Chapter Five- Tests, E-Mails, and A Visit
Erine's eyes widened at the sight of the Danger Room in action. She was with Professor X and Ororo in that little bubble thingy he's usually in, with the control panel and elevator. (AN: Hey, I don't know what it's called! The Control Area? Je ne sais pas! *I don't know!*) Ororo was busy directing the robots and lasers and stuff, and so she didn't contribute to the conversation Charles and Erine were having. The... INterESting... conversation. (AN: *evil grin*) She felt she shouldn't intrude.
"Aaaiiiee!" Erine placed her hand on the glass as Kurt narrowly missed a laser beam.
"It is alright, Erine. The are used to this training."
"This be... train-ing?"
"Yes, Erine. That reminds me... You need a name."
"Name? I have name! Name be Erine!"
The Prof chuckled. "That is not quite the name I meant... but oh well. For example, Scott has the name Cyclops, Ms. Ororo has the name Storm, and Mr. Logan has the name Wolverine. Do you remember Amarantha? Her other name is Everlast. Kurt has the name Nightcrawler, and Kitty has the name Shadowcat."
"Kitty? She be kah?"
"... Oh, no. No, Kitty is still sick. She is not down there, Erine."
"Oh... What be you? What be Jean? And Miracle and Ms. Meos?"
"Jean is... Jean. She has no other name, when she fights. I, on the other hand..." Professor X had to pause to laugh at the thought of him fighting... under an assumed name! "I do not need another name, Erine. I do not fight. Ms. Meos rarely fights, but when she does, she keeps Meos. And Miracle is like Jean- she keeps her name, Miracle."
"Oh," Erine said, in that way she does, with her voice sliding from extremely high to moderately high. "Be these name fight?"
"Right. Those are their fighting names. Also, maybe Ms. Meos will give you a cloak like hers."
"Cloak?" Erine asked, confused.
"Uhh... the cape, and hood, she wore. The long black coat with a hood that hid her face."
"Oh! That be cloak?"
"Yes, that is a cloak."
"Aaaiiiee!" Erine laughed. "She me give cloak of her! Night of the last, remember?"
The Prof looked at her quizzically, then smiled. "Oh yes. She gave you her cloak to keep you warm before you got your clothes. Yes, I remember, Erine."
"She me give cloak to keep?"
"One like it, yes. If you ask her."
"Oh, me her ask! Aaaiiiee!" Erine laughed. "What be mine name fight?"
"You should ask the others what they think. I am sure they will give you some good ideas." The Prof smiled.
"Kah!" Erine grinned as she looked at her new family down below. "It be turn of me?"
"Are you sure you are ready to handle it?"
Erine closed her eyes and glowed softly. The Prof chuckled.
"Alright, okay. Yes, you can go. Be careful, though... Watch out!"
"Kah!" Erine smiled innocently as she entered the room.
Immediately, the large robot thingies attacked her. She somersaulted out of the way and landed facing them, her hands poised, ready to attack. She hissed, bearing her fangs. It attacked again, shooting electric shocks at her. (AN: Cyclops said something about cannons and tentacles... I think. I see it as lasers and giant claws... Oh well, to each their own!) Erine dodged to the side and clawed it through on her way up. It short-circuted and fell to the floor in a heap. Erine slinked backwards, backing into the wall, tense as she could ever be, carefully watching. Suddenly, an giant claw focused on her, it's electric arc aimed and ready. Her eyes widened and she handspringed away just in time. She began to glow, as the laser neared her. She pointed one long fingernail at the claw thingy, and suddenly-
BOOM! Light crackled from Erine's finger as it shot halfway across the room to the generator. Sparks flew as the laser stopped just short of her pink button nose.
"Hssss... Reaow!" she warned, her eyebrows narrowed, her lips pursed together, her whiskers twitching. Her hands were ready to strike whatever came her way again...
Clap... clap... clap... Clapclapclapclapclapclap...
