Kurt had not really liked the journey on the boat to England. He was
forced to wear Gadje clothes that were tight fitting, and crushed his
hidden tail, and he was also forced to wear make-up to cover all of his
exposed blue fur. It was smelly and it stuck to his fur badly. He was also
unable to speak due to his wounded throat, which started to show signs of
scaring that ringed his throat badly.
Charles assured him that everything would be all right once they reached his school and in the mean time, he told Kurt all about his school, and the people who were there and what he meant when he said that they had "gifts".
Kurt was excited to go to Charles' school, but he soon started to feel guilty about this, due to the fact that he had left his tribe back in Prussia, where Frederick William I had people hunting down the Roma and killing them without any mercy whatsoever. Charles sensed his guilt, and he assured Kurt that he would find a way to take care of his tribe back in Prussia.
When the boat finally reached the docks, Kurt followed Charles down the ramp and through some of the officials who checked Charles' passes. When they asked to see Kurt's, Charles told them that Kurt was his servant that he had recently employed him, and that he was waiting to get Kurt's papers all in order.
They let them go, with a little help from Charles' powers of persuasion.
On their way there, Kurt and Charles stopped at a lake and Charles respectively looked away as Kurt took off his Gadje clothes and washed the make-up out of his fur with some soap and a lot of scrubbing. When he was finished, he dressed in his regular clothes, slipping on his large golden hoop earring in his right ear. He smiled a bit, looking down at his reflection in the lake.
***
The school was like a manor, separated from any towns and surrounded by a lush forest. It had a garden for vegetables and an orchard for any fruit that they needed. A small farm was on the side where cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses were raised for both monetary value and a food source.
It had several floors to it, and Kurt almost thought that it was a castle with all of its elaborate designs, and rooms and floors. He looked over at Charles and raised his eyebrows slightly as he tilted his head to one side.
"I inherited a fortune from my father." Charles said with a shrug. "Come on, I want Hank to check on your throat to see if it's all right for you to speak yet without risking an further damage."
When they entered the mansion, Kurt felt like a dirty pauper entering a cathedral covered in gold and precious gems and stones. He stopped and looked around, his mouth open slightly as he moved in a slow circle, trying to take everything in.
"Are you the new student the Professor was talking about?" Turning around, Kurt found himself looking at a tall young man with fire red hair. His eyes were wrapped in a silken cloth tightly, and he wondered how he had known where to turn his head to act as if he was looking at him.
"Scott, this is Kurt." Charles said. "Kurt, this is my first student; Scott Summers." Smiling, Scott held out his hand and Kurt shook it, tilting his head to one side slightly. "Scott's eyes produce a red beam of light that can destroy anything. Almost like he has a cannon of light in both eyes. He's attuned with everything, which is why he knows where everything is."
"Professor, you're making me blush!" Scott laughed, shaking his head a bit. "I hope you'll want to stay with us, Kurt." He said, tilting his head to one side slightly. "We could use more people here."
Kurt smiled faintly and he waved good-bye as he followed Charles to another room. When he realized his mistake he turned around, only to see Scott waving back at him.
"Please keep up." Charles laughed, looking over his shoulder. Kurt promptly turned around and followed Charles up a flight of stairs to the second floor.
He was led down a short hallway and into the infirmary. It was empty, and Kurt looked at Charles in confusion. Smiling, Charles looked up at the ceiling.
"Hank? We have a new student and I want you to examine him for any permanent damage." He said. Hank came down from the ceiling, surprising Kurt into taking a slight step back. The man looked like a giant blue furred ape, with hands that could easily crush someone's throat. On his nose he wore thin framed spectacles, which he adjusted as he smiled at Kurt.
"Finally! Another blue member to keep me company in this domicile of ours!" he said, putting an arm around Kurt's thin shoulders. "My name is Henry McCoy, but you can just call me Hank." When he finally noticed the wound around Kurt's neck, he frowned and took a slight step back, adjusting his spectacles a bit.
