Fade's powers had been growing at a rapid pace, well, much faster than before at least, and she only wanted to practice more. Her hope was that one day, she would be invisible for even those who had extra senses, so she had been going out at night to locate a mutant. Of course, this had its dangers at the mutant bars when she would stay invisible and wait for someone to find her, but each time, whoever found her was not interested in helping her develop her powers, it was always they were drunk and interested. Although once a woman had found her, only to tell her to stop standing so close to her boyfriend. No, she needed to find someone who had extra senses and who was good and she found exactly that.

Chris had been living at the Mansion, she did not know too much about him, only that when she asked for help with her powers, he said yes. He was an odd looking fellow, a bit on the reptile side, but he was nice and that was always appreciated. Usually, they would have met in the Training room, but Fade grew tired of the Danger Room, she wanted to get out more. They decided on the Hudson River, a bit cold this time of year, well, a bit cold no matter what time. Chris would be fine with it, she read his file, well, as much of it as she could read, she still needed to learn how. Fade, on the other hand, needed a wetsuit, a very thick one.

The taxi pulled up and dropped her off after she passed up the money. New York, you could go anywhere so long as you had cash. Once out of the taxi, she walked up to the bridge and took off her jacket and sweatpants to reveal her wetsuit. Looking around, she left her clothes on the bridge to let Chris know she was here and climbed on the guard rail. Looking down, she smirked and jumped. That smirk quickly left her lips the second her skin made contact with the water temperature. No, not very warm at all. Still, she turned invisible and lurked under the bridge for Chris, keeping her head high enough above the water for her to breathe.

Chris arrived a few minutes later - he'd intended to be there first, but had had some trouble hailing a cab. He got out of the car, paid the driver, and started to walk towards the river with his backpack slung over his shoulders. He walked fast, not wanting to keep Fade waiting if she already was there, but he felt calm. Calmer than he'd been in many weeks. The air was crisp and clear and the ground under his bare feet felt so tremendously different from the asphalt he'd gotten used to lately...but the best thing was the silence. No car horns bleeping, no loud music, no mutant children running around the mansion playing tag.
For the first time since he'd come to New York he felt that he was able to relax. There had just been so much going on lately, he hadn't realized how stressed out he'd been until now. It made him wonder if he'd really made the right choice, moving to the city... but oh well. He wasn't here to ponder over his life. He was here to train.

Chris had been surprised when the red-haired woman had asked him if he wanted to help her to train. He had moved in at the mansion recently and had just been attending classes, hanging out with his new roomie Saphirus, occasionally ventured down to the living room to watch a movie with the other kids... nothing that had stood out very much. But when Fade had explained what she needed help with, he'd realized that it made sense to ask him. He didn't know much about her, except that she was called Fade, that she was an X-man (or should you say X-woman?) and that she could turn invisible and phase through solid object. He hadn't really understood how that worked, but he guessed she would explain it more thoroughly before they started. Anyway, she had seemed like a nice person and she appeared to be genuinely happy when he decided to tag along.
He didn't know that much about the X-men. From what he'd gathered, it was the X-men who run the mansion... but you didn't have to be one of them to live there, they offered shelter and tutoring to all mutants. They seemed to be some kind of anti-crime group, using their powers to stop criminals and aid civilians. He felt both honored and nervous about training with one.
Besides, it had been days since he'd had a good swim.

Chris arrived at the bridge where they had decided to meet, looking around after Fade. No sight of Fade anywhere. Well, she had the ability to turn herself invisible, after all. It made him a bit uncomfortable - not that he expected her to ambush him or something, but he never felt comfortable when he knew someone was around but didn't know where. It made him twitchy.
He noticed the pile of clothes on the bridge and walked up on it. He looked down at the deep, dark, swirling water under him - still no sight of Fade, even when he squinted real hard.
"Fade?" he asked hesitantly. "Are you... there?"
She hadn't jumped into the water and drowned, hadn't she?!
Or wait, maybe the training had started already? Was he supposed to find her? If she didn't answer he guessed he would have to jump down and start looking for her.

