Nathan wondered to himself, not for the first time that day if he was being completely idiotic. It all came back to his damned mutation. You know how many mobile phones you can buy that don’t have any metal on them? Not very many. So Nathan did not own a mobile. And he didn’t have a memory good enough to store someone’s phone number. This wasn’t a good start for someone looking to get a girl’s contact information. Fortunately, Nathan had already got past that step, or, perhaps more accurately he’d skipped it altogether. Things had moved pretty fast between him and Sveta. From complete strangers to boyfriend/girlfriend in under 24 hours. They’d even slept together. Sort of. Okay, not really, but that wasn’t the issue right now. The issue was that Nathan had no idea how to contact her.

He didn’t have a mobile, didn’t know her mobile number, didn’t know her home number, didn’t have her email, didn’t know her ZIP code so he couldn’t even mail a letter….unless he delivered it himself? But if he was going to do that, why not just knock on the door? “Because you’ve not met her family yet?” his inner monologue reminded him. But so what? He was winning. He was charming. Okay, so maybe not every day, but he could pull it out when he needed to. And he was like that all the time around Sveta. Maybe it was her aura, but he thought it more likely that it was just something she brought out in him.

The reason, readers, that Nathan needed to get in contact with Muse was that he had planned a date for the two of them, and had to see if she was busy.

[/b]
Nathan checked himself in the mirror in his room. He played around with his hair for a little while before giving up. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans with a white suit jacket. Simple, but he was working them. He wished he’d been able to bring more of his clothes from the U.K. with him, but you make do with what you have. Some nice cologne (which had reduced his poor wallet to a fraction of its size, but there were some things you just had to have, right?) and he was ready to go.

One bus ride later and he was outside her door. It was the morning. Not early morning, but around about ten o clock. From what he knew of her sleeping habits, Sveta would have been awake long before now. He approached the fire escape and then frowned. Not only did he not fancy a mutation-accident right now (because nothing says romance like property-damage) but he wasn’t certain that he even needed to use the stairs on the side of the building.

He was her boyfriend, right? She wasn’t ashamed of him (or he hoped to hell not, though considering his mutation he considered that possibility for a good few seconds) so he ought to be able to go through the front door? Right? Besides, an unexpected visit into a girl’s bedroom might set the wrong tone for the day. He got to the front door and raised a hand to open the door but then paused. He was forgetting something….Mentally he ran down a checklist. Got up…brushed teeth…showered…dressed… good so far. Reservation was booked… oh, right. Good going Nathan, almost forgot the best bit.

10 minutes later, he was outside the doorstep, smiling, in exactly the same place as he had been before, a single rose in his left hand. Now he was ready. He stepped up smartly and walked into the clinic proper.

She could tell that it had been bothering him. Between half eaten biscuits and long hours at the lab, the one thing she had gleaned from her husband that would help him was the state of disrepair of the clinic. So Ghost was doing what she could. Mopping and clearing cobwebs were her least favorite parts. Watering the plants and washing the bed clothes were better but the absolute best job was ridding the place of dust.

After securing the loose items it was time to work her magic. Like Mickey Mouse in the sorcerer animation she rolled up her sleeves and drew the dust out from the corners like water. It danced down from the stairs and marched in an ever growing pile toward the door. It was a fun exercise for her power.

Humming along to no particular tune, she flung the door open and dirt washed over... someone's shoes.

The dirt stopped streaming out and the white-haired nymph looked up slowly from shoes to knees to white jacket to rose to face. Head tilt. "Are you injured?" He didn't appear to be injured. She stepped, a move that looked more like dancing, away from the door so that the boy could come in. For the last stream of dirt left on the floor? Ghost smoothed down her skirt and grabbed a broom.

The home that she shared with Svetlana was up some rickety looking wooden stairs. The downstairs front door lead into the lobby of the clinic proper.

Nathan had a really good feeling about today. Sure, he was a little nervous, but then that was normal, right? Nothing wrong with that. It was perfectly natural to have some slight trembling in your stomach about meeting the adoptive family of your girlfriend. Perfectly natural. And manly. “God, could you be any more insecure? You’re making me feel neurotic and I’m a voice inside your head.” Nathan picked some choice words for his inner monologue and tuned out its reply. Positive thoughts. That was what he needed.

