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Ice and Fire and Ice; Iceman!
Topic Started: May 15 2015, 06:44 AM (305 Views)
IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

May 14, 2015
Xavier Institute

Idie Okonkwo wanted nothing to do with her powers. Why was that so hard to understand?

They were all so kind here. Nice. Always reassuring her that there was nothing wrong with her, that once she learned to use her powers she might even come to enjoy them. And that was exactly the kind of thing Idie was afraid of.

She'd killed her parents back in Nigeria, with her evil mutant witchcraft. How could that ever be a good thing? And if she started enjoying that? The idea of it made her want to gag.

She could just keep wearing the power inhibitor, it's not like she minded. It chafed her neck a little, but that was good. She should be punished for what she'd done. She didn't deserve to be happy or comfortable. Besides, the one time they'd coaxed her out of it, she'd immediately panicked and melted a plastic chair. No, the situation was fine the way it was, why couldn't everyone just leave it alone?

But it didn't seem to matter. They'd decided it was best if she'd learned. Idie objected as best she could. The argument that finally persuaded her was the idea that SHIELD would ask for the power inhibitor back at some point. Idie's mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. If she didn't have her powers under control by then, someone would get hurt again. With the utmost reluctance, and after reassuring her repeatedly that they wouldn't assign her to anyone she could hurt, Idie agreed.

And today was the day. Idie hadn't met Mr. Drake yet. They said he'd just returned to the school and ice was his specialty. Not fire, though. But maybe that was ok. Idie liked the fire part of her power even less than the ice part.

Idie stood at the door where they were to meet, promptly at the appointed time. As she stared at the closed door, Idie realized she was quickly losing her nerve. She thought she'd be ok when the time came, but now that it was here, she wanted to run. Take off her power inhibitor? Ridiculous! Idie rolled her R's under her breath in frustration.

But she had to do it! She had to! The teachers said! Idie raised her hand to knock.

Then lowered it again.

Maybe she could start tomorrow? Say she wasn't feeling well. Because she wasn't. Feeling well. At all.

Idie stared at the door, trying to work up the initiative to either open it or bolt down the hallway.
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

Bobby checked his nonexistent watch for the forth time in the past five minutes and bounced a bit nervously from foot to foot as he waited in the training room that had been reserved for the afternoon.

Trying to burn off the nervous energy he felt he paced around the room, examining the various ice sculptures he'd spent the past hour creating, cooling and retouching them as he went.

It was hard to believe he was even here in this position. He'd arrived at the Mansion late last night to little fanfare. He assumed the resident telepaths knew he'd returned, otherwise he'd be disappointed.

Upon arriving he was met by Hank who greeted him warmly and escorted him straight to Scott's office. To his utter surprise, Scott welcomed him warmly and handed him a file on one Idie Okonkwo, a new student.

Bobby was sure a fly could have landed in his open mouth as Scott with complete sincerity asked him to meet with the young girl and see if he could help her get a handle on her powers.

After his time away, Bobby had decided he definitely wanted to be a more serious part of what went on at the school and with the X-Men, but for Scott to give him this level of trust and responsibility left him speechless for once.

He simply nodded his acceptance and again nodded in agreement when Scott told him they'd meet again soon to discuss Bobby taking on new responsibilities at the school as well as assessing whether he was ready to return to active X-Man status.

Bobby, quietly slipped into the room Hank showed him to and proceeded to read through the file he'd been given.

The poor girl definitely didn't have the best start of any mutant, that was for sure and Bobby worried he might be in over his head in helping the girl get past both her fear and self-loathing.

While Bobby fully understood what it was like to live your life feeling like you were nothing but untapped potential, he didn't want to think about what it would have done to him had the emergence of his powers killed his parents, even if his dad was a pain seven days a week.

Couple that with her likely upbringing in a country like Nigeria where mutants were often treated like criminals and he was surprised they weren't worried the girl would off herself.

To Bobby's surprise someone had translated Hank's usual thorough notes about all he'd learned about the girls abilities into something anyone could understand. The girl's powers didn't work exactly like Bobby's... his worked through a combination of lowering his body temperature, efficiently siphoning heat near instantaneously from his surroundings, and finally being able to manipulate water in all its forms. Idie seemed to be more like an energy channeler. sort of like Cyclops or Havok, except instead of channeling radiation or cosmic rays into some sort of energy blast Idie seemed to still thermal energy from one source and redirect it.

