Oliver, Tate and Buzza
Oliver, Tate and Buzza got off the train after travelling in it for an hour. They found a cab and drove down to the address Oliver had been given.
Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Before they knew it, they had pulled up to the gates.
"Where is everyone?" Tate asked. "Shouldn't they be greeting us with open arms?"
"Yes!" Buzza agreed. "Me is Mighty Insect Person. Me want red carpetses!"
"Yeah! Miles and miles of 'em!"
Dawn
Dawn ran out to see Oliver. "Oli!" she yelped as she hugged him. "Oh you must be Tate, and I guess you're Buzza, huh?" She smiled as she pulled Oliver along to the tv room, where everybody was sitting around.
"OKayt, time for Introductions. Oliver, Tate and BUzza, meet Kitty, Theresa, Jubilee, Rogue, Bobby, St. John, Becky, Nico, Mordred, Vortigern, Siobhan, Rachel, Mary, Tobias, Nyx, and you already know Clark." Dawn was out of breath before she'd really begun.
Nyx
Nyx was eyeing of Buzza with a weird look in her eye. "Please someone tell me that is not one of those annoying insect people. If it is, can I kill it? They multiply very quickly and are as annoying as a bad case of mange." Nyx went from relaxed to coiled spring ready to pounce very very quickly. "They taste pretty good too."
Tate, Buzza and Oliver
"Eeeeeep!" Buzza cried and hid behind Tate's neck under her hair.
"You leave Buzza alone," Tate said darkly. "Touch even one hair on his head and I'll turn you into mulch."
"Yeah!" Buzza said loudly.
"You'll, ahh, have to excuse Tate," Oliver cut in. "I did tell you, Dawn, that's she a pathic shifter. I guess right now she's Buzza's protector."
"'Zactly," Tate replied, inspecting her hand absently. "Also a few other things."
She gave the back of her palm a lick.
Nyx
"You won't turn me into mulch." Nyx rose from her seat and stretched. "You're acting rather kittenish there, sweetie." The cat edged a few steps closer, sniffing. "Mmm. You smell, mmm, like catnip." Nyx purred. "Mmm. Niiiiiceeee...."
Becky
Becky walked up to the group, figetting with her bonnet string again. "Hello, I'm Becky, what's your name?" She asked, extending her palm to Tate.
Tate, Buzza and Oliver
"My name is Tate," Tate replied, absently licking her hand and running it through her hair. "It means, he - or she - who brings happiness. I like to make people happy."
"You make me-me happy Tatey," Buzza said cheerfully, hugging her with his little balck and yellow arms.
"Yay!"
"This is Buzza," Oliver said. "Yes, he is an insect person. My name is Oliver, but you can call me Oli. My power is pyrokinesis."
Nathan, Logan, Nyx
"Oh, you're just giving off cat vibes there, darlin'," Nyx purred, before Logan yanked her back. "Hey!"
"I think her talent is getting to you," he said softly.
"Oh, she's a cuddlesome bundle alright. She smells almost better then Chelsea or Dawn, and those girls is pure intoxication."
Nathan walked in the door, cards sliding from one hand to the other in his usal habit. He looked up, and tilted his head to the side. "You have a ways to go, girl. A path to walk and a way to keep. Fire child, burn me not." He looked directly at Oli. "Flames work best outside."
"Um. Meet Nathan. He's a mutant, who's mildly insane," Nyx said.
Nathan snorted in derision. "Say it how it is, goddess. I'm raving. I see all. Makes for an unblanced mind. Future, past, present, all." he shook his head. "Cat, keep your claws off this one. She has purpose. Twins, mind your manners." He sat down in a corner, hands shuffling and humming a country song under his breath, slightly off key.
Becky
"I'm Becky, as I said before. I'm Amish, in case you were wondering. And my power is that I can manipulate inorganic material. The Professor is trying to teach me to control it, because whenever somebody startles me, or I'm afraid, or angry, all the rocks and plastic and things around me start flying around. I accidently threw a statue at that vampire guy the other day, rammes it right into him." Becky said, innocently.
