After the dust of the rally had settled, people began to pack up. It was late, late enough for it to be dark outside. Streamers, posters, and general trash littered the streets in and around Times Square. It was a little saddening, actually. There had been so many people gathered together for one cause, and now they were all gone. If Juliette didn't have something else on her mind, perhaps she would have dwelt on the significance of it.

However, other things invaded her thoughts.

As she had stood watching the X-man speak, many things crossed her mind. For one, she noticed how thin the X-men numbers were looking. Sure, there were many of them there, but if she was recognizing them correctly, many of them were from the East Coast. Secondly, she noticed how important they were. 

Sure, the X-men had always been an important part of mutant culture, but now... They seemed to be even more so. They were a sign of mutant strength and peace in a time of violence and hatred. 

It was a bit of an impulsive move when she walked through the dwindling crowds to speak to the pink-haired man. Her time was already spread thin, and she really didn't have enough of it to be offering it to other people, but the issue seemed important enough to risk her already iffy career. Besides, she had been growing to resent her shifts more and more. 

The one place where people still gathered was around the mutant superstar. There was a large group of young girls who wanted autographs, some of the a bit more. It was loud and intense, and Juliette sort of felt bad for the guy. But, he probably got that a lot. From what she could tell, it came with the territory of being famous.

She did her best to push through the group towards the front. It was difficult, but eventually she made her way through. "Mr. Johnson?" She called. "Could I get a moment of your time?" It was unlikely he would even see her or give her the time of day in such a big group, but she hoped that he would despite the odds. 

He'd been standing for hours. Literally all day. All he really wanted to do was go home, strip off his uniform, wash the stale smoke smell off his skin, and collapse into bed. Oh how he longed for the embrace of a cool pillow on his face to help him sink into sleep. He'd already talked his way out of helping to disassemble the stage, but he hadn't made it twenty feet before he'd been surrounded by fans. Of course, he'd been in one very public place for a full day. Hell, it had been televised, he'd had no hope of escape.

In the light of a dozen billboard sized screens Cafas' hand was starting to cramp as much as his legs. Autographs were given, photos taken. He had a smile across his tired face, because of course he did, it was required of him in the moment. Even if he wasn't all that happy that he'd been forced to send Abby home with one of the X-men. He was happy, however, that the rally had gone so well. Not a single arrest or disturbance, it was positively perfect.

Okay, that's it, time to find an escape route.

"Mr. Johnson? Could I get a moment of your time?"

Cafas had never been happier to see a reporter. At least, he assumed she was a reporter. That was certainly a reporter's opening line. So far he'd declined every request for an interview, feeling it would detract from the focus of the rally. This one though, this he would take. "Yes! Of course. Sorry ladies, I really should take this opportunity to spread the rally's message further. You all take care, it was so nice to meet you all." The X-man took a step closer to the woman, slightly perplexed by the lack of camera crew and recording equipment. Maybe a newspaper reporter?

Certainly looks like her time is stretched thin enough to be one.

The crowd was, of course, unlikely to disperse from around them. No, if he didn't leave, they'd stay right where they were. "How can I help you? Here, let's just step backstage, hopefully we won't be in the way." Cafas slipped through a gap in the rent-a-fence, a bit of squeeze with his bulk. It formed a perimeter a few yards around the stage and all its electronics, which were in the middle of being packed into a truck. Cafas led the woman to the side of the platform, seemingly out of the way.

Juliette blinked. Cafas' response had been far more positive than she had been expecting. Actually, it was almost enthusiastic. Though, she could see why. Talking to her was the perfect way to get away from the group of fans that waited on the fence they were slipping through.

She followed him silently, walking past sound equipment and boxes of supplies. It was strange; she had never had a role that required her to be backstage for anything before. People were packing most of the equipment away, ready to move onto wherever it was needed next.

When they stood on the side of the stage, away from the noise of the gathered crowd, she finally answered his question. "Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. I'm Juliette and I..." She trailed off.

What could she say? 'Hi, I want to join the X-men. I have no credentials and limited fighting experience?' Yeah, that was just about the worst plan ever.

"See, the thing is..." Juliette started and then bit her lip. After a second of thinking, disjointed words began to pour out. "The thing is, Mr. Johnson, I'm a mutant. Just like probably everyone else that attended the rally, I know, but I want to be able to do something with my abilities. I mean, I already do stuff with it, but I want to be able to do something important. I want to help people. More than I already am."

That was a load of words. Words that the very famous X-man slash movie star likely wasn't interested in hearing.

Okay, deep breath in.

Exhale.

Get right to the point. Stop with the needless word vomit.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is... Do you need more X-men?"

"Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. I'm Juliette and I..."

