Kendra found herself standing out on the streets of New York. All around her were sights and sounds, smells and people. That was one thing she had to get used to. The liveliness of New York even in the early mornings.  It was about 2 in the and the city was very much alive. There were street vendors and people hailing cabs.  Kendra found herself staring at bright lights and snapped a photo with her camera. She was invisible and so was her beloved camera. Somewhere miles away Kendra was sleeping quietly in her warm bed.

She felt the brisk breeze kiss her skin. Even in her astral form it made her shiver as her camera's lens shuttered a few more pictures. She took a picture of steam coming out of a grate. It looked like the city itself was breathing.  It was. The city was alive. It took on it's own persona as much as any man woman or child within it. The city was dark. Kendra had come to know New York as something she both loved and hated in her short time here.  The city was sick.  It was a festering rotting thing with crime as its toxins.  It was flashy and slick and attracted new victims to visit daily. 

New York was violence.  It was sickeningly violent.  The crime here was out of control.  Almost every night Kendra had come out she had witnessed at least one random act of violence.  It was even more scary now since she had been shot.  Kendra seemed a bit sheepish as she stood on the sidewalk.  Suddenly the things that appeared in front of the lens of her camera was not things she wanted to capture.  Rather, they were things she wanted to ignore. 

Kendra saw across the way two guys beating the holy hell out of some poor guy in the alley.  Two floors up just beside the fire escape there was a man yelling at his wife.  There were cars honking at each other.  People cursing at each other through open windows.  Kendra watched as two kids ran out of a store and the store owner chasing them out on to the sidewalk before giving up his pursuit.  Somewhere the scream of police sirens wailed like a banshee.  She spotted the red and blue flashing lights darting around a corner. 

Kendra would have tried to help.  She would have stepped in and tried to plug these leaks in the city that was slowly bleeding.  She would have stopped one leak only to watch three more spring up in it's place.  That was before she got shot.  Kendra wasn't out here to vigilante. She was out here to take pictures, to ease her troubled mind. All she found was more trouble.  She watched as humanity slowly and methodically tore itself apart in front of her very eyes.  There were places trying to do good for the world.  The mansion was trying to put good into the world.  Trying to stop the violence by training people willing to stand up to it, but New York bled to fiercely for such a simple band aid to fix.

Kendra began to breathe more rapidly. Her eyes darted around the sights and sounds of New York that were now like an assault on her senses.  Suddenly the sounds were much louder.  The smells more pungent.  Kendra couldn't breathe and she felt a tightening in her chest.  She heard the sound of the gunshot echo in her head.  The sick smile on his face as he lowered the gun and left her bleeding in the open doorway.  Kendra stumbled a bit and leaned against a wall to catch her breathe.  The more she tried the harder it seemed to be to catch.  I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.  Kendra's mantra played in her head.  She thought she could step out into the streets of New York and clear the fog from her mind, but she was overwhelmed by this city that had taken on this persona of violence for her.

Kendra closed her eyes and exploded in a mist of white ivory and cool fire.  The pale hue of her creamy skin and the brilliant flame of her fiery hair blurred into a fine invisible smoke as Kendra teleported away.  She reappeared on the mansion lawn.  Exploding into existence back in her safe haven.  Kendra collapsed against the mansion lawn and just laid there trying to catch her breath.  Kendra's brown eyes were watery as she stared at the stars above.  Her red hair a cavalcade of flame against the lush green of the soft, wet grass.  It took her some time to catch her breathe.

She thought she was ready to step back out into the city for the first time since being shot.  She wasn't.  Kendra was trying to hold back the tears that threatened to roll down her pale cheeks.  She coughed and rolled over on her side.  Back on the mansion grounds nothing could touch her. She thought she could deal with this, but Artair was right.  She wasn't ready.  She hadn't been out trying to vigilante or do anything reckless.  Kendra just wanted to take some pictures of the city.  She longed for quiet lonely Georgia nights.  Nights that were hers and hers alone when she walked down the street.  New York wasn't like that.  New York was busy all the time.

Kendra caught her breathe and pushed herself to her feet.  She did need to talk to someone about this.  She had planned to anyways, but... who?  Kendra didn't know many people who she felt she could really open up to.  Not in New York, not even back home in Georgia.  Kendra was for the most part pretty alone.  She had met a few people, but none with which she could honestly bear her soul with..... Could she?  Even Emily had seemed distant as of late.  She hadn't spoken to her in what seemed like days..  Kendra made it to her feet and stared at the front gates of the mansion.  She wondered if outside those gates were going to ever feel safe for her again.

