Intertwined Genes (Griselda Banks + Akira.S)

[Griselda Banks]

((Gack, sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. A friend contacted me like two months before I was expecting him, so I've been catching up with him. I hope my sporadic posting habits don't make it seem like I'm getting bored with this rp! I like it, I really do. I don't think it's going too slowly for now anyway; it's been interesting just seeing the way things run in the school, and exploring various characters and their interactions, but we might have to make more interesting things happen after a while if it starts dragging on. Like, maybe we could have a band of rogue/evil mutants start causing trouble and Xavier has some of the students help fight them? Since it's still just Oliver's first day, it seemed a little premature to me to have anything too big happen yet, but we could sure spice things up a bit if you like! Do you think it's getting boring?))

Oliver listened to Jill's tale as calmly as he could. Yep, he decided grimly. She's exactly like Stephenie. She seemed to be one of those people who assumed that because they'd been yakking away about something, you had been asking them incessantly about it. He chose not to point out that he'd only asked one question, nor that she had volunteered all this information by herself.

As the elevator started upwards, Oliver wondered what Jill thought was wrong with Anna. She seemed pretty nice and normal to him. And really, those eyes weren't so bad. Sure, they were a bit different maybe, but it wasn't anywhere near as freaky as Gerald hovering around upside-down everywhere.

Suddenly he realized he'd been spacing out again, and Jill was waiting for his reply. Was that why she kept staring at him? She was watching him like he was the most fascinating person in the world. Some guys might think it was great to have a pretty girl like her hanging on his every word, but Oliver just found it rather unnerving. "Um...yeah," he said awkwardly. "Just curious. I don't know many people here yet." A soft ding sounded, and the elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open to the hustle and bustle of students hurrying off to their next class. Oliver secretly hoped Jill had a class of some kind, so he could escape her possessive clutching.  

[Akira.S]

((No no it’s fine don’t worry as long as you like message me if you go away no we’re fine lol I got back into the habit of checking every day so you don’t wait. Your idea sounds a lot like X-Men Evolution, sounds pretty fun! It can spice up things before the really bad things start happening. NO NO! I don’t think it’s getting boring at all! I, like you think that it is just the first day can’t get too carried away and all that! We can time-skip after the first day but like yeah it’s fineee it’s a good starting out pace! I just wanted to know because everyone usually leaves me, I never back out from an RP))

“Well,” Jill released him and flipped her hair behind her shoulder, “like I said I wouldn’t worry too much about it. After all this school is like any other school, you’ve got your cliques and you’ve got your outcasts. I’m sure you’ll find a better group of friends, like the Elementals for example.” Fixing her clothes and the messenger bag on her shoulder she skipped away from Oliver and headed off down the massive maze of hallways to god knows what class.

Sure there were other students lingering about since they had free period, playing outside, studying inside, or perhaps going back to the their dorms. To each his own, everyone had a different study habit and for someone like Oliver who knew little about how to control his powers it was a good thing the Professor decided to give him a free period in his first semester to sort of get used to the setting. Perhaps it would have been better if he’d made friends and settled himself first before running amuck with his powers like everyone else. Still, the hallways were quiet now with most of the students in class or outside in the outdoor obstacle course making noise and cheering...but towards some parts of the house you could hear it underneath the distant silence.

There was a very quiet lulling tune of a piano playing, although there wasn’t just a piano. What did you think that Anna was the only musically inclined student in the school? No, there were others playing instruments as well but from a distance you could still hear her sad and lonely songs.  

[Griselda Banks]

((So, should we have Magneto be the big villain, or should we come up with our own bad guys? I think it'd be cool if maybe there was some "bad teenagers" or something, you know, like kids of the rogue mutants or just recruits the bad guys got to before Xavier could get them to come to the school. And we could both have characters among the "bad guy" group. I haven't decided on a good, sinister power yet; if you've got a good arch-villain idea, you could go ahead and be the mastermind of the rogue mutants. I suppose a timeskip might be in order as soon as we figure out who exactly's going to come and attack the school, just so that Oliver can get a bit more control over his powers. And maybe right around that time Oliver and Anna can start noticing their powers are dwindling? It'll be because they're close to each other (physically) more often, but they won't realize that at first.

Well, good, I'm glad you're not getting bored either! I'm the same way; there've been so many rps I've done where the other person got bored and just up and left. But I've said it before: I aim for the long run, so unless we really get into a rut or the story comes to a reasonable conclusion, I don't want to stop even when I can't get on quite as much as I'd like. And I'll definitely tell you if I want to stop smile ))

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief when Jill skipped away at last. He'd always been horrible with girls; he never could figure out a way to let them know he didn't like them without hurting their feelings unnecessarily. He needed advice from a girl, that was it.

