Kyle and Crystal. Clay Tiles Roofs and relationships.

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Kyle is on roofing duty, with Crystal providing the lifting for tiles and mortar. Since neither of them is particularly bothered by being seven stories up, casual conversation ensues.



The sunshine and the warmth coming off the neat rows of clay tiles just above Kyle was just enough that if he'd not been seven stories up, with a safety belt on, he'd have been a little sleepy. It was a nicely sunny mid-morning, temperate enough that he was comfortable in workpants and a t-shirt, and any other day, he'd have found a tree and taken a nap. But instead he placed a line of mortar and then began carefully pushing tiles into place.

"Let me know when you are ready for more tiles or mortar," Crystal called to Kyle from nearby, hovering somewhere between the ground and the roof. Between helping as a translator and being able to move various forms of equipment with well placed, controlled winds, Crystal was finding it quite easy to be useful without ever lifting a finger. Still, there seemed to be something off about appearing to simply be standing around or floating in mid-air, so Crystal had decided to do a bit of actual physical labor, even if it did mean that she might get dirty. It wasn't as if she'd ever have a problem with getting a shower!

Kyle looked up, pushing his baseball cap up on his forehead with his forearm. He'd gotten a couple of teasing remarks for wearing a Tigers cap, it could've been worse. He could've been wearing a Dodgers cap, or a Cubs cap.. Doing that in San Diego just seemed like walking into trouble. "I'm about due for more mortar." He said, after a quick mental count of the remaining tiles. "Won't need any more tiles until a row or two. I think." Math was so not his strong suit.

Crystal nodded and descended back to solid ground. It wasn't necessary for her to be given water to mix with the cement; once she was told of how much water needed to be mixed in, a small rainshower was all that was needed to provide her with all of the water she needed. Then came the mixing itself... not exactly fun, but not hard either. It was messy, though, as proven by the t-shirt and jeans Crystal wore. It wasn't her normal method of dress, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do to avoid ruining her nice clothes. Soon, she was back in the air with the mortar for Kyle.

Switching out the old container of mortar for the new one was -far- easier then when he and Cain had re-shingled the roof. Then, it had been lifting and moving around. To Kyle, this time, there was a breeze, and then Crystal and the new container hovering for a moment while he pushed the old one aside. The breeze cooling him off for a moment was bonus - something he hadn't expected the first time, and he certainly had no complaints. California springs were -warm-. "Cool." Kyle said, once the old container was off and away. "So, can I ask a crazy question? I mean, not like a totally personal one, or anything you know, intrusive?"

Crystal nodded. "Of course, Kyle." Laurie had asked her about her intentions with Forge, and she'd assumed that Kyle had spoken with Forge about dating her. She hadn't been sure, however, as to whether or not Kyle would want to speak with her about it. For a moment, Crystal thought Kyle must want to ask her about that, but since he'd said the question wasn't a personal or intrusive one, that must not be the case at all.

"Forge seems pretty... I dunno, I mean, I'd say happy, but Forge is weird, so I dunno if that's the right word. But we'll go with it. So, I guess I just wanna make sure it's all good on your end too." It wasn't an easy question to figure out how to ask in the first place, and made slightly more difficult by the fact that he had a trowelful of mortar and was attempting to lay it down. Not being able to emphasize his words with hand gestures was a hinderance. "Because, well, Forge can be dumb."

Oh. So this was about Forge. No, that wasn't personal at all, was it? It was more than a bit odd, Crystal thought, to have students question her about dating someone. Of course, she wasn't just dating "someone"; she was dating someone who had been, and was, their friend... it was just that he, like her, had wound up living more than two years more than Laurie and Kyle, who were still students this year.

"I would not say that Forge is dumb, it is simply that he..." Crystal had to pause. Admittedly, 'dumb' would have been one of the kinder words she might have used to describe Forge when she had been a student at the school. Other words came to mind as well, words she was not about to say out loud. Besides, whatever it was that Forge appeared to be when it came to relationships, that would describe her, too, wouldn't it? "There are not any problems from my end," Crystal settled on saying. "I enjoy the time I spend with Forge."

"I think you're allowed to say he's dumb sometimes." Kyle said, while placing a few of the tiles. "Or was dumb, I guess. I dunno. That's mostly just all I wanted. It's good to, you know, hear it from both of you guys." He inched down the roof slightly and began laying another row of tiles. "I mean, Forge seems pretty happy, but it's not as easy to tell. He went and got older and I mean, sometimes he's the same guy and sometimes he's different. But it had to be pretty weird for all you guys too, so I try not to bug him about it too much."

"Yes, it was quite strange to come back and see how much things were unchanged," Crystal told Kyle. "Even now, it can be quite strange to realize that everyone else did not live those two additional years. I am sure that this is a concept that cannot always be easy for others to accept, too."

"Weird all around. Which pretty much, you know, describes most of our lives." Kyle placed another tile, and then scraped some excess mortar off with the trowel. "I mean, when just getting up in the morning hits a four on the weirdness meter, you start to get... I dunno, you learn to deal with it when the universe turns the weirdness up to eleven."

Just getting up in the morning should not be weird. "May I ask you the same question then, Kyle?," Crystal asked, watching his work progress. "Are you happy in your relationship with Clarice?"

"When she's not, you know, getting nuked." Kyle wasn't quite sure how to deal with a still-somewhat-ill girlfriend, but he was trying to make the best of it. "But yeah. Clarice is fun, and.. " He would've shrugged if he didn't have his hands full, and instead waved a tile around a bit. "I dunno, she gets why I'm weird about some stuff, and okay about other stuff. Which is totally vague, but it's hard to explain. "

"I am sure that Clarice did not wish to be 'nuked'," Crystal replied. "It is good to be able to spend time with someone who understands you, yes?"

"Not sure what good that does Clarice.. I don't understand any women." Kyle joked. "But yeah, I get what you mean. You know, she's the one who got me to stop moping about the way I look in the first place." Of course, Clarice had done that with a blue-hairdye sneak attack, but once the initial irritation had worn off, the message had been clear.

Crystal was not naive enough to wonder why Kyle would mope about the way he looked, even if she did not find anything wrong with it at all. She might not have felt the same way upon her manifestation, but she knew how troubling it could be for young mutants whether there were noticeable physical changes or not. "I can see that Clarice would be a good person to be able to help you with that," Crystal said, keeping track of when Kyle would need more tiles. "I am very glad that she was able to be there for you."

Kyle grinned. "Yeah, kinda hard to mope about having funny ears and claws when the purple girl is like 'get over yourself, buddy.' He went quiet for a few seconds, placing the last clay tile in the row, and then using the trowel to make sure they were lined up and even. "I think..." He started, leaning back to look at his work and then checking the time on his phone. "That I need to eat. And I'm gonna probably need more tiles." He looked off the edge of the roof, and stood up, walking carefully to the scaffolding he'd used to get to the top of the roof in the first place. "Wanna grab lunch with me?" He said, after undoing the safety belt that linked him to the scaffolding. "I gotta tell you about the crazy guest speaker, or sub or whatever who took history for the day."

"Yes, I will accompany you to the dining area. I am sorry that you did not enjoy the speaker, Kyle. I had hoped that the classes would find the presentation to be very interesting," Crystal said. "I even sat in on a couple of the classes... I found the subject matter quite fascinating!"