Lee murmured something to Tarin, consent was important.
Had Tarin been put in a situation like this, except bad? One where consent had been far less important?

From the two peoples’ interactions, the way Tarin kept asking clarifying questions, deferring to Lee for confirmation about things he felt strongly about… Shin got the impression there was backstory he was not aware of. Especially the big breath and the agreement, the ‘good. They should get to choose.’

Tarin had been worried people at the mansion got no choice about how they lived their lives? That thought was… horrifying. The poor, poor man. Had he been in—-?

Maybe Shin was reading too much into the reactions, but— the reactions spoke volumes. Especially with how silent and thoughtful he had been. Lee had said Tarin internalized a lot of things. Like when he’d seemed calm to her, and she had said he was absolutely losing his mind. It just had not been on his face, so—more on that another time. Lee’s son had latched on to the ONE thing that interested him most. BATTLE.

”Well, um. That is to say—“ Darn it. He had been hoping that line about training to fight for themselves had just been a cool “liner,” a one-liner. To illluninatr the fact that they taught students to stick up for themselves, and make their own choices. But no, he had outright said “fight.” And Now Kevin Was Intetested.

He looked to Lee for help, then swallowed and stated: ”… Yes? … Sometimes… if that is what they want. Mostly just USING powers, though.”

Tarin still didn't look very happy about what he was hearing. And the deep breath he took told her that, at least as far as she could tell, he was trying to push the emotions he didn't want to be feeling or showing down. She hadn't expected they'd talk about something that sounded so similar to what he'd gone through growing up. Namely because she couldn't picture either Shin or Sam being party to something like that.

But Tarin replied, appearing to accept what Shin was saying.

As Shin turned to answer Kevin's question, Lee looked at Tarin with her eyebrows raised slightly, trying to silently ask if he was alright.

But Shin seemed to be struggling to answer Kevin, even though he had been the one to mention training to fight with powers.

Looking at Tarin for another moment, Lee then turned to get son. ”First, you need to get your powers,” she pointed out gently. ”Then, you need to learn how to use and control your powers.

“Then, and only then, if your powers can be used that way, will you be trained to be able to fight with them. I was in my mid 20s before I even considered being able to use my powers like that.” In fact, it had taken her that long to consider being able to use her powers for more than simply surviving.

”But mum, all of that will take forever!” Kevin complained.

”It might,” Lee replied with a shrug. ”But it's better than hurting yourself or someone else by accident, right?”

”Yeah, I guess so…”

Tarin didn’t like the way that Shin was looking at him. Not because he read anything bad or threatening into it, but because the look suggested that Shin had picked up on exactly what Tarin was feeling.

That was a very uncomfortable thing. It was also, Tarin decided, the kind of thing that Lee had been encouraging him to embrace a bit more.

Shin turned away to deal with the mistake he’d made with Kevin and Tarin caught Lee’s look out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at her.

She looked concerned and he gave her a tight little smile and a shrug. He was fine, not great but fine.

This wasn’t about him though. This was about Kevin and going to school here.

Lee was so smart and so measured about the way she used logic on Kevin. From what Tarin knew, kids were little balls of emotion and logic was generally lost on them, but Lee had a way of making it impossible to do anything but see the point she was trying to make.

She sure did a better job than Shin had.

”Your Mom is totally right.” Tarin said. He almost never interjected his opinion into conversations between Lee and Kevin, but this was an important one even if Kevin didn’t have powers yet.

Lee talked it out with her son.

Step 1 get powers
Step 2 everything else

Shin hoped Kevin was not like his cousin. The one who had started a brawl to get powers. Even if it had not been a sure thing. He’d talked to lee about that, come to think of it. Maybe she had thought about that, too.

Tarin spoke up. Shin agreed. Then added
“No shortcuts with powers.”

His son would wait a decade and a half to Learn his powers. He could wait.

So what was left?

He turned towards Tarin. “Tarin do you like books?”

Kevin was not very happy about the fact that he was going to have to wait to be able to learn to fight with powers that he didn’t even have yet. She wasn’t surprised that Tarin was in agreement with her on this, though it was a little surprising that he not only said it, but did so with Shin there.