Starting towards the staircase leading up to the hall his room was on, Oliver suddenly became aware of the muffled sounds of various people practicing instruments. There was a very screechy violin coming from behind one closed door, and he could vaguely make out the sounds of someone strumming a guitar and two voices singing in harmony. And then there was the piano music coming from the other end of the hall. Oliver remembered how he had heard that music when he'd first set foot in this place. The first person he'd met had been Anna.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Oliver wheeled around and headed for a door he thought led outside. He saw to his relief that he was right; there was a gravel path meandering around the edge of the thick trees that blocked the property from outsiders' view, and in the middle of the large loop there was a basketball court. Oliver considered going to join in the game that had already started. As he watched, one boy summoned a quick burst of water from his palm, which pushed the ball up and into the hoop. The others wailed in protest, crying out, "Hey, no powers!" and "That one doesn't count!"

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Oliver turned away from the people he wanted to fit in with, but who felt so far removed from himself. He was shy, and he had this stupid power. None of those cool guys would want anything to do with him. Oliver strolled around a corner of the school building, and as the shouts of the basketball game faded away behind him, he caught snatches of piano music again. He looked up and realized that he must be outside that room with the piano. No one was in sight on the lawn on this side of the building, so Oliver positioned himself on the warm grass with his back up against the wall. A window hung open several feet to his right, and through it he could hear the calm piano music. Oliver pulled out his notebook to start on his homework, but he found his mind wandering and his hand doodling, then making a full-fledged sketch of Anna.

As he drew, he thought of her, and pity welled up inside of him. She was an outsider like him. She didn't fit in either, and while he couldn't see any problem with her, people like Jill seemed to take offense at how quiet she was. Oliver, having just escaped from a girl who chattered his ear off, rather liked that about her at the moment.

He was too focused on his drawing to glance over and see that a large sunflower shot up silently from the ground, its petals shining yellow in the sunlight. The flower grew and grew, nodding gently at the window.  

[Akira.S]

((Should we have Magneto be the bad guy along the way? So wait did you wanna be like kids who are ALREADY in the school or not in the school you confused me a little bit. I kinda have a decent power that I stole from a show lol but W/E IT’S COOL! Lol I think it is, but I dunno if it’s evil worthy.
Yeah like a bigger time-skip is in order but we can time-skip now unless you don’t want to I dunno!??!?!? I think I’ll time skip a week just to give ourselves more time to think about this villain thing.

No yeah I’m in this for the long run; sorry I don’t check it as often as I should that’s my own fault! SORRY! But there’s like no way I’m leaving this RP unless it fully ends or you leave.))

Taking her sweet time in playing, she practically let the wind that was blowing in through the window; move her hands and fingers as they played softly and gently on the keys in front of her. It was almost as if she was in a trance or something, with the way her eyes looked all empty and solemn. It’s not like anything was causing her sadness, she certainly wasn’t going to get upset over a guy she barely knew. Sure, the Professor told her to get along with him and be his friend but that was only until he made his own friends and joined his own clique. Anna had her own way of doing things and was alone because of that...she was different in more ways than one and like other outcasts, didn’t want to subjugate herself to the rules of others.

Anna, definitely wasn’t the only outcast in the school, others just chose to hide themselves in their rooms or in other secluded places. People only talked about them in passing, the only reason why she was being brought up with so much hype was because she was seen with the new guy. ‘Well, the attention will die down’ she thought to herself, ‘everything will be back to normal....as normal can be anyway’ she concluded while continuing to play as the warm sunshine...shined in.

It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and with the sun shining in she remembered that boy from lunch time who sat with her to soak up the sun as she soaked in the breeze. ‘What a strange boy...’ maybe not strange for soaking up the sun but for sitting with her. Maybe there was just no space left or maybe he did want to talk to her or something....who knows, stranger things have happened around the school.

Anyway she decided not to be bothered thinking about school and decided to focus on her music. She felt it was the only thing she was good at that kept her somewhat close to home, of course no one knew that since no one other than the teachers of course got time to know her. While she was focused on playing, her eye caught sight of something peering over the open window, practically nodding at her. She was startled and stopped playing immediately, a bit jumpy, before realizing that it was a sunflower. Odd, there weren’t any plants outside other than in the green house the last time she checked. Getting up from the piano bench she kneeled beside the window and reached out, touching the beautiful golden petals with her finger tips before cocking her head sideways to see Oliver leaning against the wall.

