A photo shoot was a photo shoot. At least that’s what Riley kept trying to tell herself as she made her way to the address she’d scribbled down in her appointment book. There wasn’t anything in particular she’d been told to wear, and there wasn’t anything specific she’d been told to bring. There wasn’t going to be anything particularly weird about this shoot…but Riley was still a nervous wreck. Why? Because she was walking into the middle of the largest mutant stronghold in New York City and she was a freak. Not the normal kind of freak in New York City, the absolutely freakish kind of freak in New York City.

Riley didn’t even know if they had a name for what she was, and it was the most carefully guarded secret she could possibly have…except that it wasn’t a secret at all. In fact, since a certain event she refused to think about, work had been more scarce than it had been since the beginning of her career. How could she say no? Riley sneered slightly as that statement rolled through her head…you could always say no. If you didn’t, and you didn’t do it over and over, you were basically asking for whatever you got….and that’s what she was doing. Asking for whatever it was she was going to get as soon as everyone within a few feet realized what it was she could do. At the best, they’d just sent her packing with no check. At worse….well there were a lot of things better than not being able to pay rent.

The building that belonged to the address might have been innocuous…if giant golden doors were innocuous and Riley wondered exactly how a place like this had managed to be so obvious and still call itself a sanctuary. There wasn’t a sanctuary out there for people like her…she shook it off. It was time to do business.

The door opened with surprising ease for its size, and Riley walked into the foyer of the large building, surprised at how….pretty everything was. Places like this sometimes ran themselves like businesses….this place seemed to be trying to be wonderful. Riley didn’t really care, but it helped to know what a girl was walking into. There was a reception desk there, and a woman behind it. She
approached, tossing her black hair over her shoulder, ”Hello, I’m here for the ph-”

”Oh, for the photoshoot, of course. Just wait there.” she said, ignoring Riley’s raised eyebrow as she picked up the phone on her desk and dialed. Riley tapped a heeled shoe on the floor as she waited. Just because she knew she’d probably be shown out on her ass in a few minutes didn’t mean she had to act like she was nearly as scared as she felt.

Things were really in full swing now and Lori's leg was bouncing up and down in an attempt to try not to fry anything. They'd had to pull in models. Lori didn't want her face on everything, but it was more than that. She just didn't photograph well. Her magnetism made strange artifacts show up on cameras that obscured her form. Usually that was a good thing. Today? Not so much.

She was totally innocuous today in her white linen pants and pleated blue, silk blouse. Her tan may have faded over the winter and her brief imprisonment, but with the return of spring it would be back to acceptable levels in no time.

The lights annoyed her the most. Lori eyed them hungrily. They drew an unreasonable amount of current from the walls. So tempting.

The phone on the wall rang once right behind Lori. Blessed distraction. Lisa informed her that the last model had arrived. They were going to make the Sanctuary look good. Advertise to al of America in key magazines and at bus stops. Invite them all to the Sanctuary. Every last freak out there.

The girl in the foyer was not what Lori was expecting. Dark hair. Taller than Lori, but who wasn't? Curvy. She would probably work. They had some other ethnic models on hand to make their group diverse looking so this one she welcomed.

"Lori." She spoke her name as she offered her hand. And... a familiar and not unwelcome sensation washed over her as she got close enough to actually shake the woman's hand. Lori's eyes widened a little around the edges, but she didn't bother pointing it out. The woman probably already knew that she was special.

"Right this way. They're just about to get started." Adapted. Lori flicked though her options. What could she offer this woman to stay just a bit longer? What could she do to keep her near at hand? Lenna was nice, but there was nothing like a good, old fashioned complete nullification.

The woman who greeted Riley at the desk wasn’t what she was expecting at all. For some reason Riley associated positions of power with men. The woman at the desk hadn’t been a surprise, a pretty girl to decorate a pretty room was what made sense. Especially in a place like this. There was something familiar about this blond, but Riley couldn’t place and shook it off as the woman being possibly generic. How many tiny blonds did one see on a daily basis walking down the streets of New York City? Too many.

