Xaviers!

Nika was ahead of Jez in the moving in department, the young lady showing up with a banker's box brimming with different tech and wires and DVD cases.

"Heeeeeeeeey new roomie. You wanted to keep a close eye on me, I guess now you get your chance? Eh he he."

"Yes, what a blessing." Nika growls without turning to look at Jez as she's hanging her schedule up on the wall by driving nails into the wall with her power.

Jez dropped her box off on her bed and her duffel bag on the floor.

"Well, to be fair I didn't ask for this either. So, um, let's make the best of it? I've got some poster putty if you wanna borrow some."

"What for?" she asks as she drives the last nail in that fixes her schedule to the wall. Other than that Nika's side of the room looks pretty sparse. She seems to be mostly done unpacking and aside from neatly folded and stacked clothes and a duffel-bag on a chair there doesn't seem to be hell of a lot of stuff. Certainly nothing Jez would consider personal.

"Well for like some... posters and stuff?" Jez looked at the stuff on Nika's side of the room.

"... you seriously don't have any pictures or anything to put up?"

"Of what? Some pop idol stars and movie posters?"

"I dunno, pictures of friends and family, of scenery you like, of stuff that makes you happy? Stuff that inspires you?" Jez started putting her clothing away as she spoke.

"Katarina inspires me. If... not with her actions, lately. And things that make me happy are none of your concern. That's private."

Jez rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking to see your spank bank you doofus. I notice you don't have a picture of Katarina though. Maybe you should remedy that."

"I'm not hanging a picture of Katarina on the wall! That'd just invite questions and seem strange to everyone who doesn't know who she is. Which, may I remind you, is a secret of utmost importance."

"Well first of all, you'd have to invite someone into your room for them to see any pictures you have up, so that already rules out any suspicions." Jez's underwear was all folded. Nerd.

"Secondly, if someone asks 'Hey, who's that in the picture?', the logical response would be 'oh, that's my friend Katarina.' And then that'll pretty much be the end of it.

"Honestly, having bare walls is way more suspicious than any posters you might put up. It makes it look like a jail cell."

"Thanks. Any more suggestions on how I should be decorating my own personal space? Maybe you could critique my wardrobe next. Want to review my food plan too?" she goes on with an icy calm before adding a muttered "Хай тебе громом йобне..."

Jez let out a sigh. "What I'm saying is that this is supposed to be a place where you're allowed to relax and be human. No one works 24/7, so it's not expected of you either. You're allowed to like things."

"I do. I don't need to advertise that fact. What do you care what I like."

"Becauuuuuse it looks like we're going to be spending some time together. Inside this room and outside too if things go well for me. So it's nice to find common interests other than Katarina."

"You're a political agitator who plays video games, you've been arrested and you changed... things about you. We don't so much have common ground as we have a gaping chasm between us and the only overlap is that you've wedged yourself into my professional life."

"You say all of that as though those are bad things. You should make sure you're not late for your history class, you need a little refresher on how the reason you've got a right to vote, or own property, or aren't being burned at the stake as a witch is because of 'political agitator criminals' like me." Jez made air quotes with her fingers.

"Oh that is rich!" Nika snaps in an icy tone. "Did you personally wrestle those rights from some imaginary dragon? Or do you just imagine yourself accomplishing something like that while you wave a banner around and light trashcans on fire? For every rebel fighting for some right there's a terrorist subverting people like you. I should know, I've actually fought Latverian infiltrators seeking to oust Katarina's family and plunge our country into chaos again. They talk exactly like you do, of lofty goals and freedom and rights."

"And if people are ALLOWED those freedoms and rights, those terrorists never gain a foothold in the first place! Who decides the line between rebel and terrorist; The state? The people? Are you seriously going to neg me for not sitting on my ass and just accepting whatever cage the government wants to put me in because of my genetics or my gender? For having the audacity to want people to be treated like human beings?"

"Katarina decides, you foolish dolt! You have no idea what you're talking about. You're in no cage, you're free to walk around and chose to be who or whatever you want, be with whoever you want and you threaten to spread this foolishness to the single most important person to my country! The one who will have to make calls and decisions that impact thousands because no, giving everyone all the freedom and rights they could ever want is not going to stop Victor von Doom from sending his machines. It's not going to negotiate Symkaria's survival. You convince Katarina of these non-sense ideas and people. Will. Die. Real people, who we have a responsibility to protect from a madman!"

Somewhere along the line Nika went from angry to passionate, although it's a hard distinction to pick out. She is breathing pretty heavily though and the muscle sin her arms are tense.

"I have my freedoms because of the actions of people do didn't have these freedoms, who fought for them with words and with fists. And I'm going to continue to fight, not just for myself, but for those who don't have a voice! What foolish ideas am I putting in Katarina's head, to be kind and empathic? When have I EVER told her what to do, or how to do it? How has ANYTHING I've ever said to her differed from anything one of the teachers here have said in class?

"How much are you willing to sacrifice to keep your people safe from Doom; Their freedoms? Their rights? Their individuality? Their humanity? Because once you sacrifice too much you won't have to worry about him invading. You'll already be living in a tyrannical dictatorship without him even having to lift a finger!"

