Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 16, 2010 15:48:57 GMT -5
"Whoa! What are you doing?" Kyle called out from the sofa. He had been flipping channels, the time it took a commercial break to finish usually let him watch fifteen chunks of different shows. Bowl of popcorn beside him and a sixpack of Coke, three of them crushed into tiny aluminum gobs on the table before him told her he'd been there for at least ten minutes.
"What's all the yelling? And punching holes?" He got up from the couch and put the popcorn on the coffee table. Walking over to Katana he got right up in her face and stopped her from her path of destruction. It was one of those, let me help you- I don't care if you like it or not I'm gonna- Lifetime TV, afterschool special, kinda moments.
"Let - Me - See." He said taking her wall punching hand and looking at it. There was not as much blood as he thought there would bee, but that was because her knuckles had spiked out through her skin and the flesh, in a way that only her flesh would do, had sealed up around the protruding bone spurs. "Oh, well that is a useful power. How come you have been holding back so long?" He said to Leah "I bet you would have loved to spike fist someone here or there in this place, God knows I would. Come on and have a Coke with me, tell me what's eatin at you." He tried to lead her to the sofa, but then he thought he'd better not push her. She would come if she wanted to and so he went to get back in his spot before the leather sofa got cool again. "But whatever you do DON'T make any more holes. You don't want Cyclops or Emma mad at you. Do you?"
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Jul 18, 2010 10:38:20 GMT -5
"They're always mad at me anyway. It's no big deal," she said, her attempts to make light of the situation betrayed by the tears still streaming down her face as she let him lead her to the sofa and collapsed onto the cushions. She sat for a moment not saying anything but just looking at her hand. She hadn't noticed the spikes, just like she hadn't noticed that Fleet was there. F*ck, why did he have to be here? "There's nothing to talk about. People suck and I'm better off without them, and they're better off without me."
But she talked anyway. "It's Alex. He's my best friend. My only friend since you've been gone. But it looks like he wants everybody to thinks he's cool so he just trashed me in front of everybody." She was exaggerating a little. The joke hadn't been that terrible, and everybody called her a dyke all the time, but coming from Alex it hurt terribly. Plus only he knew that it was true. And now she'd have to tell Fleet, which she didn't want to do.
"Yeah, so there's this new girl and she and Onyx kind of were trading insults so Alex jumps in and makes a joke about her being a lesbian and then looks straight at me to make his point. Everybody makes fun of me and calls me a dyke. But this is Alex; he's not supposed to be joining in on it." She paused. "And it kind of might be true, you know, and I told him that and he wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I mean I'm not even sure about anything anymore."
She looked over at Feet to try to gauge his reaction. "That's way more than you wanted to know, I'm sure. So, yeah, I'm screwed up and sick. I know it."
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 18, 2010 23:42:55 GMT -5
"If liking girls is sick then I need to see the Doc again. " Kyle laughed with slight embarrassment since he didn't know how to take what she was telling him. Running his hand through his hair and scratching the back of his head stalling for time. "So, are you telling me you're bi? Because I thought you, well" he considered what he was saying but not long enough because he let it out before he thought better "I thought you liked me."
Then there was a long stretch of silence as Fleet looked at Katana. He didn't really know what to say so he didn't say anything. Then he felt like it was going on for way to long, the silence, and he knew he had to say something. Anything. "Alex has his own problems though, doesn't he? I mean you and me and him, none of us are much liked at this place. I think he's just tryin to fit in, I don't know him too well but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Lesbians are kinda hot." He said rubbing his hand across his mouth as he let his mind play with the idea of Leah and another girl.
He caught himself and shook himself out of it. It was his friend after all, his former team mate and a girl he had half considered getting with himself so it was a little strange in a way. "It's not so big a deal really. I mean sure him betraying a confidence is shitty but it's not so awful, or sick, and I know you." He closed one eye and looked at her squinting through his open eye. "Any excuse to run off? I got your number." He grinned and chuckled, trying to lighten your spirit.
"Thing is though, I tried to be away and it's way weird out there. People treat you differently in like this disconnected sort of a way. It's pretty f'd up if you ask me. So, if you want my take on it all" he looked her dead in the eyes, not blinking, not flinching "we got to stick it out. Make our place here, amongst the pretty people and the hip people and the funny people and the cool people and just be ourselves because they need us. Believe it or not, without us who would they think they were better than? I mean we know they're not, but hell without us their little world would crumble. The platform they place themselves on is measured by how tall we are. You, me, Alex, Lorelai, we are the foundation they build their tiny worlds upon. You know what I'm sayin?"
