Loriauna stood in front of the gates, her hair fluttering gently. What an odd place...she pocketed the address, for she figured there was no mistaking the mansion. There weren't exactly a lot of them in this city.

Reading the sign again, she chuckled. "'Xavier's Second Institute For Gifted Youngsters...' I hope they'll accept an old lady like me." The twenty year-old girl brushed her blond hair from her face calmly, smirking at the building. Why exactly was she here?

She wasn't like most mutants, who held a grudge against the average human being because of stereotypical hatred. She figured they had a right to be scared...she had seen what she herself could do and it wasn't pretty. She never figured herself needing shelter from the outside world or needing to confide in other mutants. Why do it? Pretty much pointless...

So, why was she here, again?

Pressing the button beside her, the buzzing noise greeting her, she waited. A guard spoke calmly to her, apparently somewhat frightened by the fairly intimating girl. "What do you want?" Apparently she may have woken him up as well, from the sound of his voice...so grumpy.

"Sorry, Sleepy, I was just dropping by. Tricity invited me."

His voice instantly got a bit more respectful, if not alertive. "Um...er...hold on, miss." Loriauna calmly leaned against the wall, allowing her power to sneak itno the control room and listen into the phone line.

"Hey, Miss Tricity? There's a woman here with blond hair and a long black coat...says you invited her. Her name is...oh, wait..." Slightly embarrassed by his own lack of professioanlism, he turned on the speaker to the outside again. "Miss, what is your name?"

Loriauna quickly pulled herself back to the real world. "Loriauna."

"Oh, erm...right." Going back to the phone line, Loriauna now listening in again, he spoke in the most professional voice he could muster. "Her name is Loriauna, Miss Tricity."

*tricity came outside and down the stairs, toward the gates.*
"Hey, how ya doing?"
*she asked, extending her hand out again for a greeting.*
"I was hoping you'd stop by."

Loriauna smiled, extending her own hand. "Hey...figured I might as well." Smiling, she spoke again. "It seems odd to have such a place though...why do it?"

"Because there are too many mutants in the world that can't be living as their own person without fear. Especially the young ones...people can be cruel. You should know that?"
*tricity asked, surprised loriauna wouldn't understand that.*

"Oh, I don't dispute that. The kids should be mentored and helped...but doesn't it seem odd to have them all there, learning about their powers, while the outside world knows nothing. Their becoming less like society and farther away from their ability to be in the outside world. Normal humans will view them as scarier freaks and, in the end, make it impossible for them to leave this place."

"As they get older, the children learn not to fear humans and only pity them for their ingnorance. We make sure that lesson is always taught to them. Just as in any other school, we teach them about life, not just math, reading, writing, and well...there mutations."
*she answered, looking back toward the school as some of the kids came out for recess.*
"And if they are less like society, then we've done our job. I would hate for any of them to be like society is."

"It is just...people view the kids in the institute as mutants and nothing else. Many think you're all teaching them how to fight and making them more violent." Loriauna watched the kids play, playing normal games with slight twists thanks to their powers. "On the other hand, when you want kids to be able to work well in society, doesn't this seem like a step backwards? Instead of exposing them to the outside world, you keep them locked in there..."

"No, we take them away from a more dangerous society. People are always afraid of what they don't understand and society isn't ready for them. Thus, this school. There have been too many attacks on mutants for there not to be safe houses for us. The kids need to understand the concept of how people think and react to mutants."
*she heard a faint crying which of course came from janie.*
"Uh, give me a minute."
*as expected the little girl ran over to tricity, phasing on and off from sight. she jumped onto tricity, burying her head in her shoulder.*
"This is Janie."

Loriauna looked at the girl, eyes concerned. Speaking softly, she greeted her. "Hey..." Worried as to why the girl named Janie was crying, she looked out at the other kids, looking for whoever may have caused it.

*tricity shook her head and mouthed the words, 'She's a cry baby'. she held janie like a baby and cradled her until she stopped crying and just began sniffling. the little girl turned her head on tricity's shoulder to stare, as she always did, at the stranger in front of her.*
"Say hi to Loriauna, Janie."
janie: "Hi Miss Loriauna..."
*janie said, looking the women up and down.*
janie: "How come you're here?"

Loriauna laughed nervously for a second, embarrassed by the girl's sudden change in attitude. "I just felt like dropping by and seeing what exactly this place was about." She stuck her hands in her pockets, smiling slightly at the girl. Cute kid.

janie: "Ms. Tipper"?
*janie tugged on tricity's collar, trying to pull her ear closer.*
janie: "Is she a mutant??"
*the little girl asked, clearly loud enough for loriauna to hear as she put her hand near the back of tricity's ear instead of the front as if she wanted to tell a secret.*
"Janie, she's standing right there. You can ask her yourself. And what have I said about whispering while other people are around??"
*janie sighed and pulled away from tricity's ear to look at loriauna.*
janie: "Sorry. Are you a mutant?"

In response, Loriauna pulled her laptop from her messenger bag. Without touching it, it clicked to life, opened, and greeted Janie in Loriauna's voice.

"Yes...I'm a technopath." It displayed Loriauna's face, virtualized as if from a high-tech game, and she grinned at Janie from the screen. It then clicked off, shut, and Loriauan put it back in her case.

"Yeah...does that answer you're question?"

The guard was watching her much more cautiously now, holding his cellphone in a rather protective manner, as if scared she would possess it. Which she very well could do if she wished, though that wasn't the point.

janie: "COOOOOOL!! She's like you Ms. Tipper!!"
"Well yes, sort of, Janie."
*janie quickly jumped down from tricity's arms and tugged on loriauna's shirt.*
janie: "Could you do that with some of my toys!?"
"Janie!"
*the little girl looked back at tricity and then put her head down again.*
janie: "BUT IT WOULD BE SO COOL!!"

Loriauna smiled, slightly embarrassed by the girl's outburst. "Hey, kid, I'd love to, but I should probably split. I never planned on staying." Truth was, she didn't want to get a relationship with the kids...then she would end up wanting to stay.

And she really, really did not want that to happen. She had bad feelings about institutes since her parents had signed into one...and one for mutants just made it all the more harder to let herself go.