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xp_logs2014-09-22 02:08 pm
x-velocidad.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2014-09-22 02:08 pm
Entry tags:
Gabriel & Molly - Backdated
Gabriel makes friends with the mansion's resident pint-sized powerhouse. ((Just realized I initially posted this in Gabriel's journal. Reposting here because archives. My bad!))
Well, this was certainly a change from smoking on a fire escape.
Gabriel scooted back against the tree, surveying the grounds of the Xavier Institute. It was a little warm for September, and he'd intended to take advantage of that by going for a run.
Instead, he'd ended up wandering around outside until he found a little patch he could call his own, then lit up a cigarette. Self-improvement could start tomorrow.
Molly spent most of her time either in the art room, in the motor pool working on cars with Wademan, or outside. Though since she was getting older she did it less, but not completely. Like right now she was about to go swimming, in the pool not the lake, and wore a bright purple swimsuit. And cause she always had to have a hat she wore a swimcap with little flowers on it. She didn't really need it, but it was a hat, and she loved her hats.
Then she got distracted by the new guy on the lawn, and scrunched up her nose at the cigarette smoke. People sure liked smoking here a lot. But she wasn't gonna hold that against him.
"Hi! Are you the new person? I'm Molly!"
Gabriel tilted his head up ever-so-slightly to meet the eyes of the fairly small girl in front of him. "That's me." He smiled at her pool-ready get-up and extended his hand.
"Gabriel. Nice to meet you, Molly. That's a cute cap."
Molly shook Gabriel's hand, careful, but sometimes her grip was a little stronger than most people anticipated. 'Thanks! I had to order it off the internet cause they don't sell them in the stores anymore," she said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "I dunno why."
"We get new people a lot so you won't be new for long. Then you can be old. And then you can show other people around. Like me! Well...I can show you...if you want. If you didn't already. And there's also food. Really good food. Lorna makes it! And Catseye owns a deli in town. Have you met them?"
Gabriel flicked ash toward the ground as he pulled his hand back. "I don't think so? It's been kind of a whirlwind. I mean, I usually move fast but everything's just sort of... happening. I can barely find my way around this place." And judging from the medlab, he imagined wandering into the wrong room would be especially problematic.
That was a concern for another day. "So tell me, Molly, how long have you been here?" He brought the cigarette to his lips.
Molly laughed, though not at him, mostly cause she totally understood. "Yeah, that happens a lot!" she said. Spreading out her beach towel so she could plop down beside him. She didn't wanna get grass on her bathing suit.
"It's really big. And there's a lot of levels. And lots of fun things to do...like the Dangerous Room. Though you have to have an adult with you. But I guess since you're an adult you can go by yourself. You said you go fast?"
She thought about his next question. "I've been here since I was...12. I'm 16 now. My parents did bad things so they let me stay here so I'll be able to learn about how to control my powers and go to school and stuff instead of be in hiding like them."
Gabriel looked over at her, a little confused. He decided to focus on the things he understood. "Yep, I've got super-speed, at least as far as I know." She looked younger than 16, but it's not like he was one to talk about age-appropriate appearance. It's not like he was one to talk about weird parents either, for that matter. At some point he probably ought to try and tell his that he was in Westchester now.
He realized he'd been silent for a little while and smiled at her again, pushing everything else out of his mind. "So, are you, you know... learning a lot?"
Molly perked up at the mention of super-speed. "Oooh, like the Flash!" she said excitedly.
"That's pretty neat! They're making a show with him, I hear. Maybe you could get ideas on how to use your powers? Like tricks and stuff? I get some ideas for using my powers from the comics sometimes." Though she never had to fight a man gorilla or aliens or anything. Maybe someday!
"They teach you all sorts of stuff here. Like...math and science. It's just like being at a normal school except you learn about how to like...lift a car without falling asleep. I can do that now! It used to be kinda hard. Oh, and if you ever go on a field trip you should totally be prepared to fight something so if you have a uniform you should probably bring it so you don't get your clothes messed up. Specially if you get sucked into a demon dimension or a painting."
She tilted her head thoughtfully. "They could maybe let you borrow one if you don't have one, I guess. I asked Ms. Jones if we could bring our uniforms but she never said anything."
