Booker didn’t realize that he would be dredging up demons for the poor thing when he had inquired about her bookstore. All he saw was someone who loved literature and who used to work in a place seeped in it. Of course he would inquiry as to what could have possibly happened to pull her away from such a place. He figured that it had to do with her health, but the story that he was told depicted events that were far, far different.

From her telling, she owned a bookstore that he had actually been familiar with. He heard about it, anyways. Also, she had been married to a man who had been convicted of being a terrorist. Everything was in both of their names and thus, when he was captured, she lost most, if not all of it. Immediately that raised the man’s eyebrows, making him cringe a bit in sympathy. He could scarcely imagine what anything like that was like. What would have that done to him? He tried to put himself in her shoes and soon realized that on top of the health problems, the fact that his lover would have been a convicted terrorists, and worst yet BOOKS were taken away? He wanted to fall into a heap on the floor and cry right there.

Seemingly realizing the downer her story was, Maya attempted to salvage the situation, smacking her own face lightly to keep from descending down that rabbit hole much further. Booker stood off to the side, eyeing with a combination of compassion and wonderment. He had never heard of anyone going through such torment so he could only imagine how Maya dealt with it all.

>> "I don't think I'll be owning and operating the Full Circle any more. It's been maybe... 3 years now? Wow. I really did love it, but I have other ways to invest my time now."

He nodded his head, his eyes widening briefly in though as he pushed air out from between his pursed lips. ”Wooooow…” he finally managed to reply.

>>"Sorry! You asked the name and I think I overshared…If you need to overshare back, I do know how to not talk."

He chuckled, watching as she mimed locking away whatever secrets he would tell her. Pulling out an invisible fishing pole, he snapped it into the air, hooking the invisible key she had tossed, reeled it back in and used said key to unlock the Maya’s lips. He grinned.

”Can’t have you dying from lack of oxygen, can we?” A grin. ”Seriously, it’s fine. You clearly needed to unload and what are librarians if not great listeners? That’s why we shush everyone.” He gave her a proud, puffed up smile, before deflating again. ”Uhhhh, no real oversharing, I guess? Parents were d*cks. Just been me and my sister for a bit…OH…I once cheated in an online match of Champions of the Blizzard.” He looked remorseful as he shrugged. ”I didn’t win. I did apologize though!”

Uh. Yeah. She totally overshared. He was practically bowled over by the wall of words she'd spewed at him. Maya resolved to do better.

"I am sorry." And she would keep apologizing all day if he let her.

Dying from lack of oxygen? It was funnier than it should have been since she was an air elemental. Or, she assumed she was still an air elemental, anyway... "I won't die from lack of oxygen, don't worry."

She gasped in mock horror at the mention of cheating, but quickly settled into puzzlement. "How do you cheat at video games?" It was good that he apologized, but Maya was entirely serious with her question. "The computer is controlling it. How does that work?"

Maya realized that this was probably a rather strange conversation to be having around the bible, but no one burst into flames even when Mr. Booker said sweary words. She let the paternal diss slide despite wanting to reassure the man that he was loved. As sad as it was, Maya hd come to realize that she couldn't assume the best of everyone despite how much she wished it was true.

"Look, it's really not my place to say anything about your parents... so I won't. But, if you need a hug or something... I know a guy. Okay?" Cafas was an excellent hugger. He'd be here in moments flat if she said she needed one and he'd never explicitly said they were non-transferrable.

>> "I am sorry."

He just grinned. She was one of those types that was going to keep apologizing no matter what he said, right? He knew the type well. He had dated the type even more. If there was one thing that Booker B. Bookman knew about talking with such a person, is that it was useless to try and dissuade them. So rather than continue to argue the point that an apology wasn’t necessary, the man simply bowed his head respectfully, accepting her words. It was just a gesture but one that he would hope would go a long way.

Though he was certain that he would be hearing another apology soon enough.

After saving her from suffocation, or so he thought, Booker was greeted with an amused look in the pretty woman’s eyes. She eyed him, almost laughing at some inside joke that only she was aware of. He didn’t inquire, instead just placing his hands at his hips as he watched Maya respond.

>> "I won't die from lack of oxygen, don't worry."

