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| I Don't Know Why I'm Helping You | |
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| Participants | Julian, Laura |
| Synopsis | Laura catches Julian sneaking back up to his dorm and decides to go easy on him and even help him — even if it goes against her better judgment. |
| Location | Second Floor Landing, Xavier's School |
| Time | January 28, 2016 |
| Posted By | Laura |
Julian is being a good boy tonight. Well, sort of. In that it's only a little past curfew instead of a lot past curfew as he comes creeping back into the mansion. Of course, curfew being, well, curfew, it's sort of one of those absolute things, not big on shades of grey, but still. Some points for effort, no? Having ducked in through the patio doors off the common room, he saunters along to the stairs and strolls casually up them. Just been chilling in the CR, watching TV. In his jacket and shoes, his cheeks still a bit pink from the night air on his bike, which, by the way, also not the easiest way to make a stealthy approach. Having to wheel the damn thing up the driveway detracts from the cool a little. Taking the steps easily, two at a time, he reaches the top with a smug grin.
As Julian's making his stealthy path back into the school, Laura's padding her way down the second floor hallways to the staircase. She's gotten a case of the munchies and is heading down to the kitchen to see if she can't take care of that little inconvenience. She's managed to lie low for a few days, not really bumping into too many people during her downtime. She's gotten quite good at this avoidance thing. But it was never to last. As Julian comes bounding up the stairs, she makes it to the second floor landing, pausing briefly to check her watch as she hears the footfalls getting closer. "Hm. Early for you, isn't it?" she comments lowly, allowing her voice to travel down the stairs toward him.
"Shh," Julian chides, though he doesn't seem too worried about getting caught as he cuts his gaze down towards the foyer below. He shrugs out of his jacket, tossing it over a shoulder as he makes his way nearer, before coming to a stop not far away and leaning against the banister at the top. "I like to mix it up now and then. Keeps them on their toes. Besides, my plans fell through." He shrugs his free shoulder. It happens even to the great Julian Keller sometimes. There's a pause before she gets an arched eyebrow from the lad. "You been keeping tabs on me?" he asks with a slow-forming grin. "That's cute."
With a slight snort, Laura crosses her arms over her chest. "Not particularly. It just seems that no matter how much I try to avoid the world, it tends to push itself on me, including rumours," she replies with a one-shouldered shrug. "Anyway, really, you're not exactly sneaking in and out if you're taking the stairs around, carrying your coat, are you?" she asks quietly. She's apparently trying to make an attempt to keep her voice down, just to be nice.
"However you have to explain it to yourself, doll," Julian replies generously, giving her a knowing nod. She's totally keeping track of him. "Though people around here do seem to talk about me an awful lot. Guess they just know quality when they see it." Not all of the rumours are good, of course, but that's not going to hurt his ego if nothing else has managed to do it either. He tilts his head to one side as she points out his lack of stealth. "In my experience, which is considerable, getting away with shit is about 95% acting like you know what you're doing. And the rest is just luck and bullshit." This might be why he spends a fair amount of his time in detention.
"And you keep telling yourself that it's all about you," Laura says almost a little too sickly-sweetly. But moving right along, she smirks a bit and says, "Yeah, well, that might have worked in all of your past schools, but I bet they didn't have telepaths on staff." Maybe he's only getting away with it most of the time on the good graces of those telepaths. Maybe they're just not paying attention. Either way, she's made her point. "You might get caught less if you found alternate routes back up to your room. If Basset gets her hands on you, you'll regret it. She'd spot your coat a mile away and wouldn't even question you before you're committed to a month's worth of detention. Just a friendly heads up." She's actually trying to be nice.
"I don't know if it's all about me, but most of it seems to be," Julian muses with a carefree shrug. Good luck disabusing him of that notion any time soon. His eyebrows go up a little as she mentions the telepaths, but he just pauses to consider. "If they can read minds, what's the point of sneaking around in the first place? They already know." He makes a mock wide-eyed face, but still doesn't seem all that worried. Getting in trouble is just par for the course, really. "I considered flying up, but that seems a little, I don't know, flashy. And I don't think our window's unlocked." Hence, the stairs.
"I meant more about if they catch you sneaking in, they would be able to tell you were lying, dumbass," Laura replies flatly, rolling her eyes. Sighing, she says, "I have no idea why I'm even bothering to help you with this, but… I suppose if you get caught less, you'll stop giving the rest of us a bad name or something." With that, she looks around the staircase and down the hall. It seems for now that the coast is clear. So she moves over to the wall and gives it a good thump with her fist. What seems to be a false panel suddenly collapses inward. She presses her hands against it and hefts it upward… and the panel slides up into the wall to reveal a hidden passage beyond. "At least try to use one of the escape tunnels if you're going to run around after hours."
