Players: Connor, Heather, Robyn and The Blake Family
Summary: Robyn and Heather were invited to spend a Christmas Eve dinner with Connor's Family. A glimpse into the life outside of the Mansion.
Date: December 24, 2010
Log Title: Turkey and Dressing
Rating: PG
Seattle, WA.
A two-story white house in the Northgate suburb of Seattle, facing a small greenbelt, is the home of the Blake Family. Connor's home for most of his life, and the place that he returns to often thanks to his ability to generate portals.
The air in an otherwise empty young man's bedroom begins to crackle and warp… before a blue mote of light appears in a central point, and then spins out into a six foot tall disc of blue-green energy. As the portal resolves itself, the first of Connor's two friends are able to step through to see a bedroom that is obsessively neat and tidy. A bed with a dark wood frame sits in one corner, away from the windows of the corner that face out to a small green belt. Droplets on the windows tell a story of constant rain and cool weather outside. Besides a computer desk and the bed, the room seems to be predominantly taken up with bookshelves and old books… even the smell of the room is something like a library.
Heather steps through the portal without hesitation, being one of the few people who somehow enjoy the particular teleportation experience. She carries with her a single bag and three wrapped gifts right into the young man's room, glancing about once she arrives. "So many straight lines," she plays on her tape recorder, her own room kept nowhere near as tidy, her being something of a hoarder. She glances out the window, just to see the changes of weather from covering this kind of distance.
Robyn didn't bring much with him but a large bag with a few Christmas Gifts in it. One for Connor, one for Heather and one for Mr. and Ms. Blake. He steps out of the portal and looks around a bit nervously before breaking into a smile. He's a bit happy to get out with Connor after worrying about him for the last few days with his injuries, even if not serious. "Doesn't look that much different from your room at Xavier's, just more books." He says smiling, it's a good thing.
Connor is the last one through the portal as it closes down behind him with that same almost vacuum like sound and then the *WHOOMPH* as it closes down. Almost immediately, there's a trio of cats that appear out from under the bed, staring up at the group. Two are black and silver tabbies with bobtails that stare with the kind of nervousness that cats get with new people… before they bolt. The third is this huge thing that looks like it might have been a wolf in it's past life… but instead is just this mottled brown-grey, kind of striped, kind of spotted Maine Coon. That one just walks up to Robyn, sniffs, and then rubs against him. Outside, Heather can see the weather is wet, but there's no snow or ice to be seen. The maple trees and evergreens living together as what looks like a dog stares up at the room and barks silently from it's territory.
"Excuse me guys…" and as he turns to the door, he opens it up, and yells down, "MOOOOM! I'm HOOOOME!" And from downstairs there's a firm female voice that replies, "Connor! I've told you before, don't yell in the house!"
Heather's focus changes from the window down to the dog, which she makes a squeaking sound at before turning her attention back towards the contents of the room. A hand is reached out towards the staring cats before they run away, and Heather furrows her brow slightly. She puts her bag down, resting the wrapped packages on top of it, in order to gain full use of the recorder. "That's your mom?" she asks, zipping over to try and see past Connor. What do other people's moms look like?
Robyn smiles at Connor's Mom's and laughs a bit. "Only reason I got told not to yell in the house is cause of neighbors." But then Robyn grew up in a tiny apartment. He bends down and starts to pet the cat that rubs against him.
As Heather zips past Connor and looks down at the stairs at a woman who can't be more than five foot tall, with curly and bright red hair that's worn long and down past her shoulders. A face marked with freckles and smile-lines meets the girl, as the woman is in a rather bulky green and white sweater, a pair of stretch pants, and slippers. She immediately says, "You must be Heather… I'm Alexis Blake… I do hope my Son isn't trying to clean up after himself. If he vacuums up there one more time, I think he'll suck up the carpet. Come on down."
