>> "Part of the reason I left the X-men is that I wasn't really great at beating people up. 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."

She smiled, respecting that answer. It was a sweet answer. She couldn't blame him either, she never liked the idea of fighting or hurting other people. She really hated that her powers really only allowed her to harm people - the only little bit she could do to be helpful is to absorb it. That might be useful is fallout was an issue on a pretty common occurrence but it really wasn't. Maybe a disaster every 30-40 years or so? Can't make a living that way. Maybe she could learn how to use her radiation to target particular places in peoples bodies. She could be a human radiation treatment for cancer patients. Depressing, either way. "Yeah, I don't really like the idea of fighting either." Guns was a whole other subject. Her mother had hated them but her father loved them, probably the American in him. "Typically, killing people isn't too smiled upon, so that is pretty understandable."

>>  "I think she's just plants. She helps with the gardens too."

She nodded, "We should check that out the gardens to, since we're wandering around outside now." She scanned the greenhouse from afar. Ugh, she betted that it would be a pretty toasty class setting. Her regret was already setting in for accepting this type of class. Hot, humid, sweaty, gross in general. Oh well, too late to back out now. And it's only until the end of the year, so it wouldn't be too bad. Hopefully.

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

She giggled, "No, no laser beam eyes. I'm pretty much a nuclear fuel rod. Radiation. Shoot it out of me, absorb it, that fun stuff." Hopefully, he wouldn't freak out over the idea of radiation being all inside her.  People usually didn't react well to the confession of her power. "What about you," she asked, hoping to turn the conversation quickly if he did react negatively. 

Jude hadn't exactly said that he wasn't willing to fight, but it was easy to see how a creampuff like Celestina would jump to that conclusion. He was plenty okay with using and abusing powers. He was more than okay with taking other people's powers away too. As for killing people... he'd only ever done that once. There had to be better ways to get what he wanted.

> "...I'm pretty much a nuclear fuel rod. Radiation..."

Whoah. Jude assumed she was cool to be around, otherwise they wouldn't just let her hang out with children. As far as powers went, it sounded like a heavy one.

> "What about you,"

"I do what you do." He smiled one increment at a time. "I'm a copycat. My power doesn't work without somebody else's power around. I actually came in to grab DocProf's healing today."

Celestina's curiosity was enchanting and Jude found himself laughing and shaking his head. "It's kinda fun to see things with new eyes." Her fresh perspective was just so... un-jaded. She was wasted here, and she didn't even know it. Maybe not living here would be better. It was already better for him.

"Screw the greenhouse. It's a sauna. You know where it is now, right?" There was the door. There was the hedge maze. There was the wall of the Mansion... surely she could remember that, right?

"Come on. I'll take you to the best part of the gardens. I used to come out here a lot before my powers kicked in." Jude took hold of Celestina's hand and grinned with some of the boyishness that he'd lost in recent years.

The gardens sprawled all around the side wing of the classrooms and out along the back porch. They skated around the hedge maze and filtered out into an open plain of grass where kids played soccer. A smattering of flowers marched toward the treeline and that's where Jude headed, to where the carefully curated garden met the "wilds" or at least as wild as things got out here.

"Here. Like this." Jude let go of her hand in order to flop down onto a pad of thick, summer grass. He heaved a big, long sigh of relief like he'd just set down a burden. From his new vantage point, the trees and flowers made a sort-of border for the sky above. Daffodils, forget-me-nots, and some kind of electric red orchid swayed in the breeze, dipping just barely low enough to kiss his forehead. It was a space between order and chaos, a little out of the way and near enough to the trees if he'd needed to pretend he was somewhere else. The perfect spot for a dreamer.

This was going to be one of the easiest classes for her to remember where it was at. She was not looking forward to having to go in there for an hour or so every day. Better pack some extra perfume & deodorant.

>> "I do what you do. I'm a copycat. My power doesn't work without somebody else's power around. I actually came in to grab DocProf's healing today."

