4035/Even Superheroes Do Laundry

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Even Superheroes Do Laundry
Date of Scene: 05 November 2020
Location: Laundry Room
Synopsis: Clothes (and gloves) washed! Ski trip in the works. Chute abuse still an outstanding disciplinary issue.
Cast of Characters: Jean Grey, Noriko Ashida, Rogue




Jean Grey has posed:
One difficulty Jean Grey faces in her new position is that it can put her up on a bit of a pedestal: as the former star student turned school headmistress and face of many Xaviers School Official Facebook Page posts, she's held to high standards. She feels the pressure to always look her best, to be constantly charming and disarming. And sometimes, it can make her feel a bit apart. Yet she's also a person like any other- or, well, at least nearly so. A human, gifted or otherwise, with all the normal human fears and frailties, habits, quirks, and doubts...

... and with the human requirement for basic hygeine and boring chores like doing her laundry!

So, the evening finds Jean looking very much less Jean-like than average. Her hair, rather than the glorious shampoo commercial-worthy mane of fire that she is known for, is tied back with a scrunchy into a makeshift ponytail. She's wearing some minimal last-resort outfit of whatever was left in her drawers, an old tank-top, gym shorts, and bunny slippers (because her socks are all in the wash!). The real, true Jean, revealed.

Also, she's... well, standing around and looking very bored, as one often is when doing laundry. One of the machines is running, and while she was able to kill some time wandering around downstairs, she ultimately finds herself standing in front of it, toe tapping, waiting for the cycle to end so she can transfer everything.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
On laundry duty, it's not a wonder that Noriko has been in and out, trying to give no functional deficiency a teacher can hang their distaste on further.  It's a pattern, and probably the only reason she has good grades, besides habit from schooling in Japan.

The teen is most certainly putting extra wear on all of the runners or other rugs that might be found around the School.  Whipping into the room, she quickly checks all the machines she's in charge of and then harumphs with her arms crossed, weight shifted.  She's early and has to wait.  She walks at normal speed to drop down into a chair and lean her chin on her palm for a brief, restless moment.

Kicking her feet up on the chair in front of her while rocked back on her own, Noriko clearly doesn't give a damn about perception.

It's only at this point that Nori looks around, double-taking on jean.  The scrunchy is eyed as much as the bunny slippers, but only with neutral passing curiosity.

Rogue has posed:
The light on laundry chute comes on to say that there's a door open on the 2nd floor, and someone's accessing the chute.

There then comes the gentle thudding of something falling down the chute, and its growing louder and sounds a bit ... bigger than just randomly dumped clothing in a bag. It starts to shake around inside of the chute before the wooden door pops open and Rogue just flies out of the chute and in to the room, carrying a bag of (presumably) laundry behind her!

The Belle is wearing a blue/red/white NY Rangers hockey jersey with 'ROGUE' and '69' on the back of it, clearly a personalized jersey! A pair of brightly colored pajama bottoms make up her lower-half attire and she just stops as she sees others in the laundry room, Jean specifically, cause well... uh oh.

"Heya, Jeanie." Rogue says in a flirt-y standard voice for her when she's trying to play casual. "Lookin' smokin' as usual." She looks over to Noriko then and waves her ungloved right hand at the girl. "Zappe'ah." She says to the Surge-y one.

Rogue sets her bag of laundry up on the open machine and just pretends like she didn't just slide down the laundry chute to get here.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Oh, hello Noriko."

Jean actually does sound a little surprised this time, apparently lost enough in her own idle laundry-day boredom and wandering thoughts that the girl's rapid arrival outspeeds thought - or at least, of the woman registering it. Yet in usual fashion, despite all the frumpiness of her appearance and attire, her smile is just overflowing with friendly warmth for the young student. Backtracking on things a little, she glances from her machine (which is at the end of the row) past a gap of a couple to the row that Noriko is in charge of. "You on duty tonight, hmm?"

It's probably not a surprise that the headmistress does her own separately: being totally real about things, if students are willing to stage elaborate power outages to steal booze, there might be some significant risks of putting them in charge of the Headmistress' delicates. That's just a juvenille prank waiting to happen.

She gives a little sigh of boredom, and glances at the timer on a machine. "I wonder if we should look into putting something down here to kill time, maybe move something from the rec-"

And then, CANNONBALL!

