Mind & Emotion

[Lana Kane]

He told her that she wasn't screwed up but really, how could he know that? Had he seen so many mutants that he just knew how to fix them or was he just a glass half full type? He even explained a bit about his own powers, telling her that he sometimes did not know his own thoughts from others. Alright, she could see that. How he might understand her powers because of his own. Maybe he could help her. Try to sort this out, and learn to get a stronger grip on what she was dealing with.

Pausing at something he said, it took her an extra second before she stepped into the lift. "Wait, shielding?" She asked looking over at him. "You sayin' I could shield others out?" How did that even begin to work?! If she could block out then she could find it easier to be in more control while in crowds--something she avoided because of that very reason. Turning so she was facing him while the lift moved, Lana tried to see how honest it was since she couldn't feel him emotions.

"How'd you learn to block others out?" She had the feeling that his training would not be throwing a knife at her head, but she could see why Magneto's training worked. He make her feel the fear enough to deal with it. She still wasn't fond of that training, but it had helped it. She could respect that. It did leave the question of how he would train her. "And Just so ya know, I wont try to dig too deep again. If ya know, it's hard to keep up or somethin'."

[x]

She didn’t quite believe him, not that Charles could exactly fault her for that; had their positions been reversed, Charles would have had a hard time believing he wasn’t half as screwed up as he feared, too. So many minds, so much power from such a young age...Charles hadn’t had many options at his disposal when he was manifesting. It was either learn to control it or go insane trying. And there was little he feared more than one day losing control entirely and his telepathy turning against him, as it was so easy to do.

“Wait, shielding? You sayin’ I could shield others out?”

Charles nodded as he pushed himself into the lift.

“Yes," he confirmed.  "With a bit of training and practice, you would be able to better handle being around more and more people—something of a necessity in this day and age, I’m afraid. Humans are very social creatures, and we mutants are no exception. We need community to get on successfully in life, so proper shielding is a very useful tool.”

“How’d you learn to block others out,” Lana asked, curiosity as to his training methods coloring her words. “And just so ya know, I won’t try to dig too deep again. If, ya know, it’s hard to keep up or somethin’.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I shield near constantly,” Charles assured, hitting the button to take them up to the older students’ dormitories. “If I didn’t, I would have likely gone insane years ago. So many minds, so many thoughts...shielding really is the only option I have on a daily basis. As such, it isn’t as draining as you may think, at least not for me, and it’s become reflex, second nature.” 

He did make a point to lower the intensity of his shielding, however, and returned it to normal levels.  Not that he was overly worried; it would take a telepath of far greater strength and skill than Lana to truly take him by surprise.

As for how he learned to shield...well, he didn’t quite know how to explain that. His powers had been present since birth, but only in a small, basic form. They had grown and expanded without his intention or consent until he’d had a final and massive ‘growth spurt’ at only nine years old. He’d spent no less than a week in his room, clutching a pillow over his head and biting back screams as the dim voices he’d always heard increased into a deafening roar. It had been shield or die, his hand forced and it had been nothing short of a miracle that Charles had managed a functioning shield at all.

“Though, I wouldn’t quite recommend how I learned to shield; it was all quite sudden, something of a sink-or-swim sort of situation, with an equal chance of both success and failure,” Charles said as the lift moved. “For you, I would recommend beginning by envisioning a wall between your and the world around you. A glass wall, preferably; the goal is to make crowds more tolerable not to isolate yourself from the world, after all. It will take time to perfect and strengthen, but I’ve found visualization to be a rather effective tool.”

[Lana Kane]

He called them 'social creatures' and Lana raised her eye brows. He made them seem like something off one of them animal documentaries, but he didn't make it seem like a bad thing. He was even trying to point out how they were like humans--something the Brotherhood had frowned upon. Lana had come to believe they were better the humans, and she still felt that way. Apart of her even believed someone had to stand up for them, or the humans would begin to kill them off one by one. Yet she wasn't willing to be that person. Her powers hindered it, and she wasn't willing to die for a cause she only half believed in. It was why she left Magneto int he prison to rot, and the others hanging high and dry mid escape attempt.

