Chapter 12
First Day as an X-Man
Being in deep dreamless slumber was the best feeling he had felt in the past two days other than being alive and breathing. Just warmth, comfort and no worries except on how to be most comfy and most relaxed. But like all things pleasant and worriless, it had an end that seemed to come too soon.
Simon Valley opened his green eyes wide as sleepiness left him. Although no longer sleepy, he still felt rather limp and tired despite his nights rest. He sat up in his bed, at first wondering why it felt different from the bed he used all the time at home in Moonriver Falls. But then he remembered he was no longer in Moonriver Falls, Washington, but in Bayville, New York. He was all the way across the country. And in a school for mutants no less, he himself being a mutant.
That feeling was something new. A mixture of all sorts of anxiety and excitement, fear and uncertainty, and of course, curiosity and wonder. This was his first day at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and this would undoubtedly be the day he should familiarize himself with all who lived here and their powers and styles of living. Moving to another school, as he had done twice in the past already, had taught Simon that it was no easy task getting to know a whole lot of new people.
The blond-haired mutant got out of bed and stretched himself. It felt so good to have his tightened muscles stretched out again so that they could flex and relax easier. As Simon stretched out his arms and legs he heard several of his joints pop. Simon didn't mind the noise. He popped his joints all the time. Then he did a few torso rotations to get the crinks out of his spine. They escaped with a snap-crackle-pop sound.
Satisfied that he was as loose as possible, looked at his bedside clock/radio alarm. 7:00 a.m. Simon sighed. He'd set his alarm for 7:30, and he was awake over thirty minutes before he had intended. Simon wasn't really frustrated or annoyed by it. He'd had plenty of mornings when he awoke before his alarm went off. He wasn't entirely certain, but it could have had a connection to his powers. His powers of energy seemed to always be affecting him to some degree.
That thought made Simon think of how much his powers had affected him over the past five years. Even before they had emerged, Simon had been feeling strange, showing symptoms of what could have easily been mistaken for sickness.
It had started with dramatic drops and leaps in energy for his body. There were times when he felt so energized that he couldn't even sit still. It had started out only for brief periods before that powerful energetic feeling faded into the normal everyday level. Then there were times when he was incredibly tired, so exhausted that he could hardly walk, stand, or even sit upright, like he had run a five-mile marathon in 125 degree heat. The two feelings had alternated, the periods of the feelings became longer each time, up to the point when he hadn't slept for two whole days, and that was followed by three days of utter exhaustion then he had slept at least 70 percent of the time. But then real confusing symptoms began to emerge.
One day, he had an immense fever of 103, his skin feeling scalding to the touch. Hot points had been in his arms and hands as well as his head, giving him red-hot headaches. After that, even stranger symptoms emerged. He had felt like electrical currents were surging along his body before they became painful jolts. Then there had been what felt like pressure in his joints and limbs, and then his head and chest and stomach, like the parts were being pressed down upon, sometimes painfully hard.
With so many of these signs, he had been given aspirins and Tylenol for them. When those hadn't made a single dent in the strange feelings, he was taken to a doctor, who could find no problems with him. And then, during that trip up in Oregon when he had seen that girl under attack, the feelings of pressure, heat, pain, and jolting in his flesh seemed to burst, and signs of his energy morphing powers had appeared as those bolts of his were fired.
And now, in unique twist of fate, Simon had discovered that others with powers were alive, and had been offered a place at a school for them. How things have changed, Simon thought. Never in a million years would Simon have thought that a school like this existed, let alone that there were others out there like him. Simon wasn't sure right now if he should feel unique or like an exile from humanity.
That also made him wonder if the others here had felt like he did. But with all the questions he had, like what life was like here and how powers were used, he was likely to forget to ask that question in particular.
But after that, Simon thought again of Xavier. Simon had known the man for only a single night, but truth be told, he respected and admired him already. Charles Xavier had seemed so kind and understanding, but all the words of wisdom and logic that he had said last night went raging through Simon's mind even more. And the fact that all the students and teachers here looked up to him for guidance, help, and advice only strengthened the notion of how big a figure he was around here. Xavier had helped him with so much already, even with a codename.
Simon thought about the name he had as an X-Men member. Raiden. Japanese god of lightning and thunder. Simon had decided once he had heard the meaning that he liked that name. Besides, with all the energy he could shoot and mold, as well as morph into a supernatural-seeming being, that was what he actually felt like when he used his powers, a thunder god. And since Simon was very avid fan of mythology, that helped too.
The next thing that Simon did after that thought was look in the mirror. And as usual, he looked less than neat. His blond hair was ruffled, sticking out in multiple directions at once like a haystack. The whites of his eyes were pink. And the signs of golden stubble on his chin and cheeks indicated he was in need of a shave.
