When Evelyn stormed out of the mansion the previous day, she was making a statement. It was probably the only thing that kept her from going back to get her shoes. Barefoot, wandering through the city, and eventually ending up at an underground casino, the day had taken an interesting turn in the end. But one thing remained unsolved: she still had no shoes. It was one thing to prove a point, and another to go around barefoot for 24 hours. So after a cold night in her apartment (there was no point paying to heat a building you didn't live in), Evelyn slipped through the mansion door and started to make her way towards her room.

She probably should have called. Or texted. Then again, maybe Gawain didn't care. He was the one making a big deal out of the whole Forte thing, and he was the one who should have apologized. Then again, they were dating and she should have respected Gawain's concerns. She sucked at this dating thing. Maybe she should have texted...

Maybe she should have taken her phone with her. That would have been useful as well.

Besides, what would she have said? Out at the casino, sorry for arguing, I'll see you in the morning if I don't get kicked out sooner.... The details were a little fuzzy in her mind anyway. Maybe she was drinking... There was a high chance she had a drink or two.

Probably better not to talk about it. Apologizing and moving on with life seemed like the better option... She could---

"YEAOW!!! Son of a---"

She stepped on what was most definitely not carpet and jerked away, glancing down at the piece of glass stuck in her foot. What the... She glanced up at the wall, echoes taking not of the missing mirror. As blood trickled around the cut she muttered a few profanities and tried to hobble to where she could sit.

Texts from last night, there were none. It had kind of been a very busy day.

Maya was up bright and early with a searing headache and symmetric black eyes, her nose still red and bloody. The ink Allison had passed through her body did not leave a mark, but it hurt anyway, and his torso was full of bruises. On top of that, the hallway needed another round of cleaning, before Miss Taylor thought to descend upon the mirrorwalker's ass.

Maya was just returning to the crime scene in sweatpants and a t-shirt, dragging a vacuum cleaner behind. She heard the yelp before she rounded the corner.

"Oh crap..."

Evely was stumbling away from the glass in the carpet, holding her foot. Maya dropped the vacuum and hurried over.

"Eve?..."

Caught red handed wasn't exactly applicable in this situation, but there was plenty of red on her foot if that counted. Sneaking back in didn't work so well when you were dripping blood on the carpet. Whoever broke that mirror was dumb to leave glass behind in a school full of kids... As a voice called out, Evelyn grimaced and turned as Maya came around the corner. She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or awkward at this point. She just leaned against the wall and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling.

"If we ever argue again, do me a favor and throw my shoes after me." She said, the remark a half-hearted attempt at a joke. Or maybe it was a pained attempt toward a greeting. She probably looked like crap. It had been a long day. A long night. Morning was looking long now too....

Maya noticed the bleeding foot before her brain registered what Evelyn was saying.

>>"If we ever argue again, do me a favor and throw my shoes after me."

"What, you were barefoot all night?" she looked up from where she was already kneeling to look at the injury. A piece of glass seemed to be sticking out of the wound. Crap. "... where have you been all night?"

Maya had just assumed that when Evelyn stormed out she went to another part of the Mansion; things got busy the previous day, so she decided to give space to her girlfriend to think things over. And now here she was, looking worse for the wear, although not as bad as Maya herself.

She had found out the previous night that she was indeed not a father. Now, as she ducked under Evelyn's arm to help her hobble over to the nearest room, she found herself wondering if she still had a girlfriend...

Maya's response was somewhat unexpected. Evelyn sort of assumed staying out all night would make at least some sort of a statement. Now it looked like she was stubborn and miserable for no reason.

"I didn't exactly come back once I realized I had no shoes... I moved all my stuff here so the apartment didn't have any either." She shrugged and looked away. She still felt awkward after the whole argument, and found it hard to just talk like everything was fine. It seemed it was easy for Maya to just forget everything, but having a perfect memory meant Evelyn tended to simmer for much longer.

>>"Where have you been all night?"

"All night? Freezing my butt off at the apartment." She remarked quietly, and accepted help hobbling out of the hallway. Pride made it hard to accept even that, but she was cold, her feet hurt, and she knew as irritated as she was she didn't want to let an argument about Forte drive a wedge between them. She just wished Gawain had been more understanding about the day she'd had. She knew she wasn't the easiest person to date though. She spent most the afternoon at a less than legal casino, which probably wasn't the best behavior for a x-trainee.

>>"I didn't exactly come back once I realized I had no shoes... I moved all my stuff here so the apartment didn't have any either. All night? Freezing my butt off at the apartment."

Maya let out a sigh, half annoyed about Evelyn risking her health in a freezing apartment out of sheer stubbornness, and half relieved she did not run to Forte. She helped her hobble to the nearest empty room and sit down on the bed while she rummaged the cabinets for a first aid kit.

