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

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.

[apache_banshee]

"Edible vegetables? That's a first. Might be interesting to try, I've always had a bit of a masochistic streak," he joked.

[wild_child]

Rose laughed. "Relax. Veggies ain't so bad. Good stir fry's or somethin'."

"Course, I did promise Irish here one of my world famous omelets."

[seismic_shockwave]

"I'm pretty much done with the Every Cookie Ever Bakathon here, so have at `er." Kayla grinned. "They are pretty great omelets, you won't be disappointed."

"And if you're determined to eat cookies, please take `em from the reject plate over there. They taste as good, but don't look quite as nice.

The rest are being made into ice cream sandwiches tomorrow."

[apache_banshee]

"Cookies..omelets..I am conflicted," he said, his face going through signs of struggle.

[wild_child]

Rose made a show of crossing her arms and trying to look serious, before cracking a smile.

"...Go get yerself a cookie, Irish."

[seismic_shockwave]

"Why choose when you can have both?" Kayla grinned. "Eggs and stuff are in the fridge. There's leftover ham from last night's supper and already-shredded cheese from the taco bar at lunch. And if you feel like having dread vegetables in your omelette, there's lots of `em in the fridge." Kayla liked peppers and mushrooms in her omelettes.

"Do try one of the maple pecan cookies and tell me what you think."

[apache_banshee]

"True, plus it's hard for me to gain weight so why not splurge!" he whispers to Kayla. "Rose gets mad that my freakish metabolism lets me getaway with food-binging."

He smiled. "I'd be happy to."

[wild_child]

Rose hid a grin as she got some of the requisite items out. "You're a definite freak, Irish. Some of us have ta work like heck ta look this good."

[seismic_shockwave]

"Most mutants have pretty crazy metabolisms. We kinda lose track of how ordinary people struggle with that sort of thing." Kayla knew how much mutants often ate. She cooked for them on a regular basis. Feeding the Institute was quite a job.

"Awesome." Kayla grinned. "They're pretty great."

[apache_banshee]

"And it is appreciated, Rose, I assure you," he said with just a bit of flirting.

"I blame my parents," he said with dry humor. "They refuse to comment."

[wild_child]

"You're lucky you're pretty, Irish," Rose teased, flirting right back a bit. "Only reason I put up with ya."

[seismic_shockwave]

"Hey, hey. Keep it to the chase, guys." Kayla smirked. "No sexy time in my kitchen. The regulators would have a conniption."

She was joking for now, but if they actually did try anything, Kayla would for real kick their asses. Not that she thought that would actually be a problem, of course.

[apache_banshee]

"So much love," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't worry, Kayla. I only do PDA upon request."

[wild_child]

"Well, we definitely don't wanna cheese off the regulators."

[seismic_shockwave]

"I know, I'm becoming a square in my old age. But y'know, professional kitchen and all. Also, technically, I have to make like a super creeper and at least sorta supervise you." Kayla emphasized the point by sneaking up behind Sean in the fashion of aforementioned super creeper, speaking in an exaggeratedly whispery voice.

"I like your shiiiirt. I like the way it looks on your boooooddyyyyy."

[apache_banshee]

He held back a laugh. "I need an adult!"