December had arrived in the Big Apple. People were bundled up in greys and blacks, shuffling around to avoid the cold. There was snow on the ground, but the wind was bitter and stung any exposed skin. Even with the weather, people were out in droves trying to complete their Christmas shopping.

Emily wore a one-piece coat-dress straight from the 1920’s. She had seen it in the window of an antique store and just had to have it. The dress was developed in soft, midnight-blue, fine-twilled tricotine. Bands of blue grosgrain ribbon trimmed the collar, sash, and sleeves, as well as the sides below the waist. Tiny silver beads placed on the hip line and on the collar further brought out the beauty of the dress. A grey hat hugged her head and a matching faux-fur arm-muff surrounded one of her wrists. Her other hand was carrying a bag of items Emily would take home to wrap. Christmas was the best time of the year.

The girl looked at an app on her phone to see where her next stop would be. “It seems to be two blocks east…” she spoke to herself. From the map on her phone it looked like she could cut through a nearby alley instead of having to walk around the whole block.

The narrow alley was dark, but that never stopped Emily. It was a little filthy, but her boots were well made. She rounded a corner and came across a chain link fence. She would have attempted to climb it, if there hadn’t been garbage piled up in front of it. “Consarn it!”

Emily turned back around. In front of her was a man with a long knife. No, it wasn’t a man, but a boy, maybe twelve years old. “G-give me all you-your money!” The boy seemed nervous

“Ok.” Emily said simply. And began to reach for her purse.

“Don’t make any sudden moves!” the boy yelled.

Emily blinked. “I’m getting you my cash. Relax.” Emily felt sorry for the boy. It looked like he needed the money more than she did. And besides, it was Christmas.

“I said don’t-“ the boy stepped forward and tripped on a small piece of garbage. The knife plunged into Emily’s left chest. The knife was so long it could be seen sticking out of her back. The boy gasped and looked at Emily with horror. The girl stood there not sure what to do. “You still want the money?”

The boy screamed and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Emily put the money back in her purse. “Well that’s too bad.” She looked at the hilt of the knife in her chest, wondering if she should leave it here or take it with her.

It was ridiculously cold outside, December having rolled along and brought its subzero temperatures along with it. Like everyone else, Danny was bundled up in a long dark coat and a thick scarf, but unlike most of the people around him, the cold didn't bother him too much. While he'd never actually checked, he was almost confident his inner body temperature was significantly higher than a normal human's, but as he'd never gotten sick (too many rebirths too often to come even close), he couldn't know for sure. Either way, he was out and about of his own free will, and actually rather enjoying his walk.

A flash of color in the monochrome sea of rushing people caught his eye, and he turned his eye to see a woman in something that actually looked like came from the twenties - he'd know, he'd seen them plenty before. Intrigued, and since he didn't have any particularly destination anyway, he started to make his way towards where she seemed to be walking, only to have her disappear just as he was getting close. He frowned, weaving in and out of people to get to where he had seen her last before glancing around.

It was only a few moments before he realized that a small alleyway cut off the main street, and so he peered into it from his position at its mouth.

Of course, he was rather startled when a twelve year old boy ran out of it screaming, rushing past Danny without so much as sparing him a glance.

Now really interested, Danny entered the alleyway, only having to walk a few feet before he could make out the woman from before in the badly-lot space before him. Except with one addition - a knife jutted out of her chest, so long that the other end even poked out a little. That looked fatal - personal experience - yet she wasn't dead. In fact, there wasn't even any blood. Excited at the prospect of another mutant - or even better, another immortal - Danny hesitantly walked a few steps closer, letting his steps ring more loudly than they usually would in order not to startle her.

"Nice coat-dress," he said after a pause, unsure of what else to say and if that was even a word. "Saw quite a few back when they were popular. But then, I'm assuming you have, too." Not the most subtle comment, but it got his point across rather well.

Emily decided to leave the knife there under some rubbish. She was about to pull it out when she heard footsteps coming her way. Not wanting to startle the man, she tried to hide the hilt of the blade with her arm-muff. The man complemented her on her outfit and mentioned he had been around during their hay-day and assumed she had too.

