Ty'd had a long week since Noel moved in with him. Not that she was alot of work, or high maintenance or anything, he'd just had alot on his mind. Something was always going on. One thing after another. He kept his promise to Noel, then he ended up meeting this girl in a coffee shop who totally read his mail. And then an old...acquaintance decided to schedule a meeting and cash in on a favor Ty owed. Favor? More like an oath, but same difference.

As it stood, Ty's green gloves rested neatly on his nightstand, and his shoes under the bed. The redhead himself was in the shower, enjoying the hot water running off of his skin; it was...relaxing. Almost made him forget everything. Almost.

His icy blue eyes closed as he relaxed. On the sink lay his change of clothes. Well, jeans and underwear. His jacket lay on his chair, with a blanket--his bed for the time being. His shirt, a black one with a green fish on it, lay on his bed where he'd forgotten to pick it up and take it with him. But his shower was too amazing to think on that right now.

Listless. Physical recovery sucked on so many levels. Noel had slept more in the lat week that she had slept in the last year. Or, the last year she remembered. She was bored and had only a few things on her mind. Probably because she had emptied everything else out already.

She needed, well, she needed a lot of things but she really needed more information. More about Ty, specifically. Maybe it was cabin fever setting in, but she wanted to know what the heck made him want to keep helping her. It wasn't that he was doing a bad job or anything. She just... Maybe she had some dirt on him like blackmail or... Really she could speculate all day, but her ginger friend wasn't going to spend all day in the shower.

She figured the one thing he was rarely seen without was his gloves. Those grimy green things that had seen better days and Noel wanted to see those days and then she wanted to see the days that had gotten them so dirty. Really, she wanted to see it all, but he hadn't taken them off any time since his last shower and she wasn't always awake when he came in or left. Sometimes she even left, though beyond picking up some basic necessities, after her first excursion she didn't leave Sanctuary.

So, this was it.

Noel grabbed the gloves and popped one into her mouth.

Ty's gloves really weren't all that old. Well...they were a little over three months old, and hadn't been washed since the day he got them. Not that they were dirty, at least, not visibly. Unless you count the things they'd seen...

The gloves were put on when Ty bought them on Valentine's day, and put them on right after buying. They saw Ty and Tses spend the day awkwardly at the mall, then he rather unceremoniously dumped her. They saw a few killings and some spats with other mutants, and him sulking.

Then, they saw Noel's little escapade with Ty at the antique store. Led into a nicely set trap, and then fighting to help each other stay alive. And the promise that he'd have her back should she ever need it again.

Those gloves remembered his birthday, which he couldn't on account of drunkenness, and up to his meeting with a certain bug on a street corner...Everything those gloves had seen, they told.

Slowly, the bathroom door squeaked open, and out stepped Ty in nothing but a pair of blue jeans, a pink hummingbird on his chest--the gloves had seen him get that as well, a punishment for messing with the wrong mutant's jacket. From the glove's perspective, their wearer was a gentlemen, a thief, a murderer, and an all around smart-aleck. A jerk with a heart of gold...

Her power had to be guided so the first thing Noel looked for was good times. Those were sparse... actually, he seemed to count the little trap they had stepped into as one of the good times. Probably because they'd "won." Noel wasn't sure why she hadn't expected to see herself, but... dang. She had guns and, and swords. She killed people. Heck, just thinking that brought up the memories that he'd killed people.

Gulp.

If those were the good times...

He turned 21 recently and got into a brawl. Or rather a brawl was thrust upon him. He kissed a girl. He'd kissed another girl too. Was he a ladies' man? Girls kissing girls. Throw up, tattoo, a fight, dumping a girlfriend...

Noel pulled the glove from her mouth and the memories kept flowing for a short while. Bug man, knife, motorcycle, stiletto, black hair, blood. It started to become disjointed as her connection faded. A jacket, feeling helpless

The door creaked and Noel didn't move. She wordlessly offered the gloves in her hands to the man emerging from the restroom. The man with the pink hummingbird tattoo.

It was... a lot to take in.

"These aren't as old as I thought they'd be." Would he be mad at her?

Ty blinked, taking the gloves. "Yeah, they're fairly new. Got 'em on Valentine's day..." His voice trailed off, but he just shrugged it away. He wasn't mad at her, not at all. In fact, he didn't blame her. He knew what she could do, and she was probably curious. If she saw something he didn't want her to, it was because he left his gloves--one of the few items that saw everything about him--where she could get to them.

He brushed the blanket and the jacket off of his chair and sat down, kicking back in the recliner, not really thinking about the shirt. He was in the habit of not putting one on after his shower, and he only hadn't forgotten before now because he made it a point. Today he'd had alot on his mind, and was dwelling on it more than usual.

