Washing Away Fear

[Vera M. Solway]

Sigh.

The young telekinetic could be seen making her way to the school's indoor pool. What time was it? Eh, it was 12am already. Vera had been so wrapped up in so much that she forgot the time and she had even left her phone in her dorm for the entire day. That had to mean something, right? She always had her phone with her but today she was just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone else. Earlier, she had put together the most adorable and small freebie part that she just knew would get her some votes as Prom Queen. Vera just had this thought, this feeling in her that made her sure that she would get more votes. Intead, she had gotten a nice little visit from Ellen and that hadn't even been the worse of it. The two exchanged words, smart-mouthed comments here and there which wasn't abnormal. Ellen was known to be a complete bitch and Vera was known to be an angry bitch. Next thing she knew, Ellen had made a comment about her parents and family and everything got ugly... fast.

Ugh.

When she was a new student at BA, Vera remembered all of the fights and arguments she had with the other students and even teachers. She was a city girl that was forced into this world full of prude people. She had worked so hard to get where she was, power and attitude wise. Now she felt like she took several steps back. Not only did SPECTRE have her on the edge of her seat, she continued to stress herself with fitting in wit the rest of these popular people. Since when did she care about being Prom Queen, about being asked to prom... or even being on the same level as everyone else? After these years she found herself dressing more 'preppy', her hair and her appearance just everything about her had been done on a day to day basis and for what? So she could hope that she'd pass Riley in the hallway just so he could notice her? That he'd deemed her worthy enough to be asked out? Dated? Hell, even fucked?

Like this whole thing was crazy! It was fucked up! She was changing, evolving into a woman that she wasn't sure that she wanted to be. Her mascara had been smudged from crying her tears of fear and not because she socked Ellen Banks in the face (that bitch deserved it) but because she didn't know what would happen next. Graduation was also right around the corner and she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life after. Vera was over all of this.

As she reached the edge of the pool, she looked down as she kicked off her sneakers. Still dressed in her overly large mickey mouse shirt and jean shorts, Vera did not hesitate to jump in. After surfacing, she brushed her wet midnight hair out of face and floated on her back as she closed her eyes.

[Roxana Strix]

So the whole SPECTRE thing was over and done with and while she had remained back to protect the school she still understood all the stress that had gone along with the whole event. Hell, people died while she was supposed to be protecting the school; not that she felt bad about that or anything, no she only cared about the people she had been assigned to look after and those who she cared to look after. She did fail her mission in a way, and she had been punished for it. Recently in fact and was still healing from her punishment beating. Nothing she was not used to, she had failed before. She did not like it and nor did she like the punishment that came with it, but it just meant she had to work harder and that she was still not good enough. At least she was still on the mission, not as if they actually take her off the job when they invested so much on it and her.

Roxana actually went here to get away from everyone and just some full out alone time where the sound of the water could ease her. Sure she could have hid out in the woods, near the lake, in her room, or in the library. Yet, there was something about being inside the indoor pool that was warm in both the literal way and in an odd memory way. She actually didn't have any good memories surrounding pools, not they were always used for training purposes so she was not even sure why she was here. Either way she was tucked away in a corner with her sketch book, working on drawing the pool room with her left hand since her right was still not able to be used. The sound of someone entering the pool area made Roxana freeze and look up from her book.

Vera Marcello. Roxana thought, recognizing the girl from being apart of the whole Security Squad before the whole SPECTRE thing. She wondered for a moment if that group would not be disbanded since they didn't have to worry about SPECTRE for the time being. Roxana tilted her head for a moment as she watched Vera kick off her shoes and just hop on into the pool. When she breached the water Roxana could not help but to stare for a moment and quickly went to drawing what she saw as fast and as best as she could before the mental image would fade away from her mind. "Ouch." Roxana accidently let slip out as she tried to hold her book still with her right hand and caused pain, resulting in her dropping her pencil and it rolling towards the pool and falling in.

Well...great. Roxana carefully rose to her feet, giving an apologetic look for possible startling Vera as she walked over towards the pools edge. "Could I possible ask you to get my pencil that fell in?" Roxana asked with a weak smile as she hid her sketch book behind her back.

[Vera M. Solway]

Vera stayed afloat on her back as she continued to let the water drown out her hearing. People usually said that swimming without earplugs would damage your ears but out of all the years Vera had been in water, she never had one issue. Maybe she needed to knock on wood. Even so, Vera did not hear the pencil rolling into the pool and since her eyes were closed, she didn't really see who was there to begin with. If anything, she wanted to be alone and to just think and meditate on her personal issues at hand.

