Well, this has been one very eventful month, hasn't it? Alex asked himself as he started to make his way through the mansion hallways, taking in everything as he walked, while thinking about how he got to the mansion in the first place. It had been quite an interesting month for Alex, ranging from chasing a drug dealer at the market while he was in New York City, to finding this mansion where he could possibly find a job. True, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he had arrived in New York to start over, but then again this was better then he could've hoped for. This mansion had it all... a large backyard and forest where he could climb, a nice kitchen with plenty of food, a place where he could practice using his powers that he was going to have to check out some time soon, and a cozy looking living room with some very comfortable couches and chairs. He was going to love it here... now only if he could find a way to rent a room here so he wouldn't have to stay in the musty motel anymore.

As Alex covered his mouth as a yawn started to emerge from his throat, he pulled his thoughts back to reality and glanced around some more, and found himself just outside of the living room. "Speaking of comfortable chairs..." Alex mumbled under his breath, and started to head towards the living room, and quickly turned to head towards one of the recliners, and as a result he didn't a couple of the couches in the room. Alex was so caught up in his thoughts that he wouldn't of even noticed if someone was sleeping on one of those couches. Still a bit zoned out, he walked over to one of the recliners and sat down with a small sigh.

"If only mom could see me now..." Alex muttered under his breath contently, then suddenly tensed. His mother... his mother was currently mourning over the loss of his father... whom he had killed with the malachite dagger named Defiance. Feeling depression start to set in, Alex reached down and felt the malachite dagger that rested against his left hip, and ran his fingers along the engravings of the dagger that made the blade look like a dove's win. "Mom... she'd want me dead right about now..." Alex muttered under his breath, then sighed and closed his eyes as he pushed those thoughts and memories to the back of his mind, still oblivious to the rest of the room.

Things seemed to be moving awfully fast among the formerly quite mansion. New friends, new enemies all the things that made a normal story, exciting seemed to be happening the wolf girl as of late and quite frankly she was tired of it. Emerald wouldn't have minded if it wasn't for a certain deadlocked boy ruining her day by popping up in her thoughts. He really seemed to be the bane of her existence of late and she hadn't even been talking to him.

This was why Emerald was lay on her couch, wanting to fall asleep and not wake up for a few hours. She lay on the couch, her red hair spread out around her in almost a fan like formation. Her eyes lulled a little bit and soon found herself drifting slowly off into her peaceful, cheerful sleep.

Then of course someone walked in, talking as usual. She was barely able to sleep in her room thanks to the birds squabbling around outside her room. Now she wasn't able to sleep in here thanks to someone muttering to himself.

The wolf girl took her shoe - one of her good running shoes which she had placed neatly by the foot of the couch - and tossed it lightly at the source of the noise's chair. She wasn't aiming for him, but just the chair

"Man, can I not get any sleep around here-" Emerald began turning over from the cream colored couches back towards the source of the noise. This was when she saw the before from before and she chuckled lightly to herself. Her tail wagging a little as if it was waving at the young man she had helped out before. "Seriously? Twice in a row by you? Hey Rook, long time no see."

If there was one advantage to having the aspergers disorder, it had to be that it was fairly easy to fall asleep when someone wanted to. If Alex wanted to fall asleep, all he had to do was close his eyes, which he had already done, and calm his thoughts down till they were completely still... and after that he normally would fall to sleep. And at the moment Alex was on the verge of completely calming his thoughts when something that almost felt like a rubbery substance struck him on the right cheek. If Alex's mind was an ocean, it went from nearly calm to a level four hurricane in the blink of an eye, which was followed by a slight twinge in pain as Alex's eyes flew open as he sat up, started. "Ow! Hey, what's the bright idea?!" Alex yelped looked around while rubbing his cheek with his hand.

It was only now that he finally realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Laying on the couch directly in front of him was a woman with beautiful long red hair, and she looked to be just as tall as him, maybe even taller. There was no one else nearby, so unless there was an invisible mutant in the room, she was the one whom had thrown the object towards him. Since she was only now rolling over to see whom was in the room, Alex guessed that she had only tossed the shoes in the direction of his voice when he had been talking before hand... and apparently she was rather good at throwing stuff over her shoulder, which turned out to be the pair of shoes when Alex glanced at the object that had landed in his lap.

