Skateboarding hadn't really been a part of Alistair's life until he'd come to America. It wasn't that they didn't have such things in Beijing - of course they did but if his parents had caught him with one of the boards, they would have skinned him alive. They weren't here though and so, curious he'd taken the sport up. After a few months, he was able to travel at quite a clip. Holding onto the wood with the toes of his bare feet and powering himself along with the other leg. He'd discovered that his tail was rather useful when it came to balance. So it was that he found himself skating through the grounds, with the wind in his fur. 

Were there better things that Alistair Lang should have been doing today? Most certainly. Did he care? Not one bit.

Winter chill had well and truly settled in, sending the thermometer plummeting to a little below freezing. In many respects, Alistair found himself quite lucky. After a somewhat embarrassing period throughout Fall which had seen him molt, with patches of fur falling off so much he had temporarily abandoned tee-shirts, he now found himself with a thick winter coat which insolated him well enough for the outside environment. He'd grown bored of being cooped up inside and whilst there wasn't any sun for him to contemplate sneaking out, finding a three and lounging about for a few hours, he'd decided to do something else instead to entertain himself.

The next thing he knew, he was on his face and his board was sliding away slowly in the opposite direction. Alistair opted to just lie on the path for a couple of seconds, trying to figure out just what it was that had caused him to slip. He got his answer as he tried to get back up only to slide once more. "Ice... Great." He muttered looking at the patch of frozen water on the ground. His pride very briefly in tatters and the charm of his skateboard on a cold day having suddenly worn off, the mutant sat there for a few moments before raising his eyes to the sky. "Least it could do is snow..."

Zek just about stormed out of the mansion in pure annoyance. There was always something happening at the mansion. Always! Except for today, of course. No fake foxes preventing him from putting up fliers, nobody kicking him out of the so-called Danger Room (not that he needed to go in there), he hadn’t even been able to locate Sammy-Sam or Kevin! They were always able to provide some kind of fun.

But instead the mansion had seemed quiet. Dull. Boring. Which was probably to be expected over a holiday break at a boarding school. Well, unless you were Zek.

There really hadn’t been anyone around that he could mess with to even start something interesting, so he’d settled for raiding the mansion’s kitchen making off with as many of Sam’s steaks as he could find, as well as everything with a high sugar content, to be safely stored away in Zekworld’s various kitchens. But food just wasn’t the same as fun.

So Zek just about stormed out of the mansion. He didn’t truly storm out, because nothing got damaged, but he left in a huff and a puff, and a ten foot jaunt through Zekworld in order to circumvent the main doors without ever opening them.

He stepped out through the solid white portal just in time to see a monkey go ker-splat.

“Hahahahaha!” Zek chortled as he pulled his customary black trench coat tight around him. Now if he’d only been wearing gloves with fingers on them, he’d’ve been set. The portal vanished behind him and Zek’s breath froze in the air. He immediately regretted his decision to be outside, but at least he could take joy from this person’s pain and potential embarrassment.

“El oh el! Nice one! They teach you that here in mutant school?” he crowed, cupping his hands around his mouth as much for warmth as to try to make his voice heard better.

Sitting there, the young mutant searched for where his skateboard was. It had rolled a couple of feet away but thankfully, rather than continuing on its own, it had encountered some grass which had served to bring it to a stop. Carefully - unwilling to send himself crashing back down once more - he began to pick himself back up. Perhaps he should have been grateful for the slightly thicker skin he had on his hands and feet, they might well have saved him from a few nasty grazes. It didn't occur to Alistair to be thankful however, all he cared about was the loss of face. At least no one had been here to witness it...

He stopped suddenly, his head whipping round as his ears twitched, picking up on an odd sound from just behind him. He was a little cautious, having heard a few stories of some of the things that went on around this strange mansion.

Alistair had been in the process of picking himself up when the voice of the stranger reached his ears. They twitched slightly, turning just in time to see the portal close. He knew the man only by sight but couldn't recall his name. It was enough to cause him to relax briefly, content that he didn't actually pose much in the way of a threat. 

That was until he laughed. The sound grated on Alistair's ears like someone dragging their nails down a chalkboard. He clenched his teeth, upper lip curling up without him wishing it to expose an impressive set of canines. There had been a time when no one would have dared laugh at him. He wouldn't have given them cause to and even if he had, his parents' wealth and status would have protected him from it. As such, he didn't shrug his shoulders and ignore the man. No... To him, it was an attack. "Think you can come over here and say that again you portal popping freak!" He called out his challenge with one fist clenched tightly. 

Zek could hardly have asked for a better reaction. The monkey didn’t quite floof up, but he did get all angry and snarly and….what was going on with his lip? That was amazing! Zek was almost jealous!

