Call of the Wild

Posted on Tue Apr 22nd, 2025 @ 3:48pm by Desmond Greene & Rahne Sinclair

2,106 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: December 18, 1990

The woods outside of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was a serene location even in the bleak setting of winter in upstate New York. Barred from public access, the tall trees and old growth forest became a silent and peaceful place for the students to wander through, especially when the hot and crowded confines of the school became too much, this proved to be true for someone like Desmond who already felt larger and bigger than most. Add in a roomful of teenagers fighting for control of the television or the prize at the end of a box of cereal and the woods became all the more inviting.

His large strides easily took him far away from the school grounds and in a short amount of time it became clear that Desmond had ventured deeper into the woods than most people dared to travel. The snow on the ground became pristine and white while the tiny birds became abundant, their little peeps and chirps making a song just for him.

It was in this peaceful space that Desmond began to feel… uncomfortable, like someone was watching. A twig snapped somewhere off in the distance and then all the birds stopped their singing. It was in that eerie silence that he heard a soft growl.

"Drew, if that's you out there, I don't like being followed." Desmond's deep voice seemed to rumble out even louder in the sudden silence. His amber eyes scanned his surroundings. Their normal steady gaze had a nervous quality to them, shifting from side to side. "So come on out dude, I'm not in the mood for hide and seek!" Desmond was good at putting on a brave face, but he couldn't entirely hide the anxious catch in his breathing.

A rustle of branches occurred behind Desmond and then to his right. He caught a fleeting glimpse of auburn fur in front of him before the four legged beast that was stalking him vanished in the thick brush of the woods. Whatever was in the woods with him, it wasn’t Drew fooling around.

And then the most spine chilling howl sounded out amongst the trees. A haunting sound that confirmed it was an animal in the woods with Desmond and it was hunting him.

Pulled between instinct and rational thought, Desmond stood rooted to the ground. His body wanted to run, to scurry back to the cave where it was safe. His rational mind knew that he was in New York state, and there was no animal big enough to eat him. Also, if he went back to the mansion he'd have to listen to Darian blasting that shitty mixtape he had made.

Desmond made his decision. He set a step forward. His hands were balled into fists hard enough to crack stone. "If you want to fight, I'm right here!" His deep voice rumbled through the woods. Where the howl made the birds go quiet, Desmond's impromptu warcry sent them flying away.

A flash and flurry of fur and claws and teeth lunged at Desmond. Snapping jaws and a snarling maw sprung out of the brambles and pounced on his large frame but the wolf’s attack stopped short of landing and the growls turned into the eerie sound of a child’s laughter.

Desmond wouldn’t have believed it if he had watched it happen right in front of his eyes. The huge wolf began to shrink, turning into a hybrid creature before finally ending in the form of a pre-teen girl. She was messy and unkempt in appearance as she doubled over in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"The look oan yer face, ye were so scared!” Her Scottish brogue combined with the laughter made it even harder to understand her. “Oh, that wis great!"

A moment of stunned disbelief. Desmond stood there, massive fists still up. It took several heartbeats of a child's laughter to take him out of his fight-or-flight mode. An analog to adrenaline was still raging through his body, having found no relief. Desmond coped with this spike of ready-to-fight by joining her in her laughter. The big guy fell on his ass, keeling over with a rumbling laughter. "What the hell!" He wheezed out, his arms wrapped around his stomach to cope with the bellyache. "You scared the shit out of me kid!"

"Ah kno that's the whole point." Rahne continued to giggle as she dropped to the ground thanks to how hard she was laughing. "Ye can learn a lot aboot a person by seein' hoo they act when they’re scared."

Rahne looked up at Desmond and then continued to look up until she finally reached his face. "Ye didnae strike me even though ye could hae."

Desmond wiped some sap that acted like tears away from his eyes. He still had a bit of a giggle fit as he sat back up. "I was pretty sure you were one of the kids from the School. Doesn't look good when the new guy starts beating up the other kids, you know?" Desmond spoke, forcing deep breaths in and out to get a grip. "What's your name kid? I'm Desmond. Some people call me Dryad."

“Rahne.” She replied simply enough while settling down and sitting crisscrossed in the snow like a child about to be read a story. "Ah’m new here too. Ah was stayin' wi' Moira on Muir for a wee bit after ma da' gave me up, but she said Ah needed tae come here tae learn better manners an’ book stuff. Did yer da' get rid o’ ye too?"

Desmond extended his massive fist towards the young girl for a fistbump. "And better manners was stalking the big tree guy while he was walking alone in the woods?" He asked. His voice carried that inquisitive tone that teachers, parents, and older siblings all over the world knew to use. That tone that meant 'You and I know that what you did went directly against what you were supposed to do or learn'. But Desmond also carried a playful grin to soften it all. "I ended up here because the X-Men found me on Genosha, and brought me back. I wanted to join them so I can help people, and to learn how to avoid hurting people with my powers."

