It had been cold last night. The sky had been clear, the moon nearly full, and the threat of frost was possible. Ah but it was too late for that! No, it didn’t even need his nudging. Small clouds blew in from the west and the polar pressure receded back into Canada. The air warmed and the snow nearly gone from a couple weeks ago melted into the morning dew.

A bright and brilliant dawn broke over New York City. It was nearly 60 Fahrenheit today! That’s 15.5 for those outside the States as Devon’s mom had been prone to say. Buds were stretching out from tiny branches and Easter tulips were waking up from their beds. Spring was nearly here and Devon wasn’t about to miss a morning constitutional in the park. He’d been working far too much since Halloween… Again with Halloween.

Devon sighed. He cleaned up quick, threw on a pair athletic jogging pants and a halfzip before hurrying downstairs and out the door. Hazelnut coffee was on the air and the really good cinnamon from the rolls the place up the street sold. The air was clean and crisp, but the warmth after the brief sprinkle predawn gave the warming concrete that familiar childhood aroma. Devon was always afraid to ruin it for people when they wondered what it was.

It was a combination of oils and blooming bacteria, but it was lovely. Coupling that was peaks of sunflower gold and baby blue to the sky. It was a feast for the senses and for him a truly energizing experience. He inhaled deeply of the season as he tred about Central Park.

Luke was in a very good mood today.

It was Sunday, which was a good start, because Luke had been busy with starting up classes after winter break. He could use the time off, is all. He'd also gone to service for the first time in a long time, and that felt good. It was an important thing to him, and it felt bad that he wasn't always able to get to it. Bad excuse, but he was busy a lot, school, training, the odd mission...So it was nice to reaffirm himself with that.

What he was really happy about, though, was the weather. Luke was very particular about it; too humid made his fur matted, too hot and he overheated, too dry and he started shedding more. Right now, it was really nice, though. Cool, comfortable, not too arid, the exact kind of weather he appreciated. It was so nice that Luke had finished service, bought some breakfast, and decided to walk around a bit.

While he was enjoying the weather, Luke figured he'd maximize the good vibes this morning and head to Central Park. With the weather as it was, the Park smelled really nice, the plants finally starting to grow back, and he really appreciated that. He was adjusting to the smell of the city, but sometimes he was hard-pressed to want to be outdoors.

Scarfing down the last of his breakfast sandwich, Luke rolled his neck and looked around. He didn't have anywhere to go now. Well, nowhere he needed to go. He could just walk around all day if he wanted, but he didn't really feel like being that unproductive today. Eventually, he'd want to get something...done...

Was that Devon Hadden over there? Luke did a brief double-take. He knew of the man-heck, he'd helped with the Haven initiative for the California fires for a bit. He knew there was no reason for the founder of Haven to be out like, being a person. It was just weird seeing him just jogging around.

...Should he go talk to him? That might be awkward. Very awkward, actually. Devon wasn't that much older than Luke, but that definitely didn't mean they were alike. The guy was a big deal, and Luke was not.

Unfortunately, while thinking on this, Luke had continued walking, and had thoughtlessly approached the man anyway. "Oh!" Luke looked over at the man in surprise, now only a few feet away. Well...shoot. "It's been a while, Mr. Hadden." He smiled. Was he 'Mr Hadden?' Uh-oh. "Enjoying the uh, weather then?"

Right. Weather manipulator. Oh, he might have to go back to church after this. This wasn't exactly a sin (probably), but it wouldn't hurt to pray for forgiveness, right?

Reap usually never spent the night in Central Park even though parks were an inherently good place to sleep. There were trees. Grass. Benches. Quiet. However, like so many other things in this city, no one wanted a bunch of homeless people hanging around. Police officers and security guards would patrol the park after a certain point in the night and would turf people out of their sleeping spots. For an older person, this wasn’t the end of the world but for her it could mean Social Services.

Last night though, it had gotten unseasonably chilly. After several hours of shivering on the sidewalk by some dumpsters, Reap got up and stole into Central Park. It would be warmer there in the grass. She crawled beneath a bush like a badger going to burrow and fell asleep. She woke with a start in the early dawn, completely surprised that she had been able to sleep the whole night through without being bothered. She couldn’t remember the last time that happened.

It was early but there were a few people dotted here and there. The really keen joggers and people in fancy outfits…she thought she heard Chruch bells in the distance. Sunday? That would explain the outfits. She waited until she thought it was safe then crawled out of her hidey hole. She gathered up her things. There wasn’t much aside from a sleeping bag and a backpack but she had scored rather big outside a supermarket the other day. In her possession, she had a six pack of cranberry juice and a bag filled with pastries. They had been tossed out because they were a day past expiration. It felt like a veritable feast to her. With the pizza a few days ago and now this, Reap was feeling more alive than she had in a while.

