Cadaver slowly among the headstones pondering as he often did. And he often came to this spot. The Beth-el cemetary. Not many burials went on there anymore. In fact Cadaver had never seen anyone in the place. Until this day.

A man saw Cadaver and stuck a quick conversation. this man meant business and cadaver knew it. "whatchu doin here boy? Ur always walking these graves to find somethin." he spoke with a rasp. "i jsut come here to think."

"Well i tell u what boy. If u want to think why not get paid while doin it. We jsut lost the spot of gravedigger/keeper last night, and i got a burial today. Care to give me a hand?"

Cadaver thought. "It could b useful. money, a place to practice my skills, and I'm here all the time anyway." he thought

"sure why not!" he said.

"good! now be here tomorrow 6 am sharp. u gota learn the basics before u start."

"will do Mr......."

"just call me Jim boy. That's all they call me now"

"Okay Jim. I'll be here. By the way ud on't need to call me boy. It's peter. Peter Nenroa."

"Thank u my boy i need the help. U'll get paid minimum wage for upkeep of the cemetary and extra for any burials."

Jim wlked away with a quick wave. Cadaver went back to the graves. Walking aimlessly.

Jim called back one last time " O! and u get free use of the keeper's shack. It ain't much. But its shelter"

Cadaver went back to the dillapidated old shack. It was small. slightly dirty. but it had an old wood heater/stove and a matress. some blankets. a running toilet. a decent humble aboud.

He breathed in deeply. It smelled of old wood and burn. It smelled vaguely like home.

Aura was walking through the graveyard, though she did not bother to look down at the headstones. Their was no need as anyone she was looking for was not buried anywhere near here. She looked down suddenly as she acadently kicked a gravestone, and kneeled down to rub her foot a bit. It was then she first took notice of the others in the abandoned graveyard. The grounds keeper spoke quite loudly, and so Aura Listened to what he had to say, lacking anything better to do. As she continued to watch the two, she slipped back into her own thoughts, about those she had lost herself, walking over to one of the older trees on the lot, she smiled and looked up recalling her closest friend, she ever had.

"Solkat, i wish you were still here" SHe muttered to herself, recalling watching the girl fall from the cliff, easily several hundred yards up, it was the only body she had never found, but she had little question on her ultimate fate. Living at the sanctuary the past few days reminded her a lot of the girl. Walking back through the Graveyard, she noticed the shack and at once noticed the condition it was in. It looked like just enough to keep the rain off a persons head, but she could not imagine it doing much else. She felt a few raindrops fall, and upon seeing the shack decided to head over to it, the last thing she wnated was to get sick from the weather, she knocked on the door. "Anyone home?" she asked looking to get out of the rain.

Cadaver fell onto the bed glad to have a little shelter,although he was a little cold. He started a small fire in the wood heater using some broken up boxes laying around for fuel. " Ahh fire, my old friend" he thought aloud. Cadaver had always loved campfires.Any fire in fact. just staring into it and thinking happened to b one of his favorite pasttimes. He looked around for food hoping the previous owner had left something, anything. He found 2 cans of pork'n beans. He opened the can with an opener from his old swiss army knife. Finding no pots and pans he put the can right on the stove. He had a bottle of water and ,after some rummaging, found a small bottle with a little whiskey in it. "perfect" he said breathing in the smell "and an irish whiskey, if a cheap one at that." just before he was about to settle down to wait for the food to cook there was a knock on the door.

Stumbling to his feet "prolly Jim" he mumbled. But he still opened the door just a hair. you don't go on living as a vagrant in NYC without caution.


It was a young woman. maybe 15-16. He opened the door a little more. "what can i say im a stickler for chivalry" he thought.

"Hello?" he croaked. Her emerald eyes gazed back at him.

Rena awaited a response looking around as she did. She wonderd if the boy would even answer. Rena watched as the door opened a bit, she wondered if the person inside thought she was a grave robber or something. She could not blame him, she looked back at them for now keeping her powers off, until she knew just who this person was.

