>> "I don't think I could get away with that."

"Darn," Bailey frowned. He definitely had actually wanted to take a joyride. He mentally raised his fists toward the people that controlled the school finances. Always ruining things. Probably, anyway. He didn't have a ton of basis to go off of.

He shifted genders. He shifted... genders? That was a strange power for sure. Bailey cocked his head, trying to make some sense of it. "So... you wake up and you're a different gender? Or does it happen randomly? What's it like? Is it confusing? Do you have the same memories and personality and stuff? Do you still go by Gawain? Do you look the same, or does the rest of your appearance change with... y'know...? Do you like it?"

It was such a strange thing to consider doing. Bailey could imagine flying, or absorbing energy, or being a shark, or something, but he couldn't really imagine shifting genders. Mutations were weird.

His attention snapped to the front of the store, where his shift replacement had just walked in. She was already in her uniform, starting to take off her coat when Bailey ran up to her. He shoved the key and his apron into her hands and started to book it towards the door. "Sorry, you're starting early! Have ta run! You can go ahead and punch me out. C'mon, Gawain!"

>>"Darn,"

The kid would have to learn to live with disappointment. Mirror was not a big fan of joy rides - or cars, for that matter - but he imagined that if Bailey stuck around the school long enough, and learned about the jet, he would have a very similar reaction...
In the meantime, he managed to distract him with the mention of gender-shifting.

>>"So... you wake up and you're a different gender? Or does it happen randomly? What's it like? Is it confusing? Do you have the same memories and personality and stuff? Do you still go by Gawain? Do you look the same, or does the rest of your appearance change with... y'know...? Do you like it?"

"Well, actually..." he began, taking a deep breath before he'd go into his usual speil about gender-shifting... but never got to get the first words out. A girl walked in and Bailey shoved apron and keys at her, as anxious to get out the door as a puppy would be when it really, really needed to go.

>>"Sorry, you're starting early! Have ta run! You can go ahead and punch me out. C'mon, Gawain!"

"Hi, nice to meet ya" Gawain grinned at the girl as he hurried outside after Bailey. He pulled out his phone and dialed for a taxi, letting Bailey bounce up and down until the order was complete. He was told a cab would be along in a few minutes. Bless New York. Putting his phone away, Gawain smirked at Bailey.

"So... about the gender shifting. On girl days, I usually go by Maya, but I'm the same person. Same memories, same personality. Longer hair. Boobs. The works." he shrugged "I can't really control it, but people get used to it pretty fast. And my girlfriends never complained..."

They were calling a taxi, which meant that they were on their way. They were out of the stupid ice cream shop (something that Bailey never thought he'd think of the place as) which had been keeping them there, so they could finally leave. The two of them stood outside, Bailey bouncing on his heels, and Gawain generally just looking like the more mature of the two.

It was just a few minutes to wait, but it felt like forever. He focused on what Gawain was telling him instead of the fact that they had to wait outside, and he had definitely left his jacket in the shop.

Bailey was at least polite enough not to ask some of the dirty questions that popped into his mind after he thought of what it would be like to be a girl for a day. That would have just made things especially strange.

"That's a little weird, but also pretty cool," he told him. "How many girlfriends have you had? Did you ever date more than one person at once? I'm... asking for a friend..." He glanced at his feet awkwardly. He knew absolutely nothing about accidentally dating more than one girl at a time. Absolutely nothing.

A cab pulled up in front of them. Bailey made an excited noise and then opened the back door. He slid over to the far side of the car and then left the door open for Gawain to come in after him. 

Bailey was still bouncing, and it made Gawain genuinely worried that he would run up to a fire hydrant and pee on it or something. He tried to distract the hyper kid by talking about powers.

>>"That's a little weird, but also pretty cool. How many girlfriends have you had? Did you ever date more than one person at once? I'm... asking for a friend..."

"Three serious ones" Gawain answered with a smirk, and as the taxi pulled up, he got in after Bailey "Xavier's Institute, please." the driver nodded, and Gawain sat back.

