Players:
Summary: If you lost your face, would you want it back or would you trade up for a better one?
Date: February 17, 2012
Log Title: Face Up
Rating: G
Xavier Mansion - Quad
There is a square side walk of pavement with a nice grassy area in the middle with a few stone benches and trees along the corners. The pavement leads to the paths to the grounds of the school, the Dining Hall in Xavier's and the Ramsey Dormitories. It's not particularly large but it's a nice place for students and teachers to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
After a day of rain yesterday it seems the sun has come out and brought with it the warmth of what is usually found in spring. Having a nice day of weather has brought several students outside to enjoy the fresh air, including Nicholas. Instead of eating his lunch in the cafeteria, he's brought his ham and cheese sandwich to the quad where he sits on one of the stone benches with his laptop in his lap as he watches last nights episode of Swamp People.
The warm weather brings more students out from their shelters like beasts awakening from hibernation. Jill carefully navigates the still sodden grassy areas, sneakers occasionally making a soft squish sound. Maybe using the paved walkways would be smarter. The only consideration she's given to the nicer weather is a short-sleeved maroon t-shirt with three cartoon flowers on the front, complete with smiley faces. She pauses behind the bench, sipping at a lidded plastic cup filled with strawberry milkshake. "Hey Nick. What's up?"
Nicholas pauses the video on his laptop just in time to freeze an alligator thrashing around. "Hey Jill, not to much just watching the episode of Swamp People I missed last night cause of practice." He shuts his laptop, throwing it into his backpack, and moves his lunch to his lap incase Jill wants to sit down. "Glad it's Friday so we don't have classes the next few days."
Jill makes a face, a little grimace at the frozen image of an agitated alligator, but the disturbing picture is quickly put away. She steps carefully over the bench and sits in the offered space. "Oh, yeah, about practice," she begins to explain, avoiding eye contact awkwardly. "Listen, I'm sorry about that, I really didn't think I could hit you from that far away. I know it was, like, only a holographic soccer ball but…" She trails off and sucks on strawberry milkshake to stop herself from babbling. "But hey, three day weekend, right? Got any plans?"
Nicholas smiles and shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, it's just practice right? I probably should be able to stop it with my telekinesis but I didn't see it in time. Sometimes I just a bit into the moment, I have a competitive streak." He says nudging her playfully. "Nah, maybe take Orion for a nice long ride one of the days. Try not to get lost again like I did on Tuesday."
"Yeah, well, I'm still sorry. Nobody'd expect a blue puddle to throw that hard, I bet." Mutant dodgeball is a generally unpredictable sport anyway. She smiles shyly at the nudge. "Oh, it's just I was thinkin' about getting some people together and goin' into the city. Don't really have a plan. Just, y'know, gettin' out to some place other than Salem Center for a while. Maybe go to Mutant Town and hang around without a disguise or something."
"I haven't been to the city yet, honestly the thought of me in a place that big I don't think I'd ever be able to come home." Nicholas says. "I would get lost every time my family went to Disney when visiting my grandparents but I guess if we're with a group I should be fine so…that sounds fun. That is if you're inviting me to go." Nicholas says before getting a contemplative look on his face as he stares at Jill. "That disguise thingie, I ran into Taylor while she had hers on and… well… when you use it is that what you used to look like?"
"Well, sure." Jill gestures at Nick with her cup. "I mean, it's kind of an open invitation. And who knows? If we get enough people, maybe they'll let us borrow a car for the day instead of bein' stuck on public transportation." She cocks her head to the side, a translucent lock of hair falling in front of her eyes. "Oh, I didn't know Taylor'd got one already. That's good to hear." To the question, she purses her lips before answering, "Yeah. Well, kinda. I don't think it's quite perfect. The hair's not quite the right color. On the other hand, it doesn't have pimples or anything. I guess it's close enough. Why d'you ask?"
"I have a drivers license if you need someone to drive." Nick offers, little does he know driving in New York isn't quite the same as driving in North Dakota. "Oh I was just curious cause Taylor said that hers was how she used to look and it just didn't occur to me that might be the case with you. Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable or anything talking about it. I just never really thought how hard it must be."
"Heh. I got mine too but I haven't got much practice aside from driving to and from the hospital when Nana was there. Nana, she's my great-aunt I live with." Jill shakes her head, fingering the loose strand of jelly-like hair behind her ear. "Nah, it doesn't make me uncomfortable. It's something I've thought about, though. I mean, the school hands me a little gizmo that can make me look like anything and *that's* the face I pick?" She laughs softly, nudging Nick's foot with her own. It's okay to laugh. "Though… the pictures I gave 'em to make it are two years old by now."
"I got my license as soon as I could so I could drive back and fourth to school. It's a forty five minute drive so it made it easier on my parents." Nicholas explains before laughing a bit with Jill once she shows it's okay to laugh. "Hey it's your face. Or was, I dunno. I don't mean it like that just… I guess with Taylor I think about it cause she's so grumpy? But you, you're very cheerful so I don't think of it being different with you. I don't know if I'm making sense."
Jill gives a low, appreciative whistle. "My old school was a fifteen minute *walk* and I still had trouble making myself go every day. Your dedication is… wow." She leans forward, wrapping both hands around her milkshake and holding it between her knees. "Taylor… I mean, it happened real recently, didn't it? So like, getting your normal face taken away, then given back as a hologram so fast?" For a short pause, her tongue pokes out from the corner of her mouth. "It just doesn't seem like such a smart idea. If there'd been more time to get used to the 'new' Taylor-" Jill shifts the cup to balance on her knee while she makes air quotes. "Maybe it'd be better. 'Cause if you'd offered me one of the holo-thingies only like a month or two after I went all gooey? I'd never take it off."
