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xp_logsMadin and Nica's first meeting doesn't end so well.
Another day of classes done, an hour before she was due in the Danger Room... Nica was mentally reviewing her schedule as she lightly climbed the stairs up to the residential floors. Being able to fly at high speeds made her commute so much easier, she really didn't know how she'd manage otherwise...
Madin was on their way downstairs to grab some food - their room had a kitchenette, sure but they still needed food for that to be much use. Heading down the stairs with more speed than was entirely advisable, they nearly crashed into Nica, flattening themself against the wall to avoid a collision.
"Shit, sorry. You okay?"
"No, totally my fault - I was miles away," Nica replied with a laugh. "Besides, you wouldn't have done me any damage - I tend to ghost most of the time once I get home, it means I can pick up more EM fields." Then she stopped, realising she was talking to one of the newcomers who probably had no idea what she was talking about. "Sorry, let's start again. I'm Nica. Welcome to Xavier's." She put out a hand for Madin to shake.
It occurred to Madin that - as much as this place was A Lot, it was probably so much worse if you weren't used to mutants. They smiled and shook hands. "Madin and uh, thanks." There was a moment's pause and Madin followed up with "I'm just getting something to eat. Do you want to...?" She was cute and so far, seemed less overtly threatening than Maya - at least Nica wasn't actively a guard. It would be good to have some people on side.
"Oh, I love your accent!" Nica responded eagerly. "It's adorable!" Then she realised she'd been asked a question and she nodded. "Sure, I could eat. And show you where the kitchen is, if that's something you could use?"
Was that an insult or a complement? Complement. Had to be. Right? "Yeah nah. This sheila called Maya showed me where it was the other day," Madin said, exaggerating the accent. Shit, I just said sheila. What the fuck. I'm not doing Crocodile Dundee. I'm doing Sexy Australian. "Now, I just gotta check, is it true what she was saying about the cameras in the hallways?" Madin waved at the ceiling. "Because they're clearly well hidden or she was bullshitting me." The money was still on cameras. You didn't just have a giant fuck off mansion full of mutants and let everyone come there without good security. God, coming here was such a fucking mistake.
"For someone who says she hates people, Maya is very social," Nica remarked with a grin. "As for the cameras... well, it would be kind of negligent if they didn't have some security, right? I mean, mansion full of mutants... I don't want to scare you, but there are people out there who want to hurt us. For the most part, our safety is in our secrecy - I mean, we don't advertise we're here or anything. But just in case that's not enough, we have the whole state of the art security thing. There's a guy here, they call him Forge. His powers mean he can invent things, so he's been working on the tech here." She glanced anxiously at Madin. "I hope this doesn't put you off?"
Madin snorted. "Babe, I've been working with mutants screwed over by human society. I know there's people who want to hurt mutants, even in America. But, just, for the record, I feel like the whole 'not advertising' part is full of shit. I just want to check - I can leave when I want, right? Maya's whole security guard thing has me wondering if I'll be allowed to leave when I want to. I mean, I've seen your base. Are you just going to let me leave?"
Nica flushed and coughed, embarrassed. "Oh god, I was totally patronising. I'm so sorry. Of course you can leave. No-one's a prisoner here and if you don't want to stay, you don't have to."
"You're fine. I just want to be sure I know where I stand, you know? Special rules that will get you in trouble, if I can leave, all of that." Madin listened to themself say that and realised it sounded a little crazy. "I'm Australian," they said as a way to move back from crazyland. "Our government fucking hates mutants and if I sound all crazy it's because something like this place would never be allowed to happen there."
"It's that bad there? I had no idea." Nica was kicking herself for not knowing more about the political situation in Australia. Some political science major she was. "Well, it's not like that here. About the only weird sort of rule we have is that we all have to carry our Xavier's phones on us all the time, just in case. But that wouldn't apply to you if you wanted to leave," she hastily added. "It's only for those of us living here."
Of course she didn't know. "Yeah nah. It's fully fucked over there. I'll um. Remember the phone thing."
