((OOC: Lee's going to be sitting there in her chair, possibly occassionally pacing, across the room from the bed that Tarin's in for as long as he's passed out, which is going to be a good 24 hours or so. During that time, I'm pretty sure there's going to be quite a number of people coming into and out of the infirmary, so some interaction with the slightly bouncing, shaking, and very nervous Lee would be cool.))

Since getting back to this place, wherever it was, they had given Lee a change of clothing, very much appreciated despite the fact that it wasn't her normal attire, and she had gotten the chance to clean the grime and gore from the camp off her. Once that was done, she made sure that Tarin was doing as well as could be expected given the circumstances. He had been cleaned and patched up, she saw, but was simply laying there in the hospital bed, dead to the world.

And so Lee took up a post on the other side of the room, pretty much as far away from Tarin as she could possibly get without actually leaving the infirmary. Pulling a chair over, not even registering its weight as she did so, Lee sat. And sat, her leg bouncing due to the energy she had siphoned that was not sitting inside her otherwise unmoving body as she stared across the room at Tarin's still form.

Lee didn't even know how much time had passed since the merge had ended, didn't know how long it had been since they got to this place. Though, to her, it didn't really matter. Lee already knew she was in for a hell of a wait. It had always been long enough, and extremely boring, the times she had been awake all night while Tarin had slept for 8-10 hours. Now, he was in much worse shape than she had ever seen him, had no idea if-

No, he will wake up, Lee mentally cut off that pessimistic thought. Tarin had to wake up. She couldn't be responsible for killing those guards and this. He had to wake up. It was just going to take a lot longer than normal.

Finally, Lee couldn't sit any more. But was it simply 20 minutes or two hours later? She didn't know, since she was resolutely avoiding looking at the clock in the room. Lee stood, feeling her leg muscles still twitching slightly as she started pacing back and forth. No, she was not going to clock watch. It was going to be more than hard enough without counting the seconds and minutes while she waited.

((ooc: Continued from The Last Stand.))

Calley was trying to make himself scarce without actually leaving the Labs. Leaving the Labs was fleeing; fleeing inspired chasing, as he'd learned earlier in the day. Funny how one lesson led to another. He'd learned his lesson concerning breaking into Doctor Ingram's labs, he'd learned his lesson about releasing a sentient science experiment, and he'd learned about ten things not to do when someone is trying to eat and/or kill you. He was pretty sure he had at least one lesson in store. Hunter had been gone all day with the Resistance, out fighting the good fight and such. Now... he was back. Somewhere. And Calley was pretty sure his final lesson was going to be 'what happens when you cause massive property damage while the Scary Boss Man is away'.

Squeee!

It was pretty hard to stay scarce in Mondragon Labs, given its rather over-adequate staffing of guards and weed-like security cameras. So really, Calley was doing the next best thing: staying in public places. He really didn't want to meet that torture chair again. An involuntary somewhat-groan, somewhat-laugh escaped Calley's mouth. I nicked the torture chair, didn't I? With a plasma gun. That I stole from Doc Jimmy. After I used a twelve-year-old to break in his lab. Yes, I did. When Hunter caught him alone, he had very little delusions about things ending well. But being a super-secret spy has its advantages. At this particular moment: he was reasonably sure the Scary Boss Man wasn't going to be ticked enough to completely blow his cover by storming into a public area, grabbing him by his neck, and marching him off to a room where no one could hear him scream.

Squak!

Calley was currently sitting cross-legged on an empty bed towards the back of the Mondragon Labs infirmary. There were a lot of people here, from all factions. That was good. That was exactly what he needed. He was wearing his usual: a spare guard uniform, about two sizes two big for him. He had to keep readjusting the neck of the shirt, so it didn't fall down over his shoulders. In the belt at his waist was tucked a toy wooden sword. In his hands was clutched--sque-KAK!--the lime green squeaky hedgehog. On his face was his usual habitual smile. His baby blue eyes kept watching the door. The Boss Man would have to come through the door. Or send one of his flunkies; but it would be through the door.

The door was not Calley's friend. Neither was the woman whose occasional chronic pacing was obscuring his view of the door. The door was not his friend, but it was a very important door, and he would rather like to see it right now.

"Umm," he spoke up, hesitantly, "would you mind stopping that, Ma'am? The pacing. Please. If it's not a problem. Or you could pace over there, maybe, instead. Kind of away from the door. If that's okay. Sorry. Hope your friend is okay. Sorry."

Squeeee!

