As before, Shade followed the clues with his eyes as the observant mutant explained the clues that the he had missed. The woman was able to pick up on the smallest details: the overused necklace, the boy's shy smile, the girl's sad demeanor. It was incredible. However, the blond acted like it was something that she had seen a hundred times over, like a movie which she already knew the ending to. But if everything was a clue, Shade could use them on the woman in front of him just as she could use them against him.

"Well if that is the case," Shade said, pointing over Evelyn's right shoulder at her handler. "You were sitting with him before I came in, right? Then that guy must be your boyfriend. Because he keeps peeking over his magazine and leering me. Does he jealous easily? He is tense, jaw set, hands gripping the magazine a little harder than needed."
The shadow mutant asked, adding fake innocence into his words, before peeking from around the blond haired mutant and giving him a small wave. Shade chuckled softly at the man's reaction before straightening himself back in his chair. His eyes coming back to rest on Evelyn's.

"Oh wait, I got it! He is another random killer that you are trying to council." The shadow mutant stated, his voice heavy his sarcasm.

"Please, tell me the last one is right." He finished, chuckling slightly at his own joke

A slow smile spread across Evelyn's face as the shadow mutant spoke. What was possibly meant as a jab towards her had come out... almost cute to her ears. It was like a small dog yapping at her heels. He was amusing at most, especially considering he was wrong. She enjoyed when people were wrong. Not really maliciously, but it was almost like a game she played. Observing, guessing, deducing, analyzing; When others were wrong, it proved that what she did was not easy, and she felt a little pride in that. She may not be a fighter, and she wasn't the prettiest or the wittiest. But she could learn things about people in ways they couldn't, and that gave her something to feel secure in.

"Amusing... but wrong. He's not a boyfriend, which could be deduced if you had watched us before I came over. His manner is protective, but he keeps his distance. His gaze moves when mine pauses, he scans perimeters and his posture is predatory. Clearly, handler or bodyguard. Or both. That's always a possibility. As for the second fact, perhaps a killer, but not in the manner you are. A man who protects doesn't mind bloodying his hands if he has to, but there is no amusement in it. He dislikes you, and the idea of me talking about you. Although that is no surprise. You two are two sides of a coin when it comes to violence."

Her drink was starting to feel cold on her tongue, and it was probably time to leave here soon. she didn't work for a few more hours, but she didn't want to make her handler too uncomfortable. He did a lot for her, after all, and if she ignored him all the time there was little point having him around. She needed the companionship, and loosing that would be the real punishment in the end.

Shade kept his patented half-smirk on his face as the blond haired mutant, who appeared less than amused (beside her stating so), quickly destroyed his obversation with the subtle clues that were all too obvious to herself. As the woman showed Shade the errors in his judgement, the shadow mutant could not help but notice the hint of an actually smile relieve itself from beneath her veiled expression of politeness. She was taking pleasure in disecting Shade's words, like the shadow mutant took pleasure in disecting people with his blades. Well, everyone had their own guilty pleasures, didn't they?

"Bodyguard, huh? Is he any good?" Shade asked, coolly as he took another glance around Evelyn, sizing up the possible threat. It was like a pit viper watching a lion. Shade, the nocturnal ambush predator, against the large, muscular bodyguard, protecting his cub, Evelyn.

Whereas the blond woman was thinking of leaving, the shadow mutant had no such intentions. He was really enjoying this unexpected conversation and definitely wished to continue it, if the woman allowed it...maybe even if the woman didn't allow it too.

(OOC: Ack! I know I kind of God-Modded slightly, and I could not find a description of your bodyguard so I left it vague. Let me know if there is anything you want me to change.)

Evelyn watched the echoes flicker across her companion. There were warning signs now she had to take in and decide upon. That was certainly disappointing. She didn't want Jensen to get caught in a crossfire, and messing around with murderers was only fun until they fell back into their nature. Did he have a nature? She wasn't really all that sure. He was difficult to place. She could see flickers of humanity, but they were all jumbled. [Analyzing possible threat of handler. Possibly to strike, yet hand has not moved for a weapon. Mutant?] That... was a very real possibility. But how would a knife fit into that? Magic knife? Mutant knife? Knife hands? There was nothing to help eliminate possibilities, and talking with him hadn't revealed enough yet.

A sip of her drink, and it was done. Oh well, it would have to wait for another time. "He does his job. But the world is an unpredictable place." She scooted her chair back, and smoothly rose to her feet. She had good posture for someone her age, rather untypical considering most American's slouched. With a nod of her head towards her 'companion', she pushed her hair out of her face momentarily. Her eyes were somewhere between blue and grey, slipping towards the later as she let up on her powers. "Perhaps if I see you again, we can have another chat." She waited to see how he would react to this statement, and her departure. She had held his attention for a short while, but his next response was unpredictable; a dangerous thing for her.

