The population of some of the less populated areas of lower Manhattan was divided. There were a lot of neighborhoods that were unofficially 'Mutant Neighborhoods'. The growing population of alienated civilians began to stick together. Those who didn't sell their souls to whichever faction offered salvation and sticking to surviving on their own. Geo held respect for these mutants. It took a lot to stand up against oppression without an army on your back. So when Geo heard of a young mutant who's emerging powers had caused a massive amount of damage to a lower end mutant neighborhood he was more than happy to lend a hand. He knew first hand how destructive getting to know your powers could be. Not to mention the way most of these 'government relief' programs work the people would wait months to see results.

The boys power must have been explosive in nature. The small street in shambles. Two tall apartment buildings on either side blocked out most direct light from the small neighborhood as the residents bustled about. The pavement of the street was blasted to bits, large chucks of the gravel tossed to the side leaving exposed dirt and cracked pavement throughout the street. There were series of shop fronts on either side though they had seen the brunt of the damage, broken glass and debris scattered the once proud businesses. Geo was working with a pair of young Hispanic mutants. Rico and Carlo, their mother had ran the local laundromat which had scene the brunt of the damage. They moved out the last of the large washing units through the front door, the two brothers carrying one while Geo strode out behind them. Large stone hands wrapped around either side of the unit helped him carry them with ease as he came up beside where the brothers had placed the unit.

<Excellent job boys. Now get started over at the market and I'll be along in a moment.> His thick voice spoke in spanish to the boys through a warm smile. As his stone hands crumbled away to their usual form. He clapped Carlo on the back as they ran off to work. Taking a moment Geo pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He felt out with his powers as he stood in the doorway of the now empty building. Dirt, glass and gravel covered the floors, along with whatever else the wind had blown in while the storefront had been exposed. A right mess to say the very least. As he walked into the building glass crunched beneath the stone coating he had given his bare feet. Reaching with his control he began to grasp every bit of dirt he could gain control of in the room. Careful long sweeping movements with the mutants arms brought the dirt to churn, bunching together into long, thick strips crossing the room. More and more he gathered these together, creating a more solid force with each pass. The earthen whip moved across the room gathering the rest of the debris he could not control. The class, papers, even some loose clothing that had fallen between the machines fell under the force of the dirt wave. Moving his hands to guide the dirt Geo pushed the debris through the door and out into the street, leaving the building clear. Careful to keep the glass and thrash contained Geo folded the dirt onto itself sealing the sharp shards in a stone square as he force the dirt together and let the solid cube fall to the ground.

Taking a moment to stretch Geo looked around to where there seemed to be a few more volunteers getting ready for their next task. Padding his bare feet across the street Geo came dusted off his shirt with his hand. Coming up behind the volunteers he interjected, his gravelly voice followed by a warm smirk on his face.

"Well folks. What's next on the docket?"

Serena was definitely in the camp of humanitarian. She donated blood regularly, attended drives to help for causes, made cookies and brownies for bake sales. Helped raise awareness for problems around the university and spent a good portion of her free time helping out around the mansion with whatever needed doing. Heck, she even babysat for friends and acquaintances on occasion.

Today she was helping with the fallout of a particularly explosive lapse in mutation control in a neighborhood. It was pretty nice actually. Not the fallout that is, but the atmosphere she found herself in whilst volunteering. She'd heard about it through a friend at the university, when they asked if she knew anybody who'd be willing to help out with it. She'd made a few phone calls and gotten a few other friends and associates to come and help.

They'd gathered up some medical supplies, extra food and wood and nails to help repair what people and objects they could. She wasn't some kind of a philanthropist, she was just a friendly lass helping out with a few friends. Interestingly enough there were quite a few mutants, or those amicable to living near them in this neighborhood and this event had brought them together in a pretty magical way.

Everyone had smiles and was chipping in someway or another. Serena didn't have a gigantic amount of muscle mass, but she'd helped sort out some debris and also helped out with the distribution of a few medical supplies, bandaged a few cuts and bruises and that. Given out some painkillers and water bottles.

She'd just finished bandaging up a friendly elderly Hispanic mutant's shoulder when another gentlemen moved over to the group and asked what was going on. She nodded at him courteously and smiled. "Nice work over there."

It was nice to see so many faces banding together. These sorts of moments made all the squabbles and wars over mutant rights worth it. A small glimpse at what reality could be. Few good souls working together, not wondering what the person next to them had to offer but instead what they could do to help. People who had petty feuds and quarrels helping on another in a time of need. If only it could always be like that. His smile widened when the accent came from a pretty blond woman who seemed to be patching up some of the victims. Geo went into a theatrical bow before shrugging off the compliment.

