He watched her in mild amusement as she justified her dislike for having the police in her space. He understood that people didn't trust cops in New York, and in a lot of other places as well, so he shrugged and let it slide. She mentioned putting up signs, and nodded along. The local library let you print out a certain number of papers for free... Or she might have a printer, but almost no one did these days.

His eyes widened a bit as she mentioned getting a new cat, but he chuckled nervously when he realized she was kidding. She mentioned canned food, and iffy the moment got a gracious reprieve as she turned to head back toward her apartment. He followed, pausing as she fiddled with the lock on her door. Wait a sec, they were about to go into her apartment... He wondered what it looked like inside.

She had a lot of money, right? Was is going to be... ostentatious? She opened the door, and he couldn't help but lean in to look. Huh... Pretty plain, huh? Spartan, almost. A little cramped for his taste, hence why he knocked down walls in his. 

"So, uh... you've been here for a month, huh? Not much for decorating?" He froze in place. "Wait, they stole your decorations?!" He looked around at all of the open drawers and the like. "Oh man they took everything, didn't they? You sure you don't want to call the police?"

He looked over as she opened a can of cat food. Huh, at least they left that behind... Moments later they heard a loud meowing... huh? "That's... coming from my place?" 

He turned and headed toward his own apartment. Soon after he opened the door and a fat one eyed cat sauntered out, he nodded to himself. 'Of course! I left the window open for a breeze! And yours was open too! Looks like Clyde snuck over! Maybe he was scared by the burglar?" He paused, looking at his door frame. He made a note to reinforce it. He didn't want his trophy collection stolen.

She blinked at him, and then turned to scrutinize her own apartment. What did he mean 'not much for decorating'? He had a punching bag suspended from the ceiling in his living room!

"Nah, almost everything is here. I'm a minimalist." She rinsed the tin lid from the can off and chucked it in the recycling bin. "My parents didn't really believe in material stuff and it stuck, so I don't really buy a lot of things." She paused a moment. "Aside from clothes, but that was because I didn't wanna wear all my old country stuff in a big city. Gotta blend in, right?"

She'd have to make sure her guitar was still in her room. That old thing was one of her few treasures purely from how long it had survived.

Once Clyde announced himself, they made their way over to his door and out came her giant, dumb cat.

"You are the worst." She deadpanned, holding the food can out of reach of a suddenly very energetic feline.

Juniper turned her attention back to Xavier while Clyde tried and failed to claw her leg to ribbons. He had been unfortunately declawed by his previous owners.

"Sorry he got into your place. You might wanna check for cat floof on your bedding and stuff. He sheds like crazy."

"MOW! MOW!"

"And thanks for helping me track him down. He might be old and fat and-"

"MOOOOOW~" He was pawing at Xavier's leg now.

"-annoying, but he's my best friend. So.. i'm glad to have him home."

Stooping, she hefted the big cat up in one arm, while he scrambled and flailed to try and get closer to the open can of cat food.

"Clyde, if you don't cease your flailing I will have them remove what is left of your balls. For reals."

She departed a moment later after getting the cat to unwillingly wave goodbye, nudging her door back open with a knee and kicking it shut behind.

"~MEROOOWWW"

It was a week after the missing cat debacle, and two days after the rescue of the kidnapped people from the warehouse. Xavier was using his weekend down time to study. He had another two hours left for study time, but he was having a little trouble with math... He sat at his little table, which was a normal sized table, but everything looked a little smaller when he was involved, and tapped his pencil on the wooden surface, frowning. 

Was he missing a step, here? He turned to his math book, eyeing the process once more, and then type into his hundred dollar calculator again.

No change, but he had the answer right here in the key, and wasn't getting it. He smooched his mouth to the side a bit in thought, and then turned to his bottle of water, taking a drink, and then placing it down again.

Maybe he should take a break? It was getting toward lunch time, so a quick jog, or maybe a patrol.... No! He needed to study, and if he went on a patrol he wouldn't be able to help but be out until night.

School was important. Study, Xavier, Study!

"Whatcha doin?"

She was behind and off to the side of him, peering around one of his massive shoulders. She'd snuck in with only a slight intention to try and spook him, since she could make herself walk so quietly. It had been a few days since the last time she had seen or spoken to him. She'd mostly kept herself bundled up in her apartment, compartmentalizing and burying things she didn't want to think about. 

She hadn't left until she ran out of cat food. And now, she was here. 

