ArchivedLogs:Squeaky Wheel

Squeaky Wheel
Dramatis Personae Sebastian, Micah, Jackson, Ghost
In Absentia	12 December 2013 Things aren't going entirely swimmingly at Xavier's. (After this incident)
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. It is bitterly cold, once dinnertime at the mansion has fallen. Sebastian is not nearly as bundled up as he probably should be, given this, barefoot in leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. He's on the front porch in the /process/ of bundling, slipping on legwarmers over his leggings, skirt over that, sweatshirt over his shirt. There's a towel draped over the porch swing, damp and probably in the process of freezing, and there are droplets of water still in his hair that /have/ frozen. His backpack is packed and waiting leaned up against the porch railing as he dresses. Micah is quite /decidedly/ bundled up as he arrives from the direction of the parking area, very little of him showing between assorted cold weather gear. Hazel eyes peek out from between orange Jayne hat and nearly-matching candy-corn striped knit scarf, his torso hidden entirely by his olive puffy coat, hands lost in green gradient-striped gloves, feet in heavy boots. Faded blue jeans do make an appearance below the coat's hem. He has a messenger bag slung crosswise from one shoulder, bouncing on his hip. Spotting 'Bastian, he waves enthusiastically as he approaches. Jackson emerges from the mansion, bundled already, sparkly purple boots over his red skinny jeans, silvery coat, red and black striped hat and scarf and mittens. He has his messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and a thermos in one hand. He offers the thermos to Sebastian, with a small frown. "Were you out in the lake, oh gosh, honey-honey here -- have somethin' warm." He holds the thermos -- hot Darjeeling -- out to Bastian. "-- Micah! Hi, honey-honey." A few moments later, Ghost also emerges from the mansion, carrying cocoa! Dressed in a large black jacket, thick jeans, and as usual barefoot, the purple skinned teenager. As she heads towards the bench, she spots the trio out there, stopping and waving. "Hey Sebastian! Mr. Holland! ...I forgot your name, sorry.". She says the last line towards Micah, scratching her head. "How are you guys?". Ghost sits on the bench, taking a sip of cocoa. "Jax," Sebastian reflexively corrects 'Mr. Holland' even before Jax can. He wriggles into a long soft skirt, sitting down alongside Ghost so that he can tug on socks and boots. "Hi, Ghost. Hi, Ba. I was in the lake, Shane won't come /out/ of it. -- /oh/ hot." He reaches eagerly for Jax's thermos. "-- That's Micah," he informs Ghost happily, "he's my dad. Other-dad. Cyborg-dad. How's your story coming?" As Micah reaches the porch, his arms are open to hug /someone/. Maybe Jax, but his hands are suddenly full of hot liquids. Maybe 'Bastian? Now /he/ has the hot liquids instead. Definitely Jax. He wraps his arms around the other man and squeezes tight. “Hot's about the only way t'/live/ through this weather. It shouldn't be allowed t'be this cold. “Hi. Micah, yes.” He shivers as he looks at 'Bastian. “How're you out here an' /wet/? Shane.../won't/ come out? Is he okay?” His brows knit at this news. "S'just Jax, honey-honey," Jax's correction is also reflexive. He relinquishes his thermos to Bastian, wrapping his arm around Micah in a tight squeeze. "Thanks for pickin' us up." He presses a kiss to Micah's temple, and then just bounces, restless on his toes. "S'Darjeeling," he tells Micah, "you should have some." He frowns, too, looking to B. "-- What happened with Shane? S'/freezin'/ out there. Worse than." His hand lifts, automatically lifting towards his head though with his hat on there's not much hair to scuff through. "Story?" His head tips curiously at Ghost. "Got somethin' interestin' in the works?" "Oh, right, Micah!". Ghost smiles, taking another sip of cocoa as she turns her head. "Shane's still in the lake? Mr. Suresh must of seriously pissed him off..." She's mostly speaking to herself, but she's loud enough for the others to hear. Ghost turns to reply to Sebastian. "It's going good. Already talked to all of my sources, just need to put everything together and publish it." She turns to Jackson, nodding. "Yeah, Shane tipped me into something big. Administration apparently is discriminatory to physical mutants. Huge stuff.". She smiles, the story being so close to publish that she doesn't really mind talking about it. "Got permission to write it, so, all is good.". "Mr. Suresh? What happened this