The air was getting colder every night, and despite putting up with the worst of it for years in the woods, he was beginning to think that it might be for the best if this time he let his pride take a backseat for a change and search out some kind of help. He’d been living on the streets for months now, crashing in alleys or sleeping in trees in central park. He wasn’t ashamed of those living arrangements at all. He loved having the sky above him, not feeling like he was trapped in a small room. But that was exactly what he feared was waiting for him if he chose to take this path.

Homeless shelters weren’t exactly high on his list for exactly those reasons. Shane carried around an excessive amount of distrust when it came to other people. Mutants were a notable exception usually but they weren’t entirely off the list either. He knew right from the get go that he didn’t want to leave himself in a place that was overrun by filthy people that would be judging him. The irony of him judging them so harshly wasn’t lost on him, but he truly felt he was justified in his contempt for the average Joe because of the way he’d been treated by them as a kid. If he could find a place that offered similar comforts but that dealt with mutants that would certainly be the ideal.

The first place that came to mind was the mansion he’d been brought to by Gina a few months earlier. It certainly seemed to fit the bill exactly: all mutants, a roof over his head, food and medical care. What more could he hope for? The idea didn’t linger for long though. He’d left that place on fairly poor terms, and going back would be a painfully uncomfortable experience, and that would be the best-case scenario.

So that was out. The only other name that came to mind was a place referred to as the Sanctuary. He didn’t know too much about it, but the name had come up a few times around the people he’d come across in his few short months, especially at the fight event that he’d participated in. He’d been under the impression that entire event had close ties with this place, and somehow that made it more appealing to him.

He knew enough about its general location to get him within a few blocks of it, and he’d heard enough about their golden doors to recognize it when he finally found the building. He approached the Sanctuary hesitantly, unsure of the protocol surrounding the place. He didn’t want to make a bad impression right off the bat. The door popped open, but only enough to let his head pop in through the crack. He took around the large entranceway to see if anyone was around, but no one seemed to be within his line of sight at that moment. He pulled himself the rest of the way in, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could. Clearly there was no welcoming party waiting for him, but he could hear voices echoing from the surrounding rooms.

“Hello?” he asked the empty room.

Lenna looked up from her fine literature. Someone had just said hello.

No response? Was Lisa, the ever-present Sanctuary Secretary not currently present? How strange.

She gave it another few seconds of silence.

Nobody went to help the voice's owner out.

With a sigh, she cast the copy of Shonen Jump she'd found in the Sanctuary rec room aside, and rose to help him. She did not really read comics, but apparently, this one had caught her eye. And it had been a decent read. How dare he interrupt it.

Stepping into view from an adjoining hallway, Lenna arched an eyebrow at the person looking for help. He was dark, and different. Definitely mutant. He was in the right place.

"Can I help you?" Lenna asked. She hovered in the doorway, without moving to enter the room. An elbow pressed against the door's frame as she leaned.

The woman entered to room casually with what appeared to be a minimal amount of interest. The look on her face was enough to let Shane know that she probably wasn’t the one usually welcoming guests, but she’d made the effort, and he was grateful.

He took a moment to look at her from across the room, trying to see if there was anything irregular about her that might allow him to confirm that he was, indeed, in a home for mutants. Nothing looked out of place though, not that that really meant anything. He’d worked out by now that you didn’t need to have any outward signs to still have an interesting mutation.

“I’m not entirely sure I’m in the right place…” he started. He’d never liked asking for help, and as time went on the actual act of asking just got harder and harder. And of course, asking it of someone he has never seen before was just an awkward experience. “I’m looking for the Sanctuary.” He manages to force it out before his eyes begin to try to avoid contact with hers.

At least his voice was clear. He’d made the effort to give himself a proper mouth before arriving for a change. Making one on the fly had never yielded very good results when conversation was involved. He started brushing the wrinkles out of his jacket to give him a bit of an excuse for not looking to the woman at the moment as he waited for an answer. He was sure he was in the right place, but if he wasn’t, he didn’t like the idea of being inside a strange building with people he didn’t know.

Even now, proximity to within ten feet of her was having an effect on him. His power likely wouldn't work if he tried it. Not that anyone was thinking those thoughts, mind you. It really went without saying.