Lee looked over her shoulder toward where Tarin was laying, passed out. Ok, so maybe it was really more like a glare, but she honestly couldn't help it. Why the hell hadn't he woken up yet? Yes, he was completely exhausted, but he had already forced himself awake at the camp during the breakout. Why couldn't Tarin simply do that again now, to show Lee that he was alright, that he was going to be alright, and then he could go back to sleep.

Lee was shocked out of her pacing when she heard a hesitant voice from a nearby bed. No one had actually spoken to her since she had finally gotten the nurses in the infirmary to leave her alone; they had been quite insistent that she get checked over, or if she was physically fine, that she go get herself some food. Lee had been more insistent, and finally they let her simply take her chair to the wall and stay there. It had been much more peaceful once the nurses had decided to simply ignore her presence in the room.

Turning, Lee caught sight of a teenage boy, sitting cross-legged on a bed, his blue eyes looking directly at her. He looked nervous, worried, though really, who wouldn't be after everything that had happened that day?

Stopping her pacing, not thinking anything of her location since she wasn't as close to the door as she had at times been while moving, Lee gave the boy as encouraging a smile as she could muster. Lee didn't even realize that where she was standing put her directly in his view of said door.

"Don't worry," she told him softly. "I'm sure everyone who was hurt has already been here. But if someone does rush in, I'll make sure to get out of their way right away."

It was then that the blue eyed teen said he was sorry and that he hoped Tarin was alright. Lee couldn't stop her eyes from darting across the room to look at his bed again. "So do I, kid," Lee replied on a sigh as she turned back.

Only then did Lee really take in the kid's clothing. It was far, far too big for him, and wasn't even proper clothing, it appeared to be a guard uniform of sorts. Had that really been the best they could do for him? He had to be at least her size, and they hadn't done too badly with finding her something to wear.

"So why are you still here?" Lee asked, trying to keep the worry over Tarin and horror from what she had seen at the camps out of her voice so it would remain calm and kind sounding. "You didn't get hurt badly, I hope. Have you gone to get something to eat yet?"

The door. She was in front of the door. She had stopped very, very distinctly in front of the door. Calley's habitual smile widened as he felt his heart stumble to an unhealthy run. He resisted the urge to tilt to the side, and look around her. It was okay. He'd still see if anyone came past her. This was fine. Those extra few seconds of warning wouldn't have made any big difference anyway.

Squwark--!

Her encouraging smile was not helping him to stop hyperventilating. Neither was the amazingly sweet altruistic train of thoughts that led up to this coming out of her mouth: "Don't worry. I'm sure everyone who was hurt has already been here. But if someone does rush in, I'll make sure to get out of their way right away."

"Umm," he smiled, "that's good. Thanks. Perfect." He left it at that: a confrontation right now, he did not need or want. He'd tried and failed. That was fine. That was okay.

Silence: the distinctive sound of a lime green squeaky hedgehog flattened between a seventeen year old Italian boy's hands to the point where it has no more breath left with which to scream. Calley knew how it felt.

Aaaand the doorway stander was back to being an unselfishly caring person, with worried eyes darting fretfully to her man-type-person over there on the bed. "So do I, kid," the woman sighed; Calley didn't even remember what he'd said to trigger that. It must be nice to have the option to care more about others than about your own hide. He wouldn't mind trying that, sometime.

S--! Apparently there was a little air left in the lime green squeaky hedgehog, after all. Just a little. The woman was staring at him in that way that let him know she was actually seeing him. Great. Lovely. Cue the inevitable questions.

"So why are you still here? You didn't get hurt badly, I hope. Have you gone to get something to eat yet?"

An abrupt laugh jumped out of Calley's mouth. "Umm, thank you for your concern, Ma'am. Thank you. I'm, ah, okay. Just tired. Almost got eaten earlier today. Have a sudden rousing sympathy with the food they're serving. Maybe gonna hold off on the ingestion thing for a bit." Actually, some food would be wonderful; he hadn't eaten for hours, which was a dangerous thing for him to do. He'd nearly starved to death over the Winter while shoving things into his mouth constantly. He hadn't had that same chronic hunger recently, but it probably wasn't good to push things. The issue at hand was a simple one, though, easily phrased in question form: 'How many empty hallways were between the Infirmary and the Canteen?' Calley shivered where he sat. Clearly a result of the oversized clothing. Clearly.

"Umm, I hope I'm not bothering you," he finally answered to her first question; the 'why are you still here?' "I'm technically fit to leave if you absolutely positively don't want me here. I just... people." He nodded in agreement with himself. "I think I'd like to stay around people. If that's okay."

