Chapter 11-Discussion.
...........
I almost didn't do it. I walked to my car after Spanish with my mind solely focused on going home and trying to forget the whole thing when I found the paper Jean had given me.
No matter how hard I tried, this wasn't going to go away. I was kind-of- sort-of-maybe his girlfriend (we hadn't quite worked that part out yet, but it was going well), so I couldn't exactly ignore him.
I'd tried talking about it with people, but nobody seemed to understand. I just wanted someone to assure me everything would be ok, but all I got from my friends was that I should dump him for a) being weird, and b) not telling me.
I didn't want to dump him, though. I just wanted to work things out.
I sat in the parking lot for quite some time, trying to decide. I watched everyone around me leave, and then I finally decided that I had to go.
I'd never actually seen the Xavier Institute up close. I pulled up to the gate and a little intercom popped up next to my window.
"Welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youth. How may I help you?" said the voice from the speaker. There was a lot of noise in the background.
"Um...this is Anita Singh. Can I talk to Alex?"
"Uh, yeah. Hold on." I heard whoever it was cover up his end of the speaker and then some muffled yelling.
"Anita, you can come on in. I'll show you up to his room." That sounded like Jean Grey. The gate opened and I drove up to the house.
Jean opened the door to the gigantic mansion and I stepped into the foyer. I looked around. No Alex, but about ten other people, most of whom I recognized from school, staring at me.
Jean turned and glared at them and most of them left, the rest milling around and watching us as she led me upstairs.
"I told him you were here and that you weren't going to attack him or anything. You're not going to attack him or anything, are you?"
She turned to me and I shook my head.
"Good. We've already started getting hate emails, we don't need attackers in person."
We reached his door. A little plaque said "Messrs. Drake and McAllister-- Crime Fighters Extraordinaire" and had a picture of Alex and his roommate grinning at the camera holding martini glasses and wearing matching black uniforms with a big yellow "X" on the front. It must be some inside joke.
She smiled at me and headed down the hallway. I knocked and then reached for the handle.
The room was completely dark when I opened the door. I reached for a light switch.
"Don't turn on the lights. Give me a minute."
I waited, trying to find him in the dark room. I could barely make out his shape, sitting on a bed.
"Ok, now you can turn them on." I flicked the lights on and winced at the brightness of the room. He had gotten up off his bed now, and was just standing there rather awkwardly. Kind of like me. I think neither of us really knew what to say, but I started talking anyway.
"Did I interrupt a nap or something?" I asked.
"Oh, no. It's just that I can only take my glasses off in the dark, and today being like it's been, I really didn't feel like dealing with them."
Okay. That doesn't explain much, but okay. We both continued standing rather awkwardly as there wasn't a whole lot else to do.
I decided to try talking again. "Jean told me you wanted to talk."
"So I hear from Jean. What else did she tell you?"
What was this, the Spanish Inquisition? "She just told me you wanted to talk." I replied.
"So you still have no idea what to expect from me?"
"Should I expect something?" Was he really dangerous? What had I gotten into?
"Well, I could have poor control of my power, which for all you know, could be exceptionally dangerous. I could control fire or create earthquakes or blow things up."
"Do you do any of those?" Now I was getting nervous. Why was I here again?
"Except for losing control, no. And when I do lose control, I tend to run into things rather than blow them up."
"What do you do?"
"I see through solid objects. Ever wonder why I run into people a lot?"
He had a point. I had always passed him off as somewhat absent-minded because of that, but this would also explain it.
"Does wearing those glasses all the time help?"
"That's really more because I see in the dark really well, but my eyes can't adjust to the light."
"What, like your iris doesn't work?"
"I have no irises."
Oh. Well, I didn't expect that. "What do you mean?"
"Do you want to see? Turn off the light, I'll show you."
I tried to picture what this was going to look like, so I wouldn't be completely weirded out, but nothing really came to mind. I hit the light switch and proceeded to see nothing because of the darkness.
I heard some movement from Alex. "Ok," he said, "I'm taking my glasses off, so don't turn on the lights. When your eyes adjust to the room, check this out."
I blinked and watched as my eyes slowly adjusted. Reflective objects appeared first--the doorknob, picture frames, my watch, then light colored things showed up in the darkness. I saw his running shoes on the floor, papers on his desk, his pale skin. I took a few steps toward him and his features became more clearly defined in the shadows. His dark hair blended into the wall behind him, but I could pick out his ears, nose, and mouth.
