RP Log: Ryoma & Tezuka
Date: Sunday afternoon, 6/8/08
Rating: G
Summary: Ryoma and Tezuka meet in the park, and talk a bit about X-Corp and being mutants~
It was a pretty nice day out, for once. Sick of being cooped up and unable to work sitting out anywhere on the Ryuhana grounds, Ryoma had grabbed his things and headed for a nearby park. He'd sprawled onto the grass and had been trying to work his way through a number of exercises in his math book - mostly tedious, not hard. He had just written the answer to one problem and was about to move onto the next when something rolled up to him through the grass and hit him on the ankle. He glanced over - it was a ball, about the size of his hand... looked squishy, like it was a...
He was suddenly aware of a large mass of golden fur heading in his direction full-tilt. He blinked - and barely had time to throw his hands up and yelp a surprised, "Whoa!" in English before the dog was upon him, tail wagging and tongue everywhere at once and apparently looking for the ball. It took a good minute to extricate himself from the mass of Happy Dog, but he finally managed to grope around for the ball, which had rolled some ways away, and tried to bring it up to the dog's cheerfully licking face. "Hey, is this what you wanted?" he asked the dog, holding the toy up so maybe it would become the source of the dog's attention, and not him. It was then, as the overly excited dog finally focused its attention elsewhere, that Ryoma heard someone call out as they approached. It must be the owner of the dog, he realized, as the owner called out, "Kinoko!" again and came closer - and with a start, Ryoma realized that he could feel this person in the way that meant he, too, was a mutant.
Normally, Tezuka would never have thrown the ball in the direction of other people, but Kinoko had been a little too eager, and his throw had been knocked off-course. He was horrified to see the ball heading towards a--teenager? young boy?--and even moreso when Kinoko bowled over the boy who, Tezuka realized with some guilt, had been working on what seemed like homework. "Are you all right?" he asked the boy, stroking Kinoko as she dropped the ball into Tezuka's hands and wagged her tail. "I apologize for her. Let me help you up again," he said, extending a hand towards the other. He saw a white tennis cap not too far away--Kinoko must have knocked it off the boy.
Somehow, the boy seemed familiar, and Tezuka frowned slightly, pausing a moment. Those eyes. The white tennis cap. "... Echizen-kun?" he asked.
The dog immediately responded to her master, leaning into his hand as he stroked her and relinquishing the ball into his hand. Ryoma grumbled good-naturedly - it wasn't the dog's fault, after all, and there were worse things to be bowled over with - and glanced up at the man leaning down over him. He was tall, with light brown hair that looked like it had fought the comb and won, and glasses flashing in the sunlight. As Ryoma glanced up and made to take the hand the other offered, there was a flash of recognition across the man's features and he frowned, slightly.
Ryoma blinked as the other spoke his name, his own mouth tugging into a frown out of confusion. This man knew him? Add to that the fact that he was a mutant... He wasn't a teacher, and Ryoma didn't think he'd ever seen this man before - and the sense in the back of his mind that whispered mutant was not ringing any bells, but... The man didn't seem hostile. Just surprised.
"... Yeah," he replied, carefully, taking the opportunity to push himself into a sitting and then standing position. "That's me. Do I know you?"
"Tezuka Kunimitsu, X-Corporation, General Affairs, " Tezuka said. He bent, picking up the cap, waiting for Echizen to finish brushing himself off before extending it. "Please accept my apologies on behalf of Kinoko. She's been cooped up a little more than she's used to, this past week. Are you hurt?" Echizen didn't seem to be, but Kinoko had been known to do quite a lot of unintentional damage at Tezuka's parents' house in the heat of play.
"Oh..." Well, that made sense, then. If this guy worked for X-Corp around here, of course he'd know who Ryoma was. Mom had told him about X-Corp, and how he could go to them for help if he needed it or it was an emergency. Her old mentor,Ryuuzaki somebody, ran the office around here. He took the proffered cap, realizing it must've been knocked off when the dog - Kinoko - hit him, and pulled it back onto his head. "Nah, not hurt - just kinda a surprise, s'all ." He eyed the dog now happily wagging her tail up at him. He preferred cats, sure, but dogs were okay as long as they weren't trying to take a chunk out of him or anything. And Kinoko certainly didn't seem to want to do anything but play.