Simon went to his dresser and took out a towel, shampoo, body wash, and a scrubber, as well as his electric toothbrush and wet/dry shaver. Once he had them, he headed off to the showers.
It was so loud that it was ear piercing. And it was supposed to be too. It was to wake her up and it sure as hell did that. Rogue's eyes sprang open to the sound she heard. Had she been awake, he probably wouldn't have been so overwhelmed by the noise. But in sleep, where there was nothing but peace and quiet, the slightest sound was like a pair of cymbals next to your ear.
The young goth sat up in her bed, wearing her usual green and orange sleepwear, ready for a new day in the life of a student of Professor Xavier. Looking out the window, Rogue saw that the sun was already a fair distance above the horizon, and the light was blinding as it traveled straight into her eyes.
Another morning. Another day of life as an X-Man. What, oh, what would today's unknown time bring?
Rogue slid out of bed and stretched herself, her stiff muscles loosening. She looked at her alarm clock, seeing that it was 7:05 in the morning. Seven full hours of sleep. Not too bad for a girl who occasionally had nightmares of memories reverberating inside her head.
The next thing Rogue noticed was that Kitty was still asleep. The petite brunette was lying asleep in bed, her brown hair sleep-tangled, clutching her stuffed dragon to her chest. When Kitty slept, she slept like a log. Even Rogue's alarm had not woken her up.
Rogue ran a hand through her dark auburn hair, already feeling the knots and tangles her sleep had tied up in it. That meant only one thing. A trip to the shower.
Taking one last look at her sleeping roommate, Rogue walked out into the hallway. Since it was still fairly early, no one was really up. Rogue was half expecting to see one or two of the younger girls out and about, but she saw no one. Rogue was an early riser by nature, and for the New Mutant girls, she guessed being young meant the need for sleeping in. Since there was no Danger Room session scheduled for today until the afternoon, they would take full advantage of the free sleeping time. Surprise surprise.
The walk to the bathroom was not a long one, but in a mansion like the institute, it could sure seem that way to one unfamiliar with the territory. Rogue was wondering how long it was going to take for her to get her hair unfrizzled and loosely hanging again. Every morning it was like trying to undo knots, usually taking a nice long shower followed by a hairdryer hair combing.
The young goth tried running a hand through her dark auburn locks, hoping that she could get some tangles out before she entered to shower. However, she was looking downward at the carpeted floor and didn't see anyone coming until she ran into someone.
"Hey!" Rogue called out in surprise rather than in anger. She saw a pair of feet in black slippers standing in front of her. For a moment, she thought it was Bobby Drake, up to his usual pranks again, but just then, she looked up and saw that it was the last person she had expected.
"Rogue?" asked Simon Valley, who was gathering the things he was holding. He was wearing a heavy dark grey bathrobe and was carrying bathing utensils, a white bath towel slung over his shoulder. And he looked as scruffy as she did.
Rogue suddenly hoped that the new guy would think of her as an irritable mean-tempered bitch after his first day here. What bad impression that would make. "Oh," she said, "Sorry, Simon, I thought you were Bobby."
Simon arched one of his blond eyebrows. "Bobby Drake?" he asked. Rogue nodded. "Why him?"
Rogue figured that now was good time to inform Simon of Bobby's reputation of being the most obnoxious, most annoying prankster on the face of the earth, even though some of the others, like Tabitha and Kurt were close seconds. Since Simon was new here, that would probably make him a likely target for a few of the Frost Boy's pranks.
"Well," said Rogue, "to give yah a friendly warning, Bobby loves to play pranks on people. Heh's always pullin' pranks on people, always icing up floors and freezing people's things. I just thought you were him tryin' to pull a prank on meh."
Simon looked at Rogue with thought in his eyes. "So, a troublemaker eh?" he asked, sounding serious.
"Ya better believe it," said Rogue in full agreement, "An also be careful of Tabitha and Kurt. They don't play pranks as often a Bobby, but they come close second."
"I see," Simon replied, sounding disproving.
Rogue took notice of it. "Yah sound lahke ya don't like that."
"Let's just say I don't like being made a fool of," Simon answered bluntly.
"Welcome to the club," offered Rogue.
"You don't like it either?" asked Simon, noticing how not amused she sounded.
Rogue shook her head.
"Well, then I'm in good company. Anyway, where are the showers? I was wondering where they are."
Rogue suddenly realized that Simon was walking in the wrong direction. The bathrooms on this floor, both the Men's and Women's were located further down the hall side by side and Simon was walking away from them. Since Simon was new to the institute, there was a very good chance he didn't know he was heading in the wrong direction.
"Actually," said Rogue, feeling a little amused at the next part, "Yer wakin' away from em."
"I am?" asked Simon, with a slight sense of apparent surprise in his voice.
