It took more trips than she expected, but all of Noel's boxes, bags, and furniture made it to her room. She'd paid a guy out of her meager funds to truck over the mattresses and lug them up the stairs for her. Now it was getting dark and Noel was putting the last few things in their place in her room.

The first thing she put up were her blackout curtains. No one who slept by day could survive without them. Her memoryfoam mattress (probably the single most expensive thing she owned) and box springs went straight onto the floor beneath the low window.

Noel put her olive green flannel sheets on in honor of the colder weather and tossed all the blankets she owned onto the bed. She laid a bath mat in front of the mattress so she wouldn't track any crumbs into bed, positioned her plastic drawers and gun safe, and then it was a small matter to unpack the few hanging items and loose miscellany.

The room was pretty spartan. Probably because this space was bigger than her last living space. She'd grow into it.

The sun was all but set by the time she was satisfied and ventured out into the common area in search of Lana with her half her housewarming gift in hand.

Noel set down the small houseplant and roll of ribbon on the counter and went to fetch the tube of cookie dough from the fridge so she could tie ribbon on that too. What better way to bribe her new pal than sharing a potential case of salmonella?

"Anybody home?"

Lana had been in her office with headphones on when Noel arrived. She'd been expecting her, but unfortunately couldn't reschedule the Skype call with her parents. "I'll be out in just a minute!" she called from the computer screen, adjusting the angle of the laptop screen to better see her dad.

"That's the new roommate, Noel. She just got here." explained Lana.

"That sounds good. You've sure had a lot of roommates Lana Banana". Her dad Remarked, calling her by his petname for her.

"Well Dad, I've had to move around a lot for work." she replied, instantly regretting it. Her Dad always pried about her work.

"I don't like that." he said, for the millionth time. "You have so much talented you don't have to spend it on criminals." he added.

"Someone has to. We've had this discussion before Dad, and now I've got to go see Noel." she replied trying to keep her tone positive. "Please tell mom I love her, maybe she'll see me next time." fat chance. Her mother would never Skype. Something about having no choice but to talk to Lana face to face really intimidated her. She preferred indirect communication. Even in person, her mother didn't look right at her very much. Lana suspected she reminded her too much of her sister. "Love you daddy." she said ending the call, aware of how childlike she sounded. But it made her father smile to be called daddy, so she'd keep doing it.

Lana stood up and stretched, and padded out into the hallway to see Noel with a few things in her hands. "You get everything out and back in alright?" she asked referring to the last items Noel had moved. "Your room was looking good last I checked." she smiled. She hadn't been snooping, their rooms were directly across from each other and Lana had been helping bring boxes in. "Almost feels like home eh?" she grinned.

"Yeah, I think your car's totally empty. If you find anything that fell through the cracks, well... you know where I live." Noel grinned from head to fuzzy fuchsia bunny slippers. She was dressed in her PJ's, a black tank that showed off the word tattoos on her arms and well-loved sweatpants. She was ready for a night in.

Noel slid the plant across the counter top and it stopped pitifully short of Lana's hand, but the message was clear. The plant was for Lana. "It's a gift." Noel flicked her long braid over her shoulder and cleared her throat. "Y'know. To celebrate moving day. This too." Noel waggled the cookie dough at Lana. "Cook it or just get spoons?"

Presents delivered, Noel leaned her elbows against the counter. "I was kinda hoping you might have some time tonight to veg in front of the TV. I have a couple movies." Mostly Noel's collection consisted of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and/or the completely unbelievable. TV never tasted like a lie. "We could paint nails, you know... do the girl thing." It was pretty clear Noel didn't get to do the girl thing too often. Not because she didn't want to, just because she didn't make many female friends.

How would Lana know Noel didn't have many friends who were girls? Her left biceps sported a tattooed list of people Noel could and could not trust. There wasn't a female name in sight. Stephen Graves*, Aedus Teague, Kyle Albatross, Ty Fisher. Do not trust cats. Do not eat lobster. Do not date married men. The list continued around her arm. Only a few words had been inked over into black bars. She tried to keep her tattooed information accurate.

>>"Yeah, I think your car's totally empty. If you find anything that fell through the cracks, well... you know where I live."

"Right on!" Lana gave a thumbs up, happy the moving process was finally over for both of them. It wasn't that it was stressful- just that Lana was eager to get into a routine.