Riley hesitated, worried that the woman would be the first mutant she pissed off, but then reached out to shake the offered hand. If she was close enough to touch, she was close enough to know. At least if any of her previous encounters were an indication. ”Riley.” she responded in kind, first name for first name.

As they walked down the halls to where Riley assumed the photo shoot was going to take place, Riley kept track of the turns they took and the landmarks they passed. It never hurt to have an exit strategy. Lori said that everyone else was already there and Riley nodded her head, ”I like to make an entrance.”

Riley had a question, and she studied the petite blond as they walked down the hall. Why hadn’t they simply used her in the shoots. She couldn’t be anyone too important if they’d sent her to fetch one of the models, ”So what’s our angle here?” Riley asked, ”I’ve seen some gorgeous mutant girls. Why aren’t you using some of them?

"We are using some, but then again some of us muck up the shots." Lori grinned enough to show teeth. It was impossible to draw upon her inner strength around an adapted, but she was a pretty strong woman on her own. "I called for people who were special, but you're an unexpected bonus." Maybe she could take a good picture after all. Lori ushered Riley over to the makeup crew, most of whom were visibly mutants... except when Riley stepped close.

"Play nice." There was a smile on Lori's face, but enough command in her tone that no one complained to her face. Lori was a known Adapted coddler. She painted them as the boogeyman to her residents, but somehow always let them stick around. There was plenty of speculation as to why.

Lori went over to the photographer to help figure out the shots they wanted. As she passed the lights, they glowed brighter, the closer she was. Once she reached the director, the lights were back to normal. Stupid lights. She would just have to keep her distance while directing.

"Jay, Marsha, Jessica." First the visible mutants. The three she called forward gave Riley a big berth so they wouldn't have to regain control over wings or scales or tails. "Why don't you have a pleasant conversation on the couch." She motioned back to the photographer and his assistant. "Mind the photographer." That was what they were paying him for, after all.

"Riley. Stay with me for a bit." They would sprinkle in some regular looking mutants, but with Riley, she would only be able to be around the normal looking ones. Perhaps it was a mistake to let her stay.

A moment's hesitation was a moment too long. Lori cleared her throat. "I'm not paying you to stand around, get moving." Lori went to stand away from the camera even though Riley would theoretically be near. Just one precaution on top of another. "Are you a professional, Riley?" because most of the mutants here were not. If she had input that would help this process along it would be greatly valued. "It isn't every day that the people who are feared for being different get to instead be featured and prized for that differentness." Lori motioned to the scene in front of them. The models were stiff and unnatural. If the photographer was worth his money he'd get them to loosen up eventually, but he was working with a lot of amateurs.

”Ah” Riley said, as Lori explained that they were using some mutants for the shoot. That was great…just great. Riley started going through the mental prep required for a hostile work environment. Hopefully this wouldn’t be like the time the other “models” had taken her clothes and left her with nothing but the lingerie from the shoot. Riley could give as good as she got, though and her jaw clenched slightly…more when Lori spoke again.

Realization dawned on the dark haired woman and Riley stopped for a second before moving to catch up with the blond. They’d asked for people who were special. In the time it took for the blond woman to finish that statement, Riley watched her career swirling down the toilet. The recognition curled into a tight ball in her stomach and she struggled not to growl in frustration. She’d worked so hard to get a decent group of photographers to work with her, now she was going to have to start all over again…with this whole freak thing on her back. ”Heh…yeah…special. That’s me.” she said, trying to cover the bitterness in her voice by being haughty.

They walked into the room where the Photo shoot was going to be, and suddenly the monkey on Riley’s back became a pygmy marmoset compared to the mountain gorilla on some of these people. It wasn’t that Riley hadn’t ever seen a mutant with a visible mutation…but decked out the way they were…was just a little shocking. So was the way the make-up artists changed when Riley sat down to be worked on.

Now wasn’t the time to be meek, she thought as she once again tossed her hair back behind her shoulders and sat. The woman working on her avoided the mirror assiduously and Riley wondered if it was because the girl would hate what she saw…or what she didn’t see. Riley Sommers didn’t ask those kinds of questions though, and didn’t want to know the answers. Frankly, she didn’t care, she just wanted to make it out of this thing with her skin intact and a check in her hand.

