Gym class.

Another word for it? Paradise. Indeed, while he typically excelled at most things academic with the express understanding that the effort he put into it would make him a smarter, more well rounded person, Gym just came naturally to him. The thing was, gym class in a setting like this was a little more complicated, so extra waivers with the right signatures were required. It had taken him up until today to work all of that out with his dad. Finally, though he stood, a very respectable 6'5, in the middle of the Gym with his hands on his hips, smiling brightly as he was introduced to the class.

He completely missed any looks girls his age gave to tall, toned and beefy blondes as he proudly announced. "It's a pleasure to meet you all! My name is Xavier Legend, and I'm going to Join the X-Men!" That last bit he added on without prompting, and drew some chuckles. With the introduction out of the way, they had a bit of free time while the activity they were joining in today was set up.

Still beaming, he walked around introducing himself to people he hadn't met yet in his other classes, moving down the line to literally everyone until he encountered what appeared to be a young woman made of slime. "Hello! You probably heard my name already, but I'm Xavier, Nice to meet you!" He reached out a hand to shake her own. He had a smile about him that seemed to stick, like his face might not look right if he wasn't grinning or something. Still, he was undeniably physically attractive to the average person, if a bit alarming when it came to the energy he put out.

Why did Eupraxia even need gym? She argued against it with Maya on the grounds that she had no muscles and therefore no fitness to maintain. She was informed that it did not matter and that gym was a good group class to help her adjust to her classmates and large groups in general.

Which was dumb. She was adjusting fine! In, you know, her own time. Besides, she was used to the mutants at the school by now. Well, except the towering guy being introduced to the class with the doofy smile.

If they were still in Atlantis, he would have absolutely been treated as a demigod. Heck, Atlan (may he rot in Hades) would have adopted the kid and made him a captain of the guard or something. She admittedly had a vague idea of how demigod culture worked, and it felt inappropriate to ask Amethyst for more details.

With the introduction out of the way, Praxi “sat” on the bench, which mostly meant half her body was pooled as a puddle with her waist and upper body emerging normally. Unexpectedly, the young man, after chatting with another group, approached her.

He approached very confidently, to the point where more of her body sank into the puddle to shrink away from his impending hand. And then she remembered that she had no reason to shrink away from people because she was awesome and they should shrink from her! (Regardless of her height.) Reforming from the puddle, and even letting her lower body reform to drape off the bench like legs, she begrudgingly offered a hand, trying to keep it solid enough to endure a handshake.

”Eupraxia,” she replied, disinterested. ”You’re the new kid who just plans on walking in and joining the X-Men?” It was said like she did not notice, but he was pretty explicit about his intent in his class greeting.

The return of the shake was hesitant, but Xavier chalked it up to nervousness, especially since she shied away at first. He maintained the same smile as they shook. Her hand was moist, slightly, but solid. He gave a nod as she gave her name. 

"Yep, that's me!" He stated confidently. He wasn't doing too bad at that, either. He'd already sidekicked an honest to goodness real X-Man in a fight against a giant moth. He wouldn't brag, though.

"Eupraxia... That's an interesting name. Where are you from?" He, being a history major, had heard the name before in greek mythos, but couldn't remember exactly what it was related to... what was it? Tip of the tongue.

Oh well, he did have a hunch where she was from, though. You know... Mutant with greek sounding name. It would make sense, but he wouldn't jump to conclusions. He'd heard a lot of atlanteans had made their way to NYC since its discovery, so it sort of made sense some of the youngins would end up here. He entertained himself with the picture of a family of slimes in his head.

Hee hee.  

Eupraxia was cautious around the young men of the Mansion, believing they were all bravado and hormones. This was based on anecdotal evidence, a health class she attended begrudgingly, and the advice of some older girls at the school. At the very least, Xavier did not take the handshake as an opportunity to show off his strength; she would have felt awkward collecting the puddled remnants of her squished hand.

It was not uncommon for students of the Mansion to display curiosity regarding her name. Evidently, ancient greek names were unique above the waves. It made her stick out, but she was used to that. ”It’s a name. An Atlantean name. I’m from Atlantis.” No sense in hiding that, though she had no loyalty to the island of her oppression.

And speaking of oppression. ”So why do you want to be an X-Man anyway? Hoping to impress the humans? I’m sure they’re already fine with you up here,” she spat with slightly more cynicism than necessary. Eupraxia was aware that the divide between physical and non-physical mutants, while not as egregious as Atlantis, did exist here. Xavier was some classically handsome human-like mutant. He could have been sculpted and born from a statue back home. ”Just seems silly to me, but I guess some people are just silly.”

