Players:
Summary: Max meets Theo, Max plays games, it was actually not that bad.
Date: April 20, 2010.
Some Sort of Irony
Rating: PG
Xavier's 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. //
Sunday afternoon, and Max has finished his homework. Someone made sure of that, who knows though? Anyway, Max is having too much fun right now, playing Mass Effect 2 on the TV, since most of the others are out or doing something else, Max just likes to play video games. He's engrossed in the game it seems, sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth. The young mutant is currently dressed in a
Sunday afternoon, and Max has finished his homework. Someone made sure of that, who knows though? Anyway, Max is having too much fun right now, playing Mass Effect 2 on the TV, since most of the others are out or doing something else, Max just likes to play video games. He's engrossed in the game it seems, sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth. The young mutant is currently dressed in a Green Lantern tee shirt and cargo shorts, he's wearing his usual Green Lantern Corps ring on his right hand.
Theo has been asleep, or trying to be asleep, for most of the day. Ever since his incident with Mike, he hasn't been sleeping well. He has bags under his eyes, but other than that, he looks mostly alert. He finished his homework back on Thursday, he's just studious like that.
He wanders into the rec room, knowing likewise that most people are out and about today. He spots the game on the large TV, and quietly wanders over to the couch, and plops down unceremoniously into the corner seat. He drapes his arms over the arm and back of the sofa, and watches the game. "What's this?" he asks after allowing himself to be entertained by Max's gaming for a few moments.
Max, while he is hyper, is able to do multitask at times. "Mass Effect 2, gotta find out who's abducting colonists all over the galaxy." He says during his playing. The character on screen is performing quite well, multiple headshots are shown as Max is quite good at playing these games. "What's up?" He asks, continuing to concentrate on the TV. "Aww come on! Freaking cooldowns." Max pauses the game and puts the controller on his lap.
"Ah," Theo answers. "I never played that." He really hasn't played many games. "Not much for me, just been chillin' today," he says. "You're Max, right?" he asks, pretending that it's hard to remember the other boy, considering the rather dramatic situation they met under.
For Max at least, he would forget about meeting Theo before. "Yeah, Max Farlane." He says, reaching a hand to Theo. "I always chill." He says, and it's quite true, even the air around him is cold. "That's me, the living air conditioner."
The technopath laughs. "Yeah, I remember you were wearing shorts and a T-shirt that night when Magneto came to visit. "Does it really suck for you in the summer?" he asks. He pulls his legs up underneath him, still remaining in his casual draped position over the couch.
Max nods his head. "It's not that bad, but everyone asking for snow and ice gets me aggravated." He says before looking back to the TV. "Oh yeah, I remember that night." The cryokinetic chuckles worriedly a little. "That was…weird."
"It was, wasn't it?" he agrees with Max. "I thought he was some old creeper at first. I bet he's trying to start his own mutant school, though. He sure seemed to want us to come join him. Did you keep that thing he gave us?" he asks, leaning forward with some eager anticipation of Max's decision.
"That thing, oh. I did keep it. But I dunno what to do with it." Max answers, then looking back to Theo. "What did you do?" The chilly nuissance himself wasn't planning on using it himself, cause well, Xavier's is his home, and he's not sure of what Magneto would do with a school of his own.
"I still have mine, haven't had any reason to call him. He didn't strike me as the sort you'd just call to chew the fat with," he admits. "I don't really know what to do with mine either, but I think it could be good to hold onto it. The X-men don't like him much, but from what I hear, he's a friend to mutants. If all hell breaks loose, it could be good to have somewhere to fall back to, you know?" Theo's jury is still out on Magneto. He doesn't trust the Master of Magnetism, but he is too pragmatic to pass up something like that.
Max is too simple for that kind of thinking, but he understands most of it. "It's cause of the way he thinks. The X-Men believe in equality." Theo probably knows what Magneto thinks, so he doesn't get into that.
