cutting_edgex23 | (no subject)

Alec, on the other hand, blinks profusely.

"What the holy hell was that?"

Being bewildered gives him a good excuse to rubberneck.

What? He's not casing.

He's not. That'd be stupid.

"That is Pixie."

X's voice is level and calm.

"You do not want to be in the middle of the hallway now."

Why exactly that is becomes very clear a moment later.

A blur of hairy speed rushes by.

"I said never again, Pixie. You hear me?"

It might have been funnier if Wolverine were in costume. Probably not.

It's only the superhuman reflexes that allow Alec to jerk back out of harm's way.

He keeps on staring. X's life is already way weirder than his.

"You know how I hate to repeat myself, so I'm just going to assume you know what I'm going to say." He peers down the hall after the oddball pair. "Is that par for the course for this place? I mean, do you have to live with that every day?"

"No," X says after a moment. "Pixie is not supposed to hit Logan with hallucinations. He does not like it."

Beat.

"It is Saturday. No one is in class."

Is that--an apology?

Could be.

Because Saturdays mean everyone's around and in each other's business. Unless they're out on the town. Not that there's much to do there. Still.

He frowns. "Can't imagine why."

Alec is not fond of mind control. He has many reasons.

He examines the now-empty hallway. "So, uh, which way again? You said there'd be food?"

And other enjoyable things! Surely it can't all be wacky capers all hours of the day here.

There is a very slight pause.

Then--

"Yes."

Beat.

"Santo is making pizza."

This should be interesting. And, if they're quick, they can steal some.

Rockslide is really easy to distract.

"We will have to be fast."

Alec's going to have to catch up. X is good at power walking.

Alec is fast. He can powerwalk with the best of them.

"What kind of pizza?" he asks. And then, a moment later, "Who is Santo again?"

This mansion, wow, is it something. It really is too bad it's, you know, full of trained mutants, because he could live like a king, given an hour in this place.

Emma Frost probably wouldn't like that.

It's also entirely possible that she knows what he's thinking. Not likely, but possible.

Unless she and Scott are having sex. Then all bets are off.

"I think there is sausage," X says after a moment.

"Santo is very loud. And made of stone. His code name is Rockslide. He likes to hit things."

He and Alec should get along swimmingly. Or hate each other on sight.

"Made of--? You know what, I'm not even going to question how there's a world out there with even more screwed-up biology than mine."

You know, it's entirely possible than Emma Frost would be so overwhelmed by his raw animal sexuality that she'd never catch on to him until he and several of the mansions' more vendable possessions were well out of the way.

You never know. It works with Normal.

Uh, anyway.

"Right. He sounds charming!"

Not even Terminal City turns out people like that. Alec is totally steeling himself for something very bizarre.

"He is funny."

X does not appear to be kidding about that.

And when she pushes open the door to the kitchen--

"--sure you don't want X to cut your arm off? Aren't you tired of being lopsided? Bet it makes picking up guys real hard, too."

"Santo, shut up! Anole's having a bad day and you're going to--"

"If you break the bowl I'm not picking it up. You make me write lists all the time, I'm not doing that too."

"Is something burning?"

Alec is vaguely certain that he ought to be on good behavior in front of X's friends and teammates. It's the logical thing to do.

There's... quite a lot to take in, though, even for an X5.

Seriously, though, of everything to stare at in a room, why him? He's probably the most normal one in here, right?

Well.

Alec thinks a burned pizza does not a splendid entrance make.

"Hey, think of the children, guys -- somebody get the oven."

"Laura, why is there--" the silver girl--Cessily--trails off.

There is a resounding silence.

"Someone's gonna go find Julian, right?"

"Not me!"

"I'm out."

"Me, too."

"The pizza, guys!"

"I hate eating burnt pizza."

Grumbling, the giant hunk of rock goes to open the oven and put out the flames.

X--Laura--just looks at her teammates.

"This is Alec."

Beat.

"He is my friend."

Yeah, that silence? Just got a little heavier.

It figures that the one time he could get away with Hi, kids, a significant portion of my genetic makeup is feline! I'm a trained and formerly brainwashed assassin, nice to meet you! as an introduction, it would totally fall flat.