Shade listened to the blond's reply as he sized up the only threat in the room. Therefore, he was taken by somewhat of a surprise when he heard the sliding on a chair across the hard tile floor. The scratching instantly caused Shade's attention to snap back to Evelyn as he immediately rose to join her.

"Going so soon? But we were having such a nice conservation." Shade said with a smile as he took a step towards the blond mutant. It was not much of an advancing step as a natural movement to close the distant between the two so their conservation could not be overheard.

> "Perhaps if I see you again, we can have another chat."

"Well, do you think I could try one more observation before you go...?" Shade replied, letting the question hang in the air. However, he had not done it intentionally. He had done it because he could have sworn that the woman's eyes before had just shifted colors. They had been a striking blue, almost as blue as his. But now they were a dull grey. Eyes were known to change colors, but not in an instant. Unless...

"Like yourself." The shadow mutant added as he slowly pieced together the clues that he had seen before him.

The question felt like a trap. Evelyn usually didn't mind people trying to analyze her. There rarely got her right. She was complex: a mutant who used her powers so easily, yet denied her 'mutant' nature. She always thought her abilities could be blamed on something as simple as a genetic disorder. That type of natural awareness of your surroundings was rare, but possible. It was how she gained her nick-name, after all. But her echoes did so much more than that. They chattered at a rate that could overwhelm her mind at times, and then the dreams... No one knew about her dreams, except for Jensen. They woke up up at night, eyes pale and colorless, as the memories flashed before her eyes. She couldn't forget. Not like other people. So every wrong move, every sight she wished she could take back... She had to deal with those.

So unless you were a mind reader, you wouldn't pick up on that. It was her own little complexity that made her feel safe from prying eyes. She could invade other's lives, but there would always be things out of her reach. She liked it that way. Because that meant a small part of herself would always be private and unreachable.

There was the small flicker of emotion crossing her face as these thoughts raced through her mind, her eyes momentarily going blue again. Then she gave a slow smile, and a nod. "Why not? Humor me with one last observation." She said, holding her cup lightly in her hand. Her posture was presented, prepared. Her expression calm. There was a serene nature to her, but perhaps, too composed. She kept her ducks in a row. She kept her hair straight, she kept a handler but spoke of him formally. She approached strangers simply to confirm a suspicion, and she was reckless at times, and so reserved in others. What would he piece together about her?

Curiosity. She was constantly plagued by curiosity.

The shadow stalker kept his poker face cracked in a pleasant smile as the blond contemplated the question. However, the entire time Shade had a feeling that she would bite. The woman was naturally curious. She wanted to see how things ticked and why. Heck, she had willingly sat down at a table with a person she believed, and rightfully so, was a bona fided killer- Okay, Shade definitely saw Evelyn's eyes shift this time. She was a mutant! When a moment later she agreed to the last observation, the shadow mutant's face broke into a wide grin, a grin like that was a predator eying a future meal.

"Excellent!" He explained, before he took a stroll slowly around the woman, trying to gather all and sort through the clues that she had given him. It was a rather a superficial performance as the woman obviously tried to keep her observations to a minimum. However, he made a little spectacle out of it, stopping and getting closer whenever he observed a stray fiber or a slight wrinkle in her pants (Was that a bit of dirt?). Instead, the wheels were turning in Shade's head as he went over their conversation again and again trying to pick up on anything that might have been useful. Without a powerful mutation like her's, the shadow mutant needed time to process the information. Returning to his starting position, Shade gave a little sigh and a smirk to Evelyn for proceeding slowly.

"When you first sat down, you demanded that I was a murderer...So naturally, I assumed that you were some kind of activist." Shade started. "However, you are not a activist; you are just very...observant."

The shadow began to pace slightly as he ran through the conservation in his head again.

"That was when I first noticed something was slightly...off. You have uncanny skills, but you do not use your skill to obtain wealth. You try not to gain public attention over your skill which means you are somewhat embarrassed by it. But why...? I could not figure it out until right before you rose...I thought I saw your eyes shift but...I was not certain."

Shade's eyes glances down at his coffee that was still sitting on the table. Snatching it up, he placed his hands behind his back as he took a step closer to the blond.

"And then I saw it again as you granted me permission to analyze you." Shade continued, his voice falling to just above a whisper. Taking another step closet, the shadow mutant was now well within her comfort as he leaned towards her ear.

"You are a mutant." Shade whispered with a smile plastered across his face. However, his eyes were already upon her handler and possible threat.

