From the look of things, perhaps her companion had returned. Or she liked screaming out windows. He had known crazier. He stepped into the room and at once noticed it was the same size as his, except for the second bed. He assumed girls had larger rooms, like they had larger, nicer public restrooms. "Friend of yours?", he asked with obvious sarcasm, hoping to break the chill in the room. She was visibly upset, not the deeper sadness that had been in her eyes earlier while they worked.

It looked as if, other than the wilting flowers, that she hadn't done much with the room, but who had? Everyone seemed to be working and reuniting alot. He had a pile of dirty clothes to accent his room, so no big deal. Tomorrow he would have to go into the city and see if he could rectify that problem. A little Feng Shui and the right items and he could be quite happy. He saw the book lying nearby, seemed the best distraction. "Howl's Moving Castle. I saw the anime of it at a party once. Probably wasn't as exciting for me as I was the only one NOT on LSD.", he said, smiling and remembering.

"Howl's Moving Castle. I saw the anime of it at a party once. Probably wasn't as exciting for me as I was the only one NOT on LSD."

His confusing drug comment brought her out of her jumbled state. "W- What?" She smiled, but it was borderline hysterical rather then full of mirth. She wasn't all too familiar with drugs either so it was just confusing enough to distract her from thoughts of murder. Not that she was planning to murder anyone, but Goth might take out his anger at her on someone else since Christian didn't seem to let him harm her.

She motioned to the open window. "That was Torq... if you hadn't guessed."

She seemed to finally process that he had been talking about the book. "It was a nice movie, but Studio Ghibli didn't stay true to the story..." She shrugged. But what movie was ever as good as the book?

Talking like a normal civilized person was calming her down. She would soon be able to resume her mask of politeness that Otieno never seemed to let her wear.

He didn't know that much about it. He was more of a martial arts live action kind of guy. He knew somewhere, far away in China, Gordon Liu was looking down from a mountaintop smiling. "Yeah, I like crime movies and martial arts action movies, the old ones , like in the 70's and early 80's." He shrugged. She seemed to be from Japan, but all he seemed to identify with was Chinese. Well, yin and yang twirls away, somewhere.

"So, what's his ability? Just in case he might have issues." He might indeed. Garrett probably would, were the roles reversed. He sat down on the edge of the bed. " As promised.", he said, his smile widening to a cartoonish direction. I have only used my own abilities to a point. And every time, it wasn't very pleasant. His eyes closed of their own will. The eyes...The eyes of Pain...

He blinked a few times and made a bit of a nervous laugh to cover up his little mini-episode. "So, looks like you haven't moved in much yourself." , he said, looking about the place. "I have very little, but it is so much more than I have had in so long. It's hard not to be grateful. What brought you here?" There you go, old boy. Try something a little dangerous.

"So, what's his ability? Just in case he might have issues." Garrett sat at the edge of the bed that she herself had only sat upon once. Well, that was what they had agreed upon. It was definitely better that Otieno was gone now. Garrett closed his eyes as Ghost filled him in on TA's power.

"If anyone is Yin and Yang it's that one." Ghost finally quite pacing and knelt to reclaim her book from the floor. "He splits. Literally his flesh splits into one very good man... and one very bad man. I believe that I met them before even he did..." She made a fuss out of returning her book to its place on the desk in the room so that she wouldn't have to look at Garrett.

'That's right. He only just discovered these other selves a few days ago.' She felt bad. This was Otieno's hour of need and she was being selfish.

Again Garrett broke the awkward silence. "So, looks like you haven't moved in much yourself. I have very little, but it is so much more than I have had in so long. It's hard not to be grateful. What brought you here?"

She turned and smiled her polite smile. "I am moved in..." She motioned to the few things around the room. There were the flowers, the few books and school supplies and of course the clothes. "This is all I have... all I need really."

What brought her here? What did bring her here? "I suppose I met Neena... after the camps. She told me that this was where the good guys lived." It sounded childish even in her own ears, but she supposed it was true. She needed a safe place to just... exist. She hadn't really made many plans beyond that point.

"And you?" Ghost hung up the damp towel she had been using.

"And you?"

