Spring had finally come, after what felt like an endless winter, of cold, and shivering bodies. Warmth and general happiness of spring usually changed a bit when summer came and you find it hot enough to wish for winter yet again. On beautiful days, with sunshine, and temperatures that just screams for you, being inside is a crime. For someone that shares mutant powers with the great outdoors, bigger than the planet itself, it sure felt great to sit outside, pulling out the good old sunblock, and just absorb the atmosphere of spring.

Knowing just how well the weather would last, he figured he couldn't spoil yet another day inside, trapped in his room with his thoughts or mindless surfing on the internet. He hadn't been out for several days, and he didn't even regret it. Everything felt so much easier in his youth, despite all the drawbacks. You spent time outside because you wanted to, and not because your parents force you because they feel like you've watched too much TV. You actually interacted with your friends, instead of chatting away online, or sending them messages over the phone. It sure was great growing up in the time between computers, and outdoor play. After all, just loading an internet page at that time would annoy any teenagers of the current age. And Alexander himself was only a few months left from not being a teenager any more.

From the moment he opened the door, he felt so much better, the guilt from sitting inside disappeared. He could smile to the sky, as if it was a dear old friend that he just wanted to hug. The challenging part was to find a nice place to just sit. As usual he would walk past the others in around, they were always busy with other people anyway to give a care about him.

There was a bench, not far from the mansion, that was still more secluded than most places. He loved that bench, and so did many others, therefore it was often taken. This day it seemed luck was on his side, and the bench and the area around it was people free. "You're finally lucky today" He said, to himself, smiling happily as he quickly took his place. He opened his bag that he always carried with him, from it he picked out a small notebook, and a pen. The notebook was almost like his diary, he liked to write little things he spotted around the place, and on occasions about how he felt. Though he often found himself writing about people he saw, what they wore, their hair, or just how they acted. He had been fascinated by people, and how they act in different places and situations. With his book open, and pen in the hand, he found that there was in fact nothing interesting on his mind. Leaving a blank expression on his face.

It was finally spring! Henrietta had gotten dressed right away in the morning and practically ran outside. It was getting beautiful out and flowers were trying to resurrect themselves after the harsh winter. She thought it was wonderful how delicate they appeared, but yet they were strong enough to persist through something so devastating. It made her feel a little braver. If something that tiny could make it, couldn't she? This wasn’t something she really shared with others, but had thought it ever since she was around 5 years old. Henri believed is sounded a little lame, so it was kept to herself.

Standing under the sun, the girl spun in around and around in one of her summer skirts. The air and the spinning forced the skirt to poof out a little and her long, brown hair flung out. Henrietta stopped after a second and shook her head, trying to make her head feel less like it was spinning. After her mind felt like it had cleared a little, the brunette grabbed her hair and gathered it into a ponytail and then slipped a band around it. She smiled happily to herself and began to explore the outside of the Mansion. Even though she had been there since November, she hadn't looked at the outside that much.

Where she would’ve ended up if she hadn’t seen the boy, she’ll never know. He didn’t look familiar to her and she was curious to who he was. Henri had enjoyed meeting all the Mansion residents thus far and had made friends out of most, if not all, of them. Looking at the young man, she realized that there couldn’t have been a large age gap between the two of them. Walking a little closer to the bench, she smiled and waved slightly.

When she got close enough for him to hear her, she held out her hand to see if he wanted to shake it. “Hey. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. I’m Henrietta, but quite a few people call me Henri. Do you live here at the Mansion too?” The brunette realized this may have been a stupid question, considering he was sitting right outside the Mansion.

There he was, his usually creative, and noisy mind, calmed down by fresh air, or as fresh as it could be at that time of day. He felt so clear yet so unclear that he could have without knowing it use socks with sandals. Who was he kidding? Not even his unconscious mind would let him, or others let him wear socks in sandals. His former self would have expected it to rain on such a lovely day, but nothing about the weather surprised him any more. It made him sad, and happy that he didn't have to plan too much ahead for trips. The blank page of his notebook remained blank, as he just sat there, taking in the whole atmosphere.

