I Know Who I Am

Evan was sitting on the edge of his bed, a piece of paper in his hand, which was shaking, just slightly. Old Lace was awake, but resting her head in his lap, coiled around him on the bed. Ozzy was curled up at his feet. He'd had the paper with him in an envelope for most of the week, putting off opening and reading it because of who it had been sent by.

Evan had a complicated relationship with Logan. Seeing his name on the Jean Grey School letterhead as he had pulled out the letter didn't help that.

The contents of the letter helped him even less, just raising more questions than anything else.

Uncle Cluster -- Fantomex -- was alive somewhere, and being kept in a high-security prison in The World.

Logan needed Evan there, to help get him out again.

Evan's time on the island was done. Just like that. Headmistress Pryde had left, apparently ages ago, Storm had taken her place, and Logan needed Evan's help to get Fantomex back.

He needed to pack. He had... more books than any one kid could carry, on any subject under the sun. He wrote a little 'Free' sign on a piece of loose paper, and had Old Lace help him lug the majority of them out into the hall. There were a few, mostly the ones he'd read with Sholeh while she was here and, um, the magazines that Wade had left for him, that he didn't have the heart to part with. Packing Ozzy and Old Lace's things came next. And while he did that, he placed handwavy phone calls, to leave messages for Rosalind and Mr. Constantine, to tell them that he wouldn't be back to work for them again. There was already a portal booked for him, courtesy of Logan, set to leave in just a few hours.

He would have argued if Logan had called him back under almost any other circumstance. The island was more a home to him than the Jean Grey School had been, after all. But then there was Uncle Cluster, who, in spite of all of the lies and hurt and everything horrible he'd done to bring Evan into the world, was still more family to him than anyone on the island. Maybe that was just the way Evan had been programmed. Maybe there was no way he would ever be sure. But right now he was certain of one thing.

It was time to go.

[OOC: Open door, open post. Last chance to talk to Evan before he vanishes forever. Feel free to loot the small mountain of moddable literature sitting out in the hallway.]

"... Nope."

Seriously, there were some upsides to being a shapeshifter around this place. And those upsides were things like, 'when you wake up as a girl on the morning of your seventeenth birthday, you don't have to keep being a girl.'

And so, that was Evan's birthday present to himself, shifting his body back to male, thank you very much, and then rolling over and reaching for a book. There were a lot of things he just didn't want to think about today, his birthday actually being one of them, and so he was going to quite happily lose himself away inside the pages of a book he'd picked up about two orphaned girls, one who was born to be evil, and the other who was born to be good, both with super powers.

Sometimes, his taste in escapism didn't stray all that far from what he already knew, no. Seventeenth-if-you-don't-think-about-it-too-hard birthday, consider yourself temporarily forgotten.


[OOC: Oh god he's growing up and the comic art is actually reflecting that. I am so confused. Open for visitors, if anyone wants!]

It was probably for the best that Evan hadn't actually changed this weekend. As great as he remembered his childhood being, he really didn't have much in the way of coping skills as a little boy. And why would he? He'd never known the real world. It would be cruel leaving him to his own devices, with that in mind.

Not that he knew that people were changing, this weekend. Not when he had a stack of books to read, and a dog dozing at his feet who was more than happy to just keep his toes warm. Reading and keeping warm from the November chill seemed like the perfect way to spend a Saturday, if you asked Evan. Especially a Saturday spent steadfastly ignoring the upcoming holiday. Holidays. The whole season-to-be.

Books were great for that.

[OOC: The door is cracked a wee bit, and the post is open! Hi!]

Evan had arrived back on the island in the dead of night, wearing a scowl on his face that even a bouncy dog who was happy to see him home again couldn't entirely wipe away. He'd slept fitfully, shadows in the corners of his mind creeping up and threatening to blot out everything else in his head as he dreamed.

When he woke up, he was feeling a little better. Not quite up to par, no, but he spent his morning reading one of his favorite books, and after that he at least felt a little more normal.

By around noon, he actually felt almost up to human interaction again. Not enough to actively go out and seek it, but he cracked his dorm room door open a little before settling down to play tug-of-war with Ozzy, which, Savage Land or no, was actually way more outgoing for Evan than usual.

At least it was break week. He didn't figure the dorms were going to be crawling with people, anyway.

[OOC: Post is open, door is cracked!]

Evan had gotten his first voicemail today since... well... since he'd come to the island, really. He'd been out walking Ozzy, and he'd just missed the call, and was actually almost excited to see that it had been Yeul to leave the message.

Until he went to listen to it, and was met, first, with the sound of his own voice in his own message to anyone who called.

... Especially if it's you, Ma and Pa. I haven't heard from you in ages.

It hit him like a baseball bat to the chest, and he was out of breath as he hit the button to play back the message that was there for him. There, Yeul's voice, promising him in a voice incapable of lying that no matter what, she would never be afraid of him. She probably had no idea just how badly he needed to hear someone say those things. He listened to her message through once. And then, after a moment's hesitation, he listened to it again. And again.

He was going to have to change his own voicemail message soon so that it wouldn't blindside him again. But before that, he was just going to sit there, curled up on his bed, listening to someone telling him that he was a good person over and over and over, and struggling not to cry.

[OOC: Open!]

With his portal to Westchester leaving in a little under a few hours, Evan was starting to grow a little anxious. His bags were packed with the exception of a few of Ozzy's toys, which he was tossing gently across the room for the stubby little dog to fetch. There were books in his bags, yes, but mostly he'd just packed what clothes he would need for the week, and enough supplies to see Ozzy through, since he didn't quite have the heart to check the puppy into the kennel before going. Doctor McCoy wouldn't mind him showing up with a puppy under his arm, would he?

"Idie and Broo are really nice," he informed the pup, throwing the squeaky pork chop across the room again. "I think they'll like you. Most of the teachers are pretty great too, but Headmaster Logan is a bit of a crank. And we'll avoid Quentin as much as we can. I wonder if I can get Uncle Cluster to visit while I'm there? I haven't seen him since Parents Weekend..."

Ozzy just sat across the room, merrily squeaking away at his pork chop.

[OOC: The door is cracked, if anybody wants to see Evan before we all run off on our respective spring breaks!]