ArchivedLogs:Subjective

Subjective
Dramatis Personae Shane, Lia, Kaine
In Absentia	24 February 2015 '
Location <XS> Boathouse
Perpetually filled with the quiet background noise of the lapping tide, the boathouse is a cozy escape from the mansion proper. The few boats docked here are small, but suffice for sails around the lake (or, in the case of the one swift powerboat, a speedy motor around it) -- posted signs by them remind users of the regulations required for their use. Tucked away in the back half of the boathouse are living quarters, small and spartan and snug, with a kitchen, bathroom, small sitting area, and a bedroom fit for two. It's dark and cold and the whip of the wind across the snow-covered grounds bring with it -- not just a whistling and the splash of the (half-frozen) lake against the (half-frozen) rocks, but the strains of music. /Fierce/ and stormy, a powerful crescendo rising, muted from within the closed doors of the boathouse but drifting faintly in the direction of the mansion. It's chill inside the front half of the boathouse where the actual access to /boats/ lets in frigid draft off the water but sectioned off in the living quarters in back it is warmer, snugger. A kettle's been put on to boil but right now Shane is ignoring it. Dressed tidy-neat as ever, crisp silver-trimmed blue vest, bow tie, dress shirt, slacks, Oxfords whose polish is bright at the top and a little scuffed and spotted at the bottoms where he's clearly picked his way /carefully/ through the ice and snow. There's a violin (not a standard classical one but an electric model, black and blue and looking somewhat oddly-shaped, more like a stylized art deco /outline/ of a violin than the standard body shape) tucked under his chin and a small laptop open nearby; one of B's holo-projectors is capturing music as he plays, recording it and projecting the notation in faintly glowing sheet music in the air nearby him. It's dark and cold and Lia is perhaps regretting having gone for so long a walk outside. The sky was finally clear and the snow was sparkly and there are stars sparkling, too. The girl's lips are a little blue to match her parka and mittens, layered jeans and leggings and boots peeking out underneath apparently not doing enough to keep her warm. The lights from the boathouse and the soft music from inside are entirely too inviting not to knock-knock, slip inside before really waiting for an answer. “Cold...coldcold. Apologies. Cold out. Less here.” Kaine doesn't arrive from the snowy exterior like Lia, instead popping up next to a towel and jacket down on the dock. Though the towel doesn't appear to be for drying off, because the water just kind of falls off of him back into the frigid waters below. He's not wearing anything except for swimming shorts that are really too short for decent company, which is where the black and white checkered towel comes into play, wrapping around the teenager's waist. The simple black jacket slips over his shoulders and he follows his ear up towards the boathouse, rapping his knuckles against the door before sliding in as well. Shane's music continues without a hitch, though his shoulders tense and his gills flutter. "Shhh-your-damn-apologies," hisses out between his teeth, bow still dancing over his strings as the music swells. Jangles, a little discordant-chaotic. "S'not my fucking house. -- What," his eyes close again momentarily, words trailing off into quiet for a measure or two. "Do you think this piece is. Saying." Lia smiles and waves a mittened hand when she realises it is Shane she has barged in on. She quickly scurries over to /look/ at things, wide eyes taking in violin, computer, shiny clothes, /floating music/! "Floating music!" she actually exclaims, pointing to the hologram. There is not a lot of mystery with this one, really. Her brows knit at the question, head tilting a little beyond a typical 'thinking' cant. "It is getting big. It has a big about it. A many-things. But it does not fit." Her hands claw and drag in toward one another, as if collapsing, then trying to stuff something into a too-small container. "The box is wrong." The girl doesn't turn, just her head, a little owlish to regard Kaine as the door opens and closes. "You are not wearing winter clothes. Coldcold." Kaine doesn't say anything as he listens, reaching up to secure his hair up in a bun. "I think it's really subjective. What it's saying to me is completely different," he offers quietly, moving in to look over the setup. Lia steals his attention from it though and he offers a warm smile. "It's not that