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Summary: Heather and Kieran find Theo, who has been rather recluse lately, and discover what he's been up to.
Date: May 8, 2011.
Log Title: Men Don't Cry
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.
Theo has been hard to spot outside of classes. The recluse teenage technopath has been far more recluse lately. He's either at work, at class, or…well, somewhere else. Spotted in the garage on occasion, but not for long. His sidekick, the quadraped robot Proto, has likewise been absent, nowhere to be seen.
Look! It's a sighting! Theo is indeed in the gym! The dark-haired teen wears a pair of green gym shorts and one of his generally offensive pro-mutant shirts that he doesn't wear out in public anymore. This one reads: I'm homo-superior, you're just a homo. The small robot companion of his is also here, but with a new frame, making the little bot a bit larger looking than normal. The legs are a little thicker as well, but the robot is still about the same size. Clearly, for those who have seen the small bot, he has gone some rather time consuming alterations, considering that he essentially seems the same.
Theo is standing facing the wall, and Proto begins to dash at him with the robotic appendages flailing about. It seems to be making pretty good speed, about the same as a human could expect to achieve in a full sprint. It almost looks like the little thing is about to attack him from behind, but Theo remains unmoving, unfacing to the robot.
Dressed in his Dublin soccer kit, something that he pretty much just wears when he's working out at this point. Kieran's got his arm a bit behind his head as he stretches and walks at the same time. He'd planned on doing a few sprints as a warm up today, and maybe a little bit of something else as well. The blonde teen's humming something that sounds a bit like Behind Blue eyes by the Who as he wanders in. He doesn't really know Theo, and definitely doesn't know the robot either.
Heather zips into the gymnasium, sliding across the floor as she attempts to stop, but friction has had the grip long worn off of her shoes, so she just slides until she slams into the wall. The girl blinks a few times and brushes off her squad uniform before trying to find a more apt position. She plays on her tape recorder, "How do you know that you will only encounter non-mutant homosexuals all day long?" before readjusting her position to notice that Proto is dashing at Theo. She squeaks.
Theo didn't take much note of Kieran walking into the gym, but Heather's comment causes him to turn his head in her direction. "I wanted to wear somethin-" Just at that moment, the dog-sized robot leaps into the air, and unfolds. The body of the bot seems to try to wrap around Theo, but doesn't do a very effective job. The result? The metal pet and teen go crashing to the gym floor. Theo rolls onto his back, and Proto starts to collect himself while his owner lets out a labored sigh, staring at the ceiling.
"You picked a really bad moment, there, Heather." The technopath starts to sit up, a large cut across his left shoulder, tearing the black T-shirt down the sleeve. It takes a second, but red starts to color the cut clearly after a moment, while Theo gets back to his feet. "I'm trying some adjustments on Proto." Kieran goes largely unattended. Either he hasn't noticed him, or he hasn't bothered to address him.
The sound of a body and metal hitting the floor does attract Kieran's attention from the stretching he was doing. He doesn't say anything right away but he does manage to eventually ask,"You ok over there?" Without it sounding like he was going to start laughing or anything of that nature. The blonde teen isn't sure about approaching, people with tech seem to get a little bit jumpy whenever he gets close to them and they find out his powers.
"Well, now you've gone and ruined the shirt, Theo," admonishes Heather's tape recorder, and she brushes her hair from her eyes, "What was your robot even trying to do. It looked like it was trying to injure you. I would blame Proto for your accident, not any timing I do or do not possess." She looks towards Kieran and raises her brow answering, "He is not dead or crying, so I suspect he is relatively okay." She glances towards Theo and asks, "Shall I retrieve you a large bandaid?"
"Men don't cry," Theo answers flatly, He pulls his shirt to try to look at the cut on his back. "Eh, it'll stop bleeding when it clots, and this shirt almost got me killed, so I won't lose too much sleep over it," he comments. "Yeah, I'm fine," he says to Kieran. Theo indicates Proto, who seems to be reassembling himself from the unfolded position. "I'm turning Proto into something a little more effective for a dangerous situation. Figure if Tony can make a suit of armor, so can I." He gives a nod again to Kieran, since he's been talked to. "I'm Theo, by the way."
Heather shrugs at Kieran and plays on her tape recorder, "I am referring to Theo as an individual and not men in general. If he was crying, I would be reasonably certain that something was wrong. If you were crying, I would assume you are a crybaby." The speedster turns on her heel and faces towards Theo, "So you're making a super suit? Interesting endeavor, I guess… I'm working on a communication system for myself, with Kisha's help. Though she's gone now."
"Yeah, what's with that, anyway?" Theo asks. "She just kinda vanished? Piss off Emma too much?" he ponders aloud. "I gotta have something to keep up. I don't get the cool powers that let me move super fast, or electricity to zap people. And yeah," he flows the comment to Kieran. "Don't touch my stuff or I'll kill you. Just sayin'." Proto finishes refolding into his normal state, and a snakelike camera arches out from the front of the unit, and peers at Kieran. "Hello," the robot says, "My name is Proto, what is yours?" The technopath comments to Proto. "Proto, Caution note: Avoid physical contact with this individual." He doesn't seem to care if Kieran hears the command. Then again, Kieran offered the warning himself.
"I can assure you that if you actually see me cry there will be something majorly wrong." Kieran says smirking a little bit, and then just smiles at Theo,"I thought you might like to know. Although I can still use computers and iPods and so forth without damage. We're not talking Magneto level magnetics, or anything but thought you might appreciate the warning." He says casually,"Also don't generally go around touching other people's shit without permission. Just a thing. I don't like people messing with my stuff, so I don't go around messing with anyone else's."
