Juka decided not to note the slight hesitation that Jewel displayed at his double dating suggestion, knowing that she didn't mean it personally. He remembered Shawn and also remembered that Shawn didn't quite seem to know what to make of him. And that he had turned down his advances. Well, at least he now saw that there was a good reason for it, given that he was with his favourite Jewelly.

"I'll talk to Shawn about it. Have you found someone you'd like to go out with?"

"Have you met Venus?" Juka asked excitedly? "I mean, he's not really a 'someone' but he definitely has his advantages." He winked at Jewel. "I don't think Venus could ever settle down though, not that I'm ready too either." He laughed then realized that as wonderful as Venus was, some of his brothers were not nearly so wonderful. Abyss, for example, was definitely not wonderful; in fact he was rather scary and mean. And liked to kill people.

Lily shook her head. She didn't know who Venus was, but Juka seemed very excited about him. Him. Not like Lily had anything against that, but if any of your friends, male or female, goes out with a guy called 'Venus', you can't help but feel a pang of worry about the relationship. Lily really liked Juka, and acred for him as she did for all of her friends. If this Venus guy was someone important to him (although she felt relieved Juka was not thinking about settling down with him just yet), she should porbably meet him, sooner or later.
"Funny, isn't it" she smiled "I move in here a few months ago as a normal student, and now I'm a member of a superhero team, and I'm dating someone." she grinned "I don't know which one is more unbelievable, really... and you showed up too, and turns out we are both mutants. And we didn't even know, back then..." she sighed "You know, I haven't talked to my parents yet. Since I got home."

"Funny, isn't it. I move in here a few months ago as a normal student, and now I'm a member of a superhero team, and I'm dating someone. I don't know which one is more unbelievable, really... and you showed up too, and turns out we are both mutants. And we didn't even know, back then...You know, I haven't talked to my parents yet. Since I got home."

Juka suddenly felt himself feeling a little bit meloncholy. It was an unusual sensation for someone who normally lived in the moment and rarely thought about the trials and tribulations of the past. His past hadn't been perfect, far from it, and he had made his share of mistakes, but what was the use in dwelling on something that couldn't be changed? He could never go back there and do things differently a second time around, all he could do was try to be a better person in the future and not repeat his mistakes all over again.

"We're lucky, you know that? Even with how crazy things turned out, we're lucky." The words were truly and deeply felt, as most of his words were. "I don't think either of us could have foreseen the life we now live when we were kids, but I don't know about but but I certainly wouldn't have it any other way. We're mutants, for all the good and bad that that means. We have powers and we can make a difference."

Juka rarely took the time to reflect but he was coming to realize that sometimes it was beneficial to do so. Living in the moment was fine, but it was also worth while to be aware of those things that were important in ife.

Lily tilted her head, listening to her friend. She had never hear Juka talk seriously like this before. He sounded like a different person. The enthusiasm was the same though. He just sounded... like an adult.
She smiled.
"You are right. We have powers for a reason, right?... I used mine, in Romania. To help people. It didn't... work out, quite the way we planned, but we still saved a lot of them." she sighed, remembering "You know, I never thought my powers could be useful for something like this. And when I..." she pause before she went on "... when I was in the camps, and I couldn't use them, I felt like a big part of me was numb. I missed, using my abilities, even though they were not really useful there."
She shook her head and smiled at Juka. "Sorry. What I meant to say is, yes, you are right. We should make a difference."

To Juka, Jewel's voice sounded haunted as she spoke of Romania and the camps and he wished suddenly that there was something he could do to take that pain away from her. He didn't remember her ever sounding so sad when they were kids and he didn't ever want to hear that in her voice again. Of course the paths they both had chosen were going to include pain and hardship, but the least he could do was to try and minimize it.

Juka walked over to Jewel and gave her a quick hug. Sometimes it was enough just to know that someone cared and Jewel was almost like a big sister to Juka. They hadn't been the closest of friends as children but since life had once again brought them back together, he had been feeling more and more that way.

"Darling, I can't imagine what that must have been like. I wanted to come and save you all, you know that right? I can't make that go away but what I can do is float my way over to the kitchen and conjure you some ice cream." His usual impish carefree grin returned. "Because everyone knows that ice cream makes everything better and I won't even take no for an answer!"

"I'm glad you didn't come" Lily frowned "I'd have hated to see more of my friends get hurt." she sighed "But I appreciate it anyway."
Juka offered to get icecream for her, and that made her smile; he was a good friend, trying everything to cheer her up. She knew it would be no use to refuse.
"Icecream would be wonderful" she agreed, smiling "But only if you eat some too. I know I need to regain some weight, but not that much..."

Jewel had such a good heart in her and Juke hoped that Shawn realized just what he had gotten in her. In fact, he made a mental note that he must speak with Shawn sometime alone just to make sure that he was aware of what a treasure Jewel was and just so he knew that Juka would hurt him if he hurt her.

"I'll be back in just a moment, don't you go anywhere," Juka warned. Bubble in tact he floated quickly to the kitchen and rifled through the freezer until he found what he was looking for: a new carton of icecream. He put two generous servings into two bowls and then returned to Jewel, using a tendril to hand her one of the bowls and keeping the other for himself.