>>Noel slid the plant across the counter top and it stopped pitifully short of Lana's hand, but the message was clear. The plant was for Lana. "It's a gift." Noel flicked her long braid over her shoulder and cleared her throat. "Y'know. To celebrate moving day. This too." Noel waggled the cookie dough at Lana. "Cook it or just get spoons?"

Lana beamed. She liked how much Noel made her genuinely smile. She felt like she had a real chance at friendship here. She felt like  a little kid when things like this happened. Not entirely sure of the social protocols by expressing the joy nonetheless.  "Wow thank you!" she excitedly took the fern and hugged the pot to her chest. "I love plants. I know some people have a hard time keeping them but to me they're company that wont haunt or talk back." she laughed. "They brighten up a space and the air." she placed the plant on the table already deciding already that she'd pick up a ceiling hook and hang the plant in front of the window tomorrow.

She answered the question about the cookie dough by skipping to the kitchen and pulling two spoons out of the drawer. She handed one to Noel with a grin. Lana was in comfy clothes too from all the moving and office work. Tomorrow she'd be back to tailored suits. Dress to impress and all that.

>>"I was kinda hoping you might have some time tonight to veg in front of the TV. I have a couple movies.We could paint nails, you know... do the girl thing."

That caught Lana a little off guard. Truth be known, she had a lot of work to do. She knew with the recent cases of mutant murder and attacks on mutants she'd be kept very busy through the FBI and NYPD. Plus there was her caseload at the institution. Her mind tried to talk some sense into her, about trying to get ahead in the work load so she wouldn't be stressed later... but Lana knew... sooner or later she'd have a sleepless night and need the distraction of work to keep the demons at bay. So she stood considering all of this for only a few seconds before nodding enthusiastically. "I'd love that." she exclaimed.


It wasn't long before Lana was sitting on the couch cross legged eating cookie dough with her spoon. She'd poured herself and Noel some mugs of cocoa- a selection of Noel's movies in front of them to choose from, and the apartment was feeling like a home. She hadn't seen Laura and was reminded of their earlier spat. It was probable that Laura was trying to give Lana her space. But of course, it always made her a bit nervous. She'd been so busy she'd even neglected to write very detailed notes in her notebook about how many times she'd seen Laura. But she did have a reminder on her phone tomorrow to catch up. It's was ritualistic but it helped her feel sane.

"You know, I did notice your tattoos when we were moving." said Lana. "I profile people even when I don't mean to, it's sort of a trait I can't turn off." she admitted. "I imagine it must be very frustrating dealing with your mutation like that. I don't know the significance of the names but I can take a wild guess." she spooned some more cookie dough into her mouth. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable and get all heavy about it. but you can always talk to me. I'd like to be your friend. But as a psychologist I'm also really good at listening." she teased. "I'll try to keep the medical mumbo jumbo at bay." a wink for added effect. Noel reminded Lana of the character in Memento, suffering from amnesia, tattooing himself to try and remember things.

Cocoa and cookie dough were the perfect compliments to a cheesy sci-fi. "Okay, we've got Unicornado, the follow up to Sharknado, robots that change into cars, and aliens that... fall in love... erm, with dolphins..." She'd never realized how stupid those flicks sounded until Noel had to describe them out loud. "It's good, un-complicated fun that's totally unbelievable and pretty much nightmare proof."

Noel let Lana pick, popped the disk in, and then returned for a quick bite of cookie dough before she ran off to get her nail polish.

> "I imagine it must be very frustrating dealing with your mutation like that. I don't know the significance of the names but I can take a wild guess."

And here was where the attempt to fix her started. Noel did hope to add Lana's name to that list. Then she'd know the list was a good thing. Well, the names were a good thing. She didn't put names on the bad stuff.

"I'm a little surprised that I didn't think of tattoos before, honestly. According to my phone, most of this stuff is quite recent. Almost like my life started fresh from some point this year." The moment she could first remember was hard to pin down. Without any tattoos to track out some of her history, she had no grounding on what went on before.

It wasn't a heavy topic. Not really. "Look, I did the moping thing for a while and it just wasn't for me. This works, the tattoos and the phone. I know I'd be screwed if one of those links broke, but I've got the phone insured and auto-backed-up. As far as I know, you have to pay a fortune to remove a tattoo." Noel shrugged at Lana as the opening previews rolled by. "I just have to live in the now."

