Children of the Atom - X-Men

The answer to Izzy's question was a very firm yes. She was still winking. Sleeping. That. Or rather, she had been. A minor consequence of her mutation was that Kim was a very light sleeper. It was easy for her to be woken up, anything from thunder to footsteps to simply standing too close to her would do it. Calling her name and knocking on the door, however softly? Both surefire ways to rouse her from sleep.

Kim pushed herself up, then barely suppressed a hiss of pain. Everything hurt. Her body was even sorer than she'd been the first few days after Crenshaw, and her chest was on fire. It was tempting to just go back to bed, or to use her gift so that the adrenaline would ease the pain, but she didn't do either. Even if she fell asleep she'd wake up again in a few hours at most. Kim wasn't sure how long she'd been out, but it was long enough that she desperately needed to drink something or else it would end up badly. And if she used her gift then she couldn't eat, and she needed to do that as well. Also pee. That too. Maybe shower if that were an option. And check on the others, see if they were awake and okay. She needed to find out if it was time to go visit her family, too...basically there were a lot of reasons for Kim to be awake and as she was, and besides, it was fine. She could ignore the pain. She just had to move around a bit, stretch and get used to it, maybe pretend it wasn't there. It was fine. She was fine.

"I'm up." She called to Izzy as she did just that — or tried to call, at least. Her mouth was drier than a desert, and the words that came from it resembled a croak more than anything else. Swallowing, she tried again. "Need me for something?"

He could recognize the hoarseness of her voice and the fatigue in her attempt to speak. She had literally just woken up and there was no way around that. Izzy felt a little bad, but this was the wake-up call she had been waiting on. "Sorry to wake you, but we're getting ready to hit the road today. Wanted to let you know."

There was a brief pause.

"We got you a glass of water too. A couple, really."

"Thank you!" Kim called out with more success than her first attempt as she finished stretching, grinning at the good news. At both pieces of good news. She was really thirsty. "Do you think it'd be okay if I went to check on everyone else before we left, though? Also, how long have I been asleep for? My guess is either two or three days, but I don't know which and have no way to tell."

Kim went to the window to grab her shoes and socks and pull them on, then crossed the room and opened the door. She beamed up at Izzy. "Good morning!"

It was the first time Izzy had seen Kim in her natural, non-scaly form. It was good to finally meet face-to-actual face. He smiled with the same enthusiasm she had, which was unimaginable just days before. "And to you!" He handed her the first of many glasses of water.

"It's been about three days. Not the school record, but I'll give you that. As for your friends, o course you can check on them. We'd be worried if you didn't, of course."

"Awesome, thank you." Kim said, responding to three separate things with just those three words as she took the water, downing it quickly. She wondered why water always tasted like ambrosia when someone was thirsty. Was it for the same reason that orange juice tasted gross after someone brushed their teeth? "Let's go do that then. Or does anyone else need to talk to me before I can do that? Also, um. Is there a bathroom nearby? Because I kinda need to use one."

Izzy chuckled at the abrupt bathroom questioning. Of course she would have to run, it had been three days, after all. It didn't take him long to contain his humor, but watching a girl who hadn't seen a bathroom in three days finally realize it. He motioned over his shoulder down the hall, "luckily a place this big has all the rooms you need. There's a bathroom down the hall to the right. I'll wait for you and we'll go see your friends."

--------------------

When Kim returned, Izzy did exactly as he promised: he showed her the way to the infirmary. The way was longer than expected, each turn down one of the expansive mansion halls led to only another hall. Still, Izzy walked with confidence like he knew the mansion like the back of his hand. In fact, he could probably explain details in the mansion better than his hand. He even had the confidence to whistle a tune as he did so.

After a few moments, they had arrived to a set of double-doors looking more like something out of a hospital than a luxurious home. Izzy turned back to Kim. He seemed to look a little less enthusiastic than normal, a hint of seriousness to his nature.

"So for the most part, they're doing alright. The siblings are steady, and Rosa's recovering nicely. Gambit's not left their side since he woke up. Cameron, though.....he's taken a whoopin'. I don't know how he even stood up before y'all got here but it ain't natural. There's no aspect of his gift that gives him endurance. He's got incredible will power, Kimberly, but it cost him. He's really.....really roughed up."

He patted her on the shoulder.

"I just want you to be ready for that."

