Xaviers!

This time around, it was Drake beating the stuffing out of a punching bag. It was either that or burn things in the Danger Room. This seemed healthier than simulated arson.

Anyone who knew of such things would notice, as he pounded his ash-rock fists against the bag, that he definitely had self-defense training. Or possibly even a degree of military training. He was too upset about his current circumstances to bother keeping his story completely intact. "Dad" and the rest only had themselves to blame.

(open)

Jez came into the gym just as one of those harder strikes hit the bag, the sound of it startling her enough to elicit a little cry from her. Which is seldom the kind of reaction a mutant wants to get.

"Sorry, sorry!" She pleaded, one hand to her chest as if that'd calm her heart. "It sounded like something exploding in here."

He stopped when he heard the cry, immediately checking the firebird flying in place beside him. Satisfied it hadn't exploded he looked her way.

"Guess I did get a little carried away," he sighed heavily. Wait, why did the human-sized golem sound familiar? Was that... Drake?

Jez waved it off. "It's fine, it just took my by surprise is all." And maybe the explosions back in Symkaria were still fresh in her mind.

"Sorry to bother you. I was looking to talk to Drake and Victor said he'd come down here to train, but I don't... see...." The girl squinted a bit, looking confused.

"... Drake?"

"Unfortunately," he answered, clearly not happy with the state of things.

"Well, this is... new." Jez awkwardly replied. "I take it you're not into it as much."

"Not remotely," he answered unhappily, "Some insane members of the X-Men's rogues gallery hit me with some kind of messed up mutation scrambler. It fucking sucks. I don't even feel like me."

"Damn, a lot has happened since I've been gone." She gave Drake a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure they'll figure out a way to unscramble you. We've got a quantum-dimensional computer for a headmistress, I'm sure she'll figure something out."

"Oh, they're hard at work on a fix. Narumi even scanned me with some quantum waveform something-or-other."

"That's not to say they'll accomplish it before I get yanked back to Genosha," he said bitterly. He didn't really know until that moment just how much he didn't want that. Though he couldn't think of exactly why.

"Well, surely they wouldn't do that when you're awaiting... medical treatment, right?" Jez asked, before another question entered her mind.

"What makes you think that they're going to want you back so soon? The semester only just started."

"I was told as much. Dad has determined that I'd be in better hands back home. Though I wonder if he even wants this fixed. After all, power is everything," he answered with thinly veiled anger and thoroughly unveiled cynicism. He also felt awful because his actual father wasn't the person he was really talking about.

Jez pursed her lips a bit. "Well, I can't really comment on family dynamics, but... how old are you Drake?"

"Guess it's hard to tell since I rarely look human. Nineteen, why?"

"Because that means you're an adult, which means if they tell you that you have to come back, you can say no." Jez smirked and crossed her arms. "What're they going to do, come and get you? They haven't come and gotten me yet."

"No, but I can't just never go back. It's my home. I won't turn my back on my family or my country," he answered, a little offended by the idea.

"Besides, there'd be... consequences," he added.

"Getting your powers sorted out and training isn't turning your back on your country or your family." The prospect of consequences did bring an expression of concern to her face, and of understanding.

"Consequences for your family, right?" She asked him. "Does that seem right to you?"

"It's not like anybody's going to hurt them. But it won't be good for their standing if I go AWOL."

He didn't want to admit to himself that it could be worse.

"I... know how you feel." Jez said softly before she took a seat on a nearby bench. "I had wanted to leave for months, but I knew it'd mean my mother would be sent back to city outskirts where we'd been living before... I caught people's attentions. But there came a point where I just couldn't do it anymore. Things were broken, and I wasn't going to be able to fix them from the inside. At least, not without more experience... and some friends.

"Do you think that your family would support your decision?"

He stood there in silent thought for a brief while, considering the question.

"Maybe. I don't know. I mean, they want me to be happy but... it's complicated," he answered honestly. Only after did he realize that he had contradicted his cover story just a little.

