Dirty Work

[loganhyde]

LOGAN

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The afternoon was as beautiful as an ideal day should be. The plentiful trees in the yards around Silas were lush and green, and the lawns were sprouting with wildflowers. Gardens were starting to bloom, their gentle petals opening up to reveal brilliant colors of crimson, light pink, and violet. The sun bore down its golden rays without a cloud in the sky to help shield some of the heat.

A greasy hand rubbed a sweating forehead, the form of a young man reaching over a motorbike in front of the huge garage that sat a little while away from the Academy itself. If a person saw him, it would be difficult for that individual to decipher what he was thinking, for his face was fixed and intent on that bike. The young man was perhaps nineteen or twenty years of age, and had a very disheveled look about him. The only clothing he wore was a dirty pair of jeans on his legs. A collared shirt lay nearby, suggesting the man was once wearing it. His back looked awfully sun burnt, but it was somehow softened by the alluring movements of his muscles. Small beads of sweat dripped along it, leaving streaks of clean through otherwise greasy patches. With a tight grumble, and a clanking of tools, Logan was totally oblivious to his surroundings.

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[Alexandria Duvell]

"Cooomeee on can't this piece of crap go any faster?" Frustration saturated Alex's voice as she pushed down on the pedal of the decrepit 1980 Ford F150 she bought off of Craigslist before coming to the academy. It had been through several owners and accidents and Alex knew that it was just about time for her to say good bye to the old thing. The roar of the engine echoed in the forest around her as she drove towards the academy's garage. Almost there, almost there. Alex had spent the morning at the Willowbrook Mall, buying a few outfits for the summer and just enjoying some time away from the school.

As she pulled up to the garage, Alex's attention was captivated by the sight of a shirtless man working on a motorbike. She could see the way his muscles moved beneath his sun kissed skin as he worked on his bike. Even as her truck chugged by him, her eyes never left the sight of his tantalizing and inviting body. Images that Alex thought were inconceivable for her to dream up flooded her mind. Her attention was rended from the man's beautiful body as her truck collided with a light pole outside of the garage. The loud and awful sound of metal on metal reached her ears and suddenly her truck ceased movement.

Alex just sat in the cab of her truck, staring at the hood of her car that was now popped opened and blocking her sight through her windshield. Thankfully she was driving slow enough that her truck didn't knock the light pole onto the hood of her truck or through her windshield. The girl sat unmoving, too shocked and embarassed to even get out of the truck. She'd get out, eventually.

[Danny Larkin]

Danny drifted slowly above the school, picking a stray fry out of his collar with a frown. He'd had better days. Still, he'd had worse, too. The look on Maddie's face had been pretty good, though not half so good as the look on Dominic's. He couldn't help but chuckle a little thinking about it. Okay, so it hadn't been that bad a day. Though he was still hungry...

Thoughts of going to the cafeteria for more food were interrupted by the screech of bending metal. His head snapped down and he could see the car that was now very close with a light post. The hood had bent up, but the windshield wasn't broken, so Danny didn't think the driver had gotten hurt. Even so, he squinted to get a good look at the person...

"Alex..." He remembered her from the trees; she was very pretty. She was also not moving. Danny's stomach tightened and he tucked his wings in, letting his body drop out of the sky. He hated doing that. He hated the thought of falling. It made his whole body feel so stiff it hurt, even to the tips of his wings. But seeing the other student unmoving made him think the worse...he didn't like the thought of death any more than the thought of falling.

Danny spread his wings at the last moment, wincing when the wind caught his wings and jerked at his shoulders. But he had slowed sufficiently that the ground only jarred him slightly when he hit it. He cursed under his breath as he staggered toward the car.

"Alex!" He finally reached the open window.

To find the girl inside unhurt, though looking more than slightly embarrassed. Danny's own face flushed slightly and he cleared his throat, ducking his head so that she wouldn't see the blush. "I thought you might...be hurt. You're okay, aren't you? What happened?"

[loganhyde]

LOGAN

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Logan didn't even flinch as he heard the roar of the aging engine rumble through the air. He didn't even turn to look at the vehicle -or who was in it- as it came flying past him. His face was deeply furrowed, teeth biting down on his soft tongue as he concentrated on tightening this defiant bolt.

Even when the sound of metal on metal met his ears, Logan didn't look up. It was only when the wrecked engine let out a final hiss before it died did his eyes dart over to the scene. Standing up, he stretched out his aching back and cracked his stiff neck. He let a small smirk slide onto his face as he leaned onto his bike, lightly blistered hands cleaning the tool he held with an oily rag. Well now, what did they have here.

