ArchivedLogs:Ice Cream Break

Ice Cream Break
Dramatis Personae Ducky, Faelan, Kai
In Absentia	2013-07-09 Ice cream is nice.
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. Classes are out for the day, and while it is too swampy-hot outside to do anything, there is plenty to distract within the mansion's air-conditioned walls. Those students not engaged in homework or their summer projects can be heard throughout the building, talking and laughing and (in the case of the Rec Room and an impromptu Mario Kart tournament) shouting. A few brave souls have ventured out of the building, and they can be seen moving sluggishly through the gardens and across the back lawn. One figure crossing the lawn is Kai, dressed in cargo shorts and a white t-shirt with a blue X across the chest. Barefoot and wearing gloves, he carries a sprayer bottle and a beekeeper's hat in through the back door, piling everything neatly before he enters the kitchen, beelining for the refrigerator and the contents within. A few minutes later, and anyone entering will find the small Korean teenager tucked up at the island on a stool with a pint of Chunky Monkey and a spoon regarding the ice cream with a weary sort of smile. Like he's seeing an old friend. Grumbling about stupid humidity and warmth, Faelan is wearing a pair of black cargo shorts and a grey teeshirt in hopes of not melting when he has to step outside the building. Making his way into the kitchen, he pauses on the marble floor, glancing to see Kai there. "Hey there, looks like you have a better idea there than what I was planning. I just wanted water." Giving the younger boy one of his rare smiles, he heads to the freezer, opening the door and just letting the cold air blast him a moment as he rummages out one of the giant tubs of vanilla. He does however scoop it into a bowl before shoving it into his mouth. "Ahhh cold." Ducky has finished up with her classes, and at least a good portion of her homework at this point in the evening, the teen feels that she deserves at least /some/ reward for her hard work. And, apparently great minds think alike, as the young bird-brained girl is heading for the kitchen, intent on getting some variety of an icy treat to stave off the heat. She makes her way in from accross the grounds, her short mousy hair a sweaty mop plastered to her head from the humidity and sweat, the fitted gray t-shirt she wears darkened with sweat in several places beneath her black hooded vest. A pair of men's cargo shorts in khaki, a pair of bright yellow flip flops and a matching backpack complete the look, although she is without the usual companion pigeon as she enters the kitchen, blinking as her eyes adjust to the change in lighting. Grinning as she sees Kai and Faelan, Ducky offers a wave before heading right for the freezer, rummaging around for a few minutes longer than she really needs to before pulling a fruit popsicle in a paper wrapper from a box in the freezer. She remains silent as she unwraps her treat - apparently red flavor - and grabs a seat at the island. Kai looks up as the grumbling Faelan appears, and offers a wider version of his earlier smile. "Hello, Faelan," he says, and nods at his ice cream. "I got hot when I was out spraying the bees," he says. "And this is my favorite ice cream." When Ducky joins them, his smile brightens just a touch more. "Hello, Ducky! Have you had this ice cream before?" He tilts the carton helpfully so she can read the label. "I was telling Faelan that it is very good. It tastes like banana, with chocolate in it; not monkeys like one would think." Having touted the merits of the confection, he proceeds to wedge his spoon into it, falling silent for a moment as he finally gets a first taste. "I have had it before. It kinda reminds me of a banana split alittle. Though, they actually sell banana split ice cream, so I guess thats probably more like it." Faelan nods in between spoonfuls of his plain ole vanilla. "Are you taking care of the bees while Ivan is visiting family then? I am sure he will appreciate the help." He offers another smile, and sits in one of the stools at the island. "And I think I am ready for the fall again, I don't like having to wear shorts just not to melt." Ducky has snapped the two sticked popsicle into the two sides, and already has one of them happily in her mouth, staining her lips red as she eats it. She squints at the label on Kai's ice cream, grinning, taking the popsicle out of her mouth to talk, "Yeah - I've had it. 'sprobably a good thing it doesn't taste like monkeys. Meat flavored ice cream would be kinda odd tasting, I think. Basically would be easier to just put a steak on a stick and freeze it. " She tilts her head and wrinkles her nose at the idea, "Anyway, I like the Cherry Garcia a lot, too. It's like a giant chocolate covered cherry, only it's frozen and stuff. And there's little sugary cherries all through it." She nods, glancing at the freezer again and wondering if the magic ice box contained said variety of ice cream. "Yeah - it's kinda miserably hot out right now. Even the birds don't want to talk, it's that hot," she adds with a pout. Kai wrinkles his nose, and tips his head at the explanations. "What are those things?" he asks, licking his spoon clean slowly before he wedges out another bite. "A chocolate-covered cherry and a banana split? Are they like a sundae? I have read those are very good." He nods solemnly, putting the spoon in his mouth and nodding at Faelan's question. Pulling the spoon back out of his