"You've had experience working with and teaching children, I presume?"
"Yes, ma'am. More than you can imagine."
Storm had a nice haircut. The long hair hadn't really suited her. It made her run her fingers through her own shorter, normal black hair. She had no sense of style whatsoever. Although, she supposed that a homosapien like her needn't bother with it too much. They were a rather dull species.
She watched Storm, sitting behind the desk that had once belonged to Xavier, and she could recognize the look of worry cross the woman's face. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and placing her folded hands on her thigh, waiting patiently for the woman to say what was on her mind. While she waited, she looked around the office curiously. She had never been in the school before, so she was quickly taking everything in. It hadn't been changed since Charles died, and it left awkwardness in the room. Awkwardness that Storm obviously felt, seeing as it seemed the chair she was sitting in was barely used. Nobody enjoyed using this room.
Storm leaned forward so her elbows rested on the oak desk. She looked down at her clasped hands moment, strands of gray hair falling into her eyes. Eventually, she tilted her head so she could look at the young woman sitting in front of her, waiting patiently. Sighing a bit, she said, "you know that this is a school for mutants," she said, "and you're just a human. What is your true purpose for working here?"
She expected something like this. In her mind, there wasn't any good explanation why a human being would want to work in a school full of mutants. After what had happened with the fight against them with Eric leading them and Phoenix by his side throughout most of it, the trust mankind had for mutants lessened considerably, despite the President assigning Hank McCoy to the position of Ambassador of United Nations. What had happened at the laboratory, to all the people and mutants alike, couldn't be forgotten or smoothed over. There were far more people that hated mutants than liked them.
"These children are learning how to defend themselves, and how to be offensive, yes," she said, setting her hands on the desk, "but I think that they need someone to talk too. Like a psychiatrist," she explained, her gaze diverting out the window, seeing the top of Charles' tombstone in the courtyard. She frowned slightly, looking back at the woman who had taken his place. "I know Professor Xavier meant a lot to you all," she said softly, "but if you add the stress of such a major loss along with the loss of Jean and Scott, and the arrival of your newest student, Jimmy, and why he's here." She could see another look of worry go across her face. She decided to get to the point. "I just think that they need somebody to help them with their feelings, and how to deal with them."
"We've been helping them with the loss," she said, and how defensive she was over the subject showed in her eyes, "We've done evaluations on all the students, they seem to be coping well, and healing." She wanted to think that what she was doing was enough, but nonetheless, her statement had put a damper in the woman's plans.
"Storm," she said, folding her hands over the desk, "have you taken over Charles' teachings?"
She knew the answer would be no. It was for the same reasons that Xavier's office was the exact same as he had kept it. It would be extremely awkward for her to continue his teachings, more so than the students actually going back to that class. She wasn't sure if Storm would go for it, but she was going to get a job here, nonetheless. Charles job would be preferred, but she wasn't to be picky. She just needed contact with the children, because she needed them to trust her.
Storm crossed her legs, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in the leather chair. "How do you know so much about Professor Xavier?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
She was a very suspicious character. She supposed it was for the better of the school. "I know quite a lot about mutants, and I'm familiar with Charles' work," she said, shrugging her shoulders simply. She glanced around the room, the edges of her lips tugging upward a bit. "He was a good man. He wanted the best for the mutants, and died trying to protect them," she said. "He and Eric did a lot for the mutant community, back in the day."
She watched as Storm stood up, her hands flat against the desk. "Magneto is a monster!" she said, her eyes starting to fade to white a bit, and she noticed that the clouds outside were starting to rapidly turn to black.
She stood up as well, folding her hands and keeping them in front of her as she looked at Storm calmly. "We agree on something, then," she said, and then watched as the weather once again became calm and the woman calmed down a bit.
Storm looked at her for a while longer, and eventually held out her hand to her. "Welcome to Xavier's school for gifted youngsters," she said, forcing a small smile. "You'll be taking over the lessons for the Professor, but we'll give you a few days to settle in, and let the kids get used to the idea as well."
She nodded, shaking her hand and following her to the door. She imagined that she was going to be shown around, even though she knew the place up and down. But, she had time to kill, if she wasn't going to be teaching the children immediately. Plus, it would be good to see things through Storm's point of view, anyway. She had to take her time, and build up their trust. It was going to benefit her more in the future.
They covered the ground floor quickly, although they did stop to talk to Iceman and Angel. She recognized everything that Storm explained, although she still looked over it with keen curiosity. It was somehow different, more lifelike, when she saw it in person, and not just in dreams. She overlooked every student carefully as well, but that was mostly just because it was in her nature to do so. They moved through the upstairs quickly as well, and they eventually ended up in the courtyard, in front of the three tombstones that marked the lives lost in the war that had happened just a few months ago. She gave a glance at Scott's and Jean's smaller tombstones, and then concentrated her attention on Charles'. She crouched down, brushing her hand against the stone, leaving it there for a moment before retracting it to her side and standing up, looking a Storm, whose eyes were teary. A feeling of pity welled up, and she put a hand on the woman's shoulder.
