"Really? I always just kinda figured you, ya know... were born with it. Current levels and all."

Saph chuckled at the thought, scooting to lean against the wall his bed was placed against, brushing some papers out of the way to make it there unscathed. "Nah, I'd prolly be dead a hundred times over if I hadn't grown."

"... What did you start off being able to do? Are your powers any different now from before?"

He wasn't really used to talking about this, actually. Quick explanations and people piecing it together were one thing, but he hadn't really sat and talked bout what he could do since... what... Jewel... That was a blast from the past.

"Well, when I was a kid I just kinda... accidentally blew things up all of the time. Then my right side started acting a little funny. Hits didn't hurt as much on that side. It got stronger as I grew older, until it was how it is now. My right side soaks in physical force and stores it in my left side. Then... well." He pointed to his shattered alarm clock. "I use that power. I think I make the force stronger, too... That's what it seems like, at least." He nodded, looking at his hands and lifting them to correspond with which side he was talking about.

He wasn't done yet, though.

"Then... I had a seizure... and I suddenly. Like I told you before, I could feel the world around me. Things moving... It's like I'm already kinda touching it all... I can only feel things moving at a good speed. It made it so I could freeze things in mid flight. Just suck the energy right out of them. I do that to bullets now, if I see them coming."

Still not done.

"After that... I fought a guy that was... impossible. He was so strong. I sh@# you not, I could feel it; he could lift sky scrapers if he wanted to... Maybe more. When he hit me, the force went right through me, hitting the ground even harder than he'd swung. I managed to punch him through a building." He chuckled remembering the fight.

"Still growing, too. I can steer things in the air, now. Heck, even myself. I can sorta fly I guess. Sorta." He paused as he finished that statement... He'd never really thought about it before, but he was amazing, wasn't he?

Unreal, even.

When did that happen?

She listened intently, even though she might not have looked like it. This was probably one of the more interesting conversations she'd ever had, right up there with Parrot girls and dragon gods. She tried to imagine it as he described it, how it would work and feel. She failed miserably, of course.

At some point she dropped to an elbow, and then flat on her back during his explanation. One hand flat on her stomach, legs dangling over the side of the bed. She draped the other hand over her forehead and fiddled with her hair tie. She'd long since forgotten that she had intended to put her hair back up. "So you amplified it?" That must have been pretty extreme. Hitting someone hard enough to knock them through a building. She'd fully call bulls%$ on him, save for the fact that her own experiences were pretty weird too.

"Can you feel me moving right now? Does it bother you?" She was still fiddling with the hair tie, and didn't think to stop until after she'd asked. Would that feel weird? Constantly feeling everything? She envisioned it feeling weird. Really weird.

Lapsing into a silence, she thought about the many differences between them. All of his strengths, that he had explained, and other general facts.

"... I can lick my nose."

The Masochist remembered a little late that it was the Judge who punched the big red guy through the sanctuary's walls. He was happy he really didn't go into detail.

"Yeap. It was unreal, and I've done some pretty crazy stuff on the regular."

Saph chuckled as she brought up the hair tie, and shook his head.

"Not enough force for me to feel that. It's gotta be... like, a quick walk or more. And yeah, it made be sick for a long time. Couldn't sit in cars. Gotta kinda tune it out while I drive. I mean... This stuff ain't all sunshine an rainbows. It's got downsides. I can hardly swim, and riding a bike is a pain in the ass." Saph opted to lean a little bit more, getting just a tiny bit more comfortable wouldn't cause any harm, would it?

He grinned as she mentioned she could touch her nose with her tongue.

"Now, See I can't do that. Got me beat."

Were his eyes getting heavy?

She laughed. It was nice that he humored her. "Yup, best super power ever. Someone give me a prize."

She closed her eyes trying to envision all of the downsides he mentioned too. Not being able to ride a bike? No swimming? No thank you. She kinda liked both of those activities.

Now she was imagining him with yellow duck arm floats and a safety tube around his waist. She laughed again.

"I'll cross lazy Sunday bike rides and pool parties off the date list, then."

