Xaviers!

The train ride to Maldon was mostly uneventful, aside from a very rude ticket inspector assuming Shari wouldn't have a ticket. She very much enjoyed waving it in his face, leaning back into her seat with a smug smile on her face as he punched her ticket and handed it back to her. She spends the rest of the trip with her feet up on the seat across from her, staring out the window and watching the boring landscape of the English countryside glide past. Finally the train pulls into the small two platform station and she hops out, looking around. She's not sure what she expected, but somehow she thought a town with an University would be... well, not this. This is a small poodunk town on the coast. Closing her eyes she can even smell the vague salt-mixed-with-rotting-seafloor odor blowing in over the low tide in the distance. A bit of doubt creeps into her mind, but she'd made her choice when she decided to blow 19 Quids on this.

"Whelp, no point in buggering around." she tells herself. She reshoulders her backpack and walks in the vague direction of what she assumes is downtowm. Or what passes for it anyway.


((Open))

A respectably-dressed woman in her thirties sits at a cafe apparently enjoying some tea. In a town like Maldon, that wouldn't stand out so much if the woman also didn't have her eyes covered with a nice blindfold pinned under her hair. A long cane is folded up on the table next to her handbag.

As easy as it (seemingly) would be, Shari isn't low enough to steal from the literally blind and she pushes the thought down. But who wears a blindfold like that? She's got the cane, so it's not some kinda weird thing. Still, it's mondo weird and she stops on the sidewalk, a bit rudely staring at the woman, figuring she isn't going to notice anyway so there's no need to be polite in her curiosity.

"Would you like some tea?" The woman asks with an obvious Scottish accent. A slight smile plays across her face.

"Oh!" she let's out in surprise at the woman apparently having noticed her. "Uh. Maybe... Your treat?"

"Of course," the woman says, turning her head and asking for the waitress to bring another cup of tea. "I've yet to run into someone who couldn't use a good cup of tea."

This was weird to say the least. Random acts of kindness tend to be non-existent in the big city, so she's at least a little bit wary. But also, who would turn down a hot cup of tea? She slides her backpack off her shoulder and let's it flump down next to the chair before sitting down herself. "Thanks. Getting kind of chilly out there." she says, although it's in the low fifties, maybe the forties at most.

"It's a nice change from Edinburgh," she says, "What brings you to Maldon?"

"Oh, just travelling. Seeing the world." she says before she can think better of it, putting on a labored grin. "I mean... taking in the sights?" she tries to salvage it before cutting herself off with "Hardcore backpacking!" Well done, Shari.

"Fair enough. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't push, but I could suggest some better places to visit for 'hardcore backpacking'," she says with a small smirk.

Shari gives her a slightly dubious glance. "How did you know I was standing there anyway?"

"I have a 'sense' about these things," she says with a smile. "An evolution or so they say."

"Aha! I knew that blindfold was too weird. You're from that school, aren't you?"

"Recently hired, but yes. Psychology professor. Melissa Terrance," she says by way of introduction.

"Shari. Nice to meet'cha." she says. Her accent and word choices are kind of all over the place, probably indicative of having moved through a bunch of different countries as the only personal history she remembers. "So that's just teaching brain stuff or does that place need a shrink and all?" she asks, not trying to be rude but probably still kind of coming off like it on account of seeing no reason to not be this forward. When the waitress brings her tea she thanks her by giving her a quick salute with two fingers before picking up the cup and carefully sipping it.

"Mostly teaching, but they could call on me as a psychologist if they needed to. Some mutations can have unusual mental side effects."

"Oh man, people go crazy from it?" She's fairly certain that's not usually the case, although she's met some nutty people in Mutant Town. And there's always the chance that mental side effects could include amnesia. She just doesn't want to blatantly come out and ask that, so playing dumb is much easier.

"Crazy is a strong word. Telepaths can have trouble separating their identity from the identity of others. When I went to the Institute, I knew some people that turned into animals and they had to learn to deal with the instincts that caused. Being able to change into other things at all is something the human mind is not equipped to deal with by default, but many of the university students had some form of schooling or training during their earlier years, so that will probably be less of an issue than it would be with younger students at a place like the Institute in the United States."

