10425/At one with Nature

At one with Nature
Date of Scene:	13 December 2019
Location:	Backyard - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Mason and Vi meet for the first time
Cast of Characters:	Mason Steele, Vi

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Mason Steele has posed:
    Yes it's cold. It may keep a lot of students inside, but outside, past the Christmas decorations of the back yard and past the less appealing garden, with its dormant foilage, Mason makes his way along the edge of the tree line where the undeveloped corners of the property lie. He has his hands in his pockets, and his head is tilted toward the ground as he walks. He stops, kicking at something along the ground, and then bends to pick it up, examining it.

Vi has posed:
Vi made it back to the school earlier in the morning than most like to be out and about. Though she's taken advantage of odd hours all of her life, and she's found nighttime is the easiest to travel between the school and the city. The morning was spent at schoolwork, which is often separate from the other students given how far behind them she is despite being old enough to be graduated.

After lunch she slips away, the events of the bank robbery the day before are weighing heavily on her mind. Once outside the door, she drops a heavy metal washer and pushes off it hard to launch herself in the air, and a push on some steel girders in the school help propel her out across the yard. The washer is pulled back to her hand for reuse even as a second is pulled from her pouch and shot off ahead of her. Vi is getting decent at traveling like this now, enough that the tiny bit of pewter she burns is to let her not notice the cold as much.

She heads off for the farther reaches of the school's grounds, traveling in ballistic arcs as she uses three washers at a time, pulling one back to her hand once past it to place further ahead where she'll need her next push to stay airborne. Up ahead she notices a figure trundling through the snow, and after a moment's thought, the next washer is placed to let her change course slightly towards them.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason doesn't seem to be looking up as Vi approaches, and he is holding... something from the ground. He sniffs it, and...did he just take a bite out of it? It isn't until Vi is almost directly over him that he sees her approach, causing him to jump. He slips, and the teen celebrity finds him tail first falling into the snow, "Oh, jeez," he exclaims, uncertain in his moderate surprise whether he's under attack, or it's just another day at the mansion with flying mutants.

Vi has posed:
The sound of a heavy metal washer, larger than a silver dollar and thicker might be heard as it shoots into the snow about 20 yards away from Mason, about where the flying figure is heading. As Vi falls towards the ground, her body slows quickly until she nearly hovers before dropping the last foot or two to the ground. The washer flies up out of the snow, and she has to move her hand over to her chest to catch it. It is pushed down into a slot in the top of a beautiful leather belt pouch she's wearing around her waist.

The girl is about nineteen, but small enough one could be forgiven for thinking her younger. Dark hair, worn beneath a grey stocking cap. A navy blue winter jacket, but no gloves, which might be why she stuffs her hands in the jacket pockets after giving a wave towards Mason. "Hey. Sorry if I surprised you. Didn't know anyone else was out this way," she say. Vi hesitates where she's at, not moving nearer until she finds out if it's ok.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason laughs, "Oh, um, no worries," he says, picking himself up off the ground, pretending that it was nothing. "I'm just horribly clumsy and prone to falling on my butt frequently. The thing he holds in his hand that he took a bite out of was...limestone, or so it looks. Instead of being broken the way one might expect, it actually has a bite indention, as one might expect if it were a block of cheese. "Don't think I've met you here before," he offers. "Mason, Mason Steele." He gives a lick of his teeth, as if checking for any foreign objects, before flashing a pearly white smile.

Vi has posed:
The usual look of recognition that so often comes with others hearing his name is missing from Vi, though the introduction still draws him a soft, friendly smile from the petite brunette. "Hello Mason. I'm Vi," she offers without providing a last name. "I don't think we've met either. But there's so many people at the school, I've been guilty of being forgetful trying to keep all the names and faces straight," she tells him. "I'm getting better at it though," she tells him.

Vi glances at the piece of rock he's holding. "Do you eat rocks?" she asks, expression not just curious, but a little excited. "Does it fuel your mutant power? I do too. I mean, not rocks. Metal. Just for my power, I eat normal food to not keel over from hunger," she explains.

