July was ever so slightly less hectic so far than it's predecessor, slightly. The combination of edits, teaching and training was the sort of thing that weighed on you pretty much constantly. Not that Serena was a stranger to the work-a-holic thing. It did leave less time to do the recreational activities that she had been enjoying.

Perhaps more importantly she'd not spent much time with friends, unless you counted the X-men, which was more of a work and or training situation than a relaxation one. Sometimes it was hard to not giggle in training with Mirror or Sam, but that was just Serena being herself.

So when Serena heard the pleasant surprise that the new teacher was a familiar face she quickly set aside an hour or two in the mid afternoon to greet an old friend, she didn't really have time to go back to her apartment and change into something actually presentable so workout clothes would have to do. She had remembered to buy a peace lily for a present for the new teacher, but she was now feeling a little more nervous about the whole house-warming thing than if the new comer had been a total stranger.

She rapped her knuckles gently on a slightly ajar door three times when she heard movement and then stepped to one side so she was visible by the door, little peace lily tucked under one arm, nervous if slightly cheeky grin on her face, still wearing a tank top and workout leggings. "Anyone home?~"chirped the slightly anxious Brit.

“Just a minute!” Elizabeth called out just moments before Nico began squawking and squaloring at the new intrusion to his already heavily intruded-upon life. “Hush, you!” she said in a quick stage whisper. She knew he would just ignore her so Liz began trickling serenity and calmness towards the bird. If she’d tried anything too sudden, the wiley bird would’ve figured out what was happening and would’ve just screeched louder.

As the parrot’s performance began to die down, Liz quickly glanced around the room. It was a bit of a mess, as one might expect, considering it was her official move-in day. She’d actually gotten the science teacher job at the school! And with it, she’d chosen the option of living on-campus, to better be there for the students.

But it wasn’t a horrible mess. In fact, most of her stuff was still getting shipped from Ohio, since she’d only brought basics since she hadn’t been certain she’d get the job. But she hadn’t forgotten to bring Zorro’s dog bed, where the young German Shepherd was lying, sharply watching her every move. “Good boy,” she smiled.

Liz stepped over to the door and opened it. “Hi, how can I help--SERENA?” The door slammed open. “Hey, come on in! My goodness, it’s been so long! What are you doing here?” She stepped back to give her old friend and former roommate a chance to come in. She also amped up the tranquility stream toward Nico. Zorro just lifted his head and watched the newcomer with interest.

The voice coming from the other side of the door was warm and familiar and sent a warm feeling down Serena's gut. It was always good to reconnect, good for the soul. She hoped it would go well, not least because they would be seeing a lot of each other with the whole working situation.

The suddenness of the door being fully opened and the clear note of surprise and... was that excitement in her voice? Made the grin broaden and become far more genuine on Serena's lips. "Hey yourself, thank you" She stepped into the room and glanced around seeing all of the boxes and trying to supress a grimace. Moving was super painful, all the organising and hassle, and then when you were there you had to actually unpack and organise when you were probably out of energy, sympathy was required.

"I am doing my job here! Well, not right now-er" She tried to focus, thoughts crystalising into words at the pace of water freezing in autumn "I work here, I teach, heard you were coming to take a position and thought I'd greet you." she practically stammered and held out the gift "Plant."

Sometimes Serena wondered if there was a short circuit somewhere in her head... "It's a uhm, peace lily! I thought it might help brighten up the room. I got it before I knew it was you moving in." She admitted, eyes scanning for something new to focus on.

Beautiful looking dog and... a bird. "Is that Nico?" She asked, eyebrow quirked.

Nico’s feathers fluffed up as the other blonde entered. Liz just shot him a dirty look before shutting the door. He returned the look with gusto. Liz then had a moment to take in the woman, just standing in midst of Elizabeth’s new life as both a friend and a stranger. And for just a moment, Liz was reminded that they weren’t the same people they used to be.

She hastily swept over to her bed and began scooting her clothing and underthings around, casually laying a couple of sweaters over the things that normally didn’t see the light of day. She didn’t see the expressions on Serena’s face and truth be told, she didn’t catch the stammering. Hostess mode was kicking in. “You teach here as well? That’s amazing!” Liz said mirthfully. What were the odds? “I’m teaching biology and general science. What do you cover?”

