The problem with a lie is that you have to tell several more to keep the original intact.

Living at the Honeycomb co-op on a floor with two girls who had wings had been a real boon at first. If (more like when) he woke up with wings due to a night time slip in his control, he would just go out the window and save on his bus fare. That was great before he'd lied to his boss about his powers. He was always able to cancel the powers away before he got to work and pretend he was nobody special.

Now they wanted him to go places and help heal people almost as much as they wanted him there for shuffling papers and loading magazines. Which was cool... if his power was to heal people.

Jude circled the Mansion high above a flock of pigeons who had a similar flight path. He'd gotten much better at this flying-with-wings thing now that he had a few off and on months of practice. It helped, too, that the Mansion had all that nice open grass. It made for a big target and an easy landing.

The birds made a lazy decent and freckled the lawn where they hunted for food. Jude continued past them with his legs tucked up and ready. He soared nearly parallel to the ground until he'd reached the back patio. A powerful few last flaps of Astrid's black wings to stop his momentum and he took the first few jarring steps after a near half hour of flight. The Mansion was a long ways out, even as the bird flies.

He rolled his shoulders and settled the wings as he stepped up the steps of the back porch, but hesitated with his hand on the back door. His reflection in the glass door panel showed him that his shoulders had gotten a bit of width, no doubt it was all the flying, but also-- he was still shirtless. Jude tugged his wrapped shirt from his forearm and took a moment to concentrate on the feeling of his power, not the wings he had copied or the many powers inside, but the invisible hand which was how his brain interpreted whatever his power did. He used that hand to pull at the string of power inside himself and discard the black thread of Astrid's power.

It was just as uncomfortable to feel the dark wings fold themselves up and disappear into his body as it was for them to manifest in the first place, but healers didn't have wings. And if he wanted to nab DocProf's powers again, he had to make sure he didn't have any leftovers first. He blinked away her flooded black demon eyes and eventually it was just Jude again. He yanked his shirt over his head, wrinkled from being wadded for the entire flight, and went to scrounge for leftovers in the kitchen. He had some time yet before he was expected at work.

((OOC: Tag Celestina De Ward))

Celeste had the day off. Her little diner had the day off for her and she had no scheduled shift at the library. She had the entire day to herself, which drove her crazy. Celeste needed to be doing something, to have her mind focused. After she made breakfast for her roommate, Ms. Norma, she finally decided she was going to go to the Mansion. She needed to figure out where her classes were so she could be at least somewhat on time tomorrow. 

Celeste hated buses. She especially hated municipality buses. They always seemed to be dirty, smelled a little weird, and worst of all full of people. Like a pack of sardines, everyone huddled into the tiny, smelly bus. But Celeste knew she had to persist- she couldn't keep walking 1-2 hours to work and back to the library. She wouldn't be able to afford a car for a long time either. And now that her classes start tomorrow, she knew she definitely couldn't keep that up. Her legs were already sore enough and adding another couple hours to her walking day would be awful. Practically, it wouldn't work too well either, considering most of her days schedule will be packed.

Finally, her bus finally made it to her spot. She dashed off the bus, grateful to be out of the smelly pit of mobility. The mansion was only a short walk ahead. She checked her watch, looked like it was still pretty early morning. Maybe if she was lucky she could avoid most of the people at the school. 

Her mind drifted to classes that she'd be beginning tomorrow.  Would they be hard? Easy? How would her mutation fit into all of this? How could they help train her to help her mutations? She wasn't sure how it would all fit together. She let her arm charge up a little, watching the little sprinkles flow around before letting it disappear. She had a pretty good sense of control over it, mainly due to searching online for guides and self practice. She remembered when she would flare some of her radiation into some weeds in her parents backyard. It usually only took a couple hours for them to die. Granted, she also did that to some of her mother's flowers too. This was especially true as her parents began to ignore her existence.  

Celeste had arrived at the front gate, poked in her unique entrance code, and entered the mansion grounds. She entered the front door of the huge mansion. She was still pretty darn impressed with the lobby itself. 

