It was past sundown and Miles was walking the hallways of the mansion, a bag filled with stuff in his back and his two dogs walking alongside him. His presence within the walls of the school at this hour was not common, but he had his reasons to be there.

He'd overstayed. Playing games on the rec room after school, then doing homework until it was too late to return to Sanctuary, so he asked DocProf if he could stay the night and the old man said yes, but oh by the by, could Miles do the school's staff a favor? There was a new student, a twelve year old girl from overseas who'd recently arrived, whose skin was very sensitive to sunlight and demanded her to be active at night while she rested during the day. The school was still in the middle of arranging her school hours and classes, but they were interested in having the child meet some of the other students, at least those who were awake while she was, if only to help her fit in. Miles, of course, agreed...

... For ten bucks.

Come ooon! This had babysitting written all over it! Miles HAD a twelve year old sister, so he knew what he'd be dealing with and it was not going to be for free.

And so, here he was.

In his bag, he carried several toys he'd borrowed from the rec room, just in case she was still into those. There was also a football in case she was a tomboy and a transformers action figure for him, just in case she wanted to play with dolls or My Little Pony or whatever. An alien space robot could easily drop on any girly doll playing scenario, because ten bucks was not enough to make him suffer through those.

It was a good thing that Miles could always revert back a few years in his mind when dealing with kids. He had no qualms with playing silly games and entertaining the little folk, specially if there was money to be made. He'd brought his dogs over and dressed them in green and red t-shirts and similarly colored bandanas to make them look friendlier and christmassy, so when he reached the door of the room the girl was staying in, he practiced the best smile his salary could buy (it was quite warm and friendly like) as he knocked on the door.

"Hello? Is there anybody in there?"

Having now been at the mansion for a few days Victoria had met or at least seen several others of the students and staff at the mansion. She had caught glimpses and sometimes full on displays of mutant abilities. The fact that they varied so much continued to amaze her even though she hadn’t really shown what she was capable of except to Chase and Mister Holloway.

Victoria had just started taking classes and so far they were ok, but she really liked her art class with Mister Holloway. He was the first teacher she had met when she arrived, and he showed her around as well as introduced her to Chase. He was a very caring teacher and always did what he could to help her and others.

This night she didn’t have any classes, but she still wore her red dress as she thought she might walk around and possibly see if anyone else was awake. She loved her dresses her mom would get her when they used to go shopping. Wondering for a moment if her mom would send her new dresses while the girl was at the mansion she heard someone at her door.

Sliding off her bed Victoria walked over and opened the door. “I’m in here. Did you need something?” Her red eyes caught sight of a boy standing at her door. Then she noticed two pitch black dogs with glowing red eyes. Someone had put red and green clothes on them which only made them look a bit creepier. She stepped back from the door leaving it partially open with a worried look on her face.

When the door opened, Miles started introducing himself to the twelve year old.

"Hi there, lit...tle girl..." he said, looking UP at her red eyes. She was a bit taller than him, with long blond hair and very fair skin, which was to be expected from someone who probably had never been in the sun. Her red dress was ornate from Miles point of view, making his jeans and pastel green t-shirt look so informal in comparison.

"I'm Miles Haxton!" he said, beaming maybe a little bit too much. "I'm told you're new and... wait, don't worry about them..." he told her, noticing the concerned look in her face as he grabbed Astor by his bandana, but failing to do the same with Tinaker. "They're good dogs, their eyes are just... glowy. Look, they can even play tricks."

Miles dogs never played tricks nor did they ever had the playful attitude to do so, but they were overobedient to Miles commands, so if he ordered them to do trick, they'd do tricks.

"Astor, Tinaker... uh..." he paused right before giving them an order as he tried to have the dogs do something funny that would calm her nerves.

"...Do the Gangnam Style."

It was pathetic. Gangnam style was never meant to be danced by dogs.

Victoria backed all the way up to her bed where she stopped. The boy had started introducing himself when she reacted to the dogs. She caught his first name but after that it was nothing but glowing eyes from scary dogs.

