Players:
Summary: Nicholas and Theo don't seem to get along and Taylor is stuck in the middle.
Date: January 21, 2012
Log Title: It's All About Who You Know
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Ramsey Dormitories Lobby
The lobby of Ramsey Dormitories has two elevators at one end of the wall along with the entrance to a cafeteria. On the wall are three pictures that say 'In memory of'. One is of Douglas Ramsey, another of John Proudstar and the last one is of Jean Grey. There are several couches and tables down here for students to relax. Large windows in the front and sides allow for a lot of light in the room.
Taylor is slowly coming down the stairs from the girl's floor this evening, fur still a little bit damp from a recent shower, holding a kind of plush doll (which is wearing a little blue dress) in one hand, and a small sewing kit in the other. The student also wears a pair of blue fuzzy pyjamas. For a moment, Taylor stops on the stairs just to smell the air and peer about to figure out if anyone is lurking about.
Coming into the lobby of the dorms with a bit of snow on his jacket and hat is Nicholas. His cheeks are quite red and he looks like he's been outside for a while. He looks around and then lets out a sigh of relief. "Taylor, this is the dorms right?" He's pretty sure but he just wants to double check. He starts to take off his had and gloves, stamping his snow covered boots on the carpet by the door.
Some students have been out late, and Nicholas is not the only one. Just a few seconds after Nicholas comes Theo, who pulls the door to the dorms open wide, letting the cold air from outside flush into the room briefly as he enters. The door clicks shut behind him with a moderate volume. A black ski cap covers his head and ears. Gray sweatshirt and blue sweatpants cover the rest of him, and over shoulders are some kind of mechanical straps. He is breathing hard and his nose is as bright as a cherry. He kicks off the snow from his shoes, and makes a fist in each hand, lacking color from being in the cold. Proto releases from Theo's back, and drops to the ground as the technopath lets out a heavy sigh, a bit exhausted. It appears that he's been out running in the snow. A great night for it.
Taylor nods at Nicholas and says, "Yep, unless they've recently moved my room." The student gestures up in the general direction of their room while saying that. "Are the dorms where you're looking for?" The felinoid continues down the stairs a few more steps. "You always smell like horses. You like horses?" The felinoid student flops down on one of the couches, then peering towards Theo as he and Proto come in, with that curious look again.
Nicholas takes off his jacket and moves to sit on one of the chairs near Taylor. "Yeah, it's what I was looking for, I get this building and the other one mixed up." He tries to explain before tackling her other question, which takes Nick off guard. "Uh yeah, I have a horse, Orion, I spend a lot of time in the stables with him. Horses have kinda been most my life." He says before looking over at Theo and Proto, and he can't help but stare in curiosity at the little robot.
Proto returns Nicholas' attention. "Hello. I am Proto, what is your name?" the little bot introduces itself. The snakelike camera arches up to regard Nicholas, looking him over from head to toe. Theo takes little note of Nicholas personally, "Jeez it's freezing out there. He pauses when Taylor crosses his vision. "Please don't spray that nasty stuff on me again," he asks in a rather exhausted voice. "I could taste it for days last time." Whether that's real, or just in Theo's OCD mind might be up for debate. "Seriously."
"Um, spray nasty stuff? I think you might be thinking of Ahmed. I've never sprayed you with any sort of thing in my life," says Taylor, blinking a few times at Theo, and starting work on repairing a tear in the doll's dress, deftly threading the needle. The student says to Nicholas, "And that's cool. It's cool that you get to keep a friend around here, y'know?"
Nicholas jumps as the little thing talks to him. "What is that?" He asks, the tone a bit more rude than intended. "Yes it is freezing out there, thus snow. It usually snows when it's freezing." He says before looking over at Taylor and giving the Ocelot a weirder out look. "Do you spray cause that's…." He doesn't want to finish his sentence. "Yeah, Orion's pretty much the only thing I have left."
