12301/Out of Sight

Out of Sight
Date of Scene:	07 October 2020
Location:	Classroom - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Tabitha takes some personal time with her music. Andrea joins her. The two share stories and an exchange of 'What's Your Weird?'
Cast of Characters:	Siphon, Rage

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Siphon has posed:
    There aren't many practical benefits to being mid-teens and still knee-high to a grasshopper and tiny enough to curl up under the sink, but Tabitha has to admit that it's useful when she feels the need to slip away. That need came to her as everyone was excitedly talking in the wake of Andrea and Alexis serenading them with the song 'Wake Up', so she just side stepped behind a group of fellow students and made her way back to the music rooms. Her lovingly restored vintage Gibson doubleneck, The Twins, rests on her back next to her oldest unicorn print backpack as she steps up to the piano Alexis was playing just a short time ago. She closes her eyes, lettting the memory of the song run through her mind then idly playing a few measures of the song's left hand notes.

    She brings one of the chairs into a corner of the room and sits down on the floor next to it. From the backpack comes an old tape recorder and she starts to hum into it while her fingers do a quick nearly autonomous check of the guitar's condition and tuning. Then she hits record and starts to sing in her lower range.

Here we've reached that point again!
I search but I can't find me!
This tension I can't bear!
I have to try and fight me!
I run and hide behind my wall!
I'll break my pride!
My mask will fall!

    She stops and rewinds the cassette to listen. The quality is... well, the tape's been used a lot. Every few times she practices she'll play the guitar accompaniment. It doesn't sound perfect with the guitar not plugged in, but she seems used to doing things this way.

Rage has posed:
After signing autographs, handing out jackets and vinyls to the students, Andrea needed a bit of a break from the crowds. As much as she loves her friends and the new faces, she still needs some fresh air and a chance to hit the bathroom. After doing a quick round in a stall, followed by washing her face, she made her way down the hallway of classes. Still humming to herself, she takes her time to look at the new artwork along the walls and peeking at the updated honor roll list.

When the sound of singing can be heard, she finds herself drawn curiously towards the room, nudging the door open to peek inside to spy the tiny girl. Once she stops, a smirk tugs upon her lips as she leans into the doorframe. "Don't let Shannon hear those pipes of yours. It'll drive her nuts. It seems like every year we get another rockstar in the school. I'd like to think I'm a trendsetter, but Xavier's is a magnet for musically gifted mutants."

As she pushes her way in, she gives a glance around the classroom with a grin. "I was already famous before I joined Xavier's, but this is the first place that ever made me feel like I was normal and that I could finally be myself without having to flash fake smiles and put on a ton of make-up for the cameras that constantly pop out of bushes trying to catch your bad side."

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha's eyes jerk upwards at the sound of Andrea's voice. Her hands lean on the guitar strings to silence it. She can't help the reflex to try and shrink to invisibility behind the chair, but it only lasts a few heartbeats before she unbunches and relaxes again. "She already knows. She was with the group that collected me last week. I was giving a bit of a farewell concert to the other orphans. Well," her blush is embarassingly visible on her chalk pale skin, making the copper glitter glow on it shade most to bronze, "one of like two songs I could do with just the guitar unplugged. The rest are still more conceptual."

    She listens to the part about feeling normal and nods. "Yeah, even I'd heard of you before." A brief shrug and downward glance. "Well, more like overheard. But I know what you mean about this place." She raises a hand and looks at it while turning it so the light plays over it. The light seems to become fluid as it doesn't reflect so much as trickle into her hand. "I've been... this my whole life. In a fishing town that time forgot. Coming here? Learning I wasn't just an aberation? Well, it's taking some getting used to."

Rage has posed:
"None of us are. We're all amazing. Look at your gift as what it is. A gift. You were chosen to be the next step in evolution and it's going to be a beautiful future. Xavier's is here to help us learn how to control our powers, so that hopefully we can use them to help society, much like a plumber or an electrician. One day, hopefully sooner or later, people won't fear us and see us as .. people. But you know how it is. Everyone freaks out about the unknown, but I have faith. Until then, enjoy the experience. This is way better than public school, or home school."

Andrea grabs a seat and spins it around, then sits down to straddle it. "So, I see you turning colors and sparkling a bit. What is it that you can do?" She asks as she props her chin up as she leans her arm on the back of the chair. "It's really pretty. Gives me some ideas for a music video. Are you like a chameleon or something?"