Well someone had not been expecting him to give them an interview, clearly. Normally he'd be three questions deep in a torrent of words from a reporter. Hopefully her lack of preparation meant she wasn't going to try tripping him up with his own words. That was just infuriating.

"See, the thing is..."

Another false start. Clearly she was flustered by the whole event. Maybe not used to interviewing celebrities, or just inexperienced in general. Cafas smiled and waited patiently. She didn't make him wait long at all.

Wow, when she found her words she really found them. There was a stream of conscious rambling that Cafas was caught quite off guard by. So she wasn't a reporter, she was a mutant who wanted to do something to help? Cafas frowned, rather confused with why she was telling him all this. He was far too tired to be drawing his own conclusions. It wasn't that he didn't care, his synapses just seemed to be misfiring.

There was a pause where she seemed to be preparing herself for more words. Cafas waited tiredly to hear the rest.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is... Do you need more X-men?

Oh.

OH!

Cafas blinked and put just a little more energy into making his brain work. Honestly, the East coast team was starting to look a little thin on the ground. Cafas blamed the deputy program, they just weren't as "cool" any more.

"Well, uh, I guess we're always open for applications. Juliette, wasn't it? Sorry, I've been running on fumes for hours." Cafas hook his head to clear it, refocusing on the brunette. A little on the short side, and around Maya's build. Not a promising start, though as Maya proved, hardly a write off. Maybe in her early twenties, so no problem there. Sure, he could give her a chance.

I really don't want to have to turn her down. People get so heartbroken about that.

"Do you have time for a short Q and A? Normally we know the people that apply reasonably well, so I just need to get caught up on a bit about you. Like, what's your mutation?" Some things just inherently lent themselves to being an X-man. Offensive or defensive capabilities, or things that could fill more of a support role. If she had something he figured they could make good use of in the team, it would certainly help her.

Juliette's face brightened slightly as Cafas spoke. Her question wasn't a complete bust, then. It had felt like a long shot that he would even take her offer, but she was glad that he did. Although, she was definitely still a bit flustered. It was strange to be trying to do something so entirely out of her element.

"That's alright," she assured, "I'm sorry for asking you at such a bad time. I know you're probably exhausted. But I definitely have time for a Q and A if you do."

Her mutation. She was supposed to explain her mutation. Okay, start with something simple, she supposed.

"Uh- I can absorb and manipulate light energy," Juliette told him, holding a ball of light in her hand.  She let it circle around and break apart into smaller balls before she reabsorbed it. 

"I can do quite a bit with it," Juliette explained. She didn't want him to assume that it was useless, or only useful as a party trick. After all, all of the X-men she had seen had incredibly useful powers that were good in fights. While she had only been in a few fights and only knew basic defensive tactics, she figured that if she practiced, she might be of use. Plus, she was supposed to be trying to impress him, wasn't she? "Shoot it, absorb it, become it. That kind of thing."

"I assure you, I wouldn't offer if I wasn't happy to do it." Cafas smiled as Juliette apologised unnecessarily. e appreciated the gesture, but the sooner she realised Cafas didn't make offers he didn't intend to follow through on, the easier their X-man careers would go. If she made the cut. Cafas tuned back in to listen to the hopeful describe her power, only realising after that he'd tuned out to start with.

Maybe I should have told her to see me another time... Too late now.

"Uh- I can absorb and manipulate light energy. I can do quite a bit with it, shoot it, absorb it, become it. That kind of thing."

Okay, so far, so promising. Light manipulation sounded like it had a few useful applications, although she seemed to coalesce a ball of light rather than manipulate the pre-existing stuff in their surrounds. There was potential within that.

"It'll be interesting to see how the Danger room interacts with that. A few questions out of that though. When you shoot it, what's the effect? Burning? Concussive? Explosive? And how much of a punch does it have? Don't be afraid to hit me with it if you feel it's safe, just warn me first." Cafas gave his stomach a solid thump to indicate it as a target.

This may well hurt...

"The other aspect I'd like to know a little more about is turning into light. What's that do, so to speak?" Because someone that could move at the speed of light would be so incredibly useful, but only if you knew they could do it. He also wanted to ask about the absorption thing, but he was prepared to wait for that one. The others seemed like they'd be the key abilities to her application.

Gotta figure out if she'll gel with the team, such as it is...

"Concussive," Juliette said almost instantly. Her blasts had never burned anything, nor had they ever made anything explode.

"Don't be afraid to hit me with it if you feel it's safe, just warn me first."

Was he really telling her to hit him with a blast? Did he realize that it would hurt? Apparently he must have, since he seemed serious about it. He was also huge, though, so he must have been used to taking more hits than the average Joe.

But still...