"Welp, here goes to exploring your new school, Celeste," she whispered to herself and started off to the hallway to the right. 

There. Was. No. Bacon.

It was a travesty. There must have been bacon somewhere. Jude dug into the massive extra-wide fridge until his worst fears were realized in the form of an uncooked package of pork. There would be no bacon for the hungry teen this afternoon. Someone was falling down on their bacon duty.

He moved on down the line of acceptable snacks until he found something inferior yet acceptable. A bagel was not exactly what he wanted, but after toasting and adding butter, it was enough to quiet his yowling tummy as he made his way through the quiet Mansion halls. He had a half bagel dangling between his lips when he went to scope out the administrative hall which was capped by DocProf's domain. There was a sign taped up on the door, though, that indicated the healer was out and wouldn't return for at least an hour.

Huh. Jude figured the old guy lived and breathed his entire life in there. He'd almost never seen him gone. That was troublesome since he needed to report in to work.

Eh. He could probably be a bit late. It was more important to show up with the right power. Behind him, the administrative hall branched back toward the main entrance. He hadn't expected anyone to be there, let alone a stranger, but then the Mansion residents were always changing.

"Hey. You lost?" Oh. He had to bobble his bagel after it fell from his lips, but it never touched the ground. Success! He eyed the girl, she looked young to his reckoning. She must have been a student. "This is the admin hall. Registration and the x-men offices and crap. Nothing interesting if you're keen to snoop. Or. Err, DocProf's back there if you needed the healer, but he's not in."

Celeste enjoyed meandering the halls of the place, not really paying attention to where she was going. That probably destroyed the point of her excursion into the Mansion. She remembered this hallway when she walked through it with Juliette when she finally gained the courage to come in. The hallways weren't as pretty as the main lobby, but still pretty darn impressive. Celeste was more worried about that Roomba sliding by with knives on it like when she first enrolled. She shuddered at the thought. If Juliette hadn't moved in time, Celeste would never have noticed it until it was too late. Celeste wondered what would happen if someone did cut her enough to bleed a lot considering her internal radiation load was nearly 5,000 rads. 

Oh well, hopefully she wouldn't have any appendicectomies soon. That might be a doozy and a surprise for the doctor. Celeste took a few more turns before stopping as her watch alarm went off. It was time for her nausea meds. She took them with a quick swig of water from the little water bottle she carries with her, stuffing them neatly back into her purse. 

>> "Hey. You lost? This is the admin hall. Registration and the x-men offices and crap. Nothing interesting if you're keen to snoop. Or. Err, DocProf's back there if you needed the healer, but he's not in."

Celeste jumped and made a very quiet squeak. When did he get there? How did he get there? Hopefully, she wasn't going to get in trouble for walking around the mansion at strange hours. It looked like she would have to communicate some on her quest. She took a breath, "You caught me, being a snoop," she joked, "Kidding. Um, no, I'm not lost." Actually, now that she actually thought about it, she probably was. She had been meandering around hallways and not really paying attention to where she was actually going. "I just got enrolled - I start classes tomorrow, so I thought I'd just take a look around the Mansion before hand. Make sure I know where everything is. Trying to avoid the whole awkwardly coming in 5 minutes late with everyone staring at you kinda thing." Healer. She had heard that the Mansion had a healer. She loved how he was called a healer and not a Doctor, it made it seem very fantasy like. Kinda like in some of her books. 

Like a lightbulb went off, she quickly began to introduce herself, "Oh, I'm Celestina De Ward, by the way. Are you a student here as well?" 

> "You caught me, being a snoop,"

Jude chuckled. Oh. Bless her little heart if she actually thought this was snooping. There were secrets here in the Mansion. Jude knew he hadn't ferreted them all out, but that hadn't been for lack of trying. But it was good that she was joking. Even better that she wasn't lost. Jude could now get on with his life without guilt. Uuuuuuuntil she dropped the newbie bomb.

