Players: Star and Xorn
Summary: Xorn meets with Star for one final time as teacher and student.
Date: June 15, 2011
Log Title: Final Lesson
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Classroom Two
The classroom is set up for a variety of different classes to be held here at different times. The standard desks sit in rows, with a teachers desk in front and a white board in the front of the class. No particular teacher has a set classroom; they rotate the classrooms as classes are necessary.
It is that time of year when the students get ready for graduation and for the summer. Xorn, dressed in his X-uniform, white robes with an red sash with X’s and his metal mask. He sits behind a desk with files for the students in his squad. Looking over Star’s, he nods his head and makes some notes. Mentally summoning her to his office, he looks towards the door awaiting her arrival.
A mental summons has Star leaving the music room, trombone quickly packed away and left to be fetched later. There's a light knock at the door, soon followed by it opening and the girl peeks into the classroom, "You wanted to speak with me?" She waits just long enough to be acknowledged before stepping into the room, caution hanging in the air around her and her eyes hazel-green with hints of gray. She's wearing a black t-shirt with :| and the words 'This Is My Happy Face' written on it and a pair of light denim shorts paired with a pair of black and white Converse high tops.
Despite not having any ‘eyes’ Xorn seems to stare at the student for a few moments before acknowledging her. He nods his head and gestures for her to sit down. Noticing the shirt his disembodied voice speaks forth, “Is that really your happy expression?” He fingers through the file showing her progress during her time as a student.
Star blushes a little at the comment on her shirt and shakes her head, wrinkling her nose, "No… I just liked it when I saw it at the store." She moves into the room and finds herself a seat, flushing a little with embarrassment and slouching down a bit, "I, uh… Am I in trouble for anything?" She doesn't remember doing anything against the rules since she returned to school, but it's possible that she slipped up and just doesn't remember it. She did cause a mild panic at the mall last week when someone bumped into her unexpectedly…
“No you are not in trouble.” Xorn responds with a Darth Vader like voice. “Thank you for coming. I apologize that we had not met regularly since your return aside from the Alpha Squadron sessions. With graduation coming, I thought we should meet.” He then asks, “Read my emotions. Use your powers to tell me how I am feeling.”
Relief floods the air when Star is assured that she isn't in trouble and she sighs, nodding. The Vader-esk voice has her shifting a little in her seat and reaching up to comb her fingers through her hair. She nods, pulling her hair over her shoulder for a moment before tossing it back again, "It's alright… I'm just glad to be back at school, honestly." She nods at needing to meet and just touch base; then she's asked to tell him how he's feeling and she wrinkles her nose a little, nodding and biting her lip for a moment as she deliberately sniffs the air, "You're…" She sniffs again, "Proud…" Her nostrils widen slightly, "And a little concerned?" She doesn't question why he's concerned. She's half afraid most of the time now, herself…
“That is correct. And Very good.” Xorn’s disembodied voice even shows a hint of that pride. “Your emotion reading powers are well honed.” Xorn then uses his gravity powers to move some of the desks across the classroom. “Allow me one to do an exercise with you. If you will indulge me.” He lifts his body up off the ground using his gravity powers.
The faintest blush stains Star's cheeks at the pride that's directed at her and she smiles a little, murmering a soft thank you in reply. She watches him for a moment as he uses his powers to rise into the air, jumping slightly at the sound of the desks scraping across the floor softly and looking over at them sharply as though to make sure that Sabertooth (or someone like that) isn't barging into the room about to pound her into the ground. She quickly looks back at her teamleader, her sudden panic fading into sheepishness as she nods, "Sure…" What harm could it do?
“Thank you for the trust.” Star will feel a gentle nudge as gravity shifts slightly around her, “Rest and open your mind. Relax and breath. Let your mind empty and just be blank as we share a psi-link.” Xorn is reading her emotionally and mentally until they are linked. Once at peace, she will find herself in the classroom, but at a level peace, “Think of the happiest moment that you have ever experienced.
There's a moment of panic when Star feels gravity shift and she tenses in her chair, hands clutching at the seat for a moment until she manages to force herself to calm down and relax a little. She gives a quick little nod and takes a deep breath, slowly letting it back out again in a hiss through her teeth. It takes a couple of minutes, but she does eventually manage to surrender to the sense of peace coming from him, her breath slow and even as she pictures a day when she was a very young teenager in the stands at a football game with the rest of the marching band watching Cloud make his first touchdown. The joy and pride she remembers from that moment fill the air around her, her eyes, barely open as she focuses on the memory, shining with blue and hazel-green as she smiles faintly.