She spied scribbles on a page. Lines and squiggles and numbers all jumbled together in some way that apparently made sense to smarter people. She hadn't ever had to learn anything above very basic multiplication since her mother had been in charge of her education, and hadn't figured her daughter would need any advanced mathematics. She wasn't expected to become some fancy scientist, or architect or anything, after all. Never had to learn proper geography, history, science, or anything else for that matter. She picked up what she now knew along the way while floundering through life.

But Math was certainly one of the many areas her education was seriously lacking.

"Ew, math. See ya." She promptly tried to turn on her heel and leave again.

He'd just started to slip into a bit of a daydream when he heard a voice behind him, and jumped a little. He looked back and saw a certain someone peeking over his shoulder. 

"Oh, hey Juni! Surprised me there." He looked down at his work, and sighed a bit. "Well, it's a bit of a caper, honestly."

He looked down at the paper again, and then perked up. "Hey, you disappeared the other day, everything alright? I was a little worried when I didn't see you for a few days... I thought I should give you your space, though." He remembered she'd gone through a few rough experiences back there. 

She realized what he was working on, and turned to bolt. "Hey, wait a sec, maybe you can help me with something."

He turned back a page in his spiral notebook, looking to her expectantly. "Can you take a look at this proof and tell me if I'm missing a step or something?"

Juniper froze mid-step in her swift exit from his abode. Of course he was gonna bring up the incident. Of course he was going to guilt trip her terribly by mentioning how he was worried, and yet still being thoughtful enough to let her work through things on her own.

She twisted back to frown at him, torn on what she wanted to do. She took it out on her baggy Gucci sweater by wringing the hem in her hands. "Thanks." Was her solemn reply. She didn't know what else to say.

Biting back a groan at herself for caving, she found her traitorous feet shuffling her back over where she could see his work again. "I guess I can take a peek."

She seriously doubted she could help. He might have been a bit naive in some ways, but she knew enough about him to see that he was crazy smart in others.

Doubt and a healthy dose of personal shame crept in as her eyes landed on the problems.

... Jesuseffingchrist. Where was she even supposed to start? She didn't know what half of those symbols were supposed to be, nor how the numbers factored in. Why were there parenthesis and what did they have to do with anything?? The expression on her face shifted quickly from her usual deadpan, to something pinched and uncomfortable.

Well, better just rip the band-aid off and get it over.

"Yeah, I hate to burst your bubble but I don't have any clue what any of that is." Her cheeks burned a little with the admission. She hated letting on that she was lame in any capacity.

"I was home schooled. I never learned any of... that. You should probably find someone else to ask."

Could she escape now? There was a half empty bottle of schnapps calling her name, promising to make all her feelings go away again.

He smiled in an assuring manner and gave her a little nod as she thanked him, and then scooted to the side a bit as she took a look at his work.

There was a moment of silence. And then another. Another one. He looked up from his work to her. Uh oh, something was wrong; She looked... Perturbed, a bit? He went beet red as she admitted to not knowing what anything on the page was. "Oh. I am... SO sorry!" He shouldn't have assumed she just... Knew calculus. How many people just... knew calculus? Like, no one. He was damn near perfect in every way, and HE was struggling with it. Her cheeks were a little red as well. Great, he'd embarrassed her.

"Uh, Wait! I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry." He closed his book, and stood up quickly. "Hey, I'm honestly stuck, but I think it's cause I left my study guide at school. You're bored, cause you're here. Want to come with?" He tucked his pencil behind his ear, which somehow looked cool even though it was nerdy. "Besides, I feel like I need to make it up to you. Maybe we can grab some coffee on the way back?"

Him apologizing somehow made it worse. The red in her cheeks flared slightly and, since she was a coward at her very core, she flipped around on her heel real quick to try and escape again. He rushed to stop her, which did give her a reason to pause, if only long enough to hear him out.

You're bored, cause your're here.

Busted! He was on her like butter on a pancake. She scratched a cheek and glanced away pointedly with her lips pursed. How in the hell did someone so big make a pencil behind the ear look so cute?

"I... guess?" She didn't have anything better to do than sit at home and pet her cat. No, that was not a euphemism... This time.

"I've got nothing better to do at the moment." She glanced down at her outfit. Over sized sweater and leggings? Good enough. She'd just need her shoes and a coat. "Let me grab a few things." It hardly even occurred to her that she may have been bribed with coffee to a certain degree.

