Okay. Axe was out.

Anonymous internet anecdotes indicated that Axe was a surefire way for a dumb kid to overdo it in front of their crush. Miss Grey was not a peer that was likely to forgive. She was the unattainable, perfect teacher crush. She was sweet and lovely, her classes fostered a safe environment to talk and explore ideas.

And freckles.

So Leo dressed to impress and did not dare touch the axe.

Logically, he didn't have a snowball's chance, but even if love wasn't on the table, his professionalism was. He had to to represent. This was the first AMA since they'd, uh, visited Australia. The laptop they used to stream before had been the only casualty and he had yet to save up enough to source a replacement so, he had a webcam and he scheduled some time in the library.

He figured that one of the more private computer alcoves worked best so Leo set up shop there. Most kids used those more private spaces for more private affairs, but it'd help cut down on potential distractions. As per previous AMAs, Leo moved the screen to face away from the interviewee. He would be screening the questions. The chair was for the hot teacher. The webcam faced the chair. Everything seemed in place.

Leo opened up the chat and posted a hello that spurned a wave of emojis in response. The public was ready. Leo tugged at the cuffs of his button down shirt and settled in to wait for his English teacher to show up.

Rebecca had plenty of experience putting herself out there on the web, but most of what she did was on her own terms. Her channel was planned and edited by her, any streams she took part in, she had moderator access, and any voice acting she did was scripted. Volunteering to take part in an “Ask Me Anything” was not something new for her, but it always carried an element of uncertainty. The questions came from anywhere, and she was not the one picking what comes through the filter.

No, that honor went to Leo, one of the students from her English class, who evidently was at least partially responsible for running a popular forum on the internet. Still relatively new to teaching, Rebecca was making it a point to keep her job as Pixelbecky and her job as an English teacher separate, but there was no hiding her presence online. Over a couple of years, she amassed a library of hundreds of videos online, and she was not about to take those down, so it was inevitable that a student would end up recognizing her.

She was not expecting one of her students to extend a proposal to host an AMA, but Leo was a good kid. Bit of a space cadet at times, but he tried hard in class, and he was good to his fellow classmates, even in a class where he was the lone human among the mutant children. Evidently, he thought that as an X-Man and a public mutant figure, there would be plenty of interest from the members on the forums. It was a smart move for her, with the potential to garner new viewers if she had any luck. She was only one woman, so it was inevitable that she would have to consolidate the multiple lives she was leading eventually.

They chose to meet in the library at the Mansion. Given the student-teacher relationship, it would have been inappropriate to do anything in one of their living spaces, and Rebecca was already at the Mansion during the day for classes, so the library was good neutral ground, even if the space would always remind her of a happy, embarrassing old memory.

Rebecca was still dressed in the outfit she picked out that morning; a sleeveless white dress with a belt cinched around the waist along with a loose-fitting forest green cardigan. The look was more teacher than internet celebrity, but she did have to consider her day job.

Finally off the clock, she found her way into the familiar setting of the library, looking around until she spotted a young man with a computer and a webcam prepared for her. ”Efternuin, Leo! Excited fur yer opportunity tae unleash th' denizens ay th' internit oan yer puir, defenseless English teacher?” she joked, glad she was not a hard*** of an instructor, given the shift in power for the afternoon.

He could get lost in that accent. Actually, sometimes he did, if the freckles didn't first capture him.

Ehm. Books. Baseball. FOCUS, MAN. The internet was counting on him. "Good afternoon, Miss G. I'll try to keep the worst of them off you, no doubt."

He indicated the chair that was ready and waiting. She looked nice. She always looked nice, though.

"Uh. I know Jiri usually does this, but your fans are pretty rabid and Jiri is taking a nap so we're gonna try the best that we can here." When wasn't that kid napping these days? Ever since he'd figured out the couch in front of Gemma's office was in range of her anti-mutant field, Jiri could be found there as often as Gemma was in office. His sleep schedule was pretty messed up as a result.

"They're actually battling in chat right now for who's gonna get the first question so we'd better start." How did Jiri do this all so smoothly? "So. Yeah. You've already seen the other staff AMAs and all. D'you have any questions before we start? Anything you are dying to answer? That kinda stuff."

He adjusted the webcam and made his way behind screen. This was about the mutants, not the behind the scenes guy.

Once she was ready, Leo hit record and the red "live" indicator light flicked to life.

