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Summary: Tara makes too much spaghetti and decides to share.
Date: July 15, 2010
Spaghetti Time!
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Dining Hall
In a school for children the dining room is decorated to be practical instead of elegant. The walls are a pleasant tan color. Two large windows line the walls looking out to the school grounds. A large table for at least forty people sits in the center of the room. Two chandeliers hang from the ceiling to light up the room. Along the wall is a hole in the wall looking into the kitchen so food can be passed back and fourth.
The last few days have been pretty draining so dispite the fact it's early evening Cloud has fallen asleep at the table of the dining hall, he's dressed in pale blue jeans, a white t-shirt, black sneakers and a black baseball cap backwards, his head is resting on his arms and he's muttering in his sleep.
Being her first actual experience in the dining hall and the first thing she's had to eat since she got here, Jill looks about the large room for a place to sit. Finding one is not the problem as there are a crap-ton of chairs and almost all of them empty, but the question is where to sit in regards to the sleeping guy? The blue girl pouts, shifting her plate of a turkey sandwich with the crusts cut off to her other hand and huffing a breath out through her nose. She's been standing there for almost a minute and still can't decide if she should just go somewhere else already.
So it's evening. That just means that Star has finally come back to the mansion from sneaking out (away from Cloud) and trying to figure out exactly what to get her brother for their birthday. The elder Rosen twin makes her way into the dining hall, her left arm still in a sling, though she should be able to get rid of it soon, and a large purse slung over her right shoulder. She's off in her own little world, her eyes hazel-green shot through with amber and a cloud of happy contentment trailing after her. The petite empath is dressed in a denim sundress and strappy sandals, her long brown hair pulled back into a braid that hangs over her good shoulder. She's already had dinner while she was out, but a little snack never hurt, and she's got a desperate craving for cookies right now. With a small plate of cookies in one hand, she starts for an empty table only to pause and change direction when her eyes settle on her sleeping twin.
The shorter of the twins sets the plate down within easy reach of Cloud and settles into a chair beside him, giving his shoulder a gentle poke, "Wakey-wakey, little brother…" Beat, "I come bearing cookies." And birthday presents, but she's not going to mention that just now.
Being blind has never really stopped Tara from attempting to do anything except, perhaps, appreciate Picasso in his cubist phase. This includes cooking, and the one-on-one lessons she has with Christopher has been coming along really well. Today she's made something fairly simple to do: Spaghetti with meatballs. Of course, in the grand tradition of all things Tara, she went kind of overboard and made way too much, so into the dining room she comes with several steaming pots and dishes floating about her, held aloft with her TK. "Dinnertime!" she loudly announces to the room, regardless of who might actually be there.
The last few days have been pretty draining so dispite the fact it's early evening Cloud has fallen asleep at the table of the dining hall, he's dressed in pale blue jeans, a white t-shirt, black sneakers and a black baseball cap backwards, his head is resting on his arms and he's muttering in his sleep.
Being her first actual experience in the dining hall and the first thing she's had to eat since she got here, Jill looks about the large room for a place to sit. Finding one is not the problem as there are a crap-ton of chairs and almost all of them empty, but the question is where to sit in regards to the sleeping guy? The blue girl pouts, shifting her plate of a turkey sandwich with the crusts cut off to her other hand and huffing a breath out through her nose. She's been standing there for almost a minute and still can't decide if she should just go somewhere else already.
So it's evening. That just means that Star has finally come back to the mansion from sneaking out (away from Cloud) and trying to figure out exactly what to get her brother for their birthday. The elder Rosen twin makes her way into the dining hall, her left arm still in a sling, though she should be able to get rid of it soon, and a large purse slung over her right shoulder. She's off in her own little world, her eyes hazel-green shot through with amber and a cloud of happy contentment trailing after her. The petite empath is dressed in a denim sundress and strappy sandals, her long brown hair pulled back into a braid that hangs over her good shoulder. She's already had dinner while she was out, but a little snack never hurt, and she's got a desperate craving for cookies right now. With a small plate of cookies in one hand, she starts for an empty table only to pause and change direction when her eyes settle on her sleeping twin.
The shorter of the twins sets the plate down within easy reach of Cloud and settles into a chair beside him, giving his shoulder a gentle poke, "Wakey-wakey, little brother…" Beat, "I come bearing cookies." And birthday presents, but she's not going to mention that just now.