Alex glanced back at her waiting for an explanation when she muttered that she couldn't get any sleep around here, and he realized that he had woken her up first. Oops. I guess I was talking to myself, but I thought I was only whispering... Alex realized, and then was worried if she heard everything he was talking about... mainly the part where his mom would want him dead. However that concern evaporated faster then water in the desert when the woman said a couple of things that struck him as odd... which was that she said that this was the second time that he woke her up, and she knew his family nickname. "Twice? And how do you know my nick..." Alex started to say, but his voice trailed off when he noticed the woman's wagging tail, and realized her red hair was the same red as the large mutant wolf that had shown him around the mansion the day before. That's when it clicked in his head on who she was. "Oh! You're that beautiful wolf that showed me around! Sorry, I didn't recognize you." Alex exclaimed as he removed his hand from his cheek to show a red mark where the shoe had lightly struck him.

Alex was about to apologize for waking her for the second time when he realized something wrong. He didn't know her name! During the entire time when she was showing him around the mansion, Alex had completely forgot to ask her that question. "Uh... sorry, what's your name?"

Did he just call her wolf form beautiful? That wasn't somethign she was used to hearing, she was used to the whole. "Oh god look out it's a wolf" thing but never a beautiful wolf. She had been getting more compliments lately and she couldn't help but wonder why.

Was there just something in the water that made everyone this way or was everyone secretly going insane and she had no idea about it?Whatever the reason, Rook really wanted to know her name and considering the fact she may have saved him from being tormented by that little dreadlocked punk, it may have been worth it.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to hit your head, seems my aim is a little bit more off than I thought it was." Emerald chuckled, kicking at the pllow at the end of the couch lightly with her foot. "Names, Emerald Lupin, I figrued I would say you the other day from that annoying punk so thats why I dropped in the way I did. Also, I didn't talk because I was barely able to after I insulted him, tottaly worth it though if I do say so myself."

After Alex had called Emerald's wolf form beautiful, he suddenly started wondering why he phrased his sentence that way, and had actually wondered if that word had actually come out of his mouth. Yes, it did come out of his mouth, and he knew the reason why too; it was the truth, and if Alex hadn't phrased his sentence before hand then was comes out of his mouth is always the truth. Alex had found Emerald's wolf form beautiful... though in truth the word he should've used at that moment was 'amazing' or 'cool.' Either one would've been more appropriate then beautiful. They were complete strangers, so him calling her wolf form beautiful could've been considered awkward or even worse.

However it didn't seem like Emerald was taken aback from his comment, but then again he always did have trouble reading a person's facial expression. The puzzled look on Alex's face faded when Emerald apologized about hitting him with her shoe. As she introduced herself and explained that she had a very hard time finding her voice again after she talked in her wolf form, Alex slowly nodded, understanding. The maw of a wolf was very different from that of a human mouth. Attempting to form human words from something that wasn't even shaped like a human mouth must have been extremely difficult. When Emerald mention that she thought she'd save him from the disrespectful Hokee, Alex couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, thanks for showing up when you did. Hokee hand I could've come to blows if you didn't show up when you did, and any chance of getting a job here would've been down the tubes." Alex stated with a thankful nod. admitting that he was hoping to indeed get a job here at the mansion, though what job he didn't say what job just yet.

Glancing back down at the shoe in his lap, and the other shoe that was next to the recliner he was sitting in, he decided to give them back to her. What most people would do would be to gently toss the shoes across the floor, but with how bad a throw he was chances were that he would either break the windows or one of the lamps in the living room. Besides, he already knew what her gift was since they first met while she was in wolf form, so in his eyes it was only fair that she get to see his own gift. So, after leaning over to pick up the shoe that was on the floor, he placed it on his lap next to the other shoe, then reached into his leather jacket and curled his fingers around the hilt of the malachite dagger. A moment later, his flawless cyan eyes started to glow green and a malachite grasping claw grew out of the pommel of the dagger and gently grabbed both shoes. Then a malachite rod carefully grew out of the dagger and headed towards the floor in front of the couch that Emerald was on, with the claw holding the shoes on the end of the rod. When the shoes were only an inch from the floor and roughly two inches away from the couch, the claw's fingers grew apart and the shoes fell gently to the ground, which was quickly followed by the rod and claw retracting back towards Alex and slipped back into his jacket.

