2011-12-19: Wreck The Halls


Jill_icon.jpg Nigel_icon.jpg Nicholas_icon.jpg Shane_icon.jpg

Summary: Nick doesn't want any of your damned Christmas cheer. But he gets doused in it anyway.

Date: December 19, 2011

Log Title: Wreck the Halls

Rating: R (Adult Language)

Xavier Mansion - Living Room

Cream colored couches and chairs are placed among end tables and a coffee table. A large entertainment center covers one of the blue walls. The windows are set back a bit creating comfortable window seats for those who want to read.

It's later in the evening, just past dinner time, at the mansion. Some students have already left for the holidays and over the next few days the number of students left in the school will shrink further. Which is why the living room is fairly quiet tonight. Lying on the couch seemingly a sleep is Nicholas. The television is still on playing 'Fairy Odd Parents'. He's fully clothed and his sneakers are still on suggesting that he's only fallen into a nap recently.

Three meals a day don't hold much interest for young Jillian, so she apparently spent the afternoon and evening meal times somewhere else. Outside, if the coat, scarf, and boots are any indication, and furthermore outside the school if her holographically pink skin and blonde hair are still in place. She peers curiously into the living room at the sound of the television before making a face and trying to back out as quietly as possible on seeing someone asleep on the couch. Plastic shopping bags, however, are not the quietest things ever invented.

Not scheduled to leave until Wednesday, Shane slinks into the Living Room, laptop under one arm and earphones clamped tightly over her head. Pausing as she notes the room not as empty as she'd hoped, a pained look flickers across her face, before she pauses her iPod, *then* pulls down her headphones — a first for the slight young student — and tries as unobtrusively as possible to slip into a chair some distance away from the others.

The sound of the plastic bag rustling is enough to stir Nick from his light sleep. As he opens his eyes he looks at the television. "What is this crap." He mutters as he sits up then looks around. He looks at Jill for a bit, not recognizing her for a bit. "Jill, you're not blue." He says before his eyes glance over towards Shane but he doesn't say much to her but grabs the remote and looks for something better to put on.

Jill waves a hand at Shane, not in a friendly way but just to get her attention, before putting a finger to her lips in the universal sign for quiet. But… oops. Too late. "Ah, jeez, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up." Transferring both bags to her right hand, she lifts her left wrist up to show off the black digital watch, as big as one of those old calculator watches. "Yeah, I feel kinda like a spy every time I wear this. And I still don't think they quite got my old hair color right."

Shane slips into an overstuffed chair, glancing up and raising an electric-blue eyebrow in Jill's direction, between matching bangs. Indeed, her progress toward the chair was as quiet as possible, considering the heavy, clunky, armored boots she wears. As the conversation doesn't seem to include her for the moment, she opens up her laptop, transferring her attention to whatever's on the screen.

Nicholas shrugs. "I didn't mean to fall asleep, I was watching Dragon Ball Z and I guess I dozed off. I haven't been sleeping well." He confesses to Jill as he glances again over to Shane, his gaze lingering over her hair. "Speaking of blue…" He says before looking back over to Jill. "I think you look better blue."

"Oh, really?" Jill sounds surprised to hear that. One button press and a nifty flickering effect later, honey blonde hair and peachy skin disappear to leave shiny translucent blue behind. The girl digs in one of the white plastic bags and tosses something into Nick's lap. "Merry Christmas." It's a piece of coal. Or at least, a chocolate candy cleverly disguised as coal. "It was all on sale. You think they'd wait until after Christmas is over, but I'm not complaining." She digs further and produces some candy canes, solid primary colors instead of the typical red and white stripes. "Would you like one?" she asks, addressing Shane.

Shane looks up in time to meet Nicholas' stare, raising an eyebrow as if to ask 'Something wrong?' But since the two appear to be involved in their own conversation, she returns her attention to her computer, glancing up briefly when offered candy. "Naw," she grunts. "Thanks though."

Nicholas picks up the small package of chocolate coal and tightens it in his fist. "I don't want anything to do with Christmas." He says quietly but there is some irritation in his voice. He reaches over to grab for a pillow and hugs it to his chest. "So…what's with the blue hair?" He asks flatly to Shane.

