ArchivedLogs:Not Stupid

Not Stupid
Dramatis Personae Ross, Peter, Karolina
In Absentia	2013-07-09 Ross: My god I can't wait until I see the name for the log / Ross: IT BETTER NOT BE STUPID
Location <XS> Workshop
A large barn-like building situated at the far end of the gardens from the mansion proper, this makerspace functions as a classroom for many of the more hands-on classes. An expanse of workshop space, it is subdivided into smaller segments for the different types of activities: Woodshop, Welding shop, Machine shop, Electronics, Bike shop, Screen Printing and Photography, Fabric Arts, and the Rapid Prototyping Lab with a trio of 3D printers. The space comes complete with a large host of tools available for use, although many of the more dangerous require prior clearance from administration to use -- students with appropriate clearance to use them can gain access to locked equipment with their student IDs. From sanders to MIG/TIG welders to soldering stations to industrial sewing machines to its own darkroom, though, this space is well equipped for teaching students how to /make/. When Peter's not in class -- or off-campus, working his job -- he pretty much /lives/ in Xavier's workshop, tinkering endlessly with -- well, whatever he's currently working on. Which, at the moment, seems to be a small, delicate little wrist-mounted device -- consisting of multiple plastic parts fitted together, along with a small circuit, an unusual brass canister, an LCD screen -- and other interesting eccentricities. There also seems to be a very powerful, miniature LED light with reflector plates involved in the process! For God knows what reason. Peter's currently hunched over the work-desk, tongue sticking out, eyebrows /crumpled/ together -- tinker, tinker! -- as he fits the parts together. The boy's an unusual addition to Xavier's school; his skin is a dark, metallic blue -- with swirling patterns that resemble the prismatic gleam of oil-plus-water appearing whenever the light hits him at just the right angle. It actually looks a /little/ like dragonfly wings, except much bigger and /all over his face and body/. Currently, Peter's clad in a white collar shirt -- sleeves rolled up! -- a black clip-on tie, black dress slacks -- and funny looking two toed socks. The two-toed socks are curled up at the moment; Peter's perched on a stool as he works, very /intent/. He's also wearing -- funny looking wrist-watches. Wrist-watches that look /suspiciously/ like the wrist-watches he's currently assembling (except a bit smaller!). "Uh, hello? Is anyone in here?" It was curiousity that brought Karolina here. A relatively new arrival to the mansion, she was perhaps known for... well, being a wallflower of sorts. And this was a bit odd, because like Peter? She was of an unusual color as well. Peter was a dark color, Karolina was all the colors of the rainbow, the prismatic colors swirling and washing over her in slow little waves. It colored her skin, her hair, and her clothing as well. Karolina was comfortable, right now - a spaghetti strap blouse, some jeans that flared at the bottom, and a pair of flats made up her clothing, a bevy of bracelets worn on her wrists, that click and clack with the movement of her hands. While one was metal - the charm bracelet on her right wrist - most had the sound of plastic. And they all bore the rainbow effect of the rest of her. Stepping into the workshop space, Karolina doesn't look at Peter, at first, bringing up a hand to brush a long (and wayward) lock of her hair out of her eyes as she glances about the place curiously. THUD. The only sound that was made as the door smashed open, and bounced back. In the wake of the sound was the DELIGHTFUL young brunette, who currently had a purple streak in her hair, Ross. Ross had pushed the door too hard open, causing it to bounce back and knock into her, causing her to hit a shelf. Luckily, she didn't trip or break any bones AGAIN, otherwise she'd have to visit "Giant Smurf" McCoy again. As she lifted herself up, she pushed her hair back. To any person who didn't know her, they'd just think she was a normal girl, with her pale skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. Oh, and the streak, don't forget the streak. As she looked up, she first noticed the blue person working on some device thingy. She repulsed her head, and stopped when she saw Karolina. Even though she was colorful and that was kinda freaky, she was a girl and PRETTY. Ross straightened her tanktop, which fit nicely with her blue jeans and also gave her skin some room to breath. She slowly began to pick up the stuff she knocked down, solely because she didn't want more detention. She put it all away, turning