Chapter 4-New Places
Disclaimer (in haiku form today): McAllister's mine/alas, the X-Men are not/Marvel has their souls
Random haiku (because I'm really bored): Summer nears an end/the crickets quietly chirp/to college I go
........................
So after two more weeks of sitting around in the hospital reading old Time magazines, with only one other visitor (this time it was Professor Xavier himself), they finally let me come home. It's amazing-if Dad had bribed enough people, I'd probably have stayed there forever. As it was, I had to come home because they were running out of beds, and I had to pack for school.
Home was better than the hospital, but only because I had good books, cable, and a computer. I still wasn't allowed out of the house-my sister's promised trip to Ben and Jerry's turned into "sneak out of the house while Dad's at a late committee meeting," which almost became that final scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in which Matthew Broderick races through the neighborhood to get home before his parents do. I don't think I've ever run home that fast from the bus stop.
That was my one foray into the outside world for the month of July. I left for the Institute at the beginning of August, I suspect largely because my father couldn't stand having me around the house any more. Frankly, I didn't like having him staring at me as if I was going to attack him any more than he liked me just being me, and while I love my sister, a thirteen- year-old girl is only so much company. They went to drop me off at the train station, and after a half hour of waiting in awkward silence while the train was delayed, I was finally able to board.
"Well," I said, "this is it."
I looked at my family. Nora looked like she was on the verge of tears, but then again, she's cried during commercials, so it wasn't exactly out of character. I hugged her and told her I'd be home for Thanksgiving, and turned to my father.
Dad was staring straight ahead. Up until this summer, he probably would have hugged me and told me to be a good sport or something of the like, but all he could manage this time was a faint "goodbye."
I looked at him through my sunglasses and sighed. This was about all I'd ever get from him now.
"Goodbye, Dad," I said. "I'll call when I get there. See you in November." I picked up my bags and headed for the platform. Nora waved until I'd disappeared, but my father just watched until I was gone.
............................
I had one thing to say about the Xavier mansion when I arrived: "Damn, this place is huge!" That about summed it up.
Everyone was really nice when I arrived. The students were in a training session, so I didn't meet them, but Professor Xavier showed me my room and told me that dinner was in twenty minutes in the dining room.
I walked into my new room and shuddered. It was freezing in there. I immediately found the air conditioning, which incidentally had been turned down as far as it could go, turned it off, and opened a window.
After standing by the window letting the hot August air into the room, I turned and found what could only be my roommate standing in the doorway.
"Hey, why is it so hot in here?" he asked. "All my stuff's gonna melt!"
Shit. It was my first day and I'd already managed to piss my roommate off. I looked around, and sure enough, there were ice sculptures all around the room, which were now forming puddles on the floor. I guess I had been so focused on not getting frostbite that I hadn't noticed there was a reason for the walk in freezer. Knowing me, I probably saw right through them.
"Aww, man. Logan's gonna kill me. I promised him it wouldn't happen again." He sighed and left the doorway, presumably to find a mop.
I went to close the window and turn the air conditioning on before he got back. When he did return, he flicked on the lights (I winced at the brightness, as usual) and noticed me standing there.
He kind of stared for awhile, so I broke the ice with, "hi, I'm Alex. You must be my roommate."
He looked at me and then around the room. His eyes widened as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "Shit," he said. "I completely forgot you were coming today. Great, now I really have to clean up this mess." He started mopping up the water while he picked up the clothes on the floor. "I normally don't keep it this cold in here, but I decided to do a little creative decoration yesterday. I would've let them melt outside, but I wanted to show them to Ray and Sam."
"Oh." I said, for lack of anything else to say.
"I'm Bobby, by the way, but you can also call me Iceman." I almost laughed at the name-Iceman-it sounded like he belonged in a horror flick set in the Himalayas, or a freezer commercial, but he was serious.
"Nice to meet you." We shook hands and I noticed he was rather cold. Figures-they probably called him Iceman for a reason. I took up the mop and helped shove the ice sculptures out the window while we had the, "so, what do you do?" conversation. Turns out he can make ice-although at this point, I wasn't exactly surprised.
We went down to dinner, where I got the full barrage of the students. Bobby went around the table, saying names lightning quick.