Nathan and Nyx
Nathan snickered. "God for you. Demon with a soul is a demon still. If I could, if my hands were not tied by what I see in his future, he would be dust. Demons make my head hurt, but you are soothing to the eyes. Gentle, quiet." He looked up at Becky and smiled, the normal insanity lifting for a moment. "Thank you."
"Ok..." Nyx nodded slowly and backed off slightly.
Nathan laughed. "Don't fret, cat. I won't dust him." He cut his cards and riffled them. "Although he does remind me of someone I saw, right before this happened." He traced the scars on his cheek gently. "Perhaps it is merely the fact he is a vampire." Nathan shook his head. "Perhaps."
Becky
Becky smiled at Nathan. "If it soothes you, you may look at me, although my brother would not be pleased if you looked at me with any intent," Becky warned. "I am to remain pure and chaste until Ezekial asks father my hand when I am 17, and I am married at 18. I have already ridden home in his buggy once." Becky said, blushing.
Nathan and Nyx
"Nah, girl. I have too many things to worry about." Nathan smiled gently, nerves slowly relaxing. "You have a nice, safe future too, far's as I can tell. Happy families." He nodded slowly. "I can't even see the end of her's." He jerked his head at Nyx. "Your mother clouds my eyes. She doesn't want me to know. It's not nice to do that to people, you tell the queen that."
"Yeah, well, she doesn't exactly listen," Nyx said. Nathan laughed, then coughed hard, shoulders shaking. "You alright? I can heal you..." Nyx stretched a hand out. Nathan backed away.
"No!" He threw his hands up to shield himself, cards fluttering to the ground.
"I only want to help..." Nyx whispered, eyes pricking with tears.
"It's this or I die screaming. I choose this death. It's the choice I made when I decided to come here. Paths narrowing down." He bent to pick up his cards, a wary eye still on Nyx. "I much prefer coughing my lungs up then having them ripped out through my chest. So, thanks but no thanks, cat."
"Ok." Nyx backed far off to the other side of the room. Nathan smiled at her, his panic flowing away.
"Don't fret, cat. I saw it coming, saw this a long, long time ago. At least I *chose* the manner of my passing. I came to teach and to die. My choice."
Becky
Becky frowned. "You're dying? Well, if you'd like, I can make you some tea. Oma taught me when I was still little all the herbal remedies. I can make tea that will lift your pain, though it doesn't heal, would you like some?"
Nathan
"That would be nice." Nathan smiled at her. "Sneaking lady keeps wanting to slip in my mind and heal me. Don't need healing. Need quiet. S'nice of you to offer your help."
Becky
"Please, come down to the kitchen with me, and I'll make you some tea. If it helps, I can teach you how to make it," Becky said, gently taking his hand and guiding him into the building, trying to be soothing and kind, and not hurts his head or his eyes. She stopped at hewr bedroom to grab her herb kit.
"Please, sit down," she guestured to a stool while she tied on her apron, out of habit, and put a tea kettle on to boil. As the water heated, she took out two small sachets, one of dried peppermint leaves, and one of willowbark.
"Please, sir, tell me about yourself. You seem like such a kind man," she smiled, as she kettle began to whistle, and she put some of the bark, and the leaves in to steep. Then she strained the liquid into the cup and set it on the saucer, sliding the tea in front of him. Then she cleaned out the kettle and put it back on to boil to make some tea for herself.
Nathan
Nathan sipped at his tea, feeling the goodness in it and the kindness it was prepared in soothe him. "Nice." He looked at her. "Thank you. My story I try to leave behind, but I'll tell you some of the not so bad bits. When I was twelve, my eyes opened. I saw...everything. What the people around me felt, some of what they thought, if a person lied or told truth, if they were human, mutant or other. And then that night...the vampires came." His eyes closed in remembered pain. "The darkness outside, the pressing sense of evil and bloodlust. My teacher, the Oracle, she showed up the next night. I was already mostly insane by then, just because of the wanting outside. I know I'm insane, it's, I, it's like I can see the edges where the pieces should fit but they don't. Not quite." Nathan's hands gripped the cup tight, allowing the burning heat to distract him slightly. "We took off. I've fought vampires every night of my life since, well, then but not here, thank God. Not here. I've avoided most contact with people, mutants especailly. Oracle was paranoid. That was her form of insanity. I'm just slightly loopy, but she was raving. She was thirty when she died under a vampire's bite. I got these claw scratches that night too. Demon. Cat thing fur and claws and teeth." He shuddered and then sipped from the tea. "This is good."