back towards them. "MmmfffI'mhere," Peter responded, kind-of-distractedly, to Karolina -- not looking up from his device, because. FOCUSED. There's another click; another plastic piece snapping into another piece -- and then his eyes start to lift up, and... whoa. Blink, blink. /Sparkly/. Peter kind of sparkles, but only when he's directly in the sun; under normal light, he just looks -- a little gleam-y? But Karolina is downright /glowing/, the light extending to -- well, apparently -- everything she's wearing! "Hello!" Peter calls out, a little louder now, waving his hand frantically at her. "Umhi I don't think I--" he starts, before just -- flat-out asking: "--do you know. Jax? Because uh. You--" And then, suddenly, somewhere behind Karolina, there's a Ross. Stepping in, KNOCKING THINGS OVER. And picking them back up. Eyebrows /soaring/ up: "Ohhello," he says, again. "Um. Oh wow I don't think I've met /either/ of you yet." "Oh - /oh/, I'm sorry to...!" says Karolina, her eyes finally tracking towards Peter and his little corner of the place as he speaks more. Lifting up her hands defensively, in the 'I'm not armed' sort of sense, she pauses a moment, looking at the blue young man. A beat, and a little smile tugs up the corners of her lips. "...interrupt. You're blue. It's like me - well, a little bit like me," says Karolina, lowering her hands as she points at herself. "Jax? Yeah, he's actually the one that kinda helped bring me here, from safety and everything. He's helping me get settled in, and all - he's a really, really awesome guy," she says. "So I'm kinda new, but my name is Karolina, and it's nice to meet...!" she says, before there was Ross! Turning around towards the other young woman, Karolina releases a bit of a breath in a sigh, the corners of her lips turning up in a wider smile. "Hello to you too! Uh, over there," she says, before bringing up a hand to point at her own head. "I like your hair. We're all very colorful here." Awkward. Super awkward. Ross is still staring at Karolina, AND HER PRETTY SKIN, AND HER PRETTY HAIR, AND HER CH-. And then she notices Karolina talking to her, and snaps out of fantasy land. "Oh, uh, yeah! It's...purple. Super purple." She quickly turns over to Peter, slightly stepping back because he's blue. "Oh, hi, blue guy thing. Uh...what are you working on?", she asks him, trying to make small talk and FAILING MISERABLY. She begins picking at her hair. "I wish I still had my oxy...", she mumbles to herself slightly quietly, at a low tone. She steps closer, to seem more friendly. "I'm uh...Ross. Yes, Ross. That is me." She smiles, painfully. "Jax is pretty awesome," Peter agrees, "and yeah I'm. Kind of blue. S'chitin." Peter proceeds to /pinch his own cheek/. And pull. Except it doesn't pull very /far/; its elasticity isn't -- the same as ordinary skin. Giving it kind-of a weird feel. "Peter. Um." He grins, just a little crookedly. "I asked because -- Jax is -- /really/ colorful, too. Like, all the colors. All the time. S'pretty awesome kind of like what you're doing? Are you doing that -- like, consciously? I think," Peter adds, "Jax does it consciously." And now, Peter's no longer behind the work-station; he's /on the ceiling/. Just like that. JUMP! Whump. He catches a rafter and /swings/ up on top of it, perched like a frog; knees out, hands down beneath him. Peering at the two of them. Still grinning! "S'thwippy thing," he informs Ross, showing off -- one of his wrists! Where a funny wrist-watch is strapped. "I use it to -- thwip things." As if to demonstrate, he snaps his hand out -- and -- THWP. A silver cord /flings/ out, catching hold of a bottle of water on the table; YANK -- he pulls it off the table and up into the rafters, where he catches it. This was a little awkward - and Karolina really cannot help but laugh a little bit, the sound a bit low, and certainly melodic. Nodding her head to what Ross was saying, something she does say kinda causes her brow to furrow, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Ross - did you say you needed oxygen? I could go get a teacher?" she offers, glancing between the young woman and Peter, both. But her gaze settles on Peter. "Chitin? Like in... bugs, right?" she says, snapping her fingers and pointing to Peter. "I think I remember that from high school biology, before, well... this all happened," she says, gesturing to herself. But she smiles softly, and shakes her head. "I hope I can control it, like Jackson can, but this is all.. well, I wish I could stop it, but I can't, it just /happens/. If I stay out of the sun long enough, it dims down, but then I get weak and feel like I'm going to die," she says. And then there was the demonstration of