June 28, 2019:
It is pool party and BBQ at Xaviers.
Swimming Pool at Xavier's School
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Sage
Plot:
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
It has been a few days since the X-Men finally tracked down and defeated the Sentinel called Bastion and ended up the threat of the cyborg killers. The reports of mutants dying under mysterious circumstances or outright murdered have fallen to low, normal levels matching those of last year. And although the anti-mutant media campaign has not stopped, the most serious mass media are no longer reporting and have denounced as fake some of the supposed mutant attacks, and people attention seems to have wandered away some.
All in all, for the first time since the demon invasion, things seem to have improved some for mutantkind. And since the classes are over and most students have been sent to their families or to vacations to 'exotic' places like Scotland or Canada, the school is relatively quiet.
No explosions for several days. No one losing control of their powers, or fighting for dumb teenage reasons. Weather in the high 80s.
So the school faculty (actually, the X-Men) have reserved the pool area for the afternoon. For barbeque and just relaxing. Nate brought a truckload of drinks, some of which are not alcoholic or caffeine-based (possibly someone had to threaten him to get those) and is currently chilling on a deck chair wearing red swimming trunks and cheap sunglasses. His bruises from having (another) house dropped on him are mostly healed.
Lorna had more or less gone to ground in ways she hadn't in a long time. She had hit a new low in terms of her mental health, as mutants struggled to stay out of harm’s way in Mutant Town and as attacks had rocked the community. So the green haired woman had taken to watching, patrolling, and more or less avoiding anything and everyone that didn't directly impact the day to day of Mutant Town.
Nate had once again, been the sole reason she'd returned to the Mansion, and even now, she was not exactly able to relax wholly and just enjoy herself. Despite her surroundings and despite the idyllic sunny day.
Lorna sat in a single piece black swimsuit. Black mesh cut-outs slashed in interesting patterns throughout, and a pair of cut off jean-shorts that were now ratty on the edges. She dangled a half drunk soda can between her finger tips, staring at the pool from behind a pair of oversized sunglasses.
Hank McCoy is happy to celebrate a job well done! Dressed for going outside, outside he goes! Joining the others. The man stands at the grill. Well, several grills. One for him alone, with everything he needs to eat. The others are starting to sizzle. "What a nice day. Someone want to beer me?"
Jubilee puts on her sunglasses and a very bright and colorfun bikini (pink top, blue bottom) with a yellow towel over herself, giant pink round sunglasses on, and blue flip flops. "Sorry HAnk no beer for me. Hi Lorna and Nate. You guys did amazing work lately with the… you know, thing."
Nate is totally happy to let Hank handle the grills. Mostly because no one wants Nate to try to cook again. It would likely break the string of no-explosions days. So instead he sends a beer telekinetically flying to Hank.
"Hey, Lorna. Glad to see you again, you got me worried, girl," another beer is offered to the green-haired woman. Soda is not enough. And a wave (bot no beer) to Jubilee. "Seems Sage is not coming. I guess not her kind of party."
Lorna pulled her gaze from starting at the pool side for a long time as Nate spoke and held out a beer in offer to her. She exhaled a breath, and lowered the mostly empty soda to the ground beneath her chair. She took the offer in silence, popping open the car with a wave of her hand. She lowered her gaze again for a minute, considering what he had said. "Thanks.." She mumbled, exhaling a breath as she took a swig of the beer and returned to her rather morose time sitting there by the poolside.
Hank McCoy waves broadly to Jubilation, as he then checks each grill. "Going to take a bit. Thanks Nate." His hand reflexively snags the beer, which he then very carefully opens. "Even if the school's half empty I don't want to drink TOO much on campus, fortunately one will barely hit me. Jubilation, how do you like your steak? Or burger? Or hot dog? Or chicken? Or you can have an and, instead of an or. Also plenty of time to change your orders, Nate, Lorna."
Jubilee giggles and grabs a lounge chair to spread out in, laying back, draping her towel beneath herself, and starting to lotion up in the sun. "Hot dogs would be awesome Hank, thanks. Lorna, something wrong?"
"I got no ‘orders’, I will eat everything," replies Nate to Hank, although his attention is on Lorna. "Y’know, this is a party…" he straightens to a sitting position, pulling off the sunglasses. "Also, my T.K. is coming back, at last. Want to see something cool?" He waves to the pool and a chunk of water shapes and rises, forming into a rough snake form about six feet tall in front of Lorna. Slowly, the features become more definite, if vaguely cartoonish. "Beats splashing distracted people with the hands, too," he teases.
