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Summary: Chloe has a theory about how people's powers become what they are.
Date: May 6, 2010
Log Title Self Defining Powers
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Attic
Every wall is made of glass up to the domed ceiling. Storm has really done her work up here over time and turned it into quite the indoor garden. The room is separated into different parts for the different plants that are in there. There are flowers, vegetable plants, herbs, shrubs, small trees and much more. There are plants that shouldn't even be able to be found in this northern climate but they thrive up here. Anyone wanting to come up here for fresh herbs, fruit or vegetables are welcome to steal from the indoor garden. Depending on the time of year, various different species of flowers and different fruits and vegetables grow. In one area there are a few small fountains and a bench with some fresh dirt on the the ground with trees and plants all around. It seems like a good spot for meditation.
It's no big surprise that Robyn stayed up all night last night in the art room and that during the break between classes that he's come up to the attic to relax. Though that relaxation period ended an hour and a half ago and Robyn is still up here, asleep, on the bench. He's sitting on it but lying sideways so it almost looks like he's falling over in his sleep. His hair has flopped in his face a bit and a math book lies on the floor, open and face down, so it's pages are getting a bit crushed. Looks like it was dropped.
Mike-the-Motorcycle is, strangely enough, also apparently asleep in the greenhouse-attic; he's at the place he usually goes to watch sunsets, staring out, but not moving, his eyes aren't even lit, and there's a Hello My Name Is sticker on his chest that reads "Emergency backup!"
Having never been really up this way before, and looking for his own peace and quiet, Connor slips up into the attic space, and is suddenly floored and awed… by the sense of scope and beauty of this location. Missing the others for the moment, the begins moving through the lovingly tended location, occasionally touching a plant here or there. His usual shoulderpack is slung over his back, slightly open so the corner of his laptop and one book are sticking out, eyes looking tired despite the can of Coke sitting in his hand, half-empty and warming in his grip.
Stomping her way up a short while later comes Chloe, clutching in one hand what might charitably be called a sandwich. Or in less polite circles are piece of meat burnt black on one side and raw on the other, stuck into a piece of bread. She has the vacant look of someone deep in thought, at least until she realises where she is and makes a rather loud comment at superspeed, the tone of which is less than ladylike…
The stomping disturbs the peace and Robyn bolts sitting up, not realzing he fell asleep. "What?! What's going on?" He asks looking around and then seeing his math book on the ground and sighs. "What time is it?" He says rubbing some sleep from his eyes. He just hopes it hasn't been too long since he fell asleep and missed class.
Mike remains in backup mode, but his eyes begin flickering on and off, a sure sign for anyone who's seen him do backup that he's about to waken. Not that anyone HAS seen him do backups.
The sound of Robyn's voice draws Connor's attention, looking suddenly down at his half-drunk can and grins to himself. Moving over towards where the noise came from, he comes into view of the sculptor and says with a smile, "I suppose it's time for you wake up then, Robyn." Setting down the half-full can, he says, "Here… finish it off and get some of those neurons firing again." And without preamble, he fishes into his pack, and pulls a second can, and cracks it open, not even thinking how weird is it to do such.
Chloe glances around, scowling at the plants. "How on earth did I wander up here?" she mutters, slipping into slow world. "Bah might as well make the best of it." Prowling back and forth she begins a hunt for something tomato-esque she can add to her sandwich.
Robyn takes the can with a thank you and proceeds to drink the rest of it before yawning. "I did't mean to fall asleep but I was up late sculpting. Mutant tiger versus evil catcus." Robyn's latest project. He looks at what's in Chloe's hand and gives it a confused look. "What are you eating Chloe?" It doesn't look apitizing with all that burnt stuff. "And I think I missed math class."
Connor grins a bit as he sips from his own, "Talk about your titanic battles… I'd root for the tiger… but I'm a sucker for the good guy. So… who tends to this? Because wow… I haven't ever seen an indoor garden this stunning… not even at some of the home and garden shows my mom drags us to every year." Connor then mumbles as he takes a drink, "Food.. I think…" Offering a wave in Chloe's direction.
