Players:
Summary: Sam goes to talk to Kisha about waking up in Pumpkin Pie Filling.
Date: October 14, 2010
Log Title: Stubborn Girl
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Jill and Kisha's Room
The room's pale beige walls are broken by two closet doors and a large paned window on the far end. The beds are bunked; the top bed is clean and neatly made while the bottom is so covered in things that nobody could sleep on it. At the foot of the beds, facing the window, is a short chest of drawers with a broad glass fish tank on top, a small wooden step stool leading to it like a staircase.
Jill's desk is a typical walnut computer desk with stacked reference books, a lamp on a jointed arm, and a white netbook hooked to external speakers under four small art nouveau prints.
Kisha's desk is littered with disassembled machines and electronics, the wall above it peppered with pictures of famous inventors, physicists, and Iron Man. Her computer hums next to it, the size of a thickly built filing cabinet, and next to that is a bright red, clearly visible fire extinguisher.
It's been a strange month so far for Kisha. Having vanished for around five days for which she has no memory but plenty of bruises, scratches and signs of a rather extreme crash diet. Which is why when everyone else is attending classes she's tucked up in bed and dabbling with her computer. Looking for anything which might explain why a week ago she suddenly woke up in her bed covered in pumpkin pie filling and clutching a poorly made and battered shovel….
She's been giving a week to recover and since the experience must be pretty tramatic staff gave her a bit to recover before questioning her. So Sam has come to see Kisha and see if he can figure out some answers while at the same time seeing if she's doing okay. There's a knock on the door. "Ah hope Ah ain't disturbin' ya Kisha but it's Mr. Guthrie." A thing he's still not used to, being called, or calling himself, Mr.
"It's open," Kisha replies, shifting in bed to better see the door. "I didn't see much point locking the door all things considered." Almost as an afterthought she adds "I haven't rigged any booby traps." Inside the room it's apparent that Kisha hasn't been waiting quietly in bed like she's supposed to. Dozens of webcams are set up covering the room from every angle, plus pretty much every sensor she can get her hands on. All of them ready and waiting for anything coming back. A concern which might also explain why she's got a crowbar in bed…
Sam walks in and closes the door behind him. "Ah grew up with a few sister's, Ah know not tah just walk in a teenage girl's room without permission." He looks around for a place to sit and after setting everything in the room he decides standing is the best option. "So, Kisha, Ah know you said you ain't remembered anythin', but something obviously happened tah ya. Do ya at least remember the attack on the school a few weeks back?"
Kisha glances around, then frowns. "Well, it's patchy. But I had my laptop recording it direct to my main machine," she offers. "Sorry there aren't more chairs. Normally Jill pesters me into tidying up…" She taps at a few keys, then turns her screen around so Sam can watch her recording. "It's a little shaky and the image quality isn't as good as it should be. A man turned up on foot intent on seeking help, which implies he's local or had other means of transport. I take it no abandoned cars have been reported in the local area?"
Sam doesn't watch the video but focus' on Kisha. "Ah watched the video that the school took, so we know what happened there but we don't know much more than that. And Ah ain't heard of any cars bein' abandoned in the area. Why do ya ask?" If there's some kind of information staff doesn't know, well anything will help right now. They have some knowledge from Lucas right now but that's about it. "And did anyone take any samples of the…pumpkin fillin'?"
"/I/ took samples," Kisha says smugly. "From various points. I also took scrapings from the blade of the shovel because the soil could be used to identify the region I was in." She tilts her head, then shrugs. "Close to ninety percent of households own a car. Which makes it the most likely means of transport if the suspect didn't walk here. Not counting exotic means that is."
"Well the samples that ya took, can ya get them downstairs as soon as possible so that tests can be run on them? Ah know Em…." Sam stops and takes a deep breath remembering that she's not here. "Addison would like tah know what's going on. Ah know he's got his hands full doin' Emma's job right now, but we gotta figure out how tah get your classmates back. So how are ya feelin' over all Kisha?"
Kisha glances from side to side. "I took some down already," she replies. Leaving out that she kept any she thought she could study herself. "I also kept my clothing. Which might give some information. There is scorching and a smell of smoke, as if I'd been working near an open flame. Excessive dirt and mud, implying it wasn't easy to wash properly." Running low on facts she glances back down at her computer. "How do I feel? Considerably better than whoever kidnapped me will feel if I find them. Would it be acceptable for me to continue tracking down leads? I give my word I will report my findings to staff, but as you say you're very busy and I'm highly motivated. The gentleman named Blackmoore must have left /some/ digital footprints and if we can locate his home or place of work it will no doubt shed light on where everyone is."
Sam looks down at Kisha and the side to side glances make him cautious. "Right now Kisha, yer main priorty is gettin' better followed by yer school work and practice sessions. Ah appricated yer desire tah help Kisha but right now we are all workin' on figurin' out what's goin' on here and what happened with those who went missin'. Ah ain't thinkin' ya've been kidnapped cause a lotta people went missin' for it tah be a kidnappin'. We are goin' over things and tryin' tah figure it out, you bein' out there while yes, it might find somethin' but at the same time ya might mess up somethin'. And yer focus, not matter what happened, is school."
"I didn't intend on leaving school grounds," Kisha points out blandly. "I was suggesting I could search electronically. Post pictures on forums frequented by those interested in magic and ask if anyone knows him. He knew about the school and that also should provide you some clues as to who might know him." She shifts around under the duvet. "Mass kidnapping then. But the term still is technically accurate. As for where my focus and priorities are, surely that is for /me/ to decide?"
