Jean-Paul and Noriko - After JP's party
Mar. 16th, 2013 05:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainNoriko and JP have a race, and a quiet conversation, on school grounds, after the party. He even makes her smile.
"Sure," Noriko agreed, electricity already beginning to crackle and arch around her as she gifted Jean-Paul with one of her rare, sharp smiles. Her latest pill had not been very long ago; she was on the high and then some, right then. "You're on."
There was no reason not to let out some steam after that dinner - and burn some calories, as if they really needed the help - by doing some superspeeding over the grounds. No reason at all, no matter what state the ground in question was in. Noriko ran at full speed towards the few trees they had set as a marker for their arrival, and managed a decent enough stop, just a few yards from them. She almost slid in the slush on the ground, but managed to catch her balance with a quiet chuckle before looking over at Jean-Paul.
The other speedster was nowhere to be seen, but applause sounded from overhead. Jean-Paul grinned down at her from one of the trees, the state of his hair and tie saying he had indeed put on speed to keep up with her.
"Parfait, Surge." He swung down to one of the lower branches and offered her a hand up. "And full marks for braking."
Noriko walked forward and took his hand, grabbing on to one of the other branches, finding a grip for her foot on the trunk and letting Jean-Paul help her up as she did her part to join him.
"Now I know you've gotta be tipsy," she remarked, her usual wry tone less effective than it usually was as she found her balance on the sturdy branch, cheeks pink from the brief running exertion. "Braking's still not perfect." Or she would have stopped inches from the trees, not yards. Perfectionist, what?
"Don't I wish. That is the problem with chaperones...getting away with the underage drinking gets a lot harder. Especially when they're in the same room." He flashed her a grin. "You're more tipsy than I am right now. But hopefully a good time was had by all?"
"Not tipsy," Noriko retorted, ignoring his question for now, as she looked up to assess the feasibility of climbing higher into that tree. She hadn't climbed a tree in years. "But my brain's unknotted." She had decided a while back that that was the best phrase to describe it. And since Jean-Paul was, well, Jean-Paul, he got to hear it.
She grabbed an upper branch and managed to hoist herself up on it, sitting on it instead of getting to her feet. "Thanks for inviting me. I'm not sure I even said." Back when he invited her. She'd been too surprised.
Jean-Paul lounged back on the branch they'd been sharing and just watched her ascend. It was hard to be perturbed that someone was climbing higher than he was, when he could fly. "It's easier to remember the niceties when you can think in straight lines, non? But I'm glad you came. And Raymonde was glad to meet you."
"I'm glad I met him, too," Noriko confirmed with a small frown. It had been odd, but good. The guy seemed too good to be true, and all of her instincts told her not to trust grown-ups, but Jean-Paul was proof that this one was trustworthy. Odd, but good. "He seems to be everything you said and then some."
"Is it weird that that is what makes it so hard to trust him some days? I mean, I do trust him ninety-nine percent of the time...but then there's that one percent waiting for the other shoe to drop." It was easy to ask Nori about that; she was one of the few in a position to understand where he was coming from without being traumatised by the conversation.
"I don't know if it's weird," Noriko stated. It wasn't, to her, but she didn't think somebody like her would be able to set any norm. Blue-haired mutant runaway that she was. "I know I get it. I wouldn't trust it either."
"Exactly, because when something seems too good to be true, it's not usually a sign that you're lucky, just that you're being played."
Noriko shifted on the branch, so she could lean back against the trunk of the tree, legs dangling on either side. "Pretty much, yeah." She looked down at Jean-Paul on the branch below. "But this is way depressing talk after an evening of celebration, and it's me saying that."
He laughed. "I suppose. And I am glad he's going to be around for a few days. I kicked ass, but it has kept me pretty well run ragged."
Noriko grinned at the night sky, threading her fingers together over her stomach. "You kicked ass. Don't let me keep you up if you wanna hit the sack," she added, looking down at him.
"Too keyed up for sleep." Jean-Paul stretched out on his branch, feline lazy and fearless of gravity. "I have to decide what I'm doing next. But I guess that's everyone these days."
