Micah stood outside the gates of the X-Mansion. He gazed up at the incredibly thick iron gate that wrapped menacingly around the school. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Micah thought to himself. I mean, yesterday, visiting the mansion sounded like a spectacular idea. I could be with people who were going through what I was going through, and maybe learn some new things about myself, blah blah blah. But what if they laugh at me? Even I can’t describe my power with a straight face, and I’m the one who has it.

A sharp pain jostled Micah from his reverie. “What the hell!” He looked down. A very short, older woman dressed in traditional Greek clothing was jabbing him with an umbrella. “Oh, you’re a little old woman! Sorry, I mean, what the heck!”

“Do you have a, what do you call it,” she gestured with her hands, “a small phone that you carry with you that can be used to call people?”

“You mean a cell phone?”

“Yes. A cell phone.”

Micah pulled his phone out of his jeans. “Yeah, why?”

“Please let this old lady use it. I went to go get groceries, but I got lost and ended up in front of this strange prison instead.”

“Oh, this isn’t a prison, this is the mutant school.”

“This is a school!? The student’s here must be very bad if they built a giant fence to keep them in.”

Micah squinted at the gate. “I think it’s meant to keep people out, not in.”

The old lady nodded. “That makes more sense too. We don’t live in safe times anymore, young man, so we build walls around us to protect us, but I wonder if isolation is the answer.”

“Wow, you’re um, you’re really wise, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“Yes, well, getting wise is one of the few benefits of getting old. Here,” the old woman pulled a piece of bread from her purse. “Eat this. You are nothing but skin and bones. Goodbye now.” The old woman hobbled off.

Micah sniffed the bread. It smelled very delicious, it had to be freshly baked. “Wait, don’t you, um, need to use my cell phone?”

She dismissed him with a wave. “No, I was only confused because I thought I was in front of a prison. Now that I know I this is the Mutant School my house isn’t far from here.”

“Oh, okay, um, bye!”

The old woman turned around and smiled. “And if you don’t mind me saying so young man, you speak Greek very well for a New Yorker.”

“Um, I don’t, I don’t speak Greek.”

The woman stopped and then hobbled back to him. She put his hand on his forehead. “Um, what are you doing?”

“Checking your temperature.”

“Oh, okay.” Micah fidgeted uncomfortably. “Um, why are you taking my temperature.”

“Because you said you don’t speak Greek.”

“Oh, okay.” He pushed his hair out his eyes. “But I don’t speak Greek.”

The old woman took her hand away. “You are a strange young man. You are speaking Greek right now.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No I'm not.” Micah paused. For some reason, the words had felt strange suddenly. What was up with that? Micah traced the conversation back in his mind.

“Oh, I guess…” Micah was aware of it now. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? The strange connection tingling in his brain seemed so obvious now, recalling information and moving his tongue to accommodate for the demand of information. It hadn’t been his decision to speak Greek. His mind had sensed the language and simply pulled the knowledge from his childhood. “I was…,” now that he was conscious of it, the Greek was coming out more choppy and fragmented as his conscious effort to speak the language got in the way. “I mean, my nanny from birth to five was Greek. My mother told me stories of how I would come home from the Nanny’s spewing Greek, but I grew out of it and lost the language completely as I got older. I haven’t spoken Greek in years. I didn’t even think I could. I guess it just came back to me when I met you.”

The old woman nodded. “You, you are waiting outside of a Mutant school. Are you a mutant?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“What kind of mutant are you?”

Micah shook his head, filling the summer air with the clattering sound of marbles. “That, I honestly don’t know.”

“Good luck with that.” The woman reached up, patted his shoulder, and walked off.

Micah turned back towards the mansion. Now, that would never do. His mind simply shifting to Greek because it could, not bothering to ask for Micah’s permission? That’s just rude. It’s his mind, it should do a better job of listening to him, or at least getting his attention before making his tongue speak another language. And what business did it have pulling forgotten languages out of his childhood? Micah rubbed his temple. Apparently, his mutation had done more than simply give him a brain of marbles. It had given him some sort of strange, nearly perfect memory.

Holy crap, Micah thought, I’m turning into some sort of genius! He laughed and fist pumped the sky. “YEAH! A genius! That’s what I’m talking about! That’s much better than shooting marbles out of my ears!!!”

