Logs:Modeling School Spirit

Modeling School Spirit
Dramatis Personae Glen, Harm, K.C., Marinov
In Absentia	2020-04-05 "Mutants and humans, we're everyone's saviours."
Location <XAV> Gardens - Xs Grounds
From indoor gardens to outdoor, though without the protective greenhouse glass the back gardens do not last all year round. Still, the gardens out here are well-tended and well-worth spending time in, as well. The paths wending through the beds of flowers and herbs and vegetables spread out through the school's back grounds, tended by students as a credit class. Benches offer seating and a small pond is home to koi and turtles, as well as a few frogs. At the far back edges of the garden, a droning buzzing marks a few stacked white boxes as beehives. Anyone paying attention to the news has to know that over in the city (and, to a slower but still approaching degree, the rest of the world), things are sharply trending towards the apocalyptic. Kind of nightmarish in terms of the toll the disease is taking on the people living there. If you put the phone down for a little while, though, it's almost -- almost!) easy to forget it out here among the greenery overspilling its garden beds. The well-kept gardens are in full and glorious bloom right now, and with a warm afternoon sunshine to complement it there are many of the mansion's occupants out relieving some of the stir-craziness. Over by the koi pond, one slim teenager is perched on a rock beside a very large and muscular black and white pitbull dog. The dog has her front paws firmly on the stones, ears pricked as she watches the water, bright-eyed and eagerly tracking the gliding paths of one large glimmering white and orange fish as her tail swooshes eagerly. K.C., beside her in faded carpenter jeans and a baggy black tee, hair shorn to a short fuzz, isn't watching the fish or the flowers or any of the other students either, at this exact moment. Just kind of staring at the air in front of her, one hand resting on her knee and her fingers tapping restlessly at her side as though playing the keys of an invisible piano. Marinov is dressed for the weather, in a somewhat 70s inspired style, part of their spring 2020 design: Their pants depict blue and red flowers overtop a black and white trellis pattern, and cut off midway down their calf. They have on a light white jacket over a black top with a plunging neckline. Some red flowers are embroidered down on the right side of the buttons, and the top's black collar extends out almost to the edges of their shoulders. They are not far back from where K.C. is, only having stopped to check one of the messages on their phone. The felinoid youth's tail flicks a couple of times in an annoyed fashion, and the phone is tucked away to review later. They squat and lean forward on one of their hands to check out the same fish that the pitbull is watching. "That one's getting big!" Harmony had been working diligently over in the herb beds for a while, but now they've gathered their gardening tools and stood up, looking around. They're wearing a rainbow ombre 3/4 sleeve knit tunic that falls to their hips and green linen wrap pants, carrying a bag made from bicycle inner tubes slung over their shoulder and a colorful basket of well-loved wood-handled garden tools (plus the hemp sandals that are rarely actually on their feet outside) in one hand. It's not clear which of their schoolmates draws them out of their course but they pad over to the pond. "Hi there," they offer a wave and a thin smile. Then peer curiously in the direction of Marinov and Suga Mama's interest. "Oh, wow!" Hesitate. "She won't try to...eat them, will she?" Glen had been cooped up in a guest room for two weeks and had finally been given the all clear by the professor to be let out, walking out into the garden he finally stretches his arms and looks up at the sky. He takes off his sunglasses to show his glowing green eyes, he is wearing a red hoodie, blue skinny jeans and black high tops. He looks around at the garden taking in the view then looking over at the three he casually, but slowly walks over to greet them "Moon spirit right there." K.C. nods to herself, though she doesn't turn to look at the koi. Suga Mama does turn, wagging more eagerly as Marinov draws near. Looking from her felinoid roommate to the pond and back, her nose poking just a little closer to the water. Paws shifting on the rock. K.C. snorts, quiet. Her fingers twitch sharply. "Eat. Tch. Slander." Her eyes lift -- very briefly -- when Glen starts to approach. Glances towards The New Kid, then back to -- nothing, really. Midair. "Huh." Her brows have furrowed, but only for a minute. "Two weeks already." "It's um nice to meet you, I'm glen Harper" he