ArchivedLogs:Psychosomatic

Psychosomatic
Dramatis Personae B, Rasa	2014-06-04 '
Location <XS> Rasa and B's Dorm - FL2
A standard, if comfortable, dorm room. Two beds, two closets, two desks. Rasa's side of the room is colorful. Ze's hung up scarves and veils from all over the world, most of them with gorgeous embroidery and rich colors. A couple from Japan and China have animals on them, but that half of the room is definitely more reminiscent of a tent from the middle east. Hir bed is also covered with satiny Egyptian cotton sheets, duvet cover and pillow shams. There is a lot of red and russet browns with some gold highlights in between. Sebastian's half is -- fairly boring. Plain blue sheets on the bed; his desk tends to carry a large assortment of books (tidily stacked) at any given time, as well as a large assortment of clean white bones, often in the process of being rearranged into some sculpture or other. There's often a guitar in its case resting up against the side of the desk. His closet and dresser tend towards mess, comfortable hiking-type clothes in a fairly drab assortment of blacks and greys and neutral earth-tones spilling out of them. It is brightened up somewhat by the artwork on the walls, a handful of paintings in the same whimsically surreal style. It's late. Most weekday nights like this one would see a greater number of Xavier students passed out for the night, trying to catch some sleep before the next day started up again with classes and powers training. This week, however, it's anyone's guess as to whether the students are asleep, studying, or nervously pacing in anticipation of their dreaded finals. Rasa went to bed early. Ze gave a cry of exasperation first, declaring in crass terms that ze had stuffed all ze could stuff in hir cranium for the night, and outside of growing a larger cranium (which would require precious concentration to maintain) ze was just going to have to be happy with that. Ze brushed hir teeth then proceeded to curl up under a sheet and fret hirself to sleep. A few hours later, a soft choking noise breaks the stillness in the room, followed by a quiet moan trapped deep in hir chest. B has been awake. It's hard to say, really, how much sleep the sharktwin has gotten this week -- though the answer is probably 'not a lot'. At the moment ze's at hir desk in long turquoise yoga pants and no shirt, tablet and computer both open to project various displays into the space above the desk. Ze isn't studying, anymore, at least hir books have been stacked away in a corner. Instead ze is biting at hir lip, fingers toying with a blown-up model of a small plastic chip with many wires protruding from it. There's a bottle of Bawls energy drink half-finished beside, a mostly-empty bag of jerky next to the bottle. Ze's leaning in to examine the imagery with a small frown when that soft choking comes. The frown remains even as ze straightens, eyes shifting with a faintly assessing glance over towards Rasa's bed. The lump of sheet constricts on itself, pulling into a tight ball, the surface rising and falling with heavier breathing. Sound does not accompany every breath, but after the first moan, there are a few higher pitched squeaks, signifying distant discomfort. Hands are bunching and tugging, keeping a tight seal of fabric around the diminished form. Ze shivers, trying to shrink in tighter. Hir body does shrink, but not uniformly and not in height. It's hard to tell at first, but hir limbs are changing and hir skin is thinner and rougher. B digs another small chip of jerky out of hir bag, chomping down on it before ze collapses hir diagram to lower it down to the desk. Ze swivels hir chair around to face Rasa's bed, one knee crooked up towards hir chest. After a moment ze slips out of the seat, swiping a water bottle off of hir desk and moving over to Rasa's bedside. "Hey." Hir voice is quiet, one hand dropping to pat lightly against some ambiguous part of bedsheet-covered-lump. "Rasa. Wake up." Rasa jumps at the first word, body tensing and stilling, breathing shallow and hitched. The posture is tense enough that a different type of shaking starts, nearly imperceptible to the eye. Ze jolts once more when B touches hir shoulder, body still tense, but hir hands begin to shift, pulling the sheet away from hir face, revealing a wide eyed and scarred face, blinking at the darkness and finding it hard to focus. Ze lets out a little mrrph noise. B's gills flutter slightly as Rasa pulls the sheet down, eyes lingering for a moment on the scarring on hir roommate's face. Ze uncaps hir water bottle, one hand returning to bedsheet-covered shoulder as ze offers the bottle outward. "You're dreaming again." And with a small weak smile, "C'mon, finals aren't /that/ bad yet are they?" Rasa shudders and turns hir face toward B and the light behind hir, looking really confused for a moment. Ze then focuses on the water bottle and reaches out to wrap hir hands around it, turning hir shoulder so that ze rests a little more on hir back. The first sip is shaky, water sloshing more against hir cheek, a small stream trickling down hir chin, but the second leads to a gulp and a careful relinquishing of the vessel. "Didn't... think so." When one hand is free, ze reaches down hir leg, hir skin paling and growing clammy as fingers curl around a stump where hir leg should be. A