18228/The Room of Recreation

The Room of Recreation
Date of Scene:	07 June 2024
Location:	Recreation Room
Synopsis:	Shield Mutant meets Shield Mutant. A bit of hijinx ensues, and root beer is discovered.
Cast of Characters:	Allen-James, Rhona Lauren

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Allen-James has posed:
    It's been Busy for Allen-James lately. Meeting and striking up friendships. Getting invited to help on a Hero thing. On top of his usual training. So, he's relaxing, hanging out in the rec room, and playing pool by himself. There's a few other younger students, playing on the console, and a couple doing a study session in the corner, but AJ is alone at the pool table. With a huge shiner on his left eye, like he got punched or something. Which he did. He's lucky all he got was a black eye, really. The swelling is down enough that he can see out of the eye, but it's still a bit puffy and dark all over.

    He racks the balls again after finishing up a game of 'plink the balls in one by one', then takes a slow drink of a glass of brown liquid, likely a cola or a root beer or something.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
From the back patio double doors, Rhona approaches, twists one of the handles and slips inside the rec room. Dressed in a dark maroon hued tanktop, a pair of denim jeans shorts, and aadorned with a few accessories upon wrists and around her neck, the young woman looks the part of enjoying a June day outside.

Of note, however, she's got an archery quiver of arrows on her back, with an unstrung recurve bow held in her opposite hand from the one she pushes the door open with.

Striding inside, she lets her eyes roam around the rec room, spotting a couple other students playing video games at the console and television, she strides past them, headed toward the kitchen area.

It's then that she notes AJ's presence, and should they make eye contact, she'll smile at him, before setting her archery gear down on one of the stools beside the kitchenette bar counter. As she steps around it, she raises her hands up to push her hair back off her shoulders, and tie it back behind her head, whilst moving toward the fridge that is filled with snacks and drinks.

Allen-James has posed:
    Allen-James looks over, curious, and cocking his head as he spots her archery gear. Not a common sight, really, but cool. His eyes catch hers, and he returns her smile, giving a bow of his head in greeting.

    "Archery, huh? Nice bow." he says as he wanders over to the 'bar' to pour himself more root beer from the tap. "Can I pour you a drink?" he asks with a smile, and a wink of his good eye, "Don't got anything real fun, but I'm pretty sure this is the best root beer I've ever had." He motions at the tap broadly.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona was paused at the fridge, fumbling a bit with her dark brunette hair behind her shoulders, as Allen went to the drink fountain. Her hazel hued eyes went up and over to him, and after a moment of staring, she just smiled at his question. Finishing her tie, her hands dropped down to her hips, and she drew in a breath. "I've never had a root beer before. What is it like?" She asks, her voice laced with a thick British London accent.

Her phone buzzes in her back pocket of her dark blue shorts, and she reaches a hand back to swipe it out. With a lean against the counter on her right hip now, she glances at the screen, then back up to AJ.

"But yes, I'll give it a shot, if you like it... Maybe only a small bit though? Soda is kind of terrifying if you really break down what it is in it. But, I don't like being a wet blanket either."

She shows him a hint of a grin before glancing to the younger students by the television.

Allen-James has posed:
    Allen-James considers it for a second, as he grabs a chilled glass from the cooler, and pours a couple of inches of rootbeer into it. It foams a thick head, as he muses. "Well. It's got a sort of licorice and spices taste to it. Like, black licorice. And an earthy taste. And maybe some marshmallow snuck in with vanilla? It's a really complex flavor." he decides, as he slides the glass over.

    "I don't think we've met. I'm Allen-James... Vincent... Ramses-Denholme. The fourth. Please, call me AJ." he says with a smile, as he gives a slight bow. "You're from... London I think? It's been a while, but I had lessons on accents when I was a kid." he chuckles, as he reminisces.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
"That is a complicated drink..." The Brit girl says, her words chased by a light laugh. When he gets the drink ready, and slides it toward her, she accepts it in her left hand, the beaded bracelets on her wrist strung up around a smart watch, gently clicking on the granit countertop. She raises it up for a sip, while he introduces himself. The taste hits her pretty hard, visibly, but she mouths out a 'wow', before saying. "That's... a lot of sugar. But good! Dangerously good." She flashes a grin.

Her head tilts toward him then, as the glass is set down once more. "I'm Rhona. Just Rhona. Well, Lauren is my family name, like Ralph." She smirks aa little before glancing away toward the kids shooting monsters on the television.

