Players:
Summary: Jill discovers one of the numerous new kids. Warlock discovers he likes blue.
Date: December 1, 2011
Log Title: Lunchroom Etiquette
Rating: Log Rating.
Xavier Mansion - Cafeteria
There is a large cafeteria for the students. Blue and white tiled floor lines the floor and there are large windows that let in a lot of light. Six sturdy blue plastic chairs sit around each white table. There are a few snack and soda machines along with a few microwaves and refrigerators sit along one wall.
The dinnertime clamor of conversation and cutlery and scraping chair legs reverberate through the huge student cafeteria. The room is immaculately clean, or was until the students of the school packed in to dirty it up like they always do three times a day. Groups of friends gather together around the same table but the atmosphere as a whole is very egalitarian. There are few outcasts at this particular school. Jill, one of the more visible mutants of the school, slides her plastic tray onto an unoccupied table by the big windows and settles down by herself, popping in a pair of earbuds attached to an mp3 player before digging in. Spaghetti and meatballs is on the top of the menu tonight.
While not exactly an outcast Warlock has yet to join any form of social group so is himself looking for somewhere quiet to have lunch. He’s dressed in dark grey jeans, a red/brown belt, a black long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and red/brown kinda Jedi looking boots, seeing none of the tables are empty he opts for the most empty, "Errm, is it ok to sit here", oh his tray is pizza.
It takes Jill a moment to look back from the window to the boy talking to her. Hastily she tugs on her headphones' cord to pop them out. "Huh? Oh, uh, sure. If you want to." The blue, glass-like girl scoots her chair back and moves her tray aside to make room on the other side of the table. Aside from being dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, she looks like she might be a blue-tinted ice sculpture, save for the fact that she's moving around and talking and such. The girl squints her bright blue eyes at him, a little suspiciously. "Are you new here or have I just not met you yet?" asks Jill. "There's a lot of new kids lately."
Warlock nods and says "Thank you" in his American effected English accent before sitting down, his eyes are focus firmly on his pizza until Jill speaks to him, "Oh, er yes I’m new here", there’s lots of new kids?, good he won't stand out then.
Jill looks around the big room briefly, flicking from table to table to see if someone might be playing a joke on her by sending a new kid over. Seeing no evidence of it, she turns her eyes back toward Warlock. "So, umm," she says haltingly to break the silence that keeps falling. "I'm Jill. What's your name?" she prompts, unsure if he's shy or just really interested in his food.
While Lock is a big fan of pizza it is more the shy thing that has him staring at his food, "Hi, um.. my name is Lock", with Jill watching him he goes a little red, he goes to reach for his pizza, thinks better of it and ends up dropping his hands back to the table, "I didn't know where to sit".
A frown turns the corners of Jill's mouth down. "That's okay. There, um, there isn't assigned seating or anything. It's more… first come, first served. So it's usually good to get here a little early or else all the good stuff is gone." She twirls a fork into her spaghetti, chewing and swallowing thoughtfully. One of the drawbacks of being largely transparent is that anyone else can see the food as it goes down her throat before slipping out of sight behind the collar of her shirt.
Warlock shakes his head, "I know the first come part, I just don't really know anyone, so didn't know where was okay to sit", he watches the weirdness that is Jill eating before remembering that it's probably rude so quickly looks back down at his pizza again, he frowns at it for a second before picking it up and taking a bite.
"Well, sitting down and eating's a pretty good way to get to know somebody. Except then you spend a lot of time with your mouth full so you can't do much talking." Jill pauses, her fork tapping against her lips thoughtfully. "So maybe it's not the *best* way, but it's one way for sure. I'll start, okay?" With that, she beams a reassuring smile with white teeth and blue gums. "I'm Jill. I came here about a year ago, so I guess if you have any questions I can help, at least a little. Let's see, I'm from California, my middle name is Alice, I play the violin, and I'm allergic to shrimp." A pause. "Or… I was. I'm not sure if I still am, but I'm not really brave enough to test that theory yet. Now we're not strangers!" She grins encouragingly. "How about you?"
Warlock's eyes widen at the wave of information and after taking a few seconds to process it figures it's safe enough information to share, "Ok, well I’m Lock and I’m originally from Montreal, but then I moved to Salem, then to England and back to Salem, I haven't got a middle name, I can play guitar and I don't really know if I’m allergic to anything, I haven't tried all the things yet, I think that’s about it".
