First Impressions

[Evelyn Cato]

It was only a few short days since her initial arrival at Cullen's Institute, and Evelyn had easily made herself at home. She'd chosen to live on the campus, having been taken by the abundance of gifted students that she saw on the grounds during her first day there. Many of them reminded her of those that had come and gone during her lifetime, and she took great delight in seeing such life about her.

The small apartment that she'd picked was full of boxes containing some of her possessions. Furniture had been provided, but that had been taken away in favor of her own. She had certain tastes it was true, and what she'd had brought in reflected a varying range of styles; from a Baroque-style small endtable to a red-stained teakwood desk, intricately carved along the sides. Every bit of it was her own, shipped from overseas with explicit instructions for careful handling.

Choosing to unpack her belongings at a leisurely pace, Evelyn often found herself outside at random intervals. She observed students going to and fro between classes, all the while smiling a faint, ghostly smile.

It was during one such break in her activities that she found herself content to sit on a wrought iron bench, watching the life of Cullen's go on about her.

[Freight Train]

She was joined on the bench by an aimless student, the pint-sized bruiser Freight Train. The girl was dressed for the outdoors, with blue tank-top and black shorts, but was free from the sweat and grime of outdoor activity. Clearly she hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"Hey, are you a teacher?" she asked without any preamble or introduction. "I got some questions."

[Evelyn Cato]

If Evelyn was surprised at the girl's abrupt question, it did not show. Instead, she merely raised an eyebrow while looking at the youngster.

"I am a teacher, yes."

She neglected to mention that she had yet to begin teaching her classes, but then again the girl had not asked any specifics just yet.

"What sort of questions would you like to ask?"

[Freight Train]

"Like, about the housing," she replied, kicking at the dirt beneath the bench. "I've never been at boarding school or whatever, so I'm not used to this whole thing with roommates." She laughed a little. "I'm about 5 years early for it. I'm not even high-school level yet." She sighed, realized she was wasting the teacher's time, and shot off her question:

"Have you ever had to deal with super-obnoxious roommates? What'd you do about it, exactly?"

[Evelyn Cato]

She took a moment to digest what the girl had said. It wasn't exactly the kind of question that she had expected, but then again she surmised that expectations should be placed to the wayside at a place such as Cullen's.

"Obnoxious roommates," she repeated slowly.

Another pause, and then she continued with a smile.

"I suppose I've had many housemates who've not been exactly in tandem with my own tastes and habits. It's something that everyone should experience though.

"It's hard at first; I used to throw things. Everything evens out though, and I eventually learned patience."

Evelyn inclined her head towards her new companion.

"You are having problems with whom the school chose to live with you?"

[Freight Train]

The student smiled at the teacher, appreciating the apparent wild streak that she once had, and hoped she had it still in spite of the patience. It'd be cool to have a reckless/crazy teacher.

"YES, oh my God!" she vented at the question. "Buncha crazies with a High School Musical obsession! They don't do anything cool. Just sit around talk about how that main guy, whoever, is OMG SO HAWT LULZ." There was a brief pause, and then: "Yes, I just talked in chatspeak. No, I'm not making fun of them, they really talk that way. "

[Evelyn Cato]

"High School... Musical... ?"

It was easy to see that she was confused at that, but Evelyn brushed it away with a shake of her head and a quick wave of her hand. It seemed that the more advanced civilization became, the faster it went, and the interests of some of the world's youth were far too varied even for her. It was hard to keep track of at times.

"I've not been in America for a long while, so I'm afraid I'm not quite caught up with what the younger generations choose to entertain themselves with."

A pause as she leaned back slightly, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing them at the ankles.

"Now, you say they don't do anything 'cool'. What is it that you would consider 'cool'?"

[Freight Train]

"Uh...basketball? Nintendo?" she asked as if it were obvious. "Oh, art's pretty cool when you're not doing it for school. I gotta learn to draw. There's this girl, looks like a cat, who arts really well." She kicked the ground a few times before looking back at Cato. "I dunno. What did you do for fun overseas? What's Euro-fun?"

[Evelyn Cato]

While she'd never played basketball, or Nintendo - she'd heard of it, but never had any sort of interest in it, she found herself sympathetic to the girl's frustrations. There were times when it wasn't an easy task to find an individual who shared your tastes.

"I enjoy reading and talking with people," a short pause, "... perhaps not quite so entertaining as what you like to do.

"I lived in Rome before coming here, and I ran quite a bit. Before that I was in Russia, though I spent most of my time in Siberia; travelled between Magadan and Noril'sk mostly."

A grin.

