Logs:Unlucky Break

Unlucky Break
Dramatis Personae Leonidas, Tok, Mr. Summers
In Absentia	2024-06-07 “Fair warning, with my track record there’s like an eighty percent chance we get busted immediately.”
Location <XAV> Hallway - Basement
The basement under Xavier’s wasn’t too hard to find, but the door to the secret basement was probably more so. In front of Tok and Leonidas stands their greatest foe yet. A locked door, solid, with the keycard scanner blinking at them mockingly. No amount of yanking on the handle and jostling the door did the trick. Tok had been, indescribably, horribly, bored. With so many people gone, there were only so many tourists in the city to nag before that got old too. But then they’d heard about something called the danger room. They HAD to see what the hell a danger room was! So they’d gone and knocked on a bunch of students doors, and was met with either silence or ‘No’. UNTIL they managed to pitch the idea to Leonidas. Maybe something about the “What’re they gonna do?? Give you detention?” Or the full on begging of “PLEASSEEE I’m so bored I’m gonna DIE” seemed to do the trick. Either way, now here both they stood, in the basement to the door to the secret Basement, which could theoretically lead to the Danger Room. Tok looks at Leonidas, and brings out some slightly bent lock picks out of their pocket, “Listen. You’re like, super strong or something, right? We could sit here and I could try and open the door the boring way OR.” They raise their eyebrows a few time and jerks their head towards it, “I mean. Cmon. I bet this thing could crumple like paper AND it would look so cool.” It was probably the begging that eventually got to the recently single Leonidas. He had been holed up in his room playing The Finals in between bouts of looking for an apartment and a job, and admittedly the boredom was getting to him too. “I still think it would’ve been easier to slip under the basketball court. Well, not easier, but definitely cooler.” He takes a deep breath and looks around before placing his palm on the door. “Fair warning, with my track record there’s like an eighty percent chance we get busted immediately.” He readies himself, forearm flexing as he gets ready to push it open, “I don’t know what’s down here, so be careful, yeah?” Tok cheers, and quickly backs up, tail waving back and forth in excitement. “NAH no way! This plan is fool proof. And that’s still a whole twenty percent of not getting caught! I’ll gamble on that.” They grin, “And if this doesn’t work we’ll tunnel through the basketball courts! Always gotta have a viable backup plan.” “The last time somebody said that I had to fight a giant metal nazi. So. You know.” Leonidas doesn’t move his gaze from Tok as he gives the door what looks like a light shove, causing it to fly open like it had been hit with a battering ram. He looks like he’s about to say something but instead freezes and looks uneasy. “It feels like somebody has me in their crosshairs.” These kids, probably, should not have gambled on not getting caught, for a moment after this calamitous crash Mr. Summers comes into view from down the Forbidden Hallway, dressed in a sort of unexciting gray polo shirt and work pants, holding a coffee cup with the Xavier's logo in one hand. He looks down at the door on the floor, as if with mild curiosity, then up at the two culprits in the doorway, then pokes the door with the toe of one boot to make it wobble where its handle prevents it lying flat. His nostrils flare momentarily, but Scott has quite enough restraint not to sigh outright -- "You kids could have really hurt somebody doing that," he says. It's a pretty mild, plainly-spoken rebuke, though perhaps Scott's resting exasperated face injects it with a little extra oomph. Tok makes a startled sound upon Scott’s sudden appearance, tail and ears dropping down immediately. They wince, “OH SHI- H-Hey Mr. Summers! We ah…Heh.” Their eyes dart around, “There was uh…a giant spider! On the door! And I was terrified but then Leonidas killed it by punching it! But then the door also got killed with it. BUT! Leonidas saved my life! Cause…I’m allergic to spiders!” They glance nervously at Leonidas. Leonidas let’s outa long tired sigh. “I don’t know what I was thinking Mr. Summers. I’ll fix the door.” He does at least have the decency to look ashamed of himself. “It sounded clear, but I of all people should know that doesn’t mean anything.” Scott looks from Tok to Leonidas back to Tok, like he is trying to add these stories together in his head, then steps carefully around the fallen door back toward the hallway, maybe just to make sure the students don't come in. "I think if Leonidas had punched the door it would be in a few more pieces," he tells Tok, and holds out his coffee cup for them to take while he addresses their classmate -- "Leonidas, you wanna help me pick it up, lean it against the wall? It's pretty heavy," it's almost certainly not heavy for Leonidas. He's stepping gingerly back around the door to crouch at one corner, tilting it to get his hand underneath it. "What's up, Tok, were you lost?" Tok sends Leonidas another panicked glance when he doesn’t seem to also commit to the story, but seems to relax when Mr. Summers doesn’t