Home... For Now (Open)

[Tristan Emilian]

Slowly the large container ship pulled into port, docking and anchoring by the unloading bay. Immediately the ship workers began to run about the ship, frantically preparing the cargo to be unloaded. They weren't even hampered by the fact that it was completely dark outside, moving about their tasks with precision even without light.

Among the chaos of the crew, in the darkness, the traces of a shadow could be found moving if one paid close enough attention. The shadow darted between containers, sometimes barely avoiding being spotted. Slipping behind people as they turned their backs and eventually sliding down one of the massive ropes that tied the ship to the dock.

Once the shadow jumped off the rope and into the light, a flash of dark hair and a leather jacket could be seen before the man disappeared into the shadows once more. Ten, maybe fifteen, minutes later a man walked out of an alleyway that lead to the docks and onto the sidewalk by the street, walking along as if nothing had happened.

The "shadow" was Tristan Emilian, a traveler as he called himself, a vagrant or a gypsy were what most deemed him to be; trash was the most common word. Either way, he had snuck his way onto a cargo ship leaving Europe a few days again and landed almost exactly where he wanted to be. 'Almost' meaning that he wanted to be in the place they called New York City, hopefully he wasn't too far away.

As he walked down the lonesome sidewalk, by shops and stores that had long since been closed for the night, he hoisted his green army bag full of the few belongings he had to his name, a little higher on his shoulder. Though he didn't know why, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, but after glancing around he saw no one. It was probably just nerves, or at least that's what he told himself.

[melody]

Melody closed up her shop for the night, satisfied with all of her work and the clients who came in. It was nice and small, not terribly flashy. Melody attracted clients through her reputation, not how her store looked. She even had groups of people that hung out at her place just to socialize and watch her work with her clients.

She put on her black leather jacket to stave off some of the cold from a recent rainstorm. Her bright red heels clicked against the pavement as Melody walked purposefully home to her small, cozy apartment. Bruce, her black Bombay cat was waiting for her to arrive and Melody couldn't wait to get into her warm bed and sleeping after a long day at work, cutting hair.

And as she walked, Melody couldn't help noticing a guy walking nearby with a green bag on his shoulder. It looked like it was all he owned in this world. One of the many homeless here in the Big Apple, she assumed. But not your usual homeless hobo...the homeless wandered, looking to find a place to sleep or to find their next meal. Maybe he had traveled here from somewhere? They were near the docks.

"Ah! What am I doing?!" Melody shook her head and kept walking home. But before she got far, a gang of dirty teenagers blocked her path. One of them carried a bat, while a few others had a few cigarettes in their smirking mouths.

"S'up, baby?" One of them cat-called. A few more of them whistled and made kissing noises. Melody immediately stopped with an expression of disgust.

"Out of the way." She said rigidly. But it was obvious these boys wouldn't let her through their blockade. A few of them chuckled...one of them whistled.

"Hey, guys, we got quite a hot one, didn't we? But she didn't even say please..." The boys advanced on her, while Melody backed up. Ugh...she hated guys like this. They were wimps and she could take them, but it would cause a scene. Her eyes narrowed, not a hint of fear on her face...only disgust. "One last chance. Move, or I'll make you move."

[Tristan Emilian]

As Tristan walked along, he became lost in his own thoughts, taking in all of the scenery. Wherever he was it was a very beautiful location, no doubt a tourist spot. There were shops and parks and lights everywhere, it'd been awhile since he was somewhere so civilized. He couldn't help but wonder what opportunities would present themselves in such a place.

Who knows, he might just decided to stay her for a while. Tristan almost laughed out loud at this, a grin spreading across his face at the thought. Yeah right.

As he walked along he passed what an attractive young woman in a dark leather jacket and red heels locking the door to a shop, most likely the owner of it. He liked her style, adjusting his own leather jacket as he walked along. Soon he was walking in front of her, and had almost forgotten about her.

That was until a sudden noise behind him, as well as several voices, broke the silence of the night and made him turn around. The formerly empty street now had several people in it, including the young woman and a group of young boys holding her up.