Lorna glanced up toward Jubilee and shrugged, "Nothing new. Just the same old." She breathed, and exhaled a breath. Hank's comment on orders has her waving a hand, "You've got plenty of food. Don't worry about it." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes and it slipped from her expression as soon as it had appeared. She heaved a sigh, sipping at the beer in a sort of automatic gesture. It was a drink. It was in her hands. She was sipping at it.
Nate's water show earned a raised brow from the green haired woman, "Don't splash me."
Hank McCoy laughs "You and me both, Nate. Alright, you'll get some of everything." Looking over at the trick, he grins. "Good that you're getting that back, too. I imagine losing something part of you was stressful. And Lorna, alright, medium for everyone." He nods, and finally opens up the grills to flipo everything over, and close it back up again. The beer then disappears in about… 10 seconds. "Ahh."
Jubilee finishes lotioning up to make sure she doesn't burn on a day like this, and giggles. "Be right back, getting some cokes." It's not long at all, and she comes back with a cooler. "Ahhh…" She sighs as she now lays on her stomach to lotion up the OTHER Side, while drinking one coke. "Well Lorna… how do we make the same old new and fun today?"
"It is not a pool party without splashing," points out Nate. The 'snake' waves idly, blurring, then becoming more consistent again as Nate frowns. "It has been happening for years," he mentions to Hank. "But lately the power losses are longer. Weeks instead of days. I am at about five percent right now."
He shrugs at Jubilee. "It has been a tough year for most of us. Lorna too. But hey, we got burgers and summer. So we will be okay."
A shrug and Lorna continued to sip at her beer, "Thanks Hank." The otherwise morose woman offered the cook before she drew her knees up on the edge of the chair and bit back the urge to sigh again. She frowned faintly at Nate as he spoke of his power losses recently, and she pursed her lips. "Have you gotten medically checked out at all about that?" She arched a brow and her gaze dropped back to the pool.
"I'm not a fun type of person these days. Sorry Jubilee."
Hank McCoy sets out some plates for everyone, as the food's almost done. "Alright, time to start letting the steaks rest, and bun up the burgers and dogs." And he gets to just that, snapping on some gloves so he doesn't get fur all over the buns. "Might be something worth looking into, why those power losses happen. Might be something reversible."
Jubilee sips and looks over to Lorna again. "Well whatever you want to do with the party, is good with me. Even if you don't think it's very fun!" She grins, and lifts her glasses to look over a moment, before dropping them back into place. "I guess we're all going to eat until we're stuffed. That's totally something right?"
"Both Moira and Doctor Corben looked it up," mentions Nate, glancing at Lorna. "I don't think they got much clear. In my body there is an odd balance between an uncontrollable mutation and alien technorganic infection. I have been living in borrowed time all my life."
Meanwhile the water snake looks at Hank, back to Lorna, then at Jubile. And pounces. Or rather, it surges a few more feet and makes an attempt to coil around the dark-haired girl, without touching her. If she is fast, she can sneak away, but chances are high she will get splashed.
Lorna pursed her lips, and looked down at the beer in her grip. "So basically current tech really can't do shit to help." She shook her head once and took another sip of her beer. It was nearly gone already, and Nate's words seemed to only sink the already abysmal mood Lorna had further. His movement with the water snake had her hitching an eyebrow upward, but otherwise she didn't move as he sent it flying toward Jubilee rather than her.
For a beat she waited, and then got up to go toward the table where Hank was setting up plates. She picked a seat there at random and sat down at a place setting, "Need a hand, Hank?"
Hank McCoy looks over to Lorna and winks "Happy to take the help. You want to put the rest of those burgers in buns? Thanks." Glad to let the depressed one a bit active. "It may not be technology. It may be biological. Maybe you should come by my lab, Nate. At least for some scans. Can't hurt." The coming attack on Jubilation catches the corner of his eye, but he tries not to spoil it.
Jubilee just finished lotioning up, at least as well ash she can reach on herself, and she's gladly not going to burn in the sun here, So, she relaxes on her towel… and SPLASH. She squeaks, and looks around, head shifting back and forth, then lifting her sunglasses to look at Nate. But she can't keep from giggling.
The water snake retires with a smug grin on its cartoonish 'face' and wanders back to stalking Lorna. Except she went close to the grills and the food, and Nate won't want the food to get wet. So Lorna is safe. FOR NOW.
