"no good ever came from telling someone you can manipulate them."
Not all mutants are able to come out of the shadows and tell the world to take them as they are. CIA Agent Josephine March is one such mutant. It takes a team of people just like Jos...
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~<x>~
"Alright, Josie," Charles began as he stood in the doorway of her room, "How many people can you manipulate with your mutation?"
Josie shut the cover of her book and placed it beside her on the bench at the windowsill before turning to look at him, "I've only ever tried one person at a time. Why?"
Charles rose an eyebrow and put his hands into his pockets, "You're doing that right now, aren't you?"
The woman before him smiled, "I was." Josie quickly stained Charles aura a tranquil blue rather than the dark green - disgust - she had been projecting in hopes he would leave her alone.
A smile also overtook Charles's face as he took his hands from his pockets and stood, "Clever but, I'm afraid you won't be getting out of this one. Come with me."
Josie followed Charles out of the room and down the hallway to the staircase that lead to the front door. Down the stairs they went only to stop at the foot of them where the other mutants were gathered together making small talk. Erik, however, was seething in the doorway of the hallway by himself. Josie tried to ignore his gaze and the pulsing red aura that dulled as she entered the room. Instead, she chose to focus on Charles as he spoke to the mutants.
"Thank you all for gathering here. This will only take but a moment of your time." He smiled at everyone before looking directly at Josie, "Now, Josie, I want you to manipulate us all to feel an overwhelming sense of joy."
Josie blinked at Charles, her confidence waning as she faced the room. She looked to Alex who winked reassuringly at her, staining his aura a pleasing violet before turning her attention to Raven who was beside him to do the same thing. Once she had successfully stained both of their auras she moved onto Hank then Banshee but when she turned to Moira she found herself reaching out to steady herself on something, anything. She was overwhelmed almost immediately as Eriks aura engulfed her peripheral, this time, however, it was a yellowy-green. He was worried about her?
Distracted, Josie released her hold on the others the moment Charles grasped her arm, "Alright, that was good." He turned to the room as he asked, "Who here felt their mood shift?" All but Moira and Erik rose their hands. Charles grinned as he looked down at Josie who was breathing deeply through her nose.
"How do you feel, Josie?"
Josie glanced up at Charles, "A little overwhelmed. Everyone feels quite brightly. I just have to get used to it, I guess."
With a curious look, Charles asked, "Can you see their emotions or simply sense them?"
"I can see them. It's like an aura that hugs their body. I used to have to be close enough to touch the aura in order to stain it."
"And by stain it you mean...?"
Josie blinked at Charles before turning to look at Alex again, his aura a smooth white, "They're colors. If you could see what I see you would understand. I'm not very good at explaining things."
Charles released Josie and held two fingers to his temple, focusing on her. When he could in fact see what she saw he let out a chuckle of surprise before he winced as her attention went to Erik. He slowly dropped his hand to his side as a smile overtook his face, "You're right, they do feel quite brightly. The colors... do you know what they mean?"
The woman went on to explain the chart she had tucked away in her desk at the CIA Headquarters and how she had memorized it. Charles gave an impressed nod before instructing her to begin again. She did, only this time she didn't even make it to Banshee before she grew too overwhelmed.
Josie's attention flickered to her left as Erik approached. She looked up at him to see his expression neutral but his aura a serious blue-violet as his voice lowered for only Josie and Charles to hear, "You can't do it if you're focus is elsewhere. Show them who you are.
Brown irises clashed with blue ones in their second match of wills since meeting. This time it was Josie who looked away and back to the room as she began again. With one last look at Erik who offered her no reassurance just his confident aura and steely gaze, Josie released her hold on her own emotions with a deep breath. The others were gaping at her, as they did the first time they saw her in the heat of their fight against Shaw and his men.
Josie started with Alex and worked her way to Hank, Raven, Banshee, Moira, then Charles and finally Erik whose aura was already speckled with the color violet - happiness. Beaming, the girl turned to Charles as he laughed when she hugged him close to her. Her skin rippled between emerald green - triumph - light purple - excitement - and violet - happy.
Looking over Charles shoulder, Josie looked to Erik who gave her a small smile that nearly stopped her heart. She mouthed the words thank you and his smile grew.
