10075/Be vewwy vewwy quiet--it's Cannonball hunting season!

Be vewwy vewwy quiet--it's Cannonball hunting season!
Date of Scene:	17 November 2019
Location:	Rec Room - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Andrea and Sam play pool and talk about dates. Shannon and Andrea talk about music and cheerleading.
Cast of Characters:	Cannonball, Rage, Nightingale

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Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie is actually in the Rec room this morning but not watching tv or such. He is actually playing a game of 8-ball at the pool table. He calls a shot, and seems to be decent, but then again, where things go when you hit them is sorta important to the guy who hits things and sends them flying if they don't break.

Rage has posed:
Rounding the table with her own pool stick, Andrea eyes the balls keenly with a wolfish stare. "You're gonna miss the next one, then I'm gonna wiiiin." She says as she practically prances about the table, looking to goad her mentor into a mistake. "And then I win the bet." What could that be they are betting for? She looks rather confident.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon comes shuffling into the rec room just before lunch, looking for a little peace and quiet. She's got a closed guitar case in her left hand, and in her right, there's a yew wood staff about 5' in length, which she's using more as a walking stick at the moment. The game of pool is not lost on her, and she finds a spot nearby to watch, canting her head as she listens to the banter. This ought to be interesting!

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over to Andrea, and says "You do know while you were out singing and learning to dance, Ah was playing pool with Scott right?" He asks, her calling the next shot and maybe a bit off but does make it. He looks over to Shannon "Ok, if you say thou shall not pass, I am gonna glue a fake beard on you while your sleeping."

Rage has posed:
Swiveling the pool stick about in her hands with some expertise, Andrea gives him another grin. "My mother is a marine. Do you think she taught me how to sing and dance?" She says as she circles behind Sam, coming along the other side of him. "No, she taught me other skills that I would need to survive Hollywood with. You better not miss, I'm three balls away from picking out the restaurant for our double date, and I'll be damned if we go to some pizza by the slice joint."

Nightingale has posed:
"Do that, big brother, and you will be pranked from here 'till kingdom come." Shannon bursts out giggling, one of the rare times she's done so lately, just shaking her head. "Actually, when you've got a sec, it's the staff I was kind of hoping to ask you about. But only after you're done kicking Andrea's tail." She grins a little sheepishly at Andrea, shrugging. "Sorry, gotta stick with fam, ya know? And what's wrong with pizza by the slice? Or spaghetti and meatballs? It was good enough for Lady and the Tramp!"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "Well, Ah think the place Ah was thinking might have pizza by the slice not sure to be honest, but they have some really good food. Is a place Alexi and Ah ate at, and she plays at on occasion." He will take another shot and does pretty well with it. he is having to play catch up a bit after Andrea had a good run "So whats the deal with the staff?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie says, "It's called Bene Pozzo" He will tell her to see if she knows it."

Rage has posed:
"You can't take a girl to the same place twice. There are rules to dating, Sam!" Andrea laughs as she presses her hip against the table, watching the ball get sunk. It's going to be a close game. "There has to be at least a minimum of five other places you have to fit inbetween before you take her there again. You may as well just miss this next ball and let me win. For our dignity." Glancing over to Shannon, she gives a soft pff under her breath. "Well, I guess I'd make a decent Lady. She has cute ears."

Nightingale has posed:
"Well, you know the whole protection spell thing was just a couple nights ago, right? The whole thing got seriously crazy. And I mean -crazy-, even for around here. We're talking frost giants, demons, unfriendly bamf's..." The last actually has Shannon shivering, and closing her eyes tightly, as if affected particularly deeply by that one. "Well, it was getting pretty nuts and this staff showed up next to me. I'm pretty sure it was from miss Maximoff, it had a weird red light on it for a second. Turns out it was really well-timed, because as soon as I got my spike driven into the ground for the spell, I got jumped by three very unfriendly bamf's. Managed to crack their heads a bit before whatever Doctor Strange was doing pulled 'em off of me." She looks at the staff, shrugging a bit. "I'm not sure if this has any magic or not, but either way I'd like to get permission to learn to use it properly. I'd be happy to turn it over to staff for examination and approval if need be. It'd make a nice defense, I haven't got a lot of that at the moment."

