ArchivedLogs:Origami

Origami
Dramatis Personae Jack, Rasa
In Absentia	2015-01-16 '
Location <XS> Rec Room - FL2
School this may be, but life for Xavier's students certainly isn't all studying. Outside classes, this is a popular spot to find students in their downtime. An enormous tribute to slacking off, this room is a wealth of fun and relaxation. Comfortable armchairs, couches, and beanbags offer plentiful seating scattered throughout the room, and the cushioned windowseats by the high windows offer a cozy nook to curl up and look out on the grounds. The room is often filled with the noises of gaming -- whether it comes from the big-screen television (tall racks of DVDs beside it, if nothing can be found on the multitude of cable channels), tricked out with consoles from retro to the latest releases, or the less electronic clatter and thump of the pool table, air hockey, or foosball. For those a little more subdued in their gaming, the cabinets hold stacks and stacks of board and card games, ranging as classic as chess and go to as esoteric as Dixit, Catan, and Gloom. More days than not, there's some variety of snacks to be found on a table beside the gaming cabinet -- quite often in the form of fresh-baked desserts. The Rec Room isn't as crowded as it would be on any other Saturday night but there's still students around. A particularly active foosball match has a small audience and other students are watching a comedy on the TV. Jack's not with either of those groups right now though. He's flopped into a beanbag chair. Back in an Xavier hoodie and jeans, he's got a paper air plane levitating in slow circles above him. A sneeze from him causes him to lose control of the paper plane and send it flying towards the door. "Oh man, heads up," he yelps. Rasa comes wandering into the Rec Room at just the wrong moment. Ze is wrapped in a large fluffy blanket and dressed in pajamas. Large plush slippers scuff the ground as ze walks, the cuffs of hir pants pooling around hir ankles, the teen having lost more that three inches from hir height. Hir skin is a sallow yellow and the rims of hir eyes match the redness of hir nose. Ze stops when the airplane strikes hir in the face, reaching up a hand to bat at it despite the fact that it fell away a while ago. Ze looks dumbly about then squats down to grab up the paper in glove covered fingers. Ze looks toward Jack when he speaks, raising an eyebrow. "Dis yours?" Not as fast as the papery projectile, Jack winces when it hits Rasa. "Oh man," he sighs, continuing over to meet the other mutant. "Sorry about that. It got away from..." he trails off, studying Rasa even as his hood falls back off his head. "Are you alright? Did you catch the flu or something?" he asks. "And the crash didn't cause any damage, did it?" "It's probably just a cold," Rasa begins, still looking very sleepy on top of looking half like death. Ze inhales deeply and resumes forward momentum, heading for a couch by the tv. "No damage either. I just... tend to look more... symptomsy than... things." Ze settles into the cushions and curls up with hir legs underneath hir, tucking hir blankets around hirself. "So. Planes?" Jack follows along, glad there's no papercuts or anything like that. Pulling his hood up as he finds a spot to sit, Jack nods. "Yeah, you look really symptomsy. I could go try to find you some orange juice or the school nurse if you want," the invisible one offers. When asked about the plane, Jack rubs the back of his neck and nods again. "Yeah, I was spacing out a little and playing around with the whole telekinesis thing. I used to do it when I was still...out there," he gestures an empty sleeve vaguely towards the nearest window. "Oh, dat sounds nice, but... I tink... I'm okay. I am usually... more... or less mobile when I'm actually sick." Rasa curls lower on the couch, shrinking more. Ze rubs a knuckle under hir nose to stop the light trickle of moisture from getting away. "You usually... outside? Or like before outside? Because... you can probably use the gym for practices. Or if... dis is just... general. You know. Fun. Having fun is good and you should do it often." Nodding, Jack looks around. Spotting a box of tissues on a table, he gets up to retrieve it. "I hope you feel better soon at least," he says, offering the tissues to Rasa as he returns to his seat. "Like before I came here. On the street," he explains with an unseen frown. "Just something I did to try to work on my power when I was out there. Fold up an old newspaper and it was something to do and helped practice. This was just some fun and thinking though." "You should make origami." Rasa declares this as ze takes the box of tissues. Ze pulls one out and starts making a show of folding it. "Den, if you make tings fly 'bout, dey can be birds. Or frongs, because... why not frongs." Ze shakes out the tissue and covers hir mouth when ze coughs. The tissue is just folded once afterward. Ze wets hir lips and gives a little shrug. "Or horses? You like horses?" "Origami like those paper cranes?" Jacl asks. "I'm not sure how to make anything like that. I can make one of those fortune teller things or a paper football but that's about it," he admits with a laugh. "What's a frong?" he asks. "Horses are okay. I'd never seen a real one until I got to New York. I was thinking about taking the riding lesson class too," he pauses for a beat then grins invisibly. "Then I could go as the Headless Horseman for next Halloween real easy." "Dere are books... on