fandomhigh | Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, May 10, 3rd period]

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try not to die

Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, May 10, 3rd period]

Today, Anakin was a little bit grateful for the cloak he habitually wore as he waited for his class to arrive outside on the border between Fandom and the Viking village. It was a little chilly for a guy who grew up in the desert.

"The island has given us too great an opportunity to ignore today in this course," Anakin told them as his robe flapped occasionally in the breeze in front of a sturdy little clue box. "You will have to complete two tasks today that will hopefully teach you a little bit more about the Vikings and their traditions. Try not to die!"

With that he stepped out of the way of the clue box.

[OOC: You'll need the OCD. ~~Please hold!~~ Go go go!]

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"No!" Angelica said quickly when she realized she'd been caught staring. "They're not! I-I just, um....I've just never seen someone with wings like that. In person I mean."

Her face turned almost as red as her hair in embarrassment.

"What, you've seen them out-of-person?" Warren offered her a tiny smile, relieved, at least, that she wasn't technically freaking out or anything. Being intrigued, that wasn't so bad. "I'm not an angel or anything, if that's what you're thinking."

He'd had a few people ask that one since he'd first come here.

"On TV," Angelica clarified. "He was one of the X-Men." Or used to be, since he hadn't been there when Empath had made her help attack them. "They're mutants...like you?"

He'd told Jocelyn he was, so she hoped she wasn't going to make him mad by saying that.

Warren took a deep breath, and then nodded a little bit.

Hey, look. Another Warren out there somewhere. He was starting to lose count, now.

"Yeah, I'm a mutant," he confirmed. "I'm not one of Xavier's, though. I'm not all that big on the idea of wearing spandex."

Also true!

Angelica could totally rock spandex! But Hellion Pink with her red hair was just a fashion faux pas.

"And you don't have to hide that here?" Angelica said. She'd already definitely gotten that impression, but it was another thing to have it so blatantly demonstrated in front of her. And if he knew who Charles Xavier was, then he definitely knew how mutants were generally treated.

Oh, and how.

"Not like I do back home," he agreed, biting his lip. "I mean, I tried to for a while, there. And I still do, if we're making trips to the mainland. But around here, it isn't like I'm the only one who doesn't really fit into the whole definition of 'normal,' either. Once they get used to the featherdust, nobody really cares."

And that was very, very nice to be able to say.

"They're very pretty," Angelica said. "And it's good that you don't have to hide them here. It's not nice how people treat you just for being different."

She still wasn't sure she could just come out and admit that she was a mutant, too -- as if she wasn't obvious enough about it. Emma had told her to do her best to fit in and be normal, but if being different was normal, then didn't that mean she should tell people what she was?

"No," Warren agreed, his smile straining for a moment at the mention of how people generally were. But damn it, he managed to make it hold. "It's really not."

People were... Well. He dreaded what would happen in a year, when he had to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Going back there wasn't really at the top of his list of priorities.

"I'm Warren, by the way," he added, offering her his hand.

After melting the bracelet during the detour earlier, Angelica was even more apprehensive about hurting someone with her powers. She hesitated a second, then took the offered hand and shook it very quickly before pulling her hand back. "I'm Angelica," she said. "I met Jocelyn when I was waiting for the shuttle bus. You're her Big Brother, right?"

"I am," Warren replied, considering that quick handshake before his smile went perhaps a touch more sympathetic. "She mentioned you to me, actually. After I explained the wings."

In case she was worried that she was going to have to keep some sort of huge secret from him. He dropped his voice a little bit, so that their classmates (and the squirrels) wouldn't hear.

"I won't tell."

"W-won't tell?" Angelica stammered. She was so smooth, how could anyone possibly guess she was a mutant? She'd been able to hide it more easily from the students at West Morris High and the normal humans at the Academy, but she hadn't exactly gone around asking questions like this to anyone there.

"Won't tell what? You can tell?"

Warren shrugged a little.

"You're kind of obvious about it," he noted, softly. "I mean, I know what to look for. I wore a jacket around for about a week before giving up and actually stretching. And you have no idea how good it felt, too."

It had been his first real stretch in ten years. He'd needed it. Desperately.

"Plus, Jocelyn kind of mentioned you were one."

So, you weren't completely obvious about it, Angelica. Did that help?

"I haven't been as careful as I should because everyone's been so nice and Jocelyn told me you were a mutant and didn't have to lie about it," Angelica said, twisting the bracelet on her wrist nervously. "I hope Ms. Frost doesn't get mad at me."

"Who, Emma?" Warren blinked. And then he shook his head a little. "She's always been pretty good," or, rather, pretty militant, "about encouraging mutants to be proud of who they are. I don't see why she'd be angry at you for doing just that, especially in a place where it's safe to."

"Do you know her?" Angelica said eagerly. "She took me from my old school in New Jersey and brought me to the Massachusetts Academy to help me learn to control my powers so I don't hurt anyone with them. But I still have to be careful and not let the normal students find out about me."

"Well, good luck finding some normal students to be careful around," Warren replied, chuckling a little. "Between the mutants, witches, fairies, werewolves, Jedi, sorceresses..."

He could just keep going for a while.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Angelica."

"There's more than just you and me here?" Angelica said. She was still awed by the possibility of not having to hide what she was; even at the Academy she'd gotten chastised when she set off the sprinklers by accident with her powers because it might have exposed her. And while Catseye and Thunderbird had been nicer, most of the other mutants there were almost as bad as the students at West Morris.

"Oh, sure," Warren agreed. That was a dismissive shrug, right there. "I'm not sure how many of them left when they graduated, but we usually get a couple in whenever there are new students."

He wasn't going to out Bobby, because Bobby was still trying to keep his powers a secret, but seeing as Warren hadn't had any problems here because of his wings, he was starting to wonder why anyone would even bother, after so long on the island.

"I mean, there's even a reserves group on the island for people with powers. It's not seriously taboo or anything."

Angelica had already met Bobby at the picnic, but she had yet to learn that they would be Amazing friends, oh yes.

"Wow," she said, still anxious but now in a more eager than fearful way. "I got to learn to use my powers at the Academy, but we had to do it in the basement where none of the normal students could see us," she said.

"You really shouldn't have that problem here, Angelica." A pause. "I mean, even the mayor and vice principal are mutants."

So.

"This place almost sounds like heaven," Angelica said wistfully. Mutants in charge of the town and school surely meant they wouldn't tolerate people being bullies or bigots, right?

"It almost is, most of the time," Warren agreed.

He knew that look, and that tone of voice. He'd been there once before, after all.

"And what the teachers don't tolerate, your classmates will pick up the slack on, trust me. We're all so different when you get right down to it that we're all exactly the same. There's no room for people to judge." He bit his lip, and smiled down at the ground. "It makes it hard to think about leaving, once graduation rolls around."

"I'm only supposed to be here for a little while," Angelica said. "Just until Ms. Frost says it's OK for me to come back to the Academy."

She didn't feed Warren her usual lie about renovations; it seemed wrong to lie to him about that.

"Well, I hope things work out for you when it's time to go back," Warren said sincerely. "And I hope that you enjoy your time here while you've got it, too."

She seemed like a nice girl. She deserved at least a few months of peace of mind.

"Me, too," Angelica said with a shy smile. "I was pretty scared to leave the Academy, but maybe I'm going to like it here after all."

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Try Not to Die!! [Tuesday, May 10, 3rd period]

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