Verdigris was on a mission. A mission to do what, she wasn’t quite sure, but as soon as she stumbled upon her quest-reminder, she would have a headstart simply by being out and about. Alright, so she was bored. Her long legs carried her aimlessly wandering body to and fro, no purpose, no goal.

Her eyes turned to the sky, it was a beautiful day to be bored. Perhaps it was a little hot, but she didn’t mind, there was just enough of a breeze to keep the temperature reasonable. A single lonely cloud skidded across the sky and she watched its progress lazily, feet continuing their patter across the ground.

From the bag slung on one side a peculiar noise issued. Rummaging within fingers brushed a notebook, pens, other small and slightly questionable items (a paperclip? A marble? The ring-pull from a can?) before finding the sock-shrouded phone. She flicked through to her inbox. Empty. Back and through to missed calls. None. A frown clouded her face as she flipped back and forth trying to figure out what the noise had been.

Feet so sure mere moments ago caught on something and she was off balance, eyes fixed stubbornly to the screen. The phone made the noise again, as gravity dipped her swiftly towards the earth. ‘Low battery’ grinned up at her like a cheeky child.

When he wasn't studying for classes or at said classes Andrew had taken to exploring his new home. Well, maybe he wouldn't quite call it home yet but it was close enough. Today it was the outside he'd chosen to explore. He'd spent much of his spare time exploring the interior corridors so he didn't get lost. Now that he had those mostly sorted out he wanted to get to know the grounds as well.

The weather for exploring outdoors was impeccable. That combined with the distinct lack of people made for a very relaxed Andrew. Nearly as good as being in the kitchen but Andrew restricted that particular activity to night time here. He didn't want it widely known that he spent as much time as he did there baking things. Night time indoors didn't have this wonderful sunshine so it was a decent trade off, even if he'd rather be waiting for some bread to rise.

At this point Andrew rounded a corner to see a woman trip. Reacting on a split second decision Andrew sprinted forward to try and prevent her fall only to fall just short of the mark, literally. He tripped over his own two feet and landed face first on the ground in front of the woman. Hadn't he been trying to stop someone from falling? Way to go Andrew.

Verdy met the ground. The ground met Verdy. The phone cradled in her hand was safe, not so her lungs which had all the air forced from them. Eyes widened as she tried to suck in the elusive oxygen that moments ago had been so easy to obtain. Slightly scruffy hair met them as she tore them from the screen. Chivalry was not, in fact, dead but it seemed that it had issues with the upright.

Filling her chest and wheezing once she tried to puzzle out the situation. Had she slammed into the man? Or had he dived to save her, but missed? Considering the fact that it was really only her chest that seemed to be smarting it was more likely the second. Struggling into a sitting position she dusted herself off a little and looked again at the young man.

“Sorry! Hello. Are you hurt?”

Her voice was quite a bit more breathless than she was used too, and she paused to clear her throat and take a few more deep breaths. She hoped that he was alright, it would be a shame if he hurt himself trying to help her. Somewhere in her mind something clicked.

Quest.

She smiled wryly at him and dusted more imaginary dirt from her shirt.

Dirt did not taste good. It was in fact gritty and nasty and Andrew had a mouthful of it. He spit it out post haste with a mental note to give his teeth a good brushing and to show said teeth as little as possible until they had been brushed. As soon as he was sure he'd left as much of the substance on the ground where it belonged he levered himself up and rose to his feet. He took a couple of breaths, just to reintroduce his lungs to the concept of breathing, and then turned his attention to the woman.

Oddly enough she asked if he was ok. She was the one that fell first and yet she asked if he was ok? Well he guessed that meant she was fine. At least he hoped so.

"I'm fine. Nothing damaged." ,except what minuscule amounts of pride and perhaps dignity he possessed, "What about you? Are you alright?"

She smiled at him for some reason that he couldn't fathom. It'd be awfully handy if he could stop calling her she. Introductions would help that.

"I'm Andrew by the way."

There, that was a better start.

Besides a mouthful of mansion soil he was alright. Giving herself another quick mental check to ensure that nothing was too badly broken (and coming up all clear as far as she could tell) she stood and inspected her elbows and knees. Remarkably there didn’t seem to be any grazes either.

