Liam and Jessie (Backdated)
Jan. 31st, 2024 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated like whoooooa to January 31st. Liam finds Jessie settling in, and they chat. Liam is a little confusedbutgotthespirit.gif
Wandering the halls, Liam didn't really have a destination in mind. So far, this week sucked so bad and his entire chest and stomach hurt and it was cold and gross outside and he couldn't go to the gym and Sharon had lost her ever loving mind and.... ugh. It was only Wednesday. Maybe he would see what Hope or Ashley were doing?
His thoughts were interrupted by an open door music playing invitingly. Maybe this was Jono's room? Though somehow, he doubted that Jono listened to whatever band this was. "Hi?" he asked, poking his head in.
What had started with re-listening to old John Mulaney bits somehow turned into "What's New Pussycat?" on loop over and over as she unpacked. She was on roughly her thirteenth playthrough while hanging up her flags (trans flag over her bed, aro on the left wall, ace on the right) and singing along now.
"Pussycat, Pussycat, I've got flowers and lots of hours to spend with you, so go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!"
She bopped along as she sang, doing a little dance and jumping off the step ladder to look up at her handy work. She didn't hear anything over the music, but she did happen to turn and see the head that was looking into the suite.
"Oh, hey!" Oh no he had little cat ears it was so adorable. No, behave Jessie. That's probably rude. She went to her laptop to pause the music. "You're Liam, right? From the journals?"
"Yeah, hi," he came in just a little to lean in the door, arranging himself so he was more on his shoulder than his side. "You're a Tom Jones fan?" he asked, surprised. That was... random.
"Not in a 'I can name every song and album' way, no, but I enjoy a few songs here and there." She went to the box she was unpacking to get out the lava lamp that the flags had been cushioning. "I just decided to look that one up because of John Mulaney."
Because who? "That's.... cool?" it was clearly a question. He knew the song because people thought they were funny. They weren't. But Tom Jones wasn't even what his parents listened to. "You got your flags. So uh... what're your pronouns? That's the right question, right?"
He was trying, and that tickled Jessie, even if he clearly wasn't sure about it. "She/her. What are yours?"
Growing up in Machias, Maine, no one had pronouns except the obvious. He hadn't lived under a rock though about pronouns (and bathrooms) being issues in other places. Here though, he'd already seen baristas and others with pins to share their pronouns. It hadn't been something he'd thought about at Xavier's really until now, but he was trying. Maybe clumsily, but that's how everyone started.
"Huh...I thought you'd have a 'they,'" Liam said without thinking, "Cause don't trans people like they? Or them?" he wasn't fully sure how to use them, but he knew they existed. "I'm uh, he/him?"
"Some do." Jessie shrugged. "I did they/them for a while when I was still figuring things out, then went to she/they for a bit. I was she/her by the end of high school. But sometimes people keep they/them because that's what feels right to them. You can't really classify an entire group of people, ya know? It'd be like if I said don't all boys love football and chugging beers?"
Liam took a minute to consider. "I mean, make that college basketball and yes? At least where I'm from. But we don't discriminate, girls like that too. Probably they/ thems as well. Not that I knew any. Or knew of any."
"But you see what I mean?" Jessie moved to sit on the couch, leaving space if Liam wanted to join. "Not everyone is the same, and that's especially true when it comes to things like gender identity. Some transgender people like being they, some don't. For me, at least, it's a very gender affirming thing. Like I get a little giddy feeling when someone refers to me as a woman, or she, or her."
"Makes sense," he agreed. Maybe if was the small town of it all, but if his small town could accept him, he was pretty sure that they could accept someone that was trans or nonbinary. Not that his mother had given them a choice. She'd been ready to fight anyone that didn't treat him properly until pretty much everyone did. Mr. Grundy hadn't, but he was an old cantankerous curmudgeon that had hated everything he deemed 'too new.' Including mutants. "So anyways. How you like Xavier's so far?"
"It's so cool," Jessie said, grinning. "I mean I've only been here a few days, but this is definitely the kind of hippy commune vibe I've been dreaming of in life. No rent in New York? Genius. I was ready to deal with four years of dorm life, but god it was going to suck. How long have you been here?"
"Since last August," he felt like it was forever, but really barely 7 months. "Right? Not that I've lived in the dorms, but it's pretty cool. I thought there'd be all these strict boarding school rules and stuff but everyone is super relaxed."
Jessie's smile faded for the first time, replaced with hesitation. "Is this place supposed to be a boarding school?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure? Apparently there was a much larger student population years ago? Some are still here as adults, but they don't have the students anymore. Just me. Well, there's other college aged people. Shatterstar is 18 and I don't think he's graduated? But I'm the only high school student really."
