5232/Part of a Balanced Breakfast

Part of a Balanced Breakfast
Date of Scene:	23 August 2018
Location:	Xavier's School - Boathouse and Music Room
Synopsis:	Andrea discovers that Mason eats rocks, and they later work on musical venture ideas.
Cast of Characters:	Mason Steele, Rage

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Mason Steele has posed:
    School has started again, causing there to be more students at Xavier's than there were previously. It's meant more kids that were excited to see two popular teen idols at the school. While after a few days, those things may start to die down, Mason has been rather scarce at mealtimes. He sneaks in to grab food, sneaks back out, and...who knows where he's been going. This morning's breakfast he skipped it all together. 7am has a nice mist over the lake, and outside the boat house, Mason is around the corner, down by the shore.\n\n    He roots through the rocks on the shore, peeling one up from the mud with his fingers, and examines it. He tosses it on the ground again, and goes to another. That's the one. He glances around to check and see if anyone is present, then turns back toward the lake, taking a bite out of it. There's a loud crunch, the sound of cracking stone echoing from his mouth, and he closes his eyes in satisfaction.

Rage has posed:
Despite the extra attention from the students, Andrea goes along with it smoothly as always. She loves taking pictures with the kids, signing autographs and playing songs for them in the rec room during lunch hours or after classes. This is what she signed up for after all. To lift the spiirts of her community up. In the mornings though, she always sticks to her routine of going out on a run, this time on four legs instead of two.\n\nThe scent of Mason up this early in the morning causes her nose to twitch as the sleek black wolf cuts through the fog of the morning towards the boat house, curious as to why he would be up /this/ early as opposed to sleeping in. Most likely he is cutting a class, so she looks forward to busting him. As she approaches the lake and seeing him hunched over, her ears prick at the crunch. She trots forward slowly on stealthy paws, low to the ground as she approaches, trying to peer at what he is doing.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Another loud crack comes from his mouth as he bites the rest of the stone, and he licks a little of the mud from his fingers. Mason bends down, and finds another rock of similar properties, smells it, and then scoops a little of the mud from the ground and pastes it on the rock as if it were frosting, then takes another crunching bite of the stone. He's eating rocks.

Rage has posed:
Creeping closer on soft paws, the wolf slowly comes into view to stare at him with a confused look on her face. Her head tilts to one side, followed by a chuff. Ears pricking upwards, it's clear that she is caught off guard by her boyfriend's antics.

Mason Steele has posed:
    At the chuffing sound, Mason whips his head suddenly around. A little mud is on the side of his lip, and he drops the rock, trying to drop it behind his body. He has a mouthful, and he tries to chew quietly. Rocks, however, don't break quietly. He forces a swallow before he's quite finished chewing, and waves. "Uh, hi Andrea, what're you doing here?" he asks.

Rage has posed:
The eyes of the wolf track the rock that falls from his hand to the ground, then looks back up at him. She tilts her head again, this time to the other side. She lets out a whine of confusion as she looks back at the rock. Every crunch he makes, her ears give a twitch. Finally, she shifts into her human form, wearing her gold and black uniform of the New Mutants so that she won't be standing in front of him naked.\n\n"Why the hell are you eating rocks and mud for?" Andrea asks as she points towards his chew snack. "... how are you eating rocks?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "What?" Mason asks, looking confused. "I wasn't eating rocks," he insists. "It was a jawbreaker." He gives a mock frown. "Just out enjoyin' a look at the lake." He still looks a little like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "What're you doing here?" he asks, trying to change the subject.

Rage has posed:
"Wow, really, you're going to stand there and lie to me when I literally sat there and watched you dig up rocks out of the ground, cram them in your mouth, and then eat them? I was sitting here for the last couple of minutes watching you." Andrea says with a frown along her face as she folds her arms over her chest. "I'm out here because I was on a run and I could smell you, and wanted to know what you were up to."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Wheels are turning, it's clear on Mason's face. He stares at Andrea, as if looking for some type of response that he can give. Maybe those wheels are still turning, but after several seconds, they haven't cranked any response out yet.

Rage has posed:
There is a sigh from Andrea as she rubs the back of her neck for a moment. "Mason, are you okay? Like.. is this a new thing for you, or have you always been ... eating rocks?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "I uh," Mason mirrors the motion, rubbing his own back. "I just...I do it, I dunno," he says. "Kinda like you crave chocolate sometimes?" he tries to relate. "Sometimes I just...want to...eat. rocks." He says it slow, realizing how absurd the statement appears coming out of his mouth. "It's really weird, I dunno, I came out here so nobody would see, okay? Why do ya gotta be so nosey?"

Rage has posed:
"Why do I gotta be so nosey?" Andrea asks as she gives a visible frown. "Because it's seven in the morning and you're down here by the docks. I was just making sure you were okay and not floating face down in the water or something." She gives a stub of her foot against the ground a few times, then shrugs as she starts walking off. "Well, I'll let you go back to your breakfast or whatever." She says with a sigh. "See you in class."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason arches one brow. "Floating face down? That's morbid," he says. He's quite a bit mortified by the exposure of his secret, and doesn't say anything else. He senses the mud on his lip, and reaches up to wipe it off with the back of his hand, glancing down at it before he lets out a breath, shaking his head to himself and looking back down at the rock he was eating.

Mason Steele has posed:
LATER THAT AFTERNOON

    The day goes on, Mason avoids contact given what happened earlier in the day. His hiding location is pretty predictable, though. He's in the music room. He doesn't have the guitar plugged in right now, so it doesn't make very much noise to be heard from the outside. He runs his fingers along the muted plucking, sitting in one of the student seats of the room, head low as he examines his choice of chords.