He stepped into the foyer of the clinic. It looked for all the world like a regular clinic, not that he’d been in many in his life. Still, it didn’t look too different from the waiting room of the doctor’s office back home. There were a few doors leading out of the room, only one of which interested him, however. The wooden door leading out towards the back of the building, which even his terrible spacial awareness told him had to house the stairs. He made his way towards it and was about to open it, when, almost pre-empting his approach, it swung open for him.

A miniature river of dust snaked its way across the floor, trailing like a Serpentine caravan, to wash over his shoes. They were nice shoes, brown leather in a classic-but-faded look. He had polished them specially, and now they were covered in dust. As was the bottom hem of his jeans, but he could care less about that. He looked up, because in his experience torrents of grime and dust were not normal thoroughfare in a clinic. Then again, this was the first American clinic he’d been in, so what did he know? They might be all the rage.

The dust stopped, just after coating his feet, as the figure standing in the hallway noticed him, and he her. She was an attractive woman with pale white hair. Nathan picked her at about five years older than him. Early twenties. Her dress sense seemed to come from the early twenties, too. She was wearing a short skirt with added flounce. A light red with polka-dot pattern, it seemed to have built-in twirl as she hopped gracefully to one side to make room for him. Her tank top was lacy with flowery shoulder straps. It was an old fashioned look, but showed enough off to be considered ‘modern-retro-chic’, and the woman seemed comfortable in it. Nathan approved.

It occurred to him that he had no names by which to address any of Sveta’s family. This now seemed to be a glaring oversight, but it was too late to be thinking about these things. He wondered if this was her…sister? She looked him up and down, eyes taking in his garb and the rose he was holding. He tried not to imagine what he looked like, and prayed he was pulling off romantic, not silly.

>> "Are you injured?"

Well he hadn’t been expecting that. “Hmm?” he said, looking down. “Oh, no, don’t worry it’s only dust.” he said, trying to ignore the hour he’d spent making his shoes nice and shiny this morning. What a waste…

“Come on Nathan. Snap out of it. Charming. Winning. You’re not being those things. Fix that.” his inner monologue cut into him, which he was actually grateful for. It was right. He cleared his throat and started again. “Sorry, I’m being rude. I’m Nathan,” he said, flashing her a smile “And I’m here to see Sveta. Is she in?”

Well the rose hadn't exactly screamed I'm-dying-horribly-please-help-me-stop-the-bleeding, but they didn't often get visitors for the sake of visitation.

His mention of rudeness cut through the confusion and clicked something into place in Ghost's mind. "Oh. Manners. Please, do come in. I'm Maya but you might also call me Ghost." She flapped her hand at his legs and a gust poofed the dust from his loafers and pants. Well. Most of the dust anyway. The rest picked back up its slithering progress out the door. She kept one eye on it. The other eye, she kept on Nathan.

"Is the rose, perhaps, for Miss Svetlana?" Because roses had certain meanings, usually romantic and... well. Miss Svetlana shouldn't be having any romantic visits from mutants. Perhaps this was a nice human boy. Svetlana deserved a little bit of love even if Jude wouldn't approve.

The broom swatted at the tail end of the dust as it passed the door frame and she quickly brushed off the outside stoop before replacing the broom in it's designated spot. "Should we check if she's up?" Ghost smiled at Nathan in a plainly maternal way. Nope. Not the adopted sister. But she did lead the way up the slim staircase two steps at a time.

"Svetalana?" She called ahead from the stairwell. The more warning she could give the better.

>>"Svetlana?"

Sveta was in her room, cheerfully dealing with the fact that Jude chose this place to hide out from his cleaning-up duties. The kid liked her, and she didn't mind playing the babysitter for a change.
Besides, Maya's ways of cleaning up were super effective, and also kind of super messy, until she got rid of all the dust. So, Svetlana allowed Jude to come in and sit around while she folded clothes, changed bedsheets, and did other things to make her room look less messy. Not that she was expecting any visitors. She just didn't have anything else to do at the moment.

Until Maya called for her, that is.

"Yeeees?" she asked, walking to the door of the apartment and opening it "You say someting, Maya?"

>> "Oh. Manners. Please, do come in. I'm Maya but you might also call me Ghost."

Okay. First thing’s first: that was an awesome name. Both of them were. Ghost seemed more nickname-y and a little too familiar though, so he decided he’d stick with Maya. For now. He blinked as, with a wave of her hand, the wash of dust halted it’s progress and snaked past him across the floor and through the door. Much of it also clouded off his moccasins, pluming into a dust cloud and congregating with the rest.

