Logs:Back to School

Back to School
Dramatis Personae Astrid, Kieow
In Absentia	2020-10-23 '
Location <XAV> Great Hall - Xs First Floor
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 is definitely too early to consider what is going on as dinner, but here is Astrid after classes finished with a rather healthy sized snack. She’s placed herself squarely in one of the cushy high back chairs, legs pulled up and crossed over one another. Clothing today is much more about comfort and not out of her usual repertoire - dark grey jogger sweats and a matching sweatshirt. Her usual black beanie sill covers her wavy, dirty blond hair and the thick plastic frames rest crookedly across her nose. Interestingly enough, her right wrist is cast free. One of those vacuum sealed metal bottles rests across from here. Next to the bottle is a bag of chips, a candy bar and what looks to be an old slice of pizza on a small plate. Her backpack is sprawled out towards the middle of the table unzipped with notebooks splayed out. After her roommate texted requesting notes from the days she missed class, Astrid replied she was in the Great Hall getting a snack if she wanted to join and grab the notes. Kieow is slow to join, primarily because she's trying to juggle a tray of food with an arm full of text books and note pads. She appears to be little frustrated by the balancing act and soon slides her tray onto the table in front of Astrid's stuff. She flumps down soon after. Her skin and hair are the same pothos that she had when she left, though some of the leaves are streaked with yellow and others are just plain missing. she's wearing a wrap shirt in a heavy woolen weave in a spectrum of blue and green colors, with wide legged loose pants strapped around her waist. She kicks off one shoe as she curls into a sitting position and rests her head on her arms. "This day is soo lonnng." A handful of chips are shoved into Astrid’s mouth just at the moment Kieow shows up. She bobs her head to acknowledge her roommate's presence and holds her left hand up, index finger pointed straight in the air to signal she should be able to talk in just a couple seconds. Those couple seconds definitely last much longer than anticipated with her finger held up for an awkwardly long time. Once her mouth is free for words, she cracks a toothy grin. “Tell me about it. Personally I feel all week days are too long.” She pushes the bag of chips in Kieow’s direction. Kieow's tray has some sort of vinegary bean salad and a couple dinner rolls, which she's not keen on jumping into quite yet. She looks up at the bag of chips and slips a pair of searching fingers inside, snagging some of the crunchy goodness and pull it out. "Thanks." She peeks at the book that Astrid has out then opens a similar one. "I've only been back two days, but it seems like a decade. And I have years of make up work to do." She exhales and starts fumbling with the lid on her tumeric ginger oat milk. The contrast between the two teens' food could not be more stark, and Astrid for a quick second ponders her food selection. It’s fleeting as she quickly dives into the bag grabbing a couple more chips to shovel down. “Have as many as you want.” She quickly adds. “Ugh… I feel like I am always behind on homework and I haven’t missed a class yet. Can’t even imagine what you are dealing with.” Her eyes suddenly light up as she remembers what her roommate initially texted her about. Lifting herself up from the chair, she reaches over her food and starts digging into her open bag. “Notes are what you needed, right?” A couple notebooks are pulled free and placed on the table near Kieow. My handwriting is… um… really bad. I won’t be offended if you need clarification on any of it.” "Eh. The desire to pay attention to class is... not strong," Kieow admits as she pushes her food to the side so she can start matching note books so she begin her catch up process. She faces the dual notebooks, checking her notes for what matches, then scribbles what's missing. "So what did I miss here? Everyone okay? No one decided to run off and join the protests?" “And I don’t think anyone would fault you for that.” Astrid turns her head and watches as Kieow starts comparing their notes. She grabs another chip, but holds on to it idly. “Things have been about the same here.” She tilts her head, trying to think if anyone has run off to join the protests and shakes her head before tossing the chip into her mouth. “Nope… none that I am aware of.” She softens her smile. “How was New York?” "Yeah, well. They sent me back here. They think I should be studying again." Kieow shakes her head slowly then looks up at Astrid, her pen slowing. "OH. New York is. um. Rough right now. Most everyone is grieving and angry. I spent a lot of time basically staring at walls and trying to get people to eat -- and helping out with some of the protest stuff. Did you know it takes a lot of organization to keep things going... and going okay? They've got street medics - carebears, they call them, and our teacher, Ms. Hua? She doing prison / legal assisting. She's helping people get out of jail after they get tossed in by the police. They also make food." Astrid nods her head. “Not surprised at that I guess, but you could always get back on the weekends, right?” She looks down at