Allison blinked at Cafas as he answered the last question. Really, there were so many responses she could make. Assuming bad things were involved when a woman went missing, reappeared pregnant and grinned about the father being dead really wouldn't mean constantly assuming bad things happened, and would have let her avoid actually talking about it. And she certainly had handled it, though she wondered if Cafas would be as (apparently) forgiving about getting Isabel's help as if she'd gotten help from Aura like he seemed to be assuming. Even though asking Aura probably would have been more logical, she didn't really want Aura to know and certainly didn't want Aura hurt by them if something had gone wrong again. She went with the least likely response to get her in trouble. "You know I know Aura? You're sounding more and more like a stalker, Cafas. Just how many laws do the X-men break in the name of upholding the laws?" ...Okay, maybe that would get her into a tiny bit of trouble. But less. "Also, Aura doesn't know they ever existed." Your assumptions are wrong. Only in one detail, but she wasn't going to clarify that part.

And they were done. That was a relief; Allison was getting close to the point where she would very much prefer to lock herself in her room and not speak to anyone for a few days. Well, or a room; locking herself in her room didn't really let her not speak to anyone anymore....

...Or, perhaps she could just take her frustration out on someone. Like Myra. The author was turning herself into such a lovely target now, and Cafas even wanted her to. So Allison smiled, stepped over, and let her hand land on Myra's and Cafas's, and slipped herself in between them. Which put her uncomfortably close to both of them, but she was perfectly capable of not showing that as she worked her fingers underneath Cafas's hand. "I'm not very fond of bars, actually, but maybe we could meet you somewhere else sometime later. In the meantime," Myra was being quite stubborn in clinging to Cafas, really, "we had plans."

Not that said imaginary plans seemed to be dissuading Myra any. So instead Allison turned around and kissed Cafas.

(Ew, really. But she was good at faking that. And the expressions she caused were definitely worth it.)

"Yeah, plans."

Wait, what is she? Oh God!

Lips, with the kissing and the...

Hey now! Did she honestly just do that? Lips, tongue, would you mind NOT reciprocating?

He did his best to act casual about it, despite the camera flashes, cheering, booing, and shocked expression on Myra's face. When he finally recovered from the shock of it, and a little to his shame a few seconds after that, he broke the kiss off. He smiled, despite wanting to take the time to order his thoughts a bit.

Did I... Enjoy that? I mean, yeah the kiss but the contact in general. This seems to contradict the whole assumption I'd made given the whole Calley thing.

Is what his thoughts would have sounded like if his mind hadn't just exploded completely. Cafas took Allison's hand, waved to the crowd one last time with a sheepish grin and stepped into the area that passed for backstage. He looked for the exit, and started moving toward it. "Thanks, I mean, wow, but sure did the trick huh? I think Calley's going to eviscerate me once those photos inevitably go viral, though hopefully he's focused enough on studying to miss it." And breath.

"Anyway, it's probably better not to ask what laws we break in the name of the law. We're more about equality and justice anyway, just through the correct means." His mind was moving too fast to keep up, he was trying to vent some of the thoughts out through his mouth, though he couldn't say it was helping. "As for Aura not knowing, well, mores the pity frankly. Aura has a unique brand of justice that I think they more than earned."

And there were the crowds. How were they ever supposed to get out of here? More importantly, why had he enjoyed that kiss so much? He was gay, wasn't he? He was attracted to and loved Calley, a guy, so he was gay. It made sense. But then there was Allison, and the kiss and... "Ah man what the f*** am I?"

Smile for the cameras Cafas. He was getting exceedingly good at this acting gig.

Definitely worth the ew. And the inevitable media storm that would follow. Those expressions were priceless. Allison was still working to tone her grin down to something a bit more romantic and less maniacally gleeful as Cafas pulled her away from the crowd and behind a wall.

"Caleb studies? Caleb's in school?" That... did not go very well with the mental image she had of him. Not that most people in college were very studious anymore now that it was the only way to get a job, but she hadn't gotten the impression that Caleb would bother with having a job, either. "Well if he does, I'll avenge you with sticks."