"Gambit woke up? Awesome! Hopefully that means the others aren't too far behind him. Nice of him to help them out, too, I'll have to thank him for that." Kim said, as cheery as ever. She sobered some with her next words. "I don't know how Cam did it either. I kind of wish he hadn't. I can't say for certain seeing as it didn't happen but I think it would have been fine even if he'd stayed down, and he wouldn't have gotten hurt that way. He must have been so tired, not much time had passed between when he went down and got up, and I felt the exhaustion too before my gift kicked in. It was insane. But somehow, for some reason, he stood up and fought anyway. He's...amazing, really. Just amazing. Thanks for the warning."

Kim took a deep breath, smiled, and walked through the doors.

When Kim was ready, Izzy opened the doors, and their surroundings changed as if the port of the door was a portal into another world. The wooden walls and craftsman accents were replaced with white-washed halls and basic tiling, as if ripped directly from a local hospital. It wasn't a full wing, just a hall or two that made up the medical center, as there never was need for consistent, full-occupation at any given time. That was the best part of the medical section: it was never really needed.

They stopped at a room just shy of mid-way. When they peered into the room, the first sight was Gambit, his trench coat removed and slung over the back of his chair, while the rest of his surprisingly well-dressed figure leaned forward on his knees. His eyes were sunken, a lack of sleep taking their toll, but a cost he willingly paid. His face was scruffy with hairs not used to being so long, and his chin scratched against the folded hands they rested on.

But he always kept his focus straight upon the glass wall separating him from the young man on the other side, his pale green eyelids slid down; the only peaceful portion of his body. Cam was completely still, covered in bandages on a large portion of his body which were reminiscent of his first meeting with Kim back in Crenshaw. His legs were elevated; both severely strained. His arm was draped up across a pillow, needing the space to heal. His breathing was long in between but steady.

"He been like dis for 'bout most o' da time y'all been here. Don' move much. Little toss here, little turn dere. Keep dat stone face, though. Ain't seen him smile....well..."

Gambit would have cracked one of his famous smirks at that moment, but his mind was with Cameron on the other side of the glass, willing him on.

"I ain't neva seen him smile. Pretty banged up, but he be alright. Got dat fire in his belly, he does."

The Cajun mutant closed his eyes for a moment, burying his lips into his hand. It was feint, but he whispered just short enough for normal ears to hear.

"Sleep well, mon ami."

Gambit stood up in a groan that suggested he had sat for centuries. He stretched, and grunted, and tightened up every muscle in his body before letting it all loose. He let his sight first pass on Izzy, to whom he gave a quick nod, before he spied Kim. She was mad at him. Enraged, one could say, and he knew it. Normally, regret was never an aspect of Gambit's lifestyle, but there was something about these kids that struck him someone that had frozen over in his fiery chest. Even in the depths of his black and crimson eyes, the Cajun seemed remorseful.

"Glad to see you awake, chere."

"Glad to see you're awake too." Kim told Gambit, smiling at him. She was mad at the man, yes, but that didn't mean she was going to let it affect her, nor did it mean that it was the only emotion she felt towards him. At the moment, there was also a large amount of concern. "Though you kinda look like you shouldn't be. You have bags under your eyes big enough that you'd need them checked at an airport, and you look like one good breeze could knock you over. Might wanna go take a nap before your body decides to take one for you."

She walked past him, peering into the glass behind which Cam laid. She'd seen him before, when everything had been getting set up and the merry band plus Gambit had been getting settled in, but now it seemed more real, somehow. More absolute. She didn't like it. Cam was often still and always quiet, it was his nature, who he was, but this was different. This was because he was hurt, because he'd stood up at a time when he should have stayed down. Kim wouldn't tell him to do any differently if she could go back in time, she would never do that, but she wished she had been more watchful, more careful, because while a great deal of Cam's injuries had simply been due to him moving, some of them weren't, and if she'd been better about dealing with Blitz and the other guy then maybe her friend wouldn't be as bad off as he was now. Maybe if she'd been better he wouldn't have been hurt at all.

She really didn't like seeing him this way.

He was getting better, though, and he safe. That was what mattered.

"I've never seen him smile either." Kim confessed, speaking to Gambit but not looking away from Cam. "He's not so much the emotive type, far as I've seen. Never even heard him raise his voice before he yelled at you that one time. Heard him laugh, though. Once. It wasn't too long before we ran into you, actually, maybe an hour or less. Rosa'd been teasing him and everyone had laughed, and then he did too. It was real soft and low, and kinda raspy, but it was a laugh. Made me super happy to hear it. He might have smiled then too, laughing usually makes people smile, but if he did, I didn't see it. I hope he did."

