ArchivedLogs:Brimful

Brimful
Dramatis Personae Hercules, Jack, Matt, Shane
In Absentia	2015-10-07 "Unless that's just what the ghost wants you to think."
Location <XS> School Grounds
Xavier's School is situated on grounds as luxurious as the mansion itself. The tree-lined drive brings you up to the lush green sweep of front lawn and the wide front porch with its bench swing, often frequented by students studying in pleasant weather. The large oak tree in the front yard is home to a tire swing, installed long ago beneath the sturdy old treehouse. The lawn rolls out all the way down to the thin rocky pier at the edge of the glittering lake. The water stretches huge and wide off into the distance, the boathouse a small blip at its shore. Along its bank, forest stretches dense and shady to one side; to the other cliffs start to rise, high and rocky, providing trails for hiking or climbing, for the adventurous. Autumn has settled comfortably over Westchester, and the trees on the school grounds and beyond are splashed with brilliant sunset colors. It's been a clear, mild day, and the warmth of the afternon has just begun to fade into what promises to be a cool evening. Matt, clad in a dark green bamboo t-shirt, tan shorts, and brown athletic sandals, emerges from the school with his olive Blue Sun messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He looks for all the world like he is heading home, but now stops and sits sidewise on the railing to gaze upon the riot of fiery hues in the vista before him. Headed the opposite direction from Matt is a large, young man, late teens it seems. His height, however, rivals that of tall adults, and he is broad chested with the muscle and muscle tone to go with it. He is dressed for the weather, blue jeans, a tight, black tshirt and comfortable hiking boots. On his back is an incredibly large rucksack. And it is stuffed full, and has a bicycle strapped to the front. With the front gate and tree-lined lane behind him, the young man pauses to look up at the oak tree and the treehouse within. "Reminds me of home.", he says quietly. Coming from the game of pick-up football that just ended, Jack's in a fairly good mood. In some black work-out pants and a NY Jets logo t-shirt, the invisible teen's sleeve lifts as he waves to one of the other scattering students. "Yeah, catch ya later!" he calls as he turns to head towards the school. He stops when he spots the rather large newcomer. He considers a moment before starting to head towards him. "Hey," he greets, having not yet spotted Matt. There's a low humming coming from overhead -- growing nearer as a vehicle lowers into sight. A sleek blue motorcycle accented in glowing silver trim whose patterning is reminiscent of a Tron lightcycle, the bike is veering down from the /sky/ to come to a neat landing near the porch. Its rider is diminutive, easily dwarfed by the teen with the rucksack, a tiny figure in pinstriped slacks and button-down and bowtie, motorcycle helmet, black leather vest with a skull-and-crossbones logo on the back (well, actually, skull-and-crossed violin bows, to be precise), the words MUTANT MONGRELS MC surrounding the emblem. Leather gloves -- evidently custom-fit, since the fingers are webbed -- the tinybiker is holding one fist out towards Matt for a fistbump as he slides down off his ride. From behind the dark-visored helmet, a question: "Where's home?" "When the wind blows just so, it looks almost like fire." Matt looks down at the large teen, lately arrived, then glances over at Jack. "Evening!" His friendly smile broadens into a grin at the hoverbike's approach, and he meets the offered fist with his own. "I've got to catch a ride with you one of these days. Hercules looks to the invisible team with a grin, "Hey." He pauses then, squinting slightly and ducking slightly to peer at Jack's empty hood. "Whoa, that's some good camouflage. Er, are you invisible or is that some fancy technology?" The large young man offers up a massive hand. "Name's Hercules, nice to meet you." He glances over at the other man and grins, offering a wave. "Hi.", he says cheerfully to Matt. The humming noise causes him to look up, and about, until he spots its source. "Man, I'm here for like a minute, and I've met an invisible dude and seen a flying bike. Should've enrolled sooner!" The question from the diminutive rider has Hercules smiling once more. "Astoria, Queens. And yourself?", he asks of the rider. Jack perks up slightly when Matt gets his attention, smiling even if it can't be seen. "Evening, Professor. Heading home?" he asks. Looking back to Hercules, he holds back a sigh when he sees how the big guy is looking at him. "I'm actually haunted laundry," he jokes. "Perma-ghost," he says, shaking that big hand. Not visible but he'd certainly feel solid. "Jack, nice meeting you too," he adds. The arrival of the hover bike and the rider have an invisible grin forming on Jack's face. "Man...just keep finding ways to be cooler..." he trails off. "Man, you know I'll give you a ride /any/ time." Helmet or no helmet, Shane's smile can be /heard/ in his voice. And seen, too, a moment later when he pulls the helmet off, revealing a very much inhuman looking face, mouthful of extremely sharp-serrated teeth bared in cocky grin at Matt. He sets the helmet on his saddlebag, leaning forward against his handlebars afterward to sweep pitch-black eyes over Hercules in appraisal. "Farther than Queens. Just getting in? Welcome. 