The peace, of people yelling and shouting in the back was not really on his mind, he has lived in the middle of big cities all his life, and it was nothing compared to it. He could find peace even at rock concerts. Since his arrival at the mansion, a pretty long time ago, he had only kept a lot to himself. Normally he was so much more social, and in months, he had only talked to four people at the mansion. Just walking past everyone else. It wasn't like they bothered to make an initiative to get to know him either, so it all seemed to go up in up.

The image of a young girl, not much younger than himself. Despite thinking he was turning too old for life. She was cute, give it a few years, perhaps pretty. Her hair was fabulous, even though she had strapped it back in a ponytail as if she was having a bad hair day. He envied girls that could just tie their hair back like that. While he had to fix his hair, having it in a ponytail wouldn't work, and it would only look weird.

Alexander looked up at her from the bench, he smiled, before he got up from his seat to shake her hand, which she had politely extended to him. "Hi Henrietta, I am Alexander" he responded. "Well, live, I guess I do, it's where I have my most cherish belongings." He paused, for a moment, just thinking if he should make a quick lie, or just play it straight. "To be honest, I have kept a lot to myself for some time, I'm still not feeling familiar with this whole living in a mutant school yet." He looked at his right side, avoiding eye contact, he should just have lied, it would have been far less awkward.

He knew that he just needed to talk about her instead, just to get it all flowing away from the awkwardness. "By the way you stand, and how you can pick out the fresh meat around here, I guess you have been here for a little while longer than I have." She did seem much more comfortable in this place, than him, so it was a matter of time. Perhaps talking with her could make it easier to make connections around the mansion. "Though it's not a disaster to get acquainted with people when you live at the same place, unless you don't match at all, and just want to throw things at them. I bet you've seen a lot of different things here, am I right?" He smiled, even though he regretted every word escaping his mouth, some day he would have to think a few seconds before speaking.

The boy, who appeared to be of Asian decent, introduced himself as Alexander. The brunette shook his hand and listened to him as he spoke. He said that he preferred to keep to himself and the girl blushed, slightly embarrassed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I can leave you be, if you feel like having some time to yourself.” Henrietta paused. “Being alone is nice sometimes, I have to admit. I grew up an only child and I didn’t talk much at school, so I’m used to being by myself.” She let go of his hand and smiled. “I guess I enjoy making friends for that very reason.”

Henri decided to leave it at that. She didn’t want to complain to someone she just met about her crappy friends she had had back home. Besides, she didn’t really like thinking about them. It had been a stretch to even call them friends in the first place. Responding to what the rest of what Alexander had said, the girl nodded. “Well, I’ve been here since November. I’m not sure if that’s longer than you or not, but I have seen some weird things. You’re definitely right about that.” She laughed. “I’ve also seen more mutants than I can count. I had heard there were others with special abilities, but I had never seen any proof of it. I was starting to think maybe I was the only one. It sure felt like it in Springfield, at least.”

The brunette glanced up at the sky. “Isn’t it great when it starts to get nice outside? I think I have to say that spring is one of my favorite seasons. Not to mention my birthday’s in May.” The girl gave him a joking smile. “How about you?” Henrietta was about to sit down, but thought better of it since he had mentioned he liked being alone. Instead, she gestured to the bench as she asked, “Do you mind if I sit here?” She hoped he didn’t because she would probably sit down there anyway. Asking was more out of politeness than seriousness. It just seemed like it was what she was supposed to do.

It was a bit funny how the situation had progressed, he felt sorry for Henrietta and himself that he could so easily say something that would make him sound like a complete nut-case. He saw that she was slightly blushing, and he knew it was because of something he had said. Again it was time to get on the honesty face. "I didn't mean to sound like a loner. Normally I like socializing with people, it's just that I take some time adjusting to new places. So in short, you don't have to go unless you want to." He smiled nervously at her, his socializing skills was not as good as it had once been.

