xp_logs | Angelo and Shan, *way* backdated (Reply)

Shan arrives at the mansion, and Angelo gives her the rundown on its residents while he helps her carry her stuff inside. Sorry for the lateness, it was unavoidable.

Angelo was sitting out on the front steps, to make a change and because he was avoiding the back porch, smoking one more "last cigarette". He looked up in surprise when he heard an engine approaching the house, and saw a battered minivan coming up the drive.

A woman hopped out of the driver's seat, stretching her legs as though she'd been driving for a long time, and reached over to slide the passenger door open; when she did, two dark-haired kids jumped out, practically vibrating with energy, and there was a brief conversation, bits of which floated back to Angelo. "Stay close," being one, and, helplessly, "No, don't run off," being the next, as the two took off like a shot. After a few moments' consideration, they went straight for Angelo, stopping a few feet away and examining him closely.

"Smoking causes harm to children in the womb," the kid to the right said solemnly -- a girl.

Angelo eyed the children right back, amused, putting the cigarette down by his side, before speaking to the girl. "Is that so? Well, I don't have one of those, an' there's no pregnant women round here, so that's okay."

"Are you sure?" the little girl asked, eyeing him closely.

"Don't be stupid, he's not pregnant," the boy said fore the first time. "Pregnant people glow."

"That's just in books," the girl countered.

"Kids!" the woman shouted, approaching them now that the car was safely off and the keys in her pocket -- that was a lesson she'd learned nicely. She looked somewhat longsuffering. "Leong, Nga, what did I tell you?" She came to a stop next to them. "I'm sorry if they bothered you," she said to Angelo, with an apologetic smile.

Angelo smiled back at her, trying not to laugh out loud and offend the children. "It's okay, we were just havin' a talk about why I shouldn't smoke if I'm pregnant."

The woman looked at him for a moment and then broke into giggles. "Oh, God," she said, "I'm sorry. They did a project in health class last year about pregnancy, and since then they haven't shut up about it since."

"Have so," muttered the twins as one.

"Have not," the woman said affectionately. "Go get your stuff out of the van," she added, pointing them in that directly, and turned her attention back to Angelo. "I'm Shan -- the new librarian. Those were Leong and Nga."

Angelo stubbed his cigarette out on the steps and stood up, holding out a hand. "Angelo. Just a student. Are those two your kids, then?"

Shan shook his hand firmly, smiling. "Nice to meet you. And -- well, they're my little brother and sister, but yeah, pretty much mine."

Angelo nodded, not wanting to pry into how she'd come to be raising them, five minutes after meeting her. "They should like it here - there's a few other kids around their age, two boys an' a girl."

"Oh, they'll love that," Shan said, clearly pleased. "I've been working in prep schools the last few years, and there aren't many kids there. School friends, of course, but I'm sure they'll settle in here nicely."

Angelo grinned. "Yeah. We got Artie - he doesn't talk, but he can make little pictures in the air an' he knows sign language, so he gets by okay. Miles - about seven, green, bald, shuts off other mutants' powers. An' then there's Leyu, just arrived a few days ago, hasn't manifested if she's goin' to, but her brother's here an' he brought her."

"The twins haven't manifested either -- they did test positive for the gene, but they're young yet," Shan said, nodding. "Sounds like the student body is as diverse here as everyone says," she added with a grin. She looked up at the mansion, looming high above them, and for a moment seemed enormously pleased with herself. "I'm glad I managed to get here before school started. Are you still in the high school?"

Angelo nodded. "Yeah - would have finished this year, but I'm makin' up my credits so I can go to college next year if I decide to."

"Good plan, to leave your options open," Shan said approvingly. "What would you be interested in taking?"

"Not really sure yet", he answered. "Languages, maybe, or history. Got a bit of time to decide yet."

"Oh, absolutely -- I'm just nosy as hell, that's all." Shan grinned unabashedly. "And it warms my heart to see young mutants thinking about going to college, of course."

Angelo smiled. "You'll be happy here, then - I think quite a few of us are plannin' on it."

She laughed. "I know. That's why I applied -- I've been itching to see it for myself since it opened."

Angelo chuckled. "Well, then, welcome to the school. You want a tour, since I'm here? Or a hand movin' your stuff?"

She beamed at him. "I would love a hand moving my stuff, and maybe a tour later -- I think I'm supposed to check in before long, and there are quite a few boxes . . . "

"Consider it done", Angelo answered with a grin. "They told you which room you'll be in yet?"

"They have -- one of the suites on the third floor, apparently. Number's written down in my organizer, I think." She beamed at him again, clearly happy to have found such a willing helper -- and such a nice boy, too. Is everyone as helpful as you are, or am I just lucky?"

"Oh, the place is pretty friendly, for the most part", he assured her. "Just wait 'til you meet Jamie - you'll never be short a pair of helpin' hands when you need them again. An' he won't even have to stop what he's doin' to help", he added mischievously.

She looked at him, trying to figure that out. "Telekinetic?" she hazarded.

Angelo shook his head. "No, though we do have one of those on staff. Jamie can make copies of himself an' send them off to do stuff."

Shan laughed. "Oh, I get it. Bet that's giving some scientists somewhere a headache. The wonders of mutation."

Angelo nodded, grinning. "Think quite a lot of us'd give people headaches tryin' to figure out our powers."

"There are more things on heaven and earth," Shan murmured, and grinned at him. "But giving people headaches is part of the fun, really. Depending on the people."

Angelo chuckled. "Sure can be. I should probably give you a rundown of who's here, powers an' so on, while we're shiftin' boxes, but the problem is where to start."

