"Your powers are awesome," said Rogue, who was sitting cross-legged on Umbra's bed, a horror novel open in her lap. Her hair was gathered back in a careless pony-tail, the white sections making a skunk stripe across auburn strands.

"I still think yours are cooler. I mean, you could have anyone's powers," Umbra replied.

"Yeah. But I couldn't kiss a guy without putting him in a coma," said Rogue with a smirk of amusement at the thought. Umbra playfully raised an eyebrow at her. "Not that I'd want to..." she added softly, and this sent them both into soft chuckles. "And try getting part of someone's memories. It gets overwhelming after a little while." Umbra nodded in agreement and finished applying a bruise-tinted powder to one pale eyelid as she stood at the mirror. She used a slender finger to carefully smudge it in all the right places, and then picked up a charcoal eye pencil.

"You sure you've never used make-up before?" Rogue inquired, watching the cat-tailed girl's reflection from where she was sitting. "Ya act like an expert when puttin' it on." She studied how carefully Umbra outlined her eyes, not making a single flaw. No need to go back and correct anything.

"First time," Umbra grinned, capping her eyeliner and sitting down on the edge of the bed. Her school books were stacked neatly on the nightstand at her bed side. She reached over and seized one, thumbing through it boredly.

"Ah can't help but find that a bit hard to believe," Rogue marked her spot in the book with a black ribbon and set it aside. She lifted both arms above her head and groaned softly as she stretched. Umbra's ears pivoted, picking up the sounds of each popping joint.

"Rogue?" Umbra asked suddenly in an incredibly timid voice. The auburn mutant dropped her hands to her lap. Her gaze shifted to the girl who's skin was almost the shade of Rogue's, if not even paler.

"Yeah?" she asked in that truly country voice, tone indicating her full attention was on the cat-like mutant.

"Well, I don't really understand friendship," Umbra began uncertainly, fidgeting with her tail and twirling it around her fingers. "Because I've never had a friend before... I guess what I'm wondering is..." her sentences trailed and her gaze leapt about the room in uncertainty. "Rogue, are we friends?" Rough's eyes locked with those brilliant green ones that held a dead serious expression, surprise swimming in the depths of her own gaze. Her violet-painted lips turned upwards at the corners in a smile.

"'Course, Umbra," came the accent again in a warm, sincere manner. The cat-eared mutant responded with a grin of her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm tellin' ya, yo. Those X-men got a new recruit." Todd was hopping around the living room, making countless attempts to try and convince someone. Lance rolled his dark eyes and Pietro sighed with apparent agitation.

"Look, just-because-Rogue-was-actually-sitting-with-someone-today, doesn't-mean-there's-a-new-mutant-at-Bayville-High," the pale-haired speed demon replied in his fast-paced, hard-to-follow voice.

"I dunno, man. Somethin' about that chick just dun feel right. Dangerous, yo."

"Oh, what, so now you're some kind of psychic?" Lance asked, not pulling his dark eyes from the window he was staring out of. His fingers drummed idly on the scratched wooden table wherever there was an empty space; the whole thing was littered with soda cans and pizza boxes old enough to be displayed in a museum somewhere. If there was an award for poor house-keeping, the Brotherhood would win without a doubt.

"Aw man, you're all against me." Todd whined, hopping over and sitting down next to Wanda, who was curled up in the corner of the room, an open book in her hands. "Babycakes, whatchu think?"

"Leave me alone, Toad," Wanda replied. Without looking up she placed one hand in front of her. Before the Toad had time to even panic, he was forced across the room by Wanda's powers, where he slid over the table, sending garbage flying. He landed in Lance's lap, who gave a disgusted cry and stood up. The second Toad landed on his rear end in the middle of the room, Lance let loose a tremor that sent him shakily through the doorway, falling backwards as he connected with the threshold. Pietro and Lance chuckled as Todd crossly gathered himself to his feet, grumbling under his breath.

Man, I know that chick is a mutant. The amphibian-like teen thought as he headed to take his monthly shower. And I'm gonna prove it, too. He decided as he clicked the door shut behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rogue left for school early to catch up on some notes she had missed, so Umbra headed down the stairs of the institute alone this morning. The headphones Rogue had given her were hanging around her neck, the metal she had instantly fallen in love with blaring from them. She was so completely absorbed in the way the instruments blended with lyrics and shouting and screams that she didn't hear footsteps behind her as she headed down the sidewalk.

Todd trailed the mutant-in-question for a few blocks, waiting. Suddenly, he caught sight of a watch around her wrist. That's not a watch thought the slimy Toad. That's an image inducer. Of course he would remember such a thing; he had 'borrowed' (without asking) Kurt's one time. Todd spotted an alleyway about a block ahead, and he got an idea.

When Umbra caught sight of the high school, she switched off her CD player and slipped it into the side pocket of her backpack. That's when she heard the footsteps: much too late. A long green tongue came flying from behind her and wrapped itself around her left wrist like some hideous bangle... around the inducer! Umbra spun around, the raven curtain of her long hair following the movement, and caught a glimpse of someone leaping into an alleyway.

That had to be a mutant she thought as she gave chase. She ran into the alley, expecting to find nothing, but instead there was a guy perched rather frog-like on a trashcan lid, her inducer held in one of his hands. His pale, pupiless yellow eyes glinted in the dark.

"Well, well, well. There's a new cat in town," said the stranger, grinning with yellowed, unbrushed teeth as he spotted her pointed black ears and long, fuzzy tail. Umbra clenched her teeth, narrowing her eyes and holding out one hand.

"Hand it over," she demanded firmly, though no anger rose in her voice.

"Whoa, easy, yo. I just wanna talk, ya know? Allow me to in-tra-duce myself. The name's Todd, but you can call me the Toad." He stood up and bowed. Umbra reached for her watch, but the slimy teen yanked it away just in time. "Not so fast. What's your name, kitten?" Todd said as he stood there, observing her.

"None of your business," Umbra growled through clenched teeth, now thoroughly annoyed. Her tail flicker angrily from one side to the other. "Now. Give. Me. Back. My. Inducer." She said, pausing between each word. The Toad simply cackled.

"Ya wanna fight me for it, yo? You're a mutant, right? So let's see ya powers." Todd sneered. Umbra looked quickly to her left, and then her right. They were in an alleyway. A dark alleyway. Riddled with shadows.

A smirk spread across those crimson lips, and pale hands extended to balance at either side of her, as if in laid-back meditation. Palms were up, fingers slightly cupped. Toad watched with a mixture of worry, curiosity, and disbelief as the shadows seemed to creep into her waiting hands, spirally indolently to form dark-pigmented spheres. As her digits curled around the dark orbs, Todd knew he was in serious trouble.

"You shouldn't challenge someone when standing in the midst of their playing field," she said solemnly, pitched those glowing indigo spheres directly at him. Umbra's image inducer flew in the air as the startled Toad flung it. She caught is easily, slipping it on and tapping the button. Todd had been thrown back by the impact of the shadows, landing in a trashcan with nothing injured, except maybe his pride.

"Aw man," he mumbled as he climbed out of the trashcan, and then he abruptly slipped in a pile of stinking, wet garbage. Umbra picked up on the warning bell across the street and began to run out of the alleyway, turning around and looking over her shoulder as she reached the sidewalk.

"Nice meeting you, Todd!" she called, waving to the garbage-covered mutant before turning to run across the street to the school.