This is the Stuff

[Terrance Layton]

Was that so hard? "Uh, yes? I had boiling hot water on my leg while you kept yelling about my crotch. It REALLY was that fucking hard." Another glare. Terry was so not in the mood to be patient with anyone, or even being nice. When was he? But at this moment all he wanted to do was stay away from this woman. He was sure he'd end up dying if she was to stay close. It helped that she was being a bitch back, with the tone her words took. Too bad it didn't last. The main thing that kept Terry being an ass to others was that he sincerely thought they were the same way. And now she had to go and look all apologetic and nice! The same girl who just lost her father.

Could she help? "No." He responded immediately, hurried, actually panicking about it. Her idea of helping would probably end up with him pantless and walking down the school, with students pointing at him and laughing. Talk about nightmares. Wasn't that a common one? But then she kept talking. Well, fuck,

He groaned. Literally groaned, closing his eyes and throwing his head back and if in pain. This made it difficult to yell at her, especially in such a public place. He knew already people around disliked him, that his personality didn't help matters, but if he yelled at the recently orphan girl things could get even uglier for him. Except if he managed to keep her away, he could avoid incidents like today's in the future. Decisions, decisions. Didn't help that she could probably help him further his career. Another groan. Life was such a bitch.

She was trying to help. She still wanted to help. She was all sweet and nice and a true Power Puff, and WOW did he hate that. He really did. It was so boring and so pathetic and why did people pretend to be like that?

"You could walk me to the infirmary." He said between gritted teeth. Perhaps they did it for the same reasons he'd just said that, because sometimes it felt wrong to hurt others. Particularly others who'd just lost a parent. Wow, was he getting soft.

[Charity Croft]

Charity held her angry glare for a few moments before releasing a laugh. It held for a bit, going through the "no" which meant that she, again, missed him being a bit meaner. She shook her head, pulling it up. "Sorry, it's just that you're... you're yelling about it being fucking hard and---and--" she gestured around, and then leaned against the door to start laughing again.

The laughter kept going until she heard him talk through gritted teeth. Technically it persisted beyond that, and Charity found herself nodding, taking several deep breaths, attempting to calm herself as she moved forward. "Right, to the infirmary it is," she said, moving forward. She bent down, reaching to help him get up. "Unless you just want to remove your pants now," she couldn't help but add, smiling again.

Oh, she was at least somewhat aware that he was likely to yell at her again. But that didn't stop the barely suppressed laughter that she had, even as she was extending herself to get him upright and moving.

[Terrance Layton]

What? Terry blinked at her as she started laughing. Fucking hard and crotches. Yeah, he should've seen that one happening. He stared at her, crossing his arms and trying his best to look annoyed, but it was so hard to keep himself from smiling and holding back his own laughter as he saw her so cheerful. It was hard to think this woman had just lost her father a bit ago. Had they had such a poor relationship that she could take life this easy during grieving? Or was it this the first time since that she'd laughed? It made him curious and he almost asked, blame his therapist curiosity, but he managed to stay quiet about it. Instead, he tried his best to conceal his smile by pursing his lips together and shook his head at the Legrange girl, trying his best to look disappointed and failing horribly. Darn emotions.

When she was done she agreed to take him to the infirmary. He didn't need her to get there since he'd actually spent his teen years in Bellefonte, but he knew it'd probably make her feel less guilty about almost burning his... crotch. Ugh, now she had him saying it. Well, thinking it. Same thing.

She was moving and he walked along, still pulling at his pants leg to keep the fabric from touching the sore skin. She must've noticed it, because her next joke seemed to point it out. Terry rolled his eyes, shaking his head again, although he wore a half smirk. Talking about nightmares.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" Wait, had that sounded flirty? He winced after he realised it probably could've been taken that way. Then again, this girl seemed too daft to take it like that. And it was so not meant to do so either! He was just joking along. He was just bad it. "It'd certainly be the cherry of this lack of sundae." There, that sounded more like him.

"So," He started, trying to change the subject. "You've been here long?" He wouldn't know. He JUST got the job.

[Charity Croft]

The laughter went over well, which actually relieved Charity. She'd started the meeting wanting to help Terry out, after all. Things had just gotten extremely bad after that initial start, and she was now desperately struggling to make up the lost ground.

