2012-04-28: So Much For Relaxation

Players:

Cale_icon.jpg Nicholas_icon.jpg Taylor_icon.jpg Theo_icon.jpg

Summary: Nicholas is pissed off by the mere presence of Theo.

Date: April 28, 2012

Log Title: So Much For Relaxation

Rating: PG-13


Xavier Mansion - Recreation Room

What was once the Parlor has been turned into a Recreation Room for the students. A nice plush carpet meets the light blue walls giving it a homey feel. A pool table at one end, a foos ball table at the other, and entertainment center with video game systems, movies, and of course, cable TV. Big comfy chairs and couches surround a coffee table for comfortable loafing. Long glass windows with a pair of French doors line one side of the room bringing in plenty of light during the day. The main rule in here is to clean up after yourself.


It's Saturday night at Xavier's and it seems Nicholas has managed to claim the television in the rec room. The lights are off as the television plays the epic story of a crew of space cowboys - Firefly. He sits on the floor with his back against the couch with a plate of semi burnt chicken tenders in his lap as his dinner. His eyes are glued to the glowing screen as he watches the episode intently as it seems that two men are currently getting tortured on screen.

Of course, Cale doesn't have much of a sense of decorum. As he pads into the rec room barefoot, having left his sandals somewhere near the door (he really doesn't like wearing shoes anyway) he looks a little bit dejected to find the whole place already occupied with the lights off. "Oh… Oh! It's Firefly!" he exclaims, when he sees one of his favorite TV shows on. He sidles into the room, hopping over the back of the couch that Nicholas is nestled up against and flopping down onto the cushions, dropping his purple-colored laptop somewhere onto the couch along the way. "Oh. Hey Nick! You seen this before?" he asks Nick. Okay. Yeah. Maybe he's had a bit too much caffeine tonight. That's one explanation.

Theo is not usually found in the Rec Room on a Saturday night. He's usually found in the garage, working on Proto, or part of his car, or any of a number of other things. Tonight, however, he is finished with his technical experiments, and moved on to more practical applications. The technopath strolls through the entrance of the Rec Room, catching sight of the show. He doesn't know anything about Firefly, which might be a little surprising since he has been at Xavier's so long.
He walks past the couch, circling behind it instead of in front of it as he makes his way to the billiards table. Behind him, Proto ambles through the rec room, except he walks in front of the couch. The little robot, however, seems to take interest in the TV show scrawling the screen, stopping to watch it.

A pile of a few pillows near one of the windows starts to stir, and Taylor's head pops out, the felinoid student seeming to be wearing a pair of flannel baby blue pyjamas with little black paw prints on it. There is a /very/ fangy yawn as the teen emerges and stretches in a very feline way. "Oh. The robot is here." The teen pushes up and rubs their eyes. "Good morning…"

Nicholas shakes his head at Cale. "No, this is my first time watching it." He says as his eyes don't flicker from the screen as he wants to see exactly what happens in the episode, War Heroes. "Space Cowboys just seemed cool and don't ask me if I know who Josh Wheaten is cause I don't." He just knows how his roommate reacted to him being clueless about it. "Hey there Taylor, and it's eight o'clock at night, far from morning. Also, do you ever sleep in your own bed?"

Cale rubs his head as Nicholas spouts off some stuff. "It's um… Joss Whedon…" he murmurs quietly, shaking his head. The chameleon boy gives Taylor a little wave, "Morning sleepy-head. Do you always sleep under piles of things?" he calls to the cat, but then seems to take an interest in the robot. Is that a real robot? Right there? On the floor? That's crazy. "That!" he points, "Where did it come from?" he seems to be inquiring mostly of Theo but at the same time everyone. Geek out!