Nica winced. "We don't get a lot of news from Australia here," she admitted. "Not that it's an excuse - there's the internet and doing my own research and stuff. And of course, mutant conditions aren't exactly top of the list in our history classes," she added wryly. "How did you end up here?"
What did you even say to that? Madin went with the easiest version of the story, the one that you could say without maybe getting in trouble. "Well, things were a bit shit after I turned purple," and that was with an easy grin, "I - all my friends, you know, we'd be like, running amok a bit and then, well, you know? I got in trouble and was sent to Port Hedland detention and then down to Woomera because I was a dangerous mutant."
Deep breath, "And some friends got me out of there eventually and I ended up leaving the country after that, and I guess I've just been travelling since then. And uh, I blew up some police cars the other day. And yeah, it was fucked and it was this real ego thing. I shoulda known better, you know? But I had to leave Chicago after that."
"Damn, that's awful." It was on the tip of her tongue to ask about their parents' reaction to things, but she could read between the lines and chose to be tactful. "At least you had friends to help you out. And I don't want to seem like the crazy cult recruiter, but you've landed on a good thing at Xavier's. The Professor - he's not here any more, but his whole tenet for this place is about giving people second chances and the opportunity to be more."
Madin shrugged noncommittally. "Yeah, sure."
Nica grimaced. Total crazy cult recruiter, whoops. So she changed tack. "Do you mind if I ask what your powers are? You said something about blowing stuff up?"
"Well, there's this," Madin gestured at their face. "We figured that was all it was for a few months and then we discovered I could make bio plasma. Funny story, it was my last day of school and I was pretty shitty about the whole purple thing, got real emotional and the next thing you know, I've punched a hole in the side of the one of the portables and yeah. Then I got expelled. Actually not that funny, really."
"Not so much," she agreed sympathetically. She wasn't sure what a "portable" was but schools didn't tend to appreciate property damage. "I think one of the adults here has a sort of bio-plasma thing too."
"Oh really?" Madin nodded. "Huh." The rest of what Nica had said sank in and Madin turned to eyeball her. "You got kids here? No offence but that's kinda fucked."
"Why?" Nica looked confused. "I mean, we don't have any kids here at the moment, but I came here when I was fifteen, and there was a bunch of us. Kids who needed training, or couldn't be at home, or who needed a safe place. Some stayed on, others left and went out to live pretty normal lives."
"I don't know. I just. It's just. This place is really high security. You're expecting trouble. You got fuck knows what kinda people here but sure, bring some kids. Like, maybe the X-Men can teach them how to fight."
Nica was quiet for a few moments as they continued down the hall to the kitchen. "I understand what you mean," she said at last. "And no, it's not the safest place in the world, no matter how much they've tried to make it be. But sometimes there's not a lot of choices. Sure there's the Underground, but they can't manage the kind of training some of the kids need. Or the mental health care some of the others have needed. They try to make sure the people here aren't going to deliberately hurt anyone - there's magic wards on the building which would stop anyone like that from coming in, plus a whole team of spies running background checks and the telepaths scanning for evil mind parasites and whatever else. But yeah, sometimes things happen. But when they do, this is also the best place to deal with it, and to teach the kids how to take care of themselves." She shrugged. "Imperfect system, I know, but it's better than some of the alternatives, like being snatched up by the Brotherhood and being turned into a weapon."
Madin stared at her for a long moment. "You have telepaths here just going through people's heads? And spies? You know that's absolutely fucked, right? Like, yeah, bring the kids in, teach them to fight and then just spy on their fucking thoughts, but it's fine, because you're the good guys and look after people. Do you have any idea how fucked this sounds?"
They turned away. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'll uh. I'm just gonna leave you to it."
Nica watched Madin turning away and bit her lip. So much for the welcome wagon - she'd actually made matters worse, it seemed. "Damnit," she muttered under her breath. Aloud, she added: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so... awful. Just... if you decide to stay at all and you need someone to show where something is, I'm around?" It sounded pretty lame as she said it, but she had to try. She was a fixer, after all.