At least she could escort him toward the infirmary. That she could manage well enough: she'd been there often enough, usually escorting students after dealing with their powers. She was tempted to say as much, but she had the semi-flirty banter to deal with first:

"Yep, that's the only way I can get a guy to take his pants off around here," Charity said, giving a little arm swing for emphasis. "Well, there was that time with the sunscreen, but I don't like to talk about that."

And somehow she had a feeling that she was going to end up doing so at some point. She put it off for later, noting the change of subject. He probably wanted to move away from thinking about the pain in his crotch, and Charity was more than willing to help that along. "Just a few months, actually," she said. "I got here around the beginning of the year, had a little time to get to know people, then," she gestured, "Fire, camping, and about three teens that want to kill me," Charity sighed, lowering a hand, "it's like high school all over again."

[Terrance Layton]

"So you've tried." He said with a smirk, "I'm not that surprised. You might want to change your tactic from spilling hot coffee to something less harmful. Burns on your crotch can spoil the mood." And now he was saying it out loud. Well, he had to admit. As to breaking the ice meetings could go, hers had been the worse. There was something appealing about that, as if he knew things couldn't get any worse from then. Besides, this was Legrange's kid. There had to be something good about her. Ugh, look at him, being all positive. Next he'd be giving out sex Ed to students. Ugh. Shoot him first. Now, that bit with the sunscreen. "It still sounds better than hot coffee." He said in his sardonic voice, "Although I can see the comedy behind something like that happening." Not his thing though.

Just a few months. Did that mean she'd been here for her fathers... for the incident? He hoped she hadn't. Things like that were much easier to deal with when you were away. "Just the three?" He asked with a smirk, "I've been here less than a week and I've already managed to piss off every single student I talk to. Though it's very easy to make students mad at you. We adults 'don't get it', whatever 'it' is." He nodded at the high school part though. It truly was.

"Some things never change." He agreed. He'd been ignored and made a lot of people mad back then too. Ha. Maybe people never truly grew up. "Though it does invite you to stay young." He added, as he smiled down the hall, nostalgia filling him. "Every corner brings memories. Good ones too." He coughed then, as he realised he'd been a bit too into it, and had actually been smiling. No need to ruin his reputation when he just got here. Well, ruin it any further.

[Charity Croft]

Charity had to laugh a little at his half-flirting comments, nodding along with him. "I'll keep that in mind for future reference," Charity said. "It'll go right next to the bit about not dumping glitter or throwing muffins at guys," and to think: Charity was still single.

Though this was probably one of the worst things she'd done to someone. Glitter and sunscreen didn't quite add up to coffee. Though if memory served, he'd sort of spilled the coffee on himself. Not that Charity was going to press the issue or anything (tempting though it was).

Just a few months, just long enough to be around for the fire set during the International Mutant Competition. Charity had actually been part of the relief effort for that, doing what she could to help people. She nodded along with Terry's repetition of it. "Yep, Just the three," she had to laugh at the next, rolling her eyes. "Oh, tell me about it. I keep trying to help them, but there's a few that just want to kill me. Especially this one named Lucy James. The girl is Satan, I swear."

Charity sighed. She was tempted to rant on about some of the others too, or how they kept calling her Chastity instead, demonstrating their creativity in addition to their meanness. The memories bit had her looking.

"Yeah, that's part of what drew me back," Charity admitted, looking around, "that and wanting to actually combine my stupid power and my training."

[Terrance Layton]

Glitter and muffins. "I don't understand why. Those seems like props anyone would enjoy. What kind of man doesn't like muffins?" Well, if they were going already with the hard and the crotch innuendo, he might as well joke about it too. Plus, it'd been nice to make her laugh, probably because he felt so sorry for her losing her father.

Just three months around. He let out a breath and turned to her, nodding. So she'd been around. He wondered if he should insist she talked. He knew that could help moving on, but from her attitude and the way she kept laughing, maybe she hadn't been that close to the man. Maybe she'd been as distant from him as Terry had been from his father. Though why come here if she disliked the man?