Well, no, that's a different person. But Rogue nonetheless arrives VIA THE LAUNDRY CHUTE, which is a surprise far beyond Noriko's speed routine. Her jaw just kind of hangs open for a moment, right through the friendly 'Heya Jeanie' and the subsequent compliments. Smoking?!

"I- well thank you but-" Sigh. "I suppose I don't need to tell you the chutes aren't supposed to be used for that."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori is in one of her brightly two-toned raglan shirt, a pair of faced black jeans with holes in the knees, and some mid kicks that are more low key in color.  The sound of what probably is property damage gets the bored teen's attention like some kid opening a kinder egg.

"There's a TV," she says with a shrug.

"Hey," she shoots over to the Headmistress.  "Yeah."  No student needs to be touching faculty undergarments, and Jean's independence only means less loads to do.  Hurray!

"Nice entrance," Noriko says with a nod for Rogue and one of her patented electrified, lazy peace signs.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just stands in front of the machine she's chosen, leaning against it on her hips with one foot back up on its toes and the other leg straight. She listens tot he other two and just grins at them as she stuffs clothes in to the machine, yanking them out of her bag... mos tof which are gloves. It's gloves night.

"Most folks go sit out in the lounge outside'a here, but that means that tv is usually stuck on some annoying video game. I don't think we should have gamin' consoles down here myself, but whatever, those things are just life killers no matter how much ya try'n tell me otherwise." She doesn't like video games that much, its true.

"And... the chute is just a quicker way down here." She says with a grin as she glances at the two of them. "Least for me anyway. I'm gentle, not breakin' nothin' on my way down."

She shuts the machine door after throwing in some soap cube things, then turns it on to a random setting, not giving a shit what setting it lands on.

She turns aruond to look at Jean, then Nori, her hands back on the machine's edge. "Ya'll just sittin' down here waiting for your stuff t'get done?" She asks, usually leaving her stuff here as she doesn't care who goes through it.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean can't help but display a certain fascination in observing just how many gloves come out of the bag. No doubt, Rogue's situation has some unique demands, but it really does look like 'glove day' is a thing, and it's sort of impressive in sheer scope!

Wait, don't be distracted, you're yelling at her!

"I'm sure it's faster, and I'm sure it's perfectly safe, for you anyway..." Well, let's just say the next part of what she's about to say very likely bumps up against Rogue's claim of just how gentle she is on the chute. Jean seems to mentally debate it a moment, and then shakes her head. Sometimes, you have to pick your battles. "Just make sure you don't get any of the students following your example. It'd be easy for someone to get stuck, or bend the whole thing out of shape, let alone whatever chance of injury."

Having given up this battle in favor of the larger war, she stands back from the machines with her hands on her hips, glancing around the space briefly. "Maybe it wouldn't really fit." She's always keen to look around for places she can improve the facilities, though, and this seems suspiciously like an opportunity. "I'll think about it some. Maybe there's something we could do. I guess most of the time it's just supposed to be one student on duty down here. Tonight's an unusual traffic-jam."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"You know gaming can help kids learn logic, analytical thinking, problem solving."  Noriko sounds like a walking brochure to concerned parents everywhere.  "I did a report on it.  That was back when I thought my parents were persuadable.  Also helps with reflexes," she remembers after the fact.

"I have to throw this round in the dryer.  I was playing video games up in the rec room, but I think I lost my spot."  Noriko yawns a little, covering her mouth in the process.

The attention Rogue garners from Jean seems to be momentarily entertaining enough for Noriko lift her chin up and to the side curiously, eyes still stuck on the pair.  At the mention of a traffic jam, Noriko whistles 'innocently.'

"Yeah, if anything, you guys are butting in on my techniques!"  Surge throws up her hands faux-dramatic, "This could have been my last round."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just lifts up off of the ground and slips herself back on to the washing machine, folding her legs up into a cross-legged style as she drops her hands in to her lap between her legs. Her hair is loose about her shoulders, white and dark brown locks inter-mixing together. She grins at Jean firstly.

"I promise not t'let any kids even dare try it. If ya wanna know what made me do it, look no further than Katherine Pryde. She's just runnin' through the walls all the time, and sayin' things like 'Betcha can't beat me--'"

Rogue motions to the chute door. "Betcha I can, Kitty!" She says, as if Kitty was there, listening. She drops her hand back to her lap. "Flyin' back up is the real fun part." She says with a teasing grin to Jean.

