Bring me Sunshine

[Sunfire]

After his tour and subsequent meeting with Logan, Shiro had wandered the grounds and introduced himself to several of the older students who seemed both polite and respectful. It made for a pleasant change to meet young people who seemed to be getting an education in manners as well as their more regular studies.

Charles Xavier had been a great man indeed.

He had gone home that night feeling as though he had made his first steps on a new journey, one that promised to be both rewarding and fulfilling. His uncle would have been proud.

He had returned to the school the following morning to continue meeting the rest of the faculty. Miss Munroe had been very busy when he had gone to call on her and so he had decided not to disturb her and hoped instead to meet with the new school head today.

Not before he had taken another walk through the gardens though.

The morning dew had mostly evaporated in the morning sun, but here and there the odd bead of water caught the light and sparkled as if the flowers were bedecked with jewels.

He paused at a particularly impressive bloom and inhaled its scent, it was one of those things that made it feel good to be alive.

[heather]

Though she'd been at the school for a good two weeks, now, Heather still hadn't gotten to know very many of the faculty. Most of her interactions before her appointment at the school had been with Candice Taylor, the administrator, and after her arrival she'd been quite busy with teaching and getting herself settled in.

Now that she was organised, though, and had been able to get her particular special needs taken care of (for example, taking down the blue posters that the previous biology teacher had used and replacing them with reds and yellows), she was finding that she had enough spare time outside of her classes to actually try to meet people.

And she'd started to feel a bit shy.

There was really no reason for it - in this school, she was surrounded by mutants, so there was no need for her to be shy about her abilities. From what she'd been able to find out, though, most of the other adults within the mansion were actually members of the X-Men, even if they did teach - and that had left her a little nervous. Heather was not a fighter, nor was her mutation at all useful in confrontations. What good did being able to laugh like a kookaburra or buzz like a bee do when you were facing someone that could raise the dead, or send giant carnivorous plants against you?

She'd seen the news. It had left her nervous for the safety of the students.

But Heather had decided that it was time to let go of her nerves and start acting like the adult that she was, and actually meeting some of the other adults that lived at the school. Which was why she was feeling rather stupid for walking around in the gardens, where it usually seemed to be relatively quiet.

Tucking a long strand of blue-black hair behind her ear, the teacher crouched down to pull a weed, watching as a bee flew uneven circles around the flowerbed. Her gaze followed it for a while, watching as it flew over to a new flower, alighting to collect pollen before moving on. It circled around a figure breathing in the scent of a particularly beautiful bloom, and Heather directed a smile over in his direction.

"Lovely day, isn't it?"

[Sunfire]

Shiro returned her smile with one of his own, "indeed it is," he said, his eyes tracking the insect as it buzzed lazily around his head before settling on the rose. Natures gardeners, his uncle had called them, tending to the flowers as diligently as any human botanist would.

The young lady did not have the look of a student about her, but he had been lead to believe that there were pupils of all ages attending the Xavier Institute and so jumped to no conclusions.

He slowly walked over to her, pausing several times to admire particularly impressive blooms.

"Shiro Yoshida," he introduced himself with his customary bow, "the school really is a wonderful place."

[heather]

"Heather Doherty," she didn't really know what to do in response to a bow, whether to offer her hand to shake or not, so she just smiled and bobbed her head a bit, "it's lovely to meet you."

There was no way of knowing whether he was a student, teacher or X-Man without just going ahead and asking - and as much as she felt like one of the children (although most of them seemed to be more interested in what everyone's powers were), she said, "The school is wonderful. A fantastic environment for mutants to be learning."

There was a slight pause before she could work up the nerve to actually ask.

"Are you a teacher here, or one of the X-Men? Or a student?" Perhaps some combination of all three - apparently many of the teachers had some association with the X-Men, even if they weren't actually a full-time member of the team.

[Sunfire]

"I am a teacher," he said, "though I have yet to do any actual teaching."

He gave her a warm smile, "I was only taken on yesterday, so I am attempting to get to know people, both students a faculty. Thus far I have only managed to meet Miss Taylor and Mr Logan."

He glanced over as a small group of students hurried along one of the paths toward the tennis courts.

"It is so busy all the time, I don't know how they manage to keep up."

He returned his attention to Heather.

"With the X-Men in residence it must get ... frantic at times."

[heather]

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure - I've only been teaching here for a couple of weeks myself. Sometimes it does seem that way, though." The teachers who were also X-Men had a difficult choice to make if a battle arose during school hours - and Heather couldn't see the Brotherhood of Mutants stopping to take something like that into account. She didn't bother mentioning her concern for the school.

"What do you teach? I take English and Biology with the older students, although I'd have loved to teach some of the younger." It was why she'd been spending many of her free periods reading to the younger students, so that their teacher could get some much needed one-on-one time with certain students. Or time with the class while she read one-on-one. Not everyone could participate in normal classes all the time.

