ArchivedLogs:Wild and Free

Wild and Free
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Shelby
In Absentia	2013-05-17 '
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. It's Lunch time and Rasa isn't eating. Instead, ze is hanging out beside the food with a sandwich or two wrapped up in a napkin, eyeing the crowd. Ze is wearing a flowy top that is mostly made up gauzy material that allows the warm spring breezes in, but protects hir skin from accidental contact. Below that, a jean skirt and flip flops. Hir skin swirls blues and greens and pinks, matching hir top, with light pink and green hair and hazel eyes. Ze fidgets, blue and green tail low and twitching, waiting, watching for someone in particular. When ze finally finds hir target, one Shelby Wilson, ze beelines to hir, stopping just short of running into her, eyes intent. "Can... we go somewhere?" Shelby has been holding court for most of the day. In classrooms, in hallways and now in the Great Hall. This isn’t too different from her normal modus operandi, but today she’s sporting a bruised cheek and half a shiner /and/ every time she’s asked where they came from, the story has changed. So it’s been a relatively colorful day for Shelby and her groupies--which has helped keep her mind off of THINGS. This is why, when Rasa approaches her, she turns on her roommate with a grin. A grin which wobbles somewhat when she recognizes the less than cheerful expression worn by said roommate. “Oh, hey, yeah...sure, c’mon. I’ll tell you guys how it ended later, huh?” So, to a chorus of groans and “Come onnnnn!”s, Shelby hooks her hand through Rasa’s elbow and steers her off towards the huge double doors leading out of the hall. “It’s nice outside, wanna go camp out on the lawn?” she suggests. "Outside is fine," Rasa replies, lifting the sandwiches and shrugging. "I got food if you want it." Ze moves freely with Shelby attached to hir elbow, tucking it a little closer to hir side to show that the touch is acceptable, perhaps even wanted, but there's plenty of room for Shelby to pull away. Once outside, the metamorph scans the area, looking for a direction to move in that will give them some distance from the other groups of teens enjoying the sunshine. Once ze has picked a direction, ze looks over at Shelby and comments quietly. "You're hurt." That's it. No prodding, no requests for the story, just concern, verbalized. “Naaah,” Shelby vocalizes as she collapses in a boneless heap on the grass. She’s gone the skirt route today, but it’s coupled with leggings--her favorite gold pair under the black pleats--and a t-shirt she’s decorated with a stained glass rendition of the Pope smoking a doob, knotted tight above her belly button. She is heedless of grass stains as she scootches towards Rasa, shoulder-walking and pushing with her feet. A hand goes out for one of the sandwiches. “It’s no big deal, I’ve totally had worse,” she assures hir. Her eyes cut towards the tail, her lips purse with a small--possibly approving?--smile. “Man, I’m so glad you kept that, it’s fucking cool. What’s up?” Rasa unwraps the sandwiches and lays them on one of hir thighs, letting Shelby have free access to the acquired food. Ze leans back and braces hirself up with hir palms on the ground for a little while, the tail pinched a little, but wiggling freely on the other side. "I kind of have to concentrate to keep it, but concentration has its uses." Ze eyes the food and hir stomach growls, but ze refrains from feasting. Instead, ze brushes some hair out of hir face with the tail and frowns down at hir feet. "I'm grounded - restricted to campus until further notice," ze starts, unhappily. "Can't go back to the city with you this weekend." A sandwich /and/ Rasa’s thigh are appropriated for and by Shelby. The first for eating, the latter for dropping her head on for use as a pillow. On nom nom nom. If she /is/ hurt, it isn’t showing. As she eats, she keeps an idle eye on the flick and movement of Rasa’s new tail. When it helps with the hair, she perks with interest. This makes the subsequent crash of confusion and anger all the more visible. “.../what/? /Why/?” "I... kind of got in a lot of trouble. I haven't had the chance to tell you about just how much trouble I am in." Rasa moves the other sandwich out of the way to give Shelby space to lay down, gloved fingers brushing the other girl's hair lightly. There is quiet for a little while, the metamorph's mind turning quietly as ze tries to find the right way to say things. "I told you about the man with the monster in his head, right?" Ze begins hir words quiet, to avoid being overheard. "I am afraid he ... liked me. He... wants to be friends, or compariots - or... something comparable. I think he thinks we are alike and can share this... similarity and bond." It is no easy thing for Shelby to wait quietly through Rasa’s thought-ordering. Fortunately, she has a sandwich--although it is no easy thing to eat right now, either. An effort is made, crust is nibbled, but she continues to stare up at her roommate through slitted eyes. And when the