om_main | Santo and Victor, Backdated to 12/15/14

Victor gets a new roommate! Surprise, though, because he's made out of rocks.

Still not used to Pietro no longer being around ever, Victor had one of his playlists going loudly as he worked through his homework. Tapping his pen to the huge text book in front of him, he was admittedly singing along way more than actually reading the words but it wasn't his fault that 'Bubblegum bitch' was so catchy though. It was Pietro's.

Using his lizard's tongue, he grabbed his drink from the desk. He'd decided his bed was a much comfier venue if he had to at least pretend to himself that he was doing homework. The skittles were to help with concentration, obviously.

Room 104 West. Right. He checked the number on the door, and then the number on the little piece of paper he was given. Well, it just looked little compared to his hand, he guessed. He was still getting used to having grown about a foot within the last few hours, but he was getting along well, all things considered. He'd been given a key, as well, but it was just so... tiny. So, try, try again.

Gently attempting to get the key into the keyhole, it slid against the metal doorknob, and then clattered to the floor. "Crap." He knelt down to pick it up, and then his head BONK'd loudly against the door, but Santo was a bit confused when he didn't really feel any pain from it. Rocky hide or something, he figured. To anyone inside, it might have sounded like knocking. By some miracle, he'd gotten his key off the floor, and he actually managed to get it into the keyhole, this time. Now he was just fumbling with the key in the lock, struggling to get the damn thing to turn without just up and crushing the knob.

Bopping along to the music or not, Victor couldn't have failed to notice the sudden loud thud and the way his door shook. What the hell was going on in the hall? Yes a load of teenage boys living together could lead to silliness in the halls on occasion but what the hell would have caused that? No way would an indoor soocer game make that sort of noise and, anyway, he would have been asked to join, right?

Hopping up, a confused Victor opened the door and quickly became an utterly bewildered Victor at what, well, who he found there.

"Oh hey," Santo said, the key still in the lock but Santo not caring, and then his stony eyes settled on Victor. "OH DUDE!" Santo shouted, rather enthusiastically, which may or may not have been unwelcome at this hour by the denizens of the hall, including Victor himself. "You're a lizardman! That's so awesome! Can you like, snap your arms off and grow 'em back and stuff? Can't lizards do that?" Of course, Santo was missing some key details to the situation, such as that he was eight inches above six feet, and broader than the doorway itself. And made of stone, which to some people might have been disturbing just with normal person proportions.

Victor blinked but the guy was still there. He didn't think he'd taken or drunk something he shouldn't have but considering the amount of kids who had mind-messing powers you could never be too sure what to trust.

"I, uh, no! No! Why would I snap my arm off?" Was what tumbled out of his mouth first as he continued to stare.

"Well, like, if someone grabbed your arm. Then they would just be holding your arm, instead." It seemed kind of obvious to Santo, at the very least. "Oh. Also. Hi. My name's Santo. I'm new. And I'm your new roommate! How cool is that? A rockman and a lizardman. Man, this is gonna be so cool. This is like the best week ever," Santo said. He tried to step forward, but his shoulders knocked both sides of the door frame. Not to mention he was probably going to have to duck just a little in order to clear the door frame overhead.

"Uh yeah, cool." Victor nodded slowly, backing away for Santo. Not that it looked like Santo could even fit in the room. Had the headmasters thought this through? "Um, we might need that door widened for you."

A new roommate wasn't unwelcome he was just blindsighted completely but everything.

"Nah, bro, it's cool," Santo said. He reached to his side to pick up his small suitcase, which was only really small to him, and once he turned a bit sideways and ducked his head a little, he came into the room just fine. "Huh. Looks nice and cozy in here," he said, nodding. He went over to what was obviously his side of the room and plopped his suitcase on it, his key to the room thoroughly forgotten and still in the doorknob. "Are you like, cool with me puttin' up posters and stuff, too?" Santo asked, getting into his suitcase. "I got this awesome one of Andre the Giant. Had it over my bed at my old house." He had other posters, sure, if they'd been rescued or not he didn't know. But he'd made sure that his Andre the Giant poster had been saved.

Turning Marina down to a more sociably acceptable level, Victor told him "Decorate however you want, you know barring hate speech or whatever, I don't mind. It's your side."

Which felt wrong. Very wrong but, still, he knew it was just him being childish about missing Pietro. He'd get used to living with a rock, right?

"Awesome," said Santo. Then Santo blinked a few times, looking at the wall, and turned his head sideways to look at Victor. "When it gets to be summer, you're not gonna like, try to sun yourself on me, are you?" he asked, suspiciously.

With a snort, Victor told him "Trust me, I only climb on guys who've given consent."

"Oh, okay." Santo, felt he more or less understood that sentiment, and he only shrugged at that. "So like, what do you do around here?" he asked, gesturing to mean the school. "I guess they don't like, want me wandering around Salem Center and NYC and stuff after like, tearing through Boston and stuff. On the news. Did you see it? It was awesome." Santo seemed rather proud of himself.

"Yeah, I don't get to do much of that looking like this," Victor agreed, he'd explain the image inducers later on though he suspected they might not be able to help Santo in the same way. "But there's a lot to do here. Sports, rec room has a pool table, game consoles, movies, everything. Then I do a lot with theatre and acting, I love music and reading. Basketball, frisbee, all kinds of stuff really."

