Timing was everything. It had becomething something of a nightly ritual for Skydancer, running across the rooftops between the circus grounds where she trained daily and The Mansion where she lived. Every day she took a slightly different route so as to not memorize the optimal route. It was a nightly challenge and one which got slightly less challenging with every night. Progress was being made and that was something to be proud of, although not something to ever excuse getting lazy or sloppy.

There were several ways Skydancer could go about jumping from rooftop to rooftop. The first and easiest was simply to find something to wrap her tubes around and swing. When that wasn't possible, however, if the building had a rough enough rough she could anchor a few of them down and usethat to lift herself over from one roof to the next. Third, of course, was to simply leap with no assistance from her tubes, although that was anoption she tried to avoid when possible.

A convenient barred balcony was spotted and a tube wrapped itself securely around one of the bars. A leap followed almost immediately thereafter and her momentum helped move her from one building to the next. Skydancer was presently several stories above the ground but heights had never been something to bother her and that was even more true since she had discovered that she was a mutant. Up high was where she was most at home and always had been. She grinned, her cheeks red with exhertion, contented with the life she had so unexpectedly managed to find for herself. She never expected to get over the death of her brother or the loss of her Olympic dreams, but somehow she had managed it and had something to live for once again.

Aedus wore a pair of Running shorts, socks and grip shoes. He was currently sprinting like a mad man across rooftops. He wouldn't have attempted this particular brand of free running before but now he was capable of saving himself if he fell. He already enjoyed the closer to the ground version. but there was something exhilarating about leaping off of one roof to slam into the side of a fire escape or onto a lower roof.

Out of his perephial he caught sight of someone else making use of the roof ways with much more grace than he was and so he veered after her. He needed more friends that liked to do stupidly crazy stuff, and he needed to know more blondes that were purple.

Aedus leapt another rooftop landing with a skid on the roof, send a flock of pigeons willing in the air, he cringed for a moment sure he would feel the revenge of dirty white bird paste. A moment later he was thankful he didn't. He picked up the pace once more, reaching his top sprint before he closed on the young woman before him. His leaped sent him sailing through the air, he pulled his legs up as he cleared the railing of a fire escape and slammed into the ladder going up. He kept moving and soon found himself on the same roof as the young woman, that he know knew was definitely purple.

The rooftops were a freeing, if occasionally lonely place to be. Usually no one was up there except Skydancer and there was a certain thrill to that sort of anonymity. Her purple skin caused her to stand out wherever she went but up there that didn't matter. No one looked up when they didn't have a reason to and thus she was able to be herself entirely, without having to worry about the reactions of those far below, either positive or negative. Up there, she was simply herself in whatever form she chose to take.

Another jump, this time facilited by using her tubes to vault into the air and do a graceful flip. There was a risk in there, mostly of falling and splattering herself painfully upon the ground far below, but sometimes Skydancer couldn't resist a little risk in her life. What was the point of living, after all, without a little risk and excitement? When one knew there were consequences to doing it wrong, that was all the more motivation to do it right. Besides, she hadn't nearly been an Olympic athlete for nothing and, upon successful completion of the stunt, she grinned to herself. One day there would be a crowd to watch her do such death defying manoeuvres, but that day wasn't today.

Skydancer was about to take a turn and continue on her route home when she came to the sudden realization that there was someone beside her. She jumped slightly, startled and mentally berating herself for being so unobservant as to be taken unaware. Olympic athletes didn't need to worry about the dangers of mysterious strangers, but sometimes mutants did. "Oh my god, you scared me." Now that she was aware of said stranger, if he proved to be dangerous she could take care of herself. "I don't exactly see many people here, so far above the ground."

Aedus grabbed Skydancer’s hand with his left and her forearm with his right, until she had recovered her full balance, it wasn’t a split second, that it took the gymnast to adjust to the surprise. He let go and took a step back after she was settled as to not worry her further.

He flashed a smile that a few women had told him was heartbreaking, he had it down pat. “ sorry I didn’t mean to startle you, and once I did, well it’s a dangerous place to have any surprising you. Again my apologies.” He reeled in his smile a bit.

“ I couldn’t resist saying hi to a fellow free runner, not too many of us play up so high. Though I can tell you are better equipped to it than I am.” His hand tentatively reached for hers, if accepted he would look curiously, with only interest apparent, to get a better look at her tubes.

He caught him self staring and again had to apologize. “ Sorry I am being rude, I forget at times that the only mutation on me showing are my eyes and in this light you might not notice them.” It wasn’t true, his eyes were orange and seemed to want to glow as if there was a heat behind them. “ I could show you if you were really curious about my other form, though you’d have to wait for me to transform.” He hadn’t intended to offer, but he thought this might be the easiest way to apologize for what essentially equated to gawking.

