Welcome to Mutant High

Posted on Tue Sep 7th, 2021 @ 4:10pm by Iris Walker & Elizabeth Villar

3,401 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: X-Odus
Location: Library Xavier Mansion
Timeline: Afternoon

Myfawny's head was is a blur. She looked at the bed where she had dropped her duffle bag in the room she was assigned to and seriously considered taking a nap. The sudden nature of being dropped in some boarding school 2,500 miles from home was bad enough, but now she was surrounded by kids that were mutants... like her. She hadn't really thought about being a mutant. The Professor had been fairly certain of it. It certainly explained the looks she had been getting from the CPS folks for the last week and the sudden departure to Salem's Lot in New York. She didn't fell like a mutant... at least any more than she considered herself a freak everyday of the week, but now it seemed there was an actual reason for it. She needed to get out and figure some things out. She flipped up her hoodie and walked into the hall.

She wasn't sure if it was an east coast thing or just a boarding school phenomenon, but the students she passed in the hall seemed far better dress, confident and beautiful than she felt she was. She smiled meekly at the occasional student she made eye contact with, one of two waved to her. That was nice, but to most of the students in the hall they simply averted her gaze and often steered themselves away from the poor freaky little girl dressed all in black. Kind of the same way they stared at her at school back home, only colder. She shook it off, safe in the darkness of her hoodie. She decended the main staircase, weighing her options of getting outside and ditching this place, but she wanted to take the Professor at his word. She turned down the one corridor she knew and wandered back towards the Library where she had met with the old man before.

It looked the same as before, and that level of familiarity made the place all the more welcoming. She looked around, she wasn't really an outgoing "Hi My name is Myfanwy" kind of girl, but she needed to at least meet someone, someone unassuming that wouldn't mind being seen with the new freak girl. She looked around the aisles of books and study tables. Like earlier, they all seemed to elite to tolerate the presence of one such as herself. She needed nerds and outcasts. There were a few kids of the decisively outsider type, but they looked more intimidating than the social kids. She navigated herself around, trying to devine where the graphic novels were kept, or at least old copies of national geographic that might attract the socially undesirable.

A soft melodic tweeting reached her ears. She looked over at a corner of the library near the windows. A young woman, that looked about her age and height was suddenly standing there, assembling a flute. Band kids! That was a fairly safe solution. She made her way over to the girl, approaching slowly and listening as she softly played something on her instrument. She was surprisingly good. Myfanwy leaned against the endcap of a row of books about eight feet from where the girl was playing and listened in.

It was, in Iris's humble opinion, a serious failing of the school that there were no practice rooms. However, she had discovered these lovely little study rooms off the library that worked just fine. After finding several students with their ears pressed to the door the first time she had used one, she had conveniently forgotten to close the door every subsequent time she had used one. After all, musicians wanted an audience even if they were studying and not really paying attention to her.

This had been the one thing that had kept her from realizing she was a mutant for so long. Every time she played, people noticed her. She decided that the music refused to live in the shadows and so required her to be seen. That was fine with her, obviously. She enjoyed playing and enjoyed having people enjoy the music she made.

Today's first selection was an Etude by Kohler, Opus 33 number 1. It was not nearly as easy as it sounded, but iris loved a chalenge. So she played the whole thing, perhaps a touch slower than it should be played, but as her private instructor had told her, better to play it all slowly and accurately than quickly and make a lot of mistakes. Slow and steady wins the race and all that. She could work on speeding it up later.

In the second to last bar, she caught sight of a girl standing nearby watching, so when she finished, she gave the girl a grin. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Iris."

The grin and greeting caught Myfawny by surprise. She was truly enjoying Iris's playing, but like anything that got her mind wandering, she started drifting to sleep on and off. She pressed her nails into her palm to keep herself alert. She stood there silent for a few moments making pause long and awkward. Her voice waiverd a little as she stuttered... "Uh. Um I'm new." she managed to make a smile back. She paused again, expecting a 'get away freak girl' but realized in the process she never gave her name. She closed her eyes wishing to shrink back in her hoodie. "Uh.. I'm called Myfanwy.... Hi." she now wanted to die. "I'm new." A word her mother would have slapped her for crossed her mind. "heh... I already said that."

"It's okay," said Iris with another friendly grin. "Sometimes being new can be awkward. Do you play an instrument?"

"Uh no. The school I went to in Tucson didnt have funding for music. My father tried to teach me guitar when I was 8, but that never ended up happening. You play really well though. How long have you had lessons?"

Thoughts of her father brought to mind she shouldnt have a hoodie on inside a building. It made you look like a vato. She drew back her hood, revealing her over bleached, streaked dye job. She gave Iris a kind welcoming smile.

"Um... 8 years?" answered Iris, doing the quick math. "I started when I was 10, so yeah, that's right. Almost 9 years! Wow. It doesn't seem that long, sometimes."

Myfawny looked Iris over, she looked about her age. But as she did the math that didn't make sense. "You're 18? Wow you look young! I.. uh ... I mean that in a good way." a slight grimace came across her face. She picked the one upper classman that looked like she was 14 and brought it to her attention. Any social life she wasn't likely to have anyways was now dead.