Andrea's remark on the rules of dating gets her an eyeroll and a laugh. "Speak for yourself there. I'd find it rather sweet if it was a place both enjoyed and had fond memories of. Wouldn't be so bad to go to a place like that more than once."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie makes another shot, soon getting it to the point where the two are pretty much close to equal. He looks over and says "Well if it didn't disappear or such might want to ask Wanda about it, and see what she can tell you. As for learning to use it sure, Chris could probably teach you some, but if your looking for an expert would suggest Remy. He then looks back over to Andrea, and says "It was a place she liked, and is sorta like family to her. They do the family style dishes we had Roman Carbonar, and brussel sprouts with prochuitto, when we went there.

Rage has posed:
"It's fine to go to the same place twice, but when you are /newly/ dating, there are rules. You can't stagnate the relationship out the gate by doing the same thing over and over again. You need to mix things up. It's important for the feeling out stage of dating. I guess if you /want/ to go there for our double date, that's fine. Depends if Jay even agrees to it. Sides, after last night, I may change my relationship status from It's Complicated to 'Call my number." Andrea says as she wrinkles her nose at the pool table.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon raises her eyebrow. "Haven't seen much of Remy around. But sure, I'll ask him. Had no idea he knew about that stuff. Between him and Chris, I should do pretty well." She smiles some, but then her brows furrow. "Ummm, one slight problem with that. I'm not about to bug the Captain about something so trivial as getting in touch with miss Maximoff. Got any thoughts as to how else that could happen?"

Andrea gets a sympathetic look, and she inclines her head. "Got friendzoned, huh? Know that feeling. You told me yourself when you let me know what was up with Jay, that getting to know him could take time, even just as a brother."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over, and says "Her email might be in the school data base, Ah aint 100% sure on that one." At Andrea's words he will raise a brow and says "You and Jay have a fight or something?' He moves to take his next shot, wow he missed, but it was close.

Rage has posed:
"No, we didn't have a fight, and /no/, I am not in the friend zone." Andrea says with a frown, as if she had her fur ruffled in the wrong direction. "We like each other, a lot, but he can't push himself over that line yet where he will say we're dating officially. And, as much as I like him and I want him, I don't feel like I should leave options off the table if someone asks me out. So, I'm not looking for a guy, but if someone comes along that meets my criteria, I will entertain the thought and make a decision in that moment." Moving to the table, she barely lines the shot up as she leans over, giving the white ball a whack as she sinks her solid color in a far pocket, then rounds the table again.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie 's phone rings before he can say anything else, and says "Sorry gotta take this is ma." He steps aside to answer the phone.

Nightingale has posed:
"Ooof... sorry about that one. I really do hope things go well for you two, seriously." She sets her guitar case down near the pool table and nods towards it, smiling some. "Actually, I was hoping to maybe look both of you up for that. Haven't heard Jay play yet but heard he's pretty good, and I already know you're seriously good."

Sam gets a nod and a smile from her, and a light chuckle. "Tell her I said hi, okay?"

Rage has posed:
"I think Jay is better than me when it comes to different styles of guitar playing. Like Bluegrass and Country and most likely rock and roll. I do okay with it. I can read music and I have to practice like anyone else, but it's hard work. You want me to teach you?" Andrea asks as she rounds the table to sink in the last of her balls after Sam leaves. "Good thing Sam didn't challenge me in table tennis. He'd crush me."

Nightingale has posed:
"Well, I was thinking between you, Jay, and Alexis, I ought to pick things up pretty quickly. Get a sense of a few different styles while I'm finding my own, you know? Call the flute lessons a fair trade, if you want." Shannon grins and laughs as she sees Andrea sinking the balls into their pockets. "You'd both crush me at the pool table. Like, seriously crush." Or would they...?

