Verdy seemed pleased by his willingness to ramble about at leisure. That was good because that was generally what his exploration consisted of.

"Chance is fickle though. Some days she loves me and then the next she seems determined to hold my head underwater until I drown."

Ah his non-existent major. That was a fun topic.

"Actually right now I haven't declared a major. I've finished all my basic curriculum though so I need to declare one soon. Honestly I was thinking about studying theater."

The idea had been planted in his head thanks to certain events. Namely his encounter with Sam. It had been lurking at the back of his mind ever since. After all, once he got into character he seemed to be pretty good at it. At least Andrew thought so.

“That seems the nature of chance I’m afraid, always changing, never reliable.”

His explanation confused her a little, but she understood the gist of it. He wasn’t properly studying something in particular yet, but he was hoping to study theatre.

“Cool, an actor.”

She grinned.

“Tough work environment though, if you don’t mind kicking around with a lot of crazy people you should be right.”

All the magazine articles weren’t kidding, actors were crazy people, even the less famous ones (or perhaps especially the less famous ones) and the environment was one of highly strung tension, at anytime someone could snap and go nuts. Once you were in you were usually right though.

“And until you’re at the top the pay’s pretty crummy too… but if your in it for the love of it, and not the money, then you should be right.”

She nodded towards the splashing sounds, apparently a few of the mansion residents had decided that it was hot enough to swim, and they were making a noisy time of it.

“That’s the pool over there, and the tennis and basketball courts are over that direction too I think… not sure what else is there… an oval maybe?”

Andrew nodded at Verdy's statement as though she were a wise sage dispensing the wisdom of the universe. In reality he just agreed with her but it was fun to pretend now and then. She liked the idea of his major though she pointed out that one would be working with crazy people for low pay. He smirked.

"After dealing with mutants and mutations I don't think crazy actors will be too much of a problem. Not sure that's what I'll go with though. I haven't decided yet."

Verdy pointed out the pool, tennis, and basketball courts. She didn't really know what else there was though. That was fine by Andrew. It would make for more of an adventure if they didn't know what they'd find.

"Well that'll just mean more adventure for our walk then. Adventures are more exciting when you don't know what will happen or where you're going, right?"

If that was the case Andrew had had plenty of adventures already. Living at the Mansion was turning out to be an adventure in and of itself.

For a moment she thought he was mocking her, but he was so far too nice for that to be her final conclusion. As such she decided he was simply fooling around a little and smiled.

“Is there any rush to decide? Or do you still have some thinking time?”

Surely it was better to make a decision after a good think, rather than spur-of-the-moment to meet a deadline. True about mutants, while humans did strange and crazy things, mutants more often than not were strange and often crazy things.

Right. So very, very right.

The man liked adventures. She grinned at him, he had just risen in her esteem by at least a dozen awesome points. Who knew, maybe they might end up eating donuts and becoming roommates, or having insane midnight rampages across the library shelves… Yeah. Right. She was fairly sure that things like that only ever happen once, especially to the same person. But perhaps they would have their own adventures, just as fun, or better.

“They most certainly are.”

Bring on the adventures.

Andrew gave a shrug.

"I've got a little bit of thinking time but I'll need to decide soon."

He'd get around to having a think about it soon and decide then. There were so many places he could take his education and Andrew wasn't sure which one he wanted to go to yet. No point in worrying about it now though. He was having an adventure. Verdy agreed with his assessment of adventures and Andrew grinned.

Adventures like this were awesome. And the dangerous ones were cool too but only in retrospect. While he was having dangerous adventures they didn't seem cool at all. Most of the time one those sorts of adventures he was scared witless about something or another. Now, what else to talk about while they walked? He supposed it was inevitable. He couldn't steer clear of the mutation question for too long. It was such an easy topic to use amongst mutants.

"So, uh, what's your mutation? If you don't mind me asking that is."