One deep breath in at her own joke, a soft chuckle, and she was out like a light. Three days worth of sleep deprivation decided to come calling and she didn't have the energy to put up a fight.

Saphirus watched silently as sleep overtook her. She'd been fighting so hard, hadn't she? He had to give it to her, many people would have reacted in a much less admirable way. That must have been it. He admired her. Aside from being able to touch her nose with her tongue, she didn't have any special abilities, but she was willing to try any take on one of the most dangerous figures in New York.

He didn't give any thought to the date list comment at the moment. Well... Maybe a small bit, as his eyes closed against his will.

Nine hours later, he woke up, tucked at an awkward angle against the wall, papers everywhere, light filtering in through the blinds, a woman still out cold and splayed across his bed. Saph couldn't help but smile at the image of the girl, unceremoniously splayed out, maybe possibly snoring, definitely sleeping with her mouth open, face down, with a piece of paper that would definitely be sticking to her face.

He chuckled a bit, and looked over at his alarm clock, still in pieces on the other side of the room. He'd have to get a new one.

The older mutant found his eyes laying on Shelby once more. A recall from words spoken the night prior popped into his head, and it brought up some serious questions. What was he going to do about this? Not Roach. He had ideas there... About Shelby.

Was he falling for her? Was he even prepared to fall for someone? Did she even see him that way? Was this something he wanted to pursue, or was it even right to try?

He landed on just... letting it go how it would go. So far, he'd done what ever felt natural. More than that, he didn't think this was really important. More important was that this woman needed help, and he could help her.

Do the right thing, Saph. That's all you gotta do.

She awoke like death. Or felt like it, at least. Blearily she cracked an eye open, blinked, and pondered going back to sleep.

... Then she started to remember where she was. How she had gotten there, and what had happened. But, above all else, she had slept. Pretty soundly too, considering it looked like she may have been drooling. Which also meant she may have been snoring. Crapbaskets. Gingerly, before she even noticed that Saph was awake, she set about lifting herself back up. Moving her head provided support that she had in fact drooled, since there was a sheet of paper stuck to her skin. Removing it, unbeknownst to her, left some of the ink on her skin. It looked like she had part of a book tattooed on her cheek and chin.

Then, half way through, she noticed Saph seemed to be conscious. Although since her glasses had fallen off at some point during the night, it was a little hard to tell. "Oh, uhhh... Morning?"

Or afternoon. She couldn't tell. She fumbled for her glasses and pulled more papers off of her. In the process, she discovered that she should not have been sleeping in that position. "Ohhh... Owwww." A groan, immediately followed by a stretch. "I think I need to start jogging again."

With a sigh, she slumped and cast a glance around the room. There was paper on the floor now, and she had just noticed the alarm clock in the wall (as well as all the dents from previous alarm clocks), and at some point in the night it looked like she'd probably kicked his blanket off the bed.

She scratched at the back of her neck and shot him a guilty smile as she started to get up. "Sorry about messing up your room... and the alarm clock?" She assumed it had been the thunk she had heard the previous night. She started to try and pickup the thousand-card-pickup that was the document mess.

Ahh, She stirred soon after he'd chuckled.

"Oh, uhhh... Morning?"

Saph yawned quietly, and shrugged. "Dunno. Prolly later." He had that just woke up from sleeping way too long feeling, so it had to be late. After noon? He was usually an early riser. Late sleeper, too. This was likely the most sleep he'd gotten in... a year?

"Ohhh... Owwww. I think I need to start jogging again."

Saph gave a confirmatory gesture. "Guess it never hurts. Not sure how that would help sleeping like roadkill, but you know. Baby steps." He actually felt pretty good, considering a wall was his main support structure. Maybe he would benefit from a harder bed? Things you found out about yourself when sleep deprived, delirious women decided to ambush you in the night.


"Sorry about messing up your room... and the alarm clock?"

"Sorry about trying to read the words printed on your cheek." He gave her a bemused grin. He didn't seem worried about the mess. Not even close.

"How do you feel? A little better?"

"Guess it never hurts. Not sure how that would help sleeping like roadkill, but you know. Baby steps."

