xp_logs | Log: Dani & Nick

Sunday afternoon Dani meets one of the newer residents, Nick. It doesn't really go as expected for either of them.

The weather in New York was gorgeous, Dani had to admit. It was bright and sunny and warm without being hot at all. It wasn't quite hot enough to go swimming she thought, but she was laying out on a deck chair by the pool enjoying the sunshine in a pair of denim shorts and a tank top with some sort of native-esque beading. It was from Target and she had liked it. Her flip flops sat next to her and she had large sunglasses perched on her nose. She didn't consider herself remotely fashionable, but she liked her outfit and the weather. It was good.

Nicholas Gleason was on his way back from one of his most recent runs through the woods. His shirt and pants were in shreds, and he carried with him the remnants of his shoes. The claws on his feet had a tendency to make quick work of them whenever he transformed. The boy was slowly getting used to the layout of the mansion, and now knew a shortcut past the pool in order to get to the library, where he would go through his normal ritual of checking out a play, heading up to his room, and reading until he fell asleep. But something was different this time. A member of the mansion Nick had never seen before sat in a chair before him. Upon taking in the stranger, Nick froze. Whether it was out of shock, or if he was trying to pull of the whole 'T-Rex's can't see you if you don't move' thing, we may never know.

Dani was not a feral with heightened senses, though thanks to what had happened to her and her powers she had an....awareness of her surroundings. And her eyes were open as she watched the trees idly. Plus, his fear was tasty and new. Hard to avoid that, even though she knew she should. It was getting a little easier to resist the temptation, but she wanted nothing more than to make more of it and just sort of roll in it like a cat in a sunbeam.

Nick hung his head slightly as he knew that he had been caught. Meeting new people would never be his favorite activity, but being blatantly rude would never be near the top of the list either. He slowly strode towards the woman. On his way, he did his best to flatten out his ruffled hair and rags of clothing, but it was no use, he still looked like something that rolled out of the last scene of a zombie movie. His bare feet scraped across the grass as he finally made his way towards the chairs, putting his open hand in front of him. "Hey. I'm the new guy, Nick."

"Hi," Dani offered her hand, ignoring his clothes. She'd worn clothes very similar to his on many summers, not because she could become a wolf and accidentally shredded them but because they hadn't been able to afford good clothes and she had played hard until they had literally fell off her body while she grew. "I'm Dani, one of the RAs. I've been hoping to meet you. How do you like Xavier's so far?"

"It's... uh..." Scary. Overwhelming. Crazy. Those were just some of the words that flew through Nick's mind in rapid order. "Nice. I'm just starting to be able to get from my room to outside in under an hour." Nick swallowed hard, as he tried to quickly find a way to shift the conversation away from him and towards the stranger on the chair. "You're an RA here. I bet the roommate disputes can get a little more intense than they do at colleges, huh?"

Chuckling, Dani nodded. Mmm, she could smell his fear. It was nummy. Sort of...spicy in a way. Musky. It was different, she liked it. "Dunno," she shrugged, "Never lived in a college dorm. Haven't finished college," or gone for more than a year without an interruption. "It's not so bad though, the disputes. So long as you don't blow the building up it's mostly good. Sounds like you're making good progress, this place can be crazy. Where're you from?" she knew he had just arrived, but couldn't remember if she had been told from where.

"Wisconsin actually. Born and raised." Upon saying this, Gleason couldn't help but quickly cast a look around the the beautiful landscape surrounding him. "I have to say, the cornfields aren't quite as nice to look at as this place." A brief smile faded almost as quickly as it formed. "How about you? Where did you originally hang you boots up before you joined the mad house?" He remembered the phrase from the first meeting with Shiro. It fit the mansion well.

"Western Oklahoma," she replied, "I was raised on a rez out there. This place ain't nothing like that there, but it goes on you. Mad house is very accurate description though. With the loonies in charge," she very much included herself in that statement though she wasn't really in charge. Gesturing to the deck chair next to her, "Want to sit? There's a great view, ain't it?"

Nick took his place in the chair next to her, although he still looked noticeably uncomfortable. As soon as he hit the seat, he pulled his knee up into his chest, letting himself rock back and forth slightly in the process. "You grew up on a reservation? That had to be so cool. My dad used to talk about them in one of his lectures." Nick's voice trailed off. He knew that he had exactly 4.5 seconds before he would have the emotions he had buried deep in his gut come rushing out. "You mind talking about it?" It wasn't the best response, but it was a quick maneuver to keep his mind off of things.

"Depends on what you want to know," she answered, surprised by his reaction. A lot of people didn't much care, which was fine with her. "But you can ask," his fear, his uneasiness was practically palpable this close and she tried not to let it distract her. She liked that he was a wolf. Unlike that squirrel she didn't think he was a threat. He was a hunter like her in her mind.

