Logs:Lucid Dreaming

Lucid Dreaming
Dramatis Personae Maya, Naomi	2020-09-04 so do u have like a astral projection room or something or do i just wait for u to show up when im snoozin
Location in emails / in dreams
from: Maya Mukhopadhyay <maya@xaviers.edu> to: Naomi Winters <nwinters@xaviers.edu> date: Sep 4, 2020, 8:27 AM subject: Advising! Hello Naomi! Welcome to Xavier's! I'm sure you've already been informed, but I've been assigned as your advisor while you settle in here at Xavier's. If possible, I'd love a chance to talk to you before classes start officially -- get to know you a little, maybe go over your class selections, see how you're feeling about this upcoming year. I'm excited to meet you and while I definitely hope this works out, please remember that you can always request a new advisor if you feel we're not a good fit! You aren't stuck with me just because that's how things have been assigned right now. I've been told that there's a possibility that your abilities mean a remote advising session may be ideal to start out with, which may be why we were put together for now -- mine (a sort of astral projection that works via dreams) let me talk to people from a distance. If you'd prefer to meet over chat we can do that too, just let me know when is good for you! If you're (like many people this year) getting a little sick of emails and texts and zoom chats, I can also come meet with you my own way. Whichever is better for you! -- Just let me know your preferences and availability. Warmly, Maya Mukhopadhyay from: Naomi Winters <nwinters@xavier.edu> to: Maya Mukhopadhyay <maya@xaviers.edu> date: Sep 4, 2020, 10:02 AM subject: RE: Advising!  [brown-skinned thumbs up emoji] so do u have like a astral projection room or something or do i just wait for u to show up when im snoozin thats dope  from: Naomi Winters <nwinters@xavier.edu> to: Maya Mukhopadhyay <maya@xaviers.edu> date: Sep 4, 2020, 10:04 AM subject: RE: Advising! that's a yes lets dream meet btw from: Maya Mukhopadhyay <maya@xaviers.edu> to: Naomi Winters <nwinters@xaviers.edu> date: Sep 4, 2020, 10:17 AM subject: RE: Advising! Great! Looking forward to it. You can just sleep like usual and I'll come say hi. See you soon! Maya '<PLC> Conversation Room - Midtown East' This is the heart of the Pure Life Center, an expansive living room most notable for the conversation pit in the middle, filled with ovoid cushions in bright primary colors. A more traditional set of couches in red bracket a flatscreen television in one corner, and another set in blue is arranged around a little library with both books and board games. An entire wall of windows, including a pair of glass french doors, let in ample light, and the balcony beyond them affords a spectacular view southward while also providing smokers an outlet at the retreat. Naomi is looking out the window, staring down into darkness. It should be New York - she knows it's New York City outside, but what she is seeing is Georgia wilds, swamp and muggy forest and snakes. They are moving in single file past the window, far below her but also right in front. She taps the glass and they turn to look at her in unison. She smiles, sharp manicured black tinted nail lingering there. A basket chair hangs nearby where perhaps there was not one before; tucked into it is a young woman, brown skin and thick black hair tied into a long braid that's draped over one shoulder, in blue skinny jeans and a vivid hot pink and orange kurta, beaded sandals matching the top. "Is this home?" The snakes are closer now, no glass between them; Maya is watching the eerie parade with a curious tilt of head. Naomi turns, raises an eyebrow at the basket chair. "Kind of," she says after a moment. "Not in here, though." A shimmer, and a red couch disappears, replaced by a twin bed with a threadbare quilt comforter. Naomi sits crossed-legged on the end of the bed, in shorts and a t-shirt that has WHITE COUNTY MIDDLE emblazoned upon the chest. She looks at the woman and her eyes (surrounded by brown skin, no scales) narrow. "You're Miss Mukhap- Mukhopadi-" she gives up, "Maya?" "Mukhopadhyay," Maya supplies readily, a quicker smile coming to her face. "That's me. Hi. Welcome." She glances back behind them, lips pursing slightly as she takes in the rest of the Center. "No, that does feel a lot less homey over there. Warm in the front, more sort of an iHome kind of feel out back." She clasps neatly-manicured fingers in her lap, looks back to Naomi. "I want to be up front with you, you're the first advisee I've had here. I'm also -- fairly new to Xavier's and how they do things here so we'll kind of be working out what works best for you together and if I f," only briefly, one of her eyes scrunches up as she swiftly amends, "screw it up -- well. I'lll try not to do that." "Mukhopadhyay," Naomi repeats, rolling her tongue around each syllable. Her tongue flickers a bit - in here, no scales, but