”Don't... Not the big scars.”

Apparently Kaz had gone and done what he had tried to avoid, he went and tripped over the line, barreling into the 'too personal' zone. His initial reaction to the words was to say something like, 'Just the little ones then?' His mouth was already open to say the words when he realized Noel wasn't alright. Her voice sounded tight to him and she had broken out in a light sheen of sweat. So instead of being an insensitive jerk, he made a light cough before speaking, ”Sorry. I didn't..I shou...sorry.” Instead of poking more or digging himself a hole with that subject, he asked something else while he worked. ”So you were fired for not being willing to participate in legally questionable activities? Your boss...ex boss I suppose, sounds like an ass.” After a moment, ”Gotta admit though, I'm curious what you wouldn't do.”

After he was done and had moved to sit down away from her, he watched as she pulled out a phone. He nearly formed a full thought questioning why she was getting her phone, but stopped himself midway with a mental 'duh', 'Smart-phones, where else would she keep that info.'

'Dunno...maybe her head. Might be safer if it wasn't on her cell.'

Kaz acknowledged the point to himself. Instead of saying what he thought, Kaz paid attention to what was on the phone that was being held out towards him. Reading it over he saw there wasn't a lot of information written down, hardly anything really. If it weren't for two of the names on the list, Kaz could have dismissed it easily, but Isabel Duskmoor and Ambrose Jaager were names he couldn't ignore. Of course he couldn't ignore his own name on the list. ”I think a starting point is finding out who these 'Bird Hunters' are.'

A weary, soft laugh escaped Kaz at Noel's pizza question. ”Right, pizza, that was the plan wasn't it. I doubt we can get any delivered up here, we'll have to go to it.” Kaz pointedly looked at himself and then at Noel, ”Not like this though, I think we'd have the cops called on us.” Kaz bent his knees, put his hands atop them, and pushed himself to his feet. ”Getting cleaned and changed should come before snagging food. Going back to the car probably isn't the best idea. I'm pretty sure I'm good enough now that I can take us wherever in the city....” Kaz offered his hand to help her up, ”If you're up for leave that is.” Kaz would rather head to his place than hers, or anywhere else at that moment. Though he could use a change of clothes, and a replacement shirt, Noel's situation was a little more urgent. If she wanted to head home, he'd drop her off and let that be that, if not... He shrugged as if it didn't matter.

> ”Sorry. I didn't..I shou...sorry.”

It was such a little kid response that Noel had a twitch of a smile. "Kind of a special case. Don't sweat it." At least he hadn't tried to do something. He just let her work through it on her own for better or for worse. "Some powers are pretty potent and I'm just human-strong, just human-fast." She had her own things that made up for the difference, she supposed.

> ”So you were fired for not being willing to participate in legally questionable activities? Your boss...ex boss I suppose, sounds like an ass. Gotta admit though, I'm curious what you wouldn't do.”

"Nah. You've got it all wrong. My last boss was a pretty decent guy who was already bending the rules to let me on." At least, her phone told her he was decent. Noel continued to address Kaz's chin. Never as good as eye contact for making a strong point, but it was what it was.

"Got taken to court and lost my gun license. What good's a bodyguard that can't shoot, can't bench press cars, and is just as vulnerable to bullets as the next guy?" Noel played with the end of her braid in her lap, she'd gotten raked over the coals in court, actually. Her own lawyer ended up proving that her brain was so much Swiss cheese. Noel was lucky they'd only taken her gun license and not her freedom. Again. "That left jobs only I can do and I have to be discerning." At that point, it was more than money that was a barrier to her working. She'd rather live in a homeless shelter before she took on some of the proposed jobs she'd been offered.

Gotta admit though, I'm curious what you wouldn't do.

Noel sighed. Maybe it did come down to what she wouldn't do, after all.

> ”I think a starting point is finding out who these 'Bird Hunters' are.'

"We'll get 'em." When she wasn't starving with her ribs kicked in. Investigation was a strong suit of Noel's and she already had a strong lead. In fact, Noel tapped out a quick note to herself on the phone. She set it to remind her in an hour to taste that shirt.

It took Kaz a minute to get to why Noel'd asked about take out. Yeah. Not at all like this. She grabbed up her shirt and debated struggling into it with only one arm that would willingly go above shoulder height.

> ”I'm pretty sure I'm good enough now that I can take us wherever in the city....”

Was he fishing? Because she wasn't about to take an unknown quantity back to a lair that wasn't even hers. Noel looked at Kaz's hand a beat longer than was polite.

This was a moment, she realized, where she could call it quits. Go home. Sleep it off.

And die in her sleep of a possible concussion. Hades was still out of town.

'Also... pizza.'

She took Kaz's hand with the hand on the side opposite all her bruising. It wasn't the most natural fit, but it was what would hurt less. Right now she was all for that.

"I need sunglasses, a shower, and a shirt before pizza." Was that too much to ask? "Take me somewhere with those four things and I can get you more info on the Bird Hunters." That sounded like a fair trade, right?

”Huh, well, that's good I suppose. Means you can get a reference from him if you need it.” Kaz was a little surprised how wrong his interpretation of her words had been. Now he was curious about why she had lost her license. ”So...Why'd you go to court in the first place?” Kaz didn't need to think about whether or not he had permits or licenses for his gear, he didn't. Never did, probably never would. He didn't care about following rules or laws, unless it was in his favor to do so. Thinking about that made him wonder why that was. Was it just in his character to not give a crap, was it his mutation that gave him the confidence to do it and the indifference to human authority, or did his money give him the power to do whatever he liked? It was probably all of the above, to one degree or another. ”What type of job is the kind only you can do?”

Kaz was always looking for mutants with skills and talents outside of just their mutations. She said she had be fired, for legal reasons, but he didn't put much stock in legal or illegal, as long as there were results. He would have to know more about he, and what she could do, mutation and otherwise, but if she was unemployed, he could make use of her and offer her a job himself, or try and place her in a company he owned. He decided against saying anything just then, telling himself to keep it in mind for the future.

”We'll get'em.”

A predatory grin spread across his face as his eyes became slightly unfocused as he thought about the Hunters. ”And when we do, I'll kill'em.” Eyes focused once more when he glanced at Noel, a hard gleam to them, his grin becoming a little more feral as his teeth changed, just a little, to have a more fanged appearance.

If humans were going to hunt him, and other mutants, he'd gladly become their hunter. Of course he also realized it would be a bit stupid to do it without changing what he looked like, he didn't need to have that associated with the Estates, himself, or anything else of his.

He didn't know what was going through her head as she sat there, staring at his offered hand, but she did it long enough that he had determined that she wouldn't take his help. If that was the case, he'd set her down on the street and leave her to do whatever she wanted. Just before he let his arm drop, she reached up and took his hand. His brows rose involuntary a fraction of an inch in surprise. As he helped her up she said what she needed and offered a trade, info for a shower, a shirt, pizza, and, curiously, sunglasses. He could do all of those things fairly easily.