Tate and Oliver
"So, are we all going to stand around," Oliver said, "or can we sit down? My feet are killing me."
"Oh, poor Oli!" Tate said. "Here, let me massage them for you."
Oliver went wide-eyed.
"Uh, Tate, no, that's not neccesary... I didn't mean for..."
"Nonsense! Sit!"
"Tate..." he complained. "Uncle Leroy will kill me if he finds out..."
"So?"
Oliver frowned at her.
"I'm the only one you have a bond with here right?"
"Yep," she grinned slyly, "but there are a lot of people here. ANd quite a number of them are thinking about sex."
Ducky
Ducky walked up to the group of people and saw what she thought at first was a very large bug.
"Oh! Lunch!" she cried, trying to catch Buzza.
Tate and Buzza
"Tatey!" Buzza cried zipping for his friend.
Tate turned, spotted Ducky and then shape shifted into a rather large cat.
"Mrow!" she cried, lunging for Ducky.
Ducky
"AHHHHHHH!" Ducky screamed, breaking out into a cold sweat. She had just gotten used to Nyx, though Sabre still frightened her when he was around, but now a panther? She started to have a panick attack as she ran, and then flew up into the branch of a large oak tree, shaking and crying. A cat had killed her 'little brother,' and now she was certain she'd be next.
Tate, Buzza and Oliver
"Bad birdy was gonna eat me!" Buzza wailed. "Me love you Tatey!"
He wrapped his little arms as far around her as possible in a hug. Oliver groaned.
"I am so sorry," he said. "Tate? Tate can you change back now? Please?"
Tate looked at him, licked her paw and then started shifting back. She peered up at the tree curiously and satrted crying.
"Me sorry. Me not mean to scare you," she blubbered.
"Why not?" Buzza demanded. "She was gonna eat me!"
Tate looked at Buzza, then Ducky and back again. Then she ran to a startled Oliver and started crying into his shoulder.
Ducky and Dawn
Ducky was sobbing in the limb of the old oak tree. "N---no! not gonna go like Splash! No Splash! NO!" The young woman was hysterical. Even Dawn was frightened of the giant cat, but when she turned back into Tate, Dawn began to calm down, though she wouldn't let go of Clark. It was Scott who ran to get the Professor, but by the time he wheeled out to the courtyard, both Ducky and Tate were a sobbing mess.
Oliver, Tate and Rogue
"Shh, shh," Oliver said to Tate. "It's okay. These... these things happen."
"I don't undertsnad," Rogue spoke up for once. "What is pathic shifting?"
"Tate empathically and telepathically know what you want her to be," Oliver explained, "and then she becomes that. Or, in the case of large groups of people like this, a mixture of that."
Becky
"Thank you," Becky replied, steeping some licorice root in water to make her own tea. "Spike frightens me. I've grown up hearing that all demons are instruments of the devil who's sole purpose is to steal your soul and drag it down into Hell. And I get scared easily. I've never left the farm before, except to go into town of course, to the market, or to school or the library, and to go to church, obviously, but never have I been away from home for more than 1 night, and even then I was only at the neighbors with my friend Anna. But you, you make me feel safe, you have goodness in you."
Nyx, Vortigern and Mordred
"Oh dear," Nyx said softly, then padded over to Tate. "Hey, sweetie, you looked hellacious cool. Wanna come hunting sometime?" Nyx cocked her head to the side and grinned. "You look like you'd be excellent at it. Very cat."
Help her down, wolf. Mordred looked at his brother, startled. Well, I can't climb trees at the moment, can I?
You have a point. But I really don't do well at this emotional crap. Mordred started to climb the tree to talk to Ducky. "Ducky, Ducky, nothing's gonna happen. She shifted back. See? Cat all gone, except for Nyx but she's way over there." Vortigern looked up into the tree, eyes showing a deep concern.
