It was only a few days after New Years, but Tses was still depressed. After a day of feeling angry, wrecking the apartment, and a bit of crying, and a few more days of feeling worthless and laying around, Tses started to think of people other than herself. But that didn't mean she was happy. She still couldn't believe Ty had ditched their date, and she couldn't believe his sister would let him. Unless they were in cahoots, which was very possible. And that irritated her to think about.

It had been three days; three days of worrying, wondering, and generally blowing up over the whole ordeal. But it was on this third day, Tses started to recover. Rather than feeling stood up, Tses started to wonder, and was feeling curious about what really happened. Did something happen to Ty? Did he ditch her on purpose? What if he was hurt, and what if he needed rescuing? She couldn't feel better until she knew, and she decided she would at least try to find him.

Wherever he was.

With a feeling of determination, Tses moved through her apartment; getting showered, dressed, and getting into her typical skirt, over shirt, no-skin showing outfit, she felt ready for anything, and equipped for the hunt she was sure to be going into. This was going to work. It had to. with a glance in the mirror, she tried to decide if she looked braver than she felt, but she couldn't see anything in those sad blue eyes. She never felt hurt like this before, but if he did this on purpose, she certainly wasn't going to let anyone make her feel like this again.

Hopeful, but afraid, Tses set out through the window, hoping to find answers. Confused, but motivated, she started down the fire escape, mind buzzing with activity. The only problem was she was so focused, she didn't even notice a figure coming down the street.

And luck would have it, it was one of the few people she needed answers from.

Butterfly had been shopping with her brother a few days ago and hadn't heard from him since. She was so worried. He had told her that he would come by to visit often and it had been three days since she had seen him last. She decided to go and see if he was with Tses or if she knew where he was. Butterfly had remembered the building that Ty had kept looking at on their way to the apartment he showed her. She headed toward the building, hoping that maybe Tses would come out or that she could find her someway. She didn't even know what Tses looked like, but maybe she could ask people and she could find her. Butterfly got to the building and waited at the front door, but no one came out. She then started to walk around the building, thinking that maybe there was another entrance or way that Tses got out the building. She was walking down the street along the side of the building with the fire escape when she saw someone climbing down it. She looked up and called up to her, "Tses?" She hoped that she was who she was looking for. She really wanted to find her brother.

Tses paused on the fire escape when she heard an unfamiliar voice call her name. Her posture grew slightly defensive for a moment, before she saw a rather familiar bit of dark hair. It was the same little hairstyle that had sent her over the edge when she thought Ty was cheating on her. that seemed like it was eons ago, and she was in disbelief. While she'd never met Chloe in person, she knew it was who it had to be, or at least, she thought she did. Much like the other female, she believed it, because all she had to hang on to right now was hope.

Turning, she shifted so she was standing at the edge of the fire escape. She pushed her hair out of her face, and her eyes checked to make sure nothing else was below her. "Butterfly?" Tses said, the nick-name coming out rather than the girl's real name. That was what Tses heard Ty call her most often, and it stuck. With a jump, she pounced down from the last fire escape rung, and landed in a crouch next to the girl. She stood, eyes skimming over her, hoping for some form of response.

Butterfly watched as the woman paused for a moment after she had called out to her. That was the first sign that this was probably Tses. When the woman called out her nickname, Butterfly lit up and was more sure than ever that she had to be Tses. She was the only person that would be able to call her by that name and not have met her before. "Ty must have called me by that alot around her." she thought to herself. Butterfly watched as Tses jumped down and landed right next to her. Butterfly smiled at her and hugged her, finally getting to meet her for the first time. She got over her little moment of happiness and then said, "Please tell me you know where my brother is. I haven't seen him in three days and I'm really worried. Did I do anything to make him not want to come back and see me? Was I causing too much trouble between you and him?"

Tses was never great at hugs, and this was no exception. She stood with her arms kinda awkwardly up as Butterfly hugged her, then sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck trying to shake off the odd sensation. Hugs were still bizarre to her, and she hoped the girl wouldn't make a habit of them. Every time someone gave her one she never knew how to hug back.... "I haven't seen him." She said, responding to the question. Her own hope started to vanish, and dread started to take over. So Ty hadn't even gone to see his sister... What could have gone wrong?

"I was going to go try and figure out what happened, actually... He never came by for New Years like he said he would. I thought he stood me up at first... but... if he didn't see you either..."[/b] She wasn't sure what to think of this and sighed, running her hand through her bangs.

"And no, you didn't do anything to make him not want to see you... he was really excited about meeting you. Well, he was pissed at me, but that's kinda always my fault." Tses said ruefully. She glanced at the girl, and tried to be as calm as possible. It wouldn't help to get them both freaked out, especially if Ty was in trouble.