Suddenly the room erupted with applause, as all the giant claws and laser thingies got sucked back into the wall. Cyclops even whistled, which resulted in a look from Jean. Surprised, Erine's cat ear twitched, and she looked up to see everyone's smiling faces, even Evan, who was out of uniform and standing to the side, his arm in the cast. He would have been ready if anyone had messed up and fired at him, anyway. Nightcrawler walked over to Erine and placed an arm around her shoulders. The applause silenced as soon as Nightcrawler began to speak.
"Velcome... I, I mean, Greetings to ze... uhh, Greetings to our X-Men team... Katze." *Boy, zis vill take some getting used to,* he thought.
"Katze? Katze be mine name fight?"
Nightcrawler laughed. "Ja, if you like it."
"Katze? I like!" Erine grinned. "Sound like Katzchen!"
Nightcrawler froze. "Katchen? How do you know..."
Erine shrugged. "I... hear you say to Kitty."
Nightcrawler looked at Erine weird, but then shrugged. "Vhatever."
"Katze, huh? What is that?" Wolverine asked.
"Katze is Erine's fighting name. It is also German for cat."
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*Sender: XShadowKittyX (Kitty Pryde)
Recipient: LionPryde (Mom and Dad)
Subject: I'm ready to die!
Date: 11:11:11 AM Eastern Time, Sunday, December 21
Contents:
I'm so going to cry as I'm typing this. Rogue lost Katherine! She says she didn't lose her, she just can't find her. But I totally know she totally knows the truth. My Katherine is missing! And I can't do anything about it! And I'm talking about big chances if she's found! I know Kurt said that she still has her collar on, but still, she could get it caught on something or something or something like that! She could be anywhere! Oh, what if she's hungry, and cold, or hurt? What if she's lying in a gutter somewhere bleeding to death? Oh, Mom! Dad!
As I said before, I can't do anything! Rogue threatened to make Mir conjure a straightjacket just so I would stay in bed. I can barely get up anyway. I either sneeze or cough till my throat is raw. I'm still sick. Kurt's trying so hard to comfort me... Mara is too, pratically everyone is... I just wish they'd shut up and look for Katherine more! Even Evan- I don't give a damn about his broken arm!
Depsite my feelings of despair, we have a new student. This girl was out in the cold, hungry, without anyone, in a strange land- she can't speak English too well. Ms. Meos, Kurt, and Rogue found her outside, with only a few rags for clothes. She has cat ears, whiskers on her cheeks, a thin tail, and fangs and long sharp nails. Her mutation is to generate heated light from her body- I guess she could've survived the sudden outside. I can use one word to describe her personality, and that is innocent. I guess her laugh is cute, and she has a really high pitched voice. But she doesn't know much English, so that makes her seem really young. She's cheerful alot, and kind, I guess. She did stop by last night to tell me to feel better. Her name is Erin*
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"Erine be to have two 'e.'" Erine said, peering over Kitty's shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, Erine! Totally don't do that!"
Erine looked at Kitty questioningly.
"Do not look at my e-mail!" Kitty said.
"Oh, my sorry. But Erine be to have two 'e.'"
"Huh? Oh, your name. Hey, since when can you read?"
"I read mine name. Erine be to have two 'e.'" (AN: She pronounced "read" like "reed," not "red.")
"Huh? Oh, like this?" Kitty added an "e" after Erine's name. Erine smiled.
"Yes, like this. That be name of me."
"That is how you spell it?"
A pause, "Yes. Erine Calbby. E... r... i... n... e... C... a... l... b... b.. y... Oh, that be all!"
"But... Oh, nevermind. Thank you for telling me, Erine."
"You're welcome!"
Kitty went back to typing.
"Kitty be good to feel?" Erine asked.
"Huh? Oh, no. No, I am not feeling better."
"Oh. That be bad. You need good to feel."
Kitty paused, "Erine? How old are you?"
"Old? Oh... I... I have..." Erine paused. "I have fourteen years!"
