Evan "Spyke" Daniels's Story

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Evan Daniels sat in a leather chair in the hallway. He fiddled with twiddled his fingers as he waited for his aunt to finish whatever she was doing in the room nearest to his chair, which sat against the wall. She had already given him a tour and said she had to do some sort of registration thing for him... it was true that Spyke hadn't paying the most attention. His head slowly sank as he slid into a slouching position. He wasn't a morning person. Being homeschooled, he hadn't had to get up for school in a long while. He almost fell asleep, but voices echoed down the hall awoke him, causing him to sit back up.

They were students, obviously accustomed to early mornings at the institute. They seemed normal enough by their voices, gossiping about things that any human teenager would. They didn't bring up powers or talk about humans, their conversation mainly being about the crushes they had on the people they sat next to in Physics, making cheesy jokes like they had "Chemistry". Evan hoped this was a good sign that being a Mutant didn't make you some freak, but he had to face the fact that he had theoretically just joined the circus. The other Mutants turned the corner into his view, a group of pretty girls. Of course he got nervous, causing his powers to activate against his will. He felt his bones protrude out of his skin, wincing at the quite painful sensation. But, unlike any human girls, they didn't scream and run away at the sight of his spikes, but walked by as if it was completely normal for people to have spike shaped bones sticking out of their body. He still felt a bit self conscious and scolded himself in a hushed voice. "Go back in!" he scolded his quite annoying bones, which did not listen.

After what had seemed like ages of waiting on his aunt, Spyke stood up and stretched. He looked back at the chair, seeing his ability had caused puncture marks in the once perfect leather. "Whoops..." he whispered. He quickly hurried down the hall, ditching his aunt. He really didn't want to hang around her too much anyway, not wanting to just be known as the nephew of an X-Man, or getting any special treatment for it, just wanting to make his own name for himself. He didn't think about how he might appear rude for this. So, he kept walking like he had nothing to do with the destroyed chair, not really because he was embarrassed, more because the name he wanted to make for himself did not involve being the culprit of chair vandalism.

Storm had gone over the do's and don't's socially with him and he knew them inside and out. He was not to talk about ANYONE'S abilities negatively, which included his own. Because he hated his own power, he assumed he'd end up breaking this one. The other was not to speak about Jean Gray. Storm had told him everyone was still trying to get over the loss of a great friend and mentor, faculty and students alike. He knew that was the one he never intended on breaking. It bothered him to even acknowledge the lingering thought of Miss Gray. He had known her, not like any of the students, but slightly. It was her, his aunt, and Cyclops who had debriefed him about his powers. To think she was dead was almost shocking. Did people really vanish from other's lives that quickly? Here one moment and gone the next?

As pondering these things that wouldn't end up benefiting him in the future anyway, he almost ran into Mr. Scott Summers himself, which would have been bad if he did, seeing Spyke was only inches away from stabbing him with the bones sticking out of his shoulders. "Sir," he said, nodding respectfully for Cyclops didn't seem to even notice their almost collision. Scott looked up from his stance of staring at the floor. The only response Evan got was a slight nod. Evan didn't press for more of a conversation. By the looks of it, Scott had been crying. Not that Spyke could see his eyes, thank goodness, or else he would have been toast... literally. Just by looking at the distraught expression on his face, which seemed to look a tad bit bloated, no offense to Cyclops, he could tell Scott hadn't got over the loss of his girlfriend. Evan just kept walking, only a moment later feeling his spikes retract. His bones ached, so he figured it was time to get something to ease them. He found the kitchen (after asking for directions, because he really hadn't payed that much attention on the tour his aunt gave him) and yanked open the fridge, finding a jug of milk and pouring himself a glass. He gulped it down quickly. Milk didn't take away the pain, but Spyke knew it would help his achy bones in the future.

(Sorry it took me forever to post! I wrote this all out but my computer decided to be a jerk and deleted it.)

