Identifying

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa sighed as she walked through the lounge, carrying a clipboard. She paused every once in a while, looked down at it, mumbled to herself, and checked something off. she was mostly checking things for her own benefit, relearning the layout of the lounge in between memorizing bits and pieces of French. Elsa found that she could often learn well while moving, and she just enjoyed multitasking; kept her entertained. Really, if she wanted to learn something, she'd have grabbed Erika and effectively bounced ideas off her. But Erika had been... distracted lately, so that left Elsa off by herself, which she supposed wasn't that bad. Would get her socializing more, which everyone and their brother seemed to think was important, for some reason.

She moved around someone, just hazarding a quick glance to see what they were working on. It looked like a laptop screen, which made some sense, as they were willing to check those out to students who couldn't afford them, and, well, most could. It wasn't that laptop that caught Elsa's attention, however: It was what was on it. She was pretty sure it was a picture of the school's "official" website, which was, in Elsa's opinion, fairly well done. It also included a picture of the Bellefonte family posing out front, which meant a picture of Elsa.

At least, that was the most likely explanation. It could be that this person, who appeared to be either female or one of those very pretty males, had a picture of Elsa taken from somewhere, or, even more likely, a picture of Erika taken from somewhere. Still, Elsa couldn't help but be intrigued, intrigue enough to distract herself from her own work. Now, she could've just started poking around in someone's mind, and she was more than half tempted to do that, but she figured that she should at least try to do the "normal" thing first.

"excuse me,' she said, moving to stand behind the person. She pointed at the screen. "I believe you have a picture of me? There, on your laptop. The brunette," as if that point needed clarifying. Elsa kept her voice level though, still not certain as to the reasons here...

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana had been busy getting to write her report up so she could send a letter out to the 'higher ups' or employers if you preferred. She preferred to type it up, it looked more formal that way. Then she would print out two copies of it using the printer she had in her room. Lock one away in a safe hidden under her bed to make a record of later, while the other would be put in a special scroll like container to be attacked to her pet owl Delta, who would fly it off to its destination and then she would just have to wait until the message was returned to her via Delta as well, which would be around the same time she was going to be sending out another one. Ideally anyways, there was not always perfect timing on the other end, but most of the time people kept to the planned dates and times and so long as nothing happened to Delta, all would be fine.

She normally would have been writing up her report in her room, but it was her first one and she was having a problem gathering her thoughts in her new room oddly enough, so figured she try in the students lounge. No one was really in there at the moment, and really Roxana didn't really think anyone would bother her when she was working on her laptop, figuring people would assume she was working on class work and would leave her alone. She was looking up the Bellefonte family at the moment, having also been assigned to look after them as well. She had not really met any of them face to face yet, which was a problem, but at the same time it helped her remain unknown. Keeping a cover was the secondary objective, with the main being to look after her assigned targets. Targets was still a bit of an insensitive word, but she had not met any of them personally do she was fine with calling them by such a title at the moment. I should keep a really close eye on the Bellefonte siblings. Roxana thought as she stared intently at the photo.

A voice from behind her did make her startle a little and she even had three small crystal dagger's form between her finger as if ready to attack as she turned to look behind her. Quickly seeing that it was a student and reminding herself again that there was no threat here, not yet anyways. She immediately did recognize the face however, since she had been looking at the face not too long ago. Plus the girl even confirmed it with her words leaving her own lips. How to play this? Roxana asked herself as her mind ran several scenarios of how she should do this and the result of it. "It is Miss. Bellefonte." Roxana said simply, forming the daggers in her hand to a condensed crystal stone, so as to not alarm the girl. Roxana moved to stand up and close the lid to her laptop a little, not wanting to put it to sleep, but not wanting this girl to be looking all over her screen. "Is it odd seeing someone with your photo on their screen?" Roxana asked next, directing attention back on Elsa.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa looked at the crystals. She didn't move, either defensively or offensively; she just... looked. There was no way that the other student was going to harm her, and Elsa didn't think an accidental attack was all that likely. She could be more certain with a little bit of a thought scan, but she generally avoided going into aggressive minds if she could help it. It was sort of like reading a boy's comic book: not really that thrilling with the same plotline repeated ad nauseum.

