Christmas 2015: David

[Svartfreja]

<@Sue> "Damn it... where are you, you little bastard?" Sue hurried along the hallway, praying she didn't find an open door or that the gerbil hadn't found its way into someone's room. She checked under furniture she passed with the help of her field but, so far, no gerbil.

<David> David roamed along another vaguely familiar hallway, humming softly, in his search for something to do. He paused for a moment when he noticed a floating table around the corner, accompanied by the sounds of swearing. "You'd think I'd be used to weird things by now." He poked his head further around, hoping to present a smaller target should the table come flying his way. "Not interrupting anything, am I?" he called out.

<@Sue> Sue yelped and vanished from view. "Don't creep up on people!" She reappeared with her hands on her hips.

<David> David stepped out from around the corner, holding his hands up. "Hey, I just wanted to make sure I didn't end up getting impromptu brain surgery via the table." Sure, the invisible chick is worried about people sneaking up on her. The world we live in, man.

<@Sue> "I don't make a habit of throwing furniture at people... should I?" She projected her invisibility field at a few more items. "Bugger..." she muttered.

<David> "Don't start changing habits on my account." he tried not to stare at the vanishing act the other pieces of furniture were doing. "If I were a gambling man, I'd say you've lost something."

<@Sue> "Yeah.... don't suppose you've seen a gerbil anywhere? It glows in the dark.... but otherwise looks like any ordinary gerbil..." She chewed her lip, wondering which direction it might have gone.

<David> "I think I might have remembered that." Ooo. Say you think you might have one in your pants. "Couldn't you turn off the lights and look for the glow or something?" Come on, don't be like that. Say the pants thing.

<@Sue> "What in the whole school? That's mental.... it's too big anyway..." she huffed. "I'm never going to find it..." and it was probably going to eat the cat...

<David> Well, then. She's not invited to the pants party for being so mean. "I meant room by room." He flicked the nearby light switch off and on to demonstrate. "Now that you know of my amazing light controlling powers, need any help?"

<@Sue> "I can't just barge into other rooms.... that's rude.... and the little shit could be anywhere... I've seen them chew through walls...." she sighed, "Turning lights off isn't really an issue when you can make the furniture invisible but two pairs of eyes are better than one..."

<David> "I can do the heavy lifting, too." He struck a Mr. Olympia pose and waggled his eyebrows.

<@Sue> Sue raised an eyebrow at the pose, "Riiiiight... well I already checked most of that way," she thumbed over her shoulder. "So there's just this way," she gestured ahead of her, "And downstairs..."

<David> "Cool. Lead the way, I guess?' he fell in, one step behind. "So, how much can you make invisible with your supercharged x-ray specs?"

<@Sue> "Uh.... not sure... I can make the blackbird invisible so I guess a lot? Haven't really tested it like I have with my forcefields... I've been doing it a lot longer." She invisibled some more furniture as they passed and checked along the skirting boards.

<David> "Cool, force-fields. Remind me not to throw any snowballs at you. Not that I would, of course." He started to crouch to look under another table, when it disappeared.

<@Sue> "Oh I would cheat so hard in a snowball fight." she laughed, "So what do you do?"

<David> He stood back up from the awkward half-crouch. "Well, remember when I was worried about getting brained by furniture? There's a good chance I'd just get back up again. Not the most glamorous, but it saves on medical bills." We should definitely snowball ambush her.

<@Sue> "Oh... you're a healer then?" she smiled, "Fun!" She frowned as they reached the end of the hall. Curses. She headed for the stairs. Bloody gerbil. Stupid furry git.

<David> He watched her starting down the stairs for a moment, Might have to change re-invite her to the pants party. I agree. Before following and hoping she didn't notice him checking her out. "I guess. Healing factor seems to be the fancy buzzword being thrown around."

<@Sue> "That is the word," Sue nodded, chewing her lip and trying to decide where to look first. Kitchen seemed a good idea. At least there was tea there so she could refuel.

<David> "What's the gerbil's name, anyway?" he jerked his head to the left, checking if he had actually seen something in his peripheral vision before dismissing it as nothing. "I assume it recognizes it's name?"

