In all his lifetime of traveling from country to continent, watching all
sorts of people come and go, Kurt had never seen such an exquisitely
delicate person.
She was a petite woman, with a completely breakable looking bone structure, and a mop of curly, fair hair that hovered around her head as a halo would an angel's. She reminded him of the child actress that sung and danced in those old, black and white movies; with her bouncy corkscrew locks and tiny, snub of a nose. Only this version was all grown up, yet it did not at all lessen the angelic quality she radiated, nor the concentration of violet that tinted her irises, or the small mouth she wore with a half- smile, half frown; as if something troubled her, frightened her, oppressed her...
Emerging slowly, shyly, with an uncannily ethereal grace, she inched forward to confront every eager, curious face that peered intently at her, half in wonder, half in awe of the sheer fragileness that her brittle body seemed to possess. There was not a single breath issued for a number of seconds, as if every person, finely tuned or insensitive, heeded and respected the fact that perhaps a single draft of wind might just blow her precarious body to pieces.
With what seemed like a great mustering of courage, she smiled shakily, and spoke...
"H-hello... Nice to meet you..."
An entire audience fell in love with her. For so appealing was her voice, clear and high as a silver bell, yet quavering slightly as a cornered turtle dove might; with some unknown, unidentifiable fear, perhaps from natural shyness, perhaps from fear of rejection, perhaps from quite a bit more, that she was immediately looked upon with the adoration an adult might feel for a lost child, both full of sympathy and the reverence of something vulnerable and easily crushed.
For the flicker of a moment, Kurt felt somewhat in awe of this girl, this angel, that had so seemed to have descended from some lofty, faraway place in the sky. The simple words uttered from those lips... And her eyes, even from far away: just a few purplish hues sloshed around inside clear cylinders, the same color as twilight. They were orbs of surprising depth, and emptiness... He had never seen such eyes.
Kurt maneuvered his way through the crowd.
I
And that's when he grasped it, found what had been tugging on the frayed edges of his brain.
The voice from his nightmare, then the indigo-skinned woman, and now the smaller, more vulnerable being, undoubtedly female, that he saw through the foggy haze of his dreamscape. It was her, then it was not, then it was again... She had been there, he had seen her, had been told from someone else, now even more familiar, to never forget her face... And yet... As the great ocean of people parted and he made his way closer, he could not be certain whether he was mistaken or not. He already knew the women sent to "repent" him, one dead and the other still alive, and that was reassuring, understandably just a twist on reality, but the conclusion to his dream had been so perplexing...
And something about this woman...He felt a strange pull, not deja vu, but the complete opposite...
Had that been--no--it couldn't be... She is gone, dead... Yet that voice, so comforting, that had spoken to him...
It was then and there that Xavier's kind words snapped him back to reality.
"This young lady has come to stay with us for a while... And I'm sure you'll all make her feel as comfortable and as at home as possible at our fine, fine institute."
A random person asked," Are you a student, Ma'am?" and the Professor immediately answered for her, his speech curiously brusque and hurried.
She met his gaze, and for all but a brief moment, smiled gratefully.
"No, she's not a student, just a visitor... And I hear she has quite a talent..." he said, changing the subject," Oh, yes...Quite a talent for playing the piano. I'm sure if you asked her nicely she would play for you some time, that is, once she's all settled in."
Rachel rolled her eyes with embarrassment as a few of the students, all male, all still raging with the hormones only teenagers could posess, begged for a performance. They made her blush.
She had always had an affinity for being the center of attention, even if she would not admit it. Of course, all the jobs that she did in her travels had been under the spotlight, near the microphone, on the keyboard... But that dream was old, dead. There would be no little girl's fantasy careers for her right now.
"Oh, no... I couldn't possibly...Some other time, maybe."
She could not help but smile. Somehow, she felt that for once in her life, she was among people that would accept her for who she was, people that could relate to her uniqueness, and be it a curse or a blessing, recieve her endowments with a smile and not a frown. Just perhaps, she would be at home, even if it was only for a little while.
She decided to quickly survey the institute and student body. Most looked pretty normal; there mutations not visible, that was, until a particularly colorful fellow caught her eye...
Male, and entirely blue from head to his cloven feet, he possessed a pair of elf-like ears and luminous, yellow eyes that seemed to have a life all their own. At a glance, he was startling, if not even disarming. Yet something was appealing about him, too, in all his vulnerability, and the elfishishness he possessed was quite something else...
Her first reaction, as always, when embarrassed and caught staring, was to smile. As if out of politeness, he smiled back briefly, too, tight-lipped, eyebrows raised, trying to hide his awkwardness behind a facade built from light-hearted bricks and congenial mortar. He was a little nervous around all women, however harmless, and generally tried to put up a front that projected a breezy, dashing character: you know, as if he were a performer, an actor, an acrobat on stage. It worked. Usually.
"Well, lets get you situated, Miss Tyler... You must be so tired from all that you've had to endure. When you've settled in, I'd appreciate if you came to my office...We have some things to discuss."
Xavier's expression was readable only to her. To nearly everyone else, it was a simple smile.
