xp_logs | Garrison and Janet

Garrison's peaceful swim is interrupted by Jan.

Garrison took a deep breath right before he hit the water. He wasn't an Olympic driver, but he still cut the surface cleanly and arced at the way down to the bottom of the pool in a single motion. They had finally 'officially' opened the pool, finishing off the dewinterizing that was done to minimize the use of the heater. It had been a hot one, and Kane had decided to take advantage of the empty pool.

He cleared the water with a gasp and turned over, letting himself float on top of the water.

There was only one other person in the pool. Jan wouldn't have minded if a lot of people were in or around the pool, but having plenty of space to move around was OK too. "Mind if I join you?" Janet asked with a smile, not waiting for an answer as she stepped into the pool using the stairs.

Garrison waved lazily, closing his eyes and humming to himself as he drifted. He was one of those people who could make his own 'away' time if he needed it, allowing stress to bleed out with the gentle movement of the water, and the odd errant wave as a result of Jan dipping into the pool and starting to move about.

"Hello to you too," Jan said cheerfully, stepping further into the water. When only her head remained above the water, she took a deep breath and ducked her head under the water before beginning to swim, wings flat against her back.

Garrison finally rolled back over as Jan passed behind him in the deep water, kicking towards the edge of the pool where he could loop an arm over the side and wait for the younger girl to emerge from underwater.

Jan reached the other side of the pool and came up for air. "Hey, you're that RCMP floater guy who said Disney would pay tons of money to hire me as a spokesperson 'cause of my mutation!" She grinned. "Kyle says I'm a sugar pixie, but an evil one."

Garrison squinted, puzzled at the sudden rush of seemingly disconnected statements. "Hang on. I haven't had any caffiene today and might not be catching everything.'

He dipped his head under and came up again. "Nope, that didn't help. Yeah, I'm Garrison. And the last time Kyle was with a girl, I believe he refered to her as a cinnimon fairy. The boy has an unhealthy bakery fixation going on there."

"The guy likes food," Jan said. "He's not bad at making food, either, he helped me make all those cookies last week. But, I did drop sugar and marshmallows all over the place, so I think I earned my title."

"Just as long as he doesn't mistake you for a snack next time you're bite-sized, you should be fine." Kane said slightly, letting his legs drift idly in the water and enjoying the contrast between the cool immersion of the pool and the hot sun beating down. "Speaking of getting chewed up, I see you're on the trainee list."

Jan laughed. "He saw me plenty of times when I was tiny and I didn't wind up as a snack! And hey, we get proper training, right? They're not about to throw us at Magneto before we ever step foot into the Danger Room."

"What, they didn't tell you?" Garrison said, eyes going wide in surprise. "You know the qualifying test for trainees is one on one with Sabretooth. You know that video on the database with him ripping those cows apart barehanded? When he's biting out the entrails and he's got that, you know-" Garrison made a pulling gesture with his fingers in front of his mouth. "organs and shit hanging out of his mouth? Yeah, you got to go one on one with him to qualify. That's why there are only a couple of trainees every year. Most don't make it. Glad I didn't have to go through that."

Jan stared at Garrison for a moment, then laughed and grinned as she splashed water at him. "Yeah, right. I wonder if he'd even notice if I flew right up to him when tiny, though. No one expects a tiny girl to come in from out of nowhere. He does have enhanced senses, though. Hmm... I know I have tiny thoughts when tiny, I wonder do I have a tiny scent, too? I'll have to ask Kyle. I wonder if I could just sneak up on Sabretooth and zap him, of course it's not like that would do anything because he heals and my stings don't do much but a bit of ow unless it's repeated zaps and by that time I'm sure by that point I'd probably be nothing but smushed guts myself."

"Yes. I firmly supported my own method of taking him out, which involved waiting for the rest of the X-Men to finish jumping up and down on his head, before moving in with fifty other cops and arresting him. Solid tactics, eh?" Kane pushed off from the wall again. "Water doesn't muck up your wings?"

"What, you think I haven't showered in four years?" Jan made a face. "Ew! The wings are stronger than they look." She was being careful, though, not moving her wings around in the water and not even moving around too much in the water at all. "I don't usually go swimming, though, so if pool water messes up my wings I guess we'll find that out soon enough, won't we?"