"Okay, if you're saying that the laws are the correct means and telling me not to ask what laws you break, there is a tiny bit of contradiction there." Not that Allison really had any objection to what the X men did, as long as they left her and her friends alone. She was pretty inclined to point out hypocrisy, though, and this sounded a lot like it. "Aura's not the only one with her brand of justice. And not everyone with it feels the need to know." And that was as close as Allison was going to come to saying out loud that she'd asked Isabel to help her kill people. Or that she'd killed people. Cafas was sounding less and less like an X man, but she still wasn't throwing those details out for him to use. Certainly not when they were still technically in public....

"I was under the impression that you're an X Man." Allison also smiled obligingly for the cameras, and cuddled against Cafas for them. Her smile might still have had mischief behind it, but the cameras wouldn't be able to tell. "And a mutant, bi, a guy, Australian, immune to bullets, a boyfriend, a fake boyfriend, kind of a flirt, an actor, aaaand that's about all I've got for the moment."

Cafas smiled, signed something, tried to keep walking, was not allowed to, signed something else, and wished he was a bigger celebrity, or less of one. Either way, he'd be happy. "Yeah he studies, a lot harder in recent months than usual. He wants to graduate this year." Which would put this year in stark contrast to the others.

Sticks? Uh... Okay then.

Cafas had to consider the comment about the X-men's hypocrisy for a moment. It didn't bother him much. Then again the methods didn't really invade his privacy. "It's hardly breaking the law to keep tabs on a place with suspected gang links. I take your point though. I'm mostly in it to help people anyway." Autograph, autograph, photo, smile, walk 10 more feet.

The cuddling felt kind of nice too, though admittedly not as great as the kissing. Cafas smiled and tried to process everything she'd just said. "I'm also a blacksmith..." Not that it mattered. "See, thing is, I don't know that I am bi, Calley's the only guy I've ever been attracted to. Not that it stopped me dating another guy, but I think that was one hundred percent to make Calley jealous. Worked too."

Sign, smile, photo, walk, turn down a marriage proposal. "I had myself fooled, what with the whole dating a guy thing. I thought I was gay, but I'm not sure now you know, after... it's just... Ah never mind." He still loved Calley, he was still dating Calley, it didn't matter, because it had no bearing.

But he couldn't drop it, it kept turning around in his brain.

"What's he studying? And where?" So that Allison could make sure to never, ever go there. Not that she really planned to go back to college any time soon, but hey, she might. Her parents would have a fit if she didn't get a degree soon... they'd have a fit if they knew anything about even a second of her recent life. They'd probably lecture her even for being raped; you shouldn't have been there, been dressed like that, been friends with her, let them catch you; it's your fault, how dare you shame us!

Well. There was a reason she'd stopped talking to them. Not that reason, exactly, but a reason.

Allison waited and smiled while Cafas signed autographs, and stuck to his side, smiling extra hard at the more clingy-looking girls demanding autographs. And actually was asked to sign a few herself as well; about equally by girls and the (rare) boys present. She kind of admired them; it had to take a lot of courage to go to something so thoroughly derided in most of culture and that was derided specifically for being deemed girly. A somewhat silly use for courage, but at least they had it.

Allison once again had to pause to work through the many responses she could think of and pick one. "...And did this other guy have any opinion on the fact that he was being used to get someone else to date you?" Were you kind of an asshole, Cafas?

Allison... could get why having another identity crisis would be annoying. She hadn't appreciated them much either. That didn't mean she didn't think he was any less ridiculous for assuming that liking one guy and many women made him gay. It just didn't work that way; same-sex attraction was not a negative number. "Charts never work perfectly. Categories like gay and straight aren't any more real than good and evil." Which might help him, might give him another crisis to deal with, or might make him dismiss her entirely.

