Room 204 [afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

"Last load," Ben said from behind a pile of metal. "Think we could start our own branch of Stark's right here in the room?"

His side of his new room was already neatly organized--not that he had much that wasn't droid parts--and he was talking mostly to hide his nerves.

Given the room's other occupant, he wasn't sure why he was even trying.

[OOC: For the roommate, and then open!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

//Not exactly like me, no,// Jono clarified. //I'm a mutant. Homo sapiens superior, they say. Some of us fly, some of us read minds or make fireworks with our hands or copy other mutant abilities. Some of us are just bloody ugly. It doesn't much matter which is which. Humanity doesn't much care for us either way. Even if we're exactly the bloody same race as they are.//

[momslilassassin]

"That's stupid," Ben said with all of the black-and-white view on things that comes with being fifteen.

[furnaceface]

Jono gave of the mental equivalent of a derisive snort, and then shook his head.

//I'm not particularly chuffed over the situation myself, Ben. But they see people who can do things they can't. They get scared. Most mutants just want to be left alone. But there are dangerous ones, too. People are going to keep being people no matter what genes they carry.//

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "But they have to prove themselves to be dangerous," he said. "You can't judge an entire population based on one person."

He might have felt a little strongly about that. Thanks so much, Jacen.

[furnaceface]

That statement was going to be chewed on for a moment before Jono could reply.

//Is that really how it works where yer from, mate?//

Because if it was, wars or no, Jonothon rather wished that he was there, instead.

[momslilassassin]

"No," Ben admitted, "but it should be. It's how it works for Jedi."

[furnaceface]

//Apparently, most people aren't Jedi.//

Crying shame, that.

[momslilassassin]

"There are a couple hundred of us, and a few trillion beings in the galaxy," Ben said. "Even in my grandfather's time, there where only a few thousand."

[furnaceface]

Well, that kind of put things into perspective for Jonothon a little.

//War?//

Extermination of some sort? There were only so many reasons Jono could speculate on for a group of people a few thousand strong to get decimated quite so thoroughly.

[momslilassassin]

"Extermination," Ben corrected. "My father and aunt were the pretty much the only ones left at the end of it, and that was because the bad guys didn't know they were born."

[furnaceface]

... Oh. Jonothon looked at Ben thoughtfully for a moment, before piping up again with a rather astute observation.

//Sounds like your reality is every bit as rotten as mine, then.//

Oh yes. He was a regular sherlock, sometimes.

[momslilassassin]

Ben let out a humorless laugh. "Sounds like it."

[furnaceface]

Jonothon settled for just sitting there for a moment, his gaze somewhere down by his knees again. Had to be a bit broken, indeed. It was an epidemic around here, right along with chipper people and telepathy, apparently.

And then, after that moment's pause, he looked up again, suddenly and with all of the conviction of a man who decided that they needed escapism or something.

//You know what we need? We need to find a place to rent a few 'orrible slasher films, and then we need to sit down and watch the bloody lot of 'em so we can laugh at how stupid they all are, or yell at the screens, or whatever the hell suits us best at the time.//

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen a...slasher film," he admitted, "but there's a movie theater in town."

[furnaceface]

//They're brainless and gory, mate.// Jono was doing about the closest thing he could manage to a smile, now. Something that pulled his cheeks upward and half-touched his eyes. //Some crazy bloke with a knife or a chainsaw or whatever, just hacking apart whoever he bloody well pleases. They're ridiculous.//

And that was why Jono enjoyed them, yes.

[momslilassassin]

"And completely unrealistic?" Ben checked. He'd seen people really hacked apart.

[furnaceface]

//I'm pretty certain that when they actually bother with blood, they're just using strawberry jam, mate.//

Jono was from the mid-90s. His favourite slasher films were from the early 80s. Realism had nothing to do with anything at all.

[momslilassassin]

Relief flashed in Ben's eyes. "In that case, we should definitely find one to see. Maybe after this first week is over."

[furnaceface]

//Sounds like a plan to me,// Jonothon agreed, noting that flash of relief with a bit of relief of his own. //A little bit of self-congratulations for making it through the first week of classes with our sanity intact.//

[momslilassassin]

"For given value of sanity," Ben replied.

[furnaceface]

//Sanity or whatever most closely resembles it, then,// Jono amended, laughing a little. The laugh carried the same as his voice did, even if it never did feel quite right without putting his body into it.