Julia walked the forest one step at a time. She took each breath in before exhaling it right out. The noise of the debris on the floor sounding more beautiful to her as she took each step than raindrops gently falling onto a lake’s surface. She was at peace in nature, and she always will be or should have been.

It was being broken today due to what happened months ago.She remembered the walk she took months ago. The one that scared her to pieces and forced her to see, or aknowledge, for at least a second that nothing, no place was truly safe. She was as vulnerable as she was with or without powers. When ever or where ever she went, there was always vulnerability.

Even in the d*mn forest she couldn’t feel completely safe. She hoped that when she would have healed completely that this all would have been forgotten. However even as she heard the noises, felt the air, felt like she was in a place where she has always felt happiness or at least felt at peace even through the chaos, she had right now felt on edge. Or well was trying to not feel on edge despite everything telling her that she should feel at peace and not on edge.

On edge, she didn’t want to feel that way. She yearned for the normalcy of feeling at peace in a forest that she has always felt at peace walking in before. Nothing had shaken her ever about forests, but the bear attack... everything that had happened months before, that had shaken her. It was bothering her more than she would ever admit, even to herself.

Through all of the turmoil, thoughts and emotions racing in Julia, she had stopped paying attention to what was ahead of her. Maybe too stupidly afraid to look ahead or maybe too focused on her past fears to look ahead. She ran into something or someone. She fell on her back in the process with a “ f***” coming out of her mouth as a result of anger. Everything she does these past few years, seems to be out of anger.

Erik had found that with his ability to not need sleep even he needed time to refresh. Living in New York city felt like living next to a power plant. An always present hum or charge that threatened to explode into something unexpected and often times wonderful. He knew most of it was in his head and he just wanted time away from it all to reflect on all the changes in his life over the last few months. If he felt the need to burden his small but growing group of friends he knew they would no doubt help him sort through his complex thoughts and emotions. However at the moment he wanted to try and work through them himself.

What better place could there be to do all that then where there was hardly anyone at all? Just the soft rustling of the trees as the wind caught them, the birds singing their songs and flitting through the trees. He had even discerned signs of other creatures moving through the woods, but hadn't seen head or tail of anything yet. Not that he was looking particularly hard. In fact he was locked deep in thought as he stared up between the boughs of the trees at the view over his head. Imagine his surprise when he suddenly felt something hit him from behind and sent him almost sprawling to the ground, only his trained reflexes saving him from eating dirt. As soon as his feet were back under him he whirled quickly then blinked.

He certainly hadn't expected to see another person or if he had not to run into the, literally or figuratively. Once his mind caught up with events he moved towards the woman and offered his hand to help her up off the ground. "Are you alright?" Truly concerned the woman might have sprained or broke something from the sudden jarring and the pronounced collision with the ground.

Sincerity. A word that Julia was not so privy to. When someone was sincere, most of the time she wanted that they would be but thought that they weren’t. Even when she did think they were sincere, and in a good way, she was too dense to see that their words or actions were not sincere but instead to get something from her. Therefore, when he asked if she was alright, she wanted to swear at him like a man in a bar fight over a pretty women would four hours past midnight.

She would have, if she wasnt finding it evermore difficult to react because her body remembered that day in the woods that had happened months ago. Her heart rate quickened, her mind was racing. She felt like she couldn’t breathe but by all logic she should have been able to. It was a panic attack by all means, but something she wouldn’t admit to even if she had any idea of what it was.

Seconds flew by without a response, snapping out of it only once a gush of a light breeze reminded her that she was in a forest, but with a man and not a bear standing in front of her. “ Fffff” She was going to swear. She wanted to swear. “ Get the h*ll away from me *sshole” she said lashing out verbally as she tried to back away in a crab walk sort of way on the hard dirt path of the forest. She needed to assert her strength and that was how she was doing it, by doing what she does best, and that is swearing up a storm.