He lit up a bit when she confirmed she was from Atlantis. "That's amazing!" He paused for a second, perhaps realizing he was being a little overbearing with that response. After all, it might not be so amazing for her. "Well, Welcome to New York. I'm new here, too." 

He tilted his head a bit when she asked him why he wanted to be a hero, and a wide smile graced his face as she finished with saying it was silly.  He knew she was biting, but it didn't bother him. "Haha! Okay, I admit, I'm probably the silliest person you'll meet today." He scratched the back of his head, looking down to her with that same unwavering smile. "But yeah, I dunno. I really just want to save people. To help, I guess, but more to save. I know it was different where you came from, so maybe it's a little hard to see it that way, but I feel like mutants and humans are both just people." He shrugged, words weren't always easy for him. Hitting a baseball practically into space? Easy. Telling someone your thoughts on difficult social issues? Hard.

"I guess that's easy for me to say, huh?" He inferred his status as a peach skinned male with blonde hair and great height. He was very aware that he had a lot going for him on the social scale. There wasn't exactly much he could do about that, in his mind, other than devoting his live to helping others.

"Heh, sorry, I probably got a little too serious, there. How are you liking New York?"

Okay, this boy had like… a lot of energy. Like… a lot. He was not the first mutant at the school to be impressed with her origins, and she could get that. She was treating America with the childlike wonder of someone who never knew anything beyond the slum streets she grew up on. Students heard about Atlantis in myths, so why not be amazed to talk to someone from the real thing? Still, it was a bit much. Thankfully, this guy seemed to get it and reigned himself in.

While Praxi did consider herself a generally good person, when she was making a point to tease someone, she wanted to be effective. Maybe that was why it irked her that her comment glanced off him with no effect. He was just so… doofy! Doofy and earnest! And he was owning it, which made it impossible to call him out on it. She had bullied bullies at the school, but this guy was just… ugh! She missed volatile, insecure bullies.

Despite her clearly petty shot, Xavier answered her honestly. It was the simplest answer. He wanted to be a hero because he wanted to… well, be a hero. Save people. And he didn’t care if the people were humans or mutants. Part of her could acknowledge it as a noble and selfless, but the petty, damaged part of her thought it was dumb. ”But like… they don’t want you to save them, right? Like humans.”

She was ready to call him out on his passing privilege, but he beat her to it and did it himself. Gods! This guy was just so… gah! He was forcing her to be reasonable, which irked her. ”I mean, I guess not all humans can be that bad,” she muttered. She had some good interactions on the trip into the city with Amethyst. She also judged demigods harshly, but the non-physical mutants here were not all bad.

Her social cynicism was crumbling! She tried not to sound grumpy because this kid was so positive, it made her feel like she was being childish! (Because she was.) ”It’s great. I mean, I’ve been to the city one time. And to the pizza place near the school one time. But it’s nice. Dem-- er, mutants like you are not as bad here.” That was compliment-adjacent, right? ”It still feels like us against them, but here it’s mutant against human instead of pretty mutants against gross mutants.” Even if idealists like him were convinced they were all on the same team, she was still going to cling to her skepticism.

The concept of someone not wanting him to save them because he was a mutant didn't even seem fathomable to the young man, who tilted his head at the strange idea. "Well, I haven't been doing it very long, but I haven't met anyone who didn't want me to save them yet, and a lot of them were human." He shrugged, and righted his head as she conceded that humans might not all be bad.

Huh... Hadn't she just met humans? What could she possibly have against them? 

"Heh, yeah, I know a lot of really nice humans. There's this ice cream vendor I met the other day near my apartment that is probably the nicest guy I ever met!"

She started speaking again, and wow, that was a lot to unpack. I mean, he loved the pizza place, but she almost called him something or other, and then told him people like him weren't as bad here. What did that mean? Oh, right, There was something about a caste system where she came from...

She then stated that it was the mutants Vs. The humans here, which to many was really true, though he'd felt that it didn't need to be that way. He really stuck on the second thing she said. Pretty mutants against gross mutants... Wait, that was the caste system?! So... someone like him was considered pretty? And someone like her... Gross?

"I don't think you're gr-" The whistle blew. Oh, was it already time to pick teams?

Maybe self-preservation was more important than hate or fear or bigotry. Maybe being saved from trouble was just an inherent human priority. Heck, maybe it was enough to convince someone to reconsider how they felt about mutants.

That was still not going to change the world. Atlantis did not get better, even when Atlan fell. There were good demigods there, and there were good humans here like the ones from the bus. There were also bad humans, like the other ones from the bus.

It was not easy to change the world, and the X-Men helped Atlantis, but it was still bad. They were here in America, but she still found instances of humans hating and oppressing mutants. She was not going to be naive like Xavier.