They had one thing in common though, as they were both an only child, and and they did have a somewhat lonely childhood it seemed. Awkwardly he took his now free hand and scratched the side of his head. Trying not to look too strange before he looked at her again. "I can relate, I am an only child as well, or well I was adopted so I don't know if I actually have any brothers or sisters." Why he shared this kind of information he didn't know, but what was said was said, and unless he developed time travelling powers the next couple of seconds, he had to stick by it. He was glad she made friends though, even if his old friends didn't really talk much to him these days, and the ones that occasionally did send him texts just wanted to know about the whole mutant situation.

Such a strange thing, he arrived at the school in September, two months before Henrietta, had it already been that long? It couldn't have been, How on earth did time move so quickly without him even realising he was just wasting his life away, he hadn't even bothered to practice the use of his powers either. "I can't believe I've been here two months longer than you, I got here in September, sure is lame how I've been such a downer lately." He paused for a moment, while he shook his head slightly. "You mustn't think too badly of me, as I said, I am normally not this anti social." He smiled at her, though he felt like the biggest screw-up on the inside.

"Weird things are everywhere, even in the non mutant societies, but yes, after coming here I have noticed weird things in people, once I walked into a room where this girl was cuddling with the carpet, I found it quite strange, but I reckon the girl is not at all mentally stable from the short conversation I had with her." Surely he had said to himself earlier that he wouldn't trash-talk people behind their backs, but habits are hard to break. "I lived in New York City during the time my mutation kicked in, so I had already seen a lot of different mutant activity, even back home in Barcelona I saw some mutants in the streets, though it was more rare." True enough, then again the population of the two cities was quite different also.

Henrietta had been looking up at the sky, like he had done just a few minutes ago. He agreed, it was getting pretty nice, and summer was on its way, with the flowers, the nice warm breezes. "May? Is that the only reason you like spring? I myself was, well they say I was born in early August, but I don't see summer as my favorite season." He sat down at the bench again, and picked up his notebook and pen, and put it in the bag that was also on the bench. "Do sit, I don't mind" He told her, "It's on like I own this bench anyway." He smiled at her, as he removed his bag and put it next to the bench.

Alexander told Henrietta that he was an only child. He seemed to be a bit nervous. He had asked the girl not to think too bad of him and that he wasn't very anti-social. The brunette smiled at him and shook her head. "I don't think bad of you at all. Trust me, I wasn't very social until I moved to New York. I was always scared about what the kids thought of me, so I wouldn't talk much." She looked off to the side in shame. People always said that it didn't matter what others thought of yourself, but Henri knew that was to just make people feel better. It did matter what others thought of you if you ever wanted to have any social relationship of any kind. Friends, boyfriends, and family. It all mattered when it came to what they thought if you.

When she was sure it was okay to sit down, Henri perched next to the boy. "You're from Barcelona? I hear it's really pretty there." She smiled and then began to pick around the edge of one of her nails absently. "I'm from Ilinois. It's a bigger city, but I just never heard anything about mutants. I'm not a big fan of watching news programs or newspapers, so that may have something to do with it." An image of the girl's mother flashed in her mind. "Or maybe I was just more sheltered than I'd like to think." There was a good chance that that might've had something to do with her lack of mutant knowledge. Either way, it didn't really matter since she didn't live at home anymore. Henrietta and her mother hadn't spoken much since they learned that she was a mutant and she didn't expect that to change anywhere in the near future.

The subject had moved on to spring and Alexander had asked if she only liked it because of her birthday. The brunette laughed and shook her head once more. "No, no. I just think it's a beautiful season, not to mention all of the animals seem to become more active. Everything feels more alive in the spring, you know?" Henrietta stared off at a tree with little buds on it. It was already beginning to make its comeback. Soon enough everything would be green and all of the flowers would poke their heads out. The girl had noticed that the boy slid a notebook into his bag. She glanced towards it and nodded her head at the bag. "Do you like to write? That's interesting. I'm not too good at it myself, but I do like a good run."

