#t:present

Rachel didn’t need telepathy to be burdened with Kate’s sadness; her ears worked just fine. She could tell that her cousin was trying to stifle it and it made her pause a moment outside the door. Maybe if she left her for just one more hour... But she knew she shouldn’t. She’d already given Kate an extra hour. It would be bad to leave her any longer. For the mission, sure but more importantly Kate didn’t deserve to feel sad forever. She rolled her eyes thinking back to what Arlo had said, “Keep an eye on her.” Kate might be a bit soft but she wasn’t exactly a child.

Rachel pressed her ear to the door making sure one last time that Olivier had in fact left. The only sound she could hear and the only mind she could feel belonged to Kate. “Katie...” Rachel whispered, tapping gently at the door. “Mind if I come in? Arlo told me what happened.”

This is so fucking bullshit. Quentin thought to himself, scratching something out angrily on the window. He ran the day back in his mind and he was positive—absolutely positive—he hadn’t broken any rules. Honestly, that was a mistake on Quentin’s part. At least when he had done something they gave him a real babysitter and not just some fucking kid. He glared back at Ramsey who seemed unfazed by Quentin’s vandalism. “You know I can leave whenever I want.”

“mm-hmm.” He hummed, still disinterested by Quentin’s antics. “That’s probably why you’re still here. There’s no challenge in it.” Quentin responded with a rude gesture and returned to his window decorating. It read: I’M A POLITICAL PRISONER. He had more important things on his mind. For one, there was something going on and he wasn’t sure what. The mental landscape of the campus had changed drastically over the last few weeks with all these new students and teachers and Quentin suspected it was more orchestrated than any natural shift. Plus, his rapport with Jubilee kept getting severed by interference and that was a pain. He mused on thought of possible grandiose schemes that he was missing out on until one of the newcomers caught his eye. 

“Hey! New girl!” Quentin shouted from the second floor window. “I’ve got some questions!”

The room had shifted into a comfortable silence as the two mutants had each laid out projects of their own. Doug was leaning over the kitchen counter and staring intently at his computer. He was searching for something specific and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He was starting to believe that he’d dreamt it but sure enough... “There you are.

“Hey, Kitty!” Doug said, throwing an M&M at her to get her attention. “I want you to look at this. It’s the simulation code for the danger room. It’s just a copy, don’t worry.” He clarified before flipping the screen around and pointing to four lines of code. “It keeps rewriting itself and it’s not erroring either. It’s like it’s supposed to be doing that.” It actually felt a bit panicked, but that didn’t feel like a useful addition of information. “I can’t figure out what its for. I thought maybe generating landscapes or enemies or something but thats coded later. What do you think?”

“Hey, Ice cube, catch!” Doug sent a can of cherry coke flying Bobby’s way before grabbing one for himself. He didn’t open it however. Instead Doug took a seat, closed his eyes, and pressed it up to his forehead. Whining while he did so, “Oh, I hate danger room exercises. All I’m every good for is a target.”

Don't you know you're driving your Mamas and Papas insane... There was only one way to listen to music and that was LOUD. Who needs ears when you get the deepest and darkest thoughts of someones life without even trying? Besides, Quentin was pretty sure it pissed off his neighbors. He liked to time the noise complaints.

“Fucking turn it down!” He hit the lab button on his phone timer. A whole fifteen? It wasn’t exactly Sex Pistols but still... 

“Make me, Bitch.” He screamed back. He rubbed his temple. This was going to take forever and he was already getting bored. Let me make it plain, You gotta make way for the—

(✉ → SoCal 🎆  Superior ): i’m bored. 

Rachel took to wandering the school’s garden on the nicer days of the summer when the sun was as close to earth as it could possibly get and it’s rays pressed into her and made her feel as hot as her short red hair. The walk outside had the added benefit of limiting the number of people she spoke with as most of the students were trying to escape the heat. She didn’t like keeping to herself but it didn’t feel appropriate to join in with the students that where of this time. They weren’t really her peers, were they? They’d been her teachers, her mentors, and for some her victims. The initial shock of being face to face with so many hero x-men’s younger selves had worn off but Rachel still felt... foreign.

When she first noticed the other girl resting in the shade of a large oak tree, she considered turning around and continuing her walk alone. She didn’t know why she went against that instinct. Maybe she was just tired of separating herself. 

“Aren’t you hot out here?” Rachel asked despite being the one standing in the sun.

The summer had come early in Westchester and the stuffy mansion-school air was thick with dust and humidity. This particular mid-may Thursday must have been nearly ninety degrees in the library the way the light poured in through the large picture windows. It must have been terrible for the books, Doug kept thinking as he tried his best not to be lulled to sleep by the warmth. He’d hoped to finish his essay before going home for the weekend but everything became incredibly distracting in the late afternoon on a Thursday. It wasn’t until Doug noticed a long blue tail flicker by out of the corner of his eye that he finally abandoned his task. “Oh hey! Kurt!” Doug called, hurrying into the hall after the tail’s owner. “I was hoping I’d run into you after the field trip but you’ve been surprisingly elusive.”