The passerby gave the yelling young man a strange look as they inched away.

“Oh, sorry.” Micah looked at the ground, mumbling, “I was just excited about being a genius.” He turned around and looked back towards the mansion. Even though super brainy wasn’t much better than having a brain made of glass toys, it was at least a step in the right direction of a cool power.

He took one last deep breath. “You can do this Micah.” He entered the gate and stepped into the mansion grounds.

A giant raven had been sitting on a tree watching the conversation between the young man and the old woman for some time. The raven hadn't started out looking directly at the pair, in fact it had just sort of found a rather nice high perch and was sitting and watching the Mansion entrance, as was its habit when it wasn't out foraging for food and other interesting things. Then the young man had walked up and at first the young man hadn't appeared any different than any other man that came in or out of the Mansion gates. He wasn't wearing anything particularly shiny or colourful and the non-English speech didn't register at all strange with the raven. After all, it had heard a great deal of speech, much of which was not English. No, the thing that at attracted the giant bird's attention had been an odd clattering noise that appeared to be coming from inside the man's head.

The raven cocked its head the the side and hopped closer, now completely ignoring the old woman and her incomprehensible talking. What could possibly be making that intriguing noise? If he could only find out what it was, maybe it was something that he wanted to have. It sounded a little like pieces of glass clicking together and the raven liked pieces of glass, many of which were both shiny and colourful. How very perfect they would be for his hidden horde. He sent a feeling of desire to possess mixed with curiosity to his mistress, along with the image of the boy and the Mansion entrance.

Meanwhile, Raven had been sunbathing in a tree of her own, the tree that she had claimed the day she had entered the Mansion. It was perfect for climbing and for watching the students scurry about their lives below her. The summons that Blackwing sent her, however, was interesting enough that she decided to climb down her tree and investigate the situation.

As Raven made her way towards the entrance of the Mansion, her raven, Blackwing, took yet another step closer. He peered curiously at the man, utterly confused as to where the noise was coming from. Bits of glass couldn't actually live inside one's head, he was pretty sure of that much. So, where was the man hiding his treasures? Because, the raven realized, he must be hiding them somewhere. Hiding them from him, specifically! Oh, he was a clever one, realizing just how much value his hidden treasures must surely have. Otherwise why go through the effort of hiding them? The raven, giving up on subtlety, finally cawed at the man in an effort to gain his attention.

And you called ME unorganized! How do you find anything in here?

The text message was sent in good humor, Kealey knew Shin would recognize that…mostly because they both knew the relative state of her bedroom left her absolutely no room to talk about the way anyone’s space looked. Kealey mused as she lounged in the Mansion Greeter office that Shin occupied.

It was a nice place, though Kealey had to admit she preferred the open spaces of her library to the comparatively close quarters of the room she currently occupied. It was still summer, residents were scarce, so when Shin had (unsurprisingly) found himself a little overbooked Kealey had eagerly offered to take over his Mansion Greeter duties for the day. So soon after her try-out, Kealey was eager to do anything she could to help the Mansion in what appeared to be an official capacity.

To be honest, though, Kealey hoped nobody came in needing official help. The office was intimidating, as were the duties that went along with it. She was much more well suited for her work in the library.

I can text you if I need help, right?

To anyone else, it would be an odd thing to do…especially after someone had worked their way into an elite group like the X-Men. For Kealey though, it was commonplace.

She sent the text, then looked around the room, the monitor was still where it belonged, showing its view of the main gates. There were people there!

Kealey nearly overturned her chair in the scramble that followed looking for the intercom. It looked like a Mansion resident had already approached the newcomer, and Kealey almost let them simply make their way inside. She decided against it though, and pushed down the button.

”Hello there!” she called through the speakers, Irish accent lilting, ”Please make your way to the front doors of the Mansion. I’ll meet you in the foyer.”

>> The raven, giving up on subtlety, finally cawed at the man in an effort to gain his attention.

Micah shivered as the cawing of a raven pierce d the summer air. Where was that awful noise coming from? He looked up and saw the largest raven he had ever seen, perched menacingly in a tree above his head. Micah stepped back, away from the entrance to the Mansion and away from that awful creature. The creature’s eyes were fixed on Micah. Oh my God, Micah thought, that bird is staring at me! It looks like its staring straight into my skull. What if it wants to eat me? Oh man, I knew I should’ve paid more attention in biology! I don’t know what to do when giant ravens attack!

