Welcome Home...now get to class! (Active, Open)

[gettheeadonut]

WHO: Harry Dresden, those who wish to welcome him home
LOCATION: Around the mansion grounds
When: Start of the new semester
WHAT: Harry took off right after the Zombie event and hasn't really talked to anyone since. Now he's returning with some new scars, souvenirs, emotional problems, and a beard of sorrow.
RATING: B for Beard, and T for Take a

Comments

[feigenbaumblue]

Today was still her first day here. So far she'd managed to have a breakdown about demons when she saw the rock kid and freak out about demon related things. Currently, Fred was sitting on the steps with her legs to her chest, just looking up. She didn't even notice the other kid at first.

She was lost in her own thoughts. Fred was informed about Christmas and she was also mourning the death of her parents who she just found out were killed. It seemed she was all alone in the world and stuck at this school. Of course she was grateful to Gunn, but she barely knew him.

Finally, when he was approaching the stairs, she slid over to let him by. "Sorry."

[gettheeadonut]

Distracted by his thoughts he might be, but Harry still had an innate awareness of what was going on around him that wasn't easily ignored. He'd actually noticed the girl sitting on the steps as he'd approached, but hadn't thought anything of it. After all, lots of students were probably out and about enjoying their last few days of freedom. It wasn't until he got closer and heard her quiet apology that Harry stopped to actually consider the new girl

[feigenbaumblue]

Fred really didn't think he would even notice her. Most people didn't. She tended to stay out of sight, out of mind. At least that's what kept her alive at Wolfram and Hart. Fred was also particularly tiny in general, standing 5'0, that and being malnurished led her to having a slight frame as well.

The fact that this guy took the time out to sit down next to her meant something, even if she didn't understand it. It was probably why she didn't flinch when he did. She wasn't used to human contact. The fact that she made it through most of the drive with Gunn without spazzing said a lot.

Fred bit her lip, and nodded. "I just got here today, actually." She looked down at her fingers and sighed.

So this was Xavier Institute. She was still trying to block out the horrid memories of Wolfram and Hart when she looked up through the windows. It was prettier than the law firm, but then LA is a city, not that she ever got out. Despite being locked in doors for the better part of a year, here Fred was sitting inside.

[gettheeadonut]

The more he looked at her, the more Harry recognized the signs that something was seriously wrong here. Not with the girl of course, but rather with the condition she was in. The way she curled in on herself, her reaction to his presence, the fact that she looked like she hadn't been fed properly in a while. Stars, she looked like he had after that day two years ago. If this girl hadn't been abused to some degree, Harry would give up on ever being a private investigator

[feigenbaumblue]

Fred was pretty exhausted. She only managed to sleep for eight hours the last five or so days. But aside from everything, the memories, the blue blur, the pain, it was nice to just sit here and talk with someone. It seemed so normal, which was a little odd. These kind of things were what she used to do - play video games, have friends. All before they came to take her away

[gettheeadonut]

That was a hard question to answer. He wanted to tell her that it was safe, that everything was going to be alright from now on, and she didn't have to be scared, but at the same time that was a lie. No one was every perfectly safe, and there were enemies the X-Men couldn't protect them from. They'd lost Holly J from right under their noses, and may have lost Elaine forever. He couldn't trust them to keep anyone truly safe

[feigenbaumblue]

That really wasn't a comfort, Harry. Fred was taken from her house and her family members were slaughtered by demons. They made sure there were none to go after her. She bites her lip though, trying not to think about her mother and her father. She couldn't believe they were really... gone.

"I guess you can't really ask for more, huh?" She managed a weak smile before her face returned to its gloomy sort of frown.

So from the sounds of it, things were pretty normal here, despite the mutant thing. Fred wondered how she would do. She hadn't lived a normal life in a very long time. Though the mention of good food made her smile. She hadn't had that either.

"Oh!" Yes, in normal polite conversation, one introduced them. Fred flushed wildly and accepted Harry's outstretched hand. "I'm Winifred Burkle, but everyone calls me Fred."

