Players:
Summary: Meeting Alex in the kitchen.
Date: 04-23-2010
Log Title Too old to be cool.
Rating: R (L)
Xavier Mansion - Kitchen
This kitchen was designed to feed large numbers of people, and looks it with its bright white walls and stainless steel appliances. The stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher are all larger than normal. There is an island with stools around it for people to sit and eat around along with a table for twelve by the windows in back. Along the wall is a hole in the wall looking into the dining room so food can be passed back and fourth. Anything you want to cook or eat in the kitchen you will find the food and supplies to do so.
- This log is unfinished due to having to leave early. If you have the rest, please add?
This isn't normally somewhere Jonothon goes, but today is an exception. Dressed in a snug, body hugging top that covers to his jaw line, it none the less leaves his arms bare. Tight black jeans and heavy boots do nothing at all to lend the thin Brit bulk. That he wears all black, well, that only enhances the look. Appears to be looking for something too. Opens drawer after drawer and begins searching through the contents. Doesn't help that his head and upper chest are surrounded with a bit of fire. Not a full manifestation, for those who know it, but psy-fire none the less dances in his auburn hair, and coils around his shoulders.
Within a few moments, the door bumps open again, Rashmi navigating her way through the kitchen more by memory than actual paying attention, eyes on the thick book in one hand. Which is why it takes a couple steps, before Jono's presence registers, and a couple more for the penny to drop. Looking up from her book, she manages to combine a bright smile, and a puzzled frown. "Hi Jono! Um… what, um… are you looking for?"
Suddenly the gap in the wall between the dining room and the kitchen swings open and a figure squirms through, landing on her hands and making noises which sound very much like superspeed giggling. Thankfully for the sake of decency Chloe happens to have on a black pants & T-shirt combo, rather than one of her usual colourful dresses.
Another day, more boredom to deal with in the school. Alex may not know of the creamy mutant interior to the crunchy brown shell of the facility, but he could use beer, and there's none to be found so far! He enters the kitchen in the middle of trying to find what he's expecting to be a large school cafeteria, but what he finds looks like something far more like someone's house than anything else. "Uh, this where all the food is?" he asks somewhat obviously, even knocking first before entering. "And still no beer."
The voice has Jonothon straightening, but he doesn't have time to answer Rashmi quite yet thanks to Chloe. Fire lashes, lifts and then drops down as the man frowns at the speedster. Since he registers this as kid playing, the Brit turns his attention back to Rashmi. «My phone was stolen.» Said in obvious irritation. «I chalk it up to prank, but I bloody need that thing.» Which has him resuming his search. Another drawer comes up empty, so he closes it and starts anew. «Tracked it to here. Gotta be somewhere close, but it's not set to ring..» Which means no easy finding.
And then there's Alex. Jono eyes the other about the beer comment. «This is a school.» So no beer. A questioning look to Rashmi. Any idea who this guy is? Depending, the Brit may not show up as alive. He has no heart, no lungs, and no life force, yet he gives off heat, and is clearly moving around. His mouth moves as he speaks, even if the words are no audible.
Rashmi returns the questioning glance with a shrug, scootching toward the tables to serve the dual purpose of setting her book down, and getting out of the way. "This is where some of the food is… For cooking classes, and in case the kids feel like making their own instead of the cafeteria stuff - Hi, Chloe, having fun? - But, yeah… too many kids around to make it smart to have beer…" Trotting to the pantry, she starts edging things aside, apparently joining in the search for Jono's phone, still talking over her shoulder. "So um, who are you, mister?"
"Considering it's not so long since I was convinced I'd never do a handstand again? I'm so amazingly happy nothing could ruin my week," Chloe proclaims, moving rather rapidly across the room for a girl who happens to be upside-down. "Although I have just finished a raw coffee and sugar eating competition. So maybe it's just that…"
"Alex Heckler, not a robot, 'cause I've still got a soul and my skin, so technically I'm a cyborg." he introduces, getting all the questions out of the way. Just as he's heading for the fridge, he suddenly swings his head around to stare at Chloe. "The thing in my head's saying Luna Lovegood there is having a myocardial infraction. What the hell is a myocardial infraction?" He nudges his forehead a few times with an index finger. "I wish this thing came with an instruction manual."
