Room 408, Monday Morning

[reicicled]

While the lack of heat hadn't bothered Bobby so much, the lack of electricity was starting to get annoying. So he was kind of relieved when he woke up Monday morning to a drastically warmer room.

So after plugging in his phone to charge (and getting that email about class being canceled), he-

... Got distracted by the tiny little animated hockey game happening on his window, apparently.

Neat.

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[refused2berescued]

The lights went on and Uma groaned, burying herself under all of her accumulated blankets, which included all the blankets that had originally been on her roommate's bed.

"No," she declared. Uma was not at her most charming in the mornings.

Except with the heat, 'all the blankets' was quickly becoming 'too many blankets.' Boooo.

[reicicled]

"Electricity's back on!" Bobby supplied. Super helpfully.

[refused2berescued]

Uma was tempted to throw her pillow at him, but then she would be out a pillow. "Noticed that," she mumbled. "Heat, too."

That second one was much appreciated. It had gotten stupidly cold in here. Even colder than usual and Uma hadn't been sure that was possible.

"Thank fuckin' Neptune for that."

[reicicled]

"Right, the heat, yeah," Bobby nodded, maybe wrinkling his nose a bit because he'd found the chill comfortable thanks.

[refused2berescued]

Yeah, but people who were susceptible to things like 'frostbite' and 'hypothermia' sure didn't.

Unfortunately for Bobby, Uma had been peering out of the depths of her blanket nest and saw that little nose wrinkle. "What was that for?" she asked.

[reicicled]

"Um, I... like cold weather better than warm," Bobby said, trying to make it sound like this was totally a normal opinion to have. Which, okay, granted, plenty of people enjoyed snow and the like. Probably fewer people willingly gave up warm blankets when the heat went out during below-freezing weather, though.

[refused2berescued]

That was true and from her own expression--at least, what little could be seen--Uma was doing a few calculations to that effect, too.

"That why you gave me all your blankets?" she challenged.

[reicicled]

"Yes?" he tried.

[refused2berescued]

This was enough to get Uma out from the covers because Bobby clearly needed to be on the wrong end of some truly epic side eye and delivering it from a blanket cocoon would just lessen the impact.

"There's running hot," she told him, "and then there's deliberate courting frostbite. I didn't think about it before because I was freezing but there's no way you could have been fine sleeping in here with no blankets."

[reicicled]

Bobby opened his mouth, ready to attempt to deflect yet again, and then just kind of... sighed. "You're right. Or you would be right, if I were a normal human person."

[refused2berescued]

"A normal human person?" Uma repeated, hand going to her mother's necklace hanging around her neck. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't that. "You mean...you're not?"

[reicicled]

"Nope," Bobby said. "I'm a mutant." And yes, while logically he knew there were plenty of people on the island who had no idea what that meant, it was hard to overcome years of dealing with negative reactions to that particular proclimation. So he was visibly bracing himself.

[refused2berescued]

"Okay..." Uma said, nodding. "...What's that?"

And maybe silently chewing on some information of her own.

[reicicled]

"People who have, um. Powers," Bobby explained. "Some of us are born with them, for some they don't show up till we're a bit older. I can. Well. I control ice." More accurately, he actually was made of something called 'organic ice', but this was a relatively new development that he was still processing himself.

[refused2berescued]

"Oh," Uma said. "You mean like magic and stuff?"

That, at least, was familiar. "Lots of people on the Isle used to have magic. It doesn't work there, but you don't stop being a seawitch just because your magic doesn't work."

As soon as the barrier fell on the Isle of the Lost, Uma knew her mother would be right back to turning people into seaweed and stuff.

"...I have powers, too," she added quietly.

[reicicled]

"Kinda like magic," Bobby nodded. Sure, it was technically genetics, but honestly he didn't even really understand how that worked. Hank McCoy he was not.

"What can you do?" he asked, curiously.

[refused2berescued]

"Not much," she admitted. "Nothing worked till I got off the Isle. Made a gown out of my old clothes. Enchanted King Ben. Turned into a..." She stopped and looked up at him, more hesitant than he'd ever seen her. "I dunno if you'd believe it if I told you."

[reicicled]

"Turned in to a what?" Bobby asked, leaning forward. He had friends who turned into all sorts of things, Uma! He'd totally believe you.

[refused2berescued]

"Something like my mom," Uma hedged. "I dunno if it has a real name?"

She played with the edge of a braid. "Might be easier if I showed you. But it couldn't be here. It's, uhhh. Big."

[reicicled]

"Down by the shore somewhere?" Bobby suggested. He glanced outside, at the still snow-covered ground. "We could wait until it warms up though, maybe," he added. Reluctantly. Because he was super curious now.

[refused2berescued]

"There's a pool downstairs, I heard," Uma said, because she wasn't sure waiting was going to do her nerves any good. "We could go there? I sorta need water, too, yeah."

[reicicled]

"Then let's go look for the pool," Bobby said decisively.

[refused2berescued]

"Maybe it'll even be warm now that the power's back on," Uma said, dragging herself out of the blanket cocoon that she'd made. She was even dressed, in that she'd gone to bed wearing every article of clothing she had in an attempt to be warm.

Her other form didn't really feel the cold in the same way, but she'd have to get into the pool first and didn't want to screw up and get hypothermia while trying to shift.

"I, uhh, only did it once before," she added as they left the room. "It might take me a couple of tries?"

[reicicled]

Bobby shrugged. "I only have one class today and it was cancelled, so I have lots of time."

[refused2berescued]

"Just don't want you thinking I'm lying if I can't do it," Uma muttered, clomping down the stairs loud enough that her words were nearly drowned out.

Hope you were enjoying this peek into Uma's insecure side, Bobby.