Aiden fell back against the grass. Okay. Starting that particular route after seven in the morning did not work. At all. He held off breathing long enough to swallow and try to get some moisture moving in his mouth again. It really didn't help that he'd been so active the past weeks and months. No, just months; thinking back, it might have been normal but he hadn't done much over winter. So, really, he was trying to catch up from last fall, in rapidly increasing heat, and with a marked decrease in heat tolerance. At least he had something to blame for that.

He didn't really blame anything, though, at least not as more than an idle thought or joke. Somewhere along the line, the idea that it was better to be a live mutant than dead had managed to sink in reasonably well. Sure, there was still no way in hell he was going out in public without his sunglasses, since people would stare, but he could kind of use a mirror without closing his eyes now. He was sane enough to recognize the improvement. Yawning in the heat, he rubbed a temple and shifted to try to get more comfortable on the less than perfectly smooth ground. Might not be any benefit to blaming it on anything, but it wasn't fun being heat intolerant in weather like this. Even the shade under the trees here was heated by the expanse of grass alongside him. The heat hadn't seemed so bad while he was running, but now it was just disgusting.

Elizabeth had awakened much earlier than normal on a summer’s morning. She normally took the time to sleep in until seven, or even eight o’clock sometimes, but only when she felt really lazy. But five o’clock was not something she normally did. She’d made do with it though because she wasn’t one to let such a pretty day get wasted.

After a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, Liz had decided to spend some time in the great outdoors. Normally she’d take Nico with her, but the bird was still sound asleep in his cage. So she took along her recently purchased flute and decided she’d get some practice in while nobody was really up and around to hear her screw up.

After an hour and a half of practice (she was pretty sure she was improving at a decent rate), the blonde finally set her instrument down. Enough was enough. The German shepherd who’d been gnawing on a thick stick by her feet looked up at her and seemed to think the same thing.

She smiled at her friend. “How are ya, buddy?” she asked Rufus kindly. “Are the kids not awake yet?” She knew he couldn’t answer her; that wasn’t the point of talking to animals. But Liz liked treating them just as she’d like to be treated. Animals have feelings too, you know. In this instance, Liz was just assuming that Rufus had wandered over to the Mansion through sheer boredom. After all, the network of kids he’d managed to connive into taking care of him were probably all fast asleep. It was summer. Why on earth should they be awake so early?

Rufus opened his mouth in a pant and started wagging his tail. Then he nudged the chew stick over to her. He obviously wanted to play, and Liz knew he’d thoroughly enjoyed Fetch.

“You’re on, boy!” she laughed, picking up the stick and throwing it.

Liz played softball, not baseball. So could one really blame her if the stick flung off course and landed no more than a foot away from a guy stretched out on the morning grass underneath a tree. “Sorry!” she called out, starting to run over to the guy even as Rufus was nearly there.

Thump.

Blinking awake at the unexpected sound, Aiden took a few moments to realize both that he had started to drowse off in the heat and that something had hit the ground near him. A vague rumble of distant sound drew his attention far enough up and out for him to catch sight of a large dark racing towards him. Rather than fear, his first reaction was confused wonder.

No, wait, this dog was way too young. He was also way too invested in whatever it was he was chasing - the dog he had grown up with was a fat old fart who hadn't chased anything more than a few feet in years. This was a dog in much better shape and mood. Aiden rolled into a sitting position as the dog's focus became more clear and he noticed a stick. Playing fetch, was he?

Pushing a stray chunk of sweat-soaked hair around the corner of his sunglasses, he glanced around for a humanoid person he could associate with the dog. Even here, he wasn't going to assume that the dog was a mutant. He found it hard to believe that anyone, even an animal shifter, would get so invested in canine behaviour as to play fetch with a stick. It was far harder to believe that than it was to pick out the person likely associated with the dog, a girl running towards him. He raised a hand slightly. "It's all right," he said quietly. "He's not bothering me." He paused, assuming that she would collect the dog and move on. Except he was supposed to be trying to be more social and fit in better, wasn't he? This was a good opportunity. Even if he had to mentally poke himself a few times before he could open his mouth again. "What's his name?"