Henri loved to run. She wasn't sure what it was about it, but she just loved it. The 16 year-old was also a big fan of the pole vault and hurdles. Both had taken a while for her to become skilled at, but that was to be expected. After all, it required a lot of coordination.

It seemed as if Henrietta had been pretty much the same way as himself. It made him feel a rush of relief in its on sort of way. If anyone understood how she felt it was him as he had gone through the same things back home in Spain. Unlike her though it did got drastically better when he moved to New York, though even he was scared and still was scared of what people thought of him. "Well, it's normal I guess, when you get to a new place you want people to like you, I changed a lot as a person when I moved to New York, and then when I got here I felt a part of that person disappeared slightly." He did miss the times before he became a mutant, though being a mutant wasn't that bad when he kept his control, and didn't accidentally use his powers.

Barcelona, yes when he thought about it he could see that it fairly pretty if you went to the right places, though many of the smaller alleys and dodgier parts of the city was decorated with graffiti. "I guess it is, there are quite the amount of beautiful buildings, and parks, a lot to see." He thought about it, he had lived in quite a nice part of Barcelona, where many known architectural structures was built. He had lived in Rambla de Catalunya, so he it wasn't a wonder he was interested in fashion, when he lived near the centre of international brands, with stores like Chanel, Gucci and if he walked down the street and around a corner from his house he would first spot the Burberry store. "I guess it depends on how you see it, when you grow up in a place, you will see it differently because you see the same buildings again and again." He paused, as he pictured tourists walking around with their cameras. "Tourists on the other hand see it for the first time usually, and they see it in totally different way, though I must say, tourists in Barcelona acts strangely differently from the tourists in New York, I find that a bit funny."


When Henrietta said she was from Illinois he did regret that he didn't know much about Illinois, other than Chicago was situated there. Unlike Henrietta as well, he had already known about mutants for a long time before he became one. "I guess you could have screened your life from it, I just didn't think much of it, unless I saw one, or five fighting in the streets in New York." It wasn't surprising that he had known more about it, mutants seemed to get their way to New York one way or another. "But you could have also been sheltered by it, if your parents didn't want you to know much about it, frankly my parents wanted me to know what was out there, and they have always encouraged me to follow the news of the world." Talking to Henrietta was almost in a way going down a narrow path of memory lane.


"Well, spring can be nice, if you're not allergic to pollen, then spring and summer can be quite of hassle. I do like it when the grass turns bright green, and how it gets warmer, but personally fall has always been my favourite season." He guessed that Henrietta saw it as when everyone started to hibernate, the days got shorter, as nights got longer. The sun would no longer feel like a warm burning sensation on the neck as in the summer, the winds would bring cold, instead of a mild temperate breeze. leaves turned into pretty yellow, red and brown colours as they let their grasp from the tree go.

During his mindless thinking Henrietta had commented on his notebook. He wondered what she thought he was writing. He turned his head at her smiling slightly. "Not really writing, I like writing my thoughts, and things I see, almost like a diary with a little extra stuff, I would show you, but yeah, personal thoughts aren't something you go around flashing either." He was impressed that she liked to run, not many their age seemed to like exercise, computers were enough for them these days. "You run a lot then? I myself run a bit too, though I used to be a gymnast, so I usually stick to those sorts of exercises, though it's a good thing to have diversity." This must have been the most open he had been with a person at the mansion before, and a lot of his friends as well, so he decided that he should just ask her something special. "I hope you don't mind me asking? Your hair looks so healthy and shiny, what's products do you use?"

Alexander agreed that it was normal to want people to like you, which made Henri feel a little less lame. He said that he felt like part of him disappeared. The girl looked at him and then straight ahead. "Well, hm. Do you think New York itself changed you, or that you altered yourself for New York?" She hoped that made sense to him, because it had made perfect sense to her. If she would have to find another way to word it, she wasn't sure what she'd say or how to say it. She kicked at the ground with the top of her sandal.

