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It's a free evening for Vic, and since Kellan is busy elsewhere, Vic had decided to study. He's asked Hajime to join him, since studying alone is boring. There are beers and sodas available a well as chips and dip. Vic has books spread out on the table, math mostly.
Hajime was quite grateful for having met the little self made family of mutants through Jay if only it meant that he had more friends of his own. He hadn't made time for the idea of friends before, hadn't even considered it as an option before now. There was school and work and sneaking around his father to just stand awkwardly in Mutant Town trying to find a place for himself there. Now that he had /friends/, he could do things like this, study with someone else. Homework is so very boring when you're alone. He's brought along some fancy little sodas too that perhaps Kellan's never seen before, not wanting to come empty handed and of course, you can't forget the study sushi!
He comes inside, remembering what Jay had said, if he's expected, just walk in, taking his shoes off at the door. "Hey!" He says as greeting, raising the bag up to show he's brought an offering.
Vic looks up and favors Hajime with one of those grins, the kind that is broad and dimpled, showing straight white teeth. It's a radiant thing, perhaps not so odd coming from a being of pure energy. "Is that sushi?" He perks up. Never one to turn down a snack, is Vic. He was excited at the prospect of hanging out worth Hajime, getting to know him better. "Math is kicking my butt right now." He makes no assumptions on the odds Hajime is a math wiz. He merely looks at his books with dismay.
Hajime honestly thinks that Kaleb and Kellan somehow summoned and collected all of the cutest, warmest people they could find and kept them all for themselves as Vic smiles at him and Hajime can't resist returning the smile. While Vic has told Hajime his powers before, he wonders if the other man has any kind of mood manipulation that he can access through that smile alone. "It is, I remembered you said that you needed to eat pretty often, didn't want to show up empty handed!" He says as he moves inside. He smiles when Vic says he's struggling with math. "I can help with that. I don't know if Jay's told you, but math is a sport that I excell in." He teases gently at their other friend.
Vic says wryly, "I try not to assume to much on what Jay says." Bless Jay to heaven and back, but the man does have his casual Southern racism. Vic grins again and gestures for Hajime to sit before he does the same. "A short, huh? I'm afraid this geometry problem has me benched." He gestures at Hajime as he asks, "What are you studying?" Hee cracks open a beer. Studying requires beer.
Oh no. Vic used a sports pun. Hajime laughs a little at it. "Benched, huh? I'll help you out." He eyes Vic opening up a beer. "I don't see how that's gonna help." He teases a little as he comes over to look at what Vic's struggling with. "I have a psychology essay due and a persuasive speech, I was thinking about doing something about mutant rights, but I'm sure word would somehow get back to my father on that matter."
Vic says with a quiet laugh, "I don't get drunk, so it's only the thought that counts." Eyeing the beer in his hand, he adds, "Trust me, I've tried. My metabolism is too fast. On the plus side, I won't get poisoned, either." He turns his math book around for Hajime to see. It's upper level geometry, like he's skipped ahead a few classes, so it's fairly legit that this problem is a head scratcher. "I don't want to call my dad for help, but I bet he could do it in his sleep." He takes a drink of beer, then looks at it wistfully. not even tipsy Vic is possible. "I used to be a real sweet talker, maybe I can help you with the speech. You should do it on what you want." Sure, his dad wouldn't care.
"The next question I was going to ask is if you poisoned yourself in the process of trying to get drunk," Hajime says, looking a little concerned at his fairly new friend. "You're so fascinating to me, as someone trying to become a surgeon, mutant bodies are so different and strange." He sits down next to Vic and smiles when he says he used to be a sweet talker. "I have no doubt that you could convince anyone of anything Vic. I'm sure all you need to do is smile. I want to write it on mutant rights, how we should treat them more like people because that's what they are but it's not a popular opinion. Also, well, no one in my classes is aware that I am one. I'm blessed to have an ability that isn't present like Jay's."
Vic says, so earnest, "Oh, they are, and becoming a surgeon for them is such a noble thing." He pauses, then admits, "I'm not a mutant though. I'm a being of pure energy encased in a physical body. It's a long story." He goes over his notes, brow furrowing. Then he smiles and says, "That's so sweet of you to say." He nods to the assessment that mutant rights aren't a popular opinion. "The stealth is a privilege, sure. But it falls on us to defend them, right?"
