A Falcon's Short Wings (open)

[Warren Worthington III]

A Falcon’s Short Wings (open)

(( OOC: Social thread, freeform, no posting order. Assume Warren has sent an announcement/invitation of a new PE class for flyers; show up if you’re interested. Mostly open to folks with flight powers, though if you want to IC hang out and spectate, feel free to do that too.))

Finally, spring! Warren closes his eyes and spreads his wings out in the sun while he waits for his students to arrive, enjoying the warmth and the cool moistness of the new spring grass.

He’s been waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before starting this class, since flying is tricky enough for most people without worrying about windchill and reduced visibility as well. Of course, he could have arranged with Storm to make the weather cooperate, but somehow that always feels like cheating.

Boy, I hope this works out. It’s a bit of an experiment, really; Warren isn’t entirely certain he’ll be able to teach much about flight to people whose mechanisms are completely different from his. On the other hand, he’d managed to teach Josh a few things that first time (he smiles fondly and blushes a little at the memory), despite having no real experience with telekinetic flight… and he’s noticed that, while the school is full of folks who can fly, most of them don’t seem as at home in the air as he is. Relax… worst case, we all get a bit of aerial exercise and go home.

His windsense alerts him of his first student’s approach, and he sits up with a welcoming smile and extends a hand to shake. "Early arrival… good! Welcome to Flight 101."

[Sofia Mantega]

((OOC: Hope it's all right to send Sofia into this even though she's still barely into the school in the other thread, haha.))

This school is way too big, Sofia thinks, stomping around the grounds, gaze wandering about for any sign of Warren’s rather distinctive wings. She makes a vain attempt to send her wind out and back again with sounds of voices, but she has no idea where to aim so all she gets is a jumble of unrecognizable voices, when she gets anything at all—her eavesdropping isn’t as long-ranged as she would like it to be. And she certainly can’t fly yet, so here she is, searching the still unfamiliar school for the meeting place for flight class.

She has no idea what to expect; she’s been at the school just long enough to have a room and enough of a sense of security to venture out on her own, pushing out all invading thoughts of her last school as best as she can. She wonders how many flying mutants there could possibly be…she’s only seen Warren’s wings, but she herself is a perfect example of a not-very-obvious mutant, almost entirely inconspicuous save her automatic ‘wind shield,’ keeping the air moving slightly around her at all times. Honestly, she has no idea if flight is even possible for her—she can manage some unnaturally high jumps, bursts of air propelling her just a bit higher, but those are exhausting. She remembers how she felt at the riot, completely drained, but there were certainly other factors contributing to that.

…And apparently the key to finding her way around is to get lost in thought and forget about her search, because suddenly she stumbles upon the meeting place, spotting Warren and…no one else. Maybe there aren’t many flying mutants…but Warren should know; if there weren’t many, why would he have a class?

"Early arrival… good! Welcome to Flight 101."

“Hello!” She smiles brightly, hopefully, and returns his handshake. “You can’t seem to get rid of me, huh?” Sofia’s glad at how easily the light joking comes out; she must be getting comfortable here, as such friendliness was definitely her natural state.

[Warren Worthington III]

(( OOC: It’s all good! ))

> "You can’t seem to get rid of me, huh?"

Warren laughs. "Unfortunate side-effect of the wings, you know – I have a hard time hiding from people. So, you caught me. I’ll just have to make the best of it now." He grins broadly to make it clear that he’s joking.

"Actually, I was hoping you’d find the time to join us…" he looks around the otherwise-empty clearing and shrugs a bit sheepishly, adding "Or, well, join me, in any case," before continuing.

"Are you settling in OK? Managing to find your classrooms and the gym and everything? This place can be pretty disorienting when you first arrive, I know… especially with the stealth jets and secret hangars and everything. Usually we wait a while before introducing new students to those. But you’ll get used to it all pretty soon."

Which isn’t entirely true, Warren reflects – there’s always something new and surprising popping out of the woodwork – but is a comforting thing for her to believe in any case. He has to admit she’s adapted pretty well, considering how they’d had to dump everything on her at once like that… usually he prefers to wait a while before introducing new students to the X-Men aspect of daily life at the Institute. Of course, usually we don’t recruit students in the middle of a mutant firefight in Times Square.

Granted, even that is better than finding out about the way Laurie and Tobias did, in the middle of a government invasion of the Institute… Warren is still fielding complaints from outraged family members after that incident. And if it weren’t for Fury running high-level government interference on their behalf they’d probably have every child-safety and social services organization in the country picketing outside their fences, on top of it.

