Players:
Summary: Another late night up, One attempting to avoid thinking, the other deep in thought. And they are shared.
Date: May 2, 2010
Unwinding
Rating: PG-13
Xavier Mansion - Recreation Room
What was once the Parlor has been turned into a Recreation Room for the students. A nice plush carpet meets the light blue walls giving it a homey feel. A pool table at one end, a foos ball table at the other, and entertainment center with video game systems, movies, and of course, cable TV. Big comfy chairs and couches surround a coffee table for comfortable loafing. Long glass windows with a pair of French doors line one side of the room bringing in plenty of light during the day. The main rule in here is to clean up after yourself.
It's O-Dark-Early in the morning… sane people are in bed… but the glow of a television can be seen from the Rec Room. In front of it, on the floor, and dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt is Connor… who is currently involved in a late night game of what looks to be Borderlands. Actually humming the theme to himself a bit, the older student rests with his back to the foot of the couch, with the kind of cervine stare that one gets after being way too involved in something for a while.
Preceding Kael into the room is a rather odd smell of food. That's what you get when you make an Albacore Tuna and Mozerella Cheese quesadilla. The aerokinetic looks at the screen for a second before he moves over towards one of the chairs. To watch Connor play for the moment. Depending on if he gets to a safe zone, he'll speak up soon enough.
It's not a safe zone… it's Death… in the form of a midget with a shotgun that runs right up and tags him as he's turning around. Attempting to kill the midget brings a grunt of frustrations… and then respawn to the last point. With that, he drops the controller in his lap, and leans back with a groan before Connor says, "That was graceful… smells good… what time is it?"
Kael looks up with a hm? A mouth full of his food before he swallows it and says, "It's uh… getting close to like two in the morning actually." He looks up at the clock. "Alright, to be precise. one thirty." He looks back over at the game. "What class are ya?"
Connor blinks in surprise and says, "One… Thirty…" As if the time hadn't occurred to him until this point, and he suddenly winces, "Oh… right… I'm playing a soldier. I've done all four classes, and while I like the Hunter for the long-range accuracy, I prefer the Soldier with it's turret and group ammo regeneration." His voice almost mechanical for several moments, and then finally he reaches down to a slice of pizza on a plate that looks like it was cooled off an hour ago, "Kael, right? The gym… sparring… and you stopped by. Wind."
Kael nods a bit. "Yup. Wind controller. Probably gonna be everyone's best friend this summer." He takes another bite of his food before he lets out a bit of a coughing laugh. "I always liked the Hunter. Sniping was always fun. Specially with the electricity buff on things."
Connor chomps down on his pizza, and then he sighs once and rubs at his eyes with his other hand, "Sorry… look… don't tell anyone I spaced out like that… it only happens when I'm stressing badly. I don't think they'd get it. Thanks for… waking me up, by the way. I'd probably have stayed here until morning if I wasn't careful." Another bite, then another, and the slice it gone, and he grabs a second, devouring it with the same alacrity.
Kael hehs a bit, and waves a hand. "Don't worry about it. Everyone has their own way of dealing with things." He chows down on one of the quarter slices of his food and he nods a bit. "And don't mention it. I've spent a night or two down here too. Fell asleep watching a movie both times."
Connor moves to sit up on the couch then, picking up a glass with something caffiene-related that he chugs down, and then the empty glass is left on the plate, "So… down this way for the same thing? Something to get your mind off something else?" Settling back a bit with a sigh, he closes his eyes and mumbles out, "Or were you invariably attracted to the sound of violence?"
Kael smirks a bit. "Couldn't sleep really. Thinking about a few too many things that I had to think of today." He takes another bite of his plate and then holds the entire piece in his mouth before holds his hands on either side of his plate; a small swirl of wind lifting it before Kael takes another hold of it. Setting the piece down before he speaks, "Mainly on how to push myself. But yeah, I guess I did come to let my mind rest."
