After baby X was taken by his mom, Evelyn thought that would be the end of the drama. But apparently, the drama had just begun with the string of events that followed. Hunting down Mirror's assassin mother to find out more information about his father, later hearing of Maya's failed attempts to contact Allison about the baby, Evelyn had finally had enough. Apparently "Don't stress about it" had meant "break into the sanctuary and try to talk her into letting you be around her kid". So, whether she really wanted to be around a baby or not, Evelyn decided the best thing she could do was try to talk to Allison by herself. She wasn't a great people person, but it couldn't have gone worse than Allison and Mirror's brawl at the Mansion, right?

Right.

Taking a taxi from the school to the Sanctuary was odd though, and as she stepped out of the car she gazed at her surroundings. Last time she was here, she arrived in the trunk of a car. Part of that irritation hadn't vanished, but she knew enough of the sanctuary's residents, she was less concerned to be here now. Moving through the doors and greeting Lisa, she asked if Allison was there. While the secretary moved to get a hold of the ink manipulator, Evelyn glanced at the closed doors behind her. In another life, she might have found the doors appealing. But memories made them feel foreboding as they stood watch.

Allison did find Sanctuary's doors appealing, on the rare occasion that she bothered to pay attention to them anymore instead of just walking through. She was less convinced of the appeal of phone calls that woke her up, even if it was technically the middle of the day. She didn't get to sleep through the night; why shouldn't she get to sleep through the day instead?

"Someone here to see you" was vague enough to make her curious, though. There really weren't that many people that would come see Allison and not just walk up to her door (or into the room, in certain cases), and most of them wouldn't have gotten into the Sanctuary in the first place. So she got up, sort of brushed her hair and put it into a ponytail, decided to ignore the wrinkled clothes, and picked up Alex. If whoever this was wanted them to go outside, they could wait for Allison to get herself and Alex dressed for it after she decided if she felt like going or not.

There was only one person waiting near Lisa, and it was... huh. No one Allison could recognize. That was confusing. "Hello. You were looking for me?"

Evelyn waited patiently while Lisa contacted Allison, or, mostly patiently. It was hard not to pace being in the sanctuary's foyer, and she kept stuffing down the nervous energy she was feeling. She was here by her own free will, she hadn't ticked off any of the residents, there was no reason she should feel nervous. It wasn't like she was wearing an x on her shirt or anything.

Still, when the woman and the baby approached, she felt relieved. Well, mostly relieved. Seeing baby X again made her echoes trip a few times and struggle to process it. "Hi, I'm Evelyn. We met once in the park? You might have also met my outspoken boyfriend...er, maybe girlfriend?" Evelyn stumbled over the end of her sentence, and the echoes carefully studied the woman's reaction. While it was dangerous to admit right off the bat who she was connected to, she felt it was best to get things out in the open. Honestly, right? That was supposed to be a thing...

"Oh." Allison did remember that, once Evelyn mentioned it. That had been a while ago. She shifted Alex so she could hold them in one arm, and held the other out to offer to shake Evelyn's hand. "It's nice to see you again."

Boyfriend-maybe-girlfriend? Who would not know which... oh. Oh, that... wow. Maya-Gawain actually found someone willing to put up with them? Allison's estimation of Evelyn's intelligence was declining. "That--you mean Mirror? I'm sorry."

Evelyn accepted the hand shake, and the echoes quickly watched the change in Allison's expression. It was hard, in a way, to see someone's opinion of her change so quickly just because of who she was dating. Evelyn wasn't used to dating, so that was just part of the experience. Mirror reflected on her, in a way, and the gender-shifter had apparently made a less than agreeable impression on the ink-manipulator. Things could have been worse, but she still felt somewhat awkward.

"Yeah, Mirror and I are dating. They really aren't that bad most of the time. I apologize for the bad first impressions though. Sometimes they get a little....protective." Evelyn said, pushing her pale hair from her face.

When she made the choice to come here, she had at least somewhat of a plan in mind. Now she couldn't quite focus on what it exactly contained. Come here, talk to Allison, tell her Mirror was being dumb and not to take it personally? Something like that. She knew how attached her boyfriend/girlfriend had gotten to the kid though, and the gender shifting thing certainly put them in a category to somewhat understand each other.

