Stranger In A Strange City, the mansion days (open

Indira nodded thoughtfully at Shana's comment. "Staying away from groups of people is one way to deal with it. But you're less likely to get cornered by the vicious ones and pulled down if you're in the middle of a crowd. And eventually you'll probably want to go out shopping, and unfortunately there's not much you can do then to avoid people."

Shana turned and walked up an inconspicuous driveway. Apart from a discreet metal plaque naming the School, there was nothing to set the place apart from others along the road. She pressed the button on an intercom system. "Hello, I have brought someone with teaching inquiries," she said somewhat hesitantly.

A voice crackled out of the intercom in reply. "I'll be right there. Please wait."

Shana let go of the button and stood back. Indira took the chance to look around. The driveway was blocked by a tall, wrought-iron fence, and flanked by a stone wall which wrapped around the grounds. On the other side, Indira could see wide-open grassy lawn, trees, a basketball court...

Shana turned back to Indira. "Really though, this place is great. No one makes fun of me or even cares I'm different."

"That's great," Indira smiled. "Everyone deserves somewhere they belong, and I'm really glad that you've found somewhere you fit. Thanks again for showing me the way over here, Shana." She hesitated. Shana wasn't anything like Kiri, but she still made Indira feel a bit of the older sister. She rummaged through her bag. "Listen, whichever way this job thing goes, I'm going to be in New York for a few weeks. I know we only just met, but if you wanted a 'big sister' to back you up in the crowds and go clothes shopping or something, I've got a cell phone while I'm here. And it'd make me feel better if someone local knows how to contact me if there's a city-wide emergency, eh?" She scrawled her phone number on a scrap of paper and offered it to Shana.

A young man exploded out of the front door of the mansion and ran towards the gates. "Sorry I kept you waiting!!" he puffed as he pressed a button to open the gates. "Got caught talking with the language teacher in the hall."

Oh, they already have a languages teacher... Well, they might still need a dedicated ESL teacher. And speech and reading therapy, well... At least I know I can do it.

"And you are?" The Asian man offered his hand, then seemed to remember that it was in a cast and switched with an apology. "My name's Shin!"

Indira took his hand and shook it firmly. "My name's Indira. It's nice to meet you, Shin."

Some people say language is like a growing tree. With each new conversation topic, sentences branch, find roots. Even now, verb structure struggled in the fresh soil of the moment, pushing out a mild 'nice to meet you too' with a firm handshake. Shin's cursor hovered over three options.

*Ask about self
*Ask about credentials
*Ask about... tea.

“So tell me… do you like iced tea, Indira?” He tilted his head as he questioned, wheeling an affable smile down from his stockpile as he read the reaction on her face. “I was thinking we could go swing by the kitchens and get something to drink before the interview. Think of it like a secretary asking the applicant if they’d like a Coke. Except this secretary partakes in the occasional glass of tea before interviews, and just caught his breath…”

He glanced at Shana as she started to leave. "Bye Shana." He gave a light wave. It was nice to know helpful people still stuck around. He turned his attention back to the Indian woman for an enlightening addition. "I was thinking interview, tea in the garden? That okay with you?"

>>"That sounds wonderful, thank you." Indira replied.

Shin grinned. “Tea in the garden it is, then. Like the Mad Hatter’s party, except I’m not wearing a hat.” He swung up his cast professionally to point the way. It took all he had not to march ahead.

The grounds were rarely silent as Shin led Indira towards the front doors. It was too late in the day for the birds to be singing, too early for the students to be running around. He matched pace alongside her, with his left hand on his cast arm, keeping it steady. He turned to face her, walking ahead of the woman blindly as he replied. His left hand rose in a closed fist. With each teacher's name, another digit sprung out to announce the count.

