Owner	Pose
Jax	The jaunty sound of a car horn rings through the school grounds, or at least that part of the school open to the driveway. Horns shouldn't sound jaunty, but somehow this one manages it, preceding the bulk of a Jeep Wrangler with the hard top down as it practically insinuates its way up the drive, leading a column of two other vehicles, with the last one towing a small trailer. The sounds of 'Thunderstruck' pour out of the front vehicle, turning around the fountain and coming to a stop by the front steps, the driver looking out over the empty passenger's seat towards any welcoming committee that might be waiting for him.     Ears perk as Jax kills the engine and takes off his sunglasses, hopping over the driver's side door and dropping lithely onto his toes to the drive, clicking the remote to bring up the Jeep's roof and close the windows as he walks up towards the steps, smiling from nearly ear to ear...     "How do?"     Behind the somewhat impractically parked jeep, a modern pickup rolls to a halt, followed by another, almost identical Jeep.
Colossus	Colossus had agreed to help with the move-in of the new student, given that he wasn't likely to have any problems carrying anything. He's in his human form at first, though, not anticipating so much bulk that it requires his organic steel form to handle it. "Greetings! You are Jax, are you not? I am Piotr Rasputin. I am the art teacher here. You seem to have something of a...wagon train with you. I had thought that you were coming alone?" he says, a little bit confused but good natured nonetheless. He's massive, of course, 6'7" with shoulders almost as wide as the grill of a car, but his blue eyes and open expression show his good nature.
Shannon	Nearly dwarfed by the rather imposing figure cut by Xavier's art teacher, a rather average-looking young woman peeks out. Well, if by average-looking, one means long, pale blonde hair, glacier blue eyes, and a little blue braid off to the left side of her face, with three silver beads on the end. She's wearing dark blue jeans, soft but comfortable black boots, and a wine-colored turtleneck. Pretty, if of more average height and build.      But one thing that was not average, was a pair of very large, snowy white, angelic wings that were tucked in neatly behind her, one of them extending by way of greeting to the new student. "Hi," she chimed in. "I'm Shannon." She offers a light smile to Jax, and extends her hand now as well, coming out from behind Mr. Rasputin. "Welcome to the school."
Jax	"Awesome, nice to meet you Mister Rasputin!" And the kid, also a cat, extends a hand in greeting. He's no midget himself, at 5'8", but carries himself as if he's used to being the smaller one in the room. The reason for that becomes clear when the driver of the pickup truck emerges. "I was going to come alone, but, y'know, mom and dad wanted to be there..." Jax comments with a half roll of his eyes, as if embarrassed at having been found to have parents. That likely makes the man driving the pickup truck his father, and the intelligent looking woman just now emerging from the Jeep his mother.     The man, at a solid 6'6" is clearly used to being the taller one in any encounter, although he seems to lack the sheer mass of the rest of his team mates. With an easy smile, he approaches Piotr and Shannon, reaching over just a bit to ruffle his son's hair and ears, before extending a hand towards Piotr as well. "Mister Rasputin? Colin Miller, thank you for meeting us at such short notice." This, then, is the starting Quarterback of the Buffalo Bills. "You've met Jax" Another ruffle, and then he motions towards the woman who is now joining him. "My wife."     "Catharine, a pleasure" she intones quite pleasantly but also quite precisely, like someone used to speaking in public and getting it right first time, every time. With easy grace, she also extends a hand.     Meanwhile, Jax disentangles himself from the paternal affection, giving a wink over to Shannon and then quite literally tip-toeing to the side, to give the adults some time to talk. "Hey, I'm Jax. So, they told me this was a big school, but damn..."
Colossus	Colossus shakes the hands of Jax's parents, his grip firm and solid. "It is a great pleasure, indeed, to have you along. Too many of our students have had to do without parental support or structure. It can make their already difficult lives even more so," he says. "We've arranged a room for Jax, of course. He'll be in a single at first, but if he befriends anyone and would like a roommate, that can easily be arranged. It may not be luxurious, but we do try to provide a level of comfort. But I'm sure you've heard all of this before. I have only recently returned myself after a short hiatus so I'm getting settled in as well. But as an alumnus myself, I can tell you that the education provided here will be the finest."
