It had been a good day. It wasn't too hot. The mansion was pretty quiet now that everyone was settling back into the pace of the school year. He seemed to have found something to at least put off the whole go-to-college-and-find-a-career deal, if it didn't prove to be as long-term as he expected. Whether or not it proved to be long-term might have something to do with him getting better at being able to hit people, awkwardly enough. At least he had been able to improvise as needed up until now, even if he really needed to learn how to use something more versatile than something he had taught himself to use entirely because it looked cool and was hard to draw. Great logic, that, but it had done the trick so far.

And then he'd spent an entire day reading in various corners of the library, meandering through different sections until something caught his eye, reading for a while, and then moving on. That had been wonderful, right up until the moment that his brain broke.

Why did it break, exactly? Simple.

He had taken his sunglasses off while reading at some point, and he couldn't find them.

So now he was running around the library, doing his best to dodge the few people hanging around this late in the afternoon, and desperately trying to remember all the different places he had spent time at previous points in the day. His sunglasses had to be at one of them, right?

Evelyn loved libraries. She loved the smell of them, she loved the books, she loved reading, she loved the books... Even after getting attacked in the danger room by several of her favorite novels, she still had an affinity for the written word. So, it wasn't surprising that she was in the library, when most people would probably rather be outside. She could have probably been training or working on her self-defense, or something of the sort. But reading just seemed a lot nicer. And at least for a little bit she could tune out the echoes.

[Panicked figure, thin frame, dark hair. Identified, Aiden.]

The appearance of the younger mutant took her by surprise, and she looked up from her novel to peer at the figure. For once, he wasn't sporting his sunglasses, and it took a single glance for her to identify why he normally wore them.

Really? THAT was what he was so worried about?

Sending the echoes out across the library, she pushed her hair from her face while they skimmed the corners of her vision for his glasses. "If you start where you were reading last you might find them quicker... Most people set them on the shelf then accidentally put the book in front of them when they put the book away." She remarked calmly, trying not to startle him.

Where oh where could they be? That corner looked familiar - had he been there today, yesterday, or last week? Nothing. Gah! Oh, what about there? Hadn't he just read that book? No sign of the sunglasses.

Um, was that someone in front of him?

Aiden stopped short, gradually realizing that the stranger in front of him wasn't completely unknown. And then eventually that she was talking. "I looked there," he said, quietly but with a certain degree of desperation before blinking abruptly and dropping his head. Ohgodohgodohgodhestaredatherwithoutsunglasseswhatwasshethinkingnow

... Okay, apparently nothing? He slowly peeked back at her, his nerves fighting to try to close his right eye. ....What? This was... what'shername. Something like Eevee. It had been a while. She... didn't seem to be staring? Oh. She probably couldn't stand to look at it. That was all. He figured.

Evelyn hated being around stressed out people. The emotional feedback crashed into her head like a wave of information, as the echoes struggled to assess and process every movement. [Panic, confusion. Looking around, can't remember. Eye contact, fear, realization, embarrassment, nervous...] Whoooaaaa this kid had some anxiety going right now. At first she wasn't sure why, but gradually the echoes sifted through the situation and pinpointed the correlation with his suddenly exposed eye. It was if he expected her to be judging him about it or something...Which was odd, considering where they were.

Evelyn blinked slowly, and scanned the room, mentally backtracking the memories she had of Aiden. Rather than confront his behavior directly, she decided to focus on his main concern: the glasses. It took a second, her eyes taking on their subtle silvery color before she pointed to a bookshelf. "Last time I remember seeing you with them was over there." She announced. Then she turned back, letting her eyes fade back to their blue color.

"You know, you really don't have to wear those all the time." She was fairly certain this was a repetitive argument, but it was always worth another shot. She tucked her book under her arm and reeled her echoes back in. She was still stuck over where the echoes were certain the sunglasses were. She was half-tempted to let him get them now just to get the voices to shut up.

He wasn't sure if it were better or worse than staring, the way Evelyn was looking everywhere but at him. Why oh why did this have to happen? Why couldn't he have just not lost his sunglasses, left them on his face where they belonged, not had to deal with all of this?

What? Oh, Eevee-lady was ta- wait, she remembered seeing him with them? As she turned back to him, eyes darkening, he flinched away and tried to figure out which bookshelf she was pointing at. Why did people always think that pointing made everything clear? He couldn't see his sunglasses on any of them.

He was paying a little bit more attention when she spoke again, and stared at his feet awkwardly. Sure, repeat that old story when she couldn't even stand to see it herself. How was that for good advice? She might as well suggest that he not wear clothes all the time. He shifted awkwardly. "I'd really rather," he muttered.

