Players:
Summary: Not a law firm by the way. They are merely the topic of conversation between three teens chilling on the bridge in the Japanese Gardens at the Xavier Mansion.
Date: July 1, 2011
Log Title: Faeries Navisey and Gnome
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion- Japanese Gardens
A large area of the grounds is landscaped with a Japanese Garden. A river filled with coi fish runs through the middle with a wooden bridge. There is even a small waterfall splashing on the rocks. Bamboo can be heard clacking on the rocks. A small statue of a Buddha can be found in various places. The trees hang over the area and when the flowers are in bloom, it brings a variety of color to the peaceful landscape.
The sound of someone playing the Ukulele, a soft version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, can be heard coming from the gardens. Sitting on the bridge with his back leaning against one of the sides is Sage. He's dressed in a pair of jeans and a loose fitting white shirt with tan and brown diamond patterns on the sleeves and down the middle of the front. His bare feet stick out from the bottom of his jeans and have a nice layer of dirt on the bottom, as if he hasn't worn shoes all day.
Free from school and what semblence of responsibility he had around here, Ash is wandering the grounds once more. Every now and again he pauses here, or there, glancing hither and yon, like he was looking for someone. Whether it's to hide from someone, or to find someone, isn't quite clear. Eventually this wandering brings him to the Japanese Gardens, a place that he lurks on the edges of, eyes shifting this way and that as he looks upon such a sight for the first time. Then the Ukulele drifts, and his brows quirk. Tugging on the front of the grey hoodie he's thrown on today, he starts to seek out the source of the strumming.
The pitter patter of sneaker clad feet comes from the southerly direction towards the bridge where Sage is playing. With a backpack slung over one shoulder and a rolled up piece of drawing paper in the other Tyler is on a mission to finish up his drawing once he finds the perfect flower. Clad in a pair of baggy cargo shorts and a hooded t-shirt he flips the hood off when he spots his roommate. "Hey, Sage!" The blonde haired teen waves in greeting. Noticing the other student approaching as well, "AND hello other guy!"
Sage seems lost in his own world as his fingers move over the strings of the small instrument. Upon hearing his name, Sage looks up but doesn't stop playing. "'Ello Mate. How are you doing today?" He asks and as 'other guy' is mentioned, he looks over and nods. "'Ello Ash. So, may I ask both of you a question? Why the hoods?"
Following the music and the thud of sneakers, Ash makes his way to where Sage sits and strums. Recognizing Sage, at least, Ash lifts a hand in greeting, "Hey Sage…" although since he doesn't recognize Tyler, he gets a similar "Hey, other kid…" in return. At Sage's question, Ash shrugs. Today the hood isn't up at least, but it's still a thick heavy hoodie and long cargos, despite the warming weather. "…just my thing, I guess." And by thing we really mean 'barrier against the outside world,' but someone's working on that. "…and it's not like I need to dress cool for the weather." he notes.
"Oh not too bad, thanks. Pretty cool," Tyler points at the small instrument Sage is playing. The instrument looks familiar though he can't quite place what it is. Probably should Google it or something so he can avoid looking like an idiot by asking a stupid question. "The hood? Oh right!" The rolled up paper in his hand is waved about expressively as he explains, "I like hoods. It started as a weather thing because it rains and snows a lot in Ohio but I started pulling the hood of my sweatshirt and such down so I could get away with sleeping in boring classes." Tyler shifts his drawing into his left hand then offers his right to Ashley. "Tyler, nice to meet you."
By this time Sage has stopped playing and looks between the two again. "But, if it's your thing…and he's also wearing a hood…I figured it was some American clothing thing I didn't quite get." He says pushing himself up to a standing position. "It rains a lot back home in England and the winters can get bloody cold up there. And sleeping in classes….what are classes like here. I've never been to a school."
Tyler chuckles softly, "Could be, Sage. There are a lot of fashion trends trust me on that one. Like right now it's the in thing to wear one sock a different color than the other and if they're also different sizes the better. I could show you a few things later on the magic box if you like." The personable young man is all smiles at the moment as he rolls his drawing up into a scroll then pulls his back pack off to open it up and put his drawing inside. Glancing between Sage and Ashely, "Hmm, depends on the class man. If you're into the subject or have a cool teacher it's fun and interesting but if you hate the subject and or the teacher blows then you'll be bored to tears and praying that the time flies by."