“Thank you for your concern, but I shield near constantly,” Bloody hell that sounded tiring. To have to constantly be doing that. It again made her wonder at how strong he was. “As such, it isn’t as draining as you may think, at least not for me, and it’s become reflex, second nature.” Either he read her mind or he had been planning to say that, but either way he'd answered her question. So it cost him little now. "How old are you?" She blurted out, trying to see how long he'd been doing this. 'Years' had all he hinted too, but she wondered how long he'd been doing these things for.

“Though, I wouldn’t quite recommend how I learned to shield; it was all quite sudden, something of a sink-or-swim sort of situation, with an equal chance of both success and failure,” How else would she learn then? Magneto had thrown knifes at her head. "You gonna make me read a how to book?" She teased, trying to get an idea about how he would train her.

“For you, I would recommend beginning by envisioning a wall between your and the world around you. A glass wall, preferably; the goal is to make crowds more tolerable not to isolate yourself from the world, after all. It will take time to perfect and strengthen, but I’ve found visualization to be a rather effective tool.”

A glass wall? Like a window? Ok. A window. Lana thought about a window, and tried to even think about it between them but her imagination really was limited because it almost felt silly. Did she think about a window or a sheet of glass? Did she think about the words to a real glass? She could feel him now, and still feel him even while thinking about glass. Was she feeling him because she was trying to see if she could or was she just not shielding herself?

What ev. "I will work on that." She said dismissively, not sure how this would work for her. His powers were different, so why would the same things work? "Maybe when I got less on me mind."

[x]

"How old are you?"

Charles blinked in surprise. Well, that was a question he hadn’t honestly expected. It wasn’t exactly one he’d had to answer since his time at Harvard and then his early years in Oxford.

“I’m twenty-eight,” he replied, though he would be twenty-nine before too terribly long. Oh, he was just over a year away from thirty. That was something of a depressing thought. He’d hoped to be settled into a comfortable teaching position, preferably Columbia. Never once had he imagined he’d be in the process of setting up a school for mutant children, nor that he’d be doing so paralyzed and minus his sister.

“I will work on that,” Lana said, though he could sense that she was having something of a difficult time with how he explained shielding. “Maybe when I got less on me mind.”

“Would you perhaps care for a demonstration?”

A demonstration could be useful for giving her a better sense of what he meant. While shielding in itself was a relatively simple concept, it could be a tricky one to accurately describe. Different metaphors worked for different sorts of people and it could be difficult to apply one technique to a mind that it didn’t quite sync with. For Charles, there was no better metaphor than the glass wall. He could envision a glass wall that kept him separated from the rest of the world. It wasn’t a total separation, as he made sure he could still hear the low hum of the minds around him—honestly, he wasn’t even sure if he could manage to completely wall himself off from the world; his telepathy was such an interwoven part of him that shutting it off would likely be akin to losing a limb. However, it kept him from nursing a never-ending headache.

Well, at the very least it was worth offering.

[Lana Kane]

“I’m twenty-eight,” Not as old as Magneto, but shite! it was older then she wanted to be when she figured all this out. She could feel the slight shift in his emotions when he answered, and could read that easy enough. You had to apply some logic to people when trying to figure things out. When he said his age there was a shift, so clearly he thought himself old, or there was something else attached to his age.

Age wasn't so important to her, not when she'd been on her own for so long. She had felt the emotions of her parents when they spoke about being anti-mutant. Lana had left shortly after so she'd never have to feel what they would feel should they find out. To her, age was more about how one acted; and in that respect Xavier was older. At least when he was serious. When he had laughed at her he had seemed younger, but in the other times he seemed older then he was. Even in his emotions. At least to her.

“Would you perhaps care for a demonstration?” "A whot?" She asked, coming out of her thoughts, and trying to figure out what he meant. A demonstration? "Yeah?" Lana asked more then agreed out right. She was game, even if she had no idea what he was about to do. She knew she could show other's her powers so maybe he could too? The few times that she had let others feel the chaos that she felt they had been left in an confused emotional state, and rocked either back or fell to their knees. With that in mind, she braced for whatever he was about to hit her with.

[x]

“A whot? Yeah?”

