10/5 Instance: Dragon Age

[Slarti]

Timelined after Musicals Not Mandatory

<Lorna> "And here," Lorna Vanna White-ed dramatically as she entered the kitchen, "would be the most important thing in all of the school. This is our coffee maker." Her fingertips brushed over the glory that was her favourite appliance even though she had her own down at the boathouse. "You'll usually find a lot of people congregate in here."

<Cecilia> Cecilia took a long look at the coffee maker. They didn't have a coffeemaker at home, well, they did but not one like this monstrosity."I'll just bet," she said.

<Bobby> He'd gotten Lorna's text announcing their return with a newbie, and Bobby decided it was the perfect time to stop his training session in the DR. He hadn't seen her since this morning, after all. Bobby breezed into the kitchen when he heard her voice.

<Bobby> "Hey hey, Dee!" Bobby grinned at the new girl, gave her a wink, then grabbed his wife for a dip and a kiss.

<Cecilia> Cecilia blinked at the wink and then at the kiss. Were they together??? Must be, she thought. But then why the hell was he winking at her?

<Lorna> "Hey there, Sweetcheeks!" Lorna laughed, having to hold on pretty tight for balance because there was only so much bending she could do on short notice. "Bobby, Cecilia, Cecilia, Bobby. I'm just starting the tour, figured we'd hit the most important spot first." She explained, righting herself but keeping an arm around Bobby all the same.

<Bobby> Bobby was okay with a tight hold, and he kept his arm around her as well, but offered his other to the new girl to shake. "Most important and most often destroyed," he chuckled. "Oh, wait, you mean the coffee machine... bad Lorna."

<Cecilia> Cecilia shook the offered hand. "Nice to meet you, Bobby," she said politely. Inwardly wondering how much older this guy actually was compared to her and why he was still going by a childish form of address.

<Lorna> "Of course I mean the coffee machine, and quit talking about the kitchen issues. The new ones are like deer, you'll startle them away." She poked his side but laughed all through it. "We do have a few...incidents with the kitchen in the past but we've not had to redo it for quite some time."

<Bobby> "Calling them deer might startle them away too, babe." Bobby smirked and rested his hand on Lorna's belly. "It's not so bad, Cecilia, was it? Mostly, you just get a bunch of high-strung mutants messing with their powers... accidents happen." Telling the Sam story was not a good idea, after all.

<Cecilia> Cecilia smiled. "They do, I'll try not to be the cause of them though. I like the...decor... the way it is." Which was expensive, Cecilia thought, far better than she'd ever lived in. She killed that line of thought, no sense getting worked into a sense of shame on her first day. She should be grateful.

<Cecilia> "So, you're...together?" Cecilia said, awkwardly trying to make conversation.

<Lorna> "Oh, yeah, I stole his last name and he gave me this." She patted the bump, chuckling as she led them away from the kitchen, figuring they'd hit the recroom next. At least the destruction of the recroom was usually more tame. "I figure I made out pretty well in that deal."

<Bobby> His grin turned soft at that and he felt the familiar clench in his chest. Bobby held onto her hand and followed her, but looked over at Cecilia with a conspiratorial grin. "Nah, I got the best end of the deal, 'cause I'm gonna have two awesome girls in about three months."

<Cecilia> Cecilia gave him a confused look before realization hit her. "Oh, you're having a girl! Congratulations!" She smiled back, she decided she liked Bobby and Lorna.

<Cecilia> Yet...something about them made her feel sad... They were so much like her parents were when her dad was still alive. Happy, in love.

<Lorna> "Yep, Miss Maddie'll be making her way out pretty soon. I'm just glad she's not a chestburster." Lorna patted her belly as she spoke quite fondly if there was a way to say 'chestburster' fondly. "And here's the recroom, another place that's usually crowded. I guess people are actually attending their classes at the moment. Either that or there's a really quiet dorm party going on."

<Bobby> Bobby snorted at the chestburster comment. He pointed at the big-screen television. "We get every channel, though it's always shark week. Of course, if you're into gaming, we have most of the game systems here too, and if not in the rec room, we've got a secret 'geek' lair." He held up Lorna's hand to complete his air quotes.