His mind rolled over whom it might be, with the bent up truck suggesting it to be a student. But then again, there were many spoiled kids at this place, many of whom had Mommy and Daddy wrapped around their fingers. If you drove a hot shot car, you could thank your hot shot parents. It wasn't all that uncommon, now that he actually thought about it. So who was this mysterious driver?

Curiosity getting the better of him, Logan withdrew from his prized bike to investigate. Checking to make sure the vehicle was indeed not running, and not a danger to himself or anyone else, he stopped at the passenger window. Bending down, his cheeky brown eyes lay upon a rather flushed out brunette. Another smirk tugged at his lips as he raised his brows in amusement.

"Everything alight, Miss?"

He quipped, his voice was smooth, the words dripping of his tongue like honey. Before she could answer though, Logan had moved to the front of the car. Well, the engine was most certainly shot for shit, and this car wouldn't be going anywhere. Not just yet, anyway. Fiddling around with a few parts, Logan disappeared from view, the only thing that would show he was still there was the slight tinkering sounds as he fiddle with bits and bobs. Yep, no chance. She was as good as gone. Logan hadn't even realized the bird boy making a grand entrance, his head popping over the bonnet to confirm he had heard a males voice. Probably her boyfriend from the sounds of his exaggerated cries of concern. He suppressed a laugh, and turned to head back into the shed. Only thing he could do to help at this point was getting this mess cleaned up before anyone with higher authority got a whiff of it.

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[Alexandria Duvell]

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Alex glanced to the window, already expecting it to be the man with the bike. She paused for a moment, her eyes glued to his chiseled chest that was only several inches away from her face. This time she caught herself before making even more of a fool of herself. This man needs to put a damn shirt on... causing accidents and crap. "Yeah, I'm alright," she said simply, nodding her head, still not getting out of the truck. When he began to tinker around under the hood, Alex poked her head out the window, "Thanks, but this thing is done already. I'll have to call a tow truck to get rid of it or something."

Sighing, Alex pulled her keys out of the ignition and continued to sit, thinking of an excuse for when someone comes and tracks her down about the broken light pole. A familiar voice caught her attention and she turned to the window once again at the sound of her name. Oh my gosh, not another witness. Oh its that kid from earlier, maybe I can convince him not to say anything about this... The concern in his voice made her smile a little, "I'm okay Danny, thanks." When he asked what had happened, she paused for a moment, trying to think of a quick excuse. There was no way in hell that she'd admit that she crashed because she was too busy ogling the other man's bare upper body.

"I uh-... there was a rabbit in the road... and I swerved so I wouldn't hit it," she lied, nodding her head as the words left her mouth. It generally wasn't in her character to lie, but for this case she would make an exception. Alex then leaned over to the passenger seat to pick up the clothes that had fallen out of her shopping bags upon impact and stuffed them back into one bag. "Excuse me," she said politely to Danny as she opened her door to finally get out of the truck, taking her items with her.

Trying to continue playing on her ruse about the rabbit, Alex checked the road around the truck and even took a quick peek under it. "Yup, looks like I missed the little guy," she said, trying to sound relieved. Alex wasn't quite sure how believable her tale was, she wasn't exactly a well practiced liar. As the other man turned back towards the shed, Alex took a step toward him, "Thanks again, for trying to help. You wouldn't mind keeping this on the down low right?" The guy really didn't come across as the type who would share other people's mishaps, but she could never be sure.

[Danny Larkin]

((OOC: Danny's cries were not exaggerated! ><))

Alex's answer was a little slow, and Danny let one eye climb to his eyebrow toward his hairline. Even when she did finally answer, he couldn't quite squash the skepticism. But he didn't press it, just stepped aside when she popped the door. Her assurances that she had "missed the little guy"were a little more convincing

The other man (Danny had noticed him with his head stuck beneath the car's hood) spared them only a glance before turning and moving toward the shed. He would have spoken, but Alex beat him to it, begging for the other to keep quiet about what happened. She did not, he notice, ask the same of him. Not that it really mattered, Danny wouldn't say anything about it if Alex felt that embarrassed. As for the other guy, the half-naked one that commanded all of Alex's attention, Danny couldn't decide if he didn't like the man, or if he was going to be Danny's new best friend.

[loganhyde]

LOGAN

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The sound of tinkering tools could be heard again as Logan busied himself, putting away stray tools that he had used here and there earlier that day. He could hear the girl saying something outside, but didn't quite catch her words as a box of nails fell to the concreted floor. Cursing under his breath, Logan decided to leave them there till they had finished with the current mishap.