"Yeah, let me show ya," Rogue offered, and motioned Simon to follow, which he did. The two of them walked past the doors to Simon's room, then a little farther down until they reached their goal. Simon looked to Rogue with an embarrassed smile.
"Thanks," he thanked her, "never would have found this myself."
For some unknown reason, Rogue felt a sense of good feeling in her as Simon said those words. However, she couldn't quite understand it. She just felt it. It was there, for no apparent reason. It was nothing big. Just a simple thank you. Yet, it made her feel good.
"Yer welcome," she told him. After nodding to the Southern-borne goth, Simon opened the door to the men's shower and closed the door behind him after switching the sign on the doorknob to read occupied.
Rogue, stood still outside the door for a second, contemplating what effect Simon's gratitude had on her. She finally decided that it was a sign that she was making a good impression on the new student on his first day. If that was the case, then she wouldn't have to worry about him forming a low opinion of her in the future if she just kept up this pace. She would have to work on that.
Just as Rogue was turning to go to the women's shower she hear a muffled BAMF sound, as if it were coming from behind a door in another closed off room. She knew immediately it was the sound of Kurt porting, the sound of BAMF was dead giveaway. But she immediately realized that volume of the sound and its close proximity was something else. It was near. And seconds later, it happened.
"Hey! What gives here?" she heard Simon's voice demanding in angered surprise.
"Vhoa! I'm zo zorry!" she heard a German-accented voice gasp in the bathroom.
Rogue felt like groaning. Kurt Wagner, the unexpected and annoying teleporter, had entered the bathroom unannounced while someone was in there. Again. Just one more time to an incalculable number. She turned and saw the door open up and Kurt, blue fur and all, backed out into the hallway. The next instant, Simon poked his head out the door as well.
"Geez, Kurt! Don't do that to me! I almost blasted you through the wall!" Simon looked agitated and annoyed, which was the typical look for people who were startled by Kurt's porting.
"Look man, I'm zorry!" the blue-furred boy explained, "It's a habit of mien."
"Well, Kurt," Simon told him, more gently this time, "I advise you get that habit out of your system. Because one day, I guarantee you, it will get into deep doo-doo."
Kurt shrugged with his three-fingered hands as Simon then closed the door to go back to tidying himself up for the day.
"Ya did yer untold teleporting again didn't yah?" asked Rogue, giving the fuzzy elf a knowing look.
Kurt looked at Rogue with an embarrassed look in his golden eyes. "Ja. I did it on Simon on he'z first day too. Not ze impression I vas hoping to give."
"Yah know, you really should try to get rid of that. Cause it may get ya into deep trouble one day."
"Now you tell me," Kurt groaned, feeling pounded into the ground after hearing the same thing from two people in less than five seconds.
The kitchen was filled with students who were up and alert. All were edger for the two weeks of spring break up ahead for them and each wanted to be awake for as long as possible to enjoy it all. Ororo was at the stove, frying some eggs and bacon as Jean and Scott helped with pancakes and syrup. The air of the room was heavy with the rich scent of salt, sugar and frying meat as the constant chatter of people flowed like water through the air as the mutants conversed.
"Man, I'm starved!" said Kurt as he came into the kitchen, stopping for a moment to inhale the heavenly aroma of food.
"Breakfast is ready when you want it," said Ororo as she placed another large spoonful of scrambled eggs onto the main serving platter near the stove and turned some more bacon to fry on the other side. Kurt hurried over to the stove and grabbing a plate, loaded it up with food and went to join the others.
One look at the pile of food on Kurt's plate made Kitty's brow furrow. "Man, Kurt, why can't you like, eat a lighter breakfast than that?" she asked, studying the large pile of eggs and sausages on the elf's plate, "You have any idea how much narrower your veins will be?"
Kurt smirked at Kitty. "Kitty, you know me," he explained, going into an age old explanation, "I'm------," But before he could really get into his reasons for eating so much food, Kitty raised her hand to silence him.
"Yeah, I know. You're a teleporter so you need to eat all that because you use so much energy up teleporting."
Kurt's golden eyes twinkled like two gold nuggets. "You forget the part of me being ze most agile one here too." Kitty mock glared at blue-furred mutant, and returned to what could only be called a "vegetarian" breakfast, consisting of a salad, banana and orange juice, which was the sort of meal she had all the time.
At that moment Rogue came in. "Morning, Stripes," said Logan, who looked up from his morning paper.
"Morning, Logan," said Rogue, grabbing a frosted sweet roll off the pastry platter and tall glass of water. She sat down near Kitty.
"Hey," asked Ray, who was sitting with Bobby and Sam as usual, "Where's the new guy?"
"Who?" asked Jean, "Simon?"
Ray nodded.
"Is he still sleeping?" asked Bobby, "If he is, he's gonna miss out on breakfast."
