ArchivedLogs:Textbooks and Talking

Textbooks and Talking
Contains far more conversation than an average library.
Dramatis Personae Mallory, Rasa, Shane	2013-06-25 Where the books are.
Location <XS> - Library
Xavier's librarian might hope the library is a quiet place to sit and study, but with a school full of teenagers that is not always the case. Nevertheless, it is certainly a treasure trove of knowledge, well-stocked with a wealth of books on its high shelves. Its reference section is vast, though its fiction is as well (much to the delight of many of its students.) The wide octagonal tables and smaller armchairs are often crowded with students, though the whispered conversations that often take place leave some doubt as to how much work is getting done at any given hour. Never the most boisterous of places, during the much less populous summer term the library is often a ghost town. Shane’s more studious twin is, at least, one of its very regular denizens, found here nearly as often as he is in the lake or the workshop. Shane, on the other hand -- well, given his general study habits (or lack thereof) it’s a wonder he even knows where the library /is/. There’s not much distinguishing him at the moment, though, from his brother; his attire bland (straight-legged blue jeans, a plain black tee, no shoes) and not much on his expression past a steady determination as he marches inside. And then kind of just stops! near the door. Peering around. Eyes narrowing. The information desk of the library is currently occupied, in a rather obvious way, by a tall, red skinned woman who is currently hunched over the desk, typing quickly into the computer as she talks quietly on the phone. A stack of recently returned books sitting on the counter beside her, waiting to be sorted and reshelved, although it looks like some of them have been sorted into relevant order on the cart behind her. Mallory is still dressing in a likely over professional manner, given the relative quiet of the summer session, with a crisp charcoal gray silk blouse, and a finely tailored black pencil skirt that has been modified to accommodate her long, tapering tail, the same smooth dusky red color as the rest of her visible skin. Her jet black hair is pulled back into a severe bun, spiked through with a pair of shining glass hair sticks - the style does nothing to hide or minimize the curling black rams horns on either side of her head. An exasperated sigh escapes her lips as she hangs up the phone, rubbing absently at the base of one horn and glaring at the computer. It is after a few minutes that she finally looks up, taking notice of Shane’s presence in the library, offering a polite smile to the young man. “Oh, hello,” Mallory says quietly, but loud enough for her Oxford-accented voice to carry, “I didn’t know you were there. May I help you find anything today?” Rasa slips in behind Shane, carrying a stack of books that ze needs to return. Ze is dressed comfortably enough for the weather, wearing a nearly transparent long sleeved blouse over a camisol, the shirt white, the cami underneath tie dyed yellow and pink. Ze wears a wrap as a skirt that has been tied in way to give hir space for hir tail, but also lets it hide under the layers in a crowded hallway. Ze pads softly in flipflops, but the sound of hir feet is doubled by the sound of the sandle slapping lightly against hir feet as ze steps up again. Dark eyebrows climb upward on orange cream skin, the hair surrounding hir face has a burnt ocre color to keep hir overall appearance on the warm side of the color spectrum. A sideways glance and a small shoulder to shoulder bump consists of Rasa's greeting, a curious look following. "Hey." “History textbook.” This is probably not the /most/ helpful given the vast number of history classes offered, all of which /come/ with their textbooks issued on the first day of classes. “Do you have those?” No ‘hi’, only this kind of grumpyface demand. Shane’s shoulder bumps back up against Rasa’s and settles there. “You really like that tail, don’t you?” His foot nudges backwards against the wrap skirt. Nudgenudgenudge. Nudgenudge tail. His eyes have travelled upwards, tracing the curve of Mallory’s horns. “-- Huh,” is his reaction to finishing his scrutinization of the new library. “You met Isra yet?” Mallory raises a well manicured eyebrow at the request, dark eyes settled on Shane as he asks, "Well, yes, we have History textbooks," she starts slowly, "We have quite a few. If you have a specific era you are looking for, or a particular class you are taking, I can narrow down the search a little bit. Otherwise, you are welcome to search the stacks, but I'd much rather point you in a more specific direction." She smiles a bit wider, standing upright and looking at the two students, "I am Miss Winthrop, the new librarian," she explains, moving the stack of books out of the way, "And I am afraid I have not had the opportunity to meet many others on campus, unfortunately." Realizing that Rasa is carrying a stack of books, Mallory takes a step from behind the desk, the click of her hooves against the flooring momentarily loud, bringing a slight wince to the librarian's face. "Are you returning those? I can take them, if you would like, rather than making you stand there holding them," she doesn't step much closer, still slightly hesitant to approach new people without knowing how they will react. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was going to put them in the book drop, but I got distracted." Rasa also takes a step forward, presenting Mallory with the stack. As the contact with Shane starts to pull away, hir tail slips out from between the layers of hir skirt and wraps gently around his ankle. "I'm Rasa Djalili. It is nice to meet you." Ze then turns more attention on Shane. "Yeah. I do. I... I don't know. It's like something I never knew I wanted until I had it." “Uh. I’m taking US history.” Which admittedly still doesn’t narrow it down much. “I don’t know, like fucking Nazi shit onwards. Isra has badass horns,” he adds, with a long sweep of hand backwards away from his head to delineate: big horn!, “you can’t really miss her.” One foot slips behind the other, bonking that wraparound tail gently with his toes. It’s a brief contact, just one quick tap-touch; not much there in the half-second to /glean/ telepathically save a grumpyface irritation but then, that /might/ just be Shane’s default state. “My old textbook’s fucked up do I have to pay for that or something? -- /Man/, that accent is perfect. Makes me think fucking Screwtape. -- That,” he adds, a little more cheerfully to Rasa, “is pretty much how I felt about sex.” Mallory nods to Rasa, taking the stack of books and turning to set them on the countertop, before delicately stepping back behind the information desk, gingerly trying not to make too much of a clamor on the hard flooring. “Thank you for bringing them back. And it is nice to meet you, Rasa,” she says quietly, starting the process of scanning the books back in, turning her attention back to Shane momentarily as she scans the last book. “Right. We do have a copy of the standard textbook for the US History class here,” she says, pulling a slip of paper from a drawer and starting to write titles down on it, “This paper has the main text on it, but I’ll write down a few additional texts that may be of interest to the class.” She pauses momentarily in her writing, looking at the computer screen, before writing again, “World War II, complete with Nazi shit and beyond.” The curse word tumbles out of her mouth with a practiced ease, sounding decidedly out of place in her well-educated sounding voice. The librarian hands over the slip of paper to Shane, smirking enough to show her elongated canines, “You don’t have to pay for it, just bring it back in decent shape at the end of the semester, or when you’re done with it. Please. If there’s undue damage to the book, there may be a charge for a replacement.” The comment on accents gets a slightly confused look, and she opens her mouth initially to inquire what it is in reference to, but opts against it, decidedly, shutting her mouth again. “Is there anything I can help you out with today? Or just wanted to return the books?” Mallory asks of Rasa, tilting her head slightly and smiling. "Help? Probably not. I don't have anything specific in mind yet," Rasa admits, turning to give Shane a real hug after the brief brush clue hir into the need. "Thank you, though. How are you finding things here? Do you like it so far?" Ze gives Shane a little but more of a squeeze before pulling back to look him in the face. "I'm working on that time period in my class too, if you want to study together." Then ze releases him so he can get the instructions from Mallory. "If it's not our fault if our books get destroyed, is it still our job to pay for them? Maybe there should be a school wide book insurance fund, where we chip in a little for situations like that." “Do you drink blood?” Shane wants to know, next, sounding genuinely curious about this as he takes the slip of paper. He bares his own teeth, demonstrative rather than threatening, as though perhaps Mallory would not know what he was talking about. “-- My old one has pages missing. And drawn on. I mean they were probably fucking boring pages /anyway/ but.” He shrugs. “Apparently I’m supposed to /read/ them.” He says this like it’s an enormous burden. His arm loops around Rasa’s waist, not during the hug but after it. “-- For real? Cuz I failed it last semester and had to retake. If I have to sit through this garbage a /third/ time