Sara watched the dance for a little bit. Meet and greet, tearful goodbyes, the whole shtick. For some reason, it all put an absurd grin on her face. The live-in students seemed to be handling it well enough, minus a few look-what-I-can-do pranks, so Laughlin really didn't see a reason to stick her nose in. She was a guest, and that afforded her the opportunity to do absolutely nothing but watch like a creeper. Which is a lot of fun, surprisingly.

After draining her coffee, she pushed off from the wall and exited the grand hallway to make for the kitchen and a refill. Inside? Who else but Spyke.

"Oh, thank God, a glass." She chuckled and nodded at him, filling her own mug with coffee and retrieving the rest of the milk for a splash.

"You have no idea how many times I come in here and some clown is chugging straight from the communal carton."

The older woman faces the doorway back into the hall, but the growing crowd apparently makes her reconsider, and she turns to lean against a counter instead. She wasn't X-man, and she wasn't staff, but seemed to be here under the same 'welcomed guest' condition that Logan breezed around under, and had visited Spyke's aunt's office briefly - presumably to give her condolences.

"I know your face." She says after a moment of studying him, "You're Storm's nephew, right? She's got a picture of you on her desk. Name's Sara."

Taking a drink from her coffee, she still watches him over the rim of the mug. Her posture was easy, her tone was friendly, and her smile was genuine; but something around those gray eyes pinned him and picked him apart.

"You starting classes here at the Institute?"

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It didn't take Spyke long to down at least half the carton, constantly refilling his glass. The ache in his bones was killing him and obviously didn't intend on stopping anytime soon. Pumping himself full of slightly spoiled milk so much it was beginning to hurt his stomach wasn't the wisest way to try and get pain-killing results, especially if he knew it would be inconclusive. He did no anyway until he had to set the glass down and try to overcome the wave of nausea that was drowning him- although drowning was the last word he wished to hear at the moment. Could someone drown from over drinking milk? He supposed he would find out.

Suddenly, a big clump of the rotten milk he had just inhaled came back up into his mouth. Any other time, he would have spit it back out into the cup, but a woman strolled into the room, eyeing him with a grin on her face. She spoke to him, something Spyke really had been hoping wouldn't happen since he had a ball of disgusting cow extract that he didn't know what to do with blocking him from really carrying on a conversation. Plus, who knows, maybe she would think he was chewing some white colored tobacco.

"Oh, thank God, a glass. You have no idea how many times I come in here and some clown is chugging straight from the communal carton." The woman spoke as she was preoccupied with filling up her coffee cup. While she wasn't paying attention to him, he silently hurled the glob of milk he had almost been choking on into the cup and quickly shot up to find her head turning back to face him. She began speaking. It took him a little while, but Spyke finally realized he was zoned out and hadn't been paying attention. He caught her name, Sara, and something about his aunt. He figured she must have known Storm, feeling a little more comfortable with the awkward conversation. Well, it may not have been awkward for her, but it was for him.

"Mmm-hmm..." he said, hoping that was the right answer. The woman's face seemed to express that she hadn't noticed, but he got a glimpse of her eyes as they locked with him and he was actually a bit nervous. He bit his lip, praying that his bones wouldn't misbehave. He almost preferred the aching to them having a mind of their own.

She finally unglued herself from her coffee mug. "You starting classes here at the Institute?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Kind of a big transition from being homeschooled, but my aunt, Cyclops, and J- er, Jeremy... they told me I'd be much better of here." In truth, Spyke didn't even know if there was even a Jeremy at this school, but his aunt had strictly forbid him from saying the J word, so he decided having an imaginary friend was better than ticking off some fellow Mutants. Hoping Sara had overlooked his slip up, which he almost instantly knew she most likely hadn't, he smiled and nervously grabbed his glass and took a swig out of habit, the horrible rotten milk taste returning to his mouth.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Alex kinda gave up and opted for the less desirable option: ask someone. Once again the small collective of students seemed to double in size as he approached, and so the simple task of speaking became insurmountable. In a short span of time filled with a lot of half finished sentences, stutters, and stalls, Alex succeeded only in getting lost following the migrating herd. The new plan of action was simply to continue to follow the flow and hope he found something helpful.