Being blind has never really stopped Tara from attempting to do anything except, perhaps, appreciate Picasso in his cubist phase. This includes cooking, and the one-on-one lessons she has with Christopher has been coming along really well. Today she's made something fairly simple to do: Spaghetti with meatballs. Of course, in the grand tradition of all things Tara, she went kind of overboard and made way too much, so into the dining room she comes with several steaming pots and dishes floating about her, held aloft with her TK. "Dinnertime!" she loudly announces to the room, regardless of who might actually be there.
Jaidee is heralded by the padding of barefeet, and a curious look aroud the room curiously to see what is going on. He has an apple in one hand, with a large bite out of it, and is wearing as usual a loose colored t shirt and jean shorts. He blinks a little bit as dinner time is announced, examining it for a moment.
Cloud wakes up with a jolt from the poke and Tara announcing her dinner, "I'm awake!", he looks around at the people in the room and goes a little red, "Err hey guys", he gives his sister a quick hug and takes an offered cookie.
Jill gives a little start at Tara's sudden dinner call, bobbling her plate unsteadily. She manages to get it onto the table across from Cloud with a loud *thonk*, not spilling anything. She favors him with an apologetic smile of white teeth and blue lips, then sits down like she meant to do that all along. Eyeing the floating pots that come along with the most recent arrival, the translucent blue teenager flicks a curious look around the room to see if this sort of thing is normal. Probably. Nobody else seems surprised by it. "Uh," she begins uncertainly, trying to sound casual and conversational. "Hi there."
When Tara gets close enough the air pressure around Tara seems to increase. It's not an uncomfortable increase and it's barely noticeable, but it's there nonetheless. When she Jill gets in range of her strange fifth sense she pauses for a moment. "Oooh. New girl. Squishy, too!" The pots lay themselves down on the table, arranging themselves for easy access by anybody who happens to be here. Tara, herself, plucks a plate from the air with her hands, before setting the rest of the stack down next to the pots. "Dig in!"
Cloud waves to the blue girl (he hasn't met Tara, but has heard about her, so doesn't wave for obvious reasons), "Hey there, you new?", dudes been gone a month so isn't really sure who's new and who's not, ok, whoa, that Tara girl must have one hell of an appitite.
Jill straightens up like an alert meerkat, turning in her seat to look at Tara then at Cloud. The light from the window directly behind her is visible as a pale blue glow through her face and neck. "Uh, yeah, I am. New." Her lips purse in an almost frown. "And squishy too, I guess. My name's Jillian. Just Jill, though. I only got here on Tuesday." Her crystal blue eyes flick from her own plate, turkey sandwich with cheese and mayo, to the massive pots of spaghetti and meatballs. Her own dinner suddenly looks very inadequate by comparison. "So we just eat whenever we want? When the school's empty for the summer, I mean."
Tara begins to dish out some of the spaghetti onto her plate. "I'm Tara Kincaid," she announces. "And, yeah. Pretty much." She shrugs a little bit, "I got bored just hanging around so I thought I'd try cooking."
Jaidee gives a little bit of a laugh at the massive amounts of food being dished out. "I'm Jaidee Chayanurak." He introduces himself to Jill, putting his hands in front of his face like he is praying, and bowing politely. He makes his way over to the table and looks in. "Oh, meatballs."
Cloud can't help but wonder (as he did with Mike) what would happen if he absorbed from Jill, ofcourse he'd never do it but still what would happen, a wave is given to Jaidee, "Hmm, why are we getting new students at the end of the year, usually it's at the start, meh, guess it's the norm here".
With a nod at each one in turn and an actual return of the reverence gesture to Jaidee, the blue kid makes a desperate attempt to remember names and faces. Her eyes are drawn to the spaghetti and meatballs, though. "I already made a sandwich, but… that smells really good." She sounds conflicted. "I haven't eaten since I got here." Her fingers toy with the crustless sandwich unappetizingly. "Well I didn't get to finish my last year of real school, so I'm gonna have to take my exams here during the summer. And I wasn't doing that much at home anyway. Just sitting around. At least here I might be able to learn something." Finally she pushes aside the sandwich and rises to dollop out some of Tara's homemade food.
Tara's food isn't actually that bad, considering she's completely blind. "Eat up," she encourages everybody before digging into her own plate. She shrugs at Cloud. "I dunno. If this was a regular school, I'd agree with you."
Jaidee raises an eyebrow. "I joined between years?" Jaidee offers as he sits down, although he doesn't start reaching for any of the food. "So it feels ok to me? Kind of, big move too, but that ok." He shrugs, eating his apple.
