A familiar whine had Noel cracking open one eye long before she wanted to. There was no snooze on a puppy. Let alone two.

"I got it. Shhh." Noel pushed herself up to her elbows and the whines turned to excited half jumps. The reality of yesterday settled in as soon as she swung her bare legs over on the wrong side of the bed. She usually kept close to the exit, but this was Michael's place.

Last night she'd decided to come over for some Perry Hotter and... and then there was a void of static that she knew better than to pick at. Some people would never be able to let it go, but if she'd erased something, she had to trust herself that it was for a good reason. Besides. She remembered plenty after that... ish. That was-- What? Noel glanced over the slow rise and fall of Michael's shoulder to check the clock. Only 3 or 4 hours ago?

Two puppies were dashing in and out of the bedroom door when Noel finally made herself get to her feet. She was tired still, but that was nothing coffee couldn't fix. She grabbed her pants and stepped into... no. Those were not her boots. Hmm. Had she worn shoes over? Couch! Over by the couch, those were hers.

Her hair was everywhere. She hadn't brushed her teeth last night. Eugh. She'd broken all kinds of her rules just to be able to fall into bed. She grabbed her hat and the leads and hooked those puppies up before making her way to the elevator. Felt like she'd forgotten something. Highly likely. Phone maybe... keys...

*DING*

She could walk these two with her eyes closed at this point. But she really should open them otherwise picking up after would get real awkward.

... maybe 20 minutes later Noel was back with two happy pups. She set her hat back where it belonged before investigating the coffee situation. The maker wasn't doing anything yet so she tried to make it do something. It wasn't like hers and somehow she hadn't hit on any memories around it. A quick peek told her that Michael had yet to rejoin the land of the living. She could just ask him...

Instead she lifted the cover ever so gently and tried to sneak herself into a cuddle. That sounded a lot better than coffee.

The mind does funny things while we sleep. It works to store long term memories, it dredges up old memories, it smooths over gaps, and it dreams of possible futures and alternative pasts. Ranger’s sleep has long been plagued by memories of his past. High stress, life or death moments leave their mark and the mind often revisits them. For Ranger this is not an all the time thing, normally it is set off by a mission or a particularly deadly encounter. Consciously, Ranger has no problem working in and through suck encounters. He’s seen his fair share of them. Unconsciously, his mind is still rocked by the intense danger it had been in.

Nights where he has such dreams don’t make him particularly violent in his sleep. Reveille has been ejected from bed once or twice, but normally he just grabs and holds the dog. Tight. After months of that she had become used to it and just lays still.

That night Ranger had those dreams. Not as vivid, but they were there as his mind sought to iron around the missing details. As he slept there was movement on the bed and he reached out and took hold of Noel and squeezed. Not hard enough that she couldn’t breath, but still tight enough for breathing to be more difficult.

Ranger’s eyes opened as Noel resisted him. It took him a moment to realize what was going on before he relaxed. ”Mornin’.” Ranger croaked before clearing his throat and smiling at Noel. He could remember the end of the night… Well that morning before they had retired to his bed. Much of the time before that was fuzzy. Instinctively Ranger scrunched up his face to poke at it in his mind before catching himself. He had planned to have Noel remove memories. That was likely what he would find.

And that in itself reminded him. He could kiss Noel now.

She had been looking for a snuggle, but sleep!Michael's idea of getting cozy was a little more than she'd bargained for.

"Michael." She squirmed and made liberal use of her elbows until he let up. Noel continued her squirm until she got back around to his face.

> ”Mornin’.”

"Mornin’.” She echoed with a wary eye that was soothed with a kiss. A kiss-kiss. Like, on the lips. Chaste and then maybe not so chaste before Noel shyed back. In bed, with Ranger as a heat source, the morning chill didn't even have a chance. Add in a touch of embarrassment and she figured that the thrill of being able to actually kiss hadn't yet lost its shine. It was going to take some time to wear off so for the meantime they'd just have to keep practicing until kissing became second nature.

