Players:
Summary: Theo tries to help Sage figure out a computer and conversations turn debatable….
Date: August 22, 2011
Log Title: Accepting Possibilities
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Attic
Every wall is made of glass up to the domed ceiling. Storm has really done her work up here over time and turned it into quite the indoor garden. The room is separated into different parts for the different plants that are in there. There are flowers, vegetable plants, herbs, shrubs, small trees and much more. There are plants that shouldn't even be able to be found in this northern climate but they thrive up here. Anyone wanting to come up here for fresh herbs, fruit or vegetables are welcome to steal from the indoor garden. Depending on the time of year, various different species of flowers and different fruits and vegetables grow. In one area there are a few small fountains and a bench with some fresh dirt on the the ground with trees and plants all around. It seems like a good spot for meditation.
The last days of summer vacation find Sage upstairs in the attic garden, a place he feels quite comfortable. He sits on the ground, not caring if dirt gets on his clothes, surrounded by tomato vines. His school issued laptop sits infront of him as he just stares as the screen. "How the bloody hell does this thing work, and what am I supposed to use if for?" He mutters to himself in his thick British accent before taking a bite from a tomato in his hand, much like one would bite into an apple.
Theo is ready for classes. Junior Year, here he comes. Time to get some serious studies done. MIT, Purdue, Indiana State, the list goes on. He can almost pick his university with the education that Tony's been giving him, combined with Forge and Dr. McCoy's tutelage, but that's still a little in the future. Right now, he's come up to the mansion's attic because it's quiet. Well, he thought it would be.
The 'sound' of the laptop alerts him that there's someone up in the attic before he arrives, and he spots Sage as he comes up the stairs. "Jeez it's the hippie," he mutters under his breath, and lets out a sigh, walking to a window behind Sage, hoping not to be noticed so he can just look out over the grounds and relax a little.
Sage starts clicking on random icons, bringing up Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word and the Recycle Bin but none of it seems to make sense to him. "I really don't understand the point to these things." He mutters just as he hears Theo mutter aboout him being 'the hippy.' He looks around and spots Theo. "Actually my name is Sage, not The Hippie." He says giving a friendly smile. "If you'd like a tomato they're quite ripe and very delicious."
Theo rolls his eyes, still facing away from Sage. "Was just referring to your codename," he comments dryly. "Where I come from, we actually put tomatoes in other foods. We call it America." He shoves his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, and turns around to face Sage. "You know, those programs actually are useful if you try using them instead of just clicking on random icons. "They don't have computers where you come from, or something?"
"But I choose Locks for my codename, not The Hippie." Sage says sounding a bit confused like he doesn't realize it was an insult. "Well we use them back home. We didn't have a need for the so I had never seen one of these things until I came here. My roommate, Tyler, has tried to show me a few things but it doesn't make sense to me. I still dont' get how you put the record inside here to listen to music." He's been told it's digital and all accessed through the internet but those words go over his head. "Oh tomatoes are quite amazing to cook with but they're also amazing when they're fresh like this. I wish I brought some salt up here with me then they'd be better. Have you ever just eatten a fresh tomato off the vine?"
"Um, nope," Theo's answer is given with a bit of a look of oddity. "You don't put a record in the computer, your put computer files on your computer. How do you live without computers? You come from the ancient past or something? It's like living without a car nowadays." He eyes the tomato that Sage took a bite out of. "And it'd be a really good idea not to get tomato juice inside of it, too."
Sage blinks at Theo for a bit not even sure what a 'computer file' is. "So how do you get it to play music if you don't put the record inside?" He says as he continues to eat the tomato, juice dripping on his hand but not directly onto his computer. He reaches behind him and pulls off a small cherry tomato and hands it to Theo. "Try it." He says with smile. "And no, I'm not from the ancient past or anything, I'm from a small farming comunity back home in England. We had other things to worry about then learning how to use a computer magic box thingie. We did have a car though."
