2010-11-29: Life Goals And Death Tolls

Players:

Robin_icon.jpg Theo_icon.jpg

Summary: Robin and Theo get away from all the noise at the sauna, and end up having a rather meaningful conversation.

Date: Monday, November 29, 2010. 8:37pm

Log Title: Life Goals and Death Tolls

Rating: PG


Xavier Mansion - Sauna

This steam room is for students and staff who want to relax after a training session, or just enjoy time in the heat. In the center of the room is a pit that holds the water and coals giving the room its steamy atmosphere. Benches line the sides of the room and the dim lights make it almost peaceful.


Sometimes, after a long day, it's nice to be able to relax. Robin has some to the Sauna in order to enjoy the heat after a Danger Room session earlier in the day. Odd as it is, wearing a bathing suit barely helps with her androgyny, mostly because she is so thin, but at least it's clear that she's wearing a women's bathing suit and that it fits her correctly. Next to her sits her glowing blue puppet, Blank, who seems to be staring towards the entrance to the room.

Theo likewise thinks it can be good to come relax in the sauna. His own frame isn't that thick, but hardly androgynous. The technopath likes the sauna for a reason besides the heat and steam, though. No electronics. People don't bring their phones in here, and there's a limited amount in the room itself. The door opens, and in he walks, wearing a white and blue swimsuit of his own. He pauses, seeing Robin and her puppet. "Oh, heya," he announces himself. "Didn't expect anybody else to be in here." He closes the door behind him to keep in the heat, and takes a seat near, but not next to the girl and her puppet.

Robin raises her head slightly to look at Theo, though she rubs her goggles to clear them of steam, or at least on the side that isn't blacked out, so she can see who just came in. "Oh, hey. I haven't been here for very long," says the girl, tilting her head slightly, "but it's usually empty in here when I come. I find it pretty relaxing." She adjusts the straps over the shoulders on her one piece bathing suit, seeming a bit self-conscious for a moment, before her movements settle again.

Theo holds his shoulders forward a little as he settles himself. He doesn't have much of an impressive body to show off, and seems likewise self-conscious. "Yeah, I like it, it's quiet in here, and most people seem to forget it's here. You can come in, and nobody will bug you for pretty much however long you want to stay hidden." Slowly, he leans back against his seat, feeling the damp back as he relaxes. It's hard to see through the steam, but you don't come in here for sight seeing, so perhaps it doesn't really matter.

Robin rubs at the goggles again, taking them off and turning her head away from Theo to hand them off to her puppet. She continues not looking in his direction while she speaks, "Guess I shouldn't interrupt your relaxation time too much, huh? I can pipe down if you want."

Theo grins, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. "I don't mean quiet from people talking," he says. "I mean there's only like two lights and the rock heating device in the whole room." He realizes that might not help. "I can hear machines, and believe me, in this place there's a lot of them," he explains. "It's Robin, right?" he asks, trying to remember the girl's name.

"Oh, I think I get what you mean. I get double feedback from Blank, and sometimes I need to shut off my senses. But it's probably not bad. I'm pretty lucky with my powers, I guess, looking back on things. I mean, they're pretty cool," says Robin, looking towards her puppet. "Yeah, Robin Keen. And you're… ummm, Theo? Is that it?"

"Yeah, Theo Fegenbush." He stretches his arms out, becoming more comfortable. "When it's warm I go out into the woods, but it's too cold to do that kinda thing right now. There's nothing good about winter." He opens one eye and looks through the steam at the puppet. "So…is it always with you?" he asks.

Robin only briefly looks towards Theo before she remembers she's wearing neither goggles nor glasses. The puppet, however, takes initiative to slide the goggles back onto Robin's head, doing whatever makes her most comfortable. "Yeah. Since I manifested. I feel really alone when she's not around, now, but she's always there. I can only think of a couple times when she wasn't."

"Weird," the technopath says, and then lets out a chuckle. "Though, I guess not weird for here, right? You ready for finals yet?" Theo himself is an outstanding student, much like Robin's reputation. "I can't believe how easy they make classes here. It makes me want to gouge my eyes out."

"I don't think they're that easy. But you're smarter than me, so I have to try harder. But… sometimes, I feel like they're not as challenging as what I could take on. I think I'll be able to ace the finals, though I might need more time to do the best I can," says Robin, leaning back, "losing a month kind of sets you behind. Luckily, I was ahead in all my classes, so I'll meet that halfway."

"Oh yeah," Theo remembers. "You were one of the folks that was kidnapped. Glad you're not dead or anything," he offers. Theo's version of condolences. "I dunno if I'm that much smarter," he says. "We both stand out from most of the cattle around here that have the 'D is for Diploma' mindset." Which may not be true, but Theo doesn't quite grasp why anyone can't be a straight A student.

