Mariusz pushed open the door to a tiny produce shop tucked away in one of the many little corners of New York City that most tourists and new residents never found, or if they did find it then it was quite by accident. Still, he was looking for a few very specific items since he wanted to make German Apple Tarts and he had taken down the names of all kinds of produce shops specifically to check them for the ingredients he was after.

Stepping into the shot the avian mutant's eyes quickly adjusted to the darker lighting than what was outside. He wandered the shop quietly for a few minutes, there certainly were plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable choices and he made a mental note to make sure that he didn't forget the name of this place and where it was located since their variety was better than that of most of the other shops he had frequented today.

There were so many items, in fact, that he felt it might be fastest to simply ask his questions of one of the employees. Looking around he quickly spotted a woman that appeared to be restocking something, walking up behind the woman making no effort to be either terribly loud or terribly quiet he tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, could I borrow a moment of your time," he asked politely in a voice that had a slight English accent.

Cara was arranging the apple display. There was a knack to placing the fruits just so, so that when a customer chose one the rest wouldn’t come tumbling down. She had seen the tumble happen several times, and she was pretty sure it was worse for her, knowing how far the fruity devastation would spread as soon as she caught sight of the falling fruit. She was more careful than some of the other workers when it came to stacking, so she seemed to get assigned it more often. That was fine by her though, it meant she was out on the floor, instead of unloading the truck into the fridge or sweeping out the back.

It did mean she had to help out the occasional customer though, and there was one touching her shoulder right this instant. She carefully placed the apple she had been holding onto the pile and turned to help.

“Welcome to-”

A mutant, the mutantiest mutant she’d ever seen was looking back at her. She had seen some visible mutants in her time, but never one as impressive as this. Feathers, what seemed to be wings… all he was missing was a beak and he would have made the full transition to giant bird.

“Er, hello. How may I help you today?”

Smoothly done. She was careful not to let her expression of surprise linger, it would be rude. Fingers crossed he wouldn’t ask if they had any sunflower seeds. Or any seeds for that matter, she was not sure she could keep her composure.

"Yes, I am Mariusz Kasparek," he said, offering the woman a taloned hand to shake if she so desired. Just because the dark haired woman was the hired help in this store that was no reason to forgo basic good manners in introducing himself properly to her. This was especially true since her reaction to him had been one of the kinder reactions he had gotten so far today. He usually did his shopping in a three-piece suit to get better reactions from people, he had forgone that today opting for jeans and a t-shirt and the reactions he had gotten had been correspondingly worse as a result.

"I have been scouring the city looking for a specific type of apple native to Scandinavia. So far I have been unable to find them. I do not suppose this store would happen to carry Akero Apples," he asked, his gaze sweeping over the display of fruit as he asked his question. He was sure he'd be able to find them on his own, if the store had them, but it would be much easier and faster to simply ask. He'd been looking for the apples all day and his stomach was reminding him of that fact since he'd been doing a lot of flying on not a lot of food.

She shook the scaly hand politely, it was surprisingly hand-like for a claw, if felt somewhat similar to shaking the hand of an old worked-hard-his-whole-life man. He introduced himself and she tried to wrap her head around the name, it sounded like the name of some strongman or a wrestler or something, but he didn’t say it with any hint of cheek.

“Nice to meet you Marius, my name is Cara.”

She had a nametag that said as much, but it didn’t hurt to be polite, especially to a potential customer. He explained what he was looking for, a strange kind of apple that was native to a strange kind of place. Strangely enough they did have some in stock, recently brought in from one of the zone-3 farms. She had tried one of them just a few days ago.

“That’s the one that tastes a bit like berries right?”

She knew it was.

“We do have some in, actually, let me show you.”

The semi-stacked apple rack would still be there when she got back.

"Mariusz, with a z at the end. Not Marius," the feathered mutant said, gently correcting the woman's mispronunciation of his name. He had, naturally, spotted her name tag that had her name on it as soon as she turned around. Still, it was polite of her to give her name as well. Her reaction was also one of the milder ones he'd seen all day, a few people had actually refused to shake his hand in a civilized manner. Still, to each their own.