"You can stick a CD in it if you want," Theo answers Sage. "But then you take the information off the CD and keep it on the computer's hard drive. Come on, tell me you're kidding me. You like…lived under a rock or something." He eyes the cherry tomato, and takes it from Sage for the sake of getting him to leave him be about the tomato. He doesn't eat it, he just holds it in his hand.
"What's a CD?" Sage asks before shaking his head. "No, not under a rock. It's a farm so it'd be quite hard to raise animals and grow crops if it were under a rock. And with how large Rosewood Farms is, it'd be quite a large rock." It's hard to tell if he's joking with Theo or being serious. Maybe a mix of both? "We didn't have any need for stuff like cellular phones or computers or most of that fancy stuff that is in the recreation room here. We were so busy with daily chores and such that it didn't matter. Music was a bit part of our entertainment. I miss it quite horribly."
"A CD, compact disc, it holds information just like a record. Man, you have some issues," Theo accuses. "Okay, seriously? Look at your computer." He takes control of the laptop remotely. "You opened Explorer, right?" he minimizes it for a moment, and uses the mouse pointer to circle the icon. The program maximizes again. "Anything on the internet, you can find with this program." Not entirely true, but close enough for Sage's purposes. He types in youtube's address, and goes to the site. "Okay, now you click on this box here." He does so for the search bar, while descreetly creating a bookmark on the menu bar. "Now use the keyboard, and type the name of a song and a band, then hit enter." The technopath turns back to the window, expecting it to take several minutes before Sage can accomplish the task.
"I'm sorry Theo but I do not believe I have any issues." Sage says. "I might not know as much about this stuff but it doesn't mean I have issues. It would be like me saying you had issues because you didn't believe in the Gillypuffs." He's quite certain that Theo wouldn't believe in them like most people at Xavier's. He follows Theo's instructions and types in 'Fleetwood Mac', quite slowly as he's not familar with the key placement. "Why doesn't it just go 'a b c d' across the keys instead of being all mishmashed together?" Once the screen is up he sees a list of the videos but isn't sure of the next step. "Landslide, I can play that song on my ukulele." He says happily.
The familiar sound of footfalls report the entrance of another as the wooden steps creak to adjust for the new strain being put on them. From the stairs peeks an androgynous teenager wearing just average street clothes. A long sleeve red dress shirt, unbuttoned at the front to show a plain white and baggy t-shirt. Perhaps with a bit of absent-mindedness, Jules wanders up from the stairs to stride over to a potted plant sporting healthy looking purple vegetables.
"Because when keyboards were created they had to make people type slower so that keys wouldn't get jammed on typewriters. It's kind of outdated, but still the way people type because everyone is used to it," Theo answers without missing a beat. "Yeah, see you believe in fictional creatures, too. Gillypuffs are made up, they aren't real, it's just to tell stories to kids. I outgrew that when I was like six." He controls the mouse and puts it over the different videos. "Just use the mouse pointer and click the button on the video you want, it'll play the song, and you'll have music." In the computer background, he also changes the homepage to youtube, to save questions later about how to get back to the website." For the time being, Theo is still looking out the window, so he doesn't pay much attention to Jules coming up the stairs.
"And because you think that Theo, I will say you have issues in return." Sage says. "Gillypuffs are quite real." He says as Fleetwood Mac's Landslide starts paying from his laptop. "It's because you don't want to admit that there are things that are magical and that are just as sentient as us. Gillypuffs are water creatures, they help keep rivers and streams clear of too much muck. You'll never find a Gillypuff in a swamp, the stillness of the water kills them since they need to keep moving. Thus why they like rivers and streams, there is a constant flow." He finishes eating his tomato and wipes the juice from his hand on his pants, Sage'll clean them later.
Jules perks a bit after examining that purple plant. "Gillypuffs?" Jules seems to be interested in this word. The curiosity even seems tangible in the air, even as the androgynous teen's voice carries little hint of gender. Even while it maintains a sort of whimsical or light-hearted tone. When Sage goes through the explanation, Jules speaks up again. "Do you believe in the Nymodori? They're time creatures like faeries that persist between universes. Their eyes turn purple from staying in the transversal time stream."
