12448/You too can save 15 percent on your X-Insurance

You too can save 15 percent on your X-Insurance
Date of Scene:	14 November 2020
Location:	Austin, Texas
Synopsis:	Sam and the New Mutants fly to Austin to pick up a new student. Gecko!
Cast of Characters:	Cannonball, SpyderByte, Ted Gammage, Jax Miller, Gecko

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Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie has gotten word about a new mutant sighting in Texas, and along with a message they received via Andrea's mutant outreach hotline, it proved enough to check out. Once the higher ups have confirmed seems to be a new mutant out there, Sam decided to bring a few different students. Jeremy is brought for his abilities, in a city like Austin, a techno presence would be handy. Ted is chosen, cause another southern boy and one who is closer to the area than Sam could come in handy, and Jax? Well it is good to bring some of the newer students to help them feel they are helping plus often they can bring something special when talking to a new person. So, Sam called them all to the hanger, and off to Austin they have flown. Sam makes sure Jax has an image inducer for walking around in public. And the four young men head into the city proper.

SpyderByte has posed:
Having called 'shotgun', Jeremy is in the passenger seat of the rental car that Sam is driving. He has networked himself to the vehicle through his phone and thus not only is he in charge of the radio, he is utilizing the maps software built into the dashboard to locate the new mutant via whatever device she may have on her for telecommunications.

All it took was a trace of the phone call through Starlight to find her unique identifier. From there, it's just like following breadcrumbs.

The Gothic Technopath is dressed in black pants with multiple chains, a black shirt and a long half black trench coat, complete with his spiked dog collar around his throat. Through the car's speakers, his voice comes through in a digital manner.

<< Do you want me to text her ahead of time or are we going to surprise her? >>

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted's set himself up in the back seat. He's being super useful too, it just looks like he's leaning back, nearly napping, his cowboy hat mostly covering his face. It's all a ruse though, he's checked his phone twice, so he's totally doing stuff. He's chosen his usual fare, jeans, workboots, t-shirt. The last looks new, he's gone all out and worn his best shirt for this.

Jax Miller has posed:
    For a few days now, Jax has had the sneaking suspicion that the school was perhaps a bit more than a regular school. There were subtle hints here and there, like the students often referring to a group of them together as a 'team', odd questions being slipped into conversation to gauge his reaction to heroism, and the presence of a fully function SR-71 Blackbird that launched from underneath the basketball court.

    Honestly, it was the private aircraft that gave it away.

    Having had the function of an image inducer explained to him, to which his entire and total answer had been 'cool!', this only left the actual flight. For most of it, he'd been playing with the buttons on his seat's armrest, and it's no doubt due to the diligent intervention of the on-board technopath that he hadn't managed to break anything. The rest of the time? Catnap.

    Now he's in the backseat of the car, looking at it with curiosity etched on his currently human face. His hoodie and sneakers all proclaim this kid to be a huge fan of the Buffalo Bills for some reason. "Wow, this car is ... crap. Couldn't we rent something bigger?"

Gecko has posed:
     It's approaching noon in the city of Austin. Within the line of sight of downtown's skyscrapers sit a series of nonuniform tents. One might think some special event is going on in the area, but there are no festivities. And a second glance at the occupants reveals this is a small transient village. People are cooking with camping gear, sitting out smoking, drinking. Many more lay around sleeping.

     One of them is a teenage girl who is bundled up with a thick green bomber jacket over a red hoodie. She's inside of a white tent sitting lotus style. She leans back against a series of blankets, forming a shoddy throne of sorts. There's a decently expensive-looking drawing tablet on her lap. A cord connects it to a laptop with random photos of models. She sits there casually sketching, only stopping occasionally to drink from a bottle of water or throw her pen at the tent wall in frustration.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will pull the car to a stop near the edge of the village. He looks back to Jax. "You should be glad, I din't just bring my wagon for the trip." He chuckles a bit, seems he is used to a bit of a spoiled rich kid. He looks over to Jeremy "You got any leads on her yet?" He will ask the techno goth. To the group as a whole he says "Stay near, aint got any word of problems in the area, but keep your eyes open.

SpyderByte has posed:
<< I am currently sifting through all the signals, but I do believe I have hers. I am just weeding out a few other strong noises. I can access her front facing camera and take a picture of her I believe. >>

Jeremy straightens up in the chair, unbuckling his seatbelt.