Looking down at his notebook he saw a sketch of a girl on the page and wondered who it was. Definitely wasn’t Jillian but some part of her wanted to believe it was her he was drawing. “Nice flower.” Resting her arms on the windowsill, Anna rested her head in between and looked down at Oliver, with her long black hair hanging off the edge of the window. “And that’s a really nice picture.” She wasn’t even going to ask where Jill was, or why he wasn’t in class. It wasn’t her business if he was going to skip or not.  

[Griselda Banks]

((Lol, sorry! Seems like whenever I try to brainstorm I just end up getting people confused. Why don't we make it so that Magneto is the mastermind/arch-villain, attacking the school because the "good mutants" are getting in the way of his plans, and he's recruiting new mutants - before they go to Xavier's school - to join him in annihilating "normal" people and mutants who will oppose him? Does that sound good? Probably our characters will have more contact with the "bad teenagers", sort of like how in Harry Potter, Voldemort is the arch-villain, but the real threat most of the time is Professor Snape. ...If that made any sense at all ^^'

And actually, thinking about powers...I realized that just about any power could be used for good or evil. Even something seemingly harmless like my twin characters' shapeshifting can be sinister, as is seen in the movies. I think I've got a good idea for a "bad mutant" teenager character, so I think after we've wrapped up this scene, we could timeskip a couple weeks or something, to the attack. How's that sound?

Oh, and I just realized I still need to tell you: This year I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which means that starting on Sunday and going through the end of November, I'm going to be putting my story-writing as priority during my free time, and will reward myself for reaching my daily word count goal by going online. You may not notice much delay, or I might be completely absent for whole weeks at a time. This is my first time to do NaNo, so I'm not sure how hard it's going to be. I wanted to warn you just in case; I'm not abandoning you even if I disappear for a while! ^_^))

Oliver didn't realize at first that the piano music had stopped. He was focusing on his drawing of Anna, trying to capture the little smile he'd seen on her face several times already. He didn't think he'd got it quite right, and he was just about to look for his eraser, when he heard a voice that sent his stomach leaping into his throat. "Nice flower," it said.

Starting with surprise and clutching his notebook up against his chest, Oliver whirled his head around and saw Anna herself hanging out the window, looking at a large sunflower that had definitely not been there a few minutes ago. After a moment, Oliver realized what he had inadvertently done, and his cheeks blazed with color. His face grew even hotter when Anna complimented his picture. She'd seen it? How humiliating.

It didn't help matters when daisies began to burst up through the ground all around him, popping out and spreading their white petals with alarming speed. Oliver stared around himself, wanting to sink into the ground. Look at him. He was hopeless. He couldn't even stop his powers. Bigger flowers started sprouting up around him, threatening to hem him in. "Stop it, you stupid things!" Oliver cried in anguish, leaping to his feet and jumping out from the encroaching plant life. But where his feet landed in the grass, tiny blue flowers sprouted up. He began to grow nervous, and the flowers began to blossom even more erratically, spreading out farther and even sending some vines creeping up the wall.

Oliver knew he needed to calm down, but how could he when he watched all this plant life that didn't seem like it would ever stop? "Um...Anna?" he said, cringing inwardly as his voice trembled a little. "Could you...maybe play some more of that song?" He tugged at his pant leg, which had gotten caught in some thorns that were beginning to spring up around him, and his anxious thoughts that it wasn't coming free only made matters worse as more thorns stuck up from the ground. C'mon, Oliver, he told himself, trying to calm down. This is just what happened in the Professor's office. Nothing bad happened then, right?  

[Akira.S]

((I have a power but I dunno if it’ll like fit or if it’s too like GodMod LOLZ! But we’ll see if I can come up with anything else...*think think think* But yeah I get it, so they’ll go to a separate secret school, the bad teens I mean and I guess like Oliver and Anna and other people can like be in the city or something and they like confront them or something that’s the only way I can see them getting together unless you have an idea.

I don’t mind time skipping right into the attack....so there isn’t gonna be much interaction between the two we’re just gonna assume they talk on some occasions? Are you gonna bring back the other characters? Cause I still have Jill, Valon, and Miata but I dunno if she was very important lol.

I’m glad you told me. I have a couple of friends I know doing NaNo. My friend in austrailia, who’s writing a book that I’m editing about this old rp we were in way back is also doing it. So yeah no worries, it’s pretty hard though like what was it 100,000 words or something LOLZ but GL))

Oliver seemed sort of flustered when he realized Anna was looking at the flower and then at his picture. She giggled at how embarrassed he was and continued on watching him sort of freak out. It didn’t help that she was smiling and sort of provoking him but it was fun. It was rare to see her smile, or to laugh in public and she did sort of seem pretty cute...maybe a little freaky but cute none the less. She’d never received this sort of reaction from anyone she knew ... well especially since the teachers were the only ones to talk to her and everyone avoided her.

