Zwischenzug

Posted on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 11:09am by Connor Bruin & Kennedy Kelly
Edited on on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 11:09am

5,485 words; about a 27 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: August 27th, 1990

Kennedy’s transcripts had finally arrived and with them the assignment of classes that would become her senior year. This afternoon was reserved for French, a class Kennedy had once loved but now left her lukewarm. There was no French teacher to review vocabulary with or who would correct her pronunciation, only a tape recorded lesson that mindlessly droned on and requested the listener to repeat phrases to non-existent ears.

Sitting in the Day Room connected to the library, Kennedy brought her workbook and dragged her clunky tape player and its oversized headphones. Taking a seat near the windows, her back to the library and her view of the pool outside, she placed the massive headphones over her ears and pressed ‘play’ to begin.

Le Passé Composé Avec Avoir - Un Verbe Auxiliaire + Un Participe Passé. Complétez les phrases et lisez à haute voix.

Kennedy grumbled, she hated grammar lessons, they were the worst part of learning a foreign language despite their necessity. Her eyes drifted to the pool and she daydreamed about enjoying the end of the warm weather before fall arrived. Half listening to the tape recorder and half thinking about tanning by the pool, Kennedy replied out loud to her fictitious French teacher.
“Nous regardons le film… Il parle à la fille.”

Connor was perched up in the corner of the room like a husky red-headed spider. His original reason for being up there was perceptional. The vantage point from up here changed the angle of incidence for the sun's rays, resulting in the room having a different hue of reflective light. He was counting down the minutes until the top of the hour to observe the wall’s color shift with minute changes in real time. Really slow time. It was still amazing to watch.

But then the new girl started talking. Connor didn't know much French but he was familiar with Latin and therefore all Latin-based languages. After a few seconds of reconstructing Kennedy's words through reverse translation, Connor suddenly felt nervous. Something about watching a movie and a boy talking to a girl. He and Bliss had recently been to the movie theater.

Did Bliss tell her roommate about what they did at the movies? Or maybe Kennedy figured it out herself. But how? Most Americans didn't know French. That put her a few standard deviations above typical. What else did she know? Connor shamelessly eavesdropped on what came next.

Kennedy was oblivious to Connor and his eavesdropping, she continued with her lesson, repeating the phrases provided to her.

“Nous n’avons pas aimé le film… Elle a décidé de manger un hamburger à la place.”

Didn’t watch the movie, ate a hamburger at some place. Connor couldn’t be sure of the exact meaning but it was sounding a lot like his date with Bliss. Was Kennedy on the phone with her right now while Bliss told her about it? Bliss had said she loved French. It would make a spectacular code language for most of the rubes around here too. Was their secret out? Connor’s cheeks nearly matched his hair in hue as the implications began to set in.

Kennedy flipped a page from in her workbook and transitioned to a fake conversation with the recorded voice about purchasing bus tickets. Connor was left listening to a one-sided conversation.

“Où est l'arrêt de bus.”

“Où est-ce que je peux acheter un billet?”

“C'est combien pour aller à Marseille?”

Bus tickets and Marseille? That must be more secret French code. Connor couldn't hold back anymore. He needed to know if they were talking about him!

“Ugh!” Connor jumped down from the his corner near the ceiling and landed in front of Kennedy. The speech-generating device jostled on the lanyard around his neck.

“WHAT DID BLISS TELL YOU?” he typed. “I MUST KNOW.”

Kennedy jumped out of her skin as she screamed in surprise from his arrival, the pencil in her hand shimmered with energy before it went flying through the air and landed on the desk next to them, exploding like a firecracker.

“HOLY SHIT, CONNOR!” Kennedy shouted as she ripped her headphones off, his unexpected landing in front of her had her heart racing as she stared up at him with wild eyes. “You scared the daylights out of me!” She wasn’t shouting anymore but she was still agitated. Kennedy stopped the tape player and took a second to calm down. “What did you ask?”

“ARE YOU STILL TALKING TO BLISS?” typed Connor into his device. “DID SHE TELL YOU EVERYTHING?” He looked somewhere between guilty and embarrassed as he typed. When he finished, he looked at Kennedy and pressed his lips thin together through blushing cheeks.