Some people weren't comfortable with talking about their mutation. Like Andrew for instance. He could do it and had done quite a bit lately but it wasn't a comfortable thing to talk about for him at all.

He would make a decision, soon enough, and who was to say that whatever he chose wasn’t actually the best thing, even if it was a random pick from a hat. It would come together eventually, either that or he would transfer courses as she was certain many did. But now was not the time for such things, now was the time for adventuring.

And… personal questions.

The way he asked, complete with a pause and awkward searching for words was highly amusing, and she fought to suppress a giggle and succeeded (barely) a wide grin featuring on her face for several moments before dissolving as she regained control. Just because he asked it like it was a highly embarrassing personal question didn’tmake it a highly embarrassing personal question. She had no qualms sharing with a newfound friend.

Especially if she could prompt a change from a little awkward to a blush.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours…”

A pause just long enough to tease another grin onto her face.

“Just kidding, I don’t mind sharing, and you don’t have to tell if you don’t want to… I guess you could call it shot-gun hands, I can make small objects appear out of my palm.”

Fiddling around for a moment in her bag she found a paperclip and, gripping it tightly in one hand she fired it through the other and it bounced with gentle noises away, to be discovered by a magnetic or metal-detector mutant at some later stage. While the in-depth explanation was more difficult, the wormholes not fully understood even to her, her general overview-demonstration combo usually made sense to those she had shown.

While the demonstration had prompted both curiosity and concern depending on who she showed it to she was unsure as to the reaction she might recieve from her new friend. It was a perculiar mutation, after all.

Verdy's response to his question about her mutation was said in such a way that he almost blushed. But almost doesn't count, except in horseshoes. So instead of blushing the shy young man that was Andrew merely widened his eyes and coughed at the implications those few seconds of delay combined with a grin made. After she was finished making him feel even more awkward than he usually did when discussing mutations Verdy explained and then provided a demonstration.

That was pretty awesome in Andrew's opinion. Not to mention it had all sorts of interesting applications. He was sure there were limitations on it but Andrew figured it could be fun and useful. Handy for throwing a ball for the dog to catch at least.

"That's pretty cool."

He meant it too. Much better than his mutation. Speaking of which he owed her an explanation of his mutation. Despite some apprehension Andrew proceeded to explain his own mutation.

"Easiest way to explain my mutation is to say that I make promises. I get a black tattoo reminder for each one and if I don't keep them I could get a headache or I could die. It all depends on how serious the promise is."

That hadn't been so hard. Now to wait for her reaction to his useless little ability.

She nearly accomplished her goal, however his self control was greater than she thought, and the blush she had tried to tease out of him failed to make an appearance. His cough would have to do, for now. His compliment was graciously accepted, as the Christmas eve fight with Cthulhu had shown, against large-scale enemies, her mutation left a lot to be desired.

His mutation was an inward-focused one, and from the little she had gleaned from their time together, that made sense. A quiet, shy young man carrying the ultimate motivator to keep his word. Irony would have been the only thing to rival this mutation, if he had been previously a vicious liar and player, forced accountability would have been amusing. As it was, taking from his distressed look, it was mainly sad.

“Interesting… And cool.”

She pondered it further, there was a large difference between a headache and death, no matter how serious a migraine might seem at the time.

“Do your promises have to be specific? Or does vague work too, like times and places, or a general coverall? Can you make other people keep their promises to you, or its your thing only? Does your tatt stay? Or does it fade once the promise is fulfilled. Do you have any at the moment, may I see?”

Pausing to consider her rudeness she dismissed it as lower-level rudeness. She was willing to answer any questions he had about her mutation, he had brought the topic up, and she couldn’t think of the last time she had heard of such a non-combat mutation.

“Sorry, I ask a lot of questions. I like to figure out details…”

Andrew expected pity. Most people showed some pity when he told them. Verdy on the other hand didn't. She actually seemed to think his mutation was cool. That was the first time anyone had ever reacted like that. As if to prove her interest she proceeded to ask a heap of questions about it. It seemed a little absurd, compared to what he had expected. So absurd in fact that Andrew laughed.