<@Sue> "It doesn't have a name... it was a science experiment that we thought the Lizard ate but it turned out we were mistaken so then it was spare... so Curt decided I should look after it...." she frowned, "I still don't think it was a good idea. It's caused nothing but trouble."

<David> "Well, that explains the whole glow in the dark thing. At least you seem to like it enough to look for it." he offered.

<@Sue> "Hmm... wouldn't say it's care for the gerbil... more worry about what it'll destroy or kill while it's out...." She invisibled the furniture in the entrance hall as they passed through. Nope. Ugh.

<David> "Huh. Always thought they were bottom of the foodchain type critters. Didn't know they could kill anything." he froze suddenly, standing very still. "Uhhhh... roughly how big is an ordinary gerbil?"

<@Sue> "Um... about this big?" she held up her hands a small distance apart, "Not including the tail... why?"

<David> "This is going to sound like a terrible pick up line, but..." he carefully looked down, still trying to stay as still as possible, "... I think there's a gerbil in my pants and I hope it's happy to see you." Holy crap you actually used it! He's being serious. Shit.

<@Sue> Sue blinked at him. "Beg your pardon?"

<David> He watched a small bulge climbing up the inside of his pantleg. "There's something climbing my pants. And unless there's more small animals roaming around this joint, that's probably your gerbil."

<@Sue> "Uh... do you.... want to get it out of there?" This wasn't a bit awkward at all.... She wrinkled her nose a little.

<David> "Well, you mentioned it destroying and killing stuff so uhhh... yeah." He resisted the urge to throw off his pants as fast as possible and hope he came out intact. "Don't suppose you could magic it out of there or someth---", his voice rose to a near falsetto as he felt the bulge climb past his knee and half-way up his thigh.

<@Sue> "You heal..." Sue reminded him, "But I can probably get it..." She invisbled his trouser leg til just above the gerbil and caught her tongue between her lips as she concentrated on catching it in a forcefield.

<David> "It still hurts." he hissed between his teeth.

<@Sue> Once she was sure she had it on all sides she worked on dragging it back down towards David's foot. "I'm Sue, by the way..." she introduced herself, figuring they were probably on first name terms by now. "Sue Storm. You might have already met my brother Johnny."

<David> He hopped backwards the moment he felt the gerbil clear his pants. "And I'm really grateful." He watched the little critter floating there for a moment. "David. Or Dave . if I ever get lost and you need something to yell while invisibling stuff."

<@Sue> She smiled, "Nice to meet you." She floated the gerbil up to eye level, "And you, you little bastard, are in a lot of fucking trouble. Chew through my textbooks will you? I'll show you."

<David> "As long as that's all it chewed through," he muttered, patting down his pockets and pantlegs. Everything's there. It wasn't nearly monstrous enough to make this a horror movie. "Nice to meet you, too. Although, at the rate I'm going, meeting people at this school is going to get me killed." David stated, recalling his meeting with the human missile.

<@Sue> She laughed, "You'll be fine. We're not as dangerous as it first seems... well mostly." She liberated some fake flowers from their metal vase and dropped the gerbil into it.

<David> David shot the gerbil one last dirty look before it disappeared into the metal vase. "I suppose. I guess there's no one here made of explosions or can turn into guns or something. So until that happens, it should be fine." he smiled back.

<@Sue> "Yep.... well relatively painfree anyway." She offered a smile, hugging the vase to her and peering into it. "Let's see you chew through that."

<David> "Don't say that. It might take it as a challenge." he said, only half-jokingly. "You never know with the experiments of mad scientists."

<@Sue> "Yeah..." she sighed, "I better go and put him back in his tank just in case...."

<David> "If you need someone to run guard duty on the way back, you've got a volunteer. I know it doesn't know me," he motioned at the vase, "... but I've decided to take it personally."

<@Sue> She laughed a little, "You don't have to, but thanks for the offer.

<David> "My pleasure, milady." he gave an exaggerated bow. "Just had to make sure no one said chivalry is dead. Now if only there were a sunset to ride off into. And a horse to ride on. And an appropriate soundtrack playing in the background."

<@Sue> She laughed, "If you like I can just imagine that for you."

<David> "Well, good luck chaining the beast back up. And here's looking at you, kid." he turned and slowly walked off, humming the theme to Casablanca. Our little boy's all grown up. *sobbing sounds* "Whoops. Room is in the other direction." He gave her a sheepish grin as he turned around and headed the other way.

