Cafas paced the circle he'd made between the desks, starring at the manuscript in his hand with a furrowed brow. It all made sense, he could sort of see the scene in his head, he could kind of grasp the way the lines should sound. It just wasn't right though. He'd already stubbed his toe twice in the process of walking the edge, and he felt he was no closer to being happy with his delivery than he'd been after the initial memorisation.

"Yes, I'm scared! Of course I'm scared. Is that what you want to hear? I'm scared. My Wife's leaving me, I'm losing my job, I can't afford a lawyer, and I'm never going to see my daughter again. What else could I be?..." He trailed off and sighed, tossing the script pages onto the nearest desk. It was no good, he'd just been going in circles, quite literally, for an hour. His delivery didn't feel right. It felt stiff, it was missing that spark of life to make it feel like more than lines read from a page.

"Yes, I'm scared! Yes I'm scared! Yes I'm scared! No, no, god why does this not want to happen?"

The X-man rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to run the line mentally a while. That really wasn't doing any good. He wandered over to the window, wan autumn light streaming through on to his face. Halloween was a week out, the leaves still clinging to the trees outside. He couldn't find the right mood out there. It was entirely wrong, children playing in leaf drifts and sunlight. Just not the right feeling. He stepped back and dropped the blinds.

This is no good. It's just not the same acting to empty air.

Skirting around the outside of his desk-ring, Cafas made his way to the shut door, fumbling the handle in distracted thought. It swung open towards him, opening onto the main classroom corridor. It was as much a thoroughfare as it was a dedicated hallway, and was for the most part clear of students. Cafas scanned who there was, but none were old enough for the script or the role. Damn.

As he watched, as if in answer to a prayer, a blonde came in to view. What exactly he'd been praying for, Cafas wasn't sure. It sure didn't like his prayer had been totally innocent. It was news to him, though unsurprising news. He felt a sudden surge of inspiration, and knew that he needed to run his lines with this woman. That was a great idea. She fit the psychologist's role so nicely. She fit a lot of things nicely, but that was the only one he could really capitalise on.

"Excuse me, miss? How are you? Cafas Johnson." He extended a hand to shake. It felt like a proper business transaction, and he couldn't help but act like it.

On her short visits to the Mansion, Sveta did not usually venture inside the building. Especially the hallway where all the classrooms were were often crowded with students, something the power booster took great pains to avoid. And yet, today, on her way from a short talk with DocProf, she found herself walking down the corridor. Luckily, there were at the moment no students around to accidentally touch and cause a nuclear reaction. So far, so good.

>>"Yes, I'm scared! Yes I'm scared! Yes I'm scared! No, no, god why does this not want to happen?"

Sveta paused, eyeing the door suspiciously. Her first reaction was to turn and run; whatever was happening in there, a power booster was likely to make it worse. Then again, she was also not the kind of person to run away without helping someone, especially inside the school... even though the voice was not of a child.

Walking closer, she saw a man step out of the room. He looked calm, although a little annoyed. Not scared, not violent. Their eyes met.

>>"Excuse me, miss? How are you? Cafas Johnson."

Sveta held up her gloved hands in an apologetic gesture.

"Svetlana. Is everything okay?..."

The woman held her gloved hands up, and it was fairly clear to Cafas what she meant. She was certainly not the only mutant who couldn't make contact with others. It seemed like such a lonely life. The X-man retracted his hand and nodded his understanding, more than a little of his pity leaking through. He hadn't meant to, but he wore his heart on his sleeve, as the saying was, so it just happened. He had to make a conscious effort to disguise emotions.

Cafas had not been expecting the Russian accent, but it fit her as well as she fit the role he needed her to fill. He wasn't really prone to asking strangers for favours, but in this case he was willing to make an exception. She just fired him up, made him want to keep pushing it. He was pretty confident he could find the right delivery with her to act against.

Huh, guess she heard me...

