Noriko and Doug | Backdated to 8/22
Aug. 22nd, 2014 08:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainNoriko points out the realities of life as a mutant.
Noriko loaded her tray with a lot more food than you'd expect somebody so skinny to eat, then turned around to survey the room. There were some of her friends in the room, but before she moved over to them, she noticed the brand new kid eating on his own at a table.
"Doug, right?" she checked as she stopped beside his table. She kinda expected him to do a double take on the gauntlets; most people did. They made the blue hair seem pretty normal in comparison. "Want some company?"
Doug had been sitting alone, reading over the syllabus for his World Studies class, but he heard his name and looked up to see a blue haired Asian girl carrying an overloaded tray and wearing some kind of metal-looking arm...things. "Sure," he said, glancing away from those as he half rose from his seat and waited for her to take hers before sitting back down.
"Noriko, right?" he guessed from her reply to his journal entry, suddenly relieved that Kitty'd made him do the whole "meet and greet" thing after all. "Thanks for the welcome yesterday."
Huh, manners. Whatever. "Yeah," Noriko confirmed who she was. "You're welcome." It had just been a comment, seriously, so... "How are you settling in?"
"Hey, got my computer set up last night - everything else can wait." Smiling faintly, he gestured at the course syllabus. "It doesn't look as if I've got much to make up, so good timing, right?"
"Definitely," Noriko confirmed with a small smile, and got started on her steak and mashed potatoes. "So what was that about needing an intervention?" she asked curiously. She was nothing if not blunt.
"Stuck my nose in where it didn't belong," Doug admitted vaguely, toying with his macaroni with his fork and wondering if Noriko was just curious or if she was digging for something specific. "Drew some attention from the wrong people, and e-mailed X-Statix." He smiled crookedly. "And e-mailed Kitty, who makes it sound way more exciting than it all was." Terrifying, definitely. But the excitement value was fairly low, overall.
Noriko had just been curious, but now she was curious with an edge. "Which wrong people are we talking about?"
"Corporate," Doug explained quickly, realizing belatedly that his answer could be construed as some kind of governmental (or otherwise) interest in mutants. "Not related to anything here." Or at least, not unless you were Harry Osborn.
Right. Noriko had spent too much time with Claudia that she put two and two together, with his words about setting up his computer, and found that it amounted to, "Hacker?"
Doug stared at her for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah. I guess it's not too unique around here, huh?" After all, he might not know "JadeLantern" well, but he'd read Angie's posts on the forums. And while Claudia wasn't doing exactly the same thing, what she was doing still qualified.
"We've got all sorts of young delinquents," Noriko confirmed with a shrug and a small smile. The sort that seemed to say that she didn't mind - on the contrary. Hell, she was one of them, just not on the computer front. "Well, good thing you managed to get here."
Doug frowned a little - for all that hacking was illegal, he didn't really consider himself a delinquent. After all, it wasn't as if "Cypher" was selling the information; he'd just been interested. When it became obvious she didn't mean it as an insult, however, he returned her smile and nodded. "Yeah, I got lucky," he acknowledged, finally remembering that the macaroni and cheese on his plate was a food and not an odd art project and spearing some with his fork. "Anyway, you didn't say on the journals - what is it you do?" Something with the squads, he was guessing, considering she'd asked about those.
The gauntlets, he continued to ignore, though it was difficult considering that he was intrigued by their design. Considering that he wasn't sure whether they were functional or decorative, though, he decided to wait until she mentioned them first.
"Electricity," she answered, putting her knife down so she could demonstrate, a tendril of blue electricity winding its way around her metal-clad fingers. "Allows me to superspeed, too. The gauntlets are helping me regulating it."
Doug watched the demonstration, fascinated, then shook his head and laughed softly. "Y'know, every time I think I've seen the most amazing thing possible, someone tops it," he observed, then pulled his eyes away from her hand and back to her face. "Very cool."
"Somebody will top before lunch breaks is over, yeah," Noriko agreed with a shrug, and went back to her meal, with her usual gusto. "Being a universal translator is pretty cool, too."