whimper rumbles in hir throat. B reaches out, fingertips resting lightly against the bottom of the water bottle to steady it as Rasa drinks. "I mean, to hear Shane complain about them it pretty much /is/ cruel and unusual." Ze lowers hirself to perch on the very edge of the mattress, absently lifting a corner of the sheet to dab water away from Rasa's chin. "Come on. Focus on me. You were just dreaming. You're here now, okay? Nothing more horrible than your English final in the morning." Rasa inhales sharply and nods mechanically, turning hir eyes back on hir roommate. Hir fingers splay and stretch as they pull away, closing into a fist. Ze is still a little shaky as ze calms hir breathing and eyes B's gills, trying to match hir pace of inhales and exhales. "English final," ze replies, gnawing on hir lip. "Tests... not knives." "Just pens," B agrees, gills slowly pressing flat against hir neck as ze draws in one slow breath and then another. "Or pencils if you swing that way but it seems a little bit." Ze drops hir voice to a conspiratorial tone to finish, "-- deviant to me. I don't know if you have anything in the afternoon." "Pencils let you pretend you are perfect." Rasa whispers, hir throat a little tight. Ze reaches for the water and takes another sip. "With pens," the moisture helps hir speak a little better, "you have all that scribbling out in the essay portion. Want to know what is the most devious?" Ze studies B for a second then utters two revolutionary words. "Erasable Pens." B's gills ripple again, though this time in a silent shiver of laughter. "Okay, /now/ you're just getting into some really twisted territory. Are we even allowed to talk about that kind of thing before we're eighteen? I thought I was being rebellious with those dry white-out strips." Rasa shifts hir weight, rolling a little to one side and tilting up the half thigh off the mattress. It starts to grow until it forms a knee, then it starts dividing near the mattress, hir leg slowly unfolding, the furrows on hir brow show that it's not exactly the most comfortable of processes. "White-out is hot. It's okay to be deviant. I mean... hell. They keep teaching us about adulthood, why shouldn't we be allowed to use some of the tools they just give away in offices." "You have a thing for white-out? Does Ivan know? He could stock up. Make a whole evening out of --" B pauses, nose crinkling up. "Correcting penmanship errors." Ze watches the leg unfold, gaze skipping back up towards Rasa's face soon after. "Though if all we have to look forward to in adulthood is greater access to office supplies I gotta say it doesn't really sound all that appealing." "No. No one ever claimed adulthood was exciting. It is probably the real reason why they reserve alcohol for that age bracket." Rasa takes another sip and starts to relax, the scars on hir face and torso fading. "If people had all of the fun at youth, then... no one would ever be responsible." Ze pulls hirself up into a beter sitting position before bowing hir head. "Ah... {Sorry} about that." Having heard the Vietnamese version of the word so often from the twins, ze is able to say it hirself now. B hitches a shoulder upward, head shaking at the apology. "Don't have to apologize. It's crazy late, though. Did you want to try and get some actual sleep? I could get you some -- um. Cocoa. Or lavender tea?" "Is it late enough to be early yet?" Rasa turns toward hir night stand and starts fishing around for hir phone. "Were you up still?" "No. Just late enough to be late. And yeah, I was --" B shrugs, moving off the edge of the bed to return to hir chair, knees tucking up by hir chest. "Working. Though I guess you're supposed to get /some/ sleep before tests." "Yeah. Plus, you haven't been sleeping all that much. You really worried about your grades - or ... it's not to be something else because you know your stuff." Rasa abandons the search for the cell and starts focusing more on B. Ze leans forward and wraps hir arms around hir legs, mirroring hir posture. "You okay?" "I'm Asian," B tells Rasa very solemnly, "I've been worried about my grades since I was in utero. My mom doesn't even know I'm still alive probably and I bet she'd /still/ have deep pains she can't explain if I got a B." Ze looks thoughtful for a moment, eventually deciding: "... maybe that's why Shane does it." Hir gills flutter, and ze waves a hand towards hir desk. "Just. Been working on this thing for Pa though. Trying to -- figure out what's up with these chips they -- stick in people." "Ah. I'll um just be glad I missed that end of the genetic history spectrum." Rasa's eyes widen as B explains, nose wrinkling up as ze slips off the bed and heads over to B's desk, taking a detour to hir desk to grab a package of peanut butter crackers from hirs. "Oh. They do that?" There's something sad in hir tone when ze speaks, but it's not at all surprised. "Have you figured out the components yet?" "I don't know. I should take it in to work, right, they have so much better equipment there, I just. Don't really want to --" B shrugs, frowning over at hir desk. "Yeah they um. They put these things in? To, um, to monitor people I guess. But also sometimes control them. I'm -- I'm trying to get my equipment to read them but I can't really figure out. Well. How to -- anything. I'll get it eventually." "There's a problem