xp_logs | Scott and Haroun, late Saturday afternoon

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Scott stops in to see Haroun - but has very little to say about the Danger Room accident. Instead, he drags Haroun out to shop. On the way, they talk shop of the academic sort, and come up with a couple of new possibilities for the new term. At the mall, something suitable is purchased for Alison, and then Scott makes a purchase of his own.

"You know, it's the funniest thing," Scott said, leaning against the doorframe. "I've been using the facilities here for what, seven years? And I've had all of one training accident."

"Congratulations." Haroun said from his perch in his bed, propping his back against a wall and with his laptop in his lap. "You're either coasting or very, very safety conscious."

"Ow. That almost hurt," Scott said dryly, shaking his head. "Let me guess. Reviewing the tape of your tumble."

"Among other things." Haroun said, only a touch defensively. "Should have made that turn. Got lazy, I suppose."

"Uh-huh." Scott stared at him for a moment longer, and then tilted his head in the direction of the hall behind him. "Come on."

Haroun blinked, then put his laptop aside and slowly climbed to his feet. "Still not near 100%, Chief. Just so you know." he said, but followed along obediently.

"I'm not planning on dragging you into the Danger Room. Or the gym," Scott reassured as they headed down the hall. "No, I have other things in mind for you..." And he really needed to limit his intake of those homemade peanut butter cups Maddie had given him for Christmas.

Haroun shrugged and followed along. "Guess it's a good thing I'm recuperating and my schedule is empty." he said with a laugh.

"See, here's the thing," Scott said as they started downstairs. "I'm possessive."

"Of?" Haroun asked, not quite tracking where he was going with this. Of course, the headache wasn't helping things much, but it was so far keeping itself down to a dull roar and not the blazing building it was earlier.

"My inadequacy complex," Scott said cheerfully, steering Haroun in the direction of the garage. "You're honing in on my territory here, al-Rashid. Making me twitchy."

"I think Mr Dayspring cornered the market on inadequacy, despite my run on it of late." he said with another laugh. "I don't think I've met anyone with that much power who thinks he's that useless."

"Different problem," Scott said, his expression turning pensive as he thought about Jean. "When you have that much power, you tend to forget you're just human."

"Because you're not?" Haroun retorted with a grin. "You're human++, the next iteration."

"But you still live in the world with the rest of us. And when you fall, you fall harder." Scott sighed. "He reminds me a lot of her," he confessed quietly, figuring Haroun would probably realize who he meant. The man might be stubborn, but stupid he was not. "I know the same's been true for Charles at times, too."

"That's true enough." he said, catching the reference. "It's an odd thing. Those of us without want to be those of them with, and those who have it yearn to be just like those of us without. It's a pretty vicious cycle."

"I prefer to think of it as an opportunity," Scott said more briskly. They reached the garage, and after a moment's thought, he grabbed the keys for the jeep. The roads were pretty slippery tonight. "When your strengths and weaknesses lie in different areas, it's easier to support each other."

"So where are we going?" Haroun asked, content to just follow along for now. His power guaranteed that he wouldn't get cold, as he was otherwise not dressed for the weather. "Of course, the real problems come in when you don't acknowledge your strengths, or do acknowledge them and don't LIKE them much."

"Missing my point. But that's okay," Scott said, getting into the jeep. He waited until Haroun was in, with his seatbelt buckled, before he started the engine and pulled out out of the garage. "And actually, we're going shopping."

"Shopping?" Haroun said with real distaste. "For what? I don't need anything, the Christian holidays are over, and you can't exactly buy parts for the 'Bird at the Mall. So what are we shopping for?"

"You'll see," Scott said cheerfully, glancing up at the sky. A little threatening-looking. He'd have to make sure they got back in decent time; driving through heavy snow was never his favorite thing to do. "So how goes the preparation for the start of term?"

Haroun grinned. "Same course as last term. Intro to Arabic. Think I've got the bugs ironed out of the process - last term was something of an eye-opener. Stupid anklebiters. I hate having to dumb things down."

"I'm sticking with the same schedule, too," Scott said with a nod. "Let the adventurous types shift things around - I don't have the time or patience to be coming up with new courses. Although," he said wryly, "to be fair, some of the shifting is necessary. We had a lot of gaps in class coverage last term, between people leaving and people in comas."

