Players:
Summary: Sophie and Sage talk a bit about the Danger Room and life while Rashmi comes across the two.
Date: August 1, 2011
Log Title: Life Lessons In Small Conversation
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Spuyten Duyvil Cove
This little cove leads off to Breakstone Lake. Students can go fishing, boating, and swimming in the fresh water. There is a small beach off to the side of the dock where students can also go sunbathing.
After last evenings danger room session Sage has been keeping to himself. He's found the relaxing peace of the lake to be just what he needs so he's sitting a bit aways from the water, a crochet stuffed pig next to him, while he strums on his ukulele. The familiar sounds of The Beatles 'Octopus's Garden' can be heard being played on the instrument along with the sound of Sage singing along. "I'd like to be, under the sea, in an Octopus's Garden in the shade…."
The normal tapping sound that precedes Sophie's approach is entirely lost, muffled by the soft ground and certainly drowned out by the music. But soon enough it becomes apparent that the blind girl has had similar ideas, though she has come with a book, rather than a musical instrument; a very worn, leather bound bible, clutched in her left hand. As she enters the beach, she comes to a stop, and tilts her head to listen without interupting.
"He'd let us in, knows where we've been, in his Octopus' Garden in the shade." Sage continues on singing and does for a very more verses before he realizes that he has company. The playing suddenly stops as he notices who it is. "Uh…hello Sophie." He says in his Northern British Accent. "Lovely weather tonight isn't it?"
Sophie smiles pleasantly, and bobs her head. "Si," she replies. "The air is very pleasant, and I expect the sky is clear; or at least there is a break in the clouds, for I believe I can still feel the sun." She prods the sand with her cane, as she resumes her approach. "You play and sing beautifully, Sage. You are a fan of the Beatles? Or just that song?"
"The Beatles are brilliant. Not as brilliant as Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac but they are an amazing band." Sage says and from the sound of his voice he's smiling as he says it. "The sun is actually setting right now but it was clear for most of the day. I've been out here most the afternoon. Are you a Beatles fan as well?"
Sophie squats down, and pats a patch of sand to make sure there isn't anything gross in it, before sitting down properly and arranging her skirt around her legs. "I am not sure I would term myself a fan, but I do enjoy their music." She collapses her cane into itself with a seties of quiet clicks. "Where I grew up, we listened to a lot of hymns and classical music; there was very little modern music. But I have listened to much that is new since coming to America." She pauses, and grins. "I like the Rolling Stones."
"Back home we listen to a lot of Mama's and the Papa's, Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Buffalo Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, those artists." Sage says as he lists a bunch of 'hippish' bands. "Rolling Stones I am not that fond of. Some of their songs are okay but not to great. I am not sure what hymns would be or classical music is. Or what is considered Modern Music. If it's what my roommate listens to, I think his absolutely horrid."
Sophie ahhhs softly. "I understands," she replies. "Hymns? Hymns are simply music that is sung in praise of God; it is nothing so complicated. Classicaly is… well, older stuff, I suppose? Beethoven and Mozart and the like." She tilts her head to one side. "You grew up in England, si?"
"Oh." Sage says. "We praise Gaia where I'm from. Mother Earth, the great provider. We sang a few songs in honour of her back home." Sage explains as he is a very spiritual person. "Never heard of Beethoven or Mozart. But I have heard of Glenn Miller. My Great-Grandparents like his music. And yes, I'm from England. You are from Spain?"
"Si." Sophie nods her affirmative. "I am from Spain; I lived near the Rock of Gibralter, so learning English was a must, as was French." She smiles pleasantly, and clasps her hands overtop of her Bible. "Gaia, though? As in from the Greek Mythos, if I may ask?" She pauses, and bites her lip. "If you do not know who Beethoven is, then you should hear the Moonlight Sonata. It is very beautiful; I shall play it for you on my flute, sometime, if you wish."
"I am not familiar with this Rock you used to live near." Sage says. "And Gaia is not a myth. Nor is she Greek. She's the mother of the whole world, the great spirit. Everything living from you, me, to the fish in the water to the blades of grass are all part of her spirit. We are born of her and when we die we are returned to Gaia to become one with her spirit again. She is life." Sage says. He then looks at Sophie. "May I ask you something about last night?"
Sophie holds up her hands, "My appologies, I did not mean it in such a manner," she replies. "My English is good, but it is not perfect, si? Sometimes I get the wrong word." She bobs her head. "Certainly, you may ask anything you wish about last night. I… sensed that you were very upset, but did not wish to breach the subject if you were uncomfortable with it."
Sage pulls his knees up to his chest and exchanges the ukulele in his hands for his stuffed pig, almost cuddling it. "Why are you so quick to resort to the violent method than finding another solution?"
Sophie's eyebrows rise, and she purses her lips briefly before answerings. "It is a good question," she replies. "And, there are two reasons. The first was because I heard screaming; and I inferred that violence had already commenced. The second is that… truely, the purpose of the Danger Room, as it has been explained to me, is not only to practice the use of our abilities… but to practice using them in the act of defending ourselves. I knew ahead of time that it would be some form of combat practice."
