Chris had been drifting around in Central Park for a couple of days. It kind of suited him - he had felt very out place among all the skyscrapers and tall buildings. In the park there always was a secluded place to sleep and he didn't have to go hungry (he was getting tired of pigeons, though). And the best of all was that he always could find a calm pond were he could take a swim.
Right now it was about lunchtime, and light snowflakes were slowly falling to the ground. Chris was strolling along a lake with the Essex building towering in the background. He was barefoot, as usual, but the cold didn't really faze him. His special skin made him more adapted for cold than warm weather. He wore his over-sized coat, a cap, a scarf and his backpack.

It wasn't that much people around today, but that suited him. He had seen more people the latest week than he had seen his whole life, and it felt like he never would get used to it. But he had met a couple of mutants, too, and now he knew the way to the Xavier Sister School. He'd just... not felt like going there yet.
Chris frowned for himself. There wasn't exactly a reason for him not to go there, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable place, and yet he was lingering in the park and making up excuses not to go there. Well, he guessed he couldn't live in Central Park forever. He'd have to visit the place sooner or...

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shove in the back. Chris gave up a surprised yelp and stumbled forward, landing on all four. He tried to look around to see what was attacking him, but a sharp kick in the ribs forced him to roll over. Someone was tugging at his backpack, and before he realized what was happening the guy who had attacked him was running away with it.
"Hey, stop!" he shouted, staggering up to his feet. "Give that back!"
But the guy who had stolen his backpack wasn't looking back or slowing down. Chris had a sinking feeling in his stomach - that backpack held all his belongings and all his money. Great.

Henrietta was walking in the park. She loved it in the winter. Well, Henri always loved outside. Her walk was very peaceful... until she heard someone yelling. "Hey, stop! Give that back!" She turned and saw that someone had been pushed onto the ground. Her first reaction was to help the person up, but the man he was yelling at was running toward her. She assumed that the person was a thief, so she stuck out her foot and tripped the man.

He looked up at her with anger on his face. She had stopped his retreat. Henrietta had done this without really thinking. What if he had a weapon? She doubted he did. He didn’t look like he thought out the situation well. The man left the bag where he fell, and then he got up and ran.

After picking up the bag, she walked over to the person who it had been taken from. Henrietta was surprised when she saw him. He looked very different, but she didn’t feel afraid. Was he a mutant too? She assumed he was since his appearance was quite different. Henrietta smiled at the poor thing and held the bag out. “This is yours, right?”

As she waited for the person to take the bag, she introduced herself. “Hello. I’m Henrietta.” Curious, she asked him a second question. “What’s your name?”

Chris started to run, but it was no use. The thief had a head-start and Chris wasn't a fast runner. But then he saw that a girl in front of him stuck out her leg and made the guy trip. Yes! Chris halted and couldn't help grinning broadly - served him right, pushing people around like that. The grin turned even broader when he saw that the thief took off without the backpack.
The girl lifted his bag and walked toward him, and Chris stopped grinning. He was kind of taciturn when he was around new people; especially girls. She didn't seem to be startled or frightened by his appearance; maybe she had mutant friends or something? Maybe she was a mutant herself?
>>“This is yours, right?”
"Yeah, it is" he said and accepted the bag, a look of relief washing over his face. He hadn't really realized how exposed he would be without money and promised himself to keep his stuff under better supervision from now on. He looked towards the girl, squinting a bit: she was a good bit taller than he, but appeared to be in the same age. She had very long, brown hair. Chris suddenly felt a bit self-conscious; he'd been wearing and sleeping in these clothes for a couple of days and probably looked like a bum. A mutant bum, on top of it all.
>>“Hello. I’m Henrietta. What’s your name?”
"Eh... Chris. Chris Berg. Hi." he said, not really sure if he should extend a hand or not. Most people wasn't that keen on shaking hands with him, and he understood that. The webbed fingers and clammy skin probably wasn't anything normal people wanted to take a close look at, much less touch. Not sure what he would do with his hands he started to fidget with them nervously in front of him.
"Thanks," he said, looking up from his hands to Henrietta. "I... uhm... I have all my stuff in this bag, I would've been in real trouble if you hadn't stopped him. Thanks for reacting so fast!"

