Every once in a while the Mansion got a student that was just... okay. Not in a mediocre, nothing extraordinary kind of way, but rather, just an okay kid. No drama, no angst, no smash-things-rebellion. A good to the bone Lawful Good Paladin type kid.

It didn't take long for those students to end up trying out for the X-men.

Mirror sometimes tried to imagine what her life would have been like if she had not been the brat she was when she ended up at Xavier's. Kids who were all-around okay did not just suddenly go off to become vigilantes... the whole idea baffled Maya somewhat. Sure, the X-men were considered cool, but in the end not many people actually went through with jumping over rooftops after the bad guys. Sure, everyone wanted to be an archaeologist when they were little, but not many people actually picked up a shovel in the end.

But this kid was practically scratching on the Danger Room doors to get in.
So be it.

Maya showed up ahead of time to set up some training programs, and then she waited in the DR for Xavier to show. She'd only seen the kid in passing, but she was the X on duty, and she enjoyed training sessions a lot more than paperwork. She even put on her X-uniform for good measure.

The rest was up to him.

X was late. Any by late, it meant he was 9 minutes early, which was a minute late in his mind. He'd been running down this way when one of the lockers had cried out for help! He'd opened it, and it turned out there was a kid inside! He let them out, and told them if they ever had someone picking on them again to call him. One number exchange later the kid confessed it was a teleportation mishap. Oh well! He could still call if he ever got stuck again!

His new friend's name was Edgar!

As he bolted into the Danger Room he was already apologizing. "Sorry, sorry! I wanted to be earlier but there Edgar needed my help out of a locker!" The tall, beefy teen skidded to a stop on the danger room floor, looking to Maya, already in her X-Uniform.

He gulped nervously. He hadn't really interacted with Mirror yet. He didn't know what to make of them... Or, honestly, what to call them.

"Uh, uhm, Hi! I'm Xavier! Would it be alright if I asked... uhm... Your pronouns?" He smiled nervously as he approached and held out a somewhat shaky hand.

They were here for something important, right? He'd been told to meet in the danger room today after class, but not much else.

>>"Sorry, sorry! I wanted to be earlier but there Edgar needed my help out of a locker!"

Maya blinked as the kid skidded to a halt, and glanced at her watch. He was, like, ten minutes early. Talk about overeager. Give him a collar and he'd make a very adorable puppy.
Oh lord.

>>"Uh, uhm, Hi! I'm Xavier! Would it be alright if I asked... uhm... Your pronouns?"

Maya blinked. That was... um. Did he know she was the gender shifter on the team, or was he just generally woke like that?

"She/her. Today, anyway. You can call me Maya. How about you?"

She was a she today, she said! Okay, so that probably meant when they were male in appearance, they were a him/he! Good to know!

"Ahem, He/Him, Ma'am! I, uh, asked because the, uhm, No one on the Message Boards seems to agree. I'll let them know, though! He/him when you're Gawain, She/Her when Maya?" He was taking notes. He actually had a little note pad. He'd produced it from the costume he'd changed into before coming here(hence why he was near the lockers).


He knew about Mirror. He knew about all of the X-Men, but a lot of the speculation on the fan boards were just that, speculation. 

"Uhhh, So, If I may ask, what's going on? Am I helping with something? Oh! Is it training?! I do want to be one of the X-Men, after all!"  

His eyes widened as he considered the possibility. He'd already fought crime with Shin, played basketball with CS, and had a DR session with Serena! He was going to meet everyone!

Mirror was one of the more prominent X's too! This was exciting! Uh oh, he was staring at his clenched fists in front of his face. Had he struck a power up pose out of excitement again? Oops! He righted himself to attention. 

"Uh, One in a Million, Reporting!"

>>"Ahem, He/Him, Ma'am! I, uh, asked because the, uhm, No one on the Message Boards seems to agree. I'll let them know, though! He/him when you're Gawain, She/Her when Maya?"

"... yeah." The words 'message boards' made Maya's eyebrow twitch. She did not have good experiences with message boards and online forums and ViewTube videos and whatnot; they were mostly a giant pain in the ass, butting their noses into other people's business and spreading ridiculous rumors. And this guy was actually taking notes. Was that why he wanted to be on the team? TO get insider information on the X-men?

>>"Uhhh, So, If I may ask, what's going on? Am I helping with something? Oh! Is it training?! I do want to be one of the X-Men, after all!"

Oh, sweet baby Jesus on a bicycle. The kid actually struck a pose. She was halfway expecting him to pee on the floor like an overly excited puppy.

>>"Uh, One in a Million, Reporting!"

Why am I doing this

"Uh... yes. I was told you wanted to sign up to be an X-trainee." she noted carefully "Um, how old are you exactly?... Could you tell me why you decided to sign up?"

