Date: April 13th, 2011
Time: 7:30 a.m.

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Looking out of his window with morning-eyes, a thick fog covered the area. Small patches of leaves poked out of fog, and lights shone that refused to be clouded by the fog. The weather was nothing but beautiful. Spring weather at its finest, and if anything it gave him a sense of home. All of that research about the emotional effects of bad weather were disproved by one, Theodore Altman. Taking a deep breath of damp air did more for the man than ten pounds of chocolate. Not like chocolate didn’t make him happier also, just the air made him happy too. Bad analogy aside, the weather gave Teddy a boost of energy that he usually didn’t feel in the morning. It was going to be a good day.

The window was cool against his hand. When he removed his hand there was a smoky outline of his fingers that were the only remnants of his hand being there. That and the pesky fingerprints that might be there any time the window fogged up again. A cold window against his hand was a sensation that he had felt many times before. It was almost like déjà vu how realistic the feeling felt. Teddy leaned with his back facing towards the window. Cool air brushed against his back as he felt even more warmth coming from the fixture by his ankles. Cold and warmth at the same time was a Tao like existence. Time felt like it was ticking away just in the matter of minutes that he was sitting against the bottom of the window. Teddy sighed and leaned his head back against the cool surface of the window he didn’t want to waste away another day that could be used to… better himself? God, he was getting cheesier by the minute. But the reality was that to be an X-men, the people Mr. Summers showed him the first day he was here, he did have to become better.

One place that Teddy knew that he could better himself, or maintain himself, was the gym. Cue the work-out montage music: either ‘The Final Countdown’ by Europe or the instrumental to ‘Separate Ways’ by Journey. It was always 80’s synthrock music that got someone fired up to workout. Teddy gathered up all he needed in a bag that is pretty standard from his time at the gym in high school. Shorts were layered underneath grey sweatpants that were from his old high school training days. It would be a bit chilly outside, and it was definitely not short weather. It would be soon, but it was not now. But there was something he needed to do first before he got down to hard work.

Dew soaked blades of grass tickled the bottom of Teddy’s bare feet. He thought that his walk over to the extension building that housed the gym would most likely be served barefoot. He looked down after his first step onto the grass and wiggled his toes, it was a feeling that made him want to throw his head back and sigh while at the same time cringe because of the strangeness of it all. With each step there was a small squish of grass beneath his feet, the dew was definitely building up on the bottom of his feet. The grass had gotten a bit slippery after about halfway through his walk to the gym. He had almost slipped at one part of the giant lawn and almost ate it. Luckily, and with a bit of his awkwardly great recovery moves, he stuck the landing and was able to continue his walk. Even though there was probably a sidewalk that connected all of the exterior buildings, the walk on the grass with his bag slung over his shoulders and holding his shoes by their laces was much more enjoyable.

Teddy finally arrived in the gym and brushed off any clinging blades of grass, laced up his shoes, and finally got down to work after his moseying between the school and the gym. There was only one other person in the place, a red-haired girl who Teddy hadn’t gotten a good look at anything besides her hair. The blue-eyed man moved over to the bench-press after stretching for a short while; he loaded up the press to the max, and unfortunately it still wouldn’t push him to his limit. A single set came easy, a second set came easy, and a third set came easy before a soft shade of green began to engross his seemingly normal skin. Laying the bar down with a little more control than actual throwing, a loud clang echoed through the gym.

Teddy sat up quickly looking at his hands, back and forth, flipping them to look at his palms and the backs. The green tint slowly faded from his skin, but he had lost his concentration, been too carefree. There were two kinds of his changes rapid ones and slow ones, luckily this one hadn’t been too quick. When he looked up with wide eyes from his hand, which were at the moment were the most interesting thing, he caught a profile view of the girl across the gym who was viciously going at a punching bag. It was undoubtedly Terry. Just Terry.

There were things that circulated around Terry. A student he had talked to in one of the past days said that Terry had a run in SHIELD that ended her up in the school. He didn’t want to make any assumptions, but those punches looked like they held a lot of anger… frustration… oppression by the ‘man’. There was definitely interest in the girl coming from Teddy, even if it was just because of circumstantial relation. Either way, he needed to talk to her, learn from her. Shy Teddy needed to go away for the moment. The young man swallowed hard and lifted himself off the bench.