Her eyes widened with his first sentence. Wow, could he really have the same powers as her? What a coincidence! Once informed her he was a copy cat, that made a lot more sense. Heck, that was honestly even better. What an amazing power to have - literally could be anything so long as you're close to them. He could take offensive & defensive, help people or not, etc. Celeste was pretty impressed by that.  "Oh wow, so you pretty much take other peoples powers. Do you disable the other persons powers when you use it or is it basically two of the same? Also, be careful if you ever take mine. My powers make me really nauseous without medicine." 

>> "It's kinda fun to see things with new eyes."

She arched an eyebrow, a sly grin on her face, "Well, a new perspective has never hurt anyone. You can see whole new worlds that way." She completely made that up. Maybe someone did, maybe they didn't. She shrugged afterwards, and then laughed a little. She was curious to know more about his story, though - how did he really view the school, the X-Men? How'd he end up here to begin with? He seemed to have either negative at worst and ambivalent at best feelings about the whole situation. Celeste was impressed with his initial honesty, too. Maybe she was wrong, but she felt like no one else would have been that up front with her. Of course, his reaction to her powers was what made her the most happy. He didn't seem to even make any type of surprised, scared facial expression or anything, he just went straight into his powers. It made Celeste feel comfortable, less stressed, more relaxed. 

>> "Screw the greenhouse. It's a sauna. You know where it is now, right? Come on. I'll take you to the best part of the gardens. I used to come out here a lot before my powers kicked in."

Celeste was surprised by the suddenness of his words. She nodded her agreement though, she really did not want to go into the greenhouse. It was something she would avoid at all cost, at least until her grades depended on it. Celeste wasn't prepared for him to suddenly grab her hand either, the sudden grab making her cheeks turn a little pink. She had never been suddenly grabbed and pulled forward by the hand like that. Celeste didn't mind though, and she took off with him.

Celeste wasn't paying too much attention to the garden at this point, still processing the sudden grab handing and running. But once she had processed it, she gazed over the beautiful garden and the sudden wilds that showed up behind it. Celeste smiled as she watched Jude fall onto the ground and as he stared up into the sky. She laid down beside him, albeit more slowly and to make sure her dress didn't do any funny tricks. She took a deep breath and released, staring up at the sky. "Wow... This is amazing," she whispered quietly. It seemed wrong to talk much louder. It was beautiful, sky gazing with the beautiful trees around. It was so tranquil, so peaceful. She honestly could have fallen asleep if she kept her eyes closed too long. 

Huh. Why he hadn't expected her to continue with her questions, Jude wasn't sure. Maybe because his power wasn't all the interesting to him any more, more like a constant obstacle. And it wasn't interesting to the people here any more either. They certainly hadn't bent over backwards to keep him around.

> "...Do you disable the other persons powers when you use it or is it basically two of the same?"

"Two of the same thing, mostly, which is why I say copycat. I can take someone's power away, but that's really freakin' hard for me. I need to practice 'cause that's just good self defense, I think."

Jude glanced sideway at Celestina as she mentioned her powers effects on herself. Suddenly his power's constant nagging didn't seem so bad.

"I could practice on you sometime. If the nausea's really bad, I mean." Did that sound a little too eager? Mostly people didn't know he could remove mutations temporarily and when they did, it put him on a whole new level of 'do not want.'

Her awe over his spot was, frankly, a little embarrassing. It wasn't that cool. Still, he found himself talking in equally hushed tones. She seemed interested, so he figured he'd share some and head off a few questions.

"I was 9 when I first enrolled. Knew I had the X gene and knew it'd be a few years before it manifested. I only mostly knew English and I was an imperious little brat. I didn't yet fit because no powers. And the brat thing. So, I guess I had plenty of time to explore things. I ended up out here." Now, even being able to literally fit in by virtue of having the exact same powers, he still hadn't fit. Jude folded his arms behind his head. The flowers didn't care, at least.

Celeste was a pretty inquisitive gal. She was a little nerd, reading her books & could have been the valedictorian if she had stayed in Regina. it mostly came from a place of trying to convince her parents she was worth something to them. It was part of this realization that pushed her to finally leave Regina - they didn't want a mutant child. She didn't want parents that wouldn't even acknowledge her presence. Celeste could only hope that her sister doesn't end up being a mutant. Maybe she'd send a birthday card to her sister. Her parents would probably trash it, but life was full of surprises. Sometimes. 

