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Sunita joined the others in silent compliance as they were shuffled from the first room to the next, one fewer in number.  Nobody had rushed to the thin boy's defense, and he seemed to be forgotten about before they even reached their next destination.  So much for solidarity. An uncomfortable knot of guilt had taken hold in Sunita's chest. Its cause she could hardly fathom.

[colour=C1FF57][i]No saving someone from their own idiocy[/i][/colour]

Besides, she did help; the real victim had been the pepper-sprayed girl. She'd helped her, or tried to anyways.


It didn't take long after their fellow in-mates welcome speech for Sunita's eyes to wander towards the bookshelves despite the two girls that had already made themselves comfortable beside it, but she'd done her reading on the bus ride over.  It was time to at least make an attempt at being sociable.  Even the newest arrival, who'd tried nearly disappearing into her seat moments before had stood to approach the winged girl. Well, someone in their little group was popular.


Could it be having such observable mutations make some more approachable to the others?  It seemed a promising theory, until she came to consider the small rodent-type creature of their group that had somehow managed to be forgotten among the rest.  A limit to their empathy for the weird maybe- or just an outlier; they still had no clear way to communicate with the animal-person. Whatever biases there were, Sunita herself preferred puzzling over the powers of the more conspicuous mutants among them.  Most were surface-level, just normal young people. Only a few had revealed powers in their short time together. Her left hand twitched as she mentally began sorting through what she knew of each resident so far. Over the last few weeks, with the loss of privacy, came a newfound reliance on memory. Not that regular practice made the itch to jot down thoughts any weaker, as Sunita mentally inventoried what she'd witnessed.

The four they'd just met she kept separate in her mind for the time being.  Until she knew their real names and saw the claims in action.[table]
[row]
[cell] External Mutations[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Bird Girl[/cell][cell]Wings, very avian in appearance. Flight is an assumed given.[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Rock Boy[/cell][cell]Boy appears made of stone. Unusually large size more likely a bi-product than coincidence. Assumed durability and strength[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Large Russian*[/cell][cell] Tagged as only a potential external mutation. The physique could well be natural.  Unsure which would be more intimidating.[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Otter[/cell][cell]An otter.  Potential type of shapeshifter.  Then, why choose the form of an otter for the entire trip?[/cell]
[/row]
[/table][table]
[row]
[cell]Internal (Triggerable) Mutations[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Asian Girl[/cell][cell] Invisibility, seen in action[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]Rugged, tired boy[/cell][cell]'Edge'[/cell]
[/row]
[row]
[cell]The quiet girl that had helped the one who'd helped the invisible girl.[/cell][cell]Blood? Bleeding it? Sweating it?[/cell]
[/row]
[/table]

  Sunita's mind lingered on the detained boy again. The word "edge" shouted by the guard wasn't much of a clue, but somehow still enough to send a lurch of butterflies in the stomach despite herself. The thought of finding someone with a similar mutation to her own so quickly was too improbable to even dwell on. 

It took a shout from the center of the room to bring hers back to the present.  The heavily lip-sticked blonde was already having it out with one of their 'hosts'.  It was the last bit of motivation Sunita needed to abandon her earlier reservations and move towards the bookshelves of the room. Let others continue to label themselves as trouble-makers the first day. She had more sense, or at least enough fear, to keep her nose clean.

Four more of the group occupied the small 'library' corner of the room.  Sunita's attention was kept on the least conspicuous pair of blonde girls sitting closest to the shelf as she tried to at least appear interested in the selection.  Internally, she struggled to find the words and courage to begin a conversation.  The others around had done so easily enough, but socializing had never been a strength of hers.

[colour=C1FF57]"Revengeorescape?"[/colour] The words rushed out of her mouth much too fast after she'd deciphered the title on the spine of the book the seated girl had been reading.  She coughed uncomfortably before trying again.

[colour=C1FF57]"Monte Cristo,"[/colour]  Sunita forced herself to take a breath.  [colour=C1FF57]"Are you reading for the escape or revenge?"[/colour]

An explosive force that knocked Sunita forward to her knees covered the other girl's response, if she'd even had time to give one.  Again, one of her fellow arrivals had let their volatility get the better of them and sent another squad of armed guards on them.  It was hard to keep her frustrations in the right place as she picked herself up to follow the shouted orders.

[colour=C1FF57][i]Just a bunch of scared kids that didn't ask for any of this, we can't start turning on each other the first day.[/i][/colour]

She tried to remind herself as she scowled at the wall, hands pressed over her head.  Still, couldn't they act like they [i]didn't[/i] belong in a detention center for at least an hour?