“Yes, I’m alright too.”

He introduced himself and she nodded, it was the polite thing to do, make introductions, but in a moment such as the one they had just shared, checking that no-one was seriously injured came before social etiquette.

“I’m Verdy. Nice to meet you.”

It was true, despite the circumstances. At least now she wasn’t bored, she had something to engage her attention, or more specifically, someone. It was nice to have a legit focal point for her attention.

Andrew gave a nod.

"Nice to meet you too."

Now he had a name to put to her it was a little less awkward. Verdy seemed like a slightly strange name but he was dealing with mutants here. Strange names were par for the course. Strange names, strange people, strange abilities. This whole place reeked of strange and that was probably one of the reasons he was comfortable here. After all he was hardly normal either.

"If I may ask, why did you fall in the first place?"

That was mostly curiosity on his part. And a wish to avoid whatever land feature had caused her to trip. Last thing he wanted to do was trip up again.

She surveyed her feet critically, there were no loose laces, nor anything else which she could blame her trip on. The piece of earth where she had fallen was clear too. There was nothing that had tripped her but herself.

“Uh, I think I’m just a little klutzy is all… there’s not really anything to slip or trip on… but I was looking at my phone, and tripped on my own feet.”

As if to prove her point the phone bleeped feebly once more and the screen went black. Frowning at the offending piece of miniature machinery she shoved it into its sock and back into the bag. It would seem that the young man Andrew had been the only person to see her embarrassing fall and she was silently grateful. While many of the mutants at the mansion had terrifying stories to tell some of the younger ones had transferred into the mansion as ratty as ever a human had been, they had no qualms about teasing an older mutant mercilessly. She would not have to deal with that today.

He grinned. So she was merely a bit klutzy huh?

"Well apparently you're in good company since I couldn't managed to run without tripping myself."

Just then the cell phone she mentioned gave a soft beep and went dead. Verdy shoved it into her bag. Well now what to say? Talk about the weather? Ask about her mutation? Nope, mutation was waaaay too forward. Then she might ask about his mutation and it would just get awkward because he'd inevitably get nervous just like he was right now merely thinking about it. Weather it was.

"It's a beautiful day isn't it?"

Wow, that didn't sound like he was grasping for a topic at all. One more thing to put on the list of stuff to learn some day: how to talk to other people without sounding like a nervous fool. Surely it couldn't be that hard.

After a moments pause he mentioned the weather and she glanced towards the sky. It was indeed a beautiful day, no clouds hung in the clear blue sky and the breeze made the warmth pleasant instead of stifling. She smiled back at the young man and nodded slightly.

“It is, one of the nicest this year.”

All the nicer since she had a safe room to return to, with a friendly roommate and food just moments away in the kitchen. Far better than the space behind a dumpster, or a damp alley where any moment might change her situation from bearable to awful. Yes, a beautiful day.

“So what brings you to roam the mansion grounds on this fine day?”

If he was as matched in boredom as klutzyness it made sense that there was no real reason for his wanderings. Perhaps he was looking for something to do too. As nice as the day was, she wasn’t hot enough to want to visit the pool and risk the splashings of the younger mutants. Nor did she really have anything worth doing in town. ‘Nuthin’’ was in fact quite an accurate description of her own reasons for wandering.

"Exploring actually. I'm pretty new here and since I've got most of the inside of the place sorted I figured I'd tackle the grounds." Andrew laughed, "Wouldn't do to get lost the minute I went out the door."

Andrew looked over at the large house that dominated the grounds. It was a wonderful place and it had taken him a few days to get the hallways memorized well enough to prevent getting lost. Of course his explorations were brought on by boredom just as much as necessity.

"Well, that and I had nothing better to do."

A grin crawled over his face before he started looking around again. Then it occurred to him that he could ask the same question of her.

"What about you? Doing anything exciting on this fine day other than tripping?"

Tripping counted as exciting for the few brief moments of it's occurrence. After that it was dull, inconvenient, and embarrassing depending on the situation and company. This was getting easier so long as she provided the topics.