his powers, a look of delight dancing up unto her features. "You remind me so much of a friend of mine..." says Karolina with a laugh. "But that's really amazing - is that rope you're shooting out at stuff?" she asks. Ross shakes her head at Karolina. "I'm fine, really." Ross hates oxygen. It's too mainstream. She begins to divert her eyes to Karolina's center of mass again, when, THWIP. She leaps backwards...and then begins cackling. "Holy shit that was awesome. So, is this uh, a power demonstration? Because mine is totally the coolest. Like totally.", she says, half sarcastically. She begins picking at her skin, and leans against the wall. "And I'd love to show you, if you don't mind." She smiles, smirking all the while. "Bugs," Peter agrees with Karolina. "A glucose deriva--kind of like," he cuts himself off, holding up his hand -- to show off his nails! Which are actually, uh. Dark blue, now. "--fingernails? But different." As if this explains /everything/. Peter proceeds to hop down from the rafter with a quick little jump, landing on top of the work-desk! WHUMP! Water bottle still in hand. "--yeah I think. Jax has the same problem? With too much sunlight he uh, gets -- over-charged. And can melt. But you know," Peter adds, "a lot of people here find awesome ways to manage their powers I /think/ Jax used to have a lot of problems with /his/ powers so maybe--" "Oh," Peter adds, glancing to his webshooter at the question. "No, it's -- a bio-adhesive paste? Um. It's pressurized, so it comes out as a stream, uh -- a friend?" There's a faint creeping hint of violet to his face; apparently, his color-of-choice when it comes to blushing. "--oh it's not actually -- a power," Peter responds to Ross, waving his shooters at her. "I mean, they're -- actually -- I mean /anyone/ could use these things? Just, uh. Actually you probably /shouldn't/ unless you've got -- really fast reflexes. Because they can be kind of dangerous if you -- um. You don't /have/ to show your powers, I mean," Peter's violet turns a bit deeper, bordering on indigo, "--but I'm kind of -- I find powers /fascinating/," he confesses. "They're so weird and make no sense. Uh, no offense," to Karolina. "I mean maybe yours make sense I dunno--!" Given half the chance, he'll keep going. At some point, somebody's gonna have to interject. The cackling and the odd looks at her did have Karolina kinda nervously smiling at Ross. "Well, if you'd like to show off, I'm not against, you know. Showing off," says Karolina, frowning deeply as she turns her eyes from Ross to Peter in particular. "Well, jeez," says Karolina, "I didn't know he could /melt/ if he doesn't sparkle. Maybe that's why I do this sparkling thing - if I didn't, I'd melt too, right?" "Maybe we're related in some way, that we ended up with similar powers," Karolina says, with a look of thought. "Yeah, he was a little bit like you - or maybe I'm being awful and overgeneralizing, because everyone's different. I guess he was a bit of a jock, he'd work out a lot, but he'd always like tinkering with things, like cars, or whatever - I..." Karolina says, her eyes growing a bit distant. But after a moment of this, she 'comes back' into focus with a smile. "That's bio-adhesive paste? What does that mean?" she asks. "Like... glue that you made yourself?" she says. But when he goes into ramble mode, he might find that Karolina was a bit /too/ polite, at least with someone new like this. She would just kinda... watch him ramble. Which may make it worse, dunno. Ross was just absentmindedly listening. You know, until he heard that she can show off her powers. She quickly begin smiling, because she just got permission to be mischevious. The first time that ever happened. She begins slightly evilly trotting up to Karolina and...pokes her. Just, you know, single, painless poke. Until she opens her mouth. This will turn out horribly. As she speaks, the chemicals she just placed on Karolina begin to activate. "Smack Peter. Hard. As hard as you can, just, don't kill him. Maybe." As she finishes saying this, her power hopefully activates, as long as Karolina isn't too strongly willed or Xavier in disguise. She begins cackling, and steps back incase Peter is the kind of person to have a grudge. "This should be fun!" "Maybe!" Peter chirps in response to Karolina's question; he's hopping off the workstation table and back in front of the thwippy things he's working on -- "Like, Jax can /store/ solar energy? As far as I can tell. Like Superman! Maybe you do the same thing -- um, like -- Supergirl." Another violet flush! And then: "--oh, uh, I mean I didn't /make/ the glue myself, but it's actually -- synthesized from an organism's secretion -- really the