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Summary: Billy and Travis has some roommate chatter while Billy cooks dinner
Date: September 4, 2010
Log Title: Cooking Baseball And Heroes
Rating: PG
Barnes Academy - Billy, Teddy, and Travis's Suite
A standard adult suite, this room is basically a combination living room and dining room, with a small kitchen in the back. There are four doors leading off to the sides, each to it's own bedroom and personal bathroom for the person who lives there. The TV is good quality and easily accessible for video games or movie systems.
Normally, Billy doesn't come and go by the front door. With his teleportation skills being so decent, he tends to just GO where he needs to. But, today, he's actually cooking in the little kitchen in the suite. He's humming lightly, with two different pans going at once.
Windows would be much appreciated right now, not because of Billy's cooking but because Travis wishes he could get some wood staining done. But without the proper ventilation, it's not a good idea. He comes out of his room wearing a custom (for his six arms) Colorado Rockies t-shirt over a pair of jeans with the goal of playing some video games. "Hey." He says to Billy, the suite mate he rarely speaks to. "Whatcha cooking?"
"Two different Vol-au-vents. A mushroom and a burgundy braised beef." Billy explains as he spreads out some puff pastry sheets and a few large ramekin-like dishes. Of course, if Billy knew that ventilation was needed, that's a spell he could pull off easily. He's just wearing a standard polo and jeans right now. "Just passing time and trying something new. Found the recipe online." He explains.
"Voul ah, what?" Travis isn't a cooking conisour so he doesn't know much about that stuff. "I guess it beats the cafeteria food." He says going over to look at what Billy's doing and it all looks to fancy for him. "I was gonna pass the time doing some carpentry but…underground the ventilation isn't that great. I miss having a garage."
"Ventilation?" Billy asks. "Easy enough to get in a moment, if you need it." He shrugs. "Vol-Au-Vent. They're like… hmm. It means Flying in the Wind, but it's similar to a pot pie. Just a lot more… fancy." He grins impishly as he ponders. "Goodairflowgoodairflowgoodairflow" He chants softly, as his eyes crackle with eldritch energy. And just like that, the door opens, and a very good breeze starts blowing through the room, and out the doors, passing it to wherever it needs to go.
"Okay, not gonna even ask why it's called Flying in the Wind but, then who knows who names this stuff in the first place." Travis says as he gets up to walk over to the fridge to grab a drink when Billy starts to use his powers. "Woah dude, what the hell did you just do?" He knows who Billy is, what he looks like but even though they're suitemates he hasn't had much interaction with him, let alone his powers. "I don't really need it right now cause that idea's out the window for the time being."
Billy tilts his head. "Magic." He says. Close enough to the truth. "Stop." He states, eyes crackling again, and the wind stops. "Well, either Magic or channeling chaotic energies into order energies and controlling them through a combination of mutation and magery, but that's a little overexplanatory." He grins, shrugging. "I make stuff happen when I want it to."
Travis then gets a bottle of water from his fridge and goes to shut the door that was previously opened once Billy says stop. "That must be pretty nifty, the make stuff happen when you want it to. I have no clue what you said about anything else." Magic is a foreign concept to Travis. "So, you're like a full time Super Hero or something, right?"
Billy nods as he stops the simmering on the stove and begins to pour some of the different mixtures into the ramekins. He's making six of each. "Yep. Well, College full time, down here, and full time Young Avenger." Billy explains. "You've probably met my partner, wherever he is. Teddy." He explains.
"Yeah, I've met Teddy, he's…well, a little too over enthusiastic. A bit overwhelming at first." Travis forgets that they are partners as in boyfriends and is thinking partners as in partners in crime fighting. "I'm just college full time down here, who knows what after, I guess where ever SHIELD wants to throw us."
"Fortunately, as far as SHIELD goes, I've already got a job when I get out. As long as I want to move into the Avengers…" Billy shrugs a bit. "Still not decided, but pretty damn sure that's where I'm going." He grins. "But, it all depends on what you want to do when you get out. SHIELD may have plans, but they'll try to match them to yours. If you want to be a communications person, well… SHIELD has positions for that. If you have powers that you want to use… they have positions for that."
"I don't know what's going on besides…well…a lot." Travis says as he can't really get into it too much. "I'm still getting used to my powers and everything since I only got them a few months back." Which is kinda rare for mutants to get them past puberty. "So..uh…you need a hand with anything, I got six so I got a few extras. I don't really know much about cooking but I can try."
