(Back dated to eaaarly this morning

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Even someone who bounces back pretty quickly from things sometimes has issues they need to work out with someone else and Marie finds Angel on her doorstep early in the morning.



Angel twisted the bottom of her night shirt in her hands as she shifted in front of the RA's door...Marie and Dani, she remembered, biting her lip. She hated to potentially wake them up so late but something had been really, really bothering her for the last few days and it was starting to affect her sleep. Wasn't that what an RA was for? Right?

Taking a deep breath, she knocked, wincing as she did so.

Marie set down the remote and walked over to the door, surprised to see the new redheaded student standing outside her door and looking very nervous. It was her first night back in her room since the incident with Shiro and she had expected to just stay up all night watching television. His dreams were new ones and had kept her sleep in the medlab from being restful, but she was too keyed up to sleep now that she was back. A visitor was a welcome distraction, but from the look on the girl's face, combined with the hour of the visit, Marie doubted this was a social call. "Come on in Angel," she said. "Would you like some tea or cocoa?"

"Hi," Angel said sheepishly, stepping around and into the room. She twisted the hem even more. "Um, cocoa would be great, thank you. I'm...I'm sorry if I interrupted anything or, well, woke you up. I just really needed to talk to someone and Soorya is fantastic but I didn't want to wake her up."

"Don't even worry about it. I don't sleep much most nights and you should feel welcome to knock on my door whenever you need to talk. That's what I'm here for." Marie walked into the kitchen to set a kettle of water on the stove. "Make yourself comfortable," she called out to the younger girl as she continued bustling around the kitchen.

"Thank you," she said, again because it really beared repeating. She made her way to the couch and curled up at the end, tucking her legs underneath her. "I know I'm just being really, really stupid but the stupid is getting in the way of the sleep and with school staring reaaaally soon I'd like to sleep."

Marie smiled as she walked back into the living room, hoping she looked reassuring. She wasn't necessarily the best one to be giving advice about sleeping, but maybe the girl just needed to talk some things out. Handing Angel a mug filled with steaming cocoa, she settled on the chair across from the couch and nodded. "Sleep is a good thing, especially with school beginning soon," she agreed. "And nothing that's bugging you is ever stupid...so what's on your mind?"

Fiddling with the cup, Angel took a deep breath. "I read Mr. Summers post about Shiro being hurt because of a powers related incident," she blurted out. "And I know that my powers aren't exactly like his but they're really, really close and I was suddenly afraid that it could happen to me but I don't even know what it is and I got myself all freaked out over the last few days." She paused. "And I know I saw Shiro's post later but, you know, by then the damage had been done, kind of thing? This is all so new and confusing and Mr. W said it was okay to be a little bit scared of my powers until I learned to control them but this is a little more than just a bit."

Marie couldn't stop the sudden intake of breath at the young girl's mention of the incident with Shiro. She quickly took a sip of her hot chocolate to cover her reaction, then set her mug on the coffee table. "It's definitely natural to be scared of your powers while you're learning to get them in hand...and it's also important to remember that what happens to one person won't necessarily happen to another, even if the powers are very similar."

Marie bit her lip as she thought about how to continue. She couldn't tell Angel the rest of the reasons behind the real reason Shiro had his powers problems beyond what was in his post, but she desperately wanted to reassure the girl that she wasn't in danger of her powers malfunctioning like Shiro's unless she started taking drugs. "The important thing is that you want to learn control. Accidents happen sometimes, but as long as you learn from them..." she trailed off and ran her hand through her hair. "Ah just want you to know that you are in the best place to learn control."

"I just...yeah, I think I'm more scared than I was letting on and I didn't even know it." Angel gave Marie a weak smile and then took a sip of her coco. "Everything happened so fast and my folks always taught me to roll with the punches and I feel like I'm letting myself and them down by not rolling. Everyone here is always talking about how well adjusted I am with everything and I don't want them to think it was a lie, you know?"

"Well, first off, you don't have to act how you think we expect ya to. It's more important that you tell us what's really goin' on with you so we can help you work through it. And trust me, worrying about your powers is a good thing...if you didn't worry about controlling them Ah'd be worried about ya." Marie pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped an arm around them, settling comfortably in the chair. "It's a lot to take on, finding out that you can do something others can't...and it's even more overwhelming when ya aren't exactly sure just how to work that thing."

