xp_logs | Julian and Reed' Julian, Reed and Sue

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Julian and Reed hit up the gym before Julian invites Reed to the weekly lunch with Sue.

The smell of metal, sweat, and post holiday desperation filled Julian's nostrils as he looked down over his charge- spotting him. Reed needed some serious physical training if he was going to be part of Generation X- which he seemed set on doing. "One-hundred, twenty-five pounds, you good for this?" he asked, readying himself to catch the weight before it crushed the nerd's throat- if that was even possible. As mentor, and with Jessica and Angelica busy with their own things, this joyful duty fell to him. The Rocky theme began to play on someone's iPod- possibly Warren's, who was stretching on the other-side of the room.

Reed nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak. If he was going to be useful, he needed to work on somehing he'd always neglected -- his body. Truth was,even though he knew his limits power wise, he'd never bothered doing much else. With a determined look on his face, he managed to.lift the weights up bedore allowing them to clatter down noisily, prompting the other gym patrons to look over.

Reed sighed and tried to calm his breathing. "Maybe this is too much. I should start smaller. something more reasonable."

"Come on, egg-head, you're smarter than that. We need to have you start with this so we can gauge where you are." Julian leaned down onto the bar and looked at the man, who was an age peer (but did not feel like it), upside-down. Looking to the side he sighed and stood up, mumbling, "What's that she always says," with a snap of his fingers, "Oh yeah! Do or do not, there is no try...is that right?"

Reed looked at him strangely. "Not all nerds are born alike," he stated, staring at the discarded weights. "I'm more of a Trekkie myself. The science makes more sense." Clearing his throat, he looked around the room. These were people who had dedicated time to honing tbeir bodies and it showed. "Are you sure it's not too late for me?"

"Not in the least, do you think I looked like this a few years ago?" Julian scoffed, "I was a scrawny kid- telekinesis tends to make one lazy. I trained my ass off to look like I do today. It's never too late, and that's where I come in. Hands on the bar." The budding physical trainer moved to spot the scientist.

Reed followed Julian's direction obediantly. "I'm sure with the proper amount of time, I could invent a machine that would stulate.my.muscles while promoting adequate growth. If this is all about discipline, wouldn't another way be less exhausting? meditation Maybe?"

"We can add that to the list, but for now, lift the thing," Julian looked down at Reed, locking eyes with him- no anger, or disapointment in his gaze; rather, he did his best to sound inspiring. "You can do this, Rich."

This nickname thing was strange to him. Reed had never been close enough to anyone to garner a nickname before. With a firm nod, Reed took a deep breath and attempted.to lift the weights.

Even though the bar wobbled and his form left something to the imagination, he accomplished one Rep...then two... Three...and he stopped.

"This is hard."

"One more, come on!" Julian shouted, firmly- though he started to take a telekinetic grip on the bar, just in case.

Another sigh but struggling, Reed managed to do one more, although he was shaking by the end of it. "I am sorely out of shape. And I can be any shape I want to be." Yes, that was a lame attempt at humour.

Julian held out a bottle of 'enhanced' water, something about electrolytes, for the young man. "Are you kidding me? You just benched your body-weight and then some. Dude, you've got this." He punctuated the remark with a smile, in truth, Reed had a long way to go, but he didn't give up easily and followed directions...he'd do well.

Reed gratefully accepted the water bottle and tried to pace himself. "I don't know if I belong here," he said, looking around the room. "I don't know if my powers are really anything that can be used for this type of endeavour. I'm also easily 5 years older than anyone else in the group."

"You're learning to use your abilities," Julian sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "If you're not seeing your usefulness, then perhaps you need to think outside of the box- just because you can't pick up a truck and throw it with your mind doesn't mean your power-set isn't useful."

"Like Jessica," Reed replied. he sat in silence while he processed what Julian was saying. It was true that his powers had various limitations but conversely, they had many ways of being adapted. Flexibility -- in more ways than one -- would be his key.

"You raise a good point, Julian," he finally said. "A very good point. I will endeavour to keep that in mind rather than focus on the potential negatives."