<< Do you want me to send her a head's up that we're here? >>

Ted Gammage has posed:
"You prefer a Minivan?" Ted asks, amusedly. "Could'a got a pick up truck, jus' ride in th' back," He adds with a wry tone. Though, to be fair, wouldn't be the first time for him.

As the car slows to a stop, he sits up a little bit more and looks around, "Y'all think we should'a thought this through better? Four dudes roll up on a girl, say "C'mon, get in our car an' we'll take you to a magical school?" He unbuckles his seatbelt as well, "An' Ah don' really do unassumin' too well," he admits, indicating he's kind of a big dude. "So yeah, may wanna give 'er a heads up."

Jax Miller has posed:
    "I'm just saying, we could have taken the Mustang that was on the same lot. Or the Ranger Rover, not the budget mobile..." There's no rancor in Jax's statements, seemingly genuinely astonished that they were driving around in this thing and not something more... comfortable. If a school can afford its own private supersonic plane, surely it could spring for a bigger rental budget? Or was this some kind of lesson to be learned too? Hmmm. Pensive now, the cat kid shuts up and leans back in his seat, watching the semi-familiar sight of Austin roll by through the open window. But his pensive mood disappears quickly when Ted mentions the pick up truck. "Man, I love riding in the back of a pick up. My grandpa lets me do it all the time at his farm!"

    And it's through the window that he leaves the car when it rolls to a halt, slipping out with the ease and grace of a feline. Shame he's looking like a human at the moment, but oh well.

    Honestly, even with the inducer on he couldn't stand out more if he tried. Bright, cheerful, richly dressed, looking around as if the world contains nothing more dangerous than the occasional speeding car. His entire bearing screams innocence, a thing perhaps very alien to this part of the city.

    "Right. Eyes open..." blink. "Ehm... what are we looking for?"

    A further nod to Ted, and a side-tilt to Jeremy. It would have looked better with his usual ears. "I'm with them. Never go full ham, always work up to it."

Gecko has posed:
     The photo that gets taken shows a teenage girl in a white tent. Amusingly, she seems to be currently balancing a computer pen between her nose and upper lip. The shot's angle shows a little bit of the exterior of her tent, specifically the small park's statue in the center.

     Jade sighs as she releases the pen from her strange grasp. It rolls down her jacket and onto her lap as she collapses into the mountain of blankets behind her. One hand lazily reaches over to her mouse to start browsing the internet through her wifi.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods and says "Yea, tell her we would like to talk to her, but try not to come off as a secret agency or anything." He looks tot he others and says "One of the issues with the whole school not being publicly known it can be complicated when finding some of the students who don't have a family support structure any more.

SpyderByte has posed:
<< Well, when you phrase it like that, Ted. It does sound weird. >>

Jeremy nudges the door open to the car and gives a long stretch of his skinny frame. As he does, he reaches out with his hand to snag something invisibly in mid air, then gives a hard tug on it so that he can stare at his palm.

With a slight blink of his eyes, a message is sent.

**Hello! My name is Jeremy. I got your name and number from the Starlight Charity for mutants on the run and in need. I'm a friend! I'm near your tents. Me and my best friends have an opportunity for you! It's a school for mutants like us. If you got a few minutes, we can tell you all about it. We also have a huge swimming pool. It's super big.**

The message is sent without him even tapping along on his phone. He's just slowly blinking his eyes as he stares off into space.

Ted Gammage has posed:
"Yeah, that's me, Jer, th' voice of reason." Ted grins and winks before opening his door as well. "Aw, though maybe she'd be int' the secret agent thing. Double-Oh-Jax, license to...chill?" he says, as if trying out the words, then gives a little bit of a shrug. He then tries to loom just a little less imposingly than usual. As Jeremy says he sent the message, "Oh oh, could do ah power rangers thing. Teenagers with attitude?"

Jax Miller has posed:
    "Double-oh-Jax? I like that, and I'm gonna steal it." Oh yeah. He's actually slightly swaying where he stands, since standing still doesn't come naturally to someone with digitigrade legs. Behind Jax, his tail is swaying invisibly, and staying well away from Jeremy's suddenly grasping hands, since a tug would very much give the game away.

    "Sure I can't just... be myself? I mean, there's no paparazzi around or anything." His ears, now invisible, are swiveling from side to side, picking up sounds automatically, making a mental catalogue of different audible areas. "I mean, she'd know we're serious about the mutant school thing if I do..."

