Players:
Summary: Patrick approaches Professor Hilde about some personal issues he is having difficulty dealing with.
Log Title: Encouragement
Rating: G
Xavier Mansion - Recreation Room
What was once the Parlor has been turned into a Recreation Room for the students. A nice plush carpet meets the light blue walls giving it a homey feel. A pool table at one end, a foos ball table at the other, and entertainment center with video game systems, movies, and of course, cable TV. Big comfy chairs and couches surround a coffee table for comfortable loafing. Long glass windows with a pair of French doors line one side of the room bringing in plenty of light during the day. The main rule in here is to clean up after yourself.
Scene
The mansion is a little louder than usual this evening. The bitter cold outside has kept most of the students indoors for the night. Many of them had stayed in the recreation room to watch some new television show. Now that it's over they are beginning to disperse. A few linger to flip through the channels and one of them is near a small table speaking to one of the professors.
The professor is Hildegarde. After her misadventure in Africa she found it a little hard to relax. Deciding she would rather be around other people than sit in her room alone, the woman has brought her computer and a few notebooks down to the rec room to set up her lesson plans. She is currently wearing brown fleece pajamas with a green bathrobe. "Yes, Sydney. I realise the sentences are a little complex, but I really do want you to learn them. You never know when they'll come in handy."
Patrick comes into the rec room with a mug of something bright brown and steaming hot in his hands. He clings to it, face hovering near, as if it were some kind of protective object. He glances around and after a while of just standing there looking, regards the woman talking to the student and then… starts to float upward just a few inches, with no wobble as if he were standing on an invisible step just off the ground. He is quiet, waiting his turn, but there is little doubt as to his impatience.
Sydney frowns. "I just don't get it. We're still learning vocabulary and conjugation. Why do we suddenly need to learn such specific and odd sentences?" He looks down at a flashcard and reads something in German, then flips it over and speaks in English "When I say to, run." He shakes his head, "What an odd thing to say."
Hildegarde chuckles slightly and shakes her head, wincing slightly and clutching her shoulder. "In survival situations it is important to be able to communicate with your teammates without letting others around you knowing what is going on. Knowing how to say certain things in several languages can help there." She smiles at the boy, "We'll get back to normal classes next week. Just humor me and learn them, ok?" The boy nods and heads off to his room, glancing at Patrick's levitation trick as he goes by.
Patrick gives basically a cursory nod to the passing kid, seemingly distracted. He then looks over to the professor and gives a slight raise of his hand. "Ma'am. I'm Patrick Fitzgerald. I was wondering if you had a moment? I'm new and just need to know some… outside of the classroom stuff." Patrick remains at that height as he takes a couple of steps forward, seemingly through the air.
Hildegarde looks up and smiles at the boy. "Patrick? It's nice to meet you. I am Hildegarde VonReginleif. I teach history, German, and mythology here at the school." She shuffles a few papers on the table and looks back at the boy. "Most of the kids here just call me Professor Hilde, it's a little easier to say." She offers a warm smile. "Well I hope you're getting along well here. What did you need help with?"
Patrick gives a light smile, more a matter of the idea that he should smile, than any personal desire to do so. However, he does lower just about 2 centimeters down to the floor. "Thank you Professor Hildegarde," he says respectfully and with no difficulty, "I'm getting along alright… aside from just… feeling everything. Never thought I'd-" Patrick pauses and shakes his head, "Nevermind. I'm just wondering, cause I haven't been able to talk about anything but math and stuff and the few power classes I've had… what about my old life? What do I do about it. I need someone to talk to. You know?"
Hildegarde nods and pushes her chair back, standing up. "Of course. It can be difficult to adjust." Her voice sounds British, but it's slightly off. "Believe me, I know how odd it can be to leave everyone behind." She hesitates for a moment, "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your situation. It is different for everyone. Some students get kicked out of their homes, some run away, some look so different from non-mutated humans that they fear going home."
The Irish boy literally floats up to about two feet off of the ground and squeezes his eyes shut, taking a sudden group of deep breaths that seem to be intending to help Patrick calm down. "Sorry." He says after a moment and finally opens his eyes and looks down at Hilde, slowly returning little by little, about a centimeter every ten seconds or so towards the ground. "That happens when I think about what… happened. It's why I wanted to talk to someone. My situation… something happened." Patrick's descent slows now and he remains about a foot and a half above the ground… the shrewd-minded, like many of the teachers so far, might probably realize that whatever the floating means has something to do with Patrick's emotional state.
The woman watches Patrick float upward and calmly awaits his descent before speaking again. She pushes the top of her laptop closed and gestures toward a few of the more comfortable looking chairs. "Would you like to sit? It might be more comfortable." Hilde moves over that way regardless, sitting in an overstuffed chair that groans a bit when she sits in it. "So something happened involving your gift?" She sits and listens, deciding to hear what the boy has to say before offering advice.
Patrick considers the woman's words for a moment before looking over at the offered chair. He does looks at her a little confused when she sits and the chair seems to protest a bit. However, the kid thinks little of it when he tries to sit in the chair of his own choosing and instead… though the fabric of the chair indents as if he is sitting in it and a similar sound of groaning is heard… Patrick continues to float up off of the chair's surface. It really is as if there is an invisible barrier, or buffer, between his body and other objects. Here, Patrick sighs. "This happens a lot. The strange thing is it doesn't happen when something is brought to me. Just when I try to go to it. Like… I went to grab a pencil and I picked it up about a foot away. Someone handed me one, and put it right into my hand. I … don't get it." Patrick has lessened his deathgrip on his mostly forgotten beverage, mostly seeming to have been for the warmth of it. Perhaps he was outside recently.