Connor rolls his eyes, "MOM!" But then laughs a bit more as he looks back to Robyn, who has the biggest of the trio of felines paying close attention to him, "That's Tank. I don't know how old he is, or how big he is. He was a stray who adopted us." Smirking as he motions with his hand, "C'mon…" and stepping past Heather, he makes his way down to hug his petite mother tightly, the pair just holding each other quietly for a moment.
Heather waves her hand at Connor's mom and plays from her tape recorder, "It is nice to meet you." Her name already having been spoken, her standard introduction is not given. "No, it doesn't look like he's cleaning yet…" she notes, looking back to the room, before taking a few steps down the stairs and watching Connor and his mother hug each other, head tilting slightly at the display of affection before she looks back at Robyn.
Robyn puts down his bag and picks up Tank, since he doesn't have any pets he's going to love on Connor's. "I like him." He says with a smile. He follows Connor out of the hall and smiles while still holding the big cat. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Blake. I'm Connor's friend and roommate Robyn." He says finally putting the cat down. "You're cat is a sweet heart." He says before getting back up. "Thank you for having us over for Christmas Eve."
Alexis Blake nods to both, and then says something quietly to Connor and sends him on his way into the kitchen as she then brings you both down into the living room. There's a HUGE three piece sectional couch that looks like it could suck people in across from an entertainment center that looks to be set up with some of the latest in tech, wires sticking out in odd places, and two girls playing on a Kinect on a dance game. They pause it as Mom comes in and introduces them, "These are Connor's sister… this is Shawna…" The older of the two who nods and then looks bored and away. "And this is Ariel…" Who smiles at Heather and immediately says, "Why do you talk through a recprder?"
The mother of the household makes a scolding 'shssh' at Ariel and then replies, "It's nice to meet you both. Connor's talked a lot about you both at our Friday dinners. He's quite taken with your father actually, Robyn… impressed at his talent. And Heather… be careful, I think he's a little sweet on you." And in unison, you can swear, both Connor from the kitchen, and his sister right there both chime in, "MOM!"
Heather fidgets slightly and blushes at the last comment, and making her blush is usually a rather difficult feat, playing on her tape recorder, "Well, I will keep that in mind." She glances towards Ariel and notes, "I speak with a tape recorder because I live in a faster world. Everything I say is on fast forward. The recorder is to slow it down." Leaving unsatiated curiosity about is not really her style. She looks between the sisters and makes a couple of soft chirps, just repeating so she can remember their names.
There is a wave to Connor's sisters as he smiles. "Nice to meet you Shawna and Ariel." Then he blushes a bit as Connor's Mom states that Connor's talked about his Dad. "Oh..yeah…my Dad's a musican. Noone famous but he's is talented. He does a lot of weddings and stuff and does shows as a cover band sometime." Robyn coughs at her comment about Heather and runs his hand through his hair. "Um…I got a Christmas present for you and Connor's Dad Mrs. Blake." He says trying to change that subject.
Connor's mother is reaching over to accept the gift and has a look of thanks on her face, just as the youngest member of the clan says to Robyn, "Shawna thinks you're cute!" To which the aforementioned Shawna huffs out, "I will -MURDER- you!" And proceeds to chase her sister up the stairs in a flurry of giggles and thrown threats, their mother yelling back, "Girls! No blood on the carpet!" But then sighs, "Sorry… they're usually a little better behaved than this. Thank you for the present." And taking it over into the dining room area, you both can see a large tree, fully decorated, and many presents settled out under it. From your new vantage points you can see Connor talking with two older men. One is a rather thin, spindly looking man who couldn't be more than five and a half feet tall, with mousey brown hair, and a pair of glasses on, with an apron. The other… a fix foot three man with slightly red hair and speaking with a Russian accent.
Heather takes a quick step aside as the girls run by. Unnatural speed saves her from a collision with the two combatative sisters, yet another boon of being a mutant. She plays with her tape recorder and looks up the stairs for a few moments before she says, "I brought a gift too, but I left it upstairs." Though getting a gift for Connor's parents was more of an afterthought, she did have something she thought would be an appropriate gift. Is that another parent over there? Heather, still curious about such appearances peers over to the two men that Connor is talking to.
