ArchivedLogs:Things To Be

Things To Be
Dramatis Personae Anole, Hailey, Lia
In Absentia	8 September 2014 Random meet up in the treehouse before school starts up again.
Location <XS> Treehouse
Built by enterprising students of yesteryear, this treehouse has weathered generations of Xaviers' students coming up here to study -- or escape from studying. A cozy retreat, its wood planks are sturdy and well-sanded, fit snug together to keep out draft. Snacks occasionally find their way up here, and the roof keeps the rain off well enough to pass a night -- so long as the teachers don't catch any students at it. For anyone agile enough to make the jump, a lucky leap juuust might carry them from here to the school rooftop, so long as they're careful of the drop... With classes starting again tomorrow, there's an air of anticipation around the school -- excited for some, resigned for others, though /today/ there's been plenty of Good Mood all around as people get a chance to greet classmates they haven't seen all summer. Anole is among those who haven't been seen around campus in months, though he hasn't been joining in all the exuberance and games and noisy conversations. Moving Back In consisted of dropping a backpack off in his dorm room last night -- after that he's kept largely to himself, scurried off to the forest and been scarce most of the day as well. But now it is dark, dinner wrapping up and a stretch of downtime before curfew; the lizard-boy is tucked away into the treehouse with a plate of mushroomy chicken pesto pasta and a tall glass of lemonade, sprawled out in the center of the floor with a comic book (Saga, volume one) open in front of him and his fork held in his unevenly large claw-hand. He's dressed in raggedy cutoff jean shorts and a black RENT t-shirt, one of its sleeves torn and shredded where it had to make room for the spiky armoured arm. Hailey sighs a little as she passes through the shadows and into the treehouse, landing with a thud as she trips at the last moment. Hailey isn't super happy with school starting. She was just starting to feel at home again, school was out, she didn't have to do anything, and on top of it she had gotten a decent grip on her powers. Now that classes were starting she feared it was all going to cease and she was gonna be put back into a loop of schoolwork and burden. She blinks as she sees someone already in the tree house and looks around. "Yo-" Unlike many of the students, Lia has been here all through the summer, even after the end of summer term classes. She has been out most of the day with her backpack (largely black and purple as it is decorated in fantastical galaxy patterns) full of snacks, books, and pages for pressing late summer flowers. A ring of the same, woven together with clever little fingers, decorates her hair in petals of sunny yellows and vibrant blues mixed here and there with white and green. Her clothing consists of a brilliant sunset inspired camisole in reds and oranges and pinks with here and there hints of purple and blue, a pair of black capris beneath decorated with embroidery and spangled with sequins. The hiking boots on her feet don't quite match the outfit, but are exceedingly functional. She is humming softly to herself (a bit from the “Sleeping Beauty” ballet for those who would know it) as she comes in from the gathering dark, climbing the ladder to the treehouse rather than abandoning the outdoors completely. Her already wide eyes fling wider still upon discovering others there, perhaps grown accustomed to the quieter summer campus, lips forming into a small pink 'O'. “Oh, hello.” The girl remains head and shoulders through the opening like a prairie dog, said head canted quizzical and uncertain. Anole spooks at the sudden thud Hailey makes, reflexively shifting in colour -- both his green skin and his clothing taking on the same grain-streaked brown hue as the wooden floorboards he is lying on. Big wooden brown eyes blink up owlishly from his comic book, his (more regularly proportioned) hand splaying flat against the colourful pages. "Oh, hello," he replies, kind of quizzical-uncertain too in inadvertent echo of Lia. When he smiles, though, it's with a sudden baring of contrastingly white teeth behind his dark lips. "Oh. I like your flowers." Hailey shrugs "Hey Lia, what's up? Never see you awake." She chuckles a little bit since she often slept late into the day and came home as late as possible. "Did I interrupt some kinda lovers' meeting here?" she chuckles before finding a place to flop down rather unlady like. "Man doesn't it suck that school's starting again? I like being able to just kinda wander around and use my powers..." she sighs as she uses a shadow to languidly grab a comic book. "Hi," Lia greets redundantly. "May I come up? I was