But the fact that Shin was also agreeing with her, that boded well for a couple years down the line when Kevin was trying to find someone here to teach him how to fight with his powers.

Then Shin was asking Tarin if he liked books. Was Shin actually about to show them the library? Lee couldn't help but think that this was going to be the point that Kevin tried to wander off to find something more interesting to check out. Something about how he could find all of that information on his computer easier.

Though, Lee was curious about what the library was like after all these years. And rebuilds. She just hadn't expected to see it on the tour.

With the exception of Kevin, it appeared they were all in agreement as far as powers and fighting were concerned. Kevin would hopefully be about 25 before he even started to think about martial application of whatever power he ended up having.

Older if Lee had her way.

Shin was looking at him again and asking if Tarin liked books.

”I do.” he said, amused as Kevin got even more exasperated with the whole process. Library was probably not anywhere on the teen’s radar as a tour destination.

”I’ll just bet that this place has a huge, wildly impressive library.”

He could tell from Kevin’s body language, and the fact that he was a young boy in 2024, a library? Probably not his cup of tea. Tea these days meant something else, anyways. But if he stuck around, even he might be impressed.

It was tragic, the cataclysm had ruined the previous library, with all its books and memories. It was lucky the X-men were not book collectors. Nothing priceless had been lost when the mansion had been destroyed. No first editions, no rare and expensive books, no comics and graphic novels signed by the original artist or author. Unless Kipperling the mansion headmaster collected things he was not aware of, it had mainly just been… a whole lot of really good books.

Replacing all the books would not have come cheap. The mansion staff had probably needed to dig into records stored off-site, to account for what had been lost. They had probably shared suggestions, recommended good books. He, surely, had offered up a few of his own (guys, I swear Dragon ball is good, just ignore the dumb humor and lechery I am certain have no place in a school library, it’s fiiiine). He had read that when he was their age.

Tarin DID like books! Hooray!

What if he had not? Could they have still been friends? He was rushing things a bit, they were currently only mild acquaintances, but the question remained: could they have been? Truly?!

>>> ”I’ll just bet that this place has a huge, wildly impressive library.”

”We’ve certainly done our best, since the rebuilding.” Shin smiled, and slipped across the bedroom to start leading them towards the library.

They passed a few students, on their way. One child, a boy with long hair that would have hung down to his neckline, if not for the fact he were walking laconically on the ceiling… waved as they went past.

Kevin probably would have craned his neck to look at that. What young boy wouldn’t.

Another student had been bright pink, like bubblegum, with kind of short-length “demon” horns or antennae. Fatter than antennae, but less threatening than horns. Her power was acid. She had been about Kevin’s age. “Morning,” she had said. Her eyes had been black, with red in the center and black pupils.

Another had walked past at a snail’s pace. On the younger side, he was the son of the yellow (or sometimes red) blur shin had grown up seeing at the mansion all the time. But a decade is a decade. He did not have the super speed of his father. His power… well, it was kind of the opposite. But he could share it. Useful, in its own way. It sure set him apart. He had picked the handle “Blur”, as a joke. When he used his power, for the targets and himself, the whole world around them grew faster, seemed to blur, but inside their little bubble, they moved the same speed as always. So useful. In a team.

Shin has greeted each, in turn. Briefly introduced Wally, Mina, and Blur. Then, they reached the library. It was everything you could possibly have wanted from a library, and more. Bigger than the library from beauty and the beast, with a couple levels (no curling walkways into a dark abyss, here), it was warm and woody, chocked full of books. Sweeping staircases, an elevator to a mezzanine, shelves and shelves and shelves. A front desk. Just picture the best library you can, and it was there. It seemed to change every time someone described it, but that was likely just a narrative-changing power everything in the mansion seemed to have. They were (or had been) close to a magical nexus, after all. And get that many mutants in one place at a time, things often change due to the simple need of being replaced.

”My wife used to work here,” Shin shared. He introduced them briefly to the new librarian, then asked what Tarin thought.

