Rebecca was learning quickly that being a superhero was not all daring missions and fighting villains as comics would often let everyone believe. Being part of the X-Men, especially as a known mutant organization, positive publicity was a high priority.

As a young woman who was admittedly somewhat personable, Rebecca was a good person to put out as one of the more public faces of the X-Men. On that specific day, Rebecca-- or rather Lodestone was going to a local school that was more mutant tolerate than some of the others. She was one of the speakers for an anti-bullying presentation for the kids. She was nervous, but it made sense; Rebecca was not only a mutant but a bisexual and a foreigner, and the anger of her former friends sent her to America in the first place.

Much of Rebecca's nervousness came from the fact that Rebecca was going through the presentation in her X-Uniform. The idea of speaking publicly in her spandex was not ideal. The uniform allowed for free movement, but did not provide ideal coverage in front of crowds. The breastplate at least aided her a bit, but she was really beginning to regret not adding a skirt to her uniform.

Along with her domino mask, Rebecca decided to add temporary black dye to her hair to avoid broadcasting her distinctive strawberry blonde hair.

The presentation took place outdoors where kids were sitting cross-legged on the ground throughout the playground. It was one of the first days of the school year, and to the credit of the school, most of the kids seemed well behaved. Maybe the idea of seeing a superhero this close warranted not being a brat for a while.

When it was Lodestone's time to talk, she stood up, doing her best not to blush behind her mask. She first introduced herself and demonstrated her mutation briefly by pushing the swings with her mind, and even levitating off the ground for a few seconds. (When she landed, she discretely rubbed her wrists where her bangles were tugging at her skin.) After the show for the kids, she got into the reasons she was actually there: the story of her mutation discovery and how her friends reacted; a very vague, tame telling of how she struggled with her sexuality before entering a relationship with her girlfriend.

Rebecca wrapped up her presentation by asking the children to think about their best friend, and if they found out their best friend was "different," would that change who they were? She wanted them to remember that the next time they thought about bullying somebody for being "different," because they never could know when it could hurt someone important to them.

Proud of herself for her success, Rebecca said goodbye and told the kids to enjoy their recess, which was the next event on their schedules.

Instead of leaving abruptly, Rebecca stayed around the playground. She would make herself available to any kids who wanted to meet or talk to her. What was the worst that could happen?

No one had told her that there were going to be a bunch of stupid people talking before recess. If she had known, it was likely that she wouldn't have bothered showing up at all!

Unfortunately, she hadn't know. The few kids she talked to on a semi regular basis had neglected to inform her, so here she was, hiding behind a rather large tree off to the side of the playground, waiting for the annoying adults to finish talking so she could play. "Why're we waiting, huh?" The voice sprang up from behind her, and she shushed it immediately. She was trying to hear what the last speaker was saying... not like she really cared or anything, because pff, it was some dude in a strange costume, But.. because he was telling a story. Elke liked stories. Usually, anyway. She didn't like it when old people tried to sit her down and talk her ear off about how corn never used to come in a can.. but, this one was different.

It was something about bullying, which was silly and stupid all on it's own, but it was still rather interesting. She found herself shushing her anxious twin many more times before the guy was done talking. Then, recess was announced.

Cautiously, Elke crept out from behind her bark encrusted shelter. Kids of all ages flooded the playground and she no longer stood out like a sore thumb. Sure, she was a little dirty, and her clothes were torn in a few places, but that was because she didn't know how to sew yet. Besides, she felt like it added an air of badassery, and she was rather proud of it. The twelve year old sauntered out, her clone on her heels, but her eyes remained trained on the guy in the costume. He was a mutant, and apparently some sort of hero wannabe if the getup had anything to say for itself.

"Heh, that guy looks funny, Boss. Like a cartoon character!" Rolling her eyes, the Native shove her hands into the pockets of her dirty coveralls and wandered in the costumed cooks direction. "No funnier than your face!" She replied back, a smirk curling her lips. The duplicate paused mid step, in the process of toying with the straps of her worn coveralls, and blinked.

..."But.. Don't that mean you're face is funny lookin' too?"