"Ok, that's Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Evan, Amara, Ray, Roberto, Sam, Jamie, Jubilee, and Rahne. I think the only person we're missing is Kurt, which is impressive. I don't think he's ever been late for a meal as long as I've been here."
I looked around the table and promptly forgot everyone's names. I went to go sit down in an empty chair when I heard a muffled explosion and the chair was suddenly filled.
I jumped back in surprise as the other students laughed. "Sorry," Bobby said, "I should've warned you about that. He regularly 'ports into rooms." I nodded meekly and then went to sit down on the other side of Bobby, hoping that nobody else would make a sudden appearance.
"Hey Kurt," somebody said, "you should apologize to the new guy. I think you scared the crap out of him when you appeared in his chair." Kurt looked up from his plate of food to give his apologies and scared even more crap out of me. He was blue.
Social inhibitions, and the fact that I was in a place for people who could do weird things, kept me from yelling, but nothing could prevent me from staring open-mouthed. I strained my eyes, hoping I was just seeing a costume or something and there was a normal boy somewhere, but all I saw was the girl sitting on his other side.
"Sorry," he said. "I didn't know you vere going to sit there."
He smiled and went back to his food, but I couldn't help but stare. It was a blue boy with a German accent. The rest of the table seemed to ignore this oddity, so I tried my best to fit in, but it wasn't exactly easy.
"He usually startles new students," said the girl on the other side of me. "On my first day, he accidentally teleported onto my bed as I was unpacking, and he didn't even have his image inducer on."
"Image inducer?" I asked. Maybe I wasn't crazy-maybe this blue thing was an image.
"Yeah," she said. "He's, um.not exactly normal looking, because of his mutation and all, so when we're at school, or just around people who don't know him well, he wears a watch that projects a more normal image."
I looked at blue boy again. "That's a normal image?" I asked in disbelief. "If blue is normal for him, what's he actually look like?"
"You can't see the image?" Now she sounded confused. "He's got it on right now."
I checked again, but nope, only blue and fur. I shook my head.
"What do you have, super human eyesight?" she asked.
"X-ray vision, actually."
"Well then, you probably just can't see it." She said this matter-of- factly. "I'm Amara, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, I said. She smiled and we went back to our food.
Not since before my mutation manifested had I ever felt this accepted. Sure, weird things were happening all around me-Bobby made his own ice cubes for his drink (he offered to chill mine, too, but I declined), Amara heated her mashed potatoes with her hands, and some other girl went right through the table to pick up a fork she dropped-but for the first time in eight months, nobody was punishing me for wearing sunglasses, there were no jokes about the Matrix, I wasn't stuck in a hospital bed, and when I told people I could see through solid objects, they acted like I'd told them I liked cheese. It was great.
.........................................
I met with the Professor after dinner to discuss what I'd be doing here.
"Well Alex, I hope you had a good dinner. I'm sorry Kurt startled you-I don't think either of us knew you couldn't see his image inducer." He chuckled softly. "It's a constant learning process for each student at the Institute. Every day holds a new discovery for someone, and today it must have been your turn.
"Before you start with your regular training, I'd like to explore your powers one-on-one, both with me and with Logan and Storm, two of our instructors. I'd also like to make you some glasses that are better suited to your vision, so if you would meet with Dr. McCoy tomorrow, we could get started on that as well.
"In your free time, feel free to explore the mansion or Bayville, or just sit around and read. I've also set up a small corner of the library for you to practice your cello if you desire."
"Thanks Professor" I said. He rolled away from his desk so I got up to go.
"I believe you'll find your fellow students downstairs in the rec room watching the Simpsons. Lights out is at 11 tonight."
I left the room and went off to enjoy an evening of Fox with my new classmates.
.....................
Author's Note: For the record, this story is either AU or just takes place before the whole "Day of Reckoning" series of episodes. For clarification, nobody knows about the X-Men or the Brotherhood, Spyke hasn't joined the Morlocks, Pietro hasn't gone to Daddy and then returned in command of the Brotherhood. Wanda still hates Magneto, Risty's identity hasn't been revealed, Jubilee and Rahne are still at the Institute.