While she waited with her head slightly out of the water, she heard a car pull up and a door to that car open and shut. He was here, but he hadn't jumped in yet. Judging by the shadow cast down onto the water from the lightpost, he was unsure of what to do next. If your friends told you to jump off a bridge, would you? Hopefully he would. She waded out, knowing that her body was pushing water away from it, making her a little visible, water was always the worse for invisibility. Sure, she could phase through it, but that's just the initial blow of a tsunami she could phase through, swimming through it was much more difficult. First off, she can't phase through a liquid really because solids at least provide foundations for her body to latch onto while she phases, like when she climbs. Water had nothing for her to hold on to, when you're about to fall down a waterfall, you can't just hold on, same concept.

She would work on that today. Maybe not just disappearing from his senses, but staying invisible in water, that was tough enough even if a human was tracking her. In order to let him know what was going on, she turned visible and swam out, thank goodness she learned how to swim, finally, she'd be dead. "Come on down, Chris, it's great!" she called before diving down and going invisible again. She swam under the bridge and grabbed onto the foundation to keep the current from pulling her away. In order to breathe, she poked her head out of the water, just enough to release the rotten air in her system and breathe in some fresh air before diving back down.

It was not exactly a party night, not like most of her nights, this one would help her in the long run and was fun for right now, even if it was freezing. A quick mental note that the two of them should stop at a cafe and get a hot chocolate afterwards stuck in Fade's mind as she resurfaced for another breath.

A sudden movement caught his eyes - a red haired head swam out from under the bridge. He felt a bit stupid for worrying - of course she wouldn't drown, she was one of the X-men after all. He wasn't even a trainee, so he had no right to worry about her.
>>"Come on down, Chris, it's great!"
"Um, okay!" he said while Fade dived down under the surface again. He leaned his backpack against the bridge's rail and took of his coat, hoodie and baggy jeans, revealing a black wetsuit with short arms and legs. It wasn't a uniform or something like that, but he'd borrowed it from the mansion. It was much easier to move in than regular clothes that just got heavy in water.
Chris folded his clothes and put them next to his backpack, then he put one foot on the low rail and looked down. The Hudson was really deep at this point, there was no risk for him to dive and hit a rock or the bottom. The only thing he risked hitting was actually Fade, but he guessed that she was smart enough not to stay right under him after telling him to jump into the water.

So he took a deep breath and dived, causing a minimal plunge. He continued down for several meters; the water was cold and clear and refreshing. His eyes quickly adjusted and everything around him got clear - it felt the same was as it felt for a near-sighted person who put on his or her glasses.
Chris took a few swimming strokes, as always feeling happier and more confident when he was under water. But he wasn't there to enjoy himself - he was there to find Fade. He stopped swimming and looked around after her.
He had lost track off her after she'd dived under the surface, but when he closed his eyes and concentrated he thought he could distinguish a certain smell in the water that differed from the usual water-fish-seaweed combination. It was hard to tell because of the current, but he was almost certain that it was a human smell. That meant she was somewhere up-river - otherwise he wouldn't have been able to catch even a whiff off her.

He opened his eyes, concentrating on the area in front of him. Somewhere under the bridge? He started to swim slowly, his eyes wides open. The training session had started.

Nothing could be heard, Fade could not hear him do anything on the bridge, it was all such minimal noise that it did not reach her down in the water. The only thing she could distinguish was a wetsuited frog-ish looking body plummeting to the surface and hitting it with a splash. After that, it was quiet. She did not see him resurface, did not see him even pop up his mouth for air. Could he breathe underwater? Trying to keep herself hidden, she ducked back underwater and pushed off the foundation with her feet, pointing her arms to go in the direction of a different foundation pillar. Maybe she could just leave her scent places, like a dog, and he would follow.