Oh gosh, how embarassing! Elizabeth had awakened the guy from a perfectly normal nap in the heat of the....morning. Wait, why was he napping so early? Shouldn’t he just have stayed in bed? Nevermind. It wasn’t really any of her business.

Plastering a smile on her face as she closed in proximity until she could apologize to the guy without needing to raise her voice. She could barely hear say everything was okay, but she still felt the need to further beg forgiveness. “I’m so, so sorry. I really didn’t mean it.” And her cheeks were starting to burn in a way that had nothing to do with the sun on her skin.

By then, Rufus had grabbed the stick in a drooling bite and stood with a tail whirling ninety miles an hour. She was about to snap her fingers and take the dog away (as well as to get away from a situation that was feeling more awkward every millisecond she was there), when the guy asked for Rufus’ name. Rats. Now she couldn’t dart away in any sort of politeness. But on the other hand, it was definitely a change of topic.

“His name’s Rufus,” the blonde said, aborting her turn in favor of meeting the sunglasses’ gaze. “He’s quite friendly.” Exhibit A. The dog in mention was trying to take the stick to the new guy. In fact, he even dropped the stick at the guy’s side. Then he sniffed him. Judging by the way he suddenly felt happier and completely at ease (and the way his tongue lolled out happily) Liz knew that Rufus had declared the guy a friend. “And I think he likes you,” she added with a smile.

Oh wait! She hadn’t introduced herself! “M’name’s Liz,” she said with a small gesture towards herself.

"It's no problem, really," Aiden found himself saying, trying to reassure the girl. Was she blushing? Why was she blushing? Was she upset that her dog had come so close to a total stranger? It wasn't like dogs had perfect personal bubble sensing systems. Dogs went near people. It was part of what dogs did.

Rufus, huh? Aiden considered the dog. He wasn't entirely sure that he'd name the dog Rufus himself, but to each their own. That was a very useful phrase and mentality, you know. If everyone left everyone else to their own doings, things would be so much simpler and less stressful. And less violent and dangerous. Violent and dangerous weren't good qualities for the world. This dog... showed no signs of being violent and dangerous. Slobbery and friendly, sure. It seemed a bit hard to expect anything more dangerous than a violent head-shaking that would splatter drool everywhere.

"You want me to throw it?" he asked the dog in all seriousness. "Throw the stick?" He moved slowly to take the stick, just in case the dog changed his mind about this whole friendly business and just felt like ripping his face off, and then gave it a firm flick well away from anyone or anything noticeable. As the dog sprang off after it, Aiden pushed himself to his feet. Talking to someone while sprawled on the ground wasn't very polite, and it was quite awkward too.

Brushing bits of grass and dirt from his shorts and the elbows of his sleeves, he managed a small smile for the girl. Liz, huh? Probably short for some sort of Elizabeth or something. Seemed more likely. "I'm Aiden," he said, twitching a shoulder in lieu of gesturing. "So... you a student here?" he asked lamely, trying to make himself be at all social and keep the conversation going.

Okay, introductions were over! Nice to meetcha Aiden! Elizabeth decided that it was a good time to slide away but then she realized that Aiden was already engaged in reciprocal fetch with Rufus. And Aiden was asking follow-up questions.

Well, Liz was not about to be rude! So she entered the conversation.

“Kinda,” she said in response to his question. “I just graduated actually. I still live here though,” she rambled. She smiled and hoped the blush was going away. It wasn’t too embarrassing to be engaged in a conversation and Aiden seemed pretty chill. “What about you? Student or just a resident?”

Although naturally curious about the lad, due to the incredible likelihood that he was a mutant, she refrained from asking about the nature of his mutation. For some reason, all the conversations she’d ever had for the first time with other mutants ended up like a “I’ll show you my power if you show me yours” contest. she was just getting bored with it, you know? It was the mutant equivalent about asking about the weather.