seem….well he’s not immediately yelling at them. Tok quickly takes the cup held out for them, drumming and tracing their claws along the ceramic with a boundless energy. At Scott’s question, they sigh in defeat, one they’ve been unfortunately getting used to making with all the damn telepaths around, “Well. In a way, I guess I could’ve been lost. Or I guess not if the Danger Room is down there.” They raise their eyebrows a little. “But uh. Either way it was my idea. Not his.” “No, it was my idea. I’m just restless and made a stupid decision.” Leonidas protests, walking over to carefully pick the door up and deposite it in a corner. “Like I haven’t gotten in enough trouble these last five years.” Scott does very little of this door-lifting business; he's more focused on keeping himself between the kids and the rest of the hallway, ending super casually directly in the doorframe. He reaches out to take the cup back -- "Thanks." This time the glance goes from Leonidas to Tok to Leonidas, his entire head turning to make sure the trajectory is clear, his mouth twitching slightly at the corners. "I don't really care whose idea it was," he says. "Summer just started, and you're already this bored?" There's a slight pinch forming in his brows over his glasses as he looks at Leonidas, but after a moment he just takes a sip (it's just water in the coffee cup.) Tok watches Leonidas, narrowing their eyes slightly at him attempting to take the blame. Their eyes do widen at how he lifts the entire door. “That’s so cool man.” they mutter. Eventually, though, their attention is diverted back to Scott, “Well…just so happens that today I was bored. Probably won’t be tomorrow…” Tok attempts to peek around Scott’s shoulder, “Probably can guarantee we’ll be way bored if you show us what’s in the secret basement.” They raise their eyebrows a few times. “Bored is definitely a word for it.” Leonidas takes a few steps back away from the doorframe. Somehow he seems almost small in front of Scott. “Honestly it’s probably called the Danger Room for a reason. Given my luck it’d be like when Rosh Penin sent that training bot after you in Jedi Academy.” Scott's posture shifts minutely as Tok tries to peer past him, though there's not much view to obstruct from here. "If you two would like something to do I'm sure I can find something," he offers; it's kind of hard to tell how serious he's being. His eyes are giving nothing away. "There's always something to do around here, an old house like this. Nothing," he glances over his shoulder, back at the secret basement, "down that way though." His hand with the mug is dropping to his side, holding the mug around the rim; he tilts his head at Leonidas with confusion, then says, "Well, I haven't -- seen that movie, but it's actually pretty safe. We called it the Danger Room when I was a student here. Sort of as a joke." It's hard to tell if this is serious, too. "C'mon." He gestures both of them toward the stairs -- "Back up." Tok perks up, eyes lighting up in their excitement, “So it DOES exist?! There’s actually a thing called the Danger Room? Please please please can we see it one day PLEAssee it sounds SO cool.” They beg, still trying to peer through the little gaps between Scott and the door. They are, at least, backing up a bit as directed. “You have to admit that it is a cool name. Should’ve called it something like The Landfill.” Leonidas suggests as he moves back to leave, stopping to wait for Tok. “Probably an X-Man thing. Above our pay grade.” He pauses and looks back at Scott, “Do the X-Men get paid, or is it like one of those alumni donation schemes?” "Ye-e-eah," Scott says, with a tone of great regret, "well, we were young, hindsight is twenty-twenty. If it were up to me now, I would probably call it the practical exercise room. Back upstairs," he amends, shooing them with slightly more insistence to leave the basement, following behind. "We don't get paid, it's volunteer work. Nothing to do with alumni donations, either, all any of us are donating is our time." Tok huffs dramatically and begins walking, “Fine fine. Sheesh, X-men. That’s a funny name. X-MEN. Da na nananaaaaanana.” They hum some made up song, “You guys should have a theme song or something.” They glance behind them as they walk up the stairs, “Wait wait so how long you been at this school? Were you allowed in the danger room at our age?” “That’s admirable. Maybe once I get my stuff together I can come back and volunteer. I’m sure y’all could use the extra muscle.” Leonidas waves a hand over his shoulder motioning towards the stairs, “We should probably leave Mr. Scott alone, already pushing our luck.” Scott tilts his head, like he's giving this theme song suggestion some serious thought. "Catchy," he says. "Yeah, I went to school here. I was allowed in the danger room from the start, when I first got here I had some history of uncontrollably destroying buildings --" he tilts a glance at Leonidas at this, with a slim but genuine smile. "But I'm still here today, so don't give up on your luck yet. Who knows what the future has in store for either of you?" It is almost cruel that he finishes this with, "Right now it's leading you to my office to fill out a Self-Reflection worksheet."