Wandering child

[Christine MacTaggart]

Christine wandered the halls, finally finding herself in one of the rooms. She didn't see anyone - so that was okay - mainly because she wasn't sure if she'd recognize anyone anyway. She curled up into one of the big puffy chairs and tucked her knees under her chin, her blue eyes darting around.

God, why couldn't she remember? What impact did those dreams have on her memory? She whimpered quietly, still a bit afraid. Surely something would trigger her to remember, right? She tucked her knees tighter under her chin and just watched, trying to calm down enough so she'd stop panicking - it'd be less expensive that way (what with how much the windows kept rattling - curse her powers for being out of control).

OOC: open to whoever

[Desperado]

On the night of bad dreams, Jacob Allan Merando was perfectly awake, as if, for him, the nightmare was long over...

Jacob actually sat in the garage, working on his Jeep. It was an older model that he had fixed up himself back in Arizona, and it was, in part, the cause of his insomnia. He had turned the week-long trip from Arizona to New York into a four-day excursion by not sleeping very much. His mother and his uncle had wanted him to fly in, but he had refused to leave the Jeep. After all, he had sunk a lot of money into fixing this darn thing up, and it was his, gosh darndit.

He had pulled into the Mansion a couple of days ago, a new arrival to a (publicly) new school. Even though he was 18, he was technically only a sophomore here, due to dropping out of high school shortly after his powers manifested. While he had a GED, he found that he missed school, and wanted nothing more than to get his diploma. That was part of the reason he was here. The other part...

Well, there was no point dwelling on it now. He slammed down the hood of his Jeep, done with her tune-up. This garage had everything. He had changed the fluids in her, replaced her brake pads, and even gotten an air freshener. He jumped into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. The engine revved, and, well, as a jeep she would never purr like a kitten, but at least she didn't sound like an emphysemic badger anymore. That tune-up was way late.

He turned her off, and jumped back down to the ground. His steel-toed boots made a rather soft "whoomph" when he hit, a fact which surprised him a bit. He took off his safety goggles and the gloves he'd been wearing, and moved to the garage's sink to wash his hands off. He looked at himself in the mirror. No bags under his baby blues, no obvious grease stains on his black tank top. His grey cargo pants had seen better days, but not much better.

After washing up, he left the garage. He decided not to go back to his room, since his roomie was probably asleep, so he decided to hit the Rec Room and watch some quiet TV until morning came. He would then go about his day as usual, and reset his sleep schedule tomorrow.

He walked into the Rec, expecting there to be no one there, and found someone there. Between arriving, being shown the general layout, and catching a lot of rack time, he hadn't had a chance to meet anyone properly, so he had no idea who she was.

"Oh. Sorry, didn't know anyone else was up." The windows in the room were rattling; was it really that windy outside? He sat on a recliner near the couch she was sitting on. "Um. Are you okay?"

[Christine MacTaggart]

OOC: ::giggles at the jeep's description::

Christine shook her head no. "No," she whispered, looking at him, confusion clear in her blue eyes. She felt that she should know him, yet at the same time, could not remember who he was or why she felt like she should know him. "Unless it's completely normal to wake up from an uneasy sleep and not remember who you are," she said softly, biting her lower lip out of worry.

"I wish I could remember but I just *can't*. It's as if someone reached in and erased part of who I am and I don't know how and I don't know who but damn it, I want my life back." It was a strange feeling - the not remembering. Strange and unnerving. Why would Fate be so damn cruel? What had she done to deserve this?

The window nearest to her finally shattered and her head whipped in that direction, staring at the broken window. "I don't think I'm supposed to be able to break windows..."

[Desperado]

Jacob sat in his chair and, admittedly, only half-listened to what she said at first, since she said it so softly. He was concerned, but he was a horrible listener. That was part of the reason he thought that he had heard her wrong when he thought she said she had no memory of herself.