”Well…yeah…” he chuckled. ”Cause I just saved you.” Okay so he added a small wink with that comment. It was just habit whenever he said something that he perceived as witty.

When it came time for him to unload his deep dark secrets, Booker really couldn’t think of anything to say. Nothing that he wanted to say to a stranger, anyways. Of course Booker had secrets of his own but those were mainly saved for people whom he actually knew well. Still, he wasn’t going to let her be the only one to overshare, and instead brought up his parents (a standard and not unlikely complaint), as well as the fact that he once cheated at a video game.

Oddly it would be his video game admission that would tug at her curiosity most.

>>"How do you cheat at video games?...The computer is controlling it. How does that work?"

Booker looked apologetic again as he organized his thoughts. There were two very distinct ways to explain, either the most complicated or the easiest. Seeing as he didn’t want to overwhelm the young woman with too much information, he figured the less complicated explanation was probably best. So, sucking in a breath, Booker went into it.

”Sooo…the game is all multiplayer. And there are some guys that are real jerks. I kept dying and they kept making fun of me, and basically anyone else who wasn’t already good.” he looked down a little guiltily. ”Anyways, my sister works with video games a lot and she has a programmer friend who wrote up this patch that made my character…like…invincible. So I played and I beat them hard…” He chuckled, clearly happy with that memory, but slipped on the mask of guilt again. ”Anyways, I felt good but I still felt bad about it too so I apologized and then I was kicked off the server for cheating.” he shrugged. ”See? No biggie.”

He sighed. It felt good to get that off his chest. Maybe he would talk to her about stuff and junk.

>>"Look, it's really not my place to say anything about your parents... so I won't. But, if you need a hug or something... I know a guy. Okay?"

”…what?” He couldn’t help but pause as he looked at her. She knew a guy that gave out hugs? For a moment he entertained the idea that she was some kind of PG-13 pimp, but he didn’t voice that though. Instead he was actually a little touched at her comment and smiled warmly. ”Thank you, but I’m good. If I need really good hugs, my sister gives great ones.” he smirked. He then tilted his head as he eyed her. ”But I probably wouldn’t suggest that for you…” he chuckled. ”…unless you want to get unceremoniously hit on. You’re just her type.”

> ”Well…yeah…” he chuckled. ”Cause I just saved you.”

"No because...! Well. Yeah. Thanks for the assist. H-how silly of me." Without the help of visuals how could she possibly explain. Oh! With visuals! Duh! Maya fished her phone out of the wide band of her belt.

She did not mean to be rude about the gaming stuff, but it was all quite beyond her and she did want to find a visual aid so she fiddled on her phone. Maya gave a mother's knowing smile and a shake of her head. If there was one thing she could distill from the gaming debacle, it was that Mr. Bookman was still a good person since he'd felt remorse.

"Here. I want you to see this." She traded him. He was giving her a confused look about the hug thing and she was handing her phone over to him.

Maya had pulled up a dossier on the X-man Ghost on the Birdwatcher's forum, Audubon X. It included a photo of with her short white hair, though in person now it had gotten rather long and was brown... that was new. Someone would update it eventually. In the photo Maya was posing with policemen in her X-men uniform. It included a warning that she threw temper tantrums, a warning that she was regarded as a holy figure by some religions, and included a nifty gif of her changing between her corporeal and incorporeal forms. Was it a little creepy to find such complete information on herself online? Yeah. But in this case, a little handy.

Maya wasn't quite sure what to do with the information that she was a certain woman's type. "I've never dated a woman before." She'd asked Cafas once if she should, just to have the experience. He hadn't really given her a satisfactory reason to pursue that avenue of romance. "Or. Erm get hit on?" Hmm. Had she been hit on at all besides Cafas, actually? Maya wasn't good at these kinds of things.

>> "No because...! Well. Yeah. Thanks for the assist. H-how silly of me."

He was just teasing her, of course, when he mentioned that he had saved her life. It was just Booker’s way to be melodramatic like that, mainly because it afforded him the chance to watch the woman smile. She had an infectious smile, one that made him want to smile as it was filled with such light and sunshininess. If he were being overly obnoxious with his commentary, she really didn’t point it out to him, but rather just continued to smile sweetly in his direction.

