2013.10.09 - A Glimpse Into No Time

Hero Mux - Sunday, October 06, 2013, 8:30 PM
Emma had lost contact with the young mutant Kiden Nixon. The open house was a bit too overwhelming, and she hadn't meant to scare the girl off. After some time she was able to track the girl down again and invited her to visit the school, and her office directly.
Inside of the office was much like the rest of the school. White and silver, but in the office in particular was filled with very modern furniture. Emma herself was in a simple blue dress with white stilettos.
Kiden was brought in by Emma's secretary, and the door closed behind her. Emma rose from her chair, "Kiden. A delight to see you again, please have a seat."
Kiden never really felt like she belonged on that open house at the Academy of Tomorrow, if anything, it more or less set her mind that she's outclassed and very distinctly doesn't belong. It wasn't such a big deal, she gave up on schools quite a while ago, and she didn't really expect to do well in that one either. It was only Emma's tantalizing offer that got her intrigued enough to show up to the open house. It was that experience that made her disappear into her own life, where she grew much closer to a certain Domino, but that's a story for someone else on another day.
Walking into Emma's Office, Kiden let's out an impressed whistle, everything looks so pristine and expensive, and definitely out of place for Kiden. Then again, it is Emma's office, not Kiden's. "Hi..." Kiden offers with a level of uncertainty at Emma's greeting, moving to settle herself in the seat infront of Emma's desk. "It's impressive you can walk in those heels," Kiden remarks as if to sway the mood away from her concerns.
A grin spread across Emma's lips, as she looked down at her heels, "It's an acquired skill, that's for certain. It's good to see you again."
She made herself comfortable, sitting back down on her side. Kiden would notice in the corner of the room a small but very stocked bar. We all have our vices, "I'm sorry if the open house drew you away. I used to be very uncomfortable around large crowds."
She rested her elebows on the table, as she remembered being a young telepath and getting too much feedback from everyone around her. "How have you been? I hope that dealer has been behaving."
"I bet," Kiden agrees as she really can't fathom not tripping in stiletto, they make more sense to her as a makeshift stabbity weapon.
Kiden's eye certainly take note of the bar, and she looks between the bar and Emma, perhaps wondering what might happen if she asks for a drink. She has been surprised with Emma's response to knowing about her drug habit, so she never knows. And yet, she wouldn't want to ruin a good thing either. "Well, it's just, I never been around kids like that...it felt awkward, only time I've seen kids who look like that around kids from the school I went to was when they got seriously beat up for their lunch money, or super phones, that kinda stuff..."
Kiden grins when Emma mentions that dealer from the time they met, "oh, Humberto been treating me like VIP, everything's been awesome, thanks a bunch for that. I didn't even realize he was cheating me half the time before. I thought we were tight." Leaning back in her seat, Kiden looks around the room and then murmurs, "you know, I figure...I'm never going to dress prepy, and I'm not going to get geeked up with education and stuff. So...why bother? Is there really a point in me lying to myself and attending this school like I'm some kind of a good girl? We both now I'm not good, heck, my mom knew I'm not good."
Emma's lips moved into a small, sly smile. Her eyes locked with Kiden's, "Oh /I'm/ not good darling. It's not about being good."
Emma rose to open a window, and took out a stunning silver cigarette case and lit up one. "You smoke, right. Feel free, I haven't had one all day."
She slid the case closer to her, "It's not about what's socially acceptable. It's about not wasting your potential, and for you specifically your unique gifts. I don't want you to be good, just good at what you do."
If there's one thing Kiden didn't expect to hear from Emma, though it wouldn't be the first time she surprised her, is that being good isn't the main idea. More so that Emma isn't all that good herself. A bit shocked by this reply, Kiden arches a curious brow, looking at Emma with confusion on her face, "oh? That's not what they tell you at schools...so what is it about?"
It's still something that's strikingly unusual for Kiden, to be offered a cigarette by an adult. All they ever do is yell at her for smoking, or outright take any cigarettes she may have managed to acquire from her. Having one offered to her freely, especially in a Headmistress' office, is just weird. But she gladly takes a cigarette out of the holder and holds it toward Emma, "thanks, light me up?"
"How do you know about my...erm...gift...anyways?" Kiden asks, it's not that she's been uber careful, but she hasn't really shared and the way her power works, those around her will only note she disappeared. She figured most would figure she's very good at hiding. The creeps who usually drive her to use her power, well, those sometimes wind up too hurt to think about Kiden.