As Alex withdrew his hand from his jacket, his eyes stopped glowing green and returned to their normal cyan color. With a shrug and a warm smile, Alex simply said, "Honestly, I think your gift is far more amazing then my own."

Emerald shrugged her her shoulders a little at the other guy, wanting to say that the reason that she encountered him the hallways was a vigilant “I will save you” one but it really wasn’t. She was just feeling annoyed that day because she hadn’t gotten her full body rest after going third form yesterday. The fact that he and that idiot were talking unfortunately made her day harder, the good thing was, that he was actually kind while that deadlocked pain was just that, a pain.

“No worries, that guys just a stupid pup is all, needed to be put in his place. I punched him the other day if it makes you feel any better,” The Redhead told him with a coy grin on her face. She would tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear as she sat up on the couch, letting out a soft yawn. The guy seemed sorta sweet, if not a little awkward. It looked to Emerald he wasn’t really used to being around other mutants or at least not many. This wasn’t a bad thing, as long as he didn’t act dumb or anything like that Emerald was good to go.

Those blue eyes watched the young man pull a dagger from his jacket and she almost felt an unsettling tinge on the back of her neck as she did so. While he didn’t try anything it was still nerve racking to see him pull it out. Well, he did do something, he did make a sort of claw like object to grab her shoes and put them next to each other on the ground. The material that the dagger was made out of was recognizable, or at least it was for Emerald.

“Nah don’t say that, your gift is pretty nifty and probably comes in handy in a fight you needs weapons in. I usually end up having to throw something if I’m in one of those fights so you have an advantage over me on that. “ Emerald reassured him, her tail wagging back and forth. He seemed like a nice guy and he really shouldn’t be worried about if his gift was useful or not, after all if she was able to pick her gift she didn’t really know if she would have picked wolf shifter again because while it did have it’s perks it’s drawbacks were pretty great as well.

As Emerald said that Hokee was just being a stupid pup, and that she was more then willing to punch the kid for Alex, the malachite manipulator gave a sad smile and slowly shook his head. He had run into Hokee's type before; a type of person whom always thinks they are right even when they are wrong, and they refuse to take any discipline of any kind. They couldn't be negotiated with, and the only way to get on their good side was to grovel to them.... and there was no way Alex was gonna do that with Hokee. "There wouldn't be any point in hitting that twerp. Might make you feel good, but the only think Hokee would learn is how to nurse a bad bruise while on crutches. He would've learned nothing." Alex stated in a sad tone, remembering his nephew, whom had been killed because he pissed off the wrong person.

Alex leaned forwards a little bit in his chair as the redhead said that his gift was amazing as well, and it could be quite useful in a fight and he would have an advantage in that area. Alex didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he couldn't help but think that she was impressed with his power as much as he was impressed with hers, and couldn't help but smile warmly as a result. "Thank you, although it doesn't take much for me to lose power. Just knock the malachite that I'm manipulating out of my hands and that is, outta power." Alex stated, then quickly grew puzzled when he realized that he had just told her how to defeat him. Why did he just do that? That didn't make any sense. It was as if he trusted her with the knowledge of his Achilles's Heel... but they just met! How could he trust her like that already? Averting his gaze away from Emerald, Alex couldn't help but wonder if there was another mutant nearby that was manipulating his mind to give up his secrets... but he didn't feel anything on his mind that would make him give up his secrets... he was doing it himself, but why? He couldn't understand the reason he was doing it... until he thought about his aspergers disorder.

