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[xp-wolfsbane.livejournal.com]

Rogue, Miles and Sooraya travel to Muir island to meet up with Jean for a student pick up.


Flights to Muir Island Research Facility used to be a fairly common sight. It wasn't as if there was a road to the Facility, so visitors were forced to either come by air or by sea. Most visitors, especially visiting doctors and the like, had opted to avoid the choppy waters that separated the island from the mainland and had flown in.

After M-Day, however, visits had declined sharply. Remaining mutants around the world, even those that could have used Dr. MacTaggart's help, had gone to ground. Humans who had frequented the Facility had stopped returning calls and even those still sympathetic to mutants had conveyed that being seen at such a mutant prominent medical facility would not go over well with board of directors and the world alike.

So the plane that had just landed on the top-side landing pad should have drawn some attention from the neighboring villagers - except that Moira knew that the Blackbird would have only been noticed if those flying her had allowed anyone to see them.

With a small smile, she pushed open the door to the landing pad and stood waiting, clutching a cup of coffee in one hand and files in the other.

It still amused Rogue that while she couldn't remember what she'd done six months ago, she still retained the knowledge of how to fly the Blackbird.

It probably helped that Logan had those memories as well. Nothing wrong with channeling a pilot.

Landing the jet with ease, she powered down and unbuckled her seat. "Muir Island, girl an' boy," she called out to Sooraya and Miles. "Told ya Ah'd get here safe an' sound."

It was the longest that Miles had ever been on a plane before, and by far the farthest distance he'd ever traveled. Even the one time he'd gone to visit family in San Juan a couple of years ago had only been a 4-hour flight, and his parents had wisely doped him up on Dramamine before they took off. And that also hadn't been on a top-secret supersonic jet. Swinging on his webs through the Manhattan skyline had nothing on this. Exciting though it had been, it was nice to have his feet on firm ground again. He probably should have worn something warmer than shorts and a t-shirt, though. Who knew Scotland would be so cold even in the early summer?

"Hmmm, you know, Rogue... I think there might have been a few too many shudders when the plane touched down. Are you absolutely sure that Mr. Summers shouldn't send you back to flight school?" Sooraya replied with a grin as she pulled a warm sweater over her blouse and hit the button that opened the door. Immediately the wind caught her skirt and scarf and her smile broadened as she descended down the stairs. "The wind at least has not changed anything since I was here last!"

"That's just the Scottish welcome," Jean said with a grin, having joined Moira to welcome their new arrivals. She was already at Muir taking care of some earlier business when Moira had told her about a potential new student for Xavier's. She had taken to making the arrangements for pickup. Getting back to the US, however, might be interesting.

"But if you're wanting a more pleasant greeting I'm pretty sure there's some coffee left. Glad you made it safe."

Moira smiled in welcome, though she snorted at Jean's comment. "Oh, aye, ye only say the coffee is pleasant because ye keep switching out my special brew," she groused, holding open the door for the Xavier group. She appeared unphased by the rough wind but this had been her home longer than she'd care to share. If anyone was used to it, she was.

She wrapped Sooraya in a brief but warm hug. "Welcome back, lass, the staff and the patients that are left miss ye. Rogue, Miles, I hope ye had a pleasant trip over. I really appreciate ye all coming. The poor lass ..." Moira shook her head and headed down the stairs, leading them deeper into the building proper.

As they walked, Moira gave them a brief overview of Rahne and her situation. "Rahne has nay control over it, neither the shifting or the coming back from it. She is far calmer now when she shifts, though she can be anxious at first. Jean, that's why I asked ye to travel back with this lot. They may need a doctor on board since she's never flown before and is quite anxious about all of this..."

They walked for a fair bit, through brightly lit corridors, passing a handful of staff who called out welcomes. Moira finally came to a stop and started to open a door. "One of our gardens," she explained, "for those who need to stretch their legs a wee bit."

