8931/Chillin' in the Happy Harbor High Gymnasium

Chillin' in the Happy Harbor High Gymnasium
Date of Scene:	04 December 2021
Location:	Gymnasium - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Some Happy Harbor kids hang out in the gym and compare powers and commiserate.
Cast of Characters:	Morgan Finn, Reagan Murphy, Madison Evans, Keli Quintela

---

Morgan Finn has posed:
It's a quiet evening at Happy Harbor High. Winter break is looming on the horizon. Many students are preparing for exams. But not Morgan. He's here, and the best part of being here is he's not near his school books. He's dressed in trainer shorts, a HH T-shirt, and sneakers, and he is practicing 3-pointers on the basketball court. He's a fairly talented athlete, making most of the shots. He's worked up a mild sweat as he jogs around the court to retrieve ball after each shot. A few students are at the weights working out, but otherwise the gym is mostly empty this evening.

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy is definitely not usually a 'gym person'. She's in pretty good shape and more capable than most, for a variety of superhuman reasons, but she's definitely more of the bookworm cozy sweater type than the sweating it out on the court type. But PE is one of the few things she hadn't gotten the necessary reqs in through homeschooling so she was doing some running for extra credit, a little Fitbit on her wrist helping to keep track of things so she could turn in its memory for credit. She had thought about getting someone else to do it for her, but she frankly didn't have enough money to bribe anybody.

Her curly red hair is pulled back into a long ponytail and she wears sneakers, a pair of yellow gym shorts and a white t-shirt with Tweety Bird on the front that says I TAWT I TAW A PUTTY TAT.

Madison Evans has posed:
    The gym is the sort of place you usually wouldn't find Maddie either - but she's got a notion in her head, and she's determined to try it out. So she enters, dressed in a 'The ewoks have the Phone Box' t-shirt, showing a group of adorable teddy bear like creatures making off with a blue 'Police Box,' over a simple pair of jeans. She grabs a basketball from a bin filled with balls, and dribbles it a few times, before making her way to the court, heading for the hoop opposite Reagan. From the free-throw line she dribbles the ball a few more times, then holds it, looking up at the hoop, gives it a toss and... swish.
    //Nice//.
    The ball, rather than bouncing away, bounces back towards Madison's hands. She catches it, and starts backing up a few steps.

Morgan Finn has posed:
Well a guy could do worse than have some girls come into the gym to hang out. Morgan gives a nod to the newcomers. And, of course, he has to show off for the young ladies so he runs up under the basket for a lay up shot. He tosses the ball up...and he miscalculates and the ball hits the rim and bounces immediately back in his face. He oofs as the ball bounces off his nose. He recovers the basketball and glances around in the hopes that maybe nobody saw him smash his own face.

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy can't help but giggle a bit when the shot goes off wrong, taking any excuse to stop the jogging she was supposed to be doing, "Hey, don't feel bad, at least you hit the rim. I doubt I'd get within five feet of it," she says, putting her hands on her hips and blowing a stray lock of red hair out of her face.

She raises a hand to wave to Madison, one of the girls she knows better than most, which isn't to say she knows anyone very well. Girls who can turn invisible tend to be good at avoiding people.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison takes a second shot with her basketball - swish! - and once more, the ball starts to bounce back towards her, rather than away. Before she can catch it, though, the sound of a giggle draws her attention, and she turns to look curiously - and misses the whole damned thing. "Oh, hi Reagan!" she greets the other girl in a bright voice, waving to her. "...what was so funny?"
    Spotting her ball now rolling away from her, she reaches out with one hand, and it stops - and then starts rolling back towards her once more. ...maybe there's some sort of tech inside the ball?

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli hasn't really started classes yet--she just moved in from Bolivia, and she's settling in, and she's been spending an awful lot of time in her dorm room. But she really ought to get out and be social, and the gym /is/ the sort of place she likes to hang out when she isn't fiddling with gadgetry.

    She hesitates, though, in the door to the gym, watching the other students for a moment. Morgan's miss makes her giggle to herself, but it's Madison's stopping of the ball before it rolls away that catches her eye, and she watches it rolling back with curiosity.

Morgan Finn has posed:
Morgan Finn tucks the basketball under his arm and walks in the direction of the new arrivals. His cheeks are still flushed a little with embarrassment but he has a good-natured smile on his face and seems to be in high spirits. "Not too hard to hit the rim with a lay up, I guess," he says to Reagan. "But thank you for the encouragement. I'm Morgan." Then when Madison asks about what's funny he replies, "Apparently I thought it would be fun to bounce the ball off the rim and hit my own face," he says with a kindly, amiable laugh. "I wonder if there is an instant replay."