"Yeah," Theo agrees, not choosing to debate who might be right. Theo hasn't chosen who he agrees with yet, if either. "I don't think we should call him unless there's a serious emergency. Like, the government decides to come and attack the school kind of emergency." He brins his hands into his lap. "Man, it is cold around you," he says, starting to feel the effects.
"Sorry about that. I wish I could turn it off." Max offers up, not much of a condolence. "Yeah, I guess it'd be good to have him show up if something that bad happened." Max isn't for violence, well, real violence that is. But he does defend himself when needed.
"Yeah," Theo says, "Hopefully we'll never need it." He rubs his arms a little. He looks at the screen. "So this your pass time? You just like to kick it playin' games all day?" he asks. He doesn't know Max well, and he's a little shy on friends lately.
"Nah, not all the time. It used to be, but since I came to the school I haven't had much time to play except on Sundays. I read comics, and play sports too. I just save the games for Sunday, you know?" Max asks, not really known Theo that well, but he's always friendly as long as others are nice back, or even just neutral.
Theo and Max are sitting on in the Rec Room in front of the TV, Mass Effect 2 is on the screen, paused. They seem to be just chewing the fat.
"Yeah? What sports do you play?" Theo asks the chilly mutant. "I never could do any sports very well."
The sound of activity coming from the recreation room draws Chezlie to it like a moth to a light blub. She's quick to pass through the door, her hand sheepishly pulling up for a rather brief wave. "Hey Theo." She says, a nod and a smile falling to the other teen sitting on the couch she doesn't know. She's dressed fairly casually; black t-shirt, running shorts and barefeet. Looks as if she were about to gear down for bed. "What'cha up to?" she asks, angling her head to catch a glance at what's on the television.
"Oh, stuff like Hockey, and Baseball, but I kinda can't do Baseball anymore. Too hot." Max says before looking at Chezlie walking in, he has no clue who she is. "It's Mass Effect 2." He says, though the game has been paused for a while as Theo and Max have been talking. Max is currently wearing a Green Lantern T-shirt and cargo shorts, the air around him is chilled to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Makes sense," the technopath says as Max explains that baseball is too hot for him to play. Theo's gaze quickly shifts away from Max to Chezlie as he enter. A broad smile crosses his face. "Hey Chezlie," he says in a slightly more excited tone than he had been talking. He looks a little cold, wearing shorts and a plain black T-shirt himself. His feet have been tucked under him, and he stands up on the couch, stepping over the back of it and down to the floor.
"Chezlie, have you met Max?" he asks, stepping a little away from the cold mutant.
"Mass effect what?" The dark haired teen is quick to respond, her eyes darting back to the paused game. "Never heard of it." She leaves it at that, taking a couple steps further into the room. A slight chill runs up her spine and both arms are pulled up and interlaced close around her chest. She makes no comment on the cold, choosing to just ignore it for now. "Nope, I have not. Guess it would make sense to assume this is Max, right?" Her attention falls over to the one she doesn't know and says, "I'm Chezlie."
"Heya." Max says to Chezlie as he's introduced. "I'm Max Farlane." He's not sure how to approach Chezlie, still trying to get a bead on her. "Well, you probably figured out what I do." He says, reacting to how Chezlie did to the cold. It almost makes him smirk a little, only because people don't really expect that.
Theo continues to talk to Chezlie, though he does hear Max. "Sorry I haven't seen you in a few days, I've been kind of occupied," he tells her. He was in the holding cells for a day and a half, but he chooses not to bring that up. Theo, notably, looks like he hasn't been sleeping all that well, he has bags under his eyes. He doesn't behave like he is sleep deprived, though, so it must not be too bad.
"Max can make sure the air conditioning bill never gets too high," he adds with a grin as he sees Chezlie's reaction to Max.
Chezlie looks to Max and offers up a curt nod. "Yeah, I think it's pretty easy to figure out." She smiles and moves towards the now empty spot on the couch and plopping down, legs curled underneath her as both arms remained crossed. Her power is off course almost impossible to just figure out, unless seen in action. "Ah, no worries Theo. Haven't been too visible myself." She says without looking at the teen, her eyes now transfixed on the frozen state of the television. Theo's current lack of sleep look is not commented on.
