fifthcurriculum | INTRO LOG

[At the beginning of the day, while people are still being dropped off, Otoha watches from the top of one of the buildings. He likes it up here - it's quiet and he feels a little safer. But the sight of the families is too much for him, and eventually he leaves.]

[A little later he's walking the grounds, still trying to get familiar with them. One of his bandages has fallen off and is fluttering out from his trenchcoat sleeve. At least he's not bleeding anymore, but it's probably not the safest thing for an injury.]

[Once things have settled down, he roams the halls, checking to make sure people are where they're supposed to be. Honestly he's not sure where he's supposed to be, since in theory he's a teacher but he doesn't really have classes scheduled. He does end up in the staff areas and stares at a bulletin board with colorful stickers. Is... is this the sort of thing he's going to have to get as a teacher? He's not going to use yellow smiley face stickers, thanks.]

[A bit later he's in the cafeteria, eating oatmeal. It's a breakfast food but he'll eat it if he wants to. And he can, because he's on his own now. Sort of. He's had to pull his sleeves up a bit though, so the wrapping on his arm is visible, along with the patches of too-red skin peeking out from under it.]

[Finally at night, he's back in the staff quarters, staring at the ceiling in their lounge. Sleep? He's not sure how to do that anymore. He doesn't really care, but he's just... bored. He's not allowed to kill anyone, so what is he supposed to do?]

[It's been a long day. It didn't have to be, granted, but Dulcie wanted to greet as many children as possible and have little discussions where she could. Get to know her new students. It's unsettling, how many are nearly her own age and even taller than her, but she knows she has it in her to keep order with the force of her personality.

She knows it. Deep, deep down. She just has to find that knowledge again under all of the nerves about her actual classes.

It startles her a bit when she comes into the staff lounge and finds someone there. Honestly, she'd thought that all of the staff would be asleep by now.]

Yosuke, right? [They've had two meetings, one on a staff basis and one as X-Men, so she's got almost everyone's names down. This one she trips over just a bit, though, making it sound embarrassingly American.] I'm sorry. i didn't know anyone was here.

[He notices someone come in and looks over a bit lazily, trying to dredge her name up from his brain. It's hard to remember that there are social rules that he has to follow here, that he can't just do whatever he wants.]

... Otoha. Only two people called me by my given name.

[And both of them are dead, so there's that gone. He studies her for a minute, still trying to come up with the name. Nope. Not showing up.]

It's... fine. I don't really sleep.

Oh. Otoha, alright. [She's already apologised once, so she just nods her understanding solemnly. No one casually calls her Dulcinea either, since she adopted it as her codename, so she can almost understand.

Well, with the tiny bit of knowledge she has.]

I'm Dulcie, Dulcie Turner. [No offer of a handshake, just the information he clearly needed. There's something self-contained about him that she wants to respect.] Is that part of your mutation? I saw a student awake earlier, and he said that he doesn't sleep either.

No, it's not. But I've worked nights for a long time.

[To put it... simply.]

Dulcie.

[He repeats it, trying to get his head around the syllables. His English is at least understandable, though there's a rough edge to it that would suggest something closer to New Jersey if he were a native American English speaker.]

You teach... English?

[She nods again at that. She certainly knew enough students who kept that schedule to stay in school, and viciously admired her full ride.]

It's a hard adjustment to make, I've heard. But the best thing for a lack of sleep is to keep yourself occupied, not lie in bed and worry, so you've made a good choice.

That's right, I'm covering all of the English for now, across the different age groups. I'll also be doing training with the older students who are considering the X-Men.

Maybe I can pick up a few things from you. I... never did well in school.

[He only really got by on money and threats, so he probably shouldn't have graduated anyway.]

I've been assigned weapons training. I was told my style is... unconventional, but I've used it for at least a decade. Maybe it just works because of my speed.

[Oh yeah. Training things. He lifts up his arm so he can pull the sleeve back, revealing a bandage. Hm. The skin under it still doesn't look healed. Annoying.]

A lot of these kids didn't grow up knowing they had a mutation, right?

[A teacher willing to learn? That gets a smile out of her.]

I'd be happy to offer some private tutoring, if you want to strengthen your skills. I can't make a lot of guarantees about my time, but I won't turn away anyone who wants to learn.

[The statement about his assignment goes without comment, but not without thought. He seems young to have been fighting so long, although she knows that some mutations can impact aging, and she's just not very fond of weapons. She's always preferred using her body, and it's a relief that she can help with the training that way thanks to her mutation.

Her mutation, which it looks like he could use. She'll be keeping an eye on him, even if she can't heal anyone but herself, just to make sure that doesn't look any worse.

Then she nods.]

From what I was told, it manifests at puberty, or around that time. I certainly didn't know until it happened. I've met one student who has mutant parents, and apparently the whole family have the same mutation, but I don't think that'll be the norm. [She frowns.} Some of them will have been through a terrible shock.

Edited 2014-09-08 00:15 (UTC)

[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.]

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.]

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.

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.

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.

[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.]

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.

[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.]

... 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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[... 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.

[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.]

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

INTRO LOG

Yosuke Otoha | Multiple places

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WHOOPS MISSED A WHOLE PART OF YOUR TAG HAHA orz

IT HAPPENS

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