Two logs set Thursday afternoon, part 1

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Leaning slowly through the doorway, Alison glances down the hallway, head shifting only slightly as her eyes flick to one side, then the other. Spotting her target she smiles to herself, and then steps fully into the corridor. "Yoshida Shiro?" she calls out to the boy a short distance from her.

"Dare?" Shiro calls out, looking around. He's caught off guard by the use of his surname before proper name, and assumes that the person trying to get his attention speaks Japanese. "Nani?"

"I won't even try to inflict what precious little Japanese I know on you," Alison chuckles, taking a few more steps to draw his attention before walking up to him. "I'm Alison Blaire," she beams at him, extending her hand to him.

"Oh, hello," Shiro replies, shaking her hand and slightly inclining his head. "I was told I would need to speak with you at some point."

"Ah yes, the dreaded counselor talk," Alison shakes her head, because so far most of her "victims" haven't been too much in dread of her. "Mostly right now, I'm just available if you have any questions while settling in. How about I give you a short tour of the place, while you try and think some up?"

He shrugs. "Okay. I've spent most of the afternoon walking around alone, but it would be good to have a guided tour. Lead the way."

She nods and heads for the stairs without further ceremony, deciding on starting outside while the weather allows. Not really needing a coat for herself, she pauses by the doorway and raises an eyebrow at Shiro, eyes flickering to the coat rack should he decide to wear on himself - unsure if his power allows for him to keep warm anyway, or is too destructive when in use for such a thing.

The weather doesn't bother Shiro much, so he doesn't take one. If it does suddenly turn very cold, though, he actually has learned to manipulate his powers to warm himself up. "It's a beautiful campus," he says, following her outside.

"Mmm, makes for an amazing campus, it does," Alison agrees, light flaring slightly for a millisecond to keep her warm, before subsiding into levels invisible to most people, though she wonders if Shiro's own heat based powers allow him to tell what she's doing. She heads towards the garage area, deciding to do a basic circling pattern of the grounds, and starts pointing things out on the way over, such as the nearby jogging path that disappears into the trees further off. "How're you settling in so far?"

"My cousin's house back in Tokyo was beautiful, almost like a traditional samurai's residence. But this . . . I never expected it. It's just a little . . . anoo, what's the word? Overwhelming?"

"A lot to take in all at once, yeah," she pauses for a moment, enjoying the view of the mansion, which is truly impressive when you take the time to stop and look. "I was supposed to tour in Asia. Too bad things feel through, I was looking forward to that one." She shrugs, and turns, heading at a slow walk towards the garage. "You'll find most people here are more than willing to help you figure things out - don't hesitate to ask."

"Just from observing the journals, people seem very close knit," Shiro comments, looking around him as he follows her. "Where in Asia were you going to go?"

"We were going to start off in Tokyo, actually" she smiles faintly, remembering how thrilled her manager had been about planning the tour. "My manager had a lot of other towns lined up, but we never formalized the rest of the trip."

"Tokyo is my favorite city," he tells her, smiling. "Although I'm rather biased. There's a lot to do." Shivering a bit, Shiro rubs his hands and surrounds himself with a very faint yellowish aura, tapping into the barest minimum of his powers to keep him warm. "Why didn't you go?"

She tilts her head, having figured out he didn't know - which is no surprise really, as the tour would have been her move to get known in Asia. "I came out as a mutant, instead, after one of my concerts." The words come out easily, and she sighs slightly - still bittersweet, after all this time. "It sort of ruined my career."

"Sou ka? Must have been here in America. We Japanese are a bit more tolerant." He shrugs. "Comparatively, I suppose. We are far from a safe haven, but we also don't send mechas against mutants."

Oh no. They settled for a sniper, at the time. She refrains from pointing that out however, remembering only too well what it felt like to search for Jono, Emma and Sarah. "Oh, it was here, all right. And not to long ago, I'd not have believed they'd send mechas either, here." She represses a smile at the anime term, not entirely accurate, but why quibble?

"I've tried to catch up on what happened here before I arrived. Anoo, but I didn't understand what happened this weekend. A teacher has been kidnapped?"

"Emma Frost, one of the staff, has indeed disappeared," Alison replies calmly. Let's see, and Jean died, Logan is MIA, Betsy is in a coma... "We believe she was taken by whoever controlled the Sentinels sent after her and the students that were under her care. People are looking for her now."

Only in America, he thinks but doesn't say aloud. "I wasn't aware that life here would be so . . . exciting."

"Oh, we're not very good at dull, that's a fact," she represses a chuckle at his diplomatic way of referring to life at the mansion, a far cry from Lorna's usual references to madhouses, for one.

"So, are people always disappearing, or is this a rare, isolated occurrence?" The temperature seems to be dropping by the moment, so Shiro taps into more of his power, causing his aura to brighten. "Sorry," he apologizes, bowing his head. "It is colder out here than I expected."

"That's fine," Alison replies, smiling slightly. "I've been powering off your voice to keep my own heat up, actually." She considers his question for a moment, preferring honesty really. "It's happened before for the adults who are field agents," she settles for saying matter of faculty. "The people who are part of the teams know fully well what they're getting into, however. Part of the bargain, to get the chance to make things better - or just protect people who wouldn't stand a chance otherwise." She stops in the middle of the basket ball court, and grins down wryly at the pavement. "The jet comes up through here."

Shiro's never felt more out of the loop. Team? Field agents? Jet? "Are things really that bad here that such measures are necessary?"

"Mmm." Alison considers, tilting her head to the side. "Methinks this requires a visit to the big office," she smiles at him gently, patting his shoulder lightly once. "Why don't we go talk to Professor Xavier? He can answer all of your questions, so you don't have to wonder about anything you might overhear later on, yes? That way you won't feel silly if some of the other kids start referring to things."

"You should think about giving new students a pamphlet or something," Shiro says, shrugging. "Or at least a course in 'Basic History of Xavier's Mutant Institute.'"

The quantity of rule variables alone scare me to death, on that one. It'd take years. Still... "There's a thought. I'll bring it up with him, after you're done talking to him, I think. Shall we?" She gestures towards the mansion amiably. "No time like the present."