2013.03.31 - Mountain Climbing and a Bet

It's late afternoon in Manhattan. Jocelyn had gotten one of her less than eagle-eyed chaperones for her trip into New York City, though this one had seen a cute guy she wanted to follow into a local gym. Jocelyn had actually gone with this one, because it was a fancy place and she was curious, and the two had spent some time in there. But they'd just left, and her chaperone, a short girl by the name of Jessica, had decided to do a little bit of window shopping, also known as boy stalking, and suggested Jocelyn just check out a few of the touristy things. Jocelyn, having already gotten the tourist tour a couple times, just nodded politely and has just started down the street. She was dressed relatively casually, though she was sporting a nice new gym bag which was slung over her shoulder, compliments of the gym and Jessica having to bribe Jocelyn to help her out. Nobody ever said the kid was above taking the right kind of bribe.

There are, of course, a few shadier characters who like to pick pockets about, though a trained eye might notice Jocelyn keeping away from such people with a casual stride, not really breaking her flow of movement even when it looked like she was going to walk right into a pickpocket's range.

The girl moving about through the crowd isn't the only one that caught the pickpockets staring a little too intently at her. Ben Reilly moved directly into the pick pockets bumping into them. Most of them went down, "I'm sorry!" Ben cries out as they topple down. A few of them are gasping for air as the teen put a little too much force into that bump, the joys of super strength. With his hands up defensively, Ben's leather coat shines against bits of the spring sun while hiding most of a blue hoodie underneath. Blue jeans cling to his legs but hide most of the black vans shoes snuggling his feet. "You guys okay?" he asks the group trying so hard to fight a smile.

For a second Ben's brown eyes go to the girl just making sure she's okay before he looks back to the would be criminals. Slowly the group picks themselves back up then they start to scatter like cockroaches down the street. Jocelyn just continues to move with the crowd, even as she notices Ben 'accidentally' run into the pickpockets. She does give a very brief glance to Ben, her eyes catching his looking at her, and gives him an almost barely visible nod with a small smile on her face, and her course alters just slightly so that she's heading towards a more secluded spot, away from the crowd, where someone could actually have a conversation. The spot is a little bench outside of a shop that is actually fairly far from the foot traffic. One of those out of the way places that certain businesses sometimes set up in hopes of attracting customers. It was her way of saying 'Got a minute?' without actually shouting across the street or causing any further chaos. For being as tall as she was, Jocelyn did like to move subtley where she could.

Seeing the cue Ben turns calmly then starts to walk down the street like he would on any othe rday. Quietly he sits down next to her as if he's waiting for the bus, "You okay?" he asks just to make sure. Yes, he knew that she is indeed fine, but it's the inner-hero within him peeking out one more time. "I'm fine. Couple others tried to make some plays earlier today, but they didn't get anything," Jocelyn comments to Ben. "Though that little move of your's will keep the area clear of them for a little bit at least, since they've now been made as a group that's together. Nice work. Day at the office for you?" Jocelyn gives him an easy smile. "Don't know if I got to introduce myself properly at the party, what with the headache I was nursing. I'm Jocelyn," she says to Ben, reminding him of her name, in case he had forgotten it.

"Ben. Ben Reilly," he's thankful for the name since he's horrible with them and birthdates. His eyes scan the area for a moment before looking at her, "Yeah. They tend to have a pack mentality. I was hoping to have knocked down the alpha to make their disspearance a little more permenant...C'est la vi," he rolls his shoulders a little.

Hearing the words "Day at the office," Ben shakes his head, "Day off. Sue said I wasn't needed in the lab so I'm just exploring the city since I couldn't fall back asleep." For a moment he pauses, "Thor's place, right?!" Memory is starting to kcik in and the images of Jocelyn holding her head while nursing a headache come back to him. "How's the head?"

