X-men: The Zen Chronicles (Redheadstemper)

[Hikari_Mamo]

We all know the back history of X-men.



The Brotherhood is on the move again. Magneto however, is nowhere to be found, seems to no longer be in command of them. Random attacks all over the world have the humans in panic. All other lines of defense are powerless to stop them.

We begin in the summer of 2003 before the holidays. Strange things have begun to happen in the area. Humans have fled the state of New York due to the increased rate of mutant based crime. The Government is on high alert. None know who threw the first punch but no one is taking any chances.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Name: Felicity Eryckson (Faye for short)
Age: 17
Mutation: Temporary emotional projection and integration of targets powers.
Draw backs: When the brain can no longer cope with physical and mental stress the brain shuts down and uses the unconscious state to purge the foreign mutation and for her own DNA to reassert itself and heal any genetic damage sustained from above flaws.
Personality: Brave, loyal, slightly ditzy. All around Aussie
Appearance:
Other: Not very lady like.  

[redheadstemper]

Name: Rakel 'Kel' Leifsson
Age: 23
Mutation: Geokinesis - manipulation of Earth. When initially recruited by Xavier, dirt, sand and gravel could be moved, forced to hold shapes. has since perfected this to form shields, can manipulate already broken ground (i.e. rocky, sandy etc., to become unsteady under foe's feet.
Mutation drawback: all but the most practiced uses take severe concentration, extended use begins process of turning to stone (becomes heavier, restricted movement, inconsistent mixed messages from nerves), emotional effects from nearby geothermal activity

Personality: Cynical about ideals. Enjoys working with her hands. Loyalty comes with trust, which she finds hard.

Appearance:

Other: Can now manipulate larger stones - with concentration, time and effort she built a wall around the mansion. Has turned completely to stone a few times. Is starting a relationship with Logan.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

"All right guys," The teacher began. "I'll be assigning you all homework which is to be completed before Summer is over." The class gave a collective groan. "Yes I know it's not fair however-" The bell tolled interrupting the teachers rant. "All right, collect your homework from my desk, if you do not then you will be making it up with extra homework at the beginning of the new term. And every paper is different so you will not be able to get away with not taking one and copying from some one else." The class filed out taking their homework as assigned.

Faye couldn't wait to get out of there and into lunch. The teacher was so boring~! Urgh! "Hey Billy wait up I'll get lunch with you!" She called noticing her friend leaving his class heading out to the canteen. They picked up the standard lunch then went outside to eat. As they ate both teens decided to get a head start on their summer homework. "Heads up!" They vaguely heard someone cry. They paid no attention to it until the ball hit Billy in the face. Everything seemed to go so fast. One second she was wiping chocolate milk and tomato sauce from her face. The next Billy was freaking out! And on fire! Everyone was screaming. Fire was everywhere. She was vaguely aware of other's watching or trying to assist but they seemed to only make it worse! Everything was getting out of hand.
However, instead of freaking out like the others her age were, Faye went to her friend who was mindlessly attacking anything that moved and held him close. "Hey." She whispered to him. "It's okay. Ssh." She said smiling softly feeling the heat reduce somewhat. She calmed her friend down enough so he was no longer on fire. "You're gonna be okay mate." Faye breathed happy he was okay. She stood up and looked around. The whole place was deserted save for two people. One was average adult height with short white hair and caramel coloured skin. The other was taller with red hair and they typical white skin of a Northern European person. Both wore funny looking leather suits when a weird symbol on them. "Remain calm." The white haired woman said in a soothing tone.
"But I am calm." Faye replied with a frown. She couldn't understand why these two women looked at her as if she were on fire or something- "Oh my god I'm on fire!" Faye cried starting to panic. "Oh god! Oh god! Water!" She screamed trying to remember where the pool was. For a moment she remembered. Clarity filled her and after taking three running steps fell into unconsciousness.  

[redheadstemper]

Kel switched the music on her mp3 player as she absentmindedly used her geokinesis to achieve the perfect soil mix for the flower she was planting.

If I could have just put up with Xavier's damned idealism, I could have had a steady job the last five years

Kel - Rakel Leifsson, when she absolutely had to use her full name - had been invited to attend Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters as a teen, and when she had finished her education - at a much higher standard than most American schools, thankfully - Charles Xavier had invited her to stay on as an X-Man. Her response was probably one of the more memorable ones to date.

Yeah, shouting 'your ideals are great but this is the real world, you idiot' probably would count as memorable. Especially considering the class waiting outside his office door at the time.

The Aussie-born gardener was just about to finish up the flower bed she was working on when she heard someone scream - pretty loud, too, since she heard it through her music. Taking her earphones out, she turned around to see her current client, accompanied by her current boss, staring shocked at her work, and realised she hadn't been very subtle about using her powers to smooth the soil out. Again.