“Why would I not be talking to Bliss? We’re roommates, I talk to her every day.” Kennedy was completely and utterly confused by Connor’s questions. But the look on Connor’s face made her believe that there was some sort of secret he was worried about.

“Did she tell me everything about what?” Gossip was currency in high school and at this point in time she couldn’t confirm or deny anything.

“YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT OUR DATE IN FRENCH,” Connor explained, one button press at a time. “BLISS SAID SHE LIKES TO DO FRENCH THINGS. DID SHE TELL YOU EVERYTHING?”

Connor's confusion only heightened his sense of urgency. Would they get in trouble if people found out? Intimacy with Bliss was great but even just being around her was the highlight of every day. Anything that could jeopardize that made him anxious.

“Woah, slow down. I wasn’t talking about your date in French, I was just following the workbook.” Kennedy pushed the open book towards him, it was all in French but still a gesture of good faith. “I don’t know if liking to do ‘French things’ is the same as taking French class.” Kennedy smirked though because Connor was definitely acting like he was worried about getting caught. “You did something you shouldn’t have, didn’t you?”

Connor clamped his two fingers down against his thumb repeatedly. Then he wondered whether Kennedy understood sign language. Just to be sure, Connor typed, “I DID NOT. BLISS SAID IT WAS OKAY. WE JUST AGREED TO KEEP IT SECRET AND YOU SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT IT.”

Kennedy’s smirk faded as Connor seemed like he was getting even more upset, it was never her intention to make him worry even more than he already was. “Relax, Connor, Bliss hasn’t said anything about what you did or didn’t do. She’s kept your secret, the world just likes to upset us with terrible coincidences.”

Kennedy stood up and looked at the table next to them. There was a black sooty spot from where her pencil exploded that would clean up, thankfully she had yet to cause property damage outside of the attack on the school.
“But from what I piece together it sounds like the two of you are getting serious.”

Relief flooded over Connor’s face. Of course Bliss hadn't said anything. It was her idea to slow down and keep a defined pace to make sure they didn't have any accidents or missteps. For all of Connor's coordination, he still made plenty of mistakes.

“WE ARE SERIOUS BUT WE ALSO LAUGH A LOT,” Connor replied, not fully listening to Kennedy's words. “HOW DID YOU KNOW WE WENT TO A MOVIE BUT DIDN'T WATCH IT?”

“Serious as in the status of the relationship, not your behavior.” Kennedy attempted to clarify, while Bliss hadn’t provided details about their relationship she did mention that Connor was ‘complex’ so she wanted to provide some brevity. “I didn’t know you went to a movie and didn’t watch it. It’s just the words in the workbook.” Kennedy pointed at the book again, the specific lines in question. “It’s just a coincidence.”

Coincidence. Connor could read the French better than audibly process the words. It took him about three seconds to read the page and visibly calmed once he did. What a relief!

“I’M SORRY FOR DISTURBING YOU.” Connor hated it when people interrupted his reading, but the mistake was a funny one. He started laughing nervously. “I SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO BLISS TOO FOR ASSUMING SHE TOLD ANYBODY WHAT WE DID.”

“It’s okay, Connor, I don’t mind you talking to me but I would prefer it if you didn’t scare the living daylights out of me.” Kennedy looked over at the soot on the table. “I think the Professor would prefer it too for the sake of lowering collateral damage.” Kennedy pulled out a new pencil from her bag and took her workbook back.
“Bliss didn’t do anything, she’s into you. But it sounds like you’re worried about getting in trouble for not watching a movie… you have to learn to play it cool.”

When the pencil first exploded, Connor had ignored it in his hyperfocus. Kennedy pointing it out recalled the peripheral memory which made Connor laugh as if it had just happened that instant. Then he started wondering what it would be like if he could make things explode. While he pondered that counterfactual, he asked the more pertinent question.

“HOW DO I PLAY IT COOL?”