Who was Sue? Jocelyn figured that must be someone in charge. "Yeah, can't win them all. Where there are tourists...". Jocelyn sighs and shakes her head. "Though you'd think people would learn a bit about avoiding pickpockets. Still, better than when I was down by the docks the other day where they tend to be a bit more aggressive. All you tend to lose up here is a wallet". A nod is given at the mention of Thor's. "Yeah. Head is doing better. Just a sudden thing that cleared up soon enough. They're getting rarer and rarer now," the girl says. "You work with Eddie, don't you?" Jocelyn asks. "Or am I confused". "Night job is with Eddie. Day job that pays the bills is with Sue Storm and company," he corrects the woman to put her on the right page. "The night stuff is pro-bono and well...won't put a warm meal in my stomach or a roof over my head." For a second Ben's quiet before speaking again, "I know about the docks. When I visit them, a push is the least of their worries if I see them."

"Yeah, night jobs tend not to pay the bills so much. Though given I'm still in school, I don't have to worry about that for at least another couple of years, in theory. After that, I'll need a day job myself". Jocelyn was still, in fact, a teenager, and now that she was going to school at Xavier's, well, she didn't have to resort to the very things that Ben was preventing. "The ones down there lately are stupid. Don't pay attention to the rumors that are true or false, and things might get ugly down there quick". Though didn't it always get ugly down there every so often?

Jocelyn shifts a little bit, putting her bag on her lap. "So, what do you do around here for fun on your days off? Anything aside from scare off pickpockets?" she asks with a smile, moving the topic to lighter things.

"I just got out of high school and got a good gig with the Baxter Building. I'm pretty lucky in that regard," again the teen shrugs. He looks toward Jocelyn, "If you're at a boarding school see if they have a college program."

A smirk pulls at the corner of his lip, "I usually just try to take in what they do as they do it. Rumors can be worse than what you hear. And by worse I mean both ways. Sometimes they'll be stupider and not worth your time or effort. Then there will be the times they're worse for you and you find out the group of knock-around guys have the strength of like Superman or something...," Ben shakes his head for a moment.

"I'm a bit of a Science nerd...so what I like to do for fun may not be your cup of tea. I walk, play video games, do science stuff, I'm learning how to skate and thinking of maybe getting a tattoo. What do you do for fun when not in school?"

"Skate is pretty cool," Jocelyn agrees. "I never really had much chance to try video games or science stuff. Didn't have the cash for it when I was living in Detroit," Jocelyn explains. "Blades or board?" she asks with regards to the skating. It could be either, she figures. "Walking around, yeah, I do a fair bit of that when I can. We've got rules about chaperones, so I usually have to hunt someone down". She gestures over at Jessica, who is across the street and flirting with some big guy at this point. Just to indicate that she was, in fact, following the rules. "I do a lot of sports stuff myself. Pick up games and things like that. Read and listen to music when I get the chance. Once in awhile I hit up a movie. Nothing too exciting, but it keeps me off the streets".

"Board for me. And yeah I'm pretty plain myself. My Un...err guardian didn't have a lot growing up. I enjoyed what I could when I could, but it kept me out of trouble. Usually I invented a lot of things." He shrugs then looks at her, "What do you want to do so you can keep off the streets? Sky's the limit," Ben offers feeling bad for her. What goes unsaid about Ben is the year he spent on the streets learning about himself, who and what he was, and all of the other trauma that comes with someone like him. Now he's not made of money but he could bring a smile to someone else's face. "Whatever you want to try."

"Yeah, didn't do much skateboarding myself. Tried it a few times. I can stay up and not fall off, you know?" Jocelyn replies as she chats with Ben. She lets the slip of the tongue pass there regarding his guardian. "Didn't really get much into the inventing of things myself. I'm not nearly all that science-oriented. Even computers tend to confuse me," Jocelyn explains. Computers and Jocelyn just plain did not get along at all. "Sky's the limit, huh?" Jocelyn glances around and gestures over at an indoor rock climbing place. "How about that? Indoor rock climbing? I'll make sure my chaperone shows up so I'm still following the rules".

