Kitchen on the 3rd Floor
The kitchen, those parts of it you can see through the smoke, is nowhere near as tidy as kitchen on the first floor, in fact, it looks rather more like the site of a small explosion than a kitchen. The fridge is annoyingly beer free, and a lot emptier than it's first floor counterpart. There is a TV hanging in the corner.
X-Men - Time
X-Men Kitchen 3rd Hist1
X-Men Kitchen 3rd Hist2
Friday, October 1st
Walking inside,
still wearing his uniform,
Vlad began rummaging through the refrigerator to find something decent to eat. He came across many fruits and vegetables, likely a product of his sister he thought, and he was reminded of their spat. He wasn't the type to dwell on things, especially when it came to Korvka's temper, but he had to admit that he didn't like being hard on her, even when it was for her best interests. Pushing those thoughts away, he found a tube of sausage and tore the plastic open with his teeth. He then peeled the plastic back and began to eat it like a banana, leaning against the counter and looking around idly.
White opened the door and walked into the kitchen, noticing Vlad devouring a sausage. "Oh, hi", she said, surprised at the way he ate. But it was only logical a large man like him would need a lot of food. She put Luna on the floor, and approached the fridge. "Exercise at the danger room can really open the appetite, huh?" she said, while looking for ingredients to make a big sandwich. She picked some berries that were on a bowl and a yogurt as well. "Do you think there's cat food here somewhere?" she asked remembering Luna. The girl closed the door and let the stuff she had gathered on the table.
"If you got to spar, yeah,"
Vlad answered with a wry grin. He didn't say much, for once stuck in his head as White began rummaging through the refrigerator. However, when she asked about cat food, he narrowed his brows and let out a 'hmmmmmm.' "I don't think so, no vone has had a pet here before that I know of. They eat meat though. Check for some tune or something," he advised with a gesture towards one of the lower cabinets.
"Oh, right. Too bad they suspended your spar",
White said, though she was in truth glad it was suspended because she was getting tired of being in the danger room for so long. She headed to the cabinets he had pointed to and found a can of tuna. "I've never had a pet myself. But I'm taking care of this cat for the moment", she said. White left the tuna on the table and then grabbed plates, a knife and a fork, bread and a glass, which she filled with water. She drank half of it and then filled it again and left it on the table too. Carefully she opened the tuna can and emptied half of it on a small plate, which she left in a corner on the floor so Luna could eat. She left a small cup with water next to it as well, and returned to the table to work on her sandwich.
"Yup, bummer,"
Vlad said in a somewhat passive voice through a mouthful of sausage. He'd made it through half of the tube so far, not paying much attention to it as he listened politely to White. "Ve used to haff a dog. Big vone, vith lots of hair," he said when White mentioned that she'd never had a pet. "Used to take Korvka for a volk," he laughed heartily at the memory and adjusted his stance against the counter top. He remembered White's spar suddenly, and his face reflected the quick thought. "Hey, that vos some fight you had. Xavier gave you vone hell of an opponent," he commented with a definitive nod.
Luna meowed softly and ate her tuna slowly, taking her time to let it digest and whatnot. After a moment of nothing but tuna she lapped some water from the cup gratefully and looked around. She wasn't used to being away from her friend for so long. She looked up at Vlad with her large eyes and
took a running start and jumped up onto his leg for half a second before bouncing off of it and onto the counter. Once on the counter she started to clean herself.
Into the kitchen came
Valerie, who spared no time in opening her mouth to speak when she realized the room was occupied. 'Oh, HEY, guys! Anything good up here to eat?' It was pretty much a rhetorical question, as she went straight across the kitchen without waiting for a reply. With her phone set on the counter, it left both hands free to open and close a couple of cabinets. "Awwww, hello there, kitty kitty,' she then said to Luna, by whom she was momentarily distracted enough to pause her quest for food so that she could pet the furry white animal.
Looking down as the white cat used him as a spring board,
Vlad seemed to have just now noticed the thing, despite having answered White's question. "Is this thing yours?" he asked to both of the girls, waving his sausage "banana" as a greeting to Val, paired with a little grin. "And I'm not sure it's sanitary to haff it on the counter," he said as he gently scooted the cat off of the counter and back onto the floor.
Luna rubbed her head happily against Valerie's hand. She loved to be petted and all the interesting people around her was enough to make her curious about them. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted and then she was on the floor again. She listened to the large one (Vlad) say something about sanitary or something of the sort and she turned around ignoring him. She went back to her plate of tuna and proceeded to eat some more.
Shana walked into the kitchen,
looking quite sleepy and totally different. Rather than her usual teased hair, it was pulled into a simple side ponytail adorned with a bow. She was wearing a simple purple and pink striped tank and black skinny jeans with a black jacket, dressed also without makeup. She simply waved to everyone as she walked by them and made her way to the fruit bowl on the counter, snatching a banana and immediately munching on it as she sat down in a chair.