Juliette decided to answer his other question before hitting him with a blast. "It makes me invulnerable," she explained, "from things like hits or I think even bullets, but I've only tested that once. I can also fly for short distances and break apart into smaller parts, I guess?" That part was harder to explain.

Her hands started to glow yellow-gold as she readied herself to hit the man standing in front of her. It was strange, really. She had never hit anyone that wasn't trying to hurt her.

"I'm... Going to hit you now, alright?" She told him. Then, before he had time to move, she hit him with a moderately sized blast. She wasn't sure how much he would be able to handle, but she also didn't want to sell herself short. She just hoped that she hadn't accidentally hurt the guy that was supposed to be vetting her. She waited with her breath held for his reaction.

He logged away the information Juliette gave him, hoping he'd remember by the time it came to planning a try out for her. If it came time. She still wasn't through on power explanation alone. Invulnerability was undeniably useful, as were flight. Breaking into smaller parts was... Well, he'd keep it in mind.

I'm sure we'll figure out a use for it. We always do.

The woman's hand starting to glow was all the warning Cafas really needed, and it would be all others needed. It was a pretty obvious telegraph, though it remained to be seen if that would even be an issue. His stance shifted instinctively, dropping into a more stable position as she spoke.

"I'm... Going to hit you now, alright?"

He only just braced in time. Some part of his subconscious just switched on in preparation, and was very glad it did. The force rocked him, more than he'd been expecting, even as he rolled with it. He'd fought himself before, he knew how hard he hit. That had to be pretty damn close. The X-man took a breath, blinked the surprise out of his expression.

From her frame, god damn.

"Well that'd drop someone pretty easily." Cafas rubbed his stomach where she'd hit him. That was almost certainly going to bruise before he got back to DocProf. It didn't feel like anything was broken though. "How often? How far away?" That should be about all he needed from her in terms of mutation.

God help people if that's unlimited.

"While we're on the subject of offensive capabilities, do you have much experience in fights? We'd all love if peace worked out in our line of work every time, but it doesn't, and we need you to hold you own when it fails." Another deep breath in confirmed his ribs were still intact, and convinced his heart rate to drop a couple bpm to resting.

She let out the breath that she had been holding in anticipation as Cafas spoke. He definitely seemed like he had just taken a hit, which was good, or at least she supposed it was, but he wasn't dead. She was mostly worried that he wasn't quite as strong as he looked and she would have misjudged the intensity.

>>"Well that'd drop someone pretty easily. How often? How far away?"

"As often as I can recharge." Juliette began to explain, "I can't create any energy. I can only use it. I have to absorb it to be able to use it, so I can keep going until I don't have anything left." She left out the part about her needing to absorb energy. She felt sort of bad about it, but it technically wasn't lying. Besides, it wasn't the subject of the question. "That burst there was about the equivalent of standing under a lamp for a few minutes."

"As for distance, the blasts can travel pretty far, but I have to aim them. It's sort of like throwing darts; I can shoot about as far as I can see. Any farther, and I would just be praying for a hit." That just about covered all the bases, she figured.

Fights. He was asking how many fights she'd been in. That number seemed to be steadily rising of late. She was about to answer, but was distracted by a deep breath he had just taken. Obviously nothing was broken, but the nurse in her felt bad about hurting him.

Juliette took a deep breath and answered his question, despite the horrible feeling in her gut. "I know basic self defense, and I've been in a few dangerous situations lately. I can fight if I'm needed to. I'm good under pressure."

Cafas had no idea how often a few minutes under a lamp could be charged up in, say, daylight, but it did sound like she'd be most useful outdoors. Maybe they could work some kind of battery operated lights into her uniform? That seemed like it should be possible, though ow useful it would be... All matters for the future. For now, raw, she had a useful power that could be deployed at some range at least a few times before needing a break.

Limits can be tested later.

The fighting was... Less promising. He supposed they had a few members who weren't exactly martial artists. IT was something they could work on, but for now it made her something of a liability in a fight. A few self defense moves and grace under pressure just didn't cut it in their line of work. Experience, firm grasp of at least one martial art, those were really the things he was looking for.

Bit counter message, isn't it?

"Alright, well, sounds like that one'll need work. Not insurmountable. Never forget that people exist that can deny you your power, and we've had to fight them before." Adapted, that was the word. Like Mama T. It was frightening when they ran into adapteds in the field. They tended to make up for their low numbers with their powers. Without them, they were just well trained humans, and usually vastly outnumbered.

"Okay, this one's a bit more open, what do you think you bring to the team?" Other useful skills was what he was hoping for, though he'd heard "enthusiasm" before. Everyone brought enthusiasm. they had to, it was an unpayed position with more danger than you could poke a stick at.

