Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

[Taya Robbins]

Taya Robbins sat in the middle of her bed surrounded by newspaper clippings, loose-leaf computer printouts, a large road map of Los Angeles metro area, a spiral-bound notebook with fuzzy edges, and dog-eared copy of the AP Manual of Style, while on her lap, purring quietly, was a white MacBook Air. Arguably, all of this should have been cluttering her desk instead of her bed, but her desk was covered in cardboard boxes, lids open and half-unpacked, just like the top of her dresser, her bookshelf, and much of the meager floorspace. She'd meant to unpack before she started her work, but her first assignment had come early, and she'd been so eager to get started. The boxes would wait.

Redencion House, she typed at the top of a new Word document. And then she went back and added in the accent over the o. Probably best to add that to the auto-correct menu; she'd be typing that name a lot.

Her tail snaked back and forth behind her as she leaned forward and scooped up a Lifestyle page with a four-color photo of the old house. It looked positively gothic for its west coast urban surroundings, as if the blueprints had been drawn up by Nathanial Hawthorne and approved by Charlotte Brontë. The fact that it was inhabited by mutants made it all the sweeter. There just had to be incredible secrets hiding behind all those windows.

Taya typed in the vital stats she'd already compiled - built in the 1940s, bought by Ms. Anna Fernandez in early 2005, opened as a safehouse for mutant youth in the fall of that year, awarded the Cullen's Institute Grant for services to the mutant community in 2007, the Stiehlman Humanitarian Award just a few months ago... all this information was publicly available, most of it regurgitated every time there was a feature on the House. It was factual, but not compelling. It didn't describe the identity of the House or its residents, or of its caretaker, this winsome young woman who had taken so many troubled mutants under her wing...

That made her think of her roommate, and made her laugh. She leaned forward and added, Anna Fernandez - guardian angel of Los Santos mutants.

Too much? Probably. The fact was, she'd gone as far as secondary research would take her. It was time to get to the source.

Taya picked up her cell phone and extended a claw so she could more easily hit the little number keys. She took a deep breath to clear her head. After all, this was the first cold call she'd ever made as a special mutant correspondent for the Daily Bruin.

The feline mutant punched in the number, hit "send," and waited for someone on the other end to pick up.

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna heard the phone ring, heard no one pick it up, and finally rolled over in her bed and answered it. "Redención House," she said, trying to sound as awake as possible, and clearly not as though she'd been interrupted in the middle of an afternoon nap. "This is Anna."

[Taya Robbins]

"Hello, Ms. Fernandez!" Taya said brightly, trying to sound like a professional and not a college freshman in a sloppy tank top and shorts sitting on a cluttered bed. "My name is Taya Robbins, and I'm a student reporter for the Daily Bruin at UCLA. I'm putting together a profile piece on Redención House, and I'd like to interview you and as many of your residents as I can. Does that sound okay with you?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Uh..." Anna struggled with the fuzzy blanket she'd appropriated from Jamie's room and got herself into a sitting position. "Miss Robbins, we are not generally available for interviews. Because of the nature of my residents, interviews are not permitted."

She rubbed her face a little, trying to get her brain working at full capacity. "We are in the business of rehabilitation and renewal - the teenagers here are learning to live on their own two feet. Trying to exploit their abilities or past for interviews or internet fame is something I try my hardest to protect them from." Oh, that sounded too harsh. Anna blinked hard, clearing a sleepy blur from her vision. "But... I do do interviews on occasion. UCLA, you say? My little brother goes there."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's heart did a flip-flop when Anna said interviews are not permitted, but she'd seen some of the things written about the House before and could understand Anna being gun-shy.

"Yeah! I'm actually just starting there this fall, but I was invited to start early on the student paper specifically to cover mutant interests."

God, her voice sounded like she was still thirteen. At least when she met people face-to-face, they didn't seem to notice... for obvious reasons.

"I totally understand what you mean about exploitation. I'm a mutant myself. That's actually why I was given the position, to get a mutant perspective on the events that affect people like us."

[Anna Fernandez]

A mutant herself? Anna leaned back against her pillows and stifled a yawn that was unrelated to the conversation and more about her interrupted nap. "Well it would not hurt to have some good press. I am sure you have researched some of the more recent newsworthy events to be centered around the House." Jamie's incident at school had been the biggest splash, but thankfully the media storm had blown over once the boys hurt had been well on their way to full recoveries. Of course no retractions of any absurd or sensationalist statements had been made - simply glossed over once the situation had been resolved privately between Anna and the school (and so the parents of the bullies involved).

"What exactly would be the perspective of your piece on the House?" she asked gently. "And how are we interesting to the UCLA student body?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's sensitive ears twitched at the noises on the other end of the phone. Wonderful - she'd apparently awoken her most important interview from an afternoon nap.

"Well," she said, trying to recover her focus, "I have looked at some of the coverage, and what I've noticed is that there isn't a lot that seems to represent your voice. There's a lot of focus on things that have happened, and on responses from people in the neighborhood and so-called 'mutant experts,' but never a clear sense of who Anna Fernandez is, and what it is you actually do for the kids who come to you. That's the sort of thing I want to share with my readers."

