xp_logs | Crystal and Scott / Pietro and Crystal

Crystal finds Scott sunbathing in the gardens and has more than one suggestion for him.

Crystal had been spending most of her time with her former Xavier's suitemates or her other guests, but in the afternoon she'd slipped out of the palace and headed outside to the palace grounds on her own. Luckily, last night's late-night-sock-sliding-through-palace-halls event hadn't disturbed anyone, or at least no one had complained. It was a good thing they'd been in Crystal's room when they'd started. So now she was outside, floating swiftly through the gardens.

Scott had found a very nice bench, set amid rosebushes that Ororo would be drooling over, and was just sitting here, eyes closed and a smile on his face. Sunning himself, Jean would have said. Attilan was at a wonderful latitude, though. He could have stayed out here forever.

Crystal hadn't seen Scott since... when was the last time she had seen the headmaster? Sometime before the Las Vegas trip weekend, she thought. She hadn't wanted to bother him or Ororo after that, and they hadn't asked to see her, so she'd left as quietly as she had arrived. There he was now, though, and all of the events of the past year were behind her now. She was home now. Safe.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Summers." His eyes were closed; perhaps he would not have noticed her had she simply floated by, but it wouldn't have been nice if he'd noticed and she hadn't said anything, or if he opened his eyes and saw her as she flew away.

Scott opened his eyes and smiled at Crystal, a bit startled by her sudden appearance - there were no telltale footsteps, after all - but managing not to show it. "Hello, Crystal. Can I compliment you on your sunlight?" His smile was irrepressible, and made him look five years younger than his actual age.

"Oh, well, I did not make the sunlight, of course, but thank you anyway," Crystal replied, moving a bit closer to the bench where Scott sat. "I take it that you are enjoying your stay so far, then?"

Do. Not. Laugh. Even if her answer had been rather... well, adorable, which was a word he'd never thought to apply to Crystal. "Very much so, yes," he said instead. "You have a lovely home, and the hospitality is magnificent."

"Thank you again," Crystal said. Unlike certain people, her family knew how to make people feel welcome. "Did you bring your saxophone with you?" she asked after a brief moment's pause.

Scott's smile grew. "No, didn't think to pack it. Why do you ask?"

"I could arrange to have one brought for you to play," Crystal told Scott. "I thought perhaps you might wish to play while you were here. I am afraid that Medusa is rather set on the music she has planned for tonight, but it might be nice for you to play the saxophone somewhere out in the open. Outside, or in a room with people, not in a stable."

"I... that's a very generous offer, but I think the first time I play for people needs to be, um... not royalty?" The spark of mischief was all too visible. "I don't think I have that much faith in my own musical abilities."

"You should," Crystal replied to the last statement without hesitation. Her own spark of mischief had been ignited upon her return home; she'd almost felt like soaring through the halls as she had done when she was younger, with little care for the furniture in the way. It had been furthered by the silliness of the previous night, yet a part of her was glad that Scott had turned her offer down. The thought of Medusa's face if she heard a saxophone on her big day was not one Crystal cared to dwell upon. "This is part of what Xavier's is supposed to be about, yes? Learning about abilities, how to use them properly, and how to feel comfortable with them?"

"Some abilities are easier to do that with than others," Scott pointed out truthfully. "My saxophone... well, one of these days I'll figure out why I play and why I seem to have no desire to play for anyone who doesn't happen across me in the stables in the middle of the night."

"Try playing in the middle of the mansion sometime," Crystal suggested. She hadn't missed Scott's look of mischief. "See what happens. It has to be better than chasing people with a kazoo. You might be surprised. You can even just play for a few people; Terry has done that before."

Scott raised a hand. "Okay, okay," he said, smiling. "I'll take the suggestion under advisement. I mean, I suppose that at this point I'm not a terrible sax player, at least."

"There, you see?" Crystal smiled at Scott. So the ability to play the saxophone wasn't the same as a mutant ability, they were both skills that needed to be worked on in order for them to improve. Scott was obviously interested in playing the saxophone and it seemed to Crystal that this was the sort of practice that, once someone wasn't too horrible at it, was best done around others. "Just have confidence in yourself."

"Thank you," Scott said, gravely, but still smiling. The urge to laugh was gone; Crystal's advice was too genuinely good-intentioned. "I will definitely keep that in mind. Now... maybe you can give me some additional advice?" He waved a hand around at the gardens. "I've been enjoying this particular view, but I'd hate to find out later that I've missed a better one. Any additional sights I should see on the palace grounds?"

Crystal's head tilted upwards slightly and she glanced at the sky for a moment before looking back at Scott, a somewhat impish smile on her face. Such a thought wouldn't have crossed her mind back in New York, but here, where she was entirely comfortable in her surroundings... "You can see the entire palace grounds from up there."

