Shooting Hoops (Axelle)

[jamesjacobs123]

James was just shooting some hoops at the court. It helped to clear his mind, and it sure beat hanging around in his dorm all day. He stepped back to the other side of the court and gazed intently at the basket. He took a swig out of his water bottle and walked back to the other side. James lobbed the ball at the basket, and heard the satisfyying swish. Picking up the ball again, he decided to try something new. He ran up the pole and onto the backboard of the basket. James braced himself... this would take good coordination...

He launched himself into the air, flipping and twisting as he came down. He then slammed the ball into the net, but lost his grip and fell. He landed on his back, and the wind was knocked out of him. James held his ribs, his eyes stinging with pain. He got up and leaned back, hearing his back bones pop and crack. Ouch.

James then took his basketball and hurled it in frustration against the backboard. No more crazy stunts for today. THe mutant then heard approaching footsteps and turned around.

[axelle rosa]

There was no dance studio at the school, but a gym would have to suffice. Stepping into the large room, Axelle was greeted by the sight of one of her classmates shooting hoops. She watched, admiring his form, and openly smiling as she began stretching, warming up her body for the dance she had been wanting to practice. If she had a partner, it'd be a smooth tango, but seeing that the boy seemed unlikely to pause soon, she'd practice something a little more loose: hip-hop, or perhaps belly dancing if she could roll her hips properly. She paused mid-stretch as the boy ran up the pole. She openly gaped at him, realizing his speed. He dunked the ball, earning a surprised, but happy, smile from the French girl.

Then he fell. Axelle's smile vanished, and she started to rush towards him. Before she did, however, the boy was back on his feet, and angrily throwing the ball. She continued towards him, drawing his attention.

"Are you alright, mon Cher?" Axelle inquired, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. Noticing his overbright eyes, she realized that he must have really gotten hurt. If only there was something she could do to help him. Frowning at the thought, she continued, "That looked like a nasty fall. Do you need something?"

Axelle bit down on her lip, as she took notice of his features. They were symmetrical, and quite pleasing to look at. Vaguely, she wondered if he'd allow her to draw him sometime.

[jamesjacobs123]

James recoiled in shock when the hand grabbed his shoulder. He whipped around to see a pale girl standing in front of him. She was quite pretty, and had a distinguishable French accent. James picked up the ball and looked at her again.

"I don't need your help," he said. He then resumed shooting baskets. Sighing, he turned back to her. "Look, I don't want to be here. I want a normal life. Sorry if I seem rude. I have a lot of things going on in my mind at the moment." Content with his apology, he went up for another dunk. Slamming the ball into the basket, he landed on his feet this time.

James felt her eyes on him, and a warm crimson blush made its way up his cheeks. He had received attention from girls at school back home, but this was different. Just the fact that she was a mutant seemed to make this a whole lot more awkward.

"So..." James said. "I couldn't help but notice you were dancing. Isn't there a dance room for that?"

[axelle rosa]

She flinched at the quick brush off, and his inability to look at her. Was it because she was a mutant? Or simply because she was an albino. Upon hearing his apology, she relaxed slightly, speaking quietly, "I understand. I do not wish to be 'ere either. I cannot fault you for this."

Afterall, she could understand exactly what it was like to be sent somewhere that one didn't want to go. She had been dragged from her homeland, and forced into a boarding school for those different from normal humans. But she was used to being different. She had been the only albino child in the ring of Paris she had grown up in. She didn't even know other ones, which made her self conscious. When she was younger, she had attempted to hide it, forcing her parents to let her get her hair dyed. But she had grown up from that time. Even as a new mutant, she didn't feel the disgust at being one. Perhaps because she was more openminded.

Turning away from him, she decided to start dancing, moving her body to a beat in her head. The beat belonged to one of her favorite songs, Je Veux by Zaz. The song's title literally translated to I Want, and it had sway in the beat that she loved dancing to. She began quietly humming the song, spinning around in time to see the boy successfully dunk the ball. Axelle fought the urge to sarcastically clap at him, as doing so would throw her off balance. Instead, she chose to move away from him, pale eyes watching him blankly, until she slid down into a split. As she did, Axelle heard him question him about her dancing.