The email from her faculty editor flashed in her memory again, awaking a pang of conscience. "And... well, I need to get your opinion on the MRA and what it means for your residents. I'd like to get some thoughts from the kids, too, but I understand if that's not your policy."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Well..." She was softening under the girl's words. "All right. If you can protect the teens' identities then I think we can arrange for some of them to talk to you. When would you like to come over? Thursdays are usually pretty open when it comes to work schedules, for some reason."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya did a triumphant fist-pump off to the side.

"Thursday would be fantastic," she said. "I can work around your schedule. Is the morning okay? Umm, let's say nine?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Yes, that should be fine," Anna replied, smiling at Miss Robbins' obvious enthusiasm. "I look forward to meeting you."

Thursday dawned brightly, Banyon Street already warming under the rays of the sun when Taya Robbins arrived at the house. Anna answered the door, surprised initially by the girl's physical mutation. "Right on time, Miss Robbins," she smiled. "Come on inside."

[Taya Robbins]

"Oh, please, call me Taya!"

The eighteen-year-old girl beamed as she stepped inside and offered Anna a paw to shake. She'd come to enjoy the effect her appearance had on people meeting her for the first time. Some people gaped, some people stammered, some people, out of some misguided sense of politeness, simply pretended not to notice. But the fact was, once you could accept that you were speaking to a girl who had tawny yellow fur, tufted cat ears, a triangular pink nose, padded paws, and a twitching, striped tail, everything else was easy. It was the ultimate icebreaker.

Taya was dressed smartly in a denim skirt and a white button-up blouse, and she had a messenger bag over one shoulder with her laptop and notebook. She gave the foyer and the stairs and the opening into the family room a quick once-over with her eyes, but that was nothing compared to the colorful melange of smells that hung around the place - smells of hot meals and sweat and perfume and old woodwork and candles and careworn furniture and life. This house had far more stories to tell than any one person could write.

"Thank you so much for letting me come. I can't tell you how excited I am!"

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna shook the extended... paw, and gathered the teen down the hall to the breakfast nook in the kitchen. "The more I thought about it the more I feel that doing these interviews is a good idea. Here, have a seat," she pulled a chair out for the felinoid mutant and sat down also, an empty chair between them.

"Your fur is quite striking," Anna added. "My foster daughter Jamie will love you... and I have a resident who also has a physical mutation. It is much different for her, and I imagine you as well. It's not easy being different on the inside - it can be even worse when one is different on the outside."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya slid her tail deftly through one of the gaps in the chair as she took her seat, glowing at the compliment. "Thanks! I know what you mean, but in a lot of ways, it takes out some of the uncertainty. I can't hide what I am, so there's no point in even trying."

She dove into her messenger bag and pulled out notepad and a pencil - the computer stayed where it was, because you just didn't feel natural talking to someone banging away at a computer. "But I'm not here to talk about me. Obviously. So, Miss Fernandez - oh, can I call you Anna? Let's start at the beginning. You could have done a million things with your life. So why Redención House?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Of course, call me Anna. As for a million things, I don't know about that." Anna paused, listening to footsteps over their heads as the teens moved around. Probably vying for mirror time before they met their journalist guest. "I think I owe this to my mother. She had a gift for making a large household run smoothly. Has a gift," she amended with a smile. "I always knew I wanted a big house full of kids... although I'll admit I didn't always picture it like this.

"I first got the idea for Redencion when I was nineteen. I used to pass a camp of homeless teens everyday on my way to work. I found out they were mostly mutants who had been kicked out by their parents and abandoned by the system. Even now there are not that many homeless shelters who will take in a known mutant. Too much trouble."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya scribbled some details on her notepad as Anna spoke, and she nodded enthusiastically. "That's so neat! So what is it that allows you to-- oh, shoot."

She dug into her messenger bag, stopped halfway, and gave Anna an apologetic look with ears down. "I am so sorry - I meant to record this, and I completely forgot about it. That's okay with you, isn't it?"

With Anna's approval, she pulled an iPod from her bag, set it to record, and placed it on the table. "Okay, so, I'm talking with Anna Fernandez at Redención House on June 22nd, and you were just saying a lot of homeless shelters don't take confirmed mutants because they're too much trouble. So why aren't they too much trouble for you?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"No human is too much trouble for another. Now -" she held up her hand palm out, "I know there are those who would consider mutants to be separate from so-called mundanes, but to me... we are all jus' people. Not higher beings, not lower life forms."

Anna brushed her hair out of her eyes, and added, "That being said, a mutant who cannot control an ability that would harm another resident at the House, or the neighborhood where we live - I cannot take in such a risk. And any teens who insist on joining a gang or not living drug free under my roof would be removed. Redención House is not simply a roof over your head, it is a place for a second chance.

"If you are not interested in trying to make it to the real world and living on your own two feet, then there is nothing here for you." Anna's voice had a bit of sadness in it, remembering the first year with the House, when she'd realized she needed such rules. And that she could not help everyone, no matter how good her intentions.

[Taya Robbins]

No human is too much trouble for another. That was getting underlined. Underneath that quote, Taya wrote 1) no control and 2) gang/drugs and bracketed them with the word exceptions.

