When she looked at him like he was dumb, he sort of tilted his head awkwardly, and looked to the side. What? Was it so odd of a question to ask? Oh, you are ambushing me to go on a hunting trip? How long will we be gone? For all he knew she was hoping to hole up for the winter.

He paused for a second as she stated her three days, but with a fourth day that apparently didn't count. Well... He couldn't say he really minded, to be honest. His teachers would understand. "No, I try to tell the truth whenever I can... Also, I don't think anyone could kidnap me, so they wouldn't believe me anyway..." He frowned as he spoke, as if it was somehow inconvenient that he couldn't be kidnapped.

They came to a stopping point. It was pretty clear this truck wasn't going any deeper into the wilderness. He pulled into the spot she pointed out, and hopped out, grabbing his stuff, and looking up at the piles she'd brought along.

Within seconds he was holding a massively impractical collection of stuff. Giant tipi tarp over his shoulder, camp stove held by the handle in the same arm, a few bags in either arm on the other.

It became evident this wouldn't take very many trips... Provided he could actually get to where they were going with all of this loaded onto his persons.

Spoiler alert, he absolutely could.

"Whelp, sounds like someone who's overconfident just signed himself up to get his ass kidnapped. 'I don't think anyone could kidnap me', PSSH!"

She took the lead, obviously, since she knew the way to the campsite like the back of her hand. She hadn't bothered with any sort of blade or stick to deal with the various thorny brambles and overgrowth. Her Grandfather had taught her to just use her feet if she didn't have a stick to push the growth aside.

Don't get her wrong, she had a machete in her bag with all the lengths of rope she'd need for the meat pole and the Tipi.... she just didn't need to use it yet.

The trip to the campsite was uneventful in the sense that it was calm and quiet, aside from idle conversation. The campsite presented itself as a small clearing tucked between any tall trees and a few wide walls of bushes and saplings. It should have been obvious to a trained eye that it had been used before just from the level of growth around vs the growth within. It had been cleared before in very specific, meticulous ways. A very old, well-used dug-in fire pit sat smack in the middle of the site, with a smaller dug in it a short distance away from where the Tipi would be set up.

Elke dropped her arm full of stuff carefully, bent over the duffle bag, and dug her leather sheathed machete out. "You wanna head back and grab the rest of the stuff? I wanna get the area cleared and ready for set up. Then we break for lunch and get started."

She paused while pulling the blade from its leather safety binding and looked over to him. "Just in case you don't know, don't leave any food in the truck. The bears around here might not mess with us in camp too much, but they will rip a door clean off a car for some delicious bacon."

With that, she turned and headed for the spot the Tipi was going to get set up, and also to start to dig out the poles she'd left behind from her last camping trip.

"I mean, I can't say it's impossible, I guess. I'm just... Well, speaking honestly, it's not too often you see 6 foot something white men with super powers getting stuffed into vans. There are plenty of more vulnerable people who need protection over me."

He shrugged. I anyone could do it, she could... Honestly, she sort of had already, hadn't she? If she looked back at him as they moved through the brambles and overgrowth, he would simply be walking forward plainly, with any stray branches or thorns bouncing harmlessly off of him as they passed. As they passed into the clearing he would look around with an innocent smile on his face. "Nice. A perfect little hideaway."

He set his armfulls of stuff down, and stretched his arms a bit, nodding as she asked him to grab the rest. "Okay. Be right back!"

He jogged off a few steps before she issued the next warning. "Oh, yeah. For sure!" A quick jaunt later he was gathering the last few pieces of equipment while munching on pocket bacon. The snap of a branch in the woods caused him to look up. Cautiously he shoved his bacon bag deeper into his pocket before glancing around carefully... Huh... There was something in the woods... Oh! was that a deer?!

He smiled widely... no, wait. Bigger. Really big, actually. It was hard to make out through the trees, but was that a moose?! Ohhh, Elke would love to see that! He waited a little bit longer as it stalked away, and then grabbed up the last few things, heading back to the campsite.

"Elke! I saw a moose!" His smile was turned to max level as he walked on in and started setting stuff up. "Man, it was giant! I mean, I knew they were big, but even from that far away it was a monster! Need some help?"

He ran off, she got busy.

Nine out of the 12 poles she used for the Tipi were still present and usable. Three were broken or had finally rotted through enough to find themselves in the firewood pile. She hacked away at the vines and grown plantlife until she had dragged them all out, set them off to the side with the canvas bundle, and started clearing the rest of the site.

By the time X got back, all smiles no less, she had the campsite tidied up and things organized where she wanted them. The Native quirked a dark eyebrow at him as he approached.

"...You...what?" For the first time ever in his presence she actually paled a little. A @#$%ing Moose of all things... now?! No doubts one of the hellspawn monsters she'd been unfortunate enough to run into before.