Tristan turned around and began walking away, ignoring the cat call behind him and the baseball bat he had noticed in the leaders hand. She could handle herself, of course she could, they were probably just a group of nice gentleme- "Aww crap" Tristan mumble out loud, knowing he couldn't lie to himself. Why did he have to be a hero tonight? Why couldn't he have just gotten far enough ahead that he couldn't hear the lady getting mug.

Tristan turned around begrudgingly and began walking back to the group. "'Ello, my name ees Treeston. I come froom far avay, iz dis da place dey call, New York?" Tristan asked with a strong Romanian accent, seeming to struggle to speak English. He faced the back of the leader, trying to draw their attention away from the girl.

[leon]

heh, funny guy that Charles, Leon had literally been there for less then a day and Charles already had if off on errands like he was his underling or something. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter considering the severity of his condition right now, He needed the mansion's expertise if he was ever going to get back into proper shape again, but that could wait, for now at least. He looked young enough, he just had to be careful not to over do it.

No, the real funny thing about all this was, that despite being older then Charles, and despite having pulled his butt out of the fire more then once, Charles still held this air of superiority over him. Something he had grown used to Leon supposed. Sure in reality this little assignment was just suppose to be a friendly favor, but Charles always gave orders like that, he was still the smug manipulative kid Leon knew when he first met him, that much was for sure.

So, here he was out in a fairly abandoned shipyard in the middle of New York looking for another mutant to recruit. Supposedly he was a fairly dangerous mutant at that, used all those mind tricks and whatnot, that's why Charles wanted the kid so much.

Leon stood quietly in the dark waiting for the boat to show up. The only light around him came from his lit cigarette, and as he inhaled it at intervals his face would become lit up against the backdrop of the night. He stood there for a while, going through yet another pack of cigarettes before the ship finally arrived. It wasn't all that hard to spot the kid getting off, though he had to the kid was pretty crafty for his age, reminded Leo of himself when he was younger, well except that he didn't set the boat on fire when he left.

Once the kid was a decent distance away Leon followed cupping his cigarette in his hand to conceal the flame as he went. In his experience meetings like these were best done slowly, and gradually, you never wanted to startle an untrained mutant, that was always more trouble then it was worth.

[melody]

Aw, the babe wants to take us on, huh? Sorry, hun, we ain't moving. You're just so...pretty to look at. Hell, I would want her as a decoration in my living room. They continued to joke and soon, their looks turned menacing and down-right lewd. Melody could almost literally see these guys salivating. Gross.

Melody was about ready to kick these guys' butts, when the guy with the green bag from earlier suddenly appeared behind the gang. Romanian accent. This guy was getting more attractive by the minute.

The leader with the bat immediately bristled, annoyed at being interrupted while playing with his prey. "Dude, I don't know where the hell you're from, but get lost. We're busy here." Immediately after this guy Tristan got the gang's attention, Melody yelled, lifting her leg and planted a round-house kick into the leader's face. She sent him flying past the newcomer and regained her posture, ready for the retaliation of the other members. "Like I said...move, or I'll make you move!

The gang soon forgot about Tristan and converged on Melody, spitting curses at her as they did so. Soon, she was outnumbered, 8 to 1. She continued to kick, yelling as she brought down an ax-kick on one of the members, who went down immediately after coming into contact with her red heel. More yells and screams came from the gang members as they tried to subdue Melody. Eventually, she was on the ground, at the mercy of the gang.

[Tristan Emilian]

Almost immediately Tristan was ignored by the group of young men, not before they verbally accosted him though. At least verbal accosting was better than physical, which was exactly what they were doing to the attractive woman in only a few seconds. Not before she was able to get in a few good hits though, really good hits as a matter of fact, she had training of some kind. Then again, this was a big city, there were probably a lot of women that did.

As they took her to the ground he let out an audible sigh, it looked like they were going to do more than mug her. Why did this have to happen now? Why couldn't it have happened later? Now he HAD to intervene.

Suddenly, a large green army bag hit the back of several of the boys, the weight of it knocking them to the ground and away from the woman. Immediately, all eyes turned toward Tristan, and an awkward silence ensued. Tristan looked at the bag, then the boys, then his hands, "Oops, eet must've slipped."

"That's it, I've gotten tired of you and your stupid accent." The boy leader spoke aggressively, standing up and walking toward Tristan along with several others while the rest held the woman down still.