bad," he replies with a slight shrug, tugging his towel off. "I keep thinking that the lyrics to Criminal, that Fiona Apple song, would go well with it. So you might not want my opinion." "Of course it's subjective." Shane lowers his bow, frowning at the music floating in the air as his head tilts to one side. "Most art is -- what /is/ it saying to you? I don't know that song." The kettle is starting to steam and then to whistle and then shut itself off. He sets his violin down on the table beside the computer, and moves over to fill a tall thermos with the hot water. "I don't ask for opinions I don't want, anyway. -- That," his lips twitch-curl up, bow swinging down to point at Lia, "just makes me think of a fucking. Bobcat. In a box. Would not buy again." “Yes. Subjective. That is what the thinking part is. Right?” Lia goes back to studying the hologram. “Maybe a cat. If it was a thing that tried to get big and then it didn't fit in boxes right. Too-small places. Needs to be out and be big and. Not-wrong. Not-small. Does that make a sense?” A smile curls over her lips. “Please do not buy bobcats in boxes. I think they would be very cross.” Kaine grunts and tugs at the bottoms of his shorts. "I don't know why I got these. Should have stuck with my board shorts." he grumps lightly before looking back up at Shane and Lia. "It's a piece that makes me happy, but kinda sad too. It's like whispering promises of a future that isn't set in stone." Though the comment from Lia has him snorting a bit with laughter. "They'd be /very/ cross." "Well, I wouldn't buy one on /purpose/. Sometimes you just -- accidentally end up with a bobcat, you know? I mean, have you ever fucking /seen/ a cat with a box, you leave a box open long enough it's /going/ to have a cat inside." Shane shrugs, leaning back against the counter as his drink brews. In his hand, his bow bobs lightly up and down. "Subjective -- I don't know what part that is. The thinking part? The feeling part? The -- how-/you/-experience-it part, I think. I don't know. I just write the music. I get curious what it's doing to people. /If/ it's doing anything to people. If it's not doing anything I probably gotta start over." His brows rumple slightly inward. "Future's never set in stone..." For a moment his teeth flash, though the thin peel of his lips could be a small grin or just a brief grimace. Quick. Hard to tell. "And maybe that's --/Huh/." Abandoning the counter, he returns to pick up his violin. Backtracking slightly to pick up from a few measures back, a little less /harsh/ but a little more turbulent in the up-down seesaw of his notes. “Really? I have never....cat...ed.” The excitement in Lia's tone combined with a little bounce up on her toes and very brief /distant/ look might betray some thought of leaving boxes out to materialise cats in them. “I like your music. You play it well. I need to make lessons. For my piano. I knew how it worked when I saw one but I am not playing very well.” She quiets, listening, as Shane plays again. “Still not-fitting. Less catty.” There /might/ be a bit of a tease in that last part. "I'll be sure to leave a box out and see if I catch Tristan." Kaine decides. "It's a good thing that the future isn't set in stone for the most part. Means we always have a chance to make it better." He moves to take a seat, listening to Shane once more. "Better than what I can do. Can't play shit." "Mmm." The furrow of Shane's brow indicates /he/ isn't happy with it, anyway. A swipe of his hand in the air knocks a few of the last notes out of where they've been transcribed; he goes over the measures again (and again. and again.) with small tweaks until he looks -- a /little/ more satisfied. "If you can't play I guess it'd have to be better by default, huh? -- You can get piano lessons. As a class. Or violin. Or whatever." His teeth bare again -- this time definitely a grin, though sharp and hard. "Means we got a chance to fuck it the fuck /up/, too." Oh, it is /close/. Very close. Despite not having cat-experience, Lia's stalking over to the hologram and very nearly batting at notes, too, is extremely kittenish. Something manages to draw her hand back before she swats at them, fortunately. “Oh, that is...you have a magic music picture maker! You bapped the notes. Poof-gone!” The other speaking does manage to attract her attention, if not drag her gaze away from the image. “Yes, piano. I did not know a violin. Pick it up, make a terrible sound. Very, very bad sound. The piano makes a music. I am just not very good yet.” "I just want an auto-repairs shop. A nice place