LOG: Haroun and Cecelia Reyes

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Who: Haroun al-Rashid, Cecelia Reyes
Where: Back yard, Kitchen
When: Saturday
What Happens: Haroun meets Cecelia. Sparks fly - literally.



So much for her quest for piece and quiet. Cecilia had slipped out onto the back porch to get a little fresh air - as comforting a locale as the MedLab was, even she needed to see the sun once in a while. But the sound of.. some kind of engine? Something loud, anyway, had neatly snared her attention, leading her off the porch to cautiously investigate. Of course, the shouted curse had her breaking into a sprint in no time, managing not to trip over herself as she came skidding around the corner. A man, and.. fire? "What happened?" she called towards him, casting a quick look around. No fire extinguisher out here? Oh, come on..

Haroun didn't answer right away - choosing instead to shrug out of his X-Men jacket and use it to stomp out the fire. "I must be tired." he said, with a cultured North African accent. "I haven't set a fire like that in a long time." He then looked over towards Cecelia, and smiled at her with a blindingly white smile. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

Hel-lo, brother. "I don't think we have, either," Cecilia agreed distractedly, blinking owlishing before giving herself a good, hard mental shake. She obviously needed more sleep. "Cecilia Reyes," she supplied, cracking a sheepish grin as she made her way towards Haroun, at a considerably more leisurely pace, now that he didn't seem to be in danger of catching fire. "Are you alright?"

Haroun looked down at the ground, rescued his only-very-slightly-charred jacket, and idly swatted out a small fire that had broken out on his left leg before it could creep any higher. "Haroun al-Rashid" he said, walking towards Cecelia with his hand extended. "It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, even if you still haven't answered my question," she replied wryly, reaching out to accept the hand once they'd gotten close enough. Cecilia quirked an eyebrow at Haroun, tilting her head expectantly to one side. "All in one piece? No bombs going off over here that I should be aware of?"

"As in one piece as I ever get." he said, then looked back down at his leg, casually pushing charred flesh aside to reveal a silvery-sheened metal muscle. "Damn." he said again. "I'm going to have to get Moira to grow me another batch of skin." he said with annoyance.

Well, that was.. interesting. Cecilia peered down towards the newly-revealed shiny portion of the man's leg, no small amount of confusion on her face - she'd seen a number of physical mutations since she'd arrived, but never something so.. redundant, as metal safely tucked away under skin. That Haroun apparently needed someone else to grow for him. This was most vexing. Rather than asking, as that would be breaking her own rules, she did her very best to stop staring, trying to blink the confusion off of her face. "Ah.. she should be down in MedLab, unless she's still asleep," she observed awkwardly.

Haroun nodded. "Like she ever leaves it." he said with a grin. "Not a big deal - no structural damage. Feels fine." he said as he flexed his leg a few times. "Sorry, does this disturb you? Some don't react well to cybernetics. You're a student here, I take it?"

"Oh, is that what that is?" Goodbye, confusion - hello, curiousity. "No, no, I was just.. puzzled. It takes more than that to disturb me. I should apologize for staring." Cecilia grinned sheepishly, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead. "I.. suppose I am. The good doctors are planning on getting me in touch with someone to finish off my schooling while I lend them a hand down in the Batcave."

Haroun nodded. "Mind if we continue this inside? I've been flying for about six hours now, and I could really use a bottle or four of water." He waved expressively at the Mansion. "Do you mind?"

Cecilia shook her head, taking a small step to one side and half-turning, in preparation to follow Haroun back the way she'd come. "Dehydration bad,"she replied sagely. "Don't mind at all."

Haroun walked past Cecelia, the gash in his leg shifting with every step, revealing silvery muscle and fiber-optic wire with each step. "And while I don't have much meat left, even I get thirsty." he said as he passed her, then stepped inside the Mansion and headed over to the Kitchen.

"You really ought to get that patched up," Cecilia replied, eyeing his leg for a moment as she followed him back into the mansion, absently closing the door behind herself. "I don't think everyone here is as difficult to squick as I am."

Haroun moved to the fridge to snag a gigantic bottle of water, then took a seat at the kitchen table. "It's not like it's possible to get infected, but it's still not a good idea to expose the internals to air. Too much corrosion risk." he said. "Grab me one of those dishtowels from the counter, please?" he asked, then uncapped his bottle and took a very deep drink.

"I was more worried about the kids getting sick on the floor from the sight and smell of it, but if that line of logic works better, I'll make a note of it," Cecilia chuckled, plucking one of the indicated towels from where it laid before moving to Haroun's side, offering it to him.

Haroun took the towel, letting his fingertips brush against her hand as he did so. He wrapped the towel around the "burn", tying it off in what in a flesh-and-blood leg would qualify for a tourniquet. "Can I offer you a bottle?" he asked her, still smiling.