Mason Steele has posed:
    It isn't too common that someone doesn't give Mason a recognizing look, and while mildly curious, he doesn't press the matter. In fact, there's a certain relief that seems to hit his face, though without the context it might just seem that he looks relieved to meet her. An odd sentiment perhaps. "Yeah, if can't remember someone's name, I just say 'can you help me with your name'," he suggests. "Then people think they are being helpful, it's a psychological trick, works wonders, I-" he looks at the rock, and turns a little red. "Um, I usually try to keep that to myself," he says. "It doesn't fuel my power or anything," he says. "I'm...not sure why I do it. It's like wanting candy. Weird, I know." He looks a little uncomfortable, and happy to move back to her pwoer. "You eat metal then?" He arches his brow. "That...makes me feel better," he laughs. "I never tried eating metal. Dunno if that's a good idea."

Vi has posed:
The tip on how to politely ask for a person's name gets an expression from Vi as if she thinks that is going to be a handy one. "Thank you, I'll have to remember," she says, giving a quick nod, and the kind of smile that a few months ago would have just been kept inside, but that is starting to leak out more often from Vi.

Vi glances over at the limestone again. "I don't know. I don't really think that's weird at all," she says. Vi glances back in the direction of the school, probably either not visible, or only tiny bits of it through the trees. "Compared to other things at the school? I don't even think it would make me glance twice, except for it kind of being similar to me," she says. And indeed, there's a sense of comfort from Vi, and she moves over nearer if Mason doesn't seem to mind, closing the space she'd left to safely land without possibly hitting him.

"Well, more like swallow. I mean I don't chew it," she says. She reaches into the strap for the belt pouch and pulls out a small vial about as big of her thumb. It has liquid in it, and as she shakes it, there's metalic flakes and pebbles in there too. "After I swallow it I can feel and it'll fuel my powers," she tells him. "Though too much will make me sick, so I don't think I actually digest it."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason nods, "That's... complicated sounding," he says, thinking about it. "So...how did you know you had the powers?" he asks. "Seems like a weird thing to just stumble across." He seems to be working through this carefully. "Not that I'm callin' yo weird, just...How did that all go down anyway?"

Vi has posed:
Vi gives a tiny side to side motion of her head, with a nod at the end that might come across as Mason being a bit right there. "When I was younger, I started noticing this warmth I could feel inside. I don't know how else to describe it. Kind of like if you eat something that totally satisfies you, how your stomach feels. Except, different still. Well, anyway, I didn't know what it was but one day I was kind of focusing on it and suddenly it was like... if I'd been deaf and could suddenly hear. I could sense... things around me. And I focused on one to try to figure out what I was feeling and this metal mug flew across the room at me. After that the warm feeling was gone. Used up. It came back after about a week. I wouldn't find out for years, but the iron in the drinking water, once it built up enough, it reached a level I could use it for my mutant power. Which, I had no idea mutants even existed, let alone I was one," she says, scuffing the toe of a boot in the snow. "The other metals... weren't as easy to learn," she says in a small voice.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Oh, that's pretty smart," Mason says, "I'd probably never figure that out. Wait, wait...Never heard of mutants? Where were you growing up that you've never heard of mutants?" he asks, looking askance. "I mean, the mutant debate has been front in center of politics for like...longer than we've been alive." He seems to not recognize he may be about to strike a sensitive subject. And he doesn't look like the type that could relate to such tramatic events.

Vi has posed:
The toe of her boot pokes at the snow a little bit more, moving it back and forth. She used to hate winter. It was when the most people died. But here, it's different. Even the snow itself. It's all white and beautiful, instead of a dirty mess with the ash from the nearby volcanoes mixed in.

Mason's question set her thoughts off on that tangent, and it draws her back as well. Vi hesitates, having had teachers step in on other student's questions about her past so she wouldn't have to answer. Maybe it's him eating the rocks. Or maybe she's just ready to have someone else besides Samuel and a few teachers know.

"I grew up in really different place. It was a slave labor camp, to run a mine and a foundry for some... bad people. I didn't know about anywhere but there, until I escaped it," she says. "Sometimes people talked about places outside, but... ok I suppose I knew it must be real. They'd bring in new people now and then and they had to come from somewhere. But you just kind of tell yourself it's just crazy talk. Because that was all I knew," she says, her head down for most of that. Vi peeks up at Mason then, bracing herself to be looked at like she's some kind of freakazoid.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Oh." Mason looks rather uncomfortable. "I um, sorry," he sentiments. Like most in the land of the free, that's normally just something from history books or another part of the world. "I didn't mean to like, open bad stuff and all," he says. "But don't look all mopey, right? You are out now," he offers hopefully. "I can't say I know anything about that, and I hear it like, never leaves you and stuff, but at least you can move forward," he offers. "Pretty girl like you, won't have any trouble making a better life here in America," he suggests.

