Opening Day [OPEN]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: EVERYONE
WHAT: Mingle/Figure out Room Assignments/Meet old friends again
WHERE: The whole campus.
WHEN: September 1st, 2018
WARNING(S): None. If anything goes into warning territory, please create a new log for it.




For all of the newcomers, welcome to Professor Xavier’s Institute of Higher Learning! For all of our returning students and staff, welcome back! Once Professor Xavier’s welcome speech wraps up, it’s time for everyone to get themselves situated in their dorms and, more importantly, get to know your fellow mutants! Even if you’re not sharing rooms, you’ll still be sharing the same campus with each other, so don’t be afraid to get used to all of those new faces! Or even catch up on old ones! You have options; don’t be afraid to use them.

[[ ooc: This is the general mingling post for all of our characters to get settled into their rooms, get to know each other, reminisce with old friends, all that jazz. The log will be split into multiple locations. ]]

Comments

[tiamaris]

Basketball...or track....? He had read the words before, had heard them before, so why did they sound so d*** much like a foreign language? And what did any of that actually have to do with him, anyway? Try out... he thought he had heard or read the term somewhere before, but it had been a long day, a long week... had it been a week? Well however long it had been since he had run away from home, it had been longer than it was. That didn't even make sense. He was so tired, that was about all that did make sense at the moment. He was tired. And Hungry. Well, he was used to that. But... he didn't have a clue what to do about food, not here. He got up anyway, to try and figure it out, maybe, maybe even to ask, but tired won over hungry. As he stood his knees bent again, dropping him back to the bed, hard. The wooden frame of the bed made cracking sound, an ominous creaking, and then the left leg at the foot of the bed, where he had been sitting, broke, sending the bed, and him, pitching forward.

Tiamaris threw his hands out to shield himself from the fall. It hadn't been a choice, it had been instinct. And while that instinct might have saved him from a broken nose, the scales were also instinct, and they were far less welcome. What little he wore was left in shreds on the floor as the razor edged scales grew rapidly out of his skin, so that when he fell and rolled to his side, he was covered head to toe in what looked like ornate antique scale male armor. It covered any...ah... embarrassing and gender specific portions of his anatomy; like armor, it added bulk. It also added defensiveness. And weight. Unfortunately, he was not light to begin with, as the bed had demonstrated. There were small cracks in the floor under his mailed fingers. He pushed himself into a sitting position on the floor and eyed the bed.

His eyes were a deep shade of orange, and his roommate was all but forgotten. He had broken the bed. He broke the bed. What were they going to do to him? They took him in, and he broke the d*** bed. The brief, faint, hope that he had found a safe place, a place he could possibly stay... the thought of the books the boy had told him about, books he had never yet read... and all of it faded like smoke before a fan... Bleak was the best descriptor for his eyes. His face was ever a mask, save those eyes, a bleed, muted, orange.

[batteredbatter]

Koshi jumped up in surprise at the cracking of the bed, but he wasn't ready for what came after that.

"Whoa, are you all- WHOA!" he said, jumping back in reaction. He'd figured his roommate had some kind of powers, but seeing him suddenly burst out of his clothes in scales was something else. And that continued creaking... well, Koshi was just glad they were on the first floor.

"Oh, geez... you okay, Tiamaris?" he asked once he was sure things had stopped changing and breaking, a bit shaken up but starting to calm down now that it seemed his roommate wasn't getting any better.

[tiamaris]

His bleak eyes looked up at his roommate, as if they weren't quite seeing. They were still, unfortunately, a cloudy orange. You okay, Tiamaris? He... was not used to those words, not that sentence, but... it was not the first time he had heard it. Just the first time since his uncle had died. Confusion added itself to the bleakness in his eyes, then. He had looked to this boy in fear that he would be like his father, when he saw everything. It had never occurred to him that he... that anyone... could be more like his uncle. Of a sample size of two, Tiamaris had more experience with his father, than with anyone else. The thought that someone else could - would - care was so outside of his expectations that he had no clue how to handle it, how to react, what to say. So he just sat there, covered in scales, rent of clothing, broken of bed, staring bleakly and uncomprehendingly up at his roommate.

[batteredbatter]

Honestly, Koshi was pretty sure he had the most to be afraid of. His roommate had just turned into some kind of devillizard, and he was rather keenly feeling how bite-size he was, in a manner of speaking.

"Uh, hello? The bed's totally wrecked..." he murmured as he surveyed the mess now existing. Well, it was a school for fledgling mutants so... hopefully the administration was used to dealing with this sort of thing? "...don't eat me."

