Teenagers. Teenagers were the worst. With their attitudes, and their hormones and their annoying emotions. She should really try and get a place in the city, all to herself, nice and quiet... When did she start disliking teenagers? Was she an adult now, when did that happen? She glanced in the mirror, rising out of her failed attempt to get some sleep in the bed she almost laughed at herself, her pyjamas were adorned with teddy bears with hearts instead of eyes.

Confident in the opinion that she wasn't totally adult and therefore now uncool, a briefly leavened, now dressed Emily was wandering down the halls towards on of the living areas holding a cup of coffee while being gently deafened by music from her noise cancelling headphones. She did her best to ignore the odd person still awake that actually gave her a look. She probably did look a little odd walking around in skinny jeans and a death star shirt in the early hours of the morning, deafening herself with a cup of coffee in one hand and some basic art supplies tucked under the other arm.

The advantage of having lived here for several years was that she'd picked up on the spots that students and staff didn't frequent during certain times of day where she could get a mild reprieve from the maelstrom that was a mansion full of emotional young mutants. She moved towards something akin to a common room, it was pretty dimly lit which was fine, she didn't need too much light to draw just for herself.

As she got to the room she picked up on a particularly intense bundle of feelings and sighed. All of the other rooms she'd gone past had more than one person in, and this room didn't get frequented that late so more people were unlikely to arrive. Maybe this person would leave after a while, or would chill out or whatever. With another sigh she gently turned the handle and slipped inside.

Once when she had explained the gloriousness of a quiet room with both sofas and bean bags to people at University they had scoffed at her for liking bean bags. They were lame. Bean bags were awesome. She glanced sheepishly over at the figure, quietly sliding down onto a beanbag in a corner of the relatively small room, giving her a quick once over before pulling out some pencils and doing her best to ignore the other person's emotional presence.

Skye couldn't sleep. Not that this was unusual, lately. Honestly she had trouble doing much of anything without having an episode. So after a particularly bad dream, the twenty year old mutant made her way down to the common room, to get a change of scenery and hopefully maybe a change of mood. She'd wandered downstairs in a black night gown with a black tank top and shorts underneath, and curled up in a chair with a handheld game in her hands.

Her hair was still blue, with the steady light from her hands illuminating the corner of the room where she was situated. But that wouldn't be too much of a problem, considering what time it was and that there weren't many people about. Unless a crotchety adult just so happened to walk in. Wait....she was technically adult. Kinda. There were adultier adults than her about, so in that sense she was happy still being an overly emotional kid.

She was so engrossed in her game, that she didn't notice anyone come in. But even playing an RPG didn't help stave her emotions completely. As her mind wandered, the blue light began to pulse quicker, and then that and her hair mixed into this odd brownish purple before turning red and pulsing brighter, and then went back to blue as she felt this wave of emotion wash over her again.

No. Not again.... She closed her eyes before putting her game down and walking out to the kitchen. When she came back moments later, her hair was still blue, but it was much steadier. Walking back to her chair, she set down the mug of cocoa and the handful of cookies she'd commandeered from the kitchen and picked her game back up. It was only after curling back up in her chair and nibbling on a cookie that she noticed the other person.

She forced a smile and gave a sheepish wave as she sat sideways in the chair, her legs curled up against her as she picked her game back up, going about her business. Her hair still cycled from blue to red, but now it would visit a happy little orange before settling and going back.

The sudden stirring in her unwilling and unwanted companion made the Brit grit her teeth and resulted in a few harsher lines on the Wyvern's wings. The sudden shifts were pretty unusual, as were their intensity she caught a brief glimpse of coloured hair as the other retreated from the room and then sat for a few moments blinking as the bundle of confusion bounded away. Was her hair always that colour? Emily hadn't looked that closely and the room was kinda dim so she supposed it wasn't a big deal.

