People Like Us (Eryn)

[Eryn White]

"I'm sorry that you think someone feeling a sadness at learning about the passing of someone 'pathetic' Ms. Parker." Eryn's face was controlled again. "I loved your mother dearly, and losing her is like losing a family member. If you feel emotions are such a weakness, I'd think you would be better at controlling yours." His tone was non-challenging, simply stating it, but the meaning behind it was obviously insulting, even if how he said it wasn't. His face wasn't steely, he still retained his fatherly and warm demeanor, but he let a colder feeling linger behind it.

[Alexandria Parker]

Cackling another grin, Alexandria nodded, ''Fair enough,'' she nodded in agreement, ''But you are mourning over someone you haven't met in ages, and the fact that you didn't even know she was dead is proof enough that you couldn't have been as important as you thought you were, so I think you're better off simply letting it go,'' she said silently and turned away. ''If you truly did love her, wouldn't you have done more?'' Alex might not have known a whole lot about love, but from what she had picked up over the years, people did not simply give up. If one truly loved another, one would grow worried when letters stopped coming, and especially when the person you loved was never heard from again.

''And I simply stated that your tears and sadness were pathetic. Anger is something entirely different, Mr. White. Anger gets you places, whereas sadness do not,'' His insult flew past her. Maybe her sub-conscious ignored it, or maybe she simply didn't catch on, but whatever the reason was, it didn't bite on her. She felt her normal self return, and she also felt her power over herself grow back.

Turning her head to look at him with a wicked gleam in her eye, ''How would you, you whom claim to have loved her so much, react if you found out that I was responsible for her death, I wonder. Would it shatter your heart further, hm? Perhaps not. Perhaps it has no affect at all, but then again, wouldn't that only prove how little you cared to begin with?'' she let her words hang in the air before clicking her tongue against the back of teeth. Maybe she was a lost cause. Maybe she was as wicked as her father made her out to be. She wouldn't be surprised, especially not now that she found such a gruesome amusement from her sins.

''Ah, well. It doesn't matter either way, Mr. White. I hope you got what you wanted.''

[Eryn White]

Eryn let the words hang in the air, unreacting, the back of his mind plotting. He'd used one of his emergency plans to ensure she hadn't managed to kill him, but it had set him back. Oh well. Nothing he could do about it, he had guaranteed he lived to try another time. She was challenging him, and on the inside he was questioning just how useful she would be even if he did recruit her for his cause. But something kept him trying regardless, though she had no idea what his true goals were.

"Love is a fickle thing, Ms. Parker. By the time I had returned from my job, she had moved past our romance. Perhaps I was too old, perhaps I overestimated her feelings. But I am not one to stand in the way of others lives." He blinked once as he prepared his second response. "Anger and sadness are very close cousins. Often, someone is angry to cover up their sadness. Isn't it easier to scream at the universe, cry out into the darkness, rather than sit and accept that we cannot do anything. The actions feel better than inactions, but neither are healthy in excess. As for if you claimed you were the reason she died...?"

He took a breath, his mind scanning the girl's, assessing. "I'd forgive you. Of all the ways that Louise could have died, I imagine that dying for her daughter's sake is the one she'd most easily accept. Regardless, the past is the past. What good would it be for me to allow anger to cloud my mind over something that cannot be changed? Besides, I doubt that she'd want you or me let anger control us. Wouldn't you agree?"

He was curious now what the girl was trying to gain now. It was obvious she felt in control of the situation now, but Eryn had made it fairly obvious he had nothing to hide, and therefore her learning these things helped her none at all. He was intrigued now.

[Alexandria Parker]

''I wouldn't know,'' she pointed out, stating the obvious. ''And quite frankly, in the end, it doesn't even matter. Whether or not you have a past with my mother it's... Insignificant. It might have caught me off guard, I'll admit that much, but that doesn't mean it matters,'' She walked over to the window and leaned her back against it, crossing her foot over the other and her arms over her chest, ''Perhaps,'' she nodded slowly, ''However, I find anger to be more giving. In the sense that it gets me what I want. I have no need to move on as I am perfectly fine where I am right now,'' Quite honestly, she truly did believe she was better off just pushing people alive and living the rest of her life surviving my making other people miserable.

