Ignacio Ramirez bounced his knee nervously as he sat outside in one of the chairs that was outside of the offices in the Administration portion of the mansion. He had gotten in  a bit of trouble for starting a fight with one of his fellow classmates. The guy hadn't done anything to Ignacio, he just felt like starting getting beat up. He was trying to work on this harmful cycle he kept putting himself into, but it wasn't the easy to do.

Glancing at his watch, Ignacio huffed. He didn't know why one of the teachers told him to go see Ms. Lawson. He knew about her, but never officially met the woman before. Ignacio's nerves were getting the best of him so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of chocolate. It was the last of five so he made sure to make it last.

God, he hoped this would be over soon. The last thing he wanted was for that one incident to label him as a troublemaker.

Discipline was a new aspect of Juliette's short career as a teacher. Technically, she wasn't really even a teacher. Just a licensed nurse. Still, she fit the requirements as someone to send a troubled student to. She would have argued that someone like the guidance counsellor, Gemma, would be better suited to the job, but there she was. 

How was she supposed to help a student when she had so many of her own issues, though? Things in her life during the past few weeks had been... strange. Her relationship was... well, she didn't want to think about that, and her life, in general, was just a heaping mess. Every constant she had clung to seemed to slip away from her, and she was left in new territory, just trying to make a new path. For that afternoon, she had committed to putting aside her own personal feelings and misgivings in order to help the student in any way she could.

The student was Ignacio Ramirez, a relative fixture of the student body. She'd skimmed his file a little bit before when their meeting was scheduled to try to get a good idea of who he was. For the most part, his record was spotless, and he seemed to do well enough in his classes. It seemed like his little tiff with another student was a blip, nothing more than him acting out after a bad day. 

Still, it could have been a sign that signalled that there was danger ahead. There was a strong possibility that Ignacio wasn't, in fact, alright, and he was trying to get someone to notice. It was Juliette's job to find out what was really going on. They would be new to discipline together. 

She'd set up shop in one of the offices designated for teachers without a fixed spot to use. She wasn't there enough to warrant the use of her own personal office, and before she had occasionally used Sam's office, but that was, well... again, she didn't want to think about that.

It was a somewhat dull space, with no personal items in the room or any sort of decoration that differentiated it from the rest of the mansion. That wasn't to say that it wasn't nice, though; it was part of the mansion, after all. The whole place was gorgeous. Still, the only things that room had to boast were a desk, some chairs, a cabinet, and a bowl of individually wrapped chocolates.

"Ignacio?" Juliette called as she ducked her head out of the room to see that there was a student sitting outside who fit the bill. "Come on in," she continued and waved toward the open door, "take a seat and make yourself comfortable. Do you a drink? Some chocolate?"

Ignacio's kaleidoscope eyes lit up when he heard his name. He swallowed the piece of chocolate and stood up from his seat. He ran a nervous hand through his slicked back brown hair and made his way toward the beautiful woman.

When she asked him if he wanted some chocolate, Ignacio nodded his head. "Sí, por favor." He gave her a small smile before entering the office. He gave it a look around before sitting down in one of the chairs. He didn't know what Ms. Juliette knew about him, but he figured it was basic.

With a sigh, he folded his leg so that his right ankle was resting against his left knee. Ignacio adjusted his light blue shorts and his pale green polo shirt and huffed again.

Ignacio seemed nervous. Juliette couldn't really blame him; he'd just been in an intense fight and he was about to speak to someone, who, for all he knew, could be a terribly strict teacher. If she'd been in his position, she could imagine that she'd feel the same way.

What he didn't know, though, was that Juliette wasn't exactly strict. She tried her best, and while she could get a little bit intense while teaching, she'd never mastered the art of commanding a classroom. There were still things that she struggled with, especially when dealing with teenagers. It had been easier when she was working one-on-one with an injured patient in the E.R. They almost always did what she said there.

>>"Sí, por favor."