"I thought you, like, told everyone you couldn't count above ten!"
"Uh? Eh? Oh, I that know. I know just age. Age above ten, I think." Erine's smile quickly turned into a frown as Kitty went back to typing. "Something bother you. What be it?"
"It's nothing important," Kittty was quick to say.
A pause. "It be must! You be sad, Kitty!"
"No, I am not."
"Yes, you be."
"No, I'm, like, totally not!"
"Yes, you be."
"Erine!"
Erine lowered her head sadly. "My sorry..."
Kitty sighed and put her laptop aside. "No, my sor- I, I mean, I'm sorry. I am sorry. It wasn't... was not your fault. I'm in... I am not in a good mood. I could blame it on being sick, I could blame it on being tired, but I can't. I can not."
"You me forgive?" Erine looked at Kitty hopefully.
"You did not do anything wrong!"
"You me forgive?"
Kitty sighed. "Yes."
Erine grinned. "Aaaiiiee! Good, good! I you not want to feel mad! Or sad!"
Kitty blinked. "I actually made sense of that. Wow!"
Erine giggled again. "Aaaiiiee! You me know good!"
"... Now, that could be taken two ways. You're either saying 'I know you well,' or 'you know me well.' But, if you had wanted to say 'I know you well,' you would have said 'Me you know well,' wouldn't you?"
Erine blinked. "Eh?"
"I take that as a yes," Kitty said. "Oh... nevermind, I'm totally confusing myself too." Kitty shook her head, but soon regretted it.
"Ah... ah... aCHOO!" Kitty sneezed, almost phazing through her laptop, but stopped herself just in time.
"Eh... eh... Blesses you!" Erine said.
Kitty laughed. "Oh, that was close."
"You kill computer, almost!"
"Yeah, that would have a total bummer!" Kitty opened the laptop and resumed typing, carrying on a conversation with Erine at the same time.
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*-...Erine Calbby. She says that she's fourteen years old, even though she can only count up to ten. And she can only read her name- she fixed my spelling. I didn't know she had an extra 'e' and I was totally going to forget her last name, because I didn't know how it was spelled. She told me. Told ya she didn't know English. I don't think she even knows the alphabet.
Erine is really sweet, though. She can pick up on emotions real easily. She noticed that I was upset about Katherine, but I didn't tell her about it. She never yelled, but was stubborn. And when I yelled at her, she apologized! When I realized she thought she had done something wrong, I told her it wasn't her fault. I guess she didn't understand, 'cause she just apologized again. So I "forgave" her. She said she didn't want me mad at her... or sad. I think I'm totally beginning to clue in on her way of talking. And when I sneezed, she said "Blesses you!" in her childish voice. Cute, huh? I guess, so far, Erine is totally cool. I don't know if I will tell her about Katherine or not... Do I need another person in the pity party? Yet I'm sure she could help out... Oh, I dunno. Any advice?
Love,
Kitty.
PS: I'm just kidding about the whole "I'm ready to die!" thing... I think.*
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"Kitty? Medicine."
Kitty groaned as Mara somehow opened her door and set a tray down on the table.
"Honestly, I don't know why I'm the one who's doing this. Mir's the one who wants to be a pediatrician, not me..."
"That's my cue, sis. Mom says we're leaving soon. I'll take over." Mir walked through the doorway.
Kitty glanced from Mara to Mir. "Don't I get any say in this? Why can't I just give myself the medicine?"
Mara and Mir exchanged glances and laughed.
"Good one, Kitty. Alright, get better. I'll see ya when I see ya."
Mara left the room, leaving a grinning Mir with Kitty and her medicines. Kitty groaned once more.
"I'm, like, totally doomed..."
"Oh cheer up, Kitty. Open, as well."
Kitty downed her meds and grimaced. "Totally icksome."
Mir shrugged. "At least I'm not the one who's taking it!"
"Oh? You sure?" Kitty coughed harshly.
"Ohhh... that was low."
