ArchivedLogs:Love and Snow

Love and Snow
Dramatis Personae Mallory, Aloke
In Absentia	2013-12-16 Mallory and Aloke go for a walk and talk about the future
Location <XS> School Grounds
Xavier’s School is situated on grounds as luxurious as the mansion itself. The tree-lined drive brings you up to the lush green sweep of front lawn and the wide front porch with its bench swing, often frequented by students studying in pleasant weather. The large oak tree in the front yard is home to a tire swing, installed long ago beneath the sturdy old treehouse. The lawn rolls out all the way down to the thin rocky pier at the edge of the glittering lake. The water stretches huge and wide off into the distance, the boathouse a small blip at its shore. Along its bank, forest stretches dense and shady to one side; to the other cliffs start to rise, high and rocky, providing trails for hiking or climbing, for the adventurous. Winter is fast approaching, although from the looks of the snowy expanse of the school grounds, it has already arrived with a vengeance. The sky is a steely gray swath of clouds, promising more precipitation to come, although there is a break in the storms for now; a chill wind sends occasional swirls of powdery snow into the air in little sparkling cyclones. Fitting to the weather, the news today is equally as bleak. Despite the snow storms, bitter cold, and recent apocalypse of the zombie variety (or perhaps because of that), the United States Congress actually got together and passed a bill for once. Unfortunately for the genetically gifted residents of the United States, the law in question is the sweeping Mutant Registration act, although the specific details are more than just a bit hazy right now. Uncertainty and rumors are swirling about the nation as speculation on the scope and enforcement of the new law run rampant. Lunchtime is drawing to a close, and afternoon classes are underway for those who have them on their schedules. For the senior librarian, however, the afternoon is distressingly free, leaving her plenty of time to think about the recent news, and the potential impact it would have on her life. Mallory would much rather have a full afternoon schedule to distract her, rather than letting her mind wander over the looming enforcement of a law she had long dreaded, even before arriving in the United States. As such, she is currently sitting on the front porch swing, idly swaying as she frowns at the generation one Kindle in her hand. Each breath exhales in a cloud of billowing white vapor, little eddies forming in the air when the vapor encounters her curled horns. In deference to the chill, Mallory has tossed on a light wool black pea coat over her dove gray blouse, a gold tone scarf draped loosely around her neck, more as an accessory than for warmth. She wears a pair of dark, tailored skinny jeans, apparently custom made to suit her legs, pale gold cable knit legwarmers slouched about the top of her hooves, either for fashion or actual warmth. One hand slips into her coat pocket, drawing out her cell phone, which she squints at while tapping out a message. ( Mallory → Aloke ): Are you around? I rather need a hug, as ridiculous as I feel typing that. I am sitting on the front porch - needed to cool off, as it were. That sent, she slips the phone back away, and leans back onto the bench of the swing, dark eyes focusing on the snowy forest in the distance. (Aloke -> Mallory) On my way "Hi," Aloke says. Aloke walks out next to the porch swing. He looks a little out of breath, like maybe he ran here and wants to hide that fact. His skin glow is down to about half that of a soft yellow light bulb today though. He's also wearing a black walker coat, which looks much thicker and warmer than Mallory's jacket. He's even wearing shoes! "I heard there was a Hug Emergency out here. Is that right?" He reaches out and takes Mallory's hands in his, gently pulling her up and into a warm embrace. Holding her tight he says quietly, "So you read the news, huh?" Mallory pulls the phone out when it buzzes, smiling at the message before slipping the device back into her pocket once more. She is just settling back into her spot on the swing when Aloke arrives on the porch, and she perks up with a happy smile at the sight of him. Setting the tablet aside, she she squeezes Aloke's hands, and rises from her seat with an easy grace. The lopsided smirk implies she might have noticed that he ran, but being the polite young lady she is, she refrains from commenting. Wrapping her arms around him, Mallory lets out a somewhat shuddering sigh; she feels decidedly warmer than normal, even through the layers of winter clothing both are wearing. Silently, she nods in response to his question about the news, before resting her head on his shoulder and just holding him tight for several long moments. "Thank you. I needed this," she says in a hushed voice, still enjoying the comfort of the hug, but relaxing her arms to let him step away if he wants to, "Not quite an emergency, but definitely appreciated. I... I didn't interrupt anything, did I? I am so s... I apologize if I did." "No, you didn't interrupt," Aloke says with a smile. "We were just finishing up anyway. Hank was putting me through some paces in the Danger Room, but I'm exhausted, so we're done." Aloke plants a kiss on her cheek as they pull apart, and then turns to take her arm in his to lead them on a little walk