Restaurant reviews were one of the easiest tasks for Ryden to accomplish when equipped with the right supplies. A bag full of pens, note-book, wallet in hand and task in mind, it didn't take much to get to the eatery and carefully make his order. With timing and planning, he could usually manage to get through the speaking with only mild resonance of the pens in his bag. Occasionally, one busted, but that's why he always brought extras, and zip-lockbaggies kept the ink from spilling into everything else.

Restaurant reviews worked much better than eating out with actual companions. Orders could be short, to the point, and a typical thank you wasn't going to break his fork. Alone, you could be quite and still polite, and no one seemed to mind. But some days, things didn't quite go as planned. 

It started with an order of spaghetti. When trying to order, Ryden's quite voice didn't quite seem to work with his waiter's sensitive hearing. After the third request to 'speak up', Ryden finally obliged, and shattered the waiters belt buckle in the process. Most people could forgive their pen busting, or a broken glass. Few people wanted to have someone around when their pants started exploding. So politely, Ryden was directed out of the restaurant, his one protest only succeeding in breaking the door handle on the way out.

The night continued with a fast food joint. Embarrassed, annoyed and hungry, the sound mutant finally made his way across the street to the local golden arches. Some nights, you just needed something greasy and easy to order. At the podium, Ryden carefully ordered a chicken sandwich, some fries, and an ice cream. Easy enough to start with, but the night seemed doomed to continue downhill. When he went to retrieve his food, he found someone else going for the same order. It was speak up, or loose his dinner.

He probably should have just taken the later.

"Excuse me, I think you have the wrong order." 

Craaaaack..... 

He tried not to turn around. He was pretty certain soda machines weren't supposed to make noises like that. 

Svetlana had to discover the hard way that being a vigilante did not pay well. Sure, sometimes grateful people would toss money at her, or buy her a meal, but that was barely enough to get by. She had said goodbye to real cooking a while ago; now she was down to fast food.

Standing in line for her order she saw the young man come up. People around her were kind of jittery to begin with - her caffeine aura hat that effect on crowds - but the guy was different... almost hesitant.

>>"Excuse me, I think you have the wrong order."

Sveta pulled her hand back for the tray and at the same time something cracked behind her. The soda machine decided to break... literally.

Going on instinct, Sveta grabbed the young man and yanked him out of the way.

"What de..."

Ryden never had someone try to defend him from his own powers before. That was a first. And the blond haired woman was not really someone he would have normally minded being grabbed by. But the suddenness of the action took him off guard, as did the soda starting to stream on the floor.

"What are you--"

Shatter!

On the other end of the restaurant, a pane of glass came downward in a rain of glitter light. People scurried out of the way, some staring at the soda machine, other's staring at the busted pane. Ryden, however, quickly put a hand over his mouth, the normal tingling in the back of his throat turning into the rapid pulse of his own heart beat. There was no reason the window should have broken. It was out of his range.

"Hey! You there! You doin' this?" One of the employees jabbed a finger at the woman behind him. Ryden started to open his mouth to protest, but quickly thought better of it.

>>"What are you--"

The boy spoke, and the window shattered.

Oops.

>>"Hey! You there! You doin' this?"

Sveta let go in a hurry and held up her hands.

"No I'm not." she glared at the man accusing her "Way to blame de foreigner, though."

The guy was still standing there with his hand clamped over his mouth, staring at the window. Sveta huffed and grabbed the meal from the tray before grabbing him by the wrist.

"Keep your mouth shut."

Whatever he did, he clearly knew what was happening, and the people were clearly not happy about it. Food or no food, they were better off outside. Sveta turned to drag the guy out of the restaurant...

Getting dragged out of a building by a pretty woman could have been a good thing, or a bad thing. Ryden was pretty sure this time it was the later. Whatever just happened, she knew it was his fault, but she seemed more irritated with the actual eating establishment. And she had his food. The ice cream wobbled unhappily on the tray as they walked. At least he wasn't blowing up dairy now.

There was nothing manly about getting dragged, especially when you were still somewhat frazzled by your recent episode of mutant destruction. Keep your mouth shut... Yeaaaaah like he wasn't aware he should do that at this point. Next time he talked what was going to break. The whole building?!

He snatched the ice cream cone when they reached the sidewalk outside, and tried not to wiggle his hand in the woman's grip. It was only slightly uncomfortable being yanked by your wrist. Almost like getting pulled around by your ear... Once they reached the sidewalk, he gave the woman a 'so what now?' look. His brain buzzed with recent activity, and trying to get a grip on what was going on.

She managed to drag the guy out of the fast food place without getting lynched. It was a good start. Instead of protesting, the guy grabbed the ice cream (he clearly thought it was his order). After turning a corner Sveta dragged him to a little park and let go of his wrist.

"Nod wid your head." she told him, looking at him "You did that, back there, right?"

It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

Park, ice cream, pretty woman. Still not a good night. Something was clearly wrong with this equation. Oh yeah, the whole talking and breaking shit problem. That seemed to still be there. Nodding and holding the ice cream with one hand, Ryden reached into his bag and dragged out his notebook. It took a little skill to flip through the pages one handed, but past the writing and articles, he found one page with a carefully written word on it.

Resonance.

He held out, wondering if she'd know what it meant. Her thick accent and mention of being a foreigner made that a little questionable. He paused, then flipped to the next page. There was a less than impressive doodle of an opera singer stick figure singing to a wine glass.

Resonance.

