Owner	Pose
David Reese	It's Saturday night at the mall. But before we go wandering into the mix of all the hundreds of people out to shop, catch a movie or sit down for dinner, we have to find a parking spot first.     As David rolls slowly through the lanes of fully packed parking spots, the old Hemi V8 rumbles its discontent, a vibration that comes up through its bench seating. There's a dream-catcher hanging from the rear view mirror, and his hand rests idly on the head of the ying/yang symbol shifter as he lounges against the driver side door, his eyes darting this way and that in the hope that he'll catch a glimpse of someone making for their car.     "Being on a date gets funner," he says to Jade, giving her a sidelong grin. "Promise."
Jade Green	Jade's wearing her 'BAD BOY' hoodie with some faded jeans. On her feet, she's actually wearing shoes for once. Black and gold sneakers that match her hoodie. She shrugs a bit as she leans against the door with a blushy grin.      What is she even doing here? How did she get roped into this? These questions have no answers, but she's going to make the most of it.      "You're lucky, you don't have to worry about getting spotted by some bigot," she says.      "Me?" She throws up her claws and growls, baring those sharp teeth. Someone might be scared of such a display, but her growl is that of a small girl, not a dragon. Her little hands claw at the air slowly in a Godzilla like fashion.
David Reese	David laughs. "I'm from Arizona, we got bigots over there. If you're Indian everyone thinks you're a drunk or a junkie."     After a few more minutes of randomly rolling around, he spots an older couple emerging from the mall's main promenade bound for the parking lot, and turns the Road Runner so that they're slowly following them over to wherever they're parked. Jade does her best to look and sound menacing, and the effort puts a wide smile on his face.     "You're like a lil baby godzilla. That's cute. Everything's cute when it's littler huh."
Jade Green	Jade's face reddens, and she huffs, crossing her arms. She puffs some air to blow her hair from her face.      "I'm not baby Godzilla, fuck you. I'm full-on Godzilla. On every level except physical," says Jade.      The car rolls into the parking lot, and she unbuckles her seatbelt. She pulls out a joint and lights it up. The arc-lighter goes back in her pocket, and Jade takes a hit.
David Reese	The old couple finds their car -- a big, fancy SUV -- and David stops the Road Runner a polite distance away from them while they get inside. In the mean time Jade sparks up something that smells good, making him grin over at her.     "Pass that," he holds out his hand.     Presuming she does, he takes the end of it between his thumb and forefinger and sucks in a little bit of the smoke, holding it in his lungs for a sec. He's watching the old couple and their nice vehicle still, seeing their engine come on, then their brake lights, as they slowly back out of their parking spot.     "You wanna be like them someday?" he asks, while still trying to hold the smoke in his lungs. He points with the joint at the SUV. "They probly got like... Assets. Pensions. A pile of grandkids."
Jade Green	Jade exhales smoke as she watches the old couple. She pops her neck and sinks a bit in her seat. Her eyes drift shut, then reopen.      "I'd rather be like that dream catcher," she says with a dream-filled voice.      Her hand reaches for the roach, and she grabs it with just the tip of her finger and pulls it back to her lips and sucks.
David Reese	David passes the J back to Jade, and finally lets himself exhale, a wisp or two of smoke poruing out of his mouth. The SUV inches backward, its brake lights shining brighter and brighter against the Road Runner's windshield. Then it does a slow 3-point turn and crawls away from its now vacant parking spot. David puts the car back in gear and rolls toward it.     Jade's comment makes him quirk an eyebrow at her "Whatchu mean?"
Jade Green	Another plume of smoke shoots from Jade's lips before she turns toward you with a dazed look. She licks her lips before they become a lopsided grin.      "Cause I'd be hanging from the ceiling," she snickers to herself as she looks back toward the parking spot.      When the car parks, Jade climbs out with a bounce. She walks around with one hand in her pocket, the other cradling her joint.