"What do you mean with not equipped to deal with? Like... their brains breaks from changing or something?" she asks, sipping her tea with some concern. She hadn't really thought about it like that, but she could change a lot of things about herself and whose to say she couldn't do the same thing to her brain and mess something up spectacularly in the process. She knew little about anatomy and it still somehow works out alright most of the time but brains are tricky.

She considers her response as she sips at her tea, "Not so much a breaking. With telepaths, they can hear the thoughts of others and there's very little filter for them when their power first emerges. With training, they can learn to block them out or filter there own thoughts from those of others, but it can be hard early on and nothing growing up really prepares you for that. Nothing prepares a wolf shapeshifter for all the additional smells and sounds they hear. For other shapeshifters, they may not be prepared for what it means to turn into, say a table or that person they saw on the street. Nothing before their mutation comes out prepares them for that, unless they're lucky enough to have active mutant parents."

"Hmm, alright. But... what about someone who turns into a wolf. Isn't their brain that of a doggo then? Does that mess anything up?"

"If they don't address it, it could. Now, keep in mind, my experience here is theoretical, since I'm not a shapeshifter myself, but shapeshifting into a wolf can carry with it additional instincts and impulses that are foreign to the typical human brain. If a shifter doesn't prepare and handle those, they can begin to mingle with their normal function and if *that* gets out of hand, it can be a long road back to being functional."

"Sounds like a crazy place to work. I've been to Mutant Town, but no one there seem, like, completely messed up. I mean you hear stories sometimes about someone blowing up their apartment on accident and getting dragged off by somebody, but that's usually somebody exaggerating cause they heard some rumor about that happening elsewhere. Although I swear sometimes people just disappear. And not, like, just moving on. Especially homeless people. Just poof, gone from one day to the next." she informs Melissa, kinda mixing hearsay about X-Corp with rumors about Russia and her own paranoia into its own kind of special blend of non-sense.

"X-Corp does a lot of work with mutants, especially in Mutant Town, getting them the help and assistance they need when they can. Some people don't want help, so they respect that unless their ability poses a significant danger to others. They assist the university if need be, but the university is really its own entity. They do much the same thing, taking in mutants who want to learn both the typical university coursework and want to learn more about their abilities. You've heard of the X-Men?"

"I dunno, what some people call help often sounds like a whole lotta 'We know best, so shut up' to me... And duh, who hasn't."

"They operate out of the university. Most of them are students there. They're a part of the school's mission to help others. Sometimes people take 'know more' or 'have additional resources' as 'know best' and that can be frustrating to hear. But the school and X-Corp in general are really well-equipped to assist mutants as much as they can or are allowed to do so in some cases."

Shira nods, but can't help picturing a bunch of people like Basil patting each other on the back over how good they look throwing scraps to the 'less fortunate'.

"Well, I'm sure the people in Mutant Town appreciate it as much as they can. So hey, thanks for the tea but I should probably get going. Miles to go before I sleep and all that."

Melissa fishes into her handbag and pulls out an embossed business card with her contact information, offering it to Shari. "If you decide you want those suggestions on 'hardcore backpacking' or you decide you want to visit the school, please call me. I was lucky enough to get the help I needed, so I make it a point to pay that forward."

This was starting to feel surreal, like some kind of comedy. Why did people think business cards worked well as an invitation was beyond her, it only seemed to reinforce the notion that this was not a place for people like her. At least not to beg for help. And really, if they're offering it this freely, surely they weren't going to mind if she just helped herself some. On the surface of her thoughts that might almost seem like she's accepting the invitation, or at least considering it.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." is what she says as she stuffs the card into her pocket where it joins Basil's. It felt weird, almost strangely treacherous, to be carrying around two fancy business cards.

Melissa seems satisfied by the response, at least outwardly. She takes out the money for the tea, tucking it under her saucer with the bill, before unfolding her cane, "It was nice talking to you, Shari. I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thanks ma'am." she says, staying in her seat for a bit, confused. She does eye the money Melissa left for the tea but ultimately decides not to be an ass to both Melissa's hospitality and the waitress and just shoulders her backpack to wander down the road once more.