"I couldn' get the coffee mak'r to make." She gave him a poke in the chest, unintentionally falling into his familiar Texas drawl. "So I thought I'd get back t' bed, but if yu're awake maybe that won' last."

What a difference one evening could make. It was not the first time Ranger had woken up to Noel there, but that time different. Before it was as if they were just two people who happened to sleep in the same bed, perhaps using each other for warmth. This time it was how it should feel. The simple change of just being able to share a kiss reframed the entire moment.

It was Noel who broke the comfortable silence, she had been unable to make the coffee maker work. So she had already been up. And interestingly enough, had lost her accent. To Ranger she now sounded like a normal person. Granted his perspective on normal was a little off for New York.

”Did y’ try threatenin’ it? Gotta show it its place.” Ranger joked as he turned his head to check the clock. It was a little late for him to be waking up and less than a full night’s sleep from when he made his way to bed. Coffee sounded like an excellent plan.

He took a beat to enjoy the moment of laying there with Noel before he sat up and stretched. The regular snap, crackle, and pop of getting his body moving in the morning filled the air. He slid off the bed and while doing one last full body stretch asked, ”An’ since when did y’ start speakin’ like a normal person?”

Did Noel threaten it? "'Course not. It's too early f'r that kinda Mickey Mouse bullsh--." Oh. That surprised her and she slapped a hand over her own mouth. Noel didn't curse if she could help it. Not because she was opposed or anything, for her it felt forced and made her sound like a teen who was trying too hard. That one slipped out like she'd been practicing. She must have have accidentally picked it up.

She tried to keep Michael from actually leaving the bed, but it was half hearted. If he stayed, she wouldn't know what to do. No. She would know what to do, she just knew she shouldn't practice too much all at once. Already she was overwhelmed with new information.

Aaand he was gone. Noel debated making this a stay-in-bed-all-day kind of day and wrestled the blankets around to her liking. Coffee in bed didn't sound bad either...

> ”An’ since when did y’ start speakin’ like a normal person?”

"I'm not..." Noel sat up.

Was she...?

The blanket was pulled over her head in a sort of impromptu secret fort while the memorymancer tried to think of what Micahel said that was so funny. Can't. If she could say "can't," she totally wasn't talking like him.

"Cain't." Was that it? It was hard to pick it out... She tried again. "Cain't." That one was followed by a soft swear and Noel yanked the covers back down.

"You Texasized me!" She was supposed to have a dramatic bed-exit, but she'd been wrestling with the covers and her legs were all tangled. Noel ended up on the floor with one leg still on the bed and two puppies who were kissing her to make sure she was alright.

"Come back here--!" She sputtered at the sudden dog tongue.

The phrase was not surprising, while Ranger didn’t use it all the time, he did use it. He normally didn’t use it in front of Noel and he had never heard Noel use it. Ranger must be rubbing off on her or their kissing had given her some of his phrases.

Noel’s immediate reaction to him asking about her speaking like a normal person was to deny it. The way she acted as she denied it spoke volumes. It wasn’t intentional and she didn’t realize she was doing it! She yanked the covers over her and spoke. It took her saying, “cain’t” a couple times for it to really sink in.

Ranger laughed when Noel accused him of ‘Texasizing’ her. He laughed even harder when she went to storm off the bed and instead wound up taking a dive for the ground. Ranger backed away as she went down. The puppies took the initiative to help Noel.

Fell on the ground getting out of bed? Licks to the face solve that!

”Y’re welcome!” Ranger said through laughter as he stepped back over to shoo the puppies off Noel before offering a hand to help her up. Dammit had to be tossed onto the bed which creaked in protest upon the small bear’s impact. Reveille jumped up onto the bed to follow. ”Firs’ day with y’r new feet?”

He laughed. Should their positions have been reversed, she would have too, but given the position she was in now, it was a bit harder to see the funny side of it.

Michael did help by manhandling the monstrous mutts (and suddenly Noel was so, so glad her power didn't work on animals) which allowed Noel to focus on getting her leg back from the covers monster.