"Don't recaculate," Theo calls over to the group. He's talking to Proto, but he doesn't clearly define that. Proto's snake camera eye coils about to look behind itself, and acknowledge Taylor. "Good evening," Proto says back to the feline girl. Meanwhile, Theo starts to pull the pool balls from their pockets, and place them on the table.
"That's Proto," Theo answers Cale, of course uninterested whether the conversation is overtaking the television show that poor Nick is watching. "I made him." The little bot announces himself, arching the camera in Cale's direction, and then turning it's body to match. "Hello, I am Proto," it says to Cale. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Joss Whedon. Entry: "Space Cowboys" not found. Input required." The robot climbs onto the couch, sitting between Taylor and Cale, and turns to face the TV. Yes, the robot wants to watch Firefly.

"Eight o'clock at night?" repeats Taylor, blinking a few times to adjust to the change of lighting from being under pillows, "And… yeah, I sleep in my room sometimes… if I remember to… I just find myself waking up in funny places. I don't know what gets into my head when I get tired, just find somewhere cozy and warm and drift off…" The teen sighs and then says, "If you see me sleeping somewhere, wake me up so I can go to my room or something…" The feline notes to Proto, "Good evening to you too."

Nicholas looks over at Taylor and nods. "Well if I knew you were there I would have, but now it's kind of creepy to think that you were hiding there the whole time I thought I was alone." He's hoping he didn't do or say anything stupid while he didn't know she was there. "Sorry Josh Whedon." He says after being corrected by Cale. He doesn't react at all to Theo or the robot, just trying to ignore them so he doesn't get overly angry, but he can feel his irritation level starting to be pushed at the presence of the other teen boy.

Cale glances over at the robot, "What, no, I'm Cale. Joss Whedon's the guy who wrote the show, I didn't mean…" he spots Nick's annoyance and trails off, deciding it might be better just to shut up. He curls ups legs up onto the couch, hugging his knees to his chest and dragging his laptop over a little closer to his space. So the crazy robot doesn't take an interest in it.

Theo racks up the billiards, unaware or unconcerned with Nick's attitude. Proto, on the other hand, has very a very limited preprogrammed understanding of human emotions. "Correction, Cale. It is good to meet you, Cale," the robot corrects itself, he then adds to Nick, "Hello, my name is Proto, what is your name?" Theo calls over to Proto. "C'mere, time to play some billiards. The little robot hesitates, however, attempting to finish the task it was in progress with before entering a new task.

"Creepy? Is it creepy? It's not like I was listening or watching or anything… I'd've had the proper sense to stir if I hadn't been unconscious…" says Taylor, ears flicking and the teens demeanor seeming rather self-conscious for a few moments. "I'm not so creepy, I don't think…" Tay then glances towards Theo and Proto and says, "Where do you even get robot parts?"

There's audible sigh from Nicholas as he's coming to the realization that his television time has been ruined. "I'm gonna turn this off since everyone, including things that shouldn't, are talking." Proto is the things that shouldn't. "Anyway Taylor, I didn't say -you- were creepy, I was saying the -idea- that when you think you're alone and find out you aren't -is- creepy." He says putting his uneatten, overly cripsy, chicken tenders on the coffee table. "And it's none of that walking Roomba's business what my name is."

"Cats can't be creepy," Cale says, "You should come sit over here, anyway, instead of in the pile of cushions." he flicks his head over towards the couch. Though the pile of cushions does look comfortable, he has to admit. He looks down at Nick, "Sorry, I didn't… mean to…" he murmurs, gripping at the couch cushion with his toes repeatedly and nervously.

Theo arches his brow. "Sorry, he's really curious. Proto, designate threat level zero beta, subject Nicholas. Now leave him alone and get over here." Proto turns and leaves the three to return to Theo's side. He jumps straight up onto the billiards table. As he moves, Theo answers Taylor's question. "Well, mostly electronics distributors. I order them through Stark Enterprises and pay for them, have them shipped and then take them back home and put them together. I am drafting plans for bigger one." Theo tosses a pool cue to the little robot, who catches it in its robotic hands. "Good," he says, pulling the rack off of the table. "Go ahead and break."

