Players:
Summary: Xorn gets to know a few members of his squad a little better.
Date: January 18, 2011
Log Title:Meeting a Leader
Rating: Log Rating.
Xavier Mansion - Classroom One
The classroom is set up for a variety of different classes to be held here at different times. The standard desks sit in rows, with a teachers desk in front and a white board in the front of the class. No particular teacher has a set classroom; they rotate the classrooms as classes are necessary.
Seated behind a desk, Shen Xorn, the mysterious X-Man and new Alpha Squadron leader, has files in front of him for all the students in the Alpha Squad. Looking through the file labeled "Mother" Xorn sits and reads as he has not met the female members of the squad and reads on, "Cloud's twin sister. Interesting." His disembodied voice says allowed. Dressed in his uniform of white Buddhist robes with a red X sash and his blackhole face covered in the metallic containment mask, Xorn looks at the clock as he awaits Star for her appointment.
In comes the empath sometimes known as Mother, her brown hair pulled back in a casual tail at the nape of her neck and wearing a dark green sweater, black vest with silvery faux fur on the inside, dark jeans, and black ankle boots. Star's expression is best described as a 'non-expression', her face just blank as she goes duitifully about keeping her scheduled appointment with her new squad leader. She's been laying low and staying pretty much determindly under the raidar for almost two months now, even going so far as to try to avoid Cloud most of the time. She knocks lightly on the door to the classroom and peeks in, "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Having receaved a message to meet Xorn Cloud is hurrying down the corridor as he's kinda late, he's really hoping this has nothing to do with anything he may have read in his mind or maybe he's found his missing bookbag, he's dressed in blue jeans, a pair of red sneakers, a black t-shirt and his blond and blue hair is casualy spiked, as he enters he spots… Star, she's been avoiding him, even when they were at home ver Christmas, "Huh, being in the same room as you, been a while".
For once, Mason isn't carrying an instrument. The star hasn't received a message to come here, but he left his backpack. Yes, his whole backpack. The blond passes through the doorway, and pauses. "Oh, hey," he says, "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. I just left my backpack in here after class." He adjusts the red collar on his polo, and starts to cross the room to retrieve it. "Welcome back, Star," he adds in greeting with a smile across his lips. "Good to see you again."
Not used to having so many of his students present, Xorn would smile and is smiling, though he has no face to show his expression, "It is good to see so many of my students present." His disembodied voice offers as he puts the students files in a desk drawer. Instead of standing up and walking around the desk, he sits cross-legged Indian style and hovers above the desk and crosses his arms, "Mason, it is no interruption. I am glad to see you are care enough about your studies to come back for your backpack. The backpack is lifted from desk and passed to Mason, "This is much more promising than finding you on the ground embracing a young girl by the observation tower." Looking between Cloud and Star, "Nice to see you both as well. Cloud, we finally meet on campus. And Star, we have no been formally introduced. I am Shen Xorn, the new Alpha Squadron leader." He nods his head.
Star looks over at her brother and grimaces faintly, though she doesn't seem surprised to see him, guilt turning her eyes muddy, "Yeah, I guess…" She lifts one shoulder in a shrug, but doesn't bother to explain what's been going through her mind lately. She blinks a bit when Mason walks in, looking more surprised by his appearance than she had when Cloud walked in, and forces a smile, "Thanks. I've been around…" She pauses for a moment, "Good to see you, too, though." She shoves her hands deep into her back pockets, thumbs hanging over the top of the fabric, and walks farther into the classroom. Mention of Mason being found 'embracing' a girl gets a curious quirk of one brow back at the teen star, though she keeps her mouth shut about it. She nods faintly to Xorn, "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
She's keeping her comments short and sweet. Not at all like what most people would know her as.
"Hey Mason", Cloud gives a nod in greeting as he enters the room, he follows his sister further into the room, "You won't be able to avoid me for ever Star", he startsto organise his thoughts in such a way to make it harder for Xorn to read his thoughts, "You do seem to be everywhere i go".
Mason takes the bag out of the air as Xorn passes it to him, and rolls his eyes. "It wasn't like that," he says, first to Star, though, before anyone else. "I promise. She fell from the tower, and I broke her fall." See, that way it sounds more heroic. "She landed on me. David saw us right then, and it just looked bad." A little defensive, he doesn't want Star to think he just sleeps around.
Even without his powers, Xorn can tell that the students are full of various thoughts and emotions. To Mason, "Well, that is good and I know it was a mistake." To Cloud, "It is odd. Good thing, you don't think it is as if I am following you." Disembodied laughter fills the room after that and then stops suddenly. To Star, "Well, I have met with the male members of the team. I am still waiting to meet with Moniqa, but I thought I would meet with you. Get to know you and vice versa." Xorn then places himself atop the desk still sitting Indian style. "I'll ask you all. I already know from Cloud, but in general, what are some things you would like me to work with you for training? I looked over Forge's notes, but there wasn't much there. How did he work with you and how would you like me to follow-yp with you?" Xorn then does a empathic scan on the students to read their emotional states. Star may notice being around another empath.