the tongue is forked. She snorts. "iHome. Yeah. Very boujee. IKEA showroom bullshit." She settles into her bed, pulling knees up under her chin. "Aight, so nobody knows what the deal is." Naomi's gaze rests on Maya, following the path of the braid. "We make a class schedule now or somethin'?" "I think the deal is, we talk through what it is you want out of this year or -- if there are things that you're worried or confused about and then I help sort those questions out and make sure you're on the right track to getting there." A small furrow appears between Maya's brows. "Which includes your class schedule, yeah. But I feel like new school transitions are always a little bumpy and at this school maybe extra much so." They're in a car now - a big twelve seat van, Naomi in the driver's seat. She turns around, craning her neck to see the shape of Charles Xavier slumped over in one of the back seats. "I'm worried about this mess," Naomi says, turning to look forward and not at Xavier or Maya. "I guess. Not so much 'bout mutant shit, though. Got to watch Lael go through the shit bits." Behind her, Lael is sitting in one of the back seats, watching wordlessly. "I dunno." She shrugs. Maya's eyes go a little bit wider when the unconscious headmaster appears. "I -- I heard a little about that," she admits, hands smoothing at her kurta. "It might be a stupid question given -- I mean, messing with people's heads unpermitted is very worrying! So maybe it's a little bit of a duh question but which parts are worrying you most?" Naomi's eyes glow for a second: "Forget it." A beat, and she sighs. "That's why they didn't want us to meet up in person first, I bet." She pushes down on the accelerator, and they are off, though it's more like a train than a car - it moves at a constant, comfortable speed. "M'worried about folks in my head. Lael's head. We get in people's heads anyway. Don't need no extra bullshit to worry 'bout." In front of them, stars. "Also, like, college." She looks at her nails, in a vain attempt to look disinterested. "We ain't going home any time soon, so now I'm like, did I just ruin my chances at rec letters? or whatever?" Maya's head tilts slightly to one side, and it's only a beat after Naomi speaks that an understanding widens her eyes. "Oh-h-h -- yeah, I'd guess that's why! Weirdly relevant to the topic, huh?" She shrugs, settling back in the passenger seat and resting one arm on the window. "There's another teacher here -- he doesn't get in people's heads, but he can tell if other people are doing it. I think I might want to talk to him -- work out some kind of, I don't know. Like a safety plan? Some kind of system that people can -- start to feel more confidence that kind of thing won't happen without their permission." Her eyes fix out on the stars ahead. "It maybe wasn't the best foot to start out on," she admits freely, "but I don't get the feeling this place is about holding grudges. If everyone came here fully perfect and never having made any mistakes the school wouldn't even really be necessary, you know?" "Hmmm." Naomi is quiet for a moment, hands resting on a wheel that turns of its own accord. "Some 'checks and balances' type thing, yeah?" She frowns. "I dunno about that. But," she reasons, "I dunno about most mutant stuff." A glance at Maya. "I did a lot of snooping when Lael left. Online and stuff." In front of them, now, a sign - WELCOME TO HELEN. "But he was the only mutant I knew until I got here. So I dunno what is up with a school for mutants or nothing." "Something like that, yeah. It seems like it would have been a good idea to have some system in place even before this, but twice as important if everyone's already --" Maya hesitates over her next words, "off-kilter." Her hands spread, then drop back to her lap -- where, now, a binder has appeared, helpfully emblazoned on its cover with the school logo over '2020-2021 Course Catalog'. "I thought it would be a huge learning curve after my last school, but I think a school for mutants is a lot like any other. People do want you to succeed. If college is what you want, I want to make sure we help you get there. Which --" Her pink nails drum against the cover of the catalog. "I guess starts right here! " Naomi's lips tighten. "Yeah," she says, tone flat. "I don't know that school I been to wanted me to succeed." Still, she reaches for the binder. "And I dunno about college. Jus' want something better than what we left." She flips through the binder, running a finger down one of the pages - "What the hell is 'The Pursuit of Euphoria' about?" "I'm sorry," Maya replies. "I'll try to make sure we do better by you." She half-turns, leaning a bit up against the door of the van to better look to Naomi. "That one's about drugs. Or, well, a sort of history of human relationships to mind-altering --" She looks back out the window; overhead, many of the stars are beginning to shift and swirl around