Aedus put his Ice skates over his shoulder, He had been getting his exercise not that he needed it, his job kept him in tiptop condition even if his appetite tried to fight it. He pulled on his running shoes. Was it his fault that he had noticed the blonde that was adorably concentrating on her sketch pad with an intensity that he found irresistible? She had good taste in clothes too; He hadn’t noticed any guy coming back and forth so she was probably alone. He didn’t come on strong enough to be a threat to a boyfriend anyhow. Though once looking at his handsome mug most boyfriends decided very differently. It was a curse. He grinned to himself and his pathetically arrogant thoughts. It helped to get his nerve up.

Today he had donned a maroon turtleneck, it was just the right weather for it and he could skip the coat, it fit across his chest and hugged his arms just right. He walked over to a small cart and got two cups of hot cocoa and made way for pretty sketchbook blonde. Part of him simply wanted to meet her; He appreciated passion and was always curious about what people were drawing in their sketchbooks. Was she any good? So part of him was curious about her work. And well part of him found her simply and delightfully attractive.

“Hi!” his greeting friendly and peppy. “I’ll trade you a cup of Cocoa for a peek at your sketch book. Sorry, I know a bit intrusive, but I come bearing liquid chocolate.”

This semester in school had been much more focused on drawing inspiration from the world. There had been a lot more sketching assignments, and many fewer assignments that actually revolved around garment construction. In a way it was relieving, but in a way it was terrifying.

For Kealey, sketching had come as a result of her love of fashion. She wasn’t an artist, she didn’t draw still-lifes, or fantasy pictures ,or even fanart for the animes that she watched with Shin. Capturing people going about their daily lives had been a sticking point for the blond, Central Park hadn’t seemed ‘everyday’ enough, and Time’s Square had seemed too have too much bustle.

Rockefeller Center ran the same risk as Time’s Square, but there was something more intimate about the place that Kealey liked. Maybe it was the ice skaters.

So there she’d sat, sketching away and letting herself float gently on the tide of emotions. It wasn’t quite holiday shopping season, so people were still in the general good mood that crisp autumn days seemed conducive to.

Until a voice shook her from the concentration.

A stranger was standing above her, requesting permission to see her sketchbook in exchange for a cup of hot chocolate.

Immediately, Kealey was suspicious. One of the first real things she’d learned in New York was that a girl should never take a drink unless she knew exactly where it came from.

She also knew that it was rude to be rude, so she shook her head.

”Not sure about either of those things, but you’re welcome to take a seat and keep me company while I try to finish this assignment.” She said, trying to gage the young man’s emotions and finding the mildly amusing blend of assertive cockiness that guys his age usually possessed in spades. Some of this other emotions were flattering in the right context, but Kealey didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

”Do you always offer strangers hot drinks, or did I do something to elicit such treatment?”

Hmmmmm, not quite a no, but not a yes either. More importantly she was all sorts of Irish! That was a bonus and then some. Aedus sat down next to her and carefully kept his eyes off her sketch book, a deal was a deal and he wouldn’t look until she took the cocoa. A smirk lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Well, to answer both of your questions, I offer hot drinks to strangers when I can; most of them deserve Cocoa I think. You looked like you were working hard, and I have trouble not being curious about what people are doing when it concerns sketch books and Drawing pencils.” He glanced at the end of the pencil and confirmed that it was indeed one of the fancy art school pencils. “I’ll be honest; you had this adorable pout on your face the last time I came around. And so I couldn’t resist finding a way to insinuate myself into a conversation with you.” As he spoke a residual accent started taking over, it was the kind he got from being around family.

He hadn’t realized that she was suspicious of the drinks, otherwise he’d let her pick witch one she drank out of, as it was, he just sat there holding them. He watched the skaters go in circles and grinned broadly as a small girl spun in three circles, the last few times she had fell down on the third. She squealed with delight that she had completed the feat.

Apparently…he did give out warm drinks to strangers.

More words, more flattery, and Kelaey had to shake her head and smile. They were in the middle of a very public place. It wasn’t like he was going to poison her.