It wasn't a very large space but it was bursting with flowers and well taken care of plants and shrubs. Small walkways wandered throughout and, about halfway down a path, sat a young teenager talking quietly with a stern looking older man.

Or they had been talking but at the sound of the door, the girl's head had whipped around, eyes slightly wide and head cocked before a faint blush colored her cheeks. She stood up, hands clasped nervously before her ... and then suddenly she relaxed.

"Sooraya! Ye came back!" She started forward and then stopped, hesitating for a moment.

"Of course I did. I promised, didn't I?" Sooraya replied with a smile and held out her arms, remembering how shy the girl had been on their brief previous meeting. "It's alright, Rahne. I am very glad to see you as well, lass."

Rahne giggled at the Scottish term coming from Sooraya and her body language loosened slightly as she stepped forward into the hug. Her smile wavered slightly when she finally stood back and got a good look at the rest of the ground behind her. She stepped back and glanced up as the man appeared at her side, her smile firming up when he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"My name is Rahne, though - ah, ye all probably knew that already," she muttered and the man took over as Rahne's voice trailed off and she stared in mortification at the floor.

"Thank ye all for coming," he said quietly, his voice firm but genuine. "My name is Reverend Craig, Rahne's long time guardian, and we both appreciate ye taking the time and trouble to come and get the lass."

Rogue gave a gentle smile towards Rahne before turning her attention to the adults.  "No trouble at all," she assured them. "It's nice ta get out of the Mansion sometimes. Ah'm Rogue by the way." This was said more for Rahne's benefit and Rogue hoped the girl would relax soon enough. "It's a pleasure ta meetcha, Miss Rahne. We all were jus' anxious ta get to see ya. Ah ain't been out this way in a long time, so thanks for givin' me an excuse!" Motioning to Miles and Jean, Rogue continued talking. "Seems ya already know Sooraya. This here is Miles and Jean."

"Hi!" Miles offered the new girl a little wave and then offered his hand respectfully to the older gentleman. There was something off-putting about him that Miles couldn't quite describe. Nothing that set off his spider-sense, though. Maybe it was just that his face resembled a clenched sphincter. But it would be rude and probably hurt Rahne's chances if he didn't play nice, butt-face or not.

"As Rogue mentioned, I'm Dr. Jean Grey," Jean said, smiling warmly to Rahne before turning back to Reverend Craig. "We spoke on the phone when I took down Rahne's information. I was able to bypass the standard channels and have a passport and other pertinent documentation created for Rahne should she encounter any questions when she arrives in the US. Since we'll be using our own transportation we won't have to go through customs, luckily. The documentation is just a standard precaution."

She glanced between the two of them. "Do you have any questions? If not, we should be ready to go shortly once Rahne's all packed with what she needs."

"We both very much appreciate this," Reverend Craig said. "Especially yer handling of the documentation. Rahne's never had reason to visit other countries before, so that would have been a very great hurdle if we'd handled it on our own." He laid a hand on the girl's shoulder and nodded at the few bags at her feet. "She's as ready to go as she'll ever be. Aye, Rahne?"

The girl looked at the bags at her feet and then back up at Reverend Craig. For a moment, a stubborn, upset look crossed her face. "Aye, I'm ready," she said firmly, the first thing she'd said without hesitation yet. There was still anger and hurt there that had come from learning that Reverend Craig had known, or at least, guessed she was a mutant and had hidden that from her.

She scooped up two of the bags and stomped away a little bit, stopping before the group. "I've ... never flown before!" Rahne said, a bit wide eyed at the idea. "Is it very scary?"

Miles gentlemanly picked up her other bags, balancing them with ease despite their weight (what was it with girls and packing, he wondered), and accompanied her to the runway. He shook his head in response to her question. "Nah. It's pretty fun. Really fast. This is only, like, my fourth time flying, too. And Rogue seems pretty good at it."

Rogue smiled at the compliment and watched Miles chatter on to Rahne. His friendly attitude would hopefully go a long way at making the younger feel more at ease.