That had to be it. Most people with aspergers had a great amount of trouble trusting people, but when they did find someone they trusted, they would tell them every single one of their secrets, even if it turned out that the trust was misplaced. Trying to get his mind off of that, Alex decided to change the direction of the conversation. "So... uh... how long have you been here at the mansion? You work here?" Alex asked curiously, though it was written all over his face that he was just trying to change the topic. Not the best questions to say for sure, but at least it was something.

Emerald chuckled at Rook a little, he seemed to think there was no reason to hit Hokee. In her mind though there were plenty of reasons to hit him and no matter what the reason it always seemed to make her feel better the more she thought about it. In fact, after hitting him she felt a hell of a lot better so Rook was probably wrong on that one. Then again, Emerald didn't exactly grow up in the best environment after age 8 so maybe it was the old military/fighting training talking.

"Well, I think he learned one thing from me hitting him, I hit really damn hard and that wasn't even my full strength," Emerald grinned a little, happy at the thought of Hokee possibly hitting the floor with another one of her blows. Yeah she needed some anger management at times but it wasn't like she did this to everyone. Normally, she was alright to get along with but this Hokee kid just seemed to really want to get on her last nerve.

Rook then relayed to her what made him weak and she arched a curious brow at him. He was a rather talkative guy, who seemed to be more than happy to tell her how to be him. This was obviously a stupid move on his part because he didn't even know if he could be trusted,lucky for him though, the wolf girl most of the time fought with honor so she wasn't going to use his weakness that he just blurted out against him.

"I guess that's good to know if you ever get mind controlled and I need to stop ya, but otherwise I wouldn't go around telling people your weakness like that. Not everybody fights with a certain amount of honor and integrity like I do," Emerald warned him, blue eyes glancing at Cyan ones sympathetically.

Luckily, Rook changed the topic of the conversation before he could tell her anything else, like his sign or anything personal. His question though made her let out a low sigh, remembering those who did work here and why she didn't exactly get along with any of them.

"Been here for almost five years now, since I was fifteen, then again, I have wandered around a bit so most people don't count me for being here as long as I have," Emerald began shrugging her shoulders a bit, leaning back on the back of the loveseat. "Used to be a student, now I just stay here on and off, I have a place of my own but I feel like I'm needed here with some of the newer mutants so I stick around. "Besides, most people who work here besides Doc, the Headmistress, and now you, have a stick up where the sun don't shine, if you get what I mean. At least you're a bit more laid back."

It wasn't that Emerald didn't respect authority, she just wished that the authority would just lighten up when things needed to be lighten and take things seriously when they needed to be taken seriously. Life wasn't always sunshine and roses, nor was it the most horrible thing in the world.

OOC: Sorry for the Delay, i just really didn't want to give you a halfway post when I knew I could give you better

When Emerald had chuckled a little bit at his comment about hitting Hokee wouldn't teach him anything, then mentioned that there was one thing that Hokee would learn, Alex couldn't help but smile and nod. Yes, that was one lesson that Hokee could learn from getting hit, and Alex could give Hokee that lesson too. His brother had taught him how to be a boxer after all, and knew how and where to hit a person that would leave them seeing stars and dizzy for at least a whole minute if not longer. The resulting bruise would be one that Hokee wouldn't be able to get rid of for a long time. And Emerald was right... Hokee was on the verge of asking for it.

When Emerald said that the knowledge of his weakness was good to know if she had to stop him if he was ever being mind controlled, Alex found himself unable to look her in the eyes and glanced away, feeling a bit foolish about saying that. As Emerald continued that he should be more careful about what he tells other people, Alex paled slightly and nodded. The fact that he had told her that without knowing why, and then having her warn him not to do that with someone he didn't know, was more then enough for him to get depressed. Now Alex found himself wishing he had left the room the moment that he had woke her up by mistake.

When Emerald started to answer Alex's question about how long she had been here at the mansion, he managed to get himself to look in her direction once again and leaned forwards slightly to show her that she had his attention. However... the moment that Emerald had said that Alex seemed to fit into the category of people that had a stick up where the sun don't shine, he tilted his head to the side with a puzzled and confused look on his face. It was written all over his face that he didn't quite understand what she had meant when she had said that. He had a guess, but it was iffy, and decided to ask her about it later.

