xp_logs | Julian & Maddie, First Impressions

Julian seeks out Maddie to discuss what she wants out of the New Mutants for next year, and gets a disappointing response.

With his tablet tucked under his arm and his tie loosened, Julian rapped on the suite door to the first person on his roster: Madelyne Pryor. He'd spoken with Angelica a few days prior regarding the student's history- or as much history as she'd been able to provide. With a great deal of consideration, Julian felt confident that this was the student to speak with first, a conversation he was looking forward to as she was a fellow telekinetic.
"It's open!" Maddie's voice carried easily out into the hallway when she bellowed from the kitchenette where she was in the middle of fixing herself a post-work, post-workout meal of peanut butter and jelly, an apple, some sugar snap peas, and whatever else she could scrounge up. She didn't have the patience to interrupt her sandwich making to open the door to someone who should have known better; she was a beast when she was tired and hungry.

Julian opened the door and poked his head inside, spotting the young woman instantly fixing a well proportioned snack, "Madelyn Pryor? Hi, I hope this isn't a bad time, but I was sort of hoping to speak to you." He opened the door a little further and gave her his best smile as the tablet in one hand absently bounced against the other.

With a wave of her hand she motioned for the stranger to come in. Clearly he was meant to be here given that there weren't a million alarms going off. Or he was really good and she was screwed. But what was life without a little risk. Besides, Maddie thought to herself as she took a few gulps of chocolate (almond) milk and wiped away a mustache, he was kinda cute and goodness knows they were in need of some fresh views to look at. Besides, she could probably take him if it came down to it.

"State your name and the purpose of your visit."

Julian entered closing the door behind him and giving her a smirk, "Very proper of you, Miss Pryor." He crossed the room and extended a hand, "I am Julian- Julian Keller- you may have heard of me, I used to be a student here."

"Keep that open." Maddie took a bite of her sandwich. There was no way she was going to place herself in the suite alone with an unknown boy with the door to her suite closed. The few seconds it took to open it could make all the difference. "Please."

"Of course," he moved his extended hand toward the door, which glowed green for a moment before drifting back to an open position. "I should have left that open to begin with- I am trying to meet with each of the New Mutants one-on-one and you," he smiled, "were at the top of my list."

She raised an eyebrow, intrigued. At both the reveal of his telekinesis and that she was on the top of his list. "Oh really?" The teen leaned casually against the counter. "And why is that?"

"You're a fellow telekinetic, and Angelica speaks highly of you- she said you're ambitious and clever, which are traits I greatly admire. May I sit?" he indicated a stool by the kitchenette, taking out his tablet.

"Oh this is going to be one of those talks then? All right." Maddie nodded her permission for him to sit and slid another one over for herself. Her powers came with no light show, which really was just as well cause she thought it would suck to have one. How were you supposed to trick someone into believing that there's a ghost in the room? "Angel said that about me? Interesting." She pushed her plate forward, offering refreshments to her guest just like her momma taught her.

"So. What did you want to talk about? Oh G-d it's not the sex talk is it? Because I've taken Health class already and I'm way too tired to sit through a lecture on STIs and condoms and contraceptives."

Julian was taken aback and paused for a beat, "What? Nononono...no, that's your own business." He scoffed, "They've been treating you like a child, I take it?" The Xavier's alum had some knowledge of how over-protective the teachers could be toward their charges- granted the students found themselves to be invincible, which Julian had learned was not the case.

In order to refrain from laughing at Julian's reaction Maddie took a bite of a carrot, a bland look on her face. This never ceased to amuse her, putting people off guard. "Nah. They're pretty cool here. I was just checking."

"So, Julian you said, right? You may speak."

Taken aback again by her bluntness he wondered if she was being serious, "Okay, well- I wanted to discuss the New Mutants program. I am going to be taking on the role of co-adviser with Angelica Jones and wanted to see what you are looking to get out of the next year." He smirked, "You may speak."

"Ah. Well then, in that case then you probably don't need to talk with me. I'm not going to be a New Mutant this year. Sorry." Her smile was apologetic. It was her fault that he was there; she had completely forgotten about telling Angel she wouldn't be part of their merry band. She assumed Angel would just know given that they were both X-Men, but Maddie guessed that she had to make it official before it was official. Another item to put on her list. "I forgot to tell her I was out. No offense, but I'd like to enjoy my senior year and I would have absolutely zero time if I was an N.M."

"Oh," Julian shifted slightly, bringing up his tablet, "are you certain?" He flipped through some of his notes, "You'll be missing out on bonding experiences with your peers." He figured it was a fruitless argument, but he needed to try.

Now that made her laugh. "Dude there are like six people in the entire senior class. Except for Molly, I've been here the longest. I think I am thoroughly bonded with them," she said. "Any more bonded and we'd be welded together."

"Besides, it'll be good for them to not have me there; someone else will need to step up and less. And like I said: between school and cheerleading and being an X-Men trainee, I'd actually like to have a life."

"Yes, Angelica said you were a natural leader," he smiled and held up his hands in defeat. "You make excellent points- and I doubt your friendships will suffer if you're not there. You'd always be welcome to join us for field trips too, if something we're doing might interest you." Julian paused, "So why do you want to join the X-Men?"

Maddie took a large bite of her sandwich, chewing slowly as she took her sweet time in answering. Julian seemed to be genuinely interested in her reason for joining the team of mutant mavericks, but she didn't feel like giving him her entire life story. "I don't know," she said one the morsel of food was on its way to experiencing the wonder that is the digestive system, "I like the uniforms. Black and skin tight is a good look for me."

"It's a long, complicated tale involving a whole bunch of stuff." She shrugged half-heartedly and gave him an apologetic smile at being unable to provide a more satisfactory answer. "But you have more people to talk with and I have some things to get done before my hot date tonight. You might want to see Clint, Clinton Barton, first, he's a trainee X-Men too."

Julian made a note on his tablet, crossing Maddie's name off the list, "Fair enough- thanks for the tip, I'll chat with him next. Have fun on your date tonight." This was not at all how he'd expected this conversation to go, but there were still eight New Mutants left. He stood and smiled, grabbing a grape off the fruit tray as he headed for the door.