She used her arms to pull and her legs to push, she was not that great of a swimmer, but she had just learned, she she got a break. She paused in the water, looking around for any signs of Chris. Had he found her? Was he lurking? Had he drowned?! Nooo, he couldn't drown, right? Fade decided to keep swimming for the other foundation, making many pit stops to look around and just stop moving. Every fifteen seconds or so, she would resurface with just her mouth for more air. Maybe she should have brought an oxygen tank, but that would just bloat out bubbles for Chris to follow.

There was no use trying to pinpoint her location using his sense of smell alone, the current was to strong. He had been underwater for a couple of minutes and decided to resurface. He went up to the surface and breathed out. While he was threading water with his head above the surface he tried to look for Fade. She was probably invisible, otherwise he would have seen her by now. She still had to come up to the surface every... actually he wasn't sure how long other people could keep their breath under water. 20 seconds? 30? And when she came up to breath, maybe he could see a ripple or something on the waters surface. Or a hole in the water. Even though she was invisible, the water couldn't pass right through her. No, wait, it could. She had said that she was able to phase through water, but that it was very hard to do. He hadn't really understood it, and frankly it made no sense to him. How could it be easier to phase through a solid object than a liquid? It was all very confusing.
Anyway, he hoped she wasn't phasing through the water right now. It was hard enough to find an invisible person in the Hudson river.

Since his eyesight was worse in air than it was under water and the surface was full of ripples anyway, he could see no trace of her above the surface even though he looked around for over a minute. So he took a deep breath and dived under the surface again. Lessee... Since she would have to stay close to the surface, there was no use in looking for her near the bottom. Unless she's actually passed out and on her way to drown, a small voice said in his mind but he ignored it. No, he doubted that she would swim under 7 feet. But she had probably seen him when he'd stayed over the surface for so long, and it would give her an advantage to know where he was... so Chris dived down almost 20 feet to where the water got darker and harder to see through. Then he swam a bit downstream before starting to swim up again. Hopefully Fade had lost track of him now.

He looked down into the murky deeps under him while he swam. It was impossible to see the bottom. He'd heard that the deepest point in the Hudson was a place known as World's End, and that it was over 200 feet deep. Even though this part of the river wasn't nearly as deep, his intuition told him that it was a long way down to the bottom. He how long it would take to swim down...
Okay, snap out of it! Concentrate! he scorned himself and lifted his gaze from the dark water under him. He wasn't going to find her by being spacing out.

He'd been down for almost a minute, he could easily keep his breath for another 4-5 minutes. Chris had no real hopes of catching sight of her; she was, after all, invisible. And even though his eyes where good in water the probability for him to spot a human-shaped air pocket in the water was pretty small. So instead he closed his eyes for a while and swam with soft, careful strokes. Just likes his eyes, his ears was supposed to work better under water. He was able to hear fish swimming, he should be able to hear one human splashing around. Unless she swam very quietly.

When she had reached the other foundation, she saw Chris resurface. How long could he go without air? Her eyes peered around the side of the bridge foundation, still invisible. She concentrated her hardest to keep every drop of water on her head invisible, but it was so hard to do. When he dove back down, she got a little suspicious. So now she knew what it was like to try to find an invisible mutant. He had no air bubbles that surfaced, no little ripples that echoed in the water. It was a real pain to figure out where he was, that must be how it is when she disappears and no one can find her. Exept she can disappear in broad daylight. Right now, it was a bit dreary outside and she couldn't see underwater in the first place. Plus, didn't the Hudson have like a bazillion germ particles floating around? She could get an eye infection. She cursed herself for not bringing goggles.

Still no sign of Chris. She did not know what to do, she could stay right where she was and risk getting caught by a little pocket of nothing in the water, taking her form, or she could keep moving and be a moving pocket of nothing. Or she could give him a hint for more fun. Now that was a good idea. Even if they were training, there was no sense in not having fun. She phased her claws into the foundation and began to climb. The second the air hit her, it reminded her of just how cold the water was and every inch of her body begged her to bundle up in a blanket and keep warm. But not her brain, no, she was determined.