"Nah. It's because you like me. You might not know why, but you do," Julian assures her, brushing off all that nonsense about giving the other kids a bad name. Please, they could only hope to be so cool. Further thoughts to this end are put on hold though, as Laura suddenly makes with the hidden passage. "Cool," Julian intones as he quickly straightens and heads over to see what she's uncovered. "Man, it's like they want us sneaking around. How many of these they got?" Already the wheels seem to be turning.
Laura doesn't even bother trying to argue with him, dropping the conversation about why she's helping him and all that because it's just a battle she can't win for now. Instead, she looks over at him and says, "A couple, I think. This one's closest to the dorms — at least, I think it's the closest one. And I'm sure they didn't install these to give sanction for kids sneaking out. They're escape tunnels, Jules. Don't abuse it the way your expression suggests you're thinking of it. It's bad enough I'm suggesting you using it for a means of sneaking back in relatively undetected. But it's not foolproof. I don't know if they monitor these now or what. Just… use at your own risk." Pause. "Or at least when there's an emergency."
Julian just shrugs off all the warnings and cautions, of course, as he leans in to get a closer look at the escape hatch. "If there's no risk, it's no fun anyway. If they're monitoring them, that'll just make it a challenge…" He straightens back up and gives her a sidelong look. "You really always this worried about getting in trouble? It's really not the end of the world." There's another shrug with that as he hefts his coat back over his shoulder. "Almost a shame to let these go to waste tonight. I think I might have some exploring to do." Yeah, those wheels are still turning.
"We're supposed to show the new students at least one of these tunnels in case of emergency. And frankly, less trouble means things remain simpler and there's less drama. It's not about being afraid of getting into trouble so much as not wanting to be bothered with all the chaos from it," Laura explains with a shrug. But she's probably not supposed to be showing them off at this hour, though, nor to tell one how to use it as a means of beating curfew. So, hearing footsteps, she whispers hoarsely, "Someone's coming…" and ducks into the tunnel, motioning him inside. "In or out?" she hisses, ready to pull the hatch down quickly whether he chooses to join her or not.
"A life without chaos is boring," Julian is dismissive of her philosophy. "Don't you ever want to just do something to see how it'll turn out? Rules are kind of the opposite of that. Besides, aren't we supposed to be learning how to be independent and growing as people and all that crap? I'm sure I saw that in a glossy brochure somewhere. So … this is me as an independent, growing boy." As she hears someone coming, he isn't quite so quick to follow, just watching her with some amusement as she hops to in order to avoid getting caught. "Well, now we're talking." With that, he does move to slip inside before she can lock him out.
"Julian, will you -please- stop lecturing me on how I should be living my life and get your ass in here?" Laura hisses almost angrily before he does actually join her in the tunnel. She pulls the panel down and pops it back into place in the wall, sealing it from sight on the other side. Sighing, she stands there in the dark with her arms crossed over her chest. She listens to the footfalls pass on the stairs, fading from her earshot. Only then does she speak up again, "So… welcome to the tunnel. Real exciting. Woo hoo." She says that so flatly it's practically laughable.
"I think I could do both at the same time, but it's not as much fun," Julian replies glibly, as he steps quick to avoid getting caught in the closing hatch. To his credit, he actually stays quiet while the person goes past, though he doesn't really bother with listening too intently. As she speaks up again, he does, indeed, laugh at her flat intonation. "Might not be much to look at now, but if you look at it with a little imagination, it's got a whole lot of promise. Come on, it's an actual secret passage! This is even better than that false wall we found at one of my old schools."
She mostly ignores him while they wait for that unknown person to go by. As he then goes on excitedly, Laura can't help but smile a little in the dark. So… there's actually something about the school that Julian can actually get excited about. Will wonders never cease. "Yeah, it's a secret passage. One of a few. Told you this place wasn't as bad as you might think," Laura finally replies, not really having much else to add to that. She then turns as though she's about to open the wall again, apparently ready to leave already.
"Probably better than Europe or military school, which I think are my next options," Julian allows indifferently, maybe a little too casually. Or perhaps he's just distracted wandering a little ways down the tunnel. Glancing back, he sees her getting ready to exit. "You go on ahead then. I think I'm going to go explore. You're right. Far too early for me to be in bed." He flashes her that roguish grin, before turning to look over the tunnel some more.