"So..to you, two wrongs make a right?" Sage asks her in complete seriousness. "Because one person punches another, by punching them back, it makes it alright to you? And because it's..fake on top of that it makes it even more okay?" Sage asks. "It might be to practice our abilities but isn't it also solving situations? I don't remember hearing killing dragons was our goal it was that we had to reach our destination. You do realize you could have hit me quite easily in there."
Sophie shakes her head slowly. "Certainly not," she replies. "But I do think there is a time for reasoning with your foe, and once they have already begun attacking you, that time has passed." She settles back, and hugs her book against herself, much like Sage does with the piggie. "Soon after I arrived here, I got lost. I was set upon by three young men who did not appreciate the fact that I am a mutant. They ruined the book I was carrying, they stole my cane, and they hurt me; I was lucky that Professor Lensherr was nearby to rescue me. Later, during a riot, I was dragged into a building and assaulted, for a sample of my blood. Neither time did I fight back." She sighs heavily. "I am tired of being an easy target. Hurting someone is the last thing I want to do, Sage, but I do not wish to be the victim anymore."
Sage shakes his head. "There's always a reasonable solution." He has to believe it. "It's horrible that those things happened to you but by fighting you do become a victim no matter what. The more people fight the more it makes you think it's okay. Then it becomes easier and easier to resort to violence and it makes it more right for those people to do what they did to you."
[break]
Sophie nods her head quickly. "Si, I can do these things," she replies. "Or I could have labels made up for the jars in braille, and remove all doubt." She taps her book for emphasis. "Actually, I am slowly becoming bored with this summer holiday. I like summer; but I would like to get back to learning, si? I do not understand the attitude of some of these Americans who think that school must be boring or somehow painful. To me it is fun."
"We never had summer holidays back home. There was always workd to do." Sage says as he sits there next to Sophie. His ukulele sits on the ground next to him while he clutches a stuffed crochet pig in his arms. "I don't know about learning but I'd like to get back to doing something. Though the weather has been nice enough here just…maybe we should get a group of us to play a game or something. Like a friendly game of…well…something where you don't have to worry about a ball hitting you in the face since I'm not sure how well you'd do at football."
The sound of feet on gravel is heard a short ways off, and before long Rashmi emerges around a bend in the trail from the Docks, PDA tucked under one arm, light cotton skirt swishing at her ankles. Pausing for a moment as she spots the students, she smiles lifting her free hand. "Hi… I'm not interrupting, am I?"
Sophie tilts her head and cocks an ear towards Rashmi, as a smile graces her lips. "Rashmi! No, not interupting at all. Please, join us, si?" She tilts her head, and nods to Sage. "I was only just telling Sage that he should speak to you; and then, here you are. Your timing is amazing."
Sage is dressed in standard hippy fashion, loose fitting white pants over barefeet with an olive green tunic shirt and a thin matching band around his head. "Hello Rashmi, you're not interupting at all. Sophie and I were just talking about cooking and how the summer is getting boring with not much to do around here."
"Not much?" Rashmi tilts her head slightly, settling down near the group and setting her PDA in her lap. "Well… I guess that depends what you *like* to do, really… But I'm sure we can think of *something* if we try." Glancing from one, to the other, she smiles. "So… What d'you both think is fun?"
Sophie chuckles softly. "Lots of things," she replies. "Listening to music, and reading, going for walks, going swimming…" She pauses, and blushes softly. "Though, only with a friend, do I do that. I love chess, also. Meeting new friends is always fun, and I hope that with Sage's blessing, I can count this morning productive, si? …Actually, I enjoy most things that do not involve receiving a ball in the face."
"Well I like listening to music but more playing music and singing and dancing with a group." Sage begins. "Swimming can be fun, going hunting for the fairy folk in the woods, playing football can be fun. Wait..it's called something else here in America, isn't it. I find making necklaces and bracelets out of hemp rope to be relaxing but I don't know about fun. And farming, I love gardening." He then looks at Sophie and smiles. "Yes, this morning counts as making a new friend."
Rashmi smiles gently, nodding to herself. "Well… There's the lake here for swimming, and of course the forest… There's also a nice big reservoir not far from here, if you want to picnic in the park or something, too… Hm… Tilting her head, she glances from Sage to Sophie, considering. "…I know how you feel about the Danger Room, Sage, but did you know you can do other things with it besides what they do for team lessons? You'd need an adult to take care of it for you, but, if you ever wanted to *visit* a place in a story you really like? You could. ….I wouldn't recommend it *too* often, but, it's definitely something you couldn't do anywhere else in the world."
Sophie oohs softly. "I did not know we were allowed to do that!" She claps her hands together against each other. "That does sound like fun." She tilts her head, and glances back in Sage's general direction. "Are there any stories that appeal to you, Sage? That you might like to immerse yourself in, fully, in which you can be comfortable?"
"The reservoir sounds interesting since I haven't left school grounds since I came here yet. I just don't know where anything is really but I'm fine staying here too." Though Sage is curious to see the reservoir. He then shakes his head. "No, I have no desire to go into that horrid room anytime soon. Because even if I went to a place in a story I like there'd probably be an awful…thing that pops up. Both times I was in the danger room things started nice then there were bears or dragons and the dragons weren't even acting like real dragons."
