Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that X-men and related characters are property of Marvel Comics and Disney.

X-men RE; Book 1: REset

Chapter 2: Cess's Roommate

The meeting with the RA's was the typical stuff Cessily was used to from cheer camp: keep the noise down, clean up after yourself, no boys in your room with the doors closed, no drinking, no smoking, no drugs. The two girls' RA's were a dark-skinned girl with white hair who introduced herself as Ororo, and a green haired (what was up with all these people with weird hair?) fuss-budget named Betsy Braddock, who talked with a British accent that Cessily thought was only used in the movies.

Of the two, Cessily decided she'd look for Ororo first if she ever needed an RA; not that she intended to ever need one if she could help it.

Once the meeting was over, they got their room assignments and were directed to the back porch of the residence hall to pick up their luggage.

Unlike cheer camp, Cessily was packed light. Thanks to being made of metal now, she didn't need anything in the way of toiletries, and her skin and hair were so slick that even if she had something that could enhance a silver complexion, it wouldn't stay on for long. She also didn't have to eat or drink, so she had no use for a hot plate, water filter or anything else food related.

In the end, she only had a single suitcase full of clothes and her laptop bag. Claiming those, she quickly headed to her room to make sure she got the better bed.

She didn't have to worry. Before becoming a dorm room, her's, like all the others, had been guest rooms in the massive Xavier mansion. The ceiling was high, the floors were hardwood, and the beds both looked bigger than her father's car.

"If nothing else, I'll be comfortable." She mused aloud before putting her suitcase on the bed next to the window to claim it. Before she could open it, however, something caught her notice: the room had an eastern exposure. So when the sun rose every morning, it would turn her into the world's only sapient disco ball.

Sighing, she picked up her suitcase and moved it to the other bed. "Hope you appreciate it..." She checked the paper with her roommate's name on it, "Sarah Rushman. I used to really like getting up at sunrise on Saturdays."

With Sarah Rushman nowhere in evidence, and her sleeping arrangement chosen by the less than considerate direction the Earth rotated, she set about unpacking. It didn't take long before she had an empty suitcase and a room that looked just as bare as when she started.

"Okay, To Do List Number One: Posters, plants, maybe a small, tasteful fountain."

A soft laugh made her jump. She turned around the see that it was the first green haired girl, the one she'd seen during the tour. Flush with embarrassment from her faux pas, she belatedly knocked on the open door. "Sorry."

"No, that's okay. Just trying to figure out how I'm going to make this place look like home. Hi, I'm Cessily Kincaid. But you can call me Cess if you want."

"Lorna Dane." the girl replied in a quiet voice. And I guess you can call me Polaris?"

Cessily raised an eyebrow. This shy girl couldn't be up to anything that required a codename. "Excuse me?" She asked lamely.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Lorna affected a shrug. "My father thinks we should all have our legal name, then a homo superior name. And apparently mine's Polaris." Her voice sped up so she could get away from the topic of her family, "But anyway, we're neighbors. Sharing a bathroom."

Bathrooms were another thing that were no longer in Cessily's purview. "Oh, well it's nice to meet you. Have you met your roommate yet?"

Lorna gave her a thankful look for not asking after her father. Just saying homo superior was enough to make any mutant know who she was talking about, especially so soon after his book tour and the attendant public outcry at his insinuations the mutation and the X-gene were part of the natural progression; and that mutants would eventually become the dominant species.

"I have, actually. She talks a lot, but she's really nice. She's from Wales an—" The next part was cut off in a squeal as someone shoved past her into the room.

It was the girl who had been standing behind Cessily during the tour, the one with the bones growing out of her skin. "Pretties better watch out. Next time, they might get trampled." She muttered. Without even acknowledging Cessily, she went to the middle of the room and paused, looking around with a sharp, animal glare.

Lorna stared, scandalized and confused at the newcomer. "Did she just... and then.."

Cessily shrugged sympathetically and tried to get the rude girl's attention. "Um, hi. I'm Cessily, and this is Lorna. Are you Sarah?"

The girl glanced back suspiciously and spoke with dangerous slowness, "Marrow."

After a beat, Lorna couldn't seem to help herself. "Oh, because of the bones."

"I guess she's read your dad's book." Cessily quickly put herself between Marrow and Lorna in case the former got it in her head that the latter was being insulting. The incredibly cruel smile that spread itself across Marrow's face made her think she had the right idea in doing so.

Without saying a word, the rude girl reached up and took hold of one of the knobby outgrowths on the side of her head. Staring straight at Lorna, she very slowly pulled it out. The noise was nauseating, and the slick, red bone finally slipped free from her skin looked like a horror movie icepick. Both Cessily and Lorna recoiled from the display, which made Marrow's grin even wider.

She examined the bone in her hand a moment, and it must have passed muster, because she stowed it in the tattered jacket she wore over a faded old T-shirt and sweats, both too large for her. She also had an old, battered bookbag on her back. "Good. Now Pretty and Shiny will leave me alone. I'm only here because the Weather Witch promised a place to stay."

Cessily got over her revulsion over the bone quickly upon hearing that. "Weather Witch? You mean Storm? You know Storm? That is so cool!"

Now it was Marrow's turn to pull back, not used to enthusiasm in a positive context. Still, she never took her eyes off either girl in the room. "Yeah." She finally said with high hopes that a straight answer would make Cessily go away. "Ororo."

"Ororo the RA?" Cessily was oblivious to Marrow's discomfort. "Our RA? Lorna, did you hear that? This is amazing! RA's are like mentors, right? We're going to be mentees to Storm!"

"Is 'mentee' a word?" Lorna asked.

"Oh that's not important, aren't you excited?"

Lorna frowned. "Well... I guess she's famous and all, but I'm really not sure I want to be an X-man. They do a lot of good, but they're in danger all the time."

Cessily shook her head. "Lorna, don't worry about it. It's not like I want to be an X-woman myself. But how often do you live with someone famous and who has to have the most interesting stories ever." It was at that point that her brain finally caught up with her mouth. "...except you're related to someone famous and now I sound like a crazy, obsessive person..."

Now it was Lorna shaking her head. "Don't worry. I'm still getting used to it, actually. I didn't even know that my dad was my dad until my mother died last fall." She pursed her lips and looked at the floor. "That's when he found me."

Cessily's enthusiasm dissolved into a meltwater of sympathy. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"Thank you." Lorna tried to smile, but the pain was to recent. Once again, she found safety in changing the subject. "So, really, I'm just as new here as you are. My brother and sister, they're trying to show me the basics and everything, but... well I don't think they like me very much."

"Well I like you." Cessily offered, putting her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "And I'm an only child, so I know that you don't need a brother or sister to have lots of friends. I'm pretty much all unpacked, so how about we go meet some of our classmates?"

Behind her, a door slammed. Both girls looked to find Marrow missing and the closet that wasn't holding Cessily's clothes firmly closed.

"... Nicer people than my roommate."

A/N: Originally, Lorna was going to be a bit character with the joke being that Pietro and Wanda are terrible siblings, but she just came out too adorable not to be included in the 'main' group. Marrow was a natural for this series, as she got bumped from the Evolution roster in favor of Spyke (who was terrible) and then was a pretty interesting character in WatXM. She appears here with her later-day comics persona and her WatXM age.

Next Chapter: the girls meet the Greatest Comedy Duo in X-men history.