𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐓 (X-Men ~ Peter Maximoff)

Money & Self-Discovery

Money was a conman. It promised happiness but only brought a mild comfort. It gave the illusion of a perfect life but was really a Pandora's box waiting to be opened. It prayed on insecurities and turned good intentions into cruel and twisted actions. Money was no man's friend – but then again, Jennifer was no man.

Over the span of a mere month, with the help of her steady paycheque, Jennifer had changed the warehouse from a cold, miserable ruin, to a rather comfy, slightly strange, temporary home. A portable cooking stove, a fire pit and some matches brought heat and light into the warehouse and allowed Jennifer to have hot meals. Stuff such as clothing, stationary and a couple of books had also been a well planned out investment, especially considering schools would open back up within the next week or so.

She didn't like spending money though, partially out of fear and partially out of common sense. She did not want to end up in the same situation she was a month ago – cold, hungry and broke. And although she didn't plan on staying there any longer than six months, Jennifer felt that with every item she bought, she became closer to society, closer to a normal person. Sure, she didn't have running water, or a fridge or even an actual house, but she no longer felt like an outcast, like someone out of their time.

Unlike her predictions, the month spent in Maryland had passed by rather quickly, and before she knew it the Christmas decorations she had taken hours putting up in the store were being removed. It had been the first Christmas Jennifer hadn't enjoyed – there had been no festive dinner, no warmth, and no family. She had leapt at the opportunity to decorate the store, hoping that it would serve as a sense of normality (and also because she feared how Will would've done it based upon his daily outfit co-ordination). Unfortunately though, the activity had only supplied a familiar sense of regret – Jennifer had always taken a day to decorate the house with her mum. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried, everything she did would only be a bitter reminder of her decisions.

On her lunch break, Jennifer sat on the brick wall outside the record store eating a bacon sandwich she had made that morning. It was warm for January, and Jennifer refused to miss out on the opportunity to absorb some vitamin D. With one leg bent infront of her and the other swinging back and forth at the side of the wall, Jennifer surveyed the quiet street, everyone having flocked to the shopping mall for some last minute school supplies.

A woman and a young boy (presumably hers) were the only people that had walked down the sidewalk in at least half an hour. Stopping outside the entrance to the record store, the woman spoke a few words to the boy and entered the store alone after giving him a quick kiss on the forehead.

There didn't appear to be any danger to the toddler, so Jennifer turned her attention back to her sandwich, thinking upon her plan to get into school, the consequences of her actions, and what would happen if it went wrong – which was a highly probable outcome considering the fact that her plan had literally been scribbled on a napkin.

She didn't have long to think about it however, as a cry erupted from the child. Hastily placing her sandwich down on top of its box, Jennifer pushed herself off of the wall and rushed to the boy who was hugging his knee.

Her knees hit the ground harshly as she knelt beside him, but she ignored the shooting pain that went through them. "Hey," Jennifer spoke softly. "What happened?"

Finding himself unable to speak through his sobs, the boy slowly removed his hands from his knee, only to get even more worked up when he saw the blood trickling out of a small tear in his skin. Perhaps Jennifer should've considered that the kid could've been a danger to himself. The cut wasn't bad, but in the mind of a child everything is way more important than it is to an adult.