Kaz pulled out his own phone and held it out to her. ”Speed dial 9, tell'em what you want to eat and where from, say 30minutes, then hang up.” Kaz was careful not to say who it was, or give their gender away. You don't give a Carrier's information away, especially not for free, and not without a very good reason. Kaz himself didn't know exactly how the Carrier did their job, because that was also information not given away. Carriers were quick, efficient, all business, completely loyal to the job, unless it interferes with another job, and very expensive. He had no doubt that this job would be a joke for a while.

While telling her what to do, Kaz had changed his body a little in preparation for what he did next. A pair of large wings grew and unfolded from his bare back near his shoulder blades. Unlike what he had pulled out when they ran, these wings were obviously meant for flight, resembling large bat wings. This time though, he made them correctly. He waited for her to finish the call before taking the phone back and putting it away.

Moving to stand at her side, the one least injured. ”Ready?” He waited until she gave him the okay and then picked her up, one arm behind her back, the other under her thighs. Before moving, he let her get as comfortable as she could. When she was as good as could be, he moved to the edge of the building, pushed off as hard as he dared so he didn't hurt her on accident. Spreading his wings he caught the air and let them glide for a short distance before he beat his wings and they ascended quickly, but gently. His hair whipped in the wind since he hadn't bothered to do anything with it before lifting off, and he wasn't going to risk somehow dropping Noel to fix it.

Once they were above most of the buildings it was an easy flight to his place. Alighting on the roof, he absorbed the landing as smoothly as he could, then set her on her feet. ”I know it doesn't look like much, but you'll find everything you need inside.” As Kaz moved to clear the security door, he looked over his shoulder towards the edge of the roof. Sitting at the edge was a portable hot case for food, Kaz knew Noel's order was inside it. Pointing at it, ”That's for you.”

The door opened, Kaz stepped inside held the door open, and extended his arm towards her. ”Come on in, your shower awaits.” He moved his arm in a somewhat dramatic arc, with it pointing into the building, resting against his chest. Smirking he gave her a somewhat sarcastic little bow.

The whole job thing was moot anyway. Hades had tasked her with finding the leak in his system and promised something more after that. There was also the small matter of her phone keeping her busy with strange and sometimes bizarre tasks.

Girl scouts later, she remembered. No doubt her calendar would remind her again before it was time.

Her smile twitched again when he asked about the impetus of her court case. You know, I have no idea. She could look it up, but some things weren't worth remembering. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest it was gun-related." If someone had died, she was confident, had to be confident, that she'd made the best judgement call at the time.

> ”What type of job is the kind only you can do?”

Noel was so incredibly not good at keeping her own secrets that it was laughable. She shouldn't have said anything about her power, then she could have just kept not saying anything.

"I know when people are lying, for one thing." That was safe enough knowledge. No one but idiots had ever throttled her for that one. "Can I just say that it's really messed up and maybe a little hard to explain?" Because that gleam in his eyes after she'd commented about the Bird Hunters... even if she tasted his words as truth, even if he hadn't made his intentions explicit, she had no doubt what Kaz intended to do to those people. She intended to talk to him about that. Later. For now they were changing locations with a second spectacular wing show.

She should really make a memory, but there wasn't anything stable and unique around. Except. Well. Kazimierz called Kaz.

Even that thought had her brain buzzing.

Noel accepted her fate as the stupid parcel that would just have to be toted around. She obediently made the call leaving specific and clear details right down to needing mirrored, polarized lenses and a 95% cotton 5% Spandex women's tee shirt in size medium. And, "Two New York style large pizzas from DeMaggio's: one meat lovers, one triple the meat on that lovers. You think I'm kidding but I'm not. Triple the meat. Also bread sticks. 30 minutes. Ehm. Thanks?" Kaz could forgive her the added expense of bread sticks if he could afford to use this type of service.

She hung up and then hung onto the phone since Kaz's hands were full. Lots of Kaz on this phone, she guessed. It was just good business to snoop. She had to fill in the gaps for her day and judging from her clothes, she'd interrupted her morning run to hang out with this new friend. It would be weird if she didn't know.

The memorymancer rested the phone against her lips and let her vision zone out while she played quickly through the days memories.

It was... odd to see herself through a stranger's eyes. Because that was what they'd started as, strangers. Fast friends. God, this pizza was well earned. That was a workout. He hadn't seen much of her fight, but even context clues could help her piece things together. Ah. Now the rooftop. There was a slight time jump. Clouds in one place, then another from one memory to the next. Only noticeable for the breakneck speed she was scrubbing through the day's events and the jarring difference. Not much time, then. They hadn't gotten stuck in a loop.

Noel took a what she thought would be a small, selfish detour to check on Kaz's opinion of mutants and most specifically his opinion on psychics. He had. Strong opinions. Too many to sift through everything, but she could get a general feeling. Yes, mutants. Hell no to psychics.

Crap.

He would see what she was doing now as an incredible intrusion.

Noel blinked out of the memories, the tie still there in her head. He was close. She could go right in with some good eye contact and... absolutely ruin any kind of trust she'd built.

Why did it matter?

She went back to the memories from today and tried to examine them with a fresh eye, but they were apparently here. Noel was placed on her feet and she was confused at first. What? This large, expansive rooftop was some kind of warehouse, right? Like an Amazon warehouse or maybe a publisher? It's was huge and Kaz was working some pretty smart looking security. Having been in the biz, she had learned at least enough to know what he had didn't come cheap.

> ”I know it doesn't look like much, but you'll find everything you need inside.”

She replayed an echo of their earlier conversation as she went to fetch the parcel he'd indicated was for her.

>> ”Wealthy mutant, quite. Assassin, no. Assassins get paid.”

Kaz, she decided, was a very dangerous friend.

> ”Come on in, your shower awaits.”

"Uhm. Sorry but I lost one of your escrima sticks." She blurted the admission because she had to admit to something or else everything was going to come tumbling out and Noel was going to get murdered before she ever got her shower. She passed back Kaz's phone and disappeared down the way Kaz had motioned.

Already, the smell of pizza was going a long way toward soothing her nerves. She juggled the parcel until she could get out the sunglasses. She put them on despite being indoors. There. No more accidental loss of time.

”I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest it was gun-related.”

Kaz blinked at her answer, blinked a couple times, in an exaggeratedly slow manner. He couldn't be sure, but he thought she might be being sarcastic. Her tone didn't suggest it and neither did her body language, as far as he could tell, but the words... Those words, if he had been in her position, he could see himself saying those exact words sarcastically. 'Maybe she doesn't feel comfortable talking about it. Maybe that's her way of telling me it's none of my business.' If that was the case, it was true. At the moment, there was no reason for him to know, it didn't involve him.

Instead of pushing and trying to get more of an answer, he instead asked something else, and he got an interesting answer. He was going to ask her what she meant when she continued speaking and confused him a little. Being able to tell if someone is lying, however its done, which was what he was going to ask, seemed pretty straightforward. Kaz wasn't sure how that could be messed up or hard to explain.

”Before Baldy hit me with the bat, I asked if you were a mutant, you said something like, 'I'm not a good one.' Is that what you meant? The lies thing I mean. May not be flashy, but that could be really useful” 'Especially when I find one of these 'Hunters'. It would make it so much easier to get the truth from them if someone could straight up call them out on their bullshit lies.' Kaz liked that idea, liked it a lot, and his grin showed it.

