Reflecting

[Seiji Lockard]

It had been a while since the events of SPECTRE happened while Seiji had been away on his own little personal trip with his snake Ghost for a competition. He had been back for a while now and it was by this point that he was finally able to get a hold on the list of the people that perished during the attack on the school. A few friends of Seiji were on the list, making his already small group of friends drop down to even smaller numbers. It was depressing no doubt and it just hurt all the more when one of those friends was someone he really admired and looked up to. Even if she was younger then him, she had an extraordinary mind and had helped him out on his studies on mutant to do a better job at his job as a side effect specialist for the school.

He had been busy with school and work for the school recently and had not actually taken the time to mourn the losses. How could he? He didn't have people that were super close to him that would be there for him to let it out. Plus he was better at being the one people let their pain and secretes out to and not the other way around. His snakes, they knew his pain but did not fully understand it since even still they were snakes and could only figure out so much through their bond with their master. He wanted to have Ghost on him, Ghost was the best at comforting Seiji with such things, but he could not just walk around in public with his boa. So when he had gotten an invite to meet Elsa Bellefonte at Cool Beans, he opted to pick Sapphire, who would be the best behaved out of his snakes that he could bring with him. Elsa was a female so he did not have anything to worry about and it was more than likely that Sapphire would just remained hidden in his jacket like she was now.

He had arrived early, not having to worry about any classes today as he sat in the cafe. Already having a black coffee as he sat down at a table and waited for Elsa to show. He didn't even have to look the girl up since she was a Bellefonte so pretty much knew what she looked like. Granted if Erika had shown up instead he would not even known the difference since he never actually meet either of the girls in person yet. He knew vaguely why he was here. To talk about notes of some sort; his mind currently having a hard time recalling just what that letter said as he just sipped from his coffee, feeling Sapphire more a little to inform Seiji that someone was approaching them.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Adelaide McLisk's notes were nearly indecipherable. Not that Elsa could spend that much time attempting to decipher them, between her headache and prom and everything else that had happened lately. But she'd put up a valiant effort nonetheless, pouring over them and attempting to deduce what the accountant had uncovered. So far she'd been pleasantly surprised to discover that their school now had an income that rivaled most corporations. However, there had also been notes about powers, discussing genetic implications, side effects, and some almost disturbing thoughts. Elsa had actually been disquieted by passages discussing her family as essentially a breeding clan of mutants.

But the notes had left a message asking to be split with one Seiji Lockard. Elsa had never met the young man before, but she figured this needed to be done. If nothing else, she could pick the young man's brain and determine if he knew anything that she would consider... important. However, she'd been distracted with other things and, to her annoyance, had arrived late to Cool Beans. She clicked her tongue in annoyance as she entered, looking around and skimming across thoughts. She had a vague idea of what the young man looked like, since she'd made sure to examine his picture in the staff roster, but she knew that thoughts would be a keener hint.

There, someone wondering about Bellefontes. Elsa nodded and walked over, dropping an envelope in front of the young man. "Seiji Lockard," she said, tapping it, "these are the notes of Adelaide McLisk, former accountant for our academy. A copy, actually," she moved to sit across from them, looking him in the eye. "She wanted you to read them."

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji would have jumped at the sudden envelope plopping down in front of him if he had not been warned by his snake that someone was coming over to him. His eyes slowly looking up to the female who dropped it and said his name. It was Elsa Bellefonte. Or at least it looked like one of the Bellefonte twins and she said his name so she clearly knew that she was in the right meeting place. She was not all that late, a few minutes and Seiji did not mind waiting at all. She tapped the envelope and got right down to business, bringing up Add, her job, and that this was a copy. Seiji's eyes looked down for a moment, filled with sadness at just hearing Adelaide's name. He hated that he had been away when the SPECTRE attack happened. Yes the campus had been on lockdown, but he was already gone on his trip before the lockdown happened. He didn't even get to say good bye, but with how she had talked someday...it was like she knew the end was coming for her.