Apparently, Oliver had learned little about how to control his powers but these things took time, and it’s not like he had....or at least from what she knew, a group of friends to support him, especially since his power revolved around controlling flowers and plants.

While he was struggling to stop the plants and flowers from going, he shyly asked Anna to play the piano a little more. Her eyes widened slightly at his request...It was a little bit odd since most people, or a lot of people didn’t appreciate her music and here he was asking her to play some more? The surprised dark haired girl stood up from the window sill and looked down, “you’re really funny you know.” Walking back towards the piano which wasn’t too far away she sat down on the bench and placed her fingers on the keys gently.

piano song Hopefully the music would help, if anything it would sort of calm him down which was the main point she was playing. But then she wondered, was he spying on her? Or was it even spying? Maybe he just happened close to the window and forgot she was there or something. Either way, it wasn’t any of her business really so she wouldn’t ask too many questions.

After she finished playing, Anna got up from the piano bench again and sat on the windowsill near Oliver. She had to think of something nice but not cleaver to say in this slightly awkward situation but what?

“So... did you make any friends? How about your classes, what do you think of them? Think you can handle the Institute?” It was a lot different from going to real school that’s for sure, but it wasn’t so bad once you got used to it. Just the rules and teachers were interesting and different to say the least.  

[Griselda Banks]

((Well, I was thinking Oliver and Anna could have a confrontation with the bad teenagers when Magneto makes his attack against the school. But actually, thinking about it, it might be better to have them meet up in town first. Like...small groups of mutants who can successfully control their powers and aren't really obviously mutated like that boy with wings in the third movie, or Gerald who goes everywhere upside-down, are allowed occasional outings to whatever town's closest, so they can get a break from the school environment and get experience living with their powers around normal people. But then Oliver and Anna would meet some teenagers and somehow they all find out they're mutants, and Oliver and Anna are surprised because the other teenagers don't go to Xavier's school. The bad teenagers would probably seem mostly friendly - ooh! Maybe they could ask to see the school, and Oliver and Anna would show them around, and the bad teenagers would then take that inside information back to Magneto, and Magneto would then spring an attack against the school!

Yeah, I was thinking that they would be sort of "oh hey, how's it going?" around each other; they'd be on speaking terms and sort-of-friends, but they wouldn't have any important conversations and nothing terribly interesting would happen until they go on the outing. Putting them in more of a dangerous position, with the attack and everything, would probably draw them closer to each other (relationship-wise).

Yeah, I'll bring in my other characters when the idea strikes; I don't have any specific ideas for any of them, so they're mainly just there to give depth to the environment. Since it would seem too much like a date if it was just Oliver and Anna going on the outing, we should probably have a couple other characters with them too, right?

Lol, if it was 100,000 words I really would be dead. Thankfully, it's only 50,000 words, which is hard enough if you ask me! xd ))

The thorns only seemed to cling tighter to Oliver's leg the more he tried to pull away. When Anna's music began to float out the window, Oliver closed his eyes and forced himself to remain still, even if he could feel tendrils of plants curling around his ankles. He tried his utmost to concentrate on nothing but the soothing rhythm of the music, to forget about his surroundings and his embarrassment.

After several measures of the music, it began to work. The rustling of swift-growing plant life seemed to fade away as he lost himself in the piano music. All that existed were the notes, rising and falling and weaving around him like a warm blanket. He felt safe in the music, because nothing but peace could remain in the soft little world of piano music. It had been so long since he had heard real piano music, and this reminded him of long hours spent at the upright in his living room, playing his little tunes over and over again till he could forget about sitting alone at lunch or dropping his sketch book in the hall and getting laughed at for drawing winged piglets perched in an apple tree while all the other boys did something sensible like ride their bikes around the block fifteen times.

By the time the last notes faded away, Oliver felt completely calm and safe again. He reluctantly opened his eyes again, not liking to step back into the world of reality. Pulling his legs free of the plants, he looked around at all the plants that had sprung up around him. It was like seeing the carnage of a battlefield, except that he thought he would rather see pools of blood and piles of gory corpses than all these wildflowers. Picking his way through some thick bushes, Oliver grabbed his backpack and the notebook he'd dropped, hastily closing it before Anna could see her little portrait again.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, coming closer to the window. "Guess I need a lot of practice still." He hesitated a moment, barely daring to look at her eyes for fear that she was laughing at him, then clambered through the window, saying, "Maybe I should stay inside for now."

