Scott and Sarah, Saturday afternoon

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Sarah runs (almost literally) into Scott, who's reacquainting himself with the concept of walking.


Another day, another trek through the halls of the mansion to familiarize herself with the home she'd been in for two weeks. Most of the hallways were well trod now; paths known, destinations easy to get to but with her lack of any sense of direction, Sarah wasn't considering it a victory just yet. There were too many turns and doors that looked the same - or at least similar in the massive house-turned-school and she simply didn't trust herself not to come upon the unexpected.

And today, she certainly hadn't expected to nearly run into a man hobbling down the hall on a cane when rounding one of those corners.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going," Sarah quickly apologized, looking up from her cellphone map into yet another face she couldn't put a name to. "I'm sorry, Mr..."

Scott managed not to topple over; he figured that was an accomplishment. Balance was a bit of a tricky proposition still. He grinned ruefully at Sarah. "Scott," he said. "I think I said hello on your journal post. Sorry, I'm a walking traffic hazard today."

"No, I wasn't paying attention. I was... well, I was looking at my map so I could come find your office," she admitted sheepishly. "I wanted to talk to you about the New Mutant thing. Yvette was telling me a bit more about it and I wanted to make sure there wasn't any papers or forms I needed to get from you." Sarah bit her lip after shoving her cellphone back into her pocket.

"Well, then, I saved you the trouble. Mind if we walk?" he asked. "Still getting used to being able to walk, again..." And he figured the more he did of it, the sooner his mobility would improve.

The younger mutant nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Um, what happened to your leg?" she asked, her natural curiosity getting the better of her.

"I fell, training," Scott said, easily enough. "Unfortunately it was from a height. I'd dislocated the knee twice before, so a third time meant surgery," he said, as they headed down the hall at a slow and somewhat unsteady pace. "My bad luck. Anyhow. Yvette sent you to me about the New Mutants?" He cracked another smile. "I sometimes think people are still getting used to the fact that I'm not the headmaster anymore."

"Oh, no, she didn't," Sarah corrected. "She was just telling me about it. About being on the team and how you have to do it for the first year and all. But you, um, you said to come talk to you about it. In the journals?" she reminded him, now less sure of herself. Had it been someone else who offered help?

Scott thought about it. "I think it was more of a general offer," he finally said with a chuckle, "but yeah, that was included. Like I said, sometimes people are still getting used to the fact that I'm not the headmaster anymore. Sometimes those people are me." He glanced at her, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards. "The New Mutants thing isn't all that complicated. No paperwork or anything to be done. It's like a... major extracurricular activity, I suppose. And you only have to do it for your first year here."

The technopath nodded her understanding, both of his explanation of the group and his statement about no longer being the headmaster. Change took time to adjust to; something she was having a hard time remembering. "Cool. I mean, it sounds cool. But like, what kind of extracurricular stuff does it entail beyond power training and self-defense? I'm guessing it's not sports or band."

"Teamwork exercises, that sort of thing. I'll be honest, I haven't done much with the program. It's not supposed to a duplication of..." Scott coughed, wondering suddenly if she had any idea about the X-Men yet. "Well. I'm used to training adults, when it comes to training in groups," he said, instead. "It's very different."

That made the girl chuckle. "Well, yeah. Kids and adults learn differently. Plus, there's a lot of stuff kids can't physically do." Sarah was in no rush to grow up, not yet at least. Newly fifteen, she was quite happy with the age even though it had brought on a lot of differences from the previous year. "But it sounds fun. Can you only do it one year?"

"We only require it for one year," Scott said. "You could continue, if you want. You'll have to see what you think of it." He winced a bit as they reached the end of the hall, and instead of turning the corner, hobbled over the windowseat, sinking down. "My wife's probably going to kill me for overdoing it," he muttered, rubbing at his leg.

"Um yeah. I'll do that." Her smile faded slightly as the technopath watched him, not sure if he was in enough pain that it warranted her trying to find his wife despite not knowing the woman and the fact that if she did happen to find her, she would kill the man. "Do you need help or something? Like, for me to get anyone?" Or a wheelchair?

Oh dear God, his dignity. "No, I'm fine. It's actually supposed to hurt like this," Scott said, a twinkle in his real eye. "Trust me, I have recuperated often enough to know. Jean's just overprotective."

"It is?" Sarah asked, taking a seat next to him on the window bench. "I'm not that great with biology and anatomy and stuff. I like physics better. And well, computer science, too, obviously," she added with another little chuckle, touching her watch. "So, um, are you a teacher?"

"I am indeed," Scott said cheerfully. "Although since the Institute started up, I do less than I did. The student body's smaller than it used to be. But I still work with the energy-projectors, and do small group classes for shop, or engineering... that's what my original degree's in, is engineering."

"Oh, cool. I like engineering. And shop." Better than she liked things like foreign languages and literature. "I don't really fall into the energy-projection crowd but maybe I'll have you for the other stuff?"

