It had been a while. He'd told himself before that he could never look at this place again. Never tread on the earth where the attack had taken his love's life so many years ago. He reminded himself once again that this was not the same Xavier's.

Indeed, it was a whole different universe. He couldn't let the pain of a past that had never happened in this world hold him back when someone needed his help.

And someone did. He looked down to his leather messenger bag once more. In it, the case file for a little girl who had come from a land in which she was treated like a third class citizen solely because of how she looked. He could relate. She was less fortunate, however, as the experience seemed to have left her with much emotional strain.

She had several phobias and stressers on file that made social interaction with strangers and those without visible mutations somewhat challenging. Hence, why he was called. He'd helped out a few of those that called themselves Gorgons thus far, and they had all been favorable to his visible mutation. It just so happened that this one had taken up residence in his old home.

He was lead to a meeting room by one of the staff, and was given some time to prepare his notes. He didn't pull out much, as walking in on a pile of papers was intimidating. Instead, he sat prepared with a small folder, and a composition notebook. He was wearing a small potted cactus as a hat today. It was fashionable.

His patient would be here soon. He couldn't wait to meet her!

If Kalos had learned any one thing from her best friends Chase and Toby, it was hiding. The Mansion was an old building, many times remodeled and rebuilt. It had hidey holes upon hidey holes. Twists so twisty and turns so delightfully circular, that they were near impossible to pry a young gorgon out of.

The laundry room was her most sacred of safe spaces. The smell was nice. There was sunlight. It was a small room, but not too small. No pets allowed. The dryers were always rumbling and the window ledge was wide enough for most of her bottom. A defunct laundry chute was an excellent escape hatch from the second floor, down to her hidey hole in the south-facing window. There were lots of nooks and crannies to hide in should someone come looking, and an infinite array of colors and clothing choices to look through.

That's where she was now, despite the fact that she was supposed to be in therapy.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go meet a giant bug. He sounded like a very nice gorgon. It was more that she didn't want to leave her favorite spot. Not when so many people were actively looking for her. If they saw her leave... then they'd know where she was next time. And next time, she might actually be hiding.

The most logical thing would be to go out the window. But outside was... outside. She didn't do outside. But if she opened the door to the hallway, she would have to face the adults who'd been looking for her. The adults who were not happy.

When the doorknob rattled, Kalos took a chance.

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad chance.

As it turned out, umbrellas did not make you fall any slower like cartoons and video games had lead her to believe. It was only one floor. She wasn't hurt, physically. It was the risk of the sky sucking her out to infinity that had her scared.

Shaking, sweating, grassy, and huddled beneath a very broken umbrella, Kalos knocked on the outside window of the conference room where a gorgon sat waiting for her. It may not have been a traditional entrance, but she'd made it to her appointment.

The clock ticked by. It appeared his young client was a tad bit behind schedule... Were he like many of the people in his field, he would start the clock on his appointment here. He was not, though, and he'd honestly cleared his whole day for this, figuring he would need to take some time to recover after walking into the Xavier mansion for the first time in years.

I remember the last time I was here... Don't you?

He found himself lost in thought... happy memories of his wife. Strange thoughts of shooting up the place with a grenade launcher while he chased a manufactured love obsession in order to have something, anything to anchor him to the world.

I ravaged the place... Tore down walls. I almost had my prize. She was so close, so clo-

A rapping on the window drew him out of a strange daydream that he couldn't quite recall. He looked up, and then toward the source of the sound.

A... Girl. Oh. THE girl. There was a picture of her in the profile, and, well... she was distinctive. He hopped up, scurrying to the window quickly to open it. "Goodness, young lady, you certainly know how to make an entrance! Come, let me help you in." He sounded amused, if a bit incredulous. "What ever possessed you to enter from out there?" He laughed the words out as he held out an arm to allow her to grab on so he could use his surprising strength to pull her in with ease. That was, if she so desired. Either way, he would introduce himself.