There is a "Ping" followed by a clip-sound, RACERS, Start your engines! and Mike's engine VROOOMS for a moment then goes back to idle. He startles in place. "Oh cr.. ud." he mutters, looking around and spotting the sign on his chest, which he peels off his shirt and crumples. "Darnit warn me before you do that," he says to nobody in particular.
Chloe shrugs before pulling something which looks vaguely like a ripe tomato off one of the plants. Carefully however, so as not to harm the plant. Once removed it gets added to her 'sandwich'. "It's uhm… sort of a steak sandwich. Only my sister got all the talent when it comes to cooking," she answers while pacing back and forth. "Oh and hi by the way. Sorry if I woke you, just got a lot on my mind and I wasn't thinking enough to use my indoor voice."
"No, no don't worry about Chloe. It's good that woke me up, I shouldn't have been sleeping. I should have been in math class." Robyn says as he knows he'll have to go talk to his teacher later. "Connor, don't let me stay up in the art room all night tonight." He says not expecting his friend to actually follow through. "This was all done by Storm, she's one of the X-Men. I haven't met her but I guess she stops by occasionally or something." Robyn's not sure what the whole deal is. "I just like it up here, refreshing. And Mike, when you fall asleep in a public spot in the school you're subject to whatever that may bring….and I don't have anything drawn on my face do I?" He did fall asleep in a public area of the school.
Mike nods, and says in a woeful voice, "But it wasn't even someone else doing it. My own stupid subconscious forgot to tell me that it wanted to back up and so it wrote the note when I was out. It's kinda like sleep-pranking yourself." He steps closer and looks at Connor and Chloe, then at Robyn.
"Hi. I don't see anything, Robyn, did someone get me? No grease pencil moustache this time?"
Connor looks at Mike for a long moment, before saying, "Thank you… my mind just gave me an Abort, Retry, Fail notice, Mike… just befpre physics class." Smirking at the robot teen before turning back to the others, and reaching up to mess up Robyn's hair… and then picks up one of his pens… and puts a small mark on his cheek, "There… now you do. Better?" As he chuckles for a moment and as Chloe voices her discontent, he adds, "Well… you're in the right place to talk about it. Plenty of good ears." Cutting that off with another long pull from his can.
"Okay, well I guess to be fair I shall split the points between you!" Chloe decides, spinning on the spot to face the rest of the group. "Mike, do you ever wonder about why people get the mutation they get? Robyn I've tried talking sense into Theo and if he gives you any more hassle let me know and I'll sort it. I'm no Rashmi, but I'd like to think he's going to make an effort now." She sighs, before adding "And Connor I met your new roomie and am /so/ sorry for you. If you need to escape at any point come drop by and hide out in the safety of the girls floor."
"Well somewhere is fate, and as our x-genes manifest, Fate spins a huge wheel with options of 'screwed', 'totally fucked', 'ugly', 'annoying', 'sucks to be you' and other options on it." Robyn says about how who gets what mutation. "I didn't think Theo was gonna give me anymore hassle after our last conversation…he gave me a train." Robyn says which is still really weird to him. "Okay Connor, lets switch roommates, you can get me and the Gentle Giant can get the jerk? I guess it's the option that he's just a jerk and not settling." If Chloe's apologizing. He grins at the hair ruffle and the pen on his face. "Much better. Next time, draw me an evil handle bar moustache." The he looks at Mike. "Mike, sorry, I stoped trying to understand your power a long time ago. It makes no sense to me."
Mike makes the R2-D2 Raspberry in stereo again, aimed at Connor. At least it's not wet.
"Your own fault for running DOS on your brain instead of something less evil."
He blinks at Chloe's question and raises his eyebrows, but waits for Robyn's explanation. "Yes, I have. I cannot give you an answer that doesn't involve some amount of theology, or worse, superstition. Robyn? Did you stay up all night again? Was it something cool? And I don't really understand my power either, but… what I am is because I screwed up bigtime. Sorta like Jono's or Rapahel's only mine was not the power going boom, it was me saving myself adter I screwed up. My power itself is just… I can't get the same answer twice out of my subconscious. IT claims to know but it gets so bloody condescending."
