Henrietta Braun had gotten up early for a jog. She hadn’t been able to sleep at all for some reason. Her dreams had been strange. Her crush/date/person, Van, was in it. The dream hadn’t made much sense and she’d been trying to figure it out every since she got herself out of bed. Her mother had been in it too. She would randomly morph into Van. It disturbed her, especially because her and her mother didn’t have a good relationship. Probably because her mother had sent her away after learning that her only child was a mutant.

The girl had come to a halt at a stoplight. She stood and watched as it turned to red for the cars. The girl jogged across the street. A car honked at her. She turned to glare at the driver. Part of her wanted to flip him off, but she had never done that before and figured it would be a bad habit to pick up now. It’s my turn to go, dummy. Henri sighed grumpily and made her way into Central Park.

She had loved it there ever since she had arrived in the grand city of New York. For some reason, ‘the grand city of New York’ made the brunette picture people breaking into song and dancing. Musicals…I hate musicals. Just talk to me. I would’ve bought a CD if I wanted to hear you sing the whole time. The only good musical the girl could think of was ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but only because it was a classic.

Henri stopped jogging to look at everything in the park. It was freezing, but she didn’t care. She had bundled up. Growing up in Illinois, she knew how horribly cold some places could get. Midwest winters could be terrible sometimes, but the east had gotten hit hard this year. All of a sudden, the girl felt herself lose her footing. Falling, she scraped her knee. She tried to stand up, but her ankle gave in.

The brunette just sat on the sidewalk. Blood was coming through her pant leg and she couldn’t stand on her own. She could tell it wasn’t sprained or broken, but that didn’t make it any easier to stand. Frustrated, Henrietta let out a deep breath and hit the ground lightly with her hand.

Whit a rather long yawn Brian pulled the door of his apartment shut behind him as he walked outside. After zipping up his jacket he quickly ran down the stairs as he decided to go for an early morning walk to wake up fully. Even though he went to sleep early yesterday he could barely keep himself awake when he got down and strolled further down the street.

Yesterday actually was a very busy night for him as it was the first time since he arrived in America that he used his dream walking powers to scout around and inspect the dreams around him. Besides the obvious adjustments of having to hear everything in his dream in English now there wasn't much difference between European dreams. The only difference was the surprising large amount of people he could reach from his apartment.

But while strolling around in other people’s dreams he forgot to keep track of time and the fact that the longer he uses his powers. The sleepier he becomes during the day. After picking up a rather large cup of coffee he looked up and decided to go to central park. He always liked parks even when he was back in Belgium he always visited the local city park a lot.

A bit later he walked through the nearly empty park whit one hand deep inside his jackets pocket and one around the hot coffee he just had bought. Armed whit this against the icy wind he suddenly saw a girl sitting on the ground. As he came closer he could see that the frustrated brunette obviously had hurt her leg that was bleeding lightly. "Hey are you alright?" He asked while he walked up to her and sipping up some of his coffee.

Henrietta sat angrily on the ground. The scrape on her knee had bled through her jeans. "I just had to trip." She muttered to herself quietly until a young man walked up and asked if she was okay. Looking at him, she noticed he looked about her age. She also noticed that he was drinking coffee. Henri liked coffee a lot and she could smell it from on the ground. She felt her stomach rumble so quietly that it made no noise. Thank God. If it had been loud, I would've been embarrassed. That, and he might've run away in terror thinking it was a giant tiger or something. Inside, she laughed a little.

The next thing he did was ask if she was alright. She smiled appreciatively at the young man."Yeah, I don't think anything's broken or sprained. Just sore. My knee's bleeding a little, but I should live." Henrietta was glad that someone had stopped to check on her. Part of her figured she'd have to sit there for a while until it stopped throbbing.

The girl smacked herself lightly in the forehead. "Where are my manners? Um, I'm Henrietta. I'm really glad you stopped. Who knows how long I could've been here if you hadn't." She blushed slightly and pointed to a bench. "Can you help me hobble over there or something? I think I just need to rub it and wait for it to feel a little better." The brunette felt so weird asking a stranger. In the back of her mind, horrible thoughts of being stabbed entered. Oh well, I'm gonna have to have someone help me at some point.