"Hey... Mir?"
"Yeah?"
"What's going on with Katherine? Anyone looking for her? I know she has her collar on, but still, somehting could happen, and I don't want her, like, killed or something like that!"
Mir sighed. "Kitty, if I knew, I would tell you in a heartbeat."
Kitty stifled a few sobs. "Thanks... I guess... Hey, what do you, like, know about Erine?"
Mir looked at Kitty strangely. "What do you mean? Why?"
"I'm curious. I don't get to, like, spend the whole day with her... well, not yet."
Mir shrugged. "Well... she's hard to describe." Mir then proceeded to go over the day's events with her friend, not leaving out a single detail about the new mutant.
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"Katherine... Katherine!" Kurt whispered as he walked through the woods surrounding the Institute. He decided he needed to look for her once more; he felt so bad for Kitty! He paused as he heard a ruffling in the bushes. "Katherine?"
"Kurt?" Kitty, all dressed, walked out from behind a tree. "What are you doing out here?"
"Kitty?! I'm asking you ze same zing! You're sick, Kitty, you should be in bed-"
"No! No, I'm fine now. I'm glad I ran into you... I need to talk to you." She grabbed his hand and led him to a tree with a low bending branch. She sat down and looked up at him.
"Vhat is zis all about, Kitty?" Kurt asked, concerned.
"This is about us... The X-Men."
"Ohh!" Kurt let out a sigh of relief. "I zought you vere dumping me!"
"Huh? Oh, no! No, I would never dump you. I love you," Kitty smiled and kissed him on the cheek. She sat back down and continued to look up at him with her big eyes, and held his hand in her own.
"Kurt... I feel so alone." Kitty sighed. "Let's face it, you and I are the only X-Men who can't fight offensively for ourselves. The others can; some of them can even do defensive too! But we're the only people who have only defense. No offensive powers. And how are we supposed to fight alongside the X-Men when all we can do is run away?"
Kurt looked at her seriously. "I've never zought of zat. You've zought zis zrough, haven't you?"
Kitty nodded. Kurt pulled his hand away slowly.
"Only, I see zree flaws. One: You couldn't have recovered from your cold zat quickly. I kept expecting you to sneeze mid-sentence and phaze zrough ze tree. Two: You're talking different. I know you couldn't have adjusted to Ms. Meos's instructions zat easily. No 'like' after every single vord? No 'totally' in between? Zree: Ze Kitty I know vould never zink like zat. She is devoted to ze X-Men... just like I am." Kurt stared into Kitty's eyes. "You aren't Kitty."
"Oh yeah?" She stood up.
"Ja. You couldn't phaze zrough zat tree even if you sneezed a million times... Mother."
Mystique changed to her mutant form.
"Kurt... Let me explain. I only want what's best for you."
"I don't zink you posing as my girlfriend is best for me," Kurt said, crossing his arms.
"I was trying to convince you! You'd never had listened to me if I came to you as myself!"
"True."
"Just listen to me, just this time! I am your mother and a fellow mutant!"
"You're also my enemy."
"That can be changed! It doesn't have to be that way!" Mystique grabbed one of Kurt's hands. "Son, come with me! I could give you so much more, you would be happy with me! We could be a family... together!"
"Kurt?" Kurt could hear Erine in the distance. "Where be you? Kitty you want! Professor say that you to be outside!"
Kurt glared at Mystique and pulled his hand away once more, this time with edge and anger. "No, Mother. My family is here. My girlfriend... is here. I'm learning here. I don't vant to live anyvhere else. And I vere to leave, I vould never go vith you. So leave me alone."
"Kurt..."
"No."
"Let me ask this one question: If I died, would you be sad?"
Kurt paused. "... I von't tell anyone zat you're here, if you leave immediately and quietly."
Kurt BAMFed away.
*See? What did I tell you?* A shallow voice asked Mystique. *Now, will you acccept my offer?*
Mystique sadly nodded her head, then turned into a raven and flew away.
