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Summary: Rashmi confronts Robyn about what happened last night with him, Dallas and Lucas.
Date: January 14, 2009
Log Title Rocky Starts
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Art Room
The Art Room has pictures of classic artists and small sculptures of famous pieces of art around the room. Any art supply you need may be found in this room, a large variety of paints, charcoals, markers, pencils, clays, canvases, easels, paper, and much more are accessible for the students. A large kelm is in one of the far corners of the room as well. On one side of the art room are a few sewing machines with a large variety of fabrics and sewing supplies for the students as well.
When there's a lot on Robyn's mind there's one thing he always turns to, sculpting. It's his way of relaxing and just something he loves to do. He's sitting at one of the tables and some loud, industrial sounding, music is playing and the lyrics, well there is some vulgarity. One hand is still a bit sore but he's working through it, maybe pushing the clay a bit to hard as he keeps finding himself having to start over.
Possibly unnoticed beneath the crashing music, the door to the art room opens. There's a faint wince as the music assault's Rashmi's ears, but she slips in, closing the door behind her. There's a troubled look on her face as she approaches, but for now she simply takes a chair nearby, silent and watching.
Music an help people emotionally and usually what they listen to reflects that, which is certainly the case for Robyn. He doesn't notice her at first and just keeps on going. Eventually there's a frustrated argh from him and he mushes, kinda roughly, everything he was working on into a ball. "This isn't working." He says looking up and noticing Rashmi, getting really quiet. He knows she's Lucas's girlfriend but he doesn't bear any ill will towards her, even if he doesn't understand what she see in him. "Hey." He says awkwardly.
Rashmi manages something like a half-smile, nodding her head. "Hey," she calls over the music. "Can I… talk to you, Robyn?"
Robyn knew it was coming and he just turns his music off and nods. "Sure..uh…sorry about punching Lucas.." He says as it's the first time he's ever physically hit someone like that but he was just so mad last night.
Rashmi nods quietly. "I'm not stupid, you know… I'd expected someone was going to, eventually. He's not easy to deal with… just… What happened?"
Robyn takes a deep breath nods. "Well…Dallas and I were talking, ya know, opening up to each other more and Lucas comes in and the first words out of his mouth are some asshole comment. I don't mean to talk bad about your boyfriend but.." He just shakes his head and leaves it at that. "So Dallas retorts with something and Lucas just attacked him. I kind of reacted, I mean, Dallas is a good friend to me so I'm going to defend my friend, and possesed Lucas after Dallas used his power to throw Lucas off of him. I jumped back into my own body, and Dallas was pissed. Lucas just kept yelling at him to apologize. I got in the middle, I mean, it's okay for Lucas to be an asshole all the time and constantly poke fun at people and crack jokes? But the minute someone says something back, it's okay to punch someone for it? No. I tried to break it up but Lucas was just being such a….jerk and I don't know what came over me and punched him. After that Dallas and I just left."
Rashmi nods slowly, listening to the story. "You're right, Robyn… Sure it's not okay for him to mouth off the way he does. I hadn't ever planned to make excuses for that, either… just…" Sighing, she settles back on the stool, closing her eyes. "Robyn… *I* just found out why he'd lose it like that, last night… And… it sort of does make sense, in a way. But if I tell you, keep it to yourself, all right?"
Robyn looks at Rashmi. "I don't care if it makes sense. Nothing gives him the right to keep being an asshole. He's gotta get over himself, what ever the problem is. The first time I met him he faked an injury, I wanted to hit him then too and I didn't even know his name. I've tried giving him other chances but he's just a jerk. If you want to tell me, you can, but you don't need to." He's only being nice for Rashmi right now, Lucas, is a lost cause to him.
Rashmi shrugs, plucking at her skirt. "…Lucas' mother is dying. I… think it's been like that ever since he got here. And… she doesn't know about his powers, or where he is. I'm not saying that gives him the right to do anything, Robyn, just…" She slumps a bit on the stool, hair falling over her face. "Nothing you or Dallas can wish on him can be any worse than what he's doing to himself, you know…?"
"I don't wish anything on Lucas, I just kind of…I don't know Rashmi. And it is horrible about his mother but he doesn't need to take it out on everyone else." Robyn says as he feels bad, but he kind of feels worse that he doesn't feel sympathetic about it. Not really. "I'm sorry Rashmi, but I've written him off. He's just someone I go to school with, just another jerk like the ones back home. Sorry."
Rashmi lets out a lot, shuddery breath, her head bobbing in understanding as a hand dips behind the curtain of hair, wiping at her eyes. Sniffing, she raises her head, turning a small smile on Robyn. "…Okay… That's fine. I just… owe it to both of you to try, you know? You're my friend, Robyn… Sure it hurts that you've written him off, but… That's not something I can have a say in. Just… don't write me off too, huh?"