She hoped to be able to make him smile herself, someday.

"But he's a tough cookie, alright." Kim continued, turning to face Gambit at last and still smiling. "Amazing and strong in every way. Just needs to sleep and he'll be fine. Speaking of sleep, seriously, go take a nap. I'm really glad that you've been watching over everyone, thank you for that, really, but it's time for you to give someone else a turn and go get some shut-eye. You're making me sleepy just looking at you, and I just slept for three days."

"No rest fo' da wicked, as dey say." Gambit let out what could have been identified as a laugh if not for the droning effect of his very few hours of sleep. He scratched the back of his now shaggy head, letting out a yawn as he did so. "Don'chu worry 'bout ol' Remy now, lil Surviva. I be alright."

He took one last look at the young, serpentine man behind the glass. Kim may not have been aware of her statements, but even this tired Gambit always had his ears at the ready. This boy was special to her. Maybe not as special as she was to him, which he had picked up back at his hideout, but still very dear. Even he had to smile a little bit.

"Come wit' me. We gon' see de others."

Gambit shuffled out of the room, motioning for Izzy and Kim to follow suit. It wasn't a very long trip, just a couple rooms over, but there they would find three beds, each with a different member of their band laying peacefully within. Rosa was the closest, that strand of red in her hair only lightly there after the months of wear and lack of re-dying. Sherrie looked about the same, as if she was getting a well-deserved full night of sleep. Trevor....

Was looking right at them.

"So am I getting my Jell-O now or what?"

"Trevor! You're up! Yay!" Kim cheered. Quietly, of course. The others were still sleeping after all. "I'm gonna hug you now."

Warning given, she did just that, walking up to the merry mutant and hugging him as best and as carefully as she could. It probably rude of her to do so, as she hadn't given him any real time to protest and she still hadn't asked him to be her friend yet (still wasn't sure she could), but she could indulge herself just this once, couldn't she?

Oh, who was she kidding, everyone was getting a hug when they were awake and well enough to get one.

Kim pulled away after only a few seconds, figuring that forcing it on him any longer would be cruel. Beaming, she went on talking. "Good morning. Glad to see you're awake now. How are you feeling? Still tired or do you think you're up for good? You sore or anything? Need something to eat or drink? Wait, you did just ask for Jell-O. Right. I have no idea if there is any here. Is there any here?"

The last question was directed at Izzy and Gambit as Kim twisted to look at them. Admittedly, Jell-O would be nice for her too. She was really hungry.

"Hey Ki-...I....Hey....."

Trevor awkwardly worked his way through this one of Kim's famous hugs, trying to get a word in without offending the girl. When she had finally gotten it all out of his system and completely missed the part where he didn't really want Jell-O, Trevor turned his attention to the other guys in the room. He grew bored of looking the room over. He had done so enough that he was sure he wasn't being monitored.

"What hospital are we in?"

"Ain't no hospital, Trev," Gambit chimed in, "we at the Xavier Institute. Y'all are stayin' in the infirmary right now."

"The....Institute......Get the hell outta here!"

"Hes' telling the truth, friend," Izzy tuned in himself, "Been about three or four days now. You weren't too bad, just tired. We wanted to give you a safe place to get your strength back."

Trevor nodded. "Great. So....where are they?"

"Where are what?"

"The samples of my blood. Where you keepin' 'em, sunshine?"

"I'm...pretty sure they didn't need to take any samples of your blood?" Kim told Trevor, somewhat confused. Where had he even gotten that idea from? He'd simply been exhausted from the fight, there would be no reason to take any of his blood at all. Maybe they'd given him a saline drip to keep him from getting dehydrated or something, but Kim was pretty sure they hadn't even done that, and that was giving something, not taking it from him. What reason did Trevor have to believe they'd taken samples of his blood, and why was he concerned about it?

Unless this was the beginning of one of his freak-outs. Which it probably was.

Hoo boy.

"I....you're lucky you're.....ummm....you, Kimmy," Trevor said, stunned almost into silence by the second dosage of Kim's....uhhh...what was the opposite of intelligence? Non-intelligence? Sure, he'd go with that. He didn't outright trust anyone in the room, but there were a few checks on the list that he could cross off to make himself feel a little more comfortable. No jabbering, energy-sucking psychopaths with weird angsty girl sidekicks? Check. Actually being alive, for one? Check. Friends and family accounted for? Che.....

Where was the ninja?

"I don't see Cam anywhere. Is he....."