The young woman nodded. All the points that he brought up made sense, she had just neglected to think of them. Without experience, she would be about as useful without her powers as any other random person off the street. But, she was still young, and hopefully she could be taught.

His next question was a simple one. She didn't need the cliched answer of 'I'm a team player', or 'I'm enthusiastic'. Juliette actually did possess some useful skills.

"I'm a nurse," she said simply. "Or, at least I'm trained to be one. It's beginning to look less and less like that's where my life is headed." Especially with everything she had just taken on of late. "But, I've worked in the E.R. for the past year, so I would be good in the field looking after injuries. And I could teach the rest of the team some simpler things so they don't get stranded with an injury."

Hopefully that would be an interesting enough to make up for her lack of experience.

Now that was an answer. Cafas felt his confidence in Juliette as a team member climb several notches as she spoke. Not only did she have skills, she was already thinking about implementing them. The fighting could be taught easily enough, that sort of initiative seemed like it came built in or not at all. A nurse would be almost invaluable in the field. The only way it could be better is if she was a healer on DocProf's level.

It's nice to do one of these with someone that's even vaguely qualified for the gig.

So, useful power, though limitations remained to be tested. No real fighting experience to speak of, would be picked up pretty quickly. Nurse, no more need be said in regards to that. Cafas was reasonably happy with that. How she'd get along with the rest of the team was something he wouldn't know until he introduced them. If she was surviving the work force she clearly knew how to maintain professionalism though.

God knows mine gets tested some days...

"That's certainly points in your favour. Alright, shouldn't need much more for now. I suppose you're aware we work closely with the police, for better or worse," Mostly worse, and it rang in his tone. Being tired was making the mask of contentment slip. "Sorry I shouldn't have said that. Anyway, we do need to know if you have a criminal record." Which they could check anyway. Mostly Cafas was trying to get a feel for honesty. While it was true that they needed to know, it honestly made very little difference to them. The past was the past, and everyone was redeemable.

It seemed as though the nurse comment had gone over as well as she had hoped. It was probably her most qualifying factor, after all, and her biggest selling point. It was strange to think of herself that way, though, trying to sell her skills. She supposed it wasn't exactly like that, but it was still strange.

Cafas' slip up was a strange one. The way he said it made it seem like he wasn't entirely happy with the fact that the X-men were working with the police. She hadn't realized that there would be tension there, but it made sense considering recent events. Sam seemed fine enough with it, though, so it may have been personal feelings rather than team wide feelings. Or, he may have just had slightly different experiences than Sam. That made her wonder how closely the team tended to work together. She decided not to push it and keep her thoughts to herself.

"No criminal record," Juliette answered honestly. She had always stayed out of the way of crime for the most part, save for that one time with the little girl at the bank, but that had been a misunderstanding. She had never actually done anything that could get her arrested. 

No criminal record would remain to be proven, but for now he was happy to believe her. He had no reason not to, after all. If she was telling the truth, it would expedite all the paperwork through the police system, rather than trying to explain why they should allow someone with a rap sheet to fight crime with them, not that he saw why they did so much of that anyway. It was a bit of a waste of the X-men's time anyway, wasn't it? They already had police for that. Ah, but it got them all good with the city, kept the government off their backs. Operating openly was nice.

Should get her phone number after this one.

"Alright, that'll make things go more smoothly. This should be the last question for now, do you have any chronic injuries, a weak knee, that sort of thing? I know it might be tempting to lie here, if you do, but please remember it's not just your own life you're gambling with if you do." Someone who couldn't run without dislocating something, for instance was going to be a liability to the whole team. They couldn't afford the risk in those cases, but it's not like people hadn't tried to lie their way in before.

Suppose that's why the tryouts tend to be so hard.

Chronic injuries. That was an especially good thing to check for. If someone was in the field with a potential injury, that could be disastrous. Lose ligaments, scar tissue, arthritis, she had seen almost all of it, but never been unlucky enough to be privy to something like that. Save for a broken arm in the fourth grade, she was injury free. It also helped that she ran whenever she could, so her joints were used to taking a bit of heat.

"No injuries here," Juliette answered safely, knowing full well that she was being honest. "Believe me, I know what that could mean for someone." She knew full well.

There was something eating at her, though. It was a persistent, nagging thought that had been eating at her for most of the conversation so far. "I don't want to sound pushy or anything, or assume that I even have the position, but is there some kind of compensation for the position? I mean, this would probably mean giving up a paid job for me."

It seemed like a huge step back for her to be going from a full time job to volunteering and crime fighting if it meant no income. There was no way she would be able to keep living in her apartment, and life on the street was not in the least bit appealing.