Frank and Hope: Unexpected Ramblings

[x-pinnochio.livejournal.com]

Frank and Hope share an interesting conversation.

It had been a rough day. Not notably so, but Frank had to admit, he needed a break. There was only so many new faces and names a guy could take. So he'd decided to take a walk. A school with grounds like this had to have somewhere he could hear himself think, didn't it?

So he was out on his own, hands shoved in his pockets. A little privacy was no bad thing, was it?

Hope paused under a corpse of trees, lifting her face to watery sun in the sky. It was still quite chilly and windy, but the letter she had received made her feel the need to get outside and get a little fresh air. The air felt clean in her lungs and if she looked the signs of spring were already visible in a few flowers hesitantly poking up their heads above the ground.

Frank wandered through the trees behind her, saw Hope, and tried not to groan. Was there NOWHERE in this building he could get some privacy? He considered what to do for a moment. As of yet, she hadn't seen him. Maybe if he stayed quiet behind this tree, she'd move on and he could continue his walk unmolested. He stilled, watching Hope to see what she'd do.

Or at least, he tried to. Unfortunately, it was around then he stepped in a small hole under the tree roots and fell over.

Hope jumped a little at the strange thud behind her and quickly turned around, trying to spot the source of said sound. She frowned a little a the blond boy lying on the forest floor. "Are you alright?" She called out, quickly heading that way. Despite her wish to be alone, you could not exactly leave someone lying down.

Frank pushed himself up, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. Just stepped a little wrong." This was not how he'd wanted things to go. He glanced up at his rescuer- and then crushed an internal groan. Great. He'd never met her before. Now he had company AND a bad first impression. He stood up slowly, putting a little weight on his leg to make sure he was okay.

"I'm Frank. Nice to meet you."

"Hello Frank, it's a pleasure to meet you." Hope held out her hand, a practiced smile flitted on her face. "Are you new to Xavier's?"

"Yeah. Showed up Friday." He smiled back politely. "So uh... figured I'd see the grounds. They seem nice."

"They are a wonderful place to spend time with friends." Hope confirmed. "They are also quite nice to read quietly when the weather is good or just to take a walk when one needs to gather ones thoughts."

"Yeah, yeah." There was a silence. Not a good one, either- one of those awkward ones that sat in the middle of the conversation and cackled at your inadequacy. Frank gritted his teeth. "You... wanna walk with me?" That was polite, wasn't it? And she could say no and he could walk away and honour would be satisfied and they would never have to mention it again.

Hope frowned a little at the offer. His body language clearly screamed no and she was not really up to it, but courtesy made her say: "If you truly wish me to, I would be pleased to show a little more of the ground."

No. No. No, he didn't want her to. He wanted her to go away and let him walk in peace. "Sure! Why not." God damn it.

"I would be delighted." Smile still in place, Hope gestured towards the path. "Shall we?"

"Sure." Frank started down the path, shoving his hands in his pockets. He didn't want the company, but he could at least be polite now he had it.

"Didn't I say hi to you on the journals?"

"I believe we met there briefly indeed. You mentioned something about looking forward to meeting me in real life, I believe." Hope stated, walking sedately. "I would recommend we take the path to the lake here."

"Sure. You're the local." He followed along behind her, and the silence got awkward again. Problem was, there was really nothing to say.

Hope just walked calmly, letting her thoughts wander a little. Though making small talk was one of the things she had been thought since she was young, she had learned to welcome silence for the things it could reveal.

Frank had never developed this kind of maturity when it came to conversation. He could deal with quiet- if at all possible, he sought it out in fact- but times like this, he got nervous when other people stopped talking. They reached the lake after a while, and he stopped to consider the view.

"Wow. They should mention the scenery in the brochure."

"It should look even more lovely when spring is finally here. There are also boats and canoes to go out on the lake if one is fond of water sports."

"I'll look forward to that." He wouldn't. "It must be a lot of fun." He doubted it. Frank let the silence stretch out a bit, then glanced at her.

"So how long have you been here? Xavier's, I mean?"

"Since June last year, shortly after my manifestation." Hope explained. "My parents felt I would able to receive better help over here." Okay, that was a bit of euphemism...

Frank was good at euphemisms. He also didn't want a repeat of the journals- meeting Tandy had now become one of his greater fears. "Yeah," he muttered. "Seems to be a lot of that going around." He looked out over the water again, before abruptly changing the subject.

"This place seems nice, though. I mean, I thought it'd be, like, Juvenile Hall or something."

"It's an interesting place." Hope replied, the smile on her face slowly becoming slightly more genuine as she locked the feelings why she had come out here away with practiced ease. "It does take some getting used to and some things here you will never encounter at an ordinary school."

"Yeah, I got that too. Self defense, huh?" The silence was a little more comfortable, this time. Frank glanced back at her then, looking at her searchingly. "I think," he said eventually, picking his words with care, "that maybe this place could grow on me. But maybe it'll take me a little while."

"And the way the training of our powers is an integral part of our schooling." Hope quoted from the Xavier brochure. "Many people here call the school home. You only have to look at all the graduate students still living here."

Frank smiled that. "Yeah. I saw them." He considered for a long while, then sighed. "I don't know. I already had a home before. A new one..." he paused. Glanced at Hope. Put on a sardonic and inexpressive smile. "Then again, whining doesn't help much, does it?"

"It all depends on what one wants to do, I think. How does the saying go again... 'Home is where the heart is'. Perhaps one can have two homes." Hope replied, careful to keep her words in the abstract.

"Perhaps." He considered for a moment. "This is supposed to be a confusing time for all of us, though, isn't it? Being... what we are. being so new to it. Maybe this'll be a good place to learn about it." He smiled again. "Then again, maybe it'll turn out to be a total trainwreck and the last thing we'll ever do is tell each other "I told you so." Who knows."

"A trainwreck?" Hope paused a moment, thinking of the stories she had been told of Genosha and her own experience of the Slendermen. "Maybe. Maybe not... I do think, because of it's unique nature, this is a place where you will challenged in ways you normally don't even think about." There, that was about as much warning she would give at the moment, not willing to scare Frank with the more darker stories the mansion carried.

"Yeah?" Frank considered that. "Maybe that's a good thing. We're not like other people, are we?"

He wasn't sure when this had become so serious. In ways, the awkwardness had been easier, but this was better. Healthier, maybe. He could talk about this in the abstract, it seemed, and he needed to, too.

"There is being challenged and being challenged." That was Hope's only reply to that.

Frank laughed. "True that." He was silent for a long moment. "I think I'll go on a while, if you don't mind. Thanks for the company, though." He rose, nodded respectfully to her. She had been unexpectedly pleasant, he had to admit.

"You are quite welcome, Frank. It was my pleasure." Hope nodded back. "If I may be so free... When the basketball court start to rumble, it's best to get of and as far away as possible." There... she didn't know if he already knew about the X-men, but perhaps this would at least send him investigating to which unique challenges living in the mansion held.