Here we go, another chapter. Yes, the title is based on a Disney song, don't tease me. Enjoy.
Chapter 9
Lesson Number One
"Sorry about lessons being cancelled yesterday," Siobhan apologized as she and the other teachers of sorts made their way into the field by the temple, much the same as they had the day before, though for the three party animals were noticeably less hung-over. Siobhan was also in a much lighter mood than she had been the previous night. She was breezy and glowing, a true picture of serene exuberance – an oxymoron, yet a fitting description.
"Hope you guys got plenty of rest," Quinn chuckled. "She's been like this all morning, like she put speed in her cereal."
"High on life, Quinn. High on life," Siobhan insisted playfully. "I'd like to see you feel this good in the morning."
"It's been done, though it usually requires either drugs, sex or alcohol. See all of the above for drastic results," Quinn rebuked.
"Now, Quinn, I doubt you know what it's like to revel in the highs of sex," Siobhan purred. "With someone other than yourself, that is."
"Can it, Von," Quinn quipped. "I could say something of the same for you. When's the last time you've had anyone but you're lonesome self to have a bit of fun with?"
"Not nearly as long ago as you think," she retorted.
The X-Men, in their few short days here had come to appreciate Siobhan and Quinn's teasing banter.
"Should we not get started, Siobhan?" Asha asked. "Seeing as how we missed out on yesterday."
"No, Ash, let's just stand around all day," Siobhan giggled.
"But that would be counterproductive," Asha replied. She really couldn't grasp the concept of sarcasm.
"I was… never mind," Siobhan sighed. "Get with your instructors guys, you have a long day ahead of you."
XxX
"Quinn, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I really don't see how this is going to help my shape shifting," Rahne said, staring incredulously at the field of sheep that Quinn had asked her to herd. Yes, as in herd like a sheepdog. Put as politely as possible, what the hell was he thinking?
"I asked the same thing when I was your age," Quinn chuckled. "I used to catch Siobhan down by the cliffs, throwing stuff in the ocean. Little did I know at the time that it was stuff she wanted me to find. I can't tell you how long I played Owl Scavenger Hunt in the Atlantic. But in the end, I figured out how to tap into a bunch of owl qualities I didn't even know I had. It's all about getting in touch with your inner animal," he explained.
"And I suppose you're gonna have Jamie make as many duplicates of himself as possible," Rahne quipped.
Quinn laughed. "Something like that."
Rahne let out a long sigh as she watched Jamie roll down a nearby hill, a new duplicate spitting out at every rotation. Did this guy really know what he was doing?
XxX
"Mr. Summers, do you see that target downfield?" Asha asked, looking at Scott intensely. She was no make-believe warrior princess like Siobhan had been when they first met her. No, Asha Johnson was a true warrior, a fact that was best not to be forgotten.
"Yes Ms. Johnson," he replied, holding back the urge to salute only because he knew mocking the pissed off South African wouldn't be wise.
"And Mr. da Costa, Mr. Guthrie, I imagine you can see your own targets?" Asha asked the boys, who nodded. There were three targets set up in the field about 50 feet away. They were all archery targets, Roberto's being standard size, Scott's having a bull's-eye the size of a basketball and Sam's bull's-eye being the size of a hula-hoop.
"I want you to hit the bull's-eye," she ordered. That wasn't anything new. The Professor had them do similar drills all the time. What was new however was the distance factor. Normally, Logan or the Professor would have the targets set up twenty feet away, maybe thirty. But this was farther than they'd ever tried to shoot, and for good reason.
"Not to undermine your authority, Ms. Johnson, but Professor Xavier told us not to do target practice at such a great distance. I'm sure you have your reasons for wanting the targets to be placed for away, but isn't it true that from such a great distance, there's a greater risk of misfiring?" Roberto asked, trying not to anger the warrior.
"Of course," Asha agreed. "I'd never advise any of you to attempt long-range shots in battle. Not until you've been properly trained. That's why this is called target practice. But in time, you'll find that hitting a target from a distance of up to a couple hundred feet to be rather simple. Do you see that target?" Asha asked, pointing downfield. They boys squinted but could vaguely make out she shape of another target about two hundred feet away from where they stood. Without so much as a moments pause, Asha brought her hand up and shot a bolt of lightning out of her palm. It landed with a loud smack in the center of the target, knocking it over.
"See? Practice."
XxX
"Ooohhmmm… You are one with the wind, the earth, to sun. Feel it anchor you to the ground, the grass holding steadfast, drawing you home… Ooohhmmm…" Miguel chanted in a deep, meditative voice.
"Miguel," Kitty began, using the same pensive tone of voice as her mentor… and apparently yoga instructor. "Like, why are we meditating?"
"Because, Kitty dearest, we are not like the others," Miguel explained in a calm, relaxed voice. "While others channel and control the energy within, we become it. We are energy and therefore, need to be grounded to fully harness our abilities without fear of being taken over by them."
"Taken over?" Kurt asked anxiously.
"It's a scary concept, understandably, but yes, it can happen. Imagine, Kurt, if you couldn't stop teleporting, jumping from place to place without a moment's peace. And you, Kitty, what if you couldn't become solid again, to not be able to touch and most importantly, eat. And Remy, if you couldn't touch anything without having it explode," Miguel continued. "I got stuck as Invisible Miguel for almost three weeks once. It was actually one of the main reasons I came to here. There are whisperings all across the mutant communities of this place, but still, it's hard to find. Siobhan is usually going out to scout, not getting at doorstep."
"So, like, we should totally meditate," Kitty said, nodding in mild panic.
"Yeah, great, wonderful, let's do this… meditation thingy," Kurt added, seconding Kitty's panicking notion.
