Cora had her share of drinking adventures, but she she was facing a new level of hangover and regret when she got to work today. She remembered rescuing Mae, and going home. She remembered most of the drinking, and Sam showing up, but could only remember the vaguest flashes of his time at her place. She found his note in the morning once he had left, and she felt both happy, and mortified at the same time. Her apartment looked like someone tore every drawer open looking for something, and her face still had a lovely bruise that had spread across her jaw. 

With a dark coffee in hand, Cora sat in the break room, rubbing her forehead and grumbling to herself. 

"I am never drinking that much ever again..." She remarked, not noticing someone had walked into the break room. She wanted to turn the lights off, or heck, leave work entirely, but they were short staffed, and she had to suck it up and deal with it. 

Juniper had just gotten in and was as fresh faced as she could be currently. Her hair up in a bun and work clothes on, with a spare change tucked away in a bag over one shoulder, she strode into the back area where her locker was and paused momentarily in the doorway to blink at her the boss of her boss, since she was the owner, as she was hunched over and nursing what appeared to be a coffee.

"Oooh, I know that look all too well." She kept her voice down as she moved the rest of the way in and headed for her locker. Some quick shuffling around produced a small Advil. "Been there before. Have you tried eating something yet? Steamed pork buns for wonders for hangovers." She fished her phone out as she sat down on the opposite side of the table. "Want me to order some? They can be here in-" Tap tap tap, scroll, tap. "-five minutes!"

She wondered, while waiting to either be shot down or have the order approved, what kind of hi-jinks had led up to her boss getting so drunk in the first place. She'd gotten there early and didn't have to be out on the floor yet.

Cora looked up at Juniper, her newest employee. She wondered what the girl must have thought facing her very hungover boss. Lights hurt. Sounds hurt. She grimaced at the mention of food and shook her head.

"I was focused on making myself as presentable as possible and getting here in one piece. Motorcycles are not hangover friendly." She accepted the Advil with a thanks and rubbed her forehead.

"I can pay you back. I'm game for anything to make this day bearable right now. I had one hell of a night." As she leaned back the bruising on her face was more evident. She had her shoulder covered but she could feel the scab under her jacket. There was a small look she caught from the other woman, and Cora gave a somewhat wry look.

"Met my X's new half. They're charming." Charming was...one way of putting it.

Steamed buns it was! She fiddled with her phone a bit and then tucked it away, eyebrows raising slightly when she noticed the bruise that lined her cheek and jaw. Now, Cora didn't seem like someone to @#$% with when it came to a fight. Heck, just her attitude could be scary some times. Juni didn't wanna know who had been brave or stupid enough to take a shot at her.

"Want me to break some knees?" She half joked. She didn't know the whole story obviously, but getting punched by your ex's current whoever just didn't sit right with her for some reason. Unless Cora had been a massive jerk, which... well, she supposed anything was possible. Cora just didn't come across like that to her at the moment.

"The humbow's will be here in 5. They cure my hangovers like a charm almost every time. Just the right mix of carbs and fat."

She glanced at the fridge and wondered if there was an ice pack in there. That bruise seriously looked like it hurt.

"Want me to turn off the lights? I don't mind sitting in the dark like a vampire, I've done it before."

Cora wanted to laugh, but that would have made her head hurt more. She sort of smiled painfully, and then sighed at the question. "Actually, having the lights off might help."

Was it pitiful that she needed such treatment? Maybe. But she was feeling that half-bottle of whisky like a brick to the head.

"I deserved the punch. I mean, I helped rescue my X yesterday from a gang of mutants, but I also cheated on her in the past, so, karma?" She leaned forward again and put her forehead against the table. It was cold, and that was nice. She shifted her head to the side and looked up at Juniper with owl eyes. Or, squinting eyes. Somewhere between the two. Lack of sleep, hangover, and sensitivity to light made her uncertain what she was feeling.