"So, what does something like Mutant Registration mean for an operation like yours? What sorts of benefits or drawbacks do you see?"

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna sighed softly. "To be honest, I am still figuring that out myself. Classifying a mutant human as something different, even dangerous, only makes prejudice stronger. Justifies the hate on both sides of the equation.

"My family immigrated from Spain in the early nineties, looking for the America we had always heard about. And we found it - the American dream was real for us! Things like the MRA, however, seem to muddy the principles this country was founded on. Equality. The brotherhood of man." Anna raised an eyebrow. "Instead of encouraging us down a slippery slope towards treating mutant Americans as second class citizens, I think politicians should consider another amendment to the Constitution - one for mutant rights."

She blushed suddenly, "I am sorry, I do not often get on my soapbox like that."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya shook her head vigorously. "Oh, no, it's fine, really! So, um, what about things like subsidized health care for mutants, genetic advantage scholarships, and stricter enforcement of mutant hate crimes? Do you think those are just part of the slippery slope?"

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna felt like she was rapidly swimming out of her depth, and shifted a but on her chair. "Well, all those things seem good on the surface. And I am no expert - so please do not misunderstand me. But hate crimes are hate crimes. I wish that it would not matter who it was against. That we need special legislation to protect mutants... I think it says something not so good about our society."

Anna shrugged, "I really only have my opinions. I hope time proves my misgivings incorrect." With entities like Jericho behind the MRA, however, she was pretty sure it was just going to be more bad news.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya noticed the shift in Anna's body language and wondered if she'd come across too hard. She wished she had more experience than a year and a half writing for the student newsletter at Cullen's - this was a whole different ballpark from running interviews for teacher-of-the-month bios.

"So what you said about Redención House, that it's a place of second chances for mutant kids, that you're preparing them to stand on their own two feet in the real world - do you think registration makes that job easier or harder?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Harder," she said quietly. "So many mutant kids have been hurt by discrimination, from their former amigos, their familia... It is natural to them to lash out inappropriately when those who should be guiding them and supporting them suddenly do not know what to do with them, or how to relate to them.

"Some will seek out groups such as the Brotherhood to find that family to help them grow up. Others may end up here. I teach them to become responsible adults, to live in society as an equal. But the MRA says... it draws a line in the sand. 'You are different.' And of course we are different, no two humans are the same. It just... makes it that much harder to convince teenagers that the 'mundanes' want us to live alongside them."

[Taya Robbins]

This was good stuff. Like, really good. Taya kept a poker face while she scribbled down a few more notes in her pad, but her tail was lashing animatedly at the legs of her chair.

"Thank you so much, Anna, I have tons more questions, but I want to make sure I use our time well. I know you said you'd talk to the kids about maybe answering a few questions - is that still going to happen?"

Taya put on her best hopeful face, eyes wide, ears tucked in just a bit.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Yes, of course! They are excited to meet you." Anna reached out behind her, grabbing the broom that was resting against the counter. Hefting it, she gave the ceiling two short raps, then paused and did two more.

Her eyes twinkled a little as she caught Taya's expression. "Easier than yelling up the stairs. Someone will be down soon! I told them to come one at a time."

[Tess Abrahams]

"Can I borrow your white top? You know, the one with the little buttons and the crimped neckline?"

Tess glanced up from a stack of papers on her desk, eyebrows knitting together behind neat tortoise-shell square-frame glasses; she wore them rarely, mostly on weekends when a solid stretch of contact lenses had pressed that annoyingly dry, scratchy sensation against her cornea that no amount of Visine could fix. "Uh, sure. Why?"

Jen looked at her incredulously. "Because that reporter is here? The one that Anna told us about?"

"Right." Tess nodded. "But it's an article, isn't it? There's no broadcast coverage."

"There might be pictures, Tess."

It still didn't make much sense to the woman but Jen seemed pretty confident that she was missing something vitally important so Tess decided the best course of action was to nod in vague acknowledgment. She stuffed a sheath of papers back in a manila folder and fetched the requested shirt from her closet, handing the wooden hanger to Jen.

Thud, thud.

"Knock yourself out," Tess glanced down at the floor. "If you're still busy getting ready, I guess I'll head down..."

The other girl nodded and Tess shook her head, bemused, as Jen scurried back to the bathroom to... flatiron? Bronze? Whatever cosmetic pursuit she thought necessary.

Thumping down the stairs in her own preferred brand of fashion (http://rlv.zcache.com/vegetarians_taste_better_tshirt-p235773551633245349y7ij_400.jpg), Tess emerged into the kitchen with an easy smile on her face, long legs eating up the distance from the stairway to the breakfast nook.

"Hi, there, you must be..." she stopped short, surprised by the... cat girl sitting across from Anna. There had been a fair number of physical mutations among the student body at Cullen's, but nothing really prepared you for the mental double-take. Tess recovered quickly, her face brightening, and she extended a hand as she crossed the room. "Man, that's awesome. Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Tess Abrahams."

[Taya Robbins]

Icebreaker. Taya knew she'd be getting as many of those as she had interviews today, so it didn't even faze her. She got up out of her seat and stepped up to meet Tess's hand with an outstretched paw. "Taya Robbins. Thanks for letting me take up some of your morning, Tess!"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the name Tess Abrahams was ringing a little bell, but she couldn't quite place it. But she knew her mind was way too easily distracted by things like bells, so she shuffled it away for the time being as she found her seat again.