He reached down, rubbing the top of her head carefully, and glanced up at Tezuka again. "You know everybody who goes to Ryuhana?" While it made sense that Tezuka would know of him, Ryoma honestly didn't know much about X-Corp past what his mother had told him, which wasn't much. She'd said he hadn't needed to worry about it. But he was curious - what kind of stuff did they do?
It was a fair question, since Tezuka had recognized Echizen on sight, but in this case it was merely a matter of taking safety precautions. He had studied the profiles of students at Ryuhana that X-Corporation knew about who had the potential to cause... "incidents". Through no fault of their own, of course, but developing mutant powers were unstable and unpredictable. It also helped that Echizen's father was a tennis player Tezuka followed occasionally. "Only some," he answered, shaking his head slightly.
Realizing Kinoko was getting increasingly frisky and might start pushing at either or both of them if she didn't get more attention, Tezuka reached down, scratching her head before patting it lightly. "Kinoko, fetch," he said, and then threw the ball a distance, careful to make sure no one was within the path of the ball this time. He watched Kinoko dash after the ball before turning back to Echizen. "I hope she doesn't bother you."
It came to Tezuka, just then, what Echizen's power was, and he tensed just a little, eyes scanning their surroundings quickly. He didn't sense anything made of metal that could potentially be a dangerous projectile (unless one counted the electronics in Ryoma's possession, or Tezuka's for that matter). There was something to be said for nature.
Ryoma nodded - well, he guessed some people were probably more worth keeping tabs on than others, and there was probably a file somewhere on everyone who went to Ryuhana. He'd figured as much, anyway, when he'd started to learn about how the X-men catalogued and found mutants - he'd heard about Cerebro , and had to answer no small number of questions himself, at some point, when they'd learned that he could track mutants as well as the machine could - well, mutants he'd encountered, and within a certain range.
Tezuka threw the ball for Kinoko and Ryoma watched her go bounding after it, shaking his head a little at the question. "Nah, she's okay - she's not mean or tryin' to eat anything of mine." She seemed like nothing more than a young, friendly, somewhat excitable dog, and that didn't bother Ryoma as long as she didn't decide to get too friendly with his math homework or his bookbag. But she seemed content with her ball.
Turning his gaze back to Tezuka once more, he figured he'd ask the next obvious question, then - "So what d'you do?" He'd been through the ethics of asking such a question quite a lot lately, but Tezuka was different - he worked for X-Corp, so he obviously knew he was a mutant and knew what he could do. He wasn't all slippery and half-crap about it, the way that Niou guy was.
"Kinoko is well-trained," Tezuka said with a hint of pride. She was very well-behaved, and though she occasionally got a little too exuberant, it was more the joy of a young puppy revelling in play rather than malice.
The question about his work was to be expected. Anything, and on occasion everything, Tezuka thought, thinking of the pile of papers on his desk. He'd used to wonder why Ryuuzaki-san had smirked when he'd told her he enjoyed mountain-climbing. Somehow he doubted they shared the same idea of what a mountain was. He wondered how to phrase what he did. He finally settled on a description, rather than his position. Saying he was a junior executive was unlikely to bring comprehension beyond perhaps the Are you a manager? question, and Tezuka was not. "I do what needs to be done," he said. "Many things fall outside regular operations. Negotiations. Projects. On occasion," he tried not to look at Echizen meaningfully, "clean-up."
Ryoma cocked his head, smirking a little - well, that had only been half his question, but then he supposed he hadn't been overly obvious in the asking. He mulled over the answer he did get for a while, then, thinking it had always sounded like X-Corp worked just like a real corporation - which was to say, it sounded kind of boring. But this Tezuka had a job that sounded... well, less boring, anyway. "So you get t'do all the unofficial stuff, then," he said, wondering if that was why they chose someone who looked so... normal to do it.
He cocked his head to the other side then, asking the rest of the question, then. "So what're your powers?" Nothing physical - well, not unless it manifested and disappeared.
"Not always, but yes. Paperwork is hardly appealing," Tezuka said dryly. "Unfortunately, my position seems to generate just as much of it, if not moreso." He did have aboveboard responsibilities, and not everything X-Corporation handled required confidentiality. However, it was an unavoidable fact that not everything could be reported strictly truthfully. Not everything should be. It had taken Tezuka a few years to accept that, but he did now.
He was a little more surprised at Echizen's next question, though. "You don't know?" Tezuka asked, turning towards Echizen a little faster than he normally would have. Couldn't it be sensed? He'd assumed Echizen was able to tell the powers of other mutants once he'd met them and was exposed to them. Was there something wrong with Echizen's powers--were they changing? Or had Tezuka merely been operating under false assumptions?
