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Post by Lila Matthews on Jan 23, 2013 16:57:19 GMT -5
January 1st, 8:00 a.m.
The convent's old beat up wood paneled station wagon pulled up the winding drive to the entrance of the Xavier School. Huddled in the backseat beneath a pile of blankets made to look like donations for the poor a girl was hidden.
The sisters had hidden her because she was special. Unique. One of a kind really in what she could do, and power like that had to be protected. They had done their best, but the child had outgrown their care. She needed instruction that they could not provide her, and sanctuary that she would not find in a church.
Pulling to a stop, Sister Mary Agethena spoke to the pile of blankets.
"It will be all right dear. We will go inside first and make sure you will be safe. Then, once we are certain, I will come and fetch you.
"I can blend in with the wall..." Came a soft whisper.
"It's better this way Lila."
Sister got out of the car, straightened her habit, and marched up to the gate to announce her arrival.
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Post by Scott Summers on Jan 24, 2013 13:46:15 GMT -5
As the station wagon pulled up unannounced, Scott Summers was in the kitchen working with the kitchen staff to do some of the school's bookkeeping. Annoying work, but necessary. Suddenly a voice entered his head. *Scott, we have guests arriving in the entryway, can you please see to them?*
Scott put down his notebook and closed his eyes under the ruby glasses. *Absolutely Professor.* He headed for the entryway. Scott Summers was dressed for indoors today, a t-shirt and jeans. He was wearing socks with no shoes as he approached the door. The young man was intrigued when an adult nun was on the doorstep. "Hello there."
He gave her a smile. "I am Scott Summers. How can I help you?" He seriously wondered if the Professor had sent him to greet a door to door bible thumper. What got his interest the most though was if this person was here because of the school, why? Most were kids after all.
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Post by Lila Matthews on Jan 24, 2013 14:14:43 GMT -5
The older nun standing on the porch was indeed above the average age of the students at Xavier's. Honesty shone bright from her brown eyes, and there was a youthful glow about her face. Small laugh lines crinkled at the corners of her eyes.
"Hello and thank you for not shooing us away. I am Sister Mary Agethena of the Sisters of mercy Convent in Manhattan. Our priest in residence, Father Forthill, was told something in the confessional that has brought us to you today."
She smiled, knowing that she sounded like a door to door preacher.
"Our sisters were given a blessing from god almost eighteen years ago. Someone left a baby girl on our doorstep. Father Forthill was told that your school caters to students who are, special. X-tremely special?"
One of the other nuns got out of the wagon and began fiddling with the pile of blankets , removing them as well as some clothes and gathering them into bundles.
"Our donation is quite large!"She called from the backseat open door.
And as slowly as she could manage, Lila slipped from the car, bending the light around herself so that only the tiniest of rippling effects to the area around her was visible as she made her way as stealthily as she could under her "invisible" cover
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Post by Scott Summers on Jan 27, 2013 13:13:36 GMT -5
Scott became suspicious of their reason for being here as he followed the nun out to their car and heard what she had to say. He was curiouser when they mentioned a confession. Now who had dropped that line was of interest. He was even curiouser of their intentions but then they explained. They had become the ward of a mutant child, perhaps its abilities were expanding beyond their control. "You are correct this is a school for those born with extra gifts." Scott's hand went to adjust his glasses.
He watched the shimmering movement, his red vision getting crackles along it. He left it alone for now, his eyes tracking the movements. "I take it you are trying to see if this place matches what you would like for the child." He let them answer.
"Well let me give you a tour of the school and then you can meet our headmaster if you like to hear more. Welcome to Xavier's Instituate for Gifted Youngsters. Its also the ancestral home of our headmaster, Charles Xavier."
He waved them forward and walked the two nuns and their invisible companion into the school. Once they were inside the atrium, he peered around. "Though once purely a residence we have refitted it over the years into a school. I wasn't even sixteen when I first came here. Most of the teachers are former students." He smirked. "The flipside, it tends to be a young crowd."
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Post by Lila Matthews on Jan 28, 2013 11:27:20 GMT -5
Sister Mary Agethena turned to her fellow conspirator and nodded once.
"Lila dear... it's alright, you are safe now." she said to seemingly empty space.
There was a rippling of the light around a vaguely humanoid shape, and then a tall, angelic looking blond girl appeared. From her back protruded large white feathered wings, and her eyes seemed to gaze straight into your soul.
"This is Mr. Summers. Say hello dear."
The girl stared at the floor, and held her hand out timidly for Scott to shake. "Hello, Mr. Summers." She spoke softly.
