Players:
Summary: Jono has a brief uncharacteristic good mood while training with Rashmi, and the world conspires to punish him for it.
Date: January 20, 2010
Log Title Markings
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Gymnasium
This big room with wooden floors is build with powered students in mind; the entire room is power proof. Blast the walls all you like, they are not breaking. The gym can either be one large room and it also has dividers to make it two smaller gyms. This large Gym has basketball nets, equipment to set up equipment badminton, volleyball, hockey, soccer, gymnastics, fencing, and everyone's favorite, dodge ball.
[Mike here: For whatever reason I'd been seeing weight training RP'ed in the gym lately and didn't notice that this isn't the weight room. Please assume that 1/4 of the gym has weight equipment set up on dense rubber floor-mats, for whatever custodial reason. ]
Life-lesson time has come to the gym, it seems. In her purple-and-white Paragons uniform, Rashmi seems to be the subject of everyone's favorite game, How Much of a Prat Are You? As Jono doles out the advice, the redhead nods quietly, worrying at the end of her thick braid. "….Yeah… All right, I'll do my best. But… I'm not even going to *try* flying unless I'm in the Danger Room. Just… no way, not until I know if I even can."
Robot Student Mike Drakos Reporting for … dangit. Mike walks into the gym, and would be all emo and sighing if he could. He has a class schedule in his hand, and one of the things on it is "Weight Training" … and the person he was talking to would not believe him when he tried to explain that it simply doesn't work that way for him.
He sees Jono and one of the many amazingly pretty girls here - what is it with this school and smokin' hot students anyway? - and he waves and plays a sample: Peter Gabriel, Big Time: "HI there!"
"Sure, I could probably go for mo—" To her credit, this time she doesn't make a noise to accompany her startled jump, whipping around to stare, wide-eyed, at the newcomer to the gym. "….Um," she begins brilliantly, once her heart has settled back down to normal, "…Hi?"
Having met Mike the day before, Jonothon isn't surprised. «Hey, mate.» The greeting is warm and he adds an aside to Rashmi, «This is Mike. Brand new at the school and he can't talk. Been using radio quips to communicate. If you don't mind I can link us and allow us to talk.» Then back to Mike. «We're practicing a little here. Feel free to use the equipment if you want.» As in, don't not do your stuff just because these two are blasting one another. And sure enough, Jono begins doing that. Narrow beams of fire that he shoots from his upper chest.
Rashmi has these spheres she's trying to defend with. Anyone watching could easily see Jono isn't really trying to hit her.
"I, um… Sure…?" Distracted as she is by the student with the racing stripes, she almost doesn't notice the first blast until it's eaten up half the distance between the two. Starting again, this time with an accompanying squeak, she hop-steps backwards, the pale-blue spheres orbiting her tightening up, spinning rapidly to deflect the blast. Narrowing her eyes at Jono, she directs the orbs to bat the next couple bolts of psy-fire aside, one sphere detaching from the back of the train to dart forward, toward the air over Jono's shoulder.
Mike grins internally where it doesn't show, and thinks, "Hey, Jono, Hi, cute-girl-I-don't-know, I'm Mike Drakos, don't let me interrupt your training, mind if I watch a bit?"
He walks over to the place where they keep the training logs, and rapidly fills out the standard form like he's done at a couple different gyms in their moves around the country.
Catching Jonothon by surprise, he leans to the side to avoid that sphere, fire lit eyes wide. It stops the blasts, psy-fire spreading, but then he sounds off a mental, «HEH!» Yes, laughing. «Good!» The link cuts off for that, sorry, but Mike can get in his greeting just fine before it stops. Never mind it assumes soon after. He follows this up by a blast at that lone sphere, trying to hit it before it can reach Rashmi again. If he can catch it in a place it won't hurt anyone, he hits it hard too. Just to see how that effects you.
"Not at all, I--OW!" As the blast catches the sphere, it rocks backward in the air, a spiderweb of glowing cracks forming on its surface, and the redhead reels back a few paces, the hell of her hand pressed against a temple.
"Oh, God… ow… Is it--?" Frantically, she looks up, tracking the orb as it moves through the air, weaving its way back to its orbit around her.
"Oh thank God," Rashmi says, with a relieved sigh. "Yeah, um… That's how Lucas got me. Broke a couple of them… and it hurt so much it knocked me out, you know?"