David Reese	As the Road Runner slides into the parking spot, and David reaches down to twist the key and cut the engine, he gives Jade a weird look for a second. A goofy, vacant kind of grin. A look that says 'did I just hear that right?' Then it clicks, and he laughs loudly.     "That's fucked up!"     He hops out of the car, taking a moment to lock it manually, and in a couple strides he's walking side by side with Jade, smirking over at her.     "You got a fucked up sense of humor, I dig it."
Jade Green	Jade laughs and shrugs as she walks toward the mall entrance. Her sneakers scrape against the concrete with each lazy step. She sucks on the joint one hard time then passes it off to David.      Smoke flows out of her lips as she says in a strained voice, "Here you can get the rest of it, but better hurry."      With that handed off, Jade bounces a few feet along with a spring in her step. And what springs those are, each subtle movement sends her up a couple of feet before she lands laughing softly.
David Reese	David takes the roach when it's handed off, and quickly hits it a few more times, until it's short enough to begin to burn his fingers. He drops it, snuffs it out under the sole of his shoe and keeps walking.     His mouth is twisted up into a funny smile, watching her skip like she's got a cheat code for moon gravity. That and he's still holding the smoke in.     He's feeling a pleasant head rush by the time he exhales, and all of a sudden greasy food or soda or ice cream sounds way better than it would have a moment ago. He steps up onto the curb with Jade, the two of them now walking down the mall's main promenade. Bright lights shine down on the mass of people milling around between stores and kiosks and what not, while David glances around looking for the way to the food court.     "This mall looks fancy," he says. "Bet they have a place we can get you that gelato huh."
Jade Green	Jade clicks her teeth and turns around to walk back a few feet. She bends over and picks up the stomped out joint.      "Don't be a fuckin' slob. Throw it in the trash," says Jade.      She carefully holds it with a fingertip and starts walking a small distance to the only trashcans in sight. Once she drops the roach in, she spins around with a lazy grin.      "Fuck gelato, let's get pizza and hot wings or something. I want hot food," she says.
David Reese	David looks amused. "Okay ma."     He watches her pick up the roach and throw it away, and when she opts for a meal instead of italian ice he gives her a little upward nod of approval. It takes a bit of walking to get to the food court, as they discover after consulting the map-kiosk a few paces away from them. En route they're walking by brightly lit storefronts and kiosk merchants hailing everyone who walks by to get their attention.     They pass a clothing store bumping a good song on their stereo system, some uptempo electro pop type thing, and he pauses in front of her and busts a few dumb dance moves with a grin on his face.     Eventually they find themselves in the food court, and while it might have a few staples of all food courts everywhere, they're bracketed on either end by actual upscale restaurants. This is a fancy mall, after all.     "Ey there we go," he nods in the direction of one of them, a place called 'Andretti's Italian,' with warm lighting and polished hardwood floors.
Jade Green	David's dance does elicit a giggle or two from Jade as she shakes her head. "You're a dork."      As the two enter the restaurant, Jade bites her lip and hangs back a step. She looks around anxiously and brushes up along her head. Shades appear out of her pocket, and Jade swings them on. After that, she pulls her hood over her head and puts both hands in her pockets.      "You should, uh, do the talking," she says.
David Reese	David smiles wryly and nods. "Yea alright, no worries."     He leads Jade into the restaruant, and though the hostess greets them with faintly raised eyebrows, she pulls two leather-bound menus and leads them to a booth straightaway. Once David slides into a seat he opens the menu and begins to peruse it. The prices are on the boomer-with-disposable-income side, but that doesn't appear to phase him.     He glances over the edge of the menu at Jade after a moment, smirking. "You look like you're tryna hide from the paparazzi."
Jade Green	Jade shrugs as she peruses the menu. One hand brushes the hood back off her head, and the other pulls her shades off and sets them down.      "Do you know how many times I've had cops called on me before being a homeless mutie trying to come buy food in a restaurant?" she asks.      "They either think I'm a crazy crack head with superpowers or a psycho supervillain."      The tomboy lets out a long sigh. Then after a moment, she folds her menu and sets it down, tapping a picture. "That one. Shrimp pasta, very good."      "There were some places that were cool. Like this one Romanian guy, he let me come buy pizza whenever I wanted. I tried to get him to bring it out side with takeout so I wouldn't stink up his place. But he let me come inside and get warm while I ate."     "And I can't handle the cold anymore."