“Yes, though coat-dresses weren’t that popular back in Nawlins,” Emily stated with her southern belle drawl. “Too hot. For here, it’s perfect. Even though temperature doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Emily assumed that the man in front of her was a mutant. Or a human that was trying to trick her again. It was hard to tell. She looked again at the knife hilt. If the man wasn't bothered by it, then Emily wouldn't make a big deal of it either. The girl didn’t want to damage herself any more that she already was, so she was careful when she slid the knife out of her chest. “I hope I can patch this dress up. This skin will be easy, since I work at a mortuary. But I’m not sure if I want to see stitch line-“

She paused for a moment. “What am I talking about? A man doesn’t want to hear about fashion.” She walked closer to the stranger, extending a hand. The knife was still in her other hand, awkwardly being held to her side. “My name is Emily. If you are friends with that boy, I’m sorry I scared him.” Emily knew older members of gangs would sometimes watch the younger ones to see if they did their jobs right. Neither the boy nor this man looked like gang-members though, but you never know. “I’m about to head back to the main road. I was trying to take a short-cut this way but it seems to be blocked. Would you like a knife? I have no use for something this big.”

“Yes, though coat-dresses weren’t that popular back in Nawlins." ...what? It took Danny a minute to decipher the thick Southern accent, having not spent that much time there himself. “Too hot. For here, it’s perfect. Even though temperature doesn’t bother me anymore.” Well, lucky her. But she seemed to be indicating that she was a fellow immortal, and Danny grinned a little.

She pulled the knife out of her chest slowly, and Danny couldn't help envying her a bit for being able to do that. Must be nice to not incinerate everything when killed, especially when living the rough life of a somewhat criminally-attuned mutant in NYC.

“I hope I can patch this dress up. This skin will be easy, since I work at a mortuary. But I’m not sure if I want to see stitch line - What am I talking about? A man doesn’t want to hear about fashion.” He'd been interested, actually, but whatever suited her - based off the not-actually-dying-when-stabbed, lack of ability to feel temperature, and comment about stitching her skin, he was going to conclude that he was talking to a zombie. Well, would you look at that. A phoenix and a zombie meet in an alley. Sounded like the start of a bad joke.

The woman started to walk towards him, offering a hand. “My name is Emily. If you are friends with that boy, I’m sorry I scared him.” The kid wasn't one of his, but might be later should Danny see him again. He had a thing for finding young, confused street urchins and finding jobs or ways to survive for them. But he took the proffered hand, listening and letting go as she spoke again.

“I’m about to head back to the main road. I was trying to take a short-cut this way but it seems to be blocked. Would you like a knife? I have no use for something this big.”

"Uh, I'm Danny," he said first, deciding to get that out of the way. "And sure, I'll take it. I've got quite a few already, but it doesn't hurt to have extras." It looked a little bit unwieldy, with the handle too small to use it extremely effectively, but it would definitely hold in a fight. "Would you like me to come with you? Sorry about coming off a little eager, but I've never actually met another immortal before."

Emily giggled slightly. “I’m not immortal. Well, I guess you could say I was. I’ve died once.” She shifted her black scarf away from her neck, exposing the jagged scars that wrapped around her neck from decapitation and the slight bruising from when she was strangled. “Came back and haven’t died since.” The girl adjusted the scarf back and used its length to cover the gash in her outfit. She had had this conversation recently with another mutant claiming Emily was immortal. She didn’t see it that way. She couldn’t really describe what she was, except not dead and not really alive.

The temperature was dropping as the sun began to set behind the buildings. She didn’t mind the man coming along with her. “I have one specific shop I want to go to before I finish shopping for the day. But it looks like I’ll have to go the long way to get to the other block.” She handed the knife-hilt over with her gloved hand, holding the blade in a way to avoid the chances of any cuts. Her gloves were leather, but cuts on hands were tricky to repair.

She waited for the man to put it away so not to grab the attention of passers-by. The woman didn’t know how he was going to do it. The knife was almost more of a sword than a dagger. But when it was squared away, she headed back toward the main road. “So you say you’re an immortal also? How old are you?” She had met two immortals before and what really interested her was their age and experiences. One of them had been born in the 1900’s while the other was over a thousand years old, at least that’s what she remembered. Their encounter had happened over three years ago.

“I’m not immortal. Well, I guess you could say I was. I’ve died once. Come back and haven't died since," the girl replied, adjusting her scarf to cover her chest wound, but Danny caught sight of neck stitches and slight bruising in the process. So...a zombie? Or a Frankenstein's monster? He'd never encountered one before, but hey, he was a phoenix with no real useful powers (i.e. fire manipulation or actually being able to fly), so hey, first time for everything.