to sit and work or build." Kaine lifts his shoulders in a slight shrug. "I'm not a complicated man. I just wanna be left alone to work and get ink and a few new holes that I choose to get." A hand comes up to rub under his chin. "May dye my hair too. Used to be black." He kicks a foot up on the arm of what he's sitting on, giving his webbed toes a wiggle. "Not positive. Might just leave it like it is, isn't hurting anything." "My Pa is the best tattoo artist in the goddamn state." Shane /may/ have a bias here. Maybe. /Maybe/. "And my other dad fixes cars. Do you just want to be my dads?" He taps at the hologram again; not to bat the notes away, this time, just to replay the piece so far. The floating notes glow brighter, illuminated in turn as the song replays. "Violins kind of /sound/ like angry cats if you don't know what you're doing. I was lucky, I had a kickass teacher. Think the piano teachers here are decent." He sounds a little unsure, not playing piano himself. He gives Kaine a /puzzled/ look after this. "Leave what hurting huh?" “Mister Fairyjax is /super/ colourful-pretty,” Lia agrees...or at least adds. “Can you have more than two dads? Is Kaine old enough to be your dad? How does that work?” And /then/ the floaty picture starts /glowing/. “Ooo. Oh, pretty.” This time the hologram does end up with another hand in it, trying to touch one of the glowy-notes. “It sounded like... Not good. Um. Screaming. Pain-screaming. I did not like it.” Her teeth catch her lower lip. “Please no hurting.” "Met mister Jax. Rasa wasn't paying attention and when I mentioned having somebody pierce my ears wrong, ze thought I meant sex. Had a super awkward conversation about condoms and sex after that. Which made me think of heading into New York, which made me mention needing to talk to you, because you're a business owner and all. Didn't explain that part, and they thought I meant I wanted to have sex with you." Kaine shares, attention still mainly on his toes, before looking back over towards Shane and Lia, "Felt like I had to take a break to explain I was straight at that point. And my hair, it's not hurting anything the color it is." Lia has his attention next, "You have to hold the violin and bow a certain way or that happens. It kind of hurts the ear." "Pa teaches sex ed here, too. Kinda his bag to be making sure people are safe with their screwing. Or ear-piercing, man, bad piercings'll wreck his day too -- wait, shit, /dude/, did you get in the fucking /lake/ with new --" Shane turns to squint at Kane for a moment. "Fff." His head shakes. He goes over to pick up his thermos, opening it up to remove a tea strainer from inside and then recap it. He sets the song playing again, the notes continuing their glowy dance as /he/ flops himself down on the futon, legs hooking over its armrest. "I think more people around here are interested in talking to me about sex than about business practices. Why do you care about Evolve?" His head shakes at Lia. "Kaine's not old enough to be my dad but my /dads/ aren't old enough to be my dads so who gives a fuck. Anyway I don't want him to be my dad. He just sounds like he wants to be /them/. Except with shittier piercing hygiene." “Wha...t?” Kaine's rapid tour of previous conversations leaves Lia pretty far behind. The fact that the glowy-dancing notes are distracting her probably doesn't help. “What does piercing ears have to do with sex? You should not put holes in condoms. Also you should ask /Shane/ if he wants to have sex. Not his dad. Shane has to say yes.” Poke-poke-poke glowy notes. “I am taking Mr. Fairyjax's class. Not the art one, the sex one. It is a requirement.” She finally does look back at Shane. “Everyone cares about Evolve. It is one of the only places we go in the city-city when the groups go out and we can all be there and it does not matter who.” Her nose crinkles, gaze darting between the two boys. “You cannot be someone who already has someone inside.” The fingertips leave off their note-poking to prod at her temple instead. “They are already there. It does not work.” "Oh shit.. I completely forgot about that." Kaine says, foot dropping back down. "Damn it, I knew something was wrong. But I was getting anxious, hadn't been in the water except for showering in a few days." He reaches up to gently feel around his lobe. "Gonna be super bummed if this gets infected." A slight sigh, before focusing back on Shane. "Being a business owner in general, really. Like I said, want to open my own shop eventually. Just curious I guess. Know it's a shit ton of work, and can be expensive as