Unfortunately, Cafas didn't think his bike was suitable for the task at hand. As such, he was forced to call a cab. Maybe he should get an actual car? No, that was a waste of money, he lived in New York City, heck, the bike wasn't so much transport as it was recreational.

The cab pulled up to the Mansion, Cafas took that as his cue. He was pretty sure he could hear Aiden too, speaking to someone. That would probably be Persi. He pushed off the ledge he was sitting on, landed and rolled, back on his feet. A few lessons here and there of parkour shouldn't go to waste. He'd had to learn it anyway, for CSI:NY.

"Righto lads, let's go. I know a place down near the park, does great pizza." Cafas got in the front seat of the cab and gave the rough address. The cabby nodded. Then proceeded with the usual tradition, small talk. "Near the park 'ey? You boys gonna go enjoy the nice weather then? It's really startin' to hot up."

Sighing would be rude. Cafas settled on replying. "Yeah, gonna go grab a slice. Maybe a walk in the park." Maybe a nice relaxing period spent in Air Con, who knew, really? "Say ain't you the fella from..."

Damn it...

"them shows in the mornin'? Doin' some movie or other. Hey that girl you got, nice catch."

Oh thank god.

"Yeah, yeah I am."

And that reminded the driver of a story. Thank God indeed.

"Um... not yet...." Speak of the devil. Or the roommate; apparently the rule worked for those, too. Persi shifted as Aiden picked out a spot in the shade. There really wasn't enough shade that Persi thought it would make any difference to the temperature, but at least Aiden having something to do made it slightly less awkward than if they'd just been stuck staring at each other in silence. Persi stared at the grass instead, and started figuring out how to draw it.

...And apparently, speak of the pink Australian wannabe shark teacher worked too. Persi blinked as he landed, then looked up. There... was not a very clear answer. Or there was; there was a ledge that Cafas could easily have been sitting on. There was no answer as to how he'd gotten to said ledge, though. Persi looked back at Cafas, then back at the ledge, then around. Nope, no ladders that he could see. "How'd you get up there?"

The cab was... crowded. Persi stayed as far to his side as he could get, tried not to touch anyone, and let Cafas talk. The cab driver didn't seem to mind in the least that Persi didn't, and really, Persi was perfectly happy not to speak to him either.

Hm. The wall was warm. Not as warm as it would be in the sun, and not as warm as some of the air that was at least gradually drying his hair, but still warmer than would have been nice. Aiden shifted his weight back to his feet so he wasn't really touching it and sighed to himself. Oh well. Hopefully Cafas would show up soon and keep him from overheating twice in one day on his behalf. He pulled at the cuff of his right sleeve a little, having ended up with a shirt that didn't cover the wrist-tip of his scar as well as he liked. Cafas and Persi didn't have the distraction of impending exercise anymore. Of course, Cafas was probably going to comment on him wearing a long-sleeved shirt again, but he had been quite comfortable when he had put it on.

Hm. A cab. Aiden wondered who had called it. Thump. Aiden glanced sideways. Oh, there he was. Had he shown up now by chance, because both Aiden and Persi were there, or because the cab had arrived? Angling his head slightly as he looked at the ledge Cafas must have jumped from - really, surrounded by people who liked to climb? what were the chances - and guessed that the cab was quite visible from there. Probably the cab, in which case it had been Cafas who had called it.

Hopefully it was at least a better trip than the last time he'd been in a taxi. Once inside, Aiden did much as Persi did, though temperature concerns did dictate that he not crowd up against the door much either. He did lean his head against the side when the driver started trying to chat them up, though. The last driver he'd had to deal with had figured out real quick that it was going to be a quiet ride. Cafas wasn't going about things right to ensure that, so Aiden just tuned out the voices - Cafas being recognized as being in that thing people tried to call a movie from that monstrosity some people tried to call a book - and let himself drowse off a bit in the heat.