She started tomorrow, for goodness sakes. She was just so... so... pure. Precious little newby. So fresh and untainted by the dumb adults that ran this hell hole. It was almost tragic how timid and nice she seemed. He chewed through the last few bites of bagel as she stumbled through her adorable explanation. She was just precious.

> "Oh, I'm Celestina De Ward, by the way. Are you a student here as well?"

"Jude Coilin." Should they shake hands or something? Jude didn't want to accidentally catch her mutation, so he didn't offer. "One of the X-men is my guardian so I've kinda been here forever. I'm not a student anymore, but I know my way around." He glanced back at the "closed" sign on DocProf's door. Right. There was no point in hanging around at Doc Prof's door. He could easily come back after he did his good deed for the day.

"I've got some time to kill. Let me show you around. You can meet my little brother too. There's not enough eyes in the world to keep that kid out of trouble, so the more people looking after him while I'm not here, the better." He popped the last morsel of bagel into his mouth, fully expecting no resistance. Only a monster would say no to that.

Celeste was glad to hear that he laughed after her little joke - thankfully, it didn't look like she would be in any trouble then. She was a bit worried about that, even though her intentions were innocent. People can take things in a million different ways, no matter how innocent the intention might have been. She brushed some of her hair behind her ear.

>> "Jude Coilin."

She nodded, "Well, nice to meet you, Jude." Jude. That was a nice name. She thought back, thinking if she had ever met anyone else with that name before. Maybe it wasn't a common name or maybe she just wasn't exposed that much. 

>> "One of the X-men is my guardian so I've kinda been here forever. I'm not a student anymore, but I know my way around. I've got some time to kill. Let me show you around. You can meet my little brother too. There's not enough eyes in the world to keep that kid out of trouble, so the more people looking after him while I'm not here, the better." 

Celeste eyes followed Jude's eyes to the "Closed" sign on DocProf's door. Celeste was actually pretty interested in meeting him - she wanted to know more about her body and how it handled the crazy ridiculous radiation that found it's home inside her through her X-Gene.

More importantly, she wondered if she'd hurt anyone if there was an emergency where she was bleeding, had to have surgery, or something. The radiation would be in her blood, but regular surgical gloves wouldn't be very protective. That was meant for a different time, though.

That is pretty cool, having an X-Men as a guardian. She nodded, clearly interested, "Wow, that is pretty awesome - having a guardian part of the X-Men." She wondered if he ever went on any crazy missions or something that the X-Men tended to do. She tried to guess his age - he looked young. Maybe around her age, definitely not past the early 20's though. Recently graduated from the Mansion or from another school? 

She was more than willing to be shown around, but she didn't really want to take away his time for doing... Whatever he was doing, "I appreciate the offer, but if you're busy, it's okay.. I wouldn't want to interrupt your time or anything, unless you have time, of course," she stumbled out. She really had to work on her rambling. She really didn't want to take away from his time. At the same time, she really was probably lost, and he might be her easiest way to get back on track. 

She let out a small laugh at his comment about his brother. Nothing like siblings, "Ut-oh. Little troublemaker. How old is he?" 

Was it nice to meet Jude? Clearly, she didn't know him very well.

"The pleasure is all mine." He nodded a sort-of neck bow, more silly than serious.

"Don't let the glamor of the X-men name throw you off. They're all a bunch of children." Some more than others. He simply smiled when she tried to give him an out for the whole showing around thing. Either she didn't want him to show her, or his guess was that she was ambivalent and just trying to be nice. Either way, Jude really didn't have anything better to do. Karmic scales and all that. He'd killed a harridan with blonde hair like this girl not too long ago. Sort of on accident, sort of on purpose. And then she had the nerve to come right back to life... blondes were trouble. Jude would have to keep his guard up.

"Right. So, this is the admin hall." Jude rapped his knuckles on Sam's office as they passed, but felt no mutant inside. Oh. Yeah. Definitely, he had time to show Miss delicate and apologetic Celestina around.