Daniela came into the kitchen from the
X-Men Hall East 3rd, she was looking a lot more awake than Shana, cozy in her sweater. Her heard monitor was still on her wrist, but she was using it as a watch now, she figured in any event, it would be good to have. Noticing Shana seemed to be in a sort of trance, she pet her in the head as she passed by. "Hi guys." she said simply. "Uhhm.. do we have any people food?" she asked the others, noticing Luna seemed to be the only one eating other than Vlad. "Maybe we could make some dinner for all of us?"
"I think it was a good idea to put me against him... I totally understand why he did it, I wouldn't have had any chance against someone like you I think",
White said to Vlad. "Of course Shade knows more about what he can do than I do", she added. When Valerie, Shana and Daniela entered she waved lazily at them. "That sounds like a good idea", said White to Daniela. She had just planned to make herself a sandwich but since there were more of them now, cooking a good meal sounded like a great idea. She was hungry, though, so she started eating the berries she had taken out of the fridge. "It's Alexis' cat", she said to Vlad. "He left her with me earlier"
When
Valerie was through petting Luna, she resumed her cabinet quest long enough to find a can of soup. Her back was turned to the rest of the room, thus she was unaware of Shana’s quiet entrance. The blonde looked over her shoulder, can in hand, when Daniela asked about making a communal dinner. ‘That’s a good idea!’ she said, smiling, in agreement with White. Suddenly her eyes got very wide, ’OHHHH, do you know what would REALLY hit the spot? Mac and cheese… ‘
"Oh, I can handle that." smiled
Daniela as she went over to one of the cupboards and started looking for a pot.. "I used to cook for my brother and dad before..." then she
suddenly stopped and her smiled faded away. "Before." she concluded as her smile return, as if trying to draw attention away from her small lapsus. "My brother liked Mac&Cheese with little bits of crisp fried bacon on it, does that sound good?"
Shana nearly chocked on her banana at the mention of macaroni and cheese. "OH MY GOOOD! I love mac and cheese!" she cried out dramatically, hands in the air.
It seemed that
Vlad was just destined to hang out with this particular gaggle of girls and he maintained comfortable silence after acknowledging White's answer about the cat with an "oh, ok." He was relaxed and amused by the girls, all seeming to get along with each other almost flawlessly. Their idea about a communal meal was one that he could get on board with, but he didn't know how much time he could spend in the kitchen when it was so overrun with younger females. He was in the middle of chuckling at Shana when he caught Daniela's verbal trip up; his people skills picking up on it almost immediately. It seemed there was more to the girl than he though, but now certainly wasn't the time, and Vlad wasn't sure he was the person to ask anyway. "Bacon in it vood be delicious," he responded with a grin to Daniela.
Since she had turned to look at Daniela,
Valerie also noted the flicker in the girl’s smile as she spoke of her family. ‘Bacon sounds… fancy!’ she said brightly, ‘…and tasty. We usually just use cut-up hot dogs. Let me know what you want me to help you with.’ She smiled at Shana’s reaction and offered, ‘Careful, no dying before dinner. Would you like a glass of water?’
Shana waved her hand dismissively at Val's offer for water, smiling. "Thanks, but I'm fine," she said with a small blush of embarrassment.
"Aha!" said
Daniela as she emerged from the cupboard holding out a large pot. "Should we make homemade Mac and Cheese or use the boxed stuff? If we do, we should probably make two boxes..." she added, looking at Vlad. "This is a school filled with teens, so I bet there must be a ton of Mac and Cheese around, let's get milk and butter out of the fridge."
"Ooh, homemade!"
Shana spoke up. "It's really much better than the box. But we have to have large elbow pasta noodles and Velveeta cheese." She looked around and pursed her lips. "I don't know if we have that..."
"I'll fry the bacon,"
Vlad offered as the girls looked around. "And yeah, two boxes vood be the vay to go," he replied, unaware of Daniela's glance at him, but sure that with the amount of people there were that one box wouldn't do the trick. Unless these girls were shy about what they ate, and he doubted that very much. He had finished the tube of sausage and tossed the plastic wrapping into the trash on his way to the fridge when he called over to Daniela, "Could you get out a frying pan?" He then moved things about in the fridge, opening drawers and pushing aside jugs of juice until he'd found the bacon.
Valerie, who had poured herself a glass of water, anyway, turned and leaned back on the sink. 'What about a little something healthy? A salad? If we have the fixings for one...' She smiled at Shana. 'Oh, you can use any type of cheese! Sometimes a mix-and-match tastes good, too. Odds-n-ends of whatever you have.' The girl was, after all, from Wisconsin.
"I'll help with the salad", offered
White, supporting Valerie's idea. Her mouth watered unwillingly as she thought of the mac and cheese. She knew nothing of cooking, so making a salad was or a sandwich was as far as her skills in the kitchen went to. She searched for a bowl in the cabinets where to put the salad, before searching for a lettuce and other vegetables to ad.
Daniela seemed to have ended up as kitchen captain, quickly putting the pot down and and retrieving a small frying pan for Vlad, after handing him the pan, she figured she could make the pasta while the other hunted for cheese. She filled up the pot with water and salted in, adding a teaspoon of cooking oil as well, then, she put it on the skillet and started looking for the elusive elbow macaroni while the water came to a boil. "We're gonna look really dumb if we don't have elbow macaroni..."
