Players:
Summary: Two friends have a chance meeting on the school grounds.
Date: January 20, 2010
Log Title Wasting Time
Rating: PG.
Xavier Mansion - Boathouse on the Dock
A wooden dock stretches fifteen feet out into the water. Students can fish from the dock, or dive off if they like. A few rowboats, canoes, and paddle boats are tied to the docks for the students to use. A boat house where students can find paddles and life jackets sits at the edge of the water.
It's right after dinner but it's not like Robyn ate, he hasn't eaten much lately. He's standing on the dock looking at the boat house, the door has been haphazardly put back on but it still shows where it was ripped off it's hinges. He's wearing a black t-shirt over a pair of Xavier's Sweat Pants and is holding his broken, casted, arm to his chest as he just stares at it. He's gotten some sleep so he doesn't look as tired, but he still doesn't look great. He's even got a bit of growth on his face around his upper lip and chin, the only places he can grow facial hair at the moment.
Dallas comes down the path to the boathouse, laptop under one arm. He's not sure he can get wifi out here but he's /never/ able to look things up in the dorms or school without somebody interrupting. His demeanor is calm, even a bit self-satisfied, as though he's had an ego boost after whatever it was that flattened him when he was captured. Still, he hasn't been sleeping much at all and it shows. He's dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt and a pair of black vans. A careful observation will show a few specks of what are almost certainly dried blood on the t-shirt and the upper leg of the jeans on the same side. When he sees Robyn in the boathouse, he pauses a moment and then shrugs. Obviously reaching some internal decision. He enters and leans on the door frame. "Hey."
Robyn turns, startled, and looks at Dallas. "Oh, hey…hi." It seems like he's surprised. He was deep in thought and kind of in a world of his own. "What are you doing down here?" He asks sounding a bit surprised since not many people come down here, especially in the winter but then it is warm out right now.
Dallas shrugs faintly. "Same thing you are, I guess." He pauses and says, "Ah, hey, have you met the two new guys yet? The, um, robot and the other one? The guy who thinks he's an alien?" His tone isn't quite casual as he asks, because he's curious over the whole Robyn/Richard situation and has some ideas what's up there, but he also doesn't want to make his friend even more self-conscious or disturbed.
Robyn shrugs. "I dunno, it was more, this was the last place I saw Jordan before he changed, sorry…" He knows it's stupid but he couldn't be inside anymore. "No, I've been avoiding people for the most part Dallas. I just don't really want to be around that many of the kids. I feel like I'll get too many questions or something." Like what happened when you were taken and are they really evil? And other stuff other teens usually ask. "I…did something last night..something I don't know if I should have or not."
Dallas nods and starts to pursue the topic of the new guys and then closes his mouth as Robyn continues. He slides down and sits Indian-style on the wooden planks of the dock with the boneless grace of youth, putting the laptop aside and well away from the edge. Leaning back on his hands he looks at Robyn and says, "You looking for advice? Or company?" He seems equally comfortable at the idea of knowing or not knowing, as Robyn pleases. Then again, he's not a guy who talks about his own feelings so he doesn't press others to do that.
Robyn shakes his head and closes his eyes. "I don't know Dallas, I kinda wanna be alone but you're okay. It's just…I want to hate him so much and I can't. It bothers me that I can't hate him, it bothers me so much I just want to break stuff. I have already broken a few of my own statues in frustration and I don't want to break anymore of them but I don't know how to deal with any of this."
Dallas shrugs and says, "You're not the loner type, Robyn. It's not good for you." He speaks with the ruthless frankness of a person who lives in and and indeed on the top of the adolescent social hierarchy. "And hitting stuff is a good thing. It's what I do." He pauses and says, "I took Trey and Mik hunting in the city today. We got a few demons. And met a super-powered bum. Don't ask. But the point is that we kicked some ass and proved we could. It's, ah, what's the Oprah word? Empowering." He shrugs, "If you want me to come hold the heavy bag for you or pad up and take some hits, I can do that."
"I don't know what I am, I usually do fine on my own. I didn't feel so…dependent on others but lately, I hate this!" Robyn says leaning against the wall with a sigh. "I saw Nathaniel last night, I had to see him." He says before the subject is changed and Robyn looks up. "You went back out there? I'm glad you guys are okay and did something. And I dunno, I'll wait until my arm isn't broken to hit a punching bag."
