ArchivedLogs:Weirdos

Weirdos
Dramatis Personae Flicker, Jack, Ororo, Shane
In Absentia	2015-09-14 "Think it's all kind of fighting monsters when you get down to it. One way or another."
Location <XS> Back Porch
The back patio is a restful place to sit and relax, in most weather. Ample seating comes in the form of umbrella'd deck chairs and a cushioned porch swing, and the neighboring gardens attract butterflies and hummingbirds to make the viewing pleasant. The hot tub is usually open for use, though in snowy weather the transition in and out is a shivery one! A perfectly glorious day is transitioning smoothly into quite a pleasant evening. From the back porch it's pretty idyllic. A quiet chirruping of crickets and a sporadic twinkling of firefly, an occasional distant plop of frog splashing into a garden pond. And then Shane, breaking the patio's peace with a gruff grumbling as he stomps out of the mansion's back door: "-- /slippery/ motherfucker. Can I just keep a telepath, like, permanently in my back pocket? The /fuck/ was I supposed to do with that bullshit?" He's sort of /half/-dressed in his X-uniform, dark pants but his jacket shed to strip down to no shirt, freeing his gills up -- along his sides they're fluttering irritably. A fair few bruises darkening his gleaming blue skin are a testament to relaxed safety settings in today's Danger Room training. He slumps down onto a deck chair, bottle of beer (still cold with condensation) held in one hand. Flicker is beer-less. And still quite uniform'd. No bruises. Just an amused lopsided grin. A quick flutter of ghosty motion carries him over to drop down onto the long end of the same lounge chair Shane has claimed, turning around backwards to straddle the chair facing his teammate. /He's/ carrying a glass of cranberry juice. "... I mean. Is that a serious question? Because I usually /do/ have a telepath in my... uh." Frown. "... I guess I can't call it a /pocket/." Still with that 'fresh from then shower' scent on him, Jack's amused by what he overhears from Shane and Flicker as they emerge from the school and come out onto the patio. He's been perched on the swing, reading over a homework assignment but its time for a break now that there's company. In cargo shorts and a NY Giants t-shirt, the invisible teen snickers. "What would you call it?" he asks Flicker as he gets up from his seat to approach the older mutants. Ororo is also uniformed though she has a steaming mug coffee in her hands as she follows behind Flicker. "You weren't...terrible," she says as Shane rants on about the latest adventure. "Just keep practicing." She makes her way to the lounge chair besides Shane and Flicker, settling down comfortably. "I'll admit that was a rough one. Sometimes I think he enjoys it." Looking over towards Jack, she greets him with a friendly smile. "Hello Jack, how are classes going so far?" "I do like it rough," Shane agrees, flopping back against the head of the lounge chair and draping his legs off the sides. "-- Why /don't/ we get Hive to join our team? Dude's already saved the goddamn world -- oh. Maybe that's why. Are we, like, /beneath/ him? Small fry, now?" He waggles his beer in greeting to Jack. His nose twitches. "Mmm. You smell good. -- Hey when's dinner?" "Yeah, those aren't even slightly creepy sentences back to back." Flicker takes a sip of his juice. Lifts his chin to Jack. The crooked grin softens, slightly. His head tips down. "I'd call it in my corner." He pulls one leg up onto the chair, folding it up underneath himself. His good shoulder lifts in a shrug. "I don't think he cares much for uniforms. And dinner was while we were very narrowly not getting smooshed down there. But I'm sure there's plenty of leftovers." "Hi, Professor. Classes are going alright so far. At least I'm pretty sure I haven't failed anything yet," Jack replies with a chuckle. He pauses when Shane says that and asks about dinner though. "I uhh...I do?" he asks, sleeve lifting as he rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, dinner already happened. Why were you almost smooshed?" "Good. The term has barely begun, I'd be very worried if you were already failing," Ororo says with a chuckle, lifting the mug up to her lips. "We really should recruit more members though, telepaths or not." Jack's question gets a groan and she begins rubbing her forehead. "You really do not want to know." "I'm pretty sure I'm already failing and I've only /been/ to, like, a half-dozen classes." Shane's nonchalant tone does not actually sound particularly /genuinely/ concerned about this. Along his sides his gills flutter rapidly again. "But usually it's best to wait till at least midterms before you start fucking up that bad. -- anyway it's evidently 'cuz I need more practice. Also, seriously, I'm never looking at chocolate pudding the same way again." He taps his beer bottle against his teeth before taking a gulp. "How do we even recruit, anyway? It's not like you can put an ad out on craigslist. Wanted: mutant vigilantes. No pay. High risk of death. The government will definitely want to jail you. I bet the applicants would come rolling in. Where do they find weirdos crazy enough to sign up for a gig like this?" Automatically, Flicker leans forward. Reaches out to press down at the fluttering gills on Shane's side. The last question earns a /snort/. His green eyes dart to Shane. Then to Ororo. Down to himself. His eyebrows lift. He takes a long drink from his cup. Shrugs. "If you say so," Jack replies with a chuckle. He just blinks at Shane though. "What's wrong with chocolate pudding?" he's confused again. He arches a brow at Flicker's reaction and then smiles. "Well...here," he remarks. "I