The only problem with living in the now was when the past caught up in unexpected ways. Noel unzipped her nail polish pouch and spilled the glass bottles into her lap for inspection. 4 out of 7 of her colors were some kind of yellow color. "That's weird. Yellow's not even my favorite color." She went through and stood the bottles up in a row balanced on her thigh.

>>"Okay, we've got Unicornado, the follow up to Sharknado, robots that change into cars, and aliens that... fall in love... erm, with dolphins...It's good, un-complicated fun that's totally unbelievable and pretty much nightmare proof."

"Dolphinently Dolphins then." grinned Lana trying, and failing, at making a joke. More cookie dough!

Noel popped in a disk, and dashed out of the room returning with nail polish. Lana looked down at her own nails. She was lucky enough that her nails grew quite long and strong on their own. But she never really knew how to take care of them. No big sister to show her how, grieving mother had no time for girly things. She examined her own nails and wondered if she dared even try...


>>"I'm a little surprised that I didn't think of tattoos before, honestly. According to my phone, most of this stuff is quite recent. Almost like my life started fresh from some point this year."

Lana raised an eyebrow. Not in a rude way, just in a "I'm listening" sort of way. It sounded like Noel's memory had restarted quite recently. In a way, Noel reminded her of the spirits she often dealt with. So many of them couldn't remember anything outside of their death. It made her shutter for a moment. She stole a glance at Noel sincerely hoping this was all real and she hadn't invited a ghost to live with her. Sometimes it was hard to know. She mentally chastised herself. If Noel was a spirit Laura would have told her.

>>"Look, I did the moping thing for a while and it just wasn't for me. This works, the tattoos and the phone. I know I'd be screwed if one of those links broke, but I've got the phone insured and auto-backed-up. As far as I know, you have to pay a fortune to remove a tattoo." Noel shrugged at Lana as the opening previews rolled by. "I just have to live in the now."

"Hmmm..." thought Lana. She had a few ideas for Noel but she knew first hand herself how frustrating it could be when people were 'well meaning' but ignorant. Always with the best intentions, but somehow screwing things up. She decided to use movies as a talking point since Noel seemed to enjoy them. "Have you ever seen the movie 50 First Dates? Drew Barrymore's character has short term memory loss. Yada yada guy likes her she loves him can't remember him the next day, eventually when they get together and get married he makes her tapes to watch each morning that catch her up on her life. Obviously he updates them once in a while. Have you ever thought of something like that? I mean, for her it was her husband making tapes and I guess if you don't remember people, you might not remember to trust them. But if you made the tapes yourself you'd maybe trust yourself." She instantly regretted the suggestion. She had no idea how often Noel lost her memories or what was involved. She had just tried to water Noel's life down into a movie. She frowned. Sometimes she wish she thought a little harder before talking to every day people. It was so much easier with psychopaths.

 >>"That's weird. Yellow's not even my favorite color."

Lana looked down at the bottles and noticed the colour, but her mind was still wondering about Noel's memory. What if Noel forgot her?

"I'm not so bad that I'd need a video every morning." She laughed the idea off, but the idea was a tad horrifying to her. "Actually a side effect of my grace is... well, I know when people are lying. But only people." Noel decided on one of her yellows and motioned to the TV with the bottle. "TV, telephone, written word... none of that registers as false. Just when I'm talking to people face to face."

She shrugged her apology. Now Lana would start second guessing every word that came out of her mouth in front of Noel. At least, that's how it ended up with everyone else who knew. It was both a relief and a burden. On one hand, it gave her poor taste buds a break. On the other hand, it usually lead to people withholding information or straight out avoiding her.

And that meant Noel needed a hefty scoop of cookie dough. On the screen, the movie started out by panning over oceans and up into the starry night sky. A lone girl at her observatory noticed something odd on the readings tonight.

"Can I paint your nails? Will the cops care? I can only paint my toenails. Keeping stuff on my hands like rings, tattoos, or nail polish is against uniform regulations." One of the possible reasons why female security guards were few and far between. Of course, Noel was cutting it close with the wrist tattoo of her own name. Noel. No last name. Just Noel.

>>"I'm not so bad that I'd need a video every morning. Actually a side effect of my grace is... well, I know when people are lying. But only people.TV, telephone, written word... none of that registers as false. Just when I'm talking to people face to face."

