2010-07-06: Friends And Dating

Players:

X23_icon.jpg Star_icon.jpg

Summary: X-23 tells Star that school isn't working out, a deal is made, and a question answered.

Date: July 6, 2010

Log Title Friends and Dating

Rating: PG


Xavier Mansion - Japanese Gardens

A large area of the grounds is landscaped with a Japanese Garden. A river filled with coi fish runs through the middle with a wooden bridge. There is even a small waterfall splashing on the rocks. Bamboo can be heard clacking on the rocks. A small statue of a Buddha can be found in various places. The trees hang over the area and when the flowers are in bloom, it brings a variety of color to the peaceful landscape.


It's long past sunset on the grounds of Xavier's. A clear night, with little pinpoints of light dotting the inky sky as stars wink in and out of view. The moon still hanging low in the sky, just a sliver short of full. A cool breeze flits through the small peaceful garden, and it finds X-23 crouched low on one of the thin handrails of the small bridge. In stark contrast with how she generally looks, the petite mutant girl in all white - a cotton tank top, that stops just above her navel, and matching cotton shorts that stops too high up on her thighs - she is bare foot, and her hair loose with random strands flitting in the light breeze. Her expression - usually an expressionless mask - was clouded over, her brow furrowed heavily, dark eyebrows turned down in slants over over-bright green eyes.
Her shoulders bunched up tightly, X-23 twirls a battered motorola cell in her hand, occasionally flipping it open and then snapping it shut just as quickly. The emotions surrounding her change from one moment to the next. Shifting from confusion and dulled rage to slight curiosity and infatuation. She sighs morosely, and glares down at the water, very much inside her own head at the moment.

It's been an interesting afternoon for the elder Rosen twin. First running into a boy she knows, then meeting Tony Stark and some security person of his; seeing Caleb freak out and lose control of his powers, and managing to get him to calm down… Wow… She managed to calm down a freaking out mutant. Yeah, he'd freaked her out pretty bad, too, but… Wow! She's actually got some kind of powers of her own and she thinks she's figured out what she can do! She hasn't tried to control it yet, but at least she knows. The empath was just delivered back outside the mansion gates by a flying teenage boy and, rather than heading to her room, makes her way down to the Japanese garden for a little time alone thinking.
Only, she's not alone… Her nostrils flair slightly as she catches wind of someone that's not in an emotionally good place and she frowns slightly when she spots her roommate, though it takes her a moment to recognize the other girl since she's not in black like she usually is. Star makes her way over to the bridge, her black and white Converse hightops making a soft sound against the bridge, "Hey… You okay, Laura?" Her voice is soft, concern hanging around her like a cloak. The girl is dressed in a black tank top with a winged monkey from The Wizard of Oz on the front of it surrounded by the words 'Release the Flying Monkeys!' and a pair of dark blue denim shorts leaving her legs bare in difference to the summer heat.

Back stiffening at the familiar scent preceded Star's entrance into the garden. X turned slightly, her gaze following Star as she moved towards the bridge. "That is not my name." was X-23's reply. Her words and tone laced with the same controlled rage that her mood conveyed. Another twirl of the stolen cellphone, and she was flicking it open again, to stare down at the screen before snapping it shut again. "I am unsure." she added after another few moments of silence, finally answering her roommate's question. She turned in place, her body facing Star, though her gaze shifted back down towards the small river. "I am… confused."

"You're not Laura…" Now it's Star's turn to be confused. Confused and worried about her roommate's sanity at this point, "Well if you aren't Laura, then who the hell are you?" Her gray eyes start to take on a hint of darker black as the other girl's anger starts to color her own mood. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, which only manages to give her a good whiff of the angry girl's mood and she tries to force the irrational emotion away. A small frown draws the brunette's dark brows together as she leans against the railing the other girl is perched on, ignoring the flipping of the phone, "So what's got you confused?" Aside from her name, that is, "Sometimes it helps to talk…" She really is trying to be helpful here. She doesn't like to have those around her upset. It jangles on her nerves, for one thing.

