Nate was finally confident Xavia was not going to run away. Her eyes were not scared or shocked, which was comforting since he was made of darkness. The lighting was dim, as it was either dawn or dusk, (since once again, Nate had never asked what time or day it was,) so he was not as dark and opaque as he had been the first time.

No longer desiring to have his arm stretched out, Nate took a few steps closer to Xavia, releasing her wrist. He was surprised to discover that he was one of the first, if not the first person to watch as she created plant life. He rested a shadowy hand on her shoulder and smiled. "I am honored you shared it," even if it was not intentional. "It is an amazing talent." And it was; her power created life, which was astounding, even amongst mutants.

Nate took his hand back and looked down at his palm. He sighed, clearly annoyed. "I haven't figured out this new form yet. Specifically, I don't know how to get myself out of it." He sincerely hoped that was just his inexperience, and he would eventually learn how to turn the shadow form on and off. It was not a major problem at the moment, but if it was triggered at the mall or in Times Square, the results could be less pleasant.

Well, there had been people who had seen her grow plants in her palm and turn into one, but never had anyone seen her collect data like that. Her mouth curled up a little, “Well… You are the only one who has seen how I learn to grow a new plant… It is a very private thing to me, because it is sort of an intimacy between the plant and me.” She reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and then lifted her palm back up to show him the withered flower. “I wish I could keep them alive forever, but I cannot.”

And then she shook her hand, the plant crumbled and fell to the grass. “What is your gift? Are you phantom? It is, how you say… Fascinating.” She reached to him and attempted to touch his shoulder with a child like curiosity. If her finger poked through, she would try and pass a hand through, if not, she still continued to speculate about his gift.

Indeed, it was getting late. How long had they been talking anyway? There were no youngsters who had been walking around at the time she showed up, and it wasn’t a weekend. Soo, yeah… It was a late summer evening.

Nate grinned at what talent exactly Xavia was so cautious about sharing with others. "Oh that. Yeah, I won't lie, I got a rather 'intimate' vibe from that. At least it makes sense in context now." He joked, "I was worried that I was so boring, you chose to make out with a flower." Hopefully she had a sense of humor, since he was boldy teasing the very ability she seemed self-conscious about.

Xavia asked about his mutation, poking his shoulder to find it was solid. "Not exactly. I used to just be a shadow manipulator, but recently I have developed the ability to become shadow mass."

He focused on his own shoulder. He was still having a difficult time convincing himself that it was okay to mess with his natural structure, but he took a deep breath (symbolically, since he did not breath in shadow form,) and loosened his shoulder so her finger pressed into him. "If I get the hang of it, I'm pretty malleable it would seem."

Her hand was fully in his shoulder, so Nate decided to constrict the area again as a prank. She would soon realize she could no longer pull her hand out of the shadow-trap. "For instance, I'm keeping your hand now," he taunted with a wink.

When her hand did go through, she blinked in surprise because she couldn’t pull it back out. “Hey… What the…?” She gave a weird look, and then glared in good nature. “If you weren’t just trying to be silly, I don’t think you would like doing that to me at all. I grow thorns.” It wasn’t a threat or anything, just fact.

She couldn’t really tell whether he was just being friendly, or if he was flirting with her. After all, she was the type of girl not to go chasing after a guy. Especially not while still somewhat thinking about another in the romantic context. But then again, she had only just found Jupiter again, and she wasn’t sure how to feel. It had been a long time.

Xavia didn’t really tease back, but was kind of doing what she usually does when faced with a new male catching scent, so to speak, and shutting down a little. She was used to being looked at a certain way because of the way she looked and smelled, so much so that she hardly paid attention to the way men acted around her. They had to do something really special to get her to really see them. Though Nate was on the right track, she was kind of confused.

When she was finally free, she said, “I didn’t make out with the flower, I tasted its pollen.” Oh, what a face palming moment that was, she thought. “And you do have an interesting power, for sure.” And just to show she was good natured about the prank, she didn’t even glance away, but she did cross her arms over her chest, but the nearby ivy began to grow slowly while she talked. “I haven’t seen one like yours before.” And it crept along… “I imagine it was interesting to discover.” Creep, creep, creep. And it curled around his ankles silently,

Nate maintained eye contact and a grin as Xavia defended her method of data collection, and did not break contact when she returned the focus to his mutation. The only time his eye contact broke was when he felt pressure around his ankle.