None of which has anything to do with their reason for being here, though, and Warren realizes he’s woolgathering. "So… let’s get started then, shall we? I don’t know who else will be joining us, but they can catch up when they get here. " Besides which, from what he’s seen Sofia needs more remedial work than most of the other fliers, anyway, if flight is even possible for her.

" I’ve been thinking about your performance back in Times Square… I was a little distracted at the time, but it looked like you had plenty of power – more than enough to hold your weight up – but you weren’t keeping your windstream coherent enough to really hold you aloft. Were you just distracted by everything that was going on at the time, or is that a more general issue we should work on? I'm guessing you haven't had a lot of opportunity to practice with your powers, before coming here..."

[Tempero]

((Hope it's ok?))

> "...general issue we should work on? I'm guessing you haven't had a lot of opportunity to practice with your powers, before coming here..."


The words reach him just as he snaps back into the real world back from the dreamland privacy of his own mind, which, in and of itself, is not quite as guaranteed with all the telepaths running around. But then again, he also possesses the power of telepathy, at least to an extent. His warm green eyes come into focus just in time to notice that he is walking quickly, and directly, at Warren.

Instead, he just makes a small swerve, and ever so conveniently trips over a stick and tumbles onto the ground, only to get up only a second later, positioned so that the three mutants made an almost equilateral triangle. His face lights up as he sees a new student, and now seems to have assumed a shine of utter friendship, and then kept it permanently. "Hey, Warren..." he says politely and then turns to look at the girl, not in the least bit signaling that Warren is excluded from the situation to come. "Hi, there! You must be new? I'm Danny, pleased to meet you." he says, still smiling a warm-hearted welcome in form of friendly emotional radiation. It is a miracle how he manages to keep up the same happy face without seeming in the least bit fake, or anything other than honest.

He glances down, and then his hands quickly move to dust the grass off the black shorts and T-shirt, and then looks back up, his right hand lifting up and scratching the back of his head. "Um...Warren, I kinda wanted to take this class too...but, I don't really have a mutation for flight...well, not directly..." he starts slowly, muttering, a sheepish smile on his face as if he feels he is doing something horribly impolite.

Which he actually does think. He doesn't find the sentence "Hey, do you mind if I be in this class, but I would actually have to copy the powers of some of your other students, or your own?" does not sound right no matter how many times he edits and flips it. So, what remains is a shameful stutter as he still waits for the girl's reply.

[Sofia Mantega]

"Unfortunate side-effect of the wings, you know – I have a hard time hiding from people.”

It’s just a casual remark, but it makes Sofia wonder—has Warren always been so conspicuous? Have his wings always been so prominent? She can’t imagine how he could hide them, but she also can’t imagine how he could have made it through his life so obviously set apart from everyone in a world that isn’t always very open to differences. Clearly his wings mean a lot more than just pretty flight tools. My life is probably so easy compared to his…

"Are you settling in OK? […] But you’ll get used to it all pretty soon."

She catches herself staring at his wings, and luckily his words snap her out of it. She feels slightly guilty; he must get tired of people always staring at him. But at least her stare is fascination, rather than any of the more negative stares he’s likely had to deal with throughout his life. “I’m doing okay!” she assures him. “I don’t know where everything is yet, but I haven’t gotten hopelessly lost, so that’s a good sign. I’m probably lucky to have gotten some of that crazy stuff out of the way early, yes? I don’t have to worry about those surprises…” She suspects those weren’t the last of the surprises, though.

" I’ve been thinking about your performance back in Times Square […] Were you just distracted by everything that was going on at the time, or is that a more general issue we should work on? I'm guessing you haven't had a lot of opportunity to practice with your powers, before coming here..."

Sofia’s wide-eyes and blank look are a pretty clear response to his inquiries on the extent of her control over her powers. “...I’ve never really used my wind for much more than kite-flying and eavesdropping, so…all of the above?” She smiles sheepishly, and likely would have continued if the other fellow had not come stumbling in.

“Ah! Are you all right?” she asks, but by the time she has extended a hand to help him up, he has reoriented himself on his own. “Um…” Rather than leave her hand dangling, she holds it out for a handshake.

"Hi, there! You must be new? I'm Danny, pleased to meet you."