"I just came through here." Jude ushered Celestina forward and motioned around to the end of the hallway. The admin hall dead ended into DocProf's office/infirmary/nursing home. "Follow DocProf's space down toward the light and we'll come out at the kitchen. The windows look out over the side porch. That's why it's bright."

The door between the eating area and living space was visible from the admin hall and that was where he'd come in today. Without wings, he wouldn't be going back that way.

"If you really want to snoop, all the juicy secrets are to your right." He pointed around to a stairwell, not exactly hidden, but not right in everyone's face's either. "Those stairs take you down underground to all the X-men stuff. Airplane hangar, simulation room, locker room... If you want to someday join them, which I advise against, you might be down there a ton. In the meantime, if you need extra cash, the X's employ Mansion kids to watch the perimeter cameras, but the hours are weird sometimes. Make nice with whoever makes the schedule if you try that." He shrugged, worried that he might be dropping too much information all at once.

"Was that... helpful? Or too much?"

>> "The pleasure is all mine."

A big smile came onto her lips, then a quiet laugh. Part of her was happy that she would get a little tour of some of the mansion, another part happy that she wouldn't have to worry about being lost in the huge mansion.

>> "Don't let the glamor of the X-men name throw you off. They're all a bunch of children." 

She arched her eyebrow. Fair enough, but it wasn't often that someone heard that opinion, at least from individuals who've she's seen around the school. Those individuals she has met, of course, might have just been lying. She knew, as a realistic as she likes to call herself, that the X-Men were still human... Er... Mutants and still prone to mistakes. Having a power doesn't make you invincible from making a mess of things.

There might have been some bad blood between Jude and the X-Men? He did say his guardian was an X-Men. Maybe some family drama? Drama in general was pretty fun, so long as she was pretty far away from the center of it and was witnessing it from the outside. She was honestly a bit curious about his opinions on the X-Men. She knew they weren't perfect but she ultimately strives for their ideals. She had to debate on asking why he thought that or just brush it off. She finally settled on a pretty basic response, "Fair enough," and she nodded her head. 

>> "Right. So, this is the admin hall. I just came through here. Follow DocProf's space down toward the light and we'll come out at the kitchen. The windows look out over the side porch. That's why it's bright."

Celeste nodded, following Jude like a semi-lost puppy. She recognized most of the admin hall, from when Juliette brought her into the school. She was trying her best to make mental notes. 

>> "If you really want to snoop, all the juicy secrets are to your right. Those stairs take you down underground to all the X-men stuff. Airplane hangar, simulation room, locker room... If you want to someday join them, which I advise against, you might be down there a ton. In the meantime, if you need extra cash, the X's employ Mansion kids to watch the perimeter cameras, but the hours are weird sometimes. Make nice with whoever makes the schedule if you try that."

Was that a dare? She paused, taking a look towards the so called juicy secrets. She clearly wanted to go down there, but also was pretty conflicted. "Well, snooping can be fun," she whispered to herself. She looked over Jude again, betting this guy was going to get her into some trouble. She cleared her throat, "Gotcha. I'm not really sure if I'm going to join them or not. I might, I might not. I haven't really thought that far ahead." She actually had thought zero about it. She had never considered her an X-Men. That would definitely be a if it happens, it happens kind of situation. Celeste was planning on working in radiation cleanup, or maybe radiology, anyways. She shook her head, "I'm actually a waitress at Wallflower diner, I work about 30-35 hours or so a week there, so I don't think I'd have time or make enough by doing that. Plus, I don't live in the mansion and... Buses." She made a slightly disgusted face. She mentally hit herself, too. There really wasn't any reason to go into that much detail by simply saying she wasn't interested in watching cameras.

>> "Was that... helpful? Or too much?"