Smiling he put the cup down on the ground so his hands where free. Holding out his hand he first shook her hand politley. "Heh My names Brian Pitschon, a pleasure to meet you ... Well it might have been better if you weren't hurt right ?" He grins as he lets he hand go and moves to help her up.

"You best support on your good leg now, here we go" He took her arm and slowley helped her to stand up. He took his time to make sure if she hadn't realy broken anything. "There you go, Still ok ?" He looked at the girl before helping her further.

Slowley he helped her hobble over to the bench that was closest to them. "So what brings you out here so soon Henrietta ? Out for a morning walk as well?" He smiles as turns her around while still suporting her from one side so she could sit down.

He introduced himself as Brian. He gave her his last name too. She felt a little bad that she hadn’t done the same. They shook hands and then the young man helped her hobble over to the bench and waited for her to sit. She felt herself blush as she sat. Henrietta smiled at him. “Yeah, I was jogging. I used to be in track when I lived in Illinois, so I’m trying to keep in shape.” She laughed. “So much for that. Hopefully, I can run again soon. I’m stubborn, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

The brunette glanced at the boy. “Do you go for walks frequently or were you having one of those mornings where you couldn’t sleep in? I hate those. That’s kind of one reason I’m out here so early too.” She waited for him to answer and began to rub her ankle. Nothing felt out of place, but it was sore. Now she moved on to her other injury. Pulling up her pant leg, she checked to see if her knee was still bleeding. It had slowed down quite a bit, so the girl pulled the leg of her jeans back down.

He walked off to pick his coffee up before coming back. "Ah I see." He said when she explained why she was here. "I never was much of a sport person myself but it’s a good thing to keep you in shape." Smiling he took a sip as he looked down at her knee "I don't think that it looks that bad too me so I’m sure you will be back decently on your feet soon."

Just as she asked her next question he yawned as he finished his coffee and ditched the cup. "Problems whit sleeping, not really I have more trouble staying awake. I'm probably the last person who would have trouble sleeping" Yawning again he shook his head a bit before turning back to her." I hoped that some fresh morning air would keep me awake. And no I actually only just came here a few times before.

Smiling he watched her check her ankle "I Have a hard time believing somebody as sportive looking as you would have a sleepless morning. Is something making you wake up or just having bad dreams." He chuckled a bit but looked interested. He wouldn't be surprised if normal people couldn't sleep at night whit all that ruckus from the traffic. Well he wouldn't know since he always crashed in his bed the moment he got home at night.

The boy returned to where he left his coffee and then walked back over to her and sat down. Henrietta listened as Brian told her that he wasn’t really into sports. “Oh, really? I’m pretty big into dancing too. It’s a good way to express myself in a nonviolent way. God knows there’s enough violence in the world, huh?” The brunette looked down at her ankle and rubbed at it absently.

He had said that she should probably be back on her feet soon. Henri glanced at him and smiled slightly. “Yeah. I’m not too worried about the knee, just the sore ankle. I think I must have twisted it or something of the like.” The girl knew it wasn’t too horrible because she hadn’t felt like crying every time she had stepped on it.

Brian then went on to tell her that he didn’t have problems sleeping and asked if she did. She shrugged. “I was just having some weird dreams. They weren’t necessarily bad. I was a little creeped out when my almost-boyfriend morphed into my mother.” The girl shuddered and then laughed a little. “That was enough to make me wake up. My mom and I don’t have the world’s best relationship either. Needless to say, it was just odd.”

He couldn't help but to chuckle as he heard the dream, indeed that would have been a strange sight to behold but to him it seemed pretty normal. After spending so much time in other people’s dreams and figuring out the meaning behind of them he could easily find out the true meaning behind dreams. Still yawning he walked over and sat down besides her.

Even after all that coffee and fresh air he couldn't shake of the constant sleep that he was haunted it. Being the drawback of using his ability to constantly he decided to spend a few days without visiting others during their sleep. "Yeah it’s odd indeed but believe me, there are a lot more weird things that somebody can dream about."