Erine's eyes widened at the sight of the Danger Room in action. She was with Professor X and Ororo in that little bubble thingy he's usually in, with the control panel and elevator. (AN: Hey, I don't know what it's called! The Control Area? Je ne sais pas! *I don't know!*) Ororo was busy directing the robots and lasers and stuff, and so she didn't contribute to the conversation Charles and Erine were having. The... INterESting... conversation. (AN: *evil grin*) She felt she shouldn't intrude.
"Aaaiiiee!" Erine placed her hand on the glass as Kurt narrowly missed a laser beam.
"It is alright, Erine. The are used to this training."
"This be... train-ing?"
"Yes, Erine. That reminds me... You need a name."
"Name? I have name! Name be Erine!"
The Prof chuckled. "That is not quite the name I meant... but oh well. For example, Scott has the name Cyclops, Ms. Ororo has the name Storm, and Mr. Logan has the name Wolverine. Do you remember Amarantha? Her other name is Everlast. Kurt has the name Nightcrawler, and Kitty has the name Shadowcat."
"Kitty? She be kah?"
"... Oh, no. No, Kitty is still sick. She is not down there, Erine."
"Oh... What be you? What be Jean? And Miracle and Ms. Meos?"
"Jean is... Jean. She has no other name, when she fights. I, on the other hand..." Professor X had to pause to laugh at the thought of him fighting... under an assumed name! "I do not need another name, Erine. I do not fight. Ms. Meos rarely fights, but when she does, she keeps Meos. And Miracle is like Jean- she keeps her name, Miracle."
"Oh," Erine said, in that way she does, with her voice sliding from extremely high to moderately high. "Be these name fight?"
"Right. Those are their fighting names. Also, maybe Ms. Meos will give you a cloak like hers."
"Cloak?" Erine asked, confused.
"Uhh... the cape, and hood, she wore. The long black coat with a hood that hid her face."
"Oh! That be cloak?"
"Yes, that is a cloak."
"Aaaiiiee!" Erine laughed. "She me give cloak of her! Night of the last, remember?"
The Prof looked at her quizzically, then smiled. "Oh yes. She gave you her cloak to keep you warm before you got your clothes. Yes, I remember, Erine."
"She me give cloak to keep?"
"One like it, yes. If you ask her."
"Oh, me her ask! Aaaiiiee!" Erine laughed. "What be mine name fight?"
"You should ask the others what they think. I am sure they will give you some good ideas." The Prof smiled.
"Kah!" Erine grinned as she looked at her new family down below. "It be turn of me?"
"Are you sure you are ready to handle it?"
Erine closed her eyes and glowed softly. The Prof chuckled.
"Alright, okay. Yes, you can go. Be careful, though... Watch out!"
"Kah!" Erine smiled innocently as she entered the room.
Immediately, the large robot thingies attacked her. She somersaulted out of the way and landed facing them, her hands poised, ready to attack. She hissed, bearing her fangs. It attacked again, shooting electric shocks at her. (AN: Cyclops said something about cannons and tentacles... I think. I see it as lasers and giant claws... Oh well, to each their own!) Erine dodged to the side and clawed it through on her way up. It short-circuted and fell to the floor in a heap. Erine slinked backwards, backing into the wall, tense as she could ever be, carefully watching. Suddenly, an giant claw focused on her, it's electric arc aimed and ready. Her eyes widened and she handspringed away just in time. She began to glow, as the laser neared her. She pointed one long fingernail at the claw thingy, and suddenly-
BOOM! Light crackled from Erine's finger as it shot halfway across the room to the generator. Sparks flew as the laser stopped just short of her pink button nose.
"Hssss... Reaow!" she warned, her eyebrows narrowed, her lips pursed together, her whiskers twitching. Her hands were ready to strike whatever came her way again...
Clap... clap... clap... Clapclapclapclapclapclap...