each other, trailing wisps of color through the night sky. "Practices. What kind of subjects are you interested in? There's a lot in there, we can probably make you up a term that's engaging." Naomi makes a face. “Sounds like hippie shit,” she says, but her tone is light, almost like she’s joking. She turns a page. “I dunno. I like music, I guess?” Pauses, thinks. “Computer stuff would be cool.” She skims the page, blanches. “I dunno about AP. I never took no pre-AP math or whatever.” "There's a lot of that here, too." There's a bright amusement in Maya's voice. The swirl of stars in the sky shifts again -- this time leaving tie-dyed streaks through the nighttime. "The Fundamentals course is probably the best place to start with the computer stuff. And you don't have to take the AP classes. Math or otherwise -- there are plenty of other options in pretty much all the departments. Probably algebra or geometry if you didn't get to those in your last school yet. Music's mine -- or, a lot of it, anyway, if you're interested at all in theory or composing or joining the orchestra. Do you sing? Play? Just curious?" Naomi nods slowly, glancing up at the Van Gogh stars. “You doing that?” She asks, gesturing out. Not waiting for an answer- “I guess that sounds okay. I did prealgebra. So algebra would be okay.” Her eyes light up a little. “I dunno about theory. I always wanted to learn drums. I sang in church choir, s’about it.” "Drums always seem so cathartic. -- If you take algebra, fundamentals of computer science, and band, that's half your schedule right there, drums included. The health and human development class is mandatory so that's four. Four or five is a good number for while you're still settling in, I think. Are there any languages you're interested in? You could get started there or bang out the required English class for a last slot." Maya glances back to the window, watching the colorful swirl of stars. "Oh! I guess I am. I'm not actually sure it's an improvement." A small wave of her hand and the colors in the sky condense into bright meteor-streaks, leaving a diamond-glittering starry expanse once they've fallen. Naomi nods as Maya talks, counting courses on her fingers. Her thumb curls out and in from her palm. “I’d like to take a class with Lael, I think,” she says, slowly, chewing her lip. “An’ I think he’s takin’ French?” She frowns, looking at the binder- it’s flipping through on its own now. “But I dunno if I wanna do French. So English sounds good.” She shuts the binder with a slam. “Too many choices in there.” She looks out at the sky as Maya sends the stars flying, and gives a low whistle. “Damn.” Another shift, and Naomi is sitting on grass, crickets and grasshoppers chirping in the background. “I can’t even control what’s happening here. And it’s my dream.” She frowns. “It is my dream, right?” "I don't know off the top of my head what he's taking, but if it's none of these you can switch one of the classes later. Maybe the English for a different one, there'll be plenty of time for the writing class later." Maya looks around them, fingers curling into the grass (around where she's sitting there are echoes of the previous whorls of color seeping out into the starlit blades.) "It's your dream. I can't do what you do, so I guess we all have our -- things." Her smile is small, fingers plucking at one of the blades; it reshapes itself in her hand, into a small black snake, reminiscent of the ones that had filed by earlier, though much smaller. It slinks over toward Naomi, wrapping itself around her wrist like a bracelet. (At the same time, perhaps less noticeably, the glass bangles around her own wrist vanish.) "Although, there are ways to learn to control your own dreams better even without mutant powers. That's -- probably for another time, though. Unless there's anything else important, I should probably let you -- get a better sleep, for now." Another nod. “Sounds good to me.” She looks at the ground where Maya sits, not realizing for a moment the snake curling around her wrist. When she does notice, her face brightens into a wide smile. On her forehead, the scales she has in the waking world flicker back onto her skin as she looks at the small snake- their scale colors match. “That would be cool to learn. You’re pretty cool, I think.” Naomi glances back at Maya, opens her mouth ask if to ask something but then closes it again. “Yeah, aight.” The sounds of crickets, louder now, a buzz in the background. “See you in the morning, or something.” "Goodnight, Naomi." An answering smile touches Maya's face, too, and then Naomi is alone with the night once more. --- When morning comes, there's an email waiting for her, the classes they'd discuss listed within with the subject: Just a reminder! There's something else waiting, too -- on the nightstand on Naomi's side of the room, a faintly glittery black bracelet, fashioned into the shape of a slim snake.