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Summary: Instincts are stupid sometimes. Hey kids, meet your new professor.
Date: May 7, 2013
Log Title: Fight Or Flight
Rating: R
Xavier Mansion - Right Path
A brick path off the courtyard cuts through the grass to lead to the other areas on the outside grounds of Xavier's. There are a few benches that line the path so students can sit and enjoy outside. Either side of the path the grass is well manicured and has enough room for students to have a picnic, play Frisbee, or relax and study. At night there are small lamps that raise three feet off the ground to provide light.
Just after dinner, and the rhythmic clump of booted feet ring out upon the path. Jogging, it seems, has become a new practice for Shane, and against all good sense she seems to refuse to wear proper footgear when doing so, adding at least another ten unnecessary pounds to her feet. Electric blue hair sways in front of her face, only partially restrained by her headphones, as she keeps a steady pace down the brick road.
Despite supernatural vigor, the tall blonde-haired girl following the short blue-haired girl still seems to be having trouble keeping up. At least Jill has proper footwear, bright pink and white jogging shoes. "C'mooon, slow doooown," the vampire girl whines. Her voice doesn't have a chance in hell of making it through Shane's headphones and the eardrum-shattering volume, but she tries anyway.
Some people have… less of an idea of what exercise should be, taken in the form of the silvery spotted, furry lump resting in a nicely sunwarmed spot by the path, tail curled out and bouncing to the beat of music going in through headphones that somehow manage to stay in feline ears. Ahmed's things are next to him as he maintains his full feline form, the clothes looking a little odd on him, but then… his MP3 player is apparently stuck on 90s techno for the moment, if one was to judge BPMs by tailtwitches.
Coming out of the garage leading a worse for wear looking Motorcyle is Logan. One of the tires appears to be bent and there's some impressive looking scrapes and dents on one side of the bike. Since it's still light outside and the weather is nice, Logan's opted to fix it up out here. Once the bike is outside he's about to head into the garage to get his tools and parts when he smells something, the smell of death. His head snaps and turns to look at Jill, a growl escaping his throat that matches the scowl on his face.
Partially hidden by the pile of sealed cardboard boxes in his arms s a sleepy looking Cloud, his parents are still sending things down and some of his things ended up going to his sister instead so he's using his double free period to collect them. Dressed in faded black jeans, blue sneakers and a white t-shirt he's about half way across when he hears the growl, weary he puts the boxes down and looks round at the source.
Shane is, indeed, oblivious to the world; neither cat nor whine register, but a very beaten-up motorcycle does, doubly so when it's her current DI pushing it along. As Logan whips about, quite unhappy, the blue-haired girl frowns, glancing over her shoulder. And now she *does* slow, turning her entire body to gradually bounce to a halt. "…Hey uh, Jill?" she says, pausing her music and slipping her headphones off. "…Might wanna duck."
That distinctly feline lump of fur snorts, rolls, stretches out very languidly, and right into the path of Jill's pink crosstrainers!
"What?" It's almost as if Jill wasn't expecting Shane to actually answer. "Duck wh-" And suddenly there's a large lump of kitty directly between her feet. The results are as only physics could predict. Momentum, fulcrum, faceplant.
Logan doesn't seem to care about the blue-haired Shane, Cloud with his full arms or the cat that seems to get in between Jill's feet, just the vampire and he walks straight up to her. He sniffs a few times and looks up at the blond haired girl. "So you're the vampire that Emma forbade me from killing." There's a definite tone of dislike in his gruff voice.
"F***", Cloud leaves his boxes where they are and heads to where Logan, Jill, Shane and Ahmed are, "She's a student not a danger, well not anymore a danger than most of the kids here", he likes the man but Logan still has one hell of a rep when it comes to violence, "Right Jill?"
"….Or y'could trip over a big-ass lazy dubstep cat," Shane grumbles, stooping down to help Jill back to her feet. "Guess that'd work t—" Cutting off as Logan makes his approach, the slight young mutant narrows her eyes at Logan, keeping her peace for the moment but refusing to step out of the way.
