>>That's a little morbid. I generally like my blood staying on the inside.

"Yeah me too."

Bonding.

>>So where'd you come from? I would try to pinpoint the accent but everyone has one to me.

"Russia" she admitted with a small smile. Most people jumped into conclusions based on less than her name and her accent. "Where are you from?"

She could hear the sirens, but the police didn't seem to be searching outside.

"I think you can try to talk now. Is it different if you whisper?..."

Russia. Ryden had never visited Russia, although now that she said it he could associate the accent with the country. When she returned the question he smiled, and wrote Ireland on the paper.

Talking was always a risky venture, whether or not someone amplified his powers. But at least when he glanced around the only thing that seemed likely to break would be his pens and possibly the bench. He made sure to maintain focus on his pen just in case.

"Volume, sentence length." His throat tingled, but nothing exploded quite like before. Good sign. "I learn to talk dumb." He smiled slightly and then wagged the notebook. When all else failed, he at least had that.

>>Ireland

"Oh."

That explained why he was under the radar. He was not American. Sveta smiled a bit.

>>"Volume, sentence length. I learn to talk dumb."

"Dat... is very interesting" she said honestly. So it was not the volume or the pitch alone. She remembered the doodle depicting an opera singer and a glass. Opera singers apparently had it easy.

"Dere is a children's book about a boy like that" she smiled a bit at him "His voice breaks things, because it is loud. And he lives in a country where everyone lies, and if he tells the truth, everyone can hear it."

Sveta was lost for a moment in the memory of reading the story for Bo.

"...dere was also a cat."

Ryden rarely got to discuss his powers with someone, but it was interesting gauging the reactions. As Sveta started talking about the children's book though, Ryden felt his curiosity flicker. "Haven't read it." That sounded rude, but hopefully she knew much more would have broken something. He could already feel his pen tingling in his hand.

"I've been writing more than I read lately." cracckkkkk... Too much. He glanced down at the busted pen and fished around in his bag for a zip-lock baggie to put it in. Plastic pens would probably be cheaper, but he liked at least having some control over what was most likely to break. Pens could be replaced. Benches, pant zippers, computers, those were things you were more careful about.

"Cat?" He tilted his head, uncertain what relevance the cat had to the conversation. Maybe she had a cat. He didn't have any pets, but that was because it was too hard to keep an animal around with things constantly breaking.

>>"Haven't read it. I've been writing more than I read lately."

Sveta jumped as the pen shattered, and looked at it with curiosity. Sure, when boosted, his powers were breaking much bigger things than that, but right now, in a conversation, the pen just felt... very random.

>>"Cat?"

"In de story." she waved her gloved hand. It was beside the point. "So... what do you do when you are not writing?"

Cat, not relevant. Good to know. Ryden considered the question, and how best to work his answer. "Broadway, movies." Pause, pausing was important. "I'm a sucker for comic books." He smiled and motioned towards the notebook. "Not much of an artist myself." The spring from the broken pen gave a light ping from his bag. He wasn't sure how much he could break of that poor pen, but he was certainly testing it at this point.

"What about you?" He didn't know much about Sveta besides the basics about her powers. She seemed more complicated than just a mutant though.

>>"Broadway, movies. I'm a sucker for comic books. Not much of an artist myself... What about you?"

Sveta chuckled at the artist comment. For someone who had to communicate in writing and drawing, he really wasn't.

"I have a friend who has a comic shop" she noted. She had not been there for ages, bur from what she could tell, it was a good shop. "I can take you dere sometime."

Sveta had never quite grasped the allure of comics, but she knew many people liked them, especially in the USA.

"Me... um."

I hunt bad guys as a hobby?

"I like to cook." she smiled a bit, noting that it was more generic than his own answers. "I teach Russian sometimes. Um... I visit the mutant school. Have you been dere yet?"

It was probably a good place to go, if your voice started breaking things.

A comic shop... It had been a long time since he'd sat and browsed in a comic book store. Last time he tried some guy bumped into him and he apologized, breaking one of the limited edition figurines. He decided to be more careful where he shopped after that. One wrong sound usually didn't cost that much money. "I'd enjoy that." His throat tickled slightly as he paused, and then his slightly embarrassed chuckle at the memory made the busted pen in his bag break once more. "Valuable's make me nervous, not going to lie." Crackkkk.... Pen number two broke. He needed to just bring pieces of metal with him to bust... this could get expensive.

