ax_main | Beau and Nott | Backdated to 5/16

Nott runs across Beau when skipping class, and makes a new... friend?

Beau had to hand it to the school. Maybe it was a creepy kind of place (which was saying something coming from her), but they had a damn fine gym. It was great for those moments when she was so fed up with people looking at her sideways that she could go in, find a martial arts dummy in the corner, and just start punching away. Well, okay, her moves were a bit more refined than that - actual technique, purpose, finesse. But in the back of her head? She still liked to think of it as punching, even as she swung her leg high, catching one of the wooden arms on its padding, letting out a shout as she did so.

Unless she was being forced through the motions of a mandatory PE class for credits, Nott didn't much see the point of going to the gym. She thought the students that made a habit of working out like every day must have something wrong with them. Maybe if their mutation made them want to chug chalky protein shakes and pump iron with bad Arnold accents, or if they were one of the kids that went out to literally fight for mutant rights, but... She couldn't imagine anybody thought working out was fun. It seemed like a lot of sweaty effort for no real reason.

And the last time she'd been forced to do exercises and stuff it was so a bunch of Evil mad scientist types could monitor her everything and learn how to Evil Better. So she wasn't in a hurry to go doing that again.

What the gym was good for at this particular hour, with classes out, was a quick nip where she was less likely to get caught. Which was exactly why Nott grunted and shoved using her entire body to open the door to the gym on this particular day and at this particular time. The stiff hinge of the large door faintly shrieked into the big open space as she trotted in and pulled her fancy flask from where it was hidden under her loose clothes. The door was just clanking shut behind her as she stopped short, seeing the practically-made-of-wood girl yell and wail on the definitely-made-of-wood dummy.

The clang of the door was enough to startle Beau, and she paused, turning to quickly look over her shoulder at the newcomer. Of course it had to be the shrimp, she thought to herself with a sigh, and she straightened up, turning to face the small green one. "I've never seen you in here before."

"That's because I try not to be seen in here. People aren't usually in here at this hour." Nott should probably hide the flask. Beau might narc her off to the teachers and then they'd want to confiscate her booze supply. But it was already out in the open, and the only thing more damning than that would be very obviously trying to hastily hide the flask away again. So... What the hell, she tipped back for a big swallow.

"I am," Beau pointed out with a smirk, then headed toward the smaller mutant with a widening smile. "Hey, got any to share?"

"I can see that." Before, Nott might have shrunk back a bit, or clutched the fancy flask Caleb had given her tighter. Now that she had a steady supply of whiskey -

She shrugged and waggled the small, her-sized flask in Beau's direction. It didn't look as if it could hold very much liquid, but Nott seemed unconcerned. "Sure, go ahead."

Beau eyed her curiously, but stepped closer, taking the flask and swallowing a swig. It was...strong. But more than that, it felt like there was more liquid pushing against her lips than she could feel with the weight of the flask. Pulling it away, she coughed a bit and gave the flask a strange look.

Nott twisted a bit of a pleased smirk at her. It's not like she had anything to do with making it, but she could be proud for Caleb and Gilmore. "You noticed, huh? It's special." She lifted her hands and wriggled her fingers about. "Maaaaagic."

Beau eyed the flask curiously. "Well, the flask might be, but you need an upgrade on the contents."

"What are you talking about? That's the best kind of booze there is," Nott insisted. "The kind that gets you good and messed up."

"You couldn't find anything a little smoother?" Beau asked, taking another swig before passing it back.

"I don't care," Nott pointed out breezily, taking the flask again. "It gets the job done. Caleb knew that when he enchanted it for me."

"So... you don't drink for the taste, you drink to get drunk?" Beau pressed.

Nott squinted at her. ...Was that a trick question? Because that sounded like a trick question. But she wasn't sure what the trick would be. Maybe because of the drinking. "Who drinks booze for the taste? But if you keep drinking long enough, you stop caring that it tastes bad and you even get used to it." Like eating your vegetables, but enjoyable.

“Wow,” Beau stared at her, somewhat pitifully. “I need to introduce you to better liquor. And maybe some pot, too.”

