X-men: The Zen Chronicles (Redheadstemper)

[redheadstemper]

"Fine. Let's go over her academic records, see what they say. And perhaps I can get some information from her parents. Actually, I think that perhaps one of our foreign students, or our guest, would be a good test. We could see if she retains any knowledge of their languages." Charles thought aloud as he and Jean made their way to his office.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Jean nodded and went with Charles to the records room and looked over all the records for both American and Australian schools she went too. "Straight A's in everything but her language classes. . . Weird."

"What are you two doing?" Storm asked with a frown. Jean and Charles turned their heads. How had they not noticed her? Or heard her mind?! their eyes were wide, like kids with their hand caught in the biscuit jar.

Should we run? Charles asked in Jeans mind.

We can't run she's in the doorway! Jean replied. And I highly doubt Scott upgraded your chair to include wings!!

Point. Charles replied with a frown. "We were just looking at Felicity's record to see where we need to focus her schooling on." He lied fluidly.

"You do realize I heard your whole conversation right?" Storm stated. "And that if you don't at least seek permission from Faye I'm going to Kel." Both paled a little. Kel would kill them. They'd never be able to sleep if she decided to kill them in vengeance for experimenting on her precious Felicity. And she was in a relationship with Logan. . . oh god the crap would hit the fan!!!

"Okay fine." Jean caved. "We'll ask Faye first." She growled.

"See that you do. Or I will tell Kel." Storm turned on her heal and left.  

[redheadstemper]

"Damn." Jean was still shocked, but her mind had started working again. "I forgot that you taught her how to shield her mind."

Charles started. "I forget, myself, much of the time, since she doesn't use it around the school. Or I thought she didn't. I suppose we'd best go and see if Faye will agree. The sooner we get her permission, assuming she gives it of course, the sooner we can start figuring it out."


Walking into the rec room, Jean and the Professor were shocked to see Faye conversing with Kurt in fluent German.

Jean raised her hand to her face in defeat. Is there anything she isn't good at?

Perhaps a more pertinent question would be, why are her marks so low when she is fluent?

Oh, that's easy. Don't you remember, the oral section of the language tests only contributes a small amount to the final marks. If she took a long time, relatively speaking, to become competent at spelling ...

Ah, I see your point. She would get low marks due to her spelling problems, and the teacher grading the written thinking she did not know the appropriate word, even as she is fluent in the spoken language. And because of the low percentage of the final mark that comes from the oral exam, she would have, her marks in that class would stand out amongst her otherwise high marks.

The irony is, the low percentage assigned to the oral portion is, as I recall, meant to ensure students aren't penalised too much for poor pronunciation or being shy.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye grinned as she talked animatedly with Nightcrawler. She explained that she had a touch based power and that hugging and those sort of things were very limited. He understood and talked to her about ways of learning control. Of course if one looked at her a certain way, they'd notice she had a very metallic shine to her skin. She noticed something in the corner of her eye and smiled. "Uncle Charlie!" She called rushing to him.

"Uncle Charlie?" Jean asked in a mocking tone.

"Long story." Charles snapped then opened his arms for a hug. Faye went into his arms making sure she didn't touch his skin.

"What's up?" Faye asked with a grin.  

[redheadstemper]

"Well," Charles began, "Jean and I were discussing how to discover the limits of your power and whether you keep any knowledge you get from the exchange. We thought because of your marks in languages being lower than your other subjects, we could ask you to try with a language you already know some of, and a language you didn't know any of, but it looks like that plan is not viable. Are you as fluent in Japanese as you are in German?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye frowned listening to X explain himself. After a little bit of thinking she decided to respond in Japanese. "Hai, watashi wa Doitsu ni iru yō ni watashi wa Nihonde wa hijō ni ryūchōdesuga, watashi wa sore wa watashi ga sore kara hoji watashi no chikara to chishiki no genkai o hakken suru ni kanren shite dono yō ni hyōji sa remasen." Yes, I am very fluent in Japanese as I am in German but I don't see how that is relevant in discovering the limit of my powers and the knowledge I retain from it. She could see from their expression they had no idea what she just said. So she turned her head to a Japanese born and bred student who translated then added to Faye alone in a hiss. "Anata no chīsana kuso." The tone sounded mean but the grin they shared seemed to say something different.

Jean just stared at Faye, what the hell!? "Is there any language you're not good at?" She asked after trying several times to make a coherent sentence.

"Uh. . . I pretty much am good at picking up almost any language. However I found learning Mandarin difficult to learn so dropped that in favour of Japanese. I've yet to try Korean too."  

[redheadstemper]

Jean took over the explanation before Charles could do more than open his mouth. "Everything actually, since it's fairly easy to judge a person's proficiency in a language, even just understanding it, with conversation, whereas it can be difficult to assess other subjects. You would have to find someone to write two or three separate tests in which each question is progressively more difficult, where you can judge fluency with increasingly complicated conversation."

"Unfortunately," Charles interjected, "we don't have any students who know those languages. Perhaps you could try Russian, if Piotr agrees?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye's cheeks grew a little in colour. "I guess." She said. "But can you explain that again but slower and with simpler wording? I didn't follow that sentence at all." She added with a frown. "I haven't tried Russian but I could probably see if Piotr is willing to teach me. I mean it couldn't hurt right?"

