Will definitely seemed to be hearing what Lee was saying about practicing with his powers, even if he might not have been happy about it being pointed out to him. But he still nodded that he heard and understood what she was saying.

And he also seemed to be taking in what she had said about the camps and how much longer it had taken her to move past that than the time she had ever spent inside. Though for her there was much more involved than 'simply' the camps. Like the fact that for most of the time during the Registration Act she had thought that being caught would be a death sentence for her, or that she had almost killed her (at the time) ex-fiance when he'd come in with the resistance during the breakout to find her.

Yeah, it was a lot.

But when Will finally spoke, Lee could only laugh. "Yes, I really am a mum," she told him. "Kevin actually just got his own powers a couple months ago. I don't mean it as a lecture, but when you're isolated and not connected to other mutants, a lot of times, well, you don't even know what's possible with your powers."

Will had a nagging feeling that there was a lot more behind a lot of what Lee said, that there were stories left untold behind her explanations. Will didn't pry. First he couldn't know for sure if there much more behind any of the things she'd said. Second, asking someone to bare their soul like that to someone they'd only just met was a bit much. And finally, of course, some of those stories could be part of what Lee refused to speak aloud to anyone.

All in all, it'd be poor manners to ask.

Turning his attention away from wondering what Lee hadn't said and instead focusing on what she did, Will's expression turned to one of mild surprise. Lee's kid, named Kevin apparently, was a mutant as well -- and just coming into powers of their own. 

Maybe that was why Lee seemed to be so ready to dole out answers and suggestions to all the questions and complaints Will had had. It was possible she'd either been having a similar discussion with Kevin recently, or was preparing herself to do so.

Then again, maybe she'd given this sorta pep talk before to someone else... or it could be that the whole situation was just a lot simpler than Will's mind had made it up to be.

"Hope his don't keep him up all night." Will gave a soft laugh as he commented on Lee's mention of her son having powers of his own. "But, nah... I needed a talkin' to, I think." The man gave a Lee sheepish smirk, his expression somewhere between gratitude and embarrassment. 

"You're right though -- Okay, you've been right a lot here, but..." Will grinned a bit wider at the comment, looking a bit less sheepish and embarrassed as the conversation continued. "I mean about not knowing much about my powers. Never though much about 'em except for being a party trick and a pain in the butt."

Will's expression turned a bit more thoughtful before he kept speaking. "I guess though, it wouldn't hurt to figure things out, even if I'm starting late. Best case scenario -- I can do somethin' that matters to someone. Worst case? Least I might get better at defending myself with 'em, right?" 

Lee shook her head as Will asked if Kevin's powers would end up keeping him up. "It doesn't look, at least at the moment, that his powers should affect his sleep at all," Lee said. "That doesn't mean hadn't stayed awake to play around with his powers, but that's a completely different story."

Will admitted that he figured he had needed the talk from her. Even if he would never have realized it on his own, Lee suspected that he was probably right. And he even realized that the worst case scenario of working on his powers was that he'd be able to defend himself better with them. Best case so much better than that.

"In some ways, I wish I had had someone talk to me like this," Lee admitted to the younger man. "In so many ways, I learned more about my powers while defending or protecting myself than at any other time. And it would have been so much less stressful and dangerous if I had been able to learn at least some of it beforehand. Though, it doesn't seem like trouble finds you nearly as easily, which is a very good thing."

"In some ways, I wish I had had someone talk to me like this,"

"To be honest, I might not have listened to a talk like this when I was younger... I know I didn't listen to those stupid motivational speakers they brought in every other month after the riots..." Will admitted, trying to recall some of the insipid slogans and designed-by-committee cookie cutter speeches, but could only remember a vague distaste for the whole display. "Different though, when someone that gets it is sayin' it though."