hell. Especially being a mutant. Because the first time a window of mine gets busted out, I'm putting spikes in somebody. Never cared for a person that'd fuck up something a person worked to get. Shit's not cheap." He sits up straight and focuses only on Lia, "He means I'm talking about doing things they do. Just not as well. Though I just really met mister Jax yesterday. Haven't met the other one. I don't think, anyway." "Dude that lake is full of shit and bacteria and dead things your ears are probably fucked." Shane says it kind of lazily-nonchalant, popping the top on his thermos to sniff at it, watch a curl of steam escape. "How /is/ that class going? Pa's definitely better than the prude who used to teach it." His head rolls to the side, cheek pressing against the futon cushion as he squints over at Kaine. "Won't keep yourself a business long that way, dude. People give Evolve shit all the damn /time/, if I busted fucking heads over every asshole with a spray can or a rock through my window I'd be in /jail/, not behind the counter." "Should we take him to see Doctor Ff-Mccoy?" One of these days she'll get the name straight without correcting herself part way through. Lia's brows dip toward one another in concern. "It sounds bad." Chewing at the inside of her cheek, Lia perches on the edge of the futon. "It is going better now. When he was gone, there was Mr. Summers instead. He was very. Odd. And kept saying that there were questions that Mr. Holland would answer when he got back." This last is pulled in a deeper, more masculine voice that is likely providing a direct quote. "Please do not go to jail. That would be very sad." "I'm sure they'll be fine. I'll get back to cleaning as soon as I get back to the mansion." Kaine says with a wave of his hand, likely attempting to assure himself rather than Lia. "Likely don't have the patience to deal with people like that." He brings a hand up to cover a tired yawn. "Been a long ass day." "If you want to open an auto shop you're going to need patience. I mean, not just for the bigoted assholes. Like, that's /service/ work. That means just dealing with the /regular/ fucking assholes and let me tell you, I'd /rather/ deal with the people who're just straight-up calling me a freak and chucking a brick through my window than the ones who are screeching their damn heads off because they think the fucking world's going to grind to a halt if their latte's thirty seconds slow. You want to open a business that deals with /customers/, you're gonna need /hella/ fucking patience." Shane grins bright, and takes a small sip of his tea. "And a good punching bag for once get you get home." He rolls his legs down to the floor, sitting up with a shake of his head. "Doctor can't do shit for his jacked-up piercings. Just keep 'em clean now and wait to see how bad he's fucked himself I guess. /Man/-oh-man I'm almost sad I missed Professor Summers having to teach Pa's class. Be the most awkward fucking sex ed ever. -- Hey when's your play isn't that happening soon?" "That does not sound like fun," Lia opines, likely meaning the annoying customers /and/ people throwing things. "Oh no. I hope your ears do not fall off. Dr. Mccoy is so good at fixing things. If he cannot fix those, it must be very serious." Her tone is rather grave, eyes peering at Kaine's ears as if looking for signs of /decay/. "It was...odd. Awkward, perhaps, is a good word. I do not think he wanted to be there. It made things confusing." Her fingers taptaptap against her knee. "Friday. Not this Friday. Next Friday. Last exam day." "Comes to the worst, I'll take the rings out and see about getting antibiotics." Kaine says after a moment. "And yeah, people can be shitty. Especially if you let stress get to you and start making mistakes." He nods slightly, leaning back in the seat, attention shifting to Lia, "I'll definitely be there. You guys doing the whole musical, or cutting songs for time?" "I'm sure we could find him new ears, if we gotta." Though the music has stopped, Shane's bow still bobs in the air, lazily conducting an invisible symphony. "Sweet. Friday. I'll be there." His legs slide down off the arm of the futon as he rolls slowly up to his feet. "It's stressful as all fucking get-out. But it's nice, too. Mostly just to give a big fuck-you to the people who said I couldn't hack it." “Okay. Do not die,” Lia instructs sternly and oh-so-helpfully. “Shinies are pretty, but they are not worth dying. Or your ears falling off.” She toys with the convertible flop-over part of her mitten. “The whole thing. People wanted to do their