On their short trip to his Warehouse, Kaz did his best to make the ride smooth and any jarring motions to a minimum so he didn't hurt Noel or make her injuries feel any worse. He didn't know if he was successful or not. There were a few times he looked down at her to, what?, see how she was doing he supposed. When he did look at her, his attention was drawn to his phone resting against her lips.

If Kaz knew what she was doing, what she was using his phone for, it would be well within his character to have dropped her right then and there. His dislike of psychics was strongly rooted in him, but permission goes a long way with him in that area. Even then, he still wasn't what you'd call comfortable with it, but he tolerated, accepted, and allowed it, at least he did for the reason and time the permission was granted. Over time he could overcome his feelings, but only with certain individuals, because of trust, which was hard earned.

Because he didn't know, what she was doing was an odd image for him, made him wonder what she was thinking and feeling. He knew some people put a hand to their mouth, or objects in their mouths, things like pens, when they were uncomfortable, anxious, or scared, or when they were trying to hold something back, making whatever they put to their mouth a barrier of sorts. Was that what she was doing?

Kaz couldn't blame her if that was the case. She was being carried and taken somewhere by someone she didn't really know and as far as he could tell, she had no way to back out or stop it now. She had essentially put herself in his hands. He could understand her feeling some apprehension at the situation, even if she did put herself in it. Even if she knew that Kaz wasn't lying, that their goals lined up, that he had backed her up in the park, that didn't make the situation any different. Kaz wanted to say something to set her at ease, but he imagined that saying anything about their situation would be counterproductive. So he kept his mouth shut until they got to the rooftop.

”Uhm. Sorry but I lost one of your escrima sticks.”

Kaz snorted out a short laugh. ”Don't worry about it, doesn't bother me. Besides,” He grinned a sideways grin, ”It wasn't mine anymore, and I've got more, I can give you a replacement.” He took the phone back as she passed him. Catching a whiff of her pizza, he took a deep breath and felt his stomach rumble. ”I should have had you order a few for me, heh. Oh well.” He dialed, waited for it to connect and then ordered his usual pizza order without giving a time frame. He knew when it would arrive.

He followed Noel in and passed by her as he moved to the kitchen. ”If you want to shower and change first, you can plug the hotbox in here, or put it in the pizza oven to keep it hot.” Moving out of the kitchen he pointed out where the bathrooms were. ”There's a bathroom over there, and over there. Or you could use one of the guest rooms' bathrooms. You'll know which those are because they're unlocked. Othe” Kaz was cut off from saying anything else when a large cat padded out from behind the kitchen wall, probably from her room, and ran into his legs, pressing her full weight against him.

Grinning he bent over and picked her up. Once he stood up, Kalli moved so that she draped herself across his shoulders and nuzzled his head. ”I haven't been gone that long, it's only been,” He looked at the clock, ”Most of the day...” Scratching the Savannah under her chin he looked at her food bowl. ”Guess it's dinner time for you too huh? Did you really eat all that already? You're gonna get fat cat.” Kaz moved to the cupboard and got canned food out for Kalli, who promptly scrambled off his shoulders onto the counter. Her interest in the can was singular, swatting at Kaz's hand when she thought he was going too slow. When he moved to put the canned food in her dish, she hopped down and began chowing down before he had finished. ”Piggy” All he got in return was a contented growling purr. Ruffling her head a little before getting back up.

”Or you can chow down now and shower later,” Shrugging a little, ”Whatever you feel like. Plates and glasses and whatnot are here, drinks in the fridge, unless you'd prefer alcohol, that's over there.” He pointed to the large liquor cabinet, ”Make yourself at home. After food and getting clean, we can talk.” He moved to the side table besides one of the couches and picked up his tablet and used it to put some music on. Nothing loud or intrusive, but low in volume and though it was mostly electronic in genre, it was perfect for background noise.

> ”I should have had you order a few for me, heh. Oh well.”

”One and a half of these pizzas are for you. I’d fully intended to bribe you with your own food to be nice to me.” But he was already ordering more. Or ordering something. She grinned something of a mix of sheepishness and cocksurity that clearly said sorry without actually meaning it. Triple meat was her peace offering that he’d paid for.

Once inside, Noel stood aside and watched Kaz move about in his space for a moment. Was he doting on a massive bobcat? No, those had fluffier faces. If that was a cat, that was the biggest damn cat she’d ever seen, though. Maybe it was a baby puma?

’Rich people be crazy.’

The memorymancer sighed and then had to take a moment to cringe through it. The wrappings did help, surprisingly. Just… not enough.

She had been non-committal in her answer about her power before. Kaz probably wasn’t going to let it go at this rate, though. Especially since he mentioned that they would talk later. It was almost like a parent letting the teen know that the hammer was about to fall. She was in trouble. She knew it. She even already knew why. Noel had until after shower and food to figure out how to dodge that bullet.

Noel chewed her bottom lip as she mulled it over. Okay. At least once piece of pizza so that she didn’t pass out in the shower. She set the hot box onto one of the chairs  at the table rather than lifting it up to the tabletop proper. See? She was learning.

One box was clearly labeled TRIPLE MEAT. She pulled that out and offered it to Kaz. The other, she barely cracked open in order to sneak out a slice. ”Shower first since you offered. This is shower fuel.” She raised the pizza to him like it was an alcoholic toast and with a nod of thanks, she took the shirt out of the bag and made her escape.

There were cameras everywhere. She noticed them, but wasn’t sure if she knew they were there from his head or if it was like a magic eye picture. Once she saw one, she couldn’t not see the others.

So, once she tried a door and it was unlocked, Noel immediately looked for the cameras inside and was surprised to find none. Also none in the bathroom. He probably just hid them better. Either way, it was definitely safe to take off the sunglasses now that there was some distance between them.

It then occurred to Noel that she probably couldn’t brush her own hair. She hadn’t asked for new pants either. There wasn’t a whole lot of blood on them, but.. She raided the bedroom while she scarfed her slice of pizza just in case the crazy, over-prepared guy was just as crazy and over-prepared as she’d hoped.

And he totally was. Noel scored some baggy drawstring pants and gathered up as many towels as she could carry. She also managed to find paper and a pen in the desk that was in the room which would no doubt come in handy. She made some quick notes about the day on her phone. Stuff she didn’t want to forget like how she’d met Kaz and the training. Bird Hunters already had their own note.

She did her best in the shower, surprised when the back of her head proved tender. Kaz’s memory pegged her in a ground struggle. He hadn’t seen exactly how she’d gotten there. Her throbbing scalp told her the answer: forcibly.

By the time she was done, Noel had a plan.

After almost an hour, five towels, and some careful maneuvering, Noel padded back toward the kitchen in her bare feet, new shirt, sunglasses, and drawstring pants. She had a towel in hand and a couple pieces of paper and a pen.

"I need your help." She set the paper and pen down. That was for later. First thing was first. "Can you braid?" It didn't seem totally out of the question given that he, himself, had long hair. Noel's hair was dragging on the ground behind her without the additional length being tied up in a braid. It was just that long. But, more important than a braid, "Could you at least help me brush?"

