Hurray, I got to post this sooner than I thought I would. This is the
first chapter with anything from Wen's point of view.
Anyways, Nick's profile is next, and then Quill's.
Big thanks to everyone for all your help and suggestions! I like the name Fade for Kale, I'm probably gonna use that. Thanks Milly!
So far:
Nick: Shroud Kale: Fade Nena: Animate, or Animator
The professor blinked, startled. Laurie was looking right at him, she seemed scared of what they would do now that she had told them. She watched them with frightened brown eyes. There was something odd about the way the girl looked at them. Her expression was... childlike, and trusting... and unnatural. Something in those eyes suggested that she was holding on to sanity by a thread.
He felt as if he was stumbling around in the dark. In nearly any other circumstance he would have been able to see into her mind to determine whether or not she was sane, but the metal wall that kept him out of her thoughts seemed all but impenetrable, and confusing. The more he studied it the more he became certain that she was not in fact the one that was creating it. The barrier's origin, it seemed, would remain a mystery for the time being.
"What are these voices like?" Storm asked, breaking the silence.
Laurie looked both relived that someone had spoken, and uncertain of how to answer. "What do mean?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Well, for starters, what do they sound like?" Jean elaborated.
Laurie's brow furrowed in concentration. "They're all different. Some of them sound like adults, some are children, some are men, some are woman, and sometimes I can't tell. Some don't even talk in English. Right now most of them are whispering."
"Most of them?" the professor asked.
She looked sheepish. "One of them is screaming," she said in what was barely a whisper.
Xavier felt alarmed at that. "What is this voice saying?" he asked.
"I... I can't understand any of it. It's just screaming."
"What are the others saying?"
She looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, as if trying to hear something far away. "I can only understand one of them, but I've never heard that one before."
"What is it telling you?"
She hesitated. "The guy with the visor... Scott? There was a plane crash... his parents are dead, aren't they?"
"How did they... They told you that? The voices?" Jean asked. Now she looked alarmed.
Laurie nodded, not looking up. A tear fell onto her lap. "Most of the time when I can understand them they don't tell me anything... anything I want to hear."
"What do they normally speak to you about?" Storm asked, sitting down next to the distraught girl and putting her arm around her shoulders.
"They... yell about things... like death... and-and revenge and hurting people, some just cry, or scream a lot. I try to ignore them most of the time... but it's not always easy." She looked up at Xavier. He could feel the intensity behind that gaze boring into him. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she whispered.
Xavier considered his answer carefully before speaking. "I think, that like all of the students at the Institute, you are a remarkable young person. I also think that your ability is causing you a great deal of mental and emotional pain. Hopefully we will be able to teach you how to control your ability, to suppress it when you wish."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"No, thank you. If you had not stopped that fight, I am afraid many people could have been hurt over a misunderstanding. Never think of your ability as a curse, it can always be used for good."
She smiled at him.
The rest of their conversation was considerably less dramatic. Xavier discovered that while neither Laurie or Nicholas had ever attended public school, they had both been home schooled. Laurie was evasive about her own past, but she did tell them that she had no living relatives, and that she and Nicholas had known each other for most of their lives. Xavier also discovered that she was prone to both feinting and dizzy spells, but when he offered to have her blood tested for the common causes of such maladies, she became nervous, and seemed reluctant.
Throughout the entire conversation, Laurie would occasionally stare into space for a few moments, oblivious to her surroundings and then snap back into focus, and look at them apologetically. Sometimes she would begin to mutter under her breath, as if talking to someone, or rapidly shifting emotions would flicker across her face.
When they finished speaking, Jean lead her out of the room to the foyer where the other's were waiting. Just after she left Logan turned to the professor.
"Are ya sure she's a mutant and not just nuts?" Logan asked. If anyone else had heard him say it, they might have thought that Logan was serious, but Xavier could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.
"She is clearly a mutant," Xavier responded, "The 'voices' she describes could not have given her such accurate information otherwise. Whether she is entirely stable or not is another matter." He sighed, turning his wheelchair towards the window. "I feel rather... lost," he turned back towards Ororo and Logan. "At least one of these new students has suffered great emotional pain because of her power, and I fear that she might not be the only one. In the past I have always been confident in my ability to guide those who have come to the Institute. Yet, with young Laurie in particular, there is little I can do to ascertain her exact state of mind, which worries me to say the least."
