New York City, ESU Campus, Marvel-616. Monday Afternoon.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was in the middle of her kickboxing class when she was just struck with the sense of - for lack of a better term - wrong. She couldn't sense anything with her powers to account for it, it was just... like a voice over an intercom where you couldn't make out the words, or a popular song with two notes out-of-tune. Or a ripple in a lake with no source. Nothing she could articulate, just...wrong. Echos of nails on a chalkboard and why couldn't she place this damned -

- Of course, the middle of kickboxing class was generally not a good place for one get hit by nebulous feelings of doom and dread, and the next thing Emma knew, she was on the floor, her sparring partner shrilly apologizing over and over, and her classmates hovering.

"Please stay down, Frost," the the cute coach was saying, even as things swam in circles around her. "You might have a concussion, and you've got a bloody nose. Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

"Three, my name is Emma Grace Frost, I am about to turn nineteen years old next month, this is Kickboxing for Beginners, and Ellen there just nailed me on the side of the head," Emma said crossly. "That wasn't the move we were supposed to be practicing."

"But you always seem to know what I'm going to do next!" Ellen wailed, looking distraught. "I didn't think it would hurt to try something new!"

"Ellen, go get Emma some ice," the teacher sighed. "Fine, no concussion. But take it easy the rest of the day, okay? I'd skip any other classes today if I were you, and I'll give you a note in case your other professors raise a fuss."

That was perfectly fine with Emma. She was just going to hole up in her now single-room with an ice pack and a large mug of tea, and try to resist the urge to call Kerrigan or Sookie or Karla like a frightened child. She was Emma Frost, dammit. She wasn't going to go running to other people over a mild spook like this.

....start randomly texting, maybe. But at least it was something to focus on that wasn't homework, and now she could do it without worrying about a roommate catching her.

[OOC: NFB, Open for calls, texts, what-have-you.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

didn't say I was going to try to jump into it, Jack sent back. Was it actually possible to pout in text message? He was giving it his best go either way.

don't worry. i'll stay well behind him. OK?

[icecoldfrost]

Sorry, Jack, your phone was going to start ringing. Emma was not going to let you off the hook with this.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack sighed -- he hadn't meant to frighten her -- but picked up the phone. "I've no intention of getting myself killed, I promise," he said. "And hello."

[icecoldfrost]

"Stay a block back and if I don't hear from you I am calling everyone from your world I know," Emma threatened. "That includes a hideously expensive portal to go pick up your sister, since she's so very handy at sleuthing you out."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'll do you better and stay on the telephone with you the whole time so you can hear my last dying shrieks if a monster jumps out to get us," Jack promised. "Why are you so worried, anyhow? It's not like you."

[icecoldfrost]

"Because I know you and your ability to sniff out trouble at a thousand paces," Emma replied, annoyed, "-and I'm not close enough to sit on you and keep your curiosity from running unchecked."

And Sebastien wasn't around to do it for her. Stupid, useless vampire.

"-And I got kicked in the head in class today and it is making me cranky about everything."

[bitten_notshy]

"Why are people kicking you in the head, Miss Frost?" Jack asked, almost sounding concerned. "The academic value of it seems limited."

He added, off-handedly, "I'll be fine. People were walking within a dozen feet and didn't even seem to notice anything was wrong. But you're right, that's never quite been my luck, has it?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Kickboxing class, I was distracted, and stupid horse-face Ellen decided to pretend to be a ninja and try something different from what we were working on in class today." Not that Emma was bitter or anything. "Trying to move around sucks, and I can't focus enough to shift and see if that fixes it."

Or makes it worse. Experimenting with powers was always FUN.

[bitten_notshy]

There was a quick, sharp noise on Jack's end as he sucked his breath in between his teeth.

"Don't hurt yourself worse going for a cure," he advised. "Sit. Rest. Plot your revenge on Ellen for when you're better. Is anything bleeding?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Not anymore," she answered, grumpy. "Had a nosebleed from dramatic telepathic moment hitting the floor the way I did, and the left side of my face is going to bruise something horrible."

[bitten_notshy]

"Oh, Emma," Jack said, dismayed. It sounded like she'd heal, but that wasn't the point. "I wish I was there. I'd hold ice to it and read you a soothingly horrible novel, if you wanted."

[icecoldfrost]

"I have a single now, since what's-her-face dropped out," Emma offered. "If you aren't busy this weekend, I might not object to some fussing."

[bitten_notshy]

"Tempting -- and, as it happens, this weekend is free," Jack offered. "Though now you have me jealous that my roommate won't take the proverbial long walk off a short pier."

[icecoldfrost]

"Change the locks and hope he catches the hint?" Emma suggested. "I'm not saying you have to come, darling, if you have other plans. I'll survive just fine; I'm simply grumpy and out of sorts. Post mid-term blues, with finals looming. I'd rather forgotten what real school is like."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's a shock to the system," Jack agreed. "No, I can come -- I just may spend much of the visit frowning at a textbook. Is that all right?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Perfectly acceptable, so long as you feed me grapes and fetch me tea occasionally," Emma decided. "Actually, if you have any books about Supernatural Rights or anything like that, I'd love to borrow it so that I can see what other universes do in regards legislation."

The 'Mutant Question' was all going to come down to politics eventually, after all.

[bitten_notshy]

"I've quite a few, actually," Jack revealed, stunning ... exactly no one. "It took a good sixty years to go from Germany legalizing wampyrism to the rest of the world getting the message. Not precisely the same, of course, but it may be some sort of foundation. Are you working on mutant rights now?"

[icecoldfrost]

"More a curiosity than an pet project at this point, darling," Emma replied. "I have too much on my plate and too much to risk by waving the flag of mutant pride currently."

[bitten_notshy]

"I understand, but let me know when you're ready for a revolution," Jack told her. "I always love to meddle in politics."

[icecoldfrost]

"Then you'd move in full-time, and then where would I be?" she asked lazily. "With a guest getting me in trouble with the dorm RAs, and possibly stealing all my coffee."

[bitten_notshy]

"You saw right through my clever ruse," Jack said lazily. He was slumping in his seat, and his tone was much warmer than it was at the start of the conversation. "You could become an RA next year and save me a bit of trouble".

[icecoldfrost]

"Me? An upright authority figure?" Emma drawled. "Really, darling, I'd be fired almost immediately."

[bitten_notshy]

"But you could have so much fun until you were."