If she needed an excuse, this was as good as any.

Maya loitered conspicuously in the hall in front of Simon's apartment.

It had been a while since she had seen her brother face-to-face. They had talked briefly through texts or calls, but it wasn't the same. She actually... missed him? They had been friends before they ever found out they were siblings.

Besides, she was anxious to have Simon meet Rowan in person. The kiddo was old enough to be interactive now which meant that Simon had no excuse.

Did she hear someone stirring behind the door? Just in case she raised the simple white cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting, a single red raspberry and an unlit candle in front of the peep hole.

She was smart enough, at least, to know that lighting the candle was a very bad idea. Also smart enough to respect her brother's space and knock on the door unlike last time when she had recklessly broken in. At the time, she'd had no idea the series of events that she had set in motion.

Rowan, dark haired and dark eyed tugged at Maya's other hand. He was strong and could stand, but he had his limits.

"Happy birthday!"

Staring intently over interlaced fingers, focused azure eyes tracked the only noticeable movement in the room as the queen of hearts lifted itself from the bottom of the deck and rose into the air, spinning steadily as it did so. Once it was a foot or so above the deck the cards course shifted and it began to drift towards the pyramid in the center of the room.

Mutant powers had been well documented for over a decade, despite this though very little was actually known about them. Oh, some scientist somewhere had managed to isolate and name a particular piece of genetic code that was apparently the root cause, but that didn’t actually explain anything. How had this particular piece of genetics come about? Why was it present in some but not others who otherwise shared the same genetic background? What caused it to change from active to dormant? How was it that the same piece of code could generate such a diverse range of abilities? Why were some stronger than others?

It was the last point in particular which the held the preponderance of Simons interest. Admittedly, there was shortage of theories on the subject ranging from environmental factors such as radiation all the way to the more eccentrical explanations revolving around magic and aliens.

Privately though, Simon was of the opinion that a good many people over thought the issue. Yes mutations were fascinating and at first glance could seem beyond belief. Ultimately though they were controlled by the mind and so were merely a different form of muscle, and as with any muscle the more strain which was placed upon it the stronger it would become.

The Queen of hearts hovered almost absently atop the highest plateau of the pyramid before it was abruptly joined by the jack of the spades, then the 4 of clubs, the eight of diamonds and a flurry of others as the remainder of the deck was swept into the air and began to circle the room like a disorganized school of fish. Every few seconds however a pair or more of cards would flicker free of the swarm and dart towards pyramid building upon themselves as they added or expanded new levels to the structure, each one placed with utmost care in order to avoid-

‘Knock! Knock!’ [/i]

The pyramid collapsed into a scattered heap three feet above the floor and simply lay there as Simon released an irritated sigh, pinching his nose even as he raised the stop watch in his other hand. Three minutes 34 seconds, hardly his best but far from his worst; he’d spent too long making a level base for the cards to stand on and had been rushing by the end.

Rising from his leather arm chair Simon directed the heap of cards with an almost absent minded gesture as he sent them flying towards a slim plastic funnel set above an even thinner bin the corner of the living room which began to give off a low hum almost immediately as it sensed the cards and began to sort and shuffle them.

Shaking his head slightly to clear the faintest echoes of a headache the British born hessian cast his awareness out towards his unexpected guest as he strode towards the front door, only to frown, and then pause at what he found.

It had long become habit for him to track and measure those around him using the air displaced by their bodies. It was similar to sonar in a way, but far less limited. Until now he could have counted the number of times someone had evaded or otherwise fooled his spatial perceptions when he’d actively focused on it on one hand.

His sister had been all bar one of those times.

A sister he hadn’t seen in over a year.

Abruptly moving with a sight more speed than he had a few moments ago the elemental unlocked the front security door and swept it open without even glancing through the peep hole and nearly ran face first into cupcake in Maya’s outstretched hand.

And it was Maya, even without her signature white hair her she was all but mistakable if you knew what to look for; the same pale skin, the same slight build that all but mirrored his own and, more subtly, the lack displacement as the air flowed slightly through her instead of around her except… except-

‘Happy birthday!’[/color]

Simon blinked, losing his train of thought and going briefly cross eyed as the cupcake was again put in front of his vision before he stepped back to glance at his sister who merely gave him a shy smile.

“Maya? Wha- How?“[/color] He stopped and shook his head as he tried to find what he wanted to say. He’d never really had much experience with family; what did one say to a sister who’d all but vanished for a year? After a second or so though he returned Maya smile with a slight grin of his own. When did you get back?[/color]

A small noise at about knee level made him glance down and it was at that point that his eyes widened as he recalled what Ghost had told him right before she’d started her self imposed exile. She’d been pregnant.

