((Continued from Ice Cream Stop))

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.

There was a knock on the door. Gemma looked up from the paperwork she had been sorting through, and pushed her reading glasses to the top of her head. She did not expect a student on an appointment - then again, students tended to walk in and out whenever they had something to talk to her about. She walked over to the door and opened it, looking, a little surprised, and the face of a boy she was not familiar with.

"Hello" she smiled, opening the door wider "My name is Gemma Taylor. I'm the school's guidance counselor. Are you a new student?..."

People brought students to the Mansion all the time. Some were dropped off by parents or guardians, others showed up on their own, and quite a few had been picked up by the X-men or other Mansion residents. The kids did not have any visible signs of a mutation - but that was not uncommon at all. Gemma was curious to find out who he was, and where he came from.

The guidance counsellor woman was very tall. Taller than Bailey. She looked rather athletic, too. In fact, she didn't really look as though she had any place sitting in a room all day dealing with students. At first glance, she actually looked rather unapproachable.

That was, until she smiled. She had a very friendly smile that told Bailey that it was alright to talk to her. So, talk to her he did.

"Uh no, not exactly. I'm not actually a mutant, you see, so I couldn't really be a student. Anyway, this guy - sometimes girl - Mirror brought me here. I've never met another adapted before - that's what I am, an adapted - so he brought me here and said that you could explain some things to me. Like why we can do stuff, and how we can do stuff, and why it only works at a certain distance. That kinda thing."

He finally took a breath after his usual amount of word vomit. "So... would you do that?" He asked with rather large eyes. 

>>"Uh no, not exactly..."

The young man spoke with alarming speed, and Gemma was not entirely sure that he drew a breath at all while doing it. He seemed excited, and from what he was saying, he had good reason to be.
And adapted. Gemma knew others existed, but she had not met many of them, especially younger ones. They did not tend to show up around the school, and with good reason. She wondered why Mirror brought this one in, but from the sound of it she guessed that he was in need of some... guidance, or at least explanations, regarding his powers.

>>"So... would you do that?"

Gemma nodded, ushering Bailey into the office.

"I can give it a try." she chuckled, offering a seat "Would you like some tea?"

She was not going to offer coffee. He was hyper as he was already.

Gemma took a seat in one of the armchairs in the office, and tilted her head at the kid.

"So... what was your name again?"

>>"I can give it a try."

"Sweet, thanks!" Bailey grinned. Trying was all he wanted, really. Actually, he mostly just wanted to talk to someone who knew what he was going through. Someone who wasn't a mutant freaking out about having their powers taken away.

>>"Would you like some tea?"

As he stepped into the office, he paused for a second. He didn't actually like tea very much, but it seemed rude to say no, so he nodded. "Sure, thank you," he said. He could choke down some warm leaf water, right?

"I'm Bailey," he announced after she asked. He had, for the umpteenth time, talked about something random before giving a stranger his name. He seemed to do that constantly. "You're Gemma, right? That's what the door said, anyway. Er, I guess I should probably call you Ms. Taylor, shouldn't I? Ms. or Mrs.?"

He stepped all the way into the woman's office and took a seat in a chair across from the one that she obviously used. He very nearly put his feet onto the desk, but realized that that would be crossing a line. He'd done enough of that for one lifetime already.

>>"Sure, thank you,"

Gemma noted the hesitation as she turned on the water heater. "I also have hot chocolate." she offered "or... coffee."

>>"I'm Bailey. You're Gemma, right? That's what the door said, anyway. Er, I guess I should probably call you Ms. Taylor, shouldn't I? Ms. or Mrs.?"

"Miss Taylor is fine" Gemma chuckled, glancing at her engagement ring. She was not a Mrs. Yet.

"So, you are an adapted?" she ventured. It was sort of a new territory, counseling an adapted student instead of a mutant one, but being one herself, Gemma was confident that she could say at least some useful things to him. "How long have you known?"

It took her a while to figure it out, back in the day. It all depended on whether or not one spent enough time close enough to a mutant that they would notice the change in their powers, and then whether they realized that the nullification was connected to a specific person. Those were a lot of ifs. Adapteds could go through life without noticing that they had an aura at all...

>>"I also have hot chocolate. or... coffee."

"Hot chocolate!" Bailey said excitedly. That sounded way better than tea. Way, way better. Who needed leaf water when you could have hot sugar and cocoa? "Could we, like, mix coffee and hot chocolate? Like a mocha? That sounds even better." Coffee was alright on its own, but it was great mixed with hot chocolate. Caffeine and sugar? Bailey was there.

>>"So, you are an adapted?"

"Yep!" Bailey nodded. He definitely was. Unless it was some sort of weird reverse mutation like he had initially thought. He'd yet to get that checked out. "Adapted I am. An X-man told me a little while back. Masochist. The internet says that his name is Saphirus, though. That's where I get most of my information, actually. Internet sites. Audobon X is pretty cool."

He sat back in the chair and looked around the office. He assumed that she was probably pretty busy. She was the guidance counsellor at a school full of hormonal mutants, after all. She probably spent a lot of time in that office. "So how'd you end up at a school for mutants?"