When Tses told her that she hadn't seen him, Butterfly started to worry more. Where in the world could Ty be? If he wasn't spending time with her or Tses, then something had to have happened to him. She listened as Tses told her about missing New Years, which is another reason she thought something was wrong. It wasn't like Ty to make plans like that and to not show up, especially if it was plans with her or Tses. Butterfly continued to listen as Tses reassured her that she hadn't done anything to hurt or anger Ty. When Tses said that Ty was pissed at her, Butterfly interjected and said "He's not pissed at you. He was just kinda hurt a little."

Butterfly looked back at Tses and knew that something bad had happened to Ty, but they had to do something. They had to find him. "Tses, we gotta find my brother. Something must have happened to him. He wouldn't just leave us like this. It just doesn't seem like Ty. Let's go and try and look for him. He might need our help.", looking at Tses for assurance and agreement to help look for Ty.

Tses felt a small bit of relief as Butterfly spoke. She was certain Ty was mad at her, but if he was just hurt... ok, well maybe that wasn't the best thing, but that was better than mad. She could deal with hurt. They both got hurt and got over it. Heck, she was hurt now, and hurting pretty badly. But she wasn't alone, and Butterfly was here. Somehow they'd sort this out. Right?

Reaching under the edge of her skirt where her pouch was that kept her knife, she pulled out a piece of paper Ty had given her quite a while back. "Ty gave me this a while back... it's a place to start at least. It's places he said he'd been and could be. Parks, buildings, an old apartment..." She said holding it out. The little scrawling letters reflected back to her, and she looked uncomfortable for a second. "I kinda tried to make sense of it, but... Honestly I'm not great at reading. Maybe you can figure it out? Then we can look for him... I just... We'll find him. Don't worry."

She tried to give a reasuring smile, but inwardly, she was dreading what they would find. If Ty was gone, he could be hurt, and that would be awful... but if he had really left them both, that would be too... one way or the other, things were bad, and it was hard to be enthusiastic. But she didn't want to scare Chloe.... In a way, she saw her own younger sister in the girl, and she did the same thing she did back then: put on a brave face and hid her own pain.

Butterfly watched as Tses pulled out the piece of paper from her pouch just under her skirt and took it when Tses handed it to her. She looked at it and read the places where Ty could be. She knew where the park was. They could check there, but some of the buildings she had no idea where they were at. The last place on the list was her apartment. She was looking at the paper and listening to Tses. "It's okay Tses. I can read it. We can look in the park. Most of the buildings I'm not sure where they are and he's not at the last place. That's the apartment I'm staying in and he's definitely not there. I'm sure we'll find him Tses. I know you're worried too."

Butterfly smiled back at Tses. She knew that she was worried and was hurting inside from being apart from Ty and that they had fought before he went missing. But Butterfly was sure that both she and Tses were determined to find Ty no matter what happened or what they had to face. She could tell the feelings that Tses had for her brother. Tses didn't have to say anything. She could tell it by the way she acted, even when she was trying to hide it.

"Let's start at the park first since that's the only one I know and then maybe you can help me find these streets and buildings and we can look there. We just gotta think positively and don't freak out or stress too much because then we won't be able to think straight. We'll find him. One way or another."

Tses was glad Chloe didn't remark much when she handed her the paper. Tses always felt uncomfortable admitting she didn't know something as dumb as reading, but it was hard to learn things like that on the street. Oh, she picked up some of the basics, like numbers, common words like Bank or Coffee by piecing together clues in what people said and did. But most of it just seemed jumped to her. It didn't help that the paper was mostly street names, and those didn't make sense to her anyway. She tried to pronounce them out, but they had no associated meaning, so what point did they have? She watched with a curious gaze as Butterfly skimmed the paper, and wondered what she was seeing.

>>"We can look in the park."

The park, that seemed like a good idea... though what would they find there? Whatever, they'd try anyway.

>>"...he's not in that last place. That's the apartment I'm staying at."

Tses found it hard not to frown at that last one. Ty had never showed her any apartment before... maybe he trusted her more, or maybe he just didn't think to. She needed to get over these 'jealousy' type feelings. Deep breathe in, deep breathe out. "The park is actually pretty close, so that's a good place to start. You a walker, or should we take the subway?" Tses said, starting slowly in that direction while waiting for Butterfly to come. The girl was trying to reassure her, which was cute, but it wasn't solving the problem so not really helpful in the end though. Still sweet though.

"We can walk. I don't mind. Do you know the names of the streets around here? I know you said you don't read so well, but do you know of any streets or other places that you and Ty have been before that we can try after we go to the park? You've gotten to spend more time with him than I have really."

Butterfly started to walk with her. She didn't know where they would find him. The city was so huge. He could be anywhere, but Butterfly tried to stay optimistic. She wanted to find her brother. She didn't wanna think about the worse possibilities. Right now, her brain couldn't handle it and if she did think about it, then she would probably just break down and they would never find him. Butterfly prayed that she and Tses would find him soon. And hoped that he was still alive.

