ArchivedLogs:Awkward teacher is awkward

Awkward teacher is awkward
Dramatis Personae Sophie, Aloke	2013-05-15 Aloke meets Sophie
Location <XS> Conservatory
Tall panes of glass keep this large indoor garden warm year round. Tended to by the school's groundskeeper, the conservatory is lush with plant life, a carefully cultivated paradise within Xavier's walls. The room serves as a classroom as well; in the center of the garden a ring of seats forms a small circle, a favorite locale for some teachers to hold court. Midafternoon on a Thursday, after classes have ended, the conservatory is effectively empty. Students off doing their homework, having dinner, or whatever else it is that students do. In the centery of the garden, though, in that ring of seats usually used for classes, sits one Sophie. Her red hair is just about ridiculously long, falling midway down her back and flying all over the place with random curls and wavybits; she frequently brushes it back, though seldom gives up and admits defeat in the form of hair ties. She's dressed a bit sloppily today, in a faded black Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt, and dark pink pajama pants with hibiscus print. A similarly printed bag sits in her lap as she focuses on sending a text message, and on the chair to her right is a bowl filled with bananas, apples and grapes, along with a few cans of soda and bottles of water. Looks like she's waiting for someone. Strolling through the leafy plants, Aloke lets broad, thick fronds run through his fingers, fascinated and looking relaxed. He probably hasn't been in here yet, and he also looks like someone who just hasn't been around the greener things in life all that much. He takes a deep breath, eyes almost closed as his stroll takes him in to the center area. He almost notices Sophie's bench too late, but he pulls up short and says, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there. I'm Professor Suresh." He smiles down at the young woman. He's wearing a t-shirt for something called The Clash, tan chinos, and is barefoot. Sophie is in fact, wearing shoes. Multicolored Chuck Taylors. She almost doesn't notice the teacher approaching, either, so caught up is she in her teenagerly activities, but when he lets out that apology she makes with a tiny yelp of surprise. "Oh!" Blinking a few times, she puts her phone in her bag, big smile up at teacher. "Hi! Um. Oh, are you the new art teacher? I heard we got a new teacher." She waves a hand vaguely, looking sheepish. "I'm not really-- I'm not in any art classes yet. I'm not really an art.. person." Continuing to look a little sheepish, now is when she decides a topic shift might be a good idea. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name's Sophie." She sticks her hand out, for shaking. That's what people do, right? "Sophie MacLachlan." "Hi Sophie, it's nice to meet you." Aloke does reach out and shakes her hand. He also nods in response to her question. "I am indeed. And yoga class as well. I hear that a lot though, about not being an 'art person'." Aloke sits down on a seat across from Sophie. "All I say is 'give it a shot'. You never know, right? Drawing is useful to engineers and scientists as well. Its a great way to get something out of your head and onto paper." Shrugging, Sophie blushes just a bit and shakes her head. "Well, it isn't that I don't like it, I just... don't think of things to draw. When I do art I'm gonna take the fabric art class, I do knit a lot. Like.." She looks down at herself to find something to demonstrate, realizes she actually isn't wearing anything knitted at the moment, and frowns as if in confusion. "Uh, just a sec." Bag is pulled open and dug through, but apparently she doesn't find anything useful in there either. "...okay, that's weird. Anyway though, I make up the fair isle designs for like my hats and mittens and stuff. Like, snowflakes or leaves or stuff like that. It's just when it comes to drawing I don't really have any ideas usually, just ... design stuff." "Ah, I see," Aloke says nodding. He smiles, and in the glooming light of the afternoon the light in his eyes is more pronounced. "Well that makes sense. I'm a crappy sculptor. We all have our strengths." He gestures at the nonexistent knit goods in her bag, "I'm hopeless with fiber art." He takes a deep breath and lifts his chin to indicate the rest of the school and asks, "So, have you been at Xavier's long?" Sophie shakes her head again. "This is my first semester here, I was over in uh, regular school before. It's... been kind of an adjustment." She smiles, shifting around in her seat a bit, and sets her bag down on the floor since it is now useless to her. "But just about everyone's been really super nice and I think I like it more than my old school. It wasn't /bad/ but... but I mean, it's cool being away from home, and my friends here are great, it just... I mean, the stuff with the guys being missing obviously sucks," her voice gets a little sedate when she recalls that little tidbit. "But, um, you know. Everything besides that is great." Aloke sighs and lets his smile relax. "I know what you mean. I just came here from teaching at a college, but I've spent my life out there. It's just nice to around people who understand." He pauses, obviously not wanting to put any extra burden on a