ArchivedLogs:Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking
Dramatis Personae Derek, Ellin, Jax
In Absentia	2015-11-04 "I'm not going to pretend the world is made of rainbowth and unicornth and all that thit." (Part of Flu TP.)
Location <XS> Kitchen
The kitchen staff at Xavier's tends well to the needs of its residents. Always cognizant of its students and faculty's dietary needs alike, the menu has a wide variety of choices, and the longtime cook works wonders in the kitchen. The pantry, too, is kept well stocked for those who want to come prepare themselves their own snacks. The shelf, fridge, and freezer space is ample, though if anyone wants to keep their own food there, they'd better make sure it's labeled clearly, and even that is no guarantee it'll last. It's quiet in the kitchen at the moment -- a downtime after dinner, which in itself was quieter than usual. Some of the post-dinner cleanup crew is still at work in the neighboring space, tending dishes in the industrial sinks and sweeping out the dining room, though even this work is very nearly done. The actual cooking area is nearly deserter -- just one very brightly coloured young man at work in here, hands very powdery from a truly enormous silver mixing bowl full of dark chocolatey dough. The room is very warm, all of its ovens heating; Jax is currently scooping dough out of the bowl, humming quietly along with his laptop on a neighboring counter -- at the moment playing Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead" as he rolls it between his palms. He is dressed brightly -- dark red velvety damask leggings underneath a knee-length pixie-cut layered black skirt, very stompy black and silver knee-high boots, a sleeveless black shirt dotted with metallic rainbow stars; there is bandaging gauzy and white on one shoulder, rainbowy oilslick-black makeup on his lips, brightly peacock-shaded dye to his hair, and very large mirrored sunglasses on his eyes, despite it being -- indoors. And nighttime. He finishes rolling one ball of dough, pats it lightly flatter, rolls it in both powdered and granulated sugar. Adds it to a large baking sheet with many other cookies already neatly lined up on them. It's been a rough past few days for Derek with his sister being sick. He hasn't been going to classes, avoiding meals with others and just generally being sullen. After spending time with his sister, Derek's decided to find a late dinner down in the kitchen. Dressed in his usual attire of jeans, a plain black t-shirt under a jean jacket and warn sneakers while sporting a slightly fading, yellowing bruise on his right cheek he enters the room and stops upon seeing Jax. "Jaxth... I didn't know you were here. I heard you were thick and weren't around. Can I bother you a moment?" Derek needs to talk to someone and his advisor is the only person he knows of. "-- ain't seen me crazy yet -- hmm?" Jax glances up from cookies and singing when he is addressed, Derek's bruised face reflected in his oversized sunglasses. He scoops up a new ball of dough, rolling it between his palms. "Yeouch, that's a bruise." His pierced eyebrows have hiked up, if only slightly, a note of surprise in his heavy drawl. "Sure you can. An' yeah, I weren't here. Been sick so I --" He breaks off very suddenly, cheeks flushing deeeep crimson. Above his head, now, a cartoonish speech bubble appears. Text prints inside it, in a spiky neat writing. Purple text. o O ('Sick. Right. No talking. What's up?') There's nothing really 'cowboy' about the Ellins. Unless you count pink ropers they're currently wearing. Cue snapping fingers. Twirling as they move through the door one-after-the-other in the sort of coordination made possible by sharing a mind. They all have pink earbuds in as well, and as usual they have some version of numbered shirts. What is their song? Not that anyone is likely to hear, but Ellie Goulding's Lights is responsible for her current state of wiggle. Yes, she has a headache, but it's so much better than before. Cue various bodies going through cabinets and fridges in a flurry of non-panned search patterns. And then? One of them even offers a high-five towards Jax. Derek? Derek is danced around. Still, the one who paused to high-five Jax takes a moment to look over him before the tableau gets a silent thumbs-up. She likes flashy and expressive. Shrugs and gives Jax a faint smile. "It'th nothing. Daith ith thick too and I jutht puthed her buttonth right and, well, thee can pack a punch when mad. I know you're