Intramurals Club Meeting - February (open)

[Jackson Greco]

The gymnasium was dark except for the small amount of late afternoon sun rays burning through the high windows on the west wall. Jack took a few moments to relax and trace bits of dust in the ray’s paths with his eyes. He took his first breath of what would be his last semester running the intramurals club, but was unable to reminisce. It seemed his brain had begun counting those visible dust particles, much to his chagrin. Somewhere around two-hundred, he gritted his teeth and jerked his head away, reaching for the long panel of light-switches and flipping them all on save for the scoreboard.

He had posted on all the corkboards in the mansion, even opening the club up to one-year alumni. It was really a necessity more than anything else, since last term the number of members was sorely lacking. Sure, he always got the muscle-bound meat heads that could dominate any game they played because their powers couldn’t really be shut off. This wasn’t for them though, this was supposed to be for the kids that didn’t get so competitive or didn’t have ultra-augmented bodies. Kids that relied on their mental powers too much would definitely find the club useful. He hoped this term a greater variation and skill would be shown. After all, if he did this right, he could be teaching gym and possibly health class next year, two thing he wanted to do very badly.

Despite these idealistic musings, it seemed he had gone to work. Whomever had used the gym last hadn’t done much of a job cleaning up, which meant Jack was now lazily putting some indoor kickball equipment away. He strode into the corridor that led to the locker room and vacant athletic-director office. It was still quite dark, but he knew his way well enough. He took a key to the storage room and flipped the light switch. The unpleasant sound of white noise in an otherwise silent room hummed in his ears as all the parts were put in place. Sighing, he headed back out to the main gym area.

Biting his lower lip, he looked at the unwelcoming gym floor. It was still a little dusty as well, but he had no time to start sweeping up. He’d have to talk to someone about proper usage of the gym before the week was over. It was one of his pet-peeves.

The blue and gold bleachers that were folded into the wall became the next thing in sight. Most people would need some help pulling them out, but Jack sneaked his fingers beneath the center of the lowest seats and stepped backwards slowly, pulling out the section with ease, only going slowly so that he wouldn’t break the thing. That’d be all he needed right now.

It seemed some of the biting cold from the outside had affected the gymnasium temperature, making it a cool sixty degrees. Taking a finger to his lips in thought, he decided against raising it. They’d probably work up a sweat anyway, so the cool air might do them some good.

Kneeling down beside his green and white gym bag, Jack unzipped it, pulled out a pen, and got all of his notes together. Seeing the title on the sign-in sheet, he chuckled a bit to himself. He always got a kick out of the fact that Spring intramurals started in February. But here it began, and it wouldn’t be over until the annual July 4 barbecue that the past two captains had organized. He’d of course keep the tradition.

For now, he wondered who’d be showing up.

[Tempero]

The unpleasant echo of his steps through the relatively narrow hallway keeps reminding him that there is no one around him at the moment- not a single human, or, rather, mutant, being to keep him company, even if it would be just a platonic sucking of a twisted pleasure from the vicinity. I guess there will have to be someone at the gym? And it is a rather large room...I need to keep on through these hallways, however...at least I think it should help... his thoughts rage through his head, trying to expel the others, which are the offspring of his fears.

Finally, he enters the large room and, to his greatest relief, finds the person he supposes is the instructor already there. Suddenly, all of those evil little thoughts are gone. He breaths out in relief, and actually takes a moment to check his clothes, a thing he usually does much earlier in the day. Green three-quarter pants, and a green T-shirt...his standard dragon amulet, and the snow white hair is combed well. Good...at least I am somewhat presentable... he thinks, standing up straight into his full height of 6'2", noticing at the same time that the other is equally tall, if not even more so.

"Um...hey! Is this where the meeting should be?" he asks, his voice keeping the same friendly tone he uses whenever addressing a new person. "Tell me it is, I don't think I'll stand going back through those hallways again so soon!" he then adds, chuckling a bit to the "joke", not sure if the other will get it or not, but not really caring either.

"I'm Daniel, but my friends call me Danny. Codename's Tempero."

[Jackson Greco]

Even if Jack had found the joke funny, he didn’t laugh. He seemed rather focused at the moment, even though nothing interesting was going on in the room. He cracked a small smile as he snapped out of it, but just as soon it vacated from his visage. The other tall boy had his full attention now, Jack studying him with still grey eyes. He extended his hand, which had the sign-in clipboard in it.