"So, Tess, first off, do you mind if I record the interview? Okay, great. So, Anna and I agreed that I'll only print the names of house residents if both you and she say it's okay. So, let me just start off by asking, how long have you been here at the House?"

[Tess Abrahams]

That took a little calculating. Tess paused, easing slowly into the chair between Taya and Anna, scooting it back so that they were positioned in a friendly semi-circle.

"Well, I got here at the beginning of June, I think," she glanced at Anna for confirmation. "But I met Anna last year and spent some time at the House then, too. That's how I knew where to go when I got back to the West Coast."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna nodded in agreement with Tess, pushing back quietly from the table and walking past the island toward the fridge while the two younger women talked. She poured herself a glass of water and then two more, bringing the glasses to the table.

A second trip saw a bowl of almonds find it's way to the breakfast nook, and Anna resumed her seat, careful not to interrupt the interview.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya nodded. "Could you describe your time - oh, thank you, Anna. Could you describe your time here?"

She wasn't certain how much specific information she'd get - she understood that everyone had their personal stories, and mutants tended to guard theirs carefully, especially when it was unpleasant.

[Tess Abrahams]

"Busy," Tess said with a wry laugh. "I mean, obviously any household of this size is going to be pretty active but you throw in the added... challenges of being a mutant, especially in a neighborhood like Los Santos, and it`s pretty much a guarentee that there are no dull moments.

"I`ve been doing a lot of volunteer work and I`m also getting ready to attend college in the fall - don`t have to explain to you how crazy that is, right?"

[Taya Robbins]

"Oh, really, where are you going?" Taya asked before she could stop herself - it didn't really have anything to do with the subject of the interview, but maybe it would lead to something else.

[Tess Abrahams]

"Loyola, pre-law," Tess said. "Princeton was my first choice, my dad went there, but I was in the late-acceptance field so my options were narrowed a bit."<br /> <br /> She watched Taya make a notation on her pad and shrugged. "I think it`s probably better this way, though. Loyola`s got an excellent civil rights record and it`s local, so I`ll be able to stay on here and help out."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya bobbed her head in approbation. "Awesome! So, what do you think is the most important thing that Redención House does for the mutants who live here?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Provides a sense of home," the answer came swiftly, no hesitation to bar it`s way. Tess took her glasses off and turned the frames over in her hands, an idle habit that cropped up when she was trying to put something into words.

"All of us who live here are pretty resiliant, we can take care of ourselves - some of the kids are astonishly tough because they`ve had to be. But that sort of self-championing comes with a cost. When you don`t feel like there`s anywhere you can go to just relax, where you`re not constantly on guard... that gets exhausting, very quickly. The House is the exact opposite; it`s a soft place to fall. There`s a very strong feeling of acceptance here, no judgement. We`re a family - that`s a huge thing for a group who`s largely never experienced an environment like this."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya couldn't help but think of her parents and their unwavering support over the course of her own bizarre transformation. If she hadn't had a soft place to fall of her own, she wasn't sure what she might have turned into.

"That's huge," she replied earnestly. "I can understand why you feel such a connection to the place."

Loath as she was to change the subject, she had to remember the focus of the story. "What's your opinion on Mutant Registration?"

[Tess Abrahams]

A bitter coil settled in the woman`s chest and Tess had to use all of her self-control to keep her face from twisting. As it was, she didn`t stop a distasteful snort from escaping.<br /> <br /> "I think it`s obscene, and a very big step in a very, very dangerous direction." Tess crossed one knee over the other and leaned forward, elbows propped on her thigh. "There`s a lot of information out there to the tune of how the MRA is a mutually benefical move, how it`s going to preserve the rights of mutants; anyone with an ounce of discernment knows that`s beurocratic garbage. It`s a means of control, pure and simple, and every citizen - not just mutants - should find that extremely unsettling."

[Taya Robbins]

That made it two for two - though Taya couldn't say she was particularly surprised. If anything, Tess appeared to be even more direct with her opinions than Anna. This was a journalistic gold mine!

"Well," she said, slipping back into her role of devil's advocate, "what about the offers of health care, financial aid? You're going into law school, would you consider a genetic advantage scholarship?"

[Tess Abrahams]

For a moment Tess wondered if it were possible that Taya knew. How much digging had she done in anticipation of these interviews?

But no, that couldn`t be it; she hadn`t known Tess was even considering college. The question was simply a natural progression, and one that had been on her mind a lot, coincidentally. Tess sort of loved that it had been brought up.