Though he seemed to smile wider, Lee wasn't sure the boy was all that happy with her assurance that she'd get out of the way should someone come into the infirmary. Oh well. He didn't actually say he didn't think that was good enough, so what did it really matter?

That wasn't the end of the slightly weird behaviour, though. When she asked why he was still there and if he was alright, he gave a short laugh. For a moment, Lee thought that maybe he was a healer, and that's why he found it funny she was worried about him being alright. That was pushed out of her mind when he did answer, though.

"Eaten?" Lee asked, the shock and surprise evident in her voice. As if everything she had seen at the camps hadn't been enough, this kid had almost been eaten by something? What kind of world had this turned into on her?

"Yeah, I guess that's understandable," Lee said, her voice quiet as she nodded, her eyes lowered slightly. "Not sure I'd actually be able to stomach anything myself at the moment.

"And call me Lee," she continued, looking back up to the blue eyes. "I'm not old enough for all this ma'am business."

The problem was, now that she was thinking about it, Lee's stomach decided to tell her it was hungry. And while she hadn't actually felt nauseous in...well, she wasn't sure how long since she wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed, but since actually leaving the camp. However, Lee wasn't sure how long that would continue to last if she actually put something back into her stomach.

But then he almost seemed to get hesitant again, saying that he would leave if it was really bothering her. "Don't be silly," Lee told him, trying, and mostly failing, to give another encouraging smile. "They actually ordered me to leave earlier," she continued, nodding her head toward a group of nurses further into the room. "I didn't listen."

~ "Eaten?"

Calley blinked at the woman's shock, momentarily forgetting his smile. It hit him how strange that must have sounded, and he gave a grin. An honest grin. "Umm, that was an exaggeration. Sorry. It was more the two girls I was with that he wanted to eat--I'm pretty sure he was just going to kill me, to get me out of the way. But it's all cool, because we beat him. It was kind of epic, actually. There was even an elfin archer and a mad scientist involved. If you've been wondering about the fire in the parking garage and the sprinklers going off and stuff, that was kind of us." His grin got bigger as he said that. A fearful employee, he certainly was; a repentant employee, no, he was not. Heh. It had been worth it. Whatever happened next, trashing the Labs had pretty much been worth it. He tuned back in from his own memories of the day to find the woman talking again.

~ "Yeah, I guess that's understandable. Not sure I'd actually be able to stomach anything myself at the moment."

Stomach? Oh, yeah. They had been talking about food. Calley eased up his grip on the lime green squeaky hedgehog, letting it draw back in a soft squiiiiiiing breath. His thoughts were even more scattered than usual. It was a little hard to focus on her. Fortunately, since she was still standing in his line of sight to the door, he had absolutely no troubles keeping his gaze on her. Her and her obtrusive body-shaped mass.

~ "And call me Lee. I'm not old enough for all this ma'am business."

Calley gave a little nod, and shifted his position on the bed so that one of his knees was upright and pleasantly at chin-resting height. He set down the lime green squeaky hedgehog on his other knee. "Hi. I'm Calley. And, umm, I wasn't in the Camps, if that's what you were thinking, so you pretty much don't need to worry about me or anything. I've just been at the Labs since the Mansion got raided. So, umm, yeah. You don't really have to be all nice to me, if you don't want."

~ "Don't be silly. They actually ordered me to leave earlier. I didn't listen."

"Heh." Calley grinned again, casually poking at the lime green squeaky hedgehogs' hard rubber quills as he continued staring at Lee the Amazing Door-Blocking Woman. "You tell those medical professionals." She seemed nice enough, so the hesitancy in his speech was wearing off with its typical speed. Particularly since her door-view-blocking trick was also keeping her well out of range to easily grab at him. That was nice. Unless she had some sort of speed mutation, which would kinda make the usual range void.

Calley tilted his head, and blinked at the woman. "What's your mutation? If you don't mind my asking. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Umm, I'm a tiger shifter." The lime green squeaky hedgehog fell off his knee; he picked it up, put it back, and kept poking at it. "Which is kind of useless against Stalkers, so I kinda sat the whole Via La Liberation fight out." He guiltily ducked his head. She wasn't in the Resistance; he knew everyone in the Resistance, at least vaguely. That made her someone who'd been locked in the Camps. "...Sorry."