The girl, and Elsa could tell from the voice and from a very quick mental brush, called her Bellefonte, but that didn't mean a wholly accurate identification. There were three Bellefonte girls, and two of them looked exactly like one another. Elsa was sure that her expression would give away which one she was to anyone who had the slightest idea of Erika's and Elsa's personalities though.

"Not really,' said Elsa, shifting her stance a little. She really wanted to start prying, seeing as the student was just so... intriguing. Fairly pretty too, though Elsa wasn't really that interested in that sort of thing on the whole. "I'm used to seeing my face everyone. the whole Bellefonte thing," she shrugged, then chuckled a little, "oh, and I've an identical twin, so there's that too," she looked over at the laptop, partially closed, not enough to go to sleep, but enough to keep someone nosy out. "Why are you staring at my picture though? Or was it one of my sisters? I'd suggest my brother, but I don't really think you're his type, unless you're smuggling something, in which case, you're doing a great job."

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana saw Elsa's eyes looked to her crystals, but she didn’t say or do anything, so she figured it was alright. Nothing was a big deal yet. Roxana could rest easy for the moment, and jut focus on playing it like nothing was up. That she was just some normal transfer student who just liked to know a little bit about the rich family that made this whole school possible. That should have been a simple enough excuse as to why Rox was looking up their photos. Really she just wanted to update her brain on how everyone of her target looked like. Roxana didn't know the twins, she knew of them, but she did not know the difference between the two of them. That was why she went with calling Elsa by her last name. Not wanting to make the mistake of mixing them up, and figured the other girl would reveal which twin she was in due time. If not Roxana was just going to have to figure out herself or ask around without drawing too much attention to the matter.

"No? Odd. You think people would be curious as to know the family in the blood line that has made this place for kids like us." Roxana said going with a plan already with how she planned to play this out. She just had to be ready to make adjustments to her plan if Elsa started to catch on or did not react to what Roxana. "I know. Elsa and Erika, correct?" Roxana asked, wanting to make sure those names were correct in her assignment. Nothing was suspicious about knowing about the twins and their names right? She didn't let slip that she knew their ages, birthdate, blood type, and all that other sort of info. She didn't know about the girl's power however, she needed to find that out. There had been a report on it, but no one told her. They just said to guard her thoughts. I can't really do that. Roxana thought knowing she had no way of blocking someone out of her mind.

"I just wanted to know what you all looked like is all. You are both very pretty, whoever it was of you in that photo." Roxana said, figuring she throw in a complement in there, that always worked. Get them thinking about something else and a little less about the current topic. "You are...I could say starts with an E but you both do." Roxana said with a small bit of humor there, even if she only gave a simple smile. Extending her hand out to the other girl after a moment. "I'm Roxana by the way." Rox said, since it was polite to still introduce yourself, running her free hand through her soft white hair for a moment.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa supposed that some people would be curious about the family, but she also saw the fault in that logic: "most of those people do their search when they first find out there's an academy," she said, smiling a tight smile at the other girl, "which means that they don't really have a reason to check again once they get here."

And the girl was acting just suspicious enough for Elsa to begin reading. she knew that the other would realize that someone was sifting through her thoughts: that was the major drawback of Elsa's power in short. but she'd have at least a few seconds, and those seconds could tell her quite a bit, starting with whether she should be considering this girl a threat or a potential asset. The right names, but the website told that much. More information popped up, almost as if this girl had a wikipedia page in her mind. Right down to Elsa's power and how the girl needed to guard her thoughts. There were ways of training yourself to do that; nearly every Bellefonte knew how, though Elsa didn't think that her twin had paid much attention; no real reason to when you could shut off someone's mental powers just by thinking at them.