Dallas arches his eyebrows and says, carefully, "Did it help? 'Cause that's why I had to go back." He pauses and swallows. After that he adds, "I had to do what I did too. Or go home. Because I was afraid I couldn't and I needed to know." Which is a rare moment of personal sharing from Dallas. And something he'd probably deny if Robyn mentioned it to anybody else. He smiles faintly, "Dude. It was …sweet. I was on my game and Mik and Trey were awesome and followed my lead. It was like …." He shrugs and says, "… like being the quarterback again. You know, with more blood and craziness." And then on an entirely different topic. "You could /kick/ the bag. You'd have to watch your balance, but still."
"Of course they followed your lead, you have this thing about you Dallas that people want to follow you. That they want to be your friend. You're probably a born leader." Robyn says honestly as that's his opinion of his friend. He just shrugs. "But, I'm glad you were able to do that cause I wouldn't want you to go home. To be honest, if my family didn't live in Brooklyn, I'd probably go home, get away." At the kick the bag comment Robyn smiles. "Sometimes I wish I could kick someone else but anger isn't a way to deal with problems."
Dallas grins at Robyn and shrugs off the 'leader' bit. It's flattering but you're not supposed to let things like that go to your head. "Oh, it really, really /is/ the way to deal with some problems. We get mad for a reason, Robyn. Because anger gives us strength and power and shuts down that little 'you can't do that' or 'that hurts' voice in the back of our heads. I'm not saying that you use it for /everything/ but anger … it gets me through a lot of stuff. Just by letting me bulldoze past the problem." He shrugs. "Maybe not your way of handling things, but it works."
Robyn shakes his head but doesn't go into why. "Not my way of handling things." It's just you bulldoze past it and it never gets solved, it's just wreckage behind you that builds up until it comes crashing down in his opinion. "I just wish I could sculpt, ya know? That usually helps me clear my mind or…other stuff, but it's like I can't do anything I need to do. Though, Addison did offer to help me forget it."
Dallas nods and says, "Yea, me too." He pauses and asks simply, carefully, "Why did you say no?" His tone and expression are neutral, not showing any judgment there, just curiosity and a bit of concern.
"Cause what's the point of pretending it didn't happen? It did. Also, I told you it happened along with a few others, what happens if you brought it up and I didn't remember? Or Nathaniel freaked out when he saw me and I didn't know why?" Robyn says as Nate did freak out when he saw him. "It's better to try to deal with it now, get over it now, than wait till later. I think it'd be easier though if Jordan were around. If I needed someone to…be close with, he was there. Sorry Dallas but I'm not going to ask you to cuddle with me." He says joking.
Dallas nods at Robyn's logic. Different paths to the same destination. At that terminal sentence, his shadow flickers out of the deep shade of the boathouse and boils around him like a seething photo-negative of the sun for a second, wild tendrils and spikes and jutting thorns of shadow clinging around Dallas's blacked-out body. And then it's gone, visibly peeling away, with shards and bits slithering and scurrying away like rats and snakes and spiders to rejoin the darkness that spawned them. His face is pale and his shoulders stiff. After a moment he smiles faintly, apparently entirely unaware of what just happened and says, "Yea. Good idea." With that he scoops up his laptop and stands. "I missed dinner. You eating anything?" And yes, that is a total conversation shift in both tone and substance.
Robyn goes wide-eyed, blinks, and stiffens against the wall. He has no clue what he said or what happened to Dallas to make him do that. "You okay?" He says sounding a little scared and worried. He just shakes his head at the question. "I'm not hungry. I just…haven't been hungry." He says with a nervous tone to his voice, though the question is, when is the last time Robyn ate?
Dallas blinks at the question and says, "Fine. Why?" And then, giving Robyn a grin, "You can keep me company while I eat then. Hey, have you tried my trail mix pizza? It's like /two/ days worth of food on a rice cake!" He seems to assume that Robyn is going to come with him by the way he stands by the door and waits.
Robyn doesn't move, not right away. "You're shadow just went nuts Dallas." He's not ignoring that, his friend might be and he might accept that his friend denies a lot but with the power just going loose like that, he can't ignore it. "For like a second you went all black and..and..I don't know." Though he does take a cautious step forward.