"Couple a rooms down, mon ami," said Gambit through a yawn, "He got banged up worse dan de rest o' y'all, but I been keepin' a good eye on 'im."

"And whose been keeping an eye on you, N'awlens?" Trevor responded with an eyebrow quirk. Gambit was a true definition bad ass and Trevor's jaw could attest to that, but he looked like a stray breeze's yawn could flip him over twice.

"I get it. I look sleepy. I get some sleep in a bit."

"Right....and you are?" Trevor eyed out the odd man he hadn't encountered before.

"Izzy."

"Right...." Trevor nodded, then smacked his lips together, "Whelp. I wanna TV. I haven't had TV in a year and I want TV."

Izzy chuckled. Typically, someone would request a bathroom or a drink like Kim had, but this guy had his priorities set.

"I'll make sure to let someone know. In the mean time, Kimberly. I think it's time to get ready to go."

Trevor craned his neck to Kim, "He calls you Kimberly?"

Kim laughed. "Well it is my name, remember? I know I introduced myself that way. Cam just nicknamed me Kim so I guess it grew on you all too and you call me that instead of Kimberly. Which, don't stop. I mean you can if you really want to, but I like being Kim to you guys. Well, Kim and all the nicknames you have for me instead. And heeeeeeey, you called me Kimmy! An actual variant of my actual name! What do you know, I was starting to think you not doing that was a running gag or something."

She laughed again, then gave the room and its occupants one more quick look-over before responding to Izzy's comment. "Yeah, probably should start heading off. Bye, Trevor, please say hi to the others for me if they wake up before I get back. I'll see you...actually, I don't when I'll see you again. How long do you think we'll be gone for, Izzy?"

"Everybody gets one, kid," Trevor cracked a sly smirk, and crossed his arms over his chest, "now go do whatever it is you're going to do. I have a year of cheap soap operas and cartoons to catch up on."

Izzy chuckled a bit under his breath while Trevor spoke. He wasn't used to his kind of...well....everything. When Kim questioned him, he rubbed the small beard on his chin as he thought. "No later than a few days, I reckon. Two to get there, two back. We can ask the group leader when we meet up." He guided Kim back into the hall, before turning back over his shoulder.

"Have a good one, Trevor."

"TV!" Trevor called back.

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The main entrance of the institute was as grand as any castle one had seen before. The craftsmanship did not end here, but in fact enhanced. Two staircases curved along the walls down onto the black and white tiled floors. A large crystal chandelier hung over it all, shimmering like a ring on a fair bride's finger.

In the center of the foyer a group was gathered, their bags all around as they checked on the contents, making sure they had everything. A young, blonde man nudged the brown-haired young woman to his right, prompting her to rub the point of contact on his ribs.

"Quit it, Bobby!"

"It's called a love tap, Kitty!"

What a dweeb. Kitty shook her friend at the boy's gesturing, to which he frowned slightly, slouching his shoulders before going back to his pack-checking.

A bit from them stood another girl, about the same age of mid-to-late teens, and of Chinese descent. What separated her from them further, however, was he attire. While the others were dressed in less-assuming colors like blues and blacks, she wore a pink cut top with a long yellow coat over that, just down to her black pants.

"All set, Jubilee?" A gruff voice asked. The girl, now identified as "Jubilee", looked up and nodded, responded with a cheery "Mhm!"

The source of the voice entered from hall under the staircases. His oddly spiked hair and long sideburns paired with the hair that protruded from under his brown leather-jacket sleeves suggested something animalistic. He wasn't the tallest of men, but the aura about him was more intimidating than any man they had met before.

He sniffed the air, turning up toward the approaching Kim and Izzy as if he had sensed them long before they had arrived. He grimaced.

"We've been waiting on ya, Knockout."

Izzy responded, "Sorry, Mr. Logan. She wanted to see her friends mighty awful."

"That so, huh? Doesn't matter now, you're here." Logan said, placing a hand on his side. As the two approached he examined Kim to the smallest detail. He leaned a little closer, his form looming over her.

"So you're the kid I'm bringing to her family get together?"

Izzy jolted slightly; he couldn't believe he had forgotten!

"Kim, let me introduce our team leader for the trip. This is Mr. Logan. They call him-"

"Wolverine", Logan interrupted. "Now we know each other. Great. Now get what you need, we should've left already."

