Levi stretched his arms out over his head and yawned softly as he walked along the walk in Central Park. It was rather late in the evening and he probably should have been home by this point, but he couldn't resist a little walk in the park when it wasn't filled to the brim with locals and/or tourists. Sure this wasn't anything like home had been -- but at least there was this. A small, minute part of nature within the massive concrete jungle that was New York. It wasn't much but he couldn't pick and choose...maybe later, but definitely not now. 

He then found himself passing by a group of trees and an idea came to him. Okay so he knew that it was probably frowned upon by someone somewhere, but he didn't care about that right now. And soon enough, he was about ten feet up the nearest tree and leaning up against the trunk and letting his mind wander to thoughts that he tried not to think about too much, but every once in a while they would rear their heads. 

It had been over ten years and he still hadn't been able to find his brother. He sighed softly. There had been a lot of trying times since his dad had been killed. And if you had told him that all of this would have happened--that he would have moved to the US --he would have laughed and called you gek (crazy)! But it had happened and this was life as it was right now. He still held onto the hope that Jared was out there somewhere. Even if everyone else -- friends, family, heck even their own mother -- had given up on him, Levi stubbornly refused to give in. He was alive. He hadn't killed himself. He was out there! He just had to find him! That was all there was to it.


Of course it was a lot harder to actual do then it was to say it. And Levi knew that it was an uphill battle, but still he could hope. He could be optimistic. The young man stared up at the hazy sky as he sat up in his tree perch and then looked down at the people as they walked on by. New York. How crazy could life get? 

Jude was walking. Where? He didn't particularly care.

Canada was a real eye-opener. The X-men weren't who he'd hoped they would be. Or maybe it was leadership. Or everything.

Either way, he hadn't been back to the Mansion yet.

Jude had elected to be homeless rather than go home.

Did this count as running away? Shoot. Was he breaking his promise already? He hadn't graduated yet. Would he get disowned? Deported? Dismissed? His money was on the darkest timeline: the one where nobody cared.

He'd worked hard to not be "that kid"— the orphan, the foreigner, the one circle in a sea of squares... and yet here he was. Or maybe there he wasn't. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't go back yet.

Jude made sure his hood was up before he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his grungy hoodie. He was still attending lessons at Mr. Wong's dojo, mostly for the showers. He'd had to grovel to get back into the program after his unexplained absence which hurt his pride as a man, but he'd done it because he was dying to wash the streets off his skin. His time in Canada had taught him to be a bit less picky about food.

> "Your fortune, young man?"

An old crone of a lady had caught his pants leg and drawn him out of the thoughts that had him in a downward spiral. She sat on a rug as homely as Jude's jacket and had set herself next to the walking path probably so she could catch people's attention without being in the way.

> "Your future can't possibly be as dark as the clouds around you."

She seemed nice, but Jude didn't have any money left at this point. He tugged his leg out of her hands to move on, but she blinked and where once her rheumy grey eyes had appeared kindly, now they shone metallic and reflected Jude back at himself.

Worse, the woman started shrieking, top of the lungs shrieking, as she grabbed again at his leg.

Levi simply stayed quiet and watched as the younger male walked along the path. He seemed deep within his own thoughts and Levi had every intention of just leaving him be. He had no reason to be social right now nor did he really have any want to be. He was normally social and rather out going but for now -- he just wanted a few moments to himself. As most people did -- even the most gregarious and outgoing of people. 

But that wasn't meant to be apparently. 

He watched at the old woman approached him -- a tingling in his bones and he was suddenly feeling rather unsure of this. The woman grabbed the boy's pant leg and offered to read his fortune (he could hear her voice from his position above them). He didn't seem to want to take her offer. He didn't say anything, but he tried to walk away. Levi was about to lean back against the tree trunk and go back to his daydreaming when all of a sudden he heard an ear piercing scream. 

"What in the -- ?" he gasped softly as he was jolted from his daze. What was that?! He looked down to see that it was that lady. She was screaming as she was holding onto that guy's pant leg and this was definitely not right. There was something wrong here and as much as Levi tried to keep his nose out of things--well it was hard to when it was right in front of his face. He couldn't just leave the guy to his own devices. Not when there was clearly something off here. He climbed down from his tree branch and approached the two. 

"Hey leave him be." he said with a frown on his face as he then reached out for her shoulder to as gently as he could pull her away. The smartest plan? Ehh probably not. But heck she couldn't just hassle him because he didn't want to have his fortune read. 

Jude fell back onto his sitbone, too shocked to notice the scrape of concrete against his hands. The crone's hand remained firmly attached to Jude's right ankle despite his fall.

She screeched sometimes in words, sometimes like a car alarm.

People were noticing, but no one seemed to know what to do. As much as he wanted to look away, Jude was transfixed on those metallic eyes.

> "YOU CHEATED TIME! GAHHHH!"

Goosebumps ran up Jude's arms. He certainly had cheated time. More than once and in more than one way.

> "HYYYYYYYOU ARE LOST. YOUR THREAD AWAY FROM FATE'S TENDER CA—"

She stopped mid-word as soon as a hand came in contact with her shoulder. Like the spell was broken, Jude was able to look up at the guy. He looked pretty normal. Like your everyday average kind of passerby.

Adapted? Mutant? Human?

Savior.

> "Did you hear good news, dear?"

Jude's attention snapped back to the woman and he felt her hand release him. Mutant. It felt like every hair on his body was standing on end as his power reported what should have already been obvious. The woman was a mutant.

