ArchivedLogs:Spinning Silks

Spinning Silks
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Shane
In Absentia	2014-02-12 '
Location <XS> Gymnasium - B1
For a mutant school, this is a pretty standard gym, even if its sturdy construction to handle mutant powers is less standard. Still, it is designed along normal lines; setup for a basketball court, standard equipment -- punching bags, rubber mats, standard assortment of balls, weight training equipment, the usual fare. It is large, and as well-appointed as the rest of Xavier's tends to be. In the cold winter months, the gym gets a good deal more activity than in the warmer months. Groups of students are shooting hoops for fun on one end of the shiny wooden floors, while others are hitting tennis balls over a lone court in the center. On the far end, in another corner, a set of silks are attached to the ceiling, positioned over a supportive surface of thick mats, allowing a bit of safety. The young teen half way up the fabric and looking to make a knot of hirself in the lengths of red material does not seem to especially need them just now. Hir leg and torso look decently bound as hir arms wrap another swath around hir back and over a shoulder. Once done, ze rests up there, taking in the sights around hir. Today, or at least right now, ze is a pinkish color, one of exertion and effort, but the colors aren't quite normal. For one, they stretch across the sections of hir skin not covered by tight tank top and spandex shorts in feather patterns, white and black dots breaking up the alternation between flesh tones and rose. Also, ze seems to have no tail for the time being. There's a group emerging from the locker room, clad in the telltale padded white of the fencing team. Shane is with them but not /dressed/ like them, in slacks and polished dress shoes, button-down with a pinstriped vest over top. He drifts apart from the group to linger at the base of the silks, head tipping back to peer upwards. "-- s'it comfortable up there?" "Depends on your definition of comfortable. The bands are wide enough so that I'm not cutting off circulation, but..." Rasa pauses looking over at Shane, one hand stretching out to grab the half of the fabric and bow it away from the majority that holds hir. "If you like being tied up and suspended in midair, it's great." The grin ze shoots him is possibly a little knowing or at least /assuming/. "Want to see something neat?" "Depends who's doing the tying." Shane says this slow and thoughtful, his gills rippling for a moment and something briefly wistful in his expression. He shakes his head quickly. "Never -- really tried tying /myself/." He lifts his hands, pressing palms down to the side of his neck to calm his gills as he watches Rasa's motions. "I always want to see neat things." "You should try it some time. There /is/ something in the simple act of being tied and suspended. Probably easier to experience when it is you doing the tying." Rasa starts to unwind one of the fabric tails, unhooking it gently from hir body and holding it in one hand, the other holding the silks above hir. "Okay, one neat thing coming up." Ze then releases hir grip on the silk and lets hir weight fall against the twists of fabric on hir body. Without that last tail, the whole does not support hir anymore and ze starts to fall. Well, not fall so much as unwind. Ze flips two, maybe three times before the final knot catches around hir and ze hangs five feet above the pads, stretched out in what may some day turn into an elegant pose. Ze turns hir head to smile at Shane. "Well, I do like being --" Shane quiets as Rasa starts to fall, huge eyes widening as ze spins and flips in midair. His head tips to watch Rasa flip and fall, stepping forward like he's getting ready to catch hir until that last knot does the work for him. "Woah holy shit cool." His brows raise, impressed, and he rocks back on a heel, hooking his hands into the pockets of his vest nonchalantly. Nope, totally wasn't just about to go try and catch hir he knew ze had this all along. "Now, /that/ part looks like fun. Uh, so long as you haven't eaten lately cuz I'd probably hurl my first few times." Rasa slowly rights hirself. Well, ze rights hirself quickly, but there are a couple failed attempts before ze manages to get the hir arm around the silks again, lifting a little to release the tension that keeps the knot tight, then frees hir legs with a couple scissor kicks. "Well, yeah. Dizziness is a big thing to have to deal with, but you also don't start with a ton of flips, just one. And it's like dancing, where you keep your eyes on a fixed point and it helps your orientation." Ze divides the two lengths again, one in each hand and grips it between the big and second toe on each foot, stretching out into a splits. "But yeah. Pretty damn cool. You should take the class next winter. Or, we can ask Mr. Wagner if he's going to have a summer course, too." After a moment, Rasa lowers hirself to the pads below hir and starts to walk away, dragging the silks behind hir. "How ya been?" Shane shakes his head, watching Rasa right herself. He withdraws his hands from his pockets, curling his arms around his chest. "I'm not allowed to do extracurriculars." He