Mike watches from a safe distance … psy fire? Not sure what that would feel like and don't want to risk the paint job. Also those spheres that are whirling around are kind of disturbing to contemplate. Virtual jawbreakers. He doesn't say this out loud, of course, nor try to distract them with his chatter while they're sparring. Instead he walks over to one of the weight stations and sets it up, 600 pounds on a bench press, sets himself under it, and does a casual 15 reps. Doesn't even break a sweat (not that he could).
Suddenly worried, psy-fire dims. He starts to move forward as Rashmi reels, but stops himself as she catches herself.
«Christ.. gel, I'm sorry.» Didn't mean to hurt you! Jonothon now feels miserable and it shows in his whole stance. «You okay?»
A few feet away, the Englishman holds that distance. Like so many other times he just doesn't try to make physical contact.
«I'm sorry.» Wasn't thinking and just blasted for the fun of it. Now of course Jono regrets that. Sorry, Mike, but having lived with people who bench press tons, he's not much paying attention. Jono's rather jaded when it comes to things superhero.
"I… no, it's all right…" Drawing a hiss through her teeth, she rubs at her temple, as though spiked with a sudden migraine.
"It'll go away… And even if they break, it'll come back after awhile… It's just… *ow.* …Something I'll have to get used to, right?" Raising her head and blinking a few times to clear her eyes, she turns a bright smile on Jono.
"Really, it's okay. At least it didn't break, that *really* hurts." Mike's casual lifting *does* grab her attention, eyebrows lowering in confusion.
"….Um… Don't people, you know… usually do something *hard* when they're lifting weights?"
Jonothon doesn't look like he quite believes, but he nods. «We're stopping here then. Not making you do this with a migraine.» Especially not after he gave you said migraine. Psy-fire pulls in as he lifts his hands, and by the time fingers touch his chest it's gone. Leaves a thin Englishman there in black covering up to just beneath his nose. Eyes remain fire-lit though as he looks to where Mike is bench pressing. Doesn't say anything though, for he's quite lost his good humor. For the moment anyway.
Rashmi nods quietly. There's a moment's pause, then the redhead turns to look at Jono, frowning. "…You know, I spent three years on the debate club… Do I *really* need to throw your own kind words back at you?"
Skyler has never really had the need to work out, so the amount of time she's spent in the Gym has been minimal at best. Still, sometimes it's best to get out every once in a while and do something physical. Currently, her body is in good condition. She's taken the form of her sister, a somewhat diminutive brunette, that's rather curvy and cute, and somewhere in her mid twenties. She's dressed in loose fitting sweats, and a plain grey t-shirt with the ever-present sticker over her left breast that proclaims, "HI! MY NAME IS…. Skyler." She pauses when she notices that the gym is currently occupied.
Hearing the apologetic tone from Jono and the question from the girl, Mike sits up. He starts to 'speak' but it seems like a bad time, so he waits for them to resolve not to damage one another and how much not to do so. While waiting he checks the bar, and moves the weights to a stronger machine designed to carry from 1000 to 5000 pounds. All he puts on it is 1000.
Jonothon's eyes narrow, the fire showing so well in the slight shadows there. No, he doesn't like it when people do that, but don't let that stop you. «You really want to do this with a migraine?» Asked back at you. Yes, he wants you to learn, but there are no expectations of you learning it all tonight. He and Rashmi stand in the middle, both dressed in costumes, even if Jono's doesn't look as such. His idea of a costume seems like his normal clothing. Not yet noticing Skyler, the man keeps his attention of Rashmi. Yes, he'll continue if she wants, but he's feeling pretty damn guilty at the moment, and that always throws him into depression.
Rashmi shakes her head in reply pausing and blinking back the sudden stab of pain.
"Nn… Oh no, I'm fine for stopping now. Just…" Stepping forward, deliberately closing the space between herself and Jono, the redhead comes to a halt a few inches away, leaning up on her tiptoes to peer into the Englishman's fiery eyes.
"No one blame you, Jono, but you." Dropping back on her heels, she turns as Skyler's entry catches her eye, smiling brightly at teh newcomer. "Hello!"
Skyler's eyes flick from person to person. The new girl looks normal enough. The robot boy is… interesting. And then there's Jono. She pales somewhat when she sees him, recognizing him. She's quick to recover, coughing as if to clear her throat and grins at Rashmi.
"Oh, hello, there," she replies pleasantly enough.
She turns around after making her point, all smiles, and Jonothon does the only thing he can. He reaches out to try and shove at her head. It's the motion of a friend though, and not at all an effort to hurt. «Prat.»
He does understand though, but it doesn't change the fact his mood is now ruined. And thus his attention brought to Skyler, the man lifts that pushing hand in greeting.