The long seconds for the woman to compose herself was used to carefully regard the woman. As much to determine her state of mind as to figure out if she tried to lift anything off him in his distraction with nature and his inward thoughts. He shook off her accident as being just that given her eyes and facial features. It came as a startling surprise when she finally burst into a flurry of motion to escape his vicinity. More so when she seemed to be calling him out as it being his fault he had to check his skin to make sure she wouldn't have any reason to be startled. Her entire demeanor rankled him to the core. LIke one of the all too many fights he had to claim his own little independence back home. As nice and forgiving of a person he felt he was there was only one thing in his mind to deal with a situation like this.

His face dropped from his usual affable front to a neutral mask his hands shoved into his pockets. His back snapped board straight as he assumed his full height. Too many minor annoyances piled up on one another and left him itching to vent some frustration made only worse by his desire to have just spent some time alone and in quiet contemplation. Now he looked down at woman and spoke in an iron hard tone. "Most people usually wait till they are standing before trying to pick an unprovoked fight with someone. You clearly ran into ME seeing as how I wasn't even moving at the time. Bit like running into a parked car. Only idiots run into parked cars. Of course only idiots talk down at someone when they are scrabbling around in the dirt like a bug. Seeing as how your slow I will spell it out for you. EIther stand up to apologise for calling me an a**hole or stand up to end up kissing the dirt."

He didn't even give much thought to what he was saying. Most would know him to be a fairly easy going and likeable guy, but the woman's attitude put him reflexively into a time where fighting to the win or loss meant survival. Today he had no intention of losing to anyone.

Julia had never met someone who started off just as confrontational as her, or well no one willing to be confrontational to this extreme as she had been. Not men anyways. Maybe most of them always assumed they could get in bed with her or that it was cowardly to be confrontational to women such as Julia herself( or maybe most of them had seen her as just a young teen aged was often the truth).

Nonetheless the truth was that Julia was sort of taken aback. Especially at the threats. Her initial plan was to run off as soon as she got the chance, but now her adrenaline was rushing and showing this man that he messed with the wrong women. She lifted her hands up to attempt to show him who he was messing with. She didn’t regret the fire that she was trying to throw his way in response to his simple words. Birds cawing words of distress in the background being the only things that stopped Julia from attacking his face with her flames, his body wasn’t granted the same mercy with her aiming her powers.

It was just his luck to run into someone who took to the fighting portion rather then the flight in the fight or flight response as she didn't immediately flee. No instead she raised her hands up and at first he thought she practiced some esoteric form of martial arts he wasn't familiar with. For a brief moment he thought he bit off more than he could chew. Just when his brain was in overdrive weighing in his opponents possible martial arts forms until the sight of flames in her hands almost sent a relief through him. A mutant! That certainly explained the firehands. Of course now he was left with only one option as her wild power threatened the security of the forest.

As the first ball of flame splashed his torso and set his shirt on fire he broke into a run. Only instead of away as some might expect he charged right at the woman, seemingly without regard for his own life and safety. The fiery bursts of pain as it scorched his skin drove him in as quick as he could. Once he closed the distance he would do his best to go hog wild at throwing bodyblows and seeing as how this was no boxing match and no referee he wasn't opposed to shooting for her kidney's either.

Julia had been caught off guard. That was an understatement. She was completely caught off guard. She didn’t expect to come across anyone in this forest. She didn’t expect to across someone who was willing to call her out on her bs, and she really wasn’t ready for someone to fight her. In the physical sense, of course she was ready. She had powers, but not in the mental sense.

Not in the sense of being mentally ready to attack where she needed to. tNot expecting him to fight and therefore not ready to think on her feet, to be willing to attack in the necesarry ways that ‘guarranteed’ her a win. Or well, this is what Julia told herself.

In actuality even if she had expected him to keep attacking, and had been in the mood to fight, she was inept at fighting, and this proved it. “ F****n back off!” She would shout trying to keep herself from being hit, but struggling, she wanted to retreat but saw no opportunity. This was all his fault was her opinion. It always was someone else’s fault or that’s what she tried to assure herself of.