"I don't know, I'm sticking with 'surviving' as my short term and long term plan," Noriko answered as she tilted her head back against the trunk, then frowned slightly. "How'd your talk with the head honchos go?"
"Well, they are not meddling in my personal life as much as I had feared they were. That is a positive, non?"
"If you're sure they're not," Noriko answered, the frown not going anywhere. Trusting everything they said was not her style.
"Given the personalities involved?" Jean-Paul laughed. "About ninety-percent sure on this one. What about you? Anything ping your bullshit detector during your meet?"
"If you consider 'keeping our answers as vague as freaking possible' as bullshit, which I do," Noriko answered with a doubtful purse of her lips. "They might not be lying to us, but I don't like it." She'd learned to be too self-reliant to find this okay.
"What did you expect? They are going to give out the names and addresses of their network to the student body at large? Have you met half the kids here?"
"Not the poster child for social-butterfly-ness, so no," Noriko replied wryly, letting the sparks out around her hands to keep warm. They were on school grounds and her brain was buzzing in the good way; that was all she needed. "But even if they have their reasons, it's not gonna make me like it, or trust them."
"No argument there. It...feels like it's about them, not about us. About Xavier working out his power issues and whatever the hell has Lensherr staying here." Jean-Paul shrugged lazily, one leg swinging over the side of his branch. "But it works for me right now."
"You and me both," Noriko confirmed, absent-mindedly twirling electricity around her fingers. "As long as our agendas coincide..." She just had to wonder how long they would, until whatever the headmasters were really about finally showed through.
"And when they don't, you'll run away to Canada with me?" Jean-Paul teased. "I'm prepping for an eventual exodus."
"Are you gonna make me learn French?" Noriko asked, as if that might play a part in her decision. "I barely remember any. I might've spent all of my foreign language points on English."
"I'll do better than that." Jean-Paul was grinning, static snapping through his hair as Nori's sparks danced above him. "I'll teach you joual. That's the dialect with all the really interesting swear words."
"Now that's a good selling point," Noriko agreed, lips curving up into a genuine, if small, smile.
"Sure," Noriko agreed, electricity already beginning to crackle and arch around her as she gifted Jean-Paul with one of her rare, sharp smiles. Her latest pill had not been very long ago; she was on the high and then some, right then. "You're on."
There was no reason not to let out some steam after that dinner - and burn some calories, as if they really needed the help - by doing some superspeeding over the grounds. No reason at all, no matter what state the ground in question was in. Noriko ran at full speed towards the few trees they had set as a marker for their arrival, and managed a decent enough stop, just a few yards from them. She almost slid in the slush on the ground, but managed to catch her balance with a quiet chuckle before looking over at Jean-Paul.
The other speedster was nowhere to be seen, but applause sounded from overhead. Jean-Paul grinned down at her from one of the trees, the state of his hair and tie saying he had indeed put on speed to keep up with her.
"Parfait, Surge." He swung down to one of the lower branches and offered her a hand up. "And full marks for braking."
Noriko walked forward and took his hand, grabbing on to one of the other branches, finding a grip for her foot on the trunk and letting Jean-Paul help her up as she did her part to join him.
"Now I know you've gotta be tipsy," she remarked, her usual wry tone less effective than it usually was as she found her balance on the sturdy branch, cheeks pink from the brief running exertion. "Braking's still not perfect." Or she would have stopped inches from the trees, not yards. Perfectionist, what?
"Don't I wish. That is the problem with chaperones...getting away with the underage drinking gets a lot harder. Especially when they're in the same room." He flashed her a grin. "You're more tipsy than I am right now. But hopefully a good time was had by all?"
"Not tipsy," Noriko retorted, ignoring his question for now, as she looked up to assess the feasibility of climbing higher into that tree. She hadn't climbed a tree in years. "But my brain's unknotted." She had decided a while back that that was the best phrase to describe it. And since Jean-Paul was, well, Jean-Paul, he got to hear it.