<Cecilia> Chestburster? Wasn't that in Alien?? Though it was a fairly apt description, Cecilia thought. Just the wrong body part...

<Cecilia> "I, uh, didn't have any games at home. And I didn't have a TV either," Cecilia said. "Mrs. Drake can tell you, she saw where I lived." Much to her embarrassment. "It'll be interesting to actually have them around."

<Lorna> "Oh the geek lair, it doesn't get used near as often as it should. It makes me a little bit sad and wistful-like." Lorna smiled fondly as she thought about that room. "Seriously though, shark week, even after the reality bender we had here once brought a shark into the room."

<Bobby> "We'll just have to indoctrinate you into the ways of the gamer then." Bobby swung his and Lorna's hands together. "Yeah, if anything comes out of the TV, I'd suggest just leaving." He paused and cocked his head at her. "What is your power, if you don't mind me asking?"

<Cecilia> "Uhhh...well..." How to explain this? "I make these...I guess you could call them force fields...at least, that's what my brother called them, cause they sorta look and act like them."

<Lorna> "We're very good at showing the ways of the gamer...we don't get people addicted at alllll." Lorna helped with the hand swinging, dancing with Bobby's hands. "Force fields are pretty handy things to have, aren't they?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia shrugged. "I guess so, mostly they just seem to be either nothing special or making trouble for me." Make that a lot of trouble, she thought. Thinking of the guy who threw the basketball at her back home. "I don't even know how much damage they can take without failing... and I'm sure I should test that out. I'm not very good at using them either, I can only project them in a few feet in front of me."

<Lorna> Lorna glanced back to Bobby, a smirk forming quickly. "...should we take her to the Danger Room?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia went slightly pale. "Danger Room?" Oh, God. What the hell was she doing here?

<Bobby> "It's not really dangerous," Bobby assured her, noticing she looked about to bolt. "That's just the name. I just came from there in fact... it's like... a training room. Lets you do just what you were saying - test your powers. Without wrecking anything."

<Cecilia> "Okay...That doesn't sound so bad," said Cecilia. Danger must be ironic, she thought. God, she must seem like such a wimpy weasel to these guys.

<Lorna> "Plus you can fight dragons!" Lorna was all ready off, scurrying for the lower levels as she led the way to the danger room, now excited to share the beauty that it held.

<Cecilia> Cecilia glanced at Bobby. She moved fast for a woman six months gone. "Wait up!" She called, jogging after her crazy green haired teacher. This Danger Room couldn't be so bad, these people were really nice. It's not like they'd intentionally led her into danger.

<Bobby> Bobby laughed when he found himself abandoned. "Lorna really likes the dragons," he said, catching up to her at the elevator. "I think she's just tired of being off active duty." He patted her belly again as the elevator dinged.

<Cecilia> Cecilia smiled. "I would be too, I think, if I were in her position. I like to stay busy." Cecilia felt a subtle vertigo as the elevator dropped. Man, they were far down."This isn't some super secret training facility where you're going to teach me to be an assassin or something, right?" said Cecilia only half-joking. The things she did for a college education!

<Bobby> Bobby coughed.

<Cecilia> "Are you alright?" Cecilia asked. Looking between him and Lorna, concerned.

<Bobby> "Oh, fine." Bobby was very careful to not look at Lorna. "She told you about the X-Men though, right? You don't have to be on the team if you don't want to be. You can just learn how to use your powers and get an education if you want."

<Cecilia> "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that..." Cecilia frowned. "I want..." Should she tell them this? It was sort of near and dear to her. "I want to be a doctor, a trauma surgeon. I dunno if that'd be of much use to you guys or if I want to work as a surgeon for here exclusively."

<Cecilia> "Not that I'd presume you'd hire me!" She added. "Besides, I shouldn't talk about this. It's a long way off and I may not be bright enough..." Ok, shutting up now. She'd said far too much already.

<Bobby> "You're a babbler," Bobby said, grin growing wider as he and Lorna got off the elevator. "As a fellow babbler, I understand. But don't worry, we ... well, we normally have two doctors here. One was once a student himself. He's, um, away right now." That was one way of putting it, he supposed. Jesus, Summers, what were you thinking?