Evelyn was trying to be polite, but Aiden only seemed to be stressing out more. He flinched and moved like a squirrel in the middle of a road, uncertain which way to run and hide. Then finally, he was staring at his feet awkwardly, and she sighed, rubbing her temple to clear the echoes clouding her thoughts.

"You really need to relax, is what you need to do. Honestly, do you want me to stare at your eye? Do you want me to ignore it? Do you want me to throw you your darn sunglasses? Because I don't care one way or the other. Really I think you draw more attention to yourself with them on than you do with them off anyway. There are plenty of people with visible mutations. People are only going to be as comfortable with them as you are." The words came out in a string, and she worried she was going to verbally bulldoze the poor kid. But his distress was clouding the room that was originally peaceful, and her book was getting drowned out of memory.

Not that she really could forget what she was reading, but the mood...the mood was gone.

Aiden stilled at Evelyn's words - okay, froze, but not out of terror. Really! He was much too busy trying to work out just what she meant.

She... didn't care? At all? Seriously? Then why the looking everywhere else? Did... did it really not bother her? Aiden shifted. Aversion and disgust he got. He could understand that. Not getting around to reacting in the middle of a match, a bit more of a stretch but still understandable. Not realizing that that particular part of a shifting colouration wasn't as temporary as the rest, that was quite understandable.

But just not caring? That undermined a lot of what Aiden felt. If people really weren't going to react, was there really a reason to wear sunglasses all the time, to stumble around in the dark just because he was hungry in the middle of the night but might very well run into someone again?

... It would certainly be convenient to not wear sunglasses at night. He shifted, not quite daring to look at her, just in case he was wrong about what she said, what she meant. "It... doesn't bother you?" he asked hesitantly, somewhere along the line managing to at least glance at her for more than a fifty thousandth of a millisecond.

Gradually, Aiden's body language changed. It seemed he was finally getting what she was saying. There was a flicker of hope, doubt, disbelief, but less fear and not quite as much nervousness. Generally, he just didn't seem to believe what was happening. But then, he looked up!. For a single glance he was not trying to tell what his shoes were made out of.

[Plastic, fabric blend, rubber base. Untied shoe lace.]

"Why would it bother me?" She responded with a tilt of her head. "Heck, my eyes change color. I've met sewer mutants with giant tales and claws and eyes to match. If I started getting bothered by that stuff, I'd be bothered for a really really long time." She shrugged, and put her book back on the shelf. She'd come back to it later. It didn't seem like she would read much more today.

Evelyn's eyes changed colour? Aiden blinked at that, startled into looking at her again, and for longer. They didn't look unusual to him. He scuffed one shoe against the floor awkwardly. If they did change, though, that would probably mostly explain her reaction. Probably. He wasn't so sure about the sewer people stuff, though. Did people, even mutants, really live in sewers? And he supposed it would be worse to have giant claws than it was to have weird eyes. Harder to hide and harder to do everything; he could just imagine them catching on everything.

"I guess..." Aiden sighed a little. Even if part of him knew she was right, he couldn't just change the entire way he acted or felt about his mismatched eyes. Not all at once, and he wasn't convinced that just knowing Evelyn was right would actually change anything at all. "It's just... well..." He tried glancing at Evelyn again but couldn't hold it. "I just... I don't want people staring at me, and I guess... I guess I'd rather they think I'm weird and wonder why then know why." He shrugged and shifted again. Talking really wasn't his strong suit at the best of times.

Evelyn wasn't sure he believed her about her eyes. His eye contact seemed confused, then there seemed to be a small bit of doubt. Considering they were pure blue now, that didn't seem surprising. She honed her echoes in on him though, directing her powers enough the color started to fade again and the grey started to reappear. "Hey, it's not like you have to change all at once. But don't make yourself miserable for no reason."

She shifted, admittedly also not the best at conversations like these. But the feedback from her echoes was encouraging her to continue, so she tried. "If you wear your sunglasses, what are people going to think? Well, they could assume you're a little stuck up. People who are 'too cool' to take their sunglasses off indoors do the same thing. But your body language doesn't reflect that. They could think you've got something to hide, and that doesn't necessarily mean your eyes. People who don't give eye contact can by lying and keeping secrets and can be dishonest. People could think you have bad eyes. Which could just make you seem weak and vulnerable. But what's the worst they can assume if they see your eye? Maybe you got in an accident, they're curious. Maybe you're a mutant, they're curious. Maybe they think it looks cool. I think you create more negative reactions with than without them." She let go of the string of words, and shifted to the side, straightening a few books the echoes noted were out of order.

