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| Home For Christmas; Tag; Surge | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 29 2014, 02:52 PM (267 Views) | |
| Aaron | Dec 29 2014, 02:52 PM Post #1 |
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Time: 6:14 PM Date: December 23rd, 2014 It had been something of a long day. Between dealing with traffic on the way to the airport in New York, waiting around the airport in New York, the flight out of New York, the waiting around in DFW, and the dealing with traffic in DFW, Aaron was so ready to call it a day. So when the cab pulled up in front of his parents home in Watauga, he thought he might just kiss the grass, he was so excited to be there. "Thought we'd never get here," he muttered, paying the driver for his service and grabbing his luggage from the trunk. His parents had been a little too busy with holiday stuff to be able to run out and pick him up from the airport, so they'd wired him some money to pay for a cab. He didn't mind, though - all his life his folks had been busy people, but he never resented them for it. They were always there when he needed them, and that was what really mattered. Last year he hadn't been able to make it home for Christmas, but this year was different. He'd made it, and what was more, he'd brought a friend. Actually, he was a little surprised she'd said yes when he'd invited her to come down to Texas with him, he'd figured she would have had something else to do, but here she was. "Okay, uh...here we are," he said to Nori. "My house." It was a modestly sized two story home in a nice neighborhood. His family was basically the epitome of upper middle class. "Anyway, uh, my folks're waiting, so..." He walked up to the door, dragging his suitcase behind him, and opened it up, poking his head inside. "Mom? Dad? We're here." There was the sound of activity in the kitchen, and a short time later his mother emerged, bearing the biggest grin he thought he'd ever seen on her. Before he could get another word out, she had wrapped him up in an incredibly tight hug. "There's my boy," she said, her voice cracking just a bit as she choked back some tears. "Okay, okay, mom, I can't breathe..." he laughed, returning her hug. Finally, she stepped back and gave him a little breathing room, looking her son over like only a mother could. "God, look at you...have you been working out?" "Uh, yeah...the school has a pretty good gym." His father stepped out of the living room a moment later, and it was easy to see that Aaron took after his dad more than his mom. A greeting and another hug followed, and it was time for introductions. "Uh, this is Noriko, my friend from school." "And she's a..." his mom began, stopping short of actually saying it. "...Yeah, she's a mutant, just like me," Aaron said. He'd had a feeling this might get awkward. As far as he knew, he was the only mutant his parents knew. "Ah...so what do you do?" his father asked her, earning him a look from his wife. "Frank!" she chided. And then to Noriko, "Sorry, we don't let him out much. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, dear. Now, are you kids hungry?" |
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| Surge | Dec 29 2014, 09:29 PM Post #2 |
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If Aaron found the drag from New York to Texas long, barbarously boring, and fully tiresome, consider for a moment the plight of the woman accompanying him. She had an inherent disdain for airplanes, generally being an instant gratification kind of girl and one who could zip a few hundred miles in a few hours on a pair of Nike sneakers. Yeah right, as if Nike soles would hold out past the twenty mile mark. She'd tried. No, Noriko had sat, and wallowed, through four hours of pedestrian tedium. She had to wear a null cuff for the plane; though the leylines wired throughout the entirety of her meat and bone was far more efficient at keeping her powers in check, it was force of habit. She didn't want to screw with mutant luck when it came to a four hour flight; she wasn't that fast; flapping her arms like wings wouldn't do much of anything should she kill the plane and need to bail out. No she suffered in silence, too anxious to sleep, too unfocused to do much of anything else, so she stewed. Why'd she say yes again? The incident with Doug Ramsey's units had, for a time, soured her on the whole meet the parents aspect of friendships. Train-wreck was a word she could only begin to use to describe it. But then, Doug's parents were uppity snob-nosed New England WASP types. Aaron's parents couldn't be like that could they? She'd hazzarded a glance to him next to her on the plane, considered her own thoughts. Incredibly socially inept. Somewhat sheltered... She looked out the window. Texan. "I'm doomed." She murmured; the other person next to her turned to her, removing an earbud and asking if she'd said something. "Nah, it was a burp. Can you hand me that barf bag?" She didn't really need the barf bag, it was just an effective conversation stopper. === The rest of the journey had gone on just as she'd expected, but, maybe even surprisingly, she hadn't complained. She even suffered quietly through the painfully slow taxi ride, and when they arrived in the burbs that afforded space to the Anderson family, she saw the painfully average house housing approximately three-point-five humans and one-point-five pets with their winter-dry grass and one-point-five vehicles. "You live in the