Micah took a deep breath. No, don’t think like that. That’s not how a super-genius would think. A super-genius would know that birds have little tiny brains not capable of plotting to kill innocent guys just because they’re standing outside an intimidating super-fortress. Micah smiled to himself. Stupid gigantic scary Raven, it probably just sees something shiny. No way its actually looking at me.

>>”Hello there!” she called through the speakers, Irish accent lilting, ”Please make your way to the front doors of the Mansion. I’ll meet you in the foyer.”

Micah jumped at the voice. Oh god what now? First giant ravens, and now random Irish girls talking to me in my head? Micah looked around and sighed when he saw the speaker. Way to go, ‘super-genius’. You didn’t even realize it was just a speaker.

Micah rolled his shoulders, trying to relax. I must be more tense than I thought. I’m way too jumpy. It’s okay, I’ll just go to the foyer like the Irish girl’s voice said to. I’m sure these X-people will be very nice and they’ll explain my power to me and everything’s going to be just fine.

But wait, where’s the front door? Micah scratched his head. I mean, she could’ve meant the door in front of the building, but what if the door in the front isn’t actually the ‘front’ door everyone uses? “Front door” can either mean the door at the front or the door that everyone uses to enter the building. What if I’m wrong and I go into the wrong door by mistake? I could get shot if I enter a forbidden area by mistake, and then they’ll never accept me here! I know, I’ll just ask the speaker. No, I can’t ask the speaker. Then that Irish girl will just think I’m weird and stupid for not knowing whether she meant “Front door in the front” or “front door everyone uses.” So no, I won’t ask her. But I can’t just stand here either. What am I going to do?

Micah looked up and saw a girl with long black hair heading towards the gate. He waved in her direction. “Excuse me, could you lead me to the front door?” He smiled, and shook his bangs out of his eyes. “The one that leads to the foyer,” he added.

Now that Blackwing was closer to the strange man and his rattling skull, he still couldn't figure out where the enticing noise was coming from. He hoped closer still, almost within touching distance of the man. He wanted whatever it was, if for no other reason then he couldn't currently find it. It must be very very good indeed if the man insisted on hiding it. And oh, he was hiding it so very well indeed. Where could it possibly be? Did he have some hidden pocket on his head? A close inspection of his hair showed no pocket that the raven could see. Maybe it was trick of the sound and it was actually coming from a pocket in his jacket. The raven cawed a second time, trying to figure out exactly how to get the jacket off of the man so that it could be investigated for hidden treasures. Maybe he would just have to be patient, but that was ok too. He was good at patience.

As soon as Raven got close enough to actually see the curious man that had Blackwing so enthralled, she heard the exact same rattling sound that her raven had. However, not being a raven despite some rather raven-like tendencies, she did not immediately jump to the conclusion that he must be hiding something shiny. She sent a feeling of calm through her connection to her familiar and an image of being high up in a tree. With some reluctance Blackwing returned to his original perch on a higher branch, well out of reach although he did let out a rather disgruntled caw and continued to stare at the man just as intently as he had before. Raven sent an image of an affection pat on the head.

Completely ignoring the question that the man had asked her, Raven asked a question of her own. "Do you know that there's something in your head that's rattling? I'm pretty sure that's not healthy." The statement was blunt and the thought that it might not be polite to comment about such a thing didn't even cross her mind. Dishonest she could do, when needed, but subtlety was not something she even comprehended. It was so much easier to simply say what you meant and meant what you said.

Only after Raven had asked her own question did she deign to answer the man's question of her. "If you you can give me something to make it worth my time, then of course I'll escort you to the front door, just as the nice lady in the intercom wants. An interesting oddity is required. Blackwing seems to think that you're hiding something and I'd like to know what it is." It wasn't right to do anything for free, after all. The world was not about charity.

Micah was taken aback by the strange dark-haired girl’s response, and that Raven kept creeping closer and closer until it finally flew back to its perch. It still seemed to be staring him down, which only set Micah further on edge. Blackwing? Who the heck was this ‘Blackwing’ this girl was talking about? Was ‘Blackwing’ this chick’s name? Then why would she be talking about herself in the third person? Micah smiled. Even before he became a super-genius, he knew it was best to simply smile at crazy people until you figured out how to get away from them without upsetting their fragile psychoses.

