Tyson had to think about the question, offhand they sounded like the same thing, but the subtle different was not lost after a quick examination. Unfortunately, Tyson still wasn't sure. "Hrrrrr Yeeess... Nooooo...? grrrrrrr dooon't knoooow," Sometimes it seemed like it was both rolled into one, he did things and wanted them, only to realize that he didn't want them and didn't want to do them. He would devour a raw steak happily only to turn around and throw it up in disgust. His mindset and actions seemed like they contended at every interval, shifting into rational thought to automatic reaction seamlessly to where he couldn't tell where he ended and his instincts took over. "Hrrrrr caaan't teeeelll, hrr keeeeep ackkting liike aaahnimal."

When Adder asked him about the institute, he wasn't sure about all the details, after all he was still pretty new here himself. He was here for help with his condition, but it looked like a lot more happened here then just that. There were students and classes like a college, but it seemed to also include more... unusual classes that revolved around more unconventional college topics. He hadn't really participated in them all that much since he couldn't stand being around a crowd with his hyperactive senses, but when a class was titled 'flight 101' it wasn't that hard to picture what was going on. "Grrrrr is schooooowl? " he said, trying to boil it down into the simplest terms he could use to avoid having to try and form complicated words. "Hrrrrr schooowl foooor peeeople wiiiith grrrrrr aaabilliiitiiiies." Honestly that was about as much as he knew.

The wolf-guy might look and smell and act like he was unhappily part animal, but it looked like he did indeed still think like a human. Poor guy, didn't he realize he should be thinking like a mutant? But anyway; Adder didn't really bother to classify the way he thought except on infrequent whimsy, so he didn't truly expect it of others.

"Sometimes animals have the right idea," he replied casually, almost absently. Animals tended to be a bit more honest than people, though they were just as capable of bluffing and lying in order to protect themselves. He saw more open vulnerability than bluffing here, which was not really a common animal thing. Maybe a pet animal thing; they were used to relying on others to protect them, so they were more likely to show that they needed protection.

School. That did mesh with what the, er, mirror-walker not-cop had said, although he really wasn't sure what to make of schools. He'd been on school property before, to find food and nick things from unattended bags - high schools were especially good targets, as long as he was relatively clean. He blended in fairly well at those, and it made it much easier to get further in - and back out! - without drawing suspicion.

"Do you have to be a student?" Not really much way of asking that one without letting on his hesitation about school, although it probably wasn't too obvious that he'd never, ever attended one.

Well, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. He knew how to read and write, a bit, but that hadn't exactly come up, and in all honesty he knew he didn't look like most students did. Not the ears or the teeth or the eyes, even just his clothing. There, ah, was also the bit where he was sneaking around the back, not going through whatever proper channels probably existed.

"Sometimes animals have the right idea,"

For Tyson this was a confusing statement. He didn't like what his instincts did to him. He didn't like being forced to eat raw meat, to get in peoples face when he felt territorial, attacking people and hurting them. He couldn't see how this would be the 'right idea'. "Hrrrr, dooon't waaaant to beeee rrrrr aniiimaaaal," he said, "grrrr nooot a mooonsterrrrr, hrrrr don't waaant to hurrrrt peeeoople." It was how he viewed himself, regardless of what others told him, he hurt people, and he couldn't see that as being anything other then something monstrous.

"Do you have to be a student?"

Tyson didn't exactly know. He didn't consider himself a student, he was here for rehabilitation and a cure to his condition. That didn't really qualify as being a student, so he supposed you didn't have to be one. "Hrrrrrr I doon't thiiink so." he said, "grrrrr not a stuuudeeent."

Then it occured to him that Adder may have already been through what he was going through. If he also had instincts, he must know a thing or two about controling them. "Hrrrr hoooow do yoooou coooontrrrroool iiiit?" he asked, a little more desperately then he would have liked. But honestly he was desperate. He was desperate for anything that would keep him from hurting more people.

Aaand he'd confused the guy. Eh. Hardly the first time he'd confused someone, although a lot of the time it was on purpose, and for a purpose. Say, to give himself a chance to gtfo.

He did a lot of that, honestly. While they were in this conversation, though... "Animals have reasons for things. Sometimes they're just different reasons. Mostly they're really the same." Food, territory - shelter, and access to other resources, really - water, warmth. The form of each varied between individuals, but they were all necessary in some way. The point of instincts were to get and hold onto those things.

And being a student wasn't required. Good. Even if not-being-a-student was only okay temporarily, it would still give him a chance to take cover temporarily. He didn't intend to stick around forever - and he didn't want to. It wasn't the world he knew and understood.

"Control my instincts?" Adder tilted his head. "I don't." They were a very useful part of him.

Tyson didn't understand, well, he understood the words, but he didn't understand how it worked, as so far, everything the animal part of him wanted seemed contrary to what he wanted. It wanted raw meat, it wanted to attack people, it wanted to chase people off. He didn't want to do those things, so how could it be the same? He shook his head, unable to sort it, he just wished that things made sense again, that he could wake up and have all this be a dream he never had to think about again.

