1792/And the Guthrie presence grows.

And the Guthrie presence grows.
Date of Scene:	22 May 2020
Location:	Fancy Garage
Synopsis:	Paige returns to the school after a short trip back to Cumberland County. Sam introduces her to Julio, who is taking a break outside, and the two discuss the process of studying their mutant powers.
Cast of Characters:	Samuel Guthrie, Julio Richter, Paige Guthrie

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Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie has just picked up Paige at the air port and brought her back to the mansion. His used station wagon still smells of pizza as he is still delivering for the local place at least part time. It is something he picked up here in town, and has to work on a regular bases but it is a car. He passes Julio in the yard as he pulls into the garage and a parking spot.

Julio Richter has posed:
After a long day spent studying his brains out in various quieter nooks of the school, Julio decided to finally take a break and try to relax. He originally intended to go to his room and do some meditative exercises with his powers, but his brain was just too fried to focus, and drawing on seismic tensions without the benefit of focus seemed like a /really/ bad idea. A glance out the window showed him a gorgeous fading day, so he headed outside with a borrowed soccer ball. Out there on the front grounds, he's juggling the ball off his knees and feet when Sam's station wagon returns. His hands are free, so he waves, not even breaking his rhythm when he does so.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
".... All I'm sayin' is that you aughta go and visit Ma," Paige says, the conversation between her and her brother becoming clear once the engine is cut off. "She worries about us, bein' so far away from home. You know how she is." The girl gets out from the car and circles around back to retrieve her suitcase, and a rather large overstuffed floppy dog stuffie. "I still can't believe ma told me she threw Ole' Snuffy away when he was hidin' in the attic the whole time."

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks over at her, and says "Well if she had not made it seem so, what you think the littles would have done with him?" He grins a bit more and moves to help with the luggage "Ah have been considering it, would like to take Alexis down there and get her to meet ma, and see the country down there."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio doesn't really get a close enough look to recognize Paige from the family photo Sam showed him -- not to mention it's hard to remember one out of that many similarly structured faces -- but even just the tail end of their conversation makes it abundantly clear that the two are siblings. "Hola, Sam. And... Sam's sister?" He puts the ball through a last modest bounce, catches it in one hand, and tucks it under that arm. "Don't tell me all of those kids in your family are mutants," he says, sounding impressed. "You're practically a school for the gifted all on your own."

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"I think she'd like that," Paige encourages, her eyes twinkling. "Then the kids can hang offa you for a change." At Julio's introduction she turns and beams at him, "Paige! Yes, I'm Sam's sister." And like that her Kentucky accent is gone. She outstretches a free hand to him, "It's a pleasure." At Julio's little joke she looks at Sam and draws out a "Welllllll.... four so far. Must be something in the drinking water down at the farm, right?"

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie smiles and says "Yea, not all of us, at least not yet, but we may have to form our own baseball team." He chuckles a bit and says "This is Julio he is one of the new students who joined the school recently. Doug brought him into the school. Paige, has been back home checking on our Ma, and the rest of the clan.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio gives Paige a sidelong, slightly envious look. His English is certainly solid, but he can only dream of code-switching out of his noticeable Mexican accent at will. "Nice to meet you, Paige," he answers, returning the handshake readily. Fortunately, the ball was on his left side when he finished juggling. He looks more thoughtful at her comment about drinking water than seems justified by the simple joke. "Do you really think so?" he asks sincerely. He might be one, but to be honest, no one has ever offered him an explanation of where mutants come from.

(When a one-eyed hardass and a cosmic incarnation of rebirth love each other very much in a dystopic parallel future...)

"Well, I hope they're doing well. All... twelve? of them." Honest, he's been studying math all day.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"Ten," Paige corrects, "Including us. It's a bigger family than a lot of other people are used to, but it's all we've known, and wouldn't change it for the world." As for the water, "Well, no. You know how it is. Some families have got nothing but red heads. It's just genetics." She gives Julio a look over before asking, "So how're you fitting in so far?"

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie nods, and says "Yea, we aint found any underground testing sites in the mines or anything that might have caused us." He grins and lets the two talk for a moment, he is quiet for a bit.

Julio Richter has posed:
"Oh!" Julio gives a short, self-deprecating laugh and shakes his head at his own credulous thought that a tainted well might be behind the metagene. "Por supuesto -- that makes more sense." He gives Paige's question a long moment of thought before answering, "Everyone here has been really nice to me, even the ones I wouldn't expect to be. The equipment, the rooms, it's all amazing. But it's..." he trails off, squinting up at the ornate building, then gestures at its ornate details. "I mean, look at it. The people are great and the place is wonderful, but I still don't really look at it and think: ah! Home!" Then, in a grumble, he adds, "All the schoolwork probably doesn't help."

