***
Disclaimer: I Don't own the X-men, or any of Marvel's other characters. In
fact, all I really do own are my Original characters.
***
* . * --Thoughts
****
The silence over the mansion was so complete that the ticking of the grandfather clock in the front room could easily be heard in the lecture room down the hall. The time for finals at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters was right around the corner, and with it nearing, the usual after-class festivities had been replaced by study sessions in the lecture room and library.
Kurt sat in his chair at the table, working steadily on a trigonometry problem. To his left, Kitty was studying some form of vocabulary, mumbling the definitions of words as they appeared on the screen of her laptop. The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock down the hall, and the occasional rustle of turning pages.And the sound of Alexia drumming her fingers as she stared at her chemistry book. Since she was sitting on Kurt's right, he couldn't help but notice that she had been on that same page for the last twenty minutes. She had been pretty good during the first hour of the study period, but now her patience was wearing thin and she was starting to fidget.
"Alexia, would you kindly cut that drumming out?" Kitty hissed across Kurt's math book.
"Oh, sorry." Alexia's fingers stopped, and she finally flipped the page.
"Thank you," Kitty whispered, then said "Unbelieving" as the word 'Incredulous' popped up on her screen.
The sun shone brightly through the windows on the other side of Alexia, and Kurt began to feel uncomfortable as his fur began to absorb more heat than usual. How he hated having dark fur sometimes. As an after-thought, Kurt wondered how it was that his legs were getting the warmest fastest, instead of his face. The idea of that hit Kurt completely after a moment's hesitation, and he glanced under the table to see heat waves coming off of Alexia. "Alexia, do you mind not practicing your powers when I'm sitting right next to you?"
Alexia looked up from her book. "I can't help it," she replied, trying to keep her voice low. "I'm getting bombarded with energy. And it's not like my body can do anything else to get rid of the heat. Believe me. If there was something I could do, I'd be doing it, not sitting here staring at this stupid text book for two hours."
Kurt frowned. He had noticed that Alexia was still having trouble adjusting to the atmosphere of the Institute, especially the study periods. She wasn't really able to handle sitting still for very long. Professor Xavier had explained it by saying that Alexia came from a life where if she was bored, she went and did something, but here at the Institute, there wasn't much for her to do, except study or practice in the Danger Room. And the Professor had been holding off on getting her started in the Danger Room.
Kurt went back to his math, but watched Alexia out of the corner of his eye. She stared at the book a few minutes more, then sighed and put her head down on it, giving up on studying for the day. After a few moments, Kurt heard her voice, barely audible, coming from the pages.
"Vhat are you saying?" Kurt whispered to her, hoping that Logan or Ororo wouldn't catch them talking.
Alexia turned her head and repeated herself, a little louder. "How did I manage to come to a school where they make you study during the best riding hours of the day?"
"You came to learn, you vere sent here to get an education," Kurt answered, knowing that that would not satisfy the girl, but hoping it would anyway.
"I got an education up in Chanceton...and plenty of road time with Zydane to boot."
"Ja, but you didn't get the training for your powers you get here."
Alexia rolled her eyes and picked her head up, turning it so that it was obvious to anyone looking that she was talking to him. "What training? The Professor took me to the Danger Room *once* and that was just to show me around. All my training consists of is making balls of light in my hands and fluctuating the heat in a room...and tests, constant tests, with electrodes and things stuck all over my body. I'm getting *bored*!" She smacked her hand against the table to emphasize 'bored', and when she picked it up, there was a slightly dark handprint seared into the tabletop. "Oops..." Alexia said, and hurriedly tried to rub the handprint away before anyone saw it, or smelled the burnt varnish. Unfortunately, she had forgotten Logan's keen senses.
"There's a rule here that you're not supposed to burn the furniture, kid," Logan whispered, his head suddenly appearing between Kurt's and Alexia's. Alexia's eyes went wide for a second, and then she gave Logan a huge innocent grin and began to rub at the handprint more vigorously.
Kurt hoped that if he returned to his math fast enough, he would be spared the humiliation of being scolded for talking. He busied himself with a tricky problem involving the secant and tangent squared of theta.
"I don't have much else to do, Logan," Alexia answered. "I'm bored out of my mind. I need to do something."
"Yeah," Logan agreed. "You need to study."
Alexia groaned at the idea. "I've been studying for an hour and a half. Look at it out there! Warm, sunny...I would be riding my 'bike right now if I wasn't here. I shouldn't be forced to stay in here against my will."
"You ain't forced. You're required," Logan replied. He and Alexia had a way of dealing with each other. Alexia obviously looked up to Logan as some strange form of a role model, and Logan liked to view her as sort of a ward, but that didn't mean they never tried to outdo each other in an argument.
"Why am I required to do this, when I bring home straight A's without studying at all, just doing my homework?" Alexia appeared to have the upper hand.
"Then do your homework," Logan answered.
"I don't have any, except to stu--" Alexia caught herself before she let the dreaded word slip, but Logan wasn't that stupid.
"Then study. Is that so hard?"
Alexia nodded and pointed outside. "It is when you have that within a foot of you."
Logan grinned. "I can fix that," he said. With that he stood and yanked the shade down over the window, blocking the view of the gorgeous day from Alexia. "There. Now you don't have the beautiful day to distract you."
Alexia moaned as Logan turned and left. Kurt could almost hear her thoughts: This isn't fair. I'm so bored. If I were home I wouldn't be doing this. Why do they care what we get on our exams? I wonder when dinner is. Boy, I wish I had my dirt bike. I wish we didn't have to study...and on and on and on.