Gecko has posed:
     The message pops up on Jade's screen. She switches from her internet browser as she furrows her brows. Her green eyes dart around it for a few moments.
    "This surely isn't a Nigerian prince," she says.

     Jade rereads the message, taking note that they mention her tent specifically. She's never been one to brag about her living conditions on social media. Finally, she starts putting away her working tools. Her tablet goes into a hard protective case, which goes into her backpack with her laptop. She crawls to the entrance of her tent, hesitating for a moment before she climbs out. A subtly clawed hand combs through her hair a few times. Her big green eyes dart around, and her pupils shift into reptilian slits for brief moments.

     With all her worldly belongings on her back, Jade slowly strolls through the village on the lookout. She pulls out her cheap-looking phone, which has the same messenger app on it.

**Uh, heya. Yeah. I guess I can talk. if this isn't bullshit, where are you?**

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie stands out a bit with his group. Sam seems to be the elder of the group scanning about the place, He hmms softly as he looks over the place, and says "There any people in the area trying to help the people out here, showing up on the net?" He asks Jeremy. To Jax he says "We will get to that, but right now, we don't know how the general public will react, and if she lets the folks around here know she is a mutant. She maybe hiding it from them.

SpyderByte has posed:
<< I don't know. I'm not actively peeking in on everyone else at the moment. It would also give me a huge headache if I did. >>

Jeremy twirls his phone about in his hand a few times before he gives it glance downwards at it. THe young goth sways back and forth upon his combatboots, brushing a hand through his black and red streaked hair.

** We're nearby. There is four of us. I'm the gothic looking one. Is it okay for you to come outside or would you rather us visit you? If you aren't 'out' like that, we understand.**

Jax Miller has posed:
    "That's a good point." Jax concedes and looks around. Tents, tents, tents, people, tents, people, more people... ooh, more tents. The decor is a bit repetitive, but his keen eyes are seeing people among the people, people among the tents, and smaller tents tucked in behind the larger ones.

    With an effortless leap, he jumps and lands to sit on the roof of the car, legs dangling along the rear passenger door. Standing is unnatural. Perching on the other hand... "So, anyone got a prediction for the game tonight? If the Patriots win, I'll never heard the end of it."

Gecko has posed:
     With that last message, Jade slips the phone back into her pants pocket. She looks around with an arm resting idly on the strap of her bag. Finally, the tomboy spots the group of guys. She chews on her lip briefly, then strides toward them.

     Her eyes are a little too vibrantly green at first glance, but otherwise seem human. With a very neutral expression, Jade approaches the car with Jax perched on it. A sharp tooth gnaws at her lower lip.

     "Ah, heya. You the guys here that want to talk to me?" asks Jade.

     Her free hand fidgets for a moment, then it slips into one of her jacket pockets. Her bare feet pad against the sidewalk until she leans against a light pole a safe distance away.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods and says "Yes Miss Green. Ah am Sam Guthrie, and I am a graduate and one of the teachers at a school for people gifted with abilities like yourself. These three gentlemen are students at the school, this is Jeremy, Jax, and Ted." He introduces each in turn. "We received word that you were in need of help, and came out to talk to you to see if we might be able to help provide some help." He continues. Are you ok talking here, or would you prefer somewhere else, maybe a nearby food place, where we can have a bit of privacy but still in public?"

SpyderByte has posed:
Lifting his hand upwards, Jeremy is clutching his phone. His lips doesn't work, but his voice does come out of the speakers of the device he holds.

<< Hello! I am Jeremy. It's very nice to meet you! >>

He blows another strand of hair away from his face, then goes back to tapping along the glass screen a few times with his thumbs.

Jax Miller has posed:
    A hand is lifted, and Jax gives a jaunty wave from the roof of the car. "Hiya, Jax. Promise we're not creeps or weirdos." Okay, so, maybe he's new to all this.

    He looks over to Sam. "Somewhere to eat sounds nice. I'm starving, haven't had anything to eat since second breakfast."

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted too raises a hand, "Ted," he says. "Don' listen t'Jax. He's like, a little bit of a weirdo," he says, teasing his companion. He gives his most winningest grin ever, which isn't great, but he's trying. "Yeh, could go get somethin' t'eat. Ah think we're on the expense account now right?"