<@Sue> Sue giggled, shaking her head and going for the stairs back to the girls dorms. She was going to have to find something more durable than textbooks to put on top of the tank...

[Svartfreja]

<Jessica> Jess peered out of the window at the rain. Typical. Though, she supposed it wouldn't be very green if it didn't rain all the time... She fidgeted in her seat.

<Melati> "Well, here we are," Melati remarked, pulling off her seat belt. "Looks like the weather ain't getting better anytime soon, so we might as well get this over with."

<Jessica> "I don't like rain...." Jess grumbled a little, removing her own belt and pulling her coat on.

<Cecilia> Where the fuck was she? And what the fuck was she doing here? Cecilia glanced around the rainy street, trying to spot anyone she recognized among the people strolling past her. She had hauled ass here from Barcelona on a commercial flight to respond to 'urgent X-Men business' which she assumed meant some serious mutant shit was about to go down. But so far the only thing out of place she'd noticed was everyone's English. At least, she thought it was.

<David> "Holy shit. It looks like a clown exploded." David exclaimed as he got out of the car and stared at the buildings lining the street. "I'm expecting Gene Wilder to pop out and start singing."

<Jessica> "If that happens I'm getting straight back in the car." Jess decided, putting her hat on too and finally stepping out into the weather.

<Cecilia> Cecilia sighed as she caught sight of Mel's scaly visage getting out of a car along with a tall dark haired woman who was probably Jessica and the new guy from Canada that really liked turtlenecks. "Oh thank Christ," she muttered, running up and waving. "Hey guys! Okay, I'm here, so what's the big emergency?"

<Jessica> "Apparently a recruitment thing..." Jess eyed the brightly painted buildings. They probably looked nice when the weather wasn't miserable.

<@Anna> The door of a building a little way up the street opened, the sounds of drunken singing filtering out onto the street and a man staggered out to the sounds of someone yelling 'Ah feck off, ya gobshite!'

<Melati> Melati turned her head, an eyebrow arching upwards. "I have forgotten where we're supposed to go, but I know I want to be over there," she pointed at the bar down the street.

<Jessica> "Well... maybe the over there will know where we're supposed to go?" Jess offered hopefully.

<Cecilia> Cecilia stared at the trio for a long minute. "That's your big emergency?! A recruitment mission?!" She exclaimed. "I could strangle all three of you! You mean to tell me that I just hauled ass all the way from Barcelona and missed out on one of my last few days of sunshine and fun to help out in a routine pick-up mission! Gawd, I hate you all so much right now!"

<Jessica> Jess held up her hands defensively, "I was not responsible for that message! Don't yell at me!"

<Melati> "Yeah yeah, I admit I should have read the briefing a little more thoroughly," Mel defended herself, holding out her hands. "The letters looked, like, really serious, so I thought 'why not bring some backup'? Well, try to see it from the good side. You're going to see a place you've never seen before, eh?"

<David> "And you didn't even get to ride the jet. Man, you got screwed on this one."

<Jessica> "Do you have a name we can ask for?" Jess decided to just start for the pub and hope.

<Cecilia> Cecilia grumbled a little in Spanish about vague messages and gingers and leprechauns. "...Yeah, I guess..." But dammit, sunshine! This place was wet and cold. "Let's just go in and get this over with. At least I'll get a drink out of this..."

<David> "Who knows, we might catch a leprechaun and steal it's sweet, sweet gold, too."

<Melati> "Anna... something-something," Melati replied, trying to find the note in one of her pockets. "Sounded local."

<Jessica> Jess pushed the door open, taking off her hat and running a hand through her hair. It was damn nice to be out of that rain. But holy hell it was busy. There was a group of musicians in one corner playing some kind of reel - people were up dancing and laughing or clapping along. Everyone seemed very happy and they all smiled at the strangers as they walked in.

<Cecilia> "Damn," said Cecilia looking around at the festivities. "Now I wish Fabian had come along. He'd probably enjoy this."

<Melati> "Hey, you get to be here with me; that's way better!" A big grin appeared on Mel's face as she took in the lively scene in front of her. The next moment she was off towards the bar and slapped her hand onto the counter. "Oi! I'll have one of whatever this place is famous for. It is famous for something, right?"

