Ever since Derek came to New York two weeks ago, he's been wanting to go to Central Park. Aside from it being an oasis of steel and concrete, Central Park was a place where nature completely ruled.

Perfect for Derek.

Arriving there at 3:45 in the afternoon, Derek wasn't even tired. He was too excited about finally coming to the park. He was dressed appropriately with  a simple black shirt, khaki shorts, and Converses and a backpack on his back that held two bottled waters and a couple of books from the library at the Mansion.

After Derek wandered around for about thirty minutes, the African American mutant decided to sit down on a bench by the reservoir that a mutant expanded to a lake. It was peaceful, not too warm thanks to the breeze that blew across the landscape. He placed his bag on the ground and pulled out his phone to check to see if he had any messages. When he saw that he was okay, he opened his Tinder app and went through his daily ritual.

Right, right, left, left, left, right, left, right, left...

That happened for about a minute before geese from the lake started to waddle their way toward him. Looking up from his phone, he addressed them.

"Alright, I know what you guys want." Reaching into his bag, Derek pulled out a few loathes of bread. Tearing them apart until they were bite sized pieces, Derek started to feed the geese. "I've never had pumpernickel before. I'll make sure to bring some of that next time." Soon Derek was surrounded by at least fifteen geese and ducks.

Max had taken to walking around Central Park on his lunch breaks. Considering he spent his days working on Haven meetings and planning and his night working at Inferno he figured he needed to make sure he was getting some fresh air when he could. The fact that Haven was conveniently located right beside Central Park had little to do with it.

He had a can of coke in one hand and a sandwich in the other. The price of food was outrageous so packing lunch was probably the only way one could expect to not go broke. He had on his jeans and the black tee-shirt with the green Haven logo on the front. His fanny pack rested comfortably on his hips.

He made it to a small lake and saw what looked like the Walt Disney version of the horror movie The Birds before him. A man sat on a bench and was surrounded by a small army of geese and ducks. The man was on his phone and was talking to the ducks conversationally.

Max approached from the back. The winged birds were too obsessed with their meal to pay him much mind. He reached the back of the bench and saw that the guy was on Tinder on his phone. Max suppressed a smirk. He knew how it felt to be lacking in the romance department, though he'd never personally gone for online dating.

"Mind if I grab a seat?" He asked politely.

Derek was so unthawed with the water foul that he almost didn't hear the guy behind him.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry," Derek scooted to the edge of the bench. The geese and ducks followed him, playing nipping at his knees. "Alright, alright, you can have some more." Derek chuckled lightly and began to feed the birds again. He looked over at the guy when he took a seat and smiled. He looked to be his height with brown eyes and dark brown hair. Seemed friendly enough.

"I'm Derek by the way," he greeted, then looked down at his shirt. As soon as he saw the green "H", he knew exactly what it stood for: Haven. Derek had met with the founder of Haven, the supermodel Devon, just a few days ago and had a training session scheduled with a Mister Artair Hawke. Was this a sign?

The guy scooted over and made room for Max as the young mutant sat. The man beside him spoke to the geese once again. They seemed to be quite perturbed that he had stopped feeding them. Max chuckled at them as he took another bite.

The guy introduced himself as Derek and then proceeded to look at Max's shirt. Max saw recognition pass across the guys face. So he knew what Haven was. Not a big deal? It was a pretty well known organization, but something in the guys eyes spoke of something deeper.

"Max," Max supplied simply, "Nice day out huh? You usually hang with such fowl company?"

He tried not to smirk at his terrible pun. His face gave away nothing.

"Nice to meet you, Max." He smiled kindly at him, then looked back over at geese again. When he heard the pun, Derek chuckled. He loved puns. He thought they were pretty punny.

"No usually," He answered, "I just couldn't help, but take a gander at them." Derek played back with a wide smile on his face. He sat back up straight from his hunched over position and continued to feed the birds around him. "Don't they just give you the goose bumps?"