"Aren't you trying to be an x-men?" She added, glancing over her shoulder at him.

Hey! He was trying not to make himself miserable. He was getting a lot better at it too. He might still have room for improvement, but he at least didn't consciously think he was a pathetic bag of uselessness. This time his glance caught Evelyn's eyes shifting. Oh. Well, at least both of hers changed at the same time?

He sighed. He really didn't want people to think he was lying or blind, even if he was effectively blind in the dark, and he had enough other reasons not to be tough without people assuming other things on top of them...

She did not need to mention accidents, though. It wasn't as if his scars were invisible. They freaking glittered.

And now for the subject changes. Yippee. And that. Of course. Did she really have to bring that up right now? He fidgeted. "Yeah..." he muttered. "I'm just not an outgoing person, okay?" Okay, that was an impressive overstatement.

....not outgoing. Evelyn couldn't help it, she giggled and covered her mouth, muffling it into an unladylike snort. The fact that they were conversing how outgoing anyone was was ironic at best. "Seriously, I don't think you have to be outgoing. Or even social. Because I suck at that one. Just, be more confident in yourself. If you're paying attention to where your glasses are on the battlefield what good are you in a fight? I mean, we all have stuff we have to work on. Heck, I got voices in my head." She shrugged, and moved back to the bookshelf, picking up another book and flipping through the pages.

She didn't really know why she bothered though. It wasn't like she didn't know the ending...

"Just, think of it as training. Ignore them for a day. See if you shrivel up and die or not. If you do, I'll pay for the funeral. If you don't, you're one step closer to living in the daylight."

... Did he say something... funny? Aiden blinked at Evelyn. Why was she laughing? Seriously. What was going on?

At least she seemed to be willing to explain. Didn't have to be outgoing and social? Curious. Everyone always said that successful people had to be outgoing and social. There was something specific he could retort to, though. "That's not true," he said quickly. "I can fight without them. I- it's not as obvious then..." he trailed off. Maybe it wasn't as effective an argument as it had sounded in his head. Out loud it sounded pretty sad.

Her suggestion was intimidating enough to distract him, though. "Ignore them? For an entire day?" But... but... how was he supposed to do that? Really? He wasn't distracted enough to keep from wincing at the mention of funerals, though. He knew she was joking.. and she didn't know. Knowing that didn't keep him from rubbing the scar running along his arm, though. He'd managed to stop covering that for the most part, if spurred by common sense about preventing heat exhaustion. Could he extend that?

Aiden's logic was seriously flawed. At least, from Evelyn's perspective it was. The echoes were feeding off his body language still though, so she could understand where he was coming from, in a way. He didn't want people to think he was odd, but when he was fighting that didn't matter. Or maybe there was something about his powers then? She didn't really know what his powers were, so that was entirely true. Her eyes responded to her powers so that was certainly a possibility as well. Maybe it was a mixture of both.

[Distress.] The echoes changed direction with enough force to rattle her own thoughts. Most of the time, she stayed in line with her powers, so the echoes and her thinking felt the same. Redirection like this though always caught her off guard. One of her statements had hit a nerve on Aiden, and she backtracked to the point she noticed it. Funeral. Well, she would avoid making jokes like that for now. If there was a nerve in the mention of death and dying she needed to be careful. She really wasn't in the mood for all the drama.

"If you can fight without them, I bet you can do other stuff without them too. Give it a day. Watch T.V. Go swimming. Try something. You were reading already. Read. Keep your mind off it and you won't even realize they're gone." She was only partially convinced of that, but he needed to believe it if he was going to get anywhere. Sometimes, things like these were just like birds leaving the nest. You just needed to give them a good kick.

Go swimming. Really. That was her suggestion. It was not impressive. At all. Really, swimming. "Have you ever actively tried keeping your mind off something?" he asked flatly. "The more you try to distract yourself, the more you think about it." Personal experience was a wonderfully horrid thing. "I've been there." And it did work eventually, but she didn't need to know that.

Even if he did give in and just do as she told him to do, he wanted to at least have his sunglasses, though. They were safe, and safe was lacking around here. And in the world in general. The world was not a safe place. It never had been, but it did definitely seem to be getting darker and nastier these past few months. Was that just him paying more attention, though? His attention had definitely been stretched beyond his little hometown, no matter how much he tried to keep his head down and just get by in here.