xmutanthigh | [open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

Entry tags:

[open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

Characters: Everyone! Even if you plan for your characters not to go on this trip, they can be doing other things here or talking about what they plan to do while the others are away.
Setting: The mansion.
Content: An open, free-for-all thread for all characters to talk about planning for their upcoming getaway to London (Jono's trip, which everyone else has appropriated for the whole school)
Status: Open and incomplete. Really, just talk about anything!

Jono was in the kitchen of the X-mansion, stocking up on snack foods for the plane ride, but it seemed to surprise Josh how little he was packing. "I'm going to pack for the plane," Jono explained, "and then buy food there. You didn't expect me to bring food to my hometown, did you? I have to eat what I can get over there!"

Meanwhile, some members of the staff were surveying the damage done to the west wing of the mansion during their recent attack by Kimura. "Oh well," Logan shrugged it off. "We'll bill it to the school, and anyway, most of the kids will be gone for the trip. Saves a lot of hassle not having people around for the construction."

Fortunately for the students, most of their living quarters hadn't been damaged, so they were able to pack their still-intact clothes and other necessities. As the days grew nearer to the trip, anticipation and excitement levels were rising.

"What's the deal with you and Gayle, now?" Josh asked Jono, as the two of the paused for a cookie break.

"Dunno," Jono answered with a shrug. "I mean... we'll see." He stuffed more cookies into his mouth and then said for an abrupt change in topic, "I wonder what everyone else is up to."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bobby listlessly tossed another shirt into his bag. He'd been playing hermit for the past few days, struggling with his own personal aftermath from Kimura's attack. He kept turning over and over in his mind all the reasons why Kimura's death had been a good thing, for the greater good. But Bobby had always believed in another way. He'd always believed they were better than killers. This whole incident with Kimura, everything with Laura... he was beginning to see that the world couldn't always be neatly divided into good guys and bad guys. Sometimes the good guys had to do bad things in order to keep the good in the world.

The sound of someone laughing in the corridor caught his attention and he paused in his packing. For the most part, for most of the students, life had gone on as normal, just as it had after Stryker's attack. Just as it had after Alcatraz. Tragedies and terrible things happened, and life moved on. And no matter how Bobby felt about it, what was done was done and there was no changing it.

And besides, no matter how conflicted he felt, it was surely nothing to what some of his teammates had gone through, possibly were still going through. Maybe it was time he stopped avoiding his friends.

He made his way downstairs in the direction of the rec room, in search of company.

Josh was on his laptop in the rec room, eyebrows furrowed, deep in concentration. He was in a bit of a dilemma and sighed heavily as he tried to make a decision. Finally, he clicked on something and sighed again, hoping he made the right choice.

"Oh," he said, looking up at Bobby, who had just arrived. "I... can leave you alone, if you want." He got up to pack up his laptop, since a lot of people had been avoiding Josh like the plague - or like he had the plague, or could give you the plague - these days.

"Uh, no, it's okay," Bobby said, "Stay. Been spending enough time on my own these last few days."

He gave Josh a small smile. He wondered if he was doing okay with everything that had happened, but he decided not to push it.

"Working on something?" he asked instead, nodding towards Josh's laptop.

Josh smiled at Bobby being okay with him being there. He hoped there wasn't going to be any weirdness between them after the incident.

Then Josh frowned at the laptop. "Oh, just my fantasy football team..." Josh laughed because it was so trivial. "I'm just trying to figure out who to drop from my players."

"Fantasy football?" Bobby raised an eyebrow. "I didn't have you pegged as a fantasy football kind of guy."

Josh looked up at Bobby, a little surprised. He... they really didn't know each other very well, did they? Sure, they all trained alongside each other all the time in the Danger Room, but that wasn't the same. Suddenly Josh felt a little embarassed at not having made a better effort to make friends with his teammate.

"But I subscribe to Sports Illustrated. I run the pool here every week for the guys to bet on the winning teams. I don't even know why nobody ever invited you to the Monday night games, but, I'm inviting you now. Sorry, Bobby! You've got to join us and watch with us!"

OOC: LMAO. Seriously. I know less about American football than I do about Australian football. XD And all I know about fantasy football, I learned off that episode of HIMYM where Marshall becomes the office Football Guy!

Bobby chuckled, a little bemused at Josh's enthusiasm. "Maybe sometimes. Football's not really my thing."

He paused for a moment, weighing up whether or not it was worth saying the next thing that had come to mind.

"Hey, the... mission last week. I..." He hesitated, noting how Josh's expression immediately sobered and became something almost apprehensive. "You made a tough call," Bobby said finally. "And... if I'm honest, if I'd been in your position... I probably wouldn't have made the same one. But I get why you did it. And I don't blame you."

Josh's gaze fell, and he was starting to feel terrible again. He repeated the same lines he said to Julian earlier. "I just... felt like it was what we had to do to protect the team. And protect Laura." He knew mention of her name would effect Bobby, and hoped it wasn't the wrong thing to say.

OOC: OOOH has Josh picked up on the super weird relationship dynamic that is B/L?? ;) Also, POOR JOSHIIIIIIIE. *Snuggles him*

Bobby nodded. "I know," he said with a small sigh. "Laura told me once that Kimura would never stop hunting her down. I'd been turning it over and over in my head, thinking there must have been another way. But maybe there wasn't."

He shoved one hand in his pocket, the other reaching up to tug at the back of his neck. "I just want you to know that I don't blame you," he said again. "And I hope you're... okay."