When she looks back at him, she raises her chin a little. "Yeah, London. Well, actually, Surrey... home of Harry Potter. But yeah, it's pretty close to London, so not that far off. A lot cleaner though, if you can believe it.." She smirks yet again, before raising the drink up to her lips for another sip.

"Are you new around here?" She asks him after indulging in another sip of the cold beverage.

Allen-James has posed:
    "Sort of? I've been here... oh.. a couple months now, I guess?" Allen-James considers it, "Yeah. A couple months." He looks thoughtful, and ohs, "I think I've heard your name before. A couple people have mentioned that you and I have very similar abilities." He chuckles, as he takes a sip of his own glass.

    "I'm from Connecticut, by way of New York most recently." he says, with a fairly neutral North Eastern American accent. "I didn't know we had an archery range on campus. Do you shoot here, or go out somewhere to practice?"

Rhona Lauren has posed:
The brunette makes a soft 'Ah' gesture when he comments on how long he's been on campus. "Shows how much I had my head lost in graduation..." She states with another soft smirk. "I've kept my head kinda down. Graduating High School right before you turn 20 is kind of... embarrassing. But, that's the joys of screwing up so much back home that you got kicked out of the country... I guess."

She tilts her head when he compares their powers to be similar, their mutations, and as she steps around the counter toward her archery gear, she keeps her eyes upon him. "Is that so?" She asks. "You're a energy field creator?" She inquires, still holding the glass of a few more sips of root beer, which she indulges in another sampling taste of.

"I shoot down by Pugsley Creek. I got a few other students in to the sport, and we got some help building a range down there to the east of the lake. It's a great place, and a great way to clear one's mind..."

Allen-James has posed:
    "Don't feel too bad about graduating late. I'm working through my GED stuff right now, since I kinda fell out of school when I was 15. Ran away." AJ admits with a sheepish smile, before he turns the conversation back to the archery. "Pretty cool that you guys made a range. I'm thinking of trying to get a fencing thing going. There's apparently a lot of swords floating around the mansion. Maybe I'll try archery at some point." AJ smiles, and takes a big gulp of his drink.

    "But, yeah. Energy fields that reflect most of the energy coming in on them, steal a little to make themselves stronger. I've been practicing running on them. Hey, I have a question. Can you reabsorb yours? Like.." he waves a hand, making a glowing orange cup in the air, which he lets go of, and it just.. hangs there. He pokes at it, prods at it.. But it just hangs there. "Once I let it go, it's gone. Just.. hangs there until it dies out on its own. I've been trying to figure out how to get it back, but..." he shrugs. "Maybe I can't, but I thought I'd ask.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona fiddles with her arrow quiver, making sure the arrows are securely stowed, and her bow string isn't about to fall off, since she unstrung it before coming inside. She was told not to have a strung bow in the house, afterall. "You should come by some time. I'd let you use my gear to try it out, see if you enjoy it." She flashes him a light smile, before raising the glass up for another sip while he speaks. When she lowers it down to the counter again, she nods her head two small times. "One of the teachers is a fencing master, I was told. It was uh... Miiister... Wagner...." She remembers his name through some internal reflection. "The blue guy. Cute fellow, if you ask me."

Another glance is given to her phone, until AJ summons up one of his shield constructs. This, of course, causes her to look up to watch. It seems to cause her facial features to fall a bit more flat, perhaps in surprise at seeing someone else so similar to her... "Dang." She says in a whisper.

At his question, her hazel eyes sweep back over to him, and with a glance toward the kids at the sofa, she raises her right hand up. Her fingertips begin to glow a bright pinkish purple in hue, before a bright pink energy disc pops off in front of her hand, bursting in to life like a bubble in reverse. The disc floats in front of her hand, humming as loudly as a Star Wars lightsaber...

"It's like... flexing a muscle in my mind, and in my hands at the same time. The first time I did it, it was to protect myself from having a drink tossed in my face by a real nasty girl from my old school."

She glances at his cup-shield, then over to her dinner-plate sized disc shield, and with a close of her splayed fingers, the disc is reabsorbed in to her fingers, the energy still glowing brightly in her fingertips for several seconds, before going dim again. She rubs her right hand with her left. "Always tingles quite a lot after I do it, too. I figure that is a blood flow thing, but I'm unsure."

"Hey!" one of the kids at the sofa shouts. "No powers inside!"

Allen-James has posed:
    "Yeah, I met Mister Wagner the other day. I look forward to studying under him." AJ admits. "I've mostly been working with Bishop and Doctor McCoy on general conditioning, so far." he chuckles, "And learning to run on my shields. Which is... not as easy as it looks. The rebound force shoves back when you shove at them..." he chuckles.

