It had been raining all day, and while the mansion was nice, Rivka really wanted to go outside. She didn't, however, want to get wet. Since her arrival at the school, she'd been drilled a lot by teachers, as they helped her figure out her unique mutation. One thing they'd helped her find was what she now called a "Travel Bubble". It was tougher than a normal bubble, and she could make it last much longer. She'd kept one open for two hours, though she'd found that doing that was tiring. Not extremely so, more like walking around for two hours. 

The question running through her brain now was, would it keep out rain? One way to find out! She was already feeling rebellious today, and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. True, most teens wouldn't see that as particularly rebellious, but they hadn't been raised Orthodox either. The T her father had actually had made for her, as an inside joke. The writing was all in Hebrew, and said "If found, return to Israel" as he knew the move had been hard on his daughter. She'd also thrown on a jacket to keep from freezing. It was 50 degrees, but to her, that was pretty darned cold. 

Rivka stepped out the front door where she still had some protection from the rain, holding a bottle of bubbles. She blew a nice bubble, and took control of it, making it into a travel bubble before willing herself inside of it. She then tried walking cautiously forward. It worked! She could walk around in the bubble like it was a hamster ball! She rolled out from under the shelter of the building, so that the bubble was being hit fully by the rain, which splashed against it, but began to roll down and off. This was way better than an umbrella! 

Because of the phone debacle, she was grounded to the school at the moment at the request of her father. But the grounds were huge, so that wasn't really that limiting. Hopefully no one would think to tell abba that. 


Tempest

It’s not something often discussed and maybe that’s partially because people don’t like to talk about mental health. Some people know psychiatrists and psychologist also see someone to speak in general terms of how they’re feeling. Devon of course saw someone for his own needs, but working with troubled youth, criminals, the abused… It helped to talk out what you were thinking or feeling without giving away any client details. Also, sometimes you had a long day after working hard and you simply needed a small break, a moment to yourself. You could enjoy a book, meditate, go for a swim, or even take a walk in the rain…

Devon, well, the rain never bothered him anyway.

After a few sessions at the mansion, after a long night previously with an eighteen-year-old who’d been found hurt and brought to the hospital and soon Sanctuary, after a long week he’d stowed his briefcase in his car, stripped off his light suit coat, and took to the grounds of the school. It was beautiful. He loved Central Park but here at the northern part of Manhattan there were some lovely areas too. The mansion controlled one such area.

The holidays were always a hard time. Devon tried not to dwell on that, considering others had it far worse than him. He had to remind himself of his fancy home, no worries of food, people called him for help now… But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be lonely, right? Miss his family? Struggle every time he talked to his grandparents, even if they were supportive? He knew he was simultaneously connected to many and yet held apart. The retrospection of it all was ridiculous – he knew – and he didn’t want to sound a martyr either.

Letting the rain come down, wash away the silly blues, and get a little physical activity in always helped.

“What the-“ Devon muttered, his head suddenly jerking in the direction of that faintly iridescent bubble rolling over the far hill with a girl inside. Water dripped from the heavy black locks plastered on his forehead as he hurried over. Maybe she was fine. Maybe it was a runaway bubble.

“Hello!” he called, waving both hands. “You alright in there?” he half-smiled, half-winced as an eyebrow shot up.

Rivka saw a man waving, and altered her course to roll over close to him. When she arrived, she smiled shyly, and gave a little wave back. "Yes. Thank you" she replied, carefully and slowly. Her accent was thick, but she was understandable. 

"Is much dry bubble. No get wet" she explained softly, her voice just loud enough to heard over the traffic of nearby streets. She was young, with the willowy body of a teen who hadn't filled out yet, and perhaps hadn't even reached her full height. Without knowing her age, it was hard to tell. 

"Can try, make you one?" she offered, surprising herself. She didn't know him, but figured if he was on school grounds he was likely a staff member or visiting one of them. With the problems surrounding anti-mutant sentiments, she'd learned that access to school grounds was closely monitored. She was glad for that. But, to make him a bubble, she'd have to leave the relative safety and protection of her own. Even if she felt relatively safe on the grounds, it would still mean getting a little wet! 

Whether she realized or admitted it or not, coming to the school was forcing her out of her comfort zone, which in many ways was a good thing. 


Tempest

As Devon dashed over she called out she was fine, but he wanted to be certain considering the numerous students at the school. You never knew when they might be in more trouble than they realized. She wasn’t a native English speaker but that was okay; he could understand.

>> "Is much dry bubble. No get wet"

“Oh good,” he chuckled, nodding. He almost made the joke but it was getting worn out. He’d wait til Frozen 2 came out before using it anymore. His eyes scanned her face for recognition but there was none. The bubble was interesting though. Forcefield maybe?

>> "Can try, make you one?"

“Sure!” he chuckled again, nodding once more. “If you can. What are they made out of? Do you project the energy that makes them or are they real bubbles?” He neared, miming like he might try to pop hers but holding out from doing so.

Rivka jumped out of her bubble, which stayed behind her. She glanced at the rain coming from the sky with a look that would have done any feline proud. She bit her lower lip a little, pondering the rain, before devising what seemed like a good plan. She moved the bubble she'd been in over her head as a makeshift umbrella. Unfortunately, this was poorly thought out, as the rain hitting it was merely running down the sides, then dripping off the bottom... 
"Eek! Eew!" she said, displaying her dismay at the dismal failure of this plan, and moved the bubble away. 

"Make like this" she told the stranger, pulling a bottle of bubble fluid from her pocket. She blew a fresh bubble, and took control of it quickly before the rain popped it. Now the tricky part - could she get him into it? She'd heard that mutants could sometimes extend their power to others with them by touch. So she figured she'd give it a try to get him inside the new bubble. 

"Give hand, and will try get inside you bubble" she told him, offering a dainty hand to him. She left out the part about "I've never actually tried this before". Just because she was experimenting with a new facet of a mutant power she barely knew how to control, what could possibly go wrong? Bubble jumping was pretty easy. Sorta. 

Devon noted: she didn’t like the rain. He also noted she manipulated the bubble through some sort of telekinetic control. That was interesting. Was she controlling water or bubble like structures? Was it truly a bubble or some sort of energy force?

He formed a wry grin at her displeasure with the weather and chuckled as she pulled actually bubbles from her pocket. A bubble was blown and it remained, despite the pressure of the raindrops upon it. As she asked for his hand an eyebrow arched in question.

“Sure…” he said slowly and took her hand with a gentleman’s softness. Her murmured warning got another short laugh as he awaited seeing what she could accomplish.

Shani concentrated, and actually moved her foot. Whether that was really necessary was another fine detail she wasn't quite clear on with Bubble Jumping. The truth was, she didn't really need to do that. When they moved into the new bubble, in enlarged to fit them more or less comfortably. This bubble was therefore taller to accomadate her new friend's taller frame. The bubble she'd gotten out of (and rather forgotten about) hovered nearby, and had shrunk back down to 4 or 5 centimeters when she'd quit paying attention to it. 

"See! Easy. Keep out rain, but no seem to run out air" she assured him. She theorized that the bubbles must be semi-permeable, but wasn't entirely sure. It was one of those things on her Mutant "To-Do" lists - investigating the various aspects of how these things worked. 

Tempest