She had touched him. He hadn't been paying attention. There was a pretty good chance he had whatever power that was now and the idea terrified him.

Jude shook his head at the woman as he scrambled back and away.

"Non." Crap. It just came out like that. "No. Ma'am. I did not."

> "Really? I had such a good feeling about you. That will be twenty dollars, please. Such a nice young man."

She turned her warm smile up toward the young man who had intervened.

>"Would you like your fortune read, my dear? I'll give you a discount for being so handsome."

You would think that Levi would be used to loud sounds by now. I mean heck, he was at times a bonafide human air raid siren with his powers. But still -- the car alarm like screeching and yelling of the woman was enough to make him wince. God that was loud! But it didn't deter him any from trying to figure out what was wrong and why she didn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer. It was a bit hard to hear what she was saying over how loud she was, but as he had been climbing down the tree--it was impossible to miss. Cheating time? Eesh how cryptic. Being lost? Sakes--it was like she was talking about him instead of the other. Good grief!

She had been talking about fates and what not when he had interrupted her. Normally he wouldn't have interrupted someone like this (he found that they could be touchy when someone disrupted their spiel) but he couldn't help but find the entire situation a bit unsettling. And even more so when she turned towards him and all he saw in her eyes was a metallic shine that was seriously strange (of course he wasn't one to talk but that was beside the point).

Well the small gesture had worked for what he had wanted it to. She had stopped screaming (thank the lords) and seemed to have come to her senses. She spoke to the other for a moment--asking about the good news and other things like that -- things that he didn't even know what she was talking about let alone was able to make sense of it. She turned her attention towards him and he took a step back. And while it looked like he was being nice and giving her more space as he had been right behind her -- he was actually stepping back because he was a bit unnerved. All of the screaming had set his internal alarms off and he wasn't sure what to say.

She asked him if he wanted his fortune read and he shook his head, "Uhh no thank you." he said wanting no part of the fortune reading if it involved those strange eyes and loud screaming.

Jude did not have twenty dollars. Jude did not even have twenty cents at the moment. He was shaken and hungry and trying not to get mad at the old bat because he was embarrassed to have the attention of strangers. He got to his feet as soon as his legs would allow.

Meanwhile, Jude's newest best friend declined her generous offer of a discount. The woman frowned and blinked away the silver in her eyes. One moment it looked like there were ball bearings in her face, the next moment she was back to a more normal old-people gray blue.

Jude turned and thought he might sneak away when she crooned at him, hand out.

>"Oh. You wouldn't rob an old woman, would you? Please. It's only twenty dollars!"

And, just in case Mr. Good Samaritan thought he was off the hook, she turned to him next.

> "You'd help me, right? I read his fortune, surely you saw. I trusted him. He cheated me!"

Her tone was so very nice and docile it was hard not to sympathize.

Somehow Levi didn't think that this was going to get any easier. He really hadn't thought this one through entirely had he? No. Not really. Were we surprised though? No. He often jumped into things without thinking. And then he got into trouble for it. It wasn't hi fault! He was just trying to help the guy out here. He didn't ask for the lady to start screaming at him about cryptic crap that no one else would get. There was just something about the entire situation that just seemed off to him. Maybe it was one of those American things he had yet to experience? Who knew? And that sensation did not stop when the other started asking for money.

His eyebrow rose slightly. Twenty bucks? Really? For what? He wasn't trying to be stingy or to rob anyone--but he wasn't buying it all the same. Was that how fortunes were really read? He wasn't sure. Of course there were mystics and "magical" folks back home, but Levi himself never came across it much until he moved to the states. He had other things on his mind after all. But he didn't say any of that right now of course. Of course not! What was he supposed to say though? Or to do for that matter?

She turned her attention to him and was going on about the money still. And about how he saw what happened. The other had cheated her she had said even. Levi now had a decision to make of course.

They could either ...

A) he could give her the money just to get her to leave them be even though he would feel like he was getting potentially ripped off here.

Or...

B) They could ignore her, be on their way and then they would probably both have made an enemy. An enemy with powers and who the heck knew what she could do with them. Or do to them with them? Did he really want that?

No. No he didn't. And so he grabbed his wallet and began to rifle through it. The other must have thought he was crazy or totally naive but Levi didn't care. He was here to make a living not to make enemies. Of course there was the small problem of him not having any cash or change on him. Oops. "I-I'm sorry but I don't have any money on me." he explained to the older woman though something told him that she wouldn't believe him.

Oh dear. This was going to get messy wasn't it?

"No. Nononon."

Classic newbie mistake! Do not make eye contact with the buskers! Jude tried to usher his new best buddy away and as a result he only just barely made it out of re-grabbing range.

"No money. So sorry, madame future ladyfriend. Very interesting mutant power. So glad to have known you!" The more he jabbered, the less chances the lady had to start talking again so Jude did his best to fill the space. "I did not sign up for any services rendered and no consent was given. I don't have any money either!"

Jude resumed a more leisurely pace once they were out of screeching distance. "So thanks." He probably didn't smell the best and, as embarrassing as it was, there was a movie theater next to a French place and Jude had discerning dumpster palate. Only the freshest popcorn and cassoulet would do.

"Don't let 'em grab you next time." He teased, knowing full well that it was him who had gotten grabbed. "So, I have an appointment to get to..." In his disheveled state and BO really all he wanted was to not be noticed. "Thanks for the assist."

Yes. He was dismissing the other young man.