Persi and Aiden hopped into the cab. Cafas figure he'd answer Persi's question. Though the answer would likely be unsatisfactory. "I climbed up. They teach X-men and actors all kinds of stuff." then the cabby was back to talking his ear off about more famous people than him that had been in his cab before. Cafas was sure most of it was exaggeration, but one never knew.

Stupid public image.

The cab eventually rolled up to the given address. Cafas payed for the trip, tipped the driver and got out. He stretched his cramped muscles in the summer sun. He began walking toward the pizza place. "Come on guys, short walk and we'll be there." It took a few minutes walking. The cabby had just chosen the first spot he'd seen apparently.

The wonderful smell of pizza washed over him as he opened the door into the slightly crowded store. "Alright, who wants what?" He was thinking about what he was going to get. He really needed to work on establishing a 'usual order' so that he could skip the thinking portion.

So the cab driver had a bit of an ego. Really, who would have thought that a cab driver in New York City might have met celebrities? It was unheard of! Although they must have been pretty desperate for celebrities, if the cab had smelled the same at the time, and if the driver had been as unable to shut up as he seemed to be now. Though Cafas seemed not to mind the chattering, so maybe Persi was just weird about that. He was pretty sure that the smell wasn't his imagination, though.

Getting out of the cab was a relief, at least until Persi realized they'd have to walk. He really didn't want to walk anywhere right now, though he couldn't quite decide whether the walking or the cab was more annoying at this point. Stale air and talkative driver, or walking. Hard to decide, really, so Persi was sort of grateful that he didn't have to. Or have to pay for the cab, which he'd kind of forgotten to consider, and which kind of made him panic; Cafas probably would pay for the ride back, but if he didn't, that was going to be a problem. Persi could afford pizza, but taxis were questionable. He really needed to figure out how to find a job, only he couldn't figure out how to pretend he wasn't a mutant when they'd want to know where he lived and why he needed a job. He couldn't figure out a solution to that problem yet.

Persi's stomach did not growl when the door opened. At least, not loudly. He could probably believe no one had heard it, so if no one heard it, it didn't count. So it hadn't. Persi looked over the pizzas, decided, and then remembered to look back at the prices. Fortunately they were all fine. "Um... ham and pineapple, probably."

Aiden jerked awake when the cab rolled to a stop. Blinking and straightening, he stifled a yawn borne out of the hot-weather nap and followed the others out of the cab. The short, rather idle walk helped clear his head, fortunately, and he was more or less awake again by the time they arrived at the pizza place.

Of course, if he were still half-asleep, he probably wouldn't have minded the busyness quite so much. As it was... Ai shifted away uncomfortably as some random customer meandered past. This place was too crowded... wasn't there somewhere quieter they could grab food? He glanced around. At least there seemed to be a few open tables left, so maybe once they were sitting, if Cafas wanted to sit, things would be better and people wouldn't be walking so close - hey! That guy almost stepped on his foot! Aiden barely managed to dance out of danger in time, but the man continued on without a second glance, even when Ai glared at him through the sunglasses.

Oh, right. Food. It had been a while since Aiden had had real pizza, and he hadn't ever really had pizza from a place like this. Having pizza meant stopping by on the way home from school and picking up a greasy, cheesy box. This place didn't smell quite like that place, though. Sure, there were similarities, but it was kind of like comparing McDonald's and an actual restaurant. A few things in common in no way made them the same. One thing that was the same, though, was a lack of things to say when Cafas wanted his opinion. He stared blankly at the menu, coming to a decision about as effectively as he had convinced Persi to come out of that tree. No, Persi had eventually come down, so even that surpassed this. After as much waffling as he felt he could get away with, he just shrugged. "All pizza is good," he said... but that really didn't help the conversation. So..... he let his eyes fall upon the menu at random. "How much cheese do they put on their cheese pizza?"

Ham and Pineapple was a staple of the pizza world. Cafas had half expected something crazy from Persi, given his apparent "against the grain" attitude, but pizza was kind of just one of those things, the staples were staples for a reason. Well that was easy then, now for Aiden. Cheese? Okay then.