Ororo placed her hand on his shoulder. "/I/ have confidence in you, Xavier. Perhaps this will not be easy, but we will do what we can, all those children deserve a chance. One I don't think anyone else can give them. All we can do is our best."
Logan crossed his arms and looked out the library window. "And with those new recruits Magneto has, those 'Acolytes', we're gonna need all the help we can get."
^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Wen stepped out of the library feeling glum. He'd just finished his talk with that professor guy. He /knew/ he should have stayed in school. This was seriously gonna suck.
On the bright side he was to begin training with Ororo, the white haired woman soon. That sounded like fun. He'd never had anyone who could really teach him what he could do with his ability. There had been his parents of course... but that wasn't the.. and anyway he'd been to young to understand.
/Don't think about it./
Everyone was standing around the entry hall talking in groups, or in Nick and Laurie's case, keeping to themselves and not talking. Athena was conversing with the guy with the sunglasses, and one of the younger guys Wen had been speaking to during breakfast, Bobby. Nena was clutching Athena's leg.
Dorian and Jamie, the other young boy were tossing a basketball back and forth... indoors, and Dorian's dripping hair had already created a series of small puddles on the floor.
/Recipe for disaster.../
Across the room a Gothic looking girl with a streak of white in her brown hair was standing with her arms crossed, looking around the room critically.
/Oh, that's what we need, a female version of Nick./
As he continued to scan the room, Wen spotted Kale speaking with one of the girls (Amara?). He looked nervous and awkward. Reminded of what the professor had asked him to do, Wen made his way over towards his best friend.
/Some things never change,/ Wen reflected. /Damn, he's as clueless as ever. Doesn't realize how cute girls think he is. Not fair./
Kale angled his head to one side and laughed nervously sending a mass of silvery colored hair waving and shimmering.
/It's the hair, it has /got/ to be the hair. Definitely not fair./
One momentary flash of jealousy buried under his usual good cheer later, Wen was standing next to Kale. His friend looked up at him, embarrassment in his eyes.
"Scram, lover-boy, they wanna see you next," Wen said, watching the acute embarrassment in Kale's eyes grow even stronger. Wen gave Amara a grin.
"Very funny, Wen," Kale said dryly. He looked over at Wen for a second and then smiled a predatory grin.
/This can't be good./
Kale's expression became more amiable. Damn, but did it look fake. "So, how did it go?"
"How did what go?"
"Your interview."Wen suddenly became strongly aware of the fact that Athena was standing only a few feet away.
"Oh fine, not so bad at all," Wen responded.
/Jerk, turn about is /not/ fair play./
"Really? What did they say? You know, about school?"
/Jerk jerk jerk jerk/
"Er, nothing much."
"Really? Nothing at all?"
"Not really."
"Spill, monkey boy."
Wen sighed in defeat. "I'm still being sent to high school, but they're probably going to place me a grade lower, and put me into remedial classes for math and science, and I have to attend tutoring here on weekends," Wen sighed. He'd thought that they were going to keep him at the Institute, but the professor had told him that his grasp of English was at least at his grade level and his math wasn't too poor. And of course there were more teachers at Bayville High, so why not take advantage of the opportunity to send him to school and advance his education?
/Guess I have Athena to thank for that. All that hanging out with her and trying to impress her these past few months must have helped. But, please don't let her have heard what I just said./
A quick glance in her direction confirmed his worst fear. She gave him a look filled with pity. Sympathy he could handle, but not pity. He looked away. He didn't want to face her now.
/Remedial classes, God Damn it./
He supposed he had been asking for that, trying to embarrass Kale in front of a girl like that, and years back Kale had been the one that had insisted that Wen hang around with the old man Argus and go to school, but still...
Kale had a superior look in his eye.
"If you say 'I told you so,' I am gonna punch you one right in the nose," Wen threatened shaking his fist in Kale's face ineffectually.
Kale grinned, trying not to laugh. The girl looked totally lost.
"Now scram, ya don't wanna keep this professor guy waiting, he might send Freddie Krouger out to come find you," Wen told Kale, waving his hands around menacingly in a ridicules imitation of Logan's claws. When Kale had finally left, Wen turned to the girl and grinned his dopiest grin.
"Hello, I'm Wen, very nice to meet you."
"Um, I'm Amara, nice to meet you too," she responded with a smile. She was kinda pretty. Very... normal looking, sane.