The unexpected feeling caused Nate to jump a little, but once the surprise had past, he began laughing. "Very clever trick hun, but you're gonna have to do better than that. In this form, I can't feel pain." He paused before confessing, "Or breath." Another pause. "Or smell. Or taste. And I don't hear so well." Admittedly, he had discovered plenty of flaws in his new form.

"But I can do this." Focusing and repeating, It's just a small change in his head, Nate's foot loosened its shape and slid through the binding ivy. "You'll have to try harder, Xavia."

He held his hands out, taking hers. Once he was holding a hand in each of his, he brought them together. His hands fused into one shadowy form, like a shackle on her. "I might just be too good," he joked, wondering if she would have any clever tricks to escape his trick.

She blinked when he took her hands, and then looked at him funny. She raised a brow, then, and shook her head. Even if she did have a way out, it would take her a few minutes to completely transform into a plant. It wasn’t his fault, but she was starting to feel panic rise, something she rarely felt anymore… But then, he was the first person to hold her captive, even if playful, since the thugs had tried to take her captive when she was just Layla, which was not too long after her captivity in Romania.

“Yes, you win.” she was doing her best not to freak out as the memories assaulted her. “Please…” She was tugging to try and get free, clearly uncomfortable with the change in the situation. Her voice was a little shaky as she went on to say, “Please let my hands go.”

She had to turn her head, her eyes squeezed closed, and she started to breathe heavily, her form starting to tremble as she tried not to think about the past.

At first the joke was normal and Nate was smirking, but the smirk quickly faded as Xavia began reacting in a clearly nervous way. He did not know what, but there was obviously something in her life that she was flashing back to, and the last thing he wanted to do was be a point of trauma for her.

Nate released the shadow-shackle, his hands reforming into their independent shapes. One of the remade hands rested on Xavia's shoulder, and eyes, barely discernible from the rest of his shadow-body, checked her eyes to make sure she was alright. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

She seemed shaken up, but all in all, she was still standing. He pulled his hand back, feeling guilty for getting to her like that. "I hope I didn't panic you too much."

When Nate let her hands go, she sighed and sagged in relief. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him, slightly irritated at herself for reacting as she did. She had worked damn hard to get away from that part of her past, and it was hard when she had to deal with it coming back to the surface. “No, no. I’m fine, Nate.” She let him touch her shoulder and then put some distance between them.

She just needed a moment to clear her thoughts, and took the time to do so. Xavia turned back toward him after a bit, and then said softly, “You didn’t know. It is okay.” But she would not elaborate. It was clear she wasn’t about to open herself up in such a manner toward a man she barely knew.

“Listen, maybe I should go. I feel like I have bothered you enough today.” That was her way of running away from a situation. He might see through it, he might not. It was part of her nature, especially around the male populace, to try and distance herself in such a manner. She reached up and zipped up her jacket, feeling pretty mortified.

But how was he supposed to know that she was suffering from the last bits of PTSD? That made her feel worse. The man had been kind to her since she had shown up, and here she was wanting to bolt like a frightened deer.

It felt as though Nate might have done more damage than he anticipated. It was clear she was ready to take her leave, making Nate feel all the more guilty for what he assumed was a harmless prank.

Nate batting average with choices involving women had taking quite the plunge lately.

His shirt was tight enough to undergo the shadow-transformation, but his pants were still on, so he shoved his hands in his pockets, unsure of what exactly he could say or do. A year earlier, he would never have found himself with that problem. "You're not bothering me, really."

His eyes were looking at the ground at his feet. "You don't have to go. I mean, you can go if you want to." My God, he was sounding awkward. He looked back up to her. "But you really don't have to." Nate was hoping for the chance to prove he was not just made of terrible, but he was not going to push it; he would probably make everything worse if he tried.

Xavia stopped to ponder, her eyes darting between him and her chance at an exit. She looked at him again and relaxed even further. And then she looked at the concern on his face and saw how serious he was that he was fumbling to tell her it was okay for her to stay. She chose to stay.

It was then that she REALLY started seeing what kind of a person he was. He had been playing around. That was starting to become clear. She still didn’t really see the flirting, but she took more notice of him now than she had earlier. She walked back toward him and was probably close enough he could reach, but she didn’t step into his personal space. “Okay, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to assume that you wanted me gone or anything. I just… I am sensitive about some things and you didn’t mean to go there. I promise that I am alright.”

She cleared her throat and turned toward the flowers again, reaching down to touch them. She cast a side long glance over her shoulder and said softly, “They really are beautiful. What are they called?” And the sun was getting ready to set, it seemed, for she was cast in an orange glow.