"I'm not expecting anybody to sacrifice any rights. What are you even talking about?"

"What I'm talking about is that so far you've accused me of corrupting Katarina, of being a spy, of being a degenerate, and terrorism! And why? Because my mother felt threatened in a country that didn't want her and moved to one that promised her peace and security. Because I don't identify with the body I was born with. Because I've seen first-hand people being persecuted and I refuse to tolerate it. All I've ever done to you is try to be nice, and ever since Katarina and I started seeing each other the best I've gotten from you is begrudging tolerance. It feels like you never miss an opportunity to talk down to me. You shit all over my ideals and beliefs as though my mere HAVING them was an attack on your gospel. I can respect others viewpoints if they can respect mine, but you've never offered me that courtesy.

"You're a bully, Nika Novak."

"I've accused you of none of those things. I don't care about your ideas or beliefs except for how they impact the future Queen of Symkaria and thus my country. Your ideas and goals may be noble, but your methods are reckless and dangerous. I tried to extend a hand and you spit in my face with your incessant belief you know better about everything, including the way I decorate. I like things neat. I like things private. But apparently it would kill you to not give your opinion on even the tiniest of things! But yes, I'm the bully. шкідник..."

"It's not really extending your hand if you slap me with it. You could have said you like to keep things neat and minimalist and that would have been the end of it, but instead you were abrasive from the start. You could have SAID that you had concerns about me being able to keep Katarina safe if she's with me instead of with you, but instead you decided to push us straight into the deep end without warning. Reckless? Dangerous? I'm marching in parades and handing out leaflets, not throwing molotov cocktails. Do you think as a ruler Katarina will never have to deal with opposition, without protest from her own people? If anything, I'm an opportunity for you to prepare her for that. Not just to show empathy and try to see from someone else's point of view, but to recognize the difference between peaceful protest and malevolent conspiracy. But that's not why I chose to be with her, and that's not what we talk about, and I'm not trying to be her teacher. All I want to do is have some fun with her without you scoffing at everything I enjoy as being silly or flippant, because that's what sets me off and makes me flick back.

"Franky, jealousy doesn't look good on you."

"The deep end of basic cardio. Give me a break." Nika says, kicking her nearly empty duffel-beg under her bed.

"It wasn't the exercise that was the deep end, it was you. You had to show off how hard you worked by trying to put us through the same bootcamp bullshit. You didn't get us up before dawn so we "wouldn't weasel out of it", you wanted to set us up for failure from the start. Or me, more specifically. Because I'm not good enough for her, and you want to show her that. You never even considered I'd want to do it, if you actually wanted me to learn. Of the three of us I was the last one to leave the gym."

Jez grabbed her handheld out of her banker box and let herself fall back onto her bed, sneakers half off.

"I assumed you would not want to do it. And I knew Katarina wouldn't. Getting up early isn't setting you up for failure, even if it maybe was a little vindictive. I did it because Katarina genuinely wants to be around you and it's way beyond me to second guess that, no matter how I feel about it. And if you ever again insinuate that I'm sabotaging her choices then I will pick your scrawny ass up and throw you out the window." she... jokes? Probably. Hopefully.

"The whole idea was that I could safely give you two space."

"Well there's the problem. If you'd come to me and asked, I guess I would've surprised you by saying yes. I mean, if that's what it takes, I was willing to give it a try. All I ask for is a bit of flexibility. I came to school to get away from that bootcamp BS."

"Bootcamp bullshit?"

"My dad was in the army when I was growing up, he didn't become an executive until later. That stuff just... seeps into your home. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I understand why my parents got a divorce.

"But then it's like,'hey, you can start a new life on Genosha!' And yeah that sounds great! Except it wasn't, not totally. 'cause once they realized the scope and potential applications of my abilities, well... more bootcamp bullshit, only without my dad to blame. At least I got a nice suit out of it."

"They conscripted you into military training?"

"Sort of? I wouldn't call the Acolytes the military, even if they do fill that role. It's... really not that much different than the teams here, they just have different goals. And orders."

"If they fill the role of military then they are the military and drafting unwilling people is questionable even when there's a war." Nika frowns.

"Drafting may be a bit harsh. I guess it was more... peer pressure, and not seeing what the job really entailed until you're already in pretty deep."

"That's unfortunate. But at least partially your own fault. I have been up front about what dating Katarina entails, even if you may not like it. The scrutiny and expectations only get worse should word of it get out and it won't matter how serious or not you two consider this."

"Word isn't going to get out. Katarina wants to spend her time here as a normal teenage girl... well, normal is relative but you get the idea. I've got, like, no reason to go and blab her secret."

"Are you serious? Word is absolutely going to get out. She is terrible at this. She thought toothpaste was handmade. And even then it's only a matter of time until somebody recognizes her. Do you know how many pictures and videos there are of her out there? She didn't even choose to go by a pseudonym!"

"I think you're giving people too much credit. I only found out because the library nerd student came across it. The toothpaste thing could just be because she has hippie parents."

"You'll see. It always happens. I'm amazed it's lasted this long."