Making his up the attic, David is dressed in one of his staff uniforms, yellow and black costume with large red cybershades hiding his eyes. As he makes his way into the attic, he spots some students. To keep from repeating some of the recent mistakes he has made when meeting new students. He takes a moment and familiar with the skillsets of Sage and Theo, he turns to Jules, a new student, that he has yet to meet. He fully enters making his presence known an offers a simple, "Hey, guys."
Earlier in the day and in her infinate wisdom Evelyn decided to check out the view from the attic roof in Margay form. Of course climbing directly up would be far too tricky so of course she cheated and let herself out of a window which appears to have been closed while she was taking a quick nap. Thus why, during his gazing out of the window, Theo might just spot a rather frantic fuzzy thing scratching at the window frame in the hopes someone might take a hint and let her back inside.
Theo arches his brow. "See, you're nuts…" He spots the cat on the edge of the sill, and recognizes it as Evelyn. He opens the window to give her a place to leap back in through as he hears Jules join in the conversation. "You are both crazy!" he exclaims with frustration. "Oh David, good, somebody not completely stupid and crazy. Can you tell these guys that fairies and gillypuffs and whatsithoosits are all made up crap and it's not real?"
Sage shakes his head at Jules. "No, I haven't heard about them. My Grandparents and my Mum and Dad didn't talk much about time travel. More about the creatures that affect nature and those born of Gia. But I'm sure that Nymodori are also children of Gia as well." He figures even if he isn't sure about other universes. "Hello David." He says as with a nod. "Theo just because you don't believe in them doesn't mean they are not real. I'm not trying to make you believe in the Fae folk but they are quite real. Just ask Rashmi, she has a teacher who is a Pixie."
Jules smiles happily, especially at the 'crazy and stupid' comment. Adorable. "That's right. Most people don't pay attention and they don't notice these things." The androgynous kid then looks over to David, "Hello. I don't believe we've met." Though, in fact, this statement could be made of everyone in this room as Jules has been somewhat of a recluse for the past month. Was it mentioned that Jules has a sling? Jules' right arm is in a cast and has a sling. That was probably mentioned.
Spotting Evelyn by the window, David blinks a bit but when Theo goes to let her in, the cybershades flicker a bit. Another student he has not met yet. Nodding to himself a moment as he appears lost in thought interacting with the shades, he briefly pauses to Theo, "Well, you never really know. They may just exist and we don't know. Hey if we live on a planet with Asgardians and Olympians as heroes why can't fairies and those other things exist?" David offers a wink to Theo. "Hey, maybe our own Pixie is really a pixie… Imagine that." David shakes his head as he thinks to himself, (Megan, a fairy, yeah right?) He laughs, "Sage is right though, for years people didn't believe in aliens and now look at things like the Shi'ar and the Skrulls." Walking towards Jules, "Hey, I'm David. I' a teaching assistant here. Welcome to the Institute." Turning to the others, "I see you've met Sage and Theo." Then we he spots the margay, "And the margay, I believe I have not met yet as well."
The very moment the window is open Evelyn leaps through then, hearing the topic of conversation is fairies, immediately regrets it. Head close to the ground she makes an attempt at covering her ears with her forepaws. "Mroooooaw." Her tail makes a few idle swishes and then she uncovers her ears and takes an exploritory sniff.
"I try not to believe in things that are silly," Theo returns to David, "And you're not helping. Asguardians are a good example. People thought they were gods, but they're just aliens. This guy and girl are just talking about stuff that doesn't have any evidence." Apparently he has mistaken Jules for a girl. "See, that's why you can't handle computers, your head is in the clouds all the time." He glances down at Evelyn's display. "Gee, you're welcome," he says to the cat girl.
"Isn't that girl Rashmi having a teacher who is a real life Pixie proof?" Sage asks Theo calmly before turning to David and Jules and shruging. "I'm not asking you to believe in them, just accept the possibility that they might exsit. Sophie taught me that." He reaches behind him and picks another cherry tomato and pops it into his mouth and he doesn't speak again until he's done chewing. "Actually I've only met yourself and Theo. I'm not familar with the cat I believe or him." He says of Jules.