This... caused Elke to pause as well. "I...what?" Wait, wait. The girl reversed what she had said in her head, and slowly realized what had just happened. Her cheeks lip up like Christmas from being out smarted by one of her clones, and she growled. Without a word, only a few feet away from the dude in the mask, Elke leaped at her twin and a childish, rather pathetic wrestling match ensued.

Rebecca was talking to a young boy who was showing her his video game. She was not much of a gamer, but kids loved to share and be heard, so she did her best to express interest.

From the corner of her eye, Rebecca watched as one young girl tackled her twin just a few feet from where the X-Man stood. She had just finished speaking against bullying, so of course a fight would break out.

Apparently Lodestone's PR Mission was going to have a little more activity than she expected. The teachers were not nearby, so she took it upon herself to intervene. She stepped between the two twin's and did her best to pull one off the other. "Oy! Girls, you have tae play nice!"

The masked dude stepped between them before either girl could land a hit. Elke was momentarily caught off guard by the fact that the guy had a really feminine voice. Maybe the funny looking costume he was wearing was squeezing too tight on his man parts, or something.

"yeah, yeah..." She huffed, running a tan hand through her hair to sweep it back out of her eyes, and tossed a stray leaf to the ground. Her twin was shaking dirt and rocks out of her pants from the short tumble, but had her eyes locked on the costumed male.

"Why do you have such a girly voice, Mister?"

The Native eyed her twin for a moment, before allowing herself to slip back into place at her side. "Yeah...why do you?" She'd never heard of a hero with a wimpy voice before. Heroes were supposed'ta bellow at people and strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, right? Then again, she'd never seen a guy who was curvy, with long hair to boot! Maybe he was one of those 'in the middle' guys, who never gre out of pudgy little kid shape.

"And what kinda accent is that?" Her twin lost interest after her initial question, adopting a far away look in her eyes and proceeded to dig in her ear with a pinky. Elke elbowed her harshly in the ribs, and frowned at the duplicate.

The girls' childish quarreling thankfully came to a halt at Rebecca's request. Kids often just fought because there was nothing better to do, and would abandon the fight at the stern eye of an adult.

What was confusing for Rebecca was the reaction of the lead twin, asking about her voice and, more importantly, calling her "mister." Apparently there was a misunderstanding, which prompted an embarrassed blush across Rebecca's cheeks. "It's a Scottish accent," which, in hindsight, should have been something Rebecca kept hidden for her identity's sake, "An' mah voice is girly coz Ah am a girl!"

Rebecca crouched down to get closer to eye-level with the kid. "Why did you think Ah was a man?" She was curious what hints she apparently dropped to lead to that conclusion.

Elke's twin let out a startled gasp at the revelation. The costumed one was a girl! Elke paused before saying anything, for once trying to collect her thoughts. It made a lot more sense for whatsherface hero lady to be a lady, because then the costume fit the image, as well as the voice.

"You said you have a girlfriend." She stated, blinking as her twin tugged at her shirt sleeve. "Maybe she must'a meant that she has a boyfellow, right boss?" She nodded slowly, shaking her arm to get the clone to let go. The lady must have made a mistake, but it really wasn't the type of thing to get her panties in a wad over. Tch, clones. So easily entertained.

"I liked it when you floated... can you do that again?" Elke added, black eyes locked on the mask of the hero lady.

So it was an innocent mistake as the product of childhood ignorance which was not the child's fault. Rebecca herself probably did not even realize that lesbians were a thing until she was older, (which could be blamed in the old-fashioned upbringing of her family.) She shook her head, willing to explain in as delicate a way as she could. "Nae, Ah said girlfriend. It may sound crazy, bit girls can be with girls if they want tae."

The twin being referred to as "boss" by the other, (which Rebecca noted as a weird thing to call a sibling,) requested another display of power from the superhero. It was not an issue; Rebecca still had plenty of energy left in her. "Sure, Ah can dae that for you!"

Rebecca focused herself on her breastplate, boots, bracers, and belt, and from those four "b-points," she hoisted herself into the air. Once she managed to find her equilibrium, she hovered in a circle around the twins, returning to the spot in the air in front of them.

Remaining a few feet off the ground, Rebecca asked, "How is that?"

"Nae, Ah said girlfriend. It may sound crazy, bit girls can be with girls if they want tae."

