Down the hall and up the stairs, Alex sleepily studied the stapled homework sheet in front of him as he walked. He had woken up later than he had intended to do. Honestly he had been waking up later than he usually did for a while now, since the trial really. It was a worrying sign that his life style was changing from his established pace he had been keeping for years. Though his constructs murmured back that it was fine, that this place was safe enough to allow such a change. It had been more than a year already.

Good god, it had been more than a year...And yet he never seemed to catch up on school work. He came in missing three years and with the trial it had been months of his life just gone. Hopefully, this year would work out better than the previous one, this year he would get his shit together. He would obtain that mythical semblance of normalcy. Perhaps the sleeping in was part of that, his body was at least getting into it.

Before he realized it, he had made it down the stairs and toward the kitchen. The smell of food wafted out and he was certain one of the adults must have cooked. None of the students cook nearly as well as the adults who knew what they were doing. Inside the kitchen he spied two people, one of the x-men Jiri had given an AMA before and a kid he didn't recognize. Well not kid, they were nearly the same age by his estimate, the guy was just really thin. Thinner then he should be. Ah, don't stare, poor guy looked uncomfortable as it was.

"Don't mind me." he yawned, heading over to the plates and getting himself some of the eggs and toast that were available. He hesitated at the spinach before grabbing some of that too. Yeah, it wasn't the greatest but he couldn't let himself forget that his health now depended on him eating something right once in a while. He kept his back to the other too mostly, trying to give them space to talk about what ever they were talking about while still getting what he wanted.

> "Do you like it here?"

Maya busied herself with getting seated and putting her feet back up and facing the window before she responded. It gave her time to think through her answer in the light of who she thought might be asking.

"I like this place very much. There have been a few times in my life when I've had no place to go, nobody to rely on. Everybody here took me in despite everything else that was going on." Like not knowing what to do with the gift of a severed tongue or making friends with murderers or even being a known mutant back in the age when simply being born what she was, was against the law. The Mansion has been a safe place to work through all of that.

Maya shrugged, spearing some eggs with her fork and sliding them on top of her toast for a nicely balanced bite of food. "Now my kids are here. I don't think they could get rid of me if they tried."

Somewhere in there, another student had shown up and taken a seat behind her. It was kind of obvious that crowds even so small as this were unnerving to the guy. Maya didn't want him to bolt so her best chance was to engage him directly. Keep him focused on her. Or, at least keep him from focusing on his discomfort. "What's your name?"

Adder balanced his mug on his leg, heedless of his unwashed and worn jeans, and spared a hand to poke at the steam rising off it. He kept messing with it while Maya answered, although his ears and eyes were more focused on her than on the mug. More focused, not completely focused. The steam was entertaining him. It was definitely easier to be entertained with a full stomach.

"I've never-"

He'd started to admit that he'd never had anyone to rely on, never had somewhere to go or be unless he had found a quiet nook for the moment, but his head lifted abruptly and he shut his mouth to turn towards the doorway. Someone was coming, a stranger with an unfamiliar scent -

Maya was talking, and the rigid electricity in his limbs was momentarily distracted.

He, uh, also sloshed his tea onto his leg, and while it didn't burn now it was very, very noticeable. The heat and the words caught his focus and gave him the chance to consider. He didn't have to leave. He still had space to himself, and clear routes out. It was just as likely that he'd run into people on his way out of here, and probably in tighter quarters.

He didn't have to. Not yet. He could wait, and keep his tea a little longer. He didn't even know if it tasted like it smelled yet.

On that thought, he slowly brought the mug to his mouth and stubbornly drank a tiny bit. Warm. That, more than his own stubbornness or Maya's almost-forgotten attempt to distract him, took the edge off his nerves. He was still very, very tense, and the rough-hacked hair on the back of his neck was still raised, but maybe he wasn't quite radiating his need to bolt.

Not as much, at least.

Turning to keep a very careful watch on the stranger, Adder drank a bit more tea before finally answering Maya. "Adder."

Alex when turned to sit down, he tried to keep his distance, allow them their privacy. Hard to do in a small kitchen but he wasn't about to mess up the tv room or his bed room with food. Rather not make the adults mad with unnecessary messes. Still he had his homework to distract him and with pencil in hand maybe he'd be able to knock this one out before anything happened to pull his attention.

Though it was hard to focus on the sheet in front of him with eyes on him. Glancing up at...Adder, was it? Glancing up at Adder it was hard not to see something else in the tense lines of the kid's body. It almost felt feral, animal in his position, cautious and ready to bolt. He could only guess that it was the food that was hold him in place.

He only held his own stare for a moment, not wanting to add to the tension. But he kept glancing back, calm and slow when he did so. Somewhere in the back of his mind he pinned the boy with a canine demeanor, canis lupus or canis familiaris it was hard to tell, but canis nonetheless. And if it was canis, short glances and relaxed motions were the best to deem himself a non-threat. Hopefully his scent was about the same, according to his constructs when he asked, it usually had an earthy tone to it. Usually....Though there was another way to gain trust.