Taylor looks towards Nicholas, ears twitching at the sigh and the complaint and Taylor nods once, "Well. I know how to take a hint, sorry, I just got woken up. I'll get out of your hair." Taylor quickly arranges the cushions and gives a kind of lazy feline smile in response to Cale's suggestion and says, "Though thanks for the offer." The teen starts to head towards the exit, straightening the paw-print pyjamas and offering Theo a, "Have fun playing with your robot."

Nicholas looks over at Cale with a confused expression and when Taylor speaks up, they get just as confused of a look. "You know what, screw it." He says standing up and grabbing his plate. "I'll see you all later. Anyway I don't feel like spending my night with the Douche Waffle over there." Indicating Theo and having no qualms about letting the other boy know he doesn't like him, and with that he goes to leave the room.

Theo arches his brow. "Wow, and people say I have anger issues," he comments. He glances to Cale and Taylor. "Did I miss some type of important social tradition? I didn't even do anything to him." He shrugs. Proto takes the cue in hand, and breaks. Theo walks around to the side, and follows Proto's movements. The little robot moves to the side, checking geometric angles before attempting the next strike. He manages to hit the ball pretty well, sinking it in the corner pocket, though it nicks the edge of the pocket before going in.

"But, I… You guys don't have to go…" Cale trails off, looking down at the couch, and his toes. The chameleon boy glances over at Theo, and then back at his two friends who are currently exiting the room. It's clear that he doesn't exactly know what to do. He's not heavily embedded in the social fabric of Xavier's as of yet, but he does know Taylor and Nicholas significantly better. "Stupid… why do I even talk." All his fault. Clearly.

Taylor blinks a few times when Nicholas moves to leave the room as well, pausing by the exit, now joining in the confusion, "Um, I was just going to let you watch your show. I know it's bothered you before when I've talked over your tv time… and I don't want to start watching partway through… did I miss my social cue here? You have to help me with the social shit, it's not my forte…"

Nicholas turns to Taylor and shakes his head. "Just forget about it. I know I have my issues and I'm not this happy, friendly, cheery guy right now but I guess it's easy to just peg me as the jerk around here. So I'll leave you guys to have your good night and be on my way and just keep up my appearance as the annoying bastard I am. And I'm really not up to that guy over there telling me how I'm doing everything wrong all over again." He punches his hand on the door frame in frustration as he heads out.

Theo declines to comment with his own initiative, leaving Nick to his rage. In fact, he decidedly ignores the display all together. "Anyone here like to play pool?" he asks. "I want to see how good Proto's fine motor control skills are." He could do it himself, of course, but hey, he's trying to be sociable for once, and distract from Nick's display of grudgery.

Cale jumps a little as Nicholas punches the door frame, looking back and forth between the three other teens in the room. "Whoa, I…" It seems like all Cale can do right now is just stammer about things. He fiddles with the end of his ponytail nervously, then finally slides off the couch, heading after Nick. "Maybe in a bit," he smiles apologetically at Theo as he heads out of the room, "Nick! NICK!" he calls, "Don't be like that! Nobody thinks you're a jerk. At least, I don't." He does nothing to physically stop Nicholas, though.

Taylor raises an eyebrow slightly and says, "Um, okay… I don't think you're being a jerk, or any kind of annoying bastard… I was just trying to be considerate and all that. I'm not good at this stuff." Taylor pulls at the pyjamas and then sighs, responding to Theo, "How do you play, anyways?"

Nicholas stops a few feet outside of the doorway so that he's still with in viewing and hearing range. "What?" He says to Cale. "Don't be like what?" He stands there with his arms crossed over his lower chest. "And that's a total lie right there that nobody thinks I'm a jerk. I know that people do because I know that I am sometimes. I don't know how you manage to get through the day and act like it doesn't bother me but every day I have trouble managing and I know how to deal with it." He says to the other boy. He looks over at Taylor and takes a deep breath so when he talks he's not snapping at the Ocelot mutant but more trying to explain. "Listen, sometimes it's better to ask than to assume. Just because I get snappy about something doesn't mean it's against you." Theo is happily ignored by Nicholas for the moment.

