Waiting For Iceman

[Echo]

'Had the bus been really early? I left the airport a little while ago, but ... it can't be that early can it?!' Hope thought in a panic. Stood in the middle of an American street pulling along two irregular sized suitcases on wheels Hope looked up at a giant clock on the side of a building.

It had just turned 12pm American time and Hope realized that the way in which she had perfectly timed her arrival in America, to the bus Depot being picked up from school was in fact; wrong. Unfortunately she failed to include the time difference that was apparently crucial to the drop off working to plan. Having not taken off the initial 6 hours time difference she found herself sitting on a bench of the bus depot. Her hair tied up into a side pleat gave her something to fiddle with as she sat on her own.

'Sometimes it's a wonder I'm even allowed out the house, my logic is all wrong.' She sighed mentally, reaching down with one hand and fishing out a bottle of water from her handbag. The check in from the airport had given her some time to think about her situation.

She had moved solitarily from another continent with no-one to translate for her and with strict instructions from her mother to keep her mutation a secret. Meaning she had no means of communication.

Looking down at her watch Hope sighed. No ... Echo sighed ... it would be difficult adjusting to a new name. She pulled out the little dial with her stubby finger nails and twisted the hands so that they were the correct time. Six hours previously. 'At this point I will be wandering the streets on my own waiting for the school pick up person. It'll be nice to meet Iceman though. I saw him on TV once. He's pretty cute.'

Despite being in another continent and faced with a new life of struggling to be someone, Hope never missed a beat when it came to cute looking boys.

[Hoax]

The shiny black sedan pulled up outside the bus station and Dorian Jameson made a sour face, glancing at the driver. His father had been very specific about the car not being seen anywhere near the Xavier Institute and that meant that Dor was going to have to sit at the bus station like some low life until one of the teachers came to get him. It was all about the bottom line... mutants weren't good for business, and that meant Dor had to go and deal with this unfortunate turn of events quietly.

The curly haired boy smirked at his reflection in the mirror. He knew perfectly well that his father had no problem with his being a mutant, specifically because Dor's special talent would be invaluable once he joined the family business, but image was nearly as important to the Jamesons as that bottom line. It would be better for business, better socially, if Dor simply disappeared until he better understood his mutation.

That and Emma Frost had promised a stellar education at the mutant school.

That was why Dor was sitting in the back of the comfortable Crown Victoria, fingers digging into the leather upholstery. The now familiar hum of conversation was barely discernible thanks to his earplugs, but Dor still had to remind the seatbelt now and again to shut up before he had it torched into polyester ash and twisted metal. His smirk tugged down into a scowl as he eyed the outside world with distaste. "Is it really necessary to make me wait in there?" he asked, giving the driver a look over his glasses. "God only knows what's inside. Ah don't wanna listen to the bubble gum under the benches tellin me 'bout all the 'sticky' situations they've been in. It ain't funny."

The driver laughed but the locks popped up and Dor got his answer. He'd just have to wait in the...bus station. "Ah'm gonna remember this," he said coldly as he stepped out of the car. The fifteen year old adjusted his ear plugs and walked into the bus station like he owned the place, his driver a step or two behind with his bags. The mostly empty room immediately filled with chatter, singing, and shouting and Dor flinched, jamming his earplugs deeper into his head. "Goddamn," he muttered, plopping down on an open bench, across from some chick looking just as lost as he felt.

"Take it easy, kid." Dor glared up at the driver as the man settled his luggage and crossed his arms. He watched the older man leave and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. This is what he got for taking the private jet. He was ridiculously early and now he had to sit in a public place, with other people, and all their crap. He eyed the girl sitting across from him and smirked.

Well, well, he thought to himself. Looks like Ah'm not the only one waitin. Dor glanced around before abandoning his bags and moving over to sit beside the girl. "Headin to Xavier's, ain't ya?" he whispered, grinning. "Your shoes just tol' me."

[Echo]

The sound of people milling around the bus depot was horrible. There was nothing to do for the many hours she had remaining and whenever someone looked at her to smile she could not reply to them. She smiled, signaled to them that she could not speak but in the end all they gave her was a grimace and walked away from her in a huff.

'It's not like I can help it. My mom told me not to use my mutant power. I can totally keep it under wraps now, but it doesn't mean its not annoying.' She thought, folding her arms in front of her. Despite what her appearance may show, she was not ignorant nor was she rude. Being mute made life very difficult sometimes when everyone else was the ignorant ones.