«Hey.» That mental voice has an English accent. If Skyler can hear him anyway. Some people have shields and thus can't. Her reaction has that hand dropping though, assuming incorrectly that it's his appearance. Has him shaking his head some, which causes hair to fall in over his eyes.
Taking his shirt off (don't want to wear out the seams with the pressure) and lying back on the 1-5 Mega Bench, Mike assumes the correct position, and with a precise exact movement, lowers the weight to his chest, then with a faintly audible vrooooVroooooooooVrroooooooooooo raises it to a fully extended position, then locks it into place.
He stands and walks over to the others, allowing his motor to rev back down to its usual low-fuel-consumtion idle. He plays a radio sample to Skyler, "HI There" (PeterGabrielBigTime again) and waits for them to be done with the bonding-after.
<OOC> Mike says, "I can already tell that a lot of people are going to want to punch peter gabriel after a semester around Mike"
Rashmi obligingly dips her head as Jono pushes it from behind, one of the half-dozen spheres orbiting her bobbing down to push Jono's shoulder in passing. About to reply to Skyler, the redheaded is once again interrupted by Mike's… extremely peculiar idiosyncracies. The engine noise is what grabs her attention first, the Peter Gabriel sample earning only a mild roll of the eyes.
"Er… yeah, hello, um. Skyler?" Nodding to herself after taking a cursory look at the other girl's nametag, she looks back to Mike and flushes. "Oh right, sorry… um, I'm Rashmi. Good… if a little weird… to meet you, Mike."
Skyler nods at Rashmi. "Yup. That's me. I have to wear the name tag because I can change appearance at any time," she explains. "Sometimes… okay a lot of times… to people who already live here. It's about the only way I can make sure people can distinguish me from anybody else." She gives Mike a quizzical look and responds, "Uh, Hi there," right back at him. But to Jono she nods to him and says, "We've met, Jono, but I didn't look like this."
Rocking with the push, and not seeming to much care, the man remains where he is to watch the goings on. So caught up in his thoughts is he that he doesn't think to ask Skyler about joining the link so Mike can talk freely. Perhaps too freely.
«We did?» Nope, clueless! It has the man eyeing Skyler. Sure those eyes are still fire bright, but that doesn't change his confused expression. «When?» Sure would have thought he'd.. oh right, changing appearance. Oops. As Rashmi speaks to Mike, it draws the Englishman out a little and he approaches. «Mike arrived yesterday. That I know of anyway.»
Thanks to Jono's astonishing generosity Mike is able to answer on the link and it even sounds like his own voice: a pleasant teenage boy tenor-moving-to-baritone with just the slightest hint of an accent. He thinks, "Good to meet you, Rashmi, I'm sorry for distracting you while you were sparring. I don't really know my max bench so I started with 600, because that was my one-lift max squatting before I got meched out, but it felt pretty light so I just tried a 1K and it's not the max but it's close, but I have to be careful because I don't think I'm insured and no mechanic is gonna know what to do if I break my driveshaft. Oh and before I forget Jono, thank you again for helping me talk and you can ride my bike any time you want, just ask."
He looks at Skyler with a pleasant if unchanging near-smile, grins internally where it isn't obvious, and pulls a "HI My name is MIKE" sticker from his pocket… it didn't stay on long enough, alas. But he has one too.
"Oh no, it's all— …Wow that's pr— …..Wait, mech—" Trying to get a word in edgewise seems a logical impossibility when Mike's 'mouth' is open, so the redhead finally subsides, settling for nodding politely at the appropriate intervals.
Skyler gives Mike a friendly grin and tries not to be too dismissive when she says, "That's cool." Turning back to Jono she nods, and turns her back to him, pulling the neck of her shirt down to expose a red diamond shaped tattoo, resting on the back of her right shoulder blade. "Yeah. No matter what I look like I can never get rid of this," she explains. "Still. To this day." While the tattoo might not mean anything to the other people in the room, to Jono it should be familliar. It's the mark that Mr. Sinister gave all of his captives over a year ago when he kidnapped them for his diabolical experimentation. After all, it Jono was captured right alongside with Skyler.
Even without a lower face his expression of confusion is very, very clear.
«….» Sure Jonothon knows the mark, but he's entirely clueless about this issue. Slowly it brings the man to shake his head. «Gel, I've no idea what you are talking about.» Honest that. He really doesn't. «You sure it was me?» This is the Marvel universe after all. Maybe it was a clone, Skrull, or alternate version. (Jono actually has been posed by a Skrull. As weird as that may be.) Hell, maybe he's the clone. He simply doesn't know.
«I've been in West Virginia for years. Been gone for like five years now.»
