Contemplation.
"Why exactly do you feel like leaving, Noriko?" Scott Summers asked.
"I don't really know how to put it… exactly in words. I guess I need a change. A chance to live in somewhere else than a school. A chance to be an adult. To have a job and a real income. I want…"
"To be normal?" Scott smiled at her. Noriko sat in her seat, her eyes looking into his visor. Despite its tepid, scarlet stare, she could see that he understood. She fidgeted involuntarily every minute or so, an unfortunate side effect of her powers. For some reason, her gauntlets which were supposed to keep her "twitches" under control were not working as they should have on this particular day.
"Yeah, I want to be… normal." She looked down at her knees. She wasn't sure that to be "normal" was what she really wanted. She wasn't really sure what she wanted in the first place.
"I understand. Well, I can't and I won't argue with you. As much as I want you to stay, I have to admit that being in your early 20s and living a school can be a bit weird. God knows I know how that feels." Scott laughed as he said it.
"Where would you stay?" He asked.
"Well I've talked it over with Monet. She's going to let us stay at her condominium in North California. By the way, Cessily wants to join me."
"Ah, Westport isn't it? That's where some of the old Generation X mutants went."
"Yeah, everyone still… alive. Apart from Jubilee of course." Noriko didn't really know the Generation X mutants but she spoke like she did to ease whatever tension she had at the back of her mind.
"Wait, Cessily is joining you?"
"She applied for a local degree in a college just outside Westport."
"She's going to college huh? And what do you plan to do?"
"I don't know." Noriko idly tapped the fingers of her gauntlets together. Her left middle finger twitched as she did so.
The office was silent for a few moments, offset by the sounds of some new students playing a game of baseball outside. The evening sun bathed the room in an orange light. Noriko had always viewed Scott as her mentor. Perhaps even a father figure to fill in the void left by her own. This was essentially saying goodbye as she "flew the coop" so to speak. It was time to fly, she had told herself prior, time to take that leap. Cessily had agreed, having similar sentiments but no real father figure.
"Alright then." Scott got up from his chair. "It's your decision. If you or Cessily need anything, Noriko, you know where to find me or anybody else for that matter. I just want you to be safe. Nobody really was, here or in Westport."
Noriko got up and looked at Scott.
"Yeah… I guess so…" Noriko got up and headed for the door.
"Let me get that." Scott briskly walked ahead, grabbing the handle before she could. She, in turn, moved aside, allowing him to show one last act of kindness before she left the office.
"So… aren't you going to go?" He held the door fully open, looking right in her blue eyes. She looked back into his and hugged him. He hugged her back with his free hand, still keeping the door open with the other.
"Thank you." She whispered, her eyes gathering tears as her voice quivered.
"No, Nori. Thank you for everything… and sorry for everything."
—
Cessily sat on her bed, her knees folded to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. The bed felt stiffer than usual the previous night. So did the pillows. Even though she had once read an article that stiffer beds and pillows lent themselves to a deeper and more comfortable sleep, she had found that she could not sleep as soundly as usual the previous night. Articles were a gamble, she thought, you'd never know if whatever they were saying was actually true or not. The same could be said for people.
"Hey, Megan." She looked up to her roommate who was busy fussing at something on her phone.
"Hmmmm… What?" She replied, still engrossed with her phone.
"How would you know, for sure, if what someone said was actually true or not?"
"Umm… I don't know."
Cessily put her legs down and turned to spread herself on her bed, her head on the lower half of the mattress and her legs on her pillow. She stared at the ceiling.
"Yeah… who would know?"
Nori swung open the door.
"He gave us his blessing."
Cessily sat up.
"Really? What did he say?!"
"A bunch of stuff…" Nori couldn't remembered what he said exactly. "But generally speaking, he gave us the greenlight!"
"Oh my god! Are you guys getting married? I'm so happy for you!" Megan had thrown her phone aside and was now gently hovering about 2 inches above her bed.
"Come on, Megan… You know what's happening…" Cessily briefly gave her a look before giving her attention back to Nori. "That's great… That's just great… We leave in a week right?"
Nori sat next to Cessily on her bed.
"Yeah, we leave in a week. Got everything ready? Clothes?" She put her arm around her, her metal fingers clasping around Cessily's metal shoulder. Her left middle finger twitched again.
"Of course! I mean… It's not like we have a lot of personal belongings in the first place!"
"Hahahahaha… That's kinda sad." Megan laughed sarcastically and dropped herself back down on the bed with a light bounce.
"Yeah it kinda is honestly." Cessily said. "I guess this will be another chance to create a new life for ourselves.
"You guess?" Nori said.
"Yeah I guess… Megan, you could come with us you know? Monet said that there's an extra room."
Cessily smiled at her. Megan raised her eyebrows and smiled toothily back.
"Oh yeaaa… Don't worry I'll remember to pop by every now and then." She reached out for her phone.
"Don't you want out of here? We're all graduated X-men, fully ordained and such." Nori leaned forward and rested her head on her hand.
Megan looked at her over her phone.
"Nah… Oh did you hear about Victor? He and his boyfriend just got back from their vacation in Florida. Roxy said they might've gotten engaged."
Cessily eyed her winged friend suspiciously. Was she hiding something? She probably was.
"Well this has been nice." As Noriko got up, her entire right arm twitched.
"Aaaaaack!" Cessily's whole body flinched. Bits of liquified metal goop from her body splattered on the wall behind her.
"Ah so sorry! Good thing it's not so of much a mess like last time… God,I have to get my gloves checked."
"That's fine…" Cessily said as she collected herself.
"Yeah fine…" Megan wiped a bit of goop of her forehead. She groaned and went back to her phone.