Robyn blinks a few times and glups not really sure how to react to that. The present he hands Connor's Mom isn't wrapped cause it's a hand made ceramic vase. It's about a foot and a half long, thin with imprints of varioius leaves on the outside. It has a blue-green glaze on it and dark green has been used to put more of a contrast on the pattern on the vase. Inside it's filled with a half dozen red roses, babys breath and other greens giving the arrangement a bit of a Christmas feel. He looks over to see Connor talking to two men he assumes are his father and Uncle Yuri but doesn't go over there yet. "Is there anything I can help you with Mrs. Blake?"
Alexis takes up the vase and smiles at Robyn, before leaning in to kiss his cheek, "Oh this is gorgeous… thank you. And the pattern is so beautiful… I'll make sure to have flowers back in it come springtime." And with that she goes off to arrange it on the table while saying to Heather, "That's allright Heather, just bring it down and leave it under the tree. Christmas is Daniel's holiday… I'm not supposed to touch anything." To which she laughs a bit, but there's a glimmer of the control freak in those eyes, and in how she fusses with the arrangement. Upstairs, you both can hear some thumping and another squeal, footsteps going back towards the stairs, and someone saying loudly, "Mom! Shawna tried to hit me!" "No fair hiding behind mom!"
The spindly-looking man comes out and wipes his glasses before looking back and forth at you both, and then grins, "Hello there… like the lady said… I'm Daniel. And this… you'll probably note… is Mister Yuri Ivanov." To which the large Russian man laughs and then adds, "Probably he says… PROBABLY. Yes, perhaps I am actually the Archangel Gabriel… or I am perhaps your own Al Gore in hiding." From the rear of the formation, Connor groans and replies, "You guys want the tour, or do I just let my family inflict themselves upon you?"
Heather nods at Connor's mother's instructions and seems about ready to run back up the stairs before the spindly man appears. Examining a parental unit takes priority over getting the wrapped gift, it seems. Since introductions are given, she gives her standard intro to the men, "I am Heather Brown. Codename: Timeslip." She turns her attention back to Connor and plays to him on the tape, "You have a very nice family." Her lips quirk up slightly at that.
"My Mom and Dad kind of do a combined effort at Christmas, which is interesting with our kitchen being so small." Robyn looks around and starts to look at the Christmas tree as he hears Connor's sisters fighting. "Connor, do you sister's ever gang up on you?" He asks before holding a hand out to Daniel Blake and Mr Yuri Ivanov. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Blake and Mr. Ivanov. I'm Connor's roommate, Robyn." Even though they probably know that. "Both sound good Connor."
Connor laughs as he replies, "All the time… Ariel wants to go to Xavier's… and mom and dad are trying to convince her not to douse herself in something to try and turn into a mutant… not that she isn't one already." And from upstairs, everyone can hear, "I HEARD THAT!" Followed by the sounds of shuffling feet as the girls come back down, seeming to agree to finish things with a dance-off. Heather's introduction bring Connor's father up a bit short, but the Russian man laughs a bit, and makes no comment. Both men do shake Robyn's hand, their grips actually fairly strong.
The Afternoon is both Heather and Robyn getting the tour of the house and the backyard… this house a two story affair from the 70s, but nice and sturdy with a large yard. The bedrooms are all upstairs, and everything else seems to be on the main floor. Yuri accompanies for most of the tour, asking you both questions about the school and of course Connor, offering up some stories of taking him camping for the first time, and the disasters that occurred. You are both exposed to one of the more interesting Blake Family Traditions. What they call 'Turkey Nuke'. Which is to say doing a Turkey… frying it inside the bottom half of what you swear is a repurposed bombshell! It seems to be a family joke to count down until a rope lowers the turkey into the home-made fryer… and you're let in on the gag. Four years ago, Connor's father did this for the first time, and the resulting pillar of flame brought the fire department! In subsequent years, the technique was refined, but as a joke, they hand-built the fry Hand-built the fryer in the shape of a bomb.