"Well, if you see me cry, then you have just experienced a rare temporal moment, but I can't claim that I do not cry," says Heather, frowning for a moment before she looks to Kieran and nods. "For the time being, my communication is based on magnetic tape, so I'm not sure what implications that has, but I'd rather you not test anything." Back to Theo, she adds, "Kisha left because she committed murder. That is all I have to say on the matter."
"Thanks, I appreciate it, and that's a good view to take," Theo compliments Kieran. "Wish that stupid porcupine Max would figure that out." He doesn't sound bitter as much, just comparing Quill. "Murder? Yeah, was just a matter of time, I guess," he says, as if it wasn't a great surprise. "She was a little crazy. Didn't seem to be able to operate on the same level as other people."
"I met Kisha I think. She's the one who even though I wasn't coming near her stuff acted like I was going to do so. She's off to Barnes Academy." Kieran says absently,"Said she got some kind of merit thing. Forget now. I don't think she values other people as much as she does her machines." He says slowly,"I'm still getting used to this place. Lots of people that seem to mesh like oil and water though."
"People seem to think I'm crazy, but I at least avoid murder where possible. I think the quote official unquote story is that some other school thought she was brilliant and wonderful and recruited her, but she told me it was definitely because she killed a man with a screwdriver. I suggest you talk more about the quote official unquote story than the one I told you," says Heather, glancing over towards Kieran to make sure that he's included in the suggestion as well. "I can, after all, get away with being slightly less socially appropriate than most."
Theo rolls his eyes. "Kisha? A merit scholarship?" He laughs. "She can keep up with my grades in the tech classes, but not in the rest of it, or keep up with you, for that matter," he adds, indicating Heather. "Who's gonna believe that she got a merit scholarship?" He smirks and tells Kieran, "I don't think anyone will believe the official story," he says. "Well, unless they only had Kisha in shop class."
"Perhaps it best not to discuss her at all then? When something is being used as an official story, usually best not to try and contradict it where the powers that be can hear because they might get irked. Generally from what I've seen it is best not to go making the powers that be angry at you, or they can make life most unpleasant." Kieran says with a bit of a smirk,"But I didn't know her, but she said it was because of her failure to follow proper ethics."
"Well, most schools do not want me. That I am still here is rather impressive, I'm surprised I have not been turned over to some shady group or another yet," comments Heather, frowning for a moment. "I've never examined her accomplishments as a student, but I've worked with her on projects before with her. She seems intelligent enough. We have some good students here."
"I try to keep track of everybody's school accomplishments, or at least people who would have an overall good score," Theo says. "I have to make sure I have the highest grades. Call it OCD. I had a 5.68 GPA back home, and the last thing I want is to get outshined by some kid that just got an X-gene to make them get easily what I've worked hard at my whole life." He bends over and unfolds one of the doors on Proto's back, revealing part of the armor that the robot is being prepared to turn into. He pulls out a piece of chalk, and makrs it, and then does the same on the opposite part of the chassy. "Maybe it is better to just skip it. She was handy for some tech stuff, but I can figure it out on my own."
"I had an upper 3.0 back home but we only went up to four so… Err… yeah." Kieran says shifting his weight a little bit,"Thankfully I didn't have to take art or my GPA would be significantly lower." He says with a bit of a laugh,"My X-gene just makes it a little dangerous for things involving me and water and if I touch people." Last thing that would be good is for him to accidentally lose control in a swimming pool with people.
"The highest grades in each class, or the highest grades overall? My history grades drop my GPA substantially, but my mathematics scores are rather impressive. I imagine you can match them, but beating would be impressive," says Heather, frowning slightly at that thought. "My grades in comparison to others does not particularly concern me, so long as I know their practical skills and abilities."
Theo shrugs, "GPA is all that matters when you go for school. If I can keep my X-gene under the table, I could get a free ride to MIT easy. Not to mention the experience I'm getting with Tony. I plan to be a billionare before I'm twenty-three. Can't take it with you, so I might as well get it as early as I can." High aspirations, that's for sure. "So you don't go swimming much, huh?" he asks. "I can't blame you."
"I mean I know how but yeah, since it started kicking into gear, swimming isn't something that I've been doing." Kieran says nodding his head a little bit,"Still like playing soccer and if anyone is dumb enough to touch my skill their own fault for anything that happens to them." He says grinning a little bit,"But it wouldn't be as bad as in water. I probably can get a scholarship but not a fullride."
Heather blinks a few times and says, "After your first billion, will you buy me a pizza of my choosing?" She shrugs and says, "You do not have to, but I would like to make a claim that a billionaire bought me a pizza. In any case, I think because my X-gene cannot be kept under wraps, I will just stay here for the rest of forever."
Theo smirks, "Sure, I'll buy you all the pizza you want." Proto starts to head out of the room. "Well, I am gonna go change shirts, I think." He wipes the back of his back, and his hand comes back, fingertips red with his blood. "Probably should go take a shower, too."
"Probably should get a bandaid on it as well." Kieran says looking at Theo, before glancing towards Heather,"I might be able to control mine eventually. I mean it's better than when it first surfaced and I was always shocking people. Now I just usually shock them."
"Yes, you should probably take a shower soon. That's going to get all over the place and stain your skin if you're not careful," notes Heather, before looking towards Kieran, "My ability is not particularly controllable. Which I am presently fine with, because someday I will gain some mastery."
Theo shrugs, "Okay," he says, not contesting either statement. "You two have a good night." He doesn't have much else to add to the conversation, and so off he goes to the door, heading out from the gym and toward the dorms.