'least you didn't have a long trip. And this place is /brimful/ with weird-ass shit." The grin is turned towards Jack a moment later. "This? Nah. I got B to thank for /this/. I mean, I know I'm awesome but /this/ is secondhand cool. I don't know if she's planning to sell them or not but it's sure convenient for commuting -- speaking of, you seen my dad? Feel like he's the teenager this week." Matt shakes his head at Shane, grinning nevertheless. Then he swings his legs over the railing so he can face the two students without twisting around. "Welcome to Xavier's, Hercules! I'm Matt. I teach here." He winks. "Nominally, when I'm not goofing around. I was headed home, yeah, but then..." He sweeps his hand out over the lake, whose surface reflects the brilliant foliage that surround it on three sides. "...this happened." He looks back at Shane, vivid green eyes lifting upward momentarily in thought. "Hm...a while ago. Think I saw him briefly around when classes ended." Hercules nods to Matt then, and offers up a hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you Ma... er, professor." He glances the way the prof points, and nods in agreement. "It is a good view. Better than what I am used to. You don't live on campus then?" Hercules glances sideways at Jack and chuckles. "Ghost, Jack? Not with a solid, warm hand you're not. But that is a cool power, I must admit." The tall youth grins at Shane's words to Matt, loaded as they are, and raises an eyebrow curiously at the mouth full of serrated teeth. "Man, check out the grill on you. Gills? Shark? Cool!" Unable to keep his curiosity in check, he then scoots over to the bike to check it out. "I don't know who B is, but you think she can make one big enough to carry me?", the young man asks, looking sideways at Shane. "Yeah, welcome," Jack echos Matt, sleeve lifting as he gives a little wave. His shirt collar moves slightly as he shakes his head. "Not since earlier in the day. Lo siento," he replies to Shane. "And second hand or not, the whole look is just awesome," he chuckles. He looks the bike over and gived a little appreciative whistle. "Nice..." he murmurs before turning an unseen smirk ot Herc. "Unless that's just what the ghost wants you to think," he pauses then laughs. "But yeah...not dead yet. Just no off switch." "I'm supposed to be picking him up. Some asshole mugged him so he's down a driver's license." Shane has a grumble in his voice at this. The hairless ridge of his brow raises at Hercules's reaction to his teeth, smile curling juuust a little wider. "Yep. Cool. B is my better half. She's a goddamn genius so I'm nine-hundred percent sure she /can/. Whether she /would/, I got no clue. They're not exactly ready for mainstream production yet. Kind of a small problem with -- falling out of the sky every so often. You got a license?" The continued ghost commentary earns another chuckle. "... you gonna join in the haunted house this year, dude? Rattle the windows, lurk in dark corners, spook the place up? Tis the season to be -- well, you." "Oh, you can call me Matt," he assures the new student, "if you're comfortable with it, at least. I don't stand much on titles." His appraising look at the bike is maybe a little more critical than that of the students. "*Small* problem," he echoes. "Well, I'm still down for a ride sometime, but that's not *particularly* reasurring..." For all that, he doesn't look too worried. "Oh, boy, this place always has the *best* haunted house, no joke." He braces his hands against the railing and swings his dangling feet as if in anticipation. "Well, Matt it is then, unless it's during class. I'm brand new and I don't want to break some code of conduct rule or something on my first day." Hercules grins impishly before looking over at Jack. "No off switch can be a downside. But at least you can't forget whether or not you're invisible or visible, and then walk outside without pants to surprised applause." Hercules grins at Shane, "Falling out of the sky is generally a bad thing for flying objects to do. I hear it's not the fall but the landing which kills you." He rubs his chin. "Yeah, I have a license, but not a whole lot of practice driving. Unless you mean a flying license, then no." Jack looks as surprised as empty floating clothes can. "Seriously? Who was that dumb..." he trails off at the news of the mugging. "Falling out of the sky...sounds a little more like a medium problem maybe," Jack offers with a little amusement. Haunted house talk has him laughing. "Oh, I'm in. Been awhile since I did the whole haunting act so I'll have to practice a little," he says, stretching. And then Herc has him blushing invisibly at the mental image. "I...umm...yeah. No worrying about that...just people walking into an invisible naked guy if I do that," he says, sleeve lifting as he rubs the back of his neck. "I mean a motorcycle license," Shane clarifies, webbed fingers flicking towards the bike. "And don't worry, so long as you're not a rude-ass motherfucker," there's a kind of self-conscious grin curling at his lips here, "there's not rules about what to call the teachers. Just gotta call them what they want you to call them, s'all good." He leans back against his bike again, hip resting against the seat. "/Small/ problem," he reiterates. FIRMLY. "B's mostly gotten it fixed but occasionally it -- falters." Shrug. He seems remarkably unconcerned about the flying deathtrap. "And yeah you'd best get your haunting game up to par. The haunted house here does not mess around." "Off switch..." Matt echoes, looking at Jack thoughtfully. But then he shakes his head, his smile returning. "Hercules has a point. When you think about it, all of flying involves some falling. Just have to make sure you're falling *slowly* when you hit the ground. So yeah, 'small' problem." He finally hops down from the railing, landing easily in the grass. "That reminds me, I don't even have an idea for a costume yet..." Hercules nods to Matt, and snorts. "Harry Potter.", he deadpans. He then grins cheekily at Jack. "I suppose that