David Reese	David chuckles, his gaze still on the menu. "I'm gonna geeet... Hum. Oh, baked ziti, that's good. How bout an appetizer? You like fried calamari maybe?"     He's closing his menu and setting it aside as Jade talks, smirking and nodding along while he turns to sit sideways with his back against the wall and a leg stretched out across the booth seat. A pose very much like the one he had when he was driving his car.     "You can't handle cold anymore cause you're coooooold bloooded," he says it like Dave Chapelle.     There are two young men having dinner together in the booth behind David and Jade at the moment, and since David's sitting sideways he glances at them.     "So you're gonna keep seeing her?" says one guy.     "Yeah man," says the other. "She makes me want to be less of a douchebag."     "Damn. That's true love."     He covers his mouth to stifle a laugh.
Jade Green	"Yeah, fried calamari, that's great."      Jade also turns to sit with her legs up on the booth seat. It seems her shoes are on the floor as occasionally, you see the flash of a sock when she stretches.      A hissing breath escapes her mouth, but no bite accompanies it. She grins and says, "Fuck off."      While David is trying to stifle a laugh, Jade cackles lightly. Jade quickly shields her face with a hand, burying herself into snicker-fit now. However, it appears to be quite a struggle as the giggles have hit her. She's losing the fight. Send reinforcements.
David Reese	While Jade and Dave try not to snicker too loudly, a waitress approaches.     "Hi guys! My name's Becky I'll be your server tonight, can I get you started with drinks?"     He waits for Jade to order before doing so himself, without forgetting the fried calamari. Once she's gone, he turns his attention back to his date.     "What should we do after we eat? We could window shop I guess. Later on we should like, get lit, and drunk dial our congressional representatives."
Jade Green	Jade pretends to look down at the menu as she orders. The waitress writes it all down with a chirpy attitude. However, she then double-takes at Jade. She pauses for a moment before a forced smile comes back, and she hustles off to deliver the orders.      It makes Jade bite her lip. Afterward, she shrugs and says, "I dunno. Window shop that sounds good, I guess."      The tomboy leans off to the side, brows furrowed as her arm holds up her head.
David Reese	Ah. Right. Bigots.     David isn't a mind reader. Yet. But very recently he's become open to the possibility of such a thing, which may be why he -feels- Jade's reaction to the waitress's forced smile. Call it a precursor of Mutant telepathy to come. For a moment he contemplates what to do, shoots a scowl at the back of the departing waitress, taps his finger against the polished surface of the table. Hm.     "Hey, let's fuck off," he says, with no preamble. He's already getting up.
Jade Green	David's sudden suggestion makes Jade blink a few times in surprise. A little grin slowly spreads on her face, and she shrugs and nods, "Alright."      Her feet slide off the seat, shoving themselves back into her shoes. The tomboy rises with David and starts making her way for the door. Better hope the waitress notices them leaving.
David Reese	Maybe the waitress notices. Maybe she doesn't, and she puts their orders in without realizing the customers are gone. That would be a nice little micro-revenge. Either way, Rattlesnake and Gecko are outta there.     David has a sly smile on his face, and both hands in the front pocket of his sleeveless hoodie, as he leads her back out of the mall and into the parking lot. They make it to the Road Runner in a few minutes; David unlocks the door for Jade, comes around to the driver's side and drops himself into his seat.     Then he takes his hands out of his hoodie pockets. One of them holds the little candle from their table in its bulbous red glass holder thing. He plops it in Jade's lap, winks at her.     "Got you a souvenir," he says.     The old muscle car rumbles to life as he twists the key in the ignition, but before he backs out of his parking spot, he slips his phone out of his pocket and plugs it into the aux cord. The stereo is David's latest addition to the old car, though grampa bitched about it a little. Whatever. He's not rollin without good tunes.     "Here," he says, passing his phone to Jade as he backs out of the parking spot. "Put on a banger."