As Lee listened to the teen talking about what had apparently happened here to him earlier that day while she and the other inmates were being broken out of the camp, the shock on her face intensified. Yes, she had been through some tough stuff when she was younger, but that was all normal stuff. Stuff that could happen to anyone, things that were, unfortunately, common on the street. What the hell kind of world had it become that someone as young as the person sitting in front of her on that bed could talk so calmly and matter of factly about almost being killed by someone who wanted to eat the people he was with?!?

After she had introduced herself, the boy, Calley he said his name was, shifted on the bed. Yeah, that actually seemed like a good idea to Lee, too. You know, that whole moving thing. Unfortunately, Calley's next words surprised her enough to keep her from moving her feet; instead, her leg just kept twitching slightly.

"So what," Lee said slowly. "I'm supposed to be cruel and mean just because you weren't in the camps too? And you know you don't have to be nice to me simply because I was there, right?"

And then Calley went on to ask a very direct, unexpected question. Though, in reality, it was only unexpected because Lee had very rarely been asked that before, mostly because she had tried to keep her mutation as secret as possible. Those who had found out that she was a mutant, generally had been able to guess at her powers on their own.

Listening to Calley tell her about his powers, Lee got back to that whole moving thing, and started pacing again, though slower than she had been before. 'Well, why not tell him,' she thought to herself. 'It's not like you're hiding the fact that you're a mutant. You were caught, got sent to the camp, had a bloody collar snapped around your neck. He knows you're a mutant. So why not just tell him so he can leave, and you can get back to your worrying?'

Lee took a deep breath and turned to face Calley again. "I siphon energy from people," she said softly with a small shrug. "But only from people, so I'm not much good against Stalkers either.

"Not that good around people in general..." Lee added, as if to herself, as her eyes darted back over to Tarin's area of the room.

Calley didn't understand why his explanation about the day seemed to make her more shocked. It was a just a little mutant-on-mutant murderous action. It seemed like ever since he'd admitted he was a mutant--as opposed to pretending to be a house cat--he'd been with people who were getting ready to kill others. The Order had been plotting to round humans up in concentration camps well before the Registration Law had passed; the X-Men had done their new member try-outs using human-shaped robots that had to be destroyed en masse; the Kabal was... run by Hunter, and included such pleasant personalities as the knife-welding Nox and the alarmingly willing to get naked and/or hurt him Kaz. The thing today had just been another lovely part of How Things Were. It sucked, but it wasn't exactly shock-worthy. Kinda sheltered, wasn't she? He decided against pointing that out.

~ "So what, I'm supposed to be cruel and mean just because you weren't in the camps too? And you know you don't have to be nice to me simply because I was there, right?"

Calley shied back from her slow, steady tone. He grabbed the lime green squeaky hedgehog, and tossed it up to his other hand. "Sorry. That's not what I meant. Sorry. It's just that you've been through a lot, probably, and it's just been kind of same-old, same-old for me. So I do think I should be nice to you, Lee. It's kind of respectful." As it frequently did, the lime green squeaky hedgehog found its way to the top of his head. Its black rubber eyes watched the door just as intently as Calley did, while its stubs of legs stood protectively at guard. No harm would come to the Italian boy; not while its quills still stuck proudly out and its squeakier could still be heard across rooms and through doorways. Clearly in good paws, Calley was free to track the woman with his eyes as she paced, and listen curiously to her power description. He made sure to keep the door at least in his peripheral vision still, though.

~ "I siphon energy from people. But only from people, so I'm not much good against Stalkers either. ...Not that good around people in general..."

Calley gave the lime green squeaky hedgehog a slight head butt that sent it up about a half inch into the air. He tilted his head to the other side, and caught it--wobble wobble safe!--with a complete lack of concentration that spoke of far too much practice. Its nose was even still pointed door-wards. "You seem all right with people to me. I mean, not that I know you really well, or anything. But we're talking. And you seem cool. And nice." He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Umm, so you siphon energy, huh? That's kind of neat. Can you use it once you have it, like for throwing around energy balls, and stuff? There's a guy in the Resistance who can do that. It's pretty cool." He gave a slight nod of agreement with himself. The lime green squeaky hedgehog nodded precariously with him.

There was something to be said about dreamless sleep. When Tarin managed dreamless sleep he didn't have to see Lee's face, the way she'd looked when she'd finally turned to face him after dragging the redhead from the shop. The knowledge that she really believed he'd been fooling around with another woman right under her nose. He didn't have to see it when she threw her engagement ring at him, see it laying there on the floor of the shop after she'd left.