"Uh... huh." Now Gabriel had to wonder about this place. Jean had given him the impression that he'd be a little freer from distraction and chaos here, but it didn't sound like that was anything close to true. He exhaled smoke and tossed the butt end of the cigarette in the grass, where he stomped it out. "So, you — sorry, demon dimension?" He was more amused than appalled, but still a little appalled. Fairly appalled. He pulled a box of cigarettes out of the pocket of his jeans and slid another one into his hands.
He was looking at her funny. Like surprised scared funny. Molly blinked, suddenly realizing not everyone did all the stuff she did all the time so that probably sounded bad.
"Oh um...It was just once! And we totally kicked their butts. It probably won't happen again. It's actually a really neat place. But cause everyone has powers and everyone's all different it means that lots of exciting stuff happens sometimes. But if bad stuff happens we kick their butts too. And then we have ice cream. Well, I do. Cause ice cream's awesome. Do you like ice cream?"
"Oh man, Molly, I do like ice cream." Gabriel grinned. Despite her not being that much younger than him, she was way cuter and sweeter than any of the 16-year-old girls he ever knew. And way more genuine than he ever was at that age. "There's this place in El Paso that had this dulce de leche ice cream that was just perfect. We used to go there after church on Sundays sometimes." Back when church was a thing Gabriel did regularly, and he had a family to go to church with. "Sometimes I miss living somewhere hot enough for ice cream all the time."
"What's dulce de leche?" Molly said. It was ice cream, she knew that, so she probably immediately liked it, but the name sounded cool and she hadn't heard it before.
"I used to live in LA, It was hot a lot there too. We used to decorate the palm trees with Christmas lights.It made them really pretty. But I like them better in Christmas trees, y'know? And skiing...and snowmen, and hot chocolate."
"Ick." Gabriel wrinkled his nose, then took a puff on his cigarette. "I'm not used to winter yet. And they say New York is a great place during Christmas, but really it's just frustrating, and a little sad." Or maybe he was projecting. "Made a lot of money off tourists, though," he added a little cheerfully, before realizing he probably couldn't go into too much detail about that if he wanted to spend more than 2 weeks at Xavier's. "Dulce de leche's kind of like caramel, but gooier and sweeter. It's fantastic."
Molly's eyes widened at the word 'caramel.' She suddenly got very hungry. "Dude...that sounds AWESOME. Do you know how to make it? Can we make some? Maybe we can go on the internet and find a recipe!"
"Oh God no." Gabriel made a face. "I'm the world's worst cook. Never really learned, never really had to. And when you live in the city, your kitchen's so small anyway, you end up not really doing anything sophisticated, even if you were going to." He laughed at how bummed she looked. Gabriel had a feeling if he had a little sister, she would have been a lot like Molly. "But we could learn how, I bet! Internet. And the Food Network and stuff. And then it can be, like, a culinary adventure."
Molly beamed broadly. "Yes! I like this plan. We'll need fedoras instead of chefs hats...I have three. You can wear one!" she said, then tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Maybe...we should find the fire extinguisher before we start cooking though."
"Probably," he responded in a tone that conveyed he didn't really care all that much about the danger of burning the place down. "I can't imagine things getting out of hand, though. I'm not that dangerous."
"I am," Molly said, nodding reassuringly, seemingly completely forgetting she was still in her bathing suit to go swimming instead of suddenly deciding to go cook something.
"I've made pancakes and stuff though. So it can't be that hard, right?"
"Eh, doubt it? I mean, it's all sugar, so I think that stuff burns fast?" Gabriel squinted, trying to recall a basic fact of any kind from high school science. Which felt like ages ago. He puffed on his cigarette. "Probably ought to dress for the occasion, though." He nodded at her swimsuit.
Molly blinked down at her bathing suit. "Oh! Yeah," she said, then made a disappointed face at having to decide between the two. She still wanted to go swimming. She brightened as she came up with a compromise.
"Hey! Do you wanna go swimming? We can do that and THEN make food afterward for lunch, with the dulce de leche as dessert?"
