Time Warp: First Impressions (Jax/Xav)

[James Lawrence]

Date: September 5th, 2013

 

Leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee in hand, James stared blankly at the wall. It was his first year back at Hammel since graduation, since completing high school and his training. The school held a lot of fond memories, sure, but more importantly, the reason James was back was he needed a job. He had gone to college, studied his ass off... only to find he still had no idea what to do. A career plan. The only thing James was passionate about was music. He wished for the day where he could spend a night on stage, rocking out to an enthusiastic crowd...

Now was not the time to daydream about a fantasy. After a year of trying, the New York native gave up. Besides, he should be focusing on what to do and how to help his students. The staff lounge seemed quiet for the morning. Most were probably off teaching class. James' first training session was in an hour, so he had some time to kill. Raising the cup to his lips, he took a long sip of the black coffee, letting out a satisfied sigh afterwards. His hand instinctively reached for the pack of cigarettes in his leather jacket, pulling one out to twirl between his fingertips.

Was it always going to be this dull and boring?

[Xavier & Jaxon Wright]

The start of this morning had been the same as it had always been for the Hybrid pair trainers; they had gotten up at 6 am, bickered for a bit on who was dictating their wardrobe that day, and then managed to leave their apartment around 7:30 after making breakfast. They reached the school around 7:50, which was when they signed into work and said hello to the administrative staff. By this point, they knew who was who just by the way they spoke and held themselves, so they said hello to Jaxon with a nod and smile.

Jaxon smiled back.

Their first session was at 9, so they had about an hour to spare, which was how they liked things. They spent about 30 minutes in the teachers lounge, and then headed off to their office, getting things ready for their first student of the day. Routine was important to Jaxon, and Xavier went along with it only because he enjoyed the looks of approval that he received when coming in at the time that they did.

Since Xavier complied with Jaxon's attire, Xavier was able to prepare the coffee as he liked. Xavier switched into control when he entered the lounge, and stopped when he saw a young face sipping coffee out of a cup. No student had access to the lounge, so Xavier assumed it was a new face?

"Hey," He offered, "Never seen you around here before. You that new trainer we were hearing about?"

[James Lawrence]

Although James had been instructed as to what to do, he was still a bit confused on the whole process. He remembered the training sessions back when he was a student, but he had been that; a student. Not a trainer. Had he allowed himself to feel it, the New Yorker would feel lost and somewhat afraid as to what was going to come. The main roadblock was his pride, and James had a lot of it.

So, when someone else entered the staff lounge, a man who looked a few years older than himself, a normal person would introduce themselves and see what their role at the school was and possibly ask for help. A small, tight lipped smile appeared on James' face as he tried to hold his composure. No, he would be fine. It would come naturally to him.

He took a sip of his coffee, letting out a small, satisfied sigh. James adjusted his hearing, focusing in on just the room. If he wanted to, the New York native could have listened in to the entire school, taking in early morning conversation between staff members and groggy groans of students. But that was exhausting. His gaze looked up from the cup, offering a smile. "Hey, morning." Might as well start off his first day being pleasant. "Oh wow, I guess word spreads quickly about the good ones 'round here." He said with a laugh. It could be interpreted as a joke, or arrogant.

[Xavier & Jaxon Wright]

Xavier didn't wait until he spoke to start on the coffee that he so desperately needed. While Jaxon may have been a morning person, Xavier was not, and so he started pouring the black liquid into the cup, glad it seemed to be freshly brewed. Xav couldn't stand when it had been sitting out for more than an hour.

"Word spreads," the more outgoing soul spoke, while Jaxon stayed in the background. He wasn't sure, but he could swear Jaxon was annoyed when he had been in a bit of a good mood not two minutes earlier.

At that point, Jaxon was fine, but Xavier had a feeling if Jaxon had been in control, this conversation might have stirred a bit differently. "We just like to see for ourselves if it's true or not."

[James Lawrence]

"Pretty good stuff we get here." James raised his cup of coffee, giving a nod of appreciation. He was surprised to find coffee grounds in the staff room, as he assumed most of the staff brought their own. So, he had decided to get the morning started right with a cup of joe, rather a pot, and see if anyone would make an appearance.

