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ax_mainTeddy and Ororo discuss the weather.
Ororo had hit the cafeteria early today, for some reason. After piling food up on her tray, she grabbed one of the many empty tables, one near the windows, and wasted no time getting started on her meal. Food had been something she had learned to earn most of her life, and it made her forever appreciative of it, whether it was given freely or not. She didn't distract herself with her phone - she hardly used it - or a book while she ate, but did keep an eye on the comings and goings of the other students, finally arriving for their meal.
Teddy paused with his tray and glanced around the room. Billy had vanished somewhere that morning, which left him without his usual lunch companion, and there weren't that many people there yet. He spotted one of the new students over bu the window -- Billy had said something about her, the night of the party. That she was nice, at least. Billy seemed to be making friends here as easily as breathing, but even so that was probably a good sign. Teddy headed in her direction, pausing beside one of the empty chairs. "Hi! Mind if I join you?"
"Be my guest," Ororo answered, giving a small shove of her booted foot to the chair across from her, to emphasize the invitation. She was curious why he might have chosen to have lunch with her, but only smiled in greeting as he sat down. "I'm Ororo."
"Teddy," he introduced himself, taking a seat in the chair she'd offered. "I saw you at the party, I think, but didn't get a chance to come over and say hi."
"Hi, then, Teddy," Ororo replied with a pointed smile. "Yeah, I was at the party. It was fun."
She had an accent he couldn't place, adding warmth to her voice. He smiled back, picking up his fork. He had to put himself out there if he was going to make new friends instead of relying on other people to create his social circle for him. How hard could it be, right? "I think you met my roommate earlier as well -- Billy Kaplan. At least he mentioned running into you. How are you settling in?"
Ororo smiled again at the mention of Billy, nodding that yes, they had met. "Great. I think Billy was the first student I talked to, actually." He had gone a long way in making her relax about being here, all on his own.
"The Professor should really put him on the welcome committee, if there is one. He's good at that," Teddy echoed her smile. "Making people feel at home, I mean. Who are you rooming with?"
"Jean Grey," Ororo answered, waiting to see if the name meant anything to him.
A faint frown crossed Teddy's face. "I don't think I've met her," he confessed before his expression cleared again. "Not yet, anyway. I'm sure it won't be long, though; even with all the new arrivals there still aren't that many of us here." She wasn't all that chatty, but he got the distinct sense that she was watching him, sussing him out, more than being actively disinterested. That was okay. He was usually doing the same thing.
"It's a nice-sized group," Ororo agreed, looking around as if she could assess it all over again, despite not everyone being here. She looked back at him with a smile. "And Jean's great. I lucked out."
"That's great," Teddy replied, tucking in to his lunch. "It would be awful to have to spend the year in such close quarters with someone you didn't get along with. That was one of my real concerns before coming here, honestly. Were you at a boarding school before?"
"This is my first school since kindergarten," Ororo replied without a hint of self-consciousness.
"No kidding!" Teddy's reacted with only a little surprise; he'd met more home-schooled kids over the past few weeks than he ever had before, some with more obvious reasons than others. "Then this must be an even bigger culture shock for you. It's weird enough coming from a day school."
"It's not my first culture shock," Ororo replied with a small smile. "I went from living in Cairo to living with a tribe in Kenya." She was glossing over the bit in the middle on purpose.
Teddy whistled low. "Cairo to Kenya and then to New York? That must be some whiplash. But I bet the east coast is a bit depressing after Africa. I love living here, don't get me wrong, but it can get pretty grey and gross over the winter."
"I haven't gone through a winter here yet," Ororo replied, frowning slightly, her curiosity evident. "What's so gross about it?"
"It's nice at first, and if you're interested in winter sports then it can be great, don't get me wrong." Teddy felt bad about selling the area short, all of a sudden. "The first snowfall of the year is magical, especially if it's in the early evening and the snow catches the light. But," he had to confess, "twelve hours later the traffic's driven through everything and turned it all from white to grey, half of it's melted into slush, and you spend the next four months trying to keep your feet dry."
"I've never seen weather as a problem," Ororo admitted, and not just for the obvious reason. She'd never minded what rain or what heat they got in Cairo, long before she learned the extent of her powers. "But I should come clean. My mutation is weather control." She touched a finger to her glass of water, her eyes going full white as it froze. They reverted back to their natural blue, and she smiled at Teddy. "I can make sure the first snow we get's in the early evening, once it feels right."
She could do it now, too, but it would disrupt the general weather too much. It was better to work with nature than disrupt it.