"Would I consider one?" She repeated. "Sure. Would I accept one? To be honest, I`m not sure, Taya. On the one hand, universities award scholarships for a hundred reasons under the sun - academic excellence, athletic prowess, financial disadvantage, even regional location. But does issuing one for genetic variation cross some line? I guess for me, personally, the determining factor would be the established criteria. What expectations have to be met in order to qualify one as eligible? If simply being born different is enough... well, that would make me uncomfortable, it implies a certain misapplication of equality. But if a mutant has worked hard to meet basic academic and social standards and needs a leg up, how is offering it any different from awarding a guy who can throw a football across a field a full ride?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya tapped her eraser thoughtfully on her chin. "So doesn't mutant registration make these sorts of opportunities easier to come by? Especially for underprivileged mutant kids who might not otherwise be considered?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Infringing on basic rights is never beneficial, and that is what the MRA does." Tess shook her head. "If opportunities like scholarships are presented as an option, if there is a level of public awareness made to their availability, then their targeted audience will pursue them. But those provisions shouldn`t be incumbant upon relinquishing privacy to the government."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya finished another line of shorthand with a sweep of her pencil. "I'm actually applying for one myself. I kind of need it since I've been a New York resident and don't qualify for in-state tuition, but it does mean I'm going to have to register with the state of California." She gave Tess a sad little shrug. "And, oh my God, sorry, I know you don't need to know all that."

[Tess Abrahams]

"Hey, really? I lived in New York for awhile," Tess grinned, Taya's bright personality an infectiously endearing quality. "Whereabouts are you from?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya settled back into her chair, letting the reporter persona drop away just for a moment. "Oh, well, my heart's always going to be in San Mateo. That's where I lived before my mutation. But the last couple years I went to a private school for mutants in Westchester County. Cullen's Institute. You heard of it?'

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess's eyes grew round with surprised delight.

"Know it?" She exclaimed. "Heck, I went there up through senior year. Talk about a small world!"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya lit up like a flare. "No way, that's amazing! Wait, Tess - oh my God, were you Jacinda Blake's roommate?"

[Tess Abrahams]

The mention of her best friend and former roomie drew a delighted shriek.

"You know Jacinda?! Ah!" Tess laughed madly in the way that girls who have stumbled up some shared ground have a way of doing. "We roomed together from day one up until I left. Holy crap, this is awesome."

[Taya Robbins]

"I roomed with her, too, at least up until she graduated!" Taya said. "Wow! Man, it's too bad, we must have just missed each other by a couple months. I'll have to call Jacinda and tell her we met. Did you ever see her again? She always said really good things about you."

[Tess Abrahams]

"I... no, no, we sort of... lost touch. You know how that happens sometimes, after high school."

Tess's smile flickered a bit. There were about a thousand burs in her stomach right then, digging into her vital organs with their hooked teeth and it was a bit hard to smile with that going on. God, it sounded terrible when you said it out loud. Lost touch; ha! That was an understatement worthy of an Oscar.

But if Taya knew how to get in touch with her, it was reasonable to assume that the budding reporter was up-to-date on the latest news in good old Tempest's life. At least, more recent than Tess was. And she hadn't gotten wistful when their shared roommate had come up so at the very least, Jac probably hadn't fallen into a life of extreme destitution and despair. That was a relief.

[Taya Robbins]

There was a lot more to the story than that - if Tess's faltering voice and the flicker in her smile wasn't enough, Taya could smell the change in her mood and sense it in other ways she couldn't quite name. Feline empathy, perhaps. But it wasn't her business to root out the details of Tess's friendship with Jacinda.

Still, Taya was definitely going to have to call Jas when she got a chance.

"Yeah," she said, somewhat distantly, "I definitely know how that is..."

She thought about the friends that had either left her behind or been left behind at Cullen's... Banner, Freight Train, Ethan... she hadn't seen Damien in ages, either.

Taya blinked herself back into the present and couldn't help but wonder why she was letting herself get so distracted today. "Well, Tess, thanks again, this has been a really big help! If there's someone else who's ready, I'll be happy to talk to as many people here as I can."

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee crept down the stairs, barefoot, and in jeans and a black tank top. "Don't mind me, I just need some orange juice." She looked at the cat-girl, and gave her a look that said I know how it is, before padding into the kitchen and opening up the fridge. "I think Jen is coming down...sometime tomorrow. She's doing her make-up."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna paused, about to thump on the ceiling again, and put the broom down. "Why don't you come and join us, Aimee? I am sure you have an interesting perspective that Taya would love to hear."

The purple girl blushed, her plum cheeks darkening. "Oh, I don't know..."

"Come, come," Anna said, pulling out a chair, and then the five foot tall mutant couldn't say no, and was soon sitting across from Taya, glas of orange juice in hand. Aimee snagged a handful of almonds as Anna introduced her to Taya Robbins. "This is Aimee Connors."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya perked up noticeably at Aimee's arrival. She'd come to appreciate mutations of all varieties, but physical mutations were always a treat - beyond the personal interest, of course, who could have guessed the palette of humanity was so broad as to include fur, feathers, fins, and all the colors of the rainbow?

"Yes! Aimee, is it? Take a seat, I'd love to talk to you!"

She grinned broadly as she offered Aimee a paw. "Taya Robbins. I'd just like to ask you a few things about your experiences here at Redención, and some of your feelings on mutant registration. Is that okay?"

[Aimee Connors]

"Um, yeah," Aimee said softly, turning her glass in her hands. "That's fine. What do you want to know about it?"

She sat up as straight as she could at the table, trying to wake up fully. She'd been having quite a few late nights.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya reached over to begin a new recording on her iPod. "Well, first off, how long have you been here, and what brought you here? If you're comfortable sharing that, of course."