Beyond that? She was gonna start stuffing pizza into her face as fast as she could. Noel regretted only taking one piece for shower fuel.

”One and a half of these pizzas are for you. I’d fully intended to bribe you with your own food to be nice to me.”

Kaz wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he had already ordered so there was nothing he could do about it now. He had had doubts that Noel could eat both pizzas by herself, figuring she wanted two different types so she could eat however much of either of them she wanted. Apparently that had been wrong. Chuckling a little, ”Well, thanks anyway. I'm cool with being bribed with stuff for things, but I'll admit that I'm at a loss as to why you think you'd have to bribe me to be nice to you.”

He accepted the Triple Meat pizza and set it and the other pizza on the table, after Noel took a slice for herself. Taking a slice from the triple meat pizza he raised it mirroring her. ”Have to admit, I approve of the shower first. Less mess to clean up later.” He honestly wouldn't have cared if either of them sat on his furniture being bloody like they were, they could always be cleaned, or replaced, but not having to deal with that was always a better option.

Kaz watched Noel as she left until she moved out of his sight. A slight, soft sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head slightly before looking down at himself. 'Yeah, I could use one too.' Kaz went back to the roof, looked to the edge and picked up his delivery. ”God I love this service.” He brought his three pizzas into the kitchen and put them into the pizza oven for later.

Kaz went to his own room, threw his clothes into the hamper and took his own shower. As he looked himself over as the water fell on him, he realized he had so many scratches and small cuts that he imagined he looked like a pack of wild cats had mauled him. He cleaned up as well as he could, being gentle, but there was nothing he could do about the bruising he could feel all over his body. It was things like that that made Kaz wish he was able to rapidly heal or have some sort of regeneration.

When he was done, he dressed in a pair of loose, light gray cotton pants and a sleeveless, form-fitting black shirt. He didn't bother with socks, he'd rather never wear socks if he could help it. After mostly drying his hair, he pulled it back and bound it at the base of his skull. It wasn't the best job he'd ever done, it was slightly loose and there were strands that he missed hanging down in front of his face.

When he reached the living room he realized that Noel was still in the shower. It had taken him 20minutes or so, and he had gone in at least 10minutes after she had. ”Women take forever.” He muttered to himself. Grabbing the triple meat pizza box he set it and the tablet on the side table next to the couch before he went to grab his first aid kit. Kaz's version of a first aid kit was more like a miniature hospital kit, if someone knew how to use what was in it, it would be possible to perform minor surgery with everything he had in it. All Kaz needed were the pain killers, topical and pills, and the wraps. He set those off to the side with a bottle of water before sitting down on the couch.

Using the tablet he turned on the giant tv and began to do a few searches. He'd pull up anything he could find concerning the 'Bird Hunters'.

By the time Noel had come back into the living room area Kaz had finished the triple meat pizza and had eaten half of a double peperoni and sausage pizza, finished a bottle of liquor and had started on another and had saved a few sites and articles that might have something to do with the people that had jumped them.

He looked at her when she spoke, eyes going a little wide at the sight of her. Well, her hair at least, since that's where his eyes looked. Kaz was sure he had never seen anyone with that long of hair. ”Holy crap your hair is long.” Kaz leaned forward, moved the table out of the way and dragged the ottoman towards him. Patting it, he indicated that she should sit on it. When she came over with her stuff, paper and pencil and pizza, he took the brush and waited until she sat down, adjusted the ottoman's position so he could work easier.

Kaz took care when brushing her hair, knowing full well what a pain long hair could be. It was only then that he realized she was wearing sunglasses. ”I can turn the lights down if they're too bright. There's some pain killers over there with the wraps and topical anesthetics if you want'em” Kaz stopped brushing, waiting to see if she'd go to take them. When she was ready he'd start again. ”To answer your question, yes I can braid. Learned from a woman in...Japan I think...did her hair each morning. She didn't have hair as long as yours though.” Kaz laughed.

”I see you found pants to wear. Went snoopin a bit huh.” Kaz's tone made it obvious he was messing with her, that he was a bit amused. ”Enjoy the shower?” He asked as he held the tablet out for her to take. ”Since you seem to know something about these guys, see what you can find, I already did a little searching, but I didn't find all that much. I'm not all that good at looking for information on the internet.”

After brushing her hair as best he could he began to braid it the way he had been taught. It was a little fancier than a basic braid, but it also bound up her hair more than a typical braid would so it wouldn't be nearly as long as it had been when they had first met. ”If you'd like, I think we could get your bruises and whatnot fixed up....” He said this softly and a little apprehensively. Not so much because it would be dangerous or anything like that. Kaz himself wasn't sure if he was willing to help her much more.

While Noel had been showering and he had been searching the web, Kaz's mind had been going over the day in his mind, mostly the encounter with Baldy and his friends. He had had time to put things together more coherently, to think them through. There were pieces to a puzzle that he had put together, and he was hoping he was wrong. He didn't think he was, but he hoped. His tone neutral and soft, ”Is there something I should know that you haven't told me? About what you can do?”

> ”Holy crap your hair is long.”

"Yeah." She sounded only a little defeated by it. Or was she supposed to say "thank you"? Sometimes the niceties were lost on Noel. If it weren't for the hair, she probably would have been done in 20 minutes as well. Well, 20 minutes for showering and clothes. It had still taken her some time to taste her bloodied shirt and take notes there.

Noel accepted a seat in front of Kaz and for a moment just let him work. The rhythmic motions tugged at her scalp forcing her chin to dip and lift. If she hadn't been trying to fill her mouth with pizza, it would have been very zen.

He was gentle at least. She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but experience was not exactly it.

>”...did her hair each morning. She didn't have hair as long as yours though.”

Each morning? Like, after they'd spent the night together? Noel quickly realized that was entirely none of her business so she didn't ask. "Yeah. I keep meaning to get it cut..." But she was weirdly protective of it sometimes. She got the impression that maybe someone had complimented her once or something equally ridiculous. Some weird sentiment made her feel like she couldn't lop it all off. Problem was, she couldn't remember why. She just felt it.

> ”I can turn the lights down if they're too bright."

Facing away from him she didn't need the glasses. She was absolutely paranoid, though. "Might be nice, if you don't mind." At his invitation Noel took a couple pain pills and the topical. If her head hadn't been on a slow burn throbfest, she wouldn't have even bothered with the pills. She removed the glasses once the lights were low and she worked on rubbing some relief into her ribs.

> ”I see you found pants to wear. Went snoopin' a bit huh.”

She was absolutely determined not to be embarrassed by that statement. He didn't yet know that she'd snooped in his memories too. "An eccentric mutant says 'hey, go into one of the many guest rooms in my secret lair and help yourself' and I'm supposed to resist snooping?" She grinned even if he couldn't see it. "Fat chance, buddy."

Noel would have been a fool not to accept his invitation to poke around on the tablet. Didn't this thing have, like, control over some of the security here? She tried to only use it for good. "Prepare to be in awe of my Google-fu."

