Logs:What? Yeah, sure, I'm good / sounds like you've had it rough, though / thank god that's not me

What? Yeah, sure, I'm good / sounds like you've had it rough, though / thank god that's not me
Shinder, Jason. "How I Am". 10-11.
Dramatis Personae AJ, Natsumi	2024-05-16 "I totally roughed it foe three weeks before I accidentally started that wildfire that was all over the news."
Location <XAV> Rec Room - Xs Second Floor
School this may be, but life for Xavier's students certainly isn't all studying. Outside classes, this is a popular spot to find students in their downtime. An enormous tribute to slacking off, this room is a wealth of fun and relaxation. Comfortable armchairs, couches, and beanbags offer plentiful seating scattered throughout the room, and the cushioned windowseats by the high windows offer a cozy nook to curl up and look out on the grounds. The room is often filled with the noises of gaming -- whether it comes from the big-screen television (tall racks of DVDs beside it, if nothing can be found on the multitude of cable channels), tricked out with consoles from retro to the latest releases, or the less electronic clatter and thump of the pool table, air hockey, or foosball. For those a little more subdued in their gaming, the cabinets hold stacks and stacks of board and card games, ranging as classic as chess and go to as esoteric as Dixit, Catan, and Gloom. More days than not, there's some variety of snacks to be found on a table beside the gaming cabinet -- quite often in the form of fresh-baked desserts. AJ is sitting in one of those exact window seats - it's warm so tge girl is dressed in a tank top along with a pair of sweatpants instead of her uniform. AJ has her estbuds in, the purple wires twisting and coiling up around the notebook she's holding. But AJ isn't doing homework; she's busy chicken scratching out lyrics, doggedly following a melody synced with fslf-formed words in her head. The rec room's usual buzz has faded into a white noise hum. She knows there's someone new joining them, it happens once a week. It's another Promethean ex-labrat like her and that's all she knows and bothers to know. The rec room door opens and Natsumi trots inside. She's been at the school for a couple weeks now, but pretty absorbed between learning the ropes in the new environment, sorting out her new class load, spending a reasonable amount of time at the protests downtown and spending considerably more time trying to befriend enough Students With Money to help replenish her diminshed wardrobe. Currently she's dressed brightly, a far cry from the drab scrubs that were standard attire within Prometheus. She's got on a black and rainbow-striped knee length dress paired with sturdy-chunky gold boots, bright mismatched earrings and several colorful bracelets around her wrists, hair worn loose today though a very large hibiscus ornament is pinned to clip it just slightly out of her face. She was beelining toward AJ but makes a small detour to the snacks table to pluck up a cupcake (blueberry-lemon) before she continues on toward the window seat. "AJ? Oh wow it really is you!" She's waving, bright, before swirling her fingertip through the lemon icing to lick it off. "Have you been here this whole time, things have been so crazy since getting here." AJ's head shoots up, her brown eyes widening as her mouth falls open. Her pen and notebook fall slack in her hands and slackenbefore she's leapt to her feet. Everyone there startled when the girl shrieked "Natsumi!!" and all but bolts the short distance between the two and hugs - yes, hugs! - the girl, bouncing in place and squeals in glee! Everyone stares, frankly shocked that the girl could make noise, hug or be loud at all! Most knew her as the quiet, withdrawn type that was often napping in class or busy swimming and hardly ever spoke to other students. Yet here she was polling back in her grasp and exclaimed, "We survived The Panic Room, fuck yeah!!" Natsumi's eyes flare open wide, her shoulders going very tense at the abrupt hug. It takes a moment before she relaxes, lifting her free hand for a careful pat, pat at the other girl's back. The cupcake has gotten kind of squished in her other hand, lemon icing and blueberry compote filling oozing onto her hands. She's put on a bright smile when she takes a (big) step back, taking a few careful breaths as she licks her stickied fingers clean. "Oh yeah! I guess we did. Did they..." This question trails off but only very briefly, switched instead to, "Have you been here long? I just got here like. Right after Freaktown." AJ chuckles. "Only like, you know, a year. They picked me up three months after The Panic Room boxed me up and dumped me out in like, nowhere feeakin' Rhode Island! Oh, and without any of my stuff too! Please tell me they had sone decency with you!" "Oh, wow, you've been here all year? Have you been liking it?" Natsumi rocks a step farther back, licking at the cupcake icing again. She wiggles the wrapper carefully to disentangle it from where it's gotten smooshed into the moist crumb of the cake. "Um, yeah!" She sounds bright. "I mean, not the shitfucks at the lab, I hitched a ride with that super preachy orderly who always was trying to make us find Jesus? She dropped me off in what passes for the nearest town, like, five hicks, one stoplight and no buses. But I um," Her tongue is swiping absently at her lips. "Found people to crash with here and there, you know?" "It's pretty solid here! I've just been a little, you know, since I got dumped." AJ goes to snatch a cupcake herself, immediately beginning to lick the Icing off of the top along with the blueberry compote. Most have turned back to what they were doing, but sone still stare in shock as AJ nods along; "Oh yeah, Harrison! Fuck that lady! She went all "your mom is probably in hell" right before Forbes, that annoying one who tried to act like our dadI took me! I don't regret kicking them in the shin all of those times!. Remember hen I got her to say tg lord'sname in vain out loud when s he dumped coffee