"This is the damage I was talking about, Hank." Charles said. "I thought it would be safer not to have Kurt talk until you give him the ok." Hank nodded and had Kurt sit down on one of the cots, collecting a few of his tools.
"When I'm finished shall I give him a tour of the place?" he asked.
"If you wouldn't mind."
"Oh not at all!" Hank said, applying some medicine to Kurt's wound. "I'm sure we'll become quite the friends in the end!" Charles smiled and left the room and Hank started his examination, asking Kurt to open his mouth as he looked for any internal damage.
"When you swallow, does it hurt?" Hank asked. Kurt nodded faintly, and Hank sighed, adjusting his spectacles slightly. "I'm going to need you to talk to me. Stop when it starts to hurt too much."
"All right." Kurt whispered, his voice hoarse from the hanging and disuse.
"How bad does it hurt when you talk and swallow?" Hank asked.
"Not much."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes." Kurt nodded. Hank started writing, making up a medical file for Kurt. He asked for his full name, age, nationality, and for any serious illnesses or injuries he had suffered from in the past. When he finished, he put the file away and he started to give Kurt a tour of the grounds.
While showing him the third floor, they met a young lady in men's clothes that covered every inch of her, including a pair of silken gloves. Her hair was long and auburn colored with one long skunk stripe in the front.
"This is Rogue." Hank said. "Rogue, this is a new student."
"My name is Kurt." He said, bowing slightly. Rogue laughed softly and he looked at her in confusion.
"Ya'll don't need to bow to me, sugah!" Rogue said. "Ah'm not exactly dressed for it!"
"I noticed." Kurt said with a soft laugh. "But my mother always told me to bow to a lady when making a first meeting." Rogue cocked an eyebrow slightly, looking over at Hank.
"Where did the Professor find such a polite boy?" she asked with a laugh. Hank shrugged, laughing softly.
"Rogue, do you know where the others are?" he asked.
"Most of 'em are in the training grounds." She said. "Ah'm going there now."
"Thank you." Hank said. He brought Kurt outside to the floral part of the garden and Kurt was amazed at how many different flowers there were all over the place. He found it odd however that there were small rain clouds over them, moving lazily over all of them in turn.
"What are those?" he asked, pointing at the clouds.
"You've never seen rain clouds before?" Hank laughed.
"I have, but these can't..."
"They are my doing." A woman's voice said. A black woman stepped into view, dressed in a white dress that was loose and showed her legs with no shame at all. Her hair was snow white and pulled back in a high ponytail, matching her completely white and marble-like eyes.
Kurt couldn't help but blush violet at the sight of her exposed legs. Ororo narrowed her eyes slightly, confusing this action of embarrassment with something else.
"Who is this?" she asked, turning to Hank. Kurt's tail curled around his left leg as he bowed to her.
"My name is Kurt." He said. Ororo sniffed softly, turning away to water a few of the flowers.
"I am Ororo." She said finally. "If you are looking for the others, go to the training grounds." She told Hank. With that, she turned her back on them both and continued her work.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kurt asked as he walked down a stone path beside Hank.
"None that I could see." Hank said. "Ororo can sometimes twist things around though."
The training area was a large clearing set up with large obstacles and equipment mostly used to train soldiers. The people there varied in race and nationality as they practiced their fighting skills, going through the obstacles, or simply meditating.
Looking up, Kurt's eyes grew wide as a man with large feathery wings came down for a landing, only to be attacked by a boy made out of ice.
"The one with the wings is Warren Worthington and the one fighting him is Bobby Drake." Hank explained. An older man was wrestling with a younger one. The older man let out a scream that ripped away some of the ground around him and towards the younger man. The other simply dodged the blow by holding out his hands.
"The screamer is Sean Cassidy, and the fighter is John Proudstar." A young man was staring at a tree intently. Narrowing his eyes, he turned into steel and he punched at its trunk, cracking it down easily.
"That is our resident Siberian Piotr Rasputin." Hank observed with a smile. Another man was sitting a bit far off from the others, flipping playing cards from finger to finger swiftly. He suddenly stopped and held one up to his red on black eyes, and it looked like it was starting to fill up with light. He tossed it over his shoulder and it exploded with a soft pop.
