xp_logs | Angelica & Julian, Breakfast of Champions

Angelica meets Julian in the city for breakfast, and to discuss the various New Mutants.

Julian shifted in his chair slightly, looking over his tablet and checking the stocks he'd purchased recently. A cup of coffee sat cooling at hand, two creams and two sweeteners already mixed in; and while he was fully conscious of the booth of well-dressed men sitting near-by who kept stealing glances at him and chuckling to each other, he did his best to ignore them. An email alert appeared on his screen and he opened it to find a message from his realtor that his place outside the city was ready and that he could pick up keys today. Closing the notice he smiled and picked up the cup, blowing on it before trying a sip, then sitting back to wonder where Angelica was.

"You look so official with your tablet and coffee." Speak of the redheaded devil and she shall appear. Angel smiled as she dropped into the seat across from Julian, setting her bag down on on her lap. A waiter almost instantly appeared at her side. "Good service. Black coffee please?" She asked as she dug through the bag, and the waiter shuffled off. "So how're you?" She asked as she pulled nine manila folders (of varying degrees of thickness) out of her bag.

"Aside from an early morning encounter with a pissed off squirrel," he held up his bandaged arm, "I'm well." Before she could ask, "Monkey Joe took it as a personal insult that I didn't bring him anything and reacted poorly when I attempted to eject him from my room." He pointed at the folders while taking another sip, "You've been busy- please tell me that's homework and not your New Mutant files."

"Never argue with the squirrel, man," Angel said with a mock sigh. "They'll win every time." The waiter came back with the coffee, and she gave him a bright smile before taking a long sip of the scalding drink. "Alas, my dear Julian, these are indeed the files of the nine students you'll be helping me mentor. They're not as bad as they look, promise." That was only half a lie.

Julian nodded and indicated the menu, "We should order before we get too busy discussing them then." He flagged down the waiter and indicated they were ready to order, his manners kicked in and he tipped a hand toward his companion, "After you, Miss Jones."

"Oh why thank you." Angel smiled, looking up at the waiter. "I think I'll have the country breakfast with the eggs, um....over easy. No scrambled. Yeah. Scrambled please."

"And I'll have the banana walnut pancakes with warm maple butter please- and a side of bacon. Oh, and a plate of cut fruits first." The waiter scampered off and Julian turned his attention to Angelica, leaning forward, "So who do we have?"

Angel took another sip of her coffee before grabbing the first file. "Well first we haaaaaaaave...Molly Hayes. Junior this year, she's been at the mansion sine she was twelve. She has super strength, so don't let the fact that she's like, five feet tall fool you. She threw a car once."

"I do remember Mols," he smiled and recalled their trips to get comics in town, "she's sixteen now? Well, that makes me feel older." He picked up his tablet and started writing with the stylus, quick notes for later. "Molly Hayes...is she still wearing those hats?"

"She was for a while, but she seems to have stopped as of late," Angel said as she looked through the file. "Not sure what happened there, she just kinda stopped one day."

An eyebrow arched as Julian nodded and made a note, opening another page, "Who's next?"

"Aaaahhhh..." Angel grabbed the next file, flipping it open. "Oh, Madelyne Pryor. Maddie. Seventeen, senior. Telepathic and telekinetic. Opinionated, smart, and doesn't generally take no for an answer. She's been around since she was fourteen, I believe?"

Julian looked up at her from his tablet, still writing, "If you're asking me, I have no idea. I don't think she was there when I left to head back hom...to California." He made a couple notes, "Telekinetic, limitations? Please tell me we aren't dealing with a little female me."

"No limitations that I'm aware of," Angel said as she skimmed the notes. "She's got a good range."

Nodding, "Basically, Jean Grey Junior then." He shrugged, "Does this young lady have any leadership potential?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. She's got a strong voice and authority. She can usually get her friends to follow her without too much of a problem."

With a nod of approval, Julian took a sip of coffee and opened another page, "Victim...er...student, the third?" He smiled and gave Angelica a wink.

She laughed, picking up the next file. "The newest one, Johnny Storm. Sixteen, basically a mini male me. He can make fire, and most first encounter with him was he was trying to jump out of tree to fly."

A beat of silence passed at the table as Julian considered Angelica as a sixteen-year-old boy. He could hear the table behind them guffawing at some jab toward he and his guest. Finally, Julian bobbled his head a bit, "Did it work?"

"Well it left an impressive burnmark in the grass, so no." Angel snorted, then looked at the businessmen. "Yo, take a picture," she told them cheerfully. "It lasts longer." Back to Julian. "I got him signed up for flying classes though, he's not hopping out of trees anymore."

"Let's hope he doesn't take his cues from me and start to jump off the flier's platform," with a shake of the head, he made a couple more notes. "Would brash, hot headed, and-or random be good descriptive words?"

"Yeah we don't need any broken legs," Angel agreed. "Brash, random, daredevil. Definitely a daredevil. He lives for adrenaline rushes."

Julian made a note to take him kite-boarding, "Excellent, we'll have to keep an eye on him during outings then." Opening a new page, "How many more do we have?" Their waiter refilled his coffee and he floated a couple more creams and sweeteners over to his hand from the small dish on the table.