The empathic teen just shrugs at Mason's explination, "Not any of my business." Beat, "Nice of you to catch her, though…" Star grimaces at Cloud and looks over at him again, "I'm not avoiding anyone." Even though she really is, "I'm just spending time on me right now. That's all." And trying to not be around anyone else. She spent most of her time closeted away with Jamie while she was at home; or at least claimed to be with Jamie, anyway. She turns her attention back to Xorn and shrugs, "I'd like to learn how to fight better…" She doesn't want to die again, after all! "I want to know how to defend myself." Actual life enters her voice for a moment and her eyes darken to black, a hint of anger and determination swirling around her.
"Thank you," Mason answers in a decisive tone to Star. "I could use knowing how to fight better, too," he says. "Though, I'm starting to kind of like my power. I can pick up boulders and throw them at people, which is pretty impressive. Too bad it would give away that I'm a mutant if I did it in public." He gives a mock flex, though he still has a good physique to show off with it. He slings the backpack over his shoulder after the flex.
Noting the surprising change in Star, Xorn telepathically speaks to her, <I know martial arts to teach you combat, but this change in attitude and emotion? Counting empath and emotions under my abilities, I would like to work with you on those skills as well.> The disembodied voice responds to Mason, "Well I will teach all of you martial arts, then." He ponders, "And a group danger room sessions. Each of you could take turns playing the role of leader until one is chosen perhaps?"
Star shakes her head and frowns slightly at Xorn when he hears his 'voice' inside her head, thinking as clearly as she can in his direction, though she's no telepath and trying to explain about having died while so many students were missing from the school. Not that she doesn't have memories for that time, but she was still dead and it's kind of messed her up a little now that she's back and has a heartbeat again. She nods at the offer to help with her powers, "I would appreciate all the help I can get, sir." She lifts her chin a little at the thought of maybe becoming the leader of their team, a familiar, to Cloud at least, demanding light appearing in her eyes. It's only right that she should be leader! She knows best, after all.
Cloud rolls his eyes, thats all he needs, Star having a genuine reason to boss him around, "I thought you were our squad leader?", he likes the idea of the group learning martiel arts, it'll be good to have a back up when theres nothing to absorb.
The pop star arches his brow. "Being leader just means you get griped at when things go wrong," he says. "I think I'll pass." Mason's organized a number of events, both at his old school, and for performances that he's done on a smaller scale. He works with people very well, he just doesn't like having to be responsible. "Are you two coming to the dance, by the way?" he asks the Rosens. "It's right around the corner."
Xorn nods, "I am the staff leader of the squad. In the past, there have been student leaders of squads if I understand correctly. Julian was leader of the Hellions. Sam and Danielle were leaders of the first New Mutants squad. David and Sofia were leaders of the second New Mutants squad." He ponders aloud, "I should speak to Emma and Scott to see if the Institute still applies a student in a leadership role." He then looks to Mason, "Ah yes. The Xavier/Barnes dance how is that coming along? I heard something about a crafts fair."
Star just rolls her eyes at Cloud when he protests trying out student leaders, seeming a little more like her old pre-zombie self, "You're just scared of not being able to lead as well as I can." She smirks faintly when Mason says that he doesn't want to be leader, either and pulls her hands out of her pockets to fold her arms across her chest, looking almost smugly at Xorn, "Looks like there's not really anyone here that would either be good enough to be leader, or want to be." Then Mason mentions the coming dance and the girl shrugs, "I don't know… Nobody's asked me to go yet and I'm not going to go by myself." Because that would be lame? Or something, anyway.
"Star, just cos no ones volentering that doesn't mean you're gonna be in charge, you gotta realise theres more to it that being able to boss people around", Cloud shakes his head at Mason, "No, it's not really my thing".
Mason grins back at Star, though his eyes shift briefly to Cloud. "Well, I'm sure someone will ask you soon," he tells her with a knowing smile. Best not to ask her to the dance in front of her brother. "Why do we have to have a leader, anyway?" he asks. "I mean, can't we just be democratic about stuff, and have a vote? I mean, we're in America."
In response to Cloud. "Sometimes the best leaders don't realize they are leaders. And no leader is perfect." Xorn continues, "And perhaps the leader isn't in this room. There is still Kisha and Moniqa. How well have you worked with them?" He asks the students, "A vote may be a good thing as well. Let me make sure Emma and Scott are alright with it first." He then ponders, "How did each of you come by your codenames? Did Forge give them to you or did you pick them yourselves?"
"Oh, please…" Star rolls her eyes again and actually sticks her tongue out at Cloud. She a shoe in for getting the squad leader position now! Or maybe not… She looks over at Mason for a moment and shrugs, "Really, if I don't get asked, then it's not a big deal. I didn't usually go to dances at my old school. They were always lame." And so full of jocks and the 'popular' kids that most of the band nerds did their own party instead. She looks back over at the teacher and shrugs, "They're alright. I haven't really talked to either of them very much, though." The thought of voting for a leader gets ignored. Then comes the question about their codenames and Star grimaces, shrugging one shoulder, "Band. I play trombone and was in the marching band at our old school. We kind of gave each other nicknames and mine stuck."