Oliver perched on the piano bench and set his backpack down between his feet, which he stared at glumly. There were grass stains on the toes of his sneakers. Shrugging, he said, "It's okay. Not quite as bad as I thought it'd be. It would be nice if I could hang out with people who weren't weird, though," he added, thinking about Gerald's staring eyes and Jill's never-ending stream of chatter.  

[Akira.S]

((You like totally took everything I was gonna say and you said it for me lol. Except I thought that Anna and Oliver would meet the other teens and then they would go into Magneto’s school if he had one, wasn’t sure if he did LOLZ but yeah your idea works too. Yeah, no it wasn’t going to be a date, it was gonna be like a class outing, like it’s a rule for them not to go out unless they’re in groups of maybe at least...what four or five plus?

Okays so yeah, they’ll just be on talking basis that’s good. Maybe like...for the people who’d go out into town with them could be Valon? Jillian MAYBE, maybe that sun guy and someone else? I dunno just speculating. And yeah, when Magneto and them attack the school it would be like more important for them relationship wise, makes sense. *You’re making me wanna watch Hancock just so I can understand this more lol*

Yeah the evil characters aren’t as important they’re just there...cause we need them and to add some sort of extra villainy to the story I guess lol I can like kill them off or just not use them later, depending.

Oh it’s only 50,000...I thought it was 100,000 or maybe I got the numbers wrong or something LOL I know a couple people who are doing it but I don’t follow much, just if people tell me so I was sorta remembering the number from last year but again....can’t remember LOL. Yeah 50,000 is hard enough, depending what you’re writing about >.> but good luck anyway! ))

Oliver’s worry about being eaten by his own plants and deciding to stay inside made Anna giggle slightly. She wasn’t laughing at him but laughing at how cute he seemed when he didn’t know how to control his powers; mostly at how embarrassed he was. Back then she didn’t have anyone to laugh at...she just had herself and the Professor to help her. Of course she had the other teachers but things were different between them. Anna was very conservative and very shy when she first started out, even though she had some knowledge of how to use her powers.

When Oliver moved over to the piano bench, Anna scooted over slightly to give him some space while folding her hands neatly in her lap. She listened to his first day experience and knew it would be weird at first but it probably helped that he had someone to talk to about it. “Everyone in weird in some way or another, you just have to...find the right group I guess.” Lifting her right hand from her lap, she created a small air current that spun around her hand quickly, slightly showing off her power control. “You have the potential to be great like everyone else does, besides it’s only your first time I’m sure you’ll find some people.” Turning to him Anna sort of half smiled before shyly looking away.

She didn’t like to look into people’s eyes too directly since it freaked a lot of people out most of the time. Anna turned her gaze back down to her lap or at the keys on the piano before saying anything else, “oh, I forgot. The Professor wanted me to give you this, I guess it slipped my mind the other day.” Extending her right arm towards the couches, air currents flowed through her and created a wind tunnel that lifted her bag from the couch, having it fly towards her and drop in her lap.

Going through her bag she pulled out a single sheet of paper, handing it to Oliver before putting her bag down. “It’s just a consent form. Students over 16 are allowed to go into the city on the weekends just to get away from the school, without supervision from one of the teachers, but we have to go in groups. It’s just a form stating that if you use your powers or cause trouble the teachers are allowed to suspend or ban you from these excursions, etc, just fill it out if you wanna have a taste of non-mutant life.”  

[Griselda Banks]

((Lol, well, it's good that we're on the same page, then! biggrin I think it makes more sense for the evil teens to go to Xavier's school for a visit, because then they can get inside information of some kind. We can figure out what exactly as we go. I think Magneto would have to have some kind of school if he's going to recruit teens for his little army, but I'd imagine it'd be more like...boot camp or something. See, Xavier's concerned with helping kids go out and live with normal humans and lead normal lifestyles with their powers. But all Magneto wants is an army of mutants, so he doesn't need to teach them like...chemistry and stuff.

Why don't we make it that on the outings the kids go out in groups of four, just to make it an even number? razz (I like even numbers.) And probably there would be multiple groups of students, but they would just go in groups of four so there wouldn't be this whole horde of teenagers swamping the city, lol. So, other than Anna and Oliver, why don't you bring Valon and I'll bring my black boy?

(Feel free to watch Hancock, but most of this is just stuff I'm pulling out of a hat; it doesn't really resemble Hancock much anymore.)

Well, I'm a few days into NaNoWriMo, and it's actually going easier than I thought it would! I'm writing the perfect story for this - it's a huge, complicated plot with tons of characters who all have their own motivations and agendas that are all clashing, so there's a lot going on. I've discovered that as long as I have some kind of idea of what I want to happen next, I can pound out most of my word count goal before I even start school! When you know what you want to do, 1667 words a day isn't really that tough after all.))

