If Claire had moved rather than frozen, Adder would have bolted at least as fast. She didn't, though, so Adder slowly stood up. His old, faded grey jacket - thin as a windbreaker, but better than nothing at all - felt like nothing compared to the insulation his fur provided, and he tucked his hands into the frayed pockets before goosebumps could start to form. His jeans were in worse condition, with downright ragged hems and a couple of tears that didn't pretend to be anything other than gashes from knives and stubbornly placed cement. The knife-tear along the outside of his left thigh was marked with only a little very old blood; it had been shallow, and almost all of the damage had been to his clothing. That was bad enough; clothing didn't heal, and he did.

His feet were bare and his toes were already tucked into the ground for warmth, though the skin was more than tough enough to tolerate a lack of physical protection. Staying still was just cold.

Adder shook his head at the girl's question. "I... usually just stay away from people," he admitted. He didn't make eye contact but scanned the distant darkness to try to disguise his nervousness. The cat's movement caught his eye and he glanced back, but then just flicked his ears back and went back to looking into the dark.

He shook his head for both of her next questions; he just walked everywhere and he only knew buildings that he spent a lot of time near - which generally meant places with food. He also frequently didn't know the names of those places. He knew things by scent and sight and sound, not a chunk of letters assigned to it by noseblind people.

"Aren't you from the mansion?" he asked, and then immediately shut his mouth for giving himself away.

Claire sighed. The Mansion. Yup, only place where a mutant would likely be going in Salem Center.
"Umm, yah. I go to school there now. So, do you know how to get there?" she asked, her brow furrowing in worry. Just because he'd heard of it, didn't mean he knew how to get there.

Wait. He hadn't said 'are you from the mansion' which would be a logical question from anyone, human or mutant, of someone who was obviously a mutant and trying to get to Salem Center assuming they knew about the school. But he didn't know how to get to Salem Center, but said 'aren't you from the mansion'. Which implied he knew she'd been there. How? She could be ditsy, but Claire was a pretty good detective at times too.

"Wait, how did you know I was from there, if you don't even know where it is?" she asked, her freckled face showing her confusion. It obviously hadn't occurred to her that he might navigate via different means than she did. Just because he didn't know the place name didn't mean he didn't know the place, but this was lost on her. He was very much outside of the cozy little world she'd grown up in until now.

Adder felt an eyebrow crawl up his forehead. Such. A. Rich. Kid. Clueless, innocent, and so very unsuspecting of anything, potential danger or not.

He could lead her so incredibly astray and ditch her in such a horrible neighbourhood...

He wasn't going to. But he could.

"Why do you think I don't know how to get there?" Not completely unintelligent, he decided, since she had figured out that he knew her from somewhere, at least in some sense, but not all the way to intelligent. "I was there this morning. I can get back just fine."

As long as Aura didn't show up, anyway. Because, well, yeah.

Maybe he should help her not-so-bright head along. "There's more to places than names or what you see."

"I ah... I just sorta assumed, when you said you didn't know where Salem Center was, or the bus routes. I, ah, guess you don't really need them though? I'm sorry" she apologized with a freckled frown. She had jumped to a conclusion. Insert foot; chew vigorously. Not the first time she'd done that, and very likely not the last.

Now the biggie; start walking and hope for the best, or swallow her pride and ask him to show her the way home. Ugh. She really hated having to be dependent on other people sometimes. The problem with plan A was that she was well aware that it was some miles before she'd come to anything, and then she'd have to figure out how to get back to the mansion from there. As such, it might be some hours to get home, even if she found the right bus route, and if they were still running since it was getting late and they weren't exactly in the center of town. Outlying routes always shut down first, that much she was positive of.

That left option B; ask for help getting home. There was always option C; stand around here and hope for the best, but that was definitely not a good one. He had gotten her out of RoboCop's postit note stuff, which in her book meant he was trustworthy. He could have just left her, or worse, taken her purse and then left her. Or...ugh, needed to quit going down that path. It was starting to get closer to worst-case-scenario like her mother. She refused to be her mother. Ever. At least that part of her mother.

