Xaviers!

Basil sat alone on the XUB patio, a popular spot for smokers being that is was illegal almost everywhere else remotely comfortable on campus thanks to UK smoking laws.

He sat quietly with his feet up on another patio chair, a beer and a lit candle in front of him. A cigarette was smoldering between his lips.

Depending on who you asked he looked extremely relaxed or like a disheveled mess (possibly both) in his newly upgraded PJs and a ridiculously long snuggly scarf. His Wayfarers were blocking out what little British sun one gets in the winter.

((Open))

Chase quietly slipped into a nearby chair without previously announcing his arrival, as was sometimes his way. The boy needed a bell or something.

"Isn't it a little cold for pajamas?"

"Not when you're full of booze." He replied around the cigarette in his lips, bobbing a bunny slipper jauntily.

"Beer mate?" He offered.

"No thanks. It's too early for me," he answered. Studying his invisible friend for a moment, he asked, "Penny for your thoughts, jammie man?"

Basil was quiet for a long time, probably staring off at something, before speaking.

"It's aaaallll horseshit.

Life, love, studies, powers....

Everything except for controlled vice."

Oh boy. One of those moods.

He sighed. "Did you and Colette have a fight?"

This pause was not as long.

"What does it matter? Clearly I'm just a degenerate anyways. Soooo... Whatever.

I'll just be what I am and maybe someone who isn't the moral authority on everything in the entire world will want me since the Queen of All is clearly out of my league. "

"Now, because you're my friend, I'm going to try not to assume you're overreacting, buuut... are you sure this reaction is... well, proportionate?"

"She called me a misogynist for saying women are better than men, which doesn't even fucking make sense, then took that as a personal offense to herself that I would think so little of her when clearly I was saying the opposite.

Later in the night she proceeded to use a handicapped dead person that she heard about in a sociology class in a joking fashion and when I called her on her hypocritical bullshit, she basically said it's fine if she makes inappropriate comments because she's so woke.

So you tell me how you would take that."

"I'd be pretty annoyed too. That doesn't even sound like the Colette I know. Granted, I don't actually know her all that well."

"Relationships are like this Chase. The closer you get, the more you see the imperfections.

The ideal is that the other person can embrace the harmless ones and help you correct the more dangerous behaviors without punching more holes into you.

But my lot in life seems to be to get someone their fifth kebab for free."

"You can get me free kebabs?" he joked to help the mood, only then recalling Basil bought him food all the time.

Basil let off a rueful chuckle.

"I could get you beer too but you never seem to want any of that."

"The Lotus may be evil, but they had a solid diet plan."

"All the more reason to drink.

Cuuuuuzzz they told you noooottt tooooo..." Basil replied sing-song, putting out the cigarette in a ashtray with his mouth, then leaning in to drink his beer, which he did not pick up off the table and almost dumped down his shirt.

"Oh fuck..." He chuckled, obviously drying his face on the back of his sleeve.

He laughed, "I would have clapped if you had actually pulled that maneuver off. Like some lazy, possibly drunken magic trick."

"This is how us ruined souls must drink and smoke. With no hands."

"And then no liver or lungs. Sign me up."

"We're all gonna die someday.

Might as well make it of my own doing."

"That would be hard to do with no hands."

"I'm figuring it out, can't be too hard." He comments as he managed a cigarette out of the pack with his bandaged hands, lighting it on the candle and taking it into his mouth.

"Enough of me... How's Chase?"

"Well, I'm finally giving serious thought to getting these tattoos removed after a new girl's bodyguard went berserk on me."

"Why'd she go berserk?

I mean, I get that they're bad news tattoos or whatever but that's enough to set her off?"

"I was working out shirtless, struck up a conversation with a girl, this other girl comes in and she recognized the Lotus symbol and demanded to know who hired me."

"While punching."

"Maaayyybbbbee she was so impressed with your swole-pecs and half naked body that she wanted to throw down but had to come up with an excuse to Queensbury and the tattoo was convenient. "

He offered as an alternate theory, sounding serious enough.

"Still, doing a cover job on that might be a good idea nonetheless."

"No but... that could be why her charge was staring at my chest," he said as if just realizing the possibility.

"Yeah... I don't want to have that happen again. She almost broke my nose."

'If I can manage without hands, lungs, or a liver, you can definitely live without a nose. That's mostly cosmetic."

"This conversation sure got weird fast," he chuckled.

"Anyway, I read something online about this mutant tattoo artist in Lambeth that can control the ink and even pull it out. It might be worth checking out, right?"

"Definitely. But you should probably take a wing man if you're going to get ink done. Pretty certain it's customary."

"You gonna get one? It'd be hilarious if it was visible, just floating there."

"If you want me to, but theoretically I think if it's under my skin it probably wouldn't be visible unless I was.

Like how those liver and lungs aren't."

"No reason for the pain then, assuming her way still hurts. Probably does a little."

"I thought the pain was the point? To show off what a hardass you are."

"That and self-expression. Or in my case a symbol of loyalty. Which is why I can't believe I'm only just now considering removing them."

"Ooohhhhhh turn it into Ms.Kinney's faaaaaacccee.

That will show where your loyalties lie."

He was definitely drunk.

He laughed. "That would send an entirely wrong, awkward message... until she cuts it off of me."

"You just need to convince her it has nothing to do with how much you like her and everything to do with how much you hate everything not her."

"I don't have a crush on Kinney, Basil," he protested.

"Well why the bloody hell not?

I would." Basil replied, then taking one of those weird, long drags off his cigarette that he didn't use his hands for.

"I respect her too much to have some ridiculous schoolboy crush on her. It would just be awkward," he said defensively as if he did, in fact, have such a thing.