>>"Hot chocolate! Could we, like, mix coffee and hot chocolate? Like a mocha? That sounds even better."

"Sure." Gemma chuckled, getting out the boxes and filters. Kids in her office were usually too awkward or too distracted to make special requests like that, but there was no reason why she could not make it happen. Especially if it make the teen feel more comfortable. They had time.

>>"Yep! Adapted I am. An X-man told me a little while back. Masochist. The internet says that his name is Saphirus, though. That's where I get most of my information, actually. Internet sites. Audobon X is pretty cool."

Gemma let out a little sigh, but didn't stop smiling. The blogs and AMAs and other online things that the younger residents of the Mansion tended to keep up were both a hassle and an opportunity. They put a lot of unfiltered information out there - like the real names of X-men, Gemma was going to have to look into that a.s.a.p. - but they also tended to help kids with powers to figure out what they were. Gemma tried to monitor what got posted, but Leo and the rest were not very keen on cooperating.

>>"So how'd you end up at a school for mutants?"

"I applied for a counseling job. My powers are a risk around mutants, but... they can also be very useful. Younger children with new mutations tend to lose control, or go a little overboard with using their abilities... that's when my aura comes in. It has been even more useful in many things than I expected..."

"Oh. That's cool, I guess," Bailey acknowledged. He wasn't actually super interested in how she'd come to be the guidance counsellor, he realized. Sure, he'd been the one that had asked, but it had really been mor out of courtesy than anything else. He was far more interested in other things, like how she'd interacted with people, or found out about her abilities, or how many other adapteds she knew.

So, rather than wasting any time pretending to be interested in other things (and potentially lose his train of thought), Bailey dove right into the important stuff. He wiggled a bit in his chair as he prepared to spew out another string of words. "So, like, when'd you find out that you were an adapted? How? And do you meet lots of other adapteds? What are they like? What's an aura? Can we do other things? Do people get mad at you a lot for taking away their powers? People usually either get really mad or really like me because of it."

He finally took a breath after his last question for that moment and then glanced at the coffee maker. It smelled darn good. 

>>"Oh. That's cool, I guess,"

Gemma could tell that her career in counseling was not really what Bailey had been interested in. She chuckled as she worked on making the coffee and hot chocolate; leave it to a teenager to ask something out of awkwardness they did not want to know, before getting around to asking what was actually on their mind.
And ask he did.

>>"So, like, when'd you find out that you were an adapted? How? And do you meet lots of other adapteds? What are they like? What's an aura? Can we do other things? Do people get mad at you a lot for taking away their powers? People usually either get really mad or really like me because of it."

Gemma held up a hand to put a pause to the flood of questions, handed a mug to Bailey, and sat back down with her own cup in hand. She mulled over some of the questions, and decided to start from the beginning.

"I found out I was an adapted when I was a school counselor back in Baltimore. Some of our students were mutants, and I also fostered mutant children when they had nowhere else to go. It was easy to notice how my aura affected them." she paused, remembering another one of his questions "An aura is the field around you inside which mutant powers don't work. Different adapteds have auras of different sizes. Mine is about seven feet in radius. Sadly, it seems to be a permanent field that we cannot turn on and off. I have never encountered an adapted who had... other abilities, but I assume they might exist. It is all about human genetics keeping up with mutations."

For better or worse.
Gemma sipped her coffee, thinking about the rest of the questions.

"Mutants react differently to adapteds. Some think we are nature's weapon against them... which is in no way the case. Within the school, some students tend to keep their distance from me, because they don't like their powers being nulled. I let each new student know what I am, so that they can make that decision. Others tend to seek me out, to take a break from mutations they cannot turn off. It is all about negotiation."

Bailey took his mug gratefully and sipped from it. It tasted exactly how he thought it would. Coffee-y and sweet. A great combination. "Thanks," he said, more into the mug than into the air. The effect was an echoey, muffled noise that only sort of sounded like the intended word. 

>>"An aura is the field around you inside which mutant powers don't work. Different adapteds have auras of different sizes. Mine is about seven feet in radius. Sadly, it seems to be a permanent field that we cannot turn on and off. I have never encountered an adapted who had... other abilities, but I assume they might exist. It is all about human genetics keeping up with mutations."

The woman definitely knew her stuff, Bailey realized. She knew way, way more than he did, and probably ever would have without meeting her. He listened intently, only chiming in when he had something important to add. "Oh, that thing. I've always just called it my area or my radius. Mine's probably similar to yours.

"But, like, we can't turn it off at all? I knew that I'd never been able to, but I always thought that someone would make, like, an adapted box, or bracelet, or something that would be able to shut off our powers. Is there nothing like that?" 

>>"Mutants react differently to adapteds. Some think we are nature's weapon against them... which is in no way the case. Within the school, some students tend to keep their distance from me, because they don't like their powers being nulled. I let each new student know what I am, so that they can make that decision. Others tend to seek me out, to take a break from mutations they cannot turn off. It is all about negotiation."