"From Louisiana; Remy Lebeau." A woman with hair that matched Scott's walked up to the two of them, looking Kurt over as she placed her hands on her hips slightly.
"You're the one the Professor was looking for." She said. "The Rom from Prussia." Smiling, she matched his bow with her own. "I'm Jean Grey and I hope you like living here."
"I'm sure I will." Kurt said, looking around. He saw a short man standing on a wooden podium, holding out a bowl of water in each hand as he balanced on one foot.
"That's Logan; our resident madman." Jean laughed softly. Kurt walked up quietly, his tail moving lazily as he looked up at Logan.
"Hello." He said. "My name is...ACH!" Logan's concentration was broken and he dropped both bowls, dosing Kurt and banging his head with one of the bowls. Logan growled angrily and he leapt down, forcing Kurt to back up a few steps. Claws of curved bone came out of his knuckles and Kurt found himself inches away from having his wound opened up once more. Logan's blue eyes glittered angrily at him.
"You made me lose my concentration!" he snarled. Everyone was silent as they turned to look at Logan and the newcomer. They were quiet, unsure whether or not they should try and do something to help Kurt. Logan may blow up and end up killing him if any of them tried anything.
"I'm sorry." Kurt said, trying to pull his head back. Logan slashed with his other hand and trapped Kurt between two sets of three flesh shredding claws.
"Sorry isn't good enough." Logan said, narrowing his eyes. Kurt gulped softly, looking over at Hank and the others. When he saw that they couldn't really do anything, he looked back at Logan and he tried to think of something.
In the corner of his eye he saw something glitter, and he soon realized that it was a sword. If he could just get to it...
Kurt tried to think of how he could dodge the claws and reach the sword, and he wished that he could get over there.
Oh God he wished...
With a Bamf Kurt was gone and he reappeared beside the sword, much to everyone's surprise.
Hell, it definitely surprised the Hell out of him!
He looked around in surprise as a purple cloud dissipated, but he soon picked up the sword and used it to deflect a blow made by a charging Logan. The two fought all around the training area, Kurt's sword blocking most of Logan's stabs and thrusts as they searched to draw Kurt's blood.
Kurt dodged and flipped as best as he could, trying to find an opening somewhere to try and trip Logan up without really hurting him. He thought about being behind him, and with another Bamf he was there in a cloud of purple and a whiff of sulfur and brimstone.
Logan whirled right around and nearly took off Kurt's head if he had not ducked just in time. Soon Kurt got better with his teleporting, moving swiftly around Logan as he tried to find an opening. Bone clashed against steel with the same strength and Kurt was soon starting to get tired and weary from the crazy onslaught coming from Logan.
That's when he saw his opening. He lunged forward, his blade pointing at Logan's face as Logan aimed for Kurt's face. The two froze in place, Logan looking at a sword blade and Kurt looking at dangerous claws.
After a tense moment, Logan smiled and retracted his claws, taking a step back.
"You're pretty good." He said. "Quick thinking and quick reaction time. Although you really should have noticed that you messed up my concentration in the beginning. You wouldn't have gotten wet or trapped in- between me claws now would you?" Kurt laughed softly, putting the sword down.
"No, I suppose not." He said. He heard clapping and looking to the side he saw the others laughing and clapping.
"You've discovered your second gift." Charles said with a smile. "Good for you!" Kurt blushed and rubbed the back of his head slightly.
"I'm glad that I found my power too!" he said. "For a moment I thought I was going to die there!"
"Yes, well Logan's style of 'breaking in' a new member can get quite violent at times." Charles admitted looking at the Canadian as he calmly lit a cigarette with a wooden match and took a drag on it. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Logan." He said. Logan shrugged, smiling faintly as he blew out two smoke rings.
"He found out his power didn't he? It was the boost he needed, Chuck!" he said with a wink.
With that, everyone walked up to greet the newest member of their school. They laughed and made introductions, patting Kurt on the back and so on. Everyone was smiling, everyone except one.
