"Well, where I'm from winter is mostly wet. It's called the Wet Coast for a reason," he said lightly, "Summer's pretty awesome too, and more people think so. Tons of things to do and places that are worth just existing in for a while. Hot springs that haven't been built up into public resorts. Enough wild berries on an hour long trail to make pie."

Aw, he was gettin' all nostalgic and stuff.

And then he had to literally stop and stare at the nurse because "THAT IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD OF." And also painful, but he'd forget that soon enough, right? He totally missed that she was, well, asking him to mutilate himself in front of a bunch of kids and make a huge mess. "Do you want me to make a list of what I currently have stored that might work? Then you can remember what you want to use and just go for it."

Yes, his greatest concern with the whole thing was that he wouldn't remember what marking or memory to trigger.

"Awesome!" Juliette almost yelled in response. It was difficult not to be swept away by Memo's intense enthusiasm. She was so excited by the idea that the eithics of the whole idea hadn't even crossed her mind. Sure, it might freak some of the students out, but it was all in the name of safety, right?

She nodded sincerely, "a list would be perfect. That way we wouldn't be shooting in the dark during the presentation, you know? Do you remember where everything is?" She hoped he did. The presentation was going to be awesome with his help.

The one thing that did flash through her mind, however briefly, was the logistics of it all. How would it work if Memo forgot? She vaguely recalled the first school being somewhere out it Westchester or something. 

"How about we trade phone numbers?" Juliette offered, "that way I can remind you before so you don't miss it. Oh, and remember to book it off work! It'll be during the day."

Woohoo, everyone was excited! Excited was good, excited was great. And lists, he could make lists. He just had to poke himself in the forehead - did she want the list now? Or later? She might have to remind him to do it later, but then she wouldn't be late for work or anything, and if he ended up bleeding everywhere he could at least do it somewhere easy to clean up.

"Do you want me to go through everything now, or do you want to call me when you have time and we can do it then?" If all else fails, ask! "One of my reliable memories, fortunately, is a sort of catalogue." He gestured to, but didn't quite touch, the marking running from his forehead down the bridge of his nose. "Don't worry, not everything is injury. Most are other things, really."

Ohhh phone numbers that would be useful, especially if he were to be reminded about getting her the list later. He fished his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it (fingerprint scanners were great, no passwords to remember), and passed it over. "Add yourself in and send yourself a text," he said cheerily.

"Perfect," Juliette nodded, admiring the stripe Memo had pointed out on the bridge of his nose. It made her curious, actually, what the rest of the markings were. Were some of the important skills, perhaps? Or names or dates? He had a very unique mutation. She made a mental note to remember to ask him about it sometime when she wasn't distracted by numerous possibilities.

She took his phone from him and scrolled to the contacts app. She then put in her name and number followed by a starter text to her phone. Turning back to her own phone, she opened it and created a contact for Memo. "There," she said, "now you won't have to remember to text me, or remember your number."

Juliette then had an idea, "hey, why don't you text me the list of things as you remember them? Or do all the memories come at once?" She cocked an eyebrow, studying the markings on his face. She still wasn't entirely sure how they worked, or what they held. That idea made sense to her, but for all she knew it could have been completely impractical.

Memo grinned as the nurse set everything up in his phone. People who accepted his forgetfulness and helped him work around it were so great. He took the phone back and snuck a glance at the name she'd put in. Juliette. Now he could look at it whenever he forgot, and eventually it would get into the back of his memory well enough that he would actually remember it without issue.

Ooooh more good questions about his mutation. "All at once, kind of. If I trigger it by hitting this marking. It's not an instant of remembering everything fresh so much as... pausing while I go through the list in my head, I guess. I can usually remember where everything is for a little bit afterwards without a problem. Y'know, until I forget that I remember."

Juliette chuckled as he explained his mutation a bit better. It made sense, how he explained it, but she was still curious about a few more things. "Do you think you would ever forget basic motor skills, like talking or walking? Or does it only extend to things like experiences?" She asked him.