Kim beamed. "Nice to meet you! I'm ready whenev-"

The heavy slap of boots against tile drew her attention mid-sentence. Kim twisted to look behind her, and found while the sound had stopped by the time her eyes landed on the source, it was replaced by quick breaths. A girl stood in the hallway entrance, one hand against the wall and the other holding a strap of her backpack, panting like she'd just run a mile under a hot summer sun. She was average in height and Filipino in descent, her black hair just long enough to curtain her face. When she looked up, her eyes were such a bright grey they seemed silver.

"Hey. I know Kurt was supposed to come but something came up, and Kainoa was supposed to come instead but they wanted me to go, and it was all pretty last minute so I might be late but here I am."

"Elf's playing hooky?" Wolverine grunted, visually displeased, "well....you got your stuff. You ride with Knockout and the newbie."

With that, Wolverine reached down and snatched up a bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Alright, pack it in! We're on the road in ten!"

He disappeared out of the front door.

Izzy chuckled. That was Wolverine for you: gruff but he was sure the other side would come out on this trip. As the rest of the mutants made their way outside, Izzy turned his attention to the newcomer.

"Howdy! I guess you're ridin' with us, ain'tcha?" He held out a hand, "Isaiah Hendrix. Pleasure."

The newcomer returned the handshake, quietly amused. She knew she wasn't the most noteworthy person, especially considering the variety and number of remarkable people who called the mansion home, but she'd called it home herself for more than two years now, and had thought that everyone knew her by name if nothing else, as she did with all of them. Izzy in particular she remembered passing in the hallways a number of times before, as well as sharing a few classes with him. Maybe she had less presence than she thought. "Mira Ortega, now also Flashback. Pleasure's mine."

"And I'm Kimberly Neumann!" Kim added when when Mira released Izzy's hand, holding out one of her own. "It's really nice to meet you!"

Mira chuckled before taking the hand, aiming a small and oddly fond smile up at her when she did. Kim noted that Mira's eyes were not grey, but actually bright, bright silver, so bright that she wondered how she'd been mistaken at all. "Nice meeting you too. I've heard a lot about you, good to finally put a face to all the stories."

"Yeah, I hear me and my friends were a hot topic." Kim responded, shooting a playful grin at Izzy. "Hopefully you didn't hear anything too incriminating or embarrassing or whatever."

"Only good things, I promise." Mira said, pulling her hand away to cross her arms.

Kim nodded. "Awesome. It's no fun if I make a fool of myself to someone expecting it. Anywho, you said your name's also Flashback? What do you mean by that? Like is it a nickname? Is it a code name you picked for your gift, like mine's Survivor since I basically can't get hurt or die? Why Flashback? Can you travel through time? Or is it-"

Mira held up a hand before Kim really took off with the questions. "Hang on a minute. I don't mind answering any curiosities you have, but first we better go and get all settled before someone gets grumpy. Er. C'mon, sooner we get there the sooner we can get started."

"Oooooo, I am holding you to that. Let's go!" Kim replied before grabbing Izzy and Mira's hands and racing outside as fast as her legs would take her.

As they exited the mansion, their traveling situation became that much clearer. A Jeep with large tires, green in color, with some bags already placed in the back with more being carried over by the young man, Bobby.

"Whoa, Bobby, I can get that!" Izzy said, jogging over and grabbing some bags from Bobby with far more ease than the smaller young man. Bobby let out a breath he had been holding while carrying the bags, looking around to make sure none of the girls....especially Kitty, had seen. Izzy dropped the bags into the back of the vehicle, before turning back to Kim and Mira.

"This one's mine. We'll be riding her down. Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee will take another car."

As he finished, another engine roar cracked through the air. It grew louder until a motorcycle, black in color, rode into view and to the side of the group. On it sat Wolverine, a matching black helmet upon his head. He reached up, pulling up the visor so his face could be seen.

"Let's get going."

Kim, seeing as there was nothing she could really do to help, beamed excitedly and hopped into the back of the jeep. Mira threw her bag in to the back of the car with the rest of the stuff before doing the same. When the two of them were buckled and settled in, Kim looked at the other girl and began firing off questions. "So your codename is Flashback? That sounds really cool! But seriously, what do you do? What's your gift? Does it have to do with the name or is it unrelated? Does it have to do with time? Or maybe time travel? It sounds like it would have to do with time or time travel. What-"

Mira laughed kindly at the barrage of curiosity. "Whoa, slow down there, one at a time. I'm not going anywhere. Oh, but first, here."

She pulled something out of her jacket pocket and tossed it at Kim's face, who caught it reflexively. It was a granola bar. As if on cue, her stomach growled. Loudly.