Rahne made several Scottish noises of disapproval at Desmond chastising her for stalking him in the woods, the sounds only continued when he mentioned the X-Men. “Moira says the X-Men help Charles wi' fixin' mutant problems an' they hae tae be good folk tae dae that. Ah'm too wicked tae be an X-Men an' sometimes folks need tae be hurt wi' yer powers."

Desmond couldn't hold in his snort at her supposed 'wickedness'. He couldn't help himself but to affect the most terrible of Scottish made-for-TV movie accents. "Wicked, you? Ya wee thang." The accent was terrible, worse because of Desmond's impossibly deep voice. "You're not wicked. I've seen wicked back on Genosha." Desmond pulled himself back onto his. He grunted the next words as he did so. "If you're here, you're one of the good ones." He looked back at the mansion. "You know, I'm really feeling something like hot cocoa, what about you?"

"I’ve never had hot cocoa before, is it like chocolate?” Rahne sudden became very excited over the very idea of eating something remotely resembling candy. Her excitement manifested in happily skipping around Desmond in a wide circle. If Rahne had still had a tail, he knew it would have been wagging. “Ah would get chocolate at Christmas time frae the church, are ye tellin’ me ye can hae chocolate whenever ye want?"

"Of course we can. You never had hot cocoa?!" Desmond's voice rose two octaves in incredulity. "It's the best! It's chocolate that we can drink." His face turned into a wide grin. "We might even find some actual chocolate to eat. I'm sure the Professor keeps snacks around."

Rahne nodded her head in eager agreement as the made their way back to the mansion, she needed three steps to cover just one of Desmond's but her excitement seemed to be enough to ensure she kept pace with him. "Moira said that the school was a nice place, that the Professor wisnae someone who hits or screams, but she didnae mention chocolate or chicken nuggets. Ah wid hae been much mair agreeable tae come here if she'd telt me that. Do ye like it here?"

"If you like chicken nuggies, you'll probably love a cheese burger." Desmond chuckled. He was very much enjoying Rahne's excited energy. It felt like home. "I like it here, but I do miss being home. I've got three younger sisters, I miss them. And my mom." A wistful tone touched Desmond's voice, and he was quiet for a long moment. "But I'm also learning a lot about how my powers work, and how I can help people with them."

"Ma mither is the most braw angel. God needed help wi' aw the bairns in heaven, an' he called her to his side because she wis sic' a guid mither. That’s why she had to leave me ahint, God needed her.” Rahne made this statement with such confidence and conviction that it was hard to disagree with her. It seemed to be an idea that provided the girl with some degree of comfort and gave Desmond the impression that Rahne had lost her mother when she was very young. At the talk of training and using his powers, the small Scottish girl furrowed her thick brow. “I get telt no' to use ma powers, the Professor an' Moira want me tae gang tae school an' read books an' wash every day. I still dinnae see the point, if I bide in the woods for the rest o' ma life, would that be sae bad?"

Desmond didn't have the words to express his compassion in any verbal way. He had lost a grandparent, but nobody as significant as his own parents. But hs hand found the top of Rahne's head, and ruffled her hair. It wasn't a conscious action on his part, it was something he had done with his sisters. Just a sign of kindness, and affection. "Well, for one, you're not a wolf. And this isn't Jungle Book you know. So you can't live in the woods." The light of the mansion's windows came into view as Desmond continued, "And you have to wash every day, or nobody will want to share their chocolate with you."

Rahne made a Scottish sound of disapproval at the idea of no one sharing their sweets with her. “Well, if ye put it that way, I guess Ah’ll just hae tae wash.” As they approached the school together Rahne softened a little more and less of the feral animal was present. “No one’s ever shared anything wi' me. My da would forget because o' the drink, an' Ah had tae send meself tae school... Ah didn’t hae ribbon in ma hair or new shiny shoes, an' the ither bairns made fun o' me. Ah got mean one day an' bit a lass, then they a' stopped talkin' tae me. Ah quit goin' soon after that.”

Desmond stifled a sound of sadness and pity as she heard her tell him. All he could do was ruffle her hair again while he tried finding his voice. "There'll be plenty of people who will share with you Rahne. I might even give you a piece of my chocolate." He felt bad for the young girl. It wasn't hard to look at the scrawny kid and imagine it was one of his sisters walking next to him. Alexis, his youngest sister, was very much snack-motivated too.

The two arrived at the doors of the Mansion. In the living room area a group of students was playing some kind of video game and blasting music. Through the windows you could also see another group of kids playing a board game. Desmond opened a door to the kitchen. "Let's see if we can get hot cocao going, yeah?"

“Yeah!” Rahne agreed as she zipped past him and into the kitchen as her enthusiasm continued to carry her on light feet. Despite the hardships she had shared, Rahne talked about her past as simple facts of life rather than as atrocities. She was tenacious and scrappy but there was still a child hidden under that fanged exterior. Thankfully Desmond’s kindness had managed to bring that out in Rahne. “An' wi' whipped cream!”

END

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