Derek joined in on the wordplay and Max chuckled slightly beside the man as he finished his sandwich. He finished his coke and crunched up the can, tossing it into the trash can beside the bench. It banged against the can as it bounced in with a satisfying clang.

"So you on lunch or something?" He asked, "most people don't just chill at the park in the middle of a work day."

The horde of birds seemed content to chomp away at the bread they had been given. Max leaned back, crossing his legs at the ankles and placing his hands behind his head. He let the sun wash over him and warm him and smiled.

"So catch any good dates? Does online dating really work?" He asked, no sarcasm in his voice.

"Ah, no," Derek smiled and looked over at Max. He had to admit, he was pretty cute, "I'm just here enjoying nature. Being with these guys." He turned his head toward the geese and ducks. "Currently I'm at the Mansion, but hopefully I'll be able to move into the Co-op apartments." That may have been too much information, but it felt good to talk. Plus, knowing that Max was involved with Haven meant that this was a "safe space" so to speak.

Derek fed a few more pieces to the birds. When Max asked if he had any luck with dates, Derek snorted.

"Nah, no yet. You'd think I would find some in New York City. It's like the second best place to be gay other than San Fran." Derek took out his phone to see just his animal paw print wallpaper and the time and date. He huffed and put it back in his pocket.

Max raised an eyebrow quizzically as Derek said he lived at the mansion. Seemed like you couldn't throw a rock in this city and not hit someone who had been there. Though hitting mutants with rocks seemed like a good way to find yourself hurt.

"I know the feeling. I used to live there myself. Nice place but wasn't my style. You a student there?" He asked.

Nah, no yet. You'd think I would find some in New York City. It's like the second best place to be gay other than San Fran."

Max let out an earnest laugh at that.

"You should check out the dance clubs then. I'm a dancer so I've been to most of them. You'd be surprised the number of free drinks I've gotten" He replied.

Being from Virginia, specifically a rather old school part of Virginia Max had experienced some less than accepting ideas concerning people who weren't "normal" by the most boring definition of the word. It had never made sense to him. Live and let live was his motto, which was only slightly ironic given that Max had died and returned to life.

"I work for a private club at Haven. You should come check it out sometime, I can get you in if you promise to behave." He said with a playful wink.

Derek shook his head, "no, not a student. Actually I just turned in my application for NYU so hopefully I'll be able to get into their animal studies program. With my mutation I should get accepted." Derek fed a couple more pieces of the stale bread and tossed it out to those in the back. "And I'm movin' into the Co-op apartment by the end of the week so that's excitin' too."

"A dancer? Like...a dancer dancer or a dancer?" Either way for Derek, it was pretty cool. Max seemed like the type to enjoy parties and the such.

Derek slowly nodded his head. "Oh? That would b awesome. I actually met with Devon late last week at NYU. He set up a training session with Artair Hawke so I'm pretty excited about that. Would that be different than the private club you're talkin' about?"

Max nodded his head at Derek's words. A small curiosity nagged at him. Animal studies was linked to his ability?

"Awesome NYU is a good school. I'm hoping to go there myself in the fall. Though I won't be living in the Co Op. What's your mutation Mother Goose?" He asked with a grin.

Oh the age old question had been asked. It was the one Max heard most often when he informed people he was a dancer. He had gotten used to it by now.

"The kind that keeps his shirt on." He said with a chuckle, " though there is good money to be made in the alternative."

So Devon had already spoken with the guy. That made sense, Devon had a feverish desire to see Haven succeed and had the charismatic personality to make it happen. He hadn't met Artair yet, but he had heard good things.

"The club is on the ground floor of the Haven complex. I live on one of the upper floors. If you like your session and decide to stick around we could get some training in together. I'm always down for partner work." He said.

From the guys statements it seemed he wasn't exactly keyed in on the true nature of Haven. Behind all the fancy digs and parties there was a deeper darker nature. The organization did good things, sometimes it meant they had to do bad things to get it done.

