xp_logs | [log] Marie & Shinobi: It's been swell, but the swelling's gone down... (Reply)

Marie and Shinobi plan some stress-relief on the slopes, since the theme parks are all closed.

Marie dropped her books on a table in the West Commons and flipped her laptop open. With a few quick keystrokes, she was reading the journals. It didn't last long. She shook her head and slapped the laptop shut with a click. "I liked this place more before we installed that thing," she muttered.

"So arguements could happen in person, civilized-like?" From his spot seated crosslegged in one of the cushioned chairs in the room, Shinobi tilted his head towards Marie with a faint grin, holding a hand up in apology. "Welcome home."

"So at least there was a time period between thinking something and putting out for everyone to know." Marie said, exasperated. "And thanks. I'm regretting it already." She sat down to review outlines of essays.
"People do tend to be more willing to let fly over text," Shinobi agreed, his grin growing more apologetic at her exasperation. "When you aren't, for example, physically staring up at a very large Russian man, it feels a bit safer to insult him. Less percieved consequences."

"It's also easier to forget to treat each other like people," Marie added.

He bobbed his head in agreement, propping his chin up in a hand and falling quiet. The quiet, however, didn't last very long. "How was your vacation?" Shinobi asked curiously, deciding that a change in subjects might be the best course of action. Or at least a preferred one.

"Very good." Even her annoyance with the content of the journals couldn't keep a smile from showing up and she cast Shinobi a look. "Peace and quiet's good for the soul."

"Hope I can find that out for myself sometime," Shinobi grinned, visibly relaxing at the smile Marie cracked. "Apart from very long rides on airplanes, I've never had the chance to experiment with peace and quiet, really."

"Well, you're in the wrong spot for it," Marie noted. "I recommend the coast quite highly. The temptation to make that trip a regular event is pretty strong."

"Make a regular thing out of it. Once a month, if not more often. It seems to have been very good for you." Shinobi offered a smile, idly drumming his fingertips against his cheek. "I'm not sure if peace and quiet would do much for me, though.. all that would probably do is let my mind wander. Toying with another idea for this coming weekend, though, if I can find someplace suitable."

"Oh." Marie put down her red pen, curious. "Spill?"

"I've never been on a rollercoaster," Shinobi observed innocently, his smile widening. "Not a proper, physical one, anyway. It should be remedied, I think."

Marie laughed. "Life here's not enough for you, Shinobi? Where are you headed to remedy this gaping hole in your life experience?"

"Wouldn't be a spoiled rich kid if I ever got enough," Shinobi countered, waggling his eyebrows playfully. "I'm actually not sure yet. I don't suppose you know if there's a decent theme park in the area, do you?"

"I don't know, but..." She flipped open her laptop again. "I can find out."

Brightening, Shinobi slid to his feet so that he could cross over, leaning enough to peek over the top of Marie's head. "You're welcome to come, if you want," he offered, grinning lopsidedly. "Going to invite Sarah, of course, maybe Paige.. Angelo if he's out of the medlab by then. Should be fun."

"Ooh, I get to hang out with the cool kids?" Marie teased. "I don't know about that..." Her gloved fingers moved swiftly to locate the nearest open theme park.

"When'd we become the cool kids? Did I miss a memo?" Grinning, Shinobi leant against the back of Marie's chair, careful not to put too much weight onto it.

"Oh, I don't know," Marie said as she flipped through state tourism information. "I always feel so out of the loop. In the last year or so, team work has really sucked anything like a life out of my life."

"We'll just have to stuff some life back into it," Shinobi decided, nodding to himself as he watched the screen over the top of her head. "We can make a point to do at least one normal teenage thing a month. Concerts, clubs, stuff like that. We can be awkward and out of place together."

Marie looked up at him. "You too with the awkward? It's ironic because before I manifested, I was well on my way to being horribly, nauseatingly, cute and popular. Now I haven't got a clue how to do it anymore. Hn. Nothing's open around here. How far are you willing to go for a roller coaster?"

Shinobi nodded, looking back down at her with a grin. "Much with the awkward. Sarah says I'm getting better, though." With a shrug, he glanced to the screen again, pursing his lips in thought. "Well, I can afford bus or plane tickets in the name of a fun weekend, if I'd be allowed," he mused, tilting his head. "What's available?"

"Anything relatively local doesn't open until March 27," Marie said with some annoyance. "Wimps. Florida?"

"Florida," Shinobi echoed, with a sage nod of his head. "Hm. Maybe this should be the weekend after this coming one, if we'd have to go quite that far.. slightly less short notice."

"Can we do something instead before March? What if we went snowboarding? That would be sufficiently awkward, I think. We could make a day of it and make idiots of ourselves."

"I have no idea how to snowboard. That could be fun." He grinned.

Marie flipped back to the search engine with a slightly malicious grin. "Mister Shaw, we will have you face down with your ears, nose, eyes, and mouth full of snow in no time at all. We could do it out back, but it's more fun if you do it at speed under your own power."

Shinobi managed to keep from grimacing at the form of address, stubbornly maintaining his grin. "More satisfying that way," he agreed, returning his attention to the screen. "And hey! Get to spend gobs of money on snowboarding supplies. More fun for me."

Marie laughed at that. "You're impossible, Shinobi. And, all of New York seems to have snowboarding resorts. There's a couple within driving distance from us. Take your pick."

"So long as it's at least an hour away," Shinobi mused thoughtfully, leaning his head over Marie's shoulder so that he could read the screen easier. "Then it feels a bit more like you're actually leaving home."

"Well," she said thoughtfully. "How about Bellfayre Mountain? It's a couple hours from New York City. Or hey, what about Kissing Bridge? It's right by the Falls. That's a decent trip. Think we should go for an overnight and drive home the next morning?"

"An overnight would be good," Shinobi nodded, grinning to himself and straightening back up. "Bellfayre'll work, I think.. as much good as the extra distance might do, I don't want to be cooped up in the car for quite that long."

"Works for me," Marie said brightly. "Here. I'm emailing you the information and we can work out the logistics. We'll have to get permissions and image inducers and stuff, depending on who we're taking."

"You, my dear, are a treasure." Beaming brightly, Shinobi cast a quick look to his watch, squinting a bit in thought. "We'll need at least once, since I'm pretty sure Sarah'll want to come, if only to get me in the ear with a snowball.. I'll get her with an e-mail once I'm back in my room, find out for sure."

"Well, that's plenty of time for Hank to put one out for her. I'll write Scott and the Professor about this. Next weekend?" Marie opened her email client.

"Only if this weekend's too soon for them," Shinobi nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Promised you I'd do my exploding away from here, so the sooner I get away to unwind, the better."

"As soon as possible, then." Marie nodded. "Let's aim for this weekend, then, and change plans if they shoot us down."

"Sounds brilliant to me." Shinobi grinned cheerfully. "This should be fun. Cold, but fun."