[tiamaris]

His eyes shaded quickly towards red and he breathed out, a small hint of smoke escaping his nose. "when did I ever say I was going to eat you?" he growled, his voice growing in volume. Not good, not good not good. He had to break the anger... somehow. He needed to calm down. He pushed himself to his feet, and swayed a bit, but the armor locked into place, and he didn't fall over. He tried to calm, tried to breathe, but breathing produced puffs of smoke - the precursor to flame - which lead to fear. Fear was as bad as anger, and this room did NOT have enough space for him to go dragon. Did not, did not, did not. But he wasn't sure how to calm himself down, and he needed to calm down!

[batteredbatter]

"Well, just... hoping it stays that way." Sure, maybe not the nicest thing to say, but Koshi was still fighting minor flight-or-fight reactions right now that the initial shock had worn off and it seemed his roommmate wasn't injured. That smoke wasn't particularly comforting either. "So, uh... is this your thing?"

He was, well, a little oblivious to how much danger he might actually be in right then.

[tiamaris]

He was fighting an internal battle with his anger, trying to calm down, or at least, not to get worse. His eyes shimmered on the border between red and orange, hovering between the two, but still cloudy. he clenched his teeth, but holding back words didn't help. He had no clue if speaking them would, but refusing to speak them was taking focus away from his attempts to calm himself down. "My thing?" he asked, somewhat sharply. Modulation of tone, also, was a deterrent from his focus, so he did not bother with it. There had to be some way to calm down... some way to... to not destroy everything.

[batteredbatter]

"I mean, like... your power? Mutant ability?" Koshi felt kind of stupid now, asking it, since obviously it had to be. "Turning into a... big lizard-guy?"

Yeah, he had no idea what was going on. Even with the smoke "dragon" didn't cross his mind.

"Are you sure you're okay? Should I get a teacher?"

[tiamaris]

He swallowed convulsively, trying to fight the anger, fight the transformation. He didn't want to transform, to kill this boy... well, actually the scary thing was that at the moment... it wasn't as horrifying a thought, killing him, as being kicked out was. The anger was leading towards depression, to sorrow... but... But sorrow could come back to anger again. And he was afraid. Fear was edging in. "teacher..." he repeated in a low rumble, the orange of his eyes deepening. "Yes," he said, "teacher," he rumbled, trying not to shake.

[batteredbatter]

"Right... I'll just... go get one," said Koshi, edging along the wall and dropping off his bed. Perhaps overly cautious not to make any sudden movements, he started creeping towards the door. "You gonna be all right if I leave you alone?"

[tiamaris]

Yeah, the fear... so not helping. His eyes shaded more towards the red as he fought with himself, shaking ever so slightly, though it didn't show. "GO!" he roared, smoke accompanying the words, though he managed to keep the fire shorn of his voice. The teacher would come, and the teacher would kill him. It was the only way he could think of for the teacher to stop him but... maybe that was okay. Maybe he shouldn't have come here, should have just let his father shoot him. He had been ready to die, before, or so he had thought, but at the last minute... he had always relented, rallied, fought for life... but... then he would have killed his father and himself... or someone who was attacking him... but there were people here who didn't know him, had never hurt him. He would let them kill him... he would try to let them kill him. He stumbled towards the bathroom, not looking to see if the boy had left to fetch someone or not. he scrambled with the shower controls, leaving gauges in the tile from claw like nails that came with the armor. Water running, he dropped himself heavily into the tub, hoping he imagined the crack. The water didn't calm him down, it irritated him, made him more uncomfortable and upset, but it should, ideally, keep him from burning anything down. he scrambled with the plug, so the tub would fill. Maybe...maybe he would have the courage to drown himself. He doubted it.

[batteredbatter]

If Koshi wasn't in a hurry before, he sure was now, practically bolting out the door. Obviously, this guy was pretty freaked out, so someone who actually knew how to handle "suddenly, mutant powers!" would be much appreciated on the scene. Some first day of school... he really hoped there was a teacher nearby.

[Want me to grab a mod or other teacher for this?]

[tiamaris]

(Teacher, yeah. Bring someone else in for some fun. :D )

[batteredbatter]

(Got one, see below!)

[herald_the_dream]

As far as teachers went, Koshi hit the jackpot, so to speak. Tiamaris might have heard the familiar squeak of the chair's wheels through his turmoil, maybe... but he definitely heard the voice in his mind, calm and collected, and carrying with it a gentleness and willingness to help.