Charles could sense the slight pause of hesitation, the uncertainty of what a demonstration might entail. It took a great deal of trust to allow a telepath to demonstrate anything involving his or her mutation, whether Lana consciously recognized such or not was another issue entirely. It wouldn’t do to give any reason to weaken her trust in him; an brief explanation would probably be best.

“Just a simple demonstration of what I mean by ‘glass wall,’” he explained, the elevator doors opening. He pushed himself out of the lift and waited for her to follow.

“All I will do is create a temporary glass wall between you and the rest of the world,” he continued. “I won’t cut you off from your powers, but I will place a degree of separation between you and the minds around you.”

Lana’s own mind offered up memories of moments when she showed off her own powers, when she let others experience the chaos and confusion she’d grown accustomed to. Her own experience made her tense, had her bracing for the unknown. The tension might make the brief separation a bit difficult, but he’d been in minds braced for pain before. He’d been in minds filled with pain and rage and such violence that the force of it all knocked his breath from his lungs. Lana was simply wary, and wary was much easier to work with.

“It’s nothing that should cause you any harm or stress, though if you feel at all uncomfortable please inform me immediately and I will stop.”

[Lana Kane]

“Just a simple demonstration of what I mean by ‘glass wall.’ All I will do is create a temporary glass wall between you and the rest of the world,” "You gonna put me in a box?" She teased, but there was still an underlying nervousness to her words. She didn't know what to expect from this. “I won’t cut you off from your powers, but I will place a degree of separation between you and the minds around you.” Which explained some of what to expect but it didn't ease her nerves any. Nodding, Lana tried to relax--however her powers of emotional control dind't work on herself. She she was left feeling what she couldn't help.

“It’s nothing that should cause you any harm or stress, though if you feel at all uncomfortable please inform me immediately and I will stop.” "Right." She agreed, growing less talkative while waiting for this to happen. They were in a hallway now, but she had not looked away from him to take in her surroundings. Instead she took an inventory of what she could feel--the emotions. Someone was homesick, but there was a light feeling touching it suggesting they weren't sad about it. There was another one that was stressed, and focused. Another one rolling through many emotions, and all of which Lana could connected to having a crush on someone and trying to talk to them. There were more too. She could feel all the kids here. Staying in a building with them was going to be hell if this training didn't work. "I'm ready. Wiggle ya fingers or twitch ya noise." She joked, as if they were the key to making his powers work.

[x]

“You gonna put me a box,” she asked, her tone teasing and Charles chuckled before continuing.

“Right,” she agreed once he’d finished.

He could feel her reach out with her powers, getting a sense of their surroundings. That was probably for the best, just so she could feel the difference between living with a proper shield and going on without one. Charles let his own mind branch out a bit, feeling the minds of his students as they went about their lives.

“I’m ready,” Lana said. “Wiggle ya fingers or twitch ya nose.”

He smiled and put his fingers to his temple. "Very well, Lana; just take a deep breath and try to remain as calm as you possibly can."

Charles visualized a glass wall surrounding Lana, taking care to untangle her mind from those of his students. For as much as he called it a glass wall, he built it in the same manner one would build a brick wall: piece by piece, cementing the fragments together until they became a cohesive, viable unit.  He adjusted the transparency of the shielding so that Lana would still be able to reach out and utilize her abilities, but she wouldn't have to deal with the constant cacophony of emotions beyond her own. 

Once he finished, he withdrew, lingering only enough to sustain the wall.

Now, tell me, Lana: what do you feel?

[Lana Kane]

Xavier put his fingers to his temple, and Lana made a joke of "That's not your noise." Before falling silent. Because she could feel him doing something. Inside her head. Slowly the chaos of a building full of pre-teen and teenagers on whatever mood swings they were hitting at the moment were fading away. The torment of emotions disconnected from her, and then there was a silence. One she had never felt before. It was almost unnerving. This quietness inside her. Instead of the contrast effort to ignore the others there was nothing. . . . and it almost made her feel empty. Alone. Which almost made her feel a panic.

Yet at the same time, she felt something else. Something akin to peace after years of living with knowing everything someone was feeling. Never once had she been able to turn it off. There never had been a moment when she'd not felt at least a handful of other people. Awoke from their nightmares. Cried from their heartbreak. Laughed at a joke she was took far away to hear. Now, tell me, Lana: what do you feel? Her eye moved to his, before lowering again while trying to absorb everything. "stop." She said softly, before speaking it louder in her mind 'Stop!'

