Susan needed a place to think. Really think. She also needed to find books on one particular topic, or probably more adjoining fields of science, with a focus on genetics. Mutations, to be precise.
Because that's just how life goes. You are a foster child, hence you switch families; you go to boarding school hence you switch living arrangements; you go to Catholic boarding school hence you switch habits; you discover you have synesthesia hence you switch religions.
You possess the X gene hence you switch senses.
As if normal people were not picking on her enough already.
Being a witch had been way more comfortable than being a mutant.

Mutant-friendly bookstore. What do you know. When she came across the place she felt like it was just created on that particular spot in that particular moment, just to upset her. Entering the place the annoying feeling subsided: being surrounded by vast amounts of books had always been soothing to her nerves. Diving into the world of the written word, she conducted a systematic search until her arms couldn't hold more books, and with that accomplished, Susan walked over to the café area and settled down to think.
Hands clasped together she rested her elbows on the table, and stared at her mug of hot chocolate. She was strictly anti-caffeine. It kicked her senses overdrive, and they were already annoyingly random as they were. Susan's eyes narrowed as she stared at the mug. The fact her power wasn't sorcery doesn't mean she could not bend it to her will.
And will she had, in excessive amounts.

Hot chocolate looks brown.
Hot chocolate smells like chocolate.

Hot chocolate tastes beige.
Hot chocolate smells like silk floating in water.
Hot chocolate looks like a steady murmur of mud bubbles.
Hot chocolate tastes like a melody on a double bass.
Hot chocolate smells heavy.
Hot chocolate sounds sweet.
Hot chocolate looks burning h...

"Ow!" covering crimson eyes with one hand Susan lashed out and knocked the mug over, sending it crashing onto the floor.
Normal people order hot chocolate and burn their tongue.
Susan Hyde orders hot chocolate and burns her eyes.
"Ouch! Dammit!"

Elli was perusing the bookstores for a particular book she was after. For once, the book had nothing to do with any of her studies, in fact it was a Warhammer 40,000 omnibus. It was one of the rarer ones, and Elli just hoped that this strange cafe/store, bulletproof windows and all, had it. Normally she didn't have much spending money, but Elli had recently gotten a raise at her taco stand job, so she felt like she should blow a few bucks. So there she was, running her left hand across the rows of books while her right hand held a small cup of decaf. Lately, Elli had been feeling caffiene more than she usually did, and had decided to play it safe as it was still in the middle of the day.

Just as she was reaching the end of the Dark Fantasy section, and still with no book in sight, she heard a crash, a splash, and a loud shout from the cafe area a few rows over. Elli rushed to the scene of the crime, and was met with the sight of a teen clutching her eyes, on the floor, seemingly in pain. Elli went and helped her sit up, and heard her speak.

"Ouch! Dammit!"

"What, did you spill coffee in your eyes?" Elli said, motioning a cashier over, a bit of Ice in his hand. She took the ice and pressed it into the teen's hand, and then stood back a bit. "There, that should help. Be more carefull, next time, Mrs...?" Elli stopped, realized that she had seen that face before, on a recent missing child's report in class. "Susan? Susan Hyde?" Well I'll be a moose's caboose.

People. They don't give a damn how depressed you look, but once you make a show of yourself, they are all over you in a minute.
The burning feeling still hadn't cleared up from her eyes by the time someone was already by her side, helping her to regain her balance. Susan forced herself to look up
if I go on looking pathetic someone might call an ambulance
there were colorful dots and splashes of bright light dancing around, like when you stare into the sun too long. The crimson tint slowly withdrew, and with it some of the pain
ice? for what, praytell? my eyes?!
and she could make out the face of the girl who was trying to help her. The face swam in and out of focus, but some r.e.m. seemed to help a lot, and finally Susan could look at her long enough to tell she was young, and pretty, and quite shocked. Her cheeks looked warmer than normal, and the warmth was somehow different from mere body heat...
oh dammit don't go there again don't you dare
Wrestling back the control over her own senses she rubbed her eyes as the last hints of red disappeared from her iris, and finally the girl's words registered in her brain too.
"Susan? Susan Hyde?"
Susan frowned. Just her luck. Running into one of St. Joan's merry young ladies was the last thing she needed right now.
"Do I know you?" she grunted in a very unfriendly manner.

Elli watched, slightly amazed, as the red iris color of the person she now knew was a mutant faded out to a pure white. The eye color changing was not new to Elli, Cafas had something very similar, but it was still a little shocking. That could certainly explain why Susan would want to run away from her family, considering the boarding school she had been at. And Elli was at a moral crossroads.

