It wasn’t the best job…but it was a job. Riley made her way down the street towards the address she’d written down on the little notepad that traveled everywhere in her purse. Word had gotten around…word had so gotten around and work was getting harder and harder to find. Whatever she was, with her ‘special gift’ was something that a lot of people were interested in and nobody wanted to deal with. That had a tendency to complicate things…things like getting a job.

Riley sighed as she made her way through the crowds on the busy New York street. Again, not the best part of town, but it was a part of town with work. It seemed relatively legit, too. This would probably turn out to be a bust, the way things were going in her life. It was worth the effort though, it had to be worth the effort. Rent was due in a few days and this shoot paid cash and let her keep at least some of her clothes on. Things would improve, even if only marginally.

It was not fun walking in the heels that Riley had put on for the day, but it was her first time working with this photographer and the right impression was absolutely imperative. Red heels, black pencil skirt, and a white blouse unbuttoned just far enough to show the lacy top of the camisole she wore underneath were enough to make the statement…but the outfit was hell when walking down the street.


Riley figured it was her simple luck that she had taken a job in the only area of town where the closest bus stop was several blocks away from the address she was seeking. So, she walked and checked her watch, then sighed and picked up the pace. The last thing she needed was to be late.

The city of New York holds an amazing potential for distraction which is quite possibly unmatched by any other metropolis in existence. It's central role in the world of commerce drew businesses and individuals from all over the globe, each with their own unique talents, personalities and ambitions. It was unique blend which had, over many years, matured into what was possibly the greatest source of drama on the planet for those with the time and frame of mind to appreciate it.

Rather fortuitously Zephyr was one such person; he had been awake for only a handful of hours thus far but already the elemental had managed to occupy his time with a variety of pleasant diversions ranging from the mildly impressive performances given by a collection of break dancers in the theatre district, discretely admired the eye candy on display in a female volleyball tournament in central park, and attended a promotional event adjacent to times square for which he received a free meal in exchange for nothing more than an erroneous mailing address and social security number.

It had been a rather good deal really, he'd even managed to coax one of the young lady's working in the event for a second portion in spite of the impressive crowd which been drawn. Which really only went to show how beneficial an authentic British brogue could be.

The question now though was where to proceed from here? It wasn't even noon yet and so he had more than a few hours to while away. Perhaps he could venture down toward Full Circle and offer Ghost a measure of patronage, or simply pester her should the girls stock fail to pique his interest. Alternatively he could take a brief flight and visit his university, when had he last visited the Yale campus? It would probably be wise to catch up with his associate in the IT department and ensure his grades had been suitable... adjusted.

Then again he could simply wander the streets and hope that something would catch his fancy, this was New York after all, it shouldn't be overly difficult to find a mutant brawl if nothing else. The key was simply to seek out large, stationary, aggregations of people because, after all, everyone loved a good piece of street theatre. And in truth locating significant crowds was not difficult for the mercenary, when one is capable of perceiving all of the air within a surrounding block they are also able to discern any displacements in the air, such as those caused by buildings, vehicles, people and... was that an eight foot water balloon?

The elementals pace faltered for a moment, a rather unwise move in any busy city street for it immediately caused those contiguous to the hessian to bump or otherwise jostle him in an attempt to avoid a full on collision. Zephyr's initial confusion passed swiftly though and was instead replaced by an idle curiosity as he assumed an indolent pace and shifted his attention to the seemingly solid sphere presumably rolling rather quickly down a sidewalk one street away. Yet it couldn't truly be solid because he could sense other individuals entering and exiting its perimeter, without any noticeable change in stride.

The city of New York holds an amazing potential for distraction, and a fleeting grin of bemusement crossed Zephyr's features when he realized he'd found one which could likely keep him occupied for some time.

The more Riley walked, the more her feet hurt and the more aggravated with the whole process she became. It seemed like the distance to the address on the slip of paper in her hand was getting further away instead of closer and the hands on her watch were moving faster instead of slower. It’s just how things went lately, Riley couldn’t catch a break. She heaved a sigh and grumbled internally at the people in front of her who obviously didn’t have anywhere important to be.

Another glance at her watch told Riley that she probably wasn’t going to be late. In fact, she was probably going to be a little early, but she didn’t have time to mess around with people mall walking down the street in the middle of the business day. Around them she went, and if any of them thought anything of it, Riley had a suggestion for what they could do with their complaints.