"I was hoping to get out of this rain" She said, leaving the choice up to him. She was being honest, it was her goal. Her aura could help her stay dry but that would expose her unecisarily to the public eye. The Kid looked nice enough. "I can go if you would rather" She offered, she was willing to leave him be if he so desired it.

She had really come because she wanted to be in a place where she could think about her friends, the weather report had been sunny for the day. She should have known the weather lady would be wrong, it seemed like a job where the person was just guessing half the time.

"I was hoping to get out of this rain" the yound woman said. She looked harmless enough.yet so did Cadaver and he could control the dead. It'd b good to have company anyway. most people jsut stayed away from him. "besides if she gets threatening we're in a cemetary, i'll have unlimited resources." his inner voice assured him.

He opened the door and stepped aside. "and she'll catch cold if i don't" he thought.

"Come on in it don't look good but its dry and theres some food to go around if ur hungry"

he put the whiskey bottle away. bein drunkw ith company (especially minors) wasnt really in his style.

She slipped in slowly, happy to be out of the rain which seemed to be picking up a bit, looking back out the door, she saw the storm might last only an hour or so. The shack was just that, but it did its job in protecting its ocupents from the weather. She was not hungry so she waived off the offer of food, with a smile. "I am fine food wise, friend, and thank you for your hospitality" She said looking around more now that she was in the shack. She saw him put the bottle way, it was fine she had never been one for the stuff anyway, though she had tried it on a few ocastions. She was curious why he hung around graveyards so much as well, a piece of information she had picked up from his conversation with the groundskeepers.

"My Name is Rena. I am somewhat new to this area" She said making conversation, as she turned to look back at gravedigger."Can i ask your name?" She said as she took a seat, to wait out the storm.

"well then, someone who speaks polite conversation in NYC you don't see that too often." he spoke with what he hoped would be a cheery, polite disposition. "the name's Peter Nenroa. are u comfortable Rena?" he gets up to stoke the flames and stir the beans.

"would u like a drink i have water and....well....... whiskey if u do drink which then would lead to the question why would u drink if ur a minor?"

Most of what she knew of New york was unfriendly to say the least. In Under a week she had been shot at as well as murdered a few people, but only humans. So she was not surprised when Peter mentioned not encountering it to often. New York was never the most friendly place as she recalled. "Sometimes you encounter flowers in the desert. " She replied, meaning it was rare, in her eyes as well. "I am fine, their is no need to worry so much, though i thank you for the consideration" She said pleasantly. "Water will be fine, Whiskey doe's not agree with my stomach" She said shaking her head, waiting a few minutes. "People drink for all sorts of reasons a friend once told me, for me it was sorrow, but like many other things it is usually an escape from reality" She went on, the words in grained in her from her late employer.

"a rare teen indeed" he thought "although im barely out of those years myself"

He took a rag and removed the food from the stove top. Setting it on a box, grabbing a scrap of wood for a spoon, and handing her a bottle of water he replied "an escape u say? if u want my advice there is no way to escape from this world beyond what every resident of the graves around us have achieved. Death is the only way to escape. I drink to broaden my horizons, to enhance the senses, to increase the joy i get from life, and as u did to forget my sorrow for a little while."

"speaking of death may i ask why u are lurking around the beth-el graveyard?"

He began to eat

She took the water, with a nod and a thank you, as she drank from it, she glanced out the window, seeing that it was still raining. It was not that she wished to go, but rather she liked to know when the weather would clear. "Because my friend's have no graves, and this place draws few people anymore, So i came here to honor the memories i have left of them. The Alcahal Is no escape, and i agree death is one of the few real escapes in this world" She said shaking her head a bit. She drank again from the water bottle, her emerald eyes looking across the shack again.

"I did not know one could drink to expand their senses, my employer drank quite heavily, but her immune system could handle extreme amounts of the stuff" She recalled, Miracle up many nights, drinking for hours at a time bottle after bottle, and no one had ever known why. Miracle had never told them Why she drank so much, not even Solkat, the woman's own daughter knew. But their were many things they had never learned. Like who was after miracle in the first place. All Rena knew the woman could do was heal, and their were a vast number of mutants that could do that.