‘Great!’ said
Valerie when White offered to help with the salad. As the other girl found a bowl and salad components, Val set out a knife and cutting board. ‘No macaroni? What about rotini? Or wagon wheels?’ she said with a glance to Daniela. ‘…guess I could always run downstairs and see if there’s anything down there, ‘ the blonde finished with a half shrug.
"Thanks, Dani,"
Vlad said as he took the pan and then poured a little bit of olive oil into it, rolling the skillet around to coat the pan with oil. Then, he placed the strips of bacon side by side, making sure they didn't touch, until the whole pan was full. The girls didn't seem to be talking much aside from making the dinner, so Vlad decided that the idle chit-chat had to go and he brought the topic back to something more thought provoking. "I've been thinking about vot the professor said before the spars all day. If you ask me, ve'll be training a lot more. But Val, those move you had ver great! I had no idea that could even happen, no offense," he added hastily as the bacon began to sizzle. "And Dani, that big stupid oaf hardly stood a chance against you. I can't vait for my spar," he said with an excited glint in his eye as he let the bacon cook and turned towards the girls.
"Hmm, I'll look for some cheese,"
Shana said, hopping down from her chair. She looked in the refrigerator and immediately found a half block of Velveeta. "Oh, we'll need milk and flour too! It's makes the cheese thicker and creamier." She set the Velveeta on the counter and looked through the fridge again. "Anyone want three cheese if we have three cheeses?" She stood up with a carton of milk and walked to a cabinet, pulling out some flour.
"I am all for a lot of cheese,"
Vlad replied to Shana.
Luna had by now finished her tuna and water and was busy cleaning herself by the fridge to avoid being stepped on. She raised her head and looked at the group in the kitchen, her purple eyes watching everyone. She spied a piece of loose string on Vlad's shoe and
ran at it and started to play with it in the most adorable kitten fashion.
While she waited for the final pasta verdict,
Valerie looked at Vlad. ‘Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I found out I could move like that, too,’ she said with a sheepish smile. ‘Today was definitely a new experience. I
totally need some lessons on how to fight if we’re going to keep doing stuff like that,’ she finished while sneaking a peak at the screen of her phone.
"Me too",
White said when Valerie mentioned lessons. "I didn't know what I was doing", she shrugged. "Where do they put the noodles in this kitchen?" she asked Vlad, since no one had actually looked for the maccaroni.
Daniela had actually been looking for the macaroni while the others chatted. Finally, she emerged victorious from a cabinet on the far right of the kitchen with two macaroni bags. "Aha!" she said, walking over to the pot, where the water should have broken to a boil by then. "Ehm.. thanks, i guess." she replied to Vlad, blushing a bit. "Though another minute and I would have gotten beaten to a pulp..." she sighed. "Well! at least I didn't quit and flee the mansion!" added the girl, emptying one of the bags into the pot.
Shana had continued to dig around the room, looking for different types of cheese. She stood up, brow furrowed, and shook her head. "Sorry, Vlad, this is all I can find. But trust me, it's plenty. You'll be swimming in cheese, or the macaroni will," she added with a laugh. At Daniela's comment, she said, "Good for you, girl! We're all really brave if that's the case." She winked and got a large bowl from one of the cabinets to make the cheese in.
A booming laugh issued from
Vlad's direction as he heard Dani's mention of leaving the mansion. "No kidding, vot a bunch of drama queens. All because she vos knocked over? Pfffft, better off vithout them," he said, secretly glad that there was one less person to follow his sister around. "Hmmm?" he asked when Shana spoke, looking over his shoulder before flipping the bacon. "Oh, the cheese, I'll like it no matter vot, no vorries there. And I like bacon crispy, are ve all ok vith that?" he asked in a slightly louder voice to indicate that he was speaking to everyone.
Valerie nodded in agreement with White, then asked, ‘Dig up anything for a salad in the fridge?’ She waved the hand holding the knife toward the appliance in question. Gesticulation with cutlery was not one of her safer habits. The girl only looked between Daniela and Vlad as they made commentary on Nicole and Devin’s departure. ‘I like my bacon fully cooked, not still oinking,’ Val quipped with a smile.
"Oh", said
White when Daniela announced she had the macaroni, having missed her searching. She returned her attention to the salad and handed Valerie a couple tomatoes, carrots and a cucumber. She took a lettuce and went to the sink to wash it.
Alexis walked into the kitchen humming softly, his hands in the air miming a Violin. He stopped as he spotted several of his fellow students. "Hey..." He managed a small wave and noticed they were preparing what looked like a large meal. "Need...any help?" he asked. Then he spied Luna on the floor and smiled down at her.
Luna looked up from where she was playing with Vlad's pants and saw Alexis.
She rolled over and raced to him, climbing up his leg at lightning speeds and coming to a rest on his shoulder mewling softly in his ear as she rubbed her head against his cheek.
Alexis smiled as he petted Luna's head. "Hey there...missed you.." He scratched her under her chin and she purred louder stretching her tail out behind her. With a smile he turned back to the others waiting to see if they needed help.