"Okay...thank you. Was there anything particular she wanted me to see?" Seiji asked, looking up now after having that small moment to compose himself. Picking up the envelope and pulling out the copies of what Add had written up. He remembered her working with him a few times on side effects and talks about mutants in general, but he didn't know just how much she was looking into things. His eyes scanned over the words on the page pretty quickly, having always been a fast reader. Reading it all before going to the next page. Smiling a little because even how she wrote was pretty much how Add would speak about such things. Her notes were incredible and the theories she had presented were very interesting. Seiji keeping an ear out in case Elsa had anything to say to him while he was reading it all.

"She brings up SPECTRE a lot. More than likely it seems she figured out what they were capable and planning to do before the rest of us even caught wind." Seiji said in a low tone, more or less speaking to himself in a way, but looked at Elsa for a moment before going to that last few pages.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa didn't immediately answer Seiji's first question, instead carefully watching him, scanning his thoughts. He recognized the writing, thought it sounded like Adelaide. That confirmed the documentation as far as Elsa was concerned, though she supposed it didn't exactly require much in the way of clarification, as she'd literally pulled it from Adelaide's personal files. She pulled back slightly as she realized he was reading though: she didn't need to use her ability to read over his shoulder; if she really wanted to do that, she'd get up and do it physically.

"She was paranoid," replied Elsa, her voice slightly clipped, only slightly though. Seiji's words had truth to them: Adelaide seemed to have deduced what was going on with SPECTRE easily enough. "There's pages of documentation on SPECTRE's movements and it's connections to the bigger picture. She was... thorough," Elsa leaned back, looking over her shoulder toward the counter, briefly wondering if she should order something.

"There's a lot in there about finances," she continued, still looking away, "I'll spare you those details. It essentially amounts to 'the school is incredibly wealthy and self-supporting,'' she looked back, "to such an extent that it doesn't even need my family's money any more," which did strike her as suspicious, especially with the information Adelaide had written about breeding.

"Why do you think Adelaide wanted you to have this information? What do you thin is in there, besides what I've already said," she leaned forward now, her eyes level with his, her mind reaching out to pick up the slightest errant thought. she couldn't help but be noticeable there, but she counted on Seiji not having a disciplined enough mind to really hide anything from her.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji's eyes looked up as Elsa as the younger girl pointed out that Add was paranoid, which was clearly evident in her writing. Seiji just felt a little worse that her paranoia was in the right and in the end she was killed by the people she had a large concern about. It was not fair, but now was not the time to be feeling down about it. Elsa had called this meeting and had to want something for him. He wanted to help people out and right now Elsa at least sought him out for something and in a way that was seeking out help. He focused on what he was reading and nodded to Elsa's words, agreeing with her on that and his eyes looked over the parts about SPECTRE again as Elsa spoke about it more. "Add was always one to get down every detail on things." Seiji said, with just a small chuckle at the at least good memory; liking and respecting Add all the more for how she paid attention to things and noted them down.

Seiji nodded once more to the part about the finances, Sapphire moving to get a peek on what was going on as she rested her head on the table. The snakes head just under the papers that Seiji was holding up so could easily be seen by Elsa if she looked. It was important to note that while Elsa would be skimming Seiji's mind she would be picking up on the thoughts of Sapphire. Seiji's mind not good at blocking people out, but could communicate with his snakes with his mind and in a small way Elsa would at least be able to hear something else in Seiji's head. Not that Sapphire was saying anything important, just wondering who the human female was. Elsa Bellefonte. I told you I was meeting her. Did you forget? Seiji responded back to his snake, still paying attention to Elsa of course. "She was always really good with numbers. She did win the lottery before." Seiji said, not at all surprised that Add had found out that the school had a lot of money.