Since Theo and Chezlie are engrossed in conversation, Max decides to play Mass Effect again. He's focused on the game, unless he is asked a question or talked to. The chilly teen is going down a corridor and fighting his way down the way to a boss it seems. He has noticed the bags under Theo's eyes, but he's never one to just ask someone in front of another person he doesn't know.
Theo hops back over the couch again as Max returns to his game, sitting down next to Chezlie and putting himself between the two to block some of the chilliness to her. "So what've you been up to?" he asks her as he watches Max navigates the hallway.
Chezlie shrugs her shoulders, "Eh, not too much I guess. Mostly school work." Yeah, pretty boring stuff in all honesty. "You?" She's still fixated on the video game, even more so now that it's actually being played. "So what's the point of this game?" She's quick to ask, not having much of an understanding of the entertainment genre at all.
Max looks quickly from the TV to Chezlie. "You're this guy Shepard, you saved the galaxy in the last game, this game, you die and they bring you back. You've gotta figure out who is trying to bring back the threat that is coming back from the first game. I'm about to face up against a crime boss who has information I need." Max fully knows what is happening in this game, he may have played it before? Nope. Not really.
Theo tucks his feet under himself to keep them warm, but puts his arm over the back of the couch at the same time. "So does he always tell you what you need to know?" he asks Max, "Or do you have to do something special to get him to tell you?"
The dark-haired boy then answers Chezlie, "Not too much," Theo says. "Been trying to keep my head out of the line of fire, lately," he says with a grin. "Some people around here can be pretty testy."
Chezlie's eyes pull into a squint as she bobs her head up and down. "Really?" She questions, though the words almost sound a little mocking instead of really questioning. "So what's going to happen in the third game? You going to die again, only to be resurrected to save the world from the threat that's bringing back the threat that originally brought back the threat?" She obviously doesn't get video games. She then turns to Theo, bottom lip held firmly between her teeth, nodding her head. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Haven't really run into many testy people myself." Her attention is again stolen by the action presented on screen.
Max has heard comments like that before, people who aren't really into the story. "So, the formula is used. But no one really knows what the third game is gonna have in it. Either way, it's fun to be along for the ride, rather than dissect it like 8th grade frogs." Max sneaks in a bit of snark into his answer like Chezlie had mockery in hers. But of course, he sounds just on this side of innocent.
Theo tries to inch a little closer to Chezlie for warmth. Well, partly for warmth. He doesn't move very far though, for worry of making her nervous. He'll wait to see if she returns the movement. "Maybe the world will blow up at the end of this game and surprise everybody," he says with a smile, and speaks to Chezlie again, yawning a little. "Well, maybe it's just a personality clash," he admits. "I dunno."
Eyes still fixed on the screen, Chezlie shrugs. "Eh, guess so. Never played the first, but I figured it could be a little fun giving you shit." She looks to Max smiling. She doesn't even notice Theo move closer to her, but it does happen to coincide with her suddenly standing up from the couch, arms stretched out to accompany a lengthy yawn. "Well, it's getting about that time. Catch you two later." As soon as she arrived through the door, Chezlie is back through it and into the hallway.
Max looks back to Chezlie and gives her a wink. He's slowly starting to realize the importance of sarcasm in the teenage community. "Aww dangit!" He says, looking to the TV, Shepard had died again. "Alright, I guess this means I should put the game down until next time." Max offers before shutting the system off. "Hey, wanna head into town with me, grab a coffee or something, I kinda just wanna get out of here, you know?" It's not a hit, he's already taken, this is just being friendly.
Theo buries his head in the couch as Chezlie leaves. "Ugh," he says, muffled by the couch cushion. "So close." He looks back to Max. "I wonder if she realizes I'm interested," he says idly. "Yeah, I think I could go for some Starbucks or something." He stands to his feet. He doesn't take Max's invitation for more than it is, it seems.