"von vell cooked pig coming up!"
Vlad replied cheekily, grinning even though his back was to the girls as he looked at the stove. "Can I get von of those tomatoes please?" he asked, turning to the girls with the salad and cutting board with a hand extended to catch it, if there was indeed a tomato to spare. Seeing Alexis, Vlad realized who the cat belonged to. "I dunno vot ve need help vith, but if you're hungry you could search for some olive oil and vinegar for the salad dressing," he suggested, pointing to the cabinet where the Russian thought the items to most likely be.
Daniela had, in the meantime, taken a seat in a corner, watching the cooking unfold and waited for the pasta to be ready. Noticing Alexis walking in, she lifted her hand and waved at him, remembering the mission they had been into with Flame last week. Eventually, she figured they'd need something to pop the whole thing into the oven and began trying to locate a saucepan.
Shana had abandoned the bowl she initially found and decided to find another cooking pot to met the cheese the old fashioned way. She poured in an adequate amount of flower and milk on top of the cheese and began to heat the pot on the stove, occasionally stirring the mixture as it melted. She waved and smiled to Alexis as he walked in. "Alexis, right? My name's Shana, if you haven't gotten that yet."
Valerie took the salad components from White and was busy cutting the cucumber when Alexis arrived. She offered a small smile and a ‘Hello’ to the boy before sliding the green vegetable slices to one corner of the cutting board. Not the most effulgent greeting she’d ever offered anyone. She focused on her kitchen duty. ‘Sliced, chopped or whole, Vlad?’ she inquired, the tomato in her left hand and the knife in her right.
"Whole!"
Vlad replied.
Valerie nodded and gingerly tossed the red, ripe produce toward his extended hand.
"Hi Alexis",
White waved at the boy as he entered the kitchen. Once she finished cleaning the lettuce, she returned with all the separated leaves in a bowl to the table where Valerie was.
As the tomato came towards him,
Vlad had a fleeting thought that perhaps the idea to catch something ripe and delicate with his bear paws wasn't exactly the smartest. However, when the tomato came at him, he remembered his powers and actually caught the fruit without squirting it all over himself. With a chuckle he said to himself, "I think I'm getting the hang of these." Then, he said louder, "Bacon's done!" and turned off the burner. "And I'm pretty sure these noodles are finished," he said as he stirred the water and scooped out a noodle to test. "Yup, done." and then he turned the burner off.
"Yum!" said
White when Vlad announced the meal was almost done. The salad didn't need much more work, just mixing everything or leaving it separate in different bowls if people prefered, a choice she left for Valerie to make since she had all the vegetables. She searched for salt and dressing to put on the salad, and gathered enough plates and forks for everyone, which she started to set on the table.
Shana continued to stir the now-melted cheese to heat it up a little more. "Just strain the pasta and put it in a big bowl," she said to no one in particular, just giving a sense of direction for someone to follow.
Michael entered the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't realize there were so many people in here. He had only concentrated on the overpowering aroma of food rather than if anyone was there. "Um, hello everyone. I smelled the food and was wondering if I could join you?" he asked.
Valerie put all of the salad ingredients into one, large bowl, and she was busy procuring tongs with which to mix and serve it when Michael walked in. The blonde smiled at him over her shoulder and said, 'Come on in!' If she was concerned about the amount of food in relation to the burgeoning number of students in the kitchen, she certainly didn't show it.
"On it,"
Vlad said to Shana as he pulled out a hot pad to rest the hot skillet of bacon on and then grabbed the bowl of pasta. Holding it easily with two fingers, he knelt down and rummaged loudly in the cabinets below until he found a silver strainer. Placing the colander in the sink, he poured the noodles into it and then ran a splash of cold water over them for a quick second. Rolling the noodles around the strainer to get most of the water out, he then poured them back into the warm pan and set it on a hot pad next to Shana and then busied himself crumbling the bacon with his big hands. He then noticed Michael and didn't immediately say hi, but after clearing his throat for a minute he managed to utter, "Sure. Sit down."
"Haha. Seems the cooking idea is attracting everyone in the mansion. Hi Michael", said
White grinning. She looked for an extra plate for him and set it on the table as well. Noticing there was nothing to drink, she turned to the fridge and found a bottle of cranberry juice. That would do, she thought, and left it on the table too. She felt happy, sharing a meal with other people in the kitchen triggered good memories from back home. Obviously, there was a lot more people here now than back home, but she felt comfortable enough around them.
Daniela had been looking for a sauce pan but when she came up with it she was largely ignored, watching everyone move around her at lightning speed, she just managed to say... "Oh... ok then..." before putting the saucepan down again. Slowly backing down into a corner, she leaned back against the wall as the others carried on.
Shana yawned as she poured the cheese into the pan with the macaroni noodles. She stirred them together until the sauce thickened, then she moved the pan to the center of the counter. "Macaroni is done," she said, plopping down into a chair.
"Bacon too,"
Vlad chimed in as he dumped his handful of crispy bacon on top of the cheesy mixture and then dusted his hands off into the pan as well before going to wash them in the sink. "How the salad coming, Val?"
