The fresh air of New York. Where else to celebrate the return from her trip then in the parks. She hadn't been here for a very long time and things have changed, just like her. For instance, she was older then the last time she was here. She had longer hair and she surely gotten a bit more self assured then last time. She learned to work with what she got and gotten used to being free. It was only for the best.

There was a nice breeze and the sun was warm. Wearing a light blue summer dress and some flipflops, she walked through the park enjoying the weather. It was almost like a movie. Sun, breeze, birdsongs it was unreal. If this had only happened sooner to her, she wouldn't have taken a trip.

She planted herself down on a bench near the water side. People where doing their daily runs, skating, walking to dog or just taking a walk. Ordinary people doing ordinary things. How she had missed New York. It wouldn't take her long to find her way back to the sanctuary anymore. She remembered the park so it was close. That was her goal after her trip: finding the sanctuary. She always got lost and never remembered the way to places. Her luck was she stumbled on them every once in a while. But now she just enjoyed the breeze and sun for a while and then she would continue her trip into the city.

She kicked of her flip flops and picked them up, placing them on the bench next to her. Her toes wiggled through the grass which gave a ticklish feeling to her feet. Enjoying the weather couldn't get any better to her standards. She stretched and then placed her elbows on her knees, letting her head rest on her hands. She observed the waterside and all the animals that where in it. The ducks she remembered when she was still silly and tried to catch one. Ducks could be very mean, so no catching the ducks for her today.

There were many possibilities. On a day like today, the options were endless. Like a tree, branching off into countless roots, one could go any way. It was wonderful. No Lonnie bossing him around, no Full Circle shift to keep him busy. College classes had cooled. For the moment, he was caught up. There was nothing to do, but wander.

Yes, on a day like today, anything could happen. Anything could pop up... even songs.

It wasn't easy finding the perfect song to go with the perfect day. There was always trial and error. But today, he had the world beat. He had found... the perfect song.

No. Wait. He hadn't. Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie' ground to a halt as Aurum's finger smashed the pause button down on his media player. He turned the selection wheel, rolling it to the next song. Menouthis, by E.S. Posthumous began to play. Aurum started walking along the path again, to the perfect song. Ah yes, the perfect song for the perfect day.

Completely unfitting, in an ironic way.

He slipped by the duck pond to the epic beat. And, as he slipped, he slipped. He slid on a banana peel, landing on his backside right in front of a blond on a park bench. "Oof!"

A few strands of bright long red hair flew in her face as she walked through the parks of new york. She brushed them aside then tucked them behind her left ear with a wry grin. It had been many months since new york had been within her eyesight. Her soul searching hadn't been as productive as she had hoped but her sketching and her abilities along with it. *its just been refined no power growth*

Her purple quarter sleeve skirt fluttered slightly as she breathed in the air and then started smiling as she watched the children playing and then her eyes lit upon the duck pond and just as she was pulling out one of her many sketchpads out of her gray bag at her side, her eyes widened and her chuckling at the ducks died as a young man listening to music took a nasty spill on... a banana peel. 'I though banana peel slips weren't a reality nowadays, guess it is.' She shook her head and moved quickly towards the young man to see if he needed help, her ankle length black skirt swishing back and forth with her motions.

There is was. Something you only saw in cartoons. People slipping over a bananapeel like it was made of butter. She didn't know if she need to laugh at this or ask him if he was ok. In cartoons everything was different from the real thing. That is something even children know. The thinking process started but her reaction did what everyone would do. She pulled a smile for the young man falling down. People falling and slipping is funny in every culture, why else would they have a tv show about it.

There was another person who questioned the interaction between bananapeels and man. The red headed woman clearly found it weird but opted to help the poor fellow. Cailyn stood up and poked her nose in their business. Bending over with her hand behind her back. she looked at the young man and remembered him from a bookstore. "Are you ok, poohbear man?" She asked him with big eyes examining him.

He looked ok, but she wasn't a doctor to begin with. People who fall over bananapeels might feel a bit of shame, or pain in the behind. But she wanted to help poohbear man out. The last time he questioned her abilities and he thought about poohbear. It was pretty weird how she ran into him again right about the time he slipped because of a bananapeel.

Not one, but two women came to his rescue. How embarrassing. Aurum smiled up at them weakly, pressing his hands down on the ground behind him, shifting his weight to sit forward. "I'm fine," he said, wincing a second later as he tried to stand.

Okay, maybe he'd injured more than his ego. It wasn't anything serious, but it was sure to leave a bruise. And, wait. Poohbear?

Aurum did a double-take.