/Ah well, when have I ever gone for normal girls? What was that line? " My darling girl, when are you going to understand that "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." Not that anyone around here could really be called normal by default./
Wen leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't let Kale's shy act fool you, he thinks you have nice boobs." Wen turned and walked away, leaving her blinking and blushing.
/Now that was juvenile. Oh well, revenge is sweet. Now what else can I do to shake things up around here?/
As he walked around the room he spotted the furry blue dude talking to the skinny girl with the ponytail. They were sitting on the foot of the staircase and she was smiling at him and they spoke to each other with a sort of causal familiarity that most often denotes long friendship. It looked like she was teasing him.
/Hm? Something going on there?/ Wen thought as she walked away, smiling. /I guess taunting the furry guy would be low, even for me. Not that I've ever had any standards./
He glanced at her as she walked past him. /Why are all the girls here so cute? Is there some kind of unspoken rule that says that all female mutants have to be attractive?/ He noticed Spiny... no Quill, pawing at one of the drapes and sniffing near the windowsill. Sometimes she reminded him of the terrier Old Man Argus used to keep. /Okay, maybe not./
The blue guy looked up at him as he approached and smiled good-naturedly. There was a hint of mischief in that furry blue face.
"Hello, you are... Ven?"
"Wen, actually," Wen responded with a grin. "Mind if I sit down?"
Kurt's expression showed that he was used to that sort of teasing and didn't seem to mind. He gestured towards the spot next to him.
Wen settled down and looked over at the girl who had just left and smiled suggestively. "So, who's she?"
"Ah, that's Keetty." Kurt said, resting his head in his palm.
"Your girlfriend?" Wen asked, and then smirked at the shocked expression on his face.
/If he wasn't covered in fur, he'd be blushing./
"No, Keetty and I are just friends," he told Wen. "I have a girlfriend, her name is Amanda."
"Ah, she knows about...?"
"Ya, she does not mind. Her parents zhough... zhey mind."
"Ouch, rough. So there's nothing with you and Kitty?"
"Vell, vhen she first came here, I had a big crush on her, but she... vasn't interested."
"Really rough, I guess I know how that feels," Wen said watching Athena talking with the glasses guy.
Kurt noticed Wen's gaze and smiled to himself. "Vhat iz her name?"
"Athena, she's... she's awesome, but..." Wen looked back towards Kurt and shrugged. "Sometimes I get the feeling I'm not good enough for her. I mean, she's brilliant, you know? I just don't know if she'll ever feel the same way about me."
"Ya, I felt that way with Keetty at first. She's alvays getting A's, but zhen she started zeeing Lance... so I guess zhere's no accounting for taste."
"Lance?" Wen asked, Kurt had said the name with more than it's share of dislike.
"One of zhe Brotherhood mutants." Kurt said with distaste.
"What's the 'Brotherhood'?" Wen questioned. /This can't be good./
"No vone told you about zhem?" Kurt asked and Wen shook his head. "Zhey are a group of mutants zhat work for zhis guy, Magneto."
"Really? What do they want?" /Definitely not good./
Kurt shrugged. "I zhink you should just ask the professor, I'm not so sure myself. Zhey zhink zhat humans and mutants cannot live together."
"Are they dangerous?"
"Sometimes, zhey might try to pick a fight if zhey find out you are a student here, so you'd better be careful."
"Oh wonderful, that's just what we need." Wen sighed. Between people knowing about mutants, and having another bunch of mutants that might be out to get him, /and/ getting stuck in those lousy classes, this little trip was not turning out to be as fun as he'd hoped. Well, he wasn't certain how long he was going to hang around here anyway. Settling down just wasn't his thing.
He decided it was time to change the subject. "So, anything fun to do around here?"
Kurt grinned, "Vell, zhere are the theaters and the like, and zhere is this place zhat serves zhe best burgers, zhey are called 'gut bombs', aside from zhat zhe institute has a pool and zhere is a television room. But, zometimes, I just have to make my own 'entertainment'"
Wen grinned in response, he had a pretty good idea where this was going. "How's that?"
"Vell, vonce I replaced zhe water in zhe coffee maker vith gin."
Wen burst out laughing. "Where did you get it?" /Why didn't I ever think of that?/
Kurt shrugged. "I Zhink it vas Logan's, I found it in ze back of vone of the cabinets. I got in big trouble for zhat."