"Then that means more food for us!" exclaimed Roberto, sounding edger to have more food in his stomach than a late riser would.
"Nah, he's awake," said Rogue, "Last I saw he was headin' to the showers. And then Kurt did it."
Amara looked at Rogue curiously, "Did what?"
Instead of answering directly, Rogue turned to Scott, who had sat down with Jean by his side. "Hey, Scott."
"Yeah, Rogue," asked Scott, curious to what she was referring to.
"Has Kurt ever ported into thah bathroom while yah were usin' it?" asked the goth.
Jean looked at Scott with a slight amused smile, for she knew what Rogue was referring to. Scott looked at his girlfriend and smiled back in an embarrassed fashion. "Yeah, many times," he admitted, "He's done that to a lot of people here."
"Who did Kurt do it to this time?" asked Jamie.
"Ah'll give ya all one guess," said Rogue.
The new mutants all looked at each other and came toe same conclusion. "Simon," they all said in union.
"Got it in one," said Rogue.
"Well, that explains the shouting I heard this morning," said Scott, casting a teasing glance over to Kurt.
"You really gotta port less and walk more, Elf," said Logan.
Kurt didn't want to sound affected by all this, but an exasperated sigh still escaped him. "Man, vhat is this? 'Lecture Kurt Day?'"
Scott, Jean, and Kitty smirked at him.
"Man, this food is fantastic, Ororo," said Jubilee, "You make the best!"
Ororo chuckled a little as she brought over some more food to place on the table. "Thank you, Jubilee. I appreciate that."
"Yeah, as long as Kurt doesn't eat it all himself!" joked Bobby.
"Hey!" Kurt snapped, "Enough already!"
Just then, the door to the kitchen opened, and Simon walked in, all freshly scrubbed, washed and shaved. He was dressed all in black: black shoes, black jeans, and a black T-shirt that didn't exactly do that much to conceal his athletic upper body. And a shiny golden cross on a golden chain hung around his neck. His all-black attire contrasted deeply with the color of his hair, skin, and eyes.
"Morning," he announced as he entered the room.
"Morning, Simon," said Jean, "We were beginning the think you weren't going to show up."
"Miss out on breakfast?" asked Simon, "No way."
"Help yourself," said Ororo, "there's plenty to go around."
Looking over the plates filled with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, rolls, and pancakes made Simon's mouth water. He hadn't eaten in some time and he felt the need to refuel. His stomach growled.
He immediately took a plate and started to pile on food. At first the others didn't make too much of it, but as the teenager piled more and more food onto his plate some took notice. By the time Simon had finished loading his plate, he had on a pretty large stack of pancakes and had as much bacon, sausage and eggs on his plate as Kurt did.
"Jeez, isn't that too much, Simon?" asked Scott, looking at the plate with uncertainty.
"But I'm starving," Simon responded.
"Enough to eat all that?" asked Jean.
Simon nodded. He got a large forkful of sausage when he noticed Kitty looking at his plate heaped to the brim with what she considered "bad" food. "What?" he asked, not liking being looked at in that way.
"Eeewww. You're even worse than Kurt," Kitty declared.
Simon's brow furrowed. "What?" Bobby and Roberto started chuckling. Kitty pointed to Kurt's plate, which had Simon's amount of food on it, minus the stack of pancakes.
"You're talking some major cholesterol there," Kitty added.
"When you have powers like mine, Kitty," said Simon in a matter-of-fact voice, "You need all the calories you can get." With that, he took a big bite and started eating.
Jean and Scott exchanged glances. They were not really expecting Simon to say that. They all could sort of understand that teleporting through another dimension and having Olympic-class acrobatic skills required Kurt to have huge energy reserves. But for Simon, the need for massive energy seemed even more obvious. When they thought his turning his flesh into living energy and all the beams and blades he had formed out of his limbs, he had even more reason to guzzle down calories than Kurt did. However, Kitty let out a sigh. "Great now we have two calorie consumers around here," she muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked, sounding a little offended.
Luckily, Rogue was there to take over before Kitty could pride herself with being a vegetarian. She didn't want to have to listen to that again. It was SO annoying to hear it repeated. How anyone could be a vegetarian was beyond her. "Kitty's a vegetarian," she told Simon, "So she disproves of anyone who eats a lot of meat."
"I see," said Simon, casting a glance at the valley girl who didn't approve of his food or Kurt's..
"She'z always trying to get otherz to do it as vell," Kurt added, "She thinks meat is bad for you."
"It is," said Kitty, "Why can't anyone see that? You should try something like a salad."
"For breakfast? I appreciate your concern, Kitty," said Simon sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "But I'm a guy who's on a high protein, high calorie, high meat, diet."