She laughed a little at his question, mainly because of the innocence in it.
“Playing it cool means you deliberately behave in a calm, unemotional way because you don’t want people to know how angry or upset you actually are. Sometimes you don’t want people to actually know how you’re feeling. Like in this situation, you were upset and confrontational because you were worried. Which tells me that you obviously have something you’re hiding… I know more based on your response. Like playing poker, you have to keep a straight face.”

Connor was used to not telling people how he felt. Most people didn't understand, so why bother trying? But for him to be so transparent that Kennedy deduced as much as she had on confidence alone showed Connor to reevaluate his self image.

“I DO NOT WANT TO HIDE IT,” Connor typed. “BLISS IS THE STRONGEST AND CLEVEREST PERSON I'VE EVER MET. I DON'T KNOW WHY SHE LOVES ME BUT I WANT TO PROTECT THAT SO I DON'T LOSE HER. I REMEMBER EVERYTHING YET IT IS HARD TO REMEMBER LIFE WITHOUT HER.” His brow furrowed at that statement, though it took the device a few seconds to catch up to his typing. “I JUST TRIED. I CAN DO IT BUT IT'S UNCLEAR. WHAT IF I CAN'T SEE HER ANYMORE? LIFE WOULD SUCK.”

“You’re missing the point. This has nothing to do with your actual relationship with Bliss.” Kennedy shut her workbook, happy for the excuse to not listen to tedious French lessons, but she wasn’t sure if explaining idioms to Connor was any better. “Your emotional response told me more than your words did. Had you hidden your distress I may not have figured out as much as I did.”

Connor thumbed his chin in thought. “SHOULD I LIE? PEOPLE TEND NOT TO APPRECIATE IT WHEN OTHERS LIE TO THEM.”

“It’s not lying in the traditional sense and based on how literal you take things, I wouldn’t tell you to lie.” Kennedy corrected the conclusion before she was pegged for telling Connor to lie to everyone.

As he asked the question, Connor wondered whether it would even be effective. A naturally intuitive person might detect the deception and then he would lose twice. Connor was a straight shooter because it was just easier. To think in terms of subterfuge was counterintuitive.

“OR IS YOUR COMPARISON AKIN TO THE INSTANCES WHEN I REMAIN SILENT DESPITE MY URGE TO BE LOUD AND BOISTEROUS?”

“Yeah more like that, but for different reasons. You have to be quiet so you aren’t disturbing others. You play it cool to protect your private and personal interests. If you don’t want someone knowing something is really upsetting you, don’t show them it is.” Kennedy watched Connor as she spoke and had the feeling he was only partially listening to her. “Does that make sense?”

Connor understood perfectly. He nodded in acknowledgement and then asked the obvious to follow-up question.

“ARE YOU DOING IT RIGHT NOW WITH ME?” He looked at her with curious, probing eyes once the question was typed.

“No, I mean not really.” Kennedy said with a smile. “I wouldn’t assume everyone is hiding something from you when they talk to you but maybe you should.” She shook her head, thinking about what growing up in a politician’s home was like and how different that world was. “People can be confusing.”

Connor shook his head. “I DISAGREE. PEOPLE ARE SIMPLE ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND THEM. IT IS CHANGE THAT IS CONFUSING. THEN UNDERSTANDING BECOMES DIFFICULT ALL OVER AGAIN.”

The thoughtful expression on Kennedy's face piqued his curiosity. She must have been exposed to much treachery to see the world as she did.

“WHO BETRAYED YOU?” The question was accompanied by a stony analytical expression but Connor's eyes still shined with pity.

Kennedy looked away from him and shook her head once more. “Everyone. No One.” She hugged herself as she considered what he had said and what he had asked her. “It’s like you said, people are simple once you understand them. My family has a very strong opinion on what mutants are and their place in the world. They didn’t change, I did. Why should I consider it a betrayal when they acted exactly as I knew they would?”

That was a scenario diametrically opposite to the upbringing Connor experienced. Never before had he considered himself privileged until that moment. His childhood environment had been sheltered but full of positive reinforcement.

“YOU NEED A NEW FAMILY,” Connor observed, his eyes pensive as he typed. “I SEE WHY BLISS WANTED US TO ADOPT YOU.” He looked up and grinned while his device spoke his words.