And then there was plant. Her eyes widened and she beamed. “It’s beautiful!” she said as she accepted the gift. “I had one just like it back at my old apartment, until my boyfriend knocked it over and killed it.” She pivoted, rapidly searching for available real estate for the lily. There was a spot on her desk in partial sunlight that would do, at least until she figured out what she was doing with the overall setup.

Nico’s feathers settled down a bit as he recognized his name. The empath felt a mote of curiosity from the bird. “Rawk?”

“Yes, that’s Nico,” Liz confirmed and she made her way around some boxes and to the desk, careful not to trip over anything. “He just turned fourteen and acts just like a sulky teen!” Her smile remained ironclad at the shard of irritance he directed her way. “The good boy in his bed is Zorro.” Zorro’s ears perked at his name and this time he stood up and started to slowly approach and sniff things out. Liz sat the lily in its new place and turned back to Serena.

“It’s just so good to see you again! Thank you for the lily!” she exclaimed as she spread her arms and went in for a hug.

A smile crept up the sides of Serena's lips again. The mess was obviously understandable because of the whole moving in situation, but it still brought back memories. Pleasant ones from a not so fun time in her life, that was probably what she associated being near Liz with. Positive feelings during a difficult time. It was also easy not to judge considering the state of her own apartment.

"Sort of.." She replied sheepishly. "I've covered some basic self defense stuff for a while. Tamer than Sam's classes, particularly for the shyer kids. And during periods of time that Sam is struggling." She didn't elaborate on the struggling component. She didn't actually know how well Liz knew Sam but she wasn't going to cause any problems for him.

"And ironically, English. I'm helping out Becca until she goes on maternity leave, then I'll take over for a while. Sounds like the plan is me taking over some of the creative writing classes when she gets back." The idea of teaching students and leading classes was slowly taking root in Serena's head. It had taken some getting used to, and she had more or less fallen into it after wanting to take on more responsibility around the mansion but she wasn't going to half arse anything.

"I'm glad to see you're still young and spry, Nico." She also turned and grinned at the dog. At some point in time larger dogs had seemed so intimidating, these days they just looked like big teddy bears that wanted attention.

The giddy little switch in Serena's brain flicked when Liz turned around, the one labelled 'Oh yay, hugs!', followed by a warm embrace. "It's good to see you too." She wasn't really sure what else to say, or what they had in common anymore. But it couldn't hurt to get to know Liz again. She certainly seemed to have retained the fondly remembered warmth.

Liz held the hug for a brief moment and a squeeze. So many old names and faces! Why, just meeting Gemma again had pulled up a lot of stuff, but that didn’t hold a candle to all the memories she and Serena had built up while roommates. Not to mention all the midnight breakfast feasts.

She finally released her friend and stepped back, but still within a familiar distance. Easily in range for another hug if the excitement of the situation called for it. “No ‘sort of’ about it! That’s just awesome,” she said very matter-of-factly as the other blonde recited her duties. Self defense and English both? That was versatility there.

A thought struck her and she tapped her head. “Oh hey, uh, random thought, no pressure or anything, feel free to say no or whatever, but would you mind a sparring partner, at least for practice?” Liz babbled, a gleam in her eyes. “I picked up krav maga back in college and have been taking self defense classes ever since. I’d love to be able to stay fresh and maybe learn some stuff. But again, only if you want, not a big deal either way.” Then Liz bit her lip so she wouldn’t word vomit all over Serena again. Good grief, she was scatter-brained! “So, uh, yeah!”

And then a wet nose shoved into her hand and Liz was saved. Oh thank the Lord for dogs! She patted his head and maneuvered around him until he was between her and Serena and hopefully stealing all the focus and attention. Zorro sniffed at the other woman for a couple of seconds and then began licking at her hands. “Aww, he likes you!” Liz said. And it was true. Even a non-empath could see the wag in his tail and his excitement at meeting a newly-vetted person.

Which was good because Nico had completely ignored Serena’s compliments (mostly because he didn’t know those words) and was doing the parrot version of squinting his eyes at her. Liz felt the suspicion swelling in him, but she just swallowed a sigh and left it alone. Yep, Nico was still Nico. As untrusting and calculating as ever.

Serena felt a little prickling in her cheeks as some colour rose to them. "Thank you." The teaching really was no big deal, but that didn't make the compliments and enthusiasm feel any less good.