"Could I possible ask you to get my pencil that fell in?"

She quickly opened her eyes to see Roxana standing by the side of the pool, who also seemed to have been hiding something behind her back. Vera had worked with Roxana personally seeing how they were in the Security Squad together but never anything more than that. Had she been here the whole time? What the hell was she doing with a pencil at a pool? A-And was that a sketch book behind her back? Was she taking notes on Vera? Sketching her?

Vera submerged herself in the water before come back up to the surface. Wiping water out of her face and slicking her hair back, she looked back at Roxana with a straight face. Vera really hadn't been in the mood. "I'm not getting your fucking pencil." Her voice hissed as her eyes also focused on the small amount of detail of the sketch book that was shown, that Roxana was hiding. She telekinetically snatched he book out of her hand and tossed it to the other side of the area. "And I don't think sneaking around and sketching people is the smartest idea either."

If anything Roxana was lucky she wasn't angry enough to toss it in the pool with the pencil.

[Roxana Strix]

It was quickly clear that Roxana had caught Vera at a very bad time, which she understood since she did catch the girl sort of crying not too long ago. Plus slightly startled her with the whole coming out of where she was hiding in hopes that Vera would help her out and get her pencil that had fallen into the water. She would have got it herself but she was still healing and her body would not have done well with the necessary movement required to swim properly. Plus holding her breath to dice down for her pencil would have been a bad idea with her bruised ribs that would not have liked her lungs being restricted from their normal movement when they would already cause Roxana an issue with just normal breathing. She had most of her injuries wrapped up so was not really worried about any of that.

Vera was not going to get her pencil for her with a hiss in her tone that just added to the fact that Roxana had bothered the girl at the wrong time. Yet she didn't really show any fear or hurt on her face. No, she just looked at Vera and felt the tug of her sketch book being removed from her hands and ending up away from her. Roxana was thankful that it had not fallen in the pool because she had many sketches in there, but even if it had she would have dealt with it. She didn't comment on her pencil, sure it was a special drawing pencil that was not cheap, but she had others back in her room. "I was not meaning to be sneaking around. I was already here hiding." Roxana said as she pointed off to the area of where she was hiding with her good hand.

"As for sketching you without your permission I apologize. It was just a very artistically pleasing sight of you breaking through the surface of the water." Roxana apologized as she looked over in the direction of her sketch book but would get it later. Vera was not one of her target but Vera had been involved with the whole SPECTRE thing. Roxana carefully moved to sit down where she was sitting, managing to hide her pain for the most part. "Do you want to talk about what is wrong?" Roxana asked, having the time and she was not doing anything. Plus she not really doing anything and didn't like silence between her and someone if she was going to be around them. She was not sure if Vera was going to deal with her or not, but it didn't hurt to try. At least it didn't hurt yet.

[Vera M. Solway]

Roxana had never been the one to show much of any emotion. Even just now, she looked completely fine but Vera didn't really care. It wasn't her mission to scare anyone off because again, she didn't really care. All she wanted was to have time to herself and maybe drown a bit, you know, until she could screw her head back on straight.

Her Security Squad mate had mentioned already being here, which was fine. It didn't make Vera angry, if anything it just made her feel as if she should have just stayed in her dorm. Vera found herself narrowing her eyes at Roxana. Honestly, Vera didn't care if it was her twerking, or jumping off of a bridge or anything. If Roxana had been there the whole time, she could have asked if Vera wanted to be drawn or whatever the hell she was doing. What was it with these artists and hiding away to find people in their most vulnerable moments to create art? Vera wasn't here for that.

She simply let a "Whatever." slip out of her mouth. Vera swam her way to the end of the pool and lifted herself out wincing. Her body was still sore from everything that went down with SPECTRE. She figured sore muscles, bruised egos and healing gun wounds was better than death, which had been the fate of a lot of students.

Vera lifted her dripping wet shirt up and over her head, revealing her black bra. She started twisting it and ringing the water out. She threw her shirt on a nearby chair and started to twist her midnight hair trying to get the water out of it. Shaving the sides of her hair had been the best decision she had ever made, she didn't have to deal with so much crap with it now.

"No." She simply said in response to Roxana as she took off her shorts and did the same. "Not to say that something isn't wrong because apparently we're all doomed to having shit go down the drain. It comes hand in hand with being a mutant..."

She let her fingers run through her black locks of hair. "...or living here."