Gecko has posed:
     Jade's tongue pokes against the inside of her cheek as she listens to Samuel talk. It slides back into its normal position just as she shifts her weight to her other foot.

     "Right, sorry. It's nice to meet all of you?" she asks as her eyes narrow slightly.

     "You'll have to forgive me. I'm not used to people coming to offer me things out of the goodness of their hearts," she says.

     Green eyes slowly take in every detail. Almost like she's attempting to solve a puzzle. Ted's smile and banter cause her to grow a grin of her own. And soon after, a sigh escapes her. Jade's hand reaches up from her pocket and combs through her hair.

     "Okay, sure. A pizza place? Or Chinese? Either of those sound good?" she asks.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods and says "Trust me, we can understand." He looks around the area, and says "Lets hit pizza." He will ask Jade "Place to park the nearby that would be ok?" It seems he plans on walking to the food place, not wanting to have to try to get her into a car at least not yet. "And yea it is on the expense account so you can get what ever you want, that is legal." He adds in out of habit from some of the other students he has to deal with.

Jax Miller has posed:
    With a smile, Jax leans back and supports himself on his hands, looking over to Ted. "A little bit?" And then he's smiling over towards Jade. "Not gonna lie, I'm a total weirdo. Y'know, just one of those things. It's just not something you say when you meet people, yanno? Like, hey, nice to meet ya, I'm Jax, total weirdo, how you doing? Y'know? Sounds wrong."

    Lithely, he slips off the roof and lands on his feet without a bounce or a flex, just going from seated to standing in one motion as if the change in elevation makes no difference whatsoever. "Man, I could eat a whole pizza by myself. No kidding, I could, and I'm gonna."

Ted Gammage has posed:
"Man, you eat more'n I do an' about half th' size," Ted tells Jax, "Where y'put it all?" He grins at the others, nodding to Sam, "Pizza works fer me" Truth be told he usually downs a whole pie himself, but he's not going to mention that too. He does note that his smile seems to have worked, go him!

Gecko has posed:
     "Yeah, a few blocks down that way. There's a donut shop with some metered parking. Almost always a cop there," she says without any hint of humor.

     A little more relaxed, she grabs both straps of her backpack and plays with them.

    "There's a mom and pops place called Luigi's, very original, but it has top tier pizza. Not too far from here, about two blocks south, three east," she says with eyes cast down the street before she adds, "I can meet you there, or wait for you to park and we walk?"

     Her question ends with her gaze landing back on the four other mutants.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the others and in a moment of either trust or bad decision making he says "You and the guys head on over, I will meet you there." He will walk around to the other side of the car, and says "On your best behavior guys." He sounds like he is mostly joking as does not seem worried. HE will head to park and head to meet them.

Jax Miller has posed:
    "Okay, see you there." Jax nods and rubs his hands together, smile now practically a grin. "Lead the way. Milkshakes are on me."

Ted Gammage has posed:
After Sam leaves, Ted looks to Jax, "This onna those 'Don't do anythin' ah wouldn't do' things or 'Don't do anythin ah would do' things?" He smiles gently, shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs, "Well, lead th' way to Marios, ah guess," he says, possibly intentionally getting the name of it wrong. It's sometimes hard to tell with him. "Uh, if that ain't too weird?" He pauses a moment, "This is like a lil' weird for ya right?" he notes, "Ah'm tryin' not t' make it worse."

Gecko has posed:
     Jade's eyes narrow at Samuel when he tells the others to be on best behavior. She kicks off the light post and says, "Alright, follow me then."

     As she starts walking, she reaches back into her bag, tugs out two flip-flops one-by-one. They land on the ground, and then Jade steps into them without much pause in her stride.

     "Oh, yeah. This is weird as fuck," she laughs with a toothy grin at Ted.

     "But I mean, I dunno. I'm tryin' not to immediately jump to the conclusion you're human traffickers."

     The tomboy watches the sidewalk as she walks, her steps avoiding cracks. However, Jade does look up repeatedly as if to check on the men around her.

     "Do you guys do this a lot? Go pick up random muties? Where is this place of yours again? What's it called?" she asks.

Jax Miller has posed:
    "I think it's one of those 'don't do anything I'll find out about later' kind of things." Jax mentions to Ted, sauntering along. And it is a saunter, as if he can't be sufficiently motivated to walk normally. His eyes don't stray, he doesn't appear to be looking at anything except where he's going. Trusting doesn't describe half of it, he's downright lax.