"Anythin' we should be aware of?" Rogue asked quietly. "Ah'm gonna be busy with the plane so Ah won't be able to keep an eye on her. Does she got control or is it jus' minimal? Weather report goin' back don't look too friendly." Translation: heavy turbulence.

Moira grimaced. "As far as we've been able to figure out, the lass has zero control," she said, pitching her voice low with the hopes Rahne wouldn't be able to pick up on it. "Stress makes it worse and, well, bloody hell, there's nothing quite as stressful as leaving the only family ye've known and flying to another country."

She pointed at Jean. "There's a reason I've asked the good doctor to go through the complications of flying back and forth for this. If Rahne transforms, she'll be on hand to administer any sedatives needed. And, I'm assuming, be able to communicate with her. We haven't had a telepath on hand before during a transformation, so we're hoping that Jean's powers will make it that much easier to calm the lass down."

"I'm hoping I'll only need to use either method as the worst case scenario," Jean said with a soft smile. With any luck things would go smoothly but she believed in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

"There's a few other things I'd like to try in the meantime, such as meditative techniques, ample distraction, and perhaps a very small dosage of anti-anxiety medication," she continued, then paused in afterthought.

"Does Rahne possess a healing factor? I don't think I saw that mentioned or not. If so the dose may need to be a little higher to compensate." Similar ferals such as Logan or Kyle Gibney possessed healing factors so she wasn't sure if there was a correlation.

"We haven't had the chance to find that out," Moira sighed. "Thankfully! Unlike ye lot, there tends to be less fleeing and hitting things on Muir." She was teasing. Mostly. "I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility though, considering what we know of these types of mutations." Moira spread her hands. "Any other questions or concerns? My office hours are really being stretched here and I'd kill for a cup of coffee."

She was teasing. Mostly.

Sooraya watched Rahne and Miles interact with a small smile on her face, though still following the conversation. "We'll make sure she will be okay, Moira. And if the worst may happen on the way back... it will be okay. All of us are pretty tough." With a warm smile she held out her arms to Moira. "Sorry to see you so briefly... I should ask Clarice to drop me off and we can catch us with a cup of Tea soon?"

"Only if ye let me feed ye some of my coffee," Moira teased, gathering Sooraya close for a strong hug. "Alright, lets get ye all back to that plane of yers and get ye back in the air. Maybe I'll even be able to get some work done today!"

Moira led the rest of the adults out but they lagged behind the teens as Rahne unerringly led the way, unconsciously following her nose as she engaged in conversation with Miles. The Scottish doctor smiled and knew her decision to talk them into calling the mansion had been a good one. Muir Island was no place for a healthy young woman to be raised.

They eventually reached the platform and Rahne froze a few feet out when she caught sight of the Blackbird. Her bag dropped to her feet as her hands weirdly went numb and her eyes grew as large as they possibly could. The plane was nothing like what she'd seen before

"Rahne?" Reverend Craig asked, moving forward when the teen still hadn't moved forward.

She spun around and dove forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I can't do this!" Rahne whimpered, face pressed tightly against the front of his shirt. "I thought I could and I was so mad because ye didn't tell me that I could have been a mutant but ... but ... I can't!" She hiccupped as her caretaker hesitated and then drew her closer. "I'll be good, I promise, I'll be good! This ... I'm not big or strong enough ..."

Gently but firmly, the Reverend took her by the shoulders and pulled her back far enough to look into her flushed face. "I doubt I could find a better lass in all of Scotland," he said, missing the surprised look on Moira's face at the gentle words. "Ye need this, Rahne, more than ye need the care that I could give ye."

He reached into a pocket and drew out a silver cross on a longer than normal chain. "Ye ripped right through yer last cross that first night," he said, looping it around her neck between Rahne rubbing furiously at her eyes. "Take comfort from this, Rahne, during any dark times. During the times when yer way is lost, look to God."

Revered Craig bent briefly and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Come, child, let's step to the side for a few minutes. I doubt yer new friends will begrudge a quick prayer."