Smiling Ben nods to the rock climbing. He doesn't bring up the fact he scales buildings without harnesses and figures climbing up fake rocks is the samet hing. "Shall we?" Ben asks after getting up off the bench.

"What school do you go to again? Tell me about it," since his history is a bit strange when it comes to education the cloned teen is always curious about what others go through for school. Hopefully, one day, Ben would have enough info so he could lie enough on applications to -NOT- sound like Peter Parker. Jocelyn nods and texts over to her chaperone, who quickly texts back. "She'll come, too, though she'd like us to keep out of the way of her flirting," Jocelyn comments with a small grin. Easy sell. And Jocelyn doesn't know that Ben was a wall-crawler. She stands and starts towards the building. "Oh, just a little boarding school up north. I got a bit of a basic trust to pay for education when my parents died," Jocelyn explains to Ben. Stupid secrecy rules. "Mostly it's just classes, and I'll admit I'm not so good at them. Cess and Jubes keep saying I'm not so bad at them, but I just came to the school this term. It's a lot different than in Detroit, so I really don't know a lot about it yet". Which was true! "The schools back home in Detroit are...harder is a good word for them".

"You know Jubilation?" Ben asks trying to keep his face straight. Nabbing the door he pulls it open and holds it for Jocelyn, "I used to work Mall Security...You can imagine how that went," he says with an amused smirk. "What's the name of the boarding school?" even Jubilee is a little secretive about the school name. He has his hunches but Ben wants to hear it from a source. "Tell me about life in the D. How was it growing up in a place that the news outlets call volotile and a wreck, even today, thanks to the automobile industry restructering. Plus add in Flint and Detroit's neck and neck competition for the most violent city in the country," Ben winces a little then looks to his company a little more curious about her.

Jocelyn smiles a little. Well, Jubes could keep quiet sometimes, if Ben didn't know the name of the school. "That's a question I'm going to have to pass on. Hands are tied there". Jocelyn holds her hands up and crosses them at the wrist. It wasn't like she gave Ben any useful information. Lots of boarding schools all over New York. "I imagine that went really well as a first meeting," Jocelyn adds with a smirk, shaking her head. "Oh, it was worse than the reports had it. I grew up a street rat. It wasn't an easy place to grow up. Gangs all over, you pretty much see it all and hear it all by the time you're ten". Jocelyn shrugs a little bit at that, though it did maybe indicate why the local pickpockets didn't phase her much.

Jocelyn pays for the fee, and gets the appropriate shoes and gear she needs for a climb. "You learn to protect yourself pretty quickly in a place like that. Still, there are some nice pockets of the city. No place is completely bad. Just that most of the people are really jealous of the few with money. Kind of the US under a microscope".

Ben pays for his shoes, the fee and any money to keep them going for a bit. "Yes, it was a strange first meeting. Has she brought up anyone named Ben before?" the question is one that any teenager would ask. Details about growing up in Detroit smack him in the face hard. Part of his heart went out to her but Jocelyn seems to have turned a negative into a big positive. "Well if you ever need help, a place to just get away, whatever, find me and I'll help how I can," Ben offers before putting on his shoes then the gear. "You sure you want to do this?" he warns a little bit.

Jocelyn thinks for a minute. "No, she hasn't mentioned you to me yet, but I've not seen her much for the last couple weeks, and I've been there at most a month," Jocelyn admits with a casual shrug. "Been kept busy with classes and such pretty hard. It's that time of year". She isn't shocked that he asks though. Most people would. Though now she was going to have to ask Jubilee about him. "Sure, I can give you a call or something if I'm out and about and need a hand. Got a number?" she asks. Jocelyn gestures to her bag. "I'm going to go change quick. Meet you out at the walls in five or ten minutes?" Jocelyn asks in response to Ben's question about if she's sure about doing this. She wouldn't have suggested it if she wasn't sure!