name is kind of stupid though, I mean, the distinction of it being /biological/ versus synthetic is immaterial, chemically they're--" Peter pauses mid-rant as Ross steps forward and pokes Karolina. His eyebrows /fly/ up as Ross speaks; an instant after he processes what she just said, they proceed to /slam/ together. "--did you. Wait. What?" It would be a lie to say there was no tension in Karolina as she sees Ross approach her, her own brows knitting in concern. A beat, after the poke, and Karolina says, "What, is that...?" she begins to say, before Ross says what she does. A beat, and Karolina just blinks dumbly, the woman turning her eyes towards Peter, her gaze unfocused. Another moment, and a thin trail - it was hard to tell by the sight, as it glowed along with the rest of her, but the observant would see a trial of blood come from both sides of her nose. Stepping forward, bit, Karolina draws her arm back, and balls up her fist as if readying a punch - and with her features twisting with the exertion of the effort, she moves to kinda punch the young man across the jaw. With the chitin and everything, it probably would hurt Karolina more than him, if he didn't dodge it. But almost before the motion completes, she blinks her eyes, those same eyes coming back into focus on Peter. "Huh?" As soon as Karolina turns around, Ross can't hold in the laughter. Something about forcing people to do stuff without their consent amuses her, let's hope she doesn't become evil. Every step Karolina makes brings her more and more into laughter, but less evil, more amused schoolgirl. She notices the nosebleed, something that's only happened maybe once or twice, usually to her. Then again, she's never used her power on a mutant to her knowledge. No matter the outcome, Ross is amused. "See? I definitely have the coolest power." She smiles a cheeky grin, pleased with herself and her apparent awesomeness. "--Karolina?" Peter begins, watching her -- very /intently/ as she approaches. The nose-bleed prompts his eyebrows to crunch together in concern; the laughter from Ross manages to produce a steadily-growing frown. By the time Karolina reaches Peter, he's tense -- and when she swings her fist at him -- well...! Peter's head and torso jerk backward; a hand /snaps/ up like a rubber band -- catching the backside of Karolina's fist. Firmly pushing it to the side, until it's extended out into the space /besides/ Peter's head. It's a swift, practiced motion -- something he's learned. For a moment, his body is tensed, as if he's prepared to do more -- but when Karolina blinks, Peter's body relaxes -- and he relinquishes his grip. Stepping back. "--are you. Okay?" Peter asks, tentatively. "You're bleeding." His hand darts out behind him, snatching up a napkin from the small lunchpack he brought with him, offering it up to Karolina. "Your nose." A glance past, toward Ross, still-frowning: "--dude, I mean, I don't -- you should /not/ do that. To people. That's -- kind of messed up." Karolina, at the moment, looked utterly confused. Karolina wasn't the strongest person in the world, but she did keep herself fit - a month or two of malnourishment would have taken a lot of the force out of the punch, so Peter had absolutely no trouble at all to kinda divert her motion. As focus touches Karolina's eyes again, she steps away from Peter, holding her hands up as if to show they were empty again. "Whoa, I.. I'm bleeding, where? What happened? What did she do?" she asks, picking up the napkin, and dabbing it to her nose. Only the bits of the napkin that she was gripping with her hand would sparkle - as she pulls it away from her face to look at it, the blood itself was actually a rather normal crimson, Karolina's brow furrowing as she looks back to Ross, expression halfway between hurt and fearful. Ross is still smiling cheekly, as in her mind, she did absolutely nothing wrong. She was just being her. "Pheromones or some weird shit. Apparently my body secretes them and I can use them to make people do what I say. Don't worry, I probably won't do it to you again. Unless I'm bored or need something or something. "She absentmindedly picks up a hammer, twirling it in her hands. "Especially helps when you're running from the law. Watching cops bawk like chickens is amusing." She flips the hammer up, but a bit too hard, and quickly pulls her hand away as it thuds to the ground. "Wasn't me.", she says, sarcastically. She still has no idea why they're so pissed. "Touch-based mind control," Peter says, eyes lingering for a moment on the blood on the napkin -- watching how the sparkle extends from her fingers to the portions of the napkin which make contact with them -- and the blood, once