"Well, I dunno, I just think it takes lots more work for me to get the grades. Not that I really mind the challenge. There's going to be people smarter than me, but only I can decide how hard I'll work to catch up," says Robin, smiling slightly at that. "I got good grades as a kid, 'cause I spent so much of my time studying. But I couldn't help but think some of the other kids were smarter." She crosses one leg over the other and shrugs, "I guess for some people here, they've just got to learn how to learn."

"I guess," comes the noncommittal reply. "I work hard too," he says. Of course, he's also a genius that works hard. "You work hard. I think some of them are just lazy, or have ADHD or other stuff. But I think most of them are just lazy. If I had slacked off in school, you better believe my dad would have done something about it." He takes in a deep breath, and lets out a rather exhausted sounding sigh after the statement. Perhaps a little dramatically loud.

"I didn't say you don't work hard," says Robin with a smile, "But there are some students here who just haven't been given learning tools." She takes a deep breath in and out as well. "My parents didn't much care if I was smart or not. They wanted other things from me that I wasn't so suited for." Robin shrugs slightly, though, biting her bottom lip lightly, "I miss them, though."

Theo's expression doesn't change, but he puts his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Yeah…" he agrees, "I miss mine too." He doesn't prod into Robin's past. He lets it lie unless she offers. Far be it for him to pry into other people's secrets.

Robin glances over to Theo for a moment before giving a subtle nod, and staring back ahead at the door with her puppet. "I'm sorry," is all she offers, not seeming to be interested in discussing her history. She bites her lip again and crosses her arms, seeming to feel them with her fingertips.

The boy seems unchanging in his expression, and sits silently for a long moment. "Man, we sure can pick depressing subjects," he says, trying to change the topic. "So what do you want to do when you get out of prison?" he asks. The school obviously the prison in question.

"I dunno. Do you think I'd be a good doctor?" Robin glances over to Blank and notes, "Being a kind've conspicuous kind of mutant, I'm always worried about employment opportunities, but I think I'd like that. Fixing people who are broken. Is that kind of weird? Anyways. How about you?"

"You'll never run out of work," Theo answers. "I dunno, I think if you keep your puppet hidden, you'll be fine. They don't have to know you're a mutant. Just…" He tilts his head back forward again to look at Robin's puppet. "lock it in a closet or something." Not the most sensitive suggestion, but it's the most practical he can think of. "For me? I dunno. Tony Stark is my boss right now, and a friend too, so I could always keep working for Stark Industries. I'm sure I could make pretty good money there." There seems to be an invisible 'but' at the end of his sentence. "I just dunno. Maybe start my own company, really create something that changes…everything." Rather ambiguous.

"Blank teleports next to me if we're too far apart, unless I'm controlling her. And then I look dead… I could maybe focus on mutant health care. I guess the problems are even more interesting, and I'd be understanding for confused young mutants to boot," says Robin, smiling slightly, though now listening to Theo's goal. "Well, you're certainly smart enough for your own company. I guess it all comes down to what you'll want to do with it."

"That'd be a good idea," Theo agrees. "If you can find a market, you'll probably be stuck living in Mutant Town and never getting paid what you're worth," he adds. "I'll take over the world," he responds to what he wants to do with his company. "Guess it doesn't matter in the end, we all rot anyway. Unless I find a way to make us live forever. Then I'll get to solve the overpopulation problem that will result."

"I hope to do some activism work, too, maybe expand some kind of effort for mutant health care in hospitals," says Robin, "Sure, there's the xenophobia, but it'd be economically beneficial to have some doctors equipped to deal with mutant health in every hospital." She pulls the goggles off of her eyes and puts them down again. "I don't really want to end up living in Mutant Town," she confesses, "I spent enough time there when I was on the street." She grins as she continues, though, "Of course, taking over the world's a bit more ambitious. Hopefully, there'll still be a place for doctors once immortality's achieved."

Theo laughs, "Don't worry, I think it's safe to say I'm not gonna fulfill that one. I'll rot in the ground like everybody else. Folks been trying to figure out how to live forever for centuries. Everybody still dies." He adjusts in the sweaty seat a little, surprisingly comfortable seeming with such a nihilistic perspective.

"Well, I kind of hope that I'm going to die eventually. Eventually, I'd be so dulled to familiar things that I'd just be bored if I were immortal," says Robin, tilting her head slightly at the thought. "But I guess there'd always be something to learn… well, at least for a very long time." She doesn't seem bothered by the talk of death. While she's not particularly morbid, it's a topic that catches her interests. She brushes some of her hair aside.

