INTRO LOG

[mediumatlarge]

[[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

Grounds

[felttheburn]

[ Dulcie isn't the only one struggling to adjust to her new life at the Institute. When she circles around the back of the class building (from which all other students have fled, making it a nice quiet part of campus) she'll come across Kieran.

He was in her class earlier and didn't seem like good student material, spending most of his time slouched in his seat drawing patterns on himself and gazing out the window. Standing and up close he's ridiculously tall, about six and a half feet, and too thin. His shoes, socks, and overshirt are in a pile at the side of the building and he's barefoot in the grass, eyes closed as he slowly moves through a series of forms.

It's reminiscent of tai chi, if Dulcie has ever seen folks doing that in the park, except his poses are different. He peeks an eye open at the sound of footsteps approaching, then closes it again and continues the flowing movements. ]

Turner.

[ ...is that a greeting? It's an acknowledgement of her presence, anyway. ]

Re: Grounds

[readgenerate]

[The footsteps have slowed a bit, and stop completely when she spies him, because she's interested in what he's doing. She's seen things like it, certainly, but never this close or solo. His movements are actually quite beautiful.

And lord, some of these students are tall. She might start favouring her junior courses simply because she'll fit in so much better. That's two who tower over her by at least a foot now.]

Miss Turner. [Firm, not sharp or offended.] Hello, Kieran. It's nice to have so much green space at a school, isn't it?

[The acknowledgement made her assume that trying conversation might be worth it, but if he's too deep into what he's doing, she'll just carry on.]

Re: Grounds

[felttheburn]

[ The noncommittal 'hn' she gets in reply could apply to the requirement of Miss, her comment on the foliage, or both. Kieran opens his eyes when he speaks again. It doesn't seem to affect his focus. ]

It'll die under the snow... I prefer the desert.

[ The early fall weather is nice, but Kieran knows he'll freeze in winter. And it's so damp in the northeast -- in the week and a half he'd been at the school it had rained twice. A season's worth before classes even started was just ridiculous. ]

[readgenerate]

[Now she's convinced that a bit of conversation will be fine, as he seems to be carrying on even as he speaks to her. It's a sad sort of thought, what he says, but also a true one. Certainly not all the way to morbid, since it's a life cycle that's constantly regenerating.]

Dry heat. [She takes a quick drink from her water bottle. The desert is a place she pictures as having very little life at all.] You wouldn't have liked where I grew up. There wasn't a lot of either to be found. It made us appreciate the sun when it was out, though.

[felttheburn]

[ It's not morbid to him, either, just pointless. A cycle so long that involves so much struggle. A short life is one thing: a fly is born, grows, ages, dies, returns to the earth. A long life that just involves change, like a tree or an animal... fine. But for a thing as small as grass to have to fight its way through the ground every single year, withering so thoroughly over and over and over... nah. It's just not for him. Some people think the desert is dead and empty but the life there is just tougher. Prickly and wiry and stubborn as all hell, and you just try and wither it. A good deal will only come out after dark, when the getting's good; they're survivors, not sufferers. Which is to say the people are like that too, as far as Kieran's concerned. He's a cactus, not a blade of grass to be crushed and frozen. You hit him, you're going to bleed. ]

Hm. We respect the sun.

[ He breathes out on a pose and glances over at Dulcie, decides to humor her. ] Where was that, then?