ArchivedLogs:Killer Armadillos in the Sky

Killer Armadillos in the Sky
Dramatis Personae Rictor, Shane	2015-06-19 '
Location <XS> Danger Room
This room has been home to myriad worlds and scenarios; largely limited only by imagination it is always something of an adventure wandering into someone /else's/ practice time. At least, in most cases when the room is IN USE as it presently is it can mean any number of wonders or horrors or dangers awaiting people who enter anyway -- in most cases. At this exact moment, though? It's just silent. Silent and cold and grey, a huge arching dome overhead that is just waiting to be put to use. Standing in the very center of the very-much-empty room, its sole occupant looks utterly dwarfed by his surroundings. One very diminutive blue shark, dressed in dark cargo pants and black undershirt and boots. There's a (very diminutive) X-uniform jacket slung over his shoulder, so new its leather is still creaky. Shane's black eyes are huge and wide, gills opening and closing very slowly along the sides of his neck as his head tips back towards the ceiling. The door to the danger room opens with a soft, sterile hiss, revealing a figure that has been absent from the school for likely as long Shane has been here, but who is not altogether unfamiliar to Xavier’s. Dressed in a similar outfit, Rictor’s fresh leather jacket also creaks as he walks into the room, the shape and silence of which amplifies the sound. “Hello,” the older man says softly after the door shuts behind him. Rictor eyes the smaller mutant thoughtfully and with interest. Maybe it has to do with his appearance, or maybe it’s just the fact that he’s also in this very secret place. There's a soft growl in answer to this. Maybe it is how sharks say hello? Shane's teeth bare towards the ceiling. His nostrils flare, gills pressing down flat, now. "... you smell good," finally comes out when words replace the growl. And, too: "I don't know you." If the growl has any intimidating effect – whether intended or not – on Rictor, it doesn’t change the man’s almost lackadaisical demeanor. He does, however, keep the distance between himself and Shane more than reasonable. “Thank you, I try to,” is Rictor’s response to smelling nice. “I don’t know you, either. My name is Juilo. What’s yours?” Shane turns, head tilting and the sniffing stopping now that he actually /looks/ at Rictor rather than just -- smelling at him. "Shane," he finally says. "I'm new. Here. Well -- no. I'm not. I mean I grew up here. But not --" His free hand gestures, claws flicking towards the jacket he holds over his shoulder. "This is new. Julio." For a brief moment there's a few notes of humming; too quick, really, to resolve into a proper /tune/. "You're new, too? I mean I never saw you." Rictor continues to study Shane as the aquatic-looking mutant speaks to him. The sniffing, the humming, the broken speech, it all condenses into a simple first impression: This kid is a strange one. “Nice to meet you, Shane,” Rictor tells him. Strange or not, it appears they’re going to work together so he might as well start things off on a friendly foot. “Yes, I’m new to this as well,” he says, gently rubbing the cuff of one sleeve. “I grew up here for a time, too, though it was a while ago. When I was here I never had access to this.” Shane huffs out a short breath, curling an arm around his chest. "But you do now." It's quiet, kind of thoughtful -- something of a contradiction with the (/very/ exceptionally toothy) grin that breaks across his face a few moments later. "So where would you go? If you can just wave a magic techno-wand and go /anywhere/?" “Yes, now I do,” Rictor says, turning his gaze away from Shane to pan across the expansive walls and ceiling of the danger room. “A friend asked me a similar question recently and I told him Texas. I’ve always really wanted to go to Texas.” He chuckles and looks back to Shane. “I’m guessing you could come up with somewhere a little more exotic, though.” Shane's grin quirks a little lopsided. "I don't know," he answers Rictor. "Never been to Texas. For all I know it's just flowing with milk and honey. -- It does have armadillos, I think. That's pretty exotic. By Mahattan standards. What do /you/ want in Texas?" “Armadillos are horrible and bitey,” Rictor tells Shane, grimacing before realizing who he’s talking to (those teeth!). He looks about to apologize, but thinks better of it, steering the conversation back onto Texas, instead. “I’ve heard a lot of talk about Texan skies being bigger somehow. I’d really like to see what people mean by that.” That first comment prompts Shane's grin somehow even wider, a few more of those serrated shark-teeth flashing. Bright. His gills flutter, a small chuckle bubbling up in his throat. "I got tough skin," he answers lightly. "And there is a /hella/ lot of Texas. Suppose it's only reasonable they have a sky to match." “That’s some sound logic,” Rictor says, grinning. He begins to walk around the room slowly, as if looking for something in particular in the honeycombed paneling or studying them for defects. After a moment of this he stops and asks, “Do you know how to use this thing?” "Yup. I mean, we weren't allowed before graduation but. I've been in here enough with my advisor or my Pa --" A small grimace briefly crosses Shane's expression, then clears back up. "-- and he's got lots of weird-ass shit in here. Uh. There's a control room if you want to sit down and make really /elaborate/ new -- whatevers. But. It takes voice commands if you just want to call up pre-programmed ones." He nods over towards one of the doors. "C'mon. I'll show you -- Texas, I guess. Or maybe giant killer armadillos in a world made entirely of sky. I'm pretty sure we've agreed that's what Texas is, right?" Rictor laughs at the more ridiculous idea, but wouldn’t mind seeing a giant armadillo – as long as he knows it isn’t real. “Maybe some other time. I’m just doing a tour of the grounds, really. Getting adjusted to the basement levels. They’re really something.” He eyes the door and then Shane. “It was nice to meet you, though. I’ll be seeing you around soon.”