Shannon	Grinning impishly first at Jax, then at his father, she offers in an exaggerated stage whisper, "So I guess this is a bad time to mention I was born and raised in Patriots country?" She doesn't even bother stifling a giggle at the playful banter, nodding once. "Yeah, it was a little much for me to get used to at first. I was homeschooled for several years myself, so it was a bit of a change. My folks brought me up here. And they didn't find out it was a school till we arrived."      Nodding towards the Jeep, she grins. "Thought I heard some killer tunes as you were driving up... a little AC/DC?"
Jax	The solid shakes get an easy smile from Colin, and a friendly nod from Catharine. They share a bit of a look between them when 'difficult lives' are mentioned, and while Colin chuckles and seems about to say something, his wife claps her hand on his shoulder and motions her head to the trailer. "Go get the bike, dear. I know you've been itching to ride it the whole way over."     Colin actually laughs a moment and nods, "yes ma'am" before ambling towards the trailer attached to the second Jeep. Catharine gives Piotr a steady look. "Yes, I saw the prospectus. It was quite promising. Very promising and, indeed, very impressive for a school that's ... as it turns out, more exclusive than I thought. I'm sure you'll try your best to get some kind of education into my son's skull, I just can't promise how much of it is going to leak out of his ears afterwards."     "Hey!" Jax' protest is formulaic, punctuated with a grin and a wink. But his attention is soon back with Shannon, motioning over his shoulder to the, admittedly, quite shiny Jeep. "Yeah, the road to the school is... eh, not gonna lie, wanted to crank that up to eleven and floor it, but with dad behind me, we'd have had to wait ages for him to catch up."     "Hey!" It's almost a perfect replica of the earlier protest, but this time it comes from behind the trailer, followed by a *clang* as the ramp comes down.
Colossus	Colossus shakes his head, "These country roads can be very dangerous at high speeds. Especially with the surrounding wilderness, this time of year, you can never be certain when a deer will decide to cross the road. I'm sure your car would be mostly fine, but the poor animal, da?" "If you have need of extra storage space, we do have some facilities on campus that can provide a secure place to keep belongings. I think Jax will be one of the few students with his own vehicle. We do have a couple of buses, however, for group outings and such."
Shannon	"Hey now, my Vespa does quite nicely, thank you very much! Especially considering it's one of the few that can move as fast as I can fly." With everyone comparing vehicles, Shannon puffs up with a little bit of pride in her one and only set of wheels. "Maybe not real great for winter, but she's got it where it counts! But yeah... Mr. Rasputin isn't kidding, you don't wanna go flooring it on some of these back roads. Especially where we're getting close to winter. The winters here can be a little harsh."      Smiling at Jax, she nods towards the mansion. "You got here just in time for Homecoming. That's tomorrow, actually. It's close enough to Halloween where we're sort of putting the two together, even though it's a few days after. Think we might even have Dazzler performing, with any luck."
Jax	"Deer, people, cars, bikes..." Catharine suggests the dangers of driving fast on country roads as she casually leans over and gives her son's ear a light tug, earning a quick yelp and a faux 'mrowl' as he rubs what can't be very much of a sore spot, ears flicking a few times as if to test they still work. "And I'm sure he'll be happy to give a lift to other students if that happens to be convenient. Won't you...?"     Oooh, there it is, the dreaded 'I'm going to use your embarrassing nickname' moment, and Jax' eyes go wide as he understands the danger and quickly nods. "Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, no worries, sure... any day, any time, whenever, anywhere." which roughly translates to 'Please don't do it mom!' in fluent teenager.     "I knew you'd be happy to share." his mother beams and straightens up again. Whew. Close shave. ... wrong metaphor, a narrow squeak. ... wait... argh!     Conceding defeat, Jax clicks the remote again and opens the trunk of his car, revealing a small hillock of neatly stacked boxes. "I suppose I might as well get all of this inside then... y'know, to make room for all my new bests friends who are going to need the space..."     From behind the trailer comes a roar of an engine, and Colin emerges driving a Yamaha cruiser, a bike that looks a bit undersized for him but doesn't seem to struggle with the weight. Like father, like son... and he starts to drive it around the fountain, grinning wide.     Jax, meanwhile, pauses in the middle of picking up a box. Literally, stops in perfect lean and lift, head swiveling (you may take this literally) towards Shannon. "THE Dazzler?"