Her skin raised in little bumps along with each of her tiny body hairs, all letting her know they were cold by tingling. The water dripped off her. Alot, at first, then little drops rippling in the water. While she was invisible, there were little wet knee prints on the way up, indicating where she regained her footing. She continued to climb up, getting used to the air temperature. Her teeth chattered just a little bit. Finally, she had reached the ceiling, or the bottom of the bridge depending on how you look at it. Her hands were behind her back, clinging tightly to the ceiling along with her feet. The rest of her body dangled down, facing the water. While she was invisible still, little drops of water fell from her hair, sprinkling the water's surface. When Chris would appear, she'd surprise him and try to go invisible again, hopefully it would work. Then again, she didn't know if he knew she was up there. Just to give him a little tip, she shook her hair violently, sending the little drops of hair down on the water's surface like rain.

Even though he concentrated really hard, he couldn't hear anything out of place in the water. Either way she had really started to phase through the water or she was swimming very quietly. But on the other hand there was no guarantee that he would be able to hear her - even though the water current was pretty slow it was harder to locate sounds in a river than it was in a lake or pond. But still... he had really good hearing.
At least he could... no, wait. He couldn't feel any traces of her scent anymore. That should mean that she'd gotten past him downstream, or that she was really deep down. The worries started to creep up on him again. He had seen no traces of her at all during the whole time they had been in the water, what if she actually had drowned? Chris bit his lower lip and looked around in the murky water, feeling how the panic started to get a hold of him. If they'd just had some way to communicate... that would probably ruin the meaning with this training session, but he just needed something to know that the other mutant was alive.

He just started to think about swimming up to the surface and say "Fade, are you there?" or something like that when a sudden sound caught his attention. A small shower of water drops fell on the surface, and since he was very alert right then he noticed the soft hissing sound at once. He swam up and stuck his head over the surface, squinting towards the place where the sound had come from. They seemed to have fell near to one of the bridge's foundations. Chris noticed that the pillar had water prints on it, almost as if someone... no, she couldn't have climbed up one, could she? But then he remembered her clawed fingers - he'd noticed them when they'd met at the mansion. Well, why not? He'd seen weirder thing than mutants who had the ability to turn invisible and climb up against vertical surfaces... he just couldn't remember when.

His gaze followed the water marks on the concrete pillar. They continued, farther and farther and farther up...

There it was. A shallow figure of a fish mutant and then his head appeared on the surface of the water. His head trailed around, looking for her. He followed the water prints up the foundation wall and continued to look higher. This was it, it was the moment she got to say BOOOO. Honestly, that was the best feeling, she had to wait for the opportune moment and her heart rate increased a little with excitement. He hadn't fully looked up yet, but Fade was already turning visible, from her toes to the tip of her nose.

Finally, the right moment came and she was fully visible, staring down at Chris. "Consider this your hint," she said before letting go of the ceiling, plummeting down to the water. Her body sharpened up as she dove, careful to not dive on top of Chris. The water was just as cold the second time, chilling her and making her curl up instead of staying straight to keep diving down. Although she wanted to resurface, she did not want to give up her location again and she turned invisible, swimming to the foundation again so she could grab ahold and surface her mouth for a breath.

Fade had never been the best swimmer, so grabbing onto that foundation was her only safe place, it was where she could hold on and not swim. If anything happened to her, she only had to turn visible and make a bunch of noises under water, hopefully Chris would save her, or at least she hoped he could swim while pulling her. For now, she just clung to the foundation.

Chris's gaze continued to follow the water marks - how high could she climb? Pretty high, it seemed. When he noticed the dark shape that was hanging from the ceiling it took a moment for him to realize what he was seeing.
>>"Consider this your hint."
"Wha-"
Splash!
She dived into the water not far from him. Chris didn't waste any time - he took a deep breath and stuck down his head under the water. Her great velocity had already carried her out of sight and she had probably turned invisible already, but when she'd dived a small amount of air had gone under the surface with her, and those small bubbles made a significant trace. They where only there for a second or two but pointed towards the nearest foundation.
Jackpot!
Chris took a few quick strokes towards the foundation. He still couldn't see her, but he felt that she was close. If she thought that she could stay hidden after giving him such a strong hint... well, then she was in over her head. Pun intended.