He didn't have a chance to compare since she seemed both more familiar with quick researching and had more information to work from. Based on the email address of the organizer alone she was able to pull up a Facebook account (private), a Facebook group (set to private), a sub-forum on the popular mutant watching site AudobonX (also set to private), and a host of associated accounts. Cross referencing all of those would probably get them an in somewhere. It was just going to be a boring and time consuming project.

Or. She could infiltrate a meeting personally. Noel dismissed the idea since her face was known.

> ”If you'd like, I think we could get your bruises and whatnot fixed up....”

"I don't think I can ask anything more of you. You've done more than enough. Thanks." And since her pizza consumption and internet digging had both slowed, it was quickly approaching "the talk." Noel grabbed the glasses just in case. Every other mutant seemed entirely too eager to discuss their abilities.

So he asked. She had to stop herself from snipping back that she hadn't asked about his abilities, but maybe it was easy to guess was was a bodymorph. Physiomorph? Wasn't like there was a standardized set of terminology to work from here.

She turned on the ottoman and tried not to frown at Kaz. She wasn't sure why it bothered her that he was about to hate her. It wasn't her job to gain his trust or defend all psychics everywhere. Lord knew he had a good enough reason for a grudge. "I am going to tell you something you don't want to hear. I am then going to do something you probably won't approve of. Just... hear me out. Okay?" It would not do to have him interrupting her with her own murder. Terribly inconvenient.

Noel showed her hands open and without weapon. Not that he would be threatened by her physically.

"I read memories by taste. Passively to some extent, too. I get a God-awful taste in my mouth when someone lies. When they know they are lying, anyway. I also violated your trust by tasting some of your memories." Noel was always this blunt even when it was not easy. The polarized lenses helped to some extent. She was able to watch Kaz's reactions without having to be careful of where her eyes were.

"I did so because the other facet of my ability is to erase memory. Eye contact." She tapped the glasses without humor. "I did a lot of that today and I wanted to know why." Wait. She was messing this up. Noel quickly smoothed the flyaways away from her face and tried again. "I told you it's all messed up. Anything I erase from someone else, I also erase my own memories. If I don't find a third party observer, I wouldn't know." This was sounding like a worse and worse excuse, even to her.

"The glasses are a precaution. When I'm tired or hurt," or hungry or grumpy or just not careful, "my ability to erase can happen on its own. That happened on the rooftop. I don't know if you noticed. I don't know what you or I lost besides time."

Okay. She was fully prepared to get throttled now, but she did have one last peace offering. "I know that you have a well-founded distrust of psychics. I tasted more than I should have about your history and Nicki specifically. But I want us to be square. One time offer. I will let you witness me wipe my own memories if you want. You can quiz me after or... I don't know." So. How bad was it?

If someone asked his opinion, he'd answer honestly that he liked women with long hair, found it more appealing, more feminine, more attractive than short hair, but he also had to admit most women didn't have as long of hair as Noel. It was sort of the extreme end of the short-long hair range. When she mentioned cutting it, he tried to imagine her hair at different lengths, until he figured that waist length or to the middle of her lower back would look quite nice on her. Still long, but manageable and it wouldn't be all over the place. For a few moments he debated offering to cut it for her, right then as she sat on the ottoman, but he decided against it.

He continued working as she worked the topical onto and into her pains, smirking when she admitted to snooping a bit. Not that he cared. He didn't expect her not to do it. He couldn't help thinking of what she would have done if she hadn't snooped and found the pants. He was sure she wouldn't have walked out in nothing but a shirt and underwear, but as he watched her work the topical in, he had to admit he would not have minded if she had walked out like that. She did have nice legs after all, and she was in good shape, not to mention it was obvious she was no stranger to pain and danger, as evident by her scars. Kaz didn't find scars attractive as such, but they did give her..not character...something, something he couldn't put words to.

Kaz tried to push those thoughts away, he wasn't the type of guy to jump and try to hook up with just any attractive woman just because they were attractive. She was attractive he admitted to himself, but he knew most his thinking at that moment was due to lack of any sort of intimacy for almost a year, hadn't so much as held a woman, and carrying one to a rooftop and then to his place didn't count, it wasn't the same.

Kaz pried his thoughts off that train and focused his attention on Noel's 'Google-fu'. At first as he watched he was awed by what she found and pulled up in such a short time. As he watched, it became apparent that she already knew a lot more than what she had told him on the rooftop. That was the only way she could find what she did so quickly. Of course, what she found and pulled up didn't actually give them any really important information, likely that would come from doing more in depth work and searching.

When she turned down his offer of getting her fixed up and healed he found he was both glad and disappointed. He felt both emotions for the same reason, by not accepting, for him, it was an admission of guilt.

Mulling it the day's events over in his head, he had worked out that, in addition to being able to tell when someone lied as she had told him, she was able to alter someone's memories through eye contact. The extent of what she altered and what she did exactly, he didn't know, but he knew she had done it to Baldy and No-Fingers, and himself on the rooftop. It was that last bit that really got to him.

They both seemed to realize what was coming next, as if that was what he had meant earlier by 'we can talk'. It hadn't been, at least not when he had said it. He had intended to leave it, and the question of her abilities alone until she came out and said something about it. He had intended to talk about the 'Bird Hunters', but he had be left to himself for too long, long enough for him to piece things together, to think about it. Kaz wasn't the smartest person, and there were a lot of things that went right over his head completely incomprehensible to him, but given time he was able to figure a lot out. It helped that he had met, known, and watched a lot of mutants, tried to figure them out and what they could do. If he tried to reason out why that was, he would chalk it up to fighting them and having to analyze the situation and their abilities quickly.

He asked the question. There was a silent pause. She turned to face him. He refused to look her in the eyes, something he disliked doing. Not looking someone in the eyes while talking to them was, to him at least, rude, and he felt, dishonest, but he couldn't risk it. Instead he kept his eyes on her lips. Kaz did his best to keep his face neutral as she spoke. He had decided he'd listen, that he'd try to be adult about the situation and not just react, that he'd give her the benefit of the doubt. She was a fellow mutant, and he knew that there were a great many of their kind that got the short end of the stick when it came to abilities.

”Just... hear me out. Okay?” Kaz raised one eyebrow fractionally, gave her a very small nod, lips pressing together very slightly.

Kaz listened to Noel explain intently, replaying everything she said in his mind over and over, adding pieces of information into the whole picture as she gave them. Right off the bat he had to control the urge to do something violent. He had seen her put his phone to her mouth, had felt sympathy and concern, had wanted to help her while she was knowingly, willingly rifling through his memories, invading his privacy. On the roof he had moved when he felt he was invading her personal space too much, had tried to minimize that intrusion while he did what he could to help her. The only thing he couldn't stop was a tightening of his face as the muscles tensed a tiny bit and the single muscle tick from the corner of his eye.

Noel continued her explanation...her excuses. She had excuses for what she did, justifying her action to herself. Kaz's face twitched into a scowl for the space of a heartbeat before returning to normal except his brow had furrowed, but he continued to listen intently, keeping his silence, hands in his lap.