Jill straightens up without dusting herself off. One lens of her sunglasses has been popped out of the frame, revealing a bright red eye with pupil contracted to a dot and staring over Shane's head. Something like a strange staring contest ensues, the animalistic tension of a snake and a mongoose. To someone like Logan or Ahmed, it's clear that she's reacting to the tension in the small hairy man, like a cat arching its back. Afraid, truthfully, but bristling. She's extremely young, brash, and has absolutely no idea who she's dealing with. Her upper lip draws back to show a single fang.
Uncurling himself from the mess made between Jill's feet, Ahmed ends up having to duck out and around, letting his earbuds get tugged loose and bleating out tinny bass lines for people as he mouths the line and snakes it away. But as the staredown ensues, the snow leopard stretches to a standing position as his limbs reshape slightly into the anthromorph configuration, head bending as he rubs at the back of his neck. But it's Logan, so almost subconsciously, he remains on the side of the Jillpire, and not Professor McSnarlnGrowl.
Logan crosses his arms over his chest and has no qualms staring back at Jill. "I've killed vampires before, I ain't scared of some teenaged one. You put one toe outta line and you're gonna have to deal with me, got it Vampire?" At least he's not popping his claws or threatening to stake her right there and now. "Got it?" He doesn't wait for a response before turning around and heading into the garage to grab his stuff. Once he's back with his tool box and needed parts he nods a greeting to Cloud.
"…Well that went great," Shane says, eyes on Logan's back as he turns back toward the garage. "….Prolly shoulda warned y'bout that, Jill, uh… sorry."
Cloud watches as Logan walks off still finding the situation tense but returns the nod of greeting when he comes back, "Thanks again for the other night by the way", he crouches down to have a look at the damage to Logan's bike to move the subject from killing Jill, "What happened here? or is it a damaged bike you bought to repair as a project?"
The blonde girl doesn't say anything except for the slight growl rising in her throat, hopefully far too soft for the retreating professor to hear. But as soon as he's gone, the sound dies, Jill's pupil dilates hugely… and she starts to tremble.
Stooping down, Ahmed picks up the popped lens of the sunglasses, and then holds it out in his free paw towards Jill, a slight frown on that mostly feline face as he says softly, "You okay?" He moves himself so that he's not actively meeting Jill's eyes, but interposing his form between her and the man who just threatened her, "Don't listen to him Jill. He's just judging you because he doesn't know you. I know how it is… I got called a Muslim more than once as a kid… like it was some kind of bad thing to be."
"I heard alla that." Logan states to the kids hearing everything including Jill's growl. "Being a vampire ain't like bein' a Muslim kitty-cat." He squats down and starts to work on his bike. "Nah, this is mine Kid. Acquaintance o' mine needed help, we ran int' trouble then got outta trouble but my bike suffered durin' everythin'."
It takes a further moment of both Shane and Ahmed standing in the way for Jill to snap out of it suddenly, as if slapped. Her mouth hangs open a bit and she somewhat dumbly takes back the lens of her sunglasses. "It's… it's nothin'," she excuses herself. "Don't worry about it." She starts to move off but can't help her gaze flicking back to Logan in a paranoid kind of way.
Cloud runs his fingers across the bent frame of the bike, "Looks repairable, probably won't even take you too long to do", his experience is mostly with cars but he's had some experience with bikes. "How's being a vampire that much different from being a mutant?, both have powers they don't understand and both are dangerous in the wrong circumstances. Everyone here is learning to control something".
"Jill." Shane's voice rises, just enough to make the word an imperative. "You were joggin' too, right? 'Cha quittin' already for?" Ahmed gets a quick glance, and a nod behind her; seems her evening jog-plus-one has turned into a trio, according to the girl.
"Huh?" the blonde girl asks distractedly. Jill almost bumps into Shane in a sort of directionless wander. "Oh. Right. Yeah, sure." Jogging. Sure. Pulling off the sunglasses, she tries briefly to pop the lens back into place without success. "Umm…" Her stride starts out unsteady, but the further she gets away from Logan, the better the vampire seems to do.
