Nathan
A song floated softly on the air as the man walked next to a road, overshadowed with trees. "You don't havta call me darlin', darlin. You don't even call me by my name..." He walked on, steel toed boots heavy on his feet as the sun flickered through the tree's leaves. Yeah. Nathan had a vision. A place he had to be. A girl whose mind he might even be able to save. Red hair and freckles clouded his sight for a moment, and he shook his head to chase the picture away. Not yet. He had a place he needed to be.
A gate was open, as he knew it would be, and he slipped through the high protecting walls. Flickers chased the edges of his eyesight, trees living and mutants, everywhere. He'd spent the last ten years hiding from them, and yet here he was. Here to do something that his talents told him he had to do. He shuffled a pack of cards in his hands, a usual preoccupation of his as he walked into the mansion. "You don't havta call me darlin', darlin. You don't even know my name. I'm just another faceless man, and we know you're not gonna stay..." The song helped him focus, tune down the seeing. Jack of diamonds, ace of hearts, seven of spades. The cards helped too. "I'm here for Chelsea," he said bluntly to the man in a wheelchair. "I have a feeling I was needed, telepath. Where is she?" His hands never stopped the flick, slide, cut of shuffling cards as he stared at the man.
"And you would be?"
"Nathan. Seraph. Both names are good enough." He rolled his shoulders, the shuffling quickening as his senses started to overload. "Had a vision. Come to help the little red. Needed, alright?"
"I'm Charles Xavier."
"Sorry to cut this shirt, but really, I'm here for one thing. Help the kid get a handle so she don't fly off it like I did. We're rare, us seeing ones." Nathan closed his eyes for a moment. "Seeing everything can hurt you like you wouldn't believe. I see the future as well, but she at least doesn't have that problem." He turned slightly as the door opened, senses warning him of the mutants behind it.
Ducky
Daphne hid behind the professor's chair as the new man walked in. She didn't trust new people. *Professor, is he safe?* she asked the Professor in his head. "Yes, Ducky, you can come out if you want, he won't hurt you." Ducky stood up and stepped out, her wings fluttering behind her out of nervousness.
"H-hi, I'm Daphne, you can call me Ducky if you wish, everybody does." Ducky tended to chatter like a bird. She was also very good at hiding, her bones were honeycombed, and her frame was very slight, allowing her to fly away easily. Her eyes darted from side to side, checking for danger, a habit hard to break when you're raised by wild animals.
Nathan
"Don't go in too deep," Nathan said as he looked at her, and then he turned his head away, spark flicker flame of her talent and her emotions hurting his eyes. "Fly, bird. Don't fly too high, too far. Human's hard to be, but you're not a bird in soul deep heart." His hands raised a card. "Queen of Hearts. Know your limits but find a way past them. I don't hurt people. They hurt me, unmeaning. You all look like flames, burning my eyes. I see time pass, and all crumble into nothingness." Nathan coughed, a deep hacking bark that shook his thin frame. "To see is a terrible thing." He smiled sadly at Ducky, hands calmly cutting the pack, cards slip sliding in a waterfall of motion. "Be glad of what you are, little one. Chelsea?" He turned back to Xavier. "I'm teaching, then I'm going. Too much here. Too many, too much. I think she gets my feeling, hey birdie? People aren't the nicest things."
"I'll call her." Xavier leant over the desk and pressed the intercom button. "Jean? Please find Chelsea and send her to my office please."
Nathan started humming under his breath, staring blindly at the ceiling. "I hope this one don't go mad like I did. Not many of us, you know. Like nature sees a fault and cuts it out. I think she's the third. My teacher died when a demon caught her up. S'where I got these." He tapped his cheek. "Ran. I'm good at running, even then. You people don't see in the darkness, but we do. Darkness lying in wait and the creatures hiding in it will eat you, soul and all."
Chelsea, Mordred, Vortigern and Nathan
Chelsea was curled up with her journal, and listening to Mordred and Vortigern bicker playfully. They were ok to be around. Not so...out there all the time screaming look at me. Vortigern for instance was almost restful on her eyes, and Mordred flickered like he was about to 'port but had decided every second not to do it right that moment. She almost wished the cats would come bac, despite the major ew factor with Nyx and Wolverine. She hoped everything was alright over there. and then Jean entered the room. Chelsea tried to sink back into the cushions of her chair. She kept trying to gon inside Chelsea's head, and Chelsea did not care for it one bit. Tickled, but in a horrible way. Xavier's voice was like skipping rocks over water, he never tried to go below the surface thoughts. Mordred and Vortigern glared at her, all hints of playfulness gone.
"What is it, Dr Grey?" Mordred snapped, eyes gleaming mockingly. Vortigern punched his twin on the arm. "Hey!"
"Be polite."
"Why? She's not. All creeping around in my bloody mind, after I tell her to stay the hell out." Jean ignored them and spoke to Chelsea.
"Professor Xavier needs to see you in his office now." Chelsea nodded and got up, uncoiling herself from the lounge and carefully skirting Jean in the doorway, not touching. Jean rooled her eyes, and Chelsea controlled the flinch from the annoyance and anger the woman put out. "Professor? Chelsea's here now." She knocked on the door, and called through it.