"And since back then I wasn't all too keen on cars, that meant dogsleds."

There were a few seconds of silence before Evelyn turned to look at the girl. It had occured to her that neither had introduced themselves, and she offered her hand to the youngster.

"Evelyn Cato, but you may call me simply Cato. And you are?"

[Freight Train]

Cato was code-name-ish enough, for Freight Train. She took the offered hand and shook it once before lacing her fingers together and resting her hands behind her head.

"Cato," she repeated to help her memory. "Call me Freight Train. You'll learn my real name from the class roster, but please don't use it."

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn lofted an eyebrow at that.

"If that is what you wish."

Rising to her feet, she motioned for Freight Train to do the same.

"I'm still somewhat new here, and truth be told I've not even started any of my classes yet. I'm still unpacking as it is."

Evelyn gave a nod of her head in the direction of the small, out of the way complex that she had chosen to room in.

"If you've got nothing else to do, the help would be most appreciated."

[Freight Train]

Freight Train was visibly startled at Cato's casual acceptance of her code-name. Most teachers insisted on at least calling her Chelsea, if not "Ms. Wagner". Cool points win favors from Freight Train, and she decided to let Cato have one.

"Sure," she agreed, standing with a stretch and following Cato as they began to walk across the grounds. "Hey, got a stupid question for you, that'll probably drive you up the wall. What's your power?"

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn laughed lightly, and slid one hand into the pocket of her jeans.

"Owing to the nature of the school, I would hardly think that a stupid question."

They walked a short distance further before she spoke again.

"I doubt it's like most around here; I don't have amazing strength or super speed, or even x-ray eyesight. I simply am."

She gave Freight Train a wink.

"I'm immortal, if you'd like to call it that."

[Freight Train]

"You are!?" Freight Train's hands fell to her sides as the shock of that revelation hit her. "That's so cool. So, like, how much of the stuff you've told me so far happened this year? Or even inside my lifetime?"

[Evelyn Cato]

"Well, I was teaching in Rome for the last ten years, but sometimes travelled to Sicily and Calabria."

They left the grass and proceeded along a smal gravel walkway that led up to the housing complex.

Beautiful country, and fabulous wine that I highly recommend... " Evelyn opened the front door and gestured for Freight Train to enter first. Following the young girl in, she headed past the elevator and towards a side-hall before adding, "... not until you're allowed, of course."

"Before that, in Russia, I taught as well. Mostly grade schools, but I gave lectures in St. Petersburg at times too."

Pausing at an unassuming door at the far end of the corridor, she rested a hand on the knob and gave an easy smile to Freight Train.

"As I said, mostly boring."

Evelyn opened the door with a glint in her eye. What she had unpacked so far would show that her life was certainly not so dull as she claimed it to be.

Mementos of times past lay strewn about; dog sled harnesses draped over a closet door, vases that bore intricate carvings depicting everyday life in some far off land, a Roman standard that rested upright in a corner, and countless framed photographs - most aged and sepia-toned. Inside the remaining unpacked boxes were other such trinkets and various possessions that looked like they spanned the entire spectrum of time and civilization.

One old photograph (http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh126/silancy/oldpic.jpg) in particular was already set upon her desk along the far wall, its' silver frame a contrast to the aged appearance of the picture it held; a picture of a certain civics and government professor at Cullen's that Freight Train might recognize, though the man was much younger than he was now.

[Freight Train]

"Your room rules," she said, wandering into the middle of the room to look at everything. "This is sweet. My mom would love all this old stuff." Her eyes found the picture of Professor Bertrand, and she leaned down to see it closer. It took her a moment, but she managed to see old Fuddy-Duddy Frenchman in the younger man in the photo. "Hey, let me guess. You met Professor France while you were overseas as a kid, right?"

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn gave another laugh, partly at the name that Freight Train had called Henri, and partly at her mention of Evelyn meeting him as a child.

"Not... exactly."

Lowering herself to sit on a low-backed sofa, she swept an arm up and around to indicate the entirety of the room. She was curious about this girl, and decided to test the youngster's cleverness.

"Look around you. Everything in here is my own. The Roman standard, the furniture, everything. Even this-"

Reaching down into the box in front of her, Evelyn pulled out a small knife, the handle crafted from ivory and the sheath made from leopard skin. She held it out to Freight Train.

"Now, take a deep breath and let the different smells from everything in here take you away."

A coy smile, "And keep in mind, that none of these are reproductions."

