Yet Another Introductory Thread

[Domino]

God, Neena hated cabbies.

They just hadn't had public transport in Texas. Well, main Austin had had a little, but not much outside buses. And almost no cabs that weren't airport cabs, which didn't count.

But down here? Oh no. It would be pointless to rent a car and she didn't have her car, because apparently it was pointless to own a car in New York (or so Daddy said, and he'd feel more comfortable with her in a plane, because even with the recent terrorist activity blah blah blah), and she had had to take a cab alll the way from the airport in New York out here to Westchester.

She didn't care if she was going to have a salary and a place to live. She still didn't want to fork out a couple hundred dollars for a freaking cab ride.

It was in something of a huff, though she smoothed it over carefully when she saw people on the grounds, that Neena had arrived at the Xavier Institute. Not that she wasn't usually in something of a huff, or at least nursing the remains of a huff or working up to a brand-new huff, but still.

A young man had shown her up to the lobby, telling her he'd go get someone to see to her. He'd been a little overfriendly, actually. She didn't trust him for a second. The fact that he was about 12 didn't deter her at all; he'd break some poor girl's heart if he got half a chance.

Neena sighed, crossing one leg over the other and pushing down the skirt of her suit, balancing her small purse on her lap. At least she was here now. There couldn't be too much more of an ordeal before she got somewhere with all this, could there?

[candice]

Candice rushed down the stairs quickly enough, but fortunately caught the back of Leela before she could notice the haste. This gave her a brief pause to make sure she was straightened up before she walked over, smiling at the young woman.

“Leela?” She asked, holding out her hand. “I”m Candice Taylor. Welcome to Xavier's.”

[Domino]

Neena thought she heard the clack/stomp of rushed feet down the grand stairwell against which she had faced herself, but when she turned around all that was there was an attractive, professional-looking woman holding out her hand. Neena stood up, smiling, and took the offered hand, shaking it firmly.

"Neena," Neena corrected. "Neena Thurman, and thank you. It's lovely to meet you."

[candice]

Neena! Leela was Quark's waitress/Domjot girl in his bar, you idiot. God you really DO need to sleep... You should've slept instead of watching that episode of DS9 - even if it was only an hour you could've had, and even if it was the one where Worf and Dax got married.

"Right, Neena. I'm really sorry." She said with a bashful smile. "We had some excitement last night, and few of us got any sleep."

She walked around with Neena, showing her the classrooms and the first level's facilities. "I suppose the first thing I should ask is whether or not you like excitement? The school tends to attract a certain deal of it now that we've gone public with what we do. Not to mention with the X-Men stationed here..." She wrinkled her nose. "but hopefully they'll be restationing soon."

[Domino]

"Right, Neena. I'm really sorry. We had some excitement last night, and few of us got any sleep."

"It's fine," Neena said, smiling again. "I think I saw your excitement on the news, actually, at DFW this morning..."

The Institute really was beautiful, kitted out as a complete boarding school with all the various accoutrements required for a life-in staff and student body - and the classrooms were nice and big, even the ones that weren't real lecture halls, with plenty of space to spread out and put up her stuff. Neena thought she might request a little office, too, someplace to play with her gadgets - just something separated from a main area, so if she blew herself up she'd only take her desk and volleyball trophies with her. Or, even better, something reinforced, but she'd likely have to do that herself. It wasn't like the Institute would have some sort of secret subterranean bunker/lab set up ready for her; Neena thought, even with its clientele, it might be a little too much to ask.

"I suppose the first thing I should ask is whether or not you like excitement? The school tends to attract a certain deal of it now that we've gone public with what we do. Not to mention with the X-Men stationed here... but hopefully they'll be restationing soon."

"I'm certainly not averse to excitement," Neena said. "My dad always brought it in spades... I should be fine. I didn't know the X-Men were restationing, though; has there been complaint about them recruiting from the school?"