“Hey, Terry right?” Teddy scooted over from the side, and approached the girl trying to giver her enough space to breathe and not totally creep her out that a stranger was coming up to her. “My name’s Teddy Altman,” Teddy moved over behind the punching bag incase she didn’t feel the need to stop punching while he tried to talk to her. “can you talk, or are you pretty into your thing… which is cool too. I can talk later.”

It was an ungodly hour, but since she had been caught buying (trying to buy anyway) liquor with a fake ID by Warpath and the resulting punishment, the redhead had been taken to using the gym a lot more, including the odd early morning. She had always been something of a scrapper, the circumstances of her childhood meaning she had found herself often on the defensive with classmates. It had become almost instinctual and actually hereditary; Black Tom had been something of a boxer himself before she was born (and probably after) and the wild streak had certainly imprinted upon young Terry. These days however, she was channelling it a little better and was training properly, supervised as well as on her own. It was over a year now since she had come to the school and if you had told her then that she would be working out before 8am in the school gym, Terry would probably have asked you for whatever it was you were drinking.

Mornings were generally better to work out in though, as much as she hated leaving her bed. It was quieter for one thing, less people to get in the way or bug her with conversations or anything of the sort. Her fists pounded the bag, the sounds echoing around the empty gym and Terry didn’t even notice the other student until there was a loud clang and she missed one of her swings at the bag. Exhaling deeply, the girl looked over her shoulder at the guy, then back at the bag, resuming her workout. She wasn’t back at it long however, before he was at her side, apparently striking up a conversation. Well, Terry wasn’t quite as surly as some people seemed to think, and after one last massive punch, she caught the bag before it rebounded into her, allowing it to steady before taking the mitts off, casting them on the floor beside her and wiping her mouth.

“Yeah, Terry. Yer new right?” the Irish teen asked and took a few steps backwards to pick up a bottle of sports drink, gulping from it and replacing the cap, watching Teddy. “I got time…Should give it a rest really. What can I do fer yer? Need someone to spot?” the question was innocuous enough, accompanied by a nod of her head towards the weights he had left behind. He could easily be hovering to ask that she told herself and as for knowing her name, well, not that there was a shortage of redheaded girls around the school, but the others were pretty distinct. No, it could be something simple, but something told the girl it wasn’t. The slight grin stayed on her face all the same and she took another drink from her bottle, waiting to see what the lad wanted from her. Though if it was where to get fake ID from, she was going to be very, very angry…

The gym was strangely quiet. It was one of the places that was just plain eerie if it was empty or there was one or two people around. Every sound echoed like there was nothing around for miles. As Teddy walked over to Terry, even the small shuffling sound that happened because Teddy had a slight drag to his step echoed throughout the place. Teddy glanced around the gym and everything was still. Nets that would usually be swaying because of basketball shots hung dryly, weight benches sat deathly still, there just didn’t seem to be as much life in the place at this time of day. Except in the single corner of the gym with the punching bag. Furious punches rang out from Terry, it looked like someone had a seizure while playing Tekken or one of those fighting games and pressed all of the buttons simultaneously. A page flipped in Teddy’s mental notebook and scribbled down that he should not mess with Terry. Not that he didn’t think he couldn’t take her… he just wouldn’t. Teddy was traditional like that.

Right after Teddy spoke to the girl, she backed away from the bag and threw off her gloves. The way she threw them down so care-free it made Teddy think that she had been doing this for a while. Hitting things that is. Teddy wondered how many students had taken or were taking training classes. With a little work, Teddy could be a devastating force on the battle field with a little combat training. A small smile turned up the edges of Teddy’s lips as he entertained himself with the thought of that. The reality of fighting hadn’t really hit him, the glamorous side of it all shone so brightly that Teddy had to put on the sunglasses of delusion.

“Yeah, Terry. Yer new right?”