Silently, without a word, he scooshed his plate over to Adder. A peace offering if you will. Kid looked thin enough to want it and he had been there himself a few years back, before ending up here. The offer to share food wasn't done lightly, food was energy and to give that up meant potentially loosing that energy for good.

> "Adder."

She could keep babbling, but he just didn't seem interested. Nor did Adder seem terribly tuned in. He was almost... well, just a little wild.

"I hope you like it here, Adder." Maya slid her plate away in favor of wrapping her hands around the mug of tea and returning to the book. If she squinted, she could almost make out the letters. When she tried to increase the air pressure around the pages, the ink didn't stand out enough off the page for her to see that it was even there.

The elemental huffed out the small bother. She'd have to start listening to audiobooks or something.

The child behind Maya was smart enough to not make any sudden moves and not be loud. She saw no reason to inject herself into whatever interaction was happening. Maybe Adder would have a new friend, a friend closer to his own age.

She was on the ready, though. Just in case one (or both) of them got testosterone-y.

Adder let his eyes narrow, not quite glaring but firm against the brief eye contact. Yeah, he'd better look away. Adder kept a great deal of his attention on the newcomer, but also poked at his wet thigh. It was already getting cold. Unpleasant and unfair. It'd dry eventually, but until then it was going to be cold. He didn't like cold.

He flicked an ear when Maya spoke but didn't let the rest of his attention come away from the stranger. Stranger who smelled kind of like the ground, and things strewn on it, disposed of and decaying. Often a useful smell.

..........................food.

Adder eyed the plate. He'd been present for its making, though he hadn't been scrutinizing the food at the time. He couldn't smell anything untoward, didn't see anything that didn't belong.

He eyed the newcomer. Well, he was probably just a too-soft-hearted city kid. Adder huffed suddenly and pulled the plate towards himself. He tucked the food into his mouth with the hand that wasn't holding his tea, keeping a close eye on the newcomer with the occasional glance to Maya just to keep track of everything, and then licked his fingers with the efficiency of practice.

Peace offering accepted, apparently. He would have gotten up to get himself another plate but that could wait. He wasn't starving, not like Adder likely has. Kid looked like he spent a good deal of time surviving rather than living. He tapped his pencil against his homework, but the equations and problems seemed to fall to the way side when there was something way more interesting staring at him.

Literally staring at him. Alex sighed and twirled the pencil between his fingers. There was no way he was going to get this work done. Not like this. But he wasn't very inclined to move. He looked back at Adder, this time holding his stare but keeping his posture relaxed. No need to start a confrontation, not yet anyway.

"So...How long?"

It was a simple question with a lot of implications. But, if he was right, Adder may think of the appropriate clarifier, 'How long have you lived out there?' or the reverse, 'How long have you lived in here?'. Adder was homeless, or a least had been, in that they shared a commonality. But the length of time, where it started to where it ended, changed a number of things.

Too younger to start and the more feral attributes made sense, un-socialized in more than just tech like he had been. Old enough to start and the feral attributes were more mutation than socialization. Recently arrived, means he'd be newbie and still tentative about the whole situation. Have been here a while, means he just couldn't find a good grip on this own different way of living.

They were important factors to consider after all.

She was so ill-equipped for this conversation. Maya was kinda glad that she wasn't totally in it any more. The elemental monitored the boys, curious. Sad. No one could save them all. At least they were here now. It was a start.

Adder hadn't dashed and the newcomer had done all the right things to inspire a calm attitude, even if he was the kid who was here because of his violence.

That just proved that the stories she heard weren't always complete. And, if Maya was pressed, she would pin it down to the goodness in people. Even bad people had good in there somewhere.

She sipped her tea and considered slinking away, but in the end was too curious to eavesdrop. So she pretended to not hear and left her back to the boys. It was her kitchen too and a free country. She didn't have to vacate.

Adder's yellow gaze flicked to the twirling pencil before he deemed it an idle habit. Not something to be bothered with, though a pencil could become a weapon. He considered the other guy, the fairly natural scent and his clothing and the condition of his hands.

He turned away a bit rather than immediately answering the question. He didn't like answering questions. Answering questions was like giving up a little bit of himself, of his protection. Answering questions let people feel like they knew him, and people reacted differently to people they knew. They clung and nattered and didn't go away. Adder knew how to be alone.

He also didn't have a straight answer. Time was an elusive thing, better handled in moments or broad swathes like seasons. He had been here less than a season, but the season was changing now. He had arrived in late winter, though, hadn't he? Definitely not early winter. He had been himself, alone, for many seasons. Too many seasons to count, although if he worked hard enough he could sometimes put an age to that change.

The third option that came to mind for Adder was infinitely harder to put a time to. How long would he stay? Until it was safe for him to go back. But... would it? Was there a concrete time when it would be safe for him to melt back into his world?

He didn't want to think of that. He glanced at Maya, but she was doing a good job of pretending to ignore them. He knew the small signs of attention.

"Longer there than here," he finally muttered, voice roughened by a growl. He wasn't sure who he was warning. Pushing the guy to stop asking questions? Pushing himself to stop answering? He wasn't asking Maya to interfere; he didn't ask for help. Whatever.

