Xaviers!

October the 1st found Basil sulking quietly at work. Most of the grounds had seen surprisingly little of him, of which he'd heard a rumour started that he got expelled because he started a fight in the XUB with another student. Which of course wasn't true, but he didn't care to dispel his perceived expulsion.

Trying to get involved with these people was a bad move on his part, he'd realized that now. They weren't like him, not most of them. They were built for more, to do more. He was built to not exist, let alone make a mark on the world. Wasn't that why he'd chosen this job after all? To blend in, and go mundane?

He was doing a bang up job of it today. He hadn't politely chided a single student about sleeping in the library or putting things away, simply picking up after them after they left. If it weren't for the occasional tapping of keys or the scanning wand moving about, no one would have even suspected a worker was present at all.

((Open))

"Ow..." Chase groaned from somewhere nearby after stupidly reaching for a high shelf with his injured arm.

Basil didn't recognize Chase's voice, but he figured other's safety was probably one of those things he *was* supposed to look into. Begrudgingly, he stood with a sigh to see who had hurt themselves.

He rounded the corner, and couldn't help but smirk when he saw Chase there. Basil was positioned on the opposite side of his friend's injury.

"You would be the one to ferret out' The Monster Book of Monsters'." He commented,still entirely invisible.

He rubbed his shoulder as he turned to face his friend. A normal person would be startled.

"Yeah, heh, I was surprised when it popped up in my search results. And who the heck decided to put something that heavy that high?"

"You alright mate?" He asked, noticing Chase was favouring his shoulder.

"I'll get it." He responded. Chase would hear Basil move away, then return with a step stool, marking roughly where his friend was moving about.

Once the stool was placed down there was a soft thump of feet.

"Which one?"

"The Lord of The Rings: 50th Anniversary Edition," he answered.

"I... kinda went out and did the superhero thing," he said, smirking shyly.

"Oh, Tolkien fan then?" He grabbed it off the shelf and held it out for him for a moment, but then pulled it away a bit when he realized what Chase was saying was that his arm was injured.

"Oh. Saving the day. I should probably carry this then, don't want you to dislocate it or pop a stitch or something,ey?" Basil's feet hit the floor with the the collected tap of a short hop.

"Coming back means congratulations are in order I suspect. Congratulations on... doing whatever it is that you did that messed up your arm?" He replied in a teasing tone.

"It was a rescue mission. A successful one. Only I got hurt, but honestly I got off lucky."

"Who did you rescue?" Basil asked, tucking the book under his arm. "And lucky how?"

"Someone too stubborn for their own good. And... well... I could easily have gotten hurt a lot worse if things went differently. As it is, it's just another scar."

One I can at least be proud of.

"Well, I'm told 'chicks dig scars', assuming you're into that."

"Into what?" he asked, the implication going over his head.

"The ladies." The weird way he said that second word sounded like hi a eyebrows were probably bobbing.

"Oh!" he replied, looking a little embarrassed.

"Is the scar thing... a thing?" asked, awkwardly avoiding the subject. He never really had the opportunity to have romantic feelings of a non-childish variety for anyone. He'd barely passed the 'girls have cooties' phase when everything went sideways.

"That's what they say. I wouldn't know. The only large one I have is under my hair, so even when you could see it, you couldn't, eh?

I think they have to be showable, and your story has to be heroic. Sounds like you're covered to me."

That elicited a look of deep regret that was quickly hidden by a smile Chase didn't feel.

"Beats how I got the one on my face. I think I heroically fell out a tree."

"They can't all be winners." He chuckled. "I got mine roughly the same way I received my recent concussion. " Basil admitted, hoping to make Chase feel a bit better.

"So, by way of girl-related stupidity?" he teased, happy to move past the awkward moment.

"Mmmno. I wish." Basil chuckled awkwardly, then there was a moment of silence as Basil dithered about whether or not to dump his problems on Chase.

"I uh.. I have anxiety issues." That wasn't too detailed and emotionally overwhelming, right?

"About certain things or in general?"

"Ehhhh..." Basil was dithering again. " It's not a condition or disorder. I probably should have started with that I suppose. I don't want to downplay legitimate mental disorders with... whatever my nonsense is.

It's...." He was hesitating saying anymore after Amy talked about him talking to much. Maybe he shouldn't be dumping this on Chase...