"Yes," he said slowly, thinking about Cara's question, "I suppose you could say the Akero tastes a little bit like berries. I am surprised you have them. Nowhere else in the city seems to sell them. I know they are a bit of a... how you say unique item. Still, I would have expected them to be easier to find in a city this size than they have proved to be." He followed behind Cara as she led the way in the direction of wherever it was she was taking him.

She had fumbled his name. She had thought she would, and sure enough the thought had become a reality. Explaining the spelling helped though, and she would try not to mess it up again. She led him towards the apples while listening to his explanation, they had not been his first choice, in fact he seemed to be getting towards the end of his apple related patience.

“There’s only two farms that I know of that grow them, we get a bunch of other stuff from one of them, so when they offered this new kind of apple the boss decided to give them a try. They are a bit more expensive than the other apples, because they’re a specialty type thing, but you’re the first person who’s asked for them specifically.”

They were nice though, despite the price tag so people who tried them once often came back to get some more. There were plenty of other fruits left over though and that was a bonus for her, being able to choose a selection of leftovers at the end of the week. They arrived at the apple stack (neatly placed by herself that same morning) and she indicated the special apples.

“So, what are you planning to make with them?”

People rarely came in asking for a speciality item without a particular recipe in mind, and she found the influx of people telling her what they were planning to cook had greatly expanded her own food-related horizons.

"I am simply glad to have found a retailer that sells them here. Admittedly, I do not use them all that often. As you point out they are something of a specialty item," Mariusz said, stopping in front of the same apple display as Cara and picking up one of the akero apples to inspect it. It was pale reddish in color, with a generous amount of yellow. He checked it for bruises and squeezed it gently. It looked alright to him so he grabbed a bag and dropped the apple into it.

"I am going to make German Apple Tarts with them, from scratch of course. Cooking from scratch is the only way to properly cook," Mariusz said, continuing to select apples and drop them gently into the bag.

"Would you care to have one," he asked. Normally he wouldn't ask such a question so soon after meeting someone. Still, he lived in a very public place so it wasn't quite the same as asking a complete stranger to come to his apartment or condo in the city. Still, it would probably be a good idea to clarify that little fact.

"I live, and sometimes work, at Xavier's School here in New York," he said, quickly explaining that he lived in a very public place lest the woman think that he was suggesting anything untoward.

Cooking from scratch was a good way to know exactly what went into your food and make sure it was only good, wholesome food, no ingredients that couldn’t be pronounced, or fake colours and flavours to mess with the naturalness. As a university student sometimes the pre-packaged stuff was the only real option, but she tried to make things from scratch as much as possible. It helped when she got the raw ingredients at a hefty discount.

For a second she thought he was offering her one of the fancy apples, then she realised it was the tarts he was referring to. She had had recipes offered to her before (usually by little old ladies determined to instil home-ec values on her) but never the final result. She didn’t have time to mentally question his motives before he was explaining where he lived.

Oh, you’re a mutant? was the first thing that popped into her head, stupid as it was. Of course he was a mutant, or an overly enthusiastically cosplayer, who managed to glue feathers to themselves in a way that looked incredibly realistic. She didn’t know that the mutant school was open to the public, perhaps you needed an invitation from someone who lived there to be allowed in.

“What kind of work do you do there?”

Other than teaching and maybe gardening she couldn’t think what kind of jobs would be available at a school for mutants, probably all sorts of strange things.

“I’d love to try a German tart, I’ve never had one before.”

She’d had a pretzel, but that was probably about the closest thing.

"I am actually working on becoming a teacher at the school," Mariusz said in answer to Cara's question. "I have a degree from Charles University in Prague and, I should think, I am rather uniquely qualified to teach others with the mutant gift to fly," he continued, rustling his wings slightly to help further make his point. He decided, for the moment, to not mention his decision to run for Mayor. He had yet to file the necessary paperwork to get on the ballot, so in the strictest sense he was not yet running for the office.

"As for the tarts, I was planning on making them tonight. I trust you know where the school is located," he asked, arching an eyebrow at the woman. If she knew where the school was located it would provide her with a time to show up and, if she didn't then he would also give Cara directions so she wouldn't get lost. There was, however, one other option that just occurred to him as well.

"That is, of course, assuming that you do not get off work soon. If your work day is nearly done, and you would trust a complete stranger, I would be happy to fly you to the Mansion directly through the city... provided you would consent to carry the apples as I would have to be carrying you."

The idea of the school running flying lessons was a curious one, but she supposed it made sense. Flight was a mutation that seemed to be one of the more common ones as far as she could tell, it would be good to have a qualified teacher to make sure all the young ones didn’t go crashing into skyscrapers, or get blown to who knows where by a particularly strong breeze.

She had a fair knowledge of the school’s location, and it wasn’t a major secret as far as she could tell, the mutants who lived there seemed to rely more on security rather than secrecy, and the walls weren’t the only thing stopping trespassers she was certain.

She wasn’t technically supposed to finish for another hour or two, but with how often does someone offer to fly you across the city?

“Just a sec, you go ring those up and I’ll meet you at the checkout.”

It took her mere moments to find Adam, then a few more to explain the favour she needed and why. He owed her a favour anyway, but the added joyride just smoothed the whole process over. Pretty much anyone who couldn’t fly had thought about it and how cool it would be at least once in their lives. Now was her turn. She ducked into the staffroom to throw a jumper over her uniform and grab her wallet and keys and she was ready to go. She made it to the counter without a squeal of glee, and kept it together quite nicely as she asked her question.

“So, are you ready to go?”

It would be rather anticlimactic if he still had to get cinnamon or something.

After paying for the apples Mariusz waited near the front store by the entrance while Cara ran back deeper into the store. Probably she needed to clock out and pick up a few personal affects. His suspicions were confirmed a few moments later having pulled something on over the top of her work uniform. With the bag of apples dangling from a wrist he laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles as Cara approached.

"I am ready to go whenever you are," he said, moving to the door and pushing it open so Cara could exit. Once they were out on the street he handed her the bag of apples.

"There are two ways of carrying you, but it is close to rush hour so there is more traffic, even in the air. Helicopters, other mutants, that kind of thing so," he trailed off and stepped up behind Cara, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her back tight against his body.

"Rather than using the Superman carry we will use something that is a bit safer as I possess neither arms of steel nor super strength." Mariusz coiled his legs underneath him and unfurled his wings. He gave a big leap and with several powerful downbeats of his wings he got them airborne. "This way is safer and more secure."

Though not specifically on the way to the Mansion Mariusz headed in the direction of Times Square. There was a good amount of pavement there in an area that usually created updrafts which would make it easier to gain more height since he was carrying an additional passenger.

"I am a bit surprised you chose this method of transit since, indeed, we do hardly know one another."

She wound the handle of the bag of apples around one of her hands, to be sure not to drop them across the city, potentially on some innocent head and prepared herself to fly in the best way she could think of. Mainly saying a silent prayer of thanks that her work uniform was pants and not a skirt.

He flapped his wings and they were suddenly aloft. She felt the need to hold onto something, but seeing as there wasn’t really anything to cling to and she didn’t want to squirm around too much and disrupt what she assumed was a delicate process, she settled for clutching the bag of apples to her chest.

Also not squealing. That one was harder than she had thought it would be.

“Doesn’t everyone who can’t fly want to?”

Of course they did, otherwise why would planes have been invented.

But talking meant opening her mouth, and she had the distinct impression that a bug was bound to fly in there if she did it too often. Besides, other than really wanting to fly she couldn’t think of a good reason to do any type of transportation with someone you just met… except maybe the subway… possibly taxi-sharing…

"You might be surprised. There have been some people that have turned down the chance to take to the skies with me," Mariusz said as they soared out from between two buildings and over Times Square. He wheeled in a series of circles over the square, flapping his wings and riding on the updrafts coming off a black top that was warmed by the early summer sun.

"Some, I think, are afraid of heights. Others are unwilling to be held quite so close by someone they may not know all that well." Mariusz lightly tapped his taloned fingers against Cara's hip to help illustrate his point. "Of course, I do not see anything romantic in taking someone flying. Still it would be hard to deny that it is, undeniably, intimate."

Pleased that he was at the right height, or at least a height he was comfortable with, he banked sharply and turned in the direction of the Mansion, taking a route that would fly them over Central Park in the process. "It is coming up on rush hour so keep your eyes peeled for helicopters because they do not always watch out for me."