"I bet it was worth it, though." Wen said, picturing a bunch of young mutants on coffee and alcohol. Kurt just shrugged and grinned.
/Kindred spirit, maybe this is going to be more fun then I thought./
"So what about that watch thing? Do you wear that all the time?"
"Only vhen I go out." Kurt said, fingering the band.
"Then why did you have it on earlier?" Wen asked.
"Vhen Keetty first came to zhe institute, she saw me and... vell, I guess I frightened her," Kurt was looking away. Wen had never really thought about it with Quill, because she seemed more animal than human, but looking so.. different must really be hard on someone, he could tell how much it bothered Kurt.
"Now she iz alvays encouraging me about it, but it's still hard. People used to call me a demon."
"Come on, you didn't honestly think anyone of us would have a problem with it," Wen asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, look who we hang out with."
"You mean Quill?"
"Quill? Naw, I meant Nick, if anyone's a demon, he is."
Kurt laughed. "He can't be zhat bad..."
"Wanna bet? He's pretty creepy, and the stuff he can do with those shadows of his..." Wen shook his head in mock distaste.
"Vell, zhen I hope I don't have to be his roomate."
"Oh don't get me wrong, he's worth a laugh every now and then, I mean, his favorite sport is Kale-baiting." Kurt snickered at that. "Got a bit of a stick up his arse though."
Kurt snorted. "Should get along with Scott zhen."
Wen glanced from glasses man to Nick, noting a near palpable feeling of animosity. "For some reason, I don't think..."
Wen and Kurt's attention was pulled away from their conversation by a loud noise. Jamie had slipped on the puddles of sea water and slid into Dorian, who dropped the ball on Jamie's head by accident. They were sent careening across the floor into the curtains that Quill had been pawing at, pulling down both the curtains and Quill.
Everyone turned to look at what had made the noise and a few people ran to help. Scott dragged the curtain off of the three of them reveling an extremely confused looking Quill, Dorian laying with a basketball on his chest, and... seven Jamie... s.
Wen blinked, "What the heck?"
"Merrow?" said Quill.
Kurt didn't say anything at all, he was laughing too hard.
Nick 3 Wen 3 Quill 2 Athena 1 Laurie 1 Kale 1
Anyways, Nick's profile is next, and then Quill's.
Big thanks to everyone for all your help and suggestions! I like the name Fade for Kale, I'm probably gonna use that. Thanks Milly!
So far:
Nick: Shroud Kale: Fade Nena: Animate, or Animator
The professor blinked, startled. Laurie was looking right at him, she seemed scared of what they would do now that she had told them. She watched them with frightened brown eyes. There was something odd about the way the girl looked at them. Her expression was... childlike, and trusting... and unnatural. Something in those eyes suggested that she was holding on to sanity by a thread.
He felt as if he was stumbling around in the dark. In nearly any other circumstance he would have been able to see into her mind to determine whether or not she was sane, but the metal wall that kept him out of her thoughts seemed all but impenetrable, and confusing. The more he studied it the more he became certain that she was not in fact the one that was creating it. The barrier's origin, it seemed, would remain a mystery for the time being.
"What are these voices like?" Storm asked, breaking the silence.
Laurie looked both relived that someone had spoken, and uncertain of how to answer. "What do mean?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Well, for starters, what do they sound like?" Jean elaborated.
Laurie's brow furrowed in concentration. "They're all different. Some of them sound like adults, some are children, some are men, some are woman, and sometimes I can't tell. Some don't even talk in English. Right now most of them are whispering."
"Most of them?" the professor asked.
She looked sheepish. "One of them is screaming," she said in what was barely a whisper.
Xavier felt alarmed at that. "What is this voice saying?" he asked.
"I... I can't understand any of it. It's just screaming."
"What are the others saying?"
She looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, as if trying to hear something far away. "I can only understand one of them, but I've never heard that one before."
"What is it telling you?"
She hesitated. "The guy with the visor... Scott? There was a plane crash... his parents are dead, aren't they?"
"How did they... They told you that? The voices?" Jean asked. Now she looked alarmed.
Laurie nodded, not looking up. A tear fell onto her lap. "Most of the time when I can understand them they don't tell me anything... anything I want to hear."
"What do they normally speak to you about?" Storm asked, sitting down next to the distraught girl and putting her arm around her shoulders.