Scott escorted her upstairs to her room. Kurt watched her dissapear, and suddenly realized how pretty he thought she was...
She was a petite woman, with a completely breakable looking bone structure, and a mop of curly, fair hair that hovered around her head as a halo would an angel's. She reminded him of the child actress that sung and danced in those old, black and white movies; with her bouncy corkscrew locks and tiny, snub of a nose. Only this version was all grown up, yet it did not at all lessen the angelic quality she radiated, nor the concentration of violet that tinted her irises, or the small mouth she wore with a half- smile, half frown; as if something troubled her, frightened her, oppressed her...
Emerging slowly, shyly, with an uncannily ethereal grace, she inched forward to confront every eager, curious face that peered intently at her, half in wonder, half in awe of the sheer fragileness that her brittle body seemed to possess. There was not a single breath issued for a number of seconds, as if every person, finely tuned or insensitive, heeded and respected the fact that perhaps a single draft of wind might just blow her precarious body to pieces.
With what seemed like a great mustering of courage, she smiled shakily, and spoke...
"H-hello... Nice to meet you..."
An entire audience fell in love with her. For so appealing was her voice, clear and high as a silver bell, yet quavering slightly as a cornered turtle dove might; with some unknown, unidentifiable fear, perhaps from natural shyness, perhaps from fear of rejection, perhaps from quite a bit more, that she was immediately looked upon with the adoration an adult might feel for a lost child, both full of sympathy and the reverence of something vulnerable and easily crushed.
For the flicker of a moment, Kurt felt somewhat in awe of this girl, this angel, that had so seemed to have descended from some lofty, faraway place in the sky. The simple words uttered from those lips... And her eyes, even from far away: just a few purplish hues sloshed around inside clear cylinders, the same color as twilight. They were orbs of surprising depth, and emptiness... He had never seen such eyes.
Kurt maneuvered his way through the crowd.
I
And that's when he grasped it, found what had been tugging on the frayed edges of his brain.
The voice from his nightmare, then the indigo-skinned woman, and now the smaller, more vulnerable being, undoubtedly female, that he saw through the foggy haze of his dreamscape. It was her, then it was not, then it was again... She had been there, he had seen her, had been told from someone else, now even more familiar, to never forget her face... And yet... As the great ocean of people parted and he made his way closer, he could not be certain whether he was mistaken or not. He already knew the women sent to "repent" him, one dead and the other still alive, and that was reassuring, understandably just a twist on reality, but the conclusion to his dream had been so perplexing...
And something about this woman...He felt a strange pull, not deja vu, but the complete opposite...
Had that been--no--it couldn't be... She is gone, dead... Yet that voice, so comforting, that had spoken to him...
It was then and there that Xavier's kind words snapped him back to reality.
"This young lady has come to stay with us for a while... And I'm sure you'll all make her feel as comfortable and as at home as possible at our fine, fine institute."
A random person asked," Are you a student, Ma'am?" and the Professor immediately answered for her, his speech curiously brusque and hurried.
She met his gaze, and for all but a brief moment, smiled gratefully.
"No, she's not a student, just a visitor... And I hear she has quite a talent..." he said, changing the subject," Oh, yes...Quite a talent for playing the piano. I'm sure if you asked her nicely she would play for you some time, that is, once she's all settled in."
Rachel rolled her eyes with embarrassment as a few of the students, all male, all still raging with the hormones only teenagers could posess, begged for a performance. They made her blush.
She had always had an affinity for being the center of attention, even if she would not admit it. Of course, all the jobs that she did in her travels had been under the spotlight, near the microphone, on the keyboard... But that dream was old, dead. There would be no little girl's fantasy careers for her right now.
"Oh, no... I couldn't possibly...Some other time, maybe."
She could not help but smile. Somehow, she felt that for once in her life, she was among people that would accept her for who she was, people that could relate to her uniqueness, and be it a curse or a blessing, recieve her endowments with a smile and not a frown. Just perhaps, she would be at home, even if it was only for a little while.
She decided to quickly survey the institute and student body. Most looked pretty normal; there mutations not visible, that was, until a particularly colorful fellow caught her eye...
Male, and entirely blue from head to his cloven feet, he possessed a pair of elf-like ears and luminous, yellow eyes that seemed to have a life all their own. At a glance, he was startling, if not even disarming. Yet something was appealing about him, too, in all his vulnerability, and the elfishishness he possessed was quite something else...
Her first reaction, as always, when embarrassed and caught staring, was to smile. As if out of politeness, he smiled back briefly, too, tight-lipped, eyebrows raised, trying to hide his awkwardness behind a facade built from light-hearted bricks and congenial mortar. He was a little nervous around all women, however harmless, and generally tried to put up a front that projected a breezy, dashing character: you know, as if he were a performer, an actor, an acrobat on stage. It worked. Usually.
"Well, lets get you situated, Miss Tyler... You must be so tired from all that you've had to endure. When you've settled in, I'd appreciate if you came to my office...We have some things to discuss."
Xavier's expression was readable only to her. To nearly everyone else, it was a simple smile.
Scott escorted her upstairs to her room. Kurt watched her dissapear, and suddenly realized how pretty he thought she was...
