Xavier raised an eyebrow through a persistent grin at her cannibal question. "No, not really. Though I do wonder if you altered the timeline somehow by messing around out there..." He placed a hand on his chin, and thought about it for a moment, before shrugging.

The tall blonde nodded when she conceded that the Masochist was, indeed, a bit of a turd. That at least reinforced his worldview a little bit, though he listened when she said he wasn't as much of one as he seemed. Fair. He was still terrifying. He did tilt his head full out when she apologized for being a jerk to Elke.

He listened further, though, and nodded silently... What did he tell her? Did she know more about Elke than he did, now? He bit is tongue instead of asking; if he was going to hear it he was going to hear it from Elke herself. He smiled at her defensiveness toward him as he walked on over to his table and leaned against it once more, looking to her with a small smile at her comment.

"I get it... She's abrasive, for sure. She did stab me when she was 10 for a bit... But yes, I'm happy... The thing is... I dunno... It's like... She's always burning so bright, you know? She's like the sun... If you look to close it'll burn your eyes, and she does. She burns everyone who looks too close... but it's beautiful. And I guess when I see something like that, and I can't help but want to reach out and touch it. I know I'll burn myself even worse when I do, but I just can't help myself. I see a star and I reach for it."

The Young X-Man took no offense to the questioning. He was pretty good at people, and he knew what he and Elke looked like. But he liked what he liked, and that was that. His eyes lit up with excitement when she dropped that she was in a band and about to put on a show. "WHAAAAAT?! Why did you yell me! Of course I'll go! I, uh, ask Elke if she'll come, too, but of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

So.... the loud one with violent tendencies was the sun. The cynic in her wanted so badly to point out that only dumb people tried to look at the sun with their own eyeballs. Wasn't it some kinda horrible ball of fire that incinerated anything that got too close? Like everything that got too close??

But, at the same time, she couldn't' help but wonder what he saw her, Juniper, as if Elke was the sun. She didn't know much about space, but the immediate comparison of her being some dumb, ugly rock flying around the universe at the whims of larger planets just... wouldn't go away.

Despite herself, she felt small and insignificant right then. To her Xavier had appeared to be some glowing heavenly being who was off-limits. Contrary to X's version where he had somehow charmed the sun into not straight-up burning him alive, she was that sad sack who tried to make wings out of wax and plummeted to his death for trying to move above his paygrade.

Xaiver was always going to be just out of reach, wasn't he? There, but not at the same time. Guess she was kinda the pot calling the kettle black, wasn't she?

.... Well, that was suuuper depressing.

Her tongue stayed firmly glued to the roof of her mouth the entire time her soul was dying, purely so she couldn't embarrass herself some more and incur any of his pity.

"I'm glad." She left it at that, desperately fighting to lock all of the feelings away before they could get too big. At the point, it was like trying to wrestle an octopus into a box, though. She... really needed to ask her therapist how to deal with crushes and stuff. This @#$% was insane.

Forcing a grin that might have been a little painful, she nodded at his acceptance and made a mental note to get him two tickets. She wasn't sure if his girl would actually agree to come, or whether or not that would mess things up, but it was at least a start.

"Awesome! I'll introduce you to my bandmates. There are four of us!" She held her Banjo up above her head, "In the meantime, wanna learn how to play this thing?"

It went without saying he totally missed her emotional response to his words on Elke. He did light up when she offered for him to meet the band and learn to play her new banjo! "Awesome, and yes!" Did he learn some banjo that night? You bet he did! He was already pretty decent at the basics before he opted to cook a hearty dinner and bid her farewell, in order to send a nervous text that he rewrote ten times to his girlfriend inviting her to a concert.

From the first draft that went like-
"Hey, it's me Xavier- You know that, you probably have me saved in your phone. Right? I mean, yeah. Hey, so Juniper invited me to a concert and I wanted to go with you if you would want to go with me. So... Let me know. I... Lov-?"

Nope... After a few more tries, it ended up looking like- "My neighbor has a band, want to go to one of their shows on Saturday?"

Before he sat, staring at his phone for a bit, did some nervous weightlifting, and then some quakipedia article edits on obscure super heroes, a little heavy bag hitting and falling asleep on the couch, he woke up to an answer.

It was easy to move along to something else as long as she could focus on it. Teaching him the basics and then letting him get the feel on his own was easy, even if she didn't feel like the world's greatest teacher. She'd never learned any of the super-advanced techniques or songs. Honestly, she'd never really been interested in impressing anyone with whatever ability she had. She loved playing music, and if she could do that for her friends that made it ten times more rewarding.

