Regan blinked as before she could protest she had a strip of shirt tied around her ribs. The bleeding had stopped a while ago, because of her accelerated healing abilities, but Regan was polite and didn’t say anything about that, “Thanks, I appreciate the bandage.”

Raising a brow at the directness of Serena’s answer, Regan figured it was a sore topic and was not about to push it. “Well that was a jerk thing of them to do, sometimes I think humans are dumber than a sack of nails.” She shook her head and sighed at the thought.

Hearing the whisper clear as day with her enhanced hearing, Regan waved her hand nonchalantly, “Oh don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” She smirked and took the opportunity to lighten the mood by quoting the “Black Knight” in “Monty Python’s The Holy Grail”, “It’s nothing but a flesh wound!” Regan could tell that Serena came from one of the UK isles from her accent, so she figured she’d get the reference.

Serena had already torn some more shirt and begun bandaging her cut. She'd probably heal fast, it wasn't too deep, but still it was best to dress the wound just in case. As she was focusing on the bandaging she responded to Regan's comment. "Humans aren't dumb, neither are mutants. Ass-holes are dumb, both human and mutants, unfortunately most people in the riots are ass-holes..."

Serena realised she still sounded a little gloomy. She guessed she still wasn't over what had happened. She hoped she would be soon. She laughed at Regan's comment. Her and her big brother loved watching Monty python. She found herself Giggling slightly.

"Glad to hear it. So, do you have a place to stay or do you prowl the woods all night?"

Regan flattened her ears on her red hair and frowned as she was quickly corrected by Serena. “Sorry.” She squeaked out under her breath. Feeling awkward as she always did around people, she started to fidget her clawed fingers together and shifted her weight a few times before cracking a small smile when Serena started to giggle at her comment.

Regan was taken aback slightly by the once again direct tone that Serena had. “Umm, I live at the mansion right now. Where do you live? I can walk you home if you would like, I wouldn’t want anyone else to try and jump you again.” She looked at Serena with genuine concern in her eyes.

Serena saw that Regan felt a bit awkward after saying sorry. She felt really bad, it wasn't her intention to lecture. It certainly wasn't her intention to make the girl feel awkward/ "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lecture, sorry, I was practically raised by a pair of cops, so I come across as strong in that regard sometimes..."

Serena heard her say she was from the mansion? She wasn't actually that surprised she hadn't seen her. Not many people had seen Serena, pretty much just Victoria, Emerald and Miss T, she hadn't been around very long and hadn't had any time to socialise...

She tried her most welcoming, friendly voice with the feline. "Oh, I live at the mansion too! It's not really surprising I haven't bumped into you yet, I only really got brought in properly last night, haven't had much time to get acquainted with people..."

The small amount of Scottish audible in her accent made her seem more welcoming and friendly. Her brother had been right, it was definitely a good thing. "Would you like to walk back together?" Serena asked, with a sweet smile.

Smiling softly, Regan accepted Serena’s apology for the mini lecture. “It’s alright, I was raised in a cage, my social skills are rather lacking for the most part.”

Serena was from the mansion as well? Well that was convenient! Regan was pretty new around the mansion herself, but she spent very little time actually inside the mansion, and when she did she tried to avoid most contact with people. “Well that is good that we are headed in the same direction! I am pretty new to the mansion myself, I’ve only been there a few days, but I tend to keep to myself and avoid being seen." Regan shrugged her shoulders a little, “It’s a tiger thing I guess.”

Returning Serena’s smile with one of her own, Regan nodded. “As long as you don’t mind walking back through the woods, I don’t like to be in public view.” She sighed a little, “I’m sure you can see why.” Regan looked down as one of the men was starting to make a few moaning noises, “Come on we better get out of here before these jerks wake up!”

Serena thought to herself "Why would you cage something so lovely?" Regan appeared to think she was some sort of monster, Serena thought she was lovely. She had a beautiful coat, and although Serena could see why she wanted to hide her appearance, she personally found it to be lovely.

"I don't mind no, personally I think your coat is wonderful, its so beautiful." Serena said with a warm smile on her face. She could still do the whole social thing. She just hated feeling not like herself, was it because of her power, or just the events?

In any case she figured they might as well walk back towards the mansion together, the woods would at least provide a quiet, calm environment, it also had the plus side that no more mutant haters who knew about her, could attack her. Also, if they managed to recover and come after her, she would be with a friend.

Serena smiled again to Regan "It's fine, I appreciate the calm of the woods at night. And I would love to chat a bit longer, walking home alone at night can get boring." For all that had happened, it looked like Serena might be making a new friend. That at least, was a good thing.

Regan’s eyes widened when Serena told her that she thought she was beautiful. No one had ever said that to her before, well no one other than her “Father” anyways. “Oh…. Why thank you.” She wasn’t really sure what to say.

Looking around the woods with her enhanced feline vision, Regan figured out which direction they had to head in to get back home. “I love the woods, safest way for me to get around and I like that very few people are ever in them, but company can be nice too.” She smiled back at Serena and started to head in the direction of the mansion, “Here follow me, I can see clearly in the dark, I’ll make sure your path is clear of any hazards.”

The night was getting pretty crisp and the girls were still quite a walk from the mansion. Regan’s fur would keep her warm, but she wondered how Serena was doing. “Are you warm enough Serena? I can give you my sweater if you need it.”

