ArchivedLogs:Talking

Talking
Dramatis Personae Kisha, Rasa
In Absentia	2014-02-19 '
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. It's that time of day when all the classes are over and even the clubs are done with the various classrooms. Which is why it might come as something of a shock for all the lights to be on in the Gym. And if that isn't a shock then the sight of Kisha, not doing science but working through a routine with a punching bag is! Of course her work-out music is more regular day to day Kisha (and possibly the only evidence this isn't the worlds least convincing shapeshifter) in that it's that very special branch of industrial music known as noise. Her current track of choice sounding a little like a factory complex that's being carpet bombed. Rasa is using the men's locker room lately, matching dorm location with locker location seems to be important to some. Ze is dressed like it's summer, wearing a loose white tanktop with a band around hir chest underneath. Below that, ze has girded hir loins with loose navy blue shorts. Ze is pulling on fingerless gloves as ze makes hir way across the floor toward the punching bags, hir tail swishing back and forth behind hir, unconsciously reacting to Kisha's music. Hir brows starts quirking between furrowed and amused as ze opens hir mouth to say something but refrains, offering a bit of a wave before turning to find a bag of hir own. The second surprise is that Kisha seems to know how to hit a punch bag. "Good evening Rasa," she offers, before hitting the bag with a three strike combination that ends with an elbow up in the direction of where someones throat would be. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone else in the gym at this hour..." Of course her own workout clothing seems to be her regular clothing minus the labcoat. With the routine over she immediately starts with exactly the same combo. "I had hoped to avoid anyone else finding I was resuming my brothers... athletic training regime." "Why are you avoiding it? Self defense is important. Mutants especially need to know how to take care of themselves, simply because there are far too many people that think we need to be handled with violence." Rasa starts rolling hir shoulders to warm up, bouncing from foot to foot, building hir energy. "I... tend to come around at different times. It's kind of my playground lately, as I can't go outside and my usual hang out buddies aren't around as much." Ze watches Kisha throw blows for a moment or two, as she did resume her workout without asking hir to look away. "Your brother taught you that?" Kisha slips into a series of blow stomach strikes that seem like they'd be fairly ineffective. Light jabs with an odd twilt to her wrist. "My brother taught me a lot of things that I'd rather people thought I'd forgotten," she admits with a shrug. "It's the /people knowing/ part I wanted to avoid. Whenever possible I always hope people will underestimate me, I find it more beneficial on balance. Of course it's not always successful and I have suspicions that my power makes me more arrogant than I used to be." She frowns. "Not that I have any credible empyrical data on my prior mental state." "You expecting the casual outside observer to attack you based on your exercise habits here at the school, or are you expecting bullying within?" Rasa asks, adding a little stretching to hir movements. "Does that hurt your wrist, or are you purposefully not hitting hard to keep your motion correct?" Ze grabs hir ankle and pulls it up behind hir, stretching hir quads, leaning forward to give it extra pull. "I... hope it's not something you expect, but I can see how the practice is useful - come across as a science brain and people may underestimate your physical prowess -- though Sebastian does not reinforce that image." "You never know what information people might be forced to share," Kisha finally admits, stopping that particular routine as soon as Rasa questions it. "My wrists are okay. It's supposed to be done like that. "It's not just the science brain aspect which makes people assume I am harmless, my height and build also contribute in a way that Sebastians do not. And of course the lack of the toothy maw. The irony being I suspect his scientific capabilities are actually more of a threat to people who might miss him harm. He's got quite extensive research and development resources at his disposal for someone still in education." "I am sorry, I didn't mean to cast aspersions on your fighting style. It's just different than mine," Rasa replies, turning to face hir punching bag, hir profile shown to Kisha. "And I agree, unfortunately, Bastian has a lot working against him in the small and unassuming categories, which probably makes him seem less likely to be a threat intellectually -- and you're also right. Though, I'm not sure at this point if he has too much access. Kind of afraid he's forgotten how to be a teenager." Ze stares down hir bag before ze gives it a few warm up punches, hir wrists straight to help