"I am Gregory. Here to chat with you for a bit! You are Kalos, correct?"

It took him a moment, but the large bugman came for her.

He didn't sound mad, even as he offered his arms and lifted her in. She abandoned the umbrella entirely and hugged his arms. In fact, as much as she was able Kalos scrambled up Gregory's body to cling better to the core of him and bury her face in his carapace.

It didn't matter a bit that he was a bugman. She'd known a gorgon, one of the oldest in fact, who'd been part locust. She hugged him tight, a safe anchor to the ground, while her body was wracked by uncontrollable shivers. He wanted to know why the window instead of the door. Well, that was easy.

"They almost f-found..." She had to stop and breathe rather than talk. It was that bad. Again, he didn't even seem to mind. Kalos relaxed incrementally and tried to think of all the reasons why this was okay and she should calm down.

She was inside again. She was in the safe proximity of a friendly gorgon. The sky would not make her fall up.

> "I am Gregory. Here to chat with you for a bit! You are Kalos, correct?"

He didn't know that she had picked her name, that the word in ancient Greek meant beautiful, or that sometimes when strangers said her name with strange accents it made her stop and consider if she was beautiful, like she'd decided she could be.

"I am Kalos." She confirmed in a steady voice both the beauty and the name. Though she was less sure of what she was meant to do, really. Surely she wouldn't be allowed to cling to him like an overgrown polyp.

"Can I sit under the table?" The more things she could put between herself and the sky, the better.

Goodness, she was truly terrified wasn't she?! Like a soaked kitten being rescued from a swaying tree branch in a storm she clung to his arm, and then him as she worked her way in and up until she was formly koala'd up to him.

He patted her back comfortingly as she acted out the role of a shaved poodle in the cold. She stuttered out an almost explanation for her window dooring, he realized right then and there that this person was a treasure, and she was to be protected. His antenna stuck straight up, causing his potted cactus hat to stirr on his head as he slowly worked her onto the ground once more, gently removing her from his carapace, but allowing her to stay clung to an arm if she needed it.

"Excellent. Nice to meet you, Kalos." It felt a bit strange to offer a hand to shake after she'd already barnacled to him, but there he was, holding out a hand.

He paused when she asked about sitting under the table. "You may, but only if I can join you." Moments later, he was nestled between the legs of a table, his antenna inspecting the under tabley area gently, and his potted plant sitting atop the wooden surface, still technically over his head. In that way, it was still a hat.

"So... I take it you've had an interesting morning?"

People sometimes found Kalos hard to understand or read. Other times, it wasn't an issue. Like now when she was peeled off of the Gregory gorgon to stand on her feet which were bare and resembled bones much more than demigod feet. Another thing that Kalos presumed Gregory gorgon would not mind. He'd even left her one of his extra arms, which she cherished. His offered hand was tempting to snub, but he'd been nothing but kind thus far. He deserved her best.

Kalos put her hand, another extremity that looked like bone, into Gregory's insectoid hand. She also kept his arm. He'd given it to her. It was hers now.

"It is nice to meeting you." She recited the litany she had been taught to say as one shakes hands. It meant a whole heap of nothing to her. Nice was a tepid insult at best.

To her question of seating, Gregory agreed. That was for the best, since his arm was never going to NOT go with her under the table. Once she felt adequately sheltered Kalos relaxed further.

"I like your hat." She ventured her very honest compliment, unsure if it was misplaced since he'd had to leave it above. At least it seemed to be staying. The brilliance of being inside.

> "So... I take it you've had an interesting morning?"

"I like the laundry chute. It's very small and good for climbing. It's the best for going between floors without people knowing. The room for laundry is nice and teachers almost found my place. I would be coming here, but they were looking." In fact, the teacher who'd been tasked to find her might still be out there looking. "It's my spot. They already found the window spot and the food spot and the front spot and the--" It seemed like the list was going to continue for some time...