She reached out and took the warm cup of cocoa, sipping gingerly.

Just the right temperature. Reluctantly she handed over her sketch book. It was almost full of x-costume sketches, Halloween costume ideas, and her recent school assignments.

”I’m Kealey.” she said by way of introduction.

”Do you meet many interesting people this way?”

Aedus took a drink of his cocoa enjoying the way it burned on the way down. She was smiling, usually a good thing. He set his drink to the side as she offered him the sketch book. He wouldn’t risk spilling on her work.
“I’m Aedus.” He replied with a friendly ease that made him seem like an open book. Just like that they were friends as far as he was concerned.

He looked at the sketches at a slow pace studying each of them as he went. His eyebrows scrunched up just a little as he thought about the question. ‘ Not quite like this no, but living here, it’s hard not to meet interesting people. “

“Are you in fashion? Or maybe graphic design?” He asked cautiously. She could have been either some of these looked like super heroes while some looked like things he would see on runways.
“That would look nice on you.” He pointed out a particularly Vivacious Halloween costume. “Maybe wear your hair up with it.”

He nodded to himself as he turned the page.

”Fashion.” Kealey admitted easily, looking out on the ice at the people who were skating. She’d have to drag Shin back here at some point so they could skate. Kealey had never tried it before, but the couples on the ice sure looked like they were having fun.

Aedus. Kealey smiled. A solid Irish name. He pointed out that she’d look nice in something and she glanced over at the page, lips pursing when she recognized the sketch.

”My boyfriend thought so too.” she admitted, ”But I think he likes my hair down better.”

He grinned at being busted. ‘Makes sense. The Boyfriend. I will need to behave then. Your hair’s great, up or down I bet. I just thought that with that line there.” He motioned with his pinky toward the cut of the neck line. “It’d accentuate your neck.” He turned the page and mentally turned the subject. His jaw dropped a little bit. “A lot of these are really accurate, do you design for the X-men?”

He turned finally to the page that she was working on after noticing that there were no sketches of handsome mean in skates, Or at least not him in particular. “What is today’s assignment?”

Kealey nodded. She could see what Aedus meant with the neckline, and Shin hadn’t really had an opinion on her hair in that outfit. It had just been a convenient thing to say to get her point across.

It had worked, and Aedus said he’d behave himself. Kealey nodded her approval and her answer to Aedus’ question.

”I do actually. I design all our uniforms.” she admitted.

As to today’s assignment?

”Drawing inspiration from life. People here feel very alive.”

If she handed the keys to a candy shop to a kid with sweet teeth, she wouldn’t have gotten a happier reaction. “ Are you serious? That is awesome! I was thinking maybe you just had a knack for imitation but some of the details are just too accurate.” He always wanted to be a super hero and the x-men did fine work. He tried to rein it in and not gush too much.

He noted a sketch of the girl that was mastering her turns. “You’re good. Probably don’t need me to tell you that though. The proofs right here, that was Cocoa well spent.” He pointed to the spinning little girl. " She can do it like a pro now."

He handed the sketch book of fine art back to Kealey and retrieved his cocoa. He leaned back and gave a little bit more space than he had initially while making the move to get his drink. “So, what part of Ireland are you from?”

”Nope.” Kealey said to the suggestion that she had imitated the looks the X-Men wore. ”All original designs worked out by myself and the other team members.” The blond wasn’t about to give away the secrets of each uniform, or the safety features each one had built in. She was smarter than that.

Aedus said she was good, and Kealey smiled and shook her head. She really wasn’t…not compared to some of the people in her classes. She was passable though, and the professors always appreciated what they called the ‘human element’ in her work. Kealey knew it was probably her mutation giving her more insight into the emotion behind the models…but still. The comment was appreciated. ”Thank you.” she said demurely.

He’d obviously caught her accent, and when Aedus asked what part of Ireland she was from, Kealey shrugged her shoulders. ”Here and there, but I grew up in Newtonabbey.” she answered casually. ”If that means anything to you.”