He smirked and shook his head. He was joking and, while she didn’t appear to be irritated by him, he did feel like he was pushing a line. ”No, no, I’m sorry,” he admitted. ”Sometimes I carry a joke just a little too far.”

A deep breath. The last thing he wanted was to offend someone so nice; it would plague him for days afterward if he did. However he did note that something had piqued her interest. He watched, curiously, as she fished her phone out of her pocket. She edged closer to him and he peered down at the device that she held up.

>>"Here. I want you to see this."

He watched the screen with interest – and almost immediately recognized what he was looking at. He had to wonder, why did she have a photo of the X-Man, Ghost, on her phone? It was part of a website, the Audubon X, that tracked mutants, especially the X-Men. He had frequented the site before. But had had to admit, he was a bit perplexed as to why she was showing him the image. But as she zoomed in on the picture, the dots began to slowly connect.

It was the snow-white hair that was throwing him off. But the face, that smile, the same light in her eyes…oh my god…he was standing next to an X-Man. Not only that, but she was certainly one of the coolest ones that he had known about. He turned, slowly to face her, his mind whirling and trying to make the connection in his head. It made sense, somehow, why she showed him. Their teasing about keeping her from suffocating was humorous when one knew she was the air elemental, Ghost.

Oh, god, he couldn’t have felt more stupid.

>> "I've never dated a woman before….Or. Erm get hit on?"

He vaguely remembered saying something about his sister being an excellent hugger but that it would probably be unsafe for Maya to want to engage unless she was comfortable with being hit on. Ghost responded but Booker could scarcely understand her words. He was admittedly distracted by other matters and revelations that were now bouncing around inside of his head. He gulped, he straightened his posture and watched the woman with a slightly different light in his eyes.

He couldn’t help it. He was going to fangirl.

”Y-You…You’re…You! Like, YOU you! I mean, you’re you but I didn’t know that you were actually YOU. Oh…my you…” he fumbled over his words, looking at her like an excited child. Finally when he would construct a decent enough sentence, he reached out and began to shake her hand rather firmly. ”God, I’m so, so sorry. I’m just…your my biggest fan!”

Wait…what?

He looked at the phone and Maya waited. He scrolled down. Maya waited. He looked closer, up at Maya, back at the phone.

Click, click, click, DING!

She put on her bright and shiny public figure smile.

> ”Y-You…You’re…You! Like, YOU you!"

"Whoa. Hey. It's okay. Please breathe." Maya tried to laugh off his enthusiasm. She hadn't meant to inspire awe or fear or get THIS big of a reaction. She'd really just meant to let him know that she was a mutant.

And his comment about her being his biggest fan surprised an embarrassingly big laugh out of her that she tried to cover with her hands.

"Okay. I just meant to say that I'm an air elemental. I didn't expect that you'd know who I am. Please forget it. It's just me. I'm Maya." Oh please. Please, please, please don't let him be a member of whatever Sebastian's church was calling themselves these days.

It was kind of hard to control himself as he stood there, staring at the shorter woman with the brunette hair, and compared her with the white-haired woman he saw on her phone’s screen, Booker immediately started to slip into his fan mode. He had never really met an X-Man before, well, except for Rebecca but she had de-mystified the mystique of her role pretty quickly. Now Booker was here, with a real X-Man and he found himself really unable to think straight. This was certainly not an event that the man had expected – but it was one that he had always dreamed of. 

Booker started to speak gibberish. Mentioned a lot of “you’s” and “yours” and other combinations of the same word as he tried to wrap his head around what he was witnessing. He never expected, in his wildest dreams, to ever see something like this; and that was a fact that showed purely in his reaction. 

>> "Whoa. Hey. It's okay. Please breathe." 

Booker was actually having a hard time breathing. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that he was meeting an X-Man face-to-face, but the fact that he was actually helping Ghost one of the greatest members of the team?! OH god! The man could have died happy right then and there! However, she did command him to remember to breathe so, doing his best, he took a few short intakes of air, and matched them with longer outs. 

He was breathing. He was TOTALLY fine. It was only when he had calmed enough did he give the woman a child-like smile as he immediately took her hand and started to shake it rather firmly. He wasn’t trying to hurt her, obviously, he just wanted to shake her hand and had momentarily forgotten that he was much longer and, physically, probably a bit stronger than her. 