«Thanks, gel.» Said warmly to Rashmi, but Chloe distracts again. Jonothon leans his hands on the edges of the drawer he'd been looking through and turns his attention to the speedster. She's her hand back? «…As much as that bloody scares me, the sugar aspect, congrats on your hand.» Then it's back to Alex. The Brit blinks at that introduction. Um.. «What?» Not a robot? Jono straightens, frowning in a puzzled manner. He's neither tall, nor intimidating. Not even with being on fire. «Alright, Rashmi, start looking for the ruby slippers, because we just hit Kansas.» Color Jono confused. Then to Alex directly, «That means hart attack. You alright, mate? Anything we can help you with?»
"O….kaaaay…" While that sort of answer is par for the course after a week or so in Mutant Kigh, usually it's restricted to the students. So it's with a brief, sideways glance to the not-a-robot, Rashmi asks the sixty-four-dollar question. "So… How'd you come by the school, Mr. Heckler…?" Chloe gets a smile and a nod, the redhead clearly quite happy the speedster has her hand back, then once more the Search for Jono's Phone continues.
Chloe sort of cartwheels to her feet, then clutches at her chest and mock-swoons. "Oh no! Help me I'm dying," she gasps. "If I don't get a soda and maybe some chips soon I might die!" Alex gets an odd look. "How do you know for sure on the soul aspect? I mean they haven't proven souls are real yet, so how'd you know you still have one? If you had one to begin with at all."
On the heels of Chloe's little revelation, the door slides open once more, and in comes stroller one of the other new persons on the campus… just a tad senior to Alex by a week or so. Connor is dressed down to a pair of grey sweat pants and a t-shirt that gas a black cat and a white cat in a yin-yang sleeping position, with the url for a website under it. Smiling in greeting, he waves to the others on his way to the fridge, "Wow… busy afternoon… hey Jono. You missed it… last night, I managed to port all the way across the Danger Room…" He stops and then looks back and forth, "What's… going on?"
"I crashed on that long road out in where ever the hell we are, then these two students found me and some guy named Scott said I could stay here for a few days. I think they're gonna send me somewhere so I don't accidentally use these crazy robot powers. Next thing y'know, I'll be spitting lasers or something, it's all a pain in the ass." Alex shakes his head, taking a seat on a stool to stare at Chloe with a perplexed look. "'Course I've got a soul, the asshole who did this told me I did, and I figure he's not lying since I've still got my skin and all. Besides, if I were a robot half this stuff wouldn't seem like gibberish to me. And you're still having a heart attack." he randomly points out.
Glancing up at Connor from Chloe, he tilts his head. "The hell is a Danger Room?"
Suddenly the room is bursting with people. Psy-fire dances with laughter even as the Brit smirks a little. Oy. Not that this is a bad thing, but it's certainly unexpected. «Chloe, let's not even start that topic. Especially not with someone we just met.» That topic is not a good one with strangers. Especially not ones who introduce themselves as not robots. Jonothon would rather not have to rebuild the kitchen. «Chloe's powers only make her look that way, Mr Heckler.» Trying to be polite. Then again, he's not great at that, is he? Sigh. Connor gets a smile, «That's great, mate! Keep it up and you'll get the hang of it.» There's a side-long look to Rashmi, and a private word to her, «Why did it feel like we got dropped in the Twilight Zone?» He doesn't even try and answer about the danger room.
Rashmi's mouth works for a moment, but it seems the redhead can't even begin to sort out how to explain the utter weirdness Alex has just found himself in the middle of. So it's with a helpless shrug to Jono, that she turns back to the pantry, a bag of chips tossed over her shoulder in Chloe's direction. "You know, Connor, I have no idea, and what was *in* that macaroni stuff in the fridge anyway?"
