Disclaimer: Well, let's see... What do I own? Not much. I certainly
don't own anything remotely connected to X-men, including but not limited
to X-men: Evolution, and non-original characters. I don't own Santa Cruz
Beach Boardwalk, or the city itself. Well, really, no one owns a city...I
think. I don't own _My Big Fat Greek Wedding_, though I'd like to thank
Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos for bringing the best chick flick
I've seen to the big screen. I also don't own Christmas (I don't know if
anyone does) or the saying from "Bone"(the comic): "stupid, stupid rat
creatures" which I warped just a tiny bit. What I do own is an amazing new
laptop and this shiny new HS diploma!
Lorna
Man, I'm tired. And its not because I cant handle a late-night jam session. Believe me, I do those all the time, especially when I want out of a home ASAP. Strange thing is, that's the furthest thing from my mind. It's great here. I'm onto my third day, and I've finally started to get used to the time zone here.
"Lorna?"
Everyone here is really nice, too. Even the preppy girls, like Jean. She's so perfect that everyone just wants to write her off as a snob, but she acts way too nice for anyone to actually find fault with her, much less hate her.
"Lorna, are you listening?"
And Alex seems to be doing well. He's acting exactly like a younger brother to Scott. What with the annoying habits, the jokes, and completely different attitude on life, a lot of people might not think they like being related. But there are some times when Alex looks at Scott with the most amazing hero worship on his face and in his voice...
"Polaris!"
"Yes?" Storm gives me a somewhat stern look with her eerie ice-blue eyes and continued with her lecture.
"Now, you've already used your powers to bend scrap metal, very well, might I add," said Ms. Munroe as she glances around the field that I filled yesterday with abstract iron sculptures. That was fun, and I got to do a little art on the side.
"And, you seem to have mastered the art o f fine manipulation of steel." Well. That's an understatement. I've been playing with paper clips since my powers started.
"Let's try something new." About time! Some gentle breezes gather underneath Storm, lifting her up. She looks *right* in the air, as if that's where she had been created. I bet this is why she's the one training me. She can fly!
"Magneto is able to manipulate the very magnetic fields in the Earth..."
I can see where this is going. I open up to the magnetic web that is always present around me, and test out various waves.
"...Xavier felt that you may be able to..."
Nope, that's intercepted by the dish. That one runs up against Wolverine, better not use it. No telling what could happen.
"...Rogue has told me how she used Magneto's powers..."
There! Nice and sturdy, and it's very willing to give me a ride.
"...First you reach into the core of the Earth..."
My chosen wave bends towards the ground, just enough for me to step comfortably on. Once both of my feet are firmly supported, the wave slowly bends out to its convex shape again, taking me about twenty feet up.
"Storm, I'm up."
Her face registers genuine surprise as she wafts towards me. "I see. Your powers are progressing at a marvelous rate!"
"I have a strong motivation." I sway back and forth, testing the compliance of the wave. This one seems to be perfect for gliding.
"What may that be?"
"Self-preservation."
Ms. Munroe, excellent woman though she is, had to muddle through that murky hint by herself. "Self-preservation against Magneto?"
I nod. "Is class over for the day?"
"Yes. You probably should be getting ready for school. Tomorrow's Monday, and both you and Alex have been enrolled in Bayville."
Oh joy. I glide down towards the mansion, and stop short when two uniformed Scotts come out of the building. Wait. One has blond hair. Don't tell me that Alex is already wearing Scott's hand-me-downs! I have got to see this up close! The wave lowers me to the ground, and I land just behind the two. Alex seemed to be as enthralled by his outfit as I as.
"Come on, Scott, I feel more exposed than when I even wear my baggies."
"Alex, you look great." Scott turns his head to me, and I guess he saw me out of the corner of his eye. How can you tell what he's looking at through those glasses? "Hi, Lorna. Tell him how he looks."
Alex turns to me and I study his costume. Great big X on the front, okay. Everywhere else is black. However, the best part of the set-up is the little pair of hooks over the ears where Scott normally connects his visor. Alex, not being gifted with a death glare, left them to flap on the sides of his head. "Well, it looks like you should strap on some flippers and go scuba diving."
