Late Breakfast

[Freight Train]

Freight Train awoke at 8 in the morning, well before her roommates, got dressed in some of her old basketball clothes, and went down to the gym for some exercise and solo practice. An hour of drills prompted her to take a nice, hot shower, and her computer beckoned her to check her emails and the crazy mutant blog to see if there'd been any response past her last bit of internet crazy (there hadn't). Once that was done, she got herself dressed in a pair of tan overalls and a green t-shirt, packed her bag for class, and went to go snag whatever she could find to eat.

The cafeteria was still serving late breakfast, for those students who had wonky class schedules, and Freight Train swept in to take out the last of the pancakes, sausages, and eggs. These she set on one of the long tables in front of a huge plasma TV. She was setting her utensils in order when she noticed that her pancakes were severely lacking in powdered sugar. She hadn't seen any up at the serving station, so it must be floating around somewhere. She spotted it on another student's table and walked over, reaching past the kid for the glass container.

"Gimme dat diabetes," she said, as both a way of greeting and request for the sugar.

[Taya Robbins]

On the edge of the table was a red-gold mop of hair with a pair of triangular, fur-covered ears poking out - the mop and ears were incidentally connected to a girl slouching forward in her chair.

A large paw reached out over the table, waved unsteadily in the air, and pushed the jar of powdered sugar toward Freight Train's hand.

A zombie-ish groan came from somewhere under the hair. "Caffeeeeeine..."

[Freight Train]

The Shortest Kid at School couldn't help grinning at her friend.

"Wake up, lazy art-kid," she admonished, poking Taya on the shoulder before going to retrieve her breakfast. She sat down next to the bleary-eyed student and leaned over to bump her with one shoulder. "Been to art class yet? More like fart class, right? That nasty crap she burns in there..."

Freight Train poured sugar until her pancakes were entirely coated, then pushed the container back Taya's way. "Consume the magnificence that is powdered sugar. Either you'll go crazy or you'll plunge headlong into diabetic coma."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya absorbed the contact and slowly rolled her head so her rheumy green eyes were facing the shorter girl. "Sugar? Does it have coffee on it?"

Languidly, she stretched her arms out in front of her and yawned, displaying an impressive set of claws and fangs.

"Need to smuggle some chai out of Professor Rhee's office one of these days. Art is sixth period. I just had algebra. Can't stay awake..."

[Freight Train]

"It doesn't, but why would you want it to?" There' was a pause as she moved food from plate to mouth, then she continued to speak past it. "I'm short enough; I don't need coffee's help. Her eyes flicked from fangs to claws, then she jabbed a sausage to keep herself from staring.

"Lucky me, I have classes mega-late. I'm not due for classes for like, half an hour. Of course, I'm in 'em longer than the rest of you, but I get my morning routine like I like. I got science first, I think. I'll hafta look at the schedule."

[Taya Robbins]

"Sounds nice," Taya said, though it was almost lost in the yawn. She smacked her rough tongue and blinked some of the haze out of her eyes. "You'll have to tell me how you bribed the registrar."

She glared across the cafeteria at the coffee counter. "Wish I was telekinetic right now. So, you hear about that kid Ethan? Says he wants to start some sort of athletic team to compete with other mutants."

[Freight Train]

"You interested?" she asked around another mouthfull of food. Flecks of egg stuck to her face; she brushed it off with her sleeve. "I'll go for basketball and baseball, but...I dunno. My powers would rule in football, but I don't need every game I'm in called on account of injury or death."

[Taya Robbins]

"Dunno. I played soccer and lacrosse my freshman year. But I'm all out of shape now."

She grinned wryly and pushed herself upright in her seat. "Actually... I've been curious about what I can do now since... y'know. I may not have any powers, but I've got a lot of new ground to explore."

[Freight Train]

"I really doubt you're as out of shape as you think. If you got anything else from being cat-like, I'll bet you've got some good agility and speed on you. Bet you can jump like, five times your height straight up without running."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya laughed. "I don't know about that... I know my endurance isn't what it used to be. But when I was on the treadmill in physical therapy, I tried bumping it up to full speed when they weren't looking."