Rage has posed:
"I played a lot of pool with my mother, I also played a lot of pool with Joe Jonas when he used to be my manager. At Disney, we had a pool table in almost every break room when we would stay between sets. So, I learned to play there, but the balls are just set up easy here." Andrea says as she pops the eight-ball into the pocket. Thud. "I also played soccer for a few years, but that's the long and short of my athletic career. I did train to be a cheerleader for a role."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shakes her head, crossing her arms a little as she watches. "Never did care much for cheerleaders. I wanted to try out as one for our local youth football team, the Tigers. Pretty much got told no, and never got a reason why. Guess I wasn't one of the 'cool' kids because I was homeschooled and all that. Thus ended my attempt at athletics." She grins a little bit, though, thinking of pool tables. "My folks got a pool table down in the basement, and it figured pretty heavily into my math lessons. Angles, geometry, and all that. Helped the lessons make a lot more sense."

Rage has posed:
"There is cheerleading, then there is /cheerleading/. You should watch Bring It On. That's real cheerleading. The competitive type with dance and acrobats included." Andrea grins at her, then passes the stick over to her as she re-wracks the balls. "With your wings, you could gain some serious height on the throws. You know, if you want to be a cheerleader, you can. I'll get us girls some uniforms and we'll work on some choreography. I'm a firm believer in trying to make this as much of a normal high school life as possible. With as many students we have, we could probably get at least two basketball teams here. I think it'd be fun."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon accepts the stick, reaching for the chalk and twisting a little bit onto the tip. "It might've turned out to be a blessing, with my lack of coordination on the ground," she offers, a self-depreciating laugh bubbling up from within her. "It'd be good exercise, though. Hey, maybe if you want to bust out the snacks and some soda, we could make a movie night of it, what do you think? Get Gwendolyn to make us some po'boys, I could make a whole mess of Muddy Buddies... ever have those? Chocolate and peanut butter melted together, coat some Chex with the stuff, and roll them in powdered sugar."

Rage has posed:
"It's really hard work. A lot of people think cheerleaders just wear tight clothes and bounce around, but the amount of work you have to put into hitting every move on time and tempo and then synchronize the dance is not easy. Even when I was training for the role, which I didn't get by the way, I was /exhausted/ by the end of it. It was going to be some High School Musical type of relaunch and it looked really fun. I had the vocals, but they wanted this over the top routine and I couldn't do it." She gives a smile at the idea of hanging out. "I'd love to, actually. Gwen and I have become really good friends lately and it's been nice to chill out and do that type of stuff. I haven't had a Muddy Buddy. I've just had S'mores. The extent of my girl scouting."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods and smiles some. "Gwen and I have been becoming pretty good friends, too. Seriously, really very proud of her. I actually got her to fly and she didn't think she could do it. But she did." She grins a bit at the mention of all the work one has to do as a cheerleader. "Sounds like something like that would be pretty well in Jubilee's wheelhouse. I was thinking of looking her up anyways, got a few things to get off my chest and well, she did offer ice cream. Could ask her about the whole cheerleading thing sometime, or see what she's got in mind for her class. Anything to beat cabin fever. They say it's supposed to be a pretty fierce winter this year."

Rage has posed:
"I don't know about Jubes being a cheerleader. She comes off as more ... combat rollerblade girl to me. You know? What are those girls called." Andrea says as she squints her brows in thought. "Roller derby girls? But they beat the crap out of each other?" She laughs at the images in her head. "That's the one thing I haaaaate about living in New York, it's the amount of snow. I'm about to buy a beach house in Florida or something so we can all have a place to hangout during winter break." She pauses. ".. Actually, that is a great idea. We do get two weeks off for holiday, how 'bout if I rent a place maaaybe in Melbourne or .. hmm.. I'll have to take a peek. But we could have a private beach to hang out!"

Nightingale has posed:
"That could be fun, but I do want to spend at least a few days of that break with my family first, especially since I'm skipping Thanksgiving with them and Christmas will be late, because I'm staying up here for the kids who don't really have anyone else." Shannon smiles, gesturing to the pool balls. "Speaking of, how's the plans for Thanksgiving coming along? Is there anything you'd like some help with or you got everything all set?"