Will listened as Lee spoke about her own experiences with learning about her own powers, in what sounded like less-than-idea scenarios. The woman even sounded like she lamented that she hadn't had the opportunity that Will had here, having someone speak to them about the importance of learning your powers. That she'd learned more while protecting herself or defending herself than any other and that knowing more before then would have been magnitudes better. Will was certain there were at least a handful of stories there. 

That was certainly something to consider as a morbid thought experiment the next time he was stuck running laps. Would it have been better to have been thrown into situations where he didn't have the choice but to learn to use his powers? Forced to face himself and what he could do rather than sitting on his hands and  hoping everything would just change? 

Well... probably not. 

As Lee commented he seemed he seemed better at avoiding trouble, Will's first thought was to think that she really had a knack for understatement. At least if even half of what she'd said and a quarter of what she'd implied was true. But he had enough sense not to vocalize it, instead giving a small shrug and tapping his ear as he had earlier. "Ah well, easy to avoid trouble when you hear it a mile away." Will commented, coming to a quiet realization he really did have it a lot easier to keep himself out of trouble with his abilities, something he'd been underappreciating. 

"Y'know, I was kinda hopin' there was gonna be some miracle answer. Some cheat sheet, or somethin'. Not just grit your teeth and do it anyway." Will paused, hands stuffed into his pockets, before he continued, sounding somewhere between bemused and irritated. "Then again, that'd probably just tick me off that I hadn't found it. Hm. Bit embarrassing having to have to have that pointed out to me."  

"That's possible," Lee agreed. "But you're right, it does sit differently when someone understands, really somehow understands, something that you've never been able to properly describe before."

Lee couldn't help but laugh as Will pointed out how he had an advantage in avoiding trouble. "Touche," Lee said. That would definitely help in a lot of cases, wouldn't it?

Lee nodded when Will said he had been hoping for an easy fix. "It would be nice if something was easy, wouldn't it?" Lee asked. "There isn't even a single answer, beyond simply learning and practicing. But it's different for every single person how to do that."

"And sometimes what is right in front of your face is not obvious," Lee pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah... Forest for the trees or something like that, right?" Will grumbled in a good natured way, responding to Lee's comment on things right in front of your not always being obvious. Half-remembered idiom or no, it was clear he agreed with her statement. 

Will could feel the worst of the tension that had twisted his stomach into knots slowly relenting, no longer feeling the need to jump at every crackle and snap in the night. Actually, with the brief lull in conversation, Will was slowly becoming aware that the raw, jagged feeling at the edges of his senses had finally dulled to an acceptable level of buzzing instead. Between that and the heavy, leaden feeling he could feel in his tired limbs, he wasn't about to have trouble getting to sleep once he made it home, even if his legs would protest the whole way there.

"Do you give these talks often?" Will asked Lee, half-joking, but with a genuine question hidden somewhere there in the mirth. "'Cause you've got a knack for it. Be a waste if you're only givin' them to knuckle heads running around the park at... Jeez, what time is it even..?" Will started to reach for his phone on instinct, his hand reaching his pocket before he stopped. It wasn't really important, and it felt rude to check out of the conversation... plus he didn't want to flashbang his eyes.

"I know, I know, I just said I didn't listen to a word when I was in school, but..." Will shrugged as he failed to come up with a more compelling argument to dismiss his earlier statements than the simple motion of his shoulders. "I dunno, you got me to listen. I imagine your kid's got a better grip on stuff than I did at his age... or heck, now even, probably..." 

"Something liek that," Lee said, smiling at Will's grumbling. And while he was grumbling, Lee was pretty sure that the younger man was taking everything that she was saying in. Even if he didn't follow her advice, at least here and now he was listening and thinking about it.

That was a start, at the very least.

"Do you give these talks often?"

Lee shook her head. "I don't," she said.

Except that she had talked with Tarin, a lot, about how to deal when your powers did something horrible, how to move on, how you could use your powers to actually do good in the world. Even when those powers didn't seem to be good.

And Tarin wasn't the only one. People at the sanctuary. Blaine. Garret. Gabe. Slate.

