Liz took a tentative sip of her concoction as she headed back to the table. She smacked her lips. Oh yes, that was the stuff! Only then did it occur to her that the cocoa might’ve been pretty old, but so far it tasted just fine.

At Luna’s question, Liz glanced back at the girl. “Yes and no,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Usually it’s not a problem, as long as nothing is disturbing the animals around me or I’m not having an emotional crisis, everything is just peachy. General calmness isn’t something that needs blocking, you know?”

She shrugged and selected a few marshmallows from the bag. “Not all emotions are bad. It’s when things start panicking or I’m under a lot of stress that I have to struggle to control myself and everything around me.” And that was a learning process, to be sure. She plopped the marshmallows in her chocolate and started swirling them around.

“But that’s part growing up and becoming an adult.” And it was one of the reasons she was here, precisely for cases like this. Kids needed people to look up to, even if those people had problems and scars.

Liz dumped a lot more marshmallows in her chocolate before responding to Luna’s last question. She was probably going to need another cup by the time this conversation was over. “Again, yes and no,” she said with an odd smile. She took a sip of her chocolate-flavored marshmallow sauce. “Some things are better, some are worse. Depends on where you live, too. Just like any minority out there.” She deliberately didn’t look at the girl. “What matters is how you respond.”

Liz set her spoon on the table and blew on her cocoa before taking another sip. “So what do you like doing for fun, Luna?”

She took her coacoa out and being careful of the temperature brought it over to the table, closing the microwave. She was glad Liz had suggested it. It had certainly calmed her down. Drying off had helped a bit with that as well. Of all the days to pick.

Liz certainly seemed strong to handle all that. Ina way she could even relate to the panic and stress parts. The struggle she mentioned in controlling herself as well. Part of her wonderd if some of her panic was the skunks but she did not think so. "You would of made a great vet" she said thinking about Liz helping animals. The power seemed like it would be amazing for that and it made her think of a movie.

Even as she sat almost absently sweeping her tail aside she caught Liz's response on human relations and how it matterd more how you responded to it. Luna's ears went down a bit as she was unsure if Liz meant she should react better to Humans which she agreed with the lack of looking at her made her wonder if it had more negative connections to her behavior. Her fear was a poor response she knew but one she had not quite figured out a way to help. Either way it was hard to take comfort in Liz's words. "I respond by fleeing in terror" she offerd barely recalling her dream of one day being an X men.

Her mood brightened. "Well I love a good story line and so I love to read play RPG video games and anime or sci fi/fantasy settings. Anything with a good story, preferably with a villain who is not just evil to be evil. I can lose hour's or days while wrapped up in them or anything with real good lore and a solid world built around it. I fell asleep a few times outside reading in my backyard before i got here as well. I had to keep most of my collection at home sadly" she said growing more excited as she went. She enjoyed a villain you could relate to. Storys were her safe place as well as something she could enjoy. She added more marshmallows and took a sip of the coacoa. "I really enjoy helping people as well but that has been harder since the change." she said with a shrug.

"Did you always want to return her to teach? I mean it's a very cool thing to do. " she said Curiously looking back at her young teacher. This was easily the most she had ever talked with a teacher. Normally she was being yelled at for not doing somthing.

Liz snorted. “I would’ve been a terrible vet,” she said with a chuckling shake of her head. “No, that’d be a nightmare. Feeling everything those sick, anxious, or wounded animals are feeling constantly and in close proximity? I’d be on antidepressants within a week and in an asylum before a month came and went.” She laughed a little more as she went for another sip. Lots of people tended to say the same stuff to her when they found out about her powers. They never took into account that that would be the worst place on Earth!

Her next words were far more measured. She took her spoon and idly stirred her cocoa a few more cycles. “I’ve done a lot of running in terror, too,” she said. “Even left the mansion for a year. Thought it was too much, being here.” She stopped stirring. “But you can’t run forever. One day you’re going to have to stand and face it all.” Liz looked at the girl and smiled compassionately. “But that day doesn’t have to be today. We’ve got your back.” She winked.