He was doing pretty well, great in fact, not interrupting, listening politely, trying, trying very hard, to not judge her, too harshly at least, to keep an open mind. And then she fucked it all up with one word, a name actually: Nicki. Kaz's face contorted in anger, lips peeled back from his teeth, teeth that had become very inhuman, the muscles of his face were spazzing as his face changed slightly, taking on the look of something like a stunted muzzle. The skin of his arms writhed as the muscles beneath writhed and bulged. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles popped with explosive sound, his nails elongated and pierced his skin blood trickled from his fists.

Kaz could have, will a little difficulty, dealt with everything up to that point. He could even sympathize with her situation, even though he still thought her reasons were excuses and justifications, he could understand wanting to fill in blanks. Especially if she wasn't always in control of her mutation. Kaz knew about that, he'd dealt with it a couple times, but he had seen others struggle with it, seen a little boy kill his parents because he was young, upset and lost control, causing his parents to age and rot away in moments. He could believe that when she had done it to him it had been accidental, and that's why she had ordered the sunglasses, to keep it from happening again. But she willingly went beyond what was understandable, beyond what was necessary to fill in her own blanks. Nicki was years ago, half a decade ago. Yes he still thought of her, still had people looking for any sign of her, but any interaction with her, any actual, relevant memories of her he had were too far in the past. That intrusion was inexcusable.

Kaz was too angry to keep his eyes on her lips, they moved to hers as he unclenched his fists, the blood stopped flowing almost instantly. When he stood up slowly, the twitching, writhing, spazzing muscles had calmed. He took a step away from her, then another, his body still facing her. His hand reached toward her face, his nails had changed to become very talon-like. Kaz felt the urge to sink his talons into her pretty, deceitful, backstabbing, untrustworthy face. Instead, the tips of the talons stopped a hair's breadth from her skin, if she puffed out her cheeks, she'd impale them on his claws.

Dropping his arm he turned from her and walked to the lift, which was at a lower floor. Opening the safety gate, he looked down the shaft as he strongly considered dropping down it to the third floor and beat on the most heavy duty heavy bag he had. In his current state he doubted it would be able to last even one hit. Gripping the steel beam beside him, leaned out into the open shaft for quite some time. When he leaned back and closed the gate his features and hands had returned to normal.

When he spoke, Kaz's voice was very deep and rough sounding, but only loud enough to carry over to Noel. ”I want to kill you right now. Want to rip your head off your neck. You had no right to do that, none. I don't like what you did, but I can......understand..” The word was heavily stressed, ”..wanting to know what happened. I can forgive you erasing my memories. I had that all figured out before you got out of the shower, well, I had a good idea what happened at least, but not why. Now I do, and I get it.” His voice became more normal after a few deep breaths, ”Did it ever once cross your mind to ask? Ask what happened? Ask for permission?” He kept his back to her as he ran his hand over his head. When he did look at her, he turned his body only slightly so his side was facing her. ”Why didn't you stop when you had enough? Why'd you keep going, keep digging?” Their was pain in his voice, a tightness that only came from emotional pain. ”I was helping you! I had no reason to, but I did, and you....you.... This is exactly why I HATE psychics.”

He turned to face her fully and spread his hands, ”You want us to be square...that's not going to happen. You can't fix this Noel. What will you erasing your own memories do? I'll still remember what you did and you'll be left with a hole again that you need filled. Erasing mine won't work either, too much has happened. If you erase both of ours we'll loose that,” He pointed to the tv with everything Noel had pulled up about the 'Bird Hunters', ”I won't loose that. I need that, and I need what you know.”

Kaz dropped his arms, breathed deeply. ”Why did you mention Nicki? What did you get out of finding her in my memories? Why would you want to do that?”

It was bad. It was get to her feet and think about defending herself bad. But... physiomorph. She could probably throw herself at him all day and it wouldn't make a dent. And he could dent her quite easily. So when he approached she tensed, but held very, very still.

She didn't like not being in control. Didn't like not having at least some control. So very much of her life was out of control all the time.

Held down. A knife at her cheek. Noel inhaled shallowly and the memory swapped. Running for her life when a spine hit her back. 'Stop.' She clenched her fists and continued to tense. She needed to be in the here and now. He could kill her. She knew that coming here. That he would want to. That when she told him, he would want to.

So why did she do it?

He dropped his arm after too long a moment and walked away. Noel wilted where she stood. This was the problem with trusting people. Or, maybe, she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him without knowing? She let out a shaky breath. Should she leave? She didn't have anything here. Her phone was in her pocket. He could keep the bloody clothes. She would strip and leave these here if he insisted. Let him snoop right back if he wanted.

Yeah. Actually, leaving was probably best, right? Noel grabbed up the paper and wrote herself a note.

HE LIKES HIS MENTAL PRIVACY. THIS DOESN'T FIX THINGS.

She hesitated with her pen above the paper and was surprised by her sudden train of thought. She could take something of his. She could leave. She could have all his passwords and all his bank accounts and all his... whatever. She could do a lot of damage.

It was such a weird thought. Noel hadn't ever seriously entertained something like that. And she sure as heck wasn't about to start with someone who already had motivation to kill her.

Apologize. She scribbled under her big message. Trust is a BFD here. You didn't give him enough credit the first time. If you use your power again without permission, past me gives Kaz permission to hurt you. Bad.

>”I want to kill you right now..."

But. Not that bad. Crap. She needed a mirror. No. Screw that. She needed to leave. He was still talking. Maybe she had time to get to the roof access? And then what? Fall to her death? Yeah. That would really show him.

>"...but I can......understand.”

Noel hesitated with her hand on the open door of the guest room she'd used before. The windows were all flipping tiny here. That was not a way out. She hadn't anticipated needing one. She heard him shift toward her.

> ”Did it ever once cross your mind to ask? Ask what happened? Ask for permission?”

"The whole point was to hypothetically avoid something like this, but I've never met someone with so much..." Damage? Regret? Baggage? She cast around for a word and had to settle lamely for, "History with psychics specifically. So, no. Until a few hours ago I lived in a world where I didn't know the specifics of those kinds of things. It did not occur to me. Not even a little."

Yeah. She wasn't about to explain the specifics of how her power worked when he would just as quickly rip her face off. She'd gone looking for something specific, something she thought wasn't a big deal. It turned out to be a big deal."Kaz. Instead of downloading every memory in your head, I went looking for something specific. Not a lot of people even have experience with psychics, but they still flip out when they learn." You know. Like he was now? "I wanted to know that you wouldn't hurt me." So far that was the miracle of the day.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry." Noel ducked into the room with her paper in hand. He would not approve. She made it to the bathroom. So far, her face was still attached. She pulled off the sunglasses and gave herself a hard look in the mirror.

'You don't owe him anything. He's not your boss. He's not your anything.'

Yeah, but so many other people had already done him wrong. This was the only thing she could think of that could maybe, maybe make things even just a little bit right.

'Forget.' She told herself, green and brown eyes already starting their dance in her head. 'Forget Nikki. Forget the mental detour. Forget Kaz' opinion on mutants. Forget.'

Most people didn't get a reset button or a do-over.

