Ugh...college. Even after a whole semester, Janelle hadn't gotten used to the pace and the sheer volume of work that was involved with being a full time student. Finals were quickly approaching, and the redhead felt like she was simply buried in work. At least it was spring, and things were starting to get green again.

To that end, in her search for somewhere quiet to study in the Mansion, Janelle had found herself wandering the grounds. It was still chilly out, March in New York wasn't one of the warmer months, though there was a promise of the warmth to come...and the sun was out.

It hadn't rained for a while and the ground was dry enough to stretch out. Just smelling the grass and feeling the earth under her made Janelle feel loads better. Suddenly freshman biology didn't seem so bad...a good thing since a budding botanist needed to pass science classes to get her degree.

Janelle threw herself into her studies, focus narrowing as she relaxed a bit. This was what she had needed, a nice place where she could sense spring in the air.

As she studied, and without her notice, the grass around Janelle started to deepen in color, looking more and more vibrant. Little flowers that had simply started to sprout grew larger, little blooms springing up on their stalks. Janelle had gotten much better with her powers since coming to The Mansion, but sometimes it was hard when she was so connected to nature.

Flipping to the next page in her book and pulling her review closer, Janelle got to work on Dihybrid crosses. Mendel was definitely her kind of guy.

It was a nice, sunny day, and Gawain decided to take Angua for a walk on the Mansion grounds. The old Irish wolfhound usually had the rule of the grounds, but whenever Mirror was busy, he'd just let her out the front door and let her roam. This time, however, there was nothing to do and no one to train, so Gawain decided to go for a nice stroll around the premises, and give Angua a workout.

The wolfhound noticed the girl first. She was sitting in the sunshine, surrounded by an unusually vivid patch of flowers. Angua padded over, sniffing enthusiastically at the flowers. As the girl was sitting down, the dog towered over her. Gawain whistled, calling Angua back, but the wolfhound appeared to love the flower patch; she rolled onto her back like a puppy. The mirrorwalker rolled his eyes and chuckled as he jogged over.

"Angua!... Sorry about that. She's not usually this nosy."

Punnett squares, as it turned out, were actually mildly therapeutic. There was something about all the combinations of letters in their predictable but seemingly abstract arrangements that was kind of beautiful. There were equations that existed to figure out the probability of traits in larger crosses, but two traits only meant sixteen boxes and that wasn't too many.

One problem finished, then two, some were simple dominance, some were incomplete or codominance. It all made sense. Maybe passing this final wasn't going to be as hard as it had seemed initially.

Janelle hadn't noticed the flowers springing up around her as she studied and the sudden appearance of a very large canine took her a bit by surprise.

"Hello doggy!" she said, in her customary greeting to unknown canines. This one was a very happy...girl, Janelle observed as the pup flopped herself on the flowers that had sprung up and gave them a good smoothing.

A voice rang out, apologizing for the antics of the pup. Janelle obliged the fuzzy beast with a hearty belly scratch. This was a face she didn't recognize.

"It's not a problem. I can just put them back when she's done." . The redhead gestured at her books, "Besides...there's no time like the present for a study break."

The name the new visitor had called was pretty and sounded like it would roll off the tongue, "Angua you said? What a nice name. Well Angua, I'm Janelle. Who is your friend?".

>>"It's not a problem. I can just put them back when she's done. Besides...there's no time like the present for a study break."

Gawain chuckled as he watched Angua enjoy the belly rub with her tongue lolling. He also noticed the ring of flowers and fresh grass around the girl; she must have had some sort of a plant-based power. Neat. She was obviously a student, given her textbooks and her studying, so it was likely she also had some power that the Mansion was helping with.

>>"Angua you said? What a nice name. Well Angua, I'm Janelle. Who is your friend?".

"Terry Pratchett." Gawain grinned, then corrected himself "Her name, I mean. I got it from a Pratchett book." he offered a hand tot he girl "My name is Gawain. Nice to meet you, Janelle. Have you been in the school for long?..."

"It's a lovely name. She seems to like it. Terry Pratchett...Janelle had heard of the author, but hadn't ever read anything they'd written. Back home she'd been into the Sara Dessen, John Green slice of life books that tended to appeal to teenage girls. Now that she was at The Mansion, Janelle had been too busy reading for school to read for pleasure.