mouth (clean, thankfully), he swallows before answering. "Ivan asked me if I would take care of his bugs before he left," he acknowledges. "He gave me instructions, so that I would not make a mistake." He frowns at the comments on the heat, and he twists in his seat to look at Faelan's shorts critically. "Do you not like to wear shorts?" "A banana split is a sundae where you have three scoops of different flavored ice cream, a banana cut in half on either side of it, with whip cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, nuts, and a cherry on top. A chocolate covered cherry is candy." Faelan gives a nod as he pedagogues to Kai. "And I don't like wearing shorts and short sleeves in case I end up out in the forest. Sticker bushes and poison ivy are bad stuff, so the more covered you are, the less you have to worry." He pushes his ice cream around in the bowl abit frowning at it. "So the summer is a bad time of year for me to get lost. The winter is worse, but at least I'm already wearing warm things for it." Ducky nods, having been trying to quickly eat her popsicle before it melted, but sort of failing at that, even in the air conditioned kitchen, trying to lick the escaping sugar syrup from the bottom. "What Faelan said. Chocolate covered cherries are kinda little chocolate cups that then have cherries in a sugary syrup type stuff, which is then capped off with more chocolate," she holds up her free hand, miming a little piece of chocolate, the other hand shoving the icy back into her mouth for a moment as it started melting more. Scratching a decidedly red looking patch on her lower leg with her opposite foot, Ducky looks sheepishly at Faelan, "Yeah. Shorts and the woods are kinda a bad thing. 'm not supposed to wander into the woods with shorts on, but that's where the birds are. Birds, and also poison ivy." Kai nods at the description of the foods, and he smiles. "Those sound very good. I will have to try them." His Chunky Monkey seems enough for now, though, and he makes good progress on it as he listens. "I do not go into the woods," he admits. "Not anymore. It is too dangerous, and poijeun aibi is not fun at all." He nods at Ducky's leg, and indicates it with a spoon. "When I have gotten it before, it made awful blisters come up on my skin." He holds his foot out to inspect it, wiggling his toes. "I could not walk for many days." More ice cream is consumed before he has a question for Ducky. "You are not able to call the birds to come to you?" he wonders. "Ivan can bring the bugs to where he is." "The woods near school aren't as dangerous. Well, sometimes other students are experimenting out there, and other students can sometimes be somewhat irresponsible, so it can be a little dangerous I guess." Faelan gives a nod and drinks the soupy vanilla goo from the bottom of the bowl. "Yeah, poison ivy and bug bites and all the other things aren't really very fun. But you can avoid them, if you dress properly at least." He looks to Ducky, curious as well for Kai's question to be answered. Nodding, Ducky continues scratching at the poison ivy on her leg with the bottom of her flip flop, "I thankfully had shoes on, at least, so it's just on my leg. Which is good. At least. And yeah - the woods aren't that bad, as long as you know where to walk and stuff. And know what plants not to touch." Says the girl with poison ivy. So full of wisdom this one. The question about being able to call the birds to her gets a slightly fidgetty response, and she opens her mouth to answer, instead nomming on the last bit of her popsicle rather than answer. She does eventually answer, ruffling a hand through her hair, "Um, in short, no. I... well, I don't really control the birds. So I can call to them, and /ask/ them to come to me, but I can't just summon them." She frowns a bit at this, thinking, "They tend to sort of congregate around me, anyway. If I'm outside for a while, I'll actually get a flock following me around. But it's not a conscious effort - it's kinda a byproduct that I apparently think in birdspeak. Noisily." Kai continues to nom on his ice cream, making oddly short work of it -- it's already half gone! He nods solemnly at the explanation, and licks at his spoon. "If they will come to you anyway, why do you go into the woods?" He swivels his head to regard the girl. "Are there shy birds, like there are shy people? Who do not go far from their home?" He waves his spoon. "I saw a television show on people who stay inside all the time. They seemed very scared." He frowns into his container, as if the progress is a bit dismaying. "Not that I could put blame on them for it." "New York is a very dangerous place. I think its because of there being so many people. Statistically more likely to have bad ones when there are so many." Faelan gives a nod, probably having made up the statistic on the spot. "Maybe small towns are safer, or remote science outposts." He frowns and shakes his head, looking back towards the freezer. "Though the school is pretty safe at least." "New York isn't that bad. I mean, well, ok, it /wasn't/ that bad, when I came here. There were nice people, and Melinda was helpful. And, well, ok, no, there were people vanishing off the streets even then, and scary people on rooftops who were mean to pigeons," Ducky rambles on for a bit, starting out with a cheery grin, but as she talks, her expression becomes more worried, ending in a bit of a frown. "Ok. New York is kinda scary in retrospect," she mumbles, idly licking at the second half of