Angel & Alison: First Meetings (Backdated to April 27nd)

[xp-dazzler.livejournal.com]

In which Alison finds the pool, Angel finds Alison, and decent conversations are had by all.


Angel was humming as she made her way down to the pool. It was a good day for a swim. It was always a good day for a swim though, so that wasn't saying much. She let herself in, kicking off her flip flops...

"Ooooops." And saw that someone had beaten her there. "Sorry - oh hey, Alison, right?" She hadn't had a chance to meet the student yet so this was actually kind of perfect.

Alison had nearly drifted off. The water was just so nice... and so warm. It had been a hard few days, moving to the mansion. She was just taking the chance to unwind and relax.And then someone spoke up.

"Aah!" Alison moved to cover herself with her hands. Wait, right. This was a pool. This wasn't an onsen. She was wearing a bathing suit. Of course.

She blushed anyway.

"Y-yeah. Sorry," and she laughed. "You nearly caught me napping." Alison suddenly realized that she didn't know who she was talking to; it'd only been a few days and she'd not met more than a handful of people.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage, though."

"Hey, warm pools are awesome for napping," Angel said happily as she plopped down on the pool edge, dipping her feet in. "Yeah, sorry, I try to know the students. I'm Angel." She held a hand out. "One of the Gen X mentors. Nice to meet you."

She'd done her research about Alison as soon as her file had come across her metaphoric desk. She knew Alison's history, and she knew she'd somehow ended up here because of Amanda's kid - sort of. That was still a mystery. One Angel wouldn't mind solving.

"I know, right?" Alison grinned and pushed herself off her makeshift seat into open water. "It's just warm and soothing. Makes me feel like I'm back in... Well, anyway. I'm Alison," and she smiled one of her big, genuine smiles that lit up her eyes and softened her features. "It's nice to meet you too. I'd actually planned on finding you sometime soon."

"Well I'm easy to find," Angel said with a laugh, swishing her feet back and forth in the water. "Especially if you happen to like water. So how're you settling in?"

"It's... different," Alison said, twisting to float on her back and stare at the sky. "Not like anything I've been used to. People don't stare or whisper... I'm used to being on my own, so having so many people around is strange. But in a good way, ya know?" She sighed happily and closed her eyes, just... floating.

"Good different is better than bad different." Angel continued kicking her back and forth in the water, watching her feet wade around. "No one's giving you a hard time, then?" She didn't think any of the kids would, but she had to ask. Alison deserved the same respect as any other student, and if anyone was bothering her Angel would be Very Unhappy.

"Nothing like that." Alison gave her best impression of a shrug; it looked weird, half submerged and floating on her back. "But I haven't really met too many people yet, honestly."

And she hadn't. Moving had been an experience, and she'd spent the last several days running all over New York, shopping and trying to bring some symbalance of normalcy back into her life. She fully expected to run into others sooner or later, but for the moment it was just a small handful of people.

"The ones I have met seem nice. Weird, but nice." Well, maybe one exception. But she'd deal with that when she had to.

"Hey, weird is normal around here," Angel pointed out with a smile. "You'll get used to it after a while. And then you'll wonder when weird became normal. And then you just won't care. That's the natural progression of life." She laughed. Hopefully there were less mansion invasions and demon attacks in this universe. Well, Angel could dream anyways.

Alison laughed. "I doubt it. They told me the same thing after I got off stage for the first time; After a year or so, shows every day, it was going to become my 'new normal'." She sighed happily, closing her eyes and just basking in the sun.

"It never did."

"Yeah, but you know what the big difference between this and that is?" Angel asked, shooting Alison a smile. "Being here is actually enjoyable. Nobody expects anything of you - well no, they expect you to go to school and bathe and stuff, but that's all stuff you should be doing anyways. But no one will ever ask you to do anything you don't want to. Unless you've got a huge aversion to showers."

Alison just smiled, and for a time it was quiet. Peaceful. That sounded nice.

Then, after a time...

"What's Gen-X? Nobody's given me a straight answer, and I might have... forgotten to ask Professor Xavier."

Angel let the silence go on for as long as Alison wanted. There was no point in pushing the kid. She straightened up at the girl's question, legs still kicking at the water. "It's part powers training, part team training. We'll teach you how to control your powers - or in your case how to fine tune them since you already have a rudimentary control - and we'll also teach you how to play nice with the others and work with them as a team. Then there's also the little things like self-defense, survival in a world that hates you one-oh-one, etc. etc."

Alison laughed lightly. "I think I get it. And that's what I'm in, then?"

"Yup!" Angel kicked a bit, splashing water. "I'll probably be working with you mostly on your powers - powersets aren't similar per se, but mine are closer to yours than telekinesis or super strength - That's Julian and Jess, the other two mentors - and there are a few different team exercises with other people in the mansion."

"Oh great, you're like my manager." Despite the tone, she was smiling. "Or, does that make you the team mom instead?" Alison stuck her tongue out. Given she was still on her back, eyes closed and just basking in the sun, it wasn't even close to the right direction.

"I prefer team mom," Angel said thoughtfully. "Gen X team mom. I never thought about it before. I dig it." Yes she was taking that seriously. Of course she was.

Even despite the fact they were closed, Alison rolled her eyes. Right, this place was full of weirdos. Somehow she'd forgotten that. Still, it was almost cute how serious she was taking it.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, then." And Alison was. "I assume they told you what I can do already."

Alison wasn't quite certain who 'they' were. But it sounded good and she went with it.

Angel was weird but happy with it. And hey it wasn't hurting anyone. It was harmless weird. "I've heard, yeah." She'd been filled in on what the old Alison - who had been before her time - could do. "It sounds like you've got a decent handle on it already."

"Mmm." The sun was nice. "I'd show you, but the water is just so nice. If I hadn't learned to at least stop blinding people I'd never have been able to leave my house."

"There'll be plenty of time for demonstrations later," Angel said, waving a hand. "No point in leaving the water for it right now."