“Hello! I’m Sophia, and yes, I’m very new, thanks to Warren. Nice to meet you, too! ”

[Warren Worthington III]

> "...I’ve never really used my wind for much more than kite-flying and eavesdropping, so…all of the above?"

Warren nods; he’d assumed as much from what little he’d gathered about her home life prior to running away. Though… “eavesdropping”? He’s not quite sure what she means by that, but decides to let it go for now… they’re here to talk about flying, after all.

"OK, then, let’s start simple and work our way up." He rummages through the duffel bag of gear he brought with him and pulls out a vinyl tarp, which he unfolds out onto the grass. He’s about to explain the exercise when he notices Daniel approaching, and decides to hold off.

Odd, he thinks… I didn’t think Blackburn could fly? Except – oh, I get it, the power-mirroring thing. Well, I guess -- his thoughts are cut off when the boy demonstrates a singularly unsuccessful attempt at walking in a straight line, and Warren watches, intrigued, as he and Sofia exchange introductions.

As always, the boy fascinates him. At first, it was Blackburn’s perpetually friendly demeanor that had caught his attention; it was unusual enough to practically constitute a mutant power of its own. Certainly nobody else Warren has ever met so consistently radiates such profoundly sincere emotional warmth, even when upset or embarrassed or frightened, and for a while, Warren worried it might be a side-effect of the boy’s telepathy, an unintentional manipulation of the emotions of others. But Josh hasn’t ever detected anything like that, and Warren has learned to trust Josh’s sensitivity in such matters. Still… it fascinated him.

And once he’d started paying attention he realized it wasn’t the most fascinating thing, either. Blackburn could easily be the most powerful mutant at the Institute, an unmatched asset to any team. Not only can he copy anyone’s powers, he can supercharge those powers; he’d boosted Josh’s range to continental levels and nudged Allerdyce into a rocket-propulsion stunt they hadn’t even known he was capable of, and who knows what he could do with someone really powerful, like Storm? But at the same time he seems to perpetually marginalize himself; always on the sidelines. It’s a strange dichotomy.

> " Um...Warren, I kinda wanted to take this class too...but, I don't really have a mutation for flight...well, not directly... "

And there it is again, he thinks. The kid is obviously hinting around at copying Warren’s power, but being coy about it… like a shy boy wanting to ask a girl out to the movies, rather than one of the most powerful mutants Warren has ever met wanting to copy a dangerous power so he can learn a useful skill. The attitude is… unnerving.

And it’s also not my concern, he reminds himself. He’s here to teach flight, not to provide amateur psychotherapy to kids who might actually need professional help. When he’s ready to step up to the plate, if he ever is, we’ll know it. In the meantime, our job is to keep him safe.

"Well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Danny… lots of mutants can’t fly. Feel free to observe, though; you might pick up something useful." Turning back to Sofia, he lifts the tarp into the air. "So, like I said: we’re going to start with something simple. Don’t worry about power-level; all I want you to lift is this tarp… the trick is to keep it suspended in one place, without twisting or folding up on itself. It’s all about control, you see? What you want is gentle and evenly distributed support over a large area."

At least, it sounds good to Warren… he hopes Sofia doesn’t think it’s too stupid. He wishes Storm were around to help with this; the truth is she’d be a much more appropriate flight-teacher for Sofia. But he’d signed up for this gig, and he’s going to give it his best shot.

[Tempero]

As the girl, now identified as Sofia, offers her hand, Danny takes it, and then, instead of shaking it, plants a small kiss on the back of it. "I'm sure you'll love it here. The place is great, the people very friendly...well, no need to go any further than Warren here, but it is beneficial to do so. The best thing is- they're always there for you." he says, and then falls into a silence for a few moments, wondering if he, once again, started talking too much.

He turns to Warren for a moment, and then seems to wait for something, as if expecting a sudden airdrop of imperceptible importance. And then he smiles warmly yet again, resembling the most innocent of young schoolchildren, as if in the dire need to experience and taste and explore the world.

"Well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Danny… lots of mutants can’t fly. Feel free to observe, though; you might pick up something useful."

I am not ashamed of that he thinks for a moment, but on the outside lets no hint whatsoever towards the slightest of irritations he has just experienced. "Sure thing!" he says, now obviously relieved. Perhaps he has been actually hoping that his hints would not be either understood, or paid attention to. He then simply slumps to the ground, assuming a lotus position immediately, showing the graceful moves that he lacked so desperately a few seconds ago.