Something that she particularly enjoyed about being around different friends was the little details and intricacies in how they interacted, speech and body language inflections were so fascinating. She did need to make sure she didn't stare though, she didn't want people to think they were being oogled.

"I'm more than happy to practice with you, I cannot promise you that my training is up to standard." She would have suggested Sam if Liz was into Krav Maga, but as far as she was aware he was an arrogant kid right now. She tried not to smirk or feel bad that thrashing him in a danger room exercise had felt pretty good.

"We can absolutely organise something in the danger room sometime, just let me know when your schedule is sorted out. I'm in there pretty for most of the free timeslots." She pondered for a moment. "Or we could just find a space in the gym, if we're not using powers we probably don't need the danger room." Serena didn't really fancy the idea of using her power around Liz for some reason. Maybe just old habits.

The simple act of a dog trying to nuzzle your hands for attention was a magic in it's own way, Serena melted into giggles and leaned down to gently stroke the hounds head, and scratch his ears. "Hellooo there, you're beautiful, yes you are"

Merriment flittered across Elizabeth’s face and she tossed her wavy mane. “Well, I dare say it’ll be worthwhile, since, you know, you actually teach it and not just study one style!” Liz shook her head with fondness. Serena’s humility was so familiar, and while a positive thing to keep around, Liz wasn’t just anybody - she knew her old roommate was a very capable woman, even back when they were teens. Liz had no doubt that she’d continued to expand and explore her potential.

“The gym should work just fine,” Liz agreed. “That’s the only kind of place I’ve ever trained anyways. And it isn’t like I can actually use my powers in a fight.” Her smile kinda slumped on one side. But that was the point of taking self defense and a martial art anyways - to not rely on powers, hers or anyone else’s.

She turned away and stuck her hands on her hips as she took mental stock of her belongings, as if they were actually laid out in front of her or something. “Yeah, I’ve got some workout clothes with me. All my other stuff should be coming in a couple days.” Turning back, she said, “I don’t have a schedule at the moment. I don’t have any classes until the semester begins, so I’m free all day, everyday.” She cocked her head and stared off for a moment.

“Actually, there’s still some orientation stuff and paperwork, as well as a lot of policies and such I need to go through, not to mention setting up my classroom, reading up on the students I’ll be having, refamiliarizing myself with everything and everyone,” she said, ticking things off on her fingers. But the grin returned full force. “But that stuff can be done at any time.” She’d definitely prioritize hanging out and maybe fighting with Serena.

And during this time Zorro was broadcasting love and ecstasy as he got scritched and scratched and ohmyDogthis feels so good! He wasn’t standing still anymore and kept moving to try to present a better angle for the new scratcher to access. He was definitely beautiful, he was! And a good boy! He deserved all the scratches! His tongue rolled out and kept licking any part of Serena he could manage.

If Nico could’ve, his eyes would’ve been rolling.

"Well it's not quite like I teach big classes or anything, just one on one stuff for people who want to learn." She murmured. It had probably started with Abby wanting to learn, and Serena not wanting to suggest Sam when the obvious comparisons with Cafas could come up. And sort of just spiralled from there. She didn't advertise or anything, and while Sam had been around and functional she definitely hadn't tried to poach his students or anything.

But right now she supposed there were little other options for students wishing to learn the basics. Serena had also momentarily forgotten Liz's power, it came back quickly with Nico and Zorro as cues for the memory. "I know a few students who would call that a blessing, I also suppose that Krav Maga is more effective than plenty of powers." She chirped.

It was sort of true, plenty of people couldn't use powers offensively. Plenty more just didn't want to, or lacked the control to do it properly. "I have slightly more free time with lessons being slowed down or halted right now. Still have some of my personal work to do, and other responsibilities, but I'm sure we can work something out."

"If you need any help with getting to grips with things again, please don't hesitate to bother me for help. I know it took me a little to get used to everything around here again when I'd been away for a spell." Her own hiatus from New York and the mansion had been admitadly much shorter than Liz's own, but still a big deal for her.

Serena giggled briefly again petting the dog. "Glad to see not all of your companion's have Nico's temperament by default."

