per ardua ad astra

through adversity to the stars alix winchester human

[darlenesadler-blog]

Darlene almost faltered when she got a better look at the woman. She was pretty, and that thought made all of the colour drain from Darlene’s face. Under the other’s stare, Darlene dropped her gaze, eyes discreetly going to the side as if to see if anyone else was watching her; as if she was all of a sudden conscious of her surroundings and how she acted. The black wood rosary beads hidden beneath her cardigan suddenly felt heavier, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Girls can think that other girls are pretty. That doesn’t mean a thing. Darlene managed to look back up at the woman eventually, and when she did, her cheeks tinged pink. “A map?” Darlene frowned a little. “I can’t read maps. And why would I need one? They’re for boys, men, not girls.” She hugged her bedsheets to her chest when the woman held out a hand for her to shake, and stood there staring at it. “Darlene Sadler.” Her lips thinned. “You’re not the one who is goin’ to be showing me around, are you?” It seemed a stupid question, considering the woman was already here to at least welcome Darlene into her new bedroom. Darlene glanced inside before adding. “I mean, around the… whole… place. There are a… lot of’ – sinful people around here. I don’t really want to be around them.”

[alixwinchester]

Alix’s mouth opened at Darlene’s words, like she was going to say something but didn’t quite know how to. Which she didn’t, really, but Alix rarely knew what to say in any given situation. “I... I’m not sure how it is where you’re from, but you can read maps here if you want to. Everyone can. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I can help you? I’m not that good at it myself but we can figure it out together.” She swallowed and smiled, eventually letting her hand drop from the space between them once she realized Darlene wasn’t going to shake it. She was odd, Alix decided, though she didn’t let the kind smile waver on her face. Wherever she had come from and what she was used to was obviously very different from the academy -- and the whole reason Alix was there was to help her get to grips with that. She hadn’t been told where Darlene came from, or even anything about her apart from her name and room number, and wondered if it would be rude to ask questions. “It’s nice to meet you, Darlene.” At that moment she remembered the girl was probably wanting to get into her new room, and she stepped back further inside, so as to let her pass. “I -- I am going to be showing you around, yes.” At first Alix frowned, wondering if she’d done something wrong -- until Darlene said something more and she realized it wasn’t anything to do with her at all. “Oh, well... we don’t have to see the whole place today. Just the main places. So you know where you’re going when you need to eat or want to speak with someone. Then maybe tomorrow we can look around other places, if you feel like it.” She hesitated, wondering if the brunette had a problem with other people in general (what was that sinner comment about?), and took a small step closer to her. “If you’re worried about, y’know, other people being around then we can take the tour in between classes. Then everywhere will be empty.”

[darlenesadler-blog]

For the past two months, Darlene Sadler, daughter of John Sadler, had been isolated from the rest of the inhabitants at Morgana Academy. Nobody knew of her, except for several of the adults that periodically came to check on her, to talk to her, to teach her about this life. She remembered their names. Grace Walker was Darlene’s most frequent visitor. Vera Keneally her least. The latter had come once or twice. The first time was to inspect her health, but when asked to remove her clothing so that her body could be examined for any irregularities, Darlene had vehemently refused. You will do no such thing, she’d said, and had been prepared to fight. But the small woman had only looked at her, then calmly nodded her demission. Darlene knew that her body would be marked with old wounds from beatings, both from others and from herself. She didn’t want anyone seeing those; not out of any shame, but because the markings would raise only more questions of which she was not willing to answer. Not yet, at least. She needed to make up a believable story.

For two months, Darlene had been kept a secret. Today was the day they were integrating her in with the rest of the people, and as she moved down the corridor with neatly folded linens for her new bed, a lot of heads turned to stare at her. Darlene’s lips thinned at the edges, and her mouth grew dry. Several people she passed eyed the dress she wore, and the cardigan, and one or two them, clearly judging, giggled. Her fingers curled around the edges of the bedsheets, but she made no inclination of retaliating. She was good at keeping her temper, and she wanted them to believe her a nervous sort. Meek. Thus she tucked her chin into her chest and continued walking, slowing only as she got to the door of her bedroom, where someone was apparently waiting. Darlene squinted once at them, then at the number on her door just to check that it was, in fact, her room. 104. It was. So who was this stranger? Cautiously, she approached. “This is my room. What are you doing here?”

[alixwinchester]

Alix had been eager to help with pretty much anything since arriving at the academy, and that had included some things she wished she hadn’t agreed to. Night patrols were definitely high on the list of things she didn’t like, and covering for some of the senior classes hadn’t been that pleasant either -- she was too nervous to really have any authority and most of the students knew that. The fact that she was a human didn’t help in some cases, though admittedly her fears about being hated for not having some kind of ability had been largely put to rest. So in the midst of the multiple things Alix had dreaded being asked to do again, helping a new student to settle in was perhaps a blessing in disguise. She hadn’t been told much about Darlene Sadler, except for that she might have trouble getting used to things and need a bit of guidance, and Alix was confident she’d be able to help with those things. 