>>"Okay. I just meant to say that I'm an air elemental. I didn't expect that you'd know who I am. Please forget it. It's just me. I'm Maya."

She was smiling, laughing, but it was clear that she was also just a tad uncomfortable. Smirking a little in embarrassment, Booker did his best to quell his fangasm as he stopped for another short breath and nodded his head. 

”Oh, of course I get it now…” he beamed proudly. But at the embarrassment of him knowing her name, he shook his head. ”Oh, no, no, no, I could never forget. But…I will do my best to, you know,” he whispered. ”Respect your secret identity…MayA.” he said her name with a bit more infliction than it really required so, hearing that it sounded strange to his ear, he tried again. ”MAya…MAyA…mAYAYA…” he sighed. ”Sorry! Sorry…but…ermergerd! Ghost!” he was giddy again. Suddenly an idea struck. ”Oh my god, please, if it’s okay, can I take a selfie with you?”

Yeah. Booker was playing this cooooool.

Oh. This must be how Cafas felt every time he got recognized on the street. Granted, if he would quit dying his hair pink, he'd go incognito as easily as Ghost had just now...

"You can only have a selfie if I can get your autograph. Oh and a picture with my phone too." She gasped as she realized where they were. "Can we take one with the-" Maya motioned over her shoulder at the Gutenbergs/ -you know?"

She nosed over the top of her phone click the home button which took her back to the home screen where she and Isabel were her background image. One more swipe and she was at the camera without Booker ever having to let go of her phone.

Maya leveled a 100% serious finger at him. "You fan me, I fan you, Mr. Booksherpa. If I see you on the street, you'd better bet you're getting recognized." There. That was only fair, right?

Booker couldn’t help himself. This was GHOST after all. How could the man do anything but fawn over her? She was amazing, was seen numerous times with one of the best X-Men (not including herself) and she was just all around, the most super nicest person that he had ever met. To add to all that that she was a fan of books and had a great respect for them? Well, suffice it to say the man was a little sad that she was already taken but those were the breaks. And no, he wouldn’t repeat the mistake he made with Juliette – Ghost / Maya was totally off limits.

Still, that didn’t mean that the man didn’t want a selfie. How could he not?! So, with as much subtlety as a man nerding out as he did could muster, Booker asked. He was sure that whenever she or Alchemist were recognized that they were probably hounded for pictures all the time. He felt a bit bad about doing so but knew that he may not get another chance at it; especially now that Becca and Nessa were done, it was doubtful the opportunity would present itself again.

>> "You can only have a selfie if I can get your autograph. Oh and a picture with my phone too…Can we take one with the- -you know?"

He blinked. The man wasn’t all that unknown to giving out autographs, but really only those that were super fans of the work he did on his and Nessa’s View Tube channel. For a moment he wondered if maybe Maya was a fan of Pixel Rainbow, but guessed that, actually, she was just trying to be nice. So, he gave her a kind smile and nodded his head.

”Okay. I’ll autograph ya.” a wide smile crossed his lips. She then asked if the Gutenberg exhibit could be added into the photo. While it probably wasn’t the greatest idea in the world, truth was that he couldn’t really deny her that. So he consented. ”Okay. We can include the display! BUT, no tagging the photo or Gutenberg until its unveiling next week? Got it?”

>> "You fan me, I fan you, Mr. Booksherpa. If I see you on the street, you'd better bet you're getting recognized."

He had to chuckle a bit out loud at that. The idea of running into Maya again and having her yell and run up to him in recognition was both humorous and made him blush a little. He had been recognized before but never by someone as important as Maya. But, what was the harm in it, right?

”Deal, Ms. Ghostaya.,” he said just as seriously to her.

He then pulled out his phone which contained a picture of himself dressed up for the latest comic book convention with Rebecca Grey at his side in a matching costume. A quick tap and he was in the camera. Standing next to Maya, Booker leaned down a bit so that the both of them could easily fit in the picture. Holding it up, he moved his phone until he got himself, Maya, and the Gutenberg display in frame and snapped two quick shots. Afterwards, he took Maya’s phone from her and held it up in a similar fashion and snapped the photos again. They looked like old pals, with bright happy smiles, standing in front of a piece of literary history – it was perfection.

