"But," He raised a finger at the girl and shook his head. "Your mutation only grants you a means for survival. That is not the same thing as actually living." There were gaps to cross and bridges to build if he was going to get anywhere with helping Rosemary. He wasn't a woman, and he was sure that he'd never be able to fully comprehend what was going through her mind, but that wasn't going to stop Booker from doing all that he could to help her. There might not be a time where she would fully open up to him, but Booker was a patient man. He would wait as long as need be, even long after where her mutation kept her alive and he nothing but ground dust floating across the earth. He wasn't going to make her take this big first step against her own will, especially not since he didn't have anything equal to offer for her help in him helping her. "But, the Professor assigned a period out of your day to see me. Talking to me counts as a class, and not making any progress, or just talking to me at the bare minimum, may keep you from graduating."

"So no time like the present to get this show going," Nate smirks. "The past has shown that the best way to suceed is to just go with it." Nate pauses looking at the cling beams again and motions from Shawn to the celing.
"Let's do this."

@Calabon2437

Jacob wasn't used to much positive outlooks on his powers from his fellow mutants. In a world of razor clawed metal skeletons and weather god like mutants, his powers tended to be looked at as the short end of the mutation stick. Jacob smiled as the boy named Nade or Nate or something like that took so much interest in his silk powers.

"To answer your questions in order; Yes and I've done it, maybe strong enough to support even support Peter, probably but I'm not to good at balancing and getting it thin take more time, probably, depends on if I make it sticky or not, probably not 'cause then I'd just get stuck to the wall as soon as I stick my hands to it and the wall, maybe, maybe and..." Jacob smiled a sinister yet cheery grin. "...most defiantly."

"I am so sick of that living crap. Alive is living. I am not here to get an education. I am here to find a way to control this gift." She did air quotes with the word gift. "I am old enough to drop out of high school, legally. The only jobs I will ever be qualified for are retail or the like without a college education and I will never be able to afford community college. So an education that I don't need for my only real job prospects is not that high on my priority list. Same thing that can be applied to our little sessions. So give me a reason to care about all this. As you have no doubt seen I am not failing any class, that is with intentionally missing or being late to classes and our sessions. My best chance was to join the military but I was declared legally dead right after the fire I started. So that ruined that chance, it would have been nice to go back to dear old paraplegic bio dad in uniform and prove that bigot wrong. Might have given him a heart attack." She picked up a rock and tossed it at a cat or a mutant posing as a cat that was about to attack a squirrel. She intended to hit the cat in the head but missed, it hit the cat in the torso. She hated shape shifting mutants never could tell when a cat was just a cat or a freak.

Tatiana little fireworks show started off innocently but soon turned into a small explosion. "Got inspired by some zombie game my roomie was playing. My thought process was early warning system that deludes the intruder into thinking he had time how much is not known but then as he walks away boom he ends up a victim of an explosion. Explosion could be lethal or merely concussive. Either way it stops the intruder before he gets farther unless he is extremely fast."

Heidi nods. The new kid was talking to her again. This was her chance to redeem herself for failing to hold his attention earlier. She just had to keep calm and be natural. He asked you a question about yourself! How hard can it be to answer?

"Yes. My mutation is my thinking. I'm like a human supercomputer. It makes me overthink things a lot, though. It's not as fun as it sounds..."

You can't leave it there, Heidi. You have to follow it up with a question about him, but don't get too in detail.

"What's your ability?"

Was she not watching his demonstration from earlier? Or was it that Heidi was seeking Peter's own explanation for his mutation? Pete could not take any true guesses, so he instead took a moment to think of the words to explain his ability, move everything into English the best that he could, then, go back and make sure that it made sense in English. He was still very rough with the language, the words not always coming out as he hoped them to, or sometimes his accent would drag at the words and make it almost impossible to talk to.