She stood in the doorway of room 104, fiddling with her fingers and shifting nervously from foot to foot as she waited for the girl to show up. When she eventually did, the words that Alix had rehearsed over and over again in her head all but dried up, and she stood there staring at the brunette for a good few seconds after she’d spoken to her. “Um -- sorry, I’m here to help you. With, y’know, settling in here and everything. I brought you some... leaflets. And a map. But someone told me it wasn’t accurate anymore so we’ll just... forget about that.” Alix hastily stuffed the map into her pocket, swallowing and smiling at Darlene as she held out her hand. “I’m Alix. Winchester.”

[alixwinchester]

(Fergus) "I can show ye' how to fire one properly, if y'wanted..."

“What? A gun?” Of course a gun, Alix, what else is he supposed to be talking about? She’d only been joking, really, when she said she wanted to learn -- but now that the offer was on the table, Alix found herself wondering if it was really such a bad idea. Guns scared her for the most part. That was why she’d asked if the one in her hands was unloaded before picking it up, and why she held onto it with barely more than fingertips. They were dangerous, and it had never even crossed her mind that she might want -- or need -- to know how to fire one. But all anyone around the academy kept talking about was an approaching war, and if it were true, and things did get bad, knowing how to defend herself in some way might have its benefits. As a human she wouldn’t be targeted quite so much as the mutants of Morgana, but if anything broke out, she doubted an attacker would be seeing much of a difference between mutants and the humans who had gone to the school to help them. No power of her own, no real physical strength... maybe a gun really was the best idea. “I don’t really know how good I’ll be at it but... sure. I’d like that. I think. It sounds like a useful thing to know, y’know, just in case. I hope I wouldn’t have to shoot anyone or anything but it’s... handy... to know. Yeah.” She trailed off, swallowing and looking away as two spots of pink grew on her cheeks. “So, when’s good for you?”

[zeldaniles-blog]

Oblivious to the ways in which she hurt others, it didn’t register in her mind that what she said may have been… less than kind; unfair, too, but then Zelda was prone to judging anyone — human or mutant — about three seconds after meeting them. The only thing Zelda could really focus on, at this point, was her efforts to draw the woman’s attention away from asking questions that could stick her into deeper shit: why are you here, of all places? For instance. Zelda stared at the woman, relentless, even as the woman appeared to grow uncomfortable under the watchful eye of a mutant. She had known some of the kidnapped students. Tales of their time spent in those facilities had drawn even Zelda’s sympathy; Zelda’s compassion. She wasn’t heartless, nor cruel, perhaps inadvertently mean to those who weren’t her friends, but good natured all the same. Even she knew when to stop. Sometimes. Rarely. At least with the facility business!

Zelda let her head fall back and her eyes (briefly) widen as the woman began to ramble. Again. She gave a loud, deliberate huff, and waited, albeit impatiently, for her companion to finish. Yet for all her impatience, the woman’s words actually piqued her interest, or, rather, her confusion, and she pulled a face. “Why would anyone want to attack a mutant with a torch? That sounds so stupid. That’s like, trying to take out Cyclops with your bare fists. You’re just gonna end up eye beamed into a pile of ashes. What if I had super strength? Or, like, super reflexes? There’s a dude here who is made out of silver and has super strength! Imagine hitting him with a torch. You’d be fucked. And not in the good way.” Apparently it was her turn to babble, and she only realised it after she’d finished talking because the hallway grew significantly quieter afterwards. Even so, it alleviated some of the tension; given her a fraction of lenity towards the woman. When her passage was cleared, Zelda tugged the hood of her hoodie around her neck to better hide her hickeys, eyeing the woman as she went. “Thanks, I guess.” She breathed out. “Won’t tell a soul.” Silence wedged itself between them as they walked towards the lit up exit sign, just above the door of which led outside. Zelda pushed down against its handle and opened it, face met by cold air. “…So.” She hesitated. “…Why’re you here, exactly?”

[alixwinchester]

“Yeah, well... what if they took you by surprise and it was a very heavy torch, and they hit you over the head with it before you even knew they were there? Then you’d probably be knocked out and wouldn’t be able to defend yourself with, uh, Cyclops eye beams. Maybe not if you were made of silver because... I think something a little heavier would need to be used for that. And maybe the person wouldn’t have a torch. Maybe they’d have a brick, or a baseball bat or something big and lethal like that. You don’t know, so... you just have to be careful. That’s all I’m trying to say.” A pretty lengthy way of saying it. Way to go, Alix. She walked next to the girl towards the end of the hallway, letting her go a step or so in front in case they were taking any turns, but apparently they were just heading towards the exit. She nodded, once, though she didn’t think the girl was looking at her, and realised then that she didn’t even know who she was. “So, what’s your name? I didn’t even ask, so... yeah. I’m Alix, by the way.” If they weren’t walking, and if she didn’t think it would have been a bit odd, she might have offered her hand to shake. 

As they stepped outside she was reminded how cold it was out there, and cursed herself for not bringing a jacket. She’d assumed she wouldn’t need to step outside of the building the whole night anyway. At the student’s question she paused, slowly folding her arms in an effort to keep in some heat. “No specific reason. I just thought I might be able to help somehow. I mean I was just a florist before this. I did the same thing every day and I was trying to save money to go to college but it just... wasn’t really working out. And then I heard about here and how you were looking for help even from humans and I thought that if I wasn’t doing anything useful right then I might as well make myself useful for something that matters.”