"Send her in, Jean." Chelsea stepped through the door, and stared at the man standing in front of Xavier's desk. A profusion of colours swirling around him, centered around his eyes as he turned to face her.
"Chelsea. Little red. Good, not fallen in yet to the seeing." He nodded, and then coughed. She could see the dark green threads through his chest, indicating his sickness. "Nathan. I was sent to teach you to swim the colours. I drowned, but I can save you before you do." He grinned, and the yellow green of wry amusement flared for a moment.
"Ok. You're like me..." She could see the similarities in colours between him and her.
"We see what is, not what seems to be." He nodded, and his hand slid the pack of cards into his pocket. "Drive you blind mad in the end. At least you don't see the future too."
"That is really encouraging," Chelsea said dryly.
"Demons is what gets you in the end. Vampires love us. Teacher of mine, Oracle, she bought it at the points of fangs. Partner of the vamp that got her, gave me this. Some cat demon, with claws and fangs and fur..." He shuddered and Chelsea felt his fear rise. "She had the Sight as well as the seeing. I wonder why you don't?"
"Lucky, I would say."
"Must be." Nathan nodded, and whistled a country tune for a moment, before turning back to Xavier. "Going. I'll be back to start tomorrow morn."
"I am sure we have a place you can sleep."
"OK, then, mind walker. Talk later, going now," Nathan said bluntly before striding to the door. "Need to find some place to shut you all out. Emotions, talents, flicker, flicker, flame. Uncomfortable."
Ducky
Ducky spread her wings and flew out of the Professor's office wondow. New people made her nervous. Especially people who were smewhat insane. Sometimes Ducky thought she was crazy, 'cause everything always went so fast through her brain. The professr was always trying to convice her that she wasn't crazy, she'd just been hurt. And she knew it was true. She'd lost two family before Professor Xavier had found her. Her parents, to the alien hunters when she was still very little, and then her adoptive family to poachers when she was a bit older. So she ran away, wound up in NYC at night, living in Central Park with the pidgeons. That's when she met Warren. He had wings like her, and convinced her to meet with Xavier. That was the first time they'd flown together. Daphne sighed, as she flew around, looking for trustworthy people to talk to.
Ducky looked through the window of the study, and saw those new twins. She hadn't really met them yet, but she thought she might give it a try. The professor was always telling her that she didn't take anough chances. So, pushing open the window, she went inside.
"Hi, I'm Daphne, people just call me Ducky though," she introduced herself to the twins. Suddenly she noticed someone she hadn't noticed before. Nyx. She hadn't met the catwoman yet. In fact she'd spent all of her energy avoiding her.
"N-Nyx, right?" she aasked as she backed away as quickly as she could.
Nyx, Vortigern and Mordred
"Yeah, sweetie." Nyx yawned and turned over on the couch, burying her head in the pillow. "I'm a mass of aches. Logan's a good spar partner, but *man*. Oh, for Goddess's sake, I'm not gonna eat ya," Nyx's voice came through muffled.
"She won't. Trust me on this," Vortigern said as he sketeched Nyx lying on the lounge. He looked up, and grinned. "Can I draw you?"
"Oh, here we go. Again." Mordred rolled his eyes.
"Didn't you promise me a back massage, Mordred?" Nyx asked.
"Yeah." He moved over to her and started massaging her shoulders. A throbbing purr reverberated through the room as Nyx sank into blissful contentment.
"Mmm, oh goddess, that is absolutely perfect, sweetie," Nyx moaned.
Vortigern chuckled before turning back to Ducky. "So, could I draw you, sometime? You can look over some of my stuff so you know I'd do it right." He held out his sketchbook to her.
Ducky
Ducky looked at Nyx. "Some of your relatives feasted on my foster-father. Why should I believe you?" Ducky narrowed her eyes at the catwoman, and then looked back at Vortigern. "Well, yes, I suppose you can draw me if you like."
Nyx
"Well, predarors eat prey. Fact of life. I never like to eat birds though. The feathers get stuck in my teeth. Fish and mice. Mmm. Mice." Mordred shook his head as Nyx rambled, hands kneading her tense back muscles. "And in case you didn't notice, you're kinda not duck shaped. More humaniod. So, not going to eat you.
Ducky
Ducky smiled. "Oh yeah, forget that sometimes. This school here, the last few year, the first time I lived with people-shaped people since I was a chick. I forget how to be around people people, and not birds." Ducky laughed to herself. "You promise you won't eat me?" At Nyx's nod she sat down across from them, draping her wongs across the back of the couch.
Nyx, Vortigern and Mordred
"Promise, cross my heart and so on and so forth." Nyx giggled. "I think yo'd get on wonderment with my Mouse."
"That's the empath alien, right?" Vortigern asked, head bent over his sketchbook.
"Yah. She has a wolf. And a cat. And a rat, and apparently she had a sparrow but the bird got a mate or something. I like hunting with Fafnir. That's the wolf," Nyx intruppted herself to explain, "me and Sabre went growling prowling. Caught some rabbitses. Rabbitses! Don't cook them, now, you're ruiningses them!" Nyx's shoulders shook with laughter.
