2013-02-25 "I Killed"

Classes have passed, another day, another dollar, another brick in the all and all that. As many students do, Cessily Kinkaid's returned to her dorm room to consider - and likely avoid - homework, leaving her door open as an invitation to friends and schoolmates. The room's the same standard institute dorm room everybody has. Bed and desk and closet on one side of the room, then the same on the other for her roommate, who's out at the moment. Cess' side of the room is decorated rather like a random collage. There's a big panorama poster of the Portland skyline, such as it is, and a Trailblazer's pennant. Below that on the wall are taped pictures from her past years at the Institute, with friends graduated and still present both, being serious and silly. Along the top shelf of the desk sit a series of cheerleading trophies and track ribbons, along with an explosion of tcotchkes. The metal girl herself's stretched out on her bed, stomach down, gazing intensely at a book she has propped on her pillow.
Having been taken hostage for awhile has thrown all of Jocelyn's carefully-crafted routines out of whack. This simply did not do. So Jocelyn has been spending her time re-adjusting to, well, adjusting to life at the mansion. She hadn't really hadn't that much time to adjust before bad things happened. She was just on her way down the hall, a history book tucked under her arm, when she spots Cessily's door open. Hmm. Go study, or go chat with Cessily. Like that was a difficult choice. The girl steps into Cessily's room, reaching out to knock on the door as she enters.
"Hey there," Jocelyn says, glancing around and taking in the room. "How's it going?" she asks, taking note of the book that Cessily is reading.
A room. Well to be honest, Laura has a room. Or at least had a room. After all, that was before she officially became a student. Then well... There was talk of her needing, or getting a room mate. And classes. And other things. And well...
It's complex. All right. At one point there was even talk of her getting one of the 'special' rooms in the attic, but it's unclear why that was even suggested. So now.... Now the clawed girl is in the hall for the girls dorm, looking around, and looking slightly confused, if not lost as she looks at a sheet of paper in her hands.
Cessily's head pops up even before Jocelyn knocks. Passing people do that. "Hey," she says. Cess thrusts back and sits up, then rotates and kicks her legs off the side of the bed. In deference to the younger girl's curiosity, she holds up book, which turns out to the the McMillan College Guide. "Deciding my future, you?" she asks. Her smile fades as the dark girl meanders past. "Looking for something?" she asks.
"Gah. College. Haven't given that a single solitary thought and don't intend to for awhile," Jocelyn comments. She is not the studious type. Maybe she'll go to a two year school or something when she graduates from Xavier's. She turns when Cessily addresses Laura and offers the girl a smile and nod. "Hey Laura," she greets, letting Cessily's question speak for her as well. Laura did look rather lost at the moment, which wasn't a look she was accustomed to seeing on the young woman's face.
There's a blink as Laura hears a voice, that is before her head snaps around so she can look directly at Cess. But when she does look at the girl speaking to her, she just flips the sheet towards her revealing the basic 'New Student Orientation' paperwork.
Then in turn there's a slight nod at Jocelyn in greeting, before she glances back at that paper.
Cess closes the book, tossing it to her side. It's already festooned with a rainbow of tags sticking out on the top and side to mark certain pages. "You're not a senior yet, you've got time. Heck, I don't even know if my parents will pay for anything, soooo....." she shrugs.
Paperwork! Even from a distance she recognizes that. Cess stays still, then the metal girl rises and walks over to Laura, taking the page. "So we're going to be your rehab or something?" she asks, with a faint sigh. "Let's see...." she mutters, reading the page to see where Laura's been assigned and what classes she's taking.
"Ahh. I'm familiar with that paperwork. It's a pain in the ass," Jocelyn says as she stands up and reads over Cessily's shoulder to see what all Laura has listed on her paperwork for classes and such. "We might have similar classes, since we're both new here," Jocelyn points out. "If so, I can let you look over the notes I've got for catch-up work and all that stuff," she adds.
What does Laura have listed? First off, no combat or combat training classes. No self defense. No English classes. No classes involving other languages. Instead there's an art introductory class. A very basic (borderline remedial) math class. An equally basic history class. A creative writing class. A remedial science class. Among a few others. But well, the classes are lop sided, with things that other students have to take here obviously missing, with her classes being either indicating some gaps in her basic knowledge, or for some reason being artsy.