Straightening up, Booker smirked as he looked down to Maya again. ”Any more photos, Gh…errr…Maya?” He had to correct himself, this was going to be difficult. ”Apparently the tasks of a Booksherpa also include photography duties.”

"Deal." He was serious and had considered the potential consequences. Booker trusted her. Maya did not make light of that trust. "I solemnly swear I will not tag you or the book until you give me the MyFace thumbs up." Which meant they could be MyFace friends, right? That was only natural. She let him know that would be okay.

Was that Lodestone? Once he'd passed the 'I'm not a stalker' test of surviving a month or two on Maya's MyFace, she might just have to invite Mr. Bookman to the Mansion for a tour. He would flip out, she was sure... so... well, maybe it wasn't the best idea. She'd have to let that stew and he did still have to pass the test. Her MyFace was so generic pro X-men that no one really bothered anyway.

> ”Any more photos, Gh…errr…Maya?”

She hadn't considered until he asked, but the answer was obviously "Yes! I have a whole stack of books that I need to prove that I can lift. Nobody is going to believe me if I don't get a photo." She also still needed to pair that book pile down since there was no way she was going to lift all those books all the way home... unless she could use her powers...

"Uh. Mr. Bookman?" She touched his arm as they walked back. "Is there a rule against using your powers here or... on the books? I promise I won't fuse any of them together if I can get my power working again." She tried very, very hard to stay positive about it, but the lack of any sign of any of her sensory powers was disconcerting.

>> "Deal… I solemnly swear I will not tag you or the book until you give me the MyFace thumbs up."

He gave her a wide grin. Awesome! Honestly it wasn’t a deal that he would give most people, but considering that this was Ghost, the X-Man, he had a feeling that he could trust her to keep her word. The last thing he wanted was to get into trouble for having done something so way out of turn. But the woman was gracious and understanding, agreeing to his terms. What did surprise him was that she said that she wouldn’t post anything until he gave her the thumbs up over MyFace. But, that meant they needed to become friends.

He paused. Holy crap he was going to be MyFace buddies with an actual X-Man!? His inner nerd squealed a bit in delight, totally overlooking the fact that he was already friends with Rebecca, but that was a minor point at the moment.

A nod of confirmation and Booker replied. ”Perfect! I will send you that thumbs up…as soon as…I guess you accept my buddy request? I mean, if’ that’s cool with you, of course.”

After he was done taking the photographs, Booker took a second to pause a bit awkwardly. Really he didn’t want this day to end because he was such a fan but the man knew that he couldn’t hold her or her phone hostage forever. So before handing back her phone, he asked if there were any more photos that she wanted to take. After all, the New York Public Library was quite beautiful with many picturesque settings. She could get her photo done anywhere.

>> "Yes! I have a whole stack of books that I need to prove that I can lift. Nobody is going to believe me if I don't get a photo."

He laughed heartily. ”Oh of course! Come on, I’ll help you check them out.” he guided her out of the room, turned off the lights, and closed and lock the doors to the display room. Once that was done, he rejoined Maya at her side, strolling with her back down the hall and towards the circulation desk where her books were on hold.

>>"Uh. Mr. Bookman? Is there a rule against using your powers here or... on the books? I promise I won't fuse any of them together if I can get my power working again."

He was about to answering that using her abilities was fine, so long as the materials weren’t damaged, but just as he was about to, he stopped when mumbled about getting her powers to work correctly. Duh! Booker finally remembered the fact that he was special too. Ugh! How annoying. Here he was standing next to one of the greatest X-Men he had every known and he was inhibiting her! What a sh*tty thing for him to do.

While Booker didn’t tell a lot of people he was an adapted (only mutants who eventually would figure it out) he trusted Maya enough to hold onto that fact about him. She trusted him to reveal she was an X-Man, didn’t she? So, clearing his throat, he garnered her attention and gestured for her to stand still. When she did, Booker began to walk backwards, putting space between them that would take her out of the aura that his body produced. He then motioned sheepishly to her again.

”Umm..a-are the working now?” he inquired,already knowing the answer.

Stay? No? Oh. Okay he was walking away. Maya stood alone in the hall as he walked away. With each step her confusion grew, until suddenly it didn't.