Ryoma made a face - yeah, paperwork sure sounded like a regular corporate job. There probably wasn't much getting away from that unless you joined something like the X-men or X-Prime. But then the other turned and glanced at him, the surprise clearly there for Ryoma to read even without any effort on his powers' part.
He shook his head ruefully. "Nah, can't tell what they are unless I use 'em. C'n tell you're a mutant," he pointed out matter-of-factly. "Could follow you anywhere even f'you tried t'lose me." He didn't normally tell people that, but Tezuka would've found out sooner or later, and what was the point of keeping it from someone who had access to the information anyway? Though, now that he thought about it, maybe that information wasn't completely accurate... or maybe just not specific. "I'd hafta synch you," that's what they'd called it, synching, "f'I wanted t'know, an'... " He made another face. "I'd rather just ask. Don't like synching stuff I don't know." He'd learned very quickly - albeit unintentionally - how unpleasant that could be.
"I see," Tezuka said after a pause. At the very least, he now knew Echizen was careful with his powers. In Tezuka's opinion that was a very good thing. Tezuka was usually frank about his powers if asked, and Echizen hadn't provided Tezuka with a reason not to be. "Do you know of a mutant called Magneto?"
Magneto... Ryoma was pretty sure he'd heard that name before, but he didn't know outright who that was or what they did. "Heard of, I think," he replied, "But f'the name's any indication..." He'd noticed mutants tended to go for one of two types of names: either a name that was very flowery and poetic without telling you anything at all, or a name that was horribly unoriginal and told you exactly what you needed to know. And Magneto sounded like one of the latter. "Human magnet?" It was probably a really good idea Ryoma had these shields - he had his DS and his phone in his bag. And his keys as well. "That prolly hurts more often'n not..."
"Specifically, I generate and manipulate electromagnetic fields," Tezuka said. He allowed one corner of his mouth to lift a little. "I used to be somewhat... accident-prone." His control over his powers had gotten much better, and Tezuka prided himself on it nowadays. "If you have any information on your cellphone you would rather not lose, though, I suggest you not attempt to synch." Not with Tezuka's Alpha-level powers, and them standing so close to each other. Tezuka seemed to recall reading a report that estimated Echizen's own powers at potentially Omega-level; certainly Alpha, at a minimum. He was much happier than before that there were so few ferromagnetic materials nearby. "Your control over your ability seems excellent. Does Hanamura-sensei have something to do with it?"
Ryoma nodded - well, he could understand being accident prone, that was for sure. "Well at least you only got one power t'worry about," he murmured - try being accident-prone with a million different powers, and who knew when, or for how long? Well, he wasn't anymore - not now that he had shielding and he understood what the human map in the back of his head meant. But he hadn't always...
He glanced up from beneath the bill of his cap with a sigh as the other mentioned Hanamura. "Yeah... gotta telepathic rapport with her," he explained. "Learned how t'use it before I moved here, at Xavier's - I c'n use telepathy okay, so I just keep myself shielded. Can't synch f'my range's the same as my skin." But it felt weird - uncomfortable, really - to be so reliant on someone else for something so very basic. Especially someone like Hanamura , who... was kind of weird, sometimes. Not that he was afraid of her, but still. He didn't want to rely on her for any longer than he had to. "Workin' on turning it off for myself." He sighed again. "It's slow, though." He knew that mastery of mutant powers was supposed to take time and work, but couldn't the world go easy on him, this once? "You got a pretty good handle on yours, though." It was more of an observation than a question.
"Fourteen years of training," Tezuka said. He supposed a power like Echizen's was more trouble than it was worth, even if it was incredibly powerful. Certainly Tezuka's own was at least predictable. He wondered if Echizen occasionally found it frustrating, and softened his tone a little. "You will, too, with time and effort."
Ryoma barely suppressed the groan at hearing that. Fourteen years? Great, maybe he should just start thinking about moving to Antarctica now. "Mada mada dane ," he muttered to himself - well, Dad had given him a big long lecture about working hard every day or whatever. And he was working hard, but it was slow work, and Ryoma hated putting all that time and effort in when he got little to nothing in return. But there wasn't much he could do about it, except to keep going, even if it felt like going up against a brick wall most of the time. "Yeah, well, hope it's not fourteen years," he finally said, eyeing the other. "It'll prolly never be quiet in here," he indicated his head, "but it'd be nice not t'pick up every mutant I walked by. S'just, no one c'n show me how t'do it, so I'm kinda on my own." Which was ironic, considering he could show a fair few people tricks with their own powers they probably wouldn't get for years.
