fandomhigh | Powers, Identity, and The World; Embracing the Real You

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powers and identity

Powers, Identity, and The World; Embracing the Real You - Friday, Period One

Today when students entered the classroom, they'd probably be hard-pressed to miss the fact that one of their teachers appeared to be… well… on fire. The other, meanwhile, had accessorized her usual casual look with a gigantic pair of white, fluffy wings, extending from the middle of her back.

Neither seemed to look particularly bothered by this state of affairs. In fact, Jono was leaning back against the desk at the front of the room with his arms crossed in front of himself, ignoring the way the flames flicked up around them, same as he always did but with bonus fire. Rinoa was slightly more keyed up than her usual, a low thrum of excitement hanging around her, but that was subtle enough that it could be easily missed.

//What do you see, looking at us right now?// Jono took a moment to look at his students through the flame, eyes a pure white, fire tousling his hair as it crackled around himself. //No doubt, you're all thinking something different, something that relates to your own biases and experiences. Some might have a knee-jerk reaction, looking at myself and Rinoa, perhaps they'd think me to be a monster, and her an angel. Others might see her as the Sorceress, something to be feared, and me as something hollowed out and burning, to be pitied. I imagine there are at least a few of you who are looking at us right now and wondering how in the world we can stand to be here, showing what sets us so blatantly apart from humanity, without any sort of concern, or even any shame. Or maybe we're role models right now, embracing what we are and showing it off without fear.// He shrugged his shoulders. //Of course, given the past two weeks of classes, you all already know that these aren't the faces we usually present. I can't hide my voice, but I can sure as hell hide the fire. And Rinoa doesn't generally go walking around with her wings in view, though she very easily could.//

“The wings are part of how my power manifests,” Rinoa explained, pleased that her voice was steady. It had taken her years to master letting the wings out without giving herself fully over; she had a touch more magic flowing through her than usual, but she could handle that easily. Old hat. “The fire is part of Jono’s. Jono’s fire is permanent, while my wings only appear when I’m channeling more of my magic than just background noise. That means it’s easier for me to blend in. He can’t skip bundling up, but I can hold the wings in and look just like anyone else.”

Rinoa waved a hand dismissively. “We’re going to talk about when and how to blend in in a later class, as well as when and how to truly stand out. Both of those have their advantages. But this week isn’t about us: it’s about you. Maybe you look exactly like everyone else, and whatever makes you different is only internal. Maybe it’s easy to cover your differences, with a coat or long sleeves. The point is, you choose every day how to display yourself to others around you -- what to let them see, or not see.”

//Bear in mind that there are those who don't have any choice in how they present to others,// Jono noted, //at least to a certain extent. I've had people spit in my face before and worse, doesn't matter if I kept my head down. I spent a decent bit of time with blue skin… also not exactly simple to hide, for most. But in spite of how I looked at a glance, it was still up to me to determine how I interacted with those around me. More importantly, it was up to me to determine how I saw myself, if I was going to let other people's reactions to my powers define me, as a person. For a while, it did. And I was bloody miserable because of it.//

Rinoa was going to reach over and put a sympathetic hand on Jono’s back. Those had not been the best of days, no.

“It’s a choice,” Rinoa said. “Life is all about choices. What you let people see, and what you hide. That isn’t even just about powers. Sometimes we don’t let people see some of our vulnerabilities, our weaknesses, our secret selves. We all have labels: daughter, brother, friend, student, teacher, artist, reader, soldier, athlete. People see us through that one lens, but that’s only one side of who we really are. The way they see us affects us, shapes who we are around them, but it can’t ever define us, not unless we let it.”

She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “So first off: if any of you feel like showing off, airing out a little bit of what you don’t let other classes see? Feel free. Then, second, let’s talk about perception -- how people see you, and what they don’t always see underneath.”

//Remember, respect and comfort are our two biggest rules, here. Respect anything that people might show you here in class today, and no treating your classmates as 'other.' We're all equals here. Respect your own selves, too. You might perceive yourselves as lesser because of what sets you apart, but I promise you, you all deserve to be appreciated for who you are, regardless of what's hiding underneath.//

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Jono nodded as Raven spoke about finding out if he could shapeshift. That was generally the way of it with mutants, wasn't it? Either you knew you could do something, or you couldn't, but unless that power had manifested, where would you even begin?

As for the rest...

//It... it depends which people I was around, honestly,// he admitted. //Around here, it was easier. Once people were accustomed to my skin, there was really nothing else for them to come to terms with. Being on fire, having no mouth, not breathing, speaking with my mind... all of that was something that was a little out of most people's leagues. I never once had somebody tell me to stop being blue. I did have people tell me to get the hell out of their heads, though.//

He shifted his weight a little, uneasily, and then shrugged his shoulders.

//Back home, it didn't change much. Either way, I was obviously a mutant. But the face I was wearing... A few people were uncomfortable with that face. It bore a striking resemblance to somebody else. Somebody who had done terrible things to humans and mutants alike.//

"Oh gosh," Raven said softly. Her world might not know about Apocalypse, yet, but it had seen its share of evil tyrants, and not all that long ago, either. "That -- that must've been horrible." She decided to focus back on the bit she could relate to easier, and that didn't make her feel slightly sick to her stomach. "Telepathy can be hard to get used to," she said. "When Charles and I first found each other, I used to tell him to get out of my head all the time. These days it's more of a joke, but -- well, sometimes I get it. Why humans are scared of us."

Jono was quiet for a moment, processing that. Hearing Raven say it, hearing 'sometimes I get it,' from her mouth was... heartbreaking and reassuring all at once.