What shocked Tyson even more was that Adder said he didn't control his instincts. He couldn't believe that since he seemed in control of himself, more so then he had been. "rrrr hoooow... rrrrr hrrrrr dooon't unnderrrrrstaaand," he said, grasping at his head and shaking it as he struggled to figure it out. Was it just him? Was he the problem? How could it be that it was so simple for others but he was out of control? Was there just something wrong with him? Was there just something.... bad in him that made him do those things? He didn't have any answers, and he felt even worse, helpless, wrong.

So confused. And it wasn't Adder who was confused for once. It inspired such curiosity.

"Is it new to you? Your instincts, your shape." Adder circled around the hybrid, leaving a reasonably comfortable amount of space but trying to see if there was some sort of clue. If it was new to him, that would certainly explain why he seemed so off balance and out of sorts. And out of touch with himself. He definitely didn't seem inclined to pay attention to what his senses were telling him.

... Explaining a bit more might ease up the confusion. Explaining wasn't something Adder did all that much. Did he want too now? Less confusion might get him more information, or it might be less interesting.

Information beat out interest. "I've been as I am now since I was a kid." He rolled his shoulders and held out a hand at the vague height of a very young child, certainly under five years old. If his mutation had activated after birth, it was before he could remember, and it was all on what he remembered his parents telling him. He didn't remember much of them anymore. It had been a long time.

Tyson nodded, trying to navigate his emotions, "hrrrrrrr faaaatheeeeer diiid this trrrrrrr meeeeee," he said "grrrrr turrrrrned meeee intooooo thiss hrrrr, brrrrrrooought heeerrrr aftrrrrrrrr rrrrrescue rrrrr." How long had it been? He tried to think on it, it was hard for him to remember the when of it, the experiments his father had done on him left many gaps where he was unconscious or under the effects of a control collar. He couldn't tell it it had been weeks or month while he was captive. But here at the institute it had just been a few weeks hadn't it? It felt like so much longer, but that was more likely due to every day feeling like a struggle. Time went very slowly when you were uncomfortable in your own body.

"I've been as I am now since I was a kid."

So Adder had always been like this. No wonder he had control over it, it was probably second nature to him. That helped him feel... slightly better. He still didn't have any clue on how to control himself, but there was obviously some way, just not one that Adder could explain. "Rrrrrrr everrrrrything is sooooo diffrrrrrerrrrent, harrrrderrrr." he said, refering to his own struggle. He couldn't talk right, he couldn't use his hands correctly, sounds and smells were overwhelming and the wild impulses just made it worse.

Father, huh? Adder could vaguely remember a quiet scent, but he couldn't describe it anymore. Something earthy, maybe, but not simply soil. Anyway, his father was long dead and not involved in the current situation. "Some parents aren't good," he said instead of voicing his brief nostalgia.

Adder glanced down at his hands, flexing his fingers and considering the different between them and his paws. The concentration brought a hint of wavering fur, but he shifted his attention before actually changing forms. "Paws are less useful than hands for some things," he agreed. "But there are things they are better at. And with practice, there are things you can do with paws just fine. It's just... being used to the joints. Understanding how each part of you moves, and how to make it move the way you want."

He could almost remember learning to move his tail properly when he first started shifted. Shifting was, after all, more recent than the rest of his mutation. Now, of course, he could 'move' his tail without conscious thought even in this form, when he didn't have a tail. It was just... well, it was just practice.

Tyson snorted at Adders comment about parents, "Hrrr undeerrrrstatmeeent," he said. He didn't know what kind of parents Adder had, but he was pretty sure they hadn't strapped him to a table and stuck needles in him for hours on end. He never wanted to have anything to do with that man again.

Tyson reflexively looked at his hand while Adder examined him. As he listened he examined them, not quite human, not quite wolf, the form and joints somehow somewhere inbetween. The way he moved his human hands didn't correspond well to the new design, he was having to relearn how to use them since they didn't respond the same way. He understood what adder was saying, it was just difficult relearning something that was supposed to feel automatic.

Adder circled the hybrid a few more times, assessing him out of interest and learned wariness both, although he wasn't particularly concerned right now, and then stopped abruptly.

Not that the pause was more than a pause; Adder stopped walking, but he didn't really stop moving. Tiny shifts in his weight, different muscles flexing slightly, a casual need for unending fluidity that kept his limbs from stiffening or being caught unawares. And more than a little instinctive impatience.

"You said why you came here. What keeps you here?" The sudden question was blunt, and accompanied by a very careful examination of the hybrid's reaction and expression. It was a question that could be interpreted in a number of ways, and the way something was said - or not said - could give Adder the information he needed as much as the words that followed.