Scott did laugh this time. "You've hit me in my weak spot. I've always loved to fly."

After the flight (and once Scott is safely on the ground once more) Crystal spots Pietro on the garden path.

The Attilani Royal Palace grounds were expansive, lovely, and immaculately tended. They were also beginning to feel distinctly cramped, even after only the first night. It was the event preparation, Pietro thought: all the usual anticipation and stress of an imminent betrothal cranked up to a suitably majestic scale, a nervous miasma hanging in the air like smoke. He knew he wouldn't be able to entirely escape it down in the city--the engagement had the whole nation hanging on every detail--but hopefully, further away from the celebration's center of mass, the effect would be diffused. His route out of the palace took him past the gardens, and he paused for a moment to admire the spread of them from the path.

"Leaving so soon?" Crystal quipped as the blur on the path suddenly came to a halt. "The party has not even started yet. As chaotic as it might seem now, it will only become much more crowded tonight. Also, the noise level will rise dramatically, although I dare say the sounds, even with all of the loud chatter, should be much more pleasing than those found elsewhere."

"Not leaving, just stepping out for a little while. You know I've wanted a chance to explore Attilan the city, and seeing as I'm here .. ." Pietro laughed. "Besides, I was beginning to get the distinct feeling that if I didn't make myself scarce, I'd end up drafted into hanging streamers, or something. You certainly look well--home agrees with you."

"Well, you would certainly be able to decorate the palace faster than anyone else here could," Crystal replied. "However, I believe that most decorations are already in place, and Medusa is fairly, ah, particular about everything. I very much doubt that she would ask anyone new to participate in the set-up now." She smiled. "It has been very good to be back home and know that I am here to stay. What about your trip home to visit the caravan? How long did you end up staying away from the hassles of the mansion?"

"Two very restful weeks. I only left because my aunts were threatening to feed me into immobility." Pietro smiled reminiscently. "It was good to see them again. The place had changed, of course--it's been six years since I left, but it still felt . . ." He paused thoughtfully. "Well, like family, if not exactly like home."

"Oh." Crystal nodded. She hadn't expected such an answer. To her, home was the place where she had been raised, among the people who had been there for her while she was growing up. She'd been away, now she was back, and it was still home. Still, six years was a much longer time than one year, and the reasons they had been away from their respective homes were very different. "Xavier's is now your home?"

"God forbid." Pietro made a face, then shrugged. "Though it feels closer to one than it did before the redecoration, I suppose. But home in terms of a sense of belonging . . . I'm not sure I have one. Or particularly need one. I have family, I have friends. That's enough to go on with."

Crystal couldn't help laughing a bit at Pietro's first words and the face he made. "I apologize... I was afraid that you were going to say yes and force me to choose between nodding politely or attempting to find a nice way to point out your extreme insanity. Xavier's is..." She shook her head. "Well, I know many people call it home, but, I just..." Crystal gave a light shrug. "To some, it is the safest, and perhaps only, option they have, and I find that to be a truly frightening thought."

"It's better than many of the alternatives, is I think a more frightening thought. And in principle the school's not a bad idea." Pietro smiled wryly. "Real life is seldom kind to the Charles Xaviers of the world. But I have to admit I respect his ability to maintain optimism in the face of, hm, all the obstacles."

"It is the first school for mutants, but this does not mean that it will always be the only one," Crystal replied. "Perhaps one day there will be other, better options, ones with a distinct lack in both leather outfits and the seemingly constant kidnappings of both students and staff members."

"That's what everybody's hoping, I'd imagine." Pietro looked around speculatively. "Any ambitions for Attilan, in that direction? As far as I've heard, just about the closest you've ever come to a mutant-related incident here was when we first met."

"Who knows what the future will bring?" Crystal said, smiling a bit. "As for the first time we met, that meeting could have gone quite differently, yes? Your father was not yet quite into his 'kidnapping young mutants' stage, was he?"

Pietro laughed. "Not quite, no. But then, even if he had been, I'm not sure he would have tried here--your family had us distinctly outnumbered, and there wasn't anything or anyone here he would have judged worth the risk other than your brother-in-law-to-be, and he can destroy things just fine on his own."

"Well, yes, that he can definitely do on his own, even if he does seem to like having others cause the actual destruction for him," Crystal mused, then smiled again. "Well, unlike your previous visit here, you are free to travel around the island and are not restricted to sitting in a waiting room. I believe you were on your way to do that, were you not?"

"I was indeed, though as interruptions go you're always a pleasant one." Pietro grinned. "I suppose I'll see you tonight, if not before."

"I will see you then," Crystal replied.