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Post by Scott Summers on Jan 29, 2013 16:45:26 GMT -5
Scott gave no reaction to the emergence of the figure. He was quite taken by her appearence. He assumed her wings were white and took in the appearence of her face. She was quite a cute thing. "Hello there." He took her hand and tried to meet her gaze. "Its nice to meet you Lila." He smiled to her. "And its Scott to the students, we are all students here in some respect, except the Professor." He gave her a smile. "Can you fly Lila or are the wings decorative?"
He smiled to them. "So what would you like to see first; the classrooms, the common room, or the library?" He smiled to her and let her decide. "And if you want to continue after those three, there is something I would like to show you. As you can imagine as a school for mutants we require special facilities. And I would be happy to show you the three it." He gave a smirk to the nuns. "Vow of silence would be appreciated though."
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Post by Lila Matthews on Jan 30, 2013 19:50:58 GMT -5
"Oh no, I love to fly!" Lila said, perking up almos immediately. "The sisters would take me out to the ocean on the weekends and I would fly so far o over the water that all they could see was a ti y speck of light . I used to think I could fly all the way over the horizion--"
She glanced sideways, her wings coming down a bit to envelop her. "But-- but that was something I was wrong about, I crashed into the water and almost drowned once." Lila's eyes were lowered again and her voice was very timid.
Sister Mary Agethena grimaced. " A man in a fishing boat picked Lila up out of the water. He was her old teacher, and she trusted him. No one expected him to--"
"Sister? Please not now..." Lila whispered.
"Of course dear." Sister Mary Laura said. "I think a tour would be lovely, mr. Summers. And we are acting under the seal of confession so no vows are necessary. Except for the one of chastity, of course. You -do- understand the concept of chastity, don't you?"
Lila bit her bottom lip hard, her eyes filled with tears of fright as she began to recall the faint bits and pieces of memories from that horrid incident....
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Post by Scott Summers on Feb 2, 2013 10:49:21 GMT -5
Scott smiled as the girl spoke, so happily, of flying across the waves. That must be something. And then she got a nice dose of gravity. Internally, Scott shuddered, the sensation of his body tumbling through the sky towards a canvas of the ground below him, his fears giving way to... ruby light.
He was about to say something rather formula like when the conversation took... a potentially dark tone. He didn't ask for details, not today anyway. If she stayed perhaps. He decided to take attention off the girl instead. "My own ability has few utilities. See the stylish glasses on my head aren't for fashion. My eyes emit, uncontrolled, energy blasts capable of blowing holes in cement walls. The lens of the glasses are capable of negating the energy." Scott's hand went to his glasses and adjusted them. "My body absorbs the energy so I can close my eyes to stop it but that's about it." Scott shrugged, his attitude about it was matter of fact. If he had an ill feelings towards the limitation his mutant gift imposed upon him, they were unapparent and unexpressed.
He smirked to the nun and her final comment. "Understand and respect, yes. Share, no thank you." He made the comment light and jovial. "What she chooses for herself is her choice. I will protect her from anyone who would choose to choose for her." Scott pronounced.
He then smiled warmly. "Let's start with the classrooms and then the library. Along with the main staircase." He pointed to the large grand staircase, "there are two stairwells in both wings. On the opposite side's wing from the classrooms is the faculty offices. Above the classrooms is the dorms and above the offices is the faculty apartments. As I said, for most of us." He put his hand on his chest. "This is home." In his voice was a comfort and love for the place.
The classrooms were mostly in newly built wing onto the school/mansion. White/biege walls with state of the art equipment. "Most of this wing was added onto the mansion. When it was just a handful of us, we used the bedrooms on the opposite side and the offices were the classrooms." He stopped for questions.
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Post by Lila Matthews on Feb 3, 2013 22:46:29 GMT -5
The more Mr Summ--Scott,.. the more Scott spoke, the more that Lila decided she liked him. He was up front and honest, blunt and to the point.
She felt safe with him, and unconsciously slipped her hand into Scott's. It was different than things had been with--
Lila refused to even think that name right now. She felt safe and that was what was important.
The sisters seemed to want to trust Mr. Summers as well. They admired everything as the tour went on from the library to the swimming pool.
Lila listened intently as Scott spoke, her inquistive eyes taking in and devouring every detail.
"Is there a musical center?" Lila asked quietly. "I learned to play in the convent. I-- I have my own piano, but I dont need to bring it if there isn't room..."
Sister Mary Agethena smiled softly. Lila was considering the school, if she was thinking about room for the old battered white baby grand.
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Post by Scott Summers on Feb 4, 2013 11:53:43 GMT -5
Scott noticed how the shy angel slipped her hand into his and smiled to her. He wondered how many positive male role models she had in her life. He held her hand, just enough to let her know that he appreciated the gesture.
