xp_logs | (no subject)

Klara and Yvette talk and enjoy some time outdoors.

With school starting again, Yvette was as busy as ever, but she made sure she allowed time for her usual garden-related tasks. It was, after all, her source of income, and it gave her a good opportunity for some quiet time after classes but before homework. Today she was cutting up wood for kindling - two days of barbeques had chewed into their wood supply, and with the end of summer, they were going to need to stock up for the winter. Every now and then she'd nod almost companionably to the apple tree Kyle had planted for her - it was taller than she was now.

Klara was starting to become more comfortable with who she was now. She didn't understand exactly how it all worked, but the way she'd had it explained to her...some people were just born mutants and would develop special gifts once they were old enough. It was something completely natural, just like being born with blue eyes. She'd always had light grey eyes, but now that she reflected on it, they had gotten a little lighter shortly before she found herself able to make plants grow.

Knowing that there were others around, and being around others who had abilities helped reinforce that belief. They had helped people with their gifts. There was no sin in having those gifts, only in misusing them.
At the moment, Klara was carrying a large basket filled with strawberries she'd just grown. She planned on making jam. Store bought jam, she'd decided, was markedly inferior.

As she walked away from her garden, she noticed Yvette there and greeted her with a shy smile and a quiet "Hello. It's a nice day, wouldn't you agree?"

Yvette smiled, eyes glowing brighter blue to echo the expression. "It is the very nice day, yes," she agreed. "Hello, Klara. It is good to be seeing you around. You have been picking the fruit?" As if to punctuate her own chore, she focussed on the log she had propped on the cutting block and sheared off several large splinters from it with her fingers. "I like to be outside after the classes - the fresh air, it is good for waking up the brain, yes?"

"It is quite pleasant," said Klara. "A good break before it's time to start homework."

There were surprisingly few chores to be done, Klara had found. But then, with so many people around and modern appliances available for use, she supposed that was understandable. It was nice to have free time to do what she liked. There were rules, of course, but none of them seemed unreasonable to her.

"I decided to make some jam," she said with a little smile. "The mass produced jam in stores is..." Klara paused, trying to think of an appropriate word to express her disgust without saying anything offensive. "...well, it just is not nearly as good as my mother's homemade strawberry jam recipe."

Holding one strawberry out in her hand for Yvette to take if she wanted, she added, "You are welcome to have a strawberry or two if you would like. I have more than enough here."

Yvette's eyes literally lit up and she reached over to carefully impale the offered fruit on the tip of one finger. "You are from the farm, yes?" she asked, before taking a nibble. "So you are used to the things that are grown for the eating?"

"Yes," said Klara. She took a moment to think about how to properly explain her former community to Yvette. While she decided that life there was not for her, just as it hadn't been for her eldest brother, not everything there was bad. In spite of feelings of anger toward people who had shunned her, she was trying to forgive them on the grounds that they didn't know about mutants. It still stung a bit, but she was certain that one day she could forgive them entirely.

"My old community did not have grocery stores. The food was all grown within the community - my family would trade with others, and sometimes we would sell some and sell homemade crafts in the farmers market for money. We also did not have indoor plumbing or electricity, so I do prefer living here. Hot baths are nice, and I can read at night before bed without using a candle."

"Oh, I think I am reading about such communities. It is for the religious reasons, yes?" Yvette was more curious than anything, having never expected meet someone from such a place at technology-centered Xavier's. "And I think I am agreeing with you about the indoor plumbing!" She grinned, eyes glowing brighter to match the expression.

"Yes," Klara confirmed with a nod. "It is. It's...it's not a lifestyle for everyone. Science is not taught in schools, and you only go to school until you are thirteen there. There is a lot of hard work to be done, and no modern medicine."

"But you are missing some of it, yes?" Yvette asked with her typical astuteness, those blank glowing eyes picking up more than people realised. "Your family, they are still there?"

"Most of them," replied Klara. "My brother Joseph also left the community, and he's my legal guardian. I miss my parents and my other brothers and my sisters. I miss some of my old friends. But Joseph and his wife and children are the only ones who understand that being a mutant is not the same as being a witch."

A look of sadness appeared on her face, particularly in those pale grey eyes of hers. "I became...unpopular when the community became aware of my abilities. I hope one day that they will understand that mutants are given their gifts from God, and not the devil."

"It can be difficult." Yvette looked down at her ungloved hands, the dark red skin deceptively dull-looking, but capable of so much damage. "But that is why there is the school, to give us the chance to learn, but also to give others the chance to be learning about us. And there are many things to be done, to show them that we are not the monsters." A thoughtful look crossed Yvette's face. "There is the group, with the Red Cross, called Red X. They train us to be using our powers to help in the disaster situations. I do not know if it is something you would like to do, but it might be helping your family to understand, if they are seeing the good, yes?"

Yvette's words made Klara think. She did want to help people with her powers, where possible.

"I know I could grow food for people if something happened to their crops," she said optimistically. "Do you have to be eighteen and over to participate in Red X, or can you be a student?"

"You can be joining the normal group before you are eighteen," Yvette reassured her eagerly. "The field leaders must be eighteen, but for the rest of us, you do not need to be. There is the new member night once the month - if you would like, I can be taking you to it? The Red Cross is very good to be making sure we have the right training to be helping."

"I would like that," said Klara with a nod. Some training in how to help others sounded like exactly what she needed. She wasn't interested in combat training, or anything that would involve superheroics. There were other, less flashy ways to help people.