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee looked at Tess, Anna, and then Taya. "Ah, yeah, sure. I've been here for about a year. I used to live in New York, on the street. I had places to stay if it was too awful out, but generally..." she shrugged her slim shoulders. "Then one day I decided I'd had enough of the East coast and their awful winters, so I came to California."

She pulled her hair out of her eyes, tying it back into a rough pony tail. "So, yeah. I heard about Redención House through the community - the homeless community. Most kids here in LA seem to come through the House at some point or another. Hot meal, hot shower... Anna gives out clean clothes too, like if someone has a job interview to go to."

"I collect them through a clothes drive I organize every fall," Anna interjected softly, and then encouraged Aimee to keep going.

"Yeah, so, I came with some other kids one night, and got to talking with Anna. Decided to try... living legit." Aimee looked a little uncomfortable. "And here I am."

[Taya Robbins]

"When you talk about 'most of the kids,' do you mean mutant kids?" Taya asked. "Or non-mutants, too?"

[Aimee Connors]

"Well, mostly mutants. Non-mutants can get into most of the other homeless shelters - some will take mutants but most don't due to insurance issues. Or something." Aimee shrugged. "But non-mutant kids come here too sometimes."

[Taya Robbins]

Funny - that hadn't occurred to Taya to ask, and she didn't remember seeing it in any of the stories she'd already read about Redención House. Maybe people were just that used to the dichotomy of mutant and human, or mutant and mundane, depending on your perspective.

"Okay, so what makes Redención House unique from other homeless shelters that also take in mutants?"

[Aimee Connors]

"Well... its not just a homeless shelter. I mean, yeah, you can have a bed for the night and a roof over your head, but its more than that." Aimee looked uncertainly at Anna, who only smiled reassuringly.

She took a deep breath and continued. "Anna told me that this is about giving kids who need it a second chance. Its why its called Redemption House. And there aren't any long term shelters like this in LA - maybe the country." Aimee stopped, and added, "Well, I don't know really, but this is the first one I came across. She takes in kids from the streets, and kids from the system, like former foster kids, and kids who's parents don't want 'em anymore after stints in Juvie.

"Anna makes us all a family, not just an institution."

[Taya Robbins]

That was another quotable. Aimee's story seemed almost iconic, but Taya realized a lot of the other residents had to have stories to match.

"So, Aimee, what does Mutant Registration mean for you?"

In many ways, it was a self-reflective question. She and Aimee were marked as mutants for anyone to see, so registration was very nearly redundant.

[Aimee Connors]

She sighed, very nearly dropping her head to the table and covering up with her arms. Aimee resisted at the last moment. "It means... I don't know. What does it mean? I used to work at... a place... and my boss convinced me to register voluntarily. Something about setting a good example. It was implied that if I didn't do it now, when this shit, oops sorry, stuff goes mandatory that it would look bad.

"So I did." Aimee's face twisted up in a regretful grimace. "I got canned the next week anyway. Different reasons of course, but who knows." She shrugged. "It hasn't changed anything for me. I'm not like Tess, or someone else, where if you pass me on the street you might think I was mundane. No, its pretty damn obvious."

She put her elbow on the table and propped her face in her hand. "I guess if anything, the MRA is at least not harmful to people with physical mutations. We're already 'outed' I guess. So the stuff written into it that is supposed to protect mutants, like the hate crime definitions...? That helps I guess." Aimee trailed off, and raised an eyebrow as if to say, am I done yet?

[Taya Robbins]

Taya straightened up in her seat. Aimee was almost dismissive about the incident, like it was a personal embarrassment, but it had the smell of stark injustice around it.

"So when you say your boss 'convinced' you to register," Taya said, trying not to color the wording, "what do you mean?"

[Aimee Connors]

The other girl was sitting up straight, focusing closely on her, and Aimee resisted the urge to slouch. "Uh, he said if I didn't, I'd be let go." Despite suddenly wanting to throw the company under the bus, she was afraid if she made it look like this was Home Depot's official policy that she'd be sued if this went to print.

"Um, I'm sure that wasn't like, a Home Depot thing," oops, she hadn't said the name of the company before, dammnit! "But just a 'my boss' thing." Aimee shrugged, biting her lip. "I don't really want... to have that in the article. I mean, they might do something to me if they thought I was smearing them in the media, right?"

[Taya Robbins]

"It's not libel if it's the truth," Taya replied earnestly. "If you don't feel comfortable with it, I can omit your name, but this sounds like textbook discrimination. I think this is a story people need to hear, don't you?"

She looked imploringly at Tess and at Anna.

[Aimee Connors]

"But it would just be my word against his," Aimee said desperately, staring intently at the table. "I guess... if you didn't use my name. Then it might be okay?" She clasped her hands together in her lap, wishing she was somewhere else.

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna watched Aimee try to disappear into her chair, and put a hand on the girl's shoulder, comforting her. "I'm sure Taya does not want to bring a lawsuit to her paper, any more than she would want you to have to deal with one, Aimee."

She looked at Taya, adding, "You would have to leave her description out as well I think... there aren't many purple mutants in this area."