Of course while her schedule is looked over, there's a very brief look at Cess that's somewhere between confused and annoyed.
"Not rehab."
And then well, Jocelyn just gets a blink from the shortest girl here.
She reads over the sheet and then hands it back. "How old are you, anyway?" Cessily asks Laura. "If....I guess, either of you, need help with classes, let me know. I've still got all my old notes and books and I did take them, so...." She shifts under the look of annoyed confusion - confused annoyance? - and tries hard not to wilt.
"Huh. Alright. Well, some similar - I've got that science class," Jocelyn says. Because she is seriously in need of remedial science, thanks to her terrible education. "Don't have the creative writing courses myself," she says, taking note of it. "So, they assign you a room yet?" she asks Laura. The blink that Laura gives her goes noted, but she's not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe one day she will.
Unlike what most people may assume about clones, Laura actually has a Birthday!
Just don't ask her when it is. She doesn't know what it is. But she does have an estimate as to how old she is, based off of things that the scientists back at Weapon X let slip around her.
"Sixteen." Then at that offer, there's a slight nod. "And I will."
Then to Jocelyn there's a slight, "No." before she glances down the hallway. And no she doesn't expand on that right away anyways.
"Creative writing's good," Cess says. "Maybe you should get into that. I think it's helped my essays a lot. Even when you're talking about the Battle of Hastings or whatever, you're still telling a story," she says. "That can't be right," Cessily says in disbelief, taking Laura's New Student sheet back and looking for a room number.
Jocelyn wrinkles her nose a little bit at that. "Really? Well, if you need a place to sleep, I don't have a roommate yet, and you're welcome to the extra bed," Jocelyn replies to Laura. "Though I'm surprised they haven't assigned you a room". That's one of the most basic things they assign a new student, isn't it? "Maybe I'll give it a try next term, when I've got a full term to get into it," Jocelyn says to Cessily in agreement. "My writing could use the help". A nod is given to Laura. "So we're in the same year," Jocelyn says when Laura reveals her age.
Yeap. The sheet doesn't say what room Laura is suppose to be in, or who her roommate is.
Not that it bothers Laura anyways. Or doesn't appear to bother her since she just shrugs.
"Never had to write like that before. Just go in, kill, come back, answer questions. Only had to write if it was out on a mission, and even then they tried to..."
There's a pause as Laura just glances away.
Cessily huhs again. "Strange," Cessily adds. She shrugs. "Talk to Mister Logan, I guess," she suggests to Laura. "He can sort that out." Cessily's about to hand the sheet back to Laura when she drops that bomshell, getting a wide-eyed double take from the girl. Cess stretches an arm out and closes the door. "Missions!?" she asks in disbelief.
And here's where Laura just turns to try and start to walk away before saying anything else. Only that door gets shut in her face instead.
"No. I would be in the field alone."
And she just pops her claws with a *SKNIT!* as she eyes the door, before adding a few more words.
"And I killed."
"No," Cessily says to Jocelyn. "No, we were all there. So they told you?" she asks, point blank. Laura cuts off any further discussion, though. Cessily bubbles and flows around Laura, plastering herself to the door. "Put that away," she tells Laura. The metal girl tries to steel herself in the face of the pint sized murder machine. "Why?" she asks. "Why would you do that? The X-Men don't do that!"
"Mr. Summers explained things to me this morning," Jocelyn responds to Cessily. She looks over at Laura, then at Cessily. "Everyone has a past. It's more important to focus on what's in front of us," Jocelyn says to the pair of them. She seems more willing to forgive Laura's past murderous tendencies than Cessily is, but it's more a matter of practicality than anything else. The girl remains relaxed and doesn't make a move towards either one of them.
"It is what I was created to do." is said in an emotionless tone as Laura stands there, but her claws do /not/ go away.
"I was not an X-Man. Like... /Him/, I was Weapon X." Pause. "Weapon X-23."
Of course no one has explained the X-Men to her, but between how the girls are talking about it, mixed with what Laura saw 'down below', well....
Never mind.
Thus instead there's a glance from Cess, to Jocelyn, and back.
"Now please, move."