"Hellooooo, Internet. LionOfTruth here subbing for InvasionOfTheBS. Today we have the ever lovely Miss Rebecca Grey AKA PixelBecky. She teaches English at Xavier's Sister School, but is better known for her video blog. Yeah. I'm not saying "vlog" that's- nobody calls 'em that, sorry Miss G." A shrug and Leo bumped into the computer monitor which sent the webcam wobbling. Ack! He reached out to grab and steady it before the thing fell over and he got a dozen complaints about his fingers being in the way. He kept talking to cover up his careful re-balancing of the camera.

"We're here to answer your questions. Don't just spam your questions out in chat, okay? Go upvote like you're supposed to. I don't want to miss anything important. Let's see here..." Now that he had both hands he could scroll around as needed.

"First question: 'Are you single?' There's a lengthy comment with a lot of names in it, but that's the only question mark I see, PM_ME_BUTTS."

"Can you give us a demo of your power?"

"What's it like to teach at mutie school? It's only mutants allowed up there, isn't it?"

It was still an odd transition for Becca to hear herself called “Miss Grey” or “Miss G,” when she herself was only a few years removed from calling her own instructors by last name. Her student directed her to a chair set up in front of the webcam and assured her he would keep her best interests at heart when picking questions. ”Ah'll hauld ye tae 'at. Ah dae control yer grade, efter aw.” She paused, processing how inappropriate her joke was, adding, ”Kiddin', obvioosly.”

Apparently, leading these AMAs was usually Jiri’s territory, but today Leo was taking the reins, and if she was honest, the boy seemed a little nervous. Rebecca was not the only one stepping out of her comfort zone. ”Ah hink yoo'll dae jist fine, Leo.” She took a deep breath, shook her head at the invitation to ask any final questions and the probe for specific questions she was looking to answer. ”Whatever fowk pure want tae know. Ah’m an open book.” Mostly.

Slipping mentally into her internet persona, there was not much to differentiate between Rebecca and Pixelbecky. She did make an effort to bring a higher level of energy, allow her face to be more expressive, and switch into a slightly higher speaking voice. Almost instinctively, the higher energy led to her speaking with her hands, as an outlet for more visual expressiveness. The last thing Pixelbecky wanted to be on camera was boring.

Smiling through most of Leo’s introduction, her nose did scrunch at his comment about her “Vlog.” People sae call it ‘at, she thought, keeping it in her head. They had plenty of questions to go through, so there was no reason to spend too much time verbally sparring with her host. She also wanted to help Leo ease into his hosting duties so he could find his groove, which was not helped by him almost knocking over the webcam. Becca wanted to help, but using her powers on the camera could cause interference with the video, so she refrained.

The first question was one she was ready for when she signed up for the AMA. She was a public figure, and her love life was a topic of interest, especially to a subset of her more avid admirers. ”Weel, Butts—an' charmin' nam, by th' way—Ah am indeed single. Ah micht hae mah eye oan someain, but fur noo, Ah’m a definitife bachelorette.” Pixelbecky had a habit of rambling and saying too much at times, which her fans often noted as selling points rather than flaws, but it did mean she sometimes laid out too much of her personal life online. With recent events, Rebecca was no less single, but her complicated love life was a dangerous topic to bring up right now with things being so up in the air with Nessa and Agnes.

It was actually refreshing to move to a less personal topic that, as a public mutant, Rebecca was always expecting to be on the table at some point. ”Perfect, Ah actually prepared fur thes,” she answered enthusiastically, grabbing a small pouch from her purse filled with small metal marbles she used to use in the field.

The marbles slipped out of the pouch, floating in front of her, gathering together to form a collective ball at the tip of her outstretched finger. ”Ah brin' it up sometimes oan mah channel, but Ah can manipulate magnetic fields. Magnetokinesis, Ah’m pretty sure it's called.” As she spoke, the marbles left their collective one by one, falling into orbit around her. They were small and easy to manage, so she could control their movement without exerting herself, so she seemed nonchalant on camera as the tiny metal orbs hovered around her. ”Bit oan th' beak, but it's pure useful.” Useful, and showy, she thought as the orbits of the marbles shifted so some were circling her at different angles. Ironically not the type to see the whole world revolve around her, Pixelbecky had, nonetheless, made herself a planet with two dozen moons.

Leaving her marbles hovering, Rebecca moved onto her next question, though the verbiage earned a furrow of her brow. ”First ay aw, Ah’m nae th' biggest fan ay 'at wuid, sae Eh'd loove if we coods... nae, kay?” It was not Leo’s fault of course; the internet was the internet, and he was just the voice box.

