The warmth of a bright sunny day drew New Yorkers out of their coats and into the green spaces of the parks. Gemma and Chase were no exceptions to this. There was a craft fair in the park, which was what had really drawn the two of them to this park particularly. In any other circumstance, Chase would have insisted that he was "too old for playgrounds". Except, however, when it meant getting-out of being dragged around a craft fair.

"Mama," Chase said patiently, "Mama, can I please play on the playground?"

Gemma cast a weary eye towards the playground before glancing down at her son.

"I promise I won't talk to any weird guys in trenchcoats, or run off too far," the twelve-year-old insisted, "Please? Please? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Do you have your phone?" Mama sighed, inclining her eyebrows at him. Chase nodded, proffering his phone.

"If anyone gives you a hard time, you call me," Gemma said sternly. She looked around, "You can go... between the craft fair-" it was about thirty feet off from the playground itself, "-to the bathrooms, to the pond. But no further. Capisce?"

Chase glanced between those landmarks. It was a fairly sizable triangle, and there were plenty of trees to climb within it.

"Yeah," Chase agreed, "Works for me."

"Okay. Don't steamroll any little kids."

With a kiss on the forehead, Gemma left her son to his devices. Having left him, the child donned his human form-- with warm, freckled tan skin and a mess of dark hair-- before throwing off his hood and sprinting towards the playground. His eyes were a wild turquoise-blue of happiness and excitement, swirling with the energy that pulsed through him. First things first-- he'd try and make it to the slide without touching the ground. The shifter-child began to carefully picks his way up the stairs, clinging for dear life to the handrails. He carefully tucked his feet between the bars, keeping himself off of the steps below.

It was one of those days were Victor was enjoying himself. The craft fair had been an interesting stop over and with what cash he carried he was able to buy his cousins a few fun things. Wooden swords and handcrafted crowns and bone carved necklaces, with this new items they headed over to the playground to play some real knights and dragons.

Majo and David were older now, 7 and 10 respectively, a bit more independent, but still as loving as they had always been. However, Sophia was 14 and less inclined then her siblings to play pretend. Still, she was there at least, and that was all that he could ask for.

At the moment they were enacting and 'epic' battle, Sophia playing some cool battle music on her phone for the hell of it. Victor of course played the bit of the mighty 'final boss', moving slow and predictable for the children, even absorbing some sun in some instances to give his skin a glowing effect so it was extra apparent. These kids were raised on video games after all. It was honestly a lot of fun even if they got some concerned looks from other parents.

It was whatever, they could be concerned all they wanted. The kids were happy and that's all that mattered.

Chase carefully ascended the stairs, and made his way to the bridge. The rails were different here-- closer together and harder to stick your feet through-- he'd have to be more careful, now. The child sidestepped carefully across the bridge, a couple of children with wooden swords roaring past him. They were smaller than Chase, probably younger, and they were hollering something about defending the castle. A boy led the charge, and a smaller girl followed suit. They made the bridge shake, and so Chase stopped his progress, clinging to the rails as he waited for the tremors to stop.

It was then that he spotted a rather large mutant scouring around the playground.

"Whoa!!" Chase shouted appreciatively. That guy was huge! How cool! Flickers of pink curiosity began to weave their way through the child's eyes, though the cheerful aquamarine did not subsist. Not only was the guy enormous, but he was also glowing. That was twice as cool.

"The dragon!!" the other boy, pointing their swords. They were now at the top of the tower. Chase was still steadily making his way across the bridge, his tongue poking out in concentration. In the Mansion, mutants were usually really cool about Chase's enthusiasm. They knew him, knew he was a shapeshifter, and embraced his admiration. Out in public, though, it wasn't really all that polite.

Chase finally reached the other side, clinging to a fat beam as he surveyed his route to the tower. Climbing up the stairs would be difficult. And going down the slide would also be difficult, because those two smaller boys were in the way.

Chase stopped to watch the large, scintillating mutant once more, his eyes owlish with intrigue.

Victor paced around slide, giving patently fake roars as the children point their wooden swords at him. He could have given a real one, but he didn't want to freak out the kids or their parents who looked ready to grab their kids and run to the cops. But he knew their little game was gaining some attention no matter what he did. He was hard to ignore after all.

David was the first down the slide, leading the charge, with Majo right behind him. The large mutant gave fake cries of pain as the kids whacked him with their toy swords. Majo even pretending to shoot spells from her sword. David complained that, that was against the rules but Majo countered that they were fighting a dragon, there were no rules. Which was deemed a fair assessment by the three of them.

Meanwhile, Sophia sat off to the side, cheering the kids on, though a little halfheartedly. She wasn't too into it these days. She was more interested in her phone, which was unfortunate because for Victor these were the few times he got to act like a somewhat normal uncle to them. Maybe after this they'd go to the movies, something they could all enjoy.

David and Majo enacted a 'final blow' together, and Victor roared dramatically before falling over and groaning that he'd get them for this, like a proper villain, and then finally 'dying'. The two children roared in victory, raising their swords like triumphant heroes.

Unlike the other people around the playground, Chase was undeterred by the mutant’s presence. What a cool mutation. He halted in his slow advance across the playground—what if they left before he had the chance to tell the glittering mutant how cool his mutation was?! Chase leapt off of the side-rail and charged up the steps moments after the boy and girl charged past him. Chase clambered into the tower before the slide, and hastily pushed himself forward. Down he went, spiraling faster down the chute, until he was at the mouth of the slide, facing the enormous mutant and the two children. He was laying on the ground, now, and the other kids held their swords victoriously above their heads.

“H-hi!” Chase greeted. Suddenly aware that he hadn’t really planned what he’d say once he approached the two other kids and the enormous mutant. He just… wanted to say hi? “I’m Chase. What’cha playing?”

Regardless of the answer, the follow-up response was, “Can I play with you, too?”

“H-hi! I’m Chase. What’cha playing?”

Victor blinked and looked up to see there was a boy he didn't recognize among them. His cousins didn't bat an eye and answered right away in unison, "Castle Protectors!" They raised their swords valiantly and he had to chuckle. They had been planning this since they found out there were wooden swords at the craft fair. Which had only been a couple of hours ago.

“Can I play with you, too?”

Majo and David looked at each other, then at Victor who was still laying on the ground. Then at their older sister Sophia, who was still ignoring them, absorbed into her phone now. Finally they looked back at Chase. "Do you have a sword?" Majo asked before Victor added, "And are your parents okay with it? We don't want you to get in trouble." Or rather Victor didn't want to get in trouble for playing with a child that wasn't related to him. There was a very good chance that any "responsible" parent would freak out if they saw their kid even close to him. Freaking out could also mean a call to the police and he definitely didn't want that happening, not with his cousins around.

Chase shook his head. He did not have a sword.

"I could... use a stick?" the child offered.

>> "And are your parents okay with it? We don't want you to get in trouble."

Despite his youth, Chase understood the implications. His own parents had surrendered him because of his mutant gene, he went to a school for mutant kids. He knew exactly the kind of "trouble" the giant monster-mutant was talking about.

"I don't think I'll get in trouble," the changeling child assured the larger mutant. As he spoke, the color his hair bled from its usual black, to a ginger-red, making-known what he'd otherwise have to explain. It then reverted to black, "I go to a mutant school and Mama works there. She'll understand."

A mutant kid from a mutant school whose adoptive Mom worked there. No problem at all!

"So can I?" Chase persisted, "I can go get a sword no problem! O-or maybe I could be a wizard or something! Please?"