Alex and Noriko - Backdated to March 16

[om_surge]

Noriko and Alex chill out after a little Danger Gym training.


Noriko always felt so much better after a session in that room. Like her skin was still buzzing but in a good way, not the way it did when she needed another pill, and like she fit better inside her skin. Like she was more herself.

It always left her in a better mood than she usually was, and today was no exception. She was even smiling as she walked out of there with Alex. She had her sweater in her hand, and was in a tank top and battered old jeans, for now still too warm from the power exercise to bother putting the sweater back on.

"That felt good," she stated appreciatively, eyes twinkling happily as she pushed a hand back through her hair, blue strands settling back down haphazardly, some of them over her forehead.

Alex had his fingers threaded together behind his head as he followed Noriko out of the Danger Gym; he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and showing little sign that the heat had gotten to him--though he was obviously winded from exerting himself. Like her, there was nothing he enjoyed as much as cutting loose without having to worry about damage to people or property. Maybe that was a fault on his part, but he couldn't really help it; there was something about using his powers that made him feel ... like a whole person. Like he was real.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Gotta lot of work to do, personally, before I'm up to code--from the ground up, really--but ... this is cool. Thanks for letting me tag along, Noriko."

"Letting you tag along?" Noriko echoed doubtfully. She was a big fan of equality, and that made it sound like she'd done him a favor. "I thought we'd be a good match to train together." She gave him a small, quick smile. "I was right."

Alex grinned. "That was pretty badass, wasn't it? We might not have a whole lot of subtlety, between us, but if it ever comes down to the big stick approach, I think we've got it covered." He stared at her back curiously. "You look like you need hydration. Maybe we should grab a Gatorade, or something."

"And wolf down a pizza or two," Noriko agreed, looking very pleased at the thought of drinks, and food. Subtlety had never been her thing (in case her hair wasn't enough of a clue, her attitude certainly would be), so big stick worked just fine for her. "You getting the munchies as well?"

If anything, the younger mutant's grin widened. "Not really, you know. I mean, it seems like I should," he admitted, patting the stomach of his relatively scrawny frame to illustrate, "but nah. I mean, I get hungry and thirsty and all that fun stuff after a good workout, but ... you know! I'm sucking up the cosmic radiation! Twenty-four/seven. I think that sort of ... does its own kind of refueling? If that makes sense? Like my powers have a separate gas tank."

"It just means there's a difference between the way our powers work after all," Noriko remarked, with a wry twist of her lips that actually signified amusement. "I might be sucking in electricity all the time, I still eat like a host of children."

"Probably some kind of complicated biology thing involved," Alex agreed with a sagacious nod. "You know, cells and mitochondria and," he waved a hand, having pretty much exhausted his knowledge of the subject, "organic chemistry and stuff. The point is, we should go eat all the food."

"That's pretty much always the point," Noriko confirmed, as they jogged up the stairs for that very purpose. Biology wasn't her thing, other than what she'd tried and read up that might have to do with her mutation, and mitochondria hadn't been one of those things. "So how've you been, anyway?" A more genuine question than the 'What's up' he'd gotten as a greeting when they'd met up.

"Good, I guess," said Alex, trailing about a half-pace behind her. "Me and Scott have been hanging out more, getting to know each other. That good stuff. And my roommate--Vance--he's pretty cool. And I've been meeting some of the other kids and stuff, and so far nobody seems to hate me. So can't say I can complain. Especially with the indestructible gym to cut loose in." He paused a beat, then, "How 'bout you? Everything cool?"

"Wait a second," Noriko said, frowning slightly. When he'd mentioned Scott at first she'd thought they were roommates, but if his roommate was Vance... "There something special about you and Scott?" She didn't know either boy's last name, and she really wasn't up on the school's rumor mill.

"Oh! Duh. Sorry; totally my bad there," Alex replied, blushing slightly and slapping a hand to his head as they hurried along. "I just sort of took for granted that everybody'd heard the story by now. You know how teenagers like to gossip and shit." But now he was babbling a little. He should probably just tell her already. "Scott's my older brother. There was an accident, and we ended up being raised separately for a long time. So we've got a lot of catching up to do, you know?"

"Huh." There was a small frown on Noriko's brow, but it was not disapproval, more like surprise. She'd never have pegged these two as brothers. "Yeah, I bet. Not too awkward?" She figured it had the potential to be, and Scott's attitude, for all that she had no problem with it, couldn't possibly make things easier.

