2010-05-17: Persistence

Players:

Rashmi_icon.jpg Theo_icon.jpg

Summary: After a heated conversation in the kitchen, Rashmi chases after Theo to try to calm him down and get him to talk about his feelings.

Date: May 17, 2010. (Note: This takes place immediately following "Lessons in Sulking")

Log Title Persistence

Rating: PG


Xavier Mansion - Quad

There is a square side walk of pavement with a nice grassy area in the middle with a few stone benches and trees along the corners. The pavement leads to the paths to the grounds of the school, the Dining Hall in Xavier's and the Ramsey Dormitories. It's not particularly large but it's a nice place for students and teachers to relax and enjoy the outdoors.


After leaving the kitchen, Theo made a bee line back toward the dormitories. His pace is brisk, and he isn't looking behind him as he walks through the quad. He just wants to get to his room and not be bothered at this point.

Unfortunately, while she might not call it that herself, bothering Theo is very much what Rashmi will likely be doing as she jogs after the boy. "Theo… Theo! Just… hang on, all right? Please?"

Theo keeps walking, but he turns around to look at Rashmi, reversing his steps so that he can look at her while he's still continuing toward the dorm. "You know," he says, "When someone storms off, it usually means they are done talking," he informs her. "I don't want to talk to you." He turns back to face the direction he's moving, continuing toward the front step.
"You'd think that," Rashmi replies, almost scowling as the smaller girl works to place herself within not-jogging distance, unable to match Theo's stride but making a good show of it, at least. "But you act so much like Lucas sometimes, I'm starting to wonder if you two were separated at birth or something. When did 'whatever' become a viable response, anyway?"

"Nothing else seems to be any MORE viable," Theo answers quickly, "and 'whatever' takes less time to say." The freshman walks up the steps to the door. "What do you want from me, anyway?" he asks over his shoulder, clearly annoyed at her persistence.

"I'd say to prove you wrong," Rashmi says, leaning over to rest her hands on her knees, catching her breath from the exertion, "but honestly that'd just be a side effect. Really, I just want to talk."

Theo pulls on the door to open it, but pauses, letting it go again. He runs his hand across his face in a rather exhausted manner. "About What? Rashmi? About how you think I'm some felon looking for an opportunity to buck the law? Or about how you think I only care about myself? Maybe you want to know all the deep dark secrets of my mysterious past." He says the last with a mock horror movie narration. "What do you want to talk about? And why should I talk to you about it?"

"Because you need to," Rashmi says in answer to the last question. "Because maybe you think we all hate you and think you're a horrible terrible person… but you're wrong. Why should you talk to me?" The redhead shrugs, leaning against the railing on the steps. "…Honestly? Because I've already helped you once, and even a little precedent is better than none." Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she looks up at the boy, an eyebrow rising. "I don't think you're a felon, either. Or that you're selfish. I mean come on… I already told you, you remind me of Lucas. So, what could it hurt, Theo? Seriously?"

"Yeah, people say a lot of things," he answers the last of her statement, but from the moment she mentioned how she helped him before, it clearly changed his attention. "That's not fair to use against me," he says to it, much quieter. It was a very vulnerable time that he'd rather pretend never happened. All the same, he seems to be too tired of arguing to continue his resistance, and knows if he goes to hide in his room now, she can easily come find him again later.
As the door finishes closing on its own, the dark-haired boy crouches to sit down on the stoop, resting his feet on the steps. "Fine," he says in surrender. He doesn't offer anything to start, though.

"I'm not using it against you, Theo," Rashmi says quietly, settling down on one of the lower steps. "I'm just trying to remind you that there are people who *do* just want to help, is all…" Resting her elbows on the porch, she tilts her head back, frowning up at the night sky. "…Why can't you have your life back, Theo?"

Theo is quiet at the question. The silence that fills the air seems interminable. The sounds of crickets are all that can be heard as Theo fixes his gaze at a crack in the concrete.
"Why doesn't much matter anymore," he finally answers. "I just can't. I can't go home again. I'm stuck here so I just gotta deal with it."

The answer is taken in silence, mulled over for a respectful length of time. Finally, from behind the curtain of hair, a question. "…Are you?"

A shrug is the response. "Well, I'm still alive, so that's a plus. Maybe. Nobody's killed me yet." Theo doesn't look back at Rashmi, but he breaks his pose, leaning back against the stone wall. He only answers the physical aspects, though.

"Okay, that's half an answer…. C'mon, Theo. I know you think this kind of talk is stupid, but it's actually important to me. I can't *be* anything like a decent friend if I'm all ignorant about what's going on." Still not turning around, eyes fixed upon the stars, Rashmi seems to get the idea that it's easier, to talk at the back of her head.

Theo looks down at the said back of Rashmi's head, studying the locks of her braid. "What do you want me to say? I'm a wreck? Three months ago, I was just a normal guy. Was headed for valedictorian, had plenty of friends, and had a family that loved me. Not like people say their family is 'okay'. I knew my family was better than most and I really appreciated it. Now everything is gone. And I never saw it coming. So here I am, in a place where I know no one, surrounded by people who look like they belong in a circus, and it turns out I belong there too! So all things considered, I think I'm handling it pretty well." The answer, of course, leads back to the first question Rashmi posed to him.

"What d'you plan on taking for a major?" An odd non sequitur, but perhaps Rashmi seeks to make as much use of this rare moment of openness as possible. "I mean, if you were going to be valedictorian, you'd probably already had plans for college, right?"

