(OOC: Continued from Unpacking)

IC: Michael listened patiently as Emerald vented her frustrations at him. Some of this stuff seemed to have been bottled up by her for a while now. Seemed like the new management had tightened up on the rules. Also with only three of the old crowd around they couldn’t really argue against the new team. Michael would have to meet same and see what he was like for himself.

“Looks like I’m going to have to go through tryouts again to rejoin the X Men,” Michael said. He didn’t really mind and wasn’t surprised but he was expecting to see more people he knew. The old X Men had earmarked him for a field leader and he had started some training for that. This Sam fellow might not agree with their assessment. He guessed he would just have to wait and see.

Emerald nodded a little at Michael knowing that he wouldn't mind trying out. She gazed at him with a pondering look on her face, though as her thoughts went on her face turned into a dreamy looking one of a teenage girl. There he goes again, being so understanding and kind about any changes going on. Even if they are big or small he seems to be so nice about it and boy is his scent nice....Damn wolf side. Keep it together Em! Emerald berated herself wiping that dreamy puppy dog smile from her face.

"Yeah looks like it, maybe if I'm nice to the fresh meat then they will put us in the same group. After all we were a really good team back on the old team, maybe if they paired us together it would be easier for the both of us to adjust to these new rules." Emerald told him, though she had no doubt in her mind that Michael could adjust to the rules far easier than she could. 'Besides I wouldn't mind being your battle buddy." Emerald blurted out before she could take it back, a blush darkening her cheeks. The sun beamed down on the two teens, a light breeze flitting across the grounds keeping it not too hot for the two to walk around. There were clouds in the sky making it look like it may rain at some point in the day.

With a smile Michael put an arm around Emerald’s shoulders as they walked and said, “In a tight spot you’re the person that I want at my back. If I have to go through the trials again I’m sure I’ll be fine. After all I am invincible.”

Despite his outwards calmness he was a little concerned how Emerald would react. While they had been close before two years had gone by. He also knew that she wasn’t good at showing her feelings and this overt display of affection might freak her out a little. But for him it felt nice and comfortable. Putting his arm around a girl should not have this much thought behind it.

At first one the arm went around her shoulders, Emerald tensed, part of her brain going into overdrive. From the events in the past few months, logically speaking Emerald should have panicked and bolted by now, like she did with cold steel when he touched her shoulder. This was diff rent though, Michael wasn't someone she didn't trust, not to long ago, she trusted Michael with her life. He was the one that was there to comfort her doing her breakdown at the camps, he saved her from nightmares of her past while she slept in Isolation and most importantly he cared for Ruby when she wasn't able to protect her. After thinking of all this, Emerald's body loosened up, tenseness dissapearing and she leaned into his embrace.

"Ditto, Shield, Ditto." Emerald told him with a contented smile on her face. She took in a deep breathe taking in the day in all its splendor. As well as the scent of her oldest and one of her dearest friends, however she was starting to find she may have a bond stronger than friendship with the invisible man. Completely unintentionaly, she leaned against him again as they walked, wrapping her own arm around him. "You will always have a loyal guard wolf in me,no doubt about that."

When Michael felt Emerald tense he was about to pull his arm back. Just before he did however she relaxed into him. He knew that this was something that was hard for Emerald to do. She’d had enough bad experiences with men that he would understand if she couldn’t bring herself to trust a man ever again.

“Between the pair of us I think we’ll make it through alright,” he told her as she put her arm around him. The two had already been through more in their life time than most, her in particular. Because of her past he was very protective of Emerald.

Emerald was glad she could trust Michael and felt a very protective side come out around him that she really didn't feel with others. Sure she was protective of every member of her pack and would do horrible things to anyone who decided they had the guts to hurt them. With Michael however it was different, there was something more to it, like she wanted nothing more than to stay near him, making sure he had her scent on him so other females would stay far away from him. Or if anyone even tried to hurt him she would tear them in half for doing so, the protectiveness was so strange for her it was almost like she viewed him as something more than just a good friend. Emerald shook those thoughts out of her mind once she heard the distant crash of thunder, making her smile a little. She loved thunderstorms, because thunderstorms meant rain and Emerald loved nothing more than to stay out in the rain. It made her wonder if anyone noticed how she dissapeared whenever it was raining.

"What sort of idiot would want to mess with us?" Emerald asked, leaning into his embrace a little, her tail blissfully wagging. In truth, she knew a lot of people that would want to mess with the couple, mainly people that were her enemies trying to find a reason to mess with her....or just her friends being protective. "So how were your two years away? Do anything neat, meet anyone special or anything." This was Emmy's non to subtle way of asking "So Is there anyone I gotta worry about, am I gonna have to beat a girl up for breaking your heart or beat a man up for ripping you off?'

Michael couldn’t help but smile at Emerald’s comment. The pair of them where tough, especially when working together. However he also knew that there were bigger and tougher people out there and they had run into a few of them. Still they always worked well together even when it was tough.

The subtext of Emerald’s question was very clear but Michael chose to just answer the question than cut right to the subtext. “I travelled the world and did charity work,” he told her, “I met a lot of cool people who were working to help try and make the world a better place. I’ve got a camera back in my room that’s got all sorts of photos of the places I went and people I met. I’m looking to get them developed and stuck up on the walls.

Emerald returned his smile with her own, she had forgotten how much she just missed this. Thing’s just seemed so much easier with Michael around, he was almost like a calming presence when he was around her, which suited Emerald just fine. The two had always been good together and before they had left, the wolf girl remembered Tricity and Neena mentioning the two should work together on their next mission. If Emerald could somehow convince that stickler Cold Steel to let them work together, maybe she would be a little bit more receptacle to some of these new changes.