"Ever since I was a boy, I have wanted things a certain way. Not in an OCD kind of a way, but more of a fussy kind of a way. Like..." Basil paused, and moved the book under his arm out and showed Chase the cover, the sound of a tapping finger.

"Like a hobbit, heh.

I like things familiar. Adventures... Heroics, don't suit me. And I never had to deal with anything overly stressful as a child so the worst case scenario is I might be a little whinger about things, or get a bit too emotionally upset.

And then this happened. And when it happened bubbe went absolutely mental. I got so worked up at upsetting my grandmother, I fell unconscious and broke my head open in the back.

One of the many things I found out in the excessive testing I've gone through is that I have asymptomatic hypotension. Naturally low blood pressure. Normally it doesn't bother me... and it's not caused by any other diseases, I'm perfectly healthy.

But if something works me up more than is really necessary... Like, say, a life or death situation, my low blood pressure causes me to pass out abruptly."

Chase did appear slightly uncomfortable, but only because he felt bad for not being able to do the same. He was too afraid Basil would reject him if he spilled the full story of his memory issues. Basil, of course, couldn't possibly guess this.

"That certainly explains how you ended up on the floor," he answered, at a slight loss for something appropriate to say.

"Yes well, I wasn't thinking so I suppose I deserved it. I tend to be more thoughtful about keeping myself out of these situations. That's why I'm not on teams. I can't be. I'm not built for it."

Basil's voice got very small indeed, now uncomfortable himself for having to admit to his own uselessness.

"Not everyone is," he responded, trying to make Basil feel better, "Hell, compared to most of the team I was with I'm fragile. My best skill turned out pretty useless, that time at least."

"Well, you stayed conscious so long as your blood remained in you, eh? I am sure that's at least six tenth's of the job." He stated in his self deprecating fashion.

Basil paused for a moment. "It occurs to me that you know what I am, but I still don't know what you do."

"I haven't?" he asked, "Huh..."

"My power is just improved agility, dexterity, and coordination. I'd show you, but acrobatics are a bad idea at the moment."

" Mmm. Yes. 'I borked my arm being a hero' sounds dashing. 'I permanently ruined my arm showing my mate what an ace I am' sounds daft and a bit immature. Let's not alter your story any." He joked back.

"Do you know if you have read this one before?"

"I think I've only seen the movies."

"This is... Dense reading material. You're going to spend a lot of time reading in-depth world building information. And if you're looking for written battle scenes you might be disappointed, as little is actually parsed out like it is in the films.

But I like it well enough. The Hobbit is more fun to read, this is a bit darker stuff."

"So... maybe I should start there?"

"Oh definitely. You can take them both if you like. Despite what Peter Jackson would like you to think, The Hobbit is a fairly short read as it was meant for children."

"Sounds like a plan then... and on second thought maybe I should get the separate editions so not to kill myself carrying that huge thing."

"That's probably a better idea." Basil laughed. " I'll get you a book bag too, so you can carry them on your good arm."

Basil replaced the door stop of a book for the smaller, paperback versions to library had, and grabbed the Hobbit for him as well.

"Though if I ever need to throw a book at something I now know where to look," he grinned.

"That thing could kill a corgi, definitely." Basil agreed, leading the way to check out the books for Chase, though Chase would only know this by the step stool and the books floating away from him.

"Well we should be prepared for adorable evil," he said.

"Ahh but that is the problem. Adorable evil you are never fully prepared for. It sneaks up on you before you get to bludgeon it with 'Mission Earth'." Basil continued with their mock conversation. While he was talking, he scanned some card Chase wasn't familiar with, then pulled out a reusable book bag (the kind made out of previously recycled materials often used for groceries) with the school logo on it, tucking the books inside.

"There we are."

"Thanks."

"What card was that anyway?"

"Just making sure inventory isn't thrown off."

Basil said. Slight of hand made sure Chase didn't get a good look at the card, and Basil's cool head made sure his voice didn't let the cat out of the bag.

In truth, Basil had scanned his bank card to make a two pound donation to the library for the bag. He wouldn't tell Chase that outright, because he knew how self conscious Chase was about his situation, so he avoided telling the full truth.

"Oh. Okay," he said, "That makes sense."