Jiri hadn't picked a public space to do this AMA in because the last member of the Mansion staff he'd interviewed had violently assaulted him with his own laptop before leaving him lying alone and injured on the floor. Anyone who said that was lying.

Jiri had chosen the dinning room because, ah, it was a new take on the school. One the internet hadn't seen yet. It was spacious. Had good woodwork. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Hogwarts tables. He was practically making them a recruitment video by shooting here. The classrooms had been boring by comparison, he didn't know why he'd ever wanted to shoot in one.

This choice had nothing to do with mild-mannered Maya Csendes being more violent than killer-of-hundreds Aura. Or the fact that he didn't think the Morris twins particularly liked him, and at least one of them had the power to trap a living soul inside of a mirror. The dinning hall was rather lacking in reflective surfaces. The tables were wood but not all that shiny, and the windows were more like spotlights at this time of day.

Complete coincidence.

Jiri set up his laptop. One of the hinges was rather well duck-taped, but it had otherwise survived its role in his attempted murder. He didn't blame the poor thing--it was just as much a victim as he was. His webcam had been getting glitchier and glitchier, but happily the very nice tech crew at Jaager Worldwide had given him one of their older models as a gift. 'Older model' at JW still meant 'much better than the one he'd had,' so it was a good thing in a round-about way.

Another good thing: while his face had been a little on the tender side, it had taken until now for the bruise to fully bloom. It hadn't been there during his other interviews, which was good. He cared what those people thought about him, and a giant purple welt on his forehead wasn't the impression he wanted to make. The Male Morris? Not so much. Let him think whatever he wanted, but every look Jiri's way would be a reminder that his teammate was clinically insane.

Maybe it would make him think twice before trying a similar stunt.

In this well lit, well trafficked room.

Lacking in mirrors.

That Jiri had picked by total coincidence.

...He just wanted to get this over with. He had another interview with a murderer coming up, and he'd like to live long enough to do it.

Maya walked down the hallway with the speed of a snail that was going to its own execution. She was supposed to do an AMA with Jiri, and if previous similar interviews were any indication, this was going to be worse than a root canal dole by Aura.
Yes.

She knew Jiri expected Gawain, and she took a small consolation in knowing that the kid had not figured out yet she was the same person. She would keep the pretense going as long as humanely possible. Just out of sheer spite.

She was not wearing the X-men uniform, but had an official school T-shirt, and her hair pulled into a loose braid (she would have to have it cut again soon). No way she was going to pretty up for the World Wide Weirodes.

Sulking into the living room, she noticed the kid was already there, setting up, and sporting a bruise. That made Maya smirk. Apparently there were others who liked Jiri exactly as much as she did.

"Hey there" she said, taking a seat at the same table and propping up her feet "Gawain couldn't make it. Out on a mission. But trust me, whatever he can tell the Internet, I can tell too. So. Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

Maya Morris Mirror, queen of alliteration and shooting teenagers who were just trying to help, showed up. Jiri had helped her catch a psychotic clown once. He hadn't been thanked for his trouble. Hadn't even seen her again, until now.

Which was just lovely, since it was her brother who'd actually volunteered to do this thing, and who the entire internet expected (or at least the parts of it that paid attention to the AMA times he'd been posting on Audubon X).

From the hastily tided hair and the Xavier's Sister School of Totally Not Hiding X-Men In Our Basement shirt, he guessed what was happening before the words even left her mouth.

Also, had she just smirked at his bruise? The one that had been caused when an X-Men had gotten mad at the internet and taken it out on a minor under her protection?

God, maybe Aura was right about this place. If his mom wouldn't kill him for moving into a homeless shelter, he really might have been tempted to go to the Sanctuary. The Mansion staff was full of lunatic child abusers.

"Whatever," Jiri sat across from her, busying himself with adjusting the camera to take the young woman in in all her irreverent glory. "At least I know I've got the responsible Morris. So do you have questions about this, or did your brother fill you in?"

Once any questions were out of the way, he flicked the camera on, and took them live.

"Hey, Internet. InvasionOfTheBS again. With Maya Morris, not Gawain Morris. Apparently they're interchangeable. You guys know the drill: I'm going to ask the starter questions, then I'll read from our charming audience. So upvote the good ones, and don't be dicks to the lady." Because that would be so awful. Yep.

"Could you introduce yourself, Maya?"

"What's your power?"

"What's your position on the X-Men?"

>>"Whatever. At least I know I've got the responsible Morris. So do you have questions about this, or did your brother fill you in?"

Maya smirked. Someone one day was going to write a totally useless Gender Studies paper on people's different reactions to Maya and Gawain. Maybe one of those weirdoes on the other side of the screen.

"I'm good to go" she nodded. Maybe she would have some fun with this one as well.

