It got colder and Cora felt a rush of familiar comfort from it. Not that Rime or older Sam wanted to be compared to each other, the action was something both did and reminded her that this wasn’t a stranger, it was still someone she had opened up to caring about. Had Sam acted completely different, maybe it wouldn’t have worked, but there was enough there to hold onto. She scooted closer and leached more warmth from him, glad the leather jacket blocked out enough chill.

”Time displacement is awful fancy talk. I’ll make sure to save that line if I have to chase off any of your pursuers from your younger gallivanting,” she noted. She was only half joking. If they were going to keep dating she would punch a nose or two if it meant getting them to back off. She was only sorta a bit territorial.

Cora grinned when he mentioned the danger room, ”Sparring would be fun, although I already took on a boat full of thugs recently, isn’t that already showing I can hold my own?” she couldn’t resist bragging. She was proud of her efforts on the rescue mission.

She flushed slightly at the mention of a picnic. Oh hell that was a whole different ballpark. ”Maybe start with sparring and work up to picnics. Honestly I’m more comfortable with violence than romance sometimes. That....takes more effort to get used to.” she was a little quieter when she said that. She felt self conscious about her behavior toward relationships. It was much easier to run for the hills than to confront emotions head on.

The chill ended when she scooted closer to him he didn’t want her to get too cold but cold enough to move closer. Silently he wondered if his younger self tried this on her. He figured he did. It had been something he always did when he wanted to get closer to someone without making the move himself. He also didn’t comment on his younger self’s exploits but agreed that was a better term. ”Hopefully there wasn’t too many. I don’t know if I’m worth that much effort.” he said trying to make a joke the truth might have scared him.

”Worth something,” Sam said nodding his head agreeing with her. ”However I wasn’t there to see it and you know. Might as well be trained by the best.” he smirked trying to one up her bragging.

”No picnics yet. Maybe hot dogs in the park then. We can bring Bruno so you don’t have to thing about me trying to romance you. There will be romancing though. I am a hopeless romantic after all.” he smirked and leaned into her playfully. ”Action. I’m hella good at.” Sam said realizing he was picking up some of his younger self’s lingo.

Cora glanced at him, wondering if she should bring up the threads or not. There were, well, a handful at least, but she generally avoided outright pointing out things that that to people. Most seemed to feel self conscious when they knew she could literally see their every attachment, fling, or crush. "There are a handful...but nothing I couldn't handle. And I could say the same about myself. You put a bit of effort into winning me over already."

When he mentioned being trained by the best she smirked, and raised an eyebrow, "That's some tall bragging you're doing. I'll have to see how you hold up to it. Although you can't be too awful, they gave you your own action figure, after all. Oh yeah, we found some of those," she teased playfully.

Cora took a moment to visualize the date idea. It wasn't bad. Bruno being there would make it nice, even with the subtle 'threat' of romance. She elbowed him lightly, but didn't pull away. "Maybe we just have to combine situations so the romance comes as a surprise. Sparring that turns into a picnic or something. Stop a bank robbery then walk in the moonlight," she offered. Maybe she was only half joking, considering how her stomach did a twist just thinking about the word 'picnic'. She went all this far to get to know him again, if she turned and ran the other way it would make the effort wasted.

"And I believe you. Isn't that the point of the whole hero gig? Action?"

”I’m pretty good at handling things myself.” Sam grinned. ”For example, first day back as an adult and I’m handling it by not being there.” he grinned. ”But, it’s nice to see my efforts are being noticed.

Sam laughed at the action figure, ”Yeah, I saw that. Wondering who is getting paid for it because I don’t think we get a cent, maybe we can get you one at some point.” he laughed a bit more, ”and you don’t survive with a childhood like mine without being one of the best. My powers didn’t really help much till I could handle myself with these.” he said lifting his fists up into a guard. Before reaching for her hand again.

”Whoa whoa whoa, moonlit walks? Careful, I might think you are trying to romance me.” he laughed again then tilted his head to the setting sun. ”Might be able to have one back to the bikes tonight.” Sam said grinning.

”I’d be lying if action wasn’t the majority of what I do but, I do sleep a bit better every time I managed to help or save someone.” he said his grin fading. ”I like to think I’m working my way to balance all the bad I did.” he said sullenly now. That stuff was a little more difficult to talk about.

Cora mentioned getting her an action figure, and Cora grinned a bit wider, "Actually, I already have one. We bought a whole bunch of them at comicon, including the other X-Men. I think yours is just sitting on a shelf in my apartment with my rock climbing stuff. And the others...We...may have hidden them around the mansion for your teammates to find. I think the plan was to have them randomly stuck places to be obnoxious? I didn't get to hear the final results, honestly."

She laughed a little as Sam flexed and showed off then his hand returned. She rolled her eyes at his comment about romancing and then noted it was getting darker. "I guess it depends if the moon is out or not. How's your night vision? I didn't pack a flashlight this time, although I suppose I can use the old cell-phone trick if needed."

