"It's not all rainbows." He called after her as she made her way to the restroom. "I don't know what you'll replace. You won' either." He dismissed her with a wave. The helicopter was too enticing. Definitely the helicopter.

By the time she was back and minty, Noel had stuffed himself into denim and even found a belt with a nice and pepper buckle. Socks and boots and a button up and he'd be totally ready. He'd only gotten as far as the socks, though. The rest was lined up and waiting.

Michael wasted no time. He went from bathroom to Noel's personal space. 0 to making out with her arms around his neck.

Noel was super glad to have a moment when he was sure Michael wasn't "home" to adjust. The kissing was… he did like her. And it was strange to not go anywhere else. He could touch her. Explore. He could be in the moment and enjoy it for what it was.

It was pretty nonstop.

Was she... stuck? Figuring things out? It wasn't exactly easy to communicate. Noel put his hand on her butt, impolite territory. That would have worked for him if he was her, but he wasn't. Did she feel that? Maybe that wasn't odd enough. Maybe… he should pinch her?

"Hey." He pulled away a bit, but her body pressed in closer behind the word. For a second he was derailed, but only a second. Maybe two. But if this was Michael's power, shouldn't it have happened by now? He'd reflexed all he was gonna reflex by now. If it was hers… she'd need help to be able to think about the here and now. She was probably stuck rewatching a good landing or something.

So. He pinched her on the booty. Hard enough that he was sure it'd get through.

Unsure of how to properly steer the boat of memory, Ranger experienced several hours of dress shopping. She was able to put it into fast forward but still she went through the motions of looking at the dress, discussing it, going to the dressing room to try it on, looking at it from all angles. Repeat ad nauseum. When a dress was selected and paid for Ranger was mentally cheering.

The memory changed. Ranger was leaving a football stadium. She was talking to a boy beside her, he grabbed Ranger’s butt playfully, Ranger gave an "Eep!" before playfully batting the arm away. A reflection off some glass showed that the Ranger was a cheerleader. Ranger found herself getting into the boys car and they went to get food. The team had won their homecoming game and all the cheerleaders, players, and half the band were all going out to hang out and celebrate.

Ranger was saved from this memory by a sharp pain on her butt snapping her back to the present. ”Ow!” Ranger exclaimed as she pulled her head back and moved the affected cheek away from the pain all while squeezing her arms tighter around Noel. It left her standing crooked with one hip pressed against Noel. She brought a hand toward her face and touched a few fingers to her lips. The kiss had lasted a while.

”I couldn’t… I didn’t know how t’ leave.” Ranger’s bit one lip thinking about what she had just experienced. The look was a very Noel look, but also one that prom girl did while deciding what she thought about dresses. ”I spent hours dress shoppin’ an’ then was a cheerleader…” Ranger averted her eyes from Noel after catching herself making eye contact. She didn’t want to accidentally delete something from them and given the intimate nature of the constant undressing she experienced she felt like she had experienced something private. ”Did y’ pinch my ass t’ get me out of it?” Ranger asked and took a half step back from Noel, letting her arm still in contact slowly snake its way back across him until she once again had it to herself. The question was half a question of 'did you really do it?' and half a question of 'is that why you did it?'.

She enjoyed the physical contact with Noel and her heart was still running fast from the kiss. She found herself sad that she had missed it, having been stuck in memories the whole time. Maybe... Maybe she would have another chance? If they failed at swapping back. Ranger reminded himself that switching back was the preferred course.

"Kissing doesn't undo it. Clearly."

She reacted to the pinch which was good. He didn’t want to have to escalate any more than that and his lips were starting to feel a bit abused. Making out was one thing. Prolonged making out while worrying for your makeout partner’s mental wellbeing was quite another.

”I thought y’ might need a li’l help gettin’ out.” He didn’t exactly feel bad about it. Sometimes he’d wished someone would throw him a lifeline when he was lost. ”We might need t’ work out a signal. Somethin’ a li’l less pinchy. Remember every time y’ go in, y’r replacing somethin’. This time it’s borin’ at least.”

She’d moved away a bit, but this wasn’t over yet. He touched Michael’s cheek with his thumb, moving his hand to cup her chin line.

”Y’know if you’d wanted to stick around for somethin’ besides memory, you’ve missed the boat there.” In his experience, it took continuous contact after she broke free from a memory.