Moving a few steps over she put her hand on the wall to bare herself from the emotions she was feeling at the silence inside her, and when the emotions came back, Lana turned so her back rested on the wall. Sliding down to sit there, she drew up her knees, and was silent for a moment. When she could speak again over the everything she had felt, Lana looked back up at Xavier, and felt sure for the first time since leaving the Brotherhood. "I want to stay and learn." To block it out, to use her powers better. "I'll do whatever you want of me."

[x]

There was a fleeting moment of panic as Lana learned the meaning of shielding. As he pulled back and kept the shield in place, he caught glimpses of her past: the emotions of others affecting her in her dreams, wrenching tears from her eyes, making her laugh.

A part of his mind went back to the years he spent learning to shield. How he would respond to comments not yet voiced, how he answered unspoken questions, how he would burst into tears when someone else was choking them back. He sometimes would dissolve into giggles when one of the servants thought something particularly humorous; he could feel the anger of those around him and it took such a long time to learn how to placate his own emotions. For him, finally figuring out how to shield had been such a relief that he had broken down and cried.

Lana was older, more in control of her reactions than he had been as a child. It was still a shock—a massive one, from the feel of it—but she wasn’t about to break down crying. For Charles, that was victory enough.

“Stop,” she said, softly. Stop!

The command was loud, almost too loud, but Charles immediately withdrew, taking care when he removed the shielding. Let it down too quickly, and he might cause her a bit of undue pain.

Lana braced herself against the wall, sliding down to a seated position and taking a moment to readjust to the maelstrom of emotions. Charles waited patiently, keeping a soft handle on her mind so that he could properly react if something was wrong.

“I want to stay and learn,” she said, looking back up at him. “I’ll do whatever you want of me.”

Charles nodded and offered her a smile.

“I’m glad to hear that, Lana. You have such a great deal of untapped potential, and I’m quite certain that you will prove to be nothing less than fantastic.”

He shifted in his wheelchair and leaned forward, holding out his hand.

“Now, shall we continue on and get you settled in?”

[Lana Kane]

He smiled, and Lana could feel his emotions just enough to know that it was an honest one and not a false one. “I’m glad to hear that, Lana. You have such a great deal of untapped potential, and I’m quite certain that you will prove to be nothing less than fantastic.” She'd been told of her potential before, and the words had come with honestly, but an slightly eager self serving one--or so she would learn later. This one . . . this one was not touching any emotions that could be connected to an motive other then what he had already promised her. Help.

And no one had called her fantastic before.

He shifted in his wheelchair and leaned forward, holding out his hand to her. Lana looked at her, aware that she hated to appear weak. It's why she didn't cry before others--even now when she was over whelmed. She never let others help her. Yet his emotions were so purely good that she wanted to let him. “Now, shall we continue on and get you settled in?” And she feared she'd only end up a disappointment to him, because that was how she always ended up.

Reaching up she took his head, but did most the work of standing herself, using his hand as more symbolic then her need of aid. "Lead the way, school teacher." She joked, trying not to let on what all this was doing to her, even though apart of her was aware he might already know. "I'm your student now."

Clearing her voice with a muted cough, Lana spoke again. "So, you got rules at this school I should know about? Besides don't hurt the little brats?" She called them little brats but it wasn't spoken in an unfriendly way. More of a tease really.

[x]

Lana was a proud individual—a mere brush against her mind would have told him that—and how she accepted help was indicative of that. Charles could work with that pride—it wasn’t a new concept to him, after all—and with any luck, the two of them could use that pride to help Lana’s control improve.

Her mind was a bit of chaos from it all, and Charles was left a bit breathless with the aftershocks of her myriad of emotions. Pride, amazement, a touch of fear, and the overwhelming sensation that someone actually cared about her rather than just her abilities all swirled together in a powerful, emotionally charged cocktail from which Charles took care to shield not only himself, but the nearby students.

“Lead the way, school teacher,” Lana joked after she’d righted herself. “I’m your student now.”