Another day of classes done, an hour before she was due in the Danger Room... Nica was mentally reviewing her schedule as she lightly climbed the stairs up to the residential floors. Being able to fly at high speeds made her commute so much easier, she really didn't know how she'd manage otherwise...
Madin was on their way downstairs to grab some food - their room had a kitchenette, sure but they still needed food for that to be much use. Heading down the stairs with more speed than was entirely advisable, they nearly crashed into Nica, flattening themself against the wall to avoid a collision.
"Shit, sorry. You okay?"
"No, totally my fault - I was miles away," Nica replied with a laugh. "Besides, you wouldn't have done me any damage - I tend to ghost most of the time once I get home, it means I can pick up more EM fields." Then she stopped, realising she was talking to one of the newcomers who probably had no idea what she was talking about. "Sorry, let's start again. I'm Nica. Welcome to Xavier's." She put out a hand for Madin to shake.
It occurred to Madin that - as much as this place was A Lot, it was probably so much worse if you weren't used to mutants. They smiled and shook hands. "Madin and uh, thanks." There was a moment's pause and Madin followed up with "I'm just getting something to eat. Do you want to...?" She was cute and so far, seemed less overtly threatening than Maya - at least Nica wasn't actively a guard. It would be good to have some people on side.
"Oh, I love your accent!" Nica responded eagerly. "It's adorable!" Then she realised she'd been asked a question and she nodded. "Sure, I could eat. And show you where the kitchen is, if that's something you could use?"
Was that an insult or a complement? Complement. Had to be. Right? "Yeah nah. This sheila called Maya showed me where it was the other day," Madin said, exaggerating the accent. Shit, I just said sheila. What the fuck. I'm not doing Crocodile Dundee. I'm doing Sexy Australian. "Now, I just gotta check, is it true what she was saying about the cameras in the hallways?" Madin waved at the ceiling. "Because they're clearly well hidden or she was bullshitting me." The money was still on cameras. You didn't just have a giant fuck off mansion full of mutants and let everyone come there without good security. God, coming here was such a fucking mistake.
"For someone who says she hates people, Maya is very social," Nica remarked with a grin. "As for the cameras... well, it would be kind of negligent if they didn't have some security, right? I mean, mansion full of mutants... I don't want to scare you, but there are people out there who want to hurt us. For the most part, our safety is in our secrecy - I mean, we don't advertise we're here or anything. But just in case that's not enough, we have the whole state of the art security thing. There's a guy here, they call him Forge. His powers mean he can invent things, so he's been working on the tech here." She glanced anxiously at Madin. "I hope this doesn't put you off?"
Madin snorted. "Babe, I've been working with mutants screwed over by human society. I know there's people who want to hurt mutants, even in America. But, just, for the record, I feel like the whole 'not advertising' part is full of shit. I just want to check - I can leave when I want, right? Maya's whole security guard thing has me wondering if I'll be allowed to leave when I want to. I mean, I've seen your base. Are you just going to let me leave?"
Nica flushed and coughed, embarrassed. "Oh god, I was totally patronising. I'm so sorry. Of course you can leave. No-one's a prisoner here and if you don't want to stay, you don't have to."
"You're fine. I just want to be sure I know where I stand, you know? Special rules that will get you in trouble, if I can leave, all of that." Madin listened to themself say that and realised it sounded a little crazy. "I'm Australian," they said as a way to move back from crazyland. "Our government fucking hates mutants and if I sound all crazy it's because something like this place would never be allowed to happen there."
"It's that bad there? I had no idea." Nica was kicking herself for not knowing more about the political situation in Australia. Some political science major she was. "Well, it's not like that here. About the only weird sort of rule we have is that we all have to carry our Xavier's phones on us all the time, just in case. But that wouldn't apply to you if you wanted to leave," she hastily added. "It's only for those of us living here."
Of course she didn't know. "Yeah nah. It's fully fucked over there. I'll um. Remember the phone thing."
