Get to New York. Check.
Find a place to live. Check.
Find a school that will accept you. Check.
Figure out what the hell is wrong with you... Not checked.

Miles stood outside the library's mahogany doors, still deciding if he should go in or not. He never thought this would give him the heebie jeebies, but he was totally having them right now. So far, he had managed to do pretty well for himself, with the assistance of a mutant shelter and a 'school for the gifted' that completely solved his most pressing needs for food and a roof, but there was one last detail he needed to do and it was the sole purpose for his trip to New York.

He wanted to get rid of his mutation.

When they enrolled him in the school, they had asked a lot of questions and he had managed to tell them a few details about it. Yes, he could make his dogs obey his every command. No, he was not a telepath and he didn't know what his dogs were thinking. Yes, they had died, and he had brought them back, all black, with shiny red ayes and stronger than ever, but that was as far as he had gone. He hadn't told anyone, not Syn, not Amber, not Granny, or anyone else what the process entailed. They didn't know how the death of his dogs had affected him, how deeply it had hurt him and how their dead bodies and that strong emotional pain had pushed him into this dark version of himself. As far as they knew, he had gone "Abracadabra!" and *poof!* a new minion was born.

His father knew and so did his neighbors. His old man told him he looked like a man possessed when he turned into that... "black thing" as he had put it, but Miles knew he was wrong. Being possessed meant having strings attached with someone else calling the shots while your mind took a vacation, but Miles remembered every single second of it. He remembered how he touched Astor's dead skin and how sickeningly GOOD it felt as he infused him with his dark gift. He remembered how Tinaker's dead body called to him, yearned for his embrace, while he felt transfixed, like moth to flame, unable to stop himself. He couldn't help it, it just had to be done and he had to live with the consequences afterwards.

During his awful trip to New York, where he contantly fought with his father and grandfather for the life of his dogs, he did suspect his emotional state in both occasions may have had something to do with his dark persona surfacing and doing it's thing. He wasn't sure of it though, and when he asked one of his teachers what he should do if emotions played a role in his mutation, the teacher's reply was simply "talk to Kealey".

And so, here he was.

He thought at first that this "Kealey" person was the school's psychologist, but it turns out she was the librarian. Miles had no clue what made her so adept at figuring out his emotional issues, but now that he was in front of her door, he was starting to have second thoughts. Would he have to tell her these deeply personal things in order for her to help? What if she found his mutation abhorrent? What if they realized its potential and found it too dangerous? Good Lord, what if they kicked him out of school because of it?

Inhaling a deep breath, then sighing, he decided to take the risk and the plunge. Miles pushed the library's door open and just hoped for the best.

"Excuse me" he said at the lady behind the counter. "I'm looking for Kealey Quinn?"

Today...was going to be interesting. Then again, there was rarely a dull moment during a day at the Mansion.

Her design job was getting more and more demanding. Ms Nassir hadn't been lying when she'd said that the board would be demanding. Thankfully, Kealey thought, she had her mutation to tell her exactly what they thought. She wasn't a mind reader, but emotional reactions to clothing were the name of the game. The thoughts were distracting though, and she hadn't even managed to swing her mind to wedding plans. She and Shin really did need to set a date.

Someone approached the outside doors, and Kealey's head came up, thoughts snapping to the task at hand. She was in the library, but she wouldn't be doing library things for a while. No, she was meeting with a student. Details were slimmer than the empath would have liked, but when she'd been asked to help the student, Kealey had been more than eager. If there was one thing she knew, it was that emotion based powers could be difficult to handle.

The door opened, and the boy who entered approached the desk with no small amount of caution. He was apprehensive, and nervous, and a million other things that the blond simply had to tilt her head to. He asked for her, and she smiled, heart going out to the poor scared boy in front of her.

"You must be Miles." she said, Irish accent lilting as she spoke. "I hear we've got quite a bit to talk about. I'm Kealey." A hand was offered. It was a start.

"I'm Miles..." he responded, shaking her hand "...aaaand you already know that" he added, with a slightly nervous smile.