He chuckled a bit and hummed in agreement before pushing himself down the hallway. The empath cleared her throat before speaking again.

“So, you got rules at this school I should know about? Besides don’t hurt the little brats?”

There was no malice in her moniker of choice for the students, so Charles let it slide with a half-chastising look.

“There are a few you should adhere to, yes,” he confirmed. “Mostly those involve meal times and lights-out, and as you are beyond the age of our standard curriculum, you are not required to attend classes unless you wish to. I will work with you when I am not teaching, however.”

Thankfully, most of the students who were in their dormitories were busy with other things, ranging from homework to interacting with their new friends, and so only a few noticed as Charles led Lana down the hall. Those who did were quick to ask after her, and Charles gave them a brief explanation—She’s a new student, nothing to worry about, I assure you.

“We try to keep meals as regular as possible here, so breakfast is at seven every morning in the dining hall—I’ll show you where that is—lunch is noon, and dinner is at five p.m., both also located in the dining hall. Lights out is observed at nine p.m.”

He pulled to a stop near a handful of rooms that were currently empty and tilted his head in their direction.

“Feel free to pick a room, Lana. There are about five rooms here that are currently unoccupied, so you do have something of a selection. Oh, also, do you have any belongings in your previous location that you’d like brought here?”

[Lana Kane]

He gave her a look, and Lana grinned, grateful for the return of whatever had been between them. The lighter joking air that didn't let things get too deep. That would come later with her training, so she didn't really need it now. “There are a few you should adhere to, yes,” His words only made her grin turn to a chuckle, as they continued down the hall. Of course there were rules. It was a school after all. “Mostly those involve meal times and lights-out--" Lights out? Really?

"--and as you are beyond the age of our standard curriculum, you are not required to attend classes unless you wish to. I will work with you when I am not teaching, however.” So he was a teacher too. What did they even teach in this school?

“We try to keep meals as regular as possible here, so breakfast is at seven every morning in the dining hall—I’ll show you where that is—lunch is noon, and dinner is at five p.m., both also located in the dining hall. Lights out is observed at nine p.m.” . . . seven in the morning . . . . . lights out at nine . . . . right. There was two rules she was going to break on her first day. "You're uh morning person, aren't ya?" Magneto had been the same way. He had drug her out of bed before noon on more then one occasion for 'training' and she'd struggled to get their on time. On the streets it was the nights you had to be awake for. She wasn't used to this AM stuff. "I'll see ya at lunch then," She joked, "Or whenever ya get of school."

“Feel free to pick a room, Lana. There are about five rooms here that are currently unoccupied, so you do have something of a selection. Oh, also, do you have any belongings in your previous location that you’d like brought here?” Lifting her hand she tugged on her shirt's collar and then shrugged, letting her actions speak for it's self. It was easier not to have people pity you when you gave a sarcastic gesture. The second you opened you mouth and said 'I don't own anything' you could FEEL the emotions drop to pity. She was even now waiting for it from him. "That one." She pointed to the door most away from the others. Not that the little space would do anything for her or her powers--crowds were hell, and teenagers were the worst--but she'd take what space she could get.

Walking into the room, she paused by the door and first checked to see if it locked. Then looked inside it. "oh shite," She muttered under her breath at the size of the room. Bigger then she'd had before other then the brotherhood's brief stay at one of Shaw's old places. Running forward she jumped on the bed bouncing a few times before hopping off. Oh how the rich lived. Such spender! One day she'd have something like this. Not a school but a big house. Away from everyone. "Not bad, school teacher!"

Walking back to the door, Lana looked at Xavier. "Yeah, you know . . thanks for this." She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, though to her it was. "What ev." Another shrug. And then to remove the awkward feeling of feeling the need to thank someone for their kindness, she decided to turn the table. See if she could tease him and make him blush. Though he was sort of hot, even if he said yes, she wouldn't make him turn the lights off. "I think I am going to have a bath. Care to join me?" Leaning forward she whispered, "Or is that against yer rules?" Or did he even work down there?

[x]

“You're uh morning person, aren't ya? I’ll see ya at lunch, then,” Lana teased. “Or whenever ya get out of school.”