Hajime looks at him a moment with his mouth partially open. Being of pure energy.. When Vic says that it was a long story he takes the hint that he doesn't want to talk about it. Hajime takes the geometry problem and starts writing out each step he takes to solve it so that Vic will be able to better understand it.
He flushes a little when Vic mentions that it does fall on them to defend them. He realizes his fear of being found out is pretty selfish really. "You're completely right. I should do it on mutant rights. I guess, I'm just afraid. Of the backlash. It's not as if anyone could do more than give me a poor grade or shun me for being a mutant supporter, and well, it's not as if I have a lot of friends at the university anyhow."
"You might be surprised," Vic says, "there are people out there who support mutant rights, and even if you get shunned by some people, you'll be reaching out to others, and they'll become your friends." He peers at the problem as it gets written out. "It's understandable, being afraid of the backlash, though. That's a practical fear. But if we overcome it, who knows, you know? They can't hate mutants forever." He eyes the problem again. "Maybe I shouldn't have skipped ahead," he murmurs.
Hajime's eyes soften when Vic speaks and he nods. "I may empower those who have been hiding just like I have. You're completely right." He pats Vic's shoulder when he says that he shouldn't have skipped ahead. "It's alright, I'm sure you're doing just fine! You skipped ahead because you could, it wasn't a fluke on their part. Geometry can be complicated and professors always want you to do it the exact way they teach it, even if there are other ways to solve the problem."
"That's just it," Vic says. "I found quicker, easier ways to solve it, but they want me to do the work." He gives Hajime the saddest of big blue eyes. "I want to do the work, but it's so complicated and roundabout. I try to do it the professor's way, but my mind wanders off." He looks at how Hajime has laid out the problem. It takes him a few passes. He's a mote of energy bouncing around in a dead man's skull. Sometimes slowing down is the hardest part of thinking. "So I do it this way?" He picks up his pencil. "It's the long way." He sounds more like he's drilling something into his head rather than complaining.
Hajime tries to hide a smile at the puppy dog eyes that Vic gives him over his lament at his geometry homework. He rubs between his shoulders like he's consoling Vic over a funeral rather than just a tough math question. He's half tempted to hug him with how distraught he looks. "Yeah, you do it like this to find the answer, I know it's the long way and that you can probably get it with far fewer steps but this is what your professor wants to see. Math is all about showing your work, unfortunately." He pulls his hand away from Vic's back to watch him work on the next one.
Vic's features soften at the touch. He can do this. He's not suffering alone. He writes out the problem, groaning a little under his breath. "But if you just…" No. No, Hajime is right. It's about showing one's work. Who knew being super intelligent could make a kid feel dumb? He works on the next problem, and he has to stop and think a few times, trying to wrap his head around the long way, and he looks to Hajime for his cues when he's not certain. "I can't wait to get into theoretical math," he says. "I've got a bad feeling about Trig." As he slogs through the problem, he asks, "What's your favorite subject?"
Hajime points out where he's skipped a step here and there, helping him through each problem because he understands how ridiculous it is to have to show each and every step of a problem you can solve in seconds. "Mine? Oh, any of my anatomy classes! I wish we had one on mutant anatomy but it's not exactly as if they could categorize them all with one class when so many new mutants appear every day! I'm especially interested in the ones with healing factors and well… wings.." Not unlike Jay… very like Jay. That's a coincidence of course.
Total coincidence. Vic doesn't do well suppressing a crooked smile. "Those are interesting factors," he agrees. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth right now. "Especially the healing factor. Jay and I got that one in common. Different sources, but the same thing, you know?" Oh, but let's talk about Jay. "He's a good guy," he says. "I dig that he and I are going to be friends for a long time." Three cheers for not staying dead. "He's just got such a good heart."
"I wasn't.. I didn't mean him in specific, just that his.. his abilities are quite interesting, his skeletal structure and muscular structure must look so fascinating. That's all that I meant." Hajime stammers when Vic brings up Jay's name and then turns the conversation on the bird entirely. "He is a good guy, a great guy, really. There's few of them in the world, you know. I believe that Kaleb seems to have collected them all."
Vic grins. "Kaleb does like to collect," he says. "And he prefers only the best." His voice is warm on the topic of Kaleb, materialistic hardass that he is. "You know, I bet if you asked Jay, he'd let you see how his wings work, and how they attach and all that stuff," he says, ever earnest. He seems to do better working on his problems when he has something else distracting him from those quicker, easier answers screaming to be written down.