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[The door opens as Wanda approaches, but it soon becomes apparent that it’s not because of any automatic system: A waist-high crab emerges from the condo on three long legs, then tilts its… body? head? up at the new arrival.][A familiar woman’s voice from inside the condo.] The door!

[Kai the pod crab ignores this reminder, instead opting to scuttle past Wanda on its way out of the building.

[Within a few moments, the crab’s owner appears at the door with her PacDisc in hand, ready to close the door before she notices Wanda. Her eyes light with recognition, and she gives Wanda a nod of greeting.]

Hi.

[Mentally, she’s basically a different person, especially if one considers that she’s not pretending any more. Gone is the underlying fear of discovery from their first meeting over a year ago, the constant struggle to be someone else, replaced with the feeling of being lost, of not knowing what to do, but also a nihilistic willingness to try anyway.

[Oddly, this is still a little calmer than she was back then.]

Did we meet on Emiri?

[This place is weird; she knows people occasionally turn back up with no memories of being here.

[Over her shoulder, Wanda may catch a glimpse of the starkest studio apartment, with a stocked kitchen and a small portable pool being the only visible furnishings. There are a few cardboard boxes and rolls of packing tape in a pile on the floor, as well as two bowls by the pool.]

[Maybe she should have stopped the crab(?) before it scuttled out the door, but powers or not, Wanda was a little too startled and confused to react in time.]

Sorry, your crab...

[The apartment is oddly bare, but then again she's not sure what else she was expecting. 'Jane' didn't seem like a woman who had much patience for extra frills and luxuries back on Emiri.]

We did. It was a strange place.

[And extremely awkward, but she isn't here to bring up uncomfortable things again. This is probably going to get weird enough before they're done.]

Do you want to stay here? Or is there somewhere close that would be better?

[The apology for her crab gets a shrug, as she's well used to its independence and accompanying intelligence. She nods with satisfaction when it turns out this is indeed the same Wanda, but then shakes her head.]

This is where I've got. And I've got stuff we can use.

[She steps aside to give both a better view of the packing materials on the floor (which may look familiar from rank privileges some time ago) and room for Wanda to enter, waiting to close the door behind her.]

It's, uh. Bistra. Bistra Nylund. [At least, it is for today.] Not Shepard.

[She's been practising giving different names, different combinations, but this is the first time she's actually given one to another person, not the complacent audience of her crab.]

Bistra. [If she repeats it she'll have a higher chance of remembering. Wanda doesn't ask why, but she can hazard a guess.] All right.

[She follows her into the apartment, glad to see she's not the only one who's held on to various gifts from the captains for longer than they were probably expected to. Hey, you never know when you'll need it again, right? And as long as the have the Pac-Discs, no one can really accuse them of hoarding...]

So how much can you do?

[She opens a hand at her side, and dark energy crackles blue around her fingers.]

There's Warp - making mass effect fields that move so fast they tear something apart from the inside.

[With a clean twist of her fingers, one of the boxes takes on the same blue glow, a small gravitational singularity forming inside, and then pulls apart, shreds of cardboard whirling.]

And there's Throw, which is... well named.

[This hand movement is more like batting her hand - a roll of tape is flung in the same direction.]

If you combine them, it explodes.

[She makes the Warp gesture first, another box starting to glow and buckle from the biotics within, and then throws a ball of dark energy at the same box. The crack is louder than the earlier implosion, the pieces of cardboard shooting in more directions.]

That's it. There's more that can be done with biotics, but that's all I'm trained in, and all I want to work on now is finer, telekinetic-like control, like you and your red thing.

[Biotics are a more comfortable subject for her to talk about than pleasantries and her name, and it shows in her less awkward speech and her posture, her feet apart now rather than together.]

[Wanda has no idea what a mass effect field is, but it seems like it's a similar concept to the scarlet. She can work with this.

Unfortunately, she doesn't have the blocks she trained with here, but the remaining cardboard shreds and rolls of tape should do for now. Wanda gestures and floats six individual things over to them in a cloud of red. That's about how many she started with.]

How many things can you hold?

[She watches the cloud keenly, but can only shrug at the question.]