    He smiles at the kid on the sofa, "Don't worry. If we get in trouble, we'll tell them you did it." he returns with a grin. Which is patently ridiculous, given the glowing orange cup hanging there in midair.

    "So like.. hmmmm." he reaches out, and grabs the cup, focusing on it. "For me, it's like painting the energy out of me." His voice is distant, distracted as he holds the cup with his hand. "My first time was way different. I made this sphere, all around me, and like, four other people. I was in a car wreck. I absorbed it afterward, just did it without even thinking about it. Made a sphere, and then sucked it back up. But I've never done it since. I have to paint it out, with my hand, or arm, or foot, or.. You know.. wherever." His voice grows even slower as he focuses. Can he even feel the energy, once he's released it? He has to be able to, right? "It feels... yeah... like a tingle.." he says, holding the cup, and he squeezes and pulls, and... There's a WHUMP, as the energy field destabilizes, and sucks into his hand at the same time, sending a rush of air out in a burst, but not, thankfully, exploding energetically as it does when it gets broken externally.

    "Oh, Ow, Shitzu!" he not curses as he shakes his hand, which isn't glowing, but looks like it's swelling. "Oh, oh, that hurt."

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona gave a look toward the kid with glasses on the sofa, and crinkled her nose up at him, before she looked back toward Allen. She listened to him, standing there on the other side of the counter, a curious expression upon her face. She watches his display of his Mutation, and it makes her slowly shake her head. "you've got a lot more manipulation of the shape of your creations than I do. Mine are simply varying sizes of discs. Somewhat as though Captain America could create his own shield, any time he wished, of nearly any size within reason." She explains of herself. She raises one finger up, her right pointer, and summons another little pink disc that just floats out from her finger, and jumps back again, growing quicker, and quicker with the back and forth motion. "I can create many of these small ones. I call them bullets. I've gotten to the point where I think it's quite lethal, if I wanted it to be." She paused, drawing the little disc right back in to her fingertip, and glanced toward the gamer geeks on the sofa.

"In fact, I utterly wrecked a Sentinel a couple weeks back... as it tried to totally blast my face right off of me with its own weapon systems..." She gently shakes her head side to side.

"I don't think I've ever been more afraid in my life, than I was in that situation.." She states, in a much more near-whisper level of a voice.

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ nods, "You're far faster than I am though. And better at manipulating them." he chuckles, shaking out his swelling hand for a moment, before he goes to grab some ice, and wrap it in a towel, to hold against his now aching, throbbing hand.

    He drops his voice, as she confides about the Sentinel. "That sounds intense. I..." He wants to tell someone about his brush with Vampires, but he's not sure how to. Does he have to say where it was? Yeah, probably.

    "I was down in Gotham, and had a run in with vampires. I... This queen vamp came in, and just... It was terrifying, seeing her move. I thought I was fast, but.." he shook his head, and continued to whisper, "I want to be a hero and all. Protect people, and show people what Mutants can do for them. But this was.. Terrifying." he admits softly. "And I know that if I get the chance, I'd go out and do it again. I guess I'm crazy." he chuckles.

    "Would you do it again?"

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona's eyes fall down to his injured hand, a small wince crossing across her features, before she raises her stare back up to his face. As he continues on, speaking on the subject of terrifying Vampires, she slowly nods her head to what he's saying. "I've heard of Gotham, though I've yet to find a moment to drive that far." She quietly responds, before falling silent in to thought at his question.

"yes, I would." She responds, her hands now on the edge of of the counter in front of her, her fingertips lightly tapping on the polished marble. "In fact, I'm interning at a News station in Manhattan. Journalism is my field of study, and... I've already experienced a number of harrowing situations. But, I plan on finding more. I want to expose some of the nasty things that are lurking in the dark, and be a light for the heroes to descend upon them."

Rhona starts to step around the counter, eyeing his injury. "Is your hand alright? Should we take you to see Nurse Wendy?" She inquires, moving to get a closer look at what had happened to him.

Allen-James has posed:
    "Honestly? I think I sprained like... all of it.." AJ chuckles, as he holds the ice on his hand. "Maybe just bruised all of it at once? Next time, I'll try the absorption trick with something smaller first. I think I did it wrong." he admits. "I don't think I need a nurse though. I'm just gonna ice it."

    He's clearly trying to put up a tough front. With his black eye, and a sprained hand, he looks like someone who did some back yard boxing, and messed his hand up.