The technopath seems content to let Nicholas rant, speaking to Taylor again. "Well, you take the pool cue here," he explains, holding the cue. "Like this, and then you take either the colored balls or the striped ones." He notes each with the cue, tapping the edge of the table with the wooden stick. "You can't sink the 8 ball unless all of your balls are already in the pockets. If you sink one, you go again. If you miss, it's the other person's turn." He considers whether to get more complicated, pausing a moment.
Theo shakes his head. "That's fine for now. There are some more rules but we can just start with those." Proto lines up a second shot with the cue, and strikes. His shot bounces off of the 1 ball, which spirals down the table and bounces off of the edge of the pocket, slowly coming to rest on the green of the table. Theo flips the cue in his hand and offers it to Taylor, and lower his voice in the midst of Nick's rant. "And don't worry about him, I think he's just always like that."

"I dunno… I just… try and be nice, you know?" Cale gives a sidelong glance back to the other two, "Anyway, I don't think you were being a jerk. Just take it easy, okay?" he shrugs a little, obviously not really knowing what to do about this situation, despite /wanting/ to diffuse Nick being mad at Theo. Which is quite silly. At any rate, he heads back to the other two playing pool, leaning on the table gently.

Taylor seems a bit sheepish for a few moments and then says to Nick, "Okay, I'll just ask next time… I'm never really sure what to do in things like that," Then the feline nods at Theo and then says, "Okay… well, I'll give it a try, I guess." One of the cues is picked up and Taylor takes a shot, delivering one of those hits that awkwardly glance off of the cue ball and send it slowly moving off at a funny angle nobody would have expected.

"And you're always a pretentious dick." Nick responds to Theo before looking at Cale. "This is me trying to take it easy right now. I'm going to head out for real now, just need to be alone. Later." He says and this time he heads out of the rec room for good.

Theo gives a sideways grin after Nicholas leaves. "Here I thought he's only seen me a couple of times." He then answers Taylor's attempt. "That's good, but take your time and make sure you're going to slide straight forward and strike the center of the ball. That way you know it will go in the right direction." Theo grabs another cue from the rack, and illustrates. He takes a shot, though he doesn't manage to sink one either, it at least goes in a straight line.
"I wouldn't be too worried about him," Theo says. "I am not. He seems to be one of those guys that is addicted to being angry. I am too, don't get me wrong, I just like watching him squirm by not reacting strongly to his goofy antics."

Cale watches the pool balls bounce back and forth. "I don't know… Nick's been through quite a bit. I don't think it's good to just mess with people. I mean, I know he can be a bit of a hothead but…" the chameleon boy trails off, shrugging a little bit. "I guess it's really none of my business though. But he's been pretty nice to me." He glances over at Taylor, watching the cat shoot pool with some interest.

Taylor frowns and then shrugs, "I'll try to do better on the next shot…" Taylor lines up, and then actually hits the ball properly, but it just lightly taps one of the balls to little effect. "I'd rather not talk about him behind his back or anything, anyways. Nick is a friend…"

Theo shrugs, "I don't have anything against him, but I'm not gonna walk on eggshells for him. Everybody goes through crap. It's good for him to learn to cope." Perhaps in his own twisted version of counseling, Theo thinks he is helping Nick, or maybe he doesn't care, his tone makes it difficult to determine which is the case. Proto lines up a shot, and strikes one of the balls, sinking it. Another shot is lined up, and another ball goes in. A third. On the fourth shot, Proto misses, the cue slipping in the little robot's grip. "I may need to get new pads for the tips. I think these slip too much to have accurate dexterity," he comments.