"I don't like wearing socks, or shoes, unless it's really cold. But then working in the farm you had to wear something on your feet." Sage says as he prefers being barefoot. "My only teachers have been me Mum, Dad, Aunts, Uncles and others at the farm. We didn't really really have teachers exactly. I think they called it Home Schooled. But it should be interesting seeing what these classes here are like. My favorite class I gather you could say is when my Grandpa would take us into the woods and show us various plants and how you could tell a navisey had just been in the area and such."
With no where else to be right now, Ash settles himself down on something convenient to sit on, legs stretched out, arms back for support. Fashion was never really Ash's 'thing' so he remains silent as Tyler fills Sage in on some of the current trends, but his interest is piqued as the dredlocked teen speaks of home schooling. "Some people do that out here, there was a family in my town that did it." he offers. And then a question: "What's a navisey?"
Tyler folds an arm then rests it against a side of the bridge so that he's leaning heavily against the wood. "Home schooling here's a bit different, Sage. It's basically things like math, history, language arts and such most often taught by parents or a hired tutor or something. I can't say for certain what's all involved but that's kinda the idea. Same classes one would take at school just at home. Kinda curious as to what a navisey is." Peering down at the boys seated on the bridge Tyler puts his back back on over an arm while puzzling out what a navisey might be. Maybe it's a wood fairy or something or perhaps a tiny deer.
"Navisey, they're kind of like a flower fairy but they help with trees instead of flowers. Where as flower fairies help flowers bloom and smell pretty to attract bees, Navisey's are responsible for helping trees grow. They help the tree's roots come to the surface so that they can feed more on the water and soil. Also they're a bit of pranksters so they like to watch people trip and fall over them too." All this is said with one hundred percent seriousness as Sage fully believes it to be true. "My whole family…well everyone on the farm was. We learned math and some History or England but, what is an language arts? Is it like singing?"
This time last year, Ash would have had a hard time now busting into laughter at Sage's completely-serious explanation. As it is, now he's kind of grinning at the other youth as he explains tree fairies. Hell, Ash creates fire just by thinking about it, so who knows what else is out there. Instead, he decides to answer Sage's question, "Language arts, at least at my school, was like French, Spanish, that kind of thing. Learning another language."
A mental whoop for nearly being right about the navisey has Tyler smirking. "Kinda glad I'm not the woodsy type as I'd be a prime target to prank. I've always liked faeries though I've only thought of them to be stories rather than real. Totally makes sense though. Maybe I could draw a few for you if you'd like a picture or something." He listens as Ash explains what language arts meant to him. "Really? I always thought Language Arts was reading and composition. They called other languages Foreign Language class. Oh, and singing is Chorus Class." Takes in a deep breath to stop the babbling, "BUT Where are you from, Ash?"
Sage shakes his head. "I've never had a reason to learn any other language. All of our customers at the farm have been British like us. We got the occasionally Irish or Scottish folk but not that often." He then smiles at Tyler. "My sisters, brothers, cousins and friends and I used to go out hunting for fairies. We would stay up all night lying low around the various flowers hoping to catch a glimps of them. My cousins Peace and Prosperity used to be the best at spotting them. I never saw one though, I tended to get distracted by Cinnamon or Clover."
"It was a requirement for us." Ash replies, squinting his features up. Obviously he did not agree with the concept that he'd ever NEED French. But Ash pauses there. He's been forthcoming enough, but there's a definative pause, a consideration. He never knows what people can use to find out the secrets he's been trying to hide. Eventually, though, he settles on an answer of "Michigan" to Tyler's question.
Tyler turns around slipping his arm off the top of the bridge side to rest his back up against the wood instead. Crossing his feet out before him his hands slip into the pockets of his shorts as he listens to the other boys talk of various things. "Is Clover another piggy?" He asks Sage not wanting to interrupt the conversation but slipping the question in there somehow. "I hated taking a language. I already know two so I figured the system was just being mean to me. Stupid credits. Blah. Anyways, Michigan huh? What's it like there? I don't know much about it other than the Lions are about as bad as the Bengals."