Disclaimer (in haiku form today): McAllister's mine/alas, the X-Men are not/Marvel has their souls
Random haiku (because I'm really bored): Summer nears an end/the crickets quietly chirp/to college I go
........................
So after two more weeks of sitting around in the hospital reading old Time magazines, with only one other visitor (this time it was Professor Xavier himself), they finally let me come home. It's amazing-if Dad had bribed enough people, I'd probably have stayed there forever. As it was, I had to come home because they were running out of beds, and I had to pack for school.
Home was better than the hospital, but only because I had good books, cable, and a computer. I still wasn't allowed out of the house-my sister's promised trip to Ben and Jerry's turned into "sneak out of the house while Dad's at a late committee meeting," which almost became that final scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in which Matthew Broderick races through the neighborhood to get home before his parents do. I don't think I've ever run home that fast from the bus stop.
That was my one foray into the outside world for the month of July. I left for the Institute at the beginning of August, I suspect largely because my father couldn't stand having me around the house any more. Frankly, I didn't like having him staring at me as if I was going to attack him any more than he liked me just being me, and while I love my sister, a thirteen- year-old girl is only so much company. They went to drop me off at the train station, and after a half hour of waiting in awkward silence while the train was delayed, I was finally able to board.
"Well," I said, "this is it."
I looked at my family. Nora looked like she was on the verge of tears, but then again, she's cried during commercials, so it wasn't exactly out of character. I hugged her and told her I'd be home for Thanksgiving, and turned to my father.
Dad was staring straight ahead. Up until this summer, he probably would have hugged me and told me to be a good sport or something of the like, but all he could manage this time was a faint "goodbye."
I looked at him through my sunglasses and sighed. This was about all I'd ever get from him now.
"Goodbye, Dad," I said. "I'll call when I get there. See you in November." I picked up my bags and headed for the platform. Nora waved until I'd disappeared, but my father just watched until I was gone.
............................
I had one thing to say about the Xavier mansion when I arrived: "Damn, this place is huge!" That about summed it up.
Everyone was really nice when I arrived. The students were in a training session, so I didn't meet them, but Professor Xavier showed me my room and told me that dinner was in twenty minutes in the dining room.
I walked into my new room and shuddered. It was freezing in there. I immediately found the air conditioning, which incidentally had been turned down as far as it could go, turned it off, and opened a window.
After standing by the window letting the hot August air into the room, I turned and found what could only be my roommate standing in the doorway.
"Hey, why is it so hot in here?" he asked. "All my stuff's gonna melt!"
Shit. It was my first day and I'd already managed to piss my roommate off. I looked around, and sure enough, there were ice sculptures all around the room, which were now forming puddles on the floor. I guess I had been so focused on not getting frostbite that I hadn't noticed there was a reason for the walk in freezer. Knowing me, I probably saw right through them.
"Aww, man. Logan's gonna kill me. I promised him it wouldn't happen again." He sighed and left the doorway, presumably to find a mop.
I went to close the window and turn the air conditioning on before he got back. When he did return, he flicked on the lights (I winced at the brightness, as usual) and noticed me standing there.
He kind of stared for awhile, so I broke the ice with, "hi, I'm Alex. You must be my roommate."
He looked at me and then around the room. His eyes widened as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "Shit," he said. "I completely forgot you were coming today. Great, now I really have to clean up this mess." He started mopping up the water while he picked up the clothes on the floor. "I normally don't keep it this cold in here, but I decided to do a little creative decoration yesterday. I would've let them melt outside, but I wanted to show them to Ray and Sam."
"Oh." I said, for lack of anything else to say.
"I'm Bobby, by the way, but you can also call me Iceman." I almost laughed at the name-Iceman-it sounded like he belonged in a horror flick set in the Himalayas, or a freezer commercial, but he was serious.
"Nice to meet you." We shook hands and I noticed he was rather cold. Figures-they probably called him Iceman for a reason. I took up the mop and helped shove the ice sculptures out the window while we had the, "so, what do you do?" conversation. Turns out he can make ice-although at this point, I wasn't exactly surprised.
We went down to dinner, where I got the full barrage of the students. Bobby went around the table, saying names lightning quick.