Alas Jono's advice doesn't have time to register before the teenage blond has blurted out another question. "How'd you know he's not lying? Did he show you proof? And if so should I start going to church, because that would take /forever/." She sighs and shakes her head. "And like I said I'm still in dire need of a soda, the taste of coffee in my mouth is vile. Hence the signs of death." Connor gets a wave, before Chloe catches the flying bag of chips out of the air. "Oh and hey, like the new hand? Came with a shiny mp3 player. Life is good."
With a still-puzzled look, he sees the new hand, and his eyes brighten up, and he comes over to look at Chloe's new toy, "Allright… finally. I was getting worried you were going to get too used to being one-handed. So how's it feel?" Keeping her attention there for several moments, before Connor looks up to Rashmi, "Mac and Cheese, Polish Sausage, Mushrooms, some garlic, some cayenne pepper, some garam masala, and some black pepper? I think? I just grabbed some stuff that smelled good and added it in. Got a bit of heartburn from it… but otherwise it was good… OH… and some extra cheese to keep it nice and gooey."
Connor replies to the danger room question, because he was the one who brought it up, "It's a place we get to go to practice… so we can learn to control our abilities responsibly."
"Wait, what?" Alex is utterly confused, by a number of things, and suddenly he's holding his head a bit. "Sorry, stupid A.I is processing a ton of information and I'm still not used to this." He's silent for a few moments, then sits up straight, eyebrow still raised. "This thing is saying that statistically speaking, it's highly unlikely that there would be four people in one school with powers, and that guy just said you have a room specifically for practicing powers, so now it's saying this place is probably some sort of…" He pokes his head a few times, then groans. "I thought about beer and accidentally erased the GUI, now I'm looking at a Guinness website. And stop trying to make me doubt my soul."
Advice ignored, and Jonothon leaves Chloe to the wolves. If she wants to get into that kind of trouble, so be it. She gets to rebuild the kitchen on her own time. While shaking his head, the Brit finishes checking out that drawer and shuts it. Time for the cabinets. He starts with one of the low ones. As Alex starts to freak out some, the Brit rises to his feet. He doesn't chide Connor for the simple fact he's on fire. It's not like he wasn't already obvious when Alex walked in. «Look, mate, would you calm down? You claim to be a not robot, there's an AI in your head, and you're having a fit about us?» Let's put this in perspective here. «This is a private school, and yes, some of us have powers. You have an AI. Can't we all just move this conversation along?» A pointed look to Chloe.
"What the…" Reaching deep enough into the pantry to put the redhead on her tiptoes, there's a rustling of packaging, and a black cell phone is produced. "…Okay this was just going out on a limb, but seriously, in a *cereal box?*" Shaking her head, Rashmi hands the object to Jono. "Pretty sure that's yours, right?" Turning, she gets a good long look at the tableau behind her, and seems to decide to keep her mouth well and truly shut for the moment.
Chloe begins chomping her way through the chips, while holding her new hand out for inspection. "I'm not trying to make you doubt your soul," she points out. "I'm simply pointing out that you should question everything in life. In a round-a-bout sort of way." She beams innocently. "And for the record I was kind of used to it by the end, it had been several weeks after all."
Connor shakes his head once as he looks down and around the hand itself… even touching it once with a finger, when allowed, "Chloe… if you spend all your time questioning everything, you'll never find any answers… all you'll find are more questions."
"I don't care one way or the other if you people have powers. As long as you're not shooting at me or anything, I'm good. Hell, I don't even care if I have powers, I just wanna get this A.I to stop bugging me about saving the world, then I can get a nice gig at Wendy's and a big TV for an apartment. I just wanna keep the good stuff, like moving really fast, if I can ever figure out how to stop running into things every time I try it." Alex states in his lazily underachieving way, just shrugging and looking over to see if anyone's about to cook. "But personally, I don't question robot building magicians. I just thank whatever higher power is watching over me that I'm still anatomically correct. And on that note, that hot Sophie chick single?"