"So...I take it you saw enough, even if they aren't that old, huh?" he murmured, thinking. "I don't know what exactly you were looking for but...well, with gifts like ours, it's only a matter of time before any and all secrets come out, right?"

"Do you remember when you told me about me?" It was something she had endlessly dwelt on. "--kicked around, bullied, and taken advantage of by alot of people... the kind of person who got tired of taking **** from everybody." That kind of person, Noel had thought about a lot. Had she been bitter? Sad? Vindictive? The memory that she had just seen suggested that she'd taken the more violent path...

"I don't think we're all that different." Noel had started moving toward the now open restroom door, but paused on her way past the recliner to touch Ty's pink humming bird. Well. Maybe he deserved that one. Just a little. She continued on into the humid room to find her hairbrush. Necessity.

"And I'm also not sure I want to go down that same path, you know? And if we're similar...?" How to put this delicately... ah screw it. Delicate wasn't exactly her style. Noel pulled her shirt up to look her bruising in the mirror. It had gone from black to purple and now had settled into a very unhealthy looking green and yellow sort of color. "I was violent. You're going that way too." She dropped the cloth back in place and grabbed the brush before heading back out to face her only friend.

She wasn't worthy to judge him, but she was allowed to worry, right? "I feel a lot better now even if I'm not one-hundred percent. Ty, I want to help you. You feel obligated to me because I saved your life, but you've gone above and beyond saving mine. I'm going crazy in here. I may not be the person I saw from that antique store, but I could be again if that's what you needed to turn your fortunes around." Wasn't she just thinking that the violent life was bad and that she didn't want to do that this time around? Yeah. That's where things got confusing.

More than anything, right now she wanted purpose. She sat on the bed and faced the recliner. More than just dragging her brush through her hair and working at the tangles. More than the some day maybe goal of finding work and moving out on her own.

Ty's eyes had drifted closed, relaxing, but they opened and looked thoughtfully at Noel as she spoke. "Yeah, I remember," he said softly. "We're not," he repeated, looking down as she touched his tattoo. Actually, he almost forgot it was even there. Oh well...

"It's usually a last resort for me. Especially when life is on the line," he replied. "I mean, I try my best to do whatever's right." Ty let her speak some more, but shook his head.

"I didn't just do this because I felt obligated. Like you said we're not too different. Aside from my sister, I had no one, really. I'd let people in, but they left. Or I left...But, that day at the antique store, we saved each other's lives. I saw a friend in you, someone I could count on. Someone who could count on me. Though...as far as what you become...you have a unique opportunity here. Something very few people get. A clean slate. You can start over, be whatever you want. Do whatever you desire with yourself," he spoke, then paused for a moment.

"What's important, is who you want to be. You're not a puppet whose strings I can pull, or a doll I can dress and make into what I want. As much as I enjoy your company...eventually you gotta do what you feel you have to." He let out a breath, relaxing in the recliner.

That was the problem, though. "I don't know what I want. I don't know who I am. You said it yourself, I could be anybody. Through you I can see who I was, but I... grr." This wasn't working. She clenched and un-clenched her fists, one around a bit of tangled hair the other around her brush, and tried again.

"I trust you. You trust me. Why can't you just let me do something for you? Just... something. Even if it's stupid." She needed a purpose how ever small to justify her staying here. Or to get her started. Or maybe she really did need somebody to boss her around. Like flipping a coin between two options, once the coin was in the air then she could know how she really felt about things.

Noel tugged the brush through her hair with soft ripping sounds. Long hair makes for a hard head. "How do you figure out what you want?" She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff, only it was a long drop in every direction. The only safe ground was here and now. How was she supposed to decide on something so important? Didn't people usually grow into these things? She couldn't just... pick.

Okay, now Ty saw her predicament. He scratched his chin, rubbing the little bit of stubble that was there. "What I want out of you? That's easy," he replied. "All I really ask is that you remain that person I could count on. A friend. Just someone close. Where we're there for each other when need be. And you..."

He thought a moment. "I guess you find something you like. Try different stuff, I reckon. Like getting to know a complete stranger, it seems you're going to have to get to know yourself." He brushed his hair aside, standing up and walking over to her--or more specifically, the shirt lying next to her.

"I think I may get another tattoo. To sorta go with yet draw attention from the hummingbird..." he muttered as he pulled the black shirt with the lime green fish on it over his head.

Somebody he could count on. She could add that that list "someone who is helpful" as in, not a drain on society. So she needed a job. A job with flexible hours that was beneficial to people... sooo not a lawyer?

"I'll think about it." And apparently she would have to try it out too. That was good advice. Try it before you buy it? Too bad she couldn't be an agent. Apparently she had been pretty decent at that.

A tattoo, huh? "Can't you just get something over it? Like a big black square?" Not that a big black square was super attractive, but better than a humming bird. "Then, let's go get a tattoo." She went faster down the length of her hair and once it was all straight and tangle free Noel pulled it over her shoulder.