After what felt like a long deliberation, Xavia decided to stay, which Nate was pleased with. He wanted to make sure she did not leave there with him haunting her mind in such a negative way. For one thing, he could have single-handedly ruined a chance for the Mansion to get a benefactor, and secondly, she seemed like a nice woman, and it would have been a shame to screw up the chance to get better acquainted with her. "I understand. We all have pasts." A lesson he had learned in spades.

She returned to the plant that originally began their disastrous chain of events. Nate crouched alongside her, looking at the plant. He was not the floral expert Agnes was, but he had a few selections tucked away in his mind from various escapades in his past. "I'm pretty sure that is a delphinium," he decided, looking at the blue and violet flowers. "I think it is the flower of bold choices. A flower for those who take chances." He was no botanist, but he loved the poetry of what flowers might embody. It gave purpose to beauty, which was one of the motivations for any artist.

“It’s lovely,” she said, gently touching the flower again. “These are the kinds of lovelies I think of when I am working.” She had humor in her voice now. “I pretend the audience is a bouquet of flowers. It makes it easier for me to sing to them.” Ahh, she revealed another detail about her that he didn’t know yet. She was a singer.

It would explain a lot about her charm, perhaps, if not most. She closed her eyes and brushed her cheek on the blossoms again. “They smell so lovely.”

Her mouth curved in a winsome smile.

Somehow it was not terribly surprising to find out Xavia was a singer professionally. It might have been that she carried herself with a certain degree of confidence, or it might have simply been a quality of her voice, but it was believable. "Maybe when my hearing returns to normal, you can share another new talent with me, then," he suggested with a smile.

Xavia returned to a close, intimate connection with the flower. "It's a shame I can't enjoy the scent at the moment." He felt the situation returning to a more comfortable spot. It was nice to stop treading on eggshells. "So do you just find it easier connecting with plants than people?" It was a joke, but she did point out that it was easier to sing to flowers than people, and she certainly treated flowers with a tenderness reserved for someone a person might treasure.

She nuzzled some more into the flowers, and they seemed to respond in kind. “They don’t have intentions. They don’t purposefully set out to make life miserable, or break hearts. They don’t have hatred. You know when they are happy because they bloom bright and vibrant. Like so…” She demonstrated by pulling back and tickling at a particularly droopy flower, one that was not much longer for this world. The stem straightened and the flower burst into full bloom. “Would that I could keep these alive when I am not here… But even I cannot solve the mystery of immortality.” She gave a soft laugh.

“And you know those stories about people singing to flowers? They can’t really hear. I know because I can be a flower if I want. But they do feel vibrations, and vibrates the sound waves. So the flowers can –feel- someone singing or talking to them, and they can grow and respond…” She leaned in for one more nuzzle. It was definitely clear that she was a loving individual and that she didn’t love on whimsy. Her love toward the flowers, even the ones she just learned of, seemed genuine and warm.

“As far as me singing goes, how about this…?” She picked her note pad up from the spot near the flowers, having forgotten she’d said it there (really, it wasn’t specified), and flipped to a clean page. “Here is where I will be singing next, I will have two tickets available for you for no charge, feel free to bring a friend. Actually, how about I give you four tickets, two for you, and two for the person I am giving my money to. Dinner will also be provided.” She may sound business like, but she wouldn’t be doing that at all if she didn’t like him. In fact, she scribbled her cell number on the page, which she was REALLY picky about doing. “I don’t normally do this, but… Here.”

She tore the page off the pad and offered him the piece of paper, giving him a soft smile.

Xavia skimmed over letting Nate know she could turn into a plant, but at that point, it was almost unsurprising to add that to her list of talents. He let the revelation give way and listened, amazed by her genuine bond with the beauty of floral life.

Nate stood up alongside Xavia as she wrote down details for a second meeting, which apparently would include dinner and a song for him, his guest, and Sam (who he assumed would also bring a guest.)

He took the paper, noting the phone number written along with the information. He gestured to the notepad as a request to share his own information. "Well, I will graciously accept and let the assistant headmaster know as well." He met her eyes and matched her soft smile. "You're definitely something special. I'd like to see the music created by such a sincere soul."

Nate noticed a delphinium flower detatched from the plant, resting on the ground next to it. He carefully picked up the fragile flower, handing it to Xavia atop her notepad, which now contained his number. "Here. Someone pursuing a life as a star can't be a stranger to taking bold chances," he joked.