X-MEN LAKESIDE PARK

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Between the X-Men Grounds and the lake sits a small park area complete with a sandy beach that stretches from the X-Men Picnic Area to the north X-Men Woods. The water laps at the sun baked sands, and a specified swimming area is roped off with a bouyed net. There is a marked volleyball court with net strung between two metal poles, and a small raked out path leading from the grounds to the X-Men Lake House.

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X-Men Time

Monday, May 25th

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The festivities for Memorial day night had been spread out mostly through three areas - the Lake House, the Lakeside Park, and the Picnic Area next to the park - though some students lingered about near the Hot Tub and in the Recreational Park enjoying themselves. A few campfires were built around the three main areas, and night lights kept the areas lit for the most part. Students were free to roam and use boating and lake equipment as they pleased.

Sasaiya was finding that, despite the drama earlier in the day, the evening was going pretty well so far. Part of it may have had something to do with not seeing Viper again after she ran off, hopefully for good, or that the majority of the household had dispersed, but perhaps it was the fact that it was quiet and dark and warm or that she was lakeside with a drink in her hand and a crackling fire near her stretched out feet. While she’d been to a few ‘bonfires’ before, using the term very loosely, it was less of a celebration and more of an attempt to stay warm during bitter Chicago winters. This was more fun and, she added with a grin and a glance to Rene, the company was a lot nicer. “Think anyone else is gonna’ show?”

"Ask and you shall receive miss one with the animals." A familiar voice made it through the dark at just the right timing. The ever friendly, yet thick headed teleporter emerged into the soft glow of the camp fire, a smile on his face, a two liter under one arm and a bag full of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate in the other. Justin obviously had some alcohol in his system, but despite drinking the entire day since the pool he was noticeably functional and sure footed. Maybe there was truth to his rum only tolerance. With that the boy stepped into the shimmer a couple dozen feet away only to reappear inches away from Sasaisya on her free side sitting, and setting aside the provisions. "Hey guys."

René had pulled up a few logs from the forest with his truck, but he had also brought out a few lawn chairs for those unwilling or uncomfortable with sitting on a hunk of wood. Currently, the Cajun was occupying one of the logs, as it proved to be roomy enough to both his arms with his acoustic guitar in hand. With the empty case placed behind him, René continuously strummed soothing melodies across the strings, rocking gently along with the tempo of the songs. He never really sang when he played, having always left that up to his little sister, but he did hum along quietly, barely loud enough that the others could hear him. The Louisiana man had been wondering just the same as Sasaiya when she voiced her thoughts, and he looked up to see Justin as he approached, carrying a bundle of snacks and S'mores supplies for the campout. "Apparently so," he answered the Latina girl with a smirk, pausing his playing for a brief moment. "And carryin' the best campfire food there is, no doubt!" Like Justin, René had his fair share of alcohol during the day, but that wasn't stopping him from partaking in more. He had a couple of empty bottle laid out next to him, but he went for the fuller, colder one, taking a swig as he motioned for Justin to take a seat, which he promptly did.

Turning her head to the sound of Justin’s voice, the shifter lifted her beer, and then blinked when he stepped into a portal and then out of one directly beside her. The teleporter’s sudden appearance next to her was greeted with a nod and a rueful smile by Sasaiya. “Hey Justin,” she said, “Just what we need.” The lack of Rene’s quiet strumming was notable, emphasizing the subdued noise of the woods around them and it making their voices sound louder when they spoke, breaking up the stillness that had fallen over the park. Setting her beer down, she rose up out of her seat and stretched before crouching down beside the snacks. “We’ll need sticks to cook the marshmallows, right?” She hadn’t done this before, but was aware of s’mores and the general make-up of the campfire treat. It couldn’t be that hard to figure the rest out. “I’ve never made s’mores.”

"Yeah we can nab some branches from around here." Justin chuckled a bit. He paused as if thinking of something for a moment before diving his hand into the bottom of the bag and fishing around for a second. "Here Rene i brought you little something to share as a thank you for the rum, a little present from grandpa Alphar i had hidden away in the back of my closet." He produced an unmarked mason jar from the bag as he gave the Cajun a wink. "Good ol mountain moonshine. Careful, it's sipping shine, smooth enough to go down well but strong enough to put you down as well." He laughed handing the jar over.

"Plenty out in the woods," René added to the talk about branches for roasting marshmallows, though the man didn't make any sudden effort to go off and find some, himself. His attention had all but turned back to the acoustic in his hands when Justin addressed him, at which point the Cajun looked up curiously. Reaching out, he took the jar from Justin, and a devious grin spread broadly across his face. "Hot damn, kid, you and I might end up gettin' along just fine," the man mused aloud as he lifted both hands to grasp the jar and twist off the lid. Once open, René took a larger swig than he should have, and as he brought the jar down from his lips, his face contorted into an expression that said he might have just eaten something a little too sour, but it quickly relaxed into a look of content. "Very nice, man. Gotta give Gramps props on this."

Seeing as how neither Rene or Justin were making a move to find some sticks for roasting marshmallows, Sasaiya stood up and made her way to the nearest tree. She eyed it for a moment, then selected a few of the longer, lower hanging branches that weren’t all that covered with greenery. She snapped off one, then broke off the smaller twigs attached to it, and repeated this process at a few other trees while Rene and Justin bonded over what sounded like backyard moonshine. Once finished you made her way back to the campfire with a half dozen sticks and set all but one down beside Justin’s supplies. Sai snagged her beer again, took a sip, and placed back beside her seat before snagging the bag of marshmallows, using her fingers to retrieves two of them. One of them was popped into her mouth, while the other was speared the other on the pointy end of her stick. “So you just stick it in the fire?” She asked, doing exactly that until the white puff at the end suddenly caught fire. “Shit.” Pulling it back she blew away the flames, noting the singe marks on the surface, and then tugged at the marshmallow until it began sliding off the end of the branch and left a trail of melted goo in its path. Since she wasn’t sure if it was still good or not, didn’t know you could burn marshmallows, or what constituted a “roasted” marshmallow, she ate this one as well and grabbed another from the bag.