"Well, I feel the desire to learn every aspect of the blessing I have received, to know myself thoroughly, through this gift given to me.." He knew that the expanse of the nervous system in the body and brain had to be massive. this is where he could learn every little trick, perhaps even the greatest trick of them all. He smiled, noticing her movements, posture, the aversion of the eyes.

"Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but is your aversion to looking at me from your upbringing? Or am I just too hideous to look at?", he added, a sly smile on his face. He could see why the other guy was hooked. Some kind of magnetism, simultaneously attracting and repelling. A harmonious contrast he could only envision. He was probably staring. He kept doing so, hoping she may even turn in defiance. A look is a look.

"Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but is your aversion to looking at me from your upbringing? Or am I just too hideous to look at?"

She blinked several times in rapid succession before turning to look at him. She really looked at him this time. He was smiling. He could care less if a turtle had just flown out her window. That meant that she was being rude.

"I didn't realize... I'm sorry." She tried to put Otieno as far from her mind as possible. It wasn't fair to split her attentions. Besides, she had run out of things to fuss with. Ghost finally gave up and sat on the edge of the bed next to Garrett. Not too close, but not too far.

"I think I'm still waiting for your wicked side to show up..."

He turned to her as she sat on the edge of the bed. "My wicked side.", he said as a bit of a question and a statement. There was definitely a dark side in him. But this was no time for that. He had better surely have control over himself prior to experimenting in those dark dimensions. Perhaps she liked bad boys and Garrett was just too mild. "Wickedness infers sin. As a Taoist, I do not believe in sin. I take full responsibility for everything I do. Anything less is an affront to myself. An injury."

"With that said,", he added, his body leaning slowly in Ghost's direction. If his grey eyes could shine, they did now with purpose. His hand slid over hers. " I have no misgivings about you. I had no expectations other than your company when I came in, either. However, I will say you are a rare and kind soul and I would enjoy getting to know you better. Whatever that has to mean, that's fine. As long as I get to continue to enjoy your company and always be your friend, regardless."

She never had fully understood the whole action without action or really many other principals the Tao held. She wasn't entirely sure what her belief about 'sin' was either. A good Christian girl would've known.

"With that said," he leaned in toward her with piercing grey eyes. She was acutely aware as his hand slid over hers. She was instantly nervous, her heart in her throat. What was this all of a sudden? "I have no misgivings about you. I had no expectations other than your company when I came in, either." Okay - that was good right? no uhm... other expectations.

"However, I will say you are a rare and kind soul and I would enjoy getting to know you better. Whatever that has to mean, that's fine. As long as I get to continue to enjoy your company and always be your friend, regardless."

It was taking a lot of her concentration not to become incorporeal. Well, he definitely had her full attention now. She was flighty to be sure, but he had asked her to look at him and so she was. It was hard not to with him so... close.

"Wh- What are you talking about?" She started in a joking tone. "We're friends. I can... I can be your friend?" It came out like a question, though it should have been a statement.

She was nervous. She hadn't thought about any other intentions he might have had. What had she gotten herself into?

"We're friends. I can... I can be your friend?"

He knew as he had slid towards her it was the wrong move. She was beautiful and he was socially inept. This kind of thing was bound to happen eventually. He immediately returned to his upright position and returned his hand to his lap. No look of disappointment or regret. He had wanted to get everything out on the table right away. He didn't really know what that was, but now it was out. She seemed to be shaken by his actions, so he tried to reassure her.

"Of course we are friends. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act like that. I suppose I took your talk of wickedness as a kind of flirtation. I was mistaken." There was a nice, long pause. "I suppose my life has been one of all work and no reward. All of the rewards I have gleaned from my experience were the ones I created for myself. I'm not going to go on and on about it though. I am truly sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

He stood from the bed and walked over a few paces away from her. His mistake was initally a recoiling from what she was really talking about. Might as well scratch the surface. "In regards to my wicked side..." Again, he paused out of fear of himself. A silly concept, but nonetheless quite real and visceral, right behind his eyes. " My time in the camps was as raw and terrible as anyone else's. I did receive some special treatment though. I got a room of my own and was not beaten very often. It wasn't for good behavior though."

His glance turned downwards. " My abilities were used against other mutants. I was used as a living torture device. I refused the first time, was beaten rather severely and then a gun was placed at my temple. The second time, I told them to pull the trigger. They decided instead to place the gun at a child's temple. Basically for each mutant I helped them interrogate, a child was at least spared a beating and possible torture. It was no choice. But it was what I did."

