Starbucks, a beautiful thing {Vaders intro thread although it is started by Charlie o.o}

The day was hot a bright, typical Texas. Wispy clouds where spread across the sky but none held rain. Charlie shrugged, she didn't live here she just had to deal with it until her mission was complete. The telopaths at the Academy had picked up that there was someone here who was also a mutant. It was hard without Professor X she was sure, but with their combined efforts they could do it. Her blond hair was in a simple plait down her back and her eyes a calm hazel. As badly as she had wanted to train she had refrained so she could be energized for this pick up. The telopaths could tell you where they were but not what they could do, and Charlie knew from experience she had to be prepared. She was dressed in her black training tank top and shorts with her black lace up boots, training or not she liked the outfit. Her hands were shoved in her pockets as she walked briskly to her starting point. The sun was hot and she took a detour into the shade and walked along a side walk paved with big oak trees. It gave her some relief. Her starting point was a starbucks on main street, what good mutant teenager wouldn't like starbucks? To be honest she just wanted something cold and was tempted to just get some ice-cream.

Charlie smiled, she remembered when she and her brother and her parents would go get ice-cream on hot summer days like this. She was always a vanilla fan and her brother liked chocolate, the two couldn't have gotten any different. She with her dirty blond hair and calm hazel eyes. Her brother had chocolate brown hair and their mothers electric blue eyes. But people always said they had looked alike in the face, even though she had a smattering of freckles across her nose and he had porcalin skin. She had always thought he was handsome and every one had always said it, while she was gangly and could never seem to stay clean. These memories brought a bitter sweet smile to her face. She loved to remember but the memories seemed to be armed with a double edged sword and a sting of pain and guilt would always follow.

She shook her head, as if she could shake out the thoughts, and walked into the starbucks. Starbucks never ceased to feel cold inside the store and it felt good after walking in that hot Texas sun, even though it was only like 10 in the morning. Walking up to the counter she ordered

"Vinte Java Chip Frappachino please." and slapped down her dues. She lazily dallied at the concession cart while she waited for her order to be done. Looking at all the things you could add to your drink like cinnamon, chocolate powder, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate syrup. All the chocolate reminded her of her brother and she frowned and turned away from it and leaned up against the cart holding her straw against her lips she surveyed the store.It was time to get to work Who looks like an out of place mutant... she thought Enie meenie miney mo! and her eyes caught a girl with brown hair.

Vadella Chandler, more commonly known as Vader to the few people who she saw regularly, sat pouring over yet another book in one of the most popular air-conditioned buildings of Dallas; Starbucks. She was in one of the windowed corners and the Texas sun was streaming down her back, warm as can be at 10 in the morning. Vader put her book down for a moment to take another sip of her Passion Tea Lemonade. The buzz of voices both in her head and out was enough of a reminder for her to leave the café soon. “I don’t understand why he dumped me!” Came a wail from her left. Vader focused on the girl, going deep into her mind, not caring to be gentle. ”I’m so pissed at him for dumping me before I got to dump him.” Vader laughed, only to get several looks from the people surrounding her, including the girl whose mind she’d just invaded. She gave several of the people around her dirty looks, and they all turned away, each of them going back to their own pitiful lives.

Vader uttered a small sigh before returning back to her book. Unfortunately for her she couldn’t seem to focus on what the plot was, so she just pretended to read while listening to the thoughts of everyone in the room. “Who looks like an out of place mutant...Enie meenie miney mo!” Vader heard, but then moved to the next voice; the boy behind the counter, who thought that every other girl who walked in was attractive. Idiot. She said, in his head, a small smile which was hidden by her book curving on her lips. Suddenly what the other girl thought clicked. Mutant was what the few others like her that she had met called themselves. In a smooth movement, Vader stood up, slid her book back into her bag and picked up her drink. Not only did she want to avoid meeting another mutant (her meetings in the past with other mutants had never gone well before), but also it was time for her to leave, there was too much noise in Starbucks anyway.

Charlie sat watching the girl as she read, she didn't do much she decided but a mutant she was sure. Her trained eyes watched her as she went to get her drink when her name was called. She silently put the straw to her lips to drink the frappachino goodness when she was the girl make a move. She was heading to the door, leaving, she had noticed Charlie as well. Charlie couldn't have that! She growled a little under her breath, why couldn't they all just come easily? Secretly, though, she liked it. It was a chase, it added a spice of fun and adventure to it all. And those who are more adventurous, Charlie found, seemed to fair better in the mutant world. Silently she proceeded to the girl, their converging point would be the door. Usually Senior X-Men on recruiting missions work in pairs, but the dissapearances had to be investigated and so they decided to start using more single Seniors rather than pair them up. Fine with her usually, but sometimes she wished she had a partner in work.

