The Deck, Wednesday After Classes

[life_inshadow]

Tara was in a good mood as the reserves gathered this afternoon, if one tinged with the slightest edge of nervous mania. Kennedy had told her just that morning that Constance was coming for the weekend. Constance the Watcher, who was going to want to meet Tara, and probably judge absolutely everything about her, and was there time for Tara to dye the random blonde streaks in her hair back to her natural color?

... Focus, Tara. She blinked rapidly at the group as she gathered her thoughts. "Hi!" she said. "M-most of you probably know this, but Parents' Weekend starts the day after tomorrow. That means a whole lot of our parents, friends, guardians and siblings are going to just show up and, uh, expect us to show them around."

"Which would all be stressful enough at a normal school," she continued, "But here, we have some special concerns. Like, do your parents even know you use magic, or hang out with people who do?"

"We don't have an activity today," she finished. "Just ... let's have a discussion. Should we tell guests everything and just let them process it, or is there a place for, um, little mostly white lies about what we're doing?"

Raven had felt a pang of loss at the mention of Parent's Weekend, but she kept herself composed. "I do not believe in lying," she said. "I believe they cause imbalance, and you run the risk of causing more trouble if you do not tell the truth. But the world I am from also has many people with magical abilities and super powers, so it would be easier for me to be truthful. If my world were not like that, and I had a visitor on the island, I think I would try to avoid the topic rather than lie."

Karla looked a bit sheepish when she began talking. "Really, I think there's a lot we already have to hide from our visiting relatives. Boyfriends, girlfriends, roommates of the opposite gender, grades, how close we came to dying in the most recent invasion..." Not that Karla had chosen any of these hypotheticals from her own life or anything.

"What's the point of hiding something like magic from our families compared to stuff like that? It's like saying we're ashamed of who we are and what we can do. I know that, back home, there are people who have to hide their abilities or face really serious consequences. I think that we should be proud to live somewhere that we don't have those worries. Hiding then sort of seems disingenuous."

"We should be proud when we can," Dolf announced, vocally. It was a topic he was pretty passionate about. "Even if sometimes people will want to hurt us for it. If we are doing good, then no one gets to insult us for who we are or what we do. Some will have to be careful about it, others not, but remember you have skills and you work hard, and no one here will let them get you." His voice tapered off at the end, as he realised he didn't have the words to rant more about it. His foot kicked at the ground in frustration.

Tara watched Dolf for just a second more to make sure he'd be okay before wrapping things up. "I see their arguments, but ... it kind of depends on who your parents are. My dad's really, really different from my mom, so lying to him sometimes makes sense." To say the least; bitterness crept into her tone. "What do the rest of you think?"

Comments

Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[life_inshadow]

There's a decent array of noshes this week -- a fruit and veggie tray, little sandwiches, and an assortment of brownies and cookies.

And, as always, there is mingling to do.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[furnaceface]

Jono was here this week, and perhaps slightly more interested in the mingling thing today than usual. People were getting used to him, he was getting used to people, it all worked out nicely that way.

But he was still steering away from the food.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander had that feeling in his stomach that he really should have skipped today's meeting, but, even with that churning pit there, he still nibbled on some veggies and wondered if he could pass it off that he wasn't feeling apprehensive.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba had grabbed an apple, as she always did, and took little bites from it. The subject at hand today wasn't quite a happy one, for her. She'd be quiet, off to the side.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[onlymistaken]

What Cally thought was... that she hadn't expected the value of Ben's club to be displayed quite so soon.

She was quiet as she stacked up a few pieces of fruit on her plate, and feeling a general sense from those around her that she wasn't the only one who, if she had anything to say on the subject of visitors, would be speaking from a purely theoretical standpoint.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[brat_inslayage]

Oh, brownies? Score. Kennedy snagged a couple for herself and sprawled in a lounge chair, poking at her email on her phone; half of her attention was on the meeting, and the rest of it was divided between the email from her dad letting her know his latest trip (Europe this time, and did she want anything from Switzerland?) had been extended for a couple of weeks so he wouldn't be able to make it this weekend, and the PDF Constance had sent her-- some article about the Sunnydale city council commissioning a study on the high ownership turnover rate at certain... 'novelty' shops in town.

...it had completely never occurred to her to be nervous about people's parents and stuff showing up. Huh.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[bamf-tastic.livejournal.com]

Kurt took a little bit of everything and munched on it thoughtfully.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Any other possible contexts to this discussion that might have been phrased in such a way that involved the use of words like 'closet?'

Completely passing Gabrielle, who was only too happy about the prospect of getting to show Xena Fandom, by.

Not to mention there was a nice array of snacks to choose from, so . . .

Look, those contexts would just whoosh (like the sound of Xena's chakram) right on over her head anyway (which Xena's chakram had literally done, too, on multiple occasions).

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was a tad distracted, as he had rehearsal later. But he was here and munching on a brownie.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

Zatanna...was going to eat. Yep. Munch munch munch.