"X-23 is my designation." she replied flatly, catching the change in Star's scent as her mood began to affect the empath. Controlling one's emotions was hard task, though X did try to push the anger back down again. "Several things confuse me." she continued, finally turning her eyes on Star, emerald's narrowed slightly as she studied the girl. "I do not think I belong here." may as well start with the easiest one first. "I do not… fit in well… people do not like me, and I find understanding people an impossibility."

"But that's no kind of name. I like Laura better." So there, "And I'm going to keep calling you Laura because it is your name. That's what I was told, anyway." Star glances at the other girl out of the corner of her eyes, "Or are you trying to tell me that it was a lie?" Her tone isn't accusatory, more like she's testing to see the other girl's reaction to this. Her frown deepens and she turns to look at her roommate, "And why wouldn't you belong here? You're a mutant like the rest of us…" She's finally accepted that she's like the other students at the school, "And…" She pauses and sighs, turning away to look down at the water, "And I'd miss you if you did go…"
She really would, too. Laura- or X-23 -may scare her sometimes, but she's still a part of the school and Star's gotten used to the idea of being around, "Nobody really fits in well all the time, anyway. I know I don't." Though she does make great effort to. She looks back over at the other girl and the phone she's flipping around, "I'd be willing to help you try to fit in a little… if you want." She shrugs, "And people are hard to understand sometimes." Even for the empath.

X shook her head once. "Laura was the name given to me by my mother." The name she'd given her as X-23 stabbed her, because of the trigger scent. "But names are for people. I am not a person. I am a clone and a weapon." She studied Star for a moment for reaction to this. Not really having told anyone about herself since coming here. Only few knew, and they were all teachers. "I am a clone of Weapon X, or Wolverine as he is known now. I posses the same mutant power set as him. I was cultivated in a lab and trained to kill. That is my purpose. Not this…" she motioned around herself with one hand, before letting it drop again.
"You would not miss me. I upset you. I can always smell when your mood changes." X let out a tired sigh, pushing one hand through her tangled mass of noir. "understanding people is unnecessary. I was not trained to fit in. I was trained to kill." Her mood shifted again, jealousy flowing off of her in waves, as she thought over this fact. "My designation is X-23. I have tried… to act as a normal girl should. It isn't easy. I know I'm doing it wrong." She stashed the phone away in her back pocket, sitting back and letting her legs swing down on either side of the bridge as she looked away from her roommate. "I am better suited for… well.. I am not sure, but not here… I think, I should go."
This was probably the most she'd ever spoken to anyone about herself, and it shamed her greatly to admit what she was. t was easy to pretend to be something you weren't… or at least it was when their were mission parameters to follow. But just being herself? X-23 didn't have a 'self'. She saw that as in impossibility, that left her a blank slate more often then not.

Star's eyes widen slightly at finding out that the girl she's been living with is a clone created as a weapon intended to kill people. Like a gun or a knife. She swallows nervously at first, but then latches onto the 'not a person' part. Her eyes flood with black and indignant anger spikes around her; anger that someone would tell another person that they aren't a person just because of the circumstances surrounding their birth, "You are a person! You think, you feel, you bleed." The empath's hands ball up into fists at her sides as she turns to face the other mutant girl, "I don't care what someone has said about you, you are a person. A really cool person, too, if you ask me. You've got an awesome power, you aren't afraid of anything, you get to choose exactly who and what you want to be…" She stands there breathing hard for a moment with the intensity of her anger, "YOU get to be anything you want and no one can tell you different!"
"And who cares if you upset me?! Almost everyone upsets me at one point or another!" She shakes her head, "My twin brother upsets me on a regular basis." Beat, "And he's the one that's got me the most upset right now just because he's a total idiot that can't keep his nose out of where it doesn't belong!" Tears of frustration, worry, and anger gather in her eyes, but don't fall yet, "Look, I need someone around here that I can trust and you've already saved my tail once." Her voice drops to a quiet whisper, "I'm not strong or anything. I don't have any great powers like most of the rest of the kids her; like you have. I'm not even entirely sure what I can do. I just know that I need a friend…" And she might just find herself reaching out to the wrong girl.