"I don't know… he seems pretty good at it to me! I don't know many humans who could play like that," Cale nods at Theo, pretty impressed with the robot - if not so much with the fued going on between him and Nick.

"Eh, I don't walk on eggshells either, but I am trying to give a shit about other people a little bit," says Taylor, shrugging slightly, "I'm not good at social stuff, never have been, but I try."

"Well," he's a robot," Theo offers. "His calculations are always pretty spot on. Good part about billiards, it's all math. He misses sometimes because of the precision of his dexterity." Theo shakes his head. "But I'll get there. Not everything about a robot has to do with a computer, so I am going to go see if there is something we can do for the meantime until I can get a different pads for his fingers tips."
Theo tosses his cue in the direction of Cale, indicating for him to take over. "Good to talk to you guys," he offers. "Don't worry, I suck at social situations, I guess I don't care enough to try. Call me a pessimist. Anyway," he takes the pool cue from the robot, and places it back on the rack. "I'm gonna head out, I'll see you later." With that, he start toward the door. Proto follows in suit.

"Yeah, I guess that's probably a common thing around here…" Cale trails off, watching the older teen and his robot as the leave the room. He picks up the pool que, after Theo is gone, and lines up a shot. He does slightly better with it than Taylor does, but it's pretty clear that he also doesn't have any idea what he's doing, as he overpowers the shot and it ends up bouncing around crazy like, hitting various pool balls and knocking them around - but none go in. "Hum… this is way harder than it looks…" he murmurs, poking at one of them curiously with a finger.

"It's a bit hard, yeah," says Taylor, glancing about for a moment, ears flicking, then putting down the cue. "I don't think it's really my thing, anyways… I mean, I'm not so good at the math stuff."

"Well, he says it's about math… but… this isn't math. I mean maybe your head does it… but…" Cale shrugs a little bit, "I guess I've always been pretty good with numbers, anyway. You kinda have to be to do computer programming…" he picks up the cue again, hitting again, and failing to sink any pool balls again. "Hrmph."

"I can't do computer programming stuff. It's too messy and weird for me. Other than chemistry, I'm not really a very good student in general…" says Taylor, then frowning, "And with the way I've been missing classes lately…"

"Oh, I totally understand… I think, well. Actually, I do pretty well in all my classes…" Cale chews on the end of a bit of his hair idly. "I think, 'cause school's one thing I can kinda throw myself into. But your missing classes totally isn't your fault. There must be something that can be done about that… like maybe they could allow you to do classwork on your own schedule or something…" he sighs. "You can't always win against instincts, no matter how hard you /try/ to fight them."

"I should be able to resist it, though," says Taylor, brow furrowing slightly, "I'd rather just sleep all day and wander about all night now… and my vision is funny, so it's really hard to read books anyways… I dunno. It's just messed up…"

"Blarg…" Cale responds, leaning on the table. The lean gradually turns into a slow fall as he drops down to his knees, resting his chin on his hands so that he's about shoulder level with the table perhaps. "You can't blame yourself too much… Mutations are weird, and human biology is weird anyway. It gives people strange behaviors and urges…"

"Who else can I blame if not for me? It's just… I feel so tired and I just relax and then my eyes feel heavy and it's warm so I just drift off… it's really nice, but then I wake up hours and hours later, in a funny place," says Taylor, shrugging lightly. "But you're right, it's all weird. I just don't want to use it as a fucking excuse, you know?"