"Ok, Gollum. You're playing the strange fish hobitt thing?" Mordred asked.
"I liked Gollum. And besides, the movies rocked on forever. Orli is soooooo hot! And Viggo! I love Viggo all to pieces." Nyx stretched and turned over. "You know that bit where he goes, 'by my life or death, if I can protect you, I will'? MmMmm!" Nyx fanned herself with her hand. "Hot flashes. Leggings do wonders for a man's butt." Vortigern chuckled. "I know you check out Orli's butt, Vort, don't lie!"
"Perhaps I do." Vortigern smiles slyly. "But I like Merry. He's cute and funny, you know?"
"Arwen is a hottie," Mordred said, then he turned to Duckie. "Have you seen the Lord of the Rings movies?"
Ducky
"I read the books, and I saw the first movie. I haven't seen the second one yet, but since it's still in the 2nd run theatres, I still have a chance, maybe I'll see it this weekend. Movies confuse me, though. Never had tv or anything, so, sometimes, they make my eyes cross." Ducky's wings fluttered behind her unconsciously as she spoke.
Nyx and Vortigern
"TV rocks! I was so bored with eternal life. And then, wow! TV! Not that I don't like to read, but TV and movies are very of the good."
"Immortailty not agreeing with you?" Vortigern asked as he licked the tip of his lead pencil before continuing to draw.
"Immortality agrees with me, it's the years in between when nothing happens."
Ducky
"I always feel old, 'cause Ducks generally only live about 3-6 years, average lifespan, sometimes longer. So I saw my flock come and go, but I was always there. I can't imagine living forever. Can you die at all?" Ducky asked, amazed by the idea of living forever.
Nyx and Vortigern
"Honestly, sweetie, I have no idea. I've been staked, drowned, set on fire, poisoned, strangled, had my skull cracked open, fell down a great big mineshaft, hanged," Nyx ticked off the methods on her fingers, and continued to list the various ways people had tried to kill her in her very long life. "I try not to get my head cut off, cos I don't know whether I could come back from that, but so far? Evrything that's tried to kill me has failed."
"Well, that's...interesting." Vortigern blinked, then tore out the page he had been drawing on. "Here." He handed it to Ducky.
Nathan and Chelsea
"You said it," Chelsea agreed and Nathan grinned at her.
"Coming? Outside and away is restful. We don't hurt each other's eyes, have you noticed?"
"Yeah, you're right." Chelsea nodded.
"Something odd and strange." Nathan's head whipped up. "You have vampires here."
"Yes. I just try to stay away from them. Dru's insane, ane ven if Spike has a soul..."
"Soul?"
"Yeah, soul. Freaky." Chelsea shrugged. "Burns the eyes."
"Hmm. Staying away from him then."
"Good idea."
"Leaving now." Nathan slipped out the door, and Chelsea looked after him. "Back tomorrow. Tonight. Which way the colours flow."
"He's not insane, not really," Chelsea said to the professor. "But I hope I don't end up like that."
Ducky
Ducky looked at the picture that had been drawn of her. It made her look almost angelic with her wings spread out. She smiled. "You make me look like an angel. I'm no angel, but thank you anyway. It's so good. Are you gonna be an artist for reall when you're older?"
Vortigern, Mordred and Nyx
"Maybe." Vortigern shrugged. "I'd like to, but so far my ambitions only go as high as comicbook pencil artist or illustrator for children's books and the like."
"You know you're gonna be the famous one of the family," Mordred said.
"Maybe."
"Uncommunicative today, sweetie?"
"Nah. Just...tired, and I can't think of anytihng to say. Easiest to say nothing at all."
"How's your chest holding up?" Nyx asked.
"Fine. Hole's basically all healed up. It's just sore."
Ducky
"That funny girl put blood in your chest, right? to make it all better?" Ducky asked, rambling as she usually did. "Blood is icky. But people say I'm icky 'cause I eat womrs. Worms are yummy. I like them. Have you ever eaten worms?" She asked Nyx.
Nyx, Vortigern and Mordred
"I've eaten mice but I can't say I've ever really gone in for insects. Though I did eat these fried bugs in Mexico..."
"Weird." Mordred shook his head and sat down next to Nyx. She curled arouns so her head was in his lap and he started to run his fingers through her hair. She purred. Vortigern grinned as he started to sketch again.
"I could probably get ya a job. I think I even own a few galleries around the place..." Nyx mumbled, her eyes half closed. "I think I have one in Paris, and one here in America though I can't remember for the life of me where it is. I can find out though."
Vortugern looked at her. "Huh?"
"I am a very rich and powerful kitty. Living thousands of years does wonders for your bank statement."
Ducky
"Warren's teaching me to invest. It seems my parents had a lot of money in the bank, and it all collected interest while I was in the woods. So that now that I'm back, and of age, it's all mine. And Warren is a very rich little birdy."
Nyx
"I invest some, but mostly it's all gained through dishonest means. Sabre is a wonderful hacker. He took to computers like a duck to water." Nyx grinned.
Ducky
"Ducks like water," Ducky grinned.