She needed to stop hiding. Xavia found herself walking into The Red Dragon Inn, a placwe that sold some good Chinese food. The restaurant was quiet, always empty within but for a few people every now and then, more known for take out. She ordered her usual vegetarian versions of a few dishes,they were happy to replace the meat with tofu.

As she waited for her food, she decided to sink down further against the cushioned booth she sat in, pull out a bell worn book, and began to read the steamy romance novel with an bored expression crossing over her features.

The jangle of bells chimed as more customers entered... It sounded like a group of people... Okay... Just keep reading. The plant mutant grew determined, eyes narrowing and honing in on the words. Maxwell took Christine into his sinewy arms... His mouth descended upon hers into a passionate... JANGLE! She looked up briefly, that familiar anxiety filling her gut.

The waitress brought her tea. Ahh, yes, that would calm her nerves. No, a fifth of Vodka would settle her nerves, but the thought of losing inhibitions as bad as she had the last time... Well... That was unsettling enough for her to humbly and silently thank god for tea. She dog eared the page she was on, then closed the book and set it down in front of her.

An entire day spent in the library had fried his brain, so rather than cook for himself he was getting himself some take away, Why couldn't he treat himself from time to time. At least the place had some good reviews online, apparently did some decent vegetarian options and he was in the mood for something veggie. Who could argue with a name like The Red Dragon Inn either? It had been so long since he'd last had a good chinese.

As Artair entered he had to concede, the place looked really nice inside. Not to busy, a nice and light decor, in fact it was perfect for a nice quick sit down meal. He was quickly led to a nice booth, passing a woman who looked, well a little jumpy to him. Smiling to her as he passed and dropping a polite, "Evening," he was soon in his own booth, ordering an interesting sounding collection of food.

Leaning back into the soft chair, he'd have been tempted to fall asleep then and there if he didn't keep catching the woman he'd seen before nervously glancing up every time the doors bell jingled. Was she okay? It didn't look like she was here with anyone, should he really bother her over his own interpretation?

After a few minutes, he couldn't concentrate on anything else so, sighing, he stood up and slowly made his way over. Hell, if she was fine the worst she could do was till him to p--- off. "Excuse me miss, are you alright? Noticed you were a little on edge."

Her eyebrows lifted, she tilted her head as the man approached her and asked if she was okay. She dropped the tea cup, and then promptly squeaked as the extremely hot liquid seared into her delicate skin. She grabbed for the glass of ice water she had asked for, dumped some onto the now, blistered area beneath her skirt, then sat there cradling her head in her hands, shaking from the amount of pain that came with the heat. She hated that weakness in her mutation.

"As you can see..." She said, shakily, then reached shaking fingers to the napkin dispenser, and started to gingerly pat at the fluids to try to clean the mess. Obviously, her efforts were futile. "I am perfect fine," it was easy to tell that was sarcasm, but not necessarily directed his way.

As other people seemed to get up and see if she was okay, she didn't mean to, but she yelled, "No!"

Apparently it could be worse than getting sworn at, since he'd probably managed to give the poor woman 1st degree burns. Smooth move Artair, very smooth. He also couldn't blame her for the sarcastic comment, since in her situation he would be swearing like a sailor, in more than one language.

"Jesus, I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you like that." Well, they always did say no good deed went unpunished, but fate seemed to be just a little crueler to him for once if it was lashing out at other people around him. "Let me at least get you another drink, since it's my fault you lost your last one." Right now, he'd understand if she just told him to get lost.

Turning and asking for a towel or something else she could dry off with from one of the servers, he jumped at her shout. Yep, he'd p----- her off. Holding up his hand to the other people getting up, he hoped non of them would be too nosey or 'helpful' enough to come over.

Offering her the towel that had brought out, he really just wanted to return to his table, get his food and slink out before he burned anyone else today. Somehow.

"I am sorry, I do not mean to yell," she said knocking things around trying to soothe the angry flesh. She didn't care right at the moment that she was in public she hiked the fabric of the skirt up and tended to the burns with cold napkins. If he caught a glance, he would be able to see that the skin was... Pretty bad, and that she was desperately and gingerly dabbing.