Chris started to circle around the foundation slowly. He couldn't help it - he greatly enjoyed this underwater hide and seek. It was unusual for him to get so excited. For once he felt that his mutation was working in his favor, that it was he who was in his right element. Since he'd come to New York he'd met one mutant after another, and all of them had so amazing powers... his own really paled in comparison and he usually felt like a fish on dry ground. Yes, that was also intended.

she could see him swimming around, following the trace. At first, she thought he could smell it or see where she was and as she tried her hardest to, well, not smell like anything, she noticed a little sizzle sound. Searching for the reason for this, she saw a few bubbles surface, all forming a line from where se entered the water, to where she resurfaced. Damn! It was idiotic! She had left a nice long trail for him to follow and withh every tiny pop of air after it resurfaced, Fade's frown grew larger. She hardly had any time to swim anywhere else when she saw his figure swim up to te foundation. She was caught. He began to swim around her, like a shark swimming its prey, except she hoped Chris didn't have any shark teeth, that would really suck. Even if she was caught, she did not want to give up her exact location, so she completely froze. She did not stir the water around her and did not blow out any air.

His sense of smell was still a problem, it was always the hardest to not smell good or bad enough to be noticed. It disturbed her shower schedule to have to make sure she showered with some of that "no scent" shampoo that hunters use when they hunt. It helped out most of the time, but under the water, she doubted it would be that easy. How could she get out of this one? She could climb down this time, but she did not want to drown. After a few moments of staying still, she spoke up. "Alright, you got me, you got me!" she laughed, she had stayed hidden for a while even if she sucked at swimming, that had to mean something, right? "What was it that gave me away other than the loud splash, bubbles and dive from the bridge? I gotta know what I need to keep working on. Did you smell me? Could you see me? Hear me?" she asked, bombarding him with questions. She was curious, she wanted to help her powers grow and she could tell by the glow on Chris's face that he enjoyed usuing his mutations as well. This little exercise was beneficial for the both of them, so why end it?

As he swam closer and closer to the foundation, Chris's heart began to beat with the anticipation. She couldn't be far away now, and if she tried to swim away he would hear her. It was only a matter of time -
>>"Alright, you got me, you got me!"
Her voice was a bit muffled since she he still had his head under water, but he could clearly hear that she was laughing. He swam up to the surface, and - there! He still couldn't see her, but he could see where she were. It looked very peculiar, like a hole in the river. He wasn't really sure where too look, so he lowered his gaze to the water in front of him when she started to ask questions about how he'd found her.
"Well, yeah," he said quietly, still not sure where too look. "The splash and the bubbles were a really clear hint. But it was hard to see or smell you because of the running water, and since you didn't splash around so much the river drowned out all the sounds... mostly." He paused for a moment and then added; "If we'd been in a lake, I think I could have found you after just a couple of minutes." He didn't sound proud or braggy about it, he was just stating facts.
But then he realized that it might sound like he was showing off, somehow. That flustered him.
"I... I didn't mean... I probably couldn't find you right away, but just faster than... well..."
He broke of mid-sentence, shrugged and changed the subject.
"Anyway, what do we do now? Do you want to go up?"
Chris wanted to stay in the water for a while and wouldn't mind to have another go at hide and seek, it had actually been fun, but he guessed Fade was freezing right now.

He told her about how she did not make many noises and didn't splash much. She was getting better at swimming now that she actually used the Mansion pool more. Now THAT would be a challenge. Hiding from him in the pool, it would be nearly impossible to beat him at Marco Polo in such a small water environment. Even a lake, it sounded like, would be tough to hide from him. He asked if they wanted to go back up. "Yeah, let's see if someone has stolen our clothes," she smiled, turning visible. Yes, it was cold, her teeth were chattering a little bit, but she had lived out on the streets in colder weather. Of course, she could simply break into somewhere warm, but sometimes those places were not that much warmer, and that was always a big pain in the butt.

