Glad that the boy had brought extra clothes, Regan breathed a small sigh of relief. It was getting darker by the minute out here and he wouldn’t have made it far at all in those baggy clothes. She started to wonder what a child was doing out in the woods alone anyways, that wasn’t safe even without her prowling around the woods.

Frowning slightly, Regan did as Clyde had asked of her. She backed up a few more feet and turned around so that her back was to him. She twitched her ears back in his direction so that she could listen in case he needed something. Folding her arms over her chest, she shifted her weight onto her right leg, her tail twitching randomly as she waited.

“So Clyde, what are you doing running around in the woods yourself?” she finally questioned to break the silence, maybe some small talk would help? Regan was so terribly oblivious to the social norms of people. She did try her best though, “Father” had always told her to be polite to others, but given that she never spent any time around people growing up other than Shamus and her “Father”, her skills were very limited. She wondered what else she could do to make amends with Clyde.

Regan seemed insistent upon staying around him. At least she was looking in the opposite direction. Before he did anything else, he found a bush to change behind and he took off his brother's old coat to inspect the gaping holes her claws made in it. If his brother caught him bringing that back in, he'd have quite a bit of explaining to do.

As he was changing back into the smaller clothes, Regan asked him what he was doing there in the first place. Her trying to talk to him while he was changing was a bit awkward, but she did have a reason to be curious. Seeing another person in the deeper woods was likely a bit strange.

“I was trying to get a hold on my mutation. You probably saw that earlier. I didn't think people went this fah back into the forest,” he answered as he finished with the clothes and started to put his shoes on. For a couple of seconds, he debated on whether he should explain himself. There was no doubt that she had already seen him using his powers. Maybe if he did tell her, she wouldn't feel the need to hover around. “The fact is, I'm actually sixteen,” he added, stuffing the larger clothes into the backpack. “I'm old enough to wandah around on my own.”

The sound of Clyde entering the cover of the bushes made Regan’s ears twitch. She kept her back to him as he had requested and waited. Her sensitive ears could pick up every sound that Clyde made. Every ruffle of the fabrics, every zip and button were clear as day. She wasn’t trying to be creepy; she could just hear it all, sometimes great hearing had its drawbacks.

Regan tilted her head to the side when Clyde told her what he was doing and how old he was. “Really? So you are a mutant too? What is your mutation exactly? Mine is pretty obvious.” She sighed heavily at her last comment and looked down at the ground. Shifting her weight to the left, Regan scuffed the snow with the toe of her right boot. “I wish I could look normal…” she said under her breath and to herself more then to Clyde.

Regan was starting to wonder if coming out into the woods was such a good idea after all. Here she was, out in the woods with a boy that she had almost killed. He most likely thought she was insane to still be standing around here, but she had thought he was just a boy, not sixteen years old. Feeling rather dumb now for picking him up earlier, she decided to apologize. “Sorry about picking you up off the ground earlier Clyde, I thought you were just a child and needed a hand. Is there anything I can do to make this whole mess up to you? I really feel awful about it all and I would like to prove to you how sorry I am.”

Oddly enough, the fact that he was a mutant seemed to surprise her. He thought that she had seen him shrink, though perhaps she was in too much shock to remember. It was barely audible, but as he thought of how to word his answer, he was able to hear her express her wishes of looking normal. He could imagine that mutants like her would have a hard time not being able to walk on the streets unnoticed. Yet, there was no mistake that she was somewhere in her late teens or early twenties. Unlike himself, it was easily socially acceptable for her to hang out with people her age and date. Honestly, he would have been willing to choose a slightly abnormal appearance over what he had.

“I can change my age,” he answered. “But only for about three hours. Then, it has to go back. It's pretty annoying, really.” He tried to sound nonchalant about it. Sounding like a whiner, especially in front of another mutant, would not be a good thing.

He listened as she apologized for picking him up. Of course, she probably had no clue that he was older than he looked when she did that, but he appreciated the decency. Though, it was apparent she was trying too hard to be kind. There she was, eager to make things up. That was understandable, but it wasn't like he could think of anything that would set things right. What he really needed was time to recover from that experience.

“How about letting me get back home?” he asked. “They're probably wondahring wheh I am by now.”

Still with her back to Clyde, Regan thought about his powers for a few moments and how he found it annoying. It was most likely very annoying to be going through the teenage years looking like a child. “I’m sure it has its benefits too though.” Regan could see a few situations that it could be handy in.