"@#$%!... $%@#!!" Lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, she took moment to collect herself and breathe.

"Alright.. OK. Alright. We're skipping lunch to make sure we get everything done before dark... Gonna... damnit... Gonna have to find some more poles to reinforce the Tipi, too." A few more poles would help, a little, but it wasn't sure enough to keep an angry moose out if it wanted in.

"We're gonna have to trim all low hanging branches off the trees around camp, too. Force it to go forage for food somewhere else."

She dug into the pile of rope and dragged it along with her to get started on tying the long wooden poles together.

"See if you can go find me like, five more of these kinds of trees, will you? Preferably dead. Break all the limbs off." She paused and then added, "And for the love of !@#$ leave any moose you see alone. The @#$%ing things will murder you."

"I... Saw a moose?" He seemed taken aback by her reaction as she cursed and started scrambling for solutions to the giant hooved animal. "E- Elke... It's... Just a Moose. I mean, it's not like it could hurt us. I'm here." It's always worth stating that he wasn't puffing his chest or speaking bravado, he was just sure that there was no way a forest creature could harm him.

The tall blonde did jump into action as she started talking about what else they needed to do. Her instructions were pretty clear, and he was very much competent. Within minutes he was walking back with five fresh teepee poles in hand. He'd found nearly perfectly straight ones.

"So, you really think this thing could hurt us? I mean, normal people, sure, but... It's us. I'm nearly indestructible, and you're amazing. Honestly, I thought you would get a kick out of it, more than anything. Doesn't your dad call you Moose?" He set the long sticks down near her, pausing for a second to look her way. "Why does he call you that, anyway?"

He got to snapping off the low hanging branches like she'd said to as he waited for her response.

She snorted at him through her nose but made no real comment until after he'd come back with the poles.

"This isn't just any moose. Normal Moose are easy to deal with. Give them a wide berth and don't go hunting during mating season." She finished a knot and stood, bending to grab the tripod she had been working on. It didn't take much effort to get the three poles standing and spread out enough that it could support itself.

"Go ahead and start stacking poles between these." She propped up one to show him how. "The @#$%ing Moose that you run into in these parts aren't goddamn normal. I ran into one a few years ago about a mile from here, got a bit too close, and spooked it. Damn think launched me 60ft in the air and I broke a rib on a tree trunk. My dad had to fish me out."

She glanced at him when he brought up her nickname again and blinked. Hadn't she explained that already...? Or had she just imagined it?

"My dad started calling me is because it's the name I typically go by. Not many people call me Elke unless I like them enough." She started weaving and tying the length of rope around the stacked poles, securing them in place as more were added on.

"My brothers originally started calling me it when I was little. Elke... Elk. I have the temper of a Bull Moose, so... Moose. They meant it as an insult, but I took it as a compliment and adopted it."

It was hard to hide a small bit of incredulousness at the thought of super moose being a thing. "Is... Anything in NewYork normal? I guess we should be careful, then... If they are that dangerous, though, shouldn't something be done about them?"

He scratched the back of his head as she blinked at him for asking about the name. Had he asked already? He was normally quite good at remembering details about people...

"Sounds sorta like a term of endearment to me... You know, I kinda like your temper, though." He stepped in to assist her with the poles. Anything invovling manual dexterity and instructional processes came naturally to him, so he caught on to how things went up almost immediately, and would make the job a lot easier than normal.

"You know... It's like... I guess, you don't stand for unfairness. You can't let it happen around you. It's the same for entitlement. You don't stand for it, and I respect that." He would take a glance up at the sky above to see how much daylight they had left.

"I'm never going to be as blunt at you, but I could only ever hope to be as proactive."

"Welcome to wonderland, Dorothy. Anything is possible here. In fact, I think New York has its very own rendition of Murphy's law, so you should really get used to expecting this kind of stuff."

It was often speedier getting their shelter up with two people. She didn't often camp with others, but when she did (and they weren't useless layabouts) it did tend to make for a more enjoyable experience. She supposed she could consider herself lucky that Xavier wasn't a lazy layabout, or dumb.

"If you wanna try and round up a team capable of tackling a herd of mutant Moose, feel free. Some folks tried a while back when they first realized they were here and a large bull blasted a full-sized truck a few miles away without lifting a hoof. Ain't nobody tried since. Who knows what the hell those things are capable of?"

She partly paid attention to him while he talked. The other half of her attention was on expertly tying easy release knots around all the poles. She almost opened her mouth to slip in a bit of snark about how her brothers hadn't always liked her but dropped it quickly as X started yammering on about... her.

....uh...

She wasn't one to blush, but if she had been anyone else at that moment she damn well might have. Instead, she turned her eyes back to her task and kept yanking the rope gently into place.