He confirmed that Barcelona was pretty, well, at least part of it. "Isn't that true for most places though? There are bad and good qualities in each location, I think." Henrietta paused and tried to think of some good and bad things about Springfield, her hometown. "Well, Springfield is a decently big city, but pretty dinky compared to New York City. Just like most places, there's crime and then nicer areas. I guess the worst thing about it is--" The girl stopped and clenched her fists slightly. She wanted to say the people. She wanted to, but they had been the only people she had known for so long. Even her crappy friends, but part of her persisted. "Some of the people, or at least the ones I seemed to hang out with."

The brunette looked at Alexander as he told about his life involving media use. She nodded here and there. "Either my mother sheltered me or I accidently sheltered myself. I'm not really sure which it is. I'd like to blame it on my mother, but I guess I kind of secluded myself in a way. And if it was her fault, I didn't make an effort to change it. I really wanted to just stay how everything was and I hated hearing all that stuff about politics and the war. It made me so depressed so eventually I stopped paying attention. Of course I knew there were mutants, but I didn't know tons about them. Now I am one." She shrugged.

The boy had said he liked autumn and Henrietta nodded. "Autumn's very pretty too. I just don't like summer or winter. They're both too extreme. Spring and autumn are kind of like half-way points." She smiled and looked at the green grass beginning to find life. The girl was caught a little off-guard when she was asked about her hair care products. She blinked and tilted her head, slightly confused for a moment. What's this all of sudden? After a moment, she laughed. "It's no big deal. I'm a big fan of Suave. I use Suave shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray. It's good quality and I can afford it." Henri grinned at Alexander and nodded.

Had he been changed by New York, or had he changed for New York? Henrietta had asked him quite a logical, a hard question. He knew that he was moving to a completely different place, so it was his opportunity to blend in more, but did he really change that much on his own free will? "I think" he started, while looking down at the ground in front of him. "I changed for New York, and New York changed me, if you get it." He paused as he looked at Henrietta again. "I mean, both have done their share, I just felt like I fit in more in New York, and the excitement of the city, and the different aspects and the cultural differences changed my life and my attitude."

"You're right, no city, town or village is perfect, there is two, or more sides to it. Both in Barcelona and New York you have to watch your belongings, as you never know who might stick their hands down your pockets for a wallet." He replied to Henriettas remark on the good and bad qualities of different places. She also said she was from Springfield in which he remembered to be the capital of Illinois if he hadn't been too out of it. Noticing that she suddenly stopped and clenched her fist, he knew that there was something that wasn't pleasant for her to talk about.

"If anyone would understand how some people can be the worst part of a place it is me, I didn't have a pleasant time during my childhood, I had no friends, and it wasn't all that good, but I like to think I turned out all right after I got that fresh start in New York, and though there are very bad people everywhere, it still felt a million times better." He smiled, though some of the information was a bit too much than he would have liked to share, or to talk about, it felt all right still, because he thought she would be able to understand a little.

"Most parents wants what is best for their children the best way they see fit, only you or your parents would know for sure if there was some issue with you knowing what was out there in the real world." He knew where she was coming from, sometimes he had wished he didn't know about things that happened, but he would find out through the media in one way or another that it would be too difficult to avoid something completely. It was clear that Henrietta saw things differently than him, of course also he felt depressed by war and death, but he also knew that conflicts was a way of life, and that there would always be a conflict somewhere in the world. It's the murders of innocent people he had the most trouble with.

"Well, mutant or not, we are still living, and we deserve to live too, even if people are afraid of us, or jealous." Alexander gave Henrietta a tiny awkward smile, and he scratches his knee slightly. "I didn't like the idea of being a mutant at first, because my parents were a bit scared of me because I couldn't fully control myself when I got an emotional outburst, but I know that they deep down where afraid that I would get hurt. Now I feel okay, I still have a few issues, but I am much better at keeping everything under control." He paused for a while, he did have something he wanted to ask Henrietta about, but he wasn't sure if she would appreciate such a question or if it was appropriate to ask. "Do, I mean, did your, no nevermind, I don't think its anything to say after all."