Feline ears go flat as the cat gets the 'whut' face on and then he looks down at his sandals on the grass, before he picks them up and his pack, stuffing all of that and his beaten up little MP3 player away, followed by one of those long, resigned sighs, "Gimme a moment." Slinging his pack, he turns and starts walking towards the man with the bike, and straight up says, "Apologize to her. Now. We've got enough problems with Purifiers, Sentinels, and the freakin Dracula himself… who KIDNAPPED her to be his son's bride, thank you much… we don't need you, and your ass end of a dumptruck mouth." He pauses, and then turns, "You wanna teach? Well how about teaching tolerance, you jackass. You don't hear us threatening to kill YOU."
Ahmed's tail is flicking in irritation and the crematorium scent of him begins to become thicker as his fur takes on a slight glimmer of ghostly blue behind it.
"Great you too Kid?" Logan grumbles. "Bein' a Vamprie's different. You ain't born a Vampire like you're born a mutant. You're turned a Vampire and a lotta them have different urges than we do Kid. Trust me." He had to kill a friend of his who was turned into a Vampire. "But it don't matter, you get two years with mutant powers and you kids are all experts on everthin'." Logan stands up after Ahmed speaks and grins at the boy. "Ain't my job t' teach tolerance, kindness and all that bullshit. And Kitty-Cat you ain't threaten t' kill me cause ya can't. I ain't here t' be yer friend, I ain't here t' play nice. Ya want some teacher t' coddle ya and fill yer head with bedtime stories, look somewhere else."
"Don't sweat it, Jill," Shane says, not even bothering to keep her voice down. "Just 'cos he don' like you, don' mean shit." Slowing a bit to allow Jill to catch up, she glances over her shoulder. "Y'heard'm. Ms. Frost ain't letin' nothin' happen, an' anyway. We got y'back, right?"
"Uh-huh," agrees the vampire, picking up the pace to fall in behind Shane. She can't resist one more look. Even over dozens of yards, she picks out Logan's eyes and fixes on them for the briefest moment. Scared, but not entirely cowed, perhaps? This doesn't seem to be the last anybody will hear of this. "I really hope I don't need backup against a professor…"
Cloud frowns as he straightens up thinking about what Logan just said, "Well other than Jill here I've never met a vampire but if there's that constant urge to feed isn't this the best place for her? If Jill did lose control she's in the one place where any potential victims have the power to defend themselves until she can get a hold of her self right?", he doesn't know Jill very well but she seems like a genuinely nice girl, hard to turn against her for what she is, isn't that what they're trying to stop with mutants. "Ahmed try and calm down ok?".
Ahmed does not in any way shape or form look calm, nor okay at this point. Tears are actually forming on his eyes, and streak down his cheeks a moment as one arm goes back and away, slightly to one side… curled into a fist that both the girls can see when they look back, and Shane might even recognize as a bronzed version of the Zeus Gauntlet from God of War appears around his hand and forearm, looking heavy and mean, "Just another bully…" he whispers out, and it almost goes slow motion as he looses a hunting snarl and whips big, gauntleted fist around in a rather wild haymaker aimed for Logan's squared and rugged chin!
Logan lets the fist connect with his jaw and his head turns. It hurt but nothing that Logan couldn't deal with and Ahmed might find his hand quite sore from connecting with an adamantium jaw. "Kid…." And that's all the warning Logan gives before moving quickly behind Ahmed, grabbing his arm and twisting it painfully behind his back. He plants his knee in Ahmed's lower back forcing him to his knees and then to the ground, keeping his leg firmly planted on his back. With his free hand his claws pop out with a SKNIT and slam into the dirt less than an inch away from Ahmed's head. He leans down as close as he can to the Snow-Leopard's head. "You got balls kid but you're wrong, I ain't no bully. I'm actually lookin' out for you kids but like I said, I ain't gonna coddle ya. One thing you'll learn fast, I'm ain't a nice guy and I don't pretend to be one." Logan gets up off of Ahmed and extends a hand to help him up.
"Shouldn't," Shane says, "but y'got it anyw—awfuck." The moment the gauntlet goops into reality, the booted mutant is off in a full-on sprint toward the three, not slowing even as the feline is taken down in short order. "Ahmed, the *hell* man?!"
Scared of Logan, maybe, but Jill's already moving as Ahmed throws the first punch, taking the lead on Shane's sprint. Seems like Jill can really move, if she wants to. "Please don't hurt him!" she pleads before she arrives, halting with a shocked gasp as the professor apparently has claws and is about to slam them into-… No. He missed. She can only stand there with a hand over her mouth.
