Johnny and Sooraya, Near misses and hot chocolate. (Backdated to Nov 28.)

[x-dangersense.livejournal.com]

Sooraya gets Johnny some calming hot chocolate after a near miss while gardening.



It was getting chilly. Sooraya shivered a little as she pulled her coat tighter around her as she walked over the path from the stables back to the mansion. The ride with Hana had been wonderful and she definitely needed the time to relax a little, but if she wanted to keep on riding throughout the winter, it was time for her to go shopping and find some warmer clothing to wear on horseback. And hot chocolate milk when she got back to her suite would also be wonderful...

Johnny had been able to arrange to do some tree pruning since you know - good with being up trees. He wasn't getting paid for the work but felt that that was a reasonable return for not you know, being homeless and unemployed and the trees needed the work now that fall was well under way. His danger sense flared as he worked and he looked down, catching a glimpse of moving color. "Look out!" he yelled as the branch he was cutting began to fall and he jumped after it, almost falling through the branches on his way down.

"Wha..." Sooraya looked up, suddenly pulled out of her thoughts, to see a green/orange/brown/red blur coming at her "Eeee..." Her voice suddenly died away when her instincts kicked in and her clothes fell to the ground, a huge cloud of sand whooshing out of the way of the falling branch...

Johnny crashed to the ground a moment later, looking at the pile of clothes under the branch. "Oh Jesus, Sooraya, are you okay?" he asked, feeling more than a little frantic as he tugged the branch off the pile of clothes. She could - she turned into dust, right? And not just as a 'holy shit, she's dead' reaction? "Should I go to the mansion, get help?" he muttered, not realizing he was speaking aloud.

Sooraya quickly hovered in front of him though to draw his attention, then moved towards the ground, spelling out: "I'm OK." Floating back up she once again hovered at eye height, gesturing at him to remove the branch with a tendril of sand.

"Gyah!" Johnny took a deep breath and then another one. He could panic after, right? and finished moving the branch. "Do you ah -- do you want me to turn around?" he asked. Naked Muslim sand lady. Well, naked pile of sand. What if it got really windy? What happened then? He wasn't going to think about that. "I"m really sorry."

She didn't mean to ignore the young man when she quickly flowed into her clothes, taking a few moments to make sure she would be able to reform with clothes on properly. She just figured it would be easier to calm him down if she... you know... could talk.

So Sooraya quickly assumed her normal form again, raising a hand. "It's okay, Johnny. I am fine."

"I dropped half a freaking tree on your head!"

"I am sure you didn't mean to. It was just a freak accident..." Sooraya was still a little shaken, but that was disappearing quickly. "Nothing bad happened in the end."

"But it could have," Johnny muttered.

"It didn't." Sooraya reached out, gently touching his arm for a moment. "It's truly alright. Are you sure you are okay? I think I saw a silver blur flying after the branch."

"That was me," Johnny admitted. "I jumped down after it. Since I dropped it on you and all."

"And you are sure you're not hurt? And what were you going to try? Push the branch out of the way?" Sooraya quickly looked him over, but he seemed to be perfectly alright.

"Um. Probably. Yes. Or something." Johnny tugged a hand through his hair and shrugged. "I didn't really think about it, to be honest."

"We all have those times we don't really think. Instincts can be a a wonderful thing." Sooraya tossed a baleful glare at the branch now lying innocently on the path. "Are you going to be doing a lot more work on the trees here?"

I almost killed you, he thought. "Maybe, if they need the work done on them but I might just um... Chill indoors, you know?"

"It's November. It's getting kinda chilly outside indeed." Sooraya agreed. He still looked a little shaken, she thought "I might have an idea. Why don't we go inside and I fix us some hot chocolate? I think we can both use some..."

"We all have those times we don't really think. Instincts can be a a wonderful thing." Sooraya tossed a baleful glare at the branch now lying innocently on the path. "Are you going to be doing a lot more work on the trees here?"

I almost killed you, he thought. "Maybe, if they need the work done on them but I might just um... Chill indoors, you know?"

"It's November. It's getting kinda chilly outside indeed." Sooraya agreed. He still looked a little shaken, she thought "I might have an idea. Why don't we go inside and I fix us some hot chocolate? I think we can both use some..."

Johnny nodded. "That would, ah, be really awesome. Thanks." He picked up his tools and followed her inside.