Emma reached for her posh zippo lighter and lit Kiden's cigarette. She laid back into the chair and studied the girl, looking more relaxed than Emma normally appeared, "I keep an eye out for talent, and have many contacts. I heard word about a girl who could disappear, and make things happen.."
She tapped at the side of her forhead, and Kiden could hear her soft voice inside of her head |"And when I met you, I saw it in your mind. Don't be frightened. I also have gifts."|
Kiden gladly puts the lit ciagrette between her lips and puffs on it, inhaling deeply as she relaxes a bit, looking over at Emma with her full attention. Something now headmaster or principal ever got from her before.
"Right...I forgot you read thoughts," Kiden muses around the cigarette hanging from her lips, "so, it's not like I was a screwup, you just know." She takes a little bow from her seated position. "So...that outta the way, I'm basically a free ticket into No Time, it's my crib, kinda like this world...except without time. You wanna see it?"
Emma rose from her seat and gently put out the cigarette so she might be able to finish it later, "You are a no screwup, but a capable woman. And from what I was to gather...very capable of taking care of yourself. I was homeless once too, you know."
An interesting glint hit her eyes as she brought up the invitation. "I would absolutely love to see that."
"Finally someone who digs being homeless is all about being self sufficent. You get way more experience being homeless then you do at school," Kiden notes, smiling faintly at Emma, wondering if she's catering to her as it's hard to imagine such an affluent woman having been homeless at some point.
Getting up from her seat, Kiden extends one hand towards Emma, "take my hand," she says and then reaches with her other to take hold of her cigarette. The moment Emma would take her hand, Kiden would toss the cigarette in the air but before it can land on the floor, everything changes.
Everything around gains a pink shimmering hue, light becomes intensified, but other than that everything is just the same, albeit very still. The cigarette that Kiden just tossed is floating in the air as if gravity stopped affecting it. Kiden turns to look at Emma with a radiant smile, "pretty cool, isn't it? I sometimes hang around here for months...nobody can bother me here, nobody can hurt me...it's perfect. It's even more awesome in the rain."
"Sounds like you went to a very boring school." Oh she was quite sure that the girl didn't believe her. But Emma wasn't always the woman who she was all the same. But at this point she liked watching the girls reactions.
She held Kidens hand as she looked about the room in awe. To see the power through her own eyes was thrilling. She could imagine the rain would be a sight, "It is beautiful, Kiden. I can see why you'd want to stay lost in your own little world. I never thought my office would ever look so...pink."
"Oh hell no, I went to a very dangerous school, funny story, did I ever mention how my gift is the only reason I'm not dead now? It kinda kicked in when I got shot in school," Kiden offers the details as if it wasn't anything really interesting at all, and just a footnote in her life, though that day changed everything.
She gives Emma a few moments to appreciate No Time in silence, but when Emma speaks again, Kiden turns to look at her and chuckles, "I gathered White and Silver are more your colors, well, sorry, No Time seems to come mostly in pink, and I'm pretty sure that's not my doing." She keeps her hand gripping Emma's as she quips, "you can only stay here if you hold my hand, I found this the hard way, but that's a boring story."
As if in an after thought, she adds, "another cool fact about this place? I'm never hungry or thirsty when I'm here..."
Emma looked over Kiden's face, "That is fascinating. What about the other details, do you find your nails grow? Or other body functions? I wonder if you age."
She turned her head away as if she was lost in thought. That was one of many reasons why she wanted Kiden to accept her guidance, she was curious about her powers in general. Emma looked about the room, the whole thing was surreal and quite beautiful, "No, no it's beautiful. And I'd quite like to hear about that, what happened."
Emma turned her attention back to Kiden, "All I want is to help you, to learn how to use well...this. I'll help you think of flaws you haven't discovered yet, so you'll be better prepared for a time when someone might use it against you. And as for school well..."
"I don't think it's possible to age in No Time, it's like Never Never Land in a way," Kiden says as clearly, she did not experience her nail growing or other bodily functions being needed, suggesting that indeed, time just stops. Or at least that's how she sees it and she's yet to meet another living soul in No Time to ask any questions.
Kiden fishes the cigarette that floats in the air back into her lips and turns to look at Emma.
