There was a familiar burning sensation in Tses' lungs as she sprinted across the rooftops. She lost a pigtail somewhere in the scuffle, hair flapping around rebelliously on one side of her head, the other chunk of hair somewhat cockeyed. As she ducked around air conditioning unit sand air vents, she focused on the path in front of her, as much as she longed to turn around and look for the signs of pursuit. She could always use her powers to illuminate a bit further ahead, but looking like a giant firefly did make it easier to follow. And she had more than enough bad experiences with guns.

New York did seem to like it's weapons...

The computer's metal case pressed into her skin, which was clammy from the run. It made it harder to hold onto. Here she thought stealing a broken computer would be less risky than you know, a whole new unit. She was obviously loosing her touch. Everything she took lately resulted in a chase.

The life of a criminal was becoming harder with every month.

There was a yell somewhere in the distance, and Tses decided it was time to move for the streets. She took a jump for the nearest fire escape, and moved to climb down when the metal gave a wicked lurch.

Frickin' safety hazards! Tses thought as she tumbled backwards, arm catching at the last moment to swing her upright. There was a mad gymnast moment that felt a little like an action movie (you know, minus the life or death peril part), and then she was free falling towards the ground, prepared to take the impact in her combat boots.

Then she saw the silhouette her boots were aiming for.

"Shiii---" For once, her powers worked on cue, her light form sailing through the guy. Which was better than nailing him in the head or flattening him against the pavement.

Sadly, the computer didn't transition with her. It sailed past the guy's head and smashed into the sidewalk.


Someone was going to be pissed....

Richard was wondering the streets of New York, exploring, processing. He was gaining more and more control and knowledge over his powers day by day. What was once unfamiliar and scary was starting to be less so. With the lessening of fear, his natural curiosity and engineers mind came to the forefront. Already he was thinking of experiments to test how far he could push his powers. He was smiling to himself as he walked. Cutting through an alleyway he was startled from his reverie by "Shiii-" and looked up to catch a glimpse of two objects rapidly falling towards him. one looked blocky and was falling to the side of him, the other appeared to be a young woman. Richard glimpsed an attractive face before she seemed to become enveloped by a green glow and pass through him. It tingled slightly. Before Richard could even think to respond she was through him and CRASH! The computer hit the ground.

"Hello? Are you ok?" Richard asked worriedly looking around for the girl. He wondered if he was seeing ghosts. "First discovering I am a mutant and now I seem to be seeing ghosts. Well at least it was a beautiful looking one." he muttered to himself as he walked over and began examining the wreckage of the computer.

"Hmmm, Hard drive looks fixable." he commented to himself looking at the shattered casing, it looked completely trashed but with his power, he was convinced he could make it work. "Motherboard, also doable..." He continued his examination and concluded. "All in all, I could make it run again, but it would take time, and energy, ALOT of energy." He was still musing when he heard a noise and turned.

Are you okay?

The question nearly made Tses laugh at the irony. But the laugh sort of tangled in her throat at the compliment. Her face turned pink, and then she did the mature thing. She stuck her tongue out at the stranger, and brushed off her skirt. Not that she really needed to dust off her skirt. The ghosting thing at least kept her from suffering any physical damage. She melted back into a solid form.

"Not a ghost," She remarked, then moved to try and stop him from messing with the computer. "And really, I wouldn't mess with that if I were you, not worth it now. And uh, pretty sure you don't want to be caught with it." She casually glanced back up towards the rooftop. The yelling was getting closer. For one moment, her moral compass spun inside her a little uncertainly. She was pretty sure that was what generated the queasy feeling between guilt and embarrassment.

"I mean, you should, you know, maybe run, or like, go elsewhere." She started backing up and jerked a thumb over her shoulder in warning. It was more heads up than she gave to most people. She also was careful to stay out of arms reach. Last guy who caught her stealing broke a number of her bones trying to force her to kick the habit.

"Not a Ghost"

Richard was a little startled that she had just reappeared. "Umm, right, well, apparently not." Said Richard cought a little off balance. He was not used to just randomly bumping into mutants everywhere.

"And really, I wouldn't mess with that if I were you, not worth it now. And uh, pretty sure you don't want to be caught with it."

