Congress [Open to X-Faculty]

[platt]

Late, again.

He held his books under his arms at the ready as opened the door. He tried to be quiet but the door was a pocket doors made a little too big and so they made a clattering sound as he squeezed thorough. All eyes turned to him. He made a sound.

" Sorry, sorry, sorry. Was editing something and I lost track of time. Sorry if I interrupting."

He threw his bag on the chair from the door and went to enter.

[storm]

Ororo was the first to speak as James rushed into the room, a smile dancing on her lips. "Don't worry, James. YOu're fine. We haven't even started yet. Everyone seems to want to be late today." she nodded to the few bodies in the room, her own leaning back in a bored fashion, clearly not wanting to be here any more than she would want to be in a coffin.

With one of her hands she twirled her silver locks around her index finger and with the other her fingers drummed the table top, waiting for everyone else to show up.

[Head Administrator]

It wasn't a common thing for Faith to be late for anything. Usually the work-a-holic assistant was the first to arrive to anything, if only so she could get even more work done in the time it took the others to arrive. Today though just hadn't been her day..

She'd already had to break up four separate fights, settle two arguments, and to top it all off someone had broken into her room and caused such a mess she had spent the next four hours sorting through paperwork, trying to reorganize everything. If that weren't enough, the caffeine addicted girl was in an absolute horrible mood from lack of sleep, with nothing carbonated to give her a buzz.

Half running down the hall, one arm carrying documents for the Headmaster and assistant headmistress to look over, a steaming cup of coffee in the other, she came dangerously close to slamming straight into James as stood in the door way. Stumbling, she barely came to a stop in time, her impatient trait wanting to snap at him for taking so long to get out of the way. Finally in the room though, she dropped all the paperwork on the table, letting out a heavy sigh as she sat. "I swear.... Some of these students are going to be the death of me, or me the death of them." She just about took a sip from her still steaming hot coffee, barely noticing how hot it was still in time. Staring at it for a second, she sighed again, closing her now free fist, only to reopen it a second later, an ice cube suddenly in her hand. Plopping the ice cub in, she spoke again as she waited for the drink to cool down.

"Oh, Storm. When you and Professor Xavier have the time, you need to look over these. And when I say 'have the time', I mean the absolute moment this is over. I'll freeze you to that chair if I have to." She fixed Storm with a dead serious expression. She would freeze Storm to the chair, seeing as she'd down it more then a handful of times already. Faith was dumped with all the work on more then one occasion. Actually, she handled nearly every affair of the school before passing it on to Storm and Xavier to double check.

[platt]

After stabilizing himself on the table, he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah. I know. Totally. So rude, these kids." He muttered under is breath and sat down. He reached in his satchels and started to prepare, dropping pens in the middle of the tables for anyone to grab. He took out his laptop and a length of legal pad and took lull as license to goof off on the internet. As it amused him, he stuck a pen in his mouth and began reading the news online.

"The Raoul school in France is fielding applications. They trying to build a school in the 1th Arrondissement but the mayor is trying to block it, saying there's not enough space." He said in summary and began reading.

" The school currently shares space with a Lycée International of St Germain-en-Laye as one of their charters. The Raoul school is one of the latest X-gene active mutant schools that are springing up in the western world, causing some to consider the evidence of a so-called " mutant population boom ". Since the 90s, the number of X-gene active mutants have tripled according to an international census conducted by the U.N..." He trailed off and looked around.

"Anyone else feel like Hogwarts sometimes? It's like we should be teaching quidditich. "

[Head Administrator]

Faith smirked softly when she overheard James words. "Oh. You haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until you meet Mairead. She'll try and set you on fire." She paused, her smirk replaced with a scowl. "And I'm not joking. She attacks near every newcomer. Take my advice, if you run into her, run for your life while looking for Train. He's the only one who she'll listen to." Of course, if Mairead was in the mood she may listen to one of the teachers she knew, unless she completely 'zoned out', then only Train would be able to stop her.

She turned her attention to the documents now, sorting through them and trying to get them in the order they needed to be. She hadn't had the time when she'd been cleaning up the mess from that student. When James spoke again, she glanced up, fixing him with a totally bare expression. "I'm sure some of the students do play Quidditch. Seeing as a handful are capable of flying." She paused, sighing and leaning back in her chair, taking a long gulp of the still rather hot coffee. "But why do you say that?"

[platt]

He looked at Faith and then to Ororo. He steeled his jaw and jutted his chin. Ororo had already heard the sermon and he was hesitant to give her a second dose, especially considering how heated things got the last time. Further, he didn't want Ororo thinking that he brought it up because she was there. James was vaguely aware how much time he spent worrying about what the co-headmistress thought of him. If asked, he wouldn't be able to explain exactly why without a few moments of pause.