Just wanted to know what they looked like, and the girl claimed that was all, threw in a compliment for good measure. That probably would've worked on Erika, and Elsa debated going with it for a moment, if only to further confuse the girl. She'd figure out which twin she was dealing with soon enough; one was telepathic, one was telekinetic, not exactly hard to figure out which was which.

An extended hand and an introduction; well, Elsa didn't see a reason to be rude, at least not yet. she extended her own hand, that tight smile returning. "Elsa Bellefonte," she said, "and the easiest way to block someone out of your mind is to start thinking different thoughts. They say walls work too, but that doesn't work too well with a lot of us. It's less about putting up a one-time defense and more about attempting to lead us astray."

Now, would Roxana attempt to put that to use? Think it false since Elsa would be giving a way of defending against her? Or realize the truth: that Elsa said as much because she was confident enough in her abilities to get around such defenses, and/or that she was leaning slightly more toward "asset" instead of "threat," at least for the moment.

[Roxana Strix]

Well at least I know that she is not just some dumb kid. Roxana thought as Elsa pointed out a very true and obvious fact. Still Rox's words could have worked on others, others who would not have cared as much as to why a girl was looking up a photo about the school. Roxana could still work with what she had said or play around it, so many different way this could play out and it did not automatically mean that her current plan of action was failing however. "I'm a transfer student and I'm still pretty new here." Roxana informed Elsa, since she had only been here for about a week now, so that was still a viable excuse in a way. She was still settling in, working out where her classes where, and where she was supposed to go for her activities. Roxana felt odd now however that she was remained in this girl's presences and she was quickly catching on to why she had been warned to guard her thoughts. The question now was, how much could the girl read, and was she really reading? Her power could have been to play tricks on Roxana's mind, she was not sure yet.

Roxana didn't know how to fully guard her mind, she had been taught, but it was one of those lessons where she was good at keeping people out of her head with those who did not actually have the power to read her mind. She did however know that she had to just start thinking a lot of thoughts all at once, that sometimes worked to block out what someone was seeking. Elsa stuck out her hand and when their hands touched, Roxana made sure to have a good grip on the hand, not seeming like she was going to let go as a smile started to spread across her lips at Elsa's words. "I know. I was about to attempt to think about various things, but you were already in, so you might as well have gotten something out of me. My fault for not being on guard right away." Roxana said simply, still keeping her smile and a grip on Elsa's hand as she leaned in a little so she could drop her voice a little lower so only Elsa could hear here, even if there might not have been really anyone in the room.

"Yet you saying such a thing either means you are foolish or know that you can get past such counter measures. I don't think you are foolish however since you did not fall for my simple little distraction to get you off the topic of me looking up a photo of your family." Roxana added, tempted to start using her power on the girl in order to get crystal to start traveling up the girls arm, but Elsa was not a threat yet, but that did not mean that Rox loosed her grip at all, making sure to look into the other girl's eyes. "How much did you find out about me?" Roxana asked, getting right to the point since that would work out if she needed to do something right now, and how she was going to recover from this. She could not, and would not fail a mission.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa kept casually scanning Roxana's mind while still talking to her. It wasn't easy, and Elsa knew that Roxana would pick up on it. That prickling sensation was practically a siren that someone was sifting around in there. Elsa didn't care; Roxana had been suspicious, suspicious against the Bellefonte family. Elsa very much was in favor of keeping her family as safe as possible, even if it meant pissing a few people off along the way.

How much could Elsa read? Everything, if someone didn't attempt to kick her out or ask her. True, she'd begin to get headaches after awhile, but there was medication for that. Her power didn't have anything to do with playing tricks on anyone's mind though, so at least Roxana wouldn't have to worry about that... if Elsa said anything about it. She didn't. Their hands touched, and Roxana spoke, which was always slightly awkward for Elsa, seeing as it meant that she got the words seconds before she heard them. It was a bit like reading a book that someone was reading aloud; you just sort of had to follow along and see if any words were skipped.