"I guess it depends on your definition of long." she said, still petting the dog. "A little over a year in reality. I came here to finish high school and am staying on while I work on my degree at NYU." .

Picking one of the flowers, Janelle twirled it around her fingers, the stem elongating as she twirled and the petals growing a bit larger as she fiddled, "What about you? I don't think I've seen you here before, and I hardly ever go anywhere else."

Angua, old as she was, made excited puppy noises and she rolled around and settled down, pretending to be a large shag carpet in the middle of the field of flowers. She enjoyed to be petted, and also liked lazing around in the grass.

>>"I guess it depends on your definition of long. A little over a year in reality. I came here to finish high school and am staying on while I work on my degree at NYU... What about you? I don't think I've seen you here before, and I hardly ever go anywhere else."

"Me? I have been here for ever." Gawain chuckled, plopping down next to Angua "I'm actually a Mansion greeter, I'm just pretty bad at my job..." he grinned and shrugged "Or rather, life's been busy this past year, and I took a six month vacation... only got back recently. Anyhow, belated welcome to the Mansion." he waved a hand at her, noting the flower growing between her fingers "That's a neat power. Plant manipulation?"

Dogs were great, Janelle decided, watching the big girl settle herself into the grass for more pets. The redhead happily obliged as she listened to the owner speak.

It was strange to Janelle how things like that worked. It seemed ridiculous that two people could live in such close quarters and not know each other. Further explanation gave things a bit more perspective though, and a six month vacation would have done it. Janelle's first six months of time in New York had been overwhelming to say the least and if Gawain had been gone the second six months...well that made sense.

In response to the belated greeting, Janelle grinned and bobbed her head in thanks. As for her power, Janelle looked down at the pretty little flower she'd been growing. It was still a bit strange interacting with people about powers, especially one as mundane as hers.

"Yep." she said, holding out the flower in the palm of her hand and sending it enough energy to make it stand up in her palm. "Nothing impressive. Not like some of the others I've seen. Are you a mutant too?" While the question could be considered rude in some circles, this was the Mansion.

>>"Yep."

Gawain watched the flower move with fascination. There was something... mythical about people whose powers interacted with nature. Mirror, as a bit of a mythology buff, thought they were among the coolest manifestations of the mutant gene. Might not look like much, or seem very dangerous... but it was still enchanting.

>>"Nothing impressive. Not like some of the others I've seen. Are you a mutant too?"

"Oh, it's definitely a cool power." Gawain grinned. He was not about to let her be shy about her abilities. To her question, he nodded "Yep. I use mirrors to teleport." it was a simplification, but he was not about to give her the full list just yet "I can also walk into movies, that's the fun part... oh. And I shape-shift into a girl every other day." he chuckled. That one tended to make people do a double take.

Well. Gawain had just made it onto the list of people Janelle liked. Anything more than polite interest in her less than flashy power was a surefire way to ensure admission, calling it cool was a bonus.

Except that Gawain could walk through mirrors...

That was the exact type of thing Janelle had been talking about when she said that some other folks had way more impressive powers.

And he shape shifted into a girl every other day.

"Oh." was all the redheaded teen said for a moment, considering the information she'd been given before voicing a thought, "I suppose that's one way to think about mirror images."

What an interesting life to live. If Janelle was honest though, it was the whole mirror teleporting part that was more interesting...at least to her.  "Do any reflective surfaces work, or do they have to be mirrors?"

>>"Oh. I suppose that's one way to think about mirror images."

"Yes..." Gawain nodded with a surprised chuckle "... that's pretty much it."

He had long suspected that his shape-shifting powers were somehow connected to his ability to walk through mirrors. He had inherited his powers from both his shapeshifter mother and his tele-deadbeat-porter father - but they seemed to have combined into something new, and resulted in Maya and Gawain.

>>"Do any reflective surfaces work, or do they have to be mirrors?"

"Anything that reflects clearly enough" Gawain grinned. Smart girl. She was probably a straight-A student or something. "And it has to be a certain size. I don't fit into small shards or something..." he shrugged "Your turn. What do you do with plants, exactly? Can you grown them larger than their normal form?"