"The mansion has approximately 11 teachers on-staff. There’s Sam, our self defense teacher, and Raina, who teaches Musical arts. We’ve got Bond, who teaches literature, Hazel with the Math, and Miriam with World History... and that’s just counting off on one hand.” He snapped his raised left hand shut and brought up his cast up with a grin... a bit of a disappointed grin, all things considered. He swerved back onto the path a second later, nearly tripping over something on the ground. "We also have Chi Hay, who teaches our language classes, and his wife Rawlie, who teaches Computer Basics… All that’s left after that are our science teacher, religion professor, and the guy who teaches arts and crafts. You shoulda seen what Arnie made last Christmas. I was worried the tree would fall over once he set down that papier-mâché star!”

He spun around to walk ahead of her, hands clasped behind his back. A few big steps towards the front doors, legs snapped together, he turned to face her, face straight as the Mona Lisa’s alignment on the museum wall. “As for students taking classes here, but living elsewhere, it’s more common than you’d think. We don’t require people to board here to learn here. Dormitory living doesn’t rub well with some. There are sure to be a few who live off on their own.”

“Thank you,” Shin smiled as he pressed past her into the main hall. He stepped over the frumpy red carpet that often tripped him, and stopped to answer her question in the center of the room under the glass chandelier. Charles Xavier’s picture hung on the wall nearby, eyes locked dead ahead on Shin’s back… it was almost as if it was watching them. “Doc Prof currently handles the mansion’s infirmary. Alex was recently hired to be his aid. As for counselors… well, Raina seems to help us out whenever someone needs a good listening ear.” Shin paused a second, and tried to hold his chin… but it was a bit awkward with his off hand, so he just looked silly. Did the mansion have any psychologists? He really didn’t know. She’d stumped him. His reply came slowly, almost apprehensive. “I… don’t know …about psychologists, I mean. I don’t think the mansion teaches psychology courses… that’s more ‘college-level’. We just have teachers for grades K-12. As for students with English as a second language…” More foolish chin-holding followed. He looked down at the carpet, biting his lip. Hmmm… his eyes lit up for a moment and he held up a finger, then slowly lowered it and went back to thinking. “We’ve… certainly got a lot of students.” He said after a moment. “And I know some of them have trouble with English. I couldn’t give you any names off-hand, but I can at least tell you that.” He locked eyes with her hopefully. Would that be enough?

“Might I ask which position you’re applying for? Or what you have in mind…?” He suddenly realized they’d already started the interview before he’d gotten them their drinks and frowned. He raised a finger. “Hold that thought. Follow me.” Shin tromped down a side hall and pushed his way into the kitchen. He held the door open for her all the gentlemanly charm in the world.

The kitchen was relatively average. The sort of kitchen one could serve many students in, with a table or two, chairs, and a counter. The fixtures looked to be in good condition, and the whole place was spotless. In front of the kitchen counter, an open counter stood with a bowl of fruit in the center, and some fresh flowers. A bouquet of assorted flowers added color to the room with their reds, yellows, and blues. On the fridge, a few stray drawings were pinned down by magnets. Happy crayon cows and tree frogs danced under a Technicolor sun. Shin swung the fridge door open, and picked up a blue plastic pitcher. He walked over to the table and sat down. Iced tea trickled into a tall green glass.

“Pull up a chair,” He stated, and pushed the glass over to her side of the table. “Now you can answer that question from before. While you’re at it, tell me about yourself.” He finished pouring his own glass and folded his hands in front of him, waiting patiently for her reply.

Shin listened carefully, slowly sipping his tea. Indira was from Canada, a college graduate with qualifications for teaching English as a Second Language and helping students with learning problems. The mansion currently only had one teacher to help with the latter, and a very busy language teacher who didn't specialize in ESL. "There's certainly an opening for an English as a Second language teacher at this school..." Shin held his chin. His words chipped away at his own uncertainty with a slow and reasoning tone. "And it wouldn't be too hard to convince the higher ups it's something we need. ESL is a different kind of program than what the language teacher currently teaches... and you say you'd had experience dealing with students with reading or understanding problems? Raina's currently double-booked as our counselor and our music teacher. I'm sure she'd be glad to have a bit of help in teaching students with needs."

