Logs:Reduce, Reuse, Raincycle

Reduce, Reuse, Raincycle
CNs: light violence against children, Some Significant Violence to a grown man, brief reference to previous offscreen harm to a child, tooth loss.
Dramatis Personae Beau, Lael, Naomi, Spencer, Rainy
In Absentia Nessie	2023-06-10 Clean up your fucking trash. (on stage, simultaneous with the peanut gallery.)
Location <PRO> Cafeteria E 16 & Commissary E 17, Lassiter Research Facility - Ohio
The cafeteria is single the largest room in this wing, tiled with the same multi-gray linoleum throughout, its walls clean but bare of any decoration or relief for the eyes. The floor space is mostly taken up by rectangular tables with attached if often creaky bench seating, with a long stainless steel counter at one end serving up bland, often overcooked, but reasonably nutritious food day in and day out. It's noisy and crowded here at mealtimes, but no so much that it's impossible to have a table to yourself. Or be exiled to your own table. Adjoining the cafeteria but still accessible from its own entrance in the hallway is the much smaller commissary. It's an awkward room divided by an L-shaped counter, behind which are rows and rows of shelves holding labelled bins. Basic hygiene items can be requisitioned here for free, but everything else, from personal care products to snacks and beverages, must be purchased. Given the limited options in paying work details, purchased commissary items are coveted luxuries. Does the weekend mean much, when you're in jail? In here it does, at least a little; weekend for the shitfucks means a couple days' break for most labrats in testing. A blessing and a curse, because it means more free time, more restless energy, more bored and angry mutants with not much to do. The day has been stormy already, inside and out -- not that the bad weather matters much to the X-Kids, but it matters to the other jailbirds who have been used to Yard Time and, today, have been cooped indoors away from the thunderstorm outside. The Rec Room has seen several fights already, one handily put down by Mouse, one young man who may or may not have been cheating at cards hauled off to the infirmary. Even the W(rec)k room has had its spillover of chaos, Rainy's crew of racist thugs cranky -- at the television options, at the missing Monopoly pieces, who knows. What is clear is that by the time dinner comes around Rainy has been looking for an outlet for his temper -- and found one in Naomi. Which brings us to the present. The room isn't quite full yet, but it's filling. The guards on duty conveniently decided to take a quick bathroom break as soon as they saw one of the X-Kids heading for a beatdown. One of Queen Bee's kids has just scurried fast, presumably to fetch their den mother -- but with no Queen Bee immediately in sight and only some of Naomi's friends in the room already, Rainy seems to be feeling lucky. Naomi's dinner has been splattered over the floor, several quite uncreative racist insults hurled -- clearly a prelude to an imminent beating. There's a small cluster of Rainy's Minions gathered -- one weedy-looking skinhead surreptitiously plucking Naomi's fruit cup off her spilled plate, one brawny middle-aged man who nevertheless is dwarfed by Rainy himself taking a break from his kitchen-cleanup job to watch the impending show. "-- not so tough without Queen Bee to hide behind," Weedy Minion is saying to Janitor Minion, a spiteful glee in his eyes at the anticipation of bloodshed. Does Rainy have glee in his eyes? It's hard to tell, steely as the rest of him as he rounds on Naomi. Naomi's face and arm have healed up since the last time Rainy Ogden set his sights on her, but the bravado that carried her into that first altercation has seemingly abandoned her here. "-- you really want to do this?" Her tone is one part challenge, one part plea. She's trying to get some distance between her and Rainy as he advances, skinny arms held up in front of her in anticipation of some coming blow. There's not much space to escape -- her back bumps up against a vacated table. The cavalry is coming! Sort of. Probably the monster that comes to Naomi's rescue is not the one Rainy and his gang were fearing. Lael may be big and tough by average teenager standards, but he is nowhere near Rainy's match. His hair, grown out well past his shoulders now, is writhing hard, his amber eyes slitted with fury. "You leave my sister the hell alone!" He is not waiting for Rainy to consider this proposition, but shoves himself in the way. Rainy just snorts at this, and he's shoving back -- considerably harder than Lael, a kind of dismissive fling that knocks the teenager to the food-splattered ground. "Or fucking what, you gonna turn me to stone?" Spencer Holland strides in, as always, like he owns the place. He's bulked up in the last few weeks, but certainly not enough to take on Rainy Fucking Ogden. His gray eyes narrow at the scene before him, taking in the Winterses, the other members of his gang at a nearby table, the gathering crowd. He barely seems to acknowledge Rainy at all, much less answer him on Lael's behalf. He just crosses his arms and gives his bodyguard a single nod. The mask of a smile that Beau had been wearing the last few days has completely vanished as he makes his presence known, his face contorted with fury as he advances on Rainy. “I’m gonna crumple you like tin foil you miserable fuck.” He doesn’t shout this time, but his words are more than loud enough to be heard in the hush that’s fallen