[grxcewalker-blog]

Grace quickly blinked away previous alarm, staring at Alix with raised brows as the human woman explained, albeit frantically, that her kitchen was on fire. “Jesus Christ.” Grace murmured, and tugged on her bathrobe’s ties to tighten it around her body a little more. Saying nothing more, Grace disappeared back into her apartment’s hallway to grab her own fire extinguisher, and her door keys so that she might get back inside afterwards, before returning to Alix. “Make way for the Gay.” She ushered, already pulling the pin from the extinguisher. She needn’t ask where the woman lived because that, right then, was obvious. Alix was no doubt following after Grace as she made her way through the woman’s hallways, grateful that the layout for the apartments were the same, and into the kitchen. A pan, very much on fire, spewed smoke, and Grace leant back on her bare heels a moment. Lips pressing into a firm line, she aimed the extinguisher and squeezed its handle, sweeping the nozzle from side to side as it sprayed. It didn’t take long for the fire to go out, and what was left was a very smokey, smelly kitchen. Grace placed her forearm over her mouth as she coughed. “I’m going to need another shower.” Grace wafted the air in front of her face before turning to look back at Alix, arms gesturing in the direction of the foamed mess. “Ta-da. Anything else? Any DIY? You’ll have to wait for me to put my plaid shirt on for that. And some pants.”

[alixwinchester]

When Grace disappeared back into her own apartment with little much else said, Alix was fearful that she might have just decided to go back to bed. Luckily the woman appeared again a few seconds later, carrying a fire extinguisher and a set of keys, and if Alix hadn’t been so worried about burning the school down she might have laughed at what Grace said then. She trailed behind the older woman, chewing on the nails of her right hand and pausing in the doorway of the kitchen to watch as the fire was put out. Once the flames were gone most of her nerves died down, though it took her a second to look from the blackened smokey mess her kitchen now was to Grace’s face. “I -- thank you.” She might have hugged the woman if she knew her a little better. “I’m so sorry for disturbing you and everything, I just didn’t really know what to do. My fire extinguisher is empty for some reason and I thought it was just me, y’know, not being able to use it or something, but then I figured out that it was just empty. And ‘cause I’d spent so long doing that the fire just got worse and... I’m really sorry. And very grateful.” Alix paused for a moment for breath, running a hand through her hair and giving Grace and apologetic smile. “I’d offer you tea or something but, uh, it looks like my kitchen is out of commission for a while.”

[fcrgcs-blog]

Another early morning, one of which had been accompanied by a sleepless night. But Fergus didn’t struggle to remain focused, as used to staying awake for days on end as he was. He sat in the cafeteria on his own, as per the norm, watching students and teachers come and go with their trays of food or their coffees, though early risers appeared few and far between this morning. Most mornings here, actually. Fergus was reminded of Moscow, of his home, more specifically of the years before his brothers, his family, were all murdered. As boys, they were up at four each morning, and not a minute sooner – lest they cared little for a beating. It was different here. The teachers were lax where the students were concerned, not that Fergus wished to see them experience the same kind of schooling he’d had. This worked just fine. He was just taking a final sip of his coffee when some poor sod seemingly tripped on nothing and sent their tray flying. A couple students sat nearby giggled at the sight. Fergus barely reacted save for how half his body, and an arm, poked out to catch the person, stopping them from falling flat onto their face. “Steady ther’. They trip you or are ye’ just clumsy?”

[alixwinchester]

In the relatively short time Alix had been at the academy, she hadn’t tended to spend a lot of time in the cafeteria. The kitchen in her own small apartment had been able to take care of all her needs for food and drink, except last night she’d managed to set it on fire, and the only thing still working was one toaster slot out of four. She’d hoped to have woken up in the morning and find the whole thing magically fixed (it wasn’t so far-fetched, really, in a school full of mutants) but everything was just as charred and vaguely smokey as it had been the night before. So for breakfast she’d taken herself off to the cafeteria, still half asleep, and managed not to accidentally walk into anyone the whole time she was getting her food. Most of the properly cooked breakfast foods didn’t look all that appetizing, but there was toast and it was hard to mess that up, so that was what she got along with a cup of tea to balance on a tray. In hindsight, she thought, it would have just been easier to carry the plate and cup in both hands rather than attempt a balancing act. 

By the time Alix’s brain registered that she was falling the whole thing was almost over; the floor was steadily approaching her face and for some reason she was still holding onto the tray, despite the fact that both the plate of toast and cup of tea had slid off and crashed to the floor. And then something hit into her and stopped falling, though it took her a few seconds of tired, confused blinking to realize that it was another person. “Oh, wow.” Alix mumbled to herself, looking down at the growing puddle of tea and soggy toast in the middle of it before she stood herself upright. “Just clumsy, I think. Thanks, by the -- oh. It’s you. Hello.” She’d turned and saw that it was Fergus sat there, and managed to drag a smile onto her face. A man with a wheeled cart full of cleaning supplies had shown up at that point, and Alix side-stepped out of his way, apologizing a couple of times as she slowly sat in the seat opposite Fergus. “I just shouldn’t be allowed to leave my apartment until I wake up. Stuff like this always happens.” She wasn’t a very clumsy person in general, but half-asleep or in the early morning she might as well have had two left feet. “Sorry, are you waiting for someone? I didn’t mean to, um, intrude.”

