Intercultural Communication

Log Info

Title: Intercultural Communication
Emitter: None
Characters: Sunday, Alia, Amber Devlin, and Samantha Daumier.
NPCs: None
Place: Steranko Institute
Time: May 4, 2010
Summary: Four students meet, and miscommunication abounds. Imagine that!

( Southern Grounds - Steranko Institute )

The area south of the quad is dedicated to teacher and student housing. The dorms are closer to the core of campus, clustered in small groups. The area is carefully arranged with thick screens of trees alternating with wide open grassy spaces. The shaded areas beneath the trees have benches and tables, and are a popular place to hang out and socialize with a few friends. The open grassy spaces are used for impromptu picnics, games of touch football, and occasionally other, odder sports. All the way to the south is housing for the teachers who live on campus, neat little red brick houses with white trim and carefully tended gardens.


Today was really a very nice day, which is what made it such a shame that most of it was spent in class. Now, nearly 5pm, students are enjoying what is left of the warmth and sun by studying en masse outside, laying around on blankets spread over the grass. Those not studying are kicking or throwing around various ball-shaped sports-related objects, trying to avoid beaning anyone in the head. A few small radios are going, a few people are practicing their powers, but all in all the atmosphere is extremely laid back. Sunday is, quite shockingly, NOT hauling a guitar around or playing music in any way. She's decided to diversify - instead, she's playing hacky-sack. Alone. And only moderately sucking at it! Every once in awhile the little bean-filled ball falls on somebody's blanket, or nearly hits somebody's head, and Sunny has to apologize and look embarrassed retrieving her toy, but then goes back to trying to kick it off her heels, her toes, or whatever other part of her body from knees-down she can manage to hit the damn thing with. It's really not as easy as it sounds! .. If it sounds easy.

Alia is actually standing not too far away from Sunday, experimenting with a yo-yo, of all things. She seems to be studying it, and doing a few basic tricks. She hmmms clinically, arching a brow as she plays around with the strange object. Well, strange to her, anyway.

Amber lands with a gentle touchdown. The girl has always been able to just demonstrate her powers constantly, and this school is just the perfect place for her. She comes down and watches around, exchanging hi's, hello's, and various other greetings. But amazingly the basic normal things can be amazingly unfamiliar. She walks by, carrying her backpack with books from studying and notes Sunday, and says, "Hey there! What is that you're doing there?"

Sunday swipes her foot up again trying to push the ball back into the air as it falls, only to miss by about an inch. When her bare foot hits the grass, she sighs, then looks up at Amber with a helpless smile. "I'm trying to play hackey-sack, but I'm not really any good at it. Sports aren't really my thing." It's all that foot-coordination! Which is ironic, because she can dance very well. But.. this is just.. different, for some reason. "Ever played?" She glances over her shoulder to the girl with the yo-yo nearby, then leans in to Amber just a bit, turning back to the girl. "Um.. She's that alien girl, isn't she." Alia is Sunday's first alien! It's.. cool, but weird. Why do aliens look the same as humans?

Alia actually wouldn't look the same as a human if she had her hair pulled back, but right now… well, there's a reason she wears it all over the place. As it is, she manages to pull off a rocking the baby with the yo-yo, a faint smile of satisfaction on her lips as she manages the feat. If she overhears Sunday's comment, she doesn't react to it.

Amber shakes her head to Sunday, "Nope. I didn't really have a lot of playmates growing up." She shrugs and says, "Always willing to learn and help a friend learn at the same time." She smiles brightly, then looks over at Alia and nods, "Oh yeah, she's very nice. Learning about our world I think. Alia!" she calls over to her. Then back to Sunday, "She's got a yo-yo, you've got a hackysack…I wish I brought my jacks, it'd be like a tv recess."

"TV Recess?" Sunday looks slightly confused, but says nothing more as she turns to watch Amber head over to Alia and get the girls attention. .. She is a girl, right? She looks like one. Damnit, Sunday.. Don't get all weirded out, it just makes people uncomfortable! So, Sunday just smiles in her usual, friendly manner and does her best to not dwell on the fact that this person is from *another freakin' planet*. "Hi," she says in introduction, brief though it may be, then glances over to Amber. "I can try to show you, but like I said, not that good."