"C-Como se what?" She continued her explanation, and Jacob listened a bit more attentively. What he heard still seemed weird to him. Amnesia, at least full blown amnesia, only happened in soap operas and sitcoms, right? There was no way she had completely lost everything. Maybe she was high? No, that didn't sit right. She seemed way too lucid. Maybe she had bumped her head in her sleep? That's how you got amnesia like that, right?

Then a window shattered, and Jacob did what any red-blooded he-man would do; he whipped his head towards the noise while simultaneously moving his body away from the noise like a scared kitten. This caused him to exit his chair and wind up sitting on an end table, briefly, before that tilted underneath him and sent him to the floor with a much louder noise than landing on his boots had made earlier. He stared at the broken glass, and then looked up to the window. His heart was beating in his ears, the noise had been so sudden, but he could still clearly hear the sound of no wind outside.

"I don't think I'm supposed to be able to break windows..."

He slowly turned to look at her, a mix of concern and, admittedly, fear in his face. He had only been here a couple of days. This was his first experience with another mutant's powers, and it reminded him of stray drive-bys from the rougher parts of his old neighborhood. Jacob had been scared to death of those, too, but then any sensible human being should be.

He somehow doubted her ability was just to shatter glass, though he made a move to get away from the nearest rattling window anyway, turning his back on her and moving closer to her.

He stood there for a little bit and caught his breath, calming himself. This was no time for him to lose his head. That could make her lose her head, and he might then lose his head, except literally.

"Um..." Yeah, he was at a complete loss at this point. He nodded his head a bit with his lips pursed and his hands on his hips, trying to think of what to do next. Jacob was not a thinker. He wasn't a talker. He'd had friends to do that for him, back home. But he couldn't rely on them anymore.

He really wished he could. "Okay," he said, closing his eyes while still facing away from her. He needed to think it through. Talking would help him do that, but he needed to calm her down first. He nodded to himself, relaxed his arms and turned back towards her.

"Do ya mind if I sit?" he asked, indicating with his finger a spot on the ottoman in front of her.

[Christine MacTaggart]

She blinked her blue eyes at his reaction to the shattered window, trying not to giggle at the kitten like reaction before sobering as she realized - it wasn't all that funny. He could have been hurt. She closed her eyes and thought for a long moment, before she opened her eyes and nodded.

"Okay," she said quietly, looking at him, watching him as he walked on figurative eggshells around her. Was she really that dangerous, she thought for a moment before mentally shaking her head, trying to deny that thought.

As she slowly calmed down, as she settled down, the windows slowly started to stop their ominous rattling. A few continued, but not nearly as badly as when she had woken up.

[Desperado]

As he sat down on the ottoman, the windows started settling down. He had no idea if that was him or what, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He leaned forward, clasping his hands together and trying to meet her eyes. He was still a bit nervous; this was way out of his league, but he didn't have a whole lot of options. He couldn't leave her alone, because he had no idea what she was capable of. For all he knew, she would shatter his body like those windows, or turn him into a toad, or turn his skin blue, or start making Woody Allen jokes.

Okay. Here goes. "Alright," he began, because hearing himself out loud made it easier for him to piece things together. "You've lost your memory, and when you've lost something, you're supposed to look for it in places you've lost it. So, let's begin with what you do remember. Do you know where you are?" He was trying to be calm and suave. He was probably coming off as an idiot.

[Christine MacTaggart]

Christine shifted in the chair, trying to wrack what remained of her memory. Her blue eyes darted to the now open window and she peered out, catching a hint of a sign. "Sign over there says Xavier's School for the Gifted," she said softly, glancing back over to the young man. "So I'll wager that this is it."

She bit her lower lip.

[Desperado]

Jacob turned his head to the side and scratched at it, trying to get his brain to work. Well, attempt number one failed. What the Hell was he supposed to do in this situation? He supposed he was supposed to go get an authority figure, but he still didn't think that leaving her alone was a good plan.

"Okay, then," he replied, snorting a breath out a moment later. "What was the first thing you remember when you woke up?"