The laconic response from Shane draws the corners of Jill's mouth down in a slight frown, but she's nothing if not desperately eager to please. "I got other stuff," the blue girl persists hopefully. "Gummy snowmen, gummy Christmas trees, red and green M&Ms, two turtledoves, a pear tree, a partridge *for* the pear tree…" The joke is becoming increasingly more forced and uncomfortable when her gift for Nicholas doesn't go so well.

"It's *fine,*" Shane says, though not with any semblance of annoyance; simply neutral emphasis, assuring the blue girl that she does not, indeed, desire candy at the moment. Nicholas' question, and the tone delivered, grabs the slight mutant's attention, earning him a slow turn of the head, a flat, neutral stare. "…Cos I wanted to. Mebbe pink tomorrow."

Nicholas tightens his grip on the pillow and closes his eyes. "Jill, please, I don't want anything to do with anything Christmas. That's why I came in here and not the other room. Someone decided to decorate the other room." He says trying to keep his tone from yelling. "Won't your hair eventually fall out if you keep on changing the colour like that?"

Well… shit. Jill licks her lips nervously and suddenly feels very awkward and stupid just standing there. Her mouth opens to say something but nothing comes out so she closes it again. It all went a lot better in her head.

Shane lifts a shoulder at Nicholas' question. "…Mebbe. So what? Just means I'll need t'get a dozen wigs so people can't tell the difference." Her eyes dart to Jill, eyebrows drawing together for a moment. "…Hey," she says, after a brief silence. "…You say somethin' 'bout gummies?" Delivered with a brief backward twitch of the head, it's clear the girl is rescinding her earlier decision and inviting Jill to sit nearby.

Nicholas looks up at Jill and a look of guilt crosses his face. "Jill….sorry. Thanks, for the coal." He says as he hates making her feel bad. "Once classes are over I'm just going to lock myself in my room until Christmas is over."

"Oh. Umm, yeah." Jill clearly isn't sure what to make of the situation, but the other girl's unexpected 180 is a rope to a drowning man. Her gaze flicks to Nicholas as she plods slowly over, like he's the final arbiter on whether or not she's even allowed to stay in the room after her terrible faux paus. "They're, umm… I don't actually know what flavor they are," she offers weakly as she sits down and starts to unpack.

"S'cool," Shane says, glancing from Nicholas to Jill, briefly puzzled about the unspoken exchange… then shrugs to herself, turning her attention to the candies. "…Oh hey. Trees're sour apple. Y'mind?" Yes, she did just ask permission to open the bag, even after being offered. Apparently, she wants to make sure.

Nicholas hugs the pillow tighter against up and pulls his feet up onto the couch not caring if he's still got his sneakers on. "Jill, it's not you. You've been really cool since I got here just…I hate this whole situation." He tries to explain almost flailing with words. He looks to Shane and sighs. "Sorry I'm being an asshole and ruining the mood in here." There's almost a hint of sarcasm in his bitter tone.

The blue girl offers a sad but sympathetic look at Nicholas but doesn't comment or console further. Jill just shakes her head at Shane's hesitation. Her hair takes a half second to stop moving after the rest of her does. "No, go right ahead. I got them for everybody. I couldn't eat all this if I tried. Well, I could but I'd get sick to my stomach." A pause. "Well, no, actually I wouldn't, I guess. I'd have to have… y'know…" She seems to realize she's rambling and sticks the end of an orange candy cane in her mouth. Without removing the plastic first, but she's already committed and won't admit her mistake now.

Given permission, Shane tugs the bag of candy open, counting out a half-dozen gummi trees, before easing back into her chair and depositing her prize on her laptop, nodding her thanks to Jill and declining to comment about the wrapped candy cane. Only then does she look up at Nicholas, puzzled. "…The hell do I care? S'not my mood you're ruinin'. S'not like I'm much better, most days."

