xp_logs | LOG: Crystal and Mondo

Mondo, dutifully working on rehabbing his knee, meets Crystal. The ~~Princess~~Attillan and the Samoan decide that sunbathing is in order.

Mondo was still the New Kid in the Mansion, but part of his reconstruction of his knee meant that he had to exercise it. He was still too raw from the surgery to be able to lift weights with it, but the best exercise for him was to just move the knee, get it used to bearing weight again. So here he was in the Gym, clad in an eyeball-searing Hawaiian shirt done in loud oranges, greens, and yellows, and a pair of simple grey Institute sweats. He was also using a cane to limp around the gym, very badly whistling "Like A Virgin" as he walked.

Crystal entered the gym dressed in her usual work-out outfit, a yellow and black sports top and matching pants. As she pushed the door open, her mind was already on the steps she would do. Right now, there didn't seem to be much else available to do. She would have preferred to already be focusing on developing her powers more fully, but her work-outs were designed to kill two birds with one stone. The moment she entered the gym, she closed her eyes and began to lift herself up into the air, not noticing the other occupant of the gym.

Mondo kept up his walk around the gym, but as he got closer to the newcomer he used his free hand to wave to her. "Hi!" he said in strongly-accented English. His knee was screaming agony at him but for the time being he paid it no mind. He still had four more laps to go. Five laps a day for the first week, then they'd increase it. That's what Doctor MacTaggert had said.

As Crystal was not yet too deep in concentration, and she was hovering less than two feet of the ground, Mondo's voice got through to Crystal. Her eyes opened as she peered at the person nearby. "Greetings." She landed on the ground, both feet touching down at the same time. "I am Crystal Amaquelin of Attilan."

"I'm Mondo. I'm from Samoa." he said cheerfully. "Were you just ... floating?" he asked with a grin on his face. "Wow. That's ... wow."

"I was standing amidst solidified air, yes," Crystal replied. "I usually exercise in mid-air. This way helps strengthen my body and the use and control of my powers

"That's really awesome." Mondo said, his amazement plain to see. "Much cooler than my thing." he said. Even slowed, he was starting to walk out of easy conversation range with Crystal. "Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but I have to keep walking. Busted up my knee a few weeks ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I shall... float after you, then." This time, Crystal lifted herself only five inches off the floor. Following the limping Mondo, she asked, "What is your... "thing"?

"It's hard to explain." he said as he limped along. "I can't show you because my knee's all busted up. Basically, I can kinda ... become stuff I touch. But not really." he said with a helpless shrug. "Hard as a rock, strong as steel, that kind of thing."

Crystal blinked, trying to figure this out. "Your hurt knee prevents you from using your power? Why? And could you not use this 'hard as a rock, strong as steel concept' to help prevent you for harming yourself?"

Mondo shrugged helplessly. "I wasn't a mutant when I got hurt. That came after." he said. "And they just stitched together the stuff in my knee that tore. If I synch to stuff now, there's a good chance those bonds won't hold. I can't use my power until those tendons heal naturally enough to handle the change."

Crystal frowns slightly, trying to figure out this sequence of events in her head. He was hurt before using his powers... he can't use his powers now... but he knows what they are. Still a bit confused, she said, "Ah, I see. This happened before you manifested, and it would be dangerous to use your powers now. Are you making much progress in your recovery?"

"The surgery was two weeks ago. I'm doing OK, it's just going to take a long time." he said, wiping the sweat out of his eyes. "But it will get better. I know it will." he said with the serene charm of the mentally insane and/or the truly innocent.

"Only two weeks ago and you're already walking about? I'm sure you will make a complete recovery." Crystal sounded impressed. "I don't think I would be able to walk around just one week after such a major surgery. Hover mid-air, yes. Walk, no."

"Doctor MacTaggert said that I am fundamentally one tough so-and-so." he said with a slight blush to his cheeks. "Surgery went really well, too. But this does hurt like a mother." he said conversationally.

Unused to strong language and unfamiliar with slang and various modern idioms, Crystal puzzled over Mondo's last sentence. "Oh, I'm sure that you are and I'm sure that it does," she said, not at all sure of what she agreeing with.

Mondo had been raised up right - a proper young man didn't swear around a lady. "But the more I work this the faster it'll heal." he said, his limp growing more pronounced. "If I may ask, what brings you here to the USA?"

