Highmauve: Library, Study Room D

Noelle watches as Tobi tilts his head, confused. She quickly realizes that he thinks that she's frustrated with him. Her eyes widen and she shakes her head, silently sending the message through her expression "Not you. I'm not upset with you. It's someone else."

She immediately felt awful that Tobi would even think she's upset with him. And then she suddenly realized the anger and hurt she has held over the last couple of days. It closes around her heart in a tight squeeze.

Tobi watches her shake her head through the window. 'Well not me then,' he thinks, though there's a sliver of lingering doubt. He can't think of anything he's done to warrant it, but he could have missed something. He's been preoccupied with his schoolwork and his Ra duties. Homecoming's coming up and the event is running them ragged. All the activities, the planning, the crafts, flyers, posters. He just wants it to be over. At least his sister's coming that week, makes it something to look forward to at least.

He stands in front of the window, but his eyes and head tilt towards the large front doors. One eyebrow raises, asking. 'You want me to come in?'

Noelle watches Tobi point at the door and she nods, quickly. Thinking for a moment, she gives him a look that says "Will you be okay?"

She hadn't seen Tobi much since the night they talked about his claustrophobia and her issues. She put it on herself- she was super focused on schoolwork and researching for her upcoming papers. Plus, she's been hanging around the Library a lot. Plus, she has never really initiated a conversation successfully before.

He nods and walks back the way he came towards the large front doors. His duffel bag gets in the way for a brief moment as he tries to open the doors, but he shoves it back towards his side and pulls the door open. The air conditioning hits him in a rush. The sweat still on his skin chills, giving him goosebumps as he finds his way to the front lounge. Noelle's still sitting there in front of the large window.

"Y'all right?" he asks as he walks through the open doorway.

She shrugs silently. Noelle knows that she was being childish but she couldn't put into words her frustration. Winter didn't mean any harm but it was her ignorance and attitude that irritated her. And whenever she felt bad with how she had treated the bubbly classmate, she remembered her words.

You're lucky you look normal.
This is probably the only reason that any of us are in college

Noelle sighed and closed her book, looking at Tobi

Tobi stands patiently in the room with one hand gripping the strap of the duffel bag. He can feel it slipping, so he rolls his shoulder to push it back into the junction between his shoulder and neck.

"Cause you looked right upset through the window" He says when Noelle doesn't say anything.

Noelle sighs "I'm just... irritated by something. That's all. I don't know... how to describe it accurately. I'm sorry. I'm fine. Just being dramatic and stupid. You didn't have to come in. I'm sorry."

She genuinely starts to feel bad now. Tobi didn't need to be dragged into this pettiness. He had nothing to do with it.

Tobi shrugs. "I ain't doin' anything, and this'sa good a place t'be as any." He drops his duffel on the floor. The large bag makes a soft satisfying thump as it hits the floor. Tobi follows it to the ground soon after. He kneels first, then sits and stretches his legs in front of him before dropping his torso to lay back to the floor. There's a tired sigh as his back pops loudly in the quiet space of the lounge.

Noelle's eyes widen and her face relaxes slightly at the pop. She stays curled up, but her book is still closed on her lap. "How was your run?"

She guesses, but she figures out it's a safe guess. She's seen Tobi run around campus occasionally, headphones in. She hated running, but she knew that it was a good stress reliever for some people. Her eyes meet his for a moment.

Dark brown eyes meet pale grey and hold before Tobi speaks. "Good." he says simply. "Doin' it for a team now." He had considered joining cross country the year before, but hadn't been able to due to schedule limitations. He was denser than a lot of the other team members, but still managed to keep a respectable pace. Not the fastest, not the slowest, but just enough to count for club credit for the scholarship. He was gonna be doing it anyway, might as well get something out of it.

"How you been?" He asks after a beat. "Classes treatin' you well?"

"Yeah. Classes are fine. Easy, really." She's being honest. Most days, she has her schoolwork done before the evening. The rest of her hours were spent at the library, in her dorm, or tutoring. She found that tutoring in the administration building's "Writer's Room" was something she almost enjoyed doing. She loved reading other works, taking note of techniques that fascinated her and even things that made her realize the things she needs to work on. "That's great. That you're on a team."

Noelle smiles at him a little, but it almost looks forced, like she's biting back what's really bothering her.

"Yeah." he nods in agreement then turns his head towards the ceiling and closes his eyes.

There's a silence then, though not a tense one. He's a solid presence in the room, and he's patient. He's not leaving until she either tells him what's wrong or tells him to go.

After five minutes of silence, Noelle sighs and finally relents "You know Winter, right? Shorterm blonde hair? In the program with us?"

Her voice has it's usually soft quality, but had a steely undertone, The question wasn't harmful, but the story behind it had hurt her and that's what mattered right now to her.

"Yeah, met her same day i did you. I think she's in my dorm. Not on my floor though." He answers, eyes still loosely shut. He moves his hands behind his head to prop it a little bit off the floor. "She's in th' program." It goes without saying which program.

