Xaviers!

With the weather beginning to get relatively nicer and her own beginning to get things back in order, Natalie decided to celebrate by getting her hair dyed back to red. With a new cut and color, she stops to walk down the main street of Maldon, sipping at some coffee and for once watching the people rather than the sidewalk.

((Open))

"Well, then, KEEP it! Honestly, fucking humans and their fucking assholes," a familiar green-haired boy said, stomping out of the local bakery.

That catches Natalie's attention and she makes her way over. "Something wrong?" It's obviously a stupid question, but at least she's trying she tells herself.

"Hrm? Oh, hey, Natalie.

What's wrong are these stupid fucking normies and their tight-lipped side-eying hypocrisy!" he said, speaking loud enough so the people in the bakery could hear.

"What did they do?" She glances at the bakery, then focuses her attention back on the boy.

"The usual shit. Giving me guff about my hair. The usual 'oh, you're one of THOSE people from the university, are you?' schtick. Assholes, the lot of 'em." he groused.

"That seems... pretty mild. Are you sure you're not overreacting?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother, I'm sure I'm not overreacting. I should be able to go in and buy a pastry without people commenting on my genes."

"Did it really just start with a comment about your hair?"

"It was the whole thing, you know, the way they look at you, the way the conversation stops when you enter the room.

My first time in there, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts it's not the first time they've seen me, which doesn't help," he continued to grouse.

"It sounds like you're making a lot of assumptions about their intent," she says, "But, of course, I wasn't there."

"Eh, they're all the same. Trust me on that," he huffed.

"They're not all the same," she says, maybe a bit harshly. "I know quite a few who are helpful and nice."

The boy waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, sure. A couple good apples spoiling the bunch."

"You ever stop to think that maybe they just think you're an asshole? That it has nothing to do with the university?" She raises an eyebrow, her brain suddenly trying to fish into the nearby security system to see what happened for herself.

"They'd never seen me before, so even if you're right, they're jumping to conclusions, ain't they," the boy groused.


The security feed (mostly) backed up the boy's assertions. Conversation between the old biddies in the bakery had more or less stopped in the room when he had walked in, and it looked like people were eyeing him as he tried to buy a bagel.

It should be said that the boy did not help the situation, gesticulating angrily fairly early on into the conversation. Without audio, that was all she could get.

He may have made a medium problem into a big problem, but he hadn't created the problem to begin with.

"Fair enough," Natalie says, "So what now? Stand here and make a scene?"

"I hadn't thought much ahead of 'storming out angrily', and the last time I tried to get some satisfaction from a 'treasured local shopowner' that did me wrong, ASHLIE was on my ass for days."

"Well, Ashlie is Ashlie," Natalie says with a shrug. "At the very least, we can start walking again and maybe keep you out of trouble."

"Yeah, yeah..." he groused again.

"I see you've rejoined the league of the fleshy and meaty."

"For the most part. Took some metal additions to do it," she says, gesturing vaguely towards the back of her head. "Watching the fight in the Danger Room changed some things, so I had to speed up development a bit."

"Well, it's good to have you back and walking around. That must have been a nightmare."

"What must have been a nightmare?"

"Y'know. Being trapped outside your body and whatnot. Having your mobility controlled by Her Royal Robotness."

Natalie shrugs, "She gave me a lot of leeway, but, as matters showed, such grace could be limited and I chose not to risk that. Other than that, I actually wasn't too bothered about the out-of-body experience. It had some definite up-sides."

"Really? Such as?"

"Didn't need to eat. Barely needed to sleep. Always had a receiver handy for my power because my body was the receiver. Just a lot of upside."

"OK, fair, fair and fair, though food and sleep are two fantastic things."

"Food is okay. Sleep is unproductive time, relatively speaking."

"And what, exactly, are you trying to be 'productive' about at 4 in the morning?"

"Working on projects, writing code, stuff I actually like doing."

"Well, why don't you do that when you're awake, then? Seems straightforward enough."

"I do that when I'm awake too. But being in a mechanical body let me be awake *longer*."

"Sounds like you need hired goons."

"That seems more like a super-villain thing. And I really don't have that sort of funding anyway."

"Eh, there are probably beginner rates and things like that. It's the UK, right, so some kind of socialized goonery doesn't seem out of the question."

Natalie snorts and sips at her coffee. "I have to save up to work on a new suit, so that means I'll probably have to start working myself. Buying used devices my mum will get behind, but parts for an armor suit is a bit too much to ask."

"What, ASHLIE won't pay for it as some kind of school project....thing?"

"She paid for the first one, but that sort of makes it feel like it's the school's and not mine. It's currently sitting in storage somewhere in the Point."

"Mmm. So, how are you sourcing parts, then? I can't imagine they're available off the street."