Rage has posed:
The rest of the day has gone by without much fanfare from Andrea. She had breakfast, went to class, did a danger room session with Cyclops, and is now heading down the hall with a trio of girls that she has befriended. They talk for a bit about studies, cute boys, and a potential prom commitee. Once she stops by the music room, she waves good-bye to her friends and opens the door to step in. As she spies Mason, she gives a pause for a moment, then offers up a grin. "Hey, whatcha working on?" She asks as she heads to the wall of guitars to find one that she has been using for the last few weeks, already tuned to her preferences.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason glances up under his light eyebrows, "Huh?" he asks, having been a little consumed in his work. "Oh, just thinkin' about chord combinations against some key signature shifts and how they would interact with tempo and key changes. Nothin' specific. Think a seven chord chromatic shift on a 3/4 signature would translate to a cut time Three chord AB rhythm?" He plucks away, testing a few combinations. "What're you up to?"

Rage has posed:
"Sounds like you got a plan." Andrea says as she slides the guitar over her neck and shoulder. "Just my usual practice hour. I can hold it off though if you got something going on here, or we can work on a project together. I'm up to spending quality time with you musically."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason nods, "Okay," he says, getting up. He walks to place the guitar on it's stand, then moves to the keyboard, flipping it on.
    "I wasn't being weird," he says suddenly. "I know it's kinda bizarre, but it's never hurt me or anything," he starts justifying himself. "Not like I'm hurting anyone."

Rage has posed:
An amused smile tugs upon Andrea's lips for a moment as she brushes her fingers along the chords of her guitar, plucking away at each one to ensure the notes are tuned. "Are you afraid I'm gonna judge you or spread it around the school or on Twitter or something?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "No," Mason says, "it's not that, I just...it's embarrassing. Like, if someone says mud pie, I internally am like," he strikes the victory discovering notes from Zelda. He shrugs. "I tried not doing it for a while, and I was gettin' hangry, you know? Even if I ate already." He plays a few angry chords, "I'd be all-" he starts playing something that sounds like a pursuit theme, "Running down to the lake when I said I was takin' a piss, so I started getting up early so nobody would see me." He stops playing. "I dunno, I feel like a freak, eating rocks."

Rage has posed:
"I get it." Andrea says as she brushes her fingers along the guitar again a few times, picking out an easy rhythm of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide. Her go-to warm up song. Her favorite song. "It's probably just apart of your mutant genetic makeup. You shouldn't feel like a freak, Mason. No one should feel like a freak here. When I'm in my wolf form, I get the urge to hunt down small animals and chomp on them for breakfast. I haven't yet though. I think that may be traumatic for someone walking in on that. At least they'd probably just laugh at you, me though? They'd be scared of me. I'd rather be laughed at for eating rocks than being feared for chasing down a tabby."

Mason Steele has posed:
    "I guess," Mason says, joining in by switching the keyboard to the drum setting. "Yeah," he says, "I guess it could be worse. Sorry, not tryin' to minimize your stuff," he says to Andrea. "I guess I'm just a selfish jerk."

Rage has posed:
"I don't think you are. I was just saying we are kinda in the same boat for the most part. We're incredibly famous. Probably two of the top twenty most popular people in the world. I'm sure if it got out that we eat rocks and eat cats it would be fairly damaging." Andrea says as she gives him a grin. "At least in muggleworld. I don't think anyone here would think you'd be weird. I mean, Santos may not wanna hang out with you. He's made of rock." She teases. "If he bullies you, you could always threaten to bite his thumb off."

Mason Steele has posed:
    "I dunno about top twenty," Mason laughs, "We aren't that big in China or anything, and we're not presidents or stuff like that, or Superman or Wonderwoman." He chuckles. "Yeah, I don't want to eat him, that IS pretty weird. I don't like all rocks the same, they taste different. Guess like any other food."

Rage has posed:
"... I'm .. like really big in China.." Andrea trails off with a giggle. "They love me over there. My fashion sense, the pop music. You'd be more popular there if you sang more about pretty girls and how you're in love or something. They dig upbeat romantic dance tracks."

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Yeah," Mason chuckles with a laugh. "All my biggest hits are dance beat stuff. I hate writing that stuff though, any kid with a yamaha keyboard can write that stuff," he says. "But I guess most people like it, so that's why, huh?"

Rage has posed:
"Gotta give the fans what they want, right? You're allowed three sell out albums before you do your own personal one that doesn't do as well, before going back to the sell outs. I call it the Kelly Clarkson technique." Andrea says as she grins at him. "Let's write a duet together. A real uptempo one. A party song."

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Right." He switches to piano and strikes the four chords that have been used so often for hit songs. "There, we are all set, just add some drums, sing "Yeah yeah baby," and watch the money roll in." Of course, Mason has always greatly despised using those four chords particularly because they have been so overused.

Rage has posed:
There is a bit of a snort from Andrea as she bumps her shoulder against his. "I think we can come up with a way better party song than using /those/ chords." Slipping the guitar off her shoulder, she glides her hands around him from behind, hugging him as her chin props on his shoulder.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason shrugs, and bursts into Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. "We should do something that's a little different. How would we turn this into a pop song. We shoudl have four melody lines, we all would be singing at the same time. Anyone at the school sing besides us? Maybe we could get them in the spotlight, they'd love it," he comments. "Let them go on tour or something. It'd be cool. Does Cindy sing?"

Rage has posed:
"I don't think Cindy sings and I'm not sure if she'd want to go on tour and put herself out there." Andrea says with a thoughtful noise. "She's still a bit skittish. I really don't know if anyone else sings here." She gives him a tighter hug as she sways back and forth a bit.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Okay," Mason shrugs, "Knew you and her were gettin' close, so thought I'd check." He tilts an arm over her head and then around her shoulder. "Okay, so...duet material..."