Lily spent the sunny autumn morning sitting on her bed, shooting gemstones at an empty beer can.
Target practice usually belonged to the Danger Room. Empty beer cans usually belonged to the trash can. And Lily usually wasn't the lazy kind.
It was just one of those mornings.

Of course she didn't drink the beer. She just found the can on the kitchen table, and had this fuzzy idea in her head that didn't even form until she got back to her room.
She had tons of stuff to do. Read. Study. Prepare for the mission Sam told them about. Get dressed (she was still wearing her pj's). Or clean up her room. But instead of doing all (or any) of that...
She sat cross-legged on her bed, with a tiny heap of gems beside her on the pillow. One by one she levitated them into the air, and used her powers to make them spin about an inch above her outstretched palm; they spun faster and faster, and then they suddenly shot forward, and if she was doing it well, they hit the beer can with a 'pang' and knocked it over. So far only one had managed to puncture it. After every try she used the piece of silver she planted inside the can to levitate it back to its place, not because of practice, but because she just felt too lazy to stand up.

Not having a roommate never had this effect on Lily while she lived at home. She was usually very tidy and neat and organized. Usually. That word seemed to loose its polish this morning.

Then again, Lily decided, once in a while she deserved to be lazy too.

Callie eventully found the door after rather skillfully managing to get lost only minutes after she had left the Admissions Office. Now she stared at first for a while at the key in her hand, given to her by the man strangely enough called Streak (she had wanted to ask if he was called that because he did, but she hadn't because, well, he was a teacher, wasn't he?). Eventually she decided it would be better to knock. Partly because, well, there seemed to be someone in there and she didn't want to seem rude, but mostly because she knew for a fact that trying to fit a small key into a lock with her hands would be absolutely impossible.

So she shrugged off her backpack and leaned it against the huge trunk on wheels which she had been dragging along with her, swallowed nervously and then lifted her hand slowly. For a while it simply hovered in the air in front of the door, before she managed to get herself together and knock.

... and then someone knocked on the door.

'Pang' went the last gemstone, knocking the beer can over, and this time it was left lying on the floor as Lily stood, and almost fell on her face because her legs fell asleep a while ago.
"Hold on, I'm coming!"
Massaging her calf and jumping around for a few seconds she got enough blood back in her legs to limp over to the door and open it.

The girl looked about fifteen years old or so, and she was holding a key in her hand. She also had a trunk and a backpack, and all in all she had the looks of a lost puppy that was easy to recognize. Most new arrivals had the same look (except for the one she fished out of a mansion death trap, but that was definitely an exception). Lily looked down at the girl, and her motherly instincts were already in motion.
"Oh. Hi. Let me guess: you are my new roommate?" stepping back (still limping) and opening the door, she smiled a friendly smile "Come in."

The young woman who opened the door smiled kindly at her, and Callie gave herself a mental smack for her first, rather bitter thought when she saw her: No one ought to be allowed to look that good in a pajama! She seemed really nice, she berated herself mentally, and they were going to share a room for quite some time after all. Unless, of course, she managed to melt the poor woman's most prized possesion and was sent to sleep alone.

"Uhm, yes. Thanks," she said a bit shyly and grabbed her backpack and bag, following her new roommate inside. She actually managed to get herself into the room before losing her grip on her backpack and dropping it with a thud onto the floor. "Oh, bugger. Sorry." She let go of her trunk and turned to face the older girl. "Hi. I'm Callie Jones." She was about to extend her hand, but then hastily hid it behind her back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that my hands look gross right now, so you might not want to shake them. I should get some gloves," she added with an awkward shrug.

Lily looked at the skinny teenager with her glasses and oversize clothes, tilting her head curiously. The girl looked more than a bit lost and she had a blush on her cheeks.
"Hi. I'm Callie Jones."
Lily nodded with a smile and was about to take the hand that was about to be offered, when Callie changed her mind.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that my hands look gross right now, so you might not want to shake them. I should get some gloves,"
She nodded again.
"It's okay, don't worry. Nice to meet you, Callie. My name is Lily."
Glancing around in the room, she realized it looked like... well, not good.
"Um, sorry for the mess. I've been living here alone for a while now, and I just kinda used up the space."
Walking over to the other bed - the one that belonged to Callie now - she scooped up a bunch of dresses and shirts and skirt and carried them over to dump on her own bed. This was followed by a few seconds of rummaging as she cleaned up Callie's desk and nightstand too. Finally, she turned back to the girl with a grin.
"Ta-da. All yours."
She sat down on her own bed, leaving her brand new roommate some space and time to get settled in. She watched the girl curiously, wandering what her power was, and, more importantly, what her story was. She decided to wait till she is ready to talk. They had time.