"Ill pass him your compliments." Justin chuckled. He glanced back up as Sasaiya returned from her stick excursion. "Much appreciated miss sasaiya." He picked up a stick as he took another swig, trying not to laugh as the city girl set a marshmallow ablaze. "Well i suppose you can do it like that, some people like it with the burnt crust. But..." He reach out placing the one he was gonna cook on her stick and tried to guide it close to the embers by resting his hand a tad above hers if she would let him. "i like the ones that get nice and brown, not in the flames but just a tad away from the embers, rotate it slowly and its a nice roasted mallow, not to caramelized, yet still soft and gooey."

Likewise, René retrieved a stick from the pile Sasaiya had brought back from her short excursion, reaching over to snag a marshmallow and pierce it with the end of the wooden prong. He held the round, white puff out over the fire, doing the same as Sasaiya and letting it catch fire. However, this was intentional, and after a few seconds, the man pulled his hand back and blew air over the marshmallow, putting out the flame and leaving behind a brown and black mess. As he popped the melted and crispy sweet into his mouth, he eyed the small interaction going on between Justin and Sasaiya. He paused for a moment, observing how close the boy was coming to Sasaiya, and a small bit of panic set in, though he didn't let it show. He knew how Sasaiya was, and he also knew that if Justin pushed his luck, he might end up with a nice red handprint across his cheek. Pulling the sticky mess off the stick and leaving behind a trail of white goo, René laid his stick across his lap, and opened his mouth, hoping he could distract the girl a bit from what was going on. "Nah, now way, more burnt, the better. Gives it more flavor, you know."

The burnt marshmallow Sasaiya was chewing on actually didn’t taste all that burnt, and the inside of it was pleasantly melted and gooey. “It’s not bad-“ She started saying before Justin leaned in and took hold of her stick, moving it until the white puff on the end was hovering over the glowing embers instead. The proximity to a guy she didn’t know all that well immediately sent her heart racing and her head to pound, that anxious voice in head demanding more space. Stiffening slightly, she shifted uncomfortably, little more than an inch or so, to the side, and her hand slipped further down to avoid contact with his. Unfortunately this caused the stick to dip down and the marshmallow to scrape along the bottom of the fire pit, smearing it with ash. A soft fuck escaped her as she made a grab for the stick with her other hand, above Justin’s, to lift it back out. Feeling decidedly awkward, she could only cast Rene a rueful, half-hearted smile before glancing to Justin. “I think I got it, thanks.” She said, still with an embarrassed grin on her face. “I can’t say I disagree with Rene, it’s pretty good burnt. Though I don’t think the ash’ll taste all that great.” Though it would have been hard to miss her obvious discomfort with even the threat of contact, she hoped she had at least smoothed it over with talk about marshmallow roasting.

"To each their own." Justin gave a hearty smile as he leaned back to his spot, shifting a little to give her some room, he had made her obviously uncomfortable even his oblivious self could notice. She has no problem punching my face in a spar, huh oh well. He roasted his own mallow over the coals before making a smore with more than a generous amount of chocolate. He took a swig from the jar and leaned his head back to gaze at the stars. "I love clear skys like this guys, sometimes i wish i was powerful enough to sort of port my way all the way out there just to see whats there."

Ren' had a hard time tearing his eyes away from Sasaiya's awkward reaction to Justin's friendly act. He was always wary of Sasaiya and her own comfort zone, having crossed the lines unknowingly a couple of times, himself. However, the wolf girl seemed to handle the situation well enough on her own, and René let his tensed body relax for the time being. He gave a modest shrug at Sasaiya's agreement then, popped another 'mallow onto his stick, holding it over the flames. It grew quiet for a moment until Justin's musings broke the silence, at which point René stuffed the next crispy marshmallow into his mouth, the burnt edges crunching lightly as he chewed. "Eh, I think I'm good right here on the ground. Never really liked flyin' anyways," the man commented with the marshmallow stuffed into his cheek as he spoke.

Justin didn't seem to mind Sasaiya's moment of tension and awkwardness, which went a long way with her. She returned his grin as she pulled the wayward marshmallow in and blew away the the loose ash that clinged to its surface. It was during her attempt to further clean off the bit of fluff that Justin made his comments about wanting to port his way to the stars, which at first sounded appealing, until she recalled her flight out to the middle of no where. Though she couldn't be sure that traveling through space was the same as flying miles above the surface of the earth, it didn't sound much more appealing. "Yeah, I get a little plane-sick." She joked quietly, "and wouldn't you need a space suit for that? You know, so you don't suffocate?" Sasaiya could only imagine how awful that would, and was quick to push it aside. She was fairly certain that she wasn't about to step into any of Justin's portal any time soon.

"Yeah i suppose i would." Justin chuckled when he realized he would have stepped into a vacuum. "Well at most i can only manage a mile anyhow. And i only really ended up botching maybe three or so ports in my life, into a cauldron of soup, into a plane, and somewhere really trippy once, guess that could have been space. He sat for a moment more looking up, still wishing he could see all thats out there. "But hey, who knows whats out there? Maybe more things like us? Different from their cultures? Maybe seen as special or weird themeselves?" He was starting to wander off in thought again, mostly thinking out loud almost forgetting he was with the other two.

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ACCESSIBLE AREAS
X-Men Grounds
X-Men Lake House
X-Men Picnic Area
X-Men Woods

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