Players:
Summary:
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Date: October 21, 2012
Log Title: Not the Same Anymore
Rating: G
Xavier Mansion - Atrium
The Atrium is large room with four corridors leading off in diagonal directions to the classrooms and dorms. A large window looks over the front courtyard. The Atrium has also been turned into a social area for students and teachers, with chairs, tables and a television set. Since its a main area of passing, it is encouraged that people keep things to a respectful volume.
With his arm and other injuries very much on the mend and his dad finally having left him alone to go and meet his mother and brother at the train station on their way here Lock has taken his chance to slip away from the medbay and go have some time to himself. Dressed in jeans and a dark hoodie the only sign of any injuries is some bruises and a couple of cuts and scrapes on his face, not really going anywhere in particular he's wandering across the Atrium.
The elevator door pings softly before opening with a mechanical rattle. Blonde hair on one side of Jill's head is a frightful mess, alternately pressed flat and standing out at odd angles. If it weren't already clear enough that she's crossed the entire campus in a sleepy haze, the strawberry print pajama pants and t-shirt proclaiming 'I Wish I Was Here' that she hasn't bothered to change yet pretty much seal it. Stepping from the elevator, she suspiciously asks, "Lock?" as if she isn't sure she's actually awake.
Warlock looks around at the sound of his name, "Oh hi Jill, you ok?", he saw Jill get shot a few times last night, he was lucky enough to have become bulletproof again part way into the battle, he's not sure how much of the vampire healing myths are accurate, "You just woke up?"
"Yeah," the vampire responds ambiguously to both questions at once, rubbing a finger in her eye. Clarity comes slowly but surely. "Hey, are you sure you should be up here? Shouldn't you be downstairs, like, resting and stuff?" The girl shuffles closer, taking a slight sidestep to avoid the area of direct sunlight streaming in through the window. As she nears him, a scent follows her. Thankfully not blood or burned flesh, it smells more like… coconut?
Warlock shrugs, "Medbay is getting a little crowded and I'm pretty sick of being locked up in one room. What about you? Isn't this time of day a little worrying for you?". He walks over to the coconut scented vampire, "Mostly just wanted some quiet time before my dad comes back with my mom and brother, you been hanging out in Hawaii?"
Jill shrugs off-handedly. "I mean, you don't technically *have* to be down there. Just seems like it'd be a good idea to me. I understand about feeling cooped up, y'know, like…" She trails off, feeling awkward about comparing her stay in a Transylvanian castle to what she's learned the boys' captivity was like. "Hawaii?" she asks, blinking slowly. Sniff. "Oh! Oh, right. No, it's sunscreen. I had t'order it off the internet 'cause the drug store doesn't sell anything over 50. This is SPF 100." She holds out a hand to offer a smell of it. "It's nice. Doesn't feel greasy or anything."
Warlock doesn't smell the offered hand but does reach out to touch it wondering if it's cold or not, "I feel guilty down their anyway, compared to Nick, Quenton and Connor I got off easy, I'll heal from all this completely, the same can't be said for them", he sighs, "Also wanna take a look at the school, dad wants me to leave".
The vampire's flesh is… not warm. Not cold, but not warm. She squeezes Lock's hand in a return gesture of reassurance, pulling him gently toward one of the plush couches set far enough away from the window that she won't start to smolder. "You don't have anything to feel guilty about. I even know that telling you that won't make much of a difference. Trust me, I know. I'm like an expert on guilt." Sitting carefully, her expression slackens at the news of Lock possibly leaving, but doesn't comment on it either way. "Well, what do *you* wanna do?"
Warlock follows Jill over and away from the sun, "I'm not sure, things don't really feel the same anymore, neither do I actually", he leans back on the couch, "I took out that Purifier and it was great, I think I wanna learn more about my powers but my family want me home".
Jill pinches and twists the knee of her pajama pants, silently contemplative for a long moment. "I'll miss you if you decide to go home, but I'll understand too. Everything does feel different. Not like suddenly, 'cause for me it's been just this slow burn, but…" She trails off. "I'm glad you're okay," she finishes with a completely different thought.
"I think before I go home, I want to go back to where we were, I'm not sure why but it feels like something that needs to be done", Lock smiles at Jill, "I'm glad you came back, this place wasn't the same without you around, even if blue isn't your colour anymore".
"Thanks. I really do love you guys. I went away for a little while 'cause… 'cause I was afraid I'd hurt somebody I cared about by accident." Jill reaches over and gives Lock's shoulder a squeeze then a playful little push. "And I'm sorry. Really sorry. For that, and because I couldn't help you any sooner. I tried, but I'm just not… I wasn't able to and it makes me feel so awful. That maybe if I tried a little harder, or just did something different, I could've helped." Her body hunches forward, resting elbows on knees and her chin on her knuckles. "I could've found you."
"Jill, you know that second bellybutton you got last night, that shows that you did everything you could to help find everyone, my dad would die for me and my brother and even he couldn't do anything until yesterday", Lock reaches out to put a hand on Jill's shoulder, "This isn't down to you, you're the first friend I made here, you're Nick's girlfriend, you're one of the best people I know".
"I said I was a guilt expert, right?" the blonde vampire offers back with a fangy if partially forced smile. "But, y'know, seriously… if you wanna take some time off, find somebody to talk it all through, go do whatever it is you wanna do, I'd totally understand. Everyone would. Just don't pick a blind martial arts teacher. It's really not as cool as the movies make it out to be. He was just kind of a dick most of the time." She straightens from her hunched posture, rubbing palms up and down the thighs of her pajama pants. "I just want you to be okay. Do whatever it takes to make that happen, alright?"
Warlock shrugs, "I'm not deciding anything right now, folks wanna talk to Miss Frost, I don't think I need to decide until then", he lightly elbows Jill, "Thanks, if there’s anything I can do to help you feel ok let me know".
"Well Miss Frost is all busy with that legal stuff anyway," Jill says, blowing out a slow breath as if she's sympathetically tired of it. "I haven't even seen her around. And seriously, don't worry about me, 'kay? I'm fine." Tangles of blonde hair briefly refuse to straighten as she combs her fingers through them, eliciting a soft annoyed 'ow'. "I'm a mess, but I'm fine."
"Hey, I get to care about my friends, even those with a taste for O Neg", Lock grins at Jill, "That’s what kept everyone strong back there, we looked out for each other and like it or not I'm looking out for you too".
Mutual support *is* something Jill knows about, but holds back going on about it. Sometimes 'me too' just isn't the right thing to say, so instead she says, "Thanks." Patting Lock on the shoulder, she makes to stand. "I'm gonna go see the others in the medbay, but I *gotta* get cleaned up first. I probably look half-dead." Under her breath she adds, "… stupid mirrors…"
Warlock nods at Jill, "Say hi to everyone for me, I'm going to chill here for a while", he frowns for a second as he hears Jill's problem, "Try something not silverbacked, like water or a window, might not work but worth a try".
Jill makes an embarrassed noise, smiling sheepishly. "Ahh, you heard that? I can actually use the webcam on my laptop if I have to, but it just feels weird. Like I'm watching a really boring YouTube video." She pauses before heading to the elevator. "Listen, if you wanna order a pizza or something later and watch a movie, I'd be down with that. Just do something… normal, y'know?"
Warlock's face genuinely lights up, "Pizza! Man I missed pizza that’s a great idea, let me know when", then with a wave he settles into a pizza based fantasyland, sooooo many toppings to choose from then there’s the crust…