His eyes remained shrouded in darkness, though. I moved even closer, until I was only a few inches away when I realized that those were his eyes.
I gasped and took a step back. They were almond eyes, a sign of his Japanese heritage, I supposed, but instead of the normal white and brown, or whatever color they would be, they were completely black.
"How did they....."
"We're not sure," he answered, even before I could get the whole question out. "Dr. McCoy said the irises probably atrophied when the mutation started manifesting, and then some sort of enzymatic reaction specific to my body ate away the remaining muscle and sclera--that's the white part."
"So they weren't always like...this?"
"Nope, it started in January, and by last May, I couldn't take off my sunglasses. The Professor and Hank made me these, I can adjust the darkness so I can see in all sorts of light."
"Who's Hank?" I assumed the Professor was Professor Xavier, but this was a name I'd never heard.
"Oh, Dr. McCoy works here. You might have seen him around; he's rather large and blue. He apparently used to teach chem or something at the high school. He's great, if you can figure out all of his obscure literary references."
I definitely didn't remember a blue, furry teacher walking around Bayville, but I did remember a Mr. McCoy who taught chem and quoted Shakespeare.
"Do you mean the Mr. McCoy who taught his classes how to make stink bombs?" I asked. "He was a cool teacher--everyone was mad when he left because he went crazy...and..." The wheels were turning in my head. It hit me.
"Alex, that man is wild. He tried to attack Principal Kelly!"
How could they let him work here? How did they even find him? Last I heard, he was running from the police. I began to search the room for possible escape routes lest he walk in the door.
"Woah, Anita, relax. He's just another mutant, he's working to control his mutation with the Professor. We're all working to keep ourselves under control here."
"What do you mean by, 'we're all'?" I asked. Honestly, how many mutants were here? He took my hand and led me to his bed to sit down before he said anything. I could hear him chuckling to himself in the darkness.
"Anita, the Xavier Institute is for mutants. Everyone here, including the teachers, is a mutant."
I was glad it was dark so he didn't have to see the surprised look on my face. These people that I knew from school--not just Alex, but Jean, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, they were all in my classes, and they were all mutants. The other students I'd seen when I came into the mansion--they were all mutants too.
..........
Because I had my glasses off, I could see every bit of shock she was going through, even though it probably hadn't occurred to her that I could. The Professor had given me permission to tell her if I felt she could take it. After all, Kurt's girlfriend knew, and she didn't have a problem with it. Then again, Amanda thought the elf boy was quite possibly the cutest thing she'd ever seen, whereas Anita here was still trying to get used to the idea of my being somewhat less than normal.
I could see her staring into her lap, deep in thought. I knew she was trying to sort through what I'd just told her, but I decided to keep going anyway, because the more she knew, the easier it would be to understand.
I told her about the Institute, how we got special help to deal with our powers. How nobody really knew what this place was for. I told her everything that came to mind, about how this was the only place where I didn't live in fear of being discovered and shunned, the only place where I felt comfortable being who I was.
Because that's who I am, and it's not going to change.
Talking to her was like letting an enormous weight off my chest. I'd spent the afternoon curled up on my bed with pretty much every authority figure on the grounds of the Institute approaching me trying to give me some words of comfort, but nobody seemed to have much of an affect. Talking to someone who was, well, human and didn't want to stick my head on a pike gave me hope that people could get over the mutant thing and go on with their lives.
"I understand how weird this is for you," I told her, "but I want you to know that I'm still the same person I was yesterday. It's like when you found out I'm half Japanese," I said, hoping a little humor would break her out of her thoughts, "It's surprising, but I'm still me."
She did laugh, a little. "I think most people would beg to differ, my friend."
"Do you?"
There was a long pause. Longer than I would have liked, but she finally answered.
"Yeah," she said, as she smiled, "but I don't care."
All I had to say was thank God.
..............
So I'm happy Anita doesn't care. For awhile, I thought she was going to take quite some time to bring around. Seriously, these characters seem to have taken on lives of their own...it's like that one-act play whose name I currently have forgotten.