Unsure what to do she was thankfully saved when Miles told his dogs to dance…Gangnam style? She had heard the song before, but to see these two dogs trying to dance was very awkward in a comedic way. It actually made Victoria giggle as she watched them. If he had that much control over his dogs then maybe she didn’t need to be as scared.

“That’s weird!” Her focus moved back to the boy. She had noticed his hair looked like he walked through a wind storm, but he seemed nice enough. “I’m Victoria and yes I got here only a few days ago.” She spoke somewhat softly with a hint of her European accent. “I’ve never seen dogs like those before.”

Great! He got a giggle out of her! That was always a good sign!

She introduced herself and told him she'd never seen dogs like his. Miles gave her a bit of a smug smile as he replied "And you never will anywhere else, because they're that special."

With a wave of his hand and a mental command, the dogs stopped their dancing. "They obey and do everything I say, so you don't need to be afraid of them and if you want them gone..." he said as he pointed his finger away. Both dogs ran off. "It's as simple as that."

Miles noticed she had a foreign accent and he knew she was from overseas, but he couldn't place it.

"So, where are you from?" he asked to break the ice a little. He also managed a peek inside her room and indeed, it seemed to have been fitted so no sunlight ever came through. The windows were covered and all the lighting was artificial.

"It's night outside. If you want, we could come out and play. People are mostly in their rooms or having dinner, so we could have some fun and games in the hallways or on the yard. Would you like that?"

Miles exclaimed that his dogs were very special which Victoria took as meaning they were probably extremely unique. Maybe he made them somehow, or possibly just found them and somehow bonded with the animals. All the discovering of other people with vastly various abilities had almost become an adventure for the girl.

Once the dogs had left Victoria relaxed more and moved closer to Miles again. “So you trained them to do anything you say? That’s really special!” Her amazement had reappeared on her young face.

“I’m from Estonia. Do you know where that is? Are you from here or somewhere else also?” The girl didn’t mind answering questions and she felt comfortable enough to ask some of her own.

Before she could ask another question Miles mentioned it being dark out and asking if she wanted to play. Her face lit up with joy. Someone actually wanted to play with her. It was the first time anyone had even brought up the topic with her. “Let’s go outside!” She loved being out under the moon and stars.

Grabbing her coat she closed her room door and walked with Miles outside to a nice spot on the lawn. “Miles, is this why you came to my door? To play?” It would be nice if she heard him say yes. Just the thought of someone wanting to be her friend and play games made her smile.

Trained them? That was one way of putting it. More like resurrected them and enslaved them, but why worry her young head with the little details?

"Yes they are. They're very good dogs and quite protective as well" he said with a bit of a smirk. She seemed very pleased about going to play outside and she'd told him she was from Estonia. She had asked if he knew where that was and Miles drew a blank as they walked through the hallway.

Estonia... Estonia... E-S-T-O-N-I-A...

Judging from her accent, that had to be somewhere in Europe, but... he didn't recall any european countries called Estonia. It didn't sound african at all, so maybe it was somewhere in Asia?

"Sure, that's in...Eurasia" he said, covering his bases and placing the country in almost half of the world's landmass.

Wait a minute! The verb 'estar' was actually spanish and there were countries in South America that ended in 'ia' like Colombia or Bolivia. Maybe he had goofed up, so he was quick to fix it.

"Unless you're from the Estonia that's in the Americas..." he said, including north, central, south america and even the caribbean in his assessment.

Waaait another minute!... How about Australia or Oceania?

"...Or the one that's near Australia" he added, now reaching almost the entire world.

He tried to cover up his ignorance answering her other question, which was far easier.

"I'm from Virginia Beach, where we hold the record of having the longest pleasure beach in the world. It's awesome, you should go see it someday."

Or... some night. Who wants to go 'see' a beach at night?

Miles borrowed a coat one size too big from a hanger by the door and walked with her outside to the lawn. It was chilly but tolerable. Then she asked him if he had gone to her door to ask her out to play.

Well, yes and no. He was there for the money, sure, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her predicament. A girl who couldn't play in sunlight? What kind of life she must have had without being able to run around with other kids in a park on broad daylight? That tugged at his heart when he was asked to do this, but didn't stop him from trying to make a buck as well, and even if he WAS there by someone else's request, he DID went to her door to ask her out to play.