"It's not dedication when the only public school you go to is always forty five minutes away. We had one school for the entire county, and there were only ten kids in the class. Including me." Nicholas explains. "I don't know, I mean I guess it makes sense but what if you just wanted to leave and go somewhere other than the school, I would feel trapped if I couldn't. I kinda feel trapped now since I don't know where anything is outside the gates."
"Ahh. I'm spoiled, I guess. I went to a private school. A private *Catholic* school." Jill gives an exaggerated shudder, then sips at her milkshake for a moment of reflection before she goes on to the more serious topic. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Maybe that was kind of a mean thing for me to say. Believe me, I was stuck indoors for a long time before I got to come here." She pauses to raise an index finger. "But. I still think there's some truth in it. I mean, I *like* looking like everybody else. The current class we've got is pretty normal-looking. With a few exceptions," she admits. "But if I didn't get used to being blue first- I dunno. It might've made it… harder to accept?"
"I was spoiled too but there aren't catholic schools in the area back home. I'm Christian but not Catholic, Baptist actually." Nicholas says as he still considers himself a Christian. "Ahmed went to Catholic school too, he's Jewish so that must have been really weird. Anyway, no I don't think it's mean. I get what you're saying and agree with you. Only thing I can think that might help being here is we're all different in some way so it makes accepting the fact that your roommate is a giant cat a bit easier."
"I don't really know what I am," Jill voices her thoughts aloud, chewing on her bottom lip. She shrugs helplessly. "Never went to church by choice and I'm not real big on ceremony or tradition just for the sake of it." Her fingers drum lightly on the side of her cup. "I can understand where Taylor's coming from, at least. And I can't think of a place that's *less* likely to judge somebody based on what they look like. So, I dunno. I'm just talkin', I guess." She fingers a lock of hair, stretching it out like a piece of taffy. "Wonder how I'd look as a brunette, and how hard that'd be to program."
"I can't say that I went to church as a choice but it's something we did every Sunday. The church was a big part of the town." Nicholas says not really judging Jill for what she is, or isn't. "I really want to believe because that means that I'll see Mom, Dad and Bodie again in Heaven." His voice is quiet then he looks over at Jill and studies her. "With the blue…might look okay if it's the right brown. Honestly, I couldn't pretend to understand where you, Taylor and Ahmed are coming from."
Jill smiles and leans to the side to bump Nick with her shoulder. What she doesn't trust herself to say with words, she might be able to say with a smile and a touch. Releasing the stretched out string of blue hair, it springs elastically back to its original length. "Oh, I can't do other colors anyway. Just shades of blue and to a lesser extent, white and black." In turn she points to her teeth then the pupils of her eyes. "Not real good at it, though. If I wanted brown, it'd have to be holographic." She shrugs. "I guess I've got the most experience at being a visible mutant, unless you count teachers and ex-students. That's kind of a weird feeling. I don't feel like an expert."
"I wouldn’t say expert as much as…" Nicholas hrms as he thinks about how to word it. "You're the Jedi Knight of it here. Not quite Padawan but not quite Jedi Master." He says grinning. "What about if you throw a wig over the blue hair you have now? The blue with a purple wig might look kind of cool, or pink." He says nudging her back with a side bump. "What you're a Jedi Master at is making people feel like things will be okay."
"It always comes back to Star Wars, doesn't it?" Jill rolls her eyes comically and makes a silent pleading gesture skywards, though the compliments color her cheeks with a trace of dark blue like a drop of ink diffusing in a glass of water. "I'd ask Shane about wigs, but she doesn't seem to use 'em. She just bleaches and dyes her hair three times a week. Doooon't quite think that would work for me." The goo girl grunts with the effort of standing up after sitting comfortably for a while. "I'm gonna go bother Mr. Summers while it's still lunch. He *might* let us borrow a car." Her eyes flick sideways toward the school and she mutters through her teeth, "Stranger things have happened."
Nicholas grins and nods. "Yup, it's my obsession. Has been since I was a kid. Never read the books though but I love the movies and video games. I had a lot of Star Wars stuff back home." He says taking a deep breath, forcing himself not to get depressed by thinking about it. "This school has to have cars that we can borrow, right? How else would we get into the city or do anything with out having to bother a teacher."
Jill gestures with her milkshake. "They have cars, sure. A whole garage full. But you can't just take one whenever you want. I mean, you gotta ask. Salem Center has a train station and you can take that into the city, or catch a bus. It's actually not that hard to get there, but havin' a car…" She trails off, an indulgent smile on her face. "It'd just mean more freedom. We could go anywhere as long as we're back by curfew."
Nicholas grins with a bit of embarrassment. "I've never been on a train. I've been on a bus a few times for school trips but, I don't know if that counts?" He says as he notices the time on his watch. "Well crap, I gotta head to my last class of the day, sorry to just run out on you Jill, but we'll definitely go into the city this weekend or something." He says picking up his stuff.
The blue girl glances at her own wrist but she isn't wearing a watch. She lets out a breath and sticks out her blue tongue. "Aww shoot, lunch is over already? Dang. I'll have to track him down after class." Not wanting to waste time, she starts walking backwards while still talking. "Okay, I'll let you know if I come up with anything. We gotta do something fun, though! It's, like, the law!" With that, she turns and heads off to the main building, sneakers squishing in the damp grass.
