ArchivedLogs:Strangers

Strangers
Dramatis Personae Kai, Kris	2013-04-25 Kai meets a new student.
Location <XS> Back Porch
The back patio is a restful place to sit and relax, in most weather. Ample seating comes in the form of umbrella'd deck chairs and a cushioned porch swing, and the neighboring gardens attract butterflies and hummingbirds to make the viewing pleasant. The hot tub is usually open for use, though in snowy weather the transition in and out is a shivery one! She looks... Exhausted. Collapsed lazily, legs sprawled in a rather un-ladylike manner as Kris sits in a deck chair, she now pants, albeit quietly. A long, thin stick of some sort, segmented in some odd way, rests across the table beside the chair. In one hand, a water bottle, half full drips condensation all over the deck. Some kind of exercise? In the faded light, it's hard to tell much else about the youngster, though she hums some sort of song in a sort of throaty voice. Hop. Hop. Hop. Kai is remarkably quiet as he hops solemnly from one foot to the next from the kitchen, a half-full glass of milk in one hand and a bunch of cookies in the other. There's no resulting thump as his bare feet come down, or rather the thump is soft enough to be nearly unnoticed. Hop. Hop. Hop. And then there is Someone! Kai pauses, balanced on one foot as he stares at the girl in the chair. Slowly, he lowers his foot, looking first at the stick, then the water bottle, and finally the girl herself. "Excuse me," he says, in a soft voice that is just enough to reach Kris' ears. "Are you ill?" He gestures with his cookie hand back in the direction of the mansion. "I can go and get Doctor McCoy." Kris actually reaches for the stick reflexively when she becomes aware of Kai, then relaxes again upon recalling where she is. She takes a long drink from the water bottle, then addresses him in her uniquely throaty voice, accented in the manner of the Visaya of the Phillipines,"No. I'm fine. Just a thorough workout... You must be hungry. You do not worry about getting fat?" Kai visibily relaxes when the girl insists that she's fine, and he nods as he moves to take a seat near her. "Physical education is important," he says, and his own speech is heavily accented, although Korean in nature. "I take the class with Mister Logan." Because this totally makes him able to relate. His smile at the question is small, and he shakes his head. "I have never been fat," he says. "I do not know if I would worry about it. Also," he says, holding out his handful of booty. "They are very good cookies. You may have one, if you wish." She's probably a pirate, the way she plunders that booty. Almost immediately, there's a half a cookie in her hand. The other half is in her mouth,"FAMF OOO!" Then she swallows, blushes, and says,"Thank you. I WISH I could get a little fat. I'm too tall, and I have no hips." The way she rattles that off sounds like an old complaint,"You are not American, I take it? I have been here less than a week. I start classes Monday. Is Mister Logan very tough, then?" Kai giggles a bit at the speed with which the cookies shift possession, and nods. "You are welcome," he says. He narrows his eyes at the self-deprecation, and frowns. "You are as tall as you are meant to be," he says with a bit of puzzlement in his voice. "How can that be /too/ tall?" This seems like an odd sort of statement to him, and he chews on it for a moment before he answers the questions. Well, sort of. "You will like this school," he says. "It is a good school." He lifts a shoulder. "Mister Logan is very tough," he says. "He is very..." he scrunches his nose up. "I do not know the word. It is like angry, but not so?" He makes a fairly grumpy-looking face. "Like that." Kris nibbles at the cookie a little more politely as she looks at the boy,"Because... Girls are supposed to be small and petite, and with curves. I am tall and gawky. It is not my fault, and I am working on it but... Have you ever met a girl who isn't displeased with how she looks? Especially at this age?" Still, she gives a big smile for that, and offers,"In Tagalog, we say 'galit'. Mister Logan is galit. Do they teach well here? Are the students nice? I think I am not very strange compared to many here. Which is unusual." "I have not met many girls," Kai admits, with a lift of his shoulder. "There are many at this school, but I have not been here very long, myself, so I have not met many of them." Which is a nice way of saying he has no idea what Kris is on about. "But you look all right to me." The new, non-English word gets a furrow of brow, and he nods. "Galit," he echoes. "That is a good word. He is galit." He nibbles at his own cookie, washing down his mouthful with a swallow of milk. "It is a good school," he says. "I am not in most of the regular classes, but my teachers are nice. And the students I have met are nice. So I think they must all be nice." Because, logic and transitive stuff. There's a slight furrow of brow. "You do not seem strange to me." Kris actually laughs a little,"I am strange in many ways. The Moro, they thought I was strangest. They made me wear the icky boy clothes. Then I get new American parents, and I come to this new school, and I get to wear my girl clothes here now." She finishes off her cookie, then dusts her hands off on her pants and grabs her stick to rest on her shoulder,"You will meet many girls, I think. They will like you. You are kind, and you think before you speak." Kai nods slowly. "But here, you are not strange," he says, finally getting what she's saying. "No more than any of us." His smile is shy, and fleeting for the compliment, and he pinkens, ducking his head. "You are kind to say such things," he says, a little embarrassed. He's quiet for a long moment, staring out over the lawn. "What is your name?" he asks suddenly. "I am called Kai." Kris nods to the boy,"I am Kristen. My parents, and everyone else, call me Kris, though." She flips her hair with her free hand, then sets her feet carefully,"I am... not so good with people, but I spent years with some very direct people before I came here. I had anger problems. I am hoping being here will help that. With so many nice people, maybe I will not get angry so much. What of you. What brought you to this good school, thoughtful Kai?" "Kris." Kai turns this name over on his tongue, testing it. "That is a good name." He nibbles at his cookie, listening to her story with eyes watching her face carefully. "There are many who are angry, here, I think," he says, lifting his shoulders and eyebrows at the same time. "But the Professor is helping them. Us." The question of his own origin gets a deep frown, and a darkening of expression. "I was brought here to save my life," he says quietly, and guilt flickers across his face. He shifts uncomfortably once or twice before he stands. "It is a very long story, though, and it is late. Maybe we can talk more during the lunch tomorrow."