/puts on the Twisted Sister Christmas Album [OPEN/CLOSED]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Everyone on campus!
WHAT: Holiday goingons
WHERE: The Institute
WHEN: Threads can be set at any time this week.
WARNING(S): if a thread goes into warning label territory, either throw it in the subject line or take it to a separate log.

The entire campus is decorated for the holidays in red greens and silvers. It seems just about every major winter holiday is represented in some way. In the main lobby, there's an absolutely gigantic tree done up in a brilliant light display, with Emma Frost's touch added to the star. She's probably off somewhere enjoying a spot of cocoa with her old comrades, even. But really this wasn't so much for the Institute itself, but for all of its students. The ones that had no other home to return to....

Comments

[nobodysweapon]

"You are not celebrating."

Laura would have looked festive in her outfit if she tried to smile. But she still had that almost scowl that was her face. Laura did her best to try and mingle but socializing was far more exhausting than assassinating political figures. So she moved herself toward the edges of the room, looking for some form of rest. The girl she found was, of course, not rest. But sometimes you had to push on when you needed to.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She was trying, but it seemed more like an interrogation question than an attempt at sympathy and offering assistance.

I need to make her a crying icon....

[eileaneathompson]

"What's to talk about?" she asked bitterly. Part of her wanted to push her hurt and pain down, to put on a smiling mask for this potential friend, but this was herself, not a clone, and the bitterness was too close to the surface. So, even knowing she was likely going to chase this girl off - who wanted to be brought down on Christmas by a pity party? - She couldn't stop herself.

Tears slid down her face. "It's Christmas and I'm alone. What's to celebrate about that?" She shook her head. "I've been here since September, and what do I have? Any friends? Anyone who cares if I live or die?" She shook her head again, tears dropping down around her.

[nobodysweapon]

"That seems to be a topic we can discuss." Laura sat down, uninvited, but she was not being scared off. Being alone was hard, it was not something most people could accept without the long road to temper them for it. She did not seem to have walked that road, the road Laura has.

"You are not alone right now." Sadly while Laura does want to help, she is not entirely equipped to help others. She doesn't understand the fuss people put on this holiday, she never had a family for it before. Except when she was here, that is. Most of the people that cared if she lived or died were dead, or lost, and it was her fault.

[eileaneathompson]

She sniffled a bit, wiping at her face with a napkin. "What? Because you're here?" She swallowed hard, wishing that could be enough. If it would last, it would be, but... "I sit with someone, I smile, I shine, I do whatever it takes to try and make a friend. My track record here? You'll be gone within five minutes. I only ever seem to talk to...to the... boys here... and they make no sense!" she put her face in her hands, trying not to sob.

She hated being alone. The holiday drove it home, but this had been building since high school graduation. She was so lonely, so desperately lonely. All she ever got were texts from Andrea...

[nobodysweapon]

"People leave, it is what they do." Laura answers, it is a cold hard truth. She doesn't lie, it isn't polite, the world would be better if people did not decide to be kind instead of sincere. "That does not mean you are alone."

"Maybe if you did not shine, you might have different results." Again with socially acceptable deceit. She did not understand it, she didn't think she would ever understand it outside of mission parameters. When lying was a weapon, it made sense, but as a comfort? How was falsehood comforting? "I am Laura Kinney."

She tried for a smile, but it really was more of a less scowl.

[eileaneathompson]

Eli looked at her, confused as she peeked through her fingers. "Eileanea," she said softly. "My friends call me Eli or Leana, though," she said softly. She sniffed a bit.

"I... I have to shine. No body wants the real me for a friend, everyone wants the friend who will do what they want to do, smile and nod. I'm willing to smile and nod," she whispered. "I'm willing to be that friend." Anything... anything to not be so desperately lonely.

[nobodysweapon]

"I would not want that friend. You would not be real."

