Players:
Summary: Chloe has 'News From The Future!' James responds in his usual unpredictable fashion.
Date: July 3, 2010.
Log Title Bad News or Good News?
Rating: PG-13.
Xavier Mansion - Dining Hall
In a school for children the dining room is decorated to be practical instead of elegant. The walls are a pleasant tan color. Two large windows line the walls looking out to the school grounds. A large table for at least forty people sits in the center of the room. Two chandeliers hang from the ceiling to light up the room. Along the wall is a hole in the wall looking into the kitchen so food can be passed back and fourth.
Saturday evening, and James finds himself inside the Dining Hall with a plate of pasta and a large bottle of Dr Pepper. The room is relatively empty; it leaves the hyena to enjoy some much-earned the peace and quiet. Occasionally spooning a mouthful into his waiting mouth, the creature sits silently, mentally plotting out the remainder of the day.
Slipping into the dining room, a immense plate of fries and a large container of salt in her hands, Chloe has an unusually resigned look on her face. The teenage blonde pauses, scans the room with a quick motion of her head and then heads over towards where James is sitting. "Heya. Not interrupting anything am I?" she asks, forcing a smile. "Only I've got something I need to tell you about and it's kinda urgent. Even if I'm fairly sure it's not something which'll piss you off big time."
James tilts his head, one of his ears angling backwards. There's a moment of silence as the creature inside tries to make the connection to whom this particular student is, but fails. A shrugs follows, then a wave of a hand, "Not at all. And I rarely kill the messenger." Rarely. Eyes dart back to the plate before he pushes it away, "Hmmmm, let me guess. Lucas did something stupid?" A corner of his mouth raises in a near half smile.
"Nothing of the sort. Say you're looking good after the whole spear incident by the way," Chloe offers, covering her fries with a liberal sprinkling of salt before hopping up to sit on the table. Comfortably outside arms reach because it never hurts to be too careful! "Which brings me neatly onto the topic. What's your standpoint on timetravel? And should I assure you I've been confirm as not crazy before hand by at least one witness /and/ a telepath?"
"Thank you," the hyena says. But anything more is cut off by the mention of time travel. There's a click of James' tongue and a napkin is brought up to wipe his mouth—all in all appearing rather civil tonight. Which is usually the sign of the calm before the storm if the hyena's behavior in the past is any indicator. "I know it exists, I know it happens more than I like to think, and I know that the person who speared me is rather fond of it. So, anything you have to tell me I'm more than likely to believe. Oddly enough."
"Ahab right? This place seems to only get targeted by people with /terrible/ names," Chloe says, shaking her head in dismay. "Anyway did you hear the rumour that Cloud got himself kidnapped because the person who sent Ahab back in time said he'd die? Well I can assure you it's a fact. There was also… uhm… some mention of you and considering the source I'm fairly sure it's got a core of truth." She balances her plate on her knees and begins rapidly eating her fries. "There was a lot of general mention of war, atrocity and the like. But anyway enough dancing around the point… The line about you was 'James kills many people. James is a demon, insane, a man with nothing but hatred and wild bestial instinct'."
James stops dead in his tracks, almost as if freezing in time. Wild hyena eyes don't leave Chloe for a long moment before presenting the unexpected: a grin. A grin with the show of many, many teeth. The response follows, one someone might swear is almost giddy enough to be preempted by a 'Tee hee!' "You don't say?" The smile deepens, "And this source is credible? Very and truly?" The hyena freezes once more, pondering the news, "Well…that's interesting." More smiling, the creatures face looking almost overly animated.
Chloe blinks, then blinks a few more times so it's obvious. "Of course it came from someone who worked with Ahab," she explains, shifting the plate of fries to the table beside her. "Which implies you end up working for him in the end and the killing seems to have been… well… I'd assume people from here. Because the source said I'd know some of the people you killed and it happens in the next ten years."
James giggles, puts a paw over his mouth….then shakes his head and then attempts to set a hand on Chloe's shoulder, "Oh no…that's dreadful news…And something I don't exactly believe." LIE: That's a good way to cover your tracks. "Even if it's true, you telling me now means I can avert that, right? I mean…yeesh! I just don't see that happening. Not at all." No sir! James tilts his head, looking at Chloe once more, "So, you're sure that he…that I'm killing for Ahab? Should this," the hyena offers quote-fingers, ""Fairy Tale" come true? Not someone else?"
Chloe shuffles sideways on the table when James reaches, keeping herself at a distance. "Honestly? I'm not sure if you can or not," she says, frowning at the response. "After all if you /can/ change it then I won't be able to tell you will I? Perhaps you could fake it. I mean if anyone could scam a supervillain it'd be you." There is a long (especially for Chloe!) pause before she adds "Uhm… That's an odd question. Asking who you're killing for… but yeah I suspect so. He knew you well enough to throw a kidnap-y spear at you early on after all, right?"
James offers a dismissive hand wave, "I'm a 7' tall hyena. You can't get much odder than this, can you?" Almost as if speaking from experience, he adds, "Well, regardless, that's interesting news. And, you should know for every 15 ways someone has to screw up the past, the X-men has 16 ways to screw up the future. The very fact that we know what 'might' happen is a sign that forces are already in place to keep it from happening." A pleasant smile follows, the type you'd expect from a large predator. Or someone who believes that they 'are' the top of the food chain.
Chloe scoops up a handful of fries and wolfs them down half-heartedly. "They do huh? Well… that's not the most reassuring way you could have put it. As for stopping it? Yeah well… things worked out really well with the whole Sinister thing didn't they? The 'forces' which are meant to be stopping this kinda stuff appear to be doing a pretty poor job of it." She sighs. "But anyway my duty is done. Everyone I have info about has been warned about their fates and if they can't do better with the knowledge than Cloud they deserve whatever happens."
"Of course they do," the large creature says. Which is exactly why 'James' will never tell James what 'it' just found out. The hyena smiles once more, trying to look more about 'pleasant' and less about 'drooling like a crazy person.' "And thank you, I'll put this knowledge to good use." One final look at Chloe, "Cloud…is he still offering information about the future? And, you're sure this was about 'me?'"
"Cloud hasn't been seen since Ahab's mook took him," Chloe says, ever so slightly callous about the whole thing. "And the stuff about you only came up in response to talk of you getting hit by a spear. So unless in the near future I know a /lot/ of people called James who Ahab is going to throw pointy sharp things at I think it's pretty safe to say it was about you."
James clicks his tongue once more, "Well, then, I'll just have to make sure it's not Ahab that holds my leash in the future, hmm? And, keep in mind, there are many 'James' around here. Logan and Warpath top the list." But he digresses, "Anyways…thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it!" More than Chloe will ever know.
Chloe shrugs. "If either of them are hit and not turned into bondage mooks I'll be sure to let them know," she promises. "But it seemed like a pretty one off sort of deal, right? I mean Cam and the other person he went for didn't recover." She lets out a long sigh. "Anyway I best be off. I have to get back to teaching myself cryptography."
James nods and returns his attention back to his plate, a large paw pulling it back into place, "Sure sure. If you hear any more, I'm all ears." An unfortunate truth if there ever was one. Before another word is said, the hyena picks up a fork and returns to eating. A surreal ending to a surreal conversation.