Teddy was relieved that the girl did not shut him down after the first time he talked to her. That meant that they were on the right track, and that those rumors about her being ‘too much to handle’ or ‘a little rough around the edges’ lost a bit of their credibility. Terry’s accent was nothing but entertaining to him. He would enjoy talking with her even if it was just for a short time. “Yeah… I’ve been around for about a week now. I think.” It was a strange phenomenon, but since he has been here time kind of ran together. Minutes felt like seconds, and days ran together like the runny food that you desperately tried to separate and fail at.

“I got time…Should give it a rest really. What can I do fer yer? Need someone to spot?”

The small smile on Teddy’s face had grown, he was pleasantly surprised with how well this had turned out so far. Since his forearms weren’t covering his face while Terry swung with the same intensity she used on the bag, Teddy would write this down as a ‘W’ in his books. “No, well… maybe later,” it was a tempting offer though he didn’t usually need someone to spot for him. “I was wondering if you just wanted to talk.” What Teddy wanted to ask danced around his tongue while random stuff popped out unexpectedly. There was a small bench next to the bag, and he motioned for her to sit down and he followed suit. When he actually thought about it, the bench was a little small for the meaningless conversation he wanted to have with the girl. When he sat down, he noticed there wasn’t much room for her to sit away from him in case she was space-sensitive.

Teddy then finally decided to get down to what he wanted to ask her, the heart of the conversation. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, “…how’re things going today?” Teddy’s face warped. His mouth was gaping open at the literal disbelief that he just asked that. He was supposed to ask about SHIELD, and he couldn’t even do that. Instead, he picked up the ends of his tutu and danced around the subject like he was starring in the Nutcracker. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to… y’know answer that.” Once Teddy regained his composure, or control over his facial muscles, he sighed and looked down at his knees all while shaking his head. After his short pity party he looked back up at Terry, “Okay, what I meant to say… was… SHIELD.” It wasn’t the cleanest exit, but at least he had said what he wanted to say when he saw her. “I hope you don’t mind my asking.” You didn’t ask, you stated idiot.

The redheaded girl listened out of vague politeness as the lad confirmed he was still all shiny and new to the Institute. He’d learn. She took another, much smaller sip of her drink as Teddy said he didn’t need anyone to spot at that time, making her wonder just what he wanted from her, unless he was one of those sorts who went around trying to make friends with everyone on arriving in a new place, but he didn’t seem to have that bouncing, hyperactive streak that tended to come with that personality trait of the overeager. ‘Just wanting to talk’ was code for so many things and so she folded her arms across her chest, looking at him though narrowed eyes. No one ever ‘just wanted to talk’ with a random stranger, unless they had personal space issues like Doreen and Meggan…

Pulling up her track pants a little, Terry took a seat on the padded floor beside the bench, as it was looking a might too cosy with the large fellow and bent one knee, using it to rest her chin upon. His awkward question made her snort a little and the teen shook her red head. “Well I ain’t exactly been up fer long. Ask me again after classes and I can give yer a better opinion…” she answered, despite the apology for the question that trailed after it. Something was up, something was definitely up and somehow, Siryn didn’t think he was struggling to ask her out for coffee…Oh.

Really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. It had been a long time since anyone had asked her about that though and Terry thought that she was leaving that title behind. Well, out of the mouths of babes…Some of the kids around the school just didn’t know when to shut the hell up. There was an awkward, heavy silence as she scratched her nose, looking down and away before back up at Teddy, her mouth slightly curled. It would be all too easy to start demanding who had been babbling, then go slam their head in a door, but there was something on his face that told her he wasn’t morbidly curious about what toilet paper they had up on the Helicarrier.

SHIELD was a hot button subject with her, for many reasons. They were the reason she was here, which was not a bad thing (not that she would freely admit it to many) but the circumstances of her arrival had left a lot to be desired. If she thought properly about it, she knew that the null cuff, the house arrest…it was just what they felt had to be done, but it had caused her a lot of problems, particularly with trust – as if she didn’t have those already. It had been a bad, bad patch in her life and thinking about it all, the girl shuddered. Not only that, the bastards now had her cousin locked up…Sure, the bastard probably deserved it, but he was family, he had raised her and the thought of him incarcerated was not a happy one. Blinking a little, she frowned and looked back up at Teddy.