"Well thank you Miss." He said, tucking a lose hair back into his bun as he came back up. "Looks to me like you're doing fine and dandy there yourself. Reaching down he grabbed a water for himself and sat for a moment on the hard ground by the curb. Across the street Rico and Carlo were hard at work moving clearing whatever goods could be salvaged from the local market and boxing them up for the owner. He took a small sip of water, just enough to quench his thirst. Day was still young and he didn't want to bog down his powers at all. He turned his attention back to the girl as he rested for a moment.

"Lovely accent you have there. How long have you been on our side of the pond?" Geo asked, curiosity peaked by the acute accent he hadn't been expecting to hear. It wasn't uncommon to hear a melody of different cultures but British wasn't one he was planning to hear, or was it English? The details always seemed to slip his mind once it got down to the fine points. "Don't mean to pry, just a point of curiosity finding a rare flower like yourself down here in the slums." He cast a wink at her as he took a drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out in the dirt and tucking the butt in his pocket.

The gentlemen that was looking for more work seemed fairly eager and relaxed, he had a different vibe to him than most of the rest of the people that were volunteering and working to help relieve some of the damages to the neighborhood. He seemed a bit... More wizened? She wasn't quite sure she could pin it down. But she definitely liked him, he was friendly and helping out, those were two things that added up to a decent human being.

She nodded at the words of thanks and smiled a little more timidly. "I'm not really doing that much, I'm not too great at heavy lifting." She admitted. One thing that irritated her was that some people tended to look down on more slender figures, just because she didn't have muscle mass didn't mean she didn't have things to offer to situations like this, as was evident. She tidied up supplies, putting used up things into a bin bag before neatly packing away the first aid kit she'd been using.

She smiled again. "Well thank you. I'm surpised it's still as clear as it was, I've been living here going on 10 years now." She couldn't actually remember when she'd moved to the US in particular, she tried not to think about those days too often for pain of loss. "Well, not this Neighborhood or anything, I live a little further downtown, but people at the university were talking about this and asking for volunteers so here I am."

Taking another slow sip of his water he listened as the woman displayed humility. Geo nodded slightly as she commented on her lack of ability to make a big impact. A slight scoff though not mockingly. It was the same thing he had said himself when he was a little younger but being a part of a larger cause, making progress for his kind while with the Order showed him quite the opposite.

"But you're doing something. That right there makes a difference. See not one of us is able to do all this by themselves." Geo gestured out to the people still hard at work and a few like himself taking a breather for a moment before the next step was taken. "Separate we're just able to change little things but if enough people put in the elbow grease you can achieve something great." He pushed off the pavement bringing himself to a standing position as she gathered up her medical supplies. He dusted off his backside and tucked the closed water bottle into his back pocket and stretched for a moment as she spoke again.

"Well it's gives your voice an enchanting effect, makes you stand out. I'd work hard on maintaining it if I were you, it'll get you places." A cool chuckle came from his thick voice as he stepped into the street. Though he had told the twins he would be along to the market he decided to gravitate around the girl for a moment, she peaked his interest. Reaching out he began to grab a hold of the large chucks of gravel that was spread across the street. The refined materials were significantly more difficult for him the control. As he held out his arms he slowly dragged the pieces back to the crater in the center of the street.

"At least the word is spreading. That's good. It's the same over at the Sanctuary." The heavy pieces of the black materials fell into the hole with loud studs. Some of the larger pieces looked like they could be dropped in like puzzle pieces but Geo wasn't about to try and fit them together perfectly. What mattered was making the street usable again. With the chunks firmly in place Geo began funneling dirt into the crater, bit by bit streams would gather in from the storefronts and the street itself. Admittedly he was funneling in dirt from beneath the street as well but it was far from theatrical, he liked catching the occasional persons eye as a few stopped to watch what he was doing. "Government says they'll help but with bureaucracy being what it is it will be months before people like this see help. Best we can do is take care of one another. Mutants looking after mutants, helping ourselves to show how things can be done." He had no way of knowing whether she was a mutant or not, that wasn't the sort of thing that was easy to tell these days...well at least not all of the time. As the last bit of dirt packed down onto the street he turned back to the girl a crooked grin pushing across his unshaven face. "So. University? Guess that makes you an intellectual I suppose. Any interesting studies?" Admittedly he was interested. He didn't mind taking his time talking to a pretty woman. What better way to pass the time while than a conversation with a lovely lady.