Looking over Remy's shoulder, Kurt saw the black woman named Ororo standing near the trees, her arms across her chest and her eyes narrowed in anger as she watched them all. With a huff she turned on her heel and went back to her flowers.
Charles assured him that everything would be all right once they reached his school and in the mean time, he told Kurt all about his school, and the people who were there and what he meant when he said that they had "gifts".
Kurt was excited to go to Charles' school, but he soon started to feel guilty about this, due to the fact that he had left his tribe back in Prussia, where Frederick William I had people hunting down the Roma and killing them without any mercy whatsoever. Charles sensed his guilt, and he assured Kurt that he would find a way to take care of his tribe back in Prussia.
When the boat finally reached the docks, Kurt followed Charles down the ramp and through some of the officials who checked Charles' passes. When they asked to see Kurt's, Charles told them that Kurt was his servant that he had recently employed him, and that he was waiting to get Kurt's papers all in order.
They let them go, with a little help from Charles' powers of persuasion.
On their way there, Kurt and Charles stopped at a lake and Charles respectively looked away as Kurt took off his Gadje clothes and washed the make-up out of his fur with some soap and a lot of scrubbing. When he was finished, he dressed in his regular clothes, slipping on his large golden hoop earring in his right ear. He smiled a bit, looking down at his reflection in the lake.
***
The school was like a manor, separated from any towns and surrounded by a lush forest. It had a garden for vegetables and an orchard for any fruit that they needed. A small farm was on the side where cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses were raised for both monetary value and a food source.
It had several floors to it, and Kurt almost thought that it was a castle with all of its elaborate designs, and rooms and floors. He looked over at Charles and raised his eyebrows slightly as he tilted his head to one side.
"I inherited a fortune from my father." Charles said with a shrug. "Come on, I want Hank to check on your throat to see if it's all right for you to speak yet without risking an further damage."
When they entered the mansion, Kurt felt like a dirty pauper entering a cathedral covered in gold and precious gems and stones. He stopped and looked around, his mouth open slightly as he moved in a slow circle, trying to take everything in.
"Are you the new student the Professor was talking about?" Turning around, Kurt found himself looking at a tall young man with fire red hair. His eyes were wrapped in a silken cloth tightly, and he wondered how he had known where to turn his head to act as if he was looking at him.
"Scott, this is Kurt." Charles said. "Kurt, this is my first student; Scott Summers." Smiling, Scott held out his hand and Kurt shook it, tilting his head to one side slightly. "Scott's eyes produce a red beam of light that can destroy anything. Almost like he has a cannon of light in both eyes. He's attuned with everything, which is why he knows where everything is."
"Professor, you're making me blush!" Scott laughed, shaking his head a bit. "I hope you'll want to stay with us, Kurt." He said, tilting his head to one side slightly. "We could use more people here."
Kurt smiled faintly and he waved good-bye as he followed Charles to another room. When he realized his mistake he turned around, only to see Scott waving back at him.
"Please keep up." Charles laughed, looking over his shoulder. Kurt promptly turned around and followed Charles up a flight of stairs to the second floor.
He was led down a short hallway and into the infirmary. It was empty, and Kurt looked at Charles in confusion. Smiling, Charles looked up at the ceiling.
"Hank? We have a new student and I want you to examine him for any permanent damage." He said. Hank came down from the ceiling, surprising Kurt into taking a slight step back. The man looked like a giant blue furred ape, with hands that could easily crush someone's throat. On his nose he wore thin framed spectacles, which he adjusted as he smiled at Kurt.
"Finally! Another blue member to keep me company in this domicile of ours!" he said, putting an arm around Kurt's thin shoulders. "My name is Henry McCoy, but you can just call me Hank." When he finally noticed the wound around Kurt's neck, he frowned and took a slight step back, adjusting his spectacles a bit.
"This is the damage I was talking about, Hank." Charles said. "I thought it would be safer not to have Kurt talk until you give him the ok." Hank nodded and had Kurt sit down on one of the cots, collecting a few of his tools.
"When I'm finished shall I give him a tour of the place?" he asked.