"You haven't eaten since the night before the Blackbird picked you up, right?" Mira asked with a easy smile. Her eyes were grey again. "That should help at least a little."

Kim searched back in her memory and found that Mira was right. Her last meal was the dinner before they had met up with Blitz and the girl and the other guy and gotten picked up by the jet. She'd skipped breakfast that day for whatever reason, and hadn't had anything else since. "Hey, wow, you're right! How did you know that?"

The easy grin stretched a little bit wider. "Let me answer some of your questions with one of my own. Do you know what psychoscopy is?"

Kim nodded slowly. "It's...it's when you touch something and you see that thing's history, right?"

"Right." Said Mira, also nodding. "That's my gift, psychoscopy. Except it's not just things for me. I can touch people and relive their lives, see all the things they've done and gone through. I did it to you earlier when we shook hands. Sorry, my control's still not perfect."

"No, no, it's cool! It's super cool!" Kim replied, practically vibrating with excitement. The idea of people using their gifts on her didn't bother her in the slightest, even when it came to knowing her life or thoughts. Their gifts were a part of them, after all. So long as they kept her secrets to themselves, she really didn't mind. "So that's how you got the name Flashback?"

"Yeah. That, and my eyes kind of glow when I do it." Mira said, then tapped the shoulder of her jacket. Her eyes went from grey to a blinding silver, then back to grey again.

"AHA! I knew I saw them two different colors! I wasn't crazy!" Kim cheered, pleased to have that confirmed. "Hey, how do-"

Her stomach suddenly let loose another resounding growl. Kim glanced down and poked at if, as if that would do anything.

"Maybe eat that now." Mira suggested, gesturing to the granola bar, amused.

She did.

The caravan of young mutants took off not much later after the granola bar was consumed, a chorus of engines and the slightly too loud playing of 80's pop music from the car of Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee. A quick glance over the shoulder would give a view of the Xavier Institute, while grand in scale in every possible way, shrinking at even increments before disappearing into a flat grass, and then into the woods.

They drove for a few hours without much talking. Well....aside from Kim.....and Bobby.....Jubilee.....ok so everyone except Wolverine, who kept his place at the head of the pack, occasionally drifting a glance from side to side just observing.

They hit open road shortly after, the highway doing their travel some favors as they began the multi-day trip to Georgia. The hum of country music on the jeep's radio was accompanied by the tapping hand of Izzy, going back to his hometown in his head for a little while.

"Always love a good trip!" he said.

Kim nodded in agreement to Izzy's statement. "Yeah! Trips are great! What sort of trips have you guys gone on? Did you have any favorites? When my family all still lived in Georgia we used to go to the beach every year. Those were definitely my favorite. It was never the same beach so it was always super fun and interesting to explore, and I love the ocean to bits. Probably my favorite place to be, I never wanted to leave. Dad would always call me a waterbug because I refused to get out of the water until the last possible second, and Mom freaked out because I would go out too far or stay underwater for too long. It was really fun. Man, I miss it now. Hope I get to go to the beach again. Oh, but yeah, what about you two? What sort of places did you go to?"

"Eh, my family wasn't really the traveling type." Mira answered with a shrug. "And this is my first real trip since coming to the institute. What about you, Isaiah? Gone anywhere interesting?"

"Not counting the trip to the Institute? Can't really say I have. Couple sports trips here and there."

Izzy scratched his hand as they continued down the path, taking in a deep breath of the fresh country air. It was crisp and refreshing in a way he had missed since moving into the Institute. The woods around the mansion were nice but still, there was nothing like the country.

"Reckon I was too busy helpin' my Dad and practicing to go on road trips."

Mira nodded at the answer, thoughtful. Maybe she should have said the trip to the institute was her most interesting one, but it hadn't felt much like a trip to her. It had felt like...coming home.

Kim, of course, took the short response and gave a monologue in return. Or rather, she would have if her motormouth didn't let loose a sudden, giant yawn.

"Still tired? You oughta take a nap. It's a long way to Georgia and there isn't much for us to do on the way there but sit and wait." Mira said, chuckling.

"I shouldn't be tired!" Kim protested, pouting a little. Mostly because she was tired and didn't want to be. "I just slept for three days straight and I only woke up a few hours ago! I shouldn't need to sleep yet!"

Mira just hummed in response. Then, she began humming a very familiar lullaby, just loud enough to be heard with the country music playing.

"Oh you cheater." Kim whined through another yawn, dropping her head back against the seat. Her eyes closed against her will, and soon enough the song and her lingering exhaustion pulled her back into Dreamland.