”It is a skale fur mutants, an', beyond special circumstances fur a few remarkable exceptions,” she added, grinning at the young man behind the camera, ”th' student body is exclusively mutant.”

Becca reflected on her relatively short time at the mansion as an instructor. ”Ah’m still new tae teachin', but Ah loove bein' haur. Ah developed mah powers late, but Ah knaw th' struggle ay figurin' it yer developmental years when yoo're different. It's braw tae be haur fur mah students who ur piecing together who they ur. We're honestly a lot loch onie other skale, tryin' tae gie kids a place tae learn abit lit, math, an' themselves.”

There was a small pause before Pixelbecky broke into a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand. ”Waw, 'at was corny. Sorry.”

She was charming. So, so charming. How did Invasion-er-Jiri... how did he keep his cool while giving interviews? He was a much better journalist than Leo was.

Raise-UR-Donger said:

Bachelorette? She did say bachelorette, right? Her accent is hard to parse. SOMEONE PLEASE CONFIRM.

Leo typed a quick reply and by the time he was back in the IRL, she was making some marbles dance in a hypnotic to and fro.

needy1 said:

She came prepared, ya'll. Wonder where those have been? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

"Uh." SERIOUSLY DISTRACTING. Leo looked away from the page more resolutely. "Ferrokinesis or Magnetokinesis? Or is there a difference?" Not that it mattered exactly. Or that he was taking notes. Okay. He totally was. Powers were absolutely fascinating. Maybe more so since he was a non-powered kid.

ALLCAPS_OCTOPUS said:

WHAT DOES ON THE BEAK MEAN

Downvote.

politicalSnowflake said:

Dude, mutant is just a word. I thought you guys owned it like in rap and stuff.

Downvote.

"You're doing great, Miss G. Just the right amount of corny." Leo gave her the thumbs up after she finished out her explanation. He tried not to get too puffed up at the compliment she left out there for him. Exceptional. Was he exceptional? Or just the bull-headed exception. "There's going to be more than we can ever cover here. Keep upvoting, guys."

He upvoted one or two as well.

"You're Scottish. We get that. But are you playing up the accent at all? Is this really how you talk all day, every day?"

"Have you ever hunted the mighty haggis?" Leo shrugged. That wasn't, like, offensive was it?

"What's the airspeed velocity of a- oh we get this one every time, guys." Downvote.

"What do your parents think about the lifestyle, the powers, everything? Do they watch your YouTube channel?"

Rebecca thought having her student there filming and leading the discussion would make her more nervous than her typical videos, but she was surprisingly comfortable so far. Maybe seeing Leo a little flustered put her at ease, knowing they were both figuring this out together. She was curious about the questions he might be seeing and not sharing, however…

He asked about the exact definition of her powers and she clarified, having given the matter much thought. ”It's probably semantics, but Ah usually say magnetokinesis coz Ah dornt manipulate metal, Ah manipulate th' magnetic fields. Which... ye know, manipulate th' metal.” As she said: semantics.

Leo gave her a vote of confidence she appreciated. “The right amount of corny.” That was probably what she was aiming for, as a teacher and an entertainer. When she was sappy, she wanted it to be in a way that was not obnoxious.

New questions rolled out and Rebecca tried to handle them politely, but the first one made her laugh since it was a question she answered so often. ”Ah can tryst ye, thes is hoo Ah gab, sae feel bad fur mah friends an' students. When Ah was livin' in America years ago, it softened, but bein' surroonded by British accents in London, mah inner Scot got bolder in protest.” Of course, Rebecca rarely spoke about the politics between the British and Scottish on her channel, but it was easy on the internet to make a “Scots and Brits are always at odds,” joke.

She was already in a giggly mood, but the second question caused a loud, ”Ha!” to escape her lips. The “Wild Haggis” was a fictional creature the internet liked to joke about, and she was not about to deny their existence now. ”Ay coorse! Ah was a wee lass, an' it is a coming-of-age custom fur every yoong Scottie tae go it tae th' hills an' bag a haggis of 'er ain. Ne'er seen a golden haggis thocht. That's one fur th' buckit list,” she added with a grin, wondering how many viewers were Googling the golden haggis now.

After an obligatory Monty Python reference, a question of substance was asked. Her parents and how they felt about her. ”Mah parents ur wonderful. Ah feel loch Ah keep havin' tae come out tae them,” she half-joked. Her life had been full of such change after she left Scotland, she had to keep her parents updated every time she realized she was a new person. ”When they foond it abit mah powers, they waur concerned fur me mair than anythin'. They looked up th' best place Ah coods go tae gie th' support Ah needed an' foond a way tae send me thaur. It wasnae easy lettin' me go, but they alays dae reit by me.”