gives a nervous smile, he looks around at the garden again "this place really is something" "She's got better self-control than I do, so I think that the moon spirit'll live to get even bigger!" says Marinov in an upbeat reply to Harmony. "Huh?" They rise back up to stand tall again, and look towards Glen, resting their clawed hand on their own hip. "Two weeks?" It takes a couple moments before they figure out what K.C.'s referring to. "Oh, yeah, you must be fresh out of lockup. I'm Marinov." "I didn't know they had names -- I like that one." Harmony's eyes go kind of wide when they spot the unfamiliar figure, and they look just about ready to flee until Marinov more explains K.C.'s musing about the time period, and then blush deeply. "Ohhh, sorry. Um, welcome, Glen Harper." They hesitate, then add, "You can call me Harm." The pitbull is leaning down until her nose very nearly touches the water, but she pulls back when Glen speaks. Rears up, drops down off the stone lip of the pool to turn and face the new boy, tail still swooshing casually and her ears pricked, hopeful. She only takes a few steps forward before pausing, though. K.C. leans forward, resting an elbow on her knee. "Glen Harper. Queens. 21,781 in Queens now." Her hand swats irritably at the air. Drops back to her knee. "Not you though. Guess not you." Glen looks at her confused "you know the population of my birth place? Is that your power?" Glen looks at the other two "and it's nice to meet you too" "Number of cases, I'm guessing, there's approximately a fuckton of people in Queens," says Marinov, with a glance towards K.C., "Shit, is that right? Shit." They move their hand to rub their brow but pause, think better of it and cross their arms and nod to Glen. "But I guess you've passed inspection, so welcome to quarantine high." Harm's eyes go very, very wide. "Oh, gods..." One of their hands rises as if they're about to cover their mouth with it, then drops again, reminded by Marinov aborting a similar gesture of distress. "Just in Queens? You both have family in the city, right?" They lick their lips, hunch their shoulders in tight. "I hope they're okay." K.C. sits up straighter, looking up towards the sky with slightly wider eyes. "2.2 million people in Queens." She says this a little bit slower. A little bit more patiently. "Approximately a fuckton. Approximately a fuckton in Queens." This, with a satisfied nod. "Welcome to quarantine high." Her shoulders pull fractionally inward after this. "Dad. Sister. Not sick." After a very small pause, another restless twitch of her hand. "Yet." She drops her hand back to her knee. Thinks better of this, clicks her tongue instead. The dog pads a little closer to her side; she rests her hand on Suga Mama's head, rubbing thumb and forefinger at one soft floppy ear. "Sorry," she says finally. "Quarantine rooms -- way nicer than the dorms. Way nicer." Glen laughs "well it's good to finally be here, my mom always wanted me to come here" looking into the pond "just hope I can help in some sort of way" "I'm from Seattle." Their gaze turns towards the koi pond as well, the arms wrapped around their body just a little tighter. "But there are people I care about out that way. Been worrying, hopefully it'll be over nothing." Their tailtip flicks a couple of times, ears swivel towards Glen. "Why'd your mom want you to come here? She some kind of alumnus? Knows all the words to the Xavier's anthem?" Harmony blinks, surprised. "I had no idea it was that many -- I mean, I knew New York was big, but..." They trail off, plucking anxiously at the handle of their tool basket. "I hope your mom's ok too, Glen -- if she's still in the city." They tilt their head slightly to regard the new student, trying and failing not to stare at his eyes. "Woah, so you're like, a legacy student. I don't think we have a lot of those here." After a pause, she sounds more uncertain. "Do we?" "Just Queens." K.C. keeps rubbing, slow, at Suga Mama's ear. "That's just Queens. 1.6 million in Manhattan. My dad is there." Her fingers clench hard at Glen's laugh, her other hand stroking gentle against the dog's head. Her hand opens, closes, twists in mid-air. "Haley Harper," she says, "class of '96. Legacy. Still in Queens?" The first half of this is confident, the last unsure. "New Kid don't seem worried." A very small smile passes across her face. Falls away. She looks to Marinov, brows lifting. "Do you know the anthem?" "She was a shut in before all of this..how did you know about her?" Glen awkwardly looks at the grass to hide his glowing eyes as a kind of instinct "but yeah she is still in Queens" he awkwardly shifts his feet "I guess after my mutation appeared she was so happy to send me here.." Marinov