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Summary: Chezlie comes to have a smoke in the garage, and Theo succeeds in controlling a machine for the first time.
Date: April 7, 2010
Log Title Hot Cars and Cigarettes
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Garage
Home to various cars of teachers and X-men, the garage can house at least twenty vehicles. There is also an area that has a auto body shop set up so students and teachers and work on their cars. Almost any tool a mechanic needs can be found in this garage.
The garage is all lit up, all for the sake of one student. He has every light in the place turned on. Literally. The aforementioned student can be seen easily. He isn't hiding. Sitting cross-legged on the middle of the primary workbench, Theo pours over what looks a little like a textbook of some sort.
Carefully, Theo's finger traces across a paragraph, and he pauses, placing his palm down on the page and looking up. Between the unkempt locks of brown hair, he stares down one of Scott's classic roadsters, as if challenging the inanimate object.
A soft squeak breaks the otherwise silent, but well lit garage, caused by the opening of the wooden side door, that which is painted the same color on both sides as well as the outside of the building. Through the little gap slips the somewhat lithe Chezlie, her shorter hair pulled back into a ponytail in the hopes of avoiding any loose strands from falling in front of her face. She pauses as the door swings back shut, slowly eyeing the place over as if it were the first time she's ever been in there, her gaze stopping suddenly on the kid sitting on one of the work benches.
"Mind if I smoke?" She asks even though a single cigarette is already grasped lightly between two slender fingers. It's not lit yet, but that will soon be remedied by the lighter held in her other hand, slowly making its way into the vicinity of the unlit tobacco.
Theo's green hoody sits in a pile next to him, and all that covers his wiry upper boddy is a wife-beater tank top. He's a little sweaty, like he might have been engaging some physical activity, but his breathing is calm now. As Chezlie enters, he quickly slaps the book shut, as if he had been looking at something he shouldn't, and his eyes dart to the entrance she comes from. When it's not a teacher, he relaxes once again quickly.
"Knock yourself out," he says. "Is this the spot where the students come hide out to smoke?" he asks. Chezlie is the first smoker he's noticed since he's been here. He remains in his perched position over the now closed book. The spine reads: Advanced Mechanics.
Chezlie is wearing one of those black hoodies that you have to pull over your body because there's no zipper, and from the slim fit, it's easy to imagine it's a real pain in the ass to get on and off. She shrugs her shoulders, placing the smoke gently between her lips. "Guess so… seemed like a good enough place to me." The cylinder bobs up and down with each syllable, barely staying within the confines of her dry lips.
The little black rectangle lights up with fire after a soft click before it's applied to the end of the cigarette facing out into the garage. There's a short breath taken, before an all smoke exhale is released and the lit smoke is placed back in-between the same two fingers as before. "Real nail bitter?" Her eyes flirt down towards the text printed on the spine of his book.
The boy returns a lop-sided smile. "Yeah, has me hanging on every word," he answers wryly. He puts his hands down next to him, and spins on his rear so that his feet move over the edge of the bench, and then slides down off the workbench.
He offers the girl his name. "Theo," he introduces himself, leaning back against the bench again.
Chezlie slowly nods, bringing the cigarette back to her lips for another inhale. "That's what I'd have guessed." she says, grinning as the exhaled smoke exits through both her nostrils, her left hand hanging down at her side, poised to keep the burning end of the smoke away from her body.
"Theo." She mouths back, letting her lips get familiar with the pronunciation of the word. She shifts slightly, letting her weight move mostly from her right leg over to the left. "Nice to meet'cha. Name's Chezlie."
Theo nods, "Likewise," he answers. His left hand reaches up to brush his hair out of his dark brown eyes. "Was just thinkin' how great it would be to cruise that through Westchester." He indicates the roadster. "Think Summers would kill us?" he asks with a mischevious grin. There's no keys in the car, and they aren't likely to be where students can get to them, either.
"Summers?" The girl questions in a way that would indicate you'd have to be crazy not to know the answer to that. "Yeah, from what I've heard, he would." It's at this point Chezlie begins to visually scope out the garage, looking at all the various vehicles as if she's surprised to find them in here. "Actually, I think the correct term would even be flip his shit." There's another exchange of smoke in her lungs followed by a light cough.
The boy's grin grows from ear to ear at Chezlie's assessment. "Not tonight," Theo says, wagging a finger toward Chezlie. He starts to stroll toward the roadster. "But I think one day soon I'm gonna have to take one of those babies out for a spin. Want to come when I do?" He runs his hand along the well cared for machine as if it were a living pet, and then looks back to Chezlie.
The short, dark haired teen stares blankly at the roadster in question, taking mental notes the special attention Theo shows while walking by. "Maybe. Depends on who's driving. Hate to get stuck just going along for the ride, right?" Chezlie smiles before taking one last drag off her cigarette and tossing it down to the ground. It's stamped out with a well placed toe, using mostly the tips of her shoes; a dirty old pair of converse all-stars.
