ArchivedLogs:Back at Xavier's

Back at Xavier's
Dramatis Personae Peter, Kai
In Absentia	2013-05-27 Peter returns to Xavier's!
Location <XS> Rec Room - FL2
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. Peter is -- scurrying. Well, he /was/ scurrying; now, he's settled in place -- doing what any teenager who just managed to escape MURDER DEATH FIGHT CAMP, then spent a weekend on a farm with NO TV would be doing the moment they returned to Xavier's: PLAYING THE /CRAP/ out of video games. Peter's doing so /upside down/. His head is on the seat of the couch; his feet are dangling up in the air (socks off; his toes, now chitin-coated, are wiggling high up over the back of it) with his back crooked, the controller cradled against his stomach, and his tongue sticking out as he attempts to /brutalize/ the current records for Mario Kart Wii (RAINBOW ROAD). He's driving -- Dry Bones. In what seems to be a little putter-cycle. Today, Peter's clad in a pair of dark grey dress-slacks, a light-blue collared shirt, and a black tie with grey stripes. The tie might be Shane's idea. Maybe not. Maybe Peter's just trying to be /fashionable/ after three weeks of wearing -- well, next to nothing. Rags and tatters. He's also looking /remarkably/ more healthy than he did when he was first brought back to school. There is the sound of scurrying from the hall, then, and Kai flashes by the door of the Rec Room, glancing in the door as he flies by. A moment later, he returns to the door more slowly, and watches those toes wiggling in the air with a small tilt of his head. He's dressed far less formally than Peter, in a pair of knee-length cargo shorts and a white t-shirt with a navy X over the chest. Like Peter, he's also barefoot, which is nothing /unusual/. Then he disappears again, and that scurrying sound is /faster/, fading away. There's the sound of a door being closed in a hurry that's echoed a few moments later. In another short while, the two doors sound off again. Then the scurrying is a flat-footed thwappy run as Kai returns to the Rec Room, a piece of paper rolled up one hand. He doesn't slow as he approaches the couch, instead catching the back of it in his gut and somersaulting into a mirror of Peter's position before offering the other boy a wide smile. "Hello, Peter!" His soft voice is bright, and hovering on average noise levels. "You are home sooner than I thought!" "Hey, Kai," Peter says, toes /clenching/ in time with his steering; in fact, Peter's whole /body/ seems to move with whatever direction he's currently zooming the little put-put cycle. He's focused -- eyes locked on the machine -- but seems to have no difficulty interacting with the other boy as he arrives, whumping on top of the couch in a similar position to Peter's. "Yeah I was just gone for --" TIGHT TURN NNNRRRGH just-stayed-on-edge. "--the weekend. 'Cuz, the twins--" a flicker of color, just a /hint/, over Peter's face, "--um they needed some time to decompress I guess. Everybody kinda did? It was kind of sudden and out of the blue, uh, sorry you couldn't come--" TURN TURN TURN TURN. "--it was, a farm? Kinda cool. Lots of things to climb on. What's the paper for?" Yes, Peter notices. /Somehow/. Kai watches Peter's face, rather than the game, as the other boy explains, and his bright smile dims just a bit at the reminder. "The twins would not have wanted me to come," he notes simply. "But I am glad if you had a good time." This sounds a bit rehearsed, but it looks genuine enough. Then he /is/ watching the game as he continues. "I lived on a farm, before Foom," he says. "But there was never time for climbing on things. Just working." The paper is held up when it's noticed, and the smile that Kai turns on the other boy is a bit shy. "It is a thing I drew for you," he says, and places it gently on Peter's stomach. "This morning, before I ate." "I dunno," Peter mentions, concerning the twins, eyes not leaving the game. "I mean, I think they're kinda okay with Ivan now? -- and -- y'know, I think -- I mean, I think your situation is -- maybe a /little/ like theirs? Y'know, they almost /ate/ me," Peter adds, and it's so casual, so offhanded, he might as well have just announced that they bought him a /present/. "I think Sebastian prolly doesn't hate you I mean, I think he knows all about losing control. Shane maybe just -- I dunno. I can talk to them. I don't think you have to, /avoid/ them anymore, like I told you to. M'pretty sure they won't -- I /know/ they won't hurt you," Peter says, a little more insistently. When the drawing gets set on Peter's stomach, the game gets paused; Peter's head curls before he reaches up to pluck it up and unfurl it in front of his face. Maybe turning it around so he can peer at it right-side up. Or upside down. Whichever! "Oh? Coollemmesee." Kai's brow furrows and his smile DISAPPEARS when Peter mentions that the twins nearly ate him, and he becomes very, very still. "You...were almost..." He can't seem to parse that thought, and he blinks a few times slowly. His feet roll around from the back of the couch as Kai struggles to his knees, frowning down at Peter with an extremely worried look on his face. Or it might be