>>"Hey, Internet. InvasionOfTheBS again. With Maya Morris, not Gawain Morris. Apparently they're interchangeable. You guys know the drill: I'm going to ask the starter questions, then I'll read from our charming audience. So upvote the good ones, and don't be dicks to the lady."

Or maybe not. She almost chuckled at the 'interchangeable' part. She was almost curious how fast the collective hivemind of the Internet was going to figure that one out.

>>"Could you introduce yourself, Maya? What's your power? What's your position on the X-Men?"

"Hello" Maya said to the Internet "My name is Maya Morris. People call me Mirror... That's what I do, I am a short-range teleporter. I can walk through mirrors, and other reflecting surfaces."

And that was all she was going to give them to chew on.

"I am on the X-team" she admitted. People knew that already anyway, courtesy of Maxine "We work with the police on mutant-related crimes, mostly. And if you see big scary monsters wandering around Central Park, we usually take those down as well."

Or try to.

A total dodge on the what's your position on the X-Men question, he noted. So either she was trying to play dumb and not give the internet much to chew on, or she was lower than he'd thought. Maybe just a trainee. That gave him a little hope for the world.

Either way, this next question seemed appropriate.

"Are the X-Men supposed to be secret, or are they just secret-wink-wink? Because sometimes it sounds like you guys think you are but you're like five year olds holding frogs behind your backs and telling mom it's-a-secret-I-can't-tell. So level: do you guys think you're a secret?"

Unlike other people he'd done AMAs with, Jiri ignored the requests for her to demonstrate her powers. Refusing to read those was self-defense, pure and simple. Which left him with...

"What's on the other side of mirrors? Is there a crazy reverse universe where we all have evil twins?"

And the follow up: "Are you the evil twin, or is Gawain?"

>>"Are the X-Men supposed to be secret, or are they just secret-wink-wink? Because sometimes it sounds like you guys think you are but you're like five year olds holding frogs behind your backs and telling mom it's-a-secret-I-can't-tell. So level: do you guys think you're a secret?"

Maya's eyebrows ran up. She took a few moments to consider, and count slowly down from ten to ***you.

"Well, we work with the cops and wear bright blue uniforms, so obviously we are not that secret, are we?" she asked, rolling her eyes "It's not really the existence of us that's the secret. It is more like not telling mom if we have a frog behind out back, a lizard, or a hamster. Gotta respect people' privacy, even if their job is public, right? Working as X's makes us a target. We try to minimize the risk by not giving away everything."

She said that last part with a pointed look at Jiri. Talk about making people give away details that should not be out there...

>>"What's on the other side of mirrors? Is there a crazy reverse universe where we all have evil twins?"

Thank God for easy questions.

"No, it's more like a long hallway where all the walls are just made of windows stacked up. I can see a different place from each. I have not met anyone else in there yet."

>>"Are you the evil twin, or is Gawain?"

Maya rolled her eyes again. This was her game, she'd better play along.

"Depends on who you ask. We are not complete copies so... I'm gonna go with I'm the good twin, but that's also what the bad twin would say."

Jiri took this stunning opporutunity to roll his eyes at her pointed glare. Oh come on. Everyone knew the X-Men A) existed, and B) existed in Xavier's. And it wasn't like their costumes were so good that their code names were doing more to hide them than their spandex.

She wanted to get the questions away from the Mansion? Fine. There were plenty of personal ones lining up, especially now that people were having time to adjust to having a young woman on the screen instead of a young man.

For both their sakes, he ignored the usual take off your shirt.

Also, to be fair: her answer to the evil twin question was perfect. He grinned over the laptop at her before he caught himself, and re-directed his attention to the safety of the screen.

"Do you think there's a reason your mutation manifested like it did? ie Did you love Through the Looking Glass as a child or have a favorite mirror or something?"

"What is a 'Danger Room'?"

"You and Katniss are the last two survivors in the Hunger Games. You both have your bows and neither of you is injured. The battelfield is a forest with nothing super crazy going on. Describe your strategy for taking her down. PS: I love strong chicks with bows, keep rocking the heroine shtick." If that questioner realized the inherent sexism in his compliment, he didn't seem to realize it.

She caught Jiri's grin and chuckled at it. She had been a brat too, not so long ago. Sure, the X-team and a steady girlfriend made her more responsible, but that didn't mean she was a complete bore.

>>"Do you think there's a reason your mutation manifested like it did? ie Did you love Through the Looking Glass as a child or have a favorite mirror or something?"

Maya arched an eyebrow at the screen.

"Do I look like I spend a lot of time in front of mirrors?..." she smirked "My powers manifested when someone pushed me into a window in a street fight. I was about... what, thirteen at the time. My father was a teleporter of some sort, so... It makes sense I got a version of that."