across the yard, crunching (or melting) snow under foot. "The news this morning was… not good." He frowns slightly and nods. "I know, understatement of the year. I don't even know what to say." A contented smile spreads over Mallory’s features at the kiss, and she happily links arms with Aloke to start walking across the yard. Her steps are relatively hesitant as they walk, the snow initially crunching, and then melting away around her hooves very quickly, leaving little vaguely hoof shaped divots along the path behind them. “Well, thank you for cutting out a bit early on my behalf, I do really appreciate it,” she says quietly as they walk. An anxious shiver traces down her spine at the mention of the news, and she shakes her head slowly, “No. Not good. They announce this the week before Christmas, with a deadline of Valentine’s Day. Because obviously, bouncing back from a zombie apocalypse during the holidays wasn’t enough.” She snorts derisively, the cloud of vapor escaping from her nose in a puff that would be almost comical were the topic not so somber, “Everything is still so vague right now, which is honestly a touch worse, in my mind. I’m just, well, terrified of what this might mean for me. For us.” Aloke takes a long time to think about his response and finally says, "I don't know how comforting this is, but I'm scared too. I mean, I'm sure I'm /supposed/ to be all stalwart or something, but I think being honest might be better in this situation." Aloke shakes his head, clearly just thinking out loud, trying out notions as he goes. He hugs Mallory close to his side for a bit as they walk. "On the other hand, we don't even know how the bill will be implemented. There are just so many-" Aloke blows out a frustrated breath and cuts himself off. "I dunno Mallo. Maybe we'd be better off just running off somewhere. I could take us anywhere, you know? /Anywhere/. We could just hide out in the mountains or, or…" Aloke stops and hangs his head. He's already talked himself out of it in his head. "I just wish we knew what to do." Mallory chuckles, shaking her head, “Take it from an English woman - that whole ‘stiff upper lip’ thing is complete and utter rubbish. Being scared is perfectly acceptable. Especially in this situation.” She sighs, running a hand along a horn nervously with a smirk, “60 days of uncertainty to come. Debates about just what sorts of rights to privacy freaks like us have, if any. How far privacy goes when it could be protecting someone who can carry people cross borders without being seen, or burst into flames at will? How much freedom to allow for those born with dangerous abilities? What counts as dangerous?” Her voice cracks slightly as she speaks, betraying her nervousness, “There’s already rumors about classifying based on powers. Human. Harmless. Mostly Harmless. Exceedingly Dangerous.” At this point, it’s pretty obvious Mallory is just thinking out loud, letting the anxiety that was bottled up this morning out into the chill air, “Who knows what that’s going to mean the first time my green card comes up for renewal? I’m already in the system from that - biometrics and all that fluff - but the fact that I’ll now be tagged as ‘dangerous’ as well as an obviously mutant ‘alien’?” She sighs, and chuckles ruefully, glancing back over her shoulder at the mansion, “Well, at least our employer is pretty lenient about hiring mutants, so we shouldn’t have /that/ to worry about.” The mention of escaping, however, gives her pause, and she falls quiet for some time, just thinking it over. “I… don’t think we could do that. There is so much here, so many people… it seems selfish? To just run away, just the two of us,” she inhales deeply, breathing out a slow puff vapor into the air, eyes falling closed, “It is so tempting, though. So very tempting. Just to run away, and escape with you.” A giggle escapes her lips, accompanied by puffs of vapor, “Oh, goodness. We would be the source of so many urban legends - a demoness, and a glowing man, living together in the woods on a mountain side?” She squeezes against him, smiling briefly at the thought, pulling Aloke closer to her in order to share her excess warmth - and there is quite a good deal of extra warmth, even more so than normal. "No, I know," Aloke says, walking slowly and holding Mallory tight against his side. "That would be the /definition/ of selfish. I just… get a little crazy. When I think about people giving you a hard time." Aloke takes a deep breath and lets her get out everything she needs to say without interrupting further. When she's done, he shakes his head. "I mean, the really /insane/ thing here is that I actually /get/ why everyone is so scared of us. They don't /know/ you. They don't know me. Or Jax or any of us, really. But then, even if they /did/, there're gonna be mutant criminals, and how does law enforcement even start to deal with that?" Aloke kicks at some snow in front of them, puffing up a little cloud of powder around their ankles. “You are a sweetheart,” Mallory says in response to the protectiveness, leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek, smiling as she does. “I can understand the fear - it’s a fear of the unknown, a fear of change, fear of those different from them. Trust me,” Mallory says with a sigh, glancing down at herself, “I am a thing of nightmares, I realize that.” She shakes her head, holding up her hand to look at it, her neatly manicured