The woman finished and Riley didn’t say anything, just watched as the mutant models made their way around her. They gave her more space than was probably necessarily, but Riley didn’t exactly mind. There was something nice about all this isolation at a shoot. Lori called her over and Riley made her way to the woman….who then asked if she was a professional.

Riley snorted, ”I’m a pin-up model usually. Slightly different from the All-American thing it looks like you’re going for here.” she said, shaking her dark head slightly, ”Sex sells the things that I model.”

Riley paused for a moment, watching the photographer work with the obviously rookie mutants, ”If you’re trying to sell safe and normal…they need to act safe and normal….not camera shy and stupid.” Maybe that was a little blunt…but the woman had asked.

Lori knew this. She just liked to hear it echoed back first. "Anything you want to say to them to make it less painful to watch?" A pin up model? Really? Lori reassessed Riley's curves and her frank demeanor. She asked for a certain type of person. Obviously whoever contacted Riley hadn't exactly understood Lori's meaning.

Shouting wouldn't make them at ease. Threats probably wouldn't either. Lori watched the photographer struggle to connect for as long as her patience would allow. "Talk to them. Please." Lori went to speak with the photographer in the meantime. Sending an adapted to do her dirty work was threat enough.

Lori asked Riley if there was anything she could say to the mutant models to make them less painful to watch and Riley shrugged her shoulders. ”It’s not really something you can instruct. You’ve either got camera presence, or you don’t. They look like they’re just trying to hard.” They were. The plastic smiles on the faces of the two women would have looked more at home on a Barbie doll and the man just looked bored. This day constantly got better.

When she announced that this wasn’t the type of photo shoot she usually found herself on, Riley didn’t miss the appraisal she was given by the other woman. If anything it made her chin raise a little higher and her haughtor increase infinitesimally. It wasn’t the first time that another woman had judged her for her career, and it wasn’t going to be the last. Riley opened her mouth to inform Lori that there wouldn’t be any more problems with camera presence once she got to work with the photographer, but she closed it with resolve. She needed this paycheck , and she was already lucky that nobody had tossed her out for what she did. Riley had learned the hard way that sometimes you simply couldn’t fight your way out of a situation. So she bit her tongue and decided to let the photos do the talking.

After a while, Lori decided the best course of action would be sending Riley to do her dirty work and as the blond went to have a pow-wow with the photographer, the dark-haired women stood open-mouthed and stared at the group on the couch. They all looked bored now, bored and miserable. Riley continued to stare blankly…she didn’t do people. That was what the photographer’s job was, or the person financing the shoot. The problem was, both of them were huddled off in a corner having their own conversation.

Riley stepped forward, careful to keep her distance, but hovering right on the edge of what would probably be ‘too close’. Intimidation didn’t do much for making a person relax…but at least it got the point across. ”They’re about to give up on you.” she said, a slow smirk spreading across her features, ”I heard the photographer say that this was why he normally avoids shoots like this like the plague. Is that really what you want? ”

The female on the left, with her silly wings moved like she was going to stand, and Riley lifted an eyebrow and shifted her weight to one foot. Her heart was pounding, but the woman sat back down, settling for a look that probably could have killed, ”Glaring like that isn’t going to help you at all either. Stop looking bored and terrified and just act normal.” she added, then turned heel and walked away, towards where the photographer and Lori had gone to talk. As she approached she sighed, ”The only way you’re going to get a good shot out of them is hitting them when they don’t know you’re doing it.” She’d seen it before”You’ve either got it. Or you don’t.”

Not something she could instruct, no, but Riley seemed to be a perfect tool for the job.

A little poke. A little prod. She had a sharp tongue. A little hint of favoritism by Lori maybe and now it was Mutant pride on the line. Not just a paycheck or some silly notion of dignity. To the photographer, Lori didn't have to threaten. All she had to do was walk close and his monitors and gadgets were on the fritz.

"This is big... for both of us so I'll try to not mess it up. If you can't work with these kids, let me know and I'll find you more." There. The seed of power. It was his call now. His fault. His discriminations. Lori shook his hand, let her fingers linger long enough to register the electrical impulses that buzzed around in that photographic brain of his.