Haroun nodded. "And I still wouldn't mind adding a little Aero to your Mechanicals coursework. Really break their brains, although the new kid, Forge, would probably take it in stride and laugh about it."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting co-teaching?" he asked, trying not to grin. "Oh, what a thought."

"I don't know about _that_, but I could do some guest-lecture slots. I'm an engineer by inclination and trade, not a language teacher." he said with great emphasis. "I'm teaching Arabic as a favor to all of you, to bring a little world awareness to the white-bread world of mutantcy at Xavier's."

"What is it with you and Nathan?" Scott laughed. "He was muttering about a Punjabi course in the staff room this morning."

"I can't speak for Nathan, but as for me, Xavier's is a little Euro-centric. We've got languages, but they're mostly European. Now Nathan and I are changing that, with Hindi and Arabic and whatever else he's got rattling around in his brainpan." he said. "Sure, Storm likes to think she's African, but she's not. Most of the teaching staff is of European descent."

"There's something to that, you know," Scott said after a moment, keeping to a careful speed on the slippery roads. "We're trying to teach them to be broad-minded, inclusive... how do we do that if they're stuck in a Western-world-only sort of mindset?"

Haroun just grinned, his point made. "You're making progress. Nathan's got a good bit of life experience in the less-glamorous parts of Europe, as well as Asia. I'm an African who has spent a good bit of time in the Middle East. We could really use some Asians, maybe an Aussie to balance things out somewhat. That way, you've got all the major groups represented, at the very least."

Scott made a thoughtful noise. "Field trips," he mused. "Since we do have teleporters available..."

"You raise the frightening spectre of turning our kids loose in Madripoor or something." he laughed. "Or gambling in Macau. Or catching the Black Death in Tibet."

"Properly supervised field trips, thank you very much. I remember Nathan talking about rock climbing, back this summer before life got completely insane." Scott hrrmed. "I still like that idea."

"I don't know, do we have an Urban Survival course? Maybe the Speech kids could have a final that consists of trying to survive in Madripoor for a weekend on $40 a day. Just like the TV show." he said with a laugh. "Rock climbing? Not much of my thing - takes all the joy of it when you can fly."

"Think of it as a bonding exercise for the kids," Scott suggested. "Although that's pretty much out until spring, I suppose..." He shook his head a little. "We just need to do more," he said after a moment of silence. "Get them out of the house, out of the rut..."

"Anything we can do to get the rugrats out from underfoot meets with my approval by default." he said with a grin. "And it wouldn't kill us to let 'em burn off some energy."

They chatted amiably about various possibilities the rest of the way to the mall, at which point Scott merrily proceeded to ignore Haroun's renewed questions about what precisely they were doing here. "Come along," he said imperiously, leading the way inside. "I have a few very specific stops in mind." One very specific stop in particular.

Haroun took the hint, shut up, and followed along. "Pretty crowded." he commented, regarding all the other people in the Mall.

"Residual after-Christmas sales," Scott suggested, walking right past the bookstore and the electronics store - they'd come back to those later - until they reached the store he'd had in mind. 'Pattie's Corner' was a tiny little shop sandwiched between a shoe store and a music store - and specialized entirely in stuffed animals.

"A stuffed animal shop? You've got to be joking." he said with a shrug. Still - Scott was the CO, and Haroun did as he was instructed. "What's the point here, Scott? I've been playing along, but this is getting absurd."

Scott gave Haroun a very patient look and picked up a stuffed bear. "Why do I know your girlfriend better than you do?" he asked steadily.

"Because I've only been involved for a month or so, and you've known her since she's arrived?" Haroun offered as a guess. "What, she's a teddy-bear freak now?"

"She is not a teddy-bear freak, you big grouch. But she does admire a nice stuffed animal." Scott perused the shelf in front of him, humming under his breath. "Now, what says 'I'm sorry for concussing myself'..."

Haroun snorted. "Please tell me you're joking." he said. "I buy her a stuffed animal, and all of a sudden I'm supposed to be forgiven? I don't think so. The only thing that can earn forgiveness is honest talk, time, and consideration. Not some furry toy."

Scott stared steadily at him. "You are so... unbelievably serious at times. Of course the furry toy doesn't get you forgiven, you idiot." Before Haroun could reply, he went on. "But it gets you a smile, and maybe a laugh. And you'd be surprised at just how much easier that makes getting on with the honest talk."