"I do not know where it is, if there is one." She offered a gentle smile, "Do you dance?"

[jamesjacobs123]

James just nodded when she stated how she also did not like being at the school. Then, she started dancing. James looked at her, impressed. She was a great dancer, and her timing and rhythm were perfect. James found himself staring, and quickly went back to basketball. The expected swish once again filled his ears.

When the girl asked James if he danced, a white-hot lump of mixed feelings rose in his stomach. "Ummmm... I don't dance." He turned to see her doing a split. "Although... my enhanced agility might help. So... why not?" He approached her and allowed a faint smile to form on his lips. He performed a cartwheel without any hands and looked around.

"Wait. Do we have a stereo or something?" He inquired. "I mean... it is kind of hard to dance without any music, am I right?"

[axelle rosa]

"I don't dance, the boy says," Axelle thought, a faint smirk making its way onto her face. 'If you can fight, you can dance, it is a tried and true fact.'

She snaked her legs together, and rolled to her feet, shimmying her hips as she stood. Ballet was gorgeously difficult, but freestyle was not for fools either. It had been one of her favorites to learn the basics of. Ballet was about discipline; freestyle was for letting loose. Relaxing, as much as one can by moving nonstop. Axelle enjoyed it, nonetheless, almost forgetting that there was another in the room with her. Almost.

She tilted her head to the side as he cartwheeled, after he seemingly offered to dance with her. For someone who didn't want to deal with her, he seemed plenty interested now. Was it her dancing's 'effect' on him? Or was it that she was the only girl he knew here? Whatever it was, Axelle was glad that he was at least willing to talk to her. She didn't know anyone in America. A smile found its way onto her face as he asked about music, "One does not need music to dance."

She accented this by executing a ballerina spin. Looking at him, she giggled, "But if you are uncomfortable, you could return to your basket. I am sure that is lovely exercise."

Axelle smiled gently, not really caring if he wanted to dance or not. It wasn't like he knew how to tango.

[jamesjacobs123]

James watched as she danced, a smile stretching across his face. "Ummm..." he started nevously. "I guess I can dance without music..." He looked at her. "I'm completely lost, so I am going to need guidance from you as we progress." He looked into her eyes, and blushed. "So, uh...." he said awkwardly. Wow, great words of wisdom. He reprimanded himself mentally and regained his composure (or whatever replacement he had).

"Let me try that," he said, remembering her ballerina spin. He ended up doing a tiptoe, hopping around, and falling. "What the-" he said angrily. "Okay, how about the other one?" James tried snaking his legs and rolling to his feet, but ended up face-up on the ground once again. Man... he may have had enhanced agility and everything, but this was too hard. He slammed his fist on the ground in frustration.

"How did you do those?" he asked the girl in disbelief.

[axelle rosa]

Axelle smiled as he decided to dance with her. "Do not worry, Lapin. I will guide you."

She paused at the term that had slid off her tongue with ease. Lapin, the French word for rabbit, seemed a strange way to refer to the boy before her. However, as she watched him attempt to mimic her, hopping around, she was struck by how fitting it was. In her mind's eye, she could see the boy with large, fluffy bunny ears, ones that twitched at any and every sound made near them. The image would be all the more amusing if his name was Roger, Bugs, or Pierre. Vaguely, Axelle wondered if he'd laugh if she stated those images aloud, or if he'd be insulted. Honestly, she figured he'd probably take it the wrong way.

She watched as the boy attempted to move his legs and roll forward onto his feet. The attempt resembled an stick moving in the wind. There was no fluidity to him movements, surprising as he was so fast. He needed to be more comfortable, be it in his movements, or in his own skin, in order to pull of those moves. Axelle laughed at him, offering him a hand up. "The same way you play the basket. Practice."