That word. Evelyn had heard it used more and more often lately, and it was irritating, at best. She disliked it. Disliked all the connotations it held. She hated the way it destroyed families, the way the prejudices evolved around it. She hated the danger it people the people around her in. She would normally deny such a claim, but under the dark eyes of this stranger, she thought better of it. Her face flickered with emotions almost completely suppressed, but his gaze would probably catch flickers of most of them: frustration, irritation, maybe a touch of guilt and then a calm collected slyness took over.

"Mutant. You say it with such a mysterious connotation. But really, just the light pigmentation of my hair and eyes in itself could be considered a mutation. Yet... I don't think your albanism is the mutation you think of when you use that phrase..." She smiled ever so slowly, and crossed her arms, leaning towards him and saying in a quiet voice. "So, what's your mutation? Because the only one would would respond that way to such a duduction would be someone who thinks they 'share' in a commonality. Probably the same thing that makes you such a confident killer. Some type of weapon. Your knives perhaps?"

She was counter analyzing him. It was a defensive mechanism. Now that the table was turned towards here, there was a slight discomfort that showed on her face. She didn't like being labeled as a mutant. Haunted by events in her past, people who would use her gifts for the wrong reasons. She didn't have pride in her abilities. Not really. She wasn't using the echoes now. She was smothering them and the chatter in her head, eyes pure blue and empty of the drained grey shade they got before. It was as if her body were trying to prove she was normal. Jensen shifted, watching her body motion and sensing danger. Evelyn wished she could signal him to back off. She could handle this.

This mutant wasn't going to get under her skin.

That word. It must certainly had the desired effect that Shade was looking for. He half-expected the woman to slap him when he uttered the word. And for a moment as the multipe emotions fought for control of her face, the shadow mutant thought she might actually do it. However, he should have known that a woman of her intellect rarely resorted to such harsh behaviors. Instead, she tried turn the tables on him, but Shade knew he had the upper hand already. Her arms were crossed as she closed herself off and her voice showed signs of stress; yet her eyes blazed a deeper blue than Shade had witnessed so far.

"Mutant. You say it with such negative connotation." Shade replied, mimicing Evelyn.

"Why are you embarrassed by your gift? It is nothing to be ashamed of. As for my mutation, it has to be a lot darker than this." The shadow mutant responded, his face reflecting Evelyn's cool smile.

(OOC: I hope that is enough. I had a longer one, but I lost it. I can try to add more later if you need more. I just have to run off to watch right now.)

Evelyn felt her shoulders tense ever so slightly. She couldn't help it. His snide remarks were finding their way under her skin and stinging at her pride. But her gaze back at the mutant was firm, and she drummed her finger across the cup in her hand. With a deep breath, she spoke, trying to keep her voice calm.

"The world isn't kind to those they deem different: whether the mutation is a difference of appearance or of the mind. I am not embarrassed by a 'mutation'. Rather, I am cautious of it. What title you give yourself, what category you belong to, what group you choose to align with, those things don't just change your life, but those lives around you. It is silly for someone to be put at risk because of a few tricks I can do. I am observant: that's it. What you are, what you accept to be, that's your choice." She said slowly, voice carefully controlled now. But her body language gave away little clues. She had seen things: she remembered things that made the label 'mutant' feel dangerous to her. She was here, talking to a stranger, clearly unafraid of what he could do. What frightened her was what she could do. She could see the world, analyze it, pick it apart, but the reflection in the mirror was the one she struggled with.

This game... was no so entertaining now.

[Speaks of 'darker', voice inflecting in a way that suggests relation to mutant abilities. Demeanor, ability to move quietly, kill in close range, suggests could be using darkness, and or shadows to get around.]

That wasn't specific enough to know what he could do, but it was a clue. "Your mutation is darker? Oh, so you're one of those things that goes bump in the night, are you?" She smirked calmly, fingers relaxing on the cup in her hands. She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved, or more alert. She settled somewhere around cautious curiosity.

>"Your mutation is darker? Oh, so you're one of those things that goes bump in the night, are you?"

"You could say that." Shade replied, his grin spreading into an insane man's smile. In the shadowman's mind, Evelyn had almost given him a compliment. And yet, she was tense. She was trying to hide it, but cracks were showing in her defense. Shade was a predator, and the woman was his prey. She could counter his words, but he could counter with actions. And her defender? Well presently, he was too far away to do anything until after it was too late. However, Shade was not above being civilized. He could at least give the woman a choice so he relaxed his assault slightly.

"What if I could take you to a place where you did not have worry about what people thought of you: a place where you could express your gift openly? And you would not have to worry about your loved ones. You would have plenty of resources to use to protect them. No one would bother you. You would be safe."