Scott has a kind of indignant look on his face as Alex starts pounding on his shoulder. "I told you!"
Scott managed to avoid a stronger beating with very inventive contortions and the line, "Alex! Alex-come on! Ow! We only have an hour n the outdoor- ergh -course before Logan- ow -tears it up! Ah! Stopit!"
Alex gave him one more punch and fell back, letting Scott lead the way. We all keep walking toward the area where I saw all those flashes of light a few days ago. I'd asked around, and apparently, that's the outdoor training course. Cool.
"So," Alex said, "You really think I look that bad?"
"No! No-no-no-no-no." Bad-looking is one thing you're not. "I just think that wet-suit's more suited to surfing in Santa Cruz than Waikiki." I hope he'll get the reference. Surfing magazines must talk about the freezing water in Northern California. Heck, the water's so cold up near where I live that a tip to the beach is suicide. You could get hypothermia. No, really. Okay, all of you still laughing are officially dared to take a swim in San Francisco Bay. If the cold doesn't get ya, the undertow will.
"Yeah? Do they have shark attacks in Santa Cruz? 'Cause one tore my suit right here." He points at his knee, which has an enormous patch covering up a hole.
"Nah, don't think any man-eaters head down there." What follows is what we in the biz like to call an "uncomfortable silence".
"It's happened to me, you know."
"What, going to Santa Cruz? I hear their boardwalk is pretty cool."
"No. Shark attack. About a year ago, I was out surfing, and all of a sudden, there's this Great White Shark!" I guess he saw my disbelieving look, because he continued the story. Or maybe he didn't see the look. "I was scared out of my wits, I couldn't escape! Finally, I do the last thing I probably would ever do in my life I hold my hands out, like this," he says as he demonstrates, "and all of a sudden, WHAM! No more shark. The first thing I did with my power was save my own life."
Wow. My magnetism didn't show up in a sudden moment. I just gradually became aware of a living web of magnetism all over the place. I can't even remember any specific point when I wasn't aware of it. Only possible change that happened was when I hit puberty, the web started to listen to me. "Well, I didn't start out quite so exciting. When I was thirteen, refrigerator magnets started to stick to me."
Alex chuckles a little, which is far more than I deserved for that stupid little quip. That's about as far as our conversation got that day, because Scott immediately announces that we are here, and it's time to get to business. In order to get out of the way, I ride an obliging wave up to a tree branch well away from the line of fire. Although, I'm betting Scott could still see me, and Alex's hands are right in my line of view, I figure that most mutants are walking arsenals anyway, so I'd probably be in more danger on the streets.
The two boys begin target practice on a machine that sends up clay things into the air at random times. Scott may have hit more targets, but I can't tell. Alex is phenomenal. He looks like he's so in charge of his own powers. Though, some of that bravado may come from having an audience. Hm... Anyway, I'm enjoying the show, when Jean sticks her head out of the window and calls, "Lorna! Come in here! We're in the rec room!"
Aww! Not now! "I'm busy. Why do you want me?" They'd better have a good reason. I'm pretty happy right here. The view is great.
Jean hollers back trough the window, "You've got to be prepared for school tomorrow!"
Alex pauses in his barrage, and both he and I whine, "School?" Well, that gets me up and going, I suppose. I rise from the tree and start to ride a wave to the rec room window.
As I'm on my way up, I hover a bit; not really wanting to leave Alex to Scott's devices. I hear him say, fairly loudly, "That sucks." Then, he added something else a bit softer. I only hear a little bit of it, so I silently ask the wave of magnetism to lower me just a bit. I do so quickly enough to hear the tail end of his comment. "-and Jean start dating?"
Scott replies, "Well, we never completely went on any dates... Why do you ask?" Alex squirms a little. Huh... That's odd. "Do you want advice on something?"
Wait, how does that add up? So Alex asked how Scott started to date Jean. What does that have to do with any advice that Scott can give him? Even weirder is that Alex can't stop stammering. I probably would have stuck around, but Jean called me, mentally this time.
I fly in through the window that she had left open. I had expected to see Jean waiting with a book bag, and a whole lot of unwanted advice. Instead, the room is filled with all of the girls, and a projection screen TV showing _My Big Fat Greek Wedding_. I think I'm missing something, here.