There were actually only a few more small clusters of people clogging the streets now, and Riley quickly worked her way around them. Her feet were screaming in the shoes now and she spent each and every step imagining how she was going to rip them apart stitch by stitch when she got home. Maybe even stick the broken pieces in the garbage disposal. Or..maybe she’d stop at one of the discount stores on her way home and get cheap comfortable things that didn’t match her outfit at all. She’d be able to do that when she had cash…

The last crowd grew closer and closer and Riley sped up, squeezing between them and oncoming foot traffic to find herself on the open sidewalk. Now, if only she didn’t have what seemed like another 100 miles to walk, she’d be golden.

It had become clear to Zephyr rather quickly that the strange sphere his spatial senses were perceiving was not in fact solid. It wasn't that great a jump in logic to be honest especially with the number of people passing through it unheeded. Still it did raise a number of interesting questions as to the Orbs origin, and somewhat ironically the most logical assumption was that another mutants ability was at work. As to what the precise nature of the mutation was though well, he could jump to conclusions certainly, anyone could do that, but an exact answer would require some investigation.

To that end the elemental had trailed the strange orb through the city streets, attempting to discern the creator of the odd field, yet with so many individuals coming and going it wasn't until things moved beyond the main streets that the hessian was able to identify the source of curiosity with any reasonable amount of certainty and he enjoyed a minor amount of pleasant surprise upon discovering his target was rather easy on the eyes.

It was, of course, a woman. She was slender but not without shape and her movements held a certain amount of sway which, at times appeared awkward, or perhaps painful and likely was a result of the somewhat severe heels she had chosen for her journey. A journey which, if her hasty pace was any indication, was one she considered quite pressing and this rather begged the question of how precisely the hessian should approach her, well perhaps approach was the wrong word; Zephyr had no intention of entering the girls abnormal field until he knew precisely what it could do.

Carrying on a conversation from over four feet away though was somewhat impersonal, yet judging by his failed attempts to send even a simple breeze through the odd orb it was doubtful he'd be able to carry a whispered conversation on the wind. He'd just have to remain cautious and make sure a suitable amount of distance was maintained, and on that note if he was required to make a swift withdrawal it would be best to ensure he was capable of such. The mercenary slipped a hand into his jacket pocket and withdrew a well handled alabaster container which rattled slightly and vaguely the elemental wondered if it was possible if his medication had any flavored varieties.


Shifting such idle thoughts from his mind Zephyr adopted a quicker stride which soon put him almost abreast of the intriguing woman, or as close as was possible given her disconcerting aura. There were a number of questions roaming the hessians mind however in circumstances such as these it would be best to adopt a courteous and harmless affectation and begin with a relatively innocuous introduction, then ideally the girl would respond in kind and a rapport would be built from there.

"I'm sorry Ma'am but do you have a moment? I was wondering if you could help me."

Riley was still making her way down the street, willing herself not to complain out loud about the way her feet felt. It wouldn’t help anything and people would look at her even more strangely than they already did. Riley had always drawn the attention of people around her, it was one of the main reasons she’d come to New York, tried to model. Being a natural center of attention simply hadn’t been enough though, and here she was…limping down the street.

>>"I'm sorry Ma'am but do you have a moment? I was wondering if you could help me."

The voice came out of pretty much nowhere, and Riley frowned, not slowing her step and wondering who the voice could possibly be talking to. It was accented, and male, and couldn’t possibly be speaking to her because there was no way anyone would ever confuse her for a “Ma’am”.

Except this guy had. Great.

”I don’t.” Riley said, not slowing in the least, ”If you couldn’t tell, I’m in a hurry.”

Riley felt churlish even as the words left her mouth, the guy had been polite enough, even if he had mistaken her for a Ma’am.

”What did you want though…and why do you think I can help you any more than the throes of other lucky slobs plodding down the street?”

As he had assumed the girl had little time to spare and had said as much as she refused to even slow her pace, however given her choice of footwear it was no great trial to keep up with her and so Zephyr decided that persistence would be the best course of action. Truly though what did he have to lose? The woman could hardly run in her current state and he was far enough away that she couldn't do more than threaten him and again, given her attire, any such statements would likely be empty ones.

In any case though the elemental had no set plans, if the woman chose to be difficult he had all day to indulge his idle curiosity. Judging from what little he could tell of her mood now though he doubted she would last long in any game of patience, and indeed he was soon proven correct for the soubrette's stride soon slowed as she turned her head to face him and inquired how she could possibly be of use, though that was perhaps paraphrasing somewhat.

Still he had the girls attention and that was what he had set out to do, now it simply remained to be seen if he could hold it long enough to glean the answers he desired. After all an ability like this could hardly be common, he would surely have encountered it before if it was, still there little point in delaying the girl would likely only suffer his presence for so long before attempting to ignore him.