She nodded, "Oh yeah, it definitely is. Thanks for the details and I definitely appreciate your honesty." She really did like that he was pretty open about how his ideas of the X-Men. Not a lot of people in the mansion probably would  say that if they had those feelings, at least not openly to a complete stranger. "There's a chance I'll need to ask a question or two, may make you repeat it a little bit, but I think I got most of the information down." She was semi-joking, a grin on her face. It was a lot to take in but Celeste was very serious about these type of things - she did her best to record it into her memory. 

She muttered to herself, clearly conflicted. About what, Jude had no idea. He was presenting the facts clearly, though even he would admit his biased.

"Well, I mean, if you're into that kind of thing." The X-men thing, that was. Jude shrugged, equally ambivalent about Celestina's intent to join the X-team. "Just because you're a student doesn't mean you have to. Plenty of people are students and focus on academia." As much as he wanted to air out the team's dirty laundry in front of a newbie, that wasn't classy at all. Jude wanted to stay on the high road.

"I was a trainee, but decided to walk away after a while. I guess I wasn't a good fit." He shrugged. Jude was kind of over it at this point so long as he didn't have to see Cold Steel 'I'm a douche' Johnson face to face.

Celestina volunteered some information about where she worked as they walked through the eating area. Really, Jude was taking them in a circle around the kitchen so he could show her where one wing of the classrooms was. It was harder to say where things were and easier to see it in person. She'd been smart to come scope it out ahead of time. "I work in the city too. It's actually a freaking long commute to get here now that I've moved out. That's cool that you have a job already. Shows initiative." Or so they kept telling him. Really, Jude had just wanted a way to make a living for himself, by himself.

He opened the classroom hallway door for Celestina and held it until she passed.

> "There's a chance I'll need to ask a question or two, may make you repeat it a little bit, but I think I got most of the information down."

"You're good." He assured her. Too pure and good, really. She must have lived under a rock until this moment. "These classrooms are probably where you'll need to be. Do you recognize any of the numbers? Music is at the end of the hall, 'cause it's noisy, I guess." While the Mansion was quiet, the classrooms buzzed with life. Classes were in session, so it was only the odd student in the hallway. Not too public, but when the bell rang that'd be a different story.

>> "Well, I mean, if you're into that kind of thing. Just because you're a student doesn't mean you have to. Plenty of people are students and focus on academia."

She nodded, "Yeah, I'll see what happens. I'm not sure what all it entails." She had no idea what it all entailed. It would probably be pretty fun, exciting, adventurous to be apart of the X-Men - travel to new places, daring missions. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't. She wasn't really sure. Unless they had some pretty great close combat training, she wouldn't be very useful in a daring mission. She could easily use her powers against someone, but once she was drained? Yikes! Does hopefully landing a taser on them count for close combat?

"I was a trainee, but decided to walk away after a while. I guess I wasn't a good fit. I work in the city too. It's actually a freaking long commute to get here now that I've moved out. That's cool that you have a job already. Shows initiative."

She nodded again, "Fair enough. It doesn't sound it's made for everyone or even most people. I suck at close combat. I just use a taser to.. Well, taze people." She shrugged a little, unsure of really where to go with that portion of the conversation. She had never actually even used the taser - almost, but never actually did. She felt like he had some strong opinions about the X-Men from his previous comments plus this one. She wondered why, a bit nosily. Definitely not a question to ask someone up front, especially a stranger though. She smiled, "Yep!  I'm lucky I'm not too deep into the city. I would hate riding the bus even longer." She smiled, a little beam in her eyes. She was working really hard. "Thanks," she said a little too enthusiastically, "I mean, thanks, I'm glad I got it so quickly. You gotta do whatcha gotta do." 

Celeste followed Jude through the dining area. Good place to know about, especially since Celeste loved cooking and well eating. She slipped through into the classroom hallway, whispering a small thank you  as she entered it. 

>> "You're good. These classrooms are probably where you'll need to be. Do you recognize any of the numbers? Music is at the end of the hall, 'cause it's noisy, I guess."

She laughed quietly, "Well, good." She dug through her little purse, pulling out her schedule and glancing towards the room numbers, "Yeah, looks like a few of them are in this hallway." About half of them, actually. That'll make things a bit easier for her. "Do you know how difficult the classes are?" 

