ArchivedLogs:The New and Scary

The New and Scary
Dramatis Personae Mai and Paige
In Absentia	2017-01-05 "You...you just...don't let...the squids...scare you."
Location <NYC> Mai's Apartment - Chinatown
This apartment is not overly large, a short foyer leads from the entrance to a large room which combines living room and kitchen into one. On the left at the end of the foyer there is the door to the bathroom, otherwise that wall continues straight all the way to the sliding door near the back. A large portion of that wall is covered in black and red cloth, and on display on the wall is a collection of martial arts related weapons, a pair of butterfly knives, a tai-chi saber, a pair of tonfas, and a short spear. Below them, there are two framed photographs on the wall as well, pictures of a Chinese man and woman. The room expands to the right side instead, where there is first a small kitchenette, including a fridge, a stove, a microwave and a sink, and then after the corner, at the right side wall there is a long bookshelf, which has couple rows of books, most of them in Chinese, but some English ones as well, and a row of DVD movies, a larger portion of them martial arts related, especially Jackie Chan movies, but there is bit of everything in the mix. Also near the back of the room there is a tv. For furniture there is a small dining table, with couple stools around it, near the kitchen part, and at the back placed strategically around the tv is a comfy looking couch, and a few chairs. At the back of the room there are windows which give a view down to the street, although the blinders hanging front of them are often closed. At the left near the back there is a sliding door, which is usually open, leading to the bedroom, which consists of a bed that can either very comfortably hold one person, or two if they get along reasonably well. Judging from that there is a nightstand only on the left side, there is usually only one person sleeping there. There is another window to the street but the blinders on that one are pretty much always shut. On the windowboard there is a collection of geeky action figures, and there is also couple posters on the walls, of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan to be exact. It's dark outside when there's a knock upon Mai's bedroom door. The knocking isn't frantic, but neither is it all that quiet. "Mai?" inquires a sleep-ridden voice from the other side where Paige stands, eyes half open. "I-I'm sorry to wake you, but I think there's something wrong." A clock would reveal that it's nearly four in the morning as the hooved girl sways a bit before knocking again. "It's so hot," the older girl insists. "I opened a window, but your apartment is just so -hot-." The temperature outside the building would most likely be in the mid-twenties to thirties Fahrenheit, or a few degrees below zero Celsius. Mai doesn't really keep the sliding door to the bedroom closed usually, the only reason it even is there is because it came with the apartment, but either way, the knocking and the words do get her to wake up as she isn't anyway particularly heavy sleeper. "Huh, what?" are the first mumbled words that are given in reply, blinking a few times and rubbing her eyes as she reaches for her phone on the nightstand to check the time. She gets up after a few moments and comes to the door and pulls it open to see what it is. "What are you saying? Its not hot... brrr!" shivering a bit as the cooler air from the living room meets her skin, as it could be noted that she generally sleeps on the nude. Though that much colder air coming from the outside due to the opened window does make her to have to go get a bathing robe that she puts on before she comes to the living room. "What are you talking about? Its freezing." she notes as she moves to close the window, its a bit dark as the only lighting is coming from the street lights outside through the blinders covering the windows. Paige is simply wearing a bra and a pair of leggings - likely uncomfortable sleeping in the nude as a guest at someone else's place. If she notices Mai's initial state of undress, she makes no mention of it. Somewhat in a daze, the horned girl follows her friend to the window. "It-it is?" her voice still sounds rather tired despite the chill of the air flowing into the apartment. "Then why---I'm so hot. I feel like my skin is on fire." This said, she rubs one arm against the other. "I feel--" There's a pause. Then more rubbing. "I--I feel---My skin feels -weird-," she whispers in an amazed tone. Mai turns back to face Paige after she finishes closing the window, tilting her head to the side a bit confusedly at the weird things the other girl is saying. "Uhh.. your not like catching a fever or something?" is her initial thought with the girl explaining how she is feeling. Then whe Paige starts talking about how weird her skin is feeling, Mai arches a brow further. "Weird? In what way?" biting her lower lip a bit as she realizes that its rather dark here still, and she walks over to the wall to turn the light switch on so they can actually -see- what Paige is talking about. "I don't know," Paige whispers in the same tone as before; she sounds positively dumbfounded as she again follows Mai. "It feels...it feels soft. But not soft like skin." Her speech is clearing up some, no longer as slurred as earlier. Perhaps she is waking up. "But it also feels -hot- where it feels like...skin." Though she is being unintentionally vague, things will probably make more sense to her friend when she looks at Paige in the light. For her part, the older girl winces and closes her eyes at the sudden brightness. Mai, however, would probably most likely noticed that she appears to be covered in a coating of beige and cream-colored fur. Mai does need to blink a few times herself too to get her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness also, lifting a hand up to shelter them a bit as she looks over at Paige again, then blinking a few more times for totally different reason when she