"Let's hope Miss T is in her office" he noted, watching the buildings scroll past "We can get ya an official visitor pass. She's very nice. Also... efficient."

It would take a little while to get to the school. Gawain knew he needed to keep Bailey entertained.

"So... how did you find out?" he looked at him, referring to his adapted aura. The driver was singing along to some music and not really paying attention, but Mirror was still careful with the terminology "Have you known for long?"

The cab was a little cramped, but compared to other New York cabs, it didn't smell all that bad. So, overall, it wasn't too bad. Bailey did up his seatbelt and then sat back in the seat, putting his feet about halfway up on the seat in front of him.

He wished that the driver would put on some music or something, but he looked a little grumpy, so Bailey didn't push it. He realized that he would just have to live with the silence. Or fill it. That would work too.

"Not long at all. One day I was sitting in a coffee shop, and this X-man came in. Masochist, or something," Bailey began to explain. He could have gone with the abridged version, but it was quiet, so he dove headfirst into the full story. "Anyway, this META bot came in and started attacking for some reason, and the guy couldn't do anything! These cops showed up, and things went crazy, and I shot off a gun, and then all this stuff happened.

"Long story short, the guy told me that I wasn't a mutant, and that I was an adapted. I didn't believe him at first, but then I went online and read a bunch of stuff, and it just made sense." He shrugged. He was alright with it at that point. Plus, he'd found some pretty cool stuff during his search. Audobon X, for example. 

"So how'd you figure out that you were a mutant?"

>>"Not long at all. One day I was sitting in a coffee shop, and this X-man came in. Masochist, or something,"

Gawain smirked at the name. He knew the guy, but he had not seen him around for quite a while. It was good to know Saph was still out there, doing... whatever he was doing.

>>"Anyway, this META bot came in and started attacking for some reason, and the guy couldn't do anything! These cops showed up, and things went crazy, and I shot off a gun, and then all this stuff happened."

Yup, sounded like Saph was involved.
Also, it had to be kind of awful, having to face a rogue META while not having your powers. Mirror would not have wanted to do that, no thank you. Poor kid had to be terrified... Gawain made a mental note to look into the incident later. Apparently, METAs were still a thing. He really, really hated them.

>>"Long story short, the guy told me that I wasn't a mutant, and that I was an adapted. I didn't believe him at first, but then I went online and read a bunch of stuff, and it just made sense."

"It does." Mirror nodded. There was no question about what Bailey was. Although he guessed Saph had not been this objective about the observation.

>>"So how'd you figure out that you were a mutant?"

"I was born this way." Gawain grinned "The gender-shifting started before I was born, actually, so mom was pretty clear on the details... being a mutant and all. The mirrors... that came later, when I was about thirteen. I was in a fight, and someone pushed me into a window."

>>"I was born this way. The gender-shifting started before I was born, actually, so mom was pretty clear on the details... being a mutant and all. The mirrors... that came later, when I was about thirteen. I was in a fight, and someone pushed me into a window."

Bailey nodded as he thought about it. Shifting even before he (she?) was born. That was kind of crazy to think about. He hadn't even been aware that mutants could have mutations before puberty. Though, he figured, it might be even weirder if he (she) simply woke up one morning at thirteen and was... a different gender. 

"So you shifted when your mom was pregnant? Wasn't that uncomfortable for her? Or do you not know?" Bailey inquired. "And what did you do when you found out that you could travel through mirrors? Do you use your power a lot?"

Bailey tried to think about when he first realized that he could nullify powers. There had been one instance in school with a mutant kid that stuck out, but he didn't really know if he could do it before that or not. He had no idea whether he was born with it or if it was a gradual process, or something? That would be a good thing to ask the adapted at the school.

"Oh hey, what pronouns should I use for you?" Bailey asked after a second, saying the first thing that came to his mind as always. 

The taxi slowly made its way through the New York traffic along Central Park, getting closer to the school. In the meantime, Bailey seemed to have an endless supply of questions.

