[IC] The X-Pendibles

[Silver Carrot]

@pyroman

"I'm not suggesting you don't need practice or skill, but there's no reason that you need to practice alone. I could help you practice, somehow. I could tell you what went wrong in a bad attempt, or I could just be there and watch..." she trailed off. She had found it a lot easier to talk to Shawn when she turned off and said the first thing that came to her head, but now she was looking back on the conversation, thinking of how she could have said everything much better. But she knew that if she switched her brain back on, she'd start overthinking sentences and get quiet again. Is this how ordinary people have conversations? Constantly thinking afterwards of things they could have said better? How was everyone so talkative with this kind of mental torture as a result?

Deep breaths, Heidi. Deep breaths. Count to three thousand....okay, counted to three thousand. Feel calmer. Now, carry on talking.

"Trust me, there is always more than one way of understanding something. My current understanding is that you're worrying so much about trying to get it perfect on the current attempt and you're some kind of failure if you don't get it this time, that this thought takes up your whole mind and stresses you out, so that you cannot give your full attention to what you're doing. If this assumption is correct, then try it as if this is just a practice but you want to do it as well as you can, but it's no big deal if you don't as long as you pay attention and learn where you're going wrong. But this assumption might be too heavily based on my own experiences and your problem's something else..." She peters off again.

[GrizzTheMauler]

As the sounds die down, there is only hushed whispers as the other students are watching. It was the first time any of them had ever seen Chrys not succeed in a Trial. He was one of six people to ever fully finish the Trial's five waves. And he was the youngest by far to do so, having completed the attempt first try. Since then it was revamped and he always made it past Wave Four. But now, as he lay there with blood staining the ground it was a shock.

The other thing they would talk about was his strange new ability. It was as if in that space, only he could move. Some of the sharper students would note that this ability took place in the span of three hearbeats, signalling that it was a reactive-passive ability, which was a common thing amongst new mutants. Anothing thing noted, mostly by Raven and Caldwell, was that the blood loss seemed to have no real consequence to Chrys. He wasn't pale, or even looked to be in real pain. It seemed as if he was merely sleeping, with a bleeding arm. What was noted, however was that the blood was thick, fresh. It was his secondary ability of his Combat Body regenerating his blood at a much accelerated rate, compensating for the loss with ease.

Meanwhile, Chrys was back in the room with the box in his head. This time, a single light shone like a star in the sky. It was dark everywhere, but with this single light, it seemed to bring a fierce sense of hope. He felt one step closer to his goals, a little bit stronger and wiser. As he watched, the single point of light became two, and with it, knowledge of this new power. The scene in the Danger Room played over in his head, and he realized that this was what the Field could do. In it's space, nothing would change unless he willed it. It was something that he realized was at the very core of his ability as a mutant, his power was one of dominion, controlling the very space around him, whether it was to stop, shift, or even remove objects. There was something he realized, however. He wasn't like most others, his power had a cost. To him, and to the world around him. Bending space isn't something one should be able to do without consequences, and he took the toll directly. It was only, with the realization of this truth, that he would be able to use his power effectively, to avoid overexertion and cause permanent damage to himself. He mulled these thoughts in his mind, sitting under the light of the two stars in the dark void.

[Eviledd1984]

Roy Mitchel Warner also known as Necro was a first year student in the School For The Gifted, He had just a few hours ago unpacked his things with the help of his "Friends". He does call them friends however they would not be friends with others because they are undead, Freshly dead which could be useful for unpacking since they had muscular builds. He didn't mind the looks he had gotten when he was unpacking with his friends which he did not mind and currently had them follow him around the school.

He was exploring the school for the time being with his friends in a line following him around, In this case he would need them in case he needed to defend himself. After half a hour or so exploring the school he took a seat some place outside of the school on a bench. Pulling out his notepad coming up with a poem about his environment and joining this school. He had came to the school because of a mutant like himself named Cyclopes although in the back of his mind he thought he would not very useful thanks to his powers."Do you think being here is a good idea?" One of the corpse spoke looking over towards his friend, The one that spoke was a deceased bodybuilder named Joe that died in a car crash. "Yes i do...it may help me gain friends...alive friends sorry.." He said looking up at his dead friend in his noticeable Cajun accent. Writing down some words coming up with a poem on his current feelings.