However, her statement about going to school here had caught his attention. "I'd venture a guess that going to a school for people with our sort of gifts would be quite interesting. Entertaining at times too." Alex stated, trying his best to keep the conversation going. Then he remembered something Hokee had mentioned, and wanted to ask Emerald to see if she could clarify what Hokee meant. "Since you've been here a while, maybe you could clarify something for me. Hokee said that there were some people here that are adapted.' Is that a type of mutation that I should be careful of or was he speaking metaphorically?"

Emerald didn't really notice that Rook was puzzled by his facial expression, she did notice his body language changed, but she wasn't quite sure what to do to reprehend herself on that one. She always did have this sort of of habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She was just sort of blunt about things and because of that, Emerald had a harder time making friends than most.

"It's interesting alright, when the younger kids aren''t blowing anything up it's interesting," Emerald told him with a low laugh. She didn't mind the kids around the mansion, if anything she adored the little fire starters. They seemed to be part of the only group that wasn't completely afraid of her. Maybe it was because she tended to spoil them by getting them Candy and things like that. "

"As for the Adapteds, they sort of "non mutant" that negates our powers, basically you can't use your abilities around them." Emerald explained, crossing her legs on the couch. The Adapteds honestly freaked her out a little, the concept of not being able to use her powers hitting far too close to home than she wished.

When Emerald had commented that living in the mansion was interesting when the younger kids weren't blowing anything up, Alex couldn't help but chuckle quietly as well. It a way, it was funny. In a place like this there were bound to be children that would cause trouble with their mutant powers intentionally, or by mistake, and it was children like those that needed the extra attention in order to help them control their powers... or to properly discipline them so they know that it's wrong to cause damage intentionally.

However Alex's smile faded when Emerald explained what Adapts were... and that quite frankly got Alex a bit nervous. If he wasn't able to hear the beautiful charm of his malachite dagger, he might very well panic because in most cases his power over malachite was his only defense. "That... that quite frankly sounds a bit freaky if you ask me..." Alex stated. Sure, a person that could nullify a criminal's mutation would be valuable as a law enforcement officer, but he could easily imagine someone freaking out if they didn't have their powers suddenly.

After that, Alex found himself at a loss for words. All he had wanted to do was take a small nap and then maybe look for someone in charge so he could possibly get a job at the mansion as a custodian. However ended up waking up Emerald and started a conversation without having enough stuff to talk about. All Alex could think of saying now was "Hokee also mentioned some sort of training room here. Said that it was out of this world. Was he pulling my leg or is there actually a training room here unlike any other?"

That was one thing Emerald had to agree with,t he idea of the Adaptads were not one that she liked in the least. They were just unsettling for someone like her, who, while being able to hold her own in a fight without her powers, did rely on her abilities for certain things. It would unsettle her greatly not to be able to use any of her wolf like abilities or be separate from the wolf in any way.

In fact, despite how she hated to admit it, Emerald was quite attached to her wolven side, even with the problems it caused. Without being what and who she is as her werewolf self, she felt like she would be nothing more than a mere...two-leg and that scared her.

"I agree with ya on that, No one should be able to take a mutants power away, just damn unnatural,"Emerald growled, clearly not having a good experience with that particular subject. She decided to shake off her feelings of hatred and resentment for the idea of adapteds, not wanting to scare her newest friend. The wolf girl loosened up, looking over at him with a clearly calmer disposition.

"You mean the danger room? Yeah, it exists, you can only get in there with certain authorization and knowing this place, mined probably been revoked by now since I was gone for so long, so if you wanna go, you will probably have to get authorization." Emerald explained to him, tail thumping idly on the couch.

When Emerald had growled her reply to Alex's reaction about the adepts being able to suppress a mutant's power, it was clear to him that she didn't like adepts one bit. As he listened to her though, he couldn't help but notice that Emerald has phrased her statement as that adepts were 'unnatural.' It was an ironic way for her to say that, since there were people out there that thought mutants were unnatural and those people might consider adepts natural instead because they could stop a mutant's power. This struck Alex as ironic and interesting, though he wasn't sure why.

