ArchivedLogs:Treehouse Committee

Treehouse Committee
Dramatis Personae Kai, Jennifer
In Absentia	2013-05-02 Kai hides away in the treehouse. Jennifer comes looking!
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... It is a /nice/ day, in Westchester. The sky is clear, the sun is shining, and the temperature has climbed to a point that makes being outside absolutely pleasant. Around the school grounds, one can hear the noise of students at class, or taking advantage of their free period to enjoy the very Spring-y weather. The school sounds alive, and happy. In the treehouse, though, there is a dark cloud. Playing hooky (oddly), Kai sits curled into a tight ball, his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around them. He's dressed in sweats and a Xavier's t-shirt that look like they've possibly been slept in, and sitting next to one socked foot is a bag of cookies and a half-eaten sandwich that is clearly stale. Kai's chin rests on his knee and he stares miserably up, out the window, at the leafy canopy beyond. His eyes track the tiny hops of a wren-like bird as it tries to decide the tree's safety for nest-building. Hop, hop, hop. If there were a race amongst teachers to see who is the first one to attach significance to a student skipping their class, Jennifer Walters would probably win that race. The absence of Kai alerted her at the very start of her class, but it's not until after the class that she has decided to search for him. It takes her a considerable amount of time to search the entirety of the mansion and interrogate any students that might have spotted the boy. Ultimately, certainty places Kai in the unlikeliest of places in such good weather - the treehouse. The ladder would alert him to Jennifer's approach via the creaking noise. The rapid approach eventually leads to the teacher's appearance - she is dressed in her formal attire. The dark brown office suit, the white blouse, fancy shoes... It must be a bit odd seeing someone so fancily dressed climb their way up a wooden ladder into a treehouse, yet there she is. "Kai?" It doesn't take her long to spot him, although she notices him only after calling out to the teen. "Kai, you alright?" Immediately, her keen green eyes try to determine if he isn't injured. The wren is aware of Jennifer's ascent, even if Kai doesn't show any indication that he's heard. The little bird emits a sharp, high-pitched trill, and flaps away, leaves rustling in its wake. This elicits only the slowest of blinks from the boy, and his head tips to one side. When his name is spoken, it's still an eternity before he responds. Then his head turns slowly, until the teacher is caught in his peripheral gaze. "When you hurt that boy," he says, his voice slow and soft. "Did his family hate you?" A chill runs down Jennifer's spine. The cold shiver courses through her limbs, as well, giving rise to goosebumps. Such are the alarm bells that are triggered upon Kai's question. Once her feet are firmly upon the wooden floorboards, she begins to slowly approach Kai. "Yes. Not just them. The entire school hated me. Friends of the boy threw rocks at the windows of my home. Once, they threw a stone was big enough to break one of the windows." Once she is close enough to the Korean teen, Jen kneels down before him, ignorant of the filth that her slacks might gather. She falls quiet, waiting to see if there is more to that question. Kai chews on that, watching as Jennifer approaches in the way a trapped and wounded predator watches the approach of a hunter. There's pain in his eyes that belies the wary, about-to-flee expression on his face. Occasionally, it seems the sunlight dances around the edges of his ink-black irises. When she has settled, his mouth twitches into a small frown. "Did it test the loyalty of those you called your friends? That you were hated so much by others?" "It is a little bit more complicated than that", she immediately admits. "I was a teenager, Kai. I was younger than you, actually. My friends were children. What they have seen-- It was definitely not as scary as a dragon, but I twisted the boy's arm. Bones cracked like a bunch of popcorn squished in your hand. That was not enough. I grabbed him by the leg, then." Her voice is wary and level; she shows no pride of what she has done. In fact, there is a trace of disgust. "It cracked from a single grip. I tossed him aside high and far enough that he dislocated his shoulder when he landed. If he fell face-first, he would have broken his neck. He wouldn't have survived, Kai. It doesn't sound pleasant, does it? Now imagine if you saw it happen. Wouldn't you be afraid the same could happen to you? The first emotion you would feel would be fear. The second would be anger." "We try to protect ourselves with anger, Kai. Isn't that what Foom does? Show up when you're not safe? Show up when you are angry?" After a long silence, he speaks, not lifting his jaw; so the words come out slightly mumbled, with his thick accent. "The boys who are blue, Mister Holland's sons, they are very mad for what I did to him the night we were freed." He lifts a shoulder. "Which is correct; Foom might have killed him. He /did/ kill a friend of theirs." He sighs. "And many others, before the man sent him away again. There are many here who remember this, and will not forget it soon." He shifts his weight, sliding his feet out slightly and stiffly. As if he's been in that ball for a long time. "The one called Shane, he was not very nice to me, when I met him, and it made Peter act odd around him. Or maybe it was something else." He inhales again, and continues his story. "But Shane did not do much to me but hurt my hand." He holds up the bruised appendage. It's not pretty, but it's clearly unbroken as he waggles his fingers. "I was not scared, because Peter was there, and I thought he was my good friend. But now I am uncertain that is true." He chews on his lower lip, eyeing the older woman carefully, as if judging whether the next part is worth telling. "He warned me away from Shane and his brother. He says this is for my safety, but this is not true. He worries more they will get into trouble again." His mouth presses tight. "For that is where his thoughts went first." Initially, all seems as clear as day to Jennifer, at least judging by her facial expression. She nods with both acknowledgement as understanding as Kai opens up and elaborates on what happened. However, rationality is lost in the mist of complete disapproval when that hand is shown. Eyes brim with fury, switching attention between Kai's own eyes and the bruised hand. "/Shane/. One of the twins." The woman inhales deeply before exhaling a sigh. A good portion of that rage leaves along with it, but Jen still looks like she could tear a truck apart with her gaze alone. Despite this, the words that arrive