"Well, if you want…" Billy says with a shrug as he moves to start the oven to let it pre-heat. "Just press some of the puff pastry over the tops of each of these ramekins." He explains, showing the sheets of pastry. "That way, when the oven's ready, all we have to do is stick them in and let them cook a while."
Travis looks at one of the ramekins and raises an eyebrow. "So..this thing isn't just a cup, it's also got a fancy name?" Travis is kinda a 'guy' guy so this cooking stuff is all just kinda new to him. Goes to put a puff pastry over the top obviously trying but obviously not doing it so well. "So how'd you get into all this cooking stuff?" He doesn't mean it to sound as rude as it might come off.
"My parents never really had much time. So, I took it on myself." Billy pauses to turn around and take one ramekin. He layers it, singly, and then presses it down around the edges. "Like that." He explains. "And my parents wanted me to have SOME creative outlet. I suck at art and I can't sing or dance worth anything, so… cooking is close enough. You can play with food." He grins.
"My Mom usually did the cooking, my Dad wasn't that good. I think I got a lot of my Dad in me." At least Travis hopes so, he's always tried to be like his Dad. "I always tried to be like my Dad thus why I picked up carpentry. I learned from him. I wonder if SHIELD needs carpenters." He jokes.
"I'm sure they do. Or a way that carpentry can relate to something else. You'd be surprised how things will transfer over. Especially skills." Billy says with a nod. "I'm a lot like my mother. More than anyone realizes." He says with a shake of his head.
"So you and your partner, Teddy, you're both pretty serious about the whole Superhero thing. Is that just something you one day decided, or the whole with great power comes great responsibility?" Travis isn't sure he wants to do the whole superhero thing. "I dunno, it's just I don't have much of a choice having six arms."
"It was… I've looked up to the Avengers all my life. For me, it's what I always wanted. Then, when my powers awakened, I knew it was what I HAD to be. Then, we happened to meet up with Iron Lad who gathered a few of us together and boom. We clicked. We've had our moments of… not so good things, but for the most part, it's been the ride of a lifetime." Billy says with a laugh. "I mean, being on a first name basis with Captain America. Outside his mask."
"I looked up to the Colorado Rockies my entire life." Travis says with a chuckle. "Well that and my father, but he used to take me to Rockies games. I gotta put the baseball dreams away. A six armed first basement is an unfair advantage. I mean, why can't they have a mutants sports league. How cool would that be? We don't play against those without them and we just have fun. Cause isn't that what it's about?"
"Then, perhaps, that's something you should look into starting.But rather than making it just a mutant league, because that can be rather discriminatory on it's own, make it a superhuman sports league. I think you've got a goal there." Billy grins. But then again, he comes from a family with a lawyer in the house. "Become an activist and MAKE the change you want to see."
"Well I didn't mean just mutants, see, still new to all this shit." Travis says as once he's done helping Billy he sits down in one of the chairs. Two arms on the table, two crossed over his chest and the other two behind his head. "I don't know, I mean how do you not freak out about being a mutant? Seriously? The more I realize this is my life, I dunno, it sucks."
"How do you not freak out being born an outcaste in India? How did they not freak out about being born black during the 40s and 50s? Acceptance. What is… is. If you can change it, then change it. If you can't, just deal with it. So, when I found out I was, I went with it. I knew I couldn't fight it. There is no 'cure' for mutancy. So, I went with it. But just in case I lost my powers, I learned how to do some things without it. See? And I fight to help even those who hate me." Billy shrugs, reaching over for a bit of cut carrot that didn't make it into one of the ramekins.
"But you said you always looked up to the Avengers right? So you probably always secretly wanted powers, correct?" Travis is making assumptions since he doesn't know Billy that well. "I had a full scholarship that I had to reject and it blows. I'm in a school where my Mom works now, which is a double edged sword, I'm a visible freak and I don't know how I should handle it. It's not about having people hate you, well it does suck, but about having to give up things you earned."
"Like I said. Fight for what you want." Billy levels his eyes at Travis. "Yes, I DID want that. But, I also wanted other things. And because of my powers, I really can't do anything BUT become a superhero. Who would hire a reality manipulator. If you pissed him off, he could rewrite your mind, and you'd never know it. I've got just about the most frightening set of abilities in the world." He explains. "So, I fight FOR people, rather than against them. To show them that I'm not something to be afraid of. I'm not like my… like someone else."
"I won't disagree with you there." Travis admits as he's starting to get a bit scared of his roommate. What if he did something to him but at the same time… "Wait…you can make anything you want happen, right? Like -anything-?" Yeah he's getting bad ideas.