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana did understand that it was better to ask someone if you wanted to take a photo or to draw them, people had their rights. She did not mean to take Vera’s right away. It was more so caught up in the moment of inspiration that you could not hold yourself back to just wait to ask the person if you were allowed to do something. Plus most of the things Roxana did could be seen as illegal on some level and she didn’t really ask for people’s permission for the things she did. She didn’t need to; they would just get in the way of her being able to do her job. Vera was not a job however and after things with SPECTRE tensions were still high among students and staff. Some people loss friends and in general someone they cared about. Roxana didn’t know what all happened to Vera on her mission on her part of dealing with SPECTRE. Roxana knew her part was protecting the school and she had did that even if people did die.

She didn’t expect to get thanks for what she did that no doubt saved many of the students’ lives. It was not just her that did everything after all, she just led the team. She had Guylian’s, Beau’s, and some of the security squad that worked at the school that helped her do what needed to be done. None of that mattered at the moment as Roxana made her way over to pick up her sketch book and head back over towards where Vera was after the girl got out of the water. Sure she could have remained away and her voice would have easily carried but she chose to go back to stand next to Vera. Tearing the page out of her sketchbook of a black and white drawing of Vera half finished. She was able to draw fast, but had not been able to finish the art work that still would have look like it had been done by a professional almost since Roxana did have artistic talents. “Here. Do with it as you like.” Roxana said simply, fine with; and expecting, Vera to possibly crumple it up and toss it into the water.

A no to the offer to talk about it, understandable. Yet Vera said more that Roxana picked up on that Vera did in fact want to talk about it, but not outright. Possibly it could have been just because it was Roxana she was dealing with or that whatever happened before she ended up in the pool was weighing heavy on her. Roxana was not deterred either way because it did not matter if Vera hated her in the end. Roxana had slightly given up on making friends at this rate with what had all gone one. “Well, being teenagers shit often happens to go down the drain, being mutants just adds to it. That does not mean it’s always going to be like this.” Roxana pointed out as she moved to take a seat again, still near Vera but at a good distance that Vera would have to physically move if she wanted to harm Roxana or do anything to her physically.

“As for living here, not all that bad. Just think about how it would be if you were in a normal school with other people who were not like you. Plus it’s not all that bad; I’m sure a girl like you has some friends.” Roxana pointed out because surely Vera could understand that going to another school would probably have just as much drama.

[Vera M. Solway]

Vera eyed Roxana as she walked up to her to hand her the drawing.

“Here. Do with it as you like.”

The telekinetic took the paper and crossed her arms as she looked at it, noticing the quick details. It was good, Roxana had a skill, Vera would admit it but that still didn't really change anything. She wasn't just going to drop her guard down or her attitude and become the best of friends with Roxana just because she decided to give her something she shouldn't have had in the fucking first place.

“Well, being teenagers shit often happens to go down the drain, being mutants just adds to it. That does not mean it’s always going to be like this.”

She rested a hand on her hip as she ran her other hand through her hair. Looking around, she wasn't sure if what she said next would be the truth or just out of frustration. "No, it's not always going to be like this..." Because honestly, she felt that maybe her best decision would be to move away after graduation. It wasn't really something she had said to anyone verbally but it was a decision of hers, along with staying to start and finish college, or just getting her own apartment. She wasn't sure but it felt as if somewhat of a distance from BA would be good for her... even if it was for a few hours a day.

Seeing dead bodies of her classmates and teachers stayed in her mind. It was imprinted in her mind and had it been one of her best friends like Xander... or had it been Riley, she wouldn't know how to continue on with life. Vera didn't know how much more of this she could possibly handle. Her voice had gone from harsh to a bit more quieter, "Surprisingly..." In response to her having friends. Back home, Vera had been very popular and wasn't expecting the same when she arrived at BA. There was nothing about her that was traditional or an American Dream type of girl. Nonetheless, Roxana was right because Vera knew for a fact that she would've been more of a danger at her old school compared to here.

"I don't know... after almost four years, I'm still getting used to all of this."

[Roxana Strix]

"Right. Normal teenagers already have their own stress, just double it for some mutants, but you are right to say that it won't always be like this. You will get older, time moves on, and having full control over your power allows you to lead a close to normal life." Roxana said simply, but figured that Vera had to know this already. Vera was a smart girl at least from what Roxana had observed and figured the girl would understand that this was just another bump in the road and that things would get better at some point. Life was not always so bad; there were things in it that allowed you to be happy and to enjoy it. You just had to look at them and not be blinded by any one emotion. She could tell that either way Vera was just having a bad day and probably was just viewing everything in a dark way because of that.