Scott listened to her as they reached the stairwell in front of the library. "We have a music classroom, if you can send me the size and dimensions of your piano I will see if it possible to have it placed here, either in your room or in the attic 'storage' room." They climbed the stairs to the second floor.
Scott opened a door with the sign 'model' on the front. "While its uncommon that we have to tout the school to a potential student, we do have it happen enough that we made a model room for the prospects to view." It was not an abnormal dorm room really. Two beds on flanking sides of the room. Two closets on the corners of the room towards the door. A desk by the foots of the beds for schoolwork, and a single window. This one looked out to the pool area.
Scott turned to the Sisters. "A good plurality of our students are individuals who have run away from home either out of rejection there or to protect those families they left behind when their powers emerged. As I said, its uncommon for us to handle this like a normal private school... but... it happens." Scott reflected that him and Jean were two sides of the coin. Jean had come here with the expressed support of her family. Scott didn't have a coin. But still, there were others.
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Post by Lila Matthews on Feb 5, 2013 23:20:49 GMT -5
Lila looked around, and she seemed to glow with excitement. She had been dreaming of somewhere that she wouldn't have to hide, could just be herself and care for the people around her; helping as best she could when asked.
More and more Xaviers was looking to be that place.
She listened eagerly as Scott talked about how many mutants were in situations like her, where they had no family for one reason or another. She liked where that was leaning.
"So-- in a sense you are each other's family. Yes?" Lila asked tentatively.
She took a seat on the windowsill, the sunlight framing her and her body absorbing the light like a halo or aura.
"Maybe-- maybe I could find a family...here?"
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Post by Scott Summers on Feb 8, 2013 12:54:13 GMT -5
Scott smiled to the girl as she crawled into the windowstill and perched there. He liked what she was saying. "That's basically what we try to do. You will get the lone wolves, the ones who don't want to work with others. They have their reasons and the most important thing is to give them a hand when they need it... and let them do their own thing... as long as it furthers what they need to be doing." He smirked at the last part of that.
Scott grabbed a chair and moved to sit down next to Lila. He did it back to front, his legs straddling the back of the seat. "I think you would do well here. The Institute is all about trying to help us learn how to function and prosper in everyday society. But its also about safety. Its about this place being a safe haven."
Scott rose up and smiled to them. "Well then, if you would like, I can take you to meet the Professor." He said to the Sisters. "If you would like to go as well, that's fine, but if you want to see some of the training centers, I would be happy to show you Lila." He said to her softly.
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Post by Lila Matthews on Feb 11, 2013 8:23:18 GMT -5
Sister Mary Agethena smiled and ushered her fellow associates out of the room and down to the Professor's office. She was fairly certain that once Mr. Summers was finished showing Lila the training centers they would join them. Lila gave Scott her slow, tentative smile. The light around her seemed warmer, and she nodded to Scott agreeably. "I'd like that very much." She said softly. Once the sisters had left, Lila seemed to relax a bit more. "They mean well. They're just so-- scared. After what happened at my last school." her eyes were on her hands, pale and small. "I like it here though. But I don't really get to decide...where I go I mean. I am their ward, they have final say."
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Post by Scott Summers on Mar 22, 2013 13:29:04 GMT -5
Scott nodded to Lila's words and sat down on a nearby windowstill. "I get that from them. Points of view aside, I think that they are nice people and do care about you. Hopefully the choice they think is right for you and the choice you would make is the same." He smiled to her. "C'mon I will show you the Danger Room."He walked over to a wall panel and reached behind a display case that was behind it. The panel slid open and revealed an illuminated white elevator car behind it. He stepped in and waved her over. "There are parts of the school that we keep hidden. As I said, this is all kind of special in our campus."------- Charles Xavier sat behind his desk in his wheelchair in a brown jacket and black undershirt. "Good day Sisters. I am Professor Charles Xavier, headmaster of this school." He smiled to them. "I am glad you wished to speak with me about Miss. Matthews."He sipped his cup of tea and looked to them. "I believe my first question, so I can best help you all and understand what you want, what does yourselves and Lila want for her in her future?"
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Post by Lila Matthews on Apr 24, 2013 9:23:32 GMT -5
Lila smiled at Scott as he spoke. There was something just so--earnest about him. She felt instantly like she could trust him.
Taking his hand, the shy little angel let him lead her to the Danger Room. The name itself inspired images of fires and floods. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't just a little bit scared.
"Why do you call it the Danger Room?"
***
"Thank you Professor." Sister Mary Agethena said with a smile. "And I think it is safe to say that more than anything we want Lila to be safe and protected. She has lived such a sheltered existence with us, but there are things that we can not give her. We learned that the hard way."
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