"Can hurt, uh?" Nate grunts. Truth is a good number of scientists have already poked and prodded into his genetics and the technovirus over the years, so he is not optimistic. "You can get a look to my medical records of the past four years." He offers as compromise. And that only because he is cooking.
Lorna nodded to Hank, waving a hand and sending the grilling spatula floating over to the burgers and she stood directing it this way and that to the buns. It was more like she was directing a symphony with her hand as she flicked her wrist this way or that. Her other hand occupied with the beer that she was still nursing. She quietly watched the action going on, as Jubilee giggled over being soaked through and as Nate spoke of the tests he'd gone through.
Her lips pursed together as she considered how best to avoid getting soaked, and currently the grill was a lovely shield.
Hank McCoy nods firmly. He expected Lorna to get up. When she doesn't, he's surprised, but then laughs. "Must be nice…" he grins, as he then starts salting and peppering the steaks, and bringing some one to each of Lorna and Nate, along with a couple of hot dogs and hamburgers each. A true variety. Jubilation gets a couple of hot dogs, before he sits with a mountain of food, and two beers. "I bathe, so I don't smell like wet dog when I'm wet, but are you really going to take my word for it, Nate? Since you won't take my word on my scans being harmless." Wink.
Jubilee runs a hand through her hair, keeping it from sticking in her face all wet. She then shakes off her hand, and takes her food. "Thank you Hank. I'm glad you're feeling better Nate." She trise to say that all cold like, but she can't help but giggle again. "Hope you like your food Lorna!"
“Lets talk about food and not my health, okay?” Replies Nate, joining the others by the grill. The snake sneaks back into the water since he is not longer paying attention to it. Up close Hank might be able to see how his left eye glows gold even under the sunlight. He has scars in his face, and scars all over his body, hidden by tattoos over the upper right side of his torso and arm. “This smells great. And I could eat a whole cow.”
Lorna flashed another empty smile toward Hank, as he started to bring up the various grilled foods to the table. "You should see me baking. Most things in the kitchen here are steel to some degree, or cast iron. Makes it so easy to cook and clean when you don't actually have to get up to do any of it." She sipped at her beer, her gaze swinging toward Jubilee and her bubbly demeanor.
"Well, considering it's hot and here, the food can't be all that bad. Right?" She drawled, her voice dry. Even as her focus shifted to helping herself to a burger and slathering on ketchup and mustard to it as well.
Hank McCoy laughs, and kicks back, considering Nate before smiling. "Whatever you say. I like to try to help, but we're here to relax. So let's eat." He kicks back, cracks open the beer, and sighs. "Well look at us. Saving the world and having good food after."
Jubilee manages to start eating as well. "If I didn't have to get up, I'd have a really hard time, you know, convincing myself TO get up. It'd be hard to stay in shape…"
Nate grabs the closest burger and adds, well, everything. Ketsup and mustard are only the beginning. "I can't cook to save my life," he admits, "except maybe on a camping fire. But you won't like it either," he takes a bite and then smacks himself. "I forgot the ice cream. It is in the bunker cooler. I'll be back in five." He grabs a hotdog with his left hand and walks away, munching the burger along the way.
Lorna sighed, and watched Nate go off to grab ice cream. Her attention returned to her burger and she dug in. "Thank you Hank for cooking."
Hank McCoy puts his big feet up, and looks over to Lorna. "You're welcome. How's your steak? Hit the spot? Jub, the hot dogs?" He digs into his steak now with just a knife, not wanting to get up for a fork.
Jubilee giggles. "It's awesome, thank you hank." taking one hot dog, she rolls onto her back again, using her towel as a bit of a pillow now. "I'm sure I can eat two, I did do a work out today." She also looks over to Lorna, feeling bad fo rthe sad one.
Lorna shrugged lightly, "Still working on it, but otherwise just fine. I don't know if I can finish the whole thing." She offered a look that was torn between a half smile and a grimace at not being able to finish the steak and hamburger on her own. She just didn't have the massive metabolism of some other mutants. She exhaled a breath as she downed the last of her drink.
She noted how Hank was digging into his food with just a knife and with a wave of her hand a fork floated over to settle before him.
Hank McCoy eats one piece of steak with his knife, then he finds himself being given a fork, and laughs. "Thank you Lorna. Don't feel any pressure to eat. I'm sure anything left over WILL get eaten. By me and a few of the other students if need be. Being enormous took me very little effort, but it does give me an appetite."
