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"Heck. I don't have pets for that reason."

He appreciated the the vote of confidence about his boss, though. "All of his responsibility is trickling down to me and it's not the first time. That actually means I know what I'm doing this time, ulike last time. It just sucks not knowing." Jude wasn't sure if he should close the door or not, but it did keep the dogs from roaming. So he did. The water wouldn't keep them occupied forever, but for now, they stayed off the bed.

The quality of everything in the room was apparent, despite the mess. Jude chose things with clean lines and classic taste. He would do without rather than bring home the wrong thing. He slipped off his shoes and dropped them into a sliding drawer beneath the bed before hopping on top of the lumpy covers. There wasn't any other place to sit so he motioned to the bed for Zaid, too.

"I think I'll start telling people why he's gone. Maybe he knocked up his girl or he's running for president or Texas." Or something even more outlandish. Those actually sounded almost feasible for the Ranger.

Revvie nosed her face into Jude's hand and he instinctively pet her.

"It's been fun having a taste of pet ownership, though. Do you have any pets?" That seemed weird somehow because of the bunny thing, he supposed.

For some reason Jude felt anxious to explain the running away bit, maybe to prove he wasn't just an insane wild child, but he held his tongue. Jude didn't regret his choices. And Zaid hadn't asked. There would be plenty of other opportunities, assuming that Zaid didn't wake up one day and wonder why he ever signed up to date a headstrong power copier.

There was one spot the dogs always went crazy for near the front post. No doubt, the neighborhood dogs marked it or maybe once they'd seen a bagel there... either way Jude paused, knowing they wanted a good sniff at the front gate of the Honeycomb Collective.

> ”Do you want a hand walking them back to your room?"

"It's really not far now..." Or was Jude missing some social cue? "I mean, I'd love to show you my room, but the thought of all four of us crammed in there..." Eh. It was just possible there might be room... deliberation over, Jude opened the front gate for Zaid and with a flourish and a half bow he motioned the other boy in. "There's a reason why there's so many common areas. The rooms are really small."

And of course, no elevator. Jude being on the top floor meant that the journey wasn't quite over yet. Once on his floor, Jude let the dogs off the leashes and they nearly bowled the door open themselves. He had to wade through them to get to the water dishes and refill them, but eventually there were two pups taking up the entirety of his floor space. Their backs were taller than his bed.

There wasn't a whole lot to the room, actually. Chargers on the nightstand, a rug. The bed was unmade, and Jude sort of heaped the blankets back up into some kind of shape. There was some rather generic art on the walls of scientific illustrations. Honestly, Jude was just glad the closet was already closed, otherwise he would have felt like a total slob.

"Well? Uh. What do you think?" There was hardly room to open the door before it hit the bed. If the bed weren't' in the way, it looked possible for him to maybe touch both walls at once.

The men were at a stalemate for so long that Bird of Prey, his original taker, nearly squeezed the tendons out of Jude's shoulders. There were animals sounds from the crowd and they were all rough housing and joking from the sidelines, even while they focused on the moment.

If pressed, Jude would admit that he'd been sweating. Once Jude had thrown his money in the ring and all bets were agreed, it turned out to be a non-insignificant amount. His entire lunch budget for the month, in fact, should the Ranger lose. "C'moooooon. Papa wants filet mignon, not instant ramen." So he was right there with the rest of them jumping, scattering papers, and whooping when the tides started to ebb in his favor and the Ranger actually pulled it off.

He did it. In an adapted's aura. That was indi-f***ing-sputable. "In your face, Gerhart!"

Montgomery was blustering because his whole world was shifting in the wake of his loss. In the noise and chaos, Jude almost missed that he was being offered up as the next round of entertainment.

"Wait, what?" Someone had stuffed Jude's winnings in the waistband of his pants and the single dollar bills kept falling out the bottom of his pants leg.

"I was tell them that you were working out. I think you might have a chance."

"Oh shut up. Working out doesn't equate for experience and mass."

"You're never gonna get either if you only ever lift pencils."

Some encouraged, some teased, and somehow Jude ended up locked arm in arm with Blair and new bets were being taken. At 6'1' he really was the closest match for Jude's 5'10, but just because he was the smallest man there, didn't mean he didn't have 30 more pounds of muscle or so.

Jude tried; he really did. But there was no hope even from the beginning. He knew he still had a long ways to go... unless he could figure out a way to get crafty about it. Renfield was already negging Wahl into the next match. They all knew how this story ended.

"Looks like we need to feed you more." Jude strained, but his arm was dipping slowly but surely.

