(Continued from here.)

The smells and sounds of cooking radiated from the Sanctuary's kitchen as the dining staff prepared dinner for most of the residents. Several of these residents were already sitting at their tables, talking about the day's events or watching the news on the boxy tv in the corner of the dining hall. Kaitlyn sat among them, disinterestedly scanning through the copy of House of the Scorpion that her tutor had given her as she enjoyed the atmosphere of the place.

There was something comforting about this room: the hum of mutants' voices, the clangs and clatters of the kitchen, the smells, all of it was familiar. The kid had experienced it nearly every evening for the last few months, but until now it had never really mattered to her. Suddenly, it made her feel safe. On a regular day, she would be running through the Sanctuary in an elaborate game of pretend about now, or perhaps playing around in the rec room until dinner service actually started. Today, she was unusually reserved.

Maybe all of this had something to do with nearly getting shot and killed a few hours ago. It wasn't as if it was just some crazy person who did it, either; she had just blasted -- Lalalalalalalalala! She was not going to start thinking about that again. Nope.

I'm thirsty, she thought to herself suddenly. I should get a soda from the kitchen.

Her journey to the kitchen was halted by a disembodied hand, which appeared in front of the girl and signaled for her to stop while it levitated at eye level. "Sorry, miss," said a brooklyn-accented voice from behind her, "You don't wanna go in there now." Kaitlyn turned around to see a man setting the tables, conspicuously missing his left hand.

"Why not, Harry?"

"Well, you're..." The young man seemed to struggle for the right words as his left hand returned to its proper place on his wrist. "ah... There are a lot of people in there right now, scrambling all over the place, and they might not notice you. If one of them ran into you, then, kaboom. And we can't have that."

The child considered this for a moment. "Can you go in there for me? I just want a soda."

"Gotta get all the tables set before dinner service starts, which is in about five minutes. I'm kinda in a hurry. Sorry."

Well, this was new. Normally when Kaitlyn asked the dining hall staff to do something for her, they did it with a smile, and everything was right in the world. This was part of their job, after all. They were supposed to do things for her. After a few moments of thought, the child began to follow Harry around as he continued to set places.

"I figured out how to use my power on purpose a while ago," she told him. "I can kinda control it."

"Neat," he said dismissively.

"Y'know, wouldn't it be awful if the dining hall blew up again? You'd have to pick everything up and set all the tables again, and you'd only have four minutes."

At this, Harry stopped what he was doing and eyed the girl warily.

"I want a Pepsi," Kaitlyn said.

The man sighed. "Fine." He dropped a handful of silverware at the table and headed for the kitchen.

Everyday. Every. Single. Day. Lori made it home for dinner.

Not many mothers in New York made such an effort to be with their children. So why did Lori with no blood relation to any of these people rush through and make sure to be on time or early for dinner at the Sanctuary every single day? Simple. Connections. She wanted to know every mutant in her domain and have every mutant get the chance to know her by sight at least if not get a chance to sit at her table.

Some days were slow and lonely. Today was not the case.

From the doorway, Lori wiped an invisible tear before clapping one, twice, three times. What a show she had just stumbled upon! "Did you learn that in school?"

With her hair swept up in its business twist, the blonde locks seemed short. Today she'd had a governments grant meeting on P7C3 research and so she was dressed appropriately in a blue jewel toned shirt and long, loose medium taupe pants that hid her shoes.

Lori picked up where Harry left off, picking up the dropped silverware so that the task would still get finished. "That was a good use of leverage, Kaitlyn, but let's not harass the staff who so kindly provide for us." Unless the need is greater than a soda. That was the unspoken message she tried to convey with her eyes. There was always a season for everything.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Kaitlyn's head swiveled around to give Lori a blank stare. She knew that she wasn't exactly playing nice; the girl's first reaction was one of shame, then to find a way to look innocent of any wrongdoing. But... Lori was applauding her?

>>"Did you learn that in school?"

"N... no." What kind of teacher tells kids how to threaten each other, anyway? An awesome one.