Jubilee doesn't have that kind of metabolism either. "Definitely not me! Oh wow, I mean, just these two… I can't imagine having a whole steak on top of that and that's not even talking about the hamburgers! Popeye over here will totally eat them all though."
Lorna shrugged lightly as Hank thanked her, "It's not like I had to get up or anything. Most flatware these days is all steel alloys of some kind or other." She murmured and continued to eat what was on her plate. "That's certainly true, there always someone around here that will eat left overs one way or another." She glanced around the table.
"Honestly surprised no one put out a salad or something. This meal looks more like Logan planned it with all this meat."
Hank McCoy laughs. "Don't underestimate me, Lorna. You tell me to do a cookout and I'm not worrying about anything but the meat. I'm sure we could find something if you'd like a little greenery with your steak. Same goes for you, Jub."
Jubilee covers her mouth to giggle without amking amess, then manages to swallow. "Thank you Hank, I'm fine, don't worry about it. Hot dogs… I can eat whatever, really. Had to once."
Lorna shook her head, but a faint pull of a smile appeared on her lips. This one warmer than the others and it lingered as well. "No, I'm good. Just felt that someone had to mention the lack of vegetables here. This is a school and all, and healthy eating habits…" She drawled, and flicked her hand in the air. A fresh can of soda floating up to her grip and popping open as she summoned it to her without, once again, getting up.
Hank McCoy grins between bites. "Fair enough. I should not be the chef for the students in an unsupervisted way. If I do, I need someone to supplement what I put out. Then again… who can truly badmouth a Twinkie?"
Jubilee finishes one dog and sits up a bit to take on the second. "I don't mind Twinkies, but you know, like, like I said. You probably don't want me cooking for the kids either."
Lorna's lips twitched again briefly and she shook her head, "Don't look at me. There are reasons why I'm not in charge of kids. Someone tried to offer me a job once and I said I'd start hurling wrenches at kids for dodging practice." She wiggled her fingers and a few pieces of flatware floated up and danced around her fingers before floating back to the table top.
"For some reason that's frowned on, but oh well."
Hank McCoy busts up laughing. "Wrenches? Y ou'd make a great professional dodgeball coach, Lorna. But…. yeah." The steak just does not last long. "We should get you some nerf wrenches, and see how that goes."
Jubilee lifts one wet hand from her food, and fires some pink shots across the sky. "Duck Dip Dive Dodge."
Lorna arched a brow at the laughter and sparks from Jubilee, but she seemed to have lightened up considerably from her rather morose mood. "Nerf would defeat the point. I can't fling nerf around with my powers and well.. it's just not as fun." She drawled lightly, "See.. this is why no one will let me teach anything." She teased.
Hank McCoy raises a finger. "Yeah yeah, I've got it. We make a special kind of Iron-infused foam. It's still magnetic, you can heave it around, with some real force becuase of wind resistance." He laughs again. "Never seen the movie Dodgeball, Lorna? I can't blame you. It wasn't really very good."
Jubilee finishes off her hot dog, and licks the tips of her fingers. "Great hot dogs, thanks Hank. And Lorna, have you ever actually thrown a wrench at anybody?"
Lorna arched a brow as Hank continued to speak of various ways to magnetize foam. "I saw it years ago, but seriously… If we're training kids to be able to survive this world, being able to dodge things or stop them, that might actually hurt them is a good teaching tool." She shrugged and glanced toward Jubilee and her lips twitched briefly in something not quite a smile.
"Not a wrench, no."
Hank McCoy nods. "Hurt, yes, Unfortunately the average student would be killed, not merely hurt, by the wrong wrench hit. But I feel like we're on to something. Maybe foam rubber. Split the difference. Not nerf."
Jubilee snickers again, stretching as she finshed her food, before rolling back onto her stomach to sip coke and lounge. "I never saw it, I just saw, you know, that clip on Youtube and stuff."
A shrug followed, "Fair enough, not getting students killed. But once they graduate that's all off the table isn't it? Honestly, how many situations have we strolled into that have gotten someone killed? I'm not saying this to dredge up things or cause an argument.. just.. It all feels so wrong when I say it out loud like that. The world certainly hasn't pulled any punches for anyone here.."
Hank McCoy moves on to a hamburger now. "Mmmm hmmm," he agrees with his mouth full. "WEll in the danger room we can have… more serious threats, for those of us who are intending to face more serious threats. The world doesn't hold back on present company, and we're the ones putting ourselves between the wrenches, and those who aren't equipped to handle it."