The plan wasn't going well, with a seemingly endless span of hallways at every turn, all becoming cluttered with swarms of gossipy teens, none of which oddly even batted an eye at Alex. Oh, and then there was the big freaking wolf going down the halls. That was weird, to say the least. No, actually the weird thing was that no one seemed to mind. That has to be a student, right? It has to be.... It's a student, right? No one is screaming or calling animal cotrol, so it's gotta be some kinda shape shifter..... But what if it's not? How would anyone know? What if that's a wild wolf, and everyone thinks it's a student. Is this normal? What the heck is normal? How is anyone suppose to know? ......And where the heck am I now?

Somehow finding himself in the cafeteria, Alex tried piecing together the pieces of how exactly he wound up here. In the midst of his bewilderment, his right foot hooked on his left heel. In other words, he tripped over his own two feet. Face-first into the ground (again), the corner of his sunglasses chipped on impact. Above him he could hear a couple of witness snickering, which made everything that much worse. Graceful intro, check.... Sighing deeply at the embarrassment, he slowly began to push himself up. This was all just looking more and more like a bad idea, and Alex was beginning to regret walking through the entrance gates.

Mercifully, Sara -did- seem mostly unaware of the cause of his discomfort, even if she does suddenly grimace down at her mug.

"Either the Joe's gone off or the milk has..." And she promptly dumps out the rest of the cup into the sink.

"Yeah. Kind of a big transition from being homeschooled, but my aunt, Cyclops, and J- er, Jeremy... they told me I'd be much better of here."

Sara -did- hear the catch in his voice. But it was unavoidable. Grey had been a huge part of the Institute, and her loss was going to be felt in pretty much everything for a long, long while. Flashing an understanding smile, she shrugs and nods.

"They're probably right. This is a good place to get a grip. Especially if you've got some super-whamadyne ability that drives you freakin batty."

She probably didn't know the half of it, looking at the occasional pained grimace that strutted across Evan's face, but she doesn't pry if he doesn't bring it up, just watching him with that slightly off-putting stare.

"For a school, s'not too shabby. Been here for years and - "

That's when someone faceplants just outside the kitchen in the cafeteria proper. The noise of impact makes even Laughlin wince, and the accompanying sneers and jeers earn a hardening of her face and shoulders. Stepping through the threshold, she unleashes that silent ire on the gigglers, who presumably duck their heads and move quickly about their business. The unforeseen advantages of being an -adult- in a building full of teenagers. She wasn't a teacher, but she did not look like someone easily pushed.

Alex's complete Invisible Man wardrobe is unique, to say the least, especially in summer. An old hand, Sara can either guess he wore it out of embarrassment or necessity for whatever power he had - like Rogue and her gloves. Without knowing what might set off the clearly nervous kid, Laughlin doesn't touch him to help him up. But that doesn't mean she cant be friendly, if only to keep her from chasing down the hecklers and tormenting them.

"You alright?"

Jessie smiled at Rogue as she and Bobby talked. She brought her attention back to Rouge when she heard her say, "Amazin', huh sugah? That's a first, I'ma keep that in mind when I'm the one in charge of danger room sessions, alright?" Jessie saw Rogue look at the room they just came from. Jessie smiled at Rogie again and said, '' Yep. You're an X-Men, that means you have talent and all that greatness!'' Jessie said that with a little blush as she felt a little enbaressed by saying that. Jessie saw Rogue look back at them and say " Look, I gotta talk to Professor Xavier. I'll see y'all soon." Jessie nodded and said, '' It was apleasure to meet you, Rogue. See you later, maybe.'' Jessie saw her walk to the door and stop right at the door's entrance.