Kaz didn't move from his where he stood when Noel left the room. He stood there, eyes closed, breathing deeply, doing what he could to keep himself calm as he let Noel's words roll through his head. She did what she did for a reason: ”I wanted to know that you wouldn't hurt me.” There had to be a reason for that. Something that made her feel, to think, that it was necessary. The question was 'Why?', the obvious answer: Because someone had hurt her because of what she could do, and probably did do.

Using that line of thought he tried to put things in perspective. Sure she had gone into his had, in the most roundabout way he had ever heard of, but she had done it to fill in her own memory gaps. Gaps that she had gained because of the day's events and since he had been around for at least part of it, he was the obvious source of information, he'd have done the same, probably. If she had been hurt for telling someone what she did and could do, she'd want to know that he wouldn't do the same when she told him, if she decided to tell him.

And she had told him, had been honest about it. Kaz respected that honesty, respected that she had told him despite knowing how he felt about psychics. There was no reason for her to tell him that she knew about Nicki, she could have kept all that to herself. Looking for that sort of thing in his head, she had to know he'd react badly, and yet...

”Fuck.” Kaz pressed his hands against his face and sighed. He hadn't really considered her position, he side of things when he all but backed her into a corner and confronted her. He talked to her as if she should have considered him and his side of things, but he hadn't done that, not really, and then he went and did exactly what she was afraid, worried, concerned, he'd do. Sure he hadn't actually laid a hand on her, hadn't actually hurt her physically, but he had been so close, had wanted to. He'd even told her what he wanted to do.

If that was the sort of reaction she got when she opened herself up just a little, to let someone know about her...being shot down, having someone hurt you, or want to hurt you, for it... ”Dammit” No wonder she was cautious.

Kaz realized when he finally looked up from his hands that Noel still hadn't come out of the room. He would have heard her, no matter how quiet she tried to be, if she had tried to leave. Not that he would have stopped her if she had tried. Kaz thought and talked about accepting all mutants no matter what, and he believed it, but he had had too many bad experiences with psychics to be able to be comfortable with them right away. But unlike some that he had met, Noel hadn't done anything malicious, hadn't done what she did to gain some influence or power over him, hadn't done it to hurt him. No, she had done it to help herself in the same way anyone would in her position.

He walked to the room where he knew she was, making sure to let his feet land and make enough noise to let her know he was coming. That was a bit of an effort. Kaz was so use to walking in such a way to minimize the sound of his footfalls that he never thought about it. Kaz didn't enter the room, instead he stood against the wall next to the door, next to the handle.

Kaz pulled the handle and let the door swing open a short distance. Turning his head to speak into the room a bit, without looking in. ”Noel?” He wasn't questioning whether she was in there or not, he could hear her in the room. He was trying to...what? Find out if it was alright for him to answer? If she was alright? If he could go in? ”I...” What? Did he even know what to say? How does someone communicate what went through their head, thoughts that weren't thoughts but fragments of thoughts, little bits of things zipping around somehow creating understandable things within their mind without ever creating an actual word. Kaz let out a heavy breath, ”Sorry. I'm sorry I reacted like that. It wasn't...dammit.” Kaz let out a short, frustrated groan, ”You okay?”

She'd had a question buzzing around in her head before the wipe. Now, as she looked herself in the eyes while her vision took its time growing outward, she had her answer.

Why did she do it? Because that is who she was. No matter how many times she forgot her name and address, some things wouldn't change. She wouldn't let them. She fought hard not to loose those things that she believed in. Truth. Justice. Vengeance.

"Crap." She wiped the small trickle of blood from her nose. She'd had a headache before. Now the grey spots just didn't clear up all the way after her wipe. Noel had to stop using her power today. Convenient then, that her note to herself agreed.

HE LIKES HIS MENTAL PRIVACY. THIS DOESN'T FIX THINGS.
Apologize. Trust is a BFD here. You didn't give him enough credit the first time. If you use your power again without permission, past me gives Kaz permission to hurt you. Bad.

The pizza was sitting funny in her stomach.

> ”Noel?”

She jumped guiltily and folded the paper so that she could slip it into her pocket with her phone. She ran into a nest of Kaz's secrets, no doubt. What with the death threats and the generous offer to end her. He sounded weirdly... weird for someone who'd gone all pointy fingers and feral animal teeth mere minutes ago.

>”I...”
>”Sorry. I'm sorry I reacted like that. It wasn't...dammit.”

An apology was not what she'd been expecting. She'd been expecting a fight. To fight for her life, no less. She didn't dare say a word, let alone breathe.

He made a tortured sound
> ”You okay?”

Noel looked at herself in the mirror just to check. "My head is still connected to my neck." He'd threatened to change that. She remembered that. She ran some water to splash on her face just to make sure all traces of blood were gone. She pulled the sunglasses on after that. The dimness didn't really help the throbbing that was developing behind one of her eyes.

"It's gone." She admitted it slowly because she had to guess that he would be irritated about that too. "Whatever I found... it's gone now. I'm sorry." She hesitated, but in the end she still had to ask when the axe would fall. She knew it. That someday she'd run into something she couldn't wiggle her way out of. She just hadn't thought it'd be today. "Are you still going to kill me?" She sounded calm about it, at least. Wasn't worth crying about.

Kaz turned his body a bit when he heard Noel speak. In another place and time, Kaz might have found her words amusing. Instead Kaz felt a bit guilty and ashamed. With Noel's ability to detect lies, she knew that he had been completely honest with the threat. When he heard the water running and the light splash his mind treated him to an image of Noel standing in the mirror trying to calm herself, to wash away any evidence of fallen tears. He pushed that image away.

He could be wrong, but he couldn't really see Noel crying. Sure she was probably scared, but she hadn't cried since they had met. Those men in the park had meant to hurt her, kill her if they could have. Physically she might be just like any other human, but Kaz had a feeling she was stronger, tougher, more resilient than others. Even still, the image of Noel's tear streaked face in the mirror came back to him, and he kicked himself mentally.

”It's gone.”

'Gone?' His showed his confusion, he wasn't sure what she meant. A few moments past before he fully turned and pushed the door open more, ”What do-”

”Whatever I found... it's gone now. I'm sorry.”

He was in the room, not far enough in to see into the bathroom, not far enough to see Noel, but he was within range of the bed. Sitting down on the corner of the large bed, Kaz was obviously a little lost. 'How could it be gone? There's no one here but the two of us, she said she needed eye contact to do what she did.' Kaz looked to the bathroom, to where he knew Noel was. It didn't make sense to him. Ignoring the 'how', she had apparently erased whatever she had gotten from him. He didn't know the extend of that, only that she had went looking to see if he would hurt her, for psychics in his mind, and somehow found Nicki.

He kicked himself again. It was true he had, over the years, gotten much better at controlling his anger and not acting on it immediately, but these were situations that showed him that he had a long way to go. If he had thought about it, if he hadn't let his anger dictate his actions, he could have found out exactly what she known, what she had found. If he had done that and taken her up on her offer of deleting her own memories, which she had apparently just done, he would have known what to ask her about.

He doubted that though, he was no psychic so there was no way he would be able to know if she was telling him the truth. He could ask her something, all she'd have to do is say, 'I don't know' or 'I don't remember' and for all he knew, she would still remember everything.