Wow these guys are really pretty simple for pizza...

How much cheese? Well... that was kind of complicated. He thought for a second about the best way to phrase what he had to say. On the one hand it was super tasty, on the other... Well. "Some say the perfect amount, some say too much."

Depends on how much you like being able to take a dump really...

"I tend to think they do it pretty well. Tastes great anyway." Now all he had to do was approach the counter and order. He should probably also decide what he was going to have too. Oh god, he had not thought about it at all and he was just about to be served. Well, split second decisions could be great!

Buy some time man, I'm working as fast as I can.

"Yeah can I grab a large ham and pineapple, uh," Cafas turned to Aiden, "You wanted cheese yeah? Final answer?" He'd give Aiden a second to think as he made his order.

Battle stations, we failed the preparation, time to see if we can blitz through on action alone!

"Large with sausage, mushroom, the hottest peppers you guys have, olives and roasted peppers. Red sauce." See, that didn't sound bad. Improv! He had spouted ingredients and it had formed something vaguely good sounding. Cafas had an estimate for the price, even if Aiden had thrown just about everything on his. He handed over a few bills. "Keep the change" Which was probably going to be 20% of the order, but whatever.

...There was a snowflake. On his arm. Indoors. In June. Early June, but still. June.

Well. Persi hadn't been expecting that.

To be fair, there wasn't a snowflake on his arm anymore. It lasted about two seconds before melting; it was, after all, indoors and in June. Persi kept blinking at the arm anyway, and the tiny drop of water on it. What did spontaneously appearing snowflakes have to do with healing? He couldn't see any connection.

They got pizza, though, so Persi brushed the water off and followed Cafas to a table. And felt vaguely guilty; he really didn't feel like having anyone else buying things for him. Even if Cafas was apparently not a completely horrible person. Actually, especially if Cafas was not a completely horrible person; Persi would feel bad about not being able to support himself either way, but this way he also felt bad about stealing money from Cafas. Even if it wasn't technically stealing, it was still taking, and he wasn't doing anything to pay Cafas back, so the difference didn't really matter. Persi really needed to figure out a way to pay Cafas back, only that took him back to the problem of jobs....

A minute later Persi shook off the thoughts--he wasn't going to solve it now, anyway--and decided awkward conversation would be better than awkward, thoughtful silence. Although being overheard would be bad... well, Persi had plenty of practice making sure his voice wasn't understandable beyond the people he wanted to hear it. Well, person, normally, but the same idea applied. He hesitated a second longer before looking at Aiden. "I didn't know you could make it snow."

Potentially too much cheese? "I doubt 'too much' cheese is really possible," he said absently. "Final answer." How much cheese could possibly be too much? Ten times as much cheese as crust? That would be a lot of cheese, but what ended up in each bite probably wouldn't actually make it to ten times, so while it might be a waste, it still wouldn't really be too much. They'd have to change how they cooked it too, for that much cheese. It would be no good to burn the pizza trying to get all the cheese to melt, or to have the rest of the pizza perfectly cooked but leave half the cheese cold and hard. Maybe heat the cheese separately to get it started, and then add it on? Or add the cheese in layers? That could work well if there were different kinds of cheese.

The size of the tip Cafas left reminded him about just how much money he made with that stupid movie; at least they paid well for torturing people and ruining their reputations. Following Cafas and Persi to the table, he greatly appreciated that, at the very least, Persi had ticked off someone with money enough to drag them both into this remedial gym, even if the actual stuff he had to do now really wasn't all that bad. Reputably excellent pizza from someone with more than enough money to not think twice at the cost. Seeing as how Aiden probably had all of three bucks or something... yeah.

"I didn't know you could make it snow."

Aiden blinked. Then blinked again, and stared at Persi, thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked. What was he going on about now? Had he somehow managed to hit his head on the way here or something, and was delusional now and seeing things? Although snow, in June. Really.

Cafas chose a table that was a bit out of the way. Neither Persi nor Aiden seemed to be comfortable around... Well, anyone. He distributed pizzas to their respective owners.

