xp_logs | Kevin & Laura | Thursday afternoon

Spotting a scantily clad Laura out on the dock while working in the boathouse, Kevin comes out to talk to her and invite her along on a trip for the holiday weekend.

One of the nice things about working in the boathouse was that it had windows and therefore sunlight. The metal shop off the garage was always so dark and depressing. Now Kevin had the ability to work outside and a view. A view made even better by the bikini-clad girl lounging on the dock. While Kevin could be rather singularly focused when working on art that didn't mean he was impervious to distraction. Laura was almost always distracting by her very existence.

Leaving some welding and soldering to cool, Kevin made his way down the dock. Normally he would have been pulling his shirt and gloves back on but Laura was one to need a degree of space. That didn't mean Kevin didn't completely violate her personal bubble most of the time, but he also left it intact some of the time as well. He figured her lack of clothing while soaking up the sun was more than enough reason to let her bubble stay in place today. He was completely out of reach and conveniently out of her sun when he stopped and crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet. "Hey, pretty lady."

She was at least wearing sunglasses? Laying there under the sun would be bothersome if not. Then again, Laura had wondered just how much of a tan she could get with her healing factor or anything. Did it even have something to do? She wasn't going to get sunburns at least, but she had never had those in the past. Anyway, it had been a while since she had managed to relax herself like that, and she was certainly enjoying it, eyes half closed as she peacefully dozed off on the dock. The idea of jumping into the lake had wandered in her head for a while...but she was just too comfy to move at the moment. All in all, nothing could best that moment.

Then came Kevin. Shirtless Kevin. Were those angels singing?

Using an elbow as support, Laura turned to check him out without shame or remorse. No remorse at all. "Hey hot guy. If this was a pool and not a lake I would feel transported to a cheap porn flick, that's for sure." Using her other elbow, Laura looked away from him, offering Kevin a view of her back as she waved her hair to a side. "Enjoying the view?"

The shameless checking out was returned in full, particularly with her practically posing. When a girl like Laura wore a bikini it didn't really matter which side of her she was flashing you. She was as good as naked, seven feet away and undeniably hot. Kevin pretty much won no matter what angle he was looking at her from. "Ah'm always enjoyin' the view. But Ah think you like settin' up shop here just to see how much you can tempt with me it." He didn't sound at all like he was complaining.

Laura grinned, still staring at the lake. Truth to be told, she wouldn't even dream about wearing as little as she was at that moment if someone other than Kevin was around, nice weather or not. And there had been that second of doubt about the way she had dressed; maybe it had been a little too much? At any rate, Kevin seemed to be okay with it. Like hell he wouldn't anyway, she thought as the grin grew a little more. Still using her elbows as support, Laura propped herself up, sitting and arching her back forwards, a little moan escaping her lips as she stretched. She wanted to lie back, but then she might be tempted to take a nap for real, and that would ruin any chance to get things done. What things? She hadn't decided yet.

"Well," Laura said as last as she turned to give Kevin a better display of her sitting profile. "You have to accept this is a very nice spot to set shop. And I would like to believe I'm managing to keep you from pushing yourself too much with your work. Two birds with a single stone," she sung in a cheery tune as she waved her head a little.

"Ah'm feelin' remarkably well paced," he agreed with a nod and a bit of a lopsided smile. Laura was in a better mood than usual. No, that wasn't exactly correct. She seemed more relaxed than usual. Kevin wondered if it would only last as long as she was mostly alone and secure in her personal bubble of space. He couldn't exactly blame her if she did. Dwelling wouldn't do any good, even if he was by default notched up to at least a three on a scale of ten with his worrying about her. She'll get better, he repeated mentally. It was something of a mantra for him.

"Hey, y'know when Ah promised if Ah ran away to Alaska again Ah'd take you with me? Well, it ain't Alaska but Ah'm runnin' away for fourth of July weekend if you wanna come."

Kevin would be about right about everything, yes. It was mainly because of that reason Laura had enough confidence she could bear using a bikini around him, and only him. After hiding for a while, Laura was trying to actively overcome her self imposed barriers, and while she was far from winning, she felt like it was progress, and progress was good, right? She suddenly felt like apologizing for giving the wrong idea, but realized in time she wasn't probably doing so; it was just the aforementioned barriers making her feel...kind of dirty.

"Run...away? You know, I think I would actually love running away. Where to, captain?" She discarded her growing worries over the idea of going somewhere far away with Kevin, and felt a lot lighter once more. "Maybe somewhere warmer than Alaska?"

"Yeah, probably a lot warmer'n Alaska." Now he was trying to figure out what it was like in Alaska in the summer. In Kevin's mind it was perpetually winter there even though he knew that couldn't possibly be true. Maybe it was sort of like spring here. That would make sense. Alaska was so not what he was supposed to be focusing on. "Niagara Falls. Ah've never been and Ah wanted to sketch 'em and do some homework for a sculpture Probably more on the Canadian side than the American one. Ah think they've got the horseshoe falls over there which are the really big, huge ones everyone goes to see."

"Niagara?"

And that's when she turned around and crawled towards him on all fours. She wasn't actually trying to be seductive or anything, but the news made her act without thinking. Was he kidding? He didn't look like he was kidding. Laura stopped at a sensible distance anyway, but she was closer. And on her hands and knees. "Like...with the water? Are you really going there? Like really really!?" And all the while a grin was growing bigger and bigger.