Instead, he felt he that the talk of hair felt a bit better, calming him down in its own special way. "I didn't mean to pry, I just thought your hair was really nice and shiny, and I've felt mine has gotten really dry lately." Though he hadn't ever used Suave, but he knew that since she said she could afford it, that it was most likely a cheap product. He himself had always gotten his hair products at the hair salon he went to, though it didn't work as good as they said it would. "The products I use haven't worked so I'm on the look for something better." He smiled, "Thank you for answering me, I can be a bit direct so I apologize for that and for the future."

Alexander explained whet he thought had happened involving New York. He said it was a bit of both. He and the city had changed him. This time, he asked if it made sense to Henrietta. She nodded. “I think it makes sense, yeah. You were trying to adapt to new surroundings, but at the same didn’t really know it was happening.” The girl paused and quirked her lips. “I’m not really sure if I was always like this and I was suppressing it, or if I changed when I got here.” She shrugged, not really caring which it was.

The teenage boy talked about what it was like being a mutant for him. It seemed as though he wanted to ask her something, but then said never mind. The brunette raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, now you’ve peaked my interest.” Henri smiled at him. “Don’t be afraid to ask me questions. That’s how you keep conversations going, after all. Besides, now I’m just really curious of what you were going to say.” Which was true. Henrietta had a hard time not knowing what someone was going to say when she knew they were going to speak.

He explained that he thought his hair was getting dried out. The girl shook her head ‘no’. “I think you have very nice hair. It’s a very nice color.” Henri grinned and took her hair out of the ponytail. “You think my hair’s cool now, you should see what it can do. My mutation has to do with my hair. Maybe that’s why I take such good care of it.” She chuckled as her hair began to seemingly float by itself. “I don’t have lots of money to buy expensive products, but I make do with what I can afford. Maybe someday I’ll get a job so I don’t have to sit and wait around for my mother to send me a little amount of money.” The girl looked away.

Her mother and her had lived together in a smaller apartment in Springfield. The brunette had never met her father and her mother had to work 2 or more jobs to afford what they did have. It wasn’t like Henrietta never got anything nice, but it took a little longer before she could get anything. Henri didn’t blame her mother. She worked very hard and did her best, but she did blame her dad. He’d never tried to be apart of her life and her mother was so distraught over the whole thing that she would burst into tears at the mention of the man. Henrietta didn’t even know his first name.

Such difficult questions. How does one answer what one does not know? Knowing whether or not he considered himself changed. People will normally change to fit into a certain group, so if your friends are so called goths, then chances are that you might want to go into that too, or find that too strange and look for other friends that you might fit yourself into, or change to fit in. He took a deep breath, before he smiled slightly. "I guess it is possible to come to the conclusion that things just happen, and it's out of our control." He decided it was a bit too much to dwell on it too much, as it would only make him, and possibly her even more confused.


He wasn't sure if asking her was still the right thing to do, it was something you would ask someone you had known for some time, and not someone you had met for the first time minutes earlier. "Promise me first that you won't be too offended if you get offended, and do know you don't have to answer it okay?" He looked down, at his side. Wondering how on earth he was going to word it so that it sounded dignified, and not something you would blurp out after a few too many drinks. "I was just wondering what your parents think about your, you know mutant situation, I know that you have those that does not like the fact that their child is a mutant." He felt his face get warm, though he never seemed to get a red face.

Nice color? She thought black was a nice color? Each to their own taste, though he didn't think it was all that all right, but he had to because he had damaged his hair with all the bleach he had used previously to make his hair go lighter. "It's bit dull I think." He smiled, though he said no more about that as Henrietta had just mentioned that her mutant power had something to do with her hair, which made him wonder, what exactly that was. "So by mutation you mean that you can like grow your hair faster than a regular person? Or perhaps your hair is fire proof, or it doesn't get greasy?" There was so many possibilities that he just couldn't find himself to think of it all.