Cloud doesn't like eating just after waking up, still the food smells good, "So heres the basic mutant high get to know ya question, whats your power?", he was asked the same question when he joined and has seen other people get asked it aswell.
Jill frowns a bit across at Cloud as she sits back down with her plate now heaped with noodles and meatballs. She looks down at herself then back at Cloud with a raised dark blue eyebrow. "Kinda obvious, isn't it? Unless you're blind, I guess."
Tara raises a hand. "Guilty as charged. Blind as a bat." She stabs a thumb in Cloud's direction. "I have no idea what his excuse is, though." She stabs a rather largeish meatball with a fork and stuffs it all into her mouth.
Jaidee chuckles slightly. "Well, I can manipulate elements. WHat did Kisha say…classical elements." Jaidee offers, swinging his bare feet under the chair as he chomps on his apple.
Cloud shrugs, "I didn't wanna assume anything", he tries to ask instead of deciding on his own and people get all hissy, still this Jaidee kid seems more willing to talk, "Classical elements, wind, water, earth and fire right?"
"What?" Jill asks towards Tara. Then she looks at her again, more closely. "Oh. Oh my God." Jill covers her mouth with both hands. "You really are blind, aren't you? I'm so sorry. That was sooo rude of me." Looking completely humiliated, she sinks down in her chair a bit and pokes sullenly at her spaghetti with a fork.
If Tara looks bothered by Jill's faux pas, she certainly doesn't look it. She waves a hand at her to dismiss any discomfort. "Don't worry about it," she says. "It's not like I'm wearing a sign or anything."
Jaidee nods. "Yep, those." He says with a smile to Cloud. "Although better with some than the others." He says with a shrug. "Not very good at fire."
"I use electricity myself, other things can be hard to replicate, but i used fire once", though Cloud's go-to is usually him metal form, though resently he's been trying diamond, "Anything interesting happening around here this weekend?"
The blue gelatin girl doesn't look entirely absolved of guilt, but straightens up a little. "I guess my power is I'm kinda made of this stuff," she finally answers Cloud's question, pulling at a strand of her hair. It stretches a bit before finally snapping free soundlessly. The lock of Jill's hair slowly melts, dripping from between her fingers and onto the table. She shrugs helplessly at his other question. "I wouldn't know.
"Fuuunnnky," says Tara as Jill makes a strand of her hair melt. "So you're made of goo. That explains the squishiness I felt." She doesn't bother explaining that cryptic sentence, though, since she's too busy jamming her face full of spaghetti, now.
Jaidee raises an eyebrow at the question of squishiness, but doesn't. He nibbles on his apple again, watching the melting hair. "Huh, interesting. How long?" He asks curiously.
"How long what?" Jill asks. The droplets of goo on the tabletop don't stay still. They clump together slowly, like the liquid metal terminator from that one movie, then start to inch toward their owner. "I've been like this, oh, three months now? Since the middle of April, if that's what you're asking," she replies around a mouthful of noodles.
Brendan makes his way into the dining room. He's wearing a pair of damp board shorts, and a sleeveless blue shirt. his hair is damp as well, a towel tossed over one shoulder. The youth also has a pair of sandals on. He hums a bit to himself as he peers about the dining hall, a curious expression on his face as he explores.
Set in the middle of the table is a rather large pot of spaghetti, to the side of it an equally large pot of red sauce with huge meatballs swimming in it. Plates are laid out beside it, obviously meant for people to take some and partake. "Three months," Tara says curiously. "How're you getting used to it?"
Jaidee gives a nod at that and smiles. "Well I'm glad you're…ok, and doing ok with the change." He offers helpfully, finishing his apple and setting it down carefully.
Jill shrugs, taking the time to chew and swallow before answering. "Pretty good, I guess. A lot better now that I can walk around and have arms and legs and stuff." Implying, of course, that she couldn't and didn't before. Her vivid blue eyes find Brendan's motion and follow him for a moment before she looks over at Jaidee and smiles back. They're infectious. "Thank you."
Brendan hesitates briefly as he realizes the room is full of people. He runs his hand down the towel over his shoulder and bites his lip. Eventually he takes a few more steps into the room, flashing a smile to everyone. "Hey. I just arrives on campus today, you guys mind if I hang out? I expected more people out by the pool, but apparently the dining hall is the place to be."
"Enh," says Tara with a fair amount of disgust. "I don't like swimming much." There's a pause as she finishes off her plate of spaghetti. "Hi, New Guy. Have some spaghetti."
