ax_main | Teddy and Shen

Teddy and Shen chat, and things go much better the second time around.

A couple of weeks of school under his belt and a party in full swing around him, Teddy was feeling a lot more settled and comfortable than the first few days' he'd been at Xavier's. He wouldn't say he was feeling really at home everywhere, not yet, but this kind of thing -- the kegger in the woods, the music, the dancing -- it was all very familiar, and better, since this time he actually liked a lot of the people he was out there with.

He paused by the coolers to grab a drink -- not a spiked one, there wasn't much point -- and popped the can open.

A few bursts of wind heralded the arrival of a winged flyer, and Shen landed by the cooler, reaching inside for a pop. She was definitely alternating soft and spiked drinks; she didn't want to end up too drunk. Pleasantly buzzed was completely welcome, though. Her cheeks were tinged with a little pink for the dancing she'd just done, and she settled her wings behind her back as she took a very welcome drink from her can.

Only then did she seem to look at who was around, and she tilted her head at Teddy curiously. "Hey. Having a good time tonight?"

He hadn't been avoiding Shen per se, just that their paths hadn't exactly crossed since school had started, and Teddy hadn't gone out of his way to hang out with her, either. Still, she was being friendly, and he was happy enough with that. So he smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, definitely. Terry and Warren had a great idea with this. How about you?"

"Definitely, yeah," she answered with a bright grin. No doubt there; she was having a good time. Not that she was the sort to pretend she was if she wasn't, anyway, but parties were her thing. "They're the best for setting this up."

A burst of laughter echoed from a group over by the trees, and Teddy glanced over and smiled. "It's good to see people kicking back. I know it's not like we don't have down time normally, but it's different being out here like this."

"I love parties," Shen agreed, nodding along to his words. "They're down time, but more intense, or something? If that makes sense." Maybe she was a little more drunk than she thought.

"It definitely does." And like he'd mentioned to Billy, it really wasn't all that different from team parties and things he'd been to back home -- everything from the fire to the dancing to the couples slipping off together into the woods. Except he wasn't trying to hide the fact that he wasn't drinking, or fending off dudebros trying to convince him to hit on the cheerleaders. "Some of the daytime masks come off," he tried to explain the thought, not entirely sure if he was making sense. "It's not quite 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,' but you know what I mean."

Billy was in the middle of everything, laughing and dancing with Kitty, and Teddy felt a funny pang. Maybe the reason Teddy was having a much quieter time of it was because his own masks were still pretty firmly in place.

Shen took a moment to think about what he was saying. It wasn't quite the way she felt herself; she didn't like the thought of wearing a mask in everyday life. No, she decided, she was herself all the time. Just... looser, wilder, during parties. Or was she fooling herself? Either way, there might be some truth to what he was saying, and so she asked, with a curious smile, "So who are you under the mask, Teddy?"

Fair question. Too bad he didn't have a good answer. Not yet, anyway. "Nothing special," he admitted, with a smile that tried to turn it into a joke. "I'm just a guy." That was the skin he was in tonight, anyway. Average teenage boy, model number four. Action attachments sold separately.

"I like basketball and Bioware games, not a huge fan of pre-Calc, and I'm still trying to figure out how to talk to people without sticking my foot in my mouth on a regular basis." There; acknowledged and apologized for again, in a manner of speaking. "How about you?"

"I think my line's supposed to be 'I'm just a girl'," Shen replied, her smile a little softer for his acknowledgement-slash-apology. "I like parties and cooking. I'm a vegan and I'm way too much into selfies. I love flying like you wouldn't believe and I'm part of way too many minorities not to have grown super defensive at times." She finished that bit with a small 'what can you do' kind of smile.

Teddy ducked his head and nodded once, his smile a little less wary when he looked back up, his eyes a little more alight. "Warren's been putting me through some basic flying lessons; it really is amazing! It's a good thing he's patient, though. I've been doing a lot more 'controlled plummeting' than actually getting air time. But I can tell it'll be worth it, once I get past the stage where I need a spotter. Or a crash helmet." He was laughing at himself there -- the falls hadn't really been that bad, on the whole, just a sign that he needed a lot more practice.

