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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 16:21:06 GMT -8
The clay pigeons were launched, and Scott, as always, instantly began to calculate trajectory, distance and where to fire. It wasn't like there were actual numbers in his head or anything like that; he just seemed to "know" where to fire, like it was a sixth sense or something. The objects were destroyed by accurate, low level blasts, Scott having to wing it slightly due to not having his visor on (which would have made things much easier). Still, all's well that ends well, and when the last pigeon was destroyed, Scott lowered his glasses back over his eyes.
"Holy crap..... Well, congrats Scott. You've just convinced me this isn't some scam."
He gave her a nod, forcing a smile. he was glad that he had been able to help her, even if he wondered if he should have shown her his powers. Of course, the way the Professor spoke about building a team, it was only going to be a matter of time, he supposed. At least he hadn't taken his glasses off fully and started wrecking shit; at the very least, it wouldn't show her the extent of his powers. Not that Scott even knew the extent of his own powers, so they had something in common, he guessed.
"I'm glad I was able to reassure you." He said, genuine even if he wasn't the most warm of people.
"Not that I particularly mind the rain, but I think it's best if we go inside. I can't be meeting and greeting with a cold." Scott said, somehow hovering between being serious and kidding around.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 16:53:53 GMT -8
He nodded and smiles a little. Well, he had some reason to smile, right?
"I'm glad I was able to reassure you."
"You did." She commented, even if it wasn't really needed.
"Not that I particularly mind the rain, but I think it's best if we go inside. I can't be meeting and greeting with a cold."
Yeah, she could imagine that all too well. A big old sneeze and half the building is gone. Tessa used to wonder what it would have been like if she had a more active power than just changing peoples moods with her singing.
"Sounds like a good idea." She commented with a smirk, starting on her way in.
"He found me because of my singing. Well, more like the effect it has on people. It's nothing big, really. I just effect their moods if they can hear me." She said once they were back indoors.
By her tone, it would be obvious that she knew it wasn't that impressive of a power or gift or whatever the people here chose to call it. She half didn't really understand why she came, but at the same time she did. It was still more than non-mutants could do and she wanted to see about honing her skills. Maybe put it to more use than she had been doing in her concerts.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 17:09:09 GMT -8
"Sounds like a good idea."
As she moved toward the door inside, Scott matched his stride to hers, trying to be as natural as possible about it.
"He found me because of my singing. Well, more like the effect it has on people. It's nothing big, really. I just effect their moods if they can hear me."
"You can choose what mood they have?" He asked, trying to seem casual about it, even if his reason for asking was more of a military one than just him making conversation.
He had studied every file on every mutant the Professor had stored in the main computer. He hadn't written much about Tessa, due to having not seen her in so long, and his information could have been out of date. The database was due for an update, but like most things it was supposed to be done when the Professor got back. Having Tessa here now, though, meant that they should have less trouble getting information about her.
Plus, there was the Danger Room.
He could still remember the training he had gone through, with the Professor basically downloading the contents of several books right in to his brain, with insights that only the most well-read of scholars could hope to have come upon. He didn't really think nor talk about it much, it just came back to him in situations like this.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 17:49:15 GMT -8
"You can choose what mood they have?"
"Well, more or less. I haven't found anyone it didn't work on, but then again I wasn't exactly singling anyone out either. That, and it happens whether I want it to or not when I sing. If it's a happy song, the crowd's happy. If it's a more solemn song, they're solemn. And so on and so forth. My most recent non concert oriented use of my singing was to sing a mob into a fit of depression so they'd lose interest in making a demonstration with some poor mutant guy they got their hands on. They didn't realize what happened, luckily. And the guy got away when the mob disbanded." She commented.
"SO, room. Is this where you show me to one?" Tessa asked, feeling a bit strange talking about her abilities to someone.
She had kept the secret locked away tight and the only other person she had spoken about it to had been Professor Xavier. And, last she checked, the man was a lot older, a lot balder, and a lot less standy.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 18:13:59 GMT -8
"Well, more or less. I haven't found anyone it didn't work on, but then again I wasn't exactly singling anyone out either. That, and it happens whether I want it to or not when I sing. If it's a happy song, the crowd's happy. If it's a more solemn song, they're solemn. And so on and so forth. My most recent non concert oriented use of my singing was to sing a mob into a fit of depression so they'd lose interest in making a demonstration with some poor mutant guy they got their hands on. They didn't realize what happened, luckily. And the guy got away when the mob disbanded."