"Three down, six to go." Angel grinned as she picked up the next one. "You're in luck with this one, though. Topaz. I don't know much about her other than she's an empath and a magic user and a senior. If you want more info, go to Amanda, that's one of her brood."

"So we have a clique within the New Mutants now?" Julian made a note to call on Miss Sefton soon. "That's fantastic," the words were drenched in sarcasm, he had something similar happen with the youth program back at the West Coast Annex, he wasn't eager to go down that road again, particularly with a smaller group.

"Nah." Angel laughed. "She's just a weird one. The next one is Billy, also a mutant magic user, seventeen, senior. Likes to make things randomly appear. Like potatoes and snow inside. If you want to understand the magic more definitely talk to Amanda because that goes way over my head."

He double underlined his note to speak to Amanda, "Okay, so Topaz...is that her full name? And Billy, basically Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger. Talk to Miss Sefton for more information."

"Eh, she has a real name, but she doesn't answer to it. If they're Harry and Hermione what does that make Amanda?" Angel tilted her head for a moment. "No, focus. Next. Hope Abbott. Seventeen, senior. Most of 'em are seniors actually. Hope astral projects, when she first got here she randomly ghosted out, it was pretty bad. She's got it a lot better under control now. Her parents are really proper and controlling, but she seems to have gotten out from under their thumb as of late."

Julian smiled at his friend's randomness, "Glad to hear it. Mostly seniors? What happens next year then...no more New Mutants?" He sighed and made his notes, "Dumbledore by the way." He looked up and winked, "The beard gives it away."

"Dumbledore. Of course." Angel snorted. "I honestly don't know what'll happen. I'm sure more students will pop up in the meantime though. Anyways next. Tyrone Johnson, junior. He's semi-new too, just popped up around the beginning of the year. He manipulates shadows and likes to eat a lot."

Her friend raised an eyebrow over the rim of his coffee cup, "Please tell me that it's not the shadows that like to eat...that would be an awesome horror movie- but a completely terrifying reality."

"I mean, I haven't really talked to the shadows, they might like to eat." Angel laughed. "But no, it's the boy who likes to eat. Anyways next is Clint Barton, also a senior - surprise, I know. He's got super eyesight and loves science and robots."

"Science geek, robots- it's a shame Doctor McCoy isn't around anymore, they would be inseparable," Julian shrugged and made a note to look into robotics competitions in the region. "Does he have a mentor for his interests?"

"Uuuuhhh, I think he works with Ms. Frost's sister...Ms. Frost. The older one. Not the younger one, the younger one is terrified of robots. Not quite sure why."

Julian shrugged, "She never talked to me about it." He didn't know how much Angelica knew about the Hellfire Club, so left it at that, "I remember Adrienne Frost- he's in good hands then." He updated his tally, "That's all of them?"

"One more. Frank Ludlum, senior, living tree. I mean, he can morph his skin so it's all wood. He has a few anger issues, but overall he's stayed out of trouble."

With a nod, Julian opened a final note, "Any idea what a living tree would have to be angry about?"

"Seems his dad sheltered him from how much mutants really suffer, so when he got here and found out about it it was kind of shock." It had been a while since she'd had a conversation with Frank, but she still remembered. "And his reaction was anger."

"Fair enough," Julian remembered how his classmates had treated Doreen, "pretty reasonable, particularly for a teenage boy...wait, is he a second generation mutant?" The waiter reappeared with their food, waiting for them to clear spaces to place the food on the table.

"I don't think so," Angel said as she shuffled up the files, getting them back into her bag. "I don't know too much about his family other than he lived with his dad though."

"Quite the group, bigger than our class. Thank you," he spread his napkin on his lap as the food was placed before him. "Are there any interpersonal conflicts I should be aware of?"

"The program's gotten bigger since we were kids," Angel agreed as she dug into her eggs. "As far as I know everyone's pretty cool with one another. No massive fights in the halls or anything."

"None of the girls are beating each other up over the boys?" Julian took a bite of the delicious pancakes and smiled as he chewed. His tablet glowed green as it floated off the table and slid into his bag.

"No, they're not nearly as cool as I was," Angel laughed. She knew how to make fun of herself.

"All more the pity," he took another bite. Ideas were circulating in his head, "If you don't mind, I'd like to go around and introduce myself to the, well, kids for lack of a better term, myself- sort of a one-on-one."

"Oh go for it," she said at once. "You can't really know them 'till you've met them for yourselves anyways. They shouldn't be too hard to track down, especially with school starting. They'll all be hanging around the mansion."

"Excellent," he started making a list of who to seek out first, "I will be gone for a day- two days at most- a bit of business has come up north of the city, but it shouldn't take long. Once I get back, I'll get started...." He paused, setting down his fork, "When I get back, we should get together again- maybe over hot chocolate? It's been a while, but I'm certain I can still make something drinkable."

"Well, I'll be the judge of that." Angel finished the last of her coffee, smirking. "But sure. Just shoot me a text when you get back. Don't get into any trouble while you're gone."