Regan kind of jumped a little at his comment, she wasn’t holding him hostage, at least she wasn’t trying to. She looked around the forest and although her feline eyes adjusted easily to see in the dark, she knew there was almost no light left in the sky and Clyde would most likely not find his way out. “Well do you have a flashlight in your bag? I don’t think you are going to be able to find your way out of here without one.”

She shifted her weight once again to her right leg and thought for a moment. She still kept her back to Clyde as he hadn’t told her it was alright to turn around yet and she was trying to be as respectful as possible. Finally she got an idea that just might help make things a little better between them. “I can see clearly in the dark, if you want I can lead you to the edge of the wood so you don’t get lost.” She thought for a few more seconds, Clyde most likely wouldn’t trust her just like that after what had happened so she decided to let him have the advantage over her, “I can lead you out in a way that would leave me vulnerable to you so I cannot hurt you.”

Clyde listened as Regan actually suggested that his powers could be useful. “Maybe,” he said, his tone lacking sincerity. Sure, maybe age shifting did have some uses, but to him, it hardly made up for looking like a child. Then again, having some feral form that was beyond your own control sounded pretty bad, too. Looking back at her, he noticed that she still was facing away from him. Oh, right. “By the way, it's okay to look now,” he told her.

Clearly, Regan was concerned about him. She was asking if he had a flashlight and offering to lead him out and even saying there was a way for her to do it so that she would be vulnerable to him. Wait... huh? A way for her to lead him out that would leave her vulnerable to him? That sounded strange. Yes, he was still worried about this “feral form,” but leaving herself vulnerable to him sounded unnecessary. He wasn't even sure what she meant by that.

“Nah, I've got a flashlight,” he told her, removing one from the bag.

He flipped the switch to turn it on. Nothing. He clicked it back and forth a few times. Still nothing. The batteries must have died... and he didn't bring spares. He frowned at this oversight. That was brilliant. Clyde didn't particularly want to receive help, but he wasn't going to be able to see well, and she said she could.

“What exactly was this idea of yours?” he asked, looking up at her.

Hearing Clyde give the ok, Regan turned around to face him in his now properly fitting clothes. She was glad he had thought of that. Watching as he took out his flashlight and tried several times to make it work to no avail, she sighed and waited for him to speak. When he finally did ask about her idea she smiled softly and offered it up. “Well just like all cats I can see in the dark so I’ll be able to lead you out, and here’s the idea. Have you ever held a cat by its tail Clyde?” she asked with a tilt of her head, “If you have you’ll notice that they start to spin trying to get you to let go, it throws them right off.”

Curling her long tail in front of her she looked down at Clyde, “My tail is six feet long, you can hold the end of it and follow me out of the woods safely. I am far enough away from you so you can be comfortable enough, but with you holding my tail, I won’t be able to do anything to you, I will be thrown off of my balance and my senses. So if you pulled on my tail in any way, I would stumble, maybe even fall, as long as you don’t let go, you have the upper hand.” She looked at him with a little bit of hope in her eyes that he would accept her help because she knew he did need it even if he didn’t want it. “What do you think Clyde, sound like a good idea to you?”

Regan mentioned that he could hold on to her her tail in order to lead him through the dark woods. For some reason, the idea didn't quite appeal to Clyde. He knew that the intention was to give him some sort of defense in case the feral form decided to show up again, but hanging on to her tail seemed weird and perhaps a bit awkward. He didn't know why, but it did. Besides, something about the idea seemed funny to him, something that told him it wasn't such a good idea, despite her reasoning.

“Um... no. Does grabbing an angry tigah's tail sound like a good idea to you? My brothah once pulled a cat's tail, and it didn't get confused. It got mad and scratched up his ahm,” he said, throwing in the old memory to reenforce his point. Maybe since she was a feline mutant, she knew more about the matter than he did, but in his experience, it seemed like doing that to her feral form could get him killed. Hmm... he was still going to need her help to get out of there, though. “How about I just follow you? I can see well enough to do that.”

Regan shrugged her shoulders at his decision, she really just wanted to try and make him feel better. “Well I didn’t mean to yank on my tail like your brother did, but I do understand your point. Following me is fine by me; I just would like you to make it out of here safely.”

Sniffing the air and scanning the woods, Regan tried to pin point where about they were in the woods so she could lead Clyde in the right direction. Once she had a general idea, Regan looked down at Clyde and smiled softly. “Ok Clyde, where do you need to head, towards the mansion or the city to get to the public transit?” Regan hadn’t seen Clyde around the mansion yet, but then again she wasn’t indoors much so she could have missed him if he lived there. Either way, she would ensure that she left him somewhere safe before leaving his company.