Jules also speaks up, "One of my friends is also a sorceress who uses wands and everything." The teen doesn't seem to catch that Theo has mistaken gender identity on the mind. Or maybe Theo is right and Jules is a girl! Or a boy. Gosh. It's so hard to decide. Jules offers a slight bow to David before looking towards everyone else as if to address them. "My name is Jules. It's really a pleasure to meet all of you."
"Well, Theo, you never really now. Some people use to thing that mutants were witches. Magical creatures. And science can't really explain /everything/. " As Sage points out Rashmi's teacher, David nods, "Rashmi might be a better person to ask about that since she has met a real one apparently." David offers a smile and then waves directly at the margay, "Well for everyone to get to know everyone else before the semester starts. Jules and Evelyn, meet Theo and Sage." David does the quick introduction for everyone and reintroduces, "And I'm David. If any of you have any questions or need some help, feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I can, at least, hopefully point you in the right direction."
Evelyn turns and maows at Theo. It's not quite clear if that's a thank you or a reminder that she can't actually talk in this form. Her head tilts at Sage saying he hasn't met her, then she trots around the room to confirm her suspicion that no catnip-esque plants are growing anywhere. And having found nothing of the sort she begins trying to get into the right mindset for shapeshifting (a process which looks like sprawling on a bench to the untrained eye).
"It's good to know I'm the only one who is still grounded in reality," the technopath mutters. "But hey, why not, we get attacked by strange impossible situations on a regular basis around here. I'm sure you'll all get used to it soon enough, so sure, faires, why not?" Theo watches as Evelyn searches the bushes, and rolls the cherry tomato in his fingers. "Anyway, now you can listen to music on your computer," he tells Sage.
"Thank you Theo." Sage says with a friendly smile. "I think I'd be lost without you. I just have to figure this whole thing out. I doubt you ever will but if you ever need help with learning about gardening or various herbs or anything I can help you with that. I'd prefer not to teach how to skin a rabbit since I hate doing it." He says making a face of dislike. He looks over at Jules and smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet you Jules, I'm Sage like David said. Sage Windsong Chipmunk Holbrook the Fourth." He says standing up to offer a hand, one not covered in tomato juice.
Jules somewhat awkwardly offers a left hand since that right arm is out of commission. "I'm sorry I can't handshake proper. After that thing that happened the other night.." In a brighter disposition, Jules adds on, "Maybe we could get together some time and trade knowledge on creatures we know about?"
As Sage and Jules appear to becoming friendly, David looks over as Evelyn shifts back to human and nods his head, "Alright, well, you all have fun. Classes will be starting soon." With that David waves to everyone, "Gotta prepare some stuff for orientation. I'll see you all soon."
Finally, after a good few minutes of highly complicated shifter mental exercises (a process which merely seems like lounging around to the untrained eye) she finally resumes human form. "Hi guys, how goes? And thanks for the window opening Theo, I was dreading the prospect of climbing my way down from up here. I know cats can fall pretty well but that doesn't mean I want to hurl myself to my possible death…"
"No problem," Theo answers Evelyn. "So how did you even get out there to begin with?" the technopath asks. He decides not to comment on the suggestion that Jules and Sage want to talk about mythological creatures. "I mean, you had to climb up it to start, right?
Sage shrugs. "I guess you're really not quite the gardening type Theo." He says before nodding to Jules. "That would be wonderful I think. I can show you all the tricks I know to fairy hunting even if I was never that good at it. My sisters were better. Oh and not hunting to kill or capture, just try to spot them." He then looks at Evelyn and gasps. "So you're a cat!"
Jules nods to Sage before turning to look at Evelyn. "Ohhh, wow. I guess there really are powers for everything. That is so cool." Then, as if suddenly meaning to say something, Jules turns to David to wave goodbye. "Farewell, David!"
Evelyn blinks, then scratches her head. "No? I'm a person who turns into a cat," she explains. "How did I get out there? Uhm I opened the window /then/ changed form and went out there to explore. Someone must have come through and closed the window while I was… viewing the gardens. Yes that's it, viewing the gardens. Which look quite lovely from up here."
