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Sam, having been sent by Charles to talk with Angel and her family, finds the girl in question eating everything not bolted down in the kitchen. They have a chat about the school and powers that set Angel more at ease and a decision is pretty much made.



At least they'd let her go home, Angel though, rubbing her eyes. She felt like she'd just swam for days on end and while all she wanted to do was sleep, she knew she couldn't. There was a stranger talking to her parents in the living room—she'd been steadily eating nearly everything in the kitchen and hadn't felt inclined to stop—and she just knew he was here to talk to her.

She sniffled, just a little bit, and took a bit out of the sandwich.

Sam smiled politely at Ms. March. He'd tried his best to put her at ease, and he hoped that he'd been doing well. He still hadn't met the girl he'd been sent to check on, and from the agitated sounds of cupboards and the refrigerator opening and closing repeatedly, he guessed she was a mite worried about what had happened to her. "Ah know ya talked ta the Professor, are there any other questions that Ah can answer for ya?" he asked.

Elizabeth glanced over at Bart who shook his head quietly. Neither of them wanted to send Angel to New York but they had an ace up their sleeve for later. "No but you've certainly set our minds at ease," she responded. "If you want to speak with Angel, she's the one currently eating everything edible in the kitchen--part of the mutant process we were told."

"Good thing she had a healthy appetite to begin with," Bart rumbled, looking tired but better than when he had first reached the hospital the other day. Grabbing his cane, he heaved himself up on his feet and gestured to the kitchen. "Angel?" He stuck his head in and smiled at his daughter. "This is Sam Guthrie, he's here from the school...and I'll leave you two to talk. We'll be in the living room."

Sam put his best "y'all can trust me" smile on and entered the kitchen. Even having experienced the ravening hordes of Xavier's, this girl had obviously put quite the dent in the food supply. "Ah'm Sam, like your daddy said. Ah'm one of the faculty at Xavier's. Ah teach powered flight and history. Mostly Ah'm here ta answer your questions and put ya at ease as best Ah can. Manifestin's never an easy thing, even under the best of circumstances." He pulled up a stool, close enough to talk, but far enough away to preserve Angel's personal space.

Slowly, Angel put down the sandwich and swallowed the mouthful. Extending her hand, she gave him a wan smile. "Angel," she said quietly, "though, you know, they've already said. Mom's always told me good manners come before all else...including nervous breakdowns and ravenous hunger. Uh." Glancing around the kitchen, she blushed. "Do...they said this was probably normal, eating like this. Is it?"

Sam shook the girl's hand and widened his smile. "Momma and Daddy taught me the exact same thing," he replied. "'Course, that was before they had ta deal with the 'mutant metabolism', but some things still hold true." He chuckled. "And ya ain't seen appetites 'till ya seen Kyle and Catseye raid the kitchen." He wasn't sure who could out-eat whom, but he was certain that Lorna would throw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Catseye? That's an interesting name." Angel looked amused and interested. "It has to have something to do with his...her?...powers, right?" - Hide quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

"Her. Catseye is..." Sam chuckled. "Well, she'll tell you that she's a cat who can turn into a person, though most of the rest of us figure it's the other way 'round. Any event, sometimes she's a girl, sometimes she's a big purple cougar. So, she's eatin' ta support a whole mess of body mass. An' Kyle has a healin' factor, which means he heals faster than most folks. But he has to eat a lot ta keep his body goin'."

At that, Angel took another bite of her sandwich and chewed. Swallowing, she nodded. "And I, uh, set things on fire through microwaves--apparently--so that's like expanding energy, right? Like when I go for a swim and have to eat to restore what energy I've used, kind of like that?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Sam said with a nod. "Energy converters tend ta eat a whole lot, too. Matter of fact, seems like nearly every mutant power requires a lot of food for fuel, which is why the joke about mutant metabolisms exists, Ah guess." The fact that she was asking questions and not running around screaming was a good sign, at least.