"drinking and drugs enhance the senses, not usefully but enjoyably. u can feel things, hear music, taste foods, smell the roses, and see the world in new and exciting ways. It's a temptation with useful side affects when u had a shitty day, but as with all things it has it's consequences."

"what did she mean by her employer's immune system can handle high amounts? another mutant perhaps? ........ maybe the real problem would b if it's right for me to ask such things" Paranoia threw these random thoughts into Cadaver head in a matter of seconds.

"well Rena you and i do share a common purpose. I too come to these seemingly desolate and creepy places to mourn those who don't have a rightful burial place anymore."

"and other, more freakish things besides." said Cadaver's inner voice. "it's the only place u cna hone ur skills without lookin like a freak."

"Never did drugs, never had the time to try any, first time back in a city in about two years, she mentioned casually, as a pink flicker of her see through aura flared up around her fingers, and faded away slowly. She was exposing herself she knew, but she felt the risk was minamel. The Man was nice to talk to and she was interested to here more about him, but if he was human, and decided to make a big deal of it, she would just have to show him his error. Closing her eyes for a moment she recalled a quote from a friend. Humans were Not sentient life forms and thus could be killed like one might kill a fly.

"it seems your quite experienced with those two things though, and sounding like that i could see where they might be useful, but still i can not see using one myself, except to help in combat" She went one talking casually as she continued to light her aura upon each finger in sequence. It was a form of practice, a way she had learned to first control her powers.

Rena's fingers flared with an odd pink light as she seemingly counted on them. " so she is a mutant" his paranoia and caution crept up as he thought about her possible abilty and the cause of being so brash about it. "she acts like she doesn't care. Is it confidence? ignorance? teenage uncaring? a slip of her cover? Am i high? trippin? a trick of the light?" there was no other answer. the young woman was a mutant. "fate then i suppose." then he brought the matter into the conversation.

"well I'm no expert in the areas but i do dabble. for instance i bet ur mutant power could be pretty trippy on acid. It was a bold move, and u made a good choice. some humans would freak and in all likely hood go straight for ur throat."

He swigs a little whiskey, not even a shot's worth.

" so its a good thing im neither human nor do i care about the difference between the two. I hold mutant powers just like you do, however mine arent as pleasant looking as yours. In fact they terrify most. would u like to see?"

This was the point where Rena would show her true purpose of being there. It could be just as she said or maybe just maybe something more sinister.

"I can control My aura, had you attacked, you would have never landed the blow." She said standing, as SHe did a few inch thick see through veil of pink light surrounded her, bending her arm, she casually moved her fingers a bit, and the aura grew less thick around her body, and moved to her hand, forming a short sword first, then the material reorganized itself into an axe. It looked like a pink stream of water, was forming the weapons, the transformations were quick, and stopped flowing once they had made the desired shape.

She had not realized she had thought that aloud, but was relieved when the man offered to show his mutant power as well. It meant he could be trusted until he proved otherwise. She wanted to see his power with the same enthusiasm a normal fifteen year old might have for shopping or clothing. "I would love to see your ability. Our abilities make us special, they are our power to change the world around us for what we believe is the better. Your ability is beautiful because it is yours, and that is all that matters" She said with a smile. She wondered just what he might be able to do, retracting her Axe, her aura flowed a bit again before settling down a second later.

"no need to be hostile Rena. If i had intended to attack it would be outside not in this cramped space." She had lowered her weapons. "And believe me when i say that as long as we reside in this graveyard i am more than a worthy opponent. I do not intend to go into fisticuffs but if u push i will use self defense."


"On a more pleasant note if u would like to see my abilities then please follow me into darkening landscape." He casually brushed past her. Hoping she would see the trust in turning his back on a possible opponent. "Rena i will warn you. what u may see could possibly ruin ur psyche. Although considering ur obvious confidence and somewhat harsh exterior i doubt it will bother u much. Besides why not go crazy in a world of insanity." He walked to the nearest grave, a Mr. Oroveski.

"Tell me Rena, have u ever seen Day of the Dead?"