She was not at all what he expected. She was blond, good looking, irish and in his mind, he figured she'd be... what? Maybe a decade younger than Granny, but this gal was probably just a decade older than him. What made someone so young, so knowledgeable about the link between emotions and mutations was still beyond him, but apparently his teacher trusted her input and had already told her Miles was coming for a visit.

"Right. We do" he replied, with no particular idea of where to start.

How about... from the beginning?

"I found out I was a mutant barely a few weeks ago" he said, already at ease that saying those words was not anathema in the mansion. "It kind of... didn't work out with my parents and I'm pretty much looking for a way of... I don't know, maybe get rid of my mutation somehow? It's not exactly the kind you can control with ease and I suspect my emotions may play a role in it. I was told you could help with that sort of thing?"

When he realized who she was, Kealey had to smile a bit. Obviously she wasn't what Miles had expected. Introductions were made, and the boy spoke.

And there it all was. At once. Right off the bat.

Kealey nodded her head, pulling her hand back and listening intently to what Miles had to say. It was a sad, but all too common story with kids who ended up at the mansion. It was sad though, that he wanted to get rid of his mutation. Kealey could empathize though. She smiled slightly at her unintentional pun and spoke.

"It's the emotion thing that made them suggest me." she said with a small smile. "It's what I do..."

There were chairs in the library. Comfortable ones that were arranged in various places to suit various student needs. "You want to have a seat? We can talk more. I know a thing or two about wanting to be rid of your abilities too."

There were only two other people besides them in the library, one of them was wearing headphones and listening to music as he poured over some books, while the other was too far away to listen to whatever they were talking, so Miles felt comfortable enough regarding their privacy and accepted to have a seat.

He sat on a big, cushy one, with ample armstands and way too comfortable for his taste, so much so that he could easily fall asleep if he rested on it for too long. She mentioned she knew a thing or two about wanting to get rid of her abilities but Miles couldn't see how. She looked pretty normal to him. He'd seen so many mutants at Sanctuary and at the school whose mutations were extraordinarily physical and flat out obvious, like Gina, whose wings and tail made her stand out like a sore thumb or Amber, whose white skin and deep black eyes looked like they could suck you right in. Kealey's mutation was hidden, if there was even one, pretty much like... well, like his own.

Without his dogs, Miles could easily pass as normal for the average folk. In fact, that was his father's solution to the problem when it first cropped up, but Miles knew it was much deeper than that. It didn't matter if he got rid of his thralls, as long as he didn't have any control over his mutation, the situation could always repeat itself, possibly with worse results than they already had. In fact, he should feel damn lucky that he had brought dogs back to life instead of people.

Speaking of which, where was Tinaker? He liked to prowl sometimes and in order to show her what he was about, he figured he had to at least show her the fruits of his labors. Touching the side of his temple with two fingers, he gave a mental command for his dog to come find him at the library.

"I see. So, emotions is what you do?" he asked, not entirely sure he understood. "How come? What does that even mean? Is that somehow your mutation or are you a shrink?"

Kealey watched Miles closely as he turned things over in his head. He was uncertain about something, but she wasn't sure what. At least he sat though, and Kealey curled up across from him in a chair of similar cushiness. This was obviously a casual reading area where one could simply curl up with a good book and bask in the sun on a bright day. It was perfect for this kind of conversation.

Miles finally spoke again, and Kealey chuckled and shook her head.

"Definitely not a shrink." she said, pushing an errant curl of hair behind her ear.

"I think the word for what I am has traditionally been an 'empath'." she explained, "Mostly I feel emotions. All of them, from everyone." Blue eyes scanned the room for the other inhabitants. Kealey nodded towards the kid with headphones.

"He looks like he's just studying, but there's way more than concentration going on there. He's nervous and fluttery about something..." the blue eyes danced with mirth, "I'll bet you anything it's a girl."

She didn't demonstrate on the other student, or on Miles himself. Kealey knew her power made people uncomfortable sometimes and didn't want to give him too much, too fast.

"So when I say I know how you feel...I mean that literally. You and everyone else in the building, that is. It can be a lot." There. She'd let him chew on that for a few moments before giving more details. Question and answer sessions only really worked if they were back and forth.