"That would be lovely," Shan said, "just so I don't step on any toes. We can start wherever you like -- although if we're going to carry boxes, it should be before the twins get the bright idea to search for whatever essential thing they need. Last night," she added, longsuffering but clearly affectionate, "it was the silverware."

Angelo blinked, amused. "Why did they want the silverware, suddenly?" he asked, following her towards the van to collect the first load.

Shan shot him an amused glance. "Apparently because they were worried bandits were after us and we had to save the silverware from them. Honestly, though, I have no idea why they do the things they do. Overactive imagination is a start, though."

Angelo nodded with a grin, reaching for the box she pointed out to him. "They'll fit right in here, at least with Artie an' Miles. I don't know where they get the ideas for some of their games, but overactive imagination sounds about right. No bad thing, of course."

"It's healthy for kids their age," Shan agreed, picking up her own box with some difficulty; sometimes, she thought, being five-three was not worth the cuteness. "But that doesn't keep me from wondering what's going through their heads at any given moment. It's probably a parental thing."

Angelo laughed. "Well, as long as they're not doin' any actual damage, you probably don't have to worry much. Several telepaths around just in case they run into any trouble in the grounds or wherever."

Shan's eyes gleamed. "I know. It's going to force them to get creative, too, which isn't a bad thing." She smiled. "Not that they do that much damage normally, but having telepaths around certainly won't hurt."

Angelo nodded. "They'll be fine, I'm sure." He paused, thinking, as they walked towards the house. "Still not sure where to start with tellin' you about people."

"Well, who's your favourite person?" Shan asked; this was never a hard question with teenagers. "Start with them and go down the list."

Angelo smiled widely. That was easy. "That would be Paige. She... um. The technical word's "metamorph", but she calls it huskin'. Basically, pulls her skin off an' is made of somethin' else underneath. Different things - metal's her favorite."

"Interesting," Shan said, working to both pay attention to Angelo and not drop her box. "Metals would be most useful, I'd assume. How long's it last?"

"They last about an hour each, but when one comes off, she can just make another one easily enough."

"Sounds like an interesting power," Shan said, delighted to have found someone so forthcoming. "Is she the only metamorph?"

"The only one who works like that, yeah, but there are a couple of others. Rahne turns into a wolf an' Jane turns into a cloud."

Shan smiled. "A cloud, huh?" Well, it wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever seen. "Sounds like you guys must have some interesting times around here."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah, the full-powers baseball games get a bit crazy sometimes. We don't have too many of those, though, it could make it too easy for one side or the other to win."

Shan laughed. "I can imagine," she said. "Considering you've got your telekinetics, your speedy ones, the teleporters . . . I played full-powers soccer once in university. We all felt it the next morning."

Angelo tilted his head, curious. "What's your power, if you don't mind me askin'?"

Shan grinned. "Not at all. I -- well, for lack of a better term, and believe me, I've tried, I possess people. Technically, it's like a telepathic surge that lets me take over people's minds, and then I control them for however long I want."

Angelo blinked, then decided she was nice and therefore not the kind of person who'd misuse a power like that. "Sounds... interestin'."

She caught his blink and smiled. "It's not really. I don't get much practise -- last time I used it, some guy was trying to knock off a convenience store." She glanced at him. "Being a librarian, I don't usually feel the need to use it. There's only so much overdue fines matter, after all."

Angelo nodded, filing all this away for future consideration. "So. Um. Who should I tell you about next... maybe the staff? Or have you been told some about them already?"

"I've heard of some of them -- this place attracts more celebrities than the Sky Bar, I think -- but I don't think I know about a lot of them. Who would you think is a good place to start?"

Angelo chuckled. "For the celebrities, yeah. We got Alison Blaire, Jean-Paul Beaubier... Um. I'm not really sure who to start with - did the Professor mention anyone in particular when he was tellin' you about the place?"

"Not in particular," Shan said cheerfully, electing not to divulge the exact details of her interview with Professor Xavier; she wasn't sure what was common knowledge and what she'd been told as a courtesy, but until that distinction was made clear, she didn't want to step on any toes. "Any particular teacher you like best?"

He nodded with a grin. "That'd probably be Nathan - he teaches some languages an' about the people that speak them. An' we do one-on-one self-defense, as well. He's a psi - telepath, telekinetic, was a precog but I don't think that works anymore."

Languages, self-defense, and all those psi talents? "Impressive," Shan commented with a quick smile, amused and teasing. "Does he jump tall buildings in a single leap, too?"

Angelo laughed. "Heh. No, not unless you count the TK - which could actually work, now I think of it."

"The TK does tend to do that," Shan agreed with a grin. "So are your other teachers so talented, or is he just the exception?"

Angelo grinned back at her. "Well, they've all got their powers, of course. We got... three telepaths counting Nathan, three fliers, Mr. Summers's an energy projector, Lorna does things with magnetism... Dr. McCoy's big an' blue an' furry, just to warn you. Mr. Wagner teleports."

"Blue and furry is the last thing to bother me," Shan grinned. "I've read Dr McCoy's work, actually -- saw him on television from time to time a few years ago, I think. I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"He's scary-smart", Angelo said half-seriously, with a nod. "He runs the computer system, as well."

"I've heard a bit about that -- it's something like an open message board?" she asked, curious. "From what the Professor said, it's quite the ingenious little system."

He nodded again. "Somethin' like that. Everybody gets their own journal, an' then there's communities, too. Two for the students, I'm sure there's one for the staff too, an' there's the main one for general announcements."

Shan nodded appreciatively. "Sounds like a good way to keep in touch," she commented, balancing a box on one hip and shoving the door to her new suite open. "Just over there, if you don't mind," she said, pointing to a corner already half-piled with boxes. Wryly, she added, "That's stuff the twins' wanted to keep but not to have -- I'll figure out where it goes eventually."