He looked at Faith. "Well, you notice in the first few books, nothing that went on in the outside world much effected things in Hogwarts? It was this big disconnect between the real world and the Potter kids until Voldemort began to start !@#$ with humans and Harry rallied his friends-- " He trailed off, noticing her expression.

" Alright, so I read the books when I was stationed in Kabul. It was either that or Tom Clancy."

He shuffled to a sit up and leaned forward, paralleling his hands in a professorial gesture.

"It wasn't until someone start crap that the Potter books even cared about the real world. The real world was something you escaped from, not something wizards were a part of. I feel like that's exactly what we do here. We need to open up. I need to open up. I can only do so much teaching Petrach and Bruni. We need to seriously consider adding Manifesti Ex Mutanus and the Menace Among Us to the syllabus."

There was a sound like nails on a chalkboard then. He stiffed his shoulders in hearing it. He looked at Ororo, expectant of a disapproving gaze.

[hank]

Hank and Logan had met each other in the hall. Hank commenting on Logan's greasy form, and Logan remarking on the files that were tucked under his arm. Hank explained that one of the files was the results on the from the boy that died yesterday, the other were samples from students and members of the school who's DNA was showing change of evolution. Logan was more than curious on both, having a little concern if he was among the members.

The conversation came to a halt when they approached the door, hearing Jame's discussion. Logan tried not to chuckle when Harry Potter was mentioned, Hank giving him a small nudge and pressing a finger to his lips as they entered the room during the strained silence that followed.

"Sorry, I'm not much on big words. Could you explain that in English?" Logan asked, making his way to a chair across from Storm. Hank sighed, once again rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index. He seemed to have a habit of doing things when he felt complications were on the rise.

"I believe what James is trying to suggest is we introduce and educate more of the real world lives into the students lives." He said, looking to James to see if he hit the mark.

"Show the students how much the world has truly gone to hell?" Logan asked, a little irritation showing in his voice, "That would be like trying to mix oil with fire. It wouldn't end well and who knows what would happen inside and outside the school."

[storm]

Storm rolled her eyes when Faith threw a pile of papers into her lap. True, Faith did almost everything having to do with the school, but Storm was always busy with the X-men. Lately it was a miracle for her to be around for more than a week at a time, but she shook her head and straightened the pages out.

“Alright, Faith, I’ll look through the papers, but if you even try to freeze me then you’ll be trapped in a tornado for a week.” Just like Faith, Storm wasn’t kidding. Of all the things you could do, trapping her somewhere wasn’t a very smart one.

Ororo smirked and shook her head. “We could do it, you know. I’ve made people fly before.” she stated, partly teasing.

When James brought up the subject that had them fighting before she exhaled deeply and shook her head, waiting for Logan to finish. “Though Logan has done some very stupid things since he’s joined us, he’s right. The whole point of the school is to prepare the students for what waits outside, not throwing them into it. If we did that then in very little time you would hear ’Super sized mutant with a side of onions, would you like fries with that?’ Honestly James, I know your intentions are good, but your logic is failing you in this situation. If the press knew what this school really was then you can be sure that this place would be worse than hell and I refuse to let it happen because you have this crazy idea that it will work out like a charm. This isn’t a fantasy. This is real life, and it’s hell, but we can keep the gates closed as best as we can.”

Outside, thunder boomed and she shook her head. One disadvantage of her power. Her emotions always rested on her sleeves.

[hank]

"Exactly. It would be open season on mutants inside and out." Logan said, sharing Storms irritation. Hank could tell things were getting out of hand, especially with the storm that was beginning to rage outside.

"Storm, please try to contain yourself. We don't want a tornado happening in this town." Hank said, then stood up. He began walking around the table slowly as he spoke.

"Everyone please listen. Though I share your frustration with the prejudice of humans, I can't help but notice the logic in Jame's idea."

When he spoke of James, he placed a friendly hand on the man's shoulder as he passed by. "We have been suffering under the prejudice of both humans and mutants. Jame's theory may be farfetched, but it also may have that ray of light we've been searching for."

At that last comment, he sat down. "Charles did make this school to not only train mutants, but allow them to coexist peacefully, am I not mistaken?" He glanced at Logan and Storm, seeing a twitch in Logans eye, knowing he had struck a point. "I'm not saying we should thrust human lives into this school, however to grant sublte changes from time to time wouldn't hurt, I beleive."

"So what?" Logan said, still a little irritated, "We should allow humans and their problems to invade our lives?"

"In case you've forgotten, Logan," Hank said, narrowing his eyes at Logan, "'Our lives' also mix with theirs. I merely suggest we entertain the thought of showing the world outside and inside that they can coexist with eachother in history and present day. I say why not start with the place that was ment for peace in the first place?"

Hank ended his debate, waiting for responce as silence fell on the room. He glanced at James, smiling a little.

[storm]

She nodded at Logan’s argument, glad to know that someone was seeing clearly.

