Opening Day [OPEN]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: EVERYONE
WHAT: Mingle/Figure out Room Assignments/Meet old friends again
WHERE: The whole campus.
WHEN: September 1st, 2018
WARNING(S): None. If anything goes into warning territory, please create a new log for it.




For all of the newcomers, welcome to Professor Xavier’s Institute of Higher Learning! For all of our returning students and staff, welcome back! Once Professor Xavier’s welcome speech wraps up, it’s time for everyone to get themselves situated in their dorms and, more importantly, get to know your fellow mutants! Even if you’re not sharing rooms, you’ll still be sharing the same campus with each other, so don’t be afraid to get used to all of those new faces! Or even catch up on old ones! You have options; don’t be afraid to use them.

[[ ooc: This is the general mingling post for all of our characters to get settled into their rooms, get to know each other, reminisce with old friends, all that jazz. The log will be split into multiple locations. ]]

Comments

[comparative_insanity]

Fai realizes a moment too late that maybe it'll hurt to hear him use those words again, and almost bites his own tongue. But... well, the thing was, to his mind that's still who Toushirou is. There had never been any time for him to stop, because he and so many others had just simply disappeared from the world. And just because you're actually an adult now doesn't mean you're actually any better at knowing how you're supposed to deal with someone you really used to look up to - at least metaphorically - now being ten years younger than you.

So in his own way, he'd just wanted to show that he still has that respect for him, even now. "It's going to be pretty weird, huh? But at least I'm not technically your responsibility anymore. More like the other way around, actually."

[icy_heavens]

In some instances, it's what he still is in Toushirou's mind, too. And then reality comes bursting in and smacks him in the face. Reality fights dirty. But you know what? He's not doing this right now, when he has no privacy. It's no way for him to act.

But in retrospect, he kinda liked that responsibility, Fai. He hadn't realized until coming out of stasis how much he'd come to identify himself through his responsibilities. Ones he no longer has.

Still, he huffs. "Should I be worried about that?"

See, just the usual grouchiness, here. Nothing beneath it, nope.

[comparative_insanity]

Fai has spent a whole lifetime pretending to be perfectly fine when he is not, simply because he still doesn't know how to deal very well with bad things happening. And he can recognize the signs of it rather well, by now - after all, watching people's reactions kind of comes with his mutation.

He sighs a bit, lacing his hands together behind his head. "Not at all. I'm going to be a great teacher, I'll have you know." He grins a bit wryly, tilting his his head so he can see Toushirou a bit better.

"And you'll just have to find another group of idiots to boss around, won't you? Shouldn't be too hard, for you."

[icy_heavens]

"Well I hope it's hard for you to, I dunno, set things on fire in a biology class. But other things'll happen." Because this is Fai, and if weird things don't happen, Toushirou won't know what the hell is going on anymore. It's not even a dig at Fai's intellect, because he knows better. You get Fai to focus, and he has a perfectly serviceable brain. But he's strange, and he's supposed to be that way. That had better be the same.

"Nah, that much comes easy." But it'll be after a while, because he has to make sure he's in proper shape. That his powers are working right, that he still knows how to handle himself in a fight. And get used to the idea that it won't be the same idiots he's ordering around.

That last bit is big, but he won't say so.

[comparative_insanity]

"Well, I'm not going to lie and say I've never set anything on fire while doing biology in school. But no, it's not nearly as frequent - or as interesting, for that matter." It's probably a bit silly, the way it feels so good to fall back into this kind of banter, even now. But then he allows himself to grow serious for just a moment, because there are some things that are important to say at a moment like this - not that he imagines moments like this happens all that often to people in general.

"It comes naturally to you, doesn't it? And I'm sure it'll work out well. I can think of a couple of things you managed to teach me that actually ended up saving my life later, after all. So you must've done something right."

[icy_heavens]

"How do you set things on fire in biology when you're not pyrokinetic?" This isn't, believe it or not, an attempt to keep old banter going. It's a legitimate question, since Toushirou really can't fathom how this happens. Chemistry, sure. But biology?

But something in his expression softens at the rest of that. Not into a smile; those are rare and difficult to get out of him at the best of times and this really isn't a good time at all. Still: "Good to hear."

All of it, really. That dumbass stuff still happens, that Fai hasn't gotten his fool self killed, and that it's at least in part because he'd done a good job as leader. He's out-of-sorts right now, but he's had some reassurances from more than one person who he can trust not to bullshit him on serious matters. Frankly, he's really needed that.

[comparative_insanity]

"Skill?" He grins insolently, shrugging. "Or through messing with the electronics hoping that'll make them stop throwing off your results. And once by researching the genome specifically responsible for pyrokinetics. And of course there's your basic chemical fires - biologists use chemicals too, didn't you know?" Really, 'skill' seems to cover it, providing that implies a huge disinclination to follow standard methods, safety procedures, or even common sense.

He hums softly, a hand coming up to touch a scar on his temple; a pretty close one, that, but somehow in situations like that it all seemed to come together in his mind. Toushirou's crisp, clear-cut logic; Shego's do or die mindset; Laura's brutal pragmatism; even Lovi's fight-or-flight instincts. He'd really learned, and he'd become better for it.

"The thing is... you didn't give up on either of us back then. And while you were gone, I'm sure neither of us gave up on you. I kno I didn't. We'll have time in the future to repay each other, okay?"

[icy_heavens]

Well, what else does skill imply where Fai is concerned? A lack of common sense is really all the explanation needs, clearly.

He remembers when he'd first been assigned the team, how he'd literally laid his head down on his desk when he'd realized Fai would be on it. He hadn't been certain how to work with everyone, whether the whole thing would be a disaster or not. Really, he'd only done it at first because he'd been given a responsibility and he takes those extremely seriously. And he'd had to work with what he'd been given.

In the end . . . it had worked really well.

"... Okay." But yes, this is all he'll say about it. No addressing any of the underlying feelings he has about all this; he can't do that. But the acknowledgement is sincere.