"If you'd like, sure," Scott said, looking quite sincerely pleased. "I mean, I've always felt a little silly teaching engineering since Forge came into his own. But, well, I was here first."

"I met him. He's the one who gave me the map for my phone so I could find my way around the mansion. And he mentioned being the IT guy but I didn't realize he taught, too." It made sense but it was very hard to judge who was on staff and who was just living at the mansion as it was summer and classes weren't in session.

"Oh, he doesn't. More like... he is engineering," Scott said, amused by his own choice of words. "I'm a good engineer, but he's a superhuman one. Consequently I feel like a bit of a fake, teaching the subject."

"Ah. Yeah, I could see how that would be weird considering he's got machine parts attached to his body. Kind of makes me not want to touch him. You know, just in case. I'm still learning what I can and can't do with my powers," she explained, looking down at her fingers. "Just better to be careful until I have some more training."

Scott thought about Doug's reaction on the journals. "Taking care is good," he said lightly. "It's easy to cross the line to being afraid of your ability, though." He tapped his temple. "I used to have to wear glasses made out of ruby quartz, because my optic blasts were uncontrollable. It meant being cautious, every day of my life, to make sure they didn't get knocked off. The problem was that I got too cautious, and when I finally got control... well, I guess you could say I put myself through a whole lot of stress I didn't really need to."

"I'm not afraid of them. I'm afraid of what they can do while I don't know how to control them. That's why I'm here," she said, plainly without a blink of an eye. "My parents took me out of regular school because they were worried about bullies and stuff but I agreed because yeah, I didn't want to be blowing up computers or anything. And if people are part machine or wearing one of those inhibithingies, I don't want to do something accidentally that can hurt them."

Scott's smile was oddly reflective. "It's a good attitude to have," he said. "And honestly, a power like yours... you can do so much with it. Yes, you do need to get control, but once you do that there's so much potential. I'm really glad you can be here, and get the opportunity to explore it." As much as it sounded like the party line, it was sincerely meant.

"Me, too," Sarah said, spinning her watch around her wrist a few times absently as she thought of the people she had to leave behind to be there. But none of them were mutants; none of them could understand. Or help her. "And I really am looking forward to learning how to use my powers in a more consistant fashion. I mean, I don't know what all I will be able to do but just being able to make toast will make me happy."

Scott tilted his head, curious. "Problems with the toaster?" he ventured.

The brunette girl nodded. "Yeah. It doesn't like me."

"Mmm. You know," Scott said, "I think your power is closer to the psis than anything else. Just, psi of a very different sort. I mean, I'm sure Charles has thought of that already when it comes to your training, but it's interesting to see variants. Especially since we've got so many of your standard telepaths, or telekinetics..."

The young technopath listened as he spoke, following most of his train of thought until it came to the final point: even in being a mutant, with her powers, she was different than the others she was now surrounded with.

"I sort of just figured I would be doing a lot with Forge," she said quietly, focusing on her hands again instead of looking him in the face. "He said he would help me."

"I don't doubt that you will," Scott reassured her. "But what I'm trying to get at is that you have things in common with other mutants here, too. Technology is the... medium, for your ability. If you were a sculptor, you'd have to learn about perspective and proportion, as well as how to work stone, right?"

"Yeah. I understand. I mean, Miss Frost - she was the lady who picked me up at the airport or at least that's what I think her name was, she showed me her powers," the brunette told him with a little shrug, not feeling better about her uniqueness. "They were kind of like mine. Sort of."

"My wife's a telepath. Jean - Dr. Grey, rather," Scott said, then grinned. "She can also toss cars around with her mind. Sometimes many cars. Makes her rather intimidating at times."

"I don't think I will ever be able to do anything like that, Mr. Summers," Sarah replied with a rueful smile. She understood what he was trying to do but she doubted he had much experience in dealing with a teenage girl who one day was begging for uniqueness and the next day had her wish but not in anyway she would have every expected - or chosen for herself. "It's okay there aren't any other technopaths around. It's just weird being different because I'm a twin and now things are really turned around."

Scott smiled slightly, the look in his eyes sympathetic. "Any chance of a visit, once you get settled in?" he asked lightly. "Things can be pretty quiet around here in the summer." If we're lucky.

"I don't know. Mom and dad are both busy and I don't know if Jessie would be comfortable coming here without them. We're supposed to go on a family trip at the end of August, though," Sarah said with a shrug. "And it's not like I don't talk to them everyday."

"Just a thought," Scott said with a brief grin. "God knows we've got the room for guests."

"I'll be sure to add that in my next email," she replied with a soft smile. Maybe by the time actual classes rolled around, her family would be comfortable enough with their daughter's situation that they would spend sometime at the school they had found for her. "I'm sure they'll be happy to know they can visit whenever they'd like."