"Hello, other new person!" Jill calls cheerfully, raising a blue hand in an open palmed salute. "I'm Jill. This is Tara, and Jaidee. I've been meaning to try the pool, but I didn't wanna swim alone. But now I'd have to wait half an hour anyway. Have a seat." So saying, she shovels a meatball into her mouth. She's not nearly as fast an eater as Tara, but it is arguably more interesting to watch Jill eat. Translucent throat.
Jaidee gives a nod, and then bows to Brendan with his hands in front of his face like he is praying. "Sawasdee kreup. It's nice to meet yu." He says to the new person.
Tara gives Brendan a little wave in his general direction as her name is mentioned. "Hiya." She, then, turns to Jill and asks curiously, "Wouldn't you dissolve in the pool?"
"Mmm-mmm," Jill replies in the negative, shaking her head. She lays her fork down and pushes the half-eaten spaghetti away. "I'm not really made of water. It's complicated. I've taken baths and not gone to pieces or anything. But I'm still a little afraid of the drain." Finding she has no napkin, she just wipes her mouth with the back of one hand.
Tara looks a little disgusted at the prospect at finding herself in the sewer. "Yeah. That'd be nasty," she agrees. "How long did it take you to get back to a person-ish form?"
Jill leans her chair back on two legs, exactly like the teachers would tell her not to do. "Three weeks," she says as if the words weigh heavily on her. "Well, to get totally there. Is that normal? I don't really know."
Tara snorts at the question. "What's normal? You're made of goo, I can move things with my mind, we've got people that can burst into fire, ice, shadow, and whatever, and we've got a guy who looks like a hyena and a girl who looks like a skunk."
Brendan offers a lopsided grin at all the greetings. "Hey, thanks. I'm Brendan. Showed up a few hours ago." If someone pays -real- attention they might hear the faintest hint of a French accent. He makes his way towards one of the chairs around the table and unslings his towel, draping it over the back of the chair. He slides into a seat and peers at the food on the table, contemplating grabbing some.
"Huh." The blue kid's expression goes all quizzical at that. "I guess there's no real standard." Jill lets her chair back down to the floor. "I'd welcome you, Brendan, but I've only got a two day headstart on you. Nice to meet you, though. I hardly know anybody yet."
Tara shrugs at Jill. "As cheesy as it sounds, I think you get to make your own standard. So. Yes. I'd say three weeks to get yourself looking human again is about average." She then cocks a huge grin at the girl. "Or better yet, /better/ than average. Anybody else would take /months/ to do it."
Brendan glances between the two girls, hesitating a bit longer on Jill. He doesn't look horrified or freaked out, just mainly curious. After a moment he catches himself and brushes his fingers through his damp hair. "Oh, sorry. This is just all pretty new to me. I mean, I've been reading and fantasizing about Mutants since I was a kid. I never thought I'd -be- one, let alone be surrounded by others. It's…strangely enough…a dream come true for me." He blushes a bit, figuring that sounds insane.
Jill is still not quite used to being looked at, curiously or judgmentally. Her eyes catch Brendan's for a moment before she quickly looks away, a little embarrassed. "Still pretty new to me too. Wouldn't quite call it a dream come true, but it's pretty out there, right? I must look pretty weird, after all."
"Are you kidding?" asks Tara excitedly. "This is totally /awesome/. We get to be superheroes! Fight crime! Save the world! Kick ass!"
Brendan blinks at Jill and shakes his head. "No, not at all! I think you're one of the most beautiful girls I've met. Seriously. And I've dated way too many models for my own good." He doesn't sound patronizing or joking at all, either. He does seem a bit enraptured by her curious looks. He then looks to tara and shrugs. "Well, I don't know if I really want to be a superhero, but I definatly want to make my powers a bit more…well…powerful.."
Ooh, that tinge of a blush on Jill's cheeks deepens to a darker blue. She just got called beautiful. Wait, what was that other thing? "Fight crime? I don't wanna do that! That's the police's job."
Jaidee raises his eyebrows. "You like kicking ass?" He asks curiously, as he looks about. "Hmm…I wonder if we have more apples." He says before he looks back to Tara curiously.
"Yeah, but the police don't get to fly around in costumes," argues Tara, getting to her feet animatedly. "They don't get to take on super villains, save innocent people from a fate crueller than death! Danger! Adventure! Ass-kicking! What's there not to like?"
The youth can't help but smile to himself at that dark blue blush, and he watches her for a long moment before turning towards Tara. Brendan laughs as she gestures. "I don't know. Mabye. I really don't know what I want to do now that I've discovered the electromagnetic field of the Earth is my plaything."