And the sun was out!

It made her feel better and hopeful that the bitter New York winter was over. Reap meandered over to a fountain and sat down the edge so she could dip her hand in. Cold but refreshing. Reap never really got to bathe and she was suddenly overcome with the desire to. She was sure she reeked even though she couldn’t smell it anymore. She stripped off as many layers as she could then pushed up her remaining sleeves and rolled her pants up to her knees. She swung her feet into the fountain then dipped her hands in so she could splash her face and wash the grime off.

Reap ignored the people passing by just as she was ignored by them. It wasn’t until she caught something strange out of the corner of her eye that she looked up. A wolf? No. A person? Covered in hair. She stared for a moment then looked back down at her lap and her green palms. She had seen such visible mutations before…mutants who so visibly stood out found themselves homeless as often as not…but to see one so confidently walking around with someone normal looking…it was strange to Reap. She folded her arms around her knees so that she didn’t have to look at her palms any longer. ‘I should get gloves…’ Reap thought to herself.

Devon was fairly certainly he knew the guy approaching. He spotted the lupine fellow pretty easily, and it’s not like it was a common mutation by any means. It was a very obvious one and Devon did recall the young man from the Cali Fire Aid was from New York. A gentle smile spread across his face as he was nearing a fountain at a cross of paths and sidewalk.

And there was a girl playing in the fountain. Now that wasn’t remarkable; people often slipped a quick hand or foot into the fountain. Inevitably park police would come by and shoo kids out, but this wasn’t a kid fooling around. Devon recognized the need for fresh water and a bit of cleaning when he saw it. She was rubbing at her limbs and splashing her face, not thrashing about or grinning at water play.

>> "Oh! …It's been a while, Mr. Hadden. Enjoying the uh, weather then?"

Devon’s small smile grew with the young man’s recognition. “Ah yes, I am. Hi,” he nodded. “Luke, right?” he asked. It was hard to forget the name of a local helping, let alone one with such an obvious mutation. The blue eyed weatherman did glance at the fountain, a touch of concern clear at the narrowing of his brow. “I think it’s important for everyone to have a chance to enjoy the spring air, a bit of celebration as it were,” he chuckled a moment as his smile grew to a warmer grin that touched his eyes.

With a very casual attempt at discretion he gestured his head in the direction of the fountain. The girl’s clothes were wet now, but they clearly weren’t in a good state: torn, ripped, holes. Devon knew this all too well. He’d been there – of course by choice – but he’d also worked at Sanctuary for too long not to recognize it. Devon gave a little nod to Luke and then quickly strode over to the fountain. He daren’t call out and alarm the girl.

“Hello there miss,” Devon said once close. “My name is Devon. This is my friend Luke,” he used as slow and gentle a tone that he could, keeping that warm smile. “No need to be alarmed or leave. Enjoying the water?” he added as he sat on the edge of the fountain. A hand dipped into it as he sat.

Luke nodded, glad that Tempest didn't call him on the myriad faux pas he'd just made. "I like it, yeah. Air's nicer, too." He rubbed the back of his head. "It's good to get out while it's warmer than it's been this winter." Tempest definitely had a way of being a comfortable presence. That was good, really. Mutants did need advocates, and better someone like him than someone like Luke who was...less eloquent.

There were plenty of sounds around in the park; leaves rustling, the occasional bird call or people talking. It wasn't until Tempest's gaze drew him to look at the fountain nearby that he realized the splashing wasn't just the usual fountain sounds. "Huh."

Luke was of course familiar with homeless people in New York City. There were a lot of them. Luke felt bad when he ran across them, tried to give them some pocket money if he had any. He always wanted to do more, of course, but he struggled to make time for that kind of volunteer assistance with school, training, and such.

She looked really young, too. That sucked to see. Weren't there supposed to be like, places for that? Luke had never been to one, so he didn't know how that was, but were they really all like the evil orphanages in TV and books and stuff? Distracted by his musings, it took Luke a second to notice that Tempest was heading over to her. He quickly followed after, not really sure what they were doing but hoping he could at least help somehow.

Stopping a ways back from the girl, behind Tempest, Luke tried not to look threatening, which was a bit of a struggle. He waved briefly when Tempest introduced him, but letting his gaze wander after that. He wasn't the greatest at talking, and he knew that, so he could at least like, keep an eye out for trouble. If anyone tried to get involved, they'd have to pass the scumbag-sleaze test first, administered by Luke of course.

Engaging wasn’t required. It’s quite possible the girl was scared, shy, or simply avoidant. All of that was fine. He gave her the time she wanted and perhaps maybe she need a little peace. Still, Devon kept his seat and turned to the lycanthropic Luke.

