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Dramatis Personae Thomas, Mallory, Lorna	2014-02-06 Mallory and Thomas run into their new colleague at the town’s dive bar
Location <WES> Harry's Hideaway - Salem Center
A cozy nook of a bar, Harry's has been run by the same grizzled proprietor for decades. The fare they serve is plain and typical bar food, but solid and well-prepared, and what the alcohol lacks in variety it makes up for in quality. Close proximity and long-developed relationships with the staff at Xavier's means they turn a blind eye to the mutants who frequent the bar. Lorna has already been here a while by 9pm. Her classes don't start until Spring term so she often finds herself with more time than she knows what to do with at the moment. Getting off campus will become a rare enough thing soon, so it looks like she's taking the opportunity to do so now. She's sitting at the bar wearing hiking boots and cargo pants, but a slightly dressy button-up black shirt. Her version of 'dressed up' apparently, but it's a dive bar anyway, so who cares? Her hair is loose down her back. She has a tall glass of beer in front of her, still mostly full, and tray of onion rings, only about half full at this point, and looks like no one's interested in chatting with her as the two stools on either side of her are vacant. Dressed for the weather whether he needs it or not, Thomas makes his way into the pub with the smell of cigarettes on him. His skin is coated over with the long care of practice to look human, and a pageboy cap resides upon his head to conceal matters further. His long woolen coat lays open though to the cold and chill of the evening, showing a button up shirt in navy blue, tucked into a pair of slacks in a charcoal grey. Looking about the place, he heads for the bar counter to locate a stool, and seeing one open he slides up onto it with some measured practice. "A pint of something dark. Whatever stout is on tap there," he says with an oxford accent as he actually finally bothers to look around and he inclines his head to the green haired woman a moment without much thought, before there is a pause as if he's trying to remember. The striking looking woman who enters the Hideaway has been a somewhat familiar face in the nearby town of late, though hers is not precisely a face one would forget. Tonight she travels alone, perhaps a bit out of character for her; a sedate black and white reusable bag is slung over her shoulder, bulging with recent purchases. She is barely dressed for the wintery weather, a long black wool coat left unbuttoned to show off her cream colored button up blouse, the top few buttons left undone to frame dainty collar bones and a gold chain necklace. A pair of black slacks go a long way to mask her unusual legs, though the clack of hooves against the flooring indicate there is more than meets the eye to her. Her long hair is pulled back into a neat braid, doing precious little to hide her curling black horns, or hide the deep red of her skin - or the black eyes. Spying Thomas, and the new teacher with the green hair, Mallory smiles brightly, heading towards the last vacant stool, hesitating briefly before sliding into place on the stool, her long tail curling slightly to keep out of the way. "Cider, please," she requests, her Oxford accent a perfect match to Thomas's. << Evening, Brother of mine. You look quite human tonight. >> Lorna glances over at Thomas when he sits at the bar but pauses, perhaps while she tries to figure out where she knows him from. He looks so different in the makeup! But when Mallory comes in, the other twin, it all clicks. "Oh hey you two," she says in her plainly flat Vermont accent. "I heard some of the teachers like to come in here, but I haven't seen anyone all afternoon. Or well, I mean," she tips her head to a dark, empty corner booth. It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to sit there for any length of time. "Logan was over there for a couple hours, but he wasn't interested in chatting." She grins and shrugs. Offering her hand first to Thomas and then to Mallory she says, "I'm Lorna, the new X... new physics teacher." She blushes slightly at her near slip, but the quick glance over her shoulder confirms the bartender isn't even listening. << Why thank you sister dearest. Have you purchased anything for me this evening? >> Thomas thinks at his incoming twin, then looks to Lorna as she speaks. "Ah, that explains it. I couldn't quite put a finger on it. And well, I had been doing grading at least. I figured I could use a stout after some of the answers. Speaking of which," he gingerly slides the pint over towards him, watching the head disapate a little disapointingly as he lifts it and takes a sip carefully before setting it back down, knowing better than to hold his glass too long. Licking the bit of foam from his lips, he nods. "Not bad. Not as good as home, but that is what you get." Accepting Lorna's hand and shaking it, his hand is rather warm even with the glove still on it. "A pleasure to meet a fellow science teacher. I'm handling the chemistry matters for now." <<Do you think the green is natural of dyed? With the school as it is I wouldn't doubt either case.