"Remy agrees," Remy finished, his voice laced with worry.
"Very well," Miguel replied, suppressing a smirk. Not that his story hadn't been true, but sometimes people could be so easily freaked.
"Ooohhmmm…"
XxX
"Welcome to my garden," Rani said, timidly. She had led them through her house, a lovely and humble four bedroom stone cabin, much like the ones the X-Men were staying in only larger and more homey. Lance, Bobby and Amara were greeted by Rani's husband. He introduced himself as Hari; he and Rani had been married for twelve years and had two children together, a girl and a boy. Their daughter, Indira, was six years old and their son, Lahar, was nine. They insisted their guests have tea before jumping into work, and the X-Men in question felt quite comfortable sitting with Rani and her husband. They were both very interesting, intellectual people.
They had finished their tea a few short moments ago and they were now being led by Rani into her back yard, into her garden. Hari had joked that it was like Rani's third child but they had all assumed he was being sarcastic. He was not.
"This looks incredible, Rani," Amara complimented, looking around at the huge expanse of garden. It was divided into three clear sections; vegetables, flowers, and fruits. There was a section off to the side where a bench rested under two short, quaint trees beside a koi pond.
"Thank you, Amara," Rani said, blushing slightly at the praise she had been given. "I put a lot of work into it."
"It shows," Bobby assured her.
"You're really an incredible gardener," Lance added.
"Well, that's good," Rani said, smiling. "Everything I grow here is edible, even the flowers. All the produce that's in your fridges and pantries is grown right here."
"That's too cool," Bobby exclaimed.
"I'm glad you're so intrigued by the idea of being self-sustainable," Rani said. "We have windmills, solar panels and even a few water turbines to provide us with electricity. We've also got a small farm down the hill where we get fresh milk and eggs. We have chicken and fish all year round and beef and ham is cured and smoked in the fall. I could take you sometime, if you'd like," she offered.
"That would be incredible," Amara chirped.
"Alright, I'll talk with the McGuires tonight, they run the farm. Maybe we'll head up tomorrow. But for now, why don't we all sit and talk about what it means to draw your powers from the earth and how the way you treat it affects the way it cooperates with you."
XxX
"Okay, dish," Siobhan ordered, sitting down the arm of the chair Rogue was sitting in. Jean and Rogue were with Siobhan in her house, in her living room, lounging around as they listened to Siobhan bubble away about how beautiful of a day it was. Maybe Quinn had been on to something.
"Dish?" Rogue questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, about you and Remy," Siobhan elaborated. Rogue sighed. Damn, Siobhan could be such a…a…a girl!
"It was so sweet. He drew me a bath and made us a picnic down by the water," Rogue gushed. Okay, so maybe she could be a girl sometimes too, seemingly against her will.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Von squeaked, smiling ear to ear. "Isn't romance just so beautiful? Did you guys, you know, do anything?"
"He's alive isn't he," Rogue scoffed.
"So you really can't even touch him a little?" Siobhan asked, incredulous. "Not even a little peck on the cheek?"
"No," Rogue grumbled.
"At least you have someone who actually wants to touch you," Jean sighed. "Damn him, what does he think he's playing at! It seems so much like he likes me, that is until I come anywhere near him at which point he suddenly can't get away from me fast enough."
"Boys are silly," Siobhan giggled. "You just have to know what buttons to push."
There was a ding from the kitchen and Siobhan's face lit up in excitement.
"Cookies," she practically sang.
As Siobhan stood both girls noticed, there on her bare back where he uncharacteristically concealing shit had ridden up, a set of three slash wounds, angry, red, and as far as they could tell, recent.
"Siobhan, what happened to your back?" Rouge asked suddenly, catching a slight blush on Siobhan's cheeks before the succubus-like mutant managed to compose herself.
"It's nothing," she said, pulling down her shirt. "I merely got a bit carried away in my fun, nothing to worry about."
"Your fun?" Jean wondered.
"Oh God," Rogue gasped. "Jean, where have we seen claws like those before?"
"Um, on Logan but he was…" Jean trailed off, putting two and two together, gasping. "He was here, last night to pick up Ray!"
Siobhan was blushing intensely now.
"Siobhan?" Rogue said, pleading silently that she would tell them they were wrong.
Siobhan shook her head and chuckled lightly before divulging, "The man is animal."
"Oh my God, T.M.I," Jean squealed at the same time Rogue shouted, "My ears, they bleed!"
"Alright, alright," Siobhan giggled. "I won't talk details about what your something of a daddy-dearest and I got up to last night."
"Please," both girls answered at once, not wanting to be exposed to the horror of thinking about Logan in bed.
"Relax girls, I won't do anything to scar you…yet," Siobhan teased. "Now, I have cookies to remove from the oven before they burn. When I get back, however, we will be discussing someone's love life, and if not mine, it'll have to be one of yours."
"Not to put a damper on this little girlfest we've got going, but I thought you were going to be teaching us about our powers, Von," Jean said before Siobhan could disappear into the kitchen.
"I am," Siobhan replied. "We're Psyche users, remember. It's all about what's going on in our heads. The best way to control our powers is to deal with out emotions and at our age, no feeing is more prominent than our need to fornicate."
"Did you have to be so crude about things?" Jean scoffed, but soon lost her composure and giggled when she saw Siobhan's perplexed face.
"Crude? What part of having sexual desires is complex that I could ever be crude? As humans, we crave to be touched and stimulated. It's only natural. I don't see why you lot get so embarrassed at the concept. Now, if you'd allow, I really must get to the kitchen because these cookies are going to burn."
