ArchivedLogs:Taco Tuesday

Taco Tuesday
Dramatis Personae Ducky, Rasa, Shane
In Absentia	2014-05-13 '
Location <XS> Great Hall
The largest room at Xavier's, the Great Hall is designed to hold all of the mansion's residents and then some. Built for the mansion's bigger functions, it serves as the school's dining halls on ordinary days, and ballroom when needed. On school days, long trestle tables stretch across the hall, high-backed chairs with plush cushions offering seating for the students. Sun shines in warmly through the windows at the great hall at lunch time, providing a cheery atmosphere, despite the forecasts of rain later. Rasa is making hir way down toward the food line, carrying a bag of books over one shoulder. Hir baggy jeans slouch on hir hips with no tail to hold them up in the right place. Hir body is definitely flesh toned today, a color scheme that looks a little odd with hir hair and eye color. There's a rainbow belt woven between the loops, but it too is a little loose. Over the top, ze is wearing a black tee shirt with little cartoon fireflies (the ship) dancing around in a night sky with Earth's moon, with trees and grass framing the image on the front. On hir arms, sparkly opera gloves cover hir skin, the hems disappearing under the sleeves of hir shirt. Ze has another book in hir arms and is reading a passage with interest before ze closes the pages to set it on a tray, hir attention drifting up to the food offerings. Oh! Taco Tuesday. How exciting. Shane has claimed himself a spot at a table already -- he's eschewed the very /crowded/ table of Daiki's where he often sits to take a spot alone, at the moment, his plate loaded down with taco fillings and no shells. Just a whole enormous pile of marinated chicken and beef with a small sprinkling of cilantro and onion and tomato and hot sauce mixed in. And a large glass of water. He's dressed as he often is, monochrome today in black and white, vest and slacks and dress shirt and bowtie and polished Oxfords. He looks a little underslept, a wired restless jitteriness even as he sits, phone in hand and chopsticks in the other, scrolling down his screen with a small frown. "Oh! Tacos," Ducky chirps brightly, making her way in to the cafeteria to wait in line. Her bright yellow backpack hangs heavily with the weight of school books, a marble notebook, the white spaces colored in with a rainbow of gel-pen ink, is tucked under one arm. She is dressed for time outside, with a pair of fitted cargo pants in a dull khaki, the knees and hems green with old grass stains, paired with a bright blue slim-fit t-shirt and a teal green hooded vest over top of it. The hood of the vest hangs perhaps a little heavy at the point, possibly suggesting the presence of her pet pigeon, or indicating that it is being used for storage or some variety. Coming to a stop in line behind Rasa, Ducky offers a cheery wave as a greeting. Rasa grabs a plate and starts filling a flour tortilla with refried beans that look as if they have been baking in cheddar for quite some time. Ze gives a little wince of a smile when ze sees Ducky, moving down the line to add avocados, pickled jalapenos, fresh onion and tomato. "Hey," ze offers, distracted by the food combining. "Love the little tacos. Having a good day?" Ze rolls the whole burrito up, then slathers it with sour cream and hot sauce, adding Spanish rice on the side. When finally finished, ze turns to examine the room, finding hir attention drawn to Shane's concerned look. Ze heads over to peer at his face a little closer. Ducky bounces along in line, loading up one plate with fillings, a mix of refried beans, fluffy rice with cilantro, and tomatoes and letuce, along with a sprinkling of cheese and some sour cream. Another plate holds a few little flour tortillas, to be assembled later. "Tiny tacos are awesome," Ducky says with a bright grin, "Though I think I'm gonna head outside to eat, since it's kinda still sorta nice out. For now at least. Before the rains start. Again." Ducky babbles distractedly, carefully stacking her tray and nodding mostly to herself, before exiting to the back porch with a distracted wave of farewell. "{What's up, love.}" Shane's eyes don't leave his phone though his nose twitches as Rasa approaches, his greeting delivered in quiet flat Russian. His somewhat shadowed eyes shift to his plate, and he chopsticks a mouthful of chicken up hungrily. He sets his phone down, stifling a yawn as he reaches for his water. "You wanna help me with Trig? I'm fucking useless." Rasa moves to sit down at the same side of the table as Shane, setting hir tray down before turning to bonk hir forehead against Shane's shoulder. "{You're frowning.}" ze begins, hir shoulders slumping as ze rests there for a moment. "{Bad night. Tired.