>> "Yeah. Yeah kid..."

"Cool," was the extent of Chase's commentary. The older boy didn't want a heart-to-heart, and nor did he. Particularly not about Syracuse. He was never going back there, ever again. And didn't much feel like talking about it, either.

>> "I'd kill for a good Jreck Sub right now..."

"They've got good sandwiches," Chase concurred, bobbing his head. He'd been there a couple of times, so could speak from experience. But enough about sandwiches. He wasn't here to talk about sandwiches. He was either here to help, or he'd continue on his own adventure.

"So... can I help?"

Or should he leave? Chases' hands were in his pockets, but in how he stood, it was obvious that he wasn't going to sit still much longer.

Subs being called sandwiches, the kid was messed up. A sub was a sub, though the lecture on it was pointless right now. At least he knew what he was talking about, and at least the kid wasn't calling the subs hoggies. That was the worst crime in the world. There was a reason why a store was called a Sub Shop, they sold subs. Looking down at the shovel, Hokee realized the improper use of his tool. Spinning the shovel he thought for a moment or two while looking over the kid.

Reaching into the snow, Hokee's hands started to shape the snow into a ball. "Clear the ice, I'll let you skate some." The boy should be honored with such a task. It wasn't every day that Hokee would actually mingle in a fashion with the other kids that could be considered as fair clean play. Typically he was harassing the other kids just to get the riled up enough to leave him alone. It worked for the most part, yes it had its draw backs, but why let any of the kids get close to him. In the end they would always find a reason to screw him over, not anymore. With his tightly packed ball of snow, he placed it into the snow and started to roll it about. Collecting the snow around it, the ball was slowly growing in size. At this small delicate phase, he didn't dare trust the kid with it. Maybe after it got larger in size he'd let the younger kid move a giant snowball. With one shovel he had to figure out a way to move the snow off fast, and in a way his toes wouldn't fall off black from the cold.

"Here start shoveling." Offering the shovel to the kid, the older teen was left to figure something else to do. With his foot, he started to glide it back and forth. The ice wasn't clear smooth, but it was ice all the same.

>> "Clear the ice, I'll let you skate some."

Chase nodded his head. His eagerness to help and then spend time with someone who was nearly twice his age blinded him to the fact that he was essentially going to be used as free labor. He shuffled over the snow, to the point where the sidewalk dropped off into the pool of frozen ice. Some inkling of foresight warned him not to do it, that maybe it wasn't safe-- but Chase wasn't going to wimp-out and risk ridicule from an older boy.

He had to prove that he could keep up with the older kids, so against his better judgmment, Chase stepped down onto the ice, testing his balance. Skating in ice skates as opposed to walking in shoes on the ice were two different monsters-- Chase began to walk out to the long-haired boy, lost his footing, and landed on his butt. Oops. Chase got right back up again, and managed to walk over to the long-haired boy without falling down. Luckily, the long-haired boy was was rolling a large snowball as a means of cleaning the ice, so he might not have noticed Chase's blunder.

The long-haired boy passed Chase the shovel when he came close enough.

>> "Here, start shoveling."

"Okay," Chase agreed, taking the shovel from the long-haired boy. The long-haired boy slid away, and Chase began to scrape the snow off of the ice, occasionally utilizng the shovel as something of a cane whenever he began to lose his balance. He continued to hobble along awkwardly like this-- scooping off ice, regaining balance, continuing onward, frequently lifting his gaze towards the older boy to make sure he was doing it right. It was going quiet, but Chase really didn't have the faculties to create a conversation. Particularly with an older boy.

"What's your name?" Chase inquired. Yeah, that was a good place to start.

Was the kid going to actually shovel or not? Not wanting to waste his day away, Hokee was forced to keep going. Waiting could take forever, and he didn't have that. Focusing on his growing snowball, the sounds of scrapping shovel against the ice fluctuated. He was a kid, so maybe shoveling was a bit to much work for him. Well, the more practice he got the better he'd end up. He just had to feel the suffering work that shoveling brought before the quality would get worthy to high standards.