Oliver couldn't keep back a small smile at Anna's first words. So all he had to do was find the right group of weirdoes, huh? He hoped Gerald and Jill weren't in that group. He preferred people who were mostly normal like Anna and Valon.

He followed the current of air Anna made to move her bag with appreciative eyes. See, that was a useful power. He could find uses for something like that. But all his plant powers seemed good for was making stepladders out of trees and making a spectacle out of himself.

Oliver glanced through the paper Anna gave him with interest. It was only his second day here, but he could already see that it would be nice to be around really normal people again. To pretend he was normal again. He scanned the fine print at the bottom that said he would have to prove he could control his powers before they would let him out, and his heart sank a little.

"Hey, Anna," he said as he slowly folded it and slipped it into his bag, "how long did it take you to be able to control your powers?"  

[Akira.S]

((Yeah that makes more sense for the bad mutants to go to X instead of the other way around. In the TV series Wolverine and the X-Men, Magneto has his own island called...Genova for I think people and mutants or mostly mutants. Maybe he should call the school that lol again I’m just bouncing ideas.

Okay, so when they go into the city I’ll bring Valon. Maybe stir up some drama and conversation or something I dunno lolz. So would... Anna and Oliver get separated from the two or run into them and the four of them bring the bad mutants along with them? Like how exactly would we have them meet?..LOL!!! I was just thinking that maybe like one or two different ones would cause a disaster or something...and maybe like just to get them in, the other ones like save Anna and all them from the disaster to gain their trust or something.

It’s good you’re having fun with it =) I could never do it cause I’ve got so much on my plate. Hopefully you make the 50k word count by the end of the month with the pace you’re going at.))

Tapping on some of the piano keys very lightly while Oliver was reading over the form and folding it to put back in his bag, she heard him ask her about her powers again and how long it took for her to control it.
Pulling her hand away from the piano, she turned to him with her empty eyes and smiled slightly in the hopes of enlightening him.

“You know the Professor told me something the first few weeks I was here. Being a mutant...is a lot like being a human with something extra special about yourself. Regular people mature and hit puberty different than others, it’s the same with us mutants. Sometimes it takes years and sometimes a couple of weeks or months.” Anna paused a little bit between sentences to emphasize her points and remember how hard it was when she first started out. “I struggled like you for the longest time, except I was alone...especially after I ran away. But when I came here it took me a few months to understand and control it. And then, there are people like Jill who was naturally gifted and came here already having mastered her powers.” Everyone seemed jealous of someone in a different way, whether it was quality of power or how fast a person would master it.

“You’ll master your power when you’re ready. You just have to accept that it’s a part of you...” Turning to him properly, Anna smiled while folding her arms neatly in her lap. “Why don’t you practice right now? Make me a flower, other than that sunflower from before.” She said slightly looking out the window since it was the closest patch of earth they were closest to.  

[Griselda Banks]

((See, that's what you're good for; I've only seen the movies so I need ideas from other X-Men stories. Magneto could even have his school place on an island and call it Genova.

I think all four of them could meet the bad mutants, really. Unless the combined powers from the four of them would allow them to save themselves...but when you think about our four guys' powers, they're not all immediately useful in a tight spot. I mean, look at Valon! I think that sounds like a really good idea: the bad mutants intentionally cause a disaster and save the good ones to gain their trust. So, will we show the mutants who are causing the disaster, or just show the two or so ones who save the good guys? Say we had four bad mutants to mirror our four good ones. Probably the two with more destructive powers would create the disaster, while the others would do the saving. What do you think?

Yeah, I'm pretty hopeful that I'll win NaNo. Yesterday was Double Your Daily Word Count Day, which meant I wrote twice as much as usual, so now I'm a full day ahead. But I'll need that, because there's a possibility I'll be going out of town for a couple days in a week or so. But yeah, I'm really pleased with myself. I've never written this much in such a short time before! It's only Day 9, and I've already got almost 17,000 words.))

Oliver's heart lightened with every word Anna said. It was like puberty. He remembered wishing that stupid hair would just start growing on his legs so the other guys would stop teasing him and calling him a girl whenever he wore shorts. He still wished he didn't have to go through two "puberties", but if he looked at it in that way, he knew the awkwardness would pass soon enough and things would be normal again.