"Of course!" he said with a broad smile. "I was once new in this place and making friends to hang out with is awesome. I know of a game we can play but it'd be better if we played it with more than two people..."

Penelope…was…AWESOME at hide-n-seek! Slinking around just outside of the mansion, Penelope Pepper was scrunched up against a bush, smirking as she waited for the game to be over.

Tonight was supposed to be a sleepover night! Penelope had started to become a frequent visitor to the Xavier Sister School in order to meet with her new friend Chase, as well as various other friends that she was making now that she was coming more often. Her sister didn’t mind at all dropping her off either! As a matter of fact, her sister always raved about this place, saying that they would help Penelope control her “problem” (which meant Jezebel) but Penelope wasn’t concerned with that. She was just happy that he was making friends! Friends with mutants too!!

That was what today was. She had been invited to stay the night (with Gemma’s permission of course) for a sleepover with her new friend Amanda! The two had met the last time Penelope came to visit Chase and now they were having a game of Hide-N-Seek, to which Penelope was the unofficial queen of!

She would never be found out here.

Dressed in flannel pajama bottoms, a tie-dyed t-shirt, and her coat, Penelope giggled as she pushed herself down against the bushes in an attempt to hide even better. She would give Amanda only about another ten minutes before she proclaimed herself the victor. Obviously she couldn’t just stay out here the whole night.

Fiddling with some grass and humming to herself, Penelope sighed as she craned her head up and stared upwards at the blanket of bright stars. They were so twinkly and pretty. She could easily find herself getting lost just staring at them, trying to count their massive number. But the sounds of footsteps and talking soon drew her attention.

Amanda? she thought? How did she find her!?

The 11 year-old crouched down. She would not be taken so easily. She would scare her if possible. Or make her laugh! Whichever was really just fine!

Leaning down, she waited, one…two…three…

>> “…but it'd be better if we played it with more than two people..."

“RAWR!!” Penleope leapt out, put on her growliest face and snarled in a very comical way. It was only after she did this that she realized she had just leapt out behind a boy, a little taller than herself. She straightened up and tilted her head. “You aren’t Amanda.” She then beamed and waved at the slightly taller still blonde who was not far in front of him. “Hi!”

Victoria could tell what Miles was saying was true. The dogs really were very well trained. She had never seen dogs do what they were told so obediently. “I believe you.”

While they walked through the school Miles answered her question about knowing where she was from by stating an entire continent. Victoria was about to reply when the boy seconded guessed himself. She didn’t know there was an Estonia anywhere in the Americas. Wait…one near Australia as well? That couldn’t be. Her parents had taught her where Estonia was and Miles had technically guessed it with his first reply.

Giggling she figured he didn’t really know where the country was located. “Estonia is part of northeastern Europe. It’s right by Latvia and Russia.” She hoped that might clear things up a bit more for him.

He told her where he was from but now she was the one who didn’t know the location. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that is.” She couldn’t help but be straight forward about the topic. “What’s a pleasure beach? It sounds like something for adults.”

Miles answered her question about wanting to play with her and she smiled big. He told her about his experience when he was new so for him to want to be friends with her made her feel good. The boy didn’t want her to feel left out.

Before Victoria could thank Miles they were ambushed by another girl. She popped out from behind herself and Miles. Spinning around in a startled state Victoria saw the girl. She was shorter than herself and had darker skin, and she thought one of them was Amanda. Must’ve been a friend of hers or something.

The blonde girl smiled and waved back. “Hi! I’m Victoria and this is Miles. Who are you, and who’s Amanda?”

He grinned when she actually went ahead and explained where Estonia was. She kind of caught him making stuff up and she was sincere enough to simply tell him she ignored where Virginia was.

"It's just three states down from New York. A pleasure beach is like a tourist beach filled with resorts" he said simply, trying not to put too much emphasis on it since seeing such a thing at night was really a waste of time. He didn't want to raise her expectations too much.

He could tell she liked his answer about coming over but they were suddenly interrupted by this kid who gave Miles a bit of a start, though things going 'RAWWRR!' at the mansion were usually bigger, hairier, clawier and fangier. She was roughly Victoria's age and had confused him with 'Amanda' when he didn't look like an 'Amanda' at all.