The rest of the meal passed without incident. Everyone had his or her fill of food, as well as Ororo and Logan, who had had morning coffee together. Everyone exchanged their conversations and the new mutants finally got a chance to talk to Simon for a longer time than the previous night. Simon was fine with that, even though he preferred to converse with Scott and the rest of the senior students, for they were more his age and he felt more at home with others who were like that.
The meal was just about ending and people were starting to clear their places. A few others however were just finishing up their food or drinking their last cup of coffee or glass of milk, five of which Evan downed, or juice.
Kitty, finished with her vegetarian meal, reached out to grab the last remaining apple from the tray to eat as a last touch. But as her hand neared the fruit, another hand reached out and grabbed the apple before she could touch it. Kitty's gaze followed the arm and discovered that the person who beat her to it was Simon. "Hey!" Kitty said irritably, "I wanted that!"
"Sorry, Kitty," Simon told her, not looking phased by her outburst, "But I grabbed it first. Better luck next time."
"But I really want it," said Kitty, in a much, much softer, almost pleading tone of voice, "Please, Simon?"
Scott and Jean and Rogue were all watching the scene. Each of them had been in situations like this before. Kitty Pryde, Half-pint of the X-Men, was going to use her secret weapon. Her puppy dog eyes. That look was so cute and adorable and helpless-little-girl-like that practically no one could say no to it. And now Simon was going to get it. They almost felt sorry for him.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Jean asked her boyfriend telepathically.
Oh, Yeah, Scott responded, The Kitty puppy dog eyes.
Bingo.
Rogue only sat there and sighed and looked exasperated. She knew Simon would run into this sooner or later. Only not this soon.
Then Kitty used it on him. Several people saw it. Then they waited for Simon's resolve to fall and for him to hand the fruit to Kitty. No one could say no to a look like that.
For a few moments Simon studied Kitty's look. He had seen quite a few that could be called cute in one way or another. Oh, but Kitty was one to top them all. Those big baby blues were so cute, so pleading, so innocent that he had absolutely nothing to compare them to. Just looking at them made his mind reel.
Scott averted his gaze over to Logan, only to see the feral Canadian frowning in bored annoyance. Then, Logan raised a hand and started counting silently to three by raising his fingers. One. Two. Three.
At that moment, Simon let out a defeated sigh and handed Kitty the shiny green apple. And just like that, Kitty's face went from sad and pleading to pleased and smiling with happiness. She took a big bite out of the apple, relishing it, as Simon shook his head, silently cursing himself for not being stronger. He enjoyed seeming durable around people, but giving into Kitty had made him feel like softy, which he hated.
Kurt and Rogue let out sighs too, but Scott and Jean looked at each other with the same thought.
"No one told him about Kitty's secret weapon did they?" asked Jean, already knowing the answer.
"Nope," said Scott, "they didn't."
Later
At around one in the afternoon that day, Xavier, Logan, Hank, and Ororo were in the professor's office after lunch later on that day, having coffee and having a faculty meeting. After a morning of showing their new student around and looking after the others one the first day of their two-week long vacation from school, they had all gathered to decide how training was going to be approached throughout this no school period. Of course, the opinions were varying among each of them, while a compromise was the best way to set it satisfactorily.
"I think that it's pretty reasonable, Chuck," said Logan, always being the one to do a touch of overkill in training, "No school means twice the free time. So we train them twice as much."
"Just how much are we are we talking about Logan," asked Hank, who pushed his glasses higher up on his beast-like face, "what was the case last time you said work them twice as much? Three times as much? Four times?" he said the last few words with a slight chuckle, but of course, Logan didn't exactly find that particularly amusing. Then again, what did he find lately that was.
"Yer point, Hank?" Logan asked, hoping this wasn't going where he thought it was.
Hank looked at Logan for a second, then shifted his gave to Ororo, who sat in a chair near the former living weapon. It was sometimes amazing how the contrast in aura between the two caught your attention. Logan was of the intimidating sense almost all the time. All the years spent fighting for survival in the Canadian wilderness and all the training in weapons and hand-to-hand combat he had acquired throughout his years of traveling the world had molded Logan into the ultimate warrior, master of all forms of combat and as fearsome to his prey as his namesake. Ororo, on the other hand, was of a calming presence. As a weather goddess from the dark continent, it only seemed to make her even more like a goddess when coupled with her exotic beauty.
Ororo cast Logan a knowing, yet gentle, smile, which made Logan raise his eyebrows in question. She let out a small chuckle.
"Alright what's the joke?" asked Logan, suddenly feeling impatient.
Xavier was the next to speak, for he very well knew what Hank and Ororo were thinking of about Logan, even without using his telepathy. "I think they're talking about your tendency to overdo it sometimes," said the Professor, "You seem to do it in a lot of situations." The powerful psychic couldn't help but give a smile of his own on that.