"Is it a requirement here?" Sage asks not to sure if he wants to learn another language. "No, Clover is my brother, my older brother. My younger brother is Corriander. I have two sistes as well too and a bunch of cousins and then even more on the farm I'm not even related to." He rambles. "What's Michigan? Is that a city around here? And there are Lions and Tigers in Michigan?!"
"It's a state, out in the Midwest." Ash explains. "No lions or tigers, but every so often there's a bear, out in the woods." A shrug is given to Tyler, "It's like anywhere's else, really. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, construction in-between." he offers.
Tyler shrugs as to whether the language is a requirement or not as he honestly doesn't know the answer; it probably is. "Oh, my bad about Clover. You've got a pretty big family, Sage. I'm the onliest one in my family not counting my cat." In the next moment Tyler finds himself chortling at Sage's reaction about Michigan though he glances down at Ashley. "That makes Michigan sound incredibly boring, which I hope it's not, as there's got to be something cool about the place. The animals thing is the name of football teams here. Lions, Tigers, Bears, Rams and such. The football team where Ashley is from is called the Detroit Lions, Detroit being the city. Where I'm from my state has two teams though neither are very good. One's the Cincinnati Bengals the other is the Cleveland Browns. Oh, and football here is with the oval like ball because we're odd and call what the rest of the world considers as football, soccer." Pulls a face. "I think I'll shuddup now."
"There were eighteen of us in my house. Three generations of Holbrooks and Ashenhurts in the house." Sage says. "Actually the amount of people here feels normal, just more kids." He then plucks a few strings on his ukulele while he listens. "We used to play football back home a bit when we got bored. I hated being the goaly, I was bloody awful at it. Violet was brilliant though. I never watched any football though. How do you kick an oval ball? And what is soccer?" He's quite confused.
"American's have to be different. So what you call football, with the round ball, we call soccer. And the one with the oval ball is football." Ash explains to Sage, before shrugging to Tyler. "I'm sure some part of it was interesting, but not my town. God awful boring." In fact, the only interesting thing to happen in that town in a decade was a horrible mutant-on-normal crime! But that's not a topic Ash likes to bring up, instead preferring to let it lie.
"Eighteen? Wow…" Tyler is stunned. "How do you guys deal? I know that might be sorta a weird question but I've lived with just my parents my whole life. Sure I had friends and such but they went home at a certain time and we only hung out occasionally…" The thoughtful teen trails off as he ponders what it must be like to live with so many people and truly a vastly different lifestyle than what he's used to. "I knew I explained that bad," he chuckles. "Sorry about that. Football season is starting soon. Might be easier for me to show you a game on tv than try to explain it. To kick the oval shaped ball though they have someone hold it in place or put it on a kicking tee that looks kinda like a v-shape and kick!" Tried of his pack slipping off his shoulder he sets it down to lean up against his leg. "Well, at least you can't be bored to death in New York, Ashley. There's far too much to see and do and well things around here are really interesting often times."
"I still don't understand but I guess if you like kicking around an oval ball…then have fun." Sage says with a shrug. He doesn't even know about American's and sports nor how popular they are here. "I'm sorry to hear it was boring Ash. I already miss Rosewood Farm quite a bit. We always had stuff to do, a lot of it was chores but I always liked gardening. Oh, if you ever get bored Ash, we can go hunting for flower fairies or brownies or gnomes together!"
If this was a movie, this would be where that certain someone appears. The one that Ash both dreads and looks forwards to, for some reason. Ahh, youth. However, he instead chuckles at Tyler, "Yeah, New York is pretty interesting enough. Although I wouldn't recommend.. uhh.." he pauses, closing his eyes in thought and memory before adding "..Hell's Kitchen. Rough place, that one. Wow." he muses, opening his eyes once more, looking towards Sage with a quirked brow. "I don't think the staff'll let us go hunting, Sage." he says. Then again, Ash's definition of hunting is vastly different from Sage's. "…we can't even have cars on campus, they'll flip if I tried to bring in a hunting rifle."
