So. A cautious one and an adventurer. Crow had always been more of the adventurer sort himself, saving caution for times when the adventuring had got him beaten to a useless pulp.

... more or less like right now.

Eh, if the explodey girl came back, she was now far more effectively outnumbered. The cautious kid's armour looked tough enough to take a few blasts, enough to get in a good tail-swipe, Crow imagined. Yes, yes that would be well deserved. Well deserved indeed!

"Hivemind? We suppose. Sounds cooler than a non-representative democracy, anyway." Unique, yes, amazing, meh. It didn't kill him, but it didn't make his life much easier.

... He was actually offering the hotdog? His free arm agreed in an instant and the hotdog was disappearing into Crow's mouth before his expression had time to even consider updating. Tch, he really should have waited. Now his speaking-tube was occupied by delicious oh so delicious it was like heaven itself had fallen down and taken up residence in his mouth oh right. Anyway, he couldn't answer Roach. Not without choking; that would be quite unfortunate and rather ironic. Chew chew chew, be insanely jealous of his face and throat birds, swallow.

Ahhhhhhh.

Now, where was he? "Oh, that." Crow carefully licked the last stray crumbs from his fingertips (which were mostly clean! Really!) before rubbing his shoulder-scar to show that it was just that, a scar. "Awkward as it sounds, running up to a shotgun and intentionally staying in its line of fire was the best idea at the time. We were the only ones who died, though." He didn't demonstrate the historical nature of his rib-scar; touching something that was supposed to be self but felt like nothing of the sort was weird.

He angled his head and convinced himself the drool he was swallowing was just the after-effect of that wonderful hot dog. Food. Clothing (if such a thing were manageable; that snake-haired Andrea girl had seemed to think so). Hot-

Hot showers?

Crow very nearly collapsed on the spot. He hadn't had a hot shower in so long. Oh so long... Even before the whole burning-down-every-mutant-friendly-building-in-the-city incident he'd been as scarce with them as he could manage, what with the cost of heating water.

Wait, apartment? Crow raised an eyebrow. "We aren't quite beaten up enough to need to crash on a couch," he said drily, for all that staying on his feet at the thought of a hot shower was exceedingly difficult. The clear disapproval from the stabby-tailed cautious kid helped, though. Rooming with dangerous mutants? Sure! Rooming with dangerous mutants who clearly didn't want to be rooming with him?

Not so much.

Roach shook his head as Sylar interjected about people moving into his home, turning to pull the boy in closer to talk to him.

"Sylar, now might be the time for me to mention that you are a bit of a special case. I do not often invite people to stay with me..." He then turned out, and nodded to their recent acquaintance.

"Crow, I do not ask that you crash on my couch, but instead, at a place designed for mutants such as you, who are down on their luck. I speak of the sanctuary. There, you would be supplied with warm clothes, hot showers, and a soft place to sleep, like I said. Oh yes, and food. Let's not forget the food. I often frequent the place, though for reasons other than needing support of my own. In that area, I am quite well off."

He tilted his head at the description of the scar's origins. "I was speaking more about the... more recent wounds. Bruises, are they? My, they are growing as we speak... Well, spit it out my good man, were you attacked recently?"

He paused. "when I said spit it out, I meant the words. You do not have to spit out the hat. That is yours to keep. Ahem..."

Sylar was pulled in as Roach confided that his personal home was a special case and that Roach instead was trying to recruit Crow to the Sanctuary, which made Sylar feel a bit unique knowing he was an exception to a rule. "Oh, right. I won't mention it again." He mumbled in response to Roach before he began speaking to Crow again about putting him up at the Sanctuary.

Sylar had done quite a few things in his time as a mutant, but taking a shotgun on purpose? This wasn't on his list of things to do ever, being shot would never be the acceptable line of action in Sylar's mind. Survival after all was the most important aspect of life. Seemed Sylar wasn't the only mutant enticed by food though, Roach's words seeming to have an effect on Crow's disposition during the conversation. Roach seemed concerned about some type of bruising on Crow though, perhaps the man had been in a fight before ending up here. Roach had pressed Sylar for information earlier, from his encounter with Tses. Roach seemed upset knowing any mutant got hurt, a kind quality Sylar thought.