When did the city, his home, become 'there?'

It took a while, for Adder to consider his options perhaps or even just figure out what he meant and how to answer. Alex couldn't tell which, but the answer that came was almost predictably simple.

"Longer there than here,"

The sentence was growled and he was oddly reminded of his construct Mary. Growling with an annoyed intonation told him to back off and yet, he didn't feel threatened. He had already faced death a few times and came out on top. He was hardly fearless, but he could deem Adder a non-threat. The other boy just seemed defensive and uncomfortable.

He nodded in understanding, "I'm partially the same. There and here will be the same in a few more months." Not the entire truth, but he was sure Adder didn't care where he came from or how he ended up on the streets. Or the wilderness, as it seemed Adder was more nature-wise than street-wise.

In any case there was a commonality like he initially thought. How deep that ran, he couldn't be sure. But, if he could help another adjust to normality, then it would be worth something at least.

Actually, she should probably try to eat more. It looked pretty bad to have gotten food and then not finish it all... or she could start cooking round 2. Honestly, Maya was surprised there hadn't been an instantaneous flood of children to accompany the smell of fresh food. Or maybe she just wasn't as good a cook as she'd made herself out to be in her own mind.

Growling? Growling was fine. It was snapping, biting, raking that was bad. Growling was as good as the preschoolers flinging insults at each other. And, though facing away and seated, there were plenty of things she could do from where she was to keep a fight from escalating. If it came to that.

It probably wouldn't, though.

Maya moved a couple bites around on her plate and even tasted one. She hadn't made much progress with the book, distracted as she was with her eavesdropping.

Adder huffed. If this guy had been here almost as long as he'd been out there, then he couldn't have been out there for nearly as long as Adder had. Some of the consideration of similarity vanished, and he shifted in his chair. Maybe he should just finish his tea and go... somewhere.

He drank more of his tea but didn't go anywhere, even after one of his eyeteeth scraped against the mug with an incredibly annoying sound. He flicked his ears and put the mug down on his thigh again.

"I-"

He stopped. Why did he think he wasn't going to make it to that point, where there and here evened out? Moreover, why did he feel like even starting to tell this guy? Sure, he didn't intend to be here anywhere near that long, but what he thought he'd meant was more that he couldn't be here that long, not that he wouldn't.

His shifting was more uncomfortable this time, and he set his jaw against the sensation that went with the faint shimmer around his skin. Just because he wanted to raise his hackles didn't mean he had to shift. He'd spill his tea.

"I'm only here for a while," he said quietly, at least trying to finish some form of the sentence he'd started. He fiddled with the mug in his hands, staring at the tea still in it. He was going to leave this place soon, and by choice rather than distress. He just had to convince himself of that.

"I'm only here for a while,"

There was a note of conviction in Adder's voice, a certainty that returning to how things used to be was inevitable. Yet, no matter the differences between them, there was one thing they probably had in common. Their lives had been hard and isolated from the rest of the world, what few instances they did depend on people may have ended in tragedy and pain.

A life like that wore you down. Here, things were easier, there was time to breath and think and not worry. Whether Adder knew it or not, it was likely he'd come to enjoy it eventually.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay. It's better here than out there on your own I can say that much."he said getting up again to get a second plate of food since Adder didn't look like he was giving up the one he gave him. Fair enough, no point in fighting over something that was plentiful.

New plate filled, he sat down again and took a few bites. "Where do you plan to go after this?"he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Maya made an attempt at reading again. That is, until the book fell through her fingers and she lost her place. After a couple frustrated attempts, she left the book where it lay rather than risk fusing with it.

And then there was the matter of her plate of food...

With a sigh Maya let herself fade out of her solid state completely so that she would have the best control possible. This way she could focus her efforts and not shoot food all over the place.

That is how a smokey, vaguely female shaped cloud came to be buoy a half-cleared plate of food to the sink.

Adder dismissed the idea of enjoyment without even shrugging it off. And sure, maybe it was at least superficially safer here, and food was easier to come by, and it was warm, but...

"There's too much here. People." And noise and sound and things he didn't understand, couldn't understand, didn't need, didn't want to be around, disliked as much as he disliked anything... Adder spoke quietly, even compared to how loudly he had been speaking previously, and downed the rest of his teeth to distract himself from all the other bad things about this place before it all came back and was too much, way too much, all over again. It was never far off 'too much' as it was.

Then the topic shifted a bit, and Adder answered while trying to find somewhere to put his empty mug without getting up. "Wherev-"

His attention snapped to Maya, distracted by a small thump and sigh. She was -

that was a new scent-change. The scent itself didn't change, but it was less.... something??? in a way that would have made no sense and just made his head hurt a lot to try to figure out if his eyes weren't seeing the same thing kind of. Maya was less. Less solid, less-in-one-place, less there but also just as much there but not quite in the same shape or form or whatever.

More important note: was she putting away uneaten food?

Side consideration: was old-dirt-less-street-guy competition for that uneaten food?