over the cafeteria. It seems like his whole body flexes as he shifts his weight down to his back foot before the teen explodes forward closing the distance in a heartbeat, his rough meaty fist colliding with the smooth metal of Rainy’s face. Rainy was clearly not expecting a retort to his taunt -- certainly not one from this quarter. Huge as he is, Beau's heavy blow still rocks him back with a thud, a crack in the aging linolum tile where his heavy foot stomps the ground to brace his sudden backwards momentum. Impressive though the punch was, it doesn't seem to have harmed him as much as the kids would probably like -- though it does give him a moment of angry splutter as he finds his feet. "Khh --" starts out maybe-pained but ends in a rough laugh. "Oh, you want her beating instead?" He's recovered his balance in short order and redirects his rage to Beau -- in contrast, his fist is smooth and metal-hard and he is not pulling the punch he's aimed toward the side of Beau's face. "Lael!" Naomi screams, high and shrill and certainly loud enough to get the attention of anyone who's not yet watching. She drops to her knees beside her brother, reaching her hands out to help him up -- and bringing him into her small radius of power unsuppression. Lael hauls himself upright with a hiss of pain and, without letting go of Naomi's hand, retreats to stand with her beside Spence. His hair writhes uncomfortably, and the weight he leans on her is not playacting, but in her mind his voice whispers, << I'm alright, it just smarts. >> He's not whispering anything to Rainy, but the unblinking serpentine gaze he's leveling on the metal man is as much concentration as seething hatred. His power slithers into Rainy's working memory and wrecks whatever information he can reach that seems relevant to fighting. Spence gives Lael a single manly pat on the shoulder in the vein of "good show, walk it off". His mind is a constant stream of reminders to himself briefly interrupted by << oh no are you okay (shush he needs to concentrate) >> before returning to << eyes forward. arms crossed. watch the fight. >> He returns his attention to the spectacle, his expression stony and unreadable. << eyes forward (don't wince don't wince don't wince!) feet on the ground. arms crossed. >> He's still watching the crowd as much as the fighters themselves, as though he's really quite bored with it all. Beau takes the fist on the chin, his entire being rocking back and his bottom left canine clattering across the linoleum. Instead of flinching away he closes the distance and wraps his massive hands around either side of Rainey’s head, attempting to slam a slightly clumsy knee into the metal man’s nose. Rainy had definitely been gearing up to keep pummeling on the Giant Teenager, but as he winds up again -- for a moment he simply halts. A little flustered, a little off-balance -- he does swing, but it's too late, too limp, more of an uncoordinated angry flail in Beau's direction that goes even wider when he's grabbed. He twists off balance, far more easily steered in Beau's grip than it seems like he should be. His feet scramble against the linoleum and his sudden yell is deep and thunderous as the metal of his nose crumples sideways. His two flunkies had started to puff themselves up at Rainy's first hit on Beau -- but at this they seem abruptly unwilling to come to their boss's defense. Their jeering has tapered off, and though they aren't cowering they are definitely watching very intently. As is a lot of the room, at this point. The guards haven't yet returned but a lot of inmates coming for dinner are paying close attention to the altercation. The crowd that is starting to gather parts to let one tall and well-armored woman click her way to the forward, several other inmates all with their own physical mutations trailing in her wake. Queen Bee was heading straight towards Rainy and the Winterses, but stops -- though she doesn't have eyes the shift of her body towards Rainy and Beau, now, seems keenly observant. Naomi half-hides behind her brother and Spence, seeming smaller than usual next to both young men, more frail with her shoulders pulled in -- but her mind is bright with vindictive glee when Beau crushes Rainy's nose, overtaking the concern for her brother that was just there. "Queen Bee!" Naomi pokes her head out from behind Spence, still clutching Lael's hand tightly. << -- be panicked but not too panicked it's gotta be normal be normal Naomi -- >> "Rainy was -- he called me --" Naomi's breathing speeds up and tears begin to well up in her eyes, suddenly leaning hard into her brother. Only her brother can tell how much of this distress is acting -- only Lael can hear the memory on loop in Naomi's mind, of Rainy breaking her nose over and over and over again. Lael does wince when Beau caves in Rainy's nose, but he sets his jaw and breathes through it. His telepathic sabotage was already pretty sloppy, and it's certainly not getting any less so. But then, the pain is probably not doing Rainy's task management any favors, either. He turns when Queen Bee enters, gives her a small respectful nod, and pulls Naomi close against his side. << Aw hell, Nae. He ain't never gon touch you again, after Beau mops (scrapes?) the floor with him. >> Spence still does not wince. Just pulls in a slightly slower breath and crosses his arms a little tighter. << eyes forward feet on the ground arms crossed. >> He turns minutely when Queen Bee and her entourage enters, but does not include