Logs:Good Reason

Good Reason
Dramatis Personae Jean, Kyinha
In Absentia	2020-09-02 "It's difficult to know what to believe." (Part of Final Boss: Xavier TP.)
Location <XAV> Lake - Xs Grounds
Bright, bright, bright; the lake glitters wide and expansive here, stretching off into the distance. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, it catches them all. Lapping at the rocky shore, its deep waters are frigid in winter and cool even in summer. A stone pier stretches out a ways into the water, wide and smooth, though often icy in winter. The water teems with life nevertheless, home to myriad species of fish that provide for ample fishing or just lazy watching on a slow summer day, for those who want to take a boat from the boathouse out to the center of the lake, or perhaps lounge on the pier and try their luck. It's hot, though not sweltering, humid enough that those puffy summer clouds are likely to turn into a puffy summer thunderstorm before evening. But right now the sun is shining and the birds are singing, and the days of summer quiet at the school are drawing to a close. Kyinha is sitting at the end of the pier, wearing only a blue wave motif sarong, one leg crossed beneath himself and the other hanging over the edge into the water. A faint plume of steam rises from his jet black skin, perhaps somewhat alarming to those unused to his high body temperature, obscuring the faint fiery aura already subtle in the bright sunlight. Jean was considering a dip in the lake. She had been so busy this summer she'd given herself no time for swimming. Strolling up to the dock she spots a fellow member of Faculty, and a fellow face of science, at that. For a moment she considers coming back later, pausing for just the briefest of seconds, before she continues, deciding it would be rude to walk away now. "Hello!" Jean says, still some distance down the pier from Kyinha, "room for one more?" She is wearing a simple linen wrap skirt, and a sheer blouse over her deep red bathing suit, which peeks through the fabric, mainly at her shoulders. Kyinha turns, waving, his eyes and mouth glowing white with his somewhat more than metaphorical inner fire. "Sure, please." He scoots over and pats the pier. "Plenty of space." His foot traces a figure-8 on the surface of the lake. "Trying to get in a solitary swim before the hordes return?" His face is as unreadable as ever, the unnatural black of his skin hiding much about his expression, but Jean can sense his unease, his casual tone very much forced. Jean lets out a soft smile and steps up closer, slipping off her sandals as she reaches a spot about an arm length away from where Kyinha sat. The unease she feels sends a bit of her shiver up her spine. Always afraid, it seems. Tucking her skirt she sits gracefully and dips both feet into the icy water, enjoying the cool feeling, goose pimples immediately forming on her pale skin. "Something like that, just a moment of peace before to storm, I suppose." "Me, I cannot keep myself out of the water," Kyinha says, his chuckle likewise forced, his strange accent made stronger than usual by the stress that is plane for Jean to read in him. He's quiet for a moment -- not awkward, but companionable. It only becomes awkward when he ventures, "It's true, what the children have been saying? About him?" He turns his head so that she can tell he's glancing at her. "You know him best, I think, of anyone here." Jean let's out her own forced chuckle and begins debating leaving him to his swim, and then he speaks. Her expression drops and she is unable to stop it. A pang of anger rolls over her eyes as she stares at the water. "I-" she begins and struggles, biting her lip for a moment before continuing, "Yes, I've seen him alter minds, but he's always had good reason. At least, from what I've seen." She swallows before she quickly adds. "I'll admit I've not confronted him about the most recent rumors." "I want to think that he has always had good reason," Kyinha admits. "It was...a lot easier to admire him, before I came here. But life, it's complicated, no?" He does not turn this time when he glances at Jean, but the intensity of his gaze is palpable to her senses. "It is hard not to imagine whether he does not simply change all our minds to suit him best. I suppose the fact we are having these doubts should be some consolation." Jean resists the urge to look up, her gaze intense on the water. Her thoughts get the best of her as it takes her a long moment to respond. "It's difficult to know what to believe. I believe I am more furious with him for being so obtuse with us all." "Perhaps he thought we would not understand." Kyinha dips his other foot into the water, too. "Perhaps he was afraid we would react like this." His smile is sudden, sharp, and comes with a sudden warmer spill of heat. "Only we would not have, if he were honest about it from the start." "That's precisely it, isn't it. If he had just been honest-" She catches her breath and puffs her cheeks in irritation. Kyinha makes a 'tsh' sound and shakes his head. "I am sorry for bringing this up. You must be thinking about it a lot already." He moves both feet through the water, creating a small wave that ripples outward into the stillness of the late. "It is tempting, I suppose, when you can hide it? It makes things -- easier, yes?" Jean's cheeks release to normal in an escape of breath. "No, thank you." She says looking up to him with an earnest smile. "I honestly needed to talk about this, but I was realistically hiding, myself." Kyinha nods, now, his eyes following the wave as it spreads ever outward. "I think that is a reasonable reaction, considering the situation." His smile is thin this time, but not forced. "I think a lot of people are looking to you now. That is a lot of pressure." Jean looks down again as his words hit her. "I suppose you are right. I had not considered it that way." She says, seeming to have several emotions go over her. With a release of breath to push her bangs out of her face she switches gear on the conversation, "well, we were here to swim, yes?" She does not wait for an answer as she pulls the sheer over top off and undoes the wrap skirt, slipping into the lake from the concrete dock in a fluid motion. Kyinha only nods. But at the question his eyes widen slightly, the rest of his expression opqaue. He's quick, though, to follow. Pulls his feet up to brace against the edge of the pier and launch himself -- as if there were a race -- like a sleek black arrow into the water.