"I... I grow. I become stronger, my body is metal." He tried to explain, his hands fidgeting and moving around as he spoke to the girl. "My clothes are big to fit when I grow into metal. They become loose when I become small again."

On the other end, he could understand why Heidi's power could be more of a curse than a gift. Having a brain that could think up everything all the time must be hard to sleep with, to even concentrate on simple tasks with. Has she grown into her mind so much that she knows exactly when she's going to do things? There were so many questions, and asking them may make her head hurt.

---

Reaching out with his hand, Booker had attempted to create a construct in time to stop the rock from hitting the cat. Unfortunately for him, the construct only became physical after the rock has flown through it, hitting its target. He sighed and loosened his hand. "Sorry!" He called out to the cat, mutant or otherwise.

He then turned back to Rosemary, smiling calmly at the girl. "Use your ability to its very limits." He told her, his hand opening and raising palm-up to create an atom in motion. "Adapt. Grow, change."

"Do you remember how Mr. Summers and Ms. Grey were brought into the Xmen? The whole story?" The atom still floated in his hand, spinning slowly as he spoke in a pace to match. "Jean was a student here. She was good, smart, but she wasn't all that cared for by the students around her. Still, she did her work, working and working even though there wasn't a clear path for her. Scott had just arrived to the mansion when Apocalypse attacked. He had normal schooling before then. With his ability growing as it did, as late as it did, any thoughts of the future he had were washed away."

He began to walk, motioning with his free hand for Rosemary to follow him as he monolouged to her. "And Mister Wagner, our illustrious drama and theater teacher. He had arrived only moments after Scott. He was captured, put in a fighting ring. No family to speak of other than a circus he traveled with. Three outcasts in very different lights. They were all brought together here because they felt the need to do something. They fought, they proved that they had what it took to become the second class of X-men. Now, that might not be true for you or anyone else in this school. Becoming world-saving protectors is not your set future when arriving here. Learning about your powers, mastering them, controlling them, that is your goal here. Anything after that is all in your hands."

He paused, freezing the atom mid-air. In moments, it faded into dust, flowing away and returning to the world as energy. "What I mean to say here, Rosemary, is that the future is up to you. Its what you make it. But there are duties that you need to attend to. Your classes, which, yes, you aren't failing, and your appointments with me, which, you are." He smiled wider. He didn't step closer, but looked off into the distance. "If you fail my class. You will not graduate, and you will be held here until you do. Proper motivation."

"Sorry about so many questions, my parents were scientists and taught me to explore all that I encounter, every ability has a use, nothing is useless, unless not used." Nate pauses, looking at Peter, "mom had the same ability as Pete, just she would not get bigger, just armored, heavier and stronger. Mom and dad would have loved to have met everyone here. They would have loved to see how they could help everyone meet their full potentual." Nate laughs thinking of some of the things his mom and dad used to do.

"The only thing I want to learn here is how to control whether or not it activates. Turning into material that bullets ricochet off of may save my life but I ain't going to be responsible for the death or maiming of someone else when that bullet ricochets. As for not graduating, free room and board can't argue with that. Hell I eat better here than any previous residence I lived in, at foster dad all I got was food and water, I ate better when I lived on the street, it was rat and dumpster food but I had more variety even got alcohol." The squirrel that Rose Mary saved ran up to her. She dropped an acorn, it ran away carrying the nut with what Rose Mary thought was the squirrel version of skipping or it was her imagination. "The future is not up to me. As I said I have no way to pay for even one semester of community college, so the only job I am going to get is a job a high school drop out/graduate could get. They don't pay much the best I can hope for is a retail store that lets me work and when I have enough experience become a department head, maybe a comanager. I am never going to afford a place like this, which I know used to be a home for a single extremely wealthy family. I will never be a doctor, lawyer, President. My future was decided long ago, this is only postponing things." She stopped for a second. "Just thought of something Rose Mary has no legal status. My birth name is declared dead. My choices are even more limited now to jobs willing to pay under the table, those ain't pretty jobs."