Trust.

That is what this whole situation came down to, or the lack of it. She had a leg up on him, being able to taste lies. He was blind, his could be the greater leap, the greater risk.

Neither of them had said anything for a time. The air felt heavy to Kaz, felt a little oppressive. Kaz found himself leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped in front of his face, chin on his thumbs, when Noel spoke again. She wanted to know if he was going to kill her.

Kaz had calmed, had thought things through, looked at things from her side as best he could. There was no way he could kill her now and think it was okay. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Not because he couldn't answer, but because a thought popped into his head. Kaz smirked. 'What was it she said? 'A God-awful taste when someone lies' '

”Yeah, I'm still going to kill you.” He would have liked to see her reaction, but he'd settle for listening.

He waited until Noel came out from the bathroom before he tilted his head to look at her and patted the bed near him indicating she should sit. Whether she did or not didn't really matter, in any big way, but Kaz felt like accepting would put them on equal terms, acknowledging there were differences, issues, but that they were willing, and wanted, to do something about it. That was what Noel had done earlier, and Kaz had been the one to screw that up.

”I have no way to know if it's gone or not.” He looked at her, looked her in the eyes through her glasses. ”Wouldn't have, even if you had told me everything you had..learned. I'd have to trust that you were telling the truth.” He paused and looked down at the floor. ”You know this doesn't fix it right?” There was no anger in his voice, no annoyance, no accusation.

”I..was...I should have listened, thought...” Frustrated at himself, ”I was only thinking of myself, my side of things. I didn't really consider your side, why you would do what you did, not until after you left. That you had your own reasons your own issues. Someone hurt you when you told them, when they found out what you could do.” It wasn't a question, he was sure of it.

He looked at her again. ”What happened?”

> ”Yeah, I'm still going to kill you.”

Noel exploded into action throwing open drawers and cabinets to look for something, anything that could—

She went to the door and flung it open, hairdryer still in hand. ”Ha ha. Very funny.” For a brief moment she considered lobbing the dryer at his head, but that wasn’t terribly magnanimous. He’d calmed down considerably. She should do the same.

Problem was, she was incredibly keyed up. ”Will you change your mind? Here? Now? Today?” She couldn’t believe forever, but a specific time frame that he believed too? That was an answer worth having.

The memorymancer set the blowdryer on the counter and rinsed her mouth out. The rinsing was not strictly necessary; however, since she didn’t have a Diet Cola to chug, it was the next best thing.

She peered out from the restroom and Kaz still hadn’t moved from his perch on the bed. Fine. That was just dandy. He pat the bed. Sure. Why not just stretch her neck out and offer him a knife?

It only took a moment to close her eyes and count to 10 and then readjust her sunglasses.

She went and sat on the bed.

It was only a short distance between them. Maybe an arm’s length. That was nothing if he chose to change that.

She opened her mouth to rebut, but… well, it was true. He had no way of knowing. ”I am a horrible actress because I taste my own lies. Even sarcasm can be a chore.” Her lips twitched into a facsimile of a smile when he said this didn’t fix things. She fished the paper out of her pocket and passed it over to Kaz for him to read. Why not? He should know anyway.

His apology was… tortured. He was actually trying and that made her feel a little bad for seriously considering the blowdryer thing. Noel hunched.

> “Someone hurt you when you told them, when they found out what you could do. What happened?”

Again she opened her mouth and then shut it. He was trying. So should she. ”This is where I usually deflect. ‘Would you believe I don’t remember?’ People usually accept that once they know. Then I don’t have to go looking. If I don’t go looking for it, the memories stay… withered. There are some things I don’t want in my head.” She leaned back onto her hands and looked up to the ceiling, eyes tracing the ceiling fan. ”Some memories are hard to get rid of. Things with extra depth or reinforcing connections. Repetition. Strong emotion. Extra strong sensory aspects.” It wasn’t cold, but she was already getting goosebumps.

She touched her cheek unconsciously. It was enough to bring it back. ”Cut my face. Held me down in the brush. People everywhere and nobody could find us. I couldn’t stop him. I had a scar for years and I couldn’t forget. One look in the mirror was enough.” She felt her cheek. The skin was smooth. ”Healer.” That was as much as she could explain about why it wasn’t there any more.

”Kaz.” She sounded exasperated. ”Everyone. Everyone hates it. Or wants it. And I don’t want to be a bad person. And I can be tricked. And...” And… she wanted to hit something. Because it was hit something or cry and she was all out of tears.

Kaz was only a little disappointed by her reaction. Since he had lied on purpose and out of the blue, he had hoped for some sort of shocked noise, instead it sounded like she was tearing the bathroom apart. When she appeared in the doorway she was brandishing a hairdryer. Kaz couldn't help but smile a mischievous, self satisfied smile. It didn't last long, it had faded before she asked if he would change his mind. ”No. I don't anticipate changing my mind today.”

”You taste your own lies? I wouldn't have guessed that. That's gotta suck.” Kaz read the note that Noel had apparently written to herself. He couldn't help but let out a snort of a laugh. ”Heh. Well, that's pretty accurate.” He handed the note back to her. ”That explains what the paper was for. You do that a lot I take it.”

For a moment Kaz was sure Noel was going to ignore his question, going to tell him it was none of his business. He thought about saying something when she started speaking. He nodded slightly, listening. Kaz thought he could remember her saying she didn't remember about something, but at the moment he couldn't remember why.

As he watched her and listened, he wondered if she was speaking of just her own memories, or if what she described worked for all memories she erased. If that were the case, then there was a chance he could get back what she had erased from himself. It also meant that Noel could possibly remember what she had erased from herself.

Noel recounted the memory of what happened. The way she said it though, seemed odd, off. It sounded a bit disjointed. Normally when someone told of something they remembered there was more too it, details that hers was lacking. He didn't think she was lying about it, but he felt there was stuff she was skipping. She said what happened to her, but he didn't know why it had happened. At the same time Kaz felt angry for her. Maybe it was because of the lack of details, but his mind had no issues with adding its own to fill in blanks, which probably made it worse than what had actually happened.

She did answer a question that he hadn't asked. It seemed Noel was able to erase her own memories by looking into a mirror. He never would have thought of it. In a way it made sense, but it also seemed unlikely, it was a mirror, not another mind that she was looking at.

”Everyone. Everyone hates it Or wants it. And I don't want to be a bad person. And I can be tricked.

Kaz moved closer to Noel and took her hand in his. ”I'm..sorry.” Kaz gave her hand a gentle squeeze and spoke gently, ”That seems to be how it goes for us. They either hate us, or want to use us. Very few actually accept us for.. Us.”

”That's part of the reason I helped you today and why I got so mad, at you, and myself. We've only really got ourselves and those people who accept us, those we can trust. It's always a risk, trusting someone. They could turn on you, use you..hurt you. Or they could be the most dependable person you'll know, who will help and support you.”

”If you don't want to be a 'bad person', figure out what that means to you, and find people that can help you with that.” He quirked a smile, ”Some would call me a bad person, but I don't think I am. My priorities are just different, so is what I care about and what I want, and how far I'm willing to go to achieve it.”