"No, not y're welcome! Now if I show up at Ilvermorny the Armadillo house might take me!" Because that was a legitimate concern. Noel made it to her feet and made sure her pants were as up as she was. A little goosing from Revvie and Noel decided bed was not all the appealing anymore so she mosied on out to the kitchen along with the Ranger to see how the coffee thing worked.

Okay. So the accent thing was... she could work on that now that she was aware of it.

"I cain't..." Oh boy. Noel tried again as she leaned across the countertop. "I can't claim Texas when I don't think I've ever been." Paying attention to her words made them come out slower, but Noel didn't want to become Michael. She needed to stay herself.

"And, no offense, but I'd like to be my own person on the inside and not a copy of you." Of course, at this point Noel was pretty much a frankenstein's monster of other people anyway... something about that bothered her and the seed of a headache started sprouting. That coffee had better hurry itself up.

"I went through some of what it was like when you were a kid. I don' have a lotta kid memories from others, I've mostly taken school stuff. Book learnin'." Just thinking about it made her sound a bit more drawly. But climbing trees and hopping fences and loading a .22 were all things that felt like they belonged to her now. Cowboy boots suddenly made sense in that context.

"You remember that dammed up creek? The one with the snakes and the rope swing?" It wasn't a bad place to go visit, mentally. Maybe someday they could go for real.

Noel being let into Armadillo house. ”That sounds like a feature.” Armadillo house clearly only accepted the most capable of students. Capable of what? Anything and everything. Mostly causing headaches for the administration though. Most students don’t bring javelinas as pets. Or longhorns as one student has did.Longhorns plural, he brought a herd with him one year.

Ranger led the way out to the kitchen to make the coffee maker make coffee. He fiddled with the device for a minute before smacking it on the side. The coffee maker dutifully came alive. ”Have t’ let it know who’s boss.” Him smacking the side of course hit a power switch that is hidden away. While he could just reach over and flip the switch, smacking the machine was more fun. He then pressed a few buttons on the front and the coffee maker proceeded to make coffee.

When Noel began to make an effort to have her accent again, Ranger leaned against the counter to listen to her. It made sense. As fun as it was to have her sounding like a normal person when she spoke, it meant she was losing herself to him memories. Ranger nodded as she spoke. It made sense and was a concern that had been brought up before they even monkeyed in his head.

”The one East of town? Fed int’ Carters Creek? I remember it. If y’ want we could go t’ Texas. Get y’ some of y’r own memories there. Put context t’ the ones y’ve wound up with.”

Grabbing a few mugs from a cabinet Ranger asked, ”How d’ we keep y’ you in there an’ not… Well, me in there? Jus’ keep tryin’ things until somethin’ works?”

Michael let the coffee maker know who was the boss. (Hint: it wasn’t Noel.) Despite his early morning display of man-on-coffee violence (and his day job), Michael was one of the most level-headed people she knew. Poking around in his head had only confirmed that. He only beat up people who deserved it. That coffee maker had it coming.

It was good that he remembered the creek she’d brought up, otherwise that’d be an awkward conversation… ”Yeah. I’d love to go to go to Texas some day.” Noel stretched across the countertop and put her elbows down just next to the coffee cups so she could properly monitor their filling.

”New experiences and different experiences are good. Gives me a better chance that something might stick when things are out of normal parameters.” Like ninja. Noel didn’t remember the first time she’d met the Ranger. Not exactly. But she had remembered stitching him up. Nobody else had asked her for such a thing on the job. She didn’t take healing talents. She’d only taken skills that would help defend or protect. Seeing that physical memory on his body was a constant reminder that there’d been ninja. And Michael didn’t want to go to the hospital.

New experiences had their dicey aspects too, but she only had to wake up once per day and get her grounding. Assuming they went to see Carter’s Creek (or whatever feeder creek lead up to it and had that rope swing), that’d be a vacation. No need for her to use her power and no need for her to forget where she was.

Should be safe.

> ”How d’ we keep y’ you in there an’ not… Well, me in there?”

He had some theories, it seemed.