When Anna requested a flower, Oliver's stomach immediately shriveled up inside him, as it had been doing every time he thought about his power. But he forced himself to get up and go over to the window, which still hung open. He forced himself not to look at the mess he'd made of the lawn and looked down at the big sunflower. All he had to do was accept that this power was a part of him. That seemed a lot more helpful than Gerald's advice about faith, trust, and pixie dust. Repressing the urge to chuckle, Oliver closed his eyes to concentrate.

He stood completely still, listening to the wind rustling the leaves of the trees outside, the grass, the various plants he'd made without meaning to.... He could feel the warmth of the sunlight through his skin, and as he breathed deeply he thought he could smell the good, moist soil. Somehow, he could twist all these factors and make plants grow that wouldn't otherwise. Though he couldn't think of many interesting uses for such an ability, it was his. His. As much his as his arm or leg.

As he thought of Anna's words and the comforting voice she had used to say them, his emotions blended with his ability and he could feel the power leaking out of him. He imagined that power seeping into the soil and growing up into some kind of plant. He didn't know what, but he didn't stop to imagine what kind. He almost thought he could feel that plant stretching and growing as he stood there, gently urging it on. It felt sort of like blowing up a balloon - even as he pushed that energy out of himself, he could feel it filling up something else.

Gradually the slow flow of power seemed to taper off, and Oliver slowly opened his eyes, a little afraid to find out what it was he'd made. It was a single sprig of lilac, and as he looked down on it he realized that he could remember each separate petal of every single tiny flower, as though he'd been watching this grow for a year and had memorized every centimeter of it. The odd thing about it was that lilacs usually grew on bushes, if he was remembering right from the lilacs his neighbors grew, but this had sprouted directly from the ground.

Oliver climbed out of the window, gingerly setting his foot on the ground and half expecting flowers to start bursting up out of control again, but his powers seemed docile for the moment. He carefully plucked the flower up and clambered back inside, holding the flower triumphantly out to her. The light, sweet smell of the little pinkish-purple flowers seemed to fill that small space, making Oliver think of pleasant spring days at home. "There," he said in satisfaction, pleased that he'd at least managed to focus his powers enough to make that, even if it was rather girly. "What do you think of that?"

((Incidentally, lilacs are my favorite flowers.))  

[Akira.S]

((How do you win NaNo? Isn’t it more like you’ve achieved something by completing it? I didn’t know it was a contest...o.o...
Yeah so we’ll have 2 mutants cause the disaster and 2 other save them. Thinking about it yeah I mean Valon’s power is pretty useless then there’s Oliver, Anna and that black boy lol. As for Magneto’s island...we’ll probably have to hide it somehow cause if it’s an island just like in the middle of the ocean of course someone’s gonna see it LOL but yeah we’ll work with that.))

Oliver seemed sort of silent as she was explaining how their mutant powers are like puberty and how it’s different for everyone. Some got used to it over a couple of days and some took months and months of training. Oliver’s first step to learning about himself and his powers was that he had to accept it and make it a part of himself before he could control it.

When she asked him to make her a new flower she knew it would make him uncomfortable, but the only way to learn was to really try. Practical application was the best sort of practice for these types of powers, which is why he could use the practice before he accidentally ends up panicking in a real life situation. As he got up to move towards the window Anna sat quietly to reflect upon when she first had to learn to control her powers when she came to the school.

She remembered how excruciatingly hard and painful it was...the teachers were definitely less enthusiastic about it than she was, especially because they’d show no mercy. Training in the harsh rain and harsh winds, practically being blown across campus, all that stamina training, learning to fly or rather...hover...controlling the amount of air pressure that would come from extending her arm, it was hard work. Oliver just needed the right encouragement to get started...something she only really got from a few of her professors and Professor Xavier himself.

After a few moments in deep reflection, Anna heard some shuffling by the window and turned her head to see what was going on. Oliver seemed to be crawling over the threshold, outside near the patch of earth to retrieve the flower he’d created. Anna stood up and walked over to the window to see what was going on....if he’d really actually grown a flower. Walking around the piano bench towards the window she stopped as he climbed back in with the flower in hand. It was a lovely pinkish purple lilac...a little girly but at least it was a flower which was exactly what she wanted.

“And you’re still single how?” Anna took the lilac and examined it with a smile while handing it back to him and picking up her bag from the side of the piano.
“I’m going to head off to study...maybe you should do the same and get started on that homework.” Slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder, Anna fixed her hair and wandered over to the large double doors, “don’t forget to sign that form, you’ll really miss out if you do.”  

[Griselda Banks]

((Well, it's not a contest; I mean, you don't win like a prize or anything. What "winning" means is just getting to 50,000. All you get are bragging rights and 50,000 words of probably-junk, but everyone refers to it as "winning". Go figure. Tomorrow I'll be at the halfway point. 50k never looked so close!