Siphon has posed:
    It's clear that Tabitha is still a fair distance from the 'this is a gift' stage, but she's not dismissing of it. More of a neutal 'it's what is' acceptance. "Yeah, it's certainly better than the schools the orphans were sent to. Better food, for certain." She smile at that. "And a better music environment for certain." She shrugs about the comments on society. "Growing up I was ignored by most of the town. Out of sight, out of mind beyond the usual town bullies, at least."

    Being asked about her powers gets her to shrug. "Better to show than tell." She stands up and goes to one of the storage closets in the room's walls. She digs around and climbs on the shelves until she finds a medium size stage light, then plugs it in back where she was sitting. She politely points it away from shining in her and Andrea's faces, then pulls off the hoodie that is the upper layer of her clothing so that her arms are more exposed. Her copper and black hair and solid black eyes are more visible with the hood off as well. She stands in front of the stage light and the light starts to flow like fluid towards her body. It's flow moves into her skin and the copper glitter becomes thicker until her chalk pale skin is completely covered in a solid layer of slightly luminescent liquid copper. The stage light seems to no longer be putting out light in a visible form, but Tabitha's body continues to abosrb what is there until her body is solid liquid copper head to tow.

    "I absorb energy. Light, heat, electro-magnetic, kinetic. I'm basically a living event horizon. I can do things with the energy that's inside me, like become stronger or heal fast."

Rage has posed:
As she watches her use her powers, Andrea's grin widens even more. "Wow. That is awesome." She says as she straightens up to take in every detail. "So you're a converter. Those are fun powers to work with, especially if they have a lot of utility to them. You can get really creative. I've known a few students who had similiar powers in the past and they did some neat things. One of which could absorb light and then re-shape it into solid objects and they'd create living artwork."

Cracking her neck to one side with a loud range of pops, she says, "I don't have public powers for a good reason. Would be terrible for PR purposes. But, I can turn into an eight foot monster and I rip things apart. I can pick up a car, take damage and regenerate it fairly quickly. I'm a werewolf. Something straight out of the fairytales. I can even turn into a normal wolf. My twin brother has similiar powers, but he can also talk to dead people and guide their souls to their final resting grounds. I'm a public mutant, but I keep my powers on the downlow because I know what type of frenzy it would cause. Mothers don't want to buy their kid's music from monsters."

"So, for now, they can remember me as the cute Disney pop-princess with a girl next door smile who sings about boys and breakups. One day I'll show my fur, but only after I reach a few goals."

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha nods at the summary of her powers. "That's what I've heard it called in training. Absorption and conversion. So far it seems that all of the conversion is internal. Changing how my body works. Found out that when I have a big enough charge I stop being hungry or tired. Took three days for me to charge down after absorbing most of a house fire during a field trip to the city last Thursday."

    Hearing about Andrea's mutation makes Tabitha's eyes widen and she slowly nods. "Yeah, I can see how that might disrupt tour dates." The remarks about Andrea's plans gets her to smile again. "I can understand 'one day'. Before Sam, Alexis, Jeremy, and Shannon collected me I was full of 'one day'. Looking forward to when I'd turn eighteen and be able to leave." She chuckles to herself, "No real idea what leaving would mean, of course. Just 'shake off the dust of this place' sort of thoughts. But now I can figure out something more."

Rage has posed:
"Well, a lot of people become great when they leave Xavier's. Doctor McCoy for example. The big blue furry science teacher. He's one of the world's greatest scientists and has worked with the Avengers." Andrea says as she giggles. "Mason, my ex boyfriend who is also a mutant .. he's in Juliard's now in their music program and doing great things. A lot of doors do open. I'm at NYU in their performing arts department along with my boyfriend, Jay. He is doing audio engineering. I graduated with him, Megan and Josh last year. Josh and Megan became X-Men. So, Xavier's at least prepares you to get ready for the new world once you graduate."

Giving another arch of her back, she cracks a few more joints to loosen her back up. "I can show you the wolf stuff if you want. Do you scare easy? Some kids would freak out. Sorta hard to see your idol become a monster. I think really it's the sound of snapping bones is what gets them."

