xp_logs | Hope and Amara (backdated a lot)

Hope is asked to play hostess and show Amara around the school.

“Amara was it, right?" Hope said as she paused in the door opening, smiling at the girl uneasily sitting on the couch. "I am Hope Abbott. Angel asked me to show you around if you would like that."

Amara stood up when Hope spoke, a polite smile on her face. "Yes, thank you. I would." She clasped her hands in front of her, concentrating on keeping her powers in check. She didn't want to burst into flames now that she was finally here at the school.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Hope returned the smile. "Have you already seen the suite you are going to stay?" She asked as she guided the girl to the central hallway near the front door.

"Yes, it's a lovely space." Amara followed the brunette, hands clasped in front of her. "It is a marked improvement on my room at the boarding school I attended in Brazil."

Hope's lips curved in another smile as she heard Amara's rather formal speech. So very familiar. "You are from Brazil? It must be quite different then here?" She asked, matching the girls formality.

"Oh yes," Amara replied, with a small laugh. "I am glad I learned English at school, otherwise I suspect I would have great difficulty here." It was more than that, Amara thought, but she didn't think that Hope wanted to hear about her life experience so far. "Have you lived here very long? It is a very interesting institution."

"A little more then three years now. I came here just after the end of my freshman year and I graduated very recently." Hope replied after a moment of thought. "I think I do dare to say there is no place like Xavier's anywhere else. And not just because of of our mutant abilities."

“Is that so?” Amara had been told some things about the school, by those who had rescued her and those who had welcomed her to the school. But she still had a lot of questions.

"There are people here from many different places and that makes for an interesting mix. There are not just the students who attend Bayville, but also several former students who attend college or people who work for various organizations closely connected to the Xavier Institute." Hope explained a little further.

"It is a community," Amara responded with a nod. "When they rescued me, Angelo and Scott mentioned that rescuing mutants is something that is done regularly."

"It's certainly not uncommon. People arrive here in many ways. Sometimes they are found and rescued like you, sometimes they have connections who know about Xavier's. Everyone has their own story. A relative of mine knew of Xavier's and that is how I arrived here when I manifested." Hope explained, as they arrived at the kitchen. "Here is the kitchen. One of the handiest rooms to know your way to in the beginning."

"We are allowed in the kitchen?" Amara sounded surprised at that. At both home and at school she had been encouraged to stay out of the kitchen. She glanced around the room, eyes widened at the size and scope of it. It was a very impressive room.

"We are and we are also allowed make food if you want." Hope explained. "As long as you clean up after yourself and stay within reason of course. There are also several people around who enjoy cooking, so sometimes you can find some nice 'goodies' around. Or people announce on the journals they will be making taco's or pancakes..."

There were a few long blinks from Amara as she took in this information. "There isn't someone who prepares all of our meals?"

"It tends to vary a bit. Some people prefer to cook for themselves, some cook a whole lot and sometimes there is someone who does prepare all of our meals. Do you have any experience cooking?"

"Oh no. We had someone for that at home." She glanced around the room once again. "I suppose that is something I will have to learn."

"You don't have to, but it never hurts to know how to prepare a meal." Glancing outside at the weather, Hope considered a moment. "Why don't I show you the outside first before the clouds over there come in. We can go outside here." Heading over to the door, she asked curiously. "What was the boarding school like you attended before?"

Amara followed Hope outside after one last lingering look around the kitchen. It looked incredibly confusing to her, and she privately doubted she would ever willingly find herself in there again.

"It was... strict," Amara eventually replied to Hope. "The school had high expectations of us, and a broad curriculum. We were expected to study hard and participate regularly in various arts and sports. It left little time for anything else."

"It sounds challenging, not to say the least." Hope easily replied. "What did you study? Honestly, I am quite curious about the differences in school between here and Brazil."

"The school I went to is the Instituto Nova Roma, which is unique within Brazil, I think. When I spoke to my cousin about school she was surprised at the differences. The overarching goal of the school was to cultivate wisdom and virtue." She paused, looking over at Hope. "What was your school like?"