It made sense that the school was basically self-supporting with a majority of the staff having gone to the school and then in return teaching and working there. There was also the fact that even those that did not work at the school did sometimes donate and the school had everything it needed to support itself in almost all aspects. Seiji even recalled there being a nice garden, but was unsure if it was used to grow food or just had pretty flowers in it. It was good either way that the Bellefonte family did not have to keep dumping their money into the school then and could focus expenses elsewhere or even improving and adding extra things here and there if they so desired. There was the question then that had Seiji pausing towards the last few pages and looking up at Elsa. Why Add had left him this information and what was basically hidden in there?

"Well she knows I'm a Side-Effects Specialist and worked with me on a few things relating to side effects. More than likely she would want me to read this to help with my work and also help out anyone." Seiji said, not sure if he said that right, but was feeling a bit nervous, if that had not been clear by the blush that started to appear on his face.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"The details here are almost... insane," said Elsa, looking at the notes. She'd spent a few hours pouring over them already, not quite believing all the annotations McLisk had made. If all this was to be considered true, there were dealings that were just... nearly unbelievable. Plus the notes that Seiji had already mentioned regarding SPECTRE. McLisk had some ideas about what they would do, and Elsa had stashed those away to pour over at a later date.

She could feel the young man and the snake were thinking. Bit odd to pick up the animal's thoughts as well, bu this wasn't the first time that Elsa had experienced something like that. it did happen from time to time with various animal communicators. Generally it wasn't quite this clear, but well. It did surprise her what bubbled to the surface to be said though, and she had to chuckled, tapping it. "That's part of what she used to start. She reinvested nearly everything she'd earned in companies, essentially quadrupling it.'

Hence why the school didn't even need donations anymore. McLisk had once pointed out that, if they wanted to, they could essentially buy their own airport and private jet. The latter was almost tempting, all things considered, and Elsa might bring it up at a later meeting. For now though, she was less interested in the financial aspects and more interested in the other stuff.

Working with side effects, wanting more. Elsa frowned, tapping the table. "So she believed that you would do something with the information... you were probably one of the last people to really speak with her before she sacrificed herself for us. Did she do or say anything to you that indicated that she had broader plans in mind?" Elsa needed to know whether these notes were a threat, whether she was being helped or hindered from beyond the grave. She had a feeling that the answer was "both" and she was going to have to sort out how.

[Seiji Lockard]

"Insanely good." Seiji said with a nod, starting to smile a little more at just thinking about how Add took down everything. Even he thought she would do a bit too much when it came to taking notes, but in the end it helped see where a mistake was made. Add having always just taken down even the tiniest of details and sometimes that tiny detail was what you needed to look at to figure things out. He missed her for sure and the world was not short one great mind that could have change many things. All that remained was the memory and what she left behind; these notes, that now Seiji had a copy of and Elsa having shared it with him.

Sapphire looking up at her master for a moment, and asking if he missed the McLisk human girl and if her was going to cry now. I do miss her, and no I'm not going to cry. Seiji responded back to his snake, not having the slightest clue that Elsa may have been in his mind. He knew of her power yes because everything was down on records, but he was not thinking about that now. No, now he was just thinking about Add, her notes, and what it was that Elsa wanted him to do after reading through everything. What was it that she was seeking from him? He had a few guesses already, but was not sure so didn't say anything as he finished up that last few of the pages Elsa had handed to him. "I see. Good for the Bellefonte family and the school then. Least she didn't die in vain." Seiji said with a little bit of sadness in his voice but he smiled at Elsa either way.

There was a frown on Elsa's face then, making Seiji's smile go away because he felt like he was not giving her the right answers. Wondering if he might have upset her somehow by not making things all clear, by Add was a lot smarter than him and if there was some secrete code hidden in the words, even he would need a moment to try and figure it out. Not that he even thought there was some hidden message in the writings. Then Elsa pointed out what she was summarizing from everything, how Add more than likely talked to him last, and wondering if there was anything that Add might have said that would have gave away her plans. Seiji having to think back for a moment to recall if there was anything like that.