"Looks like taking you all for suckers helped on that front." He fought to keep their hands from twisting and the two stalled out for a breath or two. Jude wasn't the only one trying to control his breath.

"Let me know when you want a rematch." Jude's knuckles tapped the table. He'd fought the whole way, but really only managed to slow the other man down. A fire was lit in Jude, a renewed goal to get swol.

"Thanks. I will."

Jude enjoyed telling the truth and having his life's irregularities slide under the radar, but the black eye incident stole all his smugness. That and the cat he couldn't dislodge from the toe of his shoe. That still steamed Jude. A) That it happened. B) That it had been Erik who’d been in the right place at the right time. He was trustworthy… to a point. But despite working at the same company, he didn’t really know the guy.

"Oh. You know it is a small world. Did you know I work with Erik? We don't see each other a lot, though.” He kinda wondered if Erik would even recognize Jude’s name. Jude sure recognized his. It was on every paycheck. Jude stayed in office a lot more than anyone else that worked there. That was making things quite tricky when he trekked up to the Mansion at least one a day... it really was time to get out.

”Well, clearly my taste in decor is impeccable.” Jude thumbed over his
shoulder at the drooping Isabel poster.

> "Oh, Andrea brought me a phone!"

”Oh sweet. I wish I’d thought of that.” In fact, he might have just been inspired for what to do to thank the unlikely addition to their rescue party. He looked the phone over as it was handed to him. It wasn’t super top of the line, but it would work. That was the most important. He put in his number and texted himself. He picked up the bitey kitten and added it to the sleeping kittie in his lap so he could use both his hands.”Yeah. I’ll text it to you.”

Andrea continued to be embarrassed. At least, Jude was pretty sure that color on her cheeks, no matter the color, meant blushing by the rest of her body language. He was messing with his phone to get the photo to Zaid.

As far as hanging on to sentimental things… he just didn’t have almost anything that qualified. So his opinions probably didn’t count there. But somehow the biting kitty had curled up to sleep in his lap like a nice little orange and white yin yang.

Guilty, guilty. Why did she look so guilty? Jude didn't yet know Andrea enough to understand the hesitance. People lived together all the time. Heck, he'd sorta just asked Zaid to move somewhere with him. Was that something he should have been ashamed about?

"I wish you would stay." Because Zaid clearly wanted her to. Jude made sure he wasn't sitting next to or right on top of Zaid so that if Andrea sat, they'd be a happy little circle of friends instead of Jude and Zaid as a united front against Andrea. 'Cause it just wasn't like that. Sometimes it was the little things that could convince people more than words. Not that he didn't try words too...

"I've only just met you, Andrea. We've both been in New York for how long? And somehow this is our first time crossing paths. It may never happen again. If you think Erik's restless, call him in too."

As for an apartment... "I have enough saved for a down payment because the honeycomb is cheap. I just have no idea where to go." That was sort of his perpetual problem. "I don't want to live too far from work, but too close is a grody part of Brooklyn." Not too far from one of the stops on the mad chase of Zaid and Andrea's life... not that he was about to point that out...

Zaid was so silly. Normally Jude would be right there on the floor with him, but Jude was more reserved with a stranger in the mix. Though he didn't mind keeping the kittens on task in forming a fuzzy puddle of laughter. Jude worked tirelessly to continuously scoop up any wayward kitty and drop it near enough so that Zaid was the natural target. It was part of therapy. Plus the combination amused him to no end.

"Dammit and Reville are on loan only." He reminded Zaid. To Andrea he explained, "They're my boss' dogs. I think he ran off to vegas to get married or something." Yet again, he was left making excuses for the Ranger. The longer that man was away, the wilder they were going to get.

And then he did a double take that seemed to upset his collar kitten.

"Wait. You're not staying?" Of course he wasn't staying, but the real question didn't hit him until he'd unhooked an angry snowball from his flesh. Jude sucked in through his teeth and brought the kitten down to where his coat was thick. He mindlessly held it like it might have been an infant. "Where are you going to stay after this?"

Andrea had a rather familiar formality that reminded him a bit of Ghost. It didn't surprise him that they two women were friends. Plus the fact that Ghost had been a mutant in this town long enough to win friends and influence plenty.

"Of course, I'll get you her number right now so we don't forget." Jude fished out his phone and opened up the phone book before passing it over. The message was clear, she could have any number in there if she wanted.

And with all the talking, he was seriously starting to fail at keeping Zaid buried in kittens. The ones that had made it out of the box strayed further and further, spreading out to explore. The ones in the box... well, Andrea was there for them. He wouldn't worry too much about them.