[grxcewalker-blog]

Grace rushed to tie her robe over her pyjamas, hurriedly walking towards her front door. The incessant knocking persisted, as did the shouting of her name. She was only mildly annoyed as she yanked open the door, but it dissipated once she met the person’s eyes. “What–” She cut off when she smelt smoke in the distance. “Is something burning? What’s going on?”

[alixwinchester]

Alix’s cooking skills were usually pretty good -- nothing amazing but she could make herself dinner without burning the place down. Except for tonight, apparently. The day had been long and she’d dozed off on the sofa after putting dinner in the oven, and had woken up to the smell of burning and her fire alarm going off. Five minutes later after she’d managed to stop the beeping, she realized the small extinguisher attached to the wall was faulty, and had promptly ran out of her apartment to try and find help.

Grace’s apartment was the nearest and it was there she began to bang knock, shouting the woman’s name and hoping she was home. They hadn’t known each other very long, nor were they really friends, but right then all Alix was really bothered about was accidentally burning the school down. “I -- yes, my kitchen is burning! It’s on fire. My extinguisher doesn’t work and I fell asleep on the sofa and -- I need help!”

[zeldaniles-blog]

Zelda narrowed her eyes almost immediately after realising that the woman was one of the human volunteers, and she took an obvious step back. With everything that’d gone down in the past few weeks, she didn’t particularly trust anyone who wasn’t a mutant. Her eye twitched at the unwanted remembrance of the needle some asshole had stuck into it. It wasn’t as pink as it had been, more of her blue had returned in the last few days, but it was still obvious enough to notice if she looked in a mirror. She watched the woman a little closer all of a sudden, with no attempts at keeping her distrust hidden. “Actually, you’re not supposed to be here. You know, being a human and all that, but okay, you do you.” Zelda considered retreating; walking back the way she’d come from, but she knew it would only lead to a dead end. The only exit out of this building was behind the woman, much to Zelda’s misfortune. 

Whoever she was, she didn’t seem to recognise Zelda, which meant it would be easy to just – leave, and probably face no repercussion for being out passed curfew. But that wasn’t guaranteed. The woman could find out who Zelda was from other teachers, and then they’d ask why, and then she’d tell them about this incident, and then they would ask Zelda what she was doing in the teacher flats at midnight, and – well it would just be a shit fest, basically. “…Okay…” She said, with a feigned indignant attitude, as if resigned due to the woman’s excellent reprimanding skills. “What lesson am I supposed to be learning? Not to take a walk at night because I might get knocked out by a lady holding a torch?” She shoved her hands into her jumper’s pockets, some of the sharpness leaving her expression the more she listened. A flicker of – amusement, mixed with small confusion, contorted Zelda’s expression. “You’re not gonna tell anyone about this, are you? Because… I just needed a breather… you know, to clear my mind and stuff…”

[alixwinchester]

Alix swallowed, feeling something of a sharp sting in her chest at the girl’s words. She’d expected something like that. Not all mutants were going to be happy about having humans helping out, especially since quite a lot of humans wanted them dead. And even though Alix knew she wasn’t like that, that she wouldn’t wish harm on these people just for some abilities they happened to be born with, they didn’t know that about her. It was natural for them to be suspicious, a little wary, maybe even a bit hostile. Right? It didn’t really mean anything. She’d be the same if she was in their shoes, she was sure of it. Besides that was hardly the worst thing anyone was bound to say to her during her time at the academy. Alix didn’t say anything, just averted her eyes for a moment and tightened her grip on the flashlight. 

When the girl spoke she looked back at her, somewhat puzzled at the compliance, however unwilling it seemed to be. For a second Alix wondered if perhaps what she said had (somehow, impossibly) been enough but soon realized that probably wasn’t the case. More than likely the blonde just didn’t want to be reported for ignoring Alix, and was making her own life easier. “I... it was an accident.” She swallowed. “But maybe that could happen for real. Not with me and the torch because I wouldn’t, you know, want to hit you with it at all. Or anyone. But maybe there would be someone with a torch at night who would.” Stop. Talking. She let out a breath and angled herself to the side, to let the student pass so they could start towards the dorms. At her words Alix hesitated. She hadn’t really been doing anything, not really, as far as she could tell. Just walking. She wasn’t drunk. Didn’t smell like weed or seem high. And it had been a hard time for everyone... maybe she had just been taking a walk, to clear her head? Was it Alix’s place to punish her for that? Was it fair? The silence dragged on for a few seconds and then she cleared her throat, shaking her head. “No, I’m -- I won’t say anything. Just be careful. And... don’t tell anyone else that I let you off because then everyone will expect me to do that, okay?”

[james-ackers-blog]

At the startling light being forced in his face, James stumbled back and put his hands up in defense. It probably looked like a strange sight: him stalking around the darkened hallways after lights out so, he couldn’t blame the stranger for her alarmed response. “Uh, yeah. Probably.” He confessed, pausing, “I was just… taking a walk.” James explained, knowing full well that probably sounded pretty suspicious but it was the truth. It had been a couple of months since returning from his stint at the Facility and he was, for the most part, better. They gave him pills for his insomnia (that Scarlett had once tried to steal for reasons he didn’t want to be involved in) and for the most part, his hallucinations had died down. For the most part. Today hadn’t been like most days.