"Umm, ah... do you, ah, think you could show me the way?" she asked, folding her hands nervously in front of her. Claire would have made a lousy poker player. Way too much body language to give away anything that her face hadn't already. "Or just tell me? I really don't want to walk all night. Not if there's an easier way to get home." While she was wearing a long skirt, she was also wearing flats so at least she had something on that she could walk in easily.

Adder blinked. She hadn't figured out that he'd already decided to bring her back?

Now who was making assumptions. Sheesh. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, and then sneezed without warning at a stray waft of city trash. Someone going through one of the park garbage cans, most likely. Best to be on their way.

"Why would I tell you how to get there and then go there myself?" he asked rhetorically, using the question to answer her as well as finally actually explain, to some extent, how he knew where she was from. He flicked his head in the direction they should start, and then padded forwards past the girl. Claire. Names were a pain. "It won't take all night."

Especially not at the pace he set; he was technically walking, and wasn't hasty in his movements, but he used his legs very efficiently and took advantage of their length. He might be moving on two legs, but covering long distances was still kind of a wolf specialty.

"I, ah, I wasn't sure if you were coming or going? So, if you were heading somewhere, I figured maybe you could have given me directions" she clarified as she hurried along behind her guide.

"Hang on a second" she asked, pausing. Ugh. Should have worn jeans tonight, not a long skirt she realized. Especially since the dratted thing was part of what got her in trouble with the stupid metabot's. Their programming left something to be desired she decided. Claire pulled part of the skirt up, and tucked it into her belt, so that the hem now fell around her knees, which made walking quickly much easier.

"Okay, ready. That'll make it easier to keep up, I think" she said. She was in good shape, though these shoes weren't exactly made for cross-county hikes. They were much better than some that she owned though! She was really, really, glad she hadn't worn a dress and heels like she'd thought about at one point.

"Have you gone to the school very long?" she asked, making conversation. That and there was still so much she didn't know about her new home, she was always curious to learn more and how it was viewed by others.

Adder snorted. "Night's the better time to be indoors," he said absently, lifting his jaw slightly to scent the air. Still stank of trash, but it wasn't getting stronger. He kept an ear downwind as a general precaution, ever wary about approaching strangers - or more familiar people, since they were of higher, known risk.

Still, the clarification eased away some of the unintelligence points Adder had set aside for Claire. Her clothing modification did more as well, since it wasn't quite cold enough for him to think her braindead for exposing more skin. Her stockpile even made it close enough to vaguely neutral that he waited for her. Of course, his waiting was restless and impatient, and he openly paced, but he wasn't really irritated.

"I don't go to the school," he said shortly, flicking his ears and carefully looking down the road rather than at the girl. "I'm just staying there for now."

"You're rather independent, aren't you?" Claire said, a hint of amusement in her voice. She couldn't see him real well, but suspected he could see her pretty well. It was a guess but would make sense with his mutation she thought.

"I got to give input, but my parents were pretty clear that they wanted me to go someplace to figure out my new-found abilities. Guess they're afraid I'll bring down the house or something. I swear, you accidentally burn part of the garage, and they never trust you again..." she said, and this time there was absolutely no doubt about the amusement in her voice. There was probably more to that story, but she didn't share it if there was.

"How far is it to the school anyways? For some reason, I'm just dying for a tuna fish sandwich. I hope they have some tuna in the kitchen. I so don't want to go back out after we get home" she shared, sounding very sincere about it.She glanced about, this way and that. She sure hoped he knew where he was going, because she was awfully turned around at this point. Not that she would admit to it.

Adder picked his footing with the casual ease of someone incredibly used to walking barefoot in the city, avoiding glass and damp spots and trash alike without appearing to put conscious effort into it. His night vision definitely helped with that, but after so many years shoeless he didn't even need to look directly at the ground, or focus his attention on what was there. He just kept track of everything around him at all times, or tried.