But not quite. Instead he just enjoyed the quick and strong reaction. His eyes practically shone with glee. They actually shone with light, his brown eyes beginning to swell with bright blue light. He grinned widely. “I definitely could come over there and say that again!” he shouted through his still-cupped hands. He made absolutely no move to do so. “But if you’re going deaf or you have furballs in your ears, it might be more effective to go see a doctor!”

Zek dropped a scarlet ball of light and it vanished just before hitting the ground, getting replaced with a bean bag chair. He flopped down into it. “So what’s your next trick?” he called, pulling a Slim Jim out of his sleeve and ripping open the end of it. “Gonna slip and slide on the ice? Oh hey, would that make your butt red, or do you have a baboon butt?”

He blinked and his eyes glowed gold instead. “Not that I want to see it, you know, but for science!” He was off topic. “But don’t mind me! I’m just enjoying the show!”

He lounged back in his bag chair and tore into the dried meat stick.

Alistair had been told how to react around people like this: not to give them what they wanted, that was a reaction. His display a few moments ago had been an instinctive and an unwilling one. He didn't quite know who this was but he seemed to enjoy kicking up a fuss and causing trouble. The best way to disappoint him, would be to ensure that he didn't get what he wanted. With a deep breath, the mutant got up and made a go for his skateboard. He grit his teeth, fighting back the monkey within him which wanted nothing more than to charge over to the other mutant and bash that smile clean off of his face. Had they been back in Beijing, he might well have done so and trusted his parents' reputation to keep him safe from the repercussions.

He was a relatively new resident however and both Mr. and especially Mrs. Lang had stressed to him how crucial it was that he stayed on the right side of the staff and made the most of his time here. 

Doing what he could to remain calm, he retrieved his skateboard, slipping it under his arm. Whilst he didn't bite, he allowed himself to snap back all the same: "Hey! You're right! I have got a monkey's ass but at least I don't sound like one!" He would make to leave, heading back towards the mansion. He could find something else to distract himself with in there surely.

It was a very good piece of jerky-like dried meat. Not fine dining, but quite delicious nevertheless, especially for the price. They’ve been fifty percent off in the store. Zek had gotten them for free though because he’d just vanished the entire box. Turns out, the little scan machines at doorways to stores that set off alarms if you tried leaving with unpaid merchandise can’t scan in parallel pocket dimensions. Seemed like a design flaw to Zek, but hey, if the system wasn’t broke, why fix it?

He shivered a bit in the wind and then he remembered he was right outside the main front doors of the mansion. What was he doing there again? That was some good Slim Jim, to distract him like that.

Then something yelled at him. Oh right! Unmighty Joe Young was shouting at Zek. And he really had lame material.

“If you got a monkey butt, Monkeybutt, then you have to sound like one,” Zek yelled back, his words only slightly garbled by the chewy meat in his mouth. “That’s how butts work. Or is part of your mutation that you never fart?” Wasn’t there a kid’s book about that? Everyone Farts? Or something. Maybe this guy just needed to read that book. “MAybe you just need to read that book. You know, ‘Everyone Farts’.”

Monkeybutt was a lot more boring now, since he didn’t fall again picking up his skateboard. He didn’t even try to attack Zek. Dang. Zek would have to start getting inventive then, if nobody else was going to amuse him.

His teeth ground together in a way that was both painful and irritating for him but at least it served to mute any other retorts that might have come out of his mouth. Alistair made a mental note of the stranger's unusual getup so that he could describe it to some of the other students and residents of the mansion. There had to be a story there somewhere. Presumably, this oddball had some sort of a reason for acting the way that he did. If the younger mutant could recall seeing him around before then he assumed that he wasn't a threat and that someone else, somewhere would be able to clue him in a little.

For a moment, he briefly considered whether or not to break into a run so as to get him back to the mansion that little bit more quickly. He opted not to, deeming it undignified. You could walk away with your head held high, treating an issue as if it was beneath your contempt. Running though was something akin to fleeing and frankly, Alistair would fight a battle he could only lose before doing so. 

He would continue walking. In an odd way, the stranger was almost fascinating to a young man who had been shielded from such things for most of his life. All of this foul talk, he wasn't such a prude as to find it offensive but it did confuse the apeman who glanced over his shoulder. "I'll pass on that book. With what's coming out your mouth right now, I've had more than my fair share of gas for today." 

Zek stuck out his lower lip in a pout. Aw, his last remark hadn’t even gotten so much as a dirty look! Was he losing his touch? No, that couldn’t be it. Mr. Monkey had to have monkey brains and just clearly wasn’t smart enough to understand the wit and humor in Zek’s jab. That had to be it.

