milliways_bar | (no subject)

And there is Bobby, holding a plate of cookies and glass of milk. He's dressed in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt--it looks like bar showed up unexpectedly for him.

He spots Bonzo and joins him without asking if he's welcome.

"Hey."

"Hey, Bobby."

Bonzo grins at Bobby and, without asking, picks up a cookie from Bobby's plate as dessert.

He's got a funny feeling that Bobby won't mind, though he does ask before actually eating it.

"How's it going?"

Bobby doesn't even bat an eyelash at the abduction of the cookie, but slides his milk closer to himself for easy of dunking.

"I got up for a midnight snack and walked in here instead of the kitchen."

He may have a sheet wrinkle or two on his face.

"May I?" Now he asks permission.

"Bar tends to be like that." Beat. "By the way, I tried something new the other day."

"Go for it."

He takes a huge bite of mild-soaked cookie.

"Whassat?"

Grin.

"Enzo took me up on his surfbaud and I jumped off."

Bobby stops chewing and swallows almost painfully.

"What's a surfbaud and why did you jump off?"

"A surfbaud is...think of a flying surfboard." Beat. "I jumped off because I could."

"I want a flying surf board."

Who doesn't?

"How high up were you? I'll assume you were okay, since you're sitting here, and I think you'd have mentioned it if you were dead."

"Yeah, I'd probably be moping if I was." Beat. "A bit above the treetops outside."

"Nice! How'd it go?"

He remembers watching Jean try levitating herself up onto tree branches and down again not all that long ago.

"Fine. My landing wasn't pretty, but...I'm not in a cast. I just have to push when I get near the ground to stop myself."

"Any landing you can walk away from!"

His tone is cheerful for a moment, then he sobers slightly.

"The professor doesn't like to hear me say that when we're in a plane."

"Why do I think that saying that would be an invitation to see how close you can get?"

"Because you know me?"

Duh.

"I haven't crashed one, yet! I did brush some tree branches with the landing gear once, but that was when I was still just learning."

Bonzo grins. "Thought it had something to do with that." Beat. "I'm just wondering how far up I could do this without...you know, getting hurt."

Well, at least badly.

"Take it a little bit at a time? Increase your height by a few feet each time that you get it right."

How many times has he been there when the other X-men were getting instruction during a training session?

"You could probably build up your stamina by starting off on the ground and lifting yourself up into the air and back down again."

Bonzo nods. "I'll have to be careful if I do that. I don't want to find out I'm too exhausted to stop myself while I'm already moving."

"Jean used to lift herself up onto a tall tree branch, then if she needed to rest, she could just sit up there until she was ready to let herself down."

Bonzo nods at the idea. "I know I can get as high as the treetops safely..." Beat. "I'm wondering about a high dive this summer." Or something in the mountains...you never know.

Bobby nods, understanding wanting to explore powers that are new.

"I can make a really big pile of snow or something to land in, just in case, if you want. Depends on how high you're talking about."

After a certain amount of height, no cushion in the world with help.

Bonzo nods. "Think you could make an ice ledge of some kind? I'm trying to get...say, 60-80 feet up?"

He's guessing at the tree height with that, and aiming above it.

"Sure. If you want to go up on an ice slide, I can take you up."

He wonders if Jordan has any contraptions laying around that could act as an emergency slow-down.

"You'll want a lot more practice before you drop from that height, though."

Bonzo nods. "I'll try to work up to it." Beat. "I would appreciate that."

Even if it might be a bit...well, slippery.

He dunks another cookie in the milk.

"And if you need me to toss out of a tree or something, just let me know!"

He smirks and takes a bite of the cookie.

"That might be fun!"

For him, anyway.

Bonzo smiles at the idea. "Actually, you might be right." Beat. "Useful, too."

"There's the training-slash-obstacle course out back, too. If you ever want a good work out, we could check it out and come up with some exercises to test your skill."

Another bite of cookie.

"Jean can stop projectiles in mid-air while she's levitating, so I don't see any reason you couldn't be able to do that, too--eventually."

Bonzo looks interested. "Want to help me work something up?"

He's definitely up for ideas.

"Sure. I was thinking of just putting you through the obstacle course and pelting you with balls of ice, to see if you could deflect them with your powers at the same time."

The look of interest remains. "I'd be up for trying that."

"Well, seeing as it's the middle of the night for me, I'm going to have to head back in a few minutes, but the next time I'm in, definitely. We'll go and get an idea for how the course is laid out, and I can add other stuff made out of ice if we need to."

Bonzo nods. "Don't worry. Just...find me the next time you're in the Bar and we'll go from there."

"You got it, dude."

Bobby picks up his glass of milk and drains it in a few long gulps. He nudges the last cookie on his plate over toward Bonzo and gets to his feet.

"I'd better get back and get some sleep. I've got a test in physics or something tomorrow. See you next time."

Bonzo grins and accepts the cookie.

"Thanks a lot. I'll...see you later, Bobby."