Dawn grant me serenity

[Haven]

Niki had picked up quite a few good habits from Aideen, one of which had helped her to get through the long weeks of punishment that Emma, Scott, and Hank had made sure to put the screws to her through. She was now less the type to sleep in, and with Embers help to teach her a few positions to maintain a more level mind and attitude, she had taken to coming up to the observation tower to do Yoga.

She had watched as several students swam laps, it was almost a ritual for her to watch. Tracy and Chase were often their, they usually were first in and last out of the water. Chase seemed especially to enjoy it, even though it was still very cold water. After a moment of watching the movement through the fluid water of her fellow students, she would find the center of the tower and in that spot she would search for her own center.

She had been grateful to have been reinstated on the Acolytes, even though the whole Frostbite hating her issue loomed large. It wasn't her fault that the two of them hadn't worked out. She hadn't broken up Ian and Lorelai, but she was content to be spending nights with him. They weren't officially a couple, but they did mess around, and she liked it that way.

It didn't matter to her if anybody saw her as a slut, or worse...she had him and she had her own freedom too. In a way she was glad it was an unspoken truth, because she and Ian were mutually exclusive, even as they were single enough... to a point, she knew that any girl who even considered spending time with him would change their mind a second later as the thought would occur to them that Haven would have not a problem killing or maiming anyone who messed with her friend with benefits.

He was after all her friend first so if either of them ever decided they were done with playing at a relationship, one way or the other- either wanting more or wanting less, they would say so honestly and without fear. They had seen each other through Hell, they could see each other through anything. The morning sun streaming in through the windows feels so nice she thought as she did her sun salutation.

[Haven]

She was glad for the time alone, long moments to reflect upon all that had gone on in her life. Moving into Ember's room, small as it was the two of them really enjoyed each other's company and Niki didn't mind having the lower pull out part of the daybed to sleep on, it was the feeling of having someone to watch her back that enabled her to finally sleep with her forcefield down.

The nights that she didn't sleep there, and managed to sneak out to the boathouse or the stables with Ian were what she thought of now. Oh then she had someone at her back...and her front...and everywhere a girl would wish for someone special. She took a moment from her yoga to stop and enjoy some memories....

[Onyx]

"...Zhe traineeng sessons are geteeng bhetter ... niet ... Zhe ... niet, niet ... Zhe traineeng sessons are beeing ... niet! Gah!" A frustrated New Mutant paced up and down the length of the shared dorm room. Alejandro was out already this morning for a spot of training, and that was fine. t left Jasper to write his letter to the Dazzler in peace. Suprisingly the famous star was very good at keepingn touch with people by post. That had been a good thought at the time but after thinking over for a while and realising in his first letter that there was a distinct lack of knowlege of English literacy, Jasper realised that he had gotten himself into something not so clever.

"<<When I decided to keep in contact with Dazzler, the thought never arrived that English would be easier for her.>>" He grumbled, tugging at a small chunk of hair at the front, his pen now being chewed between his teeth. Going out of the dorm room and wandering up the stairs to the one main quiet place in the building. The Observation Tower was very seldom filled with people so it would be nicer to write in proper silence without random boys running up and down the corridor screamng or yelling. It was something initiative of a migrane.

"Are jou eentendeeng on staying 'ere, or vould jou 'elp viss zhiss letter. I am struggleeng viss zhe vordeeng." He said distractedly after removing his pen and scratching out yet another line of his letter. It as beginning to feel like he would never be able to finish at this rate.

[Haven]

Roused from her daydreams of nights gone by Niki looked over at Onyx and said "Huh? You wanna try that again in English this time Jaspy?" she said with a bit of a smile on her face. She really enjoyed tormenting him, since it was almost adorable how he often times showed up when she was all alone. If Niki didn't know any better she would have guessed he was either interested in her, or still trying to get to Ember through her.

"Whatcha doin? Writin a letter?" she sat up now, eyes closed, with her back as straight as it would go and began some deep breathing exercises to cleanse her chi...or aura...or whatever it was that it was supposed to do. "So read me whatcha got so far, slowly cause you have got one helluva accent there Bratwurst breath." she sat silently waiting for him to read and breathing.

[Onyx]

"Vhen vhill jou say eet zhe right vhay. Eet ees Jasp-ER. Jasp-ER or eef jou vhant to be nice jou call me Jasp-is! Eet 'as been long eenuff for jou to finaly understand!" The tall German grumbled his mouth fightig back a smirk. Snow white was someone who seemed to find pleasure in making fun of the fact that he was still struggling with English. Even though at first it had made him angry and he simply left, he grew to be used of her teasing and simpy let it go over his head. "I'd like to see jou speaking German viss me for a vhile. I seen jou vould find problems too." He chuckled.

Nodding his head he raised a hand to the back of his head and coughed a little in embarassment. It seemed like such a simple thing, writing a letter. But he both wanted to sound like he knew how to speak English and to not sound to ... personal. It was strange knowing he was keeping in contact with the most amouse woman in the world. "Ja, i am vriting to Dazzler, bt as jou know I am not zhe best at speakeeng English." Chuckling again at the nickname from tiny Snow white Onyx moved toward her and slid himself down against the wall to stetch one leg out while the other he rest his arm on.

