They were at a ramen place, a nice little joint where the broth was boiling all day and the noodles were fresh and good.

Shin had wanted to talk. To Carrick. Of all people. Luna was somewhere on his list. You help the x-men defend the mansion as a flying skunk, and people take notice. But carrick was first. Because flying gryphon, and— well, he had heard things that bore discussion.

He had ordered miso ramen for himself, and let carrick pore over the menu for a time. No, they did not have naruto ramen. That wasn’t even a thing: if he wanted steamed cakes of fish paste, narutomaki, that WAS a topping. He wasn’t sure if they had it here. Someone would have to ask.

The waitress was just bringing them food now.

“So… Carrick,” shin began slowly. “ I heard what you did at the mansion battle. Want to talk about that?”

Shin had wanted to talk. He didn’t know what about but he was willing. Espeically since there was a free meal involved. It was unfortuante it wasn’t an all you could eat buffet but a big bowl or ramen did the heart good. More so because he was still recovering. Mentally from the battle and physcially from the same battle... and a night of heavy drinking.

A loud growl exited from his stomach. Not one that he had control over. It was hunger. The bowl with all the toppings looked the most appitizing. The price tag next to it was a good indicator of how good it be. ”So.... Shin...” he wasn’t a teacher.... wait was he a teacher? He was an X-man. The shifter knew that for sure.

”Oh! Yeah! Ya didn’t see me? There were a few dozen of me! It was... I had a parade!” his tail rose behind him along with his spirits from the memory of flying with others that understood him. ”They got some video of it. Trying ta track down the originally copy so I can ste-buy it.” he said beaming.

”I don’t want ta take all the credit fer the victory.” he said laying the last bit on thick, ”It was a team effort. Shame about the mansion though... wait you homeless now?” Carrick asked. Where did the adults go when the mansion was destroyed? Was this the reason he wanted to talk? Was he looking for a place to stay?

He seemed awful proud of himself. And himself. And himself, and also himself. But those weren’t the carricks he was thinking of.

“I saw that,” he said. “The video.”

He waited for Carrick to finish, then shook his head. “I live in my apartment with my wife. But yes. Shame about the mansion. Thank you,” he paused the conversation as food arrived.

Carricks big bowl of ramen was set down in front of him. Shin had also ordered those little meat buns with yummy Mayo sauce.

The waitress left, and Shin smiled at him. “Dig in. It looks delicious. Maybe not as good as what you’re used to, but— I mean, the ramen has pork belly which melts like butter in your mouth. Really good. I heard from some mystic who was near you when Mirror and I trapped the cataclysm in the mirror world… maybe just after… that you actually prefer people?” He raised his voice slightly on that last bit, kind of a squeak.

August had told him that, after the battle. When he was tired and emotionally drained, heading to his vehicle. Right after trying to entice him with shots. Something about needing to drink after seeing a gryphon eat a guys hand.

The food arrived and there was a loud audible sigh of relief, not just because he was starving, but because Shin already had a place to stay with his wife. That was good, he wasn’t sure how many more people the Princess would have allowed to stay at their place. A concept that was still wild to the shifter. He had a home, one outside of the mansion now.

The shifters eyes looked from his bowl to the buns then back to his bowl as Shin gave him a run down on everything good in the bowl. ”Hmm?” his tail flicked behind him and he smiled wide at the man in front of him. His teeth might have been showing more than usual to add to his coyness.

Carrick was playing with him. Of course he recalled eating the man’s hand. It was for revenge. The man had shot at him. Sure it wasn’t what he wanted to do but his other forms seemed to have a mind of their own sometimes. He didn’t comment on the question but let it sit for a moment as he grabbed some chopsticks. “itadakimasu” he said remembering what he learned from Himari and Hiyaori that wasn’t a swear word in Japanese.

Taking a big ‘slurp’ of noodles Carrick asked with his mouth full, still playing with Shin. ”So what did ya want ta talk about?”

He contemplated the kid, to figure out if he was playing dumb or not. He gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was playing dumb.

Shin let Carrick eat his food for a minute. He ate his own, as well. Pretty great. Not the best he had ever had, but solid. Was he a snob? Yes. The buns, though? To die for.

He paused chewing a big bite, as Carrick asked him what he wanted to talk about. Chewed. Swallowed.

What would he the best delivery here? Doom and gloom? Anger? Humor? Shin chose an option, and committed.

”Yeah. A little mystic told me you’re occasionally a cannibal.” He said nonchalantly. ”Have you tried the buns yet? They’re REALLY good.”