Getting the kid to do all the work was brilliant. Why work if he didn't have to. If the short guy was going to lag around watching him, well he was going to get put to work. If anyone was going to take it easy, it was going to be himself. He was older and shouldn't have to work harder. This was a fact of life, if you were young then you were stuck with doing all the work.

"Hokee....you?" The kid could have his name, he was from the 'Cuse so it was alright. Who knows, he might be able to get the little twerp to do more things for him in the future. Pushing the snowball with both hands now, he was impressed with his work so far. The ball was halfway up his leg, just the perfect height to rest his knee on.

Looking the kid over for a moment, he looked him over. "That hair trick, do you just do hair or can you do other stuff too?" His own skill wasn't much use in the day light, and practically useless in the snow. "Cuz if you can, bet it could be rather useful."

>> "Hokee....you?"

A momentary silence fell as Chase finished clearing off a patch of ice. This type of thing required focus. Hokee was a funny name. Who named their child Hokee? What kind of name was that? Chase kept his urge to ask these questions momentarily subdued, for the question had been turned back to him.

"Chase," Chase answered simply, focusing on a new patch of snow. He was making quick work of clearing the ice, and becoming much better at keeping his balance. Soon, he'd even be able to try skating with Hokee.

>> "That hair trick, do you just do hair or can you do other stuff too? Cuz if you can, bet it could be rather useful."

Chase beamed proudly while working.

"I could look like a whole other person," he boasted, "Sound like 'm, too."

He couldn't help but smile. Hokee was probably the first person ever to have called his power useful. Useful! Just the notion made Chase glow.

"Useful, how?" Chase dared to ask. For, above all, he liked to be both helpful and useful.

Full body change along with voice. He had hit gold, complete gold in the form of a little 'Cuse boy. He should have known there was something worth his time from the blond locks. Still, nothing could be fully assumed and be correct all the time. Most of the time he could be wrong, or was. Still, there could be more then met the eye with Chase. "Huh."

Focusing down on his large snowball, Hokee started to push the frozen flakes about. "Like making yourself look like an adult so we could get a car." The kid wouldn't know if he was lying or not...hopefully."Got a permit but got to have an old fart in the seat to drive....but if you did your thing we could hit up the stores." Shrugging his shoulders he tried to keep the excitement out. Man if he was that kid, he'd be sneaking himself into rated R movies left and right. There was so much he could do looking like an adult.

"How long can you hold it...looking like the person and all." This kid was going to be useful, he was dead sure of it. Knowing more about the power was key then using the kid for his own benefit. The snowball on the ground was growing larger up to his waist now. Shoving the ball towards Chase, he was giving the kid the benefit of the doubt. "Can you do it from memory?"

Chase was not a troublemaker, not intentionally. He might partake in the occasional mischief here and there, but he was a good kid overall. And, as Hokee began to list all of the things that Chase could be useful for, his grin faltered, before slipping into its typical frown, and his brow furrowed. He had been hoping to be useful for good things, like a superhero-- but those things? Those things didn't sound like things that a good boy would do. Hokee was obviously bad. And the two of them weren't well-acquainted enough for Hokee to have been able to convince him of otherwise.

And yes, Chase took everything that Hokee said, word-for-word, quite literally.

"I'd get in trouble," Chase said frankly, the disappointment apparent in his voice. He couldn't even look at Hokee, so went back to scraping the snow off of the ice. The eight-year-old then murmured, "My mama'd not be happy."

Chase smiled. Yeah, Miss Gemma wouldn't be pleased at all.

He glanced towards Hokee, and Hokee slid the enormous snowball towards him. The snowball that was up to Hokee's waist, was up to Chase's ribcage, so Chase had to drop the shovel into the crook of his arm, and use both of his hands to stop it.

>> "How long can you hold it...looking like the person and all? Can you do it from memory?"

Chase was hesitant to tell Hokee much of anything now, thorougly convinced that whatever information he gave him, it would be used for evil.

"I dunno," was Chase's honest answer. He really didn't. He'd never been someone else long enough to see how long it would last. Chase didn't know how to answer the "method" question with both honesty and vagueness. Chase slid the snowball back to Hokee. He had one, hefty patch of snow left, and then the ice would be clear enough by Chases' standards.

