ArchivedLogs:True Faces

True Faces
Dramatis Personae Jackson, Kai	2013-08-21 '
Location <XS> Art Room - FL2
Smells of paints and chalks and turpentine mingle freely in this room, well-used, well-stocked. Natural light flows in, plentiful through the large windows. The long counter-like tables are speckled with spots of color, and half finished projects often stand on easels or propped in corners. The many cupboards lining the walls are crammed full of art supplies. With classes ended until fall and grades submitted for the last term, the /teachers/ are on vacation too. As one of the faculty who /doesn't/ live at the school, Jackson's presence there has been a sporadic thing, lately -- spied intermittently around the pool or gym, less often spied (though more frequently /there/) in the student-restricted zone of the second basement floor, in the Danger Room or the who-knows-what-secret-lairs that the X-Men vanish off into (hint: they're kind of boring meeting rooms.) When /not/ here to train he's frequently out on the grounds -- often with the students in rock climbing club, or out at the stables, taking care of the horses, helping teach others to do the same, taking students out on rides if they show interest or aptitude in equestrianism. At the moment, this evening, he's /sweaty/, black lightweight pants that seem designed for hiking, a grey Xavier's gym tee that is clinging in places to the muscles of his back; he's clearly been exerting himself /somehow/. Flushed and bearing a faint aura of light around him that shifts restlessly in a constant prismatic dance, he is swigging from a water bottle, purple with green and pink stylized dragonflies flitting across it, as he pushes his way into the art room, black boots heavy on the floor. Kai is a /terrible/ spy. He has yet to master the art of the nonchalant tailing of a target. As a result, he fell into place behind Jackson when the teacher passed him in the hall, his bare feet sliding along the carpet in at least an /attempt/ at stealth. Dressed in cargo shorts and a bright green t-shirt, he doesn't really stand out in the wake of green and pink dragonflies, but he's not going to win any ninja awards, either. He hits the door almost immediately after Jackson enters the room, drifting in with sudden reticence in spite of how diligently he'd been following to this point. "Mister Jackson," he says softly, at last, pushing the door closed behind him. "May I speak to you?" He frowns at the sweatiness, now that he's actually /studying/ his quarry. "If you are not too busy, I mean." Jackson turns, trickling a bit of water down his chin as he does. He wipes it away against his shoulder, eyebrows lifting when he watches Kai. "Hey, Kai." Given Kai's unstealthy trailing, it doesn't exactly sound surprised to see Kai here, just quiet, in Jackson's usual warm thick drawl. He shakes his head, capping his water bottle. "I jus' got /done/ bein' busy." Around him, the shimmer of light starts to fade, withdrawing until it vanishes entirely. Jackson's flush does not, face still somewhat reddened and sweat beaded against his smooth bald but still colourfully tattooed head. "'Course y'can speak t'me." He takes a step back, leaning against one of the tall long tables. "What's up?" Kai nods, smiling wanly as he moves into the room. "You look like you have been working very hard," he says, nodding at the older man. "I was often sweaty this summer, when taking care of Ivan's bees." When Jackson confirms that he can, in fact, speak, the Korean boy...falls silent. A thoughtful silence, but one that stretches a long minute or two. "Mister Jackson," he says, lifting one bare foot to rub along his calf. "I would like to ask you a question, but I think it is not a very easy question." He wrinkles his nose. "But it is a thing I must know, and you are the only person that I know might answer it." "Was a pretty ridiculously hot summer, too. We're probably gonna get more hives, later on." Jackson says this a little distractedly, looking outwards towards the window and the grounds beyond. His attention returns to Kai when the silence is broken, head tipping slightly to one side as he listens. "Me?" This evidently /does/ surprise him, judging by the slight widening of his eye, but he nods. "Uh -- okay, um -- sure, Kai, what's -- you can ask, I don't -- promise I'm gonna have all the answers." "More hives?" Kai seems surprised by this revelation, albeit pleasantly so. "That will be good. Ivan's bees are very happy here." He, too, glances out the window, as if mentioning the other boy will cause him to suddenly appear. When Jax nods, the teenager reaches into a pocket and pulls out his cell phone, tapping at the screen. "Peter