He totally missed the eyebrow twitch! He was proud of his presence on the message boards! He liked to inform people more about heroism, and his journey as a new hero, as well as correct any misconceptions about people and things in the scene.

She asked him about signing up as a trainee. "Yes Ma'am! Is that what this is about?!" He nodded stiffly, managing to stand even more up straight. Was he about to become a trainee?! How did that work? Was there a test? He was pretty sure he could ace any written hero test. But they were in the danger room. It was a practical? He smiled widely in spite of his efforts to keep stone faced and at attention.

"I am 17 years old! I, well..." He thought for a second about why he decided to sign up. There were a lot of reasons, but mainly... "I want to save people, Ma'am. As many people as I can."

That was the best answer he had.

The guy was incredibly peppy. Like, he had the pep cranked up to eleven. He was what would have happened if a cheerleader had a one night stand with a purple dinosaur.

>>"I am 17 years old! I, well... I want to save people, Ma'am. As many people as I can."

"Please stop calling me ma'am" Maya sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. He was old enough to be a trainee, but really, how did a teenager come to be like this? Not like she could argue with his motivation.

"Alright, so... Xavier, was it? Tell me about your powers."

Boy, this was going well! He was being super polite, and he hadn't stumbled at all in his answer. He'd tried to be honest; it was a little silly, but saving people was really rewarding for him.

He blinked a few times when she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, asking that he not call her ma'am. "Oh... okay. S-sir?" He tilted his head a bit. Had he gotten his notes right? He quickly snuck a peek at the little notepad once again.

Yeah, he'd written it down right. Or had he? He was nervous. Was he messing this up?

Powers. Okay, easy question! Powers!

"I propell things away from me up to a certain size! Once it gets bigger than a '94 geometro fusion I instead throw myself away from it! I can throw things really fast, and am pretty much invulnerable to outside attack when I can stand still." That was about it! He looked at Mirror after the response with a measure of caution.

Something was irritating her. He had the distinct feeling it was him. Was he stinky? When had he last washed this spare uniform?

>> "Oh... okay. S-sir?"

Dear Lord he checked his notes.

"Maya. Maya's fine."

Sometimes cheeky little shits were more natural to handle than someone who was Lawful Goddamn Good. Maya decided powers were easier to talk about.

>>"I propell things away from me up to a certain size! Once it gets bigger than a '94 geometro fusion I instead throw myself away from it! I can throw things really fast, and am pretty much invulnerable to outside attack when I can stand still."

Maya quirked an eyebrow. She did not bring his file in but now she sure wished she had notes to check.

"A '94 geometro fusion? That's... hella specific. Did you do tests or something?"

"Thanks, Maya." Okay, he had a name to call her. That was fine. He had permission. Yeah. Jesus, how could this be going this wrong so quickly?

He welcomed the distraction of power talk, and even smiled naturally. "Heh, You could say that. It was my friend's car. I could probably do other things around that size as well, but anything larger makes me go flying. I use that to jump up places, but it's pretty dangerous... Don't exactly want to end up falling long distances onto hard surfaces."

He looked around the room for a moment, starting to wonder what they were getting into.

"My dad helped me test my limits when my power first activated last month. Turns out I take to it pretty naturally." He shrugged. "I'm a natural, I guess!"

Throwing cars around definitely sounded something like a teenage superhero would do. Maya had to admit she probably would have done the same if she had super strength instead of... her own thing. She just hoped to God the kid wouldn't turn out manifesting that.

>> "Heh, You could say that. It was my friend's car. I could probably do other things around that size as well, but anything larger makes me go flying. I use that to jump up places, but it's pretty dangerous... Don't exactly want to end up falling long distances onto hard surfaces."

So... up to a certain size he could throw things. Over a certain size, he would... propel himself away instead.

>>"My dad helped me test my limits when my power first activated last month. Turns out I take to it pretty naturally. I'm a natural, I guess!"

Maya blinked again. Jeeebus, the speed on this kid. Look at him go in those lil spandex diapers.

"One month?... Okay, so I bet your powers were fun to test out." she smirked "We are gonna do some more of that today. You said you are invulnerable when you stand still. How does that work exactly? Are you vulnerable if you fall?"

Did he throw her off guard with that? He knew he has a tendency to do that sometimes. He remembered getting into his first sport, baseball. The coach went insane over him hitting his first home run in the kiddy field at 9.

She asked if he'd had fun testing them. His face lit up like the mid day sun. "Heck yeah I did! Except when I launched my friend's car into that pool. I still feel pretty bad about that."

He paused at her questioning, and scratched his cheek as he responded. "well, sorta, yeah. Nothing can get in, even air. Can't even breathe! But... I can't survive long falls without damage. That's why I took up parkour! I'm safe as long as I'm not moving, with my powers. I can even defend myself from things I see while I'm moving as well, but that's a little less secure."