As for the powers, at least from where we're at right now, Anna is easily the most powerful/obviously-useful. I just had a thought: What if, when this disaster thing happens, Oliver and Anna's powers start weakening because they're next to each other? That could help it be necessary for the bad mutants to rescue them.

Lol, maybe Genova could be an island - but the school's underground! wink You know, all hidden-entrance and spooky-villain-place.))

Oliver flushed bright red and found he could only say, "Uh...." He hadn't been thinking about the romantic connotations of flowers; he'd been so focused on just making his power work under his control, regardless of what he'd made. He hoped she didn't think he was trying to make a move on her behind her boyfriend's back, but he had no idea what to say to make it plain he hadn't intended it that way....

But then she handed it back and started to leave, as though it wasn't a big deal, and he thought maybe he hadn't made a fool of himself after all. He hoped. He sincerely hoped she didn't think he was stupid, though he wasn't sure why her opinion meant so much to him. "R-Right!" he managed to call after her as she left.

Oliver stood dumbly in the room by himself for a moment, looking down at his flower and feeling oddly deflated now that she was gone. Making himself move, he swung his backpack onto his shoulder and made for the door himself. He paused next to the piano, then laid the lilac on the smooth black cover for the keys. He wasn't about to be seen walking around with flowers; he was weird enough as it was.

With a sigh, Oliver headed up to his room, for real this time. He saw Gerald hovering around a corner on the second floor, but other than that the halls were empty and fairly silent. It seemed everyone else was outside on such a nice day. Oliver, however, closed the door to his room behind him and sat on his bed to do his homework, refusing to look out the window at all the greenery outside. He'd had enough excitement for one day.

((Timeskip?))  

[Akira.S]

Two weeks passed and everyone was slowly adjusting to Oliver being in school. Sure, he was still a bit lacking in the friends department, but he still had those select few. Anna was still around on occasion, though she was usually alone and didn’t really hang out with him other than in private. Jill was still as clingy and as annoying as ever. There was Valon, who he hung out with sometimes and helped him study to catch up, Gerald who he’d spot in the hall randomly, and Miata....who he saw outside playing with her dolls. Sure, she was weird but she made sense and was mature for her age.

As Oliver was adjusting to his powers he was finally and slowly adjusting his social life here at the school. Now, he just had to get used to going back into society. The week before Spring Break, was Oliver’s turn to go out into the city. He paired up with Anna and was grouped in with Valon and that black boy that he thought was Anna’s boyfriend. Sure, there were other groups going but the set number was four. They had the entire day to spend in the city but at 11:30pm the bus would be heading back to the institute...hidden away from the world.

“Do you have any idea of what you wanna do or should we just walk around aimlessly and loiter?” Anna asked while sitting beside Oliver on the bus. She tried to look as normal as possible, wearing a graphic white tee, blue jeans, converse and a black sweater. She also wore her brown contacts to make it look like she wasn’t blind or anything...

((Sorry it's short I'm having a bad day and it just started))  

[Griselda Banks]

((Sorry for the delay; I was focusing on writing, besides family being over and taking up a lot of my free time. But now that my NaNo story is over, hopefully I'll have a bit more time to devote to roleplaying!))

Oliver looked over at Anna in slight surprise to hear her take his light comment and say something so serious. He had to admit that he hadn't really considered how his genes were the same as "normal" people, it was just that some of them had mutated somehow and bizarrely resulted in this ability to control plant life. The way she talked about people who weren't mutants made him wonder if maybe it was actually a blessing that he was a mutant. That was a new thought for him. At first he'd resented and hated his differences and thought his powers surfacing was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. As he'd learned to control his powers, he'd slowly come to accept them and learn how to live with his differences. But he'd never actually thought that his powers could be good. Could they really help him see faults that he wouldn't otherwise see in himself?

Before he could really think this through or attempt to express any of it to Anna, Valon turned around and made his suggestion. Luke turned around as well to discuss it with his fellows, smiling pleasantly as Valon asked his opinion. "Sure," he said in his smooth voice. "The mall has skylights," he added, as if that made all the difference. Oliver glanced at him, remembering that he still hadn't been able to figure out what Luke's power was, but he had noticed that the boy always gravitated towards sunlight.

When the others looked at him to see what he would say, Oliver agreed enthusiastically. A tiny voice in his head reminded him that there might not be too many plants in a shopping mall, because even though he was fairly confident he could control his powers, he never knew when something would startle him and they could go awry. Best to take away that possibility from the start, especially on his first trip away from the protection of the school.