Nodding Ben gives out his cell number to Jocelyn before she skitters away to change. He focuses on putting on the gear. There's no need to climb since he's always ready to scale something thanks to always leaving his clothes a little baggy and loose for mobility. In a neat pile he folds his leather coat and well-worn hoodie, Ben is waiting by the wall nodding to a few directions someone's giving him because it is his first time...technically. Desperately Ben wanted to ask if "Parkouring," up buildings counted as climbing, but refrained. There is probably some climber versus parkour feud that would rival boarders versus bladers, or snowboarders versus skiiers.

Jocelyn heads to the locker room and changes. She's now dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a purple tank top. Comfortable climbing or workout clothing, basically. She walks over and listens to the instructions as well, noting the difficulty of the various routes. Once the person has finished with the instructions, she looks over at Ben. "So, you want to try one of the beginner ones first and see how we do?" Jocelyn suggests to him. "Though I think we can try and keep to the appropriate colors and not do this 'rainbowing' of using whatever hold we can grab he was talking about". And yes, there probably is a parkour vs. climbing feud, and Jocelyn would be just as glad to avoid getting into that.

"I'm game if you are," he says before puffing out his chest letting the blue emblem, on his white fantastic four t-shirt stand out, a little more. Grabbing a blue piece Ben climbs up then looks to Jocelyn, "Come on," another blue part meets his hand and he pulls up his body. Somehow, somewhere, it's obvious to everyone Ben is far from a beginner because of the ease in his motions. Every move is practiced, flows well and is without fear. Toward the middle Ben starts to slow up and flicks at the safety line for a moment. "Stupid thing," he spits out his voice dripping with annoyance. Still he's moving up just fine despite the small setback.

Jocelyn shifts over to the route next to Ben and starts to climb, using the red handholds on this one. This one happens to have the red ones marked as the beginner ones. She has about an inch more of height to work with than Ben does, but she lacks certain natural skills. Still, once she's hooked in, it's clear she's not a bad climber herself, as she makes her way up the wall. "Okay, I'm on my way up," Jocelyn says with a smile, starting to make her way up. She isn't as fast as Ben is, but she's moving at an above-average pace. She does pause every once in awhile and look over at some of the other veteran climbers to see what they're doing, and she imitates their movements pretty well. She'll reach the top, eventually, but not nearly as quickly as Ben is likely to do so. "You know, the safety line is necessary in case of falling, even if the foam down there looks pretty soft," she jokes lightly.

"If I had my web shooters I wouldn't need a safety line," Ben thinks as he is trying harder now. Bits of his muscle start to show more showing off the runner's physique he hides beneath the baggy clothes. A little more muscle lingers thanks to the Baxter Building having a gym meant to keep Ben Grimm on his toes. Right foot blue, left hand blue, pull, it is almost like a one-colored version of twister. "How are you doing there, Red?" Right hand blue, right leg blue, pull, Ben is starting to get near the top. "How many climbers are we making look bad right now?" Ben says loud enough for some angry glares to be tossed his way. "I've got fifty bucks that says we can beat any two on the intermediate course. What about you?" Unlike Peter Parker, Ben didn't mind poking at things with a stick and riling up the hornets nest. "I mean they should be able to beat us right? I mean we're virgins to this rock climbing stuff...I know parkour that's about it. Gives me more of a workout than this crap," again more poking with the stick and the angry looks grow in number. "What do you say, Red?"

Jocelyn just shakes her head a little bit as Ben attempts to rile up the place a little. She could tell well enough what he was trying to do. "Careful there, Ben. People get upset if you poke them too much. Egos and all". Was that a little bit of smack talk from the girl in her own way? Defined back and shoulder muscles were visible as she made her way up towards the top, and it was clear she spent quite a lot of time working out herself, as she didn't have much trouble getting up to the top, though she'll certainly not be as fast as Ben. "I'm fine, fine. Shall we make our way down?" she asks, waiting for Ben's response.

Meanwhile, there are at least a couple cranky looking veteran climbers, both in excellent shape, who are nearby and are chatting animatedly, gesturing briefly at the two newbies.