"Ducky? Please come down. She doesn't have control yet. Would we let anything happen to you?" Vortigern made his words soothing and calm.
Nathan
"Some of them it is. Destruction is all they revel in...death and blood and chaos..." Nathan's eyes went slightly unfocused, and then with a shudder he brought himself back. "But evil lies in the hearts of men. Be glad you have not met the one under the Mark of Cain." Nathan couldn't control his shivering so he put the cup down carefully. "He is mad, and so angry and hatefilled. He attacked me in the woods, and under sedation in the infirmary. The professor wishes to see if he can be healed. Mutant's a psychopath. I think it's partly his talent of bloodfrenzy but it lies deep in." Nathan picked up his tea again. "I wouldn't mind living the way you do. Sounds quiet. Nice."
Ducky
Ducky was so upset, she could barely even tell that anyone was speaking to her. Her mind was reliving the bobcat attack on her lake, and on her flock, injuring her sister and killing her brother.
Becky
"You could always come to the farm. We live likethey did over 2 centuries ago, it is safe and innocent there," Becky said. "And we've never had vampires there, that I'm aware of."
Nathan
"If you think they would take me, I would love to. I long so for quiet." Nathan sipped from his tea. "Somewhere to lick my wounds and rest."
Becky
"I believe it would be fin. We do not usually take outsiders, but if the minister agreed, you could stay with us. You are a special case, Nathan, and special in many ways." Becky smiled.
Nathan
"I need to teach Chelsea, show her the ways in which not to walk and prevent her insanity. But when that is done...to watch ordinary people who are like you, to watch the utter calm of their lives pass by with nary a slip...that would be bliss. Thank you for offering. I would most like not be there for long, but while I was, I think it would be close to heaven." Nathan was very philosophical about his forthcoming death. "Thank you."
Becky
"Well, when I am done with my training, I will return to my home, and you and Chelea both are welcome to come if it will help," BEcky said, truly worried about him.
Nathan
"No, Chelsea's place is here." Nathan smiled at her gently, before finishing his tea. "Thank you for the tea. And don't worry so much! I know what is coming, and I'm fine with it. Really. I made my peace, and this is the last thing I need to do before I go home. I think you understand me..."
Becky
"Yes, I do. Everybody here has such goals and dreams, and it makes me feel so insignaificant to want nothing more than to get married and have children. I have two different boys trying to court me, but I do not know what I will do with my life now. Now they want me to stay, and learn to fight, but the Amish are pacifists. I will never hurt somebody purposefully. You can see it in Nico. Some bullies challenged him to a fight in town nce, but he just stood there and let them hit him. We cannot fight. And I will never be more than a wife and mother, it is just not in my cature," Becky paused, "But something tells me you already knew all of this."
Nathan
Nathan nodded and rose to his feet. "I saw it. You have a nice future. Don't let them change it, or change you. Be yourself, for in the end betraying yourself is the worst betrayal of all." He picked up the cup. "I'll take this to the kitchen, shall I?" He looked up at her. "Don't change. Don't let them change you, becuase they will try but don't let them. Stay this person. Stay quiet and gentle and caring. Don't let them use your nature. Be true," he said almost fiercely. "They have thier thing, learn from them but don't become them."
Becky
"Here, let me wash that for you," Becky said, quickly taking the cup from him, and washing all the tea things. "Kitchen work is women's work," Becky reminded him, "Men do the farming."
Nathan
Nathan chuckled. "Course they do. Silly me." He got out his cards and started to shuffle them, but it was more of a reflexive action then anything else. "Thank you for listening. Not many people would take the time to listen to a crazy man ramble on."
Becky
"You're not crazy," Becky said, surprised. "You're wise. I like you because you remind me of the pastor, a sage, and not at all senile." Becky reassured. "I don't think you're touched in the head."