Miles turned to see the guy she was talking about trying to be not too obvious about it. He then turned back to her with a smirk, his mind wrapping itself around the implications of what having such a talent could carry.

"Oh, that's just devious..." he admitted "...and probably annoying as well".

Some people carried their feelings on their sleeve while others were prone to wear masks and pretend they felt some way instead of another. Kealey could potentially blast those masks away and tell how people truly felt, without them having to express it with words. It was probably an awesome skill to have but at the same time... how many times a day must she feel bombarded by other people's feelings? Hell, she probably felt his heebie jeebies even before he entered the room. She likely knew how nervous he felt about this visit but ignored why he felt this way.

"You're probably thinking I have something to hide..." he said, trying to sound casual about it and dispel her doubts a bit but then he realized... he DID have something to hide! If he tried a white lie here and there to put her at ease, she would likely know he was being insincere and any chances of her helping him out hung in the balance. Miles blinked quickly a couple of times, stumped about what to say next, realizing he had walked himself into a trap.

"Oh, that's really freaking devious!" he said, smiling as if he had been caught red handed in the middle of some mischief. "Truth is... I do have something to hide, it's just... I have trust issues".

And how could he not? When he needed the love of his mother, she had run away with his sister instead of staying home to help him with his 'demonic' dogs. When he needed support from his father, they had fought over and over, to the point Mr. Haxton blamed him for losing his job and ruining his life. When he needed the help of his grandfather, the old man had brought a shotgun to permanently fix the problem. If he couldn't trust his family, his very own blood, he felt it pretty difficult to trust a woman he had just met.

Devious. Kealey wrinkled her nose at the idea. It was the first impression of her powers that she disliked the most, but the boy meant no malice. None whatsoever. She smiled as he worked things over in her head, it was a lot to swallow, and Kealey would give him that time.

He had trust issues. At least he was honest about it.

"I understand trust issues completely, if there's anything you want to know about me, we can call this an equal exchange." Kealey said. She also understood teenagers and little white lies.

"And if you don't want to tell me about your issues, you don't have to." she continued. It was the toughest part about things like this, but the blond also knew that once a person came clean, they generally felt better. There was a such thing as jumping into things too quickly though.

"Why don't we start slow and easy though?" Kealey suggested, pulling her legs up into the chair and wrapping her arms around them.

"How do you like New York? When I came here from Ireland a few years ago, I'd never seen anything like it."

Quid pro quo, Clarice?

It was the first thing that popped into his head when she made the offer, remembering the day he had snuck out and watched a bunch of horror films with his older cousins. He considered it fair, even if he drew a blank as to what sort of questions he could ask her in return. She also offered to pretty much keep quiet about the whole thing, but that wasn't a real option. More than once he had spent an almost sleepless night just thinking of all the possibilities of his mutant talents going.... wrong.

He thought of himself as a good person deep underneath and even if he had a liking for a prank or two, it was never meant with ill intent, but when the mutation lottery hit, it pretty much gave him a very dark and ominous prize. Raising the dead was completely unnatural to him, so he could never see himself doing anything good with it.

What would happen if he ever ended up visiting a morgue to identify a dead loved one? How about a funeral, with a whole bunch of friends or family crying all over the place, would he have the cold blood to stay stoic and unmoved the whole time? And what about love? He was not invulnerable to it and while he didn't fear falling in love, he was now very afraid of break ups, specially if his mutation was emotion based as he suspected. He had had his couple of teenage romances and subsequent break ups before and they were flat out soul crushing, could he actually go through one without turning into his darker self?

These were very serious scenarios and even more so if you added people who knew of his mutation into the mix. What would happen if someone used him for their own purpose? Could he fill an army of undead, with muscular thralls willing to obey his every command? Could he turn... bad? No, this was something that needed talking about, it could not stay with him forever and he had to start at some point.

Kealey however seemed to be pretty good at this. She didn't put any pressure on him and her approach was very open and friendly, so he could not help but follow her lead and pull his legs up as well, but he crossed them instead of wrapping his arms around them.