Tarin did confirm to Shin that he liked books, and much to Kevin’s dismay, they were now walking from the dorm room to said library.

And as they made their way through the hallways, they passed some of the students, Shin greeting them as they went. And Kevin staring at his soon to be classmates.

”There’s no need to gawk, Kevin,” Lee reminded him. Then she slowed her pace slightly to put a few more feet between herself and Kevin and Shin, reaching her hand out for Tarin’s to have him fall back with her.

”Are you doing ok with everything he said?” Lee asked Tarin softly. She knew that some of the things the younger man had said had affected him, and was sure that there were a few more things likely could have. And while the words Shin had used made things sound remarkably similar to how the group Tarin had grown up with had functioned, Lee honestly could not see things being the same here. Not with Shin being part of it, not with how long he had been here.

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach the library at that point, and as they walked in, Lee couldn’t help but be slightly amazed. She did not remember the library being this large when she had been here previously. Then again, Lee hadn’t really paid attention to much of anything outside of the infirmary at that time.

”My wife used to work here,”

Lee glanced around the library once more with a slight nod. This would be a good place for the empath to work; in addition to there being fewer people around generally, Lee imagined that emotions would be generally more mild in here. Unless a student was stressed because of an assignment or something, but this was a school.

”How is she and Michael doing?” Lee asked as she turned back to Shin. ”And remember, my offer to babysit still stands, Shin.”

This time as they walked through the mansion it must have been through a much more populous area because they passed several students.

These students were all incredibly friendly and wore their powers on open display, a far cry from the situation Tarin had been a part of growing up.

He had to smile a bit at the kid walking on the ceiling, and the really slow kid, and the really colorful kid. It was all beautiful and confirmed a lot of the good things.

Lee slowed her pace and Tarin dropped back with her, grabbing her hand for a brief moment as they walked. She asked if he was alright and Tarin nodded down at her, ”I’m okay…got a little hairy there for a second, but I’m alright.”

Looking around the halls as they walked, Tarin nodded a bit back at the kids they’d just passed, ”One of those kids never could have stayed and nobody would have been caught dead using their powers like that.”

He sighed a bit as they walked through the doors of a library that could have walked straight out of a fairy tale.

”This place is pretty incredible.”

Shin spoke again and Tarin’s eyes almost involuntarily dipped to look at the other man’s left hand. Sure enough, there was a ring there. It appeared that even the X-Men over here had a shot at normal.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but Lee knew Shin’s wife too and his…son?

Oh, and there was an open offer for babysitting. Fun.

He noticed when Lee dropped back to talk with Tarin. But he gave them privacy.

He talked with Kevin for a while as they walked, to distract him from the Tarin Lee conversation as much as anything. Small talk, really. He answered any questions the boy had, about the mansion and the students and the staff. Explained who the headmaster was, Rudy Kipperling, ((and how that really didn’t matter because he had never actually confirmed the man’s existence in a thread)).

—

Tarin seemed impressed by the library. Good.

Lee asked him a question.

”They’re well. Keeping busy. And thank you for the offer. I’ll have to let Kealey know some time.” He scratched the back of his neck.

Then he turned to Tarin, and explained what all books they had gotten since the rebuild. This time around, they actually had gotten some rare ones (Rudy liked the rare ones, if he actually existed). And they had one of those ladders you can use to get the high up books.

He pointed at Tarin, all of a sudden.

”Favorite book?” Shin asked.

Lee nodded when Tarin said things had gotten bad as Shin was talking, but that he was alright. ”Your alright, or actually alright?” Lee asked, though she had a slightly teasing smile on her face as she asked.

Then Tarin started talking about the students that they had passed. Even Lee thought that it was kind of incredible, the kids walking around so openly using their powers. Even though Lee was so much more comfortable with her powers, both simply accepting what she did, but also using them, Lee still didn’t openly use her powers like these children did. Not unless you counted sometimes running a little faster than most people were capable. Or her runs around Central Park.

But then Shin was answering her question about Kealey and their baby. And saying that he’d have to let Kealey know about her babysitting offer. Meaning he hadn’t mentioned her offer she had made almost two weeks earlier. ”Am I going to have call her myself?” Lee asked, her voice teasing. ”Or are you going to remember this time?”