Charles smiled at that; he wasn’t all that much of a morning person, actually. If he could, he’d laze about in bed until noon. He’d been that way since high school, when sleep became much rarer and therefore far more precious. (Oh, but Erik had been a morning person. Up and going practically with the sun.)

Her reaction when he inquired as to any other possessions was one he had been expecting. There was a sharp prickle in her mind against pity or anything resembling it before she gestured to the room farthest from the other occupied ones. He could understand the resistance towards pity; it wasn’t an emotion he particularly cared for, either. Charles fought the urge to shift in his chair. Pity was an emotion he hadn’t cared for before, but it had become one he loathed.

“Not bad, school teacher,” she called from the room, obviously impressed with what she found. He cleared thoughts of pity from his mind and focused instead on the more positive emotions.

“I’m glad it’s to your liking,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, you know,” she replied as she returned to the door. “Thanks for this. Whatev’.”

A wry smile spread across his face as he caught a hint of how odd it was for her to thank others, or to have anything to thank them for. What was akin to flipping a switch, her mind immediately went devious.

“I think I’m going to have a bath. Care to join me?” She leaned forward. “Or is that against yer rules?” Does he even work down there...?

“For God’s sake, Lana, there are children nearby,” he sputtered, unable to keep a faint blush off his face. “And besides, my dear,” he continued, quickly regaining his composure, “I fear, for the moment at least, you are my student. It would be highly improper.”

He beat back to desire to inform her that he still had partial sensation from his lower back to his mid-thigh, and it was only from the mid-thigh and down that he felt nothing. Of course, he hadn’t really tried it ever since he left the hospital. (He’d been too afraid to, too afraid that he was incapable of feeling enough sensation to actually—no, he’d been too afraid of being wrong again.)

Instead, he gave her a smile. “I’ll leave you to settle in for the moment. If you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask and I will do my upmost to accommodate. Enjoy your bath, Lana.”

[Lana Kane]

“For God’s sake, Lana, there are children nearby,” Her face split into a cheshire cat grin at his reaction. It was such a delirious reaction, and one she planned to enjoy again. She had not picked up any feelings of him wanting to take her up on the offer, and that was fine--but his blush and clear surprise at her words were ones she would enjoy over, and over again if she had her way. “And besides, my dear,” Lana leaned on the door jam while watching him, “I fear, for the moment at least, you are my student. It would be highly improper.” That was the point.

She debated on trying to think dirty things but decided not to press her luck on her first day. “I’ll leave you to settle in for the moment. If you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask and I will do my upmost to accommodate. Enjoy your bath, Lana.” Really now? "I did ask, and you turned me down." She teased, "You just let me know when ya ready to train me. Just call me down to your office, and I can be the naughty school girl and you the strict headmaster." She teased, meaning none of the words that came out of her mouth this time. She had not even planned to stay them, only wanted to feel the fluttered? emotions that hit him the first time.

Leaning back into her room, she looked down the hall and saw a teenaged boy watching them. Winking his way, she turned and walking into her room, letting Xavier be the one to handle that one. The first thing she did was lock her door. Old habits. It had her feel protected. Safer. As she walked into the room, she pulled off her coat, dropping it to the floor. Followed by her over shirt, and the tee-shirt under that, so she only wore the tank top, shirt and leggings. Pulling off her knee high boots, she left them as part of her trail too until she reach the bed, and dropped down into it, face first. The bath could wait. She knew it was best to sleep while she could.

[x]

“I did ask, and you turned me down,” she teased. “You just let me know when ya ready to train me. Just call me down to your office, and I can be the naughty school girl and you the strict headmaster.”

He laughed at that, sensing no actual weight behind her words. All she was after was a reaction, it seemed. He forced down thoughts of Erik, of the hundreds of little almost-moments from their brief time together when he’d almost thought that—no. No, he wasn’t going to think about it. Erik made his choice, and Charles was not meant for it. Best not to dwell on those thoughts anymore; he’d spiral into wholly unpleasant territory if he did.