"Right. So y'all ready for the new…never mind, you guys don't know any of the squads anyway." Theo tosses up the tomato in his hand. "Just so you know, the X-men want to turn us all into superheroes, but they are going to pretend they aren't. Don't buy it, it's all bull, they want us to be the next generation for when they all do something stupid to get themselves killed."
"What are your abilities Jules?" Sage asks as now he knows Evelyn's. "I'm sorry Evelyn, I mean you turn into a cat. I was just surprised is all but I shouldn't have been seeing that you have a tail." He then looks at Theo and shakes his head. "You really do need to learn to lighten up. You're so negitive about things. I really don't believe that anyway."
"My abilities?.." Jules pauses for a moment, as if thinking. Eventually the teen just dismisses it with, "Oh. Nothing really all that amazing. What about yours, Sage? Theo?" That is a pretty clever way of just avoiding the topic by bringing up others first.
Evelyn shifts around on the bench to better allow for the aforementioned tail. "You didn't think I was here just because I had a tail did you?" she wonders. "And don't be like that! If you don't want to answer a question you should at least be honest and say 'I'd rather not talk about it' or something like that." She yawns. "I do know what squad practise is. I had a test danger room session with Mr Xorn. He had some kinda psycho spiky American football players try trample me. The trick, apparantly, is to deliberately misunderstand the instructions they give you so you can win easily."
"Dude, seriously?" Theo criticizes Sage. "You just ask people to tell you what their powers are? That's their business, if she wants you to know she'll tell you." He clearly picks up on Jules' discomfort. "Yeah, Xorn thinks he's really smart because he was locked in prison for most of his life. I didn't even use powers to beat the Danger Room session he ran for me."
"If you're that unhappy with yourself you shouldn't take it out on others Theo." Sage says since that's the only reason he can think that Theo is so grumpy. "I have what the school calls prehensile hair. I can use my hair similar to an appendage." He says before taking a deep breath. "I've been in that horrible danger room twice. Once ran by Mr. Xorn and the other ran by Mr. Lensherr. Both times were equally horrible. I hate it in there."
Jules headtilts a little bit, looking to Sage then Theo. "… I'm actually a guy, Theo." Despite the implications of this correct, Jules maintains a polite demeanor with that soft, light-hearted tone. There's a pause before the now-defined boy expounds on this discomfort. "I actually just don't want people to look at me and think 'Oh… There's that kid with that power.' I think who we are as people is much more important than our powers."
"Isn't it impossible to have one without the other though? I mean you're shaped by your self and what you can do," Evelyn wonders. "Who is Mr Lensherr? I don't think I've met him yet. But anyway back to the topic of powers I don't think I'd ever look at someone and think 'there goes Bob the guy who summons spoons'. Not unless you can find me someone with the mutant power of being catnip. For which I reserve the right to change my mind!"
"I was unhappy with you, not me," he tells Sage. "You should be more considerate." As if Theo had a lot of room to talk. He's not known for being able to get along with people very well. "Oh…um, sorry…" he adds. "Mr. Lensherr is Magneto," he comments. "You know, the supervillian. Anyway, I think I've done enough stepping in it for one day. I'm gonna go to work, so you three have a good time hanging out and self-disclosing and stuff." No comment on his own powers is made, either.
"I'm sorry if my background has you uncomfortable Theo but I'm myself. I'm sorry you are unhappy with that." Sage says, his tone is very polite and it doesn't sound like he's bothered with Theo at all. "I'm sorry Jules but I wasn't thinking of that. I don't think of people in regards to what they can do I was just being curious to see what other types of gifts the Dunlalaps bless people with. I'm not sure what kinds of abilities they give people." He then looks at Evelyn curiously. "Is there really someone with the power to create spoons?!"
Jules lightly rubs the back of his head. "People are people even without powers." The boy replies to Evelyn with this. Jules also nods to Theo, "It's okay. Other people have made the same mistake." It's like it doesn't even bother Jules, but by all means, it may not.