X leans back slightly, caught off guard by the intensity of Star's anger. Her brow furrows as ivories rake over her lower lip, uncertain again. "I do not know that I am a good choice. I… want to be.. a friend would be…nice." she watched as tears built up in Star's eyes, and her brow furrowed deeper. "Do not be upset,.. please.. I was only stating the truth." She leaned in, her head tilting to one side slightly as she watched Star more intently, her nostrils flaring slightly as she took in the changes in the girl's scent. "You can do enough that a demonic cult wanted you." this was meant to be a compliment, though X really wasn't good at those. "You can persuade other's emotions. Even I find it difficult to ignore when you are close enough." She tried for a smile, but it was a half hearted attempt.
Finally looking away from her roommate, she looked out over the small river again, lost in thought for a moment. "I will try… to be your friend." she murmured finally, her tone still flat, though her words were gruff, and she nodded once to herself. Yes, X would try and see this through. This would be her final attempt. If it didn't work.. well, she'd at least gave it a real shot. "I would….like to learn to act…to be normal.."

Star takes several slow, deep breaths; trying very hard to calm herself and wishing that it were as easy to calm her own emotions as it is to calm down after someone else's have gotten her riled up. She shakes her head, "No one has the right to tell you that you aren't a person, Laura. You're as much a person as I am- as anyone here is." However much that is since they're all mutants. The reminder of her little 'adventure' that ended up with her confined to grounds has little flickers of violet flaring up within the black of her eyes and a small spike of fear joining the anger, concern, and worry in the air, "Yeah, and they're some of the ones that I want to stay as far away from as humanly possible. I'd never been so frightened of anything. Not even when that jerk got all pushy at that party back before Cloud came here."
The last party she went to before she lost her twin and bestfriend. She winces slightly at the mention of her being able to influence Laura even and sighs, "Yeah… I kinda figured that out today…" She shakes her head and turns back to lean on the railing, wiping unshed tears from her eyes, "I ran into that guy Caleb today in Brooklyn. He got freaked out about something and I managed to calm him down." She pauses and looks at the other girl out of the corner of her eyes, "I met Tony Stark, too… He and this woman that was with him, I think her name was Alessia, said that I've got some kind of emotion projecting thing going on. They said that I need to learn to control it, or something."
Then her roommate is agreeing to stay and at least try to be friends and Star's face lights up, her eyes going from dark gray and violet to amber with joy, "Really? You'll stay and just try?" She beams and impulsively tries to grab the other girl in a quick hug, "That's awesome! Thanks, Laura. I'll try to help you fit in and help you learn how to be normal. It'll be great!" Or so she says, anyway. More likely, it's going to be a nightmare of biblical proportions with the empath trying to order her new 'friend' around all the time. That's what she used to do with her friends back home, anyway…

X stiffens as the girls pulls her in for a hug, her first reaction to dodge the contact, but she resists. She doesn't hug back, just sits there awkwardly for a moment until Star releases her and she rocks back a little, a brow arching slightly. "I will try." she replied, giving a single nod. Pulling her knees up to her chest, arms wrapping around her shins as she rests her chin on top. "Well, the teachers here should be able to help you. I a, sure it is a very useful ability. To be able to sway the emotions of those around you.." X nods again, watching the swift shift in moods her roommate goes through in a mere few moments. "Do not worry about the cult. I am working with a… team. We will hunt them down and kill them. They will not bother you again." Again, meant to be reassuring. It was in her mind anyway.
"I do have a question.." she murmured quietly, her eyes shifting down towards the small stream again. Her cheeks darkened slightly, as embarrassment flooded her for a moment, before disappearing. "About… a boy. Well, about males in general. I am unsure about something." X grimaced, looking up at Star through long, feather lashes, gauging her friend's reaction.

Star is a very… emotionally charged… young woman. She always has been, and that's something that her new friend is just going to have to get used to. She grins at the promise to try and nods, returning to her position against the railing, but with her back to the water this time. There's a little grimace at the mention of the cult again and she nods, "Just be careful… They're pretty freaky people…" Although, isn't that mandatory for a cult? She gets thoughtful at the mention of the teachers and nods slowly, "I'll see if I can talk to someone about it tomorrow…" Beat, "I almost wish school was going on so that there would be, like, formal lessons and stuff…" She shrugs at that thought. It's useless to wish for the impossible, and she really wants her brother back first, in any case.
The mention of a question gets a curious look, "Oh? What kind of a question?" Star blinks a couple of times when she hears that it's about a boy and a slow smile spreads across her face again, "Like what boy?" She shakes her head and waves off her own question, "Nevermind. What's your question? I won't promise I can answer it, but I do have five brothers…" Means that she's got a small insite into the male psyche, "Fire away!"