"Mechanical engineering at MIT." Theo answers. "My old man was a train mechanic, so was my gramps, and so was my great gramps." All in past tense. "Never wanted to do anything other than work on trains." Rashmi's question seems to have triggered a trip down memory lane. "I'd go help my dad after school every day, and every day during the summer. There isn't a train that is used today that I don't know how to take apart. I was determined to be the first in my family to make it past blue collar in the railroad industry, design them rather than just work on them. My dad was smart enough to, but nobody cared because he didn't have a college degree."

Rashmi nods slowly, pulling her braid over her shoulder, fiddling absently with the ribbon tying off the end. "Well… you know this is a fully accredited high school, right? And… well let's face it, you'd probably end up with a head start on MIT with teachers like Beast and Forge…"

"Yippee," Theo says dryly, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "I don't even care anymore, Rashmi. Everything burns in the end." An odd choice of phrase perhaps, but appropriate to his line of thought.

Rashmi blinks, turning to face Theo, brow furrowed. "…Okay, um… I'm not going to preach at you. I'll admit, it's sort of a reflex, but anyway. And I'm not going to ask what prompted that. Because… I guess that's more like something for you to want to talk about. So…. your turn to ask a question, I guess?"

Theo knits his brow. Nobody said he had to ask questions too! "Um." He adjusts his position uncertainly, not entirely convinved he understands the nature of the conversation anymore. "What's your favorite color?" he says finally. He starts replaying comments that she's made earlier in the conversation.

Rashmi stifles a chuckle, but can't seem to manage to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up. "…Blue, actually… For everything *but* clothes anyway, hair like this doesn't help that much."

Red flags have started flying in Theo's mind. His interpretation of what is going on has changed dramatically in the last few moments. "You know, Rashmi, you're really beautiful, and you're really friendly," he says, trying to remain as even keel as he can manage. "I…" he pauses, and chews on his lower lip. "I think you're really tired, and it's really late," he says with a measurement in his voice. "You're Lucas' girl. Some guys say all is fair in love and war, but I gotta draw the line. I'm not gonna be stealing his girlfriend." He has suddenly gotten a very different picture in his head of why Rashmi wants to have the conversation.

Rashmi hunches over, shoulders quivering as she strains to keep the laughter in. It's a long, long moment, before she can manage to form words. "You… I…. you think…" Even then, apparently, it's a challenge, but she sucks in a deep, steadying breath, and when finally she forms her first complete sentence, there's only a minor quiver in her voice. "…No, Theo… I'm not trying to *come on* to you… just have a nice, normal, friendly conversation, you know?"

"Yeah, but you said I reminded you of your boyfriend, and you chased me all the way out here to get me to talk to you, wanted me to talk about deep private stuff, and then you wanted me to ask you questions," Theo counters, still a little uncomfortable. "What was I supposed to think from that?"

"Well yeah okay, but that just really means I can see the same methods for shutting everyone else out," Rashmi says, still chuckling. "I'm sorry I confused you… but I'm not surprised, even *I* think my brain works a little weird these days." Lifting a shoulder, she looks up at the uncomfortable young teen. "Look… the only reason I'm doing any of this, Theo, is you seem to need a friend, you know? It's *really hard* to be in a place like this thinking everyone hates you, nobody deserves to deal with that."

Theo doesn't give a response to that, he just folds his hands and looks at the ground. He doesn't thank her, he seems uncertain how to respond to her kindness. It's something he needs to hear, but it makes him visibly uneasy at the same time.

"So I'm going to make you a deal," Rashmi continues, voice gentle. "Whenever you want to talk about something… anything you need to, really… just ask. I can't promise anything I have to say is something you like… But I *can* promise that whatever it is, I'll listen, really, honestly, listen. Okay?"

"Sure," Theo says. "Just don't accuse me of trying to think up felonies when I'm just trying to help people," he says. He hasn't forgotten the conversation from the kitchen, and it still rides pretty close to the top of his mind. He starts to get back to his feet.

Rashmi nods slowly, sincerity writ large on her dark features. "I'm really, really sorry about that, Theo… And again, thanks for calling me on that, too. I mean that."

Theo nods, and begins to open the door. He pauses. "Say, you wanna make it up to me?" he asks, a light coming on in his head, and it's written all over his face. He turns back to look at the telekinetic girl.

Rashmi's eyebrow rises slightly, and she levers herself up to her feet. "If I can, sure. What's on your mind?"

"Do you think that you can find out what Chloe's shoe size is?" Theo asks. An innocent enough request. "I found a pair of shoes that I think she'd like. I don't know what size she wears though, and I want it to be a surprise."

Rashmi blinks at this, tilting her head. "I can try, sure… I don't see her *all* that often, but um… Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can figure out a way." Okay *now* the redhead is curious, and it shows. "…It's not her birthday coming up, is it?"

"Nope," Theo answers. His nose turns a little red, "Just wanted to do something for her that she'll like." Yeah, it's like that. "She's always going around barefoot because she doesn't like the feel of shoes, and the ones she does have get worn out pretty quick because of her speed," he explains. "And I heard about these running shoes that fit like a glove around each toe, so that it's like running barefoot."

A slow smile grows on Rashmi's face, a simple nod. "All right. I'll see what I can do. That's really sweet of you, Theo, I think she'll like that a lot."

"I hope so," he says. He opens the door and holds it for Rashmi. "It really is late, though, and I think we better both head to bed before the sun comes up," he says. "It's not a weekend or anything, and I don't want to sleep through class."

Rashmi nods quietly, smiling and bobbing her head in thanks as she walks into the dorm lobby. "Yeah… Probably going to be a wreck tomorrow… but I'll deal. This was important, after all."

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