"Nice to meet you Svetlana, yeah everything's fine. Listen, I know it's a big ask, but if you're not too busy do you think you could help me rehearse for an audition? Nothing weird or difficult, just reading lines off the script. I'm having trouble getting to grips with the scene on my own." It sounded very simple, because it was really. Emoting was largely unnecessary when reading lines for someone. Just having someone else there to work with was often enough to find the mood and the rhythm of a scene. Of course, if the person helping you was getting in to character too everything was just that much better.

Sveta held up her hands, and the guy understood the gesture. Clearly, as someone living (or spending time) at the Mansion, she knew the universal sign for 'you don't want to touch me for your own safety'. He was smooth and polite about it, but Sveta noted a hint of pity in his face. That was nothing new. She wondered what his own powers were.

>>"Nice to meet you Svetlana, yeah everything's fine. Listen, I know it's a big ask, but if you're not too busy do you think you could help me rehearse for an audition? Nothing weird or difficult, just reading lines off the script. I'm having trouble getting to grips with the scene on my own."

He looked familiar. Sveta's eyes narrowed for a moment, before she managed to place the face.

"You are an X-men aren't you" she said finally, curiously tilting her head as she looked at the script "Are you also an actor?..."

It was silly to think X-men didn't have day jobs... but acting was definitely not a common choice.

"Sure, I can help" she added. Why not? She had never been anywhere close to Hollywood...

Cafas nodded, and laughed a little at the follow up question. "Yes to both. Seems weird, doesn't it?" He knew full well how ludicrous it was as a combination. The sort of thing that didn't go together at first glance, possibly not even second. They really were a great pairing though, at least for Cafas. Each was so different to the other, yet asked of him a similar skill set. He could go away for months and have fun goofing around on set, in silly costumes, away from the violence and fear. Then when it was done, he got to return and feel like he was doing his part for the world, and for mutants. Each provided notoriety, and helped bring awareness both to his career and the X-men, and mutant rights as a whole.

The woman, very graciously Cafas thought, agreed to help him. He bounced in place with anticipation. "Thank you so much, that's really kind of you. It's just not the same without another person you know?" Plus it wasn't every day he got to actually do some acting with another person. He loved the energy it brought. He could almost feel it with the blonde already.

He stepped back into the classroom and beckoned Svetlana in. The room almost seemed dull compared to the hallway, he just didn't feel as right in it. It was the space he had, however, so he'd need to make do. "Okay, so the movie is a drama about a mutant cop who gets exposed after years of hiding it from everyone. I'm auditioning for the lead, and this scene is kind of the emotional climax of the film I guess, where the tough guy exterior finally collapses and he breaks down in a psychologist's office that he's been sent to by court order after beating some dude senseless at a bar. It's kind of new territory for me, so I'm having a bit of trouble with it, and I thought maybe having someone read the psychologist's lines would help."

He was both X-man vigilante, and actor. It was not a common combination. Most vigilantes liked to stay under the radar... although hiding in plain sight also worked, if they could do it well enough. He was certainly a memorable sight, so being invisible was probably not an option for him anymore. Sveta smiled in agreement when he said it was a weird situation. It was.

>>"Thank you so much, that's really kind of you. It's just not the same without another person you know?"

She did not know, but she accepted that he knew what he was talking about. They walked into a classroom, with the tables in a circle. Sveta looked around curiously, wondering what kind of a situation they were going to rehearse.

>>"Okay, so the movie is a drama about a mutant cop who gets exposed after years of hiding it from everyone. I'm auditioning for the lead, and this scene is kind of the emotional climax of the film I guess, where the tough guy exterior finally collapses and he breaks down in a psychologist's office that he's been sent to by court order after beating some dude senseless at a bar. It's kind of new territory for me, so I'm having a bit of trouble with it, and I thought maybe having someone read the psychologist's lines would help."

"Okay, so I'm the psychologist?" Sveta took the script and looked around, looking for an appropriate place to sit. At least she was not a love interest (that would have been aaawkward) or a villain (that would have been cliché). Psychologist, that was interesting. And it sounded like Cafas was going to do most of the work anyway. She just had to read the lines. Sveta took a seat on a chair. "Anything else you want me to know?"