Dallas blinks and shrugs, given Robyn a surprised expression. "It does that once in a while. It doesn't mean anything. Sorry if it scared you. He's pretty much harmless, though, as far as I know. He's not actually /solid/ until we're together." And yes, he is personifying that shadow. "Aaanyway. Food. Kitchen. Fuel."
Robyn has never seen Dallas's shadow do that before so he's not buying it but he just shakes his head with disappointment. There's no way he's going to get Dallas to try to deal with his problems and he's kind of worried that his friend keeps hiding them. He just doesn't want to press anything. "Yeah, I guess food is good, for you. I just haven't really eaten in a while, maybe I'll get some water. So…you said there are new students?"
Dallas looks sideways at Robyn and grins faintly at the 'for you' part. He's pretty sure if he puts food in front of Robyn, instinct will take over. Or at least that's the way it works for his younger siblings when they don't want to eat. He nods and says, "Cool." And then, "Um, yea. There's one of them that you kind of need to look up. Richard. I think you two might, ah, want to get to know each other."
Robyn gives Dallas a confused look at that. "What, why?" He doesn't need Dallas playing match-maker for him since he knows that Jordan is coming back. Or he's just keeping up hope blindly, like some other friend with a demon boyfriend. "So what's up with this Richard guy?"
Dallas shakes his head and says, "I don't want you to go into with my ideas in your head. I just think that you need to at least /see/ the guy. You'll understand what I'm talking about when you do." He's trying not to put himself in the middle of a situation that he doesn't really have a road map for. He starts walking towards the mansion. "Even for this place, it's a little weird."
Robyn nods slowly not sure at all what Dallas is talking about. "Okay…is he really that weird looking or something?" He's at a total loss about what it could be as he heads up to the school with Dallas. "Have you seen Addison? He looks like crap. He's gonna wear himself out, I swear." Robyn visited him today as well for his daily 'mental feeding'.
Dallas nods and says approving, "He really stepped up. Mental first-aid, shielding, all that stuff with no rest and no break. Hard core. Even with that hair." Apparently, 'really stepped up' is a very high compliment for Dallas, considering the way he emphasizes it. "I wonder if they are going to give him a break at some point?" And then, glancing sideways, "Of course, he's too busy to worry about detentions right now, too." And changing the topic yet again, "As for Richard… just meet him. You'll see."
"Ooookay." Robyn says with a shrug and just goes with it. "Yeah, I think it's kind of been forgotten that I punched….him." He doesn't want to think about Lucas. "I don't know, but if it wasn't for him, he mentally protected me and once this is all done I'm going to get him to teach me how to mentally protect myself. You know he's been teaching me a lot with my powers since they're all psychic based. And I rely on him pretty much everyday."
Dallas nods and says, "Good idea. The mental shielding that is." He seems content to hold his peace as they walk back, just enjoying the night and the company while he can. And then he yawns broadly. Well, he'll get a couple of hours of sleep tonight, maybe.
Yawns are contagious and Robyn can't help but yawn himself since he's gotten a few hour of sleep. "Maybe I'll just down a few painkillers tonight, see if they have something to help me sleep, and just try to sleep all day." He says running a hand through his hair. "So do you think they'll have any food left or are you gonna have to try to cook something yourself?"
Dallas grins and says, "Trail pizza. The most perfect food ever developed by man. Trust me on this one." Of course, given that it's his own invention, he might be biased. He looks sideways at Robyn and asks, "You can take those? They gave me some but I haven't taken them. I kind of want to be able to be alert." Which is probably pretty telling in it's own way. "So, anyway, food!"
"I have a broken arm and a few broken ribs Dallas, not to mention the burns. Leo healed a bit of it but it still isn't the most comfortable to breath." Robyn's been dealing with the pain though it's just he hasn't been taking a lot of the painkillers, on top of that, his emotions are just all over the place. "So what is this Trail Pizza?"
Dallas explains as they go on. "You take a rice cake and cover it with peanut butter. Then you drizzle honey on that. Then you spread trail mix on top of that. And then you take one of those candied cherries from cakes and stuff and put it on top. Or a slice of canned pineapple. Or maybe both. So it covers, like, all the food groups."
Robyn makes a face and it's hard to tell if it's because of what's on the rice cake or just that food is making him feel not so good. "I'll just stick to some juice, you can have your Trail Pizza, I'm just not hungry at all." It's a combination of stress and lack of sleep that is making him not want to eat.