ArchivedLogs:The Perfect Gift

The Perfect Gift
...exactly perfect.
Dramatis Personae Shane, Micah, Rasa, Lucien, Desi	30 March 2014 Lucien brings Shane a present. (Part of the Future Past TP.)
Location <XS> Playground
Set on the still-expansive grounds around the side of the school, this area is to the outdoors rather what the rec room is to the indoors. There's a large basketball court out here; a fenced-off tennis court adjacent. Further distant there are setups for other sports -- a large track, a soccer field. Closer in to the school, though, in its own large enclosure adjacent to the basketball and tennis courts, is the playground, a huge expanse of equipment set up on alternating plots of slightly squishy flooring and mulch. Centrally there is a large sprinkler-fountain, not always /on/ but it can be turned on with a push of a button; spreading out around this is the actual playground equipment, sturdy and varied. A huge dome constructed in honeycombed interlocked poles and rope netting rises hiiiigh for climbing; a large swingset holds four pairs of swings. A large roundabout in bright colours stands in one corner near a long see-saw. The huge bridge-and-tunnel castle structure at one end has many routes of entry, from poles to climb up (or slide down) to a small climbing /wall/. Monkeybars. Four different slides of varying lengths and spiraling. For the adventurous, between things to climb on and jump between and bounce across it is probably possible to skirt one end of the playground and back without touching the ground, though it might take a particularly adept feat of balance and agility. Or possibly wings. The playground is still kind of drippy-wet, though the rain has tapered off today. It's eveningtime, dark and with the day's balmy temperatures slowly dropping, though here on the playground the electric lights keep the place illuminated well enough. Shane is out here perched way-high-up atop the very large climbing dome, just one slight-silhouetted figure dark against the backdrop of cloudy silver-grey sky and lamps. He should /probably/ be more dressed than he is, jeans and a t-shirt and one very damp sweatshirt that is unlikely doing anything against the cold. But at the moment he's just lying stretched between two strands of rope netting, elbows and knees hooked over to keep his place. Staring up at the sky. Micah is significantly more bundled up, black thrift store hoodie with the hood up buried now beneath his olive green puffy coat, faded jeans and hiking boots sticking out beneath. A few stray sneaky-bits of auburn hair are starting to spike in the damp where they peek out from beneath the hood. He is just exiting the back door of his van, a little jump getting both feet to the wet pavement before he pushes the doors closed with a thud. A tap of the lock and alarm setting button in his pocket also coaxes out a little chirp sound from Lucille before he turns toward the front door of the school. Rasa slips out the back of the school building, dressed in loose wrap around pants and a tee shirt, with a giant rain poncho over the top. The neck seems a little strained for the time being, but it seems functional. Ze is barefoot right now, enjoying the feel of the wet ground below hir feet. Hir form is a bit distorted after the incident the day before, hir skin still pale with an Thai slant to hir blue eyes. Ze is also taller than normal, with broader shoulders, but is also missing hir usual additions. Ze turns toward the swings to start, not noticing Shane until ze is seated. There is another car pulling up into the school's parking behind Lucille, a black Aston Martin that seems a little out of place alongside the cargo van's bulk. Desi is first to hop out of the passenger seat, in green sweater-dress over thick grey tights, ankle boots, a wool coat open over top. She drags her backpack out of the back together with a weekend duffel bag. "Micah!" Her voice is chirrupy-light; she swings the backpack onto her shoulders before flitting over to offer the older man a hug. "Luci says he's actually going to stay and /socialize/ tonight." Her eyes are wide, her lean-in towards Micah a little conspiratorial. "If you get him to do this /regularly/ I should start paying you." "/Hah/." Lucien's voice is softer. He slips out of the driver's seat, leaning up against the open door for a moment to let his eyes skim over Micah. "That would be novel. Good evening, Micah." He is not particularly dressed for cold, a sweater in gradients of