>>"What is a 'Danger Room'?"

Maya glanced up at Jiri, her look promising another long talk once off the screen. Where the hell did they get that one?!

"It's a secure room we use to help people train with their powers without hurting themselves or anyone else. Think of it as very sturdy gym."

With lasers.

>>"You and Katniss are the last two survivors in the Hunger Games. You both have your bows and neither of you is injured. The battelfield is a forest with nothing super crazy going on. Describe your strategy for taking her down. PS: I love strong chicks with bows, keep rocking the heroine shtick."

Maya rolled her eyes. She had half been expecting that question.

"We already know that the dome can be taken down with a good shot and a length of wire. I think I'd team up with Katniss and try to find a solution that doesn't involve hunting each other. I love strong chicks with bows too."

Wink. Wink.

>> "Do I look like I spend a lot of time in front of mirrors?..."

She was witty, he'd give her that. Maybe she didn't totally hate him? That might just be her brother, being some kind of over-protective jerk on her behalf. Jiri could admit that Maya herself had a semi-decent reason to be angry at him after the last time they'd met, and also that she was being very cool in the here-and-now, so maybe she was over it.

He rolled his eyes at her heated glance. There were a million teens with computer access in Xavier's, and she was trying to blame him for the internet knowing about the Danger Room? He'd used it for Victor's AMA, but he'd made a point of not mentioning where they were. There was nothing saying that Victor hadn't been answering the AMA from the safety and comfort of a real beach somewhere else. Seriously, he was reading the questions, not writing them. He wiggled his fingers in the air to emphasize that point.

Also, what was with all the mutants who could talk about their childhood traumas in such blaise tones? It took him a second to even process what she'd said. A street fight when she was thirteen. Which pretty much implied that something crappy had been going on in the rest of her life, because regular thirteen year olds did not get into street fights that involved trying to push people through windows. That was just... messed up.

But not messed up enough to excuse her Hunger Games answer. Total cop out. He skimmed the questions, and didn't have to go far to find someone who agreed with him.

"Katniss doesn't think you can be trusted and still wants to kill you. Try again."

Her wink wink did not go unnoticed by the interwebs.

"Is it hard being a lesbian mutant woman? Is the mutant community supportive of the GLBT community?"

"Do you have a girlfriend and is she a mutant too?"

>>"Katniss doesn't think you can be trusted and still wants to kill you. Try again."

Sigh.

"You just really wanna hear how I would take someone down with a bow, don't ya" she shook her head leaned forward "Just like everyone who is well trained in my line of work, I shoot to incapacitate, not to kill. Maximum discomfort, minimum lasting damage. Hopefully that would slow her down while we figured out how to shoot at the people who really deserved it."

So there.

>>"Is it hard being a lesbian mutant woman? Is the mutant community supportive of the GLBT community?"

"Being a lesbian is actually pretty easy" Maya allowed herself a grin, sitting back again "I mean, there is some technique to it, but... Well. Yes. The mutant community knows a lot about being persecuted for who you are. It would be pretty sh*tty of them to pick on someone's identity when they are being bullied for their genes, right?"

>>"Do you have a girlfriend and is she a mutant too?"

Maya reminded herself that as long as people were distracted by petty gossip, at least they were not trying to hack Mansion security.
Unless they were multi-takers.

"Yes, I do have a girlfriend. Yes, she is a mutant too. Her parents, being incredible a**holes, disowned her for that, and for dating a girl. So, double a**holes, I guess." she looked at the camera "Feel free to quote me on that one."

Hello there, Mr. and Mrs. Summers.

Of course they wanted to hear how she would hunt another girl through the woods with a bow. Did Maya know anything about the internet? At least that answer wasn't a total cop out. It still didn't get into the spirit of the thing, but whatever. She was clearly in make-a-point-mode, trying to look all cute and pacifist for the internet. He wouldn't ask again. And, to be grudgingly fair, she practiced what she preached: he'd, ah, rather gotten in her head the other time they'd meet, and what she was saying now was probably exactly true.

Sticking to her morals on the internet. Again, did she know anything about the internet?

Her reply about acceptance in the mutant community was spot on, as well. Speaking as a Muslim who looked Muslim, coming to the Mansion had been... rather cool, in that regard. So far, no one had been jerks about his religion. Jerks because to him as a human being, yeah, but not jerks about his religion. He wondered if this was what White Upper-Middle-Class Christian Males felt all the time.

Oh god she mentioned lesbian and technique in the same thought. Yeah. No. He was going to have to institute parental controls on this AMA: clearly this girl was like Alex, and didn't fully realize what she'd gotten herself into.

Either that, or she was willfully baiting the internet.

...Yeah, he was going to go ahead and censor 90% of what he was reading on his screen. Though he did take a moment to dramatically facepalm, and give her a pointed look.