"Smiles and laughs are important and good." he said with a put-upon sigh. "OK, so help a brother out here. I so don't really like this sort of thing normally, so anything I pick will be fairly ... conservative."

"I think a bear, definitely," Scott said, picking up a little tawny-colored fellow with a jaunty hat and big sad eyes. "Bears have a certain... something, or a lack of something, maybe that's the right phrase. After all, what does it say if you buy someone a stuffed monkey? Or a cow?"

"I don't know, the monkey would be kind of funny. But only if it comes with little furry poo to fling." he said with a laugh. "So a bear it is. You're the expert, you pick something out."

Still humming, Scott sorted through some of the cuter denizens of the shelf. "Too big... too sad-looking... nice, but wrong color... nice texture on that one..."

Haroun merely sat and watched the decision-making process with something of a bored air. The entire thing seemed to be a pointless waste of time, but when it came to Alison, he was willing to waste a little bit of time if the wasting would bring a smile to her face.

Scott came up with a mid-sized, big-eared bear with soft, cinnamon-colored fur and a blue bandanna. There was just something about the expression on its face... a little woeful, but more cute than sad. "This'll do," he said briskly, handing it over to Haroun.

Haroun took the bear like it was toxic waste. "Okay." he said, eyeing it suspiciously. "How much does it cost?"

It was the concussion, Scott decided. That was the reason that Haroun seemed to have completely misplaced his sense of humor. He checked the price tag, made a thoughtful noise. "Less than roses," he said with a grin, turning over the price tag so that Haroun could see it. "And lasts longer."

"Roses!" he said. He would have smacked himself upside the head, but that would require the bear to come into contact with more of his flesh, and that was just Not On. "I knew I was forgetting something!" He reached around with his free hand to extircate his wallet, and then did some quick mental math. "Yeah, I can do both." he said, then headed for the registers to pay for the Furry Abomination.

Scott shook his head. "So very much to learn," he murmured and followed him. "There does happen to be a florist on the other side of the mall, too," he pointed out innocently.

Haroun grinned. "I know." he said, then paid for the Abomination. Once it was in the bag, he cheered up quite nicely. "So at least one more stop, unless you have somewhere else you need to point out my cultural differences at?"

"Pet store," Scott said, just to see Haroun's reaction.

Haroun stopped dead. "If you think I am going to buy Alison a PET, you are very sadly mistaken." he said with great finality. "Besides, I can't even go in there. I'm allergic to cat dander." he said with great satisfaction. Best curveball his mutation had thrown him _EVER_!

"Then you can wait outside and growl at small children while I make my purchase," Scott said whimsically.

Haroun grinned. He was good at that. "All right, then. Just don't buy a cat, please. We still have to get it home, and then Sharon will claw it to ribbons, and that makes baby Mohammed cry." he said with a grin.

"You're not curious as to why I want to go to the pet store?" Scott asked as they headed out of Pattie's Corner and towards the other side of the mall.

"Does it matter?" he asked with curiousity. "You're going to go in there, and that's all there is to it. If you think I need to know more, you'll tell me." he said. "And this is hardly a life-or-death thing, so I'm not going to fight it real hard." he clarified. "So to answer your question - mildly, but not terribly so. I think you're just yanking my chain."

"You have a terrible opinion of my sense of humor, don't you?" Scott asked with a snicker, pausing to peer with interest at an electronics display for a moment.

Haroun moved over so that he could look in the electronics store alongside of Scott. "I wasn't aware that Charles issued command staff with a sense of humor." he said with a grin. "Still working on grinding Alison's down."

Interesting, Scott thought, studying one of the new PDAs. "Oh, we have a sense of humor," he said, deciding he'd do some reading. "It's just not anything most of the rest of you would recognize as one, most of the time. With Ororo, it generally involves lightning bolts."

Haroun scowled. Ororo was far from his favorite person on the team. "This doesn't surprise me in the slightest." he grumbled. "Her answer to everything is usually lightning bolts."

"Mmm." Scott turned away from the electronics store. "You see Sam's little post to the team board?"

"I've been off the journals, trying to rest my eyes and my head." he admitted. "What post to the team board? Has he finally started to admit that he's on the damned team?"