Theo's smile stays. "I'm not to proud to let you take the wheel," he says. He closes his eyes for a moment, and seems to concentrate. There is the sudden click of the locks inside of the car. They just unlocked. There's another click as the battery comes to life, and then the engine turns over.
The roadster roars to life, all eight cylinders firing.
"Ha!" he announces, his eyes snapping open. "Knew you loved me!" Presumably he's talking to the car.
The boy bounds back and hops on the workbench again, scooping up the book into his hands. He shows the cover to Chezlie. A diagram of a car engine illustrates the front of the book. "Hanging on every word," he repeats. The car's engine dies again, and the locks click back into place.
Chezlie laughs at the statement as she bends down to the scoop up the now extinguished butt. A little container that looks like those designated for prescription medication is pulled free from her front pocket, the cap squeezed off and the spent filter placed inside. "Better to get rid of all evidence yourself, I say." She's grinning while the container is placed back inside her pocket.
Her eyes light up as the engine roars to life, having been at the institute just long enough to know not to even question how that just happened. Then it putters out as the other teen wanders back to the workbench. "That was pretty close, I'd say." She takes a couple steps forward, arms crossed over her chest. "How much longer do you think until you can keep it running?" It's hard to tell if there's genuine interest in the question, or if it's just merely something to say to keep the conversation going on.
"Yeah," The technopath agrees, watching Chezlie hide the cigarette butt. "I hear that." When she asks him about keeping the car running, Theo shrugs, his feet dangling over the edge of the workbench. He drops the book carelessly onto the bench again. He leans back on his hands, bracing his weight under locked arms. "Well, I dunno. That was the first time I ever tried it with a real car. I tried it the other day at the mall on an RC car," he pauses, and laughs with the memory. "I'm just glad the fire department didn't know it was me."
He pushes forward, and then braces himself again, this time his hands resting on his knees. "See, once it's started, it's going. I don't gotta keep it running," he explains. "Just like you don't gotta keep it running when you usually drive a car." His eyes drift up, looking along the ceiling of the garage. They fall upon one of the security cameras. "That's what I gotta figure out how to control," he says. He doesn't point at the camera, he just seems to stare it down. "Like you were saying, Better to get rid of all evidence yourself." He gives a confident wink to his new acquaintance.
"Makes complete sense, that it would idle after you've gotten it started. And why wouldn't it?" Chezlie says, not really direction the question towards Theo. She uncrosses her arms, adjusts, and crosses them again. "Not too shabby if that was your first attempt with a real car, right?" A couple more steps are taken towards the work bench, the gap beginning to close. "Good thing the fire department didn't have to be phoned this time too."
She turns around, eyes following Theo's own gaze until they're pointed straight at the camera. "Damn. Should have expected those to be there. I swear they're all over the place. Just started up and already makes me want to quit." She laughs, turning back to face the kid sitting on the workbench again. Nothing more than an approving nod is given. A wordless indication to letting him know that the deed is much appreciated.
"I know," Theo agrees. "Be glad you can't sense them all, then you'd really know how many there are. Of course then you'd know where they aren't, too. I am glad they want us all safe and everything," he says half-heartedly, "but seriously, this place is full of prudes. They want us to use the buddy system every time we go into town. There's people here that could single-handedly level New York City, and they are worried about what the CITY will do to US."
Theo chuckles. "I find myself sitting up nights thinking of ways I can get the teachers here to freak out, just for fun."
Chezlie nods, eyes falling back towards the camera one last time. "I wouldn't say that I'm not, but you are right - at least you know where they're not. Makes sneaking stuff around that much easier. Me? I gotta use good old fashion detective work." She turns back to facing Theo, her arms now down at her sides, crooked slightly out with her hands disappearing into her jean pockets. "Never really thought of it that way. You gotta think about how some of us can not only level the City, but also injure themselves."
Luckily, she's not really one of them. "So I think the buddy system is more in place to sort of there to make sure no one gets injured out there alone." Her words sound a little heavy as they fall through the cracks of her lips. "If you really want to freak the staff out, just show up really injured. Worked for me." The statement can only be followed up by a toothy grin.
Theo arches his brow. His eyes follow as Chezlie puts her hands in her pockets, but he manages not to let his eyes linger for too long. "That sounds like a story I should hear," he encourages her. "What'd you do?" Of course it's late, but he doesn't seem to mind that.
Chezlie shrugs her shoulders, her eyes falling down to the garage floor. "Well, it was just basically a run in within another student. One who really wasn't himself." her head remains tilted down as she talks, not taking her eyes off the floor once. "How about another time? It's getting a little late." She asks, finally looking up, but at the door leading outside the garage.
Theo glances around, and then stuffs his hand in his jeans pocket to pull out his iPhone. "Wow, I guess it is," he says. "Fair enough, but I want to hear it later," he says. Once again, he slides down from the table, and this time he grabs his hoody and slips it over his head. His hands pop out from the sleeves, and he picks the book up off the bench. "Walk you back to the dorms?" he offers.
"I promise I will then." She looks back over to Theo with a light smile. Time isn't even allowed for a response to his last question as the little teen from Utah practically sprints out the door.