"And I didn't see, sorry? Been kinda busy with homework. Or pretending to do homework."

"Oh. Well, maybe they'll show it again, 'cause it was kinda awesome. Scary, but awesome. 'Cause some cops chased me, after I accidentally broke a door and a fence in the quarry. And then I flipped a police cruiser or two on my way out, 'cause they had the road blocked and they were in the way. It was all "misunderstood super hero badass," too, 'cause I made sure I didn't hurt anybody and everything." Santo nodded. But enough about him.

"Do you play sports? You'd probably be like, an awesome running back. I bet you can jump really far and stuff." You know, because lizard.

Well, at least he'd thought things through enough to not hurt anyone? "Sounds like you've had an eventful day then. I've not really played a lot of football, like I said mostly basketball and frisbee. Sometimes soccer with Bobby of whatever's going on. Friendly games, mutant ball."

"Oh, totally," Santo agreed, nodding. "But do they have like, official teams?" he asked, having meant that to begin with. "'Cause I bet there's other like, super-secret superhero schools around the world that we could like, play against. And beat. Because we're probably the most awesome."

"So super secret we don't know about them, not yet." Victor snorted thought added. "ut you're probably right. It there are other Hogwarts out there, we'll probably find out soon enough."

"Well we already know about those Alpha Flight guys," Santo pointed out. "I bet we could kick their butts. I mean, they're Canadian, and even Jean-Paul wants nothing to do with them. So they must suck compared to us." Santo shrugged, which did make a bit of a rocky, grinding sound. "So I guess it's just up to me to make the sports teams, then? 'Cause we should totally have teams. And games. And cheerleaders. Doesn't that sound great? And I can dump a cooler of Gatorade on our coach when we win."

"I wouldn't put that part in the job description if I were you." Victor pointed out, half amused and half just really not sure what to make of this guy.

"Well, obviously, but still. I mean, c'mon, even if we just got some casual stuff going, it'd be really fun. Right?" Santo shrugged, and then shook his head, and then turned, getting more of his stuff unpacked. "So how long have you been here?" he asked.

"Sure, it could be fun and I've been here since about a week before the school officially opened so roughly about two and a half years." Victor told him, grabbing his bottle of ice tea and taking a swig.

"Whoa, wait, so you mean that like, there's been super-heroes in New York for that long?!" Santo said, utterly surprised, and briefly interrupting his unpacking. "Man, makes you wonder why New York City still has a crime problem."

"We're not superheroes, we're just kids going to school. It's just a quirkier school than most." Victor told him, half frowning at the idea that they were Power Rangers or something. Well, some of them were sometimes but not in the way Santo meant.

"Oh." Nobody had really put it that bluntly to him before. He sighed. "That's a bit more boring than what I was hoping for, I guess," he said, heavily. "I was just kinda... y'know. Super average, a few days ago. I had B's and C's in school, had a little sister to carry on my shoulders, and watched to catch wrestling matches whenever I could." He shrugged. "Well, maybe you're not game for the super-hero business, and maybe the whole school isn't. Maybe that'll change," Santo said. He knew his path was set. He was going to be a big damn hero.

"I'll let you get back to your homework, man. I'm gonna finish unpacking and then I'm gonna hit the hay. It's been a long day. Don't bother turnin' the music off, I can sleep through anything." Santo seemed just a bit deflated, but definitely not crushed.

"I wasn't, you know, trying to ruin your image of this place it's just, it is a school first." Victor told him, feeling kind of bad. "You'll probably get a kick out of the squad training and Danger Room though, I bet."

"It sounds pretty cool," Santo admitted, his excitement not quite getting up to where it was. "I'm not tryin' to rain on your parade or anything, man. It's just been a heck of a day." He blinked a few times, and then slapped his forehead. "And crap! I never got that autograph from Jean-Paul!"

"Oh trust me, him cooking for you is way better than an autograph."

"Maybe I can get both." He nodded. "I should totally do that. And then maybe he'll teach me how to snowboard."

Which reminded Victor that he'd been promised exactly that but saying it would be bragging, right? "You never know. He can be pretty generous to his friends."

"Well, he's one of the ones who came to get me out of Boston, so... maybe we're like, already close to being friends," Santo said. "Are you friends with him? 'Cause that's awesome, and that means you must be awesome too, 'cause I feel like Jean-Paul would only be friends with awesome people."

"Yeah, we're friends." Victor sounded a whole lot more certain about that then he actually was, there was always this nugget of doubt as to why someone like Jean-Paul should give a shit but he'd shown it time and again to be true, hadn't he? "He's a really great guy, for sure."

"That's awesome. See? I knew this place was going to be awesome." He put his mostly-unpacked suitcase onto his desk, and then plopped onto his bed. "Man, I'm beat." He put his hands behind his head. "Sorry if I snore. Just throw something at me if I do."

"My old roommate used to talk in his sleep and stuff, I'll deal." Victor told him as he flicked on his bedside lamp. "Want the main light off?"

Rock eyelids were apparently a lot less translucent than flesh ones, Santo realized. He waved a hand. "Don't sweat it, man. Rock eyelids are pretty boss at keepin' light out..."

"Oh, ok," The lamp got flicked off. "Night then, nice to meet you Santo."

"You too, Vic. Should totally jam with some... basketball and stuff." Santo yawned, stretched a bit, and then pretty much just passed right out.