“Anythin particular yer want ter know?” Terry asked, raising one red eyebrow at him. “Can’t deny I ain’t had…involvements with ‘em, but yer need ter be a bit more specific,” her statement was finished off with the look she gave him, that clearly stated ‘ask a stupid question and I’ll make your eardrums implode.’ But for now, she remained where she was. The gym was empty and he was new; sure, she’d generally welcome a different sort of icebreaker as she wasn’t above making new mates at all, but she wished he’d asked after she’d gotten some breakfast rather than before. At least he’d not asked during…she might have thrown her eggs at him.

Terry chose to sit on the ground rather than sitting a little too close to Teddy. Not that it mattered, Teddy would have probably chosen the same. Now though, there was an even worse height difference than there was before. It was just strange for a conversational setting. Teddy looked down at Terry as he tried to pay attention, but all he could think about was the height difference. It wasn’t often that Teddy found someone his height when standing, but this was distracting. A corner of Teddy’s lips turned down in the wake of the awkwardness.

“Well I ain’t exactly been up fer long. Ask me again after classes and I can give yer a better opinion…”

Teddy must’ve not been to forward with how serious that what he said was not meant to be said. The blue eyed kid looked over at the door instinctually while Terry answered his awkward break-the-ice question. Nobody was coming, it was really probably too early for anyone in their right mind to come to work out. An ‘early’ workout for Teddy was normally nine in the morning or a little after. On second thought, he wasn’t entirely sure how he woke up so early. He had been dreaming about something really strange. Lately all of his dreams had been uniquely strange in their individual ways, but this one was just strange. In his dream he had ridden to his high school dance on a unicorn before the school burnt down because it was raining fire out. Teddy sighed as he came to reality after recapping his dream. “You really didn’t… never mind.”

When he finally plopped the question, not that it was ridiculously heavy content or anything, he gripped his knees with his hands. Teddy wondered what exactly her response would be and during the short silence that dragged out longer than the super bowl national anthem his stomach wrenched and he wondered if he had just screwed up… big time. The man didn’t want to seem like a gossip monger, and when he thought about it he had only heard about it. There was no actual data to support the claims. The sad thing about stereotypes and gossip, though, was that they were normally true. Teddy watched the girl rub her nose, and if anyone knew instinctually awkward actions it was Teddy. Those actions that were meant to fill and empty conversation, and by empty it meant silent, and the only thing they ever did was make the conversation more awkward. Teddy knew.

“Anythin particular yer want ter know?”

Well… there were plenty of things that Teddy really wanted to know, but he didn’t know how long Terry would put up with his jabbering. Really, he should let her know why he was asking about all this SHIELD stuff, but he didn’t want his name going around like Terry’s was. Not that it was bad, but it was a label that he wasn’t sure if he wanted it sewn onto his shirts for good. “Yeah… how did you get into contact with them? What’d you do?” Teddy looked down sharply after asking, his hands still pressed to his knees. Slowly he tried to meet eyes with Terry, but after her eyes cut him down… multiple times, he found it difficult to share the soft smile he had earlier. “If you really want to know why I’m asking, I ran into SHIELD. If you didn’t want to know… sorry.”

As she watched him from her spot on the floor, Terry could tell that there was something up, something he seemed nervous about although it could just be new kid syndrome. Siryn had been there and while it wasn’t like a regular school, it was still a large, strange place to get used to, especially if you had little choice in attending. Oh, there had been a choice alright, but the alternative had been prison, which would have been costly to the taxpayer and if it was one thing that the taxpayer hated to spend money on, it was damned muties. Taking her hair out from its tie, she ran a hand through it before retying it, giving herself a physical distraction as Teddy collected himself. Already she wasn’t sure she liked where this was going, but the redhead was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

The question came, dropped in with a little awkwardness as if he wasn’t comfortable talking about SHIELD, rather than asking her about it. There was a silence as she stared at him, sea coloured eyes piercing. At first she thought he meant ‘how did you call them up?’ as if she had a batphone that linked her to SHIELD, but then his revelation made it all make sense and she sighed heavily, her expression softening, but still a little fierce.