Suddenly the room erupted with applause, as all the giant claws and laser thingies got sucked back into the wall. Cyclops even whistled, which resulted in a look from Jean. Surprised, Erine's cat ear twitched, and she looked up to see everyone's smiling faces, even Evan, who was out of uniform and standing to the side, his arm in the cast. He would have been ready if anyone had messed up and fired at him, anyway. Nightcrawler walked over to Erine and placed an arm around her shoulders. The applause silenced as soon as Nightcrawler began to speak.
"Velcome... I, I mean, Greetings to ze... uhh, Greetings to our X-Men team... Katze." *Boy, zis vill take some getting used to,* he thought.
"Katze? Katze be mine name fight?"
Nightcrawler laughed. "Ja, if you like it."
"Katze? I like!" Erine grinned. "Sound like Katzchen!"
Nightcrawler froze. "Katchen? How do you know..."
Erine shrugged. "I... hear you say to Kitty."
Nightcrawler looked at Erine weird, but then shrugged. "Vhatever."
"Katze, huh? What is that?" Wolverine asked.
"Katze is Erine's fighting name. It is also German for cat."
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*Sender: XShadowKittyX (Kitty Pryde)
Recipient: LionPryde (Mom and Dad)
Subject: I'm ready to die!
Date: 11:11:11 AM Eastern Time, Sunday, December 21
Contents:
I'm so going to cry as I'm typing this. Rogue lost Katherine! She says she didn't lose her, she just can't find her. But I totally know she totally knows the truth. My Katherine is missing! And I can't do anything about it! And I'm talking about big chances if she's found! I know Kurt said that she still has her collar on, but still, she could get it caught on something or something or something like that! She could be anywhere! Oh, what if she's hungry, and cold, or hurt? What if she's lying in a gutter somewhere bleeding to death? Oh, Mom! Dad!
As I said before, I can't do anything! Rogue threatened to make Mir conjure a straightjacket just so I would stay in bed. I can barely get up anyway. I either sneeze or cough till my throat is raw. I'm still sick. Kurt's trying so hard to comfort me... Mara is too, pratically everyone is... I just wish they'd shut up and look for Katherine more! Even Evan- I don't give a damn about his broken arm!
Depsite my feelings of despair, we have a new student. This girl was out in the cold, hungry, without anyone, in a strange land- she can't speak English too well. Ms. Meos, Kurt, and Rogue found her outside, with only a few rags for clothes. She has cat ears, whiskers on her cheeks, a thin tail, and fangs and long sharp nails. Her mutation is to generate heated light from her body- I guess she could've survived the sudden outside. I can use one word to describe her personality, and that is innocent. I guess her laugh is cute, and she has a really high pitched voice. But she doesn't know much English, so that makes her seem really young. She's cheerful alot, and kind, I guess. She did stop by last night to tell me to feel better. Her name is Erin*
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"Erine be to have two 'e.'" Erine said, peering over Kitty's shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, Erine! Totally don't do that!"
Erine looked at Kitty questioningly.
"Do not look at my e-mail!" Kitty said.
"Oh, my sorry. But Erine be to have two 'e.'"
"Huh? Oh, your name. Hey, since when can you read?"
"I read mine name. Erine be to have two 'e.'" (AN: She pronounced "read" like "reed," not "red.")
"Huh? Oh, like this?" Kitty added an "e" after Erine's name. Erine smiled.
"Yes, like this. That be name of me."
"That is how you spell it?"
A pause, "Yes. Erine Calbby. E... r... i... n... e... C... a... l... b... b.. y... Oh, that be all!"
"But... Oh, nevermind. Thank you for telling me, Erine."
"You're welcome!"
Kitty went back to typing.
"Kitty be good to feel?" Erine asked.
"Huh? Oh, no. No, I am not feeling better."
"Oh. That be bad. You need good to feel."
Kitty paused, "Erine? How old are you?"
"Old? Oh... I... I have..." Erine paused. "I have fourteen years!"