Callie looked around at the room in surprise, as Lily hurried to clean away some clothes from her new bed. "This," she finally said with conviction, "is not a mess. If I can still see the floor, it's not a mess. Not that I'm going to mess it up even worse," she hurriedly added and sank down on her bed, "it's just that... well, I actually used to share my room with my older brother, and if you'd ever seen what it looked like, you wouldn't call anything less than an explosion site a mess."

She fiddled a bit with a seam at the bottom of her shirt that seemed to be coming loose. "So, I suppose I should ask you why you are here. I mean, I know why, obviously, but..." She halted herself, shaking her head to stop her mouth from rambling. "I mean, what's you... what do they call it, power?"

Lily chuckled at Callie's opinion about the room. Apparently she was an expert on mess. Well, Lily wasn't.
"See, that's the problem right there. I don't have any siblings." she pointed out with a smile. Then she waited patiently while Callie stumbled through her question about her powers. She remembered having the same problem in many conversations not so long ago.
"...I mean, what's you... what do they call it, power?"
Lily smiled.
"Power, ability, mutation, talent, gift... you can call it whatever you want" she shrugged "And I don't mind you asking at all. But you'll have to tell me about yours too." she added with a wink, before lifting the scattered gemstones and the beer can into the air with a mere glance and levitating them back to her hands.
"I am a jewelry manipulator. My powers work on gemstones and precious metals." she explained. Putting the stones aside, she pulled the string of silver out of the beer can, shaping it into a bracelet, then dropped the can into the wastebasket. "I still have a lot to learn though." she admitted, to make Callie feel less nervous about the whole thing... and also because it happened to be true.
Looking at her new roommate curiously, she smiled.
"Your turn."

Callie followed the piece of silver with her eyes, amazed, and when Lily was done explaining she exhaled softly in awe. "Wow. You know, before I came here I never knew mutations could be so... useful, you know? I mean, useful in such a practical manner. And now I've met at least two people that has proved me wrong alread." She had no idea what the guy who had siged her in had been capable of, but thought with a sigh that it probably was more useful than her power. "I guess I've got a lot to learn," she concluded and shrugged. "Anyway, the thing I can do... it's not really helpful unless you want to destroy things. Or people," she added, indicating her mangled hands. "I can do... uh, this..."

She lifted up the beer can and concentrated so hard that her head started aching on just a very small portion around where the ring had been. A slim edge around the opening glowed brilliant white and then disappered into the can with an angry hiss. A ccolumn of smoke curled up from inside. Around where the metal had been melted, it glowed orange for a few seconds, and the can probably grew warmer too, but Callie couldn't feel it with her hands.

"I make stuff liquid," she conluded with a sigh, dropping the beer can in the wastebasket as well. "It's not really helpful for much at all, but there it is."

Lily watched with intense curiosity - she loved this part of meeting new people around here. They all had something to surprise her. And now that she was going to share a room with this girl, she really was looking forward to seeing her powers work.
The beer can made a metallic sound as it was dropped into the wastebasket once again. Lily grinned.
"Wow. And you're saying that is not useful?... You haven't been around mutants a lot, have you." chuckling, she shook her head "No offense, Callie. I'm just saying... most people around here tend to be very creative, when it comes to powers."
Sitting back on her bed, she smiled at the girl.
"Take mine, for example. I would have never thought my powers can be any use in a fight. I make jewelry with it, you see. Then I started tr... um, experimenting with it, and people like Sam and Shawn - you'll meet them soon if you haven't already - helped me figure out a way to do a whole range of different things with precious metals. Mostly silver." she added with a smirk; picking up a piece of silver from the table, she used it to cover her fist. "And now I can use my gift to protect myself. Or others."
She smiled at her new roommate reassuringly; it looked like a though occurred to her, because she walked over to her closet, and started rummaging around in it.
"I am sure you'll find more than one way to use your powers." her voice was somewhat muffled, coming from the closet "The metal heated up when you turned it liquid. It's pure chemistry, right? The more you learn, the more ideas you'll get."
Backing out from under a curtain of clothes, she turned back to Callie with a smile.
"As for your hands... here. It's nothing special, just... you know, so you don't have to keep your hands in your pockets. Welcome gift. If you'd like to have them."
She held out a pair of blue gloves for her.

Callie looked a bit sceptical, but still nodded her consent. Even though she had no idea how she could possibly use her power as to create things instead of destroying them, she supposed that it might be useful, perhaps, to learn how to do other stuff with it ezcept for, oh, scalding her own hands.