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Paige laughs lightly and nods. "I know what you mean. It's a bit ostentatious, at first, but then you get settled in." She looks over at Sam thoughtfully, "Though I still don't think of it as 'home' myself. That's always going to be in Cumberland County." She turns back to Julio with a shrug, "So it's more of a ... home away from home sort of thing."

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie smiles and says "I have been here long enough more home away from home, but it can be really good here. The people here might not be blood, but they can be family if your willing to let them, and treat them as such.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio frowns and looks aside, taking a second to kick at one of the pavers set into the lawn. "I don't exactly have people lined up with homes for me to choose from. Families, either. I guess I'd better settle in faster." He exhales quickly, then his mood brightens enough for the contrast to be noticeable. "I figured out some powers stuff, out in the woods the other day!" he announces with more enthusiasm. "I can kind of... point my powers at a thing I want to blow up, instead of just blowing up whatever's closest." He seems to genuinely consider this a big step, judging by his smile.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Paige looks surprised at Sam and punches him in the arm. "More home away.... Sam! Don't let Ma hear you say that!" She turns back to Julio, her expression settling into something a little more serious. "Yeah that... I guess we're lucky like that. Give it time." When the conversation shifts to powers her eyes light up. "That's good! Blowing up the thing that you want to blow up instead of whatever's around is good!"

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks to Paige, and says "Home is still home, but Ma would want us to feel at home as much as possible. Here let me take ya bags up, so ya can grab some food. He offers her and nods to Julio.

Julio Richter has posed:
"Yes it is," Julio agrees with a look of relief. "I mean, it's still basically an earthquake. So, not a good idea to use it indoors -- but it's a start." He waves to Sam as the taller boy heads off with his sister's bags, and then turns back to Paige with a thoughtful look. "If you don't mind my asking... what do you do? Like, as a mutant?" He thrusts his hands forward as though firing off some kind of energy blast.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Paige watches Sam go with a wince of sympathy as he struggles with her suitcase, which is jam packed full of books alongside her clothes. She purses her lips and thinks a moment before answering Julio. "I 'husk'. I can shed my skin to metaphorph into different substances. The more I understand about the thing I'm husking into the better it goes. So I've been reading up on a lot of chemistry, metallurgy, stuff like that."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio listens closely to Paige's explanation. It's pretty clear from his expression that 'husk' isn't a word he is familiar with, but he seems to pick up the gist from context clues, as he asks, "So you can make yourself into... anything? Or just metals? Hm." He cocks his head to one side, thinking, then continues with a sympathetic tone, "That must have felt /really strange/ the first time it happened."

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Paige's laughter bubbles up lightly and she shakes her head. "You know how when you get a /really bad/ sunburn, and then when your skin is healing up you can peel it off? Well, it's like that, but deeper." She leans back against the trunk of the Subaru, "I don't really know what my limits are yet?" She starts ticking off what she's been able to husk into off on her fingers. "I've done stone, several different metals, rubber, wood, and glass so far."

Julio Richter has posed:
"I hope it doesn't itch like sunburn, at least," Julio offers. "So is it just a top layer or like... all the way through? Like, if you turned to glass, would I see your ribs and stuff or would you be totally clear?" He blinks and shakes his head, then lifts his soccer ball and bounces it off the floor, catching it again easily. The motion seems to help him think. "Ah, by the way, you probably shouldn't turn into glass or stone if I'm using my powers around you. Anything brittle like that just" -- he mimes scattering pieces with his fingers -- "shatters. I wouldn't want to hurt you."

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Paige shakes her head, "No, it doesn't itch any. When I turned into glass it was..." she pauses a moment to order her thoughts. "It was an exercise. In order to get it right I had to husk and husk and husk over and over again to get there. It was kind of painful at the end there, but the result was pretty spectacular." She beams, "I was glass, through and through! You could see right through me!"

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio gives a slow nod of understanding. "I get that. I mean, I don't turn into anything, but I'm always having to do exercises, like you said." He passes the futbol back and forth between his hands, again using the motion of his body to focus his thoughts. "There's this energy in the Earth that I use for my powers, and I try to spend at least a half hour every day just kind of sitting and listening to it, or pulling it into myself and then letting it go again. It feels different in different places, depending on what's going on underground. I'm trying to figure out what the different feelings mean, bit by bit. Like learning to know guitar chords just by their sound." He stows the ball again, returning his focus to Paige. "Kind of like what you were saying earlier, about studying the things you turn into. A lot of it's up here." He points to his own temple with his free hand.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"Well," breathes Page, "that's why we're here. To learn about our powers, how to control them better." She picks herself up off the trunk of the Subaru, "I should get going. Lord knows what kind of trouble Sam is going to get himself into in the Girl's wing of the dorms. It was good meeting you!"

Julio Richter has posed:
"I'm sure he'll behave," Julio answers with a smile. "He seems pretty into the girl he's seeing. Still, I should be going, too... I have a solid year of classes to catch up on. Damn books won't read themselves." He waves at Paige with his free hand and goes to stash the ball before following her inside.