explanation comes... “Holy shit,” she breathes. “Like...what, monster buds? That’s fucking /crazy/, Rasa. Dude’s got a monster in his head and he thinks you can like...hang out?” "Yes." Rasa is a bit uncomfortable at the mention of it. "I don't know what to do. I mean... shit got really crazy and the guy kind of endeared himself to me because he was able to handle his shit when Walters failed miserably, but... Shelby, he wants Peter dead. He was... gleeful at the idea of Peter being dead somewhere. I..." Ze shakes hir head, wavy tendrils falling into hir face. "The monster fascinates me like I can't describe, but the man? I..." Ze bites her lip. “Okay, wait. Wait.” Shelby needs to sit up for this. She does so. The poor nibbled sandwich is left on her knee, ignored, after she settles herself cross-legged and facing Rasa. “The /monster/ fascinates you? The dude who turned you green and toothy? Are you sure that’s not the monster /talking/, Rasa? ‘Cause...like...seriously. Monster. The dictionary is gonna say “do not play with” if you look the word up.” "No, I don't know if it's me … or him." Rasa admits quietly, finding it difficult to keep eye contact as Shelby sits up, letting out a long sigh as ze moves hir sandwich and napkin off hir leg so ze can shift a little. Perhaps the ants will get the sandwich. It is hard to say if Rasa cares. "Nightcrawler had to pull me... well, not off, but away. I don't know what to say, but the guy... the monster, he was just everything primal, pure... free." Ze looks up and over at Shelby. "I know I was insane just then, all that coursing through my brain. It was … kind of nice. And yet completely fucked up." Ze reaches up a hand to scrub at hir face. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." “Why’re you saying sorry?” It is a genuine question, the puzzled showing through the /aghast/. “I mean. I guess...it’d feel nice. Not thinking about shit, just doing.” Hello, the past four years of Shelby’s life! She gets that! But... “What’re you gonna do? Is this thing like, still in there? I mean, if it is...maybe this asshole is...ugh, no. Dude is /crazy/. He wants Peter /dead/. That’s just fucked up. Did you tell anyone?” "Did I tell anyone what?" Rasa seems a little confused at the end, frowning more and scrubbing at hir face longer. Hir eyes seem to be sinking inward. "There's no thing inside me. I am still me. I just have a lot of memories and thoughts buzzing around that I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Even if I turned into the monster now, it wouldn't be /him/. It would just be me, assuming his form. You're not stuck inside me somewhere just because I turned into you." “That this guy wants to be friends,” Shelby clarifies. “If he wants to be friends that means he’s like...gotten hold of you somehow, right? Does anyone know he’s trying to talk to you?” She is talking with her hands now. Big swoops. These are important questions. “Because if dude wants people dead /and/ he has a monster inside of him, that’s...god, Rasa. What if you say no and he tries to /make/ you?” she asks with dread--falling so easily into the land of rampant hypothesizing. Hey, it could happen. "He found my email address." Rasa admits, low and quiet. "It's stupid Walter's fault. She started yelling my full name and introducing herself like she's queen of the world and everyone should bow down." Fingers on both hands now run through hir hair, knees pulling up near hir chest. "He said... he wanted me to be discrete. I don't... I don't know what to think. He's kind of... trouble, even if he didn't have a monster in his head. Rich and powerful type, you know?" Shelby gives a soft snort, the kind of snort that says ‘/That/ figures’. “He’s a /lot/ of trouble,” she says, not without some sympathy. “That kind’ve person is like...you don’t tell them /no/, right?” She’s just guessing but it sounds right! “You should like, talk to someone. I mean, yeah, talk to me ‘cause I totally got your back but. Tell someone who can kick some ass in case something /does/ happen. Like, Jax or Doc McCoy or Kurt. Maybe Kurt, since he was there, wasn’t he?” "He saw the monster, not the man. I don't... Walters was the only who knows everything and I'm not exactly inclined to talk much with her. Logan, maybe, but I'm a bit afraid he'll go after him and that would just be … worse. I would have not only been not discrete, but sent someone to hurt him." Rasa shakes her head. "I don't know what to do. I could maybe meet him, some time, say I'm not really interested, but that seems incredibly dangerous too. I … kind of just want it all to go away. Make it all disappear by ignoring it." Hir hands drop away, hir form darkening slowly, turning a midnight shade of blue when all is said and done. "I kind of want to talk to Peter, but... he's not here." “Oh man, Logan. Yeah, that’d be like...blowing up the place all over again.” Shelby leans back on her hands and studies the sky, as if the clouds up there /might/ deign to offer up some wisdom. “I think meeting him is just /asking/ to get like...disappeared,” she says