"Well she more or less talked like she knew she was not going to live all that long. As for these notes, we didn't really sit down and talk about them. If anything Add was kind of the person that more or less would do whatever was logical and not really based upon feelings. If she worked ways to get the school money than they would be logical and legal ways. I do recall her saying that she wanted to pay back the school...or that might have been me that said it." Seiji said, feeling even worse that he was not recalling things right. Normally he was so good at it. Taking a deep breath he took a sip of his coffee to help calm himself and maybe clear up his mind a little bit more. "Was there something in particular that you are wondering about her or these notes?" Seiji asked after a moment of having a small debate about it with his snake, wondering if there was something else Elsa was seeking.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"She died defending younger students," said Elsa, her voice warmer than it so often was. "I think that she actually managed to protect a small group of them, and, if she's as logical as you say, as these notes hint, then she clearly thought that was the best course of action."

Could Elsa do that? She didn't think so, not for a group of random people. She couldn't simply crunch numbers, throw her life on a scale and see if it balanced out. However, if that group contained, say, her sister, then Elsa would do it in a heartbeat. If her death meant that Erika continued living then, well, she'd die.

Repeatedly.

Snake thoughts cut through Elsa's, questions about how much Seiji missed, and Elsa actually felt a small pang of guilt. This young man had to be one of McLisk's friends, or at least, as close to friends as the strange girl ever got. The notes probably brought up all sorts of questions and odd things to the young man, stuff that he probably didn't want to think about, emotional topics. Easy for Elsa to sit back and be objective and think through everything; she didn't know the girl. Still, she kept skimming, picking up Seiji's thoughts. Logical, knew, wanted to pay the school back.. strangely selfish for someone so cold and intelligent.

Or maybe this was Adelaide's way of making certain no one forgot her? Who was to say about her motives? Elsa had another question to answer: "I was just curious," she said immediately, not wanting to give anything away to the young man. "She gave you quite a bit there to think on, very interesting material regarding the way mutants and mutation works. I'd love to know what your opinion of it is, when you've finished," and she'd be able to better figure out what to do with him when he did.

Are you an asset or a liability, Seiji Lockard?

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji looked at Elsa as she explained how Add had passed, never receiving the story on what had happened to her. No one told him anything in fact, he had to wait until the list of those who had fallen came out to find out what had happened to her. He had lost two friends because of SPECTRE and he had not been there to protect them or at least try. Not there to at least say good bye and it hurt since he felt like he was losing what he had again. He had been disowned by his adoptive family years ago and there was still that pain of losing people that just seemed to hurt him all the more. Still, he was able to smile at hearing that Add died looking after other students, which only surprised him half way. Add was logical, so then she would of had to weigh her life versus the students that she saved. They must have been students with pretty cool powers or something in them that Add felt like they were worth more than her great mind.

"It must have been. Still going to miss her." Seiji said, taking a deep sigh for a moment and then petting Sapphire's head a little bit. "Oh, sorry if I'm sounding and looking a little down." Seiji apologized, knowing that being over emotional was an inconvenience for some and he did not want to inconvenience Elsa Bellefonte if he could help it. Seiji still had much to learn about Add and had been eager to learn more about her, but clearly he ran out of time. That would have been a regret that would stick with him for a while. Unable to fully understand someone that he thought of as a friend and looked up to. Perhaps her notes would help him get her more or he would have to live with just always seeing her as the great mystery that he thought she was. Both fine with him and he was not going to let it weigh to heavily on him since he did not want to be a burden to others. He still had school and a job to do for the school and could not let his personal pain get in the way of it.

Seiji looked back to Elsa then when she said that she was just curious and pointed out that Add had given him a lot of material on mutants and she wanted to know his opinion on it. Well he had read it all, but it was all still settling in while he thought about it. Knowing that he was probably going to say a lot of information that might not help Elsa much, but he didn't want her sitting there waiting while he worked it all fully. "Well everything she left certainly is useful, even more so because she pointed out that it is a family gene. Knowing that it would be easy to start tell if it is passed on by a mother, father, or both. Then that also would help us figure out the likely hood of say a mutant and a non-mutant person having a child together and if the mutant gene skips from generation to generation. WE could possibly end up being able to know a child is a mutant even before they come into their mutation." Seiji went on for a moment and then stopped, scratching at his neck for a moment and then took a sip from his coffee.