Once inside the kitchen, Sooraya pulled out a sauce pan, quickly pouring in the chocolate milk. "Have a seat, Johnny. This should be done before too long."

Johnny took another deep breath and smiled, still rattled on the inside, even if it was fading now that the tingle at the back of his skull had vanished. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked, getting out a box of cookies.

"If you want, you can find us two mugs?" Sooraya moved over to the refrigerator, pulling out some whipped cream. She eyed the flavored syrups people sometimes used for coffee. "Want to try to add some of those to your chocolate?"

Johnny picked up a couple of mugs, dangling them off one finger while he juggled the hazelnut, caramel, vanilla and cinnamon syrup bottles. "This is going to be epic," he said. "I'm going with all of them. What about you?" Sure, it wouldn't taste like chocolate at the end but that was totally okay. Epic.

"Uhm. I think I might just add a touch of hazelnut, but chocolate, whipped cream and that sound just fine to me." Sooraya eyed the chocolate at the edges the sauce pan starting to bubble. "Can you come over with the mugs?"

"There's whipped cream, too? Awesome." Johnny put the mugs down and began to search the fridge for it. "Hey, I found marshmallows." He stuffed a couple in his mouth and handed the nearly empty bag over.

Sooraya quickly poured the chocolate in the mugs and lifted the whipped cream. "I have it over here. And no thank you. The chocolate milk just sweet enough without it." She did add a bit of the hazelnut syrup and a generous helping of whipped cream before taking a seat at the table. "Are you enjoying being back at Xavier's?"

So that would be why he couldn't find it. Johnny backed away from the fridge and began to adulterate his hot chocolate with all the syrups he'd pulled out, adding cream and marshmallows, too, as he thought about the answer. He shrugged eventually. There was the answer he couldn't really give, because it sounded too self pitying, which was 'hey, it beats being that weird twitchy anxious guy on my friends' couches' and settled for "Yeah, it's great and I'm really working on my powers and stuff."

"How is that going? I remember reading on your journal you were having some issues. Any progress?" Sooraya took a seat at the table in the kitchen, sipping from the hot chocolate.

Johnny shrugged, staring down into his drink. "My powers still aren't working," he said softly. "Pretty much anything sets off my danger sense right now and I still don't know how to turn it off so I'm not panicking all the time. It's not as bad as it was before I came here but..." I just want to not be scared all the time was what he didn't say out loud.

Sooraya frowned for a moment. "It kinda makes you feel jumpy 24/7?" She asked, trying to get a broader picture.

"Yeah. Like, really jumpy. Really, really, super jumpy. But it's totally better than it was," which was awesome. Johnny leaned against the table and drummed his fingers against the side of his mug. "Which is great but I'd rather it if it was like, only going to turn on when I need it. Not because there's a mosquito in the room or someone spilled water on the floor."

"Uh yeah... Can you still distinguish between something innocent and something really dangerous? In how strong it is?" Sooraya continued curiously.

"I used to be able to, a bit, but not so much right now. Apparently, I'm convinced that everything is deadly and wants to kill me, except when things don't even ping."

"Strange..." She shook her head at the idea of living on super alert 24/7. "Did the professor or Dr. Grey says something about what was going on?"

Johnny shook his head. "They're working on it. Trying to, like, recalibrate me or something. Everyone keeps telling me to relax. But, you know? It's better than it was."

"A good thing." She easily agreed. "I heard Mr. Summers was putting you through your paces in the Danger Room?"

Johnny nodded, grinning broadly. "Yeah. It's mad fun. And like, the only time my powers work the way they should. So I'm thinking I might join the X-Men."

"You're thinking about becoming a trainee? Somehow that does not quite surprise me. It's interesting to do though."

"How did you find it?" Johnny asked.

"It's challenging. You learn to use your mind, body and powers in very different ways you're used to. A lot of hard work, but very worth it. I still have much to learn though."

"I like the sound of that," Johnny said. "I think it might help to get things here under control again."

"I hope so. Watch out for both Mr. Summers and Mr. Kane in the Danger Room though. If you think it's hard now, wait till you are a trainee." Sooraya replied with twinkling eyes.

Maybe he was crazy but the thought of that sounded like fun. "I can't wait till the day I'd be good enough to beat them, actually."

Sooraya's eyes widened and she started to giggle. "I wish you much luck in that. Might take some time though. For know I am just glad if I complete the scenario's well."

"I suppose... Still." Johnny finished the dregs of his hot chocolate. "You'll be surprised."