out, but it was getting dark and they told me I should not stay out-out by myself after dark. Here is almost-out. Without needing to be all the way inside." A smile blooms across her features, quick and bright, at the little compliment. "Oh, thank you. I started off trying to make a bit of costume for Mustardseed but then I realised I was doing all of the parts, so I got different kinds of flowers." She spares a hand to touch fingertips to the petals of one yellow flower. "It is true, I am often out by very early in the morning. I like to have as much of the daylight as there is to be had." Her eyes widen again at the question of lovers' meetings. "Oh. I. Oh. I like school." Yes, that was the only question that needed answering, right? "Lover's -- /what/." Anole's eyes widen huge and even in his wood-coloured skin there is a blush to be seen in the sudden darkening of his cheeks. This look turns to a sudden flustered irritation when the comic book is snagged out from underneath his hand. "No I kinda /like/ class -- /Hey/ I was /reading/ that." There's a sudden /thwip/ of wet-spitty-pink as his Ridiculously Long Tongue shoots out to smack against the book (and maybe a little bit against /Hailey/ as well) to claim it back -- evidently he's nooot very fussed about keeping his comic books in mint condition. Using his tongue to reclaim his stolen property means that his puzzled question, "-- 'utherd theed?" comes out a little bit muffled. "oo that?" Hailey shrugs a little and lets go of the comic. "Eh, just wanna check it out." She rolls her shoulders a little bit before looking around slowly. "Yeah you get up way too early, I mean...it's almost weird." She sighs a little bit before pointing at Lia. “I noticed you divided the room, Help me decorate my half, I feel weird that I ain't got anything in it." She says before looking at Anole. “And next time ask, if I get licked you're gonna be sorry." she pulls up a shadow to a sharp point to show him. Lia's head turns back and forth like a cat's at a tennis match watching the two. "Ohno. No, no, don't steal books. You need to be gentle to them. And always ask before you take someone else's book." The widening of her eyes before is nothing compared to the saucers they become at the tongue grabbing the book. At first it might start out as concern for the book itself, then there is the realisation: "Oh! Goodness, would you look. It's like a frog's tongue. That is even more impressive than the colour changing." She clambers up now, invitation or no, face alight with fascination as she looks closer. There is another direct question that derails her, however. "Mustardseed is one of the faeries in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'," she explains, digging into her backpack to pull out an illustrated hardcover version of the play, flipping to a page with a yellow faery drawn on it. "See?" Her finger touches the picture, but her eyes are right back on the dangling comic book. "/You/ stole my book," Anole answers Hailey's threat -- with a lot of /incredulity/ but not any evident intimidation. "You're kind of a hypocrite, /you/ didn't ask." He's dropped the comic book (all wet and slobbery with its cover a bit bent, now, and slightly torn at the top) back into his hand. He sets his plate atop it, tucking his glass into the crook of his arm as he rises. He's a little tense as he moves towards the door, though his blush is returning at the comments on his tongue. "Impressive?" A small smile returns to his face, and he stops short of /actually/ fleeing the treehouse to linger by Lia instead, peering down at the book. "Oh. Oh! I haven't read that one yet. But I think I /should/, we were actually talking about maybe doing it in theatre this term. Do you like acting, you'd make a good fairy." Hailey rolls her eyes "The Faeries in 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' Are different than normal ones. They're more like.... a play on aristocracy with the trouble of the common people mixed in with middle age victorian humor." She states with a little yawn. "And I wanted to look at it, I hardly ever get to use my shadow powers with others around." "I did not split the room, though," Lia finally remembers to answer once the tongue is put away. "They told me when I moved in that there are usually roommates. And there were two of everything, so I only put things on half. I...don't know much about decorating. I make little sculptures? My first math tutor got the white board for me and my psychologist told me about lofting the bed and making a space under it so I could have a safe place to go. I like to put up the flowers and leaves and pictures sometimes." She nods at Anole's commentary. "Always ask before taking someone else's book." The faint blush in the girl's cheeks is far more