Twin expressions of confusion washed over both Elke and her twins features. The native managed to recover first, while her duplicate remained slack jawed and wide eyed. "Why would ya want to? Us girls ain't got nothing special down there, right?" Well... at least she figured that was why guys were so special, anyway.. because otherwise no girl in her right mind would ever need one.

Her twin seemed to have similar thoughts, as they both snickered and tucked their hands into their pockets simultaneously.

All thoughts about that particular subject flew out of her head the moment the lady lifted off from the ground. Then, she was was overwhelmed with a childish delight as the spectacle before her maneuvered in a little circle around the two of them. "Amazing... " Elke breathed, while her twin set about trying to copy the woman's trick.

"I have a friend who can float. Has to wear weights all the time or he'll take off into space and freeze or something." She latched onto her self and threw a look of mock horror on her face, while her duplicate jumped and hopped around behind her, failing at liftoff. "You're a lot cooler, though. He'd a real air head."

Rebecca landed gracefully, before almost losing her balance at the comment the young girl made regarding what respective genders... "had down there." Her pale skin reached the level of scarlet, which starkly contrasted the green of her mask. "Tha's... nae important!" Rebecca had no desire whatsoever to discuss even the existence of private parts with a child. "What matters is who you love!"

The girl mentioned another friend she had. Rebecca could not think of any mutants with the powers to match the girl's description, so either she had not met the person, or she was making a joke? It was quite the lame pun to finish with after all, and her twin was having her own fun jumping in the background in what looked like an attempt at spontaneous flight. Rebecca resisted the urge to chuckle.

Regardless, she would give the "boss" the benefit of the doubt for the time being. "Well, thank you! What's your name?" Following the first question, the friend story prompted another one. "Dae you have gifts like your friend?" It was entirely possible that the young girl could be a mutant; not everyone discovered their powers as late as Rebecca did.

The twin managed to catch the end of the masked girls brief explanation, and paused momentarily to shoot another question of her own at the hero. "What's love gotta do with it?" Elke grinned, but chose to move on without comment, even if there were suddenly lyrics galloping around in her head.

"I'm El-" She paused, already half way through her name, suddenly aware of where she was. No one on the playground knew her real name, and it was important to keep it that way. "- uuh... Moose. The name's Moose." She finished lamely, not even batting an eyelash at her blatant change of mind. Instead, she chose to visibly swell with pride, and nodded sagely.

Or, at least as safely as a child with dirt on her face can.

Was she a mutie? Dern tootin. 'Course, she couldn't fly or anything, or go all super crazy like Badger, but like her grand dad had told her 'It's not in the power, but the person.' "You're looking at it, lady!" She nearly raised a hand to point a thumb behind her at her duplicate, but just then her twin came stumbling back over with her arms wrapped around her stomach. "Uuh... Boos, I ain't feelin' so good."

The Native glanced over, frowning slightly, before deliberately taking three steps away from the clone. All without comment, of course. "Eh... well, you were looking at it, at least." It slipped the girls mind completely to made, just perhaps, fill the masked woman in on what she knew was about to happen. It was something she saw so often, that it didn't phase her any more.

"So... why do you wear all of that costume stuff? You a super hero?"

It was probably best to leave the topics of love and the birds and the bees to whoever the child's parents were. She heard once that there was never a point to arguing with a child; it was an impossible argument to win regardless of how it went. "You'll understand when you're older," was the reply she finally settled on, waving off the topic with a chuckle.

Moose clearly did not give Rebecca her real name since she lead off with a name beginning in an "el" sound and she called herself "Moose," but once again, Rebecca was not going to fight it. Nicknames were part of the ways of a child... or an X-Man, (a thought she dismissed.)

Moose admitted proudly to being a mutant, and pointed to the sibling as a description of her ability. The gesture was lost on Rebecca, who was immediately more concerned with the twin's quick descent into what appeared to be illness. Momentarily ignoring Moose's question regarding her costume and superhero status, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Rebecca ran over and placed her hand on the twin's shoulder, but for some reason, she felt distinctly "wrong" to the touch. After a few moments of wondering what the condition could have been, Moose's comment clicked in Rebecca's mind. "She's a copy," she said in quiet awe, wondering what happened next to the duplicate.