"I drunk texted my friend, and he had to come save me from myself. I guess I was trying to cut threads with a pair of scissors. But, the threads I see aren't...well, they're real, but they're my powers, you know?" She wasn't making sense. Or was she? Maybe she was still drunk. It felt like words were hard.

She stood temporarily to head on over and flip the lights off, before treading a path back to her seat.

Ouch. Karma for cheating on someone? She... well, she didn't really understand that a whole lot. She'd never been in an actual monogamous relationship in any capacity. Was cheating really that bad? Were relationships that deep? She tucked those questions away for later and turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

"I suppose. Still sucks. How'd you even end up involved in the rescue attempt anyway? And like, wouldn't the rescue itself have been enough to make up for being a d*ck in the past?"

Her nose wrinkled as she tried to make sense of that the woman was talking about. Threads? Something that's part of her power? Come to think of it, Cora had never really talked about her power. Juniper hadn't even known she had one officially.

"Threads...?" She blinked and shifted in her seat slightly. "I mean, I have no grasp on how powers work but i'm familiar with some of the more wacky ones. Heck, as far as I can tell I just... stop existing, with mine." She wasn't smart enough to try and puzzle over the how of everything. It just was.

"Why were you trying to cut them though? They bad or something?"

Cora realized they stumbled into potentially more awkward territory when she mentioned the threads, especially without the visual aid. It was dim now, but not completely dark. Just enough to let her eyes rest and her brain process the questions.

She could show Juniper her powers, but wasn't sure if that would just make the other girl more skittish. Based on the threads Cora had seen in the past, she had a bit of a messy history with relationships. Those people seemed to be the most uncomfortable knowing what Cora could see. To stall, she let her mind go back to the first question.

"My X got taken and wrote my phone number down. She knew my power would let me find her quickly. We followed out to the docks, fought our way through two boats, got her back. It was, actually it was kinda cool. Then we got back, I got punched, I went home and got drunk.

"The threads...are sort of the reason for both things. I can see relationships as sort of...strings connecting people. I still have one for my X, and it let me track her. And that's the one I got angry about and wanted to cut. I can cut some threads, and just...make the memories disappear. Not all of them, just...It's really complicated. I don't bring it up because people just, freak out, you know? They hear you can see relationships and think you're just sitting around judging what you're looking at. But, I know better than anyone what a crap-shot relationships are...

"Sam came by though and kept me from pretty much cutting myself with a variety of sharp objects to sever strings that can't be touched by tangible objects. Really, greaaaaat way to impress a guy." She groaned to herself in frustration.

"Ooooh." Well, that was a can of worms right there, wasn't it? Being the only one capable of actually rescuing your ex and getting clocked a good one for your efforts at the end. "Good on you for jumping into the fray though, right?"

Cora explained a bit about the thread thing and, well, honestly it made Juniper super uncomfortable at first, but that was soon overwhelmed by guilt over feeling uncomfortable when Cora literally pointed out that that was the most common reaction she got.

So... she'd just ignore it! Yup. File that away somewhere deep down and panic about it later.

What kinda strings did she have on her? She hadn't really been in more than one relationship, or, well it had felt like one at the time. She still wasn't sure if fully counted considering her age at the time. "That's kinda neat."

And then her brain decided to fixate on the fact that some strings could be cut.

... Would she willingly forget Mason if she could? It would certainly take a massive dose of guilt off of her shoulders, but... that was a pretty big decision. She decided to ignore that for the time being as well.

"Sounds like a lot of stress on you, though. Always being able to see who's boning who." She blinked in the darkness and crossed her arms over her chest as she sat back in her chair.

"So there's a guy you wanna impress, huh? Sam?" She giggled despite herself, she only knew one Sam and of course he was face that popped up in her mind at the name. "I mean, it shows he cares that he stopped by to keep you safe, right?"

Juniper managed not to freak out. Points for the new girl. Sam had practically fled at the first sign she could see his threads, although, he did have a considerable number in the 'want to bone' category. But, she didn't care about that. It wasn't that she was interested in him that way. He was, fun to be around.