thick and all and I really don't mean to bother you but, I jutht..." He stops when Ellin walks in, watching her but doesn't say anything in greeting. There's a hesitation, but Derek resumes talking figuring it's better to say what he wants to at once. He speaks a bit fast, rushing to get his words out. "I know you're thick and I don't mean to bother you but I wath talking to Taylor about thith and the whole flu thing. I mithed what happened two yearth ago but he kinda filled me in, and I was looking up old newth thtuff. He put thith image in my head, I thaw you.. fighting... thothe, you know. I jutht, I need to know what'th going on, what'th going to happen to my little thithter?" 'Oh my.' The news of Daisy punching Derek has him stifling a reflexive choking noise that is most likely an aborted guilty laugh, somewhat inappropriately. Jax's blush deepens, his head bowing. It is followed by a swift: 'That's horrible. How's she feeling?' He glances up at Ellin, giving her a smile, a quick nod -- no high-five, though, his hands are /pretty/ full, greasy with oil from the cookies, gritty with sugar, actively involved in the process of rolling another cookie out. He hefts the cookie he's working on in explanation of his lack-of-high-five, offering a relatively-un-powdered-sugary elbow out to tap instead. The smile fades at the talk of the current spate of illness, though. 'Well. We're still waiting on confirmation from Dr McCoy that it's the same illness. Unfortunately the two doctors from the Clinic I used to work at who actually -created- the original cure for the Rising Plague are' there's a long delay as he pats his next cookie with, perhaps, /excessive/ care into the sugar. Also perhaps-excessive care in rolling the next one into a ball. Finally the words continue printing above his head, 'Indisposed. But hopefully we can get in touch with them, they know quite a lot about the sickness. If it -is- the same disease, there is a cure. It's just a rather intensive and unpleasant course of treatment to put someone through if it's only the flu, so it's best to make sure. But the sickness -is- curable.' The girl spends all five of her selves around to gentle tap elbows with Jax. No stopping of her hip-swishy dancing behavior. She's even mouthing the words. As the song wrapps up, though, she pulls the headphones out. The picturesque discussion has caught her attention and one of them (Number Two), upon hearing the bit about the clinic peels off from their snack-hunt (protein such as nuts and whatnot seems to be hear current target) to pull her tablet PC out and type. < OMG. Yes. My daddie is w/Dr Mkoy right naow examinating people. Tehy r totes geniuses. Daddie works at teh clinic so maybe he will heer something? > the four other Ellins are tapping out rhythms in an almost fidgety manner on whatever nearby surface like they can't QUITE concentrate on anything. Extremely distracted. < U need anything from teh cabs d00d? > Apparently she has chosen the adult course of NOT communicating with Derek. < R u doing that? Its so cute! > There's a visible relaxation in Derek's posture at Jax's words. "Thankth. I jutht can't thtop thinking about the worthe. With all the panic and thtuff being thaid, I..." His eyes glance over at Ellin and his mouth forms a bit of a frown. It's not easy for him to open up to people but he ignores his discomfort and focuses on his conversation with Jax. "I can't help but athume the worthe. Daithy's all I got and I'm thuppothed to watch out for her and, and it thould be me not her." He can't help but read what Ellin's typing out and with much effort he resists saying anything. 'I'm not going to pretend it isn't worrying. It's a frightening illness, and its consequences last time were. Terrible. But. Manageable, now. And there are very good doctors looking into it.' Jax returns to his cookie-process slower, more methodical, now. 'It -should- be neither of you. And hopefully soon enough with good treatment she'll be back with you like normal.' His brows furrow, head tilting up to read Ellin's tablet, scrutinizing it only belatedly. 'Cabs?' The tilt of his head is puzzled. 