    Chillax, almost.

    "It's my first trip, actually. Only joined the school about two weeks ago myself, but man..." he lifts his hands up to his head and then makes an explosion sound, indicating in the time honored fashion that mind = blown. "They got a swimming pool, a baseball field and a basketball court. Haven't explored all of the backyard yet, but I'm half expecting to find a whole football stadium tucked away somewhere that they've forgotten about. The place is huge!"

    As for the name, he glances over to Ted, as if inviting him to take it from here.

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted doesn't saunter so much as just kind of lumbar along with them. He keeps up well enough, and for a bit he's just trying to focus on not bumping into anyone and accidentally knock them thirty feet away.

"See, ah told them we shoulda swapped ah couple less intimidatin' folk in. Ah thought it'd be a lil' creepy like that, but all ah can do is promise we mean well." He looks around as Jax chats up the more physical aspects of the school and even chuckles a bit. "Ah ain't seen no football stadium. Well... ehh, yeah, let's go with that." He DID see one in the Danger Room once, but probably best to let that be learned a little later. "Ah've been there a few months," he says, "Picked up off m' farm in Louisiana." He does actually step in closer and lower his voice, "Ah'm told th' town was plannin' on lynchin' me. My, uh..." he pauses, trying to remember how nicely Shannon always described it, "'Gifts' accidentally hurt someone," he explains. "Community was ah bit over religious an' y'know, power not from god comes from th' other place..." He shrugs, "Anyway, couldn't stay home, so they gave me ah place. And teach us how to control ourselves y'know? And folks there are good folk. Seem to actually care, an' that's not easy t'find these days."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie is heading towards the pizza joint from where he parked. He could beat the kids there, but that would make a bit of a scene. So he can be seen walking along the street looking to fit in well with the area. He pauses and holds the door on a shop for someone coming out before heading back up to meet the others. "Well got a bit of an odd look from the police officer, but put that more on the rental tags than anything else." He offers to them as he gets within talking range.

Gecko has posed:
     Jade sputters her lips after listening to the accounts of the school. Her large green eyes widen for a brief moment.

     "Sounds like a dream, I guess," she says.

     That's when Samuel catches up. Jade turns to face the man for a moment, gives a little nod, then turns and continues walking. The girl retrieves a pair of dusty shades from her pocket and flings them on. Her rubber sandals scrape against the smooth concrete as she walks up to Luigi's shop

     "Here we are."

     She opens the door and holds it open for the closest person behind her, then heads to the counter inside; there's no line to speak of. Jade orders an entire medium pepperoni pizza for herself and some wings to boot.

     "So what else should I know about this place?" she asks.

Jax Miller has posed:
    Jax takes the door and holds it open for Ted. Curiously, he turns as he enters, which seems to be entirely reflexive, as if he's... afraid he's going to get caught in the door? Hmmm. But other than that, just a regular kid walking in and joining the non-queue, putting in his order as the large meat feast with chicken nuggets, cheesy garlic bread and a can of soda. Clearly, the milkshake will be a dessert.

    "Dunno. It's a school. It has teachers, classes, a good lounge to loaf around in and a kitchen that always has some food available. Even late at night. I checked." Grin. "Oh, and big rooms." He feels like something more is needed...

    "We had Dazzler performing during the Halloween dance..."

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted nods lightly, "Ah dream? Maybe. It's just... ah safe place, for some of us misfits who got nowhere else t'go," he notes with a shrug, and then enters through the offered door. He's less worried about getting caught anywhere, could just bully his way through a wall if need be. "Oh, yeah, an' that did happen," he notes when Dazzler is mentioned. "That was ah' random thing." He queues up to order his large pepperoni pizza, "But anyway, y'learn, its comfortable, an' probably only slightly less weird than we're makin' it out t'be." After wrinkling his nose a bit, "Ah'm not really a sales guy though."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will come along with them, and motions towards a table near the back in a bit of a shadow for them to eat at. He lets all of them order first and gets a meat calzone himself with a small salad. He waits and when the bill comes he offers over a credit card with an X symbol on it, and he adds a twenty percent tip. "Miss Blaire teaches a couple glasses now and again, her and Alexis run a really good music and dance class. Our art teacher just returned from a trip he had been on, not sure if you have met him, but he was the guy dressed as the terminator at the home coming." Mr. Rasputin."

