INTRO LOG

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[[Exactly what it says on the tin! This is just an initial log to sort of get things started and is largely freeform, open to (but not limited to):

-Meetings before classes start
-First day business
-Dorm shenanigans meetings
-First classes in progress
-or whatever the heck else you want to do for beginning-of-term things!

There's a CR meme up now for some initial planning if you like, or feel free to just hop in here.]]

Comments

IT HAPPENS

[bakegarasu]

[He nods at the last part, considering it.]

The speed happened when I was... fifteen, maybe. But I haven't been able to feel pain since I was born. The Professor told me that it was less like the mutations these kids have. More like the sort of mutations you read in science books, or a genetic disease. And that I was lucky to be alive.

[Though it's a little hard to figure out anything from his lazy and flat tone, the last bit has a bit of emphasis on it. He doesn't feel that he's lucky. But he doesn't know how to do anything but stay alive, despite all odds.]

[readgenerate]

You don't feel any pain at all?

[She tries so hard not to react to new mutations she hears about, because they get more than enough rubbernecking from the outside world, but that's remarkable. And that it could be something other than their mutations...]

I'm sorry. There's nothing to clarify about that. But you are lucky, pain serves an important purpose. It would've been so easy -

[She's still a bit shocked by the ramifications. So easy to die of an illness, a wound, an infection of which he had no idea.]

[bakegarasu]

I know.

[He shrugs a little bit. He's known all his life. It doesn't make much difference anymore.]

You adapt. You either hide and try not to get hurt, or you throw yourself into battle because you're the only person who can keep going. It made me a good... 'cleanup crew'.

[He lifts his hands to do the air quotes.]

I grew up in the yakuza. I don't care who knows here. If someone wants to come after me, this place isn't going to hide me for long.

[readgenerate]

Yakuza... [She's heard that word somewhere, in something she saw or read. Probably a book.] ... the mob.

[He won't find any judgment here. She was lucky enough to come from a working-class family and live in comparatively safe neighbourhoods, but she's not completely blind to gang culture either. Things could just as easily have gone much worse for her.]

I'm glad you've found somewhere safe. And I believe it is safe - I don't believe the Professor would ever let anything like that happen. We're all here to be protected.

[bakegarasu]

Are we?

[He shifts a bit to look at her more directly.]

Or are we here to have people keep an eye on us for other reasons? No one does things just for other people. There's always a gain from it.

[readgenerate]

[The thought sits uncomfortably with her for many reasons. There was no coercion, no manipulation, so she never thought to doubt the school - but then, she's been manipulated in subtle ways before. She always felt, knew that it was wrong, and this doesn't feel wrong, but still...]

Who do you think would be watching us? [Her voice is even, still non-judgmental.]

[bakegarasu]

Dunno. I just know that you don't put a lot of powerful people together without there being some sort of reason. Money, power... bragging rights... there's always someone who wants more. Figure out what that something is and how you can exploit it... that's one of the first things you figuring out in a situation.

We're all here. But who's not, and why? Because they can't, or because they won't? I may not know academics, but I've watched organizations rise and fall. Sometimes I had a hand in it. I may be a weapon, but I'm not completely stupid.

[readgenerate]

[Figure out what that something is and how you can exploit it. She turns away, shivering, and wraps her arms around her middle.]

Neither am I.

[Not that he implied it, but now she feels it. Such a thing never even occurred to her about this place.]

[bakegarasu]

... Maybe it's not true. Maybe it's because I grew up with people looking for an angle all the time. It's just that... if someone attacked this place and got through the defenses, how many mutants would be killed? How many people actually involved in anything political would make it? And how many kids would get caught in the middle?

My father was not an honorable man. I can see how he'd go after this place - a frontal assault, people at all the entrances. Kill the kids to make an example, beat down anyone who got in his way. Send me in to clear a path. Fire rockets at anything that tried to fly away, and trigger bombs to cover any underground escapes. It's not a safe place. It's a central place with few defenses. Maybe one of the mutants with mental powers would pick it up ahead of time, but there's got to be someone who can block that sort of thing.

If someone went after the people here - [not us, never an us, he's not part of an us] - they would be smart about it or they'd get mowed down in two seconds. And you always plan for the first, not the second. Killing an enemy quickly is a benefit, not a planned situation.

[His voice turns a little raspy near the end, and he coughs. He's not used to talking so much, but this is a topic he knows a lot about.]

... It's just a thought. But it's what I'm good at - killing. So I know how other people would do it, too.

[readgenerate]

[A shaking hand rises to her mouth, although whether to hold back words she doesn't want to speak or bile rising in her throat is hard to tell. The entire combination - the fact that he knows this from experience, that he can plot it out so easily, that he believes it will happen here as it always has in his life before - it's all so upsetting that she doesn't know where to start.

She was warned that there would be bad stories. Just not this bad, and not among the staff. Oh, she's been so naive.]

I'm sorry. [She turns back to face him, her face rigid to try and hide that racing emotion.] I - I should get to bed. I'll need the sleep.

[bakegarasu]

[He looks down a bit. Oh. He upset her. That's... bad, right? He looks up again, hunching his shoulders a bit.]

It probably won't happen. Don't worry about it.

[readgenerate]

[She forces herself to take a deep breath. That was an overreaction on her part. This is something she needs to make right as well.]

It's what you know. You'll always expect what you know, everyone will. [The hand over her mouth comes down to rest lightly on her chest, just below her collarbone. Steadying, anchoring her racing heart.] I hope you can find some peace.

[bakegarasu]

[... He shrugs. Peace isn't what he's looking for. Survival is. But if that's what she needs to say, then fine.]

No one's attacking on my watch, at least. Go to sleep.

[readgenerate]

[No, but she thinks it's something everyone deserves.]

And you have a good night, Yosuke. I - won't forget what you said.

[It almost sounds like thanks. Even if it was overly harsh, it did ground her when she'd been floating through this new life as though the threats of her old one were completely gone. She can't become that naive again.]

[bakegarasu]

[He nods, and goes back to staring at the ceiling.]