“Oh, hi Blackwing! That’s a very… interesting name. You must’ve had very interesting parents.” Micah grimaced. “I mean, not that having interesting parents is a bad thing, cause, I mean, well look at me. I was raised by lesbians, which some people would think is really interesting.” Micah smiled to himself. He was already making friends at the mansion! Even if it was just friends with some crazy girl, it was still a start.

“And you must have very good hearing! That rattling in my head is just my brain. It’s made of marbles. Which may sound strange, but it’s true. And as far as oddities go…” Micah patted his pockets, looking for something to trade to the weird girl, and then remembered the bread in his hand. “… I do have this bread a Greek woman gave me cause she thought I was too skinny. It smells really good, so it must be fresh! Is that worth you kindly leading me to the foyer?” Micah smiled what he hoped was a charming smile, desperately trying to win over the strange girl.

Not only did the strange man have a rattling in his head (which she was still quite certain was not healthy and which Blackwing still thought had to do with him hiding something enticing) but now he was talking to her like she was some kind of idiot. She glared at him and her raven, taking a cue from her, also puffed up his feathers and proceeded to glare down at the man. He was, of the pair of them, the more intimidating one. She might be a little unusual but she was most certainly not an idiot! It just wasn't polite to insult the intelligence of a raven, not at all.

"Blackwing is my raven," Raven pointed up to her familiar, who proceeded to spread his great wings and ruffle his feathers. He knew very well when he was the center of attention. "And if you desire my assistance you will not talk down to me like I'm some kind of crazy person. I'm a mutant, not insane." She glared for a moment long, just to prove her point to the man.

"Now, if we have all that business out of the way, that loaf of bread would be adequate payment for my showing you to the Mansion foyer. Just so long as we're clear about the whole not crazy thing, all right?" She held out her hand, expecting the bread to be placed in there. She and Blackwing would be eating well tonight, it seemed, and it certainly did smell delicious. Her mouth watered just thinking about it.

So the bird was her familiar? And it was called Blackwing? Ohhh, that explains why it had been watching him so intently. The bird must be some sort of fierce mansion defense bird, watching and waiting for intruders, ready to strike them down with its vicious talons. When Blackwing saw him coming, it must have alerted its master. Meaning that this girl must be some sort of guard. How awesome! Not, only had Micah had made friends with a mansion resident and a mutant within five minutes of coming to the school, she was also an important security personnel!

Micah smiled and shook the girl’s extended hand. “You’re right, it’s time for me to eat crow. I mean, not literal crow of course, I mean the idiom. Meaning it’s time for me to admit I’m wrong.” Shut up shut up shut up Micah, or at least change the subject from eating birds!

“I’m sorry if I was a little defensive and jumped to the conclusion you were a homeless crazy person. It’s just been a wild couple of days, you know? I mean, between mutating and mean doctors and Greek women poking me with umbrellas, I’ve just been a mess. And to be honest, I always talk like this. Cause I’m crazy. I mean, having marbles in my skull proves it. So if I talk to anyone like I think they’re a crazy person, it’s probably only because I’m a crazy person, so it really bears little reflection on their mental states of being.”

Micah handed the girl the bread. “Let’s start over. Hi. My name is Micah.”

The man seemed a little on the confused and rambling side, but he was apologizing and for that Raven decided to accept his apology. He was an odd sort of man, but then again she was basically half raven in mind if not in body, so she couldn't really judge a person on their state of unusualness. Blackwing, on the other hand, was somewhat disgruntled by the fact that Raven was not about to try and pat him down to discover whatever he was hiding. She sent an image of marbles to the bird, but the bird simply wasn't buying it. Well, he would just have to deal, now wouldn't he.

"How can a brain be made of marbles?" Raven asked. She accepted the bread, taking a smell of it scent and, satisfied, put the bread into her backpack for later consumption. "And what do the marbles do? Can you take them out of your brain and throw them at people?' Now that was a funny thought and she giggled, imagining him picking his nose in order to extract a marble for throwing.