Siphon has posed:
    "Other than the schools, I don't know what any of that is yet." Tabitha isn't proud of her ignorance of most of the world, but she sees no point in trying to hide it. "But it sounds like maybe I could eventually go to Berklee? I'd love to study there!" She also perks up hearing that Jay is a sound engineer. "Oh, really? I've been trying to learn how to do that, but when my studio is, well..." she gestures to the tape recorders and cassettes.

    Then Andrea is asking if she scares easily and wants to see a werewolf. The copper girl looks lost for a bit then shrugs, "Um, I don't know if I scare easily. But if you're comfortable sharing that, yeah."

Rage has posed:
"Berkeley is awesome. I grew up in the Bay Area by the way, until I moved to Hollywood, then to New York." Andrea grins. "Berkley is really liberal and easy to hang out at. All the weirdos are kicking it there and you'd probably be considered normal. It's like the most free place of expression I've ever seen. It's one of my favorite places to visit and perform at."

"Make sure to hit up the IT department here. They'll give you a laptop and fully loaded with software. I used to spend a lot of time in the music studio here with my computer mixing and recording. I actually wrote and produced most of my second album here at Xavier's! Unbreakable was the album I wrote when I was going through a /lot/ of drama and emotional stuff. I probably cried more in the studio than my bedroom."

Sliding out of the chair, she gives a longer stretch of her body, then peels out of her hoodie and puts it to the side. "Okay, I'll go to the wolf first, then the monster next. That way I don't tear my clothes apart. Usually I gotta get naked for this, but I've got good at wiggling out of my clothes as a wolf. Afterwards, I'll just snag them up and head into the side room and get re-dressed."

With that, the sound of bones snapping can be heard as her body gives a visible jerk. She starts to shrink downwards as fur bristles along her body. It's her face that usually makes a stomach turn. The snapping of bone, the contorting of a human face becoming a muzzle. Once she hits the ground on all fours, she completes the change as her fur puffs out and her tail swings free behind her. Next, she's wiggling and kicking out of her clothing as best she can. It's the socks that makes the situation laughable. She is still wearing them.

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha chuckles at the miscommunication. "Not UC Berkeley. Berklee College of Music in Boston. I've read up on a lot of their programs in practical music design and business." Then she sort of shrugs. "Plus it's where one of my music idols got her degrees, so there's that side of things." She perks up a bit at the next part. "So there is a recording and mixing setup here? I wanted to ask, but kept getting sidetracked by other school stuff." She just nods in understanding when Andrea talks about the emotinal side of producing her album here.

    And then Andrea is describing how she'll go about shifting and Tabitha is visibly trying to control her breathing to try and keep from being scared. Then the bones start to shift and snap and she flinches at each one. She's not quite looking away by the time the muzzle shifts, and inwardly she's glad that she can't really go pale or turn green when she's charged up like she is. Then there's wriggling and shaking, and socks and shock turns to giggles pretty quick. Between giggle fits she stands up and takes a couple tentative steps towards Andrea the Wolf. "Do you... want some help getting those off?"

Rage has posed:
There is a quick sway of the hips as Andrea kicks off her very fashionable pair of undies. They're black. Glancing down at her socked paws, she flops upon her rump and leans over, nipping at one with her teeth and gives it a tug. She gives a wolfish chortle before reaching for the second one. Once free of her socks, she trots out of the pile of clothing and gives a long stretch of her body, flexing her paws, followed by a swish of her tail. Her amber eyes look upwards to the girl, tongue lolling out her muzzle as her ears prick forward.

Bark!

She has a sharp voice that is definitely female in tone. Rough and husky. Settling herself upon her back haunches, she coils her tail around her as she gives a wide grin. The better to eat you with my dear.

Siphon has posed:
    "Guess you've got it handled." Tabitha will now forever have the image of a huge wolf wriggling out of a pair of La Perla undies burned into her brain. She doesn't know what to do with that. And now she's getting a view of just how big wolves are, because she's almost short enough to look Andrea straight in the eyes in this shape. It's not hard for her to forget the unpleasant nature of the shifting with Andrea sitting there all fluffy and adorable.