Chrys continues to draw in his notebook. He senses he doesn't need to really participate in the general conversation so he keeps quiet, waiting for something to happen. He flips the page in the notebook and starts another drawing, quick strokes of his pencil across the page revealing a almost lifelike flower.

Hearing the talk of parents makes him think back to his father, who he never got to truly bond with, with the elder man always busy with the military or Chrys was out training. Subconsciouslhe pulls out his father's dogtags, rubbing them with a thumb as he draws.

"She... always did have a habit of making people forget her..." If anything, the great Professor Xavier was starting to grow into a new look. His straightened but soft brow, his eyes, never missing a feature, and his mind, always thinking of the unknown and how to befriend it. You could almost call him "Captain" if he weren't so friendly. He was more like your therapist who went the extra mile as opposed to your leader or headmaster. "Well, bring her in. Let's see what brings here out of the shadows."

Scott shook his head softly, but his curt bow betrayed his previous motion. He was rather confused. Not how this woman was still alive. If she were like Charles, then she could easily make people forget her, or make people not even see her at all. But her just being here conflicted with what he had been told years ago, when he, Jean, and the others were still new to protecting both humans and mutants. He had a question now, two, if he wanted to be technical.

Did Raven know? Was she actually speaking from what she saw, or from what a piece of paper told her?

"I'll get he-" Scott turned to the door, but it was already opened by the time that he had turned fully to face it. Instead of the hard oak, he saw a woman, looking in her forties, standing graciously in the door frame.

A silver feather Boa wrapped around her neck, dressed as always in a white corset with silver lacing. Her smooth, perfectly flawless skin shone well through the large windows of the Professor's study.

Charles moved not an inch, waiting for her to speak. As he expected, her voice rang in his mind. He could see Scott, standing between the two, looking at one another with confusion written on his face.

Whatever conversation was going on was being completely missed by Scott. With another short bow, he turned to the door. "I'll, let myself out now."

"Not just yet, Scott. You're apart of this conversation too." Charles spoke with his mouth, smiling at the man who he was proud to help train and teach.

"Well I don't exactly have mind powers, and last I remember, you could only use two phones in a conversation." He didn't want to be rude to the professor, but even he could sometimes forget that not everyone could think and talk like he did.

The two telepaths chuckled to one another.

Charles turned to Scott once more, motioning to the buxom blonde before them both. "You've been kind enough to refrain from psychically attacking Scott or wiping his mind again, so I am assuming that means that you are going to be stepping in, this time?"

"This time?" Scott looked again.

"No, I need to pick up the remnants of the Academy. After the Hellions..." She paused there. Scott almost sighed at the end of her silky voice. "Still, there was a group I had sent out and they didn't report in before the attack. I do hope that they're alright."

Scott had more questions than what he could count on both hands, but he knew that if he stuck around long enough, he'd be able to get filled in on what sort of mission he was going on.

---

"Da!" Kurt smiled, his hands clapping. "Let us begin, zen!" In an instant, he teleported off the stage, back onto the ground where Shawn and Jacob both were. In one hand, he had Shawn's hand taken in. Just contact with Shawn and his energy filled body was strange and static-like. Surely, the boy was recharging his batteries. Raven could be a slave diver in the Danger Room, and nobody could last forever against her training regiment.

His free hand stretched out to Jacob, hoping to teleport them both up high so the boy could get working on his silk. They wouldn't have much more time, they needed to act now otherwise the bell was going to wake Shawn.

---

It wasn't really an option that Booker himself wanted to explore, but his research caused him to look at all the options for the kids and young adults around him. Not everyone was lucky like Charles was, with a rich family and name, a big estate to return to after a few lofty years of travel, not to mention being a professor and having gone to college.

Mutants like Caliban tracked other mutants, some mutants could sneak others into systems. It was just a matter of knowing who to talk to.

