The prawn's antennae lifted at the sounds that escaped the bird. Weird birdsong. It took a moment for the woman to realize that the bird was laughing. Well, you couldn't very well tell the gender of a bird just by lookin at it. Or, at least, Jack couldn't... maybe some wildlife t.v. show host could. Winnie confirmed that she was female, and the "f***ing classiest", to boot. This earned a grin from the prawn, as well.

"Jackie," the prawn confirmed. She was astonished that her newfound friend had even bothered to ask-- people usually just went with the male pronouns, and Jack didn't care enough to correct them. It wasn't as though she was actively trying to seem female anyways. The prawn rounded the corner, approaching the spot where she'd first scooped Winnie and booked it. From here, she wasn't entirely sure where to walk, and this was apparent in the fact that she paused.

"Utt... ahead?" Jack rumbled, uncertain. Hesitant steps were taken towards the next corner, around which the scooter would allegedy (hopefully) be parked.

With the world the way it was, it paid to be sure. After all, seeing what Jack did to that robot, the last thing that she wanted to do was piss off her knew friend and get whacked in the face with that sonic boom of a punch; it was liable to knock her head clean off of her shoulders. Plus, when you weren’t sure, it was just polite to reach out and ask. Maybe it was a question that her new friend got asked a lot and she would find it refreshing that someone would take the time to find out. You never can be too sure these days.

>>"Jackie,"

Winnie nodded. She laid her head back down and sighed a bit dreamily. ”Then lovely to make your acquaintance, love.” She sighed. ”I don’t deserve such a pretty rescuer.”

She grew quiet as she waited for the ride to end. They should be nearing where she was picked up, which actually wasn’t as far from her vespa as where she had left it. So she waited, humming softly to herself, feeling her anxiety lessen with every step. When finally her rainbow colored rescuer spoke up again, she tilted her head up towards her.

>>"Utt... ahead?"

She nodded. They rounded another corner and Winnie turned her head catching that splash of orange just ahead of her. She sighed a bit in satisfaction as she saw that her bike was fine exactly where it was. It didn’t look as if anyone rubbed up against it at all! How perfect! Another breath of relief and Winnie could feel herself relax all over -- which would lead to the next inevitable change.

POP!!!

In a burst of sudden cartoonish sound, Winnie felt her kiwi form drop away and was instead replaced by the short, athletically toned woman in her jeans, boots, peach midriff and her short red leather jacket. She was startled a bit, but not enough to revert back. Instead she just giggled and wrapped her arms around her rescuer’s neck, trying to hold on tight so that she wasn’t dropped in surprise. As she turned her stormy eyes onto the much taller mutant, she gave her a brilliant smile.

”Ah, there you are Jackie,” she said her patented, light-English lilt. ”Excuse me, I hope I didn’t startle you. I guess you managed to calm me down. Aren’t you the best?” She unwound on arm from around Jackie’s neck, kissed her index and middle finger and pressed the same fingers to her heroine’s carapace covered cheek.

Color the prawn positively touched. Winnie sounded like a really pleasant person, even though at the present Jack only knew her as a kiwi. A flicker of a smile drifted across her features, and she hummed contentedly. The bird nodded, and this propelled Jack further, down the sidewalk and around the corner.

A scooter was indeed parked there, an eyesore of international orange. Good. It didn't get stolen or scrapped for parts, both very real concerns on the city streets. The bird breathed a sigh, and then-- POP!!! wasn't a bird at all.

Jack flailed for a moment at the sudden increase of weight, thinking for a panicked moment that she might drop the bird-shifter. She managed to maintain her hold, looking rather alarmed as a very human pair of arms wrapped around her massive neck. The heavier figure in her arms sent a spasm of pain up the arm she punched with, and Jack gritted her maxillae.

"W-Winnie?!" she stammered. Of course it was Winnie. And the prawn knew Winnie was a mutant so, the logic would follow that eventually Winnie wouldn't look like a bird. The gears were turning in the prawn's head. It took a moment for her to realize that there was, in fact, a young woman now in her arms.

>> ”Ah, there you are Jackie. Excuse me, I hope I didn’t startle you. I guess you managed to calm me down. Aren’t you the best?”