"I am tryeeng to theenk of a phrase you Americans say. It goes, you are a leetle. Uhm leetle... What is da vord." Tristan shook his head, "Oh yes, 'bitch'" As Tristan said the word, all traces of the strong Romanian accent were mostly gone. It was obvious he was Romanian, but even more obvious that his accent wasn't quite as strong as he was making it out to be.

As the group of boys charged him, he spoke again, "If I vere you, I vould listen to me." Tristan spoke, and the boys immediately stopped, "In fact, I vould tell my friends to stop holding the poor voman down so that they could listen to me too." As Tristan spoke, the leader turned around and called the four boys still holding the girl down.

"Get up you idiots, listen to this guy." The leader said before turning back to Tristan.

Tristan gave a wicked grin as all of the boys attention was on him, "If I vere you I vould drop any veapons I had." All eight boys all dropped their weapons to the ground, and pulled out a few knives and even a gun and tossed them all to the ground. Tristan knew he had control now, "Now, get out of here, leave the voman alone and..." Tristan leaned toward the leader and sniffed, "Take a shower, you smell vorse than me."

"Hey, let's get out of here guys, and leave her alone. I think we should go home and take some showers instead." The leader said, almost copying what Tristan had said as if he had never heard the Romanian say it. Tristan simply raised a brow and smirked as they walked away.

They were weak minded, and weak willed. Hopefully everyone was like that over here, Tristan thought as he grabbed his army bag and hoisted it back onto his shoulders. "Ma'am" He said with a slight grin and nod to the woman on the ground, before turning to go his way. He had done enough good deeds for the night, he wanted to get out of there before she started accusing him of being a mutant and screaming in fear like everyone else.

[melody]

Melody struggled against the guys holding her down. Great. She HAD to use her power now. Now this guy who tried to help out was going to freak out. Melody hated that whenever she used her power.

But...this guy Tristan intervened again. Melody just stared when the guy told the gang to drop her and leave. Dude, this guy was a mutant! Soon, she got to her feet, dusting off her jeans and black jacket. When he nodded to her, Melody felt a small grateful smile spread across her face. But he immediately took his leave after he ordered the gang to take off. Her eyes widened in surprise and instinctively, Melody got up and followed him.

"Honestly, dude...you're gonna leave right after that?" She soon caught up with him, not the least bit affected from what happened with the gang. "You're not going to like, you know, give me a chance to say thanks?" She tilted her head to look at his face, admiring the way his hair hung and swished across his face and how he held himself as he walked toward his next destination. "The name's Melody, by the way."

[leon]

Leon stepped out of the shadows of the alley the remains of his cigarette burning in his mouth.

"Impresionant meu prieten! Vad ca ai un talent cu cuvinte, sau ar trebui să spun ... minţile. Un vechi prieten de-al meu a spus ca ar veni, el este ca tine, el este bun cu mintea ... El a spus: aţi putea avea nevoie de ajutor un loc de cazare poate? Avem o şcoală pentru tineri talentati ca tine, dacă doriţi un tur sau doar un loc de şedere pentru acum am putea ajuta." (translation: Impressive my friend! I see you have a talent with words, or should I say...minds. A old friend of mine said you would be coming, he is like you, he is good with minds...He said you may need some help a place to stay maybe? We have a school for gifted youths like you, if you would like a tour or just a place to stay for now we could help.)
.
He spoke with a fair amount of a Romanian accent. His voice was gruff and had a hint of gravel to it, his inflection traveling between enthused and friendly to informed and knowledgeable as the conversation wore on. Leon had spent a fair amount of time in Romania, and he had a few flings while he was there, and as always when you were dating a girl, and you find yourself in a tough situation it was essential that you be able to talk your way out of it....before things got ugly. Property damage was never his intent, he liked to avoid it when he could.
.
His speech was a bit rusty, and hints of his American accent slipped through here and there, but he did a good job of it in general he thought, last thing he wanted to do was freak a telepath out too much, that was a mess no one wanted to clean up.

[Tristan Emilian]

Tristan had immediately begun to walk away from the scene of the fight. All to often he knew what happened when he stuck around, people started asking questions. Oh how he hated questions. Questions lead to answers, answers lead to people freaking out, people freaking out lead to cops. Oh how he hated cops, because cops asked questions too.