Nicholas looks over at Jill and raises eyebrows. "You still have the plastic on that." He says quietly to her. "Unless you like the plastic…." He really doesn't know. He goes to pick up the remote again and starts flipping through until he finds and settles on Avatar the Last Airbender. "I don't know, girls usually care about that kind of stuff. One girl sees a guy being a jerk to another girl and he's labeled an asshole forever." At least on crappy television it is.

The jig is up. Jill removes the plastic wrapped candy cane, a thin thread of saliva connecting it to her lips. "Bleh." She wipes the candy cane on her jeans, then her mouth with the back of her hand. Briefly, she closes one eye and compares the hand to Shane's hair. Not quite the same color. "No, really, nobody's spoiling anything. I just wasn't thinking. I'm sorry I brought it up. I won't do it again. Everything's fine," she soothes a little too vehemently, like she can force it to be true.

"Chill, huh?" Shane murmurs to Jill, before looking up at Nicholas, shrugging. "Life ain't Orange County," she grunts, tapping the touchpad of her computer a few times. "…Hell, 'round here it's more like DBZ 'n Harry Potter."

Nicholas watches Jill and a hint of a smile shows on his face before it vanishes and is replaced with a look on his face like he doesn't exactly believe what Jill says. "I haven't really found it like DBZ or Harry Potter here. There's no evil wizards or androids attacking the Earth, unless I missed something. I was watching DBZ before I fell asleep."

Looking sheepish, Jill heeds the advice and does indeed chill. Shane gets a grateful and embarrassed little smile. Thanks, she needed that. "None at the moment anyway," she comments lightly, if a little cryptically, while unwrapping the candy cane she already slobbered on.

"…You're new, yeah?" Shane asks of Nicholas, then shrugs, apparently not expecting an answer. "…Well think 'bout this; the science teacher? Big 'n fuzzy 'n can't shut up? Useta be an Avenger. So… there y'go."

Nicholas looks at Shane with an odd look. "And that's supposed to mean what? That we have super heroes as teachers so that makes this place Hogwarts meets the Kame house?" He shakes his head before frowning. "So what's that supposed to mean?"

"Heeey," Jill objects jokingly. "I like Dr. McCoy. We're part of an exclusive club. He told me so himself. 'There are very few naturally occurring mammals with blue coloration. Notice I said naturally occurring'," the blue girl imperfectly mimics the good doctor's accent. She grins at Shane… and her unnatural blue hair.

Shane snorts at Jill's mimicry, raising a blue eyebrow at Nicholas. "Think about it. Superheroes teaching school. School for mutant kids. Uniforms made from stuff thought up by onea th'smartest people ever. Hell, somea this place's made from alien science crap. Danger Room every week — again, alien science crap. ….Yeah, Hogwarts'n'Kame House pretty much sums it up."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with being blue." Nick protests. "Just..I thought this place was safe, that's what they said. Hogwarts wasn't exactly safe at the end and Kame House, well…I guess it was but…" He lets out a sigh and his shoulders sag a bit. "I wish I could go home."

Jill is on a roll, bolstered by having someone to agree with. "Yeah, and I asked the teachers if I could get more clothes made out of the unstable whatever stuff, but they said no. So it's either too rare or too expensive. And not a lot is 'too expensive' around here, but we all still get one." She nods with a kind of 'think about *that* too' expression, but one that melts at Nick's admission because she doesn't have anything she can say to that.

Shane's stoic facade cracks at Nick's admission, her cheeks flushing as she ducks behind her laptop screen for a moment. "…Sorry," she mumbles. Briefly, she opens her mouth to shore up her opinion, and perhaps say something to reassure… but apparently either she can't be bothered to, or can't come up with anything decent. Either way, mouth shuts again.

"What are unstable molecules?" Nick asks as he's never heard of it before. "Is that the weird training uniform they gave us that I'll never wear because it's too much spandex?" He just thought the outfit was strange. He shrugs at Shane's sorry. "Whatever. Not like it could ever happen."

"Umm, yeah it's the… spandex-looking thing," Jill admits, eager to change the subject even though quantum physics is not her forte. Not by a long shot. "I don't exactly know how it works, but it's really neat. I can go all liquid and not have to get dressed again afterwards 'cause it stays on me somehow. It's kind of a pain to keep losing your pants every time you wanna use your mutation." A feeble, hopeful smile that it might earn a laugh in the otherwise tense atmosphere.