"Yer point?" the blurry Canadian probed.
"Have you ever considered easing up on them during combat training? All your pushing may be more than they can handle."
A smug smile crossed over Logan's features, as if amused by Hank's statement. "Nah, it's good form 'em. Helps build their resilience."
Ororo considered responding to that statement, but chose not to. After all, She and Logan had been in a lot of verbal spars like that before and each time, neither of them had ever come out the winner. She just let it rest and asked Professor Xavier another question. "Have you decided on how to set training for this vacation, Charles?" she asked.
"I think that this would be a good time for us to start training the X-Men and New Mutants together," said Xavier, "The New Mutants have been with us for a while now. It may do them some good to have some training along with the senior students."
"You're not thinking of merging both squads into one large group are your, Charles?" asked Hank, "quite a few of the younger students aren't ready for the amount of responsibility the others carry."
"I'm well aware of that, Hank. And to answer your question, no, I don't plan on merging both squads. But I do think that since both teams are now in the same place at the same time for now, we could use this to our advantage and have them do side-by-side Danger Room sessions on a trial run basis. It could help them prepare for more difficult training and responsibility later on."
The others considered that for a second. Logan spoke up, realizing something he thought the others may have overlooked. "You sure, Charles? Some of the squirts haven't been exactly showing the needed stuff for bein' X-Men." Logan pointed out.
"What do you mean, Logan?" asked Xavier, his curiosity piped.
"Well, Time-bomb and the ice cube have been pullin' their little pranks on people an awful lot over the past few weeks. Just two days ago, Iceman froze up the showers in the Locker Rooms."
"Yes, I remember that," said Hank, chuckling at the memory, "Bobby sure has a lot of spirit doesn't he?"
A growl came from Logan, for he didn't think icing up the showers was funny at all, especially since all the guys who used it didn't like it either. "And of course, Boom-Boom planted some of her little cherry bombs in my lunch last weekend."
At the mention of that event, Ororo just burst out laughing. Logan snapped his head at the weather witch, even more annoyed than before by the fact Ororo found that funny while he was ready to slice and dice everything in his line of vision. "I'm sorry, Logan," chuckled Ororo, "But you looked pretty messy after that incident."
"What was it that Tabitha put that bomb in?" asked Hank, smirking at the memory of seeing Logan splattered with sauce, meant and molten cheese, "A chili dog with the works?"
"Aright people," Logan growled, "can we get back to business here?"
Xavier, Ororo, and Hank all had on last chuckle before they regained their posture. "Well, back to more serious matters," said Hank, "I do think that doing some extra training may help our more spunky recruits occupy their time with less mischief and more work. We just may have a few less frozen showers or rigged lunches for the next week if we do that."
"I tend to agree Hank," said Xavier, "Some of them have been saying that they're ready. But we may see just how ready they truly are."
"So when shall we begin this trial run basis, Charles?" asked Ororo, "Today?"
For a moment, Xavier thought deeply, weighing the pros and cons of that suggestion. "I think we'll start tomorrow. I'll need time to come up with effective training scenarios for the mutants to work with."
"I'd still like to continue with the personal training sessions I have with them," Logan added, "They seem to be gettin' better at their kicks and punches."
Xavier smiled. "A fine idea, Logan." The professor sipped some more of his coffee. Logan smiled a little at hearing his idea was good one.
"Well," said Hank, gulping down the last of his coffee, "I think that Charles and I should start prepping the Danger Room for this afternoon's session. You two care to give us a hand?"
"You know it, Bub," said Logan, smirking.
They were just about to get up and start to leave when a question popped into Ororo's mind. She suddenly remembered that they had a new student who hadn't had a single Danger Room session or training course in his life regarding mutant powers. She wasn't sure just how they were going to start teaching him.
"Oh, before I forget," Ororo snapped her fingers, "Charles, have you decided on how to start with Simon's training?"
It was like a big reminder for Xavier to hear that sentence. Ever bell in his head started ringing. "I was wondering that myself," said Hank, "We really need to decide where we're going to put him before we begin anything else."
Xavier looked at each of his three instructors, each of them giving him questioning looks, and each of them for the same reason. "Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, we must decide where to put Simon before we start any training."
"What team's he going to be on?" asked Logan, "The New Recruits?"
"I've given that some thought," Xavier responded, "However, I've decided that we're not going to place him on the New Mutant squad."
The others looked a little surprised by that. "What is your reason for that?" asked Ororo, "He hasn't had any training thus far. He may be better off with the New Mutants than with the X-Men."
"Well," explained the professor, "It's partly to do with his age. He's nineteen now, as old as Scott and Jean, and I think he may be better suited working with others his own age. In order for our training to be effective, we must make our students as comfortable as possible, and I think Simon will be best suited with the X-Men. As for his training, or lack thereof, we're going to have to train him harder than the others until he's up to speed with the rest."