her cold slice of piece and begins picking apart the crust with her fingers. “Oh wow, I had no idea honestly.” She stops messing with her pizza and turns her focus back onto Kieow. “I know the protests in Portland were all over the news, but they are concentrated mostly downtown near the courthouse. We didn’t live anywhere near them.” She pauses to briefly consider the slice. “ You planning on helping out more? I mean, if you are, I’d go help too.” "Yeah, I'm just... frustrated. It's all been so bad and Bua just... wasn't there for most of it and then when he finally gets a little better and starts talking, he tells me it's time to go back to school. We talked more than that, but... He said I could come back in the evenings too, but it's so far away and I don't want to ask anyone to drive me and," The damn breaks a little and Kieow's words tumble out at a quick pace. She's gripping her pen so hard, her knuckles are whitening and her gaze is unfixed. "And then drive me back? I mean, I guess Mr. Holland could because he's going to go there and back anyway, but I don't know. I think he's mad at me." She exhales and lets her hands and shoulders relax. "I'm just... really tired." “Oh, Kieow, I’m sure he isn’t mad at you. I mean, he’s going through the same thing as you, right?” Astrid glances at the tightly gripped pen, thinking twice against moving it off her notebook so she doesn’t tear into it. “Plus everyone deals with grief differently. And I’m sure Bua thinks getting you back with your friends would be good for you?” She trails off, leaving her last comment more as a question. “Keep my notes over the weekend that way you don't have to copy them right now.. I won’t need them, then you can go get some rest.” "Maybe. It's just... people getting snippish." Kieow sighs and turns her attention back to the notes momentarily, but looks up at Astrid quickly. "I don't know what Bua thinks. He... won't let me in. I've never been in the same place as him and not been in with him." Her tones drop in volume as her words decrease speed. "Maybe he thinks friends will be good. Maybe I annoy the adults. Like I'm someone they have to baby sit." She is a little confused at the suggestion the other girl makes about sleeping, having utterly forgotten what she said before. "Did I tell you I have a new sister?" Looking back down at her pizza, Astrid goes back to picking at the crust until a large chunk has been pulled free and eaten. “Who knows what any adult is thinking? I swear they don’t even know themselves.” She yanks free another piece. “I’m sure it’s not that he doesn’t, just working through his own stuff while you work through yours, right?” She looks back over towards Kieow and rapidly scratches at the back of her head. “Naw, I doubt you annoy them. And if you do, that’s their problem. Send me over there and then we’ll see them get annoyed.” She shows a brief smile and nudges Kieow very lightly with her elbow. “Oh, no, you did not. What’s she like?” Kieow smiles sheepishly when Astrid threatens to take on the cranky adults. She pulls herself up an inch or so, nudging back with her own elbow soon after. "Well, Her name is Lily and she's Fon's twin. I guess she kind of looks like him and she's peppy. Uh. Maybe a little more than I ready for. I think she mistook my shyness for youth, because when she first started talking to me, it was kind of like she was talking to a child. That's... not exactly something in her favor. But she seems nice... and maybe a little worried we all hate her." Her phone chimes and she rushes to check the message, her mood darkening at the information. "I guess you can probably meet her... at the memorial." “Hopefully she gets past that, right? And if she doesn’t, well you can always play the kid card when needed…” Astrid furrows her brow, thinking on her words. “Eh.” She says with a shrug. “whatever that would be.” Her mouth begins to part, priming for a laugh, but luckily she catches it before it escapes. “Oh, is that soon?” She asks in regards to the timing of the memorial. "I mean, it's not the funeral... but," Kieow turns her phone around to show Astrid. "And I guess I don't know if Lily would be invited. So maybe you'll have to come to the city to meet her." She rubs her forehead with her free hand and sighs. "I suppose if the memorial is tomorrow, it'd be easier to stay here tonight." “In that case, maybe I’ll meet her or maybe I won’t?” Astrid forces a light smile, eyes squinting to read what is on the phone. “Not to sound like any of the adults in your life…” She pauses and chews down into her bottom lip. “But…” the word is elongated while a shrug is thrown in for unnecessary emphasis. “Probably would be easier to stick around here then, right?” "Yeah... I don't like the way you put it, but yeah. Geez." Kieow scowls down at the book and closes the notebooks up. "What do you want to do instead of going in to the city tonight?" “That is a good question.” She taps down twice onto the table, eyes going from her torn apart pizza slices back to Kieow. “How about I wolf this slice down and then we go search out some good ice cream. This town has to have some good ice cream, right?” "Yeah! Let's do that." Kieow smiles and gets to work on her salad. “It’s a plan!” Astrid says, picking up what is left of her slice and going to town on it.