prismatic, soon fades to plain-old-crimson. "I actually know another girl who can -- she wouldn't," Peter quickly adds, with a glance back up to Ross, "just use it on someone like /that/ though." There is! A /slight/ shift in Peter's posture, as Ross speaks; he steps out from behind Karolina, and is now standing besides her instead. His voice a little cautious, as he tells her: "--you shouldn't do it. To /anyone/ here I mean, you don't even know how your power works. There could be -- it could interact with other people's powers in an unexpected way; could genuinely hurt somebody. And, telling her to take a swing at -- there are a lot of students," he says, the pace of his voice slowing to a crawl, "who, uh. Don't handle /violence/ well." As the hammer clunks against the ground -- Peter watches it. "Also, some of us respond /really/ badly to orders," he adds, a hand reaching to touch his throat. "Like, /violent/ bad. Um. Not that that's okay," he quickly adds, "but. A lot of the kids here have -- been through a lot. You need to be careful." Karolina shakes her head, looking bewildered. Biting her lower lip, she takes a step to one side, letting Peter kinda step up beside her, running her tongue over her lips as she kinda closes her eyes. "I can say that I wasn't... quite... expecting that, Ross. And it doesn't... well... it doesn't make me feel good to have that done to," says Karolina, glancing up to her - still wearing that expression from before, if a bit more muted now. "And, well... Peter said most of what I could say, probably, um... a bit better than I could say, really," she says, dabbing the napkin at her nose again, glancing back up towards Ross still. "But I did say you could, but I really, really, honestly didn't think you could control minds," says Karolina. "I... didn't think anyone could do that. It's... a little frightening, you know?" she says. Ross slowly realizes the mess she's put herself in. Oh god. She doesn't cry, but is physically embarrased, mainly because this was her only real interaction since coming to Xavier's that didn't involved almost getting kidnapped by sand monsters. She begins clamming up. "I....I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to cause any harm, I just..I never really knew about my powers, or got to talk to people who'd actually understand them and not, you know, toss me in prison, or atleast try to. I'll uh...go now, if you'd like." She is suprisingly modest about all this, maybe because it was the first time she got told off other than her parents. And that didn't turn out well. She begins picking at her wrist brace. She mutters a few more sorrys absentmindedly, and moves closer to the door. "Uh, oh. Oh, uh. Okay," Peter says, and now his eyes are widening, /HANDS RISING UP/, like ohGod what has he done what?! "Okay -- I mean uh -- nobody's like -- dead? I think?" He looks to Karolina, as if for confirmation. DEAD? Y/N -- then back to Ross. "But I mean, it's something to -- know? That you shouldn't -- do that, here. You could -- really hurt someone like that. I mean, uh, don't tell anyone I told you this, but there's at least one student who -- I think, uh. Might /attack/ you if you did this to him. So like, it's for /your/ safety? Too. You don't have to go or anything I just. Want you to not -- um, use your power on people here." Karolina Dean nods her head to Peter - she wasn't dead or anything, as far as she knew. "No, no, Ross, I... please don't feel that way. I'm not hurt, I'm just shaken. I don't want it to happen to me again, and I don't think anyone would ever /like/ it, or think it's funny. So. You can do what you want, but, I don't think you should do that to people again?" she says. "You don't have to go, unless you need a few minutes or something." Quickly, Ross slowly begins to smile again. Somehow, even though that's an oxymoron. She quickly tries to change the subject. "So, uh...what do you guys like? Video games? Music? Comic books? I like Wonder Woman. She's hot." She smiles, trying to cause smalltalk. Atleast to make herself feel better, if not them. She slowly taps her foot against the other, which is braced in some sort of robot boot thingy made by Giant Smurf himself. "Like, super hot." Peter's hands SLOWLY descend back to his sides. There was a certain tension in his shoulders, first; it started to unravel when Ross began to stutter; it now melts completely away when Ross begins to smile! He even steps back a little, toward the workshop table -- back to his thwippy thing! "--oh, um," he begins, /slight/ violet creeping into his face at the mention of Wonder Woman, "--I, um. Guess--Batman." A little more /quiet/, like he is admitting some deep, dark secret: "--but I