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Post by Nightcrawler on Oct 24, 2006 3:13:33 GMT -5
"Do not get too comfortable, Liebling. Like a good pirate, I shall be back to pilfer your pens as well. Your writing tools will never be safe so long as Kurt 'No-Beard' Wagner is here." He sat up straighter and put his hands at his hips, looking as though he were standing - or sitting - at the front of a ship.
"It seems that at least one person has aquired such a taste, ja?" He grimaced slightly. "Someone much younger than one would deem appropriate. However, Logan lives longer than most, so I suppose the rules are much different for him.
"Getting to know the students is a challenge in itself. Some are easier to work with than others, but I am getting to understand how they all work. After Jubilee, dealing with any student is easy." He pulled the pencil down from behind his ear and twirled it between his fingers. "You know that you are always more than welcome to come listen. Getting out of your own classes, though... you'll have a tough time with that."
Kurt watched her with slight wonder in his eyes. Her experience had been so different from his own. Her mutation had given her the praise and worship of an African tribe, while his had garnered the fear and hatred of the villagers. A goddess and a demon; they were quite a pair.
"What was it like?" he asked quietly, his eyes settling on her face. "To be worshiped so."
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Post by Storm on Oct 24, 2006 3:54:45 GMT -5
Ororo put a hand to her mouth at the image of Kurt as a pirate, and resisted the urge to provide him with a salty breeze. "Oh, I quiver with fear." Her blue eyes widened and twinkled with amusement.
"Well, I won't pass judgement on adults' relationships. Rayen seems very mature, and Logan is good-hearted, under the claws." She imagined them together, and then it occurred to her how dangerous it might be to get him worked up in that sort of way. She winced very slightly.
"Yes, there is so much more to being a teacher than just regurgitating information. It becomes about relationships, especially here.
"I have a free period after lunch on Thursdays - is that not your class time? Maybe next week I will drop in. It won't hinder you, will it?" She reached her arm across the back of the couch, to be a little closer to Kurt, as a subconscious gesture of friendliness. She didn't want to put pressure on him with a visit if her presence would tickle in the back of his mind. This would be different than the midterm evaluations, she wouldn't be judging him.
Kurt's next question threw her a little, and she paused. When she spoke again it was more quietly.
"Like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and like I was the freest being on Earth." She lifted her hands and began to rub her fingers, a sign of nervousness. Her Kenyan days were always a source of emotional conflict for her. She loved Africa dearly and still considered it her home, but -
"It is a great deal of pressure to be considered responsible for the fate of your people. I loved them very much and was honored by their attentions - I had their full trust, and free reign. And I did come to believe them that I was a goddess. I was very proud that I could improve the quality of their crops, their lives.
Ororo rubbed the back of her neck as if it were stiff. "But something felt wrong sometimes, in the middle of the night. I had to learn to suppress my emotions so as not to do accidental damage. When I did wrong, there was no one else to blame. I became unfeeling - " she put a hand out, as if to stop him from thinking badly of her - "not cold, but not capable of the highs and lows that make our lives rich.
"It was an immense honor, Kurt." She paused for a moment, recalling the feeling. "But when the Professor invited me here, I felt that perhaps there was a greater honor I could earn in life. And although the pressures here are great too, I think I am now on a higher road." She looked into his eyes, sounding confident but almost hoping for reassurance. Sometimes her longing for the deserts was overwhelming.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Oct 24, 2006 4:52:12 GMT -5
Kurt nodded with mock seriousness. "As do your pens, Ororo. As do your pens."
Kurt nodded quietly as she talked about Rayen and Logan and about teaching. "Well, we are teaching them much more than just information here. We are trying to show them how to live life with our unique difficulties. That alone is worth teaching without the rest." He chuckled softly. "And infinitely more difficult."
Kurt watched her as she moved, thinking about the effect of a visit. He would certainly be nervous; not only was she the headmistress of the school. However, she wouldn't be there to evaluate or examine; she was going to visit simply to listen as a friend. For some reason that made Kurt's stomach tighten even more. But the idea of showing her what he could do was thrilling, so he nodded to her. "You are more than welcome to come by any time you like."