Emerald nodded at Michael upon him relaying to her that he did charity work. That was such a typical Michael thing to do the wolf girl herself could have guessed that’s what he did. Noticing he didn’t mention any women…yet made the she-wolf inwardly cheer. If there was nothing stopping the two from being together, then that would make the whole starting back at square one thing a hell of a lot easier. “ Definitely sounds like a heroic endeavor partner, you better show me those pictures some time.” Emerald told him with a smile on her face, “You’re a true hero, through and through you know that?”

Overhead, a flash of lightening lit up the sky followed by a crash of thunder. It was soon followed by rain falling from the sky and down onto the mansion grounds below. It started off soft at first but then got a little harder as time went on. Emerald smiled as the rain fell on her face and body, “I love the rain, it’s one of the only things that calms me down.” She sighed, not even phased with the fact that the rain was starting to come down harder.

“I’m just a guy trying to do the right thing,” Michael said in response to being called a hero. He liked helping people. Seeing that someone was better off because of himself was all he needed, he didn’t look for praise for it. Truthfully he didn’t see himself as a hero. Just someone trying to do right in the world.

“Once I’ve got them developed I’ll show you,” he promised as they kept walking through the grounds of the Institute. The peal of thunder caused Michael to look up as the heavens opened. He turned to Emerald to suggest they head inside but the contented smile on her face made him decide otherwise. Instead he just smiled and kept walking.

He may have been just the guy that was trying to do the right thing, but he was still a hero in Emerald's eyes. For as long as Emerald knew him, Michael did things selflessly without thinking of himself and it was something that could really be admired in a person. The wolf girl did things similarly but she often became diluted to acts of revenge, or revenge for others. Instead of doing good things just to do good things, she often did good things to be the voice of a fallen comrade, almost like a vengeful spirit taking revenge against those who were wronged.

But her thoughts of her diffrences between Michael and herself melted away with every drop of rain that fell on her body. She smiled a little at him gently freeing herself from the invincible man's grasp, only to take him by the hand gently, leading him to the more wooded part of the grounds. "Have you ever tried to jump in a puddle before after running full force?" She asked him with a playful smile, the glee on the wolf girl's face was apparent. Her demeanor was drastically diffrent than what it normally was, she almost seemed childlike, free of care of anything in the world. Emerald looked at him with a playful grin on her face, looking rather mischievous. Releasing his hand, Emerald charged full force at a large deep puddle, leaping into it gleefully, splashing whatever was around her. Em was now soaked to the bone but she didn't care she was happy. That playful look stayed on her face as he beckoned Michael towards the puddle, "Come on! We may be older than we were two years ago but that doesn't mean we can't have fun!" She called to him, with happiness flowing through her.

Michael just shook his head with a smile as Emerald mentioned jumping into puddles. She had always had an affinity with water. With a playful grin on her face Emerald proceeded to soak herself to the bone. For a moment Michael waved his hands to reject Emerald’s beckoning but then he shrugged and sprinted.

Leaping high in the air he came crashing down hard into the puddle. For anyone else they would have a very painful backside right now but Michael just had a broad grin. He was now sitting in a smaller puddle having made a bigger splash than Emerald and proceeding to soak her further as well as drench himself. It felt good to just let go of everything and relax, even if he was now dripping wet.

If Emerald wasn't soaked before she certainly was now, the crash into the water made the werewolf laugh loudly, water splashing on her. She started laughing, hard falling over in stiched as Michael now sat in a puddle far smaller than it was before. For the people who knew Emerald, this was an event to see her laughing so hard with such a care free look was an event to behold indeed. The she-wolf clutched her sides, feeling them starting to ache from laughing so hard at her friends antics.

Once her laughter subsided she went over to Michael, sitting in front of him in the puddle with a goofy smile on her face. She looked happy, honest to god happy, she hadn't felt that way in years. "So, do you see what you were missing? Playing out in puddles with your favorite werewolf! Now How can you live without that?" She asked coyly.

Michael could only chuckle as the soaked werewolf took a seat opposite him in the puddle with a broad grin on her face. It was good to see her nice relaxed. A lot of the time she was wound so tight that it seemed like it would be impossible for her to relax.

“I’ve not played in the rain since I was a little kid,” he told her grinning as broadly back, “And I’m pretty certain that this is the first time that I’ve done so with my favourite werewolf. I think I could get used to this.” He looked Emerald right in the eye as he said that, implying a little more than his words had said.

Emerald was glad Michael was at least happy with the turn of events, which made her happy as well. True what the two were doing was a bit childish but at least the two were having fun with it. The last time they had spent quality time together was a brief time after the camps and the two were still recovering from the horrors there so it was a nice change of pace.

Once Michael said he could get used to this, a blush flushed the wolf girls face, her tail wagging back and forth happily. "Me too," Se answered back honestly, feeling a strange fluttering feeling inside her belly. "I really like being around you, its not that different after two years. " She told him slowly, trying not to let her voice show any signs that she was quite shy about telling him this.

Was Emerald, the big tough defender of the innocent, blushing? Michael believed she was. He couldn’t help but smile, which probably didn’t make things any easier for her. She was so cute when she was shy. “No it isn’t,” he replied as he stood up and took her hand to pull her to her feet. Keeping a hold of one hand he started heading in a particular direction.

“Now last time I was here I remember that the mansion had a pool,” he said as he led them to where the pool was located, “and someone I met on my travels swore to me that the best time to swim was when it was raining.” He gave Emerald a playful grin as they reached the pool. Letting go of her hand he kicked off his shoes and socks while taking off his shirt.

Everyone else seemed to have headed inside because of the rain leaving the pool for just the two of them. Pulling off his t-shirt he unbuckled his belt and took his trousers off leaving just his boxers. Flashing Emerald a quick smile he dived into the pool without waiting to see if she followed.