2013.03.26 - Getting Reaquainted

So, it's evening, and Jocelyn had decided to change things up a little bit. She was out for a run, dressed in a grey tank top and a pair of black yoga pants. Nights weren't usually when she was out running, but sometimes she liked to adjust her schedule a little bit. She was just finishing up and is making her way towards the school properly. She's got a water bottle carried in one hand and her white sweat towel resting on her left shoulder. Her red hair had been set into a single long braid to keep it out of her way for the time being. The place was otherwise fairly quiet for an evening. Of course, there might be a big test coming up, so some of the students may be busy cramming for it. Who knew? Joce just figured she wasn't going to break her routine anyway, so why pretend?

"AMBUSH!" That's the sound of Niah jumping out of a stand of bushes. Well, for certain values of jumping. More like, Mugwump lifts the chair and jumps out FOR her. Not surprisingly, she's got a bandanna over the top half of her head, with eyeholes cut into it, and a bath towel 'cape' around her neck,"I AM SENIORITA MAL, EVIL SUPERVILLAIN! NOW GIVE ME YOUR VALUABLES!" She reaches up to twirl her non-existent mustache in a dramatic manner. Well. Good to know going to a mutant school hasn't dampened the enthusiasm,"You are defenseless! Bwahahah!"

That would work way better if Jocelyn couldn't see Mugwump already, though Niah likely doesn't realize that Jocelyn is, in fact, Channel. The girl does, however, at least fake a bit of startlement and jump backwards a couple feet. "Ahh, well, that would work better if I had any valuables, now wouldn't it?" Jocelyn replies, her voice probably giving her identity away. "Good to see you again though," she adds casually.

Niah leans back in her chair whilst Mugwump holds it up there in the air. "Yes, yes. You'll do. Your preparedness is excellent. Were I really a supervillain, you'd have provided me nothing to steal! You shall make an excellent sidekick, for it is I-" She pulls off the black bandanna to reveal beneath it... another bandanna, this one red,"Tatzlwurm, superheroine extradinare- Eh... Wait, what?" She suddenly looks vaguely disappointed,"Do we know each other? Did I rescue once, or something?"

Jocelyn hovers a few inches off the ground. "Hi Tatzlwurm," Jocelyn responds. "You met me once before. I'm Channel," Jocelyn explains to her. Also one of the reasons she may be at this school, though she doesn't say that. She did let appropriate people know about Niah's presence. "Some random thugs at the harbor, if I remember correctly," the tall girl says casually. "And Mugwump there is looking well, I might add". She is being careful not to touch the psionic clump of fur.

Niah is already wooshing around Jocelyn in circles, at this point. Literally, she says,"Woooooooooooooosssshhhh!" Repeatedly. Hyperactive that she is. "OH SNAP. You're the one dimed on me to the 'rents! Mugwump was totally upset, but I was like: She's totes recruiting for superhero school. And here I am! It's cool, bra." Now she's trying to be urban. "Now I /KNOW/ we're gonna be besties and crime-fighting compadres! We know each others' secret identities! Ka-pow!"

Some of the phrases the kids used. And boy, when they tried to be urban? Ugh. The street kid in Jocelyn cringes, but she doesn't outwardly react. "So, how are things going with your power training so far?" Jocelyn asks. "What've they told you about your abilities?" She was curious how the girl was progressing so far, and how long she'd been here. Jocelyn herself had been tied up in a lot of different projects. "And Mugwump seems to have adapted here pretty well," she adds.

Niah continues wooshing for a grand total of three minutes before responding. "Check it! All they seem to do is tell me I GOTTA be the one doing all the stuff Mugwump is doin', but they totes don't believe me. I'm like, 'Mugwump is my best bud! We're bros for life! That's why he does all this stuff!'. And they're totally, like: No, it's all you! Telekinesis! But I did find out I'm a mutant, for realz. I think my REAL power is the mutant power of friendship!" She takes off her bandanna, and grins brightly,"Some kid in class told me I was pretty, so I got Mugwump to chase him with dog doo on a stick. Boys are stupid. Except for Mugwump. Me and Mugwump are TIIIIGHT."