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy smiles and nods, "I'm Reagan," she says, moving over as well. She raises an eyebrow at Madison's ball work, "I think that might count as cheating if you did it in an actual game, Mads. Not that I'd tell on you." she dimples.

She's trying to be more outgoing and not keep to herself as much, which leads to her waving a hand at Keli, too.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Well gosh, are you okay?" Madison asks with concern, studying Morgan with obvious concern, rather than amusement.
    Which isn't to say she wouldn't have laughed if she'd //seen// it. It's easier to be concerned when you're just hearing it described, though. "I'm Madison, by the way. Or Mads. Or Maddie - I'm not picky, really."
    It'swhen she looks to Reagan that she finally giggles, shaking her head. "Oh, gosh, I'm not going to //play// basketball!" she protests as she stoops to retrieve her ball. "I'm just testing out something! I... well, here." She glances over her shoulder for a moment at the hoop, then turns away again - actually closing her eyes before she hurls the ball over her shoulder. She doesn't look until she hears it hit the ground, and start bouncing away - after passing through the hoop.
    Her gaze quickly turns to the two other students. "Did it work? Did it actually go in?" she asks eagerly.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli's eyes widen. "/No pues/! That's so /cool/!" she says enthusiastically to Madison. "Why aren't you going to play basketball? You're a natural!"

    She comes further into the gym, bouncing a little on her toes and waving at the others, Reagan in particular. "I'm Keli. I just moved here. Everyone's so /tall/. It's nice to meet someone /normal/ height." This is said to Madison.

Morgan Finn has posed:
The young man's eyes glitter as he watches the ball move miraculously through the air. He gives Keli a wink when she says 'You're a natural.' "I think she might be /just/ a bit more than a natural here," Morgan says with an amused tone to his voice. "There's a reason why Superman isn't allowed in weight-lifting competitions." He bounces the ball he's holding a few times as though he still has a lot of energy that wants to come out. His voice takes on a playful, mocking, faux-adult tone. "None of you kids are studying for exams? Shame shame!"

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy winks at Madison, "Yeah, I think that might be 'unnatural'. Not that there's anything wrong with that," she says.

"Hey, I've done plenty of studying. Too much, maybe. My brain feels like a sponge that's been left in a sink and now it's all fat and squishy and leaking out my ears," she says. "It's bad enough that I've resorted to physical exercise to distract myself. Truly, bleak as bleak can be."

She grins at Keli, "Hey, I'm not -that- tall. I'm not even Amazonian, just a little long-legged."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "It worked then?" Madison says delighted, turning her attention towards Keli with a momentarily shy smile. "I, uh- well, actually, I sorta //told// the ball where to go, you see. So... So it wouldn't really be fair in a game. I mean, if I didn't do that..." She concentrates for a moment, and her ball rolls back to her again. This time, after she picks it up, she turns to look towards the hoop, and takes a moment trying to judge the shot. She throws the ball... and it's not even close. It clips the edge of the backboard, and bounces away.
    "...I'm really bad at sports," she admits.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    "Hey, where /I/ come from, /I'm/... well, not tall, but getting there." Keli grins at Reagan. "Everyone in America's, like, gargantuan."

    But it's Madison that get the focus of her big brown eyes. "That's /so cool/," she repeats. "No, see, what /shouldn't/ you have like... a super strength competition? Super Olympics! I'd watch it. Superpower basketball!" A pause. "How'd you do that? With the ball, I mean. I promise I won't ask for your secret identity, but that /also/ means I can't ask for your autograph."

Morgan Finn has posed:
Morgan stands to his full height. Hey, maybe he hit himself in the face with a basketball in front of some girls, but at least he can be taller then they are. A guy's gotta have some self-respect. Right? Right??

With a half-grin on his face he says playfully, "Ya'll a bunch of shawties." He "towers" over them at 5'10" in height. But a quick, warm laugh says he's just clownin'. "I think it's pretty cool that you can control the ball," he says to Madison. "That's badass."

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy points a finger at Madison, "I insist, if you do start doing superhero stuff, you let me make your outfit. I mean, I would take ideas and stuff, obvs, but I think I could do lots of fun stuff with you, although I'd have to know how much skin you'd be okay with showing, like are you going to be a Tigra fighting crime in a bikini or a Captain Marvel who's buttoned up to her neck?"

She's tempted to make herself look taller, just to show she can, but doesn't want to seem like she's a bad sport or anything.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh, gosh, I don't have a secret identity or anything like that!" Madison protests. "I'm not allowed to. My mom would throw a //fit//. She doesn't want me looking for trouble, you know?" she explains.
    Then looking towards Keli she explains, "Well, I just... I used the Force. You know, like how Luke did, to make the shot in the Death Star trench. It's like that." She looks between the gathered students for a moment, her expression a little uncertain as if she expects to be mocked for suggesting it was the 'Force' - and idea straight out of science fiction. Or fantasy, depending on how you fall on that debate.