Alex shrugged a bit self-consciously. Hell yes, it was awkward. Sometimes painfully so. Their personalities didn't exactly mesh seamlessly, and the traits they shared in common--most notably their stubbornness--didn't exactly help smooth the way. All the same ... "Nah, we're gettin' there. Might be a long road, but I think we'll be okay, sooner or later. I'll let you know if I ever need you to kick his ass for me."

That earned him a huffed out laugh, and Noriko glanced at him with a half-smile. "I'm touched that you think I can." She could fight - well, dirty. She just didn't know how well Scott could. "And you do that," she added, looking back ahead as they turned into the hallway to the kitchen, and pushed open the door, heading straight for the cupboard full of all the unhealthy snack food ever and throwing a bag of chips at Alex.

Snorting as he caught the chips, Alex smirked back at Noriko. Of course she could kick Scott's ass--he doubted his brother had it in him to fight a girl, and Nori could take care of herself. Far as he was concerned, the smart money was on gallantry losing the day.

Tearing the bag open sharply, he began popping salty slices of kettle-cooked goodness into his mouth. Foregoing the chairs, he propped his butt against the back of the counter, chewing thoughtfully. "So. You still haven't told me anything about your news. Anything good?"

"Not much, good or bad," Noriko answered, actually hopping up onto the counter with a bag of cheesy puffs, legs dangling easily. It was Her Spot, within arm's reach of the cupboard of snacks. "Jean-Paul's invited a bunch of us out to this fancy dinner thing tonight to celebrate the end of the season for him. Well, he says it's not fancy."

Alex stuck out his tongue sympathetically. Yeah, he didn't know Jean-Paul Beaubier personally, but he'd heard enough to suspect Noriko wasn't wrong to be apprehensive. "'Not-fancy' for him probably means only four-and-a-half stars. Seriously, I've heard about his cooking, all unpronounceable intercontinental type stuff. I hope you have something with ruffles to wear."

Not fucking likely, since this was Nori. But what was a little tweaking between friends?

"You don't say," Noriko wryly replied. "You know Lydia? She tried to find something for me in her closet. Emphasis on freaking tried. Nah, Jean-Paul's lending me one of his shirts."

"I know of her," Alex admitted. "Scary girl. Looks like she might eat little boys that don't give her enough space. I'm happy to let her have half the mansion." He tilted his head. "I guess I could see you in one of Jean-Paul's nicer shirts. That wouldn't be too weird. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too hard about the dress code. Just, you know, have fun. Or else what's the point of a party in the first place?"

"Oh, I'm not worried, just saying - there actually were ruffles in her wardrobe," Noriko replied wryly. "And don't let her be a bitch to you, if you're ever in her half of the castle."

"She's never been a bitch, exactly," he tried to explain. "Just ... something about her kind of scares me." Shrugging it aside, Alex munched another chip. "Like a forest fire or a tidal wave. Something that isn't malicious, but might break every bone in your body anyway. Still, it doesn't surprise me that she's got ruffles in her wardrobe. Never seen her wear the same thing twice.

"Anybody else you know going to be at this party thing? Or is it gonna be a friends of friends type of deal?"

"I think I saw Scott's codename in the e-mail list," Noriko thought out loud, balling up the package now that she'd gone through the first bag. This was why this was her spot; she didn't have to move to open the cupboard again and grab the first thing inside. And put it back in, since it was microwave popcorn, and she didn't feel like it. Second blind attempt got her a bag of salt and vinegar chips, and those she kept. "And Josh's. Do you know Josh? Golden boy?"

For his part, Alex continued munching away unperturbed. "Scott? It's Cyclops. Don't love it, myself, but they don't give kid brothers veto power." His shoulders rose and fell. "Well. I'm glad he's getting out. Between you and me, I think anything that might help loosen him up a little would be a good thing. Guy's wound up tighter than a guitar string."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I mean, yeah, I've seen Golden Boy around, but I don't think I've ever said more than a passing 'hello' to him before. But if you say he's cool, I'll definitely make a point of bugging him sometime."

"Yeah, he's alright," Noriko confirmed with a nod, but she was still thinking about codenames and vetos. "Why Havok, by the way?"

Tapping his chin with the side of a chip, Alex thought about that for a few seconds. Then he offered a shrug and a small, self-deprecating smirk. "Dunno. 'Cause it sounds cool? And it's kind of what I do. I kind of worry that spelling something wrong on purpose is a bit tired, though. Do people even still think that's clever anymore?"

