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Andy didn’t spend a lot of time alone, but Zari was working on her tech. Andy didn’t really understand it and there wasn’t much she could do to help. As such, she had decided to go for a walk. Genosha felt huge. There were always people milling around in one place or another. So many mutants in one place. Andy expected something to go awry. Something always did. But so far nothing had. It was late July, maybe July 22nd. Well past her birthday but not yet August. Andy had had tea with Magneto and he had adopted her. That was something so bizarre Andy wasn’t sure how to handle it. She went to the apartments that the Mutant Underground lived in and went looking for her stuff. There wasn’t much. Andy hadn’t had much on her when she had been turned into a popsicle. But the few things that had been on her were things she cared about. Now that she had a new place to lay her head, a place to call home (she honestly wasn’t ready for that word, it was much too big), she wanted to gather her scant few things and take them to that house.

Max had been making his way through the building. Checking the wards he'd placed up against its walls to ensure they were still intact and operational. While Genosha as a whole felt safer the more the days went by, he still had a lingering sense of dread and anxiety about it all. As if the other shoe would drop at any moment. Selene may have been mentoring him and the other mages amongst the Mutant population of Genosha, but something still didn't sit right with him. That in combination with Sinister, Frost, and the Cuckoos, Max felt it important to protect those he'd grown to love and care for. He waved his hand as magic flew off it and towards a marking placed on the wall, fixing a rather sloppy symbol from his first casting. Andy had stepped into view, drawing Max's attention away from his work, allowing the wards to fade from vision slowly. [Color=aba400]"Hey, wasn't expecting anyone to be back so soon.”[/color]

Andy flinched a little startled by Max. [color=b71d5d]"Oh, sorry. I wanted to get a couple of things I left here.”[/color] She admitted. [color=b71d5d]"Sorry,”[/color] she said again. Andy had the air of someone who had been kicked while down too many times. She was confident in her abilities as a fighter, but she seemed ready for something terrible to happen at a moment's notice.  

[Color=aba400]"Sorry? For what? This place is as much a home to you as it is to me or anyone else here. So there's no need to apologize.”[/color] Max said as he crossed his arms and looked at the young girl before him. He realized it'd felt odd to him to call it home, with how many times the Underground has displaced him, it felt like everytime a place was about to allow him to settle, some new big threat would occur. His eyes darted to Andy's side, unsure of how to proceed with her. He could only imagine how she was feeling. 

[color=b71d5d]"I sort of moved out. Without much fanfare or telling anyone.”[/color] She shrugged. She didn’t dare mention she didn’t even know what home meant. Not really. How could you when everything you had considered home had been taken or destroyed over and over. [color=b71d5d]"I don’t know if...you were...mad.”[/color] Countless times Andy had run away and whenever she had been picked up again she got in trouble, and often the ‘parents’ thought she wasn’t worth it and had sent her packing to a different home. 

Max quirked an eyebrow at her. [Color=aba400]"Mad? I'm happy for you Andy. I mean, it would've been nice to know so we could've thrown you a little going away party. Maybe had some cake and balloons or something but…I wouldn't say I'm mad.”[/color] He spoke as he moved across the room slowly, pulling a chair to the side and sitting halfway on it. [Color=aba400]"You found somewhere you belong, someone who you can call family…if you want. Eriks not too bad either, I've lived under the same roof before. He's a bit intense but his hearts in the right place always.”[/color] 

[color=b71d5d]"Intense is one way to put it.”[/color] she says mostly under her breath. [color=b71d5d]”He is nice. He, uh, you weren’t there, but he went to great lengths to get his daughter back. I had never seen someone do that before.”[/color] She told Max. He hadn’t been there when Magneto had come for Polaris. Tearing down the MU headquarters to get her free of Havok. She had fought because that was what she did, but she didn’t blame him. Even if he had temporarily stolen her jacket. 

Max wondered if she'd been talking about Wanda. He still had her spellbook and journal from when he was away. They felt close, even when they fought it had a sense of just a larger scale family argument to him at times. Why else would she build a whole world just for her father to rule? For her brother to be reunited with? [Color=aba400]”I'm sure he'd do the same for you now. It…must be nice. I'm still looking for that, for a family of my own.”[/color] 

Andy shrugged. It was small. [color=b71d5d]"Maybe you’ll find one here.”[/color] She was surprised. He was part of the MU right? He had them. She frowned, and bit her lip. [color=b71d5d]"I thought...you were close with them.”[/color] She gestured around the empty room as if there were people gathered there. 

[Color=aba400]"Close, yeah. I just…maybe it's me getting into my own head honestly. After what my family- my…parents, did. It feels like a cursed word. I'm afraid if I get too close, too attached to them, they'll disappear somehow.”[/color] Max didn't make eye contact with Andy as he spoke. Deciding instead to conjure a drink between his hands and focus on that. 

Andy snorted a little. [color=b71d5d]"Sorry. That’s, just, exactly how I feel.”[/color] She admitted. [color=b71d5d]"I...I grew up without any parents at all. Totally alone. And everytime I thought I had something I could call a family it didn’t work out.”[/color] A massive understatement. 