>>"Two of the same thing, mostly, which is why I say copycat. I can take someone's power away, but that's really freakin' hard for me. I need to practice 'cause that's just good self defense, I think."   

She nodded her agreement, "Wow. So your powers must inactivate the X-Gene somehow? Kinda like messing with their DNA. Pretty amazing, honestly." He seemed fairly nonchalant about his powers, but Celeste thought it was pretty cool, "Yeah, for self defense it'd work really well - I mean, mutants usually rely on their powers in fighting situations." It wasn't until a few moments later that it registered that he said he was coming to take Doc Prof's powers, "Oh, you said you were coming to use Doc Prof's power? Security guard turned Doctor?" She teased him with a playful tone.  "That's really cool though, healing abilities would be pretty nifty. You can help all sorts of people. Maybe one day I'll be able to like... Target peoples tumors and stuff. A human radiation treatment." She laughed, shrugging a little.  

>> "I could practice on you sometime. If the nausea's really bad, I mean." 

She smiled and then nodded, "Sure. Just let me know when you'd want too." He had been using Doc Prof's powers, so she knew it wasn't a permanent situation. Or at least that's what she presumed. She didn't really have a problem with it - she didn't use her powers often anyways, especially considering they're more for offense or defensive type of situations. She almost always avoided those kind of situations anyways. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the soft breeze flow across her. It was a peaceful moment. Her mind was brought back by him beginning to talk.

>> "I was 9 when I first enrolled. Knew I had the X gene and knew it'd be a few years before it manifested. I only mostly knew English and I was an imperious little brat. I didn't yet fit because no powers. And the brat thing. So, I guess I had plenty of time to explore things. I ended up out here." 

She smiled, the questions already forming in her mind. She couldn't help but laugh at his confession of being a little brat. "You knew you had the X-Gene? Brat? You bad boy," she teased, "Most kids are brats anyways," She was slightly joking, but mostly serious. Kids tended to be bratty - it seemed to be in their nature, at least to Celeste. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing to her, it was just a part of growing up. "Mostly knew English..? What is your native language?" Celeste was a language junkie - she already was nearly fluent in about 3 languages, and before she moved to New York she had been working on a couple other languages as well. 

She looked away from him and back up towards the sky, "It's a good spot to get away from... Everything else." 

> "Wow. So your powers must inactivate the X-Gene somehow? Kinda like messing with their DNA. Pretty amazing, honestly."

"I haven't really tested it at the microscopic level. I know it shuts powers down like they never ever were. People with physical manifestations look human." Only for about a minute, though. Maybe longer if he practiced, but a minute was seriously pushing it at this point.

> "Oh, you said you were coming to use Doc Prof's power? Security guard turned Doctor?"

She was pretty sharp. Jude squirmed against the grass, both flattered that she was curious and unused to the scrutiny.

"Out in the real world, I don't tell people what I can do. I had a friend who could boost powers and it was a big mistake to let that secret out. I couldn't protect her and she didn't want me to anyway. It got her kidnapped more than once.

So, at my job, I didn't tell them I could do anything until one day an emergency came up. I thought they might want to keep me around more if I was more useful to them. Healers aren't asked to guard anybody, so I figured it was a safe one. And I always know where DocProf is... well. Usually."

> "That's really cool though, healing abilities would be pretty nifty... Maybe one day I'll be ... a human radiation treatment."

"I made the mistake of walking into a hospital. You think it's cool until you see that you can't save everybody." And that was a total downer. "At least, I did... Now they want to know if I can heal the flu and stuff. I don't know if DocProf works on viruses, but I'm not healing every sniffle."

She wanted to find a beneficial use for her power. Everyone started out that way, naively wanting to save the world. Though, if there was one thing that everyone in the world could agree that was bad, it was probably cancer. If she could kick canser's *ss, maybe she would be a hero some day.

"It kinda sucks to have a power and not find something you can do with it." Oh dang. He didn't mean it like that. Jude rolled to the side so he could see Celestina's face.

