3502/Sparks Ain't Flyin'

Sparks Ain't Flyin'
Date of Scene:	22 September 2020
Location:	Recreation Room
Synopsis:	A fairly brief, but generally negative first introduction between two electrical dynamos in the Xavier Institute!
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Drake Riley

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Noriko Ashida has posed:
The rec room isn't exactly buzzing with activity.  There's someone trying to read in a corner off to themselves, four people hogging one of the consoles for, "What is that, Fifa two billion four?"

The blue haired girl leans over the side of the pool table to sink the nine ball, the cue pulling at her raglan t-shirt which she subconsciously brushes, or scrapes at with the thumb of one of her bulky gauntlets as she holds the cue stick with the other one.  The gauntlets cover all the way up just past her elbows.

Noriko snatches up the two twinkies posted on the side of the pool table.  Sure, there are twinkies over in the snack pile, but these aren't those.  These are her's.  She peels the wrapper back and makes sure that her opponent gets to see her enjoy a bite before she zones out watching Fifa, leaning back against the pool table holding the half-eaten twinkie like a post apocalyptic squirrel. Because post apocalyptic squirrels all have gauntlets...apparently.

Drake Riley has posed:
Drake Riley had been in here a couple times. It always felt a little crowded to him, a little unsettling. It's not that he's anti-social by any stretch. It's that he's /new/. That's always enough to throw one's equilibrium. But today, it doesn't seem quite so bad.

A glance towards the consoles reveales a number of teens playing Fifa Eleventy-Billion; boring. A glance in the other direction, and a television is running a news channel. Also not something he's terribly fascinated with right now. So that leaves his vibrant green gaze to land on the pool table, and the two currently running a game. Everyone seems nicely clustered together. He hasn't been 'the new guy' in a long, long time. Man, is it awkward.

Opting out of potentially intruding on collectives, Drake instead moves aside to the fancy bar counter. Leaning back, his elbows prop over the flat surface and his attention settles on the girl with blue hair and gauntlets. It's the gauntlets that got his focus at first, but the blue hair is keeping it for now.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Rematch!"  a small blue mutant armed with the 'kids' cue pipes up halfway through the first twinkie's demise.  "For the second one!"

Noriko's gaze rolls over to smaller kid, "You had your chance to eat them.  Beat it," she says while still zoned out.  The guy's buddy quickly convinces him he's way better at basketball anyways and they take off.  Then she sets her stick aside to move toward the bar and coincidentally Drake.

"Are you drinking or creeping?"  Noriko asks with her back turned to the guy as she grabs herself a bottle of cherry cream soda.

Drake Riley has posed:
Drake Riley's gaze follows the girl's approach, but breaks when she nears. That is, until she addresses him in the bluntest way possible; that gets an extra, off-guard glance and blink. "Neither," he answers. Hands raise, revealing his lack of drink. "Unless the meaning of creeping has changed on me." Did it? It might've. His nose crinkles, introspective.

Drake leans off the counter and decides to admit, "It was two things. Or, uh, three, technically. The metal arms and the hair. I was gonna say something, but I didn't wanna interrupt."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"The fact that you need to couch the definition of creeping isn't inspiring," Noriko scoffs.  She knocks the cap off using the edge of the bar without concern for the finish.  The cap pops up and she catches it near her hip on its way back down.  Sip.


"Say something about which?  My robo arms or my hair?"  A beat hangs in the air before Noriko cuts it short with a roll of her eyes and a swig of soda.  She grins.  "Noriko Ashida.  Nori for short.  Or Surge.  You know if you just acted like you belonged no one would know you're new.  Just tell people you had to move your class schedule around."

Drake Riley has posed:
Drake Riley's expression flattens a little at her, and he abandons the introspection with a breezy sigh. Whether it did or didn't doesn't really make a difference now; it does little to assuage anxiety, the idea that he's giving off 'creeper' vibes. And he can't quite tell if she's just messing with him, as Rogue tends to do, or if she's serious.

"Probably both," he says, his equally flattened delivery likely a sign that he's abandoned that as well. She's put him on the defensive rather in a hurry, here! "I'm not a student. And I'm not really sure that I /do/ belong." But he's trying. It's been three days, and he's gone from living on the street to living in certifiable luxury. It's jarring. That isn't even counting the socially-based culture shock involved in not having to hide what he is here.

As an afterthought, he adds, "Drake."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko squints softly at Drake's reaction as if trying to place something.  She stares, inspects, as if why the guy seems /so/ out of joint might be written in the way he carries himself or his clothing.  "They'll tell you this place is all that after school special stuff.  It makes you think you need to fit that cookie cutter outcome.  But it's a roof.  It's people who won't steal your last excuse for a blanket and leave you to freeze.  And the truth is, no one here belongs...that's why we fucking belong I guess..."

Noriko looks down into the neck of her soda bottle, lips pursing to the side for a moment in the wake of her own words.  "Were you in trouble?"  A blue brow arches gently toward Drake.

Drake Riley has posed:
"If there's anything I've learned since I got here, it's that I'm not really unique," Drake replies plainly. He's aware that she's studying him, but he keeps his gaze leveled forward at this point, to the now-vacated pool table. "And that everyone here is kind of a misfit in some way or another. That's fine. Logically, I get that. But knowing something and feeling something can be really different."

Finally, he slants his gaze to her through the corners of his eyes. "You could say that. You could also say I did it to myself. But this is where I wound up, and where I wanna be; where I chose to be."

His chin tips slightly, his own jet black eyebrow perking towards her. "You usually this charming?," he chides.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko makes a soft noise of assent at Drake's words on knowing and feeling as she sips her soda, after which she angles the bottle to catch the light, sensing she's been habitually slurping the stuff down instead of enjoying it.  She's not wrong, and that's clear by the small frown that sprouts.

Brown eyes lift toward Drake.  "So why didn't you just say you were going to be a student?" a small edge tinges her voice where there was none before.

Sigh.  "Spare me."

Drake Riley has posed:
"Because it's not true," Drake replies promptly. "I-"

Spare her?

He leans back slightly, cutting himself off. Why is he volunteering any information to this chick? He hasn't talked to many people around the mansion yet, but each one has been considerably more positive than this brief encounter. Heck, other homeless people haven't been so snippy with him. And that thought triggers another; there's another person still on the street that he needs to check in on.

For the here-and-now, Drake takes a step away from the counter. "Spared," he replies before setting his path to move around her and towards the door.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Oh," Noriko seems genuinely surprised and surprised that she was off the mark so far with such a broad assumption.  "I th-  My bad."  She shrugs cavalierly as if her roughness with him isn't even anything she considers a problem....at the time.  At least until Drake takes his leave.

Noriko lifts her chin in a half nod of acknowledgement as Drake steps away.  "See you around," it almost sounds like there's a nice tone or intention hidden in there, but it's fleeting, like a secret flicker that needs to disappear back into shelter to stay alive.  "If you stay around."