"If you wouldn't mind."
"Oh not at all!" Hank said, applying some medicine to Kurt's wound. "I'm sure we'll become quite the friends in the end!" Charles smiled and left the room and Hank started his examination, asking Kurt to open his mouth as he looked for any internal damage.
"When you swallow, does it hurt?" Hank asked. Kurt nodded faintly, and Hank sighed, adjusting his spectacles slightly. "I'm going to need you to talk to me. Stop when it starts to hurt too much."
"All right." Kurt whispered, his voice hoarse from the hanging and disuse.
"How bad does it hurt when you talk and swallow?" Hank asked.
"Not much."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes." Kurt nodded. Hank started writing, making up a medical file for Kurt. He asked for his full name, age, nationality, and for any serious illnesses or injuries he had suffered from in the past. When he finished, he put the file away and he started to give Kurt a tour of the grounds.
While showing him the third floor, they met a young lady in men's clothes that covered every inch of her, including a pair of silken gloves. Her hair was long and auburn colored with one long skunk stripe in the front.
"This is Rogue." Hank said. "Rogue, this is a new student."
"My name is Kurt." He said, bowing slightly. Rogue laughed softly and he looked at her in confusion.
"Ya'll don't need to bow to me, sugah!" Rogue said. "Ah'm not exactly dressed for it!"
"I noticed." Kurt said with a soft laugh. "But my mother always told me to bow to a lady when making a first meeting." Rogue cocked an eyebrow slightly, looking over at Hank.
"Where did the Professor find such a polite boy?" she asked with a laugh. Hank shrugged, laughing softly.
"Rogue, do you know where the others are?" he asked.
"Most of 'em are in the training grounds." She said. "Ah'm going there now."
"Thank you." Hank said. He brought Kurt outside to the floral part of the garden and Kurt was amazed at how many different flowers there were all over the place. He found it odd however that there were small rain clouds over them, moving lazily over all of them in turn.
"What are those?" he asked, pointing at the clouds.
"You've never seen rain clouds before?" Hank laughed.
"I have, but these can't..."
"They are my doing." A woman's voice said. A black woman stepped into view, dressed in a white dress that was loose and showed her legs with no shame at all. Her hair was snow white and pulled back in a high ponytail, matching her completely white and marble-like eyes.
Kurt couldn't help but blush violet at the sight of her exposed legs. Ororo narrowed her eyes slightly, confusing this action of embarrassment with something else.
"Who is this?" she asked, turning to Hank. Kurt's tail curled around his left leg as he bowed to her.
"My name is Kurt." He said. Ororo sniffed softly, turning away to water a few of the flowers.
"I am Ororo." She said finally. "If you are looking for the others, go to the training grounds." She told Hank. With that, she turned her back on them both and continued her work.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kurt asked as he walked down a stone path beside Hank.
"None that I could see." Hank said. "Ororo can sometimes twist things around though."
The training area was a large clearing set up with large obstacles and equipment mostly used to train soldiers. The people there varied in race and nationality as they practiced their fighting skills, going through the obstacles, or simply meditating.
Looking up, Kurt's eyes grew wide as a man with large feathery wings came down for a landing, only to be attacked by a boy made out of ice.
"The one with the wings is Warren Worthington and the one fighting him is Bobby Drake." Hank explained. An older man was wrestling with a younger one. The older man let out a scream that ripped away some of the ground around him and towards the younger man. The other simply dodged the blow by holding out his hands.
"The screamer is Sean Cassidy, and the fighter is John Proudstar." A young man was staring at a tree intently. Narrowing his eyes, he turned into steel and he punched at its trunk, cracking it down easily.
"That is our resident Siberian Piotr Rasputin." Hank observed with a smile. Another man was sitting a bit far off from the others, flipping playing cards from finger to finger swiftly. He suddenly stopped and held one up to his red on black eyes, and it looked like it was starting to fill up with light. He tossed it over his shoulder and it exploded with a soft pop.
"From Louisiana; Remy Lebeau." A woman with hair that matched Scott's walked up to the two of them, looking Kurt over as she placed her hands on her hips slightly.