”’En comin’ it as bisexual, she continued, regathering the story in her mind. ”Ah hae a whole comin' out story oan mah channel, but lang story short, mom was immediately supportife, an' she helped mah auld skale faither process th' news.”

Thinking of her father’s turn to accepting her as a queer woman reminded her of her first return to Scotland with Belladonna Honey in tow. ”When Ah brooght mah first girlfriend back tae Scotland tae meit mah parents, mah pa gae 'er th' sam hard time he woods hae given a lad. He was sae intimidatin', she drenk th' scotch he offered, an' he laughed his arse aff as she went intae a coughin' fit.” It was hard not to chuckle and smile at the memories of her time in Paisley, but she calmed down; given recent events, it was best not to dwell on the past.

”As fur th' channel, while mah parents dinnae git it at aw, an' they want me tae make sure Ah am pickin' a stable path, they support me followin’ mah heart as alays, an' mah mom watches th' videos when she can. Ah've got naethin' tae hide frae her; she's mah oldest friend.” Her father was too much of a stuffy Englishman to spend much time watching online videos, but she knew she had his support. Her relationship with her mother was more friendly, and she did not mind a little silliness in her day if it meant seeing her daughter’s face more.

"The accent takes some getting used to, but I'd guess your students have to understand you by now." Leo winked from off camera. Aaaaaand then he had to spend a couple minutes making sure his PM notifications were solidly on silent because he got a flood of 'em calling him a suck up and guessing that Leo, too, was a student there. Gah! Had he blown his cover already!?

It made him miss the whole wild haggis affair and half of the parents. Ah. It was good to get it on film that not everyone's parents sucked when it came to their parents. Too often the news focused on cases that were extreme and negative. Leo was glad the focus was shifting in the chat.

God bless the goldfish-like memory of the live internet crowd.

"Who do your consider your biggest comedic influences? Or influences in general?"

"Do you ever get hate mail? Your face is so out there. How do you deal with that?"

"Are you hiring? I'd love to be your personal assistant." It was that or the usual slew of 'will you marry me?' at least this one was a tad different.

Leo’s defense of her accent earned him a grin from the teacher. ”Ah certainly hope sae. Nae 'at Ah cooldnae change it,” she clarified, switching over to the American accent she was constantly working on to diversify herself for Voice Acting work, ”But it takes more focus to improvise while I’m trying to keep this accent going. It’s far, far easier with a script and some practice.” It was not perfect, and a touch of her Scottish lilt could still be caught in her speech, but it was more passable than most American’s attempts at her own accent.

New questions came through, getting Pixelbecky to think about where she found her influences. ”Honestly, a lot ay it comes frae th' other creators Ah hae a lot ay respect fur. Th' Pow Block Party, GloveOnFoot, an' pretty much anyain Ah've collaborated wi'.” Rebecca spent a lot of her time on ViewTube watching other people’s stuff, particularly during her time recovering from the Ragman incident, so her “influences” were probably wide reaching across many different styles.

”Plenty ay whit Ah dae jist comes frae whit Ah’m loch when Ah am shootin' th' sh—um.” Before Becca could finish her thought, she remembered that she was technically still a teacher on site at her school. ”When Ah hang out wi’ mah friends. We gie nerdy ur we rant abit things, an' jist gab. Ah think mah channel is a conversation, sae Ah treat it loch one.”

Moving on, she heard the hate mail question and smirked. ”Ah’m a girl. Wi’ opinions on comics and video games and politics. Who is bi. And a mutant. Aye, Ah get hate mail.” It was the hardest part of adjusting to her life in a public spotlight. Everything she said was wrong, and she could see people telling her to kill herself in everything from her comments section, inbox, and actual PO Box. ”It wisnae easy reit awa'. Afair mah videos started gainin' traction, Ah was gettin' an occasional nice comment haur an' thaur. 'En Ah went viral, an' woke up tae comments sections filled wi' hate.”

It was easy to recall how overwhelming that sensation was at first. ”It was everythin'. Ah was wrang. Ah was dumb. Ah was somehaw tay much ay a prude an' a total slut. It was insults an' threats an' crass requests. Ah stopped makin' videos fur a few days coz Ah thooght Ah was in ower mah heed. But 'en Ah really looked at th' comments.