With Laura sitting there on her hands and knees it was a little hard to concentrate on Niagara. In fact, it was a little hard to concentrate on anything but the ample and easy view of her cleavage. Kevin told himself mentally it was sheer strength of will alone that enabled him to look anywhere else. He was even damn proud of himself for managing to notice the grin she wore. Was that smile about mischief or excitement over the prospect of going? "Yeah, Ah'm really, really goin'. It's one of those things you're, like, supposed to do as an American. Just like seein' the Grand Canyon. And since Ah'm a shiny, free man 'n' all Ah figured why not, right?"

It would have been interesting for him to remind Laura of just how provocative she was looking at that moment, but her intentions were completely innocent when she crawled her way to Kevin. "Somehow I don't picture you with a silly shirt, swimming trunks and a camera hanging on your shoulder...but if you want me to go, then I'll go." Because it sounded like a pretty damn good chance to see it. Straightening a bit, Laura sat back, although she was facing Kevin now. "So, when do we go? I totally need to find clothes for this now." One could almost see the mental list coming to form in Laura's head.

"Ah was thinkin' more sketch pad, pencils and a camera that fits in my pocket," he clarified for her. Somehow her version had Kevin picturing himself in a Hawaiian shirt and a fanny pack. It was more than a little traumatizing. "Ah was plannin' to leave on the thirtieth, come back on the 5th so we're there for the fireworks and fourth of July and stuff." Kevin smiled. "Ah think you can get buy with just, like, shorts and tee shirts and stuff, y'know. It's not like we're goin' to a formal dinner when we're there."

"Wait, you won't do the shirtless act over there? Suddenly I'm losing interest..." Her smile said otherwise though. And he had tried to tie himself to the idea of an average American, Laura had only let her imagination fly... "Okay, sounds like a nice time to visit new places." She supposed fireworks would be completely awesome over there anyway. "Oh Kevin, you have a lot to learn about girls and clothes and going in trips with the guys we like. Or stuff. Lucky you I'm not one those that like to dress people up without being asked." She also didn't want to overstep whatever boundaries Kevin might have with clothes.

Kevin's eyes narrowed at that last bit. "Ah am not dress up Southern Ken or whatever." He even inched away from her a bit. "And the shirt'll stay on 'cause tourists are stupid and Ah don't think me going 'sorry 'bout your arm, you shoulda stayed further from me' is gonna fly with, like, cops or whatever." Maybe Canadians were nicer about that sorta thing. They seemed like the sort of people who might be more understanding but given Kevin's legal history with the US and his mutation he wasn't precisely eager to find out.

"Wait...are you gonna have like three suitcases for five days?"

"Hey, hey I said I wasn't that kind of person. And if you put it that way then there's nothing to discuss about it." Maybe because of that the girl took another good look at Kevin; who knew when she would get the chance again? The comment about the suitcases, though? That made her blush a little. "No way...maybe a couple but it's not like we are going to stay that long over there...." Suddenly her finger playing with her hair was veeeeery interesting.

"Note to self," Kevin muttered quietly even though he knew Laura could hear him anyway, "prepare to not leave the hotel for at least an hour after Laura wakes up." He took a deep breath, held it, shook his head and let it go slowly. "Girls. The stuff Ah put up with for girls. Three suitcases and primpin' and hours of waitin' 'round..."

Puffing her cheeks, Laura feel onto all fours again, looking like a kitten about to pounce a ball of yarn. "Dude, I change like, really fast. It's not like I'm going to put on make up every time I wake up or whatever, and I will certainly get dressed fast. And okay," she added with a very eloquent eye roll. "I'll see if I can get one big suitcase so it doesn't look like I want to move into the hotel. Happy now?" Somehow she would have wanted to argue over it a little more, but seeing as how she was the one being invited...

She did stuff like that one purpose, didn't she? Giant suitcase and promises to not take eight days to get ready to venture out and then hello cleavage! It was totally a debate tactic and Kevin saw right through her. Really, he did. But it was also sort of...effective. "Yeah, Ah'm happy now." Hell, he was down right ecstatic, just not for the reasons it probably seemed he was. Kevin couldn't help the stupid grin on his face.

"Good," said as she nodded before standing up and walking towards the edge of the dock. After carefully considering (more like a couple of seconds of silence), Laura dove into the lake, emerging not too far. "Ah, cold..." She wasn't sure if Kevin could hear her, so Laura yelled as she got a hold of the dock, her head appearing on the border. "Well, I won't distract you anymore. You go and do your stuff...unless you feel like jumping, of course." She didn't think it would happen, but Laura figured that asking was the polite thing to do. Of sorts.

Kevin considered it. Mostly naked sort of girlfriend in a lake was a pretty damn tempting prospect. But he was still paranoid about the default off position of his mutation and Kevin wasn't entirely certain he could resist seeing how far into her personal bubble Laura would allow him. He cleared his throat and stood up, brushing dirt from the back of his shorts. "If Ah go in there Ah'll never get nothin' done so Ah guess it's back to work with me." He nodded toward the boathouse behind him and took a step backward. "You wanna get dinner with me some time after you're dry later on?"

"Dinner." She nodded at him, a little smile on her face. "Sounds like a plan. See you later, then." Laura let got of the dock, then, and allowed herself to slowly sink before swimming away.