"Sorry about the glass" she muttered, not looking at her "Things got a bit out of hand here last night."

Evelyn glanced at her foot then back out to the hallway. The echoes were still piecing things together. "I take it you know what happened to the broken mirror then." She noted. She wondered if she should push it further.

Well, couldn't get worse. "Care to fill me in?" She added. Meanwhile she was grateful Mirror was getting the first aid kit. She wasn't mad enough to refuse help right now, especially when she was bleeding pretty heavily from the cut. It was both a good thing and a bad one the glass was still in the cut. It was keeping some of the bleeding down, but it also still stung like heck everytime she moved.

>>"I take it you know what happened to the broken mirror then. Care to fill me in?"

Maya sat down cross-legged by the bed and set the first-aid kit on the floor. She had officially hit the level of 'complicated' that she didn't care talking about it anymore.

"Well, turns out I'm not the father." she said, lifting Evelyn's foot on her knee and taking a closer look "The mother showed up to claim Baby X, and she was not Becca. We had a... um, disagreement."

In case the black eye and the bruises were not enough indicator.

The statement gave Evelyn a rush of emotions she wasn't quite prepared for at this time of the morning. There was the relief in what Maya was saying, then slight irritation they fought over the darn kid... But the echoes considered it for a moment, reading Maya's body language and flinching slightly at the movement of her foot. At least she cleaned up before coming here. Having really dirty feet would make this super extra awkward.

"Are you going to miss it? Baby X, that is. I mean, I am glad you're not a parent but...It seemed like part of you might of appreciated having family." She remarked. She wasn't sure how tactful that statement was, but all things considered, she was being more polite than expected. She got in an argument with her boyfriend the day before and now her foot was sliced open thanks to his brawl with his not-baby's mother in the hallway...

>>"Are you going to miss it? Baby X, that is. I mean, I am glad you're not a parent but...It seemed like part of you might of appreciated having family."

Maya looked up, then back at the wound, deciding not to risk it.

"Well... I'm glad I'm not a parent too. But..." she rummaged in the first aid kit for tweezers "... well. We also found out that I'm related to the baby. Not like, closely related, but... we share some DNA I guess. So that means that I... do have a family out there other than my mom. Allison, however, was not really... willing to talk about all this. So, I got a bunch of nothing."

She started cleaning the wound enough to see the piece of glass and pull it out.

"Baby should be with her mother, though." she added, not particularly enthusiastic about it.

The name rang through Evelyn's mind, and Evelyn tilted her head slightly to the side. "Allison. Ink manipulator? That was her kid? I knew she was pregnant but how on earth did... Guess it's not really relevant." She decided it was safer not to mention she still had the girl's phone number in her phone. That would probably just open up another can of worms right now.

"In other news, did you know New York has a decidedly less than legal casino?" She remarked. Since they were getting things out in the open....

>>"Allison. Ink manipulator? That was her kid? I knew she was pregnant but how on earth did... Guess it's not really relevant."

"You know her?" Maya's eyebrows shot up and she momentarily forgot about the wound "Um... yeah, it's complicated."

On so many levels.

>>"In other news, did you know New York has a decidedly less than legal casino?"

"Yeah probably more than one" Maya muttered, examining the wound and trying to find a way to get the glass out. Then she stopped again and looked back up.

"Wait, why are you telling me this?"

>>"You know her?"

"Small world." She shrugged. Complicated seemed like an understatement.

>>"Wait, why are you telling me this?"

Honesty was the best policy right? "Well I was still mad and the echoes found one so I blew off some steam." She muttered and hoped Maya would remember she still had Evelyn's injured foot in her hand. Having the other girl twitch at this point could drive the glass deeper, and that would just seem somewhat mean.

>>"Well I was still mad and the echoes found one so I blew off some steam."

Maya looked up again. That shard was not coming out anytime soon.

"You went to an illegal casino? Alone?" she tried not to sound like she did the day before; that was what got her into this whole mess, and she didn't want to start another fight before the previous one was even resolved.
She ducked her head back down.

"Well I hope you didn't end up broke" she muttered, catching the shard with the tweezers and pulling it out "Being an X-man doesn't pay very well."

>>"You went to an illegal casino? Alone?"

"Yes. And I didn't end up broke, adapted dealers don't work against echo-ooowwww." She yelped as the glass was pulled out, and wiggled her foot away. "And we can either spend all day arguing about it or move on. You got in a fist fight over a baby and left glass in the hallway. I went gambling. We're both less than perfect examples of x-men so can we move on?" She exhaled through her nose. She didn't feel like explaining herself. That blew up in her face last time, and if Maya was just going to be mad at her, well, she could be mad. Evelyn was a crappy girlfriend. The end.

"I can finish this myself...you probably have better things to do..." She said. Part of her expected it to come out angry, but it just sounded sad instead. It was a crappy week, and she was exhausted.