Pregnancy, apparently, didn’t last that long.

“…I take it this is Rowan?” [/color]

"Uhm. A while ago, but I wasn't up for much company. It took a bit of adjustment to get used to having a kid." Or rather, it took some adjustment to deal with only one and even more of an adjustment to come to the realization that she would have to deal with him by herself. In a way it was a relief that she ended up with only one, but thoughts like that made her feel horribly guilty. That was not the point of her visit. Her point was to wish her brother a happy birthday.

"This is for you!" Maya pressed the cupcake into Simon's hands so that she could lift Rowan into her arms and put the boys at eye level. It was only polite for a first meeting.

"Rowan, say hi to uncle Simon." The boy buried his face into Maya's shoulder, but not before he smiled. "Come on. Say hi!" She gripped his chubby arm between the elbow roll and the wrist roll and waggled his hand back and forth in Simon's direction. Rowan took the hint and continued to wave after Maya let go. Waving was fun enough that after he'd accomplished that, he clapped.

"We're not interrupting anything are we?" She couldn't help but be nosy and try to peek around Simon to inspect the interior of the apartment. No lady friends. That had been her largest worry, that she would stumble into something she would not be able to un-see.

"How have you been?"

The cupcake was lowered from his face and for a brief moment Simon had a clear view of his sister and her son until the aforementioned confectionary was all but pushed into his short before he managed to bring his hands up to catch it.

While he juggled the unexpected treat in his hands Maya did the same with Rowan, swinging the child up from the floor and into her arms so that, by the time the hessian glanced back up, he was staring back at the boys own azure eyes as the child gleefully flailed an arm back and forth.

"Rowan, say hi to uncle Simon. Come on. Say hi!”[/color]

Somewhat bemused at the sight Zephyr raised his own arm in response and waved back despite himself, causing the boy to clap his hands excitedly as he broke into a fit a giggles.

"We're not interrupting anything are we?" [/color]

Switching his attention back to his sister the hessian shook his head softly as Maya tried to crane her head around him to glance inside. She’d always been somewhat nosy for someone who was typically quite demure. Still, this time at least, there was no harm in her looking and so he stepped back to let her inside. “Not at all, this is actually a pleasant surprise, do come in.”[/color]

The British elemental led his unexpected guests into the living room, a simple space with a couch and two armchairs forming a ‘U’ around a coffee table with a fair sized television across from the couch. After gesturing for his sister to take the couch Simon selected the nearest armchairs and contented himself for a few moments as Maya played with her son and tried to settle him into a managelable position.

"How have you been?" [/color]

Simon tilted his head slightly at that, if anything that was a question he should be asking. Annoyingly though he had no real right to press Maya on where’d she’d been or what had happened to her and she likely knew it, even if she was too polite to come out and say it. That being said, turn about was fair play.

“Fair enough considering…”[/color] He trailed off briefly as he considered all he’d gone through lately. The Order had managed to leverage the city into a relatively stable state of affairs and so there’d been little call for his particular line of work, which meant of course that he’d been spending an increasing amount of time dealing with Duskmoor and various little eccentrics, though he had started to make some considerable progress in recent days.

He nearly sighed; when exactly had dealing with a homicidal maniac become routine?

“What about you Maya? We’ve not seen each other for quite some time, how are things?”[/color]

Things? Things were potentially looking up depending on what Zephyr had to say. "Actually that's part of the reason I'm here. You notice the hair?" Maya bounced around in a rough circle, a gesture Rowan seemed to appreciate. Her hair was long compared to how she used to wear it. Long and brown. The last 3 or so inches were white, a testament to how things used to be.

"I stopped using my power in case of complications during the pregnancy and this happened. I haven't gone to Doctor Ingram yet. I didn't want to get my hopes up, I mean, I wanted to make sure it's worth it." She realized that she was babbling and so shut her mouth with enough force that her teeth clicked together.

She took a deep breath and tried to clarify. "I don't think I've changed, solid-ness-wise. At least, I don't think I've gotten any worse." She could hold Rowan and he was a solid 20 pounds at his last doctor visit. Ingram's projections said she wouldn't be able to do that by this point as her previous rate of decay. "I was sort of hoping you would confirm?"

Also, she was hoping he would eat that cupcake because it looked really yummy. At least, Rowan seemed to think so. He kept reaching for it which could have been interpreted as reaching for his uncle to take him, but Maya knew better. Sugar first. Relatives second, if that.

