WHO: Misfit and OPEN.
WHERE: Xavier Institute
WHEN: Let's say..late afternoon on Wednesday.
WARNINGS: Charlie is kind of a snoop.
SUMMARY: If Oracle is going to make her go to school, Charlie's going to go check it out first, dang it! And set off lots of silent alarms.
FORMAT: Whatever works.
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If there's one thing Charlie's good at, it's being where she shouldn't be... )
Dani paused thoughtfully before going over to a desk and pulling out a student file folder. It was new and barely had much in it but it was a start. She went out to see if she'd run into the girl.
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So far, this particular snooping mission could've been going better.
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"Hello Charlotte."
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"Hey! How do you know my name? Are you psychic?" She started mentally humming Mary Had a Little Lamb, just to be safe!
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She stood still, letting Charlie take her measure but tilted her head in curiosity as it seemed like Charlie was trying to distract herself.
"No, I'm not a psychic," Dani continued answering Charlie's question. "I'm a teacher here at the Institute. We received word earlier that you would be a potential student here."
She raised her eyebrow. "Have you taken a good look around here?"
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"Uh. Yeah, I looked around some." She nodded her head a little. Crap. Was she going to get in trouble before she was actually a student? That had to be a record. "I'm guessing I set off some alarms I didn't hear?" That would explain all the attention she was attracting. "I'm usually way better at this sort of thing..."
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Dani paused. She hoped that Charlie didn't feel like she was being monitored. "No one needs to know who you are if you don't want anyone else to know. But," she continued, nodding at Charlie's question, "you did set off some alarms. It's a pretty high tech system meant to protect us from attacks."
She gestured further down the hall, "But I can take care of those. Do you want a more official tour or did you want to keep losing pieces of your cape?"
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"Well, I mean...like..." Charlie wasn't that good at the 'secret identity' thing, because she hadn't really had a very good one. Her costume and her normal clothes were pretty identical. "I guess I don't care too much? I just wore this cause Oracle is all about wearing my costume if I'm out using my powers." It was a good plan. Charlie remembered most of the time...
"I didn't mean to set off alarms or anything, sometimes I get lucky and they ignore me." She'd been able to sneak into Oracle's tower in Metropolis but not Titan Tower, when she thought about it. "I guess high tech stuff is better at it though. Uh. I guess a tour would be cool?"
She grinned sheepishly. "Except I've kinda been bouncing away from people for a while now, you think they'll be mad at me if they see me?"
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She processed what Charlie mentioned about Oracle's advice for costume before continuing, "I think that's some sound advice from Oracle. But here at the Institute, many people are learning how to better control their own powers. Anonymity is for protection while out in public. Usually outside these walls."
She turned to give Charlie some privacy if she wanted to take off her gear. She took a few steps down the hall towards some training rooms before turning back. "Good, I think you'll have a better idea of what to expect if you take your time to explore the place," she grinned at Charlie's question.
"They'll get over it. Is that what you call your power? Bouncing?"
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When the woman turned away, Charlie 'took off her costume'...which consisted of taking her mask and her cape off and...that was it. "My costume is kinda...uh..." Okay, so, she'd mostly made it out of stuff she'd found in goodwill bins. Barbara had helped her buy replacements, of course, but it was still a t-shirt, jeans skirt, black leggings, and her cape and mask. "You're not gonna like, televise this or anything, right? Oracle would so yell at me..." She suddenly realized maybe she shouldn't have taken it off that fast.
Still...a distraction. "Yeah. Bouncing. I've never really had any trouble controlling it, though. I guess cause it's supposed to be magic? I don't really get why it's magic but..." She shrugged. Charlie's powers were a mystery, even to Charlie.
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She shook her head and answered casually, "No, I don't see a reason to share it with anyone. No one's been hurt and you don't really want to walk around in costume around here unless you need to. We provide the training gear for students here." She took a closer look at what Charlie was wearing. That belt seemed innocuous but looked very professional.
"And there are people here who know how to work with different types of weapons too. But that's more on the elective side. We're pretty tough on academics here too," Dani added. She looked at Charlie as she described bouncing. "I don't get why it is either," she agreed. "But powers like that seem a little more different than the magic that other people around here can cast. It's like a talent, at least for mutants who live here."
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"Weapons, huh? I can throw a batarang," she was pretty good at it too! It was kind of a weapon, right? "I only know it's magic cause this magic thief girl stole them from me once. I mean, like...before that we just figured it was me, you know? And I was a meta, but..." She shrugged. "I've been able to do it forever, it's not like someone cast a spell on me or somethin'."
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Dani sent her an apologetic look. "I think I understood most of what you described. I'm not sure what you mean by magic thief girl who was maybe you. But if you've always been able to bounce then it could be genetically based. Like most mutants."
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Charlie fished around in her belt and tugged out her Batarang, unfolding it with a click and offering it out to the girl. She only had the one, and she rarely ever used it. She'd picked it up ages ago, she thought it was probably Cassandra's, and had kept it even after she'd stopped being Batgirl. "That's a batarang."
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"I see what you mean. Although that must have been hard, learning more about your powers only when they were stolen. Being shot to know that you can heal. Guess you're pretty familiar with dangerous things," Dani commented.
She took the batarang and looked it over. It had some weight and could be used for a number of things. "It looks really useful," Dani said, passing it back.
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"Yeah, especially when it was her doing the stealing..." Charlie sort of muttered this last bit. She and Black Alice didn't really get along at all, even if they were apparently somehow related. At least the magic thief wasn't here in the City.
She took the Batarang back and slipped it back into her belt. "So, like...aside from the fact that everybody apparently has powers and stuff, is this just plain old high school?" Charlie was pretty sure she could not escape taking math, but still...it never hurt to try, right?
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