That was good; she had already realised how useful her powers could be in a crowd control situation. That was what Scott had envisioned for her anyway if she were an X-Man, so it was nice to know that they were on the same page. She could be more useful than that if she put her mind to it, though; at least, he believed so. What good was an enemy soldier when they were too depressed to even pick up their weapons and fight? Of course, it was a mere extension of what she'd done already, but Scott could see the benefit to some fine tuning. Not that he could rush her... The Professor would want to ease her in to stuff like that.
"SO, room. Is this where you show me to one?"
Scott nodded.
"Sure. Follow me." He said, leading her to some nearby stairs.
There were elevators dotted all over the house, but using one required security clearance of a sort, and that was only given out when the Professor and Scott believed that it should be given out. Even if he wanted to give it to her now, he'd still have had to set it all up, and she really seemed like she wanted to get settled. It could wait, he guessed.
Once they had made it to her room, Scott opened the door for her before stepping aside, standing in the corridor so that she could go in first.
"This is a standard guest room. Once the Professor gets back and we've had more time to talk, we'll convert this in to your actual room. Anything else I can do for you?" He asked, trying to be nice, even if he wasn't very good at it.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 18:40:40 GMT -8
"Sure. Follow me."
Hurrah for the topic dodge! It seemed he was going along with it. Though she didn't know that there was a chance that he might have been inclined to agree with her due to subliminal messages. If she had known this possibility when it came to her powers, Tessa more than likely would never make a suggestion again. The last thing she wanted to do was become some kind of puppeteer with people.
She followed Scott, grabbing her duffel bag on the way to the stairs he led her to. Couldn't leave that here for too long after all. Once they came to a stop, she arched a brow briefly as he opened the door and as she looked in to see what the living place was like.
"This is a standard guest room. Once the Professor gets back and we've had more time to talk, we'll convert this in to your actual room. Anything else I can do for you?"
"Well, you can tell me where to expect delivery pickups. I had all my stuff shipped over seeing how I planned on taking that invitation to it's full extent." She commented with a slight grin.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 19:10:54 GMT -8
"Well, you can tell me where to expect delivery pickups. I had all my stuff shipped over seeing how I planned on taking that invitation to it's full extent."
His brow rose for a short moment, before falling back down once he'd processed the logistics of the whole thing. She was really planning to stay permanently. Yes she'd hinted at it before, but to hear her say it now, more concisely, made him finally begin to accept that she was actually going to stick around. That was a good thing, he guessed, given that the roster wasn't exactly full when it came to X-Men Scott could use.
"Deliveries come in by the service entrance down by the kitchen. There's a small loading bay where we take in supplies and the so on, so your stuff will probably come in through there. You probably know this already, but the use of mutant powers in front of any human isn't allowed under any circumstances when you're on the property. Not unless the Professor invites you to because he's welcoming a new student." Scott said, his tone indicating that it was more helpful advice as opposed to him lecturing her.
The lecturing would come later.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 20:33:13 GMT -8
"Deliveries come in by the service entrance down by the kitchen. There's a small loading bay where we take in supplies and the so on, so your stuff will probably come in through there. You probably know this already, but the use of mutant powers in front of any human isn't allowed under any circumstances when you're on the property. Not unless the Professor invites you to because he's welcoming a new student."
"Don't worry, Shades. I've been keeping my powers a secret from everyone since I've gotten them. And so far, the only ones that know are you, and Professer Shine. They're not exactly that noticeable." She teased as she walked into her room.
She placed her bag on the end of the bed and pulled on a chord before unzipping it and starting to take her things out of it.
"I got over the stage where I found fun in playing with my "songs" anyways. It went from being interesting and new, to creepy in a few short days. Actually, in two. Which isn't all that long for an early teenaged girl." She commented.
For a power that could potentially control so many people's moods at once, the owner was not the controlling type. In fact, it kind of creeped her out that she could play with peoples emotions like that. Not that she'd admit that to the full blown truth of the matter.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 20:51:43 GMT -8
"Don't worry, Shades. I've been keeping my powers a secret from everyone since I've gotten them. And so far, the only ones that know are you, and Professer Shine. They're not exactly that noticeable."