"He's aiming to get back into the saddle, yes. He's reviewing training tapes for now, trying to catch up." Scott took a deep breath. "It'll be good to have him back."

"I'm sure it will be." he said, very carefully schooling his expression and almost succeeding at it. "He's a good asset."

Scott looked sideways at him. "What." It wasn't a question.

"What what?" Haroun said back to him. "Sam's a good asset, once he gets his shit together." Haroun repeated. ~Especially since he does everything I do, but one better...~ he thought darkly. "He's still working on fine flight control, last I talked to him."

"Mm." Scott was well-aware of Haroun's issues vis-a-vis Sam, and this was neither the time nor the place to discuss them. "I intend to swamp him with work." He grinned a bit sheepishly. "See? I can get the hang of this delegation thing..."

Haroun nodded. "Makes sense. He'll get up to speed soon enough, or your XO will be a burned-out shell of a man." He then mentally winced as he spoke - was he describing Sam after the workload or himself, now?

Scott gave him a speculative look. "Wouldn't mind your help getting him back in the swing of things, actually. You've been juggling your various responsibilities well, especially given that Alison's been injured..."

"Thanks." he said with a grin. "So you want me to help Sam get up to speed as your XO? I suppose I can do that, although we in X-Men Black do things a little differently." he grinned. Nothing wrong with a little team pride, was there? "Gold's the most traditionalist of the three teams. Blue's in the middle, and we in Black are the weirdos."

"Mm." And maybe if Sam and Haroun started working together, Haroun would do less stewing in silence. Couldn't hurt to try, in any case. "I would appreciate that, yes."

"I live to serve." he said with a grin. The prospect of watching Sam plow furrows with his head usually served to cheer him up immensely. "So - pet store, then foliage, then back to the school?"

"I wouldn't mind grabbing some food on the way back. Take-out, even. But I was kind of busy this afternoon setting something up."

As if on cue, Haroun's stomach rumbled. "Food would be good." he said with a somewhat embarrassed grin. "I find that I'm starving all of a sudden. But head wounds are like that."

Scott gave him a sympathetic grin as they reached the pet store. "You stay out here and glower. I'll be right back - they should have it waiting for me."

"I glower well. It's one of my best skills." he promised Scott, then set about doing Just That. He had mothers avoiding him and children scurrying for cover by the time Scott came back, just from the sheer focused totality of his mental irritation.

Scott came back out of the pet store in five minute, grinning and carrying a small carton and a bag. He'd figured that picking up a few extra supplies wouldn't hurt, although he had made sure he had everything he strictly needed right now already at home and set up. "All done!"

"Do you think I could teach a class in Glowering? Or is that covered in the Speech class?" he said with great amusement as they headed for the florist. "Because when you're as good as I am, you just have to share the wealth."

"You glower very nicely," Scott said firmly, still grinning at the carton. He could feel the creature inside moving around. "Patience," he informed it. "We'll get you home soon."

Haroun blinked at Scott. "What manner of beast did you just buy?" he asked Scott. Experimentally, he took a deep breath. Then released it, as his head failed to explode from cat dander. "Anyway. Flowers. Right here. Hold on a sec, I'll just be a moment. Try not to bore anyone to death."

Scott, still grinning, leaned back against the wall and waited. "Red roses, want to bet?" he asked the creature in the carton. "He's not particularly imaginative that way." There was a rustling noise, and he sighed. "Look, I promise, I've got the nicest set-up imaginable for you back in my suite. We just have to put up with him overcompensating for a little while."

Haroun came back with a grin. "They'll be delivered - I don't want to be too blatant. Called Lee to let him know as well." he said. "So - food then home, or do you need to put your beast in a cage or something?"

"It'll be okay for an hour or so, according to the nice woman in the pet store. Although let's find someplace relatively informal, shall we?" Scott grinned. "Somewhere in here, maybe, that doesn't mind beasts at the table..."

"Hey, they let _us_ eat there, they can't complain too much about beasts at the table." he said with a laugh. "What are you in the mood for?"

Scott pondered. "Something thoroughly unhealthy. Let's hit the food court? Plenty of choices of fried, deep-fried, and swimming in grease."

Haroun tried very hard not to make a face at that thought. "Lead on, O Noble Leader." he said with a sketchy salute.