"Same here," Derek grinned, "maybe we'll be in the same Gen. Ed. classes together." That would be really great if another Havenite was also on campus with Derek (along with Merida who was also there). "That is if I get in."

Derek chuckled at the nickname he was given. "Mother Goose? That's a new one. Usually I'm called Snow White or another Disney princess. Maybe I should just change m'code name to somethin' like...Disney Prince." Derek loved the nicknames he was getting from his friends. It made him feel special, "and as far as my mutation goes, I can communicate and influence the behavior of animals."

"Ah, okay. I just wanted to make sure," Derek grinned over at Max, giving him a once over before turning his attention to the waterfowl in front of him. He fed them the last of his bread before leaning back in his seat. Now he was able to give Max his feel attention.

"That'll be great. Training is always somethin' that I'm up for especially if it's partner work."

"That is if I get in."

Max gave a shrug at the word.

"If you get in you get in. If not life has a different path for ya. I was supposed to be going to Law school last year. Turns out that wasn't meant for me. World's a funny place man." Max replied.

Derek took his mother Goose joke in stride and Max found himself liking the guy. It was hard not to get along with him, he was pretty agreeable. Max could see him working well with the community as a member of Haven. If the guy had what it takes to do the harsher stuff all the better. His mutation made Max give a curious look.

"So like actually talk to animals? Wild Thornberry style?" He said smirking, "I gotta know what animal is the best conversationalist?"

He watched the geese consume the last of the bread. They looked full and happy.

"I manipulate gravity. I'd give you a practical demonstration but it's a little public out here." He said with a small shake of his head.

"That's true," Derek responded, "and it wouldn't be be like I'll have nothin' to do. I could always reapply next year." Derek shrugged his shoulders. He learned a long time ago that letting things happen was sometimes for the best.

"Yes! Like Wild Thornberry! But also not like Wild Thornberry. It's hard to explain, honestly. I can also influence the behavior of animals."'He explained. He chuckled at the joke. "I have to say birds are. They see so much from different angles. It's actually pretty amazin'." Derek shrugged his shoulders coyly.

When Max told Derek is power, a large smile came across his face. "Really?! That's so cool! You'd have to show me sometime when we're trainin'."

As Derek explained his capabilities Max suddenly imagined the image of the man standing before an army of beasts and commanding them to attack. The mutant power wasn't one that could be adapted to any situation, but in the right circumstances could be beyond useful.

"That seems right handy. How much influence can you have? Could you organize the furry folk? Maybe get a network together?" He asked curiosity.

Nobody paid attention to tiny animals. Hell if the guy could talk to rats Max might have just stumbled into a spy master for Haven. He gave his head a shake and dismissed the thought for now as Derek exclaimed how cool Max's power was.

"Absolutly. So what drew you to Haven? When did you join up?" He asked.

He had to be careful. If Derek was only part of the front membership for Haven Max couldn't share any of the deeper truths concerning the organization. If Derek had signed on fully however, Max found himself with a wonderful opportunity to meet a new recruit.

"I could," Derek shrugged his shoulders. He already had a couple of connections with the wildlife in New York City including the fox that was currently crashing at his apartment, "I kind of already have? But they just don't show up when I need them." Yes, they did. Derek just didn't fully know it.

Max's powers could do a lot of help and damage depending on who was the target. The mutant looked over at Max when he asked him how he got drawn to Haven. He couldn't blatantly say that it was because Zeus' hotness influenced him. That would seem shallow. Instead, he told him his other reason.

"Any organization that tramples on bigotry, hatred, misogyny, I want to be apart of," Derek chewed on his lower lip. He wasn't sure if Max was a full member either so he just hinted saying, "...and...mutants especially need help," he whispered hazardously. Hopefully this didn't set of the telepathy alarm, "y'know?"