Kurt sat quietly and listened to her, his yellow eyes never leaving her face. She was speaking with such emotion - joy and sadness and longing - that part of Kurt wished he could understand what she had been through, and part of him was glad that he had never had to.
"Ororo..." He paused for a brief moment, looking back at her with soft, kind eyes. "You are stronger than I ever could have imagined. I am truly blessed to know you."
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Post by Storm on Oct 25, 2006 1:33:41 GMT -5
He really is the perfect choice for a professor here, Ororo thought, listening to Kurt speak about teaching, with a little smile on her face. She would definitely sit in on one of his classes.
His pause upon hearing what she had to say about Kenya made her heart drop a little. She was afraid she had said too much, been too proud, perhaps overshot what he wanted to know. But there were his eyes. ...How could yellow eyes be so friendly?
And then the relief of his reaction - oh, such a great compliment. She felt like blushing, although that wasn't something she did very often; but she cast her eyes down with authentic humility.
"We do what we have to." She wanted very much to return the favor - tell him how blessed SHE was to know him - but thought it would sound fake, as if she felt she had to say something equal back to him.
She was wondering how to approach that when her communicator beeped. She started slightly and listened.
“Storm, I’ve got a new student that was just dropped off by his mother at the gate. I believe he’s a telepath, and I don’t believe they had an appointment. Where you at? I’ll come up.”
She looked up at Kurt. "Another one... what kinds of parents..." She trailed off, shaking her head. She tapped the communicator in reply.
"Forge, I'm in my office with - Nightcrawler," she smiled at Kurt. "Come on up." She tapped it again to signal that the call was over.
"You don't mind, do you?" She turned to Kurt. "A telepath..." She couldn't help but picture a young Xavier.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Oct 25, 2006 1:55:18 GMT -5
Watching her eyes turn down, Kurt was about to comment in return when her communicator beeped. The tip of one of his ears twitched as he remembered that his was still on his bedside table; he really needed to remember to attach it to something when he woke up.
Listening to the brief conversation with interest, Kurt smiled at the use of his codename. Perhaps it was just the stigma of the communicators, not that it really mattered as she smiled at him.
"Not at all. I am always interested to meet someone new." His brow furrowed slightly. "Although this recent trend of leaving young ones at the gate is disturbing."
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Post by Storm on Oct 25, 2006 2:07:06 GMT -5
"It is very disurbing," replied Storm with a wrinkle in her brow, and a familiar hardness in her eye. "It is good that people think their children will be safe here, but it is worrisome that children should need a guarded mansion to be safe.
"Well," she tried to brighten up, but it was difficult. "At least we can do something for them."
She tried to change the subject to take her mind off her frustration. "Were you going to say something, before we were interrupted?" She tucked a stray piece of white hair behind her ear.
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Post by Nightcrawler on Oct 25, 2006 2:26:43 GMT -5
"Ja, we'll continue to provide for them until we've helped shape a world where they no longer need it." He let his tail loop lazily, it's pointed end brushing the floor. "Such is our way."
His eyes slid away from her as she brought the conversation back to where it had been before. Suddenly Kurt felt very unsure, very nervous about what he wanted to say. It is just a compliment; there is no harm in it, richtig? And yet he couldn't help but feel he was walking on an invisible tightrope, and he wasn't sure where it had started or where it finished.
Taking a breath, he looked back at her and opened his mouth, his mind searching rapidly for something to say. "Just that we all do what we must, but you do more than that, and you are an example for us all." Chewing on his lower lip as the words left his mouth, he looked away again, catching sight of his reflection in the glass over a picture.
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Post by Storm on Oct 25, 2006 13:08:33 GMT -5
Ororo's eyes widened with pleasure, and a soft smile began to brighten her face. A few more stray hairs fell out of her braid as she settled in her seat with contentment.
She did what she did because she loved it, of course; but to know that it was appreciated so deeply was very touching. Particularly because lately she had felt completely like a salmon swimming upstream; frantic and nearly futile. She could think of other people who she would name as an example - like Kurt even - before she would think of herself.
She met his eyes, unsure of what to say.
She settled on "Thank you."
There was a pause as her mind, unusually, went completely blank. She spent a brief moment trying to figure out what to say next. And then there were footsteps in the doorway.
[Cont'd in "Meetings"]
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