"I didn't mean--" Well, actually he had. Jude swapped to something a bit more honest. "I'm sorry if your power's a burden." She'd said that he could practice, but since there was medicine involved, he didn't want to do that now because he didn't know enough to feel safe messing with it. "I would take that burden away, even for the little bit."

He flopped back into his spot, worried that he'd blown their easy chat. So he offered up a little of his story. His preemptive peace offering. He'd long ago learned that nobody cared that he'd lived in the future, so he kept his explanations as simple as possible. Not because she couldn't handle it. Celestina was so astute it was a little scary, actually. It was just that he had history. And nobody deserved to get buried under that on day one.

> "You knew you had the X-Gene?"

"Yes."

> "Brat? You bad boy..."

He found himself smiling in answer to the smile he could hear in her tone. "I ran a poker ring. We bet snacks and when we ran out of snacks, we worked up to dares. I also let a homeless person live in my room without telling anyone... for 2 whole years." Among his many, many other transgressions, those were his crown jewels. "I don't think most kinds are that bratty."

> "Mostly knew English..? What is your native language?"

<I speak French. You're Canadian so you'll likely butcher it, but at least you might understand.> He answered smugly in his native tongue. French was a much more beautiful language and if he hadn't had Astrid or the omni-lingual language arts teacher around, he was sure he might have gotten rusty.

Finally, she commented on his spot. It wasn't like it was sacred or secret or even good during inclement weather. But it sure was peaceful. Jude's eyes followed a puff of cloud as it trailed slowly across the sky.

"So, what's a nice girl from Canada doing working and schooling at the same time?"

Her eyes drifted back to Jude, she listened as he began to answer her 10's of hundreds of questions about him. Celeste was glad he didn't mind talking to her and answering her questions - she really was just curious about the man laying next to her. She didn't have that many friends but she felt a budding friendship with him. I mean, they had only just met each other and seemed to have a pretty strong connection.

>> "I haven't really tested it at the microscopic level. I know it shuts powers down like they never ever were. People with physical manifestations look human.

Celeste listened intently as he spoke, "Wow, that's pretty amazing. It's probably better not to know how it works in the inside." She shrugged, "Inside my body, I have nearly 5,000 rads. I was actually going to talk to DocProf about it eventually..." She hesitated a little, not sure if she should continue, but decided to go ahead, "To see if it was going to do any weird things to me. internally. Like, people can get cancer from it but is going to give me cancer at some point? Is my X-Gene protecting me from radiation related cancers? Cancers in general?" She shrugged, "There's a lot of questions." It was kinda an intense conversation, actually.

>> Out in the real world, I don't tell people what I can do. I had a friend who could boost powers and it was a big mistake to let that secret out. I couldn't protect her and she didn't want me to anyway. It got her kidnapped more than once. So, at my job, I didn't tell them I could do anything until one day an emergency came up. I thought they might want to keep me around more if I was more useful to them. Healers aren't asked to guard anybody, so I figured it was a safe one. And I always know where DocProf is... well. Usually.

Celeste's face grew very serious and somber over the story of his friend, a frown tugging at her lips. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Kidnapped? That's terrifying... Being a mutant, letting people know, can be pretty dangerous in our world." Her mind drifted to all those conspiracy sites that popped up on the internet every now and then. She couldn't help but giggle at his last comment about Doc Prof. "Oh, so that's why you were around there. He wasn't there? I'm guessing he's usually there." She had a little gasp, "You know, if he was there, we'd probably never would have met." She looked back up to the sky, seeing what looked like a bunny cross over the sky. "That makes sense, though. Being able to heal people, I imagine, is a pretty marketable asset." She gave him a quick grin.

>> "I made the mistake of walking into a hospital. You think it's cool until you see that you can't save everybody."

She nodded solemnly, not really having anything to add to that comment. Death was a part of life - it eventually came for us all in the end.

>> "It kinda sucks to have a power and not find something you can do with it. I didn't mean-- I'm sorry if your power's a burden."