her popsicle, "School is mostly safe. Sorta wondering about the town nearby, though. Has it always been that... odd?" She's directing the question at Faelan, figuring he's been here the longest, "I mean, there was an acid barfing bird, and then the creepy sand thing. Is this just kinda, well, /normal/ around here?" Kai bobs his head in quiet agreement. "New York is very dangerous," he says. "That is where Peter is always getting hurt. And kidnapped." His eyes widen, briefly, as a thought occurs to him. "But we were almost kidnapped, so maybe it is just the world in general that is dangerous." Ducky's question pops his eyebrows, and he turns a similarly questioning look on Faelan. The man in the know. "It was not so bad before. I didn't make many trips there, but I do not remember any giant acid birds or kidnappers there in the nearby town before." Faelan thinks, and shakes his head. "I never had problems when I accidentally ended up there before. Just made a call and went back home and there wasn't much worries." Sighing he pokes his spoon around the empty bowl as he looks to the others. "I think everything is more dangerous now than it was before. The news is always horrible now, people keep dying and places keep getting burnt down. But here is safe at least. Nobody would come here." Ducky nods solemnly, "Maybe it was just the carnival? I mean, I heard they left town pretty fast after, um, you kinda, y'know." She gestures with her hands, indicating something vanishing, "Poof'd. The sand wall dude thing. And the animal abductions started around the same time as the carnival was coming into town I think. So maybe it'll be safe to go back again soonish, maybe." Ducky grins, stacking her finished popsicle sticks together and then looking at her fingers that are stained sort of red from the melty icy treat. "I kinda try not to watch the news. It's all sorta messed up now, everywhere. And they're trying to register people now? I kinda wonder how that'll work, with all of us here. Will we just kinda, um, ignore it?" she tilts her head to the side curiously, the movement decidedly birdlike. Kai wrinkles his nose. "The news is very bad to watch," he says. "I try to watch it at least once a day, but it is very hard to see how angry people are, and the terrible things that are happening in the world." He shakes his head, and digs in his ice cream some more. "If that is what a carnival is like, then I am glad I did not go," he says. "It seems like a very chancey thing, to attend one." He looks up at the ceiling, as if locating someone on another floor. "It was odd that they thought Sophie would know them," he says to no one in particular, and then he's back in the conversation again. "I do not know why they want to register us," he says with a thoughtful expression. "Will it make mutants less dangerous, somehow?" "Sophie and I had went with Professor Wagner, so maybe something happened to her when we were leaving? Though he was the one who teleported us out from the magician's tent." Faelan thinks abit at that, then shakes his head. "They want to register us like guns. So they know who is dangerous and who isn't dangerous. So if we find a new place to live, the people around would know we are mutants so they can hate us ahead of time." Faelan frowns and looks a bit depressed at that. "I wont let them register me. I can run and hide if they try. Its not like they could follow me, or find me. Only Professor Xavier could do that before." Ducky wrinkles her nose, tilting her head in confusion, "I don't think I'd met Sophie before the other day. So... she doesn't normally hang out with carnival type people? It's possible that something funky happened. I mean," she shrugs slightly, "She should probably talk to the Professor about that, since he's kinda good with finding that sorta stuff out, I guess." She nods in agreement with Faelan, "It's the government trying to track people like us. They say nothing bad will come of it, but it's a way for them to find out what people can do, and who lives where. They want to know about your powers, and your mutations, and all that stuff." She pulls her feet up to rest on the topmost rung of the stool, perching in an almost birdlike fashion, "I don't want to register. If I register, my parents can find me. I don't want them to find me." "Sophie is very nice," Kai offers helpfully to Ducky. "She is a good friend to have. She taught me how to use the email on my computer." All sterling qualities, to be sure. "But she has never seemed like she would enjoy being around those kind of people. She was as scared as the rest of us, when the man started turning into sand." He nods and stirs at his rapidly-melting ice cream. "I am sure the Professor will speak to her," he says confidently. "He is good about such things." The information on Registration gets a small laugh, and the boy shakes his head. "I would like to see them make Foom register," he says in a darkly humored tone. "I think they would be very sorry to fire /that/ gun." He sits up, though, and furrows his brow. "I do not think I am a citizen," he says, chewing on his lip. "Do you think they would send me back? To the first doctors?" "I don't know what they would do with people who aren't from the United States. I think that it would kinda end up being a big international matter, unless they just deported everyone who didn't." Faelan frowns and shakes his head. "They'd probably make you have it on your passports either way. Which is stupid, because I mean, if you don't look like a