Plans and Misdemeanors

[Shoko]

A thin-faced teenager stuck his head into the spacious den and look around, no one was in sight.

"The coast is clear," he turned and said over his shoulder. The young men had never seen a place like this in their lives... well, not outside of magazine pictures anyway. It was a spacious, nearly cavernous room of muted browns and dark reds. The overstuffed chairs had been filled and people had been going in and out all morning, until now.

The stacked heels of the twins' cowboy boots echoed on the hardwood floors, polished nearly to the appearance of glass, as they split up and looked around the room. However, instead of looking at the magnificent volumes of books or the expensive and tasteful vases and curios that perched on shelves and spindly-legged tables, each of them had his head down.... staring at the rugs.

Dakota Rain stopped and eyed an area rug, it was black or perhaps a dark green, with vines twisting in together as a border. At its center, little animals and birds were nestled into branches and peeked out from behind leaves. "This one... it's about the size. We just gotta move the stuff." The stuff, a leather couch and an end-table with lamp, sat directly on the rug.

Jasper Sue followed at his brother's heels with a look in his eyes that many of his teachers would find familiar and ominous in the coming months: impishness. There was nothing that failed to escape the twin's notice, nothing that went unscathed. He barely paid the shelves of books nor the very enticing arm chairs a cursory glance. Jasper was intent. He would not be swayed.

"Are you sure," Jasper muttered as he pushed the brim of his cowboy hat back with his thumb. "That it isn't too big?"

Hands were planted firmly on his hips as his brows lifted. " 'cause it just might be."

"Sure, I'm sure," said Dakota, unconsciously going through the same gestures as Sue; there was nothing like being asked 'if he was sure' by his brother, to disperse any lingering doubts. "They aren't that close together." Then he shrugged, "besides, I like the design too."

"Tch." After a moment's pause that was taken up by Jasper squinting at the weave of the carpet suspiciously. If Dakota liked it, that meant that he liked it as well. And the birds were quite charming.

He moved forward, Jasper, and began to drag the chairs off of the carpet with Dakota's help. Some were heavier than they looked, and required the both of the twins working in tandem to budge a large muted crimson love seat. Jasper leaned against the last chair for a moment to catch his breath before he knelt beside the rug.

"I don't think you'll miss it, do you? I mean, " Dakota looked around the room at the half-dozen or so other rugs, "they've got many others anyway." The rug didn't have non-slide stripes to keep it in place and Dakota got onto his knees at one side and started rolling it up. Intent on his work, he didn't notice the discoloration of the wooden floor, left by the rug's absence. He looked up at his brother with an impish grin, "This is going to be so great."

With the rug rolled up and out of the way, Dakota and Jasper began dragging the furniture back to their original places, leaving scrapes in the floor's waxy finish.

[Mach 2]

Siryn

She wasn't sure if it was the dull thumping below her or the sunlight pouring into her window, but regardless Terry found herself supremely awake at eleven o'clock. It was the last week of summer, and that meant that she should be asleep until at least noon... a best-case scenario that clearly was not meant to be.

With a grunt, she rolled out of bed, rubbing her tussed red locks and yawning. She grabbed a towel, about to head for the nearest bathroom, when that strange thumping sound interrupted her thoughts again.

"Wot the 'ell is that!?" she muttered to no one in particular.

Sighing, she donned a slightly more appropriate bunch of garb than her nightie and took off down the stairs. When she arrived at the base, there was silence at first, then a dragging noise, then another thump. She rolled her eyes. It was coming from the den, which could mean only one thing.

Students.

Probably new ones, like me... giving all of us underage folk a bad name.

Turning the corner, she witnessed the source of the noise. Two young men in cowboy attire were rearranging the place.. in an attempt to get at the oversized rug in the middle of the floor. Terry wasn't quite sure how to react, so she just crossed her arms and stared. Finally, with a distinct note of exasperation in her voice, she tossed back her hair and sighed.

"Wot the 'ell are ye doin'?"

[Shoko]

Intent on their project, the sudden stern, female voice from the doorway was like a pitcher of ice cubes being dumped down the backs of their shirts. Dakota shivered, remembering a case worker who'd visited their family once, with that same voice and look that the girl in the doorway was wearing, like a human-snapping turtle.

He thought... she waited, her foot on the verge of tapping with impatience, he could tell. He casually leaned against the back of the overstuffed chair he'd just finished pulling back into its original position.

"You're .... Theresa, aren't you?" Dakota took off his hat and ran a hand through his brownish-red hair. He looked down at the rolled up rug and then over at his brother, giving him a look that, while not telepathic, the other had a lifetime to read those looks; it said, 'follow my lead.'