"I wish we came with instruction manuals." Angel laughed a little bit and then explained, "My mom used to say that a lot when she had me, apparently. Surprisingly, I'm not sorry I turned out to be a mutant? I kinda like it even if it is really frustrating and kind of scary. I miss my friends at home but I never would have met Kyle or Julio or any of the others if I didn't get to come here. There's a lot of give and take, I guess. Never thought I'd be thinking of all this control my first year of high school. Thought it'd be all picture taking and swim team."

Marie laughed a little at Angel's explanation, ignoring the immediate thought of where her instruction manual was. "You know, Ah think that's a great way to look at things. Ah think everyone wishes people came with an instruction manual...whether to help understand your abilities or to help figure out boys. But since none of us do, we just hafta work on figurin' things out the best we can." She picked up her mug and took another sip, then wrapped her hands tightly around the mug. "Being a mutant, and especially bein' here, you'll get to have so many experiences you wouldn't otherwise get ta. You'll get to have a lot of those typical high school experiences - we had a prom this past year and Ah think Ms. Munroe is workin' on getting the yearbook started up again - but ya also get to learn how to do some pretty neat things and get to know some really awesome people."

The look on Angel's face was priceless. "Ew, boys. Maybe I should write my own instruction book, you know? Just keep writing the stuff down that works so when I have problems, I can go back and reread it?" She tapped the side of her head. "I've got a very, very good visual memory but it helps to actually see it. And I am really excited about the yearbook, I think I'm going to go and see if I can join and take pictures. I really am looking forward to everything here...I guess things just kind of finally caught up with me. It's starting to be more real."

Biting her lip, Marie just barely resisted the urge to giggle uncontrollably at the younger girl's reaction. "That makes a lotta sense," she said. "Keeping track of how things work for you is real smart since it'll give you something concrete to reference." She took another sip of her cocoa, then smiled. "Just don't forget to have some fun here too...learning about your powers is important, but so is being a-" Marie stopped herself from saying kid "-teen. That's part of why you're here, so you can learn control but also do normalish things."

"Balance again, right?" Angel nodded to herself. "Have fun but not at the expense of learning and the other way around. The whole boarding school thing is new but interesting...like everything else around here, really." Her face lit up. "I mean, where else are your teachers superheroes?"

Marie was glad she had not just taken a sip of her hot chocolate as the liquid would have been spewed everywhere due to Angel's comment. "Can't say Ah can think of anywhere else where that's the case," she said, blushing a little. "But superheroes still give homework, so let's see if you still think it's cool after the term starts."

Giggling a little bit, Angel's eyes may have had just a hint of mischief to them. "I figure as long as I don't have to do any "What I did over my summer break" I'll be golden. Coolest school ever, honestly, coolest people too. And...thank you. I really do feel so much better now."

Marie groaned a little before smiling wryly at Angel. She remembered those essays. Luckily, most of the teachers at Xavier's knew better than to ask for them unless they wanted to read about demon attacks, kidnappings and other misadventures. "Ah'm glad you feel better and Ah'm glad you like it here," she said. "Ah'm betting your power is tied to your emotions" if it's anything like Shiro's "so just feeling more relaxed and comfortable should help too."

Sheepishly, Angel nodded. "Yeah and the bad sleeping hasn't helped either. I was told it's a good thing I don't have much of a temper--flash temper...um, pun intended but that's it." Cracking a yawn, she clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oops..."

Collecting the now empty mugs, Marie smiled at the redhead. "Well, Ah think that's a sign that maybe you're ready for a bit of sleep now. How 'bout you go on and try to get to bed now? Just don't forget that my door is always open and you can knock on it, no matter the time, if you need to talk."

Angel beamed at her again. "You rock so much," she said firmly, heading out. "I really owe you dinner or breakfast." Waving, she yawned again, looking much more relaxed. "G'night!"

Marie continued to smile after the younger girl had left the room. She felt as though she were in Angel's debt; the younger girl hadn't allowed her the night of self pity she had planned. Rinsing out the mugs, she quietly hummed a song she had never heard.