"They... yell about things... like death... and-and revenge and hurting people, some just cry, or scream a lot. I try to ignore them most of the time... but it's not always easy." She looked up at Xavier. He could feel the intensity behind that gaze boring into him. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she whispered.
Xavier considered his answer carefully before speaking. "I think, that like all of the students at the Institute, you are a remarkable young person. I also think that your ability is causing you a great deal of mental and emotional pain. Hopefully we will be able to teach you how to control your ability, to suppress it when you wish."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"No, thank you. If you had not stopped that fight, I am afraid many people could have been hurt over a misunderstanding. Never think of your ability as a curse, it can always be used for good."
She smiled at him.
The rest of their conversation was considerably less dramatic. Xavier discovered that while neither Laurie or Nicholas had ever attended public school, they had both been home schooled. Laurie was evasive about her own past, but she did tell them that she had no living relatives, and that she and Nicholas had known each other for most of their lives. Xavier also discovered that she was prone to both feinting and dizzy spells, but when he offered to have her blood tested for the common causes of such maladies, she became nervous, and seemed reluctant.
Throughout the entire conversation, Laurie would occasionally stare into space for a few moments, oblivious to her surroundings and then snap back into focus, and look at them apologetically. Sometimes she would begin to mutter under her breath, as if talking to someone, or rapidly shifting emotions would flicker across her face.
When they finished speaking, Jean lead her out of the room to the foyer where the other's were waiting. Just after she left Logan turned to the professor.
"Are ya sure she's a mutant and not just nuts?" Logan asked. If anyone else had heard him say it, they might have thought that Logan was serious, but Xavier could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.
"She is clearly a mutant," Xavier responded, "The 'voices' she describes could not have given her such accurate information otherwise. Whether she is entirely stable or not is another matter." He sighed, turning his wheelchair towards the window. "I feel rather... lost," he turned back towards Ororo and Logan. "At least one of these new students has suffered great emotional pain because of her power, and I fear that she might not be the only one. In the past I have always been confident in my ability to guide those who have come to the Institute. Yet, with young Laurie in particular, there is little I can do to ascertain her exact state of mind, which worries me to say the least."
Ororo placed her hand on his shoulder. "/I/ have confidence in you, Xavier. Perhaps this will not be easy, but we will do what we can, all those children deserve a chance. One I don't think anyone else can give them. All we can do is our best."
Logan crossed his arms and looked out the library window. "And with those new recruits Magneto has, those 'Acolytes', we're gonna need all the help we can get."
^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Wen stepped out of the library feeling glum. He'd just finished his talk with that professor guy. He /knew/ he should have stayed in school. This was seriously gonna suck.
On the bright side he was to begin training with Ororo, the white haired woman soon. That sounded like fun. He'd never had anyone who could really teach him what he could do with his ability. There had been his parents of course... but that wasn't the.. and anyway he'd been to young to understand.
/Don't think about it./
Everyone was standing around the entry hall talking in groups, or in Nick and Laurie's case, keeping to themselves and not talking. Athena was conversing with the guy with the sunglasses, and one of the younger guys Wen had been speaking to during breakfast, Bobby. Nena was clutching Athena's leg.
Dorian and Jamie, the other young boy were tossing a basketball back and forth... indoors, and Dorian's dripping hair had already created a series of small puddles on the floor.
/Recipe for disaster.../
Across the room a Gothic looking girl with a streak of white in her brown hair was standing with her arms crossed, looking around the room critically.
/Oh, that's what we need, a female version of Nick./
As he continued to scan the room, Wen spotted Kale speaking with one of the girls (Amara?). He looked nervous and awkward. Reminded of what the professor had asked him to do, Wen made his way over towards his best friend.
/Some things never change,/ Wen reflected. /Damn, he's as clueless as ever. Doesn't realize how cute girls think he is. Not fair./
Kale angled his head to one side and laughed nervously sending a mass of silvery colored hair waving and shimmering.
/It's the hair, it has /got/ to be the hair. Definitely not fair./
One momentary flash of jealousy buried under his usual good cheer later, Wen was standing next to Kale. His friend looked up at him, embarrassment in his eyes.
"Scram, lover-boy, they wanna see you next," Wen said, watching the acute embarrassment in Kale's eyes grow even stronger. Wen gave Amara a grin.
"Very funny, Wen," Kale said dryly. He looked over at Wen for a second and then smiled a predatory grin.