[Tess Abrahams]

"You didn't do anything wrong, Aimee," Tess said quietly and sent the girl an encouraging smile. The incident was a tangled mess of rights violations, the kind that made defense advocates salivate, but Aimee had been adamant that she just wanted to drop the issue. So adamant, in fact, that Tess quietly worried she thought she might been responsible in some small way.

"That sort of thing happens all the time," she continued. "Putting it out there - even anonymously - so that people can't ignore that it does is the first step in putting a stop to unfair treatment. And who knows, it might help someone else going through the same thing feel not so alone, you know?"

[Taya Robbins]

"They've already fired you, Aimee - there's really nothing else they can do to you," Taya said. "My guess is the last thing your boss wants is to have his decisions examined in court."

The other thing, of course, was that the Daily Bruin wasn't exactly the Los Angeles Times... but trivializing your own publication was never a good idea, no matter how nervous your sources were. And by now Anna and Tess were helping her case, and she didn't want Aimee to feel ganged up on.

She flipped another page in her notebook - Aimee had already merited a full page of chicken scratch. "Do you think registration would have made a difference to you back before you found this place? What I mean is, do you think registration will make it easier or harder for homeless mutants to find help?"

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee thought about that for a long moment, taking time to sip her juice. "Well, I guess it could go either way. Shelters who can't take in mutants would be able to keep someone like Tess out," she looked at the older girl and added, "You know, someone with a not-obvious mutation.

"But then if their insurance would work with them, then they could also accept 'safe' mutants in. People who were registered and deemed non-dangerous. Maybe?" Aimee shrugged. "Of course, then there are the creepy places." She shuddered a little.

[Taya Robbins]

The fur on the back of Taya's neck rose. "Creepy places?"

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee nodded. "Yeah. Really creepy, like total bad vibes. Non-official shelters... A few kids I knew went to this one place in New York when there was a snowstorm. I had a friend to crash with, but the other legit places were full up, so they went to this warehouse that they'd heard about."

Her voice trailed off, suddenly looking at Anna and feeling a bit uncertain about finishing the story. "I never saw them again. Went to the warehouse a few days later, and it was empty, just a few handwritten fliers on the floor advertising warm beds and food." Aimee hesitated again, but she could see that Taya was hanging on her every word.

"Its like getting forced into prostitution, I guess, for mundanes. Only if you're a mutant there's like a whole black market out there," she waved vaguely. "And sometimes they don't just want to... you know. I heard in China there are places they actually eat parts of mutants who have certain powers. Like if you want to have extra intuition, here, have this liver of a pre-cog." Aimee grimaced.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's tail had been twitching back and forth pretty much the whole time since she'd taken her seat, a mark of her energy and interest, but now it curled around the leg of her chair and stayed there, as if holding on for dear life. Something churned in her stomach, reminding her uncomfortably of her brief stay in the Jericho Center in New England.

Of course, you had to take such things with a grain of salt - urban legends were all the more compelling when you lived on the street amid so many real-world threats and pitfalls. At least, that made sense to Taya, who realized a moment later how patronizing it sounded. Either way, that was something else for a budding mutant correspondent to investigate. If there were any of these creepy places in Los Angeles...

Taya closed her paw around her pencil before her palm pads could get any sweatier. "Thank you, Aimee, you've been a big help! Is there anything else you'd like to...?" The purple girl's body language was enough to answer that. "Okay, well, if anyone else is ready, send them on down!"

[Aimee Connors]

"Okay, sure," she said, getting up from her seat, half empty glass of orange juice in hand. "It was nice to meet you."

Aimee hurried out of the room and up the stairs to send the next person down to the hot seat.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex passed Aimee on his way down the stairs. "How was the inquisition?"

She was noncommittal, but there was a smirk on her face when she said, "You'll see."

Alex paused and watched her the rest of the way up the stairs, wondering just what that was supposed to mean. He'd aired a few opinions earlier in his usual magnanimous way, how he wouldn't be at all surprised if this reporter was lying about being a mutant simply to get past Anna's protective screen, since it was pretty much impossible to verify. And then, of course, Jim had helpfully suggested that Alex might feel more comfortable if she had registration credentials to present, which had led to another spirited round of devil's advocate versus posthumanist demagogue.

Alex had been tempted to wear his Saladin T-shirt just to see what the reporter's reaction would be, but a few recent revelations had left him wondering whether he wanted to identify with the Brotherhood even ironically. He settled for a black T-shirt with an anarchy symbol rendered in double-helixes.

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and slumped down the remainder of the stairs and up the hallway into the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about, only to be confronted with - well, Taya, who turned her ears before she turned her head and gave him a whiskery smile.

“Oh my goodness, you’re a cat,” he said without ceremony.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Alex!" Anna said with surprise, a bit of sharpness in her tone. "Don't be rude, Ms. Robbins is our guest."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya laughed - the statement was impudent, but entirely factual in its delivery, like something you'd expect to hear from a wide-eyed five-year-old, and Alex looked just as brashly unapologetic. In another situation, she might have responded with, Oh my goodness, you're a frizzy-headed monkey, but she had to maintain some level of professionalism.