"Ok, that's Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Evan, Amara, Ray, Roberto, Sam, Jamie, Jubilee, and Rahne. I think the only person we're missing is Kurt, which is impressive. I don't think he's ever been late for a meal as long as I've been here."
I looked around the table and promptly forgot everyone's names. I went to go sit down in an empty chair when I heard a muffled explosion and the chair was suddenly filled.
I jumped back in surprise as the other students laughed. "Sorry," Bobby said, "I should've warned you about that. He regularly 'ports into rooms." I nodded meekly and then went to sit down on the other side of Bobby, hoping that nobody else would make a sudden appearance.
"Hey Kurt," somebody said, "you should apologize to the new guy. I think you scared the crap out of him when you appeared in his chair." Kurt looked up from his plate of food to give his apologies and scared even more crap out of me. He was blue.
Social inhibitions, and the fact that I was in a place for people who could do weird things, kept me from yelling, but nothing could prevent me from staring open-mouthed. I strained my eyes, hoping I was just seeing a costume or something and there was a normal boy somewhere, but all I saw was the girl sitting on his other side.
"Sorry," he said. "I didn't know you vere going to sit there."
He smiled and went back to his food, but I couldn't help but stare. It was a blue boy with a German accent. The rest of the table seemed to ignore this oddity, so I tried my best to fit in, but it wasn't exactly easy.
"He usually startles new students," said the girl on the other side of me. "On my first day, he accidentally teleported onto my bed as I was unpacking, and he didn't even have his image inducer on."
"Image inducer?" I asked. Maybe I wasn't crazy-maybe this blue thing was an image.
"Yeah," she said. "He's, um.not exactly normal looking, because of his mutation and all, so when we're at school, or just around people who don't know him well, he wears a watch that projects a more normal image."
I looked at blue boy again. "That's a normal image?" I asked in disbelief. "If blue is normal for him, what's he actually look like?"
"You can't see the image?" Now she sounded confused. "He's got it on right now."
I checked again, but nope, only blue and fur. I shook my head.
"What do you have, super human eyesight?" she asked.
"X-ray vision, actually."
"Well then, you probably just can't see it." She said this matter-of- factly. "I'm Amara, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, I said. She smiled and we went back to our food.
Not since before my mutation manifested had I ever felt this accepted. Sure, weird things were happening all around me-Bobby made his own ice cubes for his drink (he offered to chill mine, too, but I declined), Amara heated her mashed potatoes with her hands, and some other girl went right through the table to pick up a fork she dropped-but for the first time in eight months, nobody was punishing me for wearing sunglasses, there were no jokes about the Matrix, I wasn't stuck in a hospital bed, and when I told people I could see through solid objects, they acted like I'd told them I liked cheese. It was great.
.........................................
I met with the Professor after dinner to discuss what I'd be doing here.
"Well Alex, I hope you had a good dinner. I'm sorry Kurt startled you-I don't think either of us knew you couldn't see his image inducer." He chuckled softly. "It's a constant learning process for each student at the Institute. Every day holds a new discovery for someone, and today it must have been your turn.
"Before you start with your regular training, I'd like to explore your powers one-on-one, both with me and with Logan and Storm, two of our instructors. I'd also like to make you some glasses that are better suited to your vision, so if you would meet with Dr. McCoy tomorrow, we could get started on that as well.
"In your free time, feel free to explore the mansion or Bayville, or just sit around and read. I've also set up a small corner of the library for you to practice your cello if you desire."
"Thanks Professor" I said. He rolled away from his desk so I got up to go.
"I believe you'll find your fellow students downstairs in the rec room watching the Simpsons. Lights out is at 11 tonight."
I left the room and went off to enjoy an evening of Fox with my new classmates.
.....................
Author's Note: For the record, this story is either AU or just takes place before the whole "Day of Reckoning" series of episodes. For clarification, nobody knows about the X-Men or the Brotherhood, Spyke hasn't joined the Morlocks, Pietro hasn't gone to Daddy and then returned in command of the Brotherhood. Wanda still hates Magneto, Risty's identity hasn't been revealed, Jubilee and Rahne are still at the Institute.