[pyroman]

"Knowledge." David answers, finding the last of the books that he decided were good for Bonny to start with. "Skills and talents are also things I pick up from people. Don't worry, I can't absorb memory based knowledge like who your first kiss was." He chuckled. David proceeded to talk to a table, carrying a few of the selected books in his own arms, while the rest were with Bonny. Spreading them out and picking them out of Bonny's arms allowed him to organize the books by what events were focused on in each of them.

"You said your grandparents were mutants?" He tried sparking up another conversation as he sat down in a chair, sliding one of the books to Bonny. "If you don't mind, what kind of mutations did they have?" if she was going to be in a group with Sally, they were going to be in the library quite a bit, so it didn't seem to hurt anyone to get to know the new kid a little better.

The bell rang, the second period was over.

"Well, I'll keep these books reserved for you, Sally, and the other guy. You should get moving to your next class."

---

Emma would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't surprised to have been hugged by Rosemary. She knew that she had been making better progress than Booker at trying to get her to open up, but Emma didn't realize until just now how important she seemed to be in Rosemary's eyes.

One hand wrapped around Rosemary, the other brushing her shoulder. "There's nothing that could have been done to prevent this." She said softly. Even after the Apocalypse, when mutant relations had finally been improving, people continued to attack Mutants. It was only a matter of time before people found my school or this one."

She let go and smiled at Rosemary. "You would have made an excellent Warlock. Even though you aren't mystical in nature, they would have loved having you around."

Then the bell rang, signalling the change of classes. "You should get moving, Rosemary. Doctor Smith is waiting for you in his office." Whoops. She might have peered into Rosemary's mind, and also might have warned Booker about Rosemary's plan to ask her about changing her schedule.

Oh well.

---

Shawn looked to the school as the bell rang. Hank was already working on escorting the students back inside, and Shawn knew that it was probably a good idea. He was going to say something to Heidi, but took the bell as a sign to not say it. Though, he still did wonder. Did her supercomuter of a brain remember the moment like he did? She, who was capable of thinking of all of the things, surely had to.

"Let's get going." He ushered her back inside, thinking back on his question. "I'm sure you don't even need to worry about the work or anything, but some of us need to study to ace a math test." He couldn't remember how many classes they shared, but that was his next destination. He was too busy thinking about other things to even try to remember.

But then came another question.

Did she hear them too?

[Eviledd1984]

Roy had heard the bell which meant that he would have to go to his first class here in the school, Telling his friends to stay in his room until he calls for them which could easily done with a cellphones he stole form a electronics store. The undead men nodded their heads and heading towards his room while the Cajun boy was making his way to class holding his notebook and pencil in his hand and heading towards his class.

He would need this for the time being because he had forgotten a few of his school supplies at his room, Once inside of the class walking towards a desk preferably at the very back of the class. Setting his notepad and pencil on the desk in front of him looking at the large desk in front of him wondering who would be teaching this class.

[Burning Kitty]

Rose Mary turned to head to Mr. Booker's office. She stopped for a second. "Did I tell her my reason for coming this way?" She thought back on it. "Yes I did." She walked to Mr. Booker's office and knocked on the door as she opened it. "Mr. Booker, a few things. I would like to change my schedule to a more combat oriented one, if the plan I kind of sort of worked out with Ms. Frost is going to work, I can't rely solely on my power to survive. Surviving is fine but not enough, and my combat skills I got from the sperm donor are rusty at best, at least knife I stole from him isn't rusty. Is it possible my mutation can adapt into some form of telepathy? I met Logan earlier, saw his claws. My understanding was that pain was your body's way of telling you something was wrong. Why would he feel pain when he pops his claws if that is natural for his body? Is it because of the metal? Last, I asked Ms. Frost but she didn't answer, maybe she did it in a roundabout way. Is magic just another form of mutation? You know like Merlin not those fakers on stages. Was Merlin real?"