Xavier took to it really easily, too. Like, she figured things with strings out pretty quickly but for someone who claimed to not have ever tired before he was a natural. Just... another facet of who he was that ended up being better than her then, huh?

--

Days later her very first ever show was drawing near. She was at the place, backstage, with Xander and Paul and Leena. Juni was nervously tuning her Banjo, while Xander had wandered off to talk to whoever was coordinating things with them. She was the newbi to the band as the three of them had played together. Technically, she was the replacement for the second singer of the band who had leftover 'creative differences' as she had been told.

She checked the time again in what was quickly becoming a nervous tick she was sure.

"June, babe, when are your friends supposed to be here? We're on in 12 minutes."

"Soon, I'm sure." She offered a shaky smile at the man, adjusting the collar of her fitted black coat again. The whole gig was Halloween themed because it was October and Halloween was creeping up. Xander was dressed like normal seeing as his regular outfits were dark and scary, but he had painted his face to look like a white skull. Leena and Paul had dressed up a bit, like Juniper, and were wearing their skulls as well.

Juniper had gotten a fitted black blazer to go with black velvet pats (much to Xander's complaint). She'd gone an extra step by investing in a black bodysuit to go underneath that had the rest of her bones, so she was more skeleton than suit.

"Right back here. Try to hurry though, the set starts in a few."

She turned as a back stage door opened and two people entered, and it was hard to keep a huge grin from forming. "Xavier!"

Oh, and.... her.

"Oh, er... uh, Hi... Elke."

She was right in the middle of a cram session for an exam when a text came through. She ignored it at first, for a few hours really, and circled back when she put her books away to get ready for bed. It was late, so she doubted whoever had texted her would still be up.

Oh... It was just Xavier.

Band? Show?

Elke squinted down at the message in confusion. What made him think that she'd ever want to go to whatever kind of gig his weird friend could come up with?

Oh, there was another text she had missed.

Her dad. He sent along something snarky about her behaving herself on Halloween. 'Don't beat up any trick or treaters' he texted. She rolled her eyes skyward. It had been at least 4 years since she had stolen candy from bratty kids. She was tempted to text him back and proclaim that that was exactly what she had planned, but... actually, she might have stumbled on an even more painful reply.

'Don't worry pops, I'm not gonna beat anyone up. I'm going out with X to a show. I'm going to get sloppy drunk and make poor life choices.'

With that, she switched back to X's text and replied with a very simple 'Sure'.

Now... what was she going to wear?

--

Fast forward to Saturday and she's met up with Mr. White Bread himself. She flip-flopped back and forth on what to wear, or if she would wear anything at all, before deciding that she was going to go as the Amazing Amazon herself. A leotard, gladiator skirt, knee-high boot covers, and bracers. All in the Amazing Amazon colors, and with a tiara and trademark rope of truthiness. She certainly caught some eyes going out and about in what was basically underwear and no shorts or pants, but didn't care. Wasn't her fault people couldn't control their damn libidos.

"I thought you were joking." She groused to X, her BF, which she totally did not keep forgetting about... totally, as they were led to the back of the building where the band was, apparently. She couldn't wait to see how lame that little imp's gig was and then rub her face in it later.

Did he jump for joy as he woke up to the sound of a text reply that simply said sure? You bet he did! He sent her like, four texts after that with costume ideas. I mean, if they were going together, then why not dress as a pair, right? After a large number of options were presented, he'd settled on ketchup and mustard! It was cute, right?

He'd ordered the matching pair... and... well... When they met up at the venue, and she was dressed like... A super hero. How could he be mad? "Oh, Elke... Wow... You look... Amazing!" Get it? Look. he... Was a Super Hero fanatic. And she... His girlfriend. Was dressed as a hero. He was into it. The six and a half foot tall ketchup bottle, was into it.

"Oh, yeah, it was totally a joke. Here I am, Joking! Heh, heh... I don't mind."

He was distracted from trying not to stare at the native when they were moved backstage, and Juniper was there! His face lit up, and he stepped forward to give her a hug. "Look at this! Your costume is cool, too! Oh, are these your bandmates? Hi, I'm Xavier! It's great to meet you!" He went on his total social butterfly spree, introducing himself and Elke to everyone.

A hug! Hugs were still weird, but okay! She offered an awkward attempt at an embrace back, fully away that his girlfriend was currently trying to burn holes through her face with laser eyes.

Once she had pulled away she grinned and turned to wave a hand at Leena and Paul. "They are! Guys, this is my friend I told you about!" The shortest one in the room, Juniper, scurried along with him as her ketchup friend introduced himself and her. Leena shook his hand with a laugh and showed him her bass, while Paul offered a nod and a wave from where he was sat at his drums.