Gecko has posed:
     Jade takes a seat at the large table with her food and wastes no time digging in. She raises a large slice as strings of mozzarella ooze off it. When her mouth opens, her tongue sticks out a little revealing it's a bit thicker and longer than one might expect. And if that's not enough, her teeth have a few amongst them that are much sharper than they should be.

     The tomboy takes a couple of bites too many, causing her cheeks to puff out a bit as she chews with her mouth closed.

     "So, why do you guys want me?" asks Jade.

Jax Miller has posed:
    "Yeah, he helped me carry my stuff to my room. Saw him lift my TV in one hand, he's just awesome. Made a promise that if we signed up for his art class, he'd take us to ComicCon. Call me easily bribed, but... I'm easily bribed." Case in point, nom! Jax tucks into the pizza as if he's half starved, with every sign of delight. His metabolism must be amazing...

    As for why the school wants Jade... he looks again to Ted and Sam, the experience among this crew.

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted takes a lesiurly posture as he sits and eats his own food. He's a little more subdued than the others seem to be, at least not chimpunking out his cheeks at the very least. He seems to slip easilly into his usual silent mood, most of his word allotment apparently used up. As to her question, he says, "Ah, its... more like wantin' t' help," he explains, "Uh...Sam?" he says, deferring to him since he's well out of his whole area of expertise.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Ok, well lets go through the speal "Our school is Xavier's School for the Gifted. Our founder had a goal of mankind and mutant kind living together in harmony. He realized though that this could be a difficult goal, between the fear and hatred both sides can feel towards the other, and also accidents some of our kind have as their powers emerge. It is our goal to find and help those in need through this, and teach them how to use their powers responsibly so they can make a choice how they wish to live their lives. Some like myself, and Ted here, can pretty much hide we are mutants. Jax here has help that can allow him to hide his mutations while in public. He makes sure he and ted block view of Jax from the rest of the pizza place. He nods to Jax, "You want to show her Jax?" He offers to the younger man.

Gecko has posed:
     Jade makes short work of a few slices, and it's a bit obvious she hasn't been in proper company in some time. She is at least chewing with her mouth closed. All the while, she listens intently to Samuel's explanation. Her soda is the only thing that gives the pizza a break.

     A napkin ruffles between Jade's fingers as she wipes the grease off them. She retrieves her phone and starts tapping away at it, pulling up Google and other sites to do some on the spot research. Periodically, she looks up at Jax curiously as Samuel draws attention to him.

     "Really? Looks normal to me, " she says.

Jax Miller has posed:
    "It's pretty... impressive, actually." Jax admits, eating without any kind of hesitation. He knew this moment would come, and when he's fairly sure the rest of the place isn't looking their way, he wipes his fingers on a napkin, rolls up his left sleeve, and touches a few controls on what looks like a very fancy smart watch. He actually has one of those, but this one...

    Abruptly, the image inducer shuts down, revealing Jax in his full feline glory. Ears, tails, muzzle, fur, slitted pupils... One moment there's a regular teenager sitting there, the next there's a humanoid cat, who happily picks up the next slice and starts eating. His teeth are unmistakably feline, and all those strange little motions he made thus far can start to make sense. The inducer clearly hides his form, but doesn't change it. His tail is now fully visible, swaying behind him and curled close to the chair to make sure nobody accidentally steps on it.

    That strange turn with the door earlier? He didn't want to get his tail caught.

    "See, in my case, I've always happily gone around looking like this. Never really a problem until a few weeks ago... some jerk started threatening mom and dad... and school. And all my friends. I mean, some of 'em are jerks, but... y'know what I mean. So I live at Xavier's now, while they find out who the asshole is and keep my family safe." It's a bit of a story. But he tells it with his ears perked, as if accepting it for what it is and just not worrying about it much.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods a bit and says "And some are totally ok with going out and about naturally we have a couple of the teachers who do. Ah asked Jax to hide it as we did not know how much you were out and wanted to leave that choice up to you. As for the school looking normal we try to keep a low profile, as we don't want anti mutant groups targeting the school, it is for the safety of the students. On school grounds you can go around looking pretty much how ever ya want as long as your decent, if your going off grounds and wearing school colors and such if you have visable mutants, sometimes you maybe asked to hide them sometimes not so much.