"A little harsh on yourself aren't you? I can't imagine why you'd think yourself part of the common crowd, none of them have you're aura."

Hopefully the girl possessed enough wit to catch on to his less than subtle implication; it would be somewhat depressing, though not entirely unexpected, to find yet another woman whose mind failed to match their body.

At least the guy was thick skinned enough to handle a little bit of vinegar. He took her snipe in stride and simply continued walking near her. His comment made her stumble though, and it took a moment regain her footing and pace. That was fine, she needed the time to pull herself together and not make a spectacle in the middle of the street. Why did it make her so angry that people always reacted so strongly to what she could do?

Maybe curious wasn’t exactly the word, the Asian kid had been slightly less than curious and slightly more than irritated. Rupert had been way less than curious and way more than pissed off, hopefully he still had the bruise on the side of his smug, stupid, face to prove it. Lori had been secretly thrilled, but desperate to keep her glee a secret to her mutant pals. Not desperate enough to let Riley get away without standing in front of her shower for twenty minutes, but still.

This man, whoever he was, didn’t seem to be anything other than curious, but Riley still frowned as she walked. He also, she noticed, was careful to stay that magical distance away. Could he see what she could do?

He’d called what she had an aura. That definitely indicated something tangible. Riley realized she’d been silent for quite some time and glanced in the man’s direction. He was tall, and he was obviously misunderstanding.

”I’m not a mutant.” she said, and if she snapped just a little bit, it wasn’t her fault. ”And if I don’t move, I’m going to be late for work. You‘d better stay where you are, though. I made a kid blind a couple weeks ago.”

The elemental watched with a somewhat bemused look as the girl abruptly staggered and an expression of shock swiftly painted her countenance in response to his words. Clearly the soubrette had picked up on his somewhat oblique reference to her abilities and if the lack of response were anything to go by she was none too pleased at being identified for what she was, it was something the hessian could sympathize with, the word 'mutant' still carried a rather definite social stigmatism and for those who could pass as human it was often far easier to simply act as though you were one of the herd.

Likely the girl feared he would spread news of her status throughout the city and thus ruining what social life and standing she possessed, while such a course of action would be possible in one of his more malevolent moods his curiosity was still playing a dominant role and so the mercenary felt no such inclinations at the moment, and even if he did it really would take far more effort than he was willing to spend at the present time, still it would be wise to reassure the woman; she was being unsociably quiet .

"You needn't worry, I'm not in the habit of sharing others secrets, rest assured yours is safe with me."

That managed to get a reaction from the brunette however, rather than the sigh of relief the hessian had been expecting he was instead granted a notably blunt denial of her abilities along with a less than subtle suggestion that he leave her be accompanied by what sounded far too much like an empty threat. In fact the soubrettes words actually elicited a soft chuckle from the elemental as his lips twitched upwards in a faint smile and he tilted his head slightly while keeping pace with the girl.

"Is that so? I suppose you would make quite a stunning Godiva" He chuckled once more and then shrugged his shoulders. "As for what you are I'll admit mutant is not always the most pleasant of terms. What would you prefer? Gifted?"

Apparently she was not only a freak of the most freakish sort, she was also amusing. Needless to say, Riley was not impressed by the chuckle she heard escape the accented fellow walking beside her. The jerk hadn’t even asked if she was alright after the stumble.

He told her she’d be a charming lady Godiva and it was Riley’s turn to chuckle, ”If I had a dollar for every time someone had told me that one way or another, I wouldn’t have to worry about being late to work.”

She paused for a moment to let it sink in then continued, ”If I had another dollar for every time the one who said it walked away clutching their business I wouldn’t have to work at all.” she said, casting a bright smile in the brown-haired man’s direction.

He was persistent and Riley rolled her eyes as she continued to make her way down the street. Why did people keep insisting that she was a mutant when it simply wasn’t true?

”No. Really. I’m not a mutant. I’d show you the test, but I threw them in the face of the last prick who didn’t believe me. I‘m apparently a brand new kind of freak…It’s just too bad my ‘magic powers‘ can‘t help me walk in these heels.”

This was promising, the girl had actually displayed a sense of humour, albeit a somewhat hubristic one. Still though it presented the opportunity for some light banter, and it would have been remiss of the elemental to ignore such a perfectly placed opening, especially if he could elicit another bout of laughter from the shapely soubrette; humour was after all was one of the greatest tools of both interrogation and negotiation.