It seems to be either too much, or too many people talking at once for the newest of the students there… so Connor remains almost eerily quiet for a few moments, standing still in contrast to his usual constant and subtle state of movement. Almost like some kind of reset button being hit in his own case as he brings up the can of coke finally and sips it, "Chloe… thanks… and Robyn you too… if you're willing to swap, and you're willing to tolerate my… worse habits… I'll gladly let you in the door. But seriously Chloe… wow…" And a small smile creeps up from his lips, "I didn't know you cared." The question of the origins of X-genes and powers he remains silent on, but his eyes show enough of the tale about his thoughts… trying to ponder why he got what he did troubles him.
Chloe directs her oft used slow eyeroll at Connor. "I'd have made the offer to most people having met him," she teases. "Five minutes into the conversation and I'd considered jumping off the roof to get away. The only thing which stopped me was knowing he'd fly after me and I wouldn't even risk getting knocked out." She takes a huge bite from her sandwich, chews and swallows in a burst of motion. "And it's good that he wasn't lying about the apology then Robyn. I'm just sorry on behalf of the squad we didn't try speak to him sooner. As for the mutation thing I /had/ considered the spiritual aspect as one of my two conclusions. But I think your whole vehicle merging makes fate and natural genetic progression way to unlikely. No way on earth anyone can convince me your ancestors DNA knew to prep for the invention of cars!" She grins. "Which leaves me with door number two. That our powers are to some extent self defined, either by our conscious or subconscious minds."
"So wait, my powers are because of some self defined subconscious thing? That I'm able to posses people and I'm a psychic vampire? I don't know Chloe…." Robyn doesn't want to think that some how he pretermined his powers. "I don't know, I just figured that it was random, and the fate thing was just me..like Mike said, not getting any sleep last night." Robyn says with a yawn as if that answers that. "Though if you really want a roommate change that badly and they're willing to let us switch, I think you can put your neatness if you can put up with my slightly cluttered nature. I do keep it to myside of the room though and off the floor."
Mike shrugs, He says, "I agree with Robyn, not sure how psychic vampirism could be anything but an accident. And, in my case it was definitely self-defined AFTER it got started, but… if I go by the stuff that happened when I was eleven or twelve, just starting that scary journey to hormone-land, I was … It's hard to describe. I had started drawing Escher stuff, only it made sense to me, not like an optical illusion at all. And then I kept dreaming about driving things around. Cars, people, trees… But I'd always have to carry my body in the trunk, and I was terribly worried that it would forget to breathe. And that's when I started craving metal in my diet. Jerry asked me once if I could do things other than motorcycles or cars, and I had this 'what? Why would I want to do that?' reaction Then I realized any vehicle would be cool, and even thinking about possessing a living thing made my skin crawl."
He looks over at Connor, "OK, I have GOT to meet Mr. Charm and Style now. Is he more Lucas or old-James in his approach to the rest of humanity?"
Yawns being contagious like they are, Connor catches it, and delivers one in surpreme cat-like fashion before he looks back and forth, "Okay… seriously… I'm bowing out of this one, because it's putting my brain into unhappy places, and I don't have nearly enough caffiene to keep me from starting to clean… and in a garden… that's not always a good thing. C'mon Robyn… I'll get you back to your room real quick so you can freshen up." Stopping a moment, he then adds, "And Mike… he's… he's damaged, like the rest of us. What that damage is, I don't know… but he's more aggressive than Lucas was about keeping people away… at least… the Lucas I've heard of. Pack it up Robyn… crazy bus leaves in three."
"A strong desire to be connected with other people. Wanting to experience things from another viewpoint in the same way you try and share yours through art," Chloe suggests, moving over to find herself somewhere comfortable to perch. "And wow. Talk about how to clear a room fast. This is probably a good point in favor of me only thinking out loud in fast world." She scowls. "As for Mr Charm and Style… He's all sterotype testosterone man and with no redeeming features. He claims his favorite power is 'punching stuff hard' and wants to work for a living beating people up."
"When I met him he seemed worse than Lucas and James, and pre-James whatever…he was…well he wasn't that. Quention sounds like a real blast of a roommate. And yeah Connor, room is good." Robyn says as he this time he braces himself for what's to come with Connor's port…the voices. "I'll catch you two later!" He says to Mike and Chloe with a wave as he him and Connor port out from the attic, Robyn forgetting his math book on the floor. He'll come back for it later.
