10111/Scars

Scars
Date of Scene:	19 November 2019
Location:	Classroom - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Andrea and Brad talk in the music room about past injuries and hope for the future.
Cast of Characters:	Haunt, Rage

---

Haunt has posed:
The music classroom is heavy with drums; the door is shut firmly, but the sound of the drums themselves, if not the other music, carries. It's not metal though, it's pop rock. The invisible drummer is present on the drum throne. There's no torso, only heavy pants seated on the swivel stool, but he has a large headset on, black bulky headphones hover in place with a cord going down and back in a loose coil. To the side of the drums in a heap sits The Backpack, well away from where Brad is seated.

The drumming drowns out most of Brad singing along, though he is audible to someone that comes into the room. The chosen song is a good pick for Brad's range, he's doing okay; his fierceness and emotion into it helps. The clear drum skill drowns the vocal anyway.

"---If you needed love;
Well, then, ask for love;
Could have given love;
Now I'm /taking/ love;
And it's not my fault,
cause you both deserve-
What's coming now,
so don't say a word----"

Rage has posed:
Opening the door, Andrea is hit with a blast of music. She has her guitar over her back, acoustic, with multiple autographs and stickers upon the brown wood frame. As she listens to him sing, a smile perks upon her lips, happy. She is wearing a pair of tight skinny jeans with shreds along the thighs and a deep purple tanktop with a military green combat jacket over her person. She's feeling a bit trendy today.

"Wake up call!
Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed.
Don't you care about me anymore?
Don't you care about /me/?
I don't think so!
Six foot tall!
Came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead!
He won't come around here no more!"

Her voice joins his as her fingers run along the guitar to pick up the chords as she rocks back and forth on her hip. She doesn't overpower his voice though, still letting him take the lead.

Haunt has posed:
The headset pulls down abruptly; the beat and song stops, but there's a sound of Brad laughing. "Heyyy there, spotlight-stealer," Brad teases. There's no annoyance there. Sound continues from his headphones, sounds like just pure guitar from them, though it's muffled. The position of them suggests they are around his neck, not on his head. He moves one foot, hitting the kick drum once, and settles the sticks near his knee. A reason for stopping isn't evident, other than her arrival: he did finish the chorus before stopping.

"What's up?" Brad asks. The invisible torso must be bending and stretching, as the headset dips and swings to one side.

Rage has posed:
"Hardly! Spotlight is all yours. I'm just the nameless backup vocalist for this concert." Andrea grins as she lifts he brows upwards. "The drums sounded awesome. How are you feeling? I was popping in to work some stuff out in my head, but I can do that later. I had therapy last night so usually afterwards I need a chance to work out the rest on my guitar."

Haunt has posed:
"Yeaaaah, riiiiight," Brad chuckles, not buying that at all. "You can have the room if you want. I've been here like an hour," Brad offers, willing to move or compromise, by the sound of his voice. He stands up: which is comical, with just pants, like a funny Wallace and Grommit episode. They ride a little low along hip, pretty standard for teen boy. He sets the drum sticks down.

Rage has posed:
"It's all good. I'd rather just hang out with you. I'll probably have a lower chance of breaking down and crying." Andrea hangs her guitar up on her slot, then gives a long stretch. "But how are you doing though? Was an exciting day yesterday, huh? I see you got the backpack off. Not ready yet or does it just feel weird?"

Haunt has posed:
"Um. Okay. I mean. I'm not a therapist," Brad says, uncomfortable. "So if I can do something that doesn't cause you to break down and cry, that'd be what I'd prefer. Angry music maybe." Brad climbed out of the drum kit and came over: pants, sneakers, and floating headphones, with a cord leading into a pants pocket.

"I can't use my telekinetics with it on. And my eyes hurt like crazy. Jay suggested I just do a few hours with it each day or something, get my eyes used to it. So I'll probably do that. It was dumb to think I'd see instantly."