He could almost see the door! It was past that stall, he was sure of it! "Oh, he studies up at Xavier's. I am happily graduated. I missed my last year of high school when I ran away from home, so I had to finish that." Took long enough to get around to as well.

Cafas had not considered... What’s-his-name's feelings on the matter, he assumed they were negative. "Uh... Yeah I really didn't think about it at the time. I'm fairly sure we're not on good terms though, not after Calley got wind of it. He defenestrated me good, and I broke my arm. Still, in a roundabout way it proved that he cared." The direct proof had come later.

Cafas was debating simply charging through the people left. The crowd looked to be thinning, he was sure he could make it through them without losing momentum. He elected not to. Nice as it was to have fans, it was a pain that they couldn't move ten feet without a new crowd of people forming.

"I suppose they aren't, but knowing what you are is important, even if it doesn't fall within the existing constructs. That's kind of where I've had a lot of trouble, trying to figure out who the hell I am. I guess I just over think it." 10 yards and they were out. It wouldn't stop there, but at least they'd have a more fair chance.

"Do you need a lift home?"

"...He's how old? You're how old?" And speaking as if you just recently finished? Really, missing a year excused being a year late. Maybe two, if another was spent on traveling and settling in. Not that many.

Allison limited herself to silence. A rather disbelieving, you think? sort of silence, but silence nonetheless. Cafas seemed to have figured out at least a little that he'd screwed up with that, so more comments weren't really necessary. "You do know that hate is technically a form of caring too, right?"

It looked like it was going to be easier to get out... or possibly harder. The crowd was thinning, so it should be easier to get too the door, but there were a few people hovering by it glancing between it and (what was becoming increasingly obviously) Alli and Cafas. That... did not indicate an easy exist. Really, Alli was fairly small, and that had been played up in media a lot for the movie, but it ought to be common sense that Cafas could simply pick up and move any kids who tried to block his way if he wanted to. So could Alli with most of them, for that matter, but that wasn't as obvious (or easy), and it wasn't her they were likely to try to block. Well, one more adventure to smile though.

"What you are and what label what you are comes closest to aren't the same thing, though. Really, orientation is ridiculous, the complications just never end." Allison had given up attempting to find the end of it, anyway. Multiple times.

Well, technically, no, Allison didn't need a ride. The subway had managed to her her to the convention; it would manage to get her back. If it wasn't an issue, though... and they had told Myra they had plans. "Sure."

"Twenty Two. I was homeless for two years there, and it took me a while to even figure out that it was important. Still, for someone that graduated high-school last year I think I'm doing alright, don't you?"

What's going on outside?

Before he could get a proper look he was distracted by the continuing conversation. "Well I thought he hated me for a while, heck, so did he, and I'm not really sure he feels exactly as strongly as I do, but believe me, hatred is not what it is." Not if the dating and associated actions were anything to go by.

Really does seem to be some sort of trouble out there.

X-senses engaged. Cafas frowned and tried to make out the source of the issue. It didn't take long. The signs were pretty clear. Mutant hatred rally. Lovely. "Well, I'll try to not label myself too much in future. That ride may be a little trickier though. I spy trouble."

Though it might be easier to get through them than the rest of these kids.

Cafas decided to risk it. There really hadn't been any true violence from these protests yet. Not to mention he struck a pretty imposing figure. "Well let's see if we can avoid you getting shot this time." Head held high, Cafas stepped out the door. A sea of abuse broke over him.

Man no clever pun signs or anything.

Lots of "Lock up the Muties" and "Muties aren't people" and assorted trashy slogans. Someone threw a can. Others joined in, throwing trash at them. Still, they parted easy enough. Cafas wished he had parked somewhere else. Luckily, he hadn't made his bike recognisable. "Hope you don't mind motorbikes." He pushed past a particularly defiant guy with a glare. The man seemed to draw his fist back, but thought better of it. Really, would the bullshit never end?

Okay, that was a bit excessive, but not that bad. At least he had gotten around to it. And, really, Allison didn't need more reasons to tease Cafas; that was easy enough to do, and she had no particular desire to anyway. "You are now a millionaire... if entirely by accident."

