Players:
Summary: James fills Robyn in on whose leading the JRXTC team.
Date: September 3, 2010
Log Title: Time For Bad News
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Attic
Every wall is made of glass up to the domed ceiling. Storm has really done her work up here over time and turned it into quite the indoor garden. The room is separated into different parts for the different plants that are in there. There are flowers, vegetable plants, herbs, shrubs, small trees and much more. There are plants that shouldn't even be able to be found in this northern climate but they thrive up here. Anyone wanting to come up here for fresh herbs, fruit or vegetables are welcome to steal from the indoor garden. Depending on the time of year, various different species of flowers and different fruits and vegetables grow. In one area there are a few small fountains and a bench with some fresh dirt on the the ground with trees and plants all around. It seems like a good spot for meditation.
It's only a few days before the start of school, and as part of the preparations— and the lowest current member on the rung —James has been servicing the security cameras. Which, in layman's terms, means cleaning the lens. Taking some respite from his chores, the hyena has parked himself on one of the attic couches, a ham sammich in one of his paws.
When you want to go outside but avoid the heat, the attic is the next best thing, thus why Robyn is headed up here with a generous helping of oatmeal white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and a bottle of Sprite. He does't expect anyone else to be up here so it's a pleasant surprise when he spots James lounging around. "Hey James, how goes?"
"Yo," the hyena says, mouth somewhat full of lunchmeats, "Wazzup?" He shrugs to the question, offering his usual response, "Abiding." There's a nod, and another bite of food, "Ready for school?" He knows he isn't.
Robyn plops himself down on the floor so he's leaning against the couch. "Eh not much, stopping Lucas from making an ass of himself, that's about it." He shurgs and nods. "I am but I'm not. This summer went by too fast and not fast enough to me. Senior year, I guess that means we get to pick on the freshmen as much as we can."
"Or worry about what happens next?" James says with a nod, "Cause it's not like they're going to let us stick around after graduation without good reason. And I'm not gonna move back home looking like this." He grins, "Although, I hear Africe is nice this time of year."
"Worry about what happens next year, what about next week? There's not a dull week around here James, if it's not some flavour super villain of the month, it's people fighting with eachother." Robyn jokes. "I just hope that I have this vampirism under control by next year other wise…I don't know James. I don't even know how to start with learning to get by without it. One day and the headaches are unbearable."
Spotty raises an eye as Robyn jokes, "Screw villains. Scary stuff starts after they kick us out. For both of us. We don't exactly have power sets that allow us to live worry free." The sammich disappears and James lays across the couch, "I think the best I got is a position on X-Force. Which isn't exactly a comforting thought. What about you?"
"Honestly, not a damn clue. I always thought I'd go off to art school, I still want to do that but…if I don't get this under control, how can I?" Robyn isn't one to focus much on the future so when that comes around he'll probably deal with it. "I dunno, though I did get invited to this Junior X-Men thing, so who knows how that will go. I don't know much about it other than Lucas' yammering about leading."
The response James gives to the JR team is no more than a 'Mmph," and a shrug. "Wonder what they do with the rejects that can't cut it outside the school? Make them into sausage and feed it to the kids? Worse yet, Barnes? I guess there is that for you, right, Barnes?"
Robyn looks up at James and chuckles. "Yeah right, can you picture me at a military style school like that? From one hellhole to another. Only good thing about that place would be Rashmi." He shakes his head. "Well, they gave Lucas a job which I dunno, I think is kinda going to his head or something. He's been acting…so moody and I wonder about him.
James nods at the news about Lucas, "His natural setting is moody. How's this any different from his status quo?" He looks at his bare feet, then his gloved hand, then at Robyn, "Sides…life around here involves non-stop screwed-upness. If someone isn't getting mad about something and storming off…well, it means something really bad is happening, you know?"
"Yeah, well, I dunno, I talked to Jinx about it and, it's just Hosea and Lucas kinda said something that's I've been thinking a lot about." Robyn starts to explain. "Hosea and Lucas practically got into a fight in the mall, I literally had to step in between them once Lucas took his glove off. I don't care much about Hosea just Hosea was accusing Lucas of being a racist, which I didn't believe until Lucas called him a monkey. Which, I'm not really cool with but I don't know if it was Lucas being an ass or…more than that, ya know?"
James' ears turn sideways a little. "Not cool, Not cool," he says with a head shake, "Now that right there is just wrong." the hyena frowns a little, "It's not bad enough that we're mutants, I guess. Now we have to play the race card?" James sighs, "Figured he'd know better than that. I mean…hell…I'm practically a walking geographical representation of Africa. He gonna have issues with me next? And why? Cause I was 'born' this way? Because, you know, I did 'this' on purpose. Just like Hosea, eh?"
"Honestly, I don't kow. I mean, he's fine with me being gay, Rashmi being Indian so I'm really not sure if it was Lucas just trying to get under Hosea's skin?" Robyn is kinda torn on it cause what do you do when you find a hateful side of a friend. "Hosea said that Lucas doesn't like black people, Lucas didn't deny it nor did he confirm it..well he kinda did by saying Monkey but Jinx said she was gonna try to find out for sure. It's just, was he about to burn down the mall cause of who someone is, if so…" There's a shake of Robyn's head.