The robot teen doesn't blush, but Mike does suddenly realize that he was running over the top of Rashmi. So he tries to. Blush, that is. But he doesn't respond visibly to Skyler's polite declaration of indifference that he used one of what he presumes was her stash of name cards. It would be WEIRD to be upset by that kind of thing. Besides, this tattoo and amnesia thing are more interesting. He thinks onto the link, "What is the red diamond thing about?"
Rashmi turns, brow furrowing in puzzlement as she looks between Skyler and Jono, shaking her head.
"…I don't really know," she says to Mike. "But if they want to talk about it, we'll be told. Otherwise…?" With a shrug, she steps a couple paces back, tilting her head toward the robotic youth.
"So, um… Mind if *I* ask kind of a personal question?"
Skyler scowls at Jono's reaction, letting her shirt snap in place, as she pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and fingers.
"Oh, God, you don't remember," she laments. "A year ago… maybe two, it's all a little fuzzy, Mr. Sinister snatched us up off the side of the road, just outside the school here." Skyler's tone is patient and a little sad at the same time. "He did a lot of experiments on us, until the X-Men broke us out. Nobody was ever right since. Some of us became his Horsemen. Others… I don't know. You left as quickly as you could." She sighs, and rubs her arm trying to comfort herself from the memory of those awful times.
"I'm… not surprised you don't remember it. He tinkered around with a lot of things while we were there. He probably messed with your head."
No answer to Mike yet, for he's too focused on this not knowing issue. Manages to keep the link going at least. To Jonothon the amnesia thing isn't much fun at all, but it beats the alternative. He could still be controlled by Department H. The time to calm down, even with this strangeness, as brought the fire in his eyes to dim. Now back to their normal dark brown, the man's eyes are filled with confusion as he hears Skyler's story. He came back here? A year or two ago?! Experiments.. horsemen.. Jono goes very still for a time. Perhaps too still. The link entirely fails.
Then he's moving. Jonothon shrugs out of his jacket, letting it drop to the floor. The tshirt follows as he pulls it over his head. There's a desperation to his actions as he works to bare his back. This takes some doing thanks to the body suit of unstable molecules beneath. The chamber is bared, energy spilling out, as he pulls it down, then shrugs out of it. Turning he offers Skyler and you all a view of his back, even as he's trying to see it himself. Sure enough, there's a red diamond there. «….»
Mike steps away to follow Rashmi, and to be polite to Jono so he doesn't have to worry about linking, and possibly to Skyler who may need space, he pulls out a blue dry-erase marker (used up the red one) and writes on his chest (since he left the shirt off) in precise letters, all the same size and consistent and everything … "If u dont mind if I give a personal answer."
So he looks up to see Jono frantically trying to see his back, and thinks to himself, not on the link, "what kind of sick f*k would brand people like that."
Rashmi blinks sharply as Jono all but tears the clothing of his upper body off him, eyes widening as the mark is revealed. Whatever question she was about to ask dies on her lips, and it's a good while before she can speak again. "….Jono…?"
Skyler silently picks up the discarded clothes, speaking softly as she does.
"Yeah. He put it in a place where you normally just wouldn't look." She sighs. "I don't know what it means. I've… we've had them for over a year and as far as anybody can tell they don't /do/ anything." She sighs as she walks over to him, arms full of clothes.
"Mine stays with me no matter who I copy. A student even went so far as to try to cut it out. It was right back when he healed." When she's finally close enough she offers up the bundle of clothes, like a peace offering.
The air grows heavy as confirmation is given. Motions a bit jerky he pulls black material back over a shoulder, but doesn't close up the front. Skyler is speaking, and Jonothon says nothing. Not even as she offers up his clothing. Eyes turning red, all he does is take shirt and jacket before heading to the door. Psy-fire trails behind him, for he's not bothered closing it off as he normally does. Nope, can't deal with this right now, so he plans on hiding.
Mike watches Jono with a bit of apprehension, but (of course) it doesn't show. Nothing to say even if he could say it.
He reaches a hand over to tentatively touch Rashmi's shoulder though. Robot or not, this disturbs him enough that he wants to touch someone to remind him of his essential humanity, that there IS such a thing. He just can't ask for that.
Rashmi reaches back to pat Mike's hand, then freezes as from the book bag near where she and Jono had been practicing erupts with a generic text-message tweedle, loud in the ringing silence of the gym.
((Oh for the love of God what now,)) she mutters in Hindi, storming over to very nearly rip the phone out from inside the bag. There's a pause, then a flat, heavy "….Jono."