He nearly stepped on a discarded coffee cup when Claire started talking about parents and families, but pretended it was just because there was starting to be more and more trash around. He wasn't staying on the well-lit, carefully-tended main streets. That was an easy way to take a lot longer to get back.

"Most buildings are very hard to actually bring down," he said faintly. The story behind that comment didn't come from him trying to bring down buildings, but rather hoping they didn't come down. "It takes a lot of fire."

That was a story he just plain didn't want to continue thinking about. The burn scars on his shoulders and legs were already itching in memory. He took a sharp turn and emerged onto a proper street again, squinting against the streetlights until his eyes adjusted and trusting his other senses without hesitation in the meantime.

Oh, distance. "We're still a ways away, but not all-night away." The distance was nothing to Adder's current energy levels and overall resources, and it didn't really occur to him to consider Claire's. "There's always food in there. Dunno about tuna." He wasn't one hundred percent sure what tuna looked like, or smelled like. He'd recognize it if he smelled it, but trying to identify it from the name wasn't exactly his strong point.

He led the girl into another alley, one running between a couple of bars. He didn't like the smell, but with the way the buildings were laid out around here it was close to ten minutes faster to cut through than to go around.

Sense of humor removed? Or just really focused? she pondered, not realizing he'd once had a very bad experience with a burning building. Had it been light, she might have seen the scars but not in these dim conditions.

Claire was glad when they finally got onto a real street. Lights and everything! "Okay, I was just sorta curious" she replied, then continued as she pondered her desire for tuna, "I dunno what it is. It's, like, I get these weird cravings, but I didn't used to get them." Claire continued to follow along, but fell silent after they turned down the alley. It just seemed more brooding and a lot less friendly than the street. It didn't entirely surprise her though, given the route he'd led them on. Direct? Probably. One she would have found, much less chosen? Probably not.

Claire had to give a little hop to keep from tripping as her kitten-construct pressed in close to her feet. Paper maybe, but it definitely had a real cat's personality. Apparently it wasn't real fond of the alley either. House cat, not an alley cat apparently.
"Hey" she whispered as they moved towards one of the few lit places, a backdoor with an outside light more or less in the middle of the alley, "I don't think I ever caught your name." She'd given him hers, and realized she still didn't have anything to call him by except 'hey you'.

Adder gave Claire a quick glance as they passed through the bright street, once his eyes had adjusted. She was much more comfortable in the light. Right, she probably couldn't see very well in the dark. Could she even hear him, when he wasn't talking? If not, she was doing a good job of following him when she couldn't see him.

He kept going, and didn't yet modify his route on her behalf.

"Mutations can do all sorts of weird things," he said absently, picking his way around a shattered bottle. Cut feet were a nasty pain and risk to deal with. Claire had shoes, though, so she wouldn't be at risk unless she fell on it. If she did, then there wasn't much he could do to save her from her own clumsiness. Be her own damn fault.

What? Name? Oh. Yeah, a lot of people did like names. He looped around the outer edge of the spilling light out of habit. "Adder."

And then he stopped quite abruptly, and stood very still. People. He could hear voices and footsteps ahead, raucous and drunken. He brought a finger to his mouth to hush Claire and gestured back the way they had come -

just in time for the lit door they had just passed to slam open, clashing against the metal railing and the insides of Adder's ears and echoing up and down the alley. A couple of people stumbled out, guided by an impossibly patient bouncer, and turned around to yell insults they were too drunk to make effective. Then again, some people did honestly think that food was bad. Adder rather thought those people should give starving a try.

He'd think about that later. For now, he had two drunk groups on either side, and from the amount of yelling they knew each other. He sank against the wall, trying to disappear into the shadows and turning so that he was as hidden and human-looking as possible. He didn't care if people were mutant or human, but angry drunks? Not worth the risk.