>> << Oh, I don't know, I imagine the lipgloss I picked up would look just /darling/ with your complexion. >> Mallory snarks back towards Thomas, silently, accepting the cider from the bartender with a thankful nod. "This is a decent little bar. And it certainly beats mixing my own drinks in the teacher's lounge some times," Mallory chuckles and offers a smile, returning the handshake with an overly warm, sturdy grip. "Quite nice to meet you, Lorna," she says cheerily, chuckling and glancing towards the corner, "I do not think that man is capable of anything other than growling and lurking. In the months I have been here, I do not believe he has said a word to me." Thomas's grading woes get a snorted response, and Mallory grins, "I'll trade you. You are more than welcome to delight in the English essays that have been turned in this week." The younger twin is kind enough not to start reading some of the more interesting ones to him. << That is going to sound like a fouled up pickup line if you ask it. But I'd say natural. Because why not. >> "Oh chem, that's right," Lorna says, remembering something about Thomas's file perhaps. She squinches up her nose, thinking for a second and then her eyes light up (only figuratively). "Right, so that makes you Thomas. And... you're Mallory, right? I got a whole 'meet your colleagues' packet when I moved in." Lorna chuckles and picks up her beer in one hand and an onion ring in the other. "Oh hey, you two want some rings? I can't eat all these anyway." << In a bad mood without your firefly? Did someone take the sky away from you? >> Thomas mentally snarks back, an image of the Serenity coming to mind. "Ah yes, I remember that packet. Mostly I just looked at the picture and their subjects." At the offer of onion rings he smiles and snags one before the offer is rescinded. "You will find that there are few who are more willing to accept that offer than ourselves. These winter months require a little extra fuel for the fire as it were." He smiles and takes a bite of the ring. << I'm not that rude. Who would ask someone that on their first meeting honestly? >> There is a mental eyeroll accompanying that as he takes another swig of stout. "Oh, goodness, apologies for that. Yes, I'm Mallory, that is Thomas," she gestures at herself and grins, before waving a well manicured hand towards her brother, "Promise, the pop quiz was wholey unintentional. At least on my part." She glances at Thomas with dark eyes, sipping at her cider slowly, a handful of badly pronounced Chinese insults filtering through her mind at him << Bite me. He's wrapped up in a painting right now, so I took the opportunity to get a bit of shopping done. >> The offer of shared food gets a curious glance, but she accepts, snagging a ring from the offered plate, "Thank you!" Nibbling on the breading, she nods in agreement to Thomas, "Pub food. Just a bit of a weakness of mine." She washes down the bite of onion ring with more cider << Eh, never seen you in a pub setting, to be fair. For all I know you turn into one of /those/ guys. >> The tone of the thought suggests she doesn't think that of her brother, though. Lorna smiles and seems pleased to just be sharing some food and chat with real people. She nods at Thomas's explanation and asks, "Oh Tom, do you two experience the calorie spikes? I was talking to Dr. Mc- uh, Hank, about it." She looks down, a little unused to addressing Hank by his first name. She sips her beer and says, "And um, sorry to correct you Mal, but pub food is a /strength/." She grins and holds her glass up for anyone who'd like to clink with it before pulling back a long sip. << Zhufu Ni, Mei-Mei >> Thomas says, the feeling of a mental bow to a worthy sparring partner. "It is nice to meet you formally Lorna either way." At the shortening of his name, a brow raises and he looks over to Mallory. << Well that certainly sounded odd addressed to me. >> "And yes, we do have a more intensive caloric need. Myself more than most," he says, and he does look fairly angular. "Still, At least you seem to have missed the previous excitement. Now everything just seems to be making the world nutters with super hero outfits and technicolor out of doors. So welcome anyway." << Prat >> is her only response to the intentionally butchered Chinese greeting. Mallory giggles around a mouthfull of onion ring, when Lorna shortens Thomas's name << Goodness, I don't think I have heard anyone address you like that. Welcome to the Colonies? >> She crunches on the onion ring happily, finishing off the first one she had taken, nodding in agreement, "We both have higher than average caloric requirements, yes. Thomas has a more constant need, mine is a bit more of a spike in need, but still overall higher." Raising her glass in a salute to Lorna, Mallory taps the glass, taking a long pull of her drink, "Mm, pub food is certainly good for making up those calories. Give me a good basket of fish and chips, and I'm set for a bit." << Gah, I need to find a place that can do a decent fish and chips around here. >> she offers idly to Thomas, pondering idly. "Yes, lovely weather we're having of late - chocolate rain that turned to mousse when left out?" the librarian chuckles, snagging another onion ring, "The rest has been decidedly... interesting, to say the least. Never a dull moment?" Lorna frowns slightly and nods, "Well, we did get some of the word-plague out on the west coast, although it was not nearly as extreme. Plus we had all of you to take cues from." She's quiet for a moment before taking a deep breath and brightening up. "This new dream stuff is fun though, huh? I mean, it seems harmless enough." She