Players:
Summary: Clara meets Kitty and Warren.
Date: March 4, 2009
Log Title Cookies and Country
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Professors' Wing
A red and blue carpet with a complex pattern stretches down the hall and meets with the wooden walls. Wooden doors run up and down both sides of the hallway as entrances to the staff's dorms. There is a sign on the wall when you first enter the hallway stating, "No students permitted without permission, Professors' Wing."
With the barrier down finally, Clara took the opportunity to hit the city and do a teeny bit of shopping. The red head returns, still dressed down in her jeans, cowboy boots and a button down top that just screams country. Bags drape over the woman's arm as she juggles with them, a black and white cookie and a cup of hot chocolate. One of the bags dangle from her teeth as she lifts a foot, trying to wiggle the door handle to her room open. She still isn't used to being able to use her powers out in the open.
Having just arrived back at the mansion a few weeks ago, Warren has been roaming the halls, trying to re familiarize himself with old haunts. He has also been seeing quite a few new faces, and looks up with interest upon spotting another one. He struggles to suppress a chuckle as he sees Clara come down the hall struggling with her belongings. "Need a hand there?"
"Mffss," Clara murmurs around the bag handle in her mouth. She pushes a hand up, juggling that bag on two fingers as she clings to her cookie with the rest of the hand. "I will split my cookie with you if you open my door for me," she drawls in a thick southern accent. She gestures her head towards her room and gives Warren the full force of lavender shaded 'puppy dog' eyes. "I'll even give you the chocolate half."
Grinning broadly, he reaches for the handle of Clara's door, twisting it and pushing it open. "Chocolate half? A woman after my own heart. Here - let me at least grab something…" He gingerly reaches for one of the bags.
Clara grins as she slides some of the bags onto his arm, hers falling to her side as she sighs. "My hero," she laughs, nudging the door further and striding inside to settle the rest of the bags on her bed. "So, we haven't met. I'm Clara Matthews, the new theater teacher." Hot chocolate is settled on a nightstand as she thrusts the hands towards Warren.
Warren shakes Clara's hand. "Very good to meet you. I'm Warren Worthington - and old timer here at Xavier's. I've been away for some time and…" He pauses for a moment, looking into her lavender eyes. "…it's good to be back." He realizes he has been grasping Clara's hand for an inappropriately long time and releases it. "Drama teacher, eh? Seems appropriate for a place like this…" He chuckles halfheartedly at his poor attempt at humor.
Clara doesn't seem to care about how long the handshake lasts, sticking her thumbs in the back pocket of her jeans when it's finally released. "Nice to meet you Warren. Do you teach here.. or one of the other 'old timer' types?" She startles for a second and reaches back for the side table, grabbing the cookie and splitting it in half, offering him the chocolate side. "As promised.." her head tilts at the drama joke. "You know, I keep hearing that," she drawls. "This place really that drama filled?"
Warren takes the half of a cookie. "Thanks." He takes a bite, raising the cookie in approval. "It's certainly seen more than its share over the years. I'm not teaching any classes myself yet, but hopefully will get into teaching economic or business at some point. Still have to talk to Scotty about that…" He catches a glimpse of Kitty walking by the door. Gesturing to the door, "And here is one of the youngest old timers here at Xavier's… Miss Kitty Pryde!"
Rewind! Kitty backpedals a couple of steps, shaking herself out of her reverie, and sticks her head in the door. Since it's open, that's not at all an uncanny move on her part. "Hi," she says cheerfully, edging around the doorframe and extending her hand. "I'm not even close to youngest old goat anymore, not after the Mass Ac crowd." Was that a dig? That can't possibly have been a dig. "You'll have to forgive Warren, the starch and shoe polish are pretty heady. You're Clara, I take it?" She's not well-dressed: t-shirt, jeans, and beat-up sneakers. Her hair's pulled back into a very loose ponytail, and she's wearing glasses.
Clara watches as Kitty strides in, eyes blinking rapidly as she listens to the woman talk. Clara can already tell she's going to like this one. She reaches out to grab her hand, giving it a firm shake. "Clara Matthews. That's right. Nice to meet you." Her outfit is fairly similar to Kitty's, though her hair remains loose to her hips. She's glad she's not the only one around the school that likes to dress down.
Warren chuckles at Kitty's comment, looking down at his wardrobe. "Yeah, I suppose I am a bit overdressed for the occasion, eh?" He looks fondly over at Kitty. "It's good to see you again, kiddo. We didn't have much a chance to chat at the whole giant forcefield occasion in Manhattan the other night. How are things?…"
"Awesome," says Kitty to Clara, taking her hand back after the shake with a quick smile. "Good to meet you too." She sticks her hands in her jeans pockets, then, and tilts her head back a little, a lazy gesture, to look up at Warren. The smile's still there, but it's wry and it's got something in it that looks like it's got an unpleasant aftertaste. "Well, I'm trying to get hold of my cranky spymaster ex to see if he can't do me the favor of requisitioning a crosstemporal resonance analytic scanner, so I can find out which dimension Someone is from-" The capital letter? Audible. "-and get him to stop having ideas about me just because he was engaged to my paraform where he's from. You?"