Well, better luck next time.

Alec plasters on a smile and holds up a hand. "Hey, don't everybody get friendly all at once."

...that probably wasn't the greeting he was looking for.

X, too, is silent.

Then--

"He will not hurt anyone."

You know, just in case they were worried about that.

Santo, however, says what they're all really thinking.

"You have friends? Since when? Does he kick ass, too?"

He brings the smell of burnt pizza with him. Hey, everyone knows how to eat around char, right?

Edited 2008-08-07 01:31 (UTC)

Alec actually scoffs. "Can I kick ass. Can I kick ass? Obviously you haven't told them a single thing about me."

He glances at X.

No, really. Obviously she hasn't told them a single thing.

X offers a one-shouldered shrug.

"He cannot kick mine."

She is not very helpful.

Beat.

Beat.

"I do not talk much."

She looks a little awkward, just around the edges.

Which is probably why Cessily breaks in with "Hey, who wants pizza? It's not burnt too badly. Santo stop trying to steal the whole thing."

Edited 2008-08-07 02:17 (UTC)

"Now that's just unfair. Last I checked, the spinal column was definitely connected to the ass." He reaches for a slice, and considers for a moment. "Well, given the givens, not always, but--"

"Hah!" Pixie says, bumping into Alec as she appears from basically nowhere.

"Doctor Strange was right! Oh, is that pizza?"

Teleportation is a curse in this house. Really.

X, meanwhile, snags Pixie and moves her out of the way. Impassively.

"The oven is not on fire anymore?"

She is not going to engage Alec. That will do no good.

And her teammates would not stop staring.

(They are still staring, regardless.)

And that, my friends, is how you end up with hot pizza topping and burnt crust up your nose.

For his part, Alec fixes the weird chick with a totally affronted glare. But, when in Rome...

...maybe that's a bad metaphor; he's carried out missions in Rome. Never mind, then.

"Yeah, doesn't look like it," he says, because he doesn't like being ignored, and turns to the other kids doing their best to enjoy the pizza. "So, what is it you guys do?"

X shoots Alec a sideways look before calmly reaching for a slice of pizza.

It's amazing how everyone's hands shift away from the one she's aiming for.

X appears not to notice.

"Right now we're trying not to get killed."

"Indra," Trance hisses. "We said we weren't gonna talk about that."

"Oh, hey," Pixie says, turning from her grab for pizza to look at Laura's friend. "Are you a mutant, too? Why didn't the X-men say anything? You're not the Fantastic Four's kid, are you? Are you? Because that would be cool."

"Really!" Alec smiles around his mouthful of pizza. "Sounds like what me and mine are up to."

He swallows, and glances around the table. "No, I'm not any of that. Who're the Fantastic Four?" Doofus name like that, what would he want to do with them? He flashes a very bright white smile. "No mutant powers; I'm just a badass."

"He has heightened senses," X breaks in.

Beat.

"But no claws."

Loa looks at Alec like he's from another planet. "You don't know who--wait right there." She springs up, pizza in hand, and runs out of the room.

Josh, the gold-skinned kid sitting on the couch, scowls. Black flickers along his skin.

X's eyes widen faintly, and she reaches out to rest one hand on Alec's arm, if only for a moment.

Josh relaxes.

X breathes.

His mouth twists. "When you just put it like that, it sounds kinda lame."

All the tension keeps shifting around the room, and then X is doing her equivalent of PDA? Something has clearly just happened that he has no context for.

He leans close to X. "You haven't brought me to a strange parallel universe where everyone's supposed to be awkward when they have pizza, have you? I mean, is it a thing here that people do?"

"No," she says after a moment, looking a little uncertain.

"Oh, hey, does that mean you're gonna check everyone here for mustaches? What? I saw that episode of Star Trek!"

X takes a bite of pizza.

Then--

"We can go outside. It is nice."

Because really, the only way people aren't going to stare at X having a friend is if . . . there are no other people around.

Edited 2008-08-07 03:05 (UTC)

Alec frowns, intent on the odd proclamation.

"What? What does that even mean?"

Mustaches? The hell?