>> "Eh... Chris. Chris Berg. Hi. Thanks, I... uhm... I have all my stuff in this bag, I would've been in real trouble if you hadn't stopped him. Thanks for reacting so fast!"

“Hi, Chris. It’s nice to meet you.” She felt odd that she hadn’t given her last name too. “Well, my name’s Henrietta Braun. Some people call me Henri or Rapunzel. Feel free to also if you’d like….Oh, you’re welcome.” Henrietta smiled at the boy and held her hand out so he could shake it. He was fidgety. She realized he must’ve felt self-conscious about something.

No longer being able to keep her curiosity bottled up, she finally decided to ask her question. “I’m not trying to be rude. I was just wondering, are you a mutant too?” After she said it, she noticed that the ‘too’ was probably a giveaway, but she continued. “I am.” A piece of her hair drifted up and waved. She hoped that it wouldn’t frighten him.

Henri noticed the boy seemed to be homeless or something of the like. She felt bad, especially since all his stuff was in that little bag. “If you need somewhere to stay, there’s always the mansion. They’re very accepting there. It’s already starting to feel like a home to me.” The brunette gave the boy a kind smile.

Chris was a bit surprised that she actually offered her hand, but he quickly shook it. Since he'd come to New York he'd shaken more hands than he had in his whole life, and he was almost getting used to it.
Rapunzel? Was that some kind of code name? Some of the mutants he'd met, like Meld, had used her code name instead of her regular name. He wondered briefly what Rapunzel stood for... It felt like he recognized it, but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd heard it.

>>“I’m not trying to be rude. I was just wondering, are you a mutant too? I am.” Chris took a surprised step backwards when a lock of her hair suddenly started to move by itself. But he wasn't frightened - quite the contrary, it was much easier for him to talk to mutants than to humans. His mood brightened visibly, and suddenly he remembered where he'd read about her code name before.
Well, that explains Rapunzel, he guessed, and forced himself not to look awe-struck. The nature of her mutation probably seemed extra impressive to him since he didn't have any hair growth himself - he'd always wanted hair himself and had dreamt of getting a long, unruly hair style and possibly a beard too, but his mutation made it impossible. He didn't even have any eyebrows. He guessed it wouldn't be impossible for him to wear a wig, but it would just make him look silly.
Then he nodded as an answer to her question.
"Yeah, I am. No worries - that was one of the most unrude ways I've ever been asked that."
And people back home didn't care much for asking but went straight to pointing and shouting, but there was no need to spill out his life story here.

He looked up at her again when she told him about the mansion, realizing that his first thoughts had been right. He probably did look like a hobo.
"You... you mean the Xavier School? Yeah, I've heard about it. So you live there? How is the place?"
And before she could aswer he added:
"Uhm, would you mind if we could walk for a while? Just to keep warm."
It wasn't really freezing outside, but it got kind of cold when you stood still at the same place for a while.

Chris looked a little surprised when her hair moved. Henrietta smiled. He looked less nervous now that he knew she was a mutant too. She was glad that her being a mutant was good for something.

>> "Yeah, I am. No worries - that was one of the most unrude ways I've ever been asked that."

Henrietta stopped smiling as big as she had been. Humans were cruel. She could about imagine the horrible things people had said to him. Henri was a little surprised when she first saw the boy. He looked as if he was from some sort of lake, but she tried not to just look at appearance. He seemed nice and that was always more important. Maybe she would feel differently if she had more of a physical mutation. To her, her own appearance was very important. She didn’t judge other people by them though.

Back at her old school, appearances were very important. Henri always tried to look her best. Her ‘friends’ would say some kind of mean thing if she didn’t look as good as they thought she should. Since then, she became very self-conscious about her appearance and what people thought of her. The only appearance she judged was her own, in reality.

>> "You... you mean the Xavier School? Yeah, I've heard about it. So you live there? How is the place? Uhm, would you mind if we could walk for a while? Just to keep warm."

Henri nodded and began to walk. “It is pretty cold, huh?” Answering his first series of question, she smiled. “Yeah, I live at the Xavier School.” As they walked along, she looked down at the ground. “It’s a very nice place. Very large and the people are pretty nice, in general. I enjoy being somewhere where I feel I can be myself.” She looked up at the boy. “Somewhere that isn’t so judgmental. You know?”