"I thought you, like, told everyone you couldn't count above ten!"
"Uh? Eh? Oh, I that know. I know just age. Age above ten, I think." Erine's smile quickly turned into a frown as Kitty went back to typing. "Something bother you. What be it?"
"It's nothing important," Kittty was quick to say.
A pause. "It be must! You be sad, Kitty!"
"No, I am not."
"Yes, you be."
"No, I'm, like, totally not!"
"Yes, you be."
"Erine!"
Erine lowered her head sadly. "My sorry..."
Kitty sighed and put her laptop aside. "No, my sor- I, I mean, I'm sorry. I am sorry. It wasn't... was not your fault. I'm in... I am not in a good mood. I could blame it on being sick, I could blame it on being tired, but I can't. I can not."
"You me forgive?" Erine looked at Kitty hopefully.
"You did not do anything wrong!"
"You me forgive?"
Kitty sighed. "Yes."
Erine grinned. "Aaaiiiee! Good, good! I you not want to feel mad! Or sad!"
Kitty blinked. "I actually made sense of that. Wow!"
Erine giggled again. "Aaaiiiee! You me know good!"
"... Now, that could be taken two ways. You're either saying 'I know you well,' or 'you know me well.' But, if you had wanted to say 'I know you well,' you would have said 'Me you know well,' wouldn't you?"
Erine blinked. "Eh?"
"I take that as a yes," Kitty said. "Oh... nevermind, I'm totally confusing myself too." Kitty shook her head, but soon regretted it.
"Ah... ah... aCHOO!" Kitty sneezed, almost phazing through her laptop, but stopped herself just in time.
"Eh... eh... Blesses you!" Erine said.
Kitty laughed. "Oh, that was close."
"You kill computer, almost!"
"Yeah, that would have a total bummer!" Kitty opened the laptop and resumed typing, carrying on a conversation with Erine at the same time.
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*-...Erine Calbby. She says that she's fourteen years old, even though she can only count up to ten. And she can only read her name- she fixed my spelling. I didn't know she had an extra 'e' and I was totally going to forget her last name, because I didn't know how it was spelled. She told me. Told ya she didn't know English. I don't think she even knows the alphabet.
Erine is really sweet, though. She can pick up on emotions real easily. She noticed that I was upset about Katherine, but I didn't tell her about it. She never yelled, but was stubborn. And when I yelled at her, she apologized! When I realized she thought she had done something wrong, I told her it wasn't her fault. I guess she didn't understand, 'cause she just apologized again. So I "forgave" her. She said she didn't want me mad at her... or sad. I think I'm totally beginning to clue in on her way of talking. And when I sneezed, she said "Blesses you!" in her childish voice. Cute, huh? I guess, so far, Erine is totally cool. I don't know if I will tell her about Katherine or not... Do I need another person in the pity party? Yet I'm sure she could help out... Oh, I dunno. Any advice?
Love,
Kitty.
PS: I'm just kidding about the whole "I'm ready to die!" thing... I think.*
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"Kitty? Medicine."
Kitty groaned as Mara somehow opened her door and set a tray down on the table.
"Honestly, I don't know why I'm the one who's doing this. Mir's the one who wants to be a pediatrician, not me..."
"That's my cue, sis. Mom says we're leaving soon. I'll take over." Mir walked through the doorway.
Kitty glanced from Mara to Mir. "Don't I get any say in this? Why can't I just give myself the medicine?"
Mara and Mir exchanged glances and laughed.
"Good one, Kitty. Alright, get better. I'll see ya when I see ya."
Mara left the room, leaving a grinning Mir with Kitty and her medicines. Kitty groaned once more.
"I'm, like, totally doomed..."
"Oh cheer up, Kitty. Open, as well."
Kitty downed her meds and grimaced. "Totally icksome."
Mir shrugged. "At least I'm not the one who's taking it!"
"Oh? You sure?" Kitty coughed harshly.
"Ohhh... that was low."
"Hey... Mir?"