bear a surprising amount of reason. "It sounds to me like you already understand why they would be upset with you. But what you might not know is that there was a little bit of conflict between the twins and Ivan. If I remember the story correctly, Ivan lost control of bees, which stung one of the twins. Ivan was bit. The twins fled." "Peter had to make a difficult decision, Kai. He had to defend both of you. He was in a very uncomfortable predicament. Both you and Shane are his friends. There will be students or even teachers who are uneasy around you, but that is because they know only Foom. Once they know Kai better, things will change. Understand?" "I have heard this story," Kai says. Indeed, it was quite the tale that spun around the school, particularly in the wake of the twins' leaving. "One of them hurt Ivan in return. I am his good friend, but I do not wish to fight with them because of this. It does not undo what has happened." There's a sudden, tight blink when he says this, and he frowns as if re-considering that statement. Then his jaw sets, and he presses on. "If you are blinded by the need for vengeance, will you not miss things that would explain things which have happened? Is this not something like you have said in your class?" The light dances around the edges of his eyes again, and he gives another hard blink. He bobs his head in acknowledgement of Peter's predicament. "I hope they will stop being angry enough to know /me/,' he says in a mildly hopeful voice, the light flicking away from his eyes. "But until they do, I have Ivan and Peter to be my friends. And Kris. She will be a good person to have as a friend. She is very nice." Jennifer seems to have her answers ready the moment Kai falls silent. "If you do not wish to fight them-- Well, then that makes me proud of you. It takes a weak man to freely show off his strength - like Shane did - but it takes a /strong/ man to refrain from resorting to violence. It is much more difficult to do good than evil. It takes time to build. It takes a moment to destroy." A single hand digs into one of the pockets of the jacket. While she's fidgeting with something side, she continues, "Do you mean vengence makes you forget why you feel vengeful in the first place? /Yes/, it can. Worse still, it will make you feel like you still know the reason why you're doing the things you do. You might want to kill the murderer of your parents, but even when you do, you might feel it's not enough and start murdering any person /you/ think deserves it." Finally, she summons a green rubber wristband out of her pocket and hands it over to Kai. "This was given to me by my mother. She thought it being green was very funny", she notes in a light-hearted tone of voice, a feeble smile on her lips. "I won't lie, it didn't help me control my ability, but every time I felt lonely, I began to fidget with it. Stupidest thing, but it reminded that there is /at least/ one person who respects me for who I am and who is willing to help me every step of the way. I thought I had to keep it until I learned to control my ability. She just sneered at that and told me that I should keep it until the day I don't feel lonely any more." "You have friends, Kai. Me among them." "Yes, this is like what I mean," Kai says, with a bob of his head. "I think I mean more that there are usually reasons for things which have happened, and a need for vengeance can make a person overlook them. This will lead to more things that cannot be undone." His lips curl in a half-smile. "But you are saying things that are true. It is much like with Ivan, and the coffeeshop. He was caught in his anger, and nearly did a terrible thing. Even if he was correct in his anger, it would not undo the terrible thing." He watches as Jennifer withdraws the rubber band, his smile going a bit wider at the color, and he looks up shyly. "I am glad it helped you," he says earnestly. "And I am glad that you are my friend." There's a small moment where it looks like something might have triggered, as he draws his feet back up. But, it's just to push into his odd flat-footed crouch so he can lean forward suddenly and throw his arms around the redhead's neck in an awkward attempt at a hug. "Thank you, Miss Walters," is very soft, and murmured into the air behind the woman. For the first time during all combined days and weeks spent teaching at the school, Jennifer Walters is hugged by one of the students for the first time. She was so entrenched in heroics abroad and so busy with trying to nail pedagogical methods upon her return, that she completely forgot what a /hug/ feels like. As such, there is a moment of delay in her response. But it is a mere moment. Her arms wrap around the student in a tight embrace; coming from Jen, it is /indeed/ a tight hug. It's a far cry from a painful hug, but it's snug enough to let Kai know just how much care the teacher harbours for the pupil. "You are /more/ than welcome Kai", she answers with a bit of a tremor to her voice. "I hope it helps /you/ the same way it helped /me/." Once the hug is conducted, Jennifer would reluctantly lean back, grinning widely. The overbearing positivity is eschewing the turbulence in her tone from before. "Don't let Shane get to you, alright? Now, I /still/ want your hand checked in the medbay. /Afterwards/, you're not getting off the rest of your classes, Kai. Got it?" Kai relaxes into the hug, luxuriating in its warmth while it lasts. Finally, he lets his grip loosen, and he slides back. "It will help me," he says, slipping it over the thin wrist of his uninjured hand. "Because it will remind me of you and give me strength." His smile is /very/ shy, now, and he ducks his head as he leans back. "The twins will not bother me," he promises. "As I said, I have no interest in fighting with them. To do so would be to tempt Foom, and no one would benefit from that." He nods firmly, and holds up his hand to inspect it. "I did not know the act of shaking hands could be an act of aggression," he says as he examines the bruises. "This is a thing I will remember." Or /someone/ will. The admonition brings a pink flush to his cheeks, and his expression goes worried. "I did not set out to avoid them," he says earnestly. "I came out here to think last night, and I fell asleep. And when I did not feel better in the morning, I just felt it was better to stay here and think." He frowns. "I am sorry for being disobedient," he says. "I will do the detaining, if it is required." Jennifer shakes her head, smiling. "You will have to ask the fellow students what homework was assigned. You will not receive detention. Not this time. But you /are/ going to the infirmary with me. Come /on/." Rising to her feet, Jen would help Kai stand - although obviously not by holding him by the bruised hand - and climb down from the treehouse.