Kurt hoped for Alexia's sanity--as well as his own --that finals would be over sooner than promised.
* . * --Thoughts
****
The silence over the mansion was so complete that the ticking of the grandfather clock in the front room could easily be heard in the lecture room down the hall. The time for finals at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters was right around the corner, and with it nearing, the usual after-class festivities had been replaced by study sessions in the lecture room and library.
Kurt sat in his chair at the table, working steadily on a trigonometry problem. To his left, Kitty was studying some form of vocabulary, mumbling the definitions of words as they appeared on the screen of her laptop. The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock down the hall, and the occasional rustle of turning pages.And the sound of Alexia drumming her fingers as she stared at her chemistry book. Since she was sitting on Kurt's right, he couldn't help but notice that she had been on that same page for the last twenty minutes. She had been pretty good during the first hour of the study period, but now her patience was wearing thin and she was starting to fidget.
"Alexia, would you kindly cut that drumming out?" Kitty hissed across Kurt's math book.
"Oh, sorry." Alexia's fingers stopped, and she finally flipped the page.
"Thank you," Kitty whispered, then said "Unbelieving" as the word 'Incredulous' popped up on her screen.
The sun shone brightly through the windows on the other side of Alexia, and Kurt began to feel uncomfortable as his fur began to absorb more heat than usual. How he hated having dark fur sometimes. As an after-thought, Kurt wondered how it was that his legs were getting the warmest fastest, instead of his face. The idea of that hit Kurt completely after a moment's hesitation, and he glanced under the table to see heat waves coming off of Alexia. "Alexia, do you mind not practicing your powers when I'm sitting right next to you?"
Alexia looked up from her book. "I can't help it," she replied, trying to keep her voice low. "I'm getting bombarded with energy. And it's not like my body can do anything else to get rid of the heat. Believe me. If there was something I could do, I'd be doing it, not sitting here staring at this stupid text book for two hours."
Kurt frowned. He had noticed that Alexia was still having trouble adjusting to the atmosphere of the Institute, especially the study periods. She wasn't really able to handle sitting still for very long. Professor Xavier had explained it by saying that Alexia came from a life where if she was bored, she went and did something, but here at the Institute, there wasn't much for her to do, except study or practice in the Danger Room. And the Professor had been holding off on getting her started in the Danger Room.
Kurt went back to his math, but watched Alexia out of the corner of his eye. She stared at the book a few minutes more, then sighed and put her head down on it, giving up on studying for the day. After a few moments, Kurt heard her voice, barely audible, coming from the pages.
"Vhat are you saying?" Kurt whispered to her, hoping that Logan or Ororo wouldn't catch them talking.
Alexia turned her head and repeated herself, a little louder. "How did I manage to come to a school where they make you study during the best riding hours of the day?"
"You came to learn, you vere sent here to get an education," Kurt answered, knowing that that would not satisfy the girl, but hoping it would anyway.
"I got an education up in Chanceton...and plenty of road time with Zydane to boot."
"Ja, but you didn't get the training for your powers you get here."
Alexia rolled her eyes and picked her head up, turning it so that it was obvious to anyone looking that she was talking to him. "What training? The Professor took me to the Danger Room *once* and that was just to show me around. All my training consists of is making balls of light in my hands and fluctuating the heat in a room...and tests, constant tests, with electrodes and things stuck all over my body. I'm getting *bored*!" She smacked her hand against the table to emphasize 'bored', and when she picked it up, there was a slightly dark handprint seared into the tabletop. "Oops..." Alexia said, and hurriedly tried to rub the handprint away before anyone saw it, or smelled the burnt varnish. Unfortunately, she had forgotten Logan's keen senses.
"There's a rule here that you're not supposed to burn the furniture, kid," Logan whispered, his head suddenly appearing between Kurt's and Alexia's. Alexia's eyes went wide for a second, and then she gave Logan a huge innocent grin and began to rub at the handprint more vigorously.
Kurt hoped that if he returned to his math fast enough, he would be spared the humiliation of being scolded for talking. He busied himself with a tricky problem involving the secant and tangent squared of theta.
"I don't have much else to do, Logan," Alexia answered. "I'm bored out of my mind. I need to do something."
"Yeah," Logan agreed. "You need to study."
Alexia groaned at the idea. "I've been studying for an hour and a half. Look at it out there! Warm, sunny...I would be riding my 'bike right now if I wasn't here. I shouldn't be forced to stay in here against my will."
"You ain't forced. You're required," Logan replied. He and Alexia had a way of dealing with each other. Alexia obviously looked up to Logan as some strange form of a role model, and Logan liked to view her as sort of a ward, but that didn't mean they never tried to outdo each other in an argument.
"Why am I required to do this, when I bring home straight A's without studying at all, just doing my homework?" Alexia appeared to have the upper hand.
"Then do your homework," Logan answered.
"I don't have any, except to stu--" Alexia caught herself before she let the dreaded word slip, but Logan wasn't that stupid.
"Then study. Is that so hard?"
Alexia nodded and pointed outside. "It is when you have that within a foot of you."
Logan grinned. "I can fix that," he said. With that he stood and yanked the shade down over the window, blocking the view of the gorgeous day from Alexia. "There. Now you don't have the beautiful day to distract you."
Alexia moaned as Logan turned and left. Kurt could almost hear her thoughts: This isn't fair. I'm so bored. If I were home I wouldn't be doing this. Why do they care what we get on our exams? I wonder when dinner is. Boy, I wish I had my dirt bike. I wish we didn't have to study...and on and on and on.
Kurt hoped for Alexia's sanity--as well as his own --that finals would be over sooner than promised.