Not that they were there for that. This time.

> "Kissing doesn't undo it. Clearly."

”We’ll keep tryin’.” He leaned down while angling Micahel’s face so he could lay his forehead against hers. No bonk. Just proximity. Brain swapping by osmosis. With both their teeth brushed, it wasn’t a burden to mingle breath a bit.

And the second ticked by with no magical brain swapping.

”I guess it’s the hard way.” He put his other hand up around Michael’s face to fully control the head, pulled back a bit, and tried a baby bonk.

This was starting to feel kind of silly.

”No?” He cringed around the eyes. They’d bonked pretty good at the reception…

He pulled back and pretended he was going for a header in soccer.

Work out a signal? Not a bad idea, though it did feel a little like insurance. A bet against yourself. They only needed a signal if they failed to swap back. ”Not a bad idea… I’d rather not get lost in there an’ come out… Not me.” Come out, as Noel. It was an existential worry. How much could she take from Noel and thus write over her own memories before she ceased to be herself anymore.

After Ranger broke contact, Noel used a hand and touched her face and cupped her chin. The intimate touch sent a shiver down Ranger’s spine. And after she spoke, Ranger sputtered and said, ”I… Wha’ d’ y’ mean?” Ranger could feel her cheeks warming some. She felt disappointed on one level to have not stuck around but also relieved on another. She had been down that road before and seen where it goes. Not to mention had to mentally and emotionally unpack afterwards. Still, she was excited all the same. For the prospect were the successful or unsuccessful in swapping back.

To which end, as Noel said, they would keep trying. Noel took the lead and angled Ranger’s face while she brought their foreheads together. No bonking, just contact. Ranger closed her eyes and just lived in the moment with Noel, their breath mingling in the air between them. She hoped for the swap that didn’t come. Ranger opened her eyes and grimaced. She knew what was next and her hangover was preemptively protesting. Throbbing in anticipation of the hit to come.

”I was hopin’ we wouldn’t need the hard way.” Ranger said as Noel put her other hand on Ranger’s face. He was keeping her where he could control the whole thing.

A small bonk on the head. It wasn’t bad… It wouldn’t have been bad on any other day. On that day, Ranger was hungover and it was like Noel had rang a gong inside her head. Ranger held her eyes tightly closed for a moment while her head settled down before opening one eye at a time. ”No.” Ranger said to Noel.

She maintained her dignity and held back a whimper at what she knew was coming. ”Please work…” Ranger said with a strained voice as Noel went for it. They had collided pretty hard at the wedding. The best way to recreate it was for Noel to pretend his head was a hammer and treat the problem like a nail.

The world was pain, thunder, and lightning for a moment. Ranger wasn’t even certain he was fully conscious the whole time after the hit. She remembered Noel’s head approaching and then pain followed by her hand on her eye tears streaming. Her brain had been rattled and she was wishing she had already taken the ibuprofen.

”No work… I need… Sit down.” Ranger felt around for the stool with the free hand for the stool.

Once seated Ranger took a moment to breath and let her head put itself back together. ”Maybe… My… Whatever power I have... makes me near indestructible… Maybe it’s… stopping the swap back?” Ranger reached for any reason why what should have worked didn’t. Ranger grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen and took her hand off her eye to open it. She dumped a handful out, dumped most of that onto the table so she had only roughly what she wanted in hand, and threw them back. Swallowing without needing to drink anything.

Okay. So his aim wasn't the best.

"Ohmigod I am so, so sorry." She went reeling and her hand was on her eye. HER EYE. For his part... it hurt, but it'd been the hard part of his head. He'd whalloped her pretty hard. Not hard enough to break, surely? Oh God. If he broke his own eye socket...

He helped guide Michael wherever he wanted to go: to the stool? To the moon? He'd go there just to make it up to her.

And then she suggested something that might even the scales a bit.

"Y' cain't be serious. Y' want to hit y'r head again?" And what would that even take? To cut him she had to punch him before. So... for a hit...? Michael seemed serious, though.

"I- I guess I'll go get a knife." The opposite of punching seemed to be cutting, so... cutting first might mean his head would be more vulnerable to hitting. Noel had emptied a knife from his pocket last night so it wasn't even that far. It made him nervous, though.