"I'm so glad you guys could make it! Why are dressed up like ketchup though? Where's the mustard?" She turned and glanced at the angry amazon, who curled her lip in response, and immediately whipped back around before she started an argument or something.

"These tickets you guys got are like VIP or something, right Leena? What does that do again?"

The bassist paused as she was setting up her stuff in her area. "Access to backstage with us, and first dibs on merch. We don't have any new stuff yet, though... still going through the stock of stuff with Christina's face on it."

Juni glanced at her tall friend. "Christina's the previous back up singer who I'm replacing."

"A step up if you ask me!"

Xander, in all of his dark, spikey glory, appeared from behind and looped a long arm around Juniper's shoulders. Or, he attempted to anyway. It passed right through the middle of her as she became aware of him there.

"Babe, why you gotta pull that freaky sh*t on me all the time? Don't you trust me?"

Juniper turned and looked up at him, skull face impassive as she pursed her lips and thought about it. "Ehhh, not really, no."

The other bandmates didn't bother to hide their laugher at his expense, which seemed to tick him off to a degree though he didn't comment on it. "Ouch. You wound me, Juni."

"Juniper."

Her eyes were drawn back to Xavier when she realized the tall fellow pouting behind her hadn't been introduced yet. "Oh! This is Xander. He's the lead singer!"

One tall man looked over at the other, who was dressed of all things like a bottle of ketchup and didn't really bother to hide the disdain on his face. "Sup, dude." He offered a jerk of his chin and a large hand.

"Short stack." The Native greeted, looking down her nose at the shorter woman. It entertained her that the blonde never bothered to try and maintain eye contact. Good to know she still intimidated the little pest.

Elke watched from a few steps back as X puttered about like an exitable child. She was less than interested in being here, really. Only agreed to tick her dad off some more since he loathed Xavier something fierce.

She tuned out whatever inane conversation that they had going on until she heard the mention of 'costumes' and 'mustard', and re-focused her attention back on them with the most venomous glare she could muster. "I don't do couples costumes."

She lost interest again until the last bandmate of the ragtag group came out and her eyes just about popped out of her head. He was tall, blonde roots with the rest of his hair dyed green, darker blue eyes, fairly muscular- not quite as beefy as Xavier... and if she had heard correctly his name was... Xander?

What in the actual-

It didn't escape her attention either that he called the pipsqueak 'babe' implying that they were an item. A couple.

The little rat had scurried off and tried to replicate herself an Xavier! How @#$%ing sleazy!

Elke sidled on next to her own boyfriend with her arms crossed defensively over her chest, while she continued picking apart the similarities and differences between the two men. It also didn't escape her attention that Xander didn't seem too keen on keeping his eyes from wandering down the length of her exposed, tan legs.

Sleazy and slimey coupled together... how perfectly suitable for juniper.

Right?! A Ketchup needed a mustard! He gave an innocent look back Elke's way at the question before moving on, aware that people would get hit if it was pressed further.

He totally nerded out over the details on the backstage pass; he'd been to concerts before, but the VIP treatment?! This was a first! He sorta raised an eyebrow at all of their merch still having an ex bandmate on them, but was distracted as another potential new friend was introduced. That's odd Juni, you never phase out around me. Everything okay?" His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, and I've been calling you Juni this whole time... Do you want me to stop? I didn't know you didn't like it."

The man offered a handshake, and Xavier happily took him up on it. Oh, and he was squeezing a lot, too! Great, he liked a firm handshake, too. He shook firmly as well.

"I like your hair, it's really neat!" He looked back to Elke, who was looking like she looked when she was figuring out a complex math problem that angered her. Stepping over to her, he leaned in. "Hey, you okay? You got that look."

Xander had though going into the handshake that someone dressed as a bottle of ketchup probably wouldn't match up to his grip. He kept himself in good shape for the ladies and himself, obviously, but apparently Mr. Heinz over there was hiding his own strength under a cheesy costume. He gripped back and Xander had to fight off a wince. 

Juniper blinked at Xavier dumbly for a second and her eyebrows drew together. "I'm fine. Why would I phase out around you? Your like, the only person I fully trust. Like... ever." More blinking. Complete unawareness that at almost all the eyebrows in the room lifted right then.

She scoffed loudly at him when he offered to drop her nickname and grinned. "What? Of course not. You're the only one allowed to call me Juni. It's reserved for you or whatever."

Again, she was completely oblivious to Elke and Xander staring at her mutely, each processing what she had just said in different ways.

Xander snapped out of his thoughts first, a dark look falling over her features for a moment as he leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Juniper didn't blush but her eyes immediately shifted to him away from Xavier and she blew a raspberry at her boyfriend.

