ArchivedLogs:Pleas

Pleas
Dramatis Personae Jack, Jax, Rasa
In Absentia	2015-08-15 "I can handle your monsters, Jax. They are - not mine."
Location <XS> Pool - B1
Like any indoor pool, the room is lined with tile and smells faintly of chlorine, the rippling water occasionally casting wavy reflections across the walls when the sun shines through the high, narrow windows at just the right angle. Unlike many, the facility is respectably large, of Olympic length and of sufficient breadth for a respectable number of lanes, with an array of retractable diving boards set up at the deep end. It's still the breakfast hour -- technically, though its winding down, now. Regardless, on a Saturday it's early enough that the school hasn't yet gained its busy feel. Sort of sluggish. People taking advantage of sleeping in, staying in their rooms to watch Netflix in pajamas rather than /actually/ get out of bed. Some people, anyway. The pool room isn't quite deserted -- but just about. It's quiet except for the splashing of one body pulling through the water in a quick and smooth butterfly stroke. It's easy to hear Jax in the pool -- though harder, at the moment, to quite /see/ him. The room has been transformed, overgrown with a spill of dark viney tentacles that curl and stretch up out of the water as though it is home to some monstrous kraken, spilling out onto the tile and fading away once they near the door. Reeeeach. Grasp. Writhe. It makes it hard to accurately distinguish floor /or/ pool or the boundaries between the two, save by feel. "What the hell?" Jack asks it before he even realizes the words are leaving his mouth. He'd gotten up early like almost always and made his way downstairs to work out, electing to hit the pool this morning due to the heat. The floating trunks and towel stop in the doorway at the sight of the pool kraken though, startled out of the thoughts he was lost in by the sight. "What? What?" Rasa is scurrying out of the locker room, looking a little blurry-eyed, as if not fully awake yet. Hir hair is half damp against hir head while the other half hasn't hit the shower head yet. Ze is trying to rub water out of one eye as ze takes in the view in the room, a small groan in the back of hir throat. It takes a moment, but the harsh red danger color fading from hir form and leaving only a pale shade of wonderment. Ze yawns before checking the seal of the plastic bags that are wrapped around hir arms and secured with duct tape. "I'm going for it," ze says to jack as ze passes him slowly, letting hir feet feel for the edge of the pool, aided of course by memory. Steps are slow and careful until ze gets a little more confident - then suddenly ze doesn't have anything under hir and topples into the water. "-- Huhwhat? Ohgosh!" It's not a very monstrous sounding /voice/, slightly breathless, slightly startled, very Southern, lost somewhere in the middle of the tangle of black tentacles as the splashing stops. The writhing continues, though -- for a few seconds, though slowly the inky black tentacles grow smokier, blurrier, and mist off into nothingness. Jax is tucked halfway down the lane he has claimed for himself, one elbow draped over its dividing rope. Blue swim cap protecting his vibrantly dyed hair and blue goggles over his eyes. Black and blue jammers. As the tentacles fade, /he/ glows brighter, the colourful ink splashed across his skin taking on a soft luminescence that leaves them somewhat resembling stained-glass. "... Oh. Oh, I didn't -- I was a little. Lost, I -- 'pologies are --" His words cut off briefly as he ducks under the rope, resurfacing close by the edge where Rasa fell in. Peek? "... y'aright?" "I don't...something is wrong with the pool," Jack replies to Rasa, glancing over his shoulder. He steps aside to let Rasa by but a moment later it registers what was said. "Wait, what? Going for what?" he asks, taking a few steps into the room. He jumps when Rasa vanishes from sight and drops his towel as he starts moving towards the last place he saw the other mutant. But then there's a voice and the tendrils are disappearing and Jack just stares. As realization dawns on him, alarm drains away is an unseen frown forms on his face. "Oh..." he trails off. "Hello, Professor..." he trails off, voice lacking the friendly tone he usually had when talking to Jax. The invisible teen's gaze settles on the pool, Jack hoping Rasa is alright as well. Rasa is a little amused when ze comes up, despite what may be a bruise on hir left shin. Ze coughs a little water out as ze moves over to the side by touch and eventually sight and wrests those well wrapped arms on the ground. "Woooo. