Archena Surya's page

Archena chuckles a little bit. "Yeah, that never really stopped me."

She holds up a few of her fingers to her glass supplies. "I was gonna do some sculpting, but I think I wanna try doing my nails with this. Can't be too hard, right?"

"I can see where you'd get that, but I've actually got another idea."

She watches as the kids pass the smoking ball around the circle.

"You're pretty good with kids, huh? I'm glad to see at least one of ours is."

Taika Niyambi had, for a while now, found herself wandering the halls looking for something to do. This had culminated in one of the art rooms and the procurement of a pottery wheel and some clay, which she dragged out into the garden with the help of some of the younger students she'd told she was going to do make something they would never expect.

Now she sat out in the gardens in front of a handful of little students who were watching her make the clay spin as she used her fingers to carve pieces out or grooves in. As some of the water flicked off the wheel and splashed them the kids missed her slipping a powder into the ball she was making before almost closing it up.

Another lady firebird was undertaking a similar activity a few minutes later, passing by the assembly with a jar full of colored glass rods and tools in one hand and a small, handheld blowtorch in the other. She stops to watch the show for a moment.

Archena has earthy, clay-colored hair and deep tan skin, a strange combination for a human but fairly common among Firebirds. However, uncommonly, the hands she grips her supplies with have long, talon-like nails and an almost scale-like texture leading into slight, sparse plummage on her forearms. She's currently wearing a paint splattered T-shirt with the sleeves cut short and the main shirt cut above her midriff, and a pair of high waisted jean shorts. No shoes.

I'm pretty much one of few acceptions to the rule. I look more like an archeopteryx because of my Oracle curse.

Being new and fresh faced to the school and so many things, it takes a little more than the dour mood around campus to bring her down.

She's been spending a lot of time in the art labs as she is now, especially in sculpture area and kiln. She has an interesting habit of sculpting things and staying in the kiln with them to make sure they set right. The dinosaurs she's learning about in one of her classes are an especial point of interest and often focus of her sculpting. She's presented more than a few of her extracurricular projects to Raelle, the only person so far to have taken interest in her. Not that she minds. She's never been terribly sociable.

"Uh, maybe you should talk to someone a little more qualified than me? I don't really think I'm going to be much help right now..."

Sense Motive is a really weird skill when it comes to Archena. Some things she would get no problem, but others, there's no chance. This is a no chance one.

"Ya, uh, me too?"

Archena is looking at a side wall as it occurs to her that he'd be a lot more attractive right now if he was mute instead of blind...

Oh the shallow joys of socially isolated firebirds... Sorry. Nothing personal. Thats just how she thinks. At least she doesn't say it out loud...

"I, um.... I really don't think I'm the best person to, uh... crying..."

She looks around, not really sure what to do. Crying never happened at the parties. Showing weakness was practical suicide in the cutthroat world of firebird interpersonal relations. Guests rarely let a crack in their fake smiles show, much less show actual sad emotion, but never tears. Tears were reserved for behind the doors she was shut out of.

"That's awful..."

She notices that he's feeling rather conflicted.

"Would you. Would you, ah. Should I come back later? Or would you like me to stay? I mean, it's up to you. You seem kinda..."

She trails off, not really sure how to deal with a situation like this. This never happened to any of the people at her parent's parties. Or at least, they never let it show.

Archena picks the book up first.

"Hey, it's ok, I got it."

She laughs slightly at his scrambling as she hands it back to him.

"I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two."

She steps back to try to not make him feel crowded, still somewhat amused by his frantic nature.

"So, uh, why the sudden shift in personality? I coulda sworn you were a robot before. You doing alright now?"

Archena is upside down in the chair with her back in the seat and her legs hanging over the back. She's holding a magazine right-ways-up, which would mean it's upside down from her perspective.

"Uh, ya. Sure. I thought they said it would be longer than that."

She flips around in the chair and goes to follow the dwarf to the room.

"Uh, hey man. You uh, feeling alright?"

She seems to have never been in a situation like this before.

Archena sits in the waiting room, feet up on a table waiting for Tamina to get back.

Tamina laughed. "I see. So basically it's like when I have to act as ambassador to the fey....guess and hope like hell you don't mortally offend anyone."

"What's a Fey?"

She pulls herself up onto a chair as Ardiente rushes past behind her.

"It's usually just a... math thing... not a ratio, but a... I don't know, of how high their nose is in the air."

She smiles and holds her hand at an angle next to her nose.

"About here is usually 30-40 something."

She moves her hand and leans her head back.

"Here is getting around a hundred."

Now she bends backward, arching her back, trying to point her nose back at the floor the wrong way.

"About here is three hundred or so."

She loses the poses and falls with a 'boff' onto the floor, laughing.

"Psst. Hey... Lyn... How do I tell the difference?..."

"Uh. Not that much older, actually. Let me see."

She closes her eyes and does math in the air with her finger.

"Her hatching day is in February of... and mine is June of... so she's... twenty.... seven. I'm fifteen, so she's... twelve years older than me? Ya. Twelve. Not a whole whole lot. She's not, like fifty something and old like my parents' friends."

"Ya, I guess you could say that. I saw a lot of people, but a lot of people didn't see me. Really only* Elaine. My parents hired her to take care of me, so they didn't have to. She's really the only person I would call a friend."

She sighs a little, once again reminded that she probably wouldn't see her again.

Continuing her roll of wonderful social graces, Archena interjects with

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Followed by

"Oh. Sorry. Wait? They can do that here?"