Thinking about what she had just said, Juliette bit her lip. Would that be a touchy subject for him? Something that made him lie awake at night in fear? She hoped desperately that she hadn't just brought up something that would bring down his mood for the rest of the day. His mood was so excellent. She was a little jealous of it, actually.

"Things I do, that I feel, are a lot easier to remember. Too easy, sometimes. And I remember them way more vividly than, oh, things I've heard or seen. When I do remember stuff like that, it's like I'm reliving the entire thing, with just as much awareness of me as of whatever else is going on." Sometimes cool, sometimes really really hard on report cards. "And so far I don't think I've ever forgotten anything really big. It's usually small things, things that don't have a lot of connections. Fragments. It's actually still pretty new, the stuff I do now, and it's hard to tell what's me and what's my mutation." He shrugged. "Plus my mutation is me."

Rather than being worn down by the conversation, though his energy did settle out a bit into a more human range as he talked about himself, Memo's idle pleasantness fortified itself.

"Ever wished you could remember experiencing something better, or that you could relive it?" he asked slyly, lips slowly stretching into another whole-faced grin as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. There definitely were things he was happy to relive.

"Yeah, it's difficult to separate the mutant from the mutation sometimes," Juliette nodded along as she listened. She knew that some aspects of her own mutation had become so ingrained with her personality that she couldn't imagine living any differently. Like her strong affection for sunlight, for example.

>>"Ever wished you could remember experiencing something better, or that you could relive it?"

"Yes, actually," Juliette replied. She could think of quite a few things she would have liked to relive. She didn't really feel like bringing them up, though. "Is that sort of what it's like? Reliving a moment?"

She glanced down at her phone, her eyes bulging slightly as she looked at the time. Had so much time really passed? She only had about half an hour before her shift, and she had wanted to run home first. "Memo, I have to run, but I'll see you at the school thing, yeah? I'll be sure to text you lots of reminders."

"Totally! I haven't actually come across very many mutations that are clear-cut and definable. They all seem to have subtle impacts on the person, or subtle impacts from the person. Am I an airhead because my power uses memory, or does my power use memory because I'm an airhead, or are they completely unrelated?" He was at risk of running onto a totally unintended tangent, wasn't he? Yes, yes he was.

"Reliving it with every fleck of detail, even if you didn't fully notice it the first time around. Sometimes my focus is a little different, I guess." Had he ever been able to just chat freely about his mutation before, bounce ideas around and so on? Not that he remembered, especially after his mutation made itself actually noticeable. Wait, no, he'd tried once, but that got him kicked in the if-only-nads.

Silver linings.

Still hurt, but he had to stop thinking about that before he remembered it too accurately. "It's most dramatic with pain, but I think I have gotten drunk without drinking anything that day," he quickly continued. "Which is nice on the wallet, I guess, but I had to work really early the next day."

WHAT SHE HAD TO GO

oh right she had work coming up, didn't she? That was fair. "Send them every five minutes if you like!" he said cheerfully, raising a hand in farewell.

She nodded along to his comment, a good philosophical question about mutation. "I think maybe it's a little bit of both, you know? I don't think I've ever really met a person that didn't fit their mutation, but that may just be because their mutation changes them. I guess you can't really know."

>>"Send them every five minutes if you like!"

Juliette chuckled, "maybe I will. Just so you won't forget. See you later!" She returned his wave walked off in the direction of her apartment.

Memo nodded along in energetic agreement, vaguely passionate as if this were positively the most important philosophical moment ever or at least this year. Definitely this week. He sure couldn't remember any more significant discussions. That wasn't saying much, though, so maybe he should just go with today. Today was as safe guess.

Not that he was ever conservative, exactly, but this was philosophy, not politics!

And then she was leaving, and Memo was waving energetically, and glanced at his phone to remind himself of her name before he put it away with a smile.

And then he continued walking, casual and relaxed and simply enjoying himself. Maybe he'd forget most of this, maybe some would linger to make him smile (or wince). Such was life, and Memo preferred to lounge on the cloud rather than blunder around with it on his head. Although it would probably make a good pillow. Or hat. Second best hat!