"I can... kind of do it from memory... but only if I've done that same form a couple of times. Usually have to use some... thing else."

Not the most artful answer, but it would work. Chase shuffled past Hokee, towards the last patch of snow.

All previous ideas of the kid being actually worth his time quickly flew out the window. The kid was one of those. Chase the chicken. Where was his sense of adventure, the rush of adrenaline? Obviously it was tied down to making sure his mommy didn't get mad. Rolling his eyes at this development, his interest was quickly dropping. The use of the kid was pointless and with his shove of the huge snowball at Chase, he half wished the snow would swallow him whole.

"You wouldn't get in trouble and I doubt your 'Mama' would know." With a pause, he was slightly shocked that the shrimp was able to move the snowball at all. "You just don't get caught." Taking control of the large mound of snow, Hokee started to roll it away in the opposite direction. It continued to grow, but with less snow to roll over it couldn't expand much further. The ice under his feet and the size of the ball was bringing a bit of difficulty to maneuver it. Even his traction on the ice seemed impossible.

"You could do other things to. Be some secret agent." There if the guy was so concerned about making his mommy upset, then maybe he should toss out an option that would make her proud. If he was going to have any hope at all using the kid later, then he needed to find a way to get the kid to find an aspect of his talents to be useful. To bad he wasn't six years older or so, then he might understand what benefits he was missing out on.

>> "You wouldn't get in trouble and I doubt your 'Mama' would know. You just don't get caught."

"She would know," Chase retorted, "My mom works here, and she knows everything."

And if Miss Gemma knew that Chase had done something, the way that moms often knew things, he'd get in serious trouble. So there. Chase huffed and went back to work on the ice that was below his feet.

A more discerning mind would have been suspicious of how slushy the snow was in this corner, but Chase paid it no mind. He was going to finish his task, and he was going to leave.

Beneath his feet, there was a muffled, ominous crack, and water began pooling up around his feet.

"Whoa!" Chase gasped, leaping back. The ice was thin here, and it was cracking, "Um, Hokee?"

Chase planted his foot down as he backstepped, and the ice beneath him gave. All at once, he was plunged into the dark, frigid water. The shock of the sudden cold made him gasp, inhaling water, and Chase was sinking like a stone. As inconvenient as it was, he couldn't swim. His throat constricted at the shock of water flooding into his lungs, and the peripherals of Chase's vision began to darken.

His mom worked there?

Son of a bitch.

Of all the kids in the whole school, and of all the mutant powers one could have, he just happened to end up with the kid that had a mutant ability that he could exploit and their parent worked there. The luck stream he had was running short of success and was flooding with residue waste. The news was almost as bad as the mud slide of '93. He was only three for that, but he could remember clearly how the house changed during it. Sure he was about four miles or so from the area that got hit, but family friends weren't as lucky.

The world seemed to suddenly stand still as his head turned to catch in slow motion the decent of Chase into the pool. "FU..." Maybe cursing the mother of all words wasn't the best to do, the kid was young. Taming his tongue, he went for a less offensive ending. "DGE!" Peeling off his clothing as fast as he could , the temperamental teen slid across the ice in his bare chest and boxers. After his last swim in winter water, he certainly wasn't going to repeat the whole wet clothes thing again.

Grabbing the shovel, Hokee started to stab at the ice opening further away from him. At least on the plus side the break through was near the edge of the pool and it might be easier to find the opening later. Taking a deep breath, Hokee prepared himself for the worse. He didn't see Chase pop back up yet, this was bad. One more breath and he reached down into the water to feel around.

Nothing.

If his mom worked there, she would know. He had to do something. Not knowing how deep the pool was, he went head first in. Opening his eyes in the pool he could feel the extreme coldness and lingering effects of chlorine. It certainly didn't hurt the same way as the salt water from the harbor, but it was no picnic either. As the rest of his body slipped into the icy waters, his arms stretched out to search for the missing boy. His fingers caught the fabric hood. Kicking down into the water, he was able to get a better hold of Chase. Chancing the freezing water again, he opened his eyes in search for his exit.