Still, he could definitely help her understand how her powers worked as well as being immune to her ability to manipulate cold. Couple that with the fact that at this stage he should be able to overpower any fire or heat overload she might generate he should be one of the few at Xavier's who'd be safe for Idie to work with.

His ruminations were interrupted as he glanced down at his empty wrist yet again. The wrist was empty because he'd learned the hard way years ago, that a surefire way to destroy a watch was to freeze it so he went without whenever he expected to be icing up.

He reached up and scratched the back of his neck and gazed again around the room. He hoped showing Idie this creative aspect of his powers might help her learn to accept and perhaps enjoy her abilities.

Finally, his patience running out, Bobby paced past the ice elephant, ice cheetah, ice lion, and ice hippo to reach the door.

He opened it to find the tiny waif of a girl that he was meeting standing there looking about indecisively.

He quickly shifted gears and introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Robert Drake, otherwise known as the Iceman."

He gestured for her to enter the room, "I thought we might start out just having a conversation about what we hope to accomplish during these sessions."
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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

Ack! She was caught! Idie stared up at the man, eyes as big as saucers. Why did everyone in America have to be so large? It made her feel like a... like a hobbit!

"Yes, sir," Idie said softly, her English accented with a Nigerian cadence. With one last regretful thought of fleeing, Idie steeled herself and went inside.

It was a little cold, and Idie hugged herself to keep from shivering. Usually she wore more layers—undershirt, blouse, sweater, and that enormous SHIELD jacket the agents gave her—but today she was dressed more simply in just her blouse and skirt, knee socks and penny loafers. Using her powers usually resulted in singed and ruined clothes, and Idie didn't like the idea of asking for replacements. Better to leave the extras back in her room with her book bag and her precious gold earrings. Sensible, but it did mean the New York weather was getting to her more than usual.

Though... now that she glanced around, the chill might be for another reason.

Idie had never seen ice sculptures in person. The Nigerian heat made them an impractical decoration at best. They were beautiful, the way they glimmered. Approaching the elephant, Idie reached out to touch the trunk lightly, but pulled her hand back at the last moment. They probably weren't for touching.

Which reminded her, there was a teacher here.

Among the many things Idie was still getting used to was the idea of male teachers. Her parents would not have approved. But then, her parents were dead.

The reminder didn't stab her the way it used to. Her initial fear and horror was settling into the dull ache of grief. That was progress, she supposed, if there was such a thing as progress in this case.

Anyway.

Idie turned back to Mr. Drake, looking at the floor, waiting for him to tell her what to do.
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

Bobby almost laughed the way his young charge's eyes widened in surprise when he opened the door. However, he quickly recovered at her meek reply when he invited her to come in. Her file said she was nervous and fearful of almost everyone.

He held some hope as she gazed at his menagerie with some amazement. At least that seemed to be going to plan. He knew from personal experience that if one feared his or her powers it would affect the ability to control them or later utilize them to their fullest.

There was some disappointment when she tentatively reached for the elephant before dropping her hand as if she was some child caught trying to sneak a cookie. She turned to face him, waiting expectantly.

"It's okay to touch them, you know? You won't hurt them and even if you did I can make another in a few minutes." He gestured around the room at the various sculptures as he approached slowly, "I understand your experiences with your abilities have been terrible before." He shrugged a bit nonchalantly as a wave of nervousness hit him suddenly. "I wanted you to see that it is possible to do something beautiful with abilities like ours."

His hand reached back to scratch at the back of his neck, a nervous habit if there ever was one, "I'm hoping that if you are willing we could learn together how to let you do beautiful things like this."

He hoped his words made sense to her. Everything in her file indicated that while she had one of the sweetest and gentlest souls ever to walk into Xavier's she viewed herself as some sort demon who deserved punishment. For a moment he felt a flash of hatred to the ignorant fools of her homeland who could make her feel like that about herself, but he quickly stamped it down before there was any response from his powers. As fine as his control of his powers had become through the years his mood still had the ability to cause his body temperature to fluctuate. The last thing Idie needed to see was her teacher losing control of his abilities.
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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

"Yes, sir," Idie answered immediately. Because that's what you did when a teacher spoke to you, you agreed with them. No matter how wrong they were.