Lee's eyes had dropped to the ground between them as she thought, a lopsided smile slowly forming.

"At least not talking about this," Lee corrected herself. "But I guess I have given talks like this a little more often than I thought."

Will thought that with her as his mother, and the kind of advice that she had given to him tonight, that Kevin already had a better 'grip' on things. Lee shrugged. "Maybe," Lee admitted. "But Kevin's also in a very different situation. Two mutants as parents, plus he had been very impatiently waiting for his powers since he was a toddler."

"'About this', 'like this'..." Will repeated the phrases that Lee had said back to her with a bit of extra emphasis, "Sorta splitting hairs there, ain'tcha?" Will questioned, a bit of smugness pushing through past the earlier irritation and grumbles. It was nice to know he hadn't lost his knack -entirely- for being able to read people. It just seemed Lee was tougher than most. And the lopsided smiled was the most he'd seen her react in their entire conversation, which frankly was a bit of a relief. She'd seemed almost completely unflappable until now.

"Least I can say it took someone good at talking sense to people to get it through my head at least... Imagine if it all clicked because of some ClikClak video or something." Will scoffed through a laugh, shaking his head as he tried to bring a bit of levity back to things. 

Will listened carefully though, as Lee explained about Kevin's upbringing and how different things were for him as opposed to well... Frankly a lot of mutants. Will's expression did turn to one of thoughtful surprise as she mentioned that Kevin had been actively waiting for his abilities, rather than getting blind sided by them like some kind of twisted, white elephant puberty gift. 

Jeez. Being able to look forward to that. Be excited. Embrace them rather than being scared of them. Hating them.

"Waiting, for them?" Will repeated back to Lee, unable to keep the incredulous look off his face or out of his voice. "I... Well dang. Good for him." The man's incredulous expression didn't fade entirely, as he tried to wrap his head around the idea of someone being excited for something that'd struggled with for so long. Then again, things were different. Or so Lee kept trying to tell him. Without so much pressure against mutants, and with a pair of mutant parents, well... 

"Seriously..?" Will chuckled and shook his head in bemused disbelief. "Well, between that and gettin' things into my thick head... I dunno, you've gotta have plenty keepin' you busy, but..." Will scowled, realizing he was rambling. "Just. You siad you wished someone had talked to you earlier. All I'm saying is If there's a place people like us go to figure stuff out. You'd be the kinda person I'd want to be talking to." 

"Maybe it's splitting hairs," Lee admitted with a shrug. "But there are times when semantics are very important." Such as when someone wanted you to promise to end the threat or just run away, and you promised to do everything you can to keep yourself safe.

"Or, you were just ready to hear it now," Lee suggested as to why Will had actually listened to her that night when he hadn't to other advice 'lectures' he had received in the past.

Lee could not help but laugh softly at Will's reaction to how Kevin had wanted to get his powers. "It's amazing what support and acceptance can do. We were in the middle of the park here when he got them, and he would probably say the worst part of the whole thing was thinking that he fried his phone and me hugging him."

If only that was the case for everyone. Though, how easy everything was with Kevin did have to do with what his powers were. They weren't inherently traumatizing like his father's had been, or treated like hers had been.

What was even more surprising than someone being excited about getting mutant abilities was that Will thought that she would be good talking to other younger mutants like she had with him. "The mansion is a good place for kids when they've first gotten their powers. It's a safe place to learn how to use them and they still get their schooling.

"For adults…" Lee paused as she thought about how to phrase her feelings on this. "They would still help with figuring out power issues, but you're likely to get at least pressure, if not the outright expectation to join the X-Men. And…yeah."

Will make a face as Lee explained the positives and potential negatives about someone his age seeking out help from the mansion. He could, and no doubt would get help there if he were to go... but it sounded like there were certain expectations that would be suggested. It also sounded to him like Lee was being particularly careful in choosing her words, at though trying to maintain neutrality on the situation. Will wasn't sure if she was just trying not to pressure him, but with what she'd said earlier -- how emphatically she'd insisted he didn't have to use his powers for anyone, or on anyone's behalf, he guessed that it was more likely there was another story there. Maybe several.