showed me a thing, from The Hobbit cartoon," he says, opening the link. "And I have been watching it, and wondering a thing." He wrinkles his nose, and turns the phone so that Jax can watch as Bilbo and Smaug face off, the dragon bellowing his name and threats. Kai frowns as the video rolls, and ducks his head. "You are the only one I know here that I know has seen him, and it is a very hard thing to ask. But..." he trails off, considering his next words. "Is Foom like this dragon?" Jackson uncaps his water bottle again, as Kai opens up his phone, sipping from it slowly. His brows pull together, as he waches the video, and his teeth wiggle slowly at one lip ring. His hand drops to rest at the edge of the table, fingers curling downwards to grip it tightly. Slowly, his brows knit together. His teeth click against the rim of his water bottle. "You -- don't /know/ what Foom is like?" Kai narrows one eye thoughtfully. "No, I have asked it wrong," he says, wrinkling his nose. "Is this how Foom appears, but in green?" His brow furrows. "I mean that I know what Foom is like, because I can hear him, and I see through his eyes. But I have never seen /him/. Only parts of him." His frown deepens. "And what he /thinks/ he looks like." Jackson exhales slowly, lowering his hand to set the water bottle on the table beside him. He lifts his hand again, palm rubbing in a slow drag against the side of his face, dragging down at the strap of his eyepatch and pulling it slightly off-kilter. He re-adjusts it back into place, his fingers trailing against his cheek before his hand falls back down again. There's a long silence. "If you want to see, I could show you." Kai watches the drag of hand solemnly, and there's a sympathetic twitch to his eyebrows. "I am sorry," he says. "I know that Foom was very hard on you and..." he swallows, and ducks his head, staring at his toes as his ears bloom with color. The offer brings his head back up again, and his eyes widen in mild confusion. "I-it would not be too hard for you?" he asks softly, chewing at his bottom lip. "I would like very much to see, but I do not wish to cause you distress." "Oh, illusion's easy for me," Jackson answers lightly, "S'kinda pretty much second nature." He dips his head, wipng his cheek against his shirt again, though by now most of the sweat beaded on his skin has dried off to just a tacky salt-stickiness that is in bad need of showering off. Stepping away from the table towards the door, he scoops his water bottle off the tabletop, letting it thunk down against his thigh as his hand drops. In the middle of the room, in the center of the long tables, something blossoms, small and green. Then bigger and green. Scales. Claws. Wings. Teeth. The tables in the room vanish, the cupboards vanish, eventually the /walls/ vanish to make room for the size of him. His hands shift, behind his back, and he says nothing. Just looks at the green dragon, and looks at Kai. Kai's brow furrows at Jax's assurance. "That is not what I meant," he murmurs, but by then the teacher is beginning to craft the illusion, driving him to silence. His eyes widen as the shape begins to coalesce, and he steps forward just a step. There's a small intake of air as cupboards and walls fall away, although it might be for the sheer mass of the Foom-avatar. Once it's finished, the Korean boy approaches it cautiously, as if it might turn on him at any moment. It /is/ Foom, after all. There's a couple of bumps as he bangs into invisible tables and chairs on his way to examine it closer. "Oh," he says, as he moves around the head, taking in the teeth and fury-filled eyes. His own eyes flicker yellow gently, once, and fade back to black. "Oh." The second one comes in a sort of stark realization, and another bloom of color in his ears. "He is very terrible to behold, isn't he?" "Sorry -- only /looks/ like the room's changed," Jackson murmurs apologetically, when Kai bumps into those first tables. But then quiet, again. He steps back towards the door again, leaning against the lintel beside it. His eye drifts over the Foom-replica slowly, for a very long while in silence. "It's just an illusion." And then more silence; Jax's gaze is riveted on the insubstantial dragon. "It look anything like /he/ thinks he looks like?" "It is smaller," Kai says. "In Foom's mind, he is bigger than houses. But he thinks it is very handsome." He tips his head as he examines that terrible countenance, and touches the scar on his chin thoughtfully. "It is missing the scar that the girl gave him. The strange one, with the sword." His voice goes faraway as he makes this notation, and he continues his path around the dragon, bumping his way along. He's quiet for the