A few moments later she was out in the hall locking her door behind her, comfy in a trendy coat and an Ohio state beanie (complete with fluffy puff ball on top) pulled down over her ears and forehead. She looked a little goofy in all the over sized clothing, with little twiggy legs poking out from beneath.

As she tucked her keys in her pocket she settled back into a comfortable neutral space.

"I've seen a few schools before, but I don't think i've ever been anywhere near anything like that school. What's it like?"

He was oblivious to making the situation worse, scratching his cheek as he turned to grab his fairly thin sweater. She ran off to go get ready, and he waited out in the hallway.

As she walked out of the apartment he couldn't help but grin. "Hey, you know, I saw videos online of those people who got younger... Their clothes were all baggy. You remind me of them right now." The grin widened. He was dressed modestly warm. Coming from Montana, it got really cold, so it wasn't so bad here for him. He'd opted to leave the costume at home, as he had a spare at the mansion in his locker anyway. He looked a little lost in thought as he recalled how to get there... It wasn't far.

He looked over as she asked about the mansion, and smiled again. "Oh, it's probably better if I show you."

___

They hadn't made it to the mansion before the Coffee became a before and not after thing, so he found himself at the front gates of the Xavier Sister School. "Here we are!" He pressed the buzzer, announced himself, and the gate opened. 

"Lotta security here, honestly, it was a bit of a shock, but it makes sense. Guess they were attacked a few times." He started walking in toward the front door. "My New friend Sluggo said that a Giant Cockroach showed up with a rocket launcher once!" He shook his head a bit as they neared the front steps. 

"We'll get you set up with a visitor badge, and then we can get my study guide." He jogged up the steps and opened the door for her, inviting her in first.

Her cheeks darkened again she she pulled her cap down further. "S-shut up! I like being comfortable, okay?!"

Coffee was definitely a before thing. Even though she had the money to buy her own, he insisted, so she let him buy her's too. It was still pretty weird now nice he was all the time while not expecting anything in return. It wasn't abnormal she supposed, but in her minimal social circles she didn't tend to run into many of those types. Heck, she wasn't one of them herself. She almost always expected something out of someone when talking to them. Xavier has fallen into a really strange spot in her life that she wasn't quite sure what to do with yet.

Anyway, once a hot coffee was in her hands they were on their way to his school.

Though, once she had actually seen it with her eyeballs in person, she wasn't sure 'school' did it much justice. Now she knew why some people on the street called it the Mansion instead. Xavier buzzed them in and she followed along like a lost puppy, trying to keep up on shorter legs and also not let on that the sheer size of the place was a little daunting. She felt like people could definitely get lost in there pretty often.

"I'm not surprised, considering some of the cockroaches I've seen in this city." The rocket launcher was a little shocking, just from the strings you'd have to pull to get your hands, er... or whatever buggy feet-tips were called, on one of them.


She was a little nervous going inside the building, if she was being honest with herself. Some of the x's were honorary police, weren't they? Aside from that, deep down she knew she really truly didn't belong in any capacity. The place was supposed to be some haven for struggling mutants who wanted to do and be better. Or, so sparkling idealists like Xavier, who simply wanted to be the best.

She generally just wanted to repress everything and skate by in life until one of her vices inevitably killed her. Not quite the same when compared against each other.

Still, as she stepped on in it was a little hard not to look at least a little impressed. "Wow. That is a huge chandelier."

He nodded at her statement about wanting to feel comfortable. "That's a good reason."

When they finally made their way to the mansion and she stood in door staring at the chandelier, he couldn't help but smile. "I stared at it the first time, too... Honestly, I do every time. It's a reminder that I'm here, and I can make the best of myself." He walked around her and headed past toward the offices in order to get her a guest badge.

"Keep up!" He spoke, looking back to rouse her from her ogling. 

"This place really lives up to its name, from what I've seen so far... People from all walks of life living together, working for the greater good. Aspiring." He turned and walked through a door, pausing to look back. His long legs sometimes carried him a little further, faster than he meant them to when he was excited.

"C'mon, you just have to sign in."

Ah man, she'd been caught staring. She stuck her tongue out at him as he walked past. So what if she wasn't used to materialistic grandeur?

Her tongue snapped back into her mouth hopefully quick enough not to be noticed when he turned back, and she scrambled to catch up. His stupid sky scraper legs easily dwarfed her normal pace, but if she phased some of her body it lessened how much weight she had to lug forward. She caught up quick and dogged his steps after.