"You might find you miss the company," Tezuka said, keeping his face neutral. "It doesn't take that long to obtain control, only to refine it." One never stopped refining one's control, and Tezuka certainly didn't think he'd perfected his. He was willing to admit he thought it wasn't bad, either, though. It was a pity he couldn't help Echizen, Tezuka thought. Or could he? Tezuka had no mental abilities beyond those of a normal human, and he suspected that wasn't what Echizen needed. He wondered if Hanamura really could, but kept the thought to himself. Hanamura was certainly helping, at any rate, if the current state of Echizen's powers were any indication.
Kinoko hadn't come back for some time now, Tezuka thought, looking around for her in alarm. "Kinoko?"
Ryoma shrugged - he liked being alone all right, but Tezuka probably had a point. Whatever - it wasn't like it was anything he was going to do anytime soon, anyway. "Well, that's good t'hear, at least," he said, as the other assured him that refining control was what took so long, and not the actual getting of it.
Before either could say anything else, Tezuka glanced around, and Ryoma realized that while they'd been talking, the dog hadn't come back - just as Tezuka called out for her. Ryoma glanced around as well - she probably hadn't gone far, Tezuka had told her to fetch. "She's prolly - " he didn't get any more out before he spotted her on the other side of the grassy area they were standing in, romping around after some butterflies that were just out of her reach.Ryoma bit his lip to keep from laughing aloud and pointed.
Following Echizen's pointed finger, Tezuka turned, and relaxed somewhat upon realizing where Kinoko was. She seemed to be having a lot of fun. A pang of guilt lodged itself inside Tezuka. He should spend more time with her, he really should--it wasn't fair for a dog who loved company to be shut in his apartment all day. Perhaps he needed to do what was best for Kinoko, and send her back to stay with his parents for good. Even if Tezuka would miss her company immensely, at least Kinoko would have a constant companion in Tezuka Ayana. It would be good for his mother, and Grandfather, too.
"Thank you," Tezuka said to Echizen, nodding. He made no move to interrupt her, merely watching as she played, but then Kinoko abandoned the butterfly she was chasing, picked up the ball, and then padded over to them, tail wagging. If Tezuka hadn't known any better, he'd have thought Kinoko had been giving him space to talk. "Good girl," he murmured, taking the ball from her and scratching her head. Kinoko barked, wagged her tail, and then started nudging Echizen.
The dog came trotting back, depositing her ball once again in Tezuka's hand, but this time turning to Ryoma and nudging him for attention. Ryoma paused for a moment, but she reminded him a lot of Karupin when she wanted petting and wasn't about to be turned down. And he missed Karupin, he thought, reaching down to scratch behind the dog's ears. It definitely wasn't the same as petting his cat, but it was better than nothing, and Kinoko nuzzled his hand for a moment just as if she'd been a cat. "Well, at least she knows how t'get what she wants," he said, with a glance up at Tezuka.
"She likes you," Tezuka said. He'd yet to meet someone Kinoko didn't like, though he wasn't about to tell Echizen that. Attention from any source, he supposed, and he certainly wasn't qualified to deny her any if he couldn't fill in the slack. "She isn't shy about expressing herself, either. Most people are very kind to her."
Ryoma just shrugged, inwardly pleased that she did like him, even if she was large and dog-shaped and not the pet he was used to. "Well, that's good in a pet, right? They gotta be willing t'tell you off when you're not payin ' enough attention." He scratched behind her ears some more, before reluctantly pulling his hand away and nudging her back towards her rightful owner. "I should prolly get back t'my homework an' stuff..." He wasn't exactly looking forward to that, but if it didn't get done now, it probably wouldn't later, either.
"Aa," Tezuka said, agreeing. It was fortunate Kinoko was willing to nag him for attention, or she might not have gotten half as much as she currently did--and even then, Tezuka knew, she always wanted more. But he should leave Echizen to his studies. "We should leave. It was a pleasure meeting you, Echizen-kun."
Ryoma nodded, giving Kinoko one last scratch before he turned back to his books on the grass. "Yeah, guess I'll prolly be seeing you around." And, he thought inwardly, he wouldn't mind seeing Kinoko again, as long as she maybe refrained from bowling him over a second time.