Doug resumed eating his macaroni. "It's cool," he admitted. "Don't get me wrong; I can definitely imagine the applications, and it doesn't appear to have any downside." It just wasn't...impressive, he supposed was the right word. No, it was quiet. Inconspicuous. All the things he was already.
"But it isn't flashy?" Noriko tried and guessed, with an amused smile.
"That obvious, huh?" Doug smiled crookedly and shrugged. "Probably just as well. I'm not really a flashy kind of guy."
"Flashy isn't always everything it's cracked up to be," she answered with a shrug, and then switched to Japanese. "Know Japanese yet?"
Started with Japanese, he admitted, unconsciously switching to that language when she did. Have you ever read- He broke off, grinning a little as he pointed his fork at her accusingly. "Okay, that was tricky."
"Oooh, flashy," Noriko smirked, absolutely unrepentant.
Doug laughed and shook his head. She'd made her point, and while he wasn't entirely prepared to admit there was anything flashy about his mutation, it did have its moments. "Right. So anyway, you were asking about the squads on my intro? What's the deal with those?" He was genuinely curious; the way the Professor'd described them, they'd sounded like an elaborate version of the "team building" exercises the HR department at the university had mandated for their staff. Granted, with a boarding school, he supposed everyone getting along would be a plus, but it seemed a bit much for just that.
"Powers training and team building," Noriko replied evenly. "Along with - there are people out there who'd want to capture mutants. Squad training also tries to give us basic training for how to react to an attempt."
"Not really sure how my powers would be much of a help there," Doug admitted, his expression sobering as she mentioned the attempts to capture mutants. "What kind of basic training are we talking about?"
"Self-defense," Noriko replied. "All the more reason to learn it, when you don't have offensive or defensive powers. You're not the only one."
Doug grimaced but nodded. He could see the logic in that, especially after his experience the day before. "Point made. Count me in."
"They've just rearranged the squads - I'm sure they'll find a spot for you in no time," Noriko assured him evenly.
Doug nodded. Squads, and self-defense lessons, and codenames. Life would have been a whole lot easier if he'd just kept his nose out of Oscorp's business. On the other hand? It also would have been a whole lot less interesting.
Noriko loaded her tray with a lot more food than you'd expect somebody so skinny to eat, then turned around to survey the room. There were some of her friends in the room, but before she moved over to them, she noticed the brand new kid eating on his own at a table.
"Doug, right?" she checked as she stopped beside his table. She kinda expected him to do a double take on the gauntlets; most people did. They made the blue hair seem pretty normal in comparison. "Want some company?"
Doug had been sitting alone, reading over the syllabus for his World Studies class, but he heard his name and looked up to see a blue haired Asian girl carrying an overloaded tray and wearing some kind of metal-looking arm...things. "Sure," he said, glancing away from those as he half rose from his seat and waited for her to take hers before sitting back down.
"Noriko, right?" he guessed from her reply to his journal entry, suddenly relieved that Kitty'd made him do the whole "meet and greet" thing after all. "Thanks for the welcome yesterday."
Huh, manners. Whatever. "Yeah," Noriko confirmed who she was. "You're welcome." It had just been a comment, seriously, so... "How are you settling in?"
"Hey, got my computer set up last night - everything else can wait." Smiling faintly, he gestured at the course syllabus. "It doesn't look as if I've got much to make up, so good timing, right?"
"Definitely," Noriko confirmed with a small smile, and got started on her steak and mashed potatoes. "So what was that about needing an intervention?" she asked curiously. She was nothing if not blunt.
"Stuck my nose in where it didn't belong," Doug admitted vaguely, toying with his macaroni with his fork and wondering if Noriko was just curious or if she was digging for something specific. "Drew some attention from the wrong people, and e-mailed X-Statix." He smiled crookedly. "And e-mailed Kitty, who makes it sound way more exciting than it all was." Terrifying, definitely. But the excitement value was fairly low, overall.
Noriko had just been curious, but now she was curious with an edge. "Which wrong people are we talking about?"
"Corporate," Doug explained quickly, realizing belatedly that his answer could be construed as some kind of governmental (or otherwise) interest in mutants. "Not related to anything here." Or at least, not unless you were Harry Osborn.