"Well since I didn't help make the meal, I will wait to eat last,"
Michael said as he moved against the wall a bit. "I just smelled the food from down the hall and it just kinda drew me here." He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, his stomach rumbling slightly. His stomach was far larger than one would think, but then again he was a big guy. He looked around and noticed he was not the only one backed against the wall. "Hey, Daniela is it? Great fight, although it was a bit weird having my head inside a bubble," he said with a wink and a smile.
Daniela could not help but close her eyes for a second and take a whiff of the home-like smell of Mac and Cheese. "I think we can all eat at the same time, we made a lot of it." she intervened when Michael mentioned eating last. Then, as the boy complimented her, she nervously swept her bangs to the side with her hand and blushed a bit. "Ah.. th..thanks, I guess. I mean... I would have gotten my ass kicked eventually, I could not hold that for more than a second." she replied, backing a bit further into a corner and almost sounding apologetic. The boy being so close had made her realize how crowded the kitchen was, she had to consciously restrain her desire to cast a shield around her.
"I was fine a second ago! what the hell psyche!" she complained in her own head.
Shana sighed with impatience and stood up, quickly retrieving a small bowl, and scooped some macaroni into it for herself, deciding she would have salad later. "Don't mean to be rude, but you guys take to long to decide if you're hungry or not." She smiled and picked up a spoon as she walked back to the table. She plopped into a seat and began shoveling the pasta in her mouth. "So, whatcha guys think of the new kids?" she asked casually, attempting to fire up a real conversation.
‘Yeah, you guys should totally dig in!’
Valerie said, cheery as ever, to the waiters and the wallflowers. Before sitting down at the table, she dished herself some salad and macaroni. ‘I haven’t really had a chance to meet most of them. Hopefully we can all hang out together,’
was her response to Shana, perhaps missing the real point of her question.
White sat down and served herself some macaroni too, handing the bowl to the next person who wanted the pasta. She ate just as eagerly as Shana with a "mmmh" escaping her mouth as she tasted the cheese and the noodles. "The last ones who fought looked scary", she commented in answer to Shana's question.
"We could all use some training. Take me for instance, Vlad could probably rip me apart,"
Michael told Daniela. He told her that to make her feel better and potentially compliment Vlad. He certainly didn't want to be on the man's bad side. "And in answer to your question," he said towards Shana. "Technically I am still a new kid, but I met them down in the other kitchen. The heated one seems nice enough but the lightning kid seems to have an attitude problem." He walked to a cupboard and pulled out a bowl for himself and waited to make sure everyone else got some food first.
Daniela had shrunk even further into the corner, trying to hide how stressed out she was getting, she smiled at Michael as she answered; "I guess you're right, we came here to learn after a..." but right then, she was interrupted by the heart rate monitor on her wrist beeping like crazy, noticing the increase in her heart beat. "Ack! damn stupid thing!" she said, getting even more flustered as she struggled to turn off the watch-like device. Embarrassed, she walked over to the table, staring intently at the floor, got some Mac and Cheese in a bowl and began eating quietly.
Shana sent Daniela a weird look when her heart monitor made noise, a spoon still hanging from her mouth. When Daniela sat down at the table, she popped the spoon out and spoke, "Are you okay? If you need to leave and get some rest, I'd be happy to go with you. I dragged you in here, after all." She swallowed another bite of her food.
While Michael gave his view of Summer and Light,
Valerie listened intently and ate her dinner. Miraculously, she seemed to have forgotten about her phone, or at least until it lit-up and vibrated, indicating that she received a message. ‘Oh, excuse me!’ she said, quickly wiping her mouth with a napkin and pushing her chair back from the table to scoot back across to the counter where she’d prepared the salad. ‘I used to have a digital watch, got it from the Easter Bunny back in grade school. Never could figure out how to work it properly,’ Val said, assuming that was Daniela’s issue. ‘Those alarms were always going off. Totally annoying!’ She didn’t look up as she spoke, busy as she was, entering the appropriate prompts into the device to retrieve the message.
Shana made a small jump when she remembered that she had asked about the new students. "Crap, sorry I ignored the answers to my question." She shrugged and tapped her shin thoughtfully. "The country girl is cute. But the girl with that weird colored hair, now she's creepy. I have a feeling she's going to eat someone's soul." She laughed, "Probably Anton's, the way she was all over him!"
"Well, she seemed rather aggressive towards everyone really,"
Michael said. "I don't think I really like her to be honest." He said as he scooped some mac and cheese into his bowl. He grabbed a spoon and sat down at the table. He made a mental note of the beeping coming from Daniela's wrist. "So, White, when would you like to spar a little?"
White assumed the beeping on Daniela's wrist device was some sort of alarm, and didn't quite understand her apparent embarrasment or stress. As she was adressed by Michael, she looked at him and swallowed what she had in her mouth in order to answer. "I don't know. Maybe tomorrow morning?", she said, "before the rest of the spars start? or maybe after that?". She grabbed the salad bowl and served herself a portion of it.
