(Untitled)

[sunfire_ii]

WHO: Sunfire and Karma.
WHERE: Coffee shop near the X-Mansion
WHEN: May 06 at 3:30pm
WARNINGS: None! Possibly lesbian flirting.
SUMMARY: Mariko meets up with Shan at a local coffee place so they can swap Sam stories and get to know each other better.
FORMAT: Whatever we want idk

Comments

[whatg0esaround]

Immediately after her classes had let out for the day, Xi'an had gone to her room to change and shower. It was still taking some time to adjust to not only being a teacher again, but being in the same house as the X-Men as well. Xi'an had left the mutant crime fighting life behind to raise her siblings, and it just figured she was being forced back into it again. There was still a horrible sense of homesickness and longing to see Leong and Nga on her part, and that made adjusting to the City a little tougher

[sunfire_ii]

She glanced up when Xi'an all but stormed in, grinning at how rushed she looked. It was nice to know she'd rushed for her at least, and the actual meeting part seemed to be off to a good start.

The woman seemed well put together, and -- she let out a sigh of relief -- not a teenager. Rushed though she was, she hardly looked like she'd just run out of class to here. It was almost like she'd taken extra time to make sure she looked decent for their first meeting. The thought made her bite back a smile.

"Nah, not long," She lied a little, cupping her cooled coffee in her hands. "I work in a diner down the street. With Sam actually; he got me the job." Mariko winked. "Guys can get a little rowdy sometimes, but at least the hours are steady."

Mariko pulled a hand from the cup and offered it, eyes lighting with her smile. "It's nice to finally meet you, Xi'an."

[whatg0esaround]

No, definitely not a teenager, and Xi'an was happy to see that of Mariko as well-- a very calm and subtle relief, was all it was. Actually, the woman looked to be around the same age. Mariko looked mature, but young and spirited along with an admirable air of confidence. It made her easily approachable, and that was enough for Xi'an to feel at ease with her thus far. Plus her smile was infectious.

With a grin, Karma took Mariko's hand in return. "Likewise. And I don't think Sam mentioned a thing about rowdy men at a diner! But then again he is always quite choosy with his words."

Biting her lip, she scrunched up her face at her own rambling and shook her head. Sure it'd been a long awhile since she'd allowed herself to go out and meet new people, but that was no reason to fall into her nerdy ways so fast. It was time to have fun and be herself for a change. Turning the grin back on full force, Xi'an crossed her legs on her seat and got comfortable.

"So besides work what do you do? There has to be something exciting around besides

[sunfire_ii]

She laughed. "That's Sam alright. Too polite for his own good sometimes, I think. Especially when it comes to girls. It took me weeks to convince him I was perfectly able to pull out my own chair, thank you." Mariko shook her head. "He's a sweet guy, though. Lucky for Tabby I'm not into men, huh?" She gave Xi'an a wink before laughing again and sitting back against her chair.

She tilted her head to one side, considering Xi'an's question. "I honestly don't do much," Mariko admitted. "When I had more free time I played musical instruments. But since I became an Exile I haven't had much time for it. My parents were really strict." She waved a hand. "We don't talk anymore, but probably the one thing I LIKED about what they forced me to do was the violin."

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head and grinned. "But as for HERE? I mostly just hang out with people. Warren's great, and Sam, and Star. Sam and I had a race once. Our powers both let us blast off all rocket-like, so we decided to vent some steam. I won. He had to buy me lunch."

[whatg0esaround]

"He was brought up on strict chivalry, so he's been that way for as long as I can remember," she replied with a grin. "It's like second nature to him, and he usually doesn't stop until he gets smacked. It is amusing, really."

Sam had his moments. Xi'an could recall countless fights and protests between him and Dani, and the memory made her chuckle a bit. It was no surprise that Sam had befriended a woman like Mariko at all too. He'd always had such close relationships with bright and social girls. It was like he was drawn to them, or something.

Grinning at the next comment though, Xi'an couldn't help but have her interest piqued by the mention of musical instruments. She'd never played one, but always loved going to concerts. "I've always loved music! I could never afford the time or money to learn, but I still love to listen anyways. What can you play? Besides the violin, that is."

[sunfire_ii]

"I believe it," Mariko chuckled. "Like I said though, he's a good guy. It's a little irritating at times, but in a kind of sweet way. Kind of like a puppy who pays too much attention to you." She gave Xi'an a wink.

Though it dissolved into a somewhat modest laugh as Mariko leaned forward, rubbing idly at the back of her head. "My parents made sure I had enough time to go, and money wasn't an issue, unfortunately. I had to be able to properly entertain my future husband, after all." She wrinkled her nose. "That stuck real well, as you can tell."

She sat back again, fingering her coffee cup. "Piano and flute," Mariko added after a moment. "I had to take piano to accompany the violin, and flute was just something extra." Mariko shrugged with a wry smile. "My parents were over-achievers and made sure I was turned into one too."

[whatg0esaround]

"He is a great guy," she smiled at that and folded her hands in her lap under the table. "He's one of the closest friends I've ever had. And the good thing is that when he does start the 'puppy' thing, he will smarten up when you tell him. He prefers you to be upfront with him anyhow."

Xi'an listened to the story of music with interest, tilting her head to the side slightly as her eyes remained on Mariko's when she spoke. It was intriguing to hear about the life of someone who grew up with a family; Xi'an was always so devoted to the members of hers that were left. However, the mention of the future husband and the nose wrinkle that came alone with it did not at all go unnoticed.