"And yet, you're taking the time to talk with me, I'm flattered." The hessians cadence remained softly bemused as he spoke and the slight ghost of a grin on his lips would have conveyed this even if his tone had not. Admittedly it was a somewhat conceited line given the less than subtle insinuation of his own importance, but baiting the soubrette was simply far too tempting to pass up.

It was something of a character flaw really, one which he had crafted and refined in his youth when his lack of physique had placed him at a distinct disadvantage in more physical confrontations. There was simply something so satisfying about turning another's words to your purposes, and though the azure eyed mercenary endeavored to avoid such games when dealing with more... lucrative matters, he still possessed fair amount of free time with which to amuse himself.

Returning back to the matter at hand, it appeared as though the curious brunette was somewhat less than impressed by his idle word play and had chosen to answer with sugary sweet hostility, and though most would become wary upon hearing the girls words Zephyr saw them as an empty threat at best; as he had no intention of getting close enough for the woman to follow through on her statement and besides even if he were to somehow come within range the soubrettes own footwear would likely make any such attempt on her part more comical than painful.

"Then clearly they were not gentlemen," He with the same half smile as he idly weaved around a lamp post. "Imagine, trying to mix business with the pleasure of your company. If it shall put you at your ease I shall endeavor not to make the same mistake Miss...?" And again the elemental tone easily conveyed the raillery nature of his words as he swiftly caught pace with the girl once more.

Soon though the conversation turned once again to the brunettes mutant status, or lack of it if one were to believe the girl's words, at the mention of test results and the somewhat inelegantly articulated theory of an alternative human evolutionary course though the light of mirth faded from Zephyr's cobalt gaze, hastily replaced by the natural curiosity which had first drawn him to the venust woman.

"Indeed? That is quite a claim, I assume you were tested more than once, yes?" Even with today's technology and knowledge no process was 100% accurate, and though the chance of an error with a genetic analysis were minute it was still possible, especially if the test were only taken once. If the girl had taken the appropriate steps though, and what she said was true, then the implications were... troubling to say the least.

"Have you by any chance met anyone else with a condition similar to your own?"

Riley shook her head as she walked, and smiled at her shoes even though she almost desperately wanted to kick them off and risk the barefoot walk down a busy New York street. This guy was a smooth talker, and a smooth talker with an accent. That probably got him real far with the ladies most of the time. A sliver tongue worked wonders in this city, and obviously this guy was used to getting what he wanted.

The conversation was entertaining enough, and since it was impossible to keep her secret from most mutants, Riley found herself not particularly caring one way or another what this particular one knew. He did want her name, though, and that was slightly more of a problem. A moment’s thought and a few feet further and Riley sighed, ”Sommers.” she said, ”I’m not a teacher or anyone’s mom though. If you have to, call me Riley.”

There was more to be said on the Brit’s previous comment, and a disbelieving laugh prefaced her words, ”And you just let me know the next time you meet a gentleman. I’ve known my fair share of men in New York, trust me, and all I can say is I prefer the ones who are simply jerks upfront…instead of blindsiding me with it later.”

Men aside, they moved on to her medical history and Riley found herself once again put-off by the conversation. What was he going to ask for next, vaccination records, a pedigree? He’d be SoL, Riley couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a shot in a doctor’s office and she didn’t have any more clue who her dad was than her mom probably did.

”Of course I did.” she said. ”Still have the membership button the Church of Humanity gave me with my negative test, and the pamphlets they gave me on “X-gene Envy” after my third. I wasn’t taking chances during all of that registration nonsense. Dog collars don’t agree with me, unless the pay is real good and the photographer made himself a name.”

He asked if she’d met anyone with a similar condition and Riley shook her head, loose, dark curls bouncing around her shoulders, ”Apparently they exist though. Adapted…adaptoid…apparently they‘ve got a name for, ‘even freakier than all the other freaks‘ these days.”

”What about you? What’s going to happen if you get too close?” she asked, casting a sideways glance and a smirk in the brown-haired man’s direction, ”Is your skin gonna fall off? Maybe you’ll melt? Please don’t tell me you’ll go blind and stupid. I’ve seen that before…so over it.”

Riley. It wasn't a common name to be sure and had the girl been just a mite more receptive to his idle palaver the hessian likely would have given voice to the thought that such an appellation was entirely fitting for a rare bloom such as herself. As it was though such a comment seemed a little too saccharine for the current situation, even if the soubrette appeared to appreciate his coquettish remarks to some degree, still the elemental couldn't resist the instinctive reply which jumped to his lips.

"Yes Ms. Riley."