He began to speak, but a whistle interrupted her. She was not what? She wanted to bug him to finish his comment to tell her what she wasn’t, but class was starting. ”What are we doing?” she murmured, though the girl next to her just shrugged. Either it had not been explained, or her classmate was equally distracted.

The instructor pulled aside two classmates, one girl with tan skin and sleek black hair, and a boy with dirty blonde hair and freckles. It could have just been her bad eyesight, but he might have had eyes on his palms? “These are your team captains!” the instructor bellowed. “We’ll divvy up the teams by--”

“I get Xavier!” the girl chimed in quickly like she was trying to beat a buzzer.

The instructor glared at her. “By counting off odds and evens because we’re not apes and we’re not going to endure playground politics with a draft for a friendly game of dodgeball.”

The teacher ignored the disappointed young woman and counted off the crowd. Naturally, with Praxi and Xavier standing next to one another, she was an odd and he was an even. (Hmph. Fitting.)

Sliding off the bench and to her “feet” (more or less,) Praxi looked at Xavier. ”Well, I guess we’re enemies now,” she said dramatically. ”Best of luck in the dodgeballing. Also… um. What is dodgeball?”

Xavier knew what this was. The little cones in a line to signifying a barrier between two halves. The row of red plush balls. This... was Dodgeball.

He smiled widely. He loved this game. It was all physical, the rules were easy, and no one too it so seriously that it dampened the fun. After all, it was just dodgeball, right?

"Looks like dodgeball to me!" He didn't even stop to consider that she wouldn't know what he was talking about.

He paid attention when the instructor started speaking, and chuckled nervously when the girl, Tina from world history, blurted out his name for a first pick. That wasn't how things were going to work, but he was flattered. He smiled to the now slightly embarrassed girl, and then waited to be counted out.

It turned out, he was on the opposite site of his new friend. He tilted his head when she dramatically exclaimed that they were enemies. "Heh, I look forward to a worthy foe!" He paused when she asked what dodgeball was. oh.

"Oh, um... Well, just, try not to get hit with one of those balls, and throw them at the other team! Oh, and if you catch the throw, you can pick someone on your team to bring back in!" He nodded before the whistle blew again, and they had to move to their respective sides. They started against the wall, and it would be a mad dash to get along the middle line to throw it.

Xavier stood with his foot against the back wall of his side of the Gym, looking to his team leader, Ethan, the boy with eyes on his ands, to Praxi, and then to the teacher.

The whistle blew, and the room burst into action.

There was probably an explanation of what they were doing earlier, but Praxi was more concerned with antagonizing a wannabe hero. She had to be more conscious of her classes, but she was still learning how to be a student in the first place. Besides, it was gym class. How seriously was she expected to take this?

Thankfully, Xavier knew exactly what they were doing and gladly filled her in on the rules. He could have been unfair and let her flounder around, figuring things out for herself. Clearly, he was more concerned with a fair game than winning. Very not demi-god-y of him.

”That sounds like a thing I can do. Like a fighting pit game!” But instead of weapons or rocks, they threw a harmless red ball. This was probably the better version, at least for the participants.

With another whistle, they went to their sides and Praxi immitated her teammates, getting against the wall. She was admittedly not sure what came next when the whistle blew again and her team ran to the middle, leaving her surprised and lagging behind!

People from both sides got to the middle and made grabs for red orbs, with some succeeding and some getting there just late. Some of the late comers were immediately struck by their rivals on the other side of the line, griping loudly to be knocked out so quickly. Balls dribbled on the ground after errant throws and other students were quick to snag them, but none were close to Praxi. She needed a weapon!

“Goo girl!”

”Oy, that’s n--oh!” The nickname got her attention just in time for her to realize a red ball was flying toward her. The object made contact with her body, but Praxi immediately thickened and condensed, slowing it to the point where it stopped in her body, allowing her to push it through her and into her “palm,” though in truth it was more like her arm was a flail encapsulating the surprisingly heavy rubber ball.

“I totally hit her!”

“Looks like a catch to me,” one of her teammates argued, bouncing one ball with the one in her hands.

“That’s bull! Cheater! Teacher?”

The appeal to authority was met with a shake of the head. “Powers are on the table, and if the ball did not hit the ground after touching Eupraxia, then it was caught.”

The other student was displeased, but Praxi? She was thrilled, because she was apparently good at this game! And she had a weapon! Confident, she kept moving around the field, looking across the line for a target.

To say that Xavier was good at this was a sore, sore understatement.

As he rocketed to the middle line, grabbed a ball, and took a step back before everyone else got up to the line, he had his free pick of the first person to get out. He picked someone who looked like they were good at the game. Oh! Connie! She was practicing for the olympian shotput, BOP! She was out.