Adjusting his body in the water, he was happy to feel the bottom of the pool against his knees. Kicking his body up, Hokee used one arm to hold onto Chase while feeling for the surface with the other. With a few tries, he finally found the opening to the ice. His body running on pure adrenaline was finally starting to feel the shocks of the cold and possible horrors that might come. Using whatever strength he had left, Hokee pushed the smaller body up onto the ice. Chattering his teeth, he pulled himself up over the ice. Fighting the elements, he pulled himself and Chase's body off the ice, he certainly didn't want to go back in it again.

"Oh man." Running his hands in his hair, he wasn't sure what to do next. What was with him and almost killing people in water? Chase was on his back, so that was a good thing...hopefully. "Dude...little dude come on." All he wanted to do was skate a little on the ice, and now this....life was cruel, but hopefully it would be nicer to Chase then it was to him right now.

Something snagged Chase’s hood, and in the final few moments of consciousness, Chase weakly swung his arms toward it, trying to free himself. He hadn’t the chance to before blacking out.

…

Chase came-to when his back hit the pavement, a little bit roughly. The shock of solid ground brought him back into consciousness, and he found himself under the scrutiny of a shirtless older boy with funny hair. The guy spoke, but his words were lost like a far-off echo.

Chase began to speak, but this was a wrong move. With the attempt to speak, the muscles and tendrils that had tightened to defend his lungs and body now went slack, his brain screamed for his lungs to breathe, and he did, but the water hindered them. Chase sat up sharply, pushing back the unfamiliar boy and maneuvering himself so that he was propped up by his arms and knees. Then, the retching began.

It burnt as he coughed the water up, as if his lungs and throat were on fire. It hurt everywhere, for the drenched clothes that hung loosely to his body helped a painful chill to cling to him. His head reeled dizzily, vision still swimming, and it didn’t stop even after Chase had finished the heaving. Once his lungs were clear of water, Chase sat there a moment, staring at his hands. Something was wrong with his hands. He focused on breathing, though, making sure he hadn’t any water left in his airways.

Once certain of this, Chase sat up shakily, his breaths rasping shakily in his chest. In his awakening, he’d reverted—because his muscles had tightened up when he began to drown, he’d been able to maintain a human face, but upon waking up, he lost it. Chase shivered uncontrollably, trying to stand up. The world tilted at him, reeling, and he sat back down. He looked at the older boy in mild confusion, colors of fear flickering over his inhuman gaze. The older boy looked scared, too. Something bad had happened.

“Wh-wh-wh-what h-h-happened?” Chase stammered, “Wh-wh-where are a-all of your c-c-c-clothes? A-aren’t you c-c-cold?”

Chase couldn’t remember anything, and hypothermia was already starting to set in, which wasn’t doing anything to help his celerity. He might have been a boy, but he was still a kid, and because he couldn't remember anything, he was beginning to get really scared. He didn't even have enough know-for-where to try looking human again. So, Chase began to cry.

Kneeling in the snow over Chase had to be one of the more terror stricken moments of his life. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Should he move the kid any further, should he try to do mouth to mouth? He never did that swim class stuff, just learned how to swim and such on his own. He wasn't keen on the idea of mouth to mouth...dude on dude. His lips were not ready to do that, not on a guy half his age. That was just...grrrrrrr. His stomach twisted about inside his cold body. He really should pull his clothes back on, but at the same time the kid looked half dead.

Stay calm in situations....how the hell could he? He could keep his cool for the most part when he was running from the law enforcement or living on the buzz of his nightly excursions. This was way different. This was worse then the time he jumped in the bay meeting Cree, who looked smashing hot, and lost complete feeling in his body...

Caught up in himself, the feeling of a small wet hand on his chest nearly made him wet himself. The body of Chase moved and scrambled on the ground only to start vomiting up pool water. The kid was alive, he wasn't screwed now. This was good news. Rising to his feet, the burning sensation of the snow against his skin burned like molten lava. With an awkward stance, he shifted his weight back and forth. Droplets of water feeding down his dreads fell towards the cold ground. His squinted eyes looked down at the drenched wet boy.