He'd stood there, looking at the ring on the floor in something akin to shock after she'd left, trying to breathe for several minutes until he'd convinced himself that Lee was just angry. Until he'd managed to push from his mind the fact that no matter how angry Lee had ever been at him, that ring had never moved from its place on her left hand.

Tarin hadn't had a chance to sleep since seeing Lee in the camp, luckily or otherwise he was sleeping now, and however deep, the sleep was not dreamless. The look on Lee's face when he'd stumbled through the blood and filth to her, found her in the chaos had hurt worse than every other thing he'd experienced put together. Even after all this time, she hadn't wanted to see him, hadn't figured out that he'd never want anyone but her. Tarin had never felt like this before.

There were buzzing noises now, he didn't remember what had happened after the merge...ah the merge, he'd known then...really known that she didn't believe a word he'd told her. She really didn't want him there. Not at all. She'd commited to the merge though, and she'd been horrified, really horrified. Tarin had known that she didn't really understand about him, didn't really get it. Now she did, and even if he'd slowly been fading as the energy flowed from him he'd seen the horror at what he'd become, what they'd become.

He could hear other things now, he could hear her voice. Tarin didn't want to look at her though, really didn't want to face her after everything that had happened. He moved...really moved his arm and his hand slipped slowly into his pocket, closing over the ring he'd placed there when he'd finally picked it up on the floor.

His eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light in the hospital-like room he'd been placed in. Tarin didn't feel the blood or dirt caked on his skin anymore as he ran a hand over his forehead and a look down at his clothes showed that he'd been changed at some point.

Tarin looked up, raising his head slowly because it felt like it held 100 pounds of hot rocks. He could still hear Lee's voice, she was talking to someone young. The conversation was a little broken to Tarin's ears, but he caught bits and pieces, powers...Lee's personality. She was the nicest person he'd ever met, and she really had tried so hard not to judge him.

In reality it was probably all his fault, she'd said it all right in the shop. What had he done the first opportunity when she hadn't met him for a drink...he'd also never hesitated to let Lee know...but what really hurt was that she'd really believed that the reason he'd waited for her was that he was getting some on the side. He still didn't say anything as he watched Lee because he had a feeling that everything wasn't just going to suddenly be okay, so he just sat, propped up on his elbows and watching her...she looked tense and coiled, but the look on her face wasn't the one he'd been seeing in his dreams. That's the look he wanted to see.

Wow, this kid was actually considerate. Most teenagers were self centred and rude, or at least most of the ones that Lee had run into, though that could also be because of where she ran into most of the teenagers she encountered, and the fact that she had been in New York City didn't help that. It gave her a bit of hope that the world was still a decent place. Maybe it was a good thing that she had managed to get out of the camp alive.

"I'm always going through a lot, it seems," Lee replied sadly. It was true, even before Tarin. "It's just hard cause each time seems to be worse, as if life keeps trying to get at me, and needs to keep making each one more shocking and more of a horror for me..."

Lee was pacing now, and didn't really see Calley put the squeaky toy he'd been playing with on his head. Nor did she see his head butt that caused it to fly a bit into the air and land back on his head safely because she had been glancing over at Tarin's bed. No change yet, so she turned her eyes back to Calley.

That's when Calley tried to tell her that she seemed alright to him, and a small, one sided smile was on her face before she could stop it. "It's not talking to people that's my problem," Lee told him, her smile slowly disappearing. Lee paused there, though. How would Calley take what she could tell him about her powers? Tarin had been the only one who really never seemed to mind, but yeah...look at everything that had happened there.

So far, though, he seemed rather interested in her powers. Lee was sure that would change, though, it always changed. Oh well, the kid can leave if he wants once he finds out, Lee decided. It's not like he was stuck staying in that bed or anything, it was his choice to stay in the infirmary. "Even from here," Lee said, turning at the far point in her pacing and looking at Calley. "I'm siphoning energy from you. I'm way over here rather than actually by his bed so I'm at least taking less from him," Lee continued, tilting her head slightly toward Tarin's bed again. "He's there because I took too much energy from him. Again.

"And no, nothing like that," Lee said, commencing her pacing again. "The more energy I have, the stronger and faster I am, but most times it's hard to actually use that, so I end up like this, feeling like I'm about to bounce off the walls because of the energy." Taking a deep breath, trying and failing to release energy as the air left her lungs, Lee unconsciously took another glance over toward Tarin.

