The weather was finally turning around for the better-- though Rebecca remembered saying the same thing two weeks prior. The weather was temperamental in New York, with a nice week of Springtime followed by what she thought was Autumn. She could not complain much-- rain and cold claimed supremacy of her island country for long periods of time. She would take the good weather for what it was worth.

With a beautiful day and Agnes busy, Rebecca wanted to get out and drill herself before her next football game. She grabbed her away kit so she did not dirty her actual outfit for the home game. She preferred the away kit anyway: pure white with red trim on the jersey and shorts, which was similar to the English National Team. (Her mother shunned her for picking her father's side, but the sad truth was that the Scottish National Team was harder to cheer on when they failed to qualify for major tournaments. Besides, she was part English; it was her right!

The girl set out with a water bottle and a football, crossing the campus grounds to reach a nearby football pitch. She dropped the ball on the grass and started stretching, reaching for her toes and the like. She would probably sprint and practice penalty kicks. Maybe she would practice juggling; it was not as practical, but it was fun, and fun was the point, right? Besides, she was doing better for endurance since training with-- sorry; since Emerald started trying to kill her. Werewolves did not screw around when it came to training.

At least with the death training, she had company. None of her mansion friends were really football fans. Jasmine would have been good for it, but Rebecca sort of stole her girlfriend and the girl was in Japan anyway; thus, she would have to settle for running drills alone.

The weather was finally nice out. Teddy couldn't believe that the weather acted like this normally. It was just to strange to be natural. But it was finally beginning to look like spring. The young teen couldn't wait to get outside and do something physical. He felt like he was getting cabin fever or something being cooped up like that.

He thought about going to a little jog around the mansion, since he didn't really like going into the city it was better than nothing, and it was still to cold to be out swimming. Swimming was his favorite but he'd settle for a run in weather like this.

As he walked outside he noticed a girl who he'd seen around but never met before with a soccer ball. Well that could be more fun than running alone. If she wants to play. Teddy wasn't a jock but he could do a few sports well and fake his way trough others enough to pass gym class.

It looked like she was going to play alone. She he figured she might like a partner. "Hey." Teddy said jogging up to her as she started her stretching. "Mind if I join you? Might be more fun with another person to play against."

He wasn't used to just asking people things, and his question sounded a little bashful. Maybe she'd go for it and maybe she wouldn't. If she didn't he could always go for the jog like he'd planned earlier.

>> "Hey. Mind if I join you? Might be more fun with another person to play against."

Rebecca looked up from bending over to touch her toes to see a boy offering to play with her. He looked young, but that was mainly because he was shorter than her; he was probably fifteen or sixteen. He was cute, in a blonde and scrawny way. The tone of his request sounded shy, and he seemed nice enough. "Sure, Ah coulds use someain tae play wi'!"

She stepped toward the younger boy and extended a hand in greeting. "Mah nam is Rebecca. It's nice tae meet ye!" After all, she had nothing against meeting new friends, especially one that lived in the mansion with her. It seemed silly not to know most of one's mansion-mates.

Rebecca walked back over to the football waiting on the ground. "Sae, dae ye play football?" If he did not, she had nothing against goofing around anyway; she could always get in more strict practice later. The day was supposed to remain beautiful well into the evening.

The girl could hardly speak English. Or so it sounded like that to him. He didn't exactly know where her accent was from. Was it Irish or Scottish? He hadn't run into either before but he had a feeling it was one of those two options.

Teddy shook Rebecca's hand and said, "My names Tedd...er...Ted." He almost said Teddy but he didn't really want the girl calling him that unless they knew each other. Football? He looked around but he didn't see any footballs around to play with. Then he noticed the soccer ball again. Oh ya forgot they called it that. Why did we call it soccer anyways? I guess we just want to be difficult.

"I've played some soccer before. Mostly in gym class at my old school. I'm not great at it but I'm ok." Truth be told he didn't really feel like he was great at any sport save maybe swimming or surfing. He felt like he knew enough to get by. Teddy just hoped that she wasn't any hardcore soccer nut and he was about to get stomped in to the ground.

So the boy's name was Ted. The name Ted made her picture a thirty year old man rather than someone as cute as the boy, but to be fair, Agnes was the first Agnes she knew her age. "Nice tae meet ye, Ted!"

Since he only played the sport casually, Rebecca would take it easy on him. She lifted the ball with her foot and bounced it once more on her foot, to her knee and gently lobbed the ball over to her new playing buddy.

It was nice that Ted stumbled across her. Rebecca had several months of living in the mansion under her belt, but her social circle was still relatively limited. She loved her friends, but it would be nice to meet some new friends, specifically for when Agnes was not around. "So hoo long hae ye been living at th' mansion?"