She felt the beginnings of a ramble coming on this time out of curiosity, so she bit her tongue, not in the figurative sense.

Tatiana did all she could for now, her room needed to air out and she had to get away. She was heading to her next class when she saw the newest arrival and his friends. She hated those things with a passion. She took the longest route possible to class to avoid the putrid stench of those abominations. If Xavier was allowing that plague on his campus she was going to have to reconsider her attendance.

[pyroman]

"Of course we can look at changing your schedule to be a little more practical on the field." Booker already had the appropriate paperwork out and ready, as well as a paper for additional notes to help her out even further. However, her questions and requests didn't end there. As she went on, Booker smiled to himself, listening to what else she had to say.

"We'll tackle these questions one at a time, okay?" Another smile, this one directed at her as he cut in after she was done speaking.

The first question up was that of the limitations of her own mutation, as well as telepathy. What an interesting question, one, like others that she asked, that could not be so easily defined.

"Perhaps. Your ability of adaptation allows for you to overcome just about any obstacle you come across. Given all of your senses were shut down, or you were in a sensory deprivation tank, you may adapt to communicate or even see without the use of your physical body. It's all theorectical, though. Adapters like yourself are on the rarer side of mutations."

So Logan was back. Booker never minded him. When Booker was younger, the Wolverine had already started his habit of wandering around whenever he wanted. The two never spoke much when Booker was still Blake, a young student at the institute, and they didn't speak much now. Booker knew that the man didn't want to be constantly psychoanalyzed. "Mutations are natural, but accidental. Logan's claws still pierce his skin from the inside-out, something that is definately not supposed to happen to the human body. Unlike, let's say, a cat, who had space allocated in the little spaces between their toes. Logan's claws forcefully rip through his skin. His healing factor only means that when he retracts his claws, all of the nerves are back to tip-top shape. He'll never not feel pain when he uses them, but he can always get better at hiding that pain."

And lastly, she asked about Magic. Of course Emma must have told her about the Warlocks. Well, with how well the two have been getting along, it was no surprise that mentioning them and Emma's eventual goal would come up in a conversation. Rosemary really did seem to like Emma, which was a good thing. At least someone could get to her and help out the poor girl that once was Samantha Kensington.

"Magic is..." Booker stood from his seat and looked around the room. "Difficult. Technically, I use magic. My mutation allows he to act as a conduit for magical energy and condense it into a tight and physical form. Magic is real, so a variable degree. Some mutations like Nightcrawler's teleportation are magic based, pulling on mysterious energies to will the world in strange ways. Your mutation, however, seems purely scientific. But, who knows. Maybe someone can shoot mana at you and you can absorb it and bend it as well."

He liked to call himself a conduit. It was almost his codename when he was younger, but Kurt was actually the one who provided him with the punny name of Lightsmith.

"Oh, and Merlin was absolutely real."

[Tickout]

She laughed a little. He was honest, and had a good sense of humor. A lot more connectable than her teachers back at home. “Heh, that’s a relief” she replied, watching him organize all of the books by value. She would hand him ones when he needed them, and he started to build a factual timeline before her very eyes. It was impressive, and a lot more help than she expected to get. It was like he was doing the gathering for her.

“My grandparents… My grandma can levitate items, and my grandpa was pyrokinetic. He isn’t with us any more, though, and my grandma can’t really lift anything bigger than a chair.” She frowned, her brain wandering back to home for a moment before she pulled herself to the present. She should ask about how taking out books worked here.

She was about to ask when the bell went off, making her jump a teensy bit in surprise. She looked down to the books and then at the librarian after he spoke. He’d have to bring them all himself to the book area. “You want me to help carry them at least? I can come pick them up during a spare.” She had… Math next, correct? The something else, THEN a break. She could come pick up the books then. “Oh, and thanks again for the help.”