"Mmm, sure." Gabriel nodded, smiling back at Molly. Not that he was wearing a swimsuit, and he wasn't inclined to go and change, but whatever. Xavier's pool would live if he dove in with his shorts on. "That sounds like a good plan." He tossed the remainder of his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with his foot.
Well, this was certainly a change from smoking on a fire escape.
Gabriel scooted back against the tree, surveying the grounds of the Xavier Institute. It was a little warm for September, and he'd intended to take advantage of that by going for a run.
Instead, he'd ended up wandering around outside until he found a little patch he could call his own, then lit up a cigarette. Self-improvement could start tomorrow.
Molly spent most of her time either in the art room, in the motor pool working on cars with Wademan, or outside. Though since she was getting older she did it less, but not completely. Like right now she was about to go swimming, in the pool not the lake, and wore a bright purple swimsuit. And cause she always had to have a hat she wore a swimcap with little flowers on it. She didn't really need it, but it was a hat, and she loved her hats.
Then she got distracted by the new guy on the lawn, and scrunched up her nose at the cigarette smoke. People sure liked smoking here a lot. But she wasn't gonna hold that against him.
"Hi! Are you the new person? I'm Molly!"
Gabriel tilted his head up ever-so-slightly to meet the eyes of the fairly small girl in front of him. "That's me." He smiled at her pool-ready get-up and extended his hand.
"Gabriel. Nice to meet you, Molly. That's a cute cap."
Molly shook Gabriel's hand, careful, but sometimes her grip was a little stronger than most people anticipated. 'Thanks! I had to order it off the internet cause they don't sell them in the stores anymore," she said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "I dunno why."
"We get new people a lot so you won't be new for long. Then you can be old. And then you can show other people around. Like me! Well...I can show you...if you want. If you didn't already. And there's also food. Really good food. Lorna makes it! And Catseye owns a deli in town. Have you met them?"
Gabriel flicked ash toward the ground as he pulled his hand back. "I don't think so? It's been kind of a whirlwind. I mean, I usually move fast but everything's just sort of... happening. I can barely find my way around this place." And judging from the medlab, he imagined wandering into the wrong room would be especially problematic.
That was a concern for another day. "So tell me, Molly, how long have you been here?" He brought the cigarette to his lips.
Molly laughed, though not at him, mostly cause she totally understood. "Yeah, that happens a lot!" she said. Spreading out her beach towel so she could plop down beside him. She didn't wanna get grass on her bathing suit.
"It's really big. And there's a lot of levels. And lots of fun things to do...like the Dangerous Room. Though you have to have an adult with you. But I guess since you're an adult you can go by yourself. You said you go fast?"
She thought about his next question. "I've been here since I was...12. I'm 16 now. My parents did bad things so they let me stay here so I'll be able to learn about how to control my powers and go to school and stuff instead of be in hiding like them."
Gabriel looked over at her, a little confused. He decided to focus on the things he understood. "Yep, I've got super-speed, at least as far as I know." She looked younger than 16, but it's not like he was one to talk about age-appropriate appearance. It's not like he was one to talk about weird parents either, for that matter. At some point he probably ought to try and tell his that he was in Westchester now.
He realized he'd been silent for a little while and smiled at her again, pushing everything else out of his mind. "So, are you, you know... learning a lot?"
Molly perked up at the mention of super-speed. "Oooh, like the Flash!" she said excitedly.
"That's pretty neat! They're making a show with him, I hear. Maybe you could get ideas on how to use your powers? Like tricks and stuff? I get some ideas for using my powers from the comics sometimes." Though she never had to fight a man gorilla or aliens or anything. Maybe someday!
"They teach you all sorts of stuff here. Like...math and science. It's just like being at a normal school except you learn about how to like...lift a car without falling asleep. I can do that now! It used to be kinda hard. Oh, and if you ever go on a field trip you should totally be prepared to fight something so if you have a uniform you should probably bring it so you don't get your clothes messed up. Specially if you get sucked into a demon dimension or a painting."
She tilted her head thoughtfully. "They could maybe let you borrow one if you don't have one, I guess. I asked Ms. Jones if we could bring our uniforms but she never said anything."
