❝ spread the word around, guess who's back in town. ❞

[arethebettermen]

Who: arethebettermen, softenedbyme, teddyalt_man, ovrsizdtinkrbll, glovestodiefor and infinitefool
What: Charles is bringing the high school class together to meet and discuss the possibility of creating a team. Possibly known as the Aliunde-Men (A-Men) or X-Kids. Names are pending here.
Where: Aliunde School
When: 6/23 Day
Rating: PG-13 maybe?

Comments

[infinitefool]

Well, considering he was used to going to school six days a week... (five days. Who does that?) it hadn't been as hard on him to actually head for the school on a Saturday morning. He had no idea why their sensei had decided to suddenly have a meeting with only the senior class, but he'd admit he was curious. That was why he was there, respectfully waiting for the explanation to conclude

[glovestodiefor]

Rogue was doing her best to at least introduce herself to her new teammates. She'd spoken to several of them already in her brief time in Aliunde so far, but Yu and Karolina were strangers to her still. After she'd finished chatting with Charles, Rogue glanced around the room cautiously, took a deep breath to steel herself, and walked over to the quiet boy.

"Sorry, I don't think the Professor said your name." She smiled slightly, hoping to quell the nervousness curling in her stomach. It wasn't like she had anything to be afraid of here - Xavier obviously trusted everyone here and wanted them to be able to work together as a team. The least she could do was try.

[infinitefool]

Despite his quiet nature, Yu was far from being unapproachable. He almost seemed to welcome the company as he nodded a greeting. This girl didn't seem like a threat. After all, Xavier-sensei trusted her and they were probably from the same world. Odds were, she was one of the two girls he'd mentioned in the explanation.

"Yu Narukami," he responded, giving a faint smile in return. Thinking better on it, he also added, "An old friend called me Souji, if that's easier for you. I know my name can be confusing for English-speakers." After all, confusion didn't help much in a group dynamic.

[glovestodiefor]

"Souji. I like it." She smiled more confidently at him now, hoping he wouldn't mind her commandeering a nickname one of his friends had given him. "My name's Rogue." Offering her gloved hand for a shake, she wondered what this boy could do, if he were a mutant like she was or something else. It seemed rude to just ask, though.

[infinitefool]

"Nice to meet you, Rogue." He nodded, taking her gloved hand in his own. Yu doesn't mind it at all. After all, he found it was easier for all of his non-Asian friends than the name his parents gave him. If she looked, she could probably see a couple old burns on his palms. It was a small hint, if anything. The question was... was it from a fire, or was it electrical?

[glovestodiefor]

Or was it magic. Or was he an alien like Karolina and Teddy. (Rogue is on a team with two aliens she can't get over this.) So burn marks could mean anything, mister, vaguest hint ever. Rogue settles on asking a fairly open-ended question to settle her curiosity. "So what can you do?"

[infinitefool]

No, he is certainly not a martian or any other kind of alien in the sense Rogue is probably thinking of. And hey, don't knock his vague hints, miss. A subtle hint is better than nothing at all. "Currently?" He tilted his head, as though thinking on it for a brief moment. "Guess you can say I'm a fan of electricity."

[glovestodiefor]

Rogue doesn't have time for riddles, Yu, she wants answers. Subtlety is not helpful - it just means she has to poke around some more. "Currently meaning you have more than one power?" Electricity was cool though, not that Rogue was knocking it. Back home Storm was an invaluable asset to the X-men, and Rogue was sure this boy would be helpful no matter what he could do.

[infinitefool]

Okay, he'll throw her a bone in the metaphorical sense and tell her. After all, the professor already knows in some sense...

"Yes. As they say, I'm a jack of all trades in the kind of power I hold. It all depends on the part of my psyche I decide to use." If only Rogue knew just how different he was, even though his current facet was a god of storms and creation himself... "I'm what they call a Persona user in my world; someone who can use an aspect of their ego to defend themselves and others."

He... probably sounded crazy just now, didn't he.

[glovestodiefor]

Not crazy, exactly, more like...confusing. Rogue nodded as she tried to follow along with his explanation. "Sounds pretty Psych101 if you ask me." Psyche, persona, ego, all that stuff. She'd heard about those concepts before, but never the way Yu was talking about it. Using part of his psyche... "Does it hurt?"

The last words out of her mouth were an accident, more the end of a thought process than anything she'd actually meant to ask him. Rogue's expression is contrite but still curious.

[infinitefool]

Unfortunately, showing is much more clear than explaining in this case. He chuckled goodnaturedly at the comment. "It does, doesn't it? Unfortunately while it's similar, it isn't quite the same as what they've written down in textbooks." The last part almost surprises him, because in a way it does tire him out...

"Well... It didn't used to." He held up his right hand, the scar tissue mostly healed with time. "-but I don't regret a moment's effort in it. Other than this, I only really tired out easier from using them."

[glovestodiefor]

"I'd be pretty surprised to see anything like that in a textbook." It'd certainly make psychology class more interesting though. "I mean, it's weird enough reading the section on mutants in the bio textbooks." It was a fairly common thing now that mutants were becoming more understood, but that didn't change how strange it was to see chapters dedicated to them like you'd find chapters on Newton's laws of motion or the water cycle.

Her gaze fell to his hand, and she wondered how badly it had hurt when the wound was fresh. "That's not a bad trade-off at all."

[infinitefool]

"I'll bet. Even in my world, we're pretty rare. So anyone else knowing about my kind of power is a big deal." At least, he'd never met anyone aside from his team that held this same power... but he agreed. It must be how Teddie felt now, in hindsight... especially after knowing what he was and how Naoto looked up the theories behind Shadows and Persona.

"No, it isn't. But then... I was lucky compared to everyone else I know with the same power."

[glovestodiefor]

"Do you know a lot of people with similar abilities?" She'd hate to think that he was alone with his powers, no one to talk to about them, help him understand what was going on. The first several months after Rogue's mutation had come into effect had been stressful, until she'd met Logan and the Professor and the others at school.

[infinitefool]

"A handful. All of them are still in Nippon--Japan, and I'm glad for their sakes. They deserve a break from the general crazy that comes with suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar place." Yu was partly kidding of course, because he does indeed miss them. They were his team and best friends, after all. Yet he'd said his goodbyes to them and had a feeling it would be quite some time before he'd see them again... so he was emotionally prepared for an untold amount of distance between them. ...He just didn't think it would end up being worlds away.

[glovestodiefor]

She nodded in understanding. When she'd woken up in Aliunde, she'd wished her friends were here with her so she wouldn't be alone. But after calming down, she had realized it was for the better. The X-men couldn't afford to have any more members of their team disappearing. "Some pretty weird stuff's happened to me before, but this definitely takes the cake," she said, sticking her hands in her pockets as she shrugs. "There's regular kidnapping, then there's this."