displace the build up of impacting energy down the length of hir arm. "Do you work with him at Stark at all?" Kisha very briefly smiles. "Forgotten to be a teenager? Do any of us really know how to be ones of those anymore?" she wonders. "Much as I'd like to play with the toys in Stark towers I have refrained from asking to spend time there. I feel I'd be much happier with my eventual progress if I learn the hard way. It helps that I enjoy the learning too I suppose." She turns and begins watching Rasa at work. "I wouldn't call what I know a style exactly. It's mostly just dirty fighting techniques." Rasa puts a little more power into the blows, the muscles in hir arms showing more definition, skin rippling a little loosely over them. Ze grunts and shakes hir head a little. "Well, maybe not. I just... don't like seeing it in people I care about. Just want them to be happy. But. no." Ze starts punctuating hir words with fists to rubberized canvas. "Fucking. Zombies. Death. Sentences. Reg.i.stra.tion." Hir jaw sets as ze grumps at the heavy bag, stepping forward then pivoting to back fist the bag with hir full weight. "Good. Glad you're trying to do a sustainable progress. B's toys are amazing, but I miss having him around." There's a spark of amusement in hir eyes as ze just stops, arms falling to hir sides. "I likely devote more of my day to science than him," Kisha points out casually. "But then I have more hours in the day and the night of course." She waves her hand cryptically. "Would it be rude of me to ask when you became interested in martial arts? Was it before or after your power manifested?" "Not sure how many more hours you've got on him these days." Rasa inhales deeply and scratches at the side of hir head. "Um, after. After I moved here as well. I was sheltered for the most part, dressed up like a religious girl and sent to school and told not to talk to anyone. Somewhere between fear and discomfort, I never really had to defend myself. I was young though. It probably wouldn't have lasted." Ze wipes sweat from hir brow onto the back of hir gloved hand, fingers itching at the side of hir nose before she puts hir fists up to hit again. "I didn't really take much to it initially, too. Wanted to do computer science and maybe art more than anything, but then my friends disappeared and I couldn't be defenseless." Kisha grins. "You are presuming that I am not doubling up during my regular classes and other social activities," she notes. "I am rarely without my wearable computing these days. It allows for a lot of multitasking. I never really had much choice about learning to defend myself. My brother had very disreputable friends and they got into a lot of fights. Occasionally someone would try get even by taking a swing at me. Which is why he taught me how to cheat." "Sorry," Rasa's eyes widen as ze puts more into hir work out, hir skin starting to turn a shade of pinkish red that almost glows. "I wasn't trying to insult you, merely point out that B's not been sleeping much." Ze throws a couple more blows and then shakes hir arms out and starts stretching hir legs. "I never really asked you much about where you came from," ze states, eyeing Kisha. "Very few people do. I tend to be conversationally off-putting," Kisha admits with a sigh, turning back to her punchbag. "Although don't worry I wasn't insulted... I was more amused. It seems I am doing a better job of keeping my studies a secret than my self defense. Aside from mentioning it just now of course." She begins with the three strike combination again. "As I said my brother had a gang, I was marked as a trouble maker as a result, so naturally I did what was expected and helped him out. He used to present hypothetical situations to me, I'd solve them as puzzles, and it would turn out he was applying them in real life." "Did your brother know you were a mutant, or did he just think you were incredibly smart?" Rasa rolls hir neck before grabbing the punching back and starting to deliver some knee strikes to the surface. "I don't think anyone thought I was useful before I came here. No siblings to speak of. My parents couldn't handle being around me. I spent a lot of time alone and on the internet. I have watched... so much anime." "This was before my power manifested," Kisha explains, speeding up a little. "I hope it doesn't sound like I'm boasting, but I /am/ incredibly smart. My power doesn't really make me more intelligent it just gives me access to a lot of information regular people don't have. I suspect I am one of the only people alive who knows how many ancient devices are constructed for example. Anyway it turned out many of the things he wanted help figuring out were quite illegal. So it's probably for the best that his gang is very anti-mutant and we are not on speaking terms any more." Rasa's eyes widen again, 'figures,' writes itself across hir chest despite the fact that ze is colorized for minimal thought leaking. Ze takes a step back from hir bag, listening while getting ready, striking the bag with a good