Dakota turned back to Terry, giving her an impish, Peter Pan grin. "When you look at this place, what do you see?" He paused but before she could open her mouth to answer, he continued. "It's... so controlled in here. Don't you feel like you're under their gaze all the time? Now, don't get us wrong, they're a great bunch of people... but kind of--"

"--repressive." Sue finished for his brother. Head canted and he smiled a Cheshire smile. "Don't you think?"

Unconsciously Sue had mirrored his brother's movements. His hat was pressed to his chest as if he was trying to implore her to see the truth. His hand had disappeared into his hair to stroke it back from his face. Sue had understood his twin's look. That understanding was how they worked.

[Mach 2]

Siryn

"You're .... Theresa, aren't you?"

Terry blinked. She hadn't the slightest idea who these two were... so how did they know who she was? She uncrossed and recrossed her arms, tossing back her hair.

"Yes, actually. Wot's it to ye?"

She listened as the disturbingly alike pair mimicked eachother to produce a semi-coherent line of garb about the repressiveness of the place. It was an Institute of Higher Learning, for Christ's sake. Of course it was a bit old fashioned. The rugs, the chandeliers... all of it cost a lot of money and all were selected with a refined eye. Something Terry was learning to appreciate.

"Well, perhaps a bit. All the same, it isn't yours, now is it? So why're ye touchin' it? Does that rug belong ta ye? No, it doesn't. It'as provided by Xavier for the betterment of the school and you have no place messin' with it."

She paused. "Tha' said... what did ye have planned fer it?"

[Dak]

"Oh, nothing." Sue responded as his smile was replaced by a generally amiable expression. He was, generally, a carefree sort of a person. But the young woman opposite them would hopefully get the idea that they were impossible to sway. On many days the twins were a bit like pit bulls--when they got an idea into their heads, they rarely if ever let it go.

Putting his hat back on with a little toss of his head, Sue tapped the toe of his boot near-silently on the wood. Even without the impatient gesture, he knew that Dakota would be able to sense his disquiet. They both hated getting caught, and Theresa, no matter how interesting she was, was beginning to get in the way of Jasper's fun. He hoisted the rolled up rug higher.

What they had planned was - while an excellent plan as far as they were concerned - not something everyone would see the potential of. "Uh... yeah," Dakota agreed with Sue and went to his brother, helping him lift the rug onto their shoulders like a log... a carpet log. Dakota took the lead with Sue right behind him. Dakota shifted his eyes from side to side, on watch for any authority figure to suddenly pop out of the woodwork and spoil the fun, and in this place, popping in from no where was a real possibility.

"We ... can't tell you, not here... but if really want to know," Dakota was clearly excited by the project and torn by the desire to keep it a secret and the need to share how great it was, "then come on. You can open the door for us... we're going outside."

[Lylithix]

Sean had been looking forward to a leisurely morning, taking the time to relax and unwind. That was something he'd had to learn to do or at least to do more often. That was something that he'd had to put on hold though, keen hearing making it just that little bit difficult to ignore the thumping and dragging sounds coming from the den. He might have ignored it but curiosity more than a desire to chastise whoever responsible had drawn him to investigate. Hearing the distinct lilt of his daughter's voice, well that meant he was definitely going to see what was happening. Not that he'd consider her to be the source of trouble but if anyone was giving her problems...he wasn't going to allow that.

Cautiously and quietly Sean moved closer to the den and then paused a moment to consider his actions. He respected Terry's need for space and didn't want to barge in. At the same time he had that fierce protective urge and Irish temper that were currently fighting for dominance. In the end though he decided to wait a few moments. He recognised the other two voices now as belonging to two of the students, reassurred enough that Theresa if anything wanted to put a stop to whatever mischief they were up to. That settled it in Sean's mind as he decided to follow at a distance and only intervene if Terry really needed him to. He knew better than to risk her anger.

[Mach 2]

Siryn

Terry crossed her arms at stared at the two boys. To say the very least, they were trying her patience. What did they take her for? A common hooligan? All the same, they seemed innocent enough.

"... All right. I'll follow ye outside. But the rug goes right back where ye found it when yer done with it. And in one piece, too."

She ignored the audacity of their tones and opened the door for them. As they passed through, she shook her head and followed. She wasn't precisely sure what she'd gotten herself into, but it was sure to end badly.

Shrugging her shoulders and sighing, she followed the pair into the sunny afternoon.

(OOC: Sorry for the MASSIVE lull... I've been in an interesting myriad of situations.)

[Shoko]

Sue, humming in glee at the prospect of this new project, lead the way outside and onto the greensward. Outside it was warm enough to be comfortable--if you didn't move about too much. But the twins had grown up virtually without knowing the cool artificial breeze of A/C. The heat of summer was something they were more than suited for. Grass melted into forest in quick succession. The yielding blades morphed to litter filled with dry pine cones and crackling needles. In the shadows of some trees, mushrooms Sue took note of could be spotted.

