xp_logs | LOG: Kane & Tandy (Reply)

Kane visits Tandy in the Medical Bay, she asks questions.

Tandy wrapped her arms around her legs as she sat in the chair and not in the bed as she was suppose to be. The teenager knew the medical room like the back of her hand, having been brought down here to unleash her powers without hurting anyone - she should had felt at ease. But the gnawing feeling that tugged at her kept her tense, that there was something else that lurked in corner shadows. Her head snapped up when someone entered, the crescent glowed around her right eye ready to attack, but relaxed a bit when she saw it was Garrison.

"Whoa, Tex. No shooting the friendlies." Garrison said, holding up both hands as he entered. He wasn't surprised that she was panicked - nearly being sucked dry by an ancient evil being would mess with you.

"Sorry." Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before the crescent disappeared, "It is going off instincts...have to remind myself I am back at the mansion. Not...where was I again? South America?"

"Just your average third world fanatics retreat, yeah." He snagged the other chair and set it down across from her, taking a seat. "You're going to be likely spending a lot of time with the Prof over the next few months talking about it. It will get better."

Tandy nodded slightly, "I hope so. I don't like closing my eyes and seeing her...or Nathan." Tandy refused to call that man father - not after what he did to her, what he put her through. "Thank you by the way...for rescuing me."

"Part of the job. You get this card that gets punched every time you're rescued. The tenth time, you get a free sundae. It's a pretty sweet deal, to be honest."

"If sundae's are involved I might have to re-think my strategy plan. Though I think I had enough demon adventures to last me awhile." Tandy smiled before it faded at the thought of Dana. "May I ask you a question Mr. Garrison?"

"Of course. I can't promise a serious answer though."

"When does it stop? Or is there always something out there that just wants to, excuse my french, fuck with you."

"That's not French. Technically, fuck is English, possibly Germanic." Kane leaned back in his chair. "Seriously though, unfortunately, it neither stops or starts. It just sometimes is, more so if you're a mutant, and even more so if you're here, it seems."

"You are funny." Tandy smiled again despite her mood - it was nice to have him there to keep her mind clear from the nightmares that lingered. "Is that what the X-Men are for? I mean I heard stories just never seen them in action."

"It's complicated, Tandy. The last two generations of mutants have really changed how a lot of fundamental aspects of society operate. So groups like the military and the police are still trying to catch up. The X-Men are a kind of bridge between where they are now, and where they will eventually be. Because they aren't equipped to deal with threats like Magneto or Apocalypse, it's our job to step in and make sure that a terrorist or a criminal doesn't get a chance to use their abilities to take power over people, until society is ready to handle those threats for themselves." It was more complex than that, but Tandy didn't need a civics lesson to go with her answer.

"Apocalypse? Sounds like something right out of the religious text." Perhaps D'Spayre was the least of her worries if there were others out there named after the end of the world. "What about demons?"

"That gets even more complicated. But there's a really good team of people working at Snow Valley who try and keep their eyes on the magical threats, and they do a pretty good job. I could arrange for you to talk to one of them, ask a bunch of questions?"

"I would like that. I've heard my uncle talk about demons in his sermons, but never thought they were literally." Tandy looked down at her hands. "I can still see her when I close my eyes."

"Don't confuse the creature you saw with something of faith, Tandy. For all we know, what we've called demons are just another kind of mutant from a long time ago." He was never comfortable when the line started to get blurry between his direct factual experience and religion. He knew entities that had been called gods were real; one of them nearly killed him a few months ago, and the power of the thing had been unparalleled. But was 'god' and 'God' under the same consideration. He was religious; a few years of Sunday School to appease his grandmother, Christmas Eve service while they'd been alive. His faith lay elsewhere.

"Huh...I never thought about it like that before. Demons being another kind of mutant." That little bit of information helped her feel a bit better; made D'Spayre less scary and more human. "Then again I am still new to this whole mutant thing, only a couple months in into this new life of mine."

"It's a big change, Tandy. You don't have to pretend that you're always on top of it or that things don't bother you. Everyone who comes here, student or teacher or X-Man goes through a period of adjustment."

"I know." Tandy quickly wiped away the tears that were forming. "It is just hard to ask for help sometimes."

"It is. But that's part of what you're here to learn, Tandy. We all need help sometimes, and in some cases, we can't wait for it to be offered first."

The teenager nodded after a moment of silence and a couple of sniffles, "I need help Mr Garrison."

"That's what we're here for, kid."

"Where do I start?"

"With being afraid? You start by understanding it's okay to be afraid. The only people who are never afraid are the people who are too dumb to realize when they should be. The second step," Kane grinned and bunched his fists. "Is learning how to fight back. Because being afraid isn't the same as being weak or helpless."

"I want to fight back. I want to never feel like this again." Tandy knew it might be wishful thinking of never feeling that much pain, fear, anger ever again but hell she'll try.

"Good. Because fighting back is the one thing that the school is especially good at teaching." He got up from the chair. "Once you're ready to leave the medlab, tell the Doc you need to talk to her husband and then come find me. We'll set you up with a program so you can defend yourself with or without your powers. And if Lady Darkness shows her face again after, you'll know how to make her regret it."

Tandy nodded. "Okay. I will find you."