Soulmates and Soulswords
Kitty Pryde's hand hovered over the handle to what was meant to be her room. She'd arrived at the Xavier School just over an hour previously, had a quick briefing with the school's headmaster, Charles Xavier himself, and been instructed about where she would be staying. She'd found it easy enough, but now she was hesitating.
She wasn't scared or nervous of meeting who was inside, Kitty was an incredibly open person and had actually been excited at the prospect of having a roommate, imagining it to be like a permanent sleepover. No, Kitty was hesitating because of the faint noise trying to pass through the thick brown door that separated the room's contents from the rest of the school. Leaning in closer, straining to hear the noise more clearly, Kitty's brow knitted together as what the noise was dawned on her. Kitty's roommate was singing. And if Kitty was right, which she was, she was singing to Elton John of all things.
Shaking her head, Kitty took the handle of the door in her hand and pushed down, stepping into the room. The singing girl's back was to the door, and the crooning of Tiny Dancer was loud enough to mask the shuffling of Kitty and her bag moving into the room. Kitty laid her suitcase down, as gently as possible, closed the door and sat on the bed closest to the door, the one of the two beds that clearly wasn't in use. Reluctant to stop the girl mid-jam, Kitty gave a half-smile of wonder as she watched the other, surprisingly tall, girl sashay around the room, her long blonde hair swaying in time with her body. The song had just hit its second chorus when the girl spun around, hairbrush in use as a microphone, about to carry out a loud call of "Hold me closer, Tiny Dancer", and spotted Kitty sat on the bed. She gave a loud yelp, dropped the hairbrush and leaped for the computer that was blasting Elton John's voice through it. Fiddling for only a second, Tiny Dancer was cut off and replaced by a rock song, the girl stood back up, her face red, glaring.
"How long were you there?" She demanded, brushing the creases out of the blue tank top she had thrown on, and bending down to pick up the abandoned hairbrush.
Kitty shook her head slightly, "Don't worry, it was only for like 20 seconds. I was too entranced to stop you, you don't look like the type of person who would be into Elton John."
"I'm not." The girl snapped back, far quicker than Kitty was expecting, then, in response to a raised eyebrow from Kitty, "Ok fine, maybe I am, but if you tell anyone, I will kill you."
The way she said it sent a jolt of electricity down her spine, one that she didn't recognise. It wasn't fear of the girl's threat, though Kitty didn't doubt that the blonde was more than capable if not of murder, then at least hurting Kitty, it was something else entirely.
Shrugging the possible murder off, she stuck out a lightly tanned hand, "Sir Elton John aside, I'm Kitty Pryde, sorry for the shock I gave you."
The blonde glanced down at the hand then back up at Kitty's face, though not taking it, then after a pause, she began to speak slowly, as if anticipating some sort of trap, "Illyana Rasputin. Why are you in my room?"
Kitty instinctively started to say something that was nothing short of a flirt, but caught herself and instead sputtered out, "I'm your roommate."
Illyana frowned, her face twisting into one of confusion, "I don't have a roommate."
Now it was Kitty's turn to frown, giving a quizzical look, "...yes, which is why I'm your roommate now, because you didn't have one."
But at that point, Illyana had pushed past her and headed out of the room, muttering under her breath.
Kitty watched her go, staring until the ankle of her ripped jeans was out of sight and then, closing the door after her, laid down on the bed that she had previously been perched on as she watched Illyana dance. Staring at the ceiling, she began to reflect on the events that had led her to be lay on this bed in this school. Most of the world was normal, born human, but some people were born different. If you were different, then you were either a weapon or a warrior. The weapons were born with the ability to change their body into one of a weapon while in contact with their designated warrior. The warriors and the weapons were the world's police force. Heroes to look after the world and protect it from the creatures of the night. And Kitty was one of them, she just didn't know if she was a weapon or a warrior yet. That was why she was at the school, to learn, to find her partner and to train. To discover who she was.