He looked around, unsure of how to phrase his words. After a quick lip-tightening, he looked back at Rosemary and sighed briefly. "There are a million options for everyone. All you need is the drive and the right know-how. People, mutants and humans alike can do nearly everything, you just need to find the right ones to put you back into the system. You need to know the right ones to sweet-talk you into your university, the right ones to change your face just enough that people don't recognize you." It was great, he knew. Telling kids to cheat. However, his plan was much simpler than that, and the only way that the plan would work without the ability to turn things to gold would be to work as hard as you can for someone to consider writing up a new form for a new person.

"You can do what you want, Rosemary. You just need patience and determination. It doesn't hurt that your ability allows you to take on nearly any job imaginable."

"Sure I can do whatever I want, if I have the money to pursue it or a rich sugar daddy to pay for it. Is Xavier going to provide the money necessary to have....." She stopped for a second, she couldn't remember her birth name for a second. "Samantha Kensington declared alive via some over priced lawyer or have a hacker generate a new identity? The first I'll accept and question what I have to do in return, the second I would refuse, I will not live a lie. I never understood university or colleges, you go there for a degree in one subject but are forced to take classes in a myriad of other subjects, seems like a waste of time and student's money. I always preferred the idea of apprenticeships you learn nothing but the skills and knowledge for one job, you aren't filling your head with crap you don't need to know, but no one does that anymore. As for plastic surgery that is for the vain. You are given the face you are meant to have until life and genetics alters it over time." She thought for a second. "I was always curious why Xavier didn't put me on a suicide watch. I have my own theory." She knew for experience it would be pointless to attempt suicide anymore her power always prevented her from succeeding, so she gave up trying for now.

Jacob eagerly took the professor's hand as he was teleported up high with the Shawn guy in tow. "This is going to be soooo sweet!" Jacob thought as he rubbed his hands together quickly as he prepared to work his mutant magic. After a moment of prep, Jacob began spewing his silk from his mouth and engulfing Shawn's torso in the silk, making sure to avoid any exposed skin because while it probably rip his skin off, it would defiantly take fine hairs off the boy's skin should he decide to rip the silk off before it wears out on its own. Finally Jacob finished up stick Shawn to the rafters and gave a satisfied smile at his handiwork. He then noticed how high up he was and began to have a small breakdown.

"Uhhh, can I get down now Mr.Wagner!" Jacob called to the professor as he clutched one of the beams on the rafters.

He knew things that he shouldn't. Xavier knew that Samantha was going to be a tough case, but one that he was sure Booker could help out. He didn't want to use that information on the girl, not when she herself hadn't even admitted to him yet. It would be a betrayal of trust, as he saw it. Xavier had already looked into her mind and seen everything she had seen, and relayed that all to Booker, but he felt that he was honestly better off not having that information. It would have been better for him to strive for it, rather than to say the right words and wait for her to tell him herself.

"Your mutation is your suicide watch. The facility itself is your suicide watch." There was really no reason for him to state the obvious. Surely that was her theory, that her adaptation mutation kept her from dying, no matter how she tried. He had almost used her real name. He almost called her Samantha, but he bit his tongue just before it escaped his lips.

"Rosemary. You know, the worst thing about Immortality, is that many people often confuse it with invincibility." Behind him, two small constructs of simple balls floated and spun around one another. "Even if you can't die, you can still be hurt, whether or not you intended for it to be so." He recalled a memory of his own past. He was quite lucky to have been born in a small town where Mutants were generally accepted. However, he had a few accidents of his own regarding the formation of his own powers.

The two balls expanded and morphed into two figures. One, a younger version of Booker himself, back when he still went by the name Blake, and the other, a woman, about as old as Booker was now. The woman rose, higher and higher, until she suddenly fell. the young Blake reached out as far as he could, a smaller construct, connected to the little Blake by a line, formed just above the falling woman. Suddenly, she crashed into the ground below.