"Uh huh...." Frankly, if Cafas was dating Caleb, Allison wasn't too confident in his ability to recognize anything to do with romance. Assuming that liking one guy and lots of girls made him gay didn't really improve her estimation, either. "If you say so."

Allison had to lean to the side (and into Cafas) to see, and frowned at the crowd. Then blinked, and turned to raise an eyebrow at Cafas's joke. "Very optimistic of you. I don't see a gun...." Not that she had last time, either, but at least now there were lots of (known) witnesses. That would deter most protesters from violence, anyway.

Apparently not all, though, or not completely. Allison was pretty sure throwing things still counted as violence. When the (third, or fourth...) thrown can cut her cheek about five steps through the crowd, it definitely counted. She'd been trying to keep a pleasant expression (there were still cameras, after all, and the protest seemed to have attracted a few more), but that seemed to justify not looking pleasant anymore. And if it didn't, too bad; she glared and spun toward the direction it came from. She didn't say anything, there wasn't anything that would convince them, but her glare could be pretty intimidating.

...Not that intimidating, though. Allison blinked as the protesters seemed to... not back down, but grow a bit more restrained. It took a moment to realize they were glancing between her and the door, and turn toward it.

That was... shocking, really. A group of five girls--probably fifteen, sixteen at most--were shoving through the crowd. Not one of them had any sign of a visible mutation, none had a visible tattoo or piercing outside of their ear lobes (and two didn't even have that). Four were glaring fiercely, though, and two of those swearing at the people they shoved away; the fifth looked terrified and stubborn until the entire group got to Allison and Cafas. The first one to reach them still looked furious while she looked at Cafas and Allison, and the other four circled around them. "Go ahead. They won't throw things at us."

Allison had no idea how to react to that. So she looked back at the door; there were more teens starting to push their way through the crowd, too.

Cafas took a moment to process what had just happened. There he was, being abused and having stuff thrown at him, when all of a sudden a bunch of teenage girls came to the rescue. He was fairly sure this usually worked the other way around. Actually, he was entirely sure, having come to the rescue of more than one teenage girl.

"Thanks, that was starting to get a bit out of hand." Cafas raised a quizzical eyebrow to Allison, then found the right expression of righteous indignation and kept walking toward his bike, protected by a shield of five teenage girls.

Weirdest day ever.

It was much easier moving. It turned out nobody wanted to be the one to publicly assault a teenage girl. Which was lucky for them, because Cafas would have made damn sure they remembered not to the next time. Not having ones front teeth was always a good reminder.

His bike, as he had suspected, was unharmed, and largely ignored. It crossed his mind briefly that he should have thought to wear his helmet to such a public event, but it was what it was. Cafas turned to the girls that had helped them through the crowd. "Thanks guys, that helped a lot.I wish I could do something to thank you better but I think it'd be best if we got out of here pretty quick."

Key in, kick the engine to life. "Hold on tight, wouldn't want you to fall off." He was pretty sure she wouldn't, but he couldn't be sure.

First stop, the Sanctuary.

Allison didn't quite manage to figure out what had happened by the time they reached Cafas's motorcycle (undamaged, thankfully), so she glanced back enough to notice that what looked like half the convention's attendees had also filtered out, and formed another wall blocking the protesters off from the door and creating an open walk back to it. Good; Allison doubted that they would have attacked human girls anyway, but then, she hadn't expected them to throw things either. With half the convention glaring them down, they ought to leave the girls alone.

While Cafas got on the motorcycle (without a helmet, bad role model!) Allison gave each of the girls a hug and thank you, and whispered "it gets easier" to the one that had looked scared. And all but one was taller than her, already. Oh well; that was what heels were for. Regardless, she didn't need to know exactly what was going on to know they'd earned a thank you. And probably more, if she could think what that more could be and figure out a way to give it to them.