Tossing his head Sue stopped once he found a good place to set their burden down. He beamed at Terry before nodding once to his brother. Eyebrows lifted and he bit the corner of his mouth.

"Seems good, right?"

Dakota had been noticing the quizzical look on Siryn's face as they trekked farther away from the safety and security of the mansion, not that the forest around the school was exactly teeming with danger. In a way, the twins were the two most dangerous things there ... and that was usually just accidental harm to each other.

"Yeah, here's good," Dakota agreed. It was an area the size of an average room among the tall evergreens of the forest. They cleared away the biggest debris and they unrolled the rug onto the ground. The boys then walked on it, crushing down any bumps under the rug.

Dakota stretched out on the rug and kicked off his boots. He tossed his cowboy hat onto the worn, collapsed legs of his old boots. The sunlight shown on his face through the dancing leaves. "Next... a roof."

Sue, yawning in emphatic agreement with his brother, lay down on his stomach after kicking his own boots off once he found a permissible spot. Wiggling his toes in their moth-eaten socks he resisted the urge to take them off. He squirmed a little until he gave up.

The weave of the rug was a roughened softness against his cheek. Here the sunlight was not as dappled as it was a good few feet from where they lay. The warmth was comforting and unfiltered. He wondered if they would be permitted to make small explosives out here before deciding that he didn't care. Since when had they ever followed the rules anyway?

"Umbrellas!" Sue cried. "It should be umbrellas!"

As soon as Sue said it, the image of multi-colored umbrella domes decorating the elms and maples around them popped into his mind.

"Hey!" blurted Dakota, his eyes bright, showing that he'd also come up with an idea. "How about shower curtains?" He lay back and gestured in a circular motion to the tree branches overhead. "We hang them up in a staggered layer circle and a little tilted.... so that the rain comes down like on slide and off the sides, away from the hangout, " his hands made a gesture mimicking rain falling. This was always the difficult bit to a lot of their projects when both of them came up with neat, artist plans... making the decision.

Dakota raised his head for his hands to look at Siryn, who wore an expression that was... he thought... maybe... disbelief, amusement... the idea that she was still asleep and this was a weird dream; a lot of emotions flitting across her face that the twins were more than used to seeing on other's faces. "What do you think: umbrellas or shower curtains?"

[Lylithix]

It wasn't too difficult to follow them into the forest, at least not with the burden of carrying the carpet and the fact it was a particularly hot day. Sean was careful to keep his distance, following far enough behind that he wouldn't likely be spotted. His hearing came in useful here, following the sounds of voices as he gradually headed towards a small clearing. If he'd lost them, he could have flown over the forest, abandoning any pretences of stealth though the noise of his approach might have startled them into abandoning their venture.

He wasn't overly bothered about the stolen rug, just that he wasn't going to let the twins lead his daughter into trouble. So as he approached, catching the end of a conversation about umbrellas and shower curtains, he had to admit one thing to himself. He just wasn't sure whether or not they were actually mad or just thought a little differently from most people. Taking extra care not to step on a dead twig or some other obstacle that would alert them to his presence, Sean stepped into the clearing, his gaze stern though he wasn't overly angry.

"How about neither because yuir both going tae be taking the rug back now won't ye lads? If'n ye do just that, I'll be happy tae leave ye tae yuir...projects, just so long as ye dinae try tae annoy m'daughter again."

[Shoko]

When a strange man pops out at you in the middle of a forest and starts reading you the riot act about being a good citizen, what are you supposed to think, apart from 'wow, they bugged the trees too' ? This is what past through the minds of the twins as they'd stretched out on their new rug and started planning the next stage of their... well, tree fort really, although seventeen year olds don't have those. A tree fort is what you played high seas pirates in with wooden swords... young men had hangouts. Dakota Rain sat up and blinked at the apparently irate father.

He looked over at his brother as if to say 'do you know this guy, I don't' and got the same look in return. "Take it back?" He questioned, clearly not understanding why he would do such a thing or why this man would want him to do it.

"Are you saying, " started Dakota.

Sue wondered if perhaps the man had been following them, because normal people didn't usually pull ninja stunts like this. Looking over his slim shoulder at the stern newcomer, he rolled onto his side in order to get a better vantage point just as his brother himself sat up. Eyebrows crooked in mild confusion, and Jasper decided that some squinting was in order. But no, they weren't hallucinating an angry father. Thank God.

"You don't want us to be independent?" finished Jasper Sue. "Free thinkers," he began.

"Are what make the world go 'round," the sentence jumped to Dakota for the finish. "Professor Xavier told us that place was for learning and being ourselves. Was that -"

"-a lie?" Jasper completed with an innocent, yet puzzled expression. He looked at the stranger with wide eyes. As if the whole world would now be a lie if he found out that something Xavier had said was false.