"No, no, I'm fine." replied
Daniela with a smile, right before having another spoonful of Mac and Cheese, listening to the conversation in the table, she added. "I do wonder what else the Professor has planned for us... training wise."
Valerie regarded the message with a lop-sided smile, indicating that she might have been disappointed with what was on the screen. After setting the phone back on the countertop, she walked to the table and sat down again. ‘Something a little more formal would be nice,’ Val said while spearing several pieces of macaroni with her fork.
"And by formal you mean what exactly?"
Michael asked. He still wasn't 100% certain what Valerie's powers were but he knew that it wasn't really combat effective. "I know this place is a school, but I was also told this was where I could learn to use my powers to benefit man and mutant kind. That's what I want to learn." He looked to White and smiled. "And if combat is what is needed then so be it. I think we will wait until after the other spars. Maybe give you a few ideas. Just remember size isn't everything," he said with a wink. What the wink was for was left to her imagination.
White continued eating while she listened to what the others had to say. She was worried about her combat abilities, and getting proper instructions about what to do would be good. She understood she needed to use her brain, as Michael suggested, because clearly the strenght wasn't one of her advantages. When the boy winked at her she smiled instinctively, her face brightening a little. Somehow, he made her feel like she had a chance at this. "Watching the spars was interesting, anyways. It surprised me to see what everyone can do", she commented, talking about the powers of each of the young mutants.
Vlad stood from his seat and headed for the door, saying, "Alright guys, I need to go study. See ya later." He exited to
X-Men Hall East 3rd.
Michael waved as Vlad left the room. "Yeah, it was rather interesting. What exactly was that you did?" he asked pointing his spoon at Shana.
"Me?"
Shana questioned Michael, pointing at herself with her own spoon. "Er. well, I fuse my body with stuff," she replied, using her spoon to fuse with her hand as an example. "It's really weird. But it's cool." She let the spoon return to its former shape and she dropped it in her bowl. She then pressed her hand to the table and let her arm fuse with the wood, making a hole in the tabletop. "Cool, right?"
‘That really weird one was the pink stuff,’
Valerie commented on Shana’s use of bath beads in conjunction with her power. ‘Looked… kinda… goopy. Sure worked, though!’ Val switched the now-empty plate of macaroni for the bowl of salad. ‘By formal, I mean…’ she glanced at Michael as she put a small amount of dressing on the salad, ‘Well, I suppose the type of training I’m most familiar with is my dance instruction, and that’s been
almost every day since I was six. To put it in perspective, if I wasn’t at school or studying, sleeping or eating… I was usually in dance class or practicing on my own. Or in the case of competition, practicing outside of class with my partners. I joined some clubs in high school, so the schedule got a little tighter.’ She took a bite of salad and waited to speak again until after she swallowed. ‘Formal instruction by knowledgeable people who can at least provide a structure upon which I can develop my skills in proper order.’
"Cool,"
Michael commented on Shana's powers. He listened thoughtfully to Valerie's assessment of what 'formal' instruction would be and nodded as he ate his mac and cheese. "So, what you want are classes where you can achieve as much as possible in the direction in which you desire to go with your skills, correct? If that's the best way for you that's great, but in my opinion the best way to learn to fight is by doing so. No better teacher than experience."
Daniela quietly finished her Mac&Cheese, using her shields during her fight had really exhausted her, she felt like one would after a whole triathlon... still it was a strange kind of tired, she didn't feel like going to sleep or aching muscles, it was mostly mental exhaustion. "So.. uhm..." she said with a tiny voice. "What do we do now?"
Alexis who had been silent during the entire making of the meal put his bowl of mac&cheese into the sink before turning and looking at Daniela. "Well I'm guessing for the moment we have some free time until the Professor asks us back to the Danger Room." He looked around and spotted Luna under the table happily chewing on something that strangely resembled a string.
Luna looked up from her string and saw Alexis staring at her. She raced forward and rubbed her head against his leg, purring softly.
'I agree that there is no better teacher than experience, but shortcuts can be taken when given proper instruction,'
Valerie continued after swallowing a mouthful of salad. 'For instance, I'd rather have someone show me how to properly...oh.
.. I don't know... punch someone than me just busting up my hand trying to figure it out for myself. Not that I think I can really bust up my hand.' She seemed to ponder that a moment, but didn't go off on that tangent. 'Personally speaking, I've never had to hit or try to hurt anyone else... ever... in my life,' the blonde paused long enough to glance sheepishly at Alexis, who seemed preoccupied with Luna, '...well, not until today, anyway.' She pushed back the bowl in front of her, finished. 'I imagine using the body to defend one's self is much like using the body to dance. Similar concepts of balance, strength, movement and endurance. It doesn't have to be classes per se... I could just do with a little instruction.' She smiled and folded her hands neatly in her lap. 'I wonder what else there is to do around here', Val then said in reponse to Daniela, her great capacity for talking becoming evident if it hadn't previously been. 'Is there anything to do in town? I don't know about tonight, though... looks stormy.'
"The Professor might let us have a party in the Danger Room," Shana replied to Valerie, laughing a little.
