Moving On Up, Messing On Up (Intro Post, Open)

[nowherebound]

Robin stood lost in the main foyer of the Institute's mansion. Here he'd always thought of himself as pretty well off and of his family houses as huge, but then he came to Xavier's and had his scope of the world scaled properly. He was clearly not as up to this as he had said he was - which was impressive considering no one had objected to coming here harder than he had. Clad in his favorite plaid button up shirt, a navy blue business suit jacket and khaki slacks, he looked like he had everything together until one looked at his face, pinched in confusion. Where his room was supposed to be, he couldn't begin to fathom now that he'd put his things in it, and classes? They might as well have been wild thylacines for how well he was doing at finding them. Running a hand through his slightly shaggy hair, he looked around.

To quote an obscure electroclash-hiphop crossover band he liked, Operation: Messin' This Up is go.

Comments

[iced_cherub]

Bobbi was heading through the foyer, her usual hoodie absent, hey if she was going to be stuck inside with the media circus outside she was totally embracing what she was, so her little wings were out stretched though this time no ice ramp!

"Oh, I didn't notice we had someone new." Forget the library to look for something she hasn't read yet. The young teen waved at him as she crossed over, if Doug told her to leave she would.

[nowherebound]

Oh, God, his worst nightmare: a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Cheerful people were a plague, mutants were a plague and someone had combined them. Complete with wings and a stupid blonde bob haircut. An adorable, slightly out of place blonde bob he'd like to reach out and finger comb-

No. Bad Robin. That train of thought needed to stop right now. He had a great and storied history of flirting with people he hated, but he wasn't supposed to hate her, mutations and all. He was supposed to be changing and being more accepting and make friends. With a smile that betrayed some of his inner monologue despite his resolve to look casual, he turned to her.

"Ah, yes. I'm new here. Robin Blackwood." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Please, God, let her not recognize that last name from the news. Let the Institute be too mired in their own crisis to remember he and his father hated mutants. In return, he would not bat his eyes at the filthy cherubic winged mutant with a cute smile - STOP.

[frostfurlady]

And there's someone else not far behind Bobbi. "Uncle Doug? I have a question about -- och, sorry."

[talk_to_you]

Never a dull moment around here. "It's not usually like that out there, Robin, but we're dealing with the fallout of quite a few things. But I do assure you we're quite safe."

"It's fine, Danielle. I was just talking to our newest student here. Robin, this is Danielle and Bobbi."

[iced_cherub]

"Nice to meet ya Robin." She shook his hand, her's probably felt a little cooler than would be expected.

Robin was lucky, she had been avoiding the news as much as possible, taking to spending hours watching kitten videos on youtube when she was bored, and of course the books, she's probably read more pages than most kids her age in the last week.

"And at least there's enough places here to hide from the telephoto lenses, I'll be glad when they're back to hounding celebs with those." She frowned for a moment then went back to smiling. "And the teachers here don't bite. Pretty sure the headmaster of my old school was rabid."

[nowherebound]

"It's nice to meet you," he said, directing his gaze to Bobbi and Danielle in turn, shaking Bobbi's hand with only a brief expression of confusion. And then his attention was diverted completely. "Telephoto lenses? Really? Well, I imagine you ladies photograph well, but still, you're just walking around. I fail to see the cause for great interest. It will be nice to escape my Religious Studies teacher, though. The man was a slavedriver with homework alone."

It says something even with Danielle and her gloriously snowy hair in the room he keeps looking at Bobbi. Oh, God. How did anyone talk to a girl their age without descending into total panic?

[frostfurlady]

"Good to meet ye." Danielle shrugs a little. "Granny says they're vultures, looking for anything to take out of context."
She then cants her head slightly. "There are classes in religious studies? How interesting. Though my Da probably wouldn' approve of my taking any. Churches always get him overprotective."

[talk_to_you]

Doug could read some of the signals going through the air here, but made a conscious effort to tune them out. He did try to allow people their privacy when he could, after all.

"Definitely vultures," he agreed. "Fortunately, some of the technology built into the grounds keeps them from getting many clear pictures."

He went on, "We aren't currently offering any religious studies class this term, though we might in the future, depending on who's available to teach what. But we do offer a fairly robust selection of classes, from accounting with Professor Drake to drama with Professor Wagner to computer science with me."

[iced_cherub]

And Bobbi's completely oblivious to the attention, why would she be paying that much attention she knows it's safe inside, and she doesn't really understand why people would pay that much attention to her, there's far prettier girls on campus after all, like Danielle, even Brooke if you thought about it

"Churches aren't that bad, it's the people that are in charge of them you have to be careful of." She remembered her father saying that a few times when she had asked why they didn't go. It didn't bother her though.

"Reminds me I still have some math homework to finish... too bad that skill's not genetic." At least the homework wasn't due for another day, she'd struggle through it to see how far she got before she had to ask for help.

[nowherebound]

"I think I've had enough of religious studies classes for a lifetime. Anything, no matter how interesting, is boring in the hands of the wrong instructor, which I definitely had before," he says with a brief cringe.

However much he'd hoped for it, homework and life's other daunting normalcies were still here, awaiting him. Great. His eyes flickered to Bobbi and Danielle, trying to determine what the school's take on religion was. Perhaps it was best to let the subject drop for now.

His eyes ended up lingering on Bobbi. She just seemed... almost too normal, given everything being a mutant entailed. He was slightly envious, in a way that he didn't want to think about for too long.

"How bad is the homework here?" he asked, for lack of anything else to say to a girl with a unique gift for turning his mind off.

[frostfurlady]

Danielle's views on religion have nothing to do with the school and everything to do with her parents' backgrounds.

"Och, I'm sorry to hear something interesting was spoiled for thee, but aye, as Uncle Doug says, there's lots of different things here. I like biology best. And 'hard,' I think, is different for everyone. For me, the information's easier than writing it down. I'm used to learning just from listening... I dinna do so well with a pen," she admits sheepishly.

[talk_to_you]

"If you are still interested in religious studies, though," Doug added, "Professor Wagner holds bible studies about once a week, and sometimes discusses some of the different interpretations. But beyond that, the homework varies from teacher to teacher. Professor Drake doesn't assign much, because he hates grading papers, while Professor McCoy tends to give a bit much."

[iced_cherub]

Okay now she's a little creeped out by how the new kid's watching her, but thinks it's because her wings, after all there aren't many winged mutants that she knows of. Herself, and her biological dad... Well the one that wasn't a current teacher.

"And depends if you're a trouble maker or not. I'm just glad that a lot of the science classes and other stuff are hands on. I learn better when I can see the reaction of what I'm doing right then and there." She shifted her wings a little using them to cover her shoulders a little more, it was a habit when she was uneasy about things, though didn't think she really had a reason to be. One hand went to stroke feathers, as a way to calm herself, really. It wasn't like others hadn't stared at the wings, and the way he talked, he hadn't seen much of others like them. So it had to be just curiosity right? Of course that's what it is. She told herself and though nothing more of the attention he was giving her.