nails the same unnatural black as her horns and hooves, frowning before shoving her hand back into her pocket. “I get being scared of us, I do. Do you know how many times I screamed in terror upon seeing my own reflection in the mirror, after this first happened?” she admits quietly, her voice breaking as she does. “But… I’m still a person. We are mutant /humans/. Why are we to be classified and treated any differently, just because of how we fared in the genetic lottery? Are we to be assumed to be dangerous criminals, because we don’t look like “average people” should? You do not know the average human on the street - and yet they could be carrying a gun, or a knife, or a bomb, and could just as readily able to take a life. Do we automatically assume that of them, too?” She growls quietly, a soft, almost feral sound, and closes her eyes, gleaming white, pointed teeth bared in frustration, “This is not fair. I have ruined my life once on account of protesting this sort of thing. And there is just so much more at stake this time.” She gently squeezes Aloke to her, as though to demonstrate her point, resting her head against his shoulder if he lets her. “S’pologies. It’s… I’m scared.” "The only nightmare for me is losing you," Aloke says quietly as they walk. "The hardest part about all of this is that the public at large can't just meet all of us." Aloke pulls her in tight again, and even turns to plant another kiss on her cheek. "Hey, you don't owe me /any/ spologies. Not one." He takes a long breath and scans the grounds for a moment. "I mean, the problem is assuming /any/thing about someone, based on something they were born with. At least with firearms, people /choose/ to buy those. You can start to ask questions like, 'What kind of people buy guns?' 'What kind of people keep them safely?' And so on. But with /people/… that just doesn't work. I just don't understand why non-mutants don't see the similarity with race and gender and every other thing we've struggled through." He offers a slight smirk in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood, "I mean, women have /always/ had powers over men. That's just science." He shrugs away his terrible attempt at humor and adds, "But the real reason we can take a deep breath right now is that it isn't in effect yet. We have to wait until we know more, and there's no point in getting all wound up about it right now." He offers a reassuring smile. There is a slight sniffle from Mallory, and she leans in against Aloke as they walk, gently bonking a horn against the side of his head affectionately. “That is what frightens me the most, of all of this. I… I can deal with being registered, cataloged, classified… but I can’t stand the thought of being sent back to England. Or being locked away. The thought of losing this… this life that I want to have, here, with you,” Mallory says, still walking slowly through the snow. A lighthearted giggle in her voice, she rests her head against his shoulder, “Dear god, even in the middle of all of this, you make me feel like writing ridiculously sappy poetry. And I love you for it.” She leans over and kisses his cheek, her lips approaching uncomfortable levels of heat, even in the chill air; the splotch of half melted snow that her tail propels at the back of his legs, though, is still quite cold. “Uh huh,“ she giggles at the somewhat bad joke, tail lashing to flick off the excess snow it had picked up, “I am pretty certain I could make a lovely ‘hard sciences’ joke here, but I think I shall refrain from that.” The reassurances earn a soft sigh, and she closes her eyes for a moment, forcing herself to calm down and let it go, “I know. And thank you. For listening, and reminding me not to get too worked up so quickly. There is still 60 days time for this to resolve itself. For the protests and people to raise awareness.” Mallory chuckles, and runs a hand along her horn, apparently startled by her own warmth, blinking in surprise, “I can be a bit hot headed, especially about this. And that can be a bit dangerous for those around me.” Even as she speaks, there is an uncomfortable warmth around her, and likely will for some time, “Maybe it won’t be all that bad?” Aloke winces when the back of his legs is splortched with wet snow. He sighs and shakes his head. "Well, I think we know who the /mature/ one is in this relationship." Aloke chuckles, and then shakes his head. "Tagging us like animals?" Aloke asks calmly. "That is 'that bad'. I'm just saying it might not come to that. And no one is taking you away from me. Or well, except you. If you decided to. Shit, you know what I mean, right?" Aloke sighs and shrugs. "For what it's worth though, I'd like to try practicing my travel trick with you in the Danger Room. If we ever do find ourselves in trouble, it might be our best escape, but I want to see if we can do it without burning you alive. Or me." He looks sidelong at the kiss, and her warmth. "Hey, are you feeling ok? You seem warmer than usual. Maybe you should peel off a layer?" Mallory giggles, an impish grin spreading over her lips, even as she flutters her long eyelashes at Aloke, and affects an innocent voice, “Hmm? I most certainly don’t know what you mean by that statement.” Her tail lashes behind her playfully, leaving a somewhat melted swath in the snow. Her grin fades to a more somber expression, and she looks down at the snowy ground, one hand rising to touch the base