deal more energy next, using combinations that include arms and legs this time, even tail whipping the surface of the bag once or twice to get a feel for it. "By the way, I think it's a just a fair assessment if you say what you can do without using comparative figures, maybe. It might make people feel not as smart, but you're not really a dick until you say 'I'm smarter /than/ you.' or 'I make you look like a moron.'" Ze gives a little shrug before delivering an elbow strike and pausing. "I mean, we're all kind of crazy gifted in some way or another. It's just the rest of the world that makes you seem like a jerk - being boastful of their intelligence before you were born." Kisha pauses, then blinks. "If I'm honest the majority of times I don't mind being a jerk," she admits. "There are only a few people at the school who I try and be polite to. I'm not foolish enough to think I'm the smartest person out there though. But I am significantly more dedicated than the vast majority of people in the world. Which is why I'll be the first mutant to claim her own planet. Make Mars my home. Perhaps we should consider a social event to make Sebastian relax?" "I... am not sure." Rasa considers for a moment. "We took him to the circus last week to try something like that. He had fun, but I don't know how relaxed he got." Ze puffs out hir cheeks as ze tries to catch hir breath, the exertion starting to catch up to hir. "We should try again, but at the same time, he kind of loves the work he's doing. What kind of stuff helps you relax? You know, when you're super focused on work and need a break?" Kisha glances left, then right and with a cough replies. "More work." There may even be an awkward toe-scuff. "I don't ever really stop thinking about my work. It's relaxing for me. Hence the music." "Hmmm. well, I'll think about it for a while," Rasa concludes finally, lips squishing together thoughtfully after ze stops speaking. "I kind of want to help him get in touch with his artistic side some more. Maybe we could organize a show for some of his work. It's pretty cool stuff. He makes sculptures out of bones. They can be pretty delicate, at times." "That sounds very... morbid. I must admit I do not really care for dead things. They are an unfortunate reminder of how brief life is," Kisha confesses, again pausing in her routine. "You must both be a lot more concerned by the registration laws than I am... Not that I intend on signing up for anything of that nature. But I can at least pass unremarked if I cover my scars up, although they aren't so much a sign of my power as of my strangeness. Hmm. You know I haven't spoken this much socially since the zombie uprising." "Yeah... kind of. I mean, I've got a year, maybe a year and a half before I have to worry about it and maybe I'll get lucky and they'll repeal some of the bullshit, but it's really hard to say." Rasa takes a really deep breath to calm hir respiratory rate and blinks back a bit of sweat. "I don't know if I will sign up. The classifications are pretty limiting when it comes to psionics. Nothing like getting a big P stamped across your file for the rest of your life." A 'P' starts to materialize on hir chest, a little up and over the left side, half cut off by hir clothes. "I don't know. I ... don't really like to think about it much. I suppose I should." "I always find it better to face an unpleasant situation and make plans accordingly. I'm considering a solution which involves dropping off the grid entirely. Live under false identities and so forth until I can relocate to an isolated region in which I can set up my enterprises," Kisha explains with entirely inappropriate excitement. "We could do the gallery thing though. Perhaps even put in a technical element? If he had some works he would like to share with the world we could scan them for three dimensional printing and distribute the template in an online supplement to the show." "That sounds good," Rasa replies, still a little too out of breath to really get excited. "Really good. I like it. I'll bring it up to him next time I see him." Which, shouldn't be too long from now, on account of the fact that they are roommates. "I totally get it about the talking thing. Nothing like a zombie plague to make you clam up - what with words making you sick." Ze shakes hir head and clears hir throat. "I should probably go get some water though. How about you? You done with your work out?" Kisha shakes her head. "I'll probably keep going a while longer. I'm thinking through the answers to a homework test," she offers. "And it wasn't the zombie plague specifically. It's that no-one has had anything to say to me since then. I wonder if people think I was acting as if the school was a lost cause and have taken offense. But no matter. It's been pleasant chatting with you Rasa." "Good seeing you too, Kisha." Rasa raises a hand to wave as ze starts for the locker rooms, taking off hir gloves as ze goes. "I wouldn't worry about the lost cause thing. It was kind of hit or miss for a while there."