Tses made a face as she looked around, and glanced at the different buildings. "I don't really know the street names, but I know a lot of subway stops and general landmarks. Ty and I went to the zoo, and there's a construction district over there. That'd be one place to check, so we'll loop that way." Up ahead, she could see the greenery that was central park spanning in front of them. It seemed like an endless world to search through. Rubbing her neck a little, she made a face. "I wish I had a power that could help with this.... Like, a mutant finding ability...." That would sure be useful right now. Heck, even Ty's powers could help. She could see if Ty had passed by sometime soon or something like that... He seemed to find her at the hospital that way, at least.

"We just gotta remember it's only been three days... he said he got bit by a poodle, so maybe he just had to go to the doctor or something, and deal with that..." It was a possibility. And even with the anti-mutant tensions, there were more and more people looking out for each other. The humans were more aware of their presence, but they were also clumping together for protection. There was them and us now. She just had to make sure Ty didn't get on the wrong side of that.

Butterfly nodded her head as Tses explained to her about not really knowing the street names and as she suggested going to the zoo. Butterfly kept walking, knowing that the park was close. When Tses mentioned wanting a power that could help with this....Like, a mutant finding ability..., Butterfly replied,"Yeah, that would be really helpful right about now."

When Tses said something about it only being three days, Butterfly started to get really upset and aggravated. She wanted to ask if three days wasn't long enough....if she really cared about her brother, because she made it seem like she didn't. "Only three days" Butterfly thought in her head in a sarcastic tone. She shook her head at Tses as she followed behind her. Butterfly knew that Ty didn't go to the doctor for his poodle bite. Somebody would have had to force him to go see a doctor. She knew he was in trouble. If she really cared and loved Ty, three days without any sort of knowledge from him would have been enough to make her worry. Let alone the possibility that he could be gone for longer or that they wouldn't be able to find him. It really started to irk Butterfly that it didn't seem to bother Tses about Ty being missing. Butterfly tried to hide her anger and just focus on trying to find her brother. At least she knew that she cared enough to do anything she could to find him.

They walked for a short while in silence, but Tses noticed a small flicker of frustration go through Choloe's face. It was like the girl seemed frustrated, and it took Tses a while to figure out what about. This little annoyance wasn't about the whole 'Ty being missing' thing. No, she recognized that face. It was one Ty made when he was frustrated with her lack of 'feelings'. Tses had to resist sighing. Even when she was trying to help she pissed people off. More and more it was feeling like Ty had left to avoid her, and Butterfly was just the unfortunate victim here. But Tses had to try to at least make things a little better.

"Listen kid," She said, turning to face the girl as they paused at an intersection just on the other side of the park. "I know you're worried, but you gotta see these things through my eyes... Ty and I are both street kids; me longer'n him, but still. And when you live on the street, sometimes things happen beyond your control. You twist an ankle, you lock yourself in a building, or heck, fall into a building... you deal with the situation at hand, and time can get out of hand. Ty never came to visit every couple of days. He's always been a day or two in either direction. Heck, for all I know he could just still be pissed off, or forgot what day New Years was..." As the light changed, she started across it, glancing back to read Butterfly's face. She felt like she was on dangerous territory here. she wanted to help, but she didn't know how to without pissing the girl off. She had a habit of making people angry at the wrong times.

Butterfly kept walking, but when they got to the intersection, Butterfly was surprised when Tses turned around to face her and just sat there and listened to what Tses said. As Tses talked, Butterfly was thinking to herself: Even if yo are street kids, you could at least act like you care. Sure a person can lose track of time, but Ty wouldn't just leave us like that. Something had to be wrong. She just knew it. She walked across the street in silence still slightly ticked off. Butterfly just couldn't understand how Tses could be like that with someone who cared for her as much as her brother did.

Butterfly wasn't talking now, and that was making things awkward. Their first greeting had been ok, but now this just felt hopeless. How were two people who cared about the same person, but showed it different ways supposed to work together? It just seemed hopeless. Altogether completely hopeless. Tses just acted like a jerk. She knew that. Ty was used to it, so he put up with it. Other people just figured she was a jerk, and then they got mad at her. Either way, it didn't make the situation better. Tses knew eventually she'd have to find a way to make sure Butterfly wasn't upset, if nothing more than for Ty. If he was hurt, the last thing he needed was to come back to find the two people he cared about squabbling.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with." Tses found herself saying, sighing and glancing at Chloe. They were in the park now, and the smell of trees mingled with the smell of the city. "Ty says being around me is like trying to cuddle with a porcupine...." She said, giving a crooked smile. It was a little sad, but she was trying to lighten the situation at least a bit.