A lot to think about

Posted on Sat Feb 3rd, 2024 @ 11:26am by Aurora Summers & Bliss Hawkins

1,518 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 3: X-Tra Ecclesiam
Location: Mansion Grounds
Timeline: August 21st

Aurora sat alone at the edge of the lake, she’d never felt as lonely as she did, now that Scott was no longer there with her. She was focussing her pain on making water spouts dance around with her telekinesis, it was that or bottle it up and eventually explode, which wouldn’t be good for her or anyone else around at the time.

Bliss had a lot on her mind as she found herself making the way down the path of the school to the lake. The turmoil with Scott and Aurora soured her stomach. It reminded her too much of a stressful day in one of her foster homes back in Nevada. There was little stability and a lot of stress living in an environment that seemed to Foster people acting out. She had been at the school for nearly 2 months, so she really didn't think of herself as being close to anybody involved. She had already given Scott a piece of her mind. And now as she emerged from the path to the dock, she saw the other half of the equation in none other than Aurora.

"So I guess congratulations are in order."

Aurora flinched, she hadn’t been expecting company. “Yes, they are.” She offered Bliss a smile trying to be polite. “I’m sorry if I’ve caused trouble, I’m surprised anyone is willing to talk to me.”

Bliss sat down near Aurora, enjoying for the moment the little water splashes from the redhead's power.

"A woman of faith--one of the few who I respected, that is--she once told me to hate the sin , Love The sinner. I think you've made enough bad decisions to last a lifetime at this point, but that doesn't make you a bad person. If anything that means we need to rally around you."

Aurora paused making waterspouts as she looked at Bliss in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that.” She offered a smile. “Thank you Bliss, that means more than you know.”

Bliss nodded with a sober expression.
"That same woman gave me a couple other phrases that I try to use when I think about being a good guy. The first one is, there but for the grace of God go I. The other one is, judge not lest ye be judged."

"I think that this whole situation is a mess, don't get me wrong. And you still have options beyond the ones like running away with Scott to the big city. Have you considered that? I mean how far along are you?"

“So far? In the case of a normal pregnancy I’d be a few days, but I’m actually a couple of weeks.” Aurora paused. “My son will be born in approximately 6 months.” She offered Bliss a shrug of the shoulders. “I don’t want to change anything Bliss. I love my husband, and I want my son.”

Bliss blinked as she took in that revelation.
"I hope you recognize that's more than a little crazy. Not that you want your son but the fact he'll be born in 6 months? And how do you know that? Did the professor use one of those gadgets to check on the baby? Please say yes. "

“Actually it was Jade, combined with medical equipment.” Aurora offered a wry smile. “Seems my genetics don’t work like everyone else’s. I can’t explain it. My abilities are out of whack too, thanks to the hormones I think.”

Bliss brushed some hair back from her face with a worried sigh.
"So does that mean the baby's going to continue to age quickly? Will they be in their terrible twos 3 months after they're born? Puberty by 5 years? Senile by ten?"

Aurora frowned. “No one knows, we won’t know anything until my son is born.” She looked back at the water. “I hope not, I’ve lost enough, I don’t want to lose my son as well. For all I know I could have been born in a short amount of time, I don’t know anything about my real parents.”

Bliss nodded with a sad expression.
"Yeah there's a lot of that going around, no parents that is."
She reached into the lake with a hand, stirring up something with her hand as she spoke.

"If I were you.... In this position? The last thing I want to be doing is fighting in some kind of mutant army. You and Scott and baby Summers need to go somewhere where you're not going to be harassed. Life is short enough as it is without having to worry about even less time for you or your baby. Move to Alaska, build a life and screw the rest of the world."

Aurora looked at Bliss. “I hadn’t thought about that, Scott wants me to be here to protect me and our baby. Right now it’s the safest place to be, at least until my son is born. Once Scott has somewhere for us to live I’ll be going back and forth, but for now it’s just me living here.”

"Well it is what it is I guess."
Bliss looked out to the lake. A scattering of flotsam and jetsom surfaced from the lake. Debris and trash that has settled to the bottom of the nearby Waters bubbled to the top of the calm water. The trash began to coalesce into a large chunk and slowly approach the blonde.
" Well in any case, you're one of us. I just wanted to say that. "

The debris came to bliss's hand, and she lifted it from the water. Water seats from it like a squeezed sponge until it was a crumpled chunk of cups, styrofoam, old fabric, and pop cans.

"Just... Be careful okay? What you do doesn't affect just you and Scott and the baby. Faint ripples turn into big waves."
She stood up and the compressed debris like it was a basketball.

Aurora nodded. “I understand Bliss, I will endeavour not to cause ripples. I used to look at this place from outside the gate, wishing I could be a student here. I guess fate has a way of putting us where we’re supposed to be.”

Bliss balanced the debris on her hip as she considered Aurora's words.
"Well now that you're here, make that count. In the meantime, if I can help, ask. But I'm not changing no diapers, not without a gas mask and a wet suit."

Aurora couldn’t help but laugh, and it felt good to do so. “I wasn’t sure I’d be happy here without Scott, but I think you’ve just proved me wrong. Thank you Bliss.”

Bliss nodded in acknowledgement to her words.
"All right. Well I said what I came here to say. I hope it helps."
She turned and headed back towards the path
"I'm going to go take out the trash so I will see you later, okay?"

Aurora nodded. “Thank you Bliss, I appreciate your advice.” She stood up ready to head back. “I’ll walk back to the mansion with you.”

" Cool."
Bliss casually kicked the ball of debris ahead of her like a soccer ball.
"I know it could be a touchy subject, do you have any family that you're close to?"

Aurora shook her head. “No, I don’t. My parents abandoned me when I was baby, I grew up in an orphanage. Had a few short term fosters, until I finally found what I thought was a good family. Turns out they didn’t like mutants much, or at least that’s how it appeared. I ran away and went to live in the sewers, until I was kidnapped anyway.”

Bliss nodded with a shrug.
"I shouldn't even bothered to ask. You don't end up here with a supportive family that's still around. With people like us, family is what you make from the people you find in your life. I've got half a dozen people I met on my way from Vegas to here that I would consider family, maybe more. I guess one way you can think about it is you're making a fresh start with Scott and the baby. I guess you can't get more family than that, right?"

Aurora nodded. “Right, Scott and I aim to give this baby a good life. The one neither of us had.”

Bliss nodded soberly as she rolled the ball down the path.
"So what's your plans beyond being Scott's wife and the baby's mother? You have ambitions beyond that?"

Aurora shrugged her shoulders. "I'd like to find out more about my mother, I'd love to find out who she is, but I don't know if it'll ever happen. Apart from that I've not really thought about it."

Bliss picked up the ball of compressed trash and balanced it on her hip. The Mansion beckoned
" No rush, you got enough on your plate for now."

Aurora nodded and smiled, that was very true. Right now she had enough to be concentrating on.

{OFF}

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