She saw him roll over, and listened as he tried to cover up what he was saying. She smiled as she rolled her head over towards him, "It's fine - I'll find a use for it eventually. I have it for a purpose, it's just a matter of finding that purpose." Celeste was a believer in fate and ultimately, her power would be useful. "Worst case, I'll just become a cop. I'll totally be the bad cop, too." She made little pistol shooting with her hands.

>> "I would take that burden away, even for the little bit."

That was really sweet and Celeste really wasn't sure what to say at first. Her cheeks felt a little flushed at first, and she looked away from him. She wouldn't let him without knowing how it might effect him but it was nice to know that he was so willing to take it from her and help her.

>> "I ran a poker ring. We bet snacks and when we ran out of snacks, we worked up to dares. I also let a homeless person live in my room without telling anyone... for 2 whole years. I don't think most kinds are that bratty."

She was actually pretty impressed and her face showed it. "Did they have awards for that...? Most trouble making student? I mean, that's pretty darn impressive for a kiddo."

>> <I speak French. You're Canadian so you'll likely butcher it, but at least you might understand.>

Celeste smirked, arching a brow with a playful grin on her face, "Typical Frenchmen, smug as ever. I'm a language junky - I speak 3 fluently and know the beginnings of a couple others." She spoke in fluent French but it was very Canadian.

>> "So, what's a nice girl from Canada doing working and schooling at the same time?"

Now it was her turn to share her story. Yikes. Where to even begin? She didn't want to scare him off so she figured she would simplify it a little. "Well... I actually just got here a few months ago. My parents, they aren't mutant friendly. They actually had another kid right after my powers manifested to essentially replace me. Literally. They even gave her my middle name. She's the sweetest little thing, though." She shrugged, "They didn't really want me but it was too late to get rid of me. So I finally left. My little sister, Isabel, saw what was happening. Now I'm here. Working so I have some money to spend and to pay my keep and school because I have one semester left of it." She paused, hesitated a moment, "I left them a note with a cell phone number if they wanted to see if I made it here but they never called. I still have the phone, I use it. But I need to change it or get a new one. I feel like it's holding me to them still." She shook her feelings off, "Sorry, that was a little intense."

Clearly, Jude was going to have to do some research into radiation. It wouldn't hurt for Celestina to gather answers from DocProf, either. He snorted at her admission that she might become a cop, a bad cop. He couldn't see it. The cop-ness or the badness. He was willing to be proved wrong, though. "Sounds like a total worst case scenario." He teased.

Her French was about as expected. It was, at least, one step up from not knowing French. He had to quash the idea that he might teach her the difference and win her over to his mother tongue. They just met. He'd probably never see this cream puff again. At least, that's what he was thinking before she said her part about her past.

It hit so close to home that it hurt. Jude sat up, pale underneath his freckles with stray bits of grass tucked into his shaggy haircut.

"Intense? That's a—" He swallowed down the bad words that almost got out. "—like looking in a mirror." Jude hugged his knees, not ready to dump the similarities on this girl he'd only just met. He'd already told her too much just because she was nice and open and here instead out in the big, bad world. Unwanted, left behind, and replaced were probably the biggest themes of his life thus far. Lately, he'd taken to walking away rather than getting left behind. It was... safer.

"I got adopted or sponsored or whatever to come here, and when I didn't fit, they had a kid of their own." He could say that much. That much was an easier segway. "My brother. He's not my brother. He's the kid they actually want." And it was in no way Rowan's fault. Jude not fitting was almost all his fault, he was sure. He ran a hand roughly through his dark hair and was surprised to come away with bits of grass.

"Could still meet him... if you wanted. He's here at the Mansion." Jude grabbed up a few strands of grass and ripped them from the ground. "How old is Isabel?"

>> "Sounds like a total worst case scenario."

Celeste couldn't help but laugh. She knew she would not really be cut out for police work, "Hey, you gotta always have a backup plan, right?" She shook her head, really at herself. She was surprised that Jude said nothing about her French - she really wasn't sure what was going on through his mind at that point. 

His sudden reaction made her jump a little. She watched him jump up. She wasn't really expecting that big of a reaction from her little sob story. It sucked, but it was the way things were - plus, if that hadn't happened, she would never have made it here.