with taking it to work?" Rasa studies B for a moment and shakes hir head. "Yeah, you will get it eventually. You're incredibly smart and really small electronics seem to talk to you - if only based on the fact that you're seventeen and already work at Stark - never mind the fact that you built your dragonflies." Ze inhales and stuffs a cracker sandwich in hir mouth and does hir best to chew quietly. "No, I just --" B blushes as Rasa talks, gills fluttering as ze saves hir work and shuts the computers down. "I should let you write my resume," ze says a little bit wryly, rubbing knuckles across hir eyes as ze stands from hir seat, stretching. "Kisha'll probably get something before me. I just. It'd help them a lot if we figured this out and -- and Desi's brother is /in/ one of --" Ze shakes hir head, pressing hands down at the gills alongside hir neck. "I should. Maybe sleep. Are you going to be okay?" "Pfft. I'm not writing your resume." Rasa turns away, closing the packaging and returning to B's water bottle before taking a sip and giving it back to him. "You gotta do your own work." Ze gives hir a little smile as ze watches hir stretch, hir gaze sliding away to hir bed. "Yeah. Probably. Are you? I mean, you're not just going to go and lay in your bed and picture these chip things and turn them over and over in your head until you get frustrated and get up and work more... are you?" "I'm going to go lie in the lake where my laptop really won't work anyway." B's lips curl up into a crooked grin as ze takes the water bottle and stashes it back on hir desk. "Though I'll probably picture these chip things a lot. But it'd at least be an unreasonable hike to try and work more from there." "Okay. But try to get some sleep. Or some fish. I hear Omega-3s are good for your memory. Or... skin. You know, things I remember when I'm more awake." Rasa inhales and starts crawling back into bed. "When you guys move down to the city - you think they'll let me crash out at your place for the weekends? Maybe just in the summer?" "I never have a shortage of fish in my life." B starts for the door, pausing with one hand on the handle to turn and look at Rasa uncertainly. "I -- I don't know? Probably? But you need someone to like. Take responsibility for you. Like Dai always came to our place lots of weekends and all vacations but Pa -- I dunno. Vouched for -- looking after him? So. You could ask." "Maybe... Ivan's mom will." Rasa yawns and starts pulling hir sheet over hir body once more, frowning down at it after hir jaw relaxes. "Not sure anyone I know well really wants that responsibility. Maybe I'm not asking right." Ze glances over at B. "Ahh. You should go. I'm just... chatty." "Maybe. But since you actually /have/ parents it'd probably -- have to be someone your parents say is okay? Dai was just a ward of the school so they get to decide who's acceptable for him or not." B looks a little apologetic at this, ducking hir head sheepishly. "I'm not entirely -- sure, you'll. Probably need to talk with the administration about it. I think it's always been. A little stranger for -- I mean when we didn't have parents it was --" Ze blushes, gills fluttering. "{Sorry.} I don't really know for sure." "I have parents, but I can't really talk to them. I'm not a ward of the school, so the administration can't just say yes. I tend to get in trouble when I leave the school anyway, so I'm not so sure it's worth the effort." Rasa shakes hir head. "Wasn't really fair to bring it up as you were leaving. I'll probably just wait until I'm eighteen and then... explode with nonschool year freedom." "Maybe the school could talk to them for you." B shrugs a shoulder uncertainly. "Couldn't hurt to ask, anyway. I don't think I'm taking classes this summer, so -- it'd be nice to. You know." "Oh fuck, you're going to be gone all summer too?" Rasa looks a little crushed, brow furrowing, arms wrapping around hir shins. "I'll... talk to them." B spreads hir hands apologetically in front of hirself. "I've already finished all the credits I need to graduate. I just. I didn't want to leave school early cuz I don't think Shane'll /stay/ if I -- also if I graduated this year I couldn't be valedictorian because Dai gets better grades than me." Hir head ducks again, contrite. "But I don't need the summer school credits and with work -- Shane'll be here, though. But I think even he's only taking a couple. Classes. On account of Evolve --" "It's fine, it's fine. Sometimes, I forget this is just a school and not... well, my entire social world." Rasa's turn to be embarrassed. "If I can't get away, you'll come visit sometimes, maybe?" "Oh, yeah. I'll definitely -- I mean there's still rock climbing and archery and --" B gestures towards Rasa. "Half my friends are here so. I'll be. /Around/. Dai has his driver's license now, even. But I'm sure we can talk to /someone/ and -- whisk you away from here sometimes." Ze offers Rasa an encouraging smile, pulling the door open. "-- Should I turn the light off?" Rasa nods in acceptance of what B is suggesting, giving a little smile at the end. "Okay. And... yeah. Turn the light off. I'll be okay. Promise." "'kay." B switches off the light, the room now lit only by the spillover glow from the hall. "Night, Ras." The sliver of light from the hallway grows bigger, then darkens entirely as B slips out the door.