Molly & Arthur | Welcoming Committee

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Molly visits Arthur after he moves upstairs into a real room. It is sugary.

This was the third time he had stood staring at the depressing hole of a wardrobe for more than ten minutes straight. Arthur did not consider himself a vain man as he was used to spending the majority of his time either on a red carpet or in the wilderness, but the two sets of "Xavier's School for the Gifted" sweats were identical to what he was wearing. Their itchy fabric was just not practical for hiking or flying. He idly wondered if they had a track jacket to complete the look for when he....

Well, not that he would be escaping to a ski resort or a spa or even home.

The nice lady with the red hair, the guy in the wheelchair, and the cheerful enough therapist had made it very clear that his life was currently falling apart without him in it. His accounts were frozen and the police wanted him for questioning, apparently, and things hadn't been this bad since....

Arthur Centino let out a deep, joyful laugh at the thought that was entirely too loud and too cheerful for his thoughts or the somber, dust-covered mood of the room.

Three quick knocks sounded against the door. A moment passed before a curious, "Hello?" followed.

Molly had heard there were new people here and she had wanted to say hi. She also knew the new person was someone she met before, the Harry Potter guy, the one who Dr. Reyes had slapped. It was kind of weird to have him staying there now, but it didn't bother her. That happened a lot.

"Mr. Centino?"

The knock made the laugh cut off abruptly, and Arthur's eyes quickly shut as he went through a mental exercise Haller had suggested to say calm. His voice was whispered, but held the tip of panic.

"I will not cause bad luck, I will not cause bad luck," and, more projectedly, "Hey, it is open!" before returning to his little mantra.

Opening the door, Molly peeked her head inside first before coming in all the way. She heard him whisper something but she wasn't sure what he said.

"Um...hi," she said with a quick, friendly wave. "Do you remember me?" she asked hopefully, then added, "It's okay if you don't, though. You're famous and stuff. So you see lots of people."

Arthur squinted, but his entire demeanor brightened as he took in Molly. "That's right. They said it was a school."

"I'm sorry," he stuck both hands in his pockets and leaned backward onto his heels, "but apparently my head is like swiss cheese. I make the people they send to poke around up there very frustrated."

Molly blinked at him. "Really?" she said, her eyes widening. "Me too! Well...before. My brain also has cheese. Or, it did."

She shook her head. "I'm Molly again, by the way. Molly Hayes. Oh!" She held up a bag she had been holding. It appeared to be one of those reusable shopping bags.

"I brought you things, to say Hi!"

"Yep!" He perked up, supplying a friendly grin. "I thought it was September until about three days ago, and then I find out it is this close to Christmas and I haven't made a list?" He shook his head mournfully, but just as quickly held up a hand as if in mock-oath. "I will never say no to things."

"Kay," Molly said, his own grin sparking her usual bright one as she crossed the room and offered it to him. Inside was a few things that seemed to be cobbled together from around the house: A box of cookies, a tube of glitter glue, a copy of the first Harry Potter book and a handmade Welcome! card.

"I forgot a lot of stuff too. Like...one time...when it was winter, I forgot all the way back to May. My mom and dad read minds and they wanted to protect me so they kept trying to make me forget things and they did it too much. It was kind of scary. But Ms. Frost the 2nd helped. Maybe she could help you too? And maybe she could help with Christmas lists too! She's very stylish."

He gladly accepted the bag and moved to place it on the bed. As she talked, Arthur lifted and examined each little gift as if they were small treasures. "My parents always wished I could let go of some ideas, but apparently this was my agent. She was always so nice." He frowned briefly, like someone dimming a Christmas tree. "I think. Anyway! I think that first I will have to work on getting clothes to wear. Or a jacket. I do not know how people here stand the winter."

"I can ask Wademan if you could borrow some of his clothes? I think you guys are both the same kind of tall," Molly said, squinting thoughtfully. His frown made her frown, though.

"Was she trying to protect you too? Your agent?"

Arthur blinked. "She never sat me down and explained it, really."

He held up the glitter glue in a brilliant change of subject, "Am I going to have to take arts and crafts?"

Molly grinned sheepishly. "I didn't get to go to the store sooo...I sort of grabbed some stuff that you could use. You can eat the cookies and read and um...do art if you wanna. We have a studio!" she said proudly, then frowned.

"I didn't get Gabriel anything when he came, though. Or any of the other new people. Aw man. I'm totally gonna run out of stuff."

He smiled wider, and it went to his eyes. "Hey now. Don't worry -- everyone loves the welcome wagon. You're the first person who has come to visit me that wasn't interested in my head or my," and an awkward pause, "Thing. Thing works." And then the smile like a strobe-light again. "I greatly appreciate the kindness, Molly."

Tilting her head, Molly paused. "Your..." she said. A moment passed, she blinked a couple of times before a light switch turned on, making her eyes widen.

"Oh. Oh! Um....You're welcome?" IF that was what she thought he meant. She then bit her lip thoughtfully.

"Dr. Reyes lives here too, by the way. So um..." She shrugged. "Just so you know. She's nice. And you're nice. And I don't like it when nice people fight. Did you...forget her cause of your agent, y'think?"