As they walked on Chris could almost feel the disapproving glances from people around them like physical nail pricks all over him. He had never really liked to felt stared at; it was almost worse with people who stared than people who shouted. At least you never had to guess what went through the Shouters' minds - you never could tell with the quiet Starers. Maybe he was just imagining things, but the stares almost felt worse than before when he'd been alone. He guessed it had something to do with him being a visible mutant - his too long arms, slightly crooked posture and digitigrade legs that gave his stride a jerkily quality meant that you didn't have to be up close to tell he was a mutant - and that Henri was being a less visible one. He couldn't help wishing that she would have had purple skin, antennas, an extra eye on the forehead - that might even had made it even easier for him to talk to her.

He suddenly started to think about Meld, a mutant he'd met just a few days ago. She would have had one thing or two to say about his rights to walk down the street without having to felt stared at, and he guessed that was why she'd just popped up in his mind. She had been good-looking too - in her own way - but her sharp blades and metal melds had been a bit intimidating. With Henri it was different - he almost found her prettiness and overall normalness to be intimidating. But this was idiot talk, he realized with a mental shake of his head. Good-looking people were people too, just like everybody else, and shouldn't be shunned or feared because of their appearance. Therefore, he forced himself to look up from the ground to Henri when she talked.

>>"I enjoy being somewhere where I feel I can be myself. Somewhere that isn’t so judgmental. You know?”
He didn't nod, just stared out in front of him for a while while he pondered over the question. He only felt like he could be himself when he was swimming, but somehow he guessed that this wasn't what she meant.
"I guess so..." he said slowly. "I mean, I have no problem to be myself when I'm alone. Staying away from other people and so on. People back home tended to be a bit... judgmental," he added, lacking a more fitting word. Then he shrugged his shoulders.
"That's why I came here," he continued. "When the choice was between a living a life hiding from others or to find a place where you could be yourself among others... well, I chose the latter."

Suddenly Chris realized that he probably had sounded a bit bitter - this was stuff he normally kept for himself.
"I read about the Xavier's School," he quickly added. "And it seemed like a good place to get a new start at, you know? Almost sounds a bit too good to be true, though."
He turned to her with a facial expression that conveyed both a small amount of hope and a little bit of dread. He'd been pondering over this question for a while, and the answer would be very vital to him.
"You... you don't happen to know if there's a lake or pond near the mansion, ms Braun?"

>> "When the choice was between a living a life hiding from others or to find a place where you could be yourself among others... well, I chose the latter."

Henrietta felt bad. The boy seemed so sad and lonely. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to Chris. “Chris,” Henri turned to the boy, “I’m sorry. I know it’s hard sometimes.” It was most likely very difficult for him, at least she could blend in with other people. She assumed that that probably bothered him. Her complaining but being able to still fit in to a point. His mutation was more obvious than hers and Henri couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for him. The stares they were getting were a pretty good indicator though.

Chris said that the school seemed too good to be true. It probably did, but she lived there. She knew for sure it was true. “It’s very nice, Chris. I think you would like it. As far as ponds go, there might be one in the garden. I’m not sure though. I do know that there is a pool.” Maybe a pool wouldn’t be the same because of the chemicals, but the brunette wasn’t sure. It was worth a shot.

“People are very nice there and it’s a warm place to stay. There’s a huge kitchen and everything. You should at least look around there sometime.” She gave the boy a friendly smile.

When Henri turned towards him and said I’m sorry. I know it’s hard sometimes. his eyes turned a bit panicky. Because when it comes to a certain matter all men (and teenage boys) are just the same, whether they're human, mutant or martian - if he notices that a girl who's roughly their age and not unattractive seems to feel sorry for him, he will protest loudly.
She... she must think I'm having a pity party here! Chris thought desperately and shook his webbed hands in front of him, as if chasing away her concern.
"I, I didn't... No, not at all," he quickly said, trying to sound confident and not so very pitiable and succeeded in failing both those attempts. "In fact, it... uh, it wasn't hard at all. You know. I'm used to it... I mean, friends, who need 'em? Uh."
Then he realized that he was just making matters worse and went quiet, looking down at his feet. On the inside, though, he rolled his eyes at himself and made the good ol' facepalm.