>> "I got adopted or sponsored or whatever to come here, and when I didn't fit, they had a kid of their own. My brother. He's not my brother. He's the kid they actually want."

Celeste had an eyebrow arched. She carefully listened to every word he said and attempted to make the connections. Was the person who adopted/sponsored him the guardian he mentioned earlier? Celeste wasn't sure what to say. She did know that they had the same exact pain. Her parents forgot about her when they found out she was a mutant. It seemed like it was a similar situation. Her eyes looked at his face, clearly worried. She hated to hear that he had to go through something like that. It was awful for her from her own parents, but to think about being adopted and then replaced? That had to sting pretty badly. 

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave a gently squeeze, with a warm smile. Hopefully he wouldn't be freaked out by it or anything, it was just how Celeste comforted people - giving a soft touch. "It hurts, when parents and guardians do that. My parents don't give a rats *ss about me. So I left, I walked away. And so far, it's been better. Not the best, but better." She didn't really know how to comfort him, but if he felt like what she felt for so many years, she knew what to say next. "You know, you can't blame yourself for that. I don't know the details but no one deserves that to happen to them. I tried... Everything, to make them love me. But it wouldn't work. And it was nothing that I did or didn't do. It was them." She gave one more squeeze on his shoulder before letting go. She ended up hugging her knees too, her face lost in thought. Poor guy. 

>> "Could still meet him... if you wanted. He's here at the Mansion. How old is Isabel?"

She nodded, "Maybe in a little while." She wasn't sure if now was exactly the best time or not. "She's 7. They had her pretty much a year after they found out about me..." She chuckled a little, "I guess they couldn't wait. What about yours?" No wonder Jude was in and out of the school, especially if his guardian was on the X-Men and had a kid to replace him.  

She touched his shoulder and the urge to duck out from under her touch was strong. His power stretched inside of him, anxious to find hold on the girl's power. In the time it took him to wrestle that mental image away, she'd already given his shoulder a squeeze. He wanted to open his mouth and let everything fall out. Instead he clenched his jaw making the muscles in his cheek flex. Their situations weren't quite the same, he realized. Ghost still looked out for him. Sebastian had left all three of them. Cafas was too busy looking in a mirror to have time to play dad, not that Jude would have let him. Ghost was still here.

Jude put his callused fingertips on the back of her hand, hesitant to touch. Skin to skin made it worse. It was worth the risk of nausea to let her know he was there and that he understood in his own way.

"Sounds like you're way braver. I may have walked away, but here I am still in town. Helps that Ghost isn't that bad. She cares. But she's not my mom." He'd been adamant on that point from day one. He could tell it hurt her feelings, but they'd been peers in the future they averted. It was too weird to play mother-son when they'd met in this timeline and waaaaay too late to start now. She'd wanted a family. So she went out and made one without him.

> "...I tried... Everything, to make them love me. But it wouldn't work. And it was nothing that I did or didn't do. It was them."

Ouch. Right in the feels. He gave up on abusing his hair and rubbed at his forehead in order to smooth out the angry furrowed brow. It was just too weird to sit out here in the summer sunshine and feel like he'd been dumpstered. She let him go and huddled down in a mirror of Jude and he was struck by how dumb it was that anybody got to have that kind of power over who they were and how they felt, even here and now. Hours. Day. Years removed from hurt.

Celestina was mentally upgraded from squashy and manipulatable marshmallow to tough cookie. She knew her worth and had to make the hard call to protect herself. That was nothing short of amazing.

"There's no promises in this life, but you deserve the chance to find somebody to love you." He flushed and had to look away. His messiah complex was flaring. She deserved somebody who would do a good job of loving her. From his stint living as a late-20's man, he knew he wasn't any good at that. Svetlana had left him behind too.

Isabel was 7. There were only a handful of the younger kids around, most younger siblings that may or may not have tested x-gene positive or children who were born with physical indications of their mutant birthright. Jude's experience with 7 was pretty limited. He couldn't really remember that far back. It was lifetimes ago.

"Rowan's 5."