"What's...what's the school like, Mr. Guthrie?" Angel asked, very softly. "I know that I wasn't exactly born with the worlds easiest mutation--talking to and controlling the plants would have rocked and wouldn't have hurt anyone--so it's the best place powers wise. But I've got a really active life here, haven't lived anywhere else before and I'm scared."

"It's a good place," Sam said simply. "Ah wouldn't teach there if Ah didn't believe in the Professor, an' what he's tryin' ta do. It's a place where ya can be yourself, an' learn how to use and control your powers, and be around other kids who're goin' through the same things ya are." And maybe he came off sounding a little like a brochure, but it was obvious that Sam believed the things that he was saying.

"How long have you been there? And what do you...is it poliete to ask what is it you do? Oh God, it's like being thrust into a really wacked out version of the Mickey Mouse Club and you're trying to learn all the secret hand shakes but there was never any fire in the Mickey Mouse Club just stupid ears and I think I prefer the fire..." Angel took a deep breath and then blushed as red as her hair.

"Um. Sorry. I do that...babble and be all spazzy."

"It's just fine," Sam said with a grin. "Lord knows we got plenty of people the mansion who can be spazzy. An' Ah don't mind ya askin' what Ah can do. Some people can be a mite touchy about their powers, though, so ya just gotta be mindful of that." He thought in particular of Kevin. "As for what Ah do, since Ah told ya that Ah teach powered flight, ya might be able to guess that Ah fly myself. Ah've got what Ah call a 'blast field' that propels me along and helps protect me while Ah'm flyin'."

She stared at him, looking very impressed. "I guess it helps with the no bugs in your teeth thing?" Angel giggled, looking a little bit more relaxed. "I know it's a private school so there probably won't be a swim team, right? But what about year book or photography?"

"Ah think there's a yearbook," Sam said after a moment's thought. "Ah don't rightly remember, though. But if ya want ta study photography, at the very least Ah imagine ya could talk one of the teachers into an independent study. Past the basics of schoolin', if there's something ya happen ta be interested in, ya can probably look into it."

Now that intrigued her. "I'm going to be a photographer when I graduate college," Angel informed him, her face lighting up. "Dad says I'm pretty good, just need a crazy instructor to hone my skills and I'm golden. This place, it sounds good and I'd learn not to hurt people, right?" She glanced at the door to the kitchen, remembering her mom's hands and her shoulders slumped.

Sam nodded gently. "That's the idea," he agreed. "Ta learn how ta use and control your powers, so that ya don't hurt anyone with them. There are some people at the mansion with powers that could be bad news if they didn't know how ta control them. You'll learn ta control yours too, don't you fret."

Chewing on her lip, Angel nodded slowly. "Is there anyone with powers like mine? I know someone said that certain powers are unique but some aren't. I watched that on the Discovery Channel once."

Sam chewed his lip, not wanting to sound like a retread of the Discovery Channel. "Well, psionic powers seem ta be the most common, but energy projectors come a close second. Ah don't know that anyone at the mansion has your specific type, with the microwaves an' all, but there'll be plenty of people whose powers are at least similar enough. Matter of fact, one of the co-headmasters is an energy projector."

"Really?" Angel sat back and gave Sam a tired but sincere smile. "Okay. I--I still need to talk to my folks but I think this is the best place for me. I don't want to go, I've got friends and stuff here but sometimes what I need and what I want don't mesh, right? At least that's what mom says, especially when it's a really expensive piece of camera equipment."

"Your momma sounds pretty smart," Sam told Angel. But then, that was part of the job description, at least if Lucinda Guthrie was any indication. Sam hadn't always thought so when he was growing up, but now that he was older and more grown up, he realized that his own momma was pretty smart too. "Ah think you'll like it at Xavier's, too," he said.

"It sounds like fun." Glancing around, Angel grabbed another plate and turned back to Sam. "Sandwich?"