"A promise can be anything for me. As long as it is prefaced by 'I promise' and followed by an action of some kind. It can be vague or specific. I can't make other people keep their promises to me. The tattoo goes away once the promise is completed. And yes I actually do have one right now."

He raised his left hand and pulled of the glove that he always wore there. Encircling his wrist was a strip of black pigment, solid and straight. It was the visual reminder of a promise he'd made to Sveta and one that he fully intended to keep. Verdy apologized again.

"That's ok. It's kind of refreshing actually." Andrew gave Verdy a smile, "You're probably the first person that hasn't treated it like a curse."

That included Andrew himself.

His laughter was unexpected, but the answers to her questions were self-assured. He knew what he was talking about. From that she could gather not only the information from the questions, but that he had had his mutation for a while and tested it out to some degree, twice at the very least.

His wrist, exposed after a moment fiddling with a glove, sported what did indeed look like a tattoo. This tatt was far straighter and less intricate than the Mauri tattoos many sported in Hawaii. It almost looked like a rubber wrist-band, often toted around by people to show their support of some fundraising event or other. It lacked the blurred edges of an old tattoo, yet it bore no swelling or other indication of newness. It was, on the whole, rather nice, she wasn’t quite sure why he was covering it up.

Unless it hurt.

An outstretched finger, ready to gratify her impulse to touch the black ring, snatched back at that thought. It was both rude and possibly painful to prod someone’s mutation, and who knew, it was possible for her to injure an unexpected finger-jab, perhaps she would somehow become entangled in his promise.

“Well then, you’re welcome.”

She smiled at him. Many mutations were a blessing, not a curse. True, some had more potential than others, but on the whole it was a step up the evolutionary ladder, and there was some benefit to all of them, she was sure.

“I guess you have to be careful what you promise, no flippant vows from you.”

That was an interesting thought, if and or when he got married, would he forever bear a tattoo symbolising the union, until, as they say, ‘death did them part’?

“Is swearing the same as promising? Or is that a loophole there?”

Discovering the limitations and loopholes of one’s own mutation (not to mention someone else’s) was, she had found, a highly gratifying occupation in free time. It also made for intriguing conversations trying to work out just what the mutation really meant.

She seemed rather interested in his tattoo. In fact she reached out to touch it but then yanked her hand back. Andrew wondered why.

"Touch it if you like. It doesn't hurt or anything."

When he'd been first getting used the mutation Andrew had spent plenty of time doing just that whenever he had a promise. Verdy remarked about him not being able to take promises lightly. Boy was she ever right.

"Exactly. You never really realize how many promises you make and then break casually until your forced to account for them."

It had been quite a learning curve for him. That he'd gotten away with only the three scars he currently had was testament to the fact that he must have some sort of luck other than bad. Even if it didn't show up until he was knee deep in something.

"Actually I can vow or swear or what have you. As long as it's not the specific words 'I promise' I'm fine."

It was one of the few things about his mutation that Andrew liked. The trigger words were so specific that unless he wasn't thinking, an occurrence that seemed far to frequent, he could avoid saying them easily.

With unasked permission to touch granted she took his wrist gently and inspected the band more closely. It didn’t fade when pressed lightly, and while it looked like a tattoo she had never seen one so dark or so very straight edged.

“Does it come up as soon as you say the words ‘I promise’ or once you’ve finished the actual promise?”

Carefully turning his hand over, with a quick flick of her eyes up to his to check that was ok, she inspected the back of his arm just as diligently as the inside of his wrist. Although his skin changed colour slightly here, darker with the more frequent sun exposure, the band stayed the same width and colour. She doubted the instantaneous band with the words, for he had been spouting them throughout their conversation, but perhaps meaning it made a difference.

“Does it just pop up? Or does it fade in bit by bit?”