Alia glances over at Amber, and gives her a friendly nod, "Oh, hello Amber. How are you?" She has an accent that sounds vaguely Welsh, of all things, as she spins the yo-yo around and snaps it back into her hand. "This is a quite fascinating device, so innovative, really… and it's a children's toy too. Amazing." She looks at the yo-yo with wonder, then glances over to Sunday, "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't believe we have met. I am Alia s'Harien." She nods slightly towards Sunday, though her eyes keep sneaking back to the yo-yo.

Amber nods and smiles, "I'm doing good, how're you, Alia? Wanted you to meet Sunday. You and she both seem to have a fascination with games tonight. I know you're interested in learning stuff, and I was about to learn a little more about it. I've never played, Sunday, so could you give us a demo?" She smiles, helping by association.

"Sunday Knight," the so-named girl introduces herself, taking a moment to pick up her tiny bean-bag toy before she approaches the pair. "Never heard a yo-yo described as fascinating, but I guess it takes fresh eyes to appreciate, right? Nice to meet you, by the way." Glancing over at Amber, Sunday's pale skin flushes a little at being put on display, as if she wasn't used to an audience. "Well, it's pretty easy concept, really. So you got this ball," she holds said ball up to show them, "and you have to keep it off the ground without using your hands. But you can use anything else - usually your feet. People who are really good at it use their heads, their chests, backs, anything! So, yeah.. basically.." She lifts one bare foot into the air by a few inches, putting the ball on the top just above her toes. After taking a moment to focus, she sharply pulls up her foot and the ball goes airborn. It's bounced off her heel, then the top of her other foot as she switches to it with a hop, and then she makes an attempt and getting it to her knee.. only to kick it quite accidentally towards Alia. The girl could possibly take it up, or it'll just fall to the ground.

Alia blinks, "Ah, I see… coordination." She kicks her foot up once, knocking the hackeysack straight up instead… giving her a bit of time to then kick it back towards Sunday. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She keeps an eye on the 'sack, not letting herself get too distracted.

Amber watches and says, "So is this something you're supposed to play with people, cause I could see doing this alone, but I'd probably kick it too far or something. And you can't use your hands? It's bean bag soccer!"

Sunday watches Alia pick up the game as easy as walking with no small measure of surprise. Impressive! "Wow, you've already got the hang of it!" When the sack comes back, Sunday shuffles hurriedly to the side so she can catch it with her foot, grinning down at the ball, though in spirit at what Amber says. "Yeah, kinda. Except no goal. It's really just a way to kill time. People can play it alone or in groups." Top of right foot, left foot, heel, and with a quick warning of "Your turn, Amber!" the ball is kicked over to the aforementioned super-girl.

Samantha arrives from the north.
Samantha has arrived.

Alia nods, "Well, it isn't too dissimilar from things we have done in the Household." She keeps her eyes on the sack, waiting for it to come back her way it seems, as she lightly balances on her toes, keeping ready to move if necessary as she shifts back and forth.

Amber nods and reaches a foot out to get at the ball but misses, "Oops." She giggles a little, and says, "Sorry, Ok, wait…let me just try this…" She picks up the hacky sack, and drops it to her foot, and even though it's just a light move she kicks it over her head. She sighs and runs after it, only running back and says, "I might not be the best person to play with anything gently," just a sheepish tone in her voice. She tosses it back to Sunday.

"The Household?" There must be some meaning to that beyond.. just.. a household, just the way Sunday thinks of it. She grins and waves it off as Amber misses on her first try. "Everybody misses the first time. Well, everybody but Alia, apparently." Then the ball is sent off at what are no-doubt high speeds - very typical, Sun is learning, when you are dealing with Amber - and Sunday waits for its return as she giggles. "Like you said before, just gotta try more.. finesse. Less brawn. Which I realize is probably hard for someone with an over-abundance of brawn." When it's handed back, Sunday drops the sack on to her foot and once again hops it around from foot to foot a few times before kicking it over to Alia.