Bewildered. That would be a good way to describe Jack's expression. She was bewildered. Winnie was really cute-- really, really cute. She kissed her two forefingers and touched the thing plates of Jack's face, just above her surgical mask. Thank god for armored cheeks, because Jack could feel her face radiating heat.

"A- a little started," Jack admonsihed, gently setting the other young woman down, "S- sorry."

She took Winnie's appearance in, appraising her. She didn't look even vaguely bird-like in this form. Just tiny.

"Sink you got it s'run here?" the prawn asked carefully. In human form, surely the young woman wouldn't need her help pushing the bike or carrying a gas can (if she even had one) or anything of the sort. But the prawn was also providing a window for Winnie to either dismiss her and part ways, or to invite her long. Jack had served her purpose and she didn't want to outstay her welcome.

It was a curse for Winnie, to have her abilities treat her like some ping pong ball during a match. She wasn’t looking to shift back already but, lo and behold, the second she was relaxed after her frightening episode and poof, she was cradled in her new friend’s arms, draped across her massive limbs like some centerfold. It caused the photographer to burst out in a giggle, but poor Jack, it seems, had certainly not been expecting the action from her. She fumbled but managed not to drop the post-kiwi shifter.

>>"W-Winnie?!"

She grinned and nodded her head. ”Yeah, I know I know...I’m hideous when not a bird.” She dramatically placed the back of her hand against her forehead and looked away. A sigh of sadness fell from her lips before she turned around and grinned back at her giant mutant bodyguard. ”Relax, sweetie, I’m teasing.”

She inquired if her action had startled the crustacean mutant, as she knew it could be surprising to those who were not ready for it. Even her old roommates found themselves surprised on occasion when, trying to pet the soft-feathered bird, would suddenly find themselves straddled by the short-haired woman. Really it was a sight to behold.

However Jackie really seemed to be taking it like a champ.

>>"A- a little started...S- sorry."

Winnie just smirked. ”Don’t apologize, hunny,” She sighed as she was set down onto her own two feet. She stretched her back, arms up in the air, causing her midriff to expose even more of her well-toned stomach. Hands on her hips, she turned back around to her rescuer. She was taller now but she still had to look up to face her. ”I’m used to scaring the s**t out of people. But thank you, again, for saving me.”

Another sweet smile and she turned around, her hands in her back pockets. She used the opportunity to continue to pop her formerly compressed vertebrae. A small sigh on her lips, she turned around and spotted the fallen gas tank she had been carrying earlier. Thankfully, even though she had dropped it in her attempt to flee, it didn’t stray very far from where it was left. Bending down, she plucked it up in her hand and cradled it between her arms as she turned back to face her rescuer. Jackie seemed unsure of what to do and was silent before she gestured to her glorious orange friend.

Winnie turned and glanced back her bike. With a smile on her lips she turned around, unscrewed the gas cap and started to pour in the contents of the container that she had initially been carrying with her. Once it all had poured in, she sighed, screwed the top back on, and slipped the now empty container into the storage section just underneath the seat. Everything secured, she turned back to her friend and sighed.

>>"Sink you got it s'run here?"

Winnie thought for a second before she stepped closer to the towering mutant. If she remembered correctly, the other seemed to be sensitive about the arm that she had used to hurt the bot that had attempted to attack her. Her lips twisted into a unfortunate look as she leaned up to inspect the other’s arm. Honestly she didn’t know what she was looking for, but once she confirmed that it was tender to the touch, she raised her gaze up to Jackie.

”I don’t live far from here,” she said. ”Why don’t you follow me home? I got ice you can put on that arm.” She shrugged. ”I mean, I guess it’s the least I can do for my heroine.”

The prawn looked sheepish at Winnie's theatrics, her gaze sliding sideways again. It was less that she'd been scared sh**less, and more that she'd been flustered by exchanging a cute, tiny bird for an actual human-looking mutant.

"Don't nen-tion it," the prawn said softly. Anyone would be cagey after that run-in with a messed-up META, so Jack (once again) tooootally understood if Winnie just wanted to put it behind her. (Or, alternatively, if she wanted company on the walk home. Because, let's be honest, Jack was probably one of the scarier sights to behold, in terms of mutants.)

>> ”I don’t live far from here. Why don’t you follow me home? I got ice you can put on that arm. I mean, I guess it’s the least I can do for my heroine.”