realization of how grave the situation actually was. "Peter." In odd contrast to Kai's current expression, the picture itself is quite cheery, even colored in with colored pencils. While not a /great/ drawing, it is clearly the interior of the treehouse, with the single window clearly visible, a cartoony sun and a fat little bird seen through it. Inside the treehouse, there is a party going on, attended by a dragon, a bee, and a spider with cricket-like rear legs -- all of whom are sitting down to a sumptuous meal of cookies and drinks in cups marked 'Slerpees'. Peter /peers/ at the picture for a bit, brow rumpling in thought. At /first/, he doesn't seem to notice Kai's sudden tenseness; he's too absorbed in devouring DETAILS from the picture. He comments, off-hand: "D'you think of yourself as a dragon, Kai? The bee's Ivan, right?" He leans forward to peer at the drinks. "Sler--/oh/, slurpees. Right. Y'know we could probably get -- mmn are you allowed off the grounds, in like, West-Chester, y'think? I bet there's a 7-11 th--" It's only then that Peter seems to notice Kai's expression, peeking up over the drawing. Eyebrows lift, raising up -- then descend down. "Oh," he says, and then he grins a little crookedly. "Uh. Yeah. I guess that sounds. Really bad, doesn't it? It isn't -- I mean. Maybe I shouldn't even be telling people about -- I -- they aren't dangerous. I mean, okay, /yeah/ they're dangerous but --" Peter thinks for a moment. The grin fades into something more neutral, more tense. "Basically the guards running the place I was at starved the twins and tried to make them eat me. Didn't work. Twins stopped themselves." He leaves out the scariest bits, figuring that's scary /enough/. "Anyway, s'okay, I got better." "I may go into the town with a teacher," is the distracted answer to Peter's question, but Kai's expression doesn't change; it's still one of deep concern. "Peter. You were almost dead." His voice sounds strained, for a moment, and he flaps his hands helplessly. "You are my good friend. It would have made me very unhappy if that had happened. And Ivan, as well." He leans forward, his brow furrowed, to look the older boy in the eyes. Yellow flickers around the edges of his irises for just a moment, then fades. "You are important." He falls silent then, chewing at his bottom lip and rubbing a finger along his scarred chin. "It was a good thing that you were found." That comes with an awkward pat to Peter's stomach. "I am very glad of it." "Aw man I mean," the picture Peter's holding is carefully ferreted to the side, neatly sat atop of the couch's arm -- his other hand moves to scratch behind his head, still upside down. "I wasn't -- I was just chewed up a little," Peter adds, sheepishly. His skin-tone flushes from metallic blue to swirling violet, particularly as Kai pats his belly. "Yeah, I'm -- pretty glad of it too, Kai," Peter says, grinning. Pearl teeth against black chitin. "/Man/ I'm glad you weren't there. 'Cuz, uh, first off 'cuz it was a pretty /terrible/ place to be, but second off 'cuz I'm pretty nobody there could have taken /you/ in a fight." He reaches, then, slinging that hand out from behind his head to give Kai a hair-ruffle! RUFFLE, RUFFLE. "Maybe we can get a teacher to take you me and Ivan out for slurpees or something. In West-Chester? City's a bit far -- uh, I'm probably. Not gonna -- go to the city much, for a while." Now, /strong/ violet. "If they had called on Foom, you would have been free a lot sooner," Kai says with a grim little set of his mouth. "It is hard to contain him, when he is angry. And he would have been /very/ angry." His hand doesn't move from Peter's stomach, resting lightly there as he watches the other boy blush, noting the swirl of color with a look of fascination. "I like your new color," he offers. "It is very pretty when it swirls like that." He has his own blush when his hair is ruffled, and he pushes into it just a bit. "So you will be staying around the school during the summer?" he asks, a hopeful upward tick of his eyebrows. "Oh I guess, but like -- you don't /control/ Foom right? I mean -- I dunno how it works. Hm? Y'know," Peter replies to Kai's question by crumpling his eyebrows together and /peering/ at the still-frozen video game, "I dunno. Which is probably bad, I mean I /should/ have made that decision a while ago -- I guess I just -- with getting kidnapped and everything? I didn't even stop to think ab... I think I'll have to," he adds, looking -- reluctant, now. "Oh, man, yeah I'm gonna have to. I have, a whole /month/ to make up, oh crap." Both hands proceed to /mop/ at his face. Mop, mop, mop. "Yeeeeeah, I'll be taking summer courses. Oh, uh. And yeah, thanks for -- noticing. The color, I mean." Violet continues to swirl as Peter peeks out from between his fingers. "Oh, no. I do not control Foom," Kai says, his eyes wide. "When he is around, I am very far away, though I can see and hear everything. It is very..." he shivers just a bit. "It is not very pleasant." He watches Peter work through the answer to his question with a small tilt of his head. "This is happy news for me to hear," he says earnestly. "Not that you will have to