She paused in the midst of taking another drink, blinking at the question before lowering her cup. The question should have been easy, requiring a simple explanation without any baggage, but she had never been so lucky.

"Well, that's a bit of a long story," she began quietly. Clearing her throat, she reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ears before continuing. Nerves always made her do that. "The shorter version? My mutation manifested when I was seventeen, right in the middle of my first kiss, and when my parents found out what I was... They didn't want a mutant for a daughter, so I left. I'd always wanted to visit Alaska, so I bought a bus ticket. I only got as far as Toronto before I had to start hitchhiking. I ended up in this really awful place where I met Logan. I convinced him to give me a ride, but we didn't get very far before some of the Brotherhood showed up and the X-Men came to the rescue."