}" ze mutters a moment later. When he moves, ze pulls hirself up, inhaling deeply and turning to stare down hir food, snatching up hir fork. English sparks hir a little more alert as well. "Yeah, sure. You having trouble with yesterday's work, or are we talking ... all of trig?" Shane tips his head in at the bonk, kissing the top of Rasa's hair. "{Didn't sleep,}" he answers hir, "{Tired. Good night, though. Bad fucking morning.}" He probably has the internet to thank for picking up Russian /cursing/, it's certainly not /textbook/. Possibly watching Russian films, he's been doing a fair bit of that when homework is boring. He takes a large gulp of water and sets it back down, wielding his chopsticks deftly -- not /school/ utensils, but a lacquered black and white set patterned with koi. He has his own little matching carrying case for them. "Oh, just yesterday's shit. Maybe it'll make more sense if I actually sleep. What happened last night?" "Nothing exciting. Stayed up too late doing homework. Head got bad." Rasa is using hir school issued utensils, cutting into hir burrito instead of trying to pick it up. Ze divides it up in to ten equalish parts before putting down the knife and starting to smoosh some of the rice against the beany tortilla and load it up on a fork. "No sleep? Good night? I'm guessing you got lucky." Hir brows waggle as ze peers over at Shane's chopsticks, hir smile growing a little more pink. Hir first bite is then stuffed in hir mouth and chewed carefully. Hir free hand pulls down the glove on the arm nearest Shane, exposing the words, 'sleep does help make homework happen' on hir forearm. Shane's teeth bare in a fierce grin at this inference. "Well, Dusk's back. He's been lonely as hell." His hand lifts, fingers pressing absently against the side of his neatly buttoned-up collar. "Though he saw my Ba /first/ which, I don't know, is that like sleeping with Ba by some kind of transitive property?" He digs in more hungrily to his chicken, shaking his head slightly. "Look at you being all good. Staying up doing homework's better for your GPA anyway." His eyes squeeze shut as he stifles another yawn, eyes dropping back down to his phone. "So uh." But after this non-starter he just frowns, and slouches in against the table. "Yes, I'm sure it is," Rasa replies when hir mouth is clear, "but I also get the feeling that you like that aspect." Ze shrugs a little, picking at hir food and pulling the cut portions a little further apart, making room between each section. "I wouldn't go bragging to social services," here, there is another shrug. "Is he doing any better? I was going to offer to feed him, but it doesn't sound like he needs it so much." Ze ignores the comment about GPAs as ze loads up hir fork again. "You're frowning again." Maybe he'll comment on it now that ze said it in English. "Not complaining," Shane confirms with a small twitch of lips. "He's --" He looks down at his plate, brows pulling together. He pulls his phone closer to his tray, claws clicking against the side of it. "Still struggling a lot, I think. Kind of loses track of what's real? I think the company helps. I think being touched helps. But --" His teeth dig in against his lip, and he turns his phone's screen back on, unlocking it and sliding it towards Rasa -- there's a small news article pulled up. A blurb about the hunter attacked in the Catskills, ending with a small note that law enforcement is searching for one Ryan Avery Holloway in connection with the attack. Brief description. Considered dangerous. "-- think it's going to get harder for him again soon, maybe." "Oh hell." Rasa glances at the screen at first, then shifts hir weight to get a better look at it, squishing closer to Shane as ze does. Ze is quiet for a while and rubs at hir face as hir eyes close, frowning as well. "We should have taken pictures." Ze slides away slowly, hir hair darkening, turning light brown first, then darker. "I just wasn't thinking. I ... dammit." Ze fidgets and folds hir arms over hir chest, glaring at hir food now. "Dandelion'll have pictures. He was lurking. Those bots record everything, B'll --" Shane curls his arm around Rasa's shoulders, wrapping there lightly until ze slides back away. "I mean, they won't come looking for him here, right? So he might be okay. For now. Just --" He hisses out a sharp breath between his teeth. "The cops questioned /me/ after taking that asshole in. I didn't tell them anything except I found the guy there. Not that we were looking for Dusk or anything." The feel of Shane's arm around hir shoulders halts any attempt to pull away. Rasa's chin sinks down to hir chest as ze burrows against his side. "Okay," ze agrees quietly, swallowing hard against the upset that continues to darken hir skin and hair. "I just.. I just want to be ... He heals so fast. It's nearly impossible to say 