She grinned toothily. "They shut it down after a couple seconds... and they didn't tell me how fast I was going, but I bet I could've gone faster. So, how about you? You ever try, just, testing out your power? Think you could really pull a Freight Train?"

[Freight Train]

"Oh I know I could. So far I've broken one high school athlete's ribs, three sheetrock walls, totalled one car, and put some heavy dents in a few walls around the school. There's a tree out in the back that's leaning at an odd angle; that's my work, too." She shrugged. "My parents were very encouraging about learning to work this thing on my own, figuring out the triggers, whatever whatever. They were very worried about me bringing down the house by stumbling into walls and stuff."

[Taya Robbins]

"I think I would be, too. All I have to worry about is shedding... and the occasional bout of feline narcolepsy."

There was a sudden BANG that echoed through the cafeteria - in any other lunchroom that catered to middle through high school, it might have been some kid popping a paper bag, though you could never tell in a school for mutants. But whatever it was, it made Taya jolt so suddenly her chair tipped over backwards, spilling her to the floor.

She rolled quickly to her feet with wide eyes and flat ears, and her tail puffed up ridiculously behind her. When she realized no shots had been fired, she blushed under her fur and set her chair upright again.

"Well, I'm awake now," she said sheepishly as she tried to smooth out her twitching tail.

[Freight Train]

Freight Train had jumped, too, banging her knee on the bottom of the table and popping her remaining sausage off the plate and onto the surface. She replaced them as she rubbed her knee and looked around for Taya. The younger girl was too startled to laugh, but would likely rib her for it later.

"I hear you about being awake. Got my heartrate up real good, that's for sure." The bang sounded again, and she grabbed the table to stop herself jumping. "Knock it off!" she shouted into the cafeteria. There was a quiet response from somewhere, but Freight Train didn't bother looking for the source. "Jeez. Lucky us we don't have powers that can go crazy, huh?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya plopped back into her seat. "Yeah, really. You know what's funny? I really don't feel much different than I did before. I mean, yeah, I've got sharper senses and I have to dress cooler because of the fur, but most of the time it's hard to think of myself as a mutant."

She watched as a girl walked back to her seat with four trays of food levitating behind her. "Especially with some of the really freaky stuff that happens here."

[Freight Train]

"I'm going to point and laugh if she drops those," Freight Train commented as she walked the telekinetic go by. She spaced out for a moment as her thoughts carried her off, then shook her head as she came back down and said what was on her mind. "I totally think of myself as a mutant. I love it. I'm so proud of what I can do. It's why I call myself Freight Train instead of my real name. It describes the biggest part of my identity." She paused. "Okay, so the most important part."

[Taya Robbins]

"I'd been wondering about that," Taya said. "I mean, I guess it's a different way of looking at it. I mean, I'm totally fine with being a giant cat, not like I've got much choice. But, y'know, it's just one thing about me. Like, I also like drawing, and sports, and indie music, and I'm hoping to go to an art school when I graduate. I guess I don't want people to look at me and just see a mutant."

[Freight Train]

"Yeah, I've got other things about me, too, but the mutant part is the part everyone will see first. Lots of people are gonna judge me based on that first, so I'm trying to put that part first when I can. Just be proud and unashamed and let people think what they want, because I know who I am and I don't need their approval or anything to make my life feel meaningful."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya nodded. "Yeah, it makes sense... I just hope it works out there in the real world, too. My roommate says she wants to teache here someday, which is cool for her, I guess, but I wanna get out of here one of these days, you know?"

She laughed and leaned her chair back on two legs almost without realizing it. She had an exquisite sense of balance, at least, where sudden, loud noises weren't involved.

"Anyway, I don't even know what my nickname would be."

[Freight Train]

"I so wanna get out of here," Freight Train agreed, finishing her breakfast and pushing it aside. "I'm thinking we should call you something awesome. Cat Girl is too simple. Hello Kitty is taken. So's Cheetara, and Chester." Her smile was growing with each goofy name. "Lolcat. Longcat. Ceiling Cat. Catwoman. Caturday."

[Taya Robbins]

"Oh gawd."