make up school work. But I was afraid I would not have you or Ivan to talk to all summer, and it was making me very sad. But now I do not have to be sad, because /you/ will be here." He smiles widely, and offers a return blush at Peter's peeking eyes. "It is very noticeable," he says, his brow knitting just a bit. "But not in a way that is displeasing. Is it uncomfortable?" "Why wouldn't you have Ivan to talk to?" Peter asks, off-handedly, and -- perhaps it comes off as rude, but Peter proceeds to go right back to playing his video-game! He doesn't /seem/ to have any trouble keeping up with a conversation with Kai /and/ cutting corners on Rainbow Road simultaneously, though. "Isn't he taking -- I mean, what else would he /do/ here, just sit around on his butt all day?" TURN TURN TURN. "And man, that sucks about Foom. I think with -- I mean, I don't actually /know/ much about it, but for the twins, it's more like -- they just kinda lose control? When they're really hungry. I think they kinda just go all -- uh, feral? So maybe not the same thing." At the mention of Peter's carapace, well -- the violet was fading back to blue, but the colors resurge just a bit, persisting. "...no it's not -- uncomfortable. Kinda /neat/ actually. All smooth and stuff and it kinda, protects me? Just a little. From scrapes and stuff. Like leather." Kai STARES at Peter for a long moment when he appears clueless to the Ivan Situation(tm). He's clearly not used to having inside information. "Peter." He sounds concerned, again, and he frowns. "Ivan will be in /Russia/." He says this slowly, as if it is something that the other boy should know. "He has asked me to care for his bugs while he is away, so they will be healthy." His tone is gentler, now, and there's more tummy patting. "It is a long time, but we will have each other to talk to, and there is always talking on the computer. There is a thing which allows you to do this. With cameras." Just in case Peter didn't know. But Kai sounds very informed on the matter. As far as he's informed on anything. "It is called Spike." See? At the comparison, he wrinkles his nose. "It is not much the same with Foom," the younger boy states. "He is very...feral, but he is very much in control of what he does. Unless there is the medicine." His face twists a bit in memory, and he shudders. "It is very bad medicine." His hand leaves Peter's stomach when the other boy describes his carapace, and he pokes lightly at the chitin just above Peter's collarbone. "It is a very handy thing to have, if it protects you," he says. "I like it." "Oh -- oh, wait, /what/?" Peter says, blinking -- his toes snap up, and -- FWOOM. His little putter-bike flies off the edge of Rainbow Road once Kai informs Peter that IVAN will be leaving for RUSSIA. "/Russia/ he's going back to--" EYEBROWS CRUMPLE. Very deeply. "...oh, man. Yeah I guess that -- makes sense, for like -- summer, I know he's got like, /tons/ of siblings he talks to 'em sometimes he probably misses them I just didn't know he was... aw, man, and I missed a whole /month/ with him," Peter says, /glaring/ at the game screen as if this was the video game's fault. "I missed a whole frigging /month/ with Ivan to do stuff before he--pfuh." SIGH. Peter'll get over it. "Mmf yeah I mean it's just for the summer /anyway/, right?" The game gets switched off; Peter proceeds to /stretch/ his toes high over his head, arms spearing out past his head toward the screen. Streeeeeetch. "'Sides he's not like leaving /tomorrow/ or anything, we've still got time to do awesome stuff. Before he leaves. Medicine?" Peter says, yawning. Collar-bone poke is replied to with blink. Blink-blink. Peter's chitin is smooth, hard, and flexible -- like galvanized rubber -- but also warm. "Yeah I'm pretty fond of it too, I guess. Freaked me out when I first got it, but. S'pretty helpful." "It was very hard for me to hear, as well," Kai says sympathetically. "It did not even occur to me that he would go back. I will miss him, but it is only for two months." He lifts his eyebrows encouragingly. "And as you say, there is plenty of times to do things before he leaves. And when he returns." His eyes crinkle, and he pokes that spot above the collarbone again gently. "Besides, we will be in /school/," he teases. "Ivan would have to sit around on his butt all day." He's /totally/ using Peter's own words against him, and he seems pleased to be this clever. Then his hand withdraws, slowly. "It did not look good as a single place on your leg," he says sincerely. "But all over you it looks quite ha-handsome." "Oh yeah two months is, I mean -- it'll be /fine/. He'll probably go off and have awesome Russian adventures or something," Peter decides. "And I'll send him emails and stuff and updates on all the awesome crap /I'll/ be doing. Huh, I wonder if he'll bring back any, like, Russian b--wait, ohcrap. Who's gonna feed all of his--" Peter pauses, /thinking/. Eyebrows crumpling together as he ferrets this idea out. "Man I don't even know what half of those things /eat/..." At the next collarbone poke, Peter -- /rolls/ forward, off the couch -- legs swinging down as he just /flips/, landing with a whump on his