Gecko has posed:
     The sudden transformation causes Jade's eyes to widen behind her shades. And in the same moment, her hands jerk a bit, sending her phone flopping onto the tabletop with a muffled clunk.

     "Holy shit!" says Jade under her breath.

     It doesn't take the girl long to regain her composure. With a little laugh, she straightens up. The shades come off her face and back into a pocket.

     The realization that all of this might be legit seems to be dawning on her. One hand claps gently over her mouth, rubbing both cheeks with her fingers.

     "Did you always look like that? Or did it just happen one day?" she asks, eyes focused on Jax curiously.

Jax Miller has posed:
    Being the center of attention seems to come natural to Jax, the tip of his tail curling up as his right ear swivels ever so slightly towards Jade. "I was always like this. I mean, I remember being like this and my parents say I was born this way, so... yeah, probably. It's never bothered me one bit, always had lots of friends, it's just... y'know, something you get used to as you get older. It's actually weird seeing myself in disguise, I go out looking like myself."

    He does glance over to Sam after that, though. "But I never wear anything carrying the school's colors or logo or things like that. I mean, it's sometimes a bit weird having to remember, but... I understand why they do it, y'know?" And then he smiles towards Jade, casually re-engaging the image inducer. "And man, I was kind of hoping you were a football fan. I could have signed an autograph or something."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie grins a bit and says "There are some who are born different then some who change with puberty. My brother and a girl at the school I consider a kid sister both grew wings. Some can change from one form to the other, each person is somewhat different. Sometimes you will find someone who is similar but there is usually at least some difference." He nods, and looks over to Jax. "Just try, trust me, when I was your age we did some thigns looking back now I wonder what we were thinking or even if we were."

Gecko has posed:
     Jade's hand falls from her face to grab her drink for another sip as she nods.

     "Hah yeah, sorry man. I was never big into sports. I mean, MMA is pretty cool, but that's about it," she says.

     Jade nods to Samuel then leans back in her chair and says, "I was 'normal' until a year ago." As she speaks, she lifts her hands and pinches the air with two fingers on each side to emphasize the word.

     "Parents kicked me out, whatever, fuck 'em."

     Once again, she ends up chewing on her lower lip while sinking into deep thought. Then she says, "I guess I could check the place out, right? No strings attached? Stay if I like it?"

Jax Miller has posed:
    There are times when imagination needs to take over from observation. In this case, as he hears about Jade's predicament, Jax's face turns into a mask of such utter pathos that it's not hard to imagine what it would look like without the optical camouflage. The mind's eye is likely easily able to see the flattened ears, the wide open eyes, the sudden droop of his tail... "That's awful! How could anyone... how... why..."

    And then he looks over to Jeremy, to Ted... and remembers their stories. Then the expression changes, from saddened devastation to something more closely resembling resolve. Again, the imagination needs to fill in the ears slowly lifting, or the tail curling into a helix, seeing as how the eyes need to make do with a mere human facial expression. It seems the cat kid is silently adopting Jade into his circle of friends then and there. "You'll love it at Xavier's. They'll take awesome care of you."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "Sadly there are many peoples family who can not deal with it, and I do not know if it will make a difference, but it seems your ma was the one who contacted Starlight to try to get you help." He will eat a moment and says "The only string is if you decide it is not for you, that we ask you not tell others about the school and protect it's privacy."

Gecko has posed:
     Jade shrugs in response to Jax's initial comment. The tomboy munches down some of her wings she ordered, pointy teeth tearing meat off the bone. Her brows arch inward at Jax, and she swallows her food hurriedly.

     "Hah, okay, sounds good," she replies with a weak grin.

     One of her hands carefully brushes dark hair out of her face as she continues to eat. Jade offers Samuel a nod as she chews.

     "That's fair unless it ends up being a crazy cult and I have to escape afterward," she says with a grin.

     "But yeah, I'm not interested in making life harder for anyone."

     Fingers pop in and out of her mouth one by one as she cleans the wing sauce off of them.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie nods, and says "Well I think you will like it. We can go back and get your stuff together, and head out from there. We have a plane to take you to the school. It is in upstate New York. If there is anything you need from here that you don't have we can try to pick it up before we leave." And they finish eatting and gather Jade's stuff together and off to a new and crazy life for the young Gecko.