So there's a guy you wanna impress, huh?

Shhhiiiiiittt. Her hungover mouth was faster than her brain it seemed.

Cora rubbed her forehead and said a few choice cuss words before opening one eye and giving Juniper a stern look. "You tell anyone, I cut every one of your threads I can reach, and send you home with an hours worth of amnesia." She was mostly kidding. Okay, maybe she wasn't kidding. It was hard to say when she was this hungover.

"I mean, I guess. Not intentionally. We went on a hike, just us and his dog Bruno, and it was really nice. Then, he left a note after this. And I guess the note didn't seem upset. I just, don't remember much of what I said. I do know I managed to down half a bottle of whisky before intervention." She put her head back on the table. She wondered if she could just casually duck out of work. Maybe Scout wouldn't need her. Maybe it would be slow and she could sleep back here.

Oop. Apparently she'd stepped on a hidden landmine if all of the cussing was anything to go by. She tried to keep her laughter inside and mimed zipping her lips shut. Lord only knew how much she didn't want to get on that woman's bad side! What if she forgot about Clyde!?

She listened silently, arms still crossed, and things slowly started clicking into place. Like an old computer booting up. "Half a bottle? Shoot, that's close to beating one of my records. No wonder you have a hangover. You probably feel like someone ran you over with a mac truck right now, huh?"

.... wait

...WAIT

BRUNO? OWNED BY A SAM???

"Oh sh*t." She blinked, her arms falling limply to her sides as she struggled and failed to compute that for a moment.

"You went on a hike with SAM!" She couldn't help it, she stood and planted her hands on the table. "I know that guy!"

Oh @#$%

Her phone chose that time to ping since the food was outside and she twitched. "I'll be right back with buns! This is not over!"

And then she sprinted out of the room like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Hum bow needed to be picked up and deposited in Cora's stomach so that Juniper could hear the rest of this juicy tale.

When she came back she was wild eyed and had a paper bag in her arms. She shut the door behind her so that they were shrouded in darkness, with food, and potential gossip. She hurried back into her seat, pushing the paper back with two wrapped steamed buns inside at the woman, and started to unwrap the one she had gotten herself so she had something to nibble on.

It took several moments longer for Cora's brain to catch up to what just happened. Juniper had already left the room when Cora realized what had been said. I know that guy!

Cora said a few more cuss words and wanted to fall through the table. If she had a useful mutation, she could do that. Maybe she could just, snip off a few of her own threads. She could handle an hour of amnesia, right? Just, let her lie back here, forget the world, forget...

Food. There was food. Cora accepted the offering and bit into one of the buns, ignoring how much it scalded her. It wasn't bad enough to burn taste buds off but enough she should have really blown on it for a second first.

After finishing the thankfully small bite, she decided it was the fates way of forcing her to keep talking. "So, Sam. Ice mutant, full of puns? I'm out of my mind aren't I. Flirting with him is like playing chicken with a freight train. And telling you about it, oh innocent greenhorn, feels like an equally bad idea." She wanted to wag an eyebrow at Juniper, but it was dark, and she could only try to send a mixture of warning, amusement, and regret into her words.

Why was she talking? Why did she say anything today?

She needed to detox before her disoriented brain let her mouth say more she would regret.

Juniper was in the same boat, having bitten into her own bun too soon and ended up having to waggle the bite around in her mouth and thuluthuluthuluthu around it until it was safe to swallow.

"Yeah, ice guy. Super punny." She couldn't help the innocent grin that wound its way onto her face as she sat in the dark and blew on the rest of her bun. "Well, if it makes you feel any better he seems like a pretty cool dude from my short time hanging out with him. Good sense of humor, attractive, seems like he's there when it counts."

She, of course, missed the warning in Cora's words and simply hummed as she thought about it.

"Might be a little flaky, but heck, you're a good woman and he's a good guy. I'd say go for it, my dude."

She took another bite. Still hot! Gah!