She blushed as Jewel held out the gloves to her, and hesitantly took them. "I... thanks. They are lovely. I... man, everyone is just so kind here. I didn't know it would be like this." She looked away and blinked hastily to clear the burning sensation from her eyes. "Anyway, I suppose you're right about that I could... perhaps protect others, I suppose. But I just don't like the idea of hurting people. I mean, I could go around melting people if I really wanted to, and maybe it's true that there are some people who deserve that. But, you know, if you can hurt a person for a good reason, then you can probably do it for a bad one, and how can you tell them apart?" She smiled a bit apologetically. "I'm sorry that I went all philosopical. I'm just a bit confused."

Jewel nodded, listening to her seriously.
"I'm not suggesting you melt people." she smirked "I'm not even suggesting you use your powers to fight. I'm just saying you'll find new ways of... using your powers for something good." she smiled. After a couple of seconds, she added "For example, I'm pretty sure the Chemistry teacher would go wild to have you show the kids how cool liquification can be."
Chuckling she sat back on the bed.
"There is one thing about this place, Callie: it's more family than school. You are not alone dealing with your powers... or anything else. People are here to help you. Wanna know what I've learned since I moved in?" leaning forwards, she smiled "There's a lot more to us than mutant abilities."
Deciding it was about time to talk about more mundane things - and not wanting to make Callie uncomfortable with the whole discussion - she smiled.
"So. England, right?"

Callie relaxed even more, and even giggled a bit at the remark about the chemistry teacher. Yes, she could do that. And maybe there were ways, later, in which she could help scientists with experiments? That would be nice. Especially if it was one particular scientist...

It almost sounded too good, the thing about this school being like family, but Lily looked so earnes when she spoke about it, and she really didn't seem to be the lying type, so maybe it was true?

She looked a bit wistful as she anwered Lily's question. "Yes. I'm from a very small town north of Manchester, the city god forgot, or possibly just hates. I used to live with my family, but my parents," she grimaced a bit, "wouldn't be that thrilled to find out that I'm a mutant, so I came here. My brother," she forced her voice not to break, but it nonetheless wobbled a bit, "helped me get here. He's going to tell my parents as soon as he gets word from me. How about you? You from around here, or?"

Lily listened to Callie's story silently. She frowned when she talked about her family. That kind of thing seemed to happen a lot to mutant kids. Sometimes parents could be really unreasonable and sometimes they would be just scared, and sometimes the teenagers didn't trust them enough to share the most important secret in their lives with them.
She decided not to pry into the whole thing right now - instead, she answered her question.
"I'm from New Orleans." she said with a dreamy expression on her face - she really did love her hometown "Um... I got into some trouble after I started using my powers, so I was sent here to learn and practice. As I told you, I don't have any siblings... it must be good to have a brother who takes care of you." she added with a smile. She hoped that would make Callie feel better about the whole thing.

"You seem to miss your home town," Callie pointed out with a smile. "As for Jonathan..." She swallowed, hard. "It's funny. I mean, he used to be the bane of my existence, really. We both hated to share a room, but father said he needed the third bedroom as his study, and since we couldn't really do anything about him, we just took it out on each other. He just messed everything up and teased me and tried to talk me into doing stupid stuff... But the moment my powers showed, he... he got me to a hospital, he lied to the doctors and my parents and he... he just took care of everything for me. Protected me. And I feel like such an idiot for never noticing how great he really is."

She shook her head with a smile that wobbled a bit around the edges. "I'm sorry, I'm getting all sentimental. But it really struck me that he was the only one I could trust when the worst came to the worst. But now, if what you said is true, I suppose I'll get a lot of friends that I can trust in that way too. That's an amazing thought, really." Slowly, with fingers that wouldn't quite obey, she started pulling on the gloves Lily had given her. She vowed to herself never to lose them. They were, in a way, a sign of that there was a place where she would always be welcome, and that was the best thing anyone could've given her.

Jewel smiled as she listened to Callie.
"Wow, he sounds like a great guy." she chuckled "I don't have experience with siblings, but buys in general need a lot of time to grow up. But when they do..." she sighed in a cheerful way. Well, at least the girl had one person in her family who would not give up on her.
"...Most of them never do" she grinned "Just wait till you meet some of them who live here. Mutant or not mutant, they are all the same... still. Having someone like that in your family makes you very fortunate." she added, more serious this time.
Watching Callie put on the gloves however made her smile again.
"My nanny used to tell me a real lady wears gloves for everything except her nightgown, and has a pair for every day and every occasion of the year." she mused "It's either a Southern thing, or she was just really obsessed with gloves. Anyway, that drawer" she pointed at the drawer "is full of them. Feel free to borrow any. I got bored with them after a while."