4995/Student Teacher Conference

Student Teacher Conference
Date of Scene:	03 February 2021
Location:	Classroom - East
Synopsis:	Emma and Noriko have a chat after class.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Noriko Ashida

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Emma Frost has posed:
    It's been a long Tuesday for just about everyone, but after a rather boring economics class, Emma has stayed at her desk and watches everyone sort of file out and she lifts her chin towards Noriko, asking the girl to stay back, and to shut the door. Emma stands up as she waits for the blue haired girl to do the same and she stands tall in her casual pumps, Emma Frost is not a short woman by any means. She takes a breath as she stands before Noriko and looking down towards the young mutant, and slowly her arms cross beneath her chest. "Noriko..." Emma begins.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
When Noriko sees Emma getting her attention, there's a little blip in her positioning.  The first thing that races in and out of her mind a moment later is, 'Did she see inside my head?'  Because seriously, there's not much going on in there right now.  'Wait...what did I dream?!'

Noriko looks up to Emma from where she is seated, staying there when she saw Emma beginning to move in her direction.  She doesn't interrupt Emma.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma looks towards the door, figuring Nori did close it like she was asked but looks back to the girl, who, decided to stay seated, either way, Emma mentally shrugs at that. Wondering if she'd be so lackadaisical if she had super speed like Nori. A shake of her head and Emma stands next to Noriko's seat and lowers herself, bending more at the knees and resting her bottom on her ankles carefully and oddly practiced. "Noriko..." Emma says, moving a hand to rest on the girl's shoulder while looking into the girl's eyes.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's mind bounces back and she realizes she forgot to shut the door.  She's seen enough movies about high schoolers to know she should shut the door.  Duh.  As soon as Noriko sees Emma on her descent, the speedster blips again, this time from the door now being closed.

Back in her seat, Noriko watches as Emma finishes her descent and can't help but flash a soft squint at Emma's final position.  "Yes?"  Her heart races at the contact.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma looks into Noriko's eyes and figures she should go for broke and her other arm comes around and over Noriko's shoulder and Emma gives the student a legitimate hug. An embrace from an adult, or at least an adult figure, or authority figure. "You're not in trouble." Emma explains in a soft whisper while her face is so close to Noriko's ear. Even if her diamond form is needed to protect her from getting zapped.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko goes tense at first, but she steps back down into this time frame and her breathing begins to slow.  No zap.  Maybe the approach worked, maybe Nori's just gotten better at one thing or another.  Maybe she cheated by working through it at higher velocity.

"Okay..."  Noriko's eyes widen and her heart starts beating hard and fast, chest rising and falling like a hummingbird's.  She speaks a sentence, but it isn't understandable.  She just sounds like some kind of weirdly adept animal.  Less than a moment later, she zips out though still slow enough for understanding, "Is it my brother?  Is he okay?!"  Her voice is frantic as various horrific hypotheticals bounce around in her brain.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma squeezes the hug for a moment longer and allows herself to pull away, keeping her hands on Noriko's shoulders, but moving to grab her fingers, "No, as far as I know nothing has happened to him. I'm... I'm trying to help you." Emma says in a soft whisper as she squeezes Noriko's hands and she fights back a frown. "I'm sorry for getting so upset at you at the party the other day, that was too much, and it was a bad night for me too, so- I need you to know I expect a lot from you, and I know they're stupidly high expectations." Emma seems like she's spilling her heart out in a moment of vulnerability. "I want to see you do better than me. Better than everyone else here."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
There's not really much to squeeze.  The metal of Noriko's gauntlets isn't flexible, just cold, though the kind of rigid joints do shift a little.  Noriko lets out a sigh of relief that there is no news about her brother and is met with the sour empty feeling of having no news about her brother, in general.

"Okay."  Noriko seems disinclined to apologize for her behavior, but that's because it never even crosses her mind for consideration.  She wasn't expecting this.  She certainly wasn't expecting the conversation to be so emotionally charged in this way.

Nori takes a deep breath.  She's gotten pretty good (okay just better) at detecting when she's out of her depth in certain social situations.

"Okay where is this coming from?  What's going on?"  There's concern there for Emma, and that she's wading through murky unfamiliar waters.  Nori doesn't know Emma.  She doesn't know why Emma would pierce through the typical wall between teachers and students...or maybe this is just normal for the woman.