"My name's Raven and you don't seem crazy, just a little strange," Raven answered honestly. With a dramatic gesture she led him through the Mansion gates and into the foyer. As she entered the Mansion doors, Blackwing beamed an image into her mind, one last time, of her picking through Micah's belongings until she found his hidden treasure, whatever that might be. With a mental sigh she sent her ascent to him. If and only if she got the opportunity, that's exactly what she would do. Who knew what kinds of interesting trinkets he might be hiding, after all? Even if he didn't actually realize he was hiding anything at all.

"I was poked with an umbrella once. Well, it was more than I had an umbrella thrown at me rather than poked, but its not that different." Raven grinned, remembering the incident in which she had picked up a rather lovely golden watch from a table. The old woman had wandered away, just leaving it there for anyone to take and so that's exactly what she had done. It was just so shiny and he knew the crows would give her a lot of it. Bargianing chips, and all that. Unfortunately the woman must have realized that she had forgotten and and returned just as Raven was pocketing it. A rather exhilarating chase had ensued, culminating in said umbrella being thrown at her. Good times, those.

Throw my marbles at people? That’s a really interesting idea, Micah thought. After all, what villain would expect the hero to throw part of his brain at them? It would be quite the shock value, and could perhaps buy me some extra time. Micah grinned. I like this Raven girl. She thinks outside the box.

Micah followed Raven through the doors and into the foyer. Being around the clever Raven girl, despite her giant pet monster bird and complete disregard for helping anyone if it didn’t directly benefit her, had actually done a lot to calm his nerves. But being inside the mansion, and seeing just how richly these people lived, brought back all those feelings of self-doubt. What am I thinking? These people have way cooler powers than me, what makes me think I’m ever going to fit in here?

He looked around the foyer and forced a smile. Oh well, it’s too late to turn back now.

Kealey made her way into the foyer and waited for the two figures outside to make their appearance. From the looks of them, they were both strangers to the blond, and she found herself getting slightly apprehensive as they approached. What if she messed everything up? What if she had the new guy fill out the paperwork wrong? What if she was so bad at this that he turned around and left? Her phone was out and Kealey had typed half a panicked message to Shin before she stopped, looked at it, and hit the “delete” button. How was she ever going to learn how to do anything on her own if she was always bugging him for help? More importantly, how was he ever going to get anything done if she was always bugging him for help.

I can do this…”[/color] she thought, silently steeling herself against the apprehension that had rose up to overshadow the other emotions in the mansion. Out in the foyer she went, cell phone staying where it was on Shin’s desk.

It was a little bit of a wait, and Kealey was just about to go look on the monitor again when the doors opened and they entered.

”Hello!” she said excitedly, giving a little half-wave as she approached the newcomer and his guide. The girl was raven-haired and curiously enough, had a raven with her. She was curious, and interested, and if Kealey wasn’t mistaken….sly? It was a strange feeling to get from a person. ”Thank you for showing our guest inside. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.” the blond said, offering a hand. ”I’m Kealey.”

Next she turned to the young man, he was clean cut enough and he had a friendly look about him that Kealey instantly approved of. He felt….Kealey blinked. He felt…she blinked again.

”Are you an adapted!” she exclaimed, then immediately realized her mistake. She could definitely still feel the other woman’s emotions.

”I can’t feel your feelings! What a marvelous power you must have. You’ll have to tell me all about it!”

Blackwing hopped down from his perch down to the front door. He did not, however, come inside. Even in large buildings like the Mansion there was never enough room to spread his wings and really fly and he was always worried about getting stuck in the building. Even though he knew his mistress usually lived in such buildings, he just didn't understand it himself. How could people stand being cooped up all the time? Of course, even though Raven slept in a building she still preferred the great outdoors, especially during summer when it was nice and warm out.

"Welcome to the Mansion," Raven stated to Micah, acting as if the Mansion had been her home for years rather than mere days. To the other woman she then turned and addressed. "Why, hello there Kealey. I'm Raven, fortune teller extraordinair." It didn't hurt to put in a little shameless self promotion, just in case.

Raven had not the slightest idea what an adapted might be so she decided not to address it at alll, as if the word didn't even exist. Humans were always so baffling anyway, she had found it much more effective to only concentrate on those things that actually made sense rather than the myriad of things that did not. For example, humans were always so preoccupied with dirt and making sure everything inside was completely clean and free of debree. Cleaning oneself Raven understood, she happened to have rather good personal heigene, but why shouldn't she walk inside with her shoes on? Just one of numerous questions no one had yet been able to answer adequately for her.