There they were, under a table. Having met the young woman now it felt like this was the only way this could have gone. Based on her profile he'd built a vastly different mental construct of Kalos, though experience had long since taught him not to put much faith in preconceived notions, so he rolled with it.

She complimented his hand, and he nodded. "Yes, I quite like it. Many thing it strange, to wear such things, but the way I see it, anything I can put above my head can be my hat. In this instance, having added a table, my hat is even more fancy." His antennae waved against the bottom surface of the table, appreciating their new, larger sub-hat below their original cactus hat.

She spoke up about her places, and the gleaned what he could from it. She had ways of moving about this place without people knowing, and she preferred those over, say, taking the stairs. That made sense considering her prior situation. As she listed her prior spots that had been found, he listened until the end, regardless of how long it went. He had plenty of time today, and this establishment had plenty of money, not that he charged much for his services. He did this because he liked it.

When she was done listing, he tiled his head a bit. "Does it make a place less favorable when it is found?" He paused as someone opened the door, presumably still looking for the girl, and now seeing the doctor missing as well. He looked down to Kalos, and whispered. "Should we tell them we are here?"

This first meeting was about building trust. Without trust, respect, or understanding, something like this could not continue forward, and doing something as simple as announcing your presence to someone looking for you without asking first could break that trust quite easily.

Was a spot ruined if seen? "Yes." Plain as day, clear as crystal. There was zero doubt about that answer. "It is worthless once it's known. If I want to not be found or if I need to hide something away, I can't be in a place where I've been found before. I only told you of the laundry because the teachers said that I should tell you things." Everythings, to be exact. He was supposed to be the one that she could tell anythings and everythings to without fear of repercussion. It helped that he did not live here. It doubly helped that he was supposed to not tattle to Mirror or any of the X-men.

The door was knocked upon and the insectoid's arm was re-strangled. It was good that he asked permission.

"Yes. Unless you don't want to be found?" She searched his face and only once satisfied that he wouldn't mind, Kalos started to stand. She was forgetting that the table-hat was sheltering her and crunched a few of her coral crown pieces into it. His arm was abandoned in favor of her holding her extra head-pendages. Just a few crumbles off the top. She was constantly growing and breaking pieces. Thankfully any hard parts didn't really have feeling. It just hurt to jar her skull.

"I'm already here." She called loudly enough to be easily heard, just in case they'd missed the table jumping from her trying to stand through it. "Please don't have to waste time looking." Little bleached coral fingers gripped the edge of the table and she pulled herself out far enough to be seen waving and not being a menace.

"We're under the table!" She helpfully supplied a nothing answer with all the enthusiasm that would assure the teacher that she could, in fact, go away.

The bug nodded as she confirmed that a found spot was a ruined spot. "Thank you for telling me. I appreciate your honesty, Kalos. I'm curious. Do you hide because you wish to be alone, or because you wish to be secret?" Those were two different things. Sometime people with such behaviors didn't think about it much, either, so helping them work through it could be beneficial for their own introspection.

He could see her appreciation for his question. Good. This was the start of trust. He gave her a short nod of acceptance for her popping out. His antennae darted up when she hit her head. "Are you okay, young lady?" He eyed the little pieces of her crown on the floor, and then looked to her. It seemed more a surprise than an injury.

He realized it may be strange for the teacher to find them sequestered under a table. Still, they were here. "Yes, she has requested we down here. I trust you are fine with me obliging?" The bug's little chest hand pointed up in excitement as he stumbled upon an idea. "Might we get a collection of blankets and pillows, miss? It would help secure a more comfortable environment for us to speak."

Free from her possession of his arm, he scooted to face her, careful to keep roughly below his hat. "You seemed to have calmed a little, being in here. Did you dislike being outside?"

Kalos, with a small amount of help from the Gregory, drove the teacher away temporarily. She left with a promise for blankets and Kalos pulled back under the table, her cheer almost immediately abandoned for more practical and serious consideration.