He grew a little more serious and Cora gave his hand a tighter squeeze, turning so she was looking at him more, which managed to send her hair flopping over to one side. Probably not the coolest look, but looks weren't everything. "You may have some darker skeletons than other people, but we all have things we regret. I mean, I still feel like I'm punishing myself for something I can't take back. But heck, you just went out of your way to heal my dad. You gave him his life back. Even the things that feel small to you can be priceless to someone else."

She shifted so she could meet his gaze, and hoped he would see she meant what she was saying. "You already found some amazing things to do with your powers. You're one step ahead of those of us who only know how to hurt people with them." She thought of threads she had severed, and how she regarded it as freeing someone from something that they would never miss. Rescuing Mae had really been the only positive thing she could remember doing with her powers. She had a long way to go there.

Sam laughed when she said she already had one of his action figures and that they bought one of everyone on the team. It was only worth it if he got to see every ones reactions. On occasion his younger self came up with good ideas. ”I meant one of you.”” he said with a bigger grin. ”She can come with rock climbing gear and a sassy quip or two.

The icemancer shrugged, ”I’ll let you know when it kicks on.” he half joked. ”If it’s bright enough we might not even need the cellphones. agreeing with her. ”Eye is pretty good at adjusting, at least it was.” he said hoping it hadn’t changed since he got younger and then older again.

Her holding his hand was comforting it just reminded him he wasn’t alone. Sam forgot how much he missed contact like this. The last few months leading up to the de-aging he only worked, trained and attended A.A. meetings intentionally distancing himself from a lot of people. He found if he stayed busy he didn’t think about getting a drink. Even if he was at his bar most of the time.

Grinning, ”That was a birthday gift apparently for not celebrating it on the day.” he was glad Cora played hard to get with his younger self it meant that he had to come up with an idea like healing her father for a ‘gift’, he probably would have done it at some point anyways the way they seemed to be progressing. Cora was obviously important to his younger self and now him as well.

His grin faded the more he felt her gaze his stomach in knots again. He tried not to think about it. ”Just had to repurpose the powers.” he said trying to sum it up. ”They always made it easy to hurt someone, Ice works just as well on fires.” he shrugged. ”And don’t downplay what you can do. I’m sure they could be just as effective or more so the field. Might bring you along sometime. If you get my approval.” Sam said over exaggerating a wink because he was down to one eye again.

Cora made a face at the idea of having an action figure of herself. "I would be the lame character no one would want. Who wants my powers when the rest of the team has magnetism, and can make giant ice slides, or walk through mirrors and crap?" She remembered the question she asked at the comicon panel, and how even the other x-men seemed to encourage non-combative mutations to look for other smaller tasks within their abilities. She would never be called in on a mission.

She wasn't even an x-men, so the whole conversation was just a bunch of hypotheticals.

Sam mentioned something in regards to night vision, which she would have to question later. That was a power the younger version hadn't seemed to use, but she disliked outright showing comparisons like that. She let herself be distracted with the comment on helping her dad as a birthday gift.

"It was sort of hard for you to celebrate it when I didn't exactly say much on the day of. But...thank you. Best gift I've had, hands down. But now you have a weird standard to rise to for other holidays," she smiled.

She was torn when he mentioned bringing her into the field. "I think it would be a ton of fun going along. And if I ever wanted to go somewhere, I'd like to see you try and stop me," she tilted her chin up defiantly and then nudged her shoulder into him. "My stubborn side is both a pro and a con."

The icemancer cringed a little when Cora revealed her reservations of having an action figure. ”I’d want one at least.” he said smirking, ”Not to mess with you but because of how awesome that would be.” he grinned slightly, anyone could do heroics. They just needed a reason. Anyone in his opinion could be one.

”I make ice that makes me hard to kill. Becca can stop bullets. Gawain can walk through mirrors and a talented fighter.” he agreed, ”We have a bunch of fighters but they all have mutations that make them suited for it. The ones I envy the most are the ones that don’t have powers to stop themselves from being stabbed or shot. Luke, and Raina in particular. Willing to risk their lives just to help people? True heroics. My power is a dime a dozen. We focus more on charchter ” he said believing firmly that the only thing that made X-men was the willingness to help people. No matter the cost.

Sam cleared his throat, ”Only the ones I miss though right?” Sam said half jokingly. The grand gesture of healing her father wasn’t much more than a few conversations and knowing the right healer. But he decided against pointing that out. He knew it was important to her so he didn’t downplay what Sam had done. Again, heroics you don’t need powers to make a difference.

His one eye shifted from the horizon over to Cora and he grinned, ”I prefer stubborn.” he smirked and wrapped his arm around her as she nudged into him. ”Only if you can handle yourself in my lesson.” he squeezed her slightly glad that his younger self managed to meet someone like her.

Cora listened to him talk and found her heart lift just a little. She didn’t feel like a hero at this point in her life. If anything, she was running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. But when she was helping rescue Mae she felt like she was useful, doing something with her powers for someone else. There was a reward in helping when she didn’t really have the best powers for it. Taking out a bad guy with just her rock climbing gear was oddly fulfilling. It wasn’t like she would sign up tomorrow and start training, but the idea was still there, lurking in her head. Maybe a spar or two, a few missions, and she could be convinced she had what it took. Or that she didn’t. It seemed a bit late in her life to suddenly decide what she wanted, but with her dad healed, the gym didn’t feel as much her responsibility now.