Both teachers shared a sly look to each other. "No, it couldn't." Jean replied in a slightly skeptical tone.  

[redheadstemper]

"It's harder to judge how much you improve and how long you hold onto it in other subjects, than it is to judge how much you understand a language."

After Faye agreed to try it, they crossed the room to talk to Piotr.

"Could you help us with something, Piotr? We were trying to decide how to find out how much Faye gets when she touches someone, and if she gets some knowledge as well. We were hoping you could help us, since it's easier to tell how much she gets with you, since it will show by how much she turns to metal, and because she doesn't speak Russian, we can tell if she gets knowledge by you talking with her." Jean seemed to not realise just how proficient at English Colossus was, and was deliberately using smaller, more common words. Charles was trying to hide his dismay at her patronising attitude.

Jean, he isn't a simpleton. He is close to fluent in English, he merely has problems with his accent and confidence.

Piotr smiled at Faye. "I will be glad to help Faye with this. Would you like to learn Russian even if this does not teach you?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye nodded a mild blush on her cheeks. "Da." She said knowing it was the same in German and Russian. She shook off her coat and her gloves. She wasn't sure how much skin area contact was needed for their experiment to work so she timidly lifted her hands to his neck, gently cupping it. She gave a gasp of surprise and pleasure at the contact. Her eyes glazed a little but the blush remained on her cheeks. She should have kept the desire for him hidden. She wasn't sure if it would transfer to him or not. She didn't know if it was one way or both ways. But the more she held onto him the more she wanted to pull him down and kiss him.  

[redheadstemper]

Piotr had taken notice of the new girl when she arrived a few weeks before, but hadn't gotten up the courage to start a conversation with her. Give him a fight, and he knew what to do, but he wasn't very good at talking to pretty girls. So when she was carried into the rec room by Wolverine not long after everyone was safe back at the mansion, he was surprised when she came up and started a conversation, after which she'd started conversations with him and some of the other students. As he got deeper into a conversation with another Russian student, she decided to head over and talk to the new mutant, Kurt.

Then Professor Summers and Professor Xavier came in, and started talking to Faye, and then they called him over to ask for his help. Once he had agreed, she cupped his neck in her hands, and he started feeling more desire for her. Suddenly reaching a decision, Piotr leaned down and kissed her.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Faye blushed, taken by surprise at first but then she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him closer.

Xavier and Jean stared at them. Xavier smiled not to surprised but Jean looked shocked. She couldn't tell who was kissing who until Faye wrapped her arms around Piotr's neck and gave a little noise of desire. They both seemed to kiss each other.

"They seem to like each other." Jean stated.

"He's liked her since she arrived on the school grounds. And she's liked him since they bonded over being from a different country. I think he can help her get over John." Xavier whispered back. "And I think Kel will approve. Oh look that's new!" He commented watching as Faye's skin started to turn to steel from every point she was touching his skin.  

[redheadstemper]

Bobby and Marie changed met outside the bathrooms in the lower section of the mansion after changing out of their new uniforms, and chatted as they slowly made their way to the rec room to unwind.

"I still can't believe John would leave us like that. I know he doesn't like having to hide being a mutant, but to go outside like that ... the only way he got out of there was if he got picked up by Magneto, and the way he was talking to him, I think he was just about ready to join up."

"Yeah, somehow I don't believe he's dead. I think I know why he would, though. You didn't notice, at your folks' place, how he was looking at the pictures. You know he never had a happy life, even before he manifested, don't you?"

"Yeah, Rogue, but I didn't think it was the sort of thing to make him leave us like that. I mean, that's why the Professor started the school-"

Bobby broke off as they walked into the rec room to see the Professor and Jean looking shocked at something. Turning to look at what they were staring at, they saw Faye and Piotr kissing, with Faye turning to metal where she was touching Colossus.

"What the hell?"

"Language, Rogue. And to answer your question, Faye and Piotr were engaging in an experiment, when they started kissing."

"But, I thought she was just starting something with John?"  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Jean smiled at the two new comers. "Well, obviously not." She replied. Her eyes turned back to the couple snogging and cleared her throat. "Yes, I think that's quite enough you two,"

Faye pulled back slowly though she didn't want to. Another peck of his lips once they were parted and Faye opened her eyes. She searched Piotr's face and opened her mouth to say something in English but the words dribbled out in Russian. "Well that was wicked." She teased blushing as her skin returned to normal. "Wanna do that again sometime?" To her, no one else was in the room. To her, it was just she and Piotr.

"I don't really recall our experiment professor X." Jean commented. "But I believe it was proven right?"  

[redheadstemper]

Piotr smiled. "You realise you said that in Russian? And yes, I would like to kiss again."

He looked down, and saw that she had turned to metal where she had touched him - her lips and hands. "It looks like you have my mutation also. Do you want to try to turn all the way metal, or would you like to see how long you can hold the language? When I was first learning control it took a lot of concentration to turn all the way to metal when I did not feel threatened, so perhaps we could just talk?"