Timeline - Some point after the game 'Dangerous Minds'
Darren was sitting on the sofa it the rec-room ... well sitting was a loose description of what he was doing, he was laying upside down, long legs draped over the back of the seat and the top of his mohawk brushing the floor. Sitting cross-legged on his chest like a tiny budda was a small, blond child, probably male due to the cut of clothing and his own long hair had been gelled up into mohawk.
The were currently watching the 90's serise of Transformers, and the little boy was clapping along to the themesong.
Nori wandered into the recroom and stopped short at the small child sitting on....what was his name? Darren. "Uh. Is that one yours?"
Jay snagged his wing on the door leading from the kitchen to the rec-room, fidgeting fingers already picking out a cigarette as he did, a few feathers coming loose and drifting. "Ow! Motherfu-aaaaaaah..." He caught sight of the small thing on Darren's chest just in time. "...Gede, y've got a rodent issue dere."
Darren reached up to steady the boy as he nearly toppled off, "Hey, careful there dude," he looked over at Nori, "yo, this is my nephew, so no mention of needles or dust otherwise my sister will kick my ass and then i'll be forced to kick yours sweets," he waved a mockily warning finger at her.
"Jay! Watch the language!" He tacked on the end there.
The child pried his eyes away from the TV and blinked at Nori, before giving her a wide, sticky grin and pointing, "Bloo hair!"
Rachel heard nephew before she saw the child and debated how safe it was to sit in the rec room. She eyed the tv for a moment and decided Transformers won out over the dislike of children, so she found a seat and plopped down, "Hey."
She blinked, and mostly skirted around the kid and Darren, not really sure of how one acted around small children. "Yeah, uh. Blue hair. Smart boy." She was the youngest in her family, how was she supposed to know how to deal with them?
"Hey! Ah didn't know about d' freakin' bundle of joy, Daz." Jay scowled, already in a bad mood. Well, not so much 'already' as 'still not out of it' from the ethics class. He muttered a string of curses in creole and headed for a window to lean out of for his smoke. It was raining and he didn't fancy sitting for hours while his wings dried.
As the other's came in he slapped Darren's arm to get his attention, "Darren! 'S bloo hair anna two red hairs!" He gave the room at large the two fingerd salute untill Darren turned his hand around, "Darren! Issat a angel? Like at nana's church?" He pointed at Jay.
Jay's eye twitched slightly.
She ran a hand through her hair at the mention of it and bit down at her lip.
Darren sighed, great, Jay was still in a foul mood, "Dude, could you not smoke around my nephew?" He tugged on his nephew's foot, "He's not an angel, he's a mutant like uncle Darren. Guy's, this is my nephew, Mini-Darren."
"It can count," she says, eyeing the child suspiciously. "Is it dangerous?"
"Probably," Rachel glanced over the kid, "All of them are dangerous."
Jay muttered something under his breath but put the cig back in the pack. "If its a relation of Darren's, it's liable t' explode. An' no, Ah ain't no angel, kid."
The toddler waved at the room, "Hi! I can count to twenty, and I have a red ball, but not as red as you, what's your name?" Mini-Darren pointed at Jay.
Jay blinked at the kid. Heh. Kinda cute. "Jay. Ah'm Darren's best mate an' roomie." His wings flared a little.
"Naaaaah, he's harmless unless you put him anywhere near chocolate ice-cream, then it's a massacre," Darren said cheerfully.
"Not yet," Nori murmurs, folding into a spot on the couch.
"Jay like the letter?" He looked between the girls, "what's your names?"
Jay muttered something else, perching on the windowsill still and pulling a wing around to fidget with.
"Noriko Ashida."
"Rachel," she answered as she tried to remember whether there was any icecream in the freezer.
Mini-Darren gave her a confused look before saying, "You have a funny name," which earned him a clip on the leg from his uncle, "Dar! You don't say things like that!"
Mini-Darren pouted and wiggled of his uncle's chest and onto the floor, "But she does!" he insisted, "she has a funny name and funny hair!"
Jay couldn't help the snort, watching the mini-Darren. God help the world if the kid was anything like his uncle...who he quickly looked over, smirking slightly.
Rachel gave a slight grin. Yeah, nice...
"It's Japanese," she says, cocking her head at the child. "And my hair is dyed."
Mini-Darren gave her a long, hard look and nodded, "Auntie Katrin dyes her hair," he told her.
After a moment he turned around and toddled over to where Jay was sitting as his uncle righted himself on the sofa, and grabbed a hold of a trailing feather and gave it and experimental tug, head cocked to one side.
"Okay..."
"Ow-" Jay bit his tongue on another swearword. "-Please don' do dat." He managed a smile at the kid. "Yeah, dey're attached." He picked up a loose feather he'd pulled out and held it out to the boy. "It hurts when y'all try'n pull dem out."
"You just pulled one out," Mini-Darren said, as his uncle facepalmed behind him, and took the feather. He studied it for a moment, then stuck it in his mouth to see if it was edible, the stuck it in his mohawk and then patted his mouth as he let out a moaning kind of sound, "I'm an indian!"
Jay couldn't help the smile at that, picking up his other loose feathers and handing them to the little guy. "Dat's 'cause dese are loose. Were gonna fall out anywhy. Here, knock y'self out. Not literally." He added quickly.
She gave a cringe as he went after Jay's feathers, then blinked and shook her head.
He stuck the rest of the feathers into his hair in a haphazard kind of way, then grabbed Jay's hand, "I'm the chief! You all have to be cowboys and we shoot each other!"
"Is he serious?"
Jay looked first at Darren for help, then at the rest of the room. "Uh-" He'd never had to deal with kids and he really wasn't in a good mood and oh hell why'd he pick on him?! "Ah think so..."
Darren grinned, "Of course he is, he's three," he got up, "Dar, you can't force people to play with you if they don't want too."
Mini-Darren pouted again, "But I wanna play, play cowboys an' indians!"
Noriko just shook her head, and glanced at Jay. He didn't much look like he was healthy. "Maybe you should ask someone else."
She looked from the cartoons back to the others. There was no way she was playing cowboys and indians.
Mini-Darren turned around, "Will you two play an' be cowgirls?" he asked in a whiney kind of voice.
Jay poked the bra-uuuh, kid. "Ah'll play if your uncle does." He gave Darren an evil grin over mini-Darren's head.
Rachel chewed on her lip and wondered if he'd throw a fit if she said no. She didn't really want to find out either. "Uh..."
"I wanna play!" Mini-Darren said stubbonly.
Darren rolled his eyes, "Me and Jay will play with you, you don't wanna play with ickly girls dude, they have cooties," he tried to reason with the child.
"Yeah, trust us, dey do." Jay nodded. "An' are gross. An' smell funny."
"Cowgirls?" she echoed, looking at Jay with an eyebrow raised. "Do you want to be original recipe or extra crispy?"
Jay gave Nori a smile that was a little too friendly. "What?"
"Children, play nice," Darren warned, "and that includes you, mini-me," Mini-Darren grinned and toddled over to his uncle.
"We play cowboys and indians?"
She glanced between Jay and Nori, snorting at Darren's comment. Sighing, she reluctantly gave in, "I guess I could play...?"
"Ah'm playin' nice, Gede." Jay straightened, sighing in resignation as he got up and ran both hands through his hair. "Sure, why not. Nori? Come keep a li'l kid happy?" He gave the girl big gold eyes from behind his hair.
She stared back at Jay. "I don't know how to play that one," she explains slowly. "It wasn't something I did as a kid." Mostly she was the stereotypical Japanese kid, studying and doing well in school, and not doing much else.
"Don't have to play if you don't want too," Darren shrugged, crouching down next to his nephew, "how you wanna do this then, kid?"
"Makes two of us. At least y'all got to walk around, Ah'm bettin'." Jay smirked a little before folding his arms. He really wanted to smoke, damnit.
Mini-Darren thought for a moment, then said, "You all gotta run around and then I shoot you, you can be my horse," he told Darren.
Darren rolled his eyes, "Oh man, you're too old to play horsie."
"You gotta be my horse 'cos I'm the chief!" Mini-Darren pointed to his feathers.
Rachel got up from her spot since she was probably expected to at least attempt to run away. Though, she wasn't planning on running. The kid could settle for walking.
Jay couldn't help the laugh at Darren. "Hey, Ah gave d' chief his feathers - does dat mean Ah can live?"
Darren, fearing the pout, got on to his hands and knees, "Alright kid, get on," he muttered.
Mini-Darren shook his head, "Nooooo! You gotta do it properly!" he insisted, and then pointed at Rachel and Jay, "them too."
"...Huh?"
"Dar, they can't change like I can."
Mini-Darren frowned, "But you said they were mutants like you?"
Nori just watches them curiously. "We kinda all are, kid."
"Not exactly d' same, ami." Jay smiled a little. "We're all different. Darren can turn into sh- things, Ah can fly an' sing..."
Darren grinned, "Not all mutants are as amazing as me, it's like ... like how you and your mommy have blonde hair and mine is brown, some of them can do things that I can't ... why don;t you guys show him?" He suggested, mouthing 'Do it, and he'll forget about playing cowboys,' behind his back.
Noriko held her hands up and palms in, and let out enough of the stored electricity to form a little ball of lightning, suspended between her hands. "This is what I do," she explains.
Good point. Jay rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah...Ah'm nowhere near as good as most mutants..." He flicked out his wings. "But I could do a lot of damage to his reputation." He added in an exact replica of Darren's voice. "Or hey, could pretend to be Megatron." He copied the TV.
"I, uh..." Rachel paused for a moment, rephrasing, "I move things and can read minds..." She looked around for an object, picked out a lamp, and lifted it.
Mini-Darren's jaw dropped as he looked between the three, "Woooooooooow!" he squealed and clapped his hand in delight, as Darren got to his feet, relieved, behind him.