Did she chase the girl away? Did she care? Kind of. She was in one of those rare times of day, and little pockets when it was just Emily alone with Emily's thoughts, no intrusions or impacts on her own emotions. That was part of why she liked this room. When she was on her own in here, she really was on her own. It was a quiet, rushing sensation where she took a few breaths of metaphorical fresh air before settling a little and taking a sip of her coffee.

It took a moment for her to realise the person approaching was the same one that had left. It still had a similar feel to it, but was much more subdued than it had been before. She tried to focus on her drawing, letting the dulcet tones of billy talent drown out her own thoughts and feed her angst.

Try as she might, she couldn't totally ignore the other resident of the hide-y room, she caught the small wave out of the corner of her eye and lifted her sketchbook up a little higher. But it was like trying to ignore an itch, or an annoying craving.

With an impressive internal effort Emily kept herself from sighing and gently lowered her sketchbook and pencil, tugging her headphones down to her neck. "Are you okay?"

It was at that moment, her hair stopped on indigo, the deep blue light bathing her corner of the room in her contentment. Cookies and a hot drink *did* make everything better. In this brief moment, she knew that she'd eventually be okay instead of just experiencing happy in between bouts of negativity.

A moment after her wave, the person spoke. "Hm? Oh, yeah," she answered, pausing her game. "Had a rough time but...I'm getting better. The hair and lights just cycle with my current emotion...those have been weird lately. But don't worry I won't explode or anything. That hasn't happened in awhile," she reassured her unwitting companion in the way she felt she had to these days; after all she wasn't sure how much people had been talking about the colorful-haired girl who kept setting off emotional flashbangs in the mansion. And she wasn't lying. In fact it'd almost been half a week since there was an incident with her powers!

"I'm Skye."

The girl seemed a little out of it to Emily, her response didn't seem to be a lie though. She didn't know if she could categorise her as relaxed or content necessarily, but it was somewhere in that sphere now. A couple of beats and slow blinks later it registered... The hair HAD changed colour, the explanation made so much sense. Actually, it was pretty fascinating to see a visual representation more than just the way she perceived it.

Emily had once tried to explain it to her dad, and he'd assumed she saw something in those around her, but it was much harder to put into words. If it was all visually displayed like it was with the girl in front of her she could have definitely just closed her eyes. Alas, some things in life weren't meant to be easy.

A bell went off. "Ah." She had heard of this girl, kind of. After another, more thorough visual appraisal Emily decided that they were likely around the same age. "That sounds..." she searched for something that didn't just sound like a platitude. "That sounds like a pain in the arse." she replied sincerely, and emphatically.

Emily shifted a little in her seat so she was now sitting kind of cross legged on the beanie and more directly facing Skye rather than hiding behind a sketchbook. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding on your quiet space, or if my intrusion provoked you running out earlier."

"Oh, it can be quite the pain, but they surfaced when I was like twelve or so, so I couldn't imagine not having them. Problem with powers that are tied to emotions though, is that you never really have them under control," she said, taking a bite of her cookie and a sip of her cocoa.

"Oh, you didn't at all. I just couldn't sleep and didn't wanna be cooped up in my room. I just needed to go get some cookies and cocoa," she said with a slight smile. "I've kinda....I think I've been relying on them too much lately, but something about cookies and a warm drink have helped curb my emotions a bit, and that's....well that's been hard to do lately," she stopped talking and took a sip of her cocoa and her bite of a cookie. Skye wondered why she was so forthcoming with this, but she found that talking seemed to make her feel better. Though...she wasn't so fond of blabbing to everyone who'd listen; her mouth just seemed to work faster than her brain, especially now. It was as if she was clinging to every bit of therapy she could.

After several moments of silence, she looked at the three remaining cookies on the end table, then back to the other woman. "Want one?"

They definitely sounded like they could be a painful set of powers to have, although having them from the age of 12 probably meant plenty of time to practice through the teenager years. Emily suddenly had the image of trying to deal with that kind of power during puberty and did her best to hide her grimace at the thought.