Was Chris a coffee guy? Did he eat normal food or little fish pellets? Fade mentally slapped herself for that thought, it was a little mean. Well, whatever he ate, they could go out. Fade had some money. "Care for some coffee or soup? Something warm?" she asked, looking around. Of course, Fade could just simply climb up the bridge, but she did not want to just leave Christ there, she would swim with him to the edge and walk up. Figuring out which bank was closest was easy, now they had to swim to it, which would be just as easy, but a bit longer for Fade. She pushed off the foundation and began to wade to the left bank. "I had fun! What about you?"

"Yeah, let's see if someone has stolen our clothes," Fade said while she turned visible. Chris felt relieved - it was definitely unsettling to carry on a conversation with a person you couldn't see. But he frowned a bit at the idea that somebody would've stolen their clothes - that would put them in a really bad position. Come to think of it, maybe it hadn't been so smart to leave their stuff in plain view... they would need money to get back to the mansion.

When Fade asked if they should try to get something warm to eat, he hesitated and then nodded. Actually, Chris would like to get back to the mansion. He didn't like going to public places - he still remembered when Saphirus had brought him to McDonalds and he'd freaked out. But he was getting more and more used to being around people and Fade would have to get a hot meal soon to get warm. Besides, it was a long ride back to the mansion and he was hungry.
He followed Fade when she set off towards the nearest bank.
"I had fun! What about you?"
"Yeah, it was fun," Chris agreed while he climbed out of the water.
He looked back at the river with an almost regretful expression, but then he shrugged it off. He could always come back another day.

Then he turned around without another word and started to climb up the slope towards the bridge, moving a bit clumsy because of the way his legs was formed. He might be perceived as a bit rude, but he wasn't just a very talkative guy. Especially when he was around people he didn't know so well. Besides, he felt very self-conscious in the wetsuit - he didn't like tight clothes and longed to bundle up in his regular loose comfy ones. Besides, the same went for Fade. A wetsuit wasn't maybe the most revealing swimwear there was, but he would be a bit less nervous when she wore her regular clothes.

While Chris did swim to the edge, she could tell he wanted to keep swimming. It must be similar to pulling Fade out of her cozy warm bed in the morning. It's heartbreaking but she can always jump back into bed later on. "We'll come back sometime, don't worry," she said, hoping to help him not feel so 'back to the human world'ly. He seemed a little hesitant about getting something to eat, but Fade would stick up for him if anyone gave him any crap. She hated when people judged them just for looking different. Still, Fade's visible mutations were her constantly changing eye color and her claws, but she could become invisible if it overwhelmed her. While her mutations were visible, they weren't as extreme as Chris's so she could understand if he felt a little insecure.

He exited the water and began to crawl up to the bridge in a bit of a hurry. So he was not much of a talker, that was fine. Not everyone was as outgoing as Deathstar and at least he tried some. She had never really watched him walk before and it was quite different from a human's walk. A few times, she was tempted to try to catch him, thinking he had tripped and was ready to fall, but she had to convince herself that he knew how to walk just fine and he was not falling, his legs just worked differently in the water, which was an amazing advantage in water. So Fade must look pretty funny swimming, since her body was not made for it. The thought calmed her down and helped her get on the same level of not being as graceful underwater for her and on land for him. "So like a Panera or something?" she asked, walking up to the bridge. The clothes were still there, who would steal clothes? Her cash was actually in a ziplock back in her wetsuit, she would not leave that out, so there was no wallet to steal.

She grabbed the towel and began to dry off, of course, that was hard in a wetsuit, so she turned invisible and disrobed. It was freezing cold and she did not know how Chris would react to her being invisible but naked, so she still covered herself with the towel, even if it was invisible too, it was more of a self-comfort. She dressed and then began to dry her hair after sliding into her warmest hoodie. When she turned visible, she was completely dressed, except her socks and shoes and she sat down to start to put those on. "Hope I didn't freak you out with that," she added.