Issue 1 Downtime

She hadn't really had the chance to see her sister since the whole motorcycle thing. Anika was determined to sit down and try to have a calm conversation with her. She missed her. Once she finds Gemma's room, she knocks on the door with a familiar rhythm.

"Sis?"

Gemma timidly opens the door, peeking out, "Yeah?"

She smiles, relaxing substantially. "Hey. Are you busy?"

"No, just finished my homework," she said, opening the door wider. "Come in?"

"Thanks." She slips inside, popping off her jacket and looking around.

The common room area of the suite was split into two. One half was given over to Colette's stuff and the other half was Gemma's. A couple of small wine-rack-style constructions had rolled up pieces of paper in them. There were also a series of clear drawers that seemed to be holding folded sheets of paper. On Gemma's desk were the remnants of whatever homework she'd worked on last. Through one of the doors, Gemma's bedroom was visible with maps framed on the walls and her bed a rumpled mess. "Sorry about your bike," Gemma said, not looking at her.

"No worries. It's just a bike. Worth being able to see you again, to be honest. I missed you. A lot. Things went to shit when they split us." She admits.

"Maybe you understand why they did though," Gemma said, wandering into her bedroom to sit on the bed.

"Yes and no. Separating family like that never ends well. But it's whatever. It's done and over with, right?"

"Nothing to change it now," she agreed. "So what have you been up to?"

"Training, fighting, searching, eating, sleeping, rinse and repeat. Nothing too special. Was it okay in the hospital? I mean did they treat you okay?" She shifts a bit. This topic was uncomfortable to her, as the thought of someone hurting her sister in any way, be it a doctor giving a thought or otherwise gave her an inner twinge of anger she couldn't ignore.

"They were really nice," she said. "They helped me get things under control." She fished under her bed and pulled out a small photo album that had some pictures of Gemma smiling with a youngish male doctor and a young woman in a "McTaggart Hospital" staff t-shirt. "This was my doctor and she was my tutor to help me keep up on school."

"They really did help?" She visibly relaxes, leaning over to look at the picture.

"It's their job to understand this stuff. They helped me get a lot of the uncontrolled shifting under control."

"Well now I feel like an ass. I thought you were in danger all this time."

"Mum and Dad really didn't have much of a choice. Some anti-mutant assholes decided that the 'mutie-girl' needed a flame bath. They learned a really hard lesson, but I was out of control and X-Corp had capture me."

"I'm sorry, Gemma. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help, and I'm sorry I couldn't have been of help anyway."

"We've all got regrets," Gemma said. "But we're here now."

"Suppose we should make the best of it, yeah?" She smiles at her.

"This is a good place. There's lots to learn here," she said. "And there's even a cute boy or two."

"Wait wait wait...do you already have your eye on someone? You have *got* to tell me." She was excited for Gemma, but it probably wasn't a good idea to tell her in all honesty. Over-protective sisters are sometimes bad news. Especially when they fling fire and have a temper.

"No, no, nobody right now. Just sayin'."

"Ah, gotcha. Can't say I've met too many interesting people. Bitch of a witch that binded you, a fish girl, and some little girl who is more volatile than I am. I also think she's schizophrenic."

"Everyone here has problems. But like the hospital, the people here are here to help," Gemma said. "Even the ones that are scary."

"I wouldn't call this one scary. Just on a very fine line of seriously getting herself hurt due to her attitude." She pauses. "And no, I don't mean that as a threat."

"I know. It's a promise," Gemma said with a smirk, obviously more comfortable and relaxed now that she was in her bedroom.

"Only to people who deserve it. That chick has issues and I kinda feel bad for her. I don't know what she was trying to prove. Only reason I started to snap was...well..." She shrugs and goes quiet. "Guess me being here is a bit more beneficial than originally thought." She chuckles.

"You never stop learning."

She plops down on the bed beside Gemma. "So what all did you learn? I mean is there some sort of relaxation technique or something?"

"Well, for one thing, there are two of me. Well, sort of. We're the same person, but she's... she says she's my better half, I think she's a bit of a bitch. A lot of what I do is working towards healing that rift, at least that's how my doctor talked about it."

"Wait so I have two sisters now?" She jokes a bit.

"Sort of. The other one was the one who torched you and wrecked your bike."

"Attempted to torch me." She corrects with a smirk.

"You're lucky she didn't decide to use lava. You'd be far more irritated with her."

"Yeah, that'd have probably set me off. Big time." She admits.

"She says she was just making a point, by the way," Gemma said after a moment's silence. "I have no idea what point she was trying to make."

"A point? I'd like to hear what point that was. Does she talk to you? Or is it only when she's in form?"

"She's talking to me right now. I've never..." She paused, like she was listening, "Well, okay there was that one time she got control of this form, but she punched an orderly when that happened."

"No shit?" She grins. "That's...I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh but...picturing you...er...her? Doing that is just...it cracks me up." Laughs.

"She tends to respond strongly to perceived threats, though her threat assessment is a bit lacking."