So far it was sounding like Mr. Drake was just like all the other teachers, trying to convince her it was good to be a mutant. As if mutants hadn't been the death of thousands and nearly destroyed the world... how many times was it now? Twice? Three times? At least that she knew of. And when knew how many other deaths they'd cause that simply hadn't made it to Asaba.

It was all well to have good intentions, but she had seen first hand what a rampaging mutant could do. No matter what she did, no matter how peacefully she tried to live, there was no forgiveness for that. And it would only be a a matter of time before she lost control and did so again.

Idie looked back at the sculptures, and this time, she just found them annoying. Was he really trying to placate her with toys?

"I kill people," she said abruptly. "I must learn to stop. That is why I'm here. Can you teach me this or not?"

Apparently Idie didn't always agree with teachers.
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

To Bobby's disappointment she wasn't the least bit interested in the sculptures. That was okay, however, part of what he wanted to do today was use them for her to melt them with her fire powers.

"I kill people," she said abruptly. "I must learn to stop. That is why I'm here. Can you teach me this or not?"

His eyebrows lifted at her abrupt statement. He understood the whole part about not wanting to kill people. There were times he worried about what he was capable of. He could flash freeze someone killing them almost instantly or simply freeze the blood in the arteries around the heart causing a heart attack and the ice would melt before an autopsy were performed. Had he been someone else with these powers or had someone other than the Professor taken him in when they emerged, someone like Magneto for instance he could have become something terrible.

He needed somehow to get her to understand that her powers were no more inherently evil than a knife sitting on a table. They didn't act with malice or ill intent, they simply responded to the users control or in her case lack of control.

He approached slowly, "I can help you learn control, what you choose to do with your powers once you learn that is completely up to you." He paused and concentrated holding his left palm up and a small ice statue of a little girl dancing formed. "You can choose to use your powers to make the world around you better or you can choose like monsters throughout history to use your gifts and talents to harm."

He approached closer, "Now I'm going out on a limb here and am guessing you don't want to be a monster, so what we need to do is learn control so that your powers aren't going off like a water hose without a nozzle."

He pointed over to a table that had a neatly folded student training uniform. "You'll need to change into the costume in the changing room." He held his hand up before she could object, "you aren't being inducted into some evil army of mutants, the costume is so you don't end up burning your clothes off or freezing them, they are resistant to most powers."
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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

"I can help you learn control, what you choose to do with your powers once you learn that is completely up to you." He paused and concentrated holding his left palm up and a small ice statue of a little girl dancing formed. "You can choose to use your powers to make the world around you better or you can choose like monsters throughout history to use your gifts and talents to harm."

Idie nodded obediently, understanding completely which one she was. But if she had the choice, she'd choose to live quietly somewhere and keep her curse to herself. The teachers never wanted to hear that, though, so she kept quiet.

The little ice sculpture, the little dancing girl, was interesting though. Forgetting that just ten seconds ago she'd decided she was too old for toys, she watched him make it curiously. Was it a little doll? Was it supposed to be her? Her eyes tracked it as she nodded along with his comments about making sure her powers didn't go off randomly. She didn't even have a chance to go home first when they brought her here from her hiding place in Asaba, and most of what she carried with her was ruined. She realized, she missed having things of her own, unique to her.

And then immediately felt guilty. That was greedy. Her parents were gone and these people had saved her from execution, and she was missing her room? Her posters on her wall, her shelf of knick knacks, the curtains she made with her mother? How shallow!

She did though. Miss them. Nothing here was normal.

You'll need to change into the costume in the changing room."

Well, maybe one thing was normal. Changing into gym clothes.

"Yes, sir," Idie answered, picking up the uniform and shaking it out to look at it. It was yellow. Bright, unapologetic yellow. Idie smiled to herself a little. She hadn't realized until now, the yankee wore somber colors most of the time. But this? This was a color a proper Nigerian would pick, to draw the eye and show off dark skin.

