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Gemma nodded slowly, and for a second, Chase feared that he offended her. His eyes colored with embarrassment. He couldn't keep his gaze still-- he actually liked this lady, and now he'd offended her. He frowned, took a hesitant sip of his milk.

>> "I know. None of them are. And you don't have to tell me right away, but you will have to tell me eventually. I need to know so I can help."

Chase looked up, trying hard not to look alarmed. He didn't have a very strong poker-face. He didn't have to tell her now, but maybe later, so that she could help .What a novelty! His face heated once again, and Chase toyed with his glass once again. Miss Gemma was so nice. If the State ever stopped looking for him, he might actually tell her how he came to run away. He was scared, beyond scared-- but eventually didn't have any time specifications. It was on his own schedule.

"Okay," he agreed. Chase nodded, shyly smiling, and gave Gemma an earnest gaze. He was a boy of his word. Eventually, he would tell her about why he ran away.

>> "All right, how about this. Do you want to show me what you can do with your mutation?"

This request was met by a more open smile, and a more enthusiastic nod. Perhaps it would have been better to inform Gemma of what he was going to do, but Chase was more of a "take requests" kind of entertainer. He slid off of his stool, away from the table, and continued to peer up at Gemma.

"What do you want me to do, Miss Gemma?"

Chase nodded his head quickly. He remembered Russell and Abigail doing similar things when they went trick-or-treating-- spreading all of their candy out on the dining room table, while Laurence and Stella combed through it all and filtered out the "bad" candy from the "good". Chase had never known that they were poisoned, though.. Check candy before eating it-- okay, he could remember that.

Next, Locke went into the etiquette once again, talking about how, after you said "trick or treat", and got the candy, you were supposed to thank them and wish them a Happy Halloween. Again, didn't sound too difficult-- Chase was an incredibly well-mannered child, or so he had been told. He was reflexively like that. Then, there was the matter of visibility-- Locke asked if he wanted the backpack or the flashlight. Chase replaced his hood, glancing between the two.

He'd have to carry each of them all night, and while the backpack would get heavy fast, he wouldn't be able to pick up residues through the robe. Chase looked at his hands, which were hidden by the sleeves of the robe, yet unprotected by gloves-- the flashlight would have skin-contact all night, which meant an entire night of resisting the urge to turn into Locke.

"Umm, backpack?" Chase requested. Chase made a mental note that he should really invest in gloves until he could better control object-based shifts. Locke then turned his attention to the issue of keeping warm. Would Chase be warm enough in what he was wearing? Chase smiled behind the hood, and bobbed his head. Through his time on the streets, warmth had become less and less of an issue. The chill only bothered him when he was hungry, and at that moment, he wasn't very hungry.

"I'll be fine," he assured the older boy, peeling back the tattered, gossamer black sleeve to reveal the sleeve of a dark waffle-knit hennley underneath. Chase smiled from behind his hood, which could be heard in his tone of voice, "I don't get cold easily."

"Oh... what?" Chase murmured uncertainly, frowning. Was it something he had said? Obviously, it wasn't something that the older boy liked, for he started ranting on him. Razors in candy, rat poison on apples? "People would... do that?"

And he continued to speak of older kids stealing his candy, or people kidnapping Chase. Chase began to feel less and less enthusiastic about going out-- he wasn't big and intimidating like the older kid-- maybe it would be better if he went back to his room and stayed there for the night? It would be a lot easier to do that than to go out and risk getting killed... If the older boy was trying to scare Chase into not leaving, he was doing a rather good job. Perhaps after all these years, his parents were really just protecting him? He let his gaze flick from the older boy to the ground.

The older boy assured Chase that he wasn't going to get sent to his room, and Chase nodded hesitantly, returning the smile shyly. He didn't need to send him off, now-- now Chase wasn't too sure about going out. The kid requested his bag, and Chase forked it over. hesitantly.

"No allergies," Chase confirmed, confused. The older boy spilled a few candy bars into his bag, and began educating Chase on Halloween etiquette. Chase listened closely, his gaze, meandering from the bag to the older boy's face, "I didn't know it was that complicated."

>> "I'm Locke by the way, and I'm going to be keeping my eye on you tonight."

"You are? Are you sure?" Chase inquired, smiling in spite of himself, before catching himself and glancing aside, "I'm Chase. Thank you."

>> "I understand. Sorry, I just... don't want to go through puberty again... I don't mind trying somesing else. Or someone else. I would appreciate it if you would tutor me, just... I want to stay zis age. It was hard enough to get here in the first place."

Chase listened as Jude explained himself, his excuse not quite what Chase had expected. He stared at him mutely. Wait, so it wasn't the shift? Chase was so self-conscious, so that was the first direction that his mind had wandered. And what the heck was puberty? He nodded slowly, as if he understood.

"You weren't grossed out?" Chase countered hesitantly, "Just worried about being a kid-?" He continued to watch Jude as he explained, "You wouldn't be stuck as a kid. The form would slip once you took my hat off... Wouldn't have to go through-" He twirled his hand absently, having already forgotten the word.

Now that he thought of it, which Chase would Jude have looked like, if he had gone through with the shift-- human-him or normal-him?

>> "I recently had to live as an eleven year old. No offense, but being a kid once is enough."

"What's wrong with being a kid?" Chase asked. He didn't sound offended, just perplexed. Adults always talked about how nice it was to be a kid, and none of them ever sounded like they didn't want to go back... Chase just didn't understand it.

Scrounging up a costume had been difficult enough-- with such limited resources, Chase had to get very creative. With some help from the older children at Xavier's, a costume for Chase was concocted. An older boy had an old plastic scythe and Grim Reaper's robe from a few years prior, and was willing to part with it for Chase's sake. And, he'd only worn it once, so Chase's residue took hold quite rapidly.

Now, Chase had never been trick-or-treating-- weather was usually too foul by October's end to go out, or if it wasn't, Chase was never allowed to go trick-or-treating. He got the gist of it, though-- go door-to-door, say "Trick or treat," and people gave you free candy. Thus, empty pillowcase in-tow, tge young boy was trotting out of Xavier's unaccompanied.

>> "Hold it right there."

Chase was frozen by the command that had practically been growled at him. He turned to face a much older boy in a pig mask. Chase didn't like it. The older boy sounded mean.

"Yes?" Chase inquired, his voice quiet and uneasy.

Aedus explained that he'd lied to the mob to scare them, or that was what Chase assumed bluffing to be, and recieved a pat on the leg. Chase got the message, he didn't ask any more questions. He didn't notice when James began to drive faster, the cab reaching breakneck speeds. Chase was too busy alternating between Aedus' and Agnes' windows, to look out and see if he could find, "Panda King Empire," before anyone else could call it out. He contented to be quiet, for he hadn't any other questions, and didn't know what else to talk about.

Lo and behold, after about fifteen minutes of James's panicked driving, the cab swung over to the curb and parallel parked alongside it. Chase leaned back, looking out the rear window. Above them, loomed a large, green sign that read "Panda King Empire". they had arrived. Chase undid his seatbelt yet didn't move until his older cohorts filtered out ahead of him, or until James had been paid.

"Thank you for the ride," Chase said quietly, inching out of the cab, and onto the sidewalk. All that he recieved in return was a grumbled, "Yer welcome, enjoy the food."

Chase grabbed his backpack off of the seat, and turned to the two older kids, slinging the backpack over one shoulder.