Xaviers!

Mira floated down the halls in the Med Center, deep past the busy sections to the more sedate, long-term care section.

Her door was locked. That wasn't a problem for her, of course; she floated right on in.

It was getting late. And you don't really want her around after midnight, after all...

(open)

Not many people hang out in the medical building late at night, but Melissa is apparently one of them. She stops briefly outside the door to Altamira's room before scanning her faculty access and stepping into the room. "Miss Vazquez? Is everything alright?"

The room was pretty stark and barren, all things considered. It was mostly taken up by a bed and all the various medical equipment and gizmos that were required to keep Mira's body alive and well -- or, at least, as well as could be expected.

Mira hovered over her own body, looking down thoughtfully.

"Hrm? Oh, no, everything's...everything's alright for now. I was just getting ready for some sleep..."

"Sleep's a good thing to find," Melissa says, moving over to look at the bed. "Sometimes it's more difficult than others." She didn't really see Mira, not like anyone else did. Mira was more of a 'presence' to her, more akin to an astral avatar. "I'm Professor Terrance. I've been meaning to introduce myself, but things have been so busy lately."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Terrance. What brings you down to the depths of the medical center?"

"Walking the halls. I have a hard time sleeping on the best of nights. Trying to find a good solution through X-Corp, but my telekinesis makes it difficult sometimes." She's carrying her cane in its folded state, almost like a security blanket of sorts.

"I can understand that," Altamira said, sympathetically. "Nightmares?"

"Not particularly. Hyper-awareness of my surroundings," she says, "And some other sleep issues brought on by not getting feedback from light. It's something I've had to acclimate myself to, but sometimes difficulties still arise. What about you? Adjusting to your new surroundings?"

"Yeeeees..." MIra said, carefully. "Perhaps too much, at times."

"I suppose in your situation that might be a bit literal. Something you'd like to talk about?"

"We can, if you'd like.

It can just be exhausting. There are so many people here, and, they're all very...

..assertive", she said, after a moment.

"A problem experienced by quite a few telepaths, though I would guess that it's amplified in your situation." She ponders for a moment, "You change to fit their expectations, yes?"

"Mostly -- my form and attitude takes on aspects of what they're dwelling on.

Which means I should really try to avoid the boy's half of the dorms in the evenings."

Melissa gives a sympathetic chuckle, "I would say that's a wise course of action. If you'd like, I can work with you on building your shields. It wouldn't be a quick fix, but it may help."

"I'm a little concerned about that, because if I shield myself off from people, then I don't...


...it'd be like the headmistress. She can't see me. She can't feel me. I might as well not be there. What if it was like that for everyone?"

"You'd have to build them differently than most telepaths and it would require some experimentation. To be perfectly honest, I've never tutored another telepath before."

"Really? I would have thought that a counselor in places like this would have a lot of experience with that sort of thing."

"I was a counselor at a secondary school for quite a few years, so I have plenty of experience with counseling. And I went to Xavier's Institute, so I've worked with telepaths before. There's a lot of call for functional telepaths in the world, so sometimes those of us with less direct, but still applicable, experience get called on."

Melissa Terrance wrote:"I was a counselor at a secondary school for quite a few years, so I have plenty of experience with counseling. And I went to Xavier's Institute, so I've worked with telepaths before. There's a lot of call for functional telepaths in the world, so sometimes those of us with less direct, but still applicable, experience get called on."

"That sounds an awful lot like 'we'd be winging it'," she smiled.

She smiles, "I'll let you in on a small secret. As a telepath, you'll likely always be winging it. In telepathy, it never pays to be too rigid."

"At the same time, it's no good to be too flexible, either."

"That probably plays into your current problem. That would be the thing we'd initially be working to help with."

Mira nodded. "That would make some sense, yes...a happy medium, I suppose."

"Unhappy mediums are inadvisable," Melissa jokes.

"Then they give you Kafka dreams, yes?"

"That is a distinct possibility," she laughs. "I should probably leave you to your sleep. We can arrange a schedule when you're ready to start working on your telepathy."

"I think I'd like that. Thank you, Professor Terrance," she smiled.

She made no move towards her bed or anything of that nature, just sort of floating there in space.

Melissa 'watches' her for a moment and then smiles as she heads for the door, "Good night, Miss Vazquez."