"I'm from Virginia Beach and I've been here a couple of times before" he said, his eyes looking up, reminiscing on happier days. "I had a much better time then than I do now, but this is not as bad as it could have been. It could have been much worse, had I not found my way into Sanctuary or this school. If you like New York however, I bet you do for the shopping and the buildings and that city that never sleeps vibe it has, but if you ever feel like stretching your legs and enjoying a nice talk with someone polite for a change, then you have to drop by Virginia Beach" he said, with a bit of unhidden pride in his voice.

Not entirely sure how this game played out except from having seen it in a movie, he figured it was HIS turn to ask a question.

"I've never been to Ireland before, though. What is that like?"

Miles' opinions on New York were interesting, and Kealey shrugged her shoulders.

"I'll have to keep it in mind. My fiancé isn't from the States either, and we're always interested in places we can go." Calling up her knowledge of United States geography, Kealey filed it away that North Carolina was close enough that Miles could have travelled to New York a few times over the course of his short life.

"And I love New York because it made me who I am." she said. "It changed the way I thought about myself, and what I can do."

The empath paused a second then, thinking about things she hadn't dwelled on for a long time.

"Ireland was beautiful, and very green." she said, "And I'd like very much to visit there again sometime. The history, and the castles, it's a very special place." Yes. Ireland was very nice. She needed to take Shin there.

"I can safely say this is home now though." It was troubling to Kealey, a bit, that Miles was staying at the Sanctuary. Then again, she knew what really lurked in the shadows of that great building.

"Can I ask why you chose to live at the Sanctuary? I lived here for a time, and I can tell you, it's nothing like the proverbial boarding school of child's nightmares."

If Miles' relationship with his parents wasn't in a rocky place, he would have offered Kealey a sample of Virginian hospitality for whenever she and her fiancée wished to visit, but right now it wasn't the best moment to drop by. Maybe some other time, when he had some sort of solution to his problems, his family would be more forthcoming to him and to any guests he might wish to bring over.

She remembered Ireland fondly and liked New York as well. Apparently the city and this place had helped her out, to the point she was calling it home now. When she asked Miles about his choice of residence, he pretty much shrugged his shoulders for he would have stayed here no problem if he had bumped into this place first.

"Sanctuary was like an island of hope when I was in a sea of despair" he said, noticing he was about to veer off from innocent chit chat to more personal territory. He disliked talking about personal matters, but deep down he knew he needed to do so in order for her to help. He actually appreciated the effort she was doing of getting to know each other first, since the more he knew about her, the better he thought he could trust her.

"I... ran away from my dad and my grandad when they were bringing me to New York. At first, coming here with them seemed like a good idea and I remembered my previous trips fondly, but I was a little kid back then and pretty normal under their eyes. Not so now. I was a mutant now and they were scared for me. Or of me, I don't know..."

Miles lowered his gaze as memories of the trip and the million arguments in the van swam in his head. All the name calling and the bitterness from both of his elders was still all too fresh in his mind.

"There was a lot of fighting and I... I just couldn't take it and I left. I was alone and hungry in the streets of the City and I didn't know where to go or what to do until I bumped into another mutant who took me to Sanctuary. It's a pretty big place, with rooms for people like me with nowhere else to go and they've got food, a gym and a rec room and it feels like you're in a hotel instead of a shelter, at least for me it does" he said raising his eyes again to meet hers "They don't have a school though, so... here I am" he added, with a bit of a forced smile, since the tale was pretty sad for him to tell.

Quid pro quo turn. Hmmm.... he'd gone and told her about his parents but he was curious to know if most parents reacted in a similar way or if his were the exception to the rule.

"What do your parents think about you being a mutant?"

Kealey simply nodded as Miles explained how he’d come to the Sanctuary. Honestly, Kealey was happy that someone had managed to find him and get him somewhere safe before the nastier side of New York had reared its ugly head.

”Well, I’m glad you got somewhere safe and warm. As amazing as New York can be, its got an ugly side too. I’ve had my own good experiences with the Sanctuary. Are Venus that the other Abyss’ still around?” she asked, trying to give them more common ground. ”Venus is a dear friend.”