Suddenly though, it seemed he wasn't alone as a soft voice came from behind him; that girl. Tristan didn't stop walking, great, here it came, or so he thought. Tristan waited for the questions, but they didn't come, instead she seemed very calm considering what happened. Almost too calm.

"Yes, I am. So should you." Tristan said simply, that didn't seem to stop the girl though as she continued to follow him and talk. Thankfully though, no questions were asked yet. When she introduced herself to him without him asking for her name, he stopped and faced her, raising a brow slightly, "Didn't your mother teach you the lesson about not talking to strangers?" He said with a slight grin, after all, how did she know he wasn't worse than they were?

Just as Tristan finished speaking, another voice came out of the shadows behind him. At first he thought it was one another mugger, but as soon as he heard the language he froze. Slowly he turned to face the man, he looked to be a young adult, but was obviously not Romanian. Not only was his speech a little off, but he looked nothing like one.

After the man finished his speech there was a bit of silence as Tristan let the words sink in. Not only that but Tristan stood there with a blank expression on his face, staring at the man like he was some sort of alien. Finally, he made the slightest movement, raising his eyebrow before speaking, "Your diction is good, but your accent is shoddy." Ironic that Tristan was talking about accent when he himself had one when speaking English.

"Am o idee mai bunã, ce zici de faptul cã mâncaþi þigãri, ºi apoi sã disparã." (I have a better idea, how about eating that cigarette and then disappear) Tristan spoke in Romanian, flawlessly unlike his English. Though, he wasn't trying to hypnotise the man and actually make him eat the cigarette. No, he was just being very rude. He figured the man to be crazy, or worse, trying to get Tristan to go to an institution. Tristan knew all too well what a "School for gifted people" actually was.

"Is New York always full of such strange people? How about I valk you home, eh?" Tristan asked as he turned back toward the pretty woman. Though it seemed as though he was being nice, in truth he was just looking for an excuse to get away from the strange man.

[leon]

Leon looked at the kid, arrogant little prick wasn't he, didn't he know how to treat his elders?...Oh...wait...ya he didn't look all that elderly right now...Ahh well the kid could wander around New York for all he cared...It was Charles who wanted him after all.

At the suggestion that he should just eat his cigarette Leo gave him a cold hard stare. The kind of stare and presence that only age and experience could bring. His Eyes iced over and showed a resolve and intensity that could only be awarded to a veteran warrior. It was only a second, but in that second that stare pierced through the kid the scrawny wimp that he was, as if he were nothing, just a tadpole in a pound trying to act big was all.

His cigarette was set aflame as he held it in his mouth, the whole thing filter and all turning to ash in an instant.

Then the intensity was gone, and all that remained was a drifter swaying back and forth in the night.

"Eh it was worth a shot I guess." he said shrugging, his voice slightly more boyish then it was before. He took another cigarette of the pack in his jacket pocket and put it in his mouth. Flicking His thumb as one would flick a lighter his thumb turned into a bright blue flame, which he used to light his smoke before waving it out.

"Well if ya ever change your mind, the door is always open...we're not much to pry where we're not wanted."

A flame started at joint of his right shoulder and snaked its way circling around his arm until it eventually erupted in his hand revealing a red hot cinder that Leo shook to cool off.

When he did it revealed a simple white business card which he then tossed to the kid as if it was as simple as tossing a baseball.

"If ya ever feel lost, or need someplace to stay, go ahead and give us a call."


The business card was normal with the Xaiver Institute's information on it except for the fact that the letters seemed to be on fire. It would have been a cheap trick if it were done with modern systems today, but the letter's arched and moved as if they were alive, and to top it off they were warm to the touch.

Leon turned to leave, there was no point in helpin someone who wasn't ready yet, and he knew that more then anybody. The kid would come around eventually, he hoped.

[melody]

Melody's grin widened when Tristan talked back, as if she was a kid. He had spunk and attitude. Foreigners either bugged you to the point where you wanted to strangle them or they kept to themselves. This guy seemed like the latter, obviously. "I think I'm older than you, guy." She said with a smirk.

