Players:
Summary: Future Connor and Present Jinx have a run in. It ends predictably.
Date: July 19, 2010
Log Title: All Hat, No Cattle
Rating: R
Xavier Mansion - Spuyten Duyvil Cove
This little cove leads off to Breakstone Lake. Students can go fishing, boating, and swimming in the fresh water. There is a small beach off to the side of the dock where students can also go sunbathing.
There is an odd sound carrying around the cove today, a sound almost like someone using an airgun to plink at aluminum cans. Standing half-way up the cove, is the form of Connor, currently dressed down in a tank top and a pair of BDU pants, barefoot on the beach sand, a line of cans in front of him about 100 feet away. Three are currently crushed on the ground behind the line and a fourth is in the air… and he seems to be aiming his fingers of his left hand at it, sending bolts of blue-green energy into the air at it, and bouncing it, leaving dents each time the bolt strikes.
Jinx arrives at the cove, and leans her shoulder against a tree, watching the not-Connor do his thing with the cans. She waits a few long moments, her brows creasing as she watches so. "Is that you doing it, or are you using the potential in the Connor that we're all missing?" She asks of the BDU-clad post-apocalyptic man in a boy suit.
The last bolt goes out, and the can crushes down into a sphere before dropping to the ground in a thud, and half-burying in the sand. Turning around face you, the eyes, stance, and scent are almost immediately confrontational, as if expecting hostility and prepared to handle it. But the voice seems a bit more polite. Familiar, but with a grind of age behind the inflection, "I'm stronger, and have learned a few tricks the kid doesn't have, but he's got better fine control than I do… I don't have the raw kick I'd have in my own body."
Jinx pushes off the tree and moves forward in the slow slink that is her trademark walk. She looks to the cans. "How does that work? I thought we only got stronger and more controlled as we age. Is it something mental you are doing, harnassing something he has?" She asks. "Is it his hormones?"
Moving over, Volk sits down on one side of the line of cans on the rock he was using and rests his forearms on his thighs as he leans forward a bit, "Pardon me for coming off a bit skeptical, but… what… no threats, no bluster, no 'get out of my friend's body'?" A brief chuckle comes along with a shake of his head, but the sense of imminent hostility still lingers in his scent, a wolf-like readiness for violence, "Practice. See… mutant power's like any muscle in the body. It's got so much potential to grow, but it won't unless you work it. Me… I tried making myself straight-up stronger. Your Connor seems to be working more towards versatility."
Jinx's eyes lower to the man as he sits. "You know you are being a jerk. You know we all want you to leave. You have only made us miss the real Connor all the more, for all his brokeness, it is still better than having a future we did not ask for nor deserve thrust upon us," Jinx's mouth is a bland line, humorless as is her face. "You don't need me to tell you what youalready know. It would be a waste of time and energy to go about yelling at you. I expect all of my friends have yelled at you… yet you're still here." She waves a paw, and with a rolling shrug of her shoulders.
"He's not broken…" The future-self replies, "Believe me… I'm damaged goods, and he's still miles better than me… and that's me talking, not the others." With that said, he drags up a drink, a Dr. Pepper, and chugs down the whole thing before leaving the can next to the others. But the air of latent hostility seems to have lessened a bit, "Tell me something you think you know about Connor, Jinx."
Jinx pffts softly and rolls her eyes. She crosses her arms over her chest, tucking her hands into her elbows. "Why? So you can tell me I am wrong?" she asks with a small huff. "That's dumb. In fact, I don't know that much about him except he is really afraid of himself and his powers. He's wicked strong and has a crush on Lucas, James, and all these strong male-types," she flicks a look to the man. "I expect that's why he made you. Because he never wanted to feel small when it all went down."
The man-in-boy laughs some, "Lucas?! Oh fuck no… if anything I thought he had a crush on ME. And as for James… heh… that's always complicated." But the word just makes him smile, and then he continues, "You really don't want to know about me, Jinx… if what you're already putting out is any indication, all I'd get is more scorn. And I'm kinda out of patience for that kinda shit right now." Taking up one of the cans, it glows and then launches into the air, letting him take aim and begin to plink-bounce it once more, "Yeah he's afraid… he can't even escape his powers in his sleep. Neither of us can. You go to bed, you get pleasant little dreams. Ever asked him what he goes through?"