Will himself, well, he couldn't exactly say anything bad about the X-men on the whole... But... It always felt off to him how rubber stamped it all seemed to be with how well they fit into the current power structure. Got along with the government without friction, aided the NYPD. What was to keep them from sliding into just being another arm of the same corrupt system that led to the Registration, or that let the bigoted events that started the 2012 riots to happen again? How easy would it be to paint the X-men and the ones that joined up with them as 'the good ones' to allow people to point fingers at anyone that didn't want to fall under their umbrella?

Maybe it was bitterness. Maybe it was pessimism, but it at the very least made him wary. Hearing about the 'expectations' to join in return for them helping someone, well. That didn't make them sound any better. Lee's tacit disapproval, or at least her lack of overt approval, pushed it even further. 

"Think I'll pass then, on 101 course." Will said, trying to wipe the grimace off of his face. He was normally a bit better at keeping up a poker face, but it'd been a pretty heavy conversation so far, and his legs felt like they were filled with sand. "Besides, I'm guessing there's probably some sorta paperwork to sign off on, and being seen around that place all that time..." Will waved a hand, banishing the idea entirely. "I'm still not sure I'm okay with more than me 'n' you knowing. That'd feel like yellin' it." 

Lee had tried to be tactful. She very intentionally had said nothing negative about the X-Men. Some of her oldest friends were X-Men.

Lee's problem was with how the group as a whole worked. The way they planned, or rather didn't plan that Lee had major issues with.

But sometimes not saying something told a person just as much as giving full disclosure.

And either Will had picked up on some of that, or he had already had thoughts about the X-Men.

"There's definitely paperwork to be a student," Lee said. She had just gone through all of that for Kevin.

But had she had to do anything when she stayed at the mansion? Or had Sam just taken care of all of that for her? Lee honestly wasn't sure. So much of that month she had spent in an exhausted daze that it was hard to remember details.

"At the very least, I would expect that there'd be some sort of paperwork to get a passcode so you don't have to buzz security every time you want through the front gate."

Though actually, Lee thought as she said that. With how often she was likely to end up visiting Kevin, it might be a good idea for her to speak with Sam or Shin about getting one of those herself. If nothing else, it would stop the people on security from getting annoyed with her.

"Well, guess it doesn't hurt to keep 'em in mind if I'm outta other options, but..." Will trailed off as he gave his final option on joining the mansion or not in a non-committal way. It wasn't as though he was unaware of the possibility of practicing his abilities without guidance not baring fruit. Or even a situation where the detrimental effects of his mutation grew worse. There were always horror stories out there about mutants who's powers got entirely out of hand, even if most of the worst of those stories were embellished or entirely made up. 

"Security? Guess that makes sense..." Will commented on Lee's explanation about there likely being at least some kinds of administrative or clerical work that'd need to be done. Forms filled, papers punched, all the usual sort of thing. Will wondered idly if there would be a background check. There'd have to be, right? Or else risk someone trying to get in with malicious intent... Not that a background check would necessarily a perfect measure for that. The rational part of Will's mind knew it made sense, even mundane schools and businesses had security, but the skeptical part couldn't help but think it made it sound all the more like a gilded cage. "Imagine it's pretty important to keep track of people going in and out of a place like that."

"You sound like you're pretty familiar with the whole thing though?" Will directed the hesitant question towards Lee, his words probing tentatively. If he had to guess, she probably hadn't been a student there herself... he wasn't sure about the timeline of the mansion, per se, but Lee's words about wishing that someone would have had a talk with her when she was younger pretty much ruled that out. So, that left either she'd spent some time there later on, which could explain how she knew about the 'expectations' of older mutants getting guidance there... or else Kevin was enrolled there. Possibly both.