She then shoots her eyes over to Noriko. "Ya can find ways t'do all'a that /outside/ too!" She says back at the other, even sticking her tongue out for a second to the other. "I get they're fun, no question 'bout that." She sighs then and tips her head back, closing her eyes. "But bein' outside? That's where the real fun is ya'll." Country girl, grew up outside, this one...

Jean Grey has posed:
"Actually, Noriko, I agree." Just to take some wind out of those 'old people don't understand' sails! Um, not that Jean is old or anything! "After all, we use simulators for training. It's not really any different- at least if the games are properly designed and the students aren't sacrificing their studies. Or falling into addictive behavioral patterns, which many games are designed to psychologically trigger."

Just your daily reminder that the headmistress is a serious academic, and has probably read allllll the research on this subject, and any other related subject you could bring up!

After surveying the space a little, she strolls back to find Rogue perched on the machine, and can't help but raise a... slightly meaningful eyebrow.

However, what really gets her is the admission that all of this chute-diving business is out of some competitive spat with Kitty. She can't help but laugh. "She does do that, doesn't she? I suppose I would too, if I could. If you think about it, we all have places where our gifts help out in smaller ways, in the boring day-to-day stuff." Aside from frequently leaning on telepathic communication, Jean is also quasi infamous for turning the kitchen into a nightmare of levitating pots and pans when she cooks.

As for the joys of the great outdoors: "I love a good hike on the Hudson as much as anyone, but it -is- getting awful cold. Soon we'll be facing winter and everyone will be coming down with cabin fever."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Like what, playing chess with old men in a park?  I already do that.  They kick my ass every time.  I'm outside a lot.  Just got time to kill is all," Nori says with raised hands.  "Can't always buy new sneakers to get around, so, I chill," because she'd clearly do that than jump on the hyperloop or walk down to one of the more local haunts.

The teen seems to have an answer prepared for anything, like it's a sport she wants to appear effortlessly winning by being fast rather than necessarily being net effective.

Jean gets an arched brow from Noriko and a grin.  "Games release dopamine whatever that is.  It sounded bad the way they said it," so it never made it into her totally unbiased report.

"Can't she just surf down through the chute with her feet materialized?" Nori ponders aloud, glancing over to Rogue and Jean after tapping her chin.  As for the kitchen?  Nori's a regular thief, but her dietary needs are well known among those who'd care.

"Yeah, mine drains my cell phone and busts my gauntlets," Noriko grouses under her breathe.  "Can we have a snowball fight?" she perks up immediately like a ping pong on return from gravity.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just looks from one of them, to the other, then just grins at them. "Ya'll need t'go on a ski trip. That's an outing we should schedule at some point, Jeanie." She adds, nodding toward the redhead with the ponytail.

"Get some nice warm winte'ah clothes on..." She wraps her arms around herself and shuts her eyes again to tip her head back lost inside of her own romantic thoughts. "Slidin' downthe fresh powdery mountain side! Then curlin' up in the warm cabin afterward with a fire, a cup'a hot cocoa." She opens her green eyes and looks between them again, super serious face.

"Ain't no video game gonna give ya the feelins' that that will. Dopamine drip on a sofa with a bag'a damn cheetos ain't got nothin' on a good ski trip." She states, big grin given.

"As for Kitty, she probably can do that. Some day I'll brush up against her, see if I can't borrow me some'a those phasin' powers t'try'em out." She says this in a very flirt-y way, because she's clearly in a good mood, and likes to show it off.

Jean Grey has posed:
"You should ask Hank - Doctor McCoy that is - about your footwear issues, Noriko. It's hardly my specialty, but I understand there have been some great advances in materials science." Fancy super costumes for all!

Jean's also more than happy to academically spar: "The brain uses dopamine as a reward for all kinds of behaviors, mostly ones that were originally biological survival drives, like food -" and there's a side-smirk at Rogue "- and sex. Our evolutionary ancestors lived in fear of basic survival, so those things were both scarce and essential. So our brains grew to bribe us into doing what nature needed us to do. Except, as we advanced, and invented leisure, those reward pathways became conflated with far less essential activities."

And here, there is a gesture in assent of Rogue's 'cheetos on the sofa' argument.

As for snowballs? "Oh, we definitely have our winter fun here. There's usually a few good snows, and we'll go out and build snowmen on the lawn, Warren will cheat us all at snow angels, you name it." But the ski trip idea is a bit beyond that typical lineup of nearby activities. "Hmm. That does sound fun!" She too is a 'curl up with cocoa and a fire' enthusiast, as Wade's charges of wholesomeness will attest. "You have a place in mind? There's a few spots within a couple hour's drive."