All of the Spanish that Juliette knew had come from her high school courses in the language. She had Latino roots, but she hadn't grown up with a Latino parent, and, in truth, she didn't really know a ton about her heritage. She'd been born in the Dominican Republic, but based on what her mother had told her, that didn't mean that that was where her father had been from. For the most part, she hadn't particularly cared. He hadn't bothered to invest in her, so she hadn't bothered to invest in her heritage, whatever that might have been. She'd gotten through the class and then forgotten about it.

Still, she could understand "yes, please" just fine. She led him into the office and allowed him to take a seat in the chair, which only made him look more nervous than he had before. "Was that a yes to the chocolate or to the drink? Both, maybe?"

She let Ignacio get situated for a minute before jumping into some more introductory talking. "So you probably already know this, but I'm Ms. Lawson. You can just call me Juliette." She sounded like she was trying too hard to be cool. She really hoped it didn't come off like that. She was there to help, not necessarily to make friends.

...Although she wouldn't have minded if a few students thought she was cool, or whatever.

"Alright, so tell me what happened this afternoon," Juliette prompted as she took a seat in the swivel chair behind the desk and sipped her coffee.

"To the chocolate," Ignacio answered. He didn't want to sound too excited about the prospect of free chocolate. His little "addiction" always made him feel less stressed out. Biting his lip, he leaned forward and grabbed a chocolate. He didn't hesitate and popped the unwrapped delight into his mouth and started chewing.

This bought him enough time to come up with a story that sounded believable. "Juliette. That's a very beautiful name. I have a second cousin who's name is Juliette." He knew that piece of information was unneeded but, hey, he was nervous. This was the first time Ignacio got in trouble.

When it came to talking about what happened, Ignacio sighed and pecked at the fabric of his shoe. "It was a misunderstanding. I can be put on dishes for the week." Ignacio chewed on his bottom lip and straightened his back. He sighed heavily scratched his forehead. "No sé," he glanced up at Juliette, "but I'm not a troublemaker." he just liked punishing himself.

The chocolate certainly seemed to be going over well. While the room was kind of lacking in, well, anything, at least the chocolates were there to help her out. They seemed to help Ignacio calm down and get a little more comfortable with her, which was ideal. The more he felt like he could talk to her, the easier her job would be.

"Thank you," she smiled a little as he complimented her name. Not even one mention of Shakespeare, which was surprising. Usually, the first thing that people jumped to when commenting on it at all was the tragedy. That, and then they asked her where 'her Romeo' was. Already, he was starting off on the right foot with her. Even if he seemed completely afraid to be in that room.

"Your name means fire, correct?" She couldn't tell him why she knew that tidbit. She just did. It was a cool name, though. Perhaps his mutation had something to do with fire or something.

Juliette frowned at his response. He seemed to be dancing around the subject, which wasn't what needed to happen. She was there to help him work through things, not push them down and pretend they weren't happening. "Ignacio... that's not what I asked," she said with a sigh, eyeing him carefully.

Slowly and subtly, she pushed the bowl of chocolates closer to the teen so he could easily take more. They weren't exactly expensive, and she didn't mind having to replace them if it meant that she could get him to talk to her. 

Juliette pursed her lips and looked him dead on, her eyebrows slightly raised. "What happened between you and Xander? I know the gist, and I know why you're here, but I want to hear your side of things."

She took another sip of coffee while she waited. She'd cleared a good chunk of time in her schedule for that talk. 

After swallowing, Ignacio grabbed another piece of chocolate, unwrapped it, and ate it. Chocolate always made him feel calm when he got nervous. Dragging his tongue across his front teeth, Ignacio snatched two more and stuffed them into his pocket. With his "addiction" to chocolate, Iggy was always surprised that he never gained any weight. Perhaps he just had one of those weird metabolism things going on. He didn't know.

Before he could pop another chocolatey delight when Juliette asked for confirmation about his name. Ignacio slowly lowered his hand to his lap and tried to keep up his happy facade. "Sí, it is. When I was born, my body temperature was higher than normal. So they named me 'Ignacio'." The mutant cleared his throat before finally eating the piece of candy. He didn't like talking about his parents. Not since what happened.

When Juliette pushed the bowl closer to Ignacio, he went ahead and picked up the bowl and place it in his lap. He stared down at the wrapped chocolates and didn't respond to what Juliette said.

"...I stole his pencil and wouldn't give it back," Ignacio said quietly, "then I egged him on until he hit me."

>>"Sí, it is. When I was born, my body temperature was higher than normal. So they named me 'Ignacio'."

Juliette nodded at the explanation of his name. "Was it a health issue or was it mutation related?" Juliette probed curiously. Names were interesting things. Most people had some sort of story behind why they were named what they were, and some were more interesting than others. She had been named after a little railway town in her mother's home state.

Curiously, she flipped through the file that she had in front of her and looked for details about his mutation. Without him needing to answer, she had found what she was looking for. A solar mutation that allowed him to increase aspects of his physique. That was... really cool. If it had been a different time, she would have gone into a spiel about how similar their mutations were. That, however, was not the time. She closed the file and looked back up at the teen, offering him her full attention.

Ignacio was looking down at the bowl of chocolates that he had placed in his lap, refraining from answering her question. Again, she frowned. He was at least comforted by the bowl, but he was clearly having trouble talking to her honestly. She understood; she was an adult that he didn't know, so he had no real reason to trust her. Somehow, she just had to get the point across that she was there to help him.

>>"...I stole his pencil and wouldn't give it back... then I egged him on until he hit me."

"I used to do some crazy things at your age. I remember it pretty well, actually. One time, I hid a girl's bookbag because she didn't show up to our presentation," she said honestly. It had been a long time ago, but she still remembered it vividly. She'd felt petty and vindictive, and she really didn't like the feeling of it. 

Of course, it wasn't anything like what Ignacio had done, but she was hoping that by not addressing his answer directly for a moment and opening up herself, she could encourage him to share something a little more honest. If he understood that she was there for him to talk to, then the conversation would be much easier.

She gave him a minute before asking again. "So what made you want to egg him on?"

"Just mutant related. Both of my parents," he took in a deep breath and exhaled, "were mutants too." Ignacio hoped that his parents didn't come up in conversation and hoped that Juliette would just gloss over it. He ate another chocolate and sighed. So euphoric.

Ignacio sat patiently as the health teacher checked over his file. He didn't know what she was supposed to do other than stuff his mouth full of chocolate and hope that he didn't get too much of a stomach ache from it. He adjusted the way he sat, placing both feet on the floor and sitting up straight. God, all he wanted to do was get out there and go outside to enjoy the sun's warmth and power.

He listened to the short story that Juliette was giving him and sighed. The difference between her story and his was that Ignacio instigated without reason. Ignacio's knee started to bounce in the silence. He didn't want to answer her question truthfully because he knew that she would make him go see someone about his self loathing. Suddenly, he had an outburst.

"!No sé! I dunno! What do you want me to say?!" When Ignacio threw his arms to the sides of his body, multicolored solar flares blew out. The whiteness of his eyes and his irises filled with a sunny orange. Ignacio quickly scrunched up and clasped his hands together. His eyes were still glowing. I-I'm sorry. Sometimes when I get excited I--." He shook his head buried his face in his hands. The flares were harmless, but it still managed to scare himself as well as others.

Mutant parents. Surprisingly, from what Juliette understood, that wasn’t all that common. Granted, many of the students at the school had been disowned or orphaned, but still. There didn’t seem to be a large number of students that hailed for mutant families. Then again, that could be subject to change over the next few years, she figured, considering the number of students (and otherwise) that seemed to be paired up on the mansion grounds.

There was something about the way that Ignacio said that, though. His parents were mutants. That meant that he fit into the group of students who found refuge at the school because of a lack of family ties. However that may have come to be.