He wasn't sure what to say or do to move them beyond this moment. He'd already taken her to this peaceful spot and somehow it'd betrayed him into spilling his guts. "I'm sorry. I might be a jerk, but I'm not usually a downer too." He chuckled.

Celeste felt Jude tense as she touched his shoulder and squeezed. She wasn't sure if it was because of her touch or some other reason, but he didn't move away so she didn't let go. She felt like she could feel his pain - which she did, in her own unique way. They didn't have the same situations, but no one ever did. It was similar enough that the pain they felt was pretty identical. She felt like he had wanted to say more to her, but chose not too. Celeste probably stepped some boundaries with the immediate confession of her parent issues. Him keeping quiet wasn't a problem with her - after all, they had only met a few hours before. It wasn't like they were best friends or anything, at least not yet.  

She smiled when she felt his fingertips on the back of her hand. She could feel the butterflies fly around inside her stomach and her cheeks turning a little pink. Celeste felt like they had a connection, a strong one at that. They seemed to have very big differences. Even down to their version of French. Yet here was this one thing that seemed to connect them - crappy parents/guardians/whatever. 

>> "Sounds like you're way braver. I may have walked away, but here I am still in town. Helps that Ghost isn't that bad. She cares. But she's not my mom."

Celeste didn't know who Ghost was but she presumed that was the guardian he had been referring too earlier. At least she cared about him, but there had to be some issues going on. It sounded like he felt like he never fit in and like they never really tried, then they had another kid, moving on from him. She hated it for him. Being left behind is the worst feeling. She remembered after her sister was born - that was when her parents finally stopped talking to her. They'd give her three meals a day, buy her necessities like toothpaste and shampoo, but no toys. Celeste remembered being so angry at Isabel for her parents wrongs. Celeste didn't realize that until a couple years later. 

After thinking for a few moments, she nodded, "We're both brave, there's no doubt to that. At all. We may be brave in our own ways, but we're both brave." 

>> "There's no promises in this life, but you deserve the chance to find somebody to love you."

That wasn't what she was expected for him to say next, especially with his reaction. Her own face turned very pink and her stomach was in all sorts of knots. "You're right. You deserve a chance to find somebody to love you too, Jude." She had to look away now too, the cheesiness of the situation killing her on the inside. 

>> "Rowan's 5."

She smiled, "Isabel is only a little older. God, I hope she doesn't turn out to be a mutant. Not that it wouldn't be amazing, but my parents would do the same thing they did to me to her." Celeste decided to lean back again and took a breath of air, she tried to make herself feel more calm, to get the nervous butterflies out of her system.

>> "I'm sorry. I might be a jerk, but I'm not usually a downer too."

She laughed and nudged him playfully, "No worries, Debbie Downer, I'm usually not a downer either. We're both a little guilty there." She laughed a little more, "Well, we could always go get some ice cream. That's a sure fire way to cheer anyone up. Unless you don't like ice cream. Or you're lactose intolerant." She shrugged. 

Both brave? Pretty thought. Jude gave that one to her because it'd be downright rude to argue. Though if he had to guess, when he walked away, it'd been a fair amount more actual walking. So maybe it had been brave to stand up for what he thought was right. Or, actually, to walk away from what he knew to be wrong. But he'd known what he could come back to. Going out on her own? Way, way scarier.

He'd just told her that she deserved the chance to find somebody to love her, and fully wasn't expecting to hear it back. The fact that he did... well, it just proved that she didn't know him all that well. At least he could chuckle through the awkwardness.

She nudged him and laughed. He nudged her back, unable to brood when faced with such cheer.

"Are you..." Jude was scandalized. Absolutely pretending to be scandalized. "Are you asking me out for ice cream?" Well, damn. Now he was sad to have ditched the wings. It took Jude a moment to unfold his arms and legs, almost like coming out of hibernation. He stood and offered Celestina a hand.

"No lactose intolerance here. You know, they have oodles and oodles of ice cream here." Jude pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time and fielded a quick email. There was still time. "Or we can go off campus too if you want, but I really do need to swing by DocProf's office first."