Stopping as he reached the door, one still-rather-greasy hand shot up to his face to block out the blaring sun. He squinted slightly, the two figures outside materializing from the sunny background. He smiled as she spoke, nodding with amusement.

"Those rabbits, real pieces of work they are."

He teased, her slight stutter and small pauses during her answer suggested her story was a little stretched from the truth. Perhaps it was a personal error on her part, and was too embarrassed to admit it. Rubbing his hands roughly on his jeans, Logan decided to walk around the other side of the car, away from the pair, stopping just behind the boot.

"Wouldn't mind jumping back in, would ya Miss? You steer her in nice and neat whilst myself and your friend here ease her inside."

He patted the trailer eagerly, as if to enforce his point. By the time the tow truck got there, it ran the risk of getting noticed by prying eyes. Better to have it parked nicely inside the garage, out of sight, and out of mind.

He waved a hand and shook his head as she asked for him not to say anything. Logan wasn't really the type to gossip, especially about a silly little accident. He had better things to do than sit around talking about others misfortunes. He understood her concern, of course, and if anything was to ever get out about this- It certainly wouldn't have come from his mouth.

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[Alexandria Duvell]

Alex wasn't completely sure, but she thought she caught a hint of mocking in the man's comment about rabbits. She spared him a brief and curious look, wondering if he had seen through her guile. She then looked at Danny with the same, curious expression, analyzing his face to see if he fell for her lies as well. Danny didn't seem suspicious of her, at least as far as Alex could see. Alex smiled at her new friend, just then realizing that she hadn't noticed him around the garage before she crashed.

"Danny, how did you get here so quick? I just realized that you practically showed up out of no where. How did you know that I crashed?" Alex was truly curious, but before she could get an answer from Danny, the other man, whose name she still didn't know, had offered to help push her truck in the garage so it'd be out of sight. "That's a good idea actually. Danny," she turned to face her winged friend, "you wouldn't mind helping would you?"

Alex smiled her thanks to the stranger when he indicated that he wouldn't tell anyone about the incident. "Danny, you wouldn't mind keeping this a secret too right?" From the small amount of time that she knew him, Alex learned that Danny was truly a nice guy and figured that he wouldn't have a hard time keeping this a secret. Alex dropped her shopping bag and purse by the garage wall before heading back over to her truck. "It looks like you guys are going to have to push it back first so we can steer it around the light pole." She felt terrible that she had two guys who she hardly even knew pushing around her broken down truck because of her own mistake, but she couldn't risk getting caught. Alex would make it up to them both somehow, she felt obliged to.

[Danny Larkin]

Alex's question made Danny laugh, but he didn't get a chance to answer before Logan, and then Alex were asking him to help tow the car. He shook his head and shrugged, moving to join the other guy behind the truck. "Nah, of course not. And I fell out of the sky, Alex. I just happened to be passing over when I heard you dodge the rabbit." To the man beside him he added, "You know, you can just talk to me. I understand Macho-speak." He flexed to demonstrate it, smiling goofily in the process.

He set his hands on the truck and glanced at Alex as she spoke again. "Keep what a secret?" He winked and shrugged. Not a word from him about any accidents. Speaking of, Alex had made a good point about one of the finer details of fixing the problem. "She makes a good point. But I think the pole might be in the way of pushing it. What about pulling it out?" He leaned a bit to survey the truck, and then glanced over at the other man for his opinion.

((OOC: I'm giving permission for Who and Vel to powerplay Danny, if needed, in the process of moving the truck. Have at it.)

[loganhyde]

LOGAN

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Logan rubbed the back of his neck impatiently as the pair began to speak again. He could feel the sun burning onto his back now that he was less focused. Swiveling his shoulders to ease the sensation, a curious brow raised at the boy who had just blatantly mocked him. He couldn't hide the smirk tugging at his lips as Danny continued, flexing whatever muscle he had hidden underneath his shirt. He let the comment slide, after all, he was a young lad. Probably a bit intimidated by Logans presence around the brunette. His smirk grew wider at the thought, and he nodded at Danny slowly.

"Oh really? I couldn't tell. With all that... material there."

He chuckled playfully, a mischievous glint in his brown orbs. Now that was settled, hopefully they could move onto more pressing matters. His attention turned to the bent pole, twisting pathetically into the trucks bumper. He shook his head at Danny's suggestion, turning to face him again.

"Not unless you wanna make more of a mess and dig it out. It'll be easier to just move around it."

And with that he shifted to the front of the vehicle, offering Alex a smile as he went by.

"By the way, names Logan."

