Alani & Kevin | Kevin Meet Hen (Backdated)

[xp_loa]

(Backdated) Kevin meets with Alani and the chickens after a little run in. It goes better than she'd expected.



What had been a planned greeting, died the moment she took in the redheaded man. “My goodness what happened?”

Kevin didn’t flinch but it was a near thing. “Shatterstar….Davey gave me a hug…after.”

“Well that sounds very nice.” Alani smiled slightly, Hen E. Erdrich’s head peaking out from under her jacket where the hen was tucked under her arm. “Hello, Kevin, thank you for joining me. Now, the chickens housed in the coop are generally pretty good, but for some ground rules, I need you to let me know if anything happens, like you’re hurt or you feel maybe too hot or too cold, okay? If you need to sit down, please do, and if you need me to move a chicken, you just let me know. Does that all sound good to you, or do you have any questions?” Her eyes remained steady on him as she spoke gently but clearly.

He was eying the chicken curiously, the last time he'd seen a chicken a small child had wished it to be bigger than her house. This one seemed content to stay its current size no matter how hard he thought at it to grow.

When Alani spoke his head perked up, Kevin stared at her with blank eyes. "Aye. How am a supposed tae know those things?"

“That is a very good question, Kevin,” Alani hummed as she thought, shifting Hen higher up so she didn’t lose her grip. The chicken clucked, tilting her head as she seemed to notice the man. “If something makes you go ‘ow,’ makes you bleed, that’s ‘hurt’ right? It’s physical pain, that I don’t want you to feel like you have to endure. Temperature. . . that’s harder.” A longer hum as she tried to describe it.

“It’s pretty person dependent. Cold, you shiver, your body’s telling you the temperature is too low. Too hot, you may be sweating, flushed, maybe like you need a sip of water. Do you feel either of those ways right now?”

Kevin continued to stare at her, too wide eyes blinking almost blankly, like the lights were on but no one was home. After a long awkward pause he replied. “Do they have names?”

"Every single one of them has at least one name, yes." Alani nodded, without missing a beat. Just like working at the centre. "This is Hen E. Erdrich. You can tell because of the dark feathers at her temple that don't go much past her head." And as she spoke, she brought the hen forward, keeping her supported as she was held out for inspection by the pair.

"You can touch her if you'd like, she's in a good mood today."

“Living things should have names.” Kevin said, holding out his hand for the chicken to inspect. “Most do but people just don’t know it…… or they don’t use it.”

There was a lot left unsaid there. “That is a very good point, things should have names. I’m not supposed to order more, but if I can sneak a couple more, I’d let you name some if you’d like.” Alani nodded as she spoke, eyes trained on Hen, suddenly nervous of a repeat showing in which a chicken usually in a good mood did not like a man over six feet tall.

Hen, in turn, was transfixed on the hand being offered. With a cluck she searched, expecting to find some treat.

Kevin hummed for a second and then leaned down to pick up some grass, concentrating for a long hard moment he grinned, muscles pulling uncomfortably tight in an unfamiliar expression as the blades of grass transformed into some small worms. His face still hurt from where Shatterstar had punched him. He held his hand back up for the chicken to inspect. He could recognize hunger- he knew it well.

The hen descended on the worms, a string of soft, quick clucks following her as she pecked at them. The decidedly positive sounds filled the silence before Hen finished her surprise treat. Idly, she blinked. There was not a thought in that head.

Alani was nodding slightly, face impassive as she watched the display of Kevin's powers. Same shit every day. "Well thank you, Kevin, that was very kind of you. Very intuitive to understand her language so well. And I'm sure Hen enjoyed it, of course. You would tell me if you needed something to eat, right?" She sighed at herself. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually so demanding, but I find open and honest communication to be very important when I'm getting to know people."

Kevin's face scrunched up as he tried and failed to figure out how to explain that he'd been told that under no circumstances was he to eat other people here. ""I ate....different. No used tae hunger here yet."

“I’m sorry here’s different,” her brows pinched together in uncertainty before she continued, “but as long as you can recognize it, and tell, I’ll make sure you have something to eat. One of my powers is calorie dependent, so I tend to carry things on my person at all times because of that.”

Realizing she was still holding Hen out, and likely Kevin didn’t need to know any of that, she tucked the chicken back under her arm. “Shall we have a little tour of the coop, or would you like to stay outside? ‘s not too cold, I guess.” Though she zipped her jacket further.

“It’s better for you that it is.” Kevin said. He still didn’t really know why people seemed to talk about that air feel stuff so much. “Uh……. Inside?”

