xp_logs | Jennie & Callie

The lazy hazy days of summer bring two Xavier's residents to the pool.

When it came to swimming, Callie was a rule's girl. She had made sure that her sunscreen had been evenly applied, that her after-swim ear drops and additional sunscreen was in her bag, and that she had a large towel and something to read. What she didn't have however, was someone to swim with. The cardinal rule of swimming was not to do it alone. So instead of diving into the blissfully cool water, Callie dangled her pale pink legs into the pool. Well if she couldn't swim, she could at least enjoy the sunshine.

"And what do we have here?" came a voice from somewhere over Callie's left shoulder. It belonged to a tall, curvy girl in a blue bikini. Jennie had already seen plenty of sunshine down in the Carribean, and already had a tan that would make most of young Hollywood go ochre with envy, But Jennie knew how the universe worked, and so to stave off any of her skin's further attempts to give her cancer, she was coated in SPF 50. "Do we have a newbie? Y'all always seem to turn up when I'm off having adventures," she waved her sunglasses airily and perched them on her nose.

Turning to face the speaker, Callie made sure to shield her eyes. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable in her black one-piece. She had bought it the summer before, and now it was a little snug. Her father, in typical fatherly fashion, had cringed at the thought of taking his teenage daughter for a bathing suit, so she had to make due with this for now. Perhaps the next time she went shopping she would look for a new suit. "Um yes," Callie said finally as she squinted to try and make out the girl who was speaking to her. "I arrived like a month ago, almost. A month on Wednesday. Wow. I hadn't realized it was that long."

"I must have just missed you," Jennie said, depositing her bag on one of the closest pool chairs. Utterly oblivious to the effect she was having on Callie. The bikini she wore was actually one of her more modest ones, but it was pointed out to her she could make a 1920's cotton bathing outfit look scandalous if she tried hard enough. She came closer to Callie, and arranged her positioning so her head blocked the sun. "How do you do? I'm Jennie," she offered her hand. "Grad student and probability manipulator. And always fabulous."

"Better now. Thanks. The sun was in my eyes." Callie lowered the hand that had been shielding her face and used it to shake Jennie's outstretched one. "I'm Callie. Chlorokinetic. Rising junior. Um... I guess that's it?"

"Aw, you are wee," Jennie cooed. And then settled herself next to the girl. "And pink. Did Kyle already make his color bingo remark?"

"Yup. Pink and ears." Callie pulled back her hair to reveal her pointed ears. "Ya. He mentioned that the first day. I don't think he has pink though. Do you?"

"He kinda is if he gets his skin burned off. Which is funny because that's totally some other guy's schtick. Also? Kyle's got a thing for funny colored girls with pointy ears. You should totally meet his girlfriend Clarice. Who is like you, only purpler." Jennie grinned, and adjusted the bottom of her bikini so it was covering as much of the tattoos on her lower abdomen as possible. No sense in them fading rapidly.

"There's a guy who peels off his skin," Callie asked, her voice a mixture of awe and confusion. "I have to be like extra careful with the whole burning thing. Cause I'm already pink and most people just think I'm already sunburnt? But I'm really pale right now actually." She examined her feet in the water then motioned to Jennie's body art. "Did those hurt? What do they mean?"

"Um, a girl does that actually. The other guy's sort of an accident," Jennie grinned. Hopefully that wasn't too traumatising. "Do you get like, I dunno, mauver or something? I've always wondered that for people with funky skin colors. And these--" Jennie rand a hand along her belly where two green long-tailed swallows followed the curve of her hipbones, and then pulled down the lip of her bottom so Callie could get a better look without giving her a full show. "These represent freedom, a new life and a new path for myself. Kind of along the lines of these," she showed her the Greek inked on both wrists, one that meant Order and the other Chaos.

"Wow. Like a snake? Can just like step out of her skin or something?" As much as Callie preferred not to discuss her mutation (or rather current almost lack there of), she enjoyed hearing about other peoples'. "I just go from like pale pink, like I am now, to um pinker? Not any purple though, that's only if I bruise. But normally just pink."

"Those are cool," she commented in reference to the swallows. "I'm okay with needles and everything for like shots? But putting ink into my skin?" She shuddered. "I couldn't do it. Plus my dad would kill me. But then again he freaks out about high heels."

"Like, she's pulls her skin off so she's something different underneath, like rock or metal. Her name's Paige and she's cool people. She does Sciency stuff downstairs in the lab." Jennie kicked her toes in the water, enjoying the feel of it on a hot summer day. "And I think, if we can just find someone who is yellow, we can actually have an entire rainbow of people going on here, which would be awesome. As for my ink, I've got some on my neck and back as well," she turned for Callie to see. "My Dad's not strictly too happy with it either, but I'm 19 so I can kinda do what I want with my own skin. Plus, since I'm already his bastard lovechild that mars his good standing in society, I might as well play the part, ya know?"

"Ohhhhhh I know who you're talking about now. Blonde right? I've seen her about and stuff. She seems nice?" Callie nodded as she listened to Jennie speak. She looked at the additional tattoos and cringed slightly at the thought of injecting ink into her sink. Vaccines and the like she could handle, but ink just seemed a little icky to the young girl. "I guess? I don't know really."

"I'm gonna take a dip." Callie stood up, took a second to adjust her bathing suit then jumped in. The water was colder than she expected, even with having dipped her feet in. She quickly rose to the surface. "Yeouch! It's cold! Okay. Bad idea." She scrambled to the side and pulled herself out then running to fetch her towel.

"Aw, no! Don't do that! It'll be worse when you jump back in!" Jennie stood and perched at the edge of the pool. As a dancer, Jennie was extremely graceful, her bout of sealegs notwithstanding. But that didn't mean she couldn't be a spazz every now and again. She demonstrated by executing a perfect canonball.

From her spot on the edge of the pool (now wrapped snuggly in her towel) Callie clapped. She held up seven fingers. "I give it a seven. The splash could have been better. But form was good."

Jennie's head appeared at the surface, and she laughed. The water was cold, almost shockingly so. It felt good. She grinned at Callie. "Your turn!" she called, and splashed water at the younger girl.

"No thanks." Callie grabbed the book from her bag and opened it to where she last left off. "You enjoy. The water's too cold for me. I think I'll just read. And catch some rays."

"You know, the more you swim around the more you warm up," Jennie called, but didn't push the issue. The girl had just gotten back from the great flood in the midwest. If Callie wanted to go Mauver then Jennie couldn't stop her.

"I know." Callie glanced up from her book as she turned the page. "Maybe after I finish this canto." She had wanted to swim, it was the original reason why she had come outside, and perhaps by then she might be ready to brave the cold water once more.