>>"So you shifted when your mom was pregnant? Wasn't that uncomfortable for her? Or do you not know? And what did you do when you found out that you could travel through mirrors? Do you use your power a lot?"

"Well, she said the doctors doing the ultrasounds were pretty confused." Gawain chuckled. It's a boy! It's a girl! It's a boy for sure!... Good think Mom was a shifter too, otherwise she would have been freaked out... "As for the mirrors... well, I crashed a few places. Purely out of necessity, of course..."

>>"Oh hey, what pronouns should I use for you?"

Bless the kid. Gawain laughed. Back when he was younger, these questions never even came up... but New York City was a diverse place, and kids these days knew a whole lot about it.

"I really don't care" he shrugged "On Maya days I'm a she, on Gawain days I'm a he. Many people just refer to me as Mirror, which is... I guess my mutant name. Use whatever you like."

The taxi finally pulled up to the gates of the school. Gawain paid and got out, trying not to be run over by an overly enthusiastic Bailey as they got buzzed in.

"Cool, will do," Bailey nodded at Mirror's response. It always helped to know what to call people. He insulted them enough as it was, even when he did know what to refer to them by.

The taxi pulled up to the school, and Bailey's eyes widened. It was huge. It was sort of crazy that it could even be called a school, actually. No wonder Gawain had referred to it as 'the Mansion'. It was perched upon an expansive plot of land, and it looked downright fancy. There really was no other way to describe it.

"This. Is. Sick," Bailey announced as he forced his door open. They were buzzed in, but he hardly noticed at the speed he was going. He probably would have just jumped the fence if they hadn't been let in. "You live here?? That's crazy!"

He rushed forward, trying to take in every aspect of the sights around him. Before he knew it, he had walked backwards, into the massive front doors. "Can we go inside?"

>>"This. Is. Sick. You live here?? That's crazy!"

If Gawain thought Bailey could not possibly get more excited about their little field trip, he was utterly wrong. The kid looked like he was ready to bust through the gates if they did not get buzzed in fast enough. The mirrorwalked chuckled as they walked up to the building itself, and Bailey actually bumped into the door.

>>"Can we go inside?"

"Alright, gimme a moment" Gawain held up a hand "Let me check if there are students nearby, so that no one accidentally walks into your aura and goes blind or whatever..."

It was always a risk, having an adapted around mutants. They either got confused when their powers suddenly disappeared... or they did when they suddenly came back. Gawain walked into the foyer, looking around to make sure the coast was clear, before he waved Bailey in too, and led him down the hallway.

"Miss T's office is this way" he explained "This is where all the offices are." he stopped in front of Gemma's office and grinned at the kid "Here we are. Welcome to the Mansion, Bailey. You know where to find me." he added, nodding towards his own office a few doors down.

Gawain led Bailey inside of the mansion, where his mind was further blown - if that was even possible. It was so incredibly nice and fancy. It was actually amazing to him that anyone lived there.

Sure, he had seen nice things before. He'd seen lots of nice things, in fact. Most of the theatres that his parents performed in, for example, were beautiful. They, however, were not used as schools. To Bailey, the mansion was proof that students could have nice things. He'd always figured that both of the high schools he'd attended looked horrible because that was how schools looked. He was, in fact, dead wrong.

He spun around as he walked, trying to take in the 360 degree view of the place. Before he knew it, they were at a row of offices. They were all very official looking. There were a few names that he recognized to be members of the X-men, like Cafas and Sam Johnson (he still harboured a hunch that they were somehow related), and a few more that he didn't recognize. From what he could see, though, the Masochist's name wasn't listed. 

Mirror's office was a little ways down. He was curious to see whether it would be listed as one of his names, both of his names, or just 'Mirror'. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite read the tag on the door. "Thanks!" Bailey said enthusiastically as he watched the guy that he'd deemed to be his new friend leave.

The teen then turned around to face the new office that he'd been presented with. Gemma Taylor. The adapted woman. He raised his and and knocked quickly on the door, taking a deep breath to try to keep his excitement at bay.

((Continued for Bailey and Mama T in Adapt to This!))