Alia takes the sack with her foot, bouncing it back and forth as she says, "Well, yes, the other children in my House, plus certain of the servants' children and the like, we would play together sometimes, games like this. It was good training for llaerkh-ae'rl, after all." She kicks it back and forth a few times, then sends it back on a lazy arc towards Sunday.

On her way back to the dorms from the quad comes Samantha, carrying a couple of textbooks. Spotting Alia and two other girls she hasn't met, she heads in that direction, smiling and giving a wave. "Hi," she says as she walks up, on getting close enough not to have to shout.

Amber hmms and watches and nods to Sunday's comment, "Yeah, I know. It's kinda annoying sometimes. When the simple things get tough, you know you've gotta learn a lot to try and not punt a ball through the moon." She shrugs and laughs. "Hi there," she says as Samantha arrives. "Don't think we've met?"

This time, Sunday manages to catch the sack with her foot, holding it there for a moment as she blances herself and then starts to bounces it around on the one foot. "Oh, right, the lark-hurl. That's like a Batmitzvah, right?" As if Sunday has any idea, though she's mostly giving some light-hearted teasing. After switching the ball up on her feet, she glances up to Amber and says, "You're up again. You can do it!" And the ball is unhurriedly kicked her way. As the newcomer approaches, Sunday looks up, glancing briefly to Alia, as that seems to be who she has focused in on. Must be someone she knows. A friendly smile is offered up to the stranger. "Hi."

Alia waves over at Samantha, "Hello S'mantha, this is Amber, and Sunday Knight." She gestures to the other two, then nods a bit, "This is S'mantha, she just moved into the Taylor dorms the other day." She glances curiously at Sunday, "Bat'mitzva? What is this?"

Samantha smiles to the other two. "Yeah, I'm the newb," she says with a soft laugh. "Good to meet you both. I'm still kinda getting acclimated here — or is that assimilated?" Another laugh. Then, with Alia's question to Sunday, she shuts up and lets her answer. This may be interesting to watch, she thinks.

Amber whoas and reaches out a foot, this time catching the ball like she's seen Sunday do. "Ok, ok." Very small gestures of her foot, she kicks up the ball, and watches as it goes a little high. She sighs and says, "Hi, yeah, we're in the same dorm. It's nice to meet you. How'd you wind up here in 'The Institute'?" she says ominously. Then adds, "Excuse me." Bouncing the descending ball off her knee, she knocks it to Alia once more at a much more gentle pace. "I did it!"

"Jewish rite of passage," Sunday explains with a grin, half tempted to say 'Wow, you are from another world!'. But hell, she knows plenty of people from this one who wouldn't have known. "It's when they become adults. Or something like that. I'm not Jewish, so I don't really know in-depth." She waves a greeting to Samantha, "Hi. I'm Sunday." And then turns to look at Amber as she makes a go of it. "Hey, good job!"

Alia sees the ball coming back, then spins and tries to catch it on the back of her foot. It actually looks really graceful… but, sadly, it misses the ball by quite a margin, and it flops on the ground, seeming to stare accusingly at Alia. She then bends down, murmuring a faint phrase in some strange language, then she drops the ball onto her foot, and sends it back towards Sunday. Then at the explanation, she shakes her head, "Ah, so it is nothing like llaerkh-ae'rl."

Samantha looks to Amber in response to her question, and visible hesitates before beginning to speak. "I, um… I'm here because of my powers getting found out, and it being safer for me to be here and learn better to use them and stuff." Not the full story, but it does have the virtue of being true, even if incomplete. "I was kinda hiding them from everyone, including my family, which was probably dumb of me."

"So what do you do then? I know, we're kinda odd girls out in dealing with the fact we all do something or in Alia's case, come from somewhere," Amber says with a smile. "End up doing something public? It happens. We all do it eventually." She looks back at Alia and says, "So who's getting Batmitzvah'd?"