Cafas looked at his, rather pleased with his order. The peppers, he could tell already, were not the run of the mill jalapeno or red peppers they put on pizzas. No, these were a cut above. He simultaneously looked forward to and already regretted what he was about to do. He took a slice and took a bite. Yup, good order.

"I didn't know you could make it snow."

Oh man that pepper had just been lying in wait! That was hot!

"What are you talking about?"

Chew chew swallow, marvel at the heat of the peppers for a moment in bliss.

"Actually I think I noticed that too,in the danger room. Might have just been the room though, I don't know how to set the weather and stuff." Take another bite, be in more pain, enjoy all of it. Cafas had not at all noticed any snow while they were in the store. The air con could have stood to go up a few degrees though.

"No, it wasn't the room." Persi was somewhat surprised that a room was capable of snowing, especially snowing in such a specific area, but he supposed it could combine extremely cold air with some sort of water mist, like ski slopes did... or that hard light stuff that Persi still wasn't sure was actually real. Either way, it probably couldn't make it snow all the way out here, and the water on his arm had seemed real. "There was a little snow here, too, when that guy almost walked into you. It landed on my arm." He held the snowed on arm up a bit to demonstrate, even though the water was gone and it was awkward to hold the arm up and hold pizza at the same time. Hm. He dropped the arm again.

"So, it was probably you. I know I can't do anything with snow. Unless your room can make weather out here?" Persi eyed Cafas--who was eating peppers, ew--as he started eating his own pizza. He was fairly sure the room couldn't do that. It seemed like a stupid thing to include in what the room could do, unless it was harder to limit the room than to just leave it able to influence everywhere.

...Okay, that was pretty creepy to think about, actually. Persi really hoped the snow was Aiden. The room being able to do that sounded like a very good start to a horror story.

In long-term hindsight, Aiden might eventually realize that there was no way he could achieve such a positive mood without something extra nasty following after it.

As yet unconcerned, though confused, Aiden started on the first slice of his pizza. Definitely a good amount of cheese. Melted through, no cold pizza lurking underneath, and plenty to ooze all over his tongue. Cheese was excellent, especially when present in such quantity, quality, and variety as it was here.

He had almost made it to the crust when Cafas joined in on the weird snow thing. What was going on? The probability that both of them were delusional - and imagining the same thing - was theoretically negligible. If they couldn't both be imagining it... Some kind of joke? Why would Persi work with Cafas to play a joke on him? It was pretty clear that Persi didn't like Cafas, much less enjoy his company enough to plot mischief. It didn't make any sense.

And, if it were a joke, Cafas wouldn't have offered such a plausible alternative - except Persi's story negated it, if true. The danger room wouldn't be affecting the weather this far away, with no other signs. Aiden's faint frown deepened, a niggling worm at the back of his mind really not liking the way things were headed. There was no way - Aiden peered at Persi's proffered arm. "There's nothing there," he said, inordinately relieved, when Persi lowered his arm. See, it was nothing.

Aiden swallowed and lowered the last quarter of his pizza slice, an unfamiliar chill clogging up his stomach. Persi... was right. Sticking things in people's heads was about as unrelated to snow as things could get; it was well within the range of 'it's all unrelated, and any more unrelated makes absolutely no difference anymore.' Cafas... metal stuff was also thoroughly unrelated to snow.

But not getting cold-

Not snow. Anything but snow.

ANYTHING but snow. He'd take... he'd take setting people on fire with a glance, or exploding anything he touched, or... or turning into a pile of steaming, stinky pus that shot neon rainbow lasers! Anything!

Anything. Please.

His gaze flicked between Cafas and Persi, silently begging them to come out and laugh, say it was just some joke. A prank. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Not being able to breathe - that was real. Every attempt to force air into his lungs, or let it out, met with vicious resistance. Swallowing was useless against the pressure. The remains of his pizza finally dropped back into the box, and he withdrew his fingers to clench them with his other hand in his lap. Digging his nails into the skin of his knuckles did precisely nothing. He could hardly even feel it.