Teddy watched her as she picked up the ball with her foot and kicked it around a bit before passing it to him. He was actually quite amazed at how easily pushed the ball around. He playfully kicked it and it went at the wrong angle. The ball seemed like it was trying to run away from him as it streaked off to his left. "Sorry." he said chasing after it.

As he brought the ball back he answered her other question. "I've been at the mansion for about a year...ish now." In truth he wasn't quite sure how long he'd actually been here. So it was more of a give or take answer. "Even though I've been here this long I still haven't met to many people. It seems like new people are coming in daily and the old people ship out just as fast. It's just so hard to keep track." Teddy said to her.

It was true. To him at least because he was so shy it seemed like everytime he met someone they ended up leaving the mansion. Which was another thing he didn't understand because the mansion had everything he wanted and more. It seemed like this place could do just about anything and the mutants in it seemed to make that just a little more possible.

This time when Teddy kicked the bball it went where it was supposed to. In front of Rebecca. "Shall we play?" He offered. If she was as good as he thought she was then she might just teach him a thing or two and he might even learn to like this sport.

The kick was on target, but Ted missed the mark by just enough for the ball to go dribbling away. She chuckled as her playing partner ran off to collect it again. She would do her best to take things easy on him.

The younger boy had Mansion seniority over her, which she was not surprised by. What she was less prepared for was the apparent turn-over rate of the school; all her friends were still there, and she knew no one personally who just took off. The idea was upsetting; picturing Drew or Gina leaving her behind was depressing. Why would someone leave a place like this, anyway? "Well, Ah'm hoping nae tae leave for a while," she assured with a smile.

He asked if she wanted to play, which she did, but they were only two people. "Well, a real game might be tough, jist th' two of us. Wanna play keep away?" The premise was easy enough; she would dribble around and he would try and take the ball, and when he took it, it was her turn to chase.

Keep away? He could do that. He'd never played it with soccer but he'd certainly played it when he was in elementary school. It was an easy game and certainly the easiest to play with only two people around. He smiled a big smile. "Sure. That'll be fun. Your first since you have the ball." Teddy told her. It'd been a long time since he'd played with someone. Even longer since he'd played a kids game. Or at least the concept of a kids game.

Teddy usually found himself busy with school work that he didn't seem to be able to find time for playing a lot of games. Maybe this would all change and he would soon be able to spend more time with his friends outside of the normal classroom settings. Teddy backed up and got ready for her to start her assualt. He had a feeling that she was going to be really good at this, but he was going to try his hardest to give her a run for her money.

"Ay, Ah'll gae first," she agreed with a grin. She placed her foot atop the ball and rolled it backward. Once it was behind her, she took a step back and tapped it with the outside of her right foot. "Good luck catching me!" She began dribbling the ball away from the boy behind her.

As he pursued her, she kept the ball in control between her feet-- from right to left, kicking it behind her, spinning her body to keep herself between Ted and the ball. While they played, she might as well try to get to know him, so she asked in between pants, 'Sae... if yer a student... here, dae ye hae... a mutation?" She took the game from where they started near the sidelines until they were closer to midfield, being careful to keep an eye on his feet.

Teddy was glad she was so nice about his lack of skill with the game. Soon she had darted off and Teddy was left to chase after her.

The teen tried to get the ball from Rebecca a few times without success. He was very impressed with how good she was. It wasn't like he was letting her keep the ball. She was truly better than him. Although, it doesn't take much to be better than him at this sport.

Rebecca then started to talk to him while she was keeping the ball away; asking about his powers. He cleared his throat. He was still a little uncomfortable with his powers, probably because he didn't get to use them a lot. But he answered her anyways. "I can...turn into...stuffed animals." Teddy said between breaths.

By this time they were about mid field. This was the time he got lucky. He pushed his foot out and just tapped the ball. He'd made contact with it and that seemed just enough to push it away from Rebecca. Teddy turned his direction and started to run with the ball the other way. He wasn't as skilled as her so he didn't do a lot of passing the ball behind him like she did; however, in his mind he wast doing to bad keeping the ball from her.

Despite Ted's relative inexperience, he was keeping her on her toes, and she was enjoying the workout. The boy was not terrible, actually; if they played more often together, he could probably get good. Maybe this was something they could do more than once.

>> "I can...turn into...stuffed animals."

Rebecca's eyes widened. She had no clue that was something even made possible by mutation. It was hard to keep a serious face when she was a girl being given such cute news. "Really?! Tha's sae adorable! Ah coulds totally snuggle up wi' ye!" When the words left her lips, her brain caught up with her, and she almost slipped on the ball in embarrassment. "Er, well, ye knoo what Ah mean." Hopefully she did not offend him; as a boy, his mutation might be something Ted would be defensive about.

She looked down and misjudged Ted's foot, which was enough for the football to be taken from her. "Och! Lucky punk!" Without the ball, she went on the offensive, but Ted was doing a pretty good job keeping himself between her and the ball.