Well that was just downright unusual.

Nevertheless, he accepted her invitation to come in, stepping carefully through the portal and into the building itself. He looked around and noticed that besides the snaking dust-trail, the room appeared spotlessly clean. Not a speck of dust anywhere. Clearly there was more to this woman than met the eye. Some kind of a mutant, then? Why was it that since he’d arrived in New York they seemed to be the only people he’d met? It was as if he was in a small bubble, populated only by mutants! He reconsidered. Humans were everywhere, but given his mutation, his own kind were the only people he’d been able to socialise with.

>> "Is the rose, perhaps, for Miss Svetlana?"

Nathan blushed hard and coughed softly. “I, erm…yes?” he went for, not quite knowing how she’d take this. She might be the protective-older sister or maternal figure, in which case strange men arriving to court their younger ward might be met with antagonism or even hostility. With such trepidation, Nathan looked up at Ghost Maya. To his relief he saw instead a knowing and motherly smile. This woman was clearly the woman of the house, and didn’t disapprove of him being here.

This much was plain, but Nathan also read more. Young though she looked, he saw experience in her eyes. The look she gave him was not one a twenty-something should have been capable of giving. It was the look of a mother. This woman had been through more than it looked like, and he’d wager her life to date had not been a simple one. He chalked another notch up for ‘mutant’ in his mind.

>> "Should we check if she's up? Svetalana?"

She called, leading Nathan up the stairs. She was sprightly and elfin, taking them two at a time. Nathan followed, intrigued by the puzzle of the woman he’d just met. The woman with the grace of a ballerina, who commanded dust like a wizard, who had the expression of a mother, the demeanour of a housewife and the body of a twenty-one year old. A mystery wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a-.

>> "Yeeees?"

His train of thought stopped as he heard Sveta’s reply and grinned, despite himself. She was in and up. So far so good. He felt himself stop worrying about Maya, the questions he had about her fading to the background thoughts of his mind where they belonged. Sveta was a few rooms away and that was all that was important. He really hoped she didn’t have any plans for today. He was here though, right? And hey, he’d met her…hmm…sister didn’t fit…mother wasn’t quite right either…He’d met her Ghost? That worked. That was the hard part over... Right?

But Nathan was wrong. Little did he know, the greatest rival and fiercest challenge in this chapter of his life lay in the same room as his girlfriend, just feet away…

[/i][/center][/b]

Jude held his finger up to his lips and closed Svetlana's door behind her after she left it. He liked it in there. And besides. Ghost wouldn't think to look for him in Svetlana's room if Svetlana was outside of it.

The apartment door opened and Svetlana answered Maya's summons. Ghost skirted the girl and slipped inside the apartment, speaking casually. "Your boyfriend is here, sweety. Have you seen Jude?"

Jude, listening in at the door, felt his heart drop out through the bottom of his heels.

Svetty's... boyfriend?

"Jude?" Ghost stepped lightly and she could throw her voice, but the 11 year old was almost sure she was in the kitchen. That left him a straight line from Svetty's room to the front door.

Lickity-split he dashed out from behind the door and threw himself at the front door, putting himself squarely between it and his Svetty. Was someone on his way through that door? If so, not any more. Jude aimed to close it. And put all his meager weight into keeping it closed.

"Vous ne pouvez pas avoir un petit ami! Je ne l'ai pas rencontré. Que faire si il est méchant? Ou mutants?" He was spouting French at an aggravated rate. Even if she could not understand the words, his intent was clear. She could not have a boyfriend. Not if it wasn't safe. Not without Jude's permission.

((OOC: Excuse my crappy French. lol. Anyone fluent, feel free to PM me fixes. In English it should read something like "You can not have a boyfriend! I have not met him. What if he is bad/evil? Or a mutant?"))

>>"Your boyfriend is here, sweety. Have you seen Jude?"

Sveta chuckled and let Jude hide out in her room; Maya would find him sooner or later, he was just dragging out the inevitable.
Maya said 'boyfriend'. Whoops.

Sveta felt herself blush as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She really did have a boyfriend. How weird. And he decided to show up, and what, meet her family? Genius. He was lucky Sebastian was not home, or he would be talking to Slate half an hour from now. Nobody wanted that.
Still. How sweet of him.
She caught a glimpse of Nathan and smiled, before the door slammed shut, missing her fingers by mere inches.