Victoria handled the introductions while Miles saw an opportunity to add a new player to the game he had planned.

"Don't know who she is, but I bet you're gonna have more fun with us than with her. We're gonna play a game I like to call..." he said, raising his hand and zipping it horizontally, pretending the name of the game appeared out of thin air as he did the gesture. He also added a few voice special effects.

"Zombie Tag! ...ombie tag... bie tag... tag... ag...ag..." he said, now raising both hands to the sides of his face and waving all his fingers in slow clawing motions. "Unless, of course, you happen to be afraid of zoOMMMmmbies..."

New people!!! Penelope absolutely loved to meet new and interesting people! She had been visiting the mansion for a bit now but she had never met these two before and normally she really had a good eye for remembering faces. That must mean that they were either new to the mansion, or she had simply not met them yet. It was not as if she had actually lived here. But…sigh…wouldn’t that be awesome? Living and doing homework and having fun around mutants all day? For once she wouldn’t feel so alone.

The thought melted away before she could give it any more notice when the blonde girl, who looked roughly around her age, gave her a wide smile and waved back. Penelope straightened up! Contact had been made! Wheeeee!

>> “Hi! I’m Victoria and this is Miles. Who are you, and who’s Amanda?”

“Oh! Amanda is—“

>> "Don't know who she is, but I bet you're gonna have more fun with us than with her. We're gonna play a game I like to call...Zombie Tag! ...ombie tag... bie tag... tag... ag...ag...Unless, of course, you happen to be afraid of zoOMMMmmbies..."

…rude. She pouted at the man that interrupted her.

But she was again quickly won over when he started to imitate a monster. It was so silly, his face, the gestures with his arms, the way he flailed about and attempted to come off as terrifying. It made her giggle madly.

On top of that…was she being invited to a game? She…LOVED games! Buy first she had to poke a whole in his theory about being scared of zombies.

“Nu-uh,” she said to Miles. “All you have to do is shoot them in the head! Silly.” But she didn’t dwell on that for too long. Introductions were given from their side, she must respond in kind! Wide, bright smile, she walked up to the blonde and stuck out her hand to shake. “I’m Penelope Peyton Pepper! Nice to meetcha!”

So it seemed a pleasure beach wasn’t as bad sounding as she thought it was. “That sounds like a really nice place! I hope I can see it sometime.” Victoria had seen resorts on her dad’s computer before and they always looked so beautiful and wondrous.

Miles started had mentioned a game he knew that needed more than two people to play, and now there were three of them gathered together. His game was zoOMMMmmbie taaagg The blonde girl had played tag before, but never this kind of tag. Was it different somehow?

Victoria’s red eyes turned to the new arrival as she put a hole in Mile’s game right away. Victoria had seen a couple zombie movies and it did seem true that if you take off the head somehow it kills the zombie. This game was sounding dangerous. The new girl also introduced herself. Victoria liked her name. “Nice too meet you too Penelope!” She shook the other girl’s hand with a smile.

Looking back to Miles Victoria wanted to know more about this dangerous game. “Umm…Miles. Can you explain this game more please?”

"Yeah, nice to meet you, Penelope, I'm sure you'll like the game" Miles said as he readied himself to explain the rules of it.

Zombie tag was the brainchild of Miles' grandfather, an old and practical man beloved by his grandchildren. Pops, like he's affectionally called, would always be the zombie, and he would lurch and shamble across the rooms of the farm while his grandchildren ran around screaming and squealing trying to escape from the zombie. They loved him for this, for playing childish games and making them seem cool, but even that game had a practical reason behind it. The zombie was old, he lurched, shambled... and rested, while his little victims zipped and ran all over the place... and tired.

Eventually the game made it to the streets of Miles' neighborhood, courtesy of yours truly, and kids did what they always do... they changed the rules and made the game their own.

"It's easy actually" Miles started. "I'm going to start off as the zombie. I lurch and shamble and make Braaaaiiiinnnnzzz! noises... while you run and hide and try to escape. If the zombie touches your head with both hands, he eats your brain and you turn into a zombie as well, but if a human touches the zombie's head with both hands, the zombie is killed and leaves the game. The game ends when there's nothing but zombies or nothing but humans."