Clara scans Warren's outfit with a smile. "Overdressed, maybe. But you make it work for you," she compliments with a wink before glancing back to Kitty, eyes widening. She understood about a quarter of what the other woman just said. The wheels in her mind can almost be seen spinning as she tries to decipher the comments. "Crosstemportal what-now?" Clara's starting to get the feeling that she's going to be using the phrase 'what-now' a lot around this school.
Warren glances over at Clara, smiling at the compliment. His look lingers after she winks at him. Turning back to Kitty, he tries to digest the technobabble, but can only manage the false look of concentration he has used at many a board meeting. "Sound like the same stuff as always…"
Relenting, and giving Clara a faintly apologetic look, Kitty waves a hand around. "I -did- hear someone mention an overabundance of drama as I was going by," she says with a funny little laugh. "It never ends." Time for subject change! "So what'll you be teaching? I glanced over the briefs but I didn't actually read 'em."
Clara's lips twist into an ironic smirk as Kitty mentions dropping the subject and then asks what she'll be teaching. "Drama," she offers as the smirk blooms into a smile. "I'm the new Theater Arts teacher, so I guess I come pretty prepared for whatever drama might be tossed my way. I was just asking Warren how bad it really gets around here. From the sound of it I'm going to be earning my pay," she laughs.
Warren says "I think you definitely will…."
"Just wait until people start coming back from the dead," says Kitty with a slightly brittle brightness. One hand comes up from her pocket to settle around her opposite arm, almost like she's cold. Clara thought she'd like her? She may still— but it's even obvious to a newcomer that Pryde's got a lot going on, and a lot of it's probably not that great. "Anyway— I've got comp sci and combat. I *wanted* physics, but they were afraid I'd teleport the lab into the Negative Zone. Haha. Are you going to be putting on plays with the kids?"
Clara isn't sure if Kitty is joking or not, but by the body language she's going to guess that that's a no. "I.. well, I'll just hope that doesn't happen while I'm here. Not entirely sure how I'd be able to handle that." Brows knit. Oh yeah, that sense of getting in over her head is going into overdrive. "Negative Zone?" she shakes her head. "Never mind. Only too much weirdness at a time. But yeah! Thought I'd start off with something simple, but I still have to get my class list so I know the girl to guy ratio."
Yes! Let's talk about you. Much safer territory. Sorry, sorry. Kitty sticks her hands back in her pockets and rocks back on her heels a little bit, giving Clara a very rueful look for a second, and then letting the good, normal natter wash away the weird. "That'll be a *lot* of fun. I don't think we've -ever- had a school play here. If you have room for *me*, I'd love to learn about the technical stuff. I mean, if I could sit in sometimes…"
Clara laughs. "Really? You think a lot of the teachers would be interested in taking part? Because I bet I can come up with a killer play for everyone to get involved in. And by what you were saying before, you're handy with electric doohickies. Might not be a bad idea to learn how to run a light board and similar equipment." Clara taps her chin for a second before nodding. "Oh yeah, I can come up with something great."
"I think that's a *great* idea!" It's like there's a weight off of Kitty, suddenly; she's looking enthusiastic *and* just a little devilish. "You -have- to get Scott involved. If he says no, you tell me, and I'll *make* him. I mean, I can't act worth beans, but definitely — light and sound, yeah. I'll *really* be able to surprise Ali when she comes back, if I can handle -that-..!"
The sudden devilish look that Kitty gets isn't mirrored in Clara's expression, but her smile does widen a touch. Oh yeah, they'll be getting along. "I'll certainly ask him? But he doesn't quite strike me as the type of guy who will do something like that willingly. We should cut out the middle man and have you come with me when I ask. It'd be pretty dang hard to turn down the both of us." Dang? She /is/ country. "But yeah, I can show you the basics when you have some free time. Shouldn't be too hard. It's just a lot of switches and knobs. Depending on the board."
As long as Kitty can behave herself. She practically dances back toward Clara's door, footsteps inhumanly light. "He -can't- turn us both down! You come up with a play, and we'll bother him together— and anytime you've got a minute and I've got a minute, I'll take you up on that Basic Theater Tech 101. Right *now* I definitely gotta go catch Scott about the cross time thing, so I'll see ya later!"