The sound of knocking on the door pulled her out of her trance, finding shapes on the cream coloured ceiling. Swinging her legs off her bed, Kitty opened the door, expecting Illyana to have returned, but was instead met by two other, distinctly not Illyana, girls. The shorter one had red hair, short and slightly curled, and was freckled, her face crumpled up into a scowl, dressed in faded brown jeans and a black turtleneck. The taller one was dark skinned, with even darker hair with red braids in, dressed in a black t-shirt, a tartan overshirt and grey leggings. As soon as the door opened, Kitty saw the short girl's scowl disappear and be replaced with surprise.
The taller girl shot Kitty a look of confusion before stating, "You're not Illyana."
Kitty smiled, wryly, "No, I am not. My name's Kitty, I'm Illyana's new roommate. I think."
The smaller girl let out a giggle of laughter at that, her Scottish accent almost overpowering what it was she had to say, "I'm so so sorry about that."
The taller girl rolled her eyes, "Rahne thinks Illyana's creepy, I'm Danielle, if you were wondering, but call me Dani, please." The girl Kitty now knew was called Rahne butted in, her height putting her at a significant disadvantage when it came to conversations, "She gives me the willies."
Dani looked down at her friend, "Rahne, no-one knows what that means." Rahne only shook her head, to Kitty's amusement.
"I think she's kind of cool, but anyway, if you wanted Illyana, she's not here, I think she went to yell at the Professor about giving her a roommate." Kitty rubbed the back of her head, apologetically. Dani shrugged, "Yeah that tracks. We were just wondering-" Rahne elbowed her, and Dani continued "Ok, I was just wondering if she wanted to come get something to eat, she's hardly left her room in the days since we got here. But I guess, if she's not here, how do you feel about Thai food?"
Kitty grinned, "I don't hate it." Dani nodded, "Good answer, let's go."
As the three girls walked to the thai place that Rahne had insisted was like tasting "a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick" which Kitty wasn't sure was exactly a stellar review, Kitty kept glancing over at Rahne and Dani, asking questions of the more experienced girls, "So how long have you two been at the school?" Rahne glanced down at her hands, seemingly trying to work it out on her fingers, "About a month or two? It all sort of blends together, really. Me, Dani, Illyana and a couple others were a batch that all arrived around the same time." Dani nodded in agreement, as Kitty shot another question, "Does that mean you know if you're a warrior or a weapon?"
Dani smirked slightly, "Yessir, you find out really early on. I'm a warrior, and Rahne here is my weapon." Kitty gazed at both of them, a look of wonder in her eyes, then something cut through her mind, "Wait, what's Illyana then? A warrior or a weapon?"
Dani and Rahne exchanged a knowing glance before Rahne muttered, "No-one knows, she's never bonded with anyone during the training sessions."
Kitty slowed as she walked, her mind floating off back to the room she would possibly be sharing with this mysterious girl. She didn't scare Kitty, not when she was dancing to Elton John, not even when she was dishing out murder threats. Instead, her face floated in the depths of Kitty's minds where she tried her best to scrutinise it, find some sort of reason behind it, but she found nothing. It was Dani's hand on her shoulder that pulled Kitty out of yet another trance.
"-ey sunshine, me and Rahne are getting Pad Thai, want me to get you one?"
Kitty blinked, looking around her, at the inside of a Thai restaurant that she didn't remember walking into, "Uh, yeah, Pad Thai sounds good to me."
Dani turned back to the man behind the counter, holding up three fingers "Three Pad Thais and a large diet coke please."
The man nodded and turned away.
As the chefs began to prepare their food, Rahne poked Kitty's side, "Illyana will probably have returned by the time we get back to school, you think you can handle her?"
Kitty gave a small smile, looking at the floor, not knowing why, "Yeah, yeah I think I can."
"Well," Rahne began, grinning from ear to ear, "Hope you survive the experience."