“I have one specific shop I want to go to before I finish shopping for the day. But it looks like I’ll have to go the long way to get to the other block.” So was that a yes? He was going with that was a yes. As she handed the knife over, he accepted it with a small smile. She had been right with saying it was big, as he wasn't entirely sure how he could conceal that. But eventually, he figured something out - pulling a long strip of thick, black cloth from an inside pocket of his jacket, he wrapped it around the blade as a temporary sheath (yes, he carried that with him just for occasions like this), and tucked it into that same pocket, where it sat quite comfortably. Perfect. Emily started walking back towards the main road once he'd gotten that taken care of, and he hurried to follow.

“So you say you’re an immortal also? How old are you?”

"Ah, almost 250," he said sheepishly. "Kind of lost track at some point." And wasn't this a perfectly normal conversation, walking down the street, discussing their ages which were likely well over the lifespan of any regular human. "I'm legitimately immortal, though - I die, I blow up in a fiery inferno, come back to life, repeat. What about you? How old? And, uh - can you just not die, or do you do something like me?"

“Oh wow. You’re old,” Emily said with a smile. “I’m around 190.” So this man was around her age, kinda. Closer than the unicorn man or the one who resurrected like the fabled Lazarus. “Hmm, that was around the beginning of our great nation. Oh how it has changed.” She smiled to herself, walking out of the alleyway. Emily remembered the thoughts she had when she first met the other immortals. What had ever happened to them? The dead girl had hoped to make lasting friendships with them. They would have been a constant, friends that would never age or die. But they had disappeared from her life. Maybe this immortal would be different.

But there was something about this man that rubbed her the wrong way. Emily didn’t see herself as someone who judged a book by its cover, but the girl’s instincts told her to be cautious of this man. She hadn’t feared the boy with the knife and surely she didn’t fear this man. But it never hurt to be weary of strangers. Hopefully, she was just being overly sensitive. She and Daniel may one day be friends. A friend she would never have to watch over when they became ill or frail, a friend she would never have to bury.

“A fiery inferno? Sounds dangerous. Remind me never to kill you, c’est bon?” Even with the sun setting and the city dropping several degrees, the streets were still packed with people. Everyone was doing last minute shopping or conversing with family and friends they hadn’t seen since last holiday. “I don’t die because I’m already dead. I don’t breathe, eat, sleep, smell, or taste. I don’t feel the pain of a dagger or the comforting feel of soft kittens.” She said this matter-of-factly. There was no tinge of regret or loss in her voice. She had done this spiel several times lately. Why was she meeting so many mutant all of a sudden?

“Oh wow. You’re old. I’m around 190.” Oh. Well, sixty years difference. Better than him and most humans, though. “Hmm, that was around the beginning of our great nation. Oh how it has changed.”

And wasn't that true. For starters, America was a thing now! But to be honest, Danny hadn't spent much time in America when important events had happened - in fact, he'd completely missed the Civil War, having been in another country at the time.

Only then did Danny notice the way Emily was looking at him. He was pretty good at reading other people's emotions - side effect of living so long - and she looked the tiniest bit creeped out by him. At the very least, she was acting kind of cautious. And he didn't really blame her. He was pretty much as morally ambiguous as possible, and that usually caught the attention of others rather quickly. Though while others interpreted it as him being evil, he liked to think that acting good or evil was just a means to the end. He'd use whichever method was more effective, and while he tried to avoid collateral damage, sometimes it happened.

“A fiery inferno? Sounds dangerous. Remind me never to kill you, c’est bon? I don’t die because I’m already dead. I don’t breathe, eat, sleep, smell, or taste. I don’t feel the pain of a dagger or the comforting feel of soft kittens.”

Well, she didn’t seem super upset about it. But he supposed that while that did have its downsides, she couldn’t die, period, which was more than what Danny had. And as that thought passed through his mind, he mused out loud, “Must be nice to not feel it when you die. Er - stay the way you are, technically, but for me, die. And then just come back to life.) Well, that got dark fast. He paused for a moment, trying to think of something else to say. “So, how long have you been in New York, then, and what have you been doing?"