Storm rolled her eyes when Hank spoke. She had a feeling that he would be siding with James. “I hate politics.” she muttered under her breath. Normally she and Hank were very good friends, but when it came to debates she wouldn’t back down and she didn’t enjoy arguing with people she cared about.

“Thunder isn’t going to kill anyone, Hank. Lightning might though, but I haven’t gotten that upset…yet.”

When Hank finished she spoke up again. “Hank, I love you, I really do. You’re like a brother to me, but you are only seeing one side of this. Yes, it could work. There is a tiny miniscule chance that it will work. However, it could also explode into pieces and ruin everything that this place has tried so hard to achieve. Why should we even take a chance at that? Besides, it shouldn’t really be up to us. It’s the students that it will be affecting and the whole reason they came here was so they could be safe from the world waiting outside that wants to kill them. The logic in this argument is putting a giant bullseye on all of our students‘ foreheads."

[platt]

James looked at Ororo and folded his arms. He sat back, looking at Ororo and then Hank and then Logan and then at the desk.

" Listen, I'm not talking about having an open house and inviting the Friends of Humanity over for a barbeque. Hank's basically got the gist of what I'm arguing. All I'm saying is to entertain the idea of presenting alternative thoughts and theories into scholastics. This is a private school. I understand that. We're not behooven to an administrative board or a PTA. But we shouldn't be blind to the possibilities that in a few years, schools like this will be obsolete. Mutants aren't going to seen as wild dogs forever. Mutants are going to be seen as they what they are. Humans born different. "

He leaned forward. " All I'm pushing for is an education that prepares our kids for what they're actually going to be dealing with. " He turned to Ororo. " Look, you let me have the Randall Kennedy book for the Politics Club. Just let me have this. Let me make this difference. We're not running an army here, Ororo. We're running a school and I'd wish we'd act like we weren't prepping for some race war. "

The anger rushed out of him and he slumped in is chair.

[hank]

Hank could tell this was going to get worse before it got better. The table was practically split down the middle, with Hank and James on one side, and Storm and Logan on the other. He took a quick look to Faith, wondering where she stood in all this. He also wondered where Charles was, having not seen him in almost a month.

"I'm Sorry, Storm, but I do agree with James. Charles made this school and the X-Men to allow coexistance between humans and mutants. This idea of Jame's is only enabling the ability to allow students of this school to know the real world without actually going into it."

He listened as both Storm and James made their case. Both had valid points to their opinions, and he knew that it was going to be hard to reach an agreement.

"You're right, Storm, it isn't up to us to decide. We should allow the students to make this choice for themselves. Yes it could blow up in our faces, but where would it leave us? In a world full of humans wanting mutants gone from the world? We've already reached that area. But what if we're right Storm? And this builds up mutant and human relations more than just debates and laws?"

[storm]

She was especially tempted to scream, unleashing a rath of lightning, but she didn't. "What is the point in it? This little experiment could cost the school dearly. It could make everything that the Professor has been working for for so long pointless. Years of work down the drain. And why are we even talking about this right now? Xavier isn't even here and he should have a say so in it. And for the record, James, I never gave you anything. I don't deal with new members of the faculty."

She sighed and shook her head. "Since this should be something for the students to decide why don't we just let them vote on this? Then we can stop debating and let what happens happen. By now I'm sure you've all noticed how much I hate debates."

Ororo caught Logan's eye for a moment and quickly looked away, still feeling embarassed about what she had said to him before.

[platt]

" Fine! " he said, throwing his hands up. He lifted his laptop and turned it around. " Now can we please get to the important manner at hand." He looked around conspiratorially and knowing what he was going to say. " I think we need to set The Professor up with a page on YouDate."

The humor was in the sincerity in his voice. The child-like rise. The deadpan expression. He looked around and issued only the barest hint of a smile before continuing.

" I mean, it should be easy. How old his the Professor? Like sixty? He's totally cougar bait. My old Polly Sigh professor is totally looking. I could shoot her an email. Get her up here by the time he gets back from Johannasburg. Which..." He typed a few keystrokes. " According to his twitter will be in...two weeks. "

He looked around. " Think we can survive that long? "

[hank]

Logan looked to Storm as she ended her side of the conversation. He nodded at both hers and Hanks reasoning to let the students decide. When she looked over to him, his eyes met hers and he couldn't help but smile, a little embarrassed himself with what happened. Hank just looked at the two of them oddly, then looked to James as he talked about hooking Xavier up with a date. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"I doubt Charles would be interested in a relationship, James." He said with a small smile, "Oh, by the way, you may want to have a look at this."

He pulled out one of the folders he had been holding onto. It was a file based on the boy that was killed earlier in the week. He had managed to get as much as he could from the autopsy, which was more than he thought, and for good reason.

"The Doctors were reluctant to share the news, but the autopsy results proved very interesting. The boy that had made the crater outside of our school wasn't part of our school. In fact, he wasn't a mutant at all...he was human."