Janelle's mind was racing with all of the possibilities. To be able to go anywhere just by stepping through a reflective surface! There were so many other questions to ask, if two mirrors were two miles apart, did Gawain have to walk two miles to get between them? How small was too small? Did the mirror have to be big enough for him to climb out?

It was apparently her turn though. Eh. He was just being polite.

"I can." Janelle narrowed her eyes, looking at the flower in her palm. It was a gerber daisy, pretty things that could grow in a wide variety of bright colors. As she thought, the flower grew larger than any daisy had a right to grow. It was bright pink though, and rather robust looking.

"As far as I can tell, as long as I've got the energy to give, I can make it as big as I want. It's easier if they're already there, growing from seeds is tough."

Janelle cast a sheepish glance in Gawain's direction, "I don't practice much though...can't see much point."

>>"I can. As far as I can tell, as long as I've got the energy to give, I can make it as big as I want. It's easier if they're already there, growing from seeds is tough."

"Whoa." Gawain looked in wonder as the flower grew larger and... pink. It was quite impressive to see something like that happen. Angua must have sensed that something was out of the ordinary too, because she sat up to sniff at the flower.

>>"I don't practice much though...can't see much point."

"Um... excuse me?" Gawain blinked, motioning at the flower "Much point in what? That? Because that has a whole lotta points."

Seriously. Growing magic flowers. How cool was that.

"Do they... stay like this? Once you let go of them with your powers?"

Gawain seemed impressed by what Janelle had managed to do with the flower and she gave him a bit of a sidelong glance. Was he teasing her, or did he really think that what she was doing with the flower was interesting?

Nodding slowly, Janelle held the flower out for Gawain to take if he wanted. Angua sniffed the thing and Janelle grinned. The larger the flower, the more fragrant they usually were.

More questions, about her powers and Janelle shrugged her shoulders, "As far as I can tell, they resume life just as they would have if I hadn't messed with them. If this one doesn't get water and sun, it'll die just like any other flower. It'll stay the same size though. They don't shrink back down, and I've never really tried to make them. It seems cruel after making them so big and pretty." .

As for the rest, the little redhead shrugged, "I don't want to waste the time of the people at the school who do work with powers. There are people who need their help just to get by. I just make things pretty. What's the worse that will happen to me? I could develop an allergy, I guess, but still."

Janelle smiled again "I bet you had to practice a lot to learn how to go through mirrors." .

>>"As far as I can tell, they resume life just as they would have if I hadn't messed with them. If this one doesn't get water and sun, it'll die just like any other flower. It'll stay the same size though. They don't shrink back down, and I've never really tried to make them. It seems cruel after making them so big and pretty."

Angua was excited about the suddenly fragrant flower, and wagged her tail as she rolled around, showing appreciation. Gawain chuckled and petted the dog, trying to get her to settle down. Angua was a giant creature, and when she got excited, her tail could do some serious damage.

>>"I don't want to waste the time of the people at the school who do work with powers. There are people who need their help just to get by. I just make things pretty. What's the worse that will happen to me? I could develop an allergy, I guess, but still."

That... was not something Gawain had expected to hear. Most people came to the Mansion to learn about their powers, practice them, or use them in some way; anyone who was a student could be safely assumed to be learning about mutations as much as they were learning Math or English. But this girl, despite the amazing ability she had, seemed to think she was not worth bothering with at all. It baffled the mirrorwalker.

>>"I bet you had to practice a lot to learn how to go through mirrors."

"Well, yeah... I mean, at first it happened on accident, but I had to learn the details." he shrugged, circling back to talking about her powers "But, seriously... you never trained with your powers at all? How do you...
know what all you can do with them?"

Gawain seemed surprised that Janelle hadn't done much work on her powers and she shrugged her shoulders, "I mean...I went to all of the required control lessons and all of that. I just never went out of my way to take up their time in the extra sessions."

This was interesting.

For a moment the redhead contented herself with petting the dog, who was still very excited about the flowers.

"I guess I figured that once I could get my power to work and stop working on command that I'd gotten all the help I needed. It's not like I'm going to make a huge difference with my powers like some people do...at least not in the way they do it."

She was no vigilante, that's for sure.