Clyde walked closer to Regan, ready to head out of the forest. She was going to let him simply follow. He had to admit that he should be grateful for her help, but he was also relieved that he didn't have to hang on to her tail as if she was holding him by some child leash. Because he looked like a little kid, people tended to be more protective of him than necessary.

“I just need to get to the city. I can find my way back from there,” he stated. “Anyways, what was the mansion place you mentioned?” Why would she ask him if he wanted to go there, wherever there was? It seemed such a random location to ask about. Unless... it had to do with mutants. He didn't know much, but he had heard there was a sort of mutant boarding school in the city. “Ah you talking about – what was it called... Xaviah's Sistah School?” He slowed down when saying the name, unsure whether he got it correct.

Turning in the direction of the city, Regan started to slowly walk in that direction. Looking over her shoulder to make sure Clyde was following her, Regan answered his questions. “Yes the mansion is also called Xavier’s Sister School. It is a school for mutants. I live and work there as the gardener.” She smiled and stepped over a fallen branch.

“I’m guessing that you don’t live there then.” Regan assumed since Clyde wanted to head into the city to get home. The mansion was treating her quite well so far and she quite liked the place and her job there. She wondered if she should invite Clyde to come visit her there some time, but then decided that right now might not be the best time to bring up him spending more time around the, how did he put it again, “angry tigah” was it? That thought made her sigh out loud.

Carefully, as to not stumble around in the dark, Clyde trailed behind the other mutant. So, according to her, this “mansion” was indeed Xavier's Sister School, and apparently, she worked there. It might have been interesting to attend a school like that. He'd be able to meet other mutants, and maybe they could even help him with his issue. Though, thanks to that very same issue, he never really fit in. Would it really be that different at a school like that, even if his classmates were mutants, too? Furthermore, on the off chance that they read the papers, his father probably wasn't on their good side, either. Heck, he had the mindset that mutants were menaces to society, and it showed up in his articles. With that in mind, he didn't want to change schools again.

“Guess I've never heard people call it that,” he mused. “Yeah, I don't live theh. So you do? Sounds like it'd get chaotic, with little kids running around with their powahs and such.”

Making sure Clyde was alright, Regan regularly looked back over her shoulder. She made sure to tell him where he needed to watch his step in the dark. She was happy that she was able to help Clyde get out of the woods, made her feel a little better about everything that happened. She hoped that Clyde would eventually forgiver her for attacking him, but it would take time.

Regan was snapped out of her train of thought by Clyde’s voice. Looking over her shoulder so she could talk to him better, Regan replied, “It’s actually quite nice there. I haven’t run into too many problems with children and their powers so far. They teach them how to control and use them safely, though I’m sure that accidents do happen from time to time.” Just like the accident of her attacking him, she thought.

“Is that so?” Clyde said, not exactly as a question, but more like a surprised response. For some reason, it was so easy to picture students his age and younger having fun blowing things up with their powers and whatnot. But from what she said, there wasn't too much chaos except for the occasional accident. Yeah... accidents seemed likely. From what he understood, they seemed to come with being a mutant. He'd accidentally shredded a few pieces of clothing when first learning about his shifting powers. But for him, control came rather easily. According to what he knew, some mutants had so much trouble restraining their abilities that they became dangerous without wanting to, like what just happened when feral form Regan attacked him. Nothing like an accidental murder attempt to make a person afraid regardless of whether he or she was normal or mutant. That thought brought him the chills.

That thought aside, Clyde continued behind the feline mutant. With her guidance, he was making it out of the woods a lot faster than if he were to try to leave himself. “How close ah we to getting out?” he asked.

Regan nodded at Clyde’s statement and kept up the pace. “Yep, though I’m usually outside so I might miss some of the chaos, but then again I believe the teachers frown upon non accidental power use when it comes to destructive powers.” She smiled over her shoulder once again and made sure Clyde was alright.

Hearing Clyde’s question, Regan sniffed the air and took another good look. “Well I think we are almost there, I can smell the car fumes and hot dog carts. I say another 5 or 10 minutes at most.” She would have offered to walk him to the transit or even ensured that he had gotten home safely, but Regan would not go into the public eye, not unless it was life or death. “Once we reach the tree line you will have to continue on your own Clyde, I’m sorry but I can’t go out there.” She sighed heavily and frowned.