origami, you can read an' try it from da book. Usually instructions and all." Rasa waves a hand, tissue trapped between hir fingers. "s'funny. You wanna take classes in other stuff, but learning more paperfolding doesn't occur t'you." Ze sniffles and shakes hir head. "An' sure. Headless horseman. not a verry original costume, but I guess you gotta hit the nail on the head sometimes. And I said frongs... froongs. Fro-guhs." "Really? I'll try to find one in the library then," Jack replies. He likes it in there. "Strange is normal for me," he shrugs. "Probably for lots of us here," he adds with a little laugh. "I just never thought much about the paper folding. I mean it was just something I did to keep occupied and work on controlling my power so," another shrug. "Do you know any origami?" he asks. "Well for the past several halloweens I've just been the Ghost of Dirty Laundry," he tries to joke a bit. "Oh, frogs. I don't see why they couldn't fly around too." "Strange?" Rasa echoes the word quietly, a little confused. Ze sniffles again, then listens to him with half lidded eyes. "Why would you think about it. It's just a stray thought. If you don't want to learn it, don't bother. I was mostly joking around, or adding art to the idea." Ze doesn't recognize the joke as anything. "Well, now there are laundry facilities available. Heck, doin' our own laundry isn't required here. People do it for us." Ze scratches at the back of hir head. Jack pauses a moment and then shakes his head, tugging his hood on a little more as the movement displaces it. "Sorry, I heard you wrong there," he admits with a sigh. He gives himself a little mental kick though, trying to get better at the whole social and conversation thing. "But reading about origami will at least be interesting even if I don't learn how to fold birds and frogs and stuff. I like a good book," he says. "It'd good not having to wash laundry again. It's a lot better than sneaking into laundromats." "It happens. Kind of stuffed up. Bein' full of snot makes words harder." Rasa unfolds hir tissue and blows hir nose loudly, hir face inflating a bit with the change of internal pressure. It stays that way even as ze pulls the tissue away and refolds all the moist bits in. "Yep. Books are cool. I've gotten away from them a little bit more in the last few years. Prefer doing now that I can do stuff and am not stuck inside all the time now." Jack watches the change curiously, head tilting to the side. "I like going out too but its getting colder so sticking inside more than going out now that inside is an option," he admits. "When it warms up, I'll be going outside more," he says, looking towards the window again. Shaking his head once more, he turns attention to Rasa. "So what've you been up to today? Just sleeping off the cold?" "Oh, I wasn't really referring to outside... outside." Rasa amends, scowling a little. Ze wrinkles hir nose as ze considers and looks Jack over for a moment, head tilting to one side. "Seems you like to learn a lot for someone who was so reticent about going to school again." Ze pulls a fresh tissue out of the box and blots at hir face again, this time, focusing on some watery eyes. "I have been relatively listless today. I think it took me twice as long as normal to eat breakfast. Just wanted to faceplant in my eggs and sleep more." Jack rubs the back of his neck and looks up at the ceiling for a moment. "I was...worried about coming back, yeah. Nervous things were going to go completely wrong and getting my hopes up would just lead to...bad times," he sighs. "Wasn't sure it was the best option. But things are going pretty well so far," he takes a breath. "I've got...options now. So I want to learn and try tp make it so I don't have to go back to where I was before I was convinced to come here," he says. He then winces a little. "Are you sure it's just a cold? Maybe you should see the doctor. I mean I'm no expert but wanting breakfast as your pillow sounds bad." "Bah." Rasa replies. "You haven't wanted to sleep so much that everything looks like a great pillow? It's not that strange." Rasa swallows hard, a look of displeasure crossing hir expression. "I just react to things differently. My form is entirely dependent on my thoughts and feelings. When I feel like shit, whether it's a cold or an injury, it kind of gets magnified. Nothing I can do about a cold, though. Not much doctors can do either." Ze blehs once more at post nasal drip and stifles a yawn. "Good. Options are good. Glad you have a chance to embrace them." "No, I can't say I've ever been quite that tired," Jack admits. "Just gotten the pass the heck out in the first safe spot kind," he adds. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help you start feeling better, I'd be happy to give it a shot," he offers. "And yeah, I'm glad too. Just have to stop letting myself get all...overwhelmed by there being so many." "Well. Okay." Rasa starts to pull hir stuff together. "I probably just... going to go to bed again. Sleep is best, you know? And it's the weekend, so I can sleep a lot. Won't miss any classes." Ze tugs hir blanket a little closer as ze gets to hir feet. "It's okay to get overwhelmed and try everything. You can pick favorites later." Ze turns and sneezes into hir elbow, swallowing hard again. "See you later." Nodding, Jack smiles to himself. "Have a good sleep then," he says. "And trying things out till I find what I like is the plan alright," he nods. "Right. See you later and feel better soon."