    "Are you working on any big stories right now?" he tries to distract himself from the throbbing ache of his hand.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona pauses at the corner of the counter on his side of the bar. She eyes his hand, and his face as he talks too, she doesn't quite believe he's alright... but, he claims otherwise! She slowly nods her head toward him. "Yeah, you best take it easy in the future with that. Our situations are similar, but clearly still vastly different. Mine is like a switch, your seems more like... a fire hose." She smirks lightly toward him, before shooting a glance toward the windows on the north wall where some kids can be seen outside running across the porch toward the stairs to the back yard.

When he questions her of her stories, she looks back toward him. "yeah, actually," she replies, her right hand going up to stroke a finger against the side of her nose a pair of quick times. "I'm working for April O'Neil. I .. am trying to track down some hideouts of a truly ridiculous villainous person who calls himself the 'Condiment King.'" She smirks there too, knowing just how wild that name is.

"I ran across one of his facilities the same night I did that Sentinel. It was a truly disgusting place. I put all my videos, and pics up on April's website, as well as my own streaming site. But... I want to go back, and check it out more thoroughly. See if it's even there. Or if I can find some leads on maybe tracking more down. It seemed kind of abandoned, but at the same time it was still absolutely /loaded/ with gross shite." Her head is shook side to side slowly. "Either way, it's something to look in to, I think."

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ nods, "I think we're just similar enough to hurt ourselves if we try to copy one another." he says, holding up his hand by way of proof. It's definitely swollen, and goes right back into the ice.

    "Oh, that sounds crazy. I mean, he sounds more like a smuggler than a villain. King of the bootleg mustard." AJ smiles broadly as he jokes, "What's this guy do, as a villain?" he wonders.

    "I think I met April once. Like, in passing sort of. She's the news lady who was at the Zoo attack a few months ago, right?" he asks with curiosity. "I actually saved her from some monkeys. Sort of." He laughs at the memory, looking almost wistful. "That was just before I came here. Patty was there too, and we were all, scaring these animals away from people. It was wild, and April almost got trampled by a Rhino at the end."

Rhona Lauren has posed:
It is hard for Rhona not to look back at his hand as he slips it back in to the ice, she feeling a bit of guilt for getting him to test his abilities like that. But his words draw her stare back to his own eyes, as she tilts her head at what he says. "You were at the zoo rampage?" She inquires. "I was there with Vernon and April that day... I got out just before the place when totally tits up too. But I did see some unleashed monkies running around in the parking lot. I thought about intervening, but... I wasn't sure what I could even do. I didn't want to hurt an animal."

She draws in a breath, her shoulders rising up some, tanned from time spent outside in the early summer weather, and when she exhales they bob back down again. "Condiment King is basically a chemist, I guess. Making a bunch of nasty chemical weapons themed after fast food chains? I'm not exactly sure. The internet is such a mess of stories about heroes, and villains, that it is hard to ever know if you're getting the truth about them, or just made-up fan fiction." She shows a very faint grin then, as she turns to slowly move back around the counter toward her stuff once more, her phone having buzzed again where she'd left it beside her nearly empty glass.

"I'll get to the bottom of it myself, if I have to." She tells him, showing off a swweet smile before reaching for the glass to finish off the last sip.

"Are you sure that hand is okay? I think you should stop by the Wellness Office."

Allen-James has posed:
"I was busking outside before it started." AJ admits with a little smile. And ohhhhs, "I must have just missed meeting you. Not that there would have been time to talk." he says with a chuckle.

    He nods along to the information about the Condiment King. "Sounds like a pretty wacko gimmick. Maybe he had a really bad happy meal toy as a kid." He jokes. "But, yeah, it's hard to know what's really true with all the misinformation. I've heard they employ a team of hackers just to keep everything that goes on here on campus quiet."

    "I'm not, really. It's starting to hurt worse, and I probably should go see the nurse." he admits with a wry smile. "Don't tell anyone I blew myself up with my own power?" he says with a stage whisper.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Rhona sets the glass back down, before reaching for her arrow quiver and unstrung bow. Her phone is tucked back behind her in to a pocket on her shorts, and the quiver is pulled up over a shoulder by its strap. She shows Allen a soft smile, and a light nod. "Well, if you ever want to go hunting for a chemical weapons expert, just give me a hollar. I'm on the school network. Moving over to the College House here soon as my apartment is ready. I'm way too old to be hanging around these nerds still." She motions to the younger kids at the sofa, one of which raises a middle finger back to her. "Nice!" She fires back to the kid playing some shooter game.

Rhona's eyes dance back to AJ. "Hope the hand is okay. Let me know if you need some lotion for it, I got more bottles than I know what to do with."

She moves toward the rec room exit, offering him a light wave. "Good luck."