"I know how it is to be short on money, after I came here, my funds have been limited, earlier I could get money from my parents when I asked, but now they send me just a little now and then." He knew he shouldn't complain, after all it could be worse, and he could be stuck without anything, at least he knew how to priority his money, and save up. It wasn't like he always got what he wanted, though he never had to complain about life, his father was hard working, and his mother took on a small job the year after they moved to New York, seeing as Alexander was able to take care of himself, therefore not needing a stay at home mom to take care of everything.

Henrietta was a little relieved when they dropped the more confusing topic and turned to family situations. Well, she was sort of relieved. The girl looked off to the side for a moment to gather her thoughts before spouting information that was incoherent. After a few quiet seconds, she turned to look at Alexander again. "My mother, well, she seemed less than thrilled. She sent me here. Whether or not it was for her own reputation or my well-being, I'm not really sure. I guess it doesn't matter either way since she only sends me money and letters here and there. She hasn't really tried to talk to me. And my father.." The brunette paused for a moment and glanced down at her sandals. "I've never met him. I don't even know his name or where he lives now. My mom has an emotional break-down everytime the topic surfaces."

Henri looked at Alexander once more. "Is it okay if I ask the same question back? You kind of answered it, but not really." Back to hair again. She thought it was interesting that a boy seemed to want to take such good care of his hair. To each their own and all that. Her hair waved at the teen boy before wrapping around other strands. "It can pick things up, I guess you could call it prehensile. It's also very hard to cut." She grinned. "I found out at a salon in Springfield. Needless to say, it made quite a scene in town. It started spreading like wildfire."

"Like I said, my income comes from back home. My mom works a few jobs to pay for our appartment and she sends me some money sometimes. It's not enough to live in such a bad economy when all the prices are outrageously high." She furrowed her brows together. "I suppose I could get a job, but that sounds like it would require me to actually do something." Henrietta winked at him so he would know she was joking. Well, she was kind of joking.

Everything she said, made Alexander feel a bit rotten on the inside, all his family issues seemed to fade a little in comparison. Though he had never met his biological parents, it didn't matter to him, he was of course a bit curious to who they were, but what could he do when no one knew who they were? "I'm sorry, I guess she had her reasons, there is always something behind almost every decision made, though some are better than others." He knew that his parents wouldn't freely send him to the school, they were more interested in keeping it all a secret, instead of sending their son to a school for mutants. Though what could they do? He was over 18 meaning he could take his own desicions and if they didn't like it, then they shouldn't talk to him at all, yet they did.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father, it's not always easy to grow up without a father, though my father was still there, he worked a lot, long days and he always left before I got up, and he often got home after I had gone to bed, still of course it can't measure up to not having one at all." In fact the absence of his father did make their relationship a bit colder than it might have been, but what could he have done? He worked to make money for the family, and it wasn't like his mother was all that bad, though she could get a bit annoying.

He looked questioning at Henrietta, "You mean what my parents thought about my mutation?" Sighing he couldn't help but to answer, as she had also answered him. "At first they showed it that they were afraid, and they wanted me to keep everything very hush hush, but my eyes turned blue as a result of my mutation, and I had to tell my friends that I just wanted a change and used blue contacts." It wasn't that bad to talk about as he had thought at first, perhaps he had just overdone it in his head.


"Really? Your hair can pick things up? I'm a bit jealous, though I like having different haircuts, so I don't know how I would deal about the hard to cut deal." It would be nice to have a power connected to hair, though, he didn't mind the powers he already had, but with hair that could grab things, he wouldn't have to stretch all the way to the remote. "I can imagine how news travel fast in smaller areas, not that I would know that much as simply only people that know my family, or my friends and their family, also a few neighbors. seems to know the facts about me, but that's how it is in New York, you can't know everyone."

"Yeah, it's not a good economy to be in, even my mother took on a job, but that's also because she had some extra time on her hand." He smiled at Henriettas remark on jobs, though he shared some of it. "It's not easy getting jobs now either, so perhaps we can't even get them, though it never hurts to try."