She paused, considering her next words carefully.

’There’s always a place for you here though, if the need ever arises.” Hopefully it wouldn’t, and hopefully Miles could stay out of the nastier side of the Sanctuary’s business. For now, the most the blond could do was hope.

As to his last question. Kealey smiled a sad little smile.

”They never knew. They were killed in an IRA terrorist attack. That’s when my powers showed themselves.”

She shook her head and smiled.

”For a long time that defined me…but I like to think they’d have still been proud of what I’ve become.”

"Venus? I haven't met her yet. I haven't stayed there that long..." he replied when asked about one of Kealey's friends, completely convinced that 'Venus' must be a woman's name. He then nodded and thanked her for the offer to stay and live at the school, but he really saw no need. Other than saving himself the trip back and forth (which he actually enjoyed making), he was content at Sanctuary and oblivious to any misconduct within it's walls.

Then he felt a pang in his stomach as she answered his question. She looked so young! He had no way of knowing her parents weren't around. Stupid Miles!

He tried to give some word of comfort but completely failed at finding the right ones. Nothing inspirational or truly supportive came to mind and the best he could think of were the de facto, empty, go-to words everyone said in this situation.

"I'm sorry to hear that" he said, actually meaning it at least. "I'm sorry for asking as well"

He wanted to empathize and tell her he had suffered a loss as well, two of them in fact, but those had been his dogs and they could never, remotely compare to losing your parents, no matter how much he loved his faithful companions. Even if he had had a row with his parents, the mere thought of losing them for good actually tightened his throat and a feeling of respect towards Kealey for having survived and moved on without them grew within the boy.

At that moment, one of the students that had been studying in the library got off his chair, walked towards the door and opened it to leave, which gave a black, medium sized shape ample opportunity to sneak past him and into the library after having waited outside for a while. It's eyes were bright red and unnatural, it's shineless fur was charcoal black, covering powerful muscles that silently moved its four legs towards the young mutant. Evasive as he was, Miles took the interruption in a heartbeat as the perfect way to change the subject.

"Oh look, here comes my mutation" he said, gesturing towards the dog and patting it on it's unflinching head as the animal approached him. "Kealey, this is Tinaker. Tinaker, this is Kealey. There's a funny story behind his name, if you're interested in hearing it".

Kealey shook her head at Miles' apology, "There's no need. It was a very long time ago." she said simply. Her parents weren't something to dwell on with sadness anymore, and her sister was not something that they were going to speak about at the moment.

The second auxiliary library occupant got up to take their leave, and as they left a dark figure entered the room. Kealey was not unprepared for this part of Miles' mutation, but she was still surprised and a little fascinated by the way the creature looked. It was obviously canine, but unlike any that Kealey had ever seen. She'd thought for some time to figure out how she felt about this particular mutation. Was it odd? Yes, but so very mutations were. She'd met others who could tamper with the dead, and they'd been good people. There was no reason that this boy was any different. A mutation didn't have to define a person, and as the dog approached, it seemed well-mannered enough.

Miles spoke, introducing the dog by name, and Kealey rolled the word around in her head, trying to get a feel for it before saying it out loud. The dog really was fascinating, and Kealey smiled at Miles, "He's beautiful. I'd love to hear the story." she said, tilting her head to the side.

"Does he still like to be pet?"

Kealey's question actually got Miles thinking, freezing his smile in place, as he kept on petting the dog on the head, the animal just standing there, unaffected and unmoving. Ever since he brought them back to life, the dogs had stopped behaving like ordinary dogs and that constant wiggling about that dogs did, that lolling of their tongue, licking of hands or tail wagging had simply evaporated from their daily routine. They no longer did any of that. They just obeyed.

"I don't really know" he confessed, a bit of sadness in his voice as he looked at Tinaker and remembered him in his more lively days. "He really loved it before, when he was young and... less black, but now... I pet them out of habit. I keep telling myself they like it and they just can't express it anymore, but honestly? I have no clue if they like it".

