Chapter 10: I make this suit look good.
When I finally get to my room, there's no sign of Rahne anywhere. On my bed, I find a large box, and a note: "Meet you in the common room. Everyone else is there. Rahne." I open the box; inside it, there is a blue suit, with black and red X signs on the shoulders and belt, and a small... err, thingie. Attached to it, there's another note: "By the way, this is a standard communicator. We all got one. Ray'll show you how to work it out. Hopefully." The last word is written in tiny letters. I find yet another note attached to the suit, "And this is the standard uiform of the X-recruits. Hope it's your size. Can't wait to see how it looks on you."

A standard uniform? Thought I was a bit special. Well, above the 'standard uniform' thingie, anyway. Then again, sometimes I tend to exaggerate my own potential and reduce other people's.

In less than a minute, I'm all suited up. I look in the mirror. Yup, blue's definately my color. Only thing that bothers me is the shades, but I wouldn't like to go ballistic and bring the whole place down just because I hate wearing shades, neither. Which reminds me, I've never actually seen Scott's powers. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Dunno. And I guess I don't wanna find out.

The note Rahne left me says, 'Can't wait to see how it looks on you', so I leave the uniform on, do a double-take in the mirror and speed off. Destination: the common room.

Easier said than done. In less than a minute, I'm lost. I can tell I'm somewhere on the second floor, but that's about as far as I realize.

"Lost your vay?"

"Huh?"

I jump aside, startled. The guy that appeared, seemingly, from nowhere, grins at me. He's got fangs, blue fur, yellow eyes and a tail... hold on, that's Kurt.

"Sorry if I scared you."

"No, that's okay, you... didn't." I'm lying there, he scared the breath outta me. But hey, being nice is my specialty!

"So, again - lost your vay, liebchen?"

"*Sigh*. Is it that obvious?"

"Ja. Vhere do you vant to go?"

"Err... the common room."

"Vhich one?"

Snarl. How should I know? "Where the new recruits hang around...?"

"Oh, zat one!"

"I'll take a wild guess and assume that you're german", I say, smiling.

Kurt grins widely."Is it zat obvious?" he says, mocking me.

This time, I chuckle. "About as obvious as a fifty-foot tall teddy-bear on the rampage in Mahnattan", I answer.

He chuckles, too. "Vell, in zat case, come on!" He extends his hand, "I'll take you zere."

"Okay..." I warily take his hand. His fur is soft and silky... kinda reminds me of my pet cat. As a matter of fact, I do wonder what Harry - my silly brother Rich named it that way after he saw Harry Potter - is doing at the moment. Hmm... probably hunting down mice. Eww.

"Hang on, ve're in for a ride!"

"What?" All of a sudden, a bright flash of light occurs, and I have to shield my eyes. I feel like I've desintegrated for a second... and then, it's all over.

"You can open your eyes now, mein freund."

I do so, and I grin sheepishly. "Wow."

"Zat was telleportation. Up for more?"

I growl, "No. Not now, anyway."

"Fine zen - here's ze door. Auf widerszien!" Witht that, he 'ports away.

So, that is how it feels like when you 'port. Creepy. I hope that's not my second ability. I really hope it isn't.

I grab the door know and prepare to make a dramatic entrance, when suddenly, I hear a voice, "Oh Ray, you're so immature!"

That sounds a bit like Amara. I pause, my hand still on the door knob. Then comes Ray's voice, "I am not!"

Uh-oh. Not the right time for disturbing, I think to myself.

"She wasn't doing anything wrong", comes Sam's voice. "She was just... I mean, they were just... talking!"

"You should've been there. The way Maximoff was looking at her... I bet he was up to something! I-"

"Up to what?" Sam sounds a bit annoyed. "Really. Mystique's gone, he's got nothing to gain - so what could he possibly do?"

Who the heck's Mystique?

"I don't know... I... that's not the point!"

"Ooh, I get it!" This one's Roberto. "Ray's afraid of a little competition!"

Everyone laughs at that. Then comes Amara's voice, "Ray, you're an idiot. Give the girl a rest, will you? She's only been here for a day. It's her own decision who she speaks to. You can't do anything about it."

"Eavesdropping again, are we?"

"What?"

For the second time in less than ten minutes, I turn around, startled. Scott grins at me.

"No, I... I was just about... to go in, yeah..."

I notice Scott's also wearing his X-Men uniform. He looks totally hot with that visor. "Had a Danger Room session", he answers my unspoken session. You know-"

"Yeah, the Professor told me all about it." And I mentally sleeped through it, I add to myself.

"Nice suit", he says with yet another grin.

"Thanks. But - know the difference between you and me?"

"Um... I'm a boy and you're a girl?"

"Wrong. I - make this suit look good."

We both laugh at this.

Suddenly, the door jerks open, and Ray almost bumps into me. He looks me up and down for a second, then comments, "Nice", before heading off.

"What's with him?" Scott asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh... you don't want to know. You really, truly and totally don't want to know." With that, I go inside the common room.

My arrival is greeted with a bunch of cheers. Bobby runs and hugs me, then Roberto carries me across the room. "Meet - the newest X-Woman!" he proclaims solemnly. Remarks like, "Lookin' good!", "Totally cool!" and so on come from all directions.

I beam at one and all at the same time as Roberto finally puts me down. For the first time, the Institute actually feels like home.