He smiled widely. The next 30 seconds was surreal. Like a g rated Dynasty Warriors he spun around, caught and dispensed out little red balls like an artist, ducking one and pegging the person who threw it in the chest before scooping up another ball and throwing again. After all of that class work, it was so nice to finally get into something physical, and it was even better with mutants like him!

A ball spun through the air, aimed past him at one of his team mates. He snagged it out of the air, and grinned, dodgerolling and side throwing a ball into a bull horned boy, who cursed and stormed off. Xavier stood and watched him go. Aww, no need to take it so personally! It was only a game.

He paused to take in the rest of the field. Oh. His team was losing, wasn't it. Darn! It looked like they had some good players on their side. He would have to pick them off!

What he didn't notice was the green slime girl right across from him, ball at the ready.

The teachers told Praxi she had to stop revelling in her ability to annoy her peers. They should not have let her play dodgeball, because she found the frustration of Adam, the bull mutant, absolutely delicious. Winning was somehow better when someone else lost and was being a little b***h about it.

Now she had a ball. This was her weapon! Based on the chaos around her, she was supposed to throw the rubber sphere at someone. There was the challenge; she did not exactly have muscles. She was holding the ball in herself, but she lacked real arms to get any real movement.

People were running around and another ball would be thrown at her soon. She had to think. What would a cartoon do? The answer seemed obvious; she stuck two anchor “feet” to the ground and pulled the rest of her body back with the ball. She tried her hardest to keep herself solid and not stretch so far she snapped. Thankfully, that provided her with enough stretchiness to become a slime slingshot.

The part of her crawling back changed from sticky to slick, and she let her body pull back toward itself, carrying the ball with her. When she got back to herelf, she let the momentum of her body fling forward, and when she did, she let the ball go to fling toward a certain blonde adonis.

Xavier smiled widely as he surveyed the situation further, looking for an opportunity to grab an errant ball so he could tag out one of the better players on the enemy team.

He didn't notice the little slime girl litterally turning into a slingshot until the last second. Even so, he was able to duck back and under the ball just in time to avoid it, watching it fly past him and into the forehead of a bespectacled nonparticipant who was trying to use him as a human sheild.

X hopped up and pointed at her. "Eupraxia! THAT WAS SO COOL!" It had really flown! He'd barely gotten out of the way in time!

He was only able to get that out before he noticed a ball flying at him, caught it, and smashed a young man who was throwing mass numbers of balls with his wind powers.

The battle raged on, but the numbers were thinning.

After all the effort of making herself a living artillery, Xavier’s awareness allowed him to duck at the last moment, letting the flying ball soar past him. Fortunately, there was some nerd hiding behind Xavier’s beefy body who immediately regretted that, going down with a ball to the head.

“Praxi, please try to avoid headshots!” the teacher called out.

”I wasn’t even aiming at him!” she huffed, rippling at the indignation.

> "Eupraxia! THAT WAS SO COOL!"

Praxi swirled at the praise, pleased by the recognition before she shook herself out of it. ”You dork! No compliments, we’re enemies! Gladiators!”

She would have yelled more, but in the corner of her sight, she saw an object flying at her and dropped to the ground as a puddle. Sure, she had to make an effort to throw, but dodging and catching? She could do that.

The game raged on, and Praxi managed to catch two more balls, tossing them to a nearby redheaded teammate who smiled and did her best to shake off lingering green slime. ”It’s clean, I promise,” she protested.

“I know, I know, but it’s still sl--unf!”

And with that, Praxi’s last ally went down. She looked around, realizing she was the last of her team. The lone soldier, looking out and preparing for what came at her from the other side.

He was still giving a huge thumbs up by the time Praxi yelled at him for complimenting her. "Yeah, but we're also friends!" The big guy didn't seem to mind being called a dork. In a lot of ways he happily admitted he was one.

The game continued, and the numbers thinned to just a few on each side. Two more people took each other out simultaniously.

He smiled and sidestepped another ball, which hit his last team mate.

He skid to the side and scooped the ball up, spinning and railgunning a ginger girl in the gut as she tried to shake slime off of her hands. Easy pick. Wait.

That left the two of them. He looked down to a ball next to him, and then quickly back up at her. She was starting to look his way. Better to take the opportunity to strike quickly! He shot himself to the side with his power, using the ground to launch against, and rolled into picking up the ball, quickly throwing himself into the air using the same mechanic.

Once he had some elevation, he pulled his arm back, and threw with all of his might at the slime girl, sending the ball rocketing through the air as he landed with a well practiced parkour roll.

He glanced up to see what the result of his elevated power bomb was. Had they won, or was he about to get hit in his moment of vulnerability?