>>"I have a feeling I'm going to want to forget tasting this in about two days when I have to drink it again in a playback... then two weeks after that.... and a month after that...Well, I think the forgetting part worked. It seems like it was much more fun being drunk than being hungover though."

"Ain't that the truth of the world" the young knight grinned, walking back to the counter and filling a new glass with water "Here drink this, takes the taste away and keeps you hydrated."

Look who was an expert on drinking...

"You're gonna need some rest, not sleeping makes a hangover way worse" he ruled, then smiled down at her "Shall I carry you back to bed?"

Finally a smile spread across Evelyn's face, and she took the water, downing the glass and trying to ignore the lingering taste from the first beverage. "Part of me wants to know how you know so much about treating a hangover. Part of me has decided it might be better I don't." She laughed lightly and set the glass on the counter.

>>"Shall I carry you back to bed?"

"As romantic as that sounds..." She snorted, pushing her hair from her face and glancing up at the mirror-walker. She was pretty sure she could walk on her own, considering she made it to the kitchen while half unconscious. Although the image in her head was somewhat amusing. Certainly different than the first time the knight had carried her, much to her dismay at that time. "You know, I'm not going to know what to do with myself if I sleep much more... I usually run on like a few hours of sleep every few days or so. You're going to ruin my insomnia." She said sticking out her tongue and gently pushing herself to her feet. She didn't fall over or throw up. So far so good.

>>"Part of me wants to know how you know so much about treating a hangover. Part of me has decided it might be better I don't."

"I think part of you can guess" Gawain chuckled. There were not that many logical explanations to that question.

>>"As romantic as that sounds... You know, I'm not going to know what to do with myself if I sleep much more... I usually run on like a few hours of sleep every few days or so. You're going to ruin my insomnia."

"Who said anything about sleep? I just said bed."

Okay, that way low. Gawain beamed for a moment with the victory of an easy target to hit - she really did walk into that one. On second thought, however, it might have been too much for Evelyn's brain right now.

"Just kidding."

Gawain's reply drifted through Evelyn's foggy brain once. She did a mental re-take, tried processing the answer again, and then her still slightly drowsy echoes analyzed the sentence.

And promptly broke.

Her face turned a shade of pink that made her hair look that much whiter, and she jabbed Gawain in the side in a flash of movement. "Brat! Don't break them like that! The poor echoes are already hung over! Now we're embarrassed too!" She squeaked, brain guttering in an awful way. She only needed a little of that leftover buzz for her echoes to completely get derailed by her imagination.

>> "Brat! Don't break them like that! The poor echoes are already hung over! Now we're embarrassed too!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" Gawain yelped as he was jabbed in the ribs, Evelyn displaying remarkable coordination for someone who was hung over. He jumped away from her and held up his hands "Hey! I told ya I'm a knight. I don't take advantage of ladies who... are... drrrunk..." he finished the sentence and burst out laughing, against his better judgement.

Drunk and embarrassed Evelyn was just so darn adorable. Gawain laughed for a while before he managed to catch his breath.

"I'm... I'm sorry. Really I am. I should not have embarrassed you like that..."

Truth told, he tended to forget that Eve had no experience with these things whatsoever...

Evelyn would have been irked if Gawain's laughing wasn't so genuine. It was somewhat at her own expense, but it was nice to see the mirror-walkers smile. At least the jab got somewhat partial revenge.

>>"I don't take advantage of ladies who... are... drrrunk..."

"Mhmm just you wait. Once I get my echoes back and stop feeling so hung over you're in for it. We'll see whose embarrassed them." She probably would have been more intimidating if her face wasn't still a stunning shade of crimson. She got to her feet, and planted a kiss on Gawain's cheek before sticking her tongue out and moving away again. "I'll be nice enough not to kiss you right now even. That drink was awful and I can still taste it..." She made it a whole two steps into the doorway when the echoes started complaining about the coconut again. With a groan of irritation she leaned against the frame and rubbed her forehead.

"We aren't getting a coconut!" She hissed back.

The echoes paused, and another string of information flickered through.

"No...I don't think he'll play cards with us either..."

>>"Mhmm just you wait. Once I get my echoes back and stop feeling so hung over you're in for it. We'll see whose embarrassed them."

"Uh-oh..."

Gawain had no doubt that Evelyn could thoroughly embarrass him if she wanted to. She had done it before.

>>"I'll be nice enough not to kiss you right now even. That drink was awful and I can still taste it..."

"Yeah I know" he chuckled, taking the kiss on the cheek. He knew exactly what the drink tasted, it was his own invention, after all.
Evelyn spaced out again.

>>"We aren't getting a coconut! No...I don't think he'll play cards with us either..."

"Oh what the heck" Gawain sighed with a smirk and grabbed a coke from the fridge "Let's go play cards. maybe with you drunk I actually stand a chance..."

>>"Let's go play cards. maybe with you drunk I actually stand a chance..."

Evelyn was probably more delighted by this than she should have been, probably fueled by the echoes as well. She grinned and hugged Gawain around the waist, walking somewhat faster (and slightly less steadily) back towards her room. She paused long enough to grab Gawain's arm and tug him with her. "I promise to try not to cheat and use the echoes against you unless they make me do it." She grinned, letting her powers wander as they sifted for the memories of the cards she had lost the day before. Thankfully, she knew where they were now, and reaching the room she moved to the dresser and picked them up from underneath the book she had been reading.

"Although, you might have to shuffle. I only trust my coordination to a certain degree and listening to the echoes trying to shout out where all the cards landed would put a damper on things." She had spilled the cards once before, and it was annoying even when she was sober. 52 different cards clamoring for attention could make anyone's hair grey a little.