As a precaution Charlie started to draw energy into her palm, gently forming it in her hand as she had done so often it always felt cool and smooth as she did it, but malleable like clay, of course she had to train her self to make it that way and then solidify it when it was thrown or sent. Because it was pure energy it always dissolved once the job was done, and she could control it through the air as well. Lighting it on fire was a trick she hadn't gotten down 100% of the time. But she was working on it. As she did this her eyes drained into a pale blue, and the twinkled as she approached her. She stopped her at the door and with a smile and a sip of frap she said

"Strange to meet another in a big place like this, it's rare to find us at all much less at Starbucks." she flicked a stray strand of hair back with an air of annoyance, her hair never seemed to want to stay where she put it.

Vader dug into the girls mind. The girls’ thoughts indicated that she was going to follow. Clueless, nice, or mean? Vader thought as she turned and walked right. She focused on the girl, who was thinking about something called Senior X-Men, and how she secretly liked mutants not coming easily. Vader raised an eyebrow when the girl thought about precautions, and lighting energy on fire. She dug even deeper incase this turned out to be a fight, that way she would have material to work with. There wasn’t much fun in controlling people to beat themselves up in a fight.
 
Vader was still walking towards the door, eyes down to make sure she didn’t trip on a chair leg when the girl moved in front of her. Clueless. Vader thought, quickly. "Strange to meet another in a big place like this, it's rare to find us at all much less at Starbucks." The girl said, taking a sip of her coffee and flicking her hair out of her face. Vader looked at her with confusion, like when she was trying to remember something from before she was ten. “Excuse me? What do you mean another?” She asked politely, confusion colouring her voice. She continued looking at the girl, her face still showed confusion, but now she was focusing on the girl’s memories. When she found the one she wanted, Vader looked away awkwardly so that she would look like she was uncomfortable with the situation, but she also wanted to get out of the girl’s head. The memory she had found was of a hospital room and a man lying on a hospital bed. Vader almost shuddered. She hated hospitals, remembering her earliest memory; nurses standing over her, forcing her down so they could give her a sedative…

Charlie clicked her tongue at her and sighed as the girl tried to get out of it, like she was in trouble. But Charlie could feel her, feel her in her mind. She lived with telepaths, she knew the feeling, the faint being touched in the brain feeling. This girl had telepathy, fun.

"I'm not an idiot, you know what I'm talking about telepath. You and I and countless others are alike. Mutants, superheros, special cases, area 51 worthy..." she drifted off and didn't bother hiding her mind from this girl, although safe to say she didn't like her in her brain. It's like letting a stranger poke around in your room, not cool. Accept this wasn't your room, it was your brain that held every memory that she could or sometimes couldn't remember. Scary thing was, this girl could even see the stuff Charlie couldn't remember, it was eerie. But like she said, she lived with these people and dealt with them all the time, she just needed to relax. Although she suppressed a growl.

"You can dig and scavenge all you want telepath but I do have something to tell you, besides the fact that there are others. I came half way across the country for you, and I don't give up easily." She prayed the girl wouldn't run, she hated it when they ran, like physically. Sure she could mold the energy into a wall they would just smack into but that drew peoples attention, and she liked to get in and get out. Although a successful mission was counted as one that both got back in one piece and relatively happy. Obviously she wouldn't force her to go back with her, but they always seemed to run right before she told them why the crap she was there. She cracked her knuckles slightly, not offensively but she got tense sometimes.

The girl clucked her tongue, and that just about did it for Vader’s temper, even though she had been perfectly calm the moment before. She glared at the girl, who, with a few more moments of digging, Vader now knew to be called Charlie, or Charlotte Black.

 "I'm not an idiot, you know what I'm talking about telepath. You and I and countless others are alike. Mutants, superheroes, special cases, area 51 worthy..." Charlotte Black said, trailing off towards the end. Vader chuckled. “Listen Charlotte Black, I am Area 51 worthy, as are you, and I think that this conversation should be held somewhere else.” Vader said in Charlotte’s head, motioning her head to the boy behind the counter who was starting at the two of them intently. The guy seemed to be starring at Charlotte more than Vader and Vader didn’t mind that, but the guy was a perv, and he needed to be taken care of. She strolled over to the counter. “Do you need to take a picture of my friend, Ursula? Because you’ve been starring at her for the past three minutes, pervert.” She said, and then started to walk away. “Oh, and” Vader paused searching for his name. “Demetrius? Stop taking money from the register, it does not belong to you.” She said, with a glare, before walking back to Charlotte.

