11314/Just a regular day at the mansion

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Just a regular day at the mansion
Date of Scene: 09 April 2020
Location: Shannon's Room (East Halls), Xavier's School
Synopsis: Gwendolyn and Shannon shoot the breeze.
Cast of Characters: Dragonfly (Armenteros), Nightingale




Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     It's a quiet day at the X-mansion which is nice compared to the usual chaos that happens on a day to day basis. Sure, there is still classes, training, and people in the halls, but there aren't giant robots attacking, aliens invading, pirates trying to hijack tankers, or anything of that sort. It's just the kind of day that's normal. A strange day, but a welcomed one.

     After the day of classes is over and training has finished Gwendolyn has headed upstairs to shower off after the workout in her 'bumblebee' uniform. Walking down the hall with her bag over her shoulder towards her room, she stops at the sight of Shannon's door slightly ajar. The sound of movement from inside leads her to believe her winged friend is there so, like a good neighbor, Gwendolyn is there.

     Rapping lightly on the door, GWendolyn heralds her entrance with a simple "Hello, Shannon!" before pushing into the room!

Nightingale has posed:
     The sight that greets Gwendolyn might be a highly unusual one. Shannon is in, what is for her, a very daring outfit. It's a crop top with a modest but somewhat low neckline, 3/4 sleeves, and a peasant skirt in red and gold Indian print. Her midriff is actually bare, for once.

     What's more, she's got her phone out, and she's taking a /selfie/. But for who?

     Turning around at the call, the winged teen smiles and waves. "Hi! C'mon in, haven't seen you pop by for a while!"

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     The door swings closed with a click, Gwendolyn giving Shannon a smile, looking the winged maiden over a few times to make sure she's really seeing what she's seeing. "This is new!" she finally exclaims with a grin, gesturing to Shannon with both hands. "I like it!" She's no stranger to the selfie game - in fact, she's been contemplating creating her own twitter and instagram account to share life in the X-mansion but hasn't told anyone that just yet. She leans against the door and smiles, her cheeks rising beneath her visor. "It's really cute on you, and so daring, too! I never thought I'd see you show off so much skin."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon blushes and giggles just a little bit, hiding her phone. It's buzzing a bit, the sound of a text message coming in, but she's not answering it, not just yet. "Well..." she begins, hesitating. "It's a little less for me, and a bit more for, well... someone else."

     Oh, my. Just what has Gwendolyn been missing out on?

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     Even if Gwendolyn doesn't have someone to send selfies to, she's no stranger to texting. She's a teenage girl, after all, so she knows all about selfies and texting. She also knows exactly when someone is keeping secrets and really doesn't want to share, and that's something that Shannon is giving off in spades. And Shannon certainly knows that Gwendolyn could easily find out with the use of her powers, but that's the best way to completely burn whatever bridges she has with Shannon, and that's not something that'll happen lightly. "Just us girls in here." She says with a small smile. "Promise I won't spill any beans, no matter what." She scoots closer. "Who're they for?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon giggles softly, plopping down on the bed. "Okay, okay... his name's Drake. Megan, Kitty, and I ran into him at the mall the other day. All of us were after some cinnamon buns. Megan and Kitty went home, but I stayed and just walked and talked with him for a little while." The girl's cheeks are going redder and redder by the minute. "I'm not used to someone actually being into me like this... it's kind of nice."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     Gwendolyn and her special insect eyes see a lot, but it's nice to know that she can still pick up on a few cues that her friends give off. "So wait." She sits down in one of the chairs by the fireplace, looking over at where Shannon stands. "You met a boy in a mall? How awesome is that? Is he cute?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon giggles softly and nods, her eyes actually twinkling for once. "Cute, and a great hugger. Here, got a snapshot of him..." She swipes through a few pictures on her phone, and comes up with one of an incredibly handsome, dark-haired young man with an impish smile and devil-may-care sort of attitude in his pose. "Drake."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
Gwendolyn hinges up her visor to take a look at the boy bare-eyed, snapping it back after a few seconds of studying, giggling at Shannon. "He's cute." she agrees, tapping the phone, swiping to the selfie that Shannon just took. "If you want me to take a few for you, I can do that too. Give you some neat 'over the shoulder' pictures to send or if you get really serious, some sexy ones."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nearly chokes at that, turning flame red clear to the tips of her ears. "Save that for the bikini shots," she mutters, giggling. "Yeah. He's actually talked about going shopping with me for a bikini for summer. 'Course, that'll have to wait till after I'm done being grounded...." She grumbles softly, glaring out her window towards the lake. "Now if I can just pry out of that crazy 'ol Canuck how long I'm grounded for..."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
"Give him choices. Don't let him pick something out for you, otherwise you might end up with something you'll either never wear, or something that you'll wear and will show off /way/ too much. I had step-brothers. Teenage boys almost always try to go too far." Gwendolyn adds as a final underscore to let Shannon know that the winged girl knows what she's talking about. "And those are only when you get serious...he's cute, but make sure he's right before you start showing off."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and smiles. "I'd stay with that one-piece if it was just me. Maybe something with some cutouts on the sides? Still keep everything pretty decently covered, you know?" The winged girl starts puttering about her room and smiles. "Hey, I know it's a little late in the season, but feel like some cocoa? As if there's ever a bad time for that..."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     Having step-brothers, and enduring the perils of puberty with boys in the house, Gwendolyn got an eyeful of what boys thought was nice thanks to some studying on a computer that hadn't had its internet history cleared, and what she saw wasn't something she ever thought a girl would find comfortable or sexy. So she has ideas of what's sexxy. "One piece, or a 50's style two piece. Low on the hips, kind of a sports bra looking top. Show off a little cleavage." She giggles. "And if it gets serious? Bubble bath."