Liz had to shrug. “Well, it’s more effective than mine, that’s for sure.” And even then, she didn’t expect any of her training to stand up against some of the other powers she’d faced. The werelion who’d captured her all those years ago, who had been ready to devour her, who had haunted her nightmares for years, was at the top of her list.

But that’s why krav maga and self defense was only the beginning.

She flapped a hand at Serena. “Oh don’t worry about it if you don’t have a ton of time. I’d hate to be that one more thing on a full plate or cut into your ‘me time’,” she said quickly. Liz hadn’t meant to come off pushy! Just, sometimes she got excited, you know? Just like Zorro did when he met a new person and--

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed in the direction of the dog who was pressing his entire body length against Serena’s legs, giving her ample opportunity to scratch his ears, or maybe the base of his tail, or give him deep rub-like pets, or any other kind of attention she wanted! And his tail was wagging up a storm.

Liz took a deep breath and raised her slackened barriers against the emotional tide pouring off her dog. The little stinker!

Now without that unconscious influence, Liz could respond more calmly. “Yeah, I’m probably going to take you up on that.” With another glance around her room, she just shrugged again. “It just doesn’t quite seem real yet, you know? Being back here after so long - and as a teacher to boot!” She shook her head in disbelief. “We can grab breakfast and stuff. I learned this mean omelette recipe that I’ve been wanting to try out!”

And Serena mentioned Liz’ other little stinker. “Ain’t that the truth? I love him, but he’s certainly a character at times. At some point in the past year, I’m pretty sure he learned to curse in German, but he only does it when I’m not around. Like, how did that even happen?” Dismay was plain and evident on her face. Nico’s face was buried beneath a wing as he pretended to cleaned himself.

Serena wasn't going to comment on how intense Liz's physical conditioning was really. She didn't like to assume, although it had been pointed out that her own training was fairly intense. She also completely empathised with wanting to be able to protect yourself, or other people around you. "I'm sure we shall find out soon enough."

Particularly the latter.

Serena frowned. Friends didn't cut into her me time did they? Okay so maybe she didn't exactly take friends bar hopping with her, but she totally took some of them to charity events and the like and it wasn't like she didn't love spending time with them. She definitely wanted Liz to fall into that category again. "I will make time for you if I need to." She affirmed.

"I'd love to go for breakfast with you." She readily chirped before realising the context she usually undertook breakfast with an attractive woman under and hastily supressed such thoughts before it became visibly obvious.

"Come to think of it I don't think I've actually lived with any animals since I roomed with you." She admitted. "Unless you count brief sleepovers with my sister" She added fondly.

Tension that Liz didn’t know she had drained out of her as Serena said she’d make time for her. She hadn’t wanted to assume. She hadn’t wanted to be that person who just expected people to revolve around them. She knew it was awkward - it had to be awkward for Serena too, right? - to be two adults who’d been roomies and great friends, meeting again after falling apart.

Like, what was the protocol? Where did they begin? From the beginning? Pick things up where they left? They both had changed - that’s what growing up and living life did to you - but did that mean they were too different now that maybe they’d never be the same level of friends again? Was this a “for old times’ sake” hangout to see if there was enough of that old bond that it was worth picking up again?

Elizabeth Sundance hadn’t realized how much trepidation had been inside of her over this kind of meeting until Serena washed it away with a single sentence. This time, her smile was different. It wasn’t flashy or Cheshire-like, but it was a smile burning with warmth from the soul and with increased moisture levels in her eyes.

She spun away quick enough that her hair flipped around like a model in a shampoo commercial and she fussed with the lily, making minute repositionings of the plant. “So we’re good for breakfast then! Do you want to meet here or go grab something? It’s been ages since I’ve had access to a kitchen like the one here, but I’ve also missed New York grub, so I’m great either way. What time would work for you? I’m usually up around dawnish or so - still an early bird like my boys here.” She stopped and spun back, a finger to her lip in thought. Her face and emotions were fully under control by now, even if her mouth and thoughts weren’t. “Are you cool with breakfast tomorrow? Because we can do another morning no problem.”

And then came such depressing news! “Oh my stars and garters!” Liz said as a hand went to her forehead as she pivoted on a heel and swooned backward onto her yet-to-be-blanketed bed, making one of her empty boxes bounce onto the floor. “Living without animals is like not living at all, young lady! You should change that! Maybe a cute little ball python? A collie? Some kind of lizard? Can I interest you in an ant farm? What about a three-legged tarantula that’s had a hard life?” She sat back up with such a mixed look of worry and helpfulness.