Cloud shrugs, "I've met Kisha, she seems nice enough, little weird but nice enough", he turns red when asked about the origin of his codename, "When i use my powers i get kind of a rush of it, thats where the name comes from, i couldn't think of anything else".
"I didn't mean vote for a leader, I mean just vote on stuff that we do. What do we need a leader for anyway?" Mason asks. He adjusts his bag. "We can be like one of those communes, but actually cool. And Kisha is weird. Nice wouldn't be a term I'd use to describe her. She thinks everybody is a resource to be applied to something." He shakes his head. "She tried to threaten my manager, too, just so she could get money." Not something that Mason found very impressive.
Turning to Mason, "I wasn't aware of that. I thought she was one of the students who saved you during the Mutant Town concert?" Xorn shakes his head at the description of Kisha and should meet with her sooner rather than later. He has been described as weird himself so he won't make any judgments, which he never does anyway. "Voting on topics, seems like a good idea actually, Mason. Maybe you would make a good leader."
Star smirks at Cloud's admission as to where his codename came from, but manages to keep her mouth shut. She grimaces at the thought of turning their team into some sort of democratic commune and shakes her head, though she has to admire someone that tries to shake down someone's manager for cash.
Cloud nods, "Mason actually has a point, if it's like a voting thing it could make it easier to do whats best for the team, on the other hand if no one can agree it might be better to have someone who has the final say", just as long as it's not his sister…
"Yeah," Mason says. Being saved by a girl doesn't help his image, but the alternative is to admit that he knew what was going to happen ahead of time. "I don't really like leading. It's too much work." Yech, the W word. "I am just a musician. People don't look at me for important decisions. They look at me to make them laugh, cry, and dance with the one they love." He shrugs. "That's a lot less pressure than making life and death decisions."
To Mason, "That is why you could work. The sense of responsibility could be good for you." Xorn laughs. Considering what the students are discussing, "Well, even with a student leader, I would have the ultimate say, but I like the idea of voting. We will try that until I meet with Kisha and Moniqa." He ponders, "Mason and Star, how were your holidays? What did you do?"
There's a huff from Star and she rolls her eyes, shaking her head as she addresses Cloud, "Yeah, and what about situations where a decision has to be made right now, huh? Do you think that voting would be the best for that?" She smirks faintly at Mason's insistance that he doesn't really want to be any kind of leader, but doesn't poke fun at him for it. At least she's not being totally listless like she has been so much lately. She shrugs at the question about her holidays, "Went home and spent most of the time hanging out with my friend Jamie. Not really much to tell…"
Cloud huffs aswell and mutters under his breath, "Yeah sure, thats why she had no idea where you were most of the time", yeah, he knew she was lying, but he was trying to give her some space, he's pretty much though with that now, she's gonna talk, weither she likes it or not.
"Really busy," Mason says, "Lots of parties I had to go to, concerts. I'm glad it's over." He laughs. "I used to like Christmas before I became famous. Now it's just one headache after another." The boy shrugs. "Speaking of which, I gotta head out. Star, I got a question for you later, when you have some time," he adds neutrally. He does his best not to betray what the nature of the question might be.
Xorn can pick up the thoughts going between the Rosen twins and ponders what exactly is happening betwixt them and if he should intervene. Though he just met Star, might not be wise to get involved in a familiar dispute. And even without his powers he knows Mason will ask her. He shakes his head and ponders a No Dating policy for the squad, but again overstepping his boundaries. "Nice seeing you again, Mason."
Star pales a little at Cloud's comment before she flushes, totally ignoring him for the moment. She shifts her weight uncomfortably and winces in sympathy for Mason having to put up with being famous for Christmas. She lifts a hand in farewell when the popstar makes his excuses to leave and gives him a curious look, "Yeah, sure." She fakes another smile, "I'll see you later, then."
Cloud gives Mason a nod as he leaves, "Later dude", he leans over against the wall as he waits to see if Xorn has anything else to say.
Xorn ponders the effect of Tegu-Haaz on Star. He was not there, but is aware of the overall horror experienced by all who were there and during this entire conversation, he has noticed much through the use of his powers. For now, he remains quiet and will not interfere and only observe. As Mason leave, he looks between the twins, "Well, this was productive, if not for anything else then to meet Star." Xorn bows his head, "I suggest that you both speak more often and strengthen your sibling bond." With then he opens the drawer and pulls out the files, "Did either of you have any questions or comments for me?"
Irritation fills the air at the suggestion that Star and Cloud should spend more time together and the shorter of the twins rolls her eyes, "I don't think I really need someone else to tell me whether or not I should spend more time with my brother." She doesn't even look at Cloud, "It's not like he'd survive long without me to tell him what to do, after all." She sounds like she really does believe that, too. She shakes her head at the request for questions or comments and shifts her weight, "No, sir."
Cloud rolls his eyes, "I do perfectly fine without you bossing me around Star, so just quit it", he thinks, 'Xorn i know you're trying to help but she's too stubborn, best just to leave it'.
"So advised." Xorn states as he resumes going through their files. "I'll contact you both for our next meetings. And again, it was nice meeting you both." Xorn looks down and begins reading.