black-to-grey worn over a button down with a pair of jeans. "You would not happen to know where your son is, would you? The, ah --" His brows crease faintly. "Snarky one." The snarky one is currently swinging lightly from his rope-netting perch, pulling himself up a little farther to rest his head comfortably against the net. "Rain's done for now," he comments absently down to Rasa. "They serving dinner yet?" He tips his head to glance over towards the mansion curiously. He shivers briefly in a faint breeze, nose twitching at the scents it carries to him. His teeth bare in a brief grin that -- really only the nighttime /sky/ gets the full benefit of. "Evenin', Miss Desiree!" Micah scoops the girl a bare inch off the ground with his hug before setting her back on her feet. "He told me much the same on the phone," he reports before shifting up several notches in red shading at Desi's comment on payment quickly followed by Lucien's...Lucien. "Evenin, Lucien." The second greeting comes with the /offer/ of a hug rather than the enthusiastic delivery of one. He giggles at the description of Shane. "Y'know, folks get names for a reason. I saw 'im comin' outta the buildin' before an' headed thattaway." A nod indicates the direction of the playground. "'Less he took off again t'the lake, best bet is he's hangin' about the playground." Rasa slips off hir swing to head over to the climbing net, giving a little shrug before hir arms start pulling hir up. The gesture might be missed. "Another half hour, I think." Ze pulls hir large shouldered self through the net to the inside of the dome with some effort, hanging by hir hands and feet when ze is done. "The poncho's helping keep the damp off, for now. How are you doing?" Ze looks the shorter teen over for a moment, head tilting. "I just call them Thing One and Thing Two," Desi admits brightly, squeezing Micah back tight. "But I don't know which one Shane is tonight." "The snarky one," Lucien insists. He steps in to give Micah a more sedate hug than his sister had, brief, light, cautious not to brush his skin against the other man's. He pulls back rather soon, glancing over in the direction of the playground. "Mmm. I will check." "{/I'm/ dropping my stuff off first.}" This is in French; Desi hefts her duffel bag, curls her other hand in a wave, and darts back off towards the mansion. Lucien closes his car door, opening the back to pull something out of the back, small case dark and boxy in the nighttime light. He locks /his/ car with a small chirrup, too, and slips his keys back into his pocket. His other hand moves to rest at the small of Micah's back as he starts off towards the playground. "If he /is/ in the lake, though, I am not /that/ dedicated to this search." "Damp," Shane answers Rasa, but he sounds pleased about this rather than otherwise. "Kind of shitty otherwise. How'd it get to be Sunday night all-fucking-ready. I meant to go get more clothes this weekend and somehow I -- didn't. Though I have no goddamn idea where I'd even --" He glares down at his jeans with a bit of disgruntlement, then looks down further at Rasa as ze makes hir way into the dome. "Got parents incoming," he adds in mild warning, nostrils twitching again. "But they're hot, so. S'the acceptable kind." "You're not the only one," Micah admits of Desi's nicknames with a chuckle. Bundled up as he is, it's easy enough to avoid skin contact in his return of Lucien's brief hug. "I can wander with you. But, yeah, usually I'm not goin' in the water after 'im, neither. 'Specially not when it's /cold/ out still. Water's like t'be freezin'." He waves to Desi in turn as the girl scampers off. "Y'know where t'find us if you're comin' back out." With that, he leads the way to the playground, eyes that don't see all that amazingly in dim lighting squinted slightly to search the equipment for tinyshark as they approach. Rasa stiffens initially to the warning, but a glance around confirms Shane's words and ze shrugs a bit. "Yeah. They're fine, I guess. I don't know if it the fact that they're so young...or just more familiar with mutants that makes them okay." Ze pulls hirself up so hir head is sticking up through the dome again, then hangs low once more, knees bent so hir feet don't come anywhere near the ground. Lucien doesn't bother straining his eyes much, not even really trying to search the playground until they've arrived /at/ it. It is Rasa's motion against the nets that finally draws his eyes that direction; even then he doesn't properly /identify/ the pair until he's wandered nearer the dome. "Shane. Rasa. Bonsoir. How are the both of you doing?" His head tips back, hand dropping from Micah's back to fold behind his back, free hand clasping the wrist of the laden one. "I do not suppose I could cajole you down for a minute, Shane?" "I just like to think it's because they're gorgeous -- then again Professor Summers is hot as hell and he's still just a fucking /pain/." Shane frowns as he disproves his own theory, though he immediately follows this up with: "-- But I'd still bone him so maybe he's okay -- /hello/." He calls this greeting cheerfully down to the arriving men, swaying in his dangling perch but not actually making any move to come down. "Depeeeends. Do I have some kinda incentive? Where's Desi anyway? I thought you were gonna bring me a Desi." "Hey, Rasa, Shane. Apologies for interruptin'." Micah offers another wave as they get closer and he's able to identify the person-shapes on the climbing equipment. His head shakes slowly at Shane's conversation topic, skipping right past it without comment. "The incentive is folks are tryin' t'talk t'you, kiddo. C'mon down for a little bit, please." He glances back toward the building. "Desi said she wanted t'drop her stuff off. Sounded like she might head back out after." "I have never met someone who enjoys life as little as Professor Summers." Rasa adds before the incoming adults cut off conversation. Ze drops down to the ground, still inside the dome and walks over to the edge, resting hir elbows on one of the rope bits at the appropriate height. "Oh? Is Desi back? Cool." While hir features tend to stay the same from day to day despite hir shifting coloration, today, hir face seems to be a little more reminiscent of Hive as ze looks Lucien and Micah over. What's weirder, Rasa seems to be not cranky, which makes the expression even more surreal. "You guys want me to take off? How personal is this?" "Not at all. I'll be out of both your hairs soon enough. I think Desi will likely come looking for you, if she does not run into your other half first. Do you need incentive?" Lucien's voice lilts, light and amused. "I /did/ bring a bribe, though it isn't in the form of meat. Apologies." His eyes drift back to Rasa, widening just slightly as he looks hir over. "-- Huh. Your eyes have --" A faint shiver runs through him, and he cuts himself off with a slight apologetic dip of head, a quiet-murmured: "Not enough cursing. Disconcerting." "Maybe we should teach him. How to enjoy life. How do you teach someone to enjoy life?" Shane wonders, looking over Rasa thoughtfully. "We're not allowed to bring drugs to school -- wait, you /did/?" He glances down at Lucien with wide eyes and, for a moment, a /sharp/ curl of smile. "But I don't see a bow on you." And yet, he is swinging his way down the dome -- he's still /quite/ high when he stops his monkey-armed descent and simply drops more than twice his body-length to thump to the mulch below. "I know, it's nuts, right? Cheery-Hive. I like the blue, though, he should get contacts." "Oh, it ain't like Hive's /always/ grumpy," serves as Micah's input on that particular topic. "I don't think y'can really /teach/ someone t'enjoy life. That's...somethin' y'leave to the Manic Pixie Dream Girls in romantic comedy movies. Think enjoyin' life's somethin' you're open to or not. Guess the best y'can do is help someone be open to it. Rest's up t'them, really." He straight-up /facepalms/ at Shane's observation of lack of bows on Lucien, just...staying that way for a few moments. "Oh. Heh. Forgot." Rasa pulls back, stands up and then stretches even taller, hir hands bumping against the dome. "Kind of had a discussion with Hive last night. Oh. Shane. Apologies for being skittish around you in the classroom. Everything remains incredibly stupid." Ze turns and eyes Micah for a moment. "Well, I don't think Professor Summers is going to get one of those. He has Dr Grey, who could teach him to loosen up, but is very short on the manic and pixie qualities." Lucien's brows just hike /up/ at the mention of lack of bows. A very small twitch tugs at the side of his mouth, lips pulling a little bit thinner. "Hive. Is he around -- ah, well, he would not need to be, would he." His head gives a small shake, and he watches Shane's precipitous descent, taking a half-step back as the boy lands. "There is no bow on this, either. I thought you might appreciate its use regardless." He unclasps his hands to bring them around