>>"I like to cook."

"One up on me." Ryden smiled slightly. "My cooking is comparative to my art." Busted pen was already busted. "I've never visited."[/b][/color] Curiosity slipped into his voice, but there was hesitation as well. He liked being on his own. A school sounded so...elementary. Had he still been in high school, sure. But now he was an established writer, living on his own, making the most of things. It seemed like an odd place to be ad an adult.

>>"I'd enjoy that. Valuable's make me nervous, not going to lie."

Even Sveta could hear the distinct crack as something broke in his bag. And he was not exactly yelling either. She found herself wondering what kind of a place he lived in with this ability. Did he have furniture made of foam or something?...

>>"I've never visited."

"Maybe you should." Sveta suggested, talking a bit more than usual to make him less uncomfortable about keeping silent "It is a safe place for mutants, and dey are used to stuff breaking. They specialize in helping people control their powers. I learned to control mine dere. Sort of. And there is a woman who is an adapted. She cancels your powers if you go near her. She is very nice."

Ryden considered her suggestion, and shrugged his shoulders slightly. It probably couldn't hurt to visit the place, but doubted he'd have any long term interest in it. Living alone had it's appeals. "Not sure I do well in groups." He chuckled, pausing partway through the sentence to avoid further damage.

"Cancel's powers...Has an appeal though." He added. He'd couldn't imagine sitting and talking without busting everything around him. That was a rare experience here in the city and he always felt like he was sitting in a mine field. He didn't know if anyone could really help him control his powers at this point. The only way of regulating them seemed to be in just being careful how and where he talked.

>>"Not sure I do well in groups. Cancel's powers...Has an appeal though."

"Me neither" she chuckled. Accidentally boosting people, even if only in a limited area, had its drawbacks. "But yes, it is nice. At least no one freaks out on you for being a mutant. And sometimes it is good to take a break from your powers. Dat's her job, to help people. She is also good at talking."

Some powers were harder to manage than others.

"I am not trying to sell you" she grinned, fully aware that she sounded like a commercial "Just don't want you to get in trouble like dat again."

Ryden chuckled slightly, the pen in the bag moving almost like it laughed as well. "Don't worry, I understand." He remarked. He glanced back at the store and shook his head once more. "I would be lying if I said that wasn't the first time my powers got me into trouble...It won't be the last either." He frowned slightly at the thought. With a voice that destroyed things, he knew the choice was either stay silence or cause destruction. Staying silent wasn't as easy as it seemed though.

As he watched, the cops from the store had started to drift outside, and concern flickered across his face as they started scanning the area. Sometimes, being a mutant brought ethical choices up he never expected to face in the past. When he broke things as a kid, he was always told to owe up to it. But he didn't want to get arrested over some silly broken windows. They hadn't spotted the two mutants yet, but his mind was driving an itch in him to get out of there before they could properly identify him.

>>"Don't worry, I understand. I would be lying if I said that wasn't the first time my powers got me into trouble...It won't be the last either."

"You have strange powers that get you into trouble?!" Sveta said in feigned astonishment "Oh no, you must be a mutant!" she chuckled at him and shook her head "I amplify other powers, even if I don't know what dey are. Tell me about it."

She turned too at the sound of the sirens and watched the police do their thing, which was not much.

"We should go." she turned back to him "I can write down the address of the school if you still have a pen that works." she glanced up again. The police was not fanning out yet but it was only a matter of time before they talked to the witnesses.

"We should not walk together."

Ryden laughed at Sveta's sarcasm, a trashcan that happened to be close enough buzzing slightly in protest. Returning his focus to the already busted pen he shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "I'm a journalist. I've been called a lot of things. Mutant is not the worst." He smirked. Pen snapped again, smaller pieces, and then the trashcan buzzed. he was pushing it tonight, but it was hard to stop his sentences sometimes when the conversation was nice.

Keeping one eye on the road, he fished for his notebook and a spare pen and held it out. He nodded in agreement as she suggested splitting up. As disappointing is that was at this point in the conversation, he really didn't want to get them into trouble. Well, more trouble then they were in. Images of the destruction he accidentally caused came back to mind. "Who knows, maybe we'll run into each other again sometime. In a less...destructive manner." He flashed a rueful smile.