rest of his inspection, fingers reaching out occasionally to skate through the glowing edges of the illusion. Then, when he's finished, he steps away from it firmly, and clasps his hands behind his back. His expression is thoughtful, and he nods. "Thank you for showing him to me," he says sincerely, looking back at Jax with a small tug of a smile. "It is good to know what he looks like, although I am sorry that you have seen the real one." Jackson's breath rushes out of him heavily, and the illusion vanishes, room returning to its normal order -- albeit with a few chairs bumped out of place here and there, now -- as his shoulders sink downwards with an abrupt release of tension. "'course." His voice is light. His fingers curl tight around his water bottle. He looks Kai over thoughtfully. "Y'aright, now? S'that all y'wanted t'ask?" Kai frowns at the sudden release of the illusion, his attention focusing on Jax with a small furrow of his brow. "Are you all right?" he asks, with genuine concern. "I did not mean to tire you, after you have been exercising." He steps forward, then, approaching the teacher slowly. "That is the most important thing," he says. "I think that it answers many other questions, though." There's a small shrug, and the boy stops to look at Jax with a slow tip of his head. "Mister Jackson, would it be all right if I gave you a hug to say how sorry I remain about all of the things which Foom did to you?" Jackson shakes his head, straightening from the doorjam. "Oh -- like I said, illusion's easy for me. I once," he admits with a quick, amused smile, "illusioned the whole'a the mansion into Beast's castle for a --" He blushes, shaking his head. "/That/ was exhausting." His hand scuffs over his head, and a tension ripples up through his posture as Kai steps closer. He draws in a breath, lets it out again slowly. His eye fixes on Kai, his brow furrowing. "You know," he says then, quiet. "One'a the first times I made one of those runs. Hit up a facility to let people out. One of the people inside was -- guarding the place. Near killed me. /Did/ kill two of my team. Almost crushed my brain straight to death. We almost --" He shakes his head, quickly. "My team wanted to leave him behind, once we managed t'subdue him. Like you he was -- they was usin' him." Something twinges across his face, a quick spasm of tension, tight and pained. "In there we don't always choose what we get to do. An' even the choices we /do/ make, we don't exactly make with a lot of /freedom/ behind them. He's one of my best friends now. I'd trust him with my life. An' he's been with me on every raid since, an' saved more people than I can keep track of. I just --" He swallows. "It's hard, Kai. I know it's hard. I can't pretend to know exactly /how/ hard, for you. And people -- it ain't easy. I /also/ ain't gonna pretend it's easy for me, after what happened, cuz the memories -- but it weren't your /fault/. And you'll move past it. And the choices you make /now/'ll be your own." A small smile curls across his face, hesitant, but there. The arm that isn't holding his water bottle opens. "-- An' giving me a hug can be one of them." Kai seems surprised to learn this bit of information regarding Jackson's path; moreso that it is so similar to his own. His eyes are near-circles at the thought of someone /else/ nearly killing the teacher, and he steps forward slightly. "It /is/ hard, but I am glad that you came for us," he says softly, earnestly. "It is good to have choices. They are a thing I have /never/ had before. Even before Foom came." The smile and the open arm get a wide flash of teeth, and Kai skips forward to close his arms around Jackson's waist, and press his face against that sweaty t-shirt, closing his eyes. "I am glad you did not leave me behind. Thank you." "Y'got 'em now. An' we're here to see that you get to keep 'em." Jax's arm squeezes briefly around Kai, but he pulls back with a sheepish wrinkle of his nose. "Sorry. Hugs are probably better when I ain't smelling like a whole ton of gross. I should -- prooobably hit the shower real quick 'fore I grab my kid from camp." Kai giggles at Jax's self-assessment, and he nods as he steps back. "Thank you again for showing me," he says, smiling tightly. "It was very good of you." He skips back another step, reaching for the doorknob. "I will go now, so you can shower," he says, pulling the door open. "Have a nice time going to the camp, and with the rest of the break." He lingers in the doorway, staring at the teacher for a long moment before he lifts a hand in farewell, "Good-bye." And then he's heading down the hall, already bent over his phone to look something up. Or watch that video again. Teenagers.