“I…I got arrested commitin a criminal act. I ain’t proud, not really. My…cousin…well, he’s no stranger to SHIELD or a life o crime. He raised me though, always did alright by me as far as I knew. I did it fer him y’see,” Terry paused and hugged her knee a little tighter, eyes not quite on Teddy now. “Anyway, wasn’t me first crime and cause of the family connections, I got arrested and taken off by SHIELD. In the end they brought me here, cause of me age and everythin, hopin that the school could reform me.”

Reaching for her bottle, the girl flipped the lid up but didn’t drink any. “I was null cuffed and under house arrest fer months. Thought I’d go bloody crazy,” she gave him a weak grin and raised the bottle to her lips, shuddering as she was struck with a sharp urge for the bottle to be full of vodka. Trying to get rid of the thought, Terry instead concentrated on matters at hand and lowered her bottle, placing it on the matt beside her.

“I don’t really like talkin about it, but I can’t deny it and better than people sayin shit that they heard wrong or got lost in translation…So. What happened with you? Fairs fair,” the redhead smirked as she watched the older lad, wondering how he was going to take what she had told him and more importantly, how he was going to take sharing his tale. It wasn’t like she was a qualified therapist, but after everything she’d been through there was one thing that Terry tried to avoid doing and that was judging people and she was fairly hard to shock anyway. Teddy would have to tell her something pretty spectacular to get a big reaction…

Terry’s eyes pierced right through them. If her eyes were a gun, the look shot right through him. If her eyes were a sword, the look stabbed right through him and then wrenched. If her eyes were an x-ray machine, the look shot particles right through him and then hit him over the head with the little picture thing. Nevertheless, her eyes told it all. Teddy had most definitely, without a doubt, asked too far. Touched on a topic that didn’t need touched on. The young man melted emotionally, which was visible from the bodily collapse as he laid his head on his hand that rested on his knee.

“I…I got arrested commitin a criminal act.

Teddy swallowed hard and tried to control any facial language under control. He could feel his eyes working to widen against his forced restraint. The young man tried to discern what exactly she may have been convicted of. Theft? Assault?... Murder? No, if charged with murder, they would most definitely be sent to something other than a school. A school that has an incredible amount of freedom. Teddy glanced around the floor around them looking for anything that could be made into a weapon. Unfortunately, with all of the weights and other exercise equipment there were endless possibilities for a criminal.

Null cuffed, he had heard about that anti-mutant technology through hushed whispers. If anything, it was meant to control and restrain. Teddy wasn’t necessarily afraid of the young girl, but he was weary of the girl. The feelings were nothing personal, it was just a natural reaction for Teddy. When he heard things like this that were shrouded in so much mystery there is a lot of wiggle room for your mind to wander. “Wow, a null cuff? You… really had it tougher than me.” Teddy’s voice was a little quieter than before. It was just his reservations that were taking over.

”What happened with you? Fairs fair,”

Palms were no longer sweaty, they were most definitely drenched. Teddy had lost the point from where he stopped sweating because of the exercise and started because of the nervousness. It truly was a deadly combination, and luckily enough he would get to go back to his dorm room and shower up. “I suppose…” Teddy answered trailing off and looked over to the door thinking he had heard something. No, who was he kidding? It would be a long stretch to hear even the closest noise to the gymnasium, but Teddy definitely swore he had. The looking at the door was nothing more of a delaying factor. Attempting to delay the inevitable. “I lost control of my abilities… in public. Showed them off to probably a good portion of Seattle, whose population… is escaping my head, now.” Teddy sighed and met eyes with Terry. He wanted to see exactly how she responded. He knew deep down that she wasn’t and ax-murderer, and could be a friend despite this lack of finesse first meeting. “I can tell you more… if y’know, you elaborate.” Teddy’s face was flat and barely expressed any of the emotions he felt.