"I have no idea," Noriko said, self-conscious about not having even realized that it was misspelled. Hey, second language, and havoc was the kind of word a 'k' worked so much better for. "K's more badass?"

"I'm willing to go with that, even if I think you might just being nice," he said, crumpling the now-empty bag of chips between his hands and turning to root through the cupboards for something else to feed his growing teenage appetite. "Your codename suits you pretty well, I think. Even if it does make me think of that old pop they used to make. Man, that shit was gross."

"Oh, wow, I'd forgotten about it," Noriko stated, eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, before she snorted out a short, quiet laugh. "Yeah, I'm not named after that. It was a kid I knew that called me that. I guess it suits me, because everybody was calling me that in no time. She never told anyone why Surge, fortunately."

"No, like I said, totally cool," Alex said, withdrawing from the shelves with another bag of chips in hand. Barbecue. Sweet. "And it does absolutely suit you." He thought a moment. "So, wait, some kid saw you use your powers? And didn't ... you know, flip his shit?" The way Noriko told the story, it didn't seem like it. But this wasn't the kind of thing he wanted to take for granted.

"She said I was like a superhero," Noriko answered, and shrugged. "It's different out there. I was looking out for her." The use of short sentences was not a conscious decision, but spoke to the fact that it wasn't the subject she felt most at ease chatting about. But if she didn't want to, she wouldn't be talking about it at all. "I mean, even before."

Alex considered that, and nodded. "That's pretty badass," he said. "That you'd do that, I mean. Couldn't have been, you know, easy. Out there." There wasn't really anything like it, in his brief experience. Not exactly. The orphanage, in some ways, he guessed, it wasn't like he'd been there all that long. His foster family, though weird as hell, had been at least a stable kind of weird.

"I want to be something like that, someday. You know, a hero. And not worrying so much about the kaboom."

"Not worrying about the kaboom would be pretty awesome," Noriko confirmed with a wry half-smile, before the amusement seeped out of her. "But I wasn't a hero. I just did what I could. And it wasn't all that much." The second bag of chips, now finished, was crumpled, and she hopped off of the counter, both empty bags in hand to go throw them in the trash before she went foraging in the fridge or freezer for something to stick in the microwave. "I'll be happy if they train us properly." Then maybe next time she needed to step in somewhere, she could do more. Be better.

"Word," Alex agreed. "I'd like to feel like I'm in charge of this thing. Not ... riding an oiled-up tiger made of nuclear bombs." Okay, so he failed at analogy. He was a science kid! More so than a lit. geek, anyway. He watched Noriko plunder the freezer and mused, "One day, I would like to be my own walking microwave. That would be sweet."

"One day, I want to be my own source of energy," Noriko echoed, mostly playfully, for all that her playful didn't exactly sound it. "Screw electricity bills." She came up with a pizza - pepperoni - and closed the freezer before moving over to the oven. It would take longer than the microwave, but the result would be so much better. She looked at Alex critically as she opened the package. "How hungry are you?" It might be better to stick two in the oven straight away.

"I could eat," he replied, somewhat vaguely. He wasn't as ravenous as Noriko--probably--but no kid his age ever turned down food. Growth spurts, and all that shit. "You know, if it's cool." But Alex was quick to jump back to the previous topic, at least in brief. "Seriously, though, how cool would that be? I guess it'd probably depend on how much wattage you can put out consistently. That might be something to try working on sometime."

"One moment's inattention and I lose power?" Noriko pointed out as she went back into the freezer for a second pizza. Better too much than not enough. "Doesn't sound like a very worthwhile goal, even if I pull it off."

"Stop sucking the fun out of stuff, Noriko," Alex chided. "Wouldn't it be cool to know you were running, like, a TV or one of those electric cars or something, even if it was only briefly? You should totally give it a shot! If you do, I'll try my hand at microwaving a burrito without a microwave." He thought about that a moment, then added quickly, "Outside, I mean."

Noriko laughed softly at his addendum as she stuck the second pizza in the oven with the first. "Okay, that sounds like a fair deal. I won't try tomorrow, but I'll work up to it. Let you know when it's burrito time."

"Sounds good. I'll work on not blowing up frozen ethnic cuisine. Sounds like we've both got a long road ahead of us."