>>"Vous ne pouvez pas avoir un petit ami! Je ne l'ai pas rencontré. Que faire si il est méchant? Ou mutants?"

"Huh?" Sveta stared at the kid who was holding the door closed with all his weight and might. He was speaking French, and clearly did not approve of Nathan. At all.
She could only catch one word.

"It is okay, Jude" she said, putting a hand on his shoulder "I know he is mutant. He knows too. I can touch him, his power don't work dat way. You can let him in, it is safe."

What a nice little knight, protecting her from her boyfriend. Sveta chuckled.

"Sorry Nathan" she said, raising her voice "Looks like you need to, how you say, convince Jude first."

Nathan got to the landing, taking a deep breath. He’d only been on the other side of the doorway to this before. Ghost called out for Sveta and he heard her use the word boyfriend. A smile came unbidden to his lips and he ran a hand back over his head, grinning like a mook. He was her boyfriend, and he felt even happier. He began walking forwards.

Ghost left him in front of Sveta’s door and he beamed through the opening as he saw her. He didn’t know how far away her aura could affect him, but he felt the hallway seem brighter and the day more joyous when he saw her. She stepped towards the door to open it and he stepped forwards to go through. Or so he thought.

SLAM

The door flew closed and hit him square in the face, sending him recoiling back across the landing and almost down the stairs again. He blinked and caught himself on the stairwell, pausing. This hadn’t been a scenario he’d considered. She didn’t look angry with him, but then he’d only seen her for a few seconds. And yet she’d slammed the door on him? Clearly he’d done something wrong. Was it the rose? Too much? Oh man. He knew it had been too much.

Suddenly, adding insult to injury chaos to confusion a torrent of high pitched vibrant French welled up from the other side of the door. Was she…entertaining Frenchmen? In her room? That was certainly one possibility for why she had slammed the door on him, but not one he liked the sound of. Remembering that the last time he’d jumped to conclusions had ended badly, Nathan had a rare moment of forethought and paused to ask “Sveta?” He called out to her, raising his voice through the door.

She gave a muffled reply, but not to him. Something about mutants. Of course. Why couldn’t it ever be something else that people noticed about him? “You’re right.” his inner monologue added supportively. “You have literally dozens of flaws, and yet the only one people are paying attention to is your mutation. You’re indecisive, hopeless with directions, scrawny-” Not helping. He was about to call out again, when she beat him to it, this time clearly audible.

>> "Sorry Nathan. Looks like you need to, how you say, convince Jude first."

Wait, what? Who was Jude? Her French…friend? Lover? Pen-Pal? Shaking visions of ludicrously attractive Frenchmen (with smouldering looks and wild tousled locks) on the other side of the door from his head, he gently tried the handle. It didn’t budge. Someone was pushing it closed, as resistance pushed back against him. O-kay. This wasn’t going exactly to plan, but he tried to marshal his forces to respond to this unexpected turn of events. What did he know?

Sveta was in her room. Happiness. Good so far. With someone named Jude. Happiness and jealousy. There was the problem. Someone named Jude who spoke French. Happiness and jealousy and concern. If she’d replied that meant they shared a language, which left Nathan to guess at their relationship. Someone named Jude who was presumably barring the doorway. Happiness and jealousy and concern and anger. He had no idea what Jude’s problem with him was, but he didn’t have any beef with Jude. Okay, so he had a little beef with Jude. The guy was standing in his lady’s room, denying him entry.

This was largely his fault though. If he’d contacted her in advance this wouldn’t be an issue…he needed a better way to get through to her. Maybe semaphore, or possibly smoke signals? He slapped himself. This was both silly and solving nothing. “Hey Jude?” he began, contemplating adding “don’t be afraid.” but deciding against it. “I’m Nathan and I’d really like to come in...if that's okay?” he said, waiting for a reply. “And hi, Sveta!” he added, leaning against the door forming a frankly bizarre tableau:

The confused boyfriend pressed against the doorframe to communicate with his waiting girlfriend; the stalwart defender standing between them, errant in his duty but utterly recalcitrant on the other side.

The stream of French clued Ghost in to where Jude was. She poked her snowy head out from the kitchen to see him blocking the door. "Jude..." There was a warning in her voice that made the kid look past his situation for a moment. He seemed to weigh the threat in Ghost's eyes... and decide that his quest was more important.

She sighed and threw her hands up. If he got to be a real problem, she would intervene. It was best to let kids work things out on their own anyway. If Svetlana wanted to date a mutant it was her responsibility to keep herself in check for the good of the city. It may not be a fair responsibility, but it was a real one all the same.