crunches an onion ring flat between her fingers and pops the whole the thing into her mouth. "Hrm, dream stuff doesn't follow normal chemical properties. I had taken some of the chocolate back to the lab. Unstable to say the least, and I've experimented with some unstable stuff before." Thomas shakes his head and lets out a sigh. "I can honestly say however, that home looked far far more tempting to return to. But well, its hard to leave family." << I know you didn't want to leave them. >> Taking another onion ring he chomped it down. "Still, I am glad that things don't seem as dangerous for now." Mallory winces slightly at the mention of the word-plague, "Yes, that was a rather difficult time around here, for a number of people." She sighs, shaking her head and downing more of her cider in a pull. << I know. Couldn't bring myself to leave. Then or now. >> she adds to Thomas, color rising to her cheeks - perhaps it is the cider going to her head already. "Non-scientific dream stuff is far preferable to zombies, I must say. Happy oddities are decidedly preferable to the alternatives." Running a hand along the curl of her horn, she shrugs, brightening, "Harmless, yes it would seem. And cheery. The costumes were a cute touch, I must admit. Several students were wearing them to classes." And at least a handful of the teachers, as well. Lorna snap-points and shakes her head at Mallory. "Now see, Mal, I can't believe I missed /that/." She turns on her stool, takes her beer in hand and faces the twins more directly. "So tell me, what costumes did you two get? I'm so jealous. I've seen a few of the student going about and... Um, that art teacher, Mr Suresh? I forget his first name." She sips from her beer and adds, "He's kind of good looking, don't you think?" "It disapeared pretty quick. I wasn't too concerned with it." Thomas's face was pretty emotionless looking at that. "Still, I shouldn't spend too much time out. School night and all." He shakes his head and offers a bemused smile as he drains the rest of his stout. << Try not to set her on fire too much. >> "Have a pleasant evening you two. This wasn't bad. But yes, I could go for finding a good place for fish and chips." Sliding out of the stool, he readjusted his wool coat and tugs at his hat a little better. << You're no fun. They were awesome costumes. >> Mallory snorts, downing the last of her cider with a smirk, providing the answer Thomas left out, "The Wonder Twins." She grins, obviously quite amused at the costumes that had been given to the both of them. The comment about Aloke gets a soft cough, and a touch of a mental growl that only Thomas is able to hear. Mallory clears her throat and nods to Thomas, "Have a good evening, Thomas. I'll let you know if I manage to find a decent chip shop." << I'm not that bad, >> thinks the growling demon woman. "Aloke," Mallory finally offers, idly spinning her empty cider glass between hands, "He's quite dashing, especially in that Lightray costume. And an absolute sweetheart." There is a pause, and she clears her throat, color rising to her cheeks, adding sheepishly, "And we've been dating since October." Staking her teritory early on, just in case the new girl gets ideas - all without fiery intervention. "Oh ok, have a good night Tom!" Lorna enthuses as he gets up to leave. She touches his shoulder and adds, "It was nice to meet you." She smiles at Mallory's explanation, excited about the Wonder Twings apparently, and snaps her fingers when Mallory says the man's first name. Then her expression drops though the floor. "Oh, oh geez, I'm so sorry!" she says, apparently not as aware or tentative about the newly forbidden word as everyone else. "I didn't mean anything by that, I promise." She reaches out to rest a hand on Mallory's forearm, if she's able. "/I/ rather thought they were clever costumes. Thomas can be a bit of a spoil sport at times," Mallory chuckles, shaking her head and grinning at her brother as he heads out. She winces at the apology, "Oh, please, no, no need to apologize." The color rises into her cheeks, and she continues, patting Lorna's hand with hers, and chuckling nervously, "It was more a statement of, well, information. And perhaps an agreement that he is good looking." The demonic looking teacher smirks impishly, not necessarily elaborating further. "Phew," Lorna says, leaning her elbow on the bar. "That's a relief, thanks. Last thing I need is to come back and piss off all my colleagues, and be terrified go into the library." She grins and finishes her beer, but when the bartender offers another she just asks for the check. "I swore off dating while I was working on my PHD, but it seems like our school might not be the best spot to hunt for single folks. But you sure lucked out." She smirks and eats the last onion ring as well, glancing over her shoulder as Thomas crosses in front of the window. "Library is probably one of the safer places," Mallory says with a smirk, starting to gather her things, "Books are sacrosanct. I won't damage them, no mater how angry." She chuckles, eyeing Lorna as the other woman glances off out the window, offering a quiet, "Mm hmm." The smirk takes on a more mischievous bent, as she leans her chin in her hand, playing with the condensation on the bar top. "/He's/ single," she offers, with all the subtle tact of a meddling little sister, jet black eyes twinkling, knowing Thomas was far enough away to not hear her comment.