Shite. Looks like I'll need to start looking for a new job again.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

"Felicity?" What? "Felicity can you hear me honey?" Who is that?

Faye opened her eyes and sat up. "Where am I?" She asked holding her head. Oh god. It felt like she was on a come down from canning it all weekend.
"You're safe now." The voice of an old man sounded in her head. Her eyes snapped around to find the source of the voice. She saw the same women at her school, but she saw a man in a wheelchair. His bald shiny head made her smile. It looked like a bowling ball.
"That's not very nice." He said out loud. She gasped at his statement and blushed. How did he know-
"What you're thinking?" He finished a little smugly. "Well I'm a telepath, a mutant like you. We've attempted to call your family but we are unable to get through are you able to clear that up for us?" He looked so kind. Liker her grandfather.
"They don't accept overseas calls unless it's my number. But if you're a telepath you should already know that." She quipped her face bland. "What am I doing here?" She asked confused. "Is this a hospital?" She looked down at her body, some of it was in clothes other's were in bandages.
"No, this is a school for people like you and me-"
"What is that supposed to mean?" She growled at him. She felt her anger fade from her consciousness. Her eyes widened. This was the place that held those people that were terrorizing the state! "Almost right, we aren't doing those things. Another sect known as the 'Brotherhood' is responsible for those crimes. Would you like a tour?" Faye frowned at the man. Her mind tried to wrap itself around what little he had told her so far.
"So, if I'm here at this school for weirdos." She began. "Does that make me like you? A weirdo?" She asked tilting her head. The man in the chair just blinked at her as if trying to process her statement. Faye smirked and gently got off the bed. It hurt to walk a little. But not that much.

The tour concluded at the courtyard near the drive way leading out of the school. "This is Rogue, she was new last year like you are now." Wheels, as she dubbed him with a grin, explained. "She will look after you, her power is. . . unique." Faye looked over the woman who at first glance came across as a overtly modest woman.
"Hi," The girl said with a smile. Her accent think and Oakie sounding. "You must be Felicity. How about we go get your class schedule yeah?" Faye looked around at the place watching as kids played using their powers and gave a nervous mew.
"Yeah no." Faye replied. "I ain't staying in this nut house!" She cried and took off bolting down the long drive way.  

[redheadstemper]

I wish this wasn't the only job I could find on short notice.

Kel was despondently working in a garden just across from Xavier's mansion.

But there's bills to be paid, and food to buy. Being near this place, it's too likely for my comfort that someone will recognise me. Anyway, I'd better concentrate on this or I'll get myself fired for being a mutant, again, because I got caught using my powers in the garden, again.

Kel had almost finished the bed she was working on, when she heard someone pelting down Xavier's driveway.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

"Sir? Should we go after her?" Scott asked with a frown.

"No Scott, Kel is near by, the girl will be fine." Xavier replied watching her bolt down the drive.


Faye kept running. She didn't bother looking back. If she was being followed she didn't know it. Didn't care. She just kept running until she got onto the street. "Hah!!" She cried flipping off the school. "Shove it ya weirdos!" She cried panting hard. She padded herself down. "Dammit! Where's my inhaler?" She panicked trying to take deep breaths. Urgh it hurt to breathe. She breathed through it slow deep breaths. She turned to leave and noticed a gardener and blushed embarrassed. Did that person hear what she was just saying?  

[redheadstemper]

The girl that had pelted down the driveway didn't even have a purse, let alone an overnight bag or a set of luggage. Her Aussie accent was a surprise, though.

"That's almost as memorable as my parting remark! Though I waited 'til I had some control and the ability to get a decent job before I got out. Ya know he can still find you, yeah?"

Kel started packing up her tools and finished up the garden bed using her geokinesis, since the teen she spoke to would be drawing anyone's attention anyway.

"How'd he getcha to check out the school, then? Can you get your parents to come pick you up, or pay for a flight back home?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye stopped mid step. Oh shite. She thought. He could still find her?!! "They're a bunch of frickin' weirdo's I ain't staying there!" She growled. "I ain't even one of them how can I belong somewhere when I don't got any special powers." She stated in a mild rage. She watched the other fix up the garden bed and fell on her butt. "You're. . . You're one of them!!!" She cried. She didn't know what to think any more. "Mama was right I shouldn't have taken the scholarship!" She sat on the side walk panting hard trying, trying to breath through the constriction of her lungs. "My parents are in Australia. I. . . I don't go back for another few days for break then. . . Hey! Why am I even telling you this stuff?!" She growled flushed with embarrassment. She replayed the woman's voice. "Oh. . . right, you're a fellow Aussie yeah?" She asked her grammar getting a bit better. Obviously it got muddled when she was under some sort of stress.