"Don't you tempt me, you know how irresponsible I am!" Her response earned her a grin, and when he tried to put his arm around her shoulder again he finally found purchase. Juniper didn't catch the look he sent at Xavier's back as the man walked away.

Elke grabbed his arm and dragged him a few steps away. Keeping her voice low as he leaned in, she decided to fill him in on some of her thoughts.

"Are you really that dense? Can you not see what's going on here?" She glanced back over to where Juniper and Xander were, wrinkling her nose in disgust as the two of them talked lowly about something.

"I know you can be a bit thick-headed, but this is pretty freak in crystal clear here. Your best friend went out and found a clone of you to date!"

Everyone pretty much ignored them, which was good seeing as there was a serious amount of furious whispering going on.

A smile of relief appeared on his face as Juniper dismissed his fears. Right! They were best friends, after all! All of those responses made perfect sense. "Oh, cool! Well, Juni, best of luck on your set! I can't wait to see it!"

He was already talking to Elke when the nasty look was sent his way. The little native pulled him to the side and said some things that really raised an eyebrow. "Uhm... What's going on here?"

She stated it, and the other eyebrow raised. "What? Elke, what are you talking about... Xander's nothing like me... He's shorter, his hair is green... He doesn't have beady little eyes!" He tried to keep it down, but that was hard for him to do.

"You sure you're okay? He looked confused, if not completely flummoxed at what she was saying. It made no sense to him. Still, though, as they were ushered out of the back room, he was promptly distracted by the sound of the bad getting ready to play.

"One two minutes!"

Juniper glanced back over to where Xaiver and Elke were and frowned. She couldn't make out everything that was being said but caught the tail end of various things.

What's going on-

Elke what are you talking-

You sure you're-

Was.... was she yelling at him?

Well, actually, that made sense. There didn't really ever seem to be a time she wasn't yelling. Juniper hardly thought Xavier could have done anything to deserve it, though.

"c'mon babe, time to get ready. I expect you to focus, alright?" She looked back to Xander, who was staring down at her. Right... This was her first show, and she wasn't about to screw it up and put all that practice to waste.

"Right!"

Xavier and Elke were eventually ushered back out from the room that made up the 'backstage'. They would have to go join the little crowd of supporters and interested parties there to watch the show. As the lights dimmed and pitched the whole show area in darkness the bandmates and Juniper shuffled out quickly and got in place.

When the lights came back on they remained dim everywhere but the small stage area and the makeup the group had used for their various skulls and bones gleamed and glowed in the light. Juniper had switched to her own standard guitar for the first song, with her banjo slung around her shoulders at her back. Xander started playing first, fingers dancing along the strings in a gentle melody. The Lyrics came out smoothly and his voice was rich and deep, with just a bit of a growl at the end of some words. Juniper and the Bassist joined in shortly after as he toiled through the song.

She just gaped at him. How could he not see it? They practically had the same name for crying out loud!!

"I am clearly not the one with something wrong with me." Screw it, she wasn't about to waste breath trying to explain it more to him. His friend clearly wanted to be more than a friend, and if he was too oblivious to see it that was his own problem.

They headed out into the crowd as the band got ready and she settled herself against a large support pole in the middle of the room to watch. She'd never been to a show like this, so it was interesting at least in that capacity.

The dimmed lights and costumes? Eh. Overdone.

She was a bit surprised to hear, of all things, music that sounded like folk instead of some sort of emo, goth, or punk. She'd just kind of assumed they were all mopey little @#%&'s who were gonna whine through song for a few hours.

The longer the song went on the more she noticed. Xander, who seemed like a complete chump to her, also seemed to come across as a bit of a ladies' man. Surprising considering that his supposed girlfriend was right on stage beside him. She watched as he crooned about 'angels' and made sure to point out various girls in the audience, earning himself lots of squealing from said fans.

He was apparently popular with brainless idiots.

"I didn't mean something was wrong with you... I'm sorry. I just... I mean, we're good friends, is all."

Xavier's moment of frustration was quickly drowned out by the excitement of the bad about to start. He fonud his place next to Elke, and looked around at the other people nearby. Was there going to be a mosh pit? It wasn't exactly crowded here. It was neat, though, especially meeting the band. They all seemed so nice.

He lingered next to Elke as the music started, also somewhat surprised by the genre. "Wow, they're good!" He looked back to Elke as she looked around. There was that look again. That, I'm examining all of the details sorta look. It was scary, because 100 percent of the times he'd seen her do it she ended up finding something she didn't like.

Time to interrupt! He held out a hand to her to dance. Maybe that would distract her? Also, music! People danced to music, right?