"So you're flying? That's awesome!" Shen stated, all enthusiasm when talking about that subject. "Even 'controlled plummeting' is amazing, isn't it?" The adrenaline rush alone...

"Better than any roller coaster," Teddy replied with equal glee. "I probably need to try something different when it comes to the wing design -- I tried copying Warren's at first, but I can't seem to get the lift working properly. But I'll get it eventually."

"You're welcome to have a look at mine, if you like," Shen offered. "I don't know how different they are exactly, but I know they are some?"

"If you really don't mind," Teddy replied. "That'd be cool of you. Not tonight, obviously, but if you've got time later. The Professor tells me that figuring out how the substructures work will become second-nature if I keep practicing different shifts, but right now I'm mostly relying on a mix of intuition and a lot of life-drawing classes. And neither of those helps much when it comes to aerodynamics."

"Come find me any time," Shen stated with a nod and a smile. "The more of us up in the air, the better."

Teddy laughed a little, pleased with the image. "It sounds like you've got an air force started."

No, that would be the Professor, Shen thought, but didn't say. No need to bring the mood down at a party. She chuckled, and shook her head. "Well, an air force of fun, then."

"With a title like that, how can I refuse the invitation? I'm sold." Teddy laughed.

"Awesome," Shen grinned. "Have you been working on anything else? Shapeshifting-wise, I mean."

"Bits and pieces of stuff," he confessed. "I'm supposed to be working on refining my control, so I've been trying smaller-scale changes." He concentrated, and the surface of his hands changed, got broader and larger, gathered armoured scales and spikes and -- because that always seemed to want to happen -- went green. It wasn't exactly the 'knight's gauntlets' he'd been going for, but close enough. "That kind of thing."

Shen let out a low whistle. "Nice. Your mutation's so versatile, it's amazing."

Teddy smiled, partly proud, and partly still shy. "I'm still getting used to the idea of talking about it and showing it off publicly without causing problems," he confessed. "There - maybe that's party-me, defenses down," he added. Not much, mind you, but some.

Shen smiled hopefully. "Or maybe you've started getting comfortable here." The school was as safe a space as they were going to get at this stage - despite the flatscan here to study them.

"Maybe." He returned her smile, because it was a nice idea. But the what-ifs still tumbled around in his brain, muddling up the choices that should have been so clear. "So far so good, anyway. It's a lot better than my old school. My mom's big on the 'benefits of a classical parochial education,' he imitated his old headmaster in pompous tones, "or at least she was." Teddy shrugged, faintly sheepish. "But a church school and I didn't get along so well."

Shen grimaced sympathetically. "My roommate used to be at one of those. It sounds freaking hideous." To say the least.

"Some of it was okay," Teddy shrugged, but it was more wince than anything else. "It was a day school and co-ed, not boarding, and it wasn't like it was a prep school or anything -- even with a scholarship there'd be no way my mom could have covered that." (And thank God for small mercies.) "But they were a whole lot bigger on conformity than... anything, really. I think it'll take a little while before I stop feeling jumpy."

"That makes sense," Shen nodded. She really, really wanted Xavier to give them the go-ahead on the activist club. "But just in case hearing it once in a while helps - this is a safe space. As safe as you can get in a high school."

Safe from attack, that was one thing. Safe from cliques and crushes and drama? That, as far as Teddy could tell, was pretty well near impossible. Still, it was a nice thought. "I appreciate that, thank you."

"Any time," Shen told him with a smile. "You wanna come and dance some?"

Teddy should probably have said no, but they hadn't been flirting, and as far as he could tell (yeah, with his vast amounts of experience, sure), she was just being nice. There wasn't going to be any risk of giving her the wrong impression. So he nodded, smiling. "Sure, I'd like that."

"Awesome." Shen finished her can and set it aside - never leave your drink unattended, and waste not. Two principles she lived by. "Let's go."