Student Skating Log: Yvette and Megan

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 Megan checked the pockets in her black parka. Her purple fuzzy gloves were in them, one in each pocket. She pulled them on and fidgeted with her scarf.
"Have you been skating before?" she asked Yvette. "I usually go once each winter."

"Not since I was a little girl, before I manifested," Yvette replied. In deference to appearances, she had on a light coat over her t-shirt and jeans, but her hands and feet were bare, the cold registering only as a chill she quite enjoyed. "But It is like to be falling from a bicycle, yes? Not so easy to forget?"

Megan smiled and pulled her scarf a little closer around the bottom part of her face--looking at Yvette's lightly-clad appearance reminded her of just how not-warm it was in the rink.
 "Yeah, I haven't ridden a bike in a few years but I'm sure I'd still know how to keep my balance." She wondered if she'd be able to fly with the heavy skates on. There was only one way to find out. She plopped down on a bench and began lacing up her rental skates.

"So how's NYU?"

"Good!" Yvette's eyes lit up. "I was a bit nervous at first, but my classes are very interesting and HeliX has been very helpful for me with things like explaining to my professors and classmates about not touching me." There were no skates that would fit Yvette's overlong toes, but she'd slid around on tiled floors in her socks before so she was going to try the same thing on the ice. "How about you? Is the make up work going well?"

"Oh, Helix, that's like a mutant-human alliance group, right? Are there lots of other mutants at NYU? Ehehe... not that I'm really ready to be thinking about college applications yet," she added, mildly embarrassed. "Um, I talked a little to Mr. Sefton about catch-up work but I gotta meet with my other teachers still."

It was hard to do the laces up right with her fuzzy gloves on, so she had to take them off, retie her skates, and put them back on. Megan never really was thinking ahead more than one step into the future.

"There are more mutants there than I would have thought," replied Yvette. "I think the whole Day Zero thing did some good as well as the bad, bringing the mutants out and providing the support for them. And I am sure you will be making it to college just fine. You have plenty of help after all." She gave Megan an encouraging smile. "It is the good thing about so small a school."

"Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not kicked out or barred from all student activities." She stood up. "Ready to try out the ice?" The Zamboni had just been over it and it looked completely pristine.

"You would not be the first person to have missed some school," Yvette reassured her. "And at least it was not because you were kidnapped or became evil." She grinned to show she was kidding and joined Megan at the ice's edge. "Shall we?"

"There is that," Megan agreed as the girls stepped out into the rink. "Did you see that news report about that kidnapper who escaped? That's so creepy." She skated slowly at the edge of the ice. The collective sound of skates scraping softly on ice echoed throughout the rink and there was a classic rock ballad playing from speakers on each end.

Yvette followed her a little more unsteadily as she got used to the sensation of her feet against the ice. She found if she pushed against the outside edges of her feet, she could propell herself forward and she was using her toes as brakes. "I know!" she replied, nodding. "But she is the old lady. Perhaps she will not be able to do so much now?"

Megan watched Yvette glide along next to her and marveled at her tough skin. It really was pretty cool, she thought, even with the drawbacks her friend had to face.


"Yeah, I hope not. But it reminds me that I need to get practicing with my powers again!" She was starting to get warmed up from moving around, and peeled off her hoodie. When they made a complete circle around the rink, she tossed it back into the waiting area. "And my flying," she added happily.

"Practice is always good," Yvette agreed ."Especially since you have been gone for a while. I am sure the New Mutants will have plenty of training for you once the holidays are over." There was a slightly wicked edge to her smile, as she remembered some of her own training with the student group. "But flying must be a wonderful thing. I admit, I sometimes wish that if I had to be having the visible mutation, it was wings like you or Mr. Worthington."

"I really do enjoy flying. In London I didn't want to stick out, so I covered my wings up and didn't fly the entire time I was there." Her dragonfly-like wings didn't need any kind of running start to work. They hummed into motion and she fluttered a couple metres across the ice, then landed unsteadily back on the surface. It wasn't quite the same with blades attached to her feet. "Mr. Worthington... yeah, he's really cool."

"Have you been flying with him?" Yvette asked. "I always wonder if flying is different with the different types of wings. After Jay's wings were changed, his style of flying was very different. Less like the bird and more like the jet, yes?"

"I haven't gotten to fly with Mr. Worthington yet but I hope to take some advanced flying lessons when it gets warm again. I did get to fly with Jay, right before he left. He dove into the lake, like a sea-bird or... yeah, something jet-propelled. Mine will stand water just fine but I can't use them underwater." She frowned for a second, thinking suddenly of all the people who had come and gone though her new world so quickly in the last year. "It must totally be different to fly with different kinds of wings."

"How about with Jan? She has wings that are not so different to yours." Yvette sensed the shift in mood and sought to distract her away from the darker thoughts.

"You know, I've never really met Jan. I mean, outside of class and posting some messages back and forth. Her wings do look like mine, though." She brightened a bit. "I really need to meet more of the people at our school. Call it a goal for twenty-eleven. Have you made new friends at NYU?"

"Mostly at Helix," Yvette replied, attempting a small pirouette and wobbling her way through it. Her feet, she was noticing, were changing slightly in shape, adapting to the movement. How odd - they hadn't been that responsive before... "It is hard for people to remember not to be touching me, so I try to avoid the crowds. But sometimes Angel and I go to parties together." She looked up at Megan, combining skating with flying. "There should be the new sport - flying ice dancing," she pointed out with a giggle.

"Flying ice falling," Megan chortled as she landed on her butt from a flying ice jump. She quickly recovered and dusted the ice shavings off her pants. "There's all kinds of new sports we could invent, with the powers people have at school. Monet and I had a game of flying war ball once for flying practice. Oh, we could have a totally new kind of Mixed Martial Arts. Is there already a mutant Olympics?" There was so much about the mutant world that she didn't know about, yet.

"Perhaps it could be a new way of training? Mutant powers sports? I know I am very good at catch, since my hands are so big." Yvette waved one as an example, and had to catch her balance again. "There is no mutant Olympics yet - I know we are not allowed to compete in the competitive sports at the moment, because our powers are seen to be the unfair advantage. Mr. Beaubier knows much more about this, however."

"Oh, a school sports day would be so much fun. We could have teams and compete!" Megan attempted another jump and, this time, didn't fall. "I used to love the Olympics as a kid, especially the winter Olympics."

"Then you should definitely talk to Mr. Beaubier. He competed in the Winter Olympics, a long time ago." Yvette applauded Megan's jump. "And you know, that is the very good idea. Something for the spring, at least for the sports that do not need snow. Like the baseball game Mr. Garrison organised." Yvette's mind was turning over the possibilities, always looking for ways of bringing the students together and out of their shells. Strange, for someone who had been so shy herself...

"Mr. Beaubier competed in the Winter Olympics? That's brilliant. I'll have to talk to him. Do you think he'd want to help organize a school sports day? Or maybe Mr. Garrison would?"

"Or both of them?" Yvette suggested with a grin. "It is sounding like we might have something for the staff to be keeping busy, yes?"

"Brilliant. I can't wait for spring now," gushed Megan. "Of course there'll be lots to do before then..." She carved some tight circles in the ice, her dragonfly-like wings buzzing and the gears in her mind spinning with all the new ideas. She made another complete turn and stopped to face her friend. "Hey, don't your feet look more skate-shaped now? That is so cool. Going out skating was a great idea."