If he made it snow...

He tightened his fist until every muscle in his arm twitched and jumped. NO. No. No. It wasn't true, couldn't be true. It was all some big joke, and any minute one of them would break out and laugh at him for taking it seriously. Any minute. Any moment.

Please.

Because if it wasn't a joke...

then he...

killed Conri.

The pressure in his chest leapt upwards and added its relentless grip to his throat. Unable to draw breath, not seeing Cafas or Persi or the boxes of pizza or the table or the other people in the store, he pushed himself to his feet.

He couldn't.

Couldn't have, couldn't believe it, couldn't take it, couldn't stay here-

He couldn't.

"No, it wasn't the room."

Seemed like a bit of an assumption.

"There was a little snow here, too, when that guy almost walked into you. It landed on my arm."

No snow there now, but then, such was the nature of snow in contact with warm things.

"So, it was probably you. I know I can't do anything with snow. Unless your room can make weather out here?"

Couldn't argue with that logic. "Nah the danger room doesn't work like that. All self contained. Probably for the best too. Seems there's more to you than you thought Aiden."

Cafas felt like Aiden was over reacting to this news. It almost seemed to have triggered a fully fledged panic attack. Aiden stood, very obviously not thinking straight. If he did a runner (which Cafas suspected he would) he could get himself into a lot of trouble in that state of mind.

A small amount of leadership training had been given to him since he joined the X-men, and it happened to be just enough. When someone is panicking, there is no room for sympathy or being nice, they needed direct orders. That was his understanding anyway, and it had always been true in his experience.

"Aiden, sit down, now." He didn't raise his voice, the change was in his tone. a little more forceful, and a ring to it that suggested it wasn't optional.

"Take a deep breath, calm down." Cafas turned to Persi, who was between Aiden and the door. "Don't let him past you, if he leaves he's going to get himself in trouble, maybe hurt, maybe dead."

Cafas didn't shift from his position, but he fixed Aiden with a glare Tywin Lanister could be proud of.

"Er--" Okay, Persi hadn't really put much thought into what reaction he expected, but that wasn't it. He blinked at Aiden. "Are... you okay?" Persi wasn't entirely sure he should be asking that, either, but it was the only thing he could think of... and did seem to be a valid question.

Cafas's reaction... did not tell Persi anything. Or at least, nothing useful. It did tell him that Cafas was surprisingly capable of being scary, and Persi edged first a bit away from Cafas, even though he wasn't the target of the orders, and then slid his chair back into Aiden's way.

Really? Hurt or dead? That seemed a bit extreme. Granted, Aiden looked... well, terrible, and Persi did not want to look at that expression any more, but still. Hurt or dead seemed like it would be a bit of an exaggeration. Persi stayed in Aiden's way, though, anyway.

Somewhere along the line, reality had become surreal and imagination had solidified into granite. Sweat pricked the back of his neck, somehow sharply noticeable in the haze. He needed air-

"Aiden, sit down, now."

He flinched, muscles divided between freezing and bolting. He couldn't breathe here, couldn't think, couldn't let himself think, couldn't look at them knowing what he did, couldn't be near them. He had to go

but Cafas said sit. Trembling, Aiden fell back into his chair. His foot shifted automatically to rebalance it as it nearly tipped over before he seemed to collapse in on himself. Even with his eyes closed, working as hard as he could to divert all of his attention towards the effort, he couldn't breathe. The full knowledge of what he had done, what had happened because of him, marched around his skull with all the subtlety of half a dozen nuclear bombs raining down on a city with hourly warnings for the past year.

He dimly heard Cafas talking. Didn't they get it? Couldn't they tell? He was the reason his own brother was dead. Him. If he were in their position - their nice, innocent position - he would have been long gone. Maybe even as long gone as he'd be from himself as matters stood if it weren't for Cafas.

Nope, trying to get on a different track of thought wasn't helping him breathe or let go of the giant crushing weight of what he'd done.