“I agree about what you said by the way,” he said, calling back to Luke’s words before they’d scurried over. “It is good to get out when the air warms up. People – most mammals really – learn to hibernate, eat, rest more in the darker, colder months and explore, get active, and interact more as things warm up. Sunshine is good for the soul just not too much or the skin pays,” he chuckled at his corny joke.

“How was your winter? I traveled a bit more than I expected, but work needs doing,” he nodded slowly.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." Luke was a little distracted by the approach of three surly-looking individuals from his left flank. The three men-not much older than him, probably-were talking among themselves and making pointed glances at the girl in the fountain and Tempest. Luke tilted his head to look at them, his ears turning subtly towards the trio.

The fountain was very loud and they were still pretty far away, but he definitely picked up on plenty of words. "...freaks hangin' around" "that mutant cult guy..." "dog-freak" stood out, along with "bum" which was probably directed to the girl, followed by some particularly vile words wished he wasn't hearing.

Turning his head away, Luke's upper lip curled in a snarl. It had been a long time since he'd been the subject of bad-mouthing, and it still felt like a punch in the gut. Unlike many mutants, it was a lot easier for Luke to pick up on stuff jerks like this thought they were keeping from him. He knew what he was supposed to do. They didn't have any ground to stand on, he didn't need to care about their opinions, better to just ignore them. But like...he didn't care. He didn't need these pricks going around ruining his day or anyone else's.

"Hey!" Luke called out to the three guys. They exchanged glances and Luke took a couple of steps towards them. "You wanna say something, say it to my face!" The more he thought about it, the more he seethed. Two of them seemed to get the hint and started backing up, one nudging the third in the side as he retreated.

That third guy, however, stood his ground. He spread his arms wide, a clearly mocking notion to match his smug expression. "Hey, freedom of speech. You gonna bite me for havin' an opinion?"

Luke paused, only briefly. A low growl issued from his throat as he started moving at him. His opponent didn't flinch. He sauntered forward, confident that whoever won the imminent fight, the mutant was going to get screwed over for picking a fight with an ordinary, law-abiding citizen. Not that Luke was considering the legal consequences. He was just angry, and that was an extra-bad state for him.

Reap did not immediately recognize that the ‘hello there miss’ was directed at her. People did not usually address her as ‘miss’. The names people usually called her were not so flattering. She often felt like people didn’t even see her as human anymore…which she guessed she technically wasn’t…but she didn’t think that feeling was known only to mutant homeless. Not that she could verify with any human homeless…the two groups generally didn’t comingle.

Reap jumped when she saw a hand dip into the water and she realized that the man had been talking to her. She almost slipped off the edge of the fountain but managed to balance herself at the last moment. She promptly scooted several spaces away…leaving a dirty trail in the water after her. The man was…introducing himself…she thought but she wasn’t really listening. Her eyes were wide and fixated on the wolf-thing next to him.

Reap shuddered when…he?...waved at her. It wasn’t so much that she was repulsed by his appearance but rather that she thought of her own. Did he just wake up like that one day or did it start slow? Some hair here and there until it eventually grew to cover his entire body? Would she wake up like that one morning? With the green that had once been limited to only her palms all over her body? Reap shoved her hands into her pocket. The seeds that she always stashed in there immediately stuck to her wet hands and she grimaced but couldn’t bear to pull them out again.

Reap decided that three people at the fountain was two too many. She swung her legs back out and stood up (still awkwardly keeping her hands in her pocket). She eyed the clothes she had peeled off and the bag of hard-won food, still sitting unfortunately close to the two…men? She stole another glance of their faces and finally keyed into their conversation. She immediately bristled as they so casually joked about hibernating in the winter. It was all good for people like them. They had a place to hibernate in. She had seen people nearly freeze to death on New York City’s streets. The New York winters almost made her miss the streets of Atlanta back when she was young…well, younger…and dumb. She honestly didn’t know how she had made it through that first year…especially given what she had learned in the time since.

Before Reap could grab her things and leave though, three men approached. A long-repressed memory surfaced of a parking lot. Her mother. Her brother. The screaming. The exploding fruit and vegetables. “No, no, no,” She muttered as she stumbled backwards and pulled her hands out of her pocket to cover her eyes from a sight that was half now and half then. She needed to get out of here. She couldn’t do this. Not again.

Reap had never had good control over her powers. They were simply inaccessible to her most days. Others days she could manage tiny little sprouts of growth. And still others days they came exploding out of her. Today was one of those days. Whether it was the fact that she’d had a decent night sleep, several consistent meals, the warm sun, the resurgence of stressful memories from the night her powers manifested, or a combination of all of that, she used her powers for the first time in weeks without meaning to.