He hated them but then again, who wouldn’t hate having delusions. As distortion filled his mind, his first instinct was to leave the safety of his room in a flurry of confusion. He wasn’t sure where he was headed – he hadn’t been sure of anything – but when the smoke cleared he had found himself hiding out in the art room, allied with the comfort of drying paintings and moonlight shining through the large windows. He didn’t move, not for a while, he could have sworn he had stayed there for hours until James found the courage to yank himself up and face a world outside of the art room… Which apparently involved getting a light shined in his face by unfamiliar people. “I was on my way back to my dorm, I didn’t mean to scare you – sorry.”

[alixwinchester]

Even if Alix wanted to make herself look and sound like an authority figure, she couldn’t. Someone had once told her that she always had this look of a deer caught in headlights, and she babbled far too much for anyone to take her seriously. That, she supposed, was part of the reason why people tended to laugh when she told them she wanted to be an astrophysicist. Either way she had been worried about actually bumping into a student out after curfew, because she doubted any of them were going to listen to her if she told them to go back to their dorm -- partly because of her lack of authority and partly because she was a human. She’d expected anyone she found to just laugh at her and continue on their merry way, but this boy (that she’d accidentally almost blinded with the flashlight) seemed genuinely apologetic and not exactly the type to be out breaking rules. 

It took her a while to realize she hadn’t said anything back to him, and cleared her throat as she lowered the flashlight some. “It’s... okay. I should have been paying more attention.” There was another awkward pause as she watched him, noticing that he looked a little out of it, for lack of a better description. “What are you doing out so late?” Another pause as she considered what to say. “Are you okay? You don’t look... well. I mean, you do. You look fine. But you don’t, at the same time. Do you know what I mean?”

[alixwinchester]

(Alistair) "So, have they initiated you into the Blonde Women's Club for Blonde Women yet? I hear that it is a very serious process. Rigorous. Features pigs blood and sacrifices, headed off by Alice and Grace, of course."

“I... excuse me?” Alix stared at Alistair, unsure of whether to take him seriously or not. She'd only just properly been introduced to him that morning, and half of his jokes (as bad as they were) had completely flown over her head. This had to be another joke, surely? There couldn't really be a club for blonde women who had initiation processes involving pigs blood and sacrifices, and she certainly wouldn't have wanted to be a part of one if there was. A silence dragged on between the two of them as Alix attempted to figure out if he was being serious, and the more seconds ticked by the more awkward it became. “I... I'm sorry, I really can't tell if you're being serious right now. That's not a real club, right?” Alix hesitated before taking a sip of her coffee, wondering if it might be a mutant thing. She'd been worried that she might accidentally offend someone by not knowing enough about mutants and their powers and special things they might do, though in her defense, it wasn't as if general information on mutants was widely available. “If you are being serious then I don't think I'd want to be a part of that. I'm not a fan of, um, sacrifices. And if you’re not being serious then... I’m sorry I didn’t get the joke?”

[alixwinchester]

[txt] (alistair) Stop by my class third period! You'll like it. We're looking at Shakespeare.

[MSG:] are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.

[MSG:] I might be covering a class, but if not I’ll drop by. [smile emoji]

[zeldaniles-blog]

Zelda stuck the joint between her lips and fumbled around in the dark for her lighter. It was in one of her pockets, she swore it, yet the more she patted her jeans, then her jumper, the quicker she came to realise that she hadn’t picked it up off of Marielle’s bedside cabinet before leaving. She cursed to herself, and quietly, because the doors in this place were surprisingly thin, and with it being so late and so silent, it would have been easy for someone to hear her outside. She considered going back for her lighter, but decided against it. This was the second time Zelda had slept with Marielle and she didn’t think the woman would be okay with her showing up ten seconds after her leaving, as if needy of something. No, she thought, it would be better to just wait and ask for it in the morning, after class, when they were alone. Again. 

Zelda actually smiled as she plucked the roll up from her mouth, for once not minding that she couldn’t immediately smoke it. Perhaps that had something to do with what played on her mind, or the fact that her body was still sensitive, warm, from delicate kisses and a tender touch. It kept her distracted, and she might have started to hum if it wasn’t eleven o’clock at night and this wasn’t a corridor filled with sleeping teachers on either side of her. A bright light abruptly shoved itself into Zelda’s face, and startled by its appearance, she dropped her unlit joint and covered her eyes. “Oh! Jeez – lady!” Zelda hissed, squinting in the spotlight at the face she could see only the outline of. Zelda didn’t recognise the voice, either. “I almost went Dagny on your ass. You can’t just jump out on people like that.” She gradually lowered her arm, still unable to make out who the other person was. “…I was going to bed. Shouldn’t you be in bed? Who even are you? It’s too frickin’ dark, I can’t see shit.”