"At least it hasn't been boring." He replied back, though maybe that lessened the tragedy of what she was going through. Well, if she wasn't going to acknowledge it then he had no right to ask her about it. "Not your usual school problems." He hadn't met this Lucy yet and now he hoped he would. If the girl was as bad as she was describing her, then she was probably fun to bug. He had to take the little perks. "Perhaps all she needs is some good... counseling." He suggested with a smirk, "Throw her my way next time you see her." Muahaha. Did he just inwardly evil laughed? Ugh, maybe he needed some counseling too.

"Your stupid power." He repeated, "And what is that?" While he didn't exactly love his power, he didn't think it was stupid. Just useless for fighting. He really hoped he wasn't the only one.

[Charity Croft]

"They were homemade muffins too," Charity said, not quite getting that particularly innuendo and simply nodding along with it as though this was something that people just said to one another every day. (Which was pretty much the truth when it came to Charity).

Again Charity swore that there was something going on with Terry, like, something he wanted to say but wasn't. It actually reminded her of when her power took hold of her and insisted that she do something or spout off information about someone else's power. Of course, just thinking about that drew her attention onto him, made her start working through things.


Charity shook her head. "Well, mostly it has been. I mean," she shrugged, "a camping trip and a trouble student are pretty normal..." she had to smile, looking relieved, "and you don't know how much I'm going to throw that girl at you. She's like, yeah, if you could reach her at all, that would be amazing, believe me. She's just... evil," Charity pursed her lips and nodded a few more times, "so very evil."

Charity let out another sigh, and then looked him over again. "Let me put it this way:" she pointed at him, "your power involves your sending yourself in a sort of dream state into someone else's dream. From there you could---move stuff? I dunno, I'd have to see you sleeping. The point is that I can totally understand people's powers and how they work just by studying them. And detect other mutants, which is just so much fun around here. Turn," she directed them, though she knew they didn't have too much further to go. Shouldn't be long till they were in the infirmary at all.

[Terrance Layton]

She didn't get it. "Ah, homemade. Much better." He wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but flirting by giving out homemade muffins seemed a tad childish, though from what he'd seen of her before, that wouldn't surprise him one bit. So maybe he was dealing with a woman-child. That would explain her laughter during grieving times. Childishness was often a gateway from traumatic experiences, the inability to grow up suggested a resentment against time. Very usual, though it still made him curious.

She was going to throw the girl at him. Good. He wanted to make her suffer, even if it was just for laughs. Satan. Evil. "Maybe I'll ask an exorcist to join during the sessions then." He joked in a flat voice, sending her a half smile. "What did this girl do, if you don't mind me asking?" He wondered. Why would she hate her so much? Besides, this question was less intrusive than asking about her father. If she wished to share then she would.

He stopped walking when she described his power perfectly and he stared at her curiously. "How- how did you-?" She knew others powers? Ha. So that made her as useless in a fight against mutants as he was. Curious to have something like that be what they had in common. He kept walking when she mentioned turning and he nodded, watching the infirmary sign already. Good. His leg was killing him.

He opened the door as he talked. "That must be useful to those students who can't figure out how to use their powers." He observed. No wonder she was a trainer, "Leaves you at risk though." Oh, how well he knew how at risk mutants like them were when dealing with overreacting drama queens. "If you figure out how to suppress mine, I'd be very thankful." He hadn't had a good sleep since he was a young boy, but he wasn't about to share that. Besides, if her powers were that good, she could probably figure it out.

"Hello?" He called out for the nurse. Was there nobody around? Well, fuck. He sighed, walking up a curtain and pulling at it only to reveal- nothing. Nothing at all. Were nurses all having a party or something? So unprofessional.

"I suppose I'll have to make do on my own." He stared at the tools in awe. He was so useless sometimes...

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled a little at the initial joke, though the expression didn't last long. Just thinking about Lucy James was enough to have Charity sighing and looking toward the ceiling. She half expected the girl to just appear to more fully torture here: sometimes it felt like that was Lucy's true power, after all. "It's less a specific thing and more just in general," she admitted. She lowered her head, moving to try and get into a better position to help Terry if the whole spilled coffee burn leg thing bothered him again.