To the prawn's discerning senses, the city always roared with life. Thundering cars, shouting men, screaming subways-- an enormous din of noise that assaulted her antennae and the souls of her feet, discombobulated her, sent her reeling. Why Jack had chosen the city while she could have just as easily chosen a peaceful life in the woods, or at least in New York State rather than New York City, was beyond her. Maybe there was some comfort in the continuous, buffeting noise. It didn't give Jack the time to barraged by equally insistent thoughts. In the noise she found... well, quiet. Mental quiet.

It was the same quiet that walking the perimeter of the Mansion Grounds somewhat bearable. She preferred being with the kids, in the halls or on the basketball courts, somewhere closer to where most of the students were. But she supposed that idle strolls were alright, too. Jack toted her perfunctory flashlight, though her enhanced eyesight made it unnecessary. She padded along quietly, her alien feet padding softly through the grass.

Unbeknownst to Jack, she was strolling past the unseen dreamwalker. However, given the distant roar of traffic, she did not hear the ragged breathing towards the ground. Jack passed the gates, waving to the staffer inside of the booth, just beyond where Jack stood.

"Slow night?" he called out to her, opening the door.

"Slow night," Jack agreed, rumbling.

"Take care of yourself."

The prawn nodded, the door was slid shut. In the booth that housed the gatekeeper, there were windows all around, even on the sliding door. Jack surveyed her reflection in the small panels of glass. She'd been working a lot lately, and the tiredness was written on the chitin of her face and in her half-lidded eyes. She'd kill for a nap right now. Her eyes cut to the side, towards the Mansion, and for a moment she could have sworn she saw a redhead behind her, in the grass. Jack turned, and, seeing no one, continued on. Huff. She was more tired than she thought.

Kendra wasn't ready to go back inside. She didn't want to be in the city, but she didn't want to hole herself up in her room either. It was a nice night out. The stars were out and the sky was clear. She knew it was cliché but she took a few pictures of the night sky.  It made her feel some better.  At least she had managed to get a few pictures out of the ordeal.  "Silver stars and velvet skies...." She said quietly to herself.  It was something her ex girlfriend used to say.  It simply meant that everyone was different and handled things different ways, but at the end of the day... We all stare up at the same sky, and see the same stars.  Yeah, she might be struggling right now with her own demons, but others were struggling too.  She wasn't a freak for being afraid of the world after something traumatic and that did actually make her feel some better.

Kendra sighed and kicked up bits of grass as she trudged along.  She still wasn't ready to head back in.  She was content just walking along the fence and trying to collect herself.  She reached up with the sleeve her jacket and wiped the tears from her eyes as she moved along the fence.  Kendra's other hand glided lightly along the iron bars.  Her fingers dancing and moving absentmindedly, as if almost to the beat of a song.  She was off in her head... On some thought or another.  Kendra had tendency to daydream as her name implied.  She could get lost on a thought and sit on it for hours until she realized that she had been walking the whole time.  She would snap out of whatever thought she had and it'd be hours later and she had no idea how she had gotten to where she was. 

Kendra's mind thought back to a time before the mansion.  A time back in Georgia, when she only had a handful of friends and no one really knew her terrible secret.  No one knew that she was a mutant.  Those days seemed so distant and yet, a small part of her wished she could go back to that.  Life was oppressive, but it wasn't complicated. She didn't feel this urge to be heroic.  That was the reason she got shot in the first place.  She had foolishly tried to play vigilante and take out some criminals in a crack house.  With the help of a partner she actually succeeded in shutting the place down.  She got a bullet for her troubles, and now she was scared of her own shadow.  It didn't really help much that when she finally looked up from her quiet ponderings she saw a giant bug creature looking in her direction.  Kendra froze for a second.  New York's bug problem was worst than she thought.  A frown formed on her face when she realized how rude she was.  She had actually let out a startled gasp when she saw the obvious mutant.  It had caught her off guard.  Kendra was within earshot and she turned red.  Thankfully she was invisible.  "I'm sorry."  She admitted.  She wasn't even actually sure if this mutant had heard her startled reaction, but she felt like she had to apologize.  Never mind the fact that he wouldn't be able to see her...