"You can dig and scavenge all you want telepath but I do have something to tell you, besides the fact that there are others. I came half way across the country for you, and I don't give up easily." Vader, glared at her for a moment. The girl cracked her knuckles and Vader couldn’t help but give a mischievous smile that had a glint of malice in it and show off. Vader focused on Charlotte, blocking everything else out, and forced the poor girl to walk to the door, and hold it open until she had walked out into the warm Texas sun.

Charlie hated that feeling. The feeling of being unable to control your own body. You were still inside of yourself yelling at your self to stop but the things you said or did were beyond you control and she felt helpless only for a second. She held open the door for her to walk through, but as they emerged into the baking heat Charlie snapped. She usually never resorted to this, but this girl was being difficult. “Listen Charlotte Black, I am Area 51 worthy, as are you, and I think that this conversation should be held somewhere else.” she had said, and Charlie couldn't agree more.

The moment the girl stopped concentrating Charlie was released form her mind hold and she lurched forward but stopped short. As quick as you could say 'What are you doing you crazy person' she had formed a dome of sorts made out of pure energy. It encased the telepath in a clear miragey looking dome the couldn't be penetrated. Her eyes had drained completely white as she held it there solidly. She would be trapped along with her powers, it would take major concentration to get them past this energy barrier.

Her smile had vanished and her eyes were narrowed, Charlie meant business.

"Listen, I only have one thing to tell you and its what I came here for." she approached the dome glowering and enunciating clearly "There are others, and we live together. Live, train, learn. I have come here to tell you we exist, we are out there and we support each other. We are inviting you to come with us and stay there, you don't have to and I wont make you. But you aren't alone telepath, and it is a dangerous world to be a lone mutant in who can't control her powers. Now stay out of my brain." with that she released the dome and it faded with out a sound, her eyes slowly regaining their hazel color.

After a moment of silence she added "If you want to come with me you can, you can trust us. We are called X-Men."

Vader almost laughed at Charlotte's face, it was clear she was trying to resist, but there was no point, she was too powerful. The psychic released Charlotte from her control, ignoring the small headache that followed.  Vader felt the energy pooling around her as the many voices in her head became whispers. Her smile gone, Vader glared at the girl, barely noticing that her eyes had gone completely white and concentrated on her mind, trying to break through the barrier. Nothing happened. Vader's pride was stung, but now her concentration was fueled by her anger. Charlotte's thoughts were just whispers. "Remove the shield." She said, but it came out as a whisper in Charlotte's mind. 

"Listen, I only have one thing to tell you and its what I came here for. There are others, and we live together. Live, train, learn. I have come here to tell you we exist, we are out there and we support each other. We are inviting you to come with us and stay there, you don't have to and I wont make you. But you aren't alone telepath, and it is a dangerous world to be a lone mutant in who can't control her powers. Now stay out of my brain." Charlotte said, Vader just starred at her silently, determined not to say anything until she had removed the shield.  

Vader relaxed a little when Charlotte removed the energy shield. Her head throbbed, the headache might turn into a migraine, especially if she kept controlling people and breaking through energy barriers.  "If you want to come with me you can, you can trust us. We are called X-Men." Charlotte added after Vader's silence. "Look, I'v met mutants before, I know they're others, a lot of them are crazy, talking about revenge on 'Xavier's mutants' or something like that, and I know how to control my powers, and I prefer Psychic, not telepath. Oh, the probability of me getting out of your brain is less than 2 percent, so you're fighting a losing battle there." Vader said, she was calmer now, so she put a lot of thought into what she said. "Where exactly is this place?" Vader asked, walking towards the crosswalk and indicating that Charlotte should follow.

"If you want to come with me you can, you can trust us. We are called X-Men." Charlotte added after Vader's silence. "Look, I'v met mutants before, I know they're others, a lot of them are crazy, talking about revenge on 'Xavier's mutants' or something like that, and I know how to control my powers, and I prefer Psychic, not telepath. Oh, the probability of me getting out of your brain is less than 2 percent, so you're fighting a losing battle there." Whether she meant it or not Charlie felt it sounded condescending. Suppressing another growl something hit her " a lot of them are crazy, talking about revenge on 'Xavier's mutants'..." She stalled for a second and regained herself.