Alani opened her mouth, curiosity almost getting the better of her before deciding against it. If he wanted to talk about it was up to him. She did flush with embarrassment, but nodded. “Thank you, I’m sorry, I’m still a huge wimp about temperature,” and she carefully opened the gate, setting Hen into the enclosure as she waved Kevin in, “but we can pretend it’s because I wanted to show you the chores around the coop, in case you’d ever like to do them. Or if you’d like to help me or another chicken worker around the coop. All help’s appreciated.”

Near their feed, Hen peck at the ground in mildly interest. And with this came the dawning realization that Alani was probably putting too much in front of the man for choices and options

“Is this too much? Oh god, it’s too much. I can be a lot. I talk a lot, I know, I’m so sorry. I’m just going to introduce you to the girls and then I’ll let you decide what you wanna do.”

"Everything is too much. I didn't....have experiences before. It's new." Kevin tried to smile but it was more of a grimace. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of those facial muscles yet.

Alani's smile was a little sadder, hands clasping in front of her rather than trying to touch him and instead having the opposite effect. "I've felt that many things here at the mansion are new, my only hope is that they're a good new for you. And if at any time it isn't, you feel comfortable enough to tell me, we can stop, and you can feel free to go back to the boathouse. I've no expectations, just. . . just wanna help as I can."

"Nobody's locked me up." He said simply. As if that were the standard. "That's good."

“That is good,” she agreed with a nod. If the bar was on the ground at least hypothetically no one would go digging. "Have you found anything you like yet?" There was genuine curiosity as she asked, avoiding running into a strutting Yolko. "That's the big lady in charge here, Yolko Ono, she was the first chicken we got, well, Kyle, the other chicken coop originator, got her."

"Do they get to leave the....coop?" Kevin asked suddenly, staring at the chickens as they strutted around him.

“Of course,” her amusement was high in her voice, proud grin on her face, “though they lost their rooster, so the ground rules are that they have to be supervised. Even with feral mutants around muddying the scents for predators, I want them to be as safe as possible. I love them, ya know.” Alani shrugged slightly, well aware she was too attached to the chickens. “And we never have to buy eggs, which is great if you like eggs.”

Kevin frowned. "I don't know."

“Well, let’s see if one of the ladies has a fresh egg and we can find out.” As Alani spoke, she made her way to the egg hutch to peer through the nesting area for anything. She paused, motioning Kevin to follow before she checked. If there was one, it would be a good example. If not… well she’d find one.

Kevin ignored the pecking from the birds as he picked up an egg from one of the nest boxes. He looked at it for a moment before opening his mouth, clearly aiming to fit the entire egg inside.

The joy of seeing an egg and Kevin’s pro-activity dissipated like a record scratching as Alani realized what was about to happen. “Ope, not — not quite yet,” she did her best to keep her voice kept calm as she interjected, both hands coming up to stop the motion but not touching him, “we have to cook it. Raw egg shell hurts. I know I’ve done it.”

"It wis too big anyway..." Kevin mumbled, moving his jaw side to side as the joints popped. It wouldn't have fit very well.

"It was, yes," she nodded her agreement as she watched him, a slight edge of pride in him and his reasoning. "Our girls can lay a variety of eggs, so they'll never be one quite like another. Which is very nice, that. And I am chattering again. Let's head inside, and I will make you a bevy of eggs to try, dear - er, Kevin, sorry." The correction was quick, smooth, as she shifted to hold out her hand to accept the egg back from him.

"Then you can decide if you like them."

Kevin’s brow furrowed, though he didn’t seem to notice. “Whit…..whit’s a dear?”

Alani paused, watching him before she hummed in thought, fingers tapping lightly on the egg. "It is a word of endearment, which is to show care or fondness for someone else. I use it with my students, and if you'd be alright with it, I'd use it for you too. But, if you do not like it, I will not." A beat before she quickly added. "But you don't have to decide now."

"I will call you whatever you want, when you decide."

Kevin frowned for a long moment. "A jus got a name. Are ye sayin people git extra names?"

Like a deer, she froze, stared at him for a moment. "If you want," she proposed after a beat, "but if that's too much, you don't have to. We can just stick to Kevin."

Kevin stared ahead for a moment, lost in thought. He’d technically had three names. The one that Davey had told him about, Mutant X, and Proteus. But none of them had ever been said so kindly. “I dinnae.”

Alani watched Kevin, brows knit together before he spoke again. Her smile was slower to appear again again, a curl at the edge of her lips as she nodded. “You don’t have to know now. You’ve got time, Kevin. And part of being here, learning, and figuring yourself out, also means you can change your mind if you want to."

"And we’re here to help you, as long as you're okay with that." She offered with a much fuller smile.

Kevin stared at her, gaze softening some from its usual predatory stare into something more...befuddled. "A just found out I have a mind."

"Yes, you did," she agreed with a nod, "so we're gonna take things at your pace. Whatever that is."

"And we're gonna start with eggs."