"I learned that from my dad. We're kinda the same now in a lot of ways... I think I've got a bit more of a temper though because he's old and tired now." She tried not to put too much thought into what he had said. She just tried to do what felt right at the moment. Whether that actually ended up being the "right" thing to do was something she often concerned herself with after the fact, and honestly only on rare occasions. She tried not to dwell on things unless they resented themselves as dangerous or something that might cause long term problems.

She brooded, silently, debating on if she even wanted to reply more than that, until the poles were all tied and it was time to put the canvas cover up. She shifted to briefly explaining how they would lift it up, secure it, and such, before diving into the task.

"... I like that you're not blunt, like me. I may not agree with all of your ideas and viewpoints on things, but the world needs soft people." She spared a look at him briefly and then looked away again. "People who are strong, but soft around the edges. There's a whole demographic of people I won't ever be able to help because I scare them off... but you can."

Honestly, the canvas wasn't hard to put up. Tipi's were easier to manage than most people thought. "You kinda remind me of her, my dad's ex. Not to cast a shadow over you or anything. She just has this way of being approachable and strong at the same time. It's why so many people grew attached to her, even with all of the Anti-mutant rhetoric out there."

The tall blonde hero couldn't help but chuckle at the wizard of oz reference. She wasn't too far off, honestly. He worked with a look that was somehow one of concentration and pleasant happiness at the same time. A smirk came to his features as he looked her way.

"I mean, you and I are worth a team of mutants, right? Must be scary if you're backing down from the challenge." He dared her, casually, finishing the knot he watched her tie on his side before steping back to let her start the next step so he could join in to help.

He kinda smooshed his cheek a bit at the mention of her father. He didn't think she was like him. She was... better than him. He didn't say anything, though.

With the poles up, they got to getting the cover on. It all made sense to him, it was a process perfected over thousands of years. You couldn't go wrong.

He found himself looking at her funny as she... complimented him? He felt... excited at that? His heart wobbled a bit. "Um... Well, you know, it takes all types. I'm told i'm... easy to talk to, look at. I-imean, you are easy to look at. Maybe not to talk to. I like talking to you." Oh, he was screwing this up. The train wreck was happening.

He blinked as she compared him to Andrea... He hadn't met her, so he couldn't say if it was accurate, but wasn't she, like, a saint? It was sort of an honor to be compared to someone like that. It sort of adjusted the image he had in his head of how she viewed him.

He poked the bare and she absolutely bristled. Oh... so that was how it was? The dangerous mutant Moose was't scary enough for him?

Elke turned, lifted her chin and looked him dead in his beady, smart ass little eyes.

"We're eating Moose tonight."

She left it at that, fully knowing that she might have bitten off more than she could rightly chew... but he had challenged her!

"It doesn't have a damn thing to do with what you look like you giant loaf of sourdough. Doesn't matter how easy you are to talk to, either, plenty of serial killers of easy to talk to."

She jerked the last knot of rope into place and turned to him, poking him pointedly in the middle of his chest. "You're kind. In there. People can feel it and that's what matters. You don't have to say a damn word to show how nice you are, it's prominent in that goofy-ass smile you always have on your face. Yeah, that one!"

"The world needs soft people. Everyone can't be hard and sharp like stone. Someone's gotta act like a cushion and catch people, and from what I can tell you fit that job perfectly."

She threw one of the entrance flaps back and dragged the last piece of canvas into the Tipi. It was an inner liner that would help to keep the elements and cold out. "Go be useful and get the rest of the bed stuff!"

About 45 minutes later their shelter was all set up and filled with warm blankets and a few pillows. She threaded sticks through the flaps of canvas on the front to close it up and keep wildlife out and turned to the next task.

"How's the fire coming?" It was time for a brief break for food, and then they would need to set the rest of the camp up for the coming days. Toilet area, meat pole, dishwashingz station.

A bit of a thrill came over him as she stated their dinner plans. It felt a little forbidden. Like, was he manipulating her to get that answer? Had he gotten away with something? Was it simply amazing to him how boldly she would accept any challenge, and he loved seeing that? Did he just think the word love in relation to her? He shook the thought off. Too much to dwell on, and if there was something Xavier never did, it was dwell.

"If you insist!"

He shifted sheepishly as she called him a loaf of bread, looking down as she poke him in the chest suddenly. He looked up when she called him kind, and furrowed his brow a bit through a blush as she called his smile goofy, and he grinned in response.

He knew what she meant by calling him soft. He wasn't the type to hear that and be offended. Soft was a good thing to be. Everything else was hard enough already.

"You know, Elke... You're hard... but, sometimes, if I look at the right angle... I see a little soft in there, too. It's odd, because it catches me off guard, but... Jees, if you're not careful you could make a guy like me go crazy digging for it. It's nice. It feels like it means something when you are just a little soft, I guess."

He was looking at the ground at this point. It was hard to look at her and say that. Maybe it was just scary. However that went over, 45 minutes later he was already sitting in front of a small, but determined fire. He wasn't sure if they should burn hot yet, so he'd made something they could sustain for a while.