"Not worth it? It is completely fixable, I could do it if you want. Wait, caught with it? I am puzzled" He noticed her glancing at the rooftop. "Let me guess, someone else wants the computer?"

"I mean, you should, you know, maybe run, or like, go elsewhere."

"Right, ok thanks for the heads up."
Richard was not completely sure what was going on right now, what with pretty women falling out of the sky and crashing computers and sounds of angry pursuit but his curiosity was peaked. He started moving away then on impulse grabbed the hard disk from the wreckage of the computer and started jogging down the alley, it turned out to be blocked in one direction so he jogged passed the woman and headed towards the exit.

Tses watched the guy for a moment, then took a beeline into one of the nearest buildings. It was dark, one of the stores that was closed for the evening. Her green glow cast little shadows around the room. If only she could like, pull people through walls with her. That would be useful. Then she wouldn't have to deal with this dumb sensation that felt oddly like guilt. So what if she was leaving the guy to get like, caught, or shot at, or....something.

Dumb guilt. Dumb karma. She trotted through a few more buildings until she found the guy, popped a lock and gestured for him to hurry inside.

Stolen goods. Breaking and entering. She was making a fairly wonderful first impression. Yeah, it was bad, even by her standards.

As Richard was jogging towards the mouth of the alley the beautiful lady overtook him. She appeared to be fiddling with the lock on one of the shop doors. He was about to voice a question when she successfully opened it and beckoned him in. Curious he followed.

Mentally he was wondering if it was such a good idea. Honestly, aside from in the movies, where do you suddenly meet a beautiful lady under action packed circumstances, follow her through a door she just picked and hope that it will end any other way than ending up in a ditch beaten and robbed or worse, dead. But Richards self preservation voice was being ignored at the moment and he followed the woman into the darkness of the unknown.

His eyes were still adjusting to the dark so he could not see much of what was in the shop, but he could vaguely make out her outline. Softly he asked something that had been on his mind that was slowly coming back on track, especially now the more than slightly distracting beauty was hidden in the darkness.

"Umm, would now be an appropriate time to ask what in the world is going on? I am Richard by the way, nice to meet you."

Tses didn't hear any yelling or gunfire, so hopefully, the evasion was working. Unfortunately, she had this stranger following her. And he had questions. She started to make a face, but realized, he really wouldn't see it in the dark.

"Err, well, pretty sure I was stealing something. Pretty sure you just broke into this building with me." She wondered if he'd take back his nice to meet you. She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms. A faint glow lingered around her hands, only enough to bring out the outline of the room. Not enough to draw attention though. Emergency exits gave off more light. "I'd give you my name, but I'm not quite sure if you're one of those do-goody turn-me-in sorta guys." Tses remarked, trying to size him up in the dark. Not that he could do much if she really wanted to get away. Light-form was pretty useful for evasion.

>"Err, well, pretty sure I was stealing something. Pretty sure you just broke into this building with me."

Richard laughed at this. So he had. "True, true. Actually I was more curious as to who exactly was chasing us. I am also very very curious as to what is on this hard disk." He said slightly waving the device. "Also I am pretty sure that getting caught by whoever is hunting you, me, us would not be good for our health so technically we broke in for reasons of self preservation. It is not like we broke in just for the fun of it or to try and burn and pillage." Pillage? where had that word come from. Sheesh he was sounding so posh.

>"I'd give you my name, but I'm not quite sure if you're one of those do-goody turn-me-in sorta guys."

Richard smiled as he replied. "Fair enough, Madam." He laughed. "This is a refreshing turn of events, yes? I suppose I should thank you for spicing up an otherwise dull evening. Although somehow I suspect that the evening is far from through."

It was true that Richard in some way, much to his own surprise was actually enjoying himself. To be fair nothing very bad or painful had happened yet and he was positively itching to see what said attractive beauty had stolen. At the same time he wanted to set himself the challenge of seeing if he could really make the drive work again.

Tses paused and tilted her head a little. "Well, pretty sure there may be like, a policeman, or the guy whose computer it was...Didn't really ask names you know. Kinda ruins the whole, evasion techniques." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Not that he could see them. She let a little bit of light emit from her hands as she located the hard drive.