Jaidee raises an eyebrow at the ass kicking comment, and what's not to like. "Violence?" He offers with a little bit of a shrug. "Sorry, I'm kind of a pacifist. I'll fight to protect somebody, but I don't really like fighting people for real."
"I think there's a basket of fruit in the kitchen somewhere," offers Jill helpfully to Jaidee. Returning to the conversation, the look on her face tells that she doesn't think fighting supervillains or anything like that is a great idea. Not even a good idea.
Tara stands there for a minute or two before slumping down in her chair, deflated. "Geez," she says, exasperated. "I'd forgotten that this school is filled with a bunch of stick-in-the-muds."
Brendan chuckles. "I'm hardly a stick in the mud. I have no issue with action. I mean, if I fought crime it'd be to test my abilities…for the thrill of it. The world isn't as black and white as some heroes preach." he shrugs. "Don't get me wrong…I have no plans to be some masked villain, robbing banks or anything." He turns back to Jill, flashing her one of his trademarked (Or soon to be) smiles. "So…you're new to the school too, hmm?"
Jaidee raises an eyebrow at Tara's response. "Uh, Khun Tara…I was a Buddhist Monk for seven years." He points out. "I like fun as much as anybody, but I don't like hurting people. Sorry." He says with a smile, and a little laugh.
"I am so not a stick in the mud," Jill complains in a very stick-in-the-mud tone, folding her arms across her chest. Remembering that she's trying to be all polite and stuff, she nods at Brendan. "Yeah, just got here Tuesday. Been a mutant for three months. Everything's really… different."
"Well /duh/," answers Tara to Jaidee. "I'm not going to go out there and stomp on some old lady just for the heck of it. I'm going to go out there and stomp on some jerkweed who likes stomping on old ladies for the heck of it."
Brendan chuckles and nods to Jill. "I bet. Yeah, I discovered my powers four months ago when our private jet was going down over the Rockies. I just felt myself reach out to the metal and levitate the jet down to the Earth. The exertion knocked me right out, though…and I haven't been able to move something that big since, but I'm getting better. My sister caught me trying to move the fridge last week and squealed to my mom. My brother is going for another Academy Award or two this season, and my sister hass a stint on the big Late Shows coming up, and my parents didn't want my 'freakishness' to hinder the families fame." He rolls his eyes, reaching out to grab a plate.
Jaidee gives a little bit of a smile. "Ok, that's better." He says a little bit, before he raises an eyebrow to Brendan. "Private Jet?" He asks.
Jill's gonna need a shelter for all the bombs Brendan just dropped. Private jet? The Academy Awards? Is he putting her on? She decides not to press that just yet, choosing to push her chair back and stand. "Thanks for the food, Tara. It was really good. Do I, uh, just take the dishes to the kitchen or do I have to wash them too?" she asks, picking up her plate, and the turkey sandwich she never ate.
Even though she's blind, she makes a show of rolling her eyes at Brendan. "Yeah, right. Whatever," she says unimpressed. To Jill she says, "I'll take care of it." She lifts all the dishes with her telekinetics, gathering them all towards her. "I gotta clean up all the pots and pans anyway."
Brendan frowns a bit at the eye-rolling. "What'd I say? I was just explaining that my parents didn't want a 'freak' making their lives difficult." He shrugs, and moves to stand. "Oh, I'll help you with tho-," he begins to say to Jill. He pauses when the dishes pick themselves up and he sighs. "Well, nevermind."
Jaidee gives a smile. "I'll help." He offers anyway, even when they float themselves away, hopping up to his feet. "If that's ok with you." He says happily.
Jill splays her hands to let her dish magically float away, almost afraid to touch it because it might break the spell. "Umm, okay. If you insist," she says to Tara agreeably. She jerks a thumb toward the hallway that leads out of the dining room. "I'm gonna go see if the rest of my stuff arrived yet. Sucks living out of a suitcase. Nice meeting you all. Tara, Brendan, umm…" She stalls a moment before remembering. "Jaidee."
Tara shrugs at Jaidee as she takes her dishes to the kitchen. "Suit yourself." To the others she offers a cheery, "Welcome to Mutant High!" before disappearing to the kitchen.
Brendan watches Jill go with a somewhat forelorn look in his eye before turning back to the others. He rises to his feet, tossing his towel back over his shoulder. "Oh, thanks…" He glances after Tara and Jaidee before turning and making his way out of the dining room.