“The other Xmen, meaning you are one?” he said feeling a little bit gullible, but really the details we a good reference to the truth of it. He went from impressed to slightly overcome. First off, had he just hit on an x-woman? and if so was her boyfriend going to fly down and smite him? Worth it.

He paused and looked her in the eye. “ I mean it, you are. And now that I know you are off the proverbially market, Well,I’m not just saying it.” he laughed at himself. “ not that I would, I mean I might, but I wouldn’t have to fake it in your case…I mean how horrible would it be if I started looking through the sketch book and it was all bland and terrible and what not, I would have to say something right?” he shrugged in his terrible defense. “my point being, that I don’t have to force the compliment.”

“Northish, towards Belfast? My Family is from Naas, its in Dublin’s back yard. I haven’t been to Ireland myself, I want to go sometime, but The City seems to have a strong grip on me.” He could say that, his mutant mother had taken him there mentally once, but then he would have to explain and so he didn’t. And while the Irish Lass of a x-gener next to him would understand better than most, it was still a tricky thing to explain.

”Mmhm.” Kealey said, choosing not to expand on her place in the X-Men, or her mutation unless her companion asked for it. He continued to compliment her drawing and she smiled. There really wasn’t much to say to his words that would be anything more than self-flattery, and that wasn’t Kealey’s style.

Ireland, however, she could talk about. At length, in fact. Aedus pointed out that his family was from Dublin and Kealey nodded her head. Sometimes, growing up, the rest of Ireland had felt like it was a world away. It wasn’t until just before she’d flown for New York that Kealey had ever even seen Dublin.

”I stayed North until I came to the states. I can’t boast being very well travelled. Other than New York, the only places I’ve been are Japan and New Mexico.”

It was sad that he’d never seen Ireland though. ”You should go there sometime. Where it’s not grey and raining…it’s so very beautiful.”

His smile showed his gums a bit it grew so wide. He typically controlled his looks very carefully but he couldn’t help but be excited. He reeled it in fairly quickly however as he met a celebrity once that had been met a few too many times by excited fans and said celebrity thanked him for treating him like a normal person and simply shaking his hand and thanking for his work. And thus he wouldn’t pester her anymore than he already had. though he did have some questions about the younger members of their group, surely she had heard about what happened on Halloween, no better not to bring up zombies to any one. He remembered to file real zombies under not for polite company.

He listened to the places she had been and though the list was short, it was more impressive than his, and was a other than New Mexico it had his top three.

“Hmm, I don’t know, I might feel at home with the grey and rainy. I intend ongoing and getting off the beaten path if I can help it, experience the country side, figure out what the world looks like without a sky scrapper in sight. Well Kealey, I am glad to have met you. Should I leave you to your studies? I don’t want to intrude more than I have if you are running on a deadline. Then again, I've got nothing on my agenda for today.” The question seemed to be if she wanted to hang out. or wanted this random man to leave her be.

”You don’t have to leave.” Kealey said, flipping back to her assignment and starting to sketch again. Truth be told, company helped. Sometimes it was easier to draw when your mind was wandering and your instincts were doing all the work.

He’d talked about always living in the city and Kealey wondered what it would have been like for her growing somewhere like that.

”I was very lucky when I was young.” the blond explained, and she meant it.

”The circumstances and nature of my abilities would have made my life really difficult if I’d have been somewhere densely populated when they manifested.” If it hadn’t been for the seclusion and peace of the convent, Kealey didn’t know what would have happened.

“Mmm kay, I just wanted to make sure.” Aedus adjusted his turtleneck, the cocoa was good, but made him a bit warmer than he cared for.

“From what I’ve heard, small towns can be rough to grow up in as a mutant; you must have grown up in a good place. From my relative’s experience, they were glad to have more people to blend in with. I don’t have any experience of my own to base that statement on, at least not yet.”

How couldn’t resist making more contacts with the x-men? If he was to be a formidable mutant and pillar of Justice they were they crowd to run with weren’t they? He thought so, so far he hadn’t met one he didn’t like.