"I've never been stab-proof, but... it's y'r body. Would y' do the honors?" He handed the knife over and swallowed hard. If this didn't work? They might really be stuck.

Noel helped Ranger find and sit on the stool. If it wasn’t for the ibuprofen being on the counter she would have gone for the couch where she could lay down. Which was still an option now that the painkillers were in her stomach. And Ranger was serious about trying to bonk heads again. And if her head hurt less she would question her own sanity, but as it was she didn’t have the brain hurt to allocate to such introspection. ”Only idea I have, an’ it worked once.” And would hopefully work again.

The issue was that Ranger’s body had been proving weirdly and selectively invulnerable. Noel went to get a knife. They could reverse the Amtrak procedure. Instead of a hit to get a cut through they would cut to get a hit through. When he arrived back with the knife, Noel handed it to Ranger. He was letting her do the honors of hopefully failing to slice his body.

”I hadn’t been until recently.” Ranger took the knife from Noel and hit the button to deploy the blade. The knife felt like it had bucked more than he remembered when it opened. Must have been her smaller hand. Ranger took a breath, if the knife failed to bite, she knew what came after. She was not looking forward to another strike to the head. Out of an abundance of caution, she waved Noel closer. She took one arm and placed a hand on her back. If it failed, Ranger didn’t want to fall onto the counter and hit her head again. If it succeeded she didn’t want Noel to have that experience. ”Okay. Here we go.”

Ranger took Noel’s other hand and brought the blade toward the palm. One more deep breath and the knife flashed across his hand. She could feel the blade meeting resistance from the skin but instead of red Ranger saw white. Instead of a cut pouring out blood there was a white line that faded away through capillary refill. ”No cut.” Ranger said a mixture of worry and excitement as she set the knife on the counter.

Excitement for them being back in their own bodies. Worry that it would not work. Worry that they were stuck, that their new reality was them as each other.

Not sure how long they had to bonk before Noel was unbonkable again, Ranger bit her lip and then lowered her head flinching away from the thought of what was coming. Then she went for it. Eyes closed, she straightened her back and launched her head up toward Noel’s.

Again there was thunder and lightning in her head. She had headbutt as one should to protect their own head, but on top of a hangover following a nasty head hit there was no not having a world shaking hit. Her skull radiated pain. She wanted to throw up. She was glad she had placed Noel’s hand on her back to help with the recoiling from the hit. After the world ceased to be just pain she realized she was still in Noel’s body. She groaned loudly, the noise building in volume and pitch over a couple seconds.

It hadn’t worked. She needed to lay down. Maybe the floor was cool and would feel nice? Maybe Noel would feel nice?

Ranger wanted to just lean forward and rest her head on Noel until the pain got better but she knew she had hit him pretty good and he was, in theory, susceptible. She opened one eye to look at him.

It worked once. Though they'd never addressed the fact that they'd swapped back without a kiss. Or figured out how this happened in the first place. What if they couldn't kiss at all after this? It was exactly like Noel's power to do something so dumb.

And not worth worrying about until after they were done testing their options.

Noel closed his eyes and readied himself, so it came as a surprise when Michael was slow and careful and deliberate. If it’d been him as herself, she woulda gone for the gut or something equally stupid. Michael clearly thought about it a bit more with the body being hers. She cut the hand.

And it wasn’t like it didn’t hurt. It did. But it didn’t hurt like a cut. It hurt like… pressure. Or a weight lifting callus getting pinched under the barbell: a pinchy pressure.

Their eyes met for a second as Michael declared “no cut.” The excitement was mutual. They’d successfully laid the groundwork. There was nothing left, but to follow through.

He held on with his hand where she’d directed earlier and let her hit him.

All the carefulness and preparation seemed real stupid as her head hit home with a crack. He clenched his hand in Michael’s side, his other hand naturally coming up to cover his dang eye. She’d gotten a bit of the bridge of his nose. Was his nose bleeding? It didn’t feel broken.

”’Kay, no more bonkin’.”

But Michael was clearly suffering more than he was. It hurt. Damn, did it hurt. But this was her second whack on top of an already brutal-looking morning. She looked up and…

”Looks like I’m a domestic abuser.” He took his hand from his eye and touched on her face gingerly, just outside where he could tell that some swelling was happening. ”Is there ice in this place?” He really hadn’t explored last night, they’d just crashed. Noel scooped up his body and took her with him to the kitchen to investigate, setting her on the counter while he dug around in the ice portion of the refrigeration unit. Michael wouldn’t mind, right?