notable for her pallor than it otherwise might be. "Very impressive. You are like...a chameleon? Very adaptable. Pretty." She holds the book out a little better for the boy to view. "It is very good. I have not done any acting. I was in a lab. And then I take the dance classes here, and they are the same category as the acting classes? So I have not taken the acting ones." Her smile adds some significant wattage at being told she would make a good faery, though. "There is no such thing as 'normal' faeries. I am not sure what you mean, exactly. The play was written in the 1590s and the Victorian era was in the 1800s and the Middle Ages were around the 1100s through the 1400s." Her small, dark brows draw down in puzzlement. "You know lots of people practice their powers /without/ stealing other people's things." Anole is holding his Things just a little bit closer, defensively. "And people would probably like you using your powers more if you weren't -- well. A jerk with them. Like if you ask first. Then lots of people are cool with lots of things." His eyes open slightly wider at Lia's commentary: "You have a loft bed? That's so cool /I/ want a loft bed." His tongue stretches down out of his mouth again, scooping up a mouthful of pasta and chicken without the burden of having to lift his plate any higher. His blush is fading, though his smile is brightening: "Kinda chameleon-y, yeah. Thanks. Um. There's a -- extracurricular acting group? You don't /have/ to take the classes to join, there's usually a play each term and auditions happen in the first week of school. Plus if you like making things there's always stuff that needs doing with the stage crew and costuming and stuff." With regards to Shakespearean commentary he has little to add, unfamiliar with the play as he is. His brows do draw down together, though, flicking a puzzled look between the two girls. Hailey sighs and rolls her eyes as she stands with a clomp of her heavy boots. “Jeesh, I better leave before you guys start making out. And I do ask, I just thought you were done with it." She shrugs her shoulders a little bit before stretching out. She looks over to the corner for a suitable shadow and looks over her shoulder. "Don't get caught doing things that can get you in trouble." She grins. “Oh, yes! All of the beds here can be loft beds. You have to flip them over? Then have tools to set the bed part all the way up the leg parts. And then it is a loft bed. I put sheets and scarves over mine so that there is a closed-up space when I need it. Sometimes when I am inside I need a smaller space because it is safer. I could show you?” Lia's smile returns, guilelessly open and pleased at the thought of a theatre club. “Is it a club like the astronomy club and the cooking club? I wanted to learn those things but I keep having not enough room for classes. They tell me I can only take six at a time.” Likewise unabashed is her observation of Anole's method of eating. “Oh goodness, that is so...cool.” Someone taught her that word somewhere along the line. “Making out?” And there the puzzled head-tilt returns. “Are we doing something that should make trouble?” Anole's blush returns -- deeper green, now that his skin is fading back to its normal hue. Since /Hailey/ is leaving he sets his things back down so that he can get comfortable again. "We're not doing anything, she's just being mean and I don't know why." His posture is a little curled into itself, his arms curled defensively around his food as though wary Hailey will try and steal /that/ too. He nods at Lia's question, rubbing the (damp) cover of his book against his shirt in preparation for opening it again. "It's like those clubs. You can join as many of /those/ as you want." Hailey rolls her eyes again. "Psh, I was making a joke since you're both blushing and awkward." She closes her eyes and sighs a little bit before jumping at the shadows. "And I'm also a bit frustrated with classes, I don't like going to class." Hailey says this before melting into the wall seeming to just disappear. “Oh, okay. I do not always know all of the rules of things, so I try to learn them so that I do not break them by accident.” Lia watches Anole's shifting colours with a once more broadening smile. “That is amazing. Is it the colour you choose to be usually?” She closes her book once it is no longer a topic of conversation, tucking it back into her bag as she settles into a seat. “Maybe I will try out for that club, then. I do like reading Shakespeare's plays out loud. They /sound/ so much better than they read.” Once Hailey has left, she leans in as if sharing a secret. “I think that is just how she is. She is my roommate. She likes dark and scaring people and does not listen when you say that you do not want to be touched.” Anole tenses further