All that aside: "No 'brushing' Kitty 'just to try'!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Isn't it also just the same thing over and over again?  Going down a mountain?"  That was definitely on purpose given the girl's snarky grin.  She's expecting to just be a passing thorn in Rogue's side, if at all.  Nori-branded pep.

Nori laughs at Rogue's strategy of evening out the odds with Kitty.  "Once the jig is up, you better go fast," she advises before Jean forbids it.  "I could also give you a ride if you want the element of surprise."  Ever up for giving someone a leg up for what she always thinks is mutual amusement.

Jean's words tug Nori out of a reverie about falling down a mountain and turning into a giant snowball, picking up all the bunny slopers and their snooty bitter parents who almost always seem to hate snowboarders too.  Such a puzzle.  Blink.  "Huh?"  She fell into her super speed as she was tapping her foot.  "Okay," she says, rubbing the back of her neck instinctively and pinching the skin unwittingly.

"So does that mean I can get hungry for more video games?"  Nori flashes a grin to Rogue, hoping Jean will provide her with some outrageous ammo, a deus ex machina in service of victory by making slanting logic fact, for the sake of argument.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue, still just perfectly perched on the top of the washing machine that she put her stuff inside of minutes ago, smiles back at Jean when she notably notes her for her talk about dopamine and some of the things that trigger its release. "Yeah... dopamine is great." Rogue dreamily says with a dope-y smile.

Her head shakes back and forth. "No preference on where t'go, if you'd be down for it, just pick whichever place ya like most and I'd be right there t'tag along with ya, Red. And I promise, Kitty will survive at least /one/ more day." A hint of a grin comes and goes before Rogue looks to Nori.

"I don't wanna go as fast as you go, Norigo." Yes she said Norigo. "You speedy types seem like the kinda thing that would result in losin' your lunch all ove'ah the linens. And you'll change your tune about skiing versus video games, if ya get up and go try it out. Or well... maybe you would, I dunno. You 'damn kids' are pretty stubborn." The 20 year old says with a grin for the Surgeon.

Jean Grey has posed:
"It means that addictive behavior all functions similarly. You can get addicted to food, to drugs, or to your games-" Jean leaves out the sex this time, since, well.. student! "-and neuro-chemically it's actually very similar. There are studies that suggest processed sugar is nearly as addictive as cocaine." Somehow, she's turned this into at least half a science lecture. And Rogue, for whatever reason, continues to get a 'look' throughout this little lesson.

"Physically intense stuff like skiing is a little different, because adrenaline and some other chemicals also factor in." She then adds, since skiing continues to be a topic of interest. "Again, though, you're basically tricking yourself into some old lizard brain stuff: the feeling of 'oh no I am flying down this mountain about to die' throws your body into overdrive. Or in laymans terms... well, it's a lot of fun. I think you'd enjoy it, Noriko. It is about going fast at the limit of your ability to keep control- maybe the speed won't be that much for you, but the 'driving' should still provide a nice challenge."

Then a bit of a thoughtful look. "There's a few good places in the Catskills, probably just a matter of finding a resort that can accomodate us. But they all get a lot of traffic from the city." And from rich preppy schools. "Shouldn't be too hard." As she says this, the timer has finally gone off on her machine, so she walks to open it, still occasionally side-eying Rogue while she starts unloading.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Suit yourself."  Noriko shrugs nonchalantly. "But I've gotten pretty good with my speed," she tries to tempt.  "I can keep it at a non-barfing speed, but I can't promise you'll win until I run the numbers," as if it were some kind of negotiation in the making.

"Yeah.  It sounds fun," and kinda scary, which seems to make the teen perk out of her devil-may-care attitude for a spell.  "I can vote you know," she informs Rogue of her lawful adulthood in an indirect, but classically blunt way.

Somehow, Noriko is actually listening to Jean and not zoning out.  "Huh.  Sugar?"  Sugar.  The girl files this fact away, the others right after the most critical and applicable.

"I think it will be relaxing and if there are jumps or a ramp that'd be really fun."  The girl isn't any more durable than any human her age, but hell if that's going to slow her down.  Thankfully, the restless teen doesn't even think of ski lifts or how old they can get.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue whips her phone out of her pajama pants pocket and holds it in front of her over her lap with her head down and her hair falling around her face, white bangs just waving gently as she stares at the phone screen. "I'll check'n see." She says about the ski sites. "Probably should make reservations /real/ quick if we're gonna do somethin' like this over Winte'ah Break. That's the best time, ya'll..." She says, her voice trailing off.