Her air senses snapped into place so suddenly that Maya had to take a step to steady herself.

He moved away. Her powers worked. He was close. They did not work.

> ”Umm..a-are the working now?”

"Oooooooh. Ohhh! You're—" Well. She didn't want to say it in case someone might be listening. Maya glanced around, but they were in a hallway that seemed fairly unused. The normal bustle of the library was just beyond Mr. Bookman.

Maya's yellow flats tapped closer and she tried to note the moment and the approximate range where her powers shut down again. "You're a very special man, indeed." She beamed at him again, relieved that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't really anyone's "fault." Just a fact of Mr. Bookman's proximity.

"Thank you for trusting me. I thought I might have broken something." Her power was known for trying to kill her. Why wouldn't it stop now? "Be very careful with yourself Mr. Bookman. Maybe I can return the favor and show you some of what I can do. Otherwise, I really don't know how I'll get those books home."

Booker was an adapted. Years before he found out the proper term, the man had no idea what he was. For the longest time he didn’t even realize that he was special in anyway, and instead counted himself as one of those regular ole humans who could only wish that they were given the gift of super powers. It was a lifelong dream of his to be special like that. To light fires with his mind or shapeshift into anyone he wanted to. He had read too many comics in his life to not want something like that. However, with every passing year it just seemed more and more like that wasn’t going to be his calling – until college.

His ex, a mutant who lost control, and the incident that followed had planted the seeds that Booker was maybe just a little more different than he thought. Initially he had figured that maybe he had really just been lucky, but similar incidents happened, with other mutants, and the puzzle pieces started to fit into place. It wasn’t until the AMA with one Miss Gemma Taylor did Booker finally realize what he was, an adapted; a person who could turn off mutants.

There was something just a little depressing about that. While it was amazing to find out he was special, he respected mutants so much that upon finding out that he was essentially a giant nullifying field for mutant powers. He supposed it was better than nothing but, still, it made him feel bad that he affected people at all in that manner. Case in point, today, upon meeting one of his favorite X-Men.

>> "Oooooooh. Ohhh! You're—"

Smiling a bit sheepishly, Booker nodded his head to confirm. ”Yup…one of…them.” he started to say.

Maya, seemingly wanting to protect his secret, tip-toed across the hall and back into his nullifying field. As she did so, he could see the change in her almost instantly. He saw it when he stepped out of range, how she almost fell over, and watching her willingly walk back in almost made him want to spot her. He didn’t want her to feel bad like that again. But he could respect her want to keep what he was between the two of them.

>> "You're a very special man, indeed."

He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. ”I guess.” he replied. ”Though it really kinda sucks. Like, I respect the hell out of you guys and what you do and the fact that I can just…you know…turn you off is a bit of a bummer.”

The thought changed his mood a little bit. He didn’t care to think like this but the man knew that he would come out of it. Maya was such a nice person and the last thing he wanted was to bring down the delightful conversation that they were having but this really was one of those things that Booker somewhat disliked about himself. He loved who he was, for the most part, but it was at times like this where he wished he could have been a mutant or, hell, even a run of the mill human would have been better. But, he wouldn’t let such thoughts germinate for too long. He was who he was…

>>"Thank you for trusting me. I thought I might have broken something…Be very careful with yourself Mr. Bookman. Maybe I can return the favor and show you some of what I can do. Otherwise, I really don't know how I'll get those books home."

Her caring tone brought a smile to his lips. Again the gray was chased away to be replaced by bright sunny rays of Maya-shine. She really was just as sweet as he had guessed and it definitely poked holes in rumors that she was prone to childish tantrums. Who could believe that about this woman?

”Thank you,” he said a bit more cheerily. ”I do what I can.” At the prospect of seeing her powers in action, Booker couldn’t help but grin even broader at that. He started to bounce on his heels like an excited child ready to open presents on Christmas day. ”I. Would. LOVE that.” he beamed. There was no way he was going to turn down a power exhibition from a living, breathing X-Man! Walking up to her side, he started to lead her back down the hall, the way they came. ”Come on, Ms Swift,” he beamed sweetly. ”I’ll show you back to Circulation and I’ll take your picture with your plethora of books. This’ll be sooo awesooome.” Of course the song “Everything is Awesome” began to hum from his lips; because everything indeed was.