[Freight Train]

"Not a single one?" She turned back to Cato and took the knife, unsheathing it to look at the blade. Very shiny, possibly sharp. Freight Train didn't feel like testing it. She put it back in the sheath and looked around at everything, twisting her upper body to finally look at the Roman standard. She took a deep breath, breathing the scents, trying to figure out which ones stood out, or that she might've recognized.

"No reproductions. But that thing's thousands of years old, if that's true." Freight Train sat down next to Cato and handed back the knife, pointing at the standard she'd addressed. "So you've been alive for thousands of years. But you're like...thirty, in looks? So you don't age at the same rate that we do."

[Evelyn Cato]

"My body seemed to feel that twenty-six years was a good enough time to stop. Ever since then," Evelyn gave a shrug and followed Freight Train's eyes to the standard, "... I went with the flow of most civilizations that rose up."

Reaching down into the box, she began to pull out its' contents, setting them on the floor.

"What about yourself? What brought you here?"

[Freight Train]

"Ok. About a year ago I was playing basketball at the park and these older guys wanted our court, because we were the youngest ones, or whatever. We told 'em they were S-O-L, and they said they were gonna beat us up, so I tackled one of 'em to prove that we weren't afraid."

She cleared her throat and fiddled with her shirt. She hadn't actually told the story of how she discovered her powers to anybody yet. All she ever mentioned was what they were, and a preference to be called by her codename.

"So, he's about five-foot eight, probably 200 pounds or so, and I was me, and when I hit him he skidded from the center of the court all the way past the goal and a few feet into the grass. At first everyone laughed, but then it hit them that I shouldn't have been able to do that. I flipped out and ran off, and told my parents. They were encouraging, and helped me figure out how I had done that. We learned the basics of my powers while researching places I could go to learn more about it, and be safe from anti-mutant people. We decided I should go here, and I showed up a few weeks ago to start school again." She looked up with a half-smile.

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn allowed her mind to recreate the incident, and found herself smiling at the thought of the little girl who was sitting beside her having the initial audacity to fight back against someone far larger.

"Your parents sound wonderful for supporting you and your power. I've known some that aren't quite so fortunate."

Thinking for a few moments, she gave Freight Train a sidelong look. "From the description of your power, I must say you remind me of an old friend"

There was a twinkle in her eye, and she asked another question.

"Have you ever heard of the Norse 'god' named Thor?"

[Freight Train]

"Yeah. Big hammer that his half-brother messed with, storm powers, owns a pair of goats." She cast a look at her shoes as she concentrated. "Wait, were they goats? Well, I know they had names with "Tooth" in them."

She looked at the stuff Cato was unpacking, but couldn't identify their origins. "Why? Were you alive when he was worshipped?"

[Evelyn Cato]

"Very much so."

Her unpacking seemed to turn into a search, and as the object of her searching seemed to not be found in the box she was currently looking through, Evelyn pushed it gently to the side while pulling another over.

"You seem to be a lot like him; very strong-willed. They called him the God of Thunder, which was an apt name, and his hammer became legend."

Ah, there it was... pulling back with a small trinket box in hand, Evelyn set it in her lap and undid the metal clasp.

"But, his power wasn't in Mjolnir, the hammer he always carried. It was in him. In fact, he could have used a stick with the same effectiveness. The 'thunder', if you want to call it that, was in his heart and body; he could hit a man and send the poor soul flying. As it was, when he threw his hammer, it was often a long while before we found it once more."

An exasperated look as she recalled the memories. "But he was stubborn, and insisted on using that hammer wherever he went... " a sudden change in her expression to one of amusement, "And yes, he had goats. Though I never saw them pull his chariot, as the stories have claimed."

Lifting the lid of the box, Evelyn carefully pulled out a small hammer on a leather cord (http://haymancelticjewelry.com/images/large_pendants/lg-Thors-Hammer.jpg). She placed it in Freight Train's hand.

"Your power is much like his was."

[Freight Train]

"OhmyfreakingGodno way..." She turned it over in her hands, looking at it from every possible angle. She'd seen a few "replicas" before, pieces made based on the legends, but...this one felt genuine. The way it was aged, Cato's explanation...it felt true. And now she's holding Mjolnir, the legendary hammer of a Norse God. Then it hit her. "You mean he was real? He was...was he mutant? Like us?"

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn smiled at the excitement in Freight Train's voice, and gave the girl a bemused look.

"Of course he was real. He and I were very good friends.

"Back in those times, normal folks looked at mutants as if they were gods, and they looked at Thor in just that way."

Without ceremony, she reached over to brush Freight Train's bangs away from her eyes. It was an unconscious motherly instinct within her, born from having had many daughters of her own over her countless years.

"He was a mutant almost just like you; your power and his are so much alike, judging by your description of it at least."