"Nova Roma? A new Rome? That does sound like an interesting place. What kind of subjects did you study that they called it that?" Hope continued, answering Amara's question. "I attended Bayville Charter High for the last three years. It is the school you will attending as well. It is a quite demanding school and they offer a great variety of classes for one to pursue. Both in the arts and the sciences."

"It was the style of education, called classical education. As children we were taught the trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric, followed by the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Once we had sufficiently mastered these arts, we undertook an education in the sciences." Amara turned up her nose slightly. "There was a strong focus on <I>virtue</i> and <i>wisdom</i>. It got very boring at times."

"I think I have at least heard of the trivium and the quadrivium. Wasn't that a medieval age style of education?" Hope tilted her head, frowning just a little as she tried to remember. "Did you also study a lot of Latin? That was a big part of university back then."

“Yes, the classical system has it’s basis in medieval and renaissance methods of education.” Amara smiled politely. “I am well versed in Latin, and have some knowledge of Ancient Greek.”

"What about other subjects? It took me quite a bit of work and time to reach my level of proficiency in French. I cannot imagine the time and work it must have taken for both Latin and Ancient Greek." Hope asked as they walked along the various paths.

Amara shrugged. "I began to learn English when I was very young, and I was eight when I started to learn Latin. Once you learn English, any other language is easy." She glanced over the grounds they were walking through, and had a sudden pang of longing for her old school.

"I loved studying the poets. Cicero, Virgil, Ovid. I'm hoping my father will send me the books I left at school."

"Perhaps you can call or write him that you would really like to have them?" Hope was not too sure how the relation between Amara and her parents was after her manifestation. "And otherwise I am sure we can find some copies of them here as well."

Amara laughed a little at Hope's question, a quietly bitter laugh. "My father is unlikely to be willing to take time out of his busy schedule. I suspect I would have more success directing my inquiries to my former dorm mistress."

"It cannot hurt to try. Perhaps you can ask if they would be willing to ship all you left there. Having your own possessions here... it might be a small comfort to you." Hope gently suggested. "We can arrange for the shipping fee to be covered."

"Money isn't an issue," Amara replied with a shrug. "Or at least, I do not think it would be. Mother would always take care of anything I needed." She pressed her lips together. "I will make some enquiries and see what can be done."

"Just let someone know if it does turn out to be an issue... Do you have everything you need right now?" Hope asked as the thought occurred to her.

Amara nodded. “I had a chance to go home before coming here.” Amara smiled. “My father didn’t really know what to do, talking to Scott and Angelo.”

"They know how to make quite an impression." A small smile curled around Hope's lips as well. "And one I suppose your father might not be quite accustomed to dealing with?"

"Definitely not. Which is saying something, as my father was a businessman and now a Senator. He's used to having to talk to a wide variety of people." Amara sobered up a little. "It was a difficult conversation, as he had to hear about my mother dying in the same breath. It was not easy for him, hearing that and that his daughter was a mutant."

The smile immediately dropped of Hope's face. "I am truly sorry to hear that, Amara. My sincere condolences." She was quiet for a moment. "And that must indeed have been a difficult conversation for your father."

"It was." There was a pause from Amara. "But the people who killed my mother are dead. That, at least, we can be satisfied with." Amara looked back out over the grounds, her eyes narrowing for a moment. "Is that a lake?"

"It is a part of the Xavier Estate." Hope confirmed with a nod, gracefully . "A place to boat, occasionally swim in or just to enjoy sitting by it. Or dunking someone in it on occasion as well."

“Sounds like something that happens on a regular occasion. Since you mentioned it.” Amara grinned slightly. “Has that happened to you?"

"Luckily not, but I have heard many tales." Suddenly feeling a drop of water on her arm she looked up. The clouds had moved in sooner then Hope had expected. "I think it would be a good time to go inside now..." With that Hope accelerated her step, not wanting to be caught up in the downpour.

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea." Amara likewise started to hurry, similarly not wanting to get caught outside once the rain really set in.