"Ice ate you." Wrapping his arms around his chest, he could feel each and every individual goose bump coating his torso. It was freezing out there in just his boxers. Since Chase was alive and seemed keen to know where his clothes were, it seemed like a good time to get dressed. Turning around, he left the question hang in the air as he sought out warmth by putting his clothing back on. Wet boxers under his pants wasn't exactly comfortable, but it should keep him warm enough till he got inside. Not bothering to look for socks, he slid his feet into his shoes cursing under his breath. So much for a bit of fun on the ice.

"If you piss yourself, it might warm you up some." Now he really had to go inside and call the day for a loss. One thing for sure, if he was going to get the kid to do anything for him in the future, he could at least hold this over his head. 'Remember the time I saved your life'. Bouncing on his heal for a few seconds, he cursed again under his breath. "Can you walk?"

>>"Ice ate you."

"I-i-it what?" Chase echoed, gaze wandering towards the pool. An ominous sheet of ice jutting out of a murky hole that opened into the water. He'd fallen through the ice and into the water?

"A-and you went in after me?" Chase guessed, lamely, getting up as the long-haired boy went to retrieve his clothes. His head still spun, but Chase blinked his dizziness away. Chase unzipped his hoodie with numb fingers. He wasn't going to strip down, but with how the jacket clung to him. The eight-year-old couldn't feel his arms.

>> "If you piss yourself, it might warm you up some. Can you walk?"

Chase didn't answer the first part. He simply frowned and shook the water from his dual-chrome hair.

"Yeah, I can walk," Chase murmured. He looked around blankly for the gate. He needed to get into the Mansion, but... how had he gotten into the pool area in the first place?

Just to prove his point, the shivering eight-year-old began to shakily pick his way over the sidewalk.

"Yeah." Sure the kid looked a bit shaky right now, but it was obvious as the nose on his face he went in the water. His hair wasn't freezing into dreadsickles for the fun of things, they obviously got wet from something. Fully dressed, yet still cold, Hokee cautiously followed Chase. The kid still didn't look good. Should he even be walking after his unexpected swim? Things were different when he dove into the Harbor and pulled Cree in with him...but still.

"What's your name, and where are we?" He wasn't sure if Chase knew what was going on. He just seemed, very off. With longer legs, it didn't take much time at all to catch up to the dripping wet munchkin. It might have slightly been his fault for Chase falling into the water, but how was he to know the ice was thin in that area. Sure he wanted to ditch the kid, but he could do that after getting him inside the mansion. For now, he just had to keep his own skin safe.

>> "Yeah."

"Th-thanks," Chase murmured quietly, "I c-c-can't swim. At all."

It just wasn't ever something that his parents ever saw fit to teach him. Chase walked over to the fence, looking for a gate or some sign of how they'd gotten into the enclosure.

>> "What's your name, and where are we?"

Well, that was easy-- they were by a pool. And where was the pool? Fantastic question. And his name-- his name was... uh... shoot. Chase rubbed his head, scrunching his eyebrows as if he was just asked to spell a really difficult word. He didn't remember where they were, and he didn't know what his name was. Which obviously wasn't a good thing. He had to find someone he recognized and ask them. And he didn't recognize the long-haired boy at all.

"You mean, you don't know?" Chase inquired, returning the question to the long-haired boy as he turned to face him. Chase didn't remember, but maybe... maybe he could get the long-haired boy to tell him something-- for example, where he was and who he was. But if neither of them knew who he was or where they were, they were in trouble.

He looked around, and spied the gate. Chase went over to it, fussed with the handle, and found it to be locked. So, they didn't use the gate to get it. Well... then how? He looked upward, towards the top of the fence, and tested his strength on climbing it. Chase couldn't even hoist himself up, because he was shivering so intensely, and his arms were too weak. Uh-oh.

"How'd we get in here?" Chase inquired, far too puzzled to even bother with pretending that he knew, "Are you one of those people who disappears to somewhere else?" A teleporter, is what Chase meant, but he didn't know technical terms... That would explain the long-haired boy's not knowing where they were, if that were the case.