    On one hand she's very comfortable with the idea of reaching over and giving even a canine this size some good scritchies. A lot of people in Bar Harbor had dogs, some of them were wolfhounds. And she got along a lot better with the town's four-legged population. But no dog ever looked at her with intelligence and she knows that it's Andrea behind those gold eyes so before she reaches forward she asks, "Do you mind?"
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Rage has posed:
Bobbing her head, Rage looks amused as her ears give a flicker forward. Her tail sways a few times behind her before she gives a nod of her head, then leans herself forward. She is muscular for a wolf, and one thing that stands out is the scars. Deep, thick scars criss cross along her back and stomach with patches of fur missing. There is another lengthy scar along the side of her neck. It would seem that this particular lupine has seen her share of combat. That is not typically in a popstar's daily routine.

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha gladly accepts the invitation. She is still hesitant as she touches Andrea's head behind the ears. Not out of fear, but because she's visibly concentrating on making sure she keeps her aura in check. Better headache later than accidentally turning a global celebrity into a husk. She notices the scars of course, espeically the one on the neck her hand is closest to. She just sighs as she pets and scratches Andrea and comments, "So I guess the whole hero stuff keeps going after graduation?"

Rage has posed:
There is a brief shake of the head from Rage at the question. Her tail gives a thump before glancing down at herself. She eases back on her haunches, taking one paw to tap along her scarred chest, then motions it outwards to the room. Poke. Point. Poke. She got the scars 'here'? The lengths that the school goes to hide attacks upon their home is excellent. No one would have heard a blip of it on the news of when and where it happened.

After a bit of petting, she leans up to lick the girl's fingers with her tongue, then prances away a few paces. She gives a wolfish chuff, then starts to shift again. The body cracks loudly, muscles popping and fur puffing out thicker as her body jerks left to right in a wild spasm. She goes from wolf to monster as she rises up on her bi-pedal legs. She is powerfully built and terrifying. The monster of nightmares as her gold eyes gleam downwards to the smaller girl. The scars are thicker now in her muscled pet. Her paws have large claws that are black and curvy. The type that is designed to hook into a body of meat and cleave it's way through.

"Rrrr." She growls out lowly to her. "Nnnoooot herrrrro." The English is rough and strangled out of her lupine vocals.

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha isn't particularly quick on picking up on cues like the pointing but she catches on eventually. The lightless abysses that her eyes have become widen and the mild glow of her copper skin actually dims from the level of shock. "You got those /here/?" She looks vaguely around the room as if trying to visualize the place being attacked in such a way as to leave scars like that. Her wandering mind is returned to the moment at the finger licks.

    During the shift to werewolf Tabitha backs away until she has the piano between herself and Andrea. As Andrea grows taller, Tabitha shrinks down to keep it so that she's only visible from the nose up. When it's over and she's had the time to really take in the sight she's amazed at how conversational her voice is when she comments. "If I hadn't basically been hit in the face with a train this afternoon I think I'd be two counties away by now."

Rage has posed:
There's a loud 'sniff' from the primoridal beast of legend. At least the girl didn't pee herself. That's a good sign. She holds up her large paws and gives a few flexes of her claws, then nods her head at the question.

"Mmmooossterrrrr. Maaaade offff mmmmetaaal."

She pats her stomach a few times, then shows her claws again. Her ears flick forward at the memories. "I torrrrrre it'ssss heaaaad offffff." She makes a motion with her paws, as if she was splitting something open, most likely the jaws of another beast, then gives a visible 'twist'. Snap!

"Sssaaaved kidssss."

Siphon has posed:
    It takes a sliver of effort, but Tabitha's audio comprehension is precise enough for her to listen past the lupine growns to the voice below. She perks up as Andrea describes the fight she was scarred in. "Do you mean a Sentinel? Shannon told me a little about them." She has found enough of her spine to step out from behind the piano, but it's clear she's still very much aware of the size difference in play.

    "Hearing what they can do, I just keep thinking if I could put myself between one and someone else. Last week I didn't even fight anyone directly. I don't even know /how/ to fight other than to make myself a target." She runs her fingers over the piano keys, absently playing a short dirge. "It's been one hell of a week. So much to take in. But so far it's still the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Rage has posed:
Shaking her head, Rage gives another motion of her large paws in the air, then gives up on trying to describe it. She gathers up her clothes and heads for the side office with a lumber of her body. It takes a few minutes for her to return, fully clothed and straightening her hair with a raking of fingers through it.

"No, not a Sentinel. Was a monster. Made of metal. It was sent to us to try and track down and murder mutants, was developed by some shadow organization. It tore my guts out, but I held the line for the others to get to safety. It should have killed me. It was elbows deep in me. I am just stubborn."