on himself?" "And ugh, so glad you did! I totally roughed it foe three weeks before I accidentally started that wildfire that was all over the news." "Three whole weeks?" Natsumi's eyebrows hike up, and a moment later she gives an exaggerated wince of sympathy. "That sounds really rough." She's drifting a little further away, moving toward the window seat AJ had vacated. She doesn't sit, though; leans a shoulder up against the wall and looks out at the mansion grounds beyond. "I'm glad you landed here. It sounded a little sketch when the Mongrels were like, oh, a school for mutants? Like I've already done the "we're going to lock up a bunch of mutant kids" thing, you know? But so far it hasn't been at all like, well. You know." "Yeah ... when I first got here I was way more shut down," AJ explains as she takes her seat again, now sitting far more casually and comfortably. "They tried to put me into therapy but I kept like hiding or leaving, same with my mentor. When he tried to be friendly I'd just snub him and run off. I feel bad for the staff, I just couldn't tell them what I've been through. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything." AJ pauses and the corners of her mouth thin. "Did you hear from Molly or Frankie at all? Unholy Moley took 'em and I've been nervous for them ever since ..." "Couldn't tell them?" Natsumi tilts her head to one side, a little bit puzzled. "I'm pretty sure plenty of them came from -- I mean obviously Mr. Jax came out of there but he's definitely not the only one, right? And there's so many other lab kids here I doubt you could, like, scare them." She's bouncing lightly up onto her toes, shooting AJ a quick sidelong glance but then looking back to the window. "Oh! Molly's back in -- I think it's South Carolina? -- with her parents, anyway, oh are you on the Discord? There's one like, just for lab kids, it's a lot but it's good. Especially if you're looking for anyone, Roscoe..." But here she's trailing off, brows pinching for a moment. "Well probably if people can be found they can help find 'em in there." "I've heard of it. I think Leondias mentioned something about it ... he's the cute guy with the scruff. But don't tell him I said he was cute! He'd never go out with me!" AJ took a huge bite of her cupcake, and watches her. "Is your brain still as windy as mine is?" "Leonidas?" For just a moment Natsumi looks very skeptical of this assessment of Leonidas's looks, but she doesn't argue the point. She takes another nibble of her cupcake and turns aside from the window to squint at AJ. "Windy? Umm I'm not sure about windy. Mostly it's just been like, woah, choosing classes, the protests, so many new people to meet, I've been feeling totally ADHD trying to remember everything, you know? But some of the kids here have been super helpful, I ran into a friend from Lassiter like, day one, and my roommate --" She makes a quick reconsideration: "One of my roommates is super cool." "Ugh I meant wonky! Blah, my brain il, you know how it is Only!" AJ blew a raspberry and laughed with her. "And only one? Who's butt do I gotta kick for ya?" AJ made a crack knuckles motion, half-serioys about defending the girl who kept her sane in Versia when so many hadn't been so lucky ... "Oh no-no-no no butt kicking necessary," Natsumi replies with a quick laugh. "It wouldn't work anyway, my other roommate has this whole mind-control thing, it's super creepy. You can't miss her, she's the girl who looks really snakey. Not the boy who looks really snakey, that's her brother and he's nice, but," Natsumi is leaning in a little closer to confide this in a low voice to AJ: "my roommate mind control her brother and her brother's roommate into attacking the Headmaster. I think it's best to just -- oh!" She bounces slightly in place and pats at her dress before digging excitedly into a pocket and pulling out a clear new pair of bright orange earplugs. "If you put these in she can't mind control you though. Might be good to have just in case, you know? After the labs..." Her mouth twists slightly to one side. "Well, if nobody ever messes with my brain again it'll be soon enough. You should keep yourself safe." She's offering the earplugs out to AJ on a palm. AJ shudders. "I've seen her around. She stares at me a lot. Somebody said that there's a tumor she finds me cute but whether she means that romantically or platonically or sinister-ly I know zip about! And I don't wanna know, I still get the dreams and the feelings of doom. So yeah." AJ took them with a sigh of relief. "Thanks Natsumi. You always look out for me, I owe you so many saves still!" "She's dating that really hippie Chinese guy -- I think he's a senior?" Natsumi doesn't sound too sure. "Anyway she's probably straight buuut seems kind of dangerous for him, you know?" Natsumi is shrugging a shoulder and taking another bite of her cupcake. "You don't owe me anything. We gotta look out for each other, right? Anyway I have a pile of homework to finish but I'll see you around, right?" "I swear if she comes near me I'm throwing hands. They didn't call me Bio-Hazard in there for nothing! Mess with me, you get burnt! But anyway," QJ took a bite of hers, "What room number are you? Next time someone makes a Dominoes run I'll come grab you! There's a convenience store next door!" "I don't know, there's a lot of people with real scary powers in here," Natsumi is hedging a little uncertainly, though she is still kind of laughing at AJ's offer of Throwing Hands. "Juuuust make sure to put the earplugs in first if you try to pick fights with her I'm serious about the mind control." She's shaking her head as she starts to head off. "-- I don't spent that much time in my room anyway. Mind control roommate, remember? But everyone knows everyone here, I'm sure I won't be hard to find. See you!" "I'm serious about wearing them, don't worry!" AJ told her. As she left, a happy smile graced her face as AJ picked up her stuff, settling back into her seat. Somehow the manor fekt safer now that her best friend was there ...