Rating: G
Summary: Ryoma and Tezuka meet in the park, and talk a bit about X-Corp and being mutants~
It was a pretty nice day out, for once. Sick of being cooped up and unable to work sitting out anywhere on the Ryuhana grounds, Ryoma had grabbed his things and headed for a nearby park. He'd sprawled onto the grass and had been trying to work his way through a number of exercises in his math book - mostly tedious, not hard. He had just written the answer to one problem and was about to move onto the next when something rolled up to him through the grass and hit him on the ankle. He glanced over - it was a ball, about the size of his hand... looked squishy, like it was a...
He was suddenly aware of a large mass of golden fur heading in his direction full-tilt. He blinked - and barely had time to throw his hands up and yelp a surprised, "Whoa!" in English before the dog was upon him, tail wagging and tongue everywhere at once and apparently looking for the ball. It took a good minute to extricate himself from the mass of Happy Dog, but he finally managed to grope around for the ball, which had rolled some ways away, and tried to bring it up to the dog's cheerfully licking face. "Hey, is this what you wanted?" he asked the dog, holding the toy up so maybe it would become the source of the dog's attention, and not him. It was then, as the overly excited dog finally focused its attention elsewhere, that Ryoma heard someone call out as they approached. It must be the owner of the dog, he realized, as the owner called out, "Kinoko!" again and came closer - and with a start, Ryoma realized that he could feel this person in the way that meant he, too, was a mutant.
Normally, Tezuka would never have thrown the ball in the direction of other people, but Kinoko had been a little too eager, and his throw had been knocked off-course. He was horrified to see the ball heading towards a--teenager? young boy?--and even moreso when Kinoko bowled over the boy who, Tezuka realized with some guilt, had been working on what seemed like homework. "Are you all right?" he asked the boy, stroking Kinoko as she dropped the ball into Tezuka's hands and wagged her tail. "I apologize for her. Let me help you up again," he said, extending a hand towards the other. He saw a white tennis cap not too far away--Kinoko must have knocked it off the boy.
Somehow, the boy seemed familiar, and Tezuka frowned slightly, pausing a moment. Those eyes. The white tennis cap. "... Echizen-kun?" he asked.
The dog immediately responded to her master, leaning into his hand as he stroked her and relinquishing the ball into his hand. Ryoma grumbled good-naturedly - it wasn't the dog's fault, after all, and there were worse things to be bowled over with - and glanced up at the man leaning down over him. He was tall, with light brown hair that looked like it had fought the comb and won, and glasses flashing in the sunlight. As Ryoma glanced up and made to take the hand the other offered, there was a flash of recognition across the man's features and he frowned, slightly.
Ryoma blinked as the other spoke his name, his own mouth tugging into a frown out of confusion. This man knew him? Add to that the fact that he was a mutant... He wasn't a teacher, and Ryoma didn't think he'd ever seen this man before - and the sense in the back of his mind that whispered mutant was not ringing any bells, but... The man didn't seem hostile. Just surprised.
"... Yeah," he replied, carefully, taking the opportunity to push himself into a sitting and then standing position. "That's me. Do I know you?"
"Tezuka Kunimitsu, X-Corporation, General Affairs, " Tezuka said. He bent, picking up the cap, waiting for Echizen to finish brushing himself off before extending it. "Please accept my apologies on behalf of Kinoko. She's been cooped up a little more than she's used to, this past week. Are you hurt?" Echizen didn't seem to be, but Kinoko had been known to do quite a lot of unintentional damage at Tezuka's parents' house in the heat of play.
"Oh..." Well, that made sense, then. If this guy worked for X-Corp around here, of course he'd know who Ryoma was. Mom had told him about X-Corp, and how he could go to them for help if he needed it or it was an emergency. Her old mentor,Ryuuzaki somebody, ran the office around here. He took the proffered cap, realizing it must've been knocked off when the dog - Kinoko - hit him, and pulled it back onto his head. "Nah, not hurt - just kinda a surprise, s'all ." He eyed the dog now happily wagging her tail up at him. He preferred cats, sure, but dogs were okay as long as they weren't trying to take a chunk out of him or anything. And Kinoko certainly didn't seem to want to do anything but play.
He reached down, rubbing the top of her head carefully, and glanced up at Tezuka again. "You know everybody who goes to Ryuhana?" While it made sense that Tezuka would know of him, Ryoma honestly didn't know much about X-Corp past what his mother had told him, which wasn't much. She'd said he hadn't needed to worry about it. But he was curious - what kind of stuff did they do?