God bless enhanced sense. Jack did percieve the surprised gasp, clear as day, and it was enough to make her head whip back towards the patch of grass. Still, she saw no one. She stood there for a moment, lavender eyes thinning in scrutiny. They flickered searchingly, for any indication... of... someone? Seeing none, she marched onwards.

>> "I'm sorry."

Okay, this was just too f**king weird. Of course it was a mutant school, which meant that the voice probably belonged to a mutant, but in the wee hours of the night, it was enough to send a chill through the prawn, particularly when she'd strode a good distance from the kiosk outside of the gate, and was effectively by herself. There were a number of things that Jack did not take kindly to, hearing voices was one.

The prawn jumped at the voice, turning again. Her jaw clenched.

"D... don't worry 'out it," the prawn said quickly, "R-ran-don ghost... t'ing..."

Sure, Jack-- "random ghost thing" was such an apt description for the disembodied woman she was now hearing.

Hurriedly, Jack continued along the fence, shaking her head and closing her eyes. When she'd been tired from too many shifts in a row, she'd seen silhouettes out of the corner of her eye, but she'd never heard voices like this. She needed a good, stiff drink. And some sleep.

Kendra wasn't sure why, but she kept following her. She had been a little freaked out by the appearance at a glance, but she wasn't scared. She had seen lots of mutants with visible mutations since coming here. Before it was something that you didn't really see much.  Before meaning back home in Georgia. The south was just as oppressive as it had always been. First it was whites segregating blacks. Then it was god hates the gays. Then when the mutant phenomenon become a matter of public opinion southerners jumped on that hate train too.  The south had always been very intolerant, but not Kendra.  She wanted to help mutants even before she knew she was one herself. 

Kendra was just a caring compassionate person deep down.  She cared for people.  All people.  She was a social justice warrior at her core.  Kendra continued to follow and listened to the quiet mumblings of Jack.  She wasn't sure if she should speak up again.  She was afraid she'd give her a nervous break down.  Then before she could stop herself she was announcing herself once again.  "Not a ghost.  A dream." She stated simply. Like that was a totally logical thing.  "Didn't mean to spook ya. I came out to get some fresh air." She lied.  Kendra quietly wiped her nose that was still a little runny. She didn't really want to explain that she had collapsed on the lawn from a panic attack.  She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to be seen as weak right now.  She supposed it was because she felt weak in the moment and wanted someone to see her as a strong capable woman for once.  "I astral project.  I'm actually sleeping right now in the mansion.  What'chur talking to is just a projection of a dream I'm having."  She shrugged despite the fact that it would go unseen.  She couldn't really explain it any better than that. 

Kendra knew one thing her whole life.... She knew that people were afraid of things they didn't understand. It was easy to judge looking from the outside in, but here at this place, this school she was never judged.  Well, she was judged a lot actually for her careless reckless immature ways.  However, she was never judged for being a mutant.  She was accepted for her gifts here rather than distained for them.  Here she wasn't just Kendra Dillenger a quiet country girl who felt tiny amongst the rest of the world.  She was Daydream. The astral projecting dream walker mutant.  It sounded impressive until you met the girl behind the legend.  Not that she was legendary in anyway.  Kendra was and always had been her own worst enemy. 

Standing here now along the fence she wondered what life would have been like growing up with such a visible mutation.  She had always felt a tangible amount of self pity for what she considered her curse, but she never stopped to think about what it would be like for those who couldn't hide behind charming brown eyes and a bashful smile.  Kendra looked at Jack now.  She allowed her eyes to dance over her face, or at least where she thought her face was.  Jack was a prime example of the type of mutants she fought so hard for.  Kendra's hands squeezed her camera around her neck just to give her hands something to do. 

She stood there in awkward silence a moment.  Her voice was soft and sweet; dripping with country drawl.  The accent was really hard to mistake.  She worked for a mutant rights magazine, and she wrote a blog about mutant discrimination.  To many times had she seen mutants like Jack mistreated.  It really grinded her gears.  She honestly felt a little ashamed that she had such a startled reaction to her.  "I'm Kendra. Kendra Dillenger.  Folks round here call me Daydream." She offered up as a way of an apology.  For the moment she had forgotten her own problems and allowed herself to get wrapped up in the surprise meeting with unexpected mutant. 

As the voice explained itself, it went from sounding absolutely crazy and absurd to slightly more believable.