slowly. “And we’ve got enough of /that/ shit going on around right now. Seriously. Not Walters, not Logan...Jax is up to his eyeballs in bullshit but you oughta talk to Kurt. Dude’s not dumb. If you’re creeped out by this guy but kinda /want/ to talk to him again, maybe he could e ven go with you, right? Watch from somewhere else. Keep an eye on stuff.” Rasa nods slowly in consideration and keeps listening. Ze takes in some deep breaths and just lays out in the sun, absorbing the brilliance on hir dark skin. "Okay. I will... try to talk to Kurt." Ze opens hir eyes and looks at Shelby, lips pressed into a fine line, one corner hitching back into hir cheek. "For right now, I am... just not going to challenge the grounds restriction. How about you? How are you holding up? You keep going back to the city each night. I … I worry about you." Shelby echoes that not-really-a-smile and swings her gaze down to meet Rasa’s. “That’s total bullshit, them locking you up. Seriously. I mean, I...” She stops there, shakes her head. “I’m okay. I think I’d maybe /die/ if I wasn’t there and they heard something, y’know? And it’s...I’m not really gonna be doing much. It’s getting too crazy out there. And people are...it’s just getting...bleh.” Bleh is as good a word as she can come up with to describe it all. However, “It’s not all bad though. Hive’s been hanging around a lot.” "He breaking your heart or are you breaking his?" Rasa's eyebrow climbs hir forehead, glad for a change in topic. "They're scared, I think. Just be glad they haven't decided that they need to keep you safe. It's boring, but it's okay too. Some new people have come in. It's not just Kris following me around telling me how wonderfully I dress." Ze takes a deep breath and closes hir eyes again. "There's a new girl named Ducky. She's been on the streets for a while. She went the crazy route instead of the tough girl route, so you guys may have stories to swap... or not." “Oh man, street crazies are the /best/ crazies. So long as they, like, wash their hair and stuff ‘cause man, they’re also the stinkiest ones too. And I got /pretty/ ripe out there myself sometimes.” Shelby is not entirely unhappy with a shift away from the grim grey realities of their current situation. She even reaches for the sandwich again, appetite restored. “Me and Hive, it’s...I dunno. It’s kind’ve complicated. I mean, there’s the Bastian stuff, and I think maybe he heard me hook up with this cop too, and since /we/ can’t fuck or he’ll melt my brain...” "You hooked up with a cop?" Rasa's a little disapproving of this, but well, cops, man. Ze shrugs a little and gnaws on hir lip. "Well, I guess if you can't fuck him, you might as well fuck where he can eavesdrop?" There's a little grumble in the back of hir throat as ze shifts onto hir side to take the weight off hir tail. "I think Ducky'll be fine, washing and all." “He’s not an asshole cop. He’s like...Musclepony the Cop.” Because that makes it all better? Oddly enough, Shelby looks /slightly/ uncomfortable at the thought of Hive listening in but she shrugs it away and chomps down on the last of the sandwich. “You gon’ ‘e okay?” she asks through that mouthful. "I'm not dying." Rasa replies, frowning a lot. "I don't know. I really don't know. I'm more afraid of feeling okay than anything. If I feel okay and thing everything's going to be okay, and it's not? And I mess up because I wasn't dreading all the right things?" Hir face rubs against the curve of hir arm, near where the elbow meets. "I'm not going to be okay. I'm going to get through this and survive some how." Shelby nods sagely, the effect somewhat ruined by the cheeks that bulge out like a chipmunk’s. Thankfully she waits to comment until /after/ she has finished chewing and swallowing. “That’s how I got by on the streets. You start /expecting/ shit to get good, you’re just gonna get bodyslammed by it /not/ bein’ good, you know?” Wisdom for the ages. She brushes crumby hands off on her leggings and looks back towards the school building. “You got this, Rasa, I know you do. When everyone else was falling apart, you like...stepped up and got shit working, right?” "Yeah. I guess. It's easier when I don't think I am the problem." Rasa watches Shelby look toward the school and slips hir phone from hir pocket to check the time. "Hm. Okay." Ze starts to get up and stretch, rolling hir shoulders when ze does. "Let me know if they find stuff, you know? I still really want to help find everyone, but can't now." Ze brushes off hir clothes and grabs the last sandwich, wrapping it up in the napkin once more. "You going to be okay?" “That’s your problem right there,” Shelby says as she gets to her feet and brushes grass from her butt. “/Never/ think you’re the problem.” It is difficult to tell whether she’s joking or not. The grin is in place, the tone sounded serious. “I’ll be fine, yeah. It sucks, not being able to do more but hey...” She touches a fingertip to the mark on her cheek. “I’m getting some serious cool points with this. C’mon. I gotta go convince those freshman I got this in a car chase.”