"Perhaps I should teach him something easy. Psy, maybe?" she thought, smiling at him. Lightly, she offered, as not to scare him, "I could teach you how to dance, if you'd like."

[jamesjacobs123]

James took her hand and pulled himself up. "Well, okay. Teach me your moves." James then turned and ran up with wall with great flexibility and composure. Grabbing onto a light, he looked down at her. "I got moves of my own, though. I'd like to show them off." He gave her an arrogant smile and looked down.

He ran down the wall and jumped when he was ten feet off of the ground. Landing on his feet, he performed an Arabian front and bowed. "Your move," he said. He then looked into her eyes. "Oh, you are allowed to use any powers or special abilities you have, by the way, since I just used mine. Only fair, right?" James winked and slipped behind her.

The mutant then backed away. "The name is James, by the way. James Jacobs. You ready, dance-girl?"

[axelle rosa]

Axelle watched him run up a wall, frowning slightly. They weren't going to dance, it seemed like they were going to compete. She listened to his comments from his perch in the lights, a passive expression on her face. "As do I, Lapin. But a show must have substance behind it in order to work."

She lowered her eyelids, peering at him from beneath her lashes as he ran down the walk. He half-flirted, half-taunted her, letting the French girl know that it was 'her move', and that she could use her abilities. Axelle frowned at that; she didn't have a flower or a plant currently with her. That being said, she had a red rose tucked away in her bag, which was resting just outside of the gym. She had picked it for the sake of practicing later, but there was no time like the present.

She heard him introduce himself to her, causing her to smile. James Jacobs. In French, the equivalent was, in fact, Jacques Jacques. Axelle looked at him, speaking softly, "Axelle Rosa. If you'll excuse me for one moment, Lapin."

Axelle ducked out of the room, rushing over to her untouched bag. She had been too lazy to bring it in with her at the time, and still was, but opening it up, she found the rose with ease. She closed her bag and stepped back into the gym. She swayed her hips as she strutted forward, sniffing the rose ever so slightly. Once she was a few feet from James, she tossed the flower into the air, and brought her left leg straight up, making it parallel to her body. She caught the thorned flower and lowered her leg with a slight smirk. Axelle flipped backwards, and landed in a crouch, the rose resting in between her hand and the floor. She focused her energy into the flower, willing it to become the whip she had made before. The rose was more than willing to obey her wishes it seemed, for as she spun up to a standing position, the rose whip swirled around her in a spiral of green thorns. She wrapped the whip around her waist, uncaring as the thorns cut through her shirt and skin alike.

"Your move, I believe."

[jamesjacobs123]

James's arrogant smirk was replaced by a puzzled expression as Axelle left the room. Such a pretty name, Axelle. James stared at her disbelievingly as she strutted forward. When she did a backflip and a spinning maneuver with her rose whip, James's jaw dropped a mile or two. Holy... crap!

"You- you-" he sputtered, unable to form coherent words. "That was- you spun around and- what?" He looked her in the eyes. "Plant control," he muttered loud enough for Axelle to hear. "My move?" James asked. "Let's go!" He turned vaulted into the air, landing on his feet. He then sped off towards the other side of the gym, running up the wall. He then ran upside down on the ceiling and came down on the other side.

He decided to do it again.He ran up the wall and across the ceiling again, but it all went wrong. His foot hit a support beam, causing him to lose his momentum and plummet to the ground below. Grabbing onto a niche in the wall, he was able to slow his fall significantly. He fell on the floor again, and the impact knocked his breath out.

"So, you win, I suppose," he mumbled.

[axelle rosa]

"Oui," she agreed as James stated her mutant ability. Chlorokinesis, the ability to manipulate plants. Axelle watched as he ran up the wall, crossed the ceiling, and came down the other side, with an impressed expression. She had never seen anyone run on a ceiling before. He repeated the loop, only for his foot to catch on something, and send him spiraling to the ground. "Lapin!"