Hildegarde raises a brow when she sees the chair indent. Interesting. Also potentially annoying to the student. "I can see how that could be a bit of a problem for you." She ponders for a moment, "I assume they have you in classes to try and learn how to control your ability?" The woman nods and smiles at Patrick again. "You are young still. These things take practice. When I was your age I destroyed almost everything I touched." Hilde nods again. "Perhaps you need to find some way to train your mind as well as your abilities. I used to play the piano. It taught me to be gentle with my touch."
The boy grins honestly, for the first time, at the mention of this woman destroying things… which seems to coincide with his floating down to within almost a feather's width of actually sitting in the chair… he can feel the static of the fabric. This expression sobers quickly, but it seemed to help calm Patrick down. "That sounds good… I just. Well, I'd be afraid I'd bust up a few pianos before I learned much. It…" He actually seems surprised for a moment by his not floating up. Patrick looks down his side at the chair below him and with a freeing sigh, settles into it. Here, the Irish boy looks a little more relaxed, yet serious. "I guess I can talk about it. Slowly though." Uh… I'm from Florida. Me and my family." A pause, a breath, then he continues, "We were up here visiting family. Both actual family and um… the business kind. My dad and brother." Here Patrick can't help it, he floats up again and stands rather than continue the farce of 'sitting' in a chair. He takes a deep breath,
He takes a deep breath, settling down a bit, and continues once more. "We were up here. I was with mom, my sister, and my aunt… and my pop and brother went out to 'take care of something'." He takes another breath, long… slow… followed immediately by a deep yawn. It takes another moment and Patrick continues. "I recently was kind of told about what was really going on and I was curious. So I went to their office up here to see what was going on. Yeah…" He looks away from the professor now, seeming to make it easier on the boy as he talks. "When I get to the building, someone was being thrown out of the window of my dad's office… I ran up to see and it was my broth-" He floats up now suddenly, shooting a good four feet into the air and tears are already streaming down his face as he cries out "He's dead!"
Hildegarde listens to the boy and chuckles. "Yes I went through a few pianos myself. Papa wasn't too happy about that." She shakes her head again and listens to the boy speak, trying to understand everything he says. With all of the excitement in Africa Hilde is not caught up on the news in the States. She is unfamiliar with what happened to Patrick's brother. When he states that his brother was killed and begins to cry the woman tenses up a bit. She isn't used to dealing with situations like this. She is quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "Oh my. I see." She has an urge to try and comfort the boy, but she does not touch him. Her strength she has found can cause her to unintentionally harm others. This was recent? She wonders if Miss Frost is aware of the situation. "And your father?"
Patrick is sniffling and grating his teeth pretty hardcore now. He wipes at his face with a sleeve a couple of times and takes a long deep breath to try and calm himself. It is harder this time… takes a while, during which Patrick looks around, at the walls… floor… ceiling… anywhere except Hilde. Until he has himself calm enough where he is only about a half a foot up. "Some kid called me the Emo Yo-Yo." He laughs at the name himself and the shakes his head. "Thank you," Patrick then offers to Hilde without explaining, before returning to his story. "Dad is ok, but… When I saw what I saw, I kind of flipped out. I don't know why but I went up there and I just… destroyed everything. I think I…" He swallows deeply, like the next word is hard to say. Indeed, he chokes out the word with difficulty before continuing with a bit more ease, "Killed… a couple of these Asians up there. But I saved my dad. He saw me though and he looked afraid of me too. Like I wasn't his son. That's when I ran."
A long low exhalation and Patrick once more continues. "Some of those Asians followed me up to the roof and I was cornered… then I blacked out. When I woke up, they were gone." It's easy to intuit what he means by 'gone'. "And I ran again. Found my way to Mutant Town and this girl with butterfly wings brought me here."
Hilde is quiet for a bit longer as the boy speaks, simply nodding when he thanks her. "It is a difficult situation." One that she will need to discuss with Emma. She would like to know if the headmaster has more details about the incident. "It is hard to kill someone. I discovered this myself very recently." She has a serious look on her face. "I am certain that you heard about the attack on Mutant Town a few months back? I unfortunately had to take lives to save lives there. And again in Africa just last week." She shakes her head, "It is not something I think I will ever forget, but when you act to stop someone from harming a loved one…I think that it can be justified in some cases." She shakes her head, "Of course I am not condoning murder. Taking another life should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately it is sometimes unavoidable."
Patrick looks a bit distraught at what the Professor is saying and breathes a bit heavier. "I know. Damn it I know and I'm sorry…" he says in low volume and deep tone. "That's why I came here instead of just running…" He remains where he is, but somehow seems stronger than a moment before. "I was just afraid, you know? Of what I could do. What I might do again. I needed to go somewhere that could help me. Some of the people I met in Mutant Town looked at me like I was some kind of… They weren't afraid but like, thought I could be useful or something. I didn't want that. I'm not a damn weapon." He looks rather stern and determined at that last statement.
Hildegarde nods. "Yes. There are those out there that WOULD use you as a weapon. They're usually fairly easy to spot and tend to end up in the news for attacking one person or another." She offers a half smile, "You did the right thing coming here. With time you'll learn how to control your ability better so that you can use your power to protect those around you."
This earns a pretty broad smile from the kid and he nods, sincerely. "I know." Patrick says with confidence. "I'm already a bit better at it but I know there is a lot to go." He finally looks back to Hildegarde, with a bit of some swagger that has been entirely absent from this conversation and hints at a bit of who Patrick might have been before his life was turned upside down.
Hildegarde stands up again and smiles at the boy. "Things will get better, you'll see." She walks over to the table and picks up her computer and papers. "I need to head to bed, but if you ever need someone to talk to you can always stop by my office." She offers a nod good night before heading out of the room and up the stairs.
~ Fin ~