A flicker of a smile crossed over the prawn's features. It was a really kind gesture, really, it was. A hot compress might help even more but, hey, ice didn't sound bad either. Jack still reeeeeally wanted that drink, though. That had been the original purpose of setting-out from her apartment in the first place.

... but it had also been a while since she'd been in the company of, well, anyone. It could be nice. And hell, Winnie was extending that offer even after watching Jack obliterate a robot.

"I'd like dat," the prawn said, after some deliberation, "Are you sure it's okay?"

Was Winnie sure she wanted someone like Jack in her house, is what she meant. Some people offered these types of things just to be nice, with no real intention of someone taking them up on the offer. The prawn had to give her one more way out.

>>"Don't nen-tion it,"

Winnie gave Jack a brilliant smile as she nodded and turned back to her vehicle. She gave the beast one last inspection to make sure that no one had touched it in any manner that it shouldn’t be touched. Once she was assured that nothing funny had gone on, she shifted her gaze back to Jackie and gave her a small, welcoming smile. Really, how lucky could she be?

Most would have probably been turned away by the monstrous-seeming appearance, but Winnie knew better than to judge anyone by how they looked. Her mutation was a perfect example of that. She hated it when people found out and teased her about being a kiwi-shifter. Really, it was one of the most ridiculous mutations that she could think of, but it was okay for her to make fun of it, not anyone else. Others didn’t have that right so being teased because of something that you couldn’t help just felt...wrong to her. It was not something that she would ever willingly participate in.

Besides, Jackie was her hero! She would never make fun of her and she would make sure the larger mutant knew exactly how grateful she was.

On top of that, she also wanted to ensure that Jackie was alright too. After the battle with the bot, her new friend had seemed as if she had injured herself. Unwilling to allow that to be so, Winnie stepped closer to her rescuer and tried to look over her arm. It was this one that she had been complaining about earlier. While she didn’t know anything about physiology (nothing useful anyways), she didn’t want to leave her friend just to slink home and suffer. That wouldn’t have been very fair.

No, she would help her, as best she could. So she offered her to accompany her home and she could ice that arm of hers. It was probably the least she could do but it was something, wasn’t it?

>>"I'd like dat...Are you sure it's okay?"

Winnie grinned as she stepped back, her hands clasped behind her back. ”That will be more than fine.” She returned to to picked, released the brake and started to pull it up to the sidewalk so that she would wheel it back to her own place, with Jackie by herself. She turned her gaze back up to the hooded woman and smirked. ”I don’t live far from here. Just a block away. But I ran out of gas and didn’t want to leave my sweet ride this far from home.” She shrugged her shoulders. ”But this is fine. We can chat!”

Small talk…

The prawn grimaced. Small talk wasn't her strongest suit. Questions, answers, the natural flow of conversation… it was like trying to ice skate, and the prawn hadn't skated in years…

The scooter filled the silence with the click of tires on the sidewalk as it was pushed along. Jack subconsciously clasped her sore arm with the opposite primary hand… rooting around for a topic of conversation.

“So… I told you how I work in a nightclu’,” the prawn began offhandedly, “What do you do?”

Simple enough. It also made no assumptions about whether Winnie worked or went to school or did neither. It was hard to tell with ladies who looked like Winnie, who could be anywhere between 18 and 30 easily. The two strode down the street, Jack walking slightly behind the smaller woman so that she could follow Winnie’s lead.

Winnie was happy to have the company, especially company that was as strong and powerful as Jackie here. When she started her night, she was just looking for a little time off to drink, hang out, make a night of her single nature and living life, but oh how it turned out to be anything but. Everyone cancelled on her and she was almost mortally injured by a malfunctioning METAbot. The good thing was that it allowed her to make a new, comely friend and she was one that Winnie wanted to get to know better. After all, it wasn’t every day she met a physically mutated mutant (except for Gina).

But, on the way to getting to know her new friend, there needed to be small talk. Winnie didn’t have a problem with small talk, but it could be rather annoying if you couldn’t find a starting point. She hoped that her crustacean friend was actually a good talker or the two of them would end up just strolling on in awkward silence.

So Jackie was far more quiet than Winnie had figured. That was fine! She would still find a way to work with that. Walking along side her, pushing her vespa along, she turned her head upwards to get a glance at the rainbow-shelled mutant. She was quiet beneath her face mask, her eyes low as she seemed to struggle to find something to say. Winnie was about to toss her a lifeline but, thankfully, Jackie dived in herself.