"I thought that's what we had earlier?" Michael asked in reply. He smiled at the thought of trying to teach a little bit of what he knew to these girls. The idea was difficult in itself because of his size and how relatively little he knew. He protected his tribe sure, but it wasn't that difficult when he could shape shift into a massive were-bear. "Until they teach us advanced combat, I am more than willing to help with some basics."
Light suddenly peaked her head through the door and looked around. when she spotted both Shana and Daniela, she walked into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator. Light was dressed in slinky red heels, a short dark, destroyed denim miniskirt, wearing a low-cut red camisole and red lipgloss to op it off. She browsed around in the fridge, pretending to look for something to drink, while she waited for Shade to draw Shana away.
Suddenly, Shana's cell phone beeped, indicating she had an incoming text message. It was from Shade, reading the following. "Hey Shana, I'm heading to town to get some stuff, wanna come with? just you and me, old time's sake." and it was signed Anton, with a smiley face. It was up for anyone who truly knew Shade to guess if he had been about to hurl or laughing his ass off while he typed it.
Shana looked curiously at the pink-haired girl when she walked in, the only thoughts running through her head, Is she trying to copy my hair color or something? When her phone went off, she jumped a little, but not enough for anyone to notice unless they were staring at her. Pulling it out of her pocket, she opened the message and read it, reread it, before replying quickly. After she sent the message, she put her dishes in the sink and almost alerted Daniela as to where she was going, but decided against the truth. Instead, she told her, "Hey, girl, I'm gonna head out on the town for a little bit, gonna meet my parents and eat out. Hope you'll be ok by yourself." she winked and headed out the door into X-Men Hall East 3rd.
Daniela smiled back at Shana and shook her hand as if shooing her off. "I'll be fine, we're all here." she chuckled. "Go and have fun!" she added. "I think I'm just going to go to the lounge and rest for a bit, I'm starting to get a headache." she continued as she stood up and nodded to the others. "Thanks for the food! it was delicious." smiled the girl before also heading out to the X-Men Hall East 3rd.
light heard Shana's phone, and watched as she left the room, followed by Daniela. She continued to casually sift through the items in the fridge until she came upon a juice box. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to look a little innocent to Daniela, she popped the straw in her mouth and walked back out into X-Men Hall East 3rd.
Alexis felt odd emotions the first time Light had entered the room. He, from where he was sitting in the corner, was able to watch her discreetly while pretending to pay attention to Luna. She seemed focused on Shana, and her emotions were very mixed. His eyes narrowed but he didn't try to force his way into her mind, he didn't know her at all. He watched as she left the room after Daniela and felt an odd emotion rolling off of her, liked feigned innocence. At this he stood and wanted to follow but he thought better of it and looked at Luna in his arms. "I don't know what she is up to...I guess we just have to be careful.." He scratched Luna on her forehead, smiling as the kitten nuzzled his hand.
Zane walked into the kitchen and was immediately glad he had followed his nose. There at the moment, were some very interesting looking people in the room. He gave everyone a smile, "Hello, name's Zane, or if you prefer you can call me Dartz." he said all this while letting his eyes move over the other in the room, sizing them all up and taking in their appearances.
The door swung open behind Zane, more forceful than his entrance thanks to Flame having kicked it open to enter the room. Her clothing wasn't too far off her uniform from earlier, certainly showing similar ammounts of... scales, but included a white patch on her back where she had stuck gauze over the section she had cut out of her skin earlier. A scan of the room to see who was there, she headed to the fridge and started poking around it for something to eat as her stomach complained to her.
Obviously having a different perception of the spars, Valerie smiled politely at Michael and shrugged a bit. ‘Well, we’ll see what the faculty here have in store for us next. Whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t be boring,’ she said after giving a good-bye wave to Shana and Daniela as they made their respective exits. Val stood and started clearing any dirty dishes away, not really noting Light’s arrival and departure, or at least until Alexis commented on the girl. She paused and, with apprehension, asked, ‘What is it that you do exactly, Alexis?’ She then set the stack of dishes in the sink and turned on the spigot, periodically checking the temperature of the water with her fingers. ‘Hi! Help yourselves to whatever’s left of the food. Not sure there is much, though, sorry,’ she offered to Zane and Flame.
Zane nodded and walked to the cabinets, proffering to eat something dry for the moment. He smiled as he found a box of Granola bar's. He opened the box and pulled one out. It was interesting to say the least. His eyes danced around the room, taking in each and every person. Even the red scaled lady caught his attention, he smiled and shook his head and took a bite of the bar wincing as he realized the wrapper was still on. "Crap..." He started to fumble with it.
Alexis looked up at Valerie and was surprised the girl was talking to him. She hadn't said one word to him as the match had ended and he thought she might be mad at him. "I'm....an Empath..I can control people's emotions and influence them with my will...I'm also a healer...I can heal any wound you have..." He said this all while looking at the floor petting Luna's head.
Shana's head poked in momentarily and she looked around. Not seeing Daniela, her head pulled back out into the hall.