"I vill 'ave ju know, zhat mein Bratwurst ist zhe best tasting een America. Be 'appy Ian Chupacabra did not 'ave me eating zome strange food." Ruffling his paper nervously, Japser looked at Nikki for a second and raised his hand to his head, reading his own handwriting in English was a nightmare. Poor Dazzler. "Zo far? Eet ees not much. But ... ;
Dear Allison

Vhat a good idea zhat vhe keep een touch viss vriting. Zo far, 'ere seengs 'ave beginneeng to calm down een terms of zhe missions. No-von 'as been keednapped yet un- and zhe teachers 'ave started zheir classes ...and, az of now I am only taking Meester Volvereene's, Zhe Izeman, Mizz Frost and Meester Zhyclops classes. Zey are zhe vons zhat 'old any eenterest en me vhen i go to zhem and vill be zhe most benefeesial.

I 'ave not yet feegured out anyseeng more about mein vings, alzough eet ees getteeng eazier to move aound zhe school. Zhey 'ave proved zhat zhey are veree useful for zhe vorkouts. Zhe traineeng sessons are being? Getting better?...

"Zhat ees as far as i 'ave gotten. I could vright pages for zhe letter een German, but Mizz Dazzlerspeaks better english zhan German. Unfortunately ... my english ees as good as her German. Zo, vhe 'ave a problem."

[Haven]

"Alright quit buggin Jaspy, if I'm gonna help you I gotta do it my way...and yeah you speak two languages so whoopdee do...you want a cookie?" She looked at him cocking her head playfully. He had after all interrupted her and she was the one with all the good juicy English words for him to use.

"Ok nice, sorta bland but I guess that's your style...so what do you want to tell her? You got a reason why you don't want to go to Rogue's flying class? Your wings not up to it yet? Maybe you want to tell her about one of the girls you like...eh?..eh?..." she wiggled her eyebrows a little bit at him as she probed for some dirt on the kid.

"I mean you're spending some time to talk to her tell her some stuff, like not just bland crap, but maybe some important stuff...about working on your bike? I seen you out there in the garage, think we don't see you when Ember and me are down there with Cyclops and Diesel? I mean c'mon your like six foot tall and have freakin BAT WINGS for Christs sake? Tell her about the stuff TuneUp and you have done to it or something...I dunno." she shrugged a little and went back to stretching.

"Maybe scratch out some stuff in German first and then we can translate it to English and I'll help you with the wording, ok?" she looked at him hoping he would get that she didn't want to write it for him, but she would help him. He was an alright kid even if he did smell a little weird...like moth balls and wet oregano or something, but that had to be all the bratwurst seeping out through his skin.

[Onyx]

Ignoring the jibe to his multi lingual abilities and the sarcastic way in which the albino girl spoke to him, Jasper tried hard not to get riled up. It was still easy to piss him off, not being just his mutation that had made him such a volatile person. Still he would answer her thoughts and hopefully find more to put in his letter. He wasn’t really the best of pen pals to be truthful, having never written a letter that didn’t include a threat inside to some kid who had pissed him off. He could remember all the times he and his ‘crew’ would go and beat the living daylights out of some kids, boys or girls it didn’t matter. If they angered him or made a comment about someone he thought highly of he would stop at nothing to make sure they learned their lesson. He was an evil child and an evil teenager. The only thing that had stopped him turning to drugs – as he was already a frequent fan of drinking by the age of 14 – was working on the Fenrir bike in the garage he moved into at his house with his dad. Those had been small moments where he wasn’t angry, that and when he and his mother would go to church. As difficult as it was to believe, Onyx was still a very proud catholic child. He was raised correctly and no matter what he did, back home he would regularly confess himself unto god in hopes of forgiveness.

“Nein, I do not vhant to try und fly yet. Zhe vings steel do not conveence me zhat zhey are strong enuff to support me. Zhey could be veree unstable.” He folded the offending appendages in front of him and prodded the fleshy stretchy membrane between each solid bone like support. In a way it was kind of cool to think he had wings, but they had been commented so often to be bat-like in appearance, but it had the harsh reality that they where nigh up to the standard of the adored Acolyte boy Gavin. Just because his where feathers and more appealing … stupid vanity. “Und for zhe geerls … I ‘av yet to find somevon to trust enoff to even theenk of likeeng zhem.” He grumbled as he raised a hand to run through his messy blonde hair. It was technically still messy from sleep as he had not done much that morning other than write and that had taken most of his time so far. Onyx never cared much for looking presentable really. The truth in his encounter with the girls in the school was that he was still finding Allure to be one of the hottest of them all. Haven was pretty good looking too, but he had not spent more than an hour talking to her during the past two months. Other girls like Aqua and Decay had caught his attention more than once but each time he found something wrong with them.

The mention of his bike though was something different entirely. “Zhe Fenrir? Jou seenk zhat eet vould be someseeng to put een a letter zhat vhe altered zhe suspension und changed the steering und dials to seet eenside zhe body zo zhat vhe could remove zhe vindow und make eet more Aerodynamisch^*1?” The excitement in his voice was unmistakable. He loved that machine like a family member, it held a lot of memories in it and with help from his funny talking team mate the parts he was finding difficult to fix seemed much more manageable if not simple. TuneUp had become someone he respected entirely as both a team mate and someone he could be around easily. It was a bonus that one of the times they had been talking was while they where both in the garage and Jasper had complained about a stiff suspension. Given that the bike was totally custom made meant that no part could be altered much without causing it to break in other places. Sean was a god send. “Vell, eef I write een Deutsch zhen try und find zhe Eengleesh vords, jou vill help viss zhe correct vording Jastimme^*1?”