"Oh wow," he breathed out, momentarily awestruck. And Teddy'd thought he'd lucked out with his powers! "That's incredible. You're going to be really popular around here by about February, for that alone," he grinned, half-joking. "What's your range like?"
"Only local," Ororo replied, more than used to the question by now. Of course, there was the butterfly effect to take into account, but she couldn't radically, immediately change the weather of anything far away. "And I'm always the eye of the storm, so to speak."
Teddy nodded seriously as she described it. "That makes sense. As much as anything about powers makes sense, anyway. But that must be incredible to experience from the center of things."
"It's... like nothing else," Ororo confirmed, a light in her eyes that confirmed the truth of her words. "What is it you do?"
"I'm a shapeshifter." And there went that faint tickle of worry every time he said it aloud, like part of him was still waiting for the person to come along who would only be interested in taking advantage. "I can change my body shape and size, add wings, that kind of thing."
"That sounds... versatile?" Ororo sounded as if she wasn't sure that was the right word.
"A bit too much sometimes," Teddy confessed with a wry smile. "I keep hearing that I've barely tapped in to what I can do, but I think I'm happier trying to get the hang of one thing at a time. Have you had your powers long?"
"I've been playing with winds for years," Ororo confirmed, "but I only learned about the rest of them in the last year or so. It was definitely one thing at a time. You should've seen the time it took me to learn to fly properly."
Teddy's nod was fervent. "I'll believe it. It's not nearly as easy as it looks, and that's with the ability to make wings. Do you?" he asked, glancing at her shoulders. "Or it it more like the Beaubier twins, and you can fly without wings at all?"
Ororo nodded at his second supposition. "Some people used to call me the Windrider."
"Oh, I like that," Teddy flashed a smile. "Are you going to keep using that if we end up needing code names?" He didn't know a whole lot about what had happened before he'd arrived at the school, but he'd gotten little bits and pieces - enough to know that some of the students had picked out code names that may or may not have been related to some kind of mission. Maybe someday he'd be good enough with his powers to get selected for something like that. A guy could dream.
The question gave her pause, and she only echoed, "Codenames?"
Okay, so he wasn't the only one who didn't know exactly what had been going on. He felt a little bit better about that. "It seems to be a thing some people are doing, like superhero or secret agent code names, based on our powers. Tommy's called himself Speed. That kind of thing. It's fun, but I have no idea what I'd pick." And sure he'd thought about it; what self-respecting nerd wouldn't? But nothing interesting had really come to mind.
Ororo thought it over, then shook her head. "I would pick something else, I think."
Teddy could think of a handful that could work for someone who could control weather, but a lot of the first ones that came to mind were a lot better suited for a WoW character than an actual person. "Like what?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.
Cloudwalker was also out. Ororo took a moment to think over her options, then answered, "Storm, I think." It was short, striking, and it felt as if she could answer to it.
"It's got punch," Teddy flashed her a smile. "And it would fit really well on the back of a biker jacket, if that's your thing." It might be, with the awesome hair and all. But then, he had a bunch of piercings and his current wardrobe absolutely screamed 'dumb jock' rather than 'punk,' so who knew.
Ororo laughed. "But then I'd have to have a bike."
"Some people would consider that incentive rather than a drawback." Teddy relaxed a little more when she laughed, his posture mirroring hers.
"Some people have a lot more money than me," Ororo replied easily. It wasn't a problem, it was just a fact. She smiled again. "Besides, who wants a bike when you can fly?"
"That's definitely more fun, especially since you can make sure you don't get rained on in mid-air." And the cost thing, fair enough. Somehow her easy acknowledgement was a comfort itself, especially after spending time around Warren. It was a whole lot easier being a scholarship kid when so many of the other students were as well, even at a school that looked like it should be seriously high-end.
"But I like rain," Ororo pointed out, amused.
Teddy had to give her that one. "I don't mind rain, but I couldn't even stay in the air with a firm crossbreeze, never mind a rainstorm," he replied sheepishly. "It probably helps a lot to be the one in control."
"I couldn't get anywhere without the winds," Ororo confirmed. "Have you been flying long?"
Teddy laughed at himself, shaking his head. "I don't know if you can even call it flying. I've tried a couple of times over the last few weeks. I fell out of a tree when I tried Warren's style of wings, and I managed to get up for a little while with Tamara, but I haven't exactly had a lot of success yet.
"The dragon wings definitely worked better for me than the feathered ones, though."
"Well, if you ever need some help staying up in the air while you try different options..." Ororo offered. It would be an easy thing for her to do.
Teddy's eyes flashed wide for a moment, considering the possibilities. "That would be really cool of you. Thank you."
"Any time," she assured him with a smile. It was what the school was for, after all.