"Sometimes, we are not in control of the world. Sometimes, we can't control what happens. Fate is simply out of our hands, sometimes we just can't save some people, no matter how hard we try. We'll blame ourselves, use that as leverage, a point to make ourselves stronger, to break us down and remind ourselves about how we're not worth it." He looked to Rosemary, the figures fading away into dust. "We all handle these things in different ways. Stress, grief, anger, denial." He wasn't sure if he should put his hand on her shoulder or not, so he stayed his hand and looked around once more. "What happened... The house, your father, everything. It wasn't your fault. They were out of your control, and if you'll let me impede a little more, I want you to talk to Miss Darkholme or the Professor about becoming an X-man. Some people don't have the ability that you have, some can't save themselves. You can see the sights of the world, talk to people who are where you are, hurting, have been hurt. You can let them know that they're not alone. You don't have to be alone here."

He knew the old saying. If a leader doesn't believe in his own words, then why should his people? However, he knew of a few people who were so good at faking confidence and hope that their facade actually inspired others to better themselves. "There's so much beauty out there, past the gates of the School. So many great sights to see, wonderful food to eat, legendary tales to hear. There are also places who have faced much devastation, people who have lost everything, much like you have, thinking it's all over. They need someone who's been where they have been, they need someone like you."

He turned on his heel. Even if they weren't in his office, he was going to be counting this as a therapy session. It was always good to get out every once and a while. He smiled, only wide enough for his lips to separate at the center. "You might not be invincible, Rosemary, but it takes a lot of strength to have made it this far. Mutation or not. You are talking to me, and it takes a strong person to get even this far in therapy. I can't tell you that everything is going to be okay, that a set of magic words are going to make life hunky-dory, because that isn't how life works. If it were, we'd have world peace already. But I can tell you that your life is one worth living."

---

Kurt, upon hearing Jacob's call for help, teleported back up to the rafters and held onto the boy before teleporting him back to the ground.

"Alright, Everyvon, it's time to get moving." He smiled and pressed his hands together. The majority of the class dispersed and hid. Tessa and Raven were both excellent teachers at hiding and evacuating, it seemed. Most of the class was hidden, gone without a trace but still watching the scene, unseen. "Peter, if you vuld?"

Peter nodded and stood to grow once more. The plan was finally in action, and now he just needed to make an entrance for when Shawn would wake up. He took slow and careful steps to the door in the back of the room, waiting for his cue to walk in.

"Nate!" Kurt smiled, calling to the boy to get ready, while the bamf himself took his place back on the rafters to wait until everyone was in position.

Kurt smiled widely, holding no bars to keep himself from looking like an impish demon with that horrid grin on his face. This was going t be priceless, he just knew it.

So, Peter's power was just as it appears. She already knew that. She was simply trying to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. No easy feat when one of them had severe social anxiety and the other had English as a second language. Suddenly she had an idea. She replayed her own memories in her head, pinpointing from Peter's accent not only that he was from Russia, but where in Russia he was from, and then she started speaking fluent Russian, even adding the accent of Peter's hometown.

"I apologize. Would speaking like this be easier for you? At least like this, one of us can have an easy time conversing."

She managed a tiny shy chuckle. Speaking became a lot easier when she shut off the questions, but they were still there despite her attempts to ignore them. 'Are you being to friendly or forward? Are you not being friendly enough? Would the surrounding classmates think anything about you speaking fluent Russian?' She made a stronger effort to drown them out with her mantra of 'This is going well'

The class chose this time to move, hide and get ready to enact the plan. She inwardly cursed. Sometimes the universe had terrible timing. She got up and hid herself under the teacher's directions.

The class was loud and while it was amusing she wasn't in the mood to be so. Since she had no class this hour, Ayita had taken avantage of the drama class. Simply sitting in, or rather perching in. Shortly after she had arrived at the school with a disgusting number of people, Ayota had discovered a liking for books and stories. Thus she perched in the shadows of the ceiling rafters, still as a statue. Her bag leaning in the shadows as well.