Except for one glaringly obvious point of dissatisfaction about the whole process: it hadn't worked. If it'd worked, it would have been worth it... right?

Noel suggested no more bonking. Ranger gave an affirmative moan. If slamming their heads together was the secret it should have worked that time.Instead Ranger just had one of the worst headaches of her life. And when she looked up, her face must have looked rough because Noel touched Ranger’s face gingerly while saying it looked like he was a domestic abuser.

The touch of Noel’s hand didn’t hurt. Ranger could feel the soft touch on what was suddenly very sensitive but outside of where Noel’s head had collided directly. Ranger closed her open eye while Noel’s hand probed at her face. ”We both do. Y’ got a nice shiner y’rself. ” When Noel asked for ice, Ranger vaguely pointed toward the refrigerator and said, ”Should be. In the freezer.”

Ranger did not expect Noel to scoop her up again and carry her to the kitchen, where she set Ranger on the counter. The countertop was cold on her unclothed legs. ”Where I’m from, two times makes a tradition.” Ranger chuckled, groaned, and then put a hand on her head. Laughing was bad. It was nice though, an interesting change of pace for Ranger to be the one scooped up and carried around. She watched as Noel went digging for ice. The freezer didn’t have an ice maker so he would have to find the bag of ice buried in there amongst the food.

Sleeping had not worked. Kissing had not worked. Holding their heads together had not worked. Bonking had not worked. Ranger wasn’t sure what else there was to try. She had a growing worry that the swap wouldn’t be a short term thing. She also worried that even if they managed to unswap, was one of their powers causing the swap? Would they never be able to kiss again or in doing so just know that they would be swapped for a while?

That last thought, if true, made Ranger want to use the opportunity she had as Noel to bank up kisses. Even if it meant she lifted a few memories. Besides, a little more practice and she should be able to leave the memory before she got too sucked in and overwrote too much. She hoped.

”We, uh… Might need t’ cover up some before y’ head down.” Ranger gestured with one hand at their faces. Then looking at her legs added, ”An’ I should find some clothes f’r trollin’ around downstairs.”

He touched the bridge of his nose and sniffed again when the Ranger said he was getting his own black eye. Dammit all. This was supposed to work.

”Well now we’r twinsies.” He had a meeting today and… and that was supposed to work! Noel slammed around in the icebox in a petulant way until some of the ice came loose in their trays. By the time he’d wrapped up two towels’ worth, he was feeling less cranky and more hopeless.

> ”Where I’m from, two times makes a tradition.”

He pressed the ice-filled towel between Michael’s hands so she could apply.

”No offense, but these ‘re traditions I’d rather not keep.” He tucked some hair behind her ear and pulled himself up onto the counter next to Michael. He put his ice over his eye and sat for a quiet moment of self pity.

Except it didn’t have to be that quiet. They were in this together. And they started talking right at the same time too.

”We should try an adapted next.”
> ”We, uh… Might need t’ cover up some before y’ head down.”

Shoot. The meeting. He hopped back down and offered a hand to help Michael down next. Usually he wasn’t so hands-on. It was different when it was his body, somehow.

”Uhh I c’n… I only have stuff that’ll match you. Ugh. Why’re you so pasty?” He eyed his reflection in the handle of the microwave and felt the scruff of his chin and also thanked God that he wasn’t bruised there where make up would be impossible. With the wrong colors… maybe it was already impossible.

”Alright. Time f’r makeup 101. Good thing I just had lessons installed myself.” The bathroom wasn’t far. Something-something water hook up. ”Moisturize first. Let it soak if y’ got th’ time… we don’ so I guess have at it.” It was perhaps helpful that he, too, had a black eye forming. Miachael could just copy what he was doing.

”And y’ gotta blend it out to the neck if y’r gettin’ it all over.” These were abbreviated lessons, but important ones if Michael was to properly represent woman-kind.

Noel, for his part, was far too pasty for anything besides the lighter colored concealer. And even then…

”Is it... Bad? Too notic’ble?”