By then Rufus had returned with the stick, trotting triumphantly back to Aiden. Liz grinned at her furry friend, feeling the happiness radiate off of him. Liz said, “I think you screwed up, Aiden. Now that Rufus knows you’ll play with him, he’s never going to leave you alone.” She laughed a bit. Because it was a little funny to her, but mostly because she couldn’t think of anything to say.

"Student," Aiden replied. So she was older than him by a bit? "Probably going to be here another year at least." He could hardly go back, and going somewhere else wasn't going to fix anything. Might make a ton of things worse, because at least he didn't have to worry about paying for everything here and how he was supposed to afford, well, everything when he had no money, no job, and half a snowflake's chance in hell of getting one - and that was before any potential employers found out he was a mutant.

So yeah, another year to not think about the long term. Perfect. Hey, was she blushing less? Good. It was awkward talking to people who were blushing, especially when he didn't have the faintest clue or certainty as to why they were blushing in the first place. Maybe that was just what she did when she met new people? He sure didn't know.

Aiden bent down as the dog returned, triumphant, and scratched him around the ears for a moment before taking the stick and throwing it again. "Hey, worse things than a friendly dog." There was an almost melancholic note to his voice, and as soon as he noticed it himself he continued. "I used to have a dog like him. Older and lazier, but I remember him caring about things. Some things, anyway." One side of his mouth twitched wryly. "He's probably enjoying his quiet retirement."

Huh, Aiden has a nice outlook on life. Yes, there were indeed much worse things than a friendly dog. Taxes, tests, reckless drivers, gunmen, kidnappers, lion-men, anti-mutant mobs, and McDonalds. On second thought, that really wasn’t a nice outlook on life. It made one try to accept the challenge, and that particular one was child’s-play.

Gosh, I probably need some kind of therapy. Or a self-help book. At least Rufus was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Then Aiden launched into a story about a dog he used to have. Elizabeth could only conclude that the dog had died. But she really didn’t know what to say. Would “I’m sorry,” work? Or would that only make things weird? He hadn’t actually said the dog was dead. A neutral approach should be best. “Well if he was anything like Rufus, he will have earned in many times over,” she said a bit ambiguously but with such conviction.

“So what are you doing out here?” the blonde asked, attempting to alter the direction of the conversation without being too obvious. “If you’d wanted to take a nap, you could’ve just slept in,” she informed him with a smile. She put some pep and a dash of air-headed humor in her tone, trying to get away from any potentially awkward topic. Such as the reminders of a passed away yet still-loved dog.

Aiden snorted quietly. "Please. He was a total pain when he was young, because he kept chewing on my stuff and being a complete menace, and last I saw him he was a total pain because he loves sleeping against closed doors with people on the other side. And then screeching his head off like you just tried to kill him when you open the door iaway from him." Smart dog.

He rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before realizing that he'd just used his slobber-coated hand. He grimaced and wiped what was left on the lower hem of his shirt before pulling the neck up enough to scrub at the presumed slime. "Oh... I was running. Trying to finish before it got too hot. Didn't work. Trying to cross that is a bad idea." He gestured towards the sunny expanse between his shady spot and the mansion, finding the girl's innocent cheer oddly easy to talk to. Well, relatively easy. If it weren't for the dog, this would be insanely awkward. The dog was a good thing.

"How long have you had him?" Ai asked, motioning towards Rufus with the stick for a moment before tossing it into the air again. The dog was a safe topic and, since he was still trying to be social, he'd take what safe topics he could. Hopefully she wouldn't mind talking about her dog. If she did, this was going to get awkward really fast. There weren't really enough trees behind him for him to make a break for it, and he was very, very hesitant to try to cut through that sun.