"You asked on the 'why' for hiding." And smiling at the teacher had given her time to think on it. "Being secret is better. Being alone is for very strong or very weak. I'm not either. So being secret means I choose. If a thing is too much? Secret escape. If it was not enough food, no one is insulted. Secret food. I take care of myself with secrets."

She liked that he scooted so they were nearly knee to knee. This conversation felt like a secret. Or a party for secrets.

> "Did you dislike being outside?"

Her delight evaporated.

"You don't fall up, you know." She tried and failed to make that sound like fact. Kalos was yet to be convinced, even after more than a year. "It's very… a lot. A lot of outside, I mean. There are a lot of big things that fall fast. It's bright. There's no roof! Like in the water, there's an end to the water. After water is sky. Below water is ground. After the sky… after that… it's forever." And forever was terrifying.

She was tying her fingers into knots as she tried to articulate. A girl her age should have a better command of the language, normally, but the teachers and staff had let Kalos get away with a lot.

Doc's antennae perked up as they got to brass tacs. He sat silently as she spoke. His little chest hands fiddled about as he listened, and took in what she said. "Mm... Hiding avoids confrontation, then." She must have come from an environment that made such things essential skills. To be in a place where those skills were no longer necessary had to cause some dissonance.

"Would you like to make it a goal to not need to hide?" It was an innocent question, that a lot might hinge on. If she wasn't ready for it yet, that would be the goal. To get her to a place where she wanted to enact change in her life; one could not change behaviors if they didn't want to. Hiding was a coping mechanism for her. His goal was to replace it with more... healthy tools.

He noticed the tonal shift at the mention of outside. His head tilted a bit at the odd fact. Yes. She had a fear of falling into the sky. She'd been under water for sometime, right? This was likely a byproduct of that. She started speaking in fragmented terms, but he listened patiently and let her explain her thoughts. "There is a lot of outside. This is true. A lot can be scary. You know what can make things less scary, at least for me? Knowledge. When I am afraid of something, I learn more about it. For example... There is this thing called gravity, that keeps us all on the ground, safe and sound. It also makes things fall fast, like you said. That's why I wear hats!" He looked out from under their hidey hole for a moment out at the window.

"You know, though... I think the outside isn't as scary to you as being found, is it? Confrontation? You chose it over being found, did you not?"

Would she like to not hide?

"Why...?" She didn't mean to be insulting. Kalos just used an unfiltered tone of voice. She really and truly didn't get why she'd want to give it up, let alone need to.

And he was the first person not to make noises and dismiss her fears of what was often just too much. Because he knew.... he worse hats to stay tethered to the ground!

"Hats keep you down?" Hmm. That was something to think about. She couldn't fit in most hats due to the coral growths but... Oh. He wasn't done talking. Kalos put her hands on her knees and tried to take Mr. Cockaroach so very, incredibly seriously.

> "...the outside isn't as scary to you as being found, is it?"

She... hadn't thought about that.

"There aren't so many places left!" She lamented her lost hiding places. The cubby in the kitchen had been most ideally situated of them all, and far too conspicuous for a pink girl in a room full of tasteful neutrals, as it turned out. "If- if I give up my spot, then there's nowhere that's just mine!" She rolled her arms and hands together in front of her chest because that was what it was to be safe. It was being rolled up and spooned and hidden. She had a room, sure, but it was connected to Gawain's. The laundry was communal, but rarely occupied for more than a few minutes at a time. It was warm and soft and smelled like clean safety.

He was right, though... She'd abandoned that for the outside in order to preserve that sanctity.

"I had a umbrella and stayed close to a wall." Kalos admitted. "I didn't want to not be under the roof that hangs out." And she had made it to this appointment. All. By. Herself.