By the time she makes her way to the top Ben smiles at her, as he is already waiting, "After this how about a smoothie?" he asks with an amused smile splattered all across his face. Moving down Ben eventually pushes off the wall landing into the foam pit in a sea of laughter. Slowly he rose up with a big smile on his face. The two gentleman at the bottom are there and Ben just looks between them, "Can I help you?" "Works for me," Jocelyn sas. She then makes her way down, pushing off and basically rapelling her way down, landing neatly on her feat before she unhooks herself. She stays quiet for a moment as the two men talk.

"Yeah, heard you boasting. You're not a virgin at this though, that's obvious". The one who is talking is probably in his early 20's, with shaggy brown hair. He points over at the two toughest routes, side by side. They're a solid hundred feet up, with various outcroppings, dips, twists, etc... They also have far fewer handholds and what ones they do have might hold two fingers at best, most of the time. "We'll take you on. Side by side racing each of us. Fifty bucks on each race. You both beat us, we'll buy you memberships for a year. We win both, you buy our memeberships".

"I assure you I'm as big of a virgin to this wall as I am a virgin with women," 'he pauses then smiles deviously before adding, "Well...women who aren't your mother. Let's face it everyone's had a turn at that, even me and I'm a geeky nerd that couldn't get a date through High School." Seeing the anger bubble in the man Ben raises the stacks, "Fifty is too cheap for my blood. Make it a hundred and two years of memberships for the races, and all that." Anger is the quickest way to make people do the stupidest of things. "How about it?" A finger quickly goes up, "And if you both win I will let," Ben points to Shaggy, "You kick my ass for calling your Mom as easy to get into as a subway turn-style. Deal?" Adding another carrot to dangle Ben is sure they'll except.

At first, the guy isn't going to accept the deal. But insulting his mother, well, while that's the oldest insult in the book, it still gets this guy riled up. "Deal," the guy says, and he starts making his way over to the wall and gets hooked up.

The other one, a guy about as tall as Jocelyn, looks over at her. "And how about you? Too little for you, or you need to insult me?" he asks.

Jocelyn shakes her head as she walks along. "Nah, no need for that. If I win, it means you got yourself beat by a girl, and if you win, you beat a brand new girl to this". Though it wasn't unlike climbing over certain fences and junky buildings in Detroit, so Jocelyn figured she'd put on a decent show of it.

The first guy gets ready. "Soon as you're ready," he says, waiting for Ben to get ready.

Smirking Ben just looks at his oppenant then the wall, "Rainbowing allowed?" he asks just to set down some ground rules or at least, a ground rule. He looks to the guy about to take on Jocelyn, "At least you'll take the satisifaction of knowing you're trying to beat a girl still in High School," he adds just because. Ben looks up the wall then points to someone not doing anything, "I need you to count down to three then say go," his brown eyes move away from the person then back to the wall. He waits for the word "Go!" by the stranger and instead of climbing Ben jumps to grab the his color choice. Anyone watching would think Ben is a hurdeler training to become state champion or at least make it into a Summer Olympic Qualifier. He smiles deviously to himself then swings putting his hand into the right color.

At the word go the one taking on Jocelyn is quick to move. He did not want to be known as the guy to get beat by a High Schooler let alone a girl that is a High Schooler. The money didn't matter at this point, leaving his pride in tact is a bigger price for him.

The one racing Ben shakes his head as he climbs his matching wall. "No rainbowing, You shouldn't even ask that". The guy is clearly an expert at this, and he's moving rather quickly up the wall, his hands reaching for the holds, in many cases just holding in with one or two fingers as he pulls himself up. It might be relatively easy for Ben, but he'd have to at least put a little bit of effort into his climbing if he wanted to stick with the rules and still beat this guy, as he could make a legitimate claim to the nickname Spider-Man himself...if it wasn't already a hero's name.