>>“So… I told you how I work in a nightclu’...What do you do?”

Winnie smirked. Jackie must have been nervous because this was the second time that the subject of careers was brought up. But she wouldn’t point it out to her new friend. Instead she just gave her a sweet smile as she looked ahead. With a small shrug her shoulders, she answered…

”Oh I’ve done this and that,” she said with a small sing-song to her voice. ”I’ve waited tables to make ends met, but my real passion is my camera.” It was true. She really couldn’t imagine her life without her camera as it was her everything. ”I freelance as a photography. Sometimes for newspapers. Sometimes for magazines. Took portraits down at the Target-Mart down on 64th for a little bit. But then the manager tried to grab my *** so I slugged him and quit.” she shrugged before smirking. ”I guess you’re supposed to suffer for your craft, you know?”

>> ”Oh I’ve done this and that. I’ve waited tables to make ends met, but my real passion is my camera. I freelance as a photography. Sometimes for newspapers. Sometimes for magazines. Took portraits down at the Target-Mart down on 64th for a little bit. But then the manager tried to grab my *** so I slugged him and quit. I guess you’re supposed to suffer for your craft, you know?”

"Oh..."

That's right. Winnie had mentioned being a photograper, hadn't she? If Jack had a human-mouth, she would have cracked an awkward smile at that. Instead her mandibles took to grooming her maxillipeds from behind the surgical mask. Internally she chastised herself-- so what, you pull a Houdini on your girlfriend (ex?) for two months and suddenly you forget how to talk to girls?

"I'n sorry, I'n still a little--" Jack made a vague gesture at her head, as if to signify that she was "out-of-it", "I sore-got you said you were a so-togra-ser."

Jack rubbed her head, trying to find some avenue of conversation that she could run down. She took to awkwardly digging the fingers of her primary hand into her throbbing arm.

"Dat sounds like nee, 's... suh-ssering sore your crass-t'," sometimes the prawn really loathed her speech impediment... particularly when f's were involved, "Sun-tines I's gotten really nice shiners, or sun guy cuns at you wiss a 'ottle... I dunno... I guess it's diss-erent dan sexual harass-nent."

The prawn's gaze skimmed her surroundings for people who were playing too close of attention to them, then to the building-faces, trying to predict which one might be Winnie's apartment, never really settling on any one thing for too long.

>>"Oh...I'n sorry, I'n still a little--I sore-got you said you were a so-togra-ser."

Winnie just shook her head, offering the other a sweet smile. ”Don’t worry about it, honey. After what we’ve been through tonight, you’re allowed to forget little details like that.” Another bright smile was offered to her new friend and she continued to push her bike alongside them.

Her night was definitely turning out better than it had moments ago. She thought that this would be her last but, thankfully, she was wrong and instead made a new and interesting friend. Winnie had met all kinds of mutants since she moved to New York a couple years ago, but she had yet to meet anyone like Jackie. She was certainly a one of a kind and that alone could garner the young woman’s attention. She had to wonder why it was like to have the kind of power that Jackie had, but she would wait until she was feeling better to get too nosy.

>>"Dat sounds like nee, 's... suh-ssering sore your crass-t...Sun-tines I's gotten really nice shiners, or sun guy cuns at you wiss a 'ottle... I dunno... I guess it's diss-erent dan sexual harass-nent."

Jackie had said that she worked as security before so it was no wonder that she had her fair share of bad experiences. The young woman frowned a bit before she reached up and patted the woman’s good arm. ”That doesn’t sound easy,” she admitted. ”But I’m glad that you’re made of tough stuff.” She leaned over, tilted her head against the massive woman’s arm for a second before she perked up.

They rounded another corner and everything became immediately familiar. The bakery at the corner, closed by now, showed that she was home. So she immediately walked to the corner, gesturing for Jackie to follow her, and then made her way towards a brownstone apartment building, one of many all lined up together. When she stopped at the steps that would lead to her building, she turned and grinned to Jackie.