"That's leadership qualities I can do without," James says with a shake of his head, "Guess that's what happens when you have a school run by ex-badguys. Kinda makes me glad I wasn't choosen for the team. I'll stick with Julian." Though he sounds disappointed by the idea he wasn't 'good enough' to join. "Asshats. The whole lot of 'em!"
"Honestly, I don't know how good of a leader Lucas will be. He's so secretive and moody…how will that reflect on the field and this team…I don't even know much about it yet. I don't even know why I was chosen." Especially over someone like James is Robyn's opinion is. Where he might have plenty of confidence normally, his confidence in his powers isn't that great. "It's just a team James, outside of the danger room, I'll stick with you cause I -know- you've got my back."
"Ohhhh…I know why," James says with a shake of his head, "I know 'all' about it." He frowns a little, "I've seen the teaching lists. Stuff came through X-Force the other day. I'm low-man, so I had to input stuff in the computer. Just teaching schedules and team assignments. Had to do crap like check the list against what we had in the computer so the security guys know what's going on when with the DR. You ready for this?" He sighs loudly, "Your team teacher? Selene." He darts an eye towards Robyn.
Robyn doesn't even look at James as the name is mentioned but there is a twitch of his eye and he sets his jaw. His is obviously not pleased at all. "Selene." He repeats and his voice has a great amount of distaste in it. She may have possessed James, which is one mark against her, but she also tried to kill him and he holds that against her. "I'm off the team."
While missing the finer points of Robyn's internal thought process, James does read the major emotions felt from the boy as he exudes his displeasure in a feral-palatable way. "Yeah…" he says just as dispassionately, "I thought you'd see it that way." He pats Robyn's head with a foot, *PAT*PAT* (thump-thump) "I can't say I'm unhappy to hear you say that either."
"Do they really expect me to work with a woman who tried to kill me?! And Jinx? Seriously James, I'm not working with her. I don't even want to be in the same room as her." There's even more that Robyn doesn't like about her but he doesn't want to get into those late night visits. He takes a few breaths and closes his eyes trying to calm down a bit cause the anger is building up. "Whose brilliant idea was that?" He says bitterly.
James taps Robyn's shoulder with a toe-claw, nearly poking his ear in the process, "Not mine. And I just found out, I'd have let you know sooner, otherwise." He sighs again, "So…there you go. If you miss the others before me, tell'em, okay? I was going to e-mail you all, but thought I might get in trouble for telling you." Although it's hardly classified information. "Can't afford to loose the other thing I've got going. I have my future to think about, right?" Foot again, this time it shoves Robyn a little.
Right after the foot shoves Robyn, he pulls his knees upto his chest. "What do they expect us to do James? I mean go off, have tea and say All is Dandy Mrs Pennyworth? Fuck that." He's gone to using sarcasm, something he rarely does so it's a sign how upset with the situation it is. "Thanks for telling me though James, rather have found out now than later. And my future at this rate is to end up being murdered by Selene. This is bullshit. Sorry, I don't mean to vent to you."
"Same reason I have a beef with Rashmi and Mags,' James says rather unapologetically, "Maybe you understand now why I was so bent?" He shrugs a little, "'Cept she made the choice there, didn't she?" He sighs, "Look, all I can say is that we're watching her like a hawk. She comes out of her room, every camera goes on her. It'd be hard for her to try anything. I'm not saying she won't. Actually, I think everyone expects her to."
"Yeah but right now I have a choice right now, I can walk away from this team or I can deal with it." Robyn says as it's a hard decision. He'll have to talk to the others. "I'll be honest, if I end up going through with it, it will -only- be to watch out for the others. Make sure she doesn't hurt anyone but not like I can do shit against her." He's a bit sulky right now about it and Robyn lets out a huff of breath as he rests his chin on his knees. "Somedays I really wonder, what's the point."
It's a gentle attitude change, one that's been brewing over the last few weeks for the hyena, and one that has him offering the answer, "There is none. It's all about making it to the next day with all your fingers and toes and friends intact. And, I dunno about you, but I have some fingers to spare. Friends? Not so much. So, I'll keep an eye on you all. Best I can offer since I'm not on the team."
Robyn can related to the fingers vs friends comment and nods staying silent for a bit. "I guess I'm learning one thing from all this, there are very few people to trust around here cause any trust I had in the faculty is gone." Sure there are a few select teachers he's okay with such as Forge, but over all, he's not going to believe much of what they say anymore in regards to safety and more. "Thanks James." He says looking up at him to give him a small smile. He's glad that he found out from James before walking into the danger room and finding out that way.
"Don't mention it," the gnoll says with another foot shove. "And I trust Julian, Sam, Kenta when he's not being a dad…few others. Emma…" He shrugs, "I've seen her work on the cameras. If she's got anything planned, I dunno how she's fitting it in. So, she's on my 'okay' list." He widens his eyes a little, "Or is she making me thing that? Mha-hahahaha." It's a little bit of levity for an otherwise shitty situation.