Neena knew that if she had ever had children (or ever would, though this seemed fairly unlikely) she wouldn't want them attending a school with a vigilante force connected to it; teenagers always wanted to be freedom fighters when they grew up. Thought they could make a difference. Teenagers were crazy. Better than their parents most of the time, though.

[candice]

Candice was nodding even before the young woman had finished speaking. "Absolutely. We've had a number of complaints since the Baltimore situation, and I think this is only going to aggrivate the problem. I've been a proponent of getting a seperation of the X-Men and the school for years, and I'm glad to finally be making some headway."

She smiled at the Neena, amazed that the woman would see the news of last night and still be interested. What kind of excitement could her father have possibly brought home to make her shrug that off? A murder!

"A large part of what we do here is to assist young mutants into developing their powers more safely. As many of the X-Men are prior students, they generally help us in this field. Now, I know this may be awkward, but we're very forward around here about what all of our varying abilities are, and try to celebrate and come out with them fully. We're careful with those with embarassing ones, however, and seek to find a balance. It was Xavier's dream. That said, can I be so forward as to ask you the nature of your own mutation?"

It was a question the kids simply LOVED to ask. Candice thought she'd better get it out of the way as soon as possible.

[Domino]

Neena honestly didn't know how she felt about splitting up the school. While it was obviously wrong to indoctrinate the kids with the idea that they were supposed to grow up into superheroes, she wondered where else the X-Men were expected to go. From whence would their funding, their support - or, really, their members come? It was wrong to bring kids up into the force, but where else did you get people you knew weren't nuts?

A weird question. Good thing Neena intended to become nothing more than a supply officer, if even that; she was happy tinkering, selling a little on the side, and teaching.

"Sure," she said in response to Candice's question, though she did pause - very, very briefly. It wasn't as if she could avoid it forever. Plus, if she was applying, they'd probably figured out her permanent shiner wasn't just a birth defect...

"It's - well, you can see the physical effects yourself." She tapped the skin under her eye, about a centimeter above the sharp line where the jet black turned creamy. "Apart from that, it's essentially the manipulation of luck. It's subconscious, though. I'm always lucky and the people that I like are almost always lucky, and heaven help the people I don't. I've tried to control it before, but I think it's too deeply buried."

She shrugged, covering the slight discomfort that she was pretty sure every mutant must feel at the most awkward question of all time. "I've been called Domino before," she said. "Because of the eye. What are your powers, if you don't mind?"

It must be nice to look totally normal, Neena thought enviously. Every time there was a mutant scare she always got that Look. She bet Candice never got that Look.

[candice]

Candice was impressed. Luck? What kind of power was that? Was luck even a measurable force? Most mutant abilities were at least somewhat rooted in science... but this one? It didn't even make sense. She didn't doubt the woman, because she'd seem some pretty strange things... but her ability sounded magical. More than that, it must've made for an uncannily decent life.

Of course, Candice should've guessed that the question was coming.

She sighed, and repeated it as if reading it off of a card. “I can manipulate my bodily fluids to replicate any liquid I've ever consumed, and then amplify them in return to exponential quantities.”

She blushed slightly at the completely silly and useless nature of her mutant powers. Sure, she wouldn't want to be a mutant with such an obvious physical implication as Neena – Domino – had, even if the black eye and pale skin just made her look exotic and attractive... but she'd kill for a better 'power', perhaps something as eternally useful as luck manipulation. Or maybe manipulation of some other intangible force, such as justice, equality, or chaos.

She almost immediately resumed the tour, mentioned more details regarding the teaching they'd need.

[Domino]

“I can manipulate my bodily fluids to replicate any liquid I've ever consumed, and then amplify them in return to exponential quantities.”

Neena blinked, composure slipping for a moment. That was certainly... different.

Ha! She can pee in coffee waterfalls!

But she'd never go thirsty, would she? And if she wanted to sacrifice a few brain cells, she could totally reverse the gas crisis. And if she could deal with being grossed out, she could refill all the blood banks in America.

Okay, ew.

Thankfully (for Neena's avoidance of giggling and Candice's dignity), the tour resumed immediately, with no comments passed either way.