I Stay Away

[The Man]

"Yes, which begs the question what you plan to do now," ::The Professor replied.::

[Typhoid]

"Plan?" She laughed softly and bitterly. "I don't feel like me. Planning really isn't in my head right now."

[The Man]

"That is where problems arise," ::The Professor said. His hand rested on the control for his wheelchair.:: "In moments of adversity, you must look to the future, rather than getting lost in the present."

[Typhoid]

She stared at him for a second, then shook her head with a bitter and pained look. "I'm sorry, Professor, but proverbs just don't really have a lot of impact right now."

[The Man]

"This is not a proverb," ::The Professor said calmly, albeit a bit more sternly than when they had spoken weeks ago over hot cocoa.:: "You are speaking to a man in a wheelchair."

[Typhoid]

Her fists clenched. "I'm not comparing severity of loss here, with you or anyone else."

[The Man]

::The Professor did not react to her clenched fists; he did not so much as blink.:: "I am not making a point about severity. I am making a point about loss and about coping. I am telling you what any decent physical therapist would, and as we have no specialits - and I hope it never becomes necessary - you will have to accept me as a substitute. The only way to advance in life is to accept your limitations, because the only hopeless situations are the ones you construct for yourself."

[Typhoid]

He sounded like a self help book to her, right at the time where she wanted to discuss ANYTHING but self help. She was angry enough that there was indecision in her about whether to remain that way, because with the Professor it was hard enough to. And this time, for once, she was tired of trying to not be angry. Anger used to cost the world around her much in destruction, when her powers reacted to her emotions. She caught the irony that as a human she could be as angry as she wanted, only it would do a lot less. And she really didn't care at this moment. "I didn't ask for advice, or a therapist, or lines from a book. I want to be left alone." The last word came out through gritted teeth. The thing that was at the very top of the list of things she didn't want was to be told she couldn't do something and would have to accept it.

[The Man]

"I left you alone for two days," ::The Professor remarked calmly. He would have to be both physically blind and deaf, as well as psychically so, to miss her anger; it was for the best to work those emotions out now, rather than to bury them and have them rear their head later.:: "Then you hacked into my Danger Room, which is what brought me here. And you might not want advice, but you would benefit from it. Like it or not, you are in a set of adverse conditions, and you need to cope; refusing to do so will only make it more difficult in the future; I speak from experience and a genuine caring for you, not from pleasure in hearing my own voice, whatever you may think."

[Typhoid]

"Fine, I need to cope. I'll do it on my own, I repeat, alone." She turned on one heel to leave.

[The Man]

::The Professor made no attempt to keep her from leaving.:: "My office door is open essentially all hours of the night now."

[Typhoid]

"Then you should get some sleep," she said, which was the only response she was going to offer. She spent her nights with Pietro, when he was not working. His straightforward manner was comforting to her, helped her focus and handle her life the next day.

[The Man]

::The Professor did not rise to the bait. He simply shut down the Danger Room and reset it to its previous parameters while she exited.::

[Typhoid]

She kept a set expression on her face as she walked out, even though she'd begun to cry the moment she left the observation area.