Sam commented on the gift and she grinned, unable to fake a serious expression. ”You only get a pass on one forgotten holiday. You forget something important like Halloween I’ll find some way to get vengeance.”

I prefer stubborn.

Cora laughed, and settled into his hold. ”Just remember that when I get myself in a situation you aren’t ready for. You may prefer it now but not when I’m settling a score with someone who thinks they can snatch you back.” It was getting darker but she didn’t mind. She had a rather comfortable pillow with her and the day had been good. It had been a long time since she had let her heart relax like this. Even with younger Sam she kept a wall up, trying her best not to get tangled into something.

She was forced to admit she was already caught too deep. She let herself be held and enjoyed the warmth. As it got dark she may have even snuck another kiss or two. Eventually she knew she couldn’t keep him longer and reluctantly got back to her feet. ”I’ll take you home before then send our a search party. Or, you know, check them jet hanger and the car ports for whatever would be missing.” She was able to see the path a little, and the bike had lights so that wouldn’t be a problem.

”And I mean, if it gets too crazy and you need to escape you can always come by. You have my address so where in your phone. It’s nothing impressive, but you won’t have to hide from all the women a younger you slept with,” it was funny in a sort of horrible way. She really may have to trim some threads eventually if anyone caused issues. Not that she was petty, just, protective.

They rode back, and Cora paused awkwardly outside the garage while he parked. She turned the bike off and put her helmet on the seat so she could say goodbye. Was this a hug sort of moment? They did kiss... she had trouble figuring out the dynamics with this whole thing.

”Halloween is an important holiday now? What else did I miss?” Sam half joked hoping she wasn’t going to find all the calendar holidays important. He had a hard time remembering his own birthday let alone any other holiday.

It’s hard to imagine anyone fighting over him. Sure back in the day he was a handful, but it was hard to imagine anyone doing it now. What did his younger self get into? Again he didn’t want to think about a ton of what-ifs now he was trying to focus on the girl he apparently had feelings for. Even if they were ones left over from his younger self they were real. He felt them for her as he held her hand and when he looked at her. ”I can also just tell people I’m taken.” he half joked.

Reluctantly when she stood up Sam joined her. It was dark now, clear skies though so that was nice on the walk back and the ride back. He wasn’t worried too much about them sending a search party out. He saw Gawain this morning, even had a good talk with him. Meaning they’d talk to Gawain before sending a search team out. They should have been used to him disappearing for a few days at a time usually when that happened though he asked a student to watch his pets before they got lonely or hungry.

Then again he wasn’t ready to be confronted by anyone that had an issue with his younger self he still had too much to learn about his exploits. He was just glad Rime did a good job with video journal entries took a lot of the guess work out and he knew while Rime might have hated who he became he knew he could be trusted.

”They usually don’t worry until day three, Jet also has a GPS on it so they could just see it’s there. They’d know if I took it.” he half joked walking back to the bikes his hand intertwined with hers. It was odd he was more willing to hop on the back of her bike than his just so he could remain close to her. He however didn’t say it and hoped on the back of his bike and kicked the engine on.

Sam also made sure not to comment on her last one till they got back to the mansion. He walked out after parking his bike his ice helmet already gone. ”Just so you know, I’m great at avoiding people I don’t want to see. You on the other hand… you are going to regret that offer because I’m going to take you up on it.” he grinned, ”I also spent most of my life in a cell, meaning anything you got is probably better.” Sam leaned in hugged and kissed her before pulling out his phone. ”I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Halloween is an important holiday?

Cora smirked at him, "Hey, not all of us get to dress up in spandex and be heroes every day. I have to enjoy the one day of the year I get! Plus, I did drag your younger self to a comic convention. I have a little nerd in me under the surface." It was better he got used to that now. Old Sci-Fi reruns had been a staple for her dad and her growing up and some things didn't change.

Taken... Cora glanced at the threads on him, and the one that linked them. It was a weird kind of comfort, but also gave her a rush of nervous energy seeing the somewhat split thread. Would he continue to feel this way, or would that go away like his memories had? She felt apprehensive, and sighed a little. "We...we can figure that part out. Your younger self got you into this, after all." In some ways she was still giving him an out. She was a bit nervous he would change his mind and run for the hills. Or, she would. If anyone was gun-shy about relationships, she qualified.

The idea still lingered as she found herself in front of her bike, and he was grinning at her. It was weird, but his smile was even better now that he re-aged. Rime would be irritated. The word taken was still in her brain as she returned the kiss and hug. Yeah, she was in too deep already, re-aged or not. This thing, whatever it was, between them was happening. "I look forward to the call. You owe me a second date sometime." She put her helmet on and then gunned her motorcycle and started for home a bit over the speed limit. Despite all her reservations, she couldn't help feeling that she was looking forward to the call.