Lana nodded, still feeling a bit embarrassed at her suggestions. She noted what Noel had said about lying. Lana was not in the habit of lying. "I want you to know then, even without that trait I wouldn't intentionally lie to you. But there may be instances because of the sensitive nature of my work in which I won't be able to discuss things or must withhold information." Best to get that out of the way right away. Some people didn't understand that she signed non-disclosures for all her jobs. She could be legally held liable or it could corrupt a case if she were to release details to someone of the everyday public. One previous roommate had taken it a bit personally. Lana was surprised she hadn't said this to Noel sooner, but she'd been so distracted by the moving process.


>>"Can I paint your nails? Will the cops care? I can only paint my toenails. Keeping stuff on my hands like rings, tattoos, or nail polish is against uniform regulations."

Lana gave a musical laugh. "Sure. I'm just a consultant or in some cases a contractor, I make most of my own rules for liability." she examined the colours lined up and cracked a grin. "I think yellow is nice!"

While Noel set to work with nail polish Lana set to work trying to get to know her better without prying. "So do you have any family around here? Anyone you're dating? Any close friends I can expect will drop in for a visit?" she thought about the tattoos and wondered if anyone on that list might show up. "I've only met a handful of people so far." she added thinking  of Evelyn, Ty, and her boss.

"Most people are so used to the little white lies that they don't even notice them, I don't think." At least, that was what Noel hoped because in public a lot of talking tasted rather foul.

"You're in luck. I happen to have some yellow right here."

Noel took Lana's hand and smoothed her fingers straight to inspect the state of her nails. Not too shabby. She could work with this. The brunette shook up the nail polish and situated herself so that she could balance Lana's hand on her knee.

"I can respect an NDA. Some contractors insist on 'em." Keeping secrets of what Noel guarded was sort of her specialty, though, she didn't sign non-disclosure agreements. She signed agreements that meant she would agree to forget. Whatever. If it had been really and truly bad stuff, she would have called the authorities or at least reported back to her boss. She assumed it was just PR stupidity.

The movie showed a streak of light that ended with a spectacular splash. First contact with the planet's most intelligent race: the dolphin!

Focusing on Lana's nails, Noel worked with extreme focus to get it right. "Ah-I dunno about family, but I do know that I don't really date all that well." Friends? Noel checked her arm. "Eh. Probably no visitors for a bit either. I don't really know anybody on my list, but my phone says both Kyle and Ty are still in town." She paused to watch the surprise in the alien's eyes at the discovery that humans existed on this watery world. "I've debated marking out the names of people I know that moved or haven't talked to me in a long while, but... well, what if they call?" She was terribly nonchalant about it all.

One hand down, Noel used her thumbnail to gently scrape off a bit of paint overflow onto Lana's cuticle. He nodded once in affirmation of her skill and held out her hand for Lana's other hand. "What about you? Got any family hanging around? You seem too busy for boys, no offense."

>>"Most people are so used to the little white lies that they don't even notice them, I don't think."

Lana nodded. She wasn't sure if she told little white lies. She remembered back to when she and Noel met that she'd said she was talking to a friend when that friend was really her sister. Was that how Noel figured out she could see a dead person so quickly? She felt guilty, because she hadn't thought twice about the lie, and considered herself an honest person. Then again, how does one come out and say they see dead people?

>>"You're in luck. I happen to have some yellow right here."

Lana laughed. Yellow was clearly significant. But there may be room for an inside joke here.

>>"I can respect an NDA. Some contractors insist on 'em."

That made Lana feel relieved. She didn't like having to go into all the details, it made her feel defensive. But Noel clearly had experience before with this sort of thing. So it certainly took the weight off Lana's shoulders. She didn't like keeping secrets... she just had to sometimes.

>>"Ah-I dunno about family, but I do know that I don't really date all that well." Friends? Noel checked her arm.

Lana cracked a grin. "Does any mutant?" she laughed sarcastically. "As if dating wasn't hard enough, we get to throw funky powers into the mix!"

 "Eh. Probably no visitors for a bit either. I don't really know anybody on my list, but my phone says both Kyle and Ty are still in town."

She'd met a Ty. In a huge city like New York, what were the chances of it being the same one? Probably pretty unlikely. So Lana decided to not sound crazy and bring it up. She'd fall into the Canadian stereotype of "do you know Steve from Canada?"

 "I've debated marking out the names of people I know that moved or haven't talked to me in a long while, but... well, what if they call?"

"That sounds reasonable." commented Lana. "I mean, even if they aren't around, who knows when circumstances might bring them back into your life. You'll want to know you can trust them."

>>"What about you? Got any family hanging around? You seem too busy for boys, no offense."

