Brief return

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro shrugged his shoulders in response. He was stubborn to a fault, he knew. He also knew that Rogue was running the Brotherhood in Magneto's stead, and that she was a child, though a tragedy, was no excuse. The minute the Brotherhood hit the news, he would be out of the mansion stopping it himself. Of that, there was no doubt.

He rose from the bench, the sun above him shining down on his swollen face. His eyes, for a brief second, looked not at her, but through her, seeing a different time, a different conversation. He camed back to himself.:: "I was the one to call off my sister that day. You'd do well to remember that."

[Shade]

When he got up, Shade noticed that Pietro´s face was swollen but she didn´t comment on it. She didn´t care where he had earned that slap and deserved he had it of that she was almost sure. She could feel no pity for him which was unusual and a feeling that was usually just reserved for those people she could not stand. Looked as if Pietro belonged to their ranks.

She remembered that day and found she could not remember him doing that. Maybe he had and if he had so it had not been from pity or reason, just for the reason that he had not deemed her and Rogue worthy to waste his efforts and strength on. The brazenness of his words therefore seemed even more extreme to her and she had to suppress a snort.
"You won´t get a ´thanks for saving my life´ for that." she said. They had worked together to intimidate them there was no doubt for her, sticking together like glue.

[Pietro Maximoff]

"I don't expect one," ::Pietro replied honestly. The fact that neither he nor his sister took life outside of necessity in battle wasn't one to point out here and now. They'd been angry, and they had double-teamed this woman and Rogue. However, he'd recovered from his anger more quickly and ended it there, with characteristic stubborness, refusing to move from his part of the hall. If he'd been in a better mood that day, it wouldn't have begun.

That stubborness was getting him nowhere, both in this conversation and in life. The fact remained that she was one of Uncle's teachers, and like it or not, he would have to live with her for as long as he intended to stay. Another three months at least, likely more. And he had to give her credit for not sneaking past him, invisible; he respected the desire to not run and hide.

He was known for acting before thinking about consequences, although he'd become more restrained with age. He threw caution to the wind, and asked a seemingly unexpected question.:: "What do you teach?"

[Shade]

She had expected another contradiction, maybe even another hilarious comparison, but no question like this. A seeming change to small talk although both their body languages were speaking a rather different language. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest by now. Well, she saw no reason to shy away from him, unlike that other day when she had just vanished. But she would not give him that triumph now. And just walking away, his question unanswered would be granting him triumph as well.
"European history." she said curtly. "and creative writing."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::European history, that explained both her comment about knowing how fanaticism began in theory, and her clinical distillation of it to mere fear. Pietro nodded slightly, accepting the answer. He lived European history, and had never cared for creative writing.:: "For how long?"

[Shade]

Shade wondered why Pietro was even asking, but found she didn´t really care. "About a year." she said, sparing him the details which were not his business anyways and which she highly doubted she was interested in. History had been a major interest of her ever since her later years at school. "This is my first job."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro nodded slightly again. From what Ororo had told him, the school had closed and opened again, about a year ago. That would place her there from the new beginning. Uncle obviously trusted her, although Pietro doubted the other man's judgment more often than not.:: "The students, do they like you?"

[Shade]

Somehow, Shade thought, that conversation was almost bizarre. Two people who made no secret from obviously neither liking each other nor trusting each other farther than they could toss a stone - yet it was somewhat small talk. Well, she thought, it wasn´t like giving away information she would have a problem with to share and besides she had already decided that she would stand her ground against Pietro, not giving him the triumph of herself simply walking off. It was a strange sort of power testing, at least for her.

"I think they do." she said, her tone a little less aggressive now, not because her dislike against the young man would have lessened but merely because the question evoked good memories. Like Ty who would talk to her rather like to a fellow teenager than to a distanced teacher or Ethan who would come and talk to her when he needed advice about girls. She almost smiled at the thought but suppressed it. "At least noone fell asleep during my classes yet."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro nodded again, slowly, deliberately while he absorbed the information. He had never had a real teacher before. Uncle and Magneto did not count. Uncle was family, and although Pietro was loathe to admit it, his father had been. Had they never opened the school, he and Wanda still would have been taught.

He had never attended school in Czechoslovakia. They had been too young, and when they were finally old enough, too poor. He had learned two important lessons there from Django and Marya: How to speak, and how to sacrifice everything for your family. He also learned how to make dolls, but that wasn't something he would ever have use for. He could never have children.

The students here were naive, shy. Most of them had some sort of personality problems, he had noticed. They lacked the experiences he'd had in life, which had opened his eyes to the danger around them. But perhaps his lack of experience there was clouding his abilities to be fair-minded. That thought, as it raced through his mind, surprised Pietro. He was spending too much time with Uncle.::

[Shade]

Had he been Gambit, Rogue, Mystique or anyone else she cared about or saw as a friend at least, Shade would have asked what was wrong. In a conversation she could often easily sense awkwardness or thoughtfullness. It showed in little gestures or a change in the eyes when the opposit suddenly paused, did not reply or, as Pietro, just nodded. Normally, Shade would have asked, just to make sure the other was okay, but she didn´t now. Whatever her words had evoked in him, she didn´t know. And she could say she was interested to an extend that would have made her ask. Above that, her curiosity was suppressed by her pride.

She felt like being stuck in a situation she didn´t like. She didn´t have much of an interest in talking to him as small talk was something she usually reserved for people who did not despise her and he seemed too stubborn to even care why she had taken offence in his behaviour at their first meeting. So as he did not want to discuss or listen to that, there was no real reason to stay and continue talking to him, yet she did not want to simply walk away for the simple reason that this would have meant her to turn her back on Pietro for a second time. She did not fear him, but walking away would look like a defeat, at least for now. On the other hand, just standing there, her arms crossed was stupid as well. She hadn´t come to stare down Magneto´s son, just to get some things and then go back to Gambit´s place again. She chuckled inwardly how easily she could even lower the opinion Pietro had about her.

"Most of them are good to get along with." she said, shouldering her bag, trying to make up her mind whether she shouldn´t just swallow that stupid inner argument about ´defeat´ and leave.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Her comment about the students seemed to snap Pietro out of his reverie. He blinked, too rapidly for the movement to be registered by the normal eye, and came back to himself. Ignoring everything else, he agreed with her about the students. Most of the ones he'd met seemed genuine. Thinking of Django, he slipped one of his adoptive father's phrases into speech.:: "They're good little imps."

[Shade]

Shade raised an eyebrow. That was a word which sounded strange from Pietro´s mouth even though she didn´t know him. "Imps?" she asked, but the word sounded more like a statement than a question.

[Pietro Maximoff]

"Children," ::Pietro corrected himself. He and Wanda had left Django behind when they'd first come here. He was far too serious a person to be nostalgic, he reminded himself; particularly in front of one of Rogue's friends.::

[Shade]

"Ah." Shade just said. That probably explained a lot about his condescending attitude towards Rogue. He had called her a child before he had called her a harlot she remembered - which had not only shown how much he despised the idea of Magneto having a relationship with someone so much younger than him, but also that he obviously was not taking her seriously.
"I doubt many of them would like being called children thoug." she added.

[Pietro Maximoff]

"Perhaps not," ::Pietro replied. He meant no insult with the word; it was simply how he saw them. Younger, purer, in need of protection; how he remembered he and Wanda before the became what they were. Before they'd been robbed of their childhoods.

The fact remained that he genuinely liked most of the ones he had spoken with. Even when he thought in terms he didn't speak, like with the cub and the spit-fire. And then, for a brief instant, he thought of how Magneto used to speak to him.:: "I use their names."