She'd had her powers for... 3 years it was around, and she still wasn't really much better at dealing with them. She consistently found herself jealous and irritated with people that had the off switch. It was petty, but it was still how she reacted often, so it was kind of nice to meet somebody else with a basket case power, and the innate emotional aspect to the power peaked Emily's curiosity.

"Yeah, emotions aren't really something most people can control." Boy did she know that to be true.

The Brit found herself hiding another smile. The subtle changes in language here always made her smile, like hot chocolate being called hot cocoa, which was just a far better name. She took a gulp of coffee with way too much milk and sugar in it for most sane people and leaned over. "God yes, thank you." She picked up a cookie and daintily nibbled on a corner before taking another sip of her coffee.

She had to make an active effort to look at other people in situations like this, she'd developed an unconscious habit of sometimes not making eye contact and just following feelings, but that always came off as super rude. So she forced herself to look back up at Skye between scribbles. "You've definitely found one of the best quiet spots this time of night. There are some others in a bit later in the morning too on the other side of the mansion."

"Tell me about it; that becomes even more apparent when staying calm is the difference between peace and temporarily throwing the immediate area into a state of panic," she said with a slightly nervous, slightly joking giggle. Skye wasn't any better at maintaining eye contact; she was just sort of casually staring ahead, occasionally giving the other woman a glance to let her know she was listening.

"Yeah, I've been retreating here a lot lately. Unable to sleep mixed with not wanting to stay in my room. I haven't had much trouble picking out the quiet spots when I need them." Skye picked up the next to last cookie, sliding the remaining one closer to the edge of the table in an offer to her new acquaintance.

"So what brings you out here? Just hanging, or an emotional basket case like I have been lately?" she asked with a warm smile, her hair now fading to a rather pleasant orange as she settled back into her chair.

A snort escaped Emily. A most un-ladylike noise according to her oh so wise mother. "I don't know if most people have that problem. You'd be surprised by how little impact most people's emotions have on one another. Unless they happen to be romantically entangled, or family, or something else similar." she replied with a nod.

Emily actually found it more comfortable when people around her were a little nervous, it usually meant that they were just shy, or worried about something else. It had a different feel to distrust or suspicion, which wasn't what she was getting. Though if Skye had been in a state of emotional turmoil, that might explain a certain level of nerves being around others.

Nodding again. "Fair enough, I was going to suggest some more spots, but if you've got it worked out that's a positive."

Ah, that question. Emily raised her sketchbook a little covering another micro lip bite. "Frisky teenagers make it hard to relax or sleep."

Not even sure why she was feeling kind of apprehensive about mentioning her own power she shifted the subject a little. "Here specifically because it's quiet and ambient, I can get some drawing done and stuff." She lied, sort of.

"Yeah, very few people have an emotionally fueled flash grenade at their palms," she quipped lightly. "Oh, a neat side effect, my hair also won't hold dye; it runs right through and stains everything else."

"Ah. That I totally understand. I just turned twenty a week ago. Not a teenager, but still wrapping my head around being an adult? It's....weird." She gave a small shrug, biting her lip as she thought for a moment.

"There are lots of quiet spots to unwind, especially after dark. I'm not intruding on your drawing time or anything am I?" he asked, the lights in her palms flickering purple as she sort of sat up in the chair.

Emily snorted again at the mental image of trying to dye your hair and just suddenly getting into a nightmare of dye running everywhere. Actually how would that work? She'd never actually dyed her hair. It was always one of those not upsetting parents situations, but it if she was in the pretending to be an adult phase of life she could totally do that. "sounds like a bloody mess."

Emily shuddered a little bit. "Yeah it's been a few months for me, weird saying I'm officially out of my teens. But I still don't really feel like an adult most days." She still couldn't believe she kind of worked at the mansion she'd spent the last few years living at, it was weird.