”Oh? Did he?” Carrick asked with another ‘slurp’ of some noodles then attacked a piece of pork floating in the broth. Wondering what mystic spilled the beans and about... wait a cannibal? The shifter thought back to the most recent time he ate anyone. Bits and pieces sure, but to actually eat someone?

”Nah, think I'm more of an omnivore.” he said truthfully.

Before looking to the buns and deciding he’ll stick with the bowl of ramen at the moment. ”I’ll try ‘em later.” he took another ‘slurp’.

”Cannibal implies I try ta eat people right?” he asked curiously. His other forms ate a little bit of everything. Human, not so much the hand was an isolated incident. One he played for later that night by shifting and throwing it up again. Clearly his human stomach wasn’t designed for something like that.

He might’ve been slurping ramen. Shin got a sudden impression he ought not share the mystic’s name. Or lie.

Billy bob. Billy job Thornton. That mystic, yeah.

Carrick could be ever so slightly intimidating when he was eating ramen. As opposed to… raw men. Had… had he picked the food for the sake of a pun, subconsciously? Hrm.

He asked him about it, and Carrick didn’t get defensive. He just said “omnivore.” Well, yes. Technically. The best kind of yes. But… somehow, Shin did not think he was right, all the same.

He frowned.

>> ”Cannibal implies I try ta eat people right?”

”I don’t think it implies you do. If you’ve eaten people even once, you do. You are. At least, that’s how I’ve always seen it. Don’t really spend too much time thinking on that topic honestly.” Shin said. Morbid topic. He felt a crooked smile on his face, and not a good kind. The dark kind.

”There was this crazy guy with a bucket on his head. I saw him in Central Park one time. All sorts of magnets were stuck to the bucket. Weird, weird guy. For a show, some days he would make the magnets drift away from the helmet and float in the air in front of him. Earned him a few coins sometimes. Or jeers.”

He fell silent for a few seconds, but didn’t let Carrick interrupt. The moment Carrick would start talking, when he felt the silence uncomfortable, Shin would interrupt first. ”One day, he told the people jeering that humans are not the same as mutants. A different species, like sheep. Or cattle. And eating them would be the same. Please. Don’t be like that guy. Pretty please?”

He pushed his ramen away.

”**** me... guess I am one then.” he sighed.

”Well ya brought it up thought ya knew more on the subject.” the shifter said as he frowned into the chopsticks and bowl before him. Carrick thought about what his other forms ate even less. Every now and then he’d cough up a feather or find some kind of smaller bones where his hoard was buried near the mansion.

”I....” the shifter went back to chasing another piece of pork as he was interrupted. That’s fine if Shin wanted to talk he’d let him. The shifter was hungrier than defending the fact that one of his forms might occasionally maul or eat someone.

”Nah....” Carrick said after the ‘lesson’ was laid out for him. ”Too lean, hardly any meat. At least ya couldn’t make a full meal out of them. Most of the bones are too small as well.” he said looking around for an example but came up empty.

”I’ve never eaten a person before.” he said thumbing his chest with a chopstick almost stabbing himself in the process. ”Owww.” he pulled his thumb and chopstick away from his chest.

”And I try not ta think about what the other two eat. One likes racoons and pigeons unless it can get a deer. The other...” thankfully he was never starving. He tired to keep that from happening just in case. ”Best to keep this ‘me’ full.”

>> ”**** me... guess I am one then.”

The Asian suspected the first step to solving a problem was admitting you have one. They had one. Carrick was one. But—

He, at least, seemed to prefer pork.

Shin talked a while and Carrick listened. And he preferred other meats. Was he trying to be funny, to joke himself out of the situation? If so, the joke kind of fell flat. Shin looked at him. And Carrick stabbed himself with a “I’ve never eaten a person before” comment laced with false bravado. Or maybe the bravado was real.

>> ta think about what the other two eat. One likes racoons and pigeons unless it can get a deer. The other... Best to keep this ‘me’ full.” He said.

Shin was silent for a second. “Well, then.” He finally said. “I agree?” Hrm. He reached for his pushed aside food, and got ready to eat some more. Even in spite of being a bit grossed out. No food left behind.

“We will just have to be aware of that. Moving forward. I’m not you, so I can’t tell you how to live your life. But— probably consider how delicious other things are? I guess?”