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine." Ze licks hir lips and gives one more lung clearing cough before resting on that edge. "You... have never been in the Danger Room, Jack, have you? It's definitely weirder than this." Ze glances over at Jax, opening hir mouth to speak, then ze looks over at Jack and clams up. Someone's grumpy. Jax's cheeks have flushed deep red. He dips his head in a quick nod, hooking an arm over the edge of the pool once Rasa says ze is alright. "OK. Good. I -- didn't mean t' -- be all." His nose wrinkles up. "... /Danger/-y. 'least in there there's safeguards." He fidgets, looking up at Jack. His face squinches up, fingers wiping against the lens of one side of the goggles. "You didn't get hurt none, did you, Jack?" A nervous fret has crept /back/ into his tone at Jack's reserve. "Not yet," Jack replies. "Faelan said he's going to take me in there for some training though," the invisible teen replies as he pads over to the edge of the pool. Sitting on the edge, he lets his legs dip into the water. Sharp eyes might spot a spooky, ghostly outline of his legs in the water when he moves them but otherwise he just looks like a swimsuit sitting on the edge of the pool. There's a pause before JAck answers Jax's question. "No. I didn't get hurt..." "That is - well, it's much more intense." Rasa turns and presses hir back to the pool's edge and turns hir attention to Jax, hir brows furrowing. "How about you? You hurt right now? Kind of worried about you." Ze moves hir left hand into the water to splash it against hir face. "Jack, do you have something on your mind? You kind of sound hurt." "Fae?" Jax's brows crease at this, though he doesn't say anything more. He looks down at his arms, at the droplets of water beading against his glowing ink. "Me -- oh. I'm -- sore? That's different, I guess. Fight Club. An' lots of laps. {I'm sorry} about the -- kraken." One hand runs absently over the other arm, fingertips pressing lightly against skin as though checking. Like maybe he is not entirely /sure/ whether or not he is hurt. His teeth scrape against his lower lip, wiggling slowly at his lip ring as he listens for Jack's answer. "Yeah, he warned me about it. He's just letting me try an obstacle course and one of his invisibility training things though," Jack remarks to Rasa. As Jax speaks, the invisible teen slips into the pool proper. He stays leaning against the edge as well, dunking his head under the water for a moment. Water droplets cling to him, running down nothingness but at least indicating where he is. He tenses at Rasa's question though and debates how to answer her. Eventually he lets out a breath. "I ran into one of those...people...that were part of the whole arrow attack again the other day..." he trails off, unseen gaze focusing on Jax. He's quiet for a few moments, just watching the photokinetic mutant. "And I saw the news about the plea," he says more quietly. "Well, you don't usually summon the kraken when you're just sore. Not all wounds are physical." Rasa scowls a little, but tries to keep up hir brave face. Jack's answer draws hir attention again. "Did you fight? Are you okay?" There's more worry behind hir tone than hir words allow hir to give expression to. Hir face darkens when he moves on to the second reason, hir gaze lowering. "Oh." The air around Jax tints faintly pink, his head bowing. "I think my mind's jus' been kinda busy. Full'a tangle, lately. Was trying to clear my head. I didn't mean for it t'come out so --" He gestures around the room, bobbing lower in the water as his hand comes away from the wall. "Oh! Oh gosh. Did they hurt you again? M'so -- I -- they ain't startin' nothin', are they?" His brows furrow deeply, the muscles in his shoulders knotting up as he exhales a slow breath. "... yeah." A little quieter. Heavier. "No, we didn't fight," Jack replies. "I wanted to...I -really- wanted to..." he trails off. "I stopped myself though," he says. "Felt like she wanted me to attack too. Lot of people around," he shrugs, the motion only caught by some of the water moving. "She might have sent those assholes I had to press the