Miles noticed that he wasn't exactly the tallest in the bunch. Victoria had that honor and tall people always had an advantage in this game. Also, she had this long, beautiful hair, it'd be a shame to mess it up with head touching and not always in the most careful of fashions, while Penelope... she had A LOT of hair. She'd likely run off before anyone could reach her head, so Miles made up a rule right then and there, to try and even the odds a little bit.

"You can also touch a human or a zombie's back instead of their heads with both hands and it works the same way."

Now here came 'the rough' part. Since this game was played among kids, most of them boys in the neighborhood streets, there was always some ruffling and tumbling involved, so rules had to be placed to keep things civil when they played.

"Zombies and humans are allowed to push each other to avoid getting their heads or backs touched. You can also trip each other, grab the opponents hands to avoid getting turned or killed. Zombies can't run too fast, but they can multiply if they catch humans while humans can't multiply, they just can kill zombies."

He raised a finger in warning to deliver this next rule, and he said it so seriously you'd think it had been broken before to everyone's displeasure.

"No punching or kicking is allowed, specially in the crotch! This is just a game, Zombie players aren't really dead and they can feel everything!"

Things sometimes got ugly in these sort of physical games, but Miles didn't expect anything to go too badly. Come on, they were just girls. How rough could they possibly play this?

"Now that I've explained the rules, you might want to... might want to... to..." he stuttered, then feigned dizziness as he put his hands in his face, grabbing it tightly with his fingers and arching his back forward. "No! NO! Run away girls!"

The next thing everyone knew, Miles was clawing away, his eyes and mouth open wide as he contorted his face and roared.

"GRWAAAARRGH! I'm a zoooOOOMMMBBiiieeee!"

…

…

This boy talked a lot! Though Penelope didn’t think that that was a particularly bad thing, especially considering how much of a chatterbox she herself was, she had to admit that she doubted that she ever spoke that much in her life. And that was saying a lot! Penelope loved to talk about interesting topics and she could go on for what seemed like hours but was a better storyteller (in her humble opinion), and she could explain game rules faster than this!

But…it did sound rather fun! She loved to run and hide and that was a big part of this game. So, of course, she would be a natural.

Plus, she was making friends with new people and the blonde seemed like a great person to meet. She was very pretty, and nice clothes, and she just had this aura of mysterious around her that Penelope just couldn’t wait to peer into. Maybe that was a little nosey of her, but there was nothing wrong with being friendly, was there?

Thankful, she turned back to Miles as it sounded as if he were coming to an end to explaining the rules. She got the gist of it: run away, hide from the zombie, touch his head to kill him. The mission would be a simple one.

>> "Now that I've explained the rules, you might want to... might want to... to...No! NO! Run away girls! GRWAAAARRGH! I'm a zoooOOOMMMBBiiieeee!"

He…was turning into a zombie. There was only one thing that she could do to buy them time.

With the speed that only a child could possess, Penelope reached down, scooped up a handful of crushed head leaves, soil, dirt, and grass, and straightened it upon to release the handful of debris into the face of their zombie attacker! That ought to at least give him something to chew on for a bit besides brains.

Not looking to see whether or not the lawn debris actually hit Miles’ face, Penelope spun and grabbed Victoria by the hand.

“Come on! I know where we can hide while the zombie is distracted!” she shouted and attempted to pull Victoria into the night.

So the rules of the game were explained…at length…by Miles. It sounded pretty simple but Victoria worried about the pushing and tripping part. She didn’t really want to get her dress dirty or torn. She would have to be careful and not get tripped. Maybe if she just pushed the zombie away then everything would be ok.

Miles’ playfully started to turn into the zombie, and Victoria couldn’t help but giggle a little before joining in on the acting. “Oh no! Let’s get out of here Penelope!” Her hands placed up on her cheeks as if in shock.

Penelope had played this game before it seemed. She had already grabbed a handful of…stuff...and tossed it at the Miles zombie then grabbed Victoria’s hand to run away. “I’m glad you know a place. I’m still learning my way around here.”