Ororo had hit the cafeteria early today, for some reason. After piling food up on her tray, she grabbed one of the many empty tables, one near the windows, and wasted no time getting started on her meal. Food had been something she had learned to earn most of her life, and it made her forever appreciative of it, whether it was given freely or not. She didn't distract herself with her phone - she hardly used it - or a book while she ate, but did keep an eye on the comings and goings of the other students, finally arriving for their meal.
Teddy paused with his tray and glanced around the room. Billy had vanished somewhere that morning, which left him without his usual lunch companion, and there weren't that many people there yet. He spotted one of the new students over bu the window -- Billy had said something about her, the night of the party. That she was nice, at least. Billy seemed to be making friends here as easily as breathing, but even so that was probably a good sign. Teddy headed in her direction, pausing beside one of the empty chairs. "Hi! Mind if I join you?"
"Be my guest," Ororo answered, giving a small shove of her booted foot to the chair across from her, to emphasize the invitation. She was curious why he might have chosen to have lunch with her, but only smiled in greeting as he sat down. "I'm Ororo."
"Teddy," he introduced himself, taking a seat in the chair she'd offered. "I saw you at the party, I think, but didn't get a chance to come over and say hi."
"Hi, then, Teddy," Ororo replied with a pointed smile. "Yeah, I was at the party. It was fun."
She had an accent he couldn't place, adding warmth to her voice. He smiled back, picking up his fork. He had to put himself out there if he was going to make new friends instead of relying on other people to create his social circle for him. How hard could it be, right? "I think you met my roommate earlier as well -- Billy Kaplan. At least he mentioned running into you. How are you settling in?"
Ororo smiled again at the mention of Billy, nodding that yes, they had met. "Great. I think Billy was the first student I talked to, actually." He had gone a long way in making her relax about being here, all on his own.
"The Professor should really put him on the welcome committee, if there is one. He's good at that," Teddy echoed her smile. "Making people feel at home, I mean. Who are you rooming with?"
"Jean Grey," Ororo answered, waiting to see if the name meant anything to him.
A faint frown crossed Teddy's face. "I don't think I've met her," he confessed before his expression cleared again. "Not yet, anyway. I'm sure it won't be long, though; even with all the new arrivals there still aren't that many of us here." She wasn't all that chatty, but he got the distinct sense that she was watching him, sussing him out, more than being actively disinterested. That was okay. He was usually doing the same thing.
"It's a nice-sized group," Ororo agreed, looking around as if she could assess it all over again, despite not everyone being here. She looked back at him with a smile. "And Jean's great. I lucked out."
"That's great," Teddy replied, tucking in to his lunch. "It would be awful to have to spend the year in such close quarters with someone you didn't get along with. That was one of my real concerns before coming here, honestly. Were you at a boarding school before?"
"This is my first school since kindergarten," Ororo replied without a hint of self-consciousness.
"No kidding!" Teddy's reacted with only a little surprise; he'd met more home-schooled kids over the past few weeks than he ever had before, some with more obvious reasons than others. "Then this must be an even bigger culture shock for you. It's weird enough coming from a day school."
"It's not my first culture shock," Ororo replied with a small smile. "I went from living in Cairo to living with a tribe in Kenya." She was glossing over the bit in the middle on purpose.
Teddy whistled low. "Cairo to Kenya and then to New York? That must be some whiplash. But I bet the east coast is a bit depressing after Africa. I love living here, don't get me wrong, but it can get pretty grey and gross over the winter."
"I haven't gone through a winter here yet," Ororo replied, frowning slightly, her curiosity evident. "What's so gross about it?"
"It's nice at first, and if you're interested in winter sports then it can be great, don't get me wrong." Teddy felt bad about selling the area short, all of a sudden. "The first snowfall of the year is magical, especially if it's in the early evening and the snow catches the light. But," he had to confess, "twelve hours later the traffic's driven through everything and turned it all from white to grey, half of it's melted into slush, and you spend the next four months trying to keep your feet dry."
"I've never seen weather as a problem," Ororo admitted, and not just for the obvious reason. She'd never minded what rain or what heat they got in Cairo, long before she learned the extent of her powers. "But I should come clean. My mutation is weather control." She touched a finger to her glass of water, her eyes going full white as it froze. They reverted back to their natural blue, and she smiled at Teddy. "I can make sure the first snow we get's in the early evening, once it feels right."
She could do it now, too, but it would disrupt the general weather too much. It was better to work with nature than disrupt it.
"Oh wow," he breathed out, momentarily awestruck. And Teddy'd thought he'd lucked out with his powers! "That's incredible. You're going to be really popular around here by about February, for that alone," he grinned, half-joking. "What's your range like?"