"Yeah. She said some... things. And I didn't appreciate it." Noelle bites her lip as if physically preventing herself from speaking. But then, the words explode and flow like a waterfall from her lips.

She recounts her side of the story, her voice almost fierce with frustration. She repeats everything, with word-for-word accuracy. Every time she mentions Winter's name, she accompanies it with an eye roll. By the time she finishes, she starts up with the thoughts that have been running through her head every night the past couple of days.

"This is the only reason I'm here? Really? Not the hard work I've put forth? I was accepted into dozens of schools. And I have to put my mutation on every college application due to my high school history. I fought so hard for my place here. I'm here to become a writer. And if she is sitting there, saying that her purple eyes are the reason she wasn't accepted... People have been trying to create hoaxes about natural lavender colored eyes because they are so desirable. People where purple contacts. There are people on campus with wings or horns or reptilian skin. They are the ones that have been discriminated against based on looks! And it's frankly embarrassing that she's trying to make it sound like her life has been miserable. I don't know her, and she might be hiding some deep dark shit, but she can not and will not assume my life."

By the end of her rant, her voice is as strong as it has ever been and she is absolutely still.

Tobi listens quietly as she talks, nodding when appropriate or humming agreement or encouragement when necessary from his spot on the floor. When she's finished, he waits just a moment and stretches.

"Sounds frustratin'." He says simply and sympathetic. He's never really been good with words, but he hopes listening and giving her a space to talk about these frustrations helps Noelle. She sounds firm and sure, which is something to file away for sure. 'Girl's got steel for a spine underneath all that quiet.' he thinks to himself.

"It's very frustrating!" Her voice raises "I'm very frustrated with Winter. I don't know her life, but I can assume it's pretty okay. She has new clothes, new books, new everything. She's smiling and is telling me that she doesn't understand why there aren't any "non-extreme"-" She emphasizes the word with air quotes "-mutants in our textbook. I don't expect everyone to be knowledgeable about it- I'm not that knowledgeable myself. But I do know that the world needs a story. We can only be two things to everyone else. And then, Winter starts talking about Xavier, like she hadn't heard what I just said. I swear, I was really trying to open up and not be quiet and fit in, but I can't."

Noelle's mouth scrunches into a soft pout. Her thin eyebrows are furrowed, looking at Tobi "I'm not wrong, am I? Am I being stupid?"

Tobi takes a minute to gather his thoughts. When he does, he opens his eyes, looks over at Noelle. "I don't think you're stupid." He looks back up at the ceiling. "And it's definitely na'fair. It's 'specially frustratin' when someone's not gettin' what you're saying."

"But gettin' mad at someone who genuinely don't understand prob'ly ain't the solution. An I say prob'ly, cause there are times when it's appropriate, and times where you just gotta beat the cuss right outta someone." He drawls out low. "But I don't think now's that time."

He looks over at her again. "You ain't wrong to be frustrated, and you sure as sin ain't stupid. But I'd at least give it one more shot bein' social."

"Sometimes people are just bein' dumb, not malicious." He finishes, a little awkwardly. He hopes at least some of that came out right.

Noelle listens silently, watching Tobi. Later, she would realize that this is what Winter was missing. Just like she was missing talking about what was actually wrong and letting things be.

"Thank you. That does actually help." Noelle looks at him, her eyes softening "I guess I'm just used to people ignoring me, and it feels weird when someone is trying to make a connection."

She lets the words hang for a moment, then says "Thanks. I really do appreciate it. And you. You've been helping me a lot lately." Giving him a half smile, she adds "And could you see me 'beatin' the cuss' out of anyone? I'm a toothpick."

"Hey, anytime." He nods at her. His eyes widen at her imitation of his accent. There's a crinkling at the edges, his lips quirk up, and there. Not just a half hint of a smile, but a real grin. His incisors poke out sharper than the rest as he chokes out a laugh. It's low and rusty, as if he doesn't do it a lot.

"Oh come on now, string bean, you don' give ya'self any credit. I'm sure you could beat the cuss outta somethin', if you get mad 'nough."

The laughter takes any remaining tension that was held in her chest, and she smiles wide now. She beams at the teasing "String bean is right. But I swear, I've never fought anyone and I doubt I ever will. Unless it was a staring contest." Noelle gives a smug smile "I bet you've gotten into plenty of trouble before you became the mellow RA I see before me."

"Don't you look at me like that, as fa' as the powers tha'be know, I was always this mella." He sits up and crosses his legs. "I ain't tellin' you shit, little bean. Least not where other's can hear." he drops his volume with the last sentence and winks at her, still grinning.

"Come on. give me the highlight real. In return, you can ask me any question. Or I can owe you one." Her eyes twinkle with glee. This is the longest Noelle has smiled in a while. She liked this feeling of no tension or fear forcing herself to cave in. She sat up, not hunching, making her look even taller.

Tobi caves. "A'ight, a'ight. Just one though. And you don't go tellin' no one." He fixes her with a stern glare that has absolutely no heat behind it. "Promise?"

"Who am I going to tell?" She smiles at him, but her eyes say 'I promise'. She cozies up, ready for a marvelous story.