Shane pulls the collar of her shirt aside briefly, exposing a thick black strap underneath. "Lotta kids got powers that ain't so easy on their clothes, like mine. Dunno how it works either, but, Ms. Frost gave me enough essentials, won't have to worry about it even if I manage to blow up without wantin' to anymore. …And y'know, there's a machine that'll mod your uniform. Long's you stick to the colors, you can do whatever you want, really. Hell, if nobody complains when I make it gimme a SOLDIER uniform, you're fine."

"Soldier uniform? Like Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines?" Nick asks not associating it with Final Fantasy Seven. "And that stuff is all great and stuff for girls but unless you're Captain America a guys not going to look anything but gay in something that tight." He says as he hasn't had the nerve to put on his uniform yet. "I guess that's one thing to be grateful for, my powers don't screw up my clothes."

Sitting in one of the cream colored chairs adjacent to Shane, Jill still has on her army surplus coat and grey scarf, Doc Martens lightly splattered with mud from a trek into town earlier. Bags and bags of Christmas themed candy are scattered on the floor around her. "I just made my uniform have long sleeves, 'cause the bare shoulders and long gloves looked kinda stupid to me. I'm sure you could find… some kind of pants to cover up, maybe? Or a jacket? Wish it was some color other than yellow, though. I don't think I look good in yellow."

Shane blinks at Nicholas from her overstuffed chair near the back, electric-blue eyebrows furrowing for a moment. "…Yeah… no. Just a sec." A few keys are tapped on her laptop, a picture brought up, and gummi Christmas trees scooped off the keyboard before she turns it around, revealing a color concept picture of Zack Fair, of Final Fantasy 7. "SOLDIER. First Class. Like that, 'cept black 'n blue."

Curled up on the couch hugging a pillow to himself, Nicholas looks at the monitor of Shane's laptop. "Oh like Cloud. Sorry, just….most girls aren't interested in video games so I didn't think that." He says before leaning back. "The yellow really sucks. It's like they're making us dress as giant bees or something. And what the hell is a Corsair anyway, isn't that a type of hair dryer?"

A strange sound fills the air, a sort of whirling or revving sound that might be familiar to fans of cartoons. The door to the living room bursts open as what seems to be a small tornado comes surging through it, though without the wind. The whirling form a blur accept for a flurry of white-gloved hands as it moves through the room putting up.. Christmas decorations. Garlands along the walls with small ornaments and other knick-knacks hanging from them. "Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-la-la.. la-la-la-ahahahahahahaha!!! Oh it's beginning to look allot like Christmas!" The seasonal hurricane comes to a halt revealing the form of Wildcard, though his head continues to spin for several seconds before he reaches up to stop it with his hands. "WOO! That'll clear out your sinuses!" He looks down at the empty box of decorations at his feet "Awww.. ran out. That was the last box from the attic too."

"Aaah!" Jill shrieks, drawing her dirty boots up onto the nicely upholstered chair as if she'd just seen a mouse not a living Looney Tunes character. "What the crap, dude?!" she pants, one hand over her heart and the other trying to cover her eyes. Pity she forgot about the candy cane she was holding because it now seems to be stuck in her forehead.

"What the—?!" Slapping her laptop shut as the whirlwind tears through the room, Shane curls up on the chair, eyes wide and fixed on Wildcard as though he were a ticking bomb, rather than a mouse. "Oh for FUCK'S SAKE, SERIOUSLY?!"

Nicholas tenses up and flexes one of his hands in a fist as he's trying to stop himself from tearing down all the decorations. "Fuck you." He says to Wildcard standing up and facing him. "Get you're ass, your fucking Christmas Spirit and your decorations out of here or else I'll clear your sinuses with my fist." He threatens beyond pissed off a the weird kid.