X let out a breath, stalling for a moment. She did exactly as instructed and ignored the question of about who for now. "Well, about dates.. I am confused. I don't understand the purpose of them… and once one has been -on- a date… how do you know if it went well or not?" Her cheeks darkening to a deeper shade of crimson as she spoke, her voice growing mroe quiet with each word uttered, keeping her eyes carefully averted from Star. "I went on one.. last week… And well, I have not heard from him yet."

Surprise floods the air when Star hears that her roommate has gone on a date, though it's quickly replaced with mild amusement and a touch of jealousy, "Oh wow… That's pretty cool." She pauses a moment, "Who's the guy? Anybody here at the school?" Anybody she'd know? She shrugs, growing thoughtful at the line of questioning, "Well… they're for fun. When you're on a date you get to hang out with a cute guy and get to know him and do fun stuff." She's thoughtfully silent for another minute, "They're so that you can decide if you like him and see if maybe he's somebody you might want to… get closer to…" She licks her lips and tries to come up with the right answers to tell the other girl, "If it went well, then the date usually ends in a kiss… Mine did when they were good ones." When the guy wasn't being a jerk or she wasn't mad at him for some reason. She frowns at how long it's been without Laura hearing from the guy and shakes her head, "Maybe something's come up and he can't call?"
Like he was in a car accident or something. That's an excusable reason.

X shrugged, looking away from Star, noting the surprise and the myriad of other emotions that shifted in the air around her. "Well we did kiss. That was..odd. Not bad, but it was a strange sensation.. I am unsure if I like it or not." She murmured quietly, nodding along with what Star mentioned about dates. "We went bowling, and then it rained and we sat under a bridge in Central Park, and talked." She was blatantly avoiding the question about who it was, and she grimaced back at her roommate slightly. "He does not go here, no. I think… he is human. I am unsure. He found my lack of knowledge on the subject amusing, maybe he didn't enjoy the date." A mixture of brooding annoyance at nothing in particular and slight disappoint clung to X for a moment as she considered this. "Perhaps, I should call him? I was not sure of how.. to handle that.."

Star grins, "Kissing is good." She blushes, "I always liked kissing on dates…" Although, don't tell Cloud! "And it takes a couple times to really get used to it, but I always found it to be really nice. Especially if he was a good kisser. If he's a sloppy kisser, then it's kind of gross, but a good kisser is fun to kiss." The girl's nose wrinkles as the grin grows, "A bowling date is good. It's casual and shows that he doesn't expect too much." Beat, "Especially if it's a first date." She nods and sighs when told that he doesn't attend Xavier's and that he's human, "No, amusing is usually good. If you keep him laughing then he's more likely to enjoy himself. As long as he's not laughing too hard, anyway. If he's laughing too hard, then he won't respect you as anything more than a clown or something." She shrugs again, "I don't see why you couldn't call him. Just think up an excuse first."
"I was always told that a guy can call a girl for no reason, but a girl needs to have a reason to call the guy." She pauses thoughtfully, "Maybe call just to ask and see how he's doing? Or ask him to do you a favor of some kind…"

X's lips pursed and she frowned slightly at Star. This was turning into a much more complicated answer then she had been hoping for. Another quiet sigh was let out and X pushed at the hair that was getting in her eyes. "Perhaps I will just wait and see if he calls. This all sounds so… complicated.. I do not know that I am ready for dating." She grimaced again at her roommate. "thank you for explaining." She murmured after a moment, slipping down from her perch on the bridge railing, landing on silent feet. "I.. appreciate you trying to help, Star." X looked back out over the garden again for a moment, rocking back on her heels. It was getting cooler now, the light breeze picking up into a full on wind, as clouds moved over head. Rain maybe. "Perhaps we should go in." she suggested, not waiting for an answer but turning towards the entrance of the garden.

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