Chapter Text
Watching him work out, I bless the day Kurt joined us.
The speed, the control, the grace. Men aren’t taught to be graceful, unless it’s for a specific reason, such as a dancer. Everyone stops to watch, not just me, today it’s Sean and Wolverine, who’s smoking inside, again.
The rig is high; even if the Danger Room is set up as a dojo or gym, Kurt can fly above, out of the way. And he can do this for hours.
He relishes the freedom, the opportunity to move, to hone his skills, for as long as he wishes, secure in the knowledge that there is a hot shower and food at the end of it.
Kurt is very fond of the circus, very loyal to the good memories he has, the friends and family. But it wasn’t always easy.
I am determined to give him a better life, more options, because, before he joined us, his life choices were so limited, and becoming more so. It’s one thing to be a cute, chubby child with his unusual features but a gawky adolescent or full grown adult is an entirely different matter. There was more money to be made putting him in a freak show than having him be a flyer and acrobat, no matter how skilled. So that’s where he was headed, the erosion of his liberties and rights had already started, there’s no recourse in law for a person such as him. No birth certificate, no passport or paperwork. No bank account. No money. No freedom, other than what the circus owner chose to give him. I’m not convinced he got paid, despite being a top attraction, I have deep suspicions about how he was being exploited, he was a chattel, with no more choice than the elephants or the tigers.
One of the first things I gave him was a paper identity. Oh, it took some doing, some fudging of details, but I was determined, and somewhat devious. He now has a bank account and an allowance goes into it every month. It is his, to do with as he wishes. It is, if he wants it, independence, even from us.
I faced several similar issues with Ororo too, but she has more options than Kurt, she can walk the streets unmolested for a start: not unnoticed, she is so striking, but freely, without being threatened or being in danger. Kurt has to stay in the shadows. But she also needed a paper identity.
I have plans to fast track the education of all my new intake of students, none of them have used a computer before, such a huge gulf to bridge. But they are all keen and willing to learn, which is half the battle. Both Kurt and Ororo are multilingual, though some of Kurt’s language skills go no further than ordering a beer, and his math ability is practically non existent, but he can read English and French as well as German. Such bright, curious minds, both of them, so eager, so inquisitive, so criminality undereducated. And Peter’s education might have been basic, but it was thorough and if I ever need a tractor servicing, I know where to go,