A familiar face. A forgotten name. But he felt like he should remember. "Hey... do I know you?" A pause. He smiled sheepishly. "Would one of you lovely ladies help me up? I seem to have fallen." Because stating the obvious was cool.

"yes we have met before." She said and smilled sheepishly back to Aurum. It was a while back though when the two of them met. They had a show me your powers kind of game back then. It was fun and needed after the events that happened before. She remembered it was in a bookstore or something like that.

"Ow.. sure." She said and presented both of her hands to help him up. She wasn't very strong and lifting up a guy from the ground would be a tough job for her. Certainly this was not something Aurum was waiting for. Falling on your but , slipping over a banana peel is something thats would hurt the ego of any person.

Never the less, it was nice day and it wasn't turning out how she thought it would be. Not that it was a bad turn of events but still. "What are you doing here?" She asked Aurum. If she had a bit more luck she wouldn't have to ask, but it was more friendly this way.

Aurum got to his feet.

"Walking," He answered her. "Or rather, falling. Thanks," he shook off her help politely. "It's certainly not what I'd intended to do, but..." A hand went up to his earbuds, pulling them free. He turned off the music player, casually stuffing the whole ordeal deep into his pockets. His eyes rose again, good-humoredly to the girl. "How are you?"

Right at the same he was about to ask her how she was doing she responded to him. "I'm fine, thank you for asking." She replied. It was one of her things to reply to question she knew where going to be asked. Getting info on people was as easy as breathing to her, even though she had no control of what type of info.

"you shouldn't fall on your butt though, it makes you look silly." She said and let out a little laugh that she hid behind her hand. You could hardly say that she had a decent sense of humor. She wasn't all there to begin with anyways. The fact that she found people falling down humorous from time to time showed her childish nature.

Dueling Banjos. Or rather, dueling words. He said something. She answered him. At the same time. It wasn't the rude type of response where a person cut another person off, either. Was he predictable, or--

He'd forgotten something important here post-fall. He wasn't sure what.

"Good," He replied, eying her with a mix of uncertainty and curiosity.

"And yes, that's bad. Falling down." He replied to that statement. "The last thing I want to do is look silly." So, anyways. He waved the other girl off with a mild 'thank you', and looked back to girl from the book store. "What brings you to Central Park? The last time he'd spoken with her, she'd been having some sort of breakdown.

She looks like she's doing better, he thought.

What brought her to central park. Destiny, Fate or something else? That question could be taken any way. It was silly to go over it to much but that was just the person she was. "Sun, i guess." She said and looked up while she held her hand over her eyes so she could look into the sun. It was a very sunny and nice day to be in the park.

She was doing better? How did that thought get in there. She looked around a bit in awe but then realized that she was talking to someone she had already met once. That was a rare thing for her to meet somebody in the open once again. "Yes i am doing better." She said a bit silently and to herself. It was a cooping mechanism for her to talk to herself when she didn't know how stuff got in her head.

"Sun is sunny," Aurum agreed, glancing towards the nearby lawn. "Makes nice grass." Grass was good for all sorts of things, he supposed. A good reason to be in Central Park. Lawn idling, nappage, running on sidewalks, that sort of thing.

She said something to herself, almost in response to his thought. Aurum's eyes widened a little. "Uh. I didn't say that out loud, did I?" Obviously, the best course of action when one thinks they've said something they should not have out loud is to ask about it. Obviously.

Hrm, he thought. Am I forgetting something important here? Something I should know...

"Yes sun and grass is nice." She replied and gave him a tumbs up. She looked up at the sky a bit and held her hand to keep the sun out of her eyes. Strange things happened around her. People slipping over banana's. Actually knowing the people who do that. But never the day couldn't get any better like this one. It gave her the chance to wear summer dresses and walk in the sun.

"Ow, and you are forgetting more then one thing." She said and let out a little smile. "It is only human." she continued and shook her head a little bit. Thoughts entered her head on a dailly basis but atleast she knew this was his thoughts now. Perhaps it was a bit rude but she couldn't help it anyways. Why not make it into a game. "But i'm not telling what you forgot." She said in a teasing matter.

"What's only human?" Aurum asked. He looked at her uncertainly.

She wasn't telling him what he was forgetting, and it was almost as if she was reading his mind.

"Are you a mind reader?" He ventured a guess. It really wasn't that hard putting two and two together, after all. A small guess wouldn't hurt.

Aurum had no quibbles with mutants. His dad was a mutant. He worked in a mutant book store. He'd even read Whinnie the Pooh to a mutant once before, to help calm her down. Still, people that got into other people's heads were strange. Interesting-strange, not freakish-strange. Freakish-strange was reserved for far freakier powers. Ones he couldn't even begin to imagine.