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Jul 24, 2010 16:25:40 GMT -5
"Yeah" she said half heartedly. "I guess I do." She knew he was right about the outside world being worse than it was here. But that didn't make things any easier for the moment. "I just thought Alex was my friend, and that hurts. I'd never have betrayed him, even if it meant the Acolytes would like me. Not that they will. Well, Haven seems to be kind of giving me a chance; if I didn't just blow it."
But she was changing the subject. He'd asked her about liking him, and now she had to answer. "But, no, I don't think I'm bi. I think I'm gay. I mean I like you." She paused. "That is I care about you. I like hanging out with you. I think your awesome, but I don't get those fuzzy romantic feelings the way I get with some girls. And it's weird. Because I'm supposed to, and I'm not supposed to with girls. My Mom always said gay people were screwed up in the head."
As much as she would have liked to write her Mom off, Leah still believed it. It was one more reason she didn't like herself. Just another reason to think she was less than everybody else. So not surprisingly she kept trying to like boys the way she was supposed to, and now she'd led Kyle on a bit and it made her feel even worse. She only hoped he could forgive her and would stay her friend, instead of pulling an Alex on her to make the Paragons like him.
"I'm sorry," she half whispered. She didn't know what else to say.
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 24, 2010 18:09:20 GMT -5
"Oh, no, hey, you don't have to apologize to me for not having feelings like that for me. It's cool and actually it's kinda better if you ask me. Not that you're not attractive and stuff but I actually like the idea of having a girl to hang out with and talk about guy stuff. Well, at least talk about what girls are hot and stuff." He grinned and cracked open another coke and handed it to her.
"Here drink some of that and relax. It's not like the world is coming to an end because you are discovering who you really are, and actually if you just go with it, you know, just go with the feelings hey it might be really incredible for you." He popped open another coke for himself and took a sip. The bubbles were always the best right after the can was opened so he didn't want to waste them.
"Mmmm," he exclaimed with a mouth full of caffeinated sweetness before swallowing and clearing his throat "so who do you like? Any girls here turn your crank?" He grinned wanting to be able to add the other girl into his fantasy and not just to be gross, if the girl was also gay or bi he would sure help Leah to get up the guts to ask for a date. He didn't know who was into what but he was already an outcast so being tighter friends with another outcast might be the only way to survive this place.
"Your Mom's totally old school anyway, the world is a whole new place now and believe me when I say you're not the only gay here." Then before her realized he was already checking his words "Not me though, no I meant like other kids here. On your team even, so I think you're in good company right? How old is your mom anyway?" He asked not knowing much at all about Leah's life away from the school. She was actually quite an enigma to him and finding out more about her would be pretty cool he thought now that he knew she liked girls.
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Jul 25, 2010 0:27:53 GMT -5
Leah took a sip of the soda and let herself sink in to the couch. She was relieved that Kyle was taking it so well, and decided to try to forget Alex. He'd either come to his senses or he wouldn't and there would be time to cry about it later. Or to beat him up. She wasn't sure exactly how she was going to play it. I could just be mature and get the f*ck over it, she thought sarcastically. Might help me not get kicked out. With Kyle back and with Ricki seemingly ready to be her friend there were good reasons not to screw up more. Ms. Frost could probably forgive her for punching the wall after some stupid punishment, but beating on Alex probably wouldn't go over too well. Hey, you weren't going to think about him, she reminded herself.
Instead she thought about what Kyle was saying, about accepting her feelings instead of fighting them. It was still too weird. And her mother's voice kept repeating in her head. They'd never been close. Her Mom had always disapproved of her. Her brother was a god to her mother, but Leah had been a big disappointment. In a way that hurt more than her Dad's trying to murder her. He'd killed everybody else too. It wasn't just her he hated. He was just sick. And of course Leah felt guilty for feeling that way, and for being the only one to survive. She knew she couldn't have stopped it, but somehow it felt unfair that she'd lived and they hadn't.
"Yeah, accepting it's going to be tough. My Mom was very Catholic. She like saw it as making her a real American. She's dead. She's be about sixty though. But yeah she came here as a little girl with my grandparents from Japan. I think she became Catholic in college, but I'm not sure, really." Leah took another sip of the coke and then chugged the rest of the can. "It's why I'm named Leah. She used to read to me from the Bible when I was a kid. But then she died, and I don't know, I miss her, and I don't think she'd like me so much, especially not if I'm gay. It's not very Catholic."
Katana laughed at her last comment. "Not like I'm very Catholic anyway. It's all pretty silly stuff. I was pretty young when she died and went to a lot of foster homes, so I guess I sort of have a hang up about her." Please don't ask how she died, she thought. "But, yeah, chicks. I don't know," she said as she tried to think of who she might really like. "We've got some pretty girls but most of them are real bitches. Ivy's cute, but swear to God I'll kill you if you tell anybody I said that!"