"uuurg... My... stomach hurts." The twin groaned, her bottom lip trembling as she attempted to spear the masked woman with wide, watery puppy eyes. Elke watched the whole thing from a safe distance away, her own stomach turning as what felt like an army of moths fluttered around like mad inside her. Ugh... she hated this part! The fluttering became a soft, rolling bubble, like she'd drank waaaay too much soda, and before the duplicate could so much as nod her head in agreement, or question what a 'copy' was, she started to... change.

"You.. uh.. may wanna step back." Elke commented, stuffing her hands into her pockets once more as the feeling of general sickness washed through her. Seconds later, the 'clone' dissolved into a thick, gooey puddle of pink matter on the ground. It also splattered a little, as it deflated, but that's not important. Elke felt relief settle on her once the duplicate was finally gone, having taken then sickly feeling with it.

"It's funny when they do that on crowded buses." She commented, before attempting to impersonate a stuffy old woman. "Ewww! It's all over my shawl! What will my tons and tons of cats think!?"

The clone, copy, or whatever it would be called was looking up at Rebecca with eyes that pierced her right through the heart. Was this a natural process in the mutation? They were not near other students, so it was going unnoticed, but she was there, and it was terrifyingly unnerving to her.

She managed to hear Moose's warning, and, with her soul crying out to do something, all she could do was follow the advice of the one who knew what was going to happen. Rebecca took a few steps back and watched the copy dissolved into an oozy pink substance, until all that was left of what was once a girl with puppy-dog eyes was a gloppy puddle.

Rebecca found it hard not to look at the former-clone. She felt her gut sinking, and her eyes were stinging like they were supposed to be crying. In almost no time at all, Rebecca became vehemently against the idea of scientific attempts at cloning.

Her shaken-up state was not helped by the non-clone Moose's joking. "Um, Ah'm sorry. D-daes that always happen?" Rebecca did her best to keep her patience since Moose was a child and it was a mutation she knew nothing about, but if she were given it, she doubted she could bring herself to make a clone after the end of the first. "Daes that... bother you at all?"

Elke dropped the old lady act, just before finishing a warbling monologue with an invisible feline. The lady's reaction to the duplicates puddle like state caused her to quirk an eyebrow curiously. "Well... yeah, it always happens. Otherwise i'd be stuck with like... a billion of those things running around me all the time."

That thought, and the image that popped to mind, was horrifying. She could barely keep track of three of them at one time. A larger number would no doubt have her pulling out chunks of her own hair while rocking back and rock in some padded room somewhere. The second question, however, had her other eyebrow shooting up to join it's twin.

"Why would it bother me? They're just stupid clones." She blinked, sniffled, and frowned at the lady. Maybe she was like one of those people who yelled at her for not treating animals like people. Just because a cat had a name and a silly fancy collar, doesn't mean it's a person. People don't poop in litter boxes, or claw their own drapes to shreds. She shrugged after a moment, feeling more than a little awkward all of the sudden.

"It's not like it was a person, Lady... It was just... stuff." Stuff, being all of the complicated things that made up a human body. Things that had names that she really couldn't be bothered to remember, because who needed school anyway? "I can make more anyway, so it's not like I'm losing anything important."

To prove a point, she went ahead and duplicated herself. One moment there was one, then in a slow blur, there were two. The new twin blinked, glanced around at her surroundings, and the promptly shoved a finger up her nose. Elke actually laughed for once, but only because it had a very determined, concentrated look on it's face while it dug for gold. "See! Completely brain dead. They're only good for entertainment."

Rebecca was not sure what to make of Moose's conviction toward the lack of humanity in her clones. The young girl would probably know best what her copies were like and whether they counted as "people," but it was still hard to think of the girl with the sad eyes looking at her and not feel sorry for them, human or not.

Moose shifted until there were once more two of her in an attempt to prove her point. Rebecca motioned to stop her, not wanting another doomed clone around, but she was late.

With the clone now irrevocably there, Moose seemed proud, as though the clone's dim-minded actions justified her point. Rebecca was still obviously uneasy. "Ah dornt know."

Rebecca leaned in closer to examine the copy, which did, to be fair, have an absent look on its face. She poked the shoulder, which was just like a normal person's shoulder now. "Um, how are you?" She had no clue how to word her next question, but she did her best. "Dae you... um, know what happens tae you when... well, when it's time tae go?"