Micah’s forced smile became real when he saw the blond woman approach. There was just something about her that made him feel at ease. She emitted a kind of open friendliness that was just so hard to find these days, especially in New York where tensions constantly ran high.

Micah was surprised when Raven and the blonde girl introduced themselves. Was the mansion really so big that people who lived here didn’t know each other?

But something changed in Kealey when she turned and introduced herself to Micah. That charming happiness shifted completely to surprise, and then she started smiling and rambling on about something called an “Adapted.” Was that some sort of word for mutants the people at the mansion used? Am I supposed to know that already? I didn’t realize there was going to be a vocabulary quiz as part of my entrance exam.

Before Micah had a chance to respond to whether or not he was an ‘Adapted’, whatever that meant, then came the question he had been dreading. Describing his power to Raven had been one thing. But describing his power to this beautiful maiden was intimidating on a whole new level.

Oh well, I guess I might as well just get it over with as quickly as possible.

“Hi! I’m Micah, and, um, well it started when I was watching Wolf news. Oh wait, that’s probably more information than you need right now. Well, my power, I actually don’t know much about it now, cause it just happened yesterday, but I think my power is to, well, remember stuff. Really well. I might also be a genius now. And I’m sorry that you can’t feel my emotions but… can you normally? Is that a new thing for you?”

Micah looked down at his shoes. Was there anything he was forgetting? “Oh yeah, and my brain is made of marbles.”

”Raven.” Kealey repeated, doing her best to commit the name to memory so that the next time she wouldn’t have to ask. ”You’ll have to forgive me. I’m not always at the mansion and when I am, Sam usually has me slaving away in the Library or at my sewing machine. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” she smiled genuinely at the other woman, ”You say you’re a fortune teller, that’s simply fascinating. I’ll have to test your abilities some time.” she said, then turned her attention back to Micah as he began to describe his powers.

Kealey listened, still trying, and failing, to locate his emotions. It was simply fascinating, they simply didn’t seem like they were there. Micah was smiling though, and he seemed to be in a genuinely good, if nervous, mood. His explanation was simple enough at first…he could remember things, he could remember them really well. Oh, and his brain was made of marbles.

Marbles? Kealey couldn’t help it, she laughed. It wasn’t a cruel laugh, or a mocking laugh, just a simple expression of genuine delight at the situation she’d found herself in.

”Well, I guess that explains it! My powers must have something to do with the human brain. If your brain is marbles, I mustn’t be able to pick up the signal. It is usual for me to be able to feel…it’s what I do. I’m an empath…” she said, then realized she was being remiss in her assumed duties for the day.

”I’m completely forgetting myself! You probably couldn’t care less about my silly powers, here I am chatting away when you’re freshly arrived off the street with a new ability to deal with.” Kealey chided herself, stopping for a moment to try and remember what exactly it was Shin had told her to do in this situation.

Oh! ”Now, are you just wanting a tour of the school or are we going to be needing to set you up with a room and enrollment papers?”

(OOC: Sorry for the delay.)

Raven hadn't realized that she had been speaking to an actual genius, not at all. He didn't seem like a genius, and she peered at him speculatively. How could one tell if someone was a genius though? Blackwing was, sort of, a genius among ravens and the only way you could tell that by looking at him was the fact that he was also a giant among ravens. However, Micah wasn't any larger than any other human. Maybe humans just didn't display genius in quite the same way. "How can I tell that you're a genius?" she asked, genuinely curious. It was good information to have, in case she met other geniuses.

"Oh, I've only been here a few days," Raven waved her hand dismissively at the woman calling herself Kealey. "That's probably why you haven't seen me around." Well, perhaps that and the fact that on warm summer days she preferred staying outside in the treetops.

"Oh I'm an empath too!" Raven stated with enthusiasm. "Except I can only feel Blackwing's emotions." She gestured vaguely at the window near where her familiar was currently perched. "Emotions, thoughts, colours. You know, its kind of annoying sometimes." She nodded sagely to herself, glaring at her raven and really having no idea what it would be like to feel the emotions of anything or anyone other than Blackwing. She was pretty sure she was glad, however, that she did not feel the emotions of the add crows who often chattered around her.