>>"I promise to try not to cheat and use the echoes against you unless they make me do it... Although, you might have to shuffle. I only trust my coordination to a certain degree and listening to the echoes trying to shout out where all the cards landed would put a damper on things."

"Boy, magicians must hate you" Gawain grinned, walking back to Eve's room with his arm around her waist "At the same time, I am pretty sure you could make a living from gambling any time you choose. Not a bad plan to fall back on..."

The mirrorwalker still remembered the time he ended up living on the streets. Those reflexes do not die easy.

Back in Eve's room he looked around.

"So, remember where you put the cards yet?"

Magicians.... Evelyn considered that statement for a moment and tried to think if she had actually watched any magicians. It wasn't really in her usual entertainment circuit. She saw a fair number or Broadway shows, but magic... "I don't think I've ever actually watched a magic act. I mean, I've seen a few on the streets on the way to work, or flipping through the T.V. channels, but I've never really watched one. I have no idea what the echoes would do but you're probably right. They would get themselves in trouble if they could..." She finally decided.

>>"I am pretty sure you could make a living from gambling any time you choose. Not a bad plan to fall back on..."

"I'll keep that in mind if I totally screw up the whole detective career every seems to think I'm destined for." She winked with a smile. Somewhere under the surface though that idea made her stomach turn a little. Not that she didn't feel glad knowing her echoes could possibly become a source of income. But the fact she was twenty four with no real direction in life. She was just taking self-defense lessons and hiding here at the school from life it seemed. At least Gawain had the whole 'hero' thing going. She wasn't much of a hero. Or a detective. It was a little depressing.

Before the frown could work itself to her face though they were back in the room and she left Gawain's side to get the cards. They were famous paintings, a deck she got from the museum gift shop. "Tada! Cards." She said with flourish.

>> "I don't think I've ever actually watched a magic act. I mean, I've seen a few on the streets on the way to work, or flipping through the T.V. channels, but I've never really watched one. I have no idea what the echoes would do but you're probably right. They would get themselves in trouble if they could..."

"Nah, not necessarily trouble" Gawain grinned "they would just take the fun out of it."

Because magic was no longer magic once you have called how it was done.

>>"I'll keep that in mind if I totally screw up the whole detective career every seems to think I'm destined for."

"Oh I don't doubt you'd make the detective of the century" the young knight smiled, shuffling the cards as they were handed to him "Maybe you should talk to someone at the MRC about interning with them. We have been working with them for a while now, and so far no one tried to kill the other, so. So far, so good. They would be willing to take you just because you are from the school and doing training with the X-men."

He grinned at her over the cards.

"Every good cop show needs a brain. by the way, what are we playing?..."

Fun...Evelyn wondered for a fleeting moment what exactly the echoes would be ruining for her. Or were ruining for her. Sure, they were overly logical and pointed out information constantly, but did that suck the fun out of things too? That would be a little bit of a bummer if it was true... She watched the cards get shuffled, brain spinning as the numbers flickered through her head. She couldn't catch all of them, but she knew where a few were. The rest would come the longer they played.

>>"Maybe you should talk to someone at the MRC about interning with them."

"I just... I guess I could. I mean, I want to do something more useful with my powers, but I feel like I need to learn to control them better first. Last thing I need to do is do something dumb and embarrass the x-men..." She trailed off, echoes focusing on the cards and taking her thoughts away from that part of the conversation. Gawain's question brought her back with a smile.

"Well, all depends. I'm partial to blackjack, but that's less of a two person game..." She tried to think of something else. The echoes were still distracted counting cards though.

>>"I just... I guess I could. I mean, I want to do something more useful with my powers, but I feel like I need to learn to control them better first. Last thing I need to do is do something dumb and embarrass the x-men..."

"I doubt you could" Gawain chuckled, shuffling the cards some more "Anything that could embarrass the X-men has pretty much already been done. We are still workin' the kinks out of cooperation with the police..."

It had gotten better, though. A lot better, considering how mutant affairs stood in New York, and in the USA in general.

>>"Well, all depends. I'm partial to blackjack, but that's less of a two person game..."

"Yeah" Gawain grinned "Ever played poker? I picked up some when... um, I kinda needed to make a living."

Yeah, go ahead, run into the topic of the painful past, great. Gawain scratched the back of his neck in an embarrassed gesture.

Evelyn wondered what it was like working with the police, especially during the times they were in. When mutants were fighting for their own rights, she could imagine the tensions getting a little high. She had a problem with seeing both sides of the story though. It would be hard to help the authorities when she also felt some of the mutants had a point to what they were doing. She didn't think on it too much though. It made her head hurt more and she didn't want to find herself back in the kitchen in an hour.

>>"Ever played poker?"

Evelyn shook her head, watching the shuffling momentarily and following the path of a few of the royal cards. She caught herself and tried to stop the echoes. They seemed insistent she know where the queen of hearts was. "I haven't, but I know the rules at least. We'll have to test your poker face out." She said with a soft smile. She watched Gawain's body language, and tried not to comment on the tail end of the statement. It seemed like it wasn't a direction that could go well.

Eve did not pursue the subject, and Gawain was glad for it. Late night and slightly hung over was not the best setting for that conversation. He caught her eyes following the shuffling of the deck, so he put his hands behind his back.

>>"I haven't, but I know the rules at least. We'll have to test your poker face out."

"What poker face?" he grinned at her, bringing the deck back up "Let's see if your echoes are as good as you say..."

It was kind of fun, playing poker in the middle of the night with someone who had a distinct advantage. Gawain did not mind the idea of losing utterly and completely. it felt like they were the only ones awake and alone in the Mansion, and they had all the time in the world for themselves.