Riley gave a good suggestion about shooting for candids, which was sort of the point anyway, but Lori kept her distance. She wanted to see this happen right.

Wonderful. Time to try again. Lori regrouped at a safe distance from Riley. It was so very tempting to step into that field. Just to relax. Just to... move that kid to the left a little. If his head was turned... Lori shook her head. It was impossible to keep copied thoughts apart from her own. "Jay. Your chin is dropping. Turn it back toward the light like the good photographer instructed earlier."

The reflective umbrella's flashed and after a time the mutants under scrutiny were actually laughing together, flittering wings and flashing teeth and tails. Excellent. The photographer thought so too.

"Next grouping."
"Next group."

This one had a few more normal looking mutants in it, though they all sported strange hair colors or extra piercing of some kind. All the punk rock and grunge metal looked strangely at home here. It wouldn't be long until they could use someone like Riley. Her thought or the photographers, it didn't matter. The photographer thought it, Lori made it happen. One of them thought it was uncanny.

As Riley watched, the mutant models started to relax, and the photographer started getting shots. It was sort of a relief. Riley had been on shoots where it had fallen on her to carry the thing, sometimes she’d succeeded, sometimes she’d failed. Failure in those situations was worse than a normal bad shoot…they blamed you then. Pay usually suffered and reputation definitely did. The kids on the couch making nice and taking good pictures made Riley’s job easier. She felt slightly less animosity towards their ignorance.

Lori and the photographer were working in synch almost as though they were sharing thoughts. Riley wondered, as she watched, if they were somehow linked at the brain. Was that Lori’s mutation? She shook the notion off after a moment, this close to Riley, Lori's mutation wouldn't work at all.

Soon enough, the visible mutation kids were done and they shuffled past the dark haired woman who had spoken so rudely to them with hardly a glance. Riley was ready to shoot…but apparently it still wasn’t her turn. She sighed and took up a position to start watching again. These kids looked like they were still fully ensconced in teenage rebellion.

Riley had hit that phase, but hadn’t had the necessity of darkening her hair. She’d had a few piercings at the time, but they’d all long since closed, definitely didn‘t fit with that group. She didn’t fit in with the first group either. It was kind of a weird mirror of her life…she didn’t fit in anywhere. Definitely not with the rec-room-couch-sitting, laughing-with-each-other, kids that were all having such a great time. Where was the part where they showed off the sexy, lingerie wearing girls that lived here? That Riley would have been comfortable with. This whole natural thing…no wonder the kids were having a rough time.

To their credit, the punk kids had a much easier time looking natural. Granted, for them, natural was looking like they couldn’t have given a shit less who was taking pictures of them. They’d probably come out excellently.

While the photographer shot, Riley studied the woman next to her again. The chick looked distinctly familiar, but Riley simply couldn’t place her face. She was pretty in the tiny way that a certain type of men simply couldn’t get enough of. ”Why aren’t you taking part? Surely there are swanky, business type mutant women out there who need a place to go. ”

Something... was addressed to her.

Lori took a long time to blink and to formulate a thought of her own. An original enough thought that whatever the photographer was thinking now was gone on the wind. As well as the rest of his notions. Lori shook her head again. It just took a lot to orient herself. She turned to Riley and it took another long while to recall what she had said and the thought that had broken her sloppy copy job of the photographer's thought pattern.

"When I said that some of us don't photograph well, I meant it. My mutation affects electrical equipment at a very fundamental level. It causes artifacts to show on film rather than my person. Besides, every girl has a right to hate pictures of herself." Among other things. Lori ran a hand down the skin of her own arm, pushing hard enough to feel the wire underneath. Her tan had evened back out a bit (no thanks to Romania), but the wires were still there. And still stiff.

The scene continued without Lori and now she had no idea what was happening. Lori would have to go make contact with the photographer again to do that and it probably wasn't worth it at this point. The shoot had started to self-perpetuate and was in full swing now.

Lori just liked to be in the know.