"Wait," and he leaned a little closer holding up one hand in protest as he tried not to laugh, "Is there some code you lot use for powers? This is all very new for me."

"Anyway. People keep mentioning her, yes, but all I recall is that she slapped me."

Molly peered at him with confusion before she suddenly realized what he meant was not what she had meant, and her cheeks turned as red as the hat she was wearing.

"I...no...that...um. No. Powers. That'swhatweuse," she said quickly, looking down. If there was somewhere she could hide that would be awesome. But there wasn't.

"So...you guys totally went out," she said, grabbing her phone. After Dr. Reyes slapped him, Molly had looked up pictures and video from the event and saved them on her phone just in case they ran into him again, since the X-People kept running into him a lot for awhile.

She offered the phone to him to look, then frowned.

"I think...If your agent did make you forget this part....maybe she wasn't nice. There wasn't anything bad."

He sighed. "Molly, it is my understanding that my agent and her people were using me to make money or commit crimes or any number of bad things." He flipped through the images slowly. "Yes. I remember that. It was very confusing, but man my hair looks ridiculous in that shot."

Molly frowned. "Really? That sucks," she said. She knew there were bad people, and she'd seen them do bad things, so many times, but it didn't make it any easier to take when people did stuff.

"So...that's why she slapped you. Cause she thought you forgot her on purpose like...you didn't respect her enough to remember, y'know? Or...I think. Maybe."

"You're right. It does suck that I made one of your friends feel bad. I just meet a lot of — well, met? Back before? — people every day. There's a kind of mask you have to put on as a celebrity."

Molly glanced down. "Oh," she said, her hands slipping into her pockets. She shrugged.

"People made you forget though, on purpose. You couldn't remember. And that's not fair. I don't...think it's supposed to be like that...like...all the time, for anyone. Even if you do see a lot of people."

He perked up a little. "Well, I don't have to worry about that anymore. So the future's bright, huh?"

"Totally," Molly said with a soft, but widening grin. "AND it's almost Christmas. They decorate like...everything! And there's food. Lorna makes like...15 kinds of pie."

"You all have a fairly large family here, eh? Back home, like with my family and not LA, we'd always do pudding and Christmas Crackers instead of pie."

It was Molly's turn to get excited...well, more excited. It was very difficult to get her to be anything else. Specially when it came to food. Her powers usually made her really hungry. "Christmas...Crackers? What are those?"

Arthur, by this point, had taken a seat on the bed to be closer to eye level with the teenager. "Well, they're an English thing kind of like a wishbone? They're foil wrapped gifts that you and your mates pull apart. You get whatever toy is inside, but everyone gets a paper hat."

"Oooh. I thought they were food but they sound funner than that. Maybe we can do that here this year!" Molly said.

"What kind of pudding do you eat? Are you English too? You don't sound English. You sound...different. Like. Not from America, but not from Britain though."

"Too?" His smile was a reflection of her enthusiasm. "I'm Afrikaans, although I grew up in Colorado."

"Afrikaans? Like...from Africa?" Molly said. They learned about Africa in history class, and she knew lots of different people lived there, but she had only met Ms. Munroe that she remembered.

"South Africa. All the way at the bottom," Arthur clarified patiently. "We make Lekker Pudding for the holiday. It is a bit like Apricot pudding here?"

"Neat! That sounds really good. I could ask Ms. Dane if she could make it for Christmas this year! She likes to make different things," Molly said.

Arthur's expression softened. "Molly, I appreciate the concern — I really do, this is the most normal conversation I've had in a week — but I do not know where I will be at Christmas."

Molly's face fell. "Oh," she said, tilting her head. "Why not? The Professor would probably let you stay longer if you wanted?"

"He's been very kind," Arthur admitted with a bite of the lip and sideways glance, "But I... just don't know right now. Is this what happens to mutants here? You all just pick up your lives and move to New York?"

"I dunno," Molly said thoughtfully. "I came here when I was 12. The X-People convinced my parents that I should stay here since they would be moving around a lot and so I could learn about my powers. I think...some people stay here and some people come and go?"

"I declare this topic is far too serious and hereby move that see what happens," Arthur declared with a hand over his heart. He held up the box of cookies. "Are you hungry?"

Molly's eyes glazed over reactively at sight of the cookies, though she stopped herself. "But they're yours."

"I am choosing to share. That is what friends do." He opened the box.

Falling silent a moment, Molly paused, "Oh," she said with a smile and a nod. "Okay. Um...I'm just gonna take one. Cause...they are really good and I would eat them all if I had more and that would be rude."

Arthur offered the bribe with a smile. "This has been nice. Thank you for the company, Molly."

Taking the cookie. Molly munched it happily. "You're welcome!" she said. These were her favorite cookies. She was gonna eat them before but she thought he might like them.

"I should probably go to class now," Molly said. They weren't out yet so she still had to go to math. No matter how hard they tried it still would not be her favorite class.

"Thank you for the cookie!"

She headed for the door, then paused as she opened it, turning to glance over at him.

"I hope you stay. For Christmas, I mean. Nobody should be alone on Christmas."

The man couldn't help but smile at this, even if it felt vaguely committal. Arthur quickly jammed a cookie in his mouth to avoid giving in entirely, and waved happily as she closed the door.