"Hi, I think I've been paged?" At the chorus of greetings, I figure I had guessed right. "Wasn't I supposed to be getting ready for school?
Kitty looks up from her spot on the floor. "You are! We're not going to let you go to Bayville without knowing any of the gossip." Aww...that's sweet in a strange "I really don't want to know" way.
I settle down to start to watch the movie. It was on the best part, in my opinion anyway. The first date. We all sit around for a bit, then Rahne sighs, "I wish someone'd do that fer me."
Amara, who's sitting with a ramrod straight back next to Rahne on the floor says, "What, take you out to dinner?"
"No, that." Rahne points at the screen, where Tulla and Ian were standing on the bridge after dinner. "Accept me no matter what."
All of us fall silent for a little bit, just imagining being accepted by a non-mutant family with 2.5 children, a random dog, and parents. Especially parents. Over the short time I've been here, it seems that even more of us than I had first thought are orphans, or worse, disowned by their own families.
In fact, the only two people who I am absolutely sure had normal childhoods are Jean and Kitty.
Speaking of which, maybe I can get more out of Jean than Scott. Okay, so I didn't really ever ask Scott anything, but what I overheard just didn't cut it. I open my mouth to ask, but Jubilee beats me to the punch.
"Hey, Jean, what's it like to date a guy who'd go through anything just so you're happy?"
Jean blushes prettily. "Well, Duncan really didn't ever ask if I was happy."
Jubilee rolls her eyes so largely that I thought her eyes were going to start facing backwards in her own head. Oddly enough, they didn't. "No! Duh! I meant Scott! You two are going out, right?"
Jean seems taken aback by the question. "Well, yeah. I should think so..."
Maybe this is my chance! I could ask her how she started to date without anyone getting suspicious! Boy, I'm devious. Next, I'll be twirling my mustache and laughing evilly. "Uh, J-jean? Could you, you know, if you can... W-what I mean to say is, how did the two of you start that? Dating, I mean." That could have gone better.
Thankfully, Jean really didn't pick up on anything. "Well, Lorna, we never actually started dating. Um, there was that one time in Mexico, but...I don't know if Scott would be comfortable with me telling anything." She keeps talking about Mexico and how he scared her, or something like that. I don't really pay attention. Scott and Alex are passing by on their way back from training. Scott looks like he's drenched in sweat, and his hair's plastered to his head.
Alex, on the other hand, looks great. This sheen covers his face, and it practically glows. Maybe it's glowing from exhaustion, but he looks almost exactly the same way as he did when I first saw him come in from surfing. Tired, but having the time of his life.
"Why did you ask, Lorna?" What? Oh. Uh... I'm not going to tell the truth, of course!
"Ah- Uh, curiosisity. I mean, curiosity." I laughed nervously. Alex must be watching my every move. I know he's not in view, but I'm paranoid right now! "Oops. I always do that. You know, I say bananana a lot. I just can't stop!" Tell me about it. Why can't I just shut up? "Yup. I also say specicicific sometimes." Stop it!
"I know!" shouts someone in the back. I'm too flustered to think who it could be. "Alex!"
There's a thump next to the doorjamb. So he was listening. Great. Absolutely spiffy. I feel the heat rising to my face and duck. It's bad enough that I blush at every little embarrassment, but when I do, I look like a Christmas card. Stupid stupid mutant hair.
Worst of all, when I finally do look up, there's Alex in the doorway. He has this dumbstruck look on his face, a perfect mirror to my own, I bet. I guess he's figured something out by now. He doesn't do anything, just turns around and starts to leave for his room.
I can't just take that lying down! "Wait!" I run out of the room full of completely astonished girls.
~(^)~
A/N: Wow. Finally updated, huh? By now, I'd bet all of you have given up on me and my lovely procrastination mutant powers. But, I hope this somehow makes up for everything I've put you guys through. The next chapter will have even more mushiness, and maybe Mags will finally pop up. This, well, this chapter seems to be fairly transitional. The next won't be. I promise.
And here, for your discerning pleasure, the name game!
Ororo: Okay, not in the trusty book.
Amara: Either "unfading" (Greek); or from Amara, a paradise in Abyssinian legend.