Ted.

Teddy.

Teddy Bear! She got it now! What were the odds of that?

"Really?! Tha's sae adorable! Ah coulds totally snuggle up wi' ye!"
"Er, well, ye knoo what Ah mean."

Teddy just laughed and rolled his eyes. It was actually a common reaction that he seemed to get from girls when ever they found out his powers. He was pretty used to it by now but it didn't mean that he was any less weird for a guys mutation.

One would think he'd be better at talking to girls with a power like his but he really wasn't. Once she caught up to him and the soccer ball he said, "Ya, it just sucks that's don't get to use it a whole lot." he spun the ball off to his left and bolted that way. She almost got it from him that time. "Let's just say that a stuffed animal doesn't seem to be a whole lot of use in a fight."

It was true no matter what he tried he couldn't seem to do any damage. After all, he was just made out of cotton and maybe some beads if he was lucky. Who knows maybe she would have some way for him to train that would be useful for him. Finally he spoke again, "Whst about you? What can you do?" he hoped she wasn't sensitive about it, after all, she did bring it up first.

>> "Ya, it just sucks that's don't get to use it a whole lot. Let's just say that a stuffed animal doesn't seem to be a whole lot of use in a fight."

If his goal was to have a mutation that would help in a brawl, then Ted was indeed out of luck, but Rebecca was the person to look at the bright side of anything. If her girlfriend's hivebody could help in a pinch, there must be a use for an adorable Teddy-Boy.

Rebecca continued pursuing the ball, but her attention was split as she spoke. "Weel, it's nae... a fighter mutation, bit if... someain needed a sneaky spy... yoo'd be th' guy!"

She had to resist the urge to push Ted, because this was just friendly sport, and she had to get used to playing cleaner anyway. "Really, Ah coulds sneak ye in anywhere... an' who'd question a discarded teddy bear?"

Rebecca managed to get a foot in between Ted's legs just enough to disrupt his dribbling and knock the ball away. She ran past him and took the ball.

>> "Whst about you? What can you do?"

Rebecca had no issues sharing her mutation to people at the school; everyone had one, so they were all trustworthy. Ah can control metal. Ah'm basically a big magnet," she joked. Her focus was now more on their game since she was in control. She adopted the strategy of keeping her back to Ted. She did her best to stay tame, but her reflexes told her to be competitive, so occasionally she would bump him away with her hip or even her bottom to give herself some distance.

Rebecca was right. It was obviously not really a fighting mutation. Now he hadn't really thought of the whole spy thing. Maybe he could do that. Images of James Bond movies that he'd seen flashed briefly in his head. Needless to say, he liked what he saw. Tour the world and meet extremely hot girls? I think yes. He thought as he continued to kick the ball. Unfortunately the James Bond thoughts distracted him and the next thing he knew Rebecca had the ball.

"Really, Ah coulds sneak ye in anywhere... an' who'd question a discarded teddy bear?" He had to admit that she had a valid point. Who in their right mind besides maybe TSA would suspect a harmless looking teddy bear. Now, if they saw it walking then it would definitely raise some questions. But that was where the whole spy thing came in. You weren't supposed to be seen. Teddy chased after her and the soccer ball. Then she started explaining her mutation. He thought her's seemed pretty cool. Although, he did get a vision of a big pile of metal flying towards her and sending her flying like they did in those cartoon movies.

Teddy sensed that she was a pretty competitive person. Once she had the ball, and whenever he seemed to get to close, she would give him a bump with her hip to keep him away. He couldn't complain...For one it was a good idea, and for another, what sane guy complained about a girl bumping him with her hips? None that he knew of. Her skill, however, stood out as being way better than his. It was obvious that she knew what she was doing and he was just kind of making it up as he went. In an effort to get her attention off of the ball and back to the conversation he said, "Who do you think would be interested in a 16 yr old spy?" He knew about the X-men around the mansion, but only in rumors. He hadn't met one...or at least he didn't think he had. Most of the kids knew they went on missions every once in a while but he didn't have any clues as to what they did or who they were protecting? fighting? spying on? He really had no idea what they normally did. Maybe she could give him an idea.

>> "Who do you think would be interested in a 16 yr old spy?"

The thought of Orb Weaver, the comic book spy who was trained from childhood came to mind, which Rebecca could blame on Akshay's geeky influence. Maybe the best spies were taught at a younger age anyway. "Who wouldnae want a dashing man o' danger working on their side?" It was probably safest to hold off mentioning the X-Men; it was probably not her place to say anything.

Ted's foot found a lucky place (as far as she was concerned,) and Rebecca found her leg tangled with his. The girl was tripped up and tumbled to the ground, but it was a harmless fall, and the ball rolled away.

((You can decide if Ted fell too or if he gets the ball))