mean...if I can when graduate, I'd like to try at least." "If your grades fall I will personally ban you from the Danger Room myself," Ororo warns, staring holes into Shane as she takes a gulp from her coffee. "Well, when you're lead by one of the most powerful telepaths in the world, finding like-minded mutants isn't so difficult. They also tend to find us often enough." Jack's suggestion of joining the team gets an appraising look from Ororo. "We'll see. I think you'd do well but of course, it's not my decision to make. Keep on top of your classes," cue another side glance towards Shane, "and I think it would be possible." "I'm trying," Shane assures Ororo, hands lifting in surrender. The usual brash tone has slipped askew from his voice as he admits, "College is just... different." He leans slightly into Flicker's touch. The clear inner membranes on his eyes slide shut. For a moment he's quiet. Then, light and easy again, with a grin to Jack: "Seriously? /See/? Crazy-ass weirdos." "Chocolate pudding is delicious, but, like, five tons of it --" Flicker's mechanical hand lifts, makes a wobbly ehhhhh motion in midair that threatens but does not quite spill his remaining juice. "Hard to breathe, for one." His brows crease in concern. Hand pats again at Shane's side. "Unsurprising," is what he says /aloud/. "Pretty sure you gotta be crazy to survive here through to graduation in the /first/ place." Jack just stares for a few moments. "Why...where...five tons of pudding?" he asks, confused as he looks to each of the older mutants for explanation. He stands up a bit straighter when he notices Ororo's look and then rubs the back of his neck since he realizes it isn't too effective with his perma-ghost. "I'm doing my best," he replies, glancing at the school building for just a moment before flashing an unseen grin. "Seriously." "I told you you didn't want to know," Ororo mumbles as the pudding is mentioned again, taking another gulp of tea. "I never realized it was so thick, surprising resilient against tornados." She offers Jack a strained smile, pushing past the pudding memories. "That's all I ask," she says at his mention of doing his best. She glances back towards Shane, "I suppose I can't give you too much trouble, I never did go to college so you're already ahead of me." "I mean, I like the /work/, you know? I get to make music and I love that. The people are just --" Shane trails off with a swallow, teeth clenching before he takes a sudden large gulp of his beer. "Anyway though I can't really complain so much. No matter how shitty people get there I get to come /home/ at the end of the day. B's been having a /time/ of it up in Boston and she just /lives/ in the dorms so there's nowhere to go. Maybe," he decides with a fierce (teeth still gritted) grin, "/College/ is for the crazy-ass weirdos. I'll take fighting monsters over bigots any day." "Resilient," Flicker agrees with Ororo, "but I think you were handling it pretty great before all those freaking /teeth/ --" His head shakes. Shoulders shiver in an exaggerated shudder. "Not," he is quick to assure Shane, "that I have anything /against/ teeth." His brows wrinkle, and he squeezes at the younger X-Man's shoulder. Jostles him gently. "Think it's all kind of fighting monsters when you get down to it. One way or another. But in there," he nods back in the general direction of the mansion, "or out there, you don't have to do it alone. Whooole team of crazy-ass weirdos backing you up." "The pudding had teeth?" Jack just gets more and more confused. He tenses a moment when Shane trails off, looking down at the ground. "Yeah...people," he murmurs. He shadkes it off though. "College does sounds crazy," he agrees. He finally smiles again though thanks to Flicker. "Right. One of the good things I like about ending up here." "Don't get too frustrated with them. Most of them aren't...villains, persay. They're just unsure of what to make of people like us. The best you, all of us, can do is show them we're nothing to be afraid of. They'll begin to come around," Ororo says to Shane. "And as you said, at the end of the day you'll always have a home here." She smiles softly as Flicker comforts the other mutant. "Though I would have worded it differently, I agree with Flicker's sentiments." Shane nods, relaxing at the others' words. Grins. Bright. Toothy. Chomps (all his freaking) teeth in Flicker's direction, rrrrawr. "Not everything can wear these as stylishly as I do." He gulps down another swig of beer, hops up to his feet. "I should check up on the status of those leftovers." He gestures with his bottle towards Ororo and Flicker in turn. "Y'all want I should heat you up plates? If there's pudding I promise I'll leave it off." "And in the meantime no matter what the haters think, you'll become even more of a fantastic violinist. So, you know, win-win." Flicker gulps down the last of his juice, grinning over at Jack. "Nah, nah, it was what was /in/ the pudding, if you want to get technical." He perks up at the mention of food. Is on his feet so fast he doesn't actually seem to have /moved/. One second sitting, the next standing. "-- Oh man. Yes. I need refueling. Dinner sounds like the best plan I've heard since -- well, okay. since Ororo's plan about an hour ago that got us through that scenario in the /first/ place." "I'm still not sure if the Danger Room sounds amazing or scary," Jack admits after a few moments, laughing. "I think I should head in too. Actually do my homework," he remarks, shirt riding up a little as he stretches and exposing the black space under it. "Depends who's running it," Ororo simply says, rising out of her chair. "Food sounds amazing, I'm absolutely famished."