She definitely needed to get more sleep. Far, far too easily distracted. "Oh.. sure," she replied, once she'd kicked her brain into operating properly again, briefly looking down to give the 'tourniquet' a quick looking-over before offering him a grin. "I'm due for a drink."

Haroun tossed a bottle of water in her direction, aiming it perfectly so that she wouldn't have to move much of anywhere to catch it. "So what's a pretty island girl like you doing in Mutant High?" he asked conversationally.

"City girl," Cecilia corrected lightly, with a silent sigh of relief as she caught the bottle and nothing unwanted occured. Note to self. "I grew up in the Bronx. My father's where I get it from. I'm here because.. it's a big step up from the campus with professors toting Friends of Humanity pamphlets." She smiled again, though it was slightly more strained, but she was determined not to let it ruin her newfound decent mood. It could go back to doing that later.

"Maybe so, but your face says Caribe." he said with a grin. "A pretty one, it is." he added, then took a drink of water. "And I'm sorry you've let the bastards drive you out. But here at least you can be free of that nonsense and still do something with your life."

Cecilia chuckled, waving a hand dismissively as she studiously ignored the blush rising to her cheeks. "Flatterer. I'm not used to all these compliments. Express any surprise about that, and I throw the bottlecap at your head, just to warn you." Winking, she unscrewed the cap on her water bottle so such would be possible, and so she could have a drink. "I get the feeling that if I'd shown up at a slightly less insane time, I'd be settling in very comfortably here. It's.. surprising, somewhat."

"The place grows on you. Sort of like a fungus." he admitted, then took another drink. "I like it here - much more than I thought it would." His face turned dark for a second, but then lightened. "I'll like it much better once we find the kids."

She nodded in agreement, casting a brief look towards the window with a small, grim frown. "That makes two of us." She paused for a moment, then looked to Haroun out of the corner of her eye, one eyebrow quirking curiously. "Does this kind of thing happen often around here?"

"Even once is too often." he said, somewhat cryptically. "We'll find 'em. Cannonball and Northstar have the sky covered for now. Got teams on the ground. Concentric search patterns, paired off. It's just a matter of time."

She blinked slowly, turning her head so that she could better eye Haroun like he was a crazy on the subway. "Cannonball and Northstar," she echoes, very slowly nodding her head. "Teams on the ground. Concentric search patterns." After a pause, she gave up, giving him a very odd look. "Okay. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Search patterns." he explained. "Two flyers in the air. One takes the north side, one the south. I was south side until about five minutes ago. Folks on the ground are spiralling outwards, looking for the kids. Paired in twos, searching for where they might have gone. Xavier's using his mind to search this side of the planet, if I know Charles."

"I understand the phrasing just fine," Cecilia said with a shake of her head, gesturing - carefully - with her bottle of water. "What I want to know is what's up with the GI Joe bullshit you just pulled on me. This is a school, not a military base. Or did Alison leave something rather important out of her sales pitch?"

Haroun ahhhed. "I ... see. A careless tongue on my part. Forget it." he said, then took a deep drink of water. "We're all on edge with the kids going missing."

How very reassuring. "Then I'll go ask someone who will tell me," Cecilia muttered, abandoning the bottle of water to the table as she moved to get back to her feet. The list of possibilities was somewhat long, which was a comfort - less of one when she had to remove a few names from it, due to their absence, but there were still names there. Focus on the positive.

Haroun shrugged. "In for a penny, in for a pound. Sit down." he said, voice suddenly sharp and accustomed to command. "That is, if you want to hear the tale." he said, voice back to normal.

Cecilia paused halfway to her feet at the sharp tone, arching an eyebrow and returning her attention to Haroun. Rather than taking offense (out loud) to being ordered around so, she worked her jaw for a moment before dropping back into her chair, and watched him expectantly.

Haroun grinned his blinding white grin at Cecelia. "Smart girl. Is it so hard to believe that there are those who stand between our people and those who would hate? I'm one of those. There are others, here. Most of them are out looking for the children. No children should ever have to die because of what Allah has blessed them with." he said.

"It's something one hopes for, not something one gets," Cecilia replied skeptically, though her interest was piqued. Not even mention of God could shake her off. "Who are you people?"

Haroun, by way of answering, wet a finger with the water from his bottle, and then drew a design on the tabletop. A X in a circle. He then smiled at Cecelia, and took a drink from the bottle again.

Brow furrowing, she leant forward enough to eye the design. She dimly recalled seeing it around the city, usually chalked onto walls, occasionally a scrawl on the rare kid's backpack.. but it did little for recognition. "You're an X in an O," she said slowly, raising her eyes with a faintly amused smile. "Worst tic-tac-toe player I've ever seen."