of a horn as she listens to Aloke speak. “Perhaps ‘okay’ is the wrong choice of word. Decidedly not okay with involuntary piercings or tattoos; I prefer mine voluntary, and artistic, personally. But being required to carry papers?” Mallory asks, before rummaging around in the inner pocket of her coat for a moment, pulling out a thin silver packet that looks suspiciously fireproof, “Already there. Bothersome though it may be.” She sighs, and slips the wallet back away, shoulders slumped a bit, though she smiles at his other statement, “I know. I’m not going anywhere. Not voluntarily. Not without you by my side.” A hand reaches out to take his, but given how warm she is, she hesitates, almost certainly afraid of harming him. She answers his next question with a snort, vapor billowing from her nostrils, “Part of why I was outside - I was, am, furious. I literally needed to cool down. Which, well, hasn’t happened so much.” The suggestion gets a smirk and a sidelong glance with a raised eyebrow, even as she slowly starts to unbutton her coat and peel off the outer layer, folding the jacket over her arm, shivering slightly for a moment. A wince tightens her features at the thought of trying to teleport with him again, but she nods, agreeing after a moment, “It would be good to try, yes, I suppose. At least we know now that after the first jump, it is theoretically possible to get clear of me in time. Unpleasant though it may be, I am capable of surviving the burning alive thing, you can back out of range - and depending on the situation, fire may be preferable to the alternative.” She shakes her head, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, “Perhaps if I brace for it, knowing it is coming? Or… I am afraid I really don’t know. I’m typically good at keeping it in check under normal circumstances, but,” she shivers looking at her hand, and then Aloke’s arm, the one that had been so badly burnt in their first meeting, “I don’t want to hurt you again.” Another deep breath in, as she closes her eyes and is obviously trying to focus on cooling off, literally and figuratively, though as she speaks, her breath is visible in the air with each word, “I have been wanting to ask Hank to run some tests for me. On me… I am beginning to realize just how little I know about the extent of my mutation.” A frown creases her brow with that statement, and she trembles again, not voicing whatever other thoughts she has. "Hey," Aloke says softly at Mallory's somber tone. "Managing stress is how we keep our abilities in check. We both have to take a deep breath, and try to put ourselves in Wait Mode. You're not going to hurt me. We know how it works now, and we can practice with water tanks handy in the Danger Room. We'll just jump from tank to tank. If we wind up with a 'hot tub', well, what's wrong with that?" He smiles, and then looks down realizing his shoe has come untied. He takes a knee briefly to take care of it, and also scoops up a handful of snow out of Mallory's sight. He glances around to make sure they're alone, and presses his lips to Mallory's for an extended moment. He pulls her close for a hug then and says softly, "We have really have to try and keep cool heads about all this. Or at least… cool backs." And then, Aloke dumps his handful of snow down the back of Mallory's shirt. Mallory takes a deep breath and nods slowly, eyes still closed for a moment, “I am aware, and trying. Really I am.” A pained grimace at the idea of teleporting into water, and she opens her eyes to look at Aloke skeptically, “I… have mentioned previously that I cannot swim, yes? I sink like a decidedly uncoordinated, flailing rock.” She takes another deep breath and closes her eyes again in an attempt to stay calm, likely facilitating the icy treachery. “Perhaps, as long as the water is shallow enough, it should be alright. I suppose, anyway. And we keep fire extinguishers on hand - we know it works for Thomas, and we seem similar enough that it should work to keep me from igniting, as well,” she adds quietly, her eyes still closed while she focuses on keeping her temperature down. Indeed, by the time Aloke leans in for the kiss, Mallory has actually cooled down appreciably, though still a bit warmer than normal; she sighs contentedly into the kiss, a happy smile on her features. Leaning into the hug, Mallory seems to suspect nothing; her body heat is at a level that would be a touch uncomfortable were they not outside. “I’ll calm down about it as the day goes on, I am certain. I just suppose the initial shock got to me more than I expected, and --” and then there is snow down her back. Her eyes snap open wide and she gasps in shock, arms clenching reflexively tighter to Aloke. “Oh you most certainly did /not/ just...” she pants breathily, even as the snow is almost completely melted, trailing down her back and soaking into the gray fabric of her shirt. Her dark eyes dart around the grounds quickly, scanning for witnesses, but settle upon the large pile of fluffy snow recently cleared from the walks, conveniently nearby. The sinister grin that takes her features, however, suggests she isn’t going to just let this go, keeping her arms looped around him, Mallory starts to shift her weight subtly, linking one leg behind Aloke’s as she does. With a lighthearted giggle, she gracefully drops herself sideways into the snow bank, leveraging Aloke right down beside her into the pile of fluffy snow.