Meanwhile, Jocelyn reaches up and starts pulling herself up. She's not moving as quickly as Ben, of course, but she has reach and a lot of strength relative to her bodyweight, and she starts making herself up. She's got a tough course, with a lot of outcroppings that is going to make it the more difficult course of the two, and will require some slower movements to avoid falling. Instead of panicing at the fast start her opponent takes, she focuses on making good, steady movement at the moment. At one point she brings her foot up practically to chest height to secure a toehold on the hold she was holding with two fingers of her left hand. It was still anyone's race. she figured.

Taking off after his oppenant with the quickness he's gained just through vigorously working out thanks to crime-fighting Ben doesn't want to be shown up. After a little while Ben is panting but is enjoying pushing himself. Looking aside to see Jocelym pull herself up after putting her leg so far, Ben starts to do that with his own legs. By now the other climber is up to Ben's calves, but the teen is just trying to stay the course. "Don't forget to keep your pinkies up to keep this civilized," Ben snarks grabbing the next hold with his hand and he indeed puts up his pinky. It's like he's trying too hard to hold a drink properly at a fancy party like many cartoon and television characters before him. "C'mon big guy, you can beat me," he keeps egging on his oppenant while pulling himself up promptly. Sweat starts to show off more of Ben's muscle definition, it's clear he's no stranger to the gym.

Instead of picking sure footing, Jocelyn's oppenant is going for the quick moment. The second he feels secure just for a moment his body is willed up to the next point. Nothing is too outstretched with the motions, but he is moving a little recklessly thanks to pressure. The bet has the guy sweating bullets on the inside. If it wasn't him on the wall he would admit the girl is good, but he did not have that priveledge today. The guy who is challenging Ben is a bit better than the one challenging Jocelyn, and he's keepng his cool right now from the taunting. He knew when he was being messed with. Instead, he focused on making good grabs keeps going. They're at about the halfway point now, and the guy is right in range of Ben. The big challenge on Ben's wall at the current time was that the holds were all tiny and they were rather far apart, with some outcroppings, so it made for a good pure speed race. At one point just before the halfway mark, the guy pulls up to where his head is about at Ben's chest level from just focusing on the climbing and not the banter.

Jocelyn's wall, meanwhile, is the one filled with outcroppings, and she's finding herself having to climb not only up, but outward as well a fair amount of time. Just a bit past the halfway mark there is a wicked outcropping that is just barely reachable for either her or her opponent. Jocelyn stretches one arm up and grabs a hold and then dangles for a brief moment before pulling herself up and getting a second hand up to a hold. Then she starts basically crawling upside-down on the outcropping, trying to make it to the edge where she can hook around.

Seeing that his opposition is getting so high Ben stops with the bantering then focuses entirely on climbing. Good holds using two fingers with good fighting when appropriate become Ben's focus. Sweat is pouring donw his person, he's breathing hard, but is still moving as quick as possible. He hopes to be getting close to the end or at least creating a big enough gap between him and the other guy. Staying focused on the race is causing Ben to just move quicker since he is shutting out the rest of the world to perform better.

Jocelyn's guy is moving quickly and when he thinks there's a sure grab he stretches then lets out a gasp. Someone overstretched himself and all of the fast movmements caused him to sacrifice sure footing. As he comes up to an outcropping his arm overexerts himself and he slips. Doing its job, the safety harness catches him, but frustration fills his face. The guy kicks the wall as he knows people will ask him, "What was it like to get beat by a High Schooler!?"

Up and up they go, and now that they're moving faster, the guy is having a harder time catching Ben, what with some of Ben's natural advantages. The guy is starting to fall further and further behind Ben, though he's certainly giving it everything he has, there just isn't enough in him to keep up.

Jocelyn, meanwhile, glances over at the guy. "Well, just swing over and keep going," Jocelyn points out. Falling was part of this. She makes her way up and over the outcropping and keeps making her way upwards. No longer focused on the competition, Jocelyn just focuses on making it up slow and steady. There are a couple points where she just has to rely on pure grip strength to hold on, but she'll ultimately make it to the top, though well after Ben and his competition finish. The girl is breathing rather hard by the end of it, and her hair and back are wet with sweat from the physical challenge of it all.