does. "Uh... oh... Paige... I think that you aren't catching a fever." She starts, thats good news. "You are..." she has some trouble here finding the right words. "... changing more?" Wishing suddenly that Marinov would still be here, as they would likely be much better in explaining all this! Paige's eyes are still screwed shut at the light. Waking up is a difficult process for her. "Changing?" Her ears give a flick at this. "No--no, I'm--I meant to wear this. Should I put on---it's just so -hot-." Apparently the horned girl thinks Mai thinks she needs to change her clothes. "But what do you mean no fever?" Finally she opens her eyes, looking to Mai and then blinking as she holds out an arm. "I didn't put this on---what is it?" Her tired mind seems to think that the light coating of fur, fuzz really at this point, is piece of clothing. Mai chews on her lip a bit more as she watches Paige and listens to her confusion, she is trying to not accidentaly say anything bad and is thus being very careful with her words. "You misunderstood Paige... I meant that... you are... umm growing fur... like Marinov?" she finally manages to say as Paige starts looking at her arm. That at least explains why Paige was feeling hot. "Marinov..." Paige repeats, thoughtfully, and she wanders over to the couch where a blanket and pillow lay. She seems to have forgotten her manners as she proceeds to remove her leggings (at least she's wearing underwear underneath!) and run her hands slowly up her legs. Whether it is a tired mind or one affected by fever -- she is legitimately burning up as well -- the horned girl is not freaking out quite yet. Instead, her attitude seems to be rather stress-free compared to how she usually is. "It's soft," she comments with a smile before letting out a small, awkward laugh of what sounds like relief. Mai walks over to the couch too, hugging her arms around her, mostly because its still somewhat chilly after the window having been open for who knows how long, taking a seat at one of the chairs next to the couch as she watches Paige, who does seem to be taking this more calmly than she herself probably would have. "I guess... it is kind of... logical... I mean... like taking in your other mutations..." she offers a bit awkwardly, really not sure of what one is supposed to say in a situation like this. Paige looks towards Mai, ears giving a flick. "Oh," she replies to the other girl's explanation. "Oh. -Oh-...oh no..." Her expression is changing - the innocence of a minute ago shifting into concern and worry. "Oh -crap-. What am I going to do, Mai?" The horned girl asks as her ears droop. "I can't--I can't look like -this-. I already have horns and hooves and the ears and..." Paige drops her head into her hands and her shoulders slump. "What am I going to do? I can't go outside anymore. Is it---It's on my face, too, Mai! I--I--what do I even look like? Do I even look like -me-?!" She sounds as though she's about to start crying. Mai listens to Paige's rambling for a few moments as she is trying to figure out the same thing herself, eventually getting up from the chair and moving to sit next to Paige on the couch instead, just like being there next to her so the other girl doesn't feel like she is all alone. "Well... umm I don't think it is that bad. Like... like you said... you already had horns and hooves, so any jerk that likes picking on mutants had you as a target already, so I don't think that this..." she reaches her hand to very carefully brush over Paige's arm and the fur there, "... will make it any worse in that regard. Like... think of Marinov, they can still go out just fine too." again bringing up Marinov as an example because... well Marinov is the only other person she can think of with similar situation. She is feeling so useless in helping the other girl as she doesn't really have any idea what one should do. Paige's ears twitch when Mai sits down next to her. She keeps her head in her hands as the other mutant speaks, but at least she's silent and does not seem to be crying. Her breath catches sharply and her body tenses for just a moment before relaxing as her arm is brushed - the fur is soft, more like fuzz, and the skin underneath is hot. The blonde girl's ears flick up and then return to their idle position after the touch. "Marinov has...a different face. You don't think mine will change too? Oh god, that'd be so...so...disturbing. I can't even imagine. Neither of the doctors I've seen at the clinic could tell me when I'd be done changing or even what those changes would be. It's just so...can they just be done?" Mai bites her lower lip as she tries to think of what to reply to Paige as she doesn't want to accidently give any false information. "I don't know... I really don't know, I am sorry. I think that it is so individual to each mutant that it is really hard for anyone to say for certain, we just have to wait and see? But I don't think that you should stress yourself too much thinking about it, as like... there isn't really anything that you can do about it... if it happens then it happens? Just... try to adjust to what -has- happened instead." she tries to look into the matter objectively, even though she is worried over her friend, especially in how she is taking the changes. Paige takes a deep breath and sighs, though doing so still seems to cause her some pain. "It will be okay. I will be okay. We will be okay." The older girl lifts her head and turns to Mai. "I can do this." Despite her words, she looks rather unsure of herself. "This is scary. This is new and it is scary. For me. I am scared. But I can do this." Her eyes drop to the couch cushions. "You...you should go back to sleep. I am so sorry for waking you, but I...you do a lot for me, you know? I'm sorry about earlier -- my head is really foggy and my body is really, really hot right now. I think--I think..." It seems Paige's mind is trying to draw her back into either sleep or some fevered state as she her body sways gently as she sits. "I'm..." Mai gives a somewhat worried