Not long after she watched with curiosity as a quite adorable looking boy walk into the depot. Initially she had to take a double take, without the glasses he was the exact image of Nicoli ... 'Nicoli ... Its still not sunk in. Why did it have to be on 'my birthday, why Abby too ...' With a sigh she hastily looked away and listened as his lone voice echoed around the room. She had better hearing than most, her own voice never interfering with the surrounding noises. She could hear what he was saying, how he spoke. 'Pretty accent' She mulled silently, smiling to herself.

Suddenly, footsteps interrupted her thoughts and Hope looked up to see the cute looking guy walked toward her with something of a smile. Addressing her directly with a very blunt observation that she was going to the mutant school. Initially she turned away at the mention of the schools name. Trying to not make it obvious that she was indeed going there. But, when he told her that it had been her shoes that gave him the thought she looked at him strangely, nodding her head and raising a single eyebrow with interest.

[Hoax]

She didn't answer him. She just got all nervous and then looked at Dor like he was bonkers. Hell, there was still a chance that he was crazy. After all, who else spoke to inanimate objects if not people who were nine kinds of nutso? That was Dor. So long as a thing wasn't strictly alive, he could talk to it, listen, learn. The phrase "if these walls could talk', had a whole different meaning for Dor. For him, they literally could.

Slowly, he tugged one of his earplugs loose and did his best to sort through the cacophony of voices that were mindlessly and aimlessly babbling. Each individual tile beneath his feet was singing a different verse of 'We Didn't Start the Fire'. The light fixtures were wailing like Tarzan. The bench that they were sitting on was commenting on his choice of jeans. And the girl, well, she didn't make a sound.

Her clothes however... Lei non può parlare , her shirt told him seriously. Essa è chiamata Hope. Dor's nose wrinkled in confusion. His Italian was rusty but he got the gist. She wasn't able to talk it seemed, but that didn't bother him. Too many damn things were already yammering as it was.

"Can't talk?" He asked casually. "That's alright, Hope, Ah don't mind." Dor leaned back on the bench. "Ah'm headin over to... Well, you know where, dontcha? Yeah, Ah'm headin over there myself. Name's Dorian Jameson, by the by, and it's a pleasure to meet you." Dor made sure to keep his voice down, lest their dirty little secret be overheard. "Ah'm not a mind reader, darlin', if that's what you're thinkin. I'm a listener. And on that note, you wouldn't happen to be wearin or carryin anythin that speaks English, would ya? My Italian ain't so good."

He grinned broadly and put his hands behind his head. Even if Hope couldn't speak to him, by the time the school sent someone to pick them up Dorian Jameson would know everything there was to know about his silent new friend.

[Echo]

How odd, another mutant it seemed. He was able to correctly assume that she was a mute and more frighteningly; know her name. It was a little bit frightening, not having told him anything yet him beginning to know things about her. It almost made her wonder if she should show him her own mutant ability. Would it be worth the trouble? Any question he wanted to ask would be silenced if she borrowed his voice. Not only could she speak in someone elses voice through touch, but she forced them to become mute for the same space of time.

Hope was worried about what kind of reaction she would get if; through stealing his voice she spoke like a boy with other people about. Very quickly she concluded that it would be best not to do anything that would jeopardies her cover of normality.

Still, she thought hard when he asked if she was wearing anything that might speak English. The sentence itself was insane, but then again she felt insane being able to speak after a lifetime of mute. Slowly, she frisked herself, looking through for anything that might not be Italian. Her clothes were all from home, her suitcase, necklace ... well. Her necklace was her American grandmothers. Perhaps ...?

Slowly she raised the necklace, if by some strange idea thinking that by raising it it would make it easier for Dorians gift?

How odd must it be to listen to everything around you, the stories the walls could tell, the buildings ... it made her smile to herself just thinking about it. She hoped that the school would be able to help her with her mutation, after two long years living to suppress it she was desperate to do something. Still, her mom told her to stay hidden. To keep a low profile.

So that's what she did.