"I wasn't really sure where it came from," Theo admits, "Sorry, thought it might've been you," he tells Taylor. "Hard to keep the new kids straight sometimes." At Nicholas' jab, he returns, "Yeah, snow comes when it's cold, glad you could connect the two," he retorts blandly to Nicholas, turning the same manner of smart remark back on him, but with no raising of the intensity of the exchange. "And that's Proto, he just told you. It's a robot. You don't live out under a rock like Sage, do you?"
Taylor's brow furrows and the teen says in a tone tinged with anger, "I don't spray anything, I just said!" The felinoid student makes a face and then looks towards Theo, "Eh, that Sage kid seemed nice. I mean, anyone who is searching for fairies at his age /has/ to be nice. I wish I had that kinda sense of wonder. Anyways, I'm Taylor. The one who doesn't spray goo all over the place like a water balloon?"
"Actually you said you never sprayed him so…" Nick says giving her a shrug as if to say Taylor left the benefit of doubt wide open. His gaze then shifts to Proto and then back to Theo. "Well you were Captain Obvious who said it's freezing out there so don't try to make excuses for you stating the obvious first. And yes I know what a robot is, I've seen Star Wars just, never seen one for real." He says before looking away from both Theo and Taylor, sloughing into the couch. "Proto…" He mutters to himself. "Cool robot name there." It's obvious he's being sarcastic.
"Oh, he's nice, I don't got a problem with him," Theo comments in reference to Sage. "He just seems to be kind of out of his element when it comes to…anything from the last hundred years. "Theo," he returns the introduction. "I am Proto, it is good to meet you," the robot answers Taylor, leaving Nicholas when he doesn't introduce himself and walking over to the felinoid.
The junior is rather dismissive of Nicholas' establishment of his stating the obvious. "Well, I'm glad you could help break it down for us," he patronizes, "It's very helpful. Glad you like the name," he thanks Nicholas as if he didn't know the other teen was being sarcastic. The boy genius has returned to a more neutral tone again as he continues. "I'm working on plans for a second one. Trying to figure out if I can convince Tony to let me use an arc reactor for the core, since it'll need a greater power source. Proto just uses conventional Lithium."
"And here I thought I was Captain Obvious," says Taylor, injecting a little sarcasm into the conversation as well, while still doing repairs on the doll, though offering a brief wave to Proto with the needling hand. "Who's Tony? This robot stuff sounds pretty well out of my understanding, anyways."
"You're very welcome." Nick says dryly in return to Theo as he grabs a pillow from the couch and holds it. "Great, you're a mad scientist building robots, now I know who to blame with the robot uprising occurs and kills us all." Comments the grumpy blond.
"Yep, that's right, it'll be all my doing. Better than getting eaten by zombies, don't you think?" Theo answers smugly, "But I'm only a mad scientist part time. I'm taking applications for sulky underlings. I think you'd fill the role nicely if you want the job." He wanders over to the couches and plops down into one of the cushions unceremoniously. Proto responds to the wave in kind, lifting one leg up to wave at Taylor. The snakelike camera stretches out, and examines the needling of Taylor. "Don't worry, he won't interrupt you," he says, though his eyes are closed, he seems to know exactly what Proto is doing. Oh, and Tony Stark. He is the guy that holds the patent on arc reactors, y'know. He's also my boss, so sometimes I can get some bonuses when building fun stuff like Proto."
"Oh. Tony Stark. He's like a famous business guy?" says Taylor, expression a little bit blank for a moment, "You said it with so much familiarity. I thought he was just another student here or something when you said his name." The student keeps sewing and says, "So that's pretty interesting that you're buddies with a famous rich guy."
"I don't work well with others." Nicholas says to Theo rolling his eyes to show that he's not amused. "Oh and I know exactly what an arc reactor is and yay for famous business guy." He says obviously not caring. "He's just trying to sound all self important, I could care less if he was friends with Harrison Ford, the President of the United States of America or whoever. It's a robot, it's not as cool as R2D2."
