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Post by selene on Nov 25, 2006 1:53:58 GMT -5
She seemed to watch his tail, a moment's childish curiosity flickering on her young eyes before she realized what she was doing. Forcibly, she moved to a chair nearby and sat down, setting her books in her lap. The long grey skirt folded neatly over her legs.
Selene pushed dark hair away from her eyes.
"We can watch. And interact. My sister can bring people beautiful dreams. Things like peace, and hope..." Selene seemed a bit guarded as she shared the next bit. "I give people nightmares. Just nightmares." Most of the time she was comfortable with that- darkness was what she understood- but when she met someone she liked, sometimes.. she'd like to share something else.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 25, 2006 2:05:59 GMT -5
Kurt watched her eyes for the brief moment that she watched his tail, and he moved it back and forth slightly to see if she would follow. Instead, though, she sat down, facing him, and pulled her hair out of her face. Kurt smiled. "You shouldn't feel the need to hide, pretty one. Be proud to show who you are."
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he "listened" to her as she spoke. "Have you ever tried affecting people in any other way?
"And what happens if you two go in together?"
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Post by selene on Nov 25, 2006 2:37:27 GMT -5
Pretty one.
Her head spun, having never in her life received a compliment like it. She didn't know how to respond. Was he coming on to her? Did that make him some sort of creepy teacher guy?
No. It made him wonderful.
Selene almost seemed to relax, her almond eyes opening a bit more naturally, making a bit more eye contact. Her body language seemed less tight and painful.
"It isn't... in my nature to try." She frowned thoughtfully. "When I'm there, I don't think to do anything but what I do. When we're together, we see things more as they are. I can't do as much when she's with me. But then, we have vis..." She paused, then took the leap of faith. He'd been nice so far. "Sometimes we see visions."
The look on her face was so vulnerable, it was obvious she'd come from long years of prejudice and fear and distrust. Kurt Wagner couldn't know it was largely just the girl's polarized interpretation of the same life her sister might have presented in a much more positive light.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 25, 2006 20:49:43 GMT -5
Kurt smiled warmly at her as she seemed to brighten slightly, to loosen a bit. He wasn't sure what had brought about the change, but he wasn't about to question it.
Leaning back on the couch, Kurt folded his hands in his lap thoughtfully. He could relate to the experiences he saw on the girl's face. "We are more than our natures," he said quietly, almost inwardly.
"What sort of visions do you have? Premonitions, or something more?"
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Post by selene on Nov 26, 2006 2:45:33 GMT -5
More than our natures.
Selene thought about it for a second, wondered for a moment if maybe she should give thinking another way a good shot. But then, she had her sister for that. Dangerous thinking, being your own individual. She shook the idea cleanly out of her mind and realized he'd asked her a question.
"It um... depends, really. Sometimes they appear like dreams to us. Other times they are more obvious, but that is very rare." She blushed a bit again.
"What is it you um... you do?" Selene seemed genuinely interested, but maybe a bit shy to admit it. The tradeoff of mutant abilities was still new to her.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 26, 2006 2:57:01 GMT -5
Kurt leaned forward in interest. "That is very interesting. Has it ever proved useful? For more than just providing you with interesting dreams, I mean." Such an ability could be quite practical if they were forewarned of some impending danger, but if they couldn't always tell between a dream and a premonition, the margin for paranoia was far wider than Kurt would have liked.
Rubbing his hands together, Kurt kept his tail from curling around too quickly. Like her thoughts sounded in his head, he too still was unsure about sharing his differences, although his were more obvious than hers. "Besides this devilishly charming exterior," he said, sitting up straighter and motioning with one hand, "I can teleport. I can move from place to place almost instantly."
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Post by selene on Nov 26, 2006 3:07:50 GMT -5
Selene wasn't a blusher. That's why she blushed all the harder when he refered to his looks. She thought it was just her thinking he was good looking, but... wow. Charming too.
She was definitely not introducing him to her sister.