"Not familiar with Hells Kitchen. Haven't explored much of the city yet. I'll stay aware from there then. Thanks for the tip!" Tyler's legs are starting to get tired of being at an angle so he slips down to seat himself on the bridge drawing his knees up towards his chest. "I'd fail at hunting stuff like that. My idea of hunting brownies is going into the kitchen and opening cabinets, and the school doesn't have any lawn gnomes to tip over. Don't think he meant to kill them so much as find them. I wonder if faeries are happy things or the nasty sort like in Labyrinth."
"There's a place called Hell's Kitchen? That sounds like an absolutely horrid place." Sage says just judging on the name alone. Then his face grows long with shock as he looks at Ash. "You don't hunt Faeries with a rifle or gun or anything like that!" He almost sounds offended. "I meant hunt like try to find them. See if you can spot one, not kill one. That is horrible and just terribly nasty! Plants need the faeries to live!" The idea almost makes him want to cry. "The only time you kill something is when it's necessary, like when we have to kill the chickens for food." Then he scowls a bit. "Lawn gnomes…" He hissy like they have personally offended him.
"Oooh, just like, lookin' and stuff…" Ash says as he hoists himself up to a standing position, dusting off his backside, "…sorry, sorry. They hunt in the Midwest…" he says, turning to the side and miming the action of staring down the sights of a rifle. He's probably not endearing himself to Sage, but eh, it happens. "…for food!" he adds, glancing at the Brit. "..usually. Deer and ducks and stuff." Ash says. Of course, with talk of meat, now he's hungry, stomach grumbling. "I'm gonna head back to the Mansion, find something to eat. Take it easy, Sage. Tyler, good meetin' ya…" he says. And then the pyro is heading back off across the grounds.
Tyler waves his hands in front of himself trying to wave off whatever emotional disaster he and Ashley may have caused as Ashley leaves and he tosses a goodbye to the guy. "I like faeries, technically I am one, just not flaming…." Face meet palm. Trying again before he confuses Sage any further. "I know that all sounded horrible and for my part I was just joking around. I do that a lot. Lawn Gnomes are little statues of gnomes that people put on their yards for decoration. There's even a movie about lawn gnomes now. I even watched a cartoon about a community of gnomes when I was little. Didn't mean anything by it. Honest."
"Cheers!" Sage calls to Ash as he goes off before looking at Tyler. "I don't get it." He says about the fairy comment. "And you think they're for decoration but they're not. People put them there to scare away the Opets because they think they're eating their grass but the Opets are really there to keep it green. Lawn Gnomes are nasty buggers. You can't trust them."
"They're shifty I'll give them that. Back when my Gran had a garden she had a few of them and they creeped me out. I used to pick them up and turn them around which made her mad." Tyler stretches out his legs then crosses a foot over the other. "I think we're going to run into things we don't understand for awhile which is cool because it's getting to know a new person and where they came from. I'm no doubt terribly bizarre to you." Resting his head back against the slat of wood behind his back Tyler peers up at the clouds overhead and ponders whether or not he wants to get into what he meant about being a fairy technically. "The fairy comment is complicated. I could explain it in that odd sort of more confusing way of mine or we can forget about it for awhile. Your call on that one, man."
Sage shakes his head. "Not really, just trying to figure out things here. It's quite a bit different back home. The sense of community is vastly different and there aren't really many chores to be done. I should talk to the school to see if there is a garden or something I can work on." Sage misses gardening and having fresh vegetables. "I don't mind if you explain it but right now I should go get some food. I'm getting terribly hungry and if I don't eat soon I'll get the grumblies and we both know they're not good to get." Probably for different reasons.
Tyler nods in understanding before hauling himself up to his feet and dusting off non existent dirt from his shorts. "They might have a greenhouse or something. If not maybe they'll let you make a garden or something. That would be kinda cool. Try not to sweat things too much. When classes fire up again you'll have a lot of homework to do and the Danger Room sessions." Leaning down Ty picks up his pack then shoulders it. "I'll explain some other time. Hope whatever you can throw together in the kitchen works out for ya. I think I'll go back to searching for the perfect flower. See ya later!"
