Inspired by my recent survey experience:

            Kat and Tony stood out side the mall, looking up at the immense structure.  "Come on Tony.  We gotta do it sometime…"

            Tony looked at Kat despairingly.  "Are you sure you don't want to just fake this?  We can't just use our calculators to simulate the answers?"  he looked at her, begging in his eyes.  "Please?"

            Kat sighed. "Please Tony, she'd catch it.  Lets just do this."

            Tony sighed also, defeated. "Fine, but you are doing the talking, I'm too bashful."

            Inwardly, Kat rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.  "Come on, here, I'll show you how."  She strode over to a woman sitting at the bus stop. "Excuse me madam."  The woman look up at her, a flash of suspicion in her eyes.  Kat ignored it. "Would you be willing to take a quick survey for my Statistics Course?"

            The Woman frowned. "Well, I would, but you see, I'm not from here."

            Kat smiled calmly.  She was used to dealing with people.  "That's fine madam, we just need your opinions on some things."            

            "Well…" Kat smiled again, and the woman seemed to break down. "Go ahead."

            "Ok, do you feel that mutants are a danger to society as we know it?"

            The woman bit her lip, and then nodded. "Yes, yes I do."

            Kat nodded, showing no emotion whatsoever, though Tony frowned slightly. "Do you believe that Mutants and their powers should be registered?"

            "Absolutely."

            Kat smiled and nodded graciously, marking down her answer under 'yes'. "Ok, last question!  Do you feel that Hitler had the right to have all Jews wear a yellow star in the early stages of World War Two?"

            The woman's eyebrows flew up, and her face changed. "Of course not!  What are you using this for again?"

            Kat kept the smile plastered to her face and began to move away.  "It's for our AP statistics course, thank you for your time, and have a lovely day!"

            With that she grabbed Tony by the arm and turned away, walking into the mall, and away from the woman's scrutinizing gaze.  Tony's eyes were slightly wider than usual as he looked at Kat.  "Good grief!  I thought she was going to take our heads off at the last question!" 

            Kat smiled.  "Yeah, I got a little freaked out myself."

            Tony looked at her again.  "Are you sure we should do this?"

            Kat grinned back. "You want to fight with my computer some more?"

            Tony shuddered and shook his head. "Lets go."

            The two ventured into the writhing crowd.

~^~

            Nearly every survey that they did had nearly the same results, some were more complacent, some less so.  One wheedled away on a tangent for five minutes.

            "Whoever wrote this survey is full of baloney!"

            Tony's face fell, but he covered it well.  "Well, we didn't write it, we are just the ones that are handing it out." He said in a monotone voice. 

            Kat nodded.  "It's a case of the messenger." 

            The man nodded and continued talking.  Finally Kat cut in smoothly as he handed her the survey.

            "Thank you sir, we appreciate your time!"  And with that she grabbed Tony forcefully by the arm and led him away.

            "Gees!  And I thought the first one was bad!  I thought he'd start yelling at us!"

            Kat nodded. "No kidding.  Bloody republicans."

            Tony laughed.  "There's some more, go and ask them.'

            Kat sighed.  "Oh yippee, another chance to get looked at strangely and disapproved of."

            Tony laughed. "Don't worry about it.  Just ask 'em!"

            Kat sighed.  "Excuse me?"

            The three people sitting at the bench looked up.  The girl had dark hair with a streak of white that fell down and framed her face.  Kat thought it rather pretty.  She wore long gloves and a scarf.  A boy's arm draped across her shoulders, with incredible blue eyes and short blond hair.  The last one was longer dirty blond hair and brown eyes.  A non descript character, except for the hardness in his eyes.  Kat hope feverently that he wouldn't say much.

            "Yeah?" Asked the blue-eyed one.

            Kat shook herself.  There was something about him that was a little unnatural.  Not bad, but unnatural.

            She glanced back at Tony for moral support before plunging into the usual blurb.  The three listened and nodded after glancing around.

            Kat took a breath.  "Do you believe that Mutants are a danger to society as we know it?"

            All three frowned simultaneously.  Kat's heart seized up.  Nothing more than a terse shake of the head came from any of them though.  The one with long blond hair started to flip a lighter on and off.  Kat assumed it was a habit and dismissed it, albeit nervously.  "Do you believe that Mutants and their powers should be registered?"

            Something snapped the tension in the air between them, and the one that had been flipping the lighter stood up.  Taller than her by an inch or so, which was an accomplishment for her stature, he glowered. 

            "What do you think you're getting at?"

            Though a bit intimidated, Kat answered without batting an eye.  "It's for a statistics course.  We're going to take our answers and compile a report for our teacher."

            The boy snorted. "Sure.  Just like those legislators that insist that registration is constitutional."

            "John…" said the girl quietly. "She just asked a question."

           "No, she didn't."  The lighter flicked open again, this time the flame seeped into his hand, and snaked up to his finger.  It was a filigree string, flickering around his index.  Slowly, he touched it to the column 'no'.  Kat dropped the clipboard, her hands going to her mouth.  The blue-eyed boy sat up. "John!  Don't make trouble!"

            But the boy seemed to be done.  He stood where he was, smiling like the cat that had swallowed the canary.  Kat stared down at the clipboard for a moment, and then finally tore her gaze away.  She whipped her head up to stare into the boy's eyes. 

            "You assume too much."

            "I think not."  Answered the boy.

            The girl got up and towed the boy back to sitting on the bench.  Kat took a deep breath and stood up, making sure her posture did not reveal a whit of how he had ruffled her.

            "Last question." She said flatly, matching John's fiery gaze. "Do you feel that Hitler had the right to have all Jews wear a yellow star in the early stages of World War Two?" 