"You're the one the Professor was looking for." She said. "The Rom from Prussia." Smiling, she matched his bow with her own. "I'm Jean Grey and I hope you like living here."
"I'm sure I will." Kurt said, looking around. He saw a short man standing on a wooden podium, holding out a bowl of water in each hand as he balanced on one foot.
"That's Logan; our resident madman." Jean laughed softly. Kurt walked up quietly, his tail moving lazily as he looked up at Logan.
"Hello." He said. "My name is...ACH!" Logan's concentration was broken and he dropped both bowls, dosing Kurt and banging his head with one of the bowls. Logan growled angrily and he leapt down, forcing Kurt to back up a few steps. Claws of curved bone came out of his knuckles and Kurt found himself inches away from having his wound opened up once more. Logan's blue eyes glittered angrily at him.
"You made me lose my concentration!" he snarled. Everyone was silent as they turned to look at Logan and the newcomer. They were quiet, unsure whether or not they should try and do something to help Kurt. Logan may blow up and end up killing him if any of them tried anything.
"I'm sorry." Kurt said, trying to pull his head back. Logan slashed with his other hand and trapped Kurt between two sets of three flesh shredding claws.
"Sorry isn't good enough." Logan said, narrowing his eyes. Kurt gulped softly, looking over at Hank and the others. When he saw that they couldn't really do anything, he looked back at Logan and he tried to think of something.
In the corner of his eye he saw something glitter, and he soon realized that it was a sword. If he could just get to it...
Kurt tried to think of how he could dodge the claws and reach the sword, and he wished that he could get over there.
Oh God he wished...
With a Bamf Kurt was gone and he reappeared beside the sword, much to everyone's surprise.
Hell, it definitely surprised the Hell out of him!
He looked around in surprise as a purple cloud dissipated, but he soon picked up the sword and used it to deflect a blow made by a charging Logan. The two fought all around the training area, Kurt's sword blocking most of Logan's stabs and thrusts as they searched to draw Kurt's blood.
Kurt dodged and flipped as best as he could, trying to find an opening somewhere to try and trip Logan up without really hurting him. He thought about being behind him, and with another Bamf he was there in a cloud of purple and a whiff of sulfur and brimstone.
Logan whirled right around and nearly took off Kurt's head if he had not ducked just in time. Soon Kurt got better with his teleporting, moving swiftly around Logan as he tried to find an opening. Bone clashed against steel with the same strength and Kurt was soon starting to get tired and weary from the crazy onslaught coming from Logan.
That's when he saw his opening. He lunged forward, his blade pointing at Logan's face as Logan aimed for Kurt's face. The two froze in place, Logan looking at a sword blade and Kurt looking at dangerous claws.
After a tense moment, Logan smiled and retracted his claws, taking a step back.
"You're pretty good." He said. "Quick thinking and quick reaction time. Although you really should have noticed that you messed up my concentration in the beginning. You wouldn't have gotten wet or trapped in- between me claws now would you?" Kurt laughed softly, putting the sword down.
"No, I suppose not." He said. He heard clapping and looking to the side he saw the others laughing and clapping.
"You've discovered your second gift." Charles said with a smile. "Good for you!" Kurt blushed and rubbed the back of his head slightly.
"I'm glad that I found my power too!" he said. "For a moment I thought I was going to die there!"
"Yes, well Logan's style of 'breaking in' a new member can get quite violent at times." Charles admitted looking at the Canadian as he calmly lit a cigarette with a wooden match and took a drag on it. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Logan." He said. Logan shrugged, smiling faintly as he blew out two smoke rings.
"He found out his power didn't he? It was the boost he needed, Chuck!" he said with a wink.
With that, everyone walked up to greet the newest member of their school. They laughed and made introductions, patting Kurt on the back and so on. Everyone was smiling, everyone except one.
Looking over Remy's shoulder, Kurt saw the black woman named Ororo standing near the trees, her arms across her chest and her eyes narrowed in anger as she watched them all. With a huff she turned on her heel and went back to her flowers.