Yessss. With a little more pep in her step, Maya followed Mr. Bookman back to Circulation.

It occurred to Maya that, had they met even just a month earlier, it was possible that he could have killed her. Her body had been bound together by her power and the loosest of hopes. If she had been dumped back to corporeality without some attempt at putting herself in the right configuration... It was best not to fall down the deep, dark hole of what might have been. Instead, Maya amped up her smile to a 50-gigawatt. She was going to have to be satisfied with being thankful that they'd met today.

"If it makes you feel any better, powers aren't all fireballs and sunshine. Just a few months ago, I couldn't even lift my kid. I mean, I might not be able to anyway because he's getting huge, you know?" Maya grabbed books as she talked. There were plenty to grab and stack, grab and stack.

"I'm just sayin': mo' money, mo' problems. Except, you know, I'm talking about power not money, but it's kind of the same thing?" Eventually Maya had to enlist a little help from Mr. Bookman because she had herself a comically large stack of books in varying sizes. Paperbacks, hardbacks, and cookbooks Oh my!

She posed for a slightly awkward picture, feeling like her smile was all gums and part apology and then they had to shuffle all those books through the checkout process and then back into her precarious stack.

"You're sure you're not going to get into trouble for letting me take this many?" She whispered because 1) Library. Duh. and 2) when talking about potentially bending the rules, you whisper. That was, like, the rule.

The world got that much brighter. Together the unbeatable team of an X-Man and a librarian marched through the halls of the New York Public Library and back towards the circulation desk. A small skip in their step and the song on their lips, the two of them boldly returned to the desk that housed all of Maya Swift’s books. Booker made sure to place a “hold” slip on them as to prevent any careless intern or librarian from returning them back to the stacks or just giving them away. Those books were for Maya Swift and he was going to ensure that she got them.

He may not be a super hero or had amazing super powers, but he was going to do his job. That was a task he was certain that he could accomplish.

As they marched on like the pair of good natured individuals that they were, all smiles and bringing the rays of happy-fun-sunshine-time with them. Once they reached the desk, the dark clouds that had previously threatened Booker’s mind seemed all-together forgotten. Now he was feeling himself again, positively “Booker”.. However his sadness over the fact that he was not superpowered did seem to make an impression upon his new friend.

>> "If it makes you feel any better, powers aren't all fireballs and sunshine. Just a few months ago, I couldn't even lift my kid. I mean, I might not be able to anyway because he's getting huge, you know?"

As Booker collected her books and started to check them out to her, he lifted his eyebrows in surprise. He thought he remembered seeing reports of Maya looking a bit more “transparent”…like…literally. To know that was how her powers were affecting her make him just a little soberer to the idea. He knew that it wasn’t all peaches and ice cream for mutants. He knew a number of mutants struggled with their abilities, he’d even witnessed it firsthand a few times. To know that Maya suffered from such an affliction was indeed tragic.

But at least she was better now; there was that silver lining in all this.

>>"I'm just sayin': mo' money, mo' problems. Except, you know, I'm talking about power not money, but it's kind of the same thing?"

He had to chuckle. Nodding his head in agreement, Booker helped to gather more of her books, checking them out to her library card and desensitizing the tattle tape each book had hidden within. ”I get what you’re saying.” He confirmed. ”And you’re right. Just, you know, grass is always greener, I guess.”

A warm smile and Booker marched off, placing the last of her books in her grip. Stepping back a few paces, Booker couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle. The sheer sight of it was just far too comical. She looked as if she were carrying a miniature of the lean tower of Pisa in her arms. Most librarians would have been annoyed with how many books she was wanting to check out but it warmed Booker’s heart to see that. He respected anyone who had as deep a love for literature as he did.

>>"You're sure you're not going to get into trouble for letting me take this many?"

He shook his head. ”As the acting librarian on duty, I’m telling you, with my utmost authority, that you are absolutely fine, Ms. Swift.” He said this very firmly, hands on his hips and all, as he gave her a winning smile. ”Besides, just means that there are less of them to dust.” A wide grin and then he pulled out his phone. ”Are you ready for the picture?”