Haroun smirked. "Homework assign for you, then. Find it, and then you'll have the answer you're asking for. Not even for a pretty girl like you can I spill _all_ my secrets." He then poked his jacket, revealing the collar tabs - the X-in-a-circle sigil that he just traced on the tabletop. "It really isn't hard."

"You can show me the damn logo all you want, it doesn't tell me jack if I don't know what it means. I ain't one of the resident mind-readers, honey." With an exasperated sigh, Cecilia settled back in her chair, reclaiming her bottle of water. Though mostly so she had something other than the table to tap her fingertips against. "Cute though you may be, a pretty face will only extend my patience so far. Now, I can get this from you, or I can ask Doctor Mactaggart when I go down to steal her Pepto-Bismol."

"Not if I get to her first." he grinned. "Here's a hint. Ever hear of the X-Men?" he asked with curiousity and a tip of the water bottle.

"It's either a band, a porno I want no more information on, or possibly a movie of some kind," Cecilia replied after a moment, looking thoughtful. "Or, more likely, something else entirely. You have to understand, I don't really get out much. Enough that I'd swear that it rings a bell, not enough that I can remember why. I'm probably thinking of something else."

Haroun smiled again, and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Not a band, I'm fairly sure of that. Can't speak to the porno, considering my circumstances. So I'd have to go with the Something Else Entirely option." Changing the subject, he took another drink of his water before speaking again. "So what is your gift, Cecelia Reyes the city girl? Besides devestating good looks and a first-class mind?"

"Finite patience," she mused wryly, lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "My gift is medicine. My curse is a.. I don't know what the hell to call it. Force field, I guess." Cecilia shrugged, trying not to feel too uncomfortable about answering the question. There was no danger in it, she was fairly sure, and she got the feeling she'd have to give a little before he'd fess up.

Haroun managed to look incredibly sympathetic for just a second. "Force field's a useful gift, especially in conjunction with medicine." he said with far more bitterness than he intended. "I'm a chemokinetic flyer, and I'm not immune to it." he said. "Hence the cybernetics."

Cecilia tried not to wince, but it didn't work nearly as well as she'd hoped. "Guess we drew some of the short straws," she mused quietly, with obviously forced lightness, offering Haroun a small smile. "This thing would be less of an annoyance if I didn't feel everything through it. It's a waste."

Haroun shrugged. "I once met a little girl whose only power was to breathe water. Too bad for her she was born with gills and not lungs. Her entire life lasted about five minutes, from birth to death." he said. "Comparatively speaking, we can count ourselves lucky. Ask Doctor MacTaggert about maladaptative mutation. Our survival rate is roughly anywhere from one in ten to one in a thousand, depending."

"As cheerful a topic as this is," Cecilia grumbled, running a hand over her face and closing her eyes. Deep breaths, Cece, soothe that unhappy stomach away. "I don't think you have answered my question yet."

"They like to keep a low profile. It's safer that way. Hence the names and the leathers." he said, then stared at his empty water bottle before throwing it expertly into the recycling bin. Changing the subject again, he took a deep breath. "You mentioned medicine. Any ideas as to a specialty?"

That 'finite patience' gift Cecilia had mentioned seemed to be rapidly running out. "Trauma surgery," she grumbled, rolling her eyes and shifting - one more time - to rise. "As nice as this has been.." And it had been, apart from the evasive tango the conversation kept lapsing in and out of after the rather handsome man's slip of the tongue.. "..I really should head back downstairs, make sure Doctor Mactaggart knows I didn't just up and vanish on her."

"I need to go see her anyway. Get that PseudoSkin batch cooking. I swear, I need to be more careful. I go through more skin..." he grumbled playfully as he stood up. "I'd like to tell you more, I really would. But it's not mine to tell. So for what it's worth, I'm sorry." he said, making his best Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom.

"Can you at least tell me whose it is to tell?" Cecilia sighed, relenting under the Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom. So, so weak. "It's a bit of a big thing to leave out of the brochure, you understand."

Haroun smiled again. "Talk to Scott Summers. Assuming he doesn't have my head on a spike for falling prey to the devestating wiles of a beautiful sister, he can tell you as much as you need to know." he said with a grin.

"I'll make sure to apologize for my stunning good looks, but I don't know if this guy'll buy it," Cecilia chuckled, rolling her eyes at herself. Then, she paused, looking up with a slight grin. "Apology accepted, incidentally. And I'm sorry if my feminine wiles get you into trouble. I'll try to stop doing that."

"No you won't." he said with a grin. "If you do, there will be protests that won't end for _weeks_. Months, maybe. But definitely weeks. Now come on, let's go find the Doc. I really do need to get this thing patched, and then maybe think about some downtime. Body still needs sleep - well, the meat does. The machine doesn't care too much."