"Yeah?"
"What's going on with Katherine? Anyone looking for her? I know she has her collar on, but still, somehting could happen, and I don't want her, like, killed or something like that!"
Mir sighed. "Kitty, if I knew, I would tell you in a heartbeat."
Kitty stifled a few sobs. "Thanks... I guess... Hey, what do you, like, know about Erine?"
Mir looked at Kitty strangely. "What do you mean? Why?"
"I'm curious. I don't get to, like, spend the whole day with her... well, not yet."
Mir shrugged. "Well... she's hard to describe." Mir then proceeded to go over the day's events with her friend, not leaving out a single detail about the new mutant.
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"Katherine... Katherine!" Kurt whispered as he walked through the woods surrounding the Institute. He decided he needed to look for her once more; he felt so bad for Kitty! He paused as he heard a ruffling in the bushes. "Katherine?"
"Kurt?" Kitty, all dressed, walked out from behind a tree. "What are you doing out here?"
"Kitty?! I'm asking you ze same zing! You're sick, Kitty, you should be in bed-"
"No! No, I'm fine now. I'm glad I ran into you... I need to talk to you." She grabbed his hand and led him to a tree with a low bending branch. She sat down and looked up at him.
"Vhat is zis all about, Kitty?" Kurt asked, concerned.
"This is about us... The X-Men."
"Ohh!" Kurt let out a sigh of relief. "I zought you vere dumping me!"
"Huh? Oh, no! No, I would never dump you. I love you," Kitty smiled and kissed him on the cheek. She sat back down and continued to look up at him with her big eyes, and held his hand in her own.
"Kurt... I feel so alone." Kitty sighed. "Let's face it, you and I are the only X-Men who can't fight offensively for ourselves. The others can; some of them can even do defensive too! But we're the only people who have only defense. No offensive powers. And how are we supposed to fight alongside the X-Men when all we can do is run away?"
Kurt looked at her seriously. "I've never zought of zat. You've zought zis zrough, haven't you?"
Kitty nodded. Kurt pulled his hand away slowly.
"Only, I see zree flaws. One: You couldn't have recovered from your cold zat quickly. I kept expecting you to sneeze mid-sentence and phaze zrough ze tree. Two: You're talking different. I know you couldn't have adjusted to Ms. Meos's instructions zat easily. No 'like' after every single vord? No 'totally' in between? Zree: Ze Kitty I know vould never zink like zat. She is devoted to ze X-Men... just like I am." Kurt stared into Kitty's eyes. "You aren't Kitty."
"Oh yeah?" She stood up.
"Ja. You couldn't phaze zrough zat tree even if you sneezed a million times... Mother."
Mystique changed to her mutant form.
"Kurt... Let me explain. I only want what's best for you."
"I don't zink you posing as my girlfriend is best for me," Kurt said, crossing his arms.
"I was trying to convince you! You'd never had listened to me if I came to you as myself!"
"True."
"Just listen to me, just this time! I am your mother and a fellow mutant!"
"You're also my enemy."
"That can be changed! It doesn't have to be that way!" Mystique grabbed one of Kurt's hands. "Son, come with me! I could give you so much more, you would be happy with me! We could be a family... together!"
"Kurt?" Kurt could hear Erine in the distance. "Where be you? Kitty you want! Professor say that you to be outside!"
Kurt glared at Mystique and pulled his hand away once more, this time with edge and anger. "No, Mother. My family is here. My girlfriend... is here. I'm learning here. I don't vant to live anyvhere else. And I vere to leave, I vould never go vith you. So leave me alone."
"Kurt..."
"No."
"Let me ask this one question: If I died, would you be sad?"
Kurt paused. "... I von't tell anyone zat you're here, if you leave immediately and quietly."
Kurt BAMFed away.
*See? What did I tell you?* A shallow voice asked Mystique. *Now, will you acccept my offer?*
Mystique sadly nodded her head, then turned into a raven and flew away.