Kennedy laughed at that, it was a soft and gentle sound. “That’s kind of Bliss to consider. But isn’t that what this place is for?”

Connor gave a shrug at that. What was the difference indeed?

She looked up at him again, her blue eyes a little less sad. “I guess the point I was getting at was that some people look at life like a game of chess. You’re a pawn or a knight depending on what you can do for them, but that’s all you are, a piece to be moved or felled as they see fit, and in the end their victory is all that matters. Sometimes if you show people how much something affects you, they’ll use it to exploit you because you’re just a piece on the board.”

“MAGNETO CONTROLS HIS BROTHERHOOD LIKE THAT,” Connor typed. “I REALIZE HOW FORTUNATE I WAS NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO HIS SPHERE OF CONTROL. PROFESSOR XAVIER HAS HELPED ME BECOME A FULL PERSON DESPITE MY DISABILITY.” He thought for a moment. “WHICH CHESS PIECE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF TO BE?”

“I guess that depends on what attributes you want to consider. On my own, a pawn. With the connections to my family… I could have been a queen.” Kennedy offered a winsome smile but her eyes were sad. “What about you? I think this is a telling personality test.”

“I AM THE PLAYER,” Connor typed, leaving it at that as if his answer was self-explanatory. “YOU SHOULD BE ALSO.” After he finished, he thumped his chest twice with his fist.

Kennedy smirked. “They say in order to be good at chess you need to be a tactician who can always visualize the endgame. I don’t think I have what it takes to be the player, but from what I’ve heard you’re more than capable. If anything, I’m just a piece that’s moved across the board more than once.”

“LIES.” Connor pounded each letter with emphasis and gave her a fixed stare. “LIES TOLD TO YOU BY WHOMEVER WANTED YOU TO BE THEIR QUEEN.” He began shaking his head so hard it made his red curls fly. Somehow he managed to type while doing so. “I AM NOT SPECIAL. I JUST SEE CLEARLY. GNOTHI SEAUTON. KNOW THYSELF.”

“You make a valid point and I’ll admit it’s one of my shortcomings.” Kennedy realized that Connor said a lot without saying a lot. “I’m lost right now, I don’t really know who I am anymore or who I am going to be. It’s hard to see myself as anything right now, pawn or player.”

She tapped the French workbook in front of her. “I learned French because I was told to, with the big payoff being summer in Paris. An apartment to myself with a view of the Eiffel Tower. For three months I was going to stay in that city, shopping, food, museums, some handsome Parisian boy that I could love, it was going to be perfect. But that’s gone now… yet here I am still studying French.”

“DID YOU REALLY WANT THAT? OR WAS IT PRESENTED TO YOU AS SOMETHING OF VALUE YOU SHOULD WANT?”

Connor wasn’t trying to be clever. He was just working through her current statement with her previous ones in mind.

“IF THE FORMER, THEN YOU SHOULD STILL WORK TOWARD GETTING IT. IF THE LATTER, THEN YOU SHOULD FIND SOMETHING ELSE THAT REALLY MATTERS.”

Not that Connor had any suggestions. Training for missions with the X-Men and finding new excuses to hang out with Bliss occupied pretty much all of his time at present. There wasn't much room on his plate for future plans at the moment.

“I mean I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. It still sounds like such a beautiful place. I just don’t think the vision I had imagined will actually happen.” Kennedy packed up the workbook at this point, she doubted she would be finishing it today.

“I just don’t know how I’d be able to afford it… as for something else.” She shook her head. “I hardly know who I am anymore, let alone what really matters, the stuff I’ve seen since coming here, it just makes me mad. It feels like such a cruel injustice and I can’t standby and watch it happen.”

Connor nodded. “A DEAF AND BLIND WOMAN NAMED HELLEN KELLER ONCE SAID WHENEVER ONE DOOR OF HAPPINESS CLOSES, ANOTHER ONE OPENS, BUT WE ARE TOO BUSY LOOKING AT THE CLOSED DOOR TO NOTICE.”

A thought occurred to Connor as he cycled through his internal processes and came back to his ponderings over Kennedy's power. If she overcharged things to explode, what if she only semi powered them? It could result in some interesting outcomes.