Jade Green	The car subtly bounces as Jade drops into her seat. She throws her seatbelt on and then leans back. Her little claws rake over her hoodie's fabric idly.      David's mention of a souvenir makes one of Jade's eyebrows rise. When the candle drops into her lap, her face reddens. "Dude! Don't steal shit like that."      For a moment, her face is scolding. However, it soon melts into a reluctant grin of approval. With that, her attention turns to the offered phone, and she taps away at it. A moment later, the car's sound system starts playing Plastic Love, by Mariya Takeuchi.      Jade just grins and shifts her shoulders up and down in a subtle bounce.
David Reese	The V8 engine roars out in relief the moment David steers it free of the mall parking lot. Once again he's lounging against the driver's side door, one arm up on the window sill, the other hand negligently holding the steering wheel. Jade's song comes on the stereo, and it isn't what he was expecting. He chuckles a little, looks over at her with a grin and a raised eyebrow.     "This is like, Motown," he says. "But Japanese."     After a minute or so he warms up to it, his head nodding along with the lyrics and the horns. When the song ends he reaches over and scrolls down his playlist for a sec. "We're in New York let's listen to some New York music."      (( song: https://youtu.be/Gmk31TW0pXI ))     With the stereo bumpin loud, he takes them out of Weschester and down south into the Bronx. Not really sure where he's taking them, until he sees the big SOUNDVIEW FERRY terminal sign.     "You ever rode a ferry before?" he's asking, as he changes lanes.
Jade Green	Jade sticks her tongue out and continues jamming to it. "In high school, I only listened to metal because that's what men listen to! Now, I don't give a single fuck"      "Yeah. My parents took me when I was little to Galveston," she says.      Her hands pat her lap a few times, and she exhales, sputtering her lips. We pull up to the line for the ferry. Once we're parked, Jade gets out and stretches with a happy sigh. Then she jogs over to the railing and jumps onto the bottom rung. Her hands grab the top, and she bends over it, looking out at the water; this ends up creating a pretty view for any behind her.
David Reese	David looks. But just like, for a second. He's glad he did tho.     He makes sure to pay for parking before buying them passes for the ferry at the kiosk. Then the two of them wait around for the next arrival, David lounging on a bench by a vending machine. He glances at it, wondering what kind of junk food Jade likes, smirking a little as he thinks about all that 'first date' shit you're supposed to talk about.     He gets up and slips his wallet out of his pocket, nodding at the machine. "Pick your poison."     Presuming she tells him, he gets her something. He picks a packet of Sour Patch Kids for himself. Before too long the ferry comes into view, closing in on the terminal to offload its passengers and pick up new ones.
Jade Green	Jade blinks and thinks for a moment. "Sour punch straws. Two things of 'em."      The tomboy spins and jumps, landing her butt on the top rail. She patiently waits for David to finish the purchase, and when he returns, she holds her hands for him to toss the treats. She catches them with her sticky hands and grins, then hops down. After the bounce ends, parts of her continue to move delightfully.      With that, she jogs back to the car and climbs inside as the Ferry approaches.
David Reese	Once they're clear to board, David leads Jade onto the ferry and sort of wanders through it, not quite sure where he's headed but leading the way regardless. He spies a narrow set of stairs to the upper deck, so hey, fuck it why not, let's enjoy the fresh air.     The top deck sports rows of seats facing outward, so passengers can enjoy the view of the city. And it's nighttime, which makes it even prettier, towers of light bracketing in the inky black waters of the East River. Rather than have a seat just yet, David wanders over to a spot near the middle of the deck, and leans over the railing on his forearms.     The image of the city all around kind of hits him. Something sinks into his mind. It puts a mild frown on his face.     "I wonder what ma's doing," he says to Jade, while still gazing out at the city. The ferry's big motor rumbles to life, making the craft float away from the terminal and back out onto the river. "And my uncles and cousins, and AJ, and the guys at the gym. Shit.."