"Do they all look like this?" she asked him. "The gym clothes. Or just mine?"
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

The Iceman sighed in relief when she answered in the affirmative to get dressed. Then she turned, holing up the training uniform.

"Do they all look like this?" she asked him. "The gym clothes. Or just mine?"

He smiled at the question. "That's what we all wear when we first arrive." His smiled turned sardonic as he remembered his version of the training uniform, "although because of the nature of my powers when I was in your place they just gave me the boots and a pair of trunks."

Sliding around the Danger Room in nothing more than what amounted to swimming trunks when he was younger did a lot to calm Bobby's natural modesty. Indeed, occasionally, while he was camping, away from people during his sabbatical he even went au naturael a few times, although he primarily stayed in his ice form and away from the prying eyes of others.

"Once you graduate, if you so choose, you could become a member of the Legacy Squad." At this point he doubted this one would go that route, but she was still young and after enough time at Xavier's many even some of the toughest cases buy into the dream. "And eventually, if you continue that route and become an X-Man, you get to choose your own uniform."

He pointed again in the direction of the changing room, "Go one, get changed and we'll see what we can do."
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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

This was the generic uniform? Idie was a little disappointed, if not surprised. She was hoping someone would have noticed, would have made something just for her.

But what was this about trunks and a pair of boots? Idie raised her eyebrows. That didn't make any sense. The clothes probably just froze. Why not wear a shirt? She gave her gym clothes a quick once over, but all the parts seemed to be there. It was even long sleeved and long pants. Idie appreciated that.

"Yes, sir," Idie agreed—to the clothes, not joining a gang—and scooped up the outfit and shoes to head into the changing room.

To her surprise, the uniform fit fairly well. They must have gotten her size from Mrs. Russell. Idie took a few moments to pose in the mirror. She felt a little exposed, the uniform was fairly closely tailored, but as she jumped around a little and swung her arms, she discovered it was stretchy enough to give her full range of movement.

But was it flame and ice proof? That was the real question. They'd soon find out.

Ice reached behind her head to work the clasp on the power inhibitor around her neck, then stopped. No. She should wait until Mr. Drake was there, so he could fix it when she exploded. She took one last moment to tie her hair back, then headed back into the room.

"R—" Idie's voice cracked, suddenly dry. She swallowed and with a confidence she didn't feel, spoke again.

"Ready."
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

It was encouraging when she finally slipped into the changing room. Bobby earlier had fears of the girl running screaming from his inept training and those fears reinforced when she seemed to react negatively to his ice menagerie.

He placed the ice doll on the table the uniform had laid on and waited patiently.

After a few minutes Idie returned, a nervous expression on her face.

"R—" Idie's voice cracked, suddenly dry. She swallowed and with a confidence she didn't feel, spoke again.

"Ready."


He smiled warmly at her, "Okay, first things first," he concentrated and instantly felt his body temperature drop and then his body change into living ice. This was accompanied by the crackling of the moisture in the air snap-freeing as it came into contact with him. "I figure with me like this we don't have to worry about you accidentally hurting me."

"So...first thing we want to do is try to get you relaxed and calm." He crossed his arms and looked at her thoughtfully, "many of us find that our powers respond to our emotional state, I know I have a problem with my temperature dropping sometimes when I get really excited or angry."

He scraped his icy finger on his icy chin, "So, we need to try to come up with something you consider relaxing and peaceful." He shifted his arms until they were resting on his hips. "I know I tend to think about some of my favorite places to camp and hike and the natural beauty of nature when I need to focus myself."

He didn't add aloud that thoughts of a certain best friend and how nice she looked in her uniform also tended to occupy a lot of his waking thoughts with mixed results on his keeping calm and his temperature stable.

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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

"Okay, first things first"

Idie's eyes got huge again as she took a step backward. No matter how many times she saw someone do something insane at the school, it still freaked her out.

At least now she knew why he was called The Ice Man.

She nodded vigorously as he spoke, only half listening to what he said. Wait, did he say calm? He honestly expected her to be calm while he WALKED AROUND LIKE ONE OF HIS SCULPTURES!?! Now that she thought of the sculptures, she glanced over at them, suddenly unclear whether those animals came from. Were those sculptures or taxidermy? That conjured up a series of mental images that would haunt her dreams. No, she wasn't going to be calm any time soon.