Serena nodded at the gentlemen and put her kit away completely, before picking up another bottle of water and taking a long pull from it. She hadn't realised how dry her throat was. God she was surprised her voice hadn't sounded like gravel, come to think of it.

She chuckled. "Well that's true. There are projects like this going on every day all over the city, a lot of people volunteering." She rolled her shoulders and stood to stretch out a little bit before moving over to another area to try and help with some relief. Thank fully weather wise, it was actually a decent day.

Serena smiled at the compliment. "Well thank you. I don't think I'm going to lose the accent if it's still this strong after having lived here this long." She smiled. She took a lot of pride in her voice, it was a connection to her brother and Dad, she wasn't going to lose that. "And I don't really need my voice for that, I do alright for myself." She chimed. Indeed, her voice was kind of irrelevant to her writing.

She nodded again in agreement. "Sanctuary's in a fairly good state, I have a fairly philanthropic friend whose put quite a lot into it. He really cares about that place, it's nice to see." She smiled. "The mansion upstate has been doing really well too recently, normally they feel a little overwhelmed and understaffed, but it's seemed a bit smoother recently." Again, no small amount of pride there.

She tilted her head a bit at that comment. She knew bureaucracy was a bit of a problem but... "Actually, it was a human student who suggested this to me, and another couple who helped organise all the supplies here." She gestured at the bottles and medical supplies.

She laughed at that last one. "Well I'm not so sure about that. I'm an Advanced Bio-Chem student, I also do a bunch of literature stuff." She left out the part about actually being a writer.

A slight smirk formed on Geo's face as the girl commented on her accent. A hearty chuckle escaped his lips as she declared she didn't need her accent to stand out among the crowd.

"I can respect that. But that's how the city sneaks up on you. You'll be here ten years go home and realize you've changed more than you'd ever realized." Change was subtle. No one ever noticed it in the moment. It was always decades later looking back that the realized how much had changed over time. He was a prime example of this. A decade ago he had been walking up to the door of the X-men's mansion hoping to make a life among them. What a laugh that would have been seeing himself turning out as an X-man. Though his work with the Order had drawn a lot of angst towards the group but over the years it had dwindled. There were even a few of the X-Dorks he'd dare to call friend much to the chagrin of his former employer.

"Yeah I think I know the guy you're talking about." Geo responded as she spoke of the shelters recent change in management. "Sanctuary has definitely been getting some much needed love. We did an alright job keeping it up when I lived there back in the day. Guess it must have some into a bit of disrepair while I was out of town." He cast a sideways glance at her as she seemed to conflict a bit about human government inefficiency. Ah, right. Mutant first state of mind seemed to be a rarer sight since his reshuffling of power in the city. It made him miss the good old days when the Order's cause flooded the street. He shook it off best he could, he was trying to look at the world from a graying standpoint. That included not assuming the worst of every human right off the back.

"Broken clock's still right two times a day." He muttered quietly as he pulled the water from his pocket and took a longer swig now that the most difficult work was out of the way. Instead he decided more to focus on her academics. "Here you are telling me your studying in the sciences and the literary arts? Darling if that isn't intellectualism at it's best then I don't know what is. Most I've been able to do with my life is twist a wrench so my hat's off to you miss." He bowed slightly removing an invisible hat from atop his man-bun

Serena studied the man carefully, but not too overtly. She was pretty good with body language and language-language. And she was getting one distinct kind of vibe from the man. Hmmm. So he wasn't necessarily a good person, but he had good intentions towards mutants? There was something distinctly disturbing about people that had this whole one race first vibe to them.

It was easy enough to swing one way or another as far as she was concerned. It was like racism, it made no sense on any kind of a real level to her. And he was giving her the impression that he was somebody who wanted to help, so had some good intentions. But was also very set in their ways and sure of themselves and there moral standing. Which was also dangerous in some people, it reminded her of Leon. God, that thought stung a little.

Maybe it was unfair to treat the man with any kind of caution, but then again, she'd been burned before as the saying went.

"If that comments directed at the mansion you're dead wrong." She replied flatly, without any heat. "and if it was about the student that referred me, She's on several human and mutants rights committees, and would have been here in person if she wasn't also a medical student busier than both of us put together." There wasn't particular rudeness in her tone, but there was some reproach.

She allowed a more genuine smile to creep into her features. "Well thank you kindly, Sir."