"The f* man?!", Cloud flinches as the claws just miss Ahmed's head, "You just attacked an unbreakable mutant who is also a teacher, are you trying to get kicked out?!", Logan has a rep as a badass but you gotta figure he won't damage Ahmed but either way stupid f*ing move!
It comes out in a big of an angry sob, "Yeah, and where am I supposed to go?! HOME?!" With his will shattered by the sudden takedown, the massive gauntlet turns back into clearish goop and starts to spread on the grass, staining it and evaporating slowly as he glares at Cloud. Rolling over finally, he stares up at the teacher holding out his hand, and then turns his head away once more, panting for breath and looking angry and shaken… and just as ready to lash out again.
"…C'mon, Ahmed," Shane says, approaching the downed student, and the menacing teacher, her voice, for a change, quiet and clear. "You ain't going anywhere just from smacking a teacher. Christ, if that was a thing, I'd be gone fuckin' months ago. Let's go joggin', clear y'r head. Jill?" Logan and Cloud, not getting a single word; her focus for the moment, arrowed in on her friend.
Logan just shrugs and pulls his hand back, no use offering it to a kid who doesn't want it. "Sorry kid, that ain't me. If ya wanna learn how t' defend yerself or how better t' fight, I'm yer guy. If ya want me to drink tea and listen to your deepest feelin's, well best I can do is get ya a beer." He doesn't care how young Ahmed is, underage drinking isn't something he cares about. "As for kickin' ya out, who said that's gonna happen?"
Cloud sighs and decides to stay out of this, if Ahmed wants to keep at it he's not gonna listen, trying to be the voice of reason is just getting him dirty looks anyway, not his problem.
At Shane's call of her name, the blonde vampire's head snaps away from staring at Ahmed and Logan. At least the blue-haired girl knows how to handle her. "Y-yeah, sure," she agrees meekly. Jogging, not fight-or-flight responses to your teachers, or having your friends floored like a ragdoll. She dithers, unsure if Ahmed will be coming with them but not too keen on standing around much longer.
Pushing up to standing after a bit, Ahmed moves to brush off his shirt and pants, tail still flicking as he grumbles to himself, more of a growl than anything else… the kind that comes from a cat who's unhappy. Turning towards the girls, he then folds his ears back as he sees Shane's eyes for a moment, and then looses a huff, "…can't believe I'm jogging. Fine."
Dropping a hand onto Ahmed's arm and squeezing, Shane chivvies the pair of teenagers back toward the path. "Stay on Jill's left, yeh? I got th'right."
Logan watches Ahmed go to join his friends and calls after the trio. "Make sure you're well outta earshot before ya start complaini' 'bout me. Not that I care whatcha say, I just ain't in the mood to listen to it." He turns back to his bike and gets to work on it, grumbling about the scratched paint. Logan didn't exactly enjoy beating up on Ahmed like that but he knew the kid needed to learn he wasn't some push over of a teacher.
Jill's nose wrinkles a little at the smell that wafts off of Ahmed in the wake of his ectoplasm manipulation. "We weren't talking to you," she replies icily to Logan, but in only a normal volume. Putting a hand on Ahmed's shoulder to guide him between the girls, she starts to nudge him forward and into stride without looking back.
Ahmed shifts himself around that he's on the outside rather than in at Shane's request as he begins to stride along, bouncing on those pawfeet of his as he then turns to jog backwards a moment to talk with the ladies, "So Jill… Nick's not talking to me about you… which tells me one of two things…" Trying very hard to focus on something NOT related to his least-liked fellow countrymen, "Either… he's really off the deep end with you… ooooor… you've done something nefarious to him. He barely whines… it's disturbing. If I don't hear a complaint every so often, my fur starts to fall out."
"Hmn," Shane says, glancing between Jill and AHmed, then back over her shoulder as Logan disappears into the garage. Blowing out a breath, the slight young mutant seems content to work on her pacing, and let Ahmed do the thing with the words that make people feel better.