Looking up at the sky he grinned "I think I can already see the reason behind that weird dream of yours Henrietta. Normally dreams are just a way for our brains to process our recent memories and that can result in rather unique dreams. Otherwise you can dream about things that set you at ease or scare you, and then you get Nightmares of course. But lastly sometimes dreams can represent worries of a person that are given a rather odd look too bring it over. This is the case for your dream if I’m not wrong."

He suddenly looked back down realizing that he had been rambling on about dreams all the time and chuckled. "Ah sorry about that, didn't want to seem like I was analyzing you or so I just have quite some experience whit dreams and the meanings behind them. You can say it’s somewhat of a hobby of mine." He smiled a bit sleepy at you.

Brian began to anaylze her dream and Henrietta listened carefully to what he had to say. He talked about how dreams are used to process memories and represent worries. After all this, he apologized if it seemed like he was trying to analyze her. The brunette smiled at him. "Don't be sorry. I totally understand what you mean. May I ask how you know so much about dreams? You don't have to tell me if it's something personal or something." The girl wasn't sure how it could be personal, but you could never be too careful when having a conversation with someone.

Henrietta noticed how exhausted the boy was and laughed slightly. "You really aren't a morning person, huh? I'm not always one, but it's better than it was at first. I've been getting up pretty early for a while now so I can keep in shape." It was true. That was the reason her and her friend had been getting up at odd hours. Both girls believed themselves to be getting chubby, even if it wasn't true. Their perceptions were a bit off, but it made them feel better to exercise.

Henri turned to the young man. "So have you lived in New York your whole life? I just moved here in November. I like it pretty well though." The girl looked across the park at a small group of kids throwing snow at each other. She grinned as she watched them run behind trees for protection. "They look like they're having fun." She tilted her head in a gesturing way towards the children. "We used to build snowforts back in Springfield when we were little. I remember I used to spend a lot of time in the one we made at school. Are you big fan of snow or could you care less about it?" The brunette had begun to realize all the random questions she was asking and smiled, embarrassed. "Sorry. Sometimes when I don't know exactly what to say, I just keep blabbing."

He smiled as he purposely ignored her question about how he knew so much about dreams as he looked at her. "You can say I’m more of an evening person if you want but it hasn't really got to do whit why I’m sleepy." He yawns again before briefly rubbing in his eyes as he seemed to slowly get a bit more awake "It’s something that acts up every now and then but now it’s reasonable handelable."

Looking up over him saw the kids having fun. "Well I do enjoy the winter myself quite a bit tough. Not that I prefer it over a nice hot summer but it also has its chars tough." Chuckling he heard her tell about how she used to play in the snow and smiled. "Well mostly if they played whit snow I ended up getting buried underneath it. Seems they enjoyed picking me as their favorite target. But where I came from there wasn't so much snow most of the times. I am no American actually, I’m a European and I am now exactly one week in New York. I came from Belgium actually. I decided to come and try my luck here rather then there."

He stayed silent a bit as he watched over the snow covered park and the children that where in a rather fierce snowball fight now. Grinning he looked back at her as she apologized herself. "Hey you don't have to apologize, I don't mind and its better then people who never say a word." He wondered if he should tell her about what he could do and suddenly decided. He was rather careful whit who he told about his powers but the girl was rather pleasurable company and a good talk kept him awake. "Actually me being so sleepy and the reason that I know so much about dreams is connected." he looks at her again whit his familiar smile while taking his time. "I am a mutant who can put people asleep and enter other people’s dreams. The fact I’m sleepy myself is because I spend a bit too much time exploring American dreams since I arrived here."

Brian shared that he was from Belgium. Oh, that's why he sounds a little different. She smiled at him. "So how do you like the United States so far? Everything you dreamed it would be?" Henrietta smirked jokingly at her last question. She loved her country, but she'd never been to another country to compare it to. How was she supposed to know if this was the best place to live? The brunette always thought a lot of European countries looked pretty nice. Maybe she'd travel when she got older.

The boy said she didn't have to apologize because it was better than being with someone who didn't say anything. Henri laughed and looked at Brian. "That's very true. I hate one-sided conversations. They make me feel a little ridiculous and stupid." Of course, the girl talked a lot more than she used to. Back in Springfield, she had been very silent and just tried to blend into the background. It was usually and effective strategy and resulted in having a lack of eyes on her most of the time.