“That’s right, the meeting is here. You’re a few minutes early, but it‘s cool,” Jack nodded. “I’m the captain of the club, my name’s Jack. Codename is Pinnacle.” Jack waggled the board around in his hand a bit. “Just throw your name on this thing, and your favorite sport or work out. Today we’re going to all get to know each other a bit before we start.”

He kneeled down to the gym bag and pulled out a clean volleyball, tossing it between his hands, doing a sort of 1 object juggle after looking at his watch. Other members would be arriving any minute.

[Bobby Drake]

Robert feels oddly out of place as he enters the students’ gym.

It’s not that the gym itself is new to him: he’s been doing his running on the track here after winter weather became a problem for him, and of course he took physical education classes here when he arrived.

But ever since he got involved with the X-Men, it’s like he’s been in some strange parallel dimension, not really part of the school at all. Sure, he sees other students in the halls, and in classes (now that he’s started attending classes again), and when he uses the gym… he knows the other students, at least to greet in the halls.

But he hasn’t felt like one of them in a long time, ever since he started spending most of his time with the X-Men and trainees. Typical adolescent clique-formation, he muses idly.

And ever since his experience with the Mutant Growth Hormone, that’s become more extreme. That awkward conversation with St. John was just an extreme example of a general trend: he doesn’t really feel close to anyone, anymore.

In and of itself, this is not a significant issue… but it is strategically suboptimal. If his new powers don’t kill him (which statistics indicates they will, and soon, but it’s more practical to plan for the case where they don’t), he’ll soon become a major information and strategy resource for the X-Men… but his research clearly indicates that to be effective in that role, he’ll have to inspire trust in his teammates. He’s losing the instinctive charm he’s relied on in the past for that, but he hasn’t yet developed anything to replace it with.

Which brings him here. The sports practice itself is a secondary concern, although useful; his primary goal is to practice being part of a group again, in a low-stakes setting.

> “Just throw your name on this thing, and your favorite sport or work out. Today we’re going to all get to know each other a bit before we start.”

Robert approaches the group as Jackson is talking to Daniel. “Jack” and “Danny”, he reminds himself. He gives them both his best attempt at a friendly wave.
" Robert Drake." And, because trading codenames seems to have become a local convention, he adds "Formerly Iceman."

He takes the sign-in sheet from Daniel when he finishes with it, and writes his name down, and hesitates over the "Sport" column. Thus far his training sessions haven't really been conventional sports, but isolating himself from this group would defeat his goal in being here. So after some indecision he writes down "Track."

[Tempero]

"Alright then." he says in the same friendly tone as he takes the clipboard, writes down his name, taking but a second to remember his last name, one he has not used in a while, and then writes down "Tai Chi" for the sport section.

Just as he finishes, Bobby, a nickname Danny pulls out of his brain a second too late, enters, introducing himself. The way the other introduces himself, however, strikes a sort of curiosity in Daniel, and he wonders if he should ask or not. The decision not to, however, comes a few moments too late, and he has already blurted out the words, "Formerly? How so?"

He hands the clipboard to the other, his warm green eyes turning their gaze back to Jack, as if questioning him what they would be doing, but says nothing. He is too interested in what Robert (because he obviously does not want to be "Bobby" anymore, right?) has said. Formerly...was he given the cure? he ponders, remembering the only one occasion he has actually talked to the other, that one time at the movies, when he himself freaked out because of the closed space.

I should probably get to know him better...at least that could help me if I actually ever get chosen to be in the X-team... for but a single moment, he feels the spike of jealousy that Robert, a boy the same age as he, is on the team. And then he feels shame for even thinking that. How many more hours, days, months, years, or whatever time span suits, of actual combat practice does he have over Danny? And, without Kurt, Danny would still be freaking out even in this big a room. So why the envy?

[Bobby Drake]

> " Formerly? How so?"

Robert looks up from his sign-in sheet, surprised by the question, and starts out "It’s hardly an appropriate codename any more…" before he realizes what Daniel’s actually asking.

He’s been having this problem a lot, lately – he’s technopathically plugged into the Institute’s databanks all the time now, which makes that data available to his memory effectively instantaneously, and he frequently forgets that other people can’t access it just as easily. It’s rather like forgetting that blind people can’t see, and Robert supposes that it’s approximately as rude.

So he adds, in an attempt at friendliness he suspects is too formal to come off as more than merely polite, " My cryogenic abilities have been suppressed since November, actually. We haven’t announced it widely, but it’s not a secret. "

[Jackson Greco]

"Awesome, glad you showed up," said the friendly lips of Jack. Just as qickly though, his face tightened up once again and straightened out. "If you could, just direct anyone that comes in to the clipboard. I'm going to set up for the activity that we'll be doing after we all learn each other's names and all of that."