Taya threw her head back and lifted her feet into the underside of the table so she didn't tip over again. Shaking with laughter, she held up a padded paw and flexed her claws.

"That's it, you're done. Talk to the paw."

[Freight Train]

Freight Train moved the paw out of her face with a laugh, determined to throw at least a few more names.

"C'mon, Kit-Kat! Is it really so bad? You're the Top Cat, you need a fancy name."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya shook her head and brought her chair back to the floor. "I'm getting coffee," she said with mock-self importance, "now that I don't need it anymore. I'm gonna have to work on the naming thing later."

She bounced up out of her chair and navigated the jungle of tables and chairs pushed out too far to the coffee bar. She looked longingly at the pitcher of heated milk - a morning latte was just one of the treats she'd found no longer agreed with her feline digestive system. She had to content herself with a faux French roast and a couple lactose-free creamers. Then she swung by the breakfast counter to snag some sausage and eggs before they pulled the steaming trays away to make room for lunch.

She set the tray down and turned to grab a fork and knife. A blur and a gust of air went by, and she turned back to find a small can of Fancy Feast wobbling to rest on her tray.

Her swiveling ears quickly located a junior-high-age boy zipping back into his seat and a poorly concealed round of snickering.

Taya sighed and mentally charted a course back to Freight Train that would take her by their table.

The boy was surprised by a tap on the shoulder, and Taya stood there, smiling sweetly. "If you needed a can opener, all you had to do was ask," she said. She pushed one huge claw through the top of the can, peeled the lid back, and set the can beside his hashbrowns.

She wiped her claw off on his napkin and added, "Oh, and, Fancy Feast? Way overpriced. You might want to stick with Iams chunks. Lustrous coat and cleaner teeth, too."

Taya winked and patted him on the back with just enough claw to let him feel it. And then she sauntered off back to her table, tail swaying high.

[Freight Train]

"Girl, you rule," was the greeting Freight Train had prepared by the time Taya had seated herself again. There was a brief high-five, before Freight Train started to spin her fork between her fingers, idling as Taya ate. "What a punk. Can't believe there's kids here that'd make fun of other kids over their powers. At least he could've been creative with it, like that one devil kid. Made it more of a funny prank than just this rude gesture."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya laughed and shrugged off the accolades. "Aw, there's kids like that everywhere. I'm used to it. These?" She extended her wicked-looking claws. "Work on everybody."

She punctured three creamers at once and poured them all into her steaming coffee. Then she took a sip and sighed with abandon.

"Oh, yeah, Damien's awesome," she said. "And, like, totally kawaii."

[Freight Train]

Freight Train blinked at the sudden Japanese word before her face lit up with recognition. "Ah. I guess. He looks like a plush doll. If he sat still and didn't blink nobody would know the difference til they touched him."

[Taya Robbins]

"I bet he'd do that. We'll have to try it sometime in a park somewhere... it'd freak people out!"

She took a bite of sausage and laughed self-consciously. "Well... if I didn't freak them out first, I guess."

[Freight Train]

"People like cats. You could even be a dog and you'd be okay. But devils and goats aren't as likely to be liked. Be glad you're not the Imp or Faun."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya didn't lose her smile, but her ears folded back - that was usually a truer emotional indicator. She'd often counted herself lucky her mutation hadn't turned her into something really bizarre or ugly, but she didn't feel comfortable comparing mutations that way - it wasn't like she'd chosen this.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not a dog," she said with a forced laugh. "They're fun and all, but the social sniffing would get really awkward."

[Freight Train]

Freight Train, lacking a certain amount of social grace, missed the cues of Taya's discomfort and genuinely laughed at Taya's line about social sniffing.

"Oh God, it would be! That's so nasty." She laughed a bit again and shook her head. "Jeez. Crazy."

[Taya Robbins]

Freight Train's laugh was priceless - it made Taya want to press even further.

"And I've got retractable claws, more flexible tail, I don't feel compelled to drink out of the toilet or pee on trees... there's the occasional hairball, but what can you do?"

[Freight Train]

Freight Train just laughed harder.