In all truth, especially since she was about to become a full police officer, Elli should take Susan in and get her to go back to her family. That was the right thing to do, according to the law. However, in that situation, her personal morals differed from those of the law. She knew that she couldn't make herself force Susan back to her parents if she really didn't want to be there. That was one of Elli's biggest personal failings. She never could bring herself to violate what she thought was right and wrong, even for the law, whatever the consequences.

"Do I know you?" Well, we weren't being rude here, were we? Elli guessed that she would be wary too, if she had run away.

"No, no you don't. But I know of you, Susan. You were mentioned on the news. Missing Child and all such." Elli reached down and offered her hand to Susan, in order to pull her to her feet. If Susan had accepted the hand, after Elli pulled her up she would pick up the cup that Susan had dropped, and hand it to her. "Is it really bad enough you have to run away?" Elli had to ask, for if Susan had ran away for some stupid reason and not the mutant thing Elli would bring her back. If it was solveable, it would be better to solve the reason Susan ran away than to just avoid it. "Do they really treat you so bad just because you are a mutant that you must cause them the emotional pain they are feeling now?"

"No, no you don't. But I know of you, Susan. You were mentioned on the news. Missing Child and all such."
Susan blinked. Oh hell. The Hydes were looking for their little lost black sheep. Was it even possible to file a missing person report on such a short notice?
Maybe her sugar-and-cream roommates screaming about a demon had something to do with it.
Accepting the hand, Susan pulled herself to her feet. The girl had a strong grip. She also felt like sweat that was not there, and something strangely familiar, but not quite tangible...
An extra sense crawled along on the inside of her skin.
Intriguing.
Of course she had to keep asking useless and prejudiced questions and interrupt the whole experience. Susan let go of her hand and smoothed her skirt down with her palms.
"Is it really bad enough you have to run away? Do they really treat you so bad just because you are a mutant that you must cause them the emotional pain they are feeling now?"
She answered with a snort. Emotional pain? Was this girl for real?
"One, they are not my real family." she needed to clarify that, for the record "Two, they don't know I am a mutant. Their last information is that I am possessed by a demon and my idiotic roommates tried to get me exorcised. Three, I did not run away. I am doing research."
A though was bugging her in the back of her mind. Why did this girl remind her of Pluto so much?
When it came to things-in-common between a seven-feet-tall red-skinned demon and a fragile blonde girl... well, there weren't any.
Except for the buzz in the back of her mind.

Susan snorted, as if in consternation. "One, they are not my real family. Two, they don't know I am a mutant. Their last information is that I am possessed by a demon and my idiotic roommates tried to get me exorcised. Three, I did not run away. I am doing research." Yeesh. Elli had to admit that was an excellent reason for getting the hell away. Elli realized how blessed she was to have a family as supportive as hers, or even a family at all. Some people, as evidenced here, were not quite as lucky.

Research? What kind of research, Elli had to wonder. Maybe she was trying to see if she could get rid of her X-Gene thing? Maybe she was after something else entirely. In any case, Elli really didn't have enough information to make any sort of guess, but it was intriguing. Elli wondered if Susan even had a place to stay. Many kids who run away do so without thinking it through, and Elli had known a few in High School who had crawled back to their parents after an hour or two. Obviously, Susan wasn't that type of person, but Elli still wondered if she was prepared. Elli guessed she had money, if she could pay for hot chocolate, but still... If Susan needed a place to stay for a bit, Elli would be willing to help out.

"Ah... Well, forget them, then... Hey, you got a place to stay? I mean, for real a home? Because if you need a bit of help..." Elli let the sentence trail off as she rubbed her upper right arm, where the scratch had begun to fade, finally. It itched like nobody's business, but her mom had always said that meant it was healing, so maybe that was good.

Elli didn't want to consider what could happen to a young woman, alone, if she had no safe place to stay at night. Though it was definitely one of the reasons she wanted to become a cop, she did not allow herself to think of it ever happening to someone she knew. Otherwise she would not be able to maintain her generally cheerful disposition.

Pity. Susan hated pity. Even among her very first memories there was always pity. Poor child, being left on the church steps. Poor kid, not being as popular as her sisters. Poor little Susie, she has issues with socializing. Did you hear what happened to Ms. Hyde, she is possessed by a demon...
She was not a runaway kid.
Well, it turned out she was not a witch either...
But she was not a runaway. She. Was. Not.
"... Hey, you got a place to stay? I mean, for real a home? Because if you need a bit of help..."
She arched an eyebrow.
"Let me see if I understand you correctly" she said, folding her arms to keep her hands from twitching. There was still something not quite right about the blonde. Her senses seemed bent on growing tentacles just to reach her. Curious.
"You know slightly more than nothing about me, and I know slightly less than that about you. And you would be willing to offer me - a mutant with unstable abilities - help in hiding from my legal guardians."
The corners of Susan's lips curled upward.
"Did I leave something out?"