"And without people powers don't exist. They're just uncommon aspects of people," Evelyn counters with a grin. "And maybe! Erm… Magneto? Doesn't he keep trying to take over the world? I haven't met anyone who makes spoons, but I can't rule it out. I mean not so long ago I didn't really think people could turn into cats but here I am."
Sage shrugs. "I'm really not quite sure I just know that he ran a danger room session with a boat and dragons." He says before taking a breath. "I think Jules is saying is he wants people to know him for his personality and who he is not by what he can do with his abilities. I'm not Sage because I have prehensile hair, sure I do have that but it's not the reason why I am who I am. I don't let my abilities define me and Jules is saying he doesn't want to be defined by people because of what he can do."
"Yep, always taking over the world," Theo says with a smirk. "But he teaches here too, have fun getting ready for classes!" He finally pops the cherry tomato into his mouth, and heads down the stairs to head to work.
Jules nods towards Sage, "Yes.. What I can do isn't really important." Jules smiles towards Sage because it seems like he gets it and has even gone forth to explain it. "And I hope that we can all become friends during the school year."
Evelyn sighs. "Look I get the concept, I just think our powers are like our eye colour. They're not important and they're part of us, so why bother keeping it a secret?" Of course maybe she's a little biased because she has a tail. "But if you're going to be all mysterious why don't you tell us something else about yourself? What do you like doing in your spare time and that sort of stuff."
Sage looks at the laptop on his lap for a bit and frowns. "How do I turn this thing off?" He says as he taps the power button a few times noticing the computer won't shut down. "I found it quite easy to make friends around here even if I am quite different than most Americans."
Jules follows Sage over towards the laptop. With a few hand gestures over the touchpad, Jules shuts the laptop down for Sage with a smile. "Here, let me help you." Then the mutant leans against that same table to look at Evelyn. "I like flowers. Specifically red ones." Jules smiles brightly.
"You're quite different from people in pretty much every country," Evelyn adds helpfully. "Red flowers? Growing them? Taking pictures of them? Or maybe painting them? Or do you just do nature walks?"
"Oh." Sage says to Evelyn sounding a bit thrown off by that. "Back home we grew a lot of flowers, roses especially. That's how our farm got it's name, Rosewood Farms. We sell them at a local market along with fruits, vegetabls, other flowers, quilts and other goods from the farm. I wish I was home right now to help since autumn is one of our busy seasons as we're getting ready for winter too."
Jules nods towards Sage. "It's nothing specific, I just think they're attractive. To me they symbolize love and peace. I don't like to see people get hurt but I still enjoy things like the Danger Room where the goal isn't to win. I have no shame in using my powers, but I want to use them to make sure no one dies or gets hurt."
Evelyn ahhhs. "For a moment then I thought you were going to say it was because you had rosewood trees, which you would be the most amazing bit of gardening I could imagine. 'Coz they normally grow in places like Brazil or India." She gives Jules a shrug. "Okaaaaaay. You really do like being cryptic don't you? It's… kind of annoying if I'm honest."
"I don't know the exact reasons why my great-grandparents and their friends chose that name but I know it has to do with the forrest in the area and the roses they grew." Sage says as he looks up at Jules. "Thank you, maybe I'll ask for your help in learning how to use this thing." He says pushing himself up. "Well I should be going for a bit, I have to talk to one of the teachers about my classes next year. It was a pleasure meeting you Jules and it was lovely to see you again Evelyn." He says as he picks a few more cherry tomatos to eat as he leaves the room.
Jules shakes his head, "I'm not being purposefully cryptic. You asked a pretty broad question." Then Sage gets up to leave and Jules nods. "I really hope we meet again, Sage. I should probably get back to my dorm room, anyways. I have to make this phone call or something." Jules flashes a smile at Evelyn, "It was a pleasure meeting you." After Sage exits, the androgynous teenager follows with a, "Farewell."
"I bet that's your mutant power," Evelyn decides, waving as the boys leave. With a grin she adds "The ability to dodge questions like they're filled with poison. I'll no doubt see you both later!"