"Prayer for the flight or the rest of it?" she sniffled into her sleeve.

"I've been told that God can multitask..."


Rahne and Miles aren't frequent fliers and trying to get to know each other gets ... messy.


It had taken Rahne about twenty minutes to become convinced that she wasn't going to get laughed at for her outburst before takeoff. Now that it was a done deal, excitement about flying - actually flying! In a plane! That smelled weirdly of leather? - had eked out any other concerns. She'd been bouncing around the cabin, exploring and poking around, before a bit of turbulence had chased her back to her seat.

She sat down next to Miles and couldn't help but bounce up and down in her seat slightly. "This is brilliant!" Rahne exclaimed, looking more animated than she had all day.

"I mean, yeah, it is," Miles replied, trying to sound cool in front of the new girl. Truth be told, he felt the same way. He just was sure that he'd be a distraction if he'd been crawling around the cabin. He put his phone back into his pocket and flashed a smile at her. "I've never flown this far from New York before. Is this really your first time?"

"Oh aye! Reverend Craig and I never had much reason to fly and when we moved or went on trips, we just drove." The plane shuddered slightly and Rahne's eyes widened for a moment before she shook it off. "I've always wanted to go to New York City," she continued, voice slightly lowered as if she was telling him a secret. "Is it really as big and scary as it sounds?"

Miles blew a raspberry dismissively. "Nah. It's big but it's not scary at all. It's like its own little country. It's awesome. But the school isn't actually in the city, it's like an hour drive away. Very green, very voluminous. SAT word. Like Moor Island," he said, mispronouncing the name.

She giggled at how he'd said Muir and immediately put her hand over her mouth to stifle it. Rahne was still smiling when she dropped it. "I'm glad the school isn't in New York," she admitted, "though I would like to see it!" She'd love to see it. They'd been to London a few times and Edinburgh but New York and America just sounded ... like it was on the moon.

Another slight drop in the plane and Rahne's stomach protested, gurgling suddenly. She clasped her hand back to her mouth, looking startled.

"We go there all the time. There's a bus on the weekends, and then people like me and my roommate, Bobby, we live there. Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Rahne squeaked, now suddenly pale and beads of sweat starting to appear on her forehead. She stood, not knowing where to go - was there a bathroom? What was wrong? Oh no, she thought, as her stomach lurched. No, no, no, no...

She took all of one step before she bent over and vomited on the floor.

"Ay!" Miles tried to crawl up his seat as Rahne sprayed the contents of her stomach. How much could such a little person carry in her? The sight and smell was enough to make his own stomach turn in protest, and the sudden pockets of turbulence were not helping. He'd never been airsick before, but then again, he'd never been shaken like a d20 a mile over the ocean flying at half the speed of sound before.

Before he knew it, his own lunch joined Rahne's in sympathy.

Near the back of the plane, Jean poked her head out from her seat, spying the new carpet stains on the ground with a wince.

"Knew I should've included a heavier dose of Dramamine..." she said to herself, unbuckling her seatbelt as she grabbed a couple of paper towels from the lavatory and added a bit of water.

Tossing the paper towels over the stains to absorb the mess and cover up any more potential mishaps through visual cue, she then grabbed two glasses of water and some motion sickness pills to hand to Rahne and her new patient.

She crouched down to glance between the two of them. "Hey...No big deal," she assured them-- Rahne especially- with a smile, but tried to make it look like she wasn't honing in on her to further any embarrassment.

"It happens all the time People get sick so much on airplanes they put bags in the seats just in case.," she said, tapping the little pocket at the base of one of the seats where a paper bag was.  She offered Rahne and Miles the Dramamine.

"This should help for the rest of the way, though. How're you doing, sweetheart? Everything else okay?"

Rahne wanted to say no because now she was never going to be able to look at Miles without dying - maybe actually dying - and her first trip on a plane wasn't like she'd wanted and all she wanted was curl up and hide. But her body had other intentions.