“It’s somewhat difficult to miss yes.” He replied with a note of faint amusement, leaning back in the chair as he rested his chin in one hand and blindly set his cupcake atop a side table with the other. A ghost of a smile tugging at his lips as he watched Maya twirl her hair back and forth as she bounced her son on one leg to the boy’s obvious delight. “I trust it’s more than simply a fashion statement?” He’d never known Ghost to be quite that fickle but then she could be surprisingly stubborn at times, almost childishly so provided one provoked her properly.

Not that he was speaking from past experience of course, purposefully needling the girl on and off for three weeks just to learn what got under her skin would have been an entirely jejune and impractical exercise.

The fact that it had been immensely amusing was entirely beside the point.

Entertaining though such memories were, as the hessian listened to his sister, a good deal of his humour escaped him and he adopted an idle yet pensive mien. A number of thoughts vied for dominance in his mind as he considered Maya’s words.

Of the two of them she’d always been more skilled in the art of incorporeality; she could become ethereal almost instantly, take others with her without any visible strain and hold the state for hours, possibly days if she felt the need. There was a downside however; she didn’t have his control and so with every shift, she lost a piece of herself. It wasn’t a substantial amount, more akin to a single grain of sand from an hour glass than anything else, but it never came back.

Inevitably, as time passed, Maya became less and less tangible, losing flesh and gaining air in its place as her mutation tried to compensate until it was happening even when she was solid. It had actually been one of the first things Simon had noticed about her when he’d met in her central park all those years ago, before he’d known who she truly was.

He’d actually tried to raise the subject once before, but he’d never had a solid understanding of the transformation. While it might have been as natural as breathing to his sister, for him it was more like to dragging himself over broken glass. Not painful per say, the ethereal state couldn’t feel pain, it was the intrinsic fear which came with knowing that you were essentially tearing yourself apart and that you might not come back.

Dismissing such thoughts Simon returned himself to the task at hand, there’d be time for nostalgia later. “I can certainly try,” he told her diplomatically, “Give me just a moment and I’ll see what I can find.” He then closed his eyes and allowed his awareness to stretch out towards his sister, trying to what was and what wasn’t.

After a few a short moment his eyes opened and he looked a Maya with an uncertain expression. “My memory’s not perfect,” he began, “but-”

He broke off abruptly as Rowan made a low impatient sound, small arms outstretched in the mercenary’s directions, somewhat breaking the elementals train of thought as he focused on the boy. He’d never actually dealt with a child quite so young before (though it was tempting to say Duskmoor came close), and he was somewhat hesitant to actually handle the boy.

And so he created a distraction.

Tucked away at the other end of the room, a small marionette made of wood and dressed as a wizard rattled for brief moment as its limbs shook free of the entangling strings before suddenly rising from its shelf by the TV and gliding across the room as though it were a paper plane.

The puppet landed in an ungainly heap on the corner of coffee table and promptly collapsed into an ungainly heap before the strings above it went taught and the little wizard began to pick itself up with a slow and exaggeratedly clumsy motion, bashing it’s head on the table once or twice to ensure it had the small child’s attention.

Once the miniature marionette managed to gain its feet however it faced Rowan and offered the boy a small bow and then, of all things, began to tap dance to the tune of ‘Row, Row, Fight the Power! Row your Boat’ as the fingers of Simons left hand twitched in time with the puppets movements just behind the armrest of his seat.

“As I was saying Maya, my memory’s not perfect but there’s less of you than I remember. That being said, your..." He paused searching for the right word before frowning and giving a slight shake of his head. “I suppose ‘essence’ will have to do, it’s far less frayed than it was and that’s slowed the decay immensely but I can’t tell if it’s actually stopped, still there’s something I’d like to try however you might want to set Rowan down first.”

Show off. Here she had mentioned that she had stopped using her power (at least the parts she had control over) and he had used his power to manipulate a tap dancing wizard to entertain Rowan. It wasn't as bad as salt in the wound. Maybe more like sugar in the wound? Unpleasant, but sweet in the right context.

Still, he was helping. Maya surveyed the area and deemed it not too bad as far as bachelor's pads went. As far as Maya knew, Simon had always been a bit of a neat freak. "Sure. Your place isn't exactly baby proof but if we can manage to keep an eye on him I don't think he'll get into too much trouble. famous last words, Maya was sure. Still, if this was what Simon needed she'd do it.

She set Rowan down so that he could hold himself up on the coffee table and get his little kiddy handprints alllllll over it. Perfect.