[gettheeadonut]

Probably not, but unfortunately Harry was a terrible liar, and even if he wasn't all Fred would have to do was talk to anyone who had been kidnapped to learn the truth. At least this way, she could be prepared.

Sometimes he hated having to be such a bastard.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "If nothing else, there are people here who will protect you, and even teach you how to protect yourself if you want. We have some of the strongest mutants in the world living with us."

There were relatively few students in the school who had a normal life, and Harry definitely wasn't one of them, but they managed. Harry had a feeling she would be just fine.

Shaking her hand, Harry grinned brightly and said, "Well Fred, everyone calls me 'You Idiot' but I prefer just Harry."

[feigenbaumblue]

"You don't have to apologize. Especially if you don't rightly know why you are apologizing." She looked out the window with another sigh. Fred wrapped her arms around herself, one of her hands landing on her neck. "I don't really have a problem with needing protection - for now. I don't think they know where I am. Although I guess with the strongest mutants in the world here, I shouldn't be worried - but I guess I've just seen some strong types of

[gettheeadonut]

"Sure I do, I just have to have a overdeveloped guilt complex, or the ability to read minds," Harry pointed out helpfully, before lapsing into silence. Right now Fred seemed like she needed a friendly ear, not more faux witty commentary. He waited patiently through her false start, and then when she tried to brush her story off, he just smiled and gently said, "I've got lots of time

[feigenbaumblue]

Just having someone listen made Fred smile. Not that Gunn didn't, but Gunn was Gunn. She liked him, he protected her, but they didn't really talk. The drive from LA to New York was actually pretty quiet. Both of them were dealing with the fight at Wolfram and Hart, and there were still large chunks just gone from her memory

[gettheeadonut]

"Well, that's why you're here," Harry assured Fred, giving her shoulder a little squeeze, "To figure out what you can do and how to make sure you wrack up as low an insurance premium as possible in the process

[feigenbaumblue]

Fred didn't really know what to feel. But she did know that she had calmed down somewhat since Harry had sat down next to her. Maybe the world really wasn't such a bad place. Maybe Xavier's wouldn't be so bad after all. She looked up at Harry and gave a small smile. Maybe time was all she needed in the long run.

She idly scratched the side of her face, and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's been awhile since I've had to deal with other teens and school, let alone this whole concept of mutants. It's... it's a lot to take in." Fred said, leaning into the arm now around her. "There's just a lot to process and all at once."

She wasn't sure everything was going to turn out alright in the long run, but for right now, at least she wasn't running from the demonic law firm nor was she locked in some basement or being tested on. Right then she was sitting on the steps of a school where she was presumably safe. She met a friend and she was sort of starting to plan her life.

[gettheeadonut]

Her smile may have been small, but for someone who had been through so much to still be able to express any happiness at all filled the expression with far more meaning than most smiles possessed. Harry returned it with a soft expression of his own, feeling his heart go out to this girl even when he knew it was a bad idea to get too attached. Some days he wondered if he actually secretly enjoyed emotional pain, he opened himself up to it so well.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Harry admitted. "Being a teenager is hard enough without having a school right out of a comic book. But don't worry, no one expects you to figure everything out right away."

And if they did, Harry would have a stern chat with them. Possibly from the other side of a shotgun.

[feigenbaumblue]

She bit her lip and gave him a rather hopeful smile. Fred really didn't know why, but things seemed alright. As long as she didn't think about it and maybe slept fairly soon, maybe all the thoughts in her head would disappear. Right now they were gone. Things seemed almost normal.

"I have a roommate. That's going to be different." Fred dug into her pocket and took out the sheet of paper. "Umm, Holly J Sinclair. Do you know her?"

He seemed like the type of person that knew everything about everything going on around the school. Maybe he knew her. If she knew a little bit about her roommate, she might not have that to worry about either. Because chances were, this Holly person was going to have a lot of crazy on their hands.

[gettheeadonut]

Harry's greatest power, the one he had not even realized he had, was his ability to give people hope. He did not accept a world in which the powerful could just prey on the powerless, and where injustices could go unaddressed. For all his act of cynicism, deep down he was an idealist