"I know you guys got off on the wrong foot. I just was hoping to mend a few bridges, if possible. I can't imagine having a kid, I'm honestly not very good with them. But just from the time we had with them at the mansion, I know how much work it is. I don't want doors to close for you because Mirror acted a little recklessly. There is a bit of lost love between the x's and the Sanctuary, I won't deny that. But having someone around who understands your powers is something I would have died for when I was a kid." Evelyn felt the echoes buzzing with the feedback from Allison. It was hard to tell what she was making of the conversation at this point, but Evelyn was nervous and worried she was only going to make things worse. Public speaking wasn't her forte, and she screwed things up about as often as she got things right. And then there was a baby in the room, which still broke the echoes. Kid didn't know what trouble it caused...

"Uh huh...." Allison supposed that was true. Understated and somewhat displaced, but true. Maya-Gawain was protective. Also unreasonable and thoughtless, but protective.

Well, that was nice. Allison might be able to count on Evelyn to get Alex back to her if Maya-Gawain ever tried to keep them again. And... yeah. Control of Allison's powers had come easily to her; there wasn't much to it, really. Will the ink there, and it went. She'd just had to refine her abilities; practice and repeat things until she could create fine details automatically... and learn not to put ink in her eye. Having someone with a similar mutation around wouldn't have really taught her much, if anything. Having any other mutant around at all, though... that would have been nice. And Allison could easily see how sex shifting would leave Alex feeling left out even among mutants. Some people who were designated outsiders reacted by associating with everyone designated outsiders, and some clung to what normalcy they could claim. Having someone else around that would tell Alex that sex shifting was okay would be good for them, but... it was Maya-Gawain. "I know it would be helpful, but...." Allison didn't really feel like getting into specifics. "Your... date, is an idiot, you know."

The echoes buzzed with Allison's body language. 'Protective' sparked other thoughts, and if she had to guess, there was a list in Allison's mind of other things Mirror might have been. Protective was the nice way to word it though. She wasn't here to bash on her significant other, but she knew siding completely with the mirror-walker after they acted the way they did would ignore the problem at hand.

Allison didn't seem like she quite understood Evelyn's point. Maybe she never struggled with her powers like Evelyn had. Maybe the baby wouldn't either, but if they did? She could see the consideration flickering on Allison's face, and also the doubt. Mirror hadn't made this easy, and Evelyn sighed slightly, shrugging her shoulders. "They mean well, but in your case, yeah they were an idiot. Sometimes it's hard to think things out though when you're trying to protect someone. Think of it this way though: wouldn't you want to have that sort of determination on your side though? Sure, Mirror made a mess with you. But if it was someone else coming after your kid, wouldn't you feel a little grateful?

"I'm not saying you have to like it, or invite Mirror over for tea or coffee or a playdate or something. I'm just saying maybe it might be useful to not shut them out entirely." There it was, the white flag of peace, the olive branch, whatever you'd call it.

Allison sighed. "I know, it's just...." She ran her free hand through her hair until it hit the hair tie, then shifted Alex back to hold them in both arms. And turned Alex around so they could wave their arms at Evelyn, since they were waking up now. "I know it would be better if Maya-Gawain was around, but the first time I met them they wouldn't accept any proof and wouldn't give Alex to me and kept asking about Alex's father, then they snuck into my room, and I've been getting maybe five hours of sleep a night for the last several months, I'm not really thinking things through much right now. Are you sure that saying exactly the worst thing isn't part of their mutation too? Because they're very good at it."

And... Allison was rambling. She sighed again. "Sorry. Like I said, I'm not very...." Stable. In control. Thinking. She shrugged. "Anyway. Would you like to come in? The living room's close, or we could go to the cafeteria if you're hungry." Not Allison's room, because it was small and cramped and further away anyway, but sitting down sounded nice.

Evelyn had to stop herself from wincing as she listened to the list of things Mirror had done. It wasn't surprising Allison was a little hesitant, to be honest. Breaking into her room was sort of the reason she was here after all. Door and Mirror though... sometimes mirrors were doors, so that was problematic when dealing with strangers. Evelyn just nodded compassionately though. She understood the whole sleep thing. She didn't have a kid, but her powers caused enough trouble on their own. "Yeah, I'm not defending everything they did. The whole father thing is a long story, and the breaking into room is uncalled for. The sleep thing... well, I understand that. I don't usually sleep thanks to my powers. And I'd say not saying the right thing is sort of a trait we ended up sharing..." At least she wasn't screwing up this time.

The echoes could read the exhaustion, confusion, the trouble sorting through it all. Evelyn almost felt bad for showing up, but there probably wouldn't be a 'good' time for it with the kid around. Then she invited Evelyn into the sanctuary. That flicker of fear hit her gut for a second, then she let herself nod. "The living room is fine. It's probably easier for you to hold your baby sitting anyway." Evelyn noted.