>>“It’s very nice, Chris. I think you would like it. As far as ponds go, there might be one in the garden. I’m not sure though. I do know that there is a pool.”
Trying to diminish the damage, he put his hands in his pockets and nodded at what she said, trying to forget his previous failure and acting unembarrassed.
"Yeah, I think that too. That I would like it, I mean. I've never bathed in a pool before but there's a first time for everything, I guess."

>>"You should at least look around there sometime.”
He nodded again.
"I definitely will," he said quietly. Then he looked up at her again.
"I was just wondering... have you had lunch or something today? Because if you want, we could -"
But before he had the chance to tell her what they could do, he was interrupted by a nearby voice that said:
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Chris immediately halted; then he looked around for the source of the voice. They had been walking in under a bridge and it took some time for the eye to adjust to the darkness under it. Then he noticed a movement to the left of him - a tall man with dark brown hair and a denim jacket was leaning towards the brick wall of the tunnel. The man was young, in his older teens or early twenties, and he was radiating an aura of trouble that you could read half a mile away.
Chris took one instinctively step backwards.
"A young mutant couple out taking a stroll like normal people, right? Cute. Really cute. Isn't it?" the man continued, smiling a broad smile towards the two mutants.
"Sure is, Nick," a voice behind them grunted, and another voice snickered loudly. Chris instincts kept screaming at him to run away, to find a stream or a lake and hide. It's three of them, he realized with a sinking sensation in his guts. Trap, trap, trap.
But the man who'd been talking first, Nick, didn't seem to be too hostile. Instead, he just directed his broad smile at Henri.
"You are a mutant, right, sweet cheeks? Don't see no other reason for a pretty gal like you to hang around such a dang ugly fish mutie, y'see. Don't worry, though; we like mutants. Especially pretty ones."
His smile turned even broader.

>> I, I didn't... No, not at all. In fact, it... uh, it wasn't hard at all. You know. I'm used to it... I mean, friends, who need 'em? Uh."

Uh-oh. She hurt his ego. Henrietta smiled at him so he would know everything was okay. She knew when to let things go and this seemed like one of those times. He changed the subject to the Mansion. He said he thought he might like it too. That was a good sign. Maybe he'd stay at the Mansion and she'd have another friend who lived there. He made it sound like he didn't want friends. She got the impression that he was trying to make up for his embarrassment. It seemed that all Henri did was make him feel bad.

>> "I was just wondering... have you had lunch or something today? Because if you want, we could -"

The boy began to ask Henrietta to eat with him. At least that's where it seemed like the question was going. It was had become a fill-in the blank because Chris' voice was interrupted by another person's. It said, "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The brunette turned her head to see a young man standing. More voices joined him and it was obvious that they were traveling in a pack. The boy next to her stepped back, which Henri could understand. They didn't seem like they just wanted to talk. Something about them made Henrietta nervous.

>> "You are a mutant, right, sweet cheeks? Don't see no other reason for a pretty gal like you to hang around such a dang ugly fish mutie, y'see. Don't worry, though; we like mutants. Especially pretty ones."

This just made her even more nervous. Was he talking to her? Automatically, her hair flew up into the air. Strands of it twitched here and these, as if alive. Glancing at Chris, she swallowed. This conversation was starting to remind her of a "Law and Order: SVU" episode.What the man said about Chris made her angry, but she had the sinking feeling that arguing with the men wouldn't be in her best interest. Two of her possible reactions were: fight or flight. It seemed her hair wanted to fight, but right now Henri wished she could sprout wings and soar off into the sky.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to Chris. "Let's just go out the way we came. I'm sure that you don't want any trouble either." But it seemed the group of guys did. The feeling that she was in danger was too strong. It made her feel like vomitting and crying at the same time.Beginning to feel panicky, she grabbed the fish-boy's hand and tugged on it. "Let's go," she whispered.

Chris felt completely paralyzed. His eyes were opened wide and he hunched his shoulders; he reminded a bit of a small creature trapped in the car lights of an approaching truck. His instincts screamed to him to run for it, to try to slither away, but they were surrounded. And if he run and Henrietta got left he would feel really bad about it. Sure, they had just met, but it would be a really poor start on a possible friendship.