"It's all right," giggled Iris. "I'm used to it by now. I haven't looked my age since I was about 5 years old. One of these days, I'll appreciate it, I'm sure. So how long have you been here?"

"Like... today. I am totally lost. New state, new school. I know no one and I'm apparently some kind of mutant according to the old guy." she responded trying to seem as off the cuff relaxed as her comment, but not feeling it.

"Same," replied Iris. "In fact, if you want to see what I do, just turn around for a second and then turn back."

"Uh... ok." Myfawny responded. She had never really experienced a mutant before. She had seen harrowing accounts for them on television. She read a book about the dangers of mutants in elementary school but they seemed about as relevant as the Loch Ness Monster, equally cool in grade school, but just as unbelievable. And now she was a mutant and this mutant girl was about to show her what freaky thing she could do. She slowly turned around, expecting the library to explode in flames... that's what mutants did right?

She waited. No lights. No Sirens. Slowly she turned back around to... nothing. The girl was gone. She looked down the stack of books. Nothing. There was no way out along the windows. "Uh Iris?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm still here," Iris giggled, suddenly reappearing in the room. "I hide, see? Once you stop paying attention to me, I slip into imperceptibility. Then you can only see or hear me if I call attention to myself. Pretty cool, huh?"

Myfawny watched the girl suddenly reappear exactly where she had been before. It wasn't sudden, it was just like she hadn't noticed her, five feet in front of her. She looked at Iris a little oddly. "I didn't know hide and seek was a mutation. IF I wanted to not bee seen I just went in the living room with my father while WWF was on. That's pretty cool though. It's seriously a mutation?"

It was impressive once you thought about it. Its not like she watched her disappear or reappear, she was just kind of there, like she always had been, except when she wasn't. Not that Myfanwy's alleged power was anything to write home about. "All I do is go to sleep, I think."

"Well, to be honest, that's pretty useful," replied Iris. "When I think of the number of times I tossed and turned for hours on end. Just being able to go to sleep sounds pretty cool."

"Hah! Yeah go to sleep, like walking down the hall, sitting on a park bench, riding a bicycle. I need a ton of caffeine just to make it through a school day." Myfanwy said playfully. The bicycle part was real. She was never going to get a driver's license. "I dream a lot too. Really vivid things. Kind of like actually being there." she was so sounding like a freak now.

"Maybe you actually are there," mused Iris, stowing her flute in its case; she was probably not going to practice any more today. "The only way to know is to find out from the people you see if that's really what they were doing."

Myfawny's voice hushed a little. "I've seen things before. Buildings on fire that were on the news in the morning. I think maybe I'm psychic or something." she practically whispered the word psychic so no one near by would hear and know she was out of her mind. It was the only thing that made sense. She went places and saw things but woke up in her bed, so she obviously wasn't really there, but she knew things, things she shouldn't know. She watched as a teacher who was having an affair with another student's dad. She couldnt quite unsee that whenever she saw that teacher, but the student's parents broke up later that year. It made her feel icky.

"I just go to sleep and wake up where ever I passed out, or maybe the emergency room once or twice. So its gotta be just dream you know. right?" she ended uncertainly.

"I'm not so sure," replied Iris, closing the flute case and picking it up. "Just imagine the things you could do, the people you could save. If you can alert the authorities quickly, they could get there faster and prevent even more tragedy."

Myfanwy had not considered using her dreams like that. She wasn't completely sure they were real, but she had a strong notion that they were. "That would be neat to do. Is that what they teach you here? You know at the school? I really wasn't told anything about the place before CPS kicked me out. The old man said something about working for peace and stuff. Do they really teach you to help people?"

"Sure do," answered Iris. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour and tell you all about it. Have you seen the fountain? It's amazing."

'Thank you Iris, that would be great. You are the first person beside the old man that I've actually talked to here. And I'm not sure exactly how or if he talked to me. I would love to see this fountain. I'm totally out of my element. If you don't have cactus and Javelinas running around, I don't know what to make of a place."

"I have no idea what javelinas are," laughed Iris, leading the younger girl from the library and towards the main entrance. "I'm from Michigan where we have too much snow in the winter and unbearable humidity in the summer."

"Hah. A Javelina is a wild pig that live in the arroyos and come out to run around after it rains. They are really cute. I've never actually seen snow, well maybe in my dreams, but I've never actually played in it. I come from where winters are mostly dry and warm and summers can get up to 120 degrees in the shade. You get used to it, but its still hot. Our apartment only had one window air conditioner and my father said it stays in his bedroom. Which was fine. Too much air conditioning make the heat even worse. How long have you gone to this school? Shouldnt you have graduated or are you a senior?"

"I've actually never attended this school," confessed Iris. "I found it after I already finished school. But, I like Professor Xavier. He's nice. And he's gone some really good ideas. He's helping me learn how to better control my powers. So I can be visible whenever I want to be."

