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Awkward situations were awkward. Aiden still wasn't anywhere near used to have a roommate as extroverted as Jude, so even if he weren't still trying to sort out so much other stuff in his head he would have been wandering the mansion at odd hours.

He could believe that Persi's family was deranged enough to try to kill him. There was plenty of compelling evidence leading up to that realization. He could even accept that the girl who had ended up helping him had connections with less than pleasant people. No, the weird part was that his parents weren't really all that bothered by him being a mutant.

Weird, wasn't it?

Aiden was mostly trying to just not think about it all the time. He technically succeeded, as there were occasional moments where he thought about something else instead. Like right now. He was thinking that he was quite hungry, despite the unusual hour, except the last time he'd gone in there he'd noticed some scratches. Some too fresh for comfort scratches. That meant a certain someone who so liked trying to kill Persi, and had somehow ended up as a cat, if the rumours and gouges were to be believed, was still hanging around.

That did not relax him at all. He did need food, though, so he poked his head in.

... Strange person looked familiar but definitely wasn't Isabel, unless she somehow now had a humanoid-but-not-bone-queen-Isabel form. Should be safe enough. He nodded politely on his way to the fridge. Food... food. Hah! It was still there. There was a container in the back corner that contained cooked chicken. He pulled out a leg and tucked the container back where it belonged.

... Strange person was definitely familiar. "...Er, hi," he said.

Aiden appreciated having a bit of space while he finished setting out his belongings. He plugged in the computer but didn't turn it on, and left his books in stacks on the desk while he knocked the box flat and slid it under the bed. Keeping busy didn't keep him from hearing or answering Jude, however.

"No, they're just... sentimental." And Aiden could be very possessive, even if he didn't set it to music and blast it out of every speaker around. "They did help me get in with the Xs, though." And through most of his previous school years; having something complex and physical to focus on helped a great deal with stress, even though trying to keep it private often added a whole new layer of anxiety. Jude hardly needed to know that, though. Aiden sighed.

And then winced. Was he that unpleasant to be around? "Sorry. I'm just, well, stuff hasn't exactly been relaxing lately. I don't want to kick you out of your room. I'll head out when I'm done."

Oh. "Just don't move fast and try to avoid heat." Aiden shrugged. "I make snow if I move enough, and I don't get cold but I do overheat." The need for a roommate with a sufficiently neutral mutation was pretty clear when Jude put it like that. "Nothing particularly drastic." At least in winter. They might have to shuffle around again come summer, but that was plenty far in the future.

Psychic..?

...

That thought was filed away under Best Not to Look. And locked. "Nothing interesting," he said, a bit shortly. He didn't have much time to worry about it, though, instead switching to a slight eye twitch - fortunately not in Jude's direction, since Aiden happened to be turned away and looking down at the time. "Yes. No, they aren't sharp, and I don't let people touch them." It was awkward enough letting people see them. He'd let Cafas handle them, but Cafas was, well, Cafas. X-Man and trainer and decent guy. He slid the swords under the bed, followed by a couple of worn sketchbooks, but set the batons on the bed for the time being.

... Jude was still watching him, wasn't he?

What.

Just.... what.

Aiden's disbelief didn't even let him think it as a question. He just stared and blinked and couldn't think properly. Or at all, really. Just... what.

Sapience eventually returned, somewhere around the time something hit him in the face. Muscle reactions, check. Slow, but check. He nearly punched himself in the face trying to catch the thing, but still. Okay. What was...

What.

...

If it weren't for the disturbingly Hawaiian decor, Aiden probably would have turned around and gone right back to Persi. On the spot. Regardless of the paperwork and explaining that would be required. The fake flower thing fit in with the rest, though, so Aiden just blinked a few more times. "Um. Hi."

Well, if Persi kept on like this, Aiden was probably going to start agreeing out loud that Persi was an annoying brat. An annoying, stubborn brat. "Exactly. We've been over it." He rolled his eyes. Sheesh.

Somehow, Aiden doubted Persi had gone very far afield in his search. "Uh huh. So what, two?" The number didn't matter, and there might have been a tiny bit of sarcasm in his tone. Just a tiny bit. Not too much, of course; Aiden was not a particularly sarcastic person. "Knows and has the time to act are two different things."

Why? "Demands on my time and required exercise, mostly. Harder to hole up all the time." And by next summer, he wouldn't be quite as useless a trainee as he was now. More experience, legally able to do more things, no longer a high school student... Yeah. Chances were he'd have a ton more to do and could well be even more susceptible to heat, from what he'd heard (vaguely) about how often mutations were a bit unstable. Especially following their initial emergence. Aiden was definitely hoping his had sorted everything out in the one go.

"Oh. Well, that's good." Yes. It was good that he didn't mess up some random person's schedule as well as run into them. Very good. Almost as good as letting Masque go on his way would be.

Had she really not clued in or heard about Persi's attempted suicide? And she thought it would be a good idea to tag along? This was definitely not a good idea. He should start thinking of ways to leave her b--

Ai shut up. He even shut up in his head for a while, before eventually muttering that she got the name wrong and Dragon Age was better anyway. In his head. He didn't want more facial scars. Or, you know, the pain of having his head shoved through a door. Into a door would be bad enough.

He stayed quiet until the door opened, hesitated, and then pushed himself to his feet to edge into the office while the girl was packing up her tools. Files with addresses. Filing cabinets? Those looked promising. He crept across the room, more than a little paranoid that he was going to set off some alarm.