"So you dad may think one thing is best, but the rest of your family might side with you? I know that feeling all too well. That, and being in a body that feels... wrong, like it doesn't belong to you." Jez shifted a little bit uncomfortable for a moment before she continued.

"You have a right to your body and yourself, no one else has that right. No matter who they are."

"As beautiful as that sentiment is, I'm not sure I'm in a position to exercise that right. Not without sacrificing something that I'm not willing to," he said, conflict in his voice.

"Well don't pack your bags just yet. If there's something X-men are good at, it's finding the third option. And blowing stuff up."

"Ugh. Relying on the X-Men. I should feel embarrassed," he complained with a weak smirk.

"But yeah, the superscience people still might make such a decision unnecessary."

"They're not so bad, if you can get past the uniforms. So drab." Jez smirked. "And we can always see if we can dely things a bit should it come to that."

"Thanks for helping me out of the dark hole I was falling into. Though I won't feel totally clear of it until this little identity crisis is behind me."

"I'm always here if you wanna vent. When it comes to changing bodies, or fleeing the country, I've become a big of a seasoned vet at both." She said with a faux tone of smug satisfaction.

"Oh! That reminds me." She reached her hand into the pocket of her hoodie to retrieve the little emergency signal device that Drake had given her months prior. "I figured you might want this back."

"Glad you didn't need it," he answered as he took it.

"So, um, what do you mean by changing bodies? Wait, are you..." he said, finally past thinking about his problems to properly do the math.

Jez gave Drake a little smile. It wasn't always the easiest question to ask, or to answer, but she'd been through this often enough to know how to make things go a little more smoothly.

"Yes, I'm trans." She answered. "For a long time I've been quiet about it, I just wanted people to know me as the woman that I am. But I've learned that it's a lot easier for everyone if I just put it out there. I've been a little too subtle about it..." She gestured to her shoes, putting her feet together to get the proper effect.

"I know that's not the same thing as what you're going through, no one can know your feelings but you. But I can at least understand some of what you're feeling, in my own way."

"Hell, I never felt like myself until my mutation surfaced. When I took my dragon form for the first time, it was like my body finally matched my soul. So it seems we're more alike than I thought."

"It would seem that way." Jez got to her feet and approached Drake again, putting a hand on his rocky shoulder. "Which is part of the reason why you can count on me to try and help you get that feeling again. Besides, I owe you one, don't I?"

"Well I was going to save calling in that favor for a rainy day, but I guess this qualifies," he answered, a hint of his usual preening confidence showing in his smirk.

"You just give me the deets when the time is right, and I'll get the job done." A pretty big promise, from an ego big enough to match. "The ear to listen until then is complimentary."

"I appreciate it," he smiled.

"So... new subject? Did you give that nefarious princeling a solid pummeling?"

Now Jez had a legitimate smug grin. "I broke his nose, and then did the Batman thing to him. Wanna watch the video?"

"Oh, gods yes," he grinned.

Jez fished her phone out of her pocket and began to swipe through it before she brought up the video of Prince Sablinova being held upside down over his castle balcony.

Yes, yes, alright! I did it; I brought the Princess here, against her will. I was acting under a direct claim....

"What I would have given to see that in person," he laughed, cheered up significantly via righteous schadenfreude.

"I'll admit, I felt like a bit of a badass. But if I'd known what it was all going to lead to I probably would've just tried to sneak her out. What a mess...." Jez let out a very exhausted-sounding sigh.

"What happened between that and Doom's giant flying head on the quad?"

"Well let's see..." Jez put her phone away so that she could start counting on her fingers. "First there was her bodyguard and closest friend confessing to treason, and then there was me insulting her father, then there was the drones shooting up the grand ballroom, the assassin who threw stuff, the coup and assassination attempt by a couple of rivals who wanted their tickets onto the throne, aaaaaaaaand then fleeing the country with Doom's help.

"It's... been a rough time for Katarina."