Robyn looks up at Rashmi and shakes his head and noticing the tears, he does give her a hug. "You're my friend too, it's just, I can't with Lucas, he's put this wall up that I don't want to break down. I tried, he's just made it harder. I know he's your boyfriend, I'll try my hardest not to talk about him infront of you, but I can't promise to like him cause I don't think that's going to happen. It does suck about his mother, but if he said something nice instead of always being a sarcastic jerk and trying to put people down, I would. But rules that apply to him, he doesn't apply to others."
Rashmi rests her head on Robyn's shoulder, returning the hug, and sighs to herself. When she steps back, she nods in satisfaction. "That's fine… I can deal with that, Robyn." Tucking her hair away from her face, she attempts another smile, with uncertain results. "One friend, one boyfriend… Yeah. I can work with that."
Robyn offers a small smile at Rashmi and chuckles. "Well don't expect me to ever be boyfriend material, I'm not. Also, having a boyfried kinda makes me even less boyfriend material." He says pating her shoulder. "And I know my boyfriend, Jordan, can be arrogant at times too and maybe I just like the 'tough guys', just like you like the bad boys."
Rashmi shakes her head. "It's not the 'bad boys' I like, Robyn… It…" Shaking her head, she lifts a shoulder. "Dallas hurt me more than he'll know, writing me off just because I'm Lucas' girlfriend. But even still… I'm not writing him off like that. He just…. needs time, I guess. To cool off." There's more hope than certainty there, but for the redhead, the two have never been all that separate.
"He's just pissed, we both were last night. Just, try to talk to him at some point, when he's not ready to kill Lucas." If Robyn's over exaggerating or not, it's hard to tell. "Lucas is a tough issue for him, though I wanted to like him cause I saw that smile on your face that night. Dallas and I didn't mean to walk in on the kiss, but, we did. Lucas just has to realize he's only making things worse for himself if he continues down the path he does. I really did want to get to know him but now, I'm sorry Rashmi."
Rashmi chuckles quietly. "Dallas wasn't all that subtle that he had us fooled, y'know…" Shaking her head, she lets out a breath. "Don't apologize, Robyn. It's just how things are. One day, you'll see what I saw. But if you don't…" She shrugs. "I don't deal in lost causes, anyway. Just difficult ones. If I have to go this alone, well… I knew it was a snake when I picked it up."
"Well maybe if Lucas was actually nice to someone besides you and tried to make a friend instead of pushing everyone away, you wouldn't. But I can't, I'm sorry." Robyn would like to help her, but he would probably just end up getting more and more pissed off by Lucas. "Unless he realizes he can't be a hypocrite and he realizes that he can't make fun of people and then go flying off the handle anytime someone returns it. Maybe if he treated people like he did you, we wouldn't be here right now."
Rashmi's head rises some. "Robyn," she says, voice slightly strained, "you're… not… helping, you know…"
"What? I don't know Rashmi, I'm sorry." Robyn says with a sigh as he sits down in one of the chairs. "You know I feel like you're putting me in a rough spot too. Like you're trying to guilt me into helping by saying 'If I have to go this alone'." It's usually a typical female way of dealing with things. "Maybe I'm hoping you can get through to him so he can stop being such a jerk."
"I'm not," the redhead replies, frowning quietly. "I don't work in guilt, and I think it's a terrible way for anyone to do anything. I'm just saying… I won't ever give up on him. Or you. Or Dallas. All of you… *everyone* deserves better than that, to me."
Robyn just rests his head in his hands. "I don't know what you want me to do Rashmi, I can be your friend, that I can do. But in regards to Lucas, I'm not letting him get to me anymore and to do that, I have to just throw him aside or I'm going to drive /me/ crazy."
Rashmi reaches out, resting a hand on Robyn's shoulder. "Just be my friend, if you think I'm worth it," she says, simply. "And… well… you said you'd try not to talk about him any more, right…? Um… was there a time delay on when that starts, or can I just go ahead and ask to make it now…?"
Robyn looks up and nods. "You can make it now. And yeah, you're worth it Rashmi, I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't." He says genuinely. He would listen to Lucas if he came to apologize but otherwise, he's pretty much done. "I think I've skipped a few classes here this morning trying to work on this but I can't get it right." Switching the subject to sculpting.
Rashmi squeezes Robyn's shoulder, looking at the lump of clay on the table. "I saw… What were you trying to make?"
Robyn smiles and blushes slightly. "Well I wanted to make this kind of ooze, goo monser, with it's mouth open and like the goo streetching from the top to the bottom, kind of classic monster looking. But at the same time a hand caught in the mouth of the goo monster like someone's being sucked in." And there's Robyn's macabe side showing full force.