"But it's not an excuse, it an actual problem. It's like, if your leg is broken, and someone accused you of using that as an excuse not to work or walk…" Cale murmurs. His tongue hangs out slightly as he sighs, then is quickly pulled back into place. "Stupid tongue…"

"I don't think it's the same thing, exactly," says Taylor, frowning for a few moments, "I guess I argue so much to tell people that I'm still human and I don't want to just fall back on 'oh it's just the cat stuff' whenever I act inhuman or do something stupid…"

"But…" Cale argues again, "I guess. Just don't be too hard on yourself, okay? If you try to deny yourself something for too long, it ends up exploding and you lose control of it." He rolls a couple of balls back and forth idly, "Obviously I can't tell you what to do but… None of us are normal, that's why we're here. So it seems silly to try and pretend to be normal. To me. Just be yourself. And if you wanna sleep all day well… Well, I guess that IS kind of a problem but…"

"Well, nobody else keeps a nocturnal schedule… it's kind of a problem to be awake all through the night and asleep all through the day 'cause of that… but if i go to class, I just fall asleep… maybe I should talk to the headmistress about it, but she seems so… stern," says Taylor, frowning at that.

"Well there's got to be someone else you can talk to about it, maybe not just her if you don't like her… I mean frankly, I've not really talked to anybody yet…" Cale flicks one of the balls off to the other end of the table, where it knocks one of the OTHER ones into the pocket. Pool's a lot easier to play if you just use your hands… "I don't know, I don't really get any weird power issues like that. Except getting cold. When I get cold I just kinda shut down and I can't do much or focus on anything… But it's warmer here than it was back home, so that's okay I guess…"

"Well, I don't dislike her… she's just a little scary. And even then, I dunno, she has mind powers and I don't want her reading my thoughts," says Taylor, frowning for a moment, "But you're right, we're not normal… I dunno. I just want to try my best to be. I used to have a kind of normal sleep schedule…"

"She can read minds?" Cale, by this time, is sitting beneath the pool table, and sits up straight, bonking his head against it pretty hard. There's a whimper that comes out from beneath as he snakes his way back up onto leaning on the table, rubbing at his head. "Nobody told me people here could read thoughts. I don't. I wonder. Erm." He sighs. "I guess most people have random weird thoughts in their head… Maybe it's not that big a deal to her…"

"It's probably not a big deal to her, I guess… but there are things I'd just rather her not know. Though she probably already knows," says Taylor, sighing and leaning back. "I guess you're probably nervous about some thoughts, I guess. I doubt she'd judge too much or anything."

"Yeah, I guess. But even if people don't judge… they still think you're weird or… whatever…" Cale murmurs, not that he's had a ton of experience with talking about this. In fact, he's never told anybody but Taylor. "Know what I mean? It's just stupid." He abandons the pool table, wandering over to the couch, where he gradually lays down across the top of it, rather catlike, and balances there with his arms and legs hanging off to the sides. "Hmph. It's just. I dunno, it's stupid."

"No, I know what you mean, I guess. I don't tell people about me because then they're weird about talking to me. I don't correct them no matter what pronounds or whatever they use," says Taylor, shrugging lightly. "But yeah, it's stupid. I dunno. It sucks, but what can you do? You only got the cards you're dealt.

"Well, I mean… is there something you prefer? Pronoun wise?" Cale peers lazily at Taylor, tongue hanging out a little again. "Actually, I guess not, huh? Given what you said…" he shrugs again. "It's just human nature to try and categorize people and things though. Anyway. I'm just super nervous about it! I got enough trouble before just 'cause people thought I was gay. And I don't even really KNOW whether I like guys or girls! So I wouldn't wanna imagine whatever else…"

"I dunno. I usually prefer to be addressed according to how I'm dressed, but right now, I'm in the same pyjamas I usually wear, so I dunno. It's hard to figure out," says Taylor, shrugging a shoulder lightly, "Anyways, I'm sure it'll be okay, Cale. But I think I'm gonna head to my room for the night and at least play some catchup with my homework… Goodnight."

"Night Tay," Cale murmurs, waiting until she's headed out of the room. When he's sure nobody's watching, his tongue shoots out and snags the TV remote, pulling it over to him. He then wipes it off and turns the TV on, setting Firefly to play once again. At least he can still enjoy his favorite shows…

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