Robyn doesn't really know the three listed and Emma isn't on his 'good' list. "This place is just beyond crazy. X-Villain teachers, getting trained by psycho killers, getting attacked by brainwashed friends, I mean, what's next? Nevermind, really, I should just relax and enjoy the time when I can't. I also shouldn't let this get to me too much cause the she'd probably be happy to know she did."
"Exactly," James says with a nod, "You can't tell me she's not enjoying it. She gets to lead a team made up of the kids that pissed her off. You know that she'll use it as an opportunity to make your life a living hell—if you let her." James shrugs, "Sides…it's not like we didn't all just see something that lets us know several of us graduate unharmed?"
Robyn nudges James to the best of his ability. "Thanks for making it sound even more enjoyable then it already is gonna be!" He jokes but the if you let her part is the key to it. "Oh that. I don't want to believe it. It's not definite." Robyn says kind of stubbornly. "My future isn't set, that's just a possibility. That's all."
James nods, "Yeah, Jinx and I talked circles around the subject. We came to pretty much the same conclusion. But still…" He shrugs off the rest, even though he hasn't completely convinced himself that it wasn't such a non-big-deal. "Worse things happen at sea," comes out randomly.
"Future Connor was right…about me." Robyn mutters as he didn't like what he saw at all. "I was in a wheelchair and just was this person I didn't like." He leaves it at that as he saw this obsessive person he became, he saw what he did to Jordan and it scared him. So to Robyn, best to ignore it. "Anyway, yeah….I haven't talked to many people about it. Cause that's not gonna be me."
James nods, "Maybe the way to make sure it's not you 'is' to talk about it? Face your fears and all that." It's hardly the word Rashmi would use, but it's his best attempt. "And the fact that you know changes things, right? So, even by standing around, we still avoid what we saw. 'Sides…no one is going to hold it against you. Or Jinx, or Lucas…or any of us. Right?"
Well Robyn knows different but he nods anyway. "I know Jordan was dead but he wasn't, I know that I became so obsessed with something that I used him somehow. I kept using his death against for my obsession. I know that you and I, there was something that didn't make sense. We weren't friends but something odd was between us and I remember being in a wheelchair. Just, it's pretty much what future Connor told me and he's the last person I wanted to be right." He then looks at James and shrugs. "Well, I don't know about the holding against some are more…..sensitive than others."
James listens saying little. Per usual, he's not dovulding personal information unless asked about it. And even on the best of days that usually requires waiting for him to stop running topic around in endless circles. "If you're dead set on not being what you saw, then you should use it as an example, right? Isn't that how this stuff works?" On the topic of others, he adds, "THings will calm down once school has started. There will be more to worry about that what everyone did in the future and how no one wants to be that, right?"
Taking a deep breath Robyn nods. "Well, I'm not going to become that guy. I didn't like it at all. So, I don't know how this stuff works. I've never seen my future before. Though I have no clue why Ahab wanted to kill me but that's old news." There's a slight smile when he says that. "I hope it does. How much more work do you think we'll have during our senior year?"
"Too much," James says simply in regards to the workload, "Too much." He goes quiet for a moment, "As far as the future goes? I dunno…all I know is that I gotta worry about the next 9 months. It's make or break time. And if I can't cut it, it's back to the farm, right? Or, anywhere 'but' here, eh?"
"Who knows, maybe once the school year is over we can figure out something together. I mean you, me and Jinx are all seniors, so is Connor. I don't know if I'll be sticking around or not." Robyn then looks down at his hands and smiles. "If I don't get this under control they at least have all the clay I can use here for sculpting?"
James nods, and offers a shit-eating grin, "And great training instructors, eh?" He hmmmms, "Now, there's an idea. Maybe I can work towards being an instructor." It's actually a bit of a test, just to see if Robyn blinks at the suggestion since that was what Future-James did. He has no idea what the others know about him.
Robyn looks at James and chuckles. "What would you teach? Actually you're a pretty good mechanic aren't you? I don't know, I guess if Lucas is an instructor…" That means almost anyone could be. He doesn't know that future James did that. "If it's what you want James, do what feels right."
"If Lucas can be an instructor…in what? Racism?" James says sarcastically. It's obvious that this is not sitting well with the hyena. After all, black, white, red…they all taste the same on the inside. To the question, James shrugs, "Sleep deprivation and how to overcome it. My first lesson begins right now." He starts to stand, "Unless there's anything else, I'm going to bed."
Robyn looks at James and shrugs. "That whole thing bugged me, it really did. Just the whole situation but I did talk a bit about it with Jinx, she's gonna try to find out what the deal is but who knows." He stands up as well and nods. "Yeah, I think I'll follow you back the dorms like a lost puppy. I need a shower and then gonna relax in the room again." Robyn won't be sleeping for a few hours but snuggling up in his dorm seems like a good idea.
James idea if a good sleep, right now, is to turn the AC on high and sleep on the cold floor. Summer sucks for Ferals. "Alright. And lemme know about this picnic thing, okay?" He pat his friend on the shoulder and heads towards the door, leaving it to Robyn to catchup or not.