Rashmi's shoulders hunch, quivering a bit as slow, quiet laughter finds its way back up to the front of her heart. "…I can see how that would be a problem… How are you going to make it look like goo, anyway?"
Robyn looks at Rashmi as she laughs. "What's so funny?" He asks not really understanding, to him, it's a serious 'project'. "Well, it's not to hard, it's a combination of when I paint it and the sculpting. And I guess tar would be more accurate, see if I do this…." Robyn says starting to play with the clay a bit, working in rapid fashion, he quicky indents a part and starts pulling down thin peices, adding clay and rolling it as necessary so it goes from top to bottom of the front of the indent. "Kinda like that, but differnt lenghts and intervals.
Rashmi watches Robyn work, head tilted to one side. "Nothing's funny, just… nevermind." As the boy works on his piece, she nods to herself. "You're really good, Robyn… You draw too, right?"
Robyn shrugs. "A little, my Mom's the artist not me. Well the one who can draw. She does illustrations, for children's books." He says smiling as he's proud his Mom is his Mom. "I just lucky getting cool parents, I mean, anyone could have adopted me but I got my Mom and Dad. But Drawing, more sketches to figure out what to sculpt."
Rashmi bobs her head. "Yeah… You are kind of lucky that way, you know? I mean, I love my mama and papa, and they're the greatest people in the world… But they would have been great no matter who their daughter was. Your parents? They *picked* you." Leaning forward to give Robyn another hug, Rashmi steps back, smiling. "That's a really special thing, there."
"They picked me as a baby, so they knew nothing about what I'd become, just molded me into what I am now." Robyn says smiling as he's very close with his parents, even if they aren't related by blood. "If it wasn't for them, who knows what'd I be or anything. They just taught me one main thing, just be yourself. Don't let others dictate what you are."
Rashmi nods slowly. "My papa taught me something important, too… 'Find justice in the act. Whatever you do, if there is justice in it, then it is right.'" Tilting her head, she dabs her cheek one last time with her sleeve. "I do my best to live by it, every day. I guess we all need something like that, huh?"
Robyn nudges against Rashmi and smiles. "I do wish you luck with Lucas, really Rashmi I do." He says as he notices her dabbing her cheek one last time. He then smiles, almost mischevously. "You missed a spot." He says putting his hand on her cheek and making like he's wiping away something, all the while purposefully leaving a streak of clay on her face.
Rashmi blinks, bringing a hand up to touch the cheek… and letting out a noise of amused exasperation, swatting the back of Robyn's uninjured hand. "Wh..! Horrible!" Scrubbing at her cheek, she pinches off a small chunk of clay from the worktable, smearing it between Robyn's eyebrows, right at that place it can never be quite seen, but always, *always* felt. "There! Now we're even."
Robyn laughs and tries to duck out of the way. It's not like it bothers him, half of the time he's covered in the stuff when he gets in 'the zone'. "Yes, it's Horrible Rashmi." He teases but is still chuckling. "Ya know, I really want to go into the city this weekend but I'm kind of nervous after what Mikhail said."
Rashmi frowns quietly. "I'm wondering if we shouldn't go anyway. I mean, if we don't go, but we could have helped…" Shaking her head, she lets out a breath. I don't think I could live with myself, if that happened."
Robyn smiles at Rashmi and it seems like a lot of the previous converation is under the bridge. "I think this place is rubbing off on you. It's like you don't /want/ to be a full time superhero, or an X-Men, but, you have powers and want to do good. I think you can be both in an odd way. If you need to, use them for good, but don't go /seeking/ to use them. You know what I mean? I've had to use them a few times, when I got kidnapped, when our powers got swapped and at the Empire State Building, and when the days over, and you've won the fight, it kinda does feel good."
Rashmi blows a lock of hair away from her face, nodding reluctantly. "I won't ever be a superhero, I think… which I'm more than fine with. But, I've never planned on ignoring that side of me, just cause it's not convenient." Shrugging, she hefts her bookbag. "I suppose I'll eventually find a balance… But… right now I think i'd prefer to find some lunch. What about you?"
Robyn nods. "Sure, let me just clean up in here and I'll join you. I really hope Mr. Parker-Mayfair baked cookies." He says as he's got a wicked sweet tooth for cookies. "And there is a sink in here if you wanna wash that clay off."
Rashmi scrubs at her cheek, shaking her head. "No, thanks… It'll come off on its own, and I think I'd rather hang on to it until then. I'm glad I found you, Robyn… I… thanks."
Robyn smiles at Rashmi as he's done washing his hands, but leaves the clay on too, and walks over and puts his arm around her shoulders. "You're a good person Rashmi, you are. And thanks to you too." He says as walks out of the art room with her.