Xaviers!

Haley sat hesitantly on a bench in the hallway just outside the door of Professor Terrence's office about five minutes before her appointment, not wanting to knock on the closed door until her appointment time.

Her apprehension about talking about her telepathy with someone had nothing to do with this nope, not one bit.

The door opens and Melissa steps out, turning her head in Haley's direction. "I thought I sensed you out here. Come in, take a seat." She doesn't sound upset.

Haley jumped to her feet, startled, “I. I’m. H-hi professor.”

She grabbed her purse and followed.

Melissa closes the door behind her and gestures to one of the chairs in front of her desk, "Please, have a seat. I'm sure you know why I called you, but I wanted to start out by apologizing for not getting to this earlier last semester."

“Thats okay,” she replied, “I...well I should have been less cocky and come to see you myself. Instead I melted my boyfriend’s brain.”

"Thankfully, Tosh was able to make a recovery, but I think we have some work to do on your telepathy. Looking at your file, it looks like your telepathy is a recent development? "

Haley sighed, "Yeah he did I guess..."

She didn't really sound especially convinced of this reassurance.

"Yes...just last summer. I've had the TK since I was 13. Mostly worked to hide it for a few years, but started practicing using it when I was alone. I found out my best friend was fucking my boyfriend when I heard them both thinking about it."

“....and then crushed his Mustang into a 3 foot cube.”

"Some things happen and via telepathy, we frequently find out things we'd rather not know," she says sympathetically. "One of the things we'll work on is screening out the background noise, learning to ignore it and keep it properly sorted." She picks up a tin off her desk and opens it, offering it to Haley, "Cookie?" Inside were what looked like oatmeal raisin cookies.

Haley hesitantly accepted the offered cookies, and reached into the tin to grab one.

“Screening out the noise is really hard...I think I’m maybe...kind of better at not sending my own thoughts every where as long as I’m not too tired...”

"That's often not a bad place to start," she says as the tin floats out of Haley's hands and the lid floats back onto it. "Venturing into someone else's mind though can be quite the experience. Often things play by their own rules there and you have to be prepared to improvise."

“...I set my ex boyfriend’s brain room on fire. I...uh...didn’t really notice it until it was a big fire and I kinda panicked.”

"I know. I saw the damage. Digging that deep in someone's mind is a delicate operation." Throughout the conversation, Haley gradually becomes aware that, while she can certainly sense Melissa's presence, she's not picking up any thoughts from her. "Which is even more reason not to do it when your emotions are riding high. I'll be teaching you how to use your power to sort these things out, compartmentalize better, and we'll learn how to do a few fun things along the way. But it's going to be work and it's going to be frustrating at times. Do you think you can manage that?"

“I’ll try anything. I’m...I’m a danger to everyone otherwise,” she sighed, just holding the cookie dejectedly.

Melissa smiles encouragingly at her, "You'll get there. Now... tell me what I'm thinking."

Haley took a bite of the cookie, and chewed slowly as she narrowed her eyes and focused on trying to read her tutor’s thoughts.

As she tries to focus, she finds herself distracted by the cookie. Is that chocolate she tastes in it? Those are some really nice raisins. Seems like there's a hint of salt there too. Melissa just smiles at her.

Haley scrunched up her face in concentration, but this cookie was so distractingly delicious...and she normally hated raisins but these were really good! She pushed harder, but blinked and quirked her head at Melissa.

"I...all I can think about is this damn cookie."

“Sometimes a good way to deal with another telepath trying to intrude is to turn them aside with something else. It doesn’t always work, but it’s a good place to start. The more subtle you make it, the harder it is to tell that’s what’s happening.” Suddenly she stops being distracted by the cookie. Shields against non-telepath thoughts can work in a similar manner, pulling your sense of self to screen out the thoughts.

Haley nodded appreciatively, finishing the cookie as she processed the information. "Huh. That's not something I would have thought of. I kept like. Trying to...I dunno, my ex was like my dad and really liked those Star Trek shows so like...I tried to make a shield like a bubble around me. And it kinda worked but not really."

"But. Like I...so I should try to sorta use the situation to my advantage? Distract the world with cookies...well like not literally."

"Quite the opposite. You're distracting yourself with who *you* are. Describe yourself to me in non-physical terms. Take your time. This is a hard thing to do."

"I'm..."

a selfish bitch? Crazy? Not smart enough for most of my classes?

Haley furrowed her brow as she struggled to answer the question.

"I'm...a...cowgirl? I really like science even though it's super hard? I...uh."

"Hard to define what makes you 'you' isn't it?"

“How does this help me stop broadcasting my thoughts or hearing others though?” she asked, sounding frustrated.

"Having a firm grip on that sense of self, the things that make you you, helps you to separate the thoughts of others from your own self. You can use that knowledge to help you filter out other people's garbage. Don't worry, it's not something I expect you to master today."

Haley nodded appreciatively, “you...are a lot more understanding about this than my old roommate.”

"When I went to the Institute, we spent a good chunk of our early telepathy training working on that sense of self. Sometimes we'd work with the shapeshifters on the subject. Their sense of self is just as important, though in different ways and for different reasons than ours."

“My ex had two...I guess has three now...sort of...personalities that went with his different forms,” she nodded, following along.

"Some shapeshifters do. It's how their minds handle different facets of themselves that the shifting leans on. For some shifters, that's the way things always are, some they eventually merge back together, and some even develop further apart. It's part of how the mind copes with the changing body, but knowing how to define their 'core self' keeps them centered." She picks up a cookie and breaks it apart, munching on it thoughtfully for a moment, "For us, as telepaths, dealing with that core self is important for several reasons. One, it helps us sort out the thoughts and feelings of others and keeps them from imprinting on our own minds. Two, when you're dealing with what's commonly referred to as the astral, where metaphor can be everything, having a solid sense of self can help keep you from getting washed away in the possibilities."

"How did *you* find yourself?" she asked after a moment of further reflection.