Admittedly, Laura realized, there were certain levels that she and this girl were the same. Laura was learning how to act without orders, to be... herself. It was hard, and it was uncomfortable, and questions had no answers. She picked clothes similar to what she wore growing up, and only deviated when someone else helped determine what she should wear.

It was in some ways easier, easier to just let others decide things, "It is hard. When the people you want are no longer available."

[eileaneathompson]

Eli closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "When I was a kid, I was myself, and I got bullied and tormented. When we moved, the kids at my new school wanted me to be someone else. I did what they wanted and we were friends until High School ended. We were all great friends...." She sniffled. "At least, I thought we were..."

[nobodysweapon]

"I was genetically engineered as an attempt to weaponize Professor Logan's powers." Laura has no idea how basic social structures work, like middle school. She has some concept of high school, but she found ways to bypass the various standard functions of the system. It was better Eli learn this now, and not be surprised by it in the future.

"When you were with them, were you happy?"

[eileaneathompson]

She... did not understand the topic jump, though it did drive home that people had worse troubles than she did, she supposed.

And then they jumped back to the original topic... Um... okay.

She nodded. "I was. I always had someone to spend time with, to smile with, there was someone who was always happy to see me," she whispered. And she was being honest. She had been hiding herself, hiding who she was, hiding that she was a mutant, scrambling to have enough money when they wanted to shop and she was tight. forcing herself to not spend more than them when she was flush... But... she had been happy....

[nobodysweapon]

Laura tried to find experiences in her own life that would... relate. It was not easy. When she lied about who she was she did not enjoy it, there were some times she longed to be who she pretended, and that just made her less comfortable with the lie. The truth was still there, who she really was. And she knew if she enjoyed being someone else too much, it would fall apart.

So she tried a different tactic. "This school cannot attempt conformity. Many students and teachers are gifted to undermine deceptions. We are all different, and we appreciate that. People accept me, even knowing that I have done many terrible things."

[eileaneathompson]

"No one seems the slightest bit interested in accepting me," she muttered, pushing her straw through her eggnog again.

[nobodysweapon]

"What about you do you believe made you a target for bullying?"

Laura is stubborn and has a hard time letting things go, especially a chance to understand the impacts of the social grooming normal children go through. Something she had little experience with.

[eileaneathompson]

She looked at her, horrified that anyone would ask something so painful. She swallowed hard and looked away, tears falling.

"I had a big tooth brace thing," she whispered. "And I was different."

[nobodysweapon]

Laura was never more sure than she was now that human society was strange, and their rules for inclusion and exclusion made no sense.

"You do not have one now, and everyone is different." She seems to either not care, or not notice, that she has made Eli cry.

[eileaneathompson]

"And I'm STILL alone!" she cried out, scrubbing at her face with her hands. That was the core of everything. She was alone.

[nobodysweapon]

"I will have been here for five minutes in fifty seven seconds."

Laura needs to work on outlining the way her thoughts move, she isn't normal. She's bad at people, and she just expects people to understand what she means.

[eileaneathompson]

"Because for whatever reason you're having fun at my expense," she mumbled, sniffling. "That isn't the same as having a friend."

[nobodysweapon]

"That is not the case." Laura and fun didn't seem to really belong in the same world, at least not at this moment. "Why would you presume that?"

[eileaneathompson]

"Why else would you be doing this?" she asked, confused.

[nobodysweapon]

"You were in distress. I could smell it from across the room." Laura sniffing people is not polite.

[eileaneathompson]

"You could...." she stared at her, confused, then shook her head. "So you came here to make it worse....?" she asked stunned and a bit horrified.

[nobodysweapon]

"If that is what I have done, I am sorry. Someone else would be better suited to this."

[eileaneathompson]

"Suited to what?!" She asked, so confused.

[nobodysweapon]

"Understanding. I do not know how to help you. I thought being able to listen would be enough."

Laura doesn't look put out, or self-pitying, she just looks... fatigued. "I thought not leaving you alone would be enough."