forward, extending an arm to Shane -- the instrument case in his hand that he offers forward has the distinctively curved shape of a violin-case. "Oh, he's fucking /everywhere/ these days." Shane grimaces at this, rubbing his knuckles against his temple. "Loud as shit sometimes, too. But he's not cranky so much as stressed as fuck. I think he's freaking the hell out about the Commons and freaking the hell out /even more/ about Jim and Flicker and -- just. Not. In a good place right now. -- I bet," he tips his head back up towards Rasa, "that between the /lot/ of us we could put together a manic pixie dream -- /person/. How do you feel about /faery/ wings?" He's derailed from these thoughts by the presentation of the violin case. His eyes widen, his gills fluttering rapidly, and for a brief moment there's just a startled choked half-sob that hitches in his throat. "-- Oh my god." He darts forward abruptly, arms flinging around Lucien for a /very/ tight-fierce hug. Only /after/ which does he take the case, eyes glistening in the dim cloud-diffused moonlight. He crouches down right there in the damp mulch to snap open its clasps; he's only gotten the case open very slightly when he shuts it again, freezing where he crouches. "... oh my god." This time it's not the same elated-excited. It sounds -- almost a little bit scared. "Well, I wasn't suggestin' so much that we attempt t'/construct/ a Manic Pixie Dream...Person...so much as pointin' out that the whole...teach a grown person how t'enjoy life single-handedly thing's kinda a /fiction/," Micah clarifies. "An' Hive...he's been spreadin' again. We're gonna need another intervention for 'im, I think. I just don't know if it's more cruel t'do it while he's so full of stress an' everythin's awful or...t'let 'im keep goin' when it could be hurtin' 'im even worse in light of..." He just shakes his head, not going into the whole cancer picture right now. Besides the fact that the emergence of the violin case serves as a complete surprise to him, as well. "Ohgosh. Oh/gosh/, Luci, that's. You didn't have to...that's /so/ much. So... You're amazin', thank you." His eyes start to mist over a little, too, watching Shane with the new instrument. As such, he's even more shocked at the fear in Shane's tone. "Honey. Honey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He falls a little too quickly to his knees next to Shane, wincing slightly as he lands. "His head's pretty bad. Constant pain and all," Rasa agrees, hand unconsciously lifting to rub at hir temples, eyes closing out the memory. "But yeah. He might not be ready to let go of people he cares about." Ze trails off when Shane is presented with such an amazing gift, the metamorph blinking rapidly just at Shane's reaction. Ze spends hir time extricating hirself from the web of the dome as Micah bends down to comfort Shane. Ze moves to stand beside Lucien. "It's... a good gift." Ze tries to be reassuring, as Shane isn't providing much. Lucien tenses in the abrupt hug, gingerly lifting a hand to pat, pat, pat at Shane's back and then step back to extricate himself. "Stress will pass. Aggravating his tumour will be harder to get past. I have /seen/ what this does to his brain, Micah. You should stop it sooner rather than later. If he never gives himself a chance to properly recover he could cripple his ability to safely use his powers for life." His lips press thin together: "-- however much longer of /that/ he has left." For a moment, a fleeting smile ghosts across his face at Shane's excitement, but it fades at the boy's final tone. He doesn't particularly seem offended so much as puzzled, glancing from Shane's face down to the case. Then up to Rasa at the reassurance. Back to Shane. "Instruments can be quite personal. It was presumptuous, I admit, to get it without you being along to help choose but -- that would have ruined the surprise somewhat, non? It is easily exchanged if there is a different type you would prefer, but I have it on Ryan's good authority that this one should be quite fitting for your needs. You've improved considerably since starting out and if you are moving on into experimenting with your own compositions --" He trails off, dipping his head with a trace of apology. "As I said, it is easily exchanged." "N -- no, it." Shane swallows, his fingers resting over top of the case and his gills still wildly fluttering. "It's amazing. It's -- it's /perfect/, it. Thank you. /Thank you/. It just -- how did you --" He swallows, and