“DO YOU ALWAYS MAKE OBJECTS EXPLODE OR CAN YOU MOVE THEM WITHOUT DETONATING THEM?”

“I can move them without detonating, when I charged an arrow it didn’t explode until impact. Same with that pencil and the dish I broke the other day, they appear to be fine in my hand and are stable until they touch something, I just get scared when I do it and my instinct tells me to get rid of it.” Kennedy looked down at her hands as she spoke as if examining them would tell her something new.

“But I really haven’t experimented with it, I was shipped out here as soon as it was discovered and living here has been… chaotic. Right now, I’m just kind of winging it.” Kennedy was a little embarrassed by her lack of skill, everyone else at the school appeared to have more of a handle on their abilities, even before coming here.

Grunting as he nodded, Connor listened to her with full attention. Once she finished her explanation, he pointed to her French workbook before typing.

“CAN YOU CHARGE THAT WITHOUT MAKING IT EXPLODE?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried.” She examined it for a moment, if she wanted to learn what she could and couldn’t do there was no time like the present. “Come on, let’s go try.”

Kennedy picked up the workbook and headed outside, they marched past the mansion grounds with its pool and cut grass to the edge of the woods. If she was going to make a mess, at least she would do it in a spot that would go unnoticed.

She placed the book on the ground and crouched down next to it. Kennedy stared at it for a few minutes, trying to think of the best way to charge the object. She placed a hand on the book and thought about the size and weight of it, how much mass it took up and the best way to replicate it. Soon after, the book began to shimmer with golden light.

She looked over at Connor, her hand still on the book. Kennedy was a little nervous now, like she had just pulled the pin on a grenade. “What should I do? Just get up and run?”

Connor was already typing. “TRY TO PROPEL IT IF YOU CAN. KINETIC ENERGY DEALS WITH MOTION WHICH IS WHY YOUR ARROWS FIRE WITHOUT IMMEDIATELY DETONATING. INELASTIC COLLISIONS CONVERT KINETIC ENERGY INTO BOOMS. PROPULSION WITH AN ELASTIC COLLISION OR NO COLLISION AT ALL SHOULD DEPLETE THE KINETIC CHARGE SAFELY.”

He looked up from his device to see the apprehension all over Kennedy’s face which also permeated her body language. “PERHAPS RUNNING IS A GOOD PLAN B.”

Kennedy looked like she had just stepped in something terrible or touched something slimy, she closed her eyes and scrunched up nose while she shook her head in disbelief at how unsavory the situation was. She was trapped, holding a tiger by the tail, all that was left was to let go and run.

She stood up more, preparing herself for the run, before she pushed the workbook away from both of them and bolted. Kennedy shrieked as if she had seen a mouse while running away from the forest line. Once they had departed to a safe distance she waited with Connor. Nothing happened.

“Did it work?” Kennedy asked while still waiting for the explosion.

Connor was already running for the treeline, not waiting to give her an answer. Once he got there, he scampered up one of the trunks and swung from a branch, head over heels, until it gave way with a snap. He looked scared for a second, but he oriented himself in midair and landed in a handstand before collapsing into a roll that brought him to his feet. Somehow he had managed to keep the branch from the ground, alternatively tossing it between his hands and shoes during his improvised acrobatics.

Back on his feet, he presented the branch to Kennedy, his face beaming. He repeatedly pointed an excited finger at the end of the branch. The French workbook had been shoved several inches onto the branch like a skewer. From all appearances, Kennedy’s shove had sent it sailing a fair distance where it impaled on the branch, all without exploding.

Kennedy picked the book off the branch with two careful fingers, almost like she was expecting it to be hot. Once freed from the branch she flipped through the workbook, it seemed perfectly fine.

“Oh wow, you were right!” She smiled at him “Thanks, Connor, I appreciate you helping me figure this out. Having the option to not blow something up is helpful.”

A mischievous look came over Connor’s face. “NOW DO ME,” he typed. “SHOVE ME BACK TOWARD THE MANSION LIKE YOU DID THE BOOK AND SEE HOW FAR I CAN GO.”