Kaitlyn began to smile a little. Not only was Lori here, but she even seemed proud of her! Well, she wasn't so proud of what Kaitlyn was doing as how she was going about doing it. But hey, approval is approval. The child gave a serious nod to indicate that she got the message.

On the boxy tv in the corner, they were talking about that same darn bit of news again. The one about the mysterious pair of explosions a bit south of the Sanctuary, and how a well-known mutant terrorist killed a yet-to-be-identified gunman. There was an update: one of the victims who was in critical condition earlier seemed to be doing okay now. Not that this little girl had any interest in something so boring as the news.

Harry was back, and he had soda. "Here ya go, kid – and thank you, ma'am, I'll take it from here." He held out a hand for the silverware that Lori was holding.

Kaitlyn tore herself away from staring at the tv and went back into cheerful-child-mode. "Thanks, Harry." No response. She opened the can and took a sip, then turned her attention back to Lori.

The silverware got handed back to Harry. "It won't happen again. Will it Kaitlyn?" She turned to the girl and her soda. Harry did too. Lori raised her eyebrows. If the girl needed to get out an threaten some people, Well, Lori saw a future for her here in the Order. What with all the collections they had due each month from the dwindling human population. Once they squeezed that group dry and secured enough talent they could expand. For now? It was teach, wait and grow a new crop of intimidating mutants.

After they were done with Harry he would putter back to his job a happier bee now that the queen had stuck up for him.

Lori glanced over into the kitchen. Hm. Some kind of... taco... something... When she turned back? There Kaitlyn was. The ever eager beaver. All she was missing was a salute. Lori could teach her that too.

"What has my favorite Sanctuary resident been up to these days? Besides harassing the staff." Lori winked to take the edge off of her statement. She would take every opportunity to remind the residents to get the heck along with each other and the workers that made it possible. This was a safe place. That was a title worth defending.

>>"It won't happen again. Will it Kaitlyn?"

Kaitlyn looked at Lori, at Harry, then at Lori's raised eyebrows. A pause. Eyes went down; shoulders slumped. "...No ma'am."

Harry nodded, satisfied. As he turned around to continue his work, Kaitlyn went back to looking cheerful. Ms. Lori was here, and she even seemed proud of the kid and her aggressive diplomatic solutions. Everything was right in her world, except... okay, the girl had been having an exceptionally bad day. But she wanted to keep up a facade of happiness for Lori.

For a moment after Lori finished her question, Kaitlyn stood in silence, looking less than content. Her lips quickly forced themselves back into a smile. "I met Meld. That lady with the metal tail and stuff. She said that she was going to talk to somebody in this place called 'The Mansion' about helping me control my mutation, 'cause..." her voice trailed off.

Whatever Kaitlyn had been up to, she was ashamed of it. Considering she had been with Meld, that could have been any number of murderous things. Or... since Meld had offered to find a teacher to reign in Kaitlyn's control issue...

"You don't have to learn from someone at the Mansion if you don't want to. They have a lot of experienced mutants that live there, though. Maybe she will find someone." And maybe Kaitlyn could intimidate them. Hmm. It could be a good experiment in more ways than two.

She glazed right over the Kaitlyn-probably-blew-someone-up thing. It wasn't exactly an unknown complication with a 10 year old who could blow things up and she was already being hard on herself for it. There was no better punishment than the self-inflicted kind.

The Order leader found a seat near the end of the table with her back to the wall and her eyes on all the entrances and exits. Habit. Though her seat wasn't at the head. The head of the table, she reserved for Kaitlyn and this she indicated with a pat of her hand on the seat. "How'd you like Meld? Was she nice?"

They would be making an announcement soon about dinner being served, but for now Lori and Kaitlyn could relax and pour themselves some water if they so desired. Sometimes, if they were lucky and Sanctuary residents were slow to dinner, the staff would even bring it out to Lori and whoever else had showed up early.

Lori wasn't asking why Meld had offered the kid training. Therefore, Kaitlyn was sure that Lori wasn't suspecting anything. Feeling secure in this certainty made it a bit easier for her to keep acting cheerful. The girl plopped herself down at the head of the table

"Yeah, she..." Kaitlyn caught herself about to mention that Meld had saved her life. Can't do that; it might lead to more questions. "...She's nice. We got ice cream earlier." The kid smiled.