"Okay, so how do we know what he needs?" asked Logan, "I've seen this kid in action. He has some powers, I'll admit, but he doesn't really know how to use them."
"I think that what we'll do today is have Simon train with the X-Men when they have their session today. We can all judge his need for help as we watch his performance during the session. After that, we can decided where to go from there."
Hank and Ororo seemed satisfied with that, but Logan did not. "You sure he's up to it?" he asked.
"I think Simon deserves the chance to show us what he's capable of before we go into any heavy training," answered the professor, "So, now that that's taken care of, let us go and prepare the Danger Room."
With that everyone got up to leave, but then it was Xavier who remembered something. "Oh, Ororo."
"Yes?"
"Could you send Evan up here. I want to discuss something about what happened last night with him," he said the last part a little more seriously.
Ororo and Logan only exchanged glances. Evan's run with Simon was about to get the attention it deserved.
Rogue was currently sitting at one of the ends of the institute under a tree, reading. Rogue, by nature, was of the loner type. Well, it was partially due to her nature and also due to her powers. Staying away from others made her powers less of a hazard to them, for it gave her no target to accidentally drain. Her powers. Her powers. When the hell was there going to be a day when that didn't bother her so much?
Rogue was reading one of her Stephen King novels IT, about the evil presence stealing away children using their darkest fears in a small Maine town. Reading was really good way to escape from the hardships of life. She could just let her imagination run wild and not have to worry about anything bothering her. As her eyes scanned the pages in front, her thoughts on her powers started to fade once again and hopefully they wouldn't come back for a while.
The sound of rustling bushes and snapping twigs caught her attention. It was close, and it was coming closer. And she knew twigs only snapped like that when someone was stepping on them. Rogue's alarms system started of buzz like a hive of bees. She had a feeling that maybe this was Bobby or Tabitha out for a prank on her, or maybe Kitty and Kurt, who were the two troublemakers of the senior students. She was gonna drain them big time if they were pulling any shit on her.
But then, the maker of the noise emerged from the bushes, and to Rogue's surprise, it wasn't who she was expecting. Simon stepped out of the bushes, some of the leaves from the plants sticking to his black T-shirt. He stopped for a moment to brush the leaves off before looking around him.
When he spotted Rogue sitting there under a tree his eye widened. From what Rogue could tell, he seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him. For a few moments they looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Rogue felt a little awkward here. Part of her was relieved that it wasn't a prankster trying to make a fool out of her, but part of her was anxious because she had no idea what to say to Simon now that he was here.
"Rogue?" Simon said at last, sounding caught off guard, which he probably was.
"Simon." Rogue cursed herself for the unstableness in her voice, for she like to sound in control of herself at all times, even though her powers made her feel otherwise.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," said Simon, "I didn't mean to disturb you or anything."
"It's no big deal," Rogue assured him, "Ah just wasn't expecting anyone to stumble by on me."
"What are you doing out here?" asked Simon.
"Ah was just reading," replied Rogue, holding up her book so he could see it, "Ah lahke to just come out here and read once in a while. It helps meh get away from the troubles of life."
"I get ya," Simon stated, "I was just taking a walk around outside. I thought it would be safer to walk around back here than out front."
"What do ya mean?"
"As soon as I stepped out the door, I was almost frozen," reported Simon, sounding unpleased with having to say that to her. When Rogue had first come out here, she had sent he New Mutants making full use of the basketball courts for a game of mutant ball. Rogue put two and two together.
"Were the New Mutants goofing around again?" she asked.
"How did you know that?"
"It happens all the time around here," said Rogue, "Normally they break at least one or two things while they're at it." Rogue felt that pair of green orbs were staring down at her all the time she talked. Those penetrating green eyes. Almost like they were looking into her rather than at her. Rogue hadn't seen a lot of eyes in her day that made her feel transparent, but Simon's eyes did. Not as penetrating as Mystique's or in a bad way, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Do you want me to leave?" asked Simon, willing to leave if she wanted to be alone.
Rogue shook her head slightly. She wasn't sure why she did it, maybe she did want him to leave, but she wanted to get to know him better. "It's okay," she told him carefully, "Yah can stay if yah want to."
For moment, Simon was silent and then walked over to a tree that was close to the one Rogue was sitting against. He sat down there and leaned back against the truck. "Thanks," he thanked her, "So, uh,where you from?"
Surprise washed over Rogue's face. "Ah'm from down South."
"Where down South?" he asked, wanting details.
"Why do yah want to know that?" asked Rogue, sounding a little annoyed. More than she intended to.