Texas version of Delaware, dude." She said. If he'd responded to that she hadn't noticed. Her clothes were packed in two things, a hefty denim and leather messenger bag and one medium-ish suitcase. The messenger bag did not leave her shoulder but she dropped the suitcase at the earliest opportunity as they crossed the threshold into the house, which looked nice and smelled like someone knew they were coming, which made sense. Before she could compliment on the niceness of the place though they were under attack by a feel-good reunion, and somewhere in the back of Ashida's mind there was a pang of longing for a mother she'd never see again, but, as always, it passed quickly. Still the rush of adoration for Aaron, someone she'd always pictured living under a staircase before arriving at Xavier's, was enough to finally break her irritation with the trip itself and start letting her warm her cockles on holiday spirit once again. Aaron moved to introduce her, and, like stock footage in an 80's disaster flick, the train wreck began. "She's a- " "Yeah, she's -" "What do you do -" "Frank!" Noriko's hands raised to provide an excusing gesture, still sheathed in gloves. "We don't let him out much. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." "Oh, no, it's fine. I explode heads, like in that old Michael Ironside movie." There was a pause, one that lasted a bit too long and, hanging her head a bit, she murmured "I don't really do that." She wasn't hungry, but she would eat if offered, she deferred to Aaron there. "Your house is wonderful." She tested the waters again, not answering the question asked but trying to make up for what probably came across less as a joke and more of a barbed jab, which hadn't been her intent. |
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| Aaron | Dec 30 2014, 07:05 PM Post #3 |
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He'd been so stunned by his fathers bluntness that he forgot to admonish him for the question. At least his mom was able to take control of the situation. That was partially his fault, though. He probably should have given them a heads up about what Noriko was capable of, but when he'd asked about bringing a friend down for Christmas, he hadn't thought about what exactly that would entail. At least Nori didn't seem too offended. Her answer to the question left him even more stunned than before, though. It was the loudest silence he'd ever heard. Of course, he'd spent a lot of time with Noriko in the time he'd been at the institute, so maybe he'd just grown used to her mannerisms, but his parents didn't know her like he did. This really wasn't the best start to the visit. "Er, she doesn't actually..." Surge said as much herself before he could finish his statement. Hopefully that would be the end of the whole thing, and there would be no more awkwardness for the remainder of the trip. Then he remembered who he was and realized that was a pipe dream. Sighing internally, Aaron turned to his mother and her offer of food. "Yeah, I could eat. Whacha got?" "Chicken fried steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes." His face broke into a huge grin. "Awesome. Lemme put my stuff up and I'll be right back." Off he went, dragging his suitcase up the stairs and to his bedroom, leaving Noriko alone with his folks. After a few moments of silence passed, his mother spoke up. "I thought we raised him better than that. Doesn't even bother to introduce his parents to his friends. I'm Gillian, and this is Frank." Handshakes were exchanged, and Noriko's compliment about their home was graciously accepted. "Oh thank you. It's hard work, but we try to keep everything straight." "And I didn't mean to offend you," Frank said. "It's just not every day you meet a mutant, you know. And actually, I have Scanners on DVD, if you want to watch it later." He was doing his best to be accommodating, at any rate. Gillian rolled her eyes at her husband and turned back to Noriko. "Why don't I show you to your room, and the we'll sit down and eat, hm?" |
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| Surge | Jan 13 2015, 10:23 PM Post #4 |
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Aaron's mom's exaltation of what was for dinner elicited something of a hungry grumble from Noriko's subconscious. She didn't physically -need- to eat, but try telling her tummy that. And just like that, she was left there. With two people she literally barely knew. With her bag. She stared up after him for a moment, eyeing his back with daggers aimed for the soft meaty bits between his ribs. "I'm Noriko Ashida." She said as they exchanged greetings. She was going to trail with more, but before her brain could isolate anything of interest, Aaron's dad apologized again for any unintended ignorance. She waved a gloved hand then. "With all due respect, sir," Nori said, face assuming a reassuring if exaggerated expression, "if I let innocent faux pas' offend me I'd never talk to more than five people." She slipped the gloves off, stuffing them in her pocket, and that was when the glowing leylines of conductive nanofibers that marked her as something a little more than human became apparent. Had she been younger, unable to reign in her rampant energy draw, the lights might have flickered, even gone out, had those leather gloves been the dampening apparatus she was once forced to wear. In a lot of ways, the internalized apparatus she'd been 'upgraded' with by The Dark Beast were superior for many reasons, but everything that made them more convenient also made them more unwieldy. These, unlike their clunky, bulky predecessors, weren't designed to help her curb her power, they were designed to help her do two things; blend in and kill effectively. These were two things she didn't include on her hobby lists. "I get my own room?" She said in half mock-surprise. "I was expecting a couch setup." Was that rude? She didn't intend for it to be. She questioned that as she shouldered her bag and followed her hosts. |