"Well, I didn't assume they dissolved in water or something. I was more wondering if after, you need to spread them out and dry for an hour before you can fly again. Or if rain messes them up, eh?" Kane said, still drifting. "Nice to know if you suddenly start plummeting to the ground or something if we hit a rain storm."

"Never tried it," Jan said cheerfully. "I didn't fly much before I came here, and I like flying while tiny better than when I'm regular-sized anyway. Besides, I can always follow your advice. Instead of standing behind the X-Men waiting for them to do their job, I can be under something so I don't get wet."

"I will make sure someone carries a butterfly net on missions. So we can scoop you out of the air during those humid days." Garrison jibbed, splashing her lightly as she swam closer to him.

Jan made a face again. "OK, so a butterfly net's not a fly swatter, but still.... no bug-related things for me for a very, very long time! Forever, probably. Mosquito and Citronella, yeah right!"

"What about a baseball glove? Ms Munroe could use a gust of wind, put you right down the strike zone, eh? After all," Kane said with a slightly officious voice. "This is for team safety."

"Now you're just picking on the new trainee," Jan complained lightly. "Seriously, no more gusts of wind for me. I've had enough of those, too. Little ones, fine. But big giant 'oh look how fast I am, I make lots of wind wherever I go' ones or wind directed at me on purpose, no thanks."

"I think Logan is the one in charge of making lots of wind wherever he goes. The man has a very punishing diet." Kane said. "Besides, trainees need to be picked on. It's a long and noble tradition. Otherwise, you'll have no idea what to do when you guys get trainees of your own. And you're lucky it's me. I had Logan and Judd. Ever been picked on by a hard drinking Quebeqious man and Mister GrrArgh himself? I still have scars. No, really, I'm kidding, but yeah. I do."

"Logan's the clawed guy who does woodcarving with Yvette, yeah?" Jan moved around slowly in the water. Maybe she should ask Forge about testing out the wholw water and rain theory, plus the wind idea. It would be pretty dumb to be taken out by a drop of rain or a bit of wind. "Who's Judd?"

"Colonel Eugene Judd. My old training boss back up in Canada. Good guy. He's very short, and as such, has never learned how to fight fair in his entire life. I still have bruises, eight years later." Kane grinned, reminiscing. "Logan's the clawed guy. He and Marie spent some time up in Canada a couple of years ago, and I ended up training with them then."

"Ah, well, what's short?" Jan asked curiously. "I hear a lot of people saying stuff about people being short when there are a lot of shorter people in the world. Yvette, for example. Ok, so the girl's not a towering giant, but I've seen adults shorter than her.

"I mean short. Damn short. Real short. Wizard of Oz short. Firefly season kind of short. Paris Hilton's acting career short." Garrison rattled off. "Something to do with his powers, but yeah, he's short."

"Yeah? What are his powers?" Jan asked Garrison. "And hey, what are yours? No fair you knowing mine if I don't know yours!"

"Judd is a physical guy. Strength, speed, damage resistance." Kane turned on to his back. "And I can yodel simultaniously in three langauges."

"Dude, that's not a power," Jan pouted. "That's just a weird talent, and I don't even know if it's a real one for you."

"You're right. I can actually control beavers with my mind. But only up to three at a time. Any more, and I can't control them any more." Garrison grinned. "Ever seen a beaver get loose of control in a city street? Carnage, I tell you."

"Cheater," Jan replied cheerfully. "I'll find out anyway, you know. If we're a team, we should know what everyone can do, right? Plus, how do I know if I can hide out on your head if I don't know you won't suddenly turn into a puddle of water or something?"

"I like to keep myself cryptic. I, like woman, have to be a mystery." Kane's mock serious tone was almost good enough to believe.

"Yeah, well, see if I tell you if I develop any other powers," Jan said, grinning as she shrugged. "You know, like, if I suddenly start controlling bugs. Then I'll just send them after you instead of telling you. They can play with your three beavers."

"You bring the vermin, I bring the rodents. Sounds like a party."