would be very awkward as well. But for who? You, or the person who isn't sure if they just copped a feel or not?" The talk of a mugging has the young man looking from Jack to Shane. "Are you going looking to find the mugger? Is your dad alright?" He glances at the bike and nods. "How difficult is it to get a motorcycle license then? Are they hard to drive? And uh... are there ones more my size? I'm always worried about breaking things, you know?" He taps his chin. "My mom liked to say, about stuff like flying things falling out of the sky, is that it's not a problem until it is." "I haven't decided on a costume or not yet. I could just go as me," Jack chuckles. He sputters a little when Hercules speaks again, staring. "What?" he asks, surprised at the whole copping a feel suggestion. Invisibility is helpful since he's blushing worse now. He falls quiet, looking away. There's a pause when Hercules suggests tracking down the muggers. He shakes his head and dismisses the idea though. "I'm sure the small problem will be fixed eventually. B's awesome too." "Find them? A mugger?" Shane's brows raise again. "Dude, there's like eight million people in the city." He sounds kind of amused. "It's a wallet. He'll live. Just annoying as balls because he's not registered. the DMV won't issue new IDs." He rolls a shoulder in a lazy shrug. "Not hard. We built ours custom. There weren't exactly ones /my/ size either. They don't really come in child-size. For /some/ reason." His gaze skips back to Jack. "Doesn't going as you defeat the point of a costume?" "He wasn't hurt," Matt assures Hercules, "neither were his companions. Not much hope of finding the muggers, though I suppose it's not impossible one of them might have a crisis of conscience and send the ID back." His brows wrinkle in such a way that suggest he doesn't think it very *likely.* "And I would make a *dreadful* Harry. If I were going to play a Potterverse character..." He rub his clean-shaven chin with the backs of his knuckles. "Maybe Fred? If I could convince Luci to be George." Hercules shrugs at Shane, "I don't know, maybe someone could find it. At least he is okay, right?" The mention of registration cause the smile to vanish from Hercule's face. "Yeah. I registered a couple days ago. Had to. You get the shaft no matter what you do, to register or not to register, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in mind to forego licensing or by joining, face endless bigotry... Shakespeare'd have a heyday with this kind of material." Potterverse brings a bit of a cheer back, and Hercules shrugs at Matt. "I only just started reading the first book yesterday. A newfound friend mentioned it." Jack's futher embarrassment has the large man grinning a bit more. "I'm just teasing you. I mean, imagine, no one can see you, yet you probably couldn't walk through a crowd without someone bumping you. Now imagine it's someone who's talking with their hands..." "Pretty sure I was the only guy who stole wallets then returned IDs," Jack murmurs sheepishly. "Finding a mugger would be really damn hard but...not entirely impossible. You just need to know who to talk to and what places to poke around in. It'd probably take a hell of a lot more effort than just a couple wallets would be worth though," he says. He then offers an unseen smile to Shane. "Probably. Just not sure what else to be. Haven't done the Halloween thing seriously in awhile," he says. Herc's admission of teasing gets Jack waving it off. "It's okay...and I'm not that bad at getting through crowds without getting bumped. Just takes practice, speed, and good reflexes." Shane's eyes narrow on Matt. It's entirely possible the /rest/ of the conversation has gone right by him, now, because there's a sudden flutter of his gills as he moves away from his bike, steps up to the porch railing to rest a hand on the rail and pull himself up. All this to make himself tall enough to reach up and /thwap/ the teacher upside the back of his head. "Sick fuck. Maybe convince Luci to twist a fucking knife through his chest while you're at it, /Christ/. -- I'm gonna find my dad. Have a good evening, y'all." "Belated happy birthday, then." Matt nods at Hercules. "Quite a few people around here talk with their hands. ASL was mandatory for a while, though I wasn't around at the time." He does not look in the least surprised by Shane's solemn thwaping, nor does he try to avoid it. "I completely deserved that. But I /like/ Fred and George!" Then, calling after Shane, "And you!" Hercules grins as Matt is whapped upside the head. "Does he do that often?", the young man asks. He pauses as one of his pockets buzzes, and he pulls out a small smartphone. "Oh shit. I'm late, I have to get in there for orientation and to put away my stuff." He looks wistfully at the flying bike once more, and grins at Shane, "You have to find me when she works out more of the kinks, I'd love to catch a ride on it. The bike, I mean." He glances at the other two, and smiles. "Thanks for hanging out for a bit, it was good to meet you all. I'll be here for uh, well, however long I stay. So feel free to search me out sometime. I have to go." Hercules offers a wave and turns, heading towards the main doors of the school. Jack is confused again when Shane whaps Matt. Herc's question gets a shrug. "I think he's good at doing it when people need it," he remarks. "Seeya, Shane," he calls. "Good luck with orientation. And welcome to the school again," he offers as Herc goes. Taking a breath, Jack turns back to Matt and offers an unseen nod. "Have a good evening, Professor. And be careful out there," he chimes. "Gonna go hit the showers then..." he sighs, shoulders slumping a little as he begins heading in the same direction as Hercules. "Homework."