"Lock? That's an unusual name," she comments and twirls more spaghetti, spearing a mini-meatball on the end for good measure. "Like… L-O-C-K-E? Or L-O-C-K like on a door? Either way, it's nice to meet you and welcome to the school, I guess." Here she gives a sheepish little grin and a shrug. "It's probably pretty weird for you here, huh? I mean, just look at who you're eating with, right?" she adds with self-deprecating modesty.
Warlock nods, "Yes, L-O-C-K like the door", he's gone by Lock for long enough now that he doesn't bother telling people that his name is short for Warlock, his dad is an idiot sometimes, nah most of the time… always. "You're no weirder than anyone else in this room", there are people of all different colours in the world, why not blue?
The 'no weirder than anyone else' makes Jill laugh and she quickly puts a napkin to her mouth so nothing comes out. "Sorry," she mumbles from behind it, clearing her throat and taking a drink of iced tea. "I just always figured I set the bar for the level of weird in the room. It's kind of you to say, though." She points at Lock with her fork and nods appreciatively. "And technically true. It's the kind of thing the teachers here really wanna drill into your head, so you're a little ahead of the curve already."
Warlock smiles a little, "If everyone was normal then nothing would be interesting, there wouldn't be any music or stories, imagination is the weirdest thing out there and I love it", he goes a little red and returns to looking at his food again.
"Well, yeah," admits Jill, simultaneously taken aback and intrigued by the little glimpse under the shyness. "So how's your time at the school been so far?" she asks, pointedly avoiding the often touchy subject of 'how did you get here'. "At least you won't have to wait very long for Christmas vacation, so you could go home for a little while if it all gets to be too much. Which it can, sometimes."
Warlock shrugs, "It's been alright I guess, not really been here that long to make an impression", he doesn't mention the slightly embarrassing thing that happened in English class today, "Oh yeah, Christmas vacation, not sure about that, me and my dad aren't really talking right now".
"Oh." Jill deflates a little, like she accidentally tread on sensitive ground. She glosses over it quickly by picking up a different conversational thread. "Well, there's all kinds of things you can do around here to meet people." Ticking them off on her fingers, she recounts, "There's a gym where people play all kinds of indoor sports. There's outdoor places too, but it's getting a little cold for that now. Uh, the recreation room has a big TV and lots of video games and stuff and there's almost always someone in there. There's just regular classes too, though you probably shouldn't talk during class." She shrugs. "Really, a lot of the time the problem is getting time to yourself. Even though it's a pretty small school, sometimes it feels kinda crowded." Though at the moment, the crowd in the cafeteria is beginning to thin out even as latecomers still arrive.
Warlock nods, "Well I’ve been to the rec room and I was shown a lot of the other places when I got given a tour but I’ve forgotten where most of them are already", he takes a bite of his pizza, "My room mate doesn't seem to be around much so it hasn't really been difficult to get time to myself", he's glad there’s lots of people at the school, less likely to draw attention to himself.
"Hmm," Jill ponders, chasing a wayward meatball around her plate before finally catching it with her fork. "I guess what I'm saying is, don't worry about it too much. You'll get to know everybody pretty soon, and they'll get to know you. Like I said, it's a pretty small school, all things considered. Eventually, you'll know everybody whether you meant to or not." Finishing off the last of her tea in a barely visible waterfall down the inside of her translucent blue throat, Jill starts to pick up her dishes and put them back on the plastic cafeteria tray. "You'll miss that alone time once it's gone. Mark my words," she adds, probably unhelpful to Lock's desire to stay unnoticed. "But hey, I gotta run. I've got a five page history paper due tomorrow and all I've got so far is 'The Civil War was-'" Standing and reclaiming her iPod and backpack, she offers Warlock a genuine smile. "I'll see you around, okay? Maybe we're in some of the same classes, even. I'm… not very observant sometimes. But keep an eye out. You can't miss *me*, even in a crowd."
Warlock smiles and nods again, "Yeah, I’ll keep an eye out for you, it'll be nice to have someone around here I know", he waves as Jill leaves, he knew there had to be a reason that blue was his favorite colour, "Hope she's in some of my classes", he touches something around his neck before getting up and heading out the other way.