"There is also the fact that this information could lead to us being able to tell just where in the DNA the mutation happens. In the wrong hands some might use this information to figure out how to get rid of mutations or try and make mutants out of non-mutants. The latter being a bit of a push, but such information could lead to a lot of great benefits for us mutants, like removing side effects or able to make medication to help with certain ones...so long as it’s in good hands." Seiji said, speaking a little softer now and he leaned in a little bit so that Elsa was the only one to really hear what he was saying. "That is just my opinion based on what I read, but I have to really read everything closely and start taking a look into it to be sure." Seiji said, hoping that he gave her enough information and as well didn't like overloud her brain or scare her with the number of possibilities just knowing what Add had left about mutant powers. As for the information on SPECTRE and the money, well they were equally just as useful, but Seiji had not focused on that part at the moment.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"You're human; you should sound a little down at losing a friend," replied Elsa in a tone of understanding. She did understand, and Seiji was hardly the first person she'd had to discuss this with. Several students had come to her, as had some parents, and she'd had to deal with all kinds of responses. Most of them just seemed to accept the situation, though with great weight and sadness. At least Seiji wasn't threatening Elsa; she definitely wouldn't have appreciated that. Maybe offering the notes had helped. She should look into something like that for everyone she had to talk to about this sort of thing.

Of course Seiji hadn't read quite everything yet, since that was literally impossible, but it was interesting to hear what he'd gleaned. Useful information, and stuff that allowed them to track mutations. That could be incredibly useful, especially if put in the right hands. Elsa just had to hope that she'd done her part in delivering it... though she certainly wasn't going to let this lay here. She had other resources to tap, several of which she'd established throughout the school. Elsa had been approaching interesting individuals for a while now, and she fully intended to get as many on her payroll as possible.

"You'll just have to guard it with your life then," she said, her voice somewhere between a joke and a command. The thought of someone using this to do them harm or create some sort of freak worse then them... Elsa didn't want to think about it. This was just turning out to be far, far more than she wanted to deal with right now. Perhaps once everything was settled, she could dig further into this. Assuming she ever got the time.

"Feel free to dig into this, and if you need help, either influence or money, let me know," Elsa said, nodding and locking eyes with Seiji. "I'm interested to see where this goes, after all," and what Seiji made of it. Yes, she'd definitely have to see if she could get him on the payroll as well...

[Seiji Lockard]

“I know. I just do not want to be a burden on others.” Seiji pointed out, which was very true and he really didn’t want to make someone else down or depressed because of how he was feeling. He preferred to make others happy, because it made him happy. It was just hard at the moment as he was thinking and remembering Add. She had not been his friend long, but even still he enjoyed it. He never really had that many friends. Maybe he was too nice or perhaps it really was the snakes? Either way, he did desire to have friends, to have people to talk to and it seemed like when he would get one he was not able to keep them long. There must have been something wrong with him then right? Maybe his brother by adoption had been right, maybe he was just never meant to be liked and loved. That hurt to think about, but if that was the case then he would accept it. That did not mean he was going to give up trying to make friends and to keep them or anything, just something to keep in the back of his mine so he was not outright blaming himself for his lack of human friends.

Yes, there was still a lot to read and he had only done a quick skim of the things, picking out things here and there in order to form his opinion that Elsa asked for. Still unsure if he had said the right things and if she was alright with knowing what he had more or less come up with. The information could be very useful, even more so if say another group of bad people decided to spring up against mutants. BA would be able to go out and get kids possibly a little sooner or at least prepare families for what possibilities would lay forth for their child. In the wrong hands, yes it would be bad if they figured out everything and had the money and resources to do with it what they pleased. Artificial mutants was not impossible, but Seiji already had a guess that whatever could be created would be nothing like the real thing and likely be some monster. A mutation was something that was again something that was ‘wrong’ in the DNA sequencing, so trying to make something wrong on purpose was just foolish.