I’m pretty much going to burn /all/ the textbooks.” Shaking her head, Mallory answers Rasa’s concerns about the book reparations, “Thankfully no. If it gets accidentally damaged, or is stolen for some reason, then it gets replaced by the school. Typically the fee is just to discourage people from intentionally destroying the material - like scratching out words, or destroying pages, trying to determine what books float best, or setting it on fire.” She coughs slightly at the last bit, and shakes her head, “And even then, I have to prove it wasn’t an accident. But, either way, take care of the books? I’d greatly appreciate it.” The questions about her experience at the school get a chuckle from Mallory, and she smiles broadly, “It is certainly full of surprises, I will say that much. I did not expect to start a job so far from home only to find that my twin had been hired to work at the same place. Other than that little shock, I have found the school, and the people there in, to be quite pleasant and welcoming.” Shane’s question and demonstration gets a little bit of a surprised look from Mallory, as she blinks for a moment, “Amazingly, no one has asked me that before. No. I don’t drink blood. I enjoy a rare steak on occasion, but thankfully that is the extent of it. My teeth are largely for show, just adds to the overall look.” She shrugs, her long tail swishing to adjust as she shifts her weight from one hoof to another, leaning against the desk. “Do you drink blood?” she asks, tilting her head curiously, figuring it was fair to return the question. "Your twin works here? Doing what? Are you two identical?" Rasa peppers the conversation with questions as ze wraps an arm around Shane's shoulders. "I'm glad that we are not charged for mishaps, though I'm sure there are some powers here that lead to book destruction moreso than others." Ze considers this for a while., fingers playing against the seam betwee. Shane's shoulder and sleeve quietly. "Though, I can't think of any fire types right now, but we could maybe get Dennis some water proof books sometime." "And of course I'll help you with your studies. What are friends for? Besides, it'll be my review for that blasted exam at the end of the term. I am not looking forward to that." Ze shakes hir head before looking to Mallory. "Do we have any AP exam study guides?" “There’s a whole /lot/ of accidents around here that include fire,” Shane muses. His eyebrows raise. “You have a twin? -- I don’t have /fangs/, dude, /all/ my teeth are --” He shrugs, peeling his lips back again. Sharky. Then closing his mouth. “I drink whatever blood comes along with killing things. I’m not a hematophage. I have a friend with teeth like yours, /he/ drinks blood. Just not nearly /enough/ because he’s a moron, but I’ve been encouraging him to drink more.” “-- Does Dennis even know how to read?” He asks this to Rasa, ridged brows raising. “Sometimes Pa lights stuff of fire but that’s usually an accident, too. -- shit,” the ‘what are friends for’ question earns a sudden confused look: “What /are/ friends for I thought it was having fun you don’t have to slog through Nazis twice /over/ for me.” “Thomas, er,” Mallory stumbles for a moment, grimacing at the awkwardness of addressing her brother like this, continuing with a nearly imperceptible roll of her eyes, “Doctor Winthrop, is the new Chemistry professor. He’s smaller, gray, less obvious horns, and all that jazz.” She gestures to about her shoulder height, and shrugs, “If you happen around the science labs, I am certain you’ll run into him.” There is an ever so slight blush at the mention of fiery mishaps and mutants, although all Mallory does is shake her head, before answering Rasa’s question, “Yes, there are AP Study guides. I’ll look up which row they’re in for you - and closer to exam time, I’ll set out a display of them to make them easier to find.” She raises an eyebrow at Shane’s response, but nods, “Fair enough. Though there are some literary examples of vampires and other hematophages with teeth similar to yours - not all just have the small fangs. But, I digress.” There’s a look of concern at Shane’s mention of his friend, “That, well, does not sound safe, on his part,” she offers with a slight frown, sounding concerned, “Can he only consume fresh, or could he deal with blood bank type situations?” "Friends are also for going through tough times together supportively. So, whether a person thinks homework is fun or the worst torture in the world, friends begin to make it better." Rasa shrugs off Shane's concern. "You know, when we get done covering Nazis, we can watch Dead Snow. It's about zombie Nazis in Norway. It looks pretty awesome and not at all educational." Ze turns back to Mallory and smiles. "Ah. I don't have chemistry right now, so I guess I'll meet