[Christine MacTaggart]

"That I had the world's worst migraine," she admitted. "And that I wanted to skip a," she paused for a moment. "A training session - but I don't know why I'd be going to one of those. Heck, I'm not even sure what a training session would entail for that matter," she said, rubbing the back of her neck in confusion.

[Desperado]

Well, he certainly couldn't answer that question. But this was progress, more than he thought he could get. And here was a chance to learn her name. Ok, admittedly his logic in thinking this was a bit off, but no one had ever credited Jacob with a whole lot of sense.

"Okay," he said, turning and tilting his head to try to meet her in the eyes. "This is good. Can you remember if anyone else would be in a training session?" Somewhere along the way, he had curled himself up on the ottoman like she was, and he had no idea if he was just picking up her nervousness or what.

[Christine MacTaggart]

She bit her lower lip as she wracked her memory, vague names and images flickered in the furtherest reaches of her mind. "Um," she began. "I think.. Logan?" she ventured. "I think I remember something about him not liking it if we skipped a training session," she said, confusion clear in her words. "At least, that's what I seem to remember about him. I'm not remembering much else. Well, that and he always had this smell about him. Like smoke or something," she said, feeling still lost.

She glanced at the man before her. "Were you going to the session as well?" she asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't going to be alone.

[Desperado]

Admittedly, Jacob had no idea what she was talking about. But he had gotten her to remember a name and an, er, odor. More unexpected progress was good progress, right? He just needed to try to get her to remember her name.

"Um, no, I don't think I was," he replied, oblivious to the desires of the woman before him. "Just, um..." He closed his eyes and pursed his lips in thought. Thinking this much was beginning to hurt. "When Logan would yell at you for missing a training session, what would he call you?" He felt this was the right way to go. He hoped this was the right way to go. He wanted this to be the right way to go. What he did not feel/hope/want was that this would be the way to get her to spontaneously become made of bees.

[Christine MacTaggart]

OOC: Someone's watched Candyman/2/3 one time too many, huh, Des?

She bit her lower lip so hard, this time, that it drew blood. She winced as she felt the metallic tang in her mouth. She swore under her breath before the tip of her tongue slipped out and licked the blood off her lip. "Never did that before," she confessed, revealling that she normally did not draw blood when she bit her lower lip - this was a rare exception due to her state of nervousness and confusion.

She shook her head slowly, a frown marring her delicate features. "I'm coming up a blank," she admitted. Her frown took on a confused undercurrent as she closed her eyes tightly and she visibly struggled to remember something.

"I.. think I remember someone.. not Logan.. someone else.. calling me Athena but.. I don't think that's my name," she admitted. "It doesn't sound, feel familiar at all."

[Desperado]

OOC: Never seen it. Heard of, yes, never seen.

Well, he had been close. He let his feet slip back down to the floor and slumped his shoulders, narrowing his eyes as he thought a bit more. Now his brain was really starting to hurt. She remembered someone, not this Logan person, calling her something that wasn't her name.

"Argh!" He hit his head a couple of times to try and make it work. No response. He snorted out a breath. He didn't want to give up, but this thinking thing just wasn't his strong suit. He was no good at getting in touch with his emotions, either.

"Crap. I'm tapped." There wasn't much he could do, here. He really needed to get her to a doctor, but he wasn't sure if there even was an infirmary on-site. Sure, he'd taken the tour, but he hadn't been paying much attention. He'd stayed up the previous four days, after all. He took note of places of interest and called it a day. Even if he had been completely awake, he probably would have done the same thing. Selective listening just came naturally to him.

Naturally.

"My name's Jacob, an' you are?" Hell, it might work.

[Christine MacTaggart]

She closed her eyes tightly, struggling to remember. Nothing - nothing but that name "Athena" and that really didn't sound familiar, as if that was her name. She opened her eyes slowly, shaking her head. "I.." she started, hestitating just a bit. "I guess Athena will do.. Until I remember."

Her shoulders drooped noticably. "I just wish I could understand why I can't remember.."