"Are you alright? Physically, I mean. You do not have to speak if you do not wish. I will hear you, regardless. We will cross all the other bridges when we come to them."

[tiamaris]

Tiamaris was in the filling tub, irritation from being wet mingling with fear and the residual anger. His eyes were an orange that was nearly red, and the color was bright, almost liquid. He was close, so close to the edge of loosing control. And he heard the voice in his mind, the one that led him to this place, ultimately. A flare of hope then, but in the forefront of his mind, he knew not if he was hoping for help - which he had never had since he was five, or hoping for someone to just come and end him so he wouldn't be a danger to everyone here. Running along the back of all of that was the running litany of what had led to this in the first place. The bed broke. He was a monster, he broke the bed, his roommate was now scared of him, and would become like his dad, or would just be afraid around him all the time. And if not him, anyone else would hate and fear him. He broke the bed. He couldn't control the fire. He couldn't control the armor. He ripped his last pair of pants. Pants he had to steal. He hated himself for having stolen. He couldn't take care of himself, all he could be was a burden and a danger. He should let these people kill him, it would be better for everyone... but.... every time he had tried to let someone kill him... at the last minute he couldn't go through with it. It was as if something in him desperately wanted to live... but why? For what? He couldn't cry for some reason, maybe it was what he was supposed to do, cry, but his misery fueled anger instead, hatred of himself, of his father. And the anger made it harder and harder to keep control... Fire tried to hiss out of his mouth. He shoved his head under water, not sure if he was trying to drown the fire, or himself. A single thought like a response to Xavier's mental speech. "Help me" was the voiceless response, and he wasn't even aware of sending it.

[herald_the_dream]

"... It was only a bed, Tiamaris. A bed that can be replaced. An object with no feelings, not a person. You have harmed no one. And furthermore, there is value in that strength in what it can do to help people. In that power is not just the capacity to destroy or to intimidate... but to nurture and to protect. That is why you are here. Remember, please...

Despair is a convenient darkness to lie in. I know it well. I have teetered by that edge of wishing for death... But there is still use for me yet. There is use for me in you, a hand to grasp in that darkness. And within you that same will to live exists. I know it."

[tiamaris]

Some of the red receded from his eyes, going back towards a dull bronze as the words seeped in, took root in his mind, in his heart. He struggled, slipping and pulled himself out of the tub, slipped, and fell hard on his side onto the tile, which cracked under him. He hardly felt it. "I... do not know how to protect..." He admitted mentally. He pushed himself into a sitting position, staring out bleakly. It was an improvement over how he had been minutes before.

[herald_the_dream]

"That is why you are here. To learn how...," Charles wheeled fully into view now, his face baring no judgement for Tiamaris' sad state of affairs. He'd seen a lot of this kind of thing, after all. He'd been there himself.

"If you'd like, we can go outside and enjoy the fresh air until you feel at least physically better. I'll be with you the whole time."

(You can skip me if you need to; i might go out tonight)

[batteredbatter]

And, nervously, but trying to smile encouragingly, Koshi came in behind the professor, giving a little wave. He didn't say anything, but he wanted to Tiamaris to know that he hadn't just fled in terror. He'd let the professor handle everything though, since he worried he might just make it worse - after all, it seemed like he set this off to begin with, somehow.

[tiamaris]

He had looked up when the professor had wheeled in and had started to nod, his eyes a dull orange. He then saw Koshi, and blinked, his eyes flashing brown in surprise for a moment. His face was still impassive, but he was shocked, even if it only showed in his eye color. He swallowed hard then slowly nodded.

[herald_the_dream]

"Good. If you'll follow me. I'll page the janitor to clean this up." Xavier gave both young men a smile, backing his chair out of the room and heading down the hallway, expecting the two of them to fall in step behind him.

[batteredbatter]

Koshi stepped out of the way of the professor and moved to follow him, though he paused to look and make sure Tiamaris was coming along.

"It's gonna be fine," he said with a smile, his nerves easing off.

[tiamaris]

He followed them, the scales clinking ever so slightly as he walked. he opened and closed his clawed hands, eyes orange, a bit more afraid again, now that they were in the halls where other people might see them. Might see him. Would any of them have a gun? He did his best to keep the emotions off his face, unaware that it took little effort; his eyes however... that was a lost cause, not that he had anyway to know it. His eyes were dull orange, right between red and gold.

[herald_the_dream]

Of course, having the world's most powerful telepath helped in that regard.

"No one will harm you. No one is even going to see us leave. Right now, we are invisible to all eyes outside our own."