It was true this time could be better spent. Learning about different climates, reseaching a new species. But she did that all day, leaving her actual work that was assigned in a lesser state, though completed. The only exception was when that work crossed with her own research or her small pleasure. Flicking her wings she rolled them. Working out the kinks of muscle before working her beak through the ebony feathers. She had no doubt the teacher knew she was there, and had less doubt that the boy would wake to some well developed plot. But she was not here for the drama, to learn. Merely to listen. It gave her a understanding of her own race. Something she very much needed. Alaska was not known for a high and diverse population. When you were ostrictized that number grew to nothing. She supressed a cackled at the sleeper. Humans were foolish. Even mutated ones.

Grinning, nate steps to the right of the door, taking the time to make the area around him become a blank spot, essentially becoming cloaked, then nate focuses on shawn. The light starts to flow between an array of purples, greens, reds and blues, all dark and alien. Then focuses on the area arounb Peter causing him to give off a sickly green aura.

"If you believe the Christian Bible then world peace is only achievable when the Antichrist comes into power, which only lasts seven years then there is seven years of hell on Earth. If I remember correctly. So to wish for world peace is to wish for the slaughter of nearly every living thing on this planet. If someone needs me then they are in worse shape than they thought. I am no one's savior, saviors are fairy tales and belief in them have led many to destruction. I can be a tank, if you know your gaming terminology, but that is all. As for joining the X-Men, I have done my research they have a high risk occupation, many have died in the service of Xavier's dream. Xavier creeps me out with his mind reading powers, I'd rather talk to Darkholme, she reminds me of that vampire chick. Don't they share the same mutation with the exception of the latter's lack of blue skin or at least I don't think the latter has blue skin. If I had that power I could make so much money with little effort, I could live like a King or Queen. The one thing I wouldn't do is fight a war that has no chance of success. Humanity as a whole will never accept us, pockets of it will which gives people like Xavier hope, but it is false hope." She checked her watch it was broken but she used it as an excuse. "Got to go almost time for my next class." She ran off.

Peter was rather shocked when Heidi had imitated his own language, his own accent, all but perfectly. He could say little about it before the plan sprung. However, he now had something to talk to someone about once this was all over. Her voice reminded him of home, of his family and his friends that he had before his mutation had started.

The light around them flashed, warped and filtered to make it seem as far off from earth as possible. With the changing lights added on top of the increased altitude, Shawn was almost stirred awake. Kurt knew that he needed just a little push, and teleported high up onto the rafters to whisper some words into his ear, helping with Shawn's frightful awakening. The teacher also couldn't help but wave to the other student up on the rafters, Miss Ayita Everwood, before teleporting back to cover.

With heavy eyes and a dull mind, Shawn awoke. He was dizzy from waking up after such a powerful nap, and the annoying lights didn't help at all. He could feel himself hanging, stuck by something incredibly sticky. He tried to move and shift about to free himself, but it was all to no avail. The more time he spent trying to free himself and waking himself up, the more he noticed the shiny green figure down below. He didn't seem familiar at all, and he could see none of his classmates down on the ground next to the shining being.

"Uh, hey? Can you help me get down from here? Also, where is Professor Wagner and the others?"

Slowly, it's head turned upwards, his stance large, heavy, and aggressive. Peter himself could see fine through the filtered light around him, but it seemed like Shawn was having a difficult time making heads or tails of things.

"Курт Вагнер, дата смерти, январь двадцать седьмого, две тысячи." His voice was now flat and robotic, making something up on the spot in an attempt to scare Shawn. It seemed to be working, as the fear filled up in his eyes. Shawn could not understand any of it, adding to his fear and shock.