Susan folded her arms in a way that reminded Elli all too much of her stubborn, hyperactive younger brothers. "Let me see if I understand you correctly, you know slightly more than nothing about me, and I know slightly less than that about you. And you would be willing to offer me - a mutant with unstable abilities - help in hiding from my legal guardians. Did I leave something out?" Ah, the cynic. Elli should have guessed. Just because it was cynical, though, didn't mean it wasn't true.

"Well, I guess we could fix that situation. My name is Elli Fletcher, and I am in the Police Academy of NYC, fifteen days away from graduation. I was born in Philly, and have two younger brothers. I work at a taco stand part-time for extra cash, and have my own apartment. There, now you know more about me." And at the legal guardians line, Elli just shook her head and chuckled a bit. "In the words of an esteemed Mr. King: 'one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all." And besides, you're what, seventeen, eighteen? Old enough, if you ask me." Elli hoped that her quoting Martin Luther King Jr. didn't throw Susan off, but it was a quote that had been sticking in her head for a week, and she finally had the chance to get it out of her head.

And though it was a little late, she hoped that her being a future member of the police didn't drive Susan away. She probably should have thought about that before she blabbed, but whatever, the truth was better than any half-lie. And, though it would drain Elli's limited resources and substantial patience to have a roommate, she was actually almost feeling lonely, as if she was a little too alone in her apartment.

Elli Fletcher was something else. When she first saw her - with the colorful pain bouncing around in front of her eyes - Susan thought she was just another annoying young blonde who goes to a bookstore for the coffee and the magazines.
Turns out Elli Fletcher was a young blonde who quoted St. Augustine. Susan was impressed.
(Even though she was thoroughly fed up with the Whinings of St. Augustine. Catholic school does that to a person.)
Not to mention the part where Elli admitted being (well, almost being) police. No wonder she knew about the missing child thing.
"I am two weeks short of turning eighteen." she admitted. This always needed a moment of mental math. The Hydes were not big on birthdays when it came to their youngest.
She twirled the empty mug around in her hand, blinking. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that a stranger just offered her a place to stay in her own apartment. This being the second case in such a short time.
"Well, if you insist on adding 'harboring underage runaways' to your academic field work..." she trailed off, then set the mug down with a very determined, silver-and-chrome colored clink. The effect was somewhat ruined when her hands flew to her chest to fiddle with her school tie nervously.
"I have to warn you I am a most unpleasant person to share a room with. I tend to make comments. And I hoard books. And my social skills are below the average. Not to mention the mutation."
Just so she knew.

"I am two weeks short of turning eighteen. Well, if you insist on adding 'harboring underage runaways' to your academic field work... I have to warn you I am a most unpleasant person to share a room with. I tend to make comments. And I hoard books. And my social skills are below the average. Not to mention the mutation." The determined clink of the cup on the table caused Elli to smile, as did the nervous fiddling with a school tie. Success, thou art sweet.

"Are you kidding me? If I can share a room with Kaine and James, then you should be no trouble. Little brothers, I tell 'ya." Elli paused, and then looked at Susan curiously. "By the way, what exactly is your mutation? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Elli helped Susan to gather her stuff up, and then paid for the hot chocolate. She then led Susan out of the store and onto the brisk streets, where the wind whipped around Elli's outfit and blew her hair into her face.

Pushing her hair back behind her shoulders so it wouldn't bother her, Elli began to lead Susan through the streets towards her apartment, and began talking about halfway there. "So, what were you studying at the school? Since it's a catholic school, I bet they made you go to bible study and such huh? Why did your roomates think that your mutation was a sign of the devil? And doesn't it take a preist to preform an exorcism?" Blam blam blam, the question batteries went off. Elli would be genuinely surprised if Susan didn't return the questions with those of her own.

"Are you kidding me? If I can share a room with Kaine and James, then you should be no trouble. Little brothers, I tell 'ya."
As if Susan knew what it meant to have little brothers. She spent her whole life as a single wicked stepsister to an overdose of Cinderellas. Post-'happily ever after'.
"By the way, what exactly is your mutation? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Oh, that was a lot easier.
"Synesthesia. Originally it is is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."
And she said it in a truly enthusiastic manner too. After a few blinks and awkward silence she bit her lip, trying to kick her brain into 'average mortal' mode.
"I can switch my senses with each other."
There. A lot more compact.
Following Elli out of the bookstore she wondered exactly what point of their previous conversation could have been interpreted as 'yes' to the apartment offer - but she didn't feel like turning it down either, so she did her best ugly duckling impression next to the shiny blonde and focused on the questions instead.
"So, what were you studying at the school? Since it's a catholic school, I bet they made you go to bible study and such huh? Why did your roomates think that your mutation was a sign of the devil? And doesn't it take a preist to preform an exorcism?"
She gracefully skipped the part about the Catholic school. It wasn't all that interesting.
"Actually, exorcism predates Christianity." she pointed out "It is the general term for ridding the human body of a supposedly harmful supernatural being... Um"
focus focus
"... but it is not generally practiced by every priest nowadays. My roommates somehow managed to find a person who says he is adept in exorcism... They thought I was possessed because the side-effect of my mutation is that my eyes change color. And also because of my lack of respect and discipline."
She said that latter part with a wicked little smirk. She did.

