xp_logs | Crystal and Sam - Flight of Fancy

Backdated. After a flying session, Sam and Crystal talk about flying, manifestations, and how your outlook on life can affect your perception of people. Sam is a Pollyanna, Crystal isn't, and neither one of them is perfect. At least they agree on something.

Crystal raced towards the mansion's platform, only slowing her movement through the air as she came close to it. Moving directly over the platform itself, Crystal landed.

Coming roaring up behind her, Sam cut out his blast field and nimbly touched down as Crystal moved aside to give him room. Crystal had already demonstrated a remarkable command of her powers when she had arrived at the mansion, and so had required none of the basic teaching in flight. As with other more advanced flyers, Sam tried to make time for one-on-one flight with Crystal. Their flights weren't nearly so much about teaching, although Sam would occasionally show Crystal an advanced, complex move and help her perform it herself. Their flights were much more about the simple joy and camaraderie of flying itself.

Crystal took a quick look around at the campus below them. Viewing the campus from this height, while standing on a solid surface, was very different from the perception she had of it while flying. Looking at Sam, Crystal said, "Thank you for taking the time to fly with me."

"It was my pleasure," Sam replied easily. "Sometimes it's nice ta just get outside an' go flyin' without havin' ta worry about anythin' else. There're still a few really advanced things that Ah'm tryin' ta teach ya, but ya had a good foundation even before ya got to the mansion. Ah like just bein' able ta go outside an' fly with someone, which is why Ah like ta schedule time even with the advanced students." He grinned easily and pushed his goggles up on the crown of his head before stretching languidly.

Smiling, Crystal nodded. "Yes, I enjoy spending time outside up high in the air. I have been able to do so since I was nine years old. I...did not always take this ability seriously, though." Broken lamps, damaged tables, and crashes into random objects and walls came to mind.

Sam nodded. He'd noticed that some flyers took their abilities very seriously, and others did not. He suspected it had something to do with manifestations and backgrounds. Crystal had manifested in relatively safe surroundings with a loving family, whereas he had manifested in the middle of a mine cave-in. Still, he tried to impart to all his students a healthy respect for the laws of gravity, and a knowledge of what their powers could and could not do. He smiled at Crystal. "Ah envy ya a bit," he admitted. "Ya had it easier than Ah did, for the most part."

Easier? Oh yes, it was easy for people to think that her life had been easier than theirs. By what definition, however, did they define this "easier"? Was it because she came from a wealthy background, one which involved being followed around and having pictures of your family members plastered across newspapers, magazines, and tabloids? Was it because her family had never had a problem with the fact that she was a mutant? Well of course they were fine with it; they were mutants, too! Crystal was quite aware that her family situation was an unusual case and she did recognize the fact that most mutants did not manifest into situations where they were appreciated. It was sad yet unfortunately true.

"I am lucky," Crystal said simply. "I know that. I manifested early and am part of a mutant family, one that appreciates being a mutant."

"Ah didn't mean ta imply that ya had everythin' easy," Sam hedged, noting the slight frown that crossed Crystal's face. "Just that ya been blessed with family an' friends who accept ya for who ya are." He shrugged. "Cumberland County ain't exactly full of the most toleratin' people in God's green earth," he said, thinking of what little Jay had told him of his manifestation.

And surely the people on the school's journal system were the most tolerant people on the planet. The mansion was home to many mutants who had needed a second chance, a new beginning, yet even those who had needed to be "saved" were quick to jump on those who didn't fit into their personal ideas of who should be allowed to stay here.

"I am sorry to hear that," Crystal told Sam. "Unfortunately, this appears to be the case in many places. Mutant-friendly countries seem to be rather limited in number at this point in time."

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Sam said in agreement. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't all do our part ta try an' hopefully help build a world where the Professor's dream comes true, though," he continued. He shrugged a bit diffidently. "Ah've always been a bit of a Pollyanna, though," he admitted with a chuckle.

Crystal nodded, remembering her own use of the Rome phrase several months back. "Oh, I see," she said, not sure what else to say that wouldn't come off as being rude. "I cannot say that I am a Pollyanna, but it is good that you are able to keep such a view of the world."

Sam shrugged diffidently. "Ah've always thought that the way ya look at the world affects how ya see it, if that makes sense," he said. "Ah remember a sermon the pastor back home gave once. A man approached a town from the south, and met a man leavin' the town. He asked the man leavin' what sort of folk lived in the town. The man leavin' said the town was full of mean-spirited, spiteful people. An' when the man walked inta town, that's what he found. Now another man approached the same town from the north, and he also met a man headin' out. He asked that man what sort of folk lived in the town, an' the man told him he'd never met such kind-hearted, polite people in his life. An' when that man entered town, that's what he found."

It was a nice story, but things didn't always work out that way, did they? She'd expected one thing from this place, but what she'd found had been an entirely different matter. Perhaps she could have prepared herself had she known beforehand and she wouldn't have been so shocked by what she had found. Still...

"Yes, what people expect to find in a place can definitely have an effect on the way they view things there," Crystal replied honestly. "The way they choose to view someone can also be affected by what they heard about that person beforehand, or by what they expect that person to be like."

"That's true, but Ah think we're all of us a bit guilty of havin' expectations, an' then bein' upset when things don't match our expectations," Sam said, feeling just slightly as though whatever he said wasn't necessarily going to change Crystal's mind. "The Bible says 'remove the speck from your own eye before taking the plank from your neighbor's'. An' the Good Lord knows Ah have ta work on that just as much as the next person."

First he gave her a sermon and now he was quoting a biblical passage to her? What was next? There was a difference between being upset and being surprised or disappointed, even if people sometimes missed that idea. "Nobody is perfect," Crystal said lightly.

"That was kinda my point," Sam replied. "Ah ain't even close ta perfect myself, so Ah try extra hard ta be mindful of that when other people ain't either."