"As for further questions, I have only this: What are your opinions on mutants and humans?" They could handle boring resume stuff later. This question would be far more interesting...

Once upon a time, Shin had witnessed mutant cruelty in the confines of his elementary school. At that time, he’d not known what to think. Indecision rocked his world. Later on in his life, he made a point to never be indecisive again. ‘If you aren’t sure of yourself, what in the world can you be sure of?’, he reasoned. Time and again, this human bigotry against mutantkind showed its visceral fangs. When his own powers awakened, the people who’d pursued him, so quick to decide death was his only fate, had abandoned that line of thought. They’d kicked in his chest and left him in a grimy alley, bleeding. Even the rats had abandoned him that night. It seemed they’d thought him being a mutant was punishment enough.

History showed this problem’s relevance in society with the mutant registration act he’d been so lucky to have missed. He’d overshot the timeline, hadn’t activated until it had passed. Still, he wondered how he would have fared had his powers been active at the time. It sounded like Hell. Hearing it from people… hearing it from one of his closest friends, Ghost.

That was tough… he liked Ghost. She seemed nice. To think she’d been put in such a place by humans. To think humans had torn down her shop… it tarnished his view of the world.

At the time, when his powers were fresh, not quite tested, her and Arielle and Sam and Streak had been there for him. He’d put on a bold face for the world. Inwardly, he still didn’t know. He hated that feeling. When Ghost’s bookstore, Full Circle, fell as the target of an anti-mutant riot not too soon after his arrival at the mansion… it was hard to think of that time. Seeing the worst of humanity, the best of mutants helping other mutants, he’d felt a connection. A connection he couldn’t break, wanted to pursue. He wanted to help the world… show people what good responsible mutants can do, fight the good fight, do something. Maybe he could be someone’s shining knight in armor of gold? Maybe in this world he could be a Savior in the Dark.

GARO… a laugh edged its way into the back of his mind at the image of the man in blazing gold with the wolf’s head. Maybe not. But the point remained. He couldn’t stand idly by as other mutants’ worlds were torn asunder. He couldn’t let Ghost, or Cody, or Devon, or anyone suffer or be discriminated against. Not if he could help it.

Not again.

Mutants or ‘classic’ humans or however Indira put it didn’t matter. Life was life, and people were people. Even if one group treated another like trash, there were others who’d feel sorry, understand, or try to live good lives and lead by example. The world didn’t have to end with one group defined as higher than another. It didn’t need violence.

To quote Gandhi, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

And so he agreed with Indira’s first part of her statement. He nodded silently and let her speak.

“That’s true,” He interjected as she continued into her second burst of speech. “People often create terms to demonize their enemies, and create a sense of ‘otherness’ that allows mistreatment to occur. Maybe terms that acknowledge this otherness could be used more sparsely. If people didn’t shirk the blame on the downward spiral in their life and put it to them being ‘mutants’, we’d have more people taking responsibility…” But it would be difficult to get society to change the terms they used to refer to themselves and/or others. He fell silent again, letting her finish.

Shin sensed a bit of bitterness in the last statement. He gulped. It certainly sounded like a fair topic to be bitter upon… “Unpalatable,” He agreed. “But it sounds like you can understand others’ pain. This school’s students have witnessed more than their share. Anti-mutant violence, terrorism, mean-spirited protest… even the US Government’s ‘Mutant Registration’ act set a legal precedent for mutants. One that should have been self-evident from the start. Unnecessary cruelty to a group is unacceptable. An injury to one is an injury to all.”

Shin paused for a second, thinking of what next to say. “Miss Indira…” He started slowly. “What do you think of the statement ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one’?” Ugh. He hated quoting Spock here. It was bunk when Spock said it, and the logic-freak knew. Heartless Utilitarianism was far too pragmatic for Shin’s taste…