Serena had spent the day in what was now technically HER apartment. Since her brother had payed up the rent for the next year, and since he was now dead, and his will left everything to her, she had an apartment. Although, she wasn't really going to use it.

The mansion was her home, and also her school, so Serena figured, that is where she should live, also as an added bonus, it was where nearly all of her friends lived.

She had spent most of the day going through old stuff. Looking through her brothers laptop files, sorting through photo's of them. She even saw that he had time off planned for her birthday. That was surprising, awesome and also sad as he had died shortly before it.

Serena had actually had a decent day though, listening to cheerful music while looking through things around the old apartment.

She had actually spent TOO long doing that... the sun was going down at it was nearly 7pm, she seriously needed to get back to her dorm, Liz might be worried.

Serena put her sleeveless jacket on and ran out. She decided to cut through the park, it was slightly eerie, nobody else appeared to be around.

Nobody at all. That was the sort of evening Jude was looking forward to having: the kind where he wanted to see and talk to nobody at all. That was why he'd slipped into the park after it was technically "closed." Nobody ever went there at night except drug dealers. TV told Jude that drug dealers and hookers and all sorts of illegal activities went on after dark and, while that was probably true for some nefarious and spooky portion of the park, he was pretty sure it had never been true of the open field that he now lay in.

The grass needed a trim. The closest encounter he'd had was with a jogger on the path that wiggled through the open area who either did not notice him laying there or had deigned to ignore him. Jude had his headphones plugged into his ears and his arms spread open wide like he was giving the deeply blushing sky the biggest and laziest hug he could.

Truth be told he was waiting for the stars to come out.

That or a hooker.

Nah. Probably best to leave the hookers out of this. He'd seen enough risque, star-lit action for his age.

As the blond haired Haemokinetic moved through the rapidly darkening park, she couldn't help but wonder what sort of nefarious people would lurk around this area...

Infact, She was sure she had seen one or two drug dealers... Oh well, she moved into a more open field, to get away from potential muggers.

Serena wandered into the field to see a man lying in the centre of the field, with his headphones on. He looked to be in his 20's.

But what was he doing out in this field in the middle of... Well not nowhere, New York. She pondered this as she approached him, hearing the people getting much rowdier, she didn't really think it was a good idea to hang around here.

|She stood over him, looking down on him and brushed her hair out of her face. "Hi there... I don't think it is a good idea to hang around here..."

The north star winked first and brightest of the stars to come and he silently greeted it like an Animaniac. Helloooooooo, Polaris. And then a woman popped into view between him and the stars. She was lucky he was no kung-fu master because she scared the bejeezus out of him. As it was he flailed his arms and popped his headphones right out of their place in his ears.

"Whoa. Hey." Did he know this person? He looked carefully at her face (and it was a nice face to be sure), but came up empty. "Uhm." Had he even heard what she said? He tried to think back, but... no he had his headphones in so...

Jude cleared his throat. "Miss. Can I uhm... help you?" His accent betrayed him as a non-native English speaker and squarely pegged him as French. He did not seem bothered to be here in the least.

Serena smiled as he spoke. Another European by the sounds of it, possibly French or Swiss judging by the accent that was clear in his English. She brushed hair out of her eyes again, tracing along her forehead to leave the hair residing behind her ear. "Hi there... I'm Serena."

She mentally scolded herself. She wasn't meant to be greeting him, she was trying to warn him about the thugs she could hear just behind the clearing. "Yeah, So like, I was trying to warn you that the people behind the clearing, who look as if they might be gang members or something, are getting more rowdy, so you might wanna move."

Serena offered the man a smile and a hand to help him up off the ground. The rapidly descending sun highlighting her her body with golden warmth. At least it was a pleasant evening.

"Jude." He replied, name for name and while she busied herself with hair tucking, the Frenchman tried to figure out what the heck she might have wanted. It wasn't like he was laying out on some walking path was he? A quick glance at the ground confirmed it. Nope. Just grass. Not even a deer path.

Oh. Rowdy gang members? She offered him a hand, which he ignored.

"Iz zat all?" Jude flopped back into the grass and stretched. "Zey would be stupid to pick a fight here." Granted, stupid was usually a gang member's greatest strength and despite the openness of the area, there was not a direct line of sight to any street or sidewalk that might provide a witness. If stupidity was witnessed, it was usually discouraged from follow up stupidity.

Jude grabbed up his phone and fiddled with it to make the music stop coming out of his headphones. "Zanks but no sanks. I need to decompress." At least he hadn't walked out of work with the Oracle's power. Though... Now that he was thinking about it... Jude held up his hand, palm outward toward Serena with his eyes closed in concentration. Yep. There it was. That little tug of instinct or whatever drove his power. Serena was a mutant. Jude deposited his phone on his stomach and folded his arms behind his head. Must not be the overconfident pull down buildings type of mutant otherwise a couple gang members wouldn't bother her.

"Run home to ze Mansion, Serena." Because the Mansion was clearly where this young woman belonged. Oh! Was that Orion's Belt?

Serena did not like this man. He came across as incredibly rude, here she was, trying to help him and he was arrogant as to think that a bunch of thugs wouldn't pick a fight with him in the center of a cut off field with nobody around.