Of course, he knew that telepathic powers were harder to notice that... Well, powers like his. It was just the case that the Professor didn't like people using their powers for means that were not becoming of someone who had pledged themselves to becoming an X-Man, or at the very least to living her, among other mutants. She seemed to get the gist of it though, so he didn't push the issue. He had a bad enough reputation as it was.
"I got over the stage where I found fun in playing with my "songs" anyways. It went from being interesting and new, to creepy in a few short days. Actually, in two. Which isn't all that long for an early teenaged girl."
Scott nodded.
"That's good, in a way: Seeing the downside to a power like yours, and feeling responsible about how you use it. I'm sure the Professor will be happy to see you being so grown up about it, if you know what I mean." He said, hoping she would.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 21:20:49 GMT -8
"That's good, in a way: Seeing the downside to a power like yours, and feeling responsible about how you use it. I'm sure the Professor will be happy to see you being so grown up about it, if you know what I mean."
She gave him a look like she was warning him she was about to tease him.
"Hey, who said there's a downside to the powers? I mean, if we ever needed an army of Emos it'd be great. Admit it, that'd be something to see." She commented, smiling like Cheshire Cat from Wonderland.
She had seen him lighten up a little, just a little. But a little was better than nothing and if she could see that, she was sure she could get him to crack a few more smiles out of more than just being polite.
"As far as grown up, I was mature about the whole thing when he first visited." She commented as she pulled out her clothing and began putting them away.
It didn't matter that some of them were lingerie, as she was used to band members and agents and such seeing that kind of thing while she lived out of the tour bus they were all bunched up into. She didn't have a second thought about it.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 21:46:26 GMT -8
"Hey, who said there's a downside to the powers? I mean, if we ever needed an army of Emos it'd be great. Admit it, that'd be something to see."
As usual, like clockwork, his brow rose, not sure if he thought that what she was describing was as impressive as it sounded. That, and an army of emos would be pretty shit. Wouldn't they all just cut themselves, thereby being pretty self-defeating? He didn't know; he could only go by what the internet had said. Scott himself had never had the chance to be part of any fads, really. Such things were merely a concept to him, not a former identity.
"As far as grown up, I was mature about the whole thing when he first visited."
The way she so nonchalantly unpacked her most unmentionable of unmentionables was surprising to him, though he jokingly guessed that he wasn't really a man to her; just an uptight teacher figure that wasn't as "cool" as all the others. He guessed (more seriously) that she was just not bothered about something like that, and that it was just normal for her.
Her comment about being mature worried him. Nobody at that age was mature enough to just "deal" with mutant powers. Bravado was nice and all, but it would ultimately serve no purpose. Maybe she just had it better than him? After all, the Professor hadn't found her in an alleyway, had he? Scott wasn't trying to be judgemental; he really wasn't. He just hoped she was mature enough to deal with what was going on in this house...
"What was that visit like?" Scott asked, figuring it was the next logical question.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 21:59:51 GMT -8
"What was that visit like?"
She couldn't remember it detail for detail, but she remembered it well enough to get by she supposed.
"Well, I don't remember what day of the week it was as I practiced my vocals in the basement just about every day unless I was sick or something. But, I do remember that he was there for a little while before I even knew we had a visitor. He was talking to my parents and getting them to warm to the idea of me going off to join some private school for the Gifted. Of course, them not really knowing that that meant." She told him while still putting her clothes away.
"My mother called me up from my practicing when they were done talking and my parents went to the next room to give Professor Xavier and myself to talk over the possibility of my enrolling into the school. He told me the real deal when it came to what was going on, and after a decently long talk, I told him thanks for the offer but I'd like to spend some time getting to learn myself like anty other every day teen. He didn't push the issue, which was good. And he told me that if I ever change my mind, I can cash in my raincheck and there's a room for me here. Doors are always open and all that."
By this point, she had packed everything away and was sitting on the end of her bed.
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 22:13:37 GMT -8
"Well, I don't remember what day of the week it was as I practiced my vocals in the basement just about every day unless I was sick or something. But, I do remember that he was there for a little while before I even knew we had a visitor. He was talking to my parents and getting them to warm to the idea of me going off to join some private school for the Gifted. Of course, them not really knowing that that meant."