Charles let her be, leaving her to her rest or bath or whichever she chose. He’d give her the rest of the day to sleep and settle in; they’d begin her training tomorrow, when she was rested and more at ease. He’d never trained anyone with mind-based abilities before; from what he’d gathered, Lana’s empathy was more akin to a low-level form of telepathy, much like how his mutation had once been. He’d been born more of an empath, able to sense and manipulate the emotions of those around him. It hadn’t been until he was nine years old when those emotions became words and fully formed thoughts and his mutation fully manifested as telepathy rather than just empathy. Lana’s mutation would likely not grow into telepathy, given the fact that she was already around twenty years of age. From what he’d observed, mutations only manifested at young ages, and whatever bits of power mutants unlocked later were more the result of testing their limits than actual manifestation.

He’d have to come up with a plan for her, figure out how best to approach her talents. Shielding was critical and had to take top priority; Lana needed to be able to put a bit of distance between her and the rest of the world if she was going to fully master her abilities. One cannot master swimming if they’re simultaneously in the process of drowning, after all.

We'll begin your training tomorrow, following lunch, he sent her as he returned to his office. Be sure to rest up; we need you as alert as possible if we want any degree of success.

[Lana Kane]

We'll begin your training tomorrow, following lunch, Lana, who had only just began to drift to sleep, pushed her head up from the bed and looked around. Be sure to rest up; we need you as alert as possible if we want any degree of success. "That's no annoying at all." She muttered, reaching for one of the pillows and burring her head under it. Reaching out with her own mind, she stretched it further then was naturally comfortable until she found the emotions she knew to be his. Taking a hold of them quickly she sent him a short, 3 second burst of 'giddy glee' mixed with 'excitement'. That alone could be her reply, and she could only hope he understood that while the emotions were pure she held a bit of sassy in the reply.

When she next opened her eyes, it was because of an emotion hitting her. It felt like slight panic, but amused at it as well. Her fist gripped the pillow for a moment while she adjusted to it, before looking around. Her shoulders tensed, for a second before her mind caught up to where she was and how she'd gotten here. Groaning she closed her eyes again. She was at a school! Bloody hell, just the though was enough to make her want to run away. Yet the memory of yesterday and the silence she had felt kept her in place.

What time was it anyway? Pushing her head from under her pillow she looked for a clock. Finding one beside the bed, Lana blinked a few times while looking at it. 12:30. She rolled over and stretched before she picked up on that it was light out--not dark. It was noon. "Oh shite!" She understood the emotion now, of amused and slight panic. She was late for lunch. Trying to climb from the bed, Lana became entangled in the sheets and ended up rolling right off the edge. Pushing from the floor she hurried to a door that she hoped lead to the wash room. "Dammit." Making a mental note to start watching her language while at the school, she spun around to keep looking.

It was half an hour later by the time she was fully dressed and standing in a hall a bit away from the dinning hall. She wasn't even close enough to hear the students, but she could feel the crowd. Feel the chaos of so many emotions in one place and thanks to many of them being younger they were all over the place. Highs. Lowers. switching between. Romantic, hurtful, fearful, gleeful, so very very many. "The hell with that." Lana muttered, before turning and going to find Xavier's office. She'd eat later, alone, rather then step into that crowd. How the hell did he block that?!

Turning down one halls she came to a dead end. Sighing deeply she went down another only to find an exit. "I need a bloody map." She turned again and finally found something looking familiar. Following a path she finally found the front door, before using that to trace her steps back to the office. Pushing it open, without knocking, Lana stood there a second looking in before reaching over to knock on the now open door.

[x]

Years ago, when his life was still tied to Oxford and freedom meant libraries and pubs and trying to charm lovely young women, Charles had been cheerfully content to let his family’s estate in Westchester rot. Any sentiment he’d borne towards the structure was clouded over by unpleasant memories and still fading scars. Returning to Westchester after Shaw’s attack on the CIA base had been a torment he willing bore for the sake of a safe place for the children.

And now, he couldn’t afford to let his own memories get in the way of transforming the mansion into the sanctuary mutantkind needed it to be. Erik was bound and determined to stir up a war between humans and mutants, provoking the situation until the only options left were death or survival. Charles wasn’t so naïve that he’d think Erik’s incarceration would mean anything. History was full of criminals continuing their work even when kept behind bars, and Erik was as clever and as resourceful as they come. No doubt he’d found a way to communicate with his Brotherhood and continue agitating human-mutant violence.