"We've mostly kept them to ourselves. People get scared when you tell them what you've seen, and most people are frightened enough of us already. But... sometimes we'll go into people's dreams and share what we saw. That way maybe they'll become paranoid, or more careful or something."
Selene didn't share that sometimes, those frightened people became more frightened if they hadn't been polite the first time around. They paid the price. Just like Sam would tonight.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 26, 2006 3:19:59 GMT -5
Kurt's brow furrowed as Selene's cheeks reddened deeply. Perhaps I have said something wrong. "Miss Gemini, are you all right?" The thought never crossed his mind that the blush might be for something else.
Nodding, Kurt rubbed his chin. "I would imagine that bad news would not be taken well, and good news would be skepticized. Still, telling someone in a dream is a clever way of being unavoidable.
"How often do you have to visit someone's dreams?"
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Post by selene on Nov 26, 2006 3:24:32 GMT -5
"Have to?" She'd never seen it that way.
"Sometimes it happens on accident. We'll go wandering when we're not paying attention. Other times we do it on purpose.. but I don't think I've ever thought I HAD to do it. Mostly it upsets people." She shrugged. Upsetting people didn't seem to bother her. Either that or she was jaded to it.
"Do you think... do you think dreamscaping is something an X-Man would do?" The look on her face was hard to read. Never daring to hope for much more than she already had, she didn't want to give the impression that being an X-Man was something she'd even considered.
Mostly she was being practical. Not a whole lot of jobs would hire identical twins who refused to speak.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 26, 2006 3:59:48 GMT -5
"People here at the school are used to unusual happenings." Kurt gave a small shrug. "I'm sure if something happens, we will be able to sort it out easily."
Kurt hoped there wouldn't be too many incidents, though. With their telepaths gone rather violently, there was no one on at the Institute who could help Selene in her own realm. Not that Kurt was able to help anyone specifically, but with a power that could go off accidentally... that sort of thing needed training, and without someone to understand what was happening, there was little they could do besides damage control.
Her question surprised him. Most of the students passing through the school were just looking to control their powers to the point of being able to function in society and possibly defend themselves. Selene's interest otherwise was out of the ordinary. "Every ability has its uses, Miss Gemini. I am sure that if you so chose, you would be most welcome."
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Post by selene on Nov 26, 2006 4:04:40 GMT -5
Selene smiled a bit, then a little more. "Awesome."
Folding her hands in her lap, between her knees and carefully tucked into that grey striped dress, she looked at him for a moment.
"Would you um... would you... mind calling me Selene?"
He couldn't know it would be the first time she'd ever asked anyone to refer to her as a singularity- or that it was violating the cardinal rule of her relationship with her sister. Of course it wasn't that Eos would be upset- it was Selene's rule and one she only enforced on herself- but it meant something. Even if she'd never tell him so.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 26, 2006 4:21:37 GMT -5
Kurt smiled in response, his tail looping lazily over his knee. "Of course not. I would be more than happy to."
Rising from the couch, Kurt held out his hand to her. "I am glad to meet you, Miss Selene. I hope to see you in one of my classes."
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Post by selene on Nov 26, 2006 4:34:16 GMT -5
Standing quickly and managing to drop books all over the floor around her, she took his hand and shook it, a nice grip to her hand. She may be awkward, and tended to be painfully shy at times, but she knew how to shake a hand. Their mother had insisted on it.
"Of course, Sir." She smiled. "Thank you for talking to me. I hope I do have one of your classes." She laughed a bit at herself, the first noise the girl had made since he'd introduced herself.
She might actually have a nice speaking voice- she wouldn't know.
"Have a nice day Mr. Wagner."
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Post by Nightcrawler on Nov 26, 2006 4:46:13 GMT -5
Smiling with embarrassment, Kurt shook her hand before bending over to help pick up the books, his tail scooping them into his hands. Passing them over to Selene, he gave her a smile as she laughed. "You as well, Miss Selene."
Walking towards the door, he gave her a nod and stepped down the hallway.