[Freight Train]

She smiled and turned a little red, looking down at Mjolnir to keep from looking at Cato. She'd been doing a good job of not missing home, but now she was reminded very much of sitting and talking with her mother.

"Well, um. Yes?" She turned the hammer over a few times in her hands. "I mean, I don't know. We might be. I only have, um, super strength or force when I'm moving, so I don't know, but..." She looked up with a big, eye-squinting smile. "I like hearing about this. This is cool." She took a big breath to try and calm herself. "Sorry. I don't usually get all...like that."

[Evelyn Cato]

Evelyn gave an understanding smile and a small pat to Freight Train's shoulder while in the same motion rising to stand.

"No need to apologize."

Moving over to an unopened box, Evelyn carefully peeled away the packing tape and lifted open the cardboard flaps.

"I'm glad you find this cool," she lifted out a few more random objects that found their places on a mantle, "I'll be taking over history classes from Hen-"

A pause as she caught herself. Conscious of the fact that Henri might not enjoy her casual use of his first name with the students, she corrected herself.

" - Professor Bertrand."

Evelyn gave a nod to the hammer that Freight Train still held. "Things like that are what I'm mostly going to teach about though, and about mutants throughout history."

With a disatisfied expression, she went on. "Normal history is boring, and memorizing dates will drive a person crazy. Things like Thor and who he really was are much more engaging, don't you think?"

[Freight Train]

The petite girl looked taken aback, but managed to state her opinion in her usual manner. "Yes! History is the most boring part of school ever! They always skip over the good stuff, like the myths and legends and vikings and stuff." Ah, yes. Feel the influence of the boys she grew up with. Freight Train went to kneel on the floor next to the new box so she could help if needed. "I can't believe you just said history is boring," she said with a smile. "That's so awesome."

[Evelyn Cato]

"Ah, but that isn't exactly what I said."

With a conspiratorial grin, Evelyn lifted up a dark green victorian riding hat from the box and deposited it on Freight Train's head; it was only slightly too large, and lent the girl a rather displaced appearance coupled with her clothes and Mjolnir still in hand.

Another wink.

"I said normal history is boring."

[Freight Train]

She laughed as the hat tried to cover her eyes and pushed it up to see the wink.

"Normal history?" she repeated. "As opposed to what?"

[Evelyn Cato]

She went back to rummaging through the box and pulling assorted knicknacks out to lay them on the floor.

"Oh, this and that. A lot happened back in the old days that history books don't tell about, and it's because no one really knows.

"But I do."

[Freight Train]

"You mean about the mutants who made history happen? How many of the important people they teach in normal history were mutants?" A sudden thought struck her, and she voiced it without waiting for answers to her first two questions. "Were the Spartans and all those other big fighting-machine people mutants?"

[Evelyn Cato]

Another grin as she pulled an ancient looking leather-wrapped bundle from the box, setting it beside Freight Train carefully.

"Oh, but if I went and told you that, I wouldn't ever see you in class now, would I?

"But - " Evelyn unraveled the leather roll to expose the bronze tools within, "Sometimes a man is simply a man."

Making sure that all was well with the old set, she rolled it back up in its' leather carrier.

"The Spartans were men who wished to be as the gods; or rather, a particular god, and because of that they are known as some of history's most brave and powerful fighters."

[Freight Train]

She hugged her legs and rested her head on her knees as she watched Cato unpack. When her new friend had finished talking, Freight Train tilted her head as she tried to think about what she'd just been told. The Victorian hat flopped over onto her shoulder, obscuring her right eye.

"So the Spartans wanted to be like a mutant they knew of that had super fighting powers?" she guessed. "Like, uh, the Korean professor." Freight Train couldn't remember Rhee's name, or what his powers were exactly. All she knew was that he could break out the fighting moves.

[Evelyn Cato]

A wide smile.

"Exactly. Not all of the amazing things that happened in the old days had mutants attached to them. Some were simply men who had iron wills and fierce determination. Not to mention a small bit of luck and the tenacity of the human spirit.

"If we are to use the Spartans as an example, think about the three hundred that left to do battle against Xerxes; every single one of those ancient soldiers was a man, but their passion was strong enough to give them the strength to repel the Persian army.

"And even if Leonidas and his men died, they still accomplished more than many would have thought possible."

[Freight Train]

"Yeah, that works." She shifted her head and the hat flopped back to hide her other eye. "I keep forgetting that regular humans can do big stuff, too. I guess it's all the mutant exposure; I'm getting used to the idea of living with a ton of powered people who do impossible stuff daily."