"All walks of life, huh?" She seriously doubted that. With a name that had quite a bit of backing behind it, enough to work with police departments, she didn't think there was much truth there. Or at least a different meaning for her, than for Xavier. Sure, she wasn't a hardened criminal by any long shot, but she had a fair share of pretty serious crimes under her belt at this point. Enough that it made her physically itchy being in a place where people served justice for dinner.

It did get her thinking though, about all those kids like Xavier aspiring to be great things... or maybe just aspiring to get a handle on a tricky power. She... she didn't really have anything she aspired to be. It was a day by day thing for her, and some days were better than others.

She was jealous of Xavier in that regard.

Juniper tagged along behind him, getting distracted her and then and then hurrying to catch up again, until they were at the office he had mentioned and she was handed a pen to sign in as a guest.

Aw, man! Why did they need her middle name?!

Grumbling under her breath, she jotted down her full name begrudgingly and was handed a sticker WITH HER FULL NAME ON IT.

"Horseshit." She muttered softly, as she moodily slapped the sticker that screamed 'JUNIPER WILHELMINA BROWN' on her coat. "I hate this already."

She didn't mean it, but Xavier might have been the only one at that point who knew.

He did look back when she asked about all walks of life. "Absolutely. Jewel, one of the old members, was a felon... Heck, the Masochist was a homeless man that stole from, like, dumpsters or something. Not sure if much has changed in that regard." He chuckled to himself, but looked around to be sure the big guy wasn't around. "When they say anyone, they mean anyone. Doesn't matter where you came from, or what you did. Anyone can  be redeemed."

They made it to the office where she got her name badge, and he burst out laughing when she turned and revealed her tag, middle name and all. "Hah! No one ever fills out the middle name, Juni!" He clutched his gut a bit as he guffawed, and then settled himself down.

"That is... That's really a great middle name, Juniper!" He chimed in with a southern drawl. "Well, Mrs. Wilhemina, I do declare you've got free reign." He paused, speaking in a normal voice again. "Want a tour?"

Anyone could be redeemed? A big part of her wanted to believe that, for various reasons other than her part time job. A smaller, louder part of herself scoffed openly at the very idea. Someone like him, even with some sadness peppered into his story, had no clue what redemption looked like to her. It felt like a pipe dream at best. Even if she wanted to attempt something like that, there were physical and mental things propped up like roadblocks. Ones she couldn't just phase through.

She kept her mouth shut though, knowing better than to try and talk redemption with a soon-to-be x-man.

Her whole face bloomed with color at him laughing at her. She very nearly matched her red hat. "Well why put a fricken spot for it then?! I thought you people were supposed to follow rules!" The lady at the desk behind them was chuckling as well. Juniper wanted to sink through the floor and die.

Even more so when Xavier adopted a drawl to make fun of her some more. She pulled her hat down to cover her face entirely. "I don't care if I break my hand on your stupid abs, I will punch you and you know you can't stop me." She wasn't gonna, strictly because she probably actually would break something if she tried.

Peeking back out from beneath her hat, she frowned grumpily at him.

"Might as well. It'd be nice to see what you are always geeking out about."

He started laughing more at her reaction. "I'm a boyscout, sure, but I still stick to societal norms!"

He did relent when she threatened to punch him, smiling and stepping aback a bit with his hands up. "Alright alright! Don't want to make you too mad, or you'll beat me up!" He didn't sound like he was lying, there. He really did think she could beat him up.

She agreed to a tour, and he smiled again, jumping up to spin and get walking. "Heh, I can't help it. This place is a dream come true for someone like me." He stood tall and turned back to her, suddenly serious for a second. "You could do it, you know. If you wanted to. You're really brave, Juni." He stood awkwardly for a moment, and then turned again. 

"To the kitchen!" The tour was... Maybe a little too excited for what it was; There were some cool rooms, but it was just a bunch of rooms in a house. There was the library, the entertainment room, the classes, the kitchen(with a snack), the dorms he didn't go into, the classes, the garden, all that stuff. He knew a lot of details about things that had happened and been talked about on message boards. A lot of it was speculation, and he was sure to point it out when it was.

Still, he buzzed with excitement the whole time. When they got to the halls he stopped by his locker and paused at it... oh boy, what was his combination again?