Pseudo-parenting is...a lot like actual parenting.

[makes_asteroids]

Who: makes_asteroids and thecrowingtobe
When: After this convo.
Where: The HoA
Summary: Claudio needs to talk, Mags is willing to listen.
Warnings: None yet

Comments

[thecrowingtobe]

The rain had put the boy in a bad mood all day. By time he got to work he was soaked and pinkish red, like spoiled meat or something. He showered at work, changed and did a few hours feeling grouchy and annoyed. Wet people coming in and dripping on the bar or floor all night. It was like people had never been in rain before. Forgot how to deal.

Or he was just grouchy. Thankfully it wasn't packed tonight. People must have stayed home for the most part. When he left it had stopped raining at first, but about half way through his trip he blinked out to invisible in order to miss the down pour that started again.

By time he made it to Second Home he was dry and safe but still in his bar tending clothing. Walking right though the wall he moved in with out saying anything, knowing Michael would feel his presence anyhow.

It was nice to see the man up and puttering around in the kitchen anyhow. It... didn't make him feel so bad about making a pit stop in here and bothering him. He came up to the table, forgetting to come back to visible, and dropped his backpack by his feet (it coming visible instantly as it left his hands).

"Having trouble with your computer?"

[makes_asteroids]

"Hello Claudio." He laid a piece of misted plastic wrap over the dough in the bowl, then covered it with a tea towel. "Would you like something to drink? Or eat?"

He tapped the neck of the sink faucet with his wrist to turn it on and started washing his hands. "No, I was making a new one. I see you got into clean clothes?"

[thecrowingtobe]

He was curious about what else was going on in the kitchen. The dough and all. Coming back visible, he ran a hand through his hair, his skin clean of the pinkish tint from before though his shoes seems a mess still, they were dry. For the most part, he looked well kept (which is new for him). "Yeah. Had some clean work clothing in a locker at the bar. Some coffee would be good."

He looked tired but not too warn out, just dark around the eyes kind of thing. Still, he had the spark of curiosity. "So you're good with electronics too?" Which was fallowed by him peeking over at the counter of dough. "Bread or... pizza?"

[makes_asteroids]

"How do you take it?" So many people in the household. He barely remembered how HE took his coffee most of the time. "I keep spare clothes at Skye and at the Newcomer Clinic as well.. "You're looking well, Jinx mommy'ing you enough?"

"Yes. Built most of the electronics in the house, actually. Most of the metal work as well. It's my powers, they lean towards being good at building things." He tapped the sink off and dried his hands. "Hm? Oh, breads, rolls. Could do pizza with it what's in the pan in the corner, it's a high protein batch."

[thecrowingtobe]

"Black." He said simply, leaning on a counter and watching things. "I keep spare work clothes at the bar in case I do something stupid on the way to work. Which, apparently I do often." He rolled his eyes about that. "Jinx? Donno. I've been... busy. Haven't seen her much outside of work or the occasional visit at home."

He knew the man built half the house. He came around to help with a lot. But computers were different, he felt. They were something he knew a lot about. "It's at least a good power to have. Better then some." He currently hated and loved his powers both. "Wait... high protein?" He wondered if they were being made for Jubilee. Hmm.

[makes_asteroids]

"Black it is then." He poured a cup of coffee and handed in over. "You haven't been home much? Don't tell me you've been sleeping at work?" Concern sharpened his tone. "What's going on?"

"Has it's uses." He handed Claudio the cup and motioned him to the table where the tablet was. "Pizza and certain breads require a higher protein than others, but bread in general requires more protein than something like cake."

Sitting down with his own coffee mug, he started piecing the motherboard together.

[thecrowingtobe]

He took the offered mug and held it between two chilled hands, finding the warmth to be a welcome thing. "Naw. Couldn't sleep at the bar, and the theater tends to be too... creepy." Sander lives there after all. "Just been keeping busy. Working on a car when I'm not at work."

He took a seat, leaning both elbows on the table and looking over the computer parts here and there. He could list the name of everything there and where they needed to go for the optimum output for a fast and reliable computer; it seems to be another damn power that cropped up. There were becoming more and more of them lately.

"Didn't know there was that big a difference. Not much of a cook though. I find a microwave or a food kiosk to supply dinner faster then my hands do." Oh yeah, he didn't cook and knew very little on food.

[makes_asteroids]

"I'd imagine it does. So when are you sleeping?" The boy did look like he was taking care of himself. But even still...

"Oh yes. Protein is what makes a French baguette chewy and the lack of it is what makes a cake tender."

He was very carefully working on the motherboard, which was why he wasn't looking at Claudio. "Work on these yourself?" This was meant for Franklin, which didn't mean he was skimping on the power. Just that he was making it very durable.