"I mean I've just been so intrigued by the idea of a collectivist culture inside the country because America, as a whole has become so individualistic. You probably had a different set of values than any of us did growing up. It's really cool in my opinion." God, he sounded just like his father. "Do you think that growing up there helped you fit in better to a place like the mansion?"

Blinking, Dani tried to parse exactly what he was saying and meaning. "You talk like my professors," she commented, though it wasn't meant as an insult. "Don't know what you mean really...collectivist culture? I can tell you that I was about as prepared to come here as I was to go to Mars. This is a whole different world from what I was used to," namely the money. It was here not obviously or conspicuously but most of the students here were from middle-class families, she'd been raised on welfare, "I think you're right with the values though. Definitely different here from how I was raised. Don't make it bad though, just not for me."

"Yeah, I guess the way I talk is just a reflection of how I was raised." He let his eyes fall to the seat for a few seconds, but didn't let it last long, instead Gleason was right back on his horse of deflecting away from himself. "Yeah, I've noticed that a lot of people here seem to be different from most of the people back home. I don't know if that's part of the mutation, making us change the way we look at the world ya know?" The whole living with other mutant things was still new to Nick, he was still adjusting to it.

"It does," Dani acknowledged, "And it doesn't. My opinions on things didn't magically change because I was a mutant. My opinions changed as I learned more about the world.I knew I was a mutant in Oklahoma and it didn't much matter, mutant rights, registration, whatever, were a non issue. Native rights, broken treaties, living, that was important. Wasn't until I left the rez that I learned about the hate groups and such," not about about hate in general, but the mutant-centric groups. It had been eye-opening. "What is Wisconsin like?"

"Cold." It was always the first thing that came to his find when he thought about back home. "I can still remember all the layers I used to have to put on to go to school. But the biggest thing about the Midwest are the people. Most of them are the nicest that you could ever meet. But unfortunately that's slowly starting to change with the world." His eyes began to fade as he stared a whole in the ground. "I wish I hadn't heard of the hate groups until I got here." He tried to think of a way to distract from to topic, but instead all Nick could do was clam up and hope Dani didn't notice.

Mmm, such familair fear when she had mentioned the hate groups. That wasn't so much fun, so she changed the topic, "It got pretty cold in Oklahoma too," she said, "Snow. Blizzards. All that. When I came here, it was winter and snowing. I was mostly out of my mind, I'd been driving following the highways to nowhere when I ran out of money which meant I ran out of gas too and just sort of kept walking. They found me." She'd been lucky. At the time, she wasn't so sure, but now she realized just how lucky she had been.

"Driving in snow was quite possibly my least favorite thing about Wisconsin. It's just one of those things that you don't get used to." Nick was happy for the change of topics. "What were your first days like here? I hope I'm not the only one who got lost the entire first week and ended up in a new wing that they didn't know existed every day."

That was a loaded question, but he had no idea. Taking her sunglasses off she mulled over how to answer, "I don't think I had the usual experience, Nick," she finally replied, "I was 17. Married. Pregnant and half out of my mind because of my powers. I spent the first several days in the medlab then had one of the guest rooms instead of a dorm room. Not really sure it quite compares," she very noticeably was not wearing a wedding ring now nor chasing a toddler.

"I'm sorry. That had to be difficult." Nick closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. That was obvious, he just wished that he could provide some kind of comfort to the RA. The only thing he hated more than talking about his own past was forcing others into uncomfortable situations. "I know I'm probably not your first, or your best choice, but if you'd ever like to escape from any of your problems for a while, I'll be there for ya." He swallowed another lump in his throat. "God knows I need to sometimes."

Wow. That was unexpected. Patting his knee, despite knowing it would unleash even more of his fears on her, Dani shook her head, braids bouncing slightly, "I am quite happily divorced now, but thank you," she didn't mention the baby, "and I have a life and a future beyond being someones wife and mother in a double wide with an abusive alcoholic husband. My life ain't bad, I got no complaints really," there were things she'd liked to change of course, it wasn't perfect, but she really didn't have any complaints, "My past gives me unique insight to some of the problems kids here might come in with. Is why we hahe a couple RAs with different backgrounds."

Nick had an unconscious wave of relief wash over him as he heard the words from Dani. "I'm glad to hear it." He really was. Maybe if someone was able to escape a troubled past like Dani's through time at the mansion, there was hope for him there too. Nick awkwardly pushed himself up into a prone position as he decided it was a good time to make his exit, before the conversation could turn back on him once again. "I don't want to keep you away from your relaxation time any longer. But it really was nice to meet you." What was even more surprising was that Nick actually thought the statement was true.

"Good to meet you too," Dani agreed, settling back in her chair. "I room with Jay Guthrie if you need anything," she added, "Can't miss him. He's blue and has wings," she was nearly 6' tall and he was blue. They made a striking pair. Sliding her sunglasses back on her face she waved.
Pushing her sunglasses down her nose so she could look over them, Dani smiled. "Hi," she said, trying to keep her voice level. She knew there were some new residents she hadn't met yet. She needed to make more of an effort. Again.