pulls in a deep breath. "Ba -- last night. Did you --" He opens up the case again slowly, extracting the sleek new violin from inside to lay it -- with an odd /hesitance/ that seems equal parts reverence and trepidation -- against Micah's lap. The violin inside is nothing like his old traditional instrument -- a top-of-the-line electric model instead, it has an /odd/ half-body design that looks more like a stylized /sketch/ of a violin than a full instrument. In the moonlight the satin-black of most of its body looks even darker, and the silvery light gleams faintly off the blue accents in the instrument. "Oh, no, Lucien. It's a good... I'm sure there's an explanation." Micah's brow furrows, a hand on Shane's shoulder, not sure /what/ to fret at first. "Oh/gosh/." The fretting stops, replaced with a wide-eyed /stare/ at the violin in front of him. That hand leaves Shane's shoulder and instead reaches out to brush fingertips lightly over its gleaming surface. "Shane, honey did you have a dream last night where y'was playin' exactly this violin?" He twists to look up to Lucien. "I think. I thought it was just a /regular/ dream 'cause we was just sittin' 'round. In the Commons music room, talkin' over tea. But Shane was playin' /that/ violin. An'...I guess we was talkin' 'bout Dusk havin' gone off. Like the other dreams. Maybe it was another one of /those/." Rasa blinks and scowls, then presses hir lips together in consternation. "You dreamt about this violin before you got it? That is... kind of creepy." Lucien's lips press more thinly together at this explanation. "Quite creepy," he agrees with Rasa, brows pulling together into a deep frown. "It -- seems a /number/ of people have been having similarly -- eerily predictive dreams," he explains further. "I had no such dream. I only purchased the instrument it seemed would best suit your needs. And yet -- just one step closer /to/ those dreams now, non?" "I had a dream about playing exactly this violin, yeah. Just last night," Shane explains, tipping his gaze up towards Lucien and Rasa. "B had the same dream. And I guess Ba did, too. But /you/ weren't in it. And -- and. Yeah. I. Dreamed about this before -- Jesus this is fucked up." He leans his head against Micah's shoulders, and now his eyes just fix on Rasa. "-- It's like we keep having these dreams about shit that's happening later except then some of the shit starts coming /true/. Just in small ways. Like this fucking -- violin. God. Lucien, it's /amazing/. But I --" His teeth sink down against his lip. "-- Hive and Flicker keep dying. In all these dreams they're always fucking /dead/. I don't -- what if we're. Doing something to /make/ that happen?" "There's been a lotta creepy lately," Micah confirms of the predictive dreams. "A lotta people sharin' dreams 'bout the future an' little parts comin' true." He pulls Shane in, arms around his shoulders comfortingly. "We're lookin' into it, sugar. Tryin' t'find a source of the dreams. An' in the meantime...tryin' t'come up with a plan to /avoid/ what happens to Flicker an' Hive in the dreams. If these /are/ precognitive sorta visions, at least they're givin' us a chance t'know what's comin' so we can be /prepared/. From the talk in the dreams, that...wasn't somethin' any of us were prepared for." "You mean like the chocolate rain?" Rasa looks confused, studying Micah's and Shane's reactions closely -- but things begin to settle into place, hir eyes out of focus for a little bit. Ze shakes off a sad thought, then glances over at Lucien. "You said a number of people have had these dreams? Is there ... a coherent idea of what is going on yet? I mean, how do Hive and Flicker die? Maybe if we know more, we can do something about it. I guess that depends on how far into the future is this happening?" "Indeed. Very similar to the dreams that precipitated those events. In -- a number of ways. People /sharing/ dreams that are startlingly vivid. Remembering them so clearly upon waking. The /world/ even seems to be starting to alter itself to match." Through this, Lucien's eyes fix quietly down on Micah. "Not far in the future," despite looking at Micah, he's answering Rasa in an even murmur. "You and Jackson were mentioning Sebastian getting accepted to college. He only has one year left, no? And college acceptance letters /just/ start coming around now. I would say a year, then. He /is/ seventeen now, yes?" "... possibly just about exactly a year," Shane says, with a faint shiver, leaning closer to