[Hoax]

Ugh, jewelery. Dor frowned and dismissed her attempt to be helpful with a sharp shake of his head. Shiny baubles were the blondes of the inanimate world and tried his patience like no others could. Even if Hope's necklace could speak understandable English, it wouldn't know anything interesting and Dor wasn't one to be bored. No, Dor was not interested in sorting through the crazy babble that the necklace was already spewing at him and he popped his earplug back into place. Effectively ending whatever ‘conversation’ might have been forthcoming.

He supposed that he should be thankful for the rare silence that was being offered, but the fact that he couldn't get anything off the mute girl was irritating. Dor wasn’t like the cowering, whining mutants that just wanted their powers to go away, or train them so that they could be contained. No, he loved his powers and had come to rely on them in a sense in the short time he'd had them. He couldn’t think of a better power to have. There were no such things as secrets from him…so long as he could understand what the hell was being said. Time to brush up my foreign language skills, Dor told himself with an eye roll. Ah should be able to understand it all.

"Too bad, darlin.” He said, with an easy and mostly disinterested shrug. “Would h'been nice to have someway to pass the time. Ah wouldn't worry none. Someone'll be along for us 'fore too long." Dor closed his eyes contentedly. Even if the school didn’t send someone for hours, he’d still be fine. He was going to the Xavier Institute, and once he got there… well, in the time it took to say ‘how-do’ the place would be his playground.

[Echo]

Hope frowned. She didn't understand why the necklace wouldn't work but she knew it meant Dorian would not be able to understand most of what was 'said'. Furiously she searched her mind for anything that might do the trick but everything she thought of would either be Italian or not be hers. Apparently there would be only one way he could get any answers about her. He had proven to her that he was not some malicious anti-mutant American. So it should be safe ...

Slowly, she put her finger to her mouth and stood up, checking through windows and doors to see if anyone looked like there coming. After confirming to herself that there was no-one to be found she turned back to Dorian with a small half smile.

Going back to her seat she turned to him and held up her hands, gently putting one palm first against his cheek and taking a deep breath.

"I don't like using my power. It worries me when I'm the one that can talk and everyone else falls silent." She explained, the voice exactly replicating Dorians. However, as she had swapped vocal chords due to her power it had meant that poor Dor was left with hers. Mute as the day Hope had been born.

"Don't freak out?" she asked, sitting back. Her voice still foreign with Dorians voice. "My name is Hope Robinson. And I swap my voice for other peoples. Through touch." Shrugging her shoulders she sat back. She waited to see his reaction, and for the time when he got his voice back.

[Hoax]

Dor had planned on just taking a nap. What else was he going to do in the middle of nowhere with some broad that couldn't talk? A nap was exactly the sort of activity that Dor could get behind... and then a small hand pressed on his face and his eyes popped open.

"What's with the touching?" At least, that's what he wanted to say. All that came out was a sort of gurgling whine that was terribly disconcerting. Even more disconcerting was hearing his voice come out of the supposed mute. Glaring something fierce, Dor listened while she introduced herself and explained what she had just done.

Of all the rotten, sneaky tricks, stealin a man's voice! If Ah weren't a gentleman... Dor groused, silently to himself. He gently cleared his throat, testing his voice to see if it had come back or not. He shot Hope an especially nasty look when she asked him not to freak out. As though Ah would panic over somethin like this. Ain't nothing frightenin or painful about her power. S'just annoyin. Especially since Ah don't know when it'll reverse back to normal.

Dor stood up slowly so as not to attract attention and walked over to his two compact bags. He rooted around a bit, looking for something specific before he came back to Hope with a fresh notebook and a pen. He quickly scribbled something down before showing her, eyebrow raised...

Dor pointed a stern finger at her before gesturing around them. They were in a very public, very anti-mutant area. It was the reason his father had ordered the driver to drop him off a safe distance from the school. One wrong move, one person over hearing his voice coming out of the girl... game over. He looked down at his notebook before adding something and holding it up for her perusal.

[Echo]

Hope sighed. She frowned and hung her head gently as she read the oncoming messages, she was used to reading from pages when it was her writing. "Sorry." she mumbled quietly, looking around her and sitting back in the seat. Taking paper from her own bag - something of a necessity in her life - she took a new page and began scribbling again, not wanting to upset Dorian any further. Her mutation was an annoyance she knew, but many people she touched found themselves freaking out badly, going off and panicking.

Shrugging her shoulders she bit her lip and pushed her hair behind her ear nervously. She didn't like being yelled at, not by anyone. It usually ended badly for her when she fought back against someone when she was unable to verbally make contact. Sometimes it would resort in her simply throwing a punch.

