Going "Home" Again

[apache_banshee]

Sean had never been crazy about planes. Then again he'd never been crazy about heights period. He probably would have driven if it were more practical. Frankly he was glad to finally be on solid ground again. He had to admit he had some butterflies in his stomach after being gone for so long from the institute. Not the X-Man part, that had to be done as far as he was concerned. The part about seeing all the familiar faces he hadn't seen in..sheesh, how many years had it been? Eh, no point in ruminating. He made his way, trying not to get impatient at the disembarking line.

Comments

[wild_child]

Airports were not, on the whole, Rose's favorite place in the world. Too many people, many of them reeking from too long a journey, the smells of stress and sweat and exhaustion, not to mention the smells of all kinds of fried and other unhealthy foods, and the bars.

Still. Getting to see Irish again?

Worth it.

She checked her watch. Shouldn't be much longer.

[apache_banshee]

Finally after what seemed like forever, Sean made his way into the waiting area. He glanced around the area, not entirely sure who was supposed to meet him there. At least until he saw her. Was that really..?

"Rose?" He asked tentatively. "Is that you?"

She certainly looked like Rose, but more..mature.

[wild_child]

The year she'd had? Yeah, that'd mature you up a bit. Just a bit though.

"Last time I checked, it was," she said. "You're looking good, Irish."

[apache_banshee]

"You too. Man, feels like forever. Would you object to a hug?" he asked a little sheepishly.

[wild_child]

"From you, Irish?" she said. "Never."

She brought up her arms for a hug. "C'mhere."

[apache_banshee]

He set down his suitcase and gave her a big hug.

"It's really good to see you again, Rose."

[wild_child]

Considering Sean was more than a foot taller than she was, hugging was slightly awkward for either of them, but they'd danced that dance (and other dances) many times.

"You too," she told him. "School ain't been the same without ya."

[apache_banshee]

"Yeah," he said a little quietly as he let go. "I loved being home, but..I missed you guys too. I admit I felt kind of guilty every time I heard something happening up here and I wasn't..you know, fighting the good fight."

[wild_child]

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Professor Red made some of us sit sidelines way too often. Feels good to be kickin' keister official-like."

[apache_banshee]

That made him chuckle. "I swear you are one of the only people I know that can say "keister" with a straight face." His tone turned a bit more serious. "Well hopefully after I reorient myself and go through the necessary stuff i can help you."

[wild_child]

"I reckon you can," Rose said. "Nothin' else, I could use a cabana boy."

She frowned, ever so slightly. "Still feels like we're waitin' for the other shoe to drop."

[apache_banshee]

"My dream job," he said only half-kidding.

Her statement made him quiet. "You want to talk away from the crowd?"

[wild_child]

She gave him a shrug. "I'll tell ya about it on the way back to th' school," she said.

Later

[wild_child]

After they'd gotten Sean settled in (which had required a follow-up shower, which might have taken a little longer than it should have...), Rose and Sean decided to hit up the kitchen for something to eat.

"So what're ya hungry for?" Rose asked Sean. Benefits of being full-fledged X-Men meant more kitchen access than just the student cafeteria. "I can still do pretty mean omelet."

Re: Later

[apache_banshee]

"You still making those? Sounds like Heaven, Ms. Logan," Sean affirmed.

Re: Later

[seismic_shockwave]

If Rose had more access to the kitchen than the students proper, then Kayla was at an entirely different level of kitchen access, working as the chief assistant in the kitchen. At the moment, she was baking an impressively huge number of various types of cookies, which would be used as part of an ice cream sandwich bar that would be set up for a special afternoon snack. Kayla had several trays of cookies resting on the counter and another huge batch of cookies in the oven.

Between the baking of what looked like a metric tonne of cookies and the music that was blaring pretty loud- Dio, at the moment, she didn't immediately notice anyone coming into the kitchen.

"Like a rainbow ... like a rainbow in the daaaaaaaaaark!" Kayla sang as she made two devil's horns with her hands for a moment before using them to pull out another tray of cookies.

Re: Later

[apache_banshee]

Sean did his best not to bust up laughing.

"This is Kayla?" He ventured, remembering Rose's description of the metal-loving woman.

Re: Later

[wild_child]

Rose winced slightly as the loud music reached her super-hearing.

"Ya call that noise music, Shake 'n' Bake?"

[seismic_shockwave]

"This is Kayla." Kayla affirmed as she set down a tray of cookies that, once again, she was handling without gloves because it wasn't going to hurt her any. She usually tried really hard to set a good example for kids when they were around, but sometimes she didn't bother when it was just her. The metal would've had to be literally molten for it to do any harm to her and even then she wasn't positive about that.

Kayla went over and turned down the music slightly, cognizant of Rose's super-hearing. "I don't know what you're talking about. This is super awesome music. And objectively, very melodic material."

"Introductions are in order." She extended her hand towards Sean. "Kayla Emily Connors, also known as Shockwave of the X-Men."

[apache_banshee]

He shook it with a smile. "Sean Proudstar, formerly a student and looking to train for the X-Men. Nice to meet you. I appreciate some good metal myself"

[wild_child]

"Johnny Cash is music. The Stones are music. Merle, Willie, and Wayland are music." Rose ticked off on her fingers as she named names. "Jury's still out on this," she said teasingly.

"Aka Irish," she said, giving Sean a playful arm punch. "Aka the guy I chased fer six hours."

[seismic_shockwave]

Kayla shook Sean's hand firmly, but not too firmly, because she could crumble concrete into dust with a sufficiently hard grip.

"Nice to meet you, and yes, finally. Someone who can appreciate some quality metal. Unlike certain people I can think of ..." She looked towards Rose.

"Next time you come in here, I'm putting on Slayer. At minimum." Kayla teased with a grin. "Or some death metal." It was mostly a tease, because while she did have a healthy repect for Slayer, she didn't tend to really dig truly hardcore metal. She liked metal singers- Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Dio, far more than vocalists who simply growled or grunted.

"Oh, I've heard stories of the legendary ~six hour chase~. You must be a helluva quarry if you held out against Rose that long."

[apache_banshee]

"Likewise. I like a lot of the stuff coming out of Europe these days. Bands like Heavenly and Startovarious." He chuckled. "Dad insisted I know survival skills. Plus I can run really fast," he said with self-deprecating humor.

[wild_child]

Rose rolled her eyes. She and Kayla had had the music debate many times and would again.

"Not fast enough, Irish," she teased.

"Shake 'n' Bake here is a great cook. She can make vegetables almost edible."

[seismic_shockwave]

"Vegetables are delicious if they're prepared well!" Kayla protested. Sure, she liked deep-fried meaty things as much as anyone and she had a visibly soft spot in her heart for sweet baked things, but human beings needed balance in their diets. Besides, vegetables were delicious in a nice stir-fry or roasted with the right herbs. "I'll convince you of that one day."

One nice thing about the Xavier Institute is that they seemed to have the budget to buy the better things too. She was pretty sure she had better ingredients to work with than a lot of restaurants, never mind school catering operations.