'Wait, who's your dad? Apologies, I think I've been a little out of sorts this past week. Am I doing what?' < Mom and Dad. Um Docs Janet and Bradley Zychova. > Yes, Ellin's parents are named Brad and Janet. < Cabs. Cabinets. > She manages to look embarassed. As for the 'Am I Doing What' question? < The pretty letters and colors. I guess that is s2pid question. I got my answer. > Four tosses the tablet back where it's caught by three who begins typing. < OMG. Im sofa king hungry. Ima eat some nuts an tell my homework 2 kick rox. > The four have found some packages of nuts now and have begun to tear in ravenously. So very hungry. Derek lets out a short, sarcastic, chuckle. "That'th nithe of you to thay but life doethn't work that way. I hope thingth are back to normal thoon, right now I'm wondering if thtaying in the fothter thythtem would have been better." He leans against the nearest wall and folds his arms across his chest. "At leatht thith whole thing is making thith place feel leth fake, leth too good to be true." His stomach grumbles a bit watching the Ellins tear into her snack, but he does his best to ignore it. 'Oh. The new doctors. I know them.' For a time this is all Jax says. He pats the next cookie down onto the tray, heads to the oven to go remove several trays of cookies -- crinkly and powdered-sugar white -- and set them down on a free stretch of counter. (Noticeably, without actual oven mitts.) He slides the trays he had just made in, in ther place. 'When I said before that all the nice would wear off I really wasn't hoping it'd be like this.' Dangit! She was feeling more irritable than usual (which is likely nearly indistinguishable from her normal cheery behavior). Begrudgingly, she finds another package of nuts out of the pantry she got the first one and soone, One is pushing it on the counter next to Derek while conspicuously still avoiding any direct communication or contact with him. Meanwhile, the body on typing duty takes the lull to eat some nuts. < It took like 3 days an teh nice wore off. U no my parents? Fun! U liek 2 bake. We canhas share cupcake recipe sometiem? > "Thankth." Derek mutters to Ellin. He opens the packet and fishes out a peanut. He cracks a faint smile at Jax and shrugs. "I know, it'th not your fault. Not really anyoneth fault. Some people in life get the good breakth." His eyes can't help but glance over to Ellin. "Otherth, well, can't get a kick in a thampede. Can't thay I'm thurprithed, anyway, you need help with anything and... you jutht took out that hot pan with your handth. Your bare handth." He figures it's mutant power related but still, the act causes him to question it. 'Sure,' Jax's cartoon-bubble answers, 'I know everyone at the Clinic. Worked security there since it opened. Since before it opened, actually.' There's a very faint grimace to his expression at this acknowledgment. He goes to wash his hands, scrubbing hard. The lather that the soap brings up starts to change colours, bright rainbowy bubbles sudsing up and washing down the drain. 'I teach baking here. I figured the Rec Room was overdue for a stock of cookies. Been gone a few days.' His head is tipped down, focused on watching the mess of colour swirling down the drain. One side of his mouth twitches up when he looks back up. 'Oh. It didn't hurt. I run hot.' There's another pause, here. His cheeks puff out, blowing out a quick breath. '... Kinda wish I had some sort of reassurance I could offer but. No. Sometimes the world's just really hard. A lot of the time. And as far as I can tell, it's not really ever going to stop beating on you. But part of what we're here for is to try and help give you the tools to hit back.' All five of the girls flash a toothy smile at Derek. Is it really that easy to get back on her good side? She still doesn't communicate with him beyond this though. Instead, the bodies not typing put their headphones back in and begin snapping their fingers in beat between bites of nuts and patting them on their legs to the tune of 'Cups'. < That is 2 cool 4 skool! O ur a teacher! I didnt say any bad words did I? > She never really does, but she still worries about saying bad words in front of teachers. Perhaps she hasn't gotten the vibe here down quite yet? < U can take what the world gives and let it make you 2 awesome and 2 beautiful to believe or u can let it make u sad. Mom told me when I wuz little that only u can decide whether 2 be happy or not. > Guess which one she chose? As for Jax running hot? < Taht makes sense. I thot u were just being a badass. > "You already gave me thome Jaxth, thure I'm thtill worried for Daith but I'm not feeling as panicked. Thuckth that I have to watch her go through thith but, thee'th not going to die from it. That'th what matterth motht." Derek offers his advisor a smile and single nod. "Thankth, for being thraitht with me." The smile vanishes quickly though at reading Ellin's words. "That'th jutht total bullthit. Mutht be nithe living in a fairy tale." 