Noel pressed a towel with ice into Ranger’s hands and she leaned her head back slightly and applied it gently to her lightly abused eye. She smiled at Noel not wanting to keep that particular tradition. Ranger wasn’t particularly keen on anything from the point they swapped until then being a tradition. Well, maybe not ‘anything...’, she thought as Noel tucked some of Ranger’s hair behind her ear and jumped up on the counter with her.

Ranger turned her head to look at Noel with her uncovered eye. When she went to break the silence, Noel and her both spoke at the same time. Ranger’s reminding Noel of the meeting spurred him to action. Noel’s suggestion of finding an adapted was something Ranger .

Adapteds didn’t grow on trees, but Ranger did know one. He had dated one for a little while. Being around her had not helped Ranger with her last body swapping issue. It was still worth a try though.

Accepting Noel’s hand, Ranger’s climbed down off the counter. Normally, she would have just jumped down as Noel had, but the offer from Noel was nice so she accepted.

Now with a mission in mind, Noel was thinking about what to do to prevent BlacTac from thinking they were a pair of domestic abusers. As was evident by her asking why Ranger’s man body was so pasty. Ranger cocked her head and said, ”Sun isn’t as good this far North. Don’t get as much color as I’d get back home.” She wasn’t used to being criticised for having not-tan skin. ”I guess… do y’r best? An’ if asked… Lie?” Jude saw the pair of them the night before. That gave Noel very few plausible lies.

’Uh… Alright.” Ranger said. Learning how to apply makeup was not something she had expected to need to learn. The failure to swap back was necessitating it. Unsure of how long the swap would last, Ranger paid attention as Noel instructions. She even had the benefit of being able to watch and follow Noel’s lead. ”Slow down… Okay… Okay. Alright, go ahead.” Ranger was having to work with a whole new skill while her head tried to murder her as she looked in the mirror from herself, to Noel, and then back.

The lesson was not exhaustive. The job was not the best. They were on a time crunch and Noel could wear sunglasses. In fact, with her headache she would be wearing sunglasses.

If the swap persisted, she might have to sacrifice something to better use makeup. Ranger wasn’t thrilled by the thought, but the longer the swap lasted, the more stuck they found themselves… The more Ranger’s pragmatism would drive her to make the best of it and bite the bullet. Especially if SUPER came knocking with work.

Noel asked about the makeup job on himself. Ranger looked and said, ”It’s… Noticeable.” She audibly waffled trying to decide if it was better than just having the shiner or not. ”The color’s… not quite right. It should be close enough… It has t’ be. Y’ don’t really have time t’ do anythin’ else with it.” Ranger looked at Noel, not just her face but what she was wearing. ”Y’ should put on a button-up f’r the meetin’... An’ I need t’ find some clothes. Cain’t cruise downstairs in a big shirt and panties.”

> ”It’s… Noticeable.”

"It's not...!" It totally was. No amount of neck blending was working. he was going to have to go into the hairline and... it STILL wasn't coming off his eyelashes. Noel tried, but he was coming to the conclusion that he needed mascara to cover that. But Noel had black. Only black. Black was not a natural color for his eyelashes...

"C'n I jus' go full goth? Add eyeliner and smudge it enough an' I c'n ba a big tiddy goth girl. Boy. With lil... this is insane." He smeared his hand over his face and gave up on the makeup, trying hastily to take most of it off. Who cared if a guy had a black eye? It made him rugged or something.

What mattered more was that he got into a shirt with buttons. There wasn't time for much of anything else. Hat. Boots. Jeans and a belt because a belt meant he cared that the jeans stayed on.

"Jus' grab anything. S'not like I'm the pinnacle of high fashion. It's all meant to work together and be interchangeable an' stuff. Jus' stay outta th' pajama drawer."

Drawer? Drwarer? How many syllables were in that word? Usually he didn't notice the accent, but sometimes it up an' smacked him by surprise. He found a place to tuck his gun and had to shimmy a bit to make sure it didn't just look like... something else.

"Okay. I'll go first and deal with th' meetin'. I cain't tell if he's a liar, but you'll get there eventually to bail me out I'm sure. Any clothes 're fine." He assured her. "'Cept a bikini. No bikini 'till we swap back."

Maybe not even then.

He skipped out the door and down the stairs, turning right before realizing that was a dead end down to the garage. He circled back around to the left and toward the offices.