The seeds, which were still sticking to her wet hands when she withdrew them from her pockets, were bursting into growth with loud pops like there were dozens of snap bangs being thrown onto the ground at once. The sprouted seeds were beginning to grow stems and leaves…and soon were dropping from her hands because they were too heavy to stick. The fledgling plants that had dropped to ground didn’t stop growing but their growth did slow now that Reap wasn’t in direct contact with them.

((My apologies for the delays, guys!))

It was hard to ignore ignorance and hatred; Devon tended not to, especially when such inevitably led to harm somewhere in the future. There was always the consideration of confrontation leading to violence and accidents too. Of course, he preferred a calm approach to disarming conflict. Luke seemed a bit more prone to the opposite, though it was hard to fault that sort of anger and aggression. The physically-changed mutants always had a harder time.

Two stepped back but one looked ready for a fight. Freedom of speech? People forgot harassment was a punishable offense. The tools of the conservative troll seemed to roll off the guy’s tongue. Luke unfortunately took the bait. Devon stood, a frown appearing on his face.

Unfortunately, the girl who was clearly only put off by Luke and his presence only grew more upset. She had moved away, she’d fretted, and said nothing. Her muttering was heard by Devon and he knew what that sound usually meant: anxiety, troubled nerves, recurrence. She shielded her eyes as Devon guessed only at PTSD and glanced worriedly between her and Luke.

Seeds fell from her hands, plants were growing, and the girl was stumbling back. This was dangerous for everyone involved, especially where uncontrolled abilities could go. Devon stepped forward swiftly to ensure he was in between the fallen plants and the three men as well as Luke. “Harassment is unwarranted and unlawful, especially in a public place,” Devon chided in a firm, loud tone. “We also need to remember those around us before anyone gets hurt. Luke, don’t give them a reason. Right now you’re in the right and they aren’t.”

When Tempest stepped in front of Luke, his instinct was to shove him aside. The hell was he thinking, taking their side?! Luckily, once Devon started talking, Luke checked himself and thought better of it.

His face flushed with embarrassment-not that anyone could see this--and he crossed his arms, glaring across the field at the heckler. He growled softly again. Luke knew Tempest was right, obviously, but it still made him angry. He really wished he could get into it with these guys-he'd crush them, obviously, no contest-but it would only make things worse. For both of them, and-

Luke heard the popping noise like firecrackers and turned his head to look. "Oh, geez." Little green plants were wiggling around on the ground around the girl by the fountain. As for the girl herself, she was pretty clearly panicking, whimpering and covering her eyes. Luke turned around to move to her, not sure if he could help but wanting to at least try.

Before he could try to approach, he heard the same jackasses laughing in the distance. He turned back, seeing red. "SCREW OFF!" He roared at them, loudly. Loud enough that other people nearby turned to stare before quickly moving on, but on the plus side the three guys finally decided not to push their luck, and made a hasty retreat.

Luke took a couple of deep breaths and stared at the ground, clenching his fists and feeling his claws painfully dig into his palms. It wasn't enough to break the skin, but it helped him calm down a little.

"Sorry." Luke mumbled to nobody in particular. He relaxed after a couple of moments. He had definitely made this situation a lot worse, and if anyone was going to step in for the poor homeless girl, it wasn't going to be him.

With her eyes covered, Reap couldn’t see what unfolded between the men but when she heard what to her sounded like an inhumane roar of ‘SCREW OFF’, she squeaked like a terrified mouse and turned tail. She abandoned her measly pile of things (the only possessions she had in the world) and the precious food she had collected. She just ran away.

Reap couldn’t bear to face the fight nor the things it reminded her of and she couldn’t risk being part of some kind of mutant brawl in the middle of Central Park. She was small, painfully skinny, and fast but she couldn’t run for long. She didn’t have that kind of endurance. She collapsed near a tree halfway across the park.

Reap thought she might throw up or faint or both as she put her head between her knees and tried to catch her breath. She felt drained, far more drained than a mad sprint would warrant. She felt something bounce off the top of her head and she peeled her head off her knees to see a bright red, ripened apple. Confused, she reached forward to pick it up but before she could grab it, she felt a second object bounce off her head. Another apple. In horror, she looked up and saw that the tree she had her back up against her going into full bloom. Apples were ripening right there on the branches and falling onto the ground.

Reap looked out in the direction she had come from to see with horror that she had left an easily followable trail. A yellow brick road made entirely of dandelions that ended right at her feet. “Stop…” Reap whimpered as she tried to rein in her powers. She slumped onto the ground pale and weak as her powers fizzled out. The evidence did not just wilt into nothing though and Reap was too exhausted to get up and away.