whole parts. And it is all a good story. Not dull. I get eaten.” Selling points? “You do lots of things very well, Shane. You and B both. /So/ many things.” "Figured the school would be touchy with all the deaths and cheating wives. Or the pedophilic undertones in 'hello little girl' and 'I know things now'." Kaine says with a slight shrug. "Cool that there aren't any complaints about it." He pushes to his and flashes Lia a grin, actually singing "Look at that flesh, pink and plump, hello little girl." And while he isn't bad, lessons wouldn't be a waste of time. "Like the school cares whose wife is fucking who, we look like /St./ Xavier's to you?" Shane moves to pack his violin back in its case, snorting at the line from the song. "... okay yeah though the wolf is skeezy as all fuck." He shrugs at Lia, closing up his computer as well and packing it away too. "Eh. I dunno. I mean, I definitely /dress/ like a fucking king so I guess that's a – thing." "You do dress very nicely. You and B do. And you play violin and write music and speak so many languages and run a business and swim fast-fast and take /everyone/ to all the dances," Lia offers the whole litany in a burble. "They did 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' last. The whole thing is about cheating and using magic to make people kissy and is very naughty faeries. And Anole says before that they did 'Sweeney Todd'. There are people made into pies." That seems to be that as far as offensiveness is concerned. She chuckles at the line. "I did that, that song for Anole. He turned red in the face." Her fingers move to her cheek bones, smile broadening fondly. "Then we had such a nice dance with the flowers." "Love the productions of Sweeney Todd. I was super bummed they cut some of the songs they did from the movie version." Kaine reaches up to rub at his neck lightly. "I'd totally sign up if you guys did a rendition of Rocky Horror. I'd kill to play Doctor Furter." "I feel like it's important everyone's got a date to the dances, you know? I mean, it's not important to have a date if you don't /want/ a date. But it's important not to be alone if you don't want to. Some people don't like going alone so then they don't go at all. If I just ask /everyone/ then nobody's gotta -- be lonely." Shrug. Shane starts to slip back into his outerwear once his things are packed up, scarf and hat and gloves and coat. "I would've thought they'd be not-so-cool with a play about /eating/ people but fuck if I know everyone copes different. -- Wait, is /Anole/ the goddamn wolf? He's so -- not wolfy. I guess that's where the acting comes in." His eyes flick briefly over Kaine. "You'd have some stiff competition, some of the theatre kids here are hard-fucking-core. But I could see it." "Oh, it is not a thing that usually happens for dances? I have gone to all of the dances with you. You ask every time," Lia seems pleased enough with this arrangement. "That is the one with the time travelling underwear aliens I am supposed to see, right? Maybe after exams are done." There's a little giggles at all of Shane's questions. "I usually do the being eaten. But we were playing and I was the wolf for Anole and he was very red. Anole is playing Jack. But he is a very good actor." Kaine nods at both Shane and Lia, "The one with the lingerie wearing Transylvanian." He confirms. "But there was a period when all I did was eat, sleep, and breath Rocky Horror. I'd get a cut, dye, and perm and learn to walk in heels for that. All day every day." He brings a hand up to cover a yawn again. "It's about time for me to get to sleep." "I'll be graduating this year. I don't know what'll happen then. Maybe you'll have to be the one who asks everyone." Shane shrugs, slinging his bag over a shoulder and picking up his violin case. "Sleep sounds pretty fucking good. You staying or coming, Lia?" “Walking in heels is not so bad but superheroing is hard,” Lia weighs in on the footwear conversation. “Oh, I do not know. I don not think everyone will /want/ to go to the dances with me.” She nods along at the mention of heading in to sleep. “Yes-yes, coming. The longer we stay here, the colder it gets outside! I want my blankets.” "I'd totally go with you." Kaine assures Lia. "Better to go with friends." Then he's turning to head out, zipping his jacket up. Though that isn't likely going to be much help outside considering he's not really wearing much below the waist. "See? There's one person already." Shane scoops his thermos up in his free hand, nudging the lights off with an elbow as they head back out into the cold.