Template:Featured Articles/32-2016

Moment of Awesome - Kyle Gibney/Wildchild: Unable to teach at a regular school due to his mutation, Kyle talks to his first one-on-one tutoring student, Rahne. Rahne stepped out onto the porch, feeling slightly less embarrassed. She looked at his finger and her eyes widened slightly. "Oh! Ye weren't kidding. Ye do have claws like my kitties back home." "Yep, and a mouth full of pointy teeth." Kyle said, and grinned - showing not quite a mouth full of pointy teeth, but a double set of pointy canines top and bottom. "Hi, I'm Kyle Gibney, I've got a degree in teaching, a minor in English, and a doctorate in bobbing for apples, or oranges, or mangos, you know, anything fruity in a bucket of water." For a minute, she looked confused and then she realized it was a joke and couldn't help but giggle behind her hands. "I think Dr. Moira might like to hear about that doctorate," Rahne said. "But yer a teacher for real? Do ye teach at the public school that all the other kids are going to? They ... they said I don't have to go for a while." "I could, I'm like - certified, but..." Kyle pulled his hair back off his ears. "I'd have to go all image inducer, and okay, maybe for the ears and teeth sure, but the first time I shake someone's hand or rip out my shoes?" He flexed his toes, and the claws on his feet slid in and out slightly. "So, here I am, all setup to tutor any of you kids who might have the same problem." The conversation with Professor Xavier was... a little pointed, but not much. After realizing she was still mostly standing in the door, Rahne made her way over to one of the rocking chairs and plopped down. Rocking the chair created a slight breeze, something she was more than happy to find out. America was hot and sticky. No one had told her that! "That's got to be tough! I hate that because we're different, people can't do what they love doing!" Rahne rocked extra hard for a moment to show her frustration along with the scowl on her face. Then she remembered herself and smiled sheepishly. "I am glad ye'll be here to tutor me, though. I'm scared of going to school and just ... poof." She flapped her hands around a little bit. "Wolf. In history class." "I had a guy turn into a tree in class once." Well kinda, Frank turned into wood but Rahne didn't need to know that. "When you go all fuzzy, you still understand English, right? So, we'll switch to something else if you're a note-taking kinda kid. If you're a 'listen and then re-read the book' kinda kid, we'll just keep on keepin on." Kyle shrugged like it wasn't any big thing. Because it wasn't. "And if all else fails, we'll take a break and go swimming. You get Phys Ed too." Someone turned into a tree? Okay, that sounded kind of awful. At least a wolf could move! "Aye! I understand English just fine when I'm in wolf form. I think normally, too, I just can't ..." Rahne thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "A muzzle isn't good for talking, so I can't. And I'm just me, just fuzzy and four legged." That was a point she was desperate to get people to understand. Scaring someone was something that she was really worried about. "I know how to swim when I'm me but ... are wolves good swimmers?" "I bet if you went all teen wolf and jumped in the lake, you'd doggy paddle like a pro." Everyone Kyle knew who'd ever turned into a wolf or dog could. "I got this, you're not the weirdest kid I've taught, and real small classes means a lot of one on one attention, which means if you lose a few hours due to..." Kyle shrugged, and pointed at his ears, and then his teeth. "Being pointier than I am, eh, we'll figure it out." "I wonder how terrible I'd smell," Rahne wondered aloud, getting distracted. She realized she was wandering mentally and shook herself. Reverend Craig had taught her to pay attention, especially to adults! Focusing again, she turned back to Kyle and nodded. "Thank ye. I was so scared they'd just dump me in the public school and it's been forever since I was in a regular school. And that was before the, ye know..." She bared her teeth slightly and slumped against the rocking chair. Kyle couldn't help the amused chuckle. "Grr. Yeah, I know unexpected grr. We'll work it out. For honest and real, dumping you straight into the public schools if you've been home schooling'd probably screw you up anyway. I mean, you get, what, a decade of History of Kilts and then we try to throw you at "Teddy Roosevelt was so freaking cool, you guys, really." and you're like "Who? Is that a giant bear?" and then it's all downhill from there." Rahne starting giggling so hard the chair under her rocked. "What about bears in kilts?" she asked, bouncing in her chair. "I think if Reverend Craig had taught me about bears in kilts, the world might have ended." It was strange how she could miss him but be happy at the mansion at the same time. "Okay, so we got a rough plan." Kyle said, with a grin. He'd been nervous - far more nervous than he usually was about anything, up to and including walking into stupid situations that got him set on fire - but this was feeling like it would work. "I owe Professor Xavier some lesson plans, since we gotta figure out how we're gonna work around the part where you don't want me teaching you math, I had a legit genius tutoring me to pull out B minuses, and since we're doing a tiny class, you kinda get a say." He held up a hand, and despite the scruff and torn jeans, in that moment he was all high school teacher. "Kinda. I mean I don't see you as the kind of kid to try to talk me into really terrible Literature class decisions or mentos in coke bottles as science class, but if you've got thoughts, I've got ears."