Oh, um, okay. So Aiden clearly wasn’t still mournful over his dog. His description of the canine was not very flattering and seemed quite derogatory. That’s not what one normally said about deceased pets whom they loved very much. It was....unexpected. Maybe he’s just not really a dog person. Strange, but not unheard of. Oh well. Elizabeth would just have to remember to not expect Aiden to ever have to babysit Rufus in the unlikely situation that the dog would require such supervision.

Although now they seemed to be safely on the topic that Liz had so cleverly diverted them to. Yay her! “Heh, well you have to get up preetty early in the morning to beat the heat,” she said with a chuckle, becoming the poster girl for been-there-done-that, even though she hadn’t. It was more of an empty phrase designed to keep conversation light and flowing. “But what’s wrong with the lawn?” the blonde queried, gesturing at it with a hand. Sure it might be somewhat hot out, but it couldn’t be that much of an effort to traverse the green. And the mansion wasn’t that far off.

Then came the sucker punch of questions. Hadn’t she steered him away from dogs? She could've sworn she’d done so only moments before. But alas, etiquette dictated that she respond with an appropriate answer that gave no indication of her foiled subtlety.

“He’s not actually mine,” she started with a modest smile. “He’s just a friend. We meet up from time to time and just hang out. But we met up about....a year ago?” Honestly, she really just needed to start making cards with Rufus’ life story on them to just hand out to people. This was what, her third, fourth time explaining their relationship to people? She was much fond of repeating herself and boring people with extravagant details.

Aiden grimaced. "It's really too hot in the middle of the night, so the best I can do is try to avoid the absolute worst." Her humour did soften his awareness of the cloying heat, though, and the running sweat along his shoulder blades and wrists became a little less annoying. Liz's question about the lawn brought it all rushing back, though, and he tried to be surreptitious about wiping the sweat on his hands off on his shorts. There wasn't really anything he could to about the rest of the sweat without being really obvious, unfortunately. "I... don't handle heat well," he admitted, focussing on the dog to avoid catching her eye. "I have a feeling I'm, er, rather more suited to winter than summer."

Aiden was completely bewildered by Liz's answer. This dog she was with, that she was so comfortable with, wasn't hers? And furthermore, he didn't belong to a friend, but was rather a friend himself? Ai understood people being very attached and emotionally close to their pets, but... there was just something strange about meeting up from time to time with a dog to hang out. He tried not to look confused, but not looking like things wasn't his greatest strength. He liked to think that it wasn't a complete weakness, but he was definitely still working on the whole outward emotional control thing. Practice made better, right?

Too hot in the middle of the night say what? Oooohh. Aiden’s admission made his earlier statements make more sense. He couldn’t take the heat so he was staying out of the green. Unless he was a vampire, but Elizabeth didn’t find that too likely. Most likely it was related to his mutation in some shape or form. That sounded terrible. Times like this one made Liz appreciate her invisible, mind powers all the more for not giving her such bad consequences.

Like, to be miserable on a beautiful day such as this? The horror! Then again, perhaps she’d e feeling much differently if she’d been the one going out to run and working herself up. Although when she put it that way, it sounded like Aiden had brought this upon himself.

But that’s a bad train of thought because that could potentially lead to some judging and Liz was just not that kind of person.

Besides. That would just make her feel awkward.

And--oh my, was that confusion on the boy’s face? Or did he just think she was weird? Well the last thing she’d said was about Rufus so maybe that had something to do with it.

Rewinding the conversation back in her head, Liz carefully analyzed each word she could somewhat remember. Nope, everything seemed fine. Perhaps Aiden thought a year was too soon for a girl and a dog to be hanging out togeth--oh. Maybe Liz was indeed odd. No, that can’t be right. Dog is man’s best friend, and I use that in the sense of man being equivalent of humanity. So there. Rufus can be my friend. Therefore, Aiden was the weird one.

And maybe she should actually say something since she might’ve accidentally not spoken for an awkwardly long time.

