Nightscrawlers

As I plot away at the neverending fanfic, it occurs to me that I don't recall seeing ol' Chuckles ever having a secretary. Granted, he's a mega-genius and has all this space-age equipment, blah blah, but even before we all had computers, did he ever have someone to type his notes, keep his secret docs secret, take his phone calls, etc etc? I can't imagine any kind of executive or head of school back then NOT having one. And if not, was it ever explained WHY he didn't? I mean, yeah he's hiding a bunch of super-powered teen vigilantes and all, but ... to keep up appearances at the very least, and to take off the burden of normal social demands (writing letters, screening calls, doing errands, keeping the books, ad infinitum) so the Prof can zip around fighting malevolent entities and so forth instead of dealing in picayune details.

This is one reason I am not a good writer. I come up with too many questions and spend time trying to solve them instead of saying "Continuity be [insert curse word of your choice]ed, full steam ahead!"

I thought it might be funny if Elise comes to interview as a secretary but ends up wheedling a job as a cook, where she could hide in the kitchen like an introvert instead of having to wear girly clothes and deal with {shudder} people all the time. That started me thinking, and I don't know enough X-lore to know if Chaz ever had a plain old secretary. In a fantasy universe, one needs certain small elements to convince the reader that, yes, this could be YOUR universe. Like Mutant Baseball: it's so normal that it reminds us the X-men are simply kids.

Imagine the spin-off fics we could have: a traitorious one; a mutant who thinks she can hide it from the world's mightiest telepath; a secretary who makes comments on her cell phone to her mother-in-law about the students; a ditzy type who isn't even good looking but has immense charm ... ah, the possibilities astound one!

So -- when, if ever, in canon or Marvel AU's or animated series or movieverse, did the Prof have a secretary?

Now I'm not an expert or anything, but I don't seem to remember he ever had a secretary. It seems like he didn't have to bother with much of the "paperwork" at the beginning, and then later on I think either one of the X-Men or Moira McTaggert ended up helping him with that stuff. As far as I know there wasn't a secretary.

However, I think it would make a lot of sense if he had one, or if Elise interviewed to be a secretary and ended up becoming cook. OR even better, she got the job as secretary but then somebody tasted her cooking and insisted that she become the cook.

If you're good at researching, the X-Men database can be found here http://marvel.com/universe/X-Men

I would assume he'd simply make people believe the proper paperwork was there with his mind. That way, everyone thought everything was good and there was no real paper trail for people to follow back to him and the school.

But then again, he's got all these kids and adults of varying ages and whatnot. Free labor to do his typing and filing! Bwahahahaha!

Hee, that was my first thought, JS. All those students have to be good for more than just saving the world...

We have it on record that at least three times, Kurt himself took on the responsibilities of making and taking phone calls for the school. As for paperwork, who knows?

Yeah, one of my shortcomings is that I tend to OVER-think any story I write, even short-shorts or flash fiction. It seemed ODD for him to not have someone, though.

I will ponder this as I wash dishes ....

Overthinking? Not at all. It's refreshing to see overthinking being a problem in concocting a good story.

I definitely agree with Ange. Do you have any idea how many soppy/sappy/random/OOC fanfics are out there? We readers are GLAD you're over-thinking the way things work - accuracy makes us smile.