Emily raised an eyebrow. “How many times have you died?” There was humor in her voice. It was a strange conversation. But by the way he spoke, his deaths probably weren’t the peaceful fall-asleep-surrounded-by-loved-ones deaths. She wondered if he felt searing pain as fire erupted all around him and he was consumed in a chaotic explosion. Or if he exploded after he was already dead. She would ask that later maybe. But for now, let’s keep the conversation light.

“I came back this summer, but I lived in New York three years ago. I’m originally from Nawlins, if you can’t tell by my accent.” She smiled and cocked her head at the other mutant. “Right now I’m just going to school and working part-time at a mortuary. I like the people here. Very colorful. And I’ve never seen so many mutants in one place.”

The dead girl made her way through the bustling crowed. A man in black bumped into her and almost knocked the bags from her hands. He glowered at her as if it were her fault. Emily ignored him. Shopping around Christmas was such a chore. Next time she would shop earlier or try that on-line shopping Janette told her about.

“But I must say, it is a little more dangerous here. I lived for almost two centuries and I’ve spent less than a year in New York. I’ve feared for myself here more than at any other time. And I helped during the wars.” Another bump from a stranger. “And the people here aren’t as friendly as other places. But that’s to be expected.” The traffic of people stopped as they waited to cross the street at the light. “How about you? You’ve been in New York long?”

“How many times have you died?” she asked with a somewhat joking tone in her voice. Oh, very good question, and the answer was more times than he could count. But as he opened his mouth to respond, she started to speak again, and he shut his mouth immediately to let her finish speaking first. "I came back this summer, but I lived in New York three years ago. I’m originally from Nawlins, if you can’t tell by my accent. Right now I’m just going to school and working part-time at a mortuary. I like the people here. Very colorful. And I’ve never seen so many mutants in one place.”

Hmm. So she was going the school route. That was interesting. It may work for her - in fact, it probably did - but being on campus with large groups of people was just too risky in Danny's mind, in case he had an "accident," whether purposeful or legitimately accidental.

“But I must say, it is a little more dangerous here. I lived for almost two centuries and I’ve spent less than a year in New York. I’ve feared for myself here more than at any other time. And I helped during the wars. And the people here aren’t as friendly as other places. But that’s to be expected.” They halted as the light to cross the street turned red. "How about you? You’ve been in New York long?”

Danny nodded as she spoke, agreeing with almost all of her description of New York. He definitely worried about his life here, but it was more a "where" rather than a "what if," considering he didn't really actively take measures to stay unnoticed and not be killed. He was kind of bad at that. "Uh, a couple of years, now?" Danny responded, trying to remember. The days kind of just blurred together now. "A while. Right after the USSR collapsed, so around then. Been moving around the city, though, so it's not obvious that I don't age." He kept his apartment, of course, and his bank accounts all the same, but that was because no teller ever remembered him and nobody actually knew who lived in the apartment Danny owned, considering he put effort into not being noticed.

After that, he lapsed into silence, unsure of what to say. Absentmindedly, he swatted away at someone whose fingers were getting worryingly close to his wallet, before continuing walking in the brief lapse in the conversation.

Emily finally made it to the specialty store. Her plans before were to walk home and wrap her remaining gifts, but she was sure Danny would want to sit down and get to know her a little more. And Emily wanted to do the same. She hadn’t forgotten that this man was a potential forever friend. She hoped to find something in common with the man, other than living till the end of days.

The store was a tea shop. They also sold natural salts, coffees, and cooking spices. Emily had come to find a cute tea fuser and maybe five ounces of a specialty tea, oolong with rose. She wanted to look around first. She may find something else that caught her eye.

“I’ve found it quite easy to fall back into society. For about, hmm, fifty-sixty years I lived off the grid in the bayous of Louisiana. Kind of gave up on mankind for a little while.” Yeah, that last statement was a little depressing, but Emily was sure he would understand. Someone who had lived as long as she had would probably understand. “I just had to find and pay the right people to get me a social security number, driver’s license, and all that good stuff.”

A pretty girl with dreadlocks and several piercings in her face asked if they needed anything. Emily told her what she wanted to get and the woman showed her to the area that had a large selection of tea infusers. Some were shaped like leaves, another was a manatee, but the one that looked like a rose caught the dead girl’s eye. She then went to the front to ask the man behind the counter to bag a tea mix called “Rose in the Valley.” Oh Elizabeth was going to love her gift.

After she paid for her items she found the shaggy-haired brunette and gave him a smile. “Anywhere you feel like going now?”