The redhead was glad that Teddy didn’t ask for the gory details of her crimes. That gave him a few points, balancing out the initial question. Sure, she’d rather people just ask her than relying on bad rumours, but that didn’t mean that she enjoyed talking about it all. He seemed shocked about the null cuff and Terry shrugged a little. “Aye it was hard goin…Guess I had it easy in comparison to some, but I can’t say I’ve seen many people drug into this place sportin a cuff. Sometimes people have ter wear one in extreme cases. Bad power malfunctions, people being twits with their abilities and usin em to fight and stuff…” she swallowed, remembering the bad fight between Julian and Josh, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily before looking back up at Teddy.

Her mouth twisted into something of a sympathetic smile as he told her what had happened to him. By his own admission he hadn’t told her everything and the girl figured there was something extra, other than just using his powers in public. Feeling a little cold now that she had sat down after such an extensive workout, Terry reached for her hooded jacket, tugging it on and pulling the sleeves over her hands, the action causing something of a natural break within the rather serious conversation between them.

“If yer want ter tell me,” she nodded as she settled herself back down on her spot, legs stretched across the padded floor. “Little bits at a time though, eh? I know what its like. Yer do somethin wrong ter be brought here and everyone gets so bloody curious and they don’t mean it, not most any rate, but its like part of the nature of folk to know all the grisly details at once and I know it ain’t that easy just ter fess it all up. But if yer do want ter tell me all about it, least yer can probably guess it won’t shock me or anythin. Seriously, considerin who raised me and all yer’d have to have done somethin pretty fuckin bad mate.”

As she had been talking, Theresa’s sea coloured eyes had turned somewhat dark and serious but as she finished, her features eased up a little into a smile, albeit a weary one. It was still quiet in the gym as by now most people would be in breakfast rather than slugging it out on the treadmills although she reckoned they’d have another maybe ten more minutes before someone else came in. She had really meant to do some fencing practise in preparation for class later; the redhead was still confused as to why Nightcrawler had left her in charge, but the class seemed to be doing alright and no one had suffered any great injuries.

Then, words came to the girl’s mouth that she would never have imagined herself saying, ever. “It’s a dark mark ter be carted in by SHIELD…I know that. But yer here, least yer can thank them for that.”

”Bad power malfunctions, people being twits with their abilities and usin em to fight and stuff…”

Teddy hadn’t ever seen a mutant in a null cuff, but in High School he had seen a kid dragged off in handcuffs by the police sophomore year. There was a definite spirit crushing factor that came with the handcuffs and Teddy imagined that there was that similar facet to the null cuffs. Being bound was not something that someone usually enjoyed. There were a couple of strange people out there that was into that kind of thing, but they were the exception not the rule. “Yeah, that’s not me. I used to, well kind of still, thought my powers were a set back. But the school has given me something, hope maybe.” Teddy’s voice was soft and genuine, he still wasn’t comfortable talking about his abilities, but he was getting better in the short amount of time that he had been at the mansion.

“Little bits at a time though, eh?”

Things always seemed so much easier when someone was telling what could happen. It was easy because they lacked the emotional connection. Talking about what happened that day, still ravaged him emotionally. It bounced around his chest cavity hitting every possible organ, tract, or nerve. To this point it didn’t feel good, so who really could blame him that he didn’t really want to talk about it. He had only told his mom, two or three SHIELD people, and Mr. Summers. Teddy wasn’t near ready to go to the highest hill and scream it to the top of his lungs. Some might though, people who always wanted the spotlight and everyone’s eyes on them. The story could easily be turned into some story that bled awesomeness, but that wasn’t something that Teddy wanted. It would eat away at him if he knew that he had turned some story that he found horrific into a heroic story. It would be lies, all lies. “Yeah, maybe a little.” It did reassure him when he felt like Terry was someone he could share with. “I didn’t do it on purpose. It wasn’t without provocation. My college professor wouldn’t stop bashing mutants. He was such a…” Jackass.

“It’s a dark mark ter be carted in by SHIELD…I know that. But yer here, least yer can thank them for that.”

