[Video]

[whatsatisfiesme]

[First rule of cutting classes: Don't post on the school network that you're cutting classes.

No one's told Gilbert that one apparently, however, because here he is well into the morning - it's around second or third period - still in bed and capturing video of himself on his school-provided laptop. With just a long night-shirt draping off him still, he's nestled himself against the headboard and pillows with a book on Renaissance art and a small bowl of sliced fruit he's nibbling from.

After the strain that the riots put on his empathic powers, he'd been given nearly a week of recovery time...and now that's more than come and gone, and he's decided simply not to go back.]

It must be so tedious - burning through all your time in classes here, studying the same things a human school would be making you learn. It's a marvelous sham, isn't it? Do this work for a diploma so you can attend university, find a career, "become a member of society..."

As if society is going to want us any more then than it does now! But you can guess what the real lesson is, can't you?

[The smile he's turning on the camera now can really only be described as "flirtatious."]

This entire school is just one long class in how to pretend. How to play along and make nice for the humans, like we're all cats they've de-clawed. I hope you all have a lovely afternoon, sitting and listening to that. [He kicks back on the bed then, looking so comfortable it's almost a sin.]

I'll be right here.

Comments

[whatsatisfiesme]

[Gilbert makes no effort to disguise the pout he puts on, just then. It's not nearly as satisfying if Bridget doesn't have to cut class to come meet him.

But in reality he wouldn't have posted this in the first place if being cooped up in the dorms by himself hadn't started to grow unbearable.]

Don't tell me what I want. It's not so cold out, now.

[Still, he stands and starts to hike up the hem of his nightshirt to strip - stepping off camera just an instant before he'd be flashing the school intranet at large. There's really no chance that wasn't intentional.]

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Bridget averted his eyes out of politeness, of course, sighing.- Would you rather I put it a different way? It's still not warm, either way.

[whatsatisfiesme]

I like it that way. It makes you feel alive, having the wind bite at your skin...

[When he steps back into view, he's gotten himself decent, all the same, in black dress pants and a lilac dress shirt with the most unnecessary, delicate ruffles along its collars and cuffs. No jacket to speak of.]

Meet me out by the hedge maze, then?

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Eh. Good enough. Bridget closed his notebook, giving a thumbs up to the camera before shutting down his phone as well, obviously planning to meet Gilbert where promised.-

[whatsatisfiesme]

[Gilbert makes good time, getting down there. For someone who's avowedly disinterested in everything about the school, he's begun learning it's routes and shortcuts with surprising speed.

Once he arrives, he stations himself at one side of the maze's entrance, legs crossed and arms folded over himself against the cold. Whether Bridget beats him there or comes after, he'll greet him the same way:]

You never said which class you were missing.

[Even if Bridget can get away with it, he has to take whatever scrap victories he can here.]

[kickstart_my_heart]

Just Mr. Wagner's theatre class. -Bridget shrugged, cocking his hips as he did so as if he was trying to show off his outfit in some way... He probably was.-

[whatsatisfiesme]

He won't mind?

[Like Gilbert cares. Like he wouldn't prefer it if there were a teacher somewhere scowling over the red mark on his roll today. Like he's not being totally, utterly blatant about that - and about looking Bridget up and down, giving him the attention he's so obviously looking for.

They both are, after all, and turnabout is fair play.]

Never mind. Have you been through here before?

[He nods back towards the maze behind them with a small smirk.]

[kickstart_my_heart]

A few times back when I first got here. Never explored the whole thing. Hardly seems possible to do in a single semester... Well, assuming you don't cheat.

[whatsatisfiesme]

We could find our way through it together if you'd like. We have the afternoon -

[And then he laughs, as if he's thought of something more amusing.]

Or would you prefer hide and seek?

[kickstart_my_heart]

I'm not twelve. Isn't that a kid's game?

[whatsatisfiesme]

[Gilbert almost looks offended. Excuse you, who's the one who has their room full of yo-yo's and teddy bears?]

I suppose. But exploring's more of a thrill if you're hunting for something, isn't it?

[kickstart_my_heart]

-BRIDGET IS A MATURE YOUNG MAN WITH FRILLY DRESSES AND STUFFED ANIMALS.-

Well, when you put it like that... it feels a little more creepy.

[whatsatisfiesme]

[Mon Dieu, how hard is this boy going to make it to get across "I want to run around until we're both breathless and have no earthly clue where we are anymore?" Gilbert's halfway rolling his eyes now.]

You're impossible.

[New plan!

How about, instead, he just steps close to plant a kiss on Bridget, grazing between his cheek and his lips, and then turns tail to dash straight into the hedges? He's surprisingly nimble for a youth who spends so much of his time laying around looking bored with the world, and if Bridget doesn't give chase immediately he'll quickly put a turn or two between them inside the maze.]

[kickstart_my_heart]

-... What? Did that just happen? Bridget couldn't have given chase immediately as his brain just clicked off for a few moments before he was suddenly red all over and dashing off. Where had he gone? Why did he do that? Why was he chasing him?-

[whatsatisfiesme]

[Well, it certainly got them moving faster than any more standing around to banter would have! Gilbert is eminently self-satisfied as he darts around corners and throws himself past turns without the slightest thought for where he's going.

Behind him, his laughter carries back down the path and over the tops of the hedges...which may be intentional. It's not so much fun if Bridget loses him entirely, and, unlike Gilbert, he doesn't have his quarry's empathic signature to go off of.]

Are you coming? [He calls back over his shoulder.] I won't forgive you if you don't come find me!

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Bridget could hear him, but it was hard to tell where the voice came from... After a moment, though, he decided to run up the wall of the maze and use his powers to run along the top of the hedges.-

[whatsatisfiesme]

[That's just blatantly cheating.

Gilbert can't protest, though -- mutants using their powers however comes naturally might be one of the few things he earnestly believes in. So, when he spots Bridget gaining on him overhead, he comes to a stop at the end of the path he's on and waits for him with a small, gratified grin.

Back against the hedge wall, he cranes his neck to look up at him as he draws closer.]

That hardly gives me a chance to get away. It's unsporting.

[Though he doesn't sound too broken up about it, honestly.]

[kickstart_my_heart]

You never said it wasn't allowed! -Bridget laughed, leaping from wall to wall as he finally closed the distance between him and Gilbert, peaking at him from the top of the hedge.-

[whatsatisfiesme]

Hmph. [He doesn't much put effort into making his play-acted offense convincing.]

Not all of us can ignore gravity whenever we'd like. Come back down to me already.

[kickstart_my_heart]

The laws of physics are a harsh mistress, mate. -Bridget grinned impishly before flipping up into a handstand, his skirt staying in place thanks to his powers, before flipping back down to the ground level before Gilbert.-

[whatsatisfiesme]

For some of us, anyway.

[As soon as Bridget lands, Gilbert takes him by the hand and throws a glance down the path he'd been headed on.]

That didn't make for much of a chase at all, though. I'm outmatched - you'll just have to go through together with me.

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Unlike before with the kiss, Bridget doesn't seem to have an incredulous reaction to hand holding, smiling warmly.-

If it makes you feel any better, I lost track of where I was, so we're definitely lost now. Feels a might more adventurous.

[whatsatisfiesme]

Perfect.

[He really does look pleased as they wind down the corridor and around yet another corner.]

Come on, then

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Bridget looked around them as they followed, chuckling a bit.-

I don't even recognize any of these particular corners or landmarks...