/This can't be good./
Kale's expression became more amiable. Damn, but did it look fake. "So, how did it go?"
"How did what go?"
"Your interview."Wen suddenly became strongly aware of the fact that Athena was standing only a few feet away.
"Oh fine, not so bad at all," Wen responded.
/Jerk, turn about is /not/ fair play./
"Really? What did they say? You know, about school?"
/Jerk jerk jerk jerk/
"Er, nothing much."
"Really? Nothing at all?"
"Not really."
"Spill, monkey boy."
Wen sighed in defeat. "I'm still being sent to high school, but they're probably going to place me a grade lower, and put me into remedial classes for math and science, and I have to attend tutoring here on weekends," Wen sighed. He'd thought that they were going to keep him at the Institute, but the professor had told him that his grasp of English was at least at his grade level and his math wasn't too poor. And of course there were more teachers at Bayville High, so why not take advantage of the opportunity to send him to school and advance his education?
/Guess I have Athena to thank for that. All that hanging out with her and trying to impress her these past few months must have helped. But, please don't let her have heard what I just said./
A quick glance in her direction confirmed his worst fear. She gave him a look filled with pity. Sympathy he could handle, but not pity. He looked away. He didn't want to face her now.
/Remedial classes, God Damn it./
He supposed he had been asking for that, trying to embarrass Kale in front of a girl like that, and years back Kale had been the one that had insisted that Wen hang around with the old man Argus and go to school, but still...
Kale had a superior look in his eye.
"If you say 'I told you so,' I am gonna punch you one right in the nose," Wen threatened shaking his fist in Kale's face ineffectually.
Kale grinned, trying not to laugh. The girl looked totally lost.
"Now scram, ya don't wanna keep this professor guy waiting, he might send Freddie Krouger out to come find you," Wen told Kale, waving his hands around menacingly in a ridicules imitation of Logan's claws. When Kale had finally left, Wen turned to the girl and grinned his dopiest grin.
"Hello, I'm Wen, very nice to meet you."
"Um, I'm Amara, nice to meet you too," she responded with a smile. She was kinda pretty. Very... normal looking, sane.
/Ah well, when have I ever gone for normal girls? What was that line? " My darling girl, when are you going to understand that "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." Not that anyone around here could really be called normal by default./
Wen leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't let Kale's shy act fool you, he thinks you have nice boobs." Wen turned and walked away, leaving her blinking and blushing.
/Now that was juvenile. Oh well, revenge is sweet. Now what else can I do to shake things up around here?/
As he walked around the room he spotted the furry blue dude talking to the skinny girl with the ponytail. They were sitting on the foot of the staircase and she was smiling at him and they spoke to each other with a sort of causal familiarity that most often denotes long friendship. It looked like she was teasing him.
/Hm? Something going on there?/ Wen thought as she walked away, smiling. /I guess taunting the furry guy would be low, even for me. Not that I've ever had any standards./
He glanced at her as she walked past him. /Why are all the girls here so cute? Is there some kind of unspoken rule that says that all female mutants have to be attractive?/ He noticed Spiny... no Quill, pawing at one of the drapes and sniffing near the windowsill. Sometimes she reminded him of the terrier Old Man Argus used to keep. /Okay, maybe not./
The blue guy looked up at him as he approached and smiled good-naturedly. There was a hint of mischief in that furry blue face.
"Hello, you are... Ven?"
"Wen, actually," Wen responded with a grin. "Mind if I sit down?"
Kurt's expression showed that he was used to that sort of teasing and didn't seem to mind. He gestured towards the spot next to him.
Wen settled down and looked over at the girl who had just left and smiled suggestively. "So, who's she?"
"Ah, that's Keetty." Kurt said, resting his head in his palm.
"Your girlfriend?" Wen asked, and then smirked at the shocked expression on his face.
/If he wasn't covered in fur, he'd be blushing./
"No, Keetty and I are just friends," he told Wen. "I have a girlfriend, her name is Amanda."
"Ah, she knows about...?"
"Ya, she does not mind. Her parents zhough... zhey mind."
"Ouch, rough. So there's nothing with you and Kitty?"
"Vell, vhen she first came here, I had a big crush on her, but she... vasn't interested."
"Really rough, I guess I know how that feels," Wen said watching Athena talking with the glasses guy.