And stopped her pacing so suddenly that she almost lost her balance. He'd moved. He was laying there, leaning up on his elbows. He was looking at her. A smile of happy relief flashed across Lee's face as it felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. She was moving before she even knew it, and had gone five steps before she stopped herself, though most people would have only managed one, maybe two steps in that time.

By the time she had come to a stop, on the other side of Calley's bed and thus much closer to Tarin, the happy smile was off her face, replaced with a blank look. What was he doing up already, Lee wondered. She didn't exactly know how long they had been there, but she new what Tarin's normal 8-10 hours felt like, and this had not been that. And she knew how much energy she had in her, how much she had taken from him. How could he be awake already?

She didn't deserve to be able to rush over to him like that, though. Not after everything she had done. But she did need to make sure he was alright, that's why she was still there in the first place, and Lee convinced herself that she couldn't do that from across the room.

So Lee started moving again, much slower than her initial approach, and came to a stop at the foot of Tarin's bed. "Are you alright?" Lee finally managed to ask, her voice soft, slow, controlled.

~ "I'm always going through a lot, it seems. It's just hard cause each time seems to be worse, as if life keeps trying to get at me, and needs to keep making each one more shocking and more of a horror for me..."

Calley gave a matter-of-fact nod that the lime green squeaky hedgehog confidently echoed. "That's kind of what life does, I think. But it's got to get better at some point, I figure." He nodded again, giving a wishy-washy and-I-know-it's-wishy-washy smile. "Don't ask me for proof on that one. I just figure it has to get better, because I don't think life is supposed to suck this badly. I mean, people who are older than me and you seem happy enough, most of the time."

~ "Even from here, I'm siphoning energy from you. I'm way over here rather than actually by his bed so I'm at least taking less from him. He's there because I took too much energy from him. Again."

Calley blinked at the woman, sitting up somewhat-straight again. The lime green squeaky hedgehog vaulted off of his head with the motion; he absentmindedly caught it with one hand, and put it on his right shoulder as he shifted to sit cross-legged again. He blinked, and tilted his head to the right; he blinked, and tilted his head to the left. "I don't feel anything. It's not really much you're taking, is it? ...So it's got something to do with distance?" He couldn't help it; he scooted to the front of the bed experimentally, and repeated his blink-tilt analysis. "Huh. Am I supposed to be able to feel it?" Belatedly, he realized that there was probably more than a little guilt behind that last part of her statement. "Umm, you and he are friends, right? So I'm guessing he knows what your powers are. And I don't mean to pry or anything, but you did just come from the breakout, right? So I'd bet ten dollars that there was one of those 'extenuating circumstances' things going on. Umm, not to rain on your guilt parade, or anything. I hear those, ah, can be fun. Yeah."

She was pacing again; he couldn't help but lean forward a little bit every time she came closer to him. ...Pfft. He still couldn't feel anything.

~ "And no, nothing like that. The more energy I have, the stronger and faster I am, but most times it's hard to actually use that, so I end up like this, feeling like I'm about to bounce off the walls because of the energy."

He went deer-still for a moment at 'stronger and faster', then forced himself to relax. She seemed nice enough. In his experience, if someone was going to hurt him, they did it within the first five minutes of meeting him. Usually within thirty seconds of him opening his mouth. Past that, it was safe to rule the person as sane and he could somewhat-relax. Even if their power set overlapped with Hunter's on two very hard-to-combat fronts. "That's... cool," he finally said. "I wouldn't mind the super speed myself, that's for sure." He was at the edge of the bed already, so he dropped his legs over, and let them swing. "If you're super-full of energy, you should definitely head to the training rooms after your friend wakes up. You can run around or bend steel bars or whatever in there for awhile, and no one would really care. That's--"

Well speak of the devil. The woman nearly fell over, a happy smile on her face; her friend had stopped his winning imitation of a dead weight and started attempting to sit up. Calley blinked over at him. He seemed like he was rather out of it still. Therefore: not a safety risk. Probably. And now came the touching reunion, no doubt, so Calley zipped his trap and minded his own business by turning his gaze back doorwards. He really should have never let his gaze wander from doorwards. Doorwards was the most important direction in his world right now, and it was very dangerous to forget that.

Tarin had wondered what would happen when Lee realized that he was awake, well sort of awake. Every time Tarin moved the world seemed to phase along with his line of sight. Instead of there being a single teenager perched on the edge of the bed across the room from it, he multiplied into several when Tarin turned his head to watch Lee. There was going to be more rest had...much more rest. Here, there, it didn't really matter, but he was still exhausted.