However Simon didn't seem to take the hardness in her voice as attack. "I'm just trying to make conversation with you," he answered plainly, "Plus I just want to know. I've heard you speak before and so I reasoned you weren't from around here."
Simon just wasn't entirely sure of what to make of what Rogue was thinking right now. He couldn't quite read her face, for she seemed to be masking her emotions a good deal. But if her voice was anything to go by, then maybe she was getting annoyed by his asking these questions. Or maybe she was being asked questions she didn't want to discuss with him. He wasn't sure which one it was, but he hoped it wasn't the latter. If it was, he was probably just making an enemy with one of his teammates.
After a moment, Rogue spoke up again. "Ah'm from Caldecott County, Mississippi," said Rogue. She waited for a second for Simon to fire off another question, but he merely nodded.
"Where are you from?" she asked him, "Were yah born in Moonriver Falls?"
Simon shook his head. "No, I was born in Seattle. I've moved several times over my life, so I never really was in one spot for a while. But I've lived in the state of Washington my whole life."
"Anything interesting about yah that yah haven't told us about yet?" Rogue asked.
Simon shook his head. "No. I'm not exactly Mr. Incredible or Interesting."
Those weird names got Rogue to chuckle a little bit. Simon really noticed it when she did. She had a hard look most of the time, but when she let it down, it practically transformed her face.
"Rogue, I have a question for you."
"Sure," she responded.
"Do you remember the little confrontation we had back at the docks last night in my home city?" asked Simon.
The bringing up of the fight back at the docks caught Rogue's attention. She had thought that they had all sorted out what went wrong there. After all, Simon had even apologized to them for going crazy on them and firing his energy. She hoped he wasn't trying to over apologize like some kids did. It really grew annoying after a while. "Yeah, I remember that," Rogue admitted, "What about it?"
Simon shifted in his sitting position on the ground under the tree. "Well, when Kurt had me pinned, he asked you to do something to me. And if I remember correctly, you tried to touch my face to do—whatever it was you were going to do. I was wondering what you were going to do."
The worlds made Rogue's heart still for a second. She had thought of this last night. She knew it would happen. Simon was going to ask her about her powers. It was something she really didn't need right now. When did she need it? She had no idea how to say this to him. She didn't want his pity or hearing a remark about how sucky it was to not being able to touch. She hated pity. Even more than not being able to touch.
Hurt was washing over Rogue's face as Simon looked at her. It suddenly occurred to him that he may have brought up something he shouldn't have. Had his tongue slipped on him again? Had he hurt her when he hadn't meant to, as he had done to so many other people in the past? He was about to say she didn't need to answer but Rogue beat him to it.
"Well," she said in a much quieter tone of voice, "I was gonna use mah powers on yah to slow yah down a little.Ah couldn't use them wearing mah gloves so I had to take them off."
Simon looked confused, so, reluctantly, she elaborated. "Whenever ah touch someone else's skin with mah own,ah absorb their memories, life-force, abilities, and if it's a mutant ah absorb their powers."
Simon's look went from confused to a little wondering. "You mean, if had touched me back there, you would have gotten my powers?"
Rogue nodded. "Yeah, but Ifah drain too much, It leaves the person in a coma. And what's worseah can't control it. That's why ah'm all covered up.I can't touch another person without endangering their lives!" The last sentence made her voice buckle a little. It hurt so much to tell people those things. And now came the worst part. Simon would look at her with pity in his eyes and say "sorry" to her.
The silence stretched. Simon looked at Rogue after hearing her words. But no pity came to his eyes. He looked away from her for a second. "I…didn't realize that," he said. Rogue was surprised to hear no pity in Simon's voice only, understanding.
"But what do ya mean?" asked Rogue, suddenly confused by this event. She suddenly felt a little angry. Simon couldn't be mocking her, but who the hell was he to say that he understood. No one could unless they actually experienced it. "I don't think yah could understand to have powers like this, powers that could hurt someone if yah aren't too careful," her voice was starting to crack from emotion.
"You'd be surprised," answered Simon in low and even voice, but filled with sincerity.
Rogue froze at that. What did he mean? Why? He couldn't have said that just to cheer her up. Something else was going on. But what was it? But she was also caught off guard by the fact that Simon looked flustered and a little guilty as she aid the words, as if he had had some actual experience in that sort of way.She was about to ask him what he meant by that when she heard a voice in her head.
"Students, could you all please me in the Rec Room at this time? We have some things to discuss with you all." She knew immediately who was speaking. It was Xavier, she knew that voice anywhere, even if it was inside her head. But Simon looked startled and was looking around wildly. "Relax," assured Rogue, getting up to stand, "It was the professor."
"Does he do that a lot?" asked Simon, calming a little.
"Some, but yah never really get used to it. Now c'mon, weh better go see what's up."
"Sounds good to me." The two then left to go inside.