doesn't exactly sound upset over this so much as resigned. "I mean. Pa's home. So things have been good since then. And the world's gone crazy so things have been -- you know. Chocolate rain. Pa painted the world. Now there's snowman-butlers." He shrugs, hands tucking restlessly back into his pockets. His eyes skip back up to the silks. "How about you?" "This isn't an extracurricular for me. This is my physical education for the term - actual class, as much as art or math." Rasa frowns a little, the pinks darkening to magenta and the fleshy bits of hir skin turning milky gray. "The chocolate rain is awesome. Not sure what to do with my snowperson. Ze is just kind of hanging around outside that window." Ze raises an arm to point, where a little snow dusted hat can be seen, two arms holding up a sign like one might find in a sports competition, 9.8 written on the front - one hand curls away to give a thumbs up. "Ze thinks what I'm doing is fun though, so I guess that's something." When the sign has been seen, the snowperson pulls hirself up on the ledge again to peek in and watch. Rasa waves to hir. "How about you? Got any jeeves'ing you needed done?" "Oh. Huh." Shane brightens slightly at that news. "I could do it for gym, then." He turns towards the window, cracking a lopsided grin at the score placard outside. "Cheery, aren't they. Shit. Mine knows my school schedule and even helped me hunt this morning. Helpful fuckers, aren't they. And mine's got a /banging/ hat, I'm keeping that thing forever." He frowns at this, though, teeth sinking down against his lip as he looks off towards the fencers. "B's is so pretty. Suits him perfectly." Which for some reason deepens Shane's frown. "Mine gives me music recommendations to practice, too. And bopped up to my window to offer fashion advice." "And the stuff I do after school is considered homework." Rasa grins a little brighter. "Ohhhh. I'll have to get a look at B's later. I don't always get up at the same time as him." Ze turns hir head to inspect Shane's fashion of the day, arms crossing over hir chest, one hand curling around so hir fingers can stroke hir chin thoughtfully. "Mmmm. They are cheerful and for whatever reason know what they are talking about. Though, I think mine is being a little nice with the grading. If this was a sport, I'd be amateur for certain. Hey - what's wrong. You're starting to sound as if you think you're going to be replaced by a snowperson that can't even come inside." "No, it's not the snow-person. B's just been." Shane shakes his head slightly. "Really uneasy about wearing clothes he actually likes lately. Really uneasy about a lot of shit. Just kind of wish he'd be himself, you know? But then with so much /shit/ going on it's been -- hard to even know what to fucking prioritize. Like hey --" He lifts his hands in the air, weighing them higher and lower, lower and higher, "I know we've got friends missing-maybe-dead and there's zombies and Pa might be getting executed and all but really dude it's okay if you wear a skirt?" He shrugs. "Just feel like he'd be happier again, y'know? But I never know how hard to push. And I hate not knowing. I've always known with him." "Shit," Rasa mutters, releasing the silks completely and moving to the edge of the pads to sit down. "Hell, I thought - or well, wanted to think he was just doing it because he didn't have the brainspace to focus on getting dressed. Of course, with you guys being gone so much, I didn't want to ... well, ask much." Ze inhales deeply and considers. "If you guys want, I can smoosh your brains together for a while." There's a hint of playfulness in hir suggestion, but it dissipates when ze thinks it over. "You know, with mutual consent and all that. Sorry. I'm probably not being helpful. Is there anything fun, relaxing, and colorful we can take him to do - now that things seem a little less... well, is anyone in mortal peril right now?" "I like your brainmooshing." Shane sounds briefly amused, wandering over to wrap one of the hanging silks around a forearm and lean into it curiously, his weight swaying at the fabric as he tips his gaze up to watch the top of it. "I don't -- /think/ we have mortal peril. Hard to tell. We still have a few missing people." He shakes his head, still teetering back and forth. "Ohman I'd probably shred these to pieces wouldn't I?" Abruptly, he pulls his hands back into his sleeves, juuust in case. "We've had a lot of colourful lately. Uh. We could go to the -- mm. See I /want/ to say get him clothes or makeup because he used to love that but maybe he'll just get upset. What about /circus/. Can we go to a /circus/?" "Sure. Let's blow off the school dance, get really dressed up and skirty, and go to a circus in to New York. There's got to be something there that is circus-like there." Rasa turns and starts to rise, watching Shane start to experiment with the silks. "Yeah, you'd probably have to wear a body suit and maybe gloves, but it's still work. Silk can be pretty tough, despite being smooth to the touch. You just gotta decrease your friction a bit, right?" Ze looks up the length of the fabric, considering. "Peter's already got the divided toe sock... bootie things. You could borrow a