Okay, this guy has obviously lost a cog somewhere. Jonothon stands there looking frowy and puzzled until Rashmi offers his phone. «Brilliant!» Very pleased. «Thanks.» Accepting the thing, he begins to rub it off against his stomach to free it of cereal bits. «Cereal box beats milk jug.» Because that would mean it's destroyed. After that Alex gets his attention. «Mate, I don't know what your problem is, but that car hit must have been worse than you believe. Have you seen Doctor McCoy or Doc yet? They might be able to help.»
Chloe peers at Alex. "How fast are you?" She asks suddenly, six times faster than normal. Then drifting back to normal speed she adds "But a question can often tell you more than an answer can." Her hand feels remarkably realistic, enough that it could probably fool anyone outside her immediate family. "Maybe your A.I. can play movies into your mind directly? Then you wouldn't need a TV at all."
Connor winces a bit at the movies in your head, "Well… if he could do that, I hope he has a DVR function too… imagine being stuck with previews and commercials in your mind? It's all already pervasive and subtle enough WITHOUT having a Coke commercial go off in my head at two in the morning, thanks much. This hand is sweet, Chloe… if I hadn't seen you before, I'd never have known you'd lost it." Patting it once before releasing and then moves off to go grab a snack from the fridge, "Any clue on who stole your phone, Jonothon."
"What car? I accidentally flew from New York and slammed in the middle of the road. There's a big crack out there if you've had to drive from the school recently, I did that." Alex explains, staring at Chloe's hand but not yet questioning what exactly everyone's talking about. "And I don't know how fast I am, I don't really test this stuff. I accidentally ran so fast I couldn't stop, so I went flying into a wall. I just try not to run, no point in making a big hastle out of learning to use this stuff, y'know? I'm not even gonna try to screw with how the things in my head work."
Oh, no car? Jonothon heard road and assumed. Doesn't seem too concerned over it either. He shrugs about both road and phone, even though the phone is tucked into a pocket of his jeans. «No, and not worried about it.» The phone. «One of the younger kids I imagine.» An NPC he means. As for Alex, the Brit eyes the other man with puzzled concern. He's a walking dead man, and yet Alex comes off as very strange. «You know, mate.. you might not want to speak so openly of all this.» A somewhat careful suggestion from the man who's on fire. Yeah, Jono knows the irony here. «Really, we've got a bloke here you want to talk to. His name is Forge. He can help with that trouble.» If Forge can't, then no one can.
Chloe pouts. "Well you're fast enough that six times normal speed didn't make you blink and you didn't even seem to notice the change," she informs sullenly. "Which means you're faster than me. I better increase my workout regime or /everyone/ will be as fast as me." She shakes her head at the sheer woe of it all, then shrugs. "If you don't mind me asking Jono, how old are you? I'm trying to work out if you're allowed to be cool or not."
Connor snorts once, "He's British, Chloe… that makes him cooler than us… and he's got good taste in music too. His room's packed with it… but heh… I had to get out of there before I started trying to reorganize it all by group and genre." Chuckling softly before he takes a couple steps back from the fridge with a container of yogurt in his hands, looks like french vanilla flavored, "Speaking you though, Sir… I was hoping you might help me with something… it has to do with what we talked about last time… but not here."
"I'll ask around. Not sure how I feel about someone doing brain surgery on me, but we'll see." Alex shrugs, then finally just stands and heads for the fridge. May as well. "Six times the what? Don't worry about it, not like I can actually do anything, that'd mean I have to train and do a lot of work." God forbid he have to do a lot of work, cracking that fridge open to start looking around. "And Brits are pretty cool. Anything in here I'm not allowed to eat?"
Asked how old he is, Chloe gets the harry eyeball for a moment before Jonothon smiles. Can't help himself on that one. «Old enough to definitely not be cool by your standards.» Said with wry amusement as Connor defends him. Yeah, and he's soooo broken up by it, can't you tell? /sarcasm «I'm twenty six.» And yes, the British are very cool. Connor gets a curious look. Before Jono answers that though, he motions with a thumb to the fridge. «Help yourself, mate.» Food for plenty. Also gets himself well out of the way. Phone found he walks over to Connor. «Any time you need, mate. I've got practice soon, and Scott'll have my hide if I miss it, so later?»