"Well... thanks, I guess," Josh said. "I'm okay. Believe me, I've been asking myself over and over if it was the right thing to do, too. I just couldn't think of any other way. We lock her up... she'd just find some way to get out and hurt us again. She has a seriously sick grudge with Laura, Bobby. Laura could've died because of her. And any of us, too, for protecting her." Josh sighed, and then continued, "It's the thing I keep trying to tell myself. Doesn't make it much easier, though. I just hope... nobody hates me for it."

"It probably won't get easier too soon," Bobby said frankly. "Feeling guilty... that sticks." His face took on a troubled expression as he spoke, but he smoothed it away with a small smile. "But it'll be okay. You'll deal with it and you'll be stronger for it. And I can't speak for everyone, but for what it's worth, I don't hate you for doing what you did."

"I appreciate it," Josh said firmly, and then his expression lightened. "Hey, and, well, even if you're not too into it, a lot of the other guys are in my football pool, and nobody takes it too seriously. Jono just makes his picks based on which team he thinks has prettier helmets, so that's the kind of competition you'd be up against! Or, well, you could just hang with us while we watch."

Josh hoped things were going to be okay with Bobby, and extended his friendship in the form of watching sports together.

Bobby shrugged. "What the hell," he said with a smile. "Could be fun. More fun than packing, anyway!"

Rogue has decided that the best way to avoid the horrible mess that is packing is to put it off until later. Instead, she'd ventured out of the girls' dormitory and had just as quickly retreated to the rec room, book in hand. Far too many people were talking about the attack in the corridors. Granted, the way some of the younger kids told it, half a dozen of them had taken down the entire army and then some.

She looked up from her book as Bobby came into the room. There was a sharp intake of breath which she quickly masked with a small smile. "Hey sugah."

Bobby blinked quickly then returned her smile. "Hey."

He sat down beside her on the couch, hyper-aware of the space between them, which seemed far too large.

"How are you going? You been okay?" he asked, his smile tired and his questions sincere. He hadn't seen her since the attack, both of them having kept to themselves. And while he was holed up in his room, even with all the other things he'd had to think about, he'd found his thoughts often returning to her.

"Me?" Rogue asked, raising an eyebrow as she shut her book. "I've been fine. Just pissed that we got attacked. Again."

Months later, the space between them on the couch still felt strange.

"What about you? I know you went on that other mission and all..."

Bobby frowned into the distance. "Yeah, I..." He broke off with a sad little chuckle, shaking his head. "I don't know how to feel about it," he said as he faced her, expression troubled. "I mean, everyone's okay, and we're safe... but...I can't shake this feeling, like we've done something wrong."

He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I feel like I did after Alcatraz," he told her, knowing that she understood, because back then, she had been his confidante and he had been hers. "All this guilt. Even though I didn't do anything... I still feel guilty."

She shifted uneasily, pulling her legs up onto the couch. Alcatraz had been worse the Alkali Lake. "There's a big difference between what you thought happened with John and with Kimura," she finally said slowly. "Y'all... For what it counts, I think y'all did the right thing."

OOC:
Ugh that comment was me...obviously. This is what I get for trying to tag on my phone between classes, lol.

OOC: Haha, totally cool! Ahhhh, between-class procrastination...

"I guess you're right. John and Kimura... they're completely different situations," he acknowledged, sinking back into the couch cushions. "And I know the outcome was for the best. I guess I just wish we wouldn't have to make these decisions. That the hardest decision I'll ever have to make is what I'm gonna do when I graduate college. But I guess if I'm an X-Man, things like what happened with Kimura are going to happen again..."

He turned his head to look at her, and even in his current emotional state, he still felt a pang as he took in her familiar, beautiful face. He had to stifle the urge he felt to tuck a few wayward strands of white hair behind her ear.

"I don't know if I could do it, Rogue," he said honestly, and it just felt so good to be talking to someone, talking to her again, about all the things he'd been bottling inside since the attack. "I don't know if I could make that kind of call."

"Look, I know everyone jokes about it but you don't have to be the next Scott Summers. You don't--" She paused, searching for the right words. "You don't necessarily have to be the next one to make those decisions when they need to be made again."

Her grip on her book tightened a bit. She felt like she should reach out and take his hand but she didn't. Couldn't. That wasn't them anymore.

"Yeah. I guess not." He half-shrugged, making an attempt at lightness. "I guess there's time to figure it out. We get involved in some kind of war every year." He gave her a small smile, which she returned, and he held her gaze steadily, fighting the desire to say something, tell her again that he missed her. He knew she wouldn't want to hear it, that saying it aloud would ruin this moment.

As if she had read his mind, she looked down at her book, slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey," he said softly, and she looked up at him again. "I'm sorry for dumping all this on you. I'm sure it wasn't what you were looking for when you came down here."

"What?" Both eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No-- no, sugah, it's fine. I promise, it's fine. It's what--" She looked away for a moment and swallowed hard before meeting his gaze again. "It's what friends do, okay?"

That wasn't awkward at all.

"Yeah. Friends." Friends. Was that all they were now? On the one hand, it meant they could still depend on each other, help each other, talk to each other. On the other hand, they were just friends, nothing more. And it still felt strange.

Bobby tried to smile. "Thanks, Rogue. I really..." He trailed off into a slightly awkward chuckle. "It's just really good to talk to someone who knows me. Whogets me. So... thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied with a small smile. She could see the pain he was trying to hide and was instinctive as she reached out across the space between them to take his hand. It was then she realised that they didn't know how to be just friends. They'd never been friends- just together. And now they weren't and this was probably crossing the friends line.

"I-- I'm sorry," she said, letting go hurriedly and retreating back to her side of the couch. "That was not what I meant to-- I shouldn't have done that."

[open log] Packing, planning, general running around!

Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

Re: Someone come and either un-emoify Bobby, or help him angst it out!

How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...

Re: How about another serving of angst? Or some angsting out...