Xaviers!

"Piano.

I went to a state secondary school before uni that used to be very focused on the arts."

"I tickle the ivorys myself. I was taught by a jazz musician in Chicago. It wasn't formal training, but I learned how to close a club down."

"Perhaps 'Dashing American Jazz Musician' is what you are." Basil replied, sounding amused.

"Jazz musician would be nice, but I have no idea about dashing."

"I haven't seen my face in 5 years." Franklin instantly regretted letting his blindness slip. This place was already having an affect on him. He wasn't sure he liked it

Basil shrugged, and if he realized what Franklin was admitting to, he didn't turn it into a thing.

"A man's face doesn't dictate his charms.

Most people can't even see mine."

"I've been called many things, charming wasn't one of them."

"I can't see anyone having an issue with you."

"How do you m-" Basil paused, then chuckled ruefully.

"Ahh.

I'm invisible mate.... but I guess not to you?"

Franklin lifted his glasses to reveal the electricity in them. "I see the electricity pulsing through your body. Everyone is a walking nervous system to me. I guess it's kinda hard to hind from me."

Basil giggled.

"Unless you don't have one like my girlfriend. "

"Now I'm curious. What does she have?"

"A mass of non-specialized cells, created and operated by a core functioning organ, similar to a brain.


So I suppose to you she'd look like Krang learned to fly."

"Very interesting."

"I guess we..... mutants come in all forms."

I suspect most people will look much like they did before to you, but yeah you're going to see some wildcards. My advice is to go with it.

There's plenty of cute girls as long as you don't mind the occassional extra appendage or unusual ears."

"I don't think I'll have much time for girls."

"Plus, I'm to damaged to be good to anyone."

"You definitely have some things to sort out.

But uni is three years long mate. You've time."

"I'm not sure that'll be enough time"

"I don't think I belong here."

"Why do you say that?"

"Everyone here seems so certain of themselves."

Franklin's face became a mixture of hate and shame. "I can't even accept the fact that I am a mutant. Everyone I have met talks about having such great gifts, but all I see is a curse I am doomed to live with. My affliction robbed me of a normal life. I can't touch someone with out these stupid gloves because I could send electricity frying through their body. Until today, I knew I was product of evil. But now I don't know what I am."

"The only thing I do know is that I am no hero."

Basil was awkwardly quiet for some time before he spoke again, him engaging in that 'tapping' behavior again.

"I only started using 'the M word' myself within the last month." He admitted.

"Before that, I referred to it as my 'condition', because that's how everyone else around me. referred to it. And I know I saw it as a curse. I still do if i'm being honest... I don't have full control of my ability, so I'm uncontrollably invisible to most people most of the time.

And not everyone here is a hero. I've never been on teams, or a mission. I'm just the library assistant."

"I'm just so lost."

"Sam said I need to find a purpose."

"She's not wrong... But I doubt she meant immediately.

Take your time. Figure out some classes. Get acclimated.

It will come to you when it's your time."

"Thank you Basil, you have already become the closest thing I've had to a friend in years."

Basil's face responded in a warm smile, or whatever the Franklin vision equivalent was.

"You're welcome."

"What do you do in your free time?"

"Read mostly, though I'm sure that's not surprising given my chosen profession.

Play piano when the mood strikes. And sometimes I like to make costumes and props for fancy dress parties.

I also watch a lot of cartoons lately. My girlfriend enjoys animation and comics.

Oh, and I've also recently developed a taste for fast driving, but don't tell my girlfriend that."

"I've never driven before. I also play piano when I need to think. I have developed an appreciation for audio books in the past few years because t.v. isn't really my thng."

"There's definitely something of a XU reading primer.

Harry Potter is a given, but basically anything where teens are somehow different or special from the rest of the world are popular.

We definitely have some of them in the audio section."

"Do you have a digital collection? I'm not really good around people."

"Only partially.

Though I'm sure the headmistress would prefer it to be totally digital, she probably finds our analog learning severely primitive. " He joked.

"I'm not much an analog person myself. I don't have much of a use for it."

"So how's the world in Neo-vision?"

"Neo-vision?"

"The bullet dodging guy? You've never seen the Matrix?"

"I was more of a horror fan back then. I saw every Nightmare on Elm Street film over a hundred times. I couldn't get enough of being scared as a kid."

"So you're a King fan then." He noted.

"I am not good with being frightened. For awhile I actually passed out if I got too scared."

"King is a master of the art form. The Stand is one of the best books ever written. Fear is what tells us that we are alive."

"We must have very different fear reactions." He chuckled. "It mostly just makes me feel like I am dying.

The Dark Tower was alright though. And all his various slice of life stories that have nothing to do with the occult."

"The Green Mile will make anyone cry."

"Not untrue, but it doesn't take much to make me cry."

"It's the only thing have let affect me over these past few years. If I had let things get to me, I wouldn't have survived."