"She's got this tendency to be incredibly disrespectful to, well, everyone. And she's one of those teenagers who thinks that our authority doesn't mean anything and that punishments don't amount to anything," Charity paused for a moment, before admitting, almost with a sigh: "And she keeps getting students to call me Chastity."

Petty, yes, almost childish, but Charity couldn't help it. Nor could she help smiling as Terry seemed fairly amazed at her powers and what she did with them. She nodded. Yep, that was precisely how it worked. "That's why I came here," she said, gesturing. "I got my teacher's license and taught in a 'normal' school for a few years," she did the air quotes, "but I realized that with my gifts, I should probably come here and really help them. That and I found out that my dad was, well, my dad, and I wanted to at least try to reconnect with him again."

Charity sighed, remembering how awkward that had been. She really didn't want to get into the crush she'd had on the man before finding out. Thankfully, they'd arrived at the infirmary, which meant plenty of distractions.

It didn't seem like anyone was around, so Charity nodded, moving forward and rolling up her sleeves. "or, I can help," she insisted. Of course, she got five steps before seeming to almost trip over her own feet. She righted herself, hands out, then nodded. "Right, the stuff is--- over there," she pointed, knowing full well where basic first aid materials were from her many visits escorting students.

[Terrance Layton]

So the girl was disrespectful. He smiled. Authority didn't mean anything to her. And his smile grew wider. Wait- Chastity? He turned to look at her and snorted. He covered his mouth then at the odd sound, coming from him and he chuckled into his hand. "Sorry." He added in a low voice while his shoulders gave away as he laughed. He cleared is throat then, not liking not appearing composed enough and nodded her way, his lips pursed as he tried to hold back his laughter, "It- ah, it sort of suits you." It sort of did. He pictured this woman being terrible at romance, like she'd said, and being, well, chaste sounded right up in her league. It was almost cute that it seemed to bother her.

She continued talking about her powers and he listened to it all politely, nodding along as she explained her story. Ah, but that last part sounded more interesting. "Reconnect." He repeated the word, pausing his walking to look at her, "Why would you need to reconnect?" Hey, she'd said it! And it was normal to be curious.

At least now arriving to the infirmary would save them from an emotional conversation. For the moment, since he still wanted to hear all about her father. She said she could help and he turned to her, smiling gratefully, only to change his mind a second later as she tripped. Yeah, she was getting nowhere close to his leg.

"That is- uh, quite alright. I think I can manage." He said, hoping she wouldn't insist. She pointed at some materials and he nodded, moving that way to get them out. Okay... out. Now what? He moved to sit at the nearest bed and looked down at his leg, still wearing his pants. He then looked up at her, since she, well, was there. He couldn't very well undress now! "Do you- uh, mind waiting outside? Or-" Oh, there was a curtain. He stood to pull at it, just to get some privacy.

[Charity Croft]

The laugh had Charity sighing and giving him a "not you too" sort of look. It suits her? "I've had sex!" she said, far too loudly, gesturing impressively as she went. "I've had sex a lot! And it's Charity which only sounds a little like Chastity and--- it's not like I Picked my name!" she flung her hands again, but was already moving forward, slightly more flustered than she'd been a few moments before (and she was already mildly flustered then).

So much so that Charity nearly missed the repetition of the word. She looked back at him, her expression slightly curious. "Yes, reconnect: I didn't know who my father was until a few months ago. My mother kept it a secret: it came out. I came here."

Charity shrugged. It was a bit of an odd story, she had to admit, but it wasn't like there was anything overly complicated to it. It had just been part of the reason for choosing this mutant school over some of the others. Charity wasn't giving it more thought than that (mostly because she was repressing, but hey, that's another thread, right).

And they were in the infirmary and Terry was protesting and Charity was rolling her eyes. "Oh, right, first it's all my fault, now you won't let me help," she said, gesturing toward him. "And like I said: I've totally seen guys without pants before. Stop being a baby," she headed off to start pulling out ointments, though she'd barely started when she knocked over a pill bottle and had to scramble to catch it. She managed to do so, and gave it a shake in Terry's direction, as if that momentary burst of dexterity proved her usefulness.