Skydancer almost lashed out when the stranger grabbed her arm to steady her. It was a sign that she had spent too long being fearful for her well being because she was a mutant. On the streets, such an action would have almost inevitably lead to violence, but that part of her life was behind her now. She managed to reign her reflexes in before actually hurting anyone and it only took her a moment to realize she was just being paranoid and he was just being nice.

The charming smile the man flashed didn't help Skydancer's somewhat suspicious nature. Maybe it was a sign that he was a genuinely nice and charming individual or maybe it was a sign that he was trying to hard and actually had some nefarious reasons to do so. Now was not the time to call him out on something that may or may not just be baseless suspicion, but it wasn't the time to let go of that suspicion entirely either.

"I can see how you might be curious about someone else hanging out on top of the roofs," Skydancer answered with a smile of her own. Just because she was a little suspicious was not reason not to be polite. She allowed him to take her hand though was careful to keep a weary eye on him just in case he was to try something.

"Other form?" Things clicked into place as Skydancer noticed the man's eyes and realized that he too was a mutant. The knowledge was comforting. "I admit I should have guessed whoever else would be up here would be a mutant too. You're eyes are stunning, I have to admit." This time her smile was minus the suspicion she had felt only moments before.

“Yeah, I’ve always thought it’d be fun to get a group together to do this sort of thing.” He wondered if that would be plausible or just draw unwanted attention. He envisioned a nypd helicopter following a large group bounding from building to building.

“I would do it right here but we would fall through the roof.” Aedus turned the charm back up. “ Thanks, I like your skin, hmm, its odd to say, nice skin, but seriously. I love the purple.”

He grinned, “Lets talk more, when we can’t run anymore. I’m Aedus by the way.” Aedus backed up a few paces and then took off at a run winking just before he passed Sky, he leapt into the air and sailed to the next building turning and jogging in place to see if she would keep up.

"A group exercise expedition would be a blast," Skydancer agreed with enthusiasm. Of course, she was reasonably certain that such a group would gather all sorts of unwanted attention and she didn't particularly want to worry about the results of that unfortunate sort of situation. "One or two people is a little more subtle than a big group though." She cringed, imagining the panicked reaction of the people below.

"It must be quite the transformation if your other form risks falling through the roof." Was it something extremely heavy maybe? That was Skydancer's first guess, unless the eyes were some hint at what the true nature of his power was. Then again, her purple skin wasn't much of a hint about her power, so appearances could certainly be deceiving. She blushed slightly at the compliment, trying her best not to take it to heart.

"I'm Skydancer and we'll see if you can keep up with me." Skydancer grinned at Aedus, preparing her own leap. A run and a jump and she was off, a tube wrapping itself around an exposed wrung of a fire escape ladder in order maximize the momentum needed to go from one roof to the next.

“I know right!” Aedus exclaimed and then called over his shoulder. “You do this to be discrete?”

“I hate to be modest but yeah, its awesome!” He panted as he sprinted to keep up with Sky dancer, she easily over took his lead and would be out free running him with ease soon enough.

“Nice to meet you Sky Dancer.” He said to her graceful form as it surpassed him. He leapt and made the next jump fine. It was almost as if they were in some surreal dream version of two kids running through a field of tall grass. He shook his head, he didn’t have the luxury of errant thoughts at this height.

The pair continued to hop from roof to roof as far as the skyscape would allow.

"Not exactly," Skydancer answered with a laugh. There was a very specific art involved in being able to speak and exert oneself at the same time. It was about breathing and exerting just enough effort to get the job done without going overboard with it. It was impressive that Aedus was able to do the same.

"I go by rooftop for training. There's no effort in walking around down there. Up here, its like a grand real life obstacle course." Training wasn't always about a rigidly structured workout routine, sometimes a little fun and a little ingenuity had be be brought into the game as well.

"Nice to meet you too, Aedus." Skydancer was enjoying herself and letting loose with someone else in a way she rarely had the opportunity to do. She grinned, deliberately keeping her pace a little slower than usual in order to allow her companion to keep up. After all, he didn't have the advantage of tubes to keep himself moving.

In an alleyway down below the psychotic entertainment bored mutants get up to when they have nothing better to do seedier things occurred in the mutant world.

Saturn and Jupiter leaned over a pair of what would normally have been intimidating men. " You think you can run around trying to rip the order off. "Saturn questioned.

Jupiter shook his head. ' you Can't but I think you are starting to realize that aren't you boys?"

One of the men nodded. the other stuttered. "Yeah, yeah, yes sir."