Noel tried. He tried so very hard, but in the end the makeup was just moved around and he was asking if he could just go full goth. Ranger just blinked at the suggestion. When Noel suggested being a ‘big tiddy goth girl’ Ranger’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. Ranger was at a loss for words.

Blessedly, Ranger did not need to protest. Noel used one man hand and smeared his makeup. ”Yeah. Better option than… Makin’ me...you… one of us looks like a… Big. Titty. Goth girl.” Ranger shook her head at the ridiculousness of what she was saying. Especially since just throwing makeup on the face didn’t make someone have big titties.

There was no shortage of button up shirts for Noel to choose from. Plaid, solid colored, stripes. Most were of a western cut. Many had pearl snaps. Noel grabbed one and let Ranger know she could just grab anything for herself. Noel’s clothes were interchangeable.

Only the pajama drawer was off limits. ”I wadn’t plannin’ on wearin’ pajamas. So... sure.”

Noel laid out the plan of action. He would go to the meeting first and the Ranger would follow to make use of Noel’s power and more importantly help extricate Noel from it. Ranger nodded. Noel said any clothes were fine. Ranger nodded again.

Any clothes were fine. Except bikinis. Ranger nodded more slowly. ”Roger. Bail y’ out, no pajama drawer, no bikini.” And now Ranger really wanted to see Noel in a bikini. Once they had swapped back. Wearing a bikini while Noe in her bodyl to see her in one felt invasive and Ranger really didn’t want to see her own man body in one. Waiting until swapped back to see Noel in a bikini was the way to go. ”I’ll get dressed, take care of a couple things an’ then meet y’ in there.”

Ranger found herself a pair of jeans, a tank top, and after putting on the tank top found a hoodie. She was much colder in Noel’s body than her own. Noel’s shoe selection left much to be desired. She lacked good boots. Had there been boots she only might have worn them. The goal was to play the role of Noel. So she put on tennis shoes and felt weird walking in them. Less weird than in Noel’s heels, but her feet still didn’t feel at home.

If Ranger was stuck as Noel much longer, she might have to buy her a pair. And jeans that were cut for them.

A pair of sunglasses to save her aching head from the oppressiveness of overhead lighting, and Ranger made her way downstairs and toward her own office.

---

Ranger never made it to the meeting. When she had stopped in her office to take a breather, before bringing her already throbbing head into a meeting with a potential lie-storm, and prepare… Evelyn, Jude’s new hire, had shown up and put two and two together. She quickly guessed that ‘Noel’ was not herself but was actually Ranger.

Instead of going to the meeting, Ranger and Evelyn made their way up to the apartment to talk more freely. While business was discussed so it at least was good for business… Most of the time was spent on other issues. Like making Ranger better at being a woman. She helped Ranger move less like a man as well as correct the make up job on Ranger’s face. It was not perfect, but it was significantly better. The makeup was left on the kitchen counter where it had been used.

After Evelyn left, Ranger stared at an odd flag on the wall. It was similar to the US flag in that it was red, white, and blue with stripes… but there were only two stripes and only one star. It looked like a weirdly bastardized Chilean flag.

It was dumb looking.

Ranger grabbed a stool and set it by the wall. She climbed up on it so she could reach the pins at the top holding the deformed Chilean flag in place. As she was pulling the last pin off she held out the material and asked, ”What’ are y’?” A look of genuine confusion on her face.

He kept thinking that she'd show up. Any minute now. Noel tried not to check his watch because he didn't have one and he didn't want to be rude. He also really didn't need to be in this meeting.

"--you'll be taking my request seriously. I like to look a man in the eye and have his word."

Jude kneed his thigh under the table, but despite his folded arms, he had been paying attention. Mostly.

"We take ev'ry job seriously, Mr. Beardfacé; but y' want t' look me in the eye while we shake on it? Sure." He stood and offered his hand. True to his man-sperience the guy tried to strangle the crap out of it for dominance or something. He had to prove he was a man, right? Noel squeezed back. Couldn't let Ranger's business suffer for a floppy fish or something.

"I have every confidence in my men, 'r equipment an' trainin', and the paperwork set up by my business protegeé here." And boy was he glad he could lie. Hell, he was a little frightened at how easily he spun something up. "You ain't happy after th' fact come back an' punch me in the face."