him later." Ze wets hir lips. "Sorry about asking you so many questions, but I figure it's just easier than perhaps walking up to someone and assuming it is you, when it might have been your twin." Ze falls silent, looking to Shane as the question is posed to him. “Oh. Chemistry.” Shane instantly looks about ten degrees more bored. “There’s sharktooth vampires? I’d read about those. Uhhh.” His brows furrow. “Yeah no it’s pretty shitty on his part, he’s basically always starving. He doesn’t need it fresh, but blood banks don’t tend to just give /away/ their shit to hungry freaks. How can teeth like that be for decoration? I mean, are they /sharp/?” His own teeth flash again at Rasa’s suggestion, although this time with a bright grin. “Shit, really? I’d watch zombie Nazis, too. -- actually I think getting mistaken for someone else’d be the /best/ part of having a clone. Get away with so much shit and blame it on them.” His grin fades into a look more thoughtful. “-- pretty much the worst torture,” is what he settles on, and, “thanks.” Mallory laughs out loud at Shane’s response, smiling, “Actually, that’s about my reaction, too. He’s always been the more science minded of the two of us. I just liked books.” She glances around at the library as she says this, grinning at the chance to be around this large of a collection. “And to my experience, they really are just an aesthetic manifestation of my gene - I have no venom, and even though they’re sharp enough to pierce skin if I’m not careful with my bite, I don’t draw blood faster or more efficiently,” she explains, running her tongue idly over the longer teeth, not going into the details of how she knows all this, “My horns are pretty much just for show as well - I do not actively go around headbutting people, and neither does my brother. They’re just cranial accessories on both of us.” She shakes her head about the blood bank response, “Oh, I realize that. Most won’t even accept mutant blood, let alone make such a request. It was more a question of if bagged lunches were acceptable, so to speak. If he doesn’t need it fresh from the source, building up a small store from willing donors could be possible. Just need someone who knows how to draw blood in a sanitary way.” There’s a slight shrug, and she shifts slightly again, scratching her leg with her hoof as she does so. To Rasa, Mallory smiles and shrugs, “I’m quite used to it, anymore. And I’m a teacher, if I discouraged curiosity and inquisitiveness, I’d be rather crap at my job.” Musing for a moment, and scratching the base of her horn, “Although, to be fair, Thomas and I are really hard to mistake for each other, always have been. I wish I could have gotten away with blaming him for stuff as a kid. I usually got blamed for everything, even if it /was/ his fault.” There’s a slight snort at this, and she shifts her weight again, leaning against the information desk to take the pressure off her feet, tail shifting to adjust her balance. Rasa smiles and considers for a moment, then shifts hir form until ze matches Shane's. "Maybe I should try out the benefits of clone confusion every once in a while." RasaShane looks over at Mallory as she gives a detailed account of the uses of her body parts. "Huh," he says, still leaning against his original, "So, are your horns ornamental simply because you don't use them, or would you say they are particularly weak and fragile, or lined with enough nerve endings that it would really hurt if you tried to use them?" He sighs, picking up Shane's mannerisms out of habit and observance rather than telepathic link. "Dude, I'm here for you, for history homework and gory zombie flicks." He gives the sharktwin one of his own bright grins and then looks back to Mallory. “Can you bite shit?” Shane’s grin hooks wider at Rasa’s shift, amused as he squeezes a hand around Shane!Rasa’s waist. His head tips towards Rasa in indication of hir words. “Cuz, yeah, s’a difference between ‘I let these go to waste’ and ‘these weren’t intended for use’. Like, shit, I could hang a fucking Hoyt bow on my wall but that’s not what it’s /meant/ for. -- Dude,” this comes with a little bit of Rasa-jostling, “you could get people into so much fucking trouble like that.” The tone as he says this means: feature, not bug. Mallory considers the question for a moment, raising an eyebrow in surprise as Rasa transforms into Shane. “Impressive,” she says quietly, eyes darting between the two as though to pick up differences, “Can you mimic anyone you have seen, or only those you are close to? And I agree, you could get into quite a great deal of danger, if you assumed the form of the wrong person.” She pauses again, shifting her weight and still looking between the two. “And yes, I can still bite things, it is just not my first line of defense, or my