Nigel blinks and looks around "Whoa tough crowd. Sorry just getting the rest of the decorating done before the big day and needed to cover a lot of ground really fast. I mean have you honestly walked this school the place is HUGE!" He looks towards Nicholas and gives a rather toothy grin. "Ah this must be Quenton Jr. Yeesh how many wet blankets are they gonna recruit this year?"

Jill yanks the orange candy cane out of her face with an amusing *pop* sound, though whether it would have done so without Wildcard present is an open question. It doesn't even leave a hole. "Y-" she tries to speak but still finds herself a little out of breath. "You scared the shit outta me. A little warning next time, huh?" Her eyes swing around the room and take in the insane amount of decorations hung in the space of seconds, disbelief leaving her jaw slack.

Shane glances around the room, then at Nicholas, and lets out a long, slow breath. "Cripes, here we go again," she mutters, popping a gummi tree in her mouth. "Maybe you wanna back off the guy a little?" she says, setting her laptop aside and getting to her feet. "Maybe he just don't feel like Christmas, yeah?"

"Just go jump of a cliff asshat." Nick scowls at Nigel. "Can't I just have one fucking place in this school that isn't all oh joyously wonderful Christmas! Well fuck. Christmas." He snaps sounding quite upset and angry, shaking every so slightly. "I swear from now on the only way I'm leaving my room is to eat or pee." He grumps. "Thank god I have a Jewish roommate."

Nigel grins and shrugs "Hey suit yourself pal." He gives a nod and wave to Shane and Jill. "Well almost out of time so I'd better bolt since Nigel can't take a punch as well as I can. Don't want the poor guy getting a black eye for the holidays." He turns back towards the door and seems to straddle something, he mimes holding a pair of handlebars and stomps one foot down which actually produces the sound of an engine trying to turn over. "Heh.. invisible motorcycle.. Lolkats got nothing on me. He grins and stomps down again, the 'engine' revs to life and lifting off the ground slight he shoots back down the hallway he came out of. "Aaaahahahahahahaaa!!"

Speechless. That's the only appropriate reaction Jill has left after the insanity, the outburst, all of it. Slowly her legs uncurl and she puts her feet back on the floor, standing up without exactly realizing why. A pair of nice bootheel prints mar the formerly clean chair's seat. At last, she finds her voice. "Oh. My. God."

Shane's eyes track Nigel as he roflcycles his way out the door, jaw falling open slightly. "…Hogwarts DBZ," she mutters to herself, blowing out a breath and shaking her head. "…Hey. Um. You," she says to Nicholas, twitching her head up at the garlands. "…Figure the staff won't give much of a crap if we pull this junk down, yeah?"

Nicholas is speechless as Wildcard leaves and after a few moments of staring daggers at the doorway he sinks down to the ground and sits there, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I really don't care." He says flatly. "And I wouldn't punch anyone, I'm just pissed of and said shit." He says but there isn't really any emotion in his voice.

Nigel takes a hard left with tires squealing at the end of the hall and is gone.

Unusual for her, the blue girl does not immediately leap to Nigel's defense and try to make it all better. She looks askance at Shane, an unspoken question and a flick of her head at the decorations. Should they do it anyway?

Shane glances at Jill, and lifts a shoulder in reply. Turning to survey the room, her neutral expression turns a little more stormy. "…They got any normal damn chairs in this place?"

Nicholas looks up at the two girls and shakes his head. "Just because I'm Scrooge this Christmas doesn't mean someone else won't like them just…." He sighs and then raises a hand, his eyes glowing blue, and uses his powers to start taking down some of the decorations. "I used to love Christmas." He whispers.

A blue hand lays softly on Nick's shoulder and there's Jill, looking down at him. "I know," she says kindly. "It's just too soon." The hand slips away and she tucks it into her jacket pocket. "I don't know but, maybe, you could talk to the professors. Get a hotel room, get out of here for a while. Come back and see Orion if you want, but… y'know, at least have the option to get away from it."

"'Sides, 'someone else' ain't here, are they?" As a garland floats down into reach, Shane grabs hold of the end, giving a tug that pops a third of the glittery rope off the wall. "So screw 'em. They wanted decorations, shoulda put em up themselves."