It was a fair question, since Tezuka had recognized Echizen on sight, but in this case it was merely a matter of taking safety precautions. He had studied the profiles of students at Ryuhana that X-Corporation knew about who had the potential to cause... "incidents". Through no fault of their own, of course, but developing mutant powers were unstable and unpredictable. It also helped that Echizen's father was a tennis player Tezuka followed occasionally. "Only some," he answered, shaking his head slightly.
Realizing Kinoko was getting increasingly frisky and might start pushing at either or both of them if she didn't get more attention, Tezuka reached down, scratching her head before patting it lightly. "Kinoko, fetch," he said, and then threw the ball a distance, careful to make sure no one was within the path of the ball this time. He watched Kinoko dash after the ball before turning back to Echizen. "I hope she doesn't bother you."
It came to Tezuka, just then, what Echizen's power was, and he tensed just a little, eyes scanning their surroundings quickly. He didn't sense anything made of metal that could potentially be a dangerous projectile (unless one counted the electronics in Ryoma's possession, or Tezuka's for that matter). There was something to be said for nature.
Ryoma nodded - well, he guessed some people were probably more worth keeping tabs on than others, and there was probably a file somewhere on everyone who went to Ryuhana. He'd figured as much, anyway, when he'd started to learn about how the X-men catalogued and found mutants - he'd heard about Cerebro , and had to answer no small number of questions himself, at some point, when they'd learned that he could track mutants as well as the machine could - well, mutants he'd encountered, and within a certain range.
Tezuka threw the ball for Kinoko and Ryoma watched her go bounding after it, shaking his head a little at the question. "Nah, she's okay - she's not mean or tryin' to eat anything of mine." She seemed like nothing more than a young, friendly, somewhat excitable dog, and that didn't bother Ryoma as long as she didn't decide to get too friendly with his math homework or his bookbag. But she seemed content with her ball.
Turning his gaze back to Tezuka once more, he figured he'd ask the next obvious question, then - "So what d'you do?" He'd been through the ethics of asking such a question quite a lot lately, but Tezuka was different - he worked for X-Corp, so he obviously knew he was a mutant and knew what he could do. He wasn't all slippery and half-crap about it, the way that Niou guy was.
"Kinoko is well-trained," Tezuka said with a hint of pride. She was very well-behaved, and though she occasionally got a little too exuberant, it was more the joy of a young puppy revelling in play rather than malice.
The question about his work was to be expected. Anything, and on occasion everything, Tezuka thought, thinking of the pile of papers on his desk. He'd used to wonder why Ryuuzaki-san had smirked when he'd told her he enjoyed mountain-climbing. Somehow he doubted they shared the same idea of what a mountain was. He wondered how to phrase what he did. He finally settled on a description, rather than his position. Saying he was a junior executive was unlikely to bring comprehension beyond perhaps the Are you a manager? question, and Tezuka was not. "I do what needs to be done," he said. "Many things fall outside regular operations. Negotiations. Projects. On occasion," he tried not to look at Echizen meaningfully, "clean-up."
Ryoma cocked his head, smirking a little - well, that had only been half his question, but then he supposed he hadn't been overly obvious in the asking. He mulled over the answer he did get for a while, then, thinking it had always sounded like X-Corp worked just like a real corporation - which was to say, it sounded kind of boring. But this Tezuka had a job that sounded... well, less boring, anyway. "So you get t'do all the unofficial stuff, then," he said, wondering if that was why they chose someone who looked so... normal to do it.
He cocked his head to the other side then, asking the rest of the question, then. "So what're your powers?" Nothing physical - well, not unless it manifested and disappeared.
"Not always, but yes. Paperwork is hardly appealing," Tezuka said dryly. "Unfortunately, my position seems to generate just as much of it, if not moreso." He did have aboveboard responsibilities, and not everything X-Corporation handled required confidentiality. However, it was an unavoidable fact that not everything could be reported strictly truthfully. Not everything should be. It had taken Tezuka a few years to accept that, but he did now.
He was a little more surprised at Echizen's next question, though. "You don't know?" Tezuka asked, turning towards Echizen a little faster than he normally would have. Couldn't it be sensed? He'd assumed Echizen was able to tell the powers of other mutants once he'd met them and was exposed to them. Was there something wrong with Echizen's powers--were they changing? Or had Tezuka merely been operating under false assumptions?