Alexander apologized for Henrietta’s not having a father. She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders. “At least I don’t know what I’m missing. I suppose never knowing your dad is better than having him leave you after bonding with him.” In her heart, she knew that it was better than some kids’ situations, but that didn’t necessarily make it any easier to deal with the gaping hole in her life. It was even harder since her mother would never speak of him. Henri wasn’t sure if he had been a good person or if he was even alive anymore. He was a complete mystery to the girl.

The young man told the brunette about what it had been like when his mutation surfaced. She herself had wondered why he had blue eyes, but had thought they were contacts. It was a pretty good cover for the unnatural color of his irises. “It must’ve been hard to have your parents afraid of you. I hope they aren’t anymore.” The girl paused as she tried to figure out why they’d be scared of him. “I think people are afraid of what they don’t understand or haven’t seen before.”

Henrietta laughed when the boy confided that he was a little jealous that her hair could pick things up, but added that he wouldn’t like not being able to get a hair cut every once and a while. “Well, I didn’t intend on cutting it anytime soon anyway, which is good since I can’t. I’ve been growing it out for what seems like forever now. I think I look better with longer hair.” She smiled at him and arched her back slightly to stretch. The girl was starting to feel a little stiff from not moving much.

Alexander agreed that the economy wasn’t doing well and then shared that his mother had taken on a job. “Oh, did she not work before or something?” Henri tilted her head as she asked. She tried to picture her mom not working but it didn’t happen. Her mother always worked, but the girl was pretty sure it was part of her personality. It seemed like she didn’t know how to relax.

What Henrietta said about her father was both true and untrue. Sure most kids who grow up with a parent that leaves will eventually say something like she did, that they didn't know what they missed, but there was always something that could remind them of it. Visiting your friend's house, seeing how they connect with both their parents. Still, not having your father around like she, did make her tougher, he was sure of that, just like he had relied too much on his mother, which had probably had a lot to say about how he was at the moment.

"Well," he started, "It's not like you are the only one in the world in that situation, I think it's how you see it that matters, I do have a father, that I have still a rather distant relationship with, and I like to think I've turned out all right, and I'm sure you have too, so it's not like we are the biggest losers on the planet." Smiling, he crossed his legs, looking out over the garden, pulling to him the atmosphere of the whole place.


Yes, she was right, very right. Being under the disguise of contacts, no one would suspect much, other than the fact that the contacts could seem a bit too realistic, not that the blue was a common blue people usually had as an eye color, a bit brighter. "Yeah, well, they aren't afraid as long as I don't do anything out of the ordinary, so I don't talk mutant with them when we do talk." Sighing, he couldn't help but to actually miss them a little more, how he and his mother would sit in front of the TV, and watch series, which they often both liked, how he would complain every time she said he should eat more, and how she made him massive amounts of food he couldn't possibly finish.

Henrietta, she was a girl who Alexander could feel had a lot of similarities of thinking as he did. He had always said to people, quite recently two of the mansion residents how people are afraid of what they don't understand or don't even know, just because they lack the knowledge. "I couldn't agree more with you, the way I often see it, is that people that don't understand, doesn't want to understand."

At least Henrietta favoured long hair over short hair, for girls Alexander liked long hair the most, as it could be worn in many different styles, while with short hair you could be more restricted, but also a bit more daring. Then again, not everyone could pull off short hair. "Well, I think you look cute with long hair, it compliments you, also I don't think you even have the right face to get a short haircut, it could end up looking awkward." He smiled to her while removing some dirt from his pants.

"My mother, she was at first a stay at home mother, taking care of me, though I've always been able to take pretty much care of myself from a young age, but I think that during that time I also got a better relationship with my mother, which is a good thing too, still I'm glad she got a job, so she had something to do while I did other things than to stay at home." Poor woman, it's not like there is much you can do other than be on the computer, or watch TV, clean or cook, maybe take a nap now and then. "At least she isn't on facebook." He said jokingly.