“Th’ hate was thaur, yes, bit it was smaller ‘en Ah gave it credit fur. Insteid ay focusin' oan 'at, Ah focused oan th' loove. Th' guid comments. E'en th' constructife criticism. Plenty ay fowk wanted tae support me an' see me succeed. Ah choose tae focus on th’ loove.” Pixelbecky smiled to the camera, hoping amidst the denizens of the internet, her fans were on the other end, as well. ”Another stoatin’ creator said it best: th’ more people yoo’re seen by, the moor yoo’ll be hated nae matter whit ye dae, sae ye might as weel jist dae yer own thing.”

The next question was more of a request for a job application. She giggled at the thought of her own assistant. ” Ah dunnae know abit an assistant, but if Ah can ever justify it, Ah micht tak' oan an editur. Sae keep hiner alife, guys!” The thought had crossed her mind to expand, (even if that just meant hiring on one other person,) but at the level she was at, and juggling two careers, a full time editor was just not a priority.

Mouth a-gape. She... she did American crazy well! And he was not the only one swooning over that faint lilt. The chat was going wild.

"It looks like the questions are slowing down a bit, but the text questions usually roll in all day if you want to hop in and answer some beyond the webcast, Miss Grey. Uhm, I guess just a few more and we'll call it a day."

Leo scrolled around.

"Would you agree to be in a charity pinup if the proceeds weent to dying puppy orphans?" The internet was dying for an Ambrose repeat or another mutant bikini photoshoot. They got those kinds of questions often.

"What's you're take on the whole 'Mutants are a different species' thing?" Ugh. Wrong your! It was a good question, though, so he read it faithfully.

"Do you have any tattoos?"

Okay. He chose one from the bottom of the barrel with not many upvotes, but it should have had more!

"Uh. Let's make this our last one. We have a request for you to say "I love you" so that Pterridesticals can use it as their ringtone. Can you say it as per usual and also in your American accent?" Pterridesticals hadn't specified both, but Leo really wanted to hear the latter.

PixelBecky was in the home stretch for the on-screen portion of her AMA! Of course, she would gladly spend plenty of time answering questions with text replies, but it would be a relief to have the live portion of the event over. Even if she was comfortable in front of a camera, it did still require more thought and more conscious effort when it came to her posture, her diction, and avoiding streams of thought that might take her off topic. It was always going to be easier to write out her responses because she could take a moment to think over her answers rather than being put on the spot.

Whether the questions were coming for her fans or just the funnymen of the internet, they were getting her to laugh after almost every question. ”Ah mean, hoo can Ah say nae tae dyin' orphan puppies?”

Thinking over the question more seriously in a general scope, she mused out loud. ”Weel, it's one ay those things Ah woods hae ne'er dain when Ah was yoonger. But noo, Ah mean, Ah’m nae ashamed ay myself, sae fa knows? Mebbe if th' reit cause cam alang,” she answered with a wink, before remembering her student was behind the camera, causing her freckled cheeks to blush.

The next question was a more serious topic she was actually thankful to get a chance to talk about. ”That's... toochy. Scientific classifications ay species ur one thing, but we're aw quite literally part ay th' sam family. We're different, an' different isnae bad; we're aw still on th' sam team.” So many people would use the separation of species between “Homo Sapien” and “Homo Superior” as a reason to cast the two sides as warring factions fighting for survival, but Becca saw no need for two sentient, reasonable groups to fight rather than coexisting.

Asked about tattoos, Becca groaned. ”Ugh, not yet! Mah mate Nessa oan Th’ Pow Block Party has a couple cool ones, an’ she’s startin’ tae win me owe roan th’ idea. We’ll see,” she ended in a sing-song tone. If Nessa really did convince her to get a tattoo, there was no way Becca would not share that news on a Vlog update eventually.

The last question was a request, and one Becca was okay with, even if it might be one with creepy intent. Pixelbecky was constantly telling her fanbase she loved them anyway, so it was not like this would be the first time she’d be recorded online saying it. She was curious why he might need both accents if he only needed one ringtone, but she shrugged off the thought. ”Sure, why not?” She smiled and spoke in a clear, cheery tone, looking to avoid anything that sounded too intimate.

“Ah loove ye.

“I love you,” she added after a short pause in her false American accent.

Smiling to the camera, she added sincerely, ”An' truly, Ah say it a lot, but Ah loove aw ay ye out thaur who hae bin supportin' me an' who Ah am an' whit Ah dae. An' cheers fur keepin' me very entertained wi' yer questions!”