Players:
Summary: Theo vents his fears of being kicked out of Xavier's to Rashmi.
Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010. 9:15pm
Log Title: Unsettled
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Theo and Jaidee's Room
This room is spotless. Every pencil is in place, every sock in line. There is no dust permitted, oh no. Theo's desk is organized to such a degree that everything seems to be painted into place. His bed has a green and blue bedspread, and you could bounce a quarter on it. Decorations are scarce, and no pictures of family or friends are found anywhere.
and
Barnes Academy — Rashmi's Room
A small room, containing a full sized bed, a dresser, and a sink and bathroom. On the walls hang large posters, depicting scenes from the Lord of the Rings stories in such a way as to create the effect of looking out upon various locales of Middle-Earth. On the bookshelf above the desk, a fired-clay gargoyle sits, face turned toward the bedroom door.
It's 9:15pm. Normally, Theo works hard in class. He answers every question, he might be a bit cocky about it while he does. Today has not been like most days, though. The boy hangs his backpack on the hook by the door, exactly where it belongs, and he pulls his phone out of the side pouch. He's tired, and he needs to meet Connor in forty-five minutes, but he needs to get some advice first.
Rashmi's number appears on the phone in his hand, and he hits the send button. While it rings, he pulls another device from the other side of the backpack. One psychic inhibitor. He plays with it in his hand while he waits for Rashmi to answer.
Rashmi, however, is eternally hard at work these days. As she leafs through a Constitutional Law text, her basic Latin primer lying open on the desk beside her, and the gargoyle given her as a birthday present from Robyn keeping watch on the shelf above, she starts as her phone goes off. Her second shock comes when she checks the caller ID, and carefully she puts the phone to her ear, brow furrowed in concern. "…Theo? What's up?"
"Hey Rashmi," Theo answers, trying to sound happier than he is. "Not much," lie, "What's been new with you?" He didn't know it was her birthday recently, but then, he never asked when her birthday was, either. He goes to his dresser, and places the inhibitor on top of it before pulling out the second drawer, retrieving a fresh T-shirt. The perfectly folded shirt is placed on the bed behind him, and he closes the drawer again.
"Not a *whole* lot," Rashmi says slowly, leaning back in her chair. "Reports, homework, intern stuff, birthday last week. Y'know. But um… I'd thought you'd forgotten my number, Theo… Are you sure everything's all right? You, um… don't really sound like it."
"I have everybody's number in my phone," the technopath answers. "Whether they give it to me or not. You never know when you need them. I didn't realize it was your birthday. Happy late birthday! I'll have to get you a late present. Sorry about that." He beats around the bush. He pulls open the last drawer, and out comes a pair of red gym shorts, also precisely folded. He puts them on the bed next to the shirt, and then places the phone on top of the shirt while he bends down to untie his shoes. "Well," he says. "Things usually aren't really all right around here, you know."
"Oh, don't worry about it," comes the amused reply. "Happy birthdays are enough for me. And, well yeah… I mean, less all right than usual. Not-all-right enough to need to, y'know, call me instead of the problem being dragged out after a private blowup?" Her tone, still amused, the pattern recognized and pointed out without any rancor.
"Yeah, I think you could say they're less all right than usual," the boy admits. He pulls off his shoes, and then tucks the laces in before standing back up and taking them to the closet. He puts them in their proper place, and gets his white sneakers out. Once he returns to the phone, he continues. "I think I just made a huge mess at the school. I don't know yet how big, though."
Rashmi blinks, glancing at her work long enough to put a bookmark in each book, close them, and move from desk to bed, dropping down and sitting up against the wall. "What happened?" of course, her first question.
Theo changes from his pants into his gym shorts as he answers. "Well," he starts. "I don't know how much you know about her, but have you heard about Selene, the new JRXTC squad leader? Or, have you even heard about JRXTC?" He tries to first figure out where Rashmi's news date is.
"…We've met," Rashmi says, her tone suddenly, briefly frosty. "I talked to Robyn awhile back, learned what's going on… I'm not *happy* about it, and I think it's a crazy idea, but… I'm getting the feeling that it *is* just a crazy idea, not a dangerous one."
"I think it's a dangerous one," Theo answers, taking his pants and throwing them into the hamper. "She's a telepath, did you know that? There's no way in hell I'm letting a psychopathic killer in my head," he says. "So I called and talked to Tony about borrowing a psychic inhibitor." He lets out a long sigh.
Silence, from the other end of the line. "…Well I guess I can't really blame you there," Rashmi says slowly. "Have you given any thought to taking Addison's mental defense course? It works pretty well for me."
"I'm already in it," Theo answers. "But she's supposed to be 17,000 years old. I think that she's going to be able to crack whatever defense I learn in an 18 week period. It sounded like a good idea to talk to Tony. So I told him what was going on. He's pretty pissed about this, and he said he's going to call and have a talk with the school." The boy pulls his shirt off over his head, and throws it into the hamper before picking up the fresh T-shirt and letting it unfold. "I'm already on Emma's list of people she'd like to see die in slow and painful ways."