Setting up the school seemed like such a meaningless thing to do compared to all Charles had longed to accomplish, but, confined as he was to the chair, it was all he was capable of. He couldn’t go and seek out other mutants; they had to come to him, separate themselves from their lives and leave behind loved ones—possibly forever.

The few classes he taught were his primary source of enjoyment. He’d always enjoyed instruction, helping fellow students achieve their full potential. While he hadn’t planned on teaching elementary-level literature and science, it made the morning classes no less enjoyable. The children were all bright and inquisitive, asking all sorts of questions and forcing him to think of things in ways he might not have otherwise.

Charles sensed a brief spurt of panic as Lana woke up and realized exactly what time it was. He chuckled to himself before asking one of the staff if they would be so kind as to deliver a small snack tray to his office. If his intuition was correct, Lana was choose to forgo the dining hall for a later time when it wasn’t quite so crowded. He went back to his paperwork as he waited for Lana to arrive, catching a few thoughts of hers as she made her way through the building. (A map? Surely the estate wasn't so big.)

Roughly forty minutes later, the door swung open and his new student knocked.

“Come right in, Lana,” he said. “Feel free to take a seat; I just have one tiny thing to finish up and then we can begin. I hope you slept well?”

[Lana Kane]

“Come right in, Lana,” She let the door shut as she began walking into the office. “Feel free to take a seat; I just have one tiny thing to finish up and then we can begin. I hope you slept well?” "Well enough." She'd not awoken once all night. A locked door, and not having to watch your back did wonders for a night's sleep. When she was out there, she slept light and ready to move if she had too. Here she didn't known that no one could sneak up on her with the door locked. "Did you?"

Finding a plate of food in the room, Lana moved over toward, it and took it with her. Putting it on the desk beside where he sat. Then she walked around to the chairs before his desk and pulled it so that she too was sitting at the desk; beside him. Plopping down in the seat, Lana picked the food up and begin to eat it. "A mutant who can do about anything with his mind . . . . doing paper work." She teased, and looked over at him, eyes brows raised in amusement. Did he not find it mindlessly boring. "You should have a sexy secretary who dies that for you. I can play dress up if you want?" She was teasing him again, testing to see if yesterday was a fluke or if he could still blush. In truth she wouldn't be caught dead doing something so plain.

[x]

“Well enough,” she answered as she shut the door. “Did you?”

“I slept as well as I typically do,” he responded lightly.

It wasn’t a lie, exactly; back before Erik and Cuba, Charles often slept like the dead. He’d gotten into the habit of setting up shields he could sustain with his subconscious—a matter of self-preservation so that his sleep wasn’t compromised by the dreams and nightmares of those in a several-mile radius of him. After Cuba, however...those subconscious shields became much harder to maintain, nearly impossible, and Charles was finding himself jolted awake by one of the children’s nightmares. He always managed (just barely) to keep from projecting those nightmares and fears to everyone else in the house. In other words, the last decent night’s sleep Charles had had, unaided by copious amounts of morphine, had been the night before they left for Cuba.

Lana went straight for the food, and Charles smiled a bit at the confirmation of his suspicions. She dragged one of the chairs so that she was seated beside him.

“A mutant who can do about anything with his mind...doing paperwork,” Lana teased, giving him an amused parody of surprise. There were whispers from her mind, a bit of wondering how he couldn’t find it mind-numbingly boring. (Oh, he did.) “You should have a sexy secretary who does that for you. I can play dress up, if you want?”

He chuckled at the thought, flipping back and forth between several pages to ensure the information was accurate. She was, as always, after a reaction. Now that he knew what to expect, it was much easier to keep control of any hints of embarrassment.

“Lovely offer, Lana, I’m sure, but you and I both know you’d find such a position utterly untenable,” Charles countered, finishing up. “As for the paperwork...this may be a school for mutants but that does not mean that we are above the law. So, regrettably, paperwork. A wholly boring and tedious process, I’ll admit, but a necessary one in order to keep this place up and running.”

He jotted down his final signature and set the pen down.

“Well then, Lana, are you ready to begin?”