"Oh God, that's so nasty. One of my friends had a cat that would always leave hairballs in the places where I would walk, and every time I'd visit I'd get my socks wet and nasty." There was a pause as she caught her breath and covered her eyes. "Oh God, I can see the monster ball. I see it, Kit-Kat."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya laughed, too - and then proceeded to start choking.

She reached for her coffee and took a sip to try to clear her throat. "No, no, it's okay," she gasped, "just a piece of egg!"

Her eyes were watering, but the look on Freight Train's face made her laugh again. "Seriously, I don't get hairballs. I shower."

[Freight Train]

Freight Train had scooted down the table three chairs with an expression that mixed her previous amusement with disgust. She moved back down the table, feeling a little guilty this time, and laced her fingers together on the table.

"Yeah, I wouldn't think you'd get them," she admitted. " I just...yeah. Sorry." The little girl managed to smile anyway.

[Taya Robbins]

"Oh, don't be. It was hilarious."

Between the laughing and choking, and even a few hiccups, it was a few moments before Taya could speak cogently again. She sighed and flicked some tears out of her eyes.

"Ahhh, I'm gonna have to make a list of lines to use on my friends back in San Mateo."

[Freight Train]

"Sounds West Coast," she commented. "Is it?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya nodded. "Just down the bay from San Francisco. Haven't seen it in a year and a half. That was when I started my grand tour of America's gene centers."

She gave a far-away sigh. And then she met Freight Train's eyes again. "Where's home for you? Around here?"

[Freight Train]

"A little town in northern Ohio, near the Michigan border, called Eisbery. I've only been away for a month or so. I'm sure the rec department doesn't miss me. I was, uh, somewhat forceful about the sports I played."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya winced as she thought of bruises and mangled limbs in the tri-state. "Don't think I could really blame you, though... most of the other girls on the lacrosse team were a lot bigger than me. Soccer, too. I couldn't hold anything back. If I tried playing now, everybody'd probably be leaving the game with severe lacerations."

She sighed deeply. "Sucks, though. I mean, yeah, I know why we're not allowed to play with normal kids. But it still sucks."

[Freight Train]

"Yeah it does, but that's why we gotta get the interest going here. There's all the people from the meet-and-greet basketball game we played, except maybe for Ms. Sunshine." Freight Train made a face at the thought of Banner's lousy attitude. "Then...I dunno. I'm sure there's some others.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya shrugged. "Well, there're usually random games going on after classes anyway when the weather's nice... though it rather changes the game of ultimate frisbee when one kid can teleport, another can fly, and another can set the frisbee on fire."

She smiled and shrugged and stretched all at once. Then she slurped down the rest of her coffee and wrinkled her nose at the taste of the stuff at the bottom of the cup.

"So... I had my first class with Cato the other day?"

[Freight Train]

"Yes, oh my God," she said with a nod of approval. "That woman is so cool. She's lived through all this amazing culture, Kit-Kat. Norse and Roman and all that...you know I was in her place when she moved in and she showed me all her crazy stuff? Like, she has Mjolnir for the love of eveything. And armor, and hats, and just cool junk. Holy crap, history just turned fun. Never thought I'd see the day." She bit her thumbnail and stared at the far wall. "Lady is amazing."

[Taya Robbins]

"Wild, huh? I thought I'd seen some mind-blowing stuff here already, but... somebody who grew up in ancient Sumer?"

She stabbed at her last remaining sausage link. "I didn't even know there were mutants before the last century. What do you think about all that? What she says about people worshipping mutants as gods? It's like... I dunno. A Neil Gaiman novel or something."

[Freight Train]

"Dunno who that is," Freight Train said absently. She snapped back again and looked at her empty plate. "But yeah, I think it's awesome that mutants were the legendary heroes and gods in myths. Makes you wonder if one day we'll ever be like that. Like, will people talk about me in that kind of legendary sense? Or you?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya laughed. "They'll make movies about us. Only I'll have to be CGI and Damien will be a puppet."

She looked down and grew pensive. "Did she talk to you about, like, specific gods? Because she seemed to think I'd be interested in Egypt. And of course I thought... but that's crazy, right? I mean, there's no way."