Rage has posed:
"Hey, it's a start, right? You gotta take this in chunks. Doctor McCoy is still working on figuring it out, so you have to isolate and break down what's happening. Your eyes hurt, which is good, it means that they will eventually work once they readjust and heal. You may even stop by and talk to Chris. He goes by Triage. He's our healer and he may be able to help speed up the process. Then from there, we just need to learn control. So we have to figure out how your mind works when it comes to that power and then get you to train to control it so you don't go blind. Maybe you need new goggles that can help keep your eyes working while you turn your invisibility on. Who knows. But it's a start." Andrea says as she heads over to him, reaching out to find his sleeve so she can walk it down to his hand and give it a squeeze. "It's a positive start. You're cute by the way. Gwen and I was being girly last night about it. Buuuut you need a haircut. Up to getting one toady?"

Haunt has posed:
There's a bunch of silence from Brad, then a huff of air. "Okay, look," he says, quietly. "Please don't say everything will be amazing. We don't know that. I might be permanently blind. I don't want to get my hopes up about anything. I mean, maybe there's no going back, and I'm just a freak forever. I gotta stay in reality," Brad says, staying relatively calm. "I got all excited I wouldn't be a mutant anymore, but that's unrealistic."

With a clear of throat, there's a smile in his voice. "Yeah, hiding all this cute up in here all the time. Travesty," Brad jokes, but it's a little flat. He's troubled. "Yeah, haircut and pictures. I'm tired of people asking me what I look like, although making up stuff is fun sometimes."

Rage has posed:
"Brad, you aren't a freak even if you're blind." Andrea says as she gives his hand another firm squeeze. "Look, a few weeks ago I got gutted open. The school was attacked and they brought a monster made of metal with it. It was like a horror monster. I was the only one at the time who was eqiupped to fight it. It tore my guts apart and I nearly yank it's head off. It's why I have these scars." She guides his hand to her shirt, then under it from below so that it rests on her stomach. Her flesh is mangled. "I can't model swimsuits no more. But Triage was able to fix me. It took an hour or so but he healed me. You don't know what is capable until you try it. If it doesn't work, we /try again/, something else."

"You are among mutants now, where we make the impossible look normal. McCoy is the /best/ at what he does. Chris is the /best/ at what he does. Miss Grey is the /best/ at what she does. You need to have hope. Believe in yourself, believe in us."

He can feel her other hand reach up to find his cheek, stroking it gently and brushing his hair to the side. "Brad, we have your back. We're all in. Okay?"

Haunt has posed:
Brad's hands are warm and maybe a little sweaty from the drum-playing, but he doesn't resist where she guides his hand. He's a little tense, maybe, but there's obvious reasons for that: both the topic, and that a girl is pulling his hand /under her shirt/, and that's enough to react to on either count! He does move his hand though after she brings his fingers to the scars, easily moving to brush over them, with clear ability to sense by touch. The boy probably reads braille, by how his fingers move: seeking patterns in an efficient way.

"Your scar says 'bravery'," Brad says kindly to her.

His hair is MORE sweaty, a little damp, from his drum workout. "I'm hoping some. I just don't know what I want anymore. I used to hate everything. But with The Backpack on, I feel numb without my telekinesis. I dunno."

Rage has posed:
He'll also find that Andrea is /fit/. Firm abs. Popstars are active. New Mutants? Even more. She puts the work in. "I got a ton of them. They go all the way up, around my back, over my shoulder. I've been stabbed through with a sword. Took a sniper bullet through the shoulder. It hurts by the way. Even as a werewolf."

"I am sure that we can find a happy compromise. Once we figure out your triggers for control, you won't need a power dampener around you. No one wants you to feel bad at all. We want you to feel great in your skin and have a life that's fulfilling for you. So the backpack is not the long term solution, you know that right? It's just a test. Just to see if your eyes come back. If they do, we know your blindness is linked to invisbility. It will give Doc something to go on."

"So, you want to take a shower and then get a haircut?"