'Teach art, baking, and sex ed.' Jax doesn't comment on the possibility of Swear Words. He shuts the water off, his hands glowing faintly; the water on them is already drying, evaporating with a very faint sizzle, slight steaming visible in the air. He turns aside, setting up a stackable set of cooling racks to start transferring the cookies from the trays to cool. His movements are kind of sluggish, his brow furrowing again. He gives a very slow shake of head. 'I'm not sure that's true. I mean to say, it's perfectly alright if you want to adopt a positive attitude for yourself, of course, but it's not really that simple. The world still hurts people? And it doesn't do people any favours while they're actively being hurt by it to pretend that positive thinking will make their situation better. I mean, positive thinking doesn't put food on people's tables, you know?' < Thats not wut I think it means. I think it means that sometimes u cant change the world, but you can try and change how you feel about it. > She very calmly sets the bag of nuts down though. She faces Derek, typing out. < I dont know why u r so mean but I cant be near u anymore. Whatever I did 2 u I am sorry 4 it. But Im done. I wont apologize for being myself. > All five of them turns towards Jax, typing out again. < It was nice 2 meet u. I look forward 2 ur class. > And then she's turning to exit the kitchen. She even manages to avoid sniffling until she's almost to the door. If Derek was the type of person to give hugs, he would give one to Jax right now but instead he just gives him an appreciative smile which is quickly followed by a scowl after reading what Ellin typed out. He doesn't say anything to her, doesn't make any excuses, just rolls his eyes as she walks out the door. "I'm not going to pretend the world is made of rainbowth and unicornth and all that thit. I can't. Not my fault thee keepth crying every time I theem to talk." Though he does know that his mouth has gotten him into trouble often enough. 'And if that way of thinking works for -you-, that's fine,' Jax reiterates, a small shiver of light fluttering around him. 'Please don't apologize for being yourself. Please don't expect anyone else to apologize for being -themselves-, either.' His hand lifts, once Ellin has gone, forefinger and thumb pushing up his glasses to rub at the hollows of his eyes; perhaps slightly disconcertingly sinking a little too deep into the socket where his left eye is missing. 'Tensions been pretty high around here. Did you come down here to get food? There's plenty.' Derek's gaze lingers on the door way for a bit before looking back over to Jax. "I'm uthed to people like her. I didn't exactly have a lot of friendth back home." He says shrugging a shoulder. He does notice Jax's left eye but doesn't say anything. "It'th eathy when you're only family ithn't thick." The mention of food though makes his stomach rumble and a sheepish smile crosses his face. "Yeah, that'th why I came here, almotht forgot. Haven't been eating much lately." He goes to the pantry and takes out a few things - can of chicken broth, some dried herbs and box of spaghetti noddles, then goes to find a sauce pan so he can mix up a quick noodle soup that he can share with Daisy. 'I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything more from the doctors about all this, alright?' Jax finishes sliding the cookies onto the cooling racks, moving over to turn the oven light on and peek at the cookies still backing. 'Is there anything you or Daisy need, meanwhile? There'll be plenty of cookies.' His expression here is a little wry, plenty aware that the cookies are Not Particularly Helpful. 'I stress bake.' "Thankth." Derek doesn't understand how got lucky with an advisor like Jax, he appreciates the down-to-earth honesty. "Right now, I think thee'th got all thee needth, jutht thee'th a bit moody at timeth but I think that cometh with the territory. Cookieth thound great. They thmell great." He dumps the can of soup into the sauce pot and dumps a bit of dried thyme and parsley to give it some extra flavour. "Mom uthed to do the thame." He says in a quite voice, eyes focused on the pot. "Thee would alwayth make blueberry pancaketh after a rough night. Thee wath altho a mutant." Once the broth starts to boil he breaks up the spaghetti noodles into small pieces and throws them in. 