ArchivedLogs:Off the Bench

Off the Bench
Dramatis Personae Jax, Aloke
In Absentia	2013-11-14 Aloke convinces Jax to let him help. (Part of Infected TP.)
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. There are noises currently in the kitchen. Cabinets opening and closing, the fridge as well. On one of the kitchen counters, there is a ferret bouncing restlessly along the counter's length, hop-hop-hop, hop-hop-hop; intermittently he stops to sniff at the small stacks of largely canned goods there. Or move to the edge of the counter like he's thinking of dropping down. Jax is just emerging from the pantry, looking much as he has looked lately. Floppy mop of half-black, half-flame-hued hair, dark pants, dark sweatshirt, boots whose glittery purple is by now lost beneath their coating of grime. His crowbar rests on a stool at the kitchen counter, though his knife is still at his hip. He's packing food away in the pantry, meat and even some fresh /fruits/ in the fridge. Slowly, though. He looks pale, kind of exhausted; there's a ceaseless shiver of light around him that won't quite settle down. Aloke appears in the kitchen, looking at his phone, typing while he walks. He hasn't noticed Jax or the ferret yet. He clicks send, just as he walks in. How do we know? Because /Jax's/ phone does whatever it does when it receives a text message. (Aloke --> Jax) Going stircrazy. What can I do to help? Then Aloke stops short, looking up, pocketing the phone. He's wearing linen pajama pants, and his favorite Ramones t-shirt. He's also got on fuzzy slippers, and the fluffy white bathrobe he had on the other day, probably for warmth in the big mansion. He blinks at the ferret, and then slowly, sees Jax as well. With a tired smile, Aloke says, "Hey man, this guy with you?" He asks of the ferret gesturing at Jax. "You know, we don't just let /anyone/ in here..." The ferret actually stops what he's doing -- pausing to /look/ at Aloke and then look at Jax. Back to Aloke, small beady eyes lifting to find the man's. His little masked head dips in a nod, after the gesturing. Jax's phone's alerts are normally bright and cheerful, but with all his time spent in a city among throngs of very /noise/-attentive dead, now it simply buzzes quietly in his pocket. He stops to pull it out, beginning to answer it but then just looking up with a small smile at Aloke. "Hey, honey-honey." His knuckles pass, tired, across his eyes. "Oh, gosh. There ain't never no /end/ of help needs doing. -- How you feelin', though?" Aloke's head tilts when the ferret makes eye contact with him, and his mouth hangs open slightly at the animal's apparent cogency. "Sorry, that was rude of me. I didn't realize... " Aloke glances at Jax, a little at a loss, worried about having offended the ferret-person. "Oh, um, I'm ok I guess," he says in response to Jax's question. "Helluva rush that first day, but kinda back to normal, I guess? I get tired a lot. It's hard to keep my calories up. I haven't lost my temper in days, but I wind up places... I don't really remember going to." He dismisses the concern with a wave and barrels forward. "But where could you use me? I mean, I could hit up a costco in another city or something. Or go with you and your team. I could be helpful, and... they can't... bite me when I change. My new form, I mean. It's also good at opening things..." Aloke trails off, somewhat aware of his desperate babbling. It's obvious his not-helping is bothering him. "Oh, oh gosh, sorry," Jackson says, abruptly perhaps just as flustered at his rudeness. "-- Joshua, this is Aloke. Aloke, Joshua. He ain't always a ferret this is just kinda, um. An accident. He's been helpin' me do supply runs. Skip past the quarantine zones." Perhaps by way of demonstration, the ferret vanishes from the counter. Reappears curled up like a warm stole around Jax's neck. "-- when things is more normal he's a paramedic. An' a member of my team. Right now he's been on transport-duty, um." Jax stops putting away food, scruffing his fingers through his hair. "Gettin' enough food as been rough," he admits, a little wryly as he curls an arm loosely around his stomach. His other hand lifts to scritch at Joshua's head. Joshua noses at his ear, poking at the many bright earrings. "-- Is travellin' safe for you?" He tips his head, regarding Aloke thoughtfully. "Sure could use someone out with me, too. Things seem /mostly/ safe enough here but both town an' the city is like. A little piece of hell. Been tryin' to clean up where I can. See if we can find people holed up in their homes. Get 'em out to the shelters. They been gettin' supply drops there but people can't /get/ to them with all the dead." Perhaps