"And don't worry," she got out around a scalding bite, "My lips are sealed. I know how to mind my business better than most people out there."

She waited a beat before her mouth was empty and her grin was back, "But like, if you ever want me to help a gal out you just say the word, Boss."

This situation was a bit much for Cora. The sharing of food, the sharing of feelings, the general fluff of the moment. Her head hurt. She was very much regretting being alive today, and she was talking about a guy to someone she barely knew. Oh hell, she was talking about a guy to one of her employees! She had absolutely lost her mind.

She bit the bun. It hurt. She chewed and swallowed and did her best to pretend this was the most normal experience of her life. Like scaling a wall without a safety line. Just don't look down, find the next handholds, and pretend your arms weren't being sliced in a hundred places by agony.

"I don't really plan on going for anything. I see relationships. It's like a walking reminder how screwed up the world is. And if you know Sam, I'm pretty sure you know what a skirt -chaser he is. I don't intend to just be a forgotten victory." Was that bitter? It came out bitter. She wanted to chase back the phrase and stuff it into the bun so she could swallow it back down.

Her brain kept replaying the note. Thinking about his dog. And there was a vague memory of being caught and carried to bed, and thinking it had been nice.

Nope. A hundred nopes.

"Today I just want to jump on a train and skip town. Run away from all of it. Work, people. Although, the food isn't bad. Maybe I wouldn't run away from food."

"I mean, yeah." She fiddled with the wrapper on her bun, "He is. So am I, actually." She shrugged, and then remembered that Cora probably couldn't see it.

"Whatever you wanna do is fine. I'm not here to try and play match maker or anything." She nibbled on another bite as she thought it all over. She really knew where Cora was coming from, cept' for the whole 'might kinda like him' part.

Then again, she tended to want to impress the few friends she had without really having super attached feelings to them. Blue was a very good friend that she sometimes slept with, though, that had trailed off a bit now that they were both aware that they were friends. And heck, she tended to wanna impress Xavier a lot and he was basically a brother to her.

Er, nah. She didn't wanna think about stealing the pants off of a brother. Best friends would just have to do.

"I don't know if he'd be that kinda guy. He certainly didn't come across like that to me. We talk still and hang out in his goofy man-cave. Heck, he just tried to show me the jet at school. But, you gotta do what you are comfortable with, right? I'm not really into relationships myself, so I can kinda feel you on that."

In regards to wanting to skip town or run away, well, maybe she could help there. "Want me to stay a bit later than I was scheduled for? I'm sure you could head on home since you have all the same symptoms as the flu, it was pretty dead out there when I came in."

Uh, maybe Cora spoke too soon. She felt like she was risking offending Juniper. It was hard to tell. It was dark. Cora could barely get her food to her mouth with proper coordination, let alone. speak words right now.

She took another bite, swallowed, set the remainder down and sighed. And cussed. And groaned. "I really don't know you well enough to read your emotions. Heck, they don't even like me covering shifts here because I f***ng suck with people skills. I don't like people. I don't say things correctly. I saw whatever the hell is on my mind. But, I don't know. It bothers me that it bothers me that he...is that way. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Like I said, I don't judge people based on their threads. That's just a shitty move.

"But, have you ever just, been around someone, and it's easy... It's easy to laugh and to hang out. And you kinda get attached to that person. And you don't know what you want, you just...don't want that part to end."

Maybe that was it. The same thing keeping her from looking at her hand, and trying to watch the colors of her own threads. Too much to handle. Too much to think about.

Man-cave, the school. "Show'd you the jet, huh? I don't know, that sounds like a pretty fun time to me. No joyrides? That's a waste," she joked.

Juniper offered to stay later. Cora poked at the remaining food, trying to think. "I...I mean sleep would be nice right now. But you just got over a lot yourself. I'm not that selfish, I can suck it up and handle this if I need to. Scout may kick me out anyway the first time someone yells next to me and I try to strangle them." It could happen. There was a high chance of that.