Cold, bitter tears crept from the corners of his eyes." After about 50 or so people, I noticed I was losing time. I would wake up in my bed, chained. But it was daytime and they did their interrogating at night for the most part. I continued to wake in this state until the day of the liberation. This has left me with the creeping suspicion that I might have continued on in the torturer aspect without knowing it. Perhaps a personality split due to the trauma. I have been trying to avoid that part of myself at all costs."

Thsi time, there was another pause. Though he wanted to sob, he would not for fear of triggering whatever he became at those times. He stood silently, waiting to be thrown from the room or possibly even killed. He had few regrets now.

"Of course we are friends. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act like that. I suppose I took your talk of wickedness as a kind of flirtation. I was mistaken."

To hear it mentally dissected like that made her realize two things. 1) She had hurt his feelings. 2) She'd been joking... but wasn't that a kind of flirtation? Was he right? Ghost covered her face with her hands as Garrett stood and walked to the window. He spouted some self-depreciating words that started to make her feel even worse. This was her fault. She had no idea what to do with it anyway.

"In regards to my wicked side... My time in the camps was as raw and terrible as anyone else's. I did receive some special treatment though. I got a room of my own and was not beaten very often. It wasn't for good behavior though."

She opened her mouth to say something -- she had her own room too, but for very different reasons -- but ended up letting her jaw hang open as he related his own horrible camp experience. She was at a loss for words. She had it so easy compared to everyone around her.

50 people? He said it happened around 50 people... that meant there were more than 50 victims. She wasn't worried about the people, there was no way for her to know them or relate to them. No amount of pity she afforded them would ever take away what had happened to them. Instead, she worried about the person she did know. She ran her hands roughly over her face and into her hair, pulling at the silk textured white locks. The sensation of the roots of her hair pulling at her scalp helped her think.

The way he stood there and the way he had distanced himself with the words he chose... everything spoke of the inherent pain in his words. She'd uncovered this hurt. She'd asked for it. Now it was her job to fix it.

Quietly she stood and closed the short distance between the two of them. Her arms slid around his folded ones, taking him into a fragile hug. She leaned against his back, burying her face into the back of his shirt. She wasn't a person who touched others easily... or often. It was a gesture that made it plain that she didn't hate him.

"Why is everything so broken?" She choked out. She wasn't crying. No, her eyes were moist, but it was more that her throat seemed to clench and wouldn't let much of anything pass. She wasn't talking about the manor or even all the victims of the mutant camps... it was a rhetorical question about why things had to be like they were.

The tears flowed freely. He felt her small arms slide around his waist and her face against his back. He looked out the window, trying to find an answer. That is why he was here in the first place. He could have gone elsewhere to train, to discover himself. The Mansion was a broken place, the shadow of its former glory. A place that was ripe with possibility. The possibility of a life without pain or the fear of inflicting it on others.

What had happened in the camps was brutal and terrifying, indeed. But what might happen in a world of bigotry and fear and hate to his people? Yes, his people. They were all his family, sharing this burden of evolutional superiority. From sheep to shepherd. Had he gone anywhere else, he would have certainly been trained to do all sorts of horrible things to people. And he wanted no part of it.

He unfolded his arms and took her tiny hands in his own. " The world is broken. We, as mutants, have both the burden of its breaking and the responsibility to ensure it gets unbroken. Humans fear us, but if we could all work together, there would be no end to the miracles we could perform. But humans evolve slowly, they see us as a threat, so they did what they did and do what they do." He turned his body around and cradled her chin with his palm, bringing her gaze to his own.

"All we can do is trust each other and do all we can to ensure we don't start a war that no one can win. We must look inside ourselves, as painful as it is, to find the best parts of ourselves and our abilities, to use them in accordance both with our wills and what is right. Thank you for caring for me, Ghost. I only hope I can be there for you when you need me. I will always be just around the corner." He leaned in and gave her a small, warm kiss on her forehead and smiled as warmly as he had in years.

"The world is broken. We, as mutants, have both the burden of its breaking and the responsibility to ensure it gets unbroken..."

It was nice to have a purpose. A goal. Un-break what is broken. The world was messed up. They broke the mold... now they needed to forge a new one. She swