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Early morning, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Everyone pulls shifts, everyone shares the load. And this morning it's Doug Ramsey's job to sit in the school office and cover the phone. You know; administrative stuff. Which really means he's sitting with a cup of coffee and his feet on the desk, as he thumbs his old copy of Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. The phone rings, he picks it up, and has a brief conversation with a student's parents in Spanish, before he hits the intercom and pages the student to come to the office — his mother wants to talk to him. This is all in Spanish.
Then he sips his coffee and goes back to his book.
*
a knock would come to the door to the school office, and in comes good ole "Bobby" da Costa, with coffee of his own. pretty much opening the door after knocking as he was prone to, he would give Doug a small grin. "Hey Doug." he walks in and leans against the wall, cup of coffee as well as a fresh batch being carried with him. "How's moniter duty?" he smiles, noticing his more relaxed seated position.
he lifts kettle to him "coffee?" he asks curiously with his Brazilian accented voice.
*
Doug pauses, and then he takes his feet off the desk, before he says, "Oh! Bobby!" He says, "Holy cats—when did you get in?" He sits back in his chair, and then says, "Uh, that depends, is it that Brazilian mud you drink or is it from the cafeteria? I mean either way the answer's yes, I guess I just hesitte a little longer on one than the other." He tilts his head.
"Nice beard. Makes you look… older."
*
Bobby scoffs almost at Doug at the statement against the coffee, and da Costa would grin at Douglas "Well, you do realize that Brazil-made coffee is some of the best around right?" he teases him a little, sipping his own coffee. "Good to see you too. Though, as for when I got here, well bright and early really. Came to see how everything was going. Long time no see."
at the compliment to his beard though, he strokes it a bit. "ah, well thank you. I think it makes me look nicer…but older is nice too…business executives take you more seriously."
*
"Yeah." Doug rubs the back of his neck. "I was in Europe. Kind of… figuring stuff out for awhile. But you won't believe who I found there—" He shakes his head, and rests his chin in his hand. "An honest-to-god space alien. He's here at the school. Somewhere. I think he might be impersonating furniture again today."
Then he looks up, and says, "Sam's here, too. Illyana, Dani… Kitty's floating around somewhere… everybody's coming and going, but a lot of us are here."
He holds up his coffee cup. "Yeah, and it's so strong it practically pours itself. Hit me, hothead. It's boring in here, covering the phones. I need all the help I can get."
*
Bobby comes over and pours Douglas a cup of that Brazilian joe, before he tilts his head at Doug "you were in Europe….and met an alien….and that alien is here? Do I have to blow something up Douglas?" he asks curiously. Aliens tend to be evil…or so pop culture and all that says they are. Besdies…he hasn't met an alien before, or so he can recall.
"Wow…all my friends are here? how did I miss 'em?" he sighs a little, pulling up one of the spare chairs to sit in it backwards, chest against the back of the chair as he sips his coffee. "We all really should just meet up and…catch up. feel we've been busy lately." then again, Bobby's running a company and Doug went to Europe and Illyana is a limbo-queen. good reasons, surely.
*
"Nono, he's friendly! I promise, he's… suuuuuper friendly. Like, startlingly friendly. As in when you meet him, he'll probably startle you." Doug sips his coffee, and says, "I know, right? I've been busy for like four years! But right now I'm back, and I'm teaching here at the school, and doing translator gigs on the side. It's good money."
Then Doug pauses, and says, "I don't remember, Bobby, but the last time we talked, I think we had an argument?" He looks into his coffee. "We had a lot of arguments, back then, huh."
*
Bobby just gives Doug a little look at the talk of apparently super-mega-ultra incredibly friendly alien. "uh….huh. Well, time will tell." he eventually just shrugs, sipping his coffee again. "You're teaching now? that's a little surprising, personally. but I guess it makes sense. You're good at teaching people." he admits.
then their last conversation gets brought up "yeah…..it was a bit of a bad day. tensions were already high after all." he sighs "we really did. Jay and Julian had it worse though. Think that just added to the general frustrations of the day. Besides, you all had excellent ideas of pissing me off." he smirks a little.
*
"Well, you know. Languages, and computer theory — they say that people will start having computers in their homes within the next ten years. Warlock — the alien — told me there are entire worlds where every single sentient has a computer and they're all networked together, and I've heard that the Department of Defense, Reed Richards, WayneTech, Stark… they've all got projects cooking." Doug scratches his chin.
"What, you think I was TRYING to pick a fight? Ok. Sometimes I was…" He smirks, slowly, and then says "But hey… look." He says. "I'd like to make it right. Second chances, you know? Besides. At least you got to argue with me in Portuguese."
*
Bobby would nod a few times at Doug before he just started looking confused again when he started talking about Warlock -interesting name- and about planets and computers and stuff he gave a look like 'ooooookkkkkaaaaayyy' at. "ah….huh. Right…aliens. Aliens and mutants, what a partnership…" he laughs a little, downing the rest of his coffee before he refills it. mm. Brazilian pride right there.
Though Douglas words on when they argued did reward a smirk. "Hey, sometimes I was trying to too. great for venting frustration…and building it." he scratches the back of his head a little. "I'd like to make it right too Douglas. and that was fun…not many people speak Portuguese at the school, so at least it as interesting." he smiles, reaching over to shake Douglas's hand as if saying 'let's start again' .
woo! second chances.
*
"Your company might want to get in on computers, by the way." Doug says, as he grips Bobby's hand, firmly. "They're the future. They're going to change the way the whole world runs, and fast. Everything from accessing information to global finance." He pauses, and then he uses his grip on Bobby's hand to pull the Brazilian into a hug. Second chances. "Hey man. Black and Yellow, right?"
*
Bobby shrugs a little bit, smiling at the handshake and burying of whatever hatchet that was stuck in that tree. "That's the plan. I expressed that we should start looking toward expanding and making deals with more companies than being content with what we have. My father was ruthless in that way, and I think the company would really benefit." he nods a bit, but when Doug pulls him into a hug, he almost seems surprised. Bobby wasn't too much of a hugger, but he went with it…because it was important.
"oof! alright alright.." he bro hugs his old friend "Black and Yellow. Sun rises anew." ironic, being his powers are heavily on the solar side. he smiles to his pal.
*
Doug pulls away, and then says, "Anyway. Someone should be coming in to relieve me on the phones. Let's go get breakfast. We can eat in the cafeteria if you want, the food's always good, or we can go out. Sam's still passed out upstairs though, so if you want to go make a whole ton of noise and surprise him, you can see if he wants to come along. I… wouldn't try that with Illyana, though. Well I mean, *I* would. You probably shouldn't."
*
Bobby cracks his neck a little as Doug gives him the scoop of what options they had to do. "could go to the cafeteria, see if we can find Pryde or something." he shrugs a little, putting his hands in his pockets, but when he hears Sam's sleeping….oh that mischievous smile finds it's way onto his face. "Ooooohhhh you shouldn't have brought that up." he smiles so mischievously "You know we gotta wake 'em up."
and when Yana is brought up, Bobby takes a breath "Yeah…..but it'd be funny. While I still lived." he chuckles.
*
"Yeah well. Better to let me jump on that one. According to her she owes me at least three deaths." Then he says, "Well all right. Let's swing by the music room and get a pair of cymbals…" Doug says, thoughtfully.
*
Bobby claps his hands together "oohhh Im issed this." he says as he downs the rest of his coffee and off he goes to the music room! "So, anything else happen in Europe aside from computer-knowing aliens?"
*
"Well," Doug says, as his relief comes and they wander out of the room, "Let me tell you the story about why I had to flee Italy in the dead of night… see, I KNEW she was a mobster's wife…"
*
Bobby just gives Doug a look "ahhhh shit Doug…" he says, though he realized he knew full well he was kidding. he had a habit of humoring a bit seriously. "Did movies teach you nothing?"
*
Doug gives Bobby a flat look. "Yeah. They told me 'if you do this, you'd better be ready to run like hell'. She liked it when I spoke German to her… she liked chasing the Austrian boys when she went skiing in Tyrol…" …He wasn't kidding.
*
Bobby suddenly went straight faced at Doug, in a brotherly manner shoving his head a little. Nothing to cause harm, but kinda to say his usual 'you genius of a moron'. "I thought you were kidding?! what on earth were you thinkin'?" he rubs his face a little. "Tell me we don't have to deal with an italian mob."
*
"Oh, probably not. I just… can't go back to Italy for awhile." Doug says, with a shrug. "Honestly, Bobby, I've thought about a LOT of things over the past four years, some of which would surprise you — but at that particular moment what I was thinking was…" Doug makes an hourglass shape with his hands… wider at the bottom than at the top. "That."
*
Bobby just shakes his head "You always were a damn womanizer…" he sighs a little. Bobby tended to have bad luck when it came to women. Either they were crazy, or trouble just endangered them. "Oh, sometimes I don't even want to know what was going through that head of yours, but that's something you'd think of." he shakes his head a little just gonna keep moving and not touch on that one…
*
"Yeah, hahaha." Doug says, "Haaaaaa…" He claps Bobby on the back, as they trail off. "Hey." He says, "I can always give you tips." He's teasing, this time. "But seriously, let me tell you about how I found Warlock. I heard that a meteorite had crash-landed in the alps, and people were reporting this weird cryptid, so I went out there and took a look…"
*
Bobby would give a 'guuuuuuuuuggghhhh' in a groan at Doug's words " I don't need help finding a girlfriend man. But tell you what, if I ever feel at a loss, I'll let you know." he runs a hand through his own hair in a 'this guy….' kind of way. "Oh yes, let's hear it…" finally to the story now! "mhm. Meteorites. yep." classic doomsday scenario.
*
Doug gives Bobby a sly look. See, he wants to say 'If *I* had asked Amara out she would've said yes' but he can already imagine the row that would start if he did. Years ago, he would've said it in a heartbeat. "So I went out there, and I found this… he's…" He says, "Well, he's about so tall…" he stretches his arm up to about eight feet, "And he looks like he's made of brass and black liquid metal and copper wire… big eyes… big smile. And he was starving to death. And I was able to communicate with him." Of course he was. "So I wound up taking him back to my hotel… all he needed was to charge in a power outlet!"
*
Bobby knows that look, but he's happy that Doug doesnt even so much as mention that. and as he tells his story, Bobby would actually pause in his steps. "He's that tall? and he need an -outlet-." he rubs the bridge of his nose a bit. "Aliens are confusing, and I haven't even met the guy yet. well, at least he's friendly..and I don't have to blow something up."
*
"I think you'll really dig him…" Doug says, as he turns into the music room. He grabs a pair of cymbals, and says, "Grab that trumpet. Let's make a racket."
*
…After their trip to the music room, Doug very… very carefully opens the door to Sam's suite. "Checking for signs that there's anyone else in here." he whispers. Because you never know.
He creeps in, holding a pair of cymbals, light-stepping across the floor and into Sam's room. "Okay." He says, to Sunspot, in a whisper. "Gonna count down from three. Mark it." As he counts down, he raises the cymbals about a foot over Sam's head. "Tres, dois, um…" Which is Three, Two, One in Portuguese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fai_L3enHeE
*
Roberto "Bobby" da Costa followed Doug after having planned to wake up Sam…especially when Bobby decided they were going to wake up sam. oh boy, that made his entire day. But he did sneak in, nodding a little bit to Doug as he checks in.
After successfully sneaking in, he had a trumpet ready for use, and right when Doug gave the signal, he played that thing so loud and badly in conjunction with Doug's cymbal clanging, poor Sam…best wake up call ever. for Bobby and Doug anyway.
*
|ROLL| Cannonball+rolls 1d20 for: 4
*
Sam is suddenly from peaceful sleep in his John Deer boxers, to defcon 4. He starts awake and is totally flustered, trying to figure out if its an alarm klaxon, or what in the world is going on, in general. He makes a very satisfying panic look on his face, then the glints of the intruments add to the confusion. "AHHH WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS…AM I LATE?!"
*
Which is when he's greeted by Doug, laughing. …And Berto. And the two of them are holding noisemakers.
Doug is laughing so hard at the moment he cannot quite muster a response. He gasps for air.
*
Bobby is just -laughing-, that being far more satisfying than he initially thought it would be, actually bent over with his hands on his knees just cracking up a storm. Eventually, though, he speaks. "Ah…good to see you Sam. Good mornin'! get dressed, we're going out." he smiles to him.
I mean…that's just one of the reasons why they woke him up…aside from just standard personal pleasure.
*
Sam blinks a couple times. "Ahhhh fuck you guys! Dammit, scared me all ta heck and back!" He grabs his pillow and throws it at Doug. His face gets all red, too, and he chucks a plastic glass of water at Bobby. They totally deserve it!!
*
Doug gets caught in the side of the head with the pillow, and laughs, before he shakes it off. He grabs Sam's pants off the floor, and throws them at him. "Tell you what, Guthrie, we'll let you pick where we get breakfast." Even though Doug knows that probably means eggs with congealed gravy and a side of fried protein and fried carbs. It's worth it.
"And Bobby's paying."
*
Bobby just barely moves out of the way of flying glass, having kinda expected something to be thrown at him…though he initially thought Cannonball would attempt to be cannonball at him and that would just -hurt-. But Bobby does nod at paying, "yeah yeah, I got it." he was the wealthiest person in the room after all.
he grabs Sam a random shirt and tosses it at him. "Get dressed Sammy." he grins.
*
.~{:-:[ end of log ]:---------——:}~.