Kyle, Clint, Ev, Matt, & Topaz, Monday afternoon

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A bunch of shiftless bums decide to volunteer their services to the school instead of sitting around on their lazy butts, mooching off Xavier all day.


Kyle's particular habit of wandering the mansion and grounds with a tablet computer in front of his face, connected to his ears by ubiquitous white earbuds while trying to think out solutions to a problem was at best charming and at worst, prone to him seeming as though he would walk headlong into someone only to dodge at the last second by well practised and slightly annoying application of enhanced senses.

His path took him past the now unused classrooms, and some storage closets, and past the ajar door of Topaz's Sacred Domain - the Library.

Really, Kyle tended to agree. The library was a sacred domain that should be unsullied by food, coffee, loudness and also demons. He was still paying off his sins regarding the latter in re-organization and the occasional donation by way of used book stores.

He neatly avoided another mansionite, went another five steps past them and then spun mid-step and plinked the earbuds out in a yank. "Clinto Barto! I need to borrow your bro's body. I mean, not your actual bro. Your Ex-SHIELD bro." He blinked once. "And I mean not his actual facts body, I mean I wanna borrow him and his powers, like, to work with the Gen-X kids, not the other thing."

"I mean," Clint said. "I wouldn't suggest swearing off the other thing entirely, let's be real. You've seen him working out -- and fighting. That is one very capable, very attractive man." Then he glanced down at his phone and grinned. "Hey, I caught another Jigglypuff! But back to Ev -- I'd keep it all S, S, and C. Because consent is important in all things. And you'll want to double check on his availability. Last I heard, there might be a thing with him and Wanda, but I dunno. He's totally closemouthed about it. That man does not kiss and tell."

"I got a Magmar last night." Kyle said, automatically. "And man if you tell anyone whose name begins with D that Ima playing that game I will totally like... something totally ineffective." He paused and then considered the rest of what Clint had said. "Eh, not totally my type but yeah, I hear you. But like, no for reals, where does Ev hang out because I actually want to pick his brain for powers stuff for the kids."

"He used to do that at SHIELD," Clint said, nodding a little. "Before everything kinda... went boom for mutants, anyway. We trained a lot before I transferred to SWORD. He's great at figuring out powers related things -- has a lotta experience, obviously. And I dunno where he is like right this second, but we can totally find out." Thumbing out of Pokemon Go, Clint scrolled through his recent calls, found Ev's name, and let his phone do the automatic dialing thing it liked so much.

Said SHIELD agent was up in his room, feet kicked up on the kitchen table, reading today's Times on his tablet while his nearby laptop spent its sweet time decrypting missives from informants. He almost ignored his phone until it almost vibrated off the edge of the table. "Ahoy hoy," he answered, setting down the tablet.

"My friend Kyle wants your body," Clint said, managing to keep a straight face.

Clint ducked the first swipe at his head only to get a flick to the ear as Kyle rolled his eyes. "Dude, I clarified like, that it was only in the most technical sense." He tucked the tablet he still had open under one arm. "I mean maybe if he copied me I might mean it the other way too but, like, this time I mean - okay, we have like a dozen kids and most of none of them have half an idea what they can do with their powers and the only one who has any idea of her capabilities is the pop star."

"You catch all that?" Clint asked Ev, eyebrows rising as he reached out to flick Kyle's wrist.

Ev blinked. He spoke several languages, had minored in linguistics, and still sometimes he found some people's interpretations of English a challenge to discern. "Well, first, tell him he's too young for me. Half my age plus seven puts my minimum at 26. And second, what, he wants to hire me? I don't know if he can afford my freelancer rates."

"I'm right here!" Kyle protested, poking Clint in the neck instead of going for the ear again. "And I am twenty six." He made a face. "Also no, the Prof would be hiring you, so it's be old rich dude, not young poor as fuck unemployed dude." Technically he was probably still pulling a paycheck for the Gen-X mentor thing but that was not even full time.

Batting at Kyle's hand this time, Clint pulled the phone away from his ear and thumbed on the speaker. "Here y'go, lovebirds," he said, laying the phone on the windowsill nearest him. Then he started humming Jason Derulo's 'Talk Dirty to Me.'

"Funny," Ev admonished Clint, swinging his feet off the table and sitting up more comfortably. "So what is it you're thinking, Kyle?"

"Not totally sure yet, I was still stuck on the step where I had to talk you into this." Kyle explained. "Mostly, okay, you've probably copied at least all their kinds of powers. I mean, they kinda run the range, energy kids mostly. Light, fire, ice, and then some physical powers. And seriously like, except for Alison Blaire, most of them have no idea what they can do, and she's just been doing light shows with hers." He pulled out his tablet and painstakingly started typing out an email. "Sending you a list we made on the kids and powers stuff, ranges, assessments of control that kinda thing."

With his own computer still translating digital gibberish into meaningful language, Ev turned on the speaker on his phone so he could retrieve Kyle's email through his tablet. "Fire, light, ice, shapeshifting, shapeshifting, shapeshifting, super brain, Spider-Man . . . magic?! That's a new one. Strange. What a serendipitously appropriate name, too. That one might be beyond me. These others, though, sure, I've seen similar mutations. You know, hold on. Where are you right now? We don't need to have this conversation over the phone if you're just down the hall."

"Yeah, the magic kids got their own peeps too, so I don't worry too much about them, but the rest of em...." Kyle explained. "I'm.. eye-dee-kay, like ten feet from the library." He turned - and then grasped Clint's shoulders to turn him towards the library. "Clinto, pick up phone, walk to book room. Nice book lady not actually fanatical about people having meetings." He nudged Clint and started walking. "I don't stress too much about the fire kids either, Angel's got that covered."