She sighed a little and nodded empathetically. ”Whatever happened, I’m sorry, Ignacio. I’m here if you need to talk to someone,” she told him. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it, but she knew from personal experience (and second hand), that the longer things went bottled up, the worse they got.

>>"!No sé! I dunno! What do you want me to say?!"

Juliette blinked and moved back in her seat a little as he lit himself on fire. She’d been expecting a solar mutation, but that had certainly surprised her. The multicoloured flames were unlike anything she’d ever seen before, but they were still clearly light energy. She narrowed her eyes and absorbed them, removing any trace that they had been there in the first place.

>>"I-I'm sorry. Sometimes when I get excited I--."

”Don’t worry about it. Happens to the best of us,” Juliette said, waving him off. She stood up and walked to the cabinet across from the desk. She poured a glass of water from a little jug and then set it in front of Ignacio. ”Take a minute, calm down, and have some water. It’ll help wash down all that chocolate.”

With that, she ran a hand through her hair and made her way back to her chair on the other side of the desk. ”So clearly there’s something a bit deeper going on here. It’s okay if you’re not ready to talk about it, but you can’t just bury it down. It might seem easier, but it’s only going to make things worse in the long run.”

God, she was completely out of her depth, but pretending she wasn’t. Juliette was just glad that she had Gemma’s extension.

>> "”Whatever happened, I’m sorry, Ignacio. I’m here if you need to talk to someone,”

Ignacio knew that Juliette was just trying to be hopeful, but he needed a lot more than just having someone to talk to. Though, it would be rude for him to outright decline, "
gracias, señorita." He whispered his thanks before shoving more chocolate into his mouth. For some reason, it always made him feel calmer when he had the dark sweetness near by or in his mouth.

The young mutant watched as the woman across from her absorbed the colorful light from his hands and into herself. So she was like him? At least power wise they were similar. They had that in common, though he believed that Juliette had way better control over his powers than Ignacio did.

>> ”Don’t worry about it. Happens to the best of us,”

"...I doubt everyone turns into solar energy when they...freak out," The whites of his eyes slowly returned back to normal along with his kaleidoscope irises. Ignacio couldn't believe that he managed to embarrass himself in front of her. Now he would be known as unstable, too. If he was label unstable because of this, it wouldn't be entirely wrong. Emotionally, he was.

Ignacio took the glass of water and gulped it down. In a matter of seconds, the glass was empty. He sat it down on the edge of her desk and scooted so that he was on the brim of the seat.

"..." Could he trust her? They only just met and telling her what happened to his parents was just too much. She might go to the police and turn him in for involuntary manslaughter. However, the more he thought about it, he felt like he could trust her.

"...They're dead because of me." His voice was almost inaudible. He stared down at the carpet and ran his manicured fingers through his luscious hair.

>>"...I doubt everyone turns into solar energy when they...freak out,"

Juliette just chuckled and shook her head. Ignacio was clearly trying to make some sort of an angsty point, but it seemed that he didn't really know who he was talking to. If anyone knew about turning into solar energy, it was her. It was almost too perfect, really.

"Ignacio, I don't think we've officially met. I'm Juliette, aka Firefly." As she introduced herself, she created a ball of light energy in her hand and stood up. She held the ball for a second before letting it spread to the rest of her body. For a second, she was in her energy form. Not wanting to set the office on fire, she quickly shifted back. It was a bit show-offy, but she was making a point and trying to connect with a student. If he saw that he wasn't alone, then maybe he'd feel a little safer. "If anyone in the world knows what you're going through, it's me."

She then sat back down and leaned in her chair. The water glass was empty, which was promising. At least he wasn't self-destructive enough to not let himself have basic necessities. Or chocolate, apparently.

For a minute, she thought that he wasn't going to tell her anything else. She'd reach the limit and he was going to be silent or deflect her questions for the rest of the conversation. Her finger twitched, ready to dial the number of someone who could do a better job with the situation, but then he spoke.