"What's the Mansion?" Kaitlyn changed the subject.

"The Mansion is a school for mutants. They like to pretend they like humans, but I've never really seen many around." As soon as a pitcher of water was placed on their table, Lori poured Kaitlyn and herself a glass of water each.

"I like it here better. We don't even bother to pretend that we're different. The people at the Mansion do. It's why they often have better control. They are used to hiding who they are. Most of us here have decided to be proud of who we are, warts and power malfunctions and everything."

And if that wasn't a lesson that Kaitlyn could take to heart, Lori would let her go live at the mansion with all the other pansy children. She wouldn't like it, but she wouldn't keep her against her will.

Others started filtering in to the dining hall as the smell permeated the building. Finally, the bell rang and it was time to eat. Lori got in line with the rest of them and offered Kaitlyn the spot just in front of herself. The inhabitants almost all knew her and in between handshakes, short introductions and story swapping, Lori got to ask Kaitlyn a question. "Do you like it here? Are you making friends?" Because if she was miserable, she would leave whether Lori liked it or not.

It was a school for mutants, and Lori thought that the Sanctuary was better. Here, there was both a fact and an opinion about the fact, conveniently tied together and presented on a silver platter for Kaitlyn's consumption.

Now the dinner bell rang; the floodgates were open. Kaitlyn and Lori soon found themselves awash in a sea of socializing Sanctuary residents. It took some restraint on the girl's part to prevent herself from physically latching onto Lori like a piece of maternal driftwood. She stayed close, though.

Somebody ruffled her hair. Kaitlyn turned around to find a familiar pair of eye-stalks staring at her. They belonged to a man named Eric.

"Hey Kait. Chinese cut?"

"Uh..." The child made a meaningful glance in Lori's direction. Lori was right behind her in line. "How about a regular one?"

"Alright. Thanks kiddo." The man smoothly sidestepped into line right in front of Kaitlyn.

Lori had stopped talking to the other grown-ups for a moment; the kid turned her smile on again.

"It's great here!" she responded. "And I have friends, like Amber, and Maurice, and Meld, and Eric, and..."

Eric's ears perked up as he heard his name. He turned around, and, seeing Lori, made a tiny grin and a sheepish wave while Kaitlyn continued to list names.

"...and Jack, and Roland, and Lisa, and... you." Finished, the kid topped it all off with a smile.

"It takes a village, I guess." Eric added, then turned back around to try to catch a glimpse of whatever the staff were serving. Smelled like some sorta Mexican thing. Better avoid the rice.

Kaitlyn's friend list was admirably long. Though there weren't any kids on that list. At least, she didn't think any of those names were the names of children. "Nobody your age? I guess we don't have a whole lot of kids running around here..." Lori would have to think on that. Where could she get some more kids for Kaitlyn to play with? Developmentally she needed to be around children as well as adults, but this wasn't the Mansion. They weren't about to make this Sanctuary into a school or daycare.

She would have to think on an alternative solution.

The taco line went fast. The meat was an acceptable grade of questionable. The Order leader had certainly eaten worse from street vendors and lived to tell the tale. She even opted for a cinnamon pastry square thing as dessert, minus all that messy honey. It was a good day if Lori was eating dessert. An even better day when she had a cute little Kaityln sitting at the head of her table.

Once people settled down into their seats, the questions began. It was sort of a game they sometimes played to get everyone talking.

"Would you rather have a ketchup dispensing navel or a pencil sharpening nose?"

"Psh. Easy. Ketchup bellybutton. Better to add than take away."

"So nobel!" Someone wiped a false tear to accent their sarcasm.

"Are you kidding? You could bottle that and sell it."

There were a few ahs around the table. Not noble. Just business minded. "You answered, you ask now."

"Oh uhm." Lori chewed her taco more thoroughly this time in order to give herself time to think. "Would you rather snort half a pepper shaker or swallow some bees?"

And so the game progressed.