Large yellow eyes rounded wider at Beau with surprise at first. Then Nott gave her a funny, sharp-toothed grin. "Oh, I get it! You're a bad girl. You're gonna listen to music way too loud and start fights and get caught doin' the hanky panky behind the bleachers with a boy."

"First of all," Beau told her, "hanky panky isn't, and has never been, a thing. Second, there are no bleachers here. And third, if I were going to do anything behind them, it'd be with a girl. But hey, I'm down for the loud music and starting fights."

Nott's eyebrows rose as Beau insisted she'd do her hanky-pankying with a girl, nodding her head as she took in the information - but she wasn't really surprised. Beau was super butch. "Well, hanky panky is definitely a thing, there was that whole old-timey song about it - but I totally respect your right to choose whose hanky you would be pankying in this made-up scenario."

"Uh, good?" Beau attempted. "Thanks. I guess. I respect you and the fire boy and all, or whatever. Even if I were into boys, he's not really the type I'd go for, but I'm sure he's good for something."

"Yeah no, THAT'S not a thing," Nott corrected quickly. "But Caleb is incredibly smart and thoughtful and talented. He has a lot of things going for him, and he's already a powerful spell caster. One day I bet he's going to be one of the most powerful in the whole world."

Beau eyed the small girl curiously. "So you guys aren't together, but he like, braved an army of guys with guns and an asshole telepath just to get to you?"

"...I would do the same for him," Nott told her plainly. Beau could believe her or not. She could think it was for whatever reasons she wanted. But Nott knew there was more than one way to love somebody.

Tilting her head for a moment, Beau nodded. "I believe it."

Nott was being sincere, but she had a hard time picturing it actually happening herself. When Beau agreed just like that, no big deal... It was kind of nice.

"You know... I think I owe you an apology," Nott admitted after a pause. "I wasn't being very fair before, about the whole kidnapping thing."

"Yeah well," Beau turned and headed for the bench where she'd left her bag and things. "I did kidnap you. I hit you over the head and wrapped you in a blanket and carried you off to a psychopath, and even if maybe I was a little brainwashed, that doesn't really excuse it."

"That's true," Nott agreed as she trailed along behind her, because that's how she'd felt about it at first. "But you were a little brainwashed by a psychopath at the time. I said before that I believed you, that it wasn't your fault. And I do. But I did a shitty job of acting like it, demanding apologies and trying to tell you how to be. So...you were right, about me being judgy. And I'm sorry for that."

Beau paused and looked down at her, then shrugged a little. "Thanks. I'm sorry too."

Nott paused, hanging onto a question for a moment before coming out with it. "Do you really not care what anybody else thinks?"

"Should I?" Beau asked, sitting her ass down on the bench. "Worrying about that never did me any good. Most people don't like me anyway, whether it's because I screwed up at home, or act out in classes, or like girls, or am a mutant. So why should I worry about it?"

"All of - Most, most of those are really stupid reasons not to like someone," Nott noted. "That's definitely how people are sometimes," she stopped her flask halfway to say. "I'm just saying those people are being stupid," she punctuated with another swig of whiskey.

Beau looked at her, then...well, attempted a smile? Sort of. It wasn't really in her wheelhouse, so it came out looking awkward and forced. "Thanks, I guess."

"What's happening to your face right now? Are you angry? Annoyed? Constipated?" Nott leaned in and gave Beau's forced expression a harder look. Those would be good guesses for somebody else, but she was pretty sure she'd seen Beau angry and annoyed and - maybe a bit blocked-up, but it was hard to tell with her. This wasn't quite like those. "Are you...smiling?"

"What?" Beau stared at her. "Yes! Look, this... friend thing is new to me. Does it need to be wider or something? I can show more teeth."

"More teeth isn't always better," Nott argued. "Like when I do it, it's really - here, see?" She grinned HUGELY, baring the rows of surprisingly large, edged daggers she called teeth, her slitted yellow eyes intently fixed on Beau.