Kurt noticed Wen's gaze and smiled to himself. "Vhat iz her name?"
"Athena, she's... she's awesome, but..." Wen looked back towards Kurt and shrugged. "Sometimes I get the feeling I'm not good enough for her. I mean, she's brilliant, you know? I just don't know if she'll ever feel the same way about me."
"Ya, I felt that way with Keetty at first. She's alvays getting A's, but zhen she started zeeing Lance... so I guess zhere's no accounting for taste."
"Lance?" Wen asked, Kurt had said the name with more than it's share of dislike.
"One of zhe Brotherhood mutants." Kurt said with distaste.
"What's the 'Brotherhood'?" Wen questioned. /This can't be good./
"No vone told you about zhem?" Kurt asked and Wen shook his head. "Zhey are a group of mutants zhat work for zhis guy, Magneto."
"Really? What do they want?" /Definitely not good./
Kurt shrugged. "I zhink you should just ask the professor, I'm not so sure myself. Zhey zhink zhat humans and mutants cannot live together."
"Are they dangerous?"
"Sometimes, zhey might try to pick a fight if zhey find out you are a student here, so you'd better be careful."
"Oh wonderful, that's just what we need." Wen sighed. Between people knowing about mutants, and having another bunch of mutants that might be out to get him, /and/ getting stuck in those lousy classes, this little trip was not turning out to be as fun as he'd hoped. Well, he wasn't certain how long he was going to hang around here anyway. Settling down just wasn't his thing.
He decided it was time to change the subject. "So, anything fun to do around here?"
Kurt grinned, "Vell, zhere are the theaters and the like, and zhere is this place zhat serves zhe best burgers, zhey are called 'gut bombs', aside from zhat zhe institute has a pool and zhere is a television room. But, zometimes, I just have to make my own 'entertainment'"
Wen grinned in response, he had a pretty good idea where this was going. "How's that?"
"Vell, vonce I replaced zhe water in zhe coffee maker vith gin."
Wen burst out laughing. "Where did you get it?" /Why didn't I ever think of that?/
Kurt shrugged. "I Zhink it vas Logan's, I found it in ze back of vone of the cabinets. I got in big trouble for zhat."
"I bet it was worth it, though." Wen said, picturing a bunch of young mutants on coffee and alcohol. Kurt just shrugged and grinned.
/Kindred spirit, maybe this is going to be more fun then I thought./
"So what about that watch thing? Do you wear that all the time?"
"Only vhen I go out." Kurt said, fingering the band.
"Then why did you have it on earlier?" Wen asked.
"Vhen Keetty first came to zhe institute, she saw me and... vell, I guess I frightened her," Kurt was looking away. Wen had never really thought about it with Quill, because she seemed more animal than human, but looking so.. different must really be hard on someone, he could tell how much it bothered Kurt.
"Now she iz alvays encouraging me about it, but it's still hard. People used to call me a demon."
"Come on, you didn't honestly think anyone of us would have a problem with it," Wen asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, look who we hang out with."
"You mean Quill?"
"Quill? Naw, I meant Nick, if anyone's a demon, he is."
Kurt laughed. "He can't be zhat bad..."
"Wanna bet? He's pretty creepy, and the stuff he can do with those shadows of his..." Wen shook his head in mock distaste.
"Vell, zhen I hope I don't have to be his roomate."
"Oh don't get me wrong, he's worth a laugh every now and then, I mean, his favorite sport is Kale-baiting." Kurt snickered at that. "Got a bit of a stick up his arse though."
Kurt snorted. "Should get along with Scott zhen."
Wen glanced from glasses man to Nick, noting a near palpable feeling of animosity. "For some reason, I don't think..."
Wen and Kurt's attention was pulled away from their conversation by a loud noise. Jamie had slipped on the puddles of sea water and slid into Dorian, who dropped the ball on Jamie's head by accident. They were sent careening across the floor into the curtains that Quill had been pawing at, pulling down both the curtains and Quill.
Everyone turned to look at what had made the noise and a few people ran to help. Scott dragged the curtain off of the three of them reveling an extremely confused looking Quill, Dorian laying with a basketball on his chest, and... seven Jamie... s.
Wen blinked, "What the heck?"
"Merrow?" said Quill.
Kurt didn't say anything at all, he was laughing too hard.
Nick 3 Wen 3 Quill 2 Athena 1 Laurie 1 Kale 1