Then she leaned in, and Elsa raised her brows. Not foolish, and Elsa thought she saw a flicker of temptation; that wasn't from her power though, just from observing Roxana really, really closely. Their eyes met, and Elsa didn't blink or look away. Why bother? "I've found out quite a bit, likely more than you want anyone to know," lied Elsa, not breaking contact or showing any outward signs of it. Her ability might be thorough and strong, but it took time, and she hadn't delved beyond the surface. The surface was enough to let her slip a little more though: "Enough to know that you're on a mission, which is rather strong of a term for a transfer student," she smiled a tight smile, ever so friendly.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was picking up on it, how could someone not feel an odd sensation going on in their head? It was like having an invaded inside you and Roxana was not really a fan. She made sure to start thinking other things now, at least to try and get the important information deeper in her head since she knew she would not be able to keep the other girl out of her head on a surface letter. This would have been a lot easier if Elsa was using mind games or just trying to break her will in order to get information out of her. In this case is was basically like cheating and there was only so much Roxana could do in order to keep her thoughts protected from this girl who was clearly prying into Roxana's mind. Interesting enough, she has to know that I can feel her rooting around in my head, yet she did it anyways. Roxana thought to herself even if Elsa might have still heard it. There was no need to hide such a thought and if it was able to distract Elsa then it was doing its job.

Elsa had not let go of her hand still even after they touched and Roxana was making sure to keep a nice grip on it. One that would require some effort on Elsa's part to get out of surely. The other girl did not look all that strong and now that Roxana knew her power she did not have to worry about dealing with super strength. Roxana's eyes quickly began to scan over the other girl, letting her thoughts about which pressure points she could hit, how Elsa was standing, and where would be the likely weak spot to hit the girl. Elsa didn't blink or look away; she was holding her ground and not even faltering. She was not a weak girl that was for sure. This only made Elsa more of a potential threat, a threat that she was supposed to look after. Talk about infliction. Elsa said she knew a lot, bluff or truth. She knew about Roxana being on a mission, but she didn't say what kind of mission and Roxana made sure to keep all such thought about it out of her mind, favoring to think more about how not to outright hurt the girl.

"I could be on many missions. A mission to fit in, make friends, or find my place in this new school. Calling it a mission makes it sound more important." Roxana said switching up her tactic just a bit, but already had a feeling that Elsa was not going to bite at this. This was why Roxana started to use her power, and if Elsa had not pulled her hand away, he hand would slowly start to be covered in a clear crystal that seemed to slowly creep its way up Elsa's hand. Roxana was not really planning on fully covering the girl in crystals. She might have been trying to scare her or very possibly trying to warn her. She was not going to reveal what her true point behind it was as she made sure to think of the many different reasons as to why she would do such a thing, asking them as questions in her head. Almost as if she was directly asking Elsa in her head. You're move. Roxana thought as she kept her eyes on Elsa and kept that smirk.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa picked up the thoughts. Roxana's defenses did work to some degree, distracting Elsa. It was sort of like attempting to read a page when someone kept shaking the screen or throwing up random sentences here and there. That headache that had been hovering around the edges of Elsa's brain became a little more of a reality. She elected to lighten up on the general reading, letting the thoughts sort of wash over her, so much "white noise." Elsa didn't need to know everything Roxana thought: she needed to know specifics.

Many missions; Elsa focused, the intensity of that focus showing in her gaze. The girl looked steely, determined, her expression and her hand locked. Mission made it important, mission, mission, mission, that kept popping up too much. Elsa "clicked" on it, wanting to direct Roxana's thoughts and start digging further. She could force her way into it, but doing so would certainly irritate Roxana further, especially seeing as the other girl wasn't exactly being cooperative in this instance.