That got a chuckle, but Noel was entirely serious. It'd likely be Ranger in his own body by then, right? Where was she? Had she fallen in the toilet or something?

"How 'bout I just overnight the contract back?"

Jude sagged in his chair as soon as the hard-ass business dude was out the door. "I could tell he was skeptical since we're both so young. Eugh. Maybe I should grow a beard."

Noel grumbled, started to sit back down, but then thought better of it.

"Noel was s'possed t' meet me down here and taste him out. I don't know if he's a jerk off or not, but I'd better go see if she forgot how doors work 'r somethin'." Jude seemed interested, but did not protest so Noel escaped while he still could.

He made it back up the stairs and in through the front door of their shared Twilight Zone just in time. She was taking down the Texas flag for some reason.

"The hell're you doin'?" She could just excuse his French. Noel hopped up on the bed, boots and all. He put his hands over hers and held the flag up between them. It was best if she could remember on her own, a more gentle experience rather than if he'd just hit her over the head with the answer. "This is a fundamental part of who you are if you don't remember the Alamo, we are in deep deep trouble. Bluebonnets? Boots, cows, n' cowboy hats? Don't mess with...?"

If he couldn't get that... then he'd worry.

Ranger was still awkwardly holding the flag up, trying to puzzle out what it was, when Noel came through the door. The intensity Noel had when asking what Ranger was doing took her aback. Ranger did realize that she was standing there holding a flag, being wholly unproductive, when she was supposed to meet Noel in the meeting with Jude.

”What… Why was this… flag… on the wall?” It made no sense. In general the decor of the apartment was supposed to be what was taken from their apartments. Mostly from Ranger’s apartment. ”Is this y’rs?” Ranger asked as Noel climbed up to join Ranger. Placing his hands over hers.

"This is a fundamental part of who you are if you don't remember the Alamo, we are in deep deep trouble. Bluebonnets? Boots, cows, n' cowboy hats? Don't mess with...?"

As Noel spoke Ranger’s mind felt like it was pressing against something. Nothing she said made any damn sense, but what she said seemed to nag at something in Ranger’s mind. It was like Noel’s words were pushing her mind against a rubber band and it was stretching further and further… Until it broke.

There was a moment before Ranger spoke where she looked from the flag to Noel then back to the flag. Her eyes opened wide and her pupils dilating in recognition. ”...Texas.” she breathed. Her hands squeezed tighter on the material of the flag. She had forgotten Texas.

Ranger’s knees felt weak. So much of her own self image was wrapped up in where she was from… and she had forgotten it. All of it. ”How?...” Ranger shook her head. She knew how. She had somehow used Noel’s power and had removed a cornerstone of her self image. ”I… Can’t believe I did that.” She looked at Noel’s face, careful to avoid any eye contact, afraid of accidentally causing a repeat. ”...The meetin’! I… was supposed t’ meet y’... At…” Ranger trailed off. Her meeting with Evelyn had thrown a giant monkey wrench into her plans.

The question over the flag... it nearly broke him. This was why Noel never held anything precious, no attachments. With one glaring exception that had hijacked his body.

> ”...Texas.”

Michael wasn't the only one breathing a sigh of relief. Noel lowered the flag from between them, and tried not to look too stern or disappointed but...

"You need lessons, like, yesterday." The flag needed to go back on the wall. It was a nice physical reminder that Michael could come back to. Now that she was sufficiently scared, she might take Noel's power a bit more seriously.

"This flag is a physical thing that doesn't change, right? It sounds stupid, but... hear me out." He was feeling a little silly standing on the bed waxing poetic about memory so he stepped down and abandoned the flag to Michael's lady hands.

"Sometimes when there was somethin' I really needed to remember... if I knew I needed a reminder and none were forthcoming- no markers no paper. That kind of situation, y'know? I'd pick a physical thing. I'd try to memorize it. I'd try to find ways to associate the thing I needed to remember with the thing that wasn't going away on accident. You got a leg up. You got a lot of identity wrapped up in that physical thing so... don't waste it. And don't give me any more heart attacks like that." He was off to the kitchen for some water. And to take the boots off byt he door. If they were going to be climbing on top of beds, the boots weren't really suited.

"Scared y' off yet?"