"And that's one mystery you'll have to solve for yourself. Hacking a computer is one thing. Not worth the effort once it's scrap metal." She paused as someone ran past, but the footsteps receded. Now it was just muffled nighttime sounds outside.

"And err...you're welcome? You know, most people would protest a bit more when 'spicing up an evening' involved crime..." Then again, Ty had appreciated that side of her. She momentarily wondered if she stumbled upon another criminal. She wished she could tell.

"Well, pretty sure there may be like, a policeman, or the guy whose computer it was...Didn't really ask names you know. Kinda ruins the whole, evasion techniques."

Richard laughed "I guess I can understand that." To be honest this night just seemed slightly unhinged. As if it was not truly real.

"And that's one mystery you'll have to solve for yourself. Hacking a computer is one thing. Not worth the effort once it's scrap metal."

"Scrap metal? Scrap metal? My dear Madam, give me some food and about an hour or two and it will be working better than it has ever worked before in its lifetime, that is rather easy. Hardware I can fix or break. Software on the other hand, that is where I am only fair to middling. If you want, when we get out of this place I can take this back to my workshop and get it fixed up. You see I can manipulate materials, I can mold them, shape them, I can understand how they work, why they were built, how soon they are going to break, or, if I wanted to I can take the smallest piece of the most vital part of it and snap it. That....I can do." Richard smiled, it was almost as if the rather stunning lady had given him a challenge. Scrap metal? He rather thought not. Now if the magnetic disk had cracked all the way through or had shattered, now that would be a different story but that part was almost pristine, it was only a few things here and there in the periphery. That much Richard had been able to determine from a cursory scan.

"And err...you're welcome? You know, most people would protest a bit more when 'spicing up an evening' involved crime..."

"True, but from my point of view I see it differently. Firstly I get an interesting challenge dumped on my lap, a rather beautiful lady literally "drops in" and in order to hide from a threat she kindly unlocks the door to a nearby shop. So far as I can see practicality outranks social convention. I would rather survive and then apologize to the owner than stay pure as the driven snow and potentially endure a beating. Miss whatever your name is." Richard did have a rather logical and unconventional way of seeing things. he saw the world like an engineer, social norms sometimes were puzzling when they seemed to hinder more than help. One could say he was a bit odd, a brilliant engineer and at time a truly inspired inventor and creator but a socialite he was not. And part of way he was warming to this mysterious and capable lady was that in some way he sensed the same practicality in her. Or was he mistaken?

"Scrap metal? Scrap metal? My dear Madam, give me some food and about an hour or two and it will be working better than it has ever worked before in its lifetime, that is rather easy."

Tses blinked slowly, brain wrapping around the words as he said them. Technomancer huh? It'd been awhile since she met a mutant with manipulative powers like that. She was always a software person. Hack a little there, code a little here. She couldn't resist looking impressed. There was just enough light he might even see it too. "Well, if you want to fix it, by all means. Hacking I can handle. That whole, manipulating metal and stuff? My powers haven't quite taken that left turn yet."

"True, but from my point of view I see it differently. Firstly I get an interesting challenge dumped on my lap, a rather beautiful lady literally "drops in" and in order to hide from a threat she kindly unlocks the door to a nearby shop. So far as I can see practicality outranks social convention. I would rather survive and then apologize to the owner than stay pure as the driven snow and potentially endure a beating. Miss whatever your name is."

Beautiful...

Tses' brain tripped over the expression, her brow knitting as she gazed at him. "Sure you didn't hit your head or something?" She remarked cautiously. Even Ty wasn't quite that forward when she met him. Then again, he was sort of the kicked puppy sort of guy. This Richard guy seemed....up? Something.

"And can't say I know much about anything social. Street rules are a different variety." She admitted, trying to process the emotions going through her. There was a spark of irritation, defensiveness. But also maybe a little flattery?

>"Well, if you want to fix it, by all means. Hacking I can handle. That whole, manipulating metal and stuff? My powers haven't quite taken that left turn yet."
"Awesome, I am sure this place has a back door, what say we get out of here and head to my workshop? Also do you have transportation? I got here by bus." Said Richard beginning to search for a back exit.