Celeste was still internalizing the relatively intense conversation her and Jude just had. It was nice in the sense that Celeste loved to have intense, emotion provoking conversations. It was terrifying because they both, well at least she had, opened up to someone they barely knew. The big conclusion from their conclusion was that Celeste liked Jude - in a bit more than friends kind of way. The butterflies in her stomach were still flying around. She was breathing a bit heavy as she tried to get her emotions back down to... Well, not butterflies.

Celeste gave a nervous giggle, her cheeks pink. Yes, she was asking him out for ice cream. Or something. Well, she thinks they had turned pink but they really may have been pink for most of their conversation, she wasn't really sure. "I mean, we can call it a date... Or u-uh, something, friends... Gathering?" She had a slight panic for a second, her voice faltering some. She didn't want to scare him off by asking him out. Some guys were peculiar about it when a girl asked the guy out. Not to mention, they did just meet. It was a bit too late to take it back now, though.

She accepted his hand and stood up, brushing her dress off from any grass that wanted to hitch a ride on her.

She laughed, "Good, ice cream is pretty high on my favorites list." She wasn't really sure but she had been craving some strawberry ice cream for a while. It wasn't something she ate a lot but it was a nice treat every now and then. She thought for a moment, "I'm fine going off campus, it's up to you. I still don't really know a lot of the area around here." She didn't really know anything around here besides her diner, the library, and the school. She hadn't really went out that much, mainly due to how busy she was. 

"We can decide on our way to DocProf's office, then." She decided to wait until he started going, unsure if he knew a short cut or if we they would be backtracking back to DocProf's office. 

She must have felt it too. Like they had some connection and it wasn't just boy meets pretty girl. It was a whole set of confessions that left Jude feeling like he knew her more than the hot second they'd actually been talking. So, ice cream? That was a heck yes. He had to know if he was just making this up, if it was just him, if it was just his power making him feel the need to be near a mutant. Except... she'd been the one to ask.

So she had to feel it too, right?

"Friends gathering. Yeah." He was eager to agree to the new terms she was throwing out. It was too early for a date-date, right? There were social conventions and they needed to get to know each other. Which was totally what ice cream was good for.

"If DocProf is there, there's no reason to stick around. Do you have somewhere to be today or was checking out the Mansion your plan for today?" He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and elected to ignore it entirely. More of the same, probably. It could wait for a minute. Jude was pretty sure he wouldn't absorb anything he tried to read right now anyway.

He turned and walked backwards along the edge of the garden so he could walk and talk. It wasn't hard to know where to go when the line of flowers was defined and easy to follow. "So, when's your birthday?" Somehow, Celestina didn't seem like a high school student. "I actually still need to finish my last few credits, but I'll have my GED once we get it figured out. I sorta missed some of last semester."

Celeste was types of nervous after her little question as she waited for him to respond. Thankfully, he agreed to her better terms - 'Friends gathering.' Celeste kicked herself in her head. Why in the world did she say friends gathering? She could have just said just a friendly outing or... Anything else, really. Not to mention, Celeste needed time to really get ready - try to make sure she had enough sleep, she needed to get a prettier dress, spend more time on her makeup. Celeste wasn't prepared for a date date, anyways.

She nodded a confirmation. Friends gathering... Then date date sometime in the future? Maybe.

She shook her head, "Nope, nothing to do today. I literally have nothing to do all day. Well, except now." 'Except now' came out a little more enthusiastically than she had planned for. She took a breath - alright. Nervousness needed to go away. "I just came to check out where my classes are, which you gave me a pretty great tour. So, that quest is complete." She really had nothing else to do for the rest of the day.

She grinned as she watched him walk backwards. Celeste was sure he wouldn't trip but just in case, she was definitely prepared in case he did. "August 30th. What about yours?" She nodded as he talked about his last semester. It was understandable - life gets in the way of things. She really didn't think she was going to be able to graduate in December but with an extra class, it looked like it was going to happen. "GED is just as good as a regular diploma, anyways. I actually thought about just doing that but decided I probably should have more professional training with my powers, too." She gave a small shrug, "This is actually my only semester here and I'll be done with high school. Probably start college sometime in January." For what though, she wasn't too sure anymore. "How'd you end up missing some of last semester? If you don't mind me asking, of course."