“Heh, I prefer winter myself,” she said, attempting to establish common ground. “That’s my favorite part about September and October, really. When the air begins to chill and one normally requires at least long sleeves to run about comfortably. And then when the snow comes, oh, I just love it!” Wistful thinking was written all over her suddenly lit-up face in three distinct fonts.

...

Was it normal for people to just drift off in the middle of a conversation like that? He had already established that Liz was at least a little odd, so... maybe it wasn't so strange for her. Maybe she did it all the time. If that were the case, reacting to her behaviour would probably be unnecessary and rather rude.

"I used to like summer," Aiden said a little absently, as if he hadn't even noticed her lapse into silence. He had the dog to play with, after all, so it wasn't anywhere near as awkward a situation as it could be. "I might have to move to the arctic or something to be able to enjoy it now, though." You know... it was a little awkward, talking about this, but he had to admit that it was nowhere near as bad as he had feared. They'd kind of slid onto the subject after all, so he hadn't really had time to think about it, but it wasn't that bad.

Nope, now it was. Apparently he was also not as solid on the whole accepting-what-he-did front as he had thought he was getting to be, given that he had to catch a flinch and pretend he was just stretching to grab Rufus' stick. This was definitely awkward, because he now had plenty of time to ponder all the issues with telling Liz that he could (theoretically, somehow, mysteriously) make it snow (under not-really-known circumstances) and thus could cure that wistful expression and make her happy. Making people happy was good, but....

Sometimes he hated people. "Apparently.... that's kind of what I do..." he said quietly, forcing the words out in as much of a rush as he could manage while focussing almost all of his attention on Rufus. A small shard did stay on Liz, though, with a sidelong glance heavily imbued with a wariness just shy of pre-emptive panic.

“Really! You can make it snow!” Elizabeth practically screamed. They weren’t really questions but barely understandable expressions of shocked happiness. Like, he practically just granted a wish right then and there. It’s like Christmas but without the snow! Oh wait, he can do that too!

Wait. No. That might come off weird. Scratch that. That would definitely be weird. So instead of screaming, Liz instead gave an alternative and much for sedate response. “Hey, that’s pretty cool,” she said. Oh don’t mind me, I hear this kind of thing everyday. Big deal. Christmas in July, snow in the summer, whatevs. So what if that would be the greatest thing she’d seen in the last thirteen days? It was like....nonchalance.

She hoped. That was the impression she was trying to give. And besides, she didn’t want to somehow accidentally trick Aiden into explaining his mutation (which he definitely had) because this was one first-time introduction conversation with another mutant that she was not going to bring up.

But....but....now she had nothing else to say. Luckily, Rufus came back to Aiden with a stick. Unluckily, Rufus decided not to engage Aiden in whimsical bantering, preferring to bait Aiden into wrestling the stick from his mouth. Silly dog.

So when all else fails, “How about that weather?” Really. At that moment she could’ve slapped herself.

"Theoretically," Aiden said quietly and awkwardly. Why was she so excited, exactly? It wasn't amazing or useful or anything. He supposed it was cool in a literal sense, but he couldn't even use it to keep himself from overheating. Try as he might in quiet, private moments where he actually had any interest whatsoever in trying at all, he simply couldn't repeat the unpredictable appearance of snowflakes that taunted him on his runs and had prompted a far-too-unpleasant few days.

Not thinking about that time was probably for the best. Even his pride shied away from considering it. Yeah.... time to think about other things.

He shrugged for Liz. "More like useless and tied to nasty side effects," he replied, trying to help her see why it really wasn't something to get worked up about. Fortunately, Rufus returned just then, evidently tired of fetching the stick and wanting to.... play tug of war? He gingerly took a hold of the end of the stick farthest from the dog's teeth and gave it a tentative wiggle. Apparently that was what the dog wanted. Carefully participating as desired while being very careful of the nearby teeth, he blinked in surprise when Liz spoke again.

Not sure how he was supposed to respond to such a blatantly subject-changing comment. "Um.... it's hot?" he offered awkwardly. He was pretty sure they had already covered the current conditions very well.