Jude chortled at the idea of this innocent gazelle of a human using a taser. "Have you? Used the taser, I mean. Like, actually used it on a person?" He would give her back all the street cred he assumed she did not have if she had. Thug life Celestina. He was ready to be impressed, but also ready to not be surprised at all. There was nothing wrong with being a perfect little sugar confection.

> "Yep! I'm lucky I'm not too deep into the city. I would hate riding the bus even longer."

"Ahh. Yeah, it stinks, but you get used to it after a while. Guess that means you don't fly for your power." Jude's power was so firmly under wraps that he couldn't tell anything more than the fact that she was a mutant, but that was pretty much a give-in considering their location. He knew that he had to keep a handle on his power or else it would start picking up abilities willy-nilly and without his permission. He needed DocProf's power before he could make it back to work.

"I work waaaaay the heck over in Greenpoint, across the bridge on Long Island. It's a security company, but I just do the papers. Nothing too crazy, y'know?" It was easy to fall into conversation as they walked. Now that Celestina had confirmed that some of her classes were in the east hall, it was time to head on over to the west. That took them back through the eating area, past the fridge of many wonders and the back staircase that lead to the dorm-like rooms where most students actually lived, and through another door.

> "Do you know how difficult the classes are?"

Jude's face was carefully bland. He was proud of himself, actually, for not blurting out the weirdness that was his life. "Depends on the teacher. Avoid taking self defense classes for Phys Ed. Go for literally anything else and you should be good. Most teachers are mutants, but not all. Most teachers care." And he would just leave the last 'but not all' implied. Wasn't really important.

"Here we go. The rest of your classes should be here. The only weird thing is if you have bota—" The second half of Jude's word was cut off by the shrill ring of a bell. He hated how long that tone sounded, but calmly ushered Celestina over to the side of the hall as the students of the Mansion came spilling out of their classrooms and scurried around like a million ants.

"Botany." He had to speak up to be heard over the rush of kids. "It's outside."

Celeste was trying to keep a map of the school in her mind as they walked. Hopefully, she wouldn't forget it before tomorrow. Directions weren't a strong suit for her. 

>>  "Have you? Used the taser, I mean. Like, actually used it on a person?" 

Celeste gave Jude a playful glare, not sure if she really wanted to answer that. If she was honest, she had a feeling he might pick on her about it. Her cheeks blushed a little as she began thinking about how to tell the story, "Welllll... I almost did. It was back in Regina," she looked towards his face to see if he actually wanted to hear the full story, "And these drunk people showed up at this little store. It was pretty late, but I was going for a jog, anyway, then there was a brief fight. Most of them got pretty sick except one, laying on the ground curled up. I was like just about too but he ended up running away." She concluded the story kind of quickly. It wasn't that exciting, probably not as exciting as his stories, but it was one of the most terrifying parts of her life. That was also when she ended up using her body flare for the first time. 

>> "Ahh. Yeah, it stinks, but you get used to it after a while. Guess that means you don't fly for your power. I work waaaaay the heck over in Greenpoint, across the bridge on Long Island. It's a security company, but I just do the papers. Nothing too crazy, y'know?"

She giggled, "Nope, no flying here. I would love that, though, but nope." She debated on telling him more about her powers but figured if he was interested, he would inquire more about them with her. Some people kind of freaked out about the idea of someone with thousands of rads of radiation inside them, not mention that she could release it from her body. She doubted he would, but you never could tell. She nodded, impressed, "Wow, that is pretty far.  It sounds pretty crazy to me. What about paper cuts?" She gave him a wink, clearly joking. "That's not bad though. An easy, stable job is pretty darn good, even if it is less exciting than some other ones." She liked her diner job, at least the people she worked with. She didn't really enjoy interacting with customers like she did, but it paid her bills and gave her spending money. 