Raising her eyebrows, Xi'an moved her hands back up onto the table. "That must have been a lot of hard work for you. But you sure seemed to gain a lot of knowledge and skills out of it!"

[sunfire_ii]

"We've become fast friends," She said with a matching smile. "He's a good guy to go to when you've got something going on. I've been trying to help him a little with the stuff with his girlfriend, too. Or, well. As much as you can with stuff like that."

She gave an awkward shrug. She'd left a pizza for Sam before he'd taken off, with a happy face drawn on the box telling him to cheer up. Mariko knew he wouldn't be back to himself until Tabby came to, but hopefully this would at least let him know he was missed while he took care of her.

"Oh, my family was all about that," She waved a hand. "I didn't care as much. I was pretty good at school, always got good grades, top of my class, all that. But I was a kid." Mariko shrugged again. "I wanted to have fun. Play with my friends. Make friends!" Mariko wrinkled her nose again, then shook her head. "Anyway. Not so much of an issue anymore. And I'm talking all about me!" She laughed. "Tell me something about you before my head gets too inflated."

[whatg0esaround]

Xi'an smiled at that, but quickly became concerned at the mention of Sam's girlfriend needing help. "Tabitha? What happened to her? Is she okay

[sunfire_ii]

"I don't know the details," She admitted, but a bit ago there was that bug that made everyone crazy? Apparently Tabby caught it. So she's been resting back at the X-Force base. Sam took off work to take care of her." Mariko felt bad now. The point of this meet-up definitely hadn't been to bring the mood down.

She had to bite the insides of her mouth when she saw the blush rise to Xi'an's cheeks. Mariko wouldn't have pegged the woman as shy. It was cute.

"I'd say just switching countries and having to raise your siblings would count as pretty interesting," She pointed out. "Boring would be... hmmm. Staying at home with your parents until you grew up, went to college, and got a job. That's boring. Being a foreign mutant on Xavier's team is, in my experience, almost never boring."

Mariko flashed her a grin. "What about downtime? What do you do for fun?"

[whatg0esaround]

"Ah, it would appear that most seem to be getting better from that, thankfully," Xi'an pointed out with a grin. "Knowing Tabitha, she will be better in no time. The girl has a lot of energy."

Biting her lower lip, Xi'an shook off the nerves and recovered. Maybe talking about herself wasn't so bad, but it was just strange. Since she always concerned herself in everyone else's lives, she didn't really give much thought to her own. She cleared her throat and nodded.

"We traveled here by boat. It was rather scary actually; it took many weeks," she left out the details of the attacks and stuck to the better parts of the journey. "The Institute itself was like a mixed bowl of nationalities when I arrived. There were people from all over the world, so I didn't feel left out."

Smiling a bit bashfully, she shrugged slightly. "Mostly I love to read. I used to work as a librarian. Between reading and listening to music, I suppose I mostly just like being outdoors. Even if it's just walking."

[sunfire_ii]

"I haven't met her yet, but if she keeps Sam on her toes I guess she's got to!" Mariko laughed.

She raised her eyebrows. "Boat? From Vietnam? I bet! I flew over from Japan. Not in a plane, literally." She grinned. "Part of my powers. Really convenient when it comes to saving on airfare at least."

Mariko tried to recall her first memories of the X-Mansion. "I guess there was a pretty sordid group. I mean, you know. Kurt and Peter were both foreign. Storm too. Most of them weren't when I got there, though. And I wasn't there for more than two years before I got sucked out to work for the Exiles."

Her smile warmed a little bit at Xi'an's reply. "A librarian, huh? What kind of books do you read? Any musical preferences?"

[whatg0esaround]

"That's your power? You can fly?" she smiled at that; she'd always been so envious of people with liberating powers like that. She'd flown around with Sam many times, and always loved being in the air

[sunfire_ii]

"Part of it! My codename is Sunfire; Sam tells me you have a guy like me in your world who can do the same stuff." She held out her hand, creating what looked like a miniature sun in the palm of her hand. "Basically, I manipulate solar energy. I can make flight work kind of the same way Sam can; pushing a bunch of solar energy underneath me so I take off like a rocket."

Mariko laughed. "Exciting's a word for it. They're always getting into trouble, that's for sure. And there are plenty of egoes to contend with in that older 'we've been X-Men forever, you just don't know the ropes yet' group." She waved a hand. "They were well meaning enough, just a little elitist on accident sometimes. And sometimes not on accident." But Mariko didn't have any bad memories of working with the X-Men; that's part of what you'd expect with such a well known and genuinely elite team, after all

[whatg0esaround]

"Yes I do believe there was an X-Man of that codename back home, actually. I never had the chance to meet him personally though. Well, when he wasn't possessed anyways," she made a face at that and chuckled. "I'm sure Sam loves having a friend to fly with though. He had a rival with a similar power back when he was a kid, Jetstream, and they raced every chance they got

[sunfire_ii]

She grinned. "It was a lot of fun. The only other flier I really know around here is Angel. And while he's a sweetie, he seems like he's got his hands full back at the Mansion what with Scott having been ported home." Mariko shrugged. "It happens around here sometimes. But unfortunately, Scott was the one running things. It's why we're a little on the disorganized side right now."

Her grin broadened at the offer. At least she hadn't flopped completely, not if Xi'an was inviting her out again. "I'd like that. I've only been here for three years, so it's still all pretty new to me. Well, four now I guess. Though I spent the last year or so kind of between worlds. Makes for a confusing birthday timeline."

Leaning forward, she rested her chin in the palms of her hands, still smiling. "So! Karma, right? Do you have some kind of luck based power?"