Micah. "I had a dream with Peter. Earlier -- earlier this month. He said our birthday was coming up and we'd have to think about what to do about registration. I didn't really think about it at the time because I guess this was only starting. But I was /in/ Evolve in the dream. Talking about B and MIT, and turning 18, and registration. That was -- a couple weeks before my birthday /actually/ was." He picks up the violin, nestling it carefully back into its case. "They die at Prometheus. On a raid --" His gills flutter again wildly, and he lifts his gaze to lock on Lucien this time. "... on a raid to save his brother." "I wouldn't say it's like those, no." Micah's head shakes, not willing to pin the dreams on the same source without better /evidence/, from what he knows of Maya. "We figured out where those were comin' from. An' they were just...well-intentioned pleasantry. These have...not been that. An' there's no items goin' missin' before the dreams /or/ just showin' up after. I don't know that anythin' is /alterin'/ t'match the dreams, either. Could just be that the world's trekkin' along like normal an' the dreams are /predictive/, so naturally the things that are happenin' in 'em start t'show up eventually." The mention of the twins being seventeen and their birthday elicits a small cringe from Micah. "Yeah, they're.../just/ seventeen now." Make-up birthday planning still needs to be done... This thought distracts him for a moment. "Oh. Um. But, yes. I'd say things seemed like they were a year or so out. From the way the Commons were built up an' looked lived-in t'the things that people were doin'. That seems accurate. An' we're /tryin'/ t'do somethin' about the version of that mission that comes up in the dreams. Just...haven't had opportunity t'get the whole team t'gether since we decided the dreams were somethin' that'd bear actin' on." "There was very little actual realism in those dreams. I mean, just because I dreamed about you with facial hair and propensity to steal hugs from banks doesn't mean you actually did any of that. Nor did I ever actually beat up you and Mr. Osborn." Rasa glances at Lucien and then clears hir throat. "Your... brother? Well. well." Ze shakes hir head again, losing steam in the conversation. "I'd say this is all nonsense and dreams can't be predictive, but... I go to a school for mutants. I guess anything's possible." "No propensity to steal hugs that /you/ know about," Lucien answers Rasa solemnly. He clasps his hands again behind his back, shifting back a step to rock his weight back onto his heels. "And I have heard of more bizarre powers than predictive dreams -- I mean. Chocolate rain. I would not put /much/ limit on /what/ silliness the X-Gene might concoct." Shane snaps the locks on the violin case closed again, still leaning in against Micah's side. "I /wish/ it were nonsense. But the violin -- and Aly moving back here to help me with Evolve -- I don't know. This is just /eerie/. But if it's right -- then Matt --" His gills flutter rapidly, his eyes shifting down to lock onto the mulch. "... I think dinner might be ready." His voice sounds a little bit hollow, now. "I think we've all seen enough of what special abilities can do t'know that it's very /possible/ that they're causin' these dreams. An' there /have/ been a lot of things that were predicted. Too many t'just be coincidence by now." Micah nods at Shane's list adding, "Matt was wearin' a shirt in a dream the night 'fore it went on sale. Elliott Carruthers was Mayor in a dream the night 'fore she announced she was runnin'. Shane an' Aly had a dream in the Commons treehouse 'fore Hive'd even had the chance t'finish /designin'/ the thing. Dusk had a dream of their house in the Commons with details that matched Hive's plans that he'd never told Dusk about. S'all kindsa things." He hugs Shane tighter, fingers moving up to stroke down his fluttering gills. "We're workin' on it, honey. Findin' the cause of the dreams an' doin' somethin' 'bout what the dreams say's gonna happen. We won't just sit idly by." Placing a kiss on the teen's forehead, he extricates himself to let Shane stand. "Prob'ly there's dinner by now. Should be gettin' in while it's still bein' served." "Well, then, if you grow facial hair, I'll start getting concerned." Rasa replies with equal solemnity. Ze nods and turns toward the inside. "Yeah. Dinner's less of a madhouse on Sundays. I figure we're safe to go in as soon as it's served." Ze pauses. "I'll run ahead and find Desiree."