Jubilation (Jubilee's real name!): 1. Exultation. 2. A happy celebration. (dictionary)
Kitty: diminutive form of Katherine: "Pure" (Greek). Originally spelled with a "K" as in the Greek, these names are also used as Catherine because there was no "K" in the Anglo-Saxon alphabet and "C" was substituted.
Lorna
Man, I'm tired. And its not because I cant handle a late-night jam session. Believe me, I do those all the time, especially when I want out of a home ASAP. Strange thing is, that's the furthest thing from my mind. It's great here. I'm onto my third day, and I've finally started to get used to the time zone here.
"Lorna?"
Everyone here is really nice, too. Even the preppy girls, like Jean. She's so perfect that everyone just wants to write her off as a snob, but she acts way too nice for anyone to actually find fault with her, much less hate her.
"Lorna, are you listening?"
And Alex seems to be doing well. He's acting exactly like a younger brother to Scott. What with the annoying habits, the jokes, and completely different attitude on life, a lot of people might not think they like being related. But there are some times when Alex looks at Scott with the most amazing hero worship on his face and in his voice...
"Polaris!"
"Yes?" Storm gives me a somewhat stern look with her eerie ice-blue eyes and continued with her lecture.
"Now, you've already used your powers to bend scrap metal, very well, might I add," said Ms. Munroe as she glances around the field that I filled yesterday with abstract iron sculptures. That was fun, and I got to do a little art on the side.
"And, you seem to have mastered the art o f fine manipulation of steel." Well. That's an understatement. I've been playing with paper clips since my powers started.
"Let's try something new." About time! Some gentle breezes gather underneath Storm, lifting her up. She looks *right* in the air, as if that's where she had been created. I bet this is why she's the one training me. She can fly!
"Magneto is able to manipulate the very magnetic fields in the Earth..."
I can see where this is going. I open up to the magnetic web that is always present around me, and test out various waves.
"...Xavier felt that you may be able to..."
Nope, that's intercepted by the dish. That one runs up against Wolverine, better not use it. No telling what could happen.
"...Rogue has told me how she used Magneto's powers..."
There! Nice and sturdy, and it's very willing to give me a ride.
"...First you reach into the core of the Earth..."
My chosen wave bends towards the ground, just enough for me to step comfortably on. Once both of my feet are firmly supported, the wave slowly bends out to its convex shape again, taking me about twenty feet up.
"Storm, I'm up."
Her face registers genuine surprise as she wafts towards me. "I see. Your powers are progressing at a marvelous rate!"
"I have a strong motivation." I sway back and forth, testing the compliance of the wave. This one seems to be perfect for gliding.
"What may that be?"
"Self-preservation."
Ms. Munroe, excellent woman though she is, had to muddle through that murky hint by herself. "Self-preservation against Magneto?"
I nod. "Is class over for the day?"
"Yes. You probably should be getting ready for school. Tomorrow's Monday, and both you and Alex have been enrolled in Bayville."
Oh joy. I glide down towards the mansion, and stop short when two uniformed Scotts come out of the building. Wait. One has blond hair. Don't tell me that Alex is already wearing Scott's hand-me-downs! I have got to see this up close! The wave lowers me to the ground, and I land just behind the two. Alex seemed to be as enthralled by his outfit as I as.
"Come on, Scott, I feel more exposed than when I even wear my baggies."
"Alex, you look great." Scott turns his head to me, and I guess he saw me out of the corner of his eye. How can you tell what he's looking at through those glasses? "Hi, Lorna. Tell him how he looks."
Alex turns to me and I study his costume. Great big X on the front, okay. Everywhere else is black. However, the best part of the set-up is the little pair of hooks over the ears where Scott normally connects his visor. Alex, not being gifted with a death glare, left them to flap on the sides of his head. "Well, it looks like you should strap on some flippers and go scuba diving."
Scott has a kind of indignant look on his face as Alex starts pounding on his shoulder. "I told you!"
Scott managed to avoid a stronger beating with very inventive contortions and the line, "Alex! Alex-come on! Ow! We only have an hour n the outdoor- ergh -course before Logan- ow -tears it up! Ah! Stopit!"