[Eviledd1984]

Roy could see he was alone in the class thinking that he was probably too early. Although that was no problem for him as he sat in his desk thinking about how things will happen and what could be a possibility of what people could say to him. Placing his hand under his chin and looking out of the window now in full daydream mode. He would be surrounded by the other students thinking that his power was cool and useful instead of what people usually would think and that being his powers were repulsive and useless.

Although since it was getting close for the math class to start he would have focus and not get in trouble for daydreaming. Although this would be hard since sometimes it was hard to get Roy out of his daydreams.

[Silver Carrot]

@pyroman

"Good luck at math!" she said to Shawn in parting. She saw how troubled he looked about something but she felt herself almost freezing up trying to bring it up in the best way before he left, but then he was gone. Off to math, and she was just standing in the middle of the corridor awkwardly. She didn't really know any other students who weren't in classes right now well enough to start a comfortable conversation.

So she wandered round, as she did, thinking about her anxiety problems. It was a constant thorn in her side, and the only problem that not just didn't get better from complex analysis, but actually got worse. The most rational thing to do in a crisis is to stay calm and look for the most rational decision, but back then, in that crisis, she was so scared. She needed to be able to handle those kinds of situations if she din't want to become a liability to the group. Like last time. What good is a living supercomputer who's so afraid of responsibility that she refuses to come up with a plan alone?

Heidi started to walk towards Booker's office. She might be able to catch him now, and if he's busy, at least let him know she'd like a meeting later.

[pyroman]

Rurik Langer was the math teacher at the Institute, the Bastion of the ideals of this sanctuary for mutants.

He watched his students trickle in one by one, shawn In, others, corpses, some more. If anyone could be any more indifferent to the young men and women here it would be Logan.

Shawn had walked in and noticed another new student. A boy, he seemed, probably somewhere around Shawn's age. "New kid?" He started out. "Hi, I'm Shawn."

Shawn decided to sit next to him and maybe talk a little before class. Rurik didn't have that hard if a class, but Shawn was always on top of his classes, so it wasn't really a fair assessment there.

---

The telepathic highway was bustling with the three most powerful telepaths on the planet. Being so close to one another made it almost seem like three minds in one body, especially when talking back and fourth like they were.

"Heidi."

It was Jean Grey. She had gotten a note from Emma about Heidi approaching Booker's office, both of which knew about Booker currently being in a session with Rosemary right now. Had Emma been closer, she would have been the one to talk to Heidi instead. Being in a team, and all.

"I heard about the mission, and I'm glad to hear that you're all okay." She didn't know whether or not to tell Heidi about Chrys' current state, so she decided to play the safe route. "How was your first mission?"

---

"Nah, I'll be fine." David waved Bonny off and went to pull a nearby cart to the table. "You've got classes to get to, take care Bonny." He didn't want to he ride or anything, but they'd have more time to talk after school hours. Not to mention she was still very green, so she would be better off taking more time to getting used to her new settings before anything else.

[Burning Kitty]

"Melin is real, cool. Your powers never seemed magical to me. So a lot of mutants are just wizards, like that Potter guy I hear students talking about." She switched to a different subject because this one has a tendacy to bring the worse out in her. "Other than that Danger Room class that Tatiana takes I am not sure what other classes to take. Mechanics, doesn't......" Rose Mary forgot his name. "You know the one that is like half cyborg, can't recall his name. Doesn't he teach mechanics? I'd like that class too." She paused for a moment, to let Mr. Booker figure out who she meant. "The reason I asked if I could be telepathic was a weird thing that happened with Miss Frost in the hall before I came in here, than I really don't want to be telepathic. I don't need all the dark twisted things that people think in my head, plus people deserve the privacy of their own mind. Government stole all other forms of privacy, with their tech and probably mutants they enslaved in secret." She listened to way to many conspiracy theories from the homeless.

Tatiana avoided the zombie scum all the way to her class, some stupid literature class. She had no idea why they sat her up with it, something about a well rounded individual. Screw that if she wanted to be well rounded she would gain weight.