feet -- now facing Kai. Then, he turns, and plops back on the couch besides him. "Thanks," he says, scratching the back of his head with an unsure grin. "I mean, everybody's -- pretty much /everybody/ so far says it looks awesome. Which has made me feel a lot less -- nervous? About it, I guess." Kai looks confused for a moment when Peter mentions Ivan's bugs, and his brow knits. "I am taking care of Ivan's bugs," he says. "He asked me before you went with Mister Jackson. It is when he told me about Russia." He shifts his weight so that he can fold his legs up tailor-fashion, and rests his elbows on his knees. "He has written down instructions for me, so I do not get it wrong." He smiles, then. "I will learn how to send emails, too, so I can write him about what we are doing." This is a Solemn Vow. He tilts his head at Peter's comments on his feelings about his new look, and juts his lower lip out, a bit. "Peter. You go to a school with two boys who are like sharks, a boy who turns into a dragon, a boy with many tentacles, a girl who looks like a fairy, and Rasa, who is changing all the time. Did you think that we would like you any less because of the way you look?" His lower lip is sucked in, so he can press it to his upper lip thoughtfully. "I do not know much about what is regular, in this country, but the television and books have told me that those who care about you do not care about such things." "Ooho... Oh! Okay," Peter says, nodding as Kai informs him about -- well, BUG CARE. "That's good, 'cuz -- well man I dunno if I could remember -- I'd have to, like, set up a /schedule/ or something -- I mean, I could help you too, if you need help with that. And the email thing. Heck, we can do -- like, send videos and stuff. Ivan does, to his folks and siblings." At the mention of all the /other/ students here at school, Peter cocks a little grin, then shrugs. "Yeah, I know... things'll be okay /here/. People are really cool here about stuff. And it's, helped that -- I guess, most of the people I've encountered since going all chitiny -- are /mutants/, y'know? But, uh," he gestures toward a nearby window. "...I'm gonna be going out /there/ soon. And, yeah, everybody's cool /here/ but not everybody's cool /there/ and, um. I'm really not used to that. I'm kinda used to -- not being noticed." Peter /peers/ at the window, now. "...so I'm just gonna, uh, take it slow, I guess." Kai smiles, and nods. "We can take care of them together," he agrees. "It will be the summer project of the Bug Club. I have seen where other clubs do things during the summer. Perhaps we can go in the forest, and find him other bugs to keep." He lifts his eyebrows. "That would be a lot of fun. We could make videos of doing that, so it will be like he was there when he watches them." He rocks a bit, clearly pleased with this new idea of keeping Ivan around when he's not. He tilts his head sympathetically when Peter mentions the troubles ahead, and leans back to gaze at the window, as well. "I do not know much about out there," he admits. "Other than what I see on television. But I have seen the news, and what people say about us. I am sorry that you will have to face that." He lifts his eyebrows. "Perhaps I will be allowed to go with you. You can teach me about the world, and I can help you to feel strong when you are noticed." Peter reclines a moment on the couch, as if contemplating this possibility -- both gathering more bugs for Ivan and taking Kai about the city to, well. Teach him about the world. "...s'probably be easier for Ivan to gather bugs, really. But, hey, we could /try/," Peter agrees. "I don't -- I mean, I know a /little/ bit about them, I guess. More than most people? I study them a lot, cuz." A finger descends to tap his wrist. "Might be a nice surprise, for him to come back and find a bunch of bugs waiting for him," Peter agrees. "...I don't actually know a lot /about/ the world, you know," Peter informs Kai. "But I'd be fine taking you around the city, I guess. I dunno if that'd be /wise/ I mean, without a teacher or somebody to -- I don't even know what to expect, I guess? I know the twins get it bad. I know Rasa gets it bad. I don't know what I'm gonna get, and I guess I'm just worried if someone comes with..." Peter's mouth twists into a straight little line as he thinks about it. "...I guess it'll be fine, one way or another." "He will be happy that we thought to do it," Kai says with a smile. "And there are many trees for you to climb out there, too. You can do jumps and things for him to watch." Kai says this as if watching Peter jump around is high entertainment. Maybe it is. Cirque de Araignee. Peter's worried modesty gets a hand stretched out to pat his knee gently twice. "It will be all right," he says. "There will be a teacher, if I am there, and they would not let anything bad happen to us. And if you are feeling worried or scared, you just have to say a thing to me, and I will help you." He nods, certain in the fact that he can offer assistance, even holding up a thin fist. Of course, the thumb is /inside/ the curl of fingers, but it's held very determinedly. "It is what a person should do for their good friend."