For a long time Serena hadn't been the most observant with other people, sometimes clueless with signals, and that was probably partially the young girl that Liz had known and lived with. But over the last few years she'd definitely gotten better at reading body language, it was rare that she she totally phased on a situation or insinuation, (though it still happened when gorgeous eyes were involved).

The atmosphere was definitely easing into comfortable and at ease. Even if the excitable energy in Liz was not waning whatsoever, it was actually kind of super cute. Serena tilted her head as Liz asked questions and suggested things and felt her lips spread into a wide smile. "I will do whatever you like. I'm up early most days, the ones that I don't have an early start I'm often up late... well, I'll stay up until after it's light working." It seemed much harder these days to squeeze in good time for edits, all nighters happened more than they did before.

"I would love to go out for breakfast with you tomorrow morning." Serena thought everything was cooling down before Liz reacted to the 'no pet' situation and found it extremely hard not to express giggles. She knew of Liz's power, and she knew she'd always owned pets, her adoration of animals was... well, admirable and intriguing. People with passions were just so much more interesting and attractive than others.

It was adorable, at least until Liz mentioned a particular kind of scaly creature. A visible shudder went through Serena and she inhaled through her teeth, trying to quickly supress the mental image that followed the word, she let her focus fall on the dog and leaned down again to pet him. It took her a moment, blocking out what Liz was saying and then piecing together the rest of the sentence retroactively.

Her response came a little later than previous replies when she glanced back up to Liz sitting on the bed with a slightly wearier smile. "I do love animals, I just haven't really had the time to properly care for one in the last few years. All over the US for a few, then between edits, college, then joining the team here and even teaching it's just all been a bit crazy." She intentionally left out the bit about flings she met on nights out.

Liz blinked a few times and considered. Up to her, eh? Well that worked. “Why don’t we meet by the front entrance at seven and then we can head out,” she said. “Wait, are you living here at the mansion as well? Or do you have your own place?” Oh snap, she hadn’t considered that. Hopefully if Serena lived elsewhere it wasn’t too far away so it wouldn’t be a huge effort to come all this way just to immediately leave again.

From Elizabeth’s position on the bed, she couldn’t fail to notice Serena’s visible panic. Even Zorro noticed something was different and he pressed harder against Serena’s legs. Liz herself froze, eyes darting all over Serena in assessment. A shudder, rapid inhalation, momentarily lack of response.

Crap.

Liz rewound events. She had been talking about animals as pets. And she’d started off with -- oh. Nobody reacted like that to the mere mention of dogs, lizards, or ant farms. And the tarantula thing was either funny or sad. But there was one type of animal on this world that was the number source of intense, rational and irrational fear.

Snakes.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in horror and her mouth opened a bit before she snapped her teeth together. If there was such a vivid response to merely saying the p-word than Liz was not going to bring it up. Especially as Serena avoided it entirely herself. Go with the flow.

She made a smile blossom on her face and tried to summon that eager energy. Her eyes were now wide for positive reasons. “Oh hey that’s right! I think I remember seeing that on the news. You’re an X-Woman now, right? And an author? So what’s it like saving both the city and minds from darkness?” Liz couldn’t remember anything about the book (or was it books) that Serena had written. sHe vaguely recalled something about it coming up on social media several years back, but Liz had been busy with her teaching clinicals at the time.

Serena blinked. She hadn't really expected Liz to keep up with her activities. She had really done a lot of public events and the like, but most of it wasn't hugely publicised. Her charity work didn't really have her name all over it, and she only really promoted that sort of thing on her author social media accounts, not any of her personal ones. She didn't really see the point. Rather signal boost a cause on the platform people might actually take note of. The opinion of a brand, rather than the individual and all that.

She was glad somewhere in the backend of her mind that the topic was moved on and Liz didn't make a big deal of the visible freak out. She let out a nervous chuckle, her heartrate dipping a few beats. "Well I'm not so sure about all that. I find I am generally just busy. Though that's not new to me." Serena had a hard time stepping back and taking a break from things. She'd always argued that if you love what you do, why stop? But perhaps it was a tad unhealthy.