I've had a couple of people asking me what Alex looks like, and while I've been dropping bits and pieces (like the jokes about him resembling Keanu Reeves, Rogue's comment that he looked a bit preppy, being a runner, etc..) but I've intentionally avoided describing him outright. I am of the theory that each reader should sort of create their own image of the character-it's why the movie is never as good as the book. For the record, though, he's average height, in pretty good shape (track team does that) and looks half Japanese, half Caucasian. You decide the rest.
So.onto reviews, because I didn't do those last chapter.
PsychoBunny410: *hangs her head in shame* yeah, it has been quite awhile. I actually write fairly often, but writing while falling asleep is not to be recommended, because then you wake up with pages upon pages of dsfgggggggggggggggggggggggggg and a nifty square pattern on your forehead from falling asleep on the keyboard. And I felt I had to write this chapter and the previous one together.
Neva: Anti-mutant-psycho-wank is a phrase to be remembered. I actually tried to slip it into the Bobby section of ch. 10, but it just didn't fit his character...some day, though, some day. I liked your title suggestion (as you can see)--thanks. I'm also happy you liked the Anita, Bobby and Scott sections. This story just sort of started writing itself in first person, so I decided to stick with it--only then I didn't realize how hard it is to do that straight through.
Risty: I'm glad you liked the two chapters. You might also want to add actors to your list of people not to date, but that's just the techie in me speaking. Mathemeticians? Well, actually now that you mention it...
Fateema: I tried to be more clear in recent chapters (meaning ch. 10)-- honestly, I went back and tried to find instances where I could clarify who was speaking (for awhile, in the Scott section, I didn't identify him for over a page). I've deliberately avoided telling the reader outside of the story what's going on, instead choosing to leave hints. For example, in the Scott section of this ch. 10, I start by saying that he's a leader, and then say he's the one that drove Alex home (which he did in chapter 9- though I don't expect readers to pick up on that because, sadly, it's been 2 months since I updated). Looking back, though I must admit that I don't always drop clues right away. I'll keep working on that. As for Anita's name, I wasn't worried about giving her an Indian first name because it's perfectly common to find people of one ethnic group with a name from outside that culture.
Kitalia: Thanks, I hoped this chapter cleared up the looks thing a bit.
...........
I almost didn't do it. I walked to my car after Spanish with my mind solely focused on going home and trying to forget the whole thing when I found the paper Jean had given me.
No matter how hard I tried, this wasn't going to go away. I was kind-of- sort-of-maybe his girlfriend (we hadn't quite worked that part out yet, but it was going well), so I couldn't exactly ignore him.
I'd tried talking about it with people, but nobody seemed to understand. I just wanted someone to assure me everything would be ok, but all I got from my friends was that I should dump him for a) being weird, and b) not telling me.
I didn't want to dump him, though. I just wanted to work things out.
I sat in the parking lot for quite some time, trying to decide. I watched everyone around me leave, and then I finally decided that I had to go.
I'd never actually seen the Xavier Institute up close. I pulled up to the gate and a little intercom popped up next to my window.
"Welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youth. How may I help you?" said the voice from the speaker. There was a lot of noise in the background.
"Um...this is Anita Singh. Can I talk to Alex?"
"Uh, yeah. Hold on." I heard whoever it was cover up his end of the speaker and then some muffled yelling.
"Anita, you can come on in. I'll show you up to his room." That sounded like Jean Grey. The gate opened and I drove up to the house.
Jean opened the door to the gigantic mansion and I stepped into the foyer. I looked around. No Alex, but about ten other people, most of whom I recognized from school, staring at me.
Jean turned and glared at them and most of them left, the rest milling around and watching us as she led me upstairs.
"I told him you were here and that you weren't going to attack him or anything. You're not going to attack him or anything, are you?"
She turned to me and I shook my head.
"Good. We've already started getting hate emails, we don't need attackers in person."
We reached his door. A little plaque said "Messrs. Drake and McAllister-- Crime Fighters Extraordinaire" and had a picture of Alex and his roommate grinning at the camera holding martini glasses and wearing matching black uniforms with a big yellow "X" on the front. It must be some inside joke.
She smiled at me and headed down the hallway. I knocked and then reached for the handle.
The room was completely dark when I opened the door. I reached for a light switch.
"Don't turn on the lights. Give me a minute."