That drew another short laugh from the girl and Zephyr permitted himself a small smirk which became somewhat larger when he subtly slowed his pace a certain degree and the brunette swiftly followed suit as she then went on to... well, not precisely lament the lack of gentlemen in the city but certainly comment upon it. Clearly the soubrette possessed a rather cynical outlook on life, still though the fact that she was willing to share such a perspective along with her name indicated a measure of progress, granted it was slow but it was progress nonetheless.

"Come now, that's a rather dim view don't you think? Chivalry may be dying but I hardly think it's dead just yet."The mercenary's tone as he spoke continued to be light and vaguely amused, he'd often found that such a cadence generally managed to diffuse most hostility, provided of course the aforementioned amusement wasn't attained directly from the audiences direct expense.

As the discussion turned to Riley's anomalous genetic nature and the extent of her testing Zephyr found his brow rising, initially in mild surprise that she had approached the church of humanity in the first place as the organization, if such it could be called, was not known to be particularly forgiving to those who failed their tests, or merciful come to that.

Once the girl mention of dog collars however the elementals emotions eventually gave way to a new mixture mirth and interest as he made a brief show of looking the girl up and down once again; that had been a statement which begged a question, considering the circumstances though the mercenary was relatively certain he could guess the answer, in fact he would have been slightly surprised if the soubrette hadn't been a model. So instead of posing the obvious query the hessian opted to continue his light banter.

"Indeed? I would have thought there were far more tasteful things to place around a neck."

As the conversation continued to develop Riley was able to clarify that although she had not had the fortune to meet another who shared her unique circumstance she had reason to believe they existed, and apparently they even possessed their own moniker, though it hardly seemed original, then again neither was 'mutant'. In any case it was rather disconcerting news and the mercenary could only wonder how long it would take before the newly christened 'adapteds' became prominent enough for someone to recognize the commercial value of their potential.

Zephyr was not given long to dwell on such thoughts however for Riley finally began proposing questions of her own, starting with a somewhat oblique query into the nature of the hessians own powers. It was a somewhat predictable question and one which the elemental had become rather deft at dodging. In light of the girls improving mood however he decided that a partial answer would be a more favourable course of action.

"Yes, I imagine you get that quite a lot" He answered with a light chuckle. "However I think I should be able to avoid any such behaviour, at worst I think I would face mild disorientation, though i suppose your use to inducing that as well."

Riley bared her teeth in a slight semblance of a grin when her walking buddy did the exact thing she’d warned him against just moments before. Smooth. Real smooth. Riley was sure that worked excellently on women who didn’t seem to have a built in bullshit meter strapped to their forehead.

”Cute” she said, directing a glance in his direction that indicated it was anything but.

He pointed out that he thought she had a rather dim view on the state of men in the city of New York, and Riley burst out laughing. It might have looked a little strange, two people walking so far apart, but obviously having a conversation intimate enough to thoroughly amuse themselves. Riley cared about that just about as much as she cared about anything else. ”You obviously haven’t met many men in this city. In my experience, and trust me it’s vast, they’re after two things. Money, and/or a piece of ass. That’s about it.” Somewhere down the line, that had stopped being funny and Riley realized she’d stopped in the middle of the street again.

On she walked, shaking her head as her mini-stalker mused over what she’d told him of her genetics. Why she’d done that, she still didn’t know, but the conversation had been something to take her mind off the somewhat grueling walk. Her comment about the collars was taken as in stride as everything else she’d said, and Riley found herself begrudgingly impressed. She wouldn’t be able to run this one off with shock value. It was more disconcerting than anything else that had happened, without that, Riley lost control of the situation.

His comment brought a simple shrug of the shoulders, ”If it were about taste, I wouldn’t have a job.”

More slightly masked flattery, more subtle compliments. What was this guy’s angle? Obviously he was curious about her, ‘talent’, and even more enthralled by the fact that she was not a mutant. Hadn’t she given him enough already? It was more than most got, and Riley sighed as they walked.

”What I’m used to is people either thinking I’m more trouble than it’s worth, or that they can use me. I only really care about the one that gets me paid, since rent doesn’t pay itself even if you’ve got ‘freak’ tattoo’d across your forehead. “ she glanced in his direction and fixed him with a firm stare.

”Disorientation how?" she asked, allowing herself to be just the slightest bit curious of the tidbits she kept being provided without ever actually getting any meat. It was frustrating, especially since she felt she'd been rather forthcoming. Frustration was something Riley understood and had no problem venting, "Now. You can either play a little quid pro quo and stop dodging my questions with inane flattery or take a hike. I’ve got four more blocks to walk. Start with your name.”