Sounded like the usual modus operandi. Professor Xavier had always been good at dealing with worried parents that didn't feel like their child was going to get the help they needed at a "normal" school. Of course, plenty of parents also didn't even know that their children had a "gift" that needed to be shaped and learned in the first place. He was good at that too. That was without using telepathy too.
It was a skill that Scott would honestly never have... He wasn't built for it.
"My mother called me up from my practicing when they were done talking and my parents went to the next room to give Professor Xavier and myself to talk over the possibility of my enrolling into the school. He told me the real deal when it came to what was going on, and after a decently long talk, I told him thanks for the offer but I'd like to spend some time getting to learn myself like anty other every day teen. He didn't push the issue, which was good. And he told me that if I ever change my mind, I can cash in my raincheck and there's a room for me here. Doors are always open and all that."
"Ah." He replied, thinking it over for a second.
"And you really want to start using your power to help people? I'm not going to say it's not a worthy cause, but it's not exactly easy either. It takes a lot of hard work." He said, guessing that she had an idea of that already, but just reiterating the point.
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Post by Tessa Brands on May 11, 2011 22:34:24 GMT -8
"Ah... And you really want to start using your power to help people? I'm not going to say it's not a worthy cause, but it's not exactly easy either. It takes a lot of hard work."
Now the part of her "starting" to use her powers to help people struck a nerve. Her smirks and smiles turned into a frown and a slight glare in her eyes. Her jaw tensed some and she stood up, no longer feeling like lounging as much.
"Hey now... Just because I haven't been here the whole time, doesn't mean I wasn't doing something good while I was out there on my own. It wasn't just fun and games while I was out on my tours or making it onto the radio." She stated, a slight edge in her tone.
She crossed her arms.
"I worked hard to make the songs just the right way, I went on those tours not for fandom or fame, but to get around enough to, at least for a little while, do something for people's lives. Emotions can make a huge difference. There's a lot more down and out people out there than you might think and sure, a couple of hours of happy and excitement or morale or confidense might not seem like much to some but it's done a few change-arounds for a lot of people. I've got the letters to prove it. It's not the matter of "starting" to help people." She told him heatedly.
She was seething, actually, but holding it back to a point.
"I came here because I thought it was about time and I thought I'd take a new approach on the help I do for people. I came here because the Professor obviously sees something about me he thinks would be a good addition to whatever he's out to do."
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Post by Cyclops on May 11, 2011 23:20:11 GMT -8
He had been trying to be supportive, but her smirk had become a frown, the light in her eyes replaced by a glare. What had he done wrong now?
"Hey now... Just because I haven't been here the whole time, doesn't mean I wasn't doing something good while I was out there on my own. It wasn't just fun and games while I was out on my tours or making it onto the radio."
Oh, great. Scott hadn't been suggesting otherwise. See, this was why Professor Xavier did the talking, and Scott did the whipping in to shape for combat and emergency relief. They were good, solid, defined roles, and they prevented anything like THIS from happening. So much for Scott being the welcome wagon...
"I worked hard to make the songs just the right way, I went on those tours not for fandom or fame, but to get around enough to, at least for a little while, do something for people's lives. Emotions can make a huge difference. There's a lot more down and out people out there than you might think and sure, a couple of hours of happy and excitement or morale or confidense might not seem like much to some but it's done a few change-arounds for a lot of people. I've got the letters to prove it. It's not the matter of "starting" to help people."
Wonderful. So much for being understood. He wasn't belittling anything she had done in her life. He wasn't commenting on what had happened before she'd come here. He didn't know enough about her to judge anything about her. He wasn't even the judgemental TYPE. Apparently, though, she thought he was, and yet another X-Man thought Cyclops was a dick. Great. This was why nobody ever cuddled with him. This was why he only ever attracted telepaths. Things always sounded better in one's head, though it's not like he could say that out loud... He'd most likely fuck that up too.
"I never stated otherwise." Scott replied, a tone in his voice she wouldn't have heard before.
This wasn't Scott anymore, this was Cyclops. His tone wasn't harsh, but it was commanding.
"I was talking about starting a new life, so to speak. Which is what you'll effectively be doing, if you stay here. The ways we help people might not be the same way you did it, but they're just as effective."
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