Leaving quickly was definitely a good idea, though; the protesters were backing down now, but that was hardly guaranteed to last. Besides, the sooner they left, the sooner their teenage girl bodyguards could get back inside before the protesters found a new target. So she climbed on behind Cafas. And did, indeed hold on; having someone to cling to while she sorted out her most recent bewildering memories was a relief. The cuddling was also nice (and excusable, it was a motorcycle after all, she had to hold on), though there was never really a time that Allison didn't like cuddling anyone she could justify latching onto.

The best part of the drive was easily Brooklyn Bridge. Sitting between lanes of traffic and opening up the throttle, sending them rocketing along to a soundtrack of car horns and profanities. He didn't care, and he could always claim an emergency if the NYPD pulled him over. Unless it was someone he knew, but that was unlikely.

They were outside the Sanctuary in pretty good time, given it was New York. The benefits of being able to dodge between traffic. Cafas pulled to a stop and shut the engine off. "So, that was terrible, lets skip the next one. They don't need the stars right?" Cafas smiled, a little guilty for enjoying Allison's company, and contact, quite as much as he had.

"Look. If you need help, I know you have other people you can go to, but... Call me. Tell me if you need an X-man or a friend." He hoped she knew how much he meant that, or exactly what he meant.

Cafas sat on the bike awkwardly. He kind of wondered if she'd invite him in. He wondered if he'd take the offer if given.

Probably.

The motorcycle ride was nice. It had been a while since Allison had been on one; she'd forgotten how nice it was. And she could see why Cafas hadn't bothered with helmets. The weaving between cars that she was pretty sure was illegal was... well, also fun, but again, pretty sure that was illegal. Then again, Allison hardly had room to talk about legal, as long as he didn't get caught. That, she would have some opinions on.

She managed to smile, mostly out of relief since Cafas's joke was terrible, but she did. "Sorry, I think it's part of the job. You could invite some of your friends next time, though." She did not bother to let go of Cafas yet. It wasn't her fault he was comfy. He was human; humans were comfy to cuddle.

Okay, that sounded more like a lead in to goodbyes. Allison let go and leaned back so she could look at Cafas for a moment before answering. "Are you sure you actually want to be involved?" He hadn't exactly reacted well just to knowing, and... if there was ever an occurrence like that again, she might not ask Isabel for help. Isabel was good at killing, but not that inclined to draw it out much. Allison rather liked the way she and Megan had taken care of the men they'd dealt with when they met. "If I need help, I'm not going to bother with X rules." And, often, she wouldn't even if she didn't need help. She was pretty sure Cafas had no idea that ink could be lethal, though; there was no need to clarify that, just in case he would go to the X's with the information. For now, anything she did could be blamed on a psychic or similar; if someone who cared actually had the information to put the pieces together, that could be a problem for Allison.

It was getting awkward to sit leaning back like that, so Allison climbed off the bike and stood next to it. With nothing to lean on, unfortunately, which made her more inclined to be able to go inside and collapse to process what had happened. "I'll see you at the next one?" Which wasn't that far away, really.

Cafas looked at Allison. He looked into her eyes and gauged what he saw there. He wasn't any great judge of character. Not really. Something in there though, something told him all he needed to know. He pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled down his number. He put it into her hand. "Any time, day or night. If you get into trouble, call me."

He did wonder how far against the rules she meant. He suspected that all the way was a safe bet. He'd be dead before he let his friends down though. He knew that much. He may have grown attached to his mass murder free lifestyle, but sometimes it was necessary.

He searched for something else to say, but came up empty. Allison climbed off the bike, so he settled for looking at her. He didn't know when she might have to call him, that was the problem with trouble, but he suspected he wouldn't have to wait long. Trouble was never far away in New York.

"For sure, at the next one. Keep safe Allison. Trouble's brewing. I can feel it. I don't think that protest will be the end of it." Cafas gunned the engine to life, sat for a moment. With one last nod of farewell he pulled into the street, spun a 180 on the spot, and shot back the way they'd come from, back to the Mansion.