Logs:That New Student Smell

That New Student Smell
Dramatis Personae Nessie, Paz	2023-07-09 “So, uhh, kidnapped? Is that like an in-joke or a bit between y’all or something?”
Location <XAV> Back Patio - Xs Grounds
This patio is expertly laid out for relaxing singly or in groups. The section nearest the back door is a more or less conventional veranda, the mansion's eaves--supported by elegant white wooden columns joined with matching railings--extending out to shelter the long porch swings, rocking chairs, and a chess table from the elements. Down the stairs or the ramp from this is a fan-shaped expanse of slate flagstones populated by clusters of deck chairs and picnic tables, always changing in number and arrangement, and stone planter boxes bursting with seasonal flowers and ornamentals. The centerpiece is an elegant pavilion with a hot tub open for use year-round, even if the transition in and out may prove chilly in snowy weather. It's the middle of summer, so it is not all that unusual that the school is quiet, right now. No mandatory classes in session, most students choosing not to take summer term classes, quite a number gone home to their families until fall -- while never entirely peaceful at a school full of mutant teenagers, there's at least a touch more tranquility when the majority of those teenagers are Elsewhere. A touch. From somewhere across the gardens there's a splash, a loud yelp, some muffled sounds of very contentious voices. Then a tapping, clickclickclick -- Nessie isn't actually running when she comes into view, but the rapid arachnid skitter of her many legs gives her the impression of haste all the same. Whatever made the splash, she doesn't look wet, though she does look just slightly satisfied as she steps up onto the patio, her huge barbed tail is swishing overhead. Her inhuman anatomy and current attire (just a loose Xavier's School tee) doesn't give a lot of indication as to gender but the small knapsack on her back and math textbook clutched together with a tablet in her hands indicate she is probably a student, little though she resembles Any of the other students seen around the school this weekend. Even after a handful of days at Xavier’s, Paz still felt like she was on the surface of Mars. The conversation her parents had with DJ and Hive, unorthodox as all of it had been, turned out to be a fruitful one; the thick patch of forest that had sprouted from the barrio was as good an example as any to her mother and father that their daughter needed a safer outlet to better understand her condition. Through a lot of tears and Spanish spoken at breakneck speeds, mom was somehow the most understanding. Her life spent fighting for the Chicana movement made her far more sympathetic to the plight of mutants, and a full-ride to a school that could foster societal change founded by activists was more tantalizing than Paz’s options ever could have been in Los Angeles. Her dad took a great deal of convincing. He wanted what was best, until what was best was out of his hands on the other side of the country. He warned Paz of putting a target on her back, of doing the right thing for herself, not just any plight or cause no matter how just. It was all conflicting, to say the least, but the testimonials from her rescuers did just enough to balance the scales. Paperwork was signed, bags were packed, tears were shed, and Paz was teleported to Westchester County. Xavier’s was beautiful. Peace and quiet was at least a refreshing vibe, arriving to school during the off-season and getting a tour of grounds that would be plenty more occupied as the summer turned to fall. No one had warned her how humid New York was - great for the growth of her stress plants, less ideal for much anything else. At least LA was mostly a dry heat. Her dorm room would eventually have a roommate, but Paz was unsure when that would be; her orientation guide seemed to be hiding something on the tip of his tongue about the student body, whether or not that meant there would be more activity during the school year remained to be seen. She wished she was psychic like Professor Xavier. The only advantages she came in with were punctuality and efficiency. Not that she was the spitting image of either, but getting dropped off by herself and being too busy battling her anxiety to let it set in offered her the early bird move-in special. With a bit too much time in her head and left to her own devices, Paz wandered the grounds of the school, probably looking far more doe-eyed than she would’ve liked. She had to find herself any sort of uniform, if there was one, and the thick humidity made it easy to at least dress for the summer, wearing a sleeveless mint green blouse and denim shorts. Paz’s nerves, admittedly, were getting the better of her. If she got asked if she was lost one more time she was liable to either cry or wrap herself in leaves until everyone went away again. The bad habit of stress eating, one she’d battled since her brother’s arrest, was a constant compulsion toward wherever the X-Cafeteria was, but fresh air and sunlight couldn’t hurt— —until Paz collided with a busy-looking scorpion-legged girl, knocking her on her behind in muted, mortified shock. “I’m so sorry!” Paz dove on her own grenade, gathering her dropped textbooks and tablet. Don’t look at the legs don’t look at the legs don’t look at the legs— “—my head was just somewhere else, I’m so so sorry. Can I, uhh, help?” The legs are skittering again -- Nessie is scuttling backwards with a startled eep!, sharp-clawed feet clickclicking against the flagstones and her tail swishing again. But then she's moving forward just as quick, starting to crouch but