Lee had smiled when she first realized he was awake and it had felt like a vice tightening in his chest cavity when he'd seen it. Part of him wanted her to rush over to him, wanted to completely forget everything that had happened previously and take her into his arms and never, ever let her go again. Something told Tarin that wasn't the way things were going to go though...maybe it was the cold and blank stare that replaced the warm smile only moments after it had appeared.

Lee stopped, still halfway across the room from him, and Tarin regarded her solemnly as she made her way towards him slowly. His hand was still in his pocket, closed around the ring and he wondered what he was going to do next. This was basically the turning point. Lee's reaction to his presence wasn't reassuring in the least, and after his immersion in her conciousness, Tarin was convinced that Lee was there out of guilt over what had happened with the merge.

Tarin kept his elbows propped though the effort was starting to wear on him as Lee came up to the end of his bed and asked him how he was, he managed a shrug, "I'm alive. You look alright, are you?" he said softly, eye contact suddenly becomming exceptionally difficult.

It was awkward like it had never been before and all Tarin could think about was the guilty accusation that was building in his mind, the words the wanted to fling at Lee and the blame he wanted to lay on her.

"How could you Lee?" he said, the words bursting forth before he could stop them. Tarin bit his tongue and held it to keep himself from saying anything else and shook his head, "It doesn't matter...you don't have to stay with me." Tarin knew what was best for Lee, what had always been best for Lee and he knew how he felt at the moment.

Lee looked at Calley when he asked about her powers. He seemed truly curious about her siphoning, and almost...disappointed that he didn't feel it. "I'd actually be surprised if you felt it," Lee told the teen. "I'm not taking that much, but if you give it a few hours, or if I were to touch you, that'd be different."

Calley didn't stop there, betting her that what had happened to cause her to take so much energy from Tarin had been an 'extenuating circumstance'. Lee shook her head infinitesimally. If that were the case, then 90% of hers and Tarin's relationship had been 'extenuating circumstances'.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that," Lee allowed. At least the Stalker had been one of those. The guards that they had searched out while they had been merged, though, not so much. "He does know about my powers," Lee continued. "And yeah, I guess you could call him my friend."

The truth was, Lee realized, she didn't know what exactly they were any more. She had given the ring back before she had been captured, well, threw it at him. She knew that she didn't deserve to be with him, not after everything that had happened. Could they simply be friends? Lee didn't know.

By this point, Lee was standing at the foot of Tarin's bed, looking down at him, and he was looking back at her. She had always hated that look in his eyes, the exhaustion mingled with the stubbornness as he fought it, because she had caused it. There was more there, too, though Lee could not name it all. Finally, he spoke, his words quiet and mumbled through his tiredness.

"I'm alive," Lee said, echoing Tarin's answer. And as far she was concerned, being alive was more than she could expect since from the moment she had seen the Stalker standing in front of her, she hadn't expected to walk out of the camp alive. Even earlier that day when Rupert had told her that the breakout was happening, that she was going to get out of there, Lee hadn't expected it. Yes, she had a bit of hope that actually grew, but she still figured that some how, some way, she'd die before she got out of there.

But then he started the accusations, much like she had that last time they had been in the shop together, though much less energetically. "How could I?" Lee repeated, slight surprise on her face, though her voice remained quiet, calm. "How could I what, Tarin? How could I have thought you were actually cheating on me? Maybe because you got jealous simply because another guy even looked at me? Got jealous even though you knew there was absolutely no reason, got jealous before I even knew anyone was looking at me.

"Maybe because I let Ryan convince me that nothing was going on between him and Sage, then he ended up leaving me for her, and I told myself I'd never let that happen again. Told myself I'd never let myself be fooled again. Maybe because you'd already lied to me before about having changed, and I know what you used to be like before you got me to agree to date you."

Lee dropped her eyes as she paused, using the small break to take a much needed breath. "I know you've tried to forget it, so had I," she continued, her voice also dropping. "But you still dumped me at Robert's and ran to Maine after telling me you were done running. So what the hell was I supposed to think when I saw her kissing you, saw her actually sitting in your lap?"

Lee's anger was flaring again, though less so than it had in the previous weeks because she now knew she had been wrong. Still, she instinctively tried to reign it in even though she no longer had the collar on, was no longer at risk of being shocked simply because she got mad.

"Or," Lee continued, her voice growing louder once more. "Do you mean how could I have not realized?" Lee paused and cocked her head as she looked at Tarin. She knew he was tired, knew he needed to sleep, but he had been the one to ask. "Have you forgotten how angry I was? Forgotten how when I get angry, I siphon more? The fact that I had been captured, that I had a collar snapped around my neck that shocked me every time my powers intensified?

