Logs:Imperfect Stranger
| Imperfect Stranger | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | 2023-07-28 "I missed you... All. I missed you all." |
| Location | |
It's not long past since the triumphant emptying of Lassiter's many cells, and the air is near thrumming with noise -- there are sobs mingling with exuberant drums, the determinedly steady cadence of myriad reporters, joyful singing, a lot of yelling. Somewhere in all this, no doubt one sword-wielding photokinetic is fielding a million questions, from reporters and freshly-freed labrats alike. Over in the staff gardens, one corner has been claimed for the sizable Xavier's contingent, both those fresh out of Lassiter and the many classmates who have come to support them and clamor for the release of the rest. A solidly out-of-smelling-range distance away, someone has set up several portapotties and a couple of foot-pump hand washing stations; Nessie is just returning from somewhere far beyond those, even. Evidently they do not make Scorpion-friendly portajohns. She stops to scrub her hands clean before returning to the Xavier's camp, rooting through a cooler for a Pepsi and settling down under the portico awning of a large tent with it. “I might be a bit biased, but coke is better.” Leonidas drawls as he rounds the corner, almost completely unrecognizable between the shave and dramatic weight loss. He bends slightly to step under the awning and squats besides her, and despite not being currently crying, his eyes are red and puffy. “Glad you didn’t get caught up with us, but damn were you a better apocalypse buddy than my cellmates.” a half second pause, “But they were kids. Handled it about as well as I handled the killer robots. Can’t really fault them for that.” Nessie squeaks, hands flinging upward and the Pepsi jerking up and splashing all down the front of her drab grey button-down as she scuttles hastily away from Beau. "Jesus, who the hhhh--" She squints at him further, taking in the scrubs, and aborts this sharp rebuke, opting instead for a gentler but still deeply uncomfortable: "Ummm, I'm sorry, this is kind of -- a private camp? Do you need some help, there's a lot of people around here who can probably -- be some help." She's licking spilled Pepsi from the side of her hand, watching Leonidas warily and still keeping a good distance. Leonidas starts and falls on his ass, crawling back a few steps. “Oh shit, sorry. It’s Beau. Well, I started going by Leonidas in there.” He coughs awkwardly and pushes up, pulling his shirt off and holds it out. Despite the weight loss he’s still a hard mass of lean muscle. “The stress pushed my mutation into overdrive or something, not a geneticist so I’m not sure.” Nessie backs up even further when Leonidas starts stripping, all her eyes going just a little wider. "What?" is back to sharp again, "What are you talking about, Beau is much bet..." She trails off, a slow frown creeping over her face and her eyes narrowing a long moment on Leonidas's face. "... bigger," she finishes carefully, and though her tone isn't sharp anymore it's quite noticeably cooler. "You were -- bigger." “Sounds like i missed my opportunity to ask you out.” Leonidas teases, not drawing the shirt back yet just in case she changes her mind. “Still plenty big, hell I weigh even more now.” His free hand falls behind him to brush the dirt off. “Thank you, by the way, for coming out.” "Heh," Nessie replies, more than a little awkwardly, and doesn't otherwise answer the asking-out question. "Um." She's opening and closing one hand slightly distastefully, and starts to set the Pepsi down but then just takes a sip of it. "I mean --" She's not looking at Leonidas, now -- at least not with her forwardmost pair of eyes, easiest to tell where they are focusing. "-- everyone's been real worried. Thought you were all dead, for a while. I'm -- glad you aren't." “Some of us did.” Leonidas replies quietly, pulling his shirt back, his gaze softening slightly as Nessie (apparently) looks away. “Tried my best to keep everyone safe, but you know me, I’m a fuckup.” Eventually he looks away too, gaze falling to the ground in front of them. “It was rough, honestly don’t know how I got through that shit without breaking. Figured if I stayed strong it might give some of them hope. Pretty sure half of them just think I’m some heartless asshole now though.” "Yeah." Nessie is glum, here, quieter. "We heard." She's shifting, slightly, many legs folding and moving in ungaintly resettling. Her forehead wrinkles, tail curling a little lower. "Huh? Why would they think that? I'm sure -- I mean, the others -- know how rough it was, too. Probably being tortured doesn't make most people nicer." “It’s mostly because people died trying to save us, but I was adamant they’d be back. I’m just glad I was right.” Leonidas sighs. “I don’t hold any of it against them.” He looks back at Nessie and changes the subject, “Got into my first fight in there. Beat the dog shit out of this giant metal nazi asshole. Didn’t see if he left with us, Queen Bee might’ve killed him.” "Huh?" Nessie is looking very confused, now. She doesn't change the subject. "Right about what?" “That they came back for us.” Leonidas elaborates. “Not that i really had any doubt, Spence was still in there.” "Huh?" Nessie is saying again, baffled. "Spence was out here, what are you talking about? Who came back? I -- guess you didn't see the news but like, they arrested the whole team who came for you -- um, the ones who were still alive, anyway. Nobody came back, Mr. Jax just busted out of jail to ride in here on his dragon and scare Prometheus into letting everyone go." “Are you serious?” Leonidas says, eyebrows going up. “I wasn’t getting many updates, and the guards weren’t to happy with me because I broke a few of the walls.” He actually starts laughing, a few more tears breaking loose and rolling down his cheeks. “Honestly that’s what I was betting on the whole time, knew Mr. Jax wasn’t going to take that shit lying down.” "Yeah. He's really -- yeah." Nessie's eyes lower to the ground, her tail curling a little further. "Um." At first only an uncomfortable silence follows this, which somehow grows more awkward still when she follows it with a stilted: "Well. Welcome back." Leonidas wipes his eyes, chuckles fading to be replaced with a sad smile. “Thanks. I missed you.” When he realizes he said that aloud his face turns bright red. “All. I missed you all. All of you at Xavier’s.” Nessie fidgets again, and when she looks back at Leonidas an involuntary grimace starts to twist at her mouth. She pushes it determinedly back with a small, tight smile, and pushes to her feet. "I'm gonna tell Mr. Summers you're out safe, he's gonna -- oh my gosh he's got his eyes out it's soooo freaky!" This piece of gossip is delivered with more of her usual breathless excitement. "Anyway he's gonna want to know. I'll, um, see you round?" And with that she is skittering off. “Yeah, cool. Good talk.” Leonidas waves awkwardly, before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction, red spreading up to the tips of his ears. | |