It seemed like Adder really liked to circle things. He was tempted to ask if he thought he was part vulture as well, but thought better of it. Probably more of a predator thing anyway. Having answered several questions and having asked a few in turn, he finally started questioning why exactly Adder was here. He hadn't really asked at all, he had been to preoccupied with his slip up to even think about it. Before he could ask though, Adder shot out another question.

"You said why you came here. What keeps you here?"

The first fought that came to mind was of course 'cure', but something in the way that Adder asked seemed to suggest he was asking something else. Maybe it was the body language he gave off, or the tone he said it in, it seemed like a much deeper question then that. Tyson had to question why exactly he was here. Yes he wanted a cure, but technically he didn't need to be at the institute to eventually get that. If he were living in the city he could just as easily retrieve the cure as he could living in the mansion. Why did he stay here as opposed to someplace else? He thought back to his first romp through the city, and what had happened there. He had hurt people, he had lost control. It was dangerous for him to be out there, not only because of the danger he posed to others but the dangers posed to him. He wasn't going to be accepted as long as he looked like this. So he supposed the institute was the best place for him to be at the moment.

"Hrrrr beeeest plaaace tooo beee rrrrr if yooou looook liiike meee hrr," he said, thinking that was probably the best answer he could give if he was reading the question right. His attention then turned to Adder himself, "Rrrrr whhaaat brrrrrrrought yoou heerrrrrre?" he half growled. He really needed to work on his pronunciation of r's, it always sounded like he was growling them.

The hybrid was thinking through his answer. Curious. That could be good or bad, for Adder; it brought in a lot more variation and unreliability. Still, information was information, and the information Adder was picking up on was that there had been some less than pleasant experiences. The trick was, though, was this place a haven from those experiences or the source of them?

Best place to be implied that it was indeed a haven, although Adder wasn't looking for protection from anti-mutant opinions. He was actually looking for a shield from a mutant. Not the same sort of protection at all... but not necessarily exclusive.

The hybrid finally got around to asking a question. Adder bit back a huff, not really looking to explain himself or even really talk about himself any more than he already had. "I'm looking for something," he said, eyes sliding away and indifference rising up to hide his defensiveness. "Does this place only care about being a mutant, or is there more to it?"

Too blunt a deflection?

Tyson gave a grunt of annoyance, as Adders answer really didn't answer the question. He couldn't really tell if it was he was just avoiding the question or wither this was just the way the thought, as his previous statements seemed to be a bit 'zen' in his opinion, he seemed not to really delve to deep when it came to answers. But really, it didn't matter, he wasn't a part of the faculty, it wasn't like he needed to know or anything, he could get into that with the headmaster or something. He had enough problems without getting into those of others.

"Does this place only care about being a mutant, or is there more to it?"

Tyson hadn't been at the institute long enough to really figure out the motivations behind the school, or it's primary interests. He didn't interact enough to really tell, that and he wasn't a mutant so it didn't really seem they cared about it. "hrrrrrr stiiiill neeew rrrrrr assssk theee headmasssssterrrrr." he said, deciding that he wasn't the one to be asking these questions to. About the only thing he knew was relating to his own issues, he couldn't speak for the school when it came to anything else. If Adder was interested in attending of something, this questions would be better directed at someone who was here for school at the very least, not the wolf man looking for a cure for experiments done on him.

Adder's eyes narrowed slightly at the hybrid's grunt. Had the previous lack of interest in his answers been an act? That level of falsehood was very, very concerning. True or false, changing moods or constant intent, individual or representative?

Not knowing bothered him.

People refusing to answer him also bothered him, although it was something he was more used to and better at setting aside for the moment.

For now, Adder settled his teeth and forced his ears to relax, if only a notch. If he had a tail in this form it still would have been stiff, and there was definitely part of his brain sending those signals, but it was far less obvious.

He angled his head a bit, more farewell than curiosity now, and then turned to continue on his way - although his attention didn't leave the hybrid. If there was nothing more to be learned, then he had no reason to stay in conversation, but the hybrid could very well react to him leaving - which would at least be educational in itself. And sometimes moving to leave inspired others to talk more, which could also be useful.

Adder suddenly turned and left, leaving Tyson confused as to why. He had tried to answer the guys questions as best he could, and the sudden reaction gave the impression that he had somehow offended him. Give Adders more... adapted attitude towards his abilities, he didn't know if it was something in his body language or the way he had said something. "hrrrrrr somethiiiiing I saaaaid?" he questioned out loud, confused, and a bit sad. So far Adder was probably the closest person to being somewhat like him he had met, or at the very least had instincts akin to his. His ears dropped somewhat, reacting to a sudden feeling of guilt in that he had somehow messed up again and alienated someone who could potentially help him through this.

He crouched down, breathing deeply as he fell once again into despising what he had become. Something that somehow managed to be wrong from all angles, human, animal, whatever he was. People outside the institute hated him for looking like he did, and it appeared his demeanor was also offensive too, at least that was the thoughts that were going through his mind. He had just met Adder, but it still felt bad to offend him when they had many similarities.