"…Wait what." There's a topic change that could give a person whiplash. "…Seriously? Why would she do that?"
"I really pissed her off. I'm grounded and confined to the school grounds until New Year's Eve. If the devil is real, I'm pretty sure she's him." Theo doesn't mention what the issue was causing the grounding. "But, the point is that she already hates me." So killing him might have been a little bit of an exaggeration. Hopefully. "I mean, who're they going to think told Tony about Selene? How many teens at Xavier's School can say that they are friends with Tony Stark? And you get a trillionaire like Tony Stark pissed at you? That is some serious shit. I didn't think he'd talk to them himself. All I wanted was an inhibitor."
"…Hmm." After a moment to think, Rashmi sighs to herself, unbraiding her hair. "Honestly? I'm pretty sure it's going to be okay. *I* don't know what gave Ms. Frost the idea about Selene, and you don't, and Robyn doesn't… Nobody does, really, except Ms. Frost. And when Mr. Stark calls, probably he will too. I don't know what got you confined, Theo… but I trust Ms. Frost and Mr. Summers. So I'm pretty sure that whatever happens when Mr. Stark calls, you'll be okay, you know?"
Theo doesn't sound convinced. He pulls his new shirt on over his head, his hair puffing out as his head pops through. "Emma Frost is evil," he says. "She doesn't care about me, she cares about her own ego. I trust Mr. Summers, but I don't know that she can't just peel him like a grape whenever she feels like it. She's a telepath, too. Which brings us back to the inhibitor. She knows my powers. She knows that I can avoid detection by the security systems at any time I please. So how do you think she's going to be making sure that I'm on campus?"
"…Um. Theo…" Rashmi gets off the bed, taking up her brush and sitting back down. "She's not the only telepath. …Couple of them are on security, actually, including Addison. …And then you've got that Phoenix thing, so I'm *pretty sure* someone's always going to know where you are if they need to. …Also, Forge."
Theo bends down and starts putting his sneakers on. "Yeah, except telepaths won't be able to see me," he obviously has no understanding of the Phoenix Force. "And I can hear anything Forge creates. I'm not trying to avoid it, but that's not what she'll think if I turn it on. She'll think I'm trying to undermine her again. But if I don't, then I have a psychopath reading my darkest secrets."
"Theo," Rashmi says, gently. "I don't blame you for being worried, and I'm not saying you're wrong, but just… a couple points to think about. First off… You don't *know* that for sure. I mean, actual proof that Ms. Frost is messing with your head. Which… honestly? Actually pretty verifiable, all you have to do is talk to Addison. Second… let's say you *are* right anyway, and she does that to everyone. …You *do* realize, that means Selene too?"
"I don't know if she's messing with my head, but I do think she's tracking me telepathically," Theo answers. "She might be messing with my head, but you're right, I don't have any proof of that, and I don't really think she has yet. Though, I don't know if I'd know should she try." He picks the phone back up, and looks at the time before flopping onto his back.
"Well, probably *somebody* is tracking you," Rashmi admits, cradling her phone against her shoulder and working at her hair. "But I mean, it's a *mutant school,* Theo. Nevermind that it's pretty much an open secret, d'you remember that Contest thing? Where people are trying to *kill mutants* for *points?!* And a *cash prize?!* Frankly? I'm *happy* that there's so much security, because the scary part is you might *need it.* Good Lord, there's a camera in our dorm rooms, and I *fully* understand why it's needed, you know?"
"Ugh, the Game. Don't remind me. Makes me want to start a game to kill as many of those bigots as we can. — Don't, I know, I shouldn't talk like that. I guess all I'm trying to say is… I don't wanna do something to get kicked out over this." He stands up, and goes to grab his towel from the closet. Also a perfect fold, of course. "This place is all I got."
"Whatever happens," Rashmi says, letting out a breath to settle herself down, "I don't think that you have to worry about having to leave. You haven't even drugged a *nurse,* Theo, and that never managed to get Lucas kicked out. Also, um… something to think about. You can't go off campus, right? …That means you can't go out of school grounds. …. …Bonus? That means no having to worry about mutant-haters trying to hurt you again, you know?"
Theo knits his brow. "Drugged a nurse?" Theo echoes, getting up to his feet. "I may have to ask him about that." He opens the door to his room. "Well, I don't know if you're right, but you do have a way of making me feel better," the technopath tells the Hindi girl. "I gotta get to martial arts practice with Connor, so I'm gonna have to let you go. Think about cool stuff you want for a birthday present. I'm so sending you one."
Rashmi chuckles quietly. "Tell Connor I said hi, and if you *have* to, I'm a huge epic fantasy nut. Lord of the Rings, Lloyd Alexander… you know. Anyway, Theo?" Setting her brush aside, she takes the phone back into her hand, voice softening a little. "Thanks for calling. Seriously. It's nice to know I *can* help, sometimes. Take care, all right?"
Theo grins. "Okay, I'll see what I can come up with. I'll tell him, and you take care too," he says. He presses the hang up button manually with his thumb, and drops the phone into his pocket before closing the door behind him.