student, but finally asks, "You know, I've only just heard about our missing students. Can you tell me anything about the situation? I'd love to help, if I can." Rubbing the back of her neck, Sophie yet again response with a shake of her head. "I.. really don't know what's going on with that anymore. Last week Ms. Walters took a bunch of us out to look, we have um-- Kisha, my roommate, she made an app to track Peter's webshooters, I guess she put a GPS in them? So we went trying to track them down last week, but we didn't find them then, so then Megan went looking for them at night 'cause she can fly and I guess she found them somewhere and I think some of the teachers were working on it from there. I'm not sure exactly where everything is going from there, for the most part the teachers are trying to keep the students from getting involved." She lets out a small sigh, looking up at Aloke with a little smile. "I mean, I get why, but-- they're our friends, y'know? It's hard to just like, ignore things." Aloke nods along with Sophie's explanation, and then seems to switch gears. He'll connect with the adults later, after all. "Well hey, how about you? Are you doing ok? Did you know the missing students very well?" He leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He's not in her space, of course, he's not her dad, but he's genuinely concerned, and focused on the kid he /can/ help right now. There's a bit of a shrug there, a slight wiggle of the hand. "I actually never met the twins before, I guess they kinda... have a habit of disappearing, from what I've heard. But I'm friends with Peter. He's always coming up with fun things to do, and..." Sophie lets out a small sigh. "Everyone keeps saying they're probably okay, like.. maybe just in jail or something for doing something stupid. I guess Peter's gotten in trouble before. I think for a while they weren't even sure they really were /missing/ since they get into trouble, and may have just ran off but..." She shakes her head. "Anyway. Obviously nobody thinks that anymore. I'm /okay/, I'm just.. worried. I try not to worry so much but then I feel bad because I feel like I'm not caring, it's.. sorta silly." "Hey, you're right. It's ok to not worry. It's gonna be ok, and we're gonna get your friends back here, safe and sound." Aloke smiles reassuringly. "Your teachers have a myriad of resources at their disposal. And besides, 'caring' and 'worrying' aren't the same thing anyway. You can do one and not the other." Sophie smiles a little. "I guess you're right.. it's just. I sort of tend to feel guilty about everything, kinda." She manages a bit of a self-deprecating grin at that, and shakes her head. "It's one of the many things I'm working on trying to get over. I guess I know the teachers'll get everything taken care of, it just sorta feels better when you can actually do something. 'Cause you know stuff's getting done. Y'know?" With that, she suddenly realizes she's forgotten something completely crucial. "Oh! Would you like some fruit?" Bowl is lifted and held out, offeringly. Bananas, apples, grapes. "I'm waiting for my friend to come down but the two of us can't eat all this." Aloke nods and smiles, knowing when its time to switch topics. "Sure, I don't mind if I do," he says, reaching for a banana and peeling it. He takes a bite, chews and swallows, and finally asks, "So, you're meeting for a study session? Anyone I know?" "Study session? ... Something like that." Sophie looks around a little, evasively, and she pops a grape into her mouth. Need a moment? Chew it over with /fruit/. "Maybe? Kris Achre, kinda skinny Philippino girl. She and Megan are pretty much my best friends right now, they're pretty great." "Oh sure," Aloke says nodding, "I know Kris. We just met earlier today. Professor Holland and I were in the art room when she came by. Seems like a nice girl." Aloke is apparently clueless to this not actually being a real study session. He takes another bite of the banana and asks, "So whats the subject under review today? Big test tomorrow?" Sophie takes a minute to debate whether or not she should clarify that this isn't actually a study session. On one hand, /teacher/. On the other hand, honesty. Well, in the long run it isn't like she's breaking any /rules/ by it not being studying. "It's.. not really /school/ studying, we have some... extracurricular stuff we're working on. She is super nice, she's been helping me out with a lot of stuff." Aloke nods, still not really getting it, but shrugs off the notion either way. Kids doing kids stuff - it's a /school/ after all. He stands and smiles, with still about half the banana left. He gestures with it in a 'cheers' sort of gesture. "Well, thanks for the banana. And you two have fun. I need to go finish some paperwork for class tomorrow. You know how it is." He smiles and shrugs. "Hang in there Sophie, everything will be back to normal around here before you know it." He offers a reassuring hand on her shoulder on his way out. Nodding as well, Sophie gives a little wave. "You're welcome. We will." She blushes a bit at the shoulder-pat, turning to watch Aloke leave. "Thanks for the talk," she adds as an after-thought. "It's-- kinda nice talking to someone who isn't as freaked out about everything as I am." A little grin there. "Good luck with your paperwork."