Shannon	Grinning over at Jax, Shannon bobs her head once, ruffling her wings. "The same. Though miss Blaire is also one of the music teachers here. She's a total sweetheaert, you'll love her. Miss Carr is pretty awesome, she also teaches music and ballet as well. As for Mr. Rasputin?" She giggles, shaking her head as she sees him helping move some of Jax's belongings inside. "He's pretty awesome, too. Great teacher, and I wonder if he or the kids here have more fun with Christmas."      The interaction between mother and son is not lost on the winged teen, and she snickers softly, a look of understanding offered to Jax. "Don't worry, I won't bug you too much for rides. Can't promise that for anyone else, though!"
Jax	"Ballet? Man, sign me up!" Eh? Oh well. Catharine watches her son with a smile and then, tactfully, steps away, seeming to understand that this is the moment they let him go his own way, and heading back to her own car.     Colin, for his part, comes to a stop near Jax and Shannon, kicking the stand down and killing the engine before dismounting the bike. "Works just fine, doesn't seem like anything happened to it on the way over."     "Sure dad, thanks for testing that just to make absolutely sure... *oof*"     In one motion, Colin reaches down and picks up his son in a tight hug, suddenly far more serious than before. "You gonna be okay?"     "I'll be fine dad." the teenaged cat replies, returning the hug just as fiercely, eyes closed for a moment. "You worry 'bout yourself, okay? We're, like, third in the league... I'll be at the game, I promise."     "You promise?"     "Promise, dad."     "Okay then." and Jax is allowed back down onto his toes, with one last squeeze in that paternal hug. "See you there."     With shoulders squared, as if he's staring down fifty yards on the third down, Colin climbs back into his pickup.     Slowly, the cars roll around the fountain and back to the gate.     "Dad's a bit emotional from time to time..."
Shannon	Shannon just smiles and nods, stepping back to allow father and son their moment. She lets out a soft little sigh, going a touch misty-eyed herself for a few seconds, brushing one hand beneath her eyes. Nope, nothing to see here. Nothing at all. "You've got really cool folks," she says, smiling. "I miss mine sometimes. But they're moving out to the Poconos, where it's a little more mutant-friendly, so I don't have to worry about them any more."      Grinning wide at Jax, she can't quite resist turning towards the retreating vehicles, and letting out a mighty shout...      "GO, PATRIOTS!"
Jax	Jax laughs and shakes his head, even his tail twitches with merriment. "Man, if you wanted to give him a good reason to go nuts on the field, that'll do it. Now he's gonna want to show off just to get back at you. But yeah..." the kid agrees, watching the cars disappear and the gate close behind them. "They're cool."     There's a bit of a pause, as his ears and tail wilt just a bit now that it properly dawns on him that he's by himself, but soon those ears perk up again and he picks up a box, turning on his toes towards the steps. "C'mon, might as well show me my room. Need to know where to put up my posters and throw my shirts on the floor!"
Shannon	Letting out a soft sigh, Shannon feels her heart clench as she sees Jax just wilt right there. It was a look she'd seen on some other incoming students, and it never got any easier. Resting her hand briefly on his shoulder, she gives a light squeeze and smiles. "Hey," she says softly. "It's going to be okay. Come on, let's get you settled in, and if you're hungry from the trip, I can make some of my mac 'n cheese. The ultimate comfort food."      Because mac 'n cheese can fix just about anything, right? Right!