No surprise there since that was common among teenagers and even adults. When your day was bad you just sometimes had a hard time finding that bit of light or joy in the day even if it was right there. Vera repeated again that it was not always going to be like this. It was true, it was not. There were going to be good and bad days and that was how it was for everyone, mutant or not. Roxana personally tried to keep her issues to herself or think that someone else had it off worse. She was fine with people thinking differently however and well venting to her if they wanted. She was no mind reader, but she was good at readying body language and she was picking up a lot of information based upon how Vera was standing, moving, and the expression on her face.

Roxana had seen the dead before, had been the one to cause death, and even was not able to prevent the deaths of a few on the campus during that attack. It didn't way heavy on her mind because she knew she did everything in her power to protect as many as she could. There were more injuries then death so in the end it was sad to lose people but it was better than everyone dying. Vera's tone went a little softer at the mentioning of friends. "Why do you say surprisingly?" Roxana asked curious as she tilted her head a little to allow her to reach and play with it better without having to stretch out her arms as much. She loved how soft her hair felt. Vera at least had one friend, Roxana was confident in that and sometimes at least having one friend was enough because it was better than none. Still trying to get used to this with it already being four years of it. Roxana could not help but to chuckle a little at that, but it was a weak chuckle.

"There are still adults who are not used to this kind of life. At least thanks to this school you have a chance to live to grow to get used to it." Roxana pointed out because SPECTRE should have been a hint enough of what life would be like if people everywhere knew about mutants and feared or hated them.

[Vera M. Solway]

As comforting as Roxana's words were, Vera still had doubt within her. It just seemed a bit too perfect, you know? Just a bit too good to be true. To grow older and not have to deal with as much problems than they did now, final peace, a normal life. She knew about all of this, she understood it but it just seemed too good to be true. Vera was stubborn like that, she hated to believe just anything just because it was the optimistic way.

"Why do you say surprisingly?"

"It's nothing." She assured Roxana, pushing it aside. It wasn't that she didn't trust Roxana with everything that was going on with her... but she didn't trust Roxana. They hardly spoke as it was and there was something about her that seemed really secretive. How could one trust their secrets with the secretive? You just didn't.

Vera walked up to Roxana who seemed to still be sitting down. Crossing her arms, she looked at her Security Squad mate. "Let me ask you something chica, because I'm just really curious. Throughout this whole thing you've been calm as hell. How? Why? Like why is that?" She furrowed her brows as her hazel eyes studied Roxana as if she was trying to figure the girl out. "'No offense but it really pisses me off."

[Roxana Strix]

Life was going to always be filled with struggles, hardships, and bad days from time to time. It was just how things worked out in the end and just having control over your powers at least took the stress away of worrying about if your power was going to hurt you, someone else, or just bring up the fact that you were different then the masses. Mutants were rare after all and could easily be wiped off the face of the Earth if people knew the full details about them. It showed up in families so taking out family lines that it showed up in would just be one way to get rid of it. Roxana blinked for a moment, wondering why her mind had gone so far into the whole 'why mutants need to learn to control their powers and the Bellefonte Academy was a good place to be'. Pretty much all the mutant schools were good, Bellefonte was just the best.

Vera said it was nothing and like that Roxana was going to drop it, not willing to push someone to share something with her if they were not her target and they seemed to be set on not sharing information with her. There were tons of ways to get something out of someone and Roxana figured if she really wanted to know she could find out someway with time. She understood the possible reasons why Vera might not want to share information, Roxana was hard to trust. She knew that, understood it, and accepted it. She didn't make too much effort to change it unless she had to since she didn't trust anyone either. Vera walked over to her bow, crossing her arms and looking at her. Roxana looking back at the other girl not saying anything for the moment since it was clear that Vera had something to say. That something was a question because Vera was curious. Why was Roxana so calm through all of this and how?

There were many answers to this, most of which Roxana could not share with Vera because of other reasons. She could share some things and would not be lying, she would just not be telling the whole truth. Roxana could not help but to smile a little at Vera's words about how Roxana was pissing her off with being calm. "I'm not outright meaning to upset you, I can assure you. I just think well when I'm calm." Roxana pointed out and figured a little that it should be enough for Vera to accept. She decided to add an example to see if that would help the case, just to be on the safe side.