Ty nodded. "Yeah, thinking's a good start," he replied, stretching as he got his shirt on and his hair straight--ish. Though the young man had to admit he was surprised at her willingness to go with him and get a tattoo.

"Well, an old nickname of mine is Fish, so...I was actually thinking of something like a skeletal fish with his jaws bared. Right here." Ty patted the left side of his chest. "As unmanly as it is...I have to admit the little guy's sorta growing on me..." Ty flashed a small smile.

"Skeletal fish? Psh. You're not so hardcore." She teased him as she went to find her shoes.

"You know, I-" Noel stopped mid-step. She had been about to say something about her tattoo, but... she didn't have any. The effect was totally disorienting. Did she remember having a tattoo? But there wasn't a single trace of any left on her body. "I don't have any tattoos, right? Maybe I could get one. They're permanent, right?" She had to clarify because the idea that she had a tattoo was strong in her mind.

She just... couldn't remember.

Noel waved to the secretary, Lisa, on their way out and tried not to scuff her feet or pout. "People use tattoos to help them not forget stuff all the time." What did she have so far that was worth remembering? Her name? "Is it lame to get a tattoo of my own name?" She didn't want to forget...

At least Ty seemed to have a tattoo parlor in mind. They walked with purpose and that felt better than anything she'd done all day.

Ty shot her a funny look, one that looked almost like a kid who just sucked on a lemon. "Noel, is there anything about me that's hardcore? Besides...I like the fish idea." He shrugged as he walked. "I thought it was neat, actually..." he murmured softly, hands stuffed in his pants pocket as he walked outside. He'd passed a certain tattoo parlor quite a bit in his comings and goings, and was sure this was where he wanted to go.

"Yeah, they're permanent. And getting your name sounds like a good idea. Lots of people do that."

Ty held the door to the parlor open for Noel and stepped inside, walking up to the girl at the front. "Hey, you got anyone back there that can give me a skeletal fish? Like right here?" He patted the left side of his chest again. And make its jaws bared at the hummingbird already there?"

Hardcore was not something she would have associated with Ty before she had seen what she had seen. Now? There was definitely something hardcore about him. "Uh. Yeah, actually I rescind my not hardcore statement. Ty we've both-" She looked around to make sure nobody was listening in and then lowered her voice anyway, "killed people?"

He held the door for her and she skipped inside. Ah. Nothing like the smell of ink, sweat and pain.

"Sure, no prob." The chick behind the counter (lady certainly did not apply here) stuck her head behind a curtain and shouted for somebody. Noel in the meantime went to look at all the pre-made options.

Lots of different scripts, tribal stuff, animals... "Sorta like this?" Noel tapped Ty on the shoulder and pointed to a skeletal dog she saw. It was all jagged points and mean fangs. "Except, y'know, a fish?"

Noel didn't want anything nearly so fancy, except... she was drawn to a large pair of feathered wings...

Rex's Tattoos.

Huge T-Rex on the sign, known to be somewhat popular with mutants, and had tons of pre-made options. What wasn't covering the walls was in stacks of books, one of which the girl at the counter--a thin, pale little thing who had jet-black hair, gothic-looking make-up, and numerous complicated tribal tattoos on her arms and shoulders--had actually been flipping through before they walked in. It was left open on an extremely detailed picture of a dragon, wings flared open and fire pouring from its jaws, as she went to call the artist.

"HEY DRAKE! GET OUT HERE! CUSTOMER!" After a little while with no response, as Noel looked over the various images, the girl inhaled and bellowed again, louder. "DRAKE!"

This time, a deep, growling voice called back, "I'm not freakin' deaf, Raven!"

"No, just slow! Move your a**!" With that, she sat back down at the desk with a dramatic roll of her eyes and assaulted the artist's eardrums no longer.

The person who stepped into view not long after was very different from the girl at the desk. 'Drake' was taller than both of the current newcomers to the parlor, and the tight, sleeveless black shirt the artist was wearing, the same colour as her jeans and leather boots, showed off extensive musculature on a thickly-built, but still recognizably female, form.

That alone would be notable, but the artist also had scales. Bronze-coloured and lustrous, they covered every inch of exposed skin, taking on a slightly darker shade on her neck. Hooked, black claws tipped each of her fingers, and there were little, blunt spikes on her lower jaw of the same colour. She also had wings, poking out from specialized holes in the back of her shirt, far too little to fly with but still a sight as she opened them wide, stretched them, and then folded them again.

Kiva 'Drake' Augillard, among the main reasons Rex's Tattoos was popular with mutants, tugged lightly at her black ponytail before addressing the pair she assumed were her customers, her masculine-sounding voice rumbling from her chest in a contrast to her warm smile. "Hey, there. What can I help ya with?"