panic button about though," he adds. "Yeah," Jack's voice is just as quiet and heavy. He's tense, trying to sort out just what he wants to say in his head. "Why?" "Good. You're alive and not hurt. I'm glad." Rasa continues turning darker and darker, sliding under the surface for a moment and turning around. Ze resurfaces to rest hir arms on one of the lane dividing ropes, watching the other two from a little more of a distance. "Maybe I should let you two talk." "Good." There's noticeable relief in Jax's tone. "M'glad y'weren't hurt or nothin' -- though that's still concernin', I hope she ain't. /Followin'/ you or nothin' jus' t'start trouble." He scrubs a hand over his face, flipping his goggles up to rest on top of his swim cap. He hauls himself up to sit on the edge of the pool, legs still dangling down into the water. The look he gives Rasa is just /confused/; the look he gives Jack much the same. "... why what?" "She seemed as surprised to not see me as I was to see her," Jack mutters even if he did accuse her of stalking him. "She seems like she hangs around the outskirts of the lower east side though so she might still be looking for trouble," he adds. "Why'd you plead guilty?" he asks. "Why let them get away with...trying to kill us and blame the whole damn thing on you?" Rasa's response is just to nod to Jack, brows raised in a significant way. "...Oh." Jax's tattoos shine just a little brighter, starting to shift andmove against his skin. He leans forward, elbows resting against his knees, eye focused down into the pool. A plain blue eyepatch materializes to take the place of the goggles he just removed, covering up his one sunken-missing eye as his fingers lace together. "{I'm sorry,}" he answers first in quiet Spanish. "I don't -- /like/ people like that gettin' away with... near murder. But I -- they was charging me with three /felony/ counts on top of -- I don't know how that would've gone. Maybe not good." "And this is any better?" Jack's scowl is unseen. "Definitely bad is better than might?" he asks, glancing at Rasa and then back to Jax. "They're just going to try this again and then what happens...next time there won't even be a chance to fight their bullshit?" Rasa is quiet in the back ground, listening for a while before ze shifts uneasily in the water and speaks up. "Um... well. Two things: Jack is absolutely right. They are going to keep doing this and it's going to continue to get bad. The other? Jax is only one person. ... Er, professor Holland. He's just one person. He can't fight... every battle, physical or legal for all of mutant kind. We can't... always fight. Sometimes we just... can't. The movement needs to fight - but not everyone can all the time." Jax's fingers tighten against each other, curled firmer where they are interlaced. His eye stays fixed on the water as Jack speaks, Rasa's words met with a slow nod. Eventually his gaze lifts in Jack's direction, expression quietly calm. The light around him takes on a faint blueish glow, brief, fluttering, then fades back into the same bright glow still lighting his skin. "... No. It ain't -- /better/, I mean. They're gonna try again, probably. With us or with someone else but /I/ can't -- I can't /always/ be --" He pulls in a slow breath. "I didn't /want/ t'enter that plea. But there weren't nothin' -- no evidence 'cept /our/ word. Against alla theirs an' half their neighbors on top. An' if a jury'd chosen t'believe them --" His head shakes. "It weren't," he says, very slowly, "the best call to make. For -- for some kinda sense of /justice/ or the movement or. But I got kids t'look after. I was lookin' at /years/ an' years if I'd been found guilty on all those charges. An' there wouldn't've been nobody --" There's a small hesitation here, another faint shiver of light around him, before he continues: "... nobody there at home to bring up Spence. I -- apologize," comes out heavy and a little rougher, "but I can't. Always fight." "Someone just throw out those arrows that they shot us with?" Jack asks after a few moments. He falls silent, trembling slightly as he watches Jax. It's an extended silence before he turns and starts to climb out of the pool. "Those...assholes need to pay for almost killing us...not get to celebrate and make everyone suffer more..." he trails off, grabbing his towel with his telekinesis and heading towards the locker room. Rasa sinks