Connor flicks his eyes towards Kael a moment as he reaches down for the controller, and shuts down the game, leaving his profile up on the screen, "Why do you need to push yourself? I mean c'mon… you've got your whole life ahead… you're about my age… so don't stress whatever it is too much." Stretching out after that, he groans, pushing his legs into the air, "Three hours… sitting in the same spot. Ugh."
Kael laughs a bit. "I control wind. And I can only do so little with it. There're /so many/ things that I can do with it! I haven't even scratched the surface." There's a bit of glee in his voice talking about that, and then he smirks. "Try flying around for that long, ya kinda go numb from the chill at times."
Connor smiles back, then looks down at himself a moment, "Lucky you… I wish I could think about my powers like that…" Then he looks back up towards Kael, and then gives a slightly… troubled look, "I don't like using mine… amazing as it is… because it's going to drive me insane… at least that's what the initial tests have told them… the big brains… the real smart people." Then he looks back towards the screen, "I mean… you're really, really lucky in that. A whole world of discovery… and I'm afraid of walking the same road."
Kael grins slightly. "I'm sure as you walk down that road, you're going to be able to control it. To keep things on a level ground." He looks over at the screen and then says, "And not everything the big brain people say come true."
Connor clenches his jaw and then for some reason he clenches his hands… before taking a deep breath through his nose, and then out his mouth, a biofeedback cycle that calms him down some, "I suppose…" Shaking his head, and rubbing at one eye he continues on, "I'd like you to be right… maybe I'd stop stressing… stop letting things get to me around here… but… I don't understand this world. Hell… I barely understand the world as it is."
Kael snickers a bit. "Go with the flow. Be like the wind and let things roll off of you." Easy to say for the one who controls it. At the last comment, Kael lets out a soft heh, "I don't understand it either. Things happen, and all I can do is look at it in confusion. Then make a stand, or let it go on by."
Connor blows a breath out, "Woof… go with the flow… it's harder to do than you'd think." Finally he stands up and does another stretch, then reaches down and grabs at his ankles, "So how long have you been here? How did you deal with everything that's happened here? I know… I've asked others… but still… it's nice to get a perspective."
Kael hehs. "It's a bit of a change of pace for some people, yeah. But, it's a good pace to go by I think." He takes another bite as he thinks of how to answer the second question probably. "I've been here for about… a year now. And during that time I've just learned how to deal with things really. Once I've gotten the ability to fly, I spend most of the time in the sky when I want to think about things."
Connor blinks a few times as he turns to look at you, "You've been here a year, and with all the stuff that's happened… you just go with the flow like that? Wow…" And shaking his head, he rubs the back of his neck and looks down again, "You just get up in the sky, and let it all go… again… I envy you… I mean… you've got something philosophers and scholars have sought for centuries…"
Kael shakes his head. "I don't let it all go when I'm up there. I'm thinking about what I can do to change things. What I can do to let others make it through." He sets the plate in his hands on the floor and then sits crosslegged in his seat. "I've thought many time to go back. But everytime I do, I remember what happened back home. And it's better to stay here…"
Connor tilts his head almost cattishly, "What happened at home? I guess I'm not up to speed." Moving back to his spot, he sits down once more, crossing his own legs under him, "You mind clarifying?"
Kael lets out a breath of his own as he glances up at Connor before he just glances over at the TV. "Let's just say my father and I aren't on speaking terms. More on physical terms."
Connor reaches for the remote, and turns the television back over to the cable, leaving it on early-early morning anime on some channel, "Allright then… well…" And he smiles, "I suppose I've been bugging you enough… anything you want to talk about, or need help with then? I've got a bit of a creative mind…"
Kael blinks a bit as the anime comes on the screen, and he rubs at the back of his head. "Well…" He looks over at Connor and says, "What exactly are your powers? And how're they gonna make you go insane?"
