Inez meets Kurt

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Inez meets Kurt in the gym and proceeds to swallow her foot multiple times.



A bead of sweat rolled down the bridge of Inez's nose, and she crossed her eyes slightly as she tried to blow it off. Her hands were occupied, each holding a massive weight out to her sides with arms outstretched and elbows locked. She was only holding a hundred-pound weight in each hand which was usually child's play for her, but as per Marko's instructions she'd been standing like that for ten minutes.

"Ya don't gotta worry about strength," the big groundskeeper had told her, "ya gotta worry about endurance."

Ten minutes and she hadn't gotten tired yet, but something in her shoulders was beginning to ache from the strain.

Crutches clacked on the floor behind her, and a quiet accented voice said, "Usually, we are encouraged to practise powers with supervision."

"AAAH!" Inez jumped in surprise, the weights clattering to the floor. She turned around, fidgeting and trying to act nonchalant after the sudden attack of spaz. "Who, me? No, I was just exercising and--"

She stopped when she caught a full glimpse of Kurt - blue skin, yellow eyes, tail - and did a complete double take. "Whoa..." she gasped. "You're very blue. No! I meant, um, tail! I mean, argh!"

Inez covered her face in embarrassment. "Oh my god I am such a spaz."

He laughed, not unkindly, and shook his head in dismissal. "It is fine - I know my appearance can be surprising, and that is far from the worst reaction I have had. Kurt Sefton, pleased to meet you."

"No, it's not," Inez protested, flailing her hands randomly. "I mean, I know Yvette and I've met Clarice and Angel sets herself on fire and this is never going to stop being weird, is it? I'm Inez, by the way. I was just, um..." She looked down at the weights and shrugged. "I've been working with Marko and I was trying to get some extra practice in since I can't use the big... room... thingy... without him there."

"It will get less so as you get used to it", Kurt said, mildly amused, "though you are right, it may never entirely stop. I still find mutations extreme enough to surprise me, from time to time. And I did not mean to make you feel you should not practise."

"Practice is a lot different without the big red cheese yelling in my ear the whole time," Inez grumbled, walking over to a pull-up bar and beginning to raise herself up and down with one arm. "But I'm getting better! I mean, not like, stronger or anything but I don't break as much stuff as I used to."

It was almost embarassing to think of how she'd wrecked the first few sets of weights she'd tried lifting, usually by bending the bar in half when she got distracted. She hadn't done that in a while, though.

"And that is why you are here." He limped over to the weights himself, sitting down carefully with his leg out in front of him. "To learn how to use your powers as you would wish to. If there is progress, you should be proud."

Inez smirked at Kurt's words, continuing her pull-ups. "I'm here because my jerk of a U.S. Marshal uncle couldn't figure out how to throw me in a deep dark hole somewhere. Once things get straightened out with my daddy, though, we'll be able to move on. But I might as well make use of the stuff here while I'm stuck here, right? That's what everyone tells me."

"If that is how you want to look at it", he agreed equably, testing one of the weights in his left hand. "And then when you move on, you will do it with finer control. It cannot be a bad thing."

"That's totally what I'm saying, yo." Inez grunted as she dropped back down to the floor. Idly, she picked up one of the heavy weights from the floor and began spinning it on her finger with apparent ease. "I mean, it's not like I have to worry about sneezing too hard and blowing up a mall, or needing to be carried around in a bucket when I'm having a bad day. I can leave here and be normal if I want to."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she closed her eyes and swore to herself, then glanced over at Kurt. "Sorry, I totally didn't mean that how it sounded."

"You do not need to apologise", he reassured her again, switching the weight to his other hand. "I have had all my life to come to terms with my differences, and the best of family to do it in - and there are many compensations. Or if I wish to be inconspicuous, there are always image inducers."

Inez shrugged. "I know, but - you might be cool with it, but I don't get how some people out there get all messed up because someone looks different. You shouldn't have to be inconspicuous just because some people are bigots. Besides, I think it's kind of awesome. Being different."

That got a smile. "I am glad you feel that way - all too many young mutants do not, especially if their families do not accept them on manifestation. What we work for, here, is a world where no one will have to force themselves to inconspicuousness."

That gave Inez a pause for thought. What if she hadn't been a mutant? She definitely wouldn't be here. Probably in another foster home somewhere, stuck in the boring Midwest, forced to live a boring normal life. She definitely wouldn't have had the chance to work for Ms. Frost, or go out and help flood victims. When it came down to it, she thought, there were a lot of real cool points to being a mutant.

"We are who we are, right?" she said out loud. "So what if some people can't handle it? I ain't planning on going anywhere just because some people hate what I am. They get to learn to deal with it, yo."

"The best possible philosophy", Kurt agreed, and switched his weight out for the next one up. "It is as they say - gifts were meant to be used, whatever and however it may be."

"Hell yeah," Inez replied with a grin, throwing some mock punches in the air while hopping from one foot to the other. "I'm thinking 'whatever and however' might just be kicking Marko's butt the next time he tries that 'throw a rock at her while she's not paying attention' thing. I'm gonna surprise him one of these days."

"And on that day, I would be quite willing to bet", Kurt said with a crooked grin, "he will buy you dinner."