Taking to the paper again she heaved a small frustrated sigh, her mouth twisting at the top of one side in deliberation as she weighed up her options. He had wanted to talk, she was talking. But he had seemed nice enough to begin with. Hope wanted to ask, but settled for writing again on the paper.

This time she knew, or at least half expected, she was going to have him angry. Experience had taught her people didn't take kindly to her mutant gift. All she knew, all she really hoped for, was that this school was going to be the best thing for her.

( Had to modify your post slightly)
(You're not allowed to write what another person thinks, feels or does. Got it? Good! )

[Hoax]

Dor blinked at hope, his eyes slowly pinching together before opening again is disbelief. Did she just... was that... did she have paper on her that whole time? He read her first note with understanding. She didn't know... alright, he wasn't 100% sure how his power worked either. That's what they were going to the school for, after all. He had just set his pen to his notebook to ask her not to play games with people if she 'didn't know' when she started writing again and gave him the second half of her note.

Dor's warm, brown eyes darkened into something colder as he read Hope's words. What the hell was wrong with this chick? Not her fault? Seriously? Dor just stared at her a moment, the hum of inanimate conversation combined with his annoyance was giving him a headache and this time even his ear plugs weren't helping. He cleared his throat experimentally, but his voice had not returned yet so he settled for writing a hasty note.

He handed her the notebook and arched an eyebrow. Dor cleared his throat again and this time got more than a guttural whine. "Now that's better," he said in his slow, deliberate manner. "Now if you can just keep your hands to yourself, you and Ah should get along just fine until the school picks us up." Dor's stomach chose that moment to rumble and he grinned. "Ah think Ah saw a place to eat when Ah drove through town. Reckon you'd like some food? Just nod or shake your head... no touchy." Dor scooted away as though Hope was in someway contagious. He didn't like her much, and though he hoped she would decline, he wasn't about to leave her alone in a dangerous area. The last thing he needed was to come back and find out she'd stolen some townie's voice was being run out on a rail.

Then again, if she was stupid enough to use her power on strangers...

"Well, suit yourself. Ah'm gettin some food 'afore all that's available is the slop from the school." He took up his suitcase and duffel and headed toward the door.

[Echo]

Hope sighed, it was something she didn't enjoy being reminded of, being a mute. Even less a mutant, she had found someone similar to her and instantly thought to find a bond. Apparently she was wrong and he thought she was some ... horrible person. She wasn't.

Nodding her head at the idea of food, her stomach gave a loud gurning noise and made her quickly cover it with her hand. She was hours ahead of schedule and hadn't eaten since the airport in Italy some six hours previously. She was apparently quite hungry. But she had just made Dorian more than a little peeved off and she was unsure if it was wise to go with him. After all, she had just taken his voice without his permission. Apparently that was a bad thing.

When he went to lift his thing Hope panicked, she saw her only alai go to leave her and it made her panic. In her haste she grappled for her things, dropping her suitcase on the ground and letting spill a large number of laminated cards containing poems. Poems written by her in her solitude. Hastily scrambling them up and trying to tuck them into her bag she made an attempt to follow Dor, giving a pathetic whine to alert him.

[Hoax]

"For cryin out loud! Can't you take five steps without drawin attention to yourself?" Dor put his bags down and jammed his earplugs deeper into his ear canal. Whatever she had just dumped all over the floor was wailing and bitching like a bunch of sad-eye, emo, whiner-babies. Rolling his eyes at the disaster that he'd stumbled across, Dor dropped down to help her pick up her... Oh, Lord have mercy, it's poetry. This wasn't going to help his headache.

He grabbed up the last of the laminated poems and threw them into Hope's bag. "Listen, darlin, try to walk a straight line without fallin apart and I'll buy your meal." He cast a dark look around the station and scowled at the handful of people waiting for their respective buses. Hanging around this girl was like walking around with a neon target. She used her power in public, she drew attention to herself... she was a pain in the ass. Dor half expected a comet to drop out of the sky and crush them to paste right there.

"If you've got all your crap, let's git a'fore someone decides to talk to us and you get all touchy again. I swear, you're like a Martian that don't know better." Dor took Hope's bags and jerked his head toward the door. "Out, woman! Git!"

{{Pick up in the 'Last Chance For Chow' thread}}