After the initial agony, she calmed herself enough to get some aloe growing in her left palm, breaking pieces off and open and rubbing the goo into the wound, not bothering to look around. For once, if they saw she was az mutant, they saw. "People make me jumpy right now is all. I try to make it stop by coming here but t'is happen."

Well then, that was a first, he didn't think anyone had ever apologised to him after he'd spilt something on them. It was, odd. He'd have laughed if she didn't pull her skirt up to address the burns. Quickly looking up, he did see some of the blistering on her skin. Tea shouldn't have been hot enough to do that kind of damage.

That needed proper care. Asking one of the servers for the first add kit, when he returned his attention, there was a plant growing out of her hand. Right then. Trying to shield her from view with his body, if only to protect her dignity if not to stop some random bigot getting annoying. "Yeah, sorry again about that." It was hard to not be a little embarrassed, given that he had created this entire situation.

Still trying to not look at her uncovered legs, he really, really wished he had just left well enough alone. "I'm Artair by the way, can't say this my finest moment but nice to meet you. I guess." For the love of god could they hurry up with that first aid kit, he was looking like a complete moron right now.

"Please... It wasn't on purpose, you don't know I am just... Jumpy." Her voice still sounded somewhat shaky as she spread the soothing gel. She shook her left hand, the plant withered away as if it had never been there and she sighed as her skin stopped stinging so bad. "You also probably see I am not normal. Cold and hot are bad for me. Go figure I spill hot tea."

She gave a slight smile, and then said, "I am Xavia. You may as well join since you see my legs already. Why not, heh?" She wasn't being sarcastic. She gestured to the other side of the table, caramel colored, pain filled eyes lifting to his face. She tilted her head again, then lowered her voice, "T'ank you for covering..."

Another, strained smile, and she sat there squirming as they waited for the first aid kit. Until then, she would have to sit there awkwardly with her wet skirt hiked up slightly less than indecent. A flush crept up the back of her neck.

Smiling, he was glad the tension was easing a little and the other people present were going back to their meals, only glancing over occasionally. "Aye, hard to miss how bad those burns are. But normal? I think I've lost my gauge for that recently, this is a very odd city."

Well, if she was sure, he wouldn't say no to sitting with her. He also had to admit, they were nice legs, burns not withstanding. "No problem lass," he responded softly, "Seemed the least I could do considering." The accent sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. Definitely eastern European, but he didn't know exactly where. Nodding to his waiter and mouthing that this was where he was sitting now, he was glad to still be allowed to stay to be honest, let alone have company for his meal.

Making sure no one could see his hand behind the menus on the table, he focused and pulled out a small knife over his palm, before scattering it when she'd seen it. "No need to worry about me blabbin' Xaxia," he wasn't about to make a big deal out of someones powers in public. Not without knowing their stance on the matter.

"Not my best first impression but I'd be lying if I was saying it's my worst." Alcohol and first meetings did not mix well.

"Strange? Always. You must be new here. Welcome to New York City." She was teasing, now. Okay, so this wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be. The first aid kit was finally brought by that point, too, and she bit her lip as she started to tend to the nasty burns. That sh** hurt!

She hissed and gave a heavy shudder as she bandaged the area. When she was done, she still had to sit there with the skirt the way it was. She handed the kit to the waiter as he brought her food out, and possibly his food since he ordered not long after. If his came after, sher would wait for his to show up before eating.

"It is nice to meet you. Sorry it happen t'is way. Weird, I know..."

He might not be great at reading people but even he could tell how much pain she was in. It was hard to believe how difficult such a sensitivity to temperature would make day to day life, let alone situations like this. Thank god most restaurants kept a well stocked first aid station, with everything needed to treat burns and the like.

Glancing up he was so glad food was arriving, he really could do with it right now. Even more surprising, his arrived at the same times as Xavias' and it all smelled amazing. All the spices, the vegetables, it made his mouth water as they set them down and he nearly missed her next statement.

It was just so ridiculous to him, he couldn't help but laugh. "It's a pleasure, burns and embarrassment aside. I will admit, it's is odd having you apologise to me, not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was kicked out honestly."

"You did not drop t'e cup, Artair, I did. You only startle me. If I had a nickel for every time I get startled by someone... I'd be richer t'an Trump." She started to pick at her food, having no appetite while hurting so bad.