pulling back when Paz picks her own things back up. "Ohhi! Sorry, I didn't -- hi. You're new!" Nessie bounces, slightly, in place at this, her tail stilling. "Don't worry about it I'm very bump-resistant. Are you --" She pauses to check her own tablet, the largest and most human-looking of her several pairs of eyes squinting down at the screen before she glances back up, smiling bright. "-- Paz? You look like you could be a Paz even if," she allows, "your very first move was an opening salvo in the Scorpion Wars. Where did your head go?" A scorpion war of any kind was not one Paz was particularly interested in waging, least of all with a single giant one. Her eyes warily tracked the sharp, pincer-like limbs and tail of her fellow student, forcing herself to look back up at her many, many eyes and swallow her apprehension. “It’s like a, y’know, like a saying, uhh…” Paz shook her head, rattling her focus back into gear. “… yes, I’m Paz. Is it that obvious I’m new?” "Oh yeah it's super obvious, scorpions can smell fear, you know!" The two fine-haired pincer limbs sitting somewhat below Nessie's regular more human pair of arms wiggle demonstratively as Nessie's voice drops to a state whisper: "It makes this place a great hunting grounds, everyone's freaked out when they're new." And then she's backing up a couple more steps, her legs folding oddly along their many joints as she settles her torso lower to the ground; it doesn't make her small, really, but it does minimize the amount by which she is looming over the other girl. "I'm just kidding. I eat in the dining hall like everyone else, Miss Savita's a great cook even if it's sometimes wasted when she's gotta make things the white kids are gonna happily eat. If you tell her some of your favorite foods she'll try to add then to the roster! It can help," Nessie's adding with a touch of sympathy, "If you're feeling like. Overwhelmed. Homesick. Anyway, we all get an email when a new student is joining, probably so nobody freaks out and thinks we're getting invaded by weirdo bigots or something and pushes their panic button -- it's not so easy with most of you as it is with me to tell that you're actually the kind of weirdo who belongs here, you know?" Paz took a moment to swallow the swirl of fear mixed with confusion mixed with incredulity as the scorpion girl clearly saw her for what she was; she wasn’t prone to lash out, but it wasn’t exactly common for her to be so familiar so soon to someone she’d only just met. Then again, the fact that there was some basis of understanding, who she was, what they shared in common, was more comforting to the new girl than she initially allowed herself to consider. While her less confident snap judgment was to avoid the comfort of food right away in this new environment (a school was a school, and Paz knew full well judgment could lurk behind any corner, mutant or not), a reprieve with someone who’d clearly been around the block sounded like a welcome one. “Could you maybe point me in that direction? If you’re not in the middle of something, I mean. Are you doing summer classes?” The kind of weirdo who belongs here, Paz released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding since her arrival at Xavier’s. “I’m sorry, I never asked who you are. What’s your name?” "Ohright it's Nessie. And nooo way, classes three seasons out of the year is plenty classes," Nessie replies with a laugh. "I just come out here for the free food and to make sure the newspaper still gets printed on time -- if I'm not around campus I might miss the latest news, you know? I do not want to be sleeping the next time a bunch of students get kidnapped." She is breezing straight past this Extremely Encouraging information, on to: "In between mealtimes you'll have to raid the kitchen instead of the dining hall but there's usually plenty of snacks, you just go through --" She's starting to point towards a door, but then frowns, just slightly, and rises back higher off the ground into an easier walking position. "-- You know this mansion is huge for the first few weeks and then real tiny after, uh, c'mon, I'll show you!" “You do a school newspaper here? That’s—oh.” Paz stopped short in her tracks as Nessie so casually glossed over ‘a bunch of students getting kidnapped’. Suddenly she wasn’t nearly as hungry as she felt before. If there were trees or plants anywhere nearby, they noticeably rustled with more than just a light summer breeze. Paz forced herself to keep pace with the scorpion girl, eyes forward and mind racing. “So, uhh, kidnapped? Is that like an in-joke or a bit between y’all or something?” Paz already knew it wasn’t, but there was always hope. "Yeah! The Oracle, I edit it, so if you ever have any good scoops I'm the one to find. Thankfully," and here Nessie's tail waves again, her smile cheerful, "I'm real easy to spot." Her head tilts slightly, and she stops just shy of the door back into the mansion, looking back to Paz with one hand on the handle. "Oh! Um -- no. Yeah. Kinda. I mean, they didn't actually get kidnapped, they're just locked up in, like, mutant torture jail, but I'm sure it won't happen to you they kinda put themselves there I guess. Way more likely you'll get teleported to another dimension, unless --" She's looking over Paz a little assessingly. "How useful do you think your power would be to, like, the Army? I think that tilts the odds a little. Anyway I know this all sounds bad but like..." Here her cheerful demeanor falters, a frown crossing her face. "...it's way worse out there. Welcome to Xavier's, huh?" The cheer is just a little more determined than it was before, as she pulls the door open to invite Paz back inside.