"I couldn't think about it, not without pain from the collar, so I just didn't. I never actually expected to get out of there, so it didn't really matter."

Lee stopped then, and just gazed at Tarin for a couple moments. "I'm glad you're alright. I'd hate to be responsible for that, too." With that, Lee turned back toward the door. She had done what she had been here for, made sure that Tarin was alright. It wasn't right to stay any more.

...Now that was not quite the reunion that Calley was expecting. He winced slightly as they really got into it, and drew his legs back up to the bed. The lime green squeaky hedgehog went into his pocket, away from the voices getting louder and louder. The lime green squeaky hedgehog did not have to sit there and hear that. Calley made sure his gaze stayed towards the doorway. Whatever was going on behind him, it really was not the business of the seventeen year old Jersey boy. It was rude to let other people know that you were listening in on their domestic disputes. He might even have left the room, but... but the hallway was looming. The one patch of it he could see was empty, and sterile-white. The rest of its length, and all of the lengths that connected to it... he couldn't see. No, it was not a good idea for him to go out there by his little lonesome.

~ "Do you mean how could I have not realized?"

Calley winced, and hunched his shoulders down. Her voice was getting louder. Were they going to hit each other? People really shouldn't hit each other. If they really couldn't stand each other, then they should just avoid each other. For most people, that was easy to do. Most people didn't force you to keep coming back. Uncomfortably, he scratched at the silver chain around his neck, with its innocuous Triforce pendant. Heh. Innocuous. Just like him, right? Right...

Calley's small, habitual smile was back.

"Please stop yelling," he said quietly, followed shortly by; "Sorry. It's none of my business. Sorry." He hadn't turned from his view of the door. It was anyone's guess whether they'd hear him or not.

Oh, so she was going to get pissed at him, simply because he'd asked her a question. A question that he really thought he deserved an answer to...apparently not though, apparently what he deserved was Lee screaming at him after he'd practically died trying TO SAVE HER.

All through her tirade, a tirade that got louder and louder as it continued, the words pretty much as harsh as the last time Lee had started screaming at him. Staying calm and collected had worked really well the last time...not...so Tarin fought back this time. His voice was a little weaker than he hoped, but the words still held the same meaning regardless.

"I never once gave you a reason to suspect anything Lee, and while I'm sorry that happened to you, in case you haven't noticed I'm not YOUR EX BOYFRIEND." the end of the sentence had been appropriately loud to get the point across and Tarin felt like he was on a roll.

Tarin's eyes narrowed as Lee continued on and he wondered if she realized how boarderline insulting she was getting in her words. She'd probably been through worse in the camps than he could possibly have understood, but just like everything else, she was taking it out on him, and that simply wasn't fair. "How I was before? You don't trust me, that's fine, I didn't expect you to for a long time...but I thought that maybe at some point you'd at least try....and how dare you bring up Maine, that wasn't the same thing at all Lee...the same thing at all." It really wasn't either....Tarin had left for Lee's own good that time anyway...and while he'd been more glad than anything when she'd found him, it was a completely different situation.

"You should have known Lee...I may have gotten jealous, but it was never you I worried about. No matter what your powers do for you I was worried about them...and what could happen to you if you were oblivious...and you're so damn self depreciating I really thought it a possibility....and lets go back to the bastard in the shop I WAS RIGHT."

Tarin's head was starting to spin as he yelled and he laid back against the pillows in the bed, he was still too tired to be having this discussion. Eyes closed for a moment, Tarin shook his head as Lee explained why it was she hadn't had a chance to think things over and come to the conclusion that he was every bit as innocent as he was in reality. That wasn't her fault and as much as Tarin wanted to shoot back at her that it shouldn't have had to be something she needed to think about anyway, he couldn't do it. He had to say something though, he couldn't let that thought fester in his head, "I'm sorry that happened to you Lee..." he said softly, "I just wish it wouldn't have been something you had to think about...

He opened his eyes and looked at Lee, heard the words she was saying and watched her turn away. He was too self-absorbed to even hear the teenager ask them to stop yelling at one another by this point and he shook his head, not saying or doing anything to stop Lee from leaving. If that's what she wanted, that's what he was going to let her have. The hand that had closed tightly around the engagement ring Lee had thrown at him loosened and withdrew from his pocket and Tarin resisted the urge to chuck it across the hospital...infirmary...wherever the hell he was.