Then Elsa felt something creeping up her hand. She flicked her eyes down, seeing the crystals starting to crawl up. Bold move, but did that really count as moving first? Elsa had technically been rooting around in Roxana's mind for a while now. So technically speaking, Elsa had moved first, though she was fairly confident that she could spin that if it came down to some sort of "official hearing."

YOU'RE MOVE. Damn, how Elsa sometimes hated it when people directed a thought like that. It nearly put the thoughts in all caps and bold lettering.

"Your mission could also be as a spy for SPECTRE," she said, keeping her voice conversational, though her tone dipped a little. "They could very well be using drugs or blackmail to force you. You are, after all, looking up information on Bellefontes. And this could be seen as an assault," mission; Elsa "clicked" on the thought now, purposefully rooting deeper. It would make things unpleasant for both of them, but Roxana hadn't given Elsa a reason not to do it, and she'd given several for her to.

[Roxana Strix]

Elsa's eyes were giving away that she was trying harder; trying to ignore the random thoughts Roxana was tossing around in her head. Elsa had skills, but Roxana had expected that from someone of Elsa age and coming from a family that was backing the school. Their children had to have direct access to trainers and people who could have helped them with their powers as soon as they came into them. At least that was what Roxana's information revealed and they would have had to been slackers if they did not have at least a decent amount of control over their power. Elsa clearly knew what she was doing and even how to get around counters which meant that Roxana was going to have to just try harder and use different methods of keeping Elsa out of the important thoughts. Shutting down her mind or again increasing her thoughts to being difficult to navigate through.

Elsa eyes flicked down, which means she did feel the crystals crawling up her hand, but it would not have been painful or anything. Roxana was making sure to use a thin layer at the moment that would restrict movement a little once it reached passed Elsa's wrist. If Elsa did hit it with something or was able to get free of Roxana's grip it would stop the spreading since Roxana had to maintain contact in order to keep it traveling. If she wanted to speed it up or change its density she would have to use two hands, but since she was not outright trying to hurt the girl that was unnecessary. Roxana thought she spotted a slight change in Elsa when she spoke to the girl using her thoughts, which also did bring up an interesting question, one that cause Roxana to considered using he thoughts to communicate. Being able to read people’s minds did have to have its benefits, this girl would be useful, if she was not so nosey.

"Do you really think a SPECTRE spy would be able to get into the school and look up information on a family in an obvious place? Sure I am young but that would be really stupid on my part, unless in fact I wanted to be caught or knew if I did get caught I would have nothing to worry about." Roxana responded, they crystals still creeping along if Elsa had not let go. With one hand however Roxana was only going to be able to get the crystal to reach up to the other girl's elbow and then having it spread anymore was going to require two hands and a future use of her power which would end up having her hair change color, and she liked her white hair a lot better than her original black hair that she was born with but had gone away when she came into her powers. How about we talk this out without using our powers on one another? Unless you can't turn yours off. Roxana sent that thought at Elsa, her smirk changing to more of a friendly smile, but it still had a hidden message behind it.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa still read a few of those scattered thoughts, like when Roxana judged Elsa's own ability, or figured that a girl like her could be "useful." Ha, like Elsa was going to be the tool being used here. Not hardly. She could definitely dig deeper there, and she did so, finally prying up at least enough to get what she wanted. One word came through stronger than ever: Protect. Not attack, not kill, and you didn't go into a mutant academy with that one word defining your goal unless you were thinking about the very people inside. it was, in short, enough, though Elsa wasn't about to let go just yet.

She did listen as Roxana spoke, explaining, quite logically in fact, why it didn't make much sense for her to be a SPECTRE agent. Young, stupid, "Personally I would've led with the 'I'm a mutant and I'm obviously not being abused' argument myself," she said, speaking slowly, carefully still. She could feel crystals encasing her arm to the elbow, but nothing underneath them, meaning the arm itself, felt all that off from it. So it wasn't an immediate threat. Funny, but that did sort of define Roxana.