She does. Cessily moves to the side, her face blank and her body loose. Gear have clicked over in her head, actual knowledge and rumours and suppositions all linking together. Her arms cross over her stomach, as increasingly queazy. "Ohmygosh," she whispers. "They really did that to her?" she asks. Could people really be that terrible? To someone like her?
Jocelyn nods to Laura. She wasn't an X-Man, and likely isn't one yet. She'll wait to respond to Cessily until Laura is gone. "I'll see you later," Jocelyn tells the girl. She stays quiet, thinking these events over, though she does finally speak. "You're going to have to enlighten me a little bit," Jocelyn tells Cessily. "I'm not nearly as in the loop as you may think about this".
Did that? You really don't want to know what 'they' did to Laura.
Either way though, as Cess moves out of the way, the claws are retracted, before Laura just nods at the other two girls...
And leaves.
Cessily watches Laura retreat, then slinks her way to her desk. She rubs her hair as she leans her head back and groans. "I'm not either," Cessily says. "I don't know, I thought she was just some psycho goth chick."
"She's more than that, clearly," Jocelyn responds as she sits on the foot of Cessily's bed. "Still, like I said, we've all got our pasts. I can't say I've gone and killed people, but I've known people who have before. Worst I can say I've done is killing attack dogs on the street". She shrugs at that. "Regardless, that class schedule looks like it was meant to help adapt to this lifestyle more than anything else". She pauses. "Speaking of, how long have you known about the X-Men and been one? Mr. Summers just told me about it this morning after my run".
Cessily leans forward, elbows on knees, face in her hands. "How would I have known?" Cessily asks, knitting her brow. She kicks her foot out and makes a face. "Most of us aren't hard-cases," she says. "Just run of the mill get out of my house you filthy mutant stuff." Cessily's eyes dart. "About a year. They talked to me when I started as a junior. I think that's usually what they do, but you seem pretty powerful so...."
"I know most aren't, and I'm not nearly as much of a hard case. But I didn't have a particularly great childhood experience, so I suppose I can relate a little bit to her. I've dealt with enough people with similar attitudes. Just none our age". Jocelyn shrugs at that. "Mr. Summers...uhh, what's his codename? Cyclone or something like that? He asked me to join this morning. I accepted," Jocelyn explains. A nod is given. "I'm not really that powerful, honestly. You just saw me when I had more juice than I knew what to do with flying around, and I know how to pick a target," Jocelyn replies. "What happened to Captain Marvel, with the exploding? That's how my powers manifested," she explains.
Cessily avoids prying into Jocelyn's details on that. She's been batting poorly on that front so far today. Best not to tie it in a bow. "Cyclops," she asys, gesturing across her eyes, to suggest the visor. "She's okay. She got pretty banged up, I guess when she landed. I was holding her wrist together, so...." Cessily winces just thinking of it. "We got her on the blackbird, she'll get taken care of. Anyway, she's Captain Marvel," she says, underscoring the title. She pauses a beat. "I'm Mercury," she adds.
"I told Cyclops I was leaning towards the name 'Channel'. I thought it seemed to fit, and he liked it. Mercury fits you," Jocelyn says to Cessily, making sure to use Scott's codename, just so she remembers it easier. "Yeah, exploding does that. Knocked me out cold for a few hours the first time. I've managed to avoid it since," Jocelyn says. "But she can pull in way more juice than I can. Looking at her is almost hard for me at times, with all the energy she pulls in". It's really kind of hard. "I'm glad she'll get better - I don't know all the details of her powers, but I imagine she'll recover quickly. I'm a little more worried about Shift, to be honest".
"It's not that creative," Cessily admits. "Accurate, though. What's my other option? Metal Girl? Liquid Lass? Sometimes short and sweet is the way to go," Cess suggests. "She's got some really good people taking care of her. I'm sure she'll be fine," Cessily says. Heroes /do/ have the best health plans. "We could go check on him," Cessily suggests, rising.
They could, couldn't they? Jocelyn nods. "Well, creative isn't all that necessary. I mean, one of the most famous heroes in the world is Superman, right? How creative is that name?" Jocelyn shrugs at that, and then stands. "Yeah. We should go see how Shift is doing. See if he's managed to reform yet," Jocelyn suggests. "Lead the way".
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