"There, ice cream as promised. And look, I even made a bowl for myself." Because one didn't need an excuse to enjoy ice cream.

Lily waited patiently for Juka to get back with the ice cream. He seemed to enjoy floating around like that. And taking care of a friend.
"Thank you" she smiled at him as she took the bowl "I feel better already."
She clinked the bowl against Juka's with a grin, and started eating the ice cream.
"So, let's start this again" she looked up "Have you been making new friends since you moved in?"

Sometimes it was the little things that made Juka feel like a good person, little things liking giving his friend ice cream and making her feel better. Those were the things that truly made life worth living and in a way those were the reasons why he chose to be a performer as well. Sure he liked the attention, but at its rout what he most liked about performing was that he made people happy by doing so.

"So glad you feel better," Juka said. "And I'm not technically living here, I'm just here most of the time." He laughed at himself becuase it really was a bit of a strange situation. "I've made lots of new friends, but none so good as you," he promised with a wink. "You should meet Massochist Man, the one I told you about that let me hit him with anvils. I think you'd like him. Cafas too, who let me unmelt some of his melted metal." He didn't even blink an eye saying the things that most would consider weird almost to the point of being unbelievable.

Lily didn't doubt Juka would make friends sooner than later. The school was certainly a place where he was not the weirdest one, and it was good for Juka, being among people who accepted him as he was. Or Lily, for that matter.
She wondered who the friends were. They didn't sound familiar. Then again, with those names they could have been anyone, really.
"Sounds like you have been busy" she laughed "What, grown-ups go to work and the X-kids take the place apart?" she grinned "I hope you have been looking out for the kids, and not getting them into trouble."
She smiled at him. Of course she was joking. Juka? Kids? Trouble?... Never.

"Would I ever get kids into trouble, Jewelly?" Juka gave his best innocent face and then winked and giggled. OK, so he wasn't quite as innocent as he might have her believe but he honestly hadn't gotten any little kids into trouble or anyone else for that matter either. Surprisingly he had been a good little bubbler, but then that could, perhaps, have more to do with how busy his life had been recently rather than any lack of desire to do something that might get him into trouble.

"Now, if you wanted I'm sure we could come up with something to get kids into trouble." A moment's pause. "Or adults for that matter. So what do you say, go on an adventure for trouble and deviance?" He was joking of course. Well, mostly joking anyway.

"Now, if you wanted I'm sure we could come up with something to get kids into trouble. Or adults for that matter. So what do you say, go on an adventure for trouble and deviance?"
Lily chuckled "I'm sure we could. But I have had enough trouble to last for a while."
She didn't say it in a serious way; she just didn't feel like going on a Juka adventure just yet. Hanging out in a bedroom eating icecream was more like what she needed.
"But" she mused "We could do something else together. Something that doesn't include trouble" she smiled "Sam promised me a vacation when I get home, and I think it's long overdue. Bottom line is, I have loads of free time..."
Unless something comes up that makes the X-team get to work again...

"I'm sure we could. But I have had enough trouble to last for a while."

Juka knew that there was a story behind that and probably not a very pleasant one but didn't pry. It was for Jewel to deal with and if she wanted his help in dealing she would tell him about it and he would be happy to help, but until then he let it be. Hopefully one day she would be ready to talk about it.

"We could do something else together. Something that doesn't include trouble. Sam promised me a vacation when I get home, and I think it's long overdue. Bottom line is, I have loads of free time..."

Juka thought for a moment about what would cheer Jewel up and then came to a dramatic realization. Kitties always cheered him up so perhaps he might get lucky and they would cheer her up too. "You haven't seen my kitties since we got them from the pet store. They're adorable and fluffy and cute and I'm sure they're just what you most need right now. Jolteon and Ninetails would love to see you again I'm sure."

"You haven't seen my kitties since we got them from the pet store. They're adorable and fluffy and cute and I'm sure they're just what you most need right now. Jolteon and Ninetails would love to see you again I'm sure."
Lily grinned. "I would love too see them again." she nodded "Fluffy pets are always good for one's mood. I learned that from a girl who turns into a fox kit..."
She helped a lot too, just with that.
"You know, maybe I should get myself a puppy dog after all." she mused, licking ice cream off the spoon. She looked at Juka, and for the first time in a long while, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Tell you what. I'll go visit Jolteon and Ninetails, if you fly me there."
That bubble thing was really addictive. She had been waiting to ask that since she first tried.

"A puppy? Why, that's a wonderful idea!" Juka was not so much a dog person, or a puppy person for that matter; they tended to not get along so well with his precious kitties, but he had nothing against puppies and as a general policy anything that was cute and fuzzy was good by him. And puppies most certainly fit into the cute and fuzzy category. "You must promise to let me meet him or her when you get him."

"Tell you what. I'll go visit Jolteon and Ninetails, if you fly me there."

"You know you only have to ask once, my precious one. Its particularly beautiful floating at night." Juka stood up and walked to the door, beckaning Jewel to follow. His bubble might be amazing and awesome but he still wasn't able to float through walls and therefore they needed to make their way outside before they could have an amazing Juka bubble ride.