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xp_logsApparently not even the concept of an early field-trip can get some people to turn in at a reasonable hour. Jennie meets someone closer to her own age, and Marius meets someone with whom he can flirt without the potential of severe beatings.
Another late night, and nothing to do. Marius wasn't sure whether his mutation was having some kind of effect on his metabolism or if it was just his body refusing to adjust to the change in hemispheres, but he was bored of it. Upcoming fieldtrip or not, there was nothing for it. After forty minutes of trying to will himself to sleep he'd given up, put on his sweats, grabbed his trainers, and headed out for a run.
But as he headed for the door he noticed there was a light in the RecRoom. Curious, Marius moved to investigate. The television was on, but in deference to the hour the sound was slightly muted. The channel appeared to be set to MTV, which was, against all probability, playing music videos.
The main light was off, but one of the lamps was on. A girl he hadn't met yet was lounging on the couch beside it, paging through a magazine. The empty plate and glass on the table beside her betrayed the remains of a midnight snack or very late dinner. A mutant, and his age, so a student.
"Wasn't expecting to see any signs of life," Marius grinned, bringing himself fully into the room.
Jennie was sure it was a sign of finally adjusting to the school when she did not jump or squeak. Intead she just looked up over the back of the couch at the newcomer. Kinda cute, but not the palm-sweaty kind, which is what a certain British guy seemed to do to her everytime he passed in the halls. She smiled in welcome.
"Couldn't sleep. Gets to be a bit of a habit around here." She shrugged. "I'm Jennie."
"Marius." He started ticking off incidents on his hands. "You may remember me as the bloke who broke the medlab his first day, then attacked Haroun and Rahne during a physical therapy session. Currently just off probation for unauthorized snacking on Forge. No worries, I've already eaten." Nice smile. It was hard to tell with the light of the lamp framing one side of her face, but her short hair was dark --probably brown or black. Pretty girl. One of many he'd met recently, but Marius wasn't complaining.
Already....Ah, that guy. "You know, I think you broke record down there or something. Two comas in one week." She sat up more to get a better look at him. He was very thin, which may have had something to do with his mutation. Then again, she'd been pretty skinny herself when she showed up, though you couldn't tell now. Eating whole packs of oreos didn't help. "It's like, coma month or something. Good thing you woke up before the great exodus to Seattle."
He smiled and gave a half-shrug. "No argument there -- I could use a change of scenary. And I don't know from records, but by what I've heard Mr. Dayspring could probably top me. And I already managed two comas in one week." Marius tossed his head to flick away an intruding strand of hair and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Not so much the dramatic enterance after some of the stories I've heard. What about you? Come into this place vertically or horizontally?"
"FBI." Jennie said, and shrugged herself. "Not as splashy as a lot of people here, but unique." Her tone made it clear that she did not want to talk about it. Explaining the whole story was somewhat exhausting. "Sit." She commanded, patting the couch. "You've had all of your shots, right?"
Marius' grin broadened as he pushed himself away from the wall. "If it's medically possible, I've had it," he said, draping himself over the other end of the couch. He waved one gloved hand vaguely. "Part of the whole 'dying of undiagnosable complications' bit. Good on me for growing chompy li'l mouths on my hands and cluein' the docs to the fact it was mutant-related, eh?"
"Good, don't want to suddenly be getting your cooties," said Jennie with mock seriousness. "You an Aussie?"
"By way of Brisbane." He nodded towards Jennie. "I'm guessin' you'd be American, but I'm shit at accents."
"Yup. Born and bred. Though my Mom tells me I'm all Greek." Although with her mother's habits, Jennie felt that her mother wasn't 100 percent on that. Jennie studied the other boy, he was around her age, and now that he was in the light she could she just how painfully thin he was. She also noticed the gloves on his hands, which was idly playing with. "So what d'you think of the place so far?"
"Good docs, tolerant staff, decent facilities." He brushed a hand through his hair, frowning. "Though maybe spendin' all that time in the medlab's made me paranoid, because every other person I've met has been injured or in recovery or generally lookin' done in, and when I ask why it's always because of something completely mad." He lowered his hand and eyed her suspiciously. "You haven't been mind-controlled or kidnapped by Magneto or had your legs blown off or anything, right?"
Jennie waved a hand dismissively. "No, most trouble I've ever gotten into here is for painting a coma patient's toenails when I was severely bored. I was given several stern lectures, and I though Dr. Grey was going to rip me a new one, but after the thing with Amanda they're still a wee understaffed." She noticed the look on Marius's face. The kind someone had when they were trying to follow a conversation in which they had no clue what the hell you were talking about. "Um. Well, Geez." There was no way in hell she was going to explain everything. She didn't understand half of it herself. Now she knew how the others felt when she first asked how things were in the mansion. "It's been a weird couple of months. They tell me this kind of shit doesn't happen all the time, though now I'm starting to get real skeptical."
"Odd enough, they told me the same -- but I lose confidence in any reassurance pressed by more than two people at a time," Marius replied, falling back on a lifetime following the affairs of family businesses. He shrugged. "I expect you get used to it. It's possible the others don't even notice they live in an alternate universe anymore."