Rashmi shakes her head. "It doesn't work that way, Sage, I promise… but I understand. So, the Reservior… Or if you wanted to go into town, there's a Coldstone near the mall. It's really neat, Sage, they take whatever toppings you want, and fold it into ice cream on this big chilled hunk of stone… *Really* good ice cream, too. Or if you wanted to do the tourist thing, there's pretty much whatever you can possibly think of in the City…"
Sophie bobs her head in acquiescence. "Si, I understand also, Sage. I appologize if I seemed overly eager; I was only hoping to help with something that makes you uncomfortable." She pauses, and fiddles with her collapsed cane. "You are the newest person here, Sage. What would you like to do?"
Sage shrugs. "With in reason…I don't really know anything outside of Xavier's. I'd say start a garden but I still would like to wait for permission for that instead of digging up the yard." Sage then looks at Rashmi curiously. "I think I could go into this city for ice cream, that might be fun but what's a mall?"
Rashmi chuckles, bobbing her head. "Well, it's like… hm." Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she considers how best to put it. "It's like… a whole *bunch* of shops, all in one huge building… I think Salem Center's two stories? Anyway they have all *kinds* of stores, I think a movie theater, and probably some other places. Outside the mall, you usually see a few restaurants, and places like Coldstone, the ice cream place I was talking about. Inside? People *everywhere.* But anyway, if you wanted to try Coldstone? I'd be happy to treat you both. It's been awhile since I've gone there, myself, I sort of miss it."
Sophie nods as Rashmi describes a shopping mall. "Think like a farmer's market," she suggests, "Just… indoors, and with shops that work in a more… I dunno, formal sort of way." She gestures with her cane as she speaks. "It'll make more sense once you see if, really. It's just a bunch of stores in a building."
Sophie nods as Rashmi describes a shopping mall. "Think like a farmer's market," she suggests, "Just… indoors, and with shops that work in a more… I dunno, formal sort of way." She gestures with her cane as she speaks. "It'll make more sense once you see if, really. It's just a bunch of stores in a building." The blind girl tilts her gaze towards Rashmi, and bobs her head. "Thank you, Rashmi! That is very kind of you."
"Oh my family ran a Farmer's Market on weekends but we never did anything with movies or anything." Sage says before asking. "What's a Movie Theatre?" He's never been to any sort of theatre. "Okay, so how do we get to this place? Is it just a walk away? CAuse if we're walking I probably should put some sandles on."
"Well, you're going to want to put your shoes on anyhow," Rashmi says, a lopsided smile touching her face. "Most food stores have a 'No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service' policy, mostly for health reasons. …Um. Movie theater's, like…" She pauses, furrowing her brow, and finally shakes her head. "…Well, hard to explain, considering… We'll just have to show you, sometime. I *think* we can find a movie you'd like in the Rec Room, that TV's big enough to double as a small theater screen…"
Sophie pulls herself up to her feet, and snaps her cane out to full length, all without dropping her book. She flicks the cane lightly around her, probing the sand and flicking away a piece of driftwood with a deft motion. "It's like a really big television," she suggests. "Have you ever seen 'Titanic'? That's still one of my favorites." She rests her cane in front of her, as she waits for Sage to stand up as well. "What sorts of ice cream do you two like best?"
Sage shakes his head. "No, I've seen a lot of cartoon movies and stuff like Mary Poppins and Swiss Family Robinson. I think the Sword and the Stone is one of my favourites. The wizard is funny." He pushes himself up off the ground. "Though television was a Saturday night thing sometimes. We didn't watch to much of it but when we did it was fun because they got most of us kids around the commune together to watch it in one of the houses."
Rashmi climbs to her feet as well, glancing down at the PDA, tapping a couple things, and shutting it off, stowing it in her bookbag. "Well, a movie theater's like that… only the screen's absolutely huge, and there's enough seats for like a hundred people at least. So… maybe we can see what movies are playing when we get there, and if there's anything you'd like, we'll go? But, definitely ice cream. It's a good couple miles to town though, so if you both'd rather take the bus, that's an option."
Sophie bobs her head. "The bus is fine by me," she replies. "Though… if one of you would be so kind as to lead, it would be easier, si?" She pulls her own book bag off her shoulder, and after a moment of fumbling, succeeds in placing her Bible within it. "I can never quite remember where the bus stop is. I am not sure why it eludes me so; I have memorized the rest of the grounds without any trouble."
"I've never been on a bus so bus I gather." Sage says as he offers his arm for Sophie so he can lead her. "Though I have to go inside first and get my sandles. I prefer not to wear shoes since it keeps me closer to the earth without a barrier. And you've done better than me. I"m still learning where everything is. I think I have outside mostly down but inside, it's just so complex. What kind of house requiers an elevator?"
Rashmi chuckles. "Well, a house that was remodeled to deal with being a private school," she says. "Plus there's the underground stuff for research and the X-Men and the jet… The grounds here honestly serve a whole lot of different purposes… Anyway. I'll meet you guys by the gates, and we ca go to the bus stop from there, okay?"