            There was an almighty pause.  Neither of the three moved, as if she had stunned them.  The boy especially looked like a deer in the headlights.  Kat found her self patting herself on the back mentally, and even managed a cat's smile.

            "No." said the girl, her boyfriend followed with his own no.

            Both looked at John.  His eyes had become hard as diamonds, as if mad that she had received the privilege of the last laugh.  "No."

            Kat smiled perkily, a dramatic change of mood, and broke his gaze.  She marked down the answers as usual and turned, finally letting her face show her relief.

            "What was that about?" asked Tony in amazement, taking the clipboard and scrutinizing it.  "And what's up with this mark?"

            Kat took three deep breaths before answering. She glanced at the burn on the paper.   "The pen broke, and let's just say he wasn't too happy with the questions." 

            Tony nodded.  "I had noticed that much." he said dryly. 

~^~

            "John.  I think you just scared one of the few people that actually was *for* us!"  Cried Rouge, and Billy nodded.

            "She's right, john, you're supposed to be keeping a reign on that temper, and no powers in public!"

            John bit his lip and looked down.  She had not back down at all.  Even when he'd burned his answer into her paper himself, she had barely been ruffled!  He hadn't met anyone yet that had not backed down with their tail between their legs on any intimidation, mutant or otherwise.  She had still gone through though.  And Rouge was right.  She probably would resent mutants now, because of him.  Slowly, the realization came to him that he needed to apologize.  The realization surprised him, he had never felt the need to apologize for his actions.  Still, the need was there, and he pushed himself up from his spot on the bench, and ran off.  Rouge and Billy glanced at each other once, and immediately got up to follow him.  They couldn't see him though, he was already lost in the crowd. 

            "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid." Said Billy.

            "Probably will." Commented Rouge, and they sat down on the bench again, keeping a sharp eye out for people running, and a sharp ear for screaming.

~^~

            Footsteps rapped against the hard tile of the mall floor, quickly approaching.  Kat and Tony ignored them, until a hand spun Kat around unexpectedly. The clipboard dropped to the floor again.  Kat almost yelled, but suppressed the urge.  The boy had hold of both of her elbows, and he looked a little torn.

            "What?" said Kat a little too loudly, making some of the mall patrons glance at her worriedly.

            "I'm sorry!" blurted the boy.  It came out a little too quickly, and was a little garbled.

            Kat brushed his hands off of her and bent down to retrieve the clipboard.  She looked up at him, and noticed that his eyes had softened.  Slowly, her anger at him ebbed away along with the fear.  "Its fine." She finally said, and moved to turn away.  The boy wouldn't have it though, and spun her back around to face him.  He ended up nose to nose with her.

            "No, no it wasn't.  I was stupid, and rude, and I'm not even supposed to…" he groped for the words "Do that kind of thing in public!"

            Kat nodded. "And I can see why."  She looked down at the clipboard again and sighed. "Look, I know it might seem that way, but not all of us…non-mutants," it took him a moment to realize she had not used the word 'humans', the term often used for those without the X-gene  "…are all that bad, just like not all mutants are bad."  She smiled "It's a thin line, and I realize that.  So does he." She nodded to Tony, who was staring at them, abashed and only barely comprehending their conversation.  "You might try walking that line a little more yourself."

            John nodded, and Kat drew away.  For a moment, it looked like all was well, but on an impulse, john stepped forward, putting his face near hers again. "Thank you."

            Kat's eyes flicked to his own, and held. "For?"

            "Not letting me loose hope.  I thought they were all like them."  He waved a hand at the passing crowd.

            Kat chuckled and shook her head.  "It isn't the mutants against the non-mutants.  It's the ones who fear what they don't understand against those who don't take everything for face value."

            John nodded and straightened.  "Bye."  Kat looked down to find his hand offered.  Smiling, she took it.

~^~

            "I'm going to find him.  It's been too long."

            Billy got up, and started off into the crowd.  Rouge followed, grabbing his hand as they started in the direction John had gone. 

            "There!" Rouge pointed.  John was locked in a staring match with the girl who had given them the survey.  Both started forward, fearing the worst…and stopped as John offered his hand and the girl took it.  Looking at each other, they smiled and slowed to a walk.  John turned away and walked to them, waving.

            "What was that all about?" said Rouge tensely, casting worried looks at the girl and her friend.

            John shrugged, and smiled.  "Nothing much, there's just a little more than meets the eye to her, and I wanted to find it."  Billy and rouge shook their heads.  When Pyro waxed poetic, it was always better to ignore him.  He came between then and draped a friendly arm over their shoulders.  "Come on you guys, lets head back to the mansion, the prof'll be wondering where we are."

            "Yeah, as if he doesn't already know!" said Billy, smiling at Rouge.  They headed out of the crowd.  John only glanced back once, and found her gaze again, giving her a look that mirrored his own mixed feelings.  He didn't have time to explore it though, before he could let himself feel anything, he forcefully turned himself away, and returned to the happy conversation between Billy and Rouge.

~^~

            "Kat!  What was that all about?"

            Kat was left frowning at the floor after John left.  "I dunno Tony." she sighed.  "Come on, I think we've managed enough for now.  I don't think I want to do this anymore anyway." 

            Tony nodded enthusiastically.  "Finally!  You want me to ask the people at work?"

            Kat stared off into space.  "Yeah, sure.  Though we've got so many of one mindset I bet we could fake the rest and get away with it."

            Tony clapped his hands.  "Good grief yes!  Here, you give them to me, and I'll finish it."

            Kat twisted to hand the surveys to Tony, and as she did, looked back one last time.  Even in the horrendous crowd, her eyes still found his without difficultly, so quickly it was eerie.  The impact of his eyes was almost physical, but before the full effect could be realized, they both broke eye contact and turned back to their respective lives.