A series of early X-Drabbles
These are for x_men100 so maybe I should put a historical note on them to explain what all the X-Men were doing before they were X-Men. There's lots of movieverse people there. They're six thematically linked drabbles about the original five X-Men and Charles, just before the original team formed. Jean's is obviously a little earlier, as she came to Westchester for the first time when she was much younger. Each was inspired by three prompts.
Escape
(prompts: grave, ultimatum, whisper)
This wasn’t the first grave Scott had seen, but it was the first his mangled brain could remember. With other older boys, he lowered the small casket into the ground, and stepped back for their Boystown preacher.
Scott hadn’t really known the dead boy, only heard his ultimatum: if he had to see Doctor Essex again, he’d die. The cops stopped his escape, of course, and he was found hanging from the fence.
To Scott, the doctor who had made his red glasses was his saviour. But whenever he felt that clammy touch, something animal, deep inside him, whispered “Death”.
***
Oracle
Prompt: secrets, slammed door, cut crystal
Jean no longer understood secrets. She writhed, floating, above her princess-pink bed, and from her bloodied lips spilled the filth of her town. Every door slammed in anger, every petty cruelty and grand deception, the whitewashes, the affairs, the lies.
Her thin voice screamed and her dolls flew madly about. Her mother, terrified, took everything dangerous out of the room. The real damage, though, was being done not to Jean, but by her. When she spat out the story of how her mother had really broken the cut crystal vase, they all knew it was time for her to leave.
***
The Birdcage
Prompt: stubble, quirk, moist
There was a rumour going around school. Warren had known something was up by the glances and whispers, but then he heard Partridge sneer,
“Worthington won’t go in the showers ’cause we’ll see his boner! Fag!”
They didn’t know his real secret. So he cultivated designer stubble, and a quirky style involving long scarves and heavy, concealing, velvet jackets and they soon left him alone.
One night, Warren went to shower, after the other boys were asleep, and found a message written in the moisture on the mirror.
“I ♥ WW”.
This secret identity business was going to be complicated.
***
Snow Angel
Prompt: deliver, grass, giggle
Bobby loved his job, and his bike. He thought that he might also love Daphne Banks, but he wasn’t too sure about that. He liked that she always sat on the front step of her house at 6 am to wave to him as he delivered the newspaper.
“Hi, Bobby!” She waved and giggled.
Bobby jumped off his bike and strolled over. Be cool, he told himself sternly, be cool.
Snow speckled her braided hair and pink sundress.
She looked up at Bobby in confusion, the snow melting like tears, and Bobby knew he had never seen anything so beautiful.
***
Favourite Son
Prompt: coffee, lurking, ring
Hank had only ever damaged one book in his life. It was by a Dr. McTaggart, and it told Hank exactly what he was. He had sloshed his coffee on the page, leaving an irregular, spreading ring.
The crowd bellowed his name, so loud he could hear it through his football helmet. Hank McCoy was the star player, and a fraud.
A mutant competing against humans. It was fair as a cheetah racing housecats, and he would have to stop lurking among them. But Hank knew that the next time people called his name, it would not be with joy.
***
Mirror
Prompt: labor, intense, sweat
Despite the elevator, the deliverymen were dripping sweat after carrying the new furniture into the rambling mansion. Charles paid them for their labour and wheeled off to inspect the renovated bedrooms. Four boys in this corridor. Jean in the other wing, where she stayed last time.
Sharing his home with children hardly filled Charles with intense joy, but they had talents that would be hated and feared. If he could give them sanctuary and strength, perhaps that would prevent them hating and fearing the world in return.
Charles could not bear to see Magnus’s rage and sorrow on another face.
Escape
(prompts: grave, ultimatum, whisper)
This wasn’t the first grave Scott had seen, but it was the first his mangled brain could remember. With other older boys, he lowered the small casket into the ground, and stepped back for their Boystown preacher.
Scott hadn’t really known the dead boy, only heard his ultimatum: if he had to see Doctor Essex again, he’d die. The cops stopped his escape, of course, and he was found hanging from the fence.
To Scott, the doctor who had made his red glasses was his saviour. But whenever he felt that clammy touch, something animal, deep inside him, whispered “Death”.
***
Oracle
Prompt: secrets, slammed door, cut crystal
Jean no longer understood secrets. She writhed, floating, above her princess-pink bed, and from her bloodied lips spilled the filth of her town. Every door slammed in anger, every petty cruelty and grand deception, the whitewashes, the affairs, the lies.
Her thin voice screamed and her dolls flew madly about. Her mother, terrified, took everything dangerous out of the room. The real damage, though, was being done not to Jean, but by her. When she spat out the story of how her mother had really broken the cut crystal vase, they all knew it was time for her to leave.
***
The Birdcage
Prompt: stubble, quirk, moist
There was a rumour going around school. Warren had known something was up by the glances and whispers, but then he heard Partridge sneer,
“Worthington won’t go in the showers ’cause we’ll see his boner! Fag!”
They didn’t know his real secret. So he cultivated designer stubble, and a quirky style involving long scarves and heavy, concealing, velvet jackets and they soon left him alone.
One night, Warren went to shower, after the other boys were asleep, and found a message written in the moisture on the mirror.
“I ♥ WW”.
This secret identity business was going to be complicated.
***
Snow Angel
Prompt: deliver, grass, giggle
Bobby loved his job, and his bike. He thought that he might also love Daphne Banks, but he wasn’t too sure about that. He liked that she always sat on the front step of her house at 6 am to wave to him as he delivered the newspaper.
“Hi, Bobby!” She waved and giggled.
Bobby jumped off his bike and strolled over. Be cool, he told himself sternly, be cool.
Snow speckled her braided hair and pink sundress.
She looked up at Bobby in confusion, the snow melting like tears, and Bobby knew he had never seen anything so beautiful.
***
Favourite Son
Prompt: coffee, lurking, ring
Hank had only ever damaged one book in his life. It was by a Dr. McTaggart, and it told Hank exactly what he was. He had sloshed his coffee on the page, leaving an irregular, spreading ring.
The crowd bellowed his name, so loud he could hear it through his football helmet. Hank McCoy was the star player, and a fraud.
A mutant competing against humans. It was fair as a cheetah racing housecats, and he would have to stop lurking among them. But Hank knew that the next time people called his name, it would not be with joy.
***
Mirror
Prompt: labor, intense, sweat
Despite the elevator, the deliverymen were dripping sweat after carrying the new furniture into the rambling mansion. Charles paid them for their labour and wheeled off to inspect the renovated bedrooms. Four boys in this corridor. Jean in the other wing, where she stayed last time.
Sharing his home with children hardly filled Charles with intense joy, but they had talents that would be hated and feared. If he could give them sanctuary and strength, perhaps that would prevent them hating and fearing the world in return.
Charles could not bear to see Magnus’s rage and sorrow on another face.