Exploring was a good reason to be out, better than being bored her excuse seemed almost lame really. His was loaded with a desire for knowledge, her with laziness. She felt almost embarrassed.

“Ah, not really… I’m afraid sheer boredom got its hooks into me. Besides, its such a beautiful day better to be outside than in.”

She smiled at the young man. The mansion was so large and had so many occupants that she hadn’t been surprised that they had not yet met, but the fact that he was new made it even less likely that she had brushed past him in the corridors without noticing.

“Yes the mansion is a good place to live. Very accepting.”

She frowned a little on behalf of the city that was less accepting. It was surely only a matter of time before people accepted mutations as part of life and moved on. Sure there would still be pockets of people who hated them, along with anyone who was gay or had a different skin tone, but there was nothing to be done for people like that.

His head dipped in a nod. Boredom was a perfectly reasonable excuse. It struck at the most inconvenient times and could be very difficult to dispel. Besides, she was right about it being too nice to stay indoors all day.

"Boredom is as good an excuse as any to get out and stretch your legs."

Andrew returned her smile. Having a simple chat like this was difficult for him, considering the lack of social grace he had. Generally it was easiest with Kealey but then her mutation being what it was took care of most of the problems.

"Yeah, never thought a place like this could exist honestly. I'm glad it does though. I'm becoming rather attached."

He chuckled and then had an idea.

"Well you're bored and I need to figure out what is where. Would you like to walk around together? We can watch out for each other to make sure no more tripping occurs that way."

Yeah, as long as they stayed well away from the topic of mutations, specifically what his was, Andrew figured this would go fine.

The offer to walk was considered for a moment before being accepted, it was a mutually satisfactory plan, plus it had the added bonus of slotting nicely into the ‘quest’ which she had been searching for earlier.

“Sounds good to me.”

At some stage she would have to remember to charge her phone, but in the mean time a walk around the mansion grounds with a new friend was an acceptable use of her time. Tripping wasn’t so bad when nothing was injured, but having someone to wander with and watch out for made the possibility both reduced and less awkward. She stepped into sync with her new friend and looked around.

“Anywhere in particular you want to see?”

She didn’t know a whole heap about the mansion, the general layout and where the pool and tennis/basketball courts were, but nothing too detailed. Exploring was fun too though.

“So what brings you to the mansion?”

Realising that that was a little rude and forward she flushed.

“I don’t mean to pry, of course. Sorry.”

Her own reasons for seeking out the mansion weren’t brilliant, and she knew many of those who resided there had similarly painful stories to tell, asking for details from a new resident wasn’t particularly nice.

Great! Now Andrew had company while he walked around the grounds. That was just awesome. Exploration was fun and informative but better with someone around to talk to.

"Nowhere in particular. I just want to get a basic handle on where things are so I don't get lost if told to go somewhere on the grounds."

Verdy's next question was a little unexpected but made Andrew laugh when he thought about what actually had brought him here.

"A blonde empath named Kealey Quinn. That's what brought me here. Kealey and I met while shopping and my helping her out turned into her dragging me here."

It was rather funny in hindsight.

"It's fine. I'm kinda lucky. No tragic story that brought me here. Just being a college student and random chance."

He wouldn't mention the job offer from Sam that preceded Kealey's dragging him here. It wasn't official yet and it wouldn't do to go bragging about it when it hadn't yet happened.

His lack of specificity in where he wanted to go was reassuring, exploring it was! She felt a momentary lack in the fact that no pirate hat was balanced on her green-tipped hair, but she would have to make do with what she was wearing on a moment’s notice. Besides, not everyone approved of pirate hats as he roommate did.

“Ah, chance is a good thing yes, I found the mansion when I was watching TV and someone mentioned it. Thank goodness for google-maps.”

The fact that the TV had been in a diner where she had been buying food for once instead of stealing it was irrelevant. Also the fact that if it boiled down to it, she really had nowhere else to go.”

“Oh college, cool. What are you studying?”

Having never finished high school, college was at the moment out of reach, however she hoped that if she steadily continued school through the correspondence organised with assorted teachers at the mansion, she would one day be able to attend and learn something valuable to the mutant cause. While not something immediately attainable, it was nice to work towards slowly but steadily.