"That's one thing Ah would strongly advice against Kisha, postin' up on forums with those interested in magic. Most of those forums are people who don't know squat 'bout magic and most those who do know, ain't frequentin' internet forums." Sam says which is a good example of why she might be messing up. "Some of it is fer you tah decide Kisha but when ya made a choice to attented Xavier's ya also made a choice tah go to school and follow our rules."
"I suspect that's a very outdated view of the magic using community," Kisha counters, tucking the crowbar under her pillow. "They will undoubtedly have members young enough for social networking and they're likely to want to talk with others like them. But anyway that's beside the point, I'm confident there are leads worth following and it won't impact my class work at all." She types a few idle keystrokes. "By all accounts I've shown a remarkable degree of restraint compared with many of the other students when similar problems have occured. If you're going to demand I don't investigate then I'd hope you will at least keep me updated on how the search is going?" She smiles. "I am after all not contacting a lawyer about the incident. Plus knowing would help me sleep better and get over the incident with a minimum amount of therapy." Not that she has any intention of seeing a therapist…
Sam looks at Kisha and shakes his head. "At the same time you'll be exposing the identity of the school. Ah don't care if you don't care about the sercurity or safety of yer fellow students but Ah do and by doin' that your puttin' us in danger." He doesn't think internet chat networks are the best place to reveal the things that go on at the school, no matter how small. "We will keep you updated Kisha, just right now our main concern is the students safety." He says and there is no comment on the lawyer. "As for Therapy, Dr. Parker-Mayfair would be happy tah talk to you about anything ya need."
Kisha rewinds the footage on her laptop and begins playing it again. "In which case I would suggest you improve your security system," she jokes. "And please credit me with /some/ intelligence. I wasn't planning on letting anyone link my investigations back to myself." She was after all planning on some quite unethical searching techniques. "I still think you're making a mistake. Alaric Blackmoore is an uncommon enough name that checking through financial records would take very little time. And please don't try tell me wizards don't pay taxes. Magic might do a lot of things but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't stop the IRS."
"Assuming he gave a correct name. Have ya even givin' thought tah the fact that the X-Men and those here have been dealin' with this sort of thing for many years? Also we do have connections in the magic world that probably beat those who frequent online chat communities." Sam doesn't even thing Dr. Strange owns a computer. "And just so ya know, Ah plan on talkin' tah an old mentor of mine who specilizes in…strange activity and is highly known for it."
"Honestly? I couldn't really care less. If I'm looking it means I'm doing /something/ other than sitting and worrying I might disappear again," Kisha mutters sullenly, pausing the imagine and taking some screen shots with a few quick gestures. "Until the problem is resolved I won't be able to ignore it. So the only solution is to try and solve it. Sure I could try and fill my time with pointless tasks like memorising the year Columbus died but without knowing my 'focus' will be non-existant." She suddenly laughs. "Or you can authorise my building of a reality anchor that prevents all forms of dimensional shifting, reality modification and other such things. That would keep me busy, improve my skills and have practical applications! Of course the cost might be a little excessive…."
Sam ponders what Kisha's saying for a few moments before giving her something to work off of. "Alirght ya can do investigatin' as long as yer school work and yer practices don't suffer from it. It has tah remain tah school grounds and yer not askin' any freaky goth kids on some magic forum 'bout it cause that's too risky." He's not going to let her do more than that though since he's afraid she's going to do something wrong and end up screwing things up for her and the kids lost.
Kisha frowns. "I'll begin by having my machine run a facial recognition program. Comparing images from various sources in the hope that this Blackmoore has been on camera at some point," she informs. "I /have/ already done a little dabbling in such forums. But I've limited my questions to generic topics, like the symbolism of pumpkins in magical theory. Suffice to say it hasn't been a productive line of enquiry. If I find anything I'll email it to the staff, if that's acceptable? So far I only have some fairly good quality three dimensional models of the shovel, which I intend on comparing with various historical and regional designs."
Sam nods to Kisha. "Just make sure ya talk to Addison as well, since he's head of things while everythin's goin' on. Ah gotta be going now, Ah got New Mutants and Corsairs trainin' together right now tah get to but just don't go too over board with this Kisha and rest assured the X-Men are doin' what they can 'bout this." Sam says as he goes to leave.
"Just promise that when you find whoever was behind it you let them 'fall down' some steps," Kisha asks seriously, patting the crowbar under her pillow. "And yes I know that people say violence isn't the answer. But I believe in /thorough/ scientific testing and it never hurts to obtain additional data sets."
Before he leaves the room, Sam turns around and looks at Kisha. "Ah ain't gonna be promisin' that Kisha. We're gonna do what it takes to get your classmates and teachers back and that's our main priority. Revenage ain't a factor in this." Not yet at least but if combat comes of it, it does. It won't be something that would be sought. "Don't forget, if ya need tah talk to Dr. Parker-Mayfair he's there for you and all the kids here. Take care Kisha."
Kisha waves. "Revenge has such a bad reputation. It's really just a pro-active form of justice," she offers with a forced smile. "And I'll be fine without talking to anyone. Words won't help me half as much as my work will." She gestures at the piles of mysterious technology. "Thank you for giving me the time to recover. I'll be up to date with my missed classed before the weekend is done."