Jessie and the others hear her say, "And try to show her a little fun, why don't y'all? At least show her a decent game of pool before I beat ya at it again, ya hear?" Jessie smiled and laughed softly at that remark. Jessie looked at Bobby and said, '' If Rogue can beat you, I bet I can.'' Jessie said in a playful voice as she waved good bye to Rogue. Jessie looked back at Bobby and Kitty and said, '' It's getting a little late. I kind of want to see the rest of the mansion, so you guys go and have fun, I'll meet up with you guys later at around twelve, okay? Bye!'' Jessie said with a kind smile and a wave as sh ran off for some adventure.

Jessie was skipping down the hall, she was full of energy and excitement. Jessie slowed her skipping to a steady walk and she continued her walk. She took a couple of turns and came to the main stairs. She walked down them, she sighed and she heard her stomach growl. Jessie looked around and sighed, she needed to eats something before her stomach began to make noises. Jessie looked through a couple of doors until she looked into the kitchen. Jessie walked in and saw two people, one was a white, middle aged woman, and the other was a half black, boy, that was around her age. Jessie blushed as she made eye contact with him, she gave him a flirty smile and opened the fridge. She grabbed an apple and took it, she grabbed a cup and filled it with water, she walked over to the table and started to eat it. She didn't feel like interupting their conversation, so she gave them space.





Bobby smiled as he heard what Rogue said.''And try to show her a little fun, why don't y'all? At least show her a decent game of pool before I beat ya at it again, ya hear?" He smirked and said, '' I only let you win. Let's see who wins next time. It will be teams. Two on two.'' He said in a playful and sarcastic tone. Bobby looked as he saw Rogue leave, he turned to Jessie and smiled. He then heard her say, [b]'' If Rogue can beat you, I bet I can.'' Bobby laughed and nodded. He looked at Kitty and gave her a playful wink. He looked back at Jessie when he heard her say, '' It's getting a little late. I kind of want to see the rest of the mansion, so you guys go and have fun, I'll meet up with you guys later at around twelve, okay? Bye!'' Bobby waved and said, '' Alright. See you then!'' Bobby waved and looked back at Kitty, he then said, '' So, what do you want to do now?''

Spyke listened to Sara, grateful she ignored his slip up. The comment about powers made him feel a bit edgy, but maybe that was her unnerving stare's work. He quickly dismissed the comment, just happy to have someone telling him about the school. At least, she was, before some kid wearing a ski mask, gloves, and other attire that covered him head to toe, stumbled in the hallway, getting a face full of floor. Evan couldn't stop the slight smirk that washed over his face. Did the guy need walking lessons?

He could almost hear his Aunt scolding him. "Evan Daniels! Making fun of people is not the way to make friends even if you're only trying to be funny." Yes, ma'am....

Sara was obviously more mature than him, for she had gone to help the guy. He noticed she steered away from helping him up- or touching him at all for that matter. He didn't blame her. The guy was covered head to toe, so you had to wonder what his power was, although it couldn't be any worse than being able to accidentally impale someone with a hug. He felt kind of bad for the guy, but he assumed Sara could handle it.

Spyke opened the fridge to put the milk back in but something hidden on the back of the shelf caught his eye. It was a whole case of beer. He raised an eyebrow, curiously. What kind of school kept beer in the refrigerator? Then he remembered Storm telling him about some of the teachers (Well, one in particular) with drinking habits. Evan knew he was under-aged, but it was just there and... No. Sara would probably kill him and he expected death at her hands would be pretty painful. And, then, she'd tell Storm. If Storm heard rumors of her nephew drinking, death would be even worse at her hands then at Sara's.

He was only joking- he really wouldn't take a beer. He was already clumsy enough without being drunk, but he couldn't help but wonder if Ski-Mask-Guy had found the stash too. He tried to hide his grin at that as he shoved the milk back in it's place. He turned to Sara and Ski-Mask-Guy.

"So, dude, what's your name?" he asked.