[thecrowingtobe]

"When I... can I guess? I have duties ah Purgatory, and I do prop work and stage work at the Felton. I've been getting some painting work here and there from a contact. Did a big wall at some mall a few weeks ago. The news said it looked real enough to walk into." He said chuckling and sipping his coffee. When did he sleep? Eh, he tried not to sometimes. Work, work, training, car, work and... sleep sometimes.

He gave a small nod about the bread, eyes fixed on the computer though. Another sip and he just mumbled. "I like the soft breads." A bit less distracted sounding and much more pointed he nodded to the computer, asking something a bit more relevant. "Where did you learn to do work like this? You said it was part of your power? Did... it just come to you? Like... suddenly you just knew? Or did you have to learn and focus it?" Another awkward pause for just a moment, the boy looking uneasy as he added. "Any of your power even... did it just.... appear one day. Hi. Hello. Here I am. I can do stuff now. Or..." did he have to train to use it.

Clearly he was having some worries over powers.

[makes_asteroids]

"Well...as long as you are getting enough..." He was sceptical, clearly, but that was something he was feeling in general over the various young people and children he had found himself caring about. "You'd probably like pull-apart bread then."

"Some things just came to me. Like throwing metal around. I had to work at it, to gain control and refine them but it just happened. The first wormhole I opened, I just knew how. Later I thought about it, figured out how I did it. But it's all related to my power. I work up one day and could see xrays. Which was...amusing." Because he was completely and utter mature, of course. "Why? Something new happen?"

[thecrowingtobe]

"Enough to keep moving." He said with a nod, and as for being skeptical over these young ones? Yeah well, with good reason. Poor Michael. Still... "Truthfully, I like most breads." He gave a small heh and sipped his coffee.

His attention though was on what was being said about the mans powers. "X-rays? Like... to the bone of someone? That's weird but kinda... cool." He admitted, leaning on the table, head in his hand and watching the man work. He wanted to think it was like watching his father work, but that thought wasn't one he wanted to think too hard on either.

"Yeah... I guess you could say that. Seems like I blink wrong and something, ah, new... happens." No, he doesn't sound pleased about it.

[makes_asteroids]

"Food, at least in the short term, can replace sleep." Very good reason. Not a one of them knew how to take proper care of themselves, not that he was that much better.

"Yes. It's always been more like a CT scan - very detailed. It's not just people either, you might be surprised what reflects Xrays. But I can use them too. Or microwave something without the machine." He had a lot of fun playing with his powers. Which...

"But it was very overwhelming when I was young. I'd blink and my vision would change and...what I was hearing...it was a lot to adapt to."

[thecrowingtobe]

"I eat." He confirmed, a small nod. Sure, he ate junk food and Chinese. It was easy to deal with. He was getting well known around the food stands in the underground mall too.

With the details of the mans powers... well he just looked a bit more impressed. "So... you can do a lot. I mean a lot with what you got, but how did you handle it when you were younger? I mean... heh, back home I was sorta just... that normal weird boy in a corner at school 'til..." things happened to his family and he ran. Yeah, he rubbed at his neck a bit. "Until a few months before I got yanked over to here."

Frowning he looked into his coffee mug. "They don't generally have powers like mine back home. Not that I know of."

[makes_asteroids]

"Good." Jubilee lived on junk food. He didn't LIKE it but he would...well. Fix it later.

"Electromagnetism is one of the four basic forces of the universe, and the only one able to influence the other three. It's sort of the order to the chaos of the universe." The scale of it frightened him a bit at times. Someone had given him the power to destroy everything. And trusted him not to. He wasn't sure he had earned that.

"It was very difficult. There aren't many older than me, less than a dozen. And we were alone, mostly. I met Charles in my thirties, but really until my late forties I was alone. It's difficult."

[thecrowingtobe]

"So... back home you're pretty much one of the strongest beings around, huh?" Which was really very impressive and he wouldn't know how the man dealt with that kind of pressure. If only he knew his own future he would know that he too would end up being exactly that. The most powerful being in all 78 worlds, able to destroy everything and trusted not to. But that, thankfully, he hadn't learned yet.

"But how did you deal with it? I... I mean, that last riot? I..." he shifted, staring at his coffee harder now, mumbling a bit more. "I saw someone die... twice because of my power. Ah, I mean, not the first time. I mean..." He stammered a bit, feeling he lost his point somewhere. "I mean he was hurt by someone else, not me."

[makes_asteroids]

"One of the most powerful Mutants, and one of the most powerful on the planet yes." And several others but really, off Earth most civilizations had SOMEONE who could dump him on his ass. Not kill him, but defeat him in combat yes.

"As best you can. I've witnessed, as a boy, what happens to people when those in power forget about who aren't. It's something I never forget, so that I don't become that. I learned, long before my power awoke, that just because I could do something didn't mean I should. When you are a situation like I am, like a few others - two members of my family, maybe a third, and a handful of others in the Mutant community - you learn that when you have a power that is limitless, you, yourself, have to assign practical limits. It's hard. You make mistakes and missteps. You just have to learn from them and keep going. But it's hard."