Geo turned to face to woman as she stood to her defense. Thought she wasn't necessarily aggressive but he could feel the heat in the statement. He crossed his arm and watched with a straight face as she worked her way through what she had to say. She wasn't wrong. He had a track record for jumping to conclusions with humans. It had a history of being met with nothing but violence. His own father coming at him with seeming attempt to rid the world of his mutant disgrace of a son. That was only reinforced by the cause he was drawn to as a young adult, prejudice in it's very nature. Of course things changed. That was how to world worked and in his time helping refugees into the country he had been introduced to the human plight. His own sister was human, it wasn't fare to place them all on the same pedestals as those who were trying to place collars on his people a few years before.

"Well thank you kindly, Sir."

As she finished he couldn't help but cast a wide grin across his face as he held his hands up in a motion of peace.

"Fair enough. Admittedly I've seen humans helping out around these things time to time. Can't be easy race relations being what they are." Running a hand across the back of his head he knocked some of the sand from his hair. His tone changed exceedingly as did his posture to a more apologetic tone. "I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone close to you. I don't exactly have the best track record with human relation and I'm a bit set in my way. I'm working on it." He held a hand up to his chest to express his genuine sincerity. Admittedly though the fiery tone she had caught was adorable in a whole other kind of way. Having apologized he stood more at ease, his hands tucking into the pockets of his dirt soaked jeans.

"What do you say we give it a fresh go? Clean slate. This is all about renewal right?" He cast a wide gesture to the street around them where they had both come to help a community. Turning back he flashed his best puppy sized hazel eye at here with a warm tone to his gravelly voice as he spoke and extended a hand. "My name's Geo. I have pebbles for brains and I'm stuck in my ways. How are you doing today?" A playful charming smile cast across his face.

Serena was pleasantly surprised by the way that the man seemed to take and accept her reprimand. Normally, if she encountered someone who held those kind of innate prejudices, they were a little more set in their ways and stubborn with their views, and refused to acknowledge that they might have been wrong. He seemed receptive to her response, which might have come across as sassier than intended.

"True, and when a lot of groups on both sides take a bloody 'shoot first' approach you can't blame a lot on both sides for being nervous either." She grumbled. It certainly wasn't as low as it once had been, but the state of mutant and human affairs still served to quite annoy her. Humans an mutants should NOT be separate.

She smiled very genuinely a the man. "It's quite alright, I understand that a lot of people have complex histories with this stuff, so it makes sense." She admitted, he was actually fairly likable.

She snorted. "that's a little corny." but she held out her hand to him anyway. He went by Geo? That was... a bit on the nose. "Nice to meet you Geo, I'm Serena."

She seemed almost as surprised for his reaction as he had been for hers. Granted he knew a good portion of the people that held his beliefs were much more 'stab first and ask questions later'. He was a bit of an odd individual but he owned that. Sure as hell didn't want to be anyone else.

"You can say that again. Not to mention I guess I sort of 'shot first' so my bad." This apology came through a crooked smile, though it was still heartfelt. She was a bit scrappier than Geo had originally expected though fierce things did come in small packages. "You're understanding to say the least. Peoples pasts have a way of shaping who we are and it took a while to make new history to change that." He was halfway certain he had read that in a sayings book in a gift shop somewhere in New Mexico.

"Corny is kinda my thing. Serena. That name's even nicer then your accent. Do you have a mutant name as well or are you of the fleshy human variety?" His wording was in jest, he threw a wink at her to show as much as she gave him her hand. He didn't quite know how else to ask such a question. Could that come across as racist in nature? Perhaps not given the subject matter. It was up to her in the long run though the elemental mentally prepared for potential blow back.

She nodded a few times in response to his comments. Apologies accepted on both sides. The conversation had not followed any of the blonde's expectations in the slightest. Geo had turned out to hold some prejudice, but was also open minded and also kind of open to criticism.

She chuckled to him and smiled. "Well I can definitely emphasise with that." She'd had very mixed views on different groups for a while, and had even come to resent the NYPD for quite a long time. But she'd gotten over that (Thank god, her Girlfriend worked for them).

She tilted her head at that last question before understanding it. "Ah, right. Well firstly thank you, I am quite fond of my name. And I don't have another name that I actively introduce myself by, but I do have a mutation related nickname, if that's what you were referring to. People in my year at the Mansion sometimes called me Hemorrhage." She shrugged. "A little tacky."