HOW ABOUT WE TALK THIS OUT WITHOUT USING OUR POWERS ON ONE ANOTHER? UNLESS YOU CAN'T TURN YOURS OFF. Elsa fought down a wince as Roxana thought loud and clear at her. She just tightened her smile a few notches more. "Why on Earth would I do that? There's two of us here, and only of us has an obvious, noticeable ability, and that's not the one with the Bellefonte name," Elsa paused for a moment. She'd already withdrawn the deep probe, and now she moved further back still, mostly because she didn't want to turn strained feeling in her head into a full-blown heading. Not that she intended to let Roxana know as much.

[Roxana Strix]

"That could have worked as well, but you did say personally." Roxana responded since saying personally meant that was what Elsa would do, and Roxana was not Elsa obviously. Plus the idea did fleet across her mind, as Roxana was sure Elsa did come across, but she decided to go with what she said. In the end none of it mattered however since Elsa was clearly digging around in her head and Roxana’s thoughts were not safe. She was now considering just cutting off her thoughts and just limiting them to just focusing on her breathing and blinking. When you kept you mind focused on doing the things you natural did it seem to actually take more work to focus on doing one of them. She could just keep repeating the words ‘breathe in’ and ‘breathe out’ over and over. Fill her thoughts with the simplistic things of life or about less important thoughts. Like the dream she had last night and of course since she had thought of using that as a block the dream of her just standing out in a clearing with snow by herself, and just standing there.

Elsa’s smiled tightened and Roxana had to appreciate the other girl’s strength and keeping calm in the situation. Elsa would have been good in the field that Roxana’s basically was in, or at least Elsa had potential. Elsa brought up the fact that Roxana’s ability was able to be seen were Elsa’s power was hidden so you would not even know she was using it. There was also the fact that yes, Elsa was a Bellefonte and Roxana was not obviously. She was however a Strix, but her family was well known overseas for what they did. That was why she had been transferred over here in the first place, but Roxana was doing her best to keep all of thoughts suppressed and think more so about Elsa. Observing the other girl, and thinking about the details of her eyes, the way she wore her hair, her facial structure. She had a twin but twins tended to having something different about them outside of just their personality. She didn’t want to have the whole twin trick played on her at any point while observing; since she wanted to make sure she was reports were accurate.

“You make a good point. So for now Elsa Bellefonte, age eighteen, standing at an approximate height of five foot six, and weighing…well I’m sure you know. Anyways, after rooting around in my head without permission, am I a threat to you?” Roxana asked as he smirk returned to her face but her grip loosened around Elsa’s hand and then would go to pull away to keep her hands close to herself. The crystals would remain for a little longer just a few minutes since Roxana only made a thin layer on Elsa’s arm before it would start to appear like dry mud, crack, and if she brushed it off it would flake off.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Roxana was thinking about changing her thought pattern which wasn't a horrible tactic. It would've worked perfectly too, had Elsa not already dug down deep into the thoughts. Oh, she wasn't now; she was just skimming across the surface. But it was sort of like attempting to put up a firewall after the virus had gotten into your software: the software was already safely entrenched; it would take something else entirely. Still, the fact that Roxana even thought that meant that someone had trained her on steeling her thoughts, which meant one of two things: extensive, very wide range torture training, which was highly unlikely in a young woman or... someone who had experience with mutant powers.

"I root around in the heads of people that prove to be potential threads, Roxana Strix, aged eighteen, sent here in order to protect," replied Elsa, keeping her voice light. Roxana's grip loosened first though, and Elsa followed easily enough, actually relieved to feel the crystals retreating from her. She didn't want to think about what could've happened if that continued, probably some kind of Snow White situation.

