before I came here. It's one of the coolest places I've ever seen," he says. There's a little laugh from Jack at the mention of making food though. "I'll eat the food but I don't think I should make anything. At least not until after I take that class. The most I've ever made before is a sandwich," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck again. "Wait, edible glitter? What does it taste like?" "Hm. Lawns." Lia shrugs at that. To each their own. "I have not stayed there, but sometimes I am a doll there to visit. I like their rocketship. Spencer plays with me there sometimes, when I am a doll to visit." That Cheshire-cat grin is going nowhere. "They let you cook without a class! Mr. Fairyjax was hurt one time and we made him cupcakes! They were very colourful, but also...crunchy. We had stunt cupcakes. They were better." Nodnodnod in answer to the glitter question. "It tastes shiny! Also, like sugar." "Wait, you turn into a doll? I thought you turned into a skeleton?" Jack is a bit confused but still in a good mood. "I don't think I saw a rocketship while I was there," he says, trying to remember if he did. He then chuckles again. "It might be allowed but I don't know how to cook, really. I should try that glitter sometime though." "All the dolls. A skeleton only the one time," Lia explains evenly. It is all very simple, really. "The rocketship is in their playground. You can climb all over it! I like climbing on things. There is a club for climbing, too. I do that." Finally resorting to a fork, the girl makes quick work of her patchwork salad. "It is good. Glitter to eat. Probably you would also make baked bads, then. It is what Princess Ducky called our cupcakes." "Oh...kay..." Jack trails off. He shakes it off quickly though. "Oh, playground stuff. I probably saw it and didn't even realize it," he shakes his head. "For climbing? Like those fake walls?" he looks up thoughtfully. "There are a lot of clubs here," he pauses, distracted from what he was thinking about a moment. "Wait, there's a Princess here?" "Yes, when the weather is bad we climb the walls. But when it is not we climb big rocks. Big ones! Up-up-up! And when you are up a very big rock, you can rappel back down. Bounce-bounce like a mountain goat!" Lia finishes off her salad, again nodding with never-ending enthusiasm. "So many clubs! I have been in the stars club and the cooking club and the yoga club and the dance team and the theatre club and the climbing club and the nature hike club and I think I may try the horse riding club sometime. Maybe. Maybe also Mr. Fairyjax might sometime let me ride Sugar if I learned how. She is the giantest of fairysteed dragonflies. So big. So pretty." Lia looks thoughtful at the question of princesses, hand moving in a so-so gesture. "She is a princess because the birds all flock to her and they talk to her like in the Disney movies. She says they do not help her with chores, though." "Huh. Maybe I'll check it out. It sounds like it could be fun," Jack replies. The enthusiasm is infectious and it's keeping Jack smiling. His eyes widen a bit at the clubs listed and he whistles. "Wow, that is a lot. Which one was your favorite?" there's a long pause as he tries to figure out if Lia is joking but eventually he has to ask. "There's a dragonfly you can ride here? Like an actual giant bug?" he asks. "Oh, so she can talk to birds. I don't think birds would be very helpful in doing chores unless its picking up spilled seeds or french fries though." "I am not in all of them all the time. But I like very much the dancing and the theatre. Climbing and yoga can be fun for moving. And stars club you get to look at...at...at.../through/ the sky. All the stars." Lia is profoundly wistful in discussing the sky and stars. "I am taking actual star class with Ms. Israstars this term. And I always take dance class. I am going to learn /writing/ plays this term, not just being in them. Though being in them is very fun. I went to the theatre club for Anole. He is very good at it." She nods again at the question of Sugar. "Sugar is Mr. Fairyjax's dragonfly. But sometimes he lets other people ride her if they are very nice to her and learn how. Ducky talks to all the birds. They are supposed to help her with washing and laundry, but they do not. Lazybeaks." "Huh, those all sound good. I don't think I'd be good in a play unless they do one of the Invisible Man," Jack laughs at that, shaking his head. "Maybe I'll check out some of those clubs. I never would have thought there'd be so many but this school just keeps surprising me," he adds. The invisible one leans forward to listen intently to this information about Sugar. "Like right now. First horses, now big bugs...are there any other animals out there for people to ride on? Jet powered rhinos maybe?" he jokes. "Maybe those chores are too complicated for the birds." "They could costume you. Masks and make-up and gloves. Then people could see you, if they needed to." Lia nods again, finger sliding over her plate to gather a few last breadcrumbs and deliver them to her mouth. "There are more even than that. Those are just ones that I have done. "Oh, I don't think there are more animals, really. Other than special-circumstances pets. Like Princess Ducky's pigeon or when I had Obie for Mr. Fairyjax for a little while. The horses are nice, though. And Sugar. I think the only jet powered things may be B's? She has flying dragonfly robots. And swimming fishy-type robots. Basically, she has robots. Maybe she could make me a C3PO that I could be. I think that would be fun." Lia shoots Jack an intensely skeptical look. "Princess Ducky's birds are extra smart. Just lazybeaks." Jack chuckles, waving a sleeve. "I know, I was just joking. Or trying to. Comedy isn't my power," he tries again. "I'm still surprised there are even horses here," he says with a shrug. "A droid would be really cool," he says. He's reminded that he wants to talk to B too but it can wait. "Has he tried bribing them to work?" "Oh." Lia doesn't always /get/ humour, either. "B usually doesn't have to bribe the robots. She just...tells them what to do and they do it. It is like magic, only it is computers." Her nose and lips scrunch up as she inspects her empty plate. "My food is gone. Probably that means I need to get to class. Being late is bad. Tardy." "No, I meant Ducky bribing the birds," Jack chuckles. "Yeah, being late would be bad. It was fun talking with you," he offers. "Have a good class." “You should take your placement tests and find your tutors. It helps you get to class faster. Classes are good!” The girl half-leaps to her feet, collecting her tray with a little pirouette to aim her toward the tray return. “Nice to meet you, if not see you,” Lia declares with a little wave. And then she's off.