Nightingale has posed:
     "In other words, a classic 'cheesecake' shot. Yeah, no, not getting to that point just yet." Shannon shakes her head and smiles, somewhat bemused by the whole thing. She's gathering a couple mugs, some hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, and whipped cream together for them both. "Truth be told, part of me wonders if it's just going to be taken away again like a lot of others have. I think I just want to enjoy it as it happens, and if it gets serious, well, I'll deal with it then."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
"Bingo." Gwendolyn takes the offered cup of cocoa, not questioning why Shannon has such things in stock in her room but thankful that she does. "Give him the chapter headings but not the whole story. That's...for later, if he lasts." She frowns a little bit, knowing what Shannon means about 'if he lasts.' She had Brad, who vanished after a while, and that really hurt, just a little. "So what'd you and Drake talk about?

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon chuckles a little bit, bringing over a small antique serving tray with the cocoa and fixings on it. She sets the tray down gently, nodding towards it. "We talked about how we found out about our gifts... superhero costumes... yeah that's actually a thing he enjoys. Some small talk, some heavy stuff, but it all felt kind of natural, ya know?" Perching on the end of the bed, she nudges the tray over towards Gwendolyn. "Told him about the concert that was to happen a couple days later. He was able to make it."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
Gwendolyn lifts the cup with a nod of thanks, taking a small sip of the good, warm liquid, letting it sit in her tummy like a warm coal, blowing over it to let it cool a little faster. "Oh, he's a mutant, too? Does he go here?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shakes her head. "He did, once. So I don't have to keep quiet about the school around him, thank god. He had his reasons for moving on, and those, I'll keep to myself." Hot cocoa was made for topping, and that's just what she'll do--spray a crapton of whipped cream on top of the steaming mug of good stuff. "Maybe one of these days everyone can meet, ya?"

