Players:
Summary: Connor, Nicholas and Taylor don't exactly get off on the right foot.
Date: January 10, 2012
Log Title: Too Much Self Defense
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Gymnasium
This big room with wooden floors is build with powered students in mind; the entire room is power proof. Blast the walls all you like, they are not breaking. The gym can either be one large room and it also has dividers to make it two smaller gyms. This large Gym has basketball nets, equipment to set up equipment badminton, volleyball, hockey, soccer, gymnastics, fencing, and everyone's favorite, dodge ball.
The Gym isn't a place Nick usually hangs out but he just ended up here by accident and decided to use his free time to shoot hoops. He's not remotely good at it, making one in every five throws into the basket, but the blond in jeans and a t-shirt seems to be pretty absorbed in it. Sometimes being alone in a room and having an excuse to throw something at a target, even if it's a hoop tweleve feet in the air, can be mind clearing.
It's Tuesday, which means for hew students it's the mandatory basic self defense class today. Which means that Nick's peace and quiet is interrupted by a young man dressed in an X-man styled uniform leading in about a dozen kids just a little younger than Nick himself. Connor gets them all arranged, and begins in his usual way to start talking about what they're going to learn, "Allright, everyone… calm down. Today we're going to do basic hold breaks. These are to get away from people who might grab you by the wrist, arm, or around the chest. I'm going to demonstrate with one student, and then we'll go forward into drills. As usual… no doing this stuff outside of the gym, or else." That last comment seems to grab some groans from students who HAVE tried goofoffs outside of class.
Taylor is fairly new to the school, and thus hasn't enrolled in any kind of extracurriculars quite yet. The felinoid student seems to be exploring, entering into the gym at seeing all of the people there. The student doesn't seem to be dressed for phys-ed, today having donned a red turtleneck sweater and an ankle length black skirt, with one of those convenient tail holes cut into it, as well as a few pieces of jewellery. "Oh… am I interrupting something here?"
Nicholas just stops what he's doing and holds the ball in his hands as he looks at the group come in with a scowl of disappointment on his face. "I'd be nice if the put a sign on the gym to let us know when it's free and when it's going to be in use for classes." He comments to noone in particular but he doesn't hide his annoyance either. With a few dribbles of the ball he starts to head to the equipment closet to put back the ball and on the way his attention turns to Taylor. "Apparently we are interupting something."
Turning to face the pair, Connor doesn't always realize that the suit can be a bit imposing at times as he crosses his arms over his chest and says, "No, you're not interrupting anything. You're free to join in if you like. Most of the students here take the basic self-defense course, and with the recent influx, I was asked to help out." His usual slightly somber look passes over the pair as he is about to say more, but someone does something that requires his attention. Looking at it from the outside, both can see he's quite detail-oriented (The nice way of putting it), and more than once has to pull himself short from getting too involved in what one student or the other is doing. When he's not paying attention, occasionally you both can hear students murmuring things to each other. Like how much of a hardcase Connor is, or that it's probably because he lost his powers. One even says he heard he was a freak before the power thing.
Taylor nods and says, "Yeah, actually, a sign or something kind've would have been nice. I was just going to like… I dunno. Run around and stuff. I've been just laying around most of the day…" The student peers towards the group of students, quite clearly hearing their murmuring, with that enhanced hearing, and then glancing towards Connor, "No thanks on joining in now… maybe another time…"
Nicholas gives Connor a look that says he'd rather chew on glass than join in. "No thanks." He says as he goes into the closet and upon returning, without the ball, he walks over to one of the kids. "Like it or not we're all freaks here kid, so quit being an asshole." He spits out bitterly to one of the ones talking about Connor behind his back.
The boy in question, who's power seems to be being able to turn his skin different colors and cling to things with bare hands and feet just glares back at Nick for a moment, and then rolls his eyes, "Teacher's pet. Bet your mutant power's being a super-douchebag." What he fails to notice is Connor coming up behind him as the comment is made, and he goes on, "He's a-" Which is cut off when a hand comes down on his shoulder, "Corey, I think that's enough. You're excused for the day. You know the rules in this class. No one puts anyone else down." The punk glares up at those impassive eyes for a moment, and then shoves his hands in his pockets, and growls out, "Flatscan." And stalks off towards the door. Nick actually gets a few smiles, and one thumbsup for his gesture, and a few glowers too. Ah the social rungs of High school. There's a brief smile from the student instructor as he says, "Sorry about Corey… his parents firmly believe in a few things we're hoping to work out of his system."
Connor nods once to Taylor as well, and says, "Class is open to anyone, instead of your usual gym period. Sorry about not warning anyone… it's just the schedule. Usually it auto-updates on all the phones."
"I'm probably still too new to really be in the system, I guess," says Taylor, ears flicking lightly at speaking, "That kid seems like a bundle of trouble. I imagine I'll probably avoid him… That's a good rule for a class, though. No putdowns."
Nicholas clenches his fist for a second and takes a few deep breaths. "Yeah, it's easy to be a douchebag when everything is coming up fucking roses for you." He grumbles and mostly ignores the kids reaction to him snapping at Corey. He shoves his hands in his pockets and looks around before looking at Connor. "Sorry for disrupting I should be on my way." He then looks at Taylor and shrugs. "You can't avoid douchebags forever."