As the last guy is making his way up Ben holds out his hand to help him up. The gent did swing back and finished out the race at least. After everyone's at the top Ben says with a smile, "Two-Hundred goes to my partner and you only have to give her the membership if you want. It's up to her though if she gets two years or four," the words are firm but he's trying so very hard not to gloat. Everything comes off more like it's a business transaction instead of a bet.

"No need for the membership," Jocelyn responds. It would soothe things over with the guys, and the cash was plenty. The boys each pony up the money and pass it over to Jocelyn. The guys then make their way off, as this wall was tall enough that there was a walkway you could use to head back downstairs. Jocelyn looks over at Ben when they leave. "You don't have to give me all the money you know. You did half the work, and my guy fell off the side," Jocelyn points out, wiping at her forehead with her arm. That had been a challenge, and a tougher one that she thought it'd be.

Smirking Ben whispers, "You know Eddie does the hero thing and I work with him on a team, right?" He says giving Jocelyn a serious look, first one he's given anyone all day.

Jocelyn simply nods to that. She knew how to keep a secret like that well enough. This wall was hard enough that there wasn't anyone else up here to overhear, but it was still best to be quiet. "Yeah, I know. Y.A.," Jocelyn comments, using the abbreviation instead of saying the entire thing.

"You know my face and it wouldn't be hard to narrow down who I am. Name of the school? Your secret for mine. And it wouldn't be hard for me to figure it out on the same levels as you," Ben pauses then adds, "Jubilee is my girlfriend. She's talked about the school but never naming it. Connecting you and her, to past heroics of hers, I would gather to say you attend the school I wish I could have attended," his voice barely a whisper, "The one in Salem." He brings up the Salem Center, home of Xavier's school. "Right?" "If you're dating Jubes and all, you know why we can't name it, but if you know the location, you already know the name. So why do you need it spoken?" Jocelyn asks, raising her eyebrow. Her voice is still friendly, but caution was necessary, and she hoped it was something Ben would understand. Her voice, however, remained quiet. Geez, did all of the Young Allies date Young X-Men? Jocelyn was going to have to have a conversation with Vic AND Jubilee about this. And why they haven't hooked her up with anyone yet. Geez! Though given Ben's performance, it wouldn't take much for her to look up the exploits of the Young Allies and take a wild guess at which one he was. He certainly wasn't Wiccan or Axiom, that much was obvious.

"I just wanted to know if I have two more reasons to defend that school," he says quietly giving an honest answer. Smirking he confesses softly, "If my gift, curse, whatever you want to call it happened earlier in life...I would love to have put an 'X' somewhere on the costume. Still woudln't mind," he smirks then looks at her, "The team's Spider by the way. I met Jubes when I worked as a mall-cop. It was strange because one of the first times I met her she was in her underwear," a few moments pass before he adds in the needed details to make that not sound so dirty, "She busted out of dressing room putting up a fuss. I gave her my hoodie to hide in after she realized a lot of people saw her put victorian secret models to shame. We agreed to meet up after my shift so I could nab my hoodie back...things went from there. It was strange," he smiles fondly at the memory, "A good strange at least. And you can keep the money, I work for the Fantastic Four for my day job. Despite my arrogance at rock climbing there's a nerdy brain hidden in this skull. Mister Rogers hired me on as an intern not too long ago."

Jocelyn nods. "I've met your team's fanboy, of course, and fought alongside your team's magician". That should tell Ben about how much exposure she's had to his team. "That...isn't that unusual for Jubes, actually," Jocelyn says with a shake of her head. "And I can see why you were asking me if this was a good idea". A nod is given regarding the Fantastic Four. "You sure do keep busy". That's when her watch beeps. "I have to get rolling though. I'll give you a call next time I'm out and about and need a climbing partner. Sometime maybe we'll do something a little more difficult for you," the girl says. And with that, she'll make her way off.