actually like. Superman. More." Karolina Dean does furrow her brow briefly at the mention of Wonder Woman being hot, opens her mouth, closes it, blinks her eyes twice in surprise. But she breathes out a long sigh. Like Peter, there was a certain tension in her still, but she kinda rests her hand against the side of a table, and one could see that she was trying to work it out a little bit. So she nods her head, once. "I don't really know comic books, at all, but I know the movies for these guys? I'm more into music, myself. Indie and oldies, for the most part. I swear I'm not a hipster," she says then, a little smile touching her lips. Ross quickly gets a bit peeved when he mention Batman and Superman, in a face of disgust. "Those two? Lame. Batgirl could of totally kicked Brucey's ass, and Superman's weakness was his own freaking planet. Of course, you're a boy, what do you know?". She says this slightly playfully, but mostly angrily. She then turns her head to Karolina. What comes next is surprisingly, slightly, maybe. "Death metal. Don't ask." She smiles, maybe having her first conversation that she didn't insult any- Okay, nevermind, but it's a start anyways. And neither of them are in a trance and being forced to talk to her. "Have either of you ever fought a sandmonster? That's how I got these scars, mate." She teasingly points to her leg, all while speaking like a pirate. What a weirdo! At the mention of /hipsters/, Peter fishes into his pocket -- producing! A pair of big, thick, Buddy Holly glasses. They look like the quintessential hipster specs. He plops them on his nose, peeeeeering up at Karolina, before informing her: "I have been /told/," he says, "that these are hipster glasses." The comments concerning the inherent problems with Peter's /heroes/ acquires nothing more than a quirked eyebrow from behind those thick-rimmed lenses; at the mention of the sandmonster, Peter glances at her leg, and: "Is that -- what is that?" He looks back to the THWIPPY thing. Adjusting something: "I fought a blood monster, once." Pause: "--and giant green monster." Pause: "And a teleport monster." Pause, before finally: "--I think I've fought a lot of monsters. Wait, sandmonster? There was something in the news -- Tennessee?" The way that the other woman responds has Karolina's face twisting in a look of concern, as she glances towards Peter, but she breathes out a sigh, and just shakes her head. "I've not fought anything like that, no. A sandmonster? Seriously?" she says, looking to Peter - although her expression breaks with a melodic little giggle when the Buddy Hollys come out. "You have been told correctly, sir," Karolina says gravely. "I hope you have also been told that they are amazing," she adds. "Where are all these monsters coming from? Is someone /making/ them? Or are you both just joking around?" Quickly, Ross's face turns to confusion. She's fought all the mutants have fought Sandmonsters, but she was just the best because it was her plus sandmonster or something. "Wait, you haven't fought freaky monsters? What? It's not an usual occurence here?" She quickly turns her head, and begins laughing at Peter's glasses. She contemplates stealing them from him, or making him give her them, but then realizes that would ruin everything they had discussed in the last fifteen minutes. "Anyways, I have no idea. We were just at the fair, when suddenly, a sand monster, fire guy, and some frog dude began giving us trouble. And then, the sand monster tried to swallow us. Suddenly, one of the students made him vanish. To some place called Pigeon Forge or something. It was all fun. Until I broke my ankle." She begins smiling. "But, I don't know about him. Maybe he's joking, who knows?" She ruffles her hair again, mainly the purple streaks. The Buddy Holly's stay squarely on Peter's face; he has apparently decided he's going to /wear/ them. They're mostly for nearsightedness anyway. Whatever he's doing with those thwippy things -- he seems to be finishing. They're flipped on; there is the /slightest/ sound of whirring, and then... he's removing the thwippy thing he's currently wearing, sliding on this /new/ one -- a little bulkier, with a strap that wraps around the full wrist. Then -- there's a THWP -- as a gray SPLAT of web-goop hits the distant wall, forming a greyish hand-sized heap of -- well, /goop/. "The blood monster was a hemokinetic who was kidnapping mutants off the streets and dragging them into the sewers," Peter tells Karolina, rather matter-of-factly. "To feed off of them. The green monster was--" His lips tighten into a straight line. "--a mutant in the sewers, too. A lot of them go down there, to stay safe. Not all of them are /nice/. Teleport