Cranking her shoulders to pop a few joints and loosen herself up, she says, "I grabbed it by the jaws and split it's head open, then I twisted it off. I was really lucky and it laid me out for almost a week in medical. Even with the auto-doc and some healers on duty, it still left me with these scars along my stomach and back. Killed my modeling career."

Siphon has posed:
    While Andrea is changing in more ways than one, Tabitha sits down at the piano. Her fingers continue moving fluidly over the keys but change tone from half-formed dirge to I. Adagio sostenuto from Moonlight Sonata. It's a well known piece and as familiar to her as her own skin. She plays more quietly as Andrea returns and tells more about what happened to her.

    "It will very likely hit me harder one of these days. I've learned that being a mutant means being a target by default. I'm somewhat used to that. Made a hobby of it back home, even. It's the scale of it that hasn't hit me yet."

    She glances down at where Andrea's scars are hidden by her clothing. Her fingers shift tempo from classical to much more modern. "You're not the first person to mention the dream of this place. It kinda resonates to me. Like the stories of Avalon. I'm still working it all out, how I might fit in. But I do know that it feels right." She sings a few lines from a song that's always felt right to her in a similar way.

Into the silence will you answer.
Before the chaos will you come.
Do not injustice to another.
Defend the weak and innocent.
Let truth and honor always guide you.
Let courage find a life within.

    

Rage has posed:
"Being a mutant is like being born with a gun in your hand. You just become a target for the crazy, or the scared, or the misguided. Part of Xavier's dream is to build a cooperative relationship with humanity to show that we're not the enemey. It'll take some time and a lot of work, but we'll be able to do it. I believe." Andrea says as she settles once more into her chair, arms crossed over the back of it.

She listens to the piano, appreciating the familiar melody of the Moonlight Sonata, then smiles at the lyrics. She hums along with them gently, drumming her fingers a bit on the back of the chair. "At the end of the day, this is a school first, so try and remember that. Have fun. Make friends. Hit on cute boys. Go to the dances and join the Glee Club. A lot of kids get wrapped up in the whole .. mutant school with super powers thing and forget that they're kids and not superheroes. You only get four years of high school, right?"

"Just be a kid and have fun. That's the best advice I can give you. Don't waste your innocence. You got plenty of time ahead of you to become jaded and bitter."

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha chuckles at the advice being given. "Last Tuesday was the first time I really had a reason to be anything other than jaded and bitter. I was the town freak from day one. My only real thought for the future was getting away and hopefully finding somewhere I could just quietly go about my life. Then I got a friend. All but a sister, really." Here her voice goes rather lifeless. "She and I were taken. They set us on fire. She burned to death. I didn't. That was two weeks ago."

    She's been leaning more of what changes when she goes 'full abyss'. Seems crying is out of the question just like eating or sleeping. So it's not all bad, right? She lets out a breath and manages a smile after a bit of time. "I really like it here, and I have started to see the appeal in all the normal kid stuff. Except for flirting and things like that. Never have seen the point there." She smiles over at Andrea, a more convincing one this time. "I like it here. And I am making friends and having fun so far. But don't ask me to start enjoying homework. That ain't ever gonna happen."

Rage has posed:
As she listens, Andrea nods her head slowly, then lets out a soft breath. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know it's hard. I've seen my share of horror that most kids shouldn't. I have definitely seen more than people in my industry has seen. But here though? It's safe. The only trouble you really get into is the type you go looking for."

Giving antoher long stretch, she grins. "Homework here is pretty fun. All the teachers make it exciting and hardly boring, unless you're taking economics with Mister Summers. He's as dry as a bone, but it's a good class if you want to learn how to get loans and pay them off and all that other real life stuff that they don't teach you in normal kid school. I mean, I have a financial advisor and lawyers to manage my money, but it's good to know for yourself. I never know when I may need to cut ties and go out on my own."

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha nods her thanks to Andrea, then shrugs with a nod to the singer's scars. "Safe is relative though, isn't it? And I don't go looking for more trouble than I already have. Not my fault that my first school field trip ended in some kind of supervillain attack and an appartment building on fire." She manages a smirk at the subject.

    "I haven't really started normal classes yet. Been a lot of power training and assessments to figure out just how badly I was educated back home. I'm oddly looking forward to getting a class schedule, though. I'm just hoping they'll let me get my hands on that recording studio you mentioned."