Because apparently being a mutant with heightened senses made being around vomit that much worse and Rahne was scrambling for the bag that the doctor had just pointed out. As she retched again, she wondered if she could just vanish, thank you very much.


Rahne's powers are unpredictable and it's a good thing they didn't fly commercial.


Rahne peeked around Sooraya's shoulder and looked past her, seeing all sorts of flashing buttons and knobs and things that looked very small but were probably very important. Dr. Jean had given her some medicine to calm her stomach and they'd suggested she'd go and visit Rogue where she was driving (was it driving if it was a plane? she wondered). She'd taken them up on it, though she stuck her hands in her pockets in case she accidentally did something.

Knocking the plane out of the sky was probably worse than throwing up, she'd decided.

"Are ye sure I won't mess anything up?" she whispered to Sooraya.

"Nothing can happen, lass." Sooraya reassured her gently. "They made everything so it's pretty difficult to screw up..." Standing up from the chair, put a hand on Rahne's shoulder. "You want to sit down a sec? You will be able to see the view and the consoles much better. I promise, Rogue is controlling everything, so no worries."

The seat was far too close to all the touchy bits. She was fascinated, though, by the view out the window and how Rogue was handling it. "Ye're like a real pilot and everything!" Rahne breathed. "Have ye been doing this long? When did ye learn? Was it hard? I bet it was hard. But really neat! There's so many buttons - how do ye remember what everything does?"

Rogue chuckled, and moved her headset up higher on her head. "Ain't too hard, really," she said, glancing out the window before turning her attention to the younger girl. "Been doin' this for near 12 years or so....but Ah started when ah was like 17, unofficially of course." Now wasn't the time to talk about Alkali Lake.

"Had me some good teachers and ended up gettin' my pilot's license. Ah should probably apologize for that li'l bout o' turbulence earlier.  Always touchy, this side of the Atlantic."

"Oh, it was fine!" Rahne lied, badly. "It was - it was just like riding on that ride that Reverend Craig said looked dodgy but I rode anyway. ... oh, that made me sick too ... probably should have thought about that." She brushed her hair, which had become slightly sweaty and sticky after she'd gotten sick, out of her eyes. "Twelve years? Ye've been flying almost longer than I've been alive!"

Sooraya grinned. "You hear that, Rogue? Apparently you are starting to show your years." She teased her friend before turning back to the girl still seated in front of her. "So are you enjoying the cockpit, Rahne? You know, you might just have the chance to learn yourself if you want that in the future."

Rahne looked startled at the very idea and she suddenly realized that things were very different than they were just a few hours ago. Being able to learn to fly a plane? That wasn't even in the realm of dreams back in Scotland! What kind of school was this?

She went to ask a question and, just like that, the plane shuddered with turbulence. Somehow it was worse than before. Maybe it was because Rahne was standing or that she was at the front but she screamed and stumbled. And ...

There was a blur and the sound of cloth ripping from being stretched too far, too soon. And what hit the floor of the plane wasn't a 110 pound teenage girl but a 110 pound red wolf.

"Holy shit," screamed out Rogue‎, one eye on the wolf, and the other eye on the console. Another wind gust. This time it wasn't as easy to fix,and she couldn't set the automatic pilot.

What was it about wolves....did they hunt by sight? Movement maybe? Wait...that was raptors...right?

A telepath! A telepath would help. Thank GOD one was on board.  "Jean! A little help! Little Miss Ridin' Hood turned herself into a big bad wolf...". Was that panic and fear in her voice? Maybe just a little....

The scream from Rahne had already drawn Jean's attention, but Rogue's reaction sealed it and she was already bounding up to the front of the aircraft, finding herself face to face with Rahne. Freezing in place, she maintained eye contact with the girl, or rather, the wolf, but tried not to betray any fear.

"Hi sweetheart..." she said with a gentle smile, raising her hands.

"It's okay. It's totally okay," she assured her as she slowly moved backward to try to get her away from the cockpit area. As she spoke, a telekinetic shield slid up like an invisible doorway between Rahne and the cockpit area.