Terry obviously had come to love the school. At least like it. It was true that the school was a great place that would undoubtedly grow on Teddy, but now it was just a school. A school far away from home. It was also a school that was safe, and far away from prosecution. That was something that as unheard of in any other learning institution. Teddy was afraid at first, but his feelings had downgraded to a far less embarrassing feeling. The school was getting smaller, the faces were getting friendlier, and his bed was getting softer. These were all sure tale signs of a building that was becoming more like home. “Well, maybe not thank yet… but it has definitely been an opportunity I never though about.” He sighed and laid back into the chair. The gym was wide open and quiet again.

Smiling wryly, she lowered her head and shook it lightly, before flicking her eyes back up at him. “Better start than me. I hated this place for months at first. After everything…it kinda was a prison ter me. Ain’t all bad though. My trouble,” Terry jabbed a thumb at herself at this point. “I’m too stubborn fer me own good sometimes.” The Irish girl admitted, the smile still on her face. After all, being stubborn wasn’t always a bad thing. Just sometimes it could get her into a lot of trouble. Her smile faded into something more sympathetic at Teddy’s admission and she shifted her position on the floor, stretching out her legs, flexing her feet.

“Sounds like a right idiot,” Theresa nodded, keeping her tone careful. Also out of caution, she left alone the comment about not meaning to do it. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the guy as despite having only just met him, Terry had the feeling he probably didn’t mean to do anything bad at all, but for her…it was just awkward as it made her question what she had done herself and even the dark little query…would she do it again?

Shivering at the thought, the redhead tugged her hoodie around her a little tighter, as if she was just cold now she was not exerting herself. Pulling herself out of those dark thoughts, the girl got to her feet and spread her hands a little. “Oh nay, I’m not talkin about deep gratitude or anythin of the sort. Hell, when I first came here, I wasn’t exactly a happy bunny and sure, I wouldn’tve admitted it, but I was glad I was here and not in some SHIELD prison. Least they don’t lock yer in cells here…”

“Anyway,” reaching for her things, Terry stuffed her bottle and other belongings that had become strewn around into her bag. “How about breakfast boyo? If we don’t go now, then there’ll only be shite left, because the greedy bastards’ll have nabbed the best sausage and bacon. C’mon, yer can sit with me. Anyone gives yer funny looks and I can scream down their ear.”

“It gets better, trust me.”

Teddy slowly pulled up his left index to the collar of his shirt. His hands were too fidgety to stay idol for the length of their conversation, so to pass time he subconsciously played with the collar of his shirt. Initially pulling at the collar to the left and then the right and finally back to the left, he then twisted the collar around his finger and his hand loosely fell. The wrap provided a sling that held up his entire arm and essentially turned his shirt into some sort of a v-neck cut. The conversation wasn’t boring, that was for sure he was finally able to talk about a bit of his mutant…-dom, but it was just idol time. It helped him focus really, for the most part.

“Sounds like a right idiot,”

For some reason, it was far to easy to find agreement with other mutants. Nonetheless, he was going to label it as a win, because really it felt good to know someone else had similar views on his old situation. “You don’t have to tell me that. But I don’t think everybody else in the class was so quick to take my side.” Teddy removed his hand from his shirt and smoothed out his shorts. His hands had cooled off during the conversation. It was good, sweaty palms were never a good thing. Terry seemed, not for sure but definitely seemed, like she might be somehow connecting with Teddy. Probably not though, he was simply reading to far into whatever he was seeing. “Whatever though, right?”

“How about breakfast boyo?

Teddy smiled. Big. Eating breakfast with someone else would be a nice, potentially great, change to his lonesome habit. While it was okay getting used to the school and his own routine on his own, it was finally time to find someone to talk to on more than one occasion. Share secrets, laugh, and have sleepovers; all the good stuff. Well, the last one kind of snuck up on him, but it did not take away from the core thing that he wanted. “Breakfast would be… great.” Teddy gripped his stomach as a small rumble shook his core, he was getting hungry. Though the work out wasn’t as rigorous as it could have been, he felt like it was just as productive. Teddy gathered up his bag, there wasn’t much to get but it took a little longer than usual to get everything together for some reason. Who knows?

“It gets better, trust me.”

The words echoed on the way out.

“Are we having a moment?… Just wonderin’.”

END THREAD