xp_logs | Xavin and Warren - Wednesday evening.

Xavin and Warren meet in the gym. It doesn't go so well.

The gym was always a solace for Warren. He could run on the treadmill, punch out his frustrations, ignore the fact that he had the pressures of million dollar deals on his shoulders. And there was that whole stolen item business too. That deserved several workout sessions alone.‎

Of course, it was better when he was in his own home and didn't have to share, but that was one of the facts about staying at the mansion: people were everywhere.

When the young teenager came in, Warren was surprised to realize he had no idea who it was. Or what. Was it a boy? A girl? He was open-minded. He could accept either.

Xavin had come down for a workout because - new suitemates, crazy suitmates and yo, still so much anger about the other day and saw Warren's attempt at subtle eyeballing (hint: it wasn't) and... it could go one of two ways. Ignore him, keep unracking weights for chest press and bicep sets or... screw it. "You got a problem?"

A problem? Warren was confused now. "No, no problem. Just trying to place you, but to be honest, I don't pay much attention to teenagers." Stopping the treadmill, he walked off and grabbed his towel. ‎ "I'm Warren."

I know. Everything about Warren screamed 'this is the kind of man my dad's bosses wanted to be but weren't'. "I beg your pardon. I'm Xavin." Xavin settled back on the bench, barbell gripped in both hands and began to count out a set of twelve.

Xavin. Well, that was a non gender specific name. How was he supposed to know how to act if he didn't know if Xavin was a girl or a boy? Clearing his throat, Warren walked to the bench. "Want a spotter?"‎

"...twelve." Xavin put the weight down and stood up, counting out bicep curls. "...three, four - uh, maybe? I don't know? six, seven..."

Was that a masculine answer? Was it a feminine one? This was driving Warren nuts. "You're fine," he responded brusquely before heading over to the punching bag. ‎ Maybe a punch or two would clear his head.

Warren clearly had some kind of problem. "Uhuh". Xavin moved on to the shoulders part of the set.

It was hard to pay attention to what he was doing, as Warren kept trying to see if there were any gender cues. He'd never been faced with such androgeny and he was finding it unsettling. Even the pitch of the teen's voice didn't help.‎ "Have you been here long? What's your story?"

Xavin put the barbell down and sat up. This was apparently chatting time, not workout time. Oh well. "My family is from LA but ... you know, the whole mutant thing happened and then, well, stuff happened, and, like, now I live here. What about you? I mean, Miles has told me about you. You don't... need to be here. You have options."

Warren nodded. "Yes, I do. But I like it here. Things make sense. You're a mutant or you're not. Black and white." Male or female. That was another one that followed but he didn't think he should voice that, alone in a room with a person he didn't know. He did have a little bit of a sovial filter. "Should I not be here, even though I have my own pace and money of my own?"

Xavin shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I guess. I just - you're like, a billionaire. Shouldn't you be like, living in a mansion and ..." There was a pause while Xavin tried to picture exactly what billionaires did. ".. doing.billionaire stuff? Casinos and models and things?"

"I think you have me confused with James Bond," Warren laughed. "And I do have a mansion. It's my parents', to be honest, but they need to die first before I get it. I give it another 20 years."

"Yeah, probably, but you have this double life - businesman by day, mutant by night..."

"We're all hiding things.". Now was his chance to ask. "What's your secret? Your double life?"

"My double life?" Xavin asked with a headshake. "I don't have one, other than being a shapeshifter in a normal high school. Man, that got weird in gym class before summer."

"A shape shifter?". Warren's interest was now piqued. "What do you shift into? Is this your normal body?"

"I guess? This one or. .. the other one." The figure in front of Warren frowned in concentration, shifting from boy to girl.

"Wait, what?" Warren tilted his head. "How do you not know what body is yours? You were born with one not two, weren't you?‎"

Xavin shrugged, shifting on the bench and drumming fingers on knees for a moment. "They both feel ... normal. Natural to me, I guess. So if I don't prefer one of them, I guess they're both my real body now, right?"

Now Warren was really confused. "How? You're either a boy, or you're a girl. You can't be both."‎

"Why not?" Xavin asked quietly, heart beating furiously.

"Simple biology? Both can't exist at the same time."

Oh, what a jerk. "You got wings. I can be either, any time I want so give me one reason why you can't be both?" Xavin looked calm but was shaking inwardly.

"Because I am clearly male," Warren responded in an obvious tone of voice. "Wings or no wings, I'm still biologically male. My mutation doesn't change that. I don't think I understand yours. Do you have male thoughts or female thoughts?"

"I just have thoughts, okay? Anyway, what kind of ... kind of sexist jerk thinks men and women think different?"

"It's not sexist," Warren said calmly. "‎I'm fairly certain it's science." ‎ "No it's not," Xavin replied quiety, looking away. "Anyway, what does it matter? If I can be a guy or a girl, any time I want, why does it matter which one I go around being?" Xavin paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before saying, almost too quietly to be heard, "I mean, you're going to think I'm stupid and deluded and wrong regardless, because I'm not fitting in your boxes, so what does it even matter to you?" The teenager stood and said, "I can just be that stupid damn queer you obviously think is craycray, right? Whatever."

Well that escalated quickly. Putting his hands up in front of them, Warren shook his head. "I never said you were crazy. Be who you want to be, doesn't bother me any. I'm just saying that it's gotta be hard, having both genders in your head."‎

"I don't have both! I can just ... be whichever gender I want and right now, maybe I don't care which that is, okay? Fuck." Xavin turned around and started to leave.

Warren watched Xavin and felt a twinge of something close to regret. But not quite.

This feelings thing was getting harder for him to ignore.

"Sure, whatever works. I just don't get it. That's all. I'm allowed my opinion." ‎

"Fine. Whatever. Like I care what you think."