Elizabeth took an actual drink of her chocolate and nearly regretted it. It was still very hot, even with all the marshmallows cooling it. But it was still so good. “Video games and fun fiction. I can get behind that,” Liz said with a smirk as she lifted her mug in a salute. “I tend to go more for classics and historical fiction myself, but sometimes it’s just nice to full-on escape to something that’s entirely not here.”

She continued. “But you know, there are still a number of ways you can help people. Even here at the mansion. If you’re looking for chances or opportunities,” Liz chuckled to herself. Perhaps she should slow down and give the girl a chance to express her own desires, instead of Liz going ahead and putting her on every volunteer list.

“It honestly had never crossed my mind,” the blonde said simply. “I left for college and just kinda moved on with things. Had a life in Ohio, job was there. It wasn’t until I heard about a job opening here that I even thought about it, but I jumped at it. Wasn’t going to pass up a chance to come back and teach bright young students like you,” she winked again, smiling cheesily as she took another sip.

She had never considered the nagtives to Liz's power as a vet, her mind focusing on the positives. But she had to consider Liz's words and maybe Liz pushing her own calm onto an animal would only work so much or not as well when it was needed constantly. She was quite glad she did not need to deal with it as Luna was not sure the power would not have broken her in two mentally. Luna handled her own well enough but only because it required little effort to do so.

It was hard to understand how anyone would ever want to leave this place. She understood that was not really Liz's point however. She had no idea how to stand strong in the face of her fears, it seemed almost impossible. Still Liz had done so and most likely many others had as well. She smiled when Liz mentioned they had her back and that she had time to get past it. It made her feel like she might well be strong enough. She nodded in agreement as while she felt the fear she knew it was something to be overcome. "it is easier with others i know with me, one of the students here helped me out a lot the other day she said barely recalling the name of one of the two guys had rescued her.

Somhow Liz had nailed her intent with her hobbies perhaps better then she even knew. Escape was something she searched for and she loved the idea of fully engrosing herself in another world to avoid thinking of her own. It had not started that way but had grown so more and more over the past few years which seemed like a long time to the young girl. "it is nice to float in those other worlds and submerge yourself. Things always seem so much easier and simpler in a book or a show" she said knowing it was just the nature of how such things had to be made. The hero in fiction also very rarely wound up dead forever. She perked up when Liz Mentioned being able top help people or chances. "I would love to help people however i can be useful, though im likely more useful at the mansion then outside of it." she said not quite grasping the entirety of Liz's words.

"i'm sure theirs not a lot of chances like this one. I don't think i would ever wanna leave, not for long anyway. I know we never got this close to a teacher at my other schools. It was always about class and grades and other boring stuff" she said casually before she looked away slightly embarrassed realizing what she had said. "I mean um well people each have a story you know? A story they forge ahead and make progress in and those effects so many other people storys as well all forming the vast book that is us" she said trying to recover from her perceived insult.

Liz cupped her cocoa with both hands and relished the warmth. “You sound exactly like me when I was your age,” Liz said, making some assumptions about Luna’s actual age. “I relied on a lot of friends and classmates. Especially my boyfriend at the time. Never went anywhere alone. And it was good.” Very good. Even if years and events had embittered some of those memories.

The blonde placed a hand on the table between her and the girl. “But we don’t need to dive into all of that this morning,” she said brightly. “And I rather expect Mrs. Taylor-Cervantes is more qualified than I to go into a lot of that.” In fact Liz knew Gemma was better qualified.That’s what counselor’s were for, after all.

And as the conversation deepened, Liz realized she was potentially navigating around some mines, if her own adolescence was anything to go by. Even the remark around Luna thinking she was better just at the mansion. Liz decided to leave that one alone, at least for the time being until she could work up the right way to approach it.

Liz had to smirk. She just had to, as Luna rambled. She stayed quiet until the girl was finished, hiding the rest of her smile with a series of long sips from her chocolate, her eyes sparkling merrily. “Exactly,” she finally said, grinning wolfishly. “And who’d want to read a book that was solely about classes and grades and boring teachers? I shudder to think!”