"Should I... Do something?" or was standing around just fine? She could stand around.

Once Rowan was set down Zephyr had the small puppet dance its way to the far end of the table prompting the child to give chase as he began to awkwardly shuffle around the coffee table leaving a haphazard trail of hand prints as he did so. Fighting the urge to sigh Zephyr instead rolled his eyes, there would be time to clean up after the child later, for now though the boy needed to be kept out of the way, given what he was about to do, the few distractions the elemental had to deal, with the better.

"Should I... Do something?"

Zephyr didn’t reply immediately, instead taking a few moments to continue baiting his nephew before floating the magical marionette across the room and letting it collapse on the floor in full view of both himself and his sister. With any luck Rowan it would keep Rowans attention for at least a few minutes.

With that done he rose from his chair and waved Maya back to the couch as he set himself down beside her. “Hopefully you won’t need to do anything; all I need is your hand.” He offered his own arm as he spoke, watching as a look of uncertainty and confusion flashed across her face before she complied and rested her hand in his.

“I’m going to… ghost you,” A slight smile tugged at his lips at the poor pun and he let a faint note of amusement briefly enter his voice, his words deliberately slow as he tried to keep his sisters eyes on his in an effort to keep her at ease. “I’m going to do it slowly; to make sure I don’t miss anything. When I’m done, I’ll change you back and I’ll have a much clearer picture of the state you’re in."

He shifted on the couch slight as he turned to face Ghost more fully without letting go of her hand. “I can only do this if you trust me Maya, we won’t get anywhere if you fight me, so just relax and keep an eye on Rowan and I’ll be done before you know it.”

After all, he’d already managed to ghost her entire arm and most of her shoulder while they’d been speaking, and if she hadn’t noticed that well, the rest should be simple.

Her hand? Maya quirked an eyebrow, but... this was Simon. He could have asked for worse. She gave it to him.

> “I’m going to… ghost you,”

While he was amused, she was feeling a slight thrill of panic. Wasn't 'ghosting' how she got into this mess in the first place? He had a good plan. A responsible plan, even. But it had been almost two years...

> "“I can only do this if you trust me Maya, we won’t get anywhere if you fight me..."

Gulp. "Okay." She closed her eyes and frowned, but she didn't fight him.

Maya could see how the sensation of being forced into ghosting had been a bit panic inducing for Simon at first. She was unraveling, literally. At the same time, there came a point where it became better for Maya to be ghosted rather than solid.

Her senses switched to her spatial awareness, she no longer needed to breathe, though she had moments before been holding her breath from the stress, she felt... nothing. And she missed this. She had wanted to ghost while giving birth. Had wanted to just get away sometimes, to be insulated from all harm and at the same time hyper aware of her surroundings. It was a feeling of safety that she had sorely missed.

Now she could see the flows of air that Simon had working to keep her son occupied. She could see Rowan's face even as he smiled while facing away from her. Maya opened her eyes, a purely mental exercise since she had no eyes and her vision no longer was affected by such things. "Is it bad?" She didn't want to distract him and yet, she had to know.

‘Ghosting’ was one of the first aspects of his mutation he’d ever really struggled with, everything before it; flight, vacuums, even oxygen manipulation had come to him almost instinctively if somewhat clumsily at first. With the ethereal state though… it was something he hadn’t even realized was possible until he’d seen it and even after that the entire concept had been alien to him.

Still, as he held Maya’s hand in his own and watched her amber eyes screw shut he couldn’t help smirking at the irony of the situation. Only a few years ago she’d been holding his hand and guiding him through the transformation as he felt himself unravel and fought the urge to panic.

He’d come a long a way since then and though his sister would likely always be faster, his own fear of the incorporeal state had made him far more cautious, and it showed as he forced the transformation to crawl across Ghost’s body at a snail’s pace instead of the usual quicksilver speed he knew she favoured.
Haste was all well and good but it caused you to miss things and right now he couldn’t afford that.

By the time he finished Rowan had resorted to bashing his previously ‘magical’ puppet on the floor and Maya had grown visibly nervous which was quite an achievement for someone resembling little more than a wisp of a human outline, yet the unnatural quaver in her voice wasn’t entirely from her lack of vocal chords.

"Is it bad?"

“Give me a moment.” Zephyr words were calm but distracted as he focused on combing through Ghost’s essence and carefully began piecing her back together. This was where he’d be able to truly take stock of his sisters condition, and as she slowly began to reform he found himself far less hopeful than he had been.

She’d lost so much, every part of her he tried to draw her back to flesh and bone, he was lucky if he found more than half of what he needed. The rest simply was… gone, and her mutation was forced to compensate for its absence.