first thought when I feel I’m in danger,” she answers to Shane, the original, and then looks back towards Rasa!Shane, “The horns would be functional, if I used them as such - they’re built much like a ram’s horn is - there’s living bone, covered in nail.” She shakes her head and grimaces, rubbing at the base of one of her horns, “I have seen x-rays of my skull, as a teenager, when I first developed horns. I have an otherwise normal human skull, just with an extension that becomes the horn. A ram or other such animal actually evolved to sport this sort of horn, has a skull reinforced to handle the blunt force trauma of using the horns as a weapon. I don’t. I could use them, but I would concuss myself to the point of blacking out before I damaged my opponent.” She considers for a moment, running a finger along the spiral of one horn, pondering for a moment, but staying quiet. "Well," RasaShane consider, rubbing his knuckles against his own jawline, thoughtful. "Well, here's the thing, I can mimic anything my mind sets itself to do. The limitation is pretty much my imagination. I have a couple tricks that I can use to get better at it, but I also have a pretty shitty amount of concentration right now." He grins sheepishly and runs his fingers through his hair, almost as if making sure it's still there. "Shane's easy because I know him very well and I can get into his head. The moment I start thinking like Rasa, though, the moment I forget to keep up the charade. The longer I can keep the mental picture, the better though." He gives a little bit of a shrug, the color of his skin starting to pale, and words are coming up from under his camisole. They do not look like they are very appropriate words, but they are, for the most part, staying hidden. "Professor Xavier says that there's a metamorph who does a better imitation than me just based off of sight and sound, who can also do their clothing. She's pretty dangerous, but does give a good goal to work toward - even if I can't imagine walking around naked all the time. It's got to be fucking cold in the winter." He looks over at Shane, one brow rising. "Though, in this heat, it's kind of tempting." “I’d do it. I /did/ it before but then some of the teachers yelled at me?” Shane shrugs a shoulder like this particularity about clothing is not something he understands particularly well. “Your blue’s fading,” he points out. “S’another person I know who changes like that, too. Only just to other people ze knows, I think? I dunno. I’ve only ever seen hir being /other/ people I know.” His next look at the horns comes with a wrinkle of his nose. “Sucks,” he judges, in the end, “mutations are kind of fucking stupid sometimes.” At the sides of his neck, his gills flap open and then closed again. “I am always pleasantly amazed by the breadth of expressions the X-Gene is capable of. Even if all of them do not exactly make sense for every situation,” Mallory says with a smile, tilting her head curiously as Shane’s gills flap open. “I had a friend at university who was studying gene expression in mutants. Even though most of the research went right over my head, it was still fascinating.” The idea of maintaining a mental image gets a slight nod, and Mallory shifts her weight again, casting a concerned glance out towards the rest of the school before returning her attention to the students, “It is interesting, how heavily perception of self can influence the manifestation of abilities.” She wrinkles her nose at the mention of the heat, “I had not been expecting this level of humidity, to be honest. Thankfully, the library is climate controlled, but outside can be miserable. I already run overly warm as is. Add to that professional clothes and the swamp-like humidity. I do not begrudge the other metamorph her advantage in the heat.” "You know another metamorph? Can I meet hir?" RasaShane's blue comes back more vivid when it is pointed out, his gaze dropping to Shane's neck as well, studying the color and smiling a little to himself. "Yeah, perceptions are a pain in the ass. You never know how they are going to help or hinder you." There's a pause and then, "it's always interesting in the case of teenagers who manifest mutations and the question of whether they were genetically predisposed toward that mutation, or if their personalities and perceptions of self shaped their mutation." The blue starts to falter again, but then it renews once more, NotShane grinning. "People ask Rasa all the time if ze had no sense of self going into puberty, but that's totally bullshit. Ze has no real gender, but ze sure as fuck knows who ze is, otherwise staying other people wouldn't be such a pain in the ass." “Some of them don’t make sense for /any/ situation. But it’s not like that’s limited to mutants, /all/ human bodies are just