Players:
Summary: James comes to Kenta with a suggestion and hand picks a team of his own.
Date: June 22, 2010.
Log Title Teamwork
Rating: PG.
Xavier Mansion - Music Room
The music room has four levels of tiers that each sit one row in a semi circle. On the floor in the semi circle is grand piano. There is a large closet on either side of the room, one filled with string instruments and the other filled with various wind and brass instruments. There are a few guitars in the back of the room next to a large variety of percussion instruments. All the instruments here are for the students to use provided they take care of them and clean any necessary parts after they use it. The room is sound proof, so once the door is closed, the music being played will not interrupt the other classrooms.
It's been nearly 2 weeks since James' occasional visitor got to take over the drivers seat for awhile, the dark force within now fully in control of the Hyena. In that time they've done little, deciding that laying low until they knew their visit was undetected. Now 12 days in, a plan has been formulated and it's all about to start with something as innocuous as a conversation with Kenta, the Paragon's squad leader. Meandering into the music room, James sets his eyes on the teacher and walks over, a little more bounce in his step than usual, "Hello Kenta."
Surprisingly Kenta is not with his guitar, he's in front of the piano trying to go through some practice exercises to limber up his fingers a bit. He's not nearly as good with the piano as he is with the guitar but he's definitely got talent when it comes to anything musical, about the only natural talent he has. "Hey James, heard you passed your history retake…now if you just applied yourself the first time you wouldn't have had to retake it." He jokes with the Hyena. "So what's up James?"
James stops at the piano and leans forward, hands cupped behind his back as he watches for a moment, "Only took a spear in the chest to convince me of that, eh?" He pulls up a chair and takes a seat, "Not a lot…well…there is..but nothing specifically with me. It's mostly to do with the other students." He nods deftly, "With summer here, a lot of the stay-behinds are wondering around lost."
Kenta turns on the bench towards James and nods. "Yeah I was always one of those go home for summer kids when I was here, but I'm glad to hear you recovered from that spear wound." He says sounding genuine. "But yeah, I talked to Lucas can you do me a favour and just make sure he's okay? He seems like he's gotta lot on his mind and well…I'm trying to help him out with future decisions." Kenta leaves it at that for now since he knows the two are roommates. "Also I'm still gonna be running Danger Room sessions three days a week so don't think you're off easy, and summer classes with music for fun, not for grades."
James smiles widely, "Oh no, not-at-all Kenta. Actually. I was hoping I could take a full load." The hyena leans forward on his knees, hands cupped, "See…I may have come up with something to kill a few birds with one stone." Or to kill 10 with something much more fatal. "How about I lead Junior X-force team?" The hyena holds his hands up in arrest, "I know, I know…but hear me out. Nothing serious…I just take on a few of the students and we do laps on the field, volunteer some time on campus to cleaning up…and run some very low-lever Danger Room sessions." He tilts his head at Kenta, blinking slowly as it..he puts on some student charm, "I think I'm ready for some responsibility, and this may be a good way to see if that's true."
"First off James, as much as that sounds good, you're the only Junior X-Force guy at the moment, we really haven't recruited anyone else yet. And Second, I don't have the authority to teach you how to run the danger room. That's not something they really teach any student." Kenta knows how to work it, sure, but he's not one of the people to teach it and he's not about to teach a student no matter how advanced they are. "So full up..no slacking for you this summer? So is this full up on summer classes of full up on training and trying to prove you're leadership material?"
James never misses a beat with being told no. None that he knowingly displays towards Kenta at least. "Well, you can't blame a hyena for asking. But it was more of a junior-junior thing. If you don't mind…I'll ask Scott and she if he's got any ideas." Hands go up, "Not that I'm going over your head…but maybe I can arrange something that's beneficial to all." Especially to this creature. "And yeah…if I'm staying around, I might as well show everyone what I'm made of, right?" He raises an eyeridge.
"What your made of? Isn't that just fur, bone, amazing wit and sly bastardry?" Kenta says teasing his student after all he's always thought James was a sly one, he's even told him that before. "Well how about I talk to Scott and see who we think would be good for this Junior X-Force stuff, whose ready and you can show us what you can do by leading them? Then we'll run a few danger room courses for you guys okay? And it'll be tougher and more serious what you do now." Kenta says knowing James knows that. "Actually, I gotta question for you. Who do you think would be good to fight along side you?"
James makes a mock surprised face, "Kenta…you wound me. Betrayed by my own teacher." He skoffs playfully and the idea of his slyness…while also making a mental note that this teacher isn't as stupid as the rest. "Well…my first pick would be Lucas." Naturally, given the boy knows that something is up. "After that…Robyn, perhaps Connor or Jinx." He leans back in his chair and crosses a leg, looking all Fur and Fangs, "Lucas…something 'is' up…but I'm on it. I think he's just not sure where he fits right now. Doing my best. But you know how that goes."
Kenta winks at James and makes a stabbing motion with his hand, like he just wounded him. "Okay so..I'll talk to their team leaders and see what they think. Also see who they might recommend. Lemme ask you this, cause I would recommend Rashmi, she's gotta good head on he shoulders? Why didn't you say her name?" He's actually curious about that one. "And yeah, Lucas is going through a tough time. He's…family trouble and the guy is so damn stubborn he doesn't really want people to help him."