I waited, trying to find him in the dark room. I could barely make out his shape, sitting on a bed.
"Ok, now you can turn them on." I flicked the lights on and winced at the brightness of the room. He had gotten up off his bed now, and was just standing there rather awkwardly. Kind of like me. I think neither of us really knew what to say, but I started talking anyway.
"Did I interrupt a nap or something?" I asked.
"Oh, no. It's just that I can only take my glasses off in the dark, and today being like it's been, I really didn't feel like dealing with them."
Okay. That doesn't explain much, but okay. We both continued standing rather awkwardly as there wasn't a whole lot else to do.
I decided to try talking again. "Jean told me you wanted to talk."
"So I hear from Jean. What else did she tell you?"
What was this, the Spanish Inquisition? "She just told me you wanted to talk." I replied.
"So you still have no idea what to expect from me?"
"Should I expect something?" Was he really dangerous? What had I gotten into?
"Well, I could have poor control of my power, which for all you know, could be exceptionally dangerous. I could control fire or create earthquakes or blow things up."
"Do you do any of those?" Now I was getting nervous. Why was I here again?
"Except for losing control, no. And when I do lose control, I tend to run into things rather than blow them up."
"What do you do?"
"I see through solid objects. Ever wonder why I run into people a lot?"
He had a point. I had always passed him off as somewhat absent-minded because of that, but this would also explain it.
"Does wearing those glasses all the time help?"
"That's really more because I see in the dark really well, but my eyes can't adjust to the light."
"What, like your iris doesn't work?"
"I have no irises."
Oh. Well, I didn't expect that. "What do you mean?"
"Do you want to see? Turn off the light, I'll show you."
I tried to picture what this was going to look like, so I wouldn't be completely weirded out, but nothing really came to mind. I hit the light switch and proceeded to see nothing because of the darkness.
I heard some movement from Alex. "Ok," he said, "I'm taking my glasses off, so don't turn on the lights. When your eyes adjust to the room, check this out."
I blinked and watched as my eyes slowly adjusted. Reflective objects appeared first--the doorknob, picture frames, my watch, then light colored things showed up in the darkness. I saw his running shoes on the floor, papers on his desk, his pale skin. I took a few steps toward him and his features became more clearly defined in the shadows. His dark hair blended into the wall behind him, but I could pick out his ears, nose, and mouth.
His eyes remained shrouded in darkness, though. I moved even closer, until I was only a few inches away when I realized that those were his eyes.
I gasped and took a step back. They were almond eyes, a sign of his Japanese heritage, I supposed, but instead of the normal white and brown, or whatever color they would be, they were completely black.
"How did they....."
"We're not sure," he answered, even before I could get the whole question out. "Dr. McCoy said the irises probably atrophied when the mutation started manifesting, and then some sort of enzymatic reaction specific to my body ate away the remaining muscle and sclera--that's the white part."
"So they weren't always like...this?"
"Nope, it started in January, and by last May, I couldn't take off my sunglasses. The Professor and Hank made me these, I can adjust the darkness so I can see in all sorts of light."
"Who's Hank?" I assumed the Professor was Professor Xavier, but this was a name I'd never heard.
"Oh, Dr. McCoy works here. You might have seen him around; he's rather large and blue. He apparently used to teach chem or something at the high school. He's great, if you can figure out all of his obscure literary references."
I definitely didn't remember a blue, furry teacher walking around Bayville, but I did remember a Mr. McCoy who taught chem and quoted Shakespeare.
"Do you mean the Mr. McCoy who taught his classes how to make stink bombs?" I asked. "He was a cool teacher--everyone was mad when he left because he went crazy...and..." The wheels were turning in my head. It hit me.
"Alex, that man is wild. He tried to attack Principal Kelly!"
How could they let him work here? How did they even find him? Last I heard, he was running from the police. I began to search the room for possible escape routes lest he walk in the door.
"Woah, Anita, relax. He's just another mutant, he's working to control his mutation with the Professor. We're all working to keep ourselves under control here."
"What do you mean by, 'we're all'?" I asked. Honestly, how many mutants were here? He took my hand and led me to his bed to sit down before he said anything. I could hear him chuckling to himself in the darkness.
"Anita, the Xavier Institute is for mutants. Everyone here, including the teachers, is a mutant."