<@Anna> Anna was sat at a corner table with a group of others in the middle of a drinking competition which she successfully won and promptly fell off her chair with a loud 'Woop!' The guys either side of her laughed and went to help her up. "I told you I can still outdrink you!"

<Cecilia> Cecilia was actually warming up to Mel the more she loosened up. "I second that order!" She cried, slapping a handful of bills on the counter.

<Melati> She finally produced a piece of paper from the depth of her pocket. "Oh, and we're looking for one... Anna O'Keeffe?"

<Jessica> The bar tender looked the group over, decided they were over eighteen and poured them all whiskey. "Oh yeah? She's over there," he nodded to the corner, "Little the worse for wear by now," he laughed, taking the money for the drinks and going to get the change.

<Melati> "Thanks, mate." Melati smiled as she grabbed her glass, pulling a few bills from the pockets of her pants as she turned her head to look at the indicated table. "Really? Well, that was easy."

<Cecilia> Cecilia took in the woman who was currently falling on her face drunk amongst a crowd of men. "Isn't she a bit old to be a student?"

<Jessica> He returned with the change and called over, "Hey, Anna! Friends of yours?"

<@Anna> "Hmmmmm?" Anna turned in her seat and blinked at the collection of strangers at the bar. "I don't know. If they are I was drunk." She hopped up to her feet, staggered a little until one of her company righted her, then headed over to the bar.

<Melati> "Apparently we're not looking for a student, but someone to complement the teaching stuff," Melati remarked, before taking a sip from her glass. She watched the clearly inebriated woman. "And she's already on the way to become my favourite teacher."

<Jessica> Jess eyed the whiskey and gave it a sniff. Woah... Oh well she couldn't get drunk. She decided to try it.

<Cecilia> Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "She's no Lensherr..." Fuck it, she liked him, even if he was a hardass. She picked up her drink and inclined her head to the older woman. "Beunos dias, Ms. O'Keeffe."

<@Anna> "Hi," Anna gave them a slightly lopsided smile, "Yep I'm that person." she nodded, eyeing Melati, "Either I'm more drunk than I thought or you're actually green..."

<Melati> "Don't worry, you only have to worry once I start looking purple to you," Mel replied, flashing Anna a grin. "Name's Melati, or just Mel for short. And if we didn't stumble into the wrong bar and found someone with the exact same name as yours, I guess you went to our school once."

<@Anna> "Ooooh Xavier's? Awesome! More booze for my fellow weirdos!" Anna waved at the barman. "I think you've had enough!"

<@Anna> Anna raised an eyebrow, "Enough? Did you just use that word?" She looked over to her table, "I'm going to have selective deafness and help myself if you refuse." She decided.

<David> "If you give me the drinks for free, I'll hold her back for you." David called out to the barman.

<Melati> "Don't worry, I guess carrying her out is the least we can do," she announced, before turning back towards the smaller woman. "So, yeah, you graduated from that place, right?"

<@Anna> "Awwww look how cute! He thinks I'm going to use my hands!" Anna giggled, nodding to Melati's question. "Yeah, graduated, went to med. school for a bit then hopped on a plane to help poor people in really hot foreign places." She cheered when she got the requested booze.

<Jessica> Jess decided she was done with whiskey and turned her attention to the musicians instead.

<Cecilia> Cecilia eyed the woman. "Really? That's interesting because I wanna be a doctor too, trauma surgeon." Huh, so they might have something in common. Interesting. "Doctor's Without Borders?" She guessed. "Where did you work exactly? Sudan? Ethiopia?"

<Melati> "Hey, that sounds cool. I come from a really hot place, and I guess most people but me would consider it foreign." She herded the group towards a free table near the wall. "Hey, let's have a seat and some drinks, shall we?"

<Cecilia> "Same here," remarked Cecilia, sitting down. "I was born in Puerto Rico." She sipped her whiskey and leaned back in her seat. "Never liked the cold much."

<@Anna> "I was in South America for a while then Africa. I liked South America better, I can get by with the language there, French only gets you so far in Africa and Spanish gets you nowhere." Anna flopped into a seat, sloshing her latest pint all over her hand. ".... Damn what a waste."