Brightening up with his rationalization, Zek sat forward in his bean bag chair and opened his mouth and---

Oh! Monkey Boy did have retorts! Zek smiled hugely. “Oooo, good one! I knew you had one in ya!” he said around the Slim Jim, which he’d stuck in his mouth so he could golf clap. He stuck his blue tongue out of the corner of his mouth for a moment in thought and then clapped again.

He snagged the meat stick so he could speak clearly. “Sounds like you had the burritos at lunch then! I mean, they were great and all, but let’s just say there’s a good thing they got a black hole under the bathrooms, if you know what I mean!” Zek rejoined. And if Simpleton Simian did know what Zek meant, then that would just confirm his suspicions that there was indeed a black hole in the mansion! Zek hadn’t been able to explore the basement levels much - the silly X-people kept putting locks on their doors and got so adorably mad when Zek just made the doors go bye-bye.

“Alright, keep ‘em coming! I’m just getting warmed up!” Zek shouted. “Metaphorically speaking of course! Cause I’m freezing my own butt off out here! Oh hey! Butts!”

From a distance the high pitched whine of quad motors could be heard as a drone zipped over the school walls and along the lawn. Now most times this would set off tons of warning systems but this one was registered ahead of time. Hell if one was able to look closely at the top of the drone they would have seen a small chair glued to the center where a tiny individual sat controlling it. Herbert couldn't believe he didn't think of this himself. What better way to get around for someone with his abilities? So when his parents gave it to him at Christmas and he spent time modifying the chassis and control systems to work with motion gloves. He was the happiest kid in the world. It seriously beat getting his drivers license. 

Whizzing along over the lawn he banked when he came to the sidewalk and sped along the ice crusted walkway till he came to a pair of individuals. One was some furry guy with a tail and the other looked like an anime park flasher plopped into a bean bag chair. Stopping short of the two he raised the drone into the air a bit more and angled back and forth getting both of them in the camera view before slowly circling to head to the door. A tiny speaker blared out under the drone. “Whoops … ee ee excuse me. DDDD D Didn't mean to iiiii i iii interrupt.” Once he got close enough to the door the drone wobbled as Herbert jumped down and returned to normal size …. only to slip on the same ice the monkey man did earlier and land on his back facing the sky. “ ….. ow ….” Rolling off his back he reached down to his boots and twisted a pair of orange bands and then dusted himself as he got back up his boots now crunching in the ice as his grips now prevented him from slipping anymore. 

The more that Alistair listened to this guy, curiously enough, he found the anger disappearing. Oh, there was still a good load of hot air continuing to come out of his mouth, much of it pointless babble. All he had was related to toilets and excrement and of little interest. After the initial shock and anger at the comment regarding his appearance, now the mutant felt very much as though he was just tired of it all. He straightened himself as he came to a stop. He let out a sigh, allowing the last of the rage beginning to fade away. He glanced over his shoulder towards the strange man with his beanie bag chair. "You must live a really boring life if this is your idea of fun."  He snorted out some air through his nostrils, like a horse nearing the end of its rope although in his case he was paradoxically becoming calmer. "Take some advice my friend and go and get a hobby!" 

He put his skateboard down, ready to set off when a strange buzzing drew his attention.

To sensitive ears, the drone was an annoyance. It's buzzing irked him. Those few brief instants of peace and quiet he'd managed to find were quickly dashed. He watched with a certain amount of frustrated bemusement as the miniature pilot hopped out. The way that he considered the young man was very much that of someone who hadn't just made exactly the same mistake a few minutes ago.

"What is it with this place?" Alistair muttered shaking his head with clear dismay. Sometimes, he did find himself longing for Beijing.

Zek devolved into giggles. “That’s what I’m trying to do, man!” Zek yelled uproariously. “It’s been boring today! Came by to see if there was anything going on but everyone’s gone or something. Most exciting thing I’ve seen today is a monkey wipeout on the asphalt!” Zek jerked a thumb at the monkey and looked to the left, as if staring into an invisible camera with a “What’s with this guy?” expression.

Zek didn’t truly have to keep yelling at the guy, especially as he kept getting closer, but Zek liked yelling. “Maybe if you were more interesting, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now!” He wasn’t actually sure there was any logic to that statement but he didn’t care. He was just so bored!

That’s when the drone struck.

Zek’s eyes, which had been dimming in brightness, immediately flared blue with interest and he slouched a little straighter in his chair of bagged beans. He whipped his head around like an owl to see who was piloting the thing.

Oh, and the drone could talk. Zek’s eyes grew wider and he stopped blinking. He was just raising a hand and about to call up a golden orb of thieving light when something burst out of the ground. Then slipped on said ground.

Zek could only blink as he processed the events. Then he grinned.

“El oh el! Nice one! They teach you that here in mutant school?” he crowed in the exact same fashion he had just minutes before.