"Unfortunately, yes." Billy admits. "But that's why I don't do a lot of it. If it's helpful or won't hurt anyone, then I'll do it. If it's harmful… I try not to do it unless it's to save someone else." He explains. "Considering some of the things that… My powers are similar to the Scarlet Witch's." he explains.
"Honestly, I have no clue who the Scarlet Witch is." Travis says as he takes a deep breath and asks the question he already knows the answer to. "There's no way you could bring my Dad back? Once someone's dead they're dead." There doesn't go a day where he doesn't miss his father, where he doesn't wish he was around. "I don't really expect you too…it was probably stupid of me to ask. Sorry Billy."
There's a wince from Billy as that's asked. "Dude… doing something like that would change a person. Bringing someone back from the dead… they wouldn't be the same. Scarlet Witch brought back Wonder Man. He no longer had a body after she did. He was just an energy form. Doctor Druid tried… and could only create them as zombies. That's the one thing I refuse to try." He looks down as he checks the oven. "It's… too frightening to think what would happen if I messed up."
Travis nods. "Like I said, stupid to ask. Even if you said you could, I dunno. It's just rough and there's a lotta times I wonder if all this would be easier if he was alive, ya know?" It's hard for Travis to explain everything when he can't. "Having my Mom here is easier than it sounds, at least I still have her but I miss Dad a lot. And seriously, changing subject, how do you know all this shit about heroes?"
"I read newspapers and internet articles. And then, when I got involved with the Avengers, they let me read their files." Billy explains. "So…" He grins. "And don't worry. You still have your mom." But then again, his own family life is awkward enough to explain. His birth parents aren't his parents by blood or soul. His other-parents are often villainous, often heroic.
"I know, she's great. She's one of the teachers for the younger students, Ms. Smith. Not like there probably aren't twelve Smiths here." There's a reason Travis was given such a popular last name. "Yeah, I've never been much into heroes. We didn't get a whole lot back in Colorado or anywhere else I lived. There's not much worth fighting over in the Rockies like in New York City."
"It is kinda funny, how everything tends to focus on the odd locations. Like here, and a little around the LA area…" Billy says with a shrug. "Another five minutes and those should be ready if you're hungry."
"Little known fact, I'm always hungry." Travis jokes around but then he can eat like a horse. He actually does work out a lot to keep his body in shape and the appetite builds. "I've never been to LA. Just out to the Midwest and the Rockies area. We didn't get a lot of time to travel over the last few years. Hey so, you know a lot about Superhero stuffs. Ever heard of the Maggia?"
"Italian Mafia?" Billy says, raising an eyebrow. There's an audible ding from the middle of the air with no particular point of creation. At that, Billy opens the oven and reaches for a mitt to start pulling out the food.
The answer wasn't exactly the one Travis was looking for. "Well I know there mafia, of some sort, not sure if they're really Italian but some might be. It's just, they're the only villain group I've heard of and just wondered if you knew any additional information."
"Never dealt with them. Fortunately. I deal more with Hydra and AIM than Mafia and Maggia." Billy says with a shrug as he runs a hand through his hair, pulling the rest out. They all get placed on the stovetop to cool for a few moments.
Travis stands up and walks back up to go over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "You want anything Billy? We've got soda, purple stuff, Sunny-D…who drinks that shit?" He can't help but ask as he looks back over. "So…do you think by reading the paper and the inter and stuff there'd be information on them?"
"Teddy does. He has weird tastes. Alien taste buds." Billy explains with a shrug. "Nah, I'm good. As for that, I'm sure there's stuff out there, but much of it may be lies." He says with a nod. "That's one of those things you'd probably be better off asking SHIELD about or someone that's fought them.
"Yeah." Travis says with the disappointed tone that says 'I'm not asking SHIELD that's a bad idea'. "I guess I could try asking one of the teachers or something." But Travis shouldn't be looking them up. It's not that he wants revenge he just wants to know about them. "As long as his alien taste buds know that bacon is the best food ever, I don't have a problem with what he easts."
"Wouldn't know Bacon. Jewish." Billy says with a shrug. Sure his codename is Wiccan, but hey. He takes one of the dishes and places it on a plate before grabbing a fork. "Mushroom or beef?" he asks it.
"Dude." Is all Travis can say to the not knowing about bacon. That sounds horrible to him. "And I'll take the beef." Fungi isn't something that sounds appetizing to the six armed mutant. "Let's try this Flying on Wind thing." He doesn't know if he as the name right.