puts their hand on their chest, right in the ruff of their fur, feigning being wounded at the question. "Of course I know the anthem, I am the very model of school spirit. It goes like-" They clear their throat, and it sounds likely that this is not entirely improvised: Xavier's, Xavier's, Respectable Xavier's, Mutants and humans, we're everyone's saviours, Without us you would be, living in squalor, So do us a favour, and show them your valour. While Marinov has a pleasant singing voice, they don't seem to be taking the fake anthem seriously. "And then it's thirty verses about how respectability politics are good, actually." They shake their head, "Never heard of a legacy student before. I dunno if I had a kid, and I won't, how joyfully I'd send them here. I would send them here, but that's more like," they gesture vaguely about, "Options." "You might know more about this school than I do, then," Harm tells Glen, though they sound just a bit uncertain. Their dark eyes go wide -- with delight this time -- when Marinov starts singing, though. They almost lift their hands to cover their mouth again, bouncing up onto the balls of their bare feet. "That's amazing! Is that actually -- it's not actually our school song, right?" Then, after a brief pause and a shy smile. "...But it should be." "How did I know about her," K.C. echoes, looking up at the sky as Glen looks down at the ground. Her eyes widen when Marinov breaks into song, and this time when the smile creeps across her face it stays there. She slowly leans forward, a low raspy laugh pealing up from inside her as she curls her arms around Suga Mama's neck. "Oh. Oh. The Professor wrote that song himself," she informs Harmony seriously, once she's taken a breath again. She gets to her feet, idly stretching up onto her toes. "After your mutation. Not after the Rona though." Her lips twitch to one side. "Huh. 'kay." No goodbye. She's just wandering off, the dog padding close at her heels. "I think she just wanted me to be able to control and understand my power" he grins when he hears Marinov start singing "that's pretty good" Glen looks confused when he K.C starts to wonder off "you didn't answer my question though.." Marinov bows slightly at the waist at the compliments of their performance, and remark to Harm, "Yeah, that's right, that's Xavier's canon right there. At grad, I'm sure everyone's gonna be singing it, too." They glance after K.C. when she wanders off without a farewell, but don't seem bothered or concerned by it. Helpfully, adds for Glen's sake: "I just assume K.C. knows everything. Been a pretty good working theory so far." Harm nods enthusiastically. "I want to learn it -- if there are other verses, I'll learn all of them." They start to wave at K.C. when she gets up to leave, but awkwardly lower their hand again when no other farewells are forthcoming. "Not everyone around here is very open about what their powers do," they tell Glen with a philosophical shrug. "Sometimes it can be tough, if you didn't grow up with them, or with someone who knows what it's like. But I hear this is the place to learn -- the stuff your mom wants me to learn." Somehow they don't sound very confident. Glen sighs "no that's understandable..I don't even understand my power, I know it saved my life once but that's it" he then smiles looking at the two "wait does that mean I have to learn the song as well? Even though I'm nowhere near graduating" he laughs while nervously scratching his head "My mutant power is biting anyone who makes a 'khajiit has wares if you have coin' joke, or any joke similar. It's a power that works automatically, can't control it," says Marinov, glancing off again, with their shoulders shifting inwards just a little before their eyes fix on Glen, "So if you ever find yourself on the bitten end, feel sympathy, not pain." They nod to Harm and Glen, "I'll teach you both all the verses later, when my school spirit replenishes a little more. But for now, I should think of getting changed and going on a run." "I don't think it's required. I've been here for months and didn't even know we had a school song." Harm laughs, covering it with the crook of their elbow, at last, and not their hand. "Have a good run, Marinov! And I should go get cleaned off, I'm filthy." Both of their hands clasp the handle of their basket as they bow. "Welcome again, Glen. I'll see you around!" With a wave, they amble off toward the door of the conservatory. Glen laughs "I never was a big fan of skyrim so don't worry" Glen smiles as harm leaves "yeah see you around!" He waves at Marinov "have fun on your run, it was nice meeting you" as he says that his eye glow brighter and he holds his breath suddenly disappearing from sight.