His eyes focus on Warren as he gives instructions, and then turn to Sofia, awaiting a response. Anyone going by might just think that the boy is conducting some kind of research on the other two. So her mutation is air-related? That would be interesting to get a feel for... a stray thought appears in his mind, but is quickly pushed out by the others.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh tears through the kitchen, narrowly avoiding a pair of students apparently in the middle of some baking. Their shouts of surprise follow him as he runs through the patio doors, and a frantic “Sorry!!” echoes back at them.

Way to go. He’d been reading something in the library during his free time, and had dozed off. The window had been open, and the lightest breeze had made it all too easy to drift away. Unfortunately, he’d planned on showing up for Warren’s ‘flight school’, and had realized it was due to start, oh, 5 minutes ago.

Mostly he just didn’t want to look like he was taking advantage of their relationship. He knew he wasn’t, and Warren knew he wasn’t (though Josh had been careful to avoid signing up for anything Warren had been teaching this semester, interest in mutant politics aside), but some of the other students weren’t privy to their thoughts. He’d just about decked Jubilee, months ago, when she’d implied he was fucking ‘Mr. Worthington’, except (1) he didn’t hit girls, no matter how annoying they were (unless they were trying to kill him) and (2) he couldn’t actually find anything untrue about the statement. He was fucking Mr. Worthington. Except it’s ‘Warren’, and our relationship predates his teaching. Storm doesn’t seem to find it a problem. ‘Fucking’ makes it sound so sordid, and our relationship is anything but that.

At the edge of the patio Josh jumps, augmenting it telekinetically. He sails through the air in an impossible-looking leap, landing on the grass below. He sees a few figures towards the lake, and quickly sets off in a fast walk.

Josh was absolutely certain he could get private flight ‘lessons’. His face warms slightly at past memories, and a smile works its way onto his face. The point of joining the others, though, was because he was genuinely curious to see who showed up. Warren was really their only natural flier. Josh shakes his head. Too many loops and I start feeling nauseous. His body wasn’t built for flight, unlike his boyfriend’s.

When he arrives, he gives a sheepish smile. “Sorry I’m late, guys, but I thought I would pop in for a bit.” He waves to Sofia. His smile turns from sheepish to sincere when it hits Warren, and then he notices Danny a short ways off.

“Hey there, big guy.” Josh nods across at him. Wonder what he’s doing here? He’s got… ooh. He blinks as the pieces fall into place. But who would he copy? Warren? An odd protective feeling flicks over him briefly, but the more obvious questions beg asking. Is it even safe for him to copy physical mutations? Would wings sprout from his back? That sounds painful. A few of Warren’s childhood memories rise to the front of his mind.

More to the point, Josh knew Warren’s mutational physiology probably better than anyone else but Warren. His light frame - which Josh found so incredibly appealing - was actually a side effect of his altered skeletal structure. Would Danny’s entire skeleton rebuild itself? Josh shudders slightly. If anything was worse than instantaneously sprouting wings, your bones regrowing themselves was probably it.

Josh pushes the thoughts aside. “So, what are you working on?” He points at the tarp in question.

[Warren Worthington III]

"Glad you could join us, Mr. Dalton." Warren carefully suppresses both his grin at Josh’s frantic arrival and several innuendo-laden comments about having to stay after class, contenting himself with a mental …flying lessons aren’t nearly as much fun without you… before adding, utterly deadpan, "Your grasp of the basics of thrust and altitude control are more than adequate, but you could benefit from work on in-air maneuverability and evasive tactics, don’t you think? "

> " So, what are you working on?"

"Miss Mantega is starting work on altitude control," he replies, not letting the disappointment show on his face as the tarp settles to the ground, barely ruffled.

She ought to be able to lift it off the ground by inducing negative pressure on its upper surface, but he suspects that is best reserved for a later class. He also suspects her difficulty is more a question of confidence and nervousness than of lack of focus or technique. So as he lifts the tarp again and flips it into the air to give her an exposed lower surface to work with, he adds to her in a casual voice "This isn’t a test, you know… just an exercise. We’ll keep on it until it’s easy, then move on to something else; I grade on effort and improvement, not absolute performance. So please, don’t feel like you have to impress anybody."