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
It's not Gwendolyn's business why Drake is no longer a student here. He's around, though, so inevitably if he's hanging on Shannon with any regularity, he'll eventually bump into Gwendolyn, who will most definitely not try to steal the other girl's boyfriend. "Well, as long as he laughs at bad jokes and doesn't mind eating multiple thousand calories in a sitting, he and you will get along just fine."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon chuckles softly, and shrugs. "If you're referring to that overload of carbohydrates and protein known as mac 'n cheese, I haven't introduced him to that, no. It's only been a few days." She smiles somewhat, reaching over to pull Gwendolyn into a one-armed hug around the shoulders. "Think I did surprise him, though, pulling off a hundred push-ups in one go."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
Gwendolyn squeaks and smiles as she's pulled into the hug, her wings buzzing beneath their covers on her back, giving the other girl a tight squeeze with her one free hand, the other holding up the cocoa. "You can't just spring Mac and cheese on someone, Shannon. Putting them into a carb coma is a second date thing at the earliest."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon giggles and nods sagely. "In that case, I should consider the mac 'n cheese soon." She grins to herself, but then that grin turns to a good-natured grimace. "That is, as soon as I can track down a certain Canuck about this whole grounding BS..."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     "Yeah, what's with that?" Gwendolyn scoots around, pulling one foot below the other knee, balancing the cocoa on the bent knee where it can easily be sipped. "I heard you and Pixie were grounded, but that's literally about it. They've kept the whole 'why' a closely guarded secret other than 'Megan and Shannon are restritcted to base' which sounds like total BS." She can't even say bullshit.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Long and short of it is, Megan and Alice went chasing down a fairy to keep the poor thing safe. Alice got sent back here to find a bit of backup and guess who that was. Yep. I went in to help Megan, and next thing you know, we've got two giant outer space robots having a death match. One of them was a bounty hunter type, and yeeeeeeeeah... I knew that was way above our pay grade, so I sent a message to Cannonball for some backup. He wasn't able to make it but I guess he got a hold of Logan. Logan showed up just as that bounty hunter type was pointing a gun right at my head." She shivers a little bit. "Thing is though, I don't believe that whole mess is over yet."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
Gwendolyn was following along just perfectly until the intergalactic space robots showed up. Pixie and Alice going after a fairy is par for the course, but having giant robots appear is kind of an off-the-wall sort of thing. "Damage, INC. did a good job covering up what happened. Official story was that it was a gas pipeline explosion and it was a wonder no-one was killed, but giant robots? Sounds like a bad anime or something." She leans in a little. "You okay?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and smiles. "Pixie took a bump on the head, but I healed that up just fine. Thing is though... one of those 'bots is a friendly." She sighs softly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kind of made friends over time with them. Been on some pretty wild adventures I've kept mostly to myself. Would you believe I actually saw their homeworld?" She smiles a bit more, and looks out the window. "Just... if we're out and shit goes down, and I yell at you to get out of there, then for heaven's sake, move it. You don't want to be in the middle of a mess like that."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
"...with a giant robot?" The way Gwendolyn says this, it's like she's trying to parse exactly what it is that's being said here. Shannon. Winged, angelic Shannon. Friends with a Giant Robot. "Um...how giant is Giant, by the way? Like...Colossus sized, or Devil Dinosaur sized, or what?"

Nightingale has posed:
     "Huh? Devil Dinosaur? What's that?" Shannon shrugs, and purses her lips. "Way taller than Colossus. Guess the easiest way to tell you would be to show you, but who knows the odds of you ever meeting one day." She rolls her eyes and knocks back a bit more of her cocoa, coming away with a whipped cream moustache for her trouble. "Of course, I had pretty much the same thought of things like that ever happening to me, so... stranger things have happened. Okay we're not talking Godzilla sized here, but we're not talking Colossus sized either. And he's one helluva speedster."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     "Something I saw on one of the screens during an after-action report. Sounded cool and sounded like somethign that might be big and monster-like, so I went with it." Gwendolyn shrugs a little and reclines, adjusting herself a little so she's not laying on her wings, the cup of cocoa sitting on her belly, rising and falling with each breath. "I think me, being here, will make my life a lot more interesting. Meeting people like you help. Being a part of the New Mutants helps, too."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon beams with pride at Gwendolyn, raising her cup to the other girl. "Couldn't be prouder of you if I tried," she offers. "Hell's bells, I remember teaching you to fly. Now look at you, training and everything, all in your 'bees!" Could her smile get any wider? Nope.

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     "And they fit perfectly, too!" Gwendolyn says with a grin, lifting her cup in a mirror of Shannon's cheer. "All thanks to you taking a chance on me."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon smiles and ducks her head. "Heck. Mr. McCoy and Miss Munroe took a chance on me. The Captain took a chance on me. Heck, even Doctor Banner is now. How can I do any less for folks here?" Somehow, chatting with Gwen always managed to put her in a better mood; it was like the two girls created a feedback loop of good mood that way.

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
Gwendolyn giggles and reaches over to pat Shannon on the big guide feathers on the wing closest to her, looking up at the ceiling with a smile. "Think you'll get in trouble, having a visitor like me stay overnight? We'll do homework if they ask, but mostly I just want to hang out with you for a while. Hear about your new boy toy."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon chuckles and nods, her backpack never too far from her bed. "I've got that much more reason to study my wingfeathers off," she replies. "I mean, c'mon, when you've got one of the world's top scientific minds offering to mentor you, you can't afford to slack off. Besides, I'm pretty well stocked up on snacks. What's your poison?" As Gwen reaches out to pat the big guide feathers on her wings, a few smaller bits of fluff fall off. Oh dear. Molting season!