Svetty's hands lay on Jude's shoulder. "If he is mutant, you know him not to be safe." Jude seemed lost, betrayed. He was supposed to protect Svetlana from mutants. Not hand her over to one!

She apologized. Not to Jude, as she well should have, but to the mutant behind the door! It wasn't becoming for a man to pout but he was going to do it anyway.

"You bring danger to my Ghost and my Svetty. What is your gift? Acid lips? Brain of bugs? It can't be safe. You don't come in until I know zere is not danger." Jude shot a look at Ghost who merely watched the happenings. Why was she making him do all the hard work? Wasn't she supposed to be the responsible one?

>> "If he is mutant, you know him not to be safe. You bring danger to my Ghost and my Svetty. What is your gift? Acid lips? Brain of bugs? It can't be safe. You don't come in until I know zere is not danger."

Muse muttered a few words in Russian very very quietly. She was shocked and embarrassed and amused all at the same time. Jude was taking this very seriously. He just wanted to protect her.

"It is very nice of you, to protect me." she smiled at Jude. She didn't want to hurt him by talking to him as she would to a child, so she didn't lean down to look at him, and she meant every word she said "And you are right. You and Maya need to know it is safe, right?"

She glanced towards the door, wondering what Nathan was doing, or thinking, on the other side.

"He turns into metal, if he touch metal. Like, he touched my earring, he turned into gold. If he does not, I can touch him, it do not matter. Nothing happens. We tried." she summarized "See? It is safe, I can show you. Let him in? Please?"

>> " You bring danger to my Ghost and my Svetty. What is your gift? Acid lips? Brain of bugs? It can't be safe. You don't come in until I know zere is not danger."

Nathan could do nothing but pick up his jaw. Once it was secure once more, he found himself mouthing questions. He ran over Jude’s reply in his head, looking for verbal clues as to how to proceed. “You bring danger”. It was accusatory and hostile. Oh good. “And true. You forgot true.” his inner monologue chimed in helpfully. And just who’s side was he on…wait…who was ‘he’ in this circumstance? Was he arguing with himself? Way to go there Nathan. S. Plural.

“…danger to my Ghost and my Svetty”. It was possessive and protective. A close friend…? No. Too friendly, too familiar. Whoever Jude was he was family…or…“…or maybe he’s a really close friend.” his inner monologue supplied. Great. Thanks for that. And what, to both of them? Nathan shook the obscene thoughts from his head.¹[/sup] By far the likeliest explanation was that Jude was the father. Protective, hostile to a boyfriend…that made sense, though Nathan wasn’t happy about it.

“ What is your gift?” Whoa, time out. Gift? This ‘Jude’ viewed mutations as dangerous (which they were) and especially to Sveta (which, again, they were) but also used the word ‘gift’ to describe them? That made them sound more like a blessing than a curse. “Acid lips? Brain of bugs?”. Eeew. Gross. Acid lips was bad enough but a brain of bugs? That was just disgusting. Why would Sveta ever get involved with anyone with either mutation?²[/sup] It also explained the sarcastic usage of the word ‘gift’. Nathan would place good money that this Jude didn’t have a mutation of his own.


“No, no, nothing like that!” Nathan was quick to answer, doing his level best to assuage the anxiety that Jude felt towards him. Quick as he was, however, Sveta was quicker.

>> "It is very nice of you, to protect me. And you are right. You and Maya need to know it is safe, right?"

Nathan nodded as her tone confirmed his suspicions. Jude was her father. Well, adoptive-father, but it was much the same thing in the end. Man, he’d be an awesome detective. Knowing that against a father there could be no more compelling arguments made than by his own daughter, Nathan took a backseat and let Sveta do the talking.

>> "He turns into metal, if he touch metal. Like, he touched my earring, he turned into gold. If he does not, I can touch him, it do not matter. Nothing happens. We tried. See? It is safe, I can show you. Let him in? Please?"

Nathan grinned at this. They sure had tried. He let his face drift into a goofy smile as he remembered kissing her…and then was snapped back to the present as he realised that her father was currently being an obstacle to future make-out sessions. Or current make-out sessions. He wondered what Sveta was doing on the other side of the door right now…he bet she looked gorgeous. He was now more determined than ever that he’d get past Jude. He took a moment and pulled out his panache, donning it like a coat.