"Well, me and my pals kinda sorta got framed for murder, which we totally didn't do by the way, and I had to bail us out of there...I brought us all to No Time, but one blockhead thought he could let go...too bad, huh?" Kiden looks like she's already over that experience, but the very things she mentions do suggest the young girl has seen and experienced more then she should have at her age, which might suggest her willingness to give up on education, schools, and many other things society considers necessities. "If you think you can teach me about it more...you're welcome to it, but I really think No Time is already perfect. Just...don't tell people, ok?"
"So...does that mean I don't have to attend all classes?" Kiden asks, getting the sense that Emma really might not be all that interested in making her into a straight A student after all. Maybe this is not so much about rehabilitation, as it is Emma checking out if Kiden might be willing to do some things for her.
Emma let out a breath as she is returned back to normal time. She found the affects of the time to be quite thrilling. Emma pondered if Kiden ever entered it while high, if the affects still lasted. But in itself the experience is quite the sight.
She returned back to her seat and re-lit it, "Well that really depends Kiden. What would you say you need? Do you have any career prospects? A home? I want to know what you are looking for."
A little smirk appears at the corner of her mouth as she gets a thought, "Doesn't have to be a career that society respects either."
When everything around shifts back to the comparatively dull looking real world, Kiden moves to sit down again, puffing on her cigarette, "so that's No Time. As for me...? The only thing I need is my father back, and that ain't happening, so I'm pretty much shit out of luck."
Focused on herself, Kiden perhaps forgets herself as she leans back and lifts her legs to rest them on Emma's desk, "I wish I knew about career or home or what I'm looking for. I just sorta live my life day to day, I took myself out of society, so I've been living by my own rules. I guess I'd like to help people...or at least screw up with the people who deserve being screwed with..." she looks very fascinated by Emma's suggestion it wouldn't need to be a respectable career by society's terms, and Kiden nods as if to show she hasn't been limited herself. "For the time being I just do my own thing day to day. I think wanting is part of what makes most of us fucked up."
"Yes but everyone has something they want. Like I want your feet off of my table." She chuckled and patted at the side of her feet to suggest moving them off of her furniture.
She chuckled and took in a long drag of her cigarette, "I'm sorry about your loss, first of all. And secondly, day to day a good way to approach things, but sometimes you might end up where you didn't want to be, and quite unsure of how to get yourself out of it."
Emma crossed her legs as she pondered things, "Alright, my dear this is the deal. You attend one class with me per week, just you and me. I sign papers saying that you are attending all of the classes needed with straight As. I require that you stay in our dorms. Which are solo dorms, and feature a very handy self-cleaning system by the way. And beyond that all that I ask is that you don't bring cops to my door, to whatever it is that you do beyond these walls."
"Ooops, my B," Kiden grumbles as she removes her legs off Emma's desk, "I didn't mean to...just comes naturally," she explains herself. And unlike her previous principal, she really doesn't have her mind set on pissing Emma off, not at all, she's just posed with questions she never really ponders.
"Well, I was never famous for coming up with brilliant plans, I really don't know what to do, I guess that's why No Time is so awesome, no need to worry about anything," Kiden sighs in exasperation, brushing her hair back with her hands as she cranes her neck to look at the ceiling.
Kiden does look a bit optimistic at the solution Emma offers, and she grins widely, "I don't ever get caught by cops, my dad was a cop, I know how they work...they never catch me. Not that I'm ever up to no good," she offers with a feigned angelic smile.
A warm smile spread across Emma's mouth, "Oh any other table here and I wouldn't care. But this one is mine."
She let out a soft laugh, as she emptied the ashes into her glass ash tray, "So then. Can I take that as a yes?"
"You got a deal," Kiden announces as she stands up and uses the ashtray in turn, "since you can get in my mind and all, feel free to call me for the one lesson, I'll make it in no time, get it?" Kiden winks and looks quite pleased with herself.
Emma laughed and reached forward to shake Kiden's hand, "I hadn't thought about that, you would be good at scheduling then. Then welcome to the academy of tomorrow. And remember, once a week every week."
She rose and met with the girl on her side of the desk, reaching into her desk, "Just one thing left. Do you need a new alternate identity? I can arrange this if you need it."
"Alternate identity?" Kiden looks preplexed at the offer, clearly, she's never given this much thought at all. "I don't know...it's like...what do I have to hide? Not like anyone could go after my family...and considering who is my friend, they would be safer not going after them either."
Emma shrugged, "Perhaps not today. I only mean for later, really. But no need to fret about that now. I'd like to take you to your dorm."
She placed a hand on her shoulder as she led her out of her office, "I think we can learn a lot from each other Kiden."
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