Julian glanced up at the clock on the wall, "Okay, I think that will have to do it, Reed- I'm meeting Sue for dinner, have you met her yet?"

"Sue? Like Sue Storm?" The name caught Reed off-guard, and he was thankful he wasn't lifting any weights, or else surely, they would have fallen onto his chest. "Um. Well. That is to say, yes, I mean, I do know her. After all, she is my employer, and she invited me here, which would suggest a certain level of intimacy, considering I had to inform her of my mutant status. But I mean, when you ask if I've met her, I can say yes, on many occasions. Although, I suppose I wouldn't presume to say I know her, as much as possibly you, but yes. I have met Sue before."

Julian stared blankly in reply at the gibbering mess his trainee had turned into. "Oh...kay," he smiled, trying to normalize the situation, or at least de-awkward it. "You want to hit the showers and join us then?"

Reed's eyes widened. "Oh, I couldn't impose. I mean, that wouldn't be polite to simply appear without having been properly invited. After all, I'm sure that you two have much to talk about, and would enjoy the time together." A pause. "As well, I'm poor. I'm not sure if I could afford to eat anywhere more costly than McDonald's."

Now he had to, Julian smirked, "What's the point of knowing rich people if you can't get a free lunch once in a while. Hit the showers and I'll meet you in the garage in thirty- no, arguments."

_____

Sue tapped a finger against the table sipping at her glass of water and waving off the hovering waiter. She was sure the maitre'd wouldn't allow the staff to do anything like ask her to leave or actually enquire after her friends. A subtle look at a phone in her vision or a glance at the queue. Sue glanced at the menu that had been left in her field of vision, she was torn between getting annoyed or ordering something out of guilt. Probably right where they wanted her to be fair the blonde acknowledged as she glanced at her watch and considered the merits of calling Julian to see what was taking him so long.

Awkward didn't even cut it for how Reed was feeling. He felt woefully under dressed, and even more of an outcast next to Julian who was the picture of debonair. it was obvious that Reed was let in because he was with Julian, otherwise it would never happen.

And then he saw Sue and his eyes lit up. Gone was the lab coat, and the hair in a ponytail. She looked every part of a rich heiress.

"Hi Sue," he said, giving her a quirked smile. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"Oh you know, long enough for the ice cubes to melt, not long enough for the wait staff to ask me to leave," she replied with an shake if her head, "I was worried I'd have to send out a search party though," she teased, "So what have you boys been upto? Oh and this is totally going on your tab today," she warned Julian with a grin.

Julian seated himself next to her after a glancing, friendly peck on the cheek, "Do you ever pay? Come on, Nick and Harley needed to go out, I'm trying to be a responsible pet owner." He gave Reed a 'back-me-up-bro' glance.

Completely missing the cue, Reed wondered if he should have also greeted Sue similarly. it took him a few moments to realize that, not only was he still standing, Julian was expecting a comment. "The dogs were bigger than I expected," was all he said as he sat down.

"They've just shot up recently," Sue agreed, "And their favorite thing in the world seems to be chewing on Tandy and my shoes. I've had to buy a brand new set of cheap shoes jsut to distract them with," she sighed. "I'm not sure why they're so obsessed by shoes, but I've going to figure it out eventually. I swear it."

"Puppies, Sue, they're puppies- and it's not like they've eaten anything I can't replace..." he paused and held up a finger. "No-no-nah, you can't prove those were really Camutos, so I'm not checking with Amanda to see if there's a way to raise the dead to get a new pair." Shaking his head, he pulled the menu off the table, fully aware of what he was already getting; then, without looking, "Glad you and Reed are acquainted- he's been working for you, right?"

