Xaviers!

Basil had slipped out for a smoke on the Union Building patio to contemplate. He had plans to make and things to consider over the next several months, and these sorts of things always caused him a healthy level of anxiety. Anxiety is didn't want Colette seeing.

Hence, he was alone this evening, browsing something on his phone.

((Open))

Franklin had been reflecting on his own decisions and was yet to come to a solution. Having given up, he had climbed down the fire escape and was about to head off to bed when he noticed distinct electrical storm that was Basil. While Franklin wasn't looking for friends, the man had taken the time to help him. It would only be polite to greet him.

"Evening, Basil."

"Ah, good evening Franklin." Basil held out the cigarette pack to his new acquaintance, as was polite to do. "Settling in alright?"

Franklin watched as Basil's hand moved towards as if to hand him something. The scent of tobacco revealed it to be a pack of ciggeretts and removed one from for himself. A quick spark from his finger set the tip ablaze. Franklin enjoyed a long pull from his cigarette before answering.

"I was going to attempt to."

"Something on your mind, mate?"

Franklin wasn't sure what all he could say to Basil, so he chose the shortest yet most truthful answer.

"Someone got me thinking."

"Oh? Made a friend already eh?"

"Her name was Sam. She has an interesting view is the world."

"Ahhhh, the Morrigan." He chuckled. "Yes, she's good folk.

What did she have to say that's keeping you up mate?"

"That I am more than I think I am."

"She told me something very similar once about myself."

"Was it true?"

"Depends on who you ask." Basil replied vaguely before taking a long drag of his cigarette.

"She told me that I was neither a freak nor a monster.

My mother wouldn't agree with her on either point, and I think most people wouldn't agree with her on the freak part.

But... I think at least some people besides Samantha have found merit in me, much to my chagrin. " He chuckled.

Franklin didn't realize how much they had in common.

"My mother regards me as a monster as well. She says only a demon can do what I can and have done. She doesn't even know I'm here."

Franklin pulled another drag from his cigarette. "I haven't talked to her since the day I left her house a year ago."

"You win." He chuckled ruefully. " Mine's just a control freak who doesn't possess the gene, so she doesn't really know what to do with me. She sent me here under threat of something worse.

I don't go out of my way to speak to her but I just saw her two months ago for Hanukkah."

He paused for a moment. " Purim's coming up, want to trade for a few days? I'll take a turn ignoring your mum and you can go blot out Haman's name, eat some Kreplach, and hear all about my poor life decisions. " He joked.

"I wouldn't know the first thing about being Jewish."

"That's alright, neither does mum." He quipped back.

"In all seriousness, Samantha isn't wrong. A human being is often more than they think they are, and Samantha's particular brand of insight allows her to see things others do not.

If she says there's more to you, than there probably is."

"Are there other...." The word was still so foreign to him, like a 1,000 year old curse word. "Mutants in your family?"

"I don't know what to think anymore. Life was so certain before I came here."

Basil being a huge proponent for honesty, he wasn't sure how to answer the question in light of recent information he'd been provided.

"I wasn't raised around mutants, no." Is what he finally settled on.

"I was raised by my mother and my grandparents mostly, they're all humans.

I wasn't really certain of anything when I got here. "

"Was your family....," yet another word that he knew the definition for but had no meaning to him. "Loving?"

"How did you deal with the uncertainty?" Franklin had said more words today than he did in the past year. It felt strangely 'normal' talking to these complete strangers. "It is driving me mad. I am starting to question my purpose."

"My grandparents were.

Zayde never met a person he didn't like, so the mutancy caused him little pause. Bubbe is.... well mother learned to be a control freak from somewhere." He laughed. "But I've never doubted that they love me, in their own ways."

Basil had to think on it for a moment to answer Franklin's next question, and Franklin would notice Basil engaging in a physical tick as he thought.

He folded his free hand over his forearm and began tapping his finger against it. After an awkward pause to collect his thoughts, he continued.

"I no longer saw myself as having purpose when I arrived, and but for a brief relationship, I hadn't for awhile. So I guess if anything, being here is what helped me deal with the uncertainty."

Franklin removed his glasses to allow Basil to see his eyes for the first time. "Once this happened to me, my mother tried to 'cleanse' the evil from me. It was years of torture. One night she let slip that my father was one to, the worse kind. He started a cult that believed we are God's true children."

His teeth clenched in anger as he continued. "He convinced his followers to murder nonmutants. When people began to question him, he used his powers to kill the entire congregation with sulfuric acid gas. I was made to pay for his sins and I dreamt of doing the same to him. I was taught to believe I am a monster capable of only death, but what if that isn't true?"

Basil's brow knitted in concern as Franklin spoke. When he finished, Basil's tone was just as concerned as his face.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say other than how awful that is.

But you're not a monster, and any being that can ask that question is capable of more than death."

"If I am not a monster, then what I?"

"I dunno mate, that's for you to decide."

Franklin needed to change the subject, as things only kept getting more complicated. "What brings you out here?"

"Thinking about my own purpose." He replied rather vaguely, but elaborate between drags.

"When I first arrived, I didn't have a real direction to what I was doing. I started uni because I had to, and that's the same reason I came here.

But something happened and things have changed. I need to figure out how to work with the change."

"What changed for you?"

"I was alone.

My friends mostly abandoned me when they found out what I was. In the polite British fashion of course, not in the seemingly dramatic way you Americans enjoy based off the repeated tales I've heard brought along by students from across the pond.

As I mentioned, I don't have any mutant family so far as I know, and a young man can only cling to his grandparents for so long.

My first relationship was.... troublesome." He again didn't go into detail.

"But I've found someone who wants to be with me, and whom I want to be with. And while I can't say that sex is everything to a relationship, two grown adults need their privacy. But there's no co-ed rooms here, so if we want that we'll have to move off campus.

However, mother has forbade me to leave campus. So now I have to decide if I want to ignore her 'rules' and do what I want to do, or follow them and risk my relationship."

Basil's story gave Franklin a sense of hope that you didn't know was in him. "If you have a chance at a normal life, take it. We...," Franklin paused. The next word that came to mind, if said, could change the direction of his life forever. "...mutants don't get those very often."

He did his best to give a playful smile. "If it helps, think like an American. Screw what your mom thinks."

Basil laughed at that observation.

"Old habits die hard I suppose. I may be surrounded by you all, but you're all still here in my country.

What happens if you all leave? Now I'm stuck holding the proverbial bag on my new YOLO lifestyle and likely to be browbeat to death on the tubes for my lack of shame."

"I won't be going anywhere. It's not like i have anywhere else to go."

"Someday you will." Basil replied in a warm and encouraging tone. "If I had to pick only one positive thing about this place, it's that it finds a home for everyone."

"The island of misfit toys."

Basil chuckled again.

"An apt analogy.

So what else did you and Sam talk about? Did she tell you about her badass motorcycle riding rock-star girlfriend?"

"We talked about music. She has a real gift."

"Does she? I remember her karaoke night performance, but I don't remember her mentioning she played anything."

"I interupted her drumming in the music room earlier. She was very impressive. I recommend watching her play."

"I'd ask her to 'jam', but I'm not sure just our two instruments together would work by themselves."

This piqued Franklin's interest as he loved music. "What do you play?"