In any case, Will thought it wasn't really his place to ask too much or at least not too directly, and so left the half-question hanging in the air -- easy to dismiss if Lee didn't feel like sharing, and just as easy to offer more.


 

The mansion was an option but...That was a very good way to think about it. The mansion and the X-Men had their uses and purposes, some of them that they were extremely good at such as teaching and training young mutants, but....

Other things that they did were not nearly as effective.

And security at the mansion was important? In theory, yes, though Lee wasn't exactly sure that the sheer distance between the front gate and the security office was great at keeping the place safe. They did always manage to keep the students safe, no matter what happened, at least.

"It keeps any potential mobs of bigots away from the school, at least," Lee said, which was true.

But Will had picked up on her familiarity with the mansion. With how carefully she had been picking her words, it probably was a rather obvious conclusion. "I have had a complicated life," Lee admitted in what was probably one of the biggest understatements she'd ever given. "Both because of my powers and what's happened. And some of those things ended up with me dealing with the mansion and X-Men.

"Though some of it did work out well for me. The doctor there had already known all about my powers, so with Kevin…Well it was a lot less worrying having him there than at a hospital." [/f

Lee admitted that she'd had a complicated life, to say the least. Will had managed to catch onto that well before now, but it also sounded like she had a complicated relationship with the mansion, and the X-men and... well frankly knew who or what else.

Who exactly was this person he'd run into?

Shoving those thoughts and musing to the back of his head to worry about later, Will tried instead to focus on what Lee had said, or, maybe more importantly, how she said it. That some of the things had ended up working out for the better for having worked with those at the mansion and with the X-men. That having someone who understood her powers was invaluable when it came to certain things, at least medically. That -did- explain why she knew so much about the inner workings and the pressures that might be put on someone who went to them for help... but he guessed she hadn't succumbed to those suggestions herself, or she'd probably have a more glowing review of the whole organization. 

Huh. He still didn't really know exactly what Lee's powers were, did he? She'd mentioned bits and pieces, needing energy from people, sometimes not having enough, other times having too much and having to burn it off. She'd said she had too much, hence the running -- and he could extrapolate that's why she'd been able to lap him on the running path without even breathing hard. But how did that work? Trying to reach for any comparisons, he could only imagine it being a bit like a plant and photosynthesis.

"Glad t'hear they were able to help. Though, uh... I don't think I really get what it is your powers are?" Will admitted, giving a bit of a sheepish smile, not knowing if he was supposed to have been able to pick up on the nuances of her abilities from the bits she'd already explained. "I know you said you get energy from the people around ya, and it is, or was, hard to manage to keep from gettin' too much or not enough, but..." Will started to trail off, before quickly adding, "Like, y'don't need to share. Just... I mean, I -am- kinda curious." Will admitted, his smile widening to a grin. 

Lee nodded, giving a small, slightly sad smile when Will admitted that he didn't get what her powers were. Of course he didn't. She hadn't told him exactly what her powers were, just bits and pieces like having too much energy tonight.

There were people, like her brother Robert, who didn't get her powers after multiple full explanations.

But Lee had prodded quite deeply into Will's mutation standing there in the middle of the park. And despite almost no one actually knowing that he was even a mutant, he had shared that information with her. Especially with how many times she had tried to stress to Will that things were better now, it was only right that she share with him.

"I siphon energy from people," Lee started explaining. "Generally just a little bit from everyone in the area around me. So when there are a lot of people around, like in a crowded bar or today at the airport, I end up with far too much energy. When that happens, I can't sleep until I burn through that energy. Without this run, going to the airport would probably have kept me awake for about 60 hours." Lee said that entire thing like it was no big deal. Because to her, it really wasn't. 60 hours wasn't even the longest that she had been awake in the last 6 months, never mind the longest she'd ever been awake.

"But if I'm not around people, I'm not getting any energy," Lee continued. "Literally."