"Please do not worry t'at you will be kicked out. You did not do wrong." And then she smiled, and it was a rather nice one at that. Yeah, she was quite the looker, but did not seem to care about that.

She managed to take a bite of food before deciding she needed to eat it later. Her chopsticks simply moved round the plate of lo mein like a clock. Every now and then, a tiny nibble would be slurped as a staff member walked by, which gained a smile because it was rude in Asia to eat noodles without slurping. She also took a sip of water every now and then.

He might not have dropped it, but that didn't stop the guilty twinge in his mind. Not that he was going to let that stop him eating, his stomach growling at the food in front of him. Shoveling some of his noodles and tofu down took the edge of his hunger long enough to actually get his mind working again. She was a bonnie lass, and her smiling only made the image that much better. How the hell had this happened?

He did have to wonder how hurt she was. It looked like it was bad enough to hurt her appetite, if he was reading the situation right. "You need any pain killers Xavia? I tend to have enough over the counter stuff on me these days if you want some." Chronic headaches and pain were common place for him in recent months. 

"Since you've invited me to sit with you, makes sense to get to know each other." Hey, why not have a nice conversation with a meal, even if he was still unsure how the situation had gotten to this point. "What do you do for a living?"

"I don't know..." She said after he asked about painkillers, "T'ey don't always work for me. But t'ank you." She murmured as she continued to pick at her food. She glanced up as he spoke to her, she listened intently and then pondered on how to reply to the next question.

"I do a few t'ings... I take over my family business to run greenhouses... I sell property for it and moved it to New York. I use profits to help ot'ers like me. I also sing, but not so much as I used to, but I do gigs every now and t'en... Mostly, I teach, t'ough. I teach biology and botany." She gave a shrug as if her rattled off lust was nothing at all.

"And I am a mom. I have four year old. She is handful." She smiled as she recalled how silly Delilah was. "What of you, Artair? What do you do?" Xavia tilted her head. Though she hurt, she seemed to be at least relaxing about him being in her personal bubble. That was good, right?

Choosing not to nerd out over her power and how it affected her biology, he instead stayed quiet as she explained her work. It was a pretty impressive list, greenhouses, charity work and singing? Oh and she was a teacher as well. In a really interesting field as well. "Wow, that's really amazing. Where do you teach, if you don't mind me asking?"

Hang on, she a four year old? OK, so he wasn't amazing at gauging peoples ages but she did not look old enough to have a child, let alone one ready to go to school. "Nothing quite that, impressive, to be honest. I've just finished my first year at NYU studying medicine so I'm kind of just looking for a way to occupy myself over the summer. Probably going to be taking on more volunteer work with Haven." Sarah was still far to attached to him to try to get her to the outreach programs with anyone else.

"Other than that not much. About the only other thing I have going is a wee bit of training up at the mansion. A friend roped me in and I can't really escape it now." Not that he was going to complain. not getting himself killed was rather high on his priorities right now. General weirdness aside, he was developing an annoying habit of listen to his conscience.

Shrugging as he finished, "Like I said, nothing quite as awesome as yourself. I can't imagine balancing everything and being a parent."

She did get overwhelmed sometimes, but keeping busy kept the dark thoughts at bay. There was some very dark part of her who lay in dormant, growing stronger with each moment of anguish she had ever experienced. Kidnappings, assaults, torture, experimentations... She would carry the weight of those things forever... But the darkness could be controlled if she willed it.

"I teach at mansion," she said, then slurped in a noodle as the waiter strolled by. She chewed quietly for a long time before saying, "Sometimes I wish I have more time wit' Delilah, but I do not wish for her to be homeless like I was before she was born, so I do for her what my papa try to do for me before he died." She acted like it was no sweat, still, that she wore many hats.

The pain soon took on more of an ache, and she was able to eat a little more than she originally tried to. She took a vergetable spring roll, dipped it into sriracha and nommed happily. After chewing the massive bite, she swallowed and said, "Medicine, hmm? Maybe I show you my blood cells in t'e microscope one day, you will find t'em fascinating." She was clearly making a funny. Then again, having cell walls in one's blood cells was pretty fascinating.