He felt immediately better about the classroom after the blonde entered. Maybe that was it, he just needed someone to work with. The energy had just been all wrong before. It had certainly happened before, but he was rather surprised by the degree of difference. He must have been lonely or something, without noticing. Possibly a bit tired too, he certainly felt perkier.

"Hmm, anything else..." He trailed off and trawled through what he could remember of the script. He didn't think there was much pertinent to the psychologist's role, but then he'd only read it the one time. The audition piece he'd read some more, but he thought the psychologist's character was kind of underdeveloped in the script. It was the sort of role that you could make a real great performance out of by injecting the personality yourself. It was either that or fade into the background. He hoped they got someone good.

We'll see how Svetlana goes I suppose, never know, might have a recommendation.

"I guess the only other thing really is just try to have fun. Start from the top of the scene, read all the lines not highlighted. Thanks again for this." Cafas smiled, and found a table to lean against. He knew his lines, he didn't need the script, he just needed to work on the delivery. It would all go just fine once he worked that out, and he'd get the part, and break any typecasting he might have gotten himself in to. It hadn't been to big of an issue, but he really wanted to make sure it didn't happen.

"Whenever you feel ready."

Sveta took a seat and crossed her legs, trying to imagine herself as a psychologist. Pretense was not entirely foreign to her; having been a vigilante, and having run various covert missions in the past, she knew very well how to pretend to be someone else. Still, doing it for fun... that was something entirely different.

>>"Hmm, anything else... I guess the only other thing really is just try to have fun. Start from the top of the scene, read all the lines not highlighted. Thanks again for this."

"You're welcome." Sveta nodded with a smile. Fun... she was curious what it was going to be like to do this for fun, instead of acting because her life literally depended on it. She had to admit, she was more than a little excited. Hollywood was America's special brand of magic, and she had never been anywhere behind the scenes of how movies were born.

>>"Whenever you feel ready."

Sveta nodded, looking down at the stack of pages in her hand, before she cleared her throat, finding the first line to start with.

"If you are trying to tell me you are only here so that I can sign the paperwork, Mr. Hardman, you'll be disappointed. I do not work like that."

>>"If you are trying to tell me you are only here so that I can sign the paperwork, Mr. Hardman, you'll be disappointed. I do not work like that."

Well, she wasn't stumbling as much as he'd thought she would. That was a start. Cafas didn't really think anything of it, plenty of people had acting experience somewhere in their past. If he'd stopped to think about it a little more he might have found some logical inconsistencies in that logic, but thinking wasn't the name of the game.

The X-man adopted tense body language, standing in "at ease" only in the military sense, hands clasped behind his back, feet apart. His face was grim and frustrated.

"I expected as much Doctor Bybook, but we both know that's a waste of time, don't we? I'm fine. I'd had too much to drink, he mouthed off, nothing more to it. Why don't we save ourselves these hours. I'm sure you're busy." Cafas kept his visage stiff, his eyes hard. His tone just didn't feel quite right though. It almost seemed too controlled to him, and a little condescending. Cafas had been to a psychologist's office often enough to know it was incredibly difficult to feel superior when someone looked at you like they could see straight through you.

He'd revisit that thought on the next run. No point interrupting Svetlana's first run of the script.

Cafas took on a stiff pose, getting in character for the jaded mutant cop or whatever he was supposed to be. Sveta felt herself tense up a little too, but then reminded herself that it was an act; the guy was not hostile towards her, he was hostile towards the imaginary psychiatrist. She glanced back at the script, following the lines as he spoke to know when it was her turn again.

>>"I expected as much Doctor Bybook, but we both know that's a waste of time, don't we? I'm fine. I'd had too much to drink, he mouthed off, nothing more to it. Why don't we save ourselves these hours. I'm sure you're busy."

