Okay.... roll call. Lessee..... Adimu? Where's Kamau? Son....get down outta that tree. you know th' rules fer after sunset. Charlie, Jean, Moira, Doug an' Sue... that's all you pups but th' newborns, right? Good, siddown an' eat.
Huh? Naw, we ain't waitin' on th' others. Don't get sassy - yer Ma's gettin' some well-earned rest while yer Pa's gettin' acquainted with th' new ones. Eat.
What's that, Adimu? A story? What sorta story? Oh.... well, yeh. I guess I can tell ya that one. You sure you wanna hear it? I don't put a gloss on things an' it ain't onna those pretty stories. Alright then - where t' start?
Naw.... me an' yer Ma didn't 'xactly have that 'love at first sight' thing goin' on. To be honest, kitten, we didn't even have like at first sight. Or second or third sight fer that matter.
Why not? Well, them fairy tales Drake likes t' tell may not lead ya t' believe it, but very few folks do that 'love at first sight' thing. Any way, back when we first met, me an' 'Ro weren't even on th' same side in fights. Did we ever fight each other? Yeh.... huh? Well, I guess we came out about even. I mean, I got in my share o' licks, but so did she. We're both still around, ain't we? That part ain't so important no more.
What sides were there? Well, there were all kinda sides back in them days, kids. Ol' Xavier, he wanted equal co-existance.... mutants an' humans workin' side-by-side. Magneto wanted mutants as th' rulers with humans bein' second class citizens... or less. Then there were mutant an' human radicals that each wanted th' other side wiped out totally or enslaved. Most folks? Well, I'd guess that most folks weren't on any side really -- they flat out didn't care 'bout things 'less it directly affected them.
'Ro? Well, she was on th' side fer co-existance. I never could believe in that stuff back then myself. Yeh, we got some things in common with humans, but house cats got things in common with lions too. Don't see them livin' t'gether in peace an' harmony neither, do ya? Not that I'm gonna knock folks that wanted t' try it. I don't think o' things now quite th' same as I did then, but even back then, I hadda admit it took balls t' stand up fer peace when some yahoos were tryin' t' kill you. Any way, it was a nice thought. What was that? Yep... you got that right, Charlie. Nice an' practical don't go hand-in-hand much.
In a lotta ways, the details don't matter. You just need t' know that back then, I had a whole lotta hate goin' on. Against humans. Against authority. Even against other mutants. I'd find temporary fixes here an' there that'd allow me t' think straight, but they never lasted. At least not until that day that one human group went way too far. Helluva thing fer a man t' have t' be grateful for.