time?" Sebastian frowns, taking a sip of tea and offering the thermos to Micah. "Yeah he doesn't want to come out. /Even/ when I said we were going home for the night." His gills flutter at the talk of Ghost's story, until he wraps his scarf around his neck. "Did you talk to anyone besides us? Taylor might be a good -- or Hope or Brett --" He shrugs, leaning down to lace his boots. “Totally selfish. Gets me /you guys/ quicker.” Micah smiles at the kiss, finally releasing his hold on Jax. “I will drink /so much/ tea, don't you worry.” The smile fades at the talk of Aloke and Shane butting heads again, though his feathers clearly ruffle at the talk of discriminatory practices. “What? /Here/? Has this been addressed? Did somethin' specific happen t'you kids?” His brows dip lower beneath his hat, frown apparent in the crinkling of the bridge of his nose even if his mouth is mostly covered by scarf. “Is Shane okay? Would it help for us t'try t'talk to 'im? S'too cold for 'im t'be spendin' all night in the lake, 'specially with no one up here as can check on 'im while you're home...” "Oh, gosh, Aloke, what's gone on now? Is Shane aright, he really shouldn't -- he should come home with us if somethin's happened t'upset him." Jackson exhales heavily, arms wrapping around his chest. His teeth scrape slowly against his lower lip, his expression creasing into a deep frown at the subject of the story. His arms tighten, squeezing in around himself. "Did -- did somethin' happen, B? Have you been havin' problems too, Ghost?" Ghost sighs, not really wanting to rat out what happened but does so anyways to help. "Well, Shane couldn't find his clothes, and was talking about how they've been stolen in the past. Mr. Suresh, whilst he didn't exactly /say so/, basically thought Shane was lying. Shane cursed him out, and dived back into the lake, so me and Mr. Suresh went and found his clothes." She sighs, taking another sip of cocoa. "I feel like it's my fault. I made a big deal about him not wearing clothes, so..mrr." She looks towards Jax, shaking her head. "Oh, no, no. Shane just told me about this and what happened with him and Sebastian and Ivan, and about other incidents in the past, nothing recent, don't worry!" Ghost smiles, but there's a bit of gloom behind it with the whole thing. "Just, Shane gave me the story and it's a good one to cover, so." "They /have/ been stolen in the past. I started keeping mine in --" Sebastian's frown deepens, eyes cutting off towards the distant lake. "-- well, where other kids don't find them. And I don't think I've /ever/ heard Shane lie." He tugs on his coat, pulling a hat on over his spiky hair. He fidgets restlessly, toying with the ends of his scarf. "I don't think it's your fault. Shane gets kind of twitchy about -- well a lot of things. But people accuse him of lying a lot. We don't," Sebastian says with a thin tired smile, "have the kinds of faces anyone trusts." He pulls a knee up towards his chest, his other foot braced against the porch and very slowly rocking the bench swing he and Ghost sit on. "Nothing big," he assures Jax and Micah, "nothing recent exactly, it's just. It's like we get treated more strictly -- /like/ that thing with Ivan. And Taylor's gotten detention for /silly/ stuff when Dennis does much worse and gets away with it. And --" He shakes his head. "You know, I don't think anyone -- on staff even /realizes/ they're doing it? So maybe the story will be /good/. Because I think everyone here -- /means well/. It's just -- I mean I /know/ even other mutants think we're freaks a lot. Here it's more like. When it's a pattern it's hard to shake the feeling like -- /some/ people feel more like we're kind of pets to be trained." “People've been stealin' your clothes? That's not okay... Don't s'pose y'know who? Would it help t'get some lockers put in one of the outbuildin's on the lake for you two? 