Ryoma made a face - yeah, paperwork sure sounded like a regular corporate job. There probably wasn't much getting away from that unless you joined something like the X-men or X-Prime. But then the other turned and glanced at him, the surprise clearly there for Ryoma to read even without any effort on his powers' part.
He shook his head ruefully. "Nah, can't tell what they are unless I use 'em. C'n tell you're a mutant," he pointed out matter-of-factly. "Could follow you anywhere even f'you tried t'lose me." He didn't normally tell people that, but Tezuka would've found out sooner or later, and what was the point of keeping it from someone who had access to the information anyway? Though, now that he thought about it, maybe that information wasn't completely accurate... or maybe just not specific. "I'd hafta synch you," that's what they'd called it, synching, "f'I wanted t'know, an'... " He made another face. "I'd rather just ask. Don't like synching stuff I don't know." He'd learned very quickly - albeit unintentionally - how unpleasant that could be.
"I see," Tezuka said after a pause. At the very least, he now knew Echizen was careful with his powers. In Tezuka's opinion that was a very good thing. Tezuka was usually frank about his powers if asked, and Echizen hadn't provided Tezuka with a reason not to be. "Do you know of a mutant called Magneto?"
Magneto... Ryoma was pretty sure he'd heard that name before, but he didn't know outright who that was or what they did. "Heard of, I think," he replied, "But f'the name's any indication..." He'd noticed mutants tended to go for one of two types of names: either a name that was very flowery and poetic without telling you anything at all, or a name that was horribly unoriginal and told you exactly what you needed to know. And Magneto sounded like one of the latter. "Human magnet?" It was probably a really good idea Ryoma had these shields - he had his DS and his phone in his bag. And his keys as well. "That prolly hurts more often'n not..."
"Specifically, I generate and manipulate electromagnetic fields," Tezuka said. He allowed one corner of his mouth to lift a little. "I used to be somewhat... accident-prone." His control over his powers had gotten much better, and Tezuka prided himself on it nowadays. "If you have any information on your cellphone you would rather not lose, though, I suggest you not attempt to synch." Not with Tezuka's Alpha-level powers, and them standing so close to each other. Tezuka seemed to recall reading a report that estimated Echizen's own powers at potentially Omega-level; certainly Alpha, at a minimum. He was much happier than before that there were so few ferromagnetic materials nearby. "Your control over your ability seems excellent. Does Hanamura-sensei have something to do with it?"
Ryoma nodded - well, he could understand being accident prone, that was for sure. "Well at least you only got one power t'worry about," he murmured - try being accident-prone with a million different powers, and who knew when, or for how long? Well, he wasn't anymore - not now that he had shielding and he understood what the human map in the back of his head meant. But he hadn't always...
He glanced up from beneath the bill of his cap with a sigh as the other mentioned Hanamura. "Yeah... gotta telepathic rapport with her," he explained. "Learned how t'use it before I moved here, at Xavier's - I c'n use telepathy okay, so I just keep myself shielded. Can't synch f'my range's the same as my skin." But it felt weird - uncomfortable, really - to be so reliant on someone else for something so very basic. Especially someone like Hanamura , who... was kind of weird, sometimes. Not that he was afraid of her, but still. He didn't want to rely on her for any longer than he had to. "Workin' on turning it off for myself." He sighed again. "It's slow, though." He knew that mastery of mutant powers was supposed to take time and work, but couldn't the world go easy on him, this once? "You got a pretty good handle on yours, though." It was more of an observation than a question.
"Fourteen years of training," Tezuka said. He supposed a power like Echizen's was more trouble than it was worth, even if it was incredibly powerful. Certainly Tezuka's own was at least predictable. He wondered if Echizen occasionally found it frustrating, and softened his tone a little. "You will, too, with time and effort."
Ryoma barely suppressed the groan at hearing that. Fourteen years? Great, maybe he should just start thinking about moving to Antarctica now. "Mada mada dane ," he muttered to himself - well, Dad had given him a big long lecture about working hard every day or whatever. And he was working hard, but it was slow work, and Ryoma hated putting all that time and effort in when he got little to nothing in return. But there wasn't much he could do about it, except to keep going, even if it felt like going up against a brick wall most of the time. "Yeah, well, hope it's not fourteen years," he finally said, eyeing the other. "It'll prolly never be quiet in here," he indicated his head, "but it'd be nice not t'pick up every mutant I walked by. S'just, no one c'n show me how t'do it, so I'm kinda on my own." Which was ironic, considering he could show a fair few people tricks with their own powers they probably wouldn't get for years.