He chuckled to himself, nodding. "Well, my name is James. First day as a trainer here." James said, extending his free hand to shake the other man's. "I feel as if I should be more afraid, or confused but... I feel good about this." He said, confidently, before taking another sip of coffee.

[Xavier & Jaxon Wright]

"Well, when you work with hormonal teenagers that have special abilities, we kind of learn to expect the best." Xavier offered with a nonchalant shrug. It was true - none of the trainers were particularly demanding, but they always seemed to get some pretty decent treatment. After all, the fact that they worked with such special cases, the least the staff could ask for was some decent coffee and some damn cookies.

<All the luck to him,> Jaxon scoffed.

"First day?" Xavier ignored his brother in that moment, knowing that he was just being a bitchy, and he allowed that thought to permeate through the invisible wall between them. Jaxon snickered. "What students are you taking on?" Xavier asked. They were specialized in mental abilities and gestalts, but they requested such. All trainers had options as to what abilities they were going to train, or what type of cases. It all differed on the person.

[James Lawrence]

James chuckled again at Xavier's next comment. Although he had yet to experience the hormonal teens and uncontrollable powers, he had a feeling that the work days were going to be a handful. "Damn rights." He agreed before taking another sip. They were doing the school a favour by training the next generation of metas.

It didn't occur to James that he was speaking to two people at the moment. So far, he was enjoying the conversation and the humorous remarks made by the older man. Nodding, he confirmed his earlier statement that it was his first day. James leaned back against the counter before answering. "I'm open to all students right now. Figure since I'm new might as well try a handful before deciding." He shrugged. James believed that he could handle any kid, though that could just be his unwavering confidence. "But, most likely physical powers since mine is as well."

"How about you? What do you specialize in?" He asked, finishing off the last swig of coffee.

[Xavier & Jaxon Wright]

Xavier held up his coffee in response, and Jaxon just continued to brood in the background. It wasn't often that the other soul was put into a sour mood, so when it started to permeate the walls in place within their mind, he found himself getting slightly irritated.

<What crawled up your ass, Jax?>

<You can't tell me you don't think this guy is a dick, Xavier?> Jaxon was amazed and Xavier was equally so. A dick? Maybe confident, yeah, but as a trainer you had to be. Xavier found nothing wrong with his behavior or words, because at his age, Xav was the same way.

"Good luck with finding a preference," Learning a specialty took some time, but that was going to be rough for him - simply taking on students as they became available. "I say go with physical instead of just any random one. Just my advice to you. But we specialize in Gestalt Pair and Mental abilities."

Xavier, once again, didn't realize he offered the pronoun we when referring to both of them. They both were used to explaining their power, but Xavier could feel that Jaxon wasn't too keen on making himself known. "I'm Xavier, and my brother Jaxon is hiding in the background. We're a hybrid pair."

[James Lawrence]

James was use to people thinking he was a douche. There were a few colourful adjectives that could be used to describe him, and that was one of many. He didn't think much of it; there was little he could do to change people's opinions. Still, they were the ones missing out.

He wasn't aware that the man in front of him housed two very different minds, who each had their own opinion of James. Of course, they gave little, if any, indication, up until that point. Setting down his empty cut, James' eyes diverted to the clock, keeping an eye on the time as he didn't want to be late for his first training session.

"Thank you." James said, genuinely. Although the proud man rarely took advice, he listened to the older man's. It would most likely help for his first year as a trainer. Nodding, he figured that that would be the best option. He didn't notice it at first, but James soon realized that the man said 'we', which seemed to be a weird pronoun since there was only the two in the room.

Physically, at least.

The man explained, introducing himself as Xavier and then someone named Jaxon and about them being a hybrid pair. A confused frown appeared on James' face. "I've never heard of that power before." He said. Seemed unusual. And unfortunate. He couldn't imagine trying to live in one body as two minds. "It's nice to meet you two, though. Is it hard?" He asked, vaguely gesturing towards the man... men.