[Color=aba400]"Well as someone who had them…you didn't miss much.”[/color] Max said half heartedly trying to make a joke. He instantly regretted his choice. [Color=aba400]"Sorry, I guess I'm still a little sore about them. Not [i]every[/i] parent would sell you out to Purifiers. I know no one here would its just…having that happen, then seeing how quickly Sunshine got attached to Erg only for the Morlocks to be obliterated…it's hard. But we aren't alone, we have each other and I'm always a portal away.”[/color]

[color=b71d5d]"I can’t do magic.”[/color] As fantastic as superpowers were, magic was something else. She had flinched at the mention of Purifiers. Once the first bit of fear passed anger flared. She hated Purifiers. They had cost her the one thing she had thought would be there forever. The one family who hadn’t been paid to keep her. [color=b71d5d]”I don’t know who Erg or the Morlocks are.”[/color] She admitted though she frowned a bit. [color=b71d5d]”Wait, weren’t we in a Morlock tunnel or something when you rescued us?”[/color] She had remembered thinking about The Time Machine when Veil had said where they were going. 

[Color=aba400]"I think so yeah, they were a group of mutants, ones with visible mutations that made it hard for them to blend amongst the people. So they hid in their tunnels, the sewers. Using their powers to stay off the radar and away from Purifiers. Those without visible mutations could take a mark, an M branded onto them. They helped a few of us out while we were on the run, but trouble came and…”[/color] Max had a bit of a far off look as he stared down his drink. [Color=aba400]"The way Selene makes it seem, I think anyone can do magic if they've the mind for it. Though I suppose there's a difference between what I do and what Strange does. James always makes it seem so much more fantastical than it is. To me it feels…chaotic, half the time it doesn't work, and for all it does I can't bring people I've lost back…but if you wanted to I'm sure you could learn.”[/color]

The idea of learning how to do magic is intriguing. If anyone can really learn how...

[color=b71d5d]"That would be neat to learn. I only have lightning in me. We'll, that and I've got good reflexes. I'm not a true speedster. But hitting me is hard.”[/color] She smiles a little. 

[Color=aba400]"Lightnings not a bad start.”[/color] Max said with a chuckle. [Color=aba400]"If this was D&D that would be considered a form of evocation magic. After all it has to come from somewhere I assume. If you want, I could work on a bit of a how to for magic? Based on the teachings I'm learning here as well as my own experiences. See if maybe you can do more than lightning.”[/color]

[color=b71d5d]"You’d do that?”[/color] Andy is surprised by the offer. She’s been burned by people so much in the past it is weird when someone is kind to you. Even after her time with the Drummonds and learning that altruism did exist, she didn’t expect it. 

[Color=aba400]"Yeah. Why not? If you want to learn magic you'll need to start somehow and from somewhere. I'm not sure Selene would be a good mentor if you're looking to get your footing, but maybe after you have she'd let you in too. But before all that you need a how to, I've got Wanda’s spellbook around here somewhere, I'm sure I can use it to see if she had any instructions as well, after all the more sources I can pull from the easier it'll be to help you out.”[/color]

[color=b71d5d]”Thank you, Max,”[/color] Andy said. [color=b71d5d]”I am interested. I don’t know anything about magic at all. But anything you can teach me I’d appreciate.”[/color] She didn’t know who Selene was, but maybe if Max got her to show some potential Selene would let her learn at the magic area. That’d be neat. 

[Color=aba400]”No problem.”[/color] Max said. He didn't want to have Andy leave empty handed however, especially since she was making her way towards a new home, new family. She'd need a housewarming gift. He tried to think about what Andy might like. She tended to stay on the road, never had too much on her and everything she did have was in her bag from what he could tell. Whether that was a necessity of how life had treated her, or just the way she liked to live he didn't fully know. So, he made her something simple. Max crafted a book out of his magic, something that would match her aesthetic. Inside was a single photo, a group picture of the Underground as she knew one. The rest of the pages were blank, spots for her to fill with more photos of her future adventures. [Color=aba400]”Here, a housewarming gift.”[/color]

Andy opened the book and smiled. She appreciated the gift. [color=b71d5d]"Thank you.”[/color] She knew the people in the group seemed to care about her. They had been kind, mostly. She didn’t care for Havok. They also had treated her like an interloper. They all had so much history together. She had only known them for a day when they fought Stabberson. [color=b71d5d]"I look forward to adding pictures to it.”[/color] 

[Color=aba400]"I look forward to seeing them in the future. See what adventures you get up to.”[/color] Max said with a smile. [Color=aba400]"Now go gather your things before I start to cry”[/color] He said with a bit of a laugh.

Andy smiled and gave a small wave to Max. She carried the photo album with her to the room she had spent only a couple of nights in before Magneto had adopted her. There wasn't much there. But what was hers, she gathered. It took only a few moments. She didn't look back at the room. It had no nostalgia for her.