>>"...They're dead because of me."

Juliette blinked. Mayday! Mayday! She was in over her head.

She could deal with a student acting out. She could deal with issues of sexuality and gender identity. She could deal with significant other trouble. She was not equipped to deal with survivor's guilt. Her relationship with Sam had forced her to learn that over and over again.

For some reason, she was still a glutton for punishment. "Who's dead because of you?" she asked, throwing herself into the lion's den. She couldn't back down now, not when she'd just gotten him to a spot where he felt like he could talk to her. She would try to help him to the best of her abilities, but if things didn't work out, then there was always plan B.

>> "Ignacio, I don't think we've officially met. I'm Juliette, aka Firefly."

"Firefly...?" Ignacio's eyes lit up as he watched Juliette straight to light up light, well, the Sun. He stared directly at her as she changed into what looked like to be fireflies. If Ignacio had this to look forward to when he got older, then he might stick around Mansion a little while longer. As she shifted back into her normal form, he frowned a bit. The light she was producing made him actually happy.

He felt save enough to do a little show too. Ignacio placed his hands at an angle by his head and looked up. His eyes turned back orange and immediately after, a orange, yellow, and pink headdress. With each passing second, he felt his power drain. Iggy stopped after five seconds and looked at Juliette. They were more similar than what he previous thought.

"...You're like the Cipactonal to my Tonatiuh." He whispered after some time.

>> "Who's dead because of you?"

Ignacio's mouth felt dry. He wanted to run and hide in the light and warmth of the Sun. He hung his head in shame.

"I...-- one day when I was fourteen, I went to the mailbox to get letters and things and when I opened it, something to the side of me stuck in my neck. It looked like a needle and I didn't know what it was," he took a breath, "then I started feeling hot. I screamed from the amount of heat I was feeling and when my parents ran out to my aid, I...exploded. I was in a coma for about two months after that."

>>"I...-- one day when I was fourteen, I went to the mailbox to get letters and things and when I opened it, something to the side of me stuck in my neck. It looked like a needle and I didn't know what it was, then I started feeling hot. I screamed from the amount of heat I was feeling and when my parents ran out to my aid, I...exploded. I was in a coma for about two months after that."

Shock would have been visible on Juliette's face. "I'm sorry," was her immediate response.

She blinked twice, then took a sip of coffee, nodding without saying anything. Yeah, she had been right before; she was in far over her head. How on earth was she supposed to proceed? There wasn't really anything that she could say that would comfort him, or really do any good in general. What was she supposed to say?

"Ignacio..." she paused and then sighed. Man, she was so not equipped. "Ignacio, mutations can't always be controlled or contained... I can't... I can't tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty or that you shouldn't let it affect you, but you can't let it control your life."

There had been several things that had helped Juliette come to the conclusion that guilt was one of the worst things that a person could suffer from. All that she knew how to do was to push him to get past it.

"If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that keeping guilt inside is only going to make things worse. You need to let it out and then take steps to get past it."

She was not going to sit by and watch as another person did that to themselves.

>> "I'm sorry,"

Ignacio was so used to hearing that. "I'm sorry", "I'm sorry for your loss", "it isn't your fault", "you can stop hugging me now", all of it. He no longer knew how he was supposed to respond so he just huffed.

>> "Ignacio, mutations can't always be controlled or contained... I can't... I can't tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty or that you shouldn't let it affect you, but you can't let it control your life."

He knew what she was saying was true, but it was hard for Iggy to come to that conclusion on his own. To himself, he was a problem. A huge problem. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. What if this was his punishment? To feel guilty about killing his parents? He didn't know and thinking that much about it made him feel uncomfortably hot.

>> ""If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that keeping guilt inside is only going to make things worse. You need to let it out and then take steps to get past it."

"...I know." Iggy whispered, "I know, I just don't know how..."