It sounded like mutants had a similar reaction to her as they did to him. People either tended to avoid him or want to spend all their time around him. A few people were indifferent, but they were mostly the sort with boring powers or powers that they could like without. 

"Do you have any crazy stories about it?" He asked with a grin. He had a few of his own, but he figured that she probably had way more than he did, given her constant proximity to mutants. 

>> "Oh, that thing. I've always just called it my area or my radius. Mine's probably similar to yours."

Gemma nodded. Most adapteds had the same sort of aura, and while the size varied, it did not tend to be drastically larger or smaller from person to person. Also, it had no official name, as far as Gemma knew.

>>"But, like, we can't turn it off at all? I knew that I'd never been able to, but I always thought that someone would make, like, an adapted box, or bracelet, or something that would be able to shut off our powers. Is there nothing like that?"

"Well... not really. After all, we are the thing that shuts off powers." Gemma pointed out over her coffee. She was not even sure how shutting of... shutting-off powers would even be possible. Then again, she was not a scientist.

>>"Do you have any crazy stories about it?"

"Crazy?..." Gemma chuckled a little at the word "Not really, but I do have examples." she paused for a moment, trying to think of the ones she should list. "There is at least one student in the school who can't sleep without me around, so he takes naps in my office." she nodded at the couch, currently empty "And another one who can't take a shower without me on the other side of the bathroom wall, because her powers turn water into alcohol." these were good examples, examples of help "But there are also people who would be injured or threatened around me. One of my colleagues would probably die if her powers got nullified, so we give each other a lot of distance. Another one goes blind around me..." she sighed. She did not mention both were on the X-men team.

"I think the time I found my power most useful was when two bigoted parents brought a mutant with pyrokinetic powers into the Mansion, thinking he was a burning angel who would cleanse the place of sin." she sighed, bringing up the memory "And once I managed to stop a girl whose powers were out of control in Central Park during Halloween..."she sipped some coffee "Our aura can be as useful as it is dangerous."

Bailey chucked as he listened to some of the stories. Some of them were funny, but some of them worried him a little bit. It sounded like pretty much her whole life revolved around her adapted-ness. She helped people shower, sleep, and probably other things, too. Plus, there were a few people she had to avoid entirely. That didn't sound all that great. No wonder Mirror had been careful bringing him in.

More crazy memories that made Bailey grin filled the room. The woman had certainly seen her fair share of mutations gone right and gone wrong. It made sense, given the fact that she spent that much time around them.

Bailey couldn't help but wonder about a few things, though. He was a little worried about his own life, as well as hers. He hadn't known what exactly he'd wanted to hear, but he wasn't sure that it was everything that he was hearing. Despite the fact that it was exactly what he'd asked for.

"Does it ever... bother you that you have to do those things, though? That you have to watch that guy sleep, or help that girl shower, or worry about not making your friend blind? Does it ever feel like they take advantage of you? I mean, do you have a social life?" He knew that that last one was rude, but he asked anyway. It was actually something that he wanted to know. It sounded like most of her time would be taken up with doing those things, and he wanted to know what to avoid doing in his own life. 

Bailey listened intently; apparently he was amused by some of Gemma's stories, and slightly worried about others. She could tell what was going through his head - would his powers be influencing his personal relationships for the rest of his life? The answer was yes. But Gemma knew that it was not the end of the world.

>>"Does it ever... bother you that you have to do those things, though? That you have to watch that guy sleep, or help that girl shower, or worry about not making your friend blind? Does it ever feel like they take advantage of you? I mean, do you have a social life?"

Gemma chuckled as the last question was blurted out.

"I have a fiancé, and a son." she offered with a smile "Both of them are mutants. And yes, I do have a social life."

Of course, because of the age difference between them, Gemma was sure that Bailey's idea of a social life was not the same as hers. But that was of no matter.

"And I don't have to do any of those things." she clarified "I want to. I chose to be a guidance counselor, because I saw a potential in my powers to help, and I like helping people. I made it clear to the students that they can come to me with their problems, and I do my best to help them, with my aura, or in other ways."

"Oh," Bailey nodded. He had been off the mark, then. She wasn't a total shut in, and she did have things going for her. Not really things that appealed to him, sure, but things nonetheless. "Sorry for thinking that you didn't."

What she was saying made sense. She helped people because she wanted to, not because she had to. She just did it so much that it seemed like she had to. Bailey was actually just a little bit proud that they were the same species. 

"But, like, if I didn't want to spend my whole life helping people like you do, then what could I do? Is there some kind of job for adapteds or something?" He asked her curiously. That question was asked for a few reasons. One of them was the same reason that he had initially come to see her, but one was slightly more broad.

Bailey didn't know what to do with his life. He was graduating high school in just a few months, and he hadn't bothered to apply to any kind of post secondary anything, and by then it was too late. He had considered going into some sort of trade, but he didn't really know how to go about doing that. Some part of him was hoping that she would tell him about some sort of amazing organization that would hire adapteds so he wouldn't have to keep worrying about any of that.