"My parents... are back home in Toronto. That's who I've been skyping with. Starting to get elderly... needing a lot of help. That sort of deal. I don't have any other family besides my sister..." now she'd done it, eluded to her sister in the present tense. So she took a breath of nail-polish air which made her slightly dizzy and decided to soldier on through anyway. "...she's the ghost I keep seeing. Died when she was a teenager. But she's still here you know, so it's not like she's gone." Lana fumbled through an explanation. It was quiet for a moment before she jumped back in. "I date for educational purposes." she laughed. "I mean, dating in general is pretty damn hard with my mutation. But I do go on dates and I have to admit I practice my profiling skills. My sister and I usually bet on how long each date will last and when the guy will take off running. I guess it's evil of me to admit it's terribly fun."

Skyping parents in Toronto. Huh. "At least your folks are tech savvy enough for that kind of thing. I know my-" Noel looked lost for a moment as she looked at the nail she had been just about to apply yellow paint to. She'd been about to say something about her own parents, but before the words could form into a thought, they were just... gone. Noel recovered with a different statement instead. "I know my experience with that generation is that they're sometimes stubborn about tech stuff."

She checked her wrist. No watch.

"Does she-" Noel blurted the first half of her question without thinking, cleared her throat and then tried to be a bit more considerate in her tone. "Your sister... how often does she drop in on you?" It would certainly be hard to let go and move on if the other side kept constantly bugging Lana.

> "I date for educational purposes."

Well, now that was something Noel could understand. Though it sounded like Lana took it a bit far.

"I don't think I could date seriously, but people are fascinating. It's almost addicting to peek into other people's lives to see how they do what they do." Noel cleaned up the little bits of overflow and viola! Yellow nails. It made her happy just looking at them. She grabbed Lana's spoon and grabbed her a bit of cookie dough to last her through the drying time.

"I can't believe you guys take bets. That's just too cruel!" Though Noel didn't sound upset by the idea. Mostly just amused. "Here. You should just practice your profiling on me. I'm sure I come home different just about every day anyway." She cracked her wrists and pulled off one of her fuchsia slippers so she could paint her toenails.

ooc: so sorry for the delay. I got suuuuper sick and was in hospital coming around now though!

Ic:

>"Does she-Your sister... how often does she drop in on you?"

Lana shrugged. "Honestly, she doesn't give me much warning but she's good at buzzing off if I ask for my space. Usually a spirit has unfinished business keeping them here. Laura's business seems to be that she didn't live-" her voice cracked and she laughed, embarrassed. "So I guess she's gotta live, who knows." Live through Lana at least.



>>"I don't think I could date seriously, but people are fascinating. It's almost addicting to peek into other people's lives to see how they do what they do."

Lana held up her nails and admired them. Yellow wasn't such a bad colour at all. "Yes it's true. I've met my share of mutant mind readers too. I may not be a mind reader but sometimes a good detective comes close, and we can fake it." she grinned.

"I can't believe you guys take bets. That's just too cruel! Here. You should just practice your profiling on me. I'm sure I come home different just about every day anyway."

"Well, I sort of profiled you when I met you." admitted Lana. "I knew you were fit, maybe jogging or something. I could tell you worked in a field where you were encouraged to me intimidating and whether you realize it or not you command respect." explained Lana. "I picked up on you being forgetful, but obviously not to the point that I realized it was part of your mutation..." she suddenly reached over and put a hand on Noel's shoulder. "And now I'm picking up that it's been a while since you've had a girl's night, and maybe a while since you had a friend you could trust..." she gave Noel a sincere smile and nodded her head. "So rest assured I'm raring to fill the spot." another toothy grin.

"It's hard to profile people I already know," she added. "I mean, I do it unconsciously. But once you know someone you begin to bias yourself. Add in things you know from experience, and not because you're deducing them. That's why it's fun to practice on guys. I actually have a date next week. Haha I can't even remember his name. Maybe I need tattoos once in a while..." she hoped the joke didn't come off as insensitive. Lana was terrible at making jokes but always felt like she should be trying.

"Does your sister ever, uhm, age?" Did she hear that right? Her parents named their two daughters Laura and Lana? That poor mom must have spent her whole life tongue tied.

Huh. She commanded respect? Noel was oddly touched. And then actually touched. Like physically and emotionally. In a good way. She would not tear up. She would not tear up. "Thanks. I mean, geez. I feel like I should give a speech or something?" Joking really was the best way to avoid emotional woman-ness.

