Up on the Rooftop, Click Click Click

[CloakDagger]

Tandy, having climbed out the window of her bedroom, now sits on the rooftop taking in the sights. Were she a smoker, this would be a perfect retreat, but she never had enough money to afford cigarettes or the desire.

But it is quite a view, and the scope of the school grounds impresses her to no end. So much green, such a wide expanse of field and meadow, carefully manicured and maintained, it's breathtaking. Especially for a city girl like her, used to the concrete canyons and dirty alleys of Manhattan. It's almost enough to take her troubles away, if just for a moment.

[Havok]

Overhead, something wheeled, a bird? No, it was far too large. White wings stretched and were painted orange and pink in the fading sunlight. As it drew closer, she'd see it was a man, dressed in black silk lounging pants, and bandages wrapped around his torso. He landed beside her, almost silently, and gave a soft groan.

"Yeah, this is going to hurt in the morning." he muttered, rubbing his battered side. He turned to her and his face, almost model handsome, was marred on one side by an angry purple black eye, and bruised cheek. Aware of how shocking it was, and obviously more than a little vain, he brought his hand to the injured side of his face and said, "Sorry, I was trying to stretch out my wings before they get all stiff. I was beaten to a pulp by Martha Stewart, a Transformer and the Cat in the Hat, if you can believe it."

[CloakDagger]

Tandy jumps with a start, not having paid any attention to him until he landed in front of her. She stares at him wide-eyed and startled for a few moments before slowing her breath.

"Um.... I.... just got peeped on in the shower, so I panicked and defended myself when they ran at me... but I accidentally killed them, and then they came back to life and tried to give me flowers." She said it all very rapidly and in one breath as if she didn't really want to say it, but was forced to by something inside. "After that, I think I can believe anything."

[Havok]

Warren sat down beside the girl, "Oh, so that's the other side of the story. Yes, we've talked to the double-trouble twins, and they honestly don't understand, I think. It seems their powers are not only regeneration, but an inability to feel pain. Sometimes when something like that is old hat, you don't develop the proper understanding of fear or propriety. That's something they will need to be taught. Maybe we can help them."

He extended his hand, "Warren Kenneth Worthington the Third, at your service."

[CloakDagger]

"Uh... Tandy. Tandy Bowen." She responds, and nervously extends her hand and takes his, but keeps it limp and unsure, allowing him to take whatever lead he wants on it. She'd normally be more assertive, but these past few days have left her feeling like a whipped puppy.

"Am I in trouble?" she asks. "I didn't mean to kill them, I swear. I just panicked, and I... I didn't... I thought they were going to... going to... you know... why else do two guys run at a naked girl? I was in the right, wasn't I?"

[Havok]

"Tandy." Warren said, gently, "You defended yourself from what you saw as an attack. Whether or not it was a bit of overkill, pardon the expression, or not, is not important. That's what this school is about. Learning how to use our powers responsibly so what happened today does not happen to those who might not have the ability to regenerate."

He let go of her hand, "Seems to me that you and your friend have had a rough time of it. Hopefully, you'll put this behind us and give us a second chance to make a good impression?"

[CloakDagger]

"So... so I'm not in trouble?" She asks, slowly withdrawing her hand and looking at him warily. "I was afraid they were going to kick me out, and..."

Then she does something really unexpected. She falls over onto his shoulder and begins to cry, sobbing shakily.

[Havok]

Warren folded his wings around the girl and said, gently, "If we kicked out anyone who's blown this place up, or over reacted, or exploded, we'd be all out of students, Tandy." He patted her back, "It's ok, sweetie. It really is."

He chucked her under the chin and tilted her head to look up at him, "Now, don't make me do something incredibly foolish just to make you laugh. I'm injured you know."

[CloakDagger]

"I've... just.... I've just really... really had a bad couple days..." Tandy squeaks out between sobs. "And now the guy who... and someone who hurt me really bad is here, and he's got amnesia and I don't know what I'm gonna do if I have to see him every day..."

[Havok]

"Arthur." Warren nodded, "Yes, this is going to be a problem. I got filled in on his situation, and I have to say, I am not really sure what to do about it. The Professor and Jamie both seem to verify that his amnesia is not faked. I'll tell you what, if you trust me to take care of things, I will make sure he doesn't do anything to upset you, ok? I don't know his whole story, but we have to try to help him until we are sure he is hopeless. It's sort of what we do."

[CloakDagger]

"But I... I don't... I.... okay, okay." Tandy nods her head and sniffs deeply. "But I don't think I can... just please don't expect me to be friendly with him, I don't think I can do it."

[Havok]

Warren smiled, "You don't need to be. Just don't hurt him. He's injured, and probably not just in his memory." He looked her in the eye, "Besides, you killed someone out of what you believed was right. Whatever you think about his ideas, it is possible he believes what he does had purpose. This is a school, we teach all the things that will keep our people from extinction, some people just want a more...pro-active approach."

[CloakDagger]

"I... I don't know his ideas, I just... I don't... he's a sick, sick, man..." she whispers. "And I don't know whether to be scared of him or angry to the point where I blast him to bits."

[Havok]

Warren stood up, and offered a hand to pull the girl to her feet. "There is nothing here to be afraid of. We'll protect you. But if you want to blast something to bits..." He pointed out to one of the trees that shadow the mansion. If she looked, high in the boughs, was a well battered bullseye. "We put that up there for Scotty to practice when we were about your age. The trick was to hit the bullseye and not the leaves of the tree. You have a harder task than him, since the tree's overgrown a bit, but let's see how you do."

[CloakDagger]

"R... right now?" She asks, as she stands up on slightly shaky legs at first before she gains her balance on the slanted roof. "Um... it's a long way away..."

She pulls her right hand back and flings forward, sending a bright white blast of light thrown like a baseball at the target. She misses by a figurative mile, the blast of light crashing harmlessly against the trunk of the tree in a shower of sparks.

"Okay, okay, one more..." She pulls back once again and throws, this time in a sideways motion, letting loose five arrow-shaped blasts of light. Of course, while four miss the tree entirely, one hits the mark quite well.