"Oh trust me, you get used to it real quick. When they tell me stuff about the demon invasions and getting kidnapped into alternate dimensions, my reaction used to be 'do what now?' And now it's, 'Oh hey, coma. And somebody's been kidnapped or gone evil, and we've got an invasion of pixies. Must be Tuesday.' Explaing this stuff to my Mom is always real fun." It was really nice to have another new kid like herself, one that wasn't trying to slip the word "freak" into every sentence even.
Marius wrinkled an eyebrow in contemplation. "I don't think Dad mentioned those bits . . . uh, unless he did and I wasn't paying attention." He thought for a moment longer, then gave up. "I never knew the details, and I wasn't makin' much in the way of connections by the time dad sent me over." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Funny, you'd think he'd've mentioned the bit about student abductions and that."
"It's something they leave out of the brochure. But, this place isn't always like that. We're generally pretty safe in these walls. And the classes are fun and people are nice for the most part." Jennie decided to leave off of the crazy stuff for now. People did get kidnapped, or blown up, or hurt, but in-between all of that they went to class, ate, talked and did homework. The normal going with the abnormal side-by-side. "I look at it this way, I can throw energy disks that can change the probabilty of something, you can.... whatever it is that you do. This stuff didn't use to be normal, but now it is. We just gotta adapt to it."
Marius grinned. "Adapting I can do. When you get down to it, all I have to do is change my diet. Don't know if my powers'll be anything like useful, but at least I can always fall back on my stunning good looks."
Jennie grinned. And he was being serious too. "Put on a couple of pounds and maybe I'll believe that."
Marius contrived to look wounded. "My heart breaks for your loss. You see me now in a degraded state. Before my Condition, I was a god."
"Well, I'll believe it when I see it, Adonis." She gave him a wry grin. It was also nice to be able to flirt without fear of a girlfriend waiting around the corner with a baseball bat.
"Seeing to it as we speak," Marius replied, rising from the couch. "I'm off to get a run in before the sun comes up, but I'll be sure to keep you appraised of my progress. Perfection demands time, even with Haroun as a training partner." He paused, considering Haroun. "Although probably not as much." He mocked a formal bow, his teeth flashing white in the darkened room. "A pleasure to meet you. Amazing how far talking to a pretty girl goes toward salvaging a sleepless night."
Jennie extended a hand and giggled when kissed it like a gentleman. What a ham. "Goodnight sweet prince. I shall probably be seeing you in class. Try not to stay up too late." He gave a small salute, and then wandered out the door. Chuckling to herself, Jennie shook her head and went back to her magazine. At the least he seemed nice, if a little egotistical. And there definitely needed to be more kids her own age around here anyway.
Another late night, and nothing to do. Marius wasn't sure whether his mutation was having some kind of effect on his metabolism or if it was just his body refusing to adjust to the change in hemispheres, but he was bored of it. Upcoming fieldtrip or not, there was nothing for it. After forty minutes of trying to will himself to sleep he'd given up, put on his sweats, grabbed his trainers, and headed out for a run.
But as he headed for the door he noticed there was a light in the RecRoom. Curious, Marius moved to investigate. The television was on, but in deference to the hour the sound was slightly muted. The channel appeared to be set to MTV, which was, against all probability, playing music videos.
The main light was off, but one of the lamps was on. A girl he hadn't met yet was lounging on the couch beside it, paging through a magazine. The empty plate and glass on the table beside her betrayed the remains of a midnight snack or very late dinner. A mutant, and his age, so a student.
"Wasn't expecting to see any signs of life," Marius grinned, bringing himself fully into the room.
Jennie was sure it was a sign of finally adjusting to the school when she did not jump or squeak. Intead she just looked up over the back of the couch at the newcomer. Kinda cute, but not the palm-sweaty kind, which is what a certain British guy seemed to do to her everytime he passed in the halls. She smiled in welcome.
"Couldn't sleep. Gets to be a bit of a habit around here." She shrugged. "I'm Jennie."
"Marius." He started ticking off incidents on his hands. "You may remember me as the bloke who broke the medlab his first day, then attacked Haroun and Rahne during a physical therapy session. Currently just off probation for unauthorized snacking on Forge. No worries, I've already eaten." Nice smile. It was hard to tell with the light of the lamp framing one side of her face, but her short hair was dark --probably brown or black. Pretty girl. One of many he'd met recently, but Marius wasn't complaining.
Already....Ah, that guy. "You know, I think you broke record down there or something. Two comas in one week." She sat up more to get a better look at him. He was very thin, which may have had something to do with his mutation. Then again, she'd been pretty skinny herself when she showed up, though you couldn't tell now. Eating whole packs of oreos didn't help. "It's like, coma month or something. Good thing you woke up before the great exodus to Seattle."
He smiled and gave a half-shrug. "No argument there -- I could use a change of scenary. And I don't know from records, but by what I've heard Mr. Dayspring could probably top me. And I already managed two comas in one week." Marius tossed his head to flick away an intruding strand of hair and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Not so much the dramatic enterance after some of the stories I've heard. What about you? Come into this place vertically or horizontally?"