Nicholas continues to gently take down some of the decor with his powers, moving his hand with the motions that he uses his telekinesis to move. "I used to think I was a Jedi Knight because I could move things with my mind." He comments off handily. "Or joke that I was one. Anyway, if I got a hotel room I'd get lost either going there or coming home. Unless someone picked me up and dropped me off but, I don't know if I want to be stuck in hotel."

Never one to be left out, Jill joins in un-decking the halls, coiling the garland into the cardboard box that Wildcard left behind. "You could get a taxi. I'll ask for you, if you want me to." She starts at the other end of the room, pulling and sending two of the shiny ornaments to the floor with shattering pops. "Oh damn it."

Shane starts, visibly, as the ornament pops, leaping a full pace back and turning wide eyes in Jill's direction. When nothing immediately follows, she untenses, blowing out a sharp breath. "…F'rget it," she says after a moment, shaking her head. "'F they didn't kick me out f'r blowin' up the flowers, a couple cheap balls're fine."

Nicholas gently puts down the garland he's been untacking from the wall and goes over to start cleaning up the dropped ornament. "They probably won't even miss this one bulb, it's also a just a ornament." He says as he picks up the small pieces and puts them in his hand. Shane gets a curious look as she jumps. "Are you okay?"

"He said he found them in the attic. For all I know, they could've been fifty years old and some kinda heirlooms. Just don't cut yourself or anything." Jill looks sheepish and steps away, folding her hands tightly behind her back like she's afraid of touching anything else and causing some kind of disaster.

"If he found 'em in the attic, he musta found a different one than I know," Shane mutters, tossing a bundle of tinsel into the box. "Cos the attic I know, been turned into a vegetable garden 'r something like it. Anyway, if they're heirlooms, they're the cheapest heirlooms I ever saw." For emphasis, she waggles a bog-standard silver ball with cheap wire hook. Glancing at Nicholas for his question, the blue-haired girl lifts a shoulder. "…Wound tight, s'all."

"Sorry." Nick mutters to Shane as he continues to pick up the pieces. "Jill….I feel like every time I'm around you I just make things weird and uncomfortable for you, I'm sorry." He apologizes as he doesn't head the blue girl's warning and manages to slice his finger on a broken shard. Nick instantly moves his finger to his mouth even though he knows it's the last thing he should do.

Jill's glance toward Shane turns to whiplash when she focuses back on Nick. "It's not your fault. I'm just sorry stuff has *been* weird and uncomfortable," she quickly one-ups him in the apology department. She sucks in a quick breath with a hissing sound at the sight of blood, however small it might be. "Aww jeez. Hang on, I'll go get a bandaid." Having something more important to do than break more stuff, she clomps away quickly into the hall to find the nearest first aid kit conveniently bolted to the wall somewhere.

Shane's eyebrow rises at the sight of Jill's hurried retreat, the scrawny girl shaking her head. "I'll deal," she says in answer to Nick's apology.

"It's just a small cut." Nick calls after Jill as he looks at his finger and gets up to toss the shards in his other hand. "Thanks, for being willing to do this." He says to Shane as Jill hurries away to get him a band-aid. "I uh…lost my parents recently so this is my first Christmas without them it's not easy.' He says to her quietly leaving out as many details as possible. "I'm Nicholas by the way, or Nick." Since he doesn't think he actually introduced himself to her.

"Shane," the girl says with the patented Californian reverse-nod, a brief upward flick of her head. "…Makes sense. Sorry," she says after a moment. "…For, y'know. Parents."

Nicholas sits on the floor again and shrugs a shoulder. "Thanks, I just never thought I'd hate the holidays you know? It's just…..it really sucks." He tries to explain before he wraps his finger in the bottom of his shirt. "And who was that guy who decided to go all crazy with this crap earlier?"

"Hell if I know," Shane says, shrugging, tugging down her sleeves and stooping to sweep up the broken glass. "Probably just another kid who goes here."