"Join the club," Sunday pipes in, her grin widening at Sam. "I've had my powers since I was.. maybe eleven? My parents only found out a couple months ago. Hope yours reacted a little better, at least." She nods slightly at what Amber says, thinking that her and Alia aren't exact coming from the same place, being surrounded all their lives with people like them. It's rather refreshing for Sunday to hear someone else talk about how they tried to hide, tried to be normal, and then their parents freaked out. It's refreshing, really. "So.. What IS a.. whatever that thing is you just said, Alia?"

Alia considers, "It is… hard to describe. It is like a dance, but not precisely so. It has a deeper meaning than that." She hrms, "Llaerkh-ae'rl is, well, there is no real direct translation that I could figure out for English."

Samantha nods to Amber. "Something like that, yeah." Then to Sunday, "I've known I'm a neohuman for a little over a year, but it took me a while to figure out how to do some of the things I can do. I'm still discovering stuff, really." She pauses, looking slightly uncomfortable as she continues, "My parents are okay about it, now that they've gotten past how everyone found out. As for what I do, well… I control stuff. Machines, electronics, computers, anything like that. I can talk to them, and make them do things, and stuff."

Amber Nods and says to Samantha, "Neat! So you can program my Tivo right? Cause all I keep getting are horse shows after watching Flicka one too many times." She smirks and giggles a little, but says to Alia, "So what do you do during…laarhkaral?"

Like a dance, but with deeper meaning. "Dance I know, but I'm thinking it's not exactly the same." Sunday smiles helplessly and offers a shrug, resigned to not quite getting it. It's okay, there's a lot she doesn't get. Listening to Sam explain her powers, Sunday nods a few times, then laughs at Amber's assessment of the usefulness. "That could be cool. Can see how not knowing how to control it would'a been a pain, though." Kind of like not knowing how to stop overheating yourself and those around you. Her own powers put her in a hospital, but that was a long time ago. She tilts her head towards Amber, speaking to Sam, "Amber here is basically Super Girl. And me, I'm just fun to take on ski-trips. Like trip insurance." No snow? Too cold? Sunday can fix that!

Alia hmms, "I can control light, to some degree. And in regards to llaerkh-ae'rl, I'd rather not… I mean, it is something that is difficult to describe, unless you have seen it first hand. I apologize, but it is not something to be shared casually." She actually looks somewhat uncomfortable about the topic, really.

Noting Alia's discomfort, Samantha tries to turn the conversational corner with, "So anyway, being new here I'm still learning what's what, and where everything is, and what people do for fun, and all that kinda stuff. Any advice or suggestions?"

"Whatever you do, DON'T play Boulder Dash with Gronk. The guy can nearly hit town from here, and everytime I play with him, it always turns into chasing down foul balls." Amber sounds serious, "This hackysack stuff is so much safer. Or like, going to town, going shopping and hanging out here. Everyone I've met here seems really cool, it's be great getting to know people. Just be yourself, and get involved. We do lots of stuff." She looks at the other girls to offer suggestions.

Not to be shared casually? Oh, that's a sure-fire way to spark teenage curiosity! "OooOOOOOooooooh," Sunday teases, grin wide and brows raised. But despite her curiosity, Sunny is not one to force uncomfortable issues. .. Just tease a little about them! "No worries, we got it, it's," Wink. "/Private/." Amber's response to what to do for fun is, amazingly, not at all surprising to Sunday, who just shakes her head a little and tries not to giggle. "Uh, yeah, maybe wanna stay away from the tossing of boulders. Well, Amber has the main line on clubs, it seems.. I know there are a couple to join. And the town isn't all that bad for hanging out in. Um.. my advice, just don't pay a lot of attention to the rumor mill. A school like this, they get really crazy. Somebody tried to convince me one of the dorm rooms is haunted. I think being around so much neo-human activity gets inside some people's heads a little too much." Ghosts. Ha. "Uh.. But that rumor about the werewolf, that *is* true. He's a nice guy. Just don't bring up Twilight."

Alia looks a touch annoyed at Sunday, a faint red glow coming from her hair as she says, "Not like THAT!" Apparently, she knows just enough about Earth innuendo to make the catch. Then she takes a deep sigh, "He seems rather nice, yes." The glow dims a bit from her, as the hand holding the yoyo clenches just a bit.