>> Depends on the teacher. Avoid taking self-defense classes for Phys Ed. Go for literally anything else and you should be good. Most teachers are mutants, but not all. Most teachers care.

She nodded. Makes sense. Lucky for her, she had already completed her phys ed back in Regina. She noted that his last few sentences. Fair enough. There are bad teachers everywhere and there is really no getting around that. She was pretty excited to hear there were some human teachers too - she was an avid believer that everyone should just treat each other the same. Of course, not many people on either side of the spectrum had her idealistic views of egalitarianism. Celeste knew it probably wouldn't ever happen but it felt wrong not to believe it might one day happen. She had a pretty crappy freshman high school teacher for maths that drove her bonkers, hopefully, there wouldn't be any teachers like that here. Annoying, loud, always yelling at the students. 

She jumped when she heard the bell ring, she had been pretty absorbed into the conversation with Jude and trying to memorize the layout of the school that she hadn't realized it might be time for classes to switch. She was grateful that Jude moved her over against the wall as the onslaught of humans bursted from the classrooms. Wow, there was a lot more people here than she realized. When her focus finally came back to Jude, "Oh, I do have botany..." She double checked her schedule, "Yeah, I do... It's one of the earth science requirements here I think I need. Last one of the day, actually. " 

Regina?

"Like Canada, Regina?" Huh. No wonder she was so nice. She practically had no choice in the matter as a Canadian resident. Certainly, the people he'd met while in Canada had been ambivalent at worst.

"I'm kinda glad you didn't have to taze anybody." Marshmallow fluff needed no hard candy coating. There were some things a mutant never came back from and violence sure seemed like a slippery slope. "Everybody reacts differently. Pepper spray might be a better choice." Well, he did work in security. Jude realized in that moment that he'd started to form opinions without realizing it.

How could he resist smiling when she giggled? He didn't meant to. It just sort of happened.

> "It sounds pretty crazy to me. What about paper cuts?"

"Cardboard cuts are worse." He offered, leaving out the mention of all the ammunition and weaponry he shuffled around. "It's either the biggest paper cut or a double." He had the proof on his hands, ready to show off his so so manly filing wounds. The hurt was real.

Jude waited with Celestina, hanging out at the fringe of activity while students trucked through. It wasn't worth talking much over the noise and he knew it'd die down quick enough. He even got a few waves and shakes of the head proving that he had been in classes with some of the people who were still here. He hadn't been gone that long.

"Glad you're not dead!" A girl teased who was easily still in middle school. She didn't stop walking, but she did turn backwards to look back at the response.

"What was that?" Jude cupped a hand around his ear. "Couldn't hear you over the vast amount of freedom I have."

She stuck out her tongue at Jude. "Nice to meet you, new girl!" And then she was through the door and continuing on her way.

"Tch. She didn't even introduce herself." His eye roll was palpable.

"That was Jerra. If she asks you to play poker. Don't." Aaand he recognized the schedule in Celestina's hands. "Right. Botany. That's outside. There's a greenhouse and the teacher is called Dryad. She's like super pregnant or something too. C'mon."

There was an outside door on the hall, probably due to fire requirements. He held that door open as well, today playing the gentleman.

The hall dumped them out to a grassy area just past the soccer fields. There were a few footpaths carved out from lots of walking. "It's sort of around back. Sorry, We could have walked inside in the air conditioning, but since it's between classes this might be faster."

A big grin slowly creeped across her face. She was expecting the Canadian jokes to come through but to her slight surprise, none happened.  It was nice that he didn't start making the friendly Canadian jokes. Celeste had met quite a few her were not very friendly Canadians, her family included. She nodded her confirmation to him, "Yep, Canada. You know, the big one with maple syrup and moose and stuff." 

>> "I'm kinda glad you didn't have to taze anybody. Everybody reacts differently. Pepper spray might be a better choice." 

