Kyle and Rahne, teaching and classes and education and being pointy - backdated to Sept

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Rahne seeks out Kyle so she can meet her new teacher, and finds him friendly, pointy and just a little strange. Which describes a lot of the Xavier's experience really.



"Mr. Kyle?" Rahne called, sticking her head out the door to look around the porch. He'd wanted to talk to her about schooling and the idea of going to public school had made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn't spot him at first but a quick sniff of the air told her he was out there. Rahne covered her nose in embarrassment, realizing that Mr. Kyle could probably hear her smelling for him and oh God, she was just going to slowly go back inside now...

"Miss Rahne?" Kyle rolled out of the hanging hammock, feet first, with an amused grin. "I mean, that's only fair, right? If you're gonna be semi-formal about this." The ragged jeans, t-shirt and bare feet didn't scream "teacher" but the calm half-smile did. "Hey, first things first, I bet I smelled you coming before you smelled me, so if you're gonna hide, then I'm gonna have to hide and hide and seek isn't on the Regents exam." He held up a finger, claw out. "But we'd rock it if it did."

She giggled and dropped her hand. "I was always really good at hide and seek," Rahne said proudly, "even before I knew why. But I think ye'd be better at it than me." Rahne stepped out onto the porch, feeling slightly less embarrassed. She looked at his finger and her eyes widened slightly. "Oh! Ye weren't kidding. Ye do have claws like my kitties back home."

"Yep, and a mouth full of pointy teeth." Kyle said, and grinned - showing not quite a mouth full of pointy teeth, but a double set of pointy canines top and bottom. "Hi, I'm Kyle Gibney, I've got a degree in teaching, a minor in English, and a doctorate in bobbing for apples, or oranges, or mangos, you know, anything fruity in a bucket of water."

For a minute, she looked confused and then she realized it was a joke and couldn't help but giggle behind her hands. "I think Dr. Moira might like to hear about that doctorate," Rahne said. "But yer a teacher for real? Do ye teach at the public school that all the other kids are going to? They ... they said I don't have to go for a while."

"I could, I'm like - certified, but..." Kyle pulled his hair back off his ears. "I'd have to go all image inducer, and okay, maybe for the ears and teeth sure, but the first time I shake someone's hand or rip out my shoes?" He flexed his toes, and the claws on his feet slid in and out slightly. "So, here I am, all setup to tutor any of you kids who might have the same problem." The conversation with Professor Xavier was... a little pointed, but not much.

After realizing she was still mostly standing in the door, Rahne made her way over to one of the rocking chairs and plopped down. Rocking the chair created a slight breeze, something she was more than happy to find out. America was hot and sticky. No one had told her that!

"That's got to be tough! I hate that because we're different, people can't do what they love doing!" Rahne rocked extra hard for a moment to show her frustration along with the scowl on her face. Then she remembered herself and smiled sheepishly. "I am glad ye'll be here to tutor me, though. I'm scared of going to school and just ... poof." She flapped her hands around a little bit. "Wolf. In history class."

"I had a guy turn into a tree in class once." Well kinda, Frank turned into wood but Rahne didn't need to know that. "When you go all fuzzy, you still understand English, right? So, we'll switch to something else if you're a note-taking kinda kid. If you're a 'listen and then re-read the book' kinda kid, we'll just keep on keepin on." Kyle shrugged like it wasn't any big thing. Because it wasn't. "And if all else fails, we'll take a break and go swimming. You get Phys Ed too."

Someone turned into a tree? Okay, that sounded kind of awful. At least a wolf could move! "Aye! I understand English just fine when I'm in wolf form. I think normally, too, I just can't ..." Rahne thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "A muzzle isn't good for talking, so I can't. And I'm just me, just fuzzy and four legged." That was a point she was desperate to get people to understand. Scaring someone was something that she was really worried about.

"I know how to swim when I'm me but ... are wolves good swimmers?"

"I bet if you went all teen wolf and jumped in the lake, you'd doggy paddle like a pro." Everyone Kyle knew who'd ever turned into a wolf or dog could. "I got this, you're not the weirdest kid I've taught, and real small classes means a lot of one on one attention, which means if you lose a few hours due to..." Kyle shrugged, and pointed at his ears, and then his teeth. "Being pointier than I am, eh, we'll figure it out."

"I wonder how terrible I'd smell," Rahne wondered aloud, getting distracted. She realized she was wandering mentally and shook herself. Reverend Craig had taught her to pay attention, especially to adults! Focusing again, she turned back to Kyle and nodded. "Thank ye. I was so scared they'd just dump me in the public school and it's been forever since I was in a regular school. And that was before the, ye know..."

She bared her teeth slightly and slumped against the rocking chair.

Kyle couldn't help the amused chuckle. "Grr. Yeah, I know unexpected grr. We'll work it out. For honest and real, dumping you straight into the public schools if you've been home schooling'd probably screw you up anyway. I mean, you get, what, a decade of History of Kilts and then we try to throw you at "Teddy Roosevelt was so freaking cool, you guys, really." and you're like "Who? Is that a giant bear?" and then it's all downhill from there."

Rahne starting giggling so hard the chair under her rocked. "What about bears in kilts?" she asked, bouncing in her chair. "I think if Reverend Craig had taught me about bears in kilts, the world might have ended." It was strange how she could miss him but be happy at the mansion at the same time.