Alex gave him one more punch and fell back, letting Scott lead the way. We all keep walking toward the area where I saw all those flashes of light a few days ago. I'd asked around, and apparently, that's the outdoor training course. Cool.
"So," Alex said, "You really think I look that bad?"
"No! No-no-no-no-no." Bad-looking is one thing you're not. "I just think that wet-suit's more suited to surfing in Santa Cruz than Waikiki." I hope he'll get the reference. Surfing magazines must talk about the freezing water in Northern California. Heck, the water's so cold up near where I live that a tip to the beach is suicide. You could get hypothermia. No, really. Okay, all of you still laughing are officially dared to take a swim in San Francisco Bay. If the cold doesn't get ya, the undertow will.
"Yeah? Do they have shark attacks in Santa Cruz? 'Cause one tore my suit right here." He points at his knee, which has an enormous patch covering up a hole.
"Nah, don't think any man-eaters head down there." What follows is what we in the biz like to call an "uncomfortable silence".
"It's happened to me, you know."
"What, going to Santa Cruz? I hear their boardwalk is pretty cool."
"No. Shark attack. About a year ago, I was out surfing, and all of a sudden, there's this Great White Shark!" I guess he saw my disbelieving look, because he continued the story. Or maybe he didn't see the look. "I was scared out of my wits, I couldn't escape! Finally, I do the last thing I probably would ever do in my life I hold my hands out, like this," he says as he demonstrates, "and all of a sudden, WHAM! No more shark. The first thing I did with my power was save my own life."
Wow. My magnetism didn't show up in a sudden moment. I just gradually became aware of a living web of magnetism all over the place. I can't even remember any specific point when I wasn't aware of it. Only possible change that happened was when I hit puberty, the web started to listen to me. "Well, I didn't start out quite so exciting. When I was thirteen, refrigerator magnets started to stick to me."
Alex chuckles a little, which is far more than I deserved for that stupid little quip. That's about as far as our conversation got that day, because Scott immediately announces that we are here, and it's time to get to business. In order to get out of the way, I ride an obliging wave up to a tree branch well away from the line of fire. Although, I'm betting Scott could still see me, and Alex's hands are right in my line of view, I figure that most mutants are walking arsenals anyway, so I'd probably be in more danger on the streets.
The two boys begin target practice on a machine that sends up clay things into the air at random times. Scott may have hit more targets, but I can't tell. Alex is phenomenal. He looks like he's so in charge of his own powers. Though, some of that bravado may come from having an audience. Hm... Anyway, I'm enjoying the show, when Jean sticks her head out of the window and calls, "Lorna! Come in here! We're in the rec room!"
Aww! Not now! "I'm busy. Why do you want me?" They'd better have a good reason. I'm pretty happy right here. The view is great.
Jean hollers back trough the window, "You've got to be prepared for school tomorrow!"
Alex pauses in his barrage, and both he and I whine, "School?" Well, that gets me up and going, I suppose. I rise from the tree and start to ride a wave to the rec room window.
As I'm on my way up, I hover a bit; not really wanting to leave Alex to Scott's devices. I hear him say, fairly loudly, "That sucks." Then, he added something else a bit softer. I only hear a little bit of it, so I silently ask the wave of magnetism to lower me just a bit. I do so quickly enough to hear the tail end of his comment. "-and Jean start dating?"
Scott replies, "Well, we never completely went on any dates... Why do you ask?" Alex squirms a little. Huh... That's odd. "Do you want advice on something?"
Wait, how does that add up? So Alex asked how Scott started to date Jean. What does that have to do with any advice that Scott can give him? Even weirder is that Alex can't stop stammering. I probably would have stuck around, but Jean called me, mentally this time.
I fly in through the window that she had left open. I had expected to see Jean waiting with a book bag, and a whole lot of unwanted advice. Instead, the room is filled with all of the girls, and a projection screen TV showing _My Big Fat Greek Wedding_. I think I'm missing something, here.
"Hi, I think I've been paged?" At the chorus of greetings, I figure I had guessed right. "Wasn't I supposed to be getting ready for school?
Kitty looks up from her spot on the floor. "You are! We're not going to let you go to Bayville without knowing any of the gossip." Aww...that's sweet in a strange "I really don't want to know" way.