[Eviledd1984]

@pyroman

Roy at first was not responding to the other student who was speaking to him still in his daydream. Dreaming of being surrounding by the other students being praised and shown love which was something he usually did not have. His eyes looking out of the window at watching two birds searching for worms while chirping.

A few moments later his head turned to face Shawn with a blank look on his face. "Hello" He said with a accent that the other student would note being a naive of Louisiana.

[Tickout]

“Oh, well, thank you again.” She gave a respectful nod before heading from the library. Unfortunately for her, she had left her books and supplies in the history office, and going to retrieve them made her a little bit late to getting to class. She made it before the bell, however, though a lot of the class had already filed in and taken seats. The only ones left were in the back, where two others were having a conversation. Oh well, a seat was a seat.

She set her bag down at one of the back row seats, double checking to make sure she had everything. Plushie, check. Books, pencils, checks. History catchup notes, check. Math skills… she never had those, so no check. She frowned to herself, taking out some paper and a pencil. Hopefully this wasn’t a ‘catch up from scratch’ course like the last; Math shouldn’t be too too different from what she knew, should it?

[Silver Carrot]

@pyroman

Heidi opened the doors of her mind before she answered this, so that Jean would be able to see as well as hear it from her mouth. "Our first mission could have gone a lot worse. There were no casualties, although there was major property damage, mass injury and radiation sickness, the culprit managed to escape...I had no idea that missions were like that. All the mental preparation and planning in the world couldn't have made me ready for that"

She sighed. "My role on the team should have been the planer and strategist, but I couldn't handle the responsibility. I don't even know how I can improve this flaw. Do you have any ideas, Jean?"

[pyroman]

"Forge." Booker cut in briefly to remind Rosemary of the man's name. He had a construct of a hand writing down the notes on his desk while he searched for Rosemary's School File. All personal files were stored elsewhere. She wanted a more combat focused schedule, that was fine with him, and he was sure that Charles wouldn't object too much either. As important as it was to help young mutants learn and control their powers, the other mission of the school was to give them the means to do what they wanted out of life, and if that meant going on missions and protecting the world, who were they to stop Rosemary?

As he found the file he needed, Booker tossed it up into the air, for another construct to catch it and organize it with the notes that he had made.

"Emma?" Booker looked to Rosemary. "No, you didn't adapt telepathy, she used her telepathy to show you things. Telepaths can share thoughts, as well as look at other people's thoughts. I really wouldn't worry about that." Genosha was the place Rosemary was thinking of. Keeping Mutants and using them as slaves out in the open. Booker really thought that humanity was past all of that now. He supposed that there would always be at least one opposing force, and Genosha was one right now.

"Anywho, anything else you wanted to talk to me about? I'll submit this to the Professor, and I'll get back to you on the schedule change as soon as possible, okay?"

---

Shawn had heard that accent before from one of the older guests of the mansion, Gambit. He had only seen the Cajun man a few times, here and there. "You're new?" Shawn Asked. Of course he was, he had never seen his face before, and they were getting a whole lot of new students recently. "Are you here for refuge, or are you here to save the world?" Those were normally the two types of people who came through the halls of the mansion. Those that were hiding, and wanted to learn to control their powers and reintegrate with society, or those who wanted to sharpen their talents to protect the world from life-threatening situations. He just wondered what side of the coin this kid was on.

Another new student, a girl, had sat near them. So Shawn, this meant that she was open to being brought into this little group of a veteran student talking to the new students to feel comfortable.

"You too? I'm Shawn."

"Okay, everyone sit down, class it beginning." Ruric started the class and stood tall and proud in front of his students. "Take your textbook and open to the geometry section. This is what we will be reviewing for the next two weeks until winter break."

---

Jean could see through Heidi's mind the memories of the mission. It wasn't the best case scenario, but there were many missions that had kept Jean up at night. Scott would have to calm her down in the small hours of the morning.

"It really can't." Jean nodded in agreement. It took experience to relax oneself from the frightening face that missions had. "You'll get there, it just takes time and determination."

