2013.04.02 - Wind. Ham. is right.

So it's totally not Niah's fault. Lots of people like to 'pop wheelies' in their wheelchairs! Why, she bets Xavier does it constantly when he thinks noone's watching! Still, to get a really good wheelie going, you gotta pick up speed. And she did that! Then she hit a table and knocked a lamp off. When the lamp came off, she shouted for Mugwump to 'grab it'. Mugwump, of course, grabbed the lamp. But in doing so, he bumped another table and nearly knocked a vase off. So of course, she told him to grab that one too. This created a cascade effect where poor overwhelmed Mugwump assisted Niah in creating a relatively large amount of broken glass.
To make matters worse, Niah also was dressed in her goggles and the blanket-as-a-cape manner she favors when 'playing superhero'. Summation? Things aren't looking good. So she has now summoned her heroic courage... and begun knocking on the door loudly,"MR SUMMERS! UUUUH... MUGWUMP'S GOT A QUESTION!"
The door swings open. In truth, Scott was already on his way up when he heard the broken glass. He's in a terrible mood anyways, so the sound has him up in a clear tizzy. His door swings open and he looks in the hallway. "What in the world is going on out here," he roars.
A professionally bound paper of some sort phases through the wall, followed by Kitty Pryde, who's calling: "Scott! Scott! They released the rankings for New York state higher-ed English programs, and w--" Kitty stops, staying phased as she surveys the wasteland. Her eyes travel to Niah, and then to Scott's glower, which she can recognize even behind shades or visors or whatever.
"...it can wait," Kitty says, quietly.
She's nearly fearless when Mugwump's there to defend her. Still, Scott's got laser-eyes. LASER-EYES. How many people really CAN kill with a nasty stare? If a person has looks that can kill, that person is probably Scott! So... she cringes,"I... uh... That is..." She points at the APPARENTLY empty space where Mugwump is hovering invisibly. "...Mugwump wanted to know where we keep the brooms. Also, we accidentally broke some glass." Suddenly, she regains composure, and tries to strike her sitting 'superhero' pose,"Heroes gotta 'fess up to their mistakes. So... I needed to tell you that we broke it. Also, so noone steps on it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your important adult-stuff." She can only assume it was important and adult.
As Kitty arrives, she leans over in her chair and murmurs,"If you run now, you might be able to get away before my screams die down. It's okay. You've got college to think of." That's probably a joke. Then ADD sets in,"OH EM GEE. You're gonna be a writer? THAT IS SO KEEZING COOL! Keezing. I made that up. It's my new word. It's gonna be all the rage-" In typical hyperactive Niah fashion, she appears to totally have forgotten what she was doing here in the first place as her babble goes on.
Kitty will also notice Scott's other look. The one of irritation as he looks over to her, then back at Niah. "Let me tell you what you're going to do. You're going to get a dustbin and a broom. You're going to clean up this mess. And then you're going to keep it quiet. Imaginary friends or no, all of you will be quiet. And good."
Kitty Pryde is a well-read young woman. So her first response to all of this is to ask, almost under her breath, "'Mugwump?'" She looks as if someone just offered her a bucket of fish slop for lunch.
"You're new, so I'm going to fill you in on something. There isn't much in this world that cheers me up, and certainly not something that's going to cause me to run an extra mile or two to work off. The best chance you have is cleaning the mess up." Scott sighs and looks over to Kitty. He holds his hand to his head, knowing he's lost his temper, and that is sort of unusual for him. "I'm sorry, Kitty. What is it?" He motions to the paper in the young woman's hand.
Kitty again gives Niah a weirded-out look, and same goes for the disembodied noise, too. "Uh, yeah, I'm Miss Pryde, I'm one of the teachers, what's up," Kitty says. "Don't bake Mister Summers cookies," she adds, as an afterthought.
Kitty turns to Scott: "Nothing big, but we need to talk about what those kids are reading." Mugwumps. Kitty's stared down N'Garai demons and she still finds the idea of a kid knowing what a mugwump is creepy. "And maybe we should--" Kitty gives a sidelong glance at Niah, interrupting her own train of thought, and then returns her attention to Scott. "When this is all sorted out, coffee's on me," she says, in an insistent, subtly bossy way she probably learned from friggin' Ororo.