"Doesn't count if he's too old to be cool anymore," Chloe points out solemnly. "Oh! And eat whatever fellow cyborg, just send the most sugary soda you can find my way. I think I'm starting to crash and burn…" She hmmms at mention of music. "What like? Are we talking Bowie or more Skunk Anansie? Perhaps the Clash?" Mention of twenty six earns Jono a wink. "Then I'll probably be older than you mental age wise by the time I graduate."
Rashmi chuckles, moving away from the pantry to get out of Alex's way. "I'd think twice about the mac and cheese, though… *Masala,* Connor?" Chuckling, she shakes her head, moving over toward the boy. "Have fun at practice, Jono," she calls, turning to Connor. "How're you doing, by the way," she says quietly. "You didn't look like you were doing so good last I saw you…"
Connor looks to Rashmi between slurps of his snack, and replies, "Yeah… you know how there's stages of things you go through… well… I hit denial and grief pretty hard… but I've been edging towards acceptance… it's a bit of an uphill climb. I learned a few things to help put everything in perspective from Robyn… and needless to say… I don't feel so bad now." Pushing up he then smiles at the girl before saying, "Not here Jonothon, Sir… I'd rather when we have a private moment… there's been talk about weirdness and abilities and the like… I'd rather not put another log on that particular fire."
"Hey, I'm twenty-four and I'm freakin' awesome." Alex is quick to defend his brother in senior-citizenship, grabbing a loaf of bread and a few bags of lunch meat, sitting them all on the counter. Then he grabs a few plates, in case anyone else wants some. "Alright, I'm gonna make sandwiches. You guys want anything?"
Jonothon can only shake his head over this all. Kids. «No thanks.» About the food. Not like he can eat. Hands on hips he smirks at Chloe, but returns his attention to Connor and Rashmi. «I was serious about my offer of help. Any time. Just let me know when.» He has a phone and the kids do have the number if they want it. «And thanks, gel.» To Rashmi at long last. «For everything, as usual.» A smile to the girl, and then he leaves the teens with their non robot guest. Yeah, the Brit just hopes they don't year down the kitchen.
Connor finishes off the yogurt in rapid order, then takes the spoon to the sink to wash, dry, and put away… followed by washing the container before dropping it into the recycling, murmuring to himself, "I thought it was good last night, Rashmi… don't knock it until you've tried it." Grinning a bit more before he says to Chloe, "Just don't handstand everywhere all day… people will start to get confused… anyways… I've got a basic physics class to get to… more knowledge to be beaten into my skull. Later folks!" A nod given to Alex before he slips out of the kitchen once more.
Connor pages, "Connor basically would like Jono to monitor his mental state as he activates his ability and uses it on a constant and then increasing level… so he can start gauging his useful limits. :)" to you.
Rashmi chuckles, bobbing her head as Jono takes his leave. "No thanks, Mr. Heckler, I'm all right." As Connor gets up, she moves to the table, picking up her book. "Actually, I should get back. Placement tests to study for, and all… I'm glad you're doing better, Chloe, and it was good to meet you Mr. Heckler!"
"I could eat pretty much everything you've got out, but any spare sandwiches going I'd gladly swipe," Chloe says, moving to grab herself a soda now that she's faced with the overwelming failure of her persuasive abilities. "And Connor… Way too late for that advice." With a shrug she turns to Rashmi. "I know it'll sound strange but I totally feel like I owe you an apology. For a time after the whole maiming thing I blamed people for being in trouble, bitchy of me I know. So I'm sorry and I hope you don't hate me for it."
Alex cracks his knuckles and just nods as people start to leave. "Nice meeting you too… you." He's either forgotten or didn't get her name, but either way, he doesn't seem to be asking again. Suddenly his hands start moving in a blur, making sandwiches at a mindblowingly fast speed. Apparently he's too good to use his powers for world saving, but is good with sandwich making. "Hey, Luna Lovegood, get me a soda too."