I settle down to start to watch the movie. It was on the best part, in my opinion anyway. The first date. We all sit around for a bit, then Rahne sighs, "I wish someone'd do that fer me."
Amara, who's sitting with a ramrod straight back next to Rahne on the floor says, "What, take you out to dinner?"
"No, that." Rahne points at the screen, where Tulla and Ian were standing on the bridge after dinner. "Accept me no matter what."
All of us fall silent for a little bit, just imagining being accepted by a non-mutant family with 2.5 children, a random dog, and parents. Especially parents. Over the short time I've been here, it seems that even more of us than I had first thought are orphans, or worse, disowned by their own families.
In fact, the only two people who I am absolutely sure had normal childhoods are Jean and Kitty.
Speaking of which, maybe I can get more out of Jean than Scott. Okay, so I didn't really ever ask Scott anything, but what I overheard just didn't cut it. I open my mouth to ask, but Jubilee beats me to the punch.
"Hey, Jean, what's it like to date a guy who'd go through anything just so you're happy?"
Jean blushes prettily. "Well, Duncan really didn't ever ask if I was happy."
Jubilee rolls her eyes so largely that I thought her eyes were going to start facing backwards in her own head. Oddly enough, they didn't. "No! Duh! I meant Scott! You two are going out, right?"
Jean seems taken aback by the question. "Well, yeah. I should think so..."
Maybe this is my chance! I could ask her how she started to date without anyone getting suspicious! Boy, I'm devious. Next, I'll be twirling my mustache and laughing evilly. "Uh, J-jean? Could you, you know, if you can... W-what I mean to say is, how did the two of you start that? Dating, I mean." That could have gone better.
Thankfully, Jean really didn't pick up on anything. "Well, Lorna, we never actually started dating. Um, there was that one time in Mexico, but...I don't know if Scott would be comfortable with me telling anything." She keeps talking about Mexico and how he scared her, or something like that. I don't really pay attention. Scott and Alex are passing by on their way back from training. Scott looks like he's drenched in sweat, and his hair's plastered to his head.
Alex, on the other hand, looks great. This sheen covers his face, and it practically glows. Maybe it's glowing from exhaustion, but he looks almost exactly the same way as he did when I first saw him come in from surfing. Tired, but having the time of his life.
"Why did you ask, Lorna?" What? Oh. Uh... I'm not going to tell the truth, of course!
"Ah- Uh, curiosisity. I mean, curiosity." I laughed nervously. Alex must be watching my every move. I know he's not in view, but I'm paranoid right now! "Oops. I always do that. You know, I say bananana a lot. I just can't stop!" Tell me about it. Why can't I just shut up? "Yup. I also say specicicific sometimes." Stop it!
"I know!" shouts someone in the back. I'm too flustered to think who it could be. "Alex!"
There's a thump next to the doorjamb. So he was listening. Great. Absolutely spiffy. I feel the heat rising to my face and duck. It's bad enough that I blush at every little embarrassment, but when I do, I look like a Christmas card. Stupid stupid mutant hair.
Worst of all, when I finally do look up, there's Alex in the doorway. He has this dumbstruck look on his face, a perfect mirror to my own, I bet. I guess he's figured something out by now. He doesn't do anything, just turns around and starts to leave for his room.
I can't just take that lying down! "Wait!" I run out of the room full of completely astonished girls.
~(^)~
A/N: Wow. Finally updated, huh? By now, I'd bet all of you have given up on me and my lovely procrastination mutant powers. But, I hope this somehow makes up for everything I've put you guys through. The next chapter will have even more mushiness, and maybe Mags will finally pop up. This, well, this chapter seems to be fairly transitional. The next won't be. I promise.
And here, for your discerning pleasure, the name game!
Ororo: Okay, not in the trusty book.
Amara: Either "unfading" (Greek); or from Amara, a paradise in Abyssinian legend.
Jubilation (Jubilee's real name!): 1. Exultation. 2. A happy celebration. (dictionary)
Kitty: diminutive form of Katherine: "Pure" (Greek). Originally spelled with a "K" as in the Greek, these names are also used as Catherine because there was no "K" in the Anglo-Saxon alphabet and "C" was substituted.