ArchivedLogs:Burnout

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Burnout
Dramatis Personae

Jack, Kyinha, Ororo

2016-01-30


"{Summer? It's still winter...}"

Location

<XS> Lake


Bright, bright, bright; the lake glitters wide and expansive here, stretching off into the distance. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, it catches them all. Lapping at the rocky shore, its deep waters are frigid in winter and cool even in summer. A stone pier stretches out a ways into the water, wide and smooth, though often icy in winter.

The water teems with life nevertheless, home to myriad species of fish that provide for ample fishing or just lazy watching on a slow summer day, for those who want to take a boat from the boathouse out to the center of the lake, or perhaps lounge on the pier and try their luck.

It's actually been above freezing all day, bright and balmy as late January days go, despite the snow on the ground. But the sun is gone now, the world plunged into cold and dark as the wind picks up across the water. Not far from the boathouse or the beach, someone is lying prone in the snow. From a distance they look like little more than a heap of clothes (including a turquoise coat some might recongize as Kyinha's). Up closer, the person has dark brown skin (with an unhealthy pallor) and wavy black hair. They're breathing, but not doing a lot else despite their eyes being open and /kind/ of tracking movement.

It looks like a heap of clothes in the snow but who might be the first guess is not there. Jack, sometimes mistaken for a random heap of clothes, has decided to come take a peek down at the fish farm. He may be avoiding the project in general but he was still curious enough to want to at least see it before he went in for the night. Just sneakers, jeans, and a deeper green hoodie, the invisible teen's humming faintly to himself as he heads towards the boathouse. The wind almost blowing his hood off causes him to pause and spot someone in the snow. Squinting, he doesn't register that it is a person at first. But once he does, Jack jumps a little. Frowning to himself, he starts over. "Hey. Are you alright?" he calls as he approaches.

Out enjoying the (relatively) nice night, Ororo has been wandering the school property on one of her usual walks. Bundled in a wool peacoat, she looks incredibly peaceful and at ease, almost missing the pile of clothes. That is until she notices the other pile of clothes hovering over it. Frowning slightly, she diverts off the path and towards the clothing. It takes her a moment to regonize the form she doesn't see very often and, realizing it's Kyinha, she suddenly runs over. "{Kyinha! What happened?}" she asks in Spanish, kneeling down in the snow to get a closer look at her fellow teacher.

Kyinha does stir when addressed, eyes -- bleary and brown, pupils heavily dilated, not a trace of their usual fire -- but does not answer except with a weak, breathy noise like a whimper. One black-gloved hand clutches at the snow beneath it as he tries (and miserably fail) to get up, falling again as the snow gives way beneath the bracing hand. His breathing is slow and shallow, and perhaps most alarmingly of all, he is cool to the touch.

Not recognizing Kyinha when he's not all fired up and not seeing what's wrong at first, Jack isn't in too much of a rush. When he's closer though, the invisible teen jumps. "Oh man, not good," he mutters, not sure what's wrong yet but realizing something is. Dropping down to his knees, he starts reaching for his phone and jumps when he hears someone else approaching. He looks up but before he can address Ororo, Jack looks back down at Kyinha in surprise. When Kyinha falls, Jack reaaches out to try and catch him so he doesn't clonk his head on the snowy ground. "{I just found him like this now, Professor,}"

Ororo looks up to Jack and, as he pulls out his phone, she nods in approval. "{Help me get him out of his wet clothes,}" she says, before turning back towards Kyinha. "{We just need to remove your shirt. The moisture is drawing away body heat.} She speaks it calmly, as if respectfully asking for permission, though she begins removing it right away. Medical emergency trumps permission.

Kyinha's head rests heavily in Jack's arms, and at this point his eyes do begin to track the movement around him. The furrow of his brows suggests that he isn't really /understanding/ what's happening, though. Removing his coat and the bright emerald green sweater beneath it does not prove a particularly easy task, but he isn't /resisting/, either -- just floppy and un-coordinated. When he finally does manage to speak it's either in Nheengatu or no language at all, completely incomprehensible to either of his rescuers.

"{He feels really cold,}" Jack comments softly. He quickly hits the panic button to alert the infirmary and then slips his phone back into his pocket. He has to do a doubletake at Ororo's order but quickly fights back his initial reaction. Emergency means no time to be flustered. He helps carefully, frowning slightly. "{Shouldn't we get it all?} he asks, figuring cold wet clothes are bad all over. "{He can have mine if we need to get him into something dry,}" the invisible teen offers. When Kyinha speaks, Jack looks as confused as empty clothes can. "{What?}"

"{I may, once we get him inside. The...upper body is the important part,}" Ororo responds to Jack's question, ticking her head towards the nearby boathouse as she begins removing her own coat. Once off, she slips it over Kyinha's shoulders, though she frowns slightly as he speaks. "{I don't know...}" she murmurs, draping one of Kyinha's arms over her shoulders. "{Help me carry him to the boathouse,}" she says, her eyes suddenly flashing white. As she speaks, a heat wave takes over the nearby area, the four foot radius around Ororo suddenly rising to roughly sixty fahrenheit.

