3/22 Instance: Friend of Humanity

[Slarti]

Timelined a few days after With a Bang.

Miranda: "Thanks!" Miranda accepted the venti non-fat, non-dairy mocha latte with a grin. Oh, sweet, sweet caffeine. It would get her through Dr. Owens' class. It was probably all that would, since she hadn't gotten much sleep after the incident at the rally.

Miranda: She juggled her cup and bag to a cafe table at the campus center to put away her change. Thank God Corey had finally calmed down about the van.

Graydon: Graydon excused himself from the group of other students from Dr. Brown's class. They were looking for a table large enough to accommodate them all, so they could chat about the lecture and the paper the Doc had assigned them. Graydon wasn't in the mood for any company, however.

Graydon: He shouldered his bag and headed to the self-service food counter. It didn't bother him if the others thought of him as a brooding loner. He gave the warmed up food a listless look and settled for a plate of salad. After muttering something sounding like "Thank you" to the person behind the checkout, he turned to look for a free table.

Miranda: Miranda started to take a sip and the steam burned her tongue. Hissing, she popped off the lid and started to blow. She would have her sweet caffeine, dammit! She sat down and looked around, humming as she blew. Her tune cut off when she recognized Graydon at the counter.

Graydon: Graydon walked past several occupied tables. He stopped for a moment when his gaze drifted over a familiar head. Great. Apparently a campus with several thousand students still wasn't big enough. He tried to look another way, pretending that he hadn't seen her. But their eyes had already met. What should he do? Walk away like a sulky little boy?

Miranda: Oh my God, he was coming toward her. Toward her, toward her... was he going to go right by her?! "Um, hell-oo." She tipped her head back to look at him directly. Surely they could be, like, adults about this. She still wasn't entirely sure why he'd just... well, he'd just stopped talking to her. Sure, she'd made a mistake, but... it's not like he was a saint either.

Graydon: Graydon barely thought about what he was doing. His feet just seemed to carry him towards Miri's table by themselves. Then he stood in front of her, holding his tray, his lips pressed together to form a thin line. "Hello." He eventually said. God dammit, what else was he supposed to say?

Miranda: Wow, it'd worked. "So... how're you doing?" She moved her junk out of the way to make room if he wanted to sit. She wouldn't push it, but there was the offer.

Graydon: Graydon took his time to answer the question. He wanted to blurt out and ask her what she expected him to say to that. Couldn't she imagine? However, he wasn't sure himself how he felt. "I'm busy." He simply stated. "There are a lot of classes."

Miranda: “I know! It's crazy, isn't it?" She took a tiny sip of her drink and licked her lips slowly. This was going just fantastically. She did owe it to the others to try to find out where the fuck he had been. "The, uh, rally was interesting..."

Graydon: "Hm? Oh, yeah, I've heard." Graydon nodded slowly. He bit on his lower lip and looked from left to right. Standing there with his tray in the hand made him feel stupid. He took a breath and sat down at Miri's table. "So, you've been there?"

Miranda:"There?" Her brow crinkled in confusion as she took a larger sip. "I was there. I was, like, organizing." She resisted adding 'you know, your job.'

Graydon: He nodded again, but didn't look up to meet her gaze. Picking up his fork, he started poking his salad. "That's good." Graydon said choppily. "I had an important workshop meeting yesterday. Couldn't make it."

Miranda: "Aha." Okay, great. So his uber important mission to make the Friends of Humanity this great organization was over, was it? That hardly seemed fair. "You know... these people really could use our help. It was scary how fast the cops were almost on top of them yesterday."

Graydon: Graydon's gaze flicked up. "Really? Well, I'm sorry to hear this." His voice sounded all but convincing. "But I doubt that my presence there would have changed much. Besides, our friends seemed to be able to take care of themselves just fine. They're the ones with the superpowers, remember?"