''Oh please, don't tell me you still think this is going to work, do you?'' she asked with a sigh and tapped her fingers absentmindedly against her upper arm, ''I already know what my mother would say or what she'd think of me, after all, from what I've learned, mother's are supposed to be all forgiving and all that kind of bullshit,'' she said, her dull expression fully returning as her eyes grew cold again, ''What I don't get is why you keep pushing on the subject,''

She too was curious as to exactly what kind of response he was looking for. He kept pushing the subject about her mother so immensely she would have to be blind not to notice that he was looking for something, anything. It was hard to believe that all he wanted was to show her the road to salvation and have her fight her demons. She was quite content where she was, and if he had helped her do anything, it was realizing just that; She didn't need to make friends with her past. It wouldn't change much. She was happy being who she was now. It was what gained her most.

Kneeling down, Alexandria put her palm against the cool floor and sighed, ''Why don't we just cut all of this and you can get to the point of this entire thing. I mean, sure, you can keep talking about what my mother would have wanted and how dearly you loved her, yadda, yadda. But what's the point? Are you trying to save me from myself? Is this an attempt to make me want to do better with my training?''

[Eryn White]

"No. It isn't." He spoke quite honestly with that. He'd managed to get the general idea that he was looking for from her. So he went with one of his lesser used strategies: Honesty. Hoping it would work, because he'd hate to have to destroy the poor girl's mind to cover his tracks, he thought carefully on his next words. "I'm part of a group. An organization. We are gathered to try and protect people. People like us. People with gifts. Because while you may not realize it now, in the future, not too far, everyone else will turn on our kind. Look back at World War Two, and the concentration camps then. There's a big hush-hush about us right now, but do you think the secret is going to remain much longer? With the internet and technology? It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow. It might not be for another five years. But one day, we're going to be hunted. And my group is gathering people to protect our kind when that happens." He looked her over. "I was told by the leader to assess you, which was the point of this whole session. I feel that you have potential that could be greatly benefited by joining the cause."

As he said this, he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and dropped it on the table in front of him. It was a pre-paid phone, paid for with cash by one of Eryn's contacts in some city nowhere near here. Commonly referred to as a "burner phone" or just a burner for short. "If you want to join us, then take this phone. The leader will call you, and you can begin. You may not like the people around here, but this cause... It's something so much bigger. Bigger than most of them can understand." His passion showed through all of his words. As he finished, he was listening to her mind, listening to her secret thoughts. Ready, if she had even the slightest doubts of joining, to destroy the memories of everything that happened here. Probably pose it as a psychological event from him bringing up her mother... Who knows. He was good at covering his tracks.

[Alexandria Parker]

When he finally spoke again, and this time made his intentions clear, Alex listened carefully to his words, nodding slowly in agreement. Nothing of what he said was really a surprise - as much as she and anyone of her kind would wish for it to not happen, they all secretly feared it. It had happened through out the history of mankind and it was doomed to happen again. People - different people were usually frowned upon and humans... They were afraid of what was different. If anything, he was only planting roots into the fears that was already there.

Mutants were nothing like they were portrayed in movies; They weren't heroes. They weren't protectors of mankind. They were better, and humans would hate it. They would loathe it to the point where mutants would be nothing but caged animals. Experiments. Labrats. And if there was anything Alex did not want; it was exactly that.

Folding her hands she looked at the phone, the corners of her lips turning somewhat upwards as she nodded, ''One question though, the entire speech about my mother, was that a lie?'' she glanced up at him, the wicked grin had returned. She snatched up the phone and held it between her thumb and index finger, ''Actually. It doesn't even matter. But if it was, well played.'' she added and pushed herself away from the wall.

From what she had gathered, this thing was also hush, hush from the school. If it hadn't been, he wouldn't have approached her so foolishly. But in the end, she was a lot more impressed by the honesty rather than his earlier attempts. If only he had started with that to begin with. Then again, she probably would have scoffed it off. At least him previous attempts had impressed her enough to even bother listening.

Walking backwards past him, Alexandria held her hand against her forehead and saluted him with a mischievous smirk, ''Until next time, Mr. White.''