”I can turn it off after it starts up, but If I don’t go in with a plan, there’s no telling where I start in your memory.” She had her own pet theories about how that was decided, but no way to test it since any testing would be implementing a plan…

”I have some memories now, though. My plan is to start with one I already have. Carter’s Creek, maybe. Then it’s your job to remind me that there’s a here and now that’s ehm--” She cleared her throat a touch embarrassed, ”--more interesting.” He only had himself to complete with.

Noel annexed the counter as her domain, her elbows right by the mugs. Ranger took that as a sign to hurry with the coffee. She would love to go to Texas someday, well that was something Ranger could easily arrange. Take her back home, to Bryan. Out East of the highway where there was land, not just student housing and more traffic than you could shake a stick at. And some people are very good at shaking sticks at cars driven by students. From there she explained how new experiences helped. Made it more likely for something to stick. THis made Ranger think about the sword scar on his abdomen. That scar had touched a memory in Noel of when they had first met. Ninja were definitely unique.

Ranger nodded, ”I’ll find a time t’ make the trip an’ we can go.” He looked to the coffee maker that was slowly dribbling out its ‘go-juice’. ”Head back home an’ then maybe hit some of the sights in the rest of the state.”

She could turn her power off after it started, which limited exposure. This meant she would still lift something every time. Noel had a plan for that, keep going in after the same thing. From there it was Ranger’s job to, “...remind me that there’s a here and now that’s ehm-- --more interesting.”

Having just pulled the coffee pot out of the coffee maker, Ranger paused as he was about to pour into the first mug. He turned to face Noel with an eyebrow raised. ”Oh, I can keep things interestin’.” Rager started blindly pouring the coffee as he leaned over to give Noel a soft kiss. ”Liftin’ trucks an’ Armadillo House interestin’ enough?”

Tip the pot up, clink it against the other mug to find it and then pour. Peripheral vision helping just enough to keep coffee off the counter.

He would have to find the time. It was hard being someone that people relied on and stuff. Noel tried to avoid all that responsibility and as a result, her days were mostly her own. Which... maybe did get a little lonely. Usually she'd fill that with work. Which would then preclude her social life. It was easiest to live the job, but easy wasn't always best.

"Let me know when you know." As if, between the two of them, he would be the one to forget that part.

> ”Oh, I can keep things interestin’.”

That earned a snort. "Clearly you don't know--" his own history? Ah. But he did, Armadillo house and trucks and all. And he didn't care enough to not tempt fate with another kiss. Michael had his lips on hers and with the counter between them that was about all they could reach.

And thinking on lips made Noel start down some history she was actively going to try to avoid in Michael's memory. She shut that down but not before she'd seen a few things that were more interesting than Carter's Creek. She couldn't hold his dating history against him, but it was tempting.

No. Can't think about that. But she could turn every kind of red in the meantime.

"That's really unfair." She meant the kiss and the counter between them and everything about a girl liking a boy that made her feel all weak at the knees. Noel had done everything she could to make herself strong and then he came waltzing in to wipe all that away. Coffee and counter be damned, Noel put her hands on his face so she could have seconds, ready to direct her thoughts and then shut them down.

Ranger backed away from the kiss just in time to keep from spilling coffee on the counter. He returned the pot to the coffee maker.

“That's really unfair."

Cocking his head to the side, Ranger smiled. ”Oh?” Then noticing the red of Noel’s face his eyebrows went up. They had kissed before without her impersonating a tomato… She might have happened upon a memory that was causing it. Which made Ranger curious what memory it happened to be.

It was still difficult for Ranger to fully wrap his head around how Noel could just have his memories. It was something he just accepted as a possibility and until recently avoided. It had become a possibility and had just become more than just her having his accent or knowing about somewhere back home. She could have more intimate memories.

Ranger didn’t have long to consider this before Noel’s hands were on his face and they shared another kiss. It did leave Ranger lamenting the fact a counter was between them, it was just too high for him to try and lift Noel over it. He had just enough presence of mind to brush the coffee mugs a little further away with his arm to keep them from being knocked over.

It was strange to Ranger, Noel kissing him. Sure he had kissed her, mostly on her head, and in the last few hours they had shared kisses. He wasn’t use to Noel taking him by the face and initiating a kiss. It was definitely something he could get used to.