And classic Shin topic jump as he pointed at Tarin asking his favourite book. That was a good question, and one Lee was interested in hearing as well. But she was also sure that Shin would direct that same question to her as soon as Tarin answered, and she didn’t have an answer readily available. So she needed to think. Fast.

”Probably a little bit of both.” Tarin said candidly when Lee asked exactly what kind of Okay he was. If he was being honestly with himself, and her, that was the answer. He really was okay, but it had been rough to talk about something so similar, even if he’d known it was different.

They were in the library now though and talking about Shin’s family. Apparently Lee had made the offer to babysit a couple of weeks ago and Shin had neglected to mention it.

But then in a whiplash of a subject change that was probably a wise move and an attempt to distract Lee, Shin was asking Tarin what his favorite book was.

”American Gods.” he said without a moment’s hesitation.

There were lots of reasons, but the main character and his journey resonated with Tarin on a few different levels. It was also just a great book with a really cool mythology involved. Gaiman was great like that.

”Your turn.” he said, turning the question back to Shin, ”Then you.” he said to Lee.

>>> ”Am I going to have call her myself?” Lee asked, her voice teasing. ”Or are you going to remember this time?”

He promised he would this time.

And later that day, he did.

—-

American gods?

Shin smiled at that. ”Good pick,” he said.

The question got turned on him. Fair play.

”With how much I’ve heard the audio book, I feel like I should say ‘Pride and Prejudice,” He laughed. ”We put on the audiobook whenever Kealey and I go somewhere. And she loves the serial. But honestly? If I’m not saying some manga like “Dragon Ball,” I would probably say the Bartimaeus trilogy. It’s about some idiot kid wizard and the snide, sardonic genie he summons for petty revenge. The genie thinks in footnotes. Footnotes.” He emphasized. Then, he full-body-turned to Lee, and pointed.

Lee was glad that Tarin was at least partially actually ok. That was so much better than being completely his definition of ‘alright’. Or her ‘fine’.

But thankfully, books were a much safer topic. Adn, it turned out, Tarin didn’t even have to think about what his favourite book was. That was honestly a little surprising to Lee after she’d heard how much time he had spent in the library going down rabbit holes. American Gods was one that she had heard about, but had never read before herself.

But Lee didn’t even have to wait for Shin to ask her the question because Tarin had turned it around on Shin then added that it was her turn after.

Shin’s answer wasn’t nearly as automatic as Tarin’s had been, nor as definitive. If anything, it kind of sounded like Pride and Prejudice might be Kealey’s favourite book.

And all of a sudden, it was her turn. Shin had turned his entire body to look at her, and if Tarin wasn’t giving her his completely undivided attention by now, Lee would have been surprised.

What was her favourite book? Through much of her life, if Lee had had the time to do much reading, she often had too much energy to sit and simply read for very long. But, there was one that she had read back in Toronto after finding an old, beat up copy on the subway that had hit her far harder than she ever imagined it would.

”Frankenstein,” she told them, then looked at Tarin with a shrug. ”It’s kind of like those old b-movies, but actually good.”

And now they were just standing around and chatting about books while Kevin wandered off to the side and pulled out his phone. It would have been asking a lot to get a 13 year old into the conversation.

Shin answered, but it almost kind of sounded like he was talking about his wife’s favorite book. It was a classic, though not really Tarin’s thing. Too much introspection and people talking in rooms. He hadn’t heard of the other series Shin mentioned, but he had to admit that it sounded like a fun read.

Shin turned towards Lee and Tarin followed suit, waiting for her answer. Lee had said that reading and studying had been hard for her when she was younger, but he was still curious what she’d say.

Another classic. It was interesting that Tarin had been the only one who had gone with a contemporary novel. Frankenstein was much more up his alley though. He’d read a copy of it in his teens until the cover had fallen off and one quote, in particular, had always stuck in his head.

”There is love in me the likes of which you’ve never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied in the one, I will indulge the other.”

Mary Shelly was so cool.