"Meanwhile," he adds to Josh as he moves over to a modified tennis-ball launcher, "let’s see where you are on maneuverability, shall we? This isn’t the Danger Room, granted, but we wouldn’t want to become utterly reliant on the Institute’s advanced technology. The goal is simple: dodge the missiles. The rules: your feet can’t touch the ground, you can’t move more than one meter in any direction from your starting point, and you can’t telekinetically manipulate the trajectories of the missiles themselves or their launcher… the point is to work on evasion and short-range maneuverability. Clear?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

…flying lessons aren’t nearly as much fun without you…

Josh lets his face relax into a smile, the one he reserves for Warren. Ditto. Sorry I’m late. Hope things are going okay so far...

> "Your grasp of the basics of thrust and altitude control are more than adequate, but you could benefit from work on in-air maneuverability and evasive tactics, don’t you think?"

Curious as to what Sofia’s doing, Josh doesn’t even comprehend the sentence until Warren finishes saying it. He takes a breath in, trying not to laugh, which results in a slight choking noise. Two can play at that!

“Yeah, I probably could.” He concedes. “I’ve never felt completely comfortable in the air. I know it’s natural for you, but it’s an odd feeling when your body’s not built for it.” Josh narrows his eyes slightly. I loved your basic flight class so much, Professor, that I couldn’t pass up the advanced section. I hope you don’t shower with all your students afterwards, though. I like to think I’m a special exception… Josh shoots a mental image from what he likes to think of as their ‘first date’ into Warren’s mind. That was before we were even together! Seems like an eternity ago.

> "The rules: your feet can’t touch the ground, you can’t move more than one meter in any direction from your starting point, and you can’t telekinetically manipulate the trajectories of the missiles themselves or their launcher… the point is to work on evasion and short-range maneuverability. Clear?"

Josh opens his mouth to object. “I can’t manipulate the missiles at all? But… oh, never mind.” If I look like an idiot… you are in so much trouble tonight. He contents himself with a mischievous smile and moves into the target box.

“Hit me with your best shot, Angel.” Josh lifts into the air, hovering in place. He braces himself for the barrage.

[Warren Worthington III]

> I hope you don’t shower with all your students afterwards, though. I like to think I’m a special exception

Warren doesn’t actually blush or shiver at Josh’s projected memory, but that’s only because he’s had a lot of practice at not letting his reactions show in public… and he is teaching a class after all. Without that he suspects he’d be drooling like a congenital moron; seeing – or, rather, experiencing – himself in Josh’s memories (especially those sorts of memories) generally has that effect on him.

Which Josh knows perfectly well, of course, and Warren figures one good tease deserves another. Oh, I don’t know. A group shower afterwards could be entertaining, don’t you think? He’s careful to make the teasing note clear in the “mood” of his thought, though… not that he’d object, but he knows how much their exclusivity matters to Josh. Well, to pretty much everybody, I guess. Warren’s the oddity as far as that goes, and even he’s been enjoying the monogamous thing more than he would have thought possible a year earlier.

> "I can’t manipulate the missiles at all? But… oh, never mind. "

"It’s a flight class, remember? You can show off your advanced TK skills on your own time." He resists the urge to broadcast mental suggestions for ways to do so, contenting himself with the mental equivalent of waggling his eyebrows as he sets up the launcher. "Don’t worry, at this range they won’t do more than sting when they hit. Be grateful I’m not using the paintball pellets…"

Once the launcher is firing, he returns his attention to Sofia. "Hey…" he asks quietly, with a friendly hand on her shoulder, "…is everything OK? Seriously, all goofing around with Josh aside, there’s no pressure here; I know you’re just getting started. Just tell me what the problem is and we’ll find a way around it... OK?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

>"It’s a flight class, remember? You can show off your advanced TK skills on your own time."

“I know. I guess it’s just hard to concentrate only on the flying. Using my powers to protect myself is kind of a reflex at this point.” Josh puts a bit of resignation into his voice, but can’t help but detect the mental flirting Warren is aiming his way. He puts his own telepathic eyebrows to work right back.

As soon as Warren sets off the launcher, a flurry of tennis shots come his way. He quickly sideslips around them carefully, only to see it launch a secondary barrage intended to nail him while he’s distracted. These he quickly rises to avoid.

“Hey… this isn’t too bad…” The machine continues to shoot tennis balls his way, and Josh continues to do his best to avoid them. At one point, the stream is too complicated to weave through, and a hit bounces off his ass.

“Ow.” As he rubs the sore spot, Josh peers at the others, down on the ground. A pair of shots lance in at him, and he half extends a hand at them, but suppresses the urge to stop them with his telekinesis, instead whipping himself to the side to avoid them. Wow, it really is reflex.