when Hailey speaks, but this relaxes once the girl has vanished. "This is the colour I usually /am/," he agrees slowly, "I can't -- choose colours exactly, I can only. Take colours of things I'm touching." He leans back in towards Lia with this secret, brows lifting and then creasing back together. "... oh. That's, um." Frown. "She should take Professor Holland's class -- well okay it's about sex and all but it's. He talks a lot about. Asking. Permission. Respecting --" He shakes his head quickly. "That sucks that she's your roommate, though. Did you know, you're allowed to ask for another one if yours is bothering you?" After this, though, his smile returns -- a little more tentative, a little shyer. "You should. Try out. It's fun. I mean, hearing plays aloud is fun but also it's just sometimes fun to -- be someone else." "That is more useful than just picking colours, I would think. And probably harder to do right." Lia giggles a little at the mention of That Class. "Oh, Mister Fairyjax's class. Rasa told me that ze thought maybe it is a class for people who are older. So I am not taking it yet." Her head tilts slightly, considering the ability to change roommates. "I do not know. Wouldn't she be sad if I asked for someone else? Though I think I bother her. She does not like my dolls and bright colours and keeping the window open and waking up early." Her own returning smile is also a little hesitant. "I do like to pretend things. I can be other things sometimes, too. It makes pretending easier." "I don't know how old it's a class for. I took it because the twins were taking it," Anole admits with a small sheepish dip of his head. His hand splays out against the cover of his comic book, bright colours of the ink seeping into his skin to leave /it/ bizarrely decorated with letters, bits of people-drawings. "Sometimes being other things is nice. It's like. Hiding a little bit, maybe. From everything else." "Twofish. They are nice. They lived with Mr. Fairyjax," Lia is in the midst of explaining as Anole starts to become /book/. "Oh! Ohwow." Her pale scar-traced hand reaches out to trace fingertips gentle-soft along the changed skin. "Ohwow, you /are/ a book!" Her smile turns shyer once more. "I can only be people-shaped things. But it is still nice. To be something else gives you something to be. When you are not sure what to be." "He's their dad." Anole sounds a little wistful at this, though it fades at Lia's touch. His smile softens, too, and when Lia's fingers touch his a little of the colour bleeds into /them/, too. "Sometimes I'm a book. Sometimes I'm lots of things. Being people-shaped things is cool, though. You could /really/ be a fairy." He looks down at the comic book before admitting, quieter: "I'm never really sure what to be." "Yes. Twofish, two dads." All perfectly logical, surely, when one is entirely unused to typical family situations. Lia's expression is torn between shocked-wonder and buzzing excitement when the book creeps onto /her/, as well. "Oh! Ohwow. Oh /wow/! You turned me into a book!" It takes her a moment to settle down enough to return to conversation. "I am a faery a lot. Angels more often. People like to leave angel statues sitting around places. Sometimes there are faeries in gardens. There is one here I like to borrow sometimes." Her head tilts slightly. "I be...a student. And a dancer. And a girl. Sometimes a doll. That may be enough for now. You...could be a student. And an actor. And a boy. Sometimes a chameleon?" Anole's nose crinkles up, head ducking as he represses a giggle at Lia's wonder. "Only a tiny bit of book." The colour slowly withdraws, fading both their skins back to their usual tones. "I sometimes get nervous around angel statues," he admits more cheerfully, "but that's because there's a TV show that made them creepy. I guess faeires can be pretty creepy /too/ though." He slowly eases back down to lie on the floor as before, opening his comic book back up and turning his plate around to offer Lia -- some unlicked chicken? Maybe the cookies perched at the side of it. "Hmm." He considers her suggestions very seriously. "That may be enough for now." "There is nothing wrong with a little creepy sometimes. People seem to think my dolls are creepy a lot. But I like them. Faeries can /definitely/ be creepy." Lia seems /pleased/ by this. She continues to inspect her fingers even after the book-colours have left them. Until such time as /sugar/ is offered and they are needed to collect Cookie. "It sounds like a lot of good things to be." "People think I'm creepy a lot, too." Anole admits this with -- maybe not quite the same level of /pleased/ as Lia but there is a /tiny/ glimmer of pride in his voice, maybe inspired by her own happiness with this. "I guess -- maybe we're kind of alright."