"FBI." Jennie said, and shrugged herself. "Not as splashy as a lot of people here, but unique." Her tone made it clear that she did not want to talk about it. Explaining the whole story was somewhat exhausting. "Sit." She commanded, patting the couch. "You've had all of your shots, right?"
Marius' grin broadened as he pushed himself away from the wall. "If it's medically possible, I've had it," he said, draping himself over the other end of the couch. He waved one gloved hand vaguely. "Part of the whole 'dying of undiagnosable complications' bit. Good on me for growing chompy li'l mouths on my hands and cluein' the docs to the fact it was mutant-related, eh?"
"Good, don't want to suddenly be getting your cooties," said Jennie with mock seriousness. "You an Aussie?"
"By way of Brisbane." He nodded towards Jennie. "I'm guessin' you'd be American, but I'm shit at accents."
"Yup. Born and bred. Though my Mom tells me I'm all Greek." Although with her mother's habits, Jennie felt that her mother wasn't 100 percent on that. Jennie studied the other boy, he was around her age, and now that he was in the light she could she just how painfully thin he was. She also noticed the gloves on his hands, which was idly playing with. "So what d'you think of the place so far?"
"Good docs, tolerant staff, decent facilities." He brushed a hand through his hair, frowning. "Though maybe spendin' all that time in the medlab's made me paranoid, because every other person I've met has been injured or in recovery or generally lookin' done in, and when I ask why it's always because of something completely mad." He lowered his hand and eyed her suspiciously. "You haven't been mind-controlled or kidnapped by Magneto or had your legs blown off or anything, right?"
Jennie waved a hand dismissively. "No, most trouble I've ever gotten into here is for painting a coma patient's toenails when I was severely bored. I was given several stern lectures, and I though Dr. Grey was going to rip me a new one, but after the thing with Amanda they're still a wee understaffed." She noticed the look on Marius's face. The kind someone had when they were trying to follow a conversation in which they had no clue what the hell you were talking about. "Um. Well, Geez." There was no way in hell she was going to explain everything. She didn't understand half of it herself. Now she knew how the others felt when she first asked how things were in the mansion. "It's been a weird couple of months. They tell me this kind of shit doesn't happen all the time, though now I'm starting to get real skeptical."
"Odd enough, they told me the same -- but I lose confidence in any reassurance pressed by more than two people at a time," Marius replied, falling back on a lifetime following the affairs of family businesses. He shrugged. "I expect you get used to it. It's possible the others don't even notice they live in an alternate universe anymore."
"Oh trust me, you get used to it real quick. When they tell me stuff about the demon invasions and getting kidnapped into alternate dimensions, my reaction used to be 'do what now?' And now it's, 'Oh hey, coma. And somebody's been kidnapped or gone evil, and we've got an invasion of pixies. Must be Tuesday.' Explaing this stuff to my Mom is always real fun." It was really nice to have another new kid like herself, one that wasn't trying to slip the word "freak" into every sentence even.
Marius wrinkled an eyebrow in contemplation. "I don't think Dad mentioned those bits . . . uh, unless he did and I wasn't paying attention." He thought for a moment longer, then gave up. "I never knew the details, and I wasn't makin' much in the way of connections by the time dad sent me over." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Funny, you'd think he'd've mentioned the bit about student abductions and that."
"It's something they leave out of the brochure. But, this place isn't always like that. We're generally pretty safe in these walls. And the classes are fun and people are nice for the most part." Jennie decided to leave off of the crazy stuff for now. People did get kidnapped, or blown up, or hurt, but in-between all of that they went to class, ate, talked and did homework. The normal going with the abnormal side-by-side. "I look at it this way, I can throw energy disks that can change the probabilty of something, you can.... whatever it is that you do. This stuff didn't use to be normal, but now it is. We just gotta adapt to it."
Marius grinned. "Adapting I can do. When you get down to it, all I have to do is change my diet. Don't know if my powers'll be anything like useful, but at least I can always fall back on my stunning good looks."
Jennie grinned. And he was being serious too. "Put on a couple of pounds and maybe I'll believe that."
Marius contrived to look wounded. "My heart breaks for your loss. You see me now in a degraded state. Before my Condition, I was a god."
"Well, I'll believe it when I see it, Adonis." She gave him a wry grin. It was also nice to be able to flirt without fear of a girlfriend waiting around the corner with a baseball bat.
"Seeing to it as we speak," Marius replied, rising from the couch. "I'm off to get a run in before the sun comes up, but I'll be sure to keep you appraised of my progress. Perfection demands time, even with Haroun as a training partner." He paused, considering Haroun. "Although probably not as much." He mocked a formal bow, his teeth flashing white in the darkened room. "A pleasure to meet you. Amazing how far talking to a pretty girl goes toward salvaging a sleepless night."
Jennie extended a hand and giggled when kissed it like a gentleman. What a ham. "Goodnight sweet prince. I shall probably be seeing you in class. Try not to stay up too late." He gave a small salute, and then wandered out the door. Chuckling to herself, Jennie shook her head and went back to her magazine. At the least he seemed nice, if a little egotistical. And there definitely needed to be more kids her own age around here anyway.
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