"Also I have no idea what your expectations are for me and I don't even know what better looks like.  I'm just trying to not go insane in these lectures until I graduate."  It's honest, and none of it is delivered flippantly, even if it is rather blunt.  No concern has left her gently creased brow.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "I'm going through some, stuff." Emma leaves it at that as she pushes up from her squat and adjusts her pants to be smooth again and yet she stays next to Noriko. "I told you, a lot of these students around here, especially Jubilation look up to you. I'm waiting for you to realize that, and to take the initiative to be able to realize you can really change the world from here. That ignoring what you /can/ do, and just coasting by trying to 'get to graduation' as easily as possible, is holding you back." Emma says, but doesn't really explain further, instead she turns around and starts to walk back towards her desk.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko doesn't pry further into 'stuff,' though she does notice Emma pushing to her feet and Nori has to resist a strong urge to stand up.

"Jubilation doesn't look up to me.  We're girlfriends."  They're following each other like a dog chasing another dog's tail who is chasing the other dog's tail.  Squirrel!

"Well I think you have the wrong person.  I can't even change myself and I think there are way better people suited towards hearts and minds, like Jubilation.  People follow me because every time they do, they have a good time.  Unless they act like assholes or...whatever."  Self-censored.  "And then, how is zipping around the world on stolen energy going to change the world, and to what?  For what?  I take care of who I can."  There's a reason Nori hasn't amassed a decent wardrobe since she's been here.  The words are bitter or defensive, just with a hint of confusion.

Nori just stays seated.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma turns on her heel when she gets to her desk and moves to sit down on her chair, but she pauses to look at herself. "No, you don't. You think of yourself, while saying you care about others to mask your fears. Mask them from you having to face them and deal with them." Emma sits down, she's been there before, she masked herself and her powers for the longest time, and now that's she's finally truly embracing them, and realizing she can change the world from this very chair, she is. Noriko is the first she's trying this ideal on, and curious to see if it'll take hold.

    "You're thinking about yourself even now, asking how can moving fast around the globe can change the world." Emma leans back in her chair with a squeak but kicks up one foot. "If you can't figure out how to change the world when you can help the world so easily, or improve yourself and your viewpoints easier than most, then maybe you're right. Maybe you should coast through school and graduate, but know that when you're done with school, when you have that piece of paper, nothing changes. You're still standing in the same spot, waiting for the next goal to come and go, and then you're still waiting, doing nothing."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well you keep talking about me changing the world.  That's why I'm thinking about it," Noriko says with a soft look, though a look nonetheless.  The thing is, Emma hasn't just been saying that.  She's also saying figuring out how to change the world, which is a very different goal.  And so Emma's point is proven, because that distinction sails right past Noriko, who then focuses on herself.

"That's the thing though," Noriko waits to say.  "Changing the world isn't a direction.  There's no goal.  I mean...So I say I want to change the world.  I go back to my room.  I sit on my bed.  I think to myself 'But what am I going to change?'  I'm still waiting, doing nothing.  So I go on missions when they take me.  I try to help out the teachers.  And I'm going to graduate no matter how truly maddening it is," but all the things she is listing are concrete, attached to the goals of here and now, not a vision.  It's evident in the very language she uses a subtle affirmation and illustration of her not having direction.  Direction has been consumed by boundaries, literal and metaphorical, ones that hold her back, ones to transgress, ones to respect, ones to protect.

Noriko runs to the city every night but that doesn't inform her, keep her connected to the mutant community as she moves through the streets, an isolation from things that would set her off.  "If I had a 'what' we wouldn't be having a conversation about 'how.'"

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Whatever you want. Do you want the world to not burn in global warming, figure out what's causing it, find ways to stop it, and do what you can to stop it. Do you want to make sure mutants are prosecuted, find out who's prosecuting them, and stop them. You seem afraid to explore within your own mind what you want, and you're waiting for someone else to tell you what you want. You want your brother saved, go save him. But know it's easier if you have people with and behind you. With the same goals." Emma explains, kicking her other foot up on the desk and noding to Noriko. "You're free to go now." Emma motions towards the door. There's not much else Emma needs to say, and she doesn't exactly what to hear Noriko argue back. Emma isn't going to decide the girl's fate, she's just going to equip her to go do what she wants.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well, I know this is selfish, but I don't want to think about being locked up and tortured or experimented on.  I know that's happening to people."  Nori's tears well up faster than gravity can take care of them.  "I know," she nods, lips pressed together.  "Just as much as the next person it's happened to.  What I need and what I want are two different things.  What I really need is to be a kid and figure out who I am...Parts of me were stolen, parts of my life."

"I /am/ going back for my brother."  Noriko's words have a bit of forceful determination behind it.  "I'm just weighing how it should be done.  Success comes in different forms, but not all of them are favorable," and sometimes there's just straight out failure, enlisting the wrong help.  Sometimes it is better to do and ask for forgiveness later.  She rises and shifts into a bow before collecting her things.