Her mind reached out, gently trying to coax it's way into Rahne's and exude a sense of calm, like a telepathic tranq. dart.

At Rogue's reaction, Rahne had dropped heavily to her stomach and had flattened herself as much as possible. It didn't help, she was still a giant furry lump but it allowed her to close her eyes and tried to block out everything around her. But super powered hearing didn't allow for that and the lack of hands really hampered drowning things out.

When Jean's mind touched Rahne's, there was a stead stream of mental babble. 'they'rescared!butit'sjustmebuttheyhatemeohgodgod'

There was a strange presence in her mind but it wasn't scary or weird. The eyes of the wolf opened slightly and yellow eyes shifted to Jean. 'i wanna go home,' the girl's voice in the beast cried. 'i'm scared and I wanna go back home they all hate me I wanna go home please'

Once Rahne was clear from the pilot's area, the cockpit door gently pulled to but didn't latch in case the sound might startle her. After that, instead of moving backwards Jean was making her way back forward, stopping a few feet away.

She shook her head. "Oh sweetheart...No one hates you, I promise," she said.

"They were just surprised, that's all. But everything's okay. I know you're scared, but you've made it so far already despite being scared. And that's the definition of bravery...doing something even when you're afraid."

She smiled, slowly crouching down on her knees until she was eye level with the girl, then reached out to gently touch her cheek. "You can do this. I believe in you. It's okay to be afraid. Because you're brave too. And you're stronger than you realize. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Rahne didn't feel brave. She felt scared and huge, terrifying to everyone around her, including herself. But she nodded, trying to believe what Dr. Jean was saying even if she didn't feel like it. Tentatively, she pressed herself up against Jean's side and laid her head down on the floor of the plane. She didn't know how long it would take this time for her to change back. She just knew that if she kept calm and thought about her real self, she would eventually get back to herself.

So much for her first plane ride.


Finally. Home.


Rahne, now dressed in clothes from her suitcase, stood nervously near the door. She was exhausted and drained but excited and scared all at the same time. After she'd changed back to her human form, the rest of the plane ride had gone quietly. "I'm sorry," Rahne blurted out to the group as they got ready to get off the plane. This was probably her tenth time apologizing for, well, everything.

Rogue laughed and pulled the younger girl into a side hug. "Don't worry 'bout it, sugah. We've all been there, one time or another. Jus' think of it this way: now ya know what ta expect for next time. And remember," she added jabbing a finger into Rahne's side playfully.  ‎"Y'all want flyin' lessons, Ah'm happy to provide."

Miles had missed all the fun, as the Dramamine had knocked him right out for most of the ride back. He was still groggy when he descended the ramp. Maybe he could get a quick nap before his next training session. "It's probably not the most embarrassing that'll happen to you here," he offered, yawning. "That, uh, sounded more comforting in my head. Sorry?"

Packing up her medical supplies, Jean glanced over at Miles with a sympathetic smirk then turned back to Rahne. "You did great," she assured her as she grabbed her medical bag and gently squeezed her shoulder as she passed by on her way out of the plane.

"I know it doesn't feel that way, but even though things got rocky you still got through it. You're here. You made it. That's a big deal. There's no need to apologize. We're glad you're here."

Sooraya approached from behind, finally having gathered her own things and following down them down the ramp. "So... what do you think so far?" She asked, grinning at the way Rahne was taking everything in. "How about we drop of your suitcase at your suite and then I will give you a tour and take you to meet Professor Xavier?"

 Doctor Moira said that Professor Xavier was a good man and one she should trust. Rahne took a deep breath and nodded. "Aye, that would be nice," she responded. Especially since it meant getting off the plane. She scuffed her foot slightly, hesitating, before realizing it wasn't like she could stay on the plane forever. They had to use it again, right?

Grabbing her suitcase, she tried to believe in what they were all saying. That she was brave. That she could do this.

She could. She could do this, she thought weakly, taking her first step off the plane.