”Whelp! This is where I live! Told you it wasn’t far.” She beamed. She parked her vespa, chained it up, and set the kill switch on it before she turned and started to climb the steps. She only got about halfway up before she turned and waved for Jackie to follow. ”Come on, honey. I don’t bite.” With that she jogged the rest of the way open, removing her key from her pocket and opened the door to the building.

The prawn nodded bashfully, her silence only growing more profound as Winnie interacted so casually and sympathetically with her. Sure, Jack had been carrying her earlier, but that was more out of necessity than anything else. Little flickers of reaction ghosted across her features-- a smile, a half-hearted chuckle, but very little else. Did Winnie make a habit of inviting strangers into her house? Or was Jack a special exception because she helped decimate a META Bot?

Winnie quickened her pace towards a bakery with a few floors above, motioning for Jack to follow-- and follow, Jack did. She did not quicken her pace, however. She lifted her lavender gaze, drinking the building in. It was a brownstone, just like hers... then again, there were so many round the city, it was hard to avoid them, really. The prawn paused at the base of the stairs, still surveying the building before foll owing Winnie uncertainly with her eyes.

>> "Cone on, honey. I don't bite."

Again, Jack followed, her steps heavy. It was as though she was fighting the pull of weights to ascend towards the doorway.

"Really, I can't sank you e-nuss," the prawn said politely, her face hot. Her heart was climbing into her chest, mostly out of nervousness. Her and Winnie had literally just met, and she was inviting an absolute stranger into her house. An explosive stranger. What the heck. Was this normal for her?

Once inside, the prawn's lavender eyes swam around the entry hall, relieved to see that it was different from her own former apartment building. She wouldn't have been able to handle it, if they'd been too similar...

Winnie never minded having people over to her apartment. It was by no means the cleanest thing in the world, it was put together enough that she could have impromptu company. Whenever she met a partner for the evening, she wasn’t opposed to bring them over to her place, hence the reason she kept it somewhat tidy most of the time. And today proved to be no exception.

Her apartment was actually quite nice. It was decorated sparsely but it definitely screamed Winnifred Wickham. The furniture was mostly secondhand but it was all still nice. Nothing matched but that was mainly since Agnes didn’t outright believe in such things matching. The real eyecatchers were the blown up photographs that hung in frames around the room.

The photographs were of a variety of subjects, but all were black-and-white and possessed the same attention to detail. It was clear that these were a professional’s work, and that professional just so happened to be strolling through the apartment. As Winnie passed a wall, the reflection of the glass added a much needed sparkle to the drab subway tunnel, and did the same to the photograph of the Empire State Building next to it. Truly Winnie did have a talent, but there were so many photographs, amateurs and professionals, that the field was very cutthroat.

But, for as stressful as her job could be, Winnie was actually inspired by her own photographs. Plus, when she brought over dates, they got to see her artistic talent on display. You’d be surprised how much of an aphrodisiac that can be.

As Winnie moved throughout her apartment, she pulled off her hoodie, momentarily flashing the room with her toned stomach, before she sighed and tossed it onto a nearby chair. Pulling her shirt down again, she hummed to herself as she made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag, then turned to open her ice box. Her voice called out from the dull hum of her fridge.

”Go ahead and sit down, Hun,” she said. ”I’ll bring you your ice momentito.”

>>"Really, I can't sank you e-nuss,"

Winnie just smirked a little. She finished cracking the ice trays and pouring the contents into the baggie. As she sealed it, she knocked the fridge door closed with her shoulder and made her way back to the living room where Jackie was still waiting.

”You don’t have to thank me. I have to thank you,” She said. She moved next to Jackie, holding the ice up and pressing it against her new friend’s arm. ”I mean, you saved my life. I...don’t know how, or if, I’ll ever be able to repay you for that.”

Jack trailed after her host, her one primary hand wrapped around the still-throbbing arm in an almost hug. Her lavender eyes ventured shamelessly. It was the kind of put together apartment that one would imagine belonging to "an adult". Not the mattress-on-the-floor and plastic-drawers monstrosity that Jack used to call her own, but an actual apartment with actual furniture and actual wall-hangings. The prawn's gaze was drawn to the portraits around the room, giving the art the appropriate attention it deserved. It was a classy place.

Surrounded by the framed black-and-white photos, the iridescent prawn felt like a scream of noise from within a quiet place, something unwelcome. Jack was too busy drinking the room in to notice that Winnie was shedding her layers. Jack only noticed when the other woman had gone from the room, and her voice called from somewhere nearby, but muffled by a wall.