"Who's the skirt?"
Both females turned to see Logan standing behind them, eyebrow raised and arms crossed, leaning on his right foot a bit more than his left. She figured that he had been going through one of the scenarios, and his brashness got him injured. She smirked at the thought. Wolverine had never been one for caution, really. She had been told that he was constantly run by his emotions and beliefs. Apparently he could be tamed, seeing as he was now a fulltime teacher at the school. She imagined it was to replace Scott and an attempt for the Professor. She really couldn't imagine how the school survived with just two teachers, even if she was now a member of the staff and Mr. McCoy came by to teach a lesson or two whenever he was able.
"This is our new teacher, Logan," Storm said, giving him a look so scolding that she could barely contain a laugh. "She'll be taking over the Professor's classes."
He seemed to tense up at that. Obviously the idea didn't thrill him. But Wolverine was a difficult one to please. Plus, he probably wasn't in the best of moods, considering he had to kill the one woman he truly loved, who had also happened to be the most powerful mutant on the planet. She was caught between pity and envy for Jean; to have that power would be amazing, but to not be able to control it wouldn't make any other factors matter. Looking over her shoulder at the grave of Jean Grey, she decided that it was defiantly best that the woman was dead.
"So, what's your power, then?" he asked, taking a few steps closer and positioning his body so that he was only facing towards her, whilst Storm stood off to the side. He had dominance issues. That would need to be fixed.
"Logan, she's a-"
"I'm a human," she said, cutting off Storm with a glance. She took the last step forward so that they were almost touching, although there was certainly nothing sexual about it. "And I'm capable of taking over what the Professor was teaching the students," she said. "With a little de-briefing from Storm," she added, glancing at her again.
Surprisingly, he kept his mouth shut. That was a bit odd, even for him. She had expected some witty remark, a sarcastic comment about how a simple mortal couldn't take over the job of one of the most powerful mutants. But, he just gave her a quick look over, and then stepped back, turning and walking back into the building without another word. Once she was fully convinced that he was really just going to leave, she turned back to Storm, who motioned her to enter in another part of the building.
"There's someone I'd like you to meet," she said once they entered through the doors, walking down the hallway until she reached a certain door, knocking on it gently. "Maria," she called, stepping back and waiting a second and taking a step back, the door opening a moment later.
The girl stepped out, wisps of her brown hair hanging in her eyes. Although, she couldn't say it was completely brown. There was a large part on her right side that was white. It was an odd way to dye your hair, to say the very least. She wasn't very old, sixteen, maybe seventeen. She did have a smile on her face though, and judging from when she first saw Rogue all those months ago, she seemed a lot happier than she had been.
"Maria is a human too," Storm said, looking at her.
She knew what Storm was getting at. She thought that because she and Rogue were now humans, there would be some sort of bonding process going on. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking the girl up and down. So, she had given up her power willingly, she presumed. That was foolish, or at least it was to her. If you had power, you should take advantage of it. She knew of plenty of humans who'd die to be something other than normal; to be a mutant. She and Maria were not going to get along very well at all.
"It's nice to meet you," she lied, grabbing the hand that Rogue had held out to her, even going so far as to smile a little. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, glancing from Storm to Rogue, who seemed to expect her to say something else. Alright, then. "So, how'd you come to be here?" she asked, turning her attention back on Maria, raising an eyebrow.
Rogue might be a human, but she seemed to sense already that she wasn't too thrilled with her same species companion. "I used to be a mutant once," she said, crossing her arms over her chest as well. "But when they started to come out with the cure, I took it. And, I don't have a home, so Storm let me stay here," she said, looking towards Ororo with a thankful smile, who gave her a grin and a one armed hug.
"So, what power did you waste, then?" she asked, earning a harsh look from Stor and, apparently, a harsh word, until Rogue put her hand up to silence her elder.
"I wasted the power to take away life, and powers, if they have them," she said bitterly, looking down at her hands. "I couldn't touch anybody, not even my boyfriend," she said, and then shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to be able to do all the things that I couldn't do before," she finished.
"Ever think about what will happen if he breaks up with you?" she asked, eyebrow raised. Her only reply was a glare, so she decided that she'd let it end there. She might bring it back up again, if Storm wasn't in their presence.
"I'll show you your room," Storm said, nodding to Maria and then turning and starting to walk down the hall.
She followed, only to turn around when Rogue spoke from behind her. "I'm guessing you have a name?"
"Myst-" she started coughing, eventually managing to clear her throat and look back at Maria's suspicious face. "Misty," she said finally, not bothering to see her reaction and turning around to follow Storm to her room.