Haunt has posed:
"Um, ow," Brad observes of all those injuries. "I've cut myself with flying glass. Pretty lame in comparison," he jokes lamely, and pulls away from her middle, folding his arms instead, invisibly. "That was a while ago. I don't hit myself with anything anymore by accident."

"I know, I just - was like, it'd be great to wear it and go home, my parents and everything. But whatever." Brad quickly moves topics, trying not to be depressed. "Jay might not like your shower idea," Brad teases, tone full of fun abruptly. "But that's a first for me for a girl to invite me, so don't think I'm not flattered---"

Rage has posed:
"Thanksgiving is coming up. Invite your parents to dinner here so you can wear the backpack and they can see you. Even if it's just for a few hours, I'm sure the will be happy to see you again. It'd probably mean a lot." Andrea smiles to him.

"Far as Jay is concerned? He has me parked in the friend zone. He's not allowed to be jealous. Maybe one day something will happen, when and if he's ready. That ball is in his court."

"Sides, I already had a shower buddy this morning." She teases. "Gwen stayed last night with me after my therapy. It wiped me out. Telepathy can be draining. She wanted to make sure I was okay. Was just like another day at gym class for us."

Haunt has posed:
"I know I brought it up, but I don't want to talk about my parents. My dad got the hell out of here as quickly as he could. Enough said," Brad says, voice catching. The distraction about talking about his family cramped down on any playful flirting pretty quickly, again.

"I don't believe in the 'friend zone'," Brad adds. "It's just another way to say one side likes the other but it's not returned." Brad chuckles a little. He may seem moody, but it's a part of the invisibility: when he fakes another emotion, like playfulness, there's no visual cue to show that he was still sad, and pretending. So his emotions seem to spike, when the reality is he was just forcing the play to his voice.

"That's a good mental idea though. I'll take that with me for a bit. You and Gwen? Sure." Brad moves to pick up the backpack: it's off. "I'll clean up. Takes me about twenty minutes."

Rage has posed:
"We both like each other. He kissed me. We go out dancing quite a bit. He's just in a bad place and he can't make that commitment. Not yet. I care more about him getting better than hooking up with him though. He's my best friend here. I love him." Andrea says, then pauses as those last words leave her lips.

Perhaps Brad can feel the hesitation in the air, that long pause. "It was a PG shower by the way. No touching." She says with a smirk to him. "So any details you are conjuring up is all your imagination. Have fun in your shower. Don't use up all the cold water." She giggles. "Oh. Are you able to use a phone while blind? Like do you have voice to text on? I can give you my number to get ahold of me if you ever need to, emergency or just to hang out."

Haunt has posed:
"It's not my business, I was teasing anyway. You two seem like you're dating to me, but whatever you say," Brad says, aloofly amused. The message being that he believes she's dating Jay, probably. "Doth protest so much." A chuckle.

"I don't use my phone much. I do have one. I leave it in my room a lot. Gets in the way if I want to turn invisible to carry stuff around with me, but I do have it use speech," Brad answers. He starts to head out of the music room. "Come find me in like half an hour. I know you know /my/ room. Then you can show me which is yours, and I'll know for the future. I count doorways: like seventh door on the right. It's not exciting."

Rage has posed:
"It seems like we're dating to me also. I called him out on it a few days ago and he confirmed to me very resolutely that we are definitely /not/ dating." Andrea says with an amused grin on his face. "So, he can't get upset if someone else swoops in and asks me out." She has a bit of a laugh behind her words as she says that.

"Cool, no problem. See you in thirty!" She says as she starts to clean up around the music room, putting some things away that the other kids may have left out.

Haunt has posed:
"Pretty sure he can still get upset!" Brad snickers in reply. He doesn't shoulder the black bag but he does carry it, heading to the door and out of it: his odd invisible pants and sneakers clearly visible in a smooth lope. Brad's confident in his movement, something he lost with the Backpack turned on.