He was being awkward. Embarrassed, maybe? Avoiding eye contact? Or nervous. Maybe nervous. Whatever it was, it was pretty obvious. Boy would have been bad at Poker. That was for sure.

He asked, and she answered. "Oh, you found it," Lenna replied casually. "This is the place."

His eyes lit up slightly. Hearing he was in the right place was a weight lifted off his shoulders. The girl on the other side of the room didn’t exactly look like a mutant as far as he could tell, but the confidence in her answer brought a little enthusiasm to his demeanor.

“Great! Maybe you can…” he started, taking a few steps towards the woman when he realized something was wrong. He hadn’t noticed while he was standing still, but much of his mass had collected in the lower parts of his figure and he couldn’t move it back up again.

Panic started to set in. This was like nothing he had ever experienced before. To Shane, this was just shy of full paralysis. The constant moving his body went through had become second nature that he was left feeling immobile all of a sudden. His gaze shifted back to the woman, who only seemed mildly interested. He wasn’t quite able to get a fully formed sentence out, but he managed a look that begged the question, “do you know what is happening to me?”

Ah. Yes. Obviously, he was that kind of mutant. The kind who was rendered immobile by her aura.

"Sorry." She said, without really meaning it. Sometimes, having to constantly apologize for the aura grew tiresome. Especially when she did not consciously control it, and had not wanted it. At one point, she had felt really sorry about the whole thing. Felt like it was something that stripped something major off of another. But then, she'd grown used to the whole thing, and learned to just shrug it off and explain. Which she got ready to do.

"I'm an Adapted. Not quite mutant. Not quite human. We have this aura that shuts mutations off. If you get too close to me... I suppose that will happen." She gestured with one hand at what was happening to him right there. "I could still show you around, from a distance. Or I could get someone else."

She took a few steps back, into the hallway, moving out of range. His powers would likely work now. Wonderful. Because it had seemed like he'd had trouble speaking.

If he started yelling, she knew how to shut him up.

The woman was saying something, but he really wasn’t listening. He was quickly realizing that perhaps he’d had a bit of an over reaction, but one he still felt was justified. As he started feeling around his legs he started to realize that they’d taken on solidity that he hadn’t felt since he was a child. The muscles were all defined now and his limbs were decidedly… normal. He was far from immobile, but having his body revert back to this state wasn’t anything like riding a bike.

The woman was starting to back off. He’d only made out a few of the words she’d said – something about mutants and humans – but it seemed pretty clear by her lack of shock with his condition that this wasn’t the first time this sort of thing had happened around her. He was finally starting to find his balance when all of a sudden the familiar feeling of malleability returned to his legs, and then to the rest of his body. He stumbled slightly, but a sigh of relief escaped his lips as he moved some of the mass in his arms back and forth to make sure everything was back in order.

The strangest part of the whole experience had been that once he’d realized what was going on, he actually kind of liked it. Perhaps on some level, despite his resentment of humans, he still had some desire to be normal. He took a look at the girl, waiting for a response to a question he only half heard. The look was some mixture of envy and contempt. But despite all the emotions that were registering on the outside, only one was really going on in his head: curiosity.
“Is it safe? What you just did to me?”

"Is it?" Lenna blinked. "Not everyone reacts the same way. And you looked like you were about ready to cry."

Maybe he wasn't. She did not know. All she knew was that her aura caused pain in some mutants. And this guy might have been one of those kinds.

"Do you still want the tour...?"

Well, that certainly wasn’t the vote of confidence he’d hoped for. It seemed as though nothing had happened though, which just made the experience even more surreal. He took look at his hands, just to confirm to himself that he was in one piece and that nothing abnormal (for him anyways) was going on. Under different circumstances, a shot to his ego like the crying comment would have stung a little bit more, but at the moment he didn’t really seem to be processing things normally.

>> "Do you still want the tour...?"

She asked with a tone of indifference. That was what he’d come for, was it not? And if it wasn’t going to kill him to close to her, but rather make him weak, then there were far worse ways for him to get a lay of the land in this environment. He nodded his head.

“I guess so.” He responded.

"Okay."

Good.

So.

Continuing onwards with that same tone of indifference, Lenna turned and started to lead. "Follow me."