Jade Green	Jade frowns at David then out at the waters. One of her hands squeezes David's arm. The wind blows her hair into her face. Jade reaches up and tucks it back behind her ear. "Do you regret coming to the school?"      "You could still call them at least," she says.
David Reese	The corner of David's mouth turns up when Jade squeezes his arm, and it fades when she stops. Like it's a 'smile' button. His eyes shift toward her as she tries to stop the wind from playing with her hair.     "You called yours yet?" he asks.
Jade Green	Jade blinks. She shakes her head slowly as her brows furrow. "Uh, my family kicked me out when I was almost 17. Fuck them. They're not my family."      Jade climbs onto the railing and sits down. One hand secures herself while she rocks back and forth.
David Reese	"Ohh its like -that-... Aight."     The ferry turns ponderously from the dock, and out into the placid waters of the river, its engine rumbling just under the surface of the water. Now the cityscape is sliding by slowly, David gazing out at it as Jade hops up onto the rail at his side.     "You think it was because you were a mutant, or cause you went from boy-type to girl-type?" he asks.
Jade Green	Jade shrugs. Her feet kick back and forth for a minute. "Both? But I think the girl one freaked my dad out."      Her hand grips the railing, and she lifts up. Her body tilts forward as her legs lift and then shift over the rail. When she's finished, she's upside down on just the one arm with her legs bent. The other arm hangs off to the side. The black hoodie falls downward, exposing her six-pack and a hint of a black sports bra.      "But I can do this!"
David Reese	David laughs. He leans off the railing so he can clap his hands for Jade, and also get a better look at those abs. There's a dumb grin on his face.     "Fair trade," he says.     It takes roughly half an hour for the ferry to make its way from the Bronx to lower Manhattan, finally coming to rest at the Wall St. terminal. David goofs around and makes smalltalk with Jade throughout the trip, checking off a little more of that mostly inconsequential 'getting to know you' trivia people learn when they go out for the first time. His moment of guilt, from the realization of how swiftly he walked away from his former life, appears to have passed.     "I think you were sayin something about pizza back at the mall, yeah?" he asks, as he steps through the terminal doors and out onto the sidewalk. "We should find us a spot. Just pop in, get a bite, keep walkin."
Jade Green	As we walk out onto the sidewalk, there's a surprising amount of people hustling down it. "Yeah, pizza sounds great. You know any good spots?"      The two walk down the sidewalk, and eventually, they find a Mom and Pop's joint. Inside, there's a tiny hallway separating the shop from outside. The door on the other side opens as a bunch of drunken guys pour out laughing.      Jade's eyes widen as she finds herself sandwiched between David and the wall, as he reflexively acts as a shield for her in the cramped hallway. Her big green eyes flick from his broad chest to his face high above her. Her cheeks redden as her mouth shifts into a squiggle of a shape.
David Reese	Jade and Dave get a slice of pizza. A few blocks away there's some of that authentic Italian style gelato for dessert. And a big ol' city to wander. So they wander. They yak about bullshit, tell jokes and stories, laugh about shit they overhear, try to impress each other in the way that teens with hormones have a tendency to do. Maybe they wander their way up to Central Park to people-watch for a while.     -Maybe- they stay out really, really late, because neither of them are paying attention to the time. And they've gone so far uptown that the ferry from Wall St. is no longer a viable option. So they have to hop an Uber back up to the Bronx to get the car, and then high tail it back to Xavier's School with the windows down and the music blasting.     Hopefully there's no curfew. David forgot to ask.
Jade Green	On the way, Jade hangs her head out of the car singing with the music for a second. Then she's securely back in the car giggling.      Eventually, the two make it to the school and park David's car. The doors open, and Jade holds up a finger attempting to stifle her own giggles.      "They'll kill us for getting back this late if we make a bunch of noise," she says.      The two sneak back to the dorm buildings proper. "Good luck sneaking back in; I'm gonna climb in through my window."      Jade sticks her tongue out, which as usual, goes out a little extra distance than it should. Then she swats David on the arm. "Hey, this was fun, I guess...!"      "Maybe we can do it again. Peace!" She fist bumps then turns to head off around the building to her room.