Xaviers!

"Who's being modest? I'm really not all that special."

"No? Just an ordinary girl seeing the sights?"

"As ordinary as any individual can be," she says with a smile.

"Then that makes two of us," she chuckles.

"Two of us? I suppose that would explain your interest in the school."

"Oh? They have an interest in ordinary girls, do they?"

"Indeed they do," she deflects.

"Mmm, maybe I should pay it a visit, then."

"I would certainly call first. They're big on meeting you and giving you a tour."

"Oh, but I'm sure you could show me around."

"Oh, I'm sure I could." She leaves the pedantic bit unsaid.

"You could but you won't. Am I too much a stranger?"

"I'm not really in a position to just bring in anyone," she says, which is mostly true. "Security can be a big deal for them. If you can give me a last name though, I can certainly check and see if they'd be open for a tour."

"Mmm, she purses her lips for a moment."

"I suppose there is no harm in it. Schwarz."

Wanda pulls out her phone, "Give me just a moment to check in." She dials up the front desk of the school, "Yes, this is Wanda Johansson. I have a potential visitor by the name of Isolde Schwarz. Would it be possible to bring her in for a tour? Yes, I'll hold." She smiles at Isolde, "Administrative bureaucracy."

There's an audible click in the line as the call gets shifted around before the receptionist speaks up again.

"Yes, that's quite alright. We'll have someone waiting to show them around."

"Excellent. I'll bring her right over," Wanda says, "We're in Maldon now, so it shouldn't be long." She moves to hang up her phone, "Good news, they have time for visitors today it seems."

"Ah, how nice," she smiles broadly.

"We go, then?"

"Of course," Wanda says, leading the way towards the school.

The gates to the school are open (as they usually are during the day) and in front of the mansion itself Ashlie is standing and waiting for their guest. She's wearing a simple dark-grey pants-suit and to anybody with heightened senses she smells disturbingly sterile.

"Ah, you must be the guest who asked for a tour." she smiles politely. "Welcome to Xavier's University. I'm Miss Minamida, the head-mistress. But please, call me Ashlie." It sounds so rehearsed it could almost come from a tape.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you. I am Isolde, but you know that already, yes?"

"Since Wanda was so nice as to call ahead, yes. We're always glad to show interested people around and reward curiosity over fear and prejudice."

"Many terrible things have been done in the name of fear."

"I can't deny that." she says, opening the doors behind her and inviting Isolde in. "Few people actually care to visit, though the people of Maldon have begun to warm up to us. Even if it's just that the students spending money in town has done quite a bit to revitalize the economy."

"It is a nice little town. I have been enjoying my stay."

Wanda falls back a few steps since the Headmistress is here to lead the tour. She's watching the conversation with interest.

"You' been in town for a while then?" Ashlie asks a not at all probing question.

"Perhaps a few weeks," she nods.

"Excellent pubs in these parts."

"Indeed. If you don't mind the question, are you a mutant yourself or are you merely curious? Just so I know whether or not to expound on the virtues of our humble institute to enlighten or to enroll." she jokingly explains.

"I am as ordinary as Wanda back there," she chuckles.

"I am... different. We did not use those words where I came from."

"Well, we have resources uniquely suited to people who are different, regardless of what you would call it."

"I think maybe my time for learning is passed, but I am impressed with what you're doing here."

"The time to learn is never passed, but maybe that doesn't apply to college credit specifically." she chuckles as she starts looking up information on their visitor. With a last name and a starting point for possible college accreditation she might be able to turn something up.

Sadly, Isolde's name doesn't come up in any databases from the universities Ashlie has access to.

A broader search does turn up a reference to one Isolde Schwarz of Würzburg, Bavaria. That can't be right, though.

It's in the digitized records of a witch trial in 1626.

"I'm not exactly the right age for university," she chuckles.

Long-lived mutants do exist, rare as they might be, although almost 400 years is pushing it. Then again, they'd met one in ancient Ireland.

"Oh? You must be looking very young for your age then."

"Good genes, yes? You don't look old enough to have gone silver, either."

"A deliberate choice more than the effects of age. I heard you've met a couple of the students already?" she asks as she leads Isolde through the wood-clad hallways of the mansion.

"Wanda has been most helpful," she nods.

"I just had to see such a thing, yes?"

"Plenty of people are curious about this place." she nods. "Although it's often those who have a bone to pick with us. Not too long ago we had protesters howling at our gates, though their bark was much worse than their bite." she goes on with a perfectly straight face.

"Ah, as if you can lodge complaint about what someone is."