'Beautiful' was not a word he had heard anyone use to describe his dogs, though Tinaker still kept some level of normalcy to him if you looked past the eyes. His fur covered his muscles a bit and he had been smallish to begin with so when the growth spurt hit after Miles turned him, the dog became medium sized. Astor was a beast though and to call him 'beautiful' would have been insulting, but the fact Kealey used that word instead of anything else was proof that she had seen lots of mutations before, had learnt to accept them and even found beauty on some of them.

Back to chit chat, though. He didn't like dwelling in his problems with others, so if he had any chance to derail the conversation into less serious stuff, he'd grab it and run with it. He knew that eventually they'd have to reach the crux of his problem but it would be much better if by the end she perceived him as just a young man with issues and some fun memories to tell instead of a potential necromancer, too dangerous to keep around unsuspecting students.

"My mother is of spanish descent and she's not really into pets" he began, as he leaned forward a bit, elbows on the knees of his crossed legs. "When dad brought me my first dog, it was a pure breed boxer puppy, a gift from a client to him, after he had mentioned how crazy happy I'd be if I ever got a dog. I was only five years old and sure enough, I was ecstatic with my new best friend, but mom was not. Dad won her over by telling her he'd named the dog 'Astor', after the town in Florida where they had met and fallen in love" he added with an impish smile. "Dad can be smooth like that sometimes".

"Fast forward six years later, I am now eleven and I'm visiting an animal shelter with my old man. I had heard stories, never knew if they were true or not, where some of the dogs there were put away if they couldn't find them a home, so when I find this little fella here..." he said, nodding towards Tinaker and tugging his ear "he was a small, underfed, mixed breed, dirty, sad, pathetic looking stray and it crushed my heart to think he could be put away. He licked my hand, wagged his tail, looked at me with those puppy eyes only dogs can pull off and won me over in an instant."

Miles sighed as he leaned back on the chair and removed his hand from the animal. Sometimes he wondered if leaving the dog would have been more merciful than the card fate had dealt him now, as an undead thrall.

"I begged, whined and pleaded to my dad until I convinced him to take the dog with us, though he was sure he'd be returning it tomorrow the second my mother laid eyes on the poor thing. He told me I was on my own. I would have to convince her and his money was on mom. When we got home, sure enough, mom gets angry at me and I begged, whined and pleaded but she was much harder to convince than dad. I used the 'Astor will have company' card, the 'my sister needs her own dog' card, even if I was fully intent on making him love me more, I even used the 'I'll clean up my room every day and pick up after him' card and filled the spaces in between with 'pleeeeeeeeze' like an obnoxious pro. When I finally got her to at least think it over, I moved in for the kill".

Miles had a rather prideful expression on his face, since the outcome was already known. "I used the 'smooth dad' card and I told her if she let me keep the dog, I would give her the honor, nay, the PRIVILEGE! of naming our newest family member."

The boy was downright beaming now as his long tale reached its final stretch. "She looked at me in a special way and I knew I had her. I actually cringed and crossed my fingers, hoping she wouldn't pick something girly like 'Pinkytoes' but all of a sudden she comes and spouts 'Tinaker'"

"YES!!!" Miles yelled, raising his hands like someone had scored a touchdown "Tinaker it is! I loved it! It sounded so cool and high tech, like... 'Transformer' or 'Terminator' No backsies now, mom! Long live Tinaker!"

The boy brought a hand to his mouth as he realized he had just screamed in a library, then continued with a whisper. "A couple of years later, we're talking about this very thing, my dog has already memorized his name and I go and ask mom why she had picked 'tinaker' for the dog's name. She smiles at me knowingly and comes clean. Turns out there's a country in central america where she had stayed a few years, where large, public garbage cans are called 'tinacos', and the filthy, stray dogs who knock them over and rummage through the trash for something to eat are called 'tinaqueros.'"

Miles smiled again, but it was an embarrassed smile. "Tinaker is an 'englishification', a literal translation of the word 'tinaquero' and it pretty much means stray, garbage can dwelling dog. It was the first thing she could think of when she laid eyes on my choice for a second pet. So much for mom thinking up cool, high tech sounding names."