'oh, well, the hunter shot first,' when there may not be any proof of Dusk being shot at all... It was self defense and the courts need to know that." Ze inhales deeply and clamps hir jaw tightly closed, more thoughts filtering across hir skin, but too small and quick to be readable. "I just.. {sorry,}" ze concludes in Russian. "Yeah. S'one of the downsides of --" Shane shakes his head, curling his arm tighter in against Rasa once more. "But there's probably video of -- B dealing with the injuries and -- Flicker dragging him off and -- I don't know. Still might just be his word against --" He clicks his chopsticks together in his other hand, gills whispering against the starchy fabric of his collar. "Haven't told him they're looking. Probably should. I guess it looks more suspicious to hide. And he's in the /right/ here. But -- fuck. When was the last time a freak got a /fair/ trial without a whole goddamn lot of strings pulled for it?" "No... real chance. But yeah. It's probably worse for him to stay in hiding. Because it's hiding now, not resting and recovering." Rasa shrinks in Shane's arms, hir body constricting on itself as ze lets out a big sigh. "Do .. we know any lawyers? I'm sure the professor does. We should talk to him about making sure Dusk gets proper representation." "I had a good lawyer when I had that bullshit shoplifting charge, but --" Shane's teeth clamp together, his eyes narrowing as he looks down. "But --" He shakes his head quickly. "I don't know. Can ask the Professor. Because this is -- just -- crap." He /stabs/ a piece of beef with the end of his chopsticks, sliding the small chunk of into his mouth. "I just want him to be okay. Rest and fucking recover. Have all the cuddles. And sex. And not this shit." "I want that, too." Rasa replies quietly. It takes a moment for hir insecurity to crop up again, but when it does, the words tumble from hir lips in a hurry. "Well, not the sex part. I mean, not, well, he can have sex. I just - don't feel like I have any right talking about his sex life. So maybe, I just want him to be in a place where he can recover and have consensual sex when he chooses to." Ze grows a little pink during this explanation, hugging hirself a little tighter when ze does. Shane gives a small laugh at this hasty correction. "Yeah, I don't usually care about people's sex lives either, except when they're sleeping with /me/ I'm a little more invested. And it helps, you know? Not everyone. But some people. Just -- having people to connect to? I just want him not to feel alone." He gets less stabby with his chopsticks, picking up more meat to carry it to his mouth. "OK. So lawyer for him, and -- let him know. Maybe once we find him a lawyer he should turn /himself/ --" He shudders, though, scowling down at his food. "I just don't want him to fucking /be/ alone again." Rasa nods and nods again, agreeing quietly. When he mentions that it helps, ze turns hir head to study his expression a little better, hir brow furrowed with concentration. "Oh," ze replies at length. "I don't know. I feel unsettled about it all. If we don't tell him, then he has plausible denyability - but people hate us so much that's pointless. If we tell him, he might feel pressured to act. If we do all this preparation before we talk to him, it's like we're trying to decide what's best for him. If we don't we can't be as solid of a support system. I... may not be the best person to talk to him about this." Ze clears hir throat and brings hir fist to hir chest to sign an apology. "I don't know, either," Shane admits with a heavy huff. "'cuz you're right, it's -- fuck. I don't want to make choices /for/ him. But I don't want -- I don't want to spook him away either? Like if we tell him and he feels he's /gotta/ go? But -- oh goddammit." He glares down at his phone, and sets his chopsticks down, dropping his head into his hand to scrunch his hair down flatter against his head. "... wonder if my dads have seen this yet. Or Flicker." "I feel like an ass." Rasa announces unhappily. "I want to ask your dads about it, but I feel like it will get worse if we keep talking about him instead of talking to him." Rasa sits up a little straighter and glances at hir food. "Whatever we do, we need to do today. Maybe we can talk to your dads or Flicker about how to talk to him about it better? Does that help?" "Yeah. Can ask them how best to -- they know him real well. And he trusts them real --" Shane hastily starts bringing the rest of his meat to his mouth, scarfing down his food quickly. "Right, let's. Talk to them. But okay can we help me not fail trig first if we have a quiz this week I'm so fucked." Rasa nods and follows Shane's cue, diving in to hir now cooled food. "Yeah. We can talk to them after dinner." Ze gives Shane a little smile, then sets about eating in earnest.