"This." Waving her arms, she motioned at the surrounding area. "The school, I mean, not the gym. It seems like a good place to work on learning about one's power and helping further the various aspects of that power. Besides," she added, "where else would one come across so many mutants together?"

Mondo couldn't help but agree with that. "I've never seen so many in one place. Of course, before I got here I don't think I'd seen any ... ever, so maybe that's not saying much." he said with a self-depreciating shrug.

"I'm used to being around mutants," Crystal said nonchalantly. "Most of the members of my immediate family are mutants. My mother, my father, my sister, my aunt, my uncle, and my cousins are all mutants."

Mondo's eyes boggled. "Wow. I've got a big family, but I'm the only mutant in there. Maybe the only mutant on the whole island, I'm not sure." he said with something approximating awe. "I had no idea there were so many of us."

"There must be thousands, if not a million, mutants," Crystal guessed. "Mutants are everywhere. They just don't always want everyone to know that they are mutants. Not everyone likes the idea of mutation, you know. The royal family of Attilan certainly doesn't scream to the world that it consists entirely of mutants. We have to be very careful."

Mondo blinked at that pronouncement. "It runs in families?" he asked, and then laughed. "Wow. I did not know that. That must be cool." he said.

"Well, it is somewhat hereditary, I believe. Of course, there's no guarantee that a mutant will have mutant children, but it certainly increases the likelihood. It's the same with any type of genetic trait."

Mondo, having no idea what she was on about, accepted her statement at face value. "OK." he said cheerfully. If she said it was true, then it was. Pretty simple, really. She knew what she was talking about. "So your family ... they're important, ya? Big kahunas?"

Crystal smiled modestly, unaware that her genetic babbling was just that to Mondo: unintelligible babble. "Well, Attilan is a fairly small island and not very well known. But yes, my family is the royal family of Attilan.

"Wow." Mondo said, displaying the proper amount of impressed-ness. "My Dad's not a chief, but he's third in line!" he said with pride. "Maybe someday."

"So you're from a royal family, too, and your father could be the ruler?" Crystal's smile widened. "Now, my parents aren't the king and queen, and I can't see any way they ever would be. My oldest cousin is next in line. His parents are the queen and king."

Mondo grinned, clearly warming up to the topic. "My Dad? He's cousins with the current Chief's third brother's wife." he said proudly. "On Samoa, most everybody's related to everybody else if you go back far enough."

Crystal laughed. "And I thought I was from a large family what with all of us living in the castle. My family's not nearly as big as the majority of the Samoan population!"
Mondo shrugged impressively and then finally stopped his walk. "Ow." he said, massaging his leg just above his bad knee. "Think I'm done walking for now."

Without a sound, using air to aid her short descent, Crystal lightly touched down on the ground next to Mondo. "Does it feel better at all, or does it hurt from walking?"
"It burns." he admitted. "But it's supposed to hurt. I'm forcing the new tendons to work, and they don't want to." He straightened up as much as he could, adjusting his floral shirt around his bulk to better fit him.

"If you keep telling those new tendons who is the boss and make them do what you wish, you will surely make a speedy recovery. Practice makes perfect, and you seem to be off to a great start."

Mondo blushed at the praise. "Aw." he said shyly. "It's not that special."

Crystal shook her head. "Don't be silly. There's no need to be modest about progress you're making all on your own." She tried to imagine herself in Mondo's situation. "I very much doubt that I would put up with walking around on a hurt leg unless someone was standing behind me, forcing me to do so."

Mondo blushed again. "It's just something I have to do, that's all." he mumbled.

Crystal smiled encouragingly. "Well, like I said before, I think you're doing great. Do you need to sit down now and rest your leg? I would hate to think that I'm distracting you from doing what is best for your recovery."

Mondo blushed for a third time. "I think I've earned a little break." he said definitively. "Looks like a very pretty day out. Want to come sit in the sun? I love to lay out and catch some rays." he said enthusiastically. "It feels so good."

"That sounds great. I love being outside in the fresh air. I just need to run up to my room to change quickly, and then I'll be right out."

"I'll meet you out there." he said cheerfully. His day was looking better already. A new friend, his physio done, and now he was going to go fall asleep in a sunbeam.

Life was good.