458/THIS IS A SCENE TITLE!

THIS IS A SCENE TITLE!
Date of Scene:	12 March 2020
Location:	Behind the Library - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Some students meet out behind the library and talk about the Winter Crucible, which is not, as one might think, a Jotun invention.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Samuel Morgan, Roy Harper, Damian Wayne

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Outside near the end of the day, just one period before class is over and Spring is in full effect. There's no hint of snow anymore, no trace of chill in the air. The student body are mostly free of jackets and sweaters and gloves, and everyone seems to be in a subtly more chipper mood considering. It can be seen in the hallways, people traveling hither and yon back and forth to class. It can be seen in the lunch room with laughter being more prominent and the cafeteria being louder.
    And today, outside, when normally someone with a schedule like Alexander Aaron would have study hall it becomes a free period so long as they stay on campus and 'do something productive.'
    That something productive happens to be lying upside down on one of the picnic tables in the row behind the library. No smoking tends to happen here, what with the distant CCTV, and besides that's what the boys room is for. No, currently it's just Alexander lying there, with a book in both hands held over his head as he spraaaawls and kicks one sneakered foot.
    The title on his book is nothing less than, 'Guns, Germs, and Steel.' He does not seem to be enjoying it.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It comes soaring in from nowhere, on a direct collision course with Alexander's picnic table. A slight gust of wind, the merest change of temperature or humidity can send it off course, to a catastrophic...

    *BOING*

    The rubber ball bounces off the table and jumps up into the air. A large furry missile leaps, snatching the ball out of the air and sailing clear over the table, not even brushing against Aaron or his book. Bear lands with a double thump and traipses happily away, head high and ears perked up. And where one finds Bear, there is the inevitable other...

    "Title like that and you look bored, what gives?" Sam walks into view, back from wherever he's been, finding himself a seat on top of one of the tables, reaching down to fuss Bear's head and ears.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper slides out through the door in the back of the library, wandering out of study hall only to find that he is not alone. He's got a baseball cap pulled down a bit, and a dark red long sleeved shirt with some jeans and dark red chucks on. Over one shoulder is slung a messenger bag with whatever he'd been dragging around to class all day. There's a glance at Alexander, and then a blink as a dog comes flying over the table, and he sees Samuel, who he recognizes from the assembly the previous week. He gives an up-nod of greeting to the pair of them and then hops up on the low concrete wall, walking along it.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     The school's newest student had been getting acquainted with the surroundings. He'd been let out for a break during initial examinations. Still, he'd never been exposed to so many of his own age, it was more than stressful.

  given time alone, the student dressed in a dress shirt, with black slacks and matching dress shoes. He made it out, attempting to flee the cacophony of voices he heard everywhere, outside provided some respite.

  Until he saw a brown furry missile jump out and over a picnic table. For the first time today, his eyebrows raised in surprise, he never had a pet. Not much time for things like that when you're waiting to put a bullet in between your target's eyes.

  He kept a bit of distance for now, just watching the others.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I read it before, but must've missed something." Alexander says without looking up for a second, holding out a hand with a finger pointing upwards, as if asking for a moment. His eyes flit down the page and then he drops the book to his chest, grinning a little after Bear darts by. He sits up a little and catches sight of Roy, then gives a wave that carries over into being given to Damian as well, though there's curiousity that lights in his blue-green eyes. "Oh hey."
    As for the young Olympian he's wearing white sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt that depicts what might seem to be if a xenomorph hatched out of a pikachu. Nothing too out of the ordinary really in the greater school scheme of things.
    Sitting up he rests the book in his lap and flips the back cover open to retrieve his book mark, then place it where he was reading. "My dad did a pop quiz thing and asked me what I thought of the Crucible of Winter, which... I sort of am aware of the concept though not entirely in this context alone."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Must be taking an interest in your education. Don't knock it." After a few moments, Sam gets Bear to drop the ball back in his hand. He uses it to wave at Roy, the German Shepherd watching it like a hawk, heads turning as if it's somehow attached.