'Cause bein' in the lake's /kinda/ an important thing for y'all's health. Can't have people makin' off with your clothes just 'cause y'leave 'em lakeside.” Micah shakes his head at Ghost, palms held out in reassurance when she reports feeling guilty. “No, honey, it's too cold t'be outside without clothes on. An' enough of a social standard not t'be naked in public that /someone/ would fuss, regardless. It ain't like y'were bein' unreasonable t'bring it up. Ain't no kinda good that Mr. Suresh defaulted t'thinkin' Shane was /lyin'/, though. Ain't nothin' in his past behaviour t'make somebody think that right off. Kiddo's got some less-than-stellar behaviours, sometimes, but lyin' ain't one of 'em.” Micah's frown deepens at 'Bastian's additions. “I weren't...too well informed about the thing with Ivan. That was...before it was as much any of my business, really. Is it particular staff members bein' problematic or in general?” His gaze slides over to Jax. “Maybe we need t'set up a meetin'...” "Ivan -- brought a swarm of bees into the rec room and stung Shane and Rasa. B bit him when the bees started attackin', Ivan got detention, he got suspended for a week," Jackson gives the summary-version of the incident. "An' no, Ghost, honey, that's fine, public nudity is -- well, I've talked with him about it, ain't really a social convention he /gets/ but it weren't unreasonable of you." His mittened hand pats restlessly against his arm, and his weight rocks back and forth from heel to toe. "B, if people are stealin' y'all's clothes that -- if kids are /bullying/ you --" His teeth wiggle restlessly at his lip ring. "-- When's this story'a yours gettin' printed, Ghost? /Especially/ if this problem is widespread -- might could be helpful to -- yeah. Set up a -- maybe more'n one meeting. Get the whole staff in on learnin' to do /right/ by all of you." "I'll have it done tonight. It'd probably not be published until this week's paper but I can just mass-print it and hand it out, unofficially, if that'd help." Ghost says, helpfully, smiling grimly. "I myself..haven't really been discriminated on, but I always have this feeling that somewhere, people are talking bad about me, so..yeah." She takes another sip of cocoa, sighing. "I could check on Shane tonight, if you guys would like? That is, if he doesn't come out." "If he /does/ come out of the water after we leave, I think it'd be nice to stop in by his dorm and see how he's doing," Bastian says gratefully. "But I'm not sure if he will." He blushes, still rocking the swing slowly, his head dipping to fix his gaze on the ground. "Yes. One of my best friends is a telepath. Though I'd know who even if Taylor /weren't/. It's a small school." His brow wrinkles, chin dropping to rest on his knee. "It's fine, Pa. I mean, the stuff with the other kids. You can just -- look into the administration part of things. Please?" “An' no one brought up at the time how...lopsided an' even over-reachin' that was?” Micah asks in reply to the recounting of the story. “Y'know who.” He pauses, biting his lip before continuing. “Then y'know if it's just friends playin' pranks or if it's malicious. It needs t'be addressed, B. It's /not/ okay. When y'let people act this way without any consequences, they get t'thinkin' it /is/ okay. An' it only gets worse.” A heavy breath puffs his scarf out a little. “We'll deal with the administration things. I'm more'n willin' t'be the obnoxious, fussy parent always pokin' 'em when there's issues. Prob'ly could use /more/ of that 'round here, considerin'...how many folks as don't /have/ parents t'be fussy for 'em. Or who wouldn't.” His head shakes slightly at Ghost. “Only if...I'd rather go try'n get 'im t'come out before we leave. He ain't the sort as does well broodin' off on 'is own when he's upset.” "I /did/, I just. Was harder for me to have much pull there I guess because -- they're my kids an' I'm protective but --" Jackson's voice is more edged, though the frown in his expression tells less of anger and more of guilt. "B, we'll talk to the administration for sure but if -- if the other /kids/ are pickin' on you that's gotta be dealt with too." His nose crinkles up as he admits to Ghost: "It's /high school/. Think no matter /who/ you are, /someone's/ talkin' bad somewhere. But s'always best if we can -- keep that to a minimum. S'the next paper come out on Monday?" His rocking is growing more restless. "Well, yeah, this isn't my first high school. Still, was hoping things'd be different here." Ghost sighs, taking another sip of cocoa. "Mondays, yeah. Don't know if I can squeeze it in by then, depends if they already have their articles or not, but if I can't, I'll try and publish it independently." She turns to Bastian, smiling. "If you guys can't get him out, yeah, I'll try talking to him. Though, if he won't talk to you guys, he'd definitely won't talk to me, so. Just trying to help." "S'my first high school." Sebastian's smile is crooked, his eyes still fixed on the ground. "My first school actually and I kind of -- don't want to be that whiny kid who tattles on other kids so his parents come running." He drops his leg to the ground, slowly getting to his feet. "I'll see if I can get him. But if I can't I don't -- think he's likely /to/ come out all night so you might not even have a chance, Ghost." Micah's gloved hand moves to Jax's back, rubbing in a gentle circle over his shoulder blade. "Honey, it's...different. I'm sure it ain't any lack of tryin' on your part. These folks are also your superiors an' folks who used t'be /your/ teachers an'...I'm sure they're used t'bein' in /that/ position with you. I ain't got none of those qualms. Maybe it'll help." He nods somewhat rueful agreement at the assessment of high school. "It's...teenagers. An' teenagers'll talk nonsense an' do stupid things. But they gotta learn so they'll /stop/ actin' like teenagers. Some folks never do, an' that's how y'end up with people spray paintin' filth all over the shop front at Hanna's bakery an' such." His weight shifts on his feet, rocking toes to heels and back. "We'll have t'see what we can do about gettin' t'Shane t'night. No way of knowin' 'til we try." "I can't stop callin' most of them sir an' ma'am," Jackson admits with a blush, "it ain't been long at all since they was /my/ teachers, too, most'a them. And /all/'a them I'm a sight younger than." He drags his teeth against his lip again, leaning slightly back into Micah's touch. "S'good of you," he tells Ghost. "That you're writin' this. Lotta people just write off stories like that. Think it might get the ball rollin' on doin' some good. I feel like -- actually in most /any/ social-justice-minded group I worked with, it gets /so easy/ to say: well, we're doin' so much better than there rest'a the world /here/ an' /here/ and then just -- get defensive an' prickly if someone points out other places we're lacking." He snakes a hand around Micah, patting at the other man's pocket. "Car keys, sweetie? If B's getting /back/ in the freezy-water I think we'd best have the heat runnin' when he gets back up here." Ghost nods to Sebastian. "Right. Good luck to you, on getting him out." She turns to Jackson and Micah, nodding as well. "Anything I can do to get the truth out there. I write to make a difference, after all." She smiles, before getting up herself. "Well, I should go finish that article and send it to the editor. Try and get it in for Monday. If not, expect it sooner." Ghost smiles, before heading to the door. "Goodbye, Sebastian, Micah, Mr. H- Jax." Sebastian sneaks his arm briefly around Ghost before she leaves, for a tiny-quick hug. He deposits Jax's thermos in Micah's hands, starting already to unwind his scarf. "You do both kind of look like you're still /my/ age, you know. -- I mean, and people think /I'm/ like twelve so -- maybe Spence will break the mold and grow up big and /rugged/." He gives a tiny crook of smile at this, and hops down the steps. "OK! Give me like -- fifteen minutes though. I have about a million layers to get on and off. I'll be back soon!" He sets off at a jog, towards the lake. “That's...kinda what I was imaginin',” Micah replies softly to Jax. He unclips his keys from a pocket on his messenger bag, handing them over. “Thanks, hon. For squeaky-wheelin' it, at least. 'Preciate havin' this kinda thing brought t'my attention.” A small wave is added to this commentary as Ghost excuses herself. “Pssh. I'll have y'know I'm almost thirty at this point. S'practically ancient.” The twitch of his scarf might be a grin, even if this particular joke is usually one shared with Shane. “Oh, man. I regret t'inform, but Spence looks pretty much exactly like I did at that age. Just...well, he's got the benefit of none of my genetics, I guess.” He chuckles a bit at this, until 'Bastian gets ready to run off. “Would it help for one or both of us t'tag along lakeside, hon? Or is it better...just you?” "Y'/might/ be almost thirty but how often d'you still get carded, mmm?" Jax takes the keys with a grin and waggles his other hand towards Ghost. "See you tomorrow, honey-honey. And yeah -- thanks." He gives Bastian a quick squeeze on the shoulder as the boy passes them. "Oh, their -- place they sleep under there is like. /Way/ under the water, I think if we're there or not there it'll be six'a one, half-dozen of the other. We'd need like. Scuba gear -- actually Daiki /has/ scuba gear," he admits with a quiet laugh. "But that's for summer." He pecks Micah on the cheek lightly, skipping down the stairs as well. “Ancient with a youthful /glow/, what can I say?” Micah swats playfully at Jax for that comment. “Okay...we'll go wait in the car an' let the kids do kid things. Like breathin' underwater.” He chases after the other man toward the van and the promise of /heat/.