Then Heidi had a full on question for her. Though there was already and answer cooking up in her mind, Jean decided to drag it out for a little, putting her weight onto one leg and tapping her chin with a single finger. She stood there for a minute before appearing to have a content answer for the young and impressionable girl. "Nothing can prepare you for a mission, and nothing can prepare you for carrying the weight of responsibility. Your mind can psych you out, think too much on it. There's nothing you can do about that, but you do have a team leader, right? Someone to handle those responsibilities?"

She leaned a little closer to Heidi, so that they were at eye level with each other. "You just need to take a thoughtless leap. When you jump into a pool, you're so scared that the water will be too cold, that you slip, fall, and hurt yourself. I know it's a scary thought, Heidi, but do you think that Charles or Scott got where they were by calculating every minute detail? They tried their best, and that's all anyone can do."

[Eviledd1984]

@pyroman

"Yes..i am new here just got here today" The lanky boy said now opening up his notepad and taking out his pen. Looking at what was being written on the board letting out a groan of frustration. He was never really good at math and he hated doing it because it made him feel stupid. "Well i guess the first part since not many regular people like me and my friends, Although i don't give damn what normals or mutants think of me" He said softly.

He didn't think he would be cut out as a superhero even though Cyclopes tried to convince him otherwise. His powers would useless in battle situations.

[Tickout]

… Her too? She turned and looked at Shawn, and put together from the other dudes response that both her and the one that answered the question were new to the school. It was only second period and she already met two new students and got brought into two circles with non new students. Was it recruiting season or something? She gave Shawn a small wave. “Sup. I’m Bonny. Nice to meet you”. She had overheard the question from earlier, but since it wasn’t really directed at her she didn’t answer it. Instead, she decided to ask Shawn the question. “What about you? You here to save people or be safe?”

Before she could get her answer, though, the teacher entered the room. “We can talk later” she whispered as quick as can be before bringing her focus to the topic at hand. Geometry. Definitely not a new concept, so she’d manage despite it not being her best topic. Plus, it was reviews, so she’d have time to learn. She flipped through her textbook until she got to the desired page; it was rather familiar. What a relief. She wouldn’t have to learn every subject from scratch.

[Silver Carrot]

@pyroman

"Yeah," Heidi answered Jean, "I do have a problem with overthinking things and getting psyched out. That's why I have session with Dr. Blake to help with my social anxiety. Thoughtless leaps have actually helped there, so I suppose I could try to be more assertive on the field too. And yeas, Shawn is our team leader but the responsibility's making him anxious too. That's why I want to be a better strategist and alleviate some of that pressure. Because...without this brain, I'm an ordinary, unremarkable person compared to people who are super strong or can shoot fire. If I can't even use my brain to help, the team, what good am I in another fight with a mutant? I was just a liability last time."

[Burning Kitty]

Rose Mary came visibly embarrassed. She began muttering to herself. 'She knows.' She left the room rather abruptly. She became angry. 'Why are there so many freaking telepaths here? One is bad enough. Two is company. Three means conspiracy. They are up to something. Have to find out. Have to guard my thoughts.' She pushed down her thoughts deep, concentrated solely on the absolutely most trivial matters she can think of. She proceeded to class. She would continue her classes like nothing was a miss.

Tatiana had a free period, she would normally use it to prepare any meat she had acquired from hunting but she hadn't killed any animals recently. She decided to use the period to check in with the private detective she hired. "Yes this line is secure. Keep sending the bills to the same address. Yes I know by not moving my enemy can find me, he be stupid to attack the people I have surrounded myself with are some of the most powerful on the planet. Now just report what you have learned. Russia, I'll pass it along to the clan there. Thank you." She called her counterpart of the Russian clan. "Blade is coming for your clan, capture him alive. I will kill him myself. If you absolutely must kill him, but his corpse is mine no matter what. The price on his head is a million American dollars, if alive. A quarter of that if dead."

Tatiana hung up the phone she proceeded to drum her fingers on the table. 'Why is he going after the Russians? They are the most formidable clan out there. There are far lesser clans he could go after first. He must something up his sleeve.'