He knew their names already, and Logan hadn't realized he didn't reveal his own earlier. Not that it really mattered, but perhaps it would relieve some of the tension. Danny moved quickly beside him, and together they pushed the truck away from the pole. Now, they just had to do it from the rear, and ease her nicely inside the garage.

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[Alexandria Duvell]

A spark of surprise lit up in Alex’s eyes when Danny stated that he had fallen out of the sky, but then she remembered that he had the power to fly. The girl was easily excited by the things people could do with their powers. “That must have been frightening!” Alex had a terrible fear of heights and couldn’t imagine what it would be like to do a free fall while flying so high. But oh, you must be used to being up so high. I can’t stand even stand looking down from the third floor windows in the classrooms. At Danny’s little jibe to the other man, Alex laughed and shook her head. Her laugh rang a little louder at the shirtless man’s response. “You two guys are very entertaining to be around” .

As Alex sat waiting in the truck, she rolled down her window so that she could hear their commands as they pushed the truck so she could steer it accordingly. When the helpful stranger walked by and flashed her a smile before offering his name, Alex took a second to respond, but smiled back and responded, “Alex.” She kept it short and then ducked behind the dashboard, pretending to pick something up from the passenger side floor, waiting for the soft pink blush that painted her cheeks to fade away. This wouldn’t be happening if he’d just put his damn shirt on.

By the time Danny made it around to the front of the vehicle, Alex was sitting upright in the driver’s seat again, all traces of the blush now gone. While they pushed the truck back off the pole, Alex didn’t have to do much steering at all. She forced herself to not watch the two guys in front of her, knowing now how easily she could be distracted by the sight of tensed muscles. Once the truck was a good five feet away from the pole, it stopped moving. Danny and Logan then moved to the back of the truck and Alex turned the wheel to the left, steering the truck up the path to the garage.

Alex sighed in relief once the truck was in the garage and out of view. She’d have to make sure to remember to call a tow truck one of these days. Alex hopped out of the truck and shut the door before walking towards the back of it. “How are you guys holding up? Hopefully that wasn’t too bad. I can’t thank you two enough.” Alex gave her old truck a little pat, more than ready to part ways with it. Just then, curiosity struck and her teal eyes looked up at Logan. “Do you mind my asking what your power is? I’m always curious about these things and with some people it’s easy to tell without having to ask,” she said, smiling at Danny as she nodded to him.

(OOC: Hope you dont mind my pp of Logan there Who. I know Morde said it was cool, but I just figured it'd best to finish off the part with moving the truck. Let me know if you want me to change anything)

[Danny Larkin]

Surprise flashed through Danny - and probably across his face - at the man's comment about his shirt. After a second, though, he smirked back. "Hey, I just wear this," He plucked at the shirt, "so I don't distract all the ladies with my all my rippling muscles." He would have flexed again, but the half-naked guy was already getting positioned at the hood and Danny moved to join him. Alex's comment about how funny they were made Danny flash her a smile, and then he turned his attention to listen to the explanation of why they couldn't pull it. Why pulling it would make a mess, he wasn't sure, but he'd take the guy's word for it.

At the introduction, Danny nodded. "Alex has already said it a couple of times, but my name's Danny." They managed to move the truck into the garage, and Danny leaned against the back of the truck with a sigh. He wasn't worn out from the work, Alex's worry that it had been to hard was met with a wave from Danny and a casual, "Nah, it was piece of cake."

Alex's question made Danny look over in curiosity as well. He didn't miss her smile and nod, or what it meant, and he rolled his shoulders self-consciously, making his enormous wings rustle slightly. Accepting your mutation was something the school taught early on, and Danny certainly wasn't ashamed of it, just...self-conscious. Part of him hoped Logan hadn't noticed, because he was sure the older man would misinterpret it.

[loganhyde]

LOGAN

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Finally, things were happening as the truck started moving slowly inside the garage. He glanced back at the twisted pole with a frown, not sure what to do with it. A broom would fix up the broken shards of the bumper, but that pole would be harder to fix. Even if they hid the truck, someone would still wonder what happened to the light. With a shrug, he dismissed the thought, could have been anything. Logan let out a laugh at Danny's response, nice. At least he had a taste for humor. He could have just as easily turned on him.

When the truck was safe and snug inside the shed, Logan left to fiddle with something down the back again, and returned with a navy colored tarp. Whipping over the vehicle as Alex got out, he made sure anything suspicious was out of view. With a pat on the trucks tray, he placed an arm over it, leaning onto the vehicle.

"Nothing to see here."