It was nice to see the cat opening up more to her and generally being more friendly. Serena wasn't surprised to hear about her enhanced vision, it was a normal cat thing. She watched as the feline lead her through the woods. It was a breezy evening. But Serena didn't mind the breeze. It was relaxing. It was warmer than it usually was in winter, which she was thankful for.

The feline offered Serena her jumper. That was sweet of her. "Thanks for the offer Regan, but I'm not too cold and I actually have a jacket in my backpack. How is the wound doing? I can treat it better when we get back."

As Serena had been checking on the status of Regan's wound she felt a slight numbing where she had been sliced. She'd have to make sure she disinfected the wound later. She had enough problems as it is, without getting an infection.

Making sure to keep on a clear path so that Serena wouldn’t trip on anything in the dark, they made their way through the snowy woods. She was glad that she had been able to help the girl in a pretty scary time, and for the first time in a long time, Regan had been able to keep relative control over the sabre tooth. She was quite proud of herself right now.

“I’m doing fine Serena; it should be almost healed up by the time we get back to the mansion I think. How is your arm doing?” she was concerned about that wound, it had bled a lot and Regan wasn’t sure if Serena had healing abilities like she did. “I’m glad we made it through that relatively unscathed though, it could have ended much worse. Let’s just hope those guys don’t remember us. Luckily for me I don’t think that anyone would believe them that a sabre tooth tiger attacked them.” She said with a chuckle.

The cat seemed to be worried about her arm too. Serena couldn't make her worry. It just wouldn't be right, she'd already saved Serena from that rabble, she didn't want to ask any more of her. But, she hoped the wound wouldn't get infected or something.

"Thanks for the concern, but I think I'll be ok, it isn't too deep and I can treat it when I get back." They carried on walking through the moonlit woods. Regan leading the way.

She laughed at Regan's comment. "Unfortunately, I think they know my face, I might have to lay low a while, or at least, improve my self defence..."

“Well we are almost there; I can just make out the lights of the mansion in the distance.” They were making pretty good timing. They would most likely be able to get there in the next ten minutes or so if they kept this pace. Regan easily could have ran from one end of the woods to the other in just a few minutes if she was on all fours, but Serena was just a little too tall to be able to ride on Regan’s back.

“I bet some of the teachers at the school could help you learn some defensive skills or to help you used you powers better.” Regan shrugged her shoulders a bit, not really sure what else to say about power control. She wasn’t the best person to ask for help in that aspect seeing as she was barely able to control her own powers most days.

Wow. Serena could not believe what good time they had made. She wondered if Victoria was up yet. She seemed to be nocturnal, odd for a girl her age. Then again, she did go to a school filled with super powered teenagers, so odd sleeping patterns were not the worst thing in the world...

Regan didn't seem to understand why she wanted to defend herself. She didn't like her power. She didn't want to use it. It seemed to feed off her impulses or something, so if even a small part of her would harm someone in self defence, she could kill them.

"Yeah, I know. Serena smiled at Regan. "So, what do you do around the mansion, I haven't been around much during the day. Serena asked with a warm tone.

Regan noticed how quickly Serena had changed the subject, and being the polite feline that she was taught to be, she didn’t push the topic. Instead she joined in with the change, “Well I was just hired on as the gardener and grounds keeper so I’m usually outside or in the greenhouse. More so the greenhouse now since its winter though. If you would like to learn about plants you are always welcome to come and see me there.”

Regan stopped for a second to turn and help Serena over a large branch in the snow so she wouldn’t trip, “Careful there right in front of you, there’s a branch, here take my hand.” Regan extended her clawed and furry hand for Serena to take.

“Other than working on the plants, I’m either excising or maybe reading. I’m pretty quiet really. What do you like to do?” she smiled at Serena and then started leading her back towards mansion once again.

"That sounds wonderful! Sounds like you enjoy it, well that's good." Serena added with a smile. She wondered what she should do when she grew up. She loved biology. She'd also taken a shine to psychology. She wondered if she could teach it when she was a little older, maybe, the people at the mansion could set something up when she reached an appropriate age.

She wasn't quite sure how to answer Regan's comment at first. "Me? Well I haven't started classes or anything yet. I was still sorting out some stuff. She was lead past the ever so dangerous invisible branch by Regan. " "Well, I was finishing that tonight actually, but then those guys jumped me..."

"But you saved me. Thank you." Her voice. Barely a whisper.

Smiling Regan continued leading the way, Serena was starting to warm up a bit, that was good, that fight would have shook up anyone that wasn’t used to violence. “I really do enjoy working with plants, there is such a peacefulness about being amongst the beautiful things that nature has created.”

They were just reaching the edge of the trees when Regan frowned at Serena’s comments. Even if the whispers were not meant to be heard, to Regan they were as clear as day with those feline ears. She stopped and turned to Serena, taking both of the girl’s hands in her own furry ones gently, and looked her in the eyes. “Serena, you are so very welcome. I am glad that I was able to help you.” She could see how lost this girl was looking right now; Regan knew that feeling so well. What more could she do for her? “Tell you what, if you need anything, anything at all, even just to talk, you come find me ok?” Regan smiled softly “Or you could just yell really loud for me, I’d hear you.” She snickered and wiggled her feline ears to try and make Serena smile.