Noel screwed the lid back onto the nail polish and held it up like a microphone. "I'd like to thank the Classified section of the paper. For obvious reasons. Uhm. This couch. Super sturdy." They were eating cookie dough, after all. Thoroughly amused with herself and now free from the threat of an emotional outpouring, Noel let up.

"But really, when I forget things, I'm sure I can be like a different person. It's my fear that one day I'll wake up in a pile of booze and hookers or... something." Okay, so in trying to make a serious thing less serious, Noel had crossed over into Lana's awkward not-so funny joke territory. "Can it be your job to make sure I don't go to the dark side?"

Was that an unfair job? Maybe, but it wasn't like Noel expected to devolve into evil all at once even if it would feel that way to her. Lana would easily be able to catch the signs if she looked out for them.

ooc: I really thought I replied to this before I got sick! so sorry!

ic:

>>"Does your sister ever, uhm, age?" <<

"Nope." replied Lana with a shrug. "She doesn't. She's stuck as a teenager. She was my big sister, now she's my big little sister." Lana laughed.

>>"Thanks. I mean, geez. I feel like I should give a speech or something? I'd like to thank the Classified section of the paper. For obvious reasons. Uhm. This couch. Super sturdy."

Lana gave a laugh in reply. "It's a good couch." she admitted, reaching behind herself to grab a wine cooler that she'd brought out of the fridge and forgotten she'd had til now. "Would you like one?" she asked offering Noel. "Goes great with, uh, cookie dough."

>>"But really, when I forget things, I'm sure I can be like a different person. It's my fear that one day I'll wake up in a pile of booze and hookers or... something....Can it be your job to make sure I don't go to the dark side?" <<

Lana nodded. "I imagine it's very scary. If you forget people, you forget the parts they add to you probably. I mean, on some level I'm sure they're there... but on the surface.. I mean yeah that's scary." she took a sip of her cooler. Far fruitier than she would have wanted, but hey, it was cheap alcohol. "Booze and hookers. whoops." she stared at her drink with a goofy grin. 'I shall do my very best, to make sure you don't end up on the dark side." another sip.

"So, tell me some horror stories, or embaressingly funny one, about your job!" Lana instructed, knowing that learning about her roomies job might help her know her better. "I'm sure you forget things given your mutation... but there must be some ones that are just so bad they're burned into your brain!" truthfully, she was also trying to judge just how far Noel's mutation could go.

Lana offered Noel a drink. That was an easy no. She'd never touch the stuff. Noel had a hard enough keeping her head on straight as it was. "I'm not really a drinker." She shrugged her apology, though she wasn't really sorry. If nobody drank the stuff, Noel would probably be out of her job.

> "I imagine it's very scary. If you forget people, you forget the parts they add to you probably. I mean, on some level I'm sure they're there... but on the surface.. I mean yeah that's scary."

"It's not... I mean... Hmm." Noel had never thought of it as 'scary.' Disorienting? Yes. But she was so very used to it. "It's mostly just awkward. It helps to be able to read people, their body language and all that? Really it's only weird when they're familiar and I just can't get that same feeling. With some friends, they just click back into place." She shrugged. "Other times I just fake it 'til I make it." Surely normal people were about the same? Noel thought it over while helping herself to the quickly dwindling cookie dough.

On screen, dolphin clicks captured her attention for a short while. Ah. Awkward alien on dolphin love scene. She felt about the same with the people on people action. Rubbery gray skin just magnified her disbelief in lovey-dovey personal interaction.

> "So, tell me some horror stories, or embaressingly funny one, about your job!"

Lana's enthusiasm brought Noel back to the couch from her ephemeral musings.

"Hmm. Well, some jobs I get hired specifically for my ability to forget. But that doesn't mean there are days I don't." She tried to think of something entertaining. "I've been puked on more than twice. Bluh." Not exactly funny.

"One time I got tricked into thinking I'd been doused in Anthrax so I stripped and jumped into the lake over by the the jogging path in Central Park." Noel's cheeks pinked at the thought. It was extra embarrassing to be tricked with a power like hers. "Not my brightest moment, but I kinda panicked, you know? Some scamp ran off with my clothes and I had to bum a jacket off of some guy to get home 'cause it was winter." Noel rolled her lips in on each other. Okay. Looking back on it, that was at least a little funny.

"I dunno! I bet you have better."