Saturn turned to Mercury. " Put out the trash Merc."

Merc smiled and Jupiter and Saturn dived out of the way. Mercury heaved the dumpster he was supposed to put the men in, up on to his shoulder and turned it over enclosing the pair in the upside down half full dumpster. they would have to dig through the filth, if they didn't want to asphyxiate on the odor alone. The clang of the dumpster echoed loudly in the alleyway.

Aedus skidded to a halt as the echo hit his ears. " Dance, hang on, something crazy is going on." The irish man then jogged over to the alleyway that the ruckus had come from and peered down. "holy crap, there are red giants down there!" His eyes went wide at the sight below of three rather large tailed men. he was pretty sure they had just smashed someone with a dumpster.

He looked over to his purple acquaintance, "Wanna check it out?"

" Dance, hang on, something crazy is going on."

Skydancer had a history of getting into the zone when engaging in training and not being as observant as she should be about the world outside of her next couple of steps, but she wasn't about to ignore the present statement. She halted at the words, only becoming aware, then, of the sounds going on below.

"holy crap, there are red giants down there!"

Skydancer peered down the edge of the roof and confirmed for herself that yes, there were indeed red giants down there. Three red giants, to be specific and all three looked rather dangerous.

"Wanna check it out?"

"Of course I do," Skydancer replied with a smirk. Maybe it wasn't the wisest decision she had ever made, but how could she possibly pass up such an exciting opportunity? Trying to remain quiet, she let her tubes down in a triangle on the ground, behind where the red giants were standing. She then walked off the edge of the building, tubes holding onto her weight for a swift and easy descent. She looked back up at Aedus, curios how he intended to get to the ground and prepared to offer him a tube or two if he needed it.

Aedus grinned. " Now is a good time to show you my trick." he said with a wild look in his eye. He wwas about to try something he was sure he would be able to handle, jumping off of a building. It might have been why he started doing this rooftop running. just so fate could bring him to this point.

"Hey!" it wasn't a great entrance statement, but it got people’s attention. Aedus leaped off of the roof and as he did his skin burst into flame, a faint scream could be heard as he descended toward the ground, He landed with a sizzle against the concrete. His clothes melted into the one man inferno he had become.

The irish man looked up towards the muscle men. “You boys up to no good?” he had atleast ten minutes he could afford to be cocky, their muscles would melt the second they encountered him. so he need not fear them.
---
Jupiter laughed once. “ Taking out a drug dealer from our neighbor hood is hardly up to no good is it?” The Large man moved forward and glared at the lava elemental, the rage in his eyes was obvious and calculating how to deal with what was in front of him. Saturn took a step back from the potential fighting ground and put a hand in front of mercury, not wanting him to do anything foolish.

Skydancer was impressed. There was something about a mortal man bursting into flame and jumping down from the roof that was impressive, simple as that. It was definitely less subtle than her own entrance, but he got mega points for flare. Pun possibly intended.

“You boys up to no good?”

That wasn't quite the approach Skydancer might have used, but who was she to argue with the man who currently far to closely resembled a raging inferno? Besides, when it came to physical confrontations she was more than capable of handling herself although having mutant opponents did tend to throw a wrench into the mix.

"Vigilante justice. Interesting." Skydancer spoke calmly and evenly, her tone neutral. She wasn't sure where this was going yet and she didn't want to instigate violence if it should prove unnecessary. Still, it seemed prudent to be prepared just in case and she grimaced as a second pair of tubes burst silently out of the skin of her back. All four exposed tubes circled her protectively, tips extended outwards. Now she felt prepared.

Jupiter smirked once more. "IF, we were the villains here, isn't that what you two would be contemplating? Vigilante justice. I don't like being threatened, and I don't like being talked down to." He looked to Aedus a dangerous tone slowly permeating his voice and demeanor. How the hell did one go about killing lava?

Aedus tilted his head. 'My fault guys, I assumed the worst after hearing the crashing and seeing the ones left standing were you three." Aedus eased his own stance a bit.

The first of the M dealers dug his way out followed by the second who was gagging from the stench. The first backed away from Jupiter who was closest and turned to run and stumbled back upon seeing Aedus, He glanced over to Sky and panicc was about to take over. The other finally stopped hacking and grabbed the sleeve of the other and yanked him toward a door in the building and they sped out of sight into a dark building.

The door slammed shut and opened again, a young man stood there in the doorway behind him a beach, the sky, the sounds of a tropical paradise. A giant smile came to his face at the expressions on the faces of the alley occupants. “I hate to interrupt but the chief wants a word with you fine folks. I’m Doorman by the way and this is paradise.”