Ruby red eyes blink. The way the lamps are spaced along the path in the darkening twilight, they first catch Ahmed's eyes with reflected light, then Jill's. "*What*?" she asks incredulously. There are a few false starts at words that never fully coalesce. At last it dawns on her that he's not serious. "You're suspicious because he's *happy*?" She snorts and rolls her eyes at the backward-jogging cat-boy. "Want me to try stepping on his feet more often, maybe poke 'im in the eye?"
Turning back around once more, he falls more into step, and gives a bit of a shrug, "Actually, he's been getting a little worse. He won't say, but he's been having these weird attacks. He'll sit up wide-eyed, breathing hard… usually goes into the bathroom to… do whatever. Sometimes he'll go out for a walk. Which we ALL know is a danger in and of itself. I suppose it's stupid of me to say, but maybe you two could… I don't know… drag whatever this is out of him kicking and screaming?"
"Ain't comin' out," Shane says after a moment, pressing her fingers to her wrist to check her pulse. "Shit like that? It don't leave. Tryin' only makes it worse. 'F Jill's makin' 'im happy, 's fine. Means it's pushin' what's in 'im back. Mebbe it'll stay there, push long enough."
Jill's lips purse tightly, concern warring with distaste. Despite the jogging pace, the vampire's not out of breath and speaks easily. Go figure. "I already got him to agree to try yoga. Maybe that'll help a little, an' it could gimme some time to talk to him alone. But I dunno…" She frowns, eyes flicking over to Shane taking her pulse. Jill's hands start to move to copy the gesture before realizing it's useless. "If he doesn't wanna tell me, I can't do, like, vampire hypno-eyes and make him. I'm not good enough. Or old enough, or whatever."
Neither does the snow leopard seem to be bothered, but his jog seems to be more of a long-legged trot, as Ahmed replies, "I guess…" As he looks at Shane, and her odd philosophy about keeping things tamped down, "… well, at least you both have seen stuff. I want to hang out with him more, but he's been making me nervous. Maybe it's just me… I don't know. Not exactly in the right mind for dealing with the whole emotional thing lately."
Shane closes her eyes for a moment, letting out a deep, slow sigh as she slows to an eventual halt. "Ahmed… Look. Think I get why y'get nervous. He's your buddy, 'n you wanna help, right? 'S cool, really is. 'Cept, this ain't somethin' y'c'n help with. Dude's been in the shit like none of us're ever gonna know. An' half th'smiles y'see are complete fuckin' fakes anyway, but that's *fine,* cos at least he's tryin'. Ain't gonna be perfect, but, best thing I c'n think t'do is jus' let 'im keep on keepin' on, an' just do like Jill's doin' with th' yoga; givin' ideas, but leave it up t'him. You an' me? Best we got's keepin' him from thinkin'."
"Like, escapist stuff?" the vampire asks as she slows behind Shane. "I dunno how healthy that really is, in the long run. I guess you do what you gotta. Video games, or movies, or… yeah, maybe no more picnics. F'you ask me, he should be seein' a counselor every day. But, y'know…" Jill flaps her hands helplessly. "Baby steps, right?"
Ahmed skirts around the two for a moment, and then just flops on the grass once more, legs splayed and paws in front of him, "Problem with thinking is you think… and then you remember… and then the suckfest begins again." He looks down at the grass and plucks a piece out, before he flicks it into the air and then watches it flutter to the ground once more, "I think Nick needs a vacation. The three of you ought to do one of those comic or sci-fi cons… so that the whole…" Motioning around Jill, "Drama doesn't matter. Just chill with geeks and weirdos."
Shane falls silent at this, tilting her head. "…Why's it gotta be three? What, you ain't weirdo enough t'con up, Ahmed?" Looking up, she narrows her eyes, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Y'know what? Fuckit. I'm'a see 'bout gettin' tickets t'NYCC. 'N two hotel rooms. Figure 'f we all throw in, could afford it, 'n I'll talk t'Ms. Frost 'bout gettin' th'rooms reserved."
"Oh my God," Jill breathes, fanning the fingers of one hand against her chest. She sounds half dumbstruck and half intrigued. "I could cosplay as a vampire."
"Nah." Ahmed replies with a grin, "Vampires are sooooo 2012. You should go as a zombie. Throw them all off."