“Jude…can we perhaps talk about this face to face?” he asked, stepping away from the door and smoothing himself down, making sure he was presentable and setting his gaze at the door panel, ready to greet Jude with a personable smile and a handshake.


¹[/sup] Then again, judging by his accent, Jude was French. Anything was possible.

²[/sup] *coughs* Iron Mouth *coughs*

Turned into metal... but it was safe. Hmmmm. He was trying to think of some fallacy in that logic.

"Jude. Let him in." It was the slight exasperated tone in Ghost's voice coupled with the fact that this boyfriend, despite his questionable origin, treated Jude as the man he was. Boyfriend wanted to talk face to face, man to man. Svetalana would show how innocuous he was and then... and then he would have no argument left.

"Fine." The words but I don't have to like him hung clearly unsaid between Jude and the two women he protected.

He turned, straightened his Teenage Mutant Ninja Frogs shirt and pulled open the door enough for his face to fit nicely. "If you hurt anyone I will send you into kingdom come." He nodded curtly and then opened the door enough for boyfriend to come in.

Tch. His shoes were dusty. What kind of boyfriend came to impress a lady with one limp flower and dusty shoes? He clearly did not care for Svetty enough.

Ghost stifled a giggle, a natural reaction to the look on Nathan's face. "Congratulations on getting through the door."

Sveta stifled a giggle too; it must have looked amusing, the three of them (three mutants none the less) reasoning with the human boy to let Nathan in. They finally succeeded; Sveta was pretty sure it was not the end of the fight. Jude was really adorable like that, trying to protect her from her boyfriend.
(Boyfriend. Still sounded weird.)

"Hi Nathan" she smiled a bright smile as the door finally opened. Jude very carefully positioned himself between her and the guest, so she just stood, watching the two of them, waiting for something to happen. She smiled and blushed at the sight of the rose, and how Nathan was all dressed up. She glanced towards Maya to see her reaction. Of course, she was the one who let him in.
At least, she did. That was a start.

Eventually it was a timely intervention from Ghost that remedied the situation. The situation here, being Nathan on the wrong side of the door. The Jude problem was still in full swing. And standing in front of him. The door was opening slowly, and he heard the muffled warning from the Frenchman:

>> "If you hurt anyone I will send you into kingdom come."

Well, that was fair. The absolute LAST thing Nathan wanted to do here was hurt anyone. He therefore waited with trepidation while the door swung open slowly, wondering just what kind of a man this Jude character was. Strong, proud and defensive. Confident in his ability to protect his family, just like a man ought to be. The kind of man that Nathan would like to be one day, he thought as the door opened, revealing…no-one. He spun his head left and right, casting a visual net around for someone to match the mental image he’d been working with.

Then Nathan looked down. There was the most adorable looking kid standing knee deep in petulance and wearing a hint of stubbornness like he might wear cologne. Just a dab, but get too close and it was overpowering. But…I mean come on, this kid was adorable! He had freckles and was standing there, no older than 12 but defender of the home to make a mockery of Nathan’s imagination. Whatever he’d been expecting, any plans he’d been formulating were trashed by the site of the actual Jude.

He saw Jude giving him the most penetrating of glances, looking him up and down like a mother in law would a prospective bride. If looks could kill…Nathan’d be in trouble. Nathan surveyed the room, smiling warmly at Sveta and feeling a swell of confidence. If he could get someone as amazing and beautiful as Sveta to be his girlfriend… “Then the odds are pretty slim you’ll be able to sell yourself to anyone else, am I right? You pulled the wool over her eyes, but you can’t hope everyone’s too dumb to see you for what you are.” his inner monologue finished. He ignored it. Sveta was smiling at him, and everything else was so much static in the back of his mind.

>> "Congratulations on getting through the door."

Why did that sound ominous? Nathan had the sudden, depressing feeling that he’d just gone through a tutorial level and was now onto the actual game. He looked across and offered Sveta a warm smile and a wave, blushing at her blush. "Hi Sveta." he said, before he turned his attentions back to the matters at hand; looking down at Jude again, who didn’t appear to have moved. He reached out a hand to ruffle his hair and stopped when he saw the look from Jude that told him, in no uncertain terms, that it would be the last thing he ever did. He converted the motion smoothly into a handshake, offering a solid grip to the boy before him. “Hello Jude, I’m pleased to finally meet you face to face.” he said with a grin “As I said before, I’m Nathan. Are you the man of the house?”