He nodded, clearly excited to start. "Oh yeah! I'm ready for some more testing!" That consistent smile make it's way on his his face once more as he got into a neutral combat position. It would be clear that he did have some practical martial arts training as well.

The kid might have been overly enthusiastic (like, way overly), but his powers were impressive none the less. Classics like strength and invulnerability were actually pretty rare, at least in their basic forms. And this one seemed to come with some kind of a twist.

>> "Heck yeah I did! Except when I launched my friend's car into that pool. I still feel pretty bad about that."

Well, at least there was an explanation for the car measurement.

>>"well, sorta, yeah. Nothing can get in, even air. Can't even breathe! But... I can't survive long falls without damage. That's why I took up parkour! I'm safe as long as I'm not moving, with my powers. I can even defend myself from things I see while I'm moving as well, but that's a little less secure."

Okay, so that was less than accurate. A good start, but Maya could already see a whole lot of question marks popping up. Those would need to be checked out.

>>"Oh yeah! I'm ready for some more testing!"

Dial it down, kid.

"Um... okay, so. As long as you stand still, you are invulnerable, but... you can't breathe?" Maya tilted her head, making a mental note. "And if you move... you can repel smaller things, or launch yourself off bigger things. Basically? How about pushing yourself off of something if you fall?"

She wasn't ready for testing, it seemed. He reigned himself in a gain, and blinked a few times as he considered her response. "Well... Technically I am not invulnerable, but effectively, yes. Anything heading toward me is suddenly going away from me. He nodded at her further questioning.

"I do that, yes. I prefer to avoid falling from great heights, but if I am, I have launched myself to the side to create angular motion so I can roll out of it better. It's why I learned parkour. The trick is not getting yourself into a situation in which you have to act fast to not fall to your death, you know?"

He nodded confidently, and then thought for a second to clarify things, lifting a finger as a thought came to him. "I can't just bounce off the ground if I'm falling or anything. You gotta figure, if an object is already moving one way, and then it's suddenly moving back the way it came, it exerts a lot of pressure on it! I could kill myself instantly doing that, you know? I don't have any way to ignore the laws of physics!" Unlike, say, the Masochist, who apparently just treated momentum like it wasn't a rule or anything. Who jumps off of a building and lands on their tippy toe harm free without decelerating first? What turd.

He pulled himself from his tangental thoughts, looking to Mirror once more. "At this point I am more useful for my defensive abilities. I can move faster than the average person, and defend from most attacks. If I can get within melee range with opponents, I can land incredibly effective strikes... or just send them flying off into the air, or into a wall at high speeds. I try to avoid doing that to people who can't physically handle it, though. I don't want to kill anyone."

>>"Well... Technically I am not invulnerable, but effectively, yes. Anything heading toward me is suddenly going away from me."

They were slowly getting somewhere. For someone who tested his powers by blasting cars into swimming pools, the kid had a decent grip on what he could and could not do. That was better than most new mutants could claim. Especially the ones that got power happy after their first successes.

>>"I prefer to avoid falling from great heights, but if I am, I have launched myself to the side to create angular motion so I can roll out of it better. It's why I learned parkour. The trick is not getting yourself into a situation in which you have to act fast to not fall to your death, you know?"

Maya arched an eyebrow at the mention of parkour, and smirked. Now that was interesting. Power were one thing, for sure, but training, some useful skills that did not depend on said powers (like her archery) was always a plus. Sometimes even the primary source of being useful. She made another mental note.

>>"I can't just bounce off the ground if I'm falling or anything. You gotta figure, if an object is already moving one way, and then it's suddenly moving back the way it came, it exerts a lot of pressure on it! I could kill myself instantly doing that, you know? I don't have any way to ignore the laws of physics!"

Okay, yeah, the cheeriness was getting a bit annoying. The kid acted like he had not seen people break the laws of physics before. N00b.

>>"At this point I am more useful for my defensive abilities. I can move faster than the average person, and defend from most attacks. If I can get within melee range with opponents, I can land incredibly effective strikes... or just send them flying off into the air, or into a wall at high speeds. I try to avoid doing that to people who can't physically handle it, though. I don't want to kill anyone."

Oooh, okay. That's where all the green was showing.

Maya waved a hand, punching a code into the DR system. Their surroundings shifted instantly, revealing a medieval-style, busy town, with buildings of different levels crammed together; it was vaguely reminiscent of the Executioner's Faith video games (Mirror had some of the other X-men to thank for that). The two of them were suddenly standing on top of a tower, looking at the view.

"So, Xavier. Have you ever actually been in a fight?"