Practically aboutfacing, the tall mutant moved like an automoton. Not that he was robotic and stiff, but it seemed everyone of his steps was precise and even, a true sign of someone comfortable with their body. Despite the cold, he pulled off the green hoodie he wore and tossed it to the side of the gym wall, revealing the mustard-colored muscle shirt that was beneath it.

His steps took him to the center of the eastern wall of the gym, where he picked up the two poles of the volleyball net, hoisting one over each shoulder. From there, he glanced around to see if anymore new arrivals had found their way inside before taking it to the middle of the floor and setting it down. He spread them out and the net grew taught somewhere around 10ft at the top.

He began walking back over to the others.

[Laurie Collins]

[[oh snaps Tempero we have the same dialogue color. Hmm so I should change to clarify... purple!]]

Wow. Big net. Laurie shuffles awkwardly in the doorway of the gymnasium and eyes the volleyball net Jackson is setting up as if she expects it to fly across the gym and suffocate her at any moment. She feels nervousness wafting off of her like a scent and edges back closer to the doorframe, seriously considering turning and bolting before anyone has time to notice her. I could make some tea…well no maybe not tea, the kitchen is a bit scary usually, but I could grab a glass of water at least and finish my English essay and then read the last few chapters of that Beethoven selection for Mr. Coleman’s class. That would leave time for listening to some music and going to the library for another book before bed. There’s the whole evening planned out, perfectly peaceful and far, far away from terrifying things like athletics and group sports. But then I would just be in trouble when I went back to gym class. The thought recalls her last class and she winces to herself remembering her gym teacher’s frustrated expression as she explained that no she really didn’t have any idea how to play baseball, or basketball, or touch football, or volleyball, or…anything really. Well it isn’t as if I’ve ever had gym class more than a dozen or so times and…right not the time. Remedial gym via intramurals club. Intramural. That’s an interesting word, it’d be, well, intra is within, so is mural sport? Or school? I’ll have to look that up- oh. Still standing here motionless looking weird. Okay. This’ll be okay.

She takes a deep breath and steps forward to begin the seemingly endless journey across the gym, wondering rather frantically where on earth one was supposed to focus their gaze when approaching a group of people from a distance. She could see them, they could see her so…should she look straight at them? Pretend not to see them till she was close enough to say something and be heard? Wave? Die? She settles for looking down at the floor and speed walking.

As she draws closer to the group she recognizes two of the figures standing in the small cluster of three before her. One, setting up some sort of sport apparatus, is vaguely familiar from, well, existing at the institute where he seems to be the mutant version of the high school quarter back. Naturally she’s never talked to him and wracks her brain for his name, coming up with Jack after a moment and hoping she’s correct. Then there’s a boy she hasn’t seen before who looks a bit older than her and quite a bit more comfortable than her but nice enough all the same. Then there’s Bob. She gives him a quick periphery look as she stops next to the two boys and smiles slightly in greeting. She’d heard some gossip about the Baxter mission, most everyone at the institute had heard something about it, but reports were conflicting. One girl had insisted, all wide-eyed sincerity, that he now sprouted a second pair of eyes every half-hour as a side effect of whatever had happened there. Yes, but, looking for new sets of eyes later. Not standing here like you’re invisible now.

“Um, hi. This is intramurals right?” Duh. What else would it be? Cooking club? “Er, I was supposed to come and sign up?” her tentative tone turns the statement into a question and she scuffs one sneaker lightly against the floor, wincing when it makes a loud squeak. “Um. And I’m Laurie. By the way.” she adds with a weak smile, crossing her arms defensively over her stomach. And now you will all begin feeling like an awkward teenage girl courtesy of pheromones. Please try to contain your excitement.

[Jackson Greco]

Jack finishes up at the net and heads back over to the others just in time to see Laurie's approach. She didn't know her well either, hadn't been around her much. As she finally did approach though, that undetectable aroma dances across the pores of his faces and seeped into his skin. Literally, he had just breathed her in, and immediatley that brain of his started it's complex analysis.

What happens to someone whose brain analyzes everything to the last detail takes ina whiff of mutantified pheromones? Well, it knows what it's doing. Too bad that didn't really change the effect. The otherwise perfect steps of the one called Pinnacle became a bit sloppy and his upper teeth clenched down onto his lower lip. Still, as noticeable as those minor changes might be to even the most casual of onlookers, Jack remained fairly steadfast.