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| Aaron | Jan 17 2015, 01:47 PM Post #5 |
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Thankfully for the Andersons, Noriko proved to be a level-headed young woman and didn't seem too upset by Frank's little slip of the tongue. If that were to be the worst thing to happen today, they'd consider that a victory. A look of relief crossed each of their faces, happy that they hadn't accidentally run off Aaron's friend. As much as they loved their son, they knew he was a bit lacking in the social department, so if he was friends with this girl, it had to be for a good reason. And they knew that was all they were – friends. He'd made that very clear when he'd called and asked permission to invite her. At least that bit of awkwardness could be avoided. Noriko's removal of her gloves did cause the standard bit of awe and wonder, however, but neither of Aaron's parents said anything about it. Maybe later they'd pull Aaron aside and ask him about them, but for now, they were content to leave that topic alone. A look of surprise did cross Gillian's face when Noriko questioned her visiting arrangements, though. “Well of course you do,” she said, giving the Asian girl a soft smile. “What use is a guest bedroom if your guests don't use it?” Gillian led Noriko to said bedroom, pointing out the basic necessities of the house along the way. Once the female mutant was situated, back to the dining room they went. Aaron had already returned when they arrived, and had just finished talking to his father about how rude it was to skip off like he did. “Oh, uh...hey,” the photokinetic said, looking a bit sheepish. “Uh, s-sorry I just ran off like that, Nori...” “Well, I don't think any harm was done,” Frank said. “Now, if everyone's ready, let's eat.” A short time later, everyone was sitting around the table, plates piled high with Gillian's cooking. Aaron himself seemed much brighter than he usually did, much more relaxed. Of course, his parents had a number of questions – how was school, was he learning anything new about his powers, all the standard things the parents of a mutant might ask. He answered everything as best he could, though he might have left out a few details about some of the more dangerous situations he'd been in. He didn't want them to worry, after all, or worse, pull him out of the school. Once they'd exhausted every query they had for their son, attention once again fell back on their guest. “So, Noriko, are you still in school?” Frank asked, deciding that was a safer topic than the girls mutation. |
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| Surge | Jan 31 2015, 11:52 AM Post #6 |
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She leered at Aaron when he reappeared, giving him an expression that seemed to convey, simultaneously, irritation, confusion, and 'I'ma smack you later when we ain't in front of yo' moms'-ness. They were, then, directed to dinner, and she felt thankful for mild break in awkward pauses and half-hearted mingling. She always did better talking to new people when she could mask gaps in thought with mouthfuls of food. "Naw" Noriko said to Frank's question. "I graduated high school..." She lolled her eyes back as her head canted ever so slightly towards the ceiling. "... three years ago." She finished after computing it out in her head. Dates and times were one of the many mathematical things the confused her, even if she didn't know why. Minor dyscalcula, maybe. "I stayed on at the school as a shadow instructor with a few of the P.E. teachers and worked on some of the undergrad stuff but now I live in the big city and I take classes at ESU. I uh, had to get out of the school. Personal things." A whipcrack of a memory flashed in the back of her eyes. Drills, blades, bolts, and wiring, but not in walls. snaking through meat and flesh, a frankenstein of electrical terror that she had not yet and doubted she would ever fully escape. "Still keep in touch though," she continued after recovering from that barely noticeable wince, "A lot of the people at the school are like family to me. I see them more than my own, actually. They're back in Japan." On her parents she did not elaborate further. "So have you guys always lived here in Texas? It's always crazy to me when I think about how big the US is. You can see pretty much everywhere interesting in Japan on pocket money and a couple afternoons, then you come here and it's like there are entire states bigger than my entire homeland." She paused. 'Homeland' seemed like a strange word. Nori carried barely any accent, and she had so wholly assimilated into American culture that it was hard to tell if she was naturalized or natural-born for a lot of people, still there were quirks, social, mostly cultural, that set her apart. Like her confusion on why Americans celebrated Valentines Day when they could easily do the same thing on Christmas. |
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8:53 AM Jul 11