"There are a lot of spots that aren't too busy, but this one is kind of the only ideal spot that isn't outside, and it's bloody freezing out there." She admitted. Picking up on flicker of nerves or embarrassment she moved to quash it. "No no, you were here first. I'm sorry if I come off as a bit broody, I'm actually enjoying your company."

"Heh, yeah. I tried it several times too. That **** got everywhere," she said with a laugh, remembering that night. "After the third try I was grounded for like a month and all forms of dye were banned from the house. Mom and Dad were soooo pissed. I think the bathroom countertop is still stained from where some dripped..."

She smiled, more relaxed than she had been in awhile. "Yeah, the cold can eff right off. And if anything, I was the one brooding. I've been doing that a lot lately so if anything, I owe you a thank you for bringing me out of it. I've quite enjoyed your company too. It's been a nice change of pace, honestly. Maybe we can hang out sometime when we're not supposed to technically be asleep?" Skye giggled, finishing her cocoa and setting it on the end table as she stifled a small yawn.

Some laughter and some smiles, that was a good sign. It was an exceedingly good feeling when Emily uplifted somebodies spirits, even more so because she could actually feel the subtle shifts in emotions, although most people that knew Skye well could probably gauge most of that for themselves, she suspected.

"Dear lord, I can imagine. I never would have been let out of the house outside of dark again." She muttered. "Actually I think they would have thrown some kind of parental mutiny if I died my hair at all." And now she was totally thinking about doing just that. Mostly because she'd never done anything like that before, and because it might look cool.

Emily finished her coffee and gently placed it to one side. "As far as interactions go while I'm..." she paused. "At this sort of time, this has definitely been one of my better ones, you're quite interesting actually." The corners of her mouth quirked into a smile. "Is Purple anxiety, or embarrassment? If you don't mind me asking."

She let that hang before replying. "I think I would be up for that. Though if I'm with you a calm setting like this might be better." She added almost unconsciously, thinking of the impact of being with such an emotionally intense person for long.

"Ooh!" Skye's hair instantly went to bright yellow. "If you do decide to dye your hair, can I help you? That's something I've always wanted to do but...you know, I can't do my own." She couldn't hide the excitement, and at this point she really didn't try. As it stood, she was more herself than she had been in quite awhile.

"Purple is actually a bit of both. Different people have tried mapping out my colors to emotions, and the results have all been the same. Each color seems to represent more of a broad feeling than a specific emotion. Purple is more embarrassment, nervousness, stuff like that. Blue is sad, orange is happy, green is more fear related, yellow is excited, and pink is love or passion..." Her hair faded back to blue as her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes, thinking back to the cookies, and Gemma's words, and how just being here with her new friend had made her feel and it slowly made its way back to indigo.

"Calm settings also sound like a good idea. I can make sure to make extra cocoa next time," she offered, forcing more of a smile. It's fine. I've got this. I can actually do this."

Emily's smile deepened a little. She'd always heard the saying growing up that excitement could be infectious, in her case it could sometimes be literal. She'd never actually worked out if it was part of her power, or if it was some psychological thing that picking up on intense emotions tended to make her mimic them on occasion. Maybe it was a bit of both.

"I'm genuinely considering it. And I'd definitely need help, I was going to default to a professional but on further thought that sounds like a lot of people bunched together in the middle of the city, I don't need more of that, and you seem to have a good understand of colour." When a person's powers revolved around colour, she hoped so at least.

It was gratifying to have gotten it right. "Ah, I thought I'd gotten it right. It's very interesting to see a visual representation." She smiled as the explanation went on and the hair slowly shifted a few more times. "Indigo is calm or relaxation?" She ventured. It wasn't really much of a venture, she was a cheater.

"I like Cocoa, this time of night I'm usually drinking coffee, it'd be impossible for me to sleep anyway so I might as well be aware of what I'm doing and do something with the time." She admitted.

Paying closer attention to the other's emotions than she normally did Emily smiled again. "You're doing great by the way, if you've been struggling recently I imagine your socialising has been difficult. So you're doing well." She soothed.