...Claire! He tried to gesture her into hiding as well, and to put her skirt down again. He doubted she could handle the attention if they thought she was a prostitute. She was too much a rich kid, and the paper kitten wouldn't be able to do much if it were even so inclined.

As quickly as it had opened, the bouncer pulled the door closed again the second he got the drunks clear with another bang. The noise inside the nightclub had been deafening, and that was outside of it! There was no way anyone inside would hear anything that happened in the alley.

Claire tried to slowly back up, tugging her skirts loose and letting them drop back into place. The black vest over the leopard pattern shirt actually blended into the background pretty well. Her red hair and porcelain skin, not so much, but it might still have worked. Except the drunks frightened something, and it did the natural thing - headed straight for and behind its owner.

For her part, Claire began to fish in her purse, trying to find the canister of pepper spray. Unfortuantely, she had a number of cylindrical objects in there to feel through, Tampon. Chapstick (probably). Lighter. Round with,.. fuse. She tried to hold that, and find the lighter again.

"Bo, what the hell was that?" the first said. He was medium height and build, and needed a shave. A shower might not be bad either, and a place to sleep it off.
"Don't know Eddy. But that...is definitely a woman" Bo replied, lifting a beer bottle for another swig. 'Bo' was big - over six feet, well built, and obviously worked out. A lot.
"Maybe we can get her to party Bo!" Eddy suggested with a leer.

The other group had largely closed the short distance, and was approaching from behind.
"Hey, get the hell outta our way assholes" one yelled, apparently at Bo and Eddy.
"Shut yer mouth. We saw her first" came Eddy's angry reply.
"Whoa, what the hell's that? There's two!" someone in the larger group of three said. Unfortunately, they also had an LED light on their keychain to illuminate things, and they didn't particularly like what they saw. Someone who didn't look normal, and a construct trying to hide behind Claire's skirts. Under the best of conditions, they weren't what you'd call 'mutant friendly'.
"They god-damned muties!" one of the trio yelled.

Nothing unites warring parties like a mutual enemy...

A well dressed businessman rounded the corner. He had just been to a days worth of meetings. He wore a tailored suit and walked with the air of a british gentry. He wanted to get to his car and was reasonably certain that this alley way was a shortcut. He recalled coming this way from the only parking space he could find with a slight shudder, picking his way daintily through the rubbish. Hopping over puddles of dubious nature and assorted detrius. He had tried to go the well lit route but some idot on the planning board decided to start road construction and had closed the bloody sidewalk.

He walked forward and was disconcerted to find his way inconsiderately blocked. Blocked by hooligans no less, drunk hooligans, drunk hooligans who had just been partying and possibly imbibing narcotics by the stench of them. The businessman wrinkled his nose. If they soiled his suit...

"Ehem, Excuse me!" The accicent was British, upper class, clearly announciated. "Would you mind terribly letting me through, I need to get to my car."
No response. Apparently the twits had found two unfortunate mutants to pick on. The businessman tried again, louder this time.
"Excuse me!" He said tring to get past. This time he succeded in getting someones attention. A brute built like a builder rounded on him. "What U want." He slurred.
"I want to get past. My car is at the other end of the alley."
"Are you a mutie?" The inebriated lout asked.
"Dont be stupid, hez one of those god-dammed wall street business people always running about as if they owned the dam place." said another.
"Tell him to go away, we got muties here to play wif and one of them is a pretty girlie." a voice laughed cruely.
"He might call the cops. I say we knock him flat, take his money and then deal with these muties."
"I'll deal with him."
"You get him Mac"
"Gentleman, gentleman I must protest." The businessman began. He stopped as one particularly pungent member of the group started to advance on him in a decidedly menacing fashion. The conclusion of the encounter seemed a foregone conclusion. The businessman looked too frightened to defend himself. Perhaps one more predatory in nature might have been able to pick up a faint ... something that did not seem right. The faintest of smells of oiled steel (Hades would never go anywhere without at least one concealed backup weapon) and perhaps the faintest glimmer of something in his eye and stance.