Rage has posed:
"I was thinking of sponsoring the homeless shelter this year in Mutant Town. After meeting Brad, it really got me thinking about their resources down there. So, I was thinking we could all donate some time to helping feed the homeless, maybe we can get a band together and sing. I'm going to buy enough food I hope for about a hundred families and then make a donation of about five thousand." Andrea says as she flops down into a bean bag chair, sinking into it. "I could use some help at Sam's Club buying stuff."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and smiles. "I thought about volunteering at the shelters around here when I first arrived. Just can't mention anything about the school, etc. You know, the usual deal. That's a fantastic idea! What will we do around here as well, though? Who's got charge of the feast here on the homefront?" She nods to Andrea and smiles. "Sure. If you need another pair of hands for the shopping, be happy to pitch in."

Something else comes to mind, and she purses her lips. "By the way, what's the time frame on the rest of the Guthrie clan coming to visit? I was kind of working on a song to perform for that. Sam's been bugging me for ages to play at the club during business hours, and it seemed like as good a time as any. Just need to know how long there is for practice."

Rage has posed:
"Two weeks." Andrea says in regards to when the clan is flying out. "As far as the rest of the Thanksgiving plans around here? I don't know. I know staff will throw something together for all the students. Last year they just piled on the food and we had some movies to watch together which was cool. Do you want me to help you with the song?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon purses her lips a little. "I hadn't thought of performing one of my own... not even sure it could be ready in two weeks. I was aiming for 'Fight Song'." She pauses, considering this, and pulling her phone from her back pocket. She taps it a few times, bringing up a notepad-type app, and some lyrics she's working on. "This isn't really much good, but if you don't mind the first verse and the chorus..." She starts singing a capella, an almost rhythmic sort of pop rock ballad type song.

"Maybe my story's not like some
Livin' my life under the gun
But it's mine
And that's just fine

I've seen sorrow, I've seen pain
I'm learning to dance in the rain
Look at me
Now I'm free


I'm going to touch the sky
Don't know how or why
But now I'm gonna fly
And you can't stop me
No, you can't stop me

I'm going to reach the sun
Hold my hand up, touch the stars
The sky is mine
And I'm just fine
I'm going to touch the sky..."

Her voice fades, and she cracks a shy smile, her wings furling around her like a cocoon. "It sucks, I know. You could do way better."

Rage has posed:
As she listens, Andrea leans forward a bit to focus on the words and the voice. Her head tilts to one side, much like an animal would, as if to perk their ears up. Her fingers tap lightly on the top of her knee. "That's a really good song, Shannon. You wrote that?" She asks, her brows lifting upwards. "Have you figured out what it would sound like with instruments?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon smiles a little. "If I had my laptop with me, you'd hear it more like I do in my head. Drums, a little light piano, some light acoustic guitar, a bit of bass. Maybe some strings in there to sort of fill it all out, but not enough to drown out the singer. And yes, that song is mine." Her face goes beet red but she does manage a smile. "With the music program I've got it wouldn't take very long to put together the accompaniment, I've just got to finish out the lyrics."

Rage has posed:
"I like it. I can't wait to hear the finished product. Jay and I sorta wrote one together. I let him borrow my journal that I used for writing poetry and songs that I half ass write. He found one he liked and he finished it for me." Andrea tappy-taps her fingers against her knee. "It's a real tear jerker. I ended up just laying there in his arms and crying like a baby over it after I read it. He took a song that I wrote during a dark time and he made it so much more better. I really want him to record it but he won't unless it's a duet."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods in firm agreement as she hears Jay's condition on recording that song. "If you put your part into it, then he's in the right. It wouldn't be the same without both of you. Going to back him up on this one." She smiles and tucks her phone away in her pocket, and makes sure the pool cue is secure in its holder on the wall. "By the way... you ever hear of anyone called Byron? Supposedly he's a pretty big name in the industry, has his own label and the whole bit. I was wondering if you'd heard of him, and if it was entirely kosher, if you catch my meaning."

Her stomach growls abruptly and she blushes, grinning a little sheepishly. "I've really got to get something more substansial than snacks to eat. Two healings in one night, and I've been hoovering up everything in sight since. If you hear anything about Byron and if he checks out, let me know?" She scoots off to get some food, taking her staff and guitar case with her, humming the melody to the song she is writing. Perhaps her own fight song....