them in the imperious sweep of his gaze. << eyes forward (wow Naomi is good) feet on the ground (is she even acting) arms crossed (how does Luci do this) >> Rainy’s yell of pain is met with a roar from Beau as he pushes the assault, grabbing ahold of the man once more and slinging him over his hip head first towards the floor. Rainy's pair of minions take a few hasty steps back when Queen Bee arrives -- nope, just here for dinner, we didn't have nothing to do with whatever this mess is -- and are now conferring with each other in quiet voices. Their whisperings are mostly drowned out by the sounds from around the room -- yelling, some laughter, several outright cheers at the heavy thunk-crack sound as Rainy meets the floor. It's an oddly bloodless smash, though his cheek is looking considerably flatter where it's just met the ground, his eye scrunched nearly closed and unable to open again with the odd distortion of his metal skin. He's trying to get back up again, but not doing too well at it -- kind of half-pushed off the ground on one knee, head turning as he tries to keep Beau in his lopsided sights. Queen Bee and her small entourage have made their way over nearer to the Winterses. Rainy's minions are cowering, now, skirting to the far side of a table to put it between them and the monsters. "Shit, let's see you." Queen Bee's voice is low with concern. Her armored head is facing the Winterses, and though her expression is not particularly easy to parse with features like hers, the quiet clicking sound coming from her is recognizable by now as anger. "These boys," though she speaks in the plural one of her wings, intricate-veined like many insects but looking sharp and not-at-all fragile, is flicking unerringly in Spencer's direction, "help you out?" Naomi, pressed close against Lael's side, nods when Queen Bee points to Spencer, quick and small. "He ain't got me this time but he done hit Lael." She's relaxing just slightly in Queen Bee's presence, though the memory is not yet fading from her forethoughts. "I thought Rainy was gonna crush him." The tremble in her voice is a bit more put on than before -- that once-true fear is faint, now, under the thrill of nearly completing this performance. << (ain't gonna mess with none of us after this) >> "I ain't hurt too bad, ma'am." Lael does lean on his sister a little harder. How much of that is performance and how much referred pain from Rainy's downfall, even Naomi can't tell. To her he adds, reassuring and just a touch embarrassed, hair coiling in on itself, "ain't that easy to crush, neither. But we sure would be in a world'a hurt if they hadn't stepped up." If Spence's ears are burning, he does not let on. Except to Lael, who can definitely feel him straining to listen in over the noise rising around them. But the noise is making everything harder, not just eavesdropping. His silent << eyesforwardfeetonthegroundarmscrossed >> is less stage direction now and more sensory anchoring. He sets his jaw tight and hopes it makes him look determined and not too much like he's barely holding it together. << (c'mon Beau you can do it) >> Beau lines up and runs forward again, his foot rocketing up to smash his shin into Rainy’s nose once more. The teen’s head falls back and he bellows over the noise, closed fist slamming into his chest several times before he finally stops to catch his breath. He stoops down next to the downed Goliath’s head and says through clenched teeth just loud enough for him to hear, “If you touch touch anybody again I’ll rip your goddamned head off, you hear me?” before rising and heading back towards Spence and the other students. When Rainy goes down again this time, he stays down. One side of his face is warped badly -- too-crunched in some places, too-flattened in others. There's a scraping-creaking sound when he tries to move, metal grinding against metal in ways it is not supposed to, and ultimately he just stays where he's been dropped, whimpering audibly on the cracked floor. The minions he's vaguely trying, unsuccessfully, to drag himself towards aren't making any moves to help him back up. Where Naomi's spaghetti sauce has been dragged across his shirt it could almost be blood, if not for the chunks of oregano-flecked canned tomato peeling themselves off his scrubs to splat to the floor. "Huh. Fucker's getting too big for himself." Though Queen Bee's angered clicking doesn't stop it does drop still quieter. There's a long line, now, for food, some people taking advantage of the fight to get earlier dibs on The Good Stuff, but the waiting people give no real protest as she ushers Naomi and Lael along with her to the head of the line. She pauses as she passes Spencer -- says nothing to him, but folds her sharp wings against her broad back and dips her head in a small nod. Spence gives a small twitch of a smile -- it's not entirely acting -- when Rainy goes down and, this time, stays down. He claps Beau on the shoulder (in a manly fashion), and mirrors Queen Bee's nod, respectful but dignified. << oh man she's so cool Nessie would love her maybe when we get out of -- no wait I'm not done >> Turning back to the aftermath of the fight, he doesn't so much as look at Rainy where he's -- as Beau promised -- crumpled on the floor. Picks Janitor Minion out where he's hovering uncertain at the rubbernecking crowd. Looks him dead in the eyes, his expression more or less landing in the region of disdainful. "Clean up your fucking trash," he orders, then turns crisply and walks away.