[alixwinchester]

“I didn’t -- I wasn’t jumping anywhere.” That was true. She’d just been walking, humming to herself; there’d been no intention of scaring anyone. “And I don’t know what ‘going Dagny’ means either.” She vaguely recalled the name, probably from overhearing a conversation someone else was having, but that was about it. Alix squinted as she looked at the girl’s face, not recognizing it from any of her previous encounters with students, and eventually decided that she hadn’t met this person yet. It took her a few seconds to realize that shining a bright light in someone else’s face probably wasn’t the best thing to do, and she quickly attempted to angle the flashlight up instead, to create a little more light between the two of them. Her heart had slowed down and no longer felt like it was going to burst out of her chest and run away down the hall, though her legs still felt a little shaky from the scare. Alix decided then that she was simply going to refuse any more night patrols given to her, no matter what. Teaching she could do. Organizing filing cabinets was a breeze. Even a little bit of cleaning wasn’t so bad. But she was too much of a jumpy person and far too affected by horror movies to be walking around alone at night, especially in a school full of mutants. “I’m a teacher.” That’s not true, Alix. “Sort of. I’m... I came here to help and I’m helping by teaching. And patrolling. So I’m supposed to be here.” Alix tried to make her voice sound a little less friendly and a little more stern, though really it just ended up sounding uncertain. “And you should already be in bed because it’s an hour past curfew. So... now I have to escort you back to your room. And I hope you... learn something... from this experience.” She paused, wanted to smash her head against the nearest wall because of how stupid she sounded, and swallowed her pride for what she said next. “But seeing as I don’t actually know which way the dorms are, you are going to have to lead the way.”

[alixwinchester]

Alix had only been at the academy for a short while -- just under two weeks in fact, and in that time she’d managed to get lost a grand total of eleven times. Mostly she’d been able to find her way back to a place she recognized by herself, but there were a few times she’d had to stop someone in the hallway and ask for directions, and as such her lack of direction had been noted by a number of the staff and students. So she was surprised when she found out she was going to be covering a night patrol of the school, for one of the teachers who had fallen ill. Why they’d thought giving her the job was a good idea was something she couldn’t understand. She could barely find her away around in the day time, when things were brightly lit and other people were around to help her out. But at night? An army could sneak through the front doors and she’d never know, because she’d be too busy getting lost on the confusing art corridors for the fifth time. 

But, being the sort of person she was, Alix hadn’t refused the order or raised any of her concerns about it. She’d just smiled and nodded and showed up at the front desk at 11 o’clock, to collect a set of keys and a flashlight from the departing receptionist. And that was how she found herself wandering down a long and only slightly familiar hallway at midnight, humming quietly to herself as she shined the flashlight along the floor in front of her. As she neared the corner she heard footsteps and a second later the beam of light landed on a pair of shoes, causing her to jump and sending the flashlight spinning in one hand as she used the other to clamp down over her mouth, stifling a scream. It wasn’t until she managed to point the light towards the person’s face that her heart rate began to slow, and she lowered her hand from her face. “Jesus, you scared me. I -- what are you doing out here? It’s midnight. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

[fcrgcs-blog]

Fergus actually laughed, but it was stunted, and ended up sounding more like an approving grunt. The noise actually embarrassed him a bit, and his eyes lifted elsewhere as he ran a hand through his hair, or lack thereof. He’d shaved it all off the night before leaving for the academy, and now sported a buzzcut, except for the part of his head that remained hairless because of a scar. One of his brothers had hit him with a blunt hatchet once, not on purpose, and fortunately not with much strength either, else the weapon would have decapitated half of Fergus’ face. That was the day he was relieved to have such a thick skull. Damn lucky, too. “Yeah, seems almost mad, don’t it? Askin’ humans to help protect –  whatever they called.” He paused a moment, clearly thinking about something before blinking himself back into the present. At which point, he turned to look at her again. “Maybe they’ll use you fer’ teachin’. No’ me though. I’m no good with kids, they don’t like me. Especially the little ‘uns.” He wasn’t sure why children didn’t like him. Perhaps they were scared. He didn’t exactly look approachable. “How did you uh, find out about this place? Or I mean, decide te’– help…”

Alix started talking, and Fergus listened to her with a straight face until she started rambling. Then his brows twitched, as if to pull together, and he wondered if he should interrupt her, like she might actually need help stopping. He shifted a fraction, ready to step in, when the receptionist cleared her throat, having been standing there for a good minute already. Fergus turned his head in her direction. She looked wholly unimpressed, if also slightly distrustful of the two humans. Fergus absent-mindedly ran his tongue over his bottom lip. He could understand her suspicion; even relate to it. Fergus was constantly paranoid of those around him. In fact, for a while, he’d even been suspicious of Alix. That is until he did a background check on her which,  in his world, was keeping close tabs on a person for at least a month. Hell, he even knew where she lived in NYC. It wasn’t because he was interested in knowing all of these things about her. It was just to keep himself safe. “Uh, no worries about askin’ about the, er, mutation thing. Everythin’s a wee bit weird right now.” He almost gave her a small smile before growing too awkward and scrapping the idea altogether. “–You know if we the only, um, humans ‘ere?” 

His eyes went to her keys when she held them out to him, and briefly, before she spoke, he wondered why she was offering them to him, and squinted. His expression smoothed out at her words, and nodding his head he took out his own set of keys to show her his room number: 48. Stuffing them back into his pocket, he rotated slightly to gesture in the direction of a corridor. “I actually already, uh, dropped off me bags, but yeah, I can show you to your uh, place.” He noted her bags with a tilt of his head, and hesitated. “I can carry some of those fer’ you if you want. I mean, I got two ‘ands so might as well make myself useful Ey?”