Picking up the phone, Clint paced along behind Kyle toward the book room. "Are you doing training stuff for the older peeps who don't really know what their powers are?" He asked, thinking of Darcy. They'd been trying to sort out what her x-gene might mean, but without much success so far.

"Whatever you're doing, stop and think about what you should be doing," Matt said, wandering up, cane in hand and sunglasses on. He and Clint WERE supposed to go out for foods. Clearly, that was not happening now as he had heard most of the conversation once he had decided that Clint was distracted and went looking for him. "And then we can discuss this, because, Gen X." He was technically still in it, but he had a pretty good handle on his powers. He thought he had a year ago, but now it was actually true.

Scrunching up his face as he paused mid-wander, Clint said, "Aw, lunch, no." Then he shrugged and said, "Sorry, bro. It's on me once we get there?"

Matt shrugged, "As usual," he agreed easily. Really, he was sorta intrigued with how this was going, "I'm curious about Everett's body too. Or well. Powers. You know."

"See man, it's like Idris Elba you admire a guy and compare him to James Bond and then everyone's like, trying to get you in their pants." Kyle said, with a snort. "But for serious, like, yeah I was actually thinking because some of the kids have their heads up their asses about us, which what the fuck, doing a couple of trial runs with folks like Darcy or Q... okay no, actually not Q, like pretend I said those weird blonde chicks or something..."

Ev had hung up the phone once he heard the newcomer, pausing and locking his computer before leaving his room to meet this motley crew upstairs at the book repository. "I'm on disability," he reminded Clint by way of greeting. "I haven't done anything for anyone."

Snorting, Clint said, "Not that you'd tell anybody if you had done anything for anyone..." Then, giving and elaborate bow that he finished off with a ridiculous flourish, he said, "Kyle, may I present to you Ev and his amazing body full of powers." Then he plopped himself down in a chair, glad they'd all gravitated toward the back of the library, and kicked his feet up on the table nearest him.

"Wait, wait, are we all totally freeloading?" Kyle turned a chair backwards and plopped down on it. "I mean, I guess Clinto here works for the man who sends him Starbs cards, dude, tell our suit I can't drink coffee next time I want a burrito, but for serious? Cause if we all have a ton of free time, none of us like, have an excuse not to help the kids. And the not-kids."

"You wanna put feet on tables Barton, do it in your suite," a dry, flat voice said as Topaz walked by with a few books, shoving Clint's feet off the table. She shot the gathered men a look, raising an eyebrow. "You lot are bit old for late summer reading, aren't you?"

"Hell no. I always put my summer reading off to the last minute. Who wants to read the Grapes of fucking Wrath in the middle of the best part of the summer?" Kyle scoffed. "Sides, I gave my coffee card to some librarian with a British accent and now she likes me so she'll totally find me that spare copy of... uh. I got nothing besides Grapes of Wrath, sorry, ruined my joke."

"Siddhartha," Clint deadpanned, picking himself up out of his slouch now that he didn't have his feet up as a counterbalance. "And I'll keep your burrito request in mind, but dude, our suit does what he wants." He made significant eyebrows at Ev and leaned his chair back instead, keeping it on two legs as he continued, "I'm pretty sure we all are actually freeloading, though. Coffee gift cards don't really count as income, I don't think."

Sitting on the table, Matt shrugged, "Living off Warren and trying to start my own firm. Not going so well," not going at all currently, but freeloading was giving him lots of time to be Daredevil so there was that. "I'm Matt," he leaned forward across Clint and offered Ev his hand, "Don't think we've formally met."

Ev offered the oft-mentioned but never-met brother a firm, stiff handshake, as men do, before taking a seat himself and rubbing his ear to try to dispel the sudden ringing he heard. "So, who's giving you the most trouble?" he asked Kyle, holding out his free hand to beckon for the tablet.

"Man." Kyle said, really huffed. "Powers wise, we got two of 'em. Mouthy McCheerleader on the kids' side, who has no idea what she does but it's violent as fuck, and Darcy on the can legally drink side who, I got nothing. She got nothing. All she knows is that she came up X-gene pos. The rest of 'em, it's all finding limits and pushing them, or getting 'em past powers hurdles. Rahne gets stuck as a wolf sometimes, Xavin's shapeshifting's all over the place and that Cho kid has a weird brain and I don't think he knows what a limit even is."

"The value a function approaches as the input reaches some value. Super brain would at least know some basic calculus." Ev frowned when no one had the decency to at least feign amusement at his terrible joke. "Oh, go to Hell. Hmm. 'Mouthy McCheerleader?' Oh, do you mean Maya? A power mimic of some sort, I think. I spoke with her for a little bit on the camping trip."

"I got that, by the way," Clint said, glancing up from his phone. "The value a function approaches, etc." Then he smirked a little. "Just be careful she doesn't imprint on you like a tiny, angry duckling. Text messages all over the place."

Well, it was nice that one of them did. "Nerd," Matt replied automatically. Math was not his thing. He could understand angles and velocities whatnot with his senses, but actually doing the math for them? That was Clint's thing, no thanks. "I mean, speaking from experience, trying to figure out your powers when they're more subtle is a bitch. And if this place can't do it then I dunno. Everyone here sciences the shit out of stuff. I'd feel dumb if it weren't for patent law."

Topaz had returned to the bookshelves, but, lowkey nosy as she was, she couldn't help but listen, looking back and forth between the men as they spoke, like she was watching a weird tennis match.

"I got nothing there, mine are easy. I heal, I can't eat Oreos and I can smell out which asshole left their wet socks in the washing machine." Kyle said, laughing. "For reals though, maybe this outta be a thing. I mean we all got the time, right?"

Ev nodded in assent. "It's something useful to do, sure. But what are Professor Xavier's policies on tenure?"