Once the pre-dinner festivities have settled, the three are let to go back up to Connor's room for a bit, with an offer to take them to the mall or a movie in a little while if they desire. But even through the walls, all can hear the activities going on downstairs.
Heather tends not to do the handshake thing, so she just watches Robyn shake the men's hands with a kind of blank expression, before she replies to Connor, "Well, if she is a mutant, I'm sure she would like it." Joke, right over her head. She follows along with the tour, answering all questions asked of her quite happily in her strange way, and she seems delighted at the dinner display. Repeating an earlier sentiment, as they ascend to Connor's room, Heather notes, "Your family is very interesting. I like them."
After the tour, Robyn is sitting on Connor's floor with his gifts for Heather and Connor next to him. One is mishapen squishy looking package and the other looks like a long box. "I like your family too, it must have been really nice growing up here." He says as it's really different from his home. "Now I'll have to sneak coming home with you on weekends once in a while for dinner." He says with a chuckle.
Connor flops on his bed a moment and stares at the ceiling as he says softly to you both, "They are nice… but it's hard to appreciate without the perspective. Everyone here knows what everyone else is doing. Part of the private talk is apparently Yuri and Dad saw what happened on a Youtube video… they wanted to know if I was allright." Pushing up and over, he drapes himself on the bed in time to see Tank arrogantly shove the door open, and this time assault Heather with feline love as the young man continues on, "You're always welcome to dinner… just got to give me fair warning. Thanks for coming… and I'm sorry I've been so down and out the last few days."
"Well I've been worried for both you and Rashmi when I saw that." Robyn admits as he picks up the long box and and plops it next to Connor on his bed. "That's your Christmas present." He says with a smile. "And thanks for inviting us, I'm having a good time. It's so different from where I grew up. I'm kinda jealous of your yard." He says with a laugh as he picks up the other present and hands it to Heather. "Merry Christmas Heather."
Heather sits down on the floor as the cat comes towards her. She is very careful with the feline, gently petting Tank and mostly trying to let the cat pet himself. "I have to admit, I have been concerned. That whole thing looked rather a mess." She takes the gift presented to her and, occupied by the cat that she is petting, gestures towards the two remaining gifts on her case, one of them already having been offered to Connor's parents, a portrait of their son in Heather's unusually colourful style, the only time she heard his actual voice. Both gifts are labelled with their recipients. "Thank you," she says once finished gesturing, looking over the package, "And Merry Christmas."
Connor very carefully rolls up the long sleeves he's wearing so the pair can see the series of kinetic bruises that look like someone hit his arm with a stick, and then puts them away, "I can stop physical matter, but for some reason, internal damage carries through the fields… but better just bruises than what happened to some." After that he takes up his present, and then sets it on the bed, adding Heather's to make it a stack, "So…" And he looks back and forth between the pair as if trying to figure out what to do now. Then he rubs the back of his neck and starts chuckling, "What are three socially awkward mutants going to do for the few hours it's going to take for the turkey to be done and dinner to be set up?"
Heather crosses her legs and says, "I'm not that socially awkward." The lies! The deceit! She looks over the package that Robyn had previously given her even more, prodding it as if trying to figure out what it might contain. She does not shake it, though, since she's had previous gifts that were fragile. "We could play a game," she suggests, that being one of her go to suggestions.
Robyn winces as he sees the bruises on Connor's arms and chews on his lip a bit. "Well…what is there to do? Is it still raining out?" He says looking out of the window to check. "I'm with Heather, we could also play a bored game or some video games with your sisters or something." He doesn't know what Connor has to do here. "Or you can open your Christmas presents." He says with a chuckle.