>"Sure you didn't hit your head or something? And can't say I know much about anything social. Street rules are a different variety."
"What is it with people? I am a very direct person and I see no benefit in exaggerating my compliments. The world is far too negative as a whole. If I perceive someone as pretty, I will compliment that person. I do not expect the statement to endear them to me nor do I expect anything in return. Is that so strange? Do people here decry compliments and prefer criticism and self deprecation?" Richard spoke over his shoulder. Really, could people not take a compliment these days. It wasn't like he was trying to flatter her or chat her up. For goodness sake he had just met her. Richard just preferred to compliment people on what was worth complimenting. Of course if say someone was fat, Richard would more likely find something else to compliment them about. He was in general a rather cheerful and happy person."Very genuine" was the comment by a few of his friends.

"Ah Ha! here we are. Um.... would you mind...um picking the lock? Thanks."
Richard smiled, he had always through locking picking was a rather cool and useful skill. If he and this mysterious lady became friends he would have to get her to teach him how to do it. Truthfully with his power he could probably figure it out eventually but he would prefer to learn it from someone with experience. It tended to speed up the process.

Transportation? Tses wondered how he felt about stolen cars. Probably more vocal than stolen belongings. Or, she assumed. She still didn't know this guy well enough yet. She let the glow return to her arms and followed towards the door. He could stumble around if he wanted. She preferred to see where she was going as a rule of thumb.

"I usually walk. But there's the subway too. Public transpiration is pretty decent in this city." If you need to get anywhere fast, that is. She usually took the scenic route.

"And I don't know what the deal is with normal people, but let's just say compliments aren't just something I throw around. I guess I'm more of a realist. Life is kinda shitty, I don't waste my time oooing and awwwing over it." She rolled her eyes. Maybe she did prefer the criticism. Somehow, that felt honest. "And maybe compliments just don't feel genuine to people like me. No one is going to compliment a street kid. You save that for the blonde bimbos with the boobs." She stepped forward, and formed a glowing orb in her hand. It rolled into the lock and released with a pop. The door swung open easily afterwards.

"Easier than bobby pins." She added, stepping through.

Well someone was being a little bitter and grumpy and moany about the world though Richard. Out loud he did not say anything. Everyone was entitled to their own views. "Very well madam, I will do my best to keep my compliments to myself." Said Richard slightly smiling. If she was going to be grumpy he could be cheeky.



>"Easier than bob by pins." the lady said as she floated a ball of light into the lock and...well popped it.



"Why thank you very much." Said Richard. He stepped through the door after her and placed his hand on it. He blinked rapidly for a second or two, then his whole body tensed for another second or two then.. Click. "As good as new" Said Richard cheerfully and lead the way to the bus stop. When they were on the relatively empty but tottling its way to his house. Richard turned to the lady and asked. "Say, what should I call you? I am fine if you prefer to make up a name, it just feels a little more natural to be able to call you something instead of "hey you"." He reflected on her earlier comment as a street kid. It sounded like she had led a hard life. Perhaps that was why she was slow to trust and hand such a depressing view of life. Quietly Richard asked. "If you don't mind me asking, What is life like as a street kid?" He asked genuinely interested. He found it hard to imagine what leading such a life would be like, besides he always liked hearing other people's stories. It often gave him inspiration.

"I'll do my best to keep my compliments to myself."

Tses debated whether sticking her tongue out or flipping him off would be appropriate, but neither really seemed necessary. In fact, the smart-ass response almost made the company more tolerable. Not that people were really that tolerable these days.

"What should I call you?"

Tses considered it. She could make something up if she wanted, but she really didn't have much reason to protect her identity at this point. Her name was fairly unique, but it wasn't like she was tied to a record anywhere that she knew of. "I guess you can call me Tses if you want." She shrugged. The gesture came naturally to her. She caught herself shrugging alot actually. Mayb eshe should stop that.

"Life is a street kid is like... I don't know. Lawless. And like, privileges. Society doesn't give you anything, but it doesn't expect anything. So it works both ways." she kept her shoulders still this time but felt the wayward "don't give a crap" attitude came across anyway. Implied shrug.

Yeah, that shrugging thing had to stop.