"Uh... huh." Now Gabriel had to wonder about this place. Jean had given him the impression that he'd be a little freer from distraction and chaos here, but it didn't sound like that was anything close to true. He exhaled smoke and tossed the butt end of the cigarette in the grass, where he stomped it out. "So, you — sorry, demon dimension?" He was more amused than appalled, but still a little appalled. Fairly appalled. He pulled a box of cigarettes out of the pocket of his jeans and slid another one into his hands.
He was looking at her funny. Like surprised scared funny. Molly blinked, suddenly realizing not everyone did all the stuff she did all the time so that probably sounded bad.
"Oh um...It was just once! And we totally kicked their butts. It probably won't happen again. It's actually a really neat place. But cause everyone has powers and everyone's all different it means that lots of exciting stuff happens sometimes. But if bad stuff happens we kick their butts too. And then we have ice cream. Well, I do. Cause ice cream's awesome. Do you like ice cream?"
"Oh man, Molly, I do like ice cream." Gabriel grinned. Despite her not being that much younger than him, she was way cuter and sweeter than any of the 16-year-old girls he ever knew. And way more genuine than he ever was at that age. "There's this place in El Paso that had this dulce de leche ice cream that was just perfect. We used to go there after church on Sundays sometimes." Back when church was a thing Gabriel did regularly, and he had a family to go to church with. "Sometimes I miss living somewhere hot enough for ice cream all the time."
"What's dulce de leche?" Molly said. It was ice cream, she knew that, so she probably immediately liked it, but the name sounded cool and she hadn't heard it before.
"I used to live in LA, It was hot a lot there too. We used to decorate the palm trees with Christmas lights.It made them really pretty. But I like them better in Christmas trees, y'know? And skiing...and snowmen, and hot chocolate."
"Ick." Gabriel wrinkled his nose, then took a puff on his cigarette. "I'm not used to winter yet. And they say New York is a great place during Christmas, but really it's just frustrating, and a little sad." Or maybe he was projecting. "Made a lot of money off tourists, though," he added a little cheerfully, before realizing he probably couldn't go into too much detail about that if he wanted to spend more than 2 weeks at Xavier's. "Dulce de leche's kind of like caramel, but gooier and sweeter. It's fantastic."
Molly's eyes widened at the word 'caramel.' She suddenly got very hungry. "Dude...that sounds AWESOME. Do you know how to make it? Can we make some? Maybe we can go on the internet and find a recipe!"
"Oh God no." Gabriel made a face. "I'm the world's worst cook. Never really learned, never really had to. And when you live in the city, your kitchen's so small anyway, you end up not really doing anything sophisticated, even if you were going to." He laughed at how bummed she looked. Gabriel had a feeling if he had a little sister, she would have been a lot like Molly. "But we could learn how, I bet! Internet. And the Food Network and stuff. And then it can be, like, a culinary adventure."
Molly beamed broadly. "Yes! I like this plan. We'll need fedoras instead of chefs hats...I have three. You can wear one!" she said, then tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Maybe...we should find the fire extinguisher before we start cooking though."
"Probably," he responded in a tone that conveyed he didn't really care all that much about the danger of burning the place down. "I can't imagine things getting out of hand, though. I'm not that dangerous."
"I am," Molly said, nodding reassuringly, seemingly completely forgetting she was still in her bathing suit to go swimming instead of suddenly deciding to go cook something.
"I've made pancakes and stuff though. So it can't be that hard, right?"
"Eh, doubt it? I mean, it's all sugar, so I think that stuff burns fast?" Gabriel squinted, trying to recall a basic fact of any kind from high school science. Which felt like ages ago. He puffed on his cigarette. "Probably ought to dress for the occasion, though." He nodded at her swimsuit.
Molly blinked down at her bathing suit. "Oh! Yeah," she said, then made a disappointed face at having to decide between the two. She still wanted to go swimming. She brightened as she came up with a compromise.
"Hey! Do you wanna go swimming? We can do that and THEN make food afterward for lunch, with the dulce de leche as dessert?"
"Mmm, sure." Gabriel nodded, smiling back at Molly. Not that he was wearing a swimsuit, and he wasn't inclined to go and change, but whatever. Xavier's pool would live if he dove in with his shorts on. "That sounds like a good plan." He tossed the remainder of his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with his foot.