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Summary: Mason helps Nigel discover what may have caused him to have a Wildcard Episode a few nights earlier.
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2011.
Log Title: The Dangers of Talking in Your Sleep
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Mason and Nigel's Room
Mason Steele's walls are not visible. Why? Because they are covered with posters. Girls in bikinis, fast cars, and various bands are the themes that cover his room. There really isn't even a spare inch. If you look up, you'll find that the ceiling isn't much different.
One wall of the room seems to be primarily dedicated toinstruments on their respective stands. A violin, an electric and acoustic guitar, a keyboard, a trumpet, and a saxophone all stand ready for action, their cases behind them.
His bed is unmade, and clothes are piled in various corners of the room. On his desk it seems as fully covered as the walls, only it is done with sheet music instead of posters. The smell of Old Spice and unwashed clothes fills the air.
Nigel hasn't left the room more than a few times since his 'episode' the other night. At the moment he's sitting on his bed with a stack of books from the library next to him. Psychology, mental disorders, Nueroscience, and a research study published by Reed Richards on the application of unstable molecules. He sets the Psych book down and rubs his eyes a moment.
Mason comes back into his room with his keyboard across his back, unceremoniously and slightly loud. "What's up, night owl?" the pop star asks, flopping onto his bed in the same motion as leaning the keyboard against the bed. It's no secret that Mason isn't one with very good study habits. Where are his class books? Well…they are around here somewhere, no doubt. Unless he left them in his classroom, also a very possible scenario.
Nigel looks up as Mason comes in and gives a wave. "Just doing a little personal study work.. honestly I'm afraid to go to sleep again." He takes the bottle of mountain dew off the nightstand and takes another swallow. He closes the book and sets it aside "Gah this stuff is like reading stereo instructions written in Japanese.. upside down."
"That's why I never study boring stuff," Mason answers. "Just makes my head hurt." He sits back up and grabs his keyboard bag, unzipping it and pulling the large keyboard out to lay it across the bed. "Just isn't worth the effort if you ask me, not like I'm going to ever care about geometry or psychology or any of that.
Nigel nods "Well none of this is for school.. I'm trying to get a better grip on what Wildcard IS, and then maybe I can keep this crap from happening again. I can rule out his being another personality from what I was told about my last episode.. no real intelligence of his own."
"You're kinda like Hulk," Mason simply explains it. "Maybe if you get some kind of herbal something-or-other it'll take care of it. Or maybe you can get some meds. Ask Dr. McCoy, he's pretty smart in that stuff. Or Ms. Frost, she can even get in my head, and that's not easy." Mason plays a chord across the keyboard, and then another. "I'm glad I don't have the Wildcard thing. Though maybe I'd have more of a Lady Gaga appeal." He considers the concept for a moment with a mock frown.
Nigel shudders "Ugh Lady Gaga.. don't give me any ideas. Anyway when I'm awake and I change I can influence how he acts in some ways. Last night was weird because apparently without me being awake he's basically just running on pure impulse. All he could do was spew pop-culture references that applied to what he was focused on at the time. Luckily the impulses were geared towards a Junk-food binge and not towards something more aggressive. He could have leveled half the mansion before he was stopped. Hell IF he was stopped, I'm still not entirely sure if anything can actually hurt him."
"What exactly are your powers with Wildcard, anyway?" Mason asks. He plays the intro to Rhapsody in blue quietly. "I mean, everything can be stopped, right?" He nods up to the scantily clad Lady Gaga poster he has among the many pretty girls on the wall. "Hey, she's hot, you gotta admit it, even if she is crazy. Got to open for her once." He stops playing for a moment. "But don't worry, the teachers here are pretty smart, I'm sure they'll come up with something to help you."
Nigel ponders a moment "Well when I transform into Wildcard my body becomes a living mass of unstable molecules. Kinda like the stuff they make our uniforms out of so they're no destroyed when we use our powers. Wildcard is basically indestructible, if there's anything that can actually hurt him I've yet to encounter it. Fire, electricity, bullets.. he just comes back for more. He can also create objects out of thin air.. weapons, tools, heck even a car if he's given enough time. He can change his shape at will, stretch, flatten, change clothes.. but he always looks weird. The colors too bright ot whatever so he can't pass for normal.
"Sounds like a living cartoon," Mason says. "You could totally get your own TV show like that, even as a mutant. I'd watch it." Apparently to Mason the complications seem to be minimal. After all, that is just plain a cool power! "So what does…" he turns his head to look at the book. "Reed Richards say about your unstable molecules?" he asks. "Oh man, if you had an unstable molecule costume, would it totally get absorbed into your body when you transformed? You might wanna think about that so you don't end up naked somewhere."
Nigel nods "Pretty much yeah.. Wildcard is a Living Cartoon. He has his limits though, his offensive attacks can't kill anyone. They don't work well on living matter. So if someone was wearing a bullet-proof vest and he pulled a gun and shot them it would punch through the vest, but not go through the person. It would just really hurt. Something about his attacks damaging things on a molecular level.. I dunno the specifics. Anyway from what I've read it seems that when I change and my brain turns into unstable Molecules that causes my mind to go haywire.. hence why Wildcard is so screwy. I'm not fully in control. He's basically everything I am, without any kind of conscience or self-control. So since I've been a geek all my life he's a force of Pop-culture gone insane."
"Hey, I'm part of pop culture," Mason defends. "Can't be all that bad," he turns on the bed to drape his legs over the edge and face Nigel. "I guess you just gotta figure out what sets it off. Like…I dunno, Hulk changes because he's mad, right? There's a guy named Cloud here who changes because he focuses on something he touches, or something like that." He picks a rock up and tosses it across the room, "I focus on earth and stone I touch and can contr — " Whack! The rock hits the door with a sizable smack, and clutters to the ground, causing Mason to wince. "Oh crap," he laughs, seeming unconcerned that he could have broken something. "Still working on that. I'm just sayin', as soon as you can learn to control it, it won't be so bad, and it could be a really cool power, so don't sweat it."
Nigel flinches as the rock impacts the door. "Well I have a trigger. I'm not supposed to be able to change unless I say a certain command phrase. Which is why I can't figure out why I changed last night. I think they call it "Power by Association Syndrome". Kinda like how Popeye needed his spinach.. or He-man needed to say 'By the power of Grayskull'.
"Okay, well, maybe you don't really need that phrase then," Mason suggests. "Maybe it's all in your head. Oh! Or maybe you said it in a dream! I bet that's it. You were totally talking in your sleep that night." He hops up from the bed, and goes to pick up the rock, and puts it in his mouth, carrying it back. There is a definite crack as he bites it in half upon getting to the bed again, and he begins to chew it. A very peculiar habit to say the least. "Maybe you should gag yourself when you sleep, that way you can't say the phrase on accident."
Nigel winces at both the crack and the idea "Talking in my sleep.. crap that had to be it. I think I'll need to talk to Professor Xorn about that soon." He doesn't comment on the rock chewing, figuring it's just part of his power when he mentioned he controlled earth. "Well thanks for letting me know, that answers so many questions right there." He stands and sets the book he was reading back on the stack. "I think I need a bit of fresh air, I'll see you around."
