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Alex sighed, giving himself a moment to relax before addressing the girl. "Your probably thinking this is really weird right?" He smiled knowingly, she had so many questions buzzing in her head that it must be driving her insane. "Honestly I wasn't expecting an audience but that's what I get for doing this in a public park."he said. He reached out a hand, "I'm Alex by the way and you are...?"

He was avoiding saying it out right. It explained his mutation so many times to so many people in just about as many weeks that it was starting to get tedious. Still it would be rude to just leave this girl high and dry. If she asked, he'd answer but before. This girl looked human so there was a chance she had no clue. Hell, however unlikely, she might not even be considering mutation.

But given the concentration of mutants in this city he'd be surprised.

He watched the fight, concentrating on keeping the two from killing each other. This was a test of flight capabilities not a fight to the death. Still, with Marry angry he was getting the feeling that he was going to cut this off early. He didn't feel like having the sensation of a broken spine today. But just as he was about to cut the fight off he was interrupted by a girl talking behind him. Startled, he lost sight of the fight and had to look on the interrupter.

Looking her over she couldn't have been older than himself and she didn't look to happy about what she had seen. "Ah, yeah, they are and this is just training, not a death ma-" He was suddenly interrupted once again, this time by the sound of one of the bird plummeting to the ground and crashing with a sickening crack and the sensation of his own spine breaking.

The world tilted for a second, the ground rising up to meet him, and he was on his knees, gasping like the wind had gotten knocked out of him. His back on fire and he was sure he was a few seconds away from passing out. Blinking owlishly, forcing the black spots away from his vision he concentrated on cutting the connection, sending the broken bird back to dust, to relieve some of the pain.

It looked like Marry was the winner after all, the little sack clutched in her beak proudly. "Marry, you weren't supposed to kill him. That freakin' hurts!"he shouted and the hawk only looked annoyed.

"And that's the last one." The dry erase marker smudged over the laminated map of central park, marking the location of the last yellow marker. Alex had spent the majority of his afternoon tying up the yellow strips of paper all for one thing. To test two new construct designs, a modified Northern Goshawks. In theory taking the bits and pieces from other birds would allow for greater speed and maneuverability.

Goshawks were already formidable but hopefully his tweaking would add to that. So this test would be two fold. Each bird will take it's course on either side of the park and race to meet him at the Huddlestone Arch. The when they got there he would toss up a small weighted sack. That when things would get interesting, the resulting fight would test their aerial strengths. He only hoped that no one would freak out over the sight.

"Well, too late to stop now." he grinned walking over to the stone arch and standing on top of it. Closing his eyes he found his two constructs were already in position. One with the mind of Ace and the other with Marry. Marry wasn't used to aerial bodies and had to take some time getting used to it, but she was clever and quick and would be more than enough of a challenge for the more experienced Ace. Both constructs sat perched on opposing branches over the first markers.

On your mark, get set...GO! He mentally called out to both constructs. Both took off, Mary hesitating only a second putting her just behind Ace.This was something of a test for him as well. It divided his mind twice to concentrate on the both of them and make sure they didn't get off course. Of course Marry and Ace were two of his strongest minded constructs, capable enough to pick up where he slacked and make their own choices. Alex pulled the little sack from he backpack and waited.

>>"More of a possibility than a catch, really. Five years ago when I got to New York City, I got into a bit of trouble... My mutation... um, lets me sneak into places. Anyhow, I got picked up by people from Xavier's. It's a school in the city, for mutants. Well, most of a safe haven really, I haven't exactly been attending a lot of classes... Anyhow, it's a home for mutants. A lot of people like us run away and have nowhere to go, and... well, the team at Xavier's is really good at providing a home for them. So, if you are interested, I can give you the tour, and see how you like it there."

He blinked, looking at Gawain owlishly before pulling a look of disbelief. "I...I don't know if I buy that. You mean this whole time there was place I could have gone, a place I could have called to help me out, and never once heard about."he said. He poked the older man in the shoulder in a friendly manner, grinning, "My stranger danger senses are going off. Heh, how do I know that this isn't a trap of some sort? Ya devious con-man."

He was teasing of course, though it really did sound too good to be true. A place that magically wiped away the very thing he was running from and provided him a place to actually stay. He almost didn't want to believe it. It had been three years, with thousands of miles travel under his feet and never once did he hear about this safe haven. Okay, so he didn't exactly keep up with the new in all that time. So something might have slipped by him in all that time. But still, this run in with a kind stranger was turning into some sort of weird coincidence.

He listened with curiosity, noting how similar their stories were. It was strange but comforting to know someone else out there who knew what it was like. Perhaps it was idiotic of him to think he was alone in this.


>>"How long have you been out here?..."

"Here specifically? A month or so. But I've been on my own about three years give or take a few months. Originally I was in nowhere Idaho. From there to here I've been hoofing it from small town to small town. I think the biggest place I've been to aside from here was Salt Lake City."he explained.

>>"Also... what exactly is your mutation? I've seen you, um... make a dog go poof, but that's my only clue."

He couldn't help but smile at that. "Its easier to show you." Now that he had some food in his belly he felt a little more sure about making a construct. A small one, but at least something to show. So he picked at the end of his hotdog, squashing the material a bit before he broke it down and reconstructed it into a beetle. "Tada, organic matter into organic life." He held up the beetle for Gawain to see.

He chuckled and didn't bother to tell her it was mostly sleeping that caterpillars did in cocoons, though that was only from an outsider's view. Or that seeing the world from a spiders view while very interesting was also very jarring perspective wise. He hadn't tried a shark though, there had never really been a need for it. It might be interesting. He made note to try it some time.

He followed Shelby across the street and down the block. He honestly didn't mind the walk, having long since gotten used to walking for long periods of time. When she paid for his ticket he was about to thank her again for paying for this. However he was interrupted by the cashier and was happily surprised by the badge he received for Ace. He actually laughed a little and nodded, "Thank you, I'll be sure to make sure he behaves himself."

He looked over at the hawk at his shoulder and showed him the badge. "Hey Ace, look what you got. Aren't you a special bird. You wanna hold on to it?"he cooed like he would with a normal pet. Ace squawked in response and Alex nodded with a barely contained laugh, "You're right, I probably should hold on to it." He put the badge in his pocket, along with the ticket in case anybody bothered them.

He grinned at Shelby's comment at not getting a cool badge. "Thanks again for paying. You know that's never happened to me. I've always had to leave 'em outside. I'm starting to think you're my good luck charm or something."he chuckled. This day was turning out to be one his best ones and he wondered how long it would last.

A straight up offer for food? Gnawing on his lip he looked the guy over, not exactly the most threatening type. His stance was casual, relaxed. This wasn't a trick or a trap, just genuine pity. Usually he picked targets to play the pity game with. But if this guy was just willing to offer up his wallet, who was he to say no.

His stomach growled loudly as if to answer for him and it pulled all the serious tension from him. "Heh, eh, yeah, hot dogs sound really good right about now." He smiled at the stranger, offering his hand, "I'm Alex. May I ask your name? Or is this donation anonymous?"