When Henrietta's hair suddenly flew up the man's two accomplishes flinched, looking at her with a mixture of awe and fear. One of them looked towards Nick, a bit uncertain.
"But... you sure this is such a great idea? They're muties, after all..."
"Hey, relax. It's just a girl and some kind of fish something," said the leader. Then he turned back to the mutants and started to grin again.
"Besides, I doubt they would really try to hurt us. I mean, we've done nothing against them. Right?"

>>"Let's just go out the way we came. I'm sure that you don't want any trouble either."
Chris made a little jump, startled, when she took his hand, but he didn't withdraw and nodded to her suggestion that they should go.
"Yes, I'll think that would be best," he mumbled. Suddenly he felt a pair of hands clamping around his shoulders and gave up a startled cry, releasing Henrietta's hand. He tried to squirm out of the grasp, but wasn't succeding. The other of Nick's hoods stood behind Henrietta, not sure if he dared touch her shoulders because of her hair.
"Not so fast," said Nick and walked to them. "As I said, we've done nothing to you and we have no intention to hurt you, either. Of course you are free to leave, whenever you want. But you have to leave a... shall we call it a toll? Lessee... I think all of your valuables would be adequate, thank you."

Chris couldn't believed it. He'd already been robbed, what, ten minutes ago? Someone up there did definitely not like him today. And suddenly he saw a man approaching, walking their way. The man was talking in his cell phone and didn't seem to have noticed them were they stood under the bridge. Chris a ray of hope breaking through his despair - the grown-up would see the situation, say "Hey, what's going on here?" in a commanding voice and maybe even call for police support. But Chris's hopes were thoroughly quenched - when the man looked up and saw the situation he halted, and then he just turned around and walked away the same way he'd been coming. What the...?
"Coward!" Chris mumbled angrily. Unfortunately, the leader of the gang stood with his back against the cowardly man and hadn't seen him. Therefor he must have assumed that it was him Chris meant, because his grin slowly faded away from his face.
"...What did you call me?" he demanded to know in a cold voice.
"Uh, nothing!"
The leader walked up in front of him and suddenly seemed even more intimidating.
"What did you call me?" he demanded to know again.
Chris couldn't think of anything to say, so he looked towards Henrietta with a look of utter despair on his face.

One of Nick's partners walked up behind her. He seemed too afraid to touch her though. That made Henri smirk. The look slid from her face when Nick continued to talk. He'd let them go, if they gave them all of their valuables. What this guy serious? She stared at the leader of the small group. He seemed serious enough, but the brunette wasn't going to just hand over her stuff without trying to do anything first. Swallowing hard, she spoke.."I'm sorry. I don't really have anything and he doesn't have much either. He's just been living in the park." That was true. Well, the girl had a little money, but it was all she would have for a while.

Henrietta glanced at Chris. She knew he had been talking about the man who had ran away from the problem. Too bad the big scary guy didn't. Biting her lip, she contimplated speaking again. The boy seemed speechless and she didn't want him to get hurt. "He wasn't talking about you. There was a man who saw us, but he just walked away..." She turned and smiled slightly at the fish-boy. Hopefully it would be comforting to him. The girl wasn't sure how much longer she could pretend she wasn't scared.

Her hair continued to move around. It was a warning not to get any closed to her. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Anything was at this point. If she'd have to, Henrietta would hand over her money. She knew that the other hostage couldn't afford to give anything up. That was all he owned and she wouldn't want it all to get taken from him.

Henri looked at Nick and then at the ground. She wasn't sure what to do. It was unknown to her if they possessed any weapons and the girl didn't want to hurt anyone. She wasn't sure if she could even make herself hurt another person. Fighting may have to be out, especially since it seems like Chris's powers are better suited for aquatic environments...Looking around for any source of water, she sighed. There wasn't any. How were they suppose to get out of this without any pain?