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 25, 2010 10:44:03 GMT -5
"Ivy!?! Really?" He thought about it and Ivy was not on the top of his list. She was cute but the whole timid bookworm thing was hardly what he wanted. Who was he kidding though, what he wanted was just about any girl who would give him the time of day. He had to admit he was a bit shocked and maybe even a little disappointed. "Well, she's cute I guess but, well," he caught the look she gave him and quickly added "who am I to judge? Beggars can't be choosers, right?"
"I can see it though, I'm picturing you and her together. You make a great couple but the harsh reality is probably going to be a far cry from our fantasies. I think she might be straight." He frowned slightly to Leah to show his concern. "And she seems like, now I don't really know her at all so I'm just guessing, but she might be creeped out by the idea. Do you know if she's into girls at all?"
Kyle decided to stay clear of the landmine that he had almost stepped on in asking about her Mother. How could he know she was dead and Japanese. Leah herself, he could see now in her features, held something of a touch of the exotic and it was what set her in a different light than many of the girls here at Xavier's. Though he had to admit he would never have guessed she was anything but some white girl, if she never told him that her heritage would have been a mystery. It was good to talk to her, he was finding out more than he ever would have guessed and he was learning that his assumptions were more incorrect than correct. It was a lesson he should have learned a long time ago.
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Jul 25, 2010 13:09:18 GMT -5
She laughed. "You're hardly a beggar. The girls here are just insane. Everybody is. I don't think kids at normal schools try to kill each other all the time." She didn't like it when he put himself down and he seemed to be doing that a lot since he got back. Yeah, that's your job, she told herself jokingly, as she was definitely the pot calling the kettle black here.
"But, yeah, Ivy's real sweet. She's not a fake like everybody else and she's so amazingly smart. And no, I have no sign that she likes girls. She's straight, so it'd never happen. I think Ariel might like girls though, or maybe she's just a big flirt because she flirts with the boys too. She's real pretty, but she's a Corsair." She didn't add, and would probably die laughing. "I have to work on everybody hating me before I start trying to date."
"So who do you like?" she asked. She figured Kyle would have a much better shot than she would, although with Diesel and Haven's beef with him any girl on the Acolytes was probably out, and she couldn't think of a Paragon that would be worthwhile. Except of course Veronika, who was so perfect it made Leah insanely jealous, so even though she was gay she'd have to kill Kyle if he even tried to date her.
She looked over at Kyle to see his reaction, and then noticed he was looking at her closely as if he was trying to see something. Then it dawned on her. She'd just told him her Mom was Japanese but she didn't look it at all. "Oh, and just ask why I don't look it. I mean my last name's Okami and all. My Dad was like one quarter Japanese, his grandad married a white girl. I apparently got the white genes. My brother looked totally Japanese."
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 25, 2010 13:56:36 GMT -5
"Okami? Huh, I never knew your last name." Kyle bobbed his head at the knowledge. "I think you have a little exotic look to you though, that could work for you if you can ever figure out how to do, I don't know, something like makeup?" He shrugged, the suggestion that she doll herself up was not what he had planned on saying but it was true. He hoped she didn't take offense and his hand slid to his dial just in case. He had seen enough fists and he really didn't want a taste of those spiked hands of Katana's.
"But for me? I can't really decide. I think that's my problem, that and not getting to know a girl before I'm off to the next one. I think it probably had to do with my mutation and not being able to slow down." He chuckled raising his hands up to show off the dial. "With this though it's a little easier now. I can be just regular speed and it's pretty nice. I just never realized how when I was standing in one place that I was already thinking about the next place. It was like I could see where I was going even before I went and I wanted to get there so I could. I don't know, get to the next place?"
"Sorry, I'm just running off at the mouth huh?" Fleet then took another pull of his drink and swallowed a few gulps. Burping "Heeellloooo Leeahhhh." He burst into laughter. He was doing his best to avoid the question. "It might be easier to answer who I don't like. HAVEN! That girl is evil, and all I ever did was talk to her." There, that should do. Totally change the topic.
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Jul 29, 2010 18:47:25 GMT -5
Leah rolled her eyes at the mention of make-up. She'd had her life's fill as a child. "Make up. You sound like my mother," she said in a jokingly disgusted voice. "But yeah, I can see that whole thing with having trouble slowing down. It must be real frustrating that the rest of us can't keep up; girls you like included." This is so awkward, she thought. I have no idea what to say. That just sounded stupid.