it's from living at the mansion for this long, but Aloke otherwise takes the introduction in stride. "Cool, well, thanks for your help, Joshua." Aloke is so transparent, his inner workings are practically written on his face. Even a /ferret/ is doing more than he is. He swallows and glances down at the floor when Jax asks, but nods. "Yeah, I mean, it's not awesome. Now I know how it... ages me. But short trips are just minutes, or hours. Hank tried to show me the math but..." He shrugs, offering a wry smile. "The point is, I /can/ do it. I don't travel like I used to. Like... to get upstairs, or out to the yard. But this... this is important. You all are literally /fighting the dead/ to get this stuff. Just tell me what we're short on. I can get it somewhere that hasn't fallen apart yet. And I'll just, you know, pretend I don't speak english when people talk to me." "I've just been writing notes. Signing. People assume I'm deaf, I guess. Safest that way. The world outside New York's still remarkably normal. We gone down to Georgia, mostly, for food-pickup." Jackson moves back to the counter, not taking more food to put it away but leaning heavily against it. "S'dangerous for you, though, yeah? I mean, if everything goes good that's good but this medicine ain't perfect, if somethin' flares up while you're travellin' --" He shudders. "How are you with a crowbar? Or just /burnin'/ through a skull? It's --" He frowns, his expression clearly troubled as he looks away from Aloke and to the counter instead. "-- It's gruesome. You'll see a lot y'wish y'ain't never seen. But there ain't no end of dead that need quieting and people that need help gettin' to safety. Find their hate for mutants ain't quite so high as their desire not to get et." Aloke sighs, and goes to the cupboard, apparently continuing what he came down here for in the first place, and retrieves two glasses. He talks while moving, "I just had the one time, when my temper... I left. But I don't know if this thing /can/ get me in that form. I know that's not a good answer, but that's what we're all doing, right? It's life and death out there, and I won't be able to live with myself if I just hide in here when people... when /you/ are out there. You could die too, doing what you're doing. But you do it anyway." Aloke moves to the sink, and goes through filling both glasses with water. "Making those trips might actually be easier for me. My new thing..." Aloke looks down briefly, a little embarrassed. "I'd need... extra clothing or something, to be much help in the field." "I could die," Jackson agrees, quiet. "-- But that ain't actually much different from how my life has been for a /long/ time. Food crisis is a change. People might any moment break in my house an' kill me, not so much." His head drops into his hands, elbows resting on the counter and his eye closing. "Know what you mean, though. Jus' sittin' around doin' nothin' ain't hardly even an option. -- Come back to the -- to Manhattan with us. It don't hardly feel like we're making a dent but the /new/ dead ain't growing so fast as they was. If we can get people somewhere safe and start cleaning things up --" His hand digs in at his eye. "It'll be a start." Aloke nods, listening quietly, looking from Joshua, and back to Jax while he speaks. He sets the full glasses on the counter and runs a hand through his hair. He makes eye contact when Jax makes his offer though, and nods solemnly. "Thanks, brother..." He takes two quick steps and wraps Jax in a fierce hug. When he steps back, he leans against the counter top. "Do you have to leave right now? I need to get some shit together first. And... tell Mallory." He glances at the two water glasses when he adds this bit. Jackson returns the hug, tight and fierce as well, his temperature uncomfortably higher than even his usual. "Nah. I'll put away this food and -- anyway I'd like to check in on a couple of my kids here." Presumably his advisees, given that /his/ kids have been MIA from the grounds for a while now. "Joshua can drop you back here when we're done each day, anyway. He lives in my building so it's --" He shrugs, and slowly pushes himself away from the counter, moving to start packing away the rest of the food. "Just text me when you're ready, 'kay? Or -- as ready as anyone can be for all this." Aloke takes a deep breath and nods. It's a 'we're really doing this' kind of gesture. "I'll be ready in an hour." He sighs, picking up the glasses, perhaps thinking ahead to an impending Conversation. "I'll see you soon." Jax nods, stopping long enough to squeeze Aloke briefly on the shoulder. Joshua watches this with small bright eyes. "See you in an hour."