Beneath his coat and sweater and long-sleeve gray undershirt, Kyinha has a bold tattoo over his heart of a stylized flame in orange and yellow contained inside a blue drop of water. He does not shiver even when his chest is bared to the cold wind -- though that exposure is brief enough, once Ororo warms up the area around them. The snow turns rapidly to slush beneath their feet, making the trip to the boathouse a slippery and unpleasant slog. Kyinha has begun to mutter in Portugese, and then, finally, in (heavily slurred) Spanish, "{Is it summer already?}"

"{Hold on, I can carry him,}" Jack speaks up, concentrating and using his telekinesis to lift Kyinha so Ororo can have free hands and concentrate on the warming. He needs to focus so there's not much conversation from him as they head to the boat house, Jack ready to carry the older mutant wherever Ororo says to. He does take note of the tattoo though, appreciating the art for a moment before quickly refocusing on the task at hand.

Ororo allows Jack to take control of the movement effort, though now on top of keeping the path warm, she also glances back and forth between Jack and Kyinha, looking for any signs of overexhertion or panic from them, respectively. Once inside the boathouse, she helps Jack guide Kyinha to a nearby chair. With walls able to capture and contain her heat, she doesn't need to focus quite as much, allowing her to focus some of her attention on Kyinha again. "{How are you feeling?}" she asks, her voice calm and soothing as she takes his hand gently.

The boathouse of late has been crowded with large fishtanks and their support systems, from filtration to siphoning to heating. The fish fry in them are small -- for now -- but quite numerous. A clipboard hangs from each tank, on which student and faculty volunteers can note when they visited and which tasks they completed. Kyinha doesn't appear to be too much more lucid, eyes still drifting and lolling. He makes a visible attempt to focus on Ororo when she takes his hand (which is quite cold). "{Summer came so fast. I don't feel right.}"

It's hard to tell much about Jack from appearance alone give the nature of his mutation. He's not showing any signs of overexhertion yet though, having improved since he came to the school. When the get Kyinha into a chair, he releases his telekinetic hold and sags a bit. Jack leans against a wall, catching his breath. "{Summer? It's still winter...}" Jack trails off.

Ororo continues to focus her own energy into the temperature, allowing it to slowly rise (careful not to do too much, both to avoid her own overexhertion and Kyinha shock). Correcting him on season's doesn't appear to be too much of a priority. "Just relax," she says, switching to English, a small smile appearing on her face once Kyinha begins making sense again. She glances towards Jack again. "Go into the kitchenette and see if you can find a mug or cup to fill with water, hot if you can."

"{Still winter?}" Kyinha echoes, frowning. Then he sees his own hand, brown skin winter-pale. "Oh. {The fire went out.}" Kind of dully. "So rare now, that this happens." He's just flipping back and forth between English and Spanish now. "{What happened? I don't remember...}"

"Yes, ma'am," Jack switches to English too. He makes his way to the kitchenette and looks around before flipping on the coffee maker. While it heats up, he fills a mug...one shaped like a cartoonish fish...with water from the sink though. "This one's warm but the coffee maker's heating up so we should have hot water soon," he says, careful not to spill anything as he comes back and offers the mug to Ororo.

Ororo smiles in thanks as Jack hands her the mug before holding mug carefully in her hands, cupping the bottom of it. The temperature surrounding them begins to drop a bit though judging by the condensation forming around the mug, it appears it's merely being redirected. Indeed, she's currently concentrating her powers to her hands, creating EXTREMELY hot air currents that surround the mug. It does take some time but eventually, Ororo has heated the water in the mug up to a reasonable temperature, just cool enough to still be drinkable. She hands the mug to Kyinha, taking his hands in her own to ensure he has a firm grip and there's no risk of dropping. "Drink," she says firmly, watching him closely as her eyes begin to shift back to blue.

Kyinha accepts fishmug without question and follows Ororo's instruction with minimal hesitation. He lets out a small yip of surprise when he drinks, though. "Hot. Everything is...hot." He seems more /resigned/ than really alarmed by this. "{Sorry about the scare. I should have felt this coming. Prepared better.}"

Jack jumps slightly surprised by the sudden drop in temperature but he doesn't react to it otherwise, looking back towards the kitchenette for a moment. No little red light yet so attention returns to the two older mutants. "{Are you okay now though, Professor?}" he asks.

Ororo relaxes a bit as Kyinha regains himself. "{Don't worry about us, you just relax and drink the water,}" she says. "{Someone from the infirmary should be arriving soon.} With Kyinha finally stable, she steps away long enough to pull another closer and sit herself down. It's now she finally looks up to Jack. "{Thank you for your help, Jack. It was much appreciated. You're free to go, if you wish. I don't want to keep you from anything.}"

At Jack's question, Kyinha flexes his hands and looks down at his feet (still wrapped in snow boots). He has suddenly started shivering, but through this he replies, "{I think...I will be...thank you.}" He takes a long drink of the hot water. "I'm not...good...like this -- not good...with the cold." Glancing aside at one of the fish tanks, he sighs. "It's going...to be tough...coming out here...to check on these. For a while."

"{It's okay. I'll stay until the infirmary team comes,}" Jack replies, waving an empty sleeve. "{Not keeping me from anything,}" he adds. When he notices Kyinha shivering, Jack pulls his hoodie off and offers it to the older man. He's not wearing another shirt under it so it looks like floating pants are offering the shirt. "{Probably better to leave checking on them to someone else until it warms up.}"