"You ever wonder what happens after we die?" Theo asks, willing to continue the line of thought. "I mean, people have all kinds of ideas of heaven and hell. Some people say they don't believe in God, or gods, and that this is all there is. I don't buy it. I think everyone really believes there's something else, they're just afraid to think about it, because it might suck.

Robin considers the question for a few moments and then shakes her head, "I dunno. It's not really something I can know, either. In some ways, I hope there's something that happens, and that it's good…" She bites her bottom lip and seems a little uncomfortable, "But mostly, you're right, I hope there's nothing. 'cause I could gamble and place my chips on some god, be wrong, and end up burning. Or someone could. In any case, if there's a hell, I'm afraid that's just where I'll end up… I'll place my hopes in oblivion."

A slight smirk crosses Theo's face. "Well, I believe there's a God," he says. Those who know him wouldn't peg him as the religious sort, and they'd be right. "I think he judges people, too. And I'm pretty sure every last one of us is gonna burn. People are rotten at the core. We're all just watching the clock."

"Sounds like a cruel God," comments Robin, pulling off her goggles again, this time not making the effort to turn her face away. She just wants to see properly. She lightly rubs at the scarred area around her dead eye before adding, "Like a professor who gives exams that aren't possible to complete by anyone who'd take them, and then refuse to curve when everyone turns up short. Maybe the test is just too hard. Maybe he should know that, what with creating the students in the first place."

Theo's bare shoulders shrug noncommittally. "He created pretty cruel students," he says. "So why shouldn't he? I know I'd never let me in heaven, and I've seen too many people's dark sides to think that anyone is all that different from me." He casts a glance back at Robin. "No offense." Maybe it's Theo's view of justice that's the cruel one.

"None taken. I've probably got a dark side, and I just repress it 'cause I'm afraid of letting people know that I really /am/ a bad person on the inside. I used to worry about being a bad person a lot, but… I dunno. I'm probably not particularly bad. I probably do good things 'cause it makes me feel good," says Robin, looking towards her puppet and shrugging. "On the other hand, I've been told how selfish I can be."

Theo laughs out right, as if Robin's statement were a joke. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh quite like that," he apologizes. "I'm just glad to see somebody is willing to fess up that they aren't all that. Everybody else around here talks as if everybody is made of cotton candy on the inside." He considers the analogy a moment. "But while cotton candy might taste good, there's no substance to it, and enough of it will make you sick."

"Well, anyone who's not going to admit that they're flawed is a liar," replies Robin, only reacting to the laugh with a raised eyebrow in Theo's direction (which might look unusual with the particular eye over which the eyebrow is raised is not looking anywhere in particular). "Everyone sucks in some ways. I'm insecure, needy and selfish. Maybe a little sadistic, in some ways, if only 'cause seeing others in pain helps me relate to them. And I can probably think of more, but that'd be a huge waste of time." She pauses, chewing her lip and rubbing her arm again, "And anyone who doesn't think they're flawed? Put deluded as first on the list."

"Eh," Theo answers, sprawling sideways to lay down on the bench. "I don't think they really think that," he says. "They just have wishful thinking that they're warm and fuzzy underneath. But all you gotta do is throw one good curveball at somebody's life, and you find out what's really there."

"Well, I think I've been thrown enough curveballs to sort out how horrible or decent I am. Some combination of both," says Robin, crossing her arms over her stomach, "Pretty much the best we can do is disguise the horribleness and set it aside. Which is maybe not good enough for God. But it's got to be good enough for me."

Theo turns his head to regard Robin, and he chews on his lip. He doesn't answer, making it difficult to say whether he thinks it's poppycock or a worthwhile statement. A hand reaches down to scratch his chest, as he rolls the statement over in his head.

For Robin's part, she does not say much else on the subject, only giving a subtle shrug when Theo looks over. She's said her opinion, and it doesn't much matter what the technopath thinks of it. She toys with her goggles in her hands.

"I wish I knew you were so real before," Theo finally answers, still not giving his take on what the puppeteer thinks, but perhaps he doesn't feel his opinion is significant to give, either. "I would talk to you more often. It's good to know that not everybody tries to make everything a bed of roses." He drums on his chest briefly with his fingers before sitting back up.

"Eh, I'm sure there's still plenty enough reasons a person could come up with for not talking to me even with that on the table… But thanks, I just try not to lie to myself too much," says Robin, shrugging and standing up, "Not that I can always succeed, but again, everyone's got flaws." She puts her goggles back on and notes, "I should get out of here and get some work done. I'll see ya round, Theo."

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