Room 118: Reflective Surfaces

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 5:23 am

Alex was trying not to panic.

She was far away from home. She was surrounded by strangers. Her clothes were...piled on her bed. Nothing was folded or put away.

She took a deep breath. Tried to focus. It wasn't too bad, was it? No one knew her. No one was judging her.

They told her she might be able to fly again.

She let out her breath, a soft sigh, and went back to organizing socks.

One impossible task at a time.

((open))

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:02 am

An effervescent voice with a hint of Texas twang called out from the open door to the room, "Ooooh, new people! Hi New Person!"

"Are you Altamira or Alex?" she asked, looking at the nameplate on the door.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:05 am

Alex jumped a bit, startled out of her reverie.

"What? Yes," Alex stammers. "That's me."

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:11 am

Haley giggled apologetically, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya. I don't bite. Usually."

"I'm Haley. Nice to meetcha, That's Me."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:16 am

"Sorry," Alex says. "I'm a little...umm... everything?"

"Alex," she manages to introduce herself. "I'm Alex. Nice to meet you."

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:55 am

"...are you okay?" she smiled cheerfully. "I can leave if you'd like. I was just comin' in to say hi since it's fun to meet new folks."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:11 am

"No! No," Alex says. "I'm just a little...you know that horrible sinking feeling when you're in a new place? Like you're drowning?"

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:56 pm

Only those times on a mission with the teams when we know we're really fucked... she thought to herself.

That will NOT help this girl

"Not... really?" she smiled with a sympathetic shrug.

"Do you need a hug?"

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:33 pm

"Oh."

Alex shakes her head, "No. I'm....okay. I'm fine."

"Thank you. For offering, I mean. It's sweet."

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:20 pm

"So, Alex, what's your thing? Where are you from?" Haley smiles, trying to stay happy for the poor girl.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:27 pm

"Me? I'm from Kansas," Alex says. "And I'm here, well, because...it's supposed to be safer, I guess."

"How about you? Where are you from?"

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:35 pm

"A fellow American! Austin, Texas," she smiled.

"I more meant what your powers were though."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:35 pm

"Oh! Sorry," Alex says. "I'm bit harder to hurt than regular folks. And sometimes I can fly. Sometimes."

by **Haley Crusek** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:18 am

"Flying is awesome," she grinned, willing herself to float several inches above the ground.

"Telepathy is still growing on me, though," she added, speaking though her lips weren't at all moving.

"If you want to get better at flying, maybe you can come practice in the Danger Room with me and my friend Nailah."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:13 am

"Oh wow, that's really good!" Alex says. "Half the time I just end up eating dirt."

by **Haley Crusek** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:32 am

"Oh, that's basically how everyone starts. The only reason I am any good is thanks to--"

She stopped herself before she told the already somewhat nervous girl about the time she and her team got trapped in a hellish alternate dimension.

"well... a lot of downtime on a mission and a lot of motivation to get better quickly." she smirked.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:39 am

"How is it? The training, I mean," Alex says. "Someone told me it's like military school half the time."

by **Haley Crusek** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:52 am

"The teams are totally volunteer, so while the training is pretty intense, it's not like you're required to do it. Amazing workouts though," she grinned.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 4:18 am

"Teams?" Alex asks. Someone hadn't done their orientation reading.

by **Haley Crusek** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 4:40 am

Haley smiled, "How much do you know about the school you're at? Ain't never heard of the X-Men?"

She thumbed towards her chest, "Well that's us on the teams. Almost more women than men, though, or at least it feels like we do all the work, so we should probably start calling ourselves the X-Women."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:22 am

"Most people I grew up around say the X-Men are terrorists," Alex says. "...Oh! But, I mean, not you! I was...that's why I hadn't really heard much!"

Alex blushes hard, finding her feet fascinating suddenly, "You don't look very...terroristy. I mean...oh god."

by **Haley Crusek** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:00 am

Haley smirked, "I heard all those stories too. But we aren't. We help save lives."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 4:14 am

"Why?" Alex asks. "I mean, I know that sounds weird...I just...do you like it? Do you think it's...I don't know..."

"Fun, or something like that?" She mumbles.

by **Haley Crusek** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 4:16 am

"Helping people is really...I dunno. Addicting? Rewarding? We've got these amazing powers. It seems a shame to not put them to use helping people."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:48 am

Alex nods, "Oh, okay."

She totally didn't get it.

by **Haley Crusek** » Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:34 pm

Haley read through that pretty easily.

"Have you never had the chance to help someone? I mean. Even mundane shit like helping a grandma put groceries in her car."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:26 am

"Yeah, it was....awful," Alex says.

by **Haley Crusek** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:18 pm

"Really? Why?" Haley frowned.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:54 pm

"Because people got hurt," Alex says. "...I had to hurt someone."

"Dunno what's so great about that."

by **Haley Crusek** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:03 pm

"Guessing this was a superpower thing then?" she frowned.

"Sorry to hear that...but, would it really have been any better if you hadn't helped?"

by **Alex Kincaid** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:09 pm

Alex shrugs. "Probably not."

"I know it's selfish, but I didn't like how it made me feel. I mean, I...I liked being able to hurt him. It felt good. Great, even."

"I hated that," Alex mumbles.

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:06 am

"Well, did you like it because you saw him do something awful or did you like it because you could? I think that's probably the important part."

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:49 am

Alex is quiet. She looks uncomfortable.

"...Do you have any talents or anything like that?" Alex finally asks.

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:05 pm

"Making new people super uncomfortable apparently. I'm sorry," she frowned.

by **Alex Kincaid** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:49 pm

Alex shakes her head, "It's fine. I mean, it's just, what do you do? You think that someday you'll find something that feels natural. Where everything feels right. You might not be good at it, but you instantly fall in love with doing it because you think 'this is what I should be doing'."

"And it turns out, it's punching people. Not even saving people. Fighting. Hurting someone."

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to feel about that."