The Roof, Saturday Morning

[wwiii]

Everybody had their grumpy days. Or their uncomfortable days, or their just plain wrong-side-of-the-bed days. And for any reason under the sun, really. It all depended on what was up.

What was up for Warren was spring, headed into summer. Which meant fewer layers or even just the option of lounging around shirtless, a heightened likelihood of seeing pretty girls wearing less than they were a few months ago, and, less pleasantly, a molt.

Large feathered wings were amazing, breathtaking, and absolutely liberating right up until you realized that having a pair of them meant that you'd have to deal with itching, feather dust, and pinfeathers on a seasonal basis. And so Warren had made his way up to the roof in an effort to at least minimize some of the mess in his room to spare Hinata the headache, and was now sitting on the edge, frowning at a molted four-foot long primary feather and trying to figure out what the heck to do with it as he turned it over in his hand.

This sort of thing was so much easier to deal with when his dad could just smuggle it all out through his company as 'medical waste.'

[I don't know. All I know is that I've been vacuuming up cockatiel dust for weeks now, and finally he's starting to drop real feathers so it's time to torment Warren thus. But the roof is open!]

Comments

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Go with annoying. It's easier to like, just own it that way," she decided. "So I'm guessing that'd make you Warren, huh?" Call it a hunch.

[wwiii]

"Of all of the guys with huge feathered wings living on this island, you single me out as the Warren here?" He attempted to look stern for all of two seconds before he just dropped the visage and smiled. He didn't have it in him to stay grumpy at a cute girl, darn it. "Sounds to me like I almost have a reputation, now."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm friends with Kurt and Bobby in alternate universes or whatever," she said with a little wave of her hand. "That's gotta make the reputation thing like a little better, right?"

[wwiii]

"It helps," Warren had to admit. "Even if it it kind of weird. I don't know why it's so different, but in the universe I'm from, I haven't really met anybody who knows me, here."

There was a pause, and then his smile went a little sheepish. "Which means you have me at a bit of a disadvantage, I hate to admit."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm Kitty, so there's a little less disadvantage there," she offered. "I still haven't met you where I'm from. I've like heard of you, but that's about it. It's been an interesting first couple of weeks with all this stuff."

[wwiii]

"Oh, I've been there." His smile was now turning sympathetic. "Are any of the people you know here actually yours? Like, from your timeline, or whatever it is?"

Maybe a little selfishly, he hoped that they weren't. Just because it meant that they playing field was at least a little levelled out, that way. Just a bunch of mutants who happened to know different versions of one another.

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Not really. Like Kurt's from Bayville, too, and I guess not everyone is? But I still have a Kurt back at the mansion, so that's not the same. And Bobby has no idea who I am. I really hope the Professor didn't know about this and just not warn me."

[wwiii]

"And I've never met the Professor," Warren shared, "so I couldn't give you any insight about him one way or the next."

Well, beyond what he'd seen about the man and his school on the news, anyhow.

"You, Kurt, and Jean are all from Bayville, then. Except Jean's left, and all, so it's down to you and Kurt." A pause, and then a shrug. "I'm from Long Island. Which probably isn't all that helpful, I suppose."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"How come you've never met him?" Kitty wondered. She didn't really get why the Warren from her time wasn't at the Institute, either.

[wwiii]

"Home-schooled," was Warren's immediate response. A moment later, he relented and decided to clarify some more, spreading his slightly unkempt-looking wings by way of demonstration. "I got these when I was still a little kid, and my dad insisted that they stay a secret. It's way too easy for bad publicity to get out, especially when it has anything to do with the Worthington name, so sending me to a school for kids who were... different... would have been a bad business venture."

To say the least.

"I did think about going there, once. But I ended up here, instead."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"The publicity thing means it's probably a good thing you didn't end up at the Institute where I'm from," she realized. "Do you like it here? I mean, it doesn't look like you're much into hiding here." Which really made her feel better, being at a "normal" school where you could let your wings hang out.

[wwiii]

Warren actually let out a soft huff of a laugh at that, and he nodded.

"It'll be difficult for me to go back," he admitted. "I mean, I'm going on into my Junior year now, so I have some time left to go. But going back to New York and cramming myself into a coat and harness all over again is going to be rough, once I graduate. Here, people actually kind of thought I was being silly for trying to hide at all... It's nice."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Well, the way I see it, once you graduate you should be able to do what you want and go where you want to," Kitty pointed out. "So maybe you could talk to the Professor then. 'Cause a harness? Doesn't sound like a lot of fun."

[wwiii]

"It chafes," Warren stated without a second thought. "Maybe I will look into finding the Professor and seeing if he'd take me in. I mean, I don't have much in the way of big flashy powers like some people do, but... Flying's something."

Wasn't it?

"I just can't picture me in tights."

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"You'd be surprised, it's a good look on a lot of people," she teased. Of course she had the best uniform.

[wwiii]

"Yeah, so I've heard," Warren laughed. "Bobby's trying hard enough to get me into some, already. I think I'm about an inch away from just cracking and getting some. But if I do that, I'm going to do it on my own terms."

... He wasn't certain what his own terms were, just yet. He supposed they pretty much began and ended with, 'Not powder blue spandex.'

[notavalleygirl.livejournal.com]

"Now I have to wonder: is he trying to get you into tights for costume purposes, or just to see if you'll actually do it?" Because she could be on board for both things.

[wwiii]

"Knowing Bobby?" Warren took that into serious consideration for a moment. "Probably all of the above. And maybe so that he can tease me about how I look in them, too, for good measure."