[alixwinchester]

“I don’t know, I guess they could use all the help they can get. Not a lot of people are very... accepting of them.” That annoyed Alix. She had been subject to a lot of bullying during high school just because she was quiet, and smart, and a little bit awkward. It had made her fairly miserable at the time and that was just because of a few teenagers picking on her in class -- she couldn’t imagine what it felt like to have the whole world hate you for something you can’t help. And in her mind it didn’t make so much sense. If mutants wanted to hurt people or take over the world, why would they have waited until everyone knew they existed to start? The logical choice would have been going for it when nobody knew about them and wouldn’t be able to prepare. When Fergus spoke again she looked up at him, nodding. “Probably. I wonder how they’ll take to having a human teacher?” In normal circumstances it wasn’t a profession Alix could see herself in. She wasn’t the type of person that could take control and make people listen to her. “Maybe they’re just a little scared of the tattoos? You have... a lot of them.” Way to state the obvious, Alix. “I mean a lot of kids probably haven’t seen that many tattoos on a person before. And you’re pretty tall. That’s... probably it.” Might be a good idea to stop talking now. Alix cleared her throat, swaying a little on her feet before answering his next question. “I heard about it on the news. About the school, anyway. Then I looked a little more into it and saw they were looking for people to help, even if you’re human. And I just kinda thought -- if I’m not studying what I want to be studying right now, I might as well be doing something important in the mean time.”

The continuous rambling might not have been her finest moment, but it was certainly going to be a common one. Alix had the tendency to ramble when she became nervous, unsure, or even just got a little too deep into the topic of conversation. It was a bad habit and most people found it annoying, but most of the time she found it hard to cut herself off. She nodded then, relieved as she smiled; offending people (even unintentionally) was something she hated and worried about a lot, perhaps even more so now that she was at an academy for mutants. “Uh, I don’t, actually. Just got here so... yeah. I saw that a lot of people were volunteering and saying they’re going to come online so maybe they’re already here. Or they’re on their way. But I guess it’s hard to tell who’s human and who’s not just by looking, right? And it’s probably not nice to just keep asking people when you meet them. Maybe we’ll find out soon.” Alix hoped they weren’t the only two humans. That would make the both of them stick out from the crowd even more so, and would probably make it harder to adjust. In any case, it sounded like the school needed more help than just that of two humans and so she was counting on more people. 

After seeing his own room number she became a little less worried that she was being an inconvenience by asking for help -- his room wasn’t so far from her own so she wasn’t really asking him to go out of his way. “Thanks. I’m really bad with directions and finding my way around. I actually got lost three times just trying to get here. Can’t follow a map even if my life depended on it.” She laughed and moved to pick up her things but paused at his offer, glancing between the two different sized suitcases and a duffel bag, which she had already begun to pull over her shoulder. “Uh yeah, if you could grab that one that would be great.” She pointed towards the larger of the suitcases, grabbing the handle of the smaller herself. “Lead the way.”

[alixwinchester]

fcrgcs:

Fergus felt his heart beat quicker, like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing, and shoved the keys to his new apartment into his coat’s pocket. Whilst he’d had no obligation to stay in touch with her, or to tell her that he was leaving, he fell awkward in her presence anyhow. In the past several months, he’d grown accustomed to seeing her every Sunday morning, where he would buy his flowers and be off again; they’d even begun to sit at the same table together those nights they visited the same bar, though conversation had always been sparse. Fergus wasn’t one for talking. He never had been; he had the smallest of stutters, hidden well by how thick his accent was, but still there. His brothers had used to make fun of his impediment, however tiny it was, when they were younger; and he was so rarely in need of talking during hits that – in the end – he grew comfortable with silence. Alix looked as shocked as he felt, but he didn’t stare for too long, and took another discreet step back when she moved in front of the desk. 

Fergus cleared his throat. “You can say tha’ again.” He murmured, and idly rubbed tattooed fingers over an itch on the side of his face. He looked a mixture of impatience and nervousness: was Alix one of them? His eyes snapped back to her face at her second question, and his expression fell flat. He couldn’t tell her that he was here to kill people, however bad these men and women were. “Helpin’… these people.” He opted with saying, and flexed a finger in the direction of a few who passed by them. Briefly his eyes followed them, squinting at the way in which they dressed: one was covered from head to toe in tattoos, and the other with strikingly colourful hair. Alix’s final question was what made Fergus pause, and eventually he stared at her for a long  time, her question not entirely registering with him until after he’d had a moment to process it. Then he actually smiled a bit, as if he found her words amusing, and shook his head. “Do you?”

There was a small sense of relief that Alix felt at seeing Fergus. As little as they both knew about each other, she still would have considered him something close to a friend and it was nice to have friends in new, unfamiliar places. She was good at moving around; she'd done it enough as a kid, and when she'd moved away from home she'd spent a good few weeks in dozens of different towns before she'd settled in NYC. But this academy was a little more than just a new surrounding. It was a whole new species of humans that could shoot fire and read minds and change their appearance at will, and as much as that fascinated Alix, it scared her too. The possibilities of mutants and their powers were almost endless but that meant both good and bad possibilities. The good was great -- the chance to end world hunger and eradicate a multitude of diseases was always a positive. But the bad had much sinister implications, most of which ended in death.