She would have liked another dead fish attack, rather than no parental visit. Woe.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[intraspective]

Ino had to admit that this was a) not her favourite place to be and b) not somewhere that she particularly felt comfortable being.

Especially after last time which Ino still, in her special special head, maintained was totally not her fault.

The discussion topic got mostly ignored by her. She had it easy! She was fleeing the island for the weekend!

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[angelo_wings]

Today was busy, what with class and the Reserves and the play rehearsals! But Rinoa was here nonetheless. Getting a snack.

Re: Arrive + Mingle [9/29]

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

Alex helped herself to a snack -- a brownie to be precise. She could never pass on chocolate.

Discussion [9/29]

[life_inshadow]

Parents weekend is coming: Should you lie, or should you be out and proud? Discuss.

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[furnaceface]

//What people say to their own families is their own concern,// Jono noted, eyebrows furrowed. //It depends on what people think they can drop onto their parents' shoulders without causing too many problems. What I would be more concerned about would be respecting those who have made the decision not to. Just because my guests might be alright with powers and th'people who use them, doesn't mean that somebody else needs that bomb dropped on their own parents' heads from some 'let yer freak flag fly' plonker who decides to run about showing it all off without warning.//

... Jono was very firmly rooted in the 'I will stay wrapped up and it will take ten people and a tow-truck to drag me out of my room' camp.

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Well," Alexander said thoughtfully, finally, figuring perhaps he'd just be short and simple. "It isn't so much as lying with my family as it just being...cautious. Magic is nothing new in my world; it fills almost every aspect of life. But while we have many good wizards in my world, we have far more evil ones, which is...unfortunate, and makes us naturally quite suspicious of these things."

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully frowned. "My mother will deal with what she sees fairly well, I think. She's-- flexible." Margaret Scully had enough experience with the weirdness of her daughter's life to know that a) there was no way she was moving Dana if she didn't want to be moved, no matter what her apparent age, and b) she certainly wouldn't hurt any teenager by reacting visibly to apparent strangeness. "On the other hand, I'm glad my older brother won't be here, because he'd definitely be a jackass to anyone who was different from what he expected, and try to tell me I had to leave." The narrowing of Scully's eyes and the set of her jaw indicated how well *that* would go over.

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[bamf-tastic.livejournal.com]

Kurt hit a button on his watch and changed from blue and fuzzy to pink and smooth. "I plan to not scare the normals," he told everyone. "It's easier that way."

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

"I completely agree with what he said," Gabrielle noted, looking at Dolf with the slightly-awed expression of possible kinship. "But yes, sometimes that goes over better with some parents than others. No one in my little village approved of me not being like all the other girls in the village. If I'd been somewhere else, like Athens or a bigger, more open-minded city, it would've been something else."

That makes it sound like something completely different from what you really mean, Gabrielle. Or is it what you really mean?

"Anyway," she continued, "it's important to be as honest as we can, at least that's what I think. If things go badly with your family, there are a lot of people here who'll be here for you."

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

"But it depends about what you would end up lying. I mean, maybe you come from somewhere when your powers, or your magic, or your technology are common stuff, so there's no point...unless you parents didn't know you had magical powers or a robot pet or I-don't-know-what. But if it's about the potential dangerousness of Fandom..." Her father would have seen it as a test for her, her mother- she didn't know her mother, so there was no point on wondering about that.

"At any rate, I won't be doing magic that weekend. Better safe than sorry." Not to mention her dad wouldn't be there for her to brag about her progress, because she had progressed, dammit!

Re: Discussion [9/29]

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa slipped her hand around her rings, uncertain. She cleared her throat.

"I was taken to a place where I was to be frozen," she said, "and shot into space. Held in suspended animation so I couldn't die, couldn't use my powers, and couldn't transfer them to anyone else. Squall helped me escape."

She had agreed to go, willingly, but it had hardly been a request when they had asked. The two of them against the Esthar forces, all of whom feared a reprisal of Adel.

"I'm proud of who I am. Even the parts of myself that scare me. But I don't think it's cowardly, for me to be scared of the repercussions."

Talk to the Leaders [9/29]

[life_inshadow]

Who seem to have a lot to say on the matter.

Re: Talk to the Leaders [9/29]

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Dolf certainly did, considering the amount of time he'd spent lecturing people (and nearly getting burned at the stake for it) less than a month previous. Which didn't mean he didn't see the point of keeping quiet on some scores, but really-- it didn't seem necessary here. Pointless, even.

Mulling that, he stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking defiant in the face of his own memories of people long gone.

Yes, he had Opinions. God help them all.

Re: Talk to the Leaders [9/29]

[life_inshadow]

Tara was mostly just grateful neither of her parents was coming this year. Well, that was a lie to some degree -- she would love to see her mom -- but she'd also love a pet Pegasus, and that was roughly as likely to happen as her mother having the health and resources you needed to come across the country.

OOC [9/29]

[life_inshadow]

I am heading off for a bit, but I should be back online by 11 my time!