Sveta tilted her head at the word, not entirely sure what he meant by it. When he flipped the page and held up a doodle, a small chuckle escaped her.

"You break things with your voice."

That... had to be a really inconvenient power. Not to mention uncomfortably boostable.

"Well, I boost other mutants' powers. You shouldn't talk for a few minutes until it passes. Being near me should be... well. It's mostly fine."

Kind of? Sort of?

"My name is Svetlana, but you can call me Sveta." pause "When you can talk again."

As the woman spoke, a lot was explained. Having his powers boosted was definitely not something he was exactly excited over. He knew some people might actually enjoy it, suddenly being stronger or faster or whatever. But suddenly being able to break stuff even more? He wasn't a naturally destructive person. He could have been the stereotypical upper-class writer, living in his bachelor pad with leather furniture and a fish tank. But no, he spoke and the world shattered. There was a joke in there he didn't want to mess with.

He ate more of the ice cream, and flipped to the next page in the notebook, glad he thought to write most of this out for such an occasion as this. Well, he actually was more concerned it'd be the cops interrogating him one day for busting the wrong thing... Blond haired power booster worked though.

Ryden The paper said. Sirens wailed in the distance, a cop car rolling past. Ryden hoped it wouldn't head towards the fast food joint. He really wasn't serious about using the notebook on cops....

"Ryden" Sveta nodded "Nice to meet you."

She sat down on a nearby bench and motioned to him to join her. The cops were less likely to spot them if they were sharing ice-cream in the park rather than running away.

It was smart, the way he had things written down in his little notebook. Sveta sat around quietly for a while, waiting for her powers to wear off on him. She pointed at the notebook.

"Do you mind if I take a look? It will be a few minutes before you can speak again."

Ryden paused as she asked for the notebook, and glanced down at it. It always felt odd giving someone the small object, although it happened from time to time especially when someone caught him writing. While he was usually quiet and reserved because the problems his voice gave, his notebook was more reflective of who he could have been before his mutation took over.

The first few pages had recent articles, carefully written reports from movies or restaurants. The next few pages had the basics about him scrawled: name, mutation, writer for the paper. The last few pages had notes to himself in a sloppier script. Limits he'd noticed with his powers, thinks he broke on accident, to-dos he should get done. There wasn't anything too personal, it wasn't like a diary, but watching someone read your work was always a nerve testing experience.

He handed it over with a shrug anyway. At this point, she seemed like she was fine hanging out, and he had an ice cream to finish.

She flipped though the notebook. Ryden was not one of the half-scared to death new mutant kids that just found out they could break stuff without intending to. He had apparently been dealing with his powers for a while now. Sveta wondered how he managed to fly under the radar so long, with powers so blatantly destructive.

"How long have you had your powers?" she asked, closing the book and handing it back. She realized too late that she sounded like she was interrogating him. Her eyes softened.

"I didn't know I was a mutant until three years ago."

Ryden considered the question for a moment, and flipped to a page in the book. He wasn't sure when exactly her powers would wear off, but still better safe than sorry right now. He pulled out one of the many pens in his bag, and jotted down in clean and quick writing.

9 years ago. High school, football game. Made us a lovely little bleacher sinkhole. He handed it back to her and gave a sheepish grin. It was something he could laugh about now. At least no one was hurt, the incident was just somewhat embarrassing for him. Once she'd read, he took it back and scrawled again. I could have gone longer without knowing, personally. At least I wanted to be a writer not a singer, right? Jokes didn't always go well on paper.

Amplifying other powers seems like a blessing and a curse. He added, handing it back to her. Seems like there would be mixed reactions. Some people would enjoy the high and want to stick around for the mutation 'buzz'. Others would be scared off by the frightening prospects of what they could do around her.

>>9 years ago. High school, football game. Made us a lovely little bleacher sinkhole.

Sveta smirked as she read that. If anyone was familiar with random manifestations of mutant powers, she was that person.

"I found out when a girl shook my hand and then created city-wide illusions." she noted. She didn't mention the neural bomb that came right after. Most people still didn't know it was mutant based.

>>I could have gone longer without knowing, personally. At least I wanted to be a writer not a singer, right?

She chuckled at that. True, taking a limit on your voice had to be... limiting.

>>Amplifying other powers seems like a blessing and a curse.

So here they were the both of them, feeling sorry for the other for their powers. Sveta shrugged.

"Sometimes it is useful. I only tell people when dey need to know though. Some tried to steal my blood to make their powers stronger."

She shuddered at the memory.

Handshake gone wrong... Ryden was not surprised considering just the small glimpses at her powers he had seen. He wouldn't be surprised if she left a string of chaotic situations behind her. At least he only had his own powers to worry about.

>>"Sometimes it is useful."

He could see that. If she was in a pinch and with the right mutant, it would be useful to be able to give them an upper hand. Not that that would really work with Ryden. His powers didn't necessarily care what they broke. He could direct it a bit but unless he was fighting someone on a bridge of a glass building his voice wasn't going to tilt the cards in his favor easily.

>>"Some tried to steal my blood to make their powers stronger."

Ryden shook his head, scrawling on the paper. That's a little morbid. I generally like my blood staying on the inside. He pushed past the mental images and glanced up to see if the cops were still around. Didn't look like it. He got to finish the ice cream, that was nice.

So where'd you come from? I would try to pinpoint the accent but everyone has one to me. His writing certainly didn't give away his Irish heritage, and he never talked enough for someone to catch the faint traces of it in his speech.