"I'm not even sure I have powers besides narcolepsy. I'm not sure that should be counted as a power, it's more of a curse. My father always said I was lazy. I genuinely can't stay awake. I'm runnning on nerves as it is now. Does the school serve coffee?" she follow Iris through the mansion as she wondered what this whole thing of being a mutant, if that's what she is, was really about.

"Of course we do," answered Iris. "I never used to drink it, but I'm developing an addiction. I love dunking Oreos in it."

"Hah. I'm beyond addicted. I need it to live, like literally. If I can't get a triple Espresso Mocha, I can't even eat breakfast. Although Oreos for breakfast sounds wonderful." she giggled childishly. "Can we get some now, or soon?"

"Iris, how do I find you if, you know we get separated or something?" she asked wanting to learn more about the older mutant.

"That's a good question," replied Iris. "I suppose you just have to wait for me to find you. I think I must become visible when I'm unconscious because my mum woke me up several times for school when I'd overslept. So if I don't find you, look around at the ground."

"Chances are if folks are looking for a missing sleeping girl its probably me. But that's good to know. I guess you will find me when you are ready. Do you have a cell phone or anything people can call?"

"No," answered Iris. "I'm not that rich. Mum tried to convince dad to get me a car with a phone in it, but he didn't want to pay for it. Can't say I blame him, really. They're expensive. I suppose I could get a pocket pager or something."

"A pager would be cool. Of course the teachers would probably think you are some kind of thug or something." Myfanwy giggled. "My father would have never even considered getting me a car let alone a phone to go in it. I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to get by here. I've been dropped in homes, and institutions, but never a private school in New York state. Does the school have a computer lab? I'm pretty good with those."

"Yeah, but I've never used it," answered Iris. "The only thing I know how to do on a computer is play The Oregon Trail."

"Oh god that game is awful. I like died of Cholera and my family got lost and had to eat other wagon train members. Still, its a classic. I used to hang out with a bunch of programmers that rented this little office above a comic book store. Old guys with beards, but they tied into this group of university computers and with a little searching you could find out anything. They also showed me how to make free long distance calls. I think the charges got sent through Bulgaria or someplace and eventually ended up at the Central Intelligence Agency or the FBI or somewhere. But if you know the right codes, you can do a lot of stuff for free." Myfanwy suddenly realized she was talking like a total nerd and cut the subject off.

"So where is this fountain you were telling me about?" she said trying to retreat back into her shy persona.

"Just through those doors," answered Iris, indicating the doors they now approached. "It goes off at regular intervals, but I've forgotten what times. Ah, well, it's cool even when it's just sitting there pointlessly.

Myfanwy walked through the doors breathing in the air of the New York countryside. No dryness, not mesquite, none of the sights or smells of home. She looked at the students milling about outside. At least they weren't being locked into the school. This was going to be a breeze to escape from once she could get some funds and a plan. But for now she looked at the scenery, picturesque in all its difference. "Its really nice hear, in a weird sort of way." she commented to Iris. She hadn't forgotten that buried beneath all the trees and lush grounds was a high tech facility for training mutants. She looked at her hands. She didn't feel like a mutant. She had been a freak for a long time. She was too short, her body too frail and her ways too awkward for someone her age. But it was who she was.

"How do you know that you are a mutant? I mean besides the disappearing but not disappearing thing?"

"That's pretty much it, to be honest," admitted Iris, gazing at the now still fountain. "At first I thought it was because I'm so small. I just figured I blended in or something. And then I thought I was going invisible, so I tried walking up to the counter at a convenience store that had one of the CCTVs behind the counter. I could see myself on it, but the clerk didn't seem to notice me until I spoke up. I guess I figured that I must be a mutant. I mean, how else could I hide in plain sight?"

"True." Myfanwy smiled at Iris. "I just dont's know what to do that separates me form a girl that just sleeps too much.

"Tell ya what," said Iris. "I'll give you a challenge. Next time you find yourself 'dreaming' or whatever it is you call it, see if you can find somebody familiar. Or, even just see if you can redirect yourself to something else entirely. You know, like... say you find yourself at the scene of an accident. Maybe try to turn around and find a coffee shop instead. You know- as long as someone is helping at the accident, of course. Then at least you'll have a general idea of what you can do."

Myfanwy looked at her trustingly. "So try to go places that seem familiar and have people, people that might remember seeing me. Oooh, I could do something to make a scene that shows up in the papers or gets everyone talking about it. I like that idea." Myfanwy's mind started to turn deviously. She knew nothing of this area, but that never stopped her form visiting somewhere before. Coffee would certainly work, or other students or both.

"That's a great idea Iris. I'm going to try it out tonight." she yawned. "or maybe sooner, I'm feeling beat. Thank you for showing me around. You are so nice." Part of her did wonder if she would ever see her new friend again. Friend. That was a weird concept, especially on her first day here.

"My pleasure," laughed Iris. "Just don't do anything illegal." As she spoke, the fountain sprang into life, spewing water high into the air and sending a light mist into the air. "Ah, there it is," she said, smiling in satisfaction.

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