"I am doing my job, Mr. Hardman, and my schedule is cleared on special request from your superiors." Sveta read from the paper, trying to sound convincing. She was getting the idea that this woman was not going to take an BS, which made sense since Cafas' character was supposed to break by the end of the scene. "Now, take a seat, and tell me what really happened. Because here is what I know: If it had just been some guy mouthing off, you would not have used your powers. You have better control than that."

He bristled at the mention of his superiors, drawing himself higher, clenched jaw jutting slightly. Without a line there, he ha to make his opinion on that matter show. Did Hardman actually hate his superiors though? Perhaps he resented their treatment, or doubted they cared. Maybe doubt next time. He'd see how that felt. The hard exterior was meant to be cracking after all, he could afford to show more emotion in the scene.

"Control, doctor?" He started, making no move to take a seat. He laughed, and seemed to relax, but it lacked sincerity. Acting like someone poorly pretending to relax was a hard thing to pull off, and he wasn't exactly confident he'd done it justice. "Of course I do. As much control as you have of your arms. But I'd been drinking. We both know people lose common sense when they're drinking. Like I said, I was drunk, he mouthed off. If I'd been holding a pool cue I'd have hit him with that. I just don't know what I can say to convince you of that." His jocular tone was less than convincing, but that was by design.

This is so much better already than doing this by myself.

His smile hid a tension behind his eyes, but his body language was still tense. That, at least, he knew was right. How he did it was open to interpretation, but Cafas had been dealing with cops like Hardman for years, he knew how they were. He just hoped the casting director did too.

It was interesting to see someone act, up close and personal. Sveta had seen theater plays before, occasionally, but it was something else when the acting, the way the other person changed completely, was directed at her, and she was supposed to go with it. In the two minutes when she met the guy, the actual guy, he seemed like a fun, nice person... but this mutant cop character sitting across from her was so different it was almost jarring.

>>"Control, doctor? Of course I do. As much control as you have of your arms. But I'd been drinking. We both know people lose common sense when they're drinking. Like I said, I was drunk, he mouthed off. If I'd been holding a pool cue I'd have hit him with that. I just don't know what I can say to convince you of that."

"Alright, Mr. Hardman. Let's start with the drinking then." Svetlana sat back, reading the lines, trying to convey how her character was trying to find a hold on the man's lies. She reached up and adjusted an imaginary pair of glasses. "This was not your first time consuming alcohol, I assume. Tell me the reason why this time you consumed enough to make you lose control like that."

The imaginary glasses were a nice touch. It really wasn't her first rodeo. Hopefully that meant she didn't feel quite so nervous about the accidental ambush. Cafas narrowed his eyes and shifted, agitated by the continued questioning. It was a feeling he could certainly relate to. More than once he'd felt trapped, especially with psychologists. Of course, Hardman had no choice but to stay until she signed off. He was trapped in more way than one. Certainly that would explain his eventual break.

"Why does anyone Doctor? I've dealt with more than you I'd wager. Seems to me it's just a matter of having no reason to stop. Not as if I had work the next day. I was suspended, so I cut a little loose." He shrugged. Hardman was trying to play it off as casually as he could. He was just a stony cop that hadn't had a proper party in years. It was the easiest lie he could tell, because it was basically true. Cafas was actually feeling pretty confident in his delivery.

"It's only human Doctor. Can't tell me a college educated woman like you doesn't understand that sometimes, when you're unwinding, it gets out of hand."

Svetlana was slowly getting the hang of the scene; or rather, the general feel of it, with her character slowly and meticulously breaking down the barriers the other character had put up. She decided that she liked this woman. She was clever, and she was not going to be brushed off or intimidated by this had-shelled cop.

>>"Why does anyone Doctor? I've dealt with more than you I'd wager. Seems to me it's just a matter of having no reason to stop. Not as if I had work the next day. I was suspended, so I cut a little loose."

Sveta arched an eyebrow, like her character knew that she was listening to a whole lot of BS. Or was at least skeptical.

>>"It's only human Doctor. Can't tell me a college educated woman like you doesn't understand that sometimes, when you're unwinding, it gets out of hand."

"Yes, but that's just it: You are not only human, Mr. Harmdan. You are a mutant."