"I'd use my telekinesis to clean it up but the pieces are too small and I don't think I'd be able to get them all." Nick says as he watches Shane. "Maybe I should find a broom or dust pan or something, I don't want you cutting yourself too." He says before looking at the door for a second before looking back at Shane. "So…you made your uniform look like a Final Fantasy costume?"

"Found one," a voice precedes the clomping of boots on hardwood flooring. Jill returns with a proud smile like she'd found the Ark of the Covenant, not a small flesh-colored adhesive bandage. She peels off the paper wrapping and holds it out for Nick. "Sorry, they were all out of the ones with Snoopy on 'em."

Shane lifts a shoulder. "Cosplay's kinda my thing. Just a blue'n'black spandex onesie? Couldn't tolerate it, so, fixed it. Still like my Vincent costume, 's one of my favorites. Cape was a pain in the ass to get right, but—" Trailing off as the heroic Jill returns with her Bandage of Glory, the girl coughs, working very hard to cover a snort of laughter at her fellow student's exuberance.

"What's cosplay?" Nick asks as he takes the band-aid and wraps it around his finger. "That's okay, I'd only been upset if there wasn't any Spongebob Band-aids." He says giving Jill a small smile. The stifled laughter gets a look from Nicholas. "Uh…so you made a Vincent costume? But…aren't you a girl?"

"Ooh, what are we talking about? Uniforms again?" Jill kneels down and starts to sweep up the last fragments of broken ornaments. Despite her earlier warnings to be careful, she basically just grabs them with soft 'ow' sounds issuing on occasion. "Oh, cosplay. It's big in Japan. And that in particular, ow, is cross-play. See, 'cause it's cosplay and cross-dressing at the same time."

"…Have you ever *seen* Vincent once they got all the CGI goin'? Cripes, he looks more girly than I ever would." Jill gets a brief glance at the mention of cross-play, but the annoyance is shrugged away. "'Sides. Just made it 'cos it looked cool, and I figured it'd be tough to do. I ain't got the figure for most anime girl costumes, so, I just go with what looks good. Like the Lulu dress I tried t'make, ended up slapping armor on top 'cos there was no way I'd keep that top on 'n look anything but stupid."

"I've never heard of it." Nicholas says with a shrug. "Jill…be careful okay? I don't want you to cut yourself too." There's concern in his voice from all her 'ows'. "I've only ever seen people dress up in costumes on Halloween, and the only anime I've ever watched was Dragon Ball Z."

Jill holds up her hand, showing a myriad of tiny silver shards embedded in the blue flesh of her palm. "It's okay. Easier than getting a dustpan. Doesn't hurt, not really. No lasting damage anyway." She brushes them off into a wastepaper basket. "It's just a hobby," she comments back on the subject at hand. "Like any other."

Shane takes her sleevefuls of glass to the wastebasket, brushing them out as best she can, though the telltale glitter of minute slivers can still be seen on her sleeves. "Should check it out online; there's a whole crapload of good cosplayers take pictures'n post 'em. … …Even more shitty ones, but the good ones're damn good. Still don't know how that one chick managed to grow a natural rack to stuff into that Power Girl costume…"

Nicholas makes a motion to reach out to take Jill's hand but stops himself. "Oh, I might look it over later." He says pushing himself up. "I just think I'm going to go back to my room now." He frowns for a second and shakes his head. "Sorry again, I hope you both have a better night." He says looking back a Jill to say, "I hope to see more of your magic tricks sometime."

Nodding encouragingly, like maybe getting some rest would be a good idea, Jill waves to Nick. "Sure thing, any time. I've got a few that take some prep, so lemme know ahead of time if you wanna see the *really* cool ones." Having gotten up the remains of the mess she made, she starts in on the garland again. But with more care this time.

Shane glances over at Jill, eyebrow rising. "…Magic tricks, huh? Hm." Lifting a shoulder, she turns to pick up her laptop. "Most of it's done, so… I'm'a head to bed. Thanks for the candies."

"You're welcome." Jill nods a goodbye to Shane, glancing up at the once and again barren walls. Carefully she winds up the garland and puts it back in the box, reclaims her candy, and flicks off the lights. The room is almost in the same condition in which they found it. Almost. But almost is still pretty good.