“No, Connor, I can’t do that!” Kennedy covered her mouth in horror from his request, he obviously hadn’t seen what had happened during the Purifier attack. “I did that to one of the men who attacked the school and he exploded.”

“DO IT LIKE THE BOOK,” Connor typed. “I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT.”

“Bliss will rip my arms off if I accidently kill you.” But before Connor could answer, she shut her eyes and placed her hands on her chest. Kennedy did everything the same as before, she tried to envision how much mass he took up and attempted to match it with her power. Connor began glowing gold, just like the book and the pencil before Kennedy shoved him as hard as she could. Her eyes remained squeezed shut until she heard some sort of sound indicating that Connor was either alive or dead.

“Hooooooo-hoooooooo-HOOOOOO!!!”

When Kennedy opened her eyes, she saw Connor flipping backward through the air like a coin toss at a ballgame. He had only flown about ten feet up and not even thirty feet back, but somehow managed several rotations before he landed in a crouch and roll. After a blur of motion and tangled limbs that somehow didn’t snap on impact, he jumped to his feet.

All in all, it was a swift recovery. Connor cantered back to Kennedy on all fours, his face beaming all the way. He jumped up to his feet in front of her and let out an excited hoot.

“THAT WAS FUN.”

“That was terrifying.” Kennedy replied, her stomach still in knots from how nervous she had been to even try something like that. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with trying something like this. “How would that even be useful?”

If she was going to put the question to him, Connor was going to think of an answer. He scratched the scruff on his chin as his face slowly panned away toward the direction of the sun. After he formulated a scenario, he began typing.

“IT IS UNLIKELY THAT YOU COULD LIFT ME THROUGH CONVENTIONAL MEANS. IF I FELL UNCONSCIOUS IN A HAZARDOUS AREA LIKE ON TRAIN TRACKS AND AND YOU ONLY HAD A MOMENT TO MOVE ME YOURSELF, THEN YOU COULD QUICKLY GET ME OUT OF THE TRAIN’S PATH.”

After he finished his explanation, he gave her a satisfied grin. It was a perfect example of the usefulness of what she'd done, just like she'd asked for. Never mind the fact he had been focused entirely on the thrill.

“Well, if you ever blackout on a train track and there is no one else around to move you, I promise I’ll use my powers to do it.” Kennedy agreed to the theoretical but absolutely impossible scenario that Connor had come up with.

She picked up a small rock and charged it with energy before throwing it at a nearby tree. It exploded on impact but due to its small size it only made a small pop. Kennedy had to admit, it was getting easier to use her powers, once she had finally been freed to access them it felt natural. Now if only she could stop using them when she didn’t want to.

“How old were you when you knew you were a mutant?” A change in topic but a question she had been asking everyone.

“THERE WAS NEVER A TIME I DID NOT KNOW,” Connor typed. “I HAVE A NONVERBAL AUTISM DIAGNOSIS BUT I WAS TESTED FOR THE X-GENE BEFORE I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH THAT. SOMETIMES I WONDER IF THEY ARE LINKED BUT I HAVE NO WAY OF TESTING THAT THEORY.”

Connor stopped typing and became lost in thought. Neuroscience was a new frontier among homo sapiens. There was no telling what differences the X-Gene could make to his mutant brain. Modern medicine could take ages to uncover it. He just knew he was different but had no clear way of understanding exactly how.

“I couldn’t imagine knowing my entire life.” Kennedy flicked another small rock at the tree. She was starting to realize that the real world was a much different place than the world she was raised in. “Then again, you were allowed to be yourself, which seems like it would be liberating.”

Kennedy brushed off her hands and collected her very sad and mangled French workbook, she would have some explaining to do. “Do you ever wish you could change any of it?”

“NO.” Connor paused his typing to shake his head rather emphatically. “PROFESSOR XAVIER TAUGHT ME THAT CHANGE IS MERELY A VARIABLE RATIO WHICH MAKES LIFE A SERIES OF MATHEMATICAL DELTAS THAT WE CALCULATE ONLY THROUGH EXPERIENCING THEM. CHANGING ONE THING CHANGES EVERYTHING. MY FRIEND HANK MCCOY LEARNED THAT THE HARD WAY.”