She hums a tune quietly to herself as she tap tap taps on her phone slowly. "Mmm, hmm. Yep. Catskills. There should be a Dogskills range, that competes with'em, don't ya think?" Roguethoughts!

"If we race around t'gether outside some time, Nori, count me in. I'll try it, I ain't never gone that fast, unless the Blackbird counts." She looks up and over to Jean to give her a big smile. "Sugah is definitely addictive." She states, lowering her eyes back down to her phone.

"Just look at all the fat kids out there." She mutters/mumbles that part.

Phone tap tap tap tap....

Jean Grey has posed:
"Sugar." Jean echoes. "We just don't really think of it the same way, because we put it in everything, and obviously it doesn't have the -other- effects some controlled substances might." A brief pause, and she seems to think it prudent to add: "Obviously, don't do cocaine thinking that equivalence makes it safe, either." Say no to drugs, kids! Or at least don't do them because you misinterpreted some science lesson Jean gave you! That would not go well on the Facebook page.

And, as a distraction from that topic, ski jumps seem suitable. "As a matter of fact, there are all kinds of skiing disciplines, including ones with jumps or small obstacles on the course. Though they're a bit more specialized, as beginners we'd just be going downhill."

Standing beside the washer, she pulls this and that out, dumping them in a plastic basket, and here a bit of that 'casual power use' is apparent, as occasionally a piece of clothing will fly out and deposit itself as if of its own volition. As she takes stuff out, she turns to peer over and sneak a peek at the phone and whatever Rogue is doing on it. "That's not a bad idea. They do fill up, once the season starts. Well, I appoint you skii deputy, just find something that looks good and come by later and I can put it on the school account."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
When her machines go off, they all go off at once.  A spritely hop-skip looks marginally precarious before she blazes through it and pops back to normal speed for the sake of conversation.

Nori looks for some free dryers and gets to transferring her first load, trying to grab it all at once instead of bothering with having to dig into the bottomless pit of an industrial laundry basket.  "Fat kids?"  Break time!  She trots over to peer over Rogue's shoulder, uninvited.

Jean's revelation earns her a look of disappointment.  Just like a kid with senioritis to be bored enough to give the dumb logic of just taking a whole bunch more of anything will surely create a high.  It's like Jean just popped a bubble on Nori's potential experiment.  For science!

"Downhill?"  Squash all her dreams Jean.  Good job!  Nori rolls her eyes.  "I think it will be harder to go slower," which means lots of falling on her butt as she overcorrects on her reflexes and gets a feel for it, just like anyone else.

Rogue has posed:
"Definitely!" Rogue says when Jean announces that she'll put it on the school's tab too. "Tomorrow, should have somethin' figured out by then!" The Belle looks up when the machines go off and she bites down on her bottom lip and glances over to Nori with a grin. "You probably would like snow boardin' more, I bet. It's a little more my style too, cause'a my skateboardin' skills. Which are extensive! Easy t'learn when ya can cheat gravity, yo."

She slides forward off of the laundry machine and back down on to her socked feet in the middle of the laundry room floor. "I'm gonna bounce back up t'my room to go look for ski stuff, I'll come back for my clothes later. Ya'll make sure nobody comes in and steals my stuff!"

Without approval, Rogue saunters over to the chute door and lifts it up, then leans over and just... darts right up inside of it! She just fies up in to the chute and the door claps shut back against the wall in the void left behind by the silly southern girl!

Jean Grey has posed:
"Yes. Downhill. On snow, with skiis, that are intentionally designed to reduce friction and traction." Jean paints the whole terrifying image in detail. "It being hard to control is sort of the point, Noriko. That's why it's fun, but scary, but fun. Gotta tickle that lizard brain." And then, she has to admit, "Yes, there's snowboarding too, and its own variations. They even build half-pipes and things. Its in the Olympics." How far we've come!

"I think your gloves will be safe, but I'm sure Noriko will be her most vigilant," she tells Rogue as she begins her retreat, although it quickly proves too hasty for much in the way of further commentary. Or... yelling, about using the chute again. That one will be an ongoing battle, no doubt!

For now, Jean gets the rest of her stuff, closes the machine, and heads for the dryer, laundry basket bobbing along in the air behind her. What?