Marisol only had a few moments to worry about Celeste’s reaction to her Adapted nature before an arm was reciprocating her half-hug. When she checked out message boards, there were a few Adapteds who talked about themselves like the first line of defense against mutants. Marisol could never get on board with an idea like that because she knew mutants who were good people. Her uncle and her first friend at her Los Angeles school were both great people and, while some mutants were not, the same could be said for humans.

Not only did Celeste recognize what Marisol was, she knew another Adapted in New York! Marisol made a mental note to ask about her Adapted friend at the library later. She knew her uncle’s fiancée was an Adapted, but it could not hurt to connect with more people like her.

Celeste did point out that, without Marisol around, she might have given the flirtatious suitor a dose of radiation. ”Wow, my heroine,” she teased through giggling.

“ORDER UP!”

Marisol looked over to the kitchen and saw the younger guys order waiting to be delivered. She sighed. ”I’ve got this one. I can do it.” She was going to have more flirty guests in the future, so she had to deal with them now.

She grabbed the plate and walked over to the table where the man was no longer leering with his lecherous smile. It was a good start. ”Here’s your order, sir. Is there anything else you need? A refill maybe?

“No, but…”

”What?” So maybe that one was more terse than expected.

“I wanted to say sorry,” the young guy said, hanging his head.

It was genuinely surprising. ”Oh?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I don’t tend to do that, but you were really pretty and I just kinda… went for it? Sorry, it was rude.” The young man was not as confident as he seemed earlier.

Marisol was still annoyed, but she recognized the guy making a genuine effort. ”It was rude. And I’m not interested. But… apology accepted.”

“Thank you,” he replied, smiling again.

There was an awkward pause and Marisol was unsure of where to go next. She was not looking to have a moment with the guy, after all. ”…Okay then. So… if you need anything, wave me down.” He nodded and Marisol turned back toward her claimed spot on the wall.

”So… That happened,” she said to Celeste, still confused. Evidently, some creepy jerks were just misguided creeps. Who knew?

For some strange reasons, it seemed like all the people she connected with cancelled her powers out. Booker, now Marisol. It was kinda funny, in a way. Thankfully, Celeste wasn't effected in any negative way by adapteds - in fact, they tended to help her. But that did remind her she should still take her medicine - the minute Marisol was out of range, the radiation would come back and it would only be a few minutes before she gets extra nausea. 

>>”Wow, my heroine,”

She nodded, "I can be kinda sneaky with it - when I'm charging, you can see it on my arms but you can't hear anything. I could have went up behind him and POW!" But she couldn't have either way. That was probably good for her job security, anyways.

>>”I’ve got this one. I can do it.” 

Celeste nodded, "I'll be right behind you." Celeste followed her, but stopped to clean a table a couple down from where Marisol was. That way Marisol could have full control of the situation but she could jump in if something took a wrong turn.

Celeste listened intently to the... Apology? What? Did he really just apologize? Alright, now Celeste felt a tinge bit guilty with threatening him with statutory rape charges. She eyed him carefully at first before it dawned on her that Bianca, another waitress, would love him. Shameless pervy flirting right off the bat, wavy brown hair, it was probably a match made in heaven. Knowing that Bianca would never mind her number getting to an attractive guy, she wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to the guy, "I think you and another waitress here, Bianca, would get along great. Tell her I gave you her number." She smiled and gave him a pat on his back before heading back to her spot with Marisol. 

>>”So… That happened,”

Celeste gave Marisol a smile and nodded, "Yeah, some people are just lonely. He seems like he might be." After all, there was usually a reason for someones behavior. 

Marisol thought it was a nice gesture of Celeste to play matchmaker between the customer and another waitress. The guy was not right for Marisol, (not that anyone really seemed to be,) but there was someone out there for him. Maybe he and Bianca would click and there would be a happy ending somewhere. ”That was sweet of you, Celeste.”

It was interesting to see how, behind someone’s veneer of confidence, sometimes they were just as nervous as she was. ”I guess he was just trying not to be awkward. I guess I can relate.” She could connect with the desire to not be alone, too, but she would keep that one to herself.

On the bright side, Marisol was, in fact, feeling less lonely. She was really starting to see Celeste as her first real friend-prospect in New York. She was trying to get to know her schoolmates, but Celeste was the first person she seemed to click with. ”You know, this job isn’t so bad,” she said with a grin.

Barb glanced at her from the window of the kitchen. “Good to hear it,” she said flatly.

Blushing, Marisol gave a playful salute to her boss, who shook her head and left her employees to their work and their bonding.