"Hold on...you...you met them? They...did they tell you who they were?" whether or not the other Senior X-Men new this and weren't telling her or they didn't know this girl became very important to Charlie. But she took a deep breath, they could talk about this later.

She let the bitterness wash away and regained herself and let a lopsided grin play at her lips "Your going the wrong way Psychic." she said and motioned her the other way. "Oh and they school is called Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, but we just call it the academy or the institute."

"Hold on...you...you met them? They...did they tell you who they were?" Charlotte asked. Vader listened to her thoughts for a moment. She was defiantly worried about something, something that the 'Senior X-Men' might not know about.  "Yeah, but there were only two of them, they said there where others....no, but I was able to get some stuff out of them." Vader said with a smile, tapping her temple. 

She had walked about ten feet when she heard the words " You're going the wrong was Psychic." from Charlotte. Vader turned around and laughed. "Charlotte, may I call you Charlie? Well I'm calling you Charlie. Anyway, Charlie, I've been in this city for a while, I know it like the back of my hand, and I need to get my stuff from the hotel, if I decide to go with you, that is. And I'm assuming we would be flying  to New York. And this," Vader cut off and gestured to the direction she was going. "is a shortcut to the airport." She said, still walking. "Oh and they school is called Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, but we just call it the academy or the institute." She heard Charlie call. "I know." She called back with a chuckle. 

Vader searched Charlie's mind for an image of the academy. When she found it, Vader knew she was going to go. Until then she hadn't been sure if she was going to attend this school or not, but even from a picture it felt like home. "Oh and do you mind hanging out in a store for several minutes? Since I've decided to go, I think I'll need a trenchcoat. I'm not exactly dressed for cooler weather." Vader said. She actually didn't have much in the way of clothes other than shorts and tank tops, she had a few pairs of jeans, but she only wore them in the winter. I'm probably going to have to get a new wardrobe, Vader thought. In Texas she fit in; a girl in shorts and a tank top with Sperrys on was completely normal, but in New York it would be different.

Charlie rolled her eyes but smiled, she was going to like this kid, although she really needed to cut it out with the mind reading, she could feel her in her head and it was like a fly dancing on the end of your nose. She ran to catch up to her at the side walk. She was really exited about the information about the two. Even if there were only two it was a start, and even if the top X-Men wouldn't let her in on this, Charlie would make room for herself. She was good at that.

Catching up to her she said "Hey you might need to tone down the mind reading a bit, I will bear it stoically but there are others at the institute that are a little more hot headed. As well as other psychics, you wont be alone in that." the sun beat down on her and it was getting hot, she knew a girl up at the institute that could cloud out the whole sky and make it rain an any desert. They weren't "friends" they had a miss-hap a few years ago that led to a falling out and lets just say it was an interesting day in gym class, but on the bright side Charlie learned to light her discs on fire, down side she got a nasty scar and a right fear of tornadoes.

Well all that aside she wished the sun would go away, but hoped they would be at the airport soon, as much as she loved the south, she wanted to get home. "You know the institute will provide every thing you need, unless you have things with sentimental value w ca just head out." she motioned towards a sign that said airport "They will settle all your affairs and every thing, you just have to get there alive."

Vader nodded as Charlie caught up to her. "Hey you might need to tone down the mind reading a bit, I will bear it stoically but there are others at the institute that are a little more hot headed. As well as other psychics, you wont be alone in that." Charlie said as they walked. Vader was quiet for a moment, thinking of how to explain the constant voices in her head. “I can’t. I hear everyone’s thoughts inside my head all at the same time, and they’re always there. Always. Even when you didn’t the energy shield thing around me and tried to block me out. I could still hear them, they were quieter, but they were still there. Trying to block them out gives a me a huge headache, so even though I'm not in your mind, I can still hear you thinking about the sun going away and getting to the airport so that you can go home." 