The businessman sighed. "Oh well, I tried to be diplomatic. Thank you kind sir for giving me an excuse to break form." And with that, the businessman was no more. In his place was a different creature altogether. Before he had stood stiff and straight, now he moved with a predatory, almost fluid grace. He had not moved, only changed his posture, but that change spoke volumes if one knew how to read it.

It was good to drop his cover, partly because playing the proper businessman for almost a week was tiring, and being polite to rude people was just plain annoying. It was also a relief to be in a place where there were no cameras so he could drop the charade.

"Bloody rich white guys, thinking they owned the place, take this." Yelled the drunkard as he swung a right haymaker at Hades, his ham sized fist whistling through the air. Hades remained motionless till the last moment, the he flowed. Slapping away the punch with his left hand while stepping forward and reaching out his right hand to violently and efficiently pull the mans face towards his rapidly rising knee. *Crunch*. Hades then put one hand on each of the mans shoulders and propped him up only to launch a vicious Muay Thai knee lunge into the mans' solar plexus. He casually pushed the incapacitated man to one side, letting him fall to the ground. Then just stood there, a piercing look on his face, seeming very at home in the dimly lit street.

((sorry, eight days of customer service plus considerable physical workout caught up with me))

Adder unapologetically stuck a hand over his nose at the approaching stench but he kept to the wall. Unobtrusive, casual, both belonging there and not there at all. Nothing to notice, nothing to bother with.

Until there was too-bright light in his eyes. Then he growled, glaring for both light and mood, and made sure his teeth were plenty visible. If absence failed, aggression could work very well.

He growled at the newcomer as well, but then paused.

This seemed like a spectacularly appropriate time to get the quacking quack out of there. If it were just him, he'd even try to climb the concrete-smooth wall. He'd done weirder things to escape bas situations before. He was confident in his climbing abilities. He wasn't at all confident in Claire's -

Gut was right, that was the time to leave. He dashed sideways, paws skidding on the ground with his haste, and headbutted Claire to push her into GTFO-ing with him.

At maximum speed, before that felt like taking out the witnesses too.

Claire didn't need too much encouragement, but she was also the target of choice for one of the men. Before she could clear the narrow alley, he grabbed her arm and despite her best efforts wrapped his arms around her middle, lifting her off the ground. As a dancer, she was quite light, but she was also limber and reasonably well prepared by the time he did this.

She hadn't been able to find the lighter by touch, but had  found the box she kept origami models in. The kitten was no use in this mess. It was, well, a kitten, for all intents and purposes. No, she needed something with attitude, and fast! She pulled open the box, and all the models fell out. No matter. She didn't need to hold it. She hoped.

Claire concentrated on the remaining cat model, thinking back to her cousin's cat Nickie. Nickie was big, she had loved Claire after her cousin died in an accident, and being a Siamese, she definitely had attitude. She'd actually run off a rottweiler that had attacked the family poodle! Claire hoped she'd be willing to take on a thug...

The model changed, and grew into a good-sized construct. The real cat had been 14 pounds but seemed bigger to the then-young girl. As such, the construct took on the size she remembered, not what it had been. This created a cat closer in size to a bobcat of about 20 pounds. Claire started trying to pull her arms free, as her construct evaluated the situation - and took an instant dislike to the man holding her 'owner'. With a leap, it was on his head, biting, howling, hissing, scratching... The man immediately let Claire go, and something akin to the scene in Shrek with Puss-in-boots ensued as the man began to yell "Get it off! Get it off!"

Claire beat a hasty retreat, following Adder again as quick as she could in her skirt. The thug, now bleeding in numerous spots on his face, head and neck, finally managed to throw the construct off. It landed on its feet, arching its back and hissing menacingly as his target continued to flee.