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     Oh no, molting season. Is it that time again? Gwendolyn lifts up her fingers, the little bits of fluff floating away on the breeze from the air conditioning and sighs, looking. "Grooming first, then study, with storytime and snacks between until bed, yeah?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon rolls her eyes and chuckles, nodding. "Sounds good. You know, this grounding thing might actually be well-timed. I'll take advantage of it to chill out, and this molting season won't render me flightless, so long as I don't stress out on top of things."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
I always meant to ask, how did you deal with this before me? Just let the feathers fall out and take out what you could yourself? With your healing, they come back pretty quick, but the human body can only flex so much, y'know?" Gwendolyn finishes off her cocoa and sits up, the cup getting set carefully on the table next to the bed, and gets to her feet. The chair by the fire is moved to the edge of the bed and she gestures for Shannon to turn around and hang her wings over the edge once she's gathered the trash can to put the little feathers in. "You should really see if a native tribe can use these bigger feathers."

Nightingale has posed:
     "Pretty much, yeah. Reach what I could myself, sometimes let a fan blow on my wings and let the wind do the work. If it got really bad I could usually bug mom to get the worst of it." Shannon can't help a little smile and perches cross-legged on her bed, letting those big, sweeping wings hang over the edge of the bed. "Hmmmm. That's not a bad thought. I might see if Mr. Proudstar can use any of these. Or maybe Dani when she comes back, though I suspect she has enough from Brightwind as it is."

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     One advantage of her fingers being mutated is that she can give a wonderful back scratching or, in the case of molting, getting right to the root of the feathers and gently teasing the shaft of the loose feathers out. She doesn't even need to stand, thanks to the way Shannon is sitting, reaching up and gently running her fingers through Shannon's feathers and carefully working out whichever ones are loose. This is the second time she's done this, so she's gotten pretty good at it. "You know." She says leaning over to talk around shannon's wings. "Doing this with Drake would be a heck of a bonding experience."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon spreads her wings out part way so that the task of searching out and teasing loose feathers free is a bit easier for Gwen. She hmms softly, seeming to consider this. "It would, wouldn't it? If he and I are still a thing by the time fall rolls around, there might be that chance."

A smile curls the corners of her mouth upwards, and she closes her eyes, just letting the very relaxing, chilled-out moment sink in. "Hell of a chance to catch up with you too, though. So besides training, studying, and all that, what have you been up to yourself?"

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
You've pretty much named it all." Gwendolyn says with a giggle. "When people went places for spring break, I stayed here. Mostly classes, going to movies. A couple of days of gnashing and wailing of teeth when Brad headed for greener pastures, too." She sighs about that, shaking her head, even though shannon can't see it. "Working on an old motorcycle and making Remy fat with Cajun cooking. So...a lot."

Nightingale has posed:
     "Oh no... I'm so sorry! Kind of wondered where he went. Things seemed to be going so well for you two, and he was even saying hello to me once in a while." Shannon pauses, biting her lower lip. "I've got to confess I was pretty jealous of you two for a while, but... no, I wouldn't do that to you, ya know? Wish he was back here, so maybe you could be happy again." She cants her head slightly, pursing her lips. "Been wondering myself if I ought to work on an old motorcycle, or a scooter. Just something simple when I don't feel like flying. What do they have left in the garage?"

Dragonfly (Armenteros) has posed:
     "Yeah, well...water under the bridge, I suppose. Let me learn what I want in a relationship and what I might be able to expect. He had a lot of baggage, going from super-popular to literally invisible, and it was too much for him to work through, even with my help." Gwendolyn sighs and bites her lower lip, working out one of the larger feathers, putting pressure on the cuticle when it comes free with her thumb. "I thought you might have been, but I was...kind of blinded by it y'know? When he was visible, Brad was pretty cute, y'know?" Her hands still on Shannon's wings as GWendolyn thinks. "Pretty sure they have most of a couple of old Vespas in there. That'd be a cool thing for you to get going."