Nica winced. "We don't get a lot of news from Australia here," she admitted. "Not that it's an excuse - there's the internet and doing my own research and stuff. And of course, mutant conditions aren't exactly top of the list in our history classes," she added wryly. "How did you end up here?"
What did you even say to that? Madin went with the easiest version of the story, the one that you could say without maybe getting in trouble. "Well, things were a bit shit after I turned purple," and that was with an easy grin, "I - all my friends, you know, we'd be like, running amok a bit and then, well, you know? I got in trouble and was sent to Port Hedland detention and then down to Woomera because I was a dangerous mutant."
Deep breath, "And some friends got me out of there eventually and I ended up leaving the country after that, and I guess I've just been travelling since then. And uh, I blew up some police cars the other day. And yeah, it was fucked and it was this real ego thing. I shoulda known better, you know? But I had to leave Chicago after that."
"Damn, that's awful." It was on the tip of her tongue to ask about their parents' reaction to things, but she could read between the lines and chose to be tactful. "At least you had friends to help you out. And I don't want to seem like the crazy cult recruiter, but you've landed on a good thing at Xavier's. The Professor - he's not here any more, but his whole tenet for this place is about giving people second chances and the opportunity to be more."
Madin shrugged noncommittally. "Yeah, sure."
Nica grimaced. Total crazy cult recruiter, whoops. So she changed tack. "Do you mind if I ask what your powers are? You said something about blowing stuff up?"
"Well, there's this," Madin gestured at their face. "We figured that was all it was for a few months and then we discovered I could make bio plasma. Funny story, it was my last day of school and I was pretty shitty about the whole purple thing, got real emotional and the next thing you know, I've punched a hole in the side of the one of the portables and yeah. Then I got expelled. Actually not that funny, really."
"Not so much," she agreed sympathetically. She wasn't sure what a "portable" was but schools didn't tend to appreciate property damage. "I think one of the adults here has a sort of bio-plasma thing too."
"Oh really?" Madin nodded. "Huh." The rest of what Nica had said sank in and Madin turned to eyeball her. "You got kids here? No offence but that's kinda fucked."
"Why?" Nica looked confused. "I mean, we don't have any kids here at the moment, but I came here when I was fifteen, and there was a bunch of us. Kids who needed training, or couldn't be at home, or who needed a safe place. Some stayed on, others left and went out to live pretty normal lives."
"I don't know. I just. It's just. This place is really high security. You're expecting trouble. You got fuck knows what kinda people here but sure, bring some kids. Like, maybe the X-Men can teach them how to fight."
Nica was quiet for a few moments as they continued down the hall to the kitchen. "I understand what you mean," she said at last. "And no, it's not the safest place in the world, no matter how much they've tried to make it be. But sometimes there's not a lot of choices. Sure there's the Underground, but they can't manage the kind of training some of the kids need. Or the mental health care some of the others have needed. They try to make sure the people here aren't going to deliberately hurt anyone - there's magic wards on the building which would stop anyone like that from coming in, plus a whole team of spies running background checks and the telepaths scanning for evil mind parasites and whatever else. But yeah, sometimes things happen. But when they do, this is also the best place to deal with it, and to teach the kids how to take care of themselves." She shrugged. "Imperfect system, I know, but it's better than some of the alternatives, like being snatched up by the Brotherhood and being turned into a weapon."
Madin stared at her for a long moment. "You have telepaths here just going through people's heads? And spies? You know that's absolutely fucked, right? Like, yeah, bring the kids in, teach them to fight and then just spy on their fucking thoughts, but it's fine, because you're the good guys and look after people. Do you have any idea how fucked this sounds?"
They turned away. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'll uh. I'm just gonna leave you to it."
Nica watched Madin turning away and bit her lip. So much for the welcome wagon - she'd actually made matters worse, it seemed. "Damnit," she muttered under her breath. Aloud, she added: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so... awful. Just... if you decide to stay at all and you need someone to show where something is, I'm around?" It sounded pretty lame as she said it, but she had to try. She was a fixer, after all.