Connor rubs his hands together, and smiles a bit, "Allright then… here's the fun shit…" Clapping them together before settling them on his thighs once more, "I have a permanent tie to a place called the Negative Zone, and through that connection something called the Distortion Field. Currently, I can teleport… which how it's been explained is I sort of drop out of reality, slip in the space between in that Distortion Field… and then come back out. We don't KNOW how far I can go, but right now it's just line of sight. I can also use that energy to put myself in a field that makes things that have less mass than me pass through… and finally… when I put the field around my hands…" And instead of talking, he demonstrates by bringing his hands up close together, and there's a ripple in the fabric of reality between them…
Kael just blinks, staring at Connor as he explains. Then the ripple effect happens and all that Kael can think to say is "… Cool." He tilts his head a bit before he blinks a bit more. "So, you can teleport like Nightcrawler but in a more badass way."
Connor points his hands upwards, and you see that ripple fly forth like an invisible cannonball, the distortion in the air until it splashes weakly against the reinforced ceiling with a *THOOM* like someone banging down hard on something. Shaking both his hands like they'd gone numb, he releases the power, but you can still see it swirling in his eyes, "Problem is… the Negative Zone… does things to people. Spikes in negative emotions… some feelings of paranoia… occasionally hearing or maybe even seeing things. Also… what if something connected to there… tries to use me to come here… that's the lowdown… what I was told… What do you think?"
Kael smirks softly. "Well, if something does try to use you to come here. I don't think that ya can use it when you're suffocating. Right?" The thoom did impress him a bit as he continues on, "And, now I see the lowdown." He lets out a soft laugh before he lets out a yawn.
Connor watches you for a long moment, just staring… before he says, "What're you laughing about?"
Kael waves a hand. "Something that came up in my head. But, how about this. If something does try to do that to you, and I'm around. I'll make sure that it won't be able to come out. Alright?"
Connor shakes his head, and then motions to you with both hands, "No… c'mon… out with it! Please… I'm willing to listen to anything!"
Kael smirks. "It's just that your powers seem to bring out the negative emotions to people." He leans back in the chair with a warm, yet sleepy, grin. "And I seem to be one of the happier people here."
Connor smiles again, and then shakes his head, a laugh bubbling up just a bit, before settling back into a bit of a chuckle, "You know something… in a completely messed up way… that's actually kind of reassuring. It's… it's supposed to affect me… maybe people I teleport with me… but hey… if you can smile about it… so should I. Thanks."
Kael grins. "After what I had to go through at home. I figured that if I smile through things, and laugh things off. Other people can to." Even if Kael does have his down moments once in a while. He stretches his arms up towards the ceiling with a soft yawn.
"Hey…" And finally a yawn comes off of Connor as well, "Cut that out… it's contagious…" But then he comes over to Kael, and in a bit of a rare gesture he gives the other young man a hug around the shoulders from behind, "Thanks… I've been having this stuff run around my head the last couple weeks… talked with a few people… and every time I think I have a handle on it, something else happens. I really need to stop… obsessing…"
Kael smirks as he leans into the hug a bit, too tired to do much of anything else for a moment. "The next time I see you obsessing over something, I'm going to blast you into the lake. That sound fair?"
Connor hmphs and pats Kael's shoulders, "You blow me off my feet, I'll just teleport where I can land dry… c'mon… I'm not an idiot…" Winking once, before he moves back over to pick up his plate and glass, "Just remember to wash your stuff when you're done allright? And turn off the TV?"
Kael smirks. "And then I'll blast ya again. Sooner or later, you will get wet." He smiles wide before he settles back down into his chair, leaning down to pick up his plate to finish off his food. He mumbles a 'yes mother' to the last two questions in a teasing tone.
Connor almost makes a rude gesture towards you, until he replies, "Who knows… might be good practice… I mean… you're right… eventually you'll get me wet. And maybe I'll get YOU wet back." Waving it off as he walks towards the door once more, "Yeah yeah yeah… later…"