"Only local," Ororo replied, more than used to the question by now. Of course, there was the butterfly effect to take into account, but she couldn't radically, immediately change the weather of anything far away. "And I'm always the eye of the storm, so to speak."
Teddy nodded seriously as she described it. "That makes sense. As much as anything about powers makes sense, anyway. But that must be incredible to experience from the center of things."
"It's... like nothing else," Ororo confirmed, a light in her eyes that confirmed the truth of her words. "What is it you do?"
"I'm a shapeshifter." And there went that faint tickle of worry every time he said it aloud, like part of him was still waiting for the person to come along who would only be interested in taking advantage. "I can change my body shape and size, add wings, that kind of thing."
"That sounds... versatile?" Ororo sounded as if she wasn't sure that was the right word.
"A bit too much sometimes," Teddy confessed with a wry smile. "I keep hearing that I've barely tapped in to what I can do, but I think I'm happier trying to get the hang of one thing at a time. Have you had your powers long?"
"I've been playing with winds for years," Ororo confirmed, "but I only learned about the rest of them in the last year or so. It was definitely one thing at a time. You should've seen the time it took me to learn to fly properly."
Teddy's nod was fervent. "I'll believe it. It's not nearly as easy as it looks, and that's with the ability to make wings. Do you?" he asked, glancing at her shoulders. "Or it it more like the Beaubier twins, and you can fly without wings at all?"
Ororo nodded at his second supposition. "Some people used to call me the Windrider."
"Oh, I like that," Teddy flashed a smile. "Are you going to keep using that if we end up needing code names?" He didn't know a whole lot about what had happened before he'd arrived at the school, but he'd gotten little bits and pieces - enough to know that some of the students had picked out code names that may or may not have been related to some kind of mission. Maybe someday he'd be good enough with his powers to get selected for something like that. A guy could dream.
The question gave her pause, and she only echoed, "Codenames?"
Okay, so he wasn't the only one who didn't know exactly what had been going on. He felt a little bit better about that. "It seems to be a thing some people are doing, like superhero or secret agent code names, based on our powers. Tommy's called himself Speed. That kind of thing. It's fun, but I have no idea what I'd pick." And sure he'd thought about it; what self-respecting nerd wouldn't? But nothing interesting had really come to mind.
Ororo thought it over, then shook her head. "I would pick something else, I think."
Teddy could think of a handful that could work for someone who could control weather, but a lot of the first ones that came to mind were a lot better suited for a WoW character than an actual person. "Like what?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.
Cloudwalker was also out. Ororo took a moment to think over her options, then answered, "Storm, I think." It was short, striking, and it felt as if she could answer to it.
"It's got punch," Teddy flashed her a smile. "And it would fit really well on the back of a biker jacket, if that's your thing." It might be, with the awesome hair and all. But then, he had a bunch of piercings and his current wardrobe absolutely screamed 'dumb jock' rather than 'punk,' so who knew.
Ororo laughed. "But then I'd have to have a bike."
"Some people would consider that incentive rather than a drawback." Teddy relaxed a little more when she laughed, his posture mirroring hers.
"Some people have a lot more money than me," Ororo replied easily. It wasn't a problem, it was just a fact. She smiled again. "Besides, who wants a bike when you can fly?"
"That's definitely more fun, especially since you can make sure you don't get rained on in mid-air." And the cost thing, fair enough. Somehow her easy acknowledgement was a comfort itself, especially after spending time around Warren. It was a whole lot easier being a scholarship kid when so many of the other students were as well, even at a school that looked like it should be seriously high-end.
"But I like rain," Ororo pointed out, amused.
Teddy had to give her that one. "I don't mind rain, but I couldn't even stay in the air with a firm crossbreeze, never mind a rainstorm," he replied sheepishly. "It probably helps a lot to be the one in control."
"I couldn't get anywhere without the winds," Ororo confirmed. "Have you been flying long?"
Teddy laughed at himself, shaking his head. "I don't know if you can even call it flying. I've tried a couple of times over the last few weeks. I fell out of a tree when I tried Warren's style of wings, and I managed to get up for a little while with Tamara, but I haven't exactly had a lot of success yet.
"The dragon wings definitely worked better for me than the feathered ones, though."
"Well, if you ever need some help staying up in the air while you try different options..." Ororo offered. It would be an easy thing for her to do.
Teddy's eyes flashed wide for a moment, considering the possibilities. "That would be really cool of you. Thank you."
"Any time," she assured him with a smile. It was what the school was for, after all.