“Life doesn’t really feel like a series of mathematical deltas, at least not for me. I know I would change things if I could.” Another rock went flying followed by a loud bang as it hit the tree. “Are you talking about the blue guy?”

“YES. HE LOOKED MORE HUMAN UNTIL HE TRIED TO CHANGE HIMSELF.” Connor turned sad. “I LOOKED AT HIS FORMULA AFTERWARD. HE WAS UNABLE TO ANTICIPATE EVERY FACTOR AND INSTEAD OF MAKING HIMSELF LESS IDENTIFIABLE AS A MUTANT, HE BECAME EVEN MORE CONSPICUOUS.” Curious about her meaning, Connor made direct eye contact that was intense enough to feel probing, perhaps for the both of them. “WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? YOU SEEM TO EMBODY MUCH OF THE AMERICAN AND FEMININE IDEALS.”

“American and feminine ideals, huh?” She laughed at that statement, not really sure if it was a compliment or not. “I don’t know, I thought my life was pretty good up until recently. But since I left my home and my family, I’m seeing so many ugly things. I just wish I could see things at face value from the get go, spare me the embarrassment of figuring it out later.”

“YOU WANT KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT LEARNING,” Connor concluded. “THAT IS NOT HOW THE BRAIN WORKS. TRUST ME.” The look on Connor’s face was far more solemn than there was any apparent reason for it to be, but then he settled a bit. “YOU CANNOT SOLVE A PUZZLE BEFORE YOU FIRST CONSIDER IT.” A thought occurred to him. “WAIT. DID YOU MEAN YOU WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD? I THOUGHT YOU MEANT CHANGING YOURSELF.”

“I don’t know what I mean...” Kennedy said with a sigh “But my own problems feel so insignificant when I think about all the stuff I’ve seen recently. I just wish it all wasn’t so complicated.” She shrugged again, “I’m sure that sounds stupid to someone like you.”

Connor scrunched his face in confusion. He held up two fingers, one after the other, once he had finished typing. “WHY WOULD IT SOUND STUPID? WHAT IS SOMEONE LIKE ME?”

“Because you’re so smart and you can figure stuff out so quickly, it’s like you said you’re the chess player. I’m not like that.” Kennedy confessed.

“EVERYTHING IS COMPLICATED,” Connor typed, then repeated, “EVERYTHING,” for emphasis before continuing. “YOU JUST TAKE UNDERSTANDING FOR GRANTED WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW IT WORKS. DO NOT RESENT COMPLICATIONS. THEY HELP YOU LEVERAGE SOLUTIONS FOR EVEN LARGER PROBLEMS. WITHOUT COMPLICATIONS WE WOULD ALL STILL BE SINGLE CELL LIFEFORMS.”

He thought for a moment and realized he kept getting away from Kennedy’s point. Not that she seemed to know exactly what she was trying to say. Were all girls so confusing even to themselves?

“WAS THAT WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT?”

“Kind of.” Kennedy looked down at the grass “I’m not sure if there is an answer to what I’m saying. I just don’t feel like I know myself or this world, I just wish I had more stuff figured out.” She shrugged “I’m sorry Connor, I’m talking in circles hoping that something will magically click into place if I ask the same questions over and over again. Which I think is the definition of insanity. I should probably get back to my homework, I have social studies reading to do.”

“TODAY YOU KNOW YOURSELF A LITTLE BETTER,” Connor offered. “YOU KNOW YOU CAN KNOCK ME UP WITHOUT HURTING ME.”

“Phrasing, Connor.” Kennedy couldn’t help but laugh at his innocent choice in words. “To knock someone up means to get them pregnant. As I mentioned, I don’t want Bliss to rip my arms off. Maybe just stick to training or practicing?”

At first Connor looked horrified but then he threw his head back with raucous laughter. Somehow he managed to type on his device without looking. “THAT DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER BUT IT IS STILL FUNNY. I AM GOING TO TELL BLISS YOU KNOCKED ME UP AND SHE WILL LAUGH TOO.”

“Connor! No! My arms.” Kennedy whimpered before laughing along with him.

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