Megan and Julian: Meeting in the Kitchen

[x-welshpixie.livejournal.com]

Megan skipped into the school's kitchen, visions of shrimp platters and sugar cookies dancing in her head. Or something. She at least needed to see how much room she had in the 'fridge and what kinds of utensils were available. She was trying to organize an unofficial holiday get-together for the students who would be spending some of the holiday at school. And while she was looking forward to visiting Dori and Catsye over Christmas, she was also excited to meet some of the other kids too that she hadn't spent much time with during the school year. Megan used to be one of the popular kids! Her recent reclusiveness was starting to annoy herself.

So when she emerged through the doorway of the kitchen, she was pleasantly surprised to see Julian.

Seeing the pink haired girl literally skip into the kitchen caused a slight smile on Julian's otherwise impassively expressive face.

"You seem happy, Pix," he said, having started calling her by this nick-name only a few days before and not being sure if it would catch on or not.

"Yep! Nico and I are having a holiday party of sorts after finals, and then I'm going to Dori's family's farm for Christmas," she announced happily as she carefully opened cupboards and drawers to take stock of what was there. A rolling pin.
"What's up?"

Taking the wooden spoon out of the pot Julian took a sip of the chocolaty concoction, "Trying to get this right," he said, stirring in more chocolate sauce and hazelnut syrup.
"Holiday party, hmm? Are we going to have skeletons and bats coming to life again?"

"I hope so. I kind of missed out last time, 'cause Nico and I didn't know each other that well yet," she replied, feeling in an especially talkative mood (where she tended to say whatever she was thinking).
"Want to come? We're just going to hang out and maybe have some snacks. Cats wants shrimp." She came closer to the stove, lured by the delicious scent.
"Is that hot chocolate?"

"Mhmm," Julian replied with a deliciously sly smile. "Best cocoa in the mansion. I was taught how to make it by Karolina Dean...her parents are actors out in Hollywood and she used to go to school here." Turning back to the conversation at hand, he continued, "Not a surprise Catseye wants shrimp, that girl likes the weirdest things."

After a moment's pause he noticed the pink haired girl sniffing the air, "Want a cup?"

"Sure!" she said a little too enthusiastically. She was actually still a little bit nervous around Julian. The older boy was from a rich family, was popular, and had a nice car and lots of attention from girls. But he seemed pretty cool around everyone, Megan decided.
"Karolina... she doesn't go here anymore? Did she graduate?"

"Yeah, not exactly," he replied while using a ladle to pour a generous amount of the warm concoction into a mug. Handing the container to the pink haired underclassman, Julian gave her a warm smile. "She went home, didn't like it here."

"Oh," said Megan, not able to imagine ever disliking it at Professor X's school enough that she would want to go home. But then, she didn't have a home to go back to.
"I wonder what happens to most kids when they do graduate," she said thoughtfully, taking a tiny sip of the hot chocolate. It wasn't scalding, so she took a bigger sip. It was rich and delicious, with a wonderful flavor of hazelnut.
"Mmm.... it reminds me of Nutella, only better."

"Glad you like it," Julian said proudly. "I don't really know, a lot of them end up becoming X-Men though."

"I think I want to join Red-X, if they'll let me, once I get my powers better under control. But I don't know what's supposed to happen once I'm done with school. Mum and Dad always wanted me to go to university, but I don't much care. Do you know what you want to do when you graduate?" As a mutant, she was now part of a much more fascinating world with a lot more options than "go to school" or "get a job."

Julian quickly shifted the subject back to her, "What exactly are your powers? I mean, besides the wings."

"Well, I have my dust. My sister called it pixie dust. It forms like pollen on my skin and it causes people who breathe it in to become disoriented, sometimes hallucinate, and I guess it makes everything go all trippy to various degrees. Some people get scared, but I think it usually comes with a feeling of euphoria. I think I could use it to calm people down in emergencies but, well, first I need some tutoring and stuff." She fidgeted in her shoes, which she had painted with trippy spiral patterns, hoping Julian didn't think joining Red-X was a stupid idea for someone with psychedelic powers.

"Well you're in the right place for that," he said, pouring himself a mug of the chocolate. Pointing to the bag of tiny marshmallows on the counter-top, Julian floated a dozen or so out, sending them in a series of loops before splitting them between her cocoa and his own. "When I got here, that would have resulted in tiny marshmallow bullets flying around the room- but I worked with a great teacher and a year later, I have tons more control over my abilities." A sudden pang hit him, he missed Nate.

Megan grinned, imagining marshmallow bullets ricocheting around the kitchen. She hadn't before seen Julian's powers in action. "Hey, I bet you can't levitate me," said the 113 lb. girl.

Recalling the last time he'd tried to levitate a person, Julian shook his head. The last set of eggs hadn't necessarily turned out well either. "I'm not quite to the point where I can move people around without...breaking...things..." he trailed off in a mumble.

"I don't fly all that great," Megan admitted. "Lately it's just so cold..." she complained mildly, sipping the hot chocolate. "It's a lot like Wales here, actually. And you're from Los Angeles, right? And Dori and Nico too? Did you guys all know each other before you came here? Ah, sorry for asking so many questions."

"Don't worry about it. Yeah, we actually did- how weird is that, right? Three mutants from the same school end up on the other side of the country together."

"Ohh! Yeah, that is weird. But brilliant."

There was a long pause, and Megan suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She finished up the hot chocolate and put the mug inside the dish washer.

"I better get going. Thanks for the hot chocolate, Jules!" she said, skipping out the kitchen the way she had come in.