The drive to the so called Xavier Institute was long and boring. He and his father drove all the way without talking or saying a word. The man who raised Phillip drove off and all he could do was stare at the entrance. It was strange knowing that there were other people like him, others who had a special talent. Would he belong or even fit in?

Whatever the answer to that question was he needed to take the risk. Breathing in he took his first steps to a new life and stepped onto the side walk that led to the Mansion. Almost instantly he wanted to just break down and run home. His family had taken him away from the one person who might actually be able to help him. He needed to do this though and moved through his pain.

He had just walked up to the gate and set his suitcase down on the ground. This was the beginning of his new life. He looked around for anyone who might be able to help him around the grounds of a place he had never heard of by anyone other than his father.

Star was acting odd lately. More annoying than ever. Even she knew it. She thought it might be the cabin fever setting in. She'd refused to leave the campus more than once in almost two months, and that was ten minutes for her counseling session. She was getting bored.

Presently she was indulging in a favorite pastime - Hanging upside down from a tree branch in the front yard and scaring the crap out of people as they walked by beneath her. They had a day off for one X-Men reason or another, and Star was determined to get used to sunlight again. Her black creme eyeshadow was working wonders to protect her eyes. She was glad she'd discovered it in Kalara's stuff.

Star spread her batty wings wide and shouted to scare a freshman, who didn't find it quite as funny as she did and hurled a half-eaten orange at her. Star dropped out of the tree and flew off across the yard, laughing. Her echolocation told her she was at least thirty feet up. She hovered and grinned as the freshman's shouting and ranting faded away. An earlier game of power tag still had her riled up. One of her giant furry ears flickered toward the front gate suddenly at the sounds of someone exiting a running car.

Star looked that way, head cocked, and made her way to the front. Perching on one of the brick columns of the entrance, she crouched down a little and squealed under her breath. Yep, there was someone there. New student, more than likely. Star held her hand over her forehead to shield her closed eyes better and called down a curious, "Hello. Is the gate locked?"

He placed a hand too his chest and backed up. He looked upward to where the voice was and almost turned and went home. The boy was not expecting a strange bat looking girl to appear out of nowhere. He had been staring at the gate for a while when she arrived so her playful harassment of the student was missed. Before he freaked in an outward manner Phillip just stared at her. 

He opened his mouth to say something when instead of a voice coming out he sent a wave of sound her way. His echolocation was emotionally controlled lately and he hadn't wanted to speak, but now that he had he quickly covered his mouth and looks at his feet. One more try he though to himself. This is a school full of mutants and this bat like girl above him could probably use echolocation as well. 

"No, I'm just new here. Could you help me find the dorms?" 

Star jumped and her ears jerked straight forward when he shot her with a blast of echolocation. A small, warm grin settled over her face. She squealed a high soundwave back with a laugh, then stepped backward and floated herself to the ground.

With a hard tug one of the gate doors swung open, nearly taking her small frame out with it. Her nose quivered as she familiarized herself with his scent and folded her wings against her back. "Of course. Welcome to Xavier's."

The asphalt of the driveway was warm against her bare feet as Star offered a small, long hand in his general direction, trying to look small and harmless. She had found that it helped people get used to her looks faster if she did so. "My name's Kirstie, but most people call me Star, for Starburst. Fruit bat, fruit candy, y'know. Idiot brothers thought they were clever with it. Do you need help carrying anything?"

He felt her draw the gate open and his bravery grew. The respective return of sound into his ears was comforting. There was another person out there like him. Someone else, this girl, could use echolocation too. He quickly grabbed his suitcase that he had with him and took a step closer to his, escort. 

When she said her name, his eyes widened. "S-Star you said?" He turned around and closed his eyes. She was gone, from his life. She would never come back and show him the way like before. Star, why was that name so popular, and why did it follow him like a sign? He wiped the tear from his face and turned to face her with a warm smile on his face. 

"I could use some help. I have another suitcase there, but it's heavy." Phillip turned and pointed to another suitcase, this one rather large but of normal size for a large suitcase, resting by the gate. "And can I call you Kirstie, bad memories with someone else named Star."

Star's ears flickered in alarm when she smelled salt water. Tears? She fidgeted uncomfortably until he explained himself with the names. "Oh! Oh, yeah, of course. I kind of miss my real name sometimes, so. Um..."

She figured he was pointing somewhere and echo-located her way over to the extra little shape sitting by the gate. "Holy crap." It was heavy. Gritting her teeth, Star used her squeals again to check that no one was behind her, gripped the handles of the suitcase and flared her wings with a powerful stroke that sent her hopping backwards.

Star grinned triumphantly and hopped the same way again, then drifted over to push the gate shut behind him before snatching the bag back up. Moon-bouncing was entertaining. Star tried keeping the conversation flowing, grunting punctuating every little leap in the air she made to yank the suitcase in the air and closer to the front door. Hopefully her antics were making him even just a bit more comfortable. "So. Did you get your room number and stuff in the mail? Or, uh, do you have sight problems, too?"

Sight problems? Wait, using echolocation must be the way she sees. This girl really was bat like! He watched her struggle to move the suitcase and had to stifle a laugh. Her way of working was entertaining to him. Though he wasn't site if what was inside the case would get broken so he made his way over to her and stopped her. 

"If you're having trouble I can take that off your hands, and give you the lighter case." 

He wanted to tell her he could see just fine but, how would she feel? Phillip didn't want to hurt this potential friendship. By he had to answer her.

"I can see just fine actually. Sorry if I'm pressing but, are you part bat?" 

"What, it's not obvious?" Star grinned playfully, flaring her large claw-tipped wings and holding her hands out palm-down to show off her large, fish-hook claws. "See? A fruit bat, though, fruit bat. You should've seen it when I first started here, everyone acted like I was going to sneak into their rooms at night and suck zere blood." She snorted and rolled her eyes underneath their lids, swapping suitcases with him when prompted. They were his, after all. Star was just happy the guy had seemed to lighten up a bit more.

"What's your name, by the way?" she asked, then echo-located her way up the steps to to the front door. Before either of them could open it, two smaller kids chased each other out, one having superhuman speed to tackle the other, who transformed into a big cat of some sort and fought back across the yard. Star's ears flipped, making sure they weren't fighting before stepping across the threshold and ushering him in. "Welcome home, whoever you are."

He watched her show him the bat-like parts that he had noticed before but failed to remember. It was a little frightening looking at her but she was initially human, right?

Phillip took the suitcase and lifted it up onto a step. He knelt down beside it and slid something open. There was a blue flash of light and he then slid the suitcase closed before lifting it like it was weightless. There was no explanation and he wasn't going to share family secrets with someone he had just met either.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, name's Phillip but I'd like it if you called me Phil." He quickly turned sideways as the two kids ran out. This place was filled with strange new people and places. The boy smiled as he watched them and hoped that someday maybe he could have a friend to play with around here, and he hoped that this was the place where he could move on. He then turned and stepped up to where Kirstie was and looked at her oddly as she welcomed him home.

"Home? This isn't home, it never will be to me. But maybe it will be a second home to me. Thank you anyway." Home was him in her arms, never worrying about who was going to ruin them next, home was love. Phillip stepped inside after Kirstie.

-Moved to: Second Floor -