That made Neena laugh softly. "What? You were expecting us to be mad scientists, looking for a new experiment?" she teased. "I think we can use a few more conventional means to help you out." She began ticking off points on her fingers. "You mentioned meditation and yoga? Those are an excellent start to gaining focus. If you can find a way to keep yourself calm, even under stress, there's half your battle right there."
Arisa nodded as she listened to Neena speak…
"For the mist, we'll see what we can do about creating an environment where you can safely practice with it, without fear of hurting anyone."
"Physical weakness can be lessened with some basic endurance lessons. Likely that will take longer, and be something you'll need to practice for life, since it's tied in with your mutation. But in the long run, if nothing else, it's simply good, old-fashioned healthy for ya."
Arisa’a eyes widened, “You would do that for me?” The words came out almost like a whisper edged with excitement and the shudder of tears. Arisa could feel tears welling up as she Neena. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect anyone would want to help this much. “Thank you…” she said quietly, “thank you so much”. Arisa began to weep softly, but this time it wasn’t out of pain or frustration. This time it was relief…and joy.
"As for checking out your saliva, yeah, that'll probably take a DNA test to figure out. But we can worry about that later, m'friend.”
Arisa composed herself and nodded, “yes of course! Anything you need.”
“ For now, let's worry about the immediate problem right now. And that's finding you a room, and showing you around."
“So I get to stay!” Arisa nearly yelled this she was so thrilled.

“You would do that for me? Thank you… thank you so much”.

"Of course we would, m'friend." Neena smiled kindly. From that reaction, the teacher pulled a partial conclusion. Either Arisa tended to shy away from befriending others, or other rejected her.

“So I get to stay!”

Arisa's excited reaction reinforced Neena's rejection theory. She quickly quelled the small spark of anger that zapped through her; humanity in general were a foolish, selfish race. But, then again, mutants could be as well. Maybe it was a curse that came with the ability to reason? Food for thought....

She gave the girl's shoulder a final squeeze before pulling her arm back. "Of you can stay. We've got plenty of room." She flipped open the folder again. "The place is kinda big though, so be sure and keep this map handy. This is where we are now, and this is the Office. You'll need to finish filling out this file, and drop it of to me there later. Let's see, kitchen's here, infirmary's here, Danger Room here, bedrooms..... How old are ya, kiddo?"

She pointed out the appropriate spots, then paused with her fingers over the three halls of second floor bedrooms.

Nathan was walking back to his room from the kitchen when he heard a loud surprised voice. "So I get to stay?!" He figured it would be someone new to the school. As he walked he noticed Neena and a girl, who was probably the source of the noise. The girl's choice of words tugged at him. She thought that she could have been turned away. Nathan smiled at a thought. Not if Neena has her way.

He made his way over to the pair, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. He noticed that the girl was very tall for her gender, and it looked as if she hadn't eaten in a while. Her black hair came all the way down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were somewhat golden.

When he reached them, he started to introduce himself. "Hey Neena, how are you doing? My name is Nathan by the way. What's your name?" He said the last few statements to the new girl.

Before Arisa had a chance to answer Neena’s question a man walked up. He looked like he might be around her age, perhaps a year or two older. He was rather attractive also but Arisa attempted not to notice this. ”I’m Arisa DeVeaux, I just arrived a few moments ago.” She smiled at him and then looked back at Neena. ”I’m 18 Neena” she flipped her hair over her shoulder as she looked down at the map attempting to memorize it.

"Hey Neena, how are you doing?"

Neena glanced up as another youth entered the room, no doubt drawn by Arisa's happy exclamaiton. She smiled brightly at him.

"Hiya Nathan. How goes it?"

"My name is Nathan by the way. What's your name?"

”I’m Arisa DeVeaux, I just arrived a few moments ago.”

Excellent. The more positive reactions Arisa could see, the better. Though Nathan's mutation wasn't what Neena would consider 'dangerous', it definitely had the possibility to be if used correctly. Or incorrectly, depending on which side of the field you were on. But he was still welcome at the Mansion, as were numerous others. And as was Arisa. Perhaps his friendliness would help bring her out of her shell a bit.