'Blueberry's nice.' Jax pauses at the oven, head tipping forward against it. Staying there a long moment before he pulls himself away. 'Is it okay if I ask about her? You don't have to talk about her if you don't want to say just. What happened?' With a shrug of the shoulders, Derek looks over at Jax. "Don't know. About three yearth ago Mom jutht dithappeared. Daithy alwayth thought she ran out on uth but, I don't know. No note, no nothing." He looks down again and frowns, obvious that it's something that troubles him quite a bit. "The hard part, thee wath a good Mom. The Old Man wath never huthband or father of the year, but Mom, thee did her best and it'th hard to believe thee would jutht run out on Daith and I." 'Three years? Disappeared? And she was a mutant?' Now there's a thoughtful look on Jax's face. His fingers drum slowly against the side of his leg. 'I'm sorry. The not-knowing, that's gotta be' There's just a pause, the written text stopping as he collects his thoughts. His fingers curl into a fist at his side, then uncurl. 'Hard. Especially in a world that' But here the words don't just stop but actively blur and then disintigrate, his speech bubble vanishing. He pulls in a breath, peering into the oven again before he continues. 'This might be an odd question but can I ask what her abilities were?' "Yeah, I know, mutanth don't exactly have it eathy. When my powerth tharted to develop I learned quick how to hide 'em. Never meet my Mom'th parenth cauthe of it." Derek gives Jax a faint sort of smile and rubs the back of his head. "Believe or not, thee could generate light. Kinda like you but not ath colourful or..." He motions at where the speech bubbles have been appearing. "ath good." 'It's a useful skill to learn. Unfortunately.' The twist of Jax's smile is a little bit thin. Kind of unhappy. The rub of his hand against the back of his neck is unconscious echo of Derek's motion. His pierced lips form into a silent O at the explanation of Derek's mother's photokinesis, his brows lifting. "/Huh/." That part, aloud. "That's -- /huh." His hand scuffs against the side of his cheek. He shakes his head, opening up the ovens to remove the next trays of cookies, then shut the ovens off once the cookies have been set on the counter. 'What was her name?' "Unfortunate but I didn't need to have another reathon to be thit on at thchool. At leatht here I'll finally be able to figure out how to uthe them, ya know?" Having been more engrossed in the conversation, as it's something he's never really talked about with the exception of with his sister, Derek's completely neglected his soup starts to boil over. "Damnit." He mutters and removes it from the heat, turning off the burner. "Tharah, Tharah Larkin." The similarity in powers might be one of the reasons Derek feels more comfortable opening up to Jax. 'For sure. Learning to hide is often kind of the first step to being safe. Learning to use your powers --' Jax shrugs, starting to spatula the cookies off their baking sheet onto the stacked cooling racks, now. His hand lifts, pressing the backs of his knuckles to his lips when the soup boils over. "Oh! -- Oops." 'Whoops. Gosh. Apologies. Been keeping you talking. Probably meant to actually eat that. Or get it to Daisy.' 'I thould have been paying attention. Anyway, thankth, for lithening. I know you're thick and don't need my worrieth on top of everything elthe tho thankth." Derek smiles and nods. "Both, it'th thill ediable." He cleans up the small mess before splitting up his dinner into two bowls. "I thould probably get going though, hopefully Daith ith thtill awake. Do you mind if I take thome cookieth with me?" The last question asked with a bit of hesitation. 'It ain't no problem. I'm feeling good enough to bake, I'm sure feeling good enough to listen.' Jax smiles at the question, tearing off a pair of paper towels and wrapping up a small package of cookies, folding the paper towels into a neatly tucked packet around them for easy pocketing since Derek's hands are full. "There'll be a --" His nose crinkles as he breaks off, remembering to write the rest, 'Be a bunch of these in the Rec Room later, too. 'Night!' With the cookies now tucked securely in the pocket of his jacket, a bright smile is given to Jax. A visible improvement on Derek's earlier mood. "I hope you feel better Jaxth. Thankth again." He doesn't think he could say thank you enough. "Have a good night and I'm thure Daith will thank you ath well." With one last smile he heads out of the kitchen to see how his little sister is holding up.