She was almost certainly not the same girl that would one day be Mystique in his reality, similar though they were. But he was worried for her sake all the same.

//Hell,// he said, //even I've had telepaths overstay their welcome in my mind. We're capable of great things, Raven. Great, beautiful, terrible things. There's something about that, something that commands respect and a little fear. We represent something they'll never really be able to understand. Some of us go through our entire lives never really understanding that, either.//

Unfortunately, a lot of the difference there was a matter of certain people and traumas not having come into her life, yet. This Raven still had a certain innocence and optimism in her, however fragile it would ultimately prove to be.

Fandom, and its tendency to welcome just about anyone with open arms, couldn't help but bolster those qualities. Of course, it was also thanks to Fandom that she was already learning to fight -- and to kill.

"Yeah," she agreed softly. "It'd be nice if they tried a little harder to understand it, though." She'd likely regret saying that someday when all her friends had been abducted, experimented on, and killed by human scientists.

For what it was worth, Jono already had a decent idea of what that was like.

//I'd settle for them just leaving us be,// he replied, not quite able to keep just how tired he felt from creeping into his words. //Understanding isn't always the same as acceptance, I'm afraid.//

"Is that why the reality-breaker tried to make a world of only mutants?"

//No,// Jono replied, shaking his head a little. //There have been people who wanted that for us. In my reality, at least, there have been entire nations of mutants alone. But what he wanted... all he wanted was to be the hero.//

"I think I'd like to see a whole country of mutants."

Jono closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.

//Wouldn't that be wonderful?//

At least until the Sentinels came. At least until the slaughter began. At least until you realized that the whole nation was forged on a history of horrors against mutantkind.

//Maybe someday you will.//

At least until. There were a lot of 'At least until's that could be put to use, there.

Really, and people wondered how a girl ended up a crazed mutant terrorist.

"Maybe someday I'll start one of my own."

Really, Jono didn't wonder how. After all he'd seen, he'd be hard-pressed to judge anybody for fighting so hard as she did.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

//A worthy goal,// he replied, nodding faintly. He couldn't deny her that much. Hope could be damning, but it was important all the same. //Give our people a place to call home, keep them safe. Let them step out into the sunlight, out of hiding. That's one hell of a dream, Raven.//

Raven blushed a little and shrugged. "I've spent my whole life hiding. It gets pretty tiring."

//It's exhausting,// Jono agreed, and then nodded out toward the classroom. //I suppose with that in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that there are so many people who are willing to share, here. I imagine it isn't a luxury that many get back home.//

"It's definitely not one I get. Even my brother gives me kind of a face when I'm in my natural form."

//Well, your brother is a rich prat with a fairly typical human face and big ideas. He's never been looked at that way. I've had other mutants shy away from me, calling me monster. Having remarkably similar genes doesn't mean we all automatically get it. Especially not when the nature of our mutations varies so drastically.//

He hesitated, and then added, //But not understanding it doesn't excuse it. Not from humans, not from other mutants. Is he really so shallow, that he judges so much of your worth from the face you choose to wear?//

"I might yell at you for calling my brother a prat if it weren't pretty accurate," Raven said. "He's not that bad. If he were, he'd never have taken me in. It's just -- it'd be easier on both of us if this were my natural shape. He worries about me."

And probably really liked ordering her around, to be honest.

//I can understand the worry,// believe him, he could very much understand, //but...//

Hm. How to put this?

//The way you said it, it sounded almost as though he was... disapproving. Not simply worrying. I wasn't there, of course, and I can't speak one way or another about his motivations, true enough. I suppose I just get... protective, when I hear about people being treated differently because of how they look. There's nothing wrong with your natural face, Raven. Or mine. Or Rinoa's wings. We are what we are.//

Xavier was still a prat, though.

Raven shrugged, frowning. "I guess." She didn't want to admit that, yeah, she got that feeling from Charles sometimes, too. And it was getting a lot harder to put up with, every time she went home. "Everyone around here always says it's beautiful. It's still kind of hard to believe them, though."

//It's not an easy thing to believe, when your entire life you've been taught that it's wrong to be what you are,// Jono noted, gently. //I talk about how it's wrong to judge people based on appearances, but I still can't stand the look of myself in a mirror. Smashed one back when I was living at the Boards. Never did replace it.//

He was certain that was hugely reassuring, right there.

//It's toxic, you know. What they'd have us believe about ourselves. And it's not worth believing it. You are beautiful, and I - well, I could probably stand to have a less beaky nose...//

"It's the lack of a mouth," Raven teased. "Makes your nose stand out more."

//Nah,// Jono replied easily, letting a hint of a smile show around the corners of his eyes. //It was always this big. Fluke of genetics.//

Story of their lives.

"Well, I think you look very cool. You know, for a teacher."

//I'll take 'cool for a teacher,'// Jono decided. //There are worse ways to be, I suppose.//

He tilted his head at her, thoughtfully.

//Is there anything else I can help you with today, luv?//

"I guess not." Since he didn't, in fact, have a magical cure for being blue.

"Wait, how did you end up being blue in the first place? Was that another reality breaking mutant?"

And here Jono thought he'd be able to get off the hook without talk of Akkaba today.

//No... er... not really,// he replied, scratching the back of his neck. The Scarlet Witch hadn't been directly responsible, after all, even if he wouldn't have been kidnapped in the first place if she hadn't depowered him. //I was... in an accident of sorts. Left in a pretty bad way. Somebody took the blood of a very old, very powerful mutant, and... more or less replaced everything in my veins with his. He was a shapeshifter, and his blood essentially turned me into a younger clone of him.//

There. That sort of summed it up, without launching into a rant about M-Day or Apocalypse or Weapon X, at least.

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