In a few seconds Serena heard the noise getting louder. But as the wind blew through her hair as she heard the man tell her to go home to the mansion. She froze.

How did he know where she lived?

More importantly did that mean he knew she was a mutant and did her know about her mutation? She looked taken aback, insulted, and taken aback.

She looked directly at him. And took a step back. "How did you know??"

"Would you believe I'm psychic?" He turned a lazy half smile toward the girl as a tease before he recognized the tension in her posture. Jude huffed a sigh and sat up. It wasn't a sigh of frustration, more one of self-consternation.

"Hey. I'm sorry." He put his hands out in a placating gesture. "It was a guess. Nice girls don't live anywhere but at ze Mansion and I figured nobody would be out here risking a fight withsout reason or a chance to survive it." Plus, well, he could tell. But she seemed a bit too freaked to process that without a little more information. "Me too. It's how I knew, but I don't know what."

She seemed very young to him which was silly considering the fact that she was technically older than he. "I'll leave if zat would make you feel better." A rustle in some nearby brush had Jude getting up in an unhurried way. He wasn't the only one that should leave. "Walk you home?"

Psychic? No, although it was probably entirely possible for him to have that as his mutation if he was a mutant, that didn't appear to be the case, it sounded like he was just teasing her.

He began apologising, but that didn't make it any less creepy that he could take one look at her and tell she was a mutant.

He then explained that he was one. That made more sense. Why didn't she think of that? It was the obvious explanation. There was rustling in the bushes, Jude looked at them and suggested that they vacate, offering to walk her home.

Serena shrugged, the tension in her shoulders melted away. "Sure. I mean, yes, thank you."

The rustling turned out to be an overfed squirrel. Which... was possibly more frightening than hooligans in all honesty. They had no shame in their search for junk food. No. Shame. At. All. Jude planned for a hasty retreat.

This wasn't exactly how he had planned to spend his evening, but he'd made the offer and now he had to stand by it or be even more of a jerk than he already had been.

"How long have you been at ze Mansion?" Because Jude in his brief time there surely would have noticed this lovely young woman. He steered them both away from the noise of the potential threat and toward the public street where the passersby offered at least the little protection of being witnesses if the squirrel (or hooligans) decided to take on the pair of young mutants.

Serena smiled. "A couple of months now. I do also have my own place though, but I generally just stay at the mansion. That is where like, all of my friends are."

She did find it slightly amusing that the ruffling of the bushes which had prompted Jude to offer to walk her home.... Was a squirrel.

Although, as everyone knew, small furry animals could be completely terrifying. Not. Oh well, at least Serena had company for the walk home, and even if he had been rude at first, possibly unintentionally. He was being friendly now.

She turned to the French accented man. "How do you know so much about the mansion anyway? Do you live there?"

Ah. A couple months. That would explain it. He had been gone for more than a year now. "Wow. Your own place? Zat's pretty rare at your age, no offense intended. New York's stinking expensive." Especially if she didn't stay there. Was her mutation to make money? Even if it wasn't he was impressed, all the same.

As for how he knew about the Mansion... "My Grandfathzer works zere as a teacher. Economics? I Sink?" Not that he had ever made it to one of his classes. "My mothzer went when she was younger and, for a time, I attended as well." All true, though not in the traditional sense. It was just easier not to explain those bits. Also, he would leave out the part about running away from the Mansion. If she was happy and made friends there, more power to her.

"I can only take you as far as ze gate if zat is alright. My power... it iz uncomfortable to be around zat many mutants all at once." He shrugged as they walked along and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

The street lamps winked on as the night developed. Even though the lights from the electronic signs and buildings were probably enough to navigate the streets, it was a safety thing. Jude had read once that crime rates went down once they lit the streets on London way back whenever that was. That was no reason to let down his guard, though. This was still New York City. "What were you doing in ze park zis late? Uh- if you don't mind me asking."

Serena smiled to him and nodded. It was interesting that his family member worked there. "Nobody in my family had anything to do with me being there, infact I don't have anyone to say anything anymore. And I understand mutations can be difficult it is alright,"

Serena brushed her hand across her forehead, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh, I recently received my brothers will and everything listed within, which includes the appartment, with a trustfund to pay off the bills for a while, I guess being a cop, he thought ahead of what would happen if he passed away."

"So I went earlier and spent the day there, checking everything out, I spent far longer than I meant to there.

"Oh I'm... so sorry for your loss." Wills meant death. He'd inadvertently walked into a potentially hurtful topic, though Serena didn't seem terribly broken up over it. At least, she explained easily enough. "Was zis... recent?" Should he not ask? He felt rude asking.

On a more practical note, "You could sublet the apartment if you don't end up living there. Make some extra cash? Space is so hard to come by, it seems a shame to leave it empty."

The Mansion was quite the walk from the park, but at least the first part of their journey was very well lit. The more residential area they would go through later was a different story.

Serena's face darkened. She hadn't even had time to organise a funeral yet. Who would she invite? She guessed she would look up and send an invitation to his partner.

"It was a couple of months ago, I haven't even had time to plan a proper funeral for him yet. Serena murmured.

Tears began welling in her eyes. He advised that she rent out the apartment to make extra money. That was probably the smart thing to do, probably.

She shook herself off and pulled herself back together. Yeah... That probably would be a good idea. I might do that."