"It is wonderful here, I'm sure you'll love it." The school was a haven for mutants, whether they were obviously such or looked completely 'normal'. She wondered for a moment what Shiro's abilities involved, but Heather wasn't going to ask that - that would make her feel just like the students, and it really wasn't particularly important in the long run anyway. It wasn't as though she was helping with power control lessons, and she'd have expected anyone in a teaching postition to have that all downpat anyway.

[Sunfire]

"I am going to be teaching self defense, karate, and at the same time teach the students something about discipline and control of their abilities."

The discipline was the more important of the two given the nature of some of the powers involved. Children who could read your mind or manipulate the earth beneath your feet did nothing to help the paranoia of the general public.

"I think Mr Logan was keen to recruit me into the X Men as well, but I do not wish to take that step just yet. The X Men have had a somewhat questionable record recently and I would like to see for myself how they operate."

He also had doubts about the wisdom of basing their activities from a school given the sort of enemies they were likely to make.

If it came to a choice between teaching and the X Men however, Shiro would choose the peaceful path.

[Storm]

Ororo had allowed herself a little time to sleep in that morning, as business matters were not too pressing, and she thought celebrating Bobby's return was a good excuse. Of course, it was still fairly early when she awoke. She went straight for breakfast and then to check her messages; but sitting in her office, she looked out of the window and thought that was just about enough work for now.

It wasn't long until she was in the garden. She wandered the paths happily, breathing in the clean air and plucking weeds here and there. She turned one corner around a hedge and saw a pair talking nearby.

She knew one of them, a new teacher whom Storm had taken a long-distance liking to already, and someone else... ah yes, the gentleman she had been too swamped to see yesterday.

Unhurriedly she strolled in their direction, and with a pleasant smile she held up a hand in greeting - the one that wasn't holding weeds, that is.

[heather]

"With a repertoire like that, I'm not surprised he wants you in the team." He could have had a power as useless as hers and still been an effective member of the X-Men, but for some reason Heather found it comforting to hear that he wasn't willing to take that step right away.

Who would look after the children if someone lured all of the X-Men away? She certainly wouldn't be of any use in a fight.

When the headmistress appeared and raised a hand in greeting, Heather couldn't help but smile and return the gesture. Though she hadn't really had a chance to get to know the woman particularly well yet, she seemed pleasant so far and genuinely appeared to care about the children, even with her status as a member of the X-Men.

Actually, Heather had been meaning to talk to her about that - there was something about Hannah Creed that she'd been finding rather worrying, not to mention a few students who seemed to be developing a habit of skipping English class. The latter could probably be dealt with in another way, not necessarily needing the attention of the Headmistress herself, but Hannah's revelation yesterday... Well, that had left the blue-haired mutant rather shocked, and she was hoping that something could be done as soon as possible.

"Morning," she called out as the weather-controller (weatherkinetic?) approached.

[Sunfire]

"Indeed, but true martial skill is the ability to avoid conflict altogether rather than the knowledge of how to fight."

He smiled again and turned his attention to the new arrival; an attractive woman with startlingly white hair for one so young. This could only be the headmistress, Ororo Munroe, whom he had been unable to meet the previous day.

"Fortune smiles it would seem," he said, and waited for the head of the Xavier Institute to approach.

Though Candice had officially endorsed him as a teacher despite his lack of qualifications it would be good, and right, to gain the approval of the faculty head.

[Storm]

Storm walked over to the pair once they turned and noticed her. They seemed to want to welcome her, so she figured she wasn't interrupting them too much.

"Good morning, Heather," she replied to Bowerbird, as soon as she was close enough that she didn't have to call. She made it a point to remember people's names; and although she wasn't always successful, she was improving.

She smiled at the two mutants. "It's a beautiful morning, isn't it? I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Storm dropped the uprooted weeds at the edge of the path, and dusted off her hands as best she could before holding one out to the new man apologetically. "My apologies for the soil. I'm Ororo Munroe. You must be Mr... Yoshida?" she said, with a bit of hesitation at the pronunciation of his name.

[Sunfire]

"Shiro Yoshida," he gave his short bow before accepting her handshake.

"It is indeed a beautiful morning Miss Munroe, Miss Doherty and I were just discussing the merits of teaching in such an inspiring place as the institute."

He smiled with genuine warmth.

"The garden is magnificent," he glanced down at the pile of uprooted weeds, "is it all your own work or do the students assist?"

In his younger years he had helped his uncle tend to the orchards that grew around the house and had always enjoyed the peaceful solitude of the contemplation glade with its ornate pond and immaculately raked gravel.

If he could recapture just a fragment of that here in the grounds of the Xavier Institute it would be a blessing.

[heather]

Heather gave the headmistress a warm smile, and shook her head at the woman's hope that she wasn't interrupting, but didn't say anything as Shiro introduced himself and the pair started dicussing the gardens.

She let her mind wander, looking out over the plants, running over the path that she'd been taking her biology students on and cataloguing the different species that she liked to point out. Mainly the ones that were well known, but she did have a habit of stopping when there was something particularly pretty to show off.