I was glad it was dark so he didn't have to see the surprised look on my face. These people that I knew from school--not just Alex, but Jean, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, they were all in my classes, and they were all mutants. The other students I'd seen when I came into the mansion--they were all mutants too.
..........
Because I had my glasses off, I could see every bit of shock she was going through, even though it probably hadn't occurred to her that I could. The Professor had given me permission to tell her if I felt she could take it. After all, Kurt's girlfriend knew, and she didn't have a problem with it. Then again, Amanda thought the elf boy was quite possibly the cutest thing she'd ever seen, whereas Anita here was still trying to get used to the idea of my being somewhat less than normal.
I could see her staring into her lap, deep in thought. I knew she was trying to sort through what I'd just told her, but I decided to keep going anyway, because the more she knew, the easier it would be to understand.
I told her about the Institute, how we got special help to deal with our powers. How nobody really knew what this place was for. I told her everything that came to mind, about how this was the only place where I didn't live in fear of being discovered and shunned, the only place where I felt comfortable being who I was.
Because that's who I am, and it's not going to change.
Talking to her was like letting an enormous weight off my chest. I'd spent the afternoon curled up on my bed with pretty much every authority figure on the grounds of the Institute approaching me trying to give me some words of comfort, but nobody seemed to have much of an affect. Talking to someone who was, well, human and didn't want to stick my head on a pike gave me hope that people could get over the mutant thing and go on with their lives.
"I understand how weird this is for you," I told her, "but I want you to know that I'm still the same person I was yesterday. It's like when you found out I'm half Japanese," I said, hoping a little humor would break her out of her thoughts, "It's surprising, but I'm still me."
She did laugh, a little. "I think most people would beg to differ, my friend."
"Do you?"
There was a long pause. Longer than I would have liked, but she finally answered.
"Yeah," she said, as she smiled, "but I don't care."
All I had to say was thank God.
..............
So I'm happy Anita doesn't care. For awhile, I thought she was going to take quite some time to bring around. Seriously, these characters seem to have taken on lives of their own...it's like that one-act play whose name I currently have forgotten.
I've had a couple of people asking me what Alex looks like, and while I've been dropping bits and pieces (like the jokes about him resembling Keanu Reeves, Rogue's comment that he looked a bit preppy, being a runner, etc..) but I've intentionally avoided describing him outright. I am of the theory that each reader should sort of create their own image of the character-it's why the movie is never as good as the book. For the record, though, he's average height, in pretty good shape (track team does that) and looks half Japanese, half Caucasian. You decide the rest.
So.onto reviews, because I didn't do those last chapter.
PsychoBunny410: *hangs her head in shame* yeah, it has been quite awhile. I actually write fairly often, but writing while falling asleep is not to be recommended, because then you wake up with pages upon pages of dsfgggggggggggggggggggggggggg and a nifty square pattern on your forehead from falling asleep on the keyboard. And I felt I had to write this chapter and the previous one together.
Neva: Anti-mutant-psycho-wank is a phrase to be remembered. I actually tried to slip it into the Bobby section of ch. 10, but it just didn't fit his character...some day, though, some day. I liked your title suggestion (as you can see)--thanks. I'm also happy you liked the Anita, Bobby and Scott sections. This story just sort of started writing itself in first person, so I decided to stick with it--only then I didn't realize how hard it is to do that straight through.
Risty: I'm glad you liked the two chapters. You might also want to add actors to your list of people not to date, but that's just the techie in me speaking. Mathemeticians? Well, actually now that you mention it...
Fateema: I tried to be more clear in recent chapters (meaning ch. 10)-- honestly, I went back and tried to find instances where I could clarify who was speaking (for awhile, in the Scott section, I didn't identify him for over a page). I've deliberately avoided telling the reader outside of the story what's going on, instead choosing to leave hints. For example, in the Scott section of this ch. 10, I start by saying that he's a leader, and then say he's the one that drove Alex home (which he did in chapter 9- though I don't expect readers to pick up on that because, sadly, it's been 2 months since I updated). Looking back, though I must admit that I don't always drop clues right away. I'll keep working on that. As for Anita's name, I wasn't worried about giving her an Indian first name because it's perfectly common to find people of one ethnic group with a name from outside that culture.
Kitalia: Thanks, I hoped this chapter cleared up the looks thing a bit.