After watching Nick for a moment, Connor just replies, "You know… running away every time something happens isn't going to solve anything for you. If anything, it's just going to make it worse. I know from personal experience." There's a smile given to Taylor, and then he turns and dismisses the rest of the class after taking them through one last exercise. The others file out, but a couple give Nick the 'We've got our eye on you' look before departure, "It's not my place to say… but you're both doing yourselves a disservice by acting like that. Aloof, I mean. High School's your last bit of childhood, before the pressures of being an adult get dropped on your laps. Embrace it. You don't get another shot."
"Yeah, well, childhood's not all it's cracked up to be either, just probably sucks marginally less than adulthood," says Taylor, raising an eyebrow (or brow whiskers) at Connor, "Besides, what am I supposed to do but avoid assholes? I get in fucking trouble if I confront them, and I'm not fond of just sitting there and taking abuse like an idiot."
"I'm not running away, I just want to be by myself, okay?" Nicholas responds shortly to Connor sounding annoyed. "There's no where to run to anyway or nothing to runaway from, just trying to avoid being a colossal prick to people since that's all I seem to be capable anymore." He then looks at the door for a bit like he wants to exit as fast as possible. "The pressure of being an adult has been dropped there already and if this is what there is to embrace, can I get a refund?" He then sighs and sinks to the floor pulling up his knees to rest his arms on them, leaning forward. "Yeah well with your attitude you're kind of inviting people to be a jerk to you." He says to Taylor.
Connor replies just loud enough to be heard, "Not when who you're running from is yourself." And then takes a few steps towards Taylor, and says to her with a slight but still kind of forced smile, "Assholes only have as much power as you give them. If you let them pick on you, they pick on you. If you let them hit you, they hit you. It's only when they clearly understand you'll meet them on equal footing every time that they begin to falter. But equal footing doesn't mean matching taunt for taunt, or blow for blow. It means meeting taunts with whatever makes you proof against them, or defending against the blow. You show them they have no power, and their whole paradigm collapses on them. Some give up, some realize their problems… and some just go away to plot how to be a bigger asshole. But either way you slice it, you've won that battle."
Taylor raises an eyebrow at Nicholas and says to Connor, "Yeah, well, last time I met them blow for blow they stuck me in fucking anger management, and I'm not exactly sure how someone gets proof against them." The felinoid student says to Nicholas, "How am I inviting people to be a jerk to me? Just because I'd rather avoid shit being slung at me? Fuck. I'm not really seeing the solution here."
Nicholas rolls his eyes and it's directed at both Taylor and Connor. "Whatever. And maybe if you stopped dropping the f-bomb every other word you might come off more endearing to people than a stuck up jerk." He says before shaking his head. "Yeah, real easy words to say there when everyday is a constant reminder that things are never the way you wanted them to be and never will be."
Connor sighs once, closes his eyes, and for a moment his hands press against his uniform legs, the fingers scrunching against it more than once before the gesture finally settles away. Without looking at Nick he replies, "And how many other people here say the same thing to themselves, every day?" Shaking his head once more, he takes anotehr deep breath, and then gives a forgiving smile to Taylor, "He does have a point about the swearing. And if you want, I can help you with… I've got some unique perspective on dealing with your particular problem. But anyways… the gym is your's if you'd like to do something. I won't keep you any longer."
"It's a habit," mumbles Taylor, shrugging neutrally about being confronted on the matter, "I'm just used to it…" The teen frowns lightly and says, "And… my particular problem? What do you mean by my particular problem?"
"And how many other kids watched their parents get killed because they happened to give birth to a mutant!" Nick shouts at Connor, not mad at him but mad at the situation, a situation he just can't seem to get over. "And your problem, that you look like a cat." He says flatly to Taylor before turning to storm out of the gym.
Rather than answering Nicholas, Connor instead just shakes his head, and goes through that motion again with his hands pressing against his uniform leggings, "I meant the problem with dealing with people who you think are… assholes. That problem. What you learn here can follow you through to surprising places if you let it. Turning their negative energy against them, like a mental aikido move."
"That doesn't seem like a problem he could help with," mumbles Taylor in response to Nicholas, seeming to take a bit of a defensive posture, and then saying to Connor, "What… like you're saying learning martial arts stuff will help me, what? Magically make a bunch of friends? I'll settle for just being left alone."
Before Nicholas actually leaves he turns and looks to Taylor. "Look, sorry, just..I'm in a really bad place right now and as for the cat comment, I didn't mean anything bad by it." And with that he leaves the gym going off to brood somewhere by himself.
"That's not how I meant it… I meant…" Connor says, but then pauses as Nick makes his apology, "What I meant is showing you how to fend off the jabs and insults. How to navigate around the people who put you down and get beyond it. That's all. But if you'll excuse me… I've got another class… we'll be down in the Danger Room under supervision for an hour. But I'd be happy to give you a few pointers sometime."
Taylor seems a bit surprised by the apology from Nicholas, and then just nods once in acknowledgement of it, before saying to Connor, "Okay, umm, that'd probably be alright, I guess…" The feline student, once alone in the gym, heads over to the equipment room to grab the basketball that Nicholas left, and do much the same as the other teen was doing before.
