[Social] Welcome New and Returning Students

[Narrator]

The large gravel driveway and some of the lawn between the Mansion proper and the dormitories has been set up with grills, coolers with water and soda and numerous snacks, the kitchen staff some mini-catering. Above the entrance to the old mansion a banner reads "Welcome Home Students" with a smaller, clearly somewhat joking line underneath reading 'Xavier's University 1 Year Anniversary'. Students who already arrived from their summer break or never left in the first place are having picnics on the lawn, there's people playing frisbee. Or one person is at least, throwing the disc well across the tree-tops and to somebody who must be partway across campus while a winged mutant is diving through the air trying to intercept.

The head-mistress, a white-haired woman in a pants-suit, is standing with a small group of faculty, talking.

Plenty of mutants of all shapes and sizes are mulling about. Some plain and passing for baseline humans, others with bright pink hair and limbs that are a bit too loose. A slow stream of new students are passing through the open gates, lugging bags with varying degrees of ease. One seems to be struggling to walk on what seems to be prosthetic legs of some kind but determined to carry her own bag, another looks much less optimistic as she tries her best to look dignified moving around with no legs but instead a long serpentine tail that she clearly doesn't really know how to move properly.

[Haley Crusek]

A tiny blonde girl wearing extremely short shorts and a tank top with a giant stylized Texas flag on it shuffled past the table with snacks, piling a plate high and looking pleased with herself by the time she made it to the end of the line before she felt the tickle of a sneeze coming on.

"Oh, fuck, not again..." she whined to no one in particular as she began to speed walk away from the crowds, trying not to run and provoke a panic so with many new faces here.

She got to a distance away from the food table that was about a good as she was going to get when she could hold the sneeze back no longer. The sneeze itself wasn't really audible over the sound of reality ripping to shreds around her plate full of snacks.

The good news? No mess! The bad news? All of her food was gone, as was a roughly circular part of her tank top which simply didn't exist anymore. At least she still had a bra on.

[Sophie Belanger]

Sophie had been one of the first new students to arrive which had given her plenty of time to unpack her one small suitcase and settle in to her dorm before things at the welcome party really started to pick up. She wanted to make a good first impression so she changed into a black A-line skirt paired with a forest green blouse and accesorized with a gold 'S' hanging from a chain around her neck and black ankle boots. Was she overdressed? Probably. Did she care? Perhaps a little, but if she took the time to change into something less formal looking she risked changing her mind about attending the event entirely, and it was not an event she wanted to miss.

She walked out into the crowd with her fists clenched and a knot in her stomach. She tried not to gawk at the others but it was hard. She had never really met anyone like her before and she had certainly never seen a mutant that didn't pass for human. It was a bit of a shock, to say the least. She was caught off-guard by a sneeze or something and whipped her head around to see a blonde girl and, well, she had not idea what she saw. She blinked in disbelief and then quickly made her way to the coolers. Hopefully there was alcohol in them because she was going to need some.

[Robin Stanton]

There are indeed bottles of beers to be found. As is the pink-haired girl, glancing at Sophie.

"I know that look. First time around this many mutants?" she says with a bit of a cheeky smile as she fishes a bottle of beer out of the cooler herself, her arm just a bit too loose like the elbow is just kind of a general suggestion. It's a little reminiscent of how a cartoon character moves. A bit wobbly, a bit squishy, just enough to be slightly off.

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

"I know it was a huge adjustment for me for sure," a voice replied from behind Sophie in line for the coolers. It was feminine but had a rough growl to it. "But there are a lot of really great people here."

The voice belonged to what could only be described as a werewolf--over six feet of muscle, fearsome claws, and chocolate brown fur with lighter fur on her torso and neck, and a wolf's face framed by a wild mane of hair.

"Welcome to Xavier's."

[Toshiro Narumi]

An Asian guy wearing a Doctor Who t-shirt peered around the werewolf.

"Great enough that even huge nerds like me can have hot girlfriends that are sometimes werewolves."

[Victor Freud]

"Need some help?"

The voice came from behind Haley and, should she turn around, she'd find the young man standing facing away from her and a green sports coat held behind his back.

"Sorry, but I noticed your little blip. And from how you've been standing here I... well let's just say I'm no stranger when it comes to power-related wardrobe malfunctions." Even if he hadn't seen the results, her posture had tipped him off, given how many times in the past he'd been left exposed because of a fright.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley turned around and reached for the coat before she hesitated. "Thanks....How attached are you to that coat? Because I'm kind of a threat to....uh. Most matter right now."

She didn't seem to be especially bothered by the current state of her wardrobe but she also wanted to look vaguely normal for the new arrivals.

[Victor Freud]

"If I wasn't prepared to maybe not get it back, I wouldn't be offering it would I? Don't worry, I shop at thrift stores."

Well that would explain how someone his age could afford a suit. And really, the shirt and tie combo looked alright without it. Even with his shorter-than-average stature, the jacket would be a little big on Haley's frame, but it'd get the job done until she found something better.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley smiled gratefully and accepted the jacket, slipping it on.

"Thanks Vic. Having my tits popping out isn't exactly the impression I want to make on the first day with new people."

She looked longingly at the table full of food. "Guess I make a lot of small trips if I don't want to erase my food from existence before I get to eat it."

[Victor Freud]

"Yeah, that's just for those of us who've already gotten through frosh week." Victor quipped as he finally turned around to face Haley properly. "... hmm, it kinda works for you. You look like you're gonna show me a suburban ranch house in an HOA."

He glanced over at the table in question. "I could bring you a plate if you want, though I guess that doesn't actually solve the problem in any way, does it."

[Sophie Belanger]

Don't stare. Don't. Stare.

Sophie tried to follow her own advice but god was it hard. What even were these mutants? She was quickly realizing she had a lot more to learn about being a mutant than she originally thought. She offered a weak smile at Robin before getting her own beer from the coolers.

"Thank you. This is just...a lot to take in. I haven't been around this many people, mutant or not, in quite some time. I think I underestimated how overwhelming it would be."

[Robin Stanton]

"Don't worry, happens a lot. You or your parents think you're strange and weird so you avoid people and then you gotta figure out how to have a conversation with someone who's made of metal or can read your thoughts or turns into tables" Robin nods and raps her knuckles on the table holding the cooler. Sophie can tell that the pink-haired girl is moving a little more normally now as if she'd had to remind herself that normal people have bones and joints.

"I'm Robin, by the way. And don't worry, asking people what their 'thing' is isn't gonna upset anybody who isn't already grumpy. No one's gonna judge. And if they do I'll give 'em the old one-two." she says and her hands bulge out into oversized boxing gloves, jokingly bobbing them in the air.