”I could get used t’ this.” he said when they finally broke the kiss.

What didn't he understand about unfair?

"I wasn't done." But she really, really should be. On first kiss, she'd wandered into a memory that only raised more questions and worse, it was interesting. She wanted go back for seconds and thirds. And on seconds, she hit an entirely different memory that confused and embarrassed her.

Her kissing him was more in her comfort zone. She was used to being in charge of when and where lip-touching happened. And for how long. It wasn’t quite that way with this dynamic. He could step back to not dribble hot coffee on himself. She could go back for thirds, not because she hadn’t found what she’d wanted, but because she wanted something more than just a memory.

”You’ve had more than your share of interestin’. Did you…? I, uh--”


Hooo boy. Noel mopped her face with her hand and tried to figure out what she was trying to say. Coffee. Coffee was going to help unlock that morning brain.

”Mutants lead strange lives. I know that. In my head.” She frowned and dragged her cup over to give it a smell. Scent was one of the strongest memory triggers and she was worried that she had lost some of Maxwell’s memories of his grandmother. She had given Noel some level-headed advice by way of Maxwell’s memories.

”Honey, if you can’t be good, be careful.” and ”Don't be a chickensh*t – tell people how you really feel.” were both pretty good. Not at all as good as ”If you don’t want to be doing it 10 years from now, don’t start.”

Was this really the best path?

”I think I need some more practice.” She watched him over the rim of her cup.

It seemed Noel had once again stumbled onto some embarrassing memory. She couldn’t finish a question about whatever it was. Ranger pushed a mug of coffee toward her. Caffeine made everything easier. He didn’t push it all the way to her as she mopped her face with her hand, just enough to indicate it was her mug.

”That sounds like an understatement.” Ranger decided to wait to ask what Noel was trying to ask about.

“Mutants lead strange lives. I know that. In my head.” Noel said before dragging her coffee to her.

Ranger took his own mug in hand. He might need some coffee soon if some of the more absurd moments from his past came up. ”We really do sometimes.” Ranger agreed before sipping at his coffee. It was still nice and hot. Almost too hot. It could wait another minute before another sip.

“I think I need some more practice.”

”I’m here t’ help with all the practice y’ need.” Range said with a mischievous grin before bringing his coffee up to sip nonchalauntly. Forgetting it was as hot and sipping too much at once. ”Hot!”

That led to him setting down the mug. Keep him from accidentally burning his tongue. ”What were y’ gunna ask? Did I what?” Ranger asked. Noel could see any of his memories so if she wanted to ask he wasn’t about to not tell her about anything.

Yes! Practice! Practice was the diversion that they needed, really. Noel watched as Michael was distracted from even the most basic of functions by just the mention of practice. So. That meant he needed more practice too, right?

Wrong. He wanted to go back and make Noel turn colors again.

> ”What were y’ gunna ask? Did I what?”

A-yep. There it was. The whole conflicting emotional rush of processing a memory that wasn't her and was totally outside of her comfort zone.

"You were a lady. For a minute there." Noel sipped her coffee as something tickled at the back of her brain. Seeing Michael see himself or his body help adjust "his" bra... It was just mind boggling. Plus it brought up so, sooooo many questions. That brief glimpse she'd had didn't really feel as wrong as she felt about it. Noel was a lady. She often wore those terrible things called bras. But. To get it from somebody else. And to see him adjusting it in a memory that felt like her. Add in whatever rush of emotion that had cemented it in Michael's memory...

She cleared her throat because she didn't have enough memory around the glimpse to know the full picture. She'd shut that absorption down as soon as it'd shocked and confused ehr.

So! It was time to move on!

"I should go back to the first time we met. See it from your side." Wouldn't that be interesting? To see old Noel? Or not at all. Wasn't that what she was really trying to practice? Shutting it down before she got anything at all?

"Ah. I'm sorry. I'm thinking about what to plunder next when I should be thinking about... not." She finished lamely because the truth was, she was interested in all the things that were in Michael's head. And now she had permission and opportunity.