“A drean,” the prawn reiterated, sounding skeptical. How was that even possible? Absolutely insane—as the girl went-on to explain that it was her mutation, that she could “astral project” or whatever, it steadily began to make more sense. The prawn looked over her shoulder, towards the direction of the voice. Her brow was still lifted in skepticism, but that was… slightly more believable than a “ghost”, she supposed.

“You’ll has to cun say hello when you’re awake, so I know I’n not crazy,” the prawn said flatly, as a way of showing she’d accepted the explanation.

Jack began walking, this time at a steady pace. She shook her head, as if trying to shake the sense of how weird this all was. The voice seemed to follow her, introducing itself as Kendra Dillenger, the Daydream.

“Jack Dyer,” the prawn offered in return, slightly less elaborate, “Erry’one calls nee Jack.”

Kendra continued to follow Jack. The truth was. The prawn made her feel a little better. It was nice to know that she wasn't the only one that could be so easily rattled to her very core. She felt bad for freaking her out, but at the same time the slightest hint of a smile was touching her lips. She felt like less of a train wreck at least. Kendra Teleported ahead of Jack. She exploded into an invisible fine mist of pale colored skin, and fire red embers of her vibrant hair. The two colors blended into an invisible smoke that might have been seen if she had been standing in front of a mirror.  When she reappared, she was just .... There.  Standing several feet ahead of Jack in the direction she was walking.  "So! What'cha doing out here?"  She asked happily, in an almost chipper tone.  It wasn't an act.  Kendra was easily distracted.  Her mind was in a constant flux of dreaming and awake.  Even when she was dreaming her brain was operating at full capacity.  She never quite got to shut down and reboot her mind.  Most people sleep to give their brains time to rest, and not run itself into the ground.  Kendra slept because her body just needed it, though it did very little for her brain itself.

Kendra felt as if she was awake all the time.  So her mind was frayed.  Her cognitive ability was always unreliable.  She could easily get distracted and follow one train of thought for a moment before jumping to the next and forgetting about the first entirely. For the moment, she was more interested in Jack's story.  She had forgotten about her troubles with the city and the hold it had over her.  She had forgotten about being shot and the trauma that stemmed from it.  "Can I help?!?"  Kendra asked with the excitement of a kid who was just trying to be included.  Kendra bat her big brown eyes innocently.  It was moot, those dashing brown eyes were invisible like the rest of her, but she engaged puppy dog eyes all the same.

Kendra could use a distraction, tonight of all nights.  It would help her find a semblance of balance and maybe even a new friend.  The circumstance was all very strange.  Meeting someone outside on the front lawn at 2 in the morning, but the best adventures always had the strangest beginnings.  When Jack asked her to come visit when she was awake so she could see her in person Kendra agreed. "Sure thing."  She said happily.  She really wasn't as foolish as she seemed.  Her mood like her state of rest was in constant flux.  Her attitude depended on her state of rest.  The impulse control center of her brain tended to shut down when she was rather exhausted and she became a bit of a trouble maker.  Other times she was spritely and innocent, or she could sink into a terrible depression.  The feeling of never sleeping felt like you were slowly loosing your mind.  It felt like your life was fistfuls of sand and you could feel the grains quietly slipping between your fingertips.  Minutes bled into hours, hours beld into days and weeks.  You never could keep hold of a single moment, let alone a feeling of sanity.  Kendra's mind was a complex ocean of elaborate design, but she wore a smile through the worst of it and tried her best to hang on to what little bit of normalcy she had.  Right now... She just wanted to learn about the strange prawn wandering the grounds. 

In the periodic silences, Jack wondered if her spectral friend had vanished. She was perfectly content to walk in silence—Jack’s brain would similarly be quiet, dwelling on very little, except the noises of the city. But then the voice chirped back into existence, demanding to know what Jack was doing and breaking her reverie. The prawn jumped. How did it get in front of her?! It was behind her before!

“I… an on security…” the prawn explained haltingly, suspicious of the voice’s chipperness and proximity. It was probably up to no good. Almost before the prawn had finished speaking, it pressed-on, asking if it could help.

“I just… walk… nake sure e’ery-sing is where it should ‘e,” it wasn’t exactly a two person job, is what Jack was saying. But it sounded… so… hype for assisting the prawn, it was hard to say no. At least… directly, “You’re wel-cun to… iss you want.”

So much for a quiet night.

“How sar a’ay can ya go?” Jack asked, attempting to make conversation, “When you’re aslee’?”