Edie's control is all but perfect. She hasn't read a mind she didn't intend to since she was eight. But perfect control only means she doesn't read the contents of minds, it doesn't mean she doesn't observe them existing. And it's useful to skim the surface emotions of the people around her, shallowly enough that nothing connects itself to any specific person--

But she is the daughter of Professor X and Magneto, and a future teacher at the school, and her parents aren't here, so when she feels a point of distress so severe that she can't help but connect it to the mind in question, and it's a mutant mind, it is very much her business. She makes her excuses to the teacher who brought them here (Papa and Dad will understand; better not to get anyone else involved before she knows more), peels off from the group and all but sprints to where the distressed mutant is.

It is not a nice part of town, but no one tries to bother her who she can't take care of without too much distraction.

She knocks.

The door is jerked open, not by the mutant, but a man, who doesn't look all that happy at being disturbed.

The mutant is in the room, on her knees, staring almost blankly at the door. She's shaking, and terrified (nothing has happened yet), and confused about why anyone was even knocking. (She needs the money, even if she doesn't want this.)

(The man has no intention of paying.)

Well.

Shit.

The man can be unconscious and go stand in that corner over there, that's a good lad. Well, no, he's terrible, but he can at least be less inconveniently terrible.

"Hey. I'm not going to ask if you're alright, but--how bad is it?"

She doesn't understand the question. It's...it's not bad? Is it? She could've lost her child, (she would've if she'd stayed). This is better (isn't it?).

"I-" she doesn't look at the woman directly, is only aware that the man isn't coming near her again. "I just need the money," she says eventually, curling in on herself. (She can feel the flames starting to flicker under her skin, clenches her fists tight to try and stop them escaping.)

She looks at her again.

"How old are you?"

She flinches slightly, but...

But you answered questions when you were asked them, and you didn't lie. "Fifteen." (It isn't a lie, she nearly is.)

"Okay. Well, congratulations, I'm an unofficial representative of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youth, and you are hereby invited."

Her gaze briefly jumps to the woman's face, confused, startled (still scared, still not sure). "...not gifted?" she says (barely has an education to speak of). She has no idea what the Xavier Institute even is, and that shows.

"It's a school. For mutants, like you and me."

But- But even if they're both mutants, this woman isn't like Blaze. (Flames flicker over the back of her hand.)

And even if they will take her, she has no (one) way to pay for this. "Price?" she asks. (Everything has a price.)

She sits down beside her.

"Once upon a time, there was a lonely little boy named Charles who could hear what people were thinking. Charles lived in a very big house, and had lots of toys, but he was very sad, because nobody loved him. It was a very big house, but the only other people there were servants, who saw him as nothing but a job to do, and his mother, who had only had him because his father, now dead, wanted it, and who was most often to be found at the bottom of a bottle. Charles knew all these things, no matter how people smiled at him, because he was a mutant telepath, and at that age, not hearing what people are thinking is difficult.

One day, Charles was woken in the night by a sound. He went down to the kitchen to find someone wearing his mother's face, but he knew it wasn't his mother, and told them so. She shrank down to a little girl, even younger than he was. She had been looking for something to eat, you see, because her parents threw her out because her skin was blue and scaly and she could change her shape. She said her name was Raven, and he adopted her as his sister and told her he would never have to steal to eat again.

Charles wasn't lonely anymore, and Raven wasn't hungry, but they never forgot. When they grew up, they found more of their kind--our kind--and started the school, so no mutant child would have to be hungry or lonely again. Not if they could help it. And they can't, always, they can't find everyone who needs them--but when we do find them, we try to bring them home.

Anyway, don't worry if your powers are hard to control, my friend Scotty has eye lasers he can't turn off, so they invented him special goggles. Whatever's hard to deal with about your power, we can figure something out."

That...sounds. Wonderful. And- (not real.)

And maybe it would be somewhere she could... One hand rests on her stomach. Whatever the price is (and there has to be more of one than she's being told), it'll be worth it if her baby is safe.

She doesn't really have many other options. But... "if I say no?" (She doesn't think it's an option, saying no never is, but she...wants to hear it.)

The flames on her hand surge.

"Then I pick that guy's pocket, give you all the cash he had on him, and send him away. He wasn't planning to pay you."

Her hands come up to grasp at her hair, tugging a little harshly. (She can't even get this right, how stupid does she have to be?)

The flames on her hand twist around her head (and it's unclear whether she's trying to hurt herself, or whether the flames are trying to provide some measure of comfort).

"If I say yes?" her voice is shaky, brittle, and almost entirely helpless.

"Then I call someone to come get you, and they get you settled in at the school and make sure you get decent prenatal care and talk to you about your options. I can stay if you want or go if you want."

She's silent for a moment, part of her trying to gauge what the right answer here is, but...

But she doubts she'll be able to get access to any prenatal care on her own. (She wants to be a good mum.)

"Please?" she says eventually, somehow both hesitant and desperate. (She'll deal with the cost when it comes to it, it'll be worth it, no matter what it is.) "I- I can-" she doesn't even know what she was going to try and offer, to not take up space, to help around the school (there must be chores that need done), anything.

"It's okay," she says. "--Do you want a hug?"

She can't even answer that. She doesn't (really) want to be touched. But...she's seen how other people are comforted by hugs, can't help but wonder if...(if not every contact had to hurt, one way or another.)

She shrugs, because she doesn't know.

...She leans over and tentatively settles an arm around the other girl's shoulders.

She's tense, waiting for something...worse.

But this isn't bad. She doesn't exactly relax, but she leans slightly into the contact. (It's almost pleasant.)

She wraps her arms around her in a proper hug.

She flinches at the motion at first, and then let's herself lean a little more into it.

Then she's crying (it's all too much, and everything is starting to catch up with her). She manages a barely-coherent apology (she can't imagine the other girl likes being cried on by a complete strange, never mind someone like Blaze).

Edie strokes her hair gently and makes soft comforting noises.

That stirs some barely-remembered memory, from when she was very young, of someone holding her like this. It makes her cry harder, but not exactly in a bad way.

Eventually, her sobs die down, and she's just waiting, too exhausted now to even really think straight, or actually pull away.

Edie continues hugging her.