Zane had managed to get the wrapper off the offending bar and was happily munching on it. He was finishing it off when Shana had stuck her head in the kitchen. A smile lit his face instantly, "Hey there gorgeous!" But the instant her head retreated he felt a little crestfallen. He looked around the kitchen and potted Michael off to the side and walked over to him a smile on his face, "Hey name's Zane, pleased to meet you." He held out his hand.
Michael took note of both Shana's, Daniela's, and Light's departure. He would have tried to take more note of what Light had been wearing, but had decided long ago that any girl that was obviously looking for THAT kind of attention wouldn't be worth his time in the long run. He stood to take his bowl to the sink as Zane offered his hand. He smiled as he shook the newcomer's hand. "It's about time I found someone that would actually shake my hand. The name is Michael, the pleasure is mine."
"I would offer, but." Flame's voice came from within the fridge, holding one hand out to show off her long nails as to explain why she normally didn't shake hands. Grabbing out a bowl of food someone clearly left for leftovers later, she stole it and shoved it into the microwave to reheat.
"No offense, but you don't exactly strike me as the biggest people person either miss Flame," Michael said with a smile. With those claws he hoped she caught the joke.
‘Oh’, Valerie said, ‘…that’s why I felt so awful during our match.’ She spoke the words before she realized what she was saying, a glitch in her social interaction that she needed to learn to curb. ‘What I mean is, I’ve never felt so bad in my life, er…’ She concentrated very hard on scrubbing a plate. ‘I mean, I feel fine now, but I couldn’t figure out why I was freaking out so bad during our match. That’s all.’ If she scrubbed the same plate any more, she might’ve rubbed a hole right through it. Val was concerned she might hurt his feels if she attempted to further explain what she meant, so she just looked up at Alexis, smiled slightly, then rinsed the very thoroughly washed plate.
White watched everybody come and go while she continued to eat her meal. Having finished, she sat back while listening to the conversation. She eyed Light when she entered the room, because in that attire it was impossible to ignore her, but slowly she returned her attention to the talk between Valerie and Alexis. "I'm tired. I think I'll go lie down for a while", she said and yawned. She picked up her empty plate and went to the sink to wash it, before leaving the kitchen. "See you around", she said.
"It more has to do with the particular person in question than me." A smirk firmly in place on Flame's face as the microwave beeped. Grabbing the bowl out of it and a fork from the draw she stirred the food to check it was fully heated all the way through before heading to the table to take a seat.
Alexis nodded as he listened to Valerie explain what she felt during their match. "I understand..it's what I wanted you to feel..I wanted to make you terrified. And for the most part it worked, but I didn't realize you'd react the way you did. I apologize for that." He nodded to her, hoping she would except his apology.
Zane laughed and leaned against the counter across from Michael. "Well isn't that a customary first greeting?" He smiled dazzlingly him. He let his eyes roam over Michael's form from head to toe and smiled. "You seem like a very capable sort, work out often?" he asked.
‘See you later, White!’ chirped Valerie. ‘Well, at least now it makes sense,’ she then said thoughtfully to Alexis. ‘And no apology necessary. Maybe next time we’ll… both be better prepared.’ She looked over her shoulder and cast the boy a genuine smile. She was in mid-reach for the next dish on the stack when her phone started to ring, a digitized version of some happy-go-lucky tropical-sounding song. ‘Oh!’ she exclaimed, then hastily dried her hands on a dishtowel before grabbing the noisy device. ‘Sorry, I really have to take this, Alexis… guess I’ll finish the clean-up later.’ Even though everyone else was engaged in some sort of interaction, Val quickly waved, a goodbye to the room in general, before she scooted out into the hallway.
"You still don't seem like the 'happy go-lucky' type," Michael said to Flame, a smile still on his face. "I can't place my finger on it but there is just something about you that just screams, 'stay away.'" He said this while eyeing Flame's form. He was still attempting jokes, but wasn't sure how much she would take from his gestures. When Zane asked his question, Michael turned to readdress the boy. "Yes, I do actually. Yourself?"
Kicking a chair out so the feet of it scrapped across the floor, Flame dropped down into it, her bowl hitting the table a moment later. "Really? Me neither." She directed at Michael, pulling her lips back into a full smile to show off her sharp teeth, "Would be nice to find out why." Enough of a tone in her voice to reflect his humor back at him. Her over the top grin changed to a smirk at Zane's tone. She knew that tone well, normally because she was the one who used it... and she wondered if Michael had picked it up...
"I think it's probably your eyes," Michael said smiling at Flame. "Well, I believe it's time to go get some rest. G'night all!" He waved as he exited out into X-Men Hall East 3rd.
Hm, he had a point, it was getting late. Still, Flame managed to shovel a few forkfuls of food into her mouth before she stood again. "Think you need to be more obvious in your tone next time." She smirked at Zane as she left the kitchen, taking the rest of her meal with her.
Zane also decided that it was time for bed, and he walked out to X-Men Hall east 3rd.
Alexis pet Luna as he followed Zane out the door.
From here you there is only one way you can go - back out to X-Men Hall East 3rd.
X-Men Rules * X-Men Characters * Start X-Men
Stumble!