Nodding his head Xorn then offers, “Ok, now hold on to that memory.” He returns to standing position and gravity is gently returned to her. Ending their link. “Thank you for sharing that. And now, broadcast that emotion that you feel. That sense of happiness, that sense of love and affection. Broadcast that towards me.” Xorn remains in his hovering meditative pose above the ground as his voice speaks out from him.
Another faint blush rises on Star's face and she nods, the air already filled with love and affection; no hint of negative emotion anywhere around her at the moment, "It was Cloud's first football game. Right after halftime. I'd killed the piece we were playing and we were winning the game. Cloud did the stupidest dance when he made that touchdown, but it was just awesome." She wrinkles her nose a little, but the cloud of emotion filling the air doesn't change, "We ended up losing, but it's still just about the happiest I've ever been." Losing doesn't matter when you're having fun, after all.
As he senses the emotion change, Xorn would smile as he is feeling the way Star is. He then lowers himself to the top of his desk rises up and then takes a seat behind the desk, “From when you arrived and started at the school until now. Your abilities have improved. You’ve better control. With all the experiences that you have endured both positive and negative. Not only have you survived, but you have progressed. Star Rosen, congratulations on your graduation. And you have done me proud, child.” Star will sense the happiness is now his own.
"They… they have?" Star is very much surprised at that, the joyful happiness shattering like glass to be replaced by shock that slowly shifts toward personal pride in her achievement, "When I first got here, I didn't even realize there was anything really different about me… I thought I was normal and that Cloud was the special one." It took Mikhail, Laura, and finally Dr. Parker-Mayfair for her to believe that she had powers, too. Her discovery of her power is likely in her file, though… The comes the magic word: Graduation. Her expression turns completely blank for a moment before her face lights up and she positively beams at him, "You mean it? Even after all the classes I've missed?" Being in another dimension (not to mention dead), captured by a mad scientist, and then taking a couple of months back home to try to recover… She's really missed almost as much school as she attended… She pales suddenly, a spike of fear crashing into the air, her voice taking on a timid tone, "What if I'm not ready to face being outside of school, though?"
"Well the time away was still educational and growth. The whole purpose of education is to become a better person than you were when you started." Xorn looks through the file, "You have grown. You have matured and you are a better person" He would smile if he could, but the pride is in the room. "As for life outside the school, there is really only one way to know for sure. It is for you to take that risk. I will be honest and blunt. I think you are ready. I have seen firsthand your growth. And one aspect of my abilities is similar to yours, so I feel one of the better people to speak on your progress. But ultimately, Star, it is for you to believe in yourself. I can recount your accomplishments and whatnot. But it is up to you to believe in yourself." Closing her file and placing it in the desk, "However, you can always remain at the school as a Teacher's Assistant. Your codename is Mother. You have demonstrated the ability to look out for your fellow students. Perhaps making it official as a job here, is one option. However, there are other options as well. There is Barnes. Some Xaviers students are there now. There is college and life outside the Institute. Whatever choice you make, I will back you up on and if you choose to stay. I can speak to Ms Frost and Mr. Summers to see if you can be my assistant. But whatever your reason for staying, don't use the Institute as a crutch or out of fear."
Star nods, smiling a little, "Yeah, I guess, so…" She blinks a couple of times at the thought of maybe becoming a teacher's assistant and smiles a little bashfully at the thought of becoming his assistan and nods, "I talked to Rashmi a while back and she mentioned going to Barnes, too." She nods and takes a deep breath, "I won't deny that I'm afraid, but that's not the only reason I'm not sure I'm ready… I want to learn how to defend myself and everyone else better." She makes a face, "I'm tired of just anyone that wants to being able to snatch me up and do whatever they want to me." She's been kidnapped just one too many times…
“Well, at Barnes, I am sure SHIELD would teach self-defense. And no matter what you decide, you should know that you will always be welcome here. This is your home.” Xorn then rises, “Well I still need to meet with the other graduates in the squad.” He moves from his desk and pats her shoulder, “I’ll say again. I am proud of you.”