"We could take one together, I'm sure." Lori was one mutant that did not miss her mutation being inactive for short periods of time.

The shoot was in full swing by now, and Riley shook her head slightly. Amateurs. She’d heard of the photographer before, though, and he was some big advertising type. It must have been the subject matter, intimidating him. Honestly, Riley couldn’t blame the man. If she’d been the one in a room full of…people most people ran from on the street, she’d have been a wreck too. She wasn’t, though. They were all just as normal as she was...at least within a few feet.

Riley chuckled bitterly at that thought, shaking her head as Lori pulled herself from whatever la-la land she’d been paying a visit to. Blonds. The answer the other woman gave made sense, Riley decided. Some mutations caused problems with the cameras. Riley didn’t know what artifacts were, but they sounded like they’d ruin a shoot. The second part, however, made Riley laugh out loud.

”Not every girl has that right.” she said, ”In my business, you have to know you look good every time the photographer snaps a picture. They don’t screw around, and you don’t get second chances. That’s why photographers usually don’t just grab people off the street.” The tone of the last sentence made it obvious what Riley thought about that option.

Lori suggested they take a picture together and Riley shrugged, ”Whatever you think boss. You know what they say about opposites.”

A chuckle rumbled out of Lori so low that it had to have originated from her toes. "You don't have to lecture me about attraction. I manipulate magnetic fields." Among other things.

"Hey!" She raised her voice to get the photographer's attention. "Let us in on the next shot, will ya?"

The photographer appraised them for a bit before he snapped a few more photos. Then he was clapping his hands to shoo the latest rabble off the set. A few people ran in to swap out the ping-pong table they'd been using as a prop for another couch and some throw pillows.

Lori was dressed nice enough, though she hadn't planned on being in any photos. She started to sit, but the photographer stopped her.

"You're the lady in power so you outta stay standing."

That was probably code for 'you're short,' but it worked all the same.

"You, sit. And have a heart warming conversation. The first shots are just for lighting so you don't gotta be on until I give you a go." There were people with what appeared to be digital multimeters minus the probes, though they were probably some light gage or something.

Lori rolled her shoulders and someone swept her hair around her shoulders just so. Riley was getting the same treatment and it was finally time to see if the girl was all she talked herself up to be. Lori could lie all die, heart, soul, mind, body and eyes. That was what she was intending to do now.

The lights flashed and the photographer urged them closer. "How small is your nullification field?" In the end it was safest to sit next to each other.

That meant the photographer had to pull in closer too. "Maybe you're consoling her, Lori. She just learned what she can do."

Lori seemed greatly amused by her comment about opposites, then revealed her hidden talent. Magnetic fields. That was...great. It explained why the woman had trouble with pictures.

The blond called out and Riley smiled slightly, so it was to be the next set of shots? Riley nodded her head and looked around at the props the photographer's assistants were moving into the shot. Couches. Riley almost smirked, the last shoot she'd been on had also involved a couch. For some reason, though, she didn't think they'd want the same kind of poses here. No, definitely not if they were trying to draw mutants of the normal sort to this enormous termite mound of a building.

Speaking of termites, apparently Riley had unintentionally met the Queen when she'd started talking to Lori. Woman in power? Maybe that's where she'd seen Lori, on the news or in the paper...not that she ever paid much attention to those things, but it would account for the strange sense of familiarity with the other woman. Riley shrugged and sank onto the couch as the assistants went to work primping.

A heart warming conversation? Riley smiled, then turned it on. This was the sort of thing she acted out all the time. Lori asked how small her nullification field was, and it took Riley a moment to realize that the question was addressed to her and not one of the assistants.

"Oh...a few feet I guess." she said offhandedly, tilting a head and directing a warm smile in the blond's direction for the benefit of the camera. Inside, Riley was anything but pleased with the turn the conversation had taken. "Not something I've really taken the initiative to find out for sure." Truthfully she'd avoided the topic like the plague. It was impossible to hide, it turned out, but she'd hoped to at least a keep a low profile. Apparently that wasn't in the cards.

>>"Maybe you're consoling her, Lori. She just learned what she can do."