Miranda: "It may not have changed much, but this is your cause, Gray. Everybody got into it because of you. I would have never-" She paused to take a sip and collect herself, ignoring the logic that she probably would have found out eventually she was a mutant anyway... "I wouldn't have gotten into it otherwise."

Graydon: "I'm sure the others are handling it just fine without me." Graydon said before taking a forkful of salad. "There are a lot of dedicated people in the club." What else should he tell her? That he wasn't sure if it still was his cause? "As you can imagine, I wasn't feeling... that well lately. I'm sure I would have done more harm than good if I had tried to organize anything."

Miranda: "Yeah, dedicated because you were dedicated. I've been telling them all you'll be back." She gave him a long look. "I'm ... well, I'm sorry about what happened." Miranda took another drink and picked at the tassel on her backpack. "But it shouldn't change anything about the cause. It's still, like, valid."

Miranda: "They might have superpowers, but they're all just people." She looked into her cup. "Everybody deserves to just be treated like a person."

Graydon: Graydon took a deep breath. He put the fork down and ran a hand through his hair. "See? That's the point." He said, then paused again. "I'm not so sure about that anymore. Hell, I'm not sure about anything anymore." He tried to keep the imagines of the moment he had caught her cheating out of his mind. "During the break I had enough time to do some thinking."

Miranda: Panic rose in her throat, but she tried to hide it. "What... w-wha-at do you mean? You think they don't deserve that?" Yeah, the break after he'd told her they needed a break. She was sorry for all that... she didn't know what she'd been thinking.

Graydon: Graydon exhaled audibly and shook his head. "Listen, I didn't say that. But, I'm not sure anymore. Perhaps things aren't as simple as we thought they were." He swallowed. How could he do this without mentioning what happened at Xavier's school, and all that entailed? "I know that you're a mutant, Miri. I found the letter from the blood bank."

Miranda: Miranda's mouth worked for a moment before sound came out. "What?" She half rose from the chair, upsetting her drink but ignoring it. A half dozen emotions she couldn't name were choking her. "What the fuck?! You went through my shit!?"

Graydon: Graydon blinked at her sudden outburst. He sat back in his chair and put the fork down. It made a loud clanging sound. "Oh, please. Now don't act all upset. I guess that's pretty harmless compared to..." He noticed that he was speaking loudly, and head turned in their direction. His voice dropped. "...compared to fucking some girl behind my back."

Graydon: "After all, I only wanted to find out if there are more lovers that I don't know about yet. That's understandable, isn't it?" He gave her a challenging look.

Miranda: Miranda made a noise sounding halfway between an outraged squeak and a sob. "Oh my God! You son of a bitch! I never cheated... not before-- I was going through a lot! I said I was fucking sorry!" She noticed her latte soaking into her bookbag and snatched it up, spraying the liquid and not caring she was making a scene at the moment. She pushed back in the chair and stood. "That was my stuff! In my room!"

Graydon: Graydon clenched his jaw. He could feel his face reddening. "You have no right to get all defensive all of a sudden. Yeah, you're so sorry, sure. So why didn't you tell me? Hm?" He held out his hands. "That goes to show how much you trust me, or how much I even mean to you. Don't you think that I deserve to know?"

Graydon: "Or was that supposed to remain your little secret? So that you could play me a little while longer?"

Miranda: "Play you?" Miranda grabbed a handful of napkins, trying to clean herself and the mess up, feeling tears starting to prick her eyes. She mopped up coffee, sniffing, and noticed eyes turned her way. "And what the fuck are you looking at?"

Graydon: "Oh come on now!" Graydon retorted. He turned his head to give those who were looking their way a withering stare. "As if I hadn't noticed how you were flirting left and right all the time. Just think of that one time we were invited to Xavier's. I never cared about it, though. I was totally oblivious."

Graydon: Holding up his hand, he nodded. "Except for now, when I decided to stay away from you for a while. Now isn't that a funny coincidence?"

Miranda: "I didn't mean anything by it! I was just being... oh my God, I was just being friendly with people you wanted to get close to!" She didn't even know what to refute anymore. "It's not like I wasn't going to tell you, but I was scared!"

Miranda: "Every day we were doing research on the horrible things going on. How do you think I felt, finding out that horrible shit could happen to me? Do you think I wanted to find out I was a fucking mutant too!?" Her hand actually flew over her mouth, but it was too late. "Oh my God..."

Graydon: Graydon held his breath, his head tensely turning from one side to the other. Now they definitely had the attention of the room. "And you expect me to believe you? In case you forgot, you cheated on me." His voice was getting louder. "What reason do I have to believe anything you say? Don't expect me to trust you."

Graydon: He shook his head. "What you say there... doesn't that tell you that I would have been the right person to come to? No, the way I see it, the way I have to see it, is that you just wanted to keep another secret from me."

Miranda: "It wasn't a secret! Ok, ok, it was, but, I just found out too! I was, like... I don't even know. Trying to deal! I didn't even believe it! I'm still not sure I believe it! I don't do..." She finally stopped and looked around at the people now studiously trying to ignore them while listening to every word. She wiped her eyes and lowered her voice. "I can't do anything."

Graydon: Graydon replied with an angry huff. "Except for keeping me docile like a good little puppy, right?" He waved his hands frantically. "Don't take me for an idiot, Miranda. I know that not all of them shoot fucking lasers out of their eyes. Some read your mind and make you believe things. A lot more subtle, you know?"

Miranda: That caused a wave of whispers in the commons and she looked around, eyes wide. "But... I can't do that. I know I can't do that. I... Selene can read minds, but I asked her, and... I don't know! I just can't."

Miranda: Miranda made a sound of protest and gathered the wet napkins from her latte, stuffing them into the empty cup. "I never did anything to you. I can't! I don't even know how! But you believe whatever you want, you smug bastard."

Graydon: "Oh, wonderful! Now I'm the bastard." Graydon raised his hands and let them drop down again. They made a loud smack on the table. "So, you can't read minds, but your creepy lover can? Perfect! That changes everything, of course. Why didn't she just make me forget that I caught you?" He laughed a humourless laugh. "Or perhaps she just didn't do that this time."

Miranda: "She didn't!" I don't think... Miranda narrowed her eyes and started to shove a finger in his face, then stopped. She didn't know. She didn't know anything for sure. What she did know was that he'd just outted her in front of all these people. And she wasn't registered. "Fuck you, Graydon."

Graydon: "Sure. At least you won't be fucking around with me anymore." He took a deep breath, bit his lip, and in a sudden outburst swiped his plate with the salad off the table. Graydon only heard how it hit the floor and smashed into pieces. He forced himself to keep his composure. "I'm sick of people making a fool out of me."

Miranda: "You're sick?! All I ever did was try to make things work. I didn't fucking ask for this, and I didn't fucking ask for you to be an a-a raging asshole about it!" She was so upset now she was shaking, so she threw the cup at his head. "Yeah, you're a great friend to humanity."

Miranda: Miranda took a shuddering breath and looked around again, panic setting in this time. This was worse than the explosion. Worse than the van. All she saw were accusing eyes, so she turned and ran.

Graydon: Graydon tried to reflexively hold up a hand to shield his face from the cup, but it hit his forehead anyway. He breathed heavily while he watched Miranda run. Only then did he notice all the gazes turning towards him. "What are you all staring at!?" He got to his feet; too quickly, thereby knocking over his chair. "Don't you people have your own problems?"

Graydon: He snatched up his bag and took off in the opposite direction.

[Edited on 26-3-2009 by Slarti]

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Ouch.

[Ult_Sm86]

Uh..... oh...... Ben's going to have to cheer her up.

*cough*

[Svartfreja]

Awwww poor Miri. don't worry, she's still welcome at XU, Mara's being all nice lately, Miri should take advantage

[Esynthia]

Dang >< That's never fun.