"I haven't really had any friends besides one, so I guess I don't really know the feeling. I got kind of nervous when she didn't show up for a day or two when she was sick, but outside of that, I don't really know the feeling."

She grabs a waiting room magazine and swipes the crumbs onto it.

"Here, let me get that."

"Thanks. It's not my favorite, but still good."

Awkwardly unadjusted socially powers activate.

She takes the things and takes a seat.

"So, what did you say you were here for?"

She squeezes the bag, popping it and crumbling the charcoal, which she pours into the top of the mug.

"I know what it's like to be bored. Like. Really bad. And I don't want that for anybody. Let's go get something, then. I really honestly don't know what I'm doing here anyways... Oh. I'm Archena, by the way. Just Archena."

She offers a slightly clawed hand, as she had seen people meeting people do at the parties.

"I just met him like half an hour ago. And most of that he spent asleep while the scary psych lady worked on him. It was cool when he was shooting lasers, but I'm not really sure if I need to watch him sleep. The nurse said I should, but I've been stuck in a room doing nothing for a long time now. I think I'd rather go with you."

She stands and straightens out her khakis.

"That'd be nice. Thanks... uh. Should I come with you or stay here?"

She doesn't seem to be up on social conventions. Definitely a new firebird.

"Is that allowed? That stuff got people at my parent's parties pretty messed up..."

She pulls her arms together, holding them at the elbow under her upper assets.

Personal tastes aside, would water based coffee hurt a firebird?

Do firebirds drink coffee? No? 'Cause water?

Archena sits heavily in a chair in the room, not entirely sure what to do now that she's here.

"He's asleep, so I don't really know what I'd be doing... Should I stay?"

She doesn't seem to quite understand what she should do without being told.

"Will do..."

Archena does as directed, not entirely thrilled with her new occupation as wheelchair-pusher.

She whistles a tune as she steers him to the infirmary.

When she arrives she relays the information before awkwardly asking what she was supposed to do next.

Archena is sitting in the corner of the safe room fiddling with her necklace.

At least when he was destroying stuff it was interesting. Just sitting there and doing brain stuff is boring...

Archena dutifully guided the wheel chair to where it was directed and join Ms. Jones in the safety box, despite not being called by her preferred name.

Her eyes go wide at the display of power, but she doesn't say anything.

"Just Archena. And sure.-"

She pauses for a moment to peel the woeful boy off her and into the chair.

"I've been in this so far, might as well see him through."

She takes a position behind the chair.

"So, do I push this or...?"

She trails off, hoping Ms. Jones would finish.

Archena is uncomfortably warm to hug, but that's probably not Djalos' biggest problem right now.

"Uh. Ok. Uh... There... uh... There..."

She gently pats him on the back to punctuate both "there"s.

She gives Ms. Jones a look of slight alarm and confusion fairly obviously meaning "what do I do now?"

Archena takes a pen and starts doodling on her khaki uniform pants.

If she wasn't doing this for her friend, she'd probably be gone by now. At least he was cute. If only he wasn't so boring... And murdery...

At least now she was mildly interested in where this was going... Up until now, crying people were usually funny, because they were usually her parents' stupid friends and anything they were crying about was probably stupid too. Now it was interesting instead. Also uncomfortable. But at least interesting.

Archena looks at the door to the psych room.

She had actually only promised to help him find the room... she hadn't said anything about watching him cry while the teacher spaced out with her hands on his head...

She debates internally at what point she should or shouldn't leave...

I'm quite aware. :P
Archena raises her finger.
"Aaah."
She lowers it, looking away.
"Eeeh."
She raises it back.
"Ooh..."
Lowers it again.
"Huuh."
Raise and lower.
She bites the talon of her index finger while fingering one of the claws on her necklace, completely unsure of what to do now.

Archena just points to him when asked what the problem is.

She's suddenly very quiet, on account of Ms.Jones reminding her of her mother.

"Do you think there's like a worm or something in your head?"

They arrive at a door as she asks a weird question.

He can hear her try the other side of the door.

"The door doesn't say infirmary, but the arrows keep pointing to it. The sign says p-si-choh-there-appy."

"Uh. Ya. So, uh. Hand."

She places her hand on the wall and guides Djalos to the infirmary.

"I don't really know what to do when we get here..."

"Why does it put the room close together? I'd rather have them further apart, so there wouldn't be sick people close to the food."

Archena follows with a spring in her step.

"Uh. Ya. I'll come."

She looks at her emptied tray.

"Does this go somewhere?"

"Yay! Thank you!"
She tries hugging Raelle, awkwardly moving her arms around her. Doesn't appear like she has had much practice with physical contact.

"I've never actually heard them play it. Elaine could never get a player upstairs to my room, so she played their songs on violin."

Archena bolts up from the table.
"No way. No way!"
She looks at Raelle excitedly.
"That's the music Elaine always played for me! And you know them?!"

"Anyone else like music?"
She asks without removing her head from the table.

"Can We talk about something other than our awful childhoods now?"
She thinks her head down on the table.

"If that's what happened, no one at my parents parties would have any kids... There was always at least one or two guys that got real handsy with the staff girls..."
She remembers some of the drunken stumbling that went on between many of the firebird nobles after a little too much fermented oil.

"Geez... might be a good thing you're here... kinda sounds like everything has sucked for you so far..."

"Ooooooh."
She thinks for a moment before shaking her head.
"Mom never liked Uncle Blaze."

"What's that mean? I think my mom said that about Uncle Blaze one time."
She cocks her head to the side.

"So if you can do that, what's keeping you from listening up someone's skirt, hm?"
She leans forward on the table, lifting her eyebrows.