mutant, how will they know you are one if you don't tell them? They can't just walk around blood testing everyone." He gives a nod at that. "I don't think we'll have anything to worry about it here. Nobody knows anything is special about this place. And the teachers can just make them go away. I think you'll be fine here Kai, nobody will make you go anywhere." Ducky grins, with a nod to Kai, "Sophie does sound nice. I'm sure I'll run into her around the school sometime. Again. In a situation more conducive to talking instead of screaming and running." She nods resolutely, apparently making a note to meet Sophie in a less life or death situation. "And yeah, you'll be fine here. Professor Xavier won't let them take you away or send you anywhere. And besides, um, the government already sucks about documenting immigrants and stuff - I'm pretty sure they're gonna show the same ineptitude towards registering and tracking mutants. It's gonna be a huge pain for the people who are visibly mutants, since, well, even with birds following me around, I just look like a crazy girl who talks to lots of birds. Kinda like every other homeless person in the city." She shrugs and frowns, "Or, I'll just, y'know, move. To somewhere tropical. With lots of neat birds to talk to. Without registration." Kai nods as assurances are given, although he doesn't look totally convinced. "The Professor cares very much for the students," he says. "I do not think he would let anyone take any of us, whether it was the government or not." Still doesn't sound convinced, though. "I imagine there will be many who will run away somewhere, like Faelan." Then there's a sudden giggle from the boy, and he claps his hand over his mouth. "Those men were very scared when Faelan made that sand-man go away," he says when the giggles subside and he lowers his hand. "They ran nearly as fast as we were." That mental image evokes another half-giggle. "I know it was scary," he says, eyebrows lifting. "But that part /was/ funny." "I don't think they understood what I did, or they wouldn't have runaway so fast. But I'm glad that it made everyone else safer. I hope they never come back anyway." Faelan says with a slight smile at the other boys giggle. "I just hope that they don't tell other people that there are a bunch of mutants at the school. I mean, they knew to take out our phones ahead of time, and none of us are really obvious, so why would they want to grab us? I think we should avoid any trips like that for awhile anyway. At least without bringing a teacher along, someone scary perhaps." Ducky giggles a bit, at the memory of the guys running in terror, "Yeah. It was kinda funny, looking back, now that we're all safe. I mean, we knew what Faelan had done, but, I'm pretty sure it looked rather ominous from their standpoint. Which is awesome." There's a little bit of a maniacle grin on her face as she says this, still perched birdlike on the stool, hands fidgeting with the empty popsicle sticks. "They may have learned it from watching the kids visiting the carnival. I mean, a lot of students went through there. Who knows what all they saw," she frowns at this thought, "That... wouldn't be good. Part of the reason the school is so safe is /because/ it's kinda secretish. I mean, even once I was here, I didn't think it was really real." "Those men knew Sophie," Kai says. "Maybe they studied her beforehand. That is what kidnappers do in the movies. To learn where they can get the people they kidnap." He frowns, and spoons out his now-soup, sipping at it thoughtfully. "Secret places are not always safe," he says. "The place where I was kept was very secret, but Mister Jackson found it anyway. It is not hard, if a person knows what they are looking for." He lifts a shoulder. "Let us hope no one comes looking here." "I think I ought to go practice my aim more then," Faelan says with a frown as he slides off the stool to his feet."All this talk of people coming and looking here is kinda bleh feeling really. Here's the only safe place I know, and if it isn't really safe?" He sighs and shakes his head. "You two have fun, I'm going to go practice abit I think." Rinsing the bowl off in the sink, he sets it in the dish washer. "I'll talk to you guys later then." Ducky nods and sighs, "Yeah. Really hoping that they just keep their mouths shut for fear of the kid who can vanish people. Maybe they'll just stay away and stay quiet." She ruffles her hair, admittedly getting a bit of melted popsicle in her short mousy mop, which makes it stick out at even more random angles. "I'm sure we'll be safe here, though," the teen says, as much to convince herself as to convince the others. She offers a bit of a wave when Faelan heads off to practice, "Good luck with your practice, Faelan." Ducky shifts on her seat, wrapping the popsicle sticks back up in the wrapper, "I should probably be going, too. I was putting off my Latin homework, but I really should go do that. Otherwise I'm gonna get distracted. Again." Kai nods slowly. "I do not think that the Professor would let anything happen to any of us," he reiterates. "And there is Mister Jackson and others who are here who would also not let anything happen. I am sure we are safe here." He smiles encouragingly, and nods at the older teens. "Okay," he says. "I will talk to both of you another time. I should do my homework, too." He wrinkles his nose. "It is math. It will probably take some time." Probably not as long as it will take him to finish his ice cream soup, but still. /Math/.