It was quite a fascinating subject, and one she found herself quite curious about. It would be interesting if the edges of the band formed as the promise began, with the inners filling with ‘ink’ as the details fleshed out, but the speed would have to vary depending on the size of the promise.

“What happens if you make more than one promise, before the last one has run out?”

The band could hardly get darker, perhaps it became thicker as promise after promise was added, perhaps what she was looking at now was not one promise, but three or four thin-lined ones.

“Do you have a limit of promises you can make before you physically can’t say the words anymore?”

"Not until I've actually finished making the promise. "

She was awfully curious. Enough to turn his arm over and inspect the other side of it. Andrew was fine with it. It was sort of amusing and gratifying to have someone this interested in his mutation.

"It starts in the center of the underside of my wrist and wraps around until the ends meet. Generally it's complete in under a minute. When I make another promise I get another band. As far as I know there isn't a limit to how many promises I can make at one time."

It was nice discussing the details of his mutation with someone who didn't seem to pity him for it.

"The bands stay on my left arm so I guess if I filled up all the space on my left arm they might appear elsewhere."

Andrew figured he'd look pretty silly with an arm that was entirely black. What would he look like if he made so many promises that his entire body got covered up with black? The thought was so ridiculous that Andrew chuckled a little at his own expense.

Perhaps if he made enough promises the bands would wrap around his shoulders, then chest, then down his other arm, until he was covered in bands like a strangely straight-edged zebra. Her snicker matched his chuckle, it would be a strange sight, but not so strange as some others she had seen.

She eyed his forearm, biceps and shoulder, ignoring the way it might have been interpreted. Hey, who didn’t check out a new friend of the opposite gender every now and then? This, however, was not the reason for her ponderous observation, and after a moment or two doing the feared ‘head-maths’ she guesstimated that he had twenty-five promises before his left arm was full.

“Have you had them further up your arm? I mean, do they change thickness with the width of your arm?”

So the band wrapping around his biceps would have been stretched, thinner and possibly lighter, or maybe the same. She wasn’t sure which would have been more ‘normal’, but seeing as it was a mutation, there really wasn’t anything normal about it at all. That was one of the hardest things to deal with as a mutant, there was no books on it, like there were for hitting puberty, or discovering a sexuality which was ‘different’. Each mutation was individual, special, and as such each mutant had to deal with their own mutation in their own way. There was no stock-standard this-is-what-will-happen-so-you-need-to-be-prepared, one day you might be normal, the next green tentacles might sprout all over your body.

Realising she was walking a thin line between rudeness and the amiable conversation they had been sharing she dared to risk it further.

“Can I see?”

It was a question she probably should have left off for later than the first meeting. It was like asking a bird-mutant for a feather, or a unicorn shifter for a ride. It was almost awkward and rather rude.

“Sorry.”

Her mutation was relatively easy to give a demonstration, especially outside, but to ask something which could potentially hurt him… well, it wasn’t exactly ‘nice’.

He just shrugged. Andrew didn't make a habit of making so many promises that they went any further than his elbow.

"I've had them up to my elbow before but never further than that. I don't think they change width depending on location. If they do the difference is so slight that it isn't noticeable."

After a moment Verdy asked if she could see. Andrew assumed she meant watching the tattoo form after making a promise. It wasn't an experience he really enjoyed but this time he found he didn't mind so much. Verdy's inquisitive manner made it easier to think of the mutation as just a mutation instead of a curse.

"Sure. I don't mind."

Andrew took a breath to calm himself and tried to think up a promise that would be easily carried out and not something he'd be inclined to break. Something came to mind after a minute and he grinned.

"I promise that, after this walk is over and we go our separate ways, we will definitely see each other again."

Because Verdy was pretty interesting and pretty as well. It would be nice to keep up a friendship or whatever with her. Meanwhile a second line of black began to form just above the first. As he had said, it started at the center of the underside of his wrist as just a small bar of black. It expanded quickly and by the time a minute was out the two ends of the band were touching.