a little lower in the water when the other two speak, hir ears still above water, but hir mouth is covered. Hir fingers dig into the different floater rings on the rope as ze watches Jack get up out of the pool and storm off, the shifter's coloration is almost black. Ze doesn't say much, but ze slips under the rope once more and moves over to Jax's side, sympathetic. "I... would offer to give you a hug, but... you probably want your thoughts to yourself." "No -- but the arrows don't matter, they didn't never /try/ to argue that they didn't shoot us, they argued I attacked 'em /first/ an' it was self-defense. An' since I'm so much more dangerous -- an' they're -- evidently close personal friends with the mayor --" Jax shakes his head, turning just slightly to watch Jack leave. His shoulders slump afterward, elbows returning to his knees and the lean of his droop angled in Rasa's direction. "Feel like my brain looks kinda like that kraken right now." His smile is small and crooked, though his tone is one of rueful agreement. "Weren't no choice I wanted to make. But I couldn't jus' -- take the risk of. Leavin' Spencer without --" His hands lift, palms scrubbing down over his face. "... s'right, though. They'll do it again." Rasa pulls hirself out of the water and plants hir hip on the edge of the pool and settles in next to Jax. "I don't think people understand what it's like to have people dependant on you. I don't even think I fully understand how or what that is like, but you are not your own. You belong to people. There is more to you than just a soldier in a war for equality and recognition and... well, safety." Ze scrubs hir face and looks down at hir arms, turning them over to stare at the bandages beneath the plastic wrapping. "None of this is easy." "My family's already been through so much on account'a this fight." Jax's words are a little muffled behind his palms. "But with everythin' goin' on right now -- things are jus' gonna be -- I /couldn't/. Couldn't jus' /leave/ them -- leave Spence with nobody, for -- what. For the cause. I don't know what's the point of fightin' for /all/ mutants if I can't even take care of the ones I love right here." The calm that had previously been in his voice is shakier, now. His fingers continue to press down against his eyes, rubbing there hard. He pulls in a quick breath when he drops his hands back to his lap, glancing over towards Rasa. "... thank you." "I don't know if there's anything I should be thanked for. It's just... well, it's obvious the amount of stress you're under and the repercussions it's had on your family before and after. It's... a statement of fact." Rasa wets hir lips and turns hir attention to the water as well. "Well, plus I love you and your family and wanting the best for all mutants is... really want I want for everyone." The bright light burning beneath Jax's ink starts to fade again, now. Jax lets out the breath he had drawn, slow and shuddery. "Oh gosh if you could see the emails I been gettin' since all this --" His small laugh is a little tired. "Maybe you don't feel like it needs thanks but I -- it's real. Nice to hear." His fingers curl against the edge of the pool, attention turning back down into the water as his shoulders roll. His next smile isn't exactly back to its usual /brightness/, but it comes a little bit easier all the same. "... did you want to swim?" "You... are doing the right thing for your family. You don't belong to the world." Rasa inhales deeply and turns to look at hir companion and gives a small smile. "I am displeased to hear about the emails. Maybe this is your fight right now - standing by what you are doing and knowing it is the right thing for you right now... and believing it despite everything." Ze glances at the pool and shrugs. "Maybe. Dunno. Might just float." "Maybe." Jax's voice is soft. Kind of uncertain. He flips his goggles into place and slips back down into the water, ducking beneath the lane dividers back into a lane. "Floating is good too. Something about water kinda -- helps. For me, anyway. Though," his nose wrinkles up apologetically, "I apologize in advance if I start turnin' the water into monsters again. Jus'. Holler at me." "I can handle your monsters, Jax. They are - not mine." Rasa gives a small nod before pushing off the edge and lowering hirself back into the water, guiding hirself to the deeper end of the pool.