All of a sudden, the boy dropped a bombshell. He told her that he was a mutant and what his ability was. She turned and stared at him a moment. Did he just announce that in public? Glancing around, she noticed there was no one close by. She lowered her voice a bit. "Be careful who you say that in front of. Some people don't like mutants too much. There are riots in some places. It's so ridiculous." Stopping, she sighed slightly. "We aren't that different than them." The girl paused, and the added, "I'm a mutant too." She made a piece of her hair lift into the air slightly. She smiled. "By the way, that's a pretty cool power. How long have you known you were one?"

He smirked "America is pretty nice... Much more lively and interesting if you compare it to Europe." He smirks "Maybe this is indeed the America i dream of but its to early too tell yet." He smirked at the sudden reaction when he told her that he was a mutant but too his own surprise she immediately showed him that she was one as well. Apparently the girl could manipulate and control her hair to such a extend.

He frowned looking at her curiously as she lowered her voice. "Well that's curious , i have heard of those mutant haters but i don't worry about them much. I came too America because i heard here are the most large concentration of mutants at this time and not to hide myself from people like them." He shrugs "Not that I'm not careful anyways i just get kinda careless sometimes when I'm sleepy." Again he starts to yawn while rubbing his face. "But even so if anybody makes any trouble ill just let them take a nap alongside me." He smiles looking back at her.

"Well i don't know exactly how long i have been able to manipulate dreams but putting people to sleep happened for the first time when i was 14. Since then i found out about my powers by careful experimenting." He smirks and looks at her as she praised his powers. "All powers are cool and handy in my opinion. As long as you can learn to control them."

Brian seemed to like America pretty well so far. Henri nodded and smiled. “That’s good. I’m glad you like it. I’m from Illinois, which is a decently long way from here.” She kicked at some snow that lied on the ground absently. The brunette looked up again when he brought up how people disliked mutants. He said he would just lay down next to them and take a nap.

Henrietta raised an eyebrow and looked at Brian. “You really think that would do anything? Some people don’t even want anything to do with their own children when they learn they’re mutants.” She looked away and swung her legs. “My mother signed me up for a school here after the whole city started to hear about me and my power. She treated me like it was an illness and I could get over it.” Henri felt her voice crack slightly, so she stopped talking.

He sighed lightly as he heard what happened to her. "Oh ... I'm sorry i didn't knew that. My parents are divorced and since that i don't see my mother much whit who i used to live she doesn't even knows what i can do. But then again if i would tell them i can jump into somebodies dream would probably cause them to think that I'm insane instead that i was a Mutant. I guess that that is why i kept quite over it tough since my ability to put people forcefully to sleep is my only obvious ability to others because there are people that even convince themselves that me messing around in their dreams is just a nightmare."

He turned to her curious as he heard her mention a school. "Hey that school is that the place called the Mansion by Anny chances ?" He had heard of that place and seen it not so long ago while visiting the dream of another mutant that lived their so he wondered of this girl did too.

The boy apologized and Henrietta shrugged. “It isn’t your fault. I’m just hoping that she’ll call or come to visit soon. That’d be kind of nice.” Just kind of. Most of it depended on her mother’s attitude, which always varied. The girl wasn’t sure if her mom would ever come around to the idea of having a mutant as a daughter. Henri hadn’t spoken to her mom in months. She would send money in the mail here and there, but there was never really a conversation involved. Why talk about something when you could just try to ignore it?

Brian mentioned the Mansion and the brunette turned and looked at him. “Yeah, it’s Xavier’s Sister School. A lot of people just call it ‘the Mansion’ though. Why do you ask?” She stared at him suspiciously for a moment and then looked back out across the park. “I’ve been living there since I got here. It’s a nice place. I’ve made lots of friends, which is new for me.” Henri left it at that. She didn’t feel the need to explain her lifestyle back home.

Henrietta brought her leg up and checked on her knee once more. Rubbing it, she winced slightly. It’d be really nice if this would stop hurting soon. Like really, really nice. I know it’s not serious and I think I could stand on it now, but still. It’s the principle of the matter.