"There's nothing wrong with being called pretty you know," Jocelyn responds with an easy laugh. She lands and leans up against a wooden pillar. "Well, I can certainly see Mugwump, and I've heard him before, so he's definitely there," the girl comments. She could confirm that. "So the ability to attract someone like that is plausible then," the girl states. "I've never heard of anything quite like that though, to be honest, and I've run into my fair share of mutants and superheroes so far".

Niah lifts a shoulder and unbuckles herself from her chair. Solicitously as ever, Mugwump lifts her from it, and climbs a wooden pillar like some sort of odd ape, holding her one-handed. "See. Like I said. Mutant power of friendship! You understand! Makes everything stronger, BOOSH!" She wraps her arms around the furry creature's neck in a big hug,"Anyway, it's not about being called pretty! It's about boys being stupid! What do I need boys for when there's a world to save? So, fight any neat villains lately? Punch any monster-snouts for great justice?"

Jocelyn laughs. "I'm still in school, remember? Haven't had that many monsters to punch in the snout or villians to deal with. Just a little bit of business back in my hometown that I had to clear up," Jocelyn tells the girl. "Nothing too difficult though". Because, well, she really didn't need to feed Niah's addiction with her adventure fighting space alien scanning robots and dealing with falling meteors. She didn't need to worry the girl, right? Maybe she was turning into Kurt.

"Eh, boys can be perfectly fine, too, you know. They're allowed to be heroes too. You ever hear of the Young Allies? A lot of them are young kids trying to help out, and a fair number of them are, in fact boys".

Niah blows a raspberry quite loudly, and then pulls a piece of paper from a pocket to begin folding some sort of triangular shape, "So, let's be realz, for a moment. Boys are weird, and kinda silly, and they're overly concerned with beards and sports and deoderant. Now some, maybe like these 'Young Allies' (she really makes air quotes) may have their eyes turned to proper endeavors... But let's face it... Girl power!" She really has no coherent argument whatsoever. "So, I don't suppose your hometown difficulties had to do with neat origin-story stuff? Because that would be sweeeet!" She has now folded a paper football. "Also, anything to do with videogames... totes sweet."

"No, no video games or real origin story stuff," Jocelyn says with a laugh. "And you know, I was training to be in professional sports before my mutation manifested and made that impossible, so I can't say I agree that sports are bad," the teenager points out with a wink. "Girl power is really more about doing what you enjoy, and gender doesn't matter, you know? If you like playing baseball, then go play baseball. Stuff like that". She can't help but smile a bit at the statements about how boys are silly though. They could be, yes.

"So, how long have you been here for?" she asks. "Like I said, I've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't seen all the new arrivals".

Niah points at the girl,"Think about this! You wanted to make sports your job! That's not silly, that's responsible! Because then you're planning for your future! What was your sport anyway? Oh wow, are you a softball lesbian? That is totes progressive! Oh. Em. Gee. Do you own lots of flannel! My mom bought me a flannel shirt once, but it was too big on me! It's cool, though! I'll totes make 'Team Channel' t-shirts, and me and Mugwump will wear them! I bet you could kick Jacob's but using Edward as a club! I'm on Team Channel now!" It's like the brain never stops working overtime... Or possibly like it was never working right in the first place. "I dunno. Like... A day, I guess. It's totally cool that it's wheelchair accessible, like, everywhere. I'm, like, super normal as far as everyone here is concerned."

"The headmaster is actually also in a wheelchair," Jocelyn explains. "So, yeah, the whole place is about as wheelchair accessible as you can get". That tends to happen under such circumstances. She blinks at the girl's statement about baseball lesbian. "Urr, no. Mixed Martial Arts, actually, and I'm not a lesbian. But, my powers kind of make it completely unfair for me to compete, given I can throw a car if I want to now". She doesn't actually get the whole Edward and Jacob reference, having never read or seen Twilight, so that bit just passes right by her.

Niah literally cackles,"I challenged him to a race! He didn't have time! But some day!" She nods slowly as if considering some deep and complex piece of philosophy,"Right, right... I see. I feel that. Yeah. Totes. You don't really look butch, anyway. So you'd make a terrible softball lesbian. It's too bad, though! I have a cousin that listens to a lot of Indigo Girls. I bet you two would hit it off fantastic." She blows another raspberry, then flips her paper football in Jocelyn's direction,"Field goal, field goal, field goal! You should totally start a mutant-only MMA club!"