mutant was a crime-boss lady with a straight-razor. There are -- a lot of /dangerous/ mutants out there." Another THWP; this time, a long, silver line hits the wall, just above where the goop splat struck. Peter releases the line, and listens to Ross' story, eyebrows -- /creeping/ up. "--mutants at the carnival?" Peter asks, before: "I heard they left just like a few days ago--is everybody--okay? Oh man, /Faelan/, he must of teleported the--" His nose /twists/, then, scrunching up. Looking like he's trying not to laugh. "Oh, /MAN/ that guy is. Really lucky. Faelan could have -- teleported him into like the middle of the Pacific Ocean--" Really, Karolina watches Peter's motions with awe. She whistles softly, when he is done with his, erm, reloading, giving her head a shake. "Okay, my friend? Has nothing on you when it comes to that sort of stuff. You're so coordinated, haha. I should never have something like that, I'd end up loading it backwards or something ridiculous," she says, pursing her lips tightly. "Why would they do this?" she says, quietly. "I know... I know it can be rough out there on your own, but it has to be better to not be... like that. I'm sure Xavier's has tried to help them, like they helped me?" she asks. Although her attention shifts to Ross. "I used to be almost the freakiest one in my group of friends, and now - there's all this new stuff that I can hardly believe," she says, wryly. Ross listens slightly boredly to Peter's awesome story, because she finds it boring. "Faelan? Is he an elf or something? Who names their child Faelan? It's like naming them Ivan or something." She smirks, as she changes her view to the goop, laughing. She shrugs to Karolina, until Karolina talks about her friends. Ross immediately get depressed, having never actually had friends that liked her without her "asking" them to. "Oh, well...yeah. I guess not everyone is so lucky, though." She begins twitching at her wrist. "What time is it? It feels like we've been in here for...actually I'm terrible with time, don't ask me." There is a /slight/ creeping of violet into Peter's face when Karolina whistles and mentions that he is so coordinated. "--oh, well, um. I kind of -- cheat. A little," he says, reaching back behind his head to scratch. "--part of my mutation is -- I've got /exceptional/ prioperception -- uh, like. Crazy-fast reflexes." At Karolina's question, Peter just shrugs. "...I dunno. A lot of mutants are angry. It really isn't /nice/ out there. It's kind of easy to forget that, when you're here all the time." A crooked, hesitant smile. "My uncle would always tell me -- it's easy as heck to be good when you're safe and warm." "--oh, man," Peter soon adds, to Karolina's comment: "Trust me you are /not/ the freakiest person here. Man, I'm dating a kid with /gills/ and my best friend talks to /bugs/. Where are your friends, though? They couldn't come with you?" He looks back at Ross, tightening the strap that secures the thwippy things: "Faelan is his -- I dunno I think he told me it was -- foreign? I can't remember where it's from. What's wrong with Ivan?" he asks, nose crumpling just a little. "I dunno what time it is -- but, I'm gonna have to go /soon/," he says, a little self-consciously. "I gotta go to work I just wanted to -- finish these before I left." "Well, he could be Russian or something," suggests Karolina to Ross, lifting her chin up a bit. "Well, I think it's getting pretty late. I kinda just wandered out here, exploring - but I am glad to have met two new friends," she says, the smile on her lips real enough as she glances from Ross to Peter, then back again. "My old friends, well. They aren't all mutants, and I guess it's a long story, and I'd love to tell it to you - perhaps next time?" says Karolina, tilting her head just a bit to the side when she looks to him. "I'm going to try to get in touch with them, though - see if we can't keep in touch, now that I have a computer with internet and /everything/ again," she says, her smile nearly as bright as her sparkly self. Well, this is strange. Someone just called Ross a friend. WITHOUT HER TELLING THEM TO. She suddenly blushes, having actually made real friends. "Yeah, I guess he could be Russian. Or an elf, in this world you can never rule it out." She looks to peter, nodding. "Oh, uh, if either of you go, watch out for the alcohol vomit stain. I'm really, REALLY sorry. Oxycontin and alcohol does NOT go well together." She then heads to the door. "I need to get back inside the mansion before the staff gets worried that I'm breaking my house arrest. Nice meeting you guys." She waves, as she heads to the door. This was...actually quite nice. She'll never ever tell anyone. Ever.