    It seems like Sam has entirely missed Damian's approach, despite having two reflective surfaces that must have given him some indication. Sloppy, very slop-

    "Think fast!" Turning where he sits, he looks at Damian, judges the distance and throws the ball at him all in a split second. Bear darts after it as soon as his doggy brain has registered the movement. One very excited and friendly German Shepherd follows the ball on a direct course for the new student.

Roy Harper has posed:
"Wasn't the Crucible about the Salem witch trials?" Roy asks, showing that he does not, in fact, know anything about the Crucible of Winter, which is another crucible entirely. He pauses in his wandering along the wall, sliding his hands into his pockets, and glances back at the others. His gaze flickers over to Sam and he watches as the ball suddenly hurls through the air toward Damian, bear taking off after it. Both brows go up a bit as he waits to see exactly what the outcome of this little exchange is going to be.

He pivots a bit and then hops down from the wall, sitting on it instead, so that he can observe the others from not too far away, but not too close so as to crowd, either.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Alexander's eyes meet Damian's bright green eyes for a moment, which really doesn't have his expression change much, he still is sporting that resting frown he always seems to have.

  He didn't have his eyes on the ball, but his right hand reaches up from his side, catching it with a slap into his palm.

  The caught ball does make the small teen look down at the incoming German Shepard. "Hey there." He says, gently, holding the ball up to the dog. "Is this yours?" He asks, as if he were expecting an answer, much like a certain bat dragon would have answered him, with a big snoof.

  Either way, Damian throws the ball back to Samuel, while maintaining focus on Bear.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Mmm," Alexander answers Samuel back in that oh so non-commital way, though he does not elaborate why this might give him a modicum of discomfort or annoyance. He pushes the book to the side then leeeeeans over off of the table to scoop up the backpack. The metal teeth whirrrr as he unzips it and starts to stuff the book inside its confines.
    Tilting his head and smiling toward Roy, Alex answers, "I think..." He scrunches up one eye, "In this context, it's meaning the idea that cultures that developed as having to prepare for a harsh Winter is what motivated them toward advancing technology at a faster pace than people in more temperate zones."
    "Or," He looks over at Damian and smiles, likely pleased to the attention Bear's receiving, "He just liked the phrase and thought it was cool to say, and knew I'd spin my wheels trying to figure it out."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    New human! Hello new human! You have ball ball! Bear stops on a dime and sits in front of Damian, tongue lolling and tail wagging. When asked if the ball is his, the Shepherd actually nods. That's either a trick, or one very intelligent dog.

    Meanwhile, Sam takes note of how that ball was caught. For a moment his eyes narrow, and he catches the return toss just as casually. Okay, what just happened here? Then he breaks into a smile, one that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Nice arm there. And good reflexes. Guess you'll be joining the baseball team then?" Shark has met shark.

    Bear, curiously, doesn't chase after his ball, looking at Damian and taking a few steps to close the distance, until his nose is practically touching the hand that caught the ball. Sniff Sniff... human scent.

    "Feel free to give him a bit of a fuss, he's not on the clock at the moment."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     The nod from Bear is a bit of a surprise. Not even Goliath would have answered in such a manner.

  Shark has indeed met shark. Though the answer to Sam's question may be more telling than the catch. "I do not know that sport." Is he just not from the US? Or maybe just a nerd? Even a nerd would know baseball though, right?

  Almost instinctively, he squats down, both feet planted flatly on the ground, and he holds a hand out to Bear. He's never seen a service animal before, so the concept is a bit foreign to him, but what isn't foreign to him, is the petting that a certain Good Boy receives afterward.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Alexander pulls his leg into his lap and watches the two baseball prospects, resting his hands there. "So, I'm Alex." He points at Samuel, "That's Sam, and Bear." He spares a glance toward Sam and then asks, "I think we're both seniors. Though not sure, we don't have any classes together do we Sam?" He asks but then shifts his gaze back towards Damian.
    "Chances are you'll meet Christine at some point, and her boy Alton." The tow-headed youth rubs the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "Xiomara is the tall gal who is most likely going to beat people up. And..."
    He stops, "I'm feeling like I'm forgetting someone from our normal crew."