After Emerald had calmed down a little bit, she answered Alex's question about the training room, which was called a 'danger' room for some reason. Emerald mentioned that only people with authorization could get in, and then she mentioned that hers was most likely revoked so he was going to need to find someone else to let him in if he wanted to try it. However, Alex just shook his head. "Nah, I was just wondering. Besides, no one here knows me at all, and why would someone trust a total stranger to let them into a place like that?" Alex stated, then he paused and tilted his head to the side, puzzled. "Wait... special authorization? Does that me your..." Alex began to ask a question, but his voice trailed off for a moment before he finished asking his question. "... an X-Man? A hero to mutants and humans alike?" Alex finished, unsure with how to ask this question.

If the answer was yes, then that meant Alex was talking to a heroine, and he wasn't sure how to react to that.

: The she-wolf noticed the sudden change in the boys expression when he realized that she was an X-men and she couldn’t help but shake her head. She didn’t really understand why people viewed them in such a high light. They just did what everyone else should do and save those who can’t save themselves, a noble cause that everyone should be involved with in her opinion.

“Yeah, I’m an X-man, though if you look at the footage from recently it doesn’t seem that way. Been benched since the camps, but I still try to help others whenever I can.” Emerald explained, shrugging as if it was no big deal. She wasn’t revealing that she was Shred to this boy, but she did let on that she helped others which she did.

With or without the mask.

OOC: sorry about the short post but this was all I could think of

When Alex saw Emerald shaking her head after he had asked if she was an X-Man, he wondered if she was thinking he was going to treat her differently, like be in awe of her. If that was what she was thinking he was going to do, she was mistaken. If anything, it was going to make him feel uneasy. The X-Men helped support the law... and at the moment Alex wasn't exactly on the right side of it. Sure, he hadn't seen or heard of any warrants out for him, but he still had killed his own father. Sure it was an accident, but in the eyes of the law it's either you did it or you didn't do it, and Alex did it.

So when Emerald said yes to his question about her being an X-Man, Alex slightly bit his lower lip and started to drum his fingers on the armrest of the chair nervously. Sure she said that she was considered a benched X-Man, but an X-Man was still an X-Man. What's more was that she had stated that she was still doing her best to help others when ever she could. She seemed to shrug like it was no big deal, but at the moment Alex was feeling really uneasy, and he started to mentally pray that the myth that a wolf could smell fear was just that... a myth.

After being silent for a second or two, Alex realized that he was being quiet and spoke up, trying to get her attention off of the nervous look in his eyes. "Helping other that can't help themselves is something many people refuse to do. I glad to hear that you're still doing that even though you're taking time off as an X-Man." Alex stated with a smile, trying his best to look wide eyed and amazed at the fact that she was an X-Man.

He couldn't keep it up though, mainly because when Emerald had mentioned the camps a couple memories of a rather bad life experience bubbled up into Alex's thoughts. "The camps... that disaster should've never happened..." Alex mumbled just loud enough for Emerald to hear. During the time of the camps, Alex's sister in law, Sue, had realized that she had a mutation that put her in the teleporter category. She lived in Manhattan Kansas at the time, which was rather bad since an army fort was only an hour drive away. The army had captured Sue and was going to take her to one of the camps. In a desperate attempt to get their family member free, all 14 Keepers and Alex of the Davis family had given chase of the convoy transporting the captive mutants that Sue was held prisoner in, and attempted to rescue Sue at the camp though legal means and bribery. It ended in disaster when the mutants held captive rioted and the military opened fire. Every single mutant there had been killed, save for Sue whom had teleported to the safety of Alex's truck. The keepers and Alex had fled as fast as they could while the army butchered all of the mutants there. Not one keeper had been hurt and Sue was safe, but Alex had never been able to forget what happened that day.

A small tear fell from Alex's eye and ran down his cheek as he thought about it, and wished he could've done something to save those mutants... but he knew he would've only gotten himself and maybe all of the keepers killed. Wiping the tear from his cheek, he realized that he had almost cried right in front of Emerald, and quickly shook his head to get himself focused back on her. "I'm... I'm sorry. What were we talking about?"