It almost looks like the dustpan and broom are floating on their own through the air. But, it certainly SEEMS natural, the way they begin to painstakingly sweep broken glass into the dustpan. Niah wheels over to bend sideways in her chair to pick up the larger bits of glass. "No cookies. Got it. Weird. I thought everyone liked cookies." Wait, back up? "Teacher!? But you're too young to be a teacher! Also, you look like you understand fun. Teachers don't do fun. Unless it's history or theater teachers. In which case, they're probably coaches. Which means PE. Keez yeah, P.E.!" She maintains a running narrative,"I totes love me some basketball. Just don't play against Mugwump. He cheats. He can fly." She shoots a glare at the invisible beast. "Sorry Mugwump's being a dork. He's had kind of a spazzy day, but he's usually pretty friendly."
Evidence is beginning to suggest that perhaps Jocelyn was not correct in identifying Mugwump as an imaginary friend. He seems either to be real, or to be a figment of some form of psionic powers. Either way, Scott has little patience for it. The constant hopping of conversations is beginning to give him a headache. He nods to Kitty at her points, "Yeah, I'm all ears. We can talk whenever you want."
As equipment floats, a small dragon weaves around it, then lands on Kitty's shoulder and gives a snooty huff towards wherever 'Mugwump' is meant to be. "Quiet, you," Kitty asides to Lockheed, and then says, "Actually, yeah, I'm one of the martial arts instructors, so... I guess that's P.E.." She smooths her bangs with one hand and quietly wonders if this is how people like Scott felt when /she/ was 14.
"Uh, yeah, it's okay to have a... spazzy day or whatever, it happens, but the main thing is not having them in such a way that destroys property or endangers your fellow students," Kitty says, sounding more like a Y afterschool program coach than a real teacher. "Otherwise you have to sleep in the yard." She fully expects Scott to glare at her for that one, but.
Mugwump pauses for a moment in his cleaning, and walks over to crouch in front of Lockheed. If anyone/thing could see him, he'd probably have a rather quizzical expression on his face,"Mugwump! You can play with the-OH EM GEE, IT'S A DRAGON." She stares right at Kitty, and informs her unabashedly,"You are, like, totally my favorite teacher, right this moment." Suddenly she winces and looks sideways at Scott,"I'm sure you're pretty nice most of the time." She scratches her nose, and only to herself, wonders,"Did I bring my camping equipment..."
"Yes, if you're wondering." When Kitty was 14, Scott was 20. This is precisely how it felt. And this is probably why Scott has such trouble treating Kitty as the grown up X-woman of great significance that she is. When she utters the bit about sleeping on the yard, Scott doesn't glare-quite the opposite. Instead he merely nods in agreement, as if that's a real option. "No. I'm not nice any of the time."
"He's really not," Kitty says in solemn agreement. "But be glad he's the one who came across this whole scene and not Mister Logan." Lockheed glares down and gives another smoky grunt of a snort, and Kitty flashes him another close-range look. "Lockheed! Be good."
Niah lifts an eyebrow, resting a chin in her hand for a moment,"I dunno..." She sights a trashcan and wheels over to dump her glass bits while Mugwump works to do the same,"Are you sure mean isn't actually NICE in his case? What if he's all about 'tough love'? When I went to a physical therapist, she'd call me a lazy brat until I'd do my exercise. She was all sorts of mean, but it was for my own good. If this were a comic book, he'd be, all, like, the hardbutt with a heart of gold." Then the dragon is huffy, and she informs Kitty,"Maybe he's used to being the only imaginary friend around here? Don't worry, though. Mugwump is hard to offend."
"It has not been scientifically proven that I have a heart." Scott glares at Niah for a long time. "And that guy is Logan. Not me." Scott doesn't say much more, however, and just sort of stands there and supervises, wondering how long the distraction will keep him from his earlier things.
"He probably just wants dinner," Kitty says, scratching Lockheed under his chin. She glances over at Scott, then says, "And what do you mean, 'yes, if you're wondering,' was that at me?" She gives him a look that is best described as 'some kind of Jim Halpert face.'
"I had a teacher once who hated kids. When my mom asked him why he became a teacher if that was the case, he said: Every prison needs guards!" She shakes her fist in the air at noone in particular. Niah then beams a bright smile,"Come with me, Dragon! We can go make pizza! WOOSH!" This is a pre-arranged signal. She puts her fists out in the air in the classic 'flying person' arrangement as Mugwump picks up her wheelchair at waist level and begins to move down the hall in a slow, leisurely manner. Niah doesn't stop saying 'woosh', even when Mugwump stops by the closet door to stow the broom and dust pan.
Scott looks to Kitty and exhales. "I'm 27. And I'm already getting too old for this. Hit me up when you want coffee and wanna chat." Unceremoniously he turns on a dime, shaking his head, and heads back into his office."
Lockheed lifts from Kitty's shoulder and flaps around her, giving her a look as if to gauge her reaction to all of this. "I don't know, either, Dragon," she says with a shrug.
Category:Log