kind of fucked the hell /up/. Poorly designed.” Shane smirks when Rasa’s blue returns, studying it a moment then nodding approvingly. “-- Who is ze, then?” It’s an absent-thoughtful question. His shoulder shrugs in answer to Rasa’s. “Maybe? I dunno. Lives in my building. Not really friends. I like the humidity,” he announces with a sharper smile. “Dry climates fuck me up pretty bad.” Mallory shrugs slightly, and nods at the perception comment, “My brother’s mutation didn’t manifest at all until just after we turned 13. Boy was the family mad about that. And mine “worsened” around that time, but by that time they didn’t care.” She makes little finger quotes and rolls her eyes slightly, “We think he has horns at least partially because of /my/ perception of myself, and he accidentally picked up on it in the confusion.” She grimaces slightly at this memory, self consciously running a hand over the top of her horn as she listens to Rasa, facial expression softening immediately. “Oh. People are horrible in that way,” Mallory says with a shake of her head, “Do you prefer that gender neutral pronouns be used when others speak of you? And I will avoid adding an honourific to your name, unless you have a preferred one that I use.” To Shane, Mallory nods, “There is that. Biology is not always a kind or sensical thing, in the way we’d like it to be.” Her nose wrinkles a bit at the enjoyment of humidity, “I can understand that.” She shrugs and offers a slight smile, “Rainy days and freshly polished floors, my nemeses. Although overly dry conditions would cause other issues for me, I think. So humidity it is.” "Heh. Rasa has a creative and expresive mind that likes to imagine /everything/ including what it's like to be other people. Ze's still grounded in what ze likes and what ze will and won't do, but does sometimes gets lost and overwhelmed by the world around hir -- and yeah, gender neutral, if you remember. Whatever ze's presenting as works too, because shit, it'd be weird if you called me ze right now." Rasa Shane cracks a grin then gives a shrug. "Um. Honorific? Shaneclone, is there an honorific for gender neutral? I don't know that I've given it much thought. Lots of people default to 'miss' though." He scratches at his chin distractedly. "Sorry to hear that your family is shit, Miss Winthrop, but you and your brother are close?" “Is he a metamorph, too? That’s -- a weirdass thing to think.” Shane drops his arm from Rasa’s waist, looking now instead at the paper Mallory had given him. “/You’re/ the Shaneclone,” he reminds hir, amused. “Also Rasa takes a lot of explanation. I can do Shane in just one word.” He doesn’t, though, say what that word /is/. He doesn’t actually say anything else to contribute to the conversation at all! Formal goodbyes are pretty irrelevant when you live with everyone you’re talking to. He just extricates himself from Rasa’s side, lifting the slip of paper in silent explanation and disappearing into the stacks to find his textbook. “Alright. I will do my best to remember,” Mallory says with a nod of her head, as though making a mental note to herself, “The honourific was a curiosity, since I have yet to come across one that is truly neutral, but I have read of some individuals have a preference, or having one they feel fits them better.” She shrugs and grins slightly at the question of her brother, “We were inseparable as kids. Drifted apart when we left for different universities - likely a good thing, to be honest. But he is my oldest friend.” Considering for a moment the metamorph question, Mallory looks puzzled, “I don’t think he can be called that, no. He, ah, can become smoke. And then reform into his physical form. First time that happened was confusing for both of us, and he sort of clung to me as an anchor point, mentally. Meant I sort of colored his interpretation of self without really meaning to.” The librarian looks sheepish at this, running a hand along her horn and shuffling her hoof against the floor slightly, “Anyway.” As Shane heads off towards the stacks, Mallory glances up, squinting into the stacks, “It’s going to be a few rows back, over near the wall. If you find the philosophy books, you’ve gone too far.” "I can guess," RasaShane remarks as Shane pulls away, just barely restraining himself from a grope as he goes -- there might have been a brush of fingers in the mix. He clears his throat and blue warms to gray, and before too long, Rasa is hir creamcicle self once more. "Ah. Well, I can understand the confusion of trying to find yourself in the midst of something new and frightening. I... lost my face for the better part of the day once." Ze rolls a shoulder, eyes darting after Shane before turning toward the door. "I should probably go. I'll see you later?" Hir tail lifts up and around hir side to wave.