It was a sobering realization and he found himself searching for something he could do to help, but there were limits to what he could do, he couldn’t create flesh and blood from thin air, he could only take what already existed and if she’d already lost those parts of herself, well... she’d just need a donor.

He finished bringing Ghost back and once she was again fully seated on the couch rather than simply hovering above it, he spared a quick glance at her hands before releasing it and folding his arms to hide his own hands. “I’m afraid there’s good news and bad news.” he told her solemnly as he leaned back into the corner of the couch. “The bad news is there’s only a little over half of you left, though you don’t seem to be losing any more which is a blessing in and of itself.”

He then paused for a moment, giving her time to process his words. “That’s not the good news though” He continued, and his tone became just ever so slightly smug as he said it. “The good news, is I believe I can reverse it, at least if you’re hands are anything to go by.” He nodded down at Ghost hands as he finished and couldn’t help the slight smirk grin which worked its way onto his face as he again saw that, while still pale and somewhat insubstantial, the skin around her hands was noticeably more solid than the rest of her.

Half. Her spine tried to squiggle up through her throat. "Oh." And, though she knew he wouldn't make fun of her for crying, it didn't seem the appropriate time to mourn the loss of half her body. She cleared her throat and folded and re-folded her hands.

> “That’s not the good news though”

Maya didn't realize that she had been studying a small fleck of leaf on the carpet until she had to look up to meet her brother's smug eyes.

Reverse it? Her spine was doing a different kind of dance now. "Hands?" Did she dare hope? Maya looked at them as if they might hold the answer. They were just hands. The knuckles were a little discolored where she'd accidentally fused with Sebastian. That had interesting side effects, but... "No amount of healing stopped the... uh, loss before." Unless he meant fusion?

"I still haven't caught up with Sebastian..." A quick check on Rowan showed the kid trying to tap the wizard's head back onto its neck. His thrashing had popped it clean off. The kid was so dang smart, he knew just where the head went and was trying to get it to stick again.

"I don't think DocProf would be up to losing a couple pounds of flesh." How would they ask a strange healer to sacrifice a bit of himself? Yeah, they'd be able to heal themselves, but it'd hurt in the mean time. Plus, would Maya still look like herself?

Still keeping his hands hidden behind his arms Zephyr tilted his head slightly as he leveled his sister a short questioning glance when she failed to grasp the implications. He’d purposefully ignored mention of the missing unicorn. Bringing the horned bastard into the discussion wouldn’t help things given that Maya still insisted on defending him and an argument wasn’t what he wanted with her right now.

Instead he forced his thoughts back to matter at hand and attempted to elucidate his earlier explanation. “I can’t say I’m surprised; even though you’ve lost part of yourself your mutation compensated and kept you healthy thus, technically, you’re not hurt and so there’s nothing-“

“Aaaahmmaaa!”

The sudden cry caused Zephyr’s gaze snapped back to Rowan just as the boy emptied his lungs and used his pudgy arms to toss the still decapitated puppet across the carpet where it rolled a surprising distance until it came to a rest in front of the TV cabinet.

The elemental eyed his nephew carefully for a few moments as the child began to crawl towards the rather disheveled puppet at a speed that would have made an arthritic tortoise green with envy. “Quite an arm he’s got there,” He commented casually, turning his eyes back to Maya while keeping track of the boy in the back of his mind.

“But as I was saying, you’re not technically hurt so there’s nothing to heal, however I think it may be possible to consolidate what’s left of you.” He held up an ethereal hand as he continued, “As you know when we’re like this it’s possible to heal ourselves to extent.” He paused for a moment search for an analogy before his eyes fell back to Rowan.

“Think of it as reorganizing a lego model that’s been smashed. Normally we put those pieces back where they were,” The phantom fingers on his hand slowly to reform began to reform. “However, if we want to, we can change the design and put the pieces somewhere else instead.” His fingers once again began fading from view, this time however they seemed to flow towards his thumb which quickly returned to full solidarity.

“In doing that we’d theoretically restore a part of you completely and create an injury somewhere else, an injury that could be healed.” He paused a moment to let that idea sink as he briefly turned his attention back to Rowan and dragged the sprawled wizard puppet just a few inches out of the boys reach before doing so again, and again as he tried to lead Nephew past the rather expensive TV he’d previously been crawling towards.

“As for healers well, Sebastian and the Doctor aren’t the only healers in the city or even necessarily the best. Honestly it’s a question of whether you’re willing to try.”