om_main | Karolina and Jean-Paul, backdated to Oct 19

After her arrival at Xavier's, Karolina visits a familiar face.

Karolina made her way down the hallway, absently tying her long hair back in a loose braid as she walked. Her thoughts were a whirl. After what had felt like such a long time of feeling alone, everything was suddenly happening all at once. She was at a secret school for mutants, a school that had more students than she could have imagined, many whom she’d known, or had at least met, before coming here. None from her close circle of friends, unfortunately, but a familiar face was still a familiar face.

Jean-Paul Beaubier and she had never been friends exactly. They’d attended the same charity events, had even been invited to a few of the same parties, but that was the extent of their spending time together. She did like him though. She admired his honesty and his dedication and how hard he’d worked to get where he was. She’d also caught him on more than one occasion being sweet to children at charity events.

Reaching Jean-Paul’s room, Karolina flicked her braid over her shoulder and stopped outside the door, knocking lightly. “Jean-Paul? It’s me, Karolina.”

Jean-Paul poked his head out of the door, then half-smiled and opened it. "Hey. You caught me cooling down."

He wasn't joking. His shirt was off and the windows were open; the room felt like an icebox. All the same, he beckoned her in, then moved to shut the windows.

"How are you liking the place so far?"

“It’s nice,” Karolina answered, following Jean-Paul into his room, her arms wrapped around herself for a little extra warmth. A small half-smile, amused at herself, “I wasn’t expecting there to be so many people here. I didn’t realize there were that many of us. Do you like it?” She knew he’d give her his honest opinion.

"God, there's a rotten question." He pulled a shirt on over a very nice torso, then flopped down on the neater of the two beds in the room to consider. "I haven't gone crazy yet," he finally allowed. "We get to train with our powers pretty much daily. There are some good kids here, and the real brats don't get away with a lot.The adults don't all suck. The headmasters are weird, but mostly benign weird. Every third kid is gay or bi or some flavor of queer, so there's not a lot of bullshit on that front. But, you know...house full of kids, so there's plenty other types of BS." He shrugged. "So it's all right. Anything in particular you wanted to know?"

Karolina sat herself down in a computer chair. “No, that about covers it, I think,” she answered, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully. “What’s the food like? If I don’t cook for myself will my only option be salad every day?” Which she didn’t mind, cooking for herself that was, but it would be nice to know ahead of time. “Is there something I should want to know?” She’d never been in this situation before; she didn’t really know where to begin. Maybe there was something she hadn’t thought of, or wouldn’t even think to think of?

"They have some rabbit food options," Jean-Paul assured her. "They might get monotonous after a month, though."

Karolina gave an eye-roll at ‘rabbit food’, smiling a little. “Not if it’s done right.” Which, judging by Jean-Paul’s answer, it wasn’t. “But that’s okay. I’ll make it work.”

“I watched the clip of you coming out on Youtube recently.” Drawing her legs up onto the chair, Karolina tucked hair that had escaped from the braid behind her ear, pausing before continuing, “I haven’t told my parents yet, but I’m thinking about coming out too.”

Jean-Paul had his doubts. While there were certainly vegetarian dishes he found tasty, there was no way he'd live on lentils, eggplant, and chickpeas willingly.

"Do they know you're a mutant yet?"

“Yeah, they do,” Karolina replied, nodding. “They’re supportive. I just know they’ll worry.” She had a feeling they didn’t expect her to come out, seeing as she had been so private about her sexuality.

Karolina paused, then said, “Seeing as the mutants who have come out recently all go to this school, I’m guessing it was planned. And since I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want to do I’m guessing you had some kind of involvement in it.”

"It wasn't my idea," Jean-Paul pointed out. "Talk to Lydia and the bluebloods about that. But it made sense to go along with things. I'm in the public eye enough that it was going to come out sooner or later. I figured I might as well make sure it was on my terms."

Lydia. Karolina would remember that. They hadn’t met her yet, but she’d seen her around the school. “That is usually better than the alternative,” she agreed with a small wry smile. “Do you think they’re handling it well then?” He must if he’d recommend talking to them about it. “Like you said, this will come out eventually and I’d rather it was on my terms. And I want to help too. I may not be as famous as my parents are, but I think having public faces will help any of the kids out there who are struggling with this.”

"'They', as in the great unwashed?" Jean-Paul's grin was sly, his eyes glinting like blue diamonds underneath his dark bangs. "For now, we are a novelty. There are definitely some dark spots, but there is an advantage to most of the very public outings being among a bunch of rich, white kids -- we seem less threatening to the Powers That Be."

Karolina made a face because that was, sadly and frustratingly, true. They largely all had more privilege than they could possibly know what to do with… At least they were making good use of it.

“I’ll have to talk to Lydia then.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about being a ‘novelty’, but being the daughter of who she was and growing up in the public eye, she was definitely used to it. “And then mention it to my parents. I don’t think they’d try to stop me, but I don’t want to surprise them with it.”

"Could be fun," Jean-Paul said innocently. "But I suppose at least a few kids here should have good relationships with their parents."

Karolina laughed, “Fun, definitely. There is nothing more fun than being informed of something by reporters accosting you in the street. You know what that’s like.” As much as she’d never liked the PR game, she knew if she was going to do this than she had to do it right. Coming out would not just drag her and her parents into the spotlight, it would drag mutants further into it as well.

"And the fun comes from telling them off or adding to the rumors," he answered, unrepentant. "How public are you thinking to make it if you do come out?"

The corners of Karolina’s mouth turned up in an amused smile. “It would be.” She chuckled and added wryly, “Until the media found a way to put a negative spin on my parents not knowing.” He was right though, there was something fun in making them scramble.

“What do you mean by how public?” Karolina asked. “How many people I tell, or how?”

"How." Jean-Paul stretched working a kink out of his shoulder. Even when he was on his game, Judd had a habit of bouncing him off the floors and walls. "Press? Twitter? Shouting from street corners?"

Karolina laughed, “Well, shouting from street corners was my initial idea, but I’ve since reconsidered and decided to go the more nontraditional route.” She gave a small shrug, answering more seriously, “I’m not sure yet. I’ve only just started considering coming out. I was leaning toward press. It’s official, sterile… And that sort of thing makes people comfortable. Which is smart from a PR standpoint, but do I really care about making people comfortable?” As a queer feminist and a political activist that word didn’t sit well with her. “And I like the independence of something like twitter. It’s on my terms, in my words, and there’s no one trying to put any sort of spin on it. The press will try to turn it into a big deal and that’s not the message I want to give. I’m a mutant,” she shrugged, “it’s normal. It doesn’t need to be sensationalized.” She didn’t want it go under the radar either, of course, but that wasn’t really a concern when you’re parents were as famous as hers were.

"Probably better than just using your powers in public. I think mutants are still new enough that it might cause some unfortunate reactions. But I agree...two press swarms is probably enough for one year."

Worrying her lip, Karolina nodded her agreement, “I’ll talk to Lydia about it. See what she says, since they’ve dealt with this all already.” They might have some insight she didn’t and might be able to offer up some advice. “Thanks, Jean-Paul.”

"Not a problem. All in all, it could be a much worse situation, but it doesn't hurt to be around people who maybe kind of get it, non?"

Karolina nodded and smiled a little, her fingers toying with the cuff of a pant leg, “Yeah, definitely. I’m glad I ended up here.”