Samantha nods and grins and laughs once or twice as she listens to Amber and Sunday's warnings and suggestions, and then can't help giggling a little at Alia's reaction to what Sunday said, despite her efforts not to.

"But that movie's so awesome!" Amber just /has/ to throw in there at Sunday. She blinks at Alia's reaction and smiles and says, "S'ok, no problem, no worries about it. Ohh, speaking of clubs, I do have a meeting in a few. I should get going, you guys have fun. Nice to meet you again, Samantha. Come one by if you every get bored." She waves to everyone and jets off.

More giggles from Sam at Amber's comment about the movie, and then, after waving to the departing one, she asks the other two, a little doubtfully, "Is there /really/ a werewolf here?"

Sunday does her best to look innocent for Alia as the girl's.. hair.. turns red. They only just met, so she'd rather not upset her too much. After all, she might not get that it was just a bit of teasing. "Oh, you met Ian?" When Amber departs, Sunday waves, then smiles at the group. "She does that. She's very.. active, I think. But really nice." One of the nicest people Sun has met here, really. Back to Sam. "Yep, really. His name is Ian. But really, he is quite nice. But I don't think he wants that spread around. The being-nice bit, I mean. Got a 'rep." Aahh, she wishes he would drop out of a tree right now and grumble! "Werewolves, Aliens, internationally wanted criminals, children of super-heroes.. We got 'em all."

Alia takes a deep breath, then simply says, "I should go. It was nice to see you again, Samantha." With that, she seems to turn almost into a hologram of herself, and fly off towards the dorms, a faint light trail following behind her as she goes.

"Okay, so if I meet an Ian, no Twilight. Got it." Samantha laughs a little more, then blinks as Alia makes her sudden — and flashy — departure. "Wow. That looks like an awesome way to get around," she comments. "And I guess a werewolf isn't so hard to believe, when there's an alien living in the same building with me," she adds, with a slight chuckle. "This place is amazing so far, but I'm still not used to having all these people with powers around."

Damn. Guess Sunday's brand of humor doesn't translate well. Ah well, she'll remember to apologize if she runs into Alia again. For now, she turns back to Samantha and nods. "Yeah, it's weird to get used to, but every day is something new. Afraid to say you and I seem to be in the minority, though.. Everyone here I talk to acts like this is just like any other highschool. I don't think it'd even occur to Amber to hide her powers from anyone, and that's all I did for years. Sometimes a little hard to relate, you know? When my plans never really involved being a super hero." And there seem to be a lot of people here who see it as the best of all options. Maybe the only one. "You'll be okay, though. This really is a nice place."

"I really don't know /what/ I want to do," Sam replies. "I'm guessing just pretending to be normal really isn't gonna work, though, so this is probably the best place for me to be right now."

Sunday nods, offering a friendly smile. "You don't need to know now. None of us do, I guess, even if some already have it figured. But yeah.. Normal, like it used to be, that's probably not going to happen again." At that, Sunday's face becomes somewhat wistful, perhaps a little sad, though she does her best to get rid of those hints of pain in her eyes. "Yeah.. Well, I should probably get back to my room. Got some homework to do. I'm in Rider, by the way, if you ever feel like droppin' in. You seem like a nice girl, Samantha. Happy to have met ya."

"Call me Sam," Samantha answers. "And thanks. I'm in Taylor, that's where I know Alia from. She's like the second other student I met here. What class are you in? I'm a freshman, at least for a few more weeks."

Grinning, Sunday nods. "And you can call me Sun, or Sunny, if you like. And I'm a sophomore, on account of this whole.." She waves a hand back and forth as if expecting the answer to be pulled from the air, eyes searching, and grin unfading. "'not going to school for a couple months' thing. Got held back." She shrugs. "Worse things in life, I guess! Well Sam, I'll see you around." And with that, Sunday waves, then scoops up her discarded hacky-sack and starts to head off to her dorm. She really does have homework to do! Ugh.

"Seeya, then. G'night!" Sam gives a cheerful wave and a smile before she turns and heads off toward her own dorm. She has homework to do, too, after all.

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