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Post by eos on Dec 1, 2006 21:16:25 GMT -5
Not long after Dr. McCoy had left, Eos had dropped out of the tree and tucked Wuthering Heights under her arm, and was now wandering back up toward the school.
She knew her sister was around somewhere - they'd been speaking to each other, after all - but wasn't exactly sure where. If they were still at home Eos probably could have figured it out in a heartbeat, but this new school had lots of new places so it wasn't so easy.
"Where are you? When did you meet the blue teacher?" It didn't even occur to her that there might have been more than one blue teacher who was made of awesome, but then in a place like this it really shouldn't have been surprising.
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Post by selene on Dec 4, 2006 22:53:53 GMT -5
"I'm in the library... and I met him just now," she said a little snappishly, as if Eos should already now. "His name is Kurt Wagner. He has the neatest tail... you'll have to meet him later though, he's off after something."
The blush was steadily fading, particularly after talking with her sister, with whom she always felt so comfortable it was as if the world disappeared when they spoke. So her expression changed to something far more relaxed, even pleasantly thoughtful as she sat in the library.
Selene curled her legs under her on her chair and opened her book. "Where are you?"
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Post by eos on Dec 5, 2006 7:58:51 GMT -5
"But I met him..." Eos trailed off as Selene went on to describe a completely different teacher. What were the chances?
"I'm on my way. Just coming inside. I was out talking to Dr. McCoy - he's big and blue and furry, and he can do flips and stuff. And he was quoting Bronte. How cool is that?" Pink shoes scuffed along the floor for a moment as Eos rounded a corner, but then she picked up her feet and tried to be quiet. She was almost to the library, after all.
Thankfully, the Montgomery twins rarely got in trouble for being noisy in the library. Librarians seemed to love them, actually. Tugging the sleeves of her long striped (purple and green, nice happy colours) shirt down, Eos' face brightened even further as she walked into the big room.
"So who's this Kurt Wagner guy? He has a tail?" There she was. Plopping down in the seat next to her sister, the younger twin took the book out from under her arm and started looking for her page.
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Post by selene on Dec 6, 2006 20:49:50 GMT -5
Selene pulled out a sheet of notebook paper and doodled idly on it. "He wasn't quoting Bronte. I don't really know *what* he does. He seems very nice though. Kind, and... maybe gentle isn't the right word. Sweet." She chuckled, sketching the rudimentary shape of a face, neck and shoulders.
"Is Dr. McKoy a teacher? Wasn't that one of the characters on M*A*S*H or something?" She drew the vague shape of eyes, filling in the pupils before anything else. Selene liked her subjects to stare at her and tell her what they thought while she was drawing them.
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Post by eos on Dec 6, 2006 21:25:34 GMT -5
"I don't know. I think so. He said he has an office - and he's got a chair on the roof!" Eos' eyes shone with enthusiasm. It was obvious that she was thinking 'How cool is THAT?'
"I'll have to find out. Not one of our teachers, I guess, or he'd be on our timetable." She didn't have most of her things with her, otherwise she'd have checked to see if Dr. McCoy's name was there. She wouldn't have done anything stupid like line all his lessons with hearts, though - just because a teacher was cool didn't mean girls had to act all stupid about them like in Harry Potter.
"Who's that?" If she was drawing this Kurt Wagner guy, Selene was going to need more than just a pencil. For some reason, Eos couldn't imagine drawing a blue person just in shades of grey.
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Post by selene on Dec 6, 2006 21:37:06 GMT -5
"Mister Wagner," she said, adding in the angle of one long, wiry arm and the curling swoop of a tail. She was remarkably talented, particularly for her age, but Selene had always been sensitive about it. To her, drawing and painting were as simple an expression as singing might be for someone else. It was sacred to her, a place she could communicate her thoughts without being concerned over others' perception.
So as a depth of thought layered onto Kurt Wagner's face in a careful matrix of lines, how welcome he had made her feel became obvious.
"I don't think we have any of his classes, either." She sounded distinctly disappointed.
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