[Freight Train]

"Huh?" The little girl clearly didn't get what Taya was getting at, but she had an answer to the first part of the question...statement...phrase. Thing. "She compared me to Thor a little bit, which is when she showed me the hammer and all. I was so blown away. I'm like, Thor but petite! Which...yeah, it kinda sucks. You can't be Thor if you're a shorty."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya shrugged. "How do you know he wasn't short? They call you Freight Train, after all."

She decided she'd leave Bast for another time. But she definitely wanted to ask Miss Cato about it.

"Well..." She looked forlornly at the giant clock mounted on the far wall of the cafeteria. "I ought to go get ready for class, I guess. What've you got next period?"

[Freight Train]

"They call me that because some high school punk said it to describe the way I mow people down, and I liked it and make people call me that," she said with a sigh. "None of the teachers call me that though, except for Cato. Wish the rest of 'em would."

She pulled a schedule out of her bag and laid it out on the table. There was a big black stripe that hid her real name, and scribbled in furiously above it, in all caps, was FREIGHT TRAIN. "Uh...I got math with Commander Cody." The name Chandreshekar had also been marked through, and the teacher's "alias" had been written in nearby. In fact, all her teachers had received this treatment, with the sole exception of Cato.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya glanced sideways at Freight Train's schedule. "You're one to talk about names." She squinted at one of the listings. "Is that Professor Rhee?"

[Freight Train]

"Miyagi? He's ok I guess. Seems a bit stuffy, but meh. I hear he's got some kind of martial arts crazy powers. I haven't seen him use 'em, but I hope he's got some real skill. It'd be cool to learn to actually fight, rather than just run into people." The warning bell rang; classes were letting out, and students had 5 minutes to get to their next classrooms. Freight Train let out a noise that perfectly embodied boredom and forboding and thunked her forehead onto the table. "Nooooooooo," she whined. "Kit-Kat, make it so we don't have to go."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's ears went down. "Ack! I still gotta run back to my room - I'm gonna be late!"

She swept everything onto her tray and joined the agonizingly slow shuffle of students toward the dish pit. "You'd think one of these kids could stop time..."

[Freight Train]

The little girl tripped slightly as someone stepped on the back of her shoes. She elbowed him roughly and shuffled forward a little to stand next to Taya, rather than behind her.

"You'd think. Want me to move 'em? I can make us a clear path if you don't mind being a little rude."

[Taya Robbins]

"Well... I don't want to get you in any trouble..."

She said it the tone of someone who really wanted to say yes, do it do it do it!

[Freight Train]

"Me? In trouble? Never." She tossed her bag further up her shoulder so it wouldn't slide and strode with purpose through the queue. It was as if she were walking through an empty space; nothing slowed her, and her body didn't react at all to the collisions with the other kids. The kids, however, stumbled and fell and slid in all directions as she kept up her quick march all the way to the conveyor that would take her tray into the back for cleaning. Freight Train set it down gently and stepped toward the exit, turning to see where Taya was.

[Taya Robbins]

It was like watching an icebreaker cut a channel through the Arctic floes. Taya stayed tight in Freight Train's wake and tried not to feel guilty when they got skewered by dirty looks from the castaways.

She set her tray down behind her friend's and hurried off with her out the cafeteria door. "Hey, thanks a bunch - I gotta run. See you later!"

She hiked up her backpack and loped off down the hall toward her dorm room.

[Freight Train]

"No problem, Kit-Kat. Seeya!" As she turned, she collided with a faculty member, one of the cafeteria workers whose job was to make sure there were no shenanigans in the mess hall. She staggered him a few steps by bumping him, and if he didn't look pleased before, he definitely didn't look happy now.

"O hai," she said, trying to smile and pretend she hadn't just cut the line. "I putted mah deeshes away." He didn't smile back, so she sighed in resignation. "Yeah, I know, I did wrong. Let's get this punishment thing over with. He handed her a slip of paper that he'd apparently had prepared since she got started mowing down her peers and turned to walk away. She left the cafeteria, reading it over to herself. "Extra power control lessons? Please. That's not punishment, that's fun." She crumpled the paper and tossed it in a garbage can. "Can't spoil my good mood." She slid into class just under the bell and took her seat by the windows.