Morgan Finn has posed:
A half-grin forms on one side of Morgan's mouth. "You use the Force?" he asks Madison. "Well if you also have a lightsaber and pilot an x-wing, will you marry me?" he teases. His half-grin blooms into a full smile. But still there's all kinds of energy to get out, so he starts bouncing the basketball again and gently bounces it to Reagan in a slow, controlled, totally-not-sending-it-flying-fast kind of way.

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy manages to catch the ball without letting it slip from her hands. She only has super good hand-eye coordination if she's in danger and 'activated', so to speak, and, while she isn't confident with the ball, she isn't exactly threatened by Morgan at the moment.

"Jedi would be a good basis for a costume. You could do a Darth Vader thing, but, like, hotter and without the big chunky asthma inhaler on your head."

Keli Quintela has posed:
    "You're a /Jedi/?! Oh, that's awesome." Keli grins. "I'm a Green Lantern! Or well... not /really/, but I think I'm /supposed/ to be once I figure out how the whole thing... works." She seems pretty easy about talking about the subject. She gestures at Reagan. "No, no, robes, and then a lightsaber. I wonder if I could build a lightsaber? /How/ would you build a lightsaber...?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Uh- no X-Wing. No lightsaber yet, either." Yup. //Yet//. "...we're working on it," she admits with an excited smile, that she tries to quell. "And, well, I have a //few// ideas for a costume, but nothing really concrete yet - and it doesn't really matter anyways, because I'm not supposed to go vigilante until I'm done with school. And mom would rather that I didn't even then, either," she admits, letting out a sigh.
    "But yeah. The Jedi schtik is pretty cool, right? I can also run fast, jump pretty high, legit TK things if they're not too heavy... And I can Force heal. I mean, I haven't tried it on any serious injuries yet - but it's worked on all my usual cuts and scrapes."

Morgan Finn has posed:
Morgan grins warmly as he claps his hands together once and opens them toward Reagan in a you-gotta-throw-it-back kind of way. "That's a pretty impressive list of skills," he says to Madison.

Then to Keli, "What makes you a Green Lantern? Do you got one of those cool-ass power ring things?"

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy tosses the ball back at Morgan, realizing they're getting into the 'let's share our powers' talk. Kind of like other kids asking about your major or what your parents do for a living at other school. Which, to be fair, were both questions she'd rather avoid, come to think of it, so maybe this was better.

"I wonder if you could do Princess Leia buns. Come to think of it, I wonder if I could..." she says.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    "That's /awesome/," Keli enthuses. Then she grins at Morgan. "Nope! I have a gauntlet, and I'm still trying to get it to work, /but/ I totally got it from an actual Green Lantern who was dying. He told me to, like, take it and be a hero and be my best self and protect the innocent. You know. Green Lantern stuff." The grin gets brighter. She seems... /very/ sure of herself.

    She looks around at the others. "I've never met anyone with actual, like... /powers/." She looks around at Morgan and Reagan. "Do you guys have... y'know... powers?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    As the ball is passed - Madison holds out her hands and intercepts the ball - as it turns mid-flight in a way that is completely counter to the rules of physics, and flies to her hands instead. She grins, then bounces the ball once, and tosses it towards Morgan, as Reagan had intended.
    "Oh, I'm pretty sure I couldn't pull them off. You need a lot more hair than this!" she exclaims, before turning her attention towards Keli.
    "You saw someone die?" she murmurs quietly. "Totally bogus." Wait. Did she step straight out of the 80s? "...that'll mess someone up. You okay?"

Morgan Finn has posed:
Morgan Finn's eyes glitter enthusiastically when Madison mentally bogarts the ball. He laughs as it's passed back to him. He catches it and lets off some steam by bouncing it back and forth between his legs a couple-a-few times. To Keli's question he responds, "I'm an empathic healer," he says as if that pretty much explains everything. An observant onlooker might get a whiff that he's holding a little something back out of discomfort, though.

Reagan Murphy has posed:
Reagan Murphy always finds it best to demonstrate rather than to try to explain her powers. It's pretty instant - she just vanishes, disappearing entirely for about ten seconds before she reappears, only this time she looks like...Princess Leia, although the more demure robed version and not the Jabba's palace version, right down to Carrie Fisher's features on her face.

"Purely appearance, no shapeshifting, just a trick of the light," she says, before casting off the illusion and returning to her ordinary form.