Roy Harper has posed:
"I dunno, I kinda like it. It is sort of cool to say, though saying cool things is only really cool if you know what you mean when you're saying them," Roy opines from his spot on the wall where he watches the others. He can't help but grin a little at Bear as he waits for the ball that is now in Damian's hand after that impressive catch. Whatever's going on as far as the ball throwing goes, Roy either doesn't seem to notice or isn't very focused on it. Instead, he watches the dog. Then he asks Samuel, "On the clock? Is he some kind of bomb sniffing dog?" Who knows? Could be!

He glances back over toward Alexander as he begins to rattle off a list of names and who all the people are. He only recognizes one or two of the names, and doesn't comment exactly until there's a pause. Then he adds, "I'm Roy." Apparently not part of the normal crew.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "History. We have history together when I'm bored." Because yes, Sam has a very strange schedule indeed. Most of his presence here seems to be either voluntary or necessary to maintain a number of educational credits to take his actual classes with MIT. But then he spent nearly three quarters of a day being tested.

    "Homeschooled huh? I know the feeling." There's a significant nod between Sam and Damian, who might pick up on the unspoken admission. He does know that feeling.

    Bear sniffs the offered hand, and then leans happily into the petting. Sam glances over to Roy. "Bear? Nah, he looks like a military dog but he's not. He's ehmm..." pause. Significant pause. "... he's my psychiatric assistance dog." Eep?

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian approaches the others once pets had been thoroughly given.

  "Yeah...homeschooled." An unspoken admission of his...unusual education. Damian seemed a little distant, definitely guarded. He may not have been physically fighting, but he definitely had a sense of being in a corner. New situation, nothing at all like he was used to.

  Both Roy and Alex has been given a slight nod. This kind of thing was the real reason his father sent him here, Damian had not interacted with his own ilk before, at least people haven't been stabbed. He'd been searched before he left Gotham.

  The comment on Bear being a psychiatric assistance dog was a bit telling, but he reacts only with a slight glance towards Sam, quickly going back to the group.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The youth on the table points at Roy and nods, "Roy." He says, as if commiting the name to memory and then hrmmms. But then he tilts his head back toward Sam and his lips part in a small 'ah' of recognition regarding the veracity of the other fellow's words. "History. That's right." For some reason he chews his lower lip thoughtfully then shrugs a bit as he rests his hands on the leg in his lap and leans forward a little, pondering something.
    "The Crucible of Winter."
    Then a glance again at Roy. "It sounds kind of ominous. Like an Asgardian artifact." He nods slowly, sagely. And then he tilts his head back to consider Damian, "Socialization is a big thing that homeschooling can't really provide." He scritches his chin, "Though, to be fair, a lot of social experiences can be pretty crummy."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Oh yeah?" Roy says when Samuel explains Bear's job and nods his head a couple of times. "Cool." If it seems strange to him that Sam would need a psychiatric assistance dog, he doesn't indicate it. In fact, he doesn't even bat an eyelash. "Yeah, my uncle thought that being here would be good for me. Homeschooling wasn't something he had time for and regular schools weren't working." He lets his shoulders rise and fall in an idle sort of shrug.

"Got a name?" he asks Damian, studying him for a moment or two before he glances over at Alex and chuckles, "The great Jotun Crucible of Winter, in which Snow Giants are forged. Yeah, I could see it."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I was in the same boat a few weeks ago. Mis-timed my recce of the school and ended up walking a corridor when classes let out for the day. Nearly had a panic attack right then and there." Sam reaches down to pet Bear as he recounts that moment, which ended up being his first meeting with Alex. "Point is, you gotta treat this like ... another learning experience." Read, assignment. Know the ground, learn the habits, identify patterns, fit in.

    He grins in Roy's direction. "Does give another dimension to 'winter is coming', doesn't it? But the whole notion that harsh winters drive earlier development of technology is flawed, prima facie. For one, you need a certain treshold level of civilisation before increasing technology makes sense. Harsh climate would limit that population growth, and we see greater development throughout the early ages in warmer, more temperate climates, where a society can afford the luxury of thinking about progress rather than raw survival."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     The short boy's watch gives a chime. Taking a moment to look at it before looking up at Roy. "Damian."

  "I must get back." A sigh given before he turns back, and heads into the school, one last meeting before he would be allowed to go back to Gotham.