"Synesthesia. Originally it is is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. I can switch my senses with each other. Actually, exorcism predates Christianity. It is the general term for ridding the human body of a supposedly harmful supernatural being... Um... but it is not generally practiced by every priest nowadays. My roommates somehow managed to find a person who says he is adept in exorcism... They thought I was possessed because the side-effect of my mutation is that my eyes change color. And also because of my lack of respect and discipline." Elli liked how Susan's power had a nice, neat, scientific-like name to it, and then a simpler explanation. Mucho helpful.

"Ah, so like you can feel colors and stuff? That's cool. I know this one guy who can melt metals. His eyes change color, too, but in connection with his emotions. Why do yours change color?" Elli hoped she wasn't putting Susan off with all the questions, but whatever. "Yeah, I bet that went over well. I know what I would have done in your situation." Elli looked at Susan slyly. "Run away."

"Ah, so like you can feel colors and stuff? That's cool. I know this one guy who can melt metals. His eyes change color, too, but in connection with his emotions. Why do yours change color?"
Oh, so she was not the first mutant Elli met. That explained the helpfulness and the lack of screaming. It didn't explain the weird quality about her, but Susan decided she would think about that later.
"I am not sure. It is connected to what I use my eyes for. Black is when I perceive sounds as visual stimuli. That is the one that freaks people out the most. The red you probably saw was touch. Now you see how the hot chocolate burnt my eyes."
She walked beside Elli, silent for a while.
"Yeah, I bet that went over well. I know what I would have done in your situation. Run away."
There was the shadow of a wicked smile on her lips again.
"Actually, I was saved by a... mutant who looked curiously like a demon. Even to me. He was the one who told me I was X-gene positive. Before that, I was under the impression that I possessed magical powers."
She sighed, and the signs of the disappointment still lingered in her voice.
"I thought I was a witch."

"I am not sure. It is connected to what I use my eyes for. Black is when I perceive sounds as visual stimuli. That is the one that freaks people out the most. The red you probably saw was touch. Now you see how the hot chocolate burnt my eyes."

Elli nodded. Now she got it. "That sounds like it would hurt. Essentially like spilling hot chocolate on the inside of your eyeballs, right? Owch"

"Actually, I was saved by a... mutant who looked curiously like a demon. Even to me. He was the one who told me I was X-gene positive. Before that, I was under the impression that I possessed magical powers."

At the mention of a mutant that looked like a demon, alarm bells went off in Elli's head. Sure, it was likely there were other mutants with demonic features, but not many. Not many other than the multiple clones of the one called "Abyss". Elli hoped that wasn't who Susan was talking about, but couldn't bring herself to ask. The abyss's had been laying very low lately, and it was scary to think the reasons why one of them would make a point to speak with Susan. Maybe they were recruiting some sort of army? It was a question for another day.

"I thought I was a witch."

Was that a hint of dissapointment Elli detected? She guessed it was reasonable, as it was probably easier to be a witch than a mutant in that days society. Kind of understandable why Susan thought of a witch first, Elli could bet that she hadn't even heard of mutants until the demon-mutant mentioned it. That was the problem with living a sheltered-type lifestyle.

"Must be kind of dissapointing to find out something else, huh? Yeah, I feel your pain, kid. I mean, I'm human, but I've got problems aplenty."

"Must be kind of dissapointing to find out something else, huh? Yeah, I feel your pain, kid. I mean, I'm human, but I've got problems aplenty."
Susan cast a sideways glance at Elli. Right. What kind of problems could a girl like Elli possibly have?...
She decided it wouldn't be a logical move to ask. Maybe later.
"Well, genetic mutation makes more sense than sorcery." she admitted "And not having to deal with the supernatural is a plus. It's just a pity that... this could not wait a couple of months more."
Not like she loved going to St. Joan's. She really didn't. But being alone with her new powers would have been a lot less stressful after graduation. Susan was the kind of girl who hated the idea of giving up when the finish line was already in sight.
Not to mention not having to hide from her legal guardians.
The blue of Elli's dress hummed a cheerful little tune as they walked. It was backed up by some kind of ticking, buzzing noise that had nothing to do with the color. Susan shook her head and resisted the urge to put a finger into her ear.
"You mentioned you have met other mutants. Was it... inside your line of work, or just accidents like me?"