Scott and Crystal, Sunday evening

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Coming back from a ride, Crystal catches the headmaster playing his saxophone in the stables.


Crystal walked into the stables, holding the lead of her horse's halter. The week had started out crazy with her arrival into Mondo's self-proclaimed "SCREAMING! AND RUNNING IN THE HALLS!" day and had ended on another insane note with Marius's older sister moving in with Medusa. She'd gone for flights, worked on her powers, allowed Medusa to get her into Silver, attended the Medlab ethics discussion, and had now been trying to end the weekend on as positive a note as possible with a relaxing horseback ride.

She was greeted, oddly, by music. The soft sound of a saxophone, wandering idly through a slow solo. It stopped, at the sound of Crystal's horse's hooves.

Crystal paused, patting the horse's neck, then continued on her way to the horse's stall. A stable was an interesting place to play a saxophone, she mused, but some people found stables and horses to be relaxing, didn't they? She did.

There was a brief space of silence, and then the saxophone, almost teasingly - and very softly - ran through the first bit of 'Singing In The Rain'.

Crystal closed the stall door and put the halter away before walking by the stall containing the saxophone player. She looked in, slightly amused, and hesitated for a few moments before , taking care that he would not get wet, creating a small rainshower next to him.

"Ororo likes to do that directly over my head when I give her a hard time," was Scott's amused reply. "I think you have better manners." He let the saxophone rest across his knees, smiling at her. Even in the dim light of the stables he looked tired and oddly pale.

Crystal doubted that Ororo had had to sit in Scott's office to discuss improper power uses. Then again, around here, who knew? "Are you all right, Mr. Summers?" Crystal questioned, noticing how pale the headmaster looked.

Scott's smile stayed right where it was. "Just tired, Crystal. And a little sore - I had a strenuous Thursday night." He fiddled absently with a key on the saxophone. "I usually wait until the dead of night to practice out here, but I needed some fresh air."

"Oh, I see. You were saving the world again, I presume." Her tone was matter-of-fact, devoid of any trace of amusement or sarcasm. The X-Men dressed in black leather, traveled on a jet that came out from under the basketball court, and ran around the globe breaking their brains and avoiding getting blown to pieces in an effort to help people. It was what they did.

"Just a corner of it." It was the standard answer, the one he and 'Ro and Jean and Hank had patented, way back when... Scott smiled a bit wistfully.

Crystal smiled slightly, the rain quickly coming to a halt. "Yes, of course, only a corner of it. I am certain that this corner is now a safer one."

He didn't tell her that actually, it was a corner awfully close to her home. Charles had called her parents to inform them, and by extension, the Attilani government. "Well, we do try. Did you enjoy your ride?"

"I did, yes. Do you ride? Horses, I mean, not in motor vehicle races with Forge."

"Sometimes," Scott said. "I really ought to make more time to do it - I do enjoy it."

"You should do that, then," Crystal said. "It is not good to work all of the time without taking a break to do something you enjoy. I take it you enjoy playing the saxophone, though, and I am glad to see that you are taking the time to do this. I am sorry if I disturbed you."

"Quite all right." His smile was a little wider. "I really should stop hiding away when I do this. I don't suck that much."

It was a good thing Crystal wasn't floating high above the ground or she might have fallen and crashed with shock at Scott's choice of phrasing. Instead, her eyes barely widened as she maintained her composure. "You do not, ah" she couldn't say it; she just couldn't bring herself to say it "that is, I believe that you play the saxophone quite well if the little bit I heard is any indication of your skill with the instrument."

She'd stammered. Oh, dear. Scott carefully moderated his smile. "Thank you. Maybe I'll summon up the courage to start practicing inside, one of these days."

"Inside the mansion you mean, yes? Not inside a stall designed to be occupied by a horse." She had to fight down the amusement that threatened to show itself by finding the headmaster essentially hiding in a stall to play the saxophone because he thought he... "There is nothing wrong with playing outside, too, but perhaps you might want others to be able to enjoy your music, too."

"Yes, but that would be logical. And performance anxiety generally is." Scott raised the saxophone again, played a few, much more sprightly bars of 'Fly Me To The Moon'. "But I'll take it under advisement," he said afterwards, the smile tugging at his lips.

"I hope that you do, and until then, I am sure that the horses will continue to enjoy the melodies," Crystal told Scott. "Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, well, evening as it is now, I suppose."

"Will do," Scott said, and serenaded her as she left.