 "You know the institute will provide every thing you need, unless you have things with sentimental value w can just head just head out. They will settle all your affairs and every thing, you just have to get there alive." Charlie said, motioning to the sign that said airport. "Really? Well, I still want to check out of my hotel and stuff, also I need a jacket and I don't have one with me, I left them all in San Antonio, which was when I saw those two people...but I left in a rush and couldn't go back to my hotel. But my hotel is only a few minutes away and it's right by a mall so it'll be really quick, don't worry I'm not a fan of shopping too much so I promise it won't take long..." Vader said trailing off. She had come to a stop and was now standing on the side walk looking at Charlie. If one looked closely all of the people on the soundtrack avoided her by at least five inches. Vader was the cause of that; early on when she was younger she had started controlling people on the streets to not touch her, without their knowing, and that habit still stuck with her. 

With a sigh Charlie gave in, God she hated shopping, but she would deal. She brushed her hair back form her face and bit her lip slightly as the girl talked about the two she saw earlier. She wanted to talk about them sooo bad, but not now. Now would not be the time to do that. She changed thoughts. “I can’t. I hear everyone’s thoughts inside my head all at the same time, and they’re always there. Always. Even when you didn’t the energy shield thing around me and tried to block me out. I could still hear them, they were quieter, but they were still there...." the girl had said and with a quiet smirk Charlie said

"And I thought you said you had your powers under control." she wasn't being malicious, only being Charlie.

She couldn't judge, even Charlie hadn't it all figured out yet, even in the slightest. Although she was reminded of Professor X, she never met the man, she had died before she came to the academy but the older ones talked about enough she could picture him and almost know what he was like. She only thought of him because she knew he was powerful, very powerful, but he was able to control it, he could get into the minds of others and make them do things, but he could block it all out, it was by choice. Of course he had worked with his power since he was a child...and he was an old man who knew infinitely more than any one. He had taught the originals what to do and how to do it, how to be what they are, man she would have loved to meet this guy. She shook her head, way off topic.

She sighed again and motioned towards the mall "Lets go get you a jacket Psychic."

"And I thought you said you had your powers under control." Charlie said with a smirk. "I think for someone who only remembers having her powers for four years, I think I'm doing quite well." Vader snapped. "And you don't know what it's like, so don't even think about questioning my ability to control my powers, because I'll know." She added, her eyes sparkling with anger. Charlie sighed. "Lets go get you a jacket Psychic." Vader turned and walked towards the hotel. "It's Vader, b-t-dubbs. Not telling you what it stands for, don't want to harm you head." She said.

Vader checked out of her hotel quickly, telling them to give away her stuff. Then she went over to the mall and found a store that sold jacket, in which she found a trench coat that she liked, and quickly bought it. This was all done in a matter of minutes, less than ten to be exact, and soon they were in the airport, going through security. She ignored the thousands of thoughts in her head that did not belong to her, but she still caught phrases. The most frequent phrase that she heard was ‘business trip,’ which sort of irritated her, but it wasn’t like Vader could do anything about it, so she just stayed silent.

Vader was walking to their terminal when she saw an advertisement that read; “Save the penguins.” She stopped and starred at it; something about it was so familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She knew that whatever was familiar about it was right there, but it was so frustrating, and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about it or starring at it. Finally after about a minute she tore her eyes away, unable to stand the frustration of not remembering any longer.

Charlie rolled her eyes at Vader's mini explosion, oh God, this was going to be a fun ride home. But she kept her smirk and said nothing, quietly trotting along behind Vader as they went to her hotel and then a store. She liked the jacket she picked, and the shopping wasn't horrible, (although the sales lady could afford to be less....oppressive if that was a good word for it) and soon they were in the busy airport. This is where Charlie took charge. She got the tickets, they went through security with ease (and she tried to imagine wolverine going through it and started to laugh) and soon they were awaiting their plane in the terminal. She watched Vader with quiet interest while they where in the airport, she looked distracted and harried, she could probably hear every ones voices and Charlie felt a twinge of pity for her but said nothing.

Charlie leaned back in her seat and looked around, she didn't like crowds either but for an entirely different purpose, although it also had to do with her power. Usually she would keep a little energy ready to be molded or thrown at any time, always prepared for something to go sour, but in crowded places she did all she could to delude her power. She didn't trust herself to stay under control enough to keep her power manageable. It had only happened once but she knew it could very well happen again. And if she were to send a wave like that out again, in an airport no less, the academy would have a lot to clean up, and they where very busy people. So as she sat she kept a sharp eye out for anything, but kept herself cool with deep breaths, she had practiced this a lot, and tried to stay under radar.

Finally the attendant called their flight section and they got up to board the plane, she turned to Vader "Ready to go home Psychic? To tell you the truth, this was the first home I ever had." she smiled, That I couldn't destroy she added to herself.