Heather had always liked pretty things. Her mutation kicking in had only increased that desire for beautiful objects, although it had seemed to refine her tastes somewhat.

[Storm]

Ah good. She had been right about the name.

"I'm glad you think so," she replied. "The Professor was very inspiring, and his spirit lives on here." She unconsciously looked in the direction of the tombstones, even though they were currently hidden from view.

His compliments on the garden, however, drew an even more personal pride from Ororo. She smiled and looked around. "Well thank you. The students do assist whenever they like, although - " her smile grew a little rueful - "usually I have to do my work cleaning up their assistance." So many footprints and broken stems!

"But this is my favorite place on the grounds. Peaceful, but very much alive." She gazed fondly at a particularly beautiful white rose, and then turned to Heather. "I gather you've been taking students out here for biology classes? That is a wonderful idea."

[Sunfire]

Shiro nodded as she spoke with obvious pleasure about the garden and grounds. She clearly put alot of work in to not only the maintenance of the students and X Men but the school as well. No wonder she was always so busy. With a workload like that he was surprised she ever managed to find any time for herself.

"I hope you have no objections to my teaching here," he asked, "I know I lack any relevant qualifications, but Miss Taylor did not feel that they were essential for a role here."

Truth be told, the greater part of teaching was knowledge and patience. Shiro had an abundance of patience and considerable knowledge, not that he would ever admit to such.

"And, if again you do not object, I would like to do some work in the grounds. Perhaps some cherry trees," he said hopefully.

[heather]

Once Shiro had finished speaking, Heather nodded and quietly answered Ororo's question. She didn't like to bring the focus of the conversation back to herself, but there was something that she'd been meaning to speak about anyway. Perhaps now was as good a time as any. "Yes, I have been taking the students out here. Biology... It is much easier to be inspired when you are surrounded by nature, I've always found." She directed a smile over to the Asian man, offering her own opinion on his request - not that hers was important.

"I think cherry trees would be a lovely addition to the grounds. Actually there's something I've been meaning to discuss with you, Ororo, I'm sorry to change the subject - especially to something slightly darker, but... I was recently speaking to one of the students, Hannah Creed? She was talking about the school that she attended before coming to Xavier's, about the martial arts training and what sounded like medical testing that she and the other children were being given."

The blue-haired mutant had meant to speak to someone about this sooner, but hadn't had a chance. "Well, she was telling me how many students there were, and I'm worried about what is happening to the children still there. Shiro, you'd know more about this than I, but - Martial Arts training for children? Hannah is only six. It sounded as though the other children were about the same."

[Sunfire]

Shiro cocked his head on one side, "I began my own training when I was only seven Miss Doherty, martial arts teach confidence and discipline and are not a bad thing for a child to be involved in," he thought for a moment, "unless such things are being forced upon them."

He didn't like to think about the idea of medical testing on children, it reminded him too much of some of the things his cousin had been involved in.

He turned to Ororo, "perhaps her school could be contacted and the concerns addressed? I do not like the idea of anything being forced on the young in such a way."

If this was the sort of thing the X Men had to contend with on a day to day basis it was no wonder they were so passionate about their work.

[heather]

Nodding at Shiro's words, Heather thought that perhaps she'd need to talk to Hannah more about it. Whatever was happening at the girl's old school, though, it was definitely worth looking into...

But not right now. Her cell phone was buzzing in her pocket, and she pulled it out and gave the pair an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, I really have to take this. It was lovely to meet you, Shiro."

And then she was gone, opening her phone as she went and starting a rapidly fired conversation, her Australian accent sounding almost exaggerated in comparison to how she usually spoke.

[Exit Heather]

[Storm]

"I hope you have no objections to my teaching here. I know I lack any relevant qualifications, but Miss Taylor did not feel that they were essential for a role here."

Storm smiled at Shiro. "She was right. There are far more important qualities than a teaching history." This man seemed grounded, and she liked him already.

"And, if again you do not object, I would like to do some work in the grounds. Perhaps some cherry trees."

Well, that sealed the deal. "That would be wonderful," she smiled.

She turned to Heather when the other woman started speaking, and listened with growing concern. She was pleased to see Shiro offer his opinion, too, and she took in what he had to say. "It is true that martial arts are not a negative lesson even for the young. But medical testing worries me. With mutant children, I would worry the more."

She turned to Shiro. "Contacting the other school is not quite as easy as it sounds. I - " She furrowed her brow and sighed. "I have my concerns about them."

Turning the information over in her head, she looked over at the school. Maybe it was time to start work for the day. "Thank you, Heather, for reminding me. I think I will start work on finding out more."

She turned to Shiro and put a hand on his arm. "It was great to meet you, I'm sorry we could not talk more. Please find me sometime, and we can get better acquainted. In the meantime... feel free to improve the garden in any way you like." She gave him a geniune smile through the cloud of stress that had once again descended on her head, and stepped back towards the school.


[OOC: I'm really sorry you guys. : ( The holidays kinda sucked out my soul. I want to play more with these characters soon though!]