pair of his." Hir skin brightens as plans start to come together. "I look good in a skirt." Shane grins, winding the silk around his midriff now. "We've got some gloves around here they made custom for us. For fencing. Heavy though. Wonder if they can get us thinner ones for these." He lies back -- okay, really, kind of /flops/ back bonelessly -- it helps, really, that he /has/ no bones but he still manages not to look graceful about it so much as, well, like a fish out of water. FLOP. Bent over in a U-shape with the silk corded up around his cartilaginous spine. "A circus would be fun. There's some really glitzy ones in town. Lots of flash. Lots of colour. I bet B'd be thrilled. We'd need an escort if Pa wouldn't sign us out though." "You don't think he would? Hmmm." Rasa considers, leaning in to give Shane a gentle push while he swings. "Well, we can find someone else. Maybe rope in that new teacher with the green hair. She seems a bit adventurous and doesn't have obligations yet. Well, Okay, I don't know if she's got teacher training classes or what have you, but it's also a weekend. We're not asking to disappear in the middle of the week. But, you should also ask some of the people around your apartment. I bet Ryan's love to hit the town with some mutants after his announcement." "Think she's single," Shane decides, "so she might not have /plans/. Pa'd prooobably sign us out? Except Dusk came home /pretty/ fucking banged up last night I heard so he might be skittish." He shrugs a should uncertainly, leaving one hand wound up in the silk -- possibly too tangled to unwind it -- and letting his other fall to the ground to brace himself. "But if Pa's not down Friday night we could also just do the dance Friday and go over the weekend, he'll /definitely/ sign us out then." He grins, upside-down, at Rasa at the mention of Ryan. "Holy /shit/ you should see the mailboxes at our apartment. Between Pa and Ryan it's basically over-fucking-flowing nonstop. Presents, hate mail, underwear, dead fish. It's goddamn fucking nuts. Ryan'd probably be down though. And he loves glitz. /And/ is flush so he'd probably even splurge on our tickets." "Okay then," Rasa nods in response to the notion of going to the dance and then the circus, hir face darkening a bit more when he speaks of Dusk's injuries. "Eessh. Yeah, I am not all gungho about getting trashed. We're just supposed to go have fun, you know? But that's the fucking world these days." Ze shakes hir head and can't help but smirk a little at Shane's entanglement. "You'd think the postal service would have a thing or two to say about dead fish in the mail. Seriously though. Panties." Ze rolls hir eyes. "It is pretty awesome and it'd be fun. To be treated like we were cool because we're with a rockstar." "I think he got mugged or something, not really sure what happened just heard he was hurt. He's like. The second of my neighbours that's happened to this week." Shane shakes his head, frowning, though he's soon returned to his upside-down grin. "Hey, we /are/ cool." It's a right-way-up grin a moment later as he turns himself over to start unwinding -- oh, nope, wait, that just loops the cord less around his waist but further around his arm. He winds himself back the other direction with equal lack of success and then snorts at himself, dangling there a foot and a half off the ground. "Ulp. Think I might need a help." Rasa moves in closer and gets down on all fours where Shane can easily reach hir, scooting a bit closer after that. "Get on my back, loosen up the tension on your arm first, then start unwinding." Ze waits patiently, attention mostly on the mats beneath them now. "Oh, I know we're cool, but rockstar cool requires some national notoriety. Right now, we're undiscovered cool. I mean, have you been receiving panties and dead fish in your mail box lately? Oh. Well, if the dead fish were fresh, both would be nice for you, I suppose. "Oh man I would appreciate fresh fish in my mail but these are like. The rotting kind." Shane squirms his way onto Rasa's back, wriggling his arm upwards. He winds carefully, loosening the silk and then winding it off of his forearm. After this he just twists, spinning down until he dumps himself down onto the mat with a quiet thump. He lifts his hand, batting at the silks above them like a lazy cat. "Sweet. Okay. Friday or this weekend, then. We'll be rockstars. I'll check in with Pa. I should -- let you do your homework. And tell B to find something pretty." He glances back towards Rasa's snowperson at the window. Rasa's snowperson has raised a placard that states: 3.2 - Dismount 10.0 - Effort. Rasa gets up slowly and glances in the same direction as Shane, the coughs, trying to hide hir amusement. "Tell him I'll be wearing a dress and you'll be wearing a dress and he should totally out dress us both." Ze then grabs the silks and starts pulling them between the toes on one foot, stepping on them with the other, beginning to pull hirself upward as ze creates the correct tension. "We're going to have an amazing weekend." Shane stays where he is, lying on the mat and watching Rasa climb. He grins, bright at the snowperson and brighter as Rasa climbs. "Yeah," he agrees. "Yeah, yeah we are."