look at Paige as if she isn't quite sure of whether she will be allright or not. "New things are always scary. Some more so than others..." she starts, then pauses as she hesitates, just sitting there for a few moments. "One time... I was like... maybe eight? Somewhere around there, my parents took me out to eat in this really fancy restaurant, I had never been there before. Anyways, one thing that caught my eye was that there was many of these really big aquariums in the restaurant, which were full of squids, they were like all black, except for the underside of their tentacles which was like this pale whiteish blue... I remember that because we walked past one of the aquariums as we were being shown to our table, and one had a tentacle like pressed right against the glass. That made me shiver, I couldn't understand any reason why those really scary looking things were there in the restaurant, but I didn't ask because I didn't want to seem seem dumb as I was rather proud of my parents taking me along to a place like that, and I figured it was some adult thing and that I would understand it eventually." She takes a bit of a pause, looking straight forward as she recounts the events from her memory. "Well, eventually we got our food, I was rather puzzled at what these weird rings were, they were like reddish white in color, and crispy. They didn't taste bad or anything, just somewhat... I don't know funny? Unfamiliar? Anyways, at some point when I was partly through the food I noticed this cook, collecting one of the squids from an aquarium and taking it to the kitchen. That was when it all suddenly clicked to me, you see my mother was a cook, and I often helped her, and like I knew that if cook takes something to the kitchen, its because they are making food of it. So I suddenly just realized that they are making food out of those things, and furthermore, that what I had been eating, was fried tentacles. That was just... I completely lost it and just threw up right there, all over the table, and my dress." She takes another pause to gather her thoughts, and willpower to continue, her eyes starting to get somewhat teary. "I was SO embarrased, I felt like everyone was looking at me, even though, in all honestly they probably weren't, as usually people pretend to not notice when things like that happen. But I still wished I could have like sunk to the floor, knowing that I had like not only embarrased myself, but my parents as well. They didn't shout at me, not then and not even at home. In fact, they never spoke about that incident ever, to me at least." she actually has a few tears going down along her cheeks at this point. "Still, like I -knew- how disappointed they must have been, they had raised me better than that, I was so angry at myself, doing everything like extra well for months after that as if trying to make it up for them. It also left me with kind of trauma about tentacles, it took years before I could even see a squid in any form, even cartoons, without freaking out. I have in the last few years managed to mostly get over it, like I am still not comfortable around them but I can bear it. Still can't even think of eating anything remotely related to them, though." She concludes the story. Reaching a hand up to wipe the tears away that she just now seems to notice for the first time as she regains her composure. "Uhh... you know, I have never told that to anyone before... because it was so embarrasing. Anyway... I guess why I did it now is that I wanted to give you an example of what not talking about things can cause. I have all the faith in you being able to handle new and scary things better than I did, though." she concludes with a smile as she pats Paige's shoulder, before starting to stand up, presumably to follow Paige's suggestion of going back to bed. Throughout Mai's entire story, Paige remains silent and watches her friend as though entranced. As the younger girl recounts the incident in the restaurant, tears begin welling up in the horned mutant's eyes. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry about your dress. It's not your fault. Poor, poor little Mai," she whispers in such a sorrowful tone, her overly emotional response likely triggered by her fever and returning exhaustion. "I'm so sorry. Those...squids..." She seems momentarily distracted by thoughts of the creatures, eyes glancing down before returning to Mai. "It's not your fault," she repeats. A slightly confused look is given to her shoulder as it is patted, but when her friend stands up, the horned girl does the same. "Do you...do you need a hug?" the blonde inquires, swaying where she stands. Mai blinks in surprise as Paige asks that question, for a few moments she just stands there and stares at Paige in confusion, as last she checked, Paige should be the one needing a hug taking in what she is going through! "Huh? Oh this is embarrasing... like thats what I should be asking from you, your the one who is going through all these changes. I... I will be fine. Thank you. Just try to get some sleep? We will work something out in the morning... like maybe call Marinov for consultation? I think they are like the resident expert on how to deal with... well fur?" Paige's ears flick and it's a moment before she nods to Mai. She seems to follow the other girl's suggestion by laying herself back down on the couch. If she's still hot, she doesn't seem to have the mental capacity to complain about it anymore. "You...you just...don't let...the squids...scare you." The blonde girl's eyes close after she has delivered this profound piece of wisdom. "Will deal...in morning." Then her ears flick again. "Goodnight, Mai." Mai can't help but let out a little laugh at Paige's remark about the squids. "I was eight years old, Paige, I would think I can manage it by now.... night." she concludes as she walks back to her bedroom, closing the sliding door again, just in case Paige decides to open the window again, and then takes her robe off and crawls back under the sheets to get some more sleep.