Vi has posed:
Vi gives a little shrug and a nod of her head. "It's ok. It isn't something most of the school knows. I don't know if it's better if people know or not. If they do, some of them will probably look at me...I don't know, different. Or, leave them not knowing and they think I'm slow because I'm just learning to read. And don't know where places are they talk about. Or... what a giraffe is when I see one for the first time," she tells him.

Giraffes. SO cool.

As Mason turns to flirting, it succeeds in getting a little smile back from her, though also the sense she isn't really used to hearing such things. "Thanks. I'm learning. I have classes at the school. And I'm working with Jamie in the city, so I get to see what life is like here," she tells him.

Vi pulls off her stocking cap, running fingers through her hair before doffing it again. "So, um, what about you? Where that I haven't heard of are you from? And... you've been at the school for awhile I guess?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Me?" Mason says, "I'm from LA. Not the biggest music city, I know, but it's worked out pretty well," he says with a lopsided smile. "I play music, do tours and stuff. Like people you hear on spotify and stuff," he mentions. "Anybody show you Spotify yet?" he asks. "I Certainly hope that they've at least shown you music." He lifts a rock, "I won't tell anybody about your stuff if you promise not to tell the teachers I'm eating rocks, sound fair?"

Vi has posed:
Vi smiles as she listens, her cheeks turning just a little rosy out in the cold, though she still has that very light burn of pewter going so doesn't really feel it. "I got a tour at the school when I first arrived," she confirms, apparently misunderstanding the way he used the term. Probably not knowing the other usage even exists.

The young woman's smile grows a little more. "I've enjoyed listening to music. People keep talking about all sorts of different kinds but I can't tell which is which yet. I just know I've heard a lot that I like," she says. A shake of her head is given about Spotify. "No, no one has shown it to me. Is it here at the school?" she asks, head tilting to the side a bit. "And I won't tell anyone. Though I don't see what's wrong with it. I'm not sure I'd like that, but... was it tasty then?" she asks. Vi glances at the school. "There's so much food here. It's like being in a whole different world," she says.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "It...um, it tastes like a rock," Mason shrugs. "I dunno, it's like, a craving. You know how like, you sometimes want a certain food and you just can't stop thinking about it? It's like that." He shrugs. "We will get you set up with spotify. It's a web site that lets you play literally anything that's ever been produced through a record label. You can listen to anything at all. My stuff's on there, other famous artists, all the way back to hundreds of years ago. You'll love it. And who cares if you know what the genres are, if music is good, it's good that's all that should matter." He looks at the rock, and decides that he may as well take another bite, she alreay knows he eats them. As he bites it, there is the sound of grinding rock as he chews it, clearly it's rock, but he does it as if there is no trouble with it at all.

Vi has posed:
Vi smiles as Mason mentions his music is out there. "I'll have to go listen to it sometime," she tells him, before something he said clicks in her head. "Other famous artists? Do people know who you are then? I mean, outside the school?" Vi asks. "Jamie said he'd take me to a place that plays... what was the word," she says, pausing and her eyes flitting about as she tries to remember. "Jazz...?" she says slowly, as if not sure she's remembering right. "Would they play any of your songs?"

She watches as he eats the limestone, just a little curious but her expression not showing she's put out by the sight, even when the sounds of rock being chewed happen. Though she does extinguish her tin until he's done, dulling her senses because it's kind of loud in her ears otherwise. "I should probably start to head back to the school. I wanted to come out and... well, I want to learn how to use my powers better. There was a... a thing yesterday that happened and I realized I'm not really sure how to use it best, sometimes," she says.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Well, not to brag, but a lot do," Mason admits. "But no, they won't play my stuff at a jazz club. Jazz is awesome because they just make it up on the spot. They may have a song they are playing, but it won't matter, because they just think up new ways to play it. Real artists. Jazz is nice." He nods, "Oh, that's fine," he says. "I probably should go back in and get warmed up as well." He tosses the limestone on the ground casually. "Been good to meet you, Vi," he offers, holding out a hand as if for a handshake.