Mutants cared more for mutants than any human cared for anything really, it was a nice surprise to know people could be kind as opposed to aggressive and ignorant. Then again Sylar didn't know Roach very well yet either, only time would tell how the boy's image of Roach and personaly morality would change. "He might not want to talk about it Roach, injuries never come from happy circumstances. At least I know none of mine ever did." Sylar said aloud, rejoining the conversation as a whole after his personal aside with Roach.

"Oh, cool. Mutant shelter. Figured we'd come across one eventually." This made a lot more sense and was less likely to get holes poked through him. This day had started out horrible but it was definitely looking to be a wonderful one overall! Food and showers and beds and showers and food and clothes and showers and food!

Yesssss oh bruises. Almost forgot about those. Heh.

"Oh, we don't mind talking. Social creatures and all that. The delightful decorations are... er... kinda partly our fault." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Thought a sandwich wasn't wanted. Also thought the person nearby was human. Wrong on both counts. Especially when she started throwing some weird glowy explosiveness. Bad aim. She blew up the sandwich." That was very sad. But this sanctuary place had more food! And showers! HOT SHOWERS AND FOOD! Could they go now? Could they could they could they?

"Good! We could guide you to the sanctuary tonight, if you have no place to stay. until then, I trust you don't mind the company of an old bug and his grumpy bodyguard!"


"He might not want to talk about it Roach, injuries never come from happy circumstances. At least I know none of mine ever did."

"All the better reason for me to ask! So many crimes go unheard of because the victims don't think it right to speak up. Sometimes a gentle encouragement is enough to make sure it never happens again."

And here came the explanation!

"Thought a sandwich wasn't wanted. Also thought the person nearby was human. Wrong on both counts. Especially when she started throwing some weird glowy explosiveness. Bad aim. She blew up the sandwich."

Gasp!

"How horrendous! A perfectly good sandwich, wasted! Why stop you from eating it just to destroy it? I tell you, this glowy explosive thrower sounds like a dreadful beast! Pink skinned, no doubt? Sylar, let it be known, those of our kind that do not show their mutation on the surface can be great allies, but also great foes." The term 'pink skin' was a popular mutant reference to those without visible mutations. Most visible mutants knew the meaning.

"Odd, though... Your description sounds somewhat familiar... I cannot place it, though..."

Sylar was paying half attention to Crow as he exchanged pleasantries with Roach, the rest of Sylar's mind focused on observing their surroundings. Had to make sure nobody unwelcome was approached, but Crow's explanation of who exactly gave him injuries caused Sylar to pop back into the conversation and speak up. "Wait a minute, she threw explosives? Shorter than me? Foul mouthed and aggressive!?" Sylar's voice was slightly demanding, his usual stoic tone suddenly picking up emotion. Could this Crow have seriously been in a fight with the same girl he'd met? That Tses girl?

Roach at this point had chimed in with his own thoughts, accusing the person of being pink skinned, a term Sylar hadn't heard before, but made sense. Roach went on to state that pink skinned mutants could be serious trouble. Yeah, no joke there. Roach then realized that this girl matched a description Sylar had given as well, speaking about a familiar description. "Roach, it's the same girl who showed up in my sewers, ugh that girl." Sylar shuddered, he wanted nothing more to do with Tses. Sylar already thought mutant girls were trouble, but Tses was a natural disaster compared to the amount of trouble other girls had given him. At least if it was the same person.

Sylar dropped his tone back down to dull and spoke more. "Did you manage to get a name from or hear her name Crow?" He inquired, curious to see if it was really her. If it was maybe he could explain to Serena finally how much trouble that girl was and to leave her alone. The last thing he wanted was for Serena to get into some trouble that stupid girl brought back with her. "If it was the same girl Roach, I could see how Crow ended up like this." Sylar's tail flicked back and forth strongly, a visible sign of his frustration when thinking about Tses.