But, before he could even get an answer, a pretty girl walked in. They made eye contact for a little and she gave him a smile, more than friendly, he wasn't sure. But, a girl waltzes in, what was any teenage guy to do? He totally blew Sara and Ski-Mask off, leaning against the fridge as she opened it with a sheepish smile on his face. "Well, hello there." Evan knew he had the same chances with her as he did the Queen of England, but what could he say? He was a flirt with any girl. Ladies out of his league? Even better.

(Sorry it's so short. I figured I just better say something and a little is better than nothing.)

As Jessie opened the fridge door, she heard a guy's voice say, '' Well, hello there.'' Jessie flinched and she almost hit her head on the fridge. Jessie calmed herself, and took a deep breath, she backed out of the fridge and saw the guy she had only just made eye contact with standing next to her. Jessie slowly smiled as figured out the guy was talking to her, usually cute guys never talked to her, and since this guy was, she took the chance to talk. Jessie sighed and said, '' Hi, my name is Jessie, Jessie Liles. And you are?'' She said as she stretched out her hand for a hand shake. Jessie didn't know what else to do, since she was nervous, she just hoped this guy didn't have a girl friend, and if he did, this would be the second, cute guy that she lost in the first hour of her stay. Jessie sat down at the table and looked at the guy, she noticed that there were some holes in his shirt, she figured he had a power melt down like she just had. But what kind of powers could do that? She was kind of curious, but she didn't want to ask.

( Sorry that this is so small. It's just that I have like ten RPs to post in, and it's my turn in most of them. I'll try to do better on my next one).

Evan was almost shocked that the girl spoke back to him, seeing as most pretty ladies didn't bother to have a conversation with him, Mutant or not. He quickly brought himself back under control so he didn't impale anyone. With a smug look and a quirky smirk planted on his face, he tried not to seem to uneasy about shaking the girl's hand. He could almost imagine a spike coming out of his palm, but, luckily enough, it didn't happen. "Well, quite nice to meet you, Miss Liles." he said in his sweet, sort of socially awkward way. "The name's Evan Daniels, but my friends call me Spyke."

As she sat down, he leaned against the closed fridge to face her. He peered over at Ski-Mask-Guy and Sara, but he couldn't tell if they were even listening to his pathetic attempt to flirt. In fact, with his luck, Jessie's boyfriend would walk in at any moment and punch him so hard he'd land on the moon.

But, being the careless guy he was, Spyke didn't see a hulk-sized boyfriend anywhere in sight so he wasn't about to just give up. "So," he said, jokingly, "you come here often?" He gave a stupid eyebrow wiggle that could even make Wolverine laugh (even if it was laughing at Evan's stupidity).

He had no earthly idea if the other two in the room were paying any attention, but if they were, they probably were laughing at him too. But, wasn't that Spyke's job? He was comic relief boy. Making people laugh was his sacred duty in life.

(Okay, this one is even shorter but I figured I should post anyway. I'm dead tired right now, so I might add more later.)

Jessie Liles

Jessie was happily eating the apple that she had taken out of the fridge when she heard the boy say "Well, quite nice to meet you, Miss Liles." Jessie smiled and nodded. She took a drink of the water she had taken too and took a sip and put it back down on the table. "The name's Evan Daniels, but my friends call me Spyke." Jessie looked at Spyke and said, '' Well, it's nice to meet you, Spyke. My friends call me Jess.'' She smiled sweetly, she was just hoping her didn't have a girl friend too, or she would strike out again.

"So," he said in a joking tone, "you come here often?" Jessie looked back at him just in time to see him give her an eyebrow wiggle. Jessie smiled and said, '' Nice to see you have a sense of humor, Spyke.'' She took a deep breath and said, '' Since we have like two hours until the first meeting, would you happen to like to go skate-boadring with me? Only if you want? I don't know how many others like skateboarding besides me.'' After she said that, she was done with her apple, Jessie looked around and saw the trash, she took aim and through the apple core, it went flying through the air and fell into the trash. Jessie smiled and stood up, she looked at Spyke and waited for a reply.