”I’m 18 Neena”

The dark-skinned teacher nodded. " 'kay, then we'll settle you here." She tapped the hallway on the right, on the map. "Okay, let's find you an open room." She smiled at Nathan. "Wanna come?"

She led the way back into the foyer, and noticed Arisa's bags. She hoisted two, then headed for the stairs, absently rattling off random details about the house.

"The kitchen is open to anyone, anytime." She started there because most newcomers arrived hungry recently. "Anything in the fridge that isn't initialed is up for grabs. Let me know if you're allergic to anything, for when I shop, 'kay? Keep your eyes open for practical jokers, there's a lot of 'em round here. Kids, ya know? And a few oldersters." She grinned slyly, being a firm believer in 'turnabout is fairplay' when it came to pranksters.

Nathan was kind of surprised when Neena asked him if he wanted to come along. He wasn't sure what to think. But Nathan figured that he should trust her on this. He was just going to head up to his room anyway. It wasn't as if he had something better to do. "Yeah, sure. I don't mind."

He watched as Neena hoisted the girls bags and walked off. He called out to offer his help with the bags but she was already walking up the stairs. He wasn't complaining since it gave him a chance to get to know a little bit more about Arisa.

As he started walking, he began to talk to her. "So what made you decide to come to the Mansion? And what is your gift?"

"So what made you decide to come to the Mansion? And what is your gift?"

Arisa, looked over at Nathan a bit weary to open up about her abilities. But she wanted to be open with these people, it’s they only way they would be able to help her after all. ”I manipulate miasma. From what I have gathered through personal research is it effects people kind of like a disease or virus. It’s kind of scary, and I have hurt people because of it. That’s why I came here, to learn how to control it so no one will ever be harmed by my abilities again.” Her voice was very soft and grim as she spoke, it was clearly something she had trouble discussing. She reach up and removed a strand of hair from her tarnished gold eyes, her expression severe. ”never again…”

Nathan could tell she only opened up with reluctance. She must be tired of all this. Nathan couldn't readily identify with her since her powers had hurt people. He had killed a handful of guards in the escape from the camp himself. But that was different. This girl seemed shocked that she had hurt someone. And judging from her choice of words and tone, she never wanted to do that again.

He could readily empathize with that. His powers had made him an outcast in his hometown. They had even caused his own brother to be bitter towards him until they had resolved that issue. He knew what it felt like to be alone and confused.

He tried to be as comforting as possible. "I'm here for the same reason as you. I need to develop more control too. Don't worry. Neena will get you all set up with everything. This whole place is great. The people here are really nice."

Neena's keen ears picked up most of the short conversation behind her, but she simply listened for a bit without interrupting. At the top of the stairs she turned to the right, headed down the girls' hallway. Idly she noticed on of the open doors down the way, Ghost's room.

<"Hmm.... Black and white, both mists of sorts, and both with troubled pasts. The same, yet different. I wonder how they'd get along?">

Finding an empty room, Neena put her mental musings aside and set the bags on the ground, then unlocked the door. Like most of the others in the Mansion, the room was roomy, but very plain; two beds and nightstands, a desk, a closet and a bathroom.

"Well, here ya go. It's set up for two, but for now we'll leave you as a single, 'kay?" She smiled at Arisa. "Once we get a better understanding of things, then maybe we can consider a roommate. For now, we'll just concentrate on gettin' ya settled in."

After hauling the bags in, Neena handed her the room key. "Any other questions, m'friend?"

Arisa smiled at Neena and shook her head, ”No I think I’m good for now, thanks for everything Neena. I’ll drop this by your office later.” Arisa held up the file Neena had given her. Arisa the turned and looked at Nathan, ”Maybe we can hang out sometime?” Arisa gave a dazzling smile.

Arisa's smile was not lost on Nathan. "Yeah, that would be nice to hang out. If you need anything just let me know and I'll do my best." Since they had arrived at Arisa's room already and their conversation was starting to wane, Nathan started excuse himself. "I guess that's about it. I'll head out unless one of you needs me. Or just wants me to stay." He finished the last with a smirk because he really didn't think that was the case.

Arisa waved to Neena and Nathan as they left and entered her room. She looked around mentally noting all the things she would need to go buy to make it feel more like home. She smiled then and thought, this isn’t going to be so bad, who knows…maybe I will even meet a great guy…

The End