Riley actually laughed out loud when she heard that piece of advice. Probably not what the man was looking for, but the attitudes around her had been anything but consoling when the harsh reality of her ability had been thrust into her face.

The smile smoothed from Riley's face almost as quickly as it had appeared and she turned on the drama. They wanted consolation...she turned her head away from Lori, eyes broken and lost as she gazed off into nothing. There...she was playing the part of the wounded and shocked outcast. It was up to Lori to do the rest.

They finished with that routine and the photographer chimed in with another scenario, "Now you're girlfriends, think camaraderie. Just having a girl talk."

Riley nearly smiled again. This was cake.

>"Not something I've really taken the initiative to find out for sure."

"You should test it fully, Riley. It's a number that could very well save your life." Lori was one of the few that would be glad to help her. Why mutants hated perfectly good talent just because it was inconvenient and uncomfortable made no sense to Lori. It was exactly how the humans treated them. Why couldn't the mutants and the Adapted work together? It was the same question she'd poured over with various different opposing groups in mind.

Riley though the photographer's direction was amusing. Lori did too, in retrospect. A mutant consoling an Adapted? Most Sanctuary residents saw that as sleepy child consoling the boogeyman. But after the laughter had faded, Riley's face continued to fade. And wilt. And crumple. Her eyes said that her spirit was crushed and her body language reflected that emotion perfectly.

The girl was good. But so was Lori.

Pretending to be someone else was one of her favorite past times and it was a million times harder to stay in character throughout a long scam than it was to pretend to be someone in front of a camera for a few moments.

The edges of Lori's features softened in subtle ways until where once perched a shrewd leader, now a compassionate mother figure sat. Her hand brought sincere comfort at Riley's knee or back as per the photographer's verbal direction.

>"Now you're girlfriends, think camaraderie. Just having a girl talk."

Well, that wasn't a hard task. Lori liked Riley. She saw how their personalities could grate against each other if they were say, prison mates, but for now she was a new favorite. Lori hoped that Riley would be a stranger to the Sanctuary, even though most of the residents wouldn't appreciate her visits as much as Lori would.

The easiest way to play girlfriends was to start acting like one. "What's your favorite drink? Ah-you do drink, don't you?" New York, young, pretty? Why would she not drink? People would be throwing free alcohol at the woman.

Lori's face lit up as if what Riley had to say was the most interesting thing she'd heard all century. Funny too. She leaned in to a friendly distance, much closer than strangers sat, but was careful to turn her body out slightly so that the light would fall right and the camera would see her face and open posture.

Riley gave the other woman a deadpan look when Lori dropped a line about how knowing her range could save her life. That stupid range was already ruining her life, and she wasn’t going to smile and nod like a good little freak just because one of the more regular freaks gave her some advice. Still, the woman was probably signing the checks for the day, so Riley nodded, ”I’ll keep that in mind.” she said, pausing a moment in the scene to think, ”Can’t be more than a few feet though. People are usually pretty darn close before they realize what’s going on.”

The shoot continued for a few minutes, and Riley realized in that span that Lori was good. Lori was actually really good and they were playing off each other like they’d been working together for ages. It had made the consolation more simple, but it made the girlfriends part into something that was even a little enjoyable.

Lori leaned close, and Riley turned slightly towards the smaller woman, draping an arm across the back of the couch and leaning forward a little. There was nothing wrong with a profile in a picture, especially if the profile was as nice as Riley knew hers was. She stayed that way for a few moments, then turned back to the front, kicking off her shoes and tucking her legs beneath her as she ‘chatted’. Lori apparently took that pose to heart and asked a question that made the smile on the dark-haired woman’s face falter slightly for an instant before smoothing out.

Damn AA and their rules, ”Sober three years.” she said smoothly, ”Liquor wasn’t exactly my favorite type of poison, but I suppose it’s all the same.”

They continued in that vein for a while, then the photographer called their portion a wrap. It was all well enough, Riley was ready for a break. She stayed on the couch though and relaxed, the cheery smiles from a few moments earlier fading into a relaxed deadpan, ”Doesn’t mean I don’t know how to have a good time, though. I used to love Captain and Coke. Simple. What about you?