[Terrance Layton]

Terry's chuckles only got louder when she tried to refute she'd had sex, and a lot. "I have no doubts of your- uh, experience in that field. The name is just a perfect combination of witty and lack of creativity." He chuckled again, "Very much like kids that age, really." He sent her a fond smile, almost forgetting he was in pain, "What impresses me most is how much it seems to bother you. It could be either because it reminds you of bad times or-" He cleared his throat and turned his eyes up front, "Or because there's some truth behind it." But that couldn't be it, though he felt she'd denied it with too much enthusiasm. But they were already moving on from that talk.

Oh. So... That was the story behind it. She hadn't really known her father then. No wonder the hit hadn't been that big. "Well..." He said in a low voice, "I hope you don't find me impertinent but..." But indeed. He turned to her and gave her a curious look, "Perhaps it's better this way. With-" He cleared his throat, "With what happened." He wished he hadn't had the childhood he had and then lost his father when he had. If he hadn't known maybe it wouldn't had left things unsaid between them. "I'm sure it... softens the blow. So to speak." He usually didn't say things like that. It was unprofessional perhaps, but he had to share his thoughts.

When they got to the infirmary, it seemed he couldn't get rid of her. He wouldn't let her help? Well, "You can't blame me for being weary." He said, "You're not exactly-" He stopped talking and scratched his beard nervously. What was the word? She knocked over a bottle of medicine and he pursed his lips as she shook it his way. "Not exactly graceful." More like she was extremely clumsy. A few moments left alone with her and he'd probably lose his leg. "And I'd feel much more comfortable if I weren't- uh, to undress before someone i just met." He flushed slightly and let out a breath, "Call me old fashioned." More like uncomfortable with nudity in general, but those were his own issues to deal with. No need to over share, right? "But we can wait for a nurse to come." He hoped she'd agree to it, hoped she wasn't as stubborn as he was starting to believe she was.

[Charity Croft]

Charity likely could, and would, have gone on at more lengths regarding her sex life and all, but that conversation had sort of ended by now, and continuing it would just sort of make her look childish and stubborn in yet more ways that she really didn't want to consider just now. Much better to just keep going forward:

"It's the first," Charity insisted. "With the whole why it bothers me thing, and stop doing the head-shrinking bit!" She said, raising a finger. "I'm totally mentally sound! I'm just having issues with the whole.." she gestured a few times before just letting out a little groan of frustration.

And she definitely wasn't going to get into a discussion about her dad with him, especially with the whole pulling down pants and stuff like that. So instead Charity was just sort of jerking along and moving to medicine and-- "I know first aid!" Charity insisted, waving her arms again. This nearly meant knocking over another bottle, but she lunged and saved it at the last possible moment. She still almost dropped it even after that, but she just gripped it all the further.

"Oh, so now who's Chastity, hmm?" she asked, raising a brow and pointing at him with the hand not holding the bottle. "Getting all tense just because someone's trying to take care of your burnt legs and stuff. Maybe we should just change names: Terry works as a girls name," she raised her brow at that, feeling quite smug for a change. She was also still holding a bottle of pills and involved in a Mexican standoff involving pants but hey, that was just another day at the Academy, right?

[Terrance Layton]

Terry nodded, raising a hand, "Forgive me. It doesn't turn off." She was mentally sound. "That's reassuring." He said, nodding his head and pursing his lips together to hold back an amused smile. In his experience, someone saying they were mentally sound usually meant they weren't, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "And it's okay. I- uh- I understand having problems with- well, whatever that was." So mentally sound, this one.

Infirmary now. How fun! He wanted to die. No, really. Kill him and end the misery because he so couldn't handle being stuck with the most stubborn woman in the school! Stubborn AND clumsy. A bad combination. "Really, it's-" She lost another bottle and he pursed his lips in disapproval, "It's alright." But then she had to tease him. Oh, she HAD to tease HIM.

Terry flustered up, moving back on the bed he was sitting on. "I-" Trade names? He shook his head. "That's not necessary." Though he was sure she'd meant it as a joke. Ugh! "Don't you worry someone will walk in and... misinterpret the situation?" There. Cat out of the bag. That was exactly what worried him. She'd already made the entire teaching staff laugh at him already. He didn't need her to add laughs to the nursing staff as well.