The smile gave Evelyn a chill, but she couldn't decide whether it was fear, or adrenaline. Part of her was drawn to this: this sense of danger, risk, this darker side of things. But part of her wanted to avoid it, and knew her game was going too far. He was toying with her, taking the upper hand now, and she was too conflicted to stop it from happening. Now, he held the cards, and she was just waiting to see them move, reveal a fate.

"What if I could take you to a place where you did not have to worry about what people thought of you..."

She had heard tell of such places, in hushed whispers, hopeful murmurs. She'd seen the echoes from people who were mutants, living in such places. They seemed happy, mostly. But that didn't mean the danger went away completely. They were labeled. They accepted what they were. They treated their abilities as 'gifts'. And she... She didn't know if she wanted that yet.

"That would be all well and good, if I were a mutant. But a few little tricks don't prove what I am or aren't. I am content where I am." She turned away from the mutant, and she caught the eyes of her handler. She saw irritation, disappointment, and small traces of fear in his face. His hand was on his belt, ready to act, his body was tense and he was no longer pretending to read his newspaper. This was the life she was used to. She was protected, she could hide what she was and try to find something normal something calm.

But there was nothing quiet as exciting as the rush she got using her powers, feeling danger, risking everything. If she looked in the mirror, what would her echoes say? That she was tempted by the darkness, someone polished and collected, but still fascinated by all the little problems of the world.

As the blond turned, Shade's right arm shot out like a snake, wrapping itself around Evelyn's wrist in a vice-tight grip. He was not able to let this woman leave so easily. If she struggled, he would only squeeze harder. No, Shade could not let a prize like this one escape. She would do wonders for the Order and could help Shade in many ways. She needed to come to the Sanctuary.

"Do not play coy with me. I know you are a mutant. Your eyes betray you as much as mine do." Shade said in a harsh, but quiet, tone. "Come with me. Leave these petty humans and their rules. I will take you somewhere where you are accepted for who you really are; not your fake personality."

Shade's eyes were locked on Evelyn, but he knew her bodyguard was sure to respond to his sudden grabbing. His peripheral vision was on the lookout for the man, and with his plan devised, the shadow mutant was already a step ahead. His only problem was escaping. He would have to find a shadow, and a dark one, fast. The bathroom! That could work. That could most definitely work.

Evelyn was still facing her handler, which enabled her to see the dark expression spread across his face. It went from fear, to protective anger as the hand tightened on her wrist. It stung a little, the grip hurt ever so slightly, but not enough for her to yelp. She flinched and turned her sharp eyes to him, the color vanishing and the empty grey color returning. Her eyes were scanning for something to verbally berate him with, but her mouth had barely opened when he spoke. His words flooded her mind, nearly bowling down the echoes she was trying to listen to.

"Accepted, or used?" She said darkly, narrowing her eyes, lips in a tight frown. He was treating her like a pet, an object, something to be toyed with, played with. At least, that was how she felt. The echoes were telling her otherwise.

[Eyes show genuine interest, excitement, finds something ...fascinating? about powers] There was no real definite analysis in his expression. Perhaps it was her own mind trying to smother them. She didn't want to think someone would like her powers, or find them unique and helpful. Or rather, she didn't want someone to miss-use them again. Every moment she paused, Jensen was starting to move closer. It was like things were tensed, ready to explode any moment. she was resisting, and if this mutant decided to act, she wasn't sure Jensen would be close enough. He could take a couple steps forward, try to grab her and get her to safety, but if the man made a run for it, her feet would be sure to follow at this point.

She couldn't resist all the way. Like her namesake, the game, risk and all, was too fun to avoid in it's entirety.

Although Shade's gaze were locked on Evelyn's ever-shifting eyes, his attention was split between listening to her and watching her handler as he approached. The blond was definitely not happy when Shade grabbed her arm. Her gaze was piercing, trying to find something to save herself, while a narrow frown sat on his lips. Her facial expressions showed that she did not want to go, and yet, her body language spoke differently. The blond was not pulling against Shade's grasp, like a helpless victim. She was leaning towards him as if she wanted to go.

"Only if you want to be used." Shade whispered back, a large grin spread across his lips. "Let me show you."

However, the shadow mutant never heard her response as her handler leapt at that moment to try and grab her. Shade had anticipated the move but had lost track of how close Jensen had moved towards then. Pulling the blond haired away, the shadowman threw the lukewarm coffee in his left hand into the face of her bodyguard. Taking the window of opportunity provided by the distraction, Shade dragged the blond towards the white restroom door of the restaurant.

(OOC: I wasn't sure if you wanted me to spring Jensen into action or not. Let me know if that is okay, Evelyn.)