Jinx blinks slowly at the man. "You haven't even begun to know what my scorn feels like. When are you leaving?" she asks of the man. "The longer you stay here, the more the future is changing. Our future. I know about the butterfly effect and all that." She looks at him seriously. "Because you really, really need to find something else to do rather than harass students, and if you are not able to keep yourself from it and sharing your fucked-up future, I will be headed right to the headmaster and see you kept away from us until you do whatever it is you came here for."
"And there it is…" A bare whisper, and a shake of Connor's head before he stops and levels a stare at Jinx, "I made a mistake. I did the wrong thing for the right reasons… and I fucked up. Even -I- realize that, but you know what? You've got no right to tell me what to do. I'm responsible enough for my own actions without you trying to watchdog me like some kind of jersey jewish mother." Standing up to his full height and walking forward, there's a dig in his toes like he might launch himself at any moment, "Fun fact about being a teleporter, Jinx…" Emphasizing the name like it's some kind of verbal slap, "Is you can leave. Any damn time you want. No questions ask… GONE. But instead I sat here, and I listened, and I talked… and where has it gotten. We're back to kids threatening me because they're AFRAID."
She looks at the man. There is no fear in her eyes as she listens to his words. "Go ahead," she says to him, her arms still crossed over her chest. "Assault me. I am underage still," she says this all to him with the measured surety of a teenage girl utterly full of herself.
Connor grins in a rather feral fashion, "I wouldn't give you the satisfaction. You want to know what I see standing in front of me? A scared little girl who wants me to touch her so she can use her power on me to punish me. An angry little girl who's feelings are hurt, and I'm the most convenient thing to lash out at… why? Because I'm easy. I'm sure if Selene was out here you'd be hurting her instead…" Stopping and making a bit of a sorry face, "Oh… was that a bad button to press? Too bad. Don't open doors you don't want to look in." Stopping just within touch range, he smirks, "Well… go on. You don't need me hitting you to justify what you want to do. Touch me. Make me feel it all."
Jinx blinks at him, the slowness of her gaze and her pupils not even dilating. "No, using my powers against another student in an aggressive manner is grounds for dismissal from the school," she says calmly. "To be afraid of you would mean that I actually respected you, and I don't. But, this confirms to me that all you are here for is to be a pain in the ass. I just hope we can forgive Connor when you're gone." She loosens her arms then, turning and beginning to walk away.
Connor is gone from view, and is now right in front of where Jinx is turning, and whispers very softly, "Do you REALLY want to be afraid of me? Do you? Because I can arrange that right goddamn now." Eyes narrowed, his scent raw rage barely put on it's leash, hands surprisingly loose at his sides, "Is that what it's going to take to get you all to leave me the fuck alone? I've humored and coddled you spoiled little brats since I got here… I tried to make nice, I've tried to be out of the way…" That voice rising in tempo and fury but still maintaining the whisper, "But you've all made it your business to be up in mine. So… this is your one chance, little girl. You tell all of them. ALL OF THEM. This is the last time. Next time one of you wants to get up in my face, you better come ready for a beating, because I'm tired of all this teenage self-righteous bullshit. Clear?"
Jinx looks at the guy, and her lip raises, reeling back as he appears in front of her. "Dude. Leave me alone. I am walking away from you. Get out of my way," her fur floofs defensively. She attempts to step around the man who is yelling at her as she tries to leave.
Connor steps to match, maintaining that distance but still inside Jinx's personal space, "Connor deserves better friends than you." And then finally turns to the side and gives a mocking bow and a sweep of his arm, "You're free to leave, your worshipfulness."
Jinx doesn't get the last word, since it's clear that he enjoys his own words too much for her to even try to compete. She doesn't look back as she heads off along the path at a leisurely pace.