"Besides, this place is pretty much my home castle, what with it having my name and all. So if this were, say, a traditional place, you would've introduced yourself first. Though that does put you in the rather grand position of knight," Elsa raised her brows, obviously challenging the application of this term to Roxana.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana had many forms of training growing up, and yes torture had been one of them, since in her line of work she could have been caught and been made to talk. Her parents were pretty much ready to do anything or have anything done to their children in order to make them stronger and good at their job. It was why Roxana was the way she was now, and she had no problem with it. They did what they had to do to make her the best, and she would keep working hard to get better and accept any punishment if she failed. She would not fail however. She did not like the punishment or knowing that she failed. Elsa was in a way a sort of threat to her mission becoming a failure. If Elsa told anyone what she found out, especially the others she was watching or adults, it would lead to problem. The main problem however that was causing Roxana confliction was that she could not outright get rid of this threat because this threat was who she was supposed to protect.

"So you know that much then, huh?" Roxana asked but it was a rhetorical question as her mind worked out the different ways to handle this now. Knock her out? Just drop it all? Leave? Keep a closer eye on her? Report in that her mission might have been compromised? No, that last one would be sort of like she was admitting that she had failed and she did not want that. Not so soon into her job. Roxana understood the challenge, but how to respond was still up in the air for a moment as her mind worked over how Elsa was in fact basically a princess. "I guess you could say I'm not the very traditional knight. Nor are you the very traditional princess." Roxana responded and left it up to Elsa how she was going to take what she said. Roxana had to protect this girl, even if they were now not on the best of terms. Personal feelings did not matter; all that matter was that the mission was done and that her targets were protected and monitored.

"I suggest now that we got our little pleasantries out of the way that we discuss how you are going to keep quiet about all of this." Roxana said making it clear that she was not asking for Elsa to remain silent about everything she found out. No, she was telling the girl. She did have to protect her, but there were several things that she could still do that would be protecting her. Granted they would all draw attention at one point or another, but the ideas were there. Clear for Elsa to see them, on purpose so that Elsa did understand that Rox was serious about keeping her job from people knowing. Elsa had to have come across that this mission was meant to remain incognito the whole time and Elsa had ruined that.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa wasn't deeply reading thoughts, but she couldn't hold back from skimming. The situation was simply too dangerous for Elsa to completely drop her guard. It did put some strain on her, keeping up with the flow of Roxana's well guarded thoughts, but years of training and practice made it a little easier for her. It did make the actual conversation part a little harder for Elsa, as she "read" the thoughts mere moments before she actually heard them, the delay irritating, but manageable.

Know that much, and then Roxana's thoughts became faster, which made them harder to sort through. Elsa picked up enough to get the gist: what to do? File a report? Drop things? Drop Elsa? Figure out the situation, Bellefonte princess, gah, how Elsa hated that; it hammered home her position as the "spare" to the Bellefonte line, though perhaps the more reasonable, responsible one. That thoughtline led to a response to her statement though: not traditional in either way. Elsa was tempted to point out that she was very near to being a traditional princess, or at least nobility, but that felt a little too haughty, even for Elsa.

Roxana had to protect the girl. Elsa "clicked" on that thought, following it for a few moments, which Roxana would feel, likely even know the path that Elsa followed if she focused enough. Words cut through, words that Elsa had to listen to, so she pulled out to better focus. Elsa actually giggled at Roxana's demand, definitely recognizing it as a demand.

"Excuse me, how I'm 'going' to keep quiet about this? You seem to be confused here. One of us can read through thoughts and happens to also be one of the people that this school is named for. One of us is rich and from a family of very powerful mutants. One of us could rake through the other's mind and uncover every dirty little secret. And that one happens to be me, not you," said Elsa, her eyes flashing. "However," she folded her arms over her chest, smiling a little, obviously looking down at Roxana, "I don't see any particular reason for me to be giving your mission away: you're simply here to protect me, and yes, I do know that's very specific toward protecting Bellefontes. So why would I give that away? The way I see it: you're too useful for me to expose right now."