James smiles, "Well, she, like Lucas, is graduating. However, she's a lot more proactive about her plans than her boyfriend…so I can't see her staying here when she's probably got a future planned out." Truth be told, she's smart. Too smart. And smart people are dangerous to dangerous plans. He waves off the though with a hand, "But..if she's here for a while longer, I can't see why she wouldn't be welcome in this." The beast glowers internally at the concession.
Kenta grabs a piece of paper and jots down the names James mentions. "Well, we'll look into setting up you guys with a Junior team and extra sessions, outside of what you already do. So….You as a leader, Lucas, Jinx, Robyn and Connor? I'll see what I can do and if they're cut out for this. And if we're gonna get this okayed, I have a mission for you James. Your first assignment with this, come up with a better name than Junior X-Force."
James shakes his head and rolls his eyes a little, "That shouldn't be hard considering most 3 year olds can come up with better than X-somehting." He shoots Kenta a quick, joking look, "Just saying." He hmmms for a moment, "What was that team…Summers was on it." He hmmms for a moment and snaps his fingers in quick succession, "Excalibur." He shrugs, "Easy enough."
"Hey…there's a theme here and they're sticking with it." Kenta says with a chuckle. "And Excalibur can work but it still has the 'X' sound in front of it. YOu could always name yourselves after my old band and call yourselves the Screaming Ninja Flips." He's totally joking and being a pain in the arse right now. "So okay, Excalibur and you can lead it in training with five or six under you. I can't give the a-okay on this till I talk to ol' One eye and then these five and their squad leaders. But I don't think there should be a problem."
James' smile grows, showing off his front teeth a little. It's almost as if it were Christmas, and he found a meatloaf under the tree. Or at least a teacher willing to give him the ingredients to make said meatloaf. The band name gets ignored in the response, "That's most than I expected, Kenta. I appreciate it. If you want, I can handle Sam. I've been meaning to talk with him anyways. It's been awhile. We should catchup." He nods to the idea, but isn't set on it from the looks. "And if Scott balks at the names, I can always spell it with an X. You know…X-Calibre."
"Eh if he balks at the name he can stuff it." Kenta says with a laugh as the team is basically gonna be like what James is doing know, be a JROTC, so a stepping ground to X-Men. "Okay, I'll talk to Forge and Hank and Scott and if Sam has -any- questions, direct him to me. And how come I know Jono is gonna tell me I'm off my rocker." He says rubbing his forehead. "So you're serious about this right? You're going to be leading these kids in the danger room and anything happens, I'll be dealing with it. It's your team but since I'm giving the okay, expect me to be looking over your shoulder too." Not all the time but checking up and such.
James waves off the threat of Jono, "Bah…no one's gonna live to regret this. It'll be fine." But, for Kenta's efforts, James' will offer him a look, "No, I'm deadly serious about this. I believe it's a wonderful idea. And, yes, I'd expect you to be watching. I think it'd be crazy to trust a bunch of us alone in a room together." He raises an eyebrow, "Well..this was much more painless than I expected."
"Why would it have been painful? You're showing initiative and you're serious about this. It's not like I'm sending you out on field work, I'm just giving you guys an edge so you can help us out and such. Honestly it's just as beneficial as this." Kenta says taking out a tin of cigarettes and playing with it, he only smokes what he rolls himself. "So…Excalibur, lead by James with four under you, we'll find two days of a week when it's good for you to have sessions. How about this, you tell me the general idea of what you want to run, I can program it, and set you through it. And I can even give you some of my own. Hell, I should put you guys through Gladiator fights like what I used to have to do."
James nearly purrs, "Gladiator fights would be perfect." The perceptive would probably see the hyena's pupils got really huge—not so difficult to see in all that black. He leans back in the chair once more, a smug sense on satisfaction in his mind and on his face, "And thank you. Like, I said…all it takes is a spear in the chest to put some perspective in one's life. And I'll give it some thought. I'll have it to you by, say the weekend? Assuming the others bite."
"Sounds good to me James and yeah, taking a spear in the chest, or any bad injure while out there fighting can really wake you up and make you step up to try to make sure you're better and ready for next time. You start thinking about all your mistakes." Kenta says standing up to put the cigarette to his lips. "Well I look forward to hearing more James but right now I am desperately craving a cigarette and I know you can't stand the smell so I'm gonna head outside." He puts a hand on James's shoulder and is about to say take care when he remembers something. "Shit James..I almost forgot." He digs through some papers and pulls out a card with 'James' on the envelope. "Happy later Birthday. I knew Lucas was the music type but you…I didn't know so I got you a gift card. Lame I know but I figured another pair of BDU's was redundant."
James takes the envelope and smiles, "No, it's cool. And thank you. I'm finding that most of my clothes are beat to hell, so this will help next time I go to the mall." He gives the teacher a nods and stands, "Thank you again, and for understanding." He waits for the teacher to almost breach the door before asking, "And really, Kenta, Screaming Ninja Flips? You strike me as the Flaming Ginsu Contusion type."
"Screaming Ninja Flips…we were awesome. I'll see if I can find you one of our old demo CD's." Kenta says with a laugh so that way maybe James and Lucas can get a laugh out that. "No problem James, I was a trouble maker teen once upon a time too. No go so I can get my cancer fix."