"That's terrifying," Beau told her bluntly. "Don't do that."

"Right?! But that's just my face! This whole area is a mess," she gestured a circle in the air directly in front of her. Beau herself didn't look like a freak, which was a better starting point. But the gonna bite you grimace wasn't a good look on anybody trying to make friends. "It's supposed to be easier, more relaxed. You're trying to force it too hard."

"I'm not even my face does that on its own," Beau told her, shrugging a little.

Nott was about to answer about the this is what my face does, but there had been something else in there before that sounded important. What was it?

"Wait, did you say we're friends now?"

"Sure?" Beau told her. "I mean, you're probably the closest I've come, anyway."

That was both sort of sweet and sort of sad. Sure, Beau was messed up into working for a real bad guy before, and she gave out a lot of scowls and hard looks... But she was actually pretty okay, once you got past that. And maybe she didn't care what people thought of her, but it seemed like it would get lonely, being here without any other friends. Nott could do worse.

So Nott smiled at her again, but a real one this time. It was less wide, and a lot less creepy, though the points of her sharp teeth still flashed. "Are we gonna sit at the same table in the cafeteria now?"

Beau wasn't sure she liked the way that Nott was looking at her. It either had something to do with wanting to eat her, or it was pity, and Beau didn't need anyone's pity, especially that of a little green girl with monster teeth. She was about to say just that, when the question caught her off guard, and she blinked. "Is that something you guys do?"

"Not really," Nott admitted. They all had to eat, but everybody kind of did their own thing throughout the day since lunch here wasn't strictly regulated the way it might be at other schools. Maybe they sat together, but maybe not. "We do stuff after classes, though. Studying or TV or whatever. You could come sometime."

"I tell you what," Beau told her. "Let me introduce you to some better liquor, and I'll come hang out with you and your Scooby Doo gang."

"Ohhhhhhh, okay," Nott told her, giving her a somewhat sarcastic tone. "Because we need your help, is that it? You'd be doing all of us weirdos a favor?" She didn't argue though, because she thought that was the sound of Beau making an effort.

Beau just snorted at her. "I didn't say anything about the others. I'd be doing you the favor. Trust me. I'm good at this kind of thing."

"Am I hearing this right? You're gonna teach ME how to get drunk?" Nott laughed into the words instead of snorting. "Okay, sure. Whatever you say. But Jester doesn't drink, and Caleb doesn't usually get loose with people he doesn't know and like already."

"How do they feel about pot?" Beau smirked.

Nott shrugged at Beau. "I think Jester sees enough unicorns and rainbows sober." The thing about Caleb still stood. But who knew? He might surprise her.

"Well, either way, you and I can have some fun." Beau began unwrapping her hands. "My parents own a winery, and I ran a pot farm for a while, so like I said, I know my stuff."

"Really? ...That's cool," Nott cooed, hefting herself up onto the bench next to Beau with a grunt. "Some of the clan back home grow plants on their property. That's not where the money comes from, but you know."

Beau raised a brow. "Clan? Really? Are you from a reservation or something?"

That Beau had asked liked that specifically was sort of funny, with the way things were. In the way that it wasn't funny at all. Nott looked at her sideways, tensing a bit, wondering if she didn't know. If Trent didn't know...? But they couldn't. Could they?

Shit, Nott thought as she shifted in her seat. This wasn't supposed to be about her. And of course the longer it took her to answer- "Not...exactly? I just meant my kin. Uhhh. Family," she muttered, feeling especially conscious of her own muddy, nasal drawl and scratchy twang she'd tried real hard to stamp out. VERY HARD. Shit.

"Uh huh," Beau said, pushing her hand wrappings into her bag, then pulling the bag's strap over her shoulder. She apparently didn't bother pushing any further than that, because she stood and looked down at the other girl, one hip cocked. "So are you hungry now? Because I could eat."

Nott looked more directly at Beau, realizing there wasn't going to be a series of drilling follow-up questions. She felt herself relax again. "I can always eat," Nott told her. "You wanna?"

Beau checked her chin toward the door. "Let's go."