"They're not puppies," Sue objected, "Puppies are supposed to be cute and fluffy, the internet said so," she dead panned, "those two are slobbering bundles of har and energy with just a little bit of class and taste and...well ok and a whole lot of adorable. But they're still monsters." The blond shook her head sadly at Julian, "Really Julian, do you think I would be caught dead in knock-offs? Or rather do you think my grandma would leave me a scrap of dignity intact if the press caught me in knock offs?" Sue shuddered at the thought as she pulled menus and passed them to the others, "Reed here is one of the rising stars of our research division," she informed Julian with a smile at Reed, "how do you two know one another ohhhh, you're his...trainer?"

Trainer. That sounded good. Reed sat up a bit straighter, a little bit proud that he had a trainer . "Yes, that is correct. I am currently trying to increase my physical aptitude, and Julian has kindly agreed to assist me with it." If it had been socially appropriate to flex, he probably would have but Reed knew enough that that probably wouldn't have gone over too well. "And thank you Sue for the compliment. It's not very fair though, considering there are very few people at the same calibre as I when it comes to research and scientific endeavours.."

"Hank McCoy, maybe...oh, but he's not working for Storm Tech, is he?" Julian smirked, shrugged, and waved for the wait staff to come over. Once he'd made the requisite flirtatious overtures, he proceeded to order, "I'll try your Salvation Burger, rare-as-possible, with a side-salad." He turned the menu over to the pretty woman, "Sue?"

The blonde took a moment to consider the menu before tapping it, "I'll take a Classic Burger with fries, cooked medium please," she ordered, "Hank no he isn't...yet." She tilted her head to the side, "Why, you think I could convince him to come and work for us?"

This is was too overwhelming. Why all these details? It was a burger. Reed simply nodded to the waiter. "What she's having sounds fine." That way, he knew he wasn't ordering anything more expensive than what she would pay. "And I have met Hank. He's my lab partner at the mansion. Brilliant man, very young and motivated. I can't wait to see what he accomplishes. His current work on genetics is fascinating, and I'm trying to help him work on it on my spare time." Reed then proceeded to start talking, going into all the minutae and details of their current lab procedure. It was almost impossible for him to see that he was hogging the conversation, no matter what cues were being shot his way. "Regardless," he finally said, after a good fifteen minutes, "I think that it has some real potential."

Thankfully, the Julian had ordered for Reed and the waiter had been spared the blunt of the tirade. As his 'trainee' finished, Julian nearly laughed- but realized that of the three of them, he was the only one in on the Frankenberry-Cat-esque joke. Composing himself he nodded, "I'm sure we'll all be very impressed," he glanced over to Sue to try and get her read on Reed.

"It does sound impressive," Sue agreed, "Although I would worry about containment and contamination," Sue pointed out, "Especially in an environment like the labs at the mansion where people are in and out all the time with their own experiments or samples to analyze. Maybe we could reserve a corner for his experiments or something so that he doesn't have to worry about anything. Especially if it's his thesis research. Although," she gave Reed a mischievous smile, "I'm leaving you free time to help other people with their research? Obviously I'm not working you hard enough."

"I can take more work," Reed quickly answered, nodding profusely. "Not a problem. I have many things that I can be working on. In fact, I was contemplating applying to the astrophysics department at (drawing a blank, will fill in when I remember). After all, once one has expanded one's education to the fullest extent, it's time to look to the stars for further knowledge, don't you think?"

"Oh my eggheads," Julian chuckled and took a sip of his water. He leaned back in his chair and looked from Reed to Sue, and back again. "You're both massive dorks- but good on you for it. And, Reed...soon you'll be a massive dork with a lot of muscle mass- we're going to make a super-dork out of you, just like Sue."

"I'm the queen of the dorks thank you very much," Sue objected with a smile, "And if we want to talk about that, should I tell Reed about the person who first told me about Harry Potter, or one those Haloween costumes I was convinced to wear?" she asked Julian with a teasing smile.

"Dork originally referred to penis," Reed said suddenly, "only not spelled the way we used it. D-O-R-Q-U-E. The meaning and spelling have since changed." The odd silence he received in response made him realize that he had, once again, said the wrong thing. "Oh look," he exclaimed, clearing his throat. "Our food. Let's eat." Maybe the hamburger would be a good reminder that he needed to think before he spoke.