Faye made to cross the road, she didn't notice the car until it nearly hit her. The man pulled a hard turn into the driveway. "a*****e!" She cried. "Watch it!" She glared at the quickly retreating behind of the car. She frowned and decided staying on one side of the road in case someone else decided she would look nice as a hood ornament.  

[redheadstemper]

"Yeah, might wanna look both ways before you cross the road, aren't they still teaching that in primary? And X ain't ever wrong about who's a mutant or not, he's got this thing that detects the difference in your brain or something like that. How'd you get those burns, anyway? Or don't you remember?"

Kel looked around to check that her current employer hadn't come over from where he was working on the - far more critical - display garden on the other side of the driveway for this mansion.

"Look, you wanna get over here so we're not shouting over the road at each other? I've gotta get another bed done today, and I really don't want to get fired on my first day on this job. And yeah, I'm a mutant, so what? It's not like I've got some sort of disease, just a few different genes."

"I'm Kel, by the by. You got a name you're willing to share with a stranger?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye blushed slightly. "I know that!" She growled then sighed. Okay she had to calm down. Had to not lose her mind. She looked both ways then crossed the road to the woman. She paused for a moment in the middle of the road inspecting her arms. Burns? Huh. That's weird. A memory of Billy on fire flashed before and she shook her head. "Don't remember." She said crouching down and helping best she could with the flower bed. "My name is Felicity." She said smiling softly rather enjoying this work. "But I prefer Faye. So this X guy, he's the bald guy in a wheel chair yes?" She asked not waiting for an answer. "And he can detect any of you guys all over the world? But then, why did he take me? Billy's like you. I don't think I qualify to be apart of you. I mean. I'm just a normal person. Aren't I?" She frowned pulling out the weeds. She didn't remember where she got the burns from, hey. . . didn't they look a lot more red before she crossed the road?  

[redheadstemper]

"Thanks, mate. Anyway, Xavier - yes, the bald guy - probably brought in this Billy, was it? too, but considering you seem to be healing fast enough that I can tell, I don't think you quite fit the definition of normal. Not anymore, and supposedly not ever, genetically."

Kel looked over at Faye again, and shot her hand out to stop her.

"That's not a weed, mate, not here, anyway. And even if it were, the owner wants it here and the boss won't tell her no, so we've gotta leave it in. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, mutations aren't always obvious, some people I've heard of don't even realise they're using a mutation, they just think they're good at guessing what people are thinking, or feeling, or just lucky with getting the right soil mix, stuff like that. If the idealistic idiots across the road picked you up, though, you've got a stronger mutation than that. How'd you get to the mansion, anyway? Or don't you remember that, either? If something happened when you manifested, they might've had to bring you in to treat you before talking to you about it - I knew a few people who had that happen - since a normal hospital wouldn't've treated those burns if they'd the faintest clue you weren't normal. The hospital couldn't take the picketers, for one."

Kel started checking the soil mix in the flower bed while she spoke, getting the potting mix she'd added dispersed evenly around the year-round flowers already in place.

"And that's not even counting how the doc's would've freaked out when they noticed how fast you were healing."  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye frowned listening to everything the woman had to say. "Oh," she said putting it back. "Sorry." She blushed patting the soil around the 'not weed' plant then went on to replanting the other's she'd ripped out. "So wheel's is some super smart guy who somehow knows that I'm different and this school is a way of protecting me from the other people who'd freak out because I healed third degree burns on my own in under fifteen hours?" She asked planting more plants into the garden just chatting away. Huh. Made a bit of sense she supposed. But was healing the only thing she could do? Was there anything else she was good at? "I remember, I remember Billy was on fire and attacking people, I got scared and wanted him to stop, to calm down. And then I was on fire. And then I passed out I guess." She found herself blurting.  

[redheadstemper]

"Hah, Wheels, did you think that to his face? But yeah, that's generally the reason he'll bring people in without talking to them about it first. And it's really the reason he set the school up in the first place, so that mutant kids could have a safe place to go, and learn control as well as their normal lessons. I don't disagree with that part of what he does either, just that he doesn't seem to recognise that the X-Men are basically a vigilante group he runs and hides, trying to get mutants some good press. Or that he basically tells us all that using our powers in self defense against a normal person is questionable." Kel reigned herself in, the last thing this girl needed was to be ranted at on the dangers of idealism. "Sounds like you've got some way to take someone else's powers, then, along with the healing. I heard something about Wheels taking in a girl with that sorta power not so long ago, but I don't exactly keep up with the news regularly, so I'm not too sure about that. Something to do with the scuffle over in the city, on Lady Liberty, which is why I even heard about it."