"But it might not be your speed. I mean I have trouble with people and I could blame my power. Tell myself its just these bony spikes make me look disgusting and get me all angry, but the real thing holding me back is being afraid to be me so I act like a royal bitch. Keep everybody away. Only a couple people seem to get me to let down my guard. Maybe you're just having trouble letting people in too." Or maybe I'm full of crap and need to shut up.
She ignored the comment about Haven completely. What was there to say? She was an Acolyte now and Haven was one of her leaders. She couldn't join in and agree if she wanted to make any progress on the team. And she wasn't even sure she agreed. Haven had seemed willing to give her some chance. She'd stood up for her with Chase. She'd heard good things about her over the last few months with the Acolytes, but she couldn't forget that not too recently the older girl had tried to blow them all up. I may be f*cked up but I never tried to kill us. I mean what the hell would make her do that. And what if she does it again? Haven had lost it and beaten Frostbite pretty badly. And Katana could very easily imagine herself pissing the Latina off and being in the same position. Yeah, but I'd fight better. Leah might not be as tough as she pretended to be but she'd survived a lot, while Frostbite seemed to her to be just another little princess despite her kick ass power.
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Jul 31, 2010 11:39:34 GMT -5
"Well, I'm a pretty open kinda guy. I think people, as you call them," he rolled his eyes at the thought of how he had tried and the kids at the school had crucified him for it "have been given enough chances to hurt me, I mean 'get to know me'. Am I right?" he made the finger quotes in the air then pointed to his most recent Ian inflicted face smash which still hadn't finished healing.
"But what do you mean you're ugly? I think you might have a liiiittle problem with self image. Just a guess, since I'm not really qualified to make that kind of a judgement call or anything." He shrugged at how stupid he must have sounded. "Honestly you have an beauty that I think comes from within more than something that will fade like leaves turning brown and falling off a tree." A slight blush came over him at how embarrassing his words were.
"I read that somewhere I think." He smiled and took another swallow of his coke. This was turning out to be a far deeper conversation than he expected but he was really enjoying it. It was better than most of the stupid talks he'd had about things that didn't matter much anyway. Here he was talking to a girl that trusted him enough to be a friend, who when they first met they had bonded and even though things were different now there was still a bond. It was a good thing and he chuckled a little at how decent he finally felt. Who would have guessed that all he needed was a friend?
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Katana
Acolytes
Leah Okami
Posts: 258
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Post by Katana on Aug 8, 2010 16:52:36 GMT -5
Leah winced as Kyle pointed to his face. And my new captain did that. she thought. I should be knocking his teeth out. Not that should could actually do it. She would just get her butt kicked in a pointless display of loyalty that even Fleet probably would not appreciate. Besides, while Diesel's reaction was extreme, and she thought far more immature than anything she'd done, it more proved her point than anything else. "Yeah, that's crazy. He should know better. No excuses." She tried to think of how to say the next part. Frowning she added, "But if you were more you and less Mister Joe Cool around everybody I think they'd take better to you. Just like when I'm less of a tough bitch and more me, the rest of them act less like animals."
"I guess. I mean I don't want to offend." She hastily got off the topic. Kyle had called her beautiful and for a moment it was touching. He's insane, she thought, but it's nice to hear it. "Oh, and thanks for the compliment. It's nice. I guess when you forget these bones I'm not so bad. But let's just watch something really stupid. I think Volcano might be on. Want to see LA burn?"
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Fleet
Paragons
Kyle Nomis
Posts: 551
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Post by Fleet on Aug 9, 2010 0:40:17 GMT -5
"Well, OK sure, I guess you have a point there and all." Kyle said as a small smile crossed his face. "I think maybe we could both do with a little more self conviction, or at least a dash of courage to just be ourselves and quit trying so hard to be on the defensive all the time. Because after all, I suppose I do that Joe Cool act to sorta cover up for something, or something like that."
He shrugged not sure what he did it for and actually only now just realizing that what she said was really how he behaved. "Do I really do a Joe Cool act? Maybe it's not an act? I don't know, did you ever think of that?" He was not going to debate it but it was what it was. He figured Katana might be better to see what he acted like since they were both being brutally honest he had to just take what she said and deal with it, he hoped she could do the same about what he had for her.
"Sure I'm up for a cheesy movie. LA is not even close to a volcano, but I love the premise. Hey," he looked at her sincerely and said "you don't have a problem with your bones, not really. That's just an excuse you use to make it easy for yourself to be shunned. I think that's cheesier than this movie if you want an honest opinion." He slid back into the couch and got the popcorn bowl on his lap. "Here we go." he said turning up the volume as the movie started.
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