Right. Noriko had spent too much time with Claudia that she put two and two together, with his words about setting up his computer, and found that it amounted to, "Hacker?"
Doug stared at her for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah. I guess it's not too unique around here, huh?" After all, he might not know "JadeLantern" well, but he'd read Angie's posts on the forums. And while Claudia wasn't doing exactly the same thing, what she was doing still qualified.
"We've got all sorts of young delinquents," Noriko confirmed with a shrug and a small smile. The sort that seemed to say that she didn't mind - on the contrary. Hell, she was one of them, just not on the computer front. "Well, good thing you managed to get here."
Doug frowned a little - for all that hacking was illegal, he didn't really consider himself a delinquent. After all, it wasn't as if "Cypher" was selling the information; he'd just been interested. When it became obvious she didn't mean it as an insult, however, he returned her smile and nodded. "Yeah, I got lucky," he acknowledged, finally remembering that the macaroni and cheese on his plate was a food and not an odd art project and spearing some with his fork. "Anyway, you didn't say on the journals - what is it you do?" Something with the squads, he was guessing, considering she'd asked about those.
The gauntlets, he continued to ignore, though it was difficult considering that he was intrigued by their design. Considering that he wasn't sure whether they were functional or decorative, though, he decided to wait until she mentioned them first.
"Electricity," she answered, putting her knife down so she could demonstrate, a tendril of blue electricity winding its way around her metal-clad fingers. "Allows me to superspeed, too. The gauntlets are helping me regulating it."
Doug watched the demonstration, fascinated, then shook his head and laughed softly. "Y'know, every time I think I've seen the most amazing thing possible, someone tops it," he observed, then pulled his eyes away from her hand and back to her face. "Very cool."
"Somebody will top before lunch breaks is over, yeah," Noriko agreed with a shrug, and went back to her meal, with her usual gusto. "Being a universal translator is pretty cool, too."
Doug resumed eating his macaroni. "It's cool," he admitted. "Don't get me wrong; I can definitely imagine the applications, and it doesn't appear to have any downside." It just wasn't...impressive, he supposed was the right word. No, it was quiet. Inconspicuous. All the things he was already.
"But it isn't flashy?" Noriko tried and guessed, with an amused smile.
"That obvious, huh?" Doug smiled crookedly and shrugged. "Probably just as well. I'm not really a flashy kind of guy."
"Flashy isn't always everything it's cracked up to be," she answered with a shrug, and then switched to Japanese. "Know Japanese yet?"
Started with Japanese, he admitted, unconsciously switching to that language when she did. Have you ever read- He broke off, grinning a little as he pointed his fork at her accusingly. "Okay, that was tricky."
"Oooh, flashy," Noriko smirked, absolutely unrepentant.
Doug laughed and shook his head. She'd made her point, and while he wasn't entirely prepared to admit there was anything flashy about his mutation, it did have its moments. "Right. So anyway, you were asking about the squads on my intro? What's the deal with those?" He was genuinely curious; the way the Professor'd described them, they'd sounded like an elaborate version of the "team building" exercises the HR department at the university had mandated for their staff. Granted, with a boarding school, he supposed everyone getting along would be a plus, but it seemed a bit much for just that.
"Powers training and team building," Noriko replied evenly. "Along with - there are people out there who'd want to capture mutants. Squad training also tries to give us basic training for how to react to an attempt."
"Not really sure how my powers would be much of a help there," Doug admitted, his expression sobering as she mentioned the attempts to capture mutants. "What kind of basic training are we talking about?"
"Self-defense," Noriko replied. "All the more reason to learn it, when you don't have offensive or defensive powers. You're not the only one."
Doug grimaced but nodded. He could see the logic in that, especially after his experience the day before. "Point made. Count me in."
"They've just rearranged the squads - I'm sure they'll find a spot for you in no time," Noriko assured him evenly.
Doug nodded. Squads, and self-defense lessons, and codenames. Life would have been a whole lot easier if he'd just kept his nose out of Oscorp's business. On the other hand? It also would have been a whole lot less interesting.