Could he smile, he would at her truly straight faced delivery of socrates' best question. In leu of having facial features, he clacked his mandibles a few times in satisfaction. She was an interesting child, one with many obvious querks, but at the same time she had a bit of a sureness about her that was refreshing. "Ah, you stated that being alone was for the very strong, or weak. I was wondering if you wanted to be stronger. It's a question of whether or not you feel happy in your situation, I suppose."

She asked whether hats kept him on the ground. "For me, it's more a question of how a good hat makes me feel. Confident, and safe. Anything can me a hat, you know. Many have an idea of what a hat should be, but I can say I have made hats out of many things. I don't fear their opinion of what I wear because I value what it gives to me more than I fear the occasional sideways glance."

He thought for a second about the situation she'd found herself in. "I could talk to your guardian about having a space that is just for you. Alone, secluded. For when you feel the need to hide. Would you want me to do that? In turn, I would have to ask a favor from you as well."

He resisted chuckling at her explanation of the tools she used to get through the traumatic experience of being outside. It was a very real fear many had. "And you were very brave to do it. Because of that I was able to meet you, so I must say I am glad."

"It was… I mean, it is true."

Kalos had to defend her statement. "Strong have space because they can defend it. They can be scary and nobody wants to mess with them. Or they find a place no one would dare go because they have desperate…" Like Kalos and outside.

Maybe… she was weak.

"I don't let people boss me. I'm the boss. If I don't want to, I don't have to. I don't. They said I didn't never have to."

But she was sensing an end to that generosity. She still was not a strong reader. She still spoke with an accent. She cut class, what was the point? Was she going to get a job? Fight crime? Leave? Did she want to be stronger? She was tricky, maybe. Strong enough to make her own decisions despite what others wanted from her, but... able to defend herself? Defend her wants? Defend someone else?

No. Not at all.

Gregory had a lot of good feelings about hats. It was hard not to agree on some level. "It doesn't bother me if people look. I'm pretty. If they don't see it they're wrong. And your hats are the best. They can look. The trouble is when they want to pick because they do not like differentses." The idea of a confrontation made her feel like she might shake apart. She'd rather just keep hiding.

> "I could talk to your guardian-"

"No!" She hadn't meant to step on his words. Kalos sat back, having leaned forward for emphasis. "No. I like my alone, but no. I- if I did not have Gawain and Becca. They said I could be family. And, family sticks together. There's a baby in Becca's belly that I want to meet. And be the big sister." She had only just gotten a real invitation to be family. Kalos was not going to throw that out the window just for some privacy. "So. Thank you. No."

He was glad to meet her. That made her feel somewhat shy. "You remind me of a man I knew under the sea. He was grumpier. With more knives." That seemed to be the least embarrassing way to say 'yeah, I'm glad to meet you too.'

He listened to her explaination of strength in relation to space. "Does it seem as though that applies here? For example, on the way here I saw a map for student dormitories. It seems as though everyone here is given a space to live, weak or strong. The rooms do seem to he the same, aside from families, which are given more space."

He nodded slowly. "I have heard as such... Kalos, I think it's important to discern when someone is just bossing you around, or if they are instead trying to act in your best interest. That does lead me to an important question. How are you liking school?"

He tipped his hat to her talks about hats, which meant he grabbed the table and lifted it a little, leaning it a bit, and then setting it back down a bit. Being able to lift things ten times your size came in handy sometimes. "I learned long ago that those who do not like people and things just because they are different are often afraid of what they do not know. It's up to us to be brave in that circumstance, and show them that they are safe, while also keeping yourself safe. As you can imagine, I have been picked at much in my life. At first, it was difficult, but as I met more people, and made more friends, it got easier. It's all about taking those first steps."

He leaned back a bit when she spoke out at his words. As she went on he couldn't help but chuckle softly. "I have no plans to take you away from your family, though I am happy to see that you have strong bonds here. I challenge you to make more strong bonds! Friends are amazing, in that you can never have too many good ones."

His anntennae frilled as she compared him to a grumpy person with knives, but in a way that almost felt like a compliment. "Thank you."