"Okay, so we got a rough plan." Kyle said, with a grin. He'd been nervous - far more nervous than he usually was about anything, up to and including walking into stupid situations that got him set on fire - but this was feeling like it would work. "I owe Professor Xavier some lesson plans, since we gotta figure out how we're gonna work around the part where you don't want me teaching you math, I had a legit genius tutoring me to pull out B minuses, and since we're doing a tiny class, you kinda get a say." He held up a hand, and despite the scruff and torn jeans, in that moment he was all high school teacher. "Kinda. I mean I don't see you as the kind of kid to try to talk me into really terrible Literature class decisions or mentos in coke bottles as science class, but if you've got thoughts, I've got ears."

The idea she had some say in what she was being taught was so weird to her but ... it also made Rahne feel really good. "I'm glad I only get kinda," she admitted, uncertain that she could fill an entire day with lessons. "Maths aren't my favorite but I really like the sciences, like chemistry! But real chemistry, no coke bottles, promise." Rahne was relaxed and no longer looked or felt nervous. "Ye wouldn't happen to do music class, would ye?"

"Not unless you want to spend an hour every week helping me dig through the five dollar bin at a hipster music store." Kyle's grin was broad and toothy and friendly. "But, part of my job is to figure out who'll fill in for the stuff I can't do and supervise, so even if we've got, I dunno, that Cho kid teaching you math, there's a real teacher in the room. So I can work on finding a music person for you."

At that, Rahne positively beamed. "Oh good! They nearly gave up on me in music until we figured out I'm rubbish at everything but singing. Oh ..." Her smile faltered as she gestured at herself and her voice dropped to a mumble. "What about the wolf stuff? How ... is that part of the teaching ye do? Or is that something else?"

What she wanted to do was forget she was a mutant but Rahne wasn't stupid, she knew that was never going to go away. So the next best thing was figuring out how to control the change.

Kyle nodded. "Might call in some extra help there, for the actually like, shifting your shape, but most of that'll be me, at least for the how to make it fun and useful parts. Once you've got it in the bag, uh, I guess the Gen-X peeps'll take over, I dunno. I haven't, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish. "So talking to one of them is on my to do list, suddenly, to find out how that'll work."

"Okay." Her feet nudged the porch floor in front of her as she tried to drag her thoughts away from being stupid and sad about her powers. Rahne gave Kyle a side glance as she asked, "You don't go all full on grr but do ye have ... any good wolf-y running spots in the woods staked out? I hope ye have a lint roller..."

"I have a cat, and my girlfriend has a bushy squirrel tail, I order lint rollers in bulk from Costco." Kyle said - and then shook his hair. "Plus, you know, this mop attached to my head. And oh wow, do I ever have like, running trails out there. Most of 'em are marked, even. There's glow in the dark tags or stakes, we're like, organized about this, I might even still have a really poorly drawn map." A flash of something - not quite sadness, more like angry regret - flashed over his face, and then he blinked a few times and it was gone. "How are you at art, because if you're any better than me... " He held up a hand, claws out. "These, and pencils? Are not friends. You should have seen me taking the SAT's."

There was someone here with a squirrels tail?! Rahne wanted to ask but it'd be rude so she tried to get past that. Failed, somewhat, but tried.

She did laugh at the last part, looking happier again than her moment of mutant power angst. "I like paints. I'm nay good with pencils though I have less of an excuse than ye do! But paints are fun because there's nothing I have to draw and I can make a mess and it's not on purpose but it's kind of on purpose." Rahne tilted her head at him. "This actually sounds like it'll be way more fun than school's ever been. Is that good?"

Kyle nodded - and sat up straighter. This was his thing - his element, and what he was obviously into. Everything about how he talked, sat, moved seemed like he'd thrown off a shadow. "It's pretty good. I mean, I have like a whole. theory about learning and how it sticks more if you're having a decent time, instead of like, trying to force it. You know, if you're not engaged, it's just not going to stay in your head. Probably gonna outsource art though, but I got a few people I can talk to for that. So, you'll get me for history and literature and uh, whatever science you're on unless it's chem, and we'll figure out tutors for the rest. But I think we're gonna keep you on kind of a flexible schedule as long as it works for you. That way you're working with the wolf thing. Cause, I think if you're not stressed about it wrecking, I dunno, fifth period history or something, it might be easier to get a handle on when and where it's gonna happen."

He shook himself then, and frowned. "Okay, wow that was kind of a lot of... info to dump on you all at once?"

Rahne's eyes had grown wide as Kyle had gotten more and more into what he was saying but she was smiling, even while looking overwhelmed. "Oh, aye, it was a lot! But it makes sense!" And it was clear even to her that he'd really put a lot of thought into it and, for a moment, she was burning with curiosity - he was going to teach her, right? So why wasn't he actually teaching?

But she bit her tongue, knowing it wasn't polite to ask when he hadn't volunteered. Curiosity had been encouraged by Reverend Craig but that was too close to prying. "I'm looking forward to yer classes," she said instead and she meant it, very much. "I haven't been excited for school since I went all fluffy."

"I'm pretty into it myself. You'll be the smallest class I've ever had, but I think we can make it work." Kyle said. "I mean literally, you're shorter than anyone else I've ever taught." He actually wasn't sure if that was true, but the joke was dumb-joke-funny. "Oh. Oh, one little tiny thing. How do you feel about donuts? Because I'm pretty sure I can't teach you if you have a serious donut phobia."