She grabbed an upper branch and managed to hoist herself up on it, sitting on it instead of getting to her feet. "Thanks for inviting me. I'm not sure I even said." Back when he invited her. She'd been too surprised.
Jean-Paul lounged back on the branch they'd been sharing and just watched her ascend. It was hard to be perturbed that someone was climbing higher than he was, when he could fly. "It's easier to remember the niceties when you can think in straight lines, non? But I'm glad you came. And Raymonde was glad to meet you."
"I'm glad I met him, too," Noriko confirmed with a small frown. It had been odd, but good. The guy seemed too good to be true, and all of her instincts told her not to trust grown-ups, but Jean-Paul was proof that this one was trustworthy. Odd, but good. "He seems to be everything you said and then some."
"Is it weird that that is what makes it so hard to trust him some days? I mean, I do trust him ninety-nine percent of the time...but then there's that one percent waiting for the other shoe to drop." It was easy to ask Nori about that; she was one of the few in a position to understand where he was coming from without being traumatised by the conversation.
"I don't know if it's weird," Noriko stated. It wasn't, to her, but she didn't think somebody like her would be able to set any norm. Blue-haired mutant runaway that she was. "I know I get it. I wouldn't trust it either."
"Exactly, because when something seems too good to be true, it's not usually a sign that you're lucky, just that you're being played."
Noriko shifted on the branch, so she could lean back against the trunk of the tree, legs dangling on either side. "Pretty much, yeah." She looked down at Jean-Paul on the branch below. "But this is way depressing talk after an evening of celebration, and it's me saying that."
He laughed. "I suppose. And I am glad he's going to be around for a few days. I kicked ass, but it has kept me pretty well run ragged."
Noriko grinned at the night sky, threading her fingers together over her stomach. "You kicked ass. Don't let me keep you up if you wanna hit the sack," she added, looking down at him.
"Too keyed up for sleep." Jean-Paul stretched out on his branch, feline lazy and fearless of gravity. "I have to decide what I'm doing next. But I guess that's everyone these days."
"I don't know, I'm sticking with 'surviving' as my short term and long term plan," Noriko answered as she tilted her head back against the trunk, then frowned slightly. "How'd your talk with the head honchos go?"
"Well, they are not meddling in my personal life as much as I had feared they were. That is a positive, non?"
"If you're sure they're not," Noriko answered, the frown not going anywhere. Trusting everything they said was not her style.
"Given the personalities involved?" Jean-Paul laughed. "About ninety-percent sure on this one. What about you? Anything ping your bullshit detector during your meet?"
"If you consider 'keeping our answers as vague as freaking possible' as bullshit, which I do," Noriko answered with a doubtful purse of her lips. "They might not be lying to us, but I don't like it." She'd learned to be too self-reliant to find this okay.
"What did you expect? They are going to give out the names and addresses of their network to the student body at large? Have you met half the kids here?"
"Not the poster child for social-butterfly-ness, so no," Noriko replied wryly, letting the sparks out around her hands to keep warm. They were on school grounds and her brain was buzzing in the good way; that was all she needed. "But even if they have their reasons, it's not gonna make me like it, or trust them."
"No argument there. It...feels like it's about them, not about us. About Xavier working out his power issues and whatever the hell has Lensherr staying here." Jean-Paul shrugged lazily, one leg swinging over the side of his branch. "But it works for me right now."
"You and me both," Noriko confirmed, absent-mindedly twirling electricity around her fingers. "As long as our agendas coincide..." She just had to wonder how long they would, until whatever the headmasters were really about finally showed through.
"And when they don't, you'll run away to Canada with me?" Jean-Paul teased. "I'm prepping for an eventual exodus."
"Are you gonna make me learn French?" Noriko asked, as if that might play a part in her decision. "I barely remember any. I might've spent all of my foreign language points on English."
"I'll do better than that." Jean-Paul was grinning, static snapping through his hair as Nori's sparks danced above him. "I'll teach you joual. That's the dialect with all the really interesting swear words."
"Now that's a good selling point," Noriko agreed, lips curving up into a genuine, if small, smile.