He pointed at Nori, "Darren can do that, only his is yellow and not as sparky," he watched the lamp float past, giggled and chased after it.
Jay felt...kinda impotent next to the others, rubbing a scarred shoulder. Couldn't do much beyond fly and sing...even using his voice to smash things was bad, considering it caused more problems then it solved. He watched mini-Darren chase the lamp, picking up a feather that had fallen out of his hair.
She watched him chase the lamp, chewing on her lip. If she'd know he was going to do that, she would've picked something softer...
Nori smiled at the look of adoration on the kid's face. "C'mere, kid. Bring Jay, I can show you something fun." She couldn't do it with the kid since his hair was gelled. "Want to see his hair stand on end like yours?"
Mini-Darren crashed into Jay's leg as he ran past, "Huh? You got magic hair too?" He toddled over to Nori, the lamp temporarily forgotten.
Jay raised an eyebrow at Nori, giving her a half-smile and pulling his hair out, half-catching the kid. "Watch it dere, ami." He shoved his hand into a pocket, pulling out his mp3 and phone and tossing them to Darren.
Rachel put the lamp back in it's palce while the kid was distracted.
Darren caught the equipment and gave Nori a slightly concerned look, what was she planning?
"Won't hurt you," she said, holding out a hand half-covered by the metal wrist brace on the gauntlet. "Just give me your hands. You ever touched a Van de Graaf generator?" she asked quietly, sitting on the arm of the couch comfortably.
Ooooooh, one of them, fair enough, Darren relaxed as his nephew watched with big eyes, thumb in mouth.
"Nope, seen one work though." Jay smiled, an idea of what she was going to do forming and glad he'd thought to remove anything electrical first. He held out his hands. "Though if my wings start sparkin' Ah ain't gonna be happy."
"They probably won't. If it did it'd just be static." She held out both her hands to take his, grasping them and letting the electricity flow between them, his bright red hair standing out on end. "It'll be fine."
It took quite a bit of concentration to keep the flow steady; she'd have to find J and have him fix the regulation.
The thumb poped out of Mini-Darren's mouth as he clapped, "Woooooooooow!" Jay had a lot of hair, the effect was quite impressive, even to his uncle's jaded eye, "he's got a circle like in the windows of the angels!"
Darren stopped snickering long enough to tell his nephew that it was a halo.
Nori avoided the snicker that was almost automatic, and held onto Jay's hands. "He's impressive, ain't he?"
Jay grinned too, knowing what he must look like even as he heard the snap of static in his wings, one of them twitching as the feathers tried to follow his hair. "Hmph. Ah'm gonna need a shower just to get my hair'n feathers to lie straight after dis."
"I wanna do it! Do it too me!" Mini-Darren insisted, holding up his sticky hands.
"Nah. They'll lie flat when I let you go." Partially because she'd absorb all the electricity from him. "If you want me to, you have to get the gel out of your hair," she said. Nori could, in theory, use enough to snap the gel out, but it'd probably hurt the kid.
Mini-Darren scratched at his hair, dislodging a few feathers, before running back over to his uncle, "Darren! I wanna bath then magic hair!"
That made his namesake splutter, "Excuse me? You want a bath? You never want a bath like ... ever!"
Jay nodded. "Cool. Y' wanna let me go den? My wings are gettin' itchy." He grinned sheepishly.
Mini-Darren pointed back over at Nori with a pout, and Darren folded his arms, smirking a little, "If I tell my sister about this, she's probably gonna wanna take you home with her when she comes to pick him up," he told Nori as he picked the little boy up.
Nori let him go, and true to what she said his hair and feathers fell back into place. "Um. 'Cause I made him want a bath?"
"He never wants to wash, like, ever," Darren told her.
"Oh." She shrugged. "Well if she needs him to, I'll zap him or something? I dunno," she murmured, not exactly wanting to scare the boy. Nori thought a second and looked at her hands. "Or something."
Jay patted his hair, then ran his hand through it, checking for static cling in paranoia. He'd had a static shock from his wings once, and he never wanted to experience it again. Nylon and feathers didn't mix.
"Yeah, well, we'll see, maybe when I come to see you next time I'll have figured out how to do that as well, huh lil guy?" Mini-Darren nodded, "Wanna go have a bath now then?" Another nod.
"Okay, guess we're off for a while then, uh ... Jay if you need the bathroom go use someone elses for a while, 'kay? Dar? Say bye to everyone."
Noriko waved at the two mohawked boys, specifically the littler one. "When you come back find me and I'll do the magic hair. But make sure you're dry first."
"Hey, Ah'm good. Y' need me? Ah'll be gettin' soaked on d' roof. Later, Daz an' petit-Daz." Jay slipped out onto the patio, muttering something about the weather before stretching his wings and taking off, soaked in seconds. He really needed that smoke now.
Mini-Darren nodded at Nori and waved, "Bye bye ladies!"