Next. Question.

Heh, this one was safe.

"The admin of Audubon X has a theory that Maya and Gawain are really the same person because you're never on the same X-missions together, and now you show up here instead of him. Prove that you're not or I'm getting my tinfoil hat."

"Do the police call in X-Men for backup and vice versa? How does that relationship work?"

"My cousin got arrested by an X-Man, how is that even legal?"

>>"The admin of Audubon X has a theory that Maya and Gawain are really the same person because you're never on the same X-missions together, and now you show up here instead of him. Prove that you're not or I'm getting my tinfoil hat."

Oooh, look at that. Someone was smart in there.
That, or someone was posting from the next room over.

"We are not on the same missions together because we take shifts. No one is on call all the time, unless the s*** really hits the fan. We have more or less the same skill set, so he can handle his own without me. Mostly."

The routine was like riding a bicycle: Years of pretending she was two people left Maya fully prepared to play the little "my bratty brother" game.

"I am not sure how you want me to prove it though. I'd have to locate him first. I'm sure tin foil hats are in this year, though. Have fun with that."

>>"Do the police call in X-Men for backup and vice versa? How does that relationship work?"

"The police has a Mutant Related Crimes Unit. As you know. If they need backup, they call us. If we happen to run into a situation on our own that requires an arrest, we call them, and hand the suspects over."

>>"My cousin got arrested by an X-Man, how is that even legal?"

"I highly doubt that" Maya sighed "We can hold people unless the cops show up to take them to MRC. We don't have jail cells or anything. We would have nowhere to put people. Plus we work with the cops, as I said, so they take care of the processing."

Dead horse. Moving on.

'More or less the same skill set' translated in Jiri's mind to 'don't stand next to mirrors when her brother was around, either.' Noted. Though he was starting to feel a little more comfortable with the idea of Maya than he was with Gawain. That guy had tried to shut down the AMA idea, and even when he'd agreed to it, he'd still pulled this at the last minute: totally bailing on things.

Wait, was that what this was? Had his sister caught wind of Gawain being a total flake, and come instead? He could practically see the argument that had lead to her stealing his T-shirt and marching over here instead.

...If that's what happened, if Maya had taken Gawain's place not because he'd asked but because he was a dick, then Jiri was grateful to her. And he was definitely going to keep filtering the worst of the internet. A young woman did not need to hear half this stuff. A young man didn't either, but that was Jiri's own fault for doing this.

"How is what the X-Men do different than vigilantism? Did the cops only agree to work with you because they couldn't stop you?

"Would you be comfortable if things were reversed and humans who specialized in taking down mutants were authorized by the police?"

...Heh. He'd allow this next one, even though they were clearly trying for something dirty. He wanted to see how she'd spin it back at them.

"So Invasion is filtering out the sexy questions. Think of the most awkward question you can and answer it."

>>"How is what the X-Men do different than vigilantism? Did the cops only agree to work with you because they couldn't stop you?"

Maya groaned and buried her face in her hands for a minute. People really wanted to go the serious route on this one. She'd rather be answering questions about her sex life. Although Evelyn might not be happy about that.

"We don't dispense justice. We just help catch people that need to be caught, protect bystanders, minimize property damage... For those of you who don't know some of those words: If there is a big ass turkey monster marching down the street to eat ya, I will teleport you to a safe place, then go back, shoot down the turkey monster, then find the mutant who is controlling it, and teleport him to jail. Clear enough?"

>>"Would you be comfortable if things were reversed and humans who specialized in taking down mutants were authorized by the police?"

Maya blinked.

"Uh... there is one. It's called the Mutant Related Crimes Unit. Have you been paying attention at all or do you have another tab open for watching porn?"

>>"So Invasion is filtering out the sexy questions. Think of the most awkward question you can and answer it."

Oh thank God they were back to sex. Maya considered the question for a couple of minutes, then looked into the camera again.

"No, Gawain and I don't have a telepathic connection, and we are both very grateful for that."

Heh. What, were the police questions even more awkward than the sex ones? Had the other X-Men not briefed her on how to reply to basic questions about what they did? He thought she was answering just fine, for the record, but her groaning said she didn't feel the same. What, did she think this was going to be one long question stream about cat videos?

Since she hadn't actually been the one preparing for this interview, he'd cut her a little slack, and throw her a cat one. But only because he was nice.

"You get turned into a kitten. What kind of kitten are you, and what do you do while kitten-y?"

That should be a question to help keep her sane. Definitely not one that could dredge up psychological trauma.

"What do you have to do to join the X-Men?"

"Are you the Mirror-Mirror that Maxine Ralls liked to poke at? Do you and the redheaded reporter have a 'relationship'?" He passed on the quotation marks in the form of dramatic air quotes.