"During the attack on the school while you were out saving those who had been kidnapped. I was placed in charge of the team that protected the school. If I had not remained calm during that time more people would have died. I'm a transfer student and I don't really have any friends here at the school so I had not reason to worry." Roxana added, figuring that extra bit of information would help out even more since it was true. She didn't really have too many friends at the school and she had been worried about her targets but there was only so much she could do. It was just best to remain calm, think everything out while she acted, and accept what became of it. Punishment had already happened to her for her failures, she could whine and cry about it all she wanted but it would not change anything, it was just better to remain calm.

[Vera M. Solway]

Was it really necessary to get mad over something like this? Especially if someone always seemed so disconnected with everyone and everything emotionally, did Vera really have the right to be ticked off? The thing about that was... she didn't really care. Vera wasn't really a self centered type of person but when it came to how she felt and her emotions, no matter who it was, her emotions kind of mattered more, for the most part. Even after all the training she went through with her powers and her emotions tied to them, her emotions were still unstable as they caused her to act out in unnecessary manners. Well, she was also from the city so manners were hard to come by when upset.

"I'm not outright meaning to upset you, I can assure you. I just think well when I'm calm."

Vera hadn't really moved but she continued to study Roxana, and then the girl smiled at her. It would seem as if she had said something to amuse her? That was um... extremely cute, real cute.

She knew very well where the majority of the Squad had been split up to during the rescue. Anyway she'd figure as much, seeing how Roxana seemed fit to protect the school. Vera cracked a smile, "Not really sure why you'd care if more people would have died or not, you are a transfer student after all, you don't really have any friends here at the school so yeah, you don't have any reason to worry." Vera said, just using what Roxana just said against her. All it really did was piss Vera off even more because all she heard from that tidbit was: I stay calm because I don't need to worry about anyone else here but myself. Could Vera blame her? It should always be about yourself and no one else...

... so why was it that Vera found herself worrying about everyone else?

Especially now after the whole SPECTRE thing, Vera found herself worried about her own people. Roxana wouldn't be able to understand that, or Vera for that matter. Vera telekinetically pulled her clothes off of the chair and sent them to her hands before putting them back on. They were still wet but they weren't dripping so it wasn't that bad. It was probably her own fault for getting upset because at the end of the day Roxana hadn't done anything to her but for some reason Vera just didn't care. "Well I think I've had enough of bullshit for one day."

Grabbing her shoes, Vera started walking out to where she came in without a real goodbye or anything. "Have fun. O' Emotionless One." In regarding to Roxana sketching or drawing, whatever. She was sure Rox would find more people to draw anyway.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was not bothered by how bad this little meeting was going; she was used to catching people at a bad time. It seemed like her first official one on one conversation with someone went bad. The only exception to that being Luxanna who Roxana had not seen or talked to in a while. Her timing had to be bad and it was also a little bit of her personality. Not a lot of people seemed to be able to like and trust her with how calm she was with pretty much everything. She had emotions; they showed up, just not when it was not smart to have them. They got in the way of her making decisions and sometimes using her power to its fullest ability. Her emotions didn't control her power, but if she was under stress or anger then she would not be able to say throw a dagger at the mark she wanted or to form a crystal to the right color and density that she desired because she was distracted about how she was feeling.

Roxana could see that Vera was watching her closely and could tell pretty quickly that Vera did not seem satisfied with her answer. Using the words Roxana had said back to her and clearly looked even more pissed. "Well, I'm not a heartless monster." Roxana said and left it at that, since Vera seemed to be determined to stay mad and upset at the moment. Roxana could only do so much and if being her normal self was not working well there was nothing she could do at this point. If she had started off acting to begin with then things might have gone well, but Roxana had a feeling that Vera liked people to be real and not 'fake' with her. Roxana was real, just not fully telling everything. She could not just tell Vera that she was trained and that was why she acted and behaved the way she did. It was just a simple fact of life.

Vera gathered up her things so Roxana was not going to bother the other girl anymore if she was set on leaving. Roxana didn't plan on going anywhere and probably would just note about this encounter to add to her reports and then possibly just draw a scene of the pool full of people. Just using faces of people that were her targets or she had seen around and remembered the way they looked. "I hope you day gets better and less full of bullshit as you put it." Roxana said to Vera, giving small nod of her head as a way of saying good bye to Vera. Vera did add something at the end that bothered Roxana a little bit. Did people actually think she was without emotion? Certainty that was not the case, but then again if someone was not actually trying to get to know her she could see how they got the impression so she didn't say anything about it.

She just remained silent as she watched Vera for a moment and then looked back at the water, remaining that she didn't have a pencil anymore so was just going to sit here for a while and enjoy the sound of the water the still moved from Vera's earlier dip in.