She let out a soft giggle, "Well, me too. Not entirely sure I would have gone through with it." She nodded, a more serious look on her face, "Hm, well maybe I should get some. You are the security guy with the expertise." Pepper spray would be a lot easier, at least - just aim it in their general face and bam. Incapacitated. The taser is a bit harder - she'd have to make physical contact with them. She couldn't help but give him a smile when she saw him smiling at her giggle. It made her feel... A little fuzzy on the inside, with a little blush on her cheeks. She took a breath and quickly shrugged it off. 

She timidly and inquisitively asked him, "So, do you know a lot of self defense stuff? I have the whole range attack stuff relatively down with my mutation but the up and personal stuff I kinda suck at, as you can see." 

>> "Cardboard cuts are worse. "

She winced. Ouch! That had to burn pretty bad. "I can only imagine" was about the only thing she could think of in her reaction. Her diner had lots of truck deliveries with food who usually have cardboard boxes - but usually the kitchen guys took care of it, which Celeste grateful for - mainly because she liked her pretty hands not to be destroyed by cuts and bruises. 

Pushed against the wall, she watched as the students all filed out of their classrooms. Their chatter was loud and their conversations seemed to be about all sorts of things. Classes, relationships, parties, their rooms, what they wanted for lunch and dinner. It seemed like a pretty normal high school - except with mutants. She even saw plenty of people with visible mutations, which was pretty awesome. She hadn't been very exposed to mutant culture in Regina, mainly due to her parents. It was good to see so many like-minded people in the same place.

>> "That was Jerra. If she asks you to play poker. Don't. Right. Botany. That's outside. There's a greenhouse and the teacher is called Dryad. She's like super pregnant or something too. C'mon."

She watched as the middle schooler made her comment and run off. "Well, nice to meet you too," Celeste whispered as she took off. She nodded, "I don't play poker, actually, so no worries there." She didn't even know how to play cards in general, let alone poker specifically. At least she had a kinda valid excuse not to lose all her money to the middle schooler. She nodded and followed Jude out of the building, into the nice hot outside. "Thanks, good sir," she told him as she passed him by. "So, when you say Dryad, is she like... The mythological dryads too? I'm guessing she isn't attached to a tree somewhere in the mythical forest but she is kinda like... treeish?" It sounded like a pretty amazing power either way, honestly.

>> "It's sort of around back. Sorry, We could have walked inside in the air conditioning, but since it's between classes this might be faster."

Celeste nodded, more than content to be out of the ruckus of the classroom rushes. They were going to end up outside anyways and Celeste was never one to turn down an outdoors walk, "No problem, I don't mind a little walk. Plus, wayyy too crowded in there." 

She'd asked about self-defense, but in the rush, Jude hadn't answered. Now that they were outside it was easier.

"Part of the reason I left the X-men is that I wasn't really great at beating people up." In fact, his worst offense seemed to be letting one of the bad guys go. He second worst being that he wouldn't stand for one of the team leader's drunkenness.

"I took some martial arts stuff instead of PE which was cool, but seems really impractical for real life, you know? The security guys keep razzing me about learning to use guns. There's a range at work where I could practice, but I kinda grew up thinking that guns are bad. Or maybe like they're cheating somehow. Besides. Guns are for killing people and I don't really want to kill anybody." Right now.

Here at the Mansion, it was easy to pretend everyone was nice and kind and cared. He did know a few people who, by his estimation, just needed to stop living.

> "So, when you say Dryad, is she like... The mythological dryads too? I'm guessing she isn't attached to a tree somewhere in the mythical forest but she is kinda like... treeish?"

He laughed. "There's a lot of myths come to life in the mutant world, but if she's got that power, I don't know about it." And he made it his business to know powers. "I think she's just plants. She helps with the gardens too." Which were undeniably beautiful. They bloomed way more than was realistic and had all kinds of plants living in harmony where naturally they probably wouldn't. They skirted between the back porch garden and the hedge maze. Once they turned the corner to the back of the Mansion, the greenhouse was in plain sight.

"Speaking of powers, you said you had range covered. So that's what? Like laserbeam eyes?"