He mused, offering a smile to the pair. It was then the brunette asked of his power. Logan's brow furrowed only slightly, nobody had ever really asked him. He had never asked another either. He contemplated on how he would go about doing so, but a stray brown curl dancing in front of Alex's face answered it for him. Hesitantly, he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. He made sure one of his fingers gently slid across her forehead, making sure to actually touch her and not just her hair.

An instant calm came over the man, the healing sensation cascading through his body. Thank god it was an easy power she held, nice to control. Breathing out slowly, Logan held out his hands slightly, a warm blue hue pulsing through them. He looked up at the pair, rather pleased with himself. He had always liked his power, it gave him the chance to try any and all of them. Whilst his might not be as strong, or coordinated, he could still use them all.

"Power Replication. The ability to copy and use ones power through touching them. Hence my cheesy, fringe behind the ear move."

He chuckled louder this time, he was such a ratbag. And he knew it.

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[Alexandria Duvell]

Alex was glad to hear that moving the truck wasn’t too difficult a deed, she always hated the feeling of guilt when inconveniencing other people. When Logan disappeared for a moment, Alex figured she might as well strike up a conversation with Danny. “So where were you headed before you dropped in?” Alex smiled a bit at the pun in her words, but she couldn’t help herself. Her eyes looked past Danny for a moment and outside the garage, the sun was beginning to dip behind the trees. Geeze what time is it?! She scanned the walls of the garage until her eyes fell upon a clock. Eh, 6:30, not too bad. A loud noise was then emitted from her belly and Alex blushed in embarrassment. Holding her stomach she looked at Danny and laughed, trying to play it off cool, “I had so much fun shopping that I forgot all about lunch.”

Just then she heard the ruffled noises of the tarp being thrown over the truck and she took a step away from the truck so as not to be caught under the tarp. “Well aren’t you very thorough? I was just about to leave the dang thing out in the open, and here you are covering up all my tracks. Alex was very meticulous about her studies and when using her powers to heal people, but that was about the extent of her care. Slyness was definitely not her forte. As Alex pondered this, she failed to notice Logan’s hand reaching for the stray lock of hair until his hand touched her forehead. Before the blush from her stomach growling earlier had even faded completely, her cheeks were once again full of color. Alex’s eyebrows furrowed slightly and she unconsciously reached up to touch the lock of hair that was now tucked behind her ear.

She was utterly speechless. Before she could muster anything to say, she noticed the light blue energy surrounding his hand and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. For a moment she thought he had the same power as her, but then she thought that maybe he had absorbed her power. “Did you just steal my powers?! Fear saturated her voice and Alex quickly lifted her hand and the same light blue aura surrounded hers, pulsating with healing energy. A soft sigh of relief slipped through her lips. She was even more astounded when Logan explained his gift. “Wow, that really is something. And pshhhh, yea I don’t think ‘cheesy’ is strong enough a word. Something more like ‘astonishingly lame’ is more like it.” Again, Alex was trying to downplay her reaction to his suave little move, but wasn’t doing so well at it.

[Danny Larkin]

Danny turned in surprise at Alex's question and chuckled awkwardly. He'd forgotten all about what had happened int he cafeteria earlier that day. Now that he remembered, he was embarrassed. And slightly worried. "Er...nowhere, really. Away from Maddie, I guess. I think she's going to try and kill me. And by 'think,' I mean, 'am pretty sure'." He was kind of hoping he didn't have to explain, partly so Alex wouldn't get caught up in it, and partly because he wasn't sure he wanted to admit that he'd gotten a plate of fries in the face. The quiet growl of Alex's stomach saved him, and he laughed along with her. His own stomach murmured in response, and he shrugged, unabashed. "You should eat something, then. I don't have that good an excuse; my stomach just occasionally goes into Bottomless Pit Mode."

He saw Alex back away at the same time a rustling sound came from behind him. The tarp dropped over his head and he made a surprised noise, scrambling from underneath while Alex and Logan spoke. The offending cover slipped off him just in time for him to see Logan tuck a piece of hair behind the brunette's ear, and blood flood her face. One eyebrow crept toward Danny's hairline as he began to suspect that Alex's 'rabbit' had been a certain shirtless guy with his head in an engine. At least Logan knew it, anyway, admitting that his move was cheesy.

The demonstration of Logan's power was interesting though, and he put aside his thoughts to watch as both Alex's and Logan's hands glowed blue. So, a touch would give Logan the other's power? "Is it only when you want it to happen? I mean, if I hit you with my wing, would you get them?" He let one wing unfold slightly as he spoke, and grinned. "Hypothetically, of course."