Well she certainly had an adorable demeanor about her. The accent helped a bunch with that but the sass was a fun little cherry on top. She seemed to be more worldly than he had first assumed. Went to speak a lot for the notion of assuming. It took her a minute to catch what he had meant about her mutant name. Which was promptly explained with her referencing the mansion. He forgot how much this city haunted him with his past at the mansion will all these residents. He was openly shocked though to hear here nickname.

"Wow. That's surprisingly hardcore." He had a hearty laugh upon learning about his new companion. "Hemorrhage huh? I used to roll with some mean and nasty mutants in my day but THAT is pretty bad ass. Last thing you'd expect from a beautiful girl like yourself." Of course look at how pretty half the women he had met at the Sanctuary in the past were? He couldn't even give some of them a sideways glance without his life being threatened.

"Not that I'm mocking you. I'm sure it's fitting. A lot of us Mutants outside the mansion tend to take those titles as a kind of rebirth. Some keep their original names too and some toss them aside." He felt inclined a bit of reasoning behind his question. It was how he had come up with his own mantle. Though he was more than happy to throw Tristen Ogle into dirt and bury him away with his past. "Been a few years since I've been up to the mansion though. Tell me. How many times have they had to rebuild since you've been there?" A warm smile came across his face as he took a walk down memory lane. He hadn't been in the mansion a week before half of it was torn apart in the aftermath of a fight he had no stakes in. Of course that hadn't stopped him from jumping in.

Unknown to them, a group of thugs were gathering in the alley just off of the stretch of street. A dozen of them, a gang known for terrorizing mutant neighborhoods caught wind of the relief efforts and deciding it would be a good party to crash.

She chuckled at his comment. James had been such a geek when they were teenagers, though she remembered a few friends had approved of the name too. She'd been a really skinny pale teenager, very unimposing. But with one of the most dangerous mutations that they had at the mansion to boot, on top of that she had fairly poor control most of the time but all of the power nerds thought hers was cool.

She snorted. He was quite the flirt it seemed. She suspected he did this with most of the female mutants he came across, but she didn't voice this opinion. Neither did she respond to the flirtatious implications, or inform him that he was barking up the wrong tree. She had a girlfriend, and she was perfectly happy. Also Ew. Dudes.

She nodded in agreement. "I remember, it's a lost more common around the people who live at Sanctuary than at the mansion, but I suppose that's mostly because the Mansion is run as a school, so that makes sense." She wandered how many mutants thought up code names when they first had access to their powers.

Chuckling at the next comment she was quite amused. "Only a few times, little girl got the hiccups one time and managed to blow up half of the courtyard. Thankfully nobody was badly injured." Except her. Oops.

She was fairly unaware of the group gathering, but did feel a little uneasy for some reason. Maybe it was just that they'd stopped working.

Hemorrhage snorted at his coy jab in her direction. Geo happily took the reaction with a smile. Not many people reacted well to his polite flirting style of socializing. In a world where everyone seemed to have an ulterior motive genuine flirting was a lost art.

"Of course. Not to mention a fancy school at that. I suppose propriety has it's uses in the world. Of course I'm more the fan of the path less traveled." Geo kicked out with his bare feet to draw attention to the sand-shedding dirty feet that held him. "Robert Frost. Man had a lot of things right in this world. Take a lot to heart." Not to mention from a human poet as well. There was a notion to be had there but it would come from a better person than himself. He could articulate at times but there were some things that Geo liked to leave to his betters. An open laugh escaped his lips as she spoke of the destructive hiccups.

"Don't you hate it when that happens? Damn hiccups. The real problem on this planet I'm telling you." He tossed a wink at the cute englishwoman before continuing. "About a week in to my stay there a werewolf guy of sorts was causing quite a bit of damage through the building. Name was Ted actually. We became friends ages later but the mutant enhancing drugs were bad around those times." As he finished speaking a series of events came in to play. Several at once although it took Geo a few moments to fully process what had happened.

First came the homemade flash-bang. A small steel canister came rolling into the street opposite of where Geo and Hemorrhage were having their conversation. The second was the thugs coming in from both ends of the street. The loud 'POP' followed by bright flash caused panic in the volunteers and residents of the street. Several ran into the market followed by the rest as they realized their exits had been blocked. Geo, having instinctively thrown himself in between Serena and the action as best as he could. Not that he doubted her ability but his first instinct was always that of a protector.

"Well Hemorrhage. I hope you can fight." Geo spoke with a slight laugh in his voice as dirt began to collect to his arms building them up into larger stone forms.