"That's right, this is intramurals," he nods, an unreadable expression on his face, like stone. "I'm glad you could make it. Just sign on the sheet, put your favorite sport or work out on there as well."

"Since there's a few of you here now," as much as he speaks thsi whiel tryign to focus on teh group, his eyes keep drifting to the pheromone factory herself, "I think we can start getting to know each other a little more. Tell us why you're interested in itnramurals. If it's just extra credit for gym class, please give me a different answer to make me feel better. Who'd like to start?" While he didn't laugh at his own joke, he did at least produce the biggest smile he had thus far, but it vanished a moment later.

[Tempero]

>"My cryogenic abilities have been suppressed since November, actually. We haven’t announced it widely, but it’s not a secret."

Danny looks at the other for a few seconds longer, wondering just what an impact it might be on him. He himself knows that, even though most of the time he wishes he never had it, he could not stand losing his mutation. "Oh...I'm sorry...", he says, feeling awkward for the first time in a while, finally, perhaps, realizing what it is like not to have any words for a response.

Luckily, he needs not dwell any more into the conversation, as another student enters the gym. A girl, perhaps a bit younger than himself comes in, and as she approaches the small group, Danny begins feeling a bit odd, uncomfortable. His eyes go to the girl, and then to the other two, in search of any behavioral changes.

Jack seems to be acting slightly different from a moment ago, but I hardly even know him... he thinks, deciding not to do anything about it, even though the feeling seems to be a bit predominant, not unlike to the awkward feeling he gets from his claustrophobia, but much weaker.

"Hey, I'm Danny..." he says to the girl with a smile, but his words are not quite the usual cheery, careless tone.

When Jack suggests they say why they are here, Danny does not feel all that confident with taking the initiative all of a sudden. I wonder if that girl's mutation is somehow doing this? he thinks, not quite willing to probe her mind so that he could get to her actual mutation. He never does that without permission, on principle.

[Bobby Drake]

Robert nods at Daniel’s expression of sympathy, not entirely sure how to respond, when the need to respond is taken out of his hands by Laurie’s arrival. He returns her smile, and feels a sudden nervousness… not especially noteworthy, except he hasn’t felt anything as distracting as anxiety since the Baxter Building incident.

Strange… is that wearing off, now? The possibility is not unwelcome, given the constant threat that his MGH-induced mutations will kill him. Drs. McCoy and Richards had developed some useful treatments to delay that process, but no actual cure, so a natural repair process would be helpful… but after a moment’s thought Robert realizes it’s most likely due to Laurie’s presence, and the pheromone talent she’d told him about.

Well… I can tolerate a little anxiety, I suppose. Jackson and Daniel appear somewhat affected, as well, but it doesn’t seem necessary to intervene.

> " Tell us why you're interested in intramurals. "

Robert speaks up into the sudden silence with relative equanimity. "Primarily, to relearn teamwork under new and nonfatal conditions. "

[Jackson Greco]

"Primarily, to relearn teamwork under new and nonfatal conditions. "

"Sounds good to me," he nods. "Thus far it sounds like you'd all prefer to focus on playing some sports more than focusing on getting fit and healthy. Is that the case, or would you guys like to do an even mix? What sports do you want to definitely play, and which do you definitely not want to play?"

Jack crosses his arms over the length of his chest, trying to stand as still as possible and not show the alterations the pheromones were making. Maybe he could just get used to it. The volleyball dropped to the ground, and he rested his foot atop it.

"With any luck, we'll get some more members and be able to play larger games."

[Tempero]

> " Tell us why you're interested in intramurals. "

Danny stops for a second, to figure the answer out. Why did he come? It sounds fun, is all. But then again, why did he choose this? Ah, yes, it is the only thing he found going on today, and he was sitting alone in his room. He has to prevent himself from cringing at the very thought of being alone.

"A lot of free time, and not a lot of people to hang out with are my reasons." he says, answering truthfully, but perhaps not completely revealing just how much of a fear-ridden freak he is. Perhaps he should not put himself down like that? Oh, well, it's true.

Agh, it has to be Laurie...this is really starting to bug me... he thinks, still feeling that same awkward way. So, subtly, he takes a few steps away every now and then, but it doesn't work. Damn...long range... he thinks, deciding that it is best not to keep on edging away from the whole group.