She nodded at his short explanation, not expecting him to say more. He'd never been that much of a talker. “Me too. I mean, I don't really know how I'm supposed to help because I don't think arranging flowers is going to do much for them. But maybe there's something.” Alix had listed several of her interests and subjects she had extensive knowledge about on her forms, in case any of them happened to be crucial, but more than likely she supposed they might use her as a substitute teacher. For a moment then her words caught in the back of her throat, suddenly feeling embarrassed of the question she'd asked. “Oh, no, I don't have a -- a power. That's not... I'm just human. Sorry. About asking if you have a mutation, I mean, not for me not having one. It'd be weird if I apologised for that. Is mutation the right word? I don't think... I probably shouldn't use that. Or maybe it's okay?”

Alix's words had gotten away from her again, and by the time the receptionist re-appeared she was more or less talking to herself. She stopped once the woman coughed, reaching out to collect a set of keys and two leaflets before saying thank you and stepping out of the way. The number on the keys read 44, and she looked back towards Fergus as she held them out for him to see. “Are you anywhere near here? Maybe we can go look for where the rooms are together. Unless you already know. Then maybe you could just... show me where they are instead.”

[fcrgcs-blog]

Fergus wasn’t one hundred percent sure how he’d gotten tangled up in all of this. He’d stalked a man that had needed punishing, and then – THIS. If he’d known that the job would force him to stumble upon the world of mutants then perhaps he wouldn’t have taken it at all; been more wary of those he decided were deserving of execution. As it happened, the man he’d been tailing for weeks had led him straight to a facility, of sorts, and now this man was dead. Thanks to Fergus. A woman named Morgana had shown up not long after Fergus had blown the man’s brains out, asking if he would come to New Hampshire to help kill more men like that one; and Fergus had obliged. But now that he was here, he was nervous; suspicious. He watched those around him with steady eyes. A small grimace had carved into his features as he waited for the receptionist to get back, fingers curling around the papers he’d spent a couple hours filling out. 

Fergus recognised the florists voice even before he turned to look at her, and immediately tensed. She appeared not to recognise the back of him ( why would she? ), and briefly he considered just walking away so that she didn’t have the chance to consider where she might have seen him before. He was fairly certain that she’d be able to identify him if only he turned around to face her. She wasn’t blind, nor, he doubted, stupid. But then the receptionist reappeared, and announced his name “Mr Fergus Lyon” before asking for his papers. Clearing his throat, he turned a little to look over his shoulder at the blonde woman, so that she might recognise him better, albeit awkwardly, before returning his attention back to the receptionist, and handing over his papers. After he was done, he shifted to the side, and glanced back at the florist from NYC, gesturing for her to step forward. “…You  can give it in here…” He cleared his throat, and fidgeted a small amount. “…Small world…”

[alixwinchester]

Before Alix could get an answer from the stranger, the receptionist had returned to the desk, making her question moot. She’d been about to apologize and turn away but the name that was called out made her pause; she recognized it, and when the man looked over his shoulder, she realized who it was. Of all the people Alix might have guessed she’d run into, Fergus had never been particularly high on the list. She hadn’t know him that well when they both lived in NYC -- they only really talked when he went into the shop to buy flowers, and those couple of times when they’d ended up sat together in the bar, and she’d been fairly certain about not seeing him again after leaving town. Her mouth hung open for a second or two, making her look like a fish out of water, and it wasn’t until he stepped back to allow her to approach the desk that she managed to close it and swallow. A smile flickered across her face as she stepped forward and handed over the file, being told then that she had to wait a few minutes for it all to be processed and a place found for her to stay. 

As the woman disappeared once again into the office behind the desk Alix nodded, slowly turning back to Fergus as she fidgeted with the strap of her bag. “Yeah, definitely. I mean, what are the odds we both end up here, right?” She let out an awkward laugh, the tip of her shoe scuffing against the floor as she cleared her throat. “So, uh, what are you doing here?” It occurred to Alix then that, with the little information she knew about Fergus, she had no idea if he was a mutant or human, though she doubted he’d want to tell everyone he met if he did have some kind of power. She certainly wouldn’t have. “Are you...” Alix hesitated, unsure of whether it was a rude question or not. “Do you have an... ability?”

[alixwinchester]

Morgana Academy was bigger than Alix had imagined it. The main building looked a little daunting as she approached, and her fingers gripped a little tighter on the file full of papers she’d been asked to fill out for arrival. For the second time since pulling into the car park, Alix began to wonder if she was really doing the right thing; helping mutants was a good cause, after all, and a little better than just being a florist. She wanted to be there but was it right for her? Could she really offer them anything? Her feet had continued forward as she worried, and before she knew it the door was in front of her, and her thoughts strayed elsewhere as she pushed it open. There wasn’t much room for turning back anymore -- especially when there was nothing left to turn back. She’d given up her job and the lease on her apartment to travel hundreds of miles, and Morgana Academy was the only place she had left to go. 

The front desk was empty and there was no sign to tell when anybody would be back. She carried on to the left, where voices could be heard, hoping to find someone that might know where she should turn in her papers. “Oh, uh,” Alix raised a hand, trying to grab the attention of the nearest person passing by, “sorry. Do you know where I have to give these files in? I just got here but there’s nobody at the front desk.”