"You might find you miss the company," Tezuka said, keeping his face neutral. "It doesn't take that long to obtain control, only to refine it." One never stopped refining one's control, and Tezuka certainly didn't think he'd perfected his. He was willing to admit he thought it wasn't bad, either, though. It was a pity he couldn't help Echizen, Tezuka thought. Or could he? Tezuka had no mental abilities beyond those of a normal human, and he suspected that wasn't what Echizen needed. He wondered if Hanamura really could, but kept the thought to himself. Hanamura was certainly helping, at any rate, if the current state of Echizen's powers were any indication.
Kinoko hadn't come back for some time now, Tezuka thought, looking around for her in alarm. "Kinoko?"
Ryoma shrugged - he liked being alone all right, but Tezuka probably had a point. Whatever - it wasn't like it was anything he was going to do anytime soon, anyway. "Well, that's good t'hear, at least," he said, as the other assured him that refining control was what took so long, and not the actual getting of it.
Before either could say anything else, Tezuka glanced around, and Ryoma realized that while they'd been talking, the dog hadn't come back - just as Tezuka called out for her. Ryoma glanced around as well - she probably hadn't gone far, Tezuka had told her to fetch. "She's prolly - " he didn't get any more out before he spotted her on the other side of the grassy area they were standing in, romping around after some butterflies that were just out of her reach.Ryoma bit his lip to keep from laughing aloud and pointed.
Following Echizen's pointed finger, Tezuka turned, and relaxed somewhat upon realizing where Kinoko was. She seemed to be having a lot of fun. A pang of guilt lodged itself inside Tezuka. He should spend more time with her, he really should--it wasn't fair for a dog who loved company to be shut in his apartment all day. Perhaps he needed to do what was best for Kinoko, and send her back to stay with his parents for good. Even if Tezuka would miss her company immensely, at least Kinoko would have a constant companion in Tezuka Ayana. It would be good for his mother, and Grandfather, too.
"Thank you," Tezuka said to Echizen, nodding. He made no move to interrupt her, merely watching as she played, but then Kinoko abandoned the butterfly she was chasing, picked up the ball, and then padded over to them, tail wagging. If Tezuka hadn't known any better, he'd have thought Kinoko had been giving him space to talk. "Good girl," he murmured, taking the ball from her and scratching her head. Kinoko barked, wagged her tail, and then started nudging Echizen.
The dog came trotting back, depositing her ball once again in Tezuka's hand, but this time turning to Ryoma and nudging him for attention. Ryoma paused for a moment, but she reminded him a lot of Karupin when she wanted petting and wasn't about to be turned down. And he missed Karupin, he thought, reaching down to scratch behind the dog's ears. It definitely wasn't the same as petting his cat, but it was better than nothing, and Kinoko nuzzled his hand for a moment just as if she'd been a cat. "Well, at least she knows how t'get what she wants," he said, with a glance up at Tezuka.
"She likes you," Tezuka said. He'd yet to meet someone Kinoko didn't like, though he wasn't about to tell Echizen that. Attention from any source, he supposed, and he certainly wasn't qualified to deny her any if he couldn't fill in the slack. "She isn't shy about expressing herself, either. Most people are very kind to her."
Ryoma just shrugged, inwardly pleased that she did like him, even if she was large and dog-shaped and not the pet he was used to. "Well, that's good in a pet, right? They gotta be willing t'tell you off when you're not payin ' enough attention." He scratched behind her ears some more, before reluctantly pulling his hand away and nudging her back towards her rightful owner. "I should prolly get back t'my homework an' stuff..." He wasn't exactly looking forward to that, but if it didn't get done now, it probably wouldn't later, either.
"Aa," Tezuka said, agreeing. It was fortunate Kinoko was willing to nag him for attention, or she might not have gotten half as much as she currently did--and even then, Tezuka knew, she always wanted more. But he should leave Echizen to his studies. "We should leave. It was a pleasure meeting you, Echizen-kun."
Ryoma nodded, giving Kinoko one last scratch before he turned back to his books on the grass. "Yeah, guess I'll prolly be seeing you around." And, he thought inwardly, he wouldn't mind seeing Kinoko again, as long as she maybe refrained from bowling him over a second time.