"It's all right, Anna, really. Everybody reacts in their own way." She popped up out of her seat and offered Alex a paw. "I'm Taya Robbins."

[Alex Kaine]

Alex took her paw without reservation. "I'm Alex. But I guess you know that already."

He glanced at the breakfast table and took the seat Aimee had just vacated. His hand found the bowl of almonds and grabbed a few. "So, what's the plan?"

[Taya Robbins]

"Well, I'm going to ask you a few questions about your experiences here at Redención House, and your feelings on the Mutant Registration Act. Is that okay?"

Alex nodded, and as Taya flipped to the next page in her notebook, she gave the teen another sizing-up. Even as he slouched, his hands were busy with the almonds, and there was a focus in his eyes that seemed to go beyond simple curiosity about her mutation. And, well, what could she say? For a frizzy-headed monkey, he was fairly cute.

"So, how long have you been at Redención House, and, if you're comfortable sharing, what brought you here?"

[Alex Kaine]

"I've been here almost a year now," Alex said. "Before that, I was in foster care with my sister, but..."

His mouth twisted as he considered his approach to a delicate subject. "Bottom line, we're both mutants, she was taken to the Jozua Clinic, and I took issue with that. And I couldn't be in foster care anymore, so I ended up here."

It was a heck of a euphemism for inadvertently giving his foster father an electrically-induced heart attack in a spike of rage, but you could read between the lines.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's ears flattened for just a moment at the mention of the Jozua Clinic, another of Jericho's many guises. She'd been wondering how long it would be before she found a connection here.

"So, your sister is still at the clinic?" she asked, trying not to let her revulsion color her voice.

[Alex Kaine]

"She's in a coma, yeah." Alex pressed his mouth into a straight line.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's ears fell again, and her large eyes were bright with sympathy. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

She picked up her pencil again and took a breath of transition. "What would you say has been the most important thing about your experience here at Redención House?"

[Alex Kaine]

Alex tapped one of the almonds idly against the placemat. "I think it's the sense of security and belonging. It's a safe place, you know, you're allowed to be a mutant here. Everyone understands what you've gone through, what your problems are, and you can talk freely about your experiences, your abilities... It's why I said what I did when I walked in. I didn't mean anything bad, it's just on the surface and real, and you don't have to be embarrassed about it."

[Taya Robbins]

"You don't think the foster care system can provide that?" Taya asked, trying to be delicate. But then, Alex seemed more willing to talk than Aimee had been.

[Alex Kaine]

"Well, maybe," Alex said with a doubtful shrug. "I don't know. Our folks were trying, I'm pretty sure. But to them, mutation was like a sickness. You just can't live a normal life when everybody's telling you there's something wrong with you."

[Taya Robbins]

Okay, wow, that hit home, and hard. Taya shuffled her notes to give her some time to regain her composure now that she'd been reminded once again just how lucky she'd been.

"Let's talk about Mutant Registration," she said. "What are your thoughts on it?"

[Alex Kaine]

Alex laughed and leaned his head back. "Oh boy... we're going to be here a while.

He looked back to Taya to see her eying him expectantly over her notebook. "Mutant Registration is just the latest in a long series of abuses against mutant rights by a paranoid and mundane government. It panders to the popular fear of the other, which people in power have been using as a means of control for eons. And not just control of mutants, control of everybody. Control of human evolution."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya went blank for a moment, finding herself awash in a tide of rhetoric that seemed somewhere between a philosophy text and an armchair conspiracy theorist. She could almost feel her legs kicking to find the bottom.

"Um... so it's about control?" she surmised. "But... for what purpose?"

[Alex Kaine]

"Does there need to be a purpose?" Alex asked incredulously. "Power is its own end to these people. Mutation by its very nature is unpredictable, uncontrollable. People in authority can't stand that, so they try to regulate it."

[Taya Robbins]

"So you don't think there are any good intentions behind registration at all?" Taya pressed. "What about subsidized health care, social studies, genetic scholarships?"

[Alex Kaine]

"Did we ask for them?" Alex replied. "Look, there are ways to study the mutant phenomenon that don't involve a mandatory state registry. It's a clear violation of privacy, and there's no evidence that any good purpose will be served by creating a new social class based on genetics."

[Taya Robbins]

"So you think registration hurts mutant communities like Redención House?" Taya asked.

[Alex Kaine]

"On the contrary, it makes us stronger," Alex said. "When have you seen the mutant community more focused and more unified? Take the protest (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21778) next week at Stanley Mosk Courthouse. There'll be hundreds of mutants there, and several of us are going, too. Trust me, we're going to show them just how much of a mistake they're making by giving us a cause to rally around."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Ah, Alex," Anna said gently, "You are starting to sound militant again." She smiled, raising an eyebrow at him.

[Alex Kaine]

"Oh, was I?" Alex gave Taya a sort of sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. Anna doesn't like militant."

[Taya Robbins]

Taya inclined her head. "Do you consider yourself militant?" she asked hesitantly.

[Alex Kaine]

"No, of course not," Alex replied. "An activist, sure. But it seems like a lot of people can't tell the difference these days."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Like me?" Anna said dryly, but she winked, getting up and gathering a few extra glasses that had been left behind on the table.