"Good to go. I dug a pit for us as well... I mean, that's what they had us do in the owlbears, so I figured it was the same here." He motioned to the pit at the edge of the camp for... you know... disposal. He'd even put up a little branch screen for privacy.

The fire seemed good. No complaints there. It was small enough not to burn through too much wood yet, and big enough that they wouldn't have to alter it later. "Good job."

And then she looked over at the pit he'd dug and... laughed. Just laughed. Really loudly.

"Man, you really must want to attract every critter within a 20-mile radius to camp." [/color]

She ignored his pit with its fancy privacy screen and dug into one of the bags, pulling out a shovel and a large baggie with a roll of TP in it. "We need to pick a spot about 200 yards from camp. It's a pain walking to and from it, especially in the dark, but unless you want a bear sniffing around here because he can smell the bacon you ate in your poop, that's the way it is." She pointed the shovel west, where a break in the trees was. "I change my spot every time I come out. You can pick your own if you want, just don't get lost in the middle of the night."

With that, she set the toilet essentials down in his privacy pit for storage and dug back into her pack. She has a few MRE's in her pack for emergency food. She dug two out and handed one to X. Mac and cheese, while her's was a chili.

"We still gotta get the meat pole up. We're going to need at least three long, thin trunks or two live trees and one long trunk to run between them." The first option was better since they could place it in a clearing outside of camp and scavengers couldn't get to their kill.

As she dug a large bottle of water out and then settled across the fire from X, she set about preparing her own meal. It was a bit of a process, but not hard. Once she was done with her water she handed him the bottle around the fire to get his own started.

"After that, the rest of the day is just settling down. We won't go after the big game until tomorrow after breakfast."

... One of those damn things was going to be an absolute bitch to take down, but... probably a helluva lot of fun to hunt.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and chuckled as she completmented his fire, but then sunk into himself as she schooled him on the location of the poo pit. "Oh, uh, right... Okay, no problem!" With that he hopped to getting them a pit dug out to the west 200 yards away.

He set the military rations aside, eager to get to work while he still had that bacon energy in him. "Okay, I can look for the trunks while I am out getting the pit prepared! No worries, I'll be back in a flash!"

He hopped up before anything further could be said, silently facepalming at himself for his rookie mistake. Duh, it had been in the manual to keep it further from camp!

Minutes later he was back, shovel in hand, and three sizable pikes to set the meat pole up. Material was plentiful, here, so it hadn't taken too long.

He quckly sat and got to preparing the MRE. "I used to know a kid who kept a stock of these so that he didn't have to leave the basement during gaming marathons. Always tried to get him to come outside with me. No luck. Learned how to make them, though!"

He poured the water into the cooking pouch with the main course tucked into it, and watched as the reaction started, leaning it gently against a fallen log.

"What do you know about them, other than what you've mentioned? If they are as dangerous as you said, do you figure they've hurt anyone other than you?"

She watched him get up and rush off to redeem himself, and decided to keep the fact that they didn't need one big pit to poo into herself. It would be more entertaining popping that bubble later when she schooled him again on digging individual holes and then filling them back up when you were done. Only drunk frat kids dug poop moats!

"One of the girls on my Lacross team is a vet and still keeps a stockpile of these around. Says they grew on her while she was on active duty. She gives me bunches of them for camping trips all the time."

Elke quirked an eyebrow at him when he circled around back to the dangerous moose. "Well, the probability is that nobody I've spoken to about them really knows much. One day they were just here. If you get too close or tick one-off and it charges you, bad things happen. Most of the folks who are regulars to this area of the forest just avoid them. Nobody wants to have to do the walk of shame a whole ass day back to civilization because a Moose exploded their only vehicle."

Tapping her fork on her thigh, she considered all of the possibilities. "My bow works fine with big game, but you have to lure em in close and... well that's where the problem lies. We can't have it see us, or it'll spook and attack. I gotta sneak hit it."

He looked down at his MRE while it cooked, finally sitting on his own place across from her at the fire and listening as she explained where she got the MREs... They could be a little more difficult to obtain. They also tended to stop things up a bit, too. Maybe they wouldn't even need the pit, right?

He scooted forward as she talked about the magic moose again. Gosh, it was strange. Something so dangerous was out here, and there were no news stories or anything of the like about it?

Nothing he'd seen, at least. Was it some sort of experiment? He'd heard that some companies and estranged military offshoots had gotten up to all sorts of things in the early 2000s... Either way, they'd already sort of made up their minds on this, now...

Could he even talk her out of it at this point? What had he done?

No, no worrying. They just had to do it right, was all.

"Well... If I caused a distraction could you get a clear shot? I mean, if it's even still around. I guess if it's run off by now, no harm no foul, right?"