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli bites her lip for a moment. "...I dunno, actually. But I'll... probably talk to the counselor about it, I guess? I mean, it's a tragic origin story, right? All the super types have to have one, yaaa?" She grins, like she's expecting a laugh from the others.

    Whether or not she gets one, she goes on, "So... Jedi, empathic healer, and /wow/, Reagan! Illusions are super-useful though! You'd be great in plays!" Look, she's excitable.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Empathic healer," Madison repeats. "You... heal feelings?" She looks uncertain for a moment, but then she turns towards Keli. "That means he can help you cope with your tragic backstory! ... doesn't it?"
    Look. Keli's not the only exciteable one.
    "Man, you're not kidding. Reagan's gifts are pretty neat," she waves to the other teen as she dogs off, "but I guess I'm pretty happy with mine, even if I only got the mindtrick to work //once//. On a mutant wolf witch."
    ...yes. You heard that right.

Morgan Finn has posed:
"If you have a tragic origin story then you're definitely going to get your own comic," Morgan says playfully to Keli. "Seriously, though, it sounds shitty. I'm sorry that happened to you."

Then to Madison, "An empathic healer takes someone injuries or sickness on their own body, then they heal themselves."

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli frowns thoughtfully. "Am I, though? Or am I just gonna be in the same comic with all the /other/ Green Lanterns? I should totally join a super-team or something. Maybe the Titans! Once I have my gauntlet working, of course. I bet the Titans would /totally/ take a Jedi!"

    Then she peers between Madison and Morgan. "Okay, wait, so... so if someone almost died, you could heal them, but then /you'd/ almost die? That... that /sucks/."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "That sucks so much!" Madison agrees, staring at Morgan in dismay. "I- gosh. Wow. I- well. I'm glad I have //my// powers now. Doesn't that- I mean-" She looks at Keli, "Maybe //he// needs the counselor?" she suggests uncertainly, before looking back to Morgan again.
    "I met the Titans once, actually!" she adds. "They were nice. Very nice. And they have a really good TV set up."

Morgan Finn has posed:
Morgan Finn lifts one shoulder in a brief half shrug when Keli notes that it sucks. "Not for the person who almost died, it doesn't suck," he says softly. He bounces the basketball once, but his heart suddenly isn't in it.

"I don't need a counselor," Morgan says to Madison. "I've done some real good with my powers. Plus, it's really difficult to kill me. My body heals itself all by itself. It ain't a bad way to live a life, I guess." But there is something there, beneath and behind. But all he can do is offer a weak smile. "Maybe I should get back to my dorm room."

Keli Quintela has posed:
    Keli hesitates, then says, "Umm, I mean... you don't know me, but I'm good at listening. You know, in case... oh, no, that's silly." She rubs a hand across the back of her neck. "Anyway, I hope you're okay? Really. And it's nice to meet you! I bet you'll get that layup thing down in /no/ time."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "No, no! You don't got to go! I didn't mean- I mean- it just sounds scary, and painful, and- and I just thought it might be hard to- that it'd be good go have someone to talk to about it all and there's nothing wrong with needing someone to talk to - everyone needs someone to talk to, I mean, when I found out I had powers, and then again when we moved out here and away from all of my friends and everyone and everything I ever knew, my mom made sure I had a counselor I could go to and talk to to make sure everything was okay and none of that, none of that, really sounds even half as bad as... as... as like taking on the pain of someone who might be hurting or something I mean I remember how much it hurt the time I broke my arm and that's probably not half as bad as-"
    There's a momentary pause before Madison adds in a quieter voice, "Shutting up now. ...sorry."

Morgan Finn has posed:
"You don't know someone until you have walked in their shoes, until you've felt their pain," Morgan explains patiently to Madison. His tone, though, for the first time this evening is just a little tiny bit strained. "/I/ can do that. The power has come down through the generations from Asclepius. The empathic healer's skills are sacred. It's an /honor/ to take on someone's pain, not something that has to be apologized for or pitied or talked out with some shitty therapist."

He looks to Keli. "I'm in 16A. If you ever.. if you ever want to talk...or to listen...come by maybe. If you want to."

His gaze shifts between Madison and Keli a couple of times like someone watching a tennis match. Finally he says in a near-whisper, "I'm sorry. I really should go." He rolls the ball over in the general direction of the ball rack and heads for the boys locker room.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I didn't mean- I mean... it can be an honor, and a burden. Lots of stuff's like that. There isn't anything wrong with taking care of yourself while you're taking care of others, and anyone who tells you different is- well, an asshole, or badly mislead," Madison says seriously, without any of the panicked haste her voice had a moment before. She looks rather down herself, now, as she flashes Keli a brief smile.
    "I should go too. My mom gets worried if I miss dinner." After a friendly nod, she starts to trudge from the gym.