"Yeah, important things first, cross time.. dimension thingies definitely come before learning how to use a Light Board." Clara grins as she watches Kitty moves to the door, eyes sliding down to glance at her feet. Curious. "Well I'll catch up with you a little later and we can work on picking a play together and what not." She gives a wave to the retreating Kitty, leaning back against her nightstand as she glances to Warren. "So, you going to join us in the play? I'm sure I can find something for you."
Warren waves to Kitty as she leaves. Turning to Clara, he says, "I would love to - anything to keep the kids involved." He chuckles. "I must admit my acting chops could use a whole lot of work, if they exist at all. My mutant power certainly does not involve acting." After taking a step toward Clara, he says, "Perhaps you could give me a bit of help…"
Clara grins and claps her hands together in excitement. She's never met so many teachers willing to help out with her plays. This place really is great! "That's what I'm here for. You're always welcome to take some of my classes," she teases with a laugh. Her face tilts as she studies his approach thoughtfully. Nothing outwardly obvious, so she might as well ask.. "I'm still learning the levels of politeness with this question, but, can I ask what your powers are?"
Warren says, "Ah…" He looks around a bit, as if he is wondering the best way to demonstrate. He pulls off his jacket and lays it across the bed. He reaches behind him, pulling some kind of thin drawstring at the back collar of this dress shirt. A piece of material falls, and a pair of large feathered wings expand behind him. He contracts the wings a bit, careful not to knock anything over in the confines of the room. "These," he says with a note of pride, "are my gift."
Clara squints, following his movements as he starts to take his jacket off. "Now, I don't know what kind of girl you think I am, Warren," she drawls with an amused tone, "But I like dinner and drinks first." Laughter follows as she tucks her hands in her pockets, watching. Her eyes go wide as the wings appear, mouth hanging open slightly as she straightens. "They're beautiful.." she murmurs, taking a couple of steps closer before pausing to study them from a few steps away. "Like angel wings."
"Thank you," he says, folding them behind his back. "As for the dinner and drinks, that certainly can be arranged," he says, smiling at the corner of his mouth. "Of course, if I'm being too forward, I apologize." He puts his hands into his pockets. "I don't even know your… situation. Or your mutant gift for that matter."
Clara arches a brow, eyes tearing away from the wings to focus back on his gaze. She smiles, head tilting as though she's pondering it. "Can it now? Don't suppose you know the Two Step?" It's hard to tell if she's joking or serious. "My power?" She takes a step back and turns her back to him, watching his reflection in the mirror as her hair begins to twine around itself into an intricate pattern. "Prehensile Hair. It seems kind of silly, but I could lift a car with it if I had to." Clara smiles and turns back to him.
Warren's eyes dart downward for split second as Clara turns toward the mirror. As her hair starts to move, his eyes dart back upward, widening a bit. "Beautiful…" he mutters, nearly against his own will. This is something he has not seen before, which is saying something. After she turns around, he says, "The two-step, the waltz, the hokey-pokey - you name it."
Clara bites her bottom lip at the first comment. It's the first time anyone has said that about her power, it's a nice little rush. "Beautiful and dangerous," she offers playfully, the hair moving to either side of her to form what looks like two arms flexing. She laughs as it drops back down to her sides and lays like normal hair. "Then I know just the place. There's a nice country bar in town. You own jeans and a pair of cowboy boots among all that Armani?"
Warren laughs. "You would be surprised what lingers deep in my wardrobe! I actually went through a bit of a cowboy and country phase myself years ago. A classic look, in my opinion." He inspects Clara's outfit. "I doubt I make the look work as well as you, but I can hold my own."
"Sugar, nobody can pull off this look quite as well me," Clara laughs, playfully as she twirls, showing off. "I'll be interested to see how it works with hiding those wings. Unless you wanted to turn the gym here into a Honky Tonk and invite everyone to make it so you don't have to hide them?"
Warren says, "Actually, my wings are pretty much an open secret. Though when we go out, I think I'll be tucking them in the harness I use to keep them under wraps. With mutant perception being what it is, no use having a few bigots ruin what I'm sure will be a lovely evening."
"Wait.." Clara tilts her head, studying his face for a second. "NOW I know where I've seen you before. You're /that/ Warren Worthington. The business man. Wow, talk about having a dumb moment," she smirks. "Well, open secrets or not, I'm still not used to letting anyone but me see my abilities, so taking it easy on the public powers will help ease me in anyway." Clara shrugs and reaches out to take his arms, turning him around as she gently shoos him from the room. "But if I'm going out for dancing with a big shot, I need a chance to get dolled up," she winks. She nudges him from the room, leaning a hip against the doorframe. "Pick me up at 8?"
Warren grins as he gets shooed out. "Absolutely, Ms. Matthews. I'm looking forward to it."