Obediently, the prawn claimed a seat on one end of the couch, up against the arm. She tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. Her eyes ventured over the walls, over the furniture, but snapped to attention when Winnie returned.

The prawn began to extend a hand as Winnie came over, as if to take the ice-bagggie from her. She expected her to pass it off, a reasonable expectation-- she'd even begun to thank Winnie for the ice again-- but then, the smaller woman pressed the baggie into the crook of Jack's arm, dismissing her thanks and returning it.

>> ”You don’t have to thank me. I have to thank you. I mean, you saved my life. I...don’t know how, or if, I’ll ever be able to repay you for that.”

Now it was Jack's turn to dismiss the thanks.

"Any-un woulda done dat," the prawn murmured, shaking her head, "Us nyu-tants gotta look out sore each udder..."

It was easy to be modest when you thought that intervening was just par for the course. Jack was a firm believer in "taking care of your own", and her "own" was mutants. She truly thought that, if a mutant saw another mutant in need, it'd only be natural to intervene.

Jack looked down at Winnie, shifting in her seat, unsure of what to do. She was very close. Super close. The prawn's face was starting to feel hot again.

"I can hold duh ice," the prawn offered tenatively, turning her free, uninjured primary hand over as an offer, "Is you want."

Surely Winnie had other things to do, and Jack didn't want to inconvenience her any further.

Winnie was no stranger to having guests over. Friends, callers, clients, Winnie had a veritable hodgepodge of people arriving at her door, being led in to sit, chat, or make-out. Because of this, the young woman was fairly comfortable having another person in her living space. Of course, when it came to Jackie, that was an entirely different story. While Winnie had no qualms about having mutants over, she wondered if Jackie were at all comfortable here. So many knick-knacks were littered about, things that could easily be knocked over by Jackie and her bulk as she just moved about normally. Really, maybe the meeting should have just ended at the doorstep.

But, Winnie was not one to allow such discomforts to keep her from showing her thanks. The giant prawn mutant had risked her life to save hers, the least she could do was ice down her arm until it felt better. Besides, it would give the two of them some more time to chat, something for which Winnie was eager for with her new friend. So many questions and all that...

>>"Any-un woulda done dat...Us nyu-tants gotta look out sore each udder..."

Winnie nodded. ”Agreed,” she said. ”Too many bad things already happening out there for us to not look out for one another.” She shrugged, chewing her lip sadly. ”Even those of us with really, really lame powers.”

Her powers were the one thing that she really didn’t care for about herself. Everything else she loved or could live with (no one was perfect, after all) but her abilities were, for the most part, utterly useless. Really, she saw no use in them and tonight was the perfect example. She could have been killed and, the whole time, she wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it. That alone was pretty depressing.

She sighed, not really wanting to get into it, but instead changed hands as the ice was getting a bit too cold to hold with one.

>>"I can hold duh ice...Is you want."

A kindly smile and she just shook her head. Leaning back against the couch, she closed her eyes, holding the ice against Jackie’s arm and resting her head against her shoulder. ”Oh, it’s no trouble, sweetie. I really just want to sit down after all that.” She yawned again, nestling her cheek against her friend’s shoulder. ”You don’t mind, right? I’m just so wiped after all that.”

The prawn was quiet, unsure of what to say to that. Her mutation was kind-of silly, or "lame" as the young woman had declared it. It was, however, one that didn't always need to be on. She could pass as human when not a kiwi, and for that Jack was jealous. And besides, even as a kiwi, some passerby wold see her as cute, rather than... well, however they viewed Jack.

"At least you're cute," the prawn offered offhandedly. She caught herself after the remark had been uttered, a tension rippling across her shoulders and drawing them in, "I nean- as a kiwi-! Kiwis are cute. Dough dat's not to say dat your hyu-nan sel-s isn't alo cute..."

The prawn stumbled over her words, her to face heating-up. Winnie dismissed the prawn's offer to hold the ice bag-- she even went so far as to rest against the prawn's arm. Jack's heart stuttered.

"Hun, I'n not duh 'est 'illow," she cautioned, "I'n all co'ered in s'ines and ridges, and all..."

The prawn was also, however, not moving away.