"Nah, I never got along with my mom. Too prissy." That was a serious understatement, considering who her parents were and how much influence they wielded in this country. Melody chuckled to herself, so glad to be rid of her old life and breaking free like she did.

When a guy appeared out of nowhere, Melody just blinked. And when he addressed Tristan in what seemed to be Romanian, she just listened curiously, wondering what was being said. It was a beautiful mysterious language that you didn't hear very often. But when Tristan snapped back and offered to take Melody home, she concluded that he made some sort of "go to hell" comment to the new guy with the cigarette. And when the cigarette went up in smoke, along with some other fancy fire tricks...yeah, he was a mutant too.

What was with all the guys tonight? Melody let out a small sigh and turned to the new comer. "You an Xavier boy?" She thought she saw him around the school when she visited every so often. Xavier had tried to recruit her in the past, but Melody wasn't interested in doing deeds for someone who wasn't herself. She did what she wanted. Melody appeared at the school only to get new clients for her salon.

[Tristan Emilian]

"Possibly, but visdom is earned through experience, not age, no?" Tristan rhetorically asked the girl, a slight crooked, but charming, smile hanging from his lips as usual.

Tristan was about to responde to the girl again when the strange man interrupted him yet again. Tristan watched unblinkingly as the mans cigarette started on fire in his mouth. He raised a brow, but didn't say anything, even an idiot could tell the man was a mutant; so why point it out?

If the man was a mutant, he seemed a little immature to lose his cool so easily. Most mutants had pretty thick skins due to their constant persecution, at least they did where Tristan came from.

Either way, he took the card from the man, turning it over in his hand. Maybe the man had been serious about a "gifted school", if he was then that meant someone knew he had arrived in America. Why would someone be watching him though?

"I'll think about it" Tristan said simply, nodding at the man. He still though the man was strange, but at least he had piqued his interest with the fact that he was a mutant.

He turned the card over one more time in his hand before putting it in his pocket. Who knew, maybe there would be a time when he got in a tight spot and they could help out. Or more likely, his curiousity was simply getting the better of him.

Tristan turned back to the woman and began walking down the side walk once again, hoisting his green army bag onto his shoulder, "Xavier boy? Vat is that?" Tristan asked with a slightly confused expression, perhaps it was a term for mutants here in America?

[leon]

As if in response to his question the card in his pocket began to glow and grow warmer asking for his attention. Upon examination a red flaming x could now be seen exploding from the center of the card. The remaining snakes of heat completed the name Xavier along with a small portrait:

underneath in cold blue writing came the explanation:

Charles Xavier

Leader Of the Xavier Institute Of Higher Learning Promontory figure and advocate for Mutant right. Mutant he has devoted his life to helping others like himself. He is also a leader of the X-Men

X-men burnt with a fire that stood out amongst the rest of the card as if it was taunting him.

Down the road the loud roar of a motorcycle could be heard as it headed down the road. At the mouth of the Alley, Leon sat straddling his vintage 1943 bike..fire visible spurting occasionally from its tailpipe. He looked over at them as they stood there, almost with an air of disinterest as he waited for the traffic light in front of him to change.

[melody]

Melody just watched the fire-guy walk off with glare. He completely ignored her and she absolutely hated that. That’s what you got from recruiters for the X-Men. Silent and mysterious. That’s what reeled in most of the mutants. Recruiters informed mutants of the possibility and let their curiosity do the rest as they stalked off, not giving out any more information than necessary.

When Tristan asked what the Xavier boys were, Melody turned towards him with an unreadable expression. She fiddled with her purse a little and straightened her coat as she tried to think of a way to tell this foreigner about the school.

“Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It’s basically a school for young mutants that run away from home and have nowhere else to go. They teach high school and also how to control your powers, so that you become more useful to them later on. But when you’re past high school age, they just recruit you to join the X-Men to fight against what they deem is right.” Then, using her power, a strand of her hair slipped into Tristan’s pocket and grabbed a hold of the card that the recruiter gave to him. Melody’s hair held up the card for Tristan to see the pattern etched in the card.

Melody then looked into Tristan’s eyes and smiled a little. “But I get the impression that you do your own thing and don’t have much love of following orders. You won’t have that freedom at the school.”