<Jessica> Jess moved to the table with them after requesting something non-alcoholic (for which she received a raised eyebrow).

<Melati> "Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur," Melati announced. "That is, until I hang out with my dad, who's from the US, and kinda ended up in a college for mutants over there. So, yeah." She raised her glass, smiling at the others, then took another good swig.

<Cecilia> "Anyways," said Cecilia, figuring they should get down to business. "We're here to recruit you. At least, I think we are. That or we're here with a job offer since you're a graduate. I dunno, you'll have to ask Mel. I'm not in charge, I just got pulled out here from Barcelona on vague pretenses."

<@Anna> "I was born and raised here but my mam is Argentinian." She smiled, wiping her hand on her jeans. "Well I'd hope I don't have to go back to school... I can't have buggered it up that much the first time..."

<Jessica> "I think it's that we need new staff...." Jess hazarded, "People are getting better jobs."

<Melati> "Pretty much what she said," Mel tossed in, thumbing in Cecilia's direction. "And nah, unlike us, you got the fun part already over with, it seems. Apparently Xavier's is hiring, and the old students are on top of the list."

<@Anna> "Xavier wants to let me loose on the brains of impressionable college students?" Anna's eyebrows went up then she grinned, "Eeeeexcellent."

<Cecilia> "Wait we were having fun last semester?" Said Cecilia, snorting a bit into her glass. Well, she was sometimes...but she'd been bit crazy last semester. "Well you can try to teach us, but it's debatable how much will stick."

<@Anna> Anna laughed, "Your class can't be worse than mine was."

<Melati> "Well, I'd be all for it, for what it's worth," Mel commented, raising her glass to Anna again.

<Cecilia> "You don't know me that well yet," said Cecilia, smiling a hard smile.

<@Anna> "Don't worry, I can fix that." Anna grinned, clinking her glass to Mel's and sloshing more Guinness onto the table this time. She wiped it off onto the floor with her teke. "I've been thinking about setting up shop somewhere. Xavier's place sounds as good as any."

<Jessica> Jess dodged the spilled drink as it trickled off the edge of the table and glanced over to the bar. She wondered if the staff minded the mess Anna seemed to be deliberately making.

<Cecilia> Cecilia caught the movement from the telekinetic wave and frowned a little. She was somewhat wary of psychic powered mutants - especially mindreaders. "Mind if I ask what you can do?" Said Cecilia to Anna, not really caring if she minded or not.

<@Anna> "Oh sure!" Anna took a drink then set her glass down, "Mostly I'm a healer.... of other people. I can't heal myself." She frowned, that was still irritating. "And I go poof... well and there's teke obviously and some limited telepathy because I need it when I go poof or no one would know I was there. No mouth when I'm all gassy..." she gigglesnorted, "Gassy...."

<Melati> Melati leaned back in her seat and crossed her ankles underneath the table. "Well, I like her," she remarked. "So, you're interested then? Sure sounds like you could come in handy."

<Cecilia> Cecilia kept an eye on David as he went around the bar 'searching for leprechauns'...he was a strange one that was for sure and coming from her that was pretty rich. "We need all the damn help we can get that's for sure."

<Cecilia> Telepath, huh? Cecilia made a mental note never to daydream in this woman's class or in her presence, just in case.

<@Anna> "Well then it's good to know nothing much has changed." Anna grinned and winked.

<Melati> "What can I say, we just love trouble, and it obviously loves us right back," she said, holding out her hands.

<Cecilia> Cecilia shrugged, somewhat unsure of whether having former mutant 'freedom fighters' as students was a big change from the status quo of the school or not. "In any case there's never a dull moment. I'm sure you'll fit right in."

<Cecilia> "A lot's changed though, world's becoming a much harsher place...Well, I'm sure Xavier will fill you in on the details." Cecilia polished off her drink and set it down on the table like a gavel. "Far be it from me to deter you from taking the job. So, should I offer my congratulations and warmest welcome?" She said wryly.

<@Anna> "Hey I know what I'm getting into, trust me." She smiled, "I can handle it... so I will take that congratulations and welcome and drink to it!"

<Melati> "Right on," Melati exclaimed, revealing a grin. "And another mission accomplished. Now on to celebrate!" She raised her glass to all of them, using her free hand to signal for refills.