I can't hold them. That's why you're here. [The edge to her voice that she's trying to keep in check (etiquette classes taught her something after all) is directed mainly at her first trainers for focusing so much on Warp and a bit at herself.] The field I make for Throw - it pushes; it has to go somewhere.

How do you hold things with your - [Lacking a word for it, she makes a face and a vague gesture at the redness in the air.]

How do you see it in your mind?

[Wanda can be patient - she'd be lying if she said not having any help for years wasn't incredibly frustrating at times.

She lets the items fall so she can try demonstrating on one roll of tape, slower this time.]

For me, this is like a thread. I attach a little focus to it-- [She gestures and the scarlet surrounds the tape again, though it doesn't move.] --and then I can move it however I want, like it's on a string.

[She moves her hand up and right, then to the left, and the tape follows her movements. When she stops, it does too.]

It takes more focus to hold it, but it is not so different.

Does that make sense?

Edited 2017-03-27 14:17 (UTC)

[With her only options for actual biotics being Shepard and Thane, she’s trying people with different kinds of powers to see if anyone has any tips for controlling what can functionally be a similar power if she only knew how.

[Also, Charles invited her here, which is weird.

[So here she is at the X-Mansion, wearing a tank top and close cut pants in neutral colors, staring up at the building so unlike anything she saw in the Milky Way; if anything, it’s like some of the eclectic buildings a couple of regions over from her on Kauto but with much more of a lawn. Strong local telepaths and empaths may detect wariness over a feeling of being lost, of not knowing what to do but being willing to try anyway.

[At the front door, she messages Jean, and then she knocks.]

[He does sense her unease but he doesn't reach out to reassure her, does nothing that might dissuade her from coming to see some of them. Instead, he comes down from his office when she knocks, pulling the door open and giving her a faint smile.]

I'm glad you came. Please, come inside.

[The faint smile she gives back (faint mostly because she's fallen out of the habit) as she steps inside is colored by confusion: No one's been glad she was around since Aurelia left, and before that, since people still thought she was Commander Shepard.]

Charles. [A confirmation from the network.] I'm - Rochelle. Rochelle Delaney.

[Another day, another name combination. Because trying them out on real people seems to give her more of a feel for them than when she tries them out on her crab.]

[Trying on names, if he was prying, he'd have no objection. He's being respectful though, only catching surface thoughts and feelings. He still smiles and offers his hand.]

A pleasure, Miss Delaney. I hope you'll enjoy your visit.

[The daytime is already turning lazily into evening when J gets back to Mansion. It's actually quite surprisingly early for her to end the day's work and head back to home. Usually she'd stay out until the late hours and return only when majority of people were in deep sleep. Maybe it's the several days of staying up late while working and partying having a payback.

She's wearing a casual purple dress with golden heels and matching jewelry decorating her neck. The little handbag is swaying in the air as she's smoking the leftovers of her cigarette. Once she's done with that she throws the used cigarette butt on the ground, right next to other ones, and pushes the heavy main door open absentmindedly.

And almost hitting the other person on the other side with it. Oops.

She's about to say mumble her apologies to the person but before a sound gets to leave from her lips she recognizes the other woman, making her pause in confusion.]

What are you doing here?

[Who even is this complete stranger, to ask such a question? She glares, folding her arms.]

I was invited. What are you doing here?

[She only cares as far as finding out what right this girl has to ask her why she's here - after working on her biotics and meeting new people, she just wants to go home and eat.]

[Oh, well isn't that unexpected reaction from Shepard. It's the first time she's seen the other woman act so defensively with almost hostile manner. No matter how difficult their relationship has been in the past she's always treated her with patience and understanding.]

I live here. [She scoffs, raising her own tone to match the abrasiveness to other woman.] Invited by who?

By Charles Xavier. [She knew she shouldn't have indulged his curiosity, should have asked Jean to teach her somewhere else.] Whom I wasn't aware had to run visitors past someone who wasn't even here for it.

[Seriously, who is this, his secretary? Security? The latter's unlikely, considering her incredibly impractical outfit.]

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for Wanda

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X-Mansion

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a little later than this

augh I'm sorry

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sorry this is so ridiculously late, feel free to ignore!