She turned from her task and gawked at him in mock offense. "Roadkill?! How dare you!" Then promptly laughed, and totally started panicking inwardly on the down-low. How long had he been awake?! "Well for one I don't normally sleep all flopped out like roadkill. I sleep in a tight little fetal ball, just like every other normal person in this city, this day and age."

"Sorry about trying to read the words printed on your cheek. How do you feel? A little better?"

Words on her--? Abstract horror replaced the mock offense, and she slapped hand over the area the page had been. Oh god! She was a flippin' book! She fought back a furious blush and sat right back down so she could use the bottom of her shirt to try and scrub the offending ink off.

"Other than feeling like a zombie.. yeah, I think I feel better." She glanced up at him, silently asking if she had removed all the words with a finger pointed at her face. "Feels like my head is a bit clearer. Not full of muck."

Saph chuckled at her display of dark humor.

He was a fan of that. To be fair, at the moment, actually interacting with anyone other than a grumpy late teen was refreshing. Elke was grounded at the moment, too, so she was a joy to deal with at the moment anyway.

The sleepy mutant put both arms behind his head and relaxed into the wall again, looking quite comfortable.

A knowing smirk and a shake of the noggin accompanied her physical inquiry on whether or not the face-rubbing had helped. He pointed to the only door in the room other than the exit, the bathroom.

"Towel's on the right. Just got the one. I got the day off today. You want to see if we can dig anything else up?"

"Towel's on the right. Just got the one. I got the day off today. You want to see if we can dig anything else up?"

She followed his gesture with her eyes, still rubbing at her face with the back of a palm. It came away smudged black. She frowned deeply at it and huffed. So help her, if she looked like a hipster with a beard now...

"Thanks, I think i'll take you up on that offer. Don't really wanna do the walk of shame back to my room with a full beard."

Now, what did she want to do with the rest of the day? She'd already gotten up and headed for his bathroom, but she stopped and turned halfway there. "I dunno. Kinda want to take a break from playing a sleuth, at least for a bit. Give my brain a chance to cool down." She pondered on it, thinking back to the conversation that had had the night before.

"Hey, I know... Remember last night? You explained all of the stuff you can do." And some of the not so nifty things. She quirked an eyebrow at him, "Would you be up for showing me some of it? You know, now that you don't have to save me every five seconds."

She paused, letting her question settle, then added in, "I'll show you my nose-licking-trick." She resisted puppy eyes for exactly five seconds, before throwing them in on top of it all. Once she had an answer, she excused herself to his bathroom to take a quick shower and scrub the junk off her face. She also puzzled over where he had managed to procure a three-in-one shampoo/conditioner/body wash from this day and age. She hadn't seen one in years!

A few moments later she returned, looking like a damp truffula tree from the kids books. She blinked at him, de-tangling her hair with her fingers. "Hope you don't mind, I just hung your towel back up. Only used it on my hair."

Offhandedly, she wondered if he smelled like the shampoo/conditioner/bodywash she had used. It was nice.

She took him up on the shower.

He hadn't thought about it being at all strange to offer it to her; it just kinda came naturally. Before she went, though, she inquired about having him show off his powers. He'd never really done anything like that before... Maybe his tryout... Made him miss Juka, actually.

He wasn't sure about it. She twisted his arm with the tongue thing, which just made him laugh. Then she made puppy eyes. "Eh... Crap. We'll see, alright?" He shook his head and shooed her off to shower.

As she showered, he debated his options in his mind. It wasn't like he was going to take her into the danger room or anything. That was... well, dangerous. But maybe she could watch from the control room... Hmm... Might work.

She was in and out quick. She mentioned his towel, and he shrugged. No biggie, really.

He stood and stretched a bit, scratching the back of his head as he measured the risks over the rest. Eh, Screw it.

"I got an idea, but if I show you this, you can't go blabbing to anyone, okay?"

Her excitement was palpable, and obvious. She would have hugged him if she knew him better, and if she wasn't currently drenched from the shower. Instead, she popped out a pinky at him and grinned.

"Pinky promise. Won't utter a word."

She didn't even know what 'it' was yet, and that only seemed to add a flare of mystery to it.

[Continued in: Oh, the hue manatee]