There's the tiniest flick of kinetic energy as Jocelyn uses it to send the paper football back at Niah and attempt to bop her in the nose with it lightly. "Generally, anyone who wants me to teach them, I'm willing to go over the basics with them," Jocelyn responds. She actually had one of the teachers learning from her, but there wasn't any point in her mentioning that. She knew enough not to tell people that a teacher was asking advice on something from a student. It didn't look good.

She shakes her head a little bit. "Anyway, what does Mugwump think of the place so far? I haven't heard him say anything yet?" She decides to try and steer the conversation a little bit away from certain topics and onto other, perhaps safer ones.

The girl blinks as the paper football ALMOST bops her on the nose. When it is almost touching her, Mugwump reaches out to pluck it almost lazily from the air. It examines it, then tosses it behind them. Niah responds,"Nice reflexes! Wow, so, are there, like, any techniques that work from the waist up? Or anything you could teach Mugwump? Mugwump needs to step up his game!" Then Mugwump is making lots of crazy-sounding growling and squeaking/hissing sounds that are, in truth, utterly incomprehensible. "Mugwump says it's a good place for me, but he thinks it's exhausting to keep track of my health with so many loaded guns running around. I think he means the other students."

"Yeah, there are a lot of loaded guns in the form of students, but you'll get used to them. And remember, they can't see Mugwump, so they're likely going to come close to bumping into him or using their powers around him and things like that. We've got a few blasters in the area". She holds her hand out away from Mugwump and Niah. She pulls in a little bit of electrical energy and lets off a little twelve inch blast of what looks like lightning. "But you'll adjust soon enough," the girl assures them.

To the question of techniques, Jocelyn considers that for a moment. "Well, you could get some throws in if somebody tries to grapple you, but you're going to be lacking a lot of leverage from a sitting position. You'd have to work on getting pretty strong to do that. As for Mugwump, well, I don't know what he already knows". And she's never taught an eight foot psionic furball before. That would be new.

"Well, Mugwump is my buddy, and he's only looking out for me, but I THINK he's uncomfortable with so many powerful people around. He... kinda sees everything as a potential threat." Suddenly, Mugwump begins making more sounds unbidden,"He says that as a Vertigren, his chief concern is 'his charge'. I dunno what he means by that, but... Mugwump doesn't think like you and me... So... it could mean anything." She puts her fists out, and Mugwump obligingly 'flies' her around. "Mugwump mostly just throws punches or tears things up with his blades and claws! I dunno if he knows how to actuall fight. He usually doesn't need to. BUT he's not worried about himself. He's mostly curious about why you can see him!"

"By charge, I believe he means you," Jocelyn says. "As to why I can see him? It's because I can see energy. For example, I can see the natural heat that all people produce. Or I can see other types of energy, like the type that makes up Mugwump. That's part of what my mutant power is, and why I can see him moving around and nobody else can". She shrugs a little bit at that. "Doesn't mean I can understand a word of what he's saying, but I can see him". A nod is given. "Well, the powerful people around here are all pretty well-meaning. He'll see that in time".

Niah is turned upside down now as she 'zooms' around, carried aloft by Mugwump,"Oh... I thought, maybe he was powered by electrical charge or something! Mugwump says you eat up lots of stuff that most humans can't! He says you might eat him up. That makes you, like, big as far as he's concerned!" She zooms back and forth for a while, then responds,"So why don't you think other people believe he's his own person? Are they just being silly or something? I bet the headmaster would believe me! But he's so busy! At least YOU believe me. It's gotta be the power of friendship!" Never quits on that, does she,"So what classes do you have this semester?

"I'm an energy absorber, yes. I can absorb pretty much any type of energy, though I've got enough control that I'm not going to accidentally eat up Mugwump," she assures the two of them. "Most people don't believe things they can't see. For example, most people see you flying around or smashing things with an invisible force. They assume that's some sort of power and not Mugwump, because that's how most superpowers work. I'm sure the Professor believes you though," she says. "I'll bet others will too, in time. If someone asks, feel free to send them to me if they need a second opinion though". She shrugs a little bit. "As for classes, I came in partway, so I've got bit of an odd mix". She glances down at her watch. "Anyway. I've got to run. Got a few things I have to do tonight still. See you two later".