Nathan
Nathan laughed, the first free and easy laugh he'd had in a while. "Nice of you to say so. Seeing the future is not what I would wish on anyone, for that is what makes me wise. That little glimpse ahead of the rest." He frowned. "I am still annoyed that my warning about Frenzy were dismissed by Jean. She thought I was rambling due to my injury and shock. I *always* know when I have a vision, as compared to glimpsing. Enough of her, I do not like the way she prys." He cut the cards on the bench, tapping the sides neat before starting to shuffle again. "Thanks once more for the tea."
Becky
"There are many people here with visions, or so I've seen. Those blue people? Two of them see the future, and one sees the past. Apparantly, or so I've heard, there's another woman in California with visions, and a girl in Oklahoma gets premonitions. I find it so confusing. I know that some people blessed by the spirit can prophesy, but I've never seen it done before," Becky admitted to Nathan.
Nathan
"I don't what it is with me, cos they're all perfectly sane. I see the past crumble before the present, the present fall before the future. Seeing is a curse. I think it is my other talent, the one that lets me see the darkness in the world and the duplicity of men that changes it. But I see good as well. It's just so far and few between..." Nathan shook his head. "I see too much too clearly."
Becky
Becky was almost terrified when she asked her next question. "What do you see when you look at me?"
Nathan
"Sweetness and humility. Joy. You are so calm...a little afraid of the new things around you. Your family, they're often in your thoughts. Your power, glimmering through you like sun on water." Nathan looked at her intently, using his talent to see the things people kept behind masks. "Your future. Nice future. Children, a home, a kind and loving husband." He watched her not yet born daughter and son play for an instant, childish giggles sprinkling flashes of light, then refocused his eyes, and looked up, blinking hard. "I see at least one daughter, a son. More there may be that I cannot yet see. She looks like you." He smiled and watched the children play for a bit longer, his eyes looking somewhere beyond her head.
Mordred and Vortigern
"She's not listening, and I can barely hear her, you know, telepathically," Mordred frowned, shaking his head before rememberung he was in a tree. "Whoa!" His foot slipped and he scrabbled for a moment, legs kicking, to find purchase on the slippery treebark. "SOD!" He regained his footing and continued upwards slowly.
"You alright?" Vortigern called up.
"Shaken not stirred, Scathach. I'm good. Ducky, Ducky, please calm down. No cats. Cats all gone. Would it help if I told you I chased them away?" Mordred made his way up to a branch a bit below Duckie and reached up to touch her foot. "Ducky?"
Becky
'Becky relaxed. "That's all I've ever hoped for, " she smiled at Nathan. "Would you like a slice of spice cake? I made one yesterday, and there's a little left. I made an apple pie too, but it was very popular, apparently."
Nathan
"That would be lovely, thank you, Becky." Nathan smiled.
Ducky
The professor wheeled outside to beneath the tree. *Ducky, Ducky it's me, Professor Xavier,* he said in her mind. THough she had closed off most of her mind, she faintly heard her beloved teacher's voice in her head.
*Professor? Is that you?*
*Yes Ducky, it is. Do not worry, the cats are gone, and Tate is very sorry for scaring you like she did, it was all a misunderstanding."
"NO! Splash died, and it was MY FAULT!" she screamed out loud.
"Daphne, look at me, Daphne, please look at me," the professor said, reluctantly, Ducky made looked down at Xavier.
"Daphne, we've gone over this before. It's not your fault. You befriended two animals that were natural enemies, and no matter how much love you gave them, they would still not get along. You cannot control nature."
"But, but, I brought the cat back to the lake, I thought she was a pet! But then she attacked. . . " Ducky began to cry again.
Becky
Becky took two slices and set them on plates She and Nathan continued talking for most of the afternoon.
Nyx
"You can't tame a cat, bird," Nyx said suddenly. "I won't be tied down. Sure, I love y'all but I'll move on. You can't expect me to act contrary to my nature. It wasn't your fault. Cats havta be cats, and birds, birds. Cats are *never* pets. We go feral easy." Nyx flashed her fangs for a moment before sobering up. "Not your fault, Daph. For all you know, something else could've got him. Ducks don't have a long lifespan..."
Ducky
Ducky broke into punctuated sobs with hiccups at the end.
"I *hic*... I *hic* I know, it's just *hic* it's still *hic* si fresh in my *hic* mind," she said, whimpering.