"Oh, cool." Jessie was smiling again like nothing had happened. "Cool cool cool."
Wandering the halls, Liam didn't really have a destination in mind. So far, this week sucked so bad and his entire chest and stomach hurt and it was cold and gross outside and he couldn't go to the gym and Sharon had lost her ever loving mind and.... ugh. It was only Wednesday. Maybe he would see what Hope or Ashley were doing?
His thoughts were interrupted by an open door music playing invitingly. Maybe this was Jono's room? Though somehow, he doubted that Jono listened to whatever band this was. "Hi?" he asked, poking his head in.
What had started with re-listening to old John Mulaney bits somehow turned into "What's New Pussycat?" on loop over and over as she unpacked. She was on roughly her thirteenth playthrough while hanging up her flags (trans flag over her bed, aro on the left wall, ace on the right) and singing along now.
"Pussycat, Pussycat, I've got flowers and lots of hours to spend with you, so go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!"
She bopped along as she sang, doing a little dance and jumping off the step ladder to look up at her handy work. She didn't hear anything over the music, but she did happen to turn and see the head that was looking into the suite.
"Oh, hey!" Oh no he had little cat ears it was so adorable. No, behave Jessie. That's probably rude. She went to her laptop to pause the music. "You're Liam, right? From the journals?"
"Yeah, hi," he came in just a little to lean in the door, arranging himself so he was more on his shoulder than his side. "You're a Tom Jones fan?" he asked, surprised. That was... random.
"Not in a 'I can name every song and album' way, no, but I enjoy a few songs here and there." She went to the box she was unpacking to get out the lava lamp that the flags had been cushioning. "I just decided to look that one up because of John Mulaney."
Because who? "That's.... cool?" it was clearly a question. He knew the song because people thought they were funny. They weren't. But Tom Jones wasn't even what his parents listened to. "You got your flags. So uh... what're your pronouns? That's the right question, right?"
He was trying, and that tickled Jessie, even if he clearly wasn't sure about it. "She/her. What are yours?"
Growing up in Machias, Maine, no one had pronouns except the obvious. He hadn't lived under a rock though about pronouns (and bathrooms) being issues in other places. Here though, he'd already seen baristas and others with pins to share their pronouns. It hadn't been something he'd thought about at Xavier's really until now, but he was trying. Maybe clumsily, but that's how everyone started.
"Huh...I thought you'd have a 'they,'" Liam said without thinking, "Cause don't trans people like they? Or them?" he wasn't fully sure how to use them, but he knew they existed. "I'm uh, he/him?"
"Some do." Jessie shrugged. "I did they/them for a while when I was still figuring things out, then went to she/they for a bit. I was she/her by the end of high school. But sometimes people keep they/them because that's what feels right to them. You can't really classify an entire group of people, ya know? It'd be like if I said don't all boys love football and chugging beers?"
Liam took a minute to consider. "I mean, make that college basketball and yes? At least where I'm from. But we don't discriminate, girls like that too. Probably they/ thems as well. Not that I knew any. Or knew of any."
"But you see what I mean?" Jessie moved to sit on the couch, leaving space if Liam wanted to join. "Not everyone is the same, and that's especially true when it comes to things like gender identity. Some transgender people like being they, some don't. For me, at least, it's a very gender affirming thing. Like I get a little giddy feeling when someone refers to me as a woman, or she, or her."
"Makes sense," he agreed. Maybe if was the small town of it all, but if his small town could accept him, he was pretty sure that they could accept someone that was trans or nonbinary. Not that his mother had given them a choice. She'd been ready to fight anyone that didn't treat him properly until pretty much everyone did. Mr. Grundy hadn't, but he was an old cantankerous curmudgeon that had hated everything he deemed 'too new.' Including mutants. "So anyways. How you like Xavier's so far?"
"It's so cool," Jessie said, grinning. "I mean I've only been here a few days, but this is definitely the kind of hippy commune vibe I've been dreaming of in life. No rent in New York? Genius. I was ready to deal with four years of dorm life, but god it was going to suck. How long have you been here?"
"Since last August," he felt like it was forever, but really barely 7 months. "Right? Not that I've lived in the dorms, but it's pretty cool. I thought there'd be all these strict boarding school rules and stuff but everyone is super relaxed."
Jessie's smile faded for the first time, replaced with hesitation. "Is this place supposed to be a boarding school?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure? Apparently there was a much larger student population years ago? Some are still here as adults, but they don't have the students anymore. Just me. Well, there's other college aged people. Shatterstar is 18 and I don't think he's graduated? But I'm the only high school student really."
"Oh, cool." Jessie was smiling again like nothing had happened. "Cool cool cool."