Idie's arms were tightly crossed, in response to both the temperature dropping and a potential threat. It occurred to her that now would be a really good time to take off the collar, if that were something she was willing to do. From what she could tell ice couldn't hurt her while her powers were on. Though then she'd be blasting everywhere. No, best to keep it on.

He wanted her to say something. She should say something. To the person who just turned into a giant pile of ice and yet COULD STILL TALK LIKE HE HAD VOCAL CORDS!

Speaking of vocal cords, hers were more frozen than his were. She just stared at him. He was an ICE MONSTER! ICE!!!
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

Idie's response to Bobby transforming himself into his ice form was blatant shock then almost naked terror. He was sure that if he were in his human form that the beginnings of a headache would be beginning.

It was becoming obvious to him that this girl was seriously damaged and it was going to take a lot more than a few sessions in a training room controlling her powers to work out her issues.

He looked up to the ceiling and inside his head muttered some nasty things about Scott and he seriously wondered if this was Scott's way of making him suffer for being away from the team the past months during all that happened.

Taking a deep breath he tried to bring his own self-doubt under control as it began to occur to him that he was in way over his head.

He held his hands up and open in a universal sign that meant I mean you no harm. Of course with the way this session was going so far he wouldn't be surprised if she fled in terror thinking he was trying to freeze her.

"Okay," he paused for a moment, "it's becoming obvious to me that you are about this close," he held his hands about six inches apart, "to bolting from this room in terror."

He twisted his head, trying to relieve the tension he was feeling even in this form, "The truth of the matter I don't know if it is just me you don't trust and are afraid of, or if it is mutants in general."

"I promise you, I won't do anything in these sessions to knowingly hurt you and will, to the best of my ability to help you learn how to control your powers so you don't hurt yourself or others, but something has to give her." He then crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited to see what she'd decide to do.


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IdieOkonkwo
Unregistered

Idie nodded as he spoke in that way she did when she was trying to seem agreeable. It was obvious from her behavior she was anything but, but it was a fairly ingrained reaction with her. Her arms were still tightly crossed about her chest, closing in on herself, trying to appear small and harmless.

"The truth of the matter I don't know if it is just me you don't trust and are afraid of, or if it is mutants in general."

It couldn't be both? Obviously it was both. Though... now that the initial shock of his transformation was starting to fade, she could admit to herself that she didn't really think he was going to hurt her. Assuming he even could. Which with her powers, maybe he couldn't. Hard to say.

And ultimately, it didn't really matter why she was afraid. She was completely unnerved, and he said she needed to be calm for this. Getting calm again wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Th—this isn't going to work," Idie blurted out. "Sir. It's too... I'm not..." But ultimately she didn't know how to articulate her fears and frustrations, so took the coward's way out.

"Thank you for the clothes," she said, and headed toward the door to make her escape.
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Robert Drake
Unregistered

He knew almost instantly that they were already at the end of their session. He wasn't sure if he had screwed up royally, or if the girl simply wasn't ready to face the reality of being a mutant.

"Th—this isn't going to work," Idie blurted out. "Sir. It's too... I'm not..." But ultimately she didn't know how to articulate her fears and frustrations, so took the coward's way out.

"Thank you for the clothes," she said, and headed toward the door to make her escape.


He almost let her leave without saying a word, but at the last instant he focused and instantly shifted back to his human form. "Idie... wait... please, just for a moment."

He didn't pause, just in case she was going to hightail it out the door. "I think you are right, you aren't quite ready yet to do this." He reached up and scratched at the back of his neck, "truthfully, I'm pretty sure I didn't go about this the right way, I just dumbly assumed you were ready to start learning."

"Just remember, when you are ready I'll be wiling and able to help you." He nodded before adding, "That's all."

His mind then raced toward what he should do next. He definitely thought a meeting with Jean was in order. Apparently there, was much more going on in the head of this girl that he originally thought, then again he really didn't understand everything in her psyche evaluation from her file anyway and he probably should have met with Jean first in any event.

But, you live and learn he thought as he went to adjust the environmental controls to speed up the melting of the ice.
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