Shawn didn't even think about looking for Ayita. If the others were gone, than so was she. Maybe this was one of those sentinel things that were supposed to find and track mutants. the Professor had told them that they were not in production, but what if someone made their own? Shawn tried struggling more, but to no avail. The easy option of using electricity to cut his way out also didn't work. He had a feeling that it was silk, but that walking robot couldn't have spun it. How long had he been out for? Was he still dashingly handsome like an Asian Indiana Jones?

It was at this moment that Shawn began to realize the situation. Silk wouldn't have been able to last as long as he originally thought he had been asleep for. It was still fresh, he could smell it. The stickyness was also fresh, new. He stopped struggling and hung from the rafter. "Hive..." He groaned. "Can one of you get me down? It's not funny anymore."

---

More than he'd like to admit, Rosemary had more valid points. Complete peace with the humans was never possible. Working with them right now seemed convenient, with them helping to rebuild the world after Apocalypse. However, that peace might not last forever. Mutants and mutations could easily become to go-to for blaming. Even if most of the humans eventually came around to accept mutants, there would always be some that would hate them with a passion.

Then she ran off. Booker didn't try chasing her down or using his constructs to stop her. This was already a great session, and he had more than enough to work with to prepare for the next. He could hear voices, not his own, floating around faintly. He knew who was on campus, he had a hand in asking her to come in the first place. Now that she was here, he just needed to beg and bargain until the other was satisfied enough to cooperate. He knew that she didn't like the whole talking to people thing, and that she'd tell him just to have Scott do it, but surely she understood why they were the only two who could possibly talk to Rosemary.

He just hoped that fifteen year old Favors were still valid.

Chrys chuckles silently to himself. Clasping his hands together he focus and opens them, left hand in front of his right. A series of calculations and he switches their positions, a soft poof as Shawn is moved out of the cocoon and down onto the stage. Chrys he grunts as a small twinge of pain goes through his head, a small side effect of his power. He rolls shouldersshou and drops down from the rafters, shifting to come to a brisk walk on the stage. "Well... We tried." He shrugs and makes as if picking something up and shifting his backpack to him, ignoring another twinge.

Ayita clacked her beak softly, her feathers rustling at the teacher. It was more than most got from her. Bobbing her head slightly in her own chuckleing way she watched Shawn awaken and sort out his condition. Foolish boy, you must always be aware else nature would consume you. Her laws rose to the fore front of her mind. Nevermind they were far from the forests and wilds of the North. She wanted nothing more than to join them. To swoop in and cackle as she scattered them like any crow in a good joust. But the instict of the beastial and avian forms she wore were strong. Their instincts guided her limbs, while her knowledge allowed her to rise above that instinctual base, to know what was her and what was the form. It was why she studied the species so carefully before shifting. Every muscle had been perfected over years of evolution. Every bone, every sense, and every thought. Survival of the fittest was key.

She had hunted and reaped the rewards of several forms, but she still remembered her mother's screams when the mutation over came her. The fear of the large human, the need for the sky. It was a lucky thing, Ayita thought, that it had been summer and a window had been opened. Else thing would have gone very badly. As it was her mother had bruises from Ayita's wings for a few days after that, and it had been days before the girl had been able to return to her own form. Flying herself to near exaustion in a panick. Splitting herself from the raven had been difficult but she had managed it. Terrifying her mother when she returned in covered in loose feathers. Yeah, she didn't stay in the house a minute before her mother started yelling. Leaving again she had been so very pleased. Feeling the song of the sky., later to feel the song of earth and a longing to feel the sea. There was a beauty to shifting, such as she never could explain with words.

So she had learned, quickly. For hunger and cold were ruthless teachers. Flipping her wings she hopped to another rafter with a few beats to make sure she wouldn't fall short. Preening a few feathera back in place she couldn't help a cackle. "Fool. Fool. Fool." Ravens were clever bird able to mimick human tongue. Though who she called fool was up in the air, literally, for any one to guess at. Most likely she would make several people jump with that little bit of mimickery, but perhaps not.

Who could say with mutants?