"Yeah, well, I gotta play the hand I'm dealt. It's the only 'cool' card I get. But at least I get one." Theo returns at Nicholas, as if to imply that the other doesn't. "You wanna be pissy at me, go ahead, I don't care if you like me, most people don't. At least you're honest about it, don't try to BS me like everybody else. It's fine, I don't like you either." He remains with his head tilting back on the couch. "Yeah, I showed off Proto to him, and he thought it was cool, gave me a job. Doesn't hurt that the Avengers and the X-men are on reasonably good terms," he explains to Taylor.
Taylor nods slowly at Theo and says, "Uh, yeah, I guess it wouldn't. I mean, I don't know much about X-men or Avengers or anything, really. Just got here a little while ago and stuff…" The felinoid glances towards Nicholas and says, "I dunno, it'd be cool to meet someone who knows the President. But yeah, doesn't make you any more important or anything, but still… neat…"
Nicholas shrugs and stands up. "Good, at least we're on the same page, just don't expect me to be impressed or all kissing your ass because you think you've got a cool card because you know some fancy business dude. He's got the cool card, you're just annoying kid brat whose riding on his coat tails." He says giving a wave. "Later." He says as he goes to head upstairs to his dorm.
Theo opens his eyes to roll them as Nicholas leaves. "Man, did somebody piss in his cereal, or is he always like that? And people say I'm pissy. I don't need to ride anybody's coat tails. Don't you get me wrong," he tells Taylor. "I'm not hiding in Tony's shadow. I'll have my own empire one day, change the way the world treats mutants." One finger points up as he states the claim. "You just watch."
"Um, well, he's usually a pretty angry guy, I guess. I dunno why. Probably has a reason…" says Taylor, looking down and shrugging, "Just don't like when he's an asshole to me." The fuzzy ocelot looking student shrugs and says to Theo, "Yeah, I mean, I figure you'd have to. You can't just be an apprentice forever, but apprenticing is a thing, I get that."
"Yeah, his business, not my problem, as long as he doesn't make it my problem. If he keeps pushing I just might have to get him to really shut his trap. Some people just need a good beating to get over themselves." Theo shakes his head. "Sorry, I tend to be a bit pissy too, I'll shut up. Yeah, I'm learning a lot from Tony."
"I imagine. Guy seems to know his stuff. I don't know anything about the stuff he knows, but I know he knows it," says Taylor, finishing the sewing job and examining the doll, tugging at the clothes. "I figure lots of people around here are a bit pissy. About… half."
"Yeah, I guess. Sorry about thinking you were the one that slimed me before. I've been trying to avoid coming out of my room too much. Bad enough I gotta put up with my roommate, you know? I don't want to deal with more people than I have to, not when everybody gets all emo on me." Theo shrugs, "Call me a pessimist. People are just annoying, you know?"
"Oh, I dunno, it's a fair misunderstanding. I'm just the one who's got fur all the time. I mean, Ahmed looks all catlike, but isn't so much on the fuzzy side? And when he is, he's in danger of popping and stuff," explains Taylor, shrugging. "What's wrong with dealing with your roommate? I don't have a roommate, myself. I don't think I will." Tay gestures absently towards the dorms, or more particularly, the girl's floor.
"Yeah, be glad," Theo advises Taylor. "I think I ran off the first few roommates, I dunno, never really had a problem with them. But this guy, we just…don't get along, personal stuff. Don't be surprised if you suddenly have somebody you can't stand as a roommate. Frost seems to take joy in tormenting the students. She's sick that way."
"Well… I just don't think I'm gonna have a roommate any time soon, so I'm not going to worry too much," says Taylor, shrugging one shoulder, "And okay, I guess it's fair if you don't get along. I don't get along with a bunch of people. People're assholes most of the time."
"Yeah, they are," comes the agreement. "Well, it's been fun and all," Theo says, lifting himself from his seat. "But you know I think I'm going to be heading to take a shower." A mock salute comes from his hand up to his eyebrow, and released in a casual manner. "Good to meet you Taylor, I guess I'll be seeing you around here."
"Yeah, probably," says Taylor, waving in response to Theo, "I should probably get going myself…" Once Theo is up and going, the felinoid student heads back on up to wander off to the girl's hall.