>"Thus far it sounds like you'd all prefer to focus on playing some sports more than focusing on getting fit and healthy. Is that the case, or would you guys like to do an even mix? What sports do you want to definitely play, and which do you definitely not want to play?"

Daniel shrugs, adding a simple "Whatever is fun." to emphasize his point, his mind wandering off in the question of whether he should help Laurie with her mutation or not, if he did guess it, that is, which is the main counter-point. He keeps playing the same potentially highly embarrassing dialog in his mind, where he says something among the lines of "Hey, do you want me to help you control those pheromones?", and she replies with something among the lines of "What the hell are you talking about? Get away from me you freak!", which ends in a slap, run-away, or something else of the like.

OK, is this me or her doing this?

[Bobby Drake]

Robert nods in response to Jackson’s question. "Yes, exactly. I have my own exercise and fitness routine, I’m more interested in team activity… and no special preferences about particular sports." He’d been a baseball player primarily, before his powers emerged, but that was a long time ago and doesn’t seem worth mentioning.

Daniel seems to be growing increasingly twitchy, and Robert isn’t certain whether it’s caused by Laurie’s presence or simply by being indoors. He’s definitely improved over their last encounter at the theatre, no doubt thanks to Ororo’s assistance (and Robert puzzles a moment over how he knows that, before realizing that he’s pulled the information from Daniel’s files without quite meaning to… a manifestation of his new power that he has less and less control over as time goes by), but is still not entirely well.

Well. Either way, he has to learn to master his anxiety, and this is as good a setting as any for it.

[Laurie Collins]

"That's right, this is intramurals. I'm glad you could make it. Just sign on the sheet, put your favorite sport or work out on there as well."

Obviously not emotive club either Laurie thinks uncomfortably, darting a glance at Jack’s inscrutable and rather stony face before taking the clipboard and squinting at the short list for a moment. She scribbles her name down without hesitation then hovers the pencil over the second column, biting her lower lip for a moment before settling on track for her athletic activity of choice as well. Running in circles. Even I can run in circles. Right?.

"I think we can start getting to know each other a little more. Tell us why you're interested in itnramurals. If it's just extra credit for gym class, please give me a different answer to make me feel better. Who'd like to start?"

Why do you keep looking at me? She thinks in silent consternation, catching Jack’s sideways glances at her as he begins the meeting and fidgeting in increased discomfort before belatedly catching onto the uncomfortable expressions of the other three students. Oh, he’s probably figured out that the whole nervous thing is my fault. She opens her mouth to apologize into the awkward silence when Bob beats her to speech by answering the question with-

"Primarily, to relearn teamwork under new and nonfatal conditions."

Laurie swings her head around and gives him a puzzled look. Was that a joke? He looks really serious though. Actually…wow… really really serious. Or just… blank-ish. What happened to him? then, a mental voice that sounds frighteningly like her mother adds nothing that gives you permission to stare so rudely and she swings her focus abruptly back to Jack as he responds-

"Sounds good to me."

As if Bob’s response had been completely normal instead of so weird she still thought there was a good chance he had to be doing a very good dead-pan joke routine. You, she thinks, shooting a sideways look of her own at Jack, are very unsettling. And…oh dear hopefully not psychic at all.

“Thus far it sounds like you'd all prefer to focus on playing some sports more than focusing on getting fit and healthy. Is that the case, or would you guys like to do an even mix? What sports do you want to definitely play, and which do you definitely not want to play?"

"A lot of free time, and not a lot of people to hang out with are my reasons."

Laurie starts slightly, feeling a bit guilty as she realizes that between Bob acting so weird and Jack’s stony face of general unsettling-ness she’d completely forgotten about Daniel. Aw, that sounds sad. she starts to smile at him but the expression falters and reverses as he backs away from her. “Oh…sorry. That’s me. The nervousness. I emit pheromones and I don’t, er, have very good control yet.” she mutters out the usual explanation and ducks her head, staring intently at her shoes for a moment before piping up again to answer Jack’s question. “I’m here because the gym teacher wanted me to get more practice playing sports since I haven’t ever really taken gym classes before and I suppose it’s sort of annoying to have to explain the rules of every game to me in the middle of class so…um… now you get to be annoyed instead?”

Yes, exactly. I have my own exercise and fitness routine, I’m more interested in team activity… and no special preferences about particular sports."

There’s that weirdness again and despite her embarrassment Laurie raises her gaze from the floor to give Bob a rather concerned look. “Are you feeling all right?” she asks, cocking her head slightly.