>>"I'm sorry. I don't really have anything and he doesn't have much either. He's just been living in the park."
The big guy who was holding Chris wrinkled his nose.
"Yeah, I can smell that," he mumbled. But Chris was to scared to feel offended. All he could see was the leader of the group who walked closer to them, turning his hand into a fist...
>>"He wasn't talking about you. There was a man who saw us, but he just walked away..."
Chris looked relieved, but the older guy didn't seem to believe her - or maybe he just didn't care.
"Don't come and say I didn't warn you," he sneered, sending his fist towards Chris's face. But even if Chris's powers mostly were pretty worthless on land, he had something that gave him an advantage - his extra quick reflexes. He dodged the punch with an almost snakelike movement. Unluckily enough for the guy who was holding Chris the punch connected with his chest. He gave up a breathless yelp and let go of Chris, who quickly dived under the leader and started to run before the elder guy still was off-balance.
"RUN!" he screamed to Henri, as if she needed instructions.
"Don't let her get away! screamed the leader to the man who was standing behind Henri. He was looking confused, the whole thing was happening pretty fast, but his arms shook out and he tried to catch her since he didn't have the time to worry about her hair.

Chris had dodged the punch with ease. Henrietta smiled when she saw that his mutation was helpful on land. The lead man, Nick, had yelled to grab her and the fish-boy was yelling to run. Don’t have to tell me twice… Turning, she came face to face with one of the men. She gasped as he reached out for her. Facing her body away again, she began to run.

She was just starting to pick up speed when something grabbed the back of her jacket. Glancing behind her, she saw the man’s hand holding on. Henri let out a frustrated sigh. Her hair flared to life again and wrapped around the man’s wrist. The two looked at each other with surprise, because she didn’t know what was going on either. This would have been funny to the brunette if she wasn’t so scared at that moment.

The man began to panic and tug at the hair. Reaching in his back pocket, he took out a Swiss Army knife. He began to saw at the brown locks, but nothing happened. Looking at Henri again, the grip on the man tightened. Yelping, he dropped the knife. “Let me go, freak!” Henri focused and made the hair release. After staring at the girl for a moment, he ran.

Henrietta was still trying to figure out what happened when she realized she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Running to catch up to Chris, she yelled to him, “Keep going!”

His heart was pounding in his chest, his breathing was rapid and he was almost scared out of his wits, but he felt more than a little triumphant. They had done it! They had managed to escape! He turned his head to Henri, and... realized that maybe he'd been to quick to assume that they would get away.
One of them, the skinny one with acne-stained face who was in dire need of a hair cut, had grasped Henri's jacket and was holding her back. The biggest guy who'd been holding Chris was still recuperating from the punch in his chest, but the leader was gaining on them. It would just be a matter of seconds before he reached Henri and Skinny Guy.

Chris halted abruptly and turned around, being at a safe distance himself. He realized that he couldn't make it back to help her in time, and a small, ugly voice inside of him yelled at him to run for it while he had the chance and they were occupied with Henri. He knew this part of the park, there was a pond nearby, he could get there in time...
But his other voice screamed at him to get back, there had to be something he could do, it would be extremely rotten to just leave her there.
In the clash between his instincts and his humanity, where one told him to run away and save himself and the other told him to run back and fight for it, he froze. The whole thought process had flashed through his mind in a split second.
Then Henri's hair suddenly yanked out and grabbed Skinny Guy's wrist. Both of them seemed to be equally shocked over it, and the leader halted with a surprised look on his face. Skinny guy tried to carve his way free and then screamed at her to let him go, and when she released her grip he ran away. Henri started to run towards Chris and yelled for him to keep going. Chris un-froze and started to run again. He was an awkward runner since he was digitigrade and more designed for speed in water than speed on land, and it didn't took Henri long to catch up with him. In fact, he was surprised at how fast she ran. Chris glanced back and realized that the leader was gaining on them - he'd just stopped to pick up the switch-blade. Chris realized that he himself was too slow; the leader probably couldn't catch Henri, but he would have no trouble catching Chris. He'd have to hide. Luckily he knew a perfect place nearby - the path was surrounded by thick bushes, and since it was snowing and getting darker outside the man would have small luck finding them.

They ran around a curve in the road, suddenly hidden from their follower's view, and Chris gesticulated towards the bushes.
"Shrubbery!" he hissed, and he didn't elaborate it but dived into the thick bushes. He didn't wait to see if Henri followed him - she was fast and could decide if she wanted to keep running or if she wanted to hide. The good thing about hiding was that they would get their persecutor off the trail, but the bad thing was that they would be sitting ducks if he realized where they were.