<Cecilia> Cecilia's face heated with embarrassment. "Ah, I thought so. I should've guessed you'd have doctors for the team. Well, there may be places that need me, some clandestine operation, the military...though I'd have to register first," she frowned. "That or a normal hospital, if they aren't testing medical practitioners by now." No doubt they were. She was never that lucky.

<Lorna> "We can always use more doctors and there are definitely mutants everywhere that need doctors too. It's a good field to take." Lorna offered the girl a smile. "We'll find a way, yeah?" It was probably best not to get into any assassianation talks though, dangerous waters and all. "And the Danger Room can be used to train for that sort of thing as well, basically anything. It's a teaching tool as well as shits and giggles funtimes."

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded. "Yeah, and humans too. Can't forget about them. If they want to be examined by a mutant doctor that is." Cecilia looked at Lorna curiously. "Now I'm really interested in this Danger Room. It sounds like some high tech piece of equipment."

<Lorna> "You know the holodeck on Star Trek? Imagine that with an AI to boot." Lorna explained, making her way to the door of the place in question once the elevator opened. "And it's all empty for us, too. Good luck there."

<Cecilia> Cecilia stared at the door in question. "I know a little Star trek," Cecilia said. "I might not have had a television but some of my friends did!" She said jovially. Well, her brother's friends. But they didn't need to know that.

<Bobby> "Well, if you ever saw Next Generation? This is totally better." Bobby called up the controls and plugged in something non-threatening... the blank-walled room transformed into an elvin woodland. He grinned at Lorna and gave her a wink and a blown kiss.

<Cecilia> Cecilia went wide eyed as the blank room suddenly turned into a gorgeous- dare she say enchanted?- forest. "Whoa!" She laughed, forgetting her anxieties and stepping a little ahead to look around. "This is amazing!" She said to the happy couple behind her, smiling widely and genuinely.

<Lorna> "I've always said we should just do our recruitment by explaining the danger room. People would be so much more excited." She smirked at Bobby, moving back towards him as she too enjoyed the current environment. "And you can come down here anytime, if you have any questions you just have to ask Danger."

<Cecilia> "Danger?" said Cecilia, distracted by the sunlight falling through the canopy of trees, the dreamy butterflies and healthy green foliage. "If you let me, I'd live in here," she joked. "This place is wonderful."

<Bobby> Bobby put his arm around Lorna happily, resting his hand on her belly. Ooo, squirmies! "Danger's kind of... well, an artificial intelligence... um, creature."

<Cecilia> Creature? Artifical Intelligence??? It was joke...it had to be. Cecilia smiled. "There are dragons in here too?"

<Lorna> "With 'huge tracts of land' since Darren got ahold of her too." Lorna made the motion at her chest, laughing. Sometimes she worried about the rest of the staff. "There can be, would you like some?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia laughed. "You have to ask?" She felt so... light. More unburdened than she had in ages. "Show me the magic," she said.

<Lorna> "Danger, dragons, if you will." Lorna called out and, soon enough, there was a plume of fire and smoke from over the trees and a great flapping of wings.

<Bobby> Bobby laughed aloud as the dragon winged its way over the clearing, circling. "Nice, very nice!"

<Cecilia> Cecilia couldn't believe the level of realism. If she didn't know better she'd believe she'd walked straight into Middle Earth. "Just how 'hard' are the holographic thingies?" She asked. "Can I touch them?" More importantly, could they actually hurt her?

<Lorna> "Oh yeah, you can touch them. The safties stay on though so you're all right. They very rarely come off." Lorna assured her, looking up at the sky at the dragon.

<Cecilia> That was...not exactly reassuring. Still, danger or no danger, there was no way Cecilia wasn't coming back. "Now I know how Neo felt," she said, letting a matrix reference out for the nerds to play with.

<Bobby> "There is no spoon, but the fake spoon is awesome," Bobby laughed.

<Cecilia> Cecilia laughed. "Thank you, both of you. I admit I was little nervous coming here. I didn't know if this was all a trick or if I was going to be screwed over. It's nice when people make you feel welcome." Hopefully the fact that she'd mistaken Ms. Salvatore, Mrs. Drake and that Sue girl for feds would also be forgotten. Cecilia wasn't sure she'd ever live that down.

[puppygirl]

Yeeeeesssss, the DR, that's always what hooks them in