“I will. Only those I trust will get their eyes on any of this.” Seiji said quickly to Elsa telling him that he was going to have to protect it with his life then. He could do that. Worse case he would just have his snakes memorize it and then burn it all when he got everything he needed. He didn’t want to burn it however and was more than likely going to hide things in Sapphire’s tank since she was poisonous and only an idiot would dare stick their hand in or even come near her for that matter. Elsa was fine since she was female and the snake didn’t really take her as a threat or care too much what was going on. She did not like too much that Elsa was making her master think such sad thoughts, but she would let it slide. He nodded to Elsa’s words about going ahead to dig into it and let her know if he needed anything, feeling a little nervous with her eyes locking on his.

She was interested to see where all of this went and Seiji could understand that, but was also curious as to why. Sure she was a Bellefonte, but was that all there was to her wanting to know what he could find out? “I’ll let you know my findings then. Umm…feel free to check in on me at any time if you have questions. I’m a college student and work at the school so it might take me some time to really find out anything big. I’m sure you already know that but umm…thank you Elsa…or Miss Bellefonte?” Seiji said, unsure what he should call her. Yes he was older than her and staff, but she was a Bellefonte and they were like his bosses in a way, right?

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa would trust Seiji to some degree, at least for now. McLisk had wanted this, and McLisk certainly struck Elsa as someone who weighed her options and assessed the risks of every decision. Besides, you had to trust someone if you were going to get anything done. So that settled that.

Elsa began preparing to leave as Seiji finished, nodding in what looked like a distracted manner. She didn't want him knowing that she found this quite as interesting and perplexing as she did. Let him think this was just her completing her errands, dropping off what amounted to laundry or something along those lines. Easiest for everyone that way. She did look up at Seiji, a tight smile crossing her lips.

"Miss Bellefonte is probably the way to go, formal as it sounds. I'm going to be taking a staff position pretty soon, after all, and we wouldn't want to get into bad habits," Elsa also wanted Seiji to know where he ranked, and this was as easy a way of doing so as she could. She nodded at the young man before rising from the seat. "I'll see you around. Please feel free to let me know if you need me for anything," a tight smile, and she waited only long enough for any further responses before adding: "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Busy getting everything together and all" and ideally leaving as quickly as possible.

[Seiji Lockard]

He still was not sure why Elsa was interested in all of this and while she came to him and wanted to know what he found. She had to have some interest in it at least a little bit right? He didn't know the younger girl at all so he could not be sure, but thought it had to be more than her just wanting to get something done and out of the way. She could have just sent someone else to hand this off or mail it to him under lock and key if she didn't really have that much interest in it. That was just his observation on the matter anyways, and he would have to get to know he better and see how she reacted to what he would end up finding as he looked into the matter. For now he was just going to take the papers back and keep a mental note to start looking into all of this when he would have free time from work and class.

There was a tight smile and her informing him that calling her Miss Bellefonte was probably the best to go with. Even if he was older then her, that was how the industry would work sometimes. People younger than you held a higher position level and you would just have to deal with it. Not that Seiji had a personal problem with it at all, because he was happy to follow the orders of those who obviously deserved or earned their position. "Okay Miss Bellefonte." Seiji said with a nod and a small smile as he collected the papers and made sure all of them were away and neat in the envelope they had come in. If Elsa was not going to stay then he didn't feel the need to lingered around when he could go back to his room to look over everything. "I will. Thanks again Miss Bellefonte. Have a good rest of your day." Seiji said as he moved to stand up when Elsa did and gave her a friendly smile. Making sure he had everything before watching her leave first.

Guess we will be seeing more of her soon. Seiji thought to his snake who nodded and then took a hiding place on her master. Seiji then leaving after a few moments of staying behind, cleaning up his mess, and heading out once he had everything.