James caught onto a notch in the wall, slowing his descent. Axelle breathed a sigh of relief, only for him to lose his grip on the wall. He landed, hard, on the ground. She rushed to his side, kneeling down beside the boy. The whip returned to its original shape, as she leaned over to make sure he was still breathing.

"Lapin? Jacques? Are you alright?" She couldn't lose someone else, even though she barely knew the boy. She had seen her brother die before her eyes, she didn't want to see someone else do the same.

"Please," she begged, just before he croaked out a soft comment. 'So you win, I suppose.'

Axelle couldn't help herself: she laughed, both from relief and from the pure absurdity of the moment. James was a mutant afterall; he could handle himself. She shook her head at his comment, "Non. I do believe that this was a draw. You have quite the moves, Lapin."

She offered him a smile, and shakily stood up. Offering him a hand up, she winced as her legs wobbled. It was too close. It was her stupidity, showing off in such a way, that caused the boy the pain he was now in. With self-hatred lacing her words, she murmured, "I am sorry."

Axelle turned away from James, certain that he would hate her for what she had done.

[jamesjacobs123]

James looked up at her, a bit disoriented. "I'm fine, Axelle." He sat up and looked at her. "Hey, it wasn't your fault. It was mine. I was pushing my limits too far. It was my stupid mistake, not yours. So please don't blame yourself." He looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes and an inscrutable smile on his face. He stood up and patted her shoulder. "And if that truly was a draw, and you are not just trying to make me feel better... you owe me a rematch." He chuckled a bit and leaned against the wall.

Running on walls and ceilings made one dizzier than they would think. James felt like his stomach had been knotted up, unwound, and then stuffed into a peanut shell. His adrenaline was still pumping throughout his body, and he felt like had had just run a million miles. His heart felt ready to explode, and he did not even know why. "It feels like i have just run a marathon," he told Axelle. "Even though it was barely a hundred meters." He then looked at her quizzically.

"So, Axelle. When did your powers manifest themselves within you? Mine came about during a normal school day, when a bully attacked my friend."

[axelle rosa]

"Thank you, James." Her words were a mere whisper, unable to convey the irrational delight bubbling up within her. It shouldn't have been a big deal at all, for someone to tell her that something wasn't her fault, but for some unknown reason it was. She looked down at the red rose still in between her fingers, before suddenly deciding to place it in her hair, the flower a physical representation of her joy in her mind. Axelle turned around to face James, a timid smile pulling at her lips. "You don't know what that means to me."

Pale eyes closed as his glinted at her, a hand gently patting her shoulder, as he spoke to her, a faint chuckle in his words. Her face flushed as she opened her eyes, scowling at the loss of contact between them. She saw him against a wall, and offered a smile to him, "Whenever you want this rematch, I'm yours."

Axelle's smile was quickly replaced by concern as he spoke. She moved towards him, and hesitantly placed a hand on his bicep. She could feel her pulse quickening as she did so, the concern and any flirtatious comment she could have made disappearing as it did. "I think I know what you mean, Lapin."

'So, Axelle. When did your powers manifest themselves within you? Mine came about during a normal school day, when a bully attacked my friend.' His question, caused the girl to freeze, the color draining from her once flushed face. How could she tell him? Where could she even begin with her story?

She debated for a moment to tell him to sod off--that it wasn't any of his damn business, or simply to tell him that it wasn't something she wished to speak of. But James had told her, and was the closest thing to a friend she had in this unknown country. If she wanted them to be friends, wasn't it fair to let him know? Axelle met his questioning gaze, unaware of her eyes filling with unbidden tears. "My brother was walking me to my 'ouse after a recital. A man confronted us from an alley. 'E 'ad a gun-"

She choked on her next words, struggling not to break down in front of her. Suddenly she was back in that street, her brother's blood dripping through her fingers, his empty eyes staring at her. She shivered, her voice wavering as she tried to continue: "My abilities manifested so I could fight back. I fought back."