Hrm. This felt like a very weird conversation. He liked Carrick, mostly. The kid was a goofball, and he didn’t always trust him, but he had not had much interaction with him after the first disastrous meeting in the DR, and then saving him from a madman with a gun. Which they had not talked about very much.

“How are you doing, after the fight?” He asked. Then ate some food.

”I am aware of it.” Carrick said a little irritated. Ever since he could get stuck in his half shift, his least preferred form he had to be aware of it. It scared people, chased off Elizabeth when they were younger. He still saw the look of terror on her face. Serena’s as well. In fact for the longest time he was afraid to shift in fear of that form. It couldn’t be controlled.

At least it couldn’t. Now, he had a grasp on it. Or rather the Princess was good at getting the beasty to calm down. To not just work off instincts. She showed him it could be controlled. Even if he was awful at trying to control it. ”Sam and Maya know. They’ve seen beasty in action before didn’t take me out fer a meal but they at least know about it.” he didn’t crack a joke or smile at this point. ”And Jorge was aware of it.” his tail flicked behind him as he tried to think of a more cheerful subject.

After the fight would do it.

”Grand, moved in with the princess. Got our own place. Moved up ta the east side, finally got a piece of the pie.” Carrick said recalling a show’s theme song he watched at night when he lived in the mansion. ”Praxi moved in with us as well. Pretty cozy place. Got us a nice balcony so I don’t have to use the elevator.”

Slurping some noodles, ”Hard ta imagine I went from street urchin ta living with royalty. Everything is turning up Carrick lately.” Carrick said chewing the noodles then asking to be polite, ”You?”

Many people were aware. Shin noted the names. Good to have a support network, friends to share a burden. If Carrick ever needed an intervention, he knew who to call. Sam and Maya and Jorge. Actually, that was not all that long of a list. He would add Liz to it. There. Better list. Carrick and Liz had a history both infamous and… forgettable.

Better not to ask.

Moving on.

Carrick had settled into the domicile of a princess. Up to the east side, with pie. Moving on up. Cool, cool, cool. Praxi was there. The jelly girl? That made a company of three, which was an entirely separate theme song from the one carrick had been referencing.

Shin nodded.

“Balconies are nice,” he agreed. Speaking from his own flighty experience.

He had really meant ‘how are you doing mentally,’ but physically. Spiritually. Carrick seemed alright. No lurking depressions or problematic new situations (like some people who had lost their homes, identities, etc.), so… okay.

He had royalty, he seemed in good spirits.

“I’m you’ve got an arrangement that is working out for you.” Shin said, with a small smile. “It is wild how things happen like that. Remember when I went from rogue to mansion resident… and then respectable husband, cop, then teacher, and— wow, I’ve been a lot of things, haven’t I? Yeah, I’m doing alright. Nothing emotionally or spiritually to add. Seems you are doing fine mentally, too. You don’t need any emotional counseling, or someone to talk to? Mama T, maybe….? Someone not me?” Had he said that last part out loud? Whoops.

He ate more.

“These are good noodles.” He hastily added. “You know, they boil the broth for hours to get that taste.” The hearty, salty… taste.

‘Sluuuuuuurp’

>>> “I’m you’ve got an arrangement that is working out for you.” Shin said, with a small smile. “It is wild how things happen like that. Remember when I went from rogue to mansion resident… and then respectable husband, cop, then teacher, and— wow, I’ve been a lot of things, haven’t I? Yeah, I’m doing alright. Nothing emotionally or spiritually to add. Seems you are doing fine mentally, too. You don’t need any emotional counseling, or someone to talk to? Mama T, maybe….? Someone not me?”

The shifter raised his eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, the way a cat would when it was trying focus on something new. Potential prey? A toy maybe? ‘Sluuuuuuuurpppp’ the shifter finished another bite of noodles and then looked down at his bowl for a moment. Was Shin trying to reach out to him to tell him he wasn’t alright?

The rest of the team should know. It wasn’t Carrick’s business to spread the news but he also wasn’t qualified to help with emotional or mental wellbeing. Half the time he couldn’t even sort his own emotions out. When he did it was with the bartender or some other regular who would just nod his head and forget it all. Hell he even talked about his feelings with the Princess. Wasn’t Shin’s wife an empath? Maybe she wasn’t really good with her powers?

”I mean...” he took a sip from the broth to clear his throat, ”I’m not qualified ta talk to you about what yer feeling mate. Not sober anyways... if ya want ta grab a pint I can listen I guess... but like ya said, Mama T is a good place ta start. Don’t the X-men pay fer stuff like that? Seeing as ya fly around the world saving it n’ ****?” he asked curiously.

Maybe they just had awful health coverage. It was the United States after all.

The teens name was Sawao Yamanaka. He liked singing and playing guitar. He had friends into music. One played drums. One played bass. One played violin. He wasn’t sure they had room for violin. He still wanted to include them somehow, when he started his band. Country music could include fiddles. Why couldn’t rock and roll include a violin? His major problem, of course, was his parents.

His parents wanted him working in the noodle shop. Sawao wanted to practice in his garage with his friends. He wanted to practice when they wanted him to work.

He was shouting at them in the back of the shop. He was angry. When Sawao got angry, his skin crawled. Not literally. Today was special, though. It was the first time his mutation had ever activated. So when Sawao got that skin-crawly angry feeling, he kinda sorta made other things crawl, too. Literally. Namely, the food in peoples’ bowls.

—-

Carrick said something.

This was so awkward.

A ball of ramen noodles launched itself from out of Carrick’s bowl, to violently hug his face.

Shin let out a sigh of relief. A moment’s reprieve.

A ball of ramen noodles launched itself from out of Shin’s bowl, to violently hug his face.

Wait, what?!

He panicked for all of a second, hands twitching uncertainly at his sides. Such a slimy, wet, sensation. Then, he slurped a little, chewed. Slurped a little more, chewed. The mass writhed. It was a little less, though.

Inspiration struck like lightning. Through a mouthful of noodles, Shin shouted: “C’rrcck!! EATDEM! Still noooooodz!!!”

He hoped Carrick was still hungry. Across the restaurant’, people were screaming, but muffled. Everyone had their own personal noodle monster to bear. Luckily for them, the X-men were on the scene!! And they were hungry.

Ok. One x-man and one trainee/student. And he was kind of full, but—

A pork bun launched itself like a football, into his gut. Ow.

Shin was quite for a moment... mulling something over.

‘Slurrrrppp’

Carrick opened his mouth to add to the words of comfort he was trying to give the man as the noodles he had been enjoying erupted upwards onto his face. ”Mmmmmmmm!!!” the shifter kicked his chair back and rolled as the noodles latched onto his face like in that one alien movie he never finished.

Rolling around he caught a glimpse of the same thing happening to Shin. One of his pork buns attacked him next. Why did this happen to him? This was why he couldn’t enjoy nice things. The shifter struggled but bit down on some of the noodles. They wriggled for a moment then stopped moving as he swallowed.

The shifter chuckled and started to shift. While his mouth was being covered the muffled scream of the Irishman quickly turned into a ‘screeeeee’ of an eagle. His pupils turned to slits and he started to pull the clothing and skin off of himself as fur broke free, followed by talons and a beak. it was like a winged horse was let loose in the restaurant.

The noodle monster didn’t stand a chance as the beak snapped up the ball of noodles in one snap of the beak. Followed by another as Carrick’s new form tried to eat the noodles attacking Shin.

Good. He heard what he had said… or else, his natural reaction to monster noodles was to eat them. Either way worked for Shin!!

He worked on his monster, even as Carrick shifted… and just like that, Shin owed Carrick a new set of socks. Clothing was shredded, the gryphon was free, and— heheh, everyone was kind of in danger.

This restaurant was in trouble. Idly, shin hoped the gryphon would not be too damaging to the place. That thought got silenced, and quick, as Carrick lurched towards his face with his beak.

Ahhhh!!!

Shin held perfectly still, and something from a horror movie got scarfed down by something from a monster flick. It felt like something out of an alien film, but now he was blending genre and confusing the subject.

If he did not move, Carrick could eat the noodles on his face, without eating his face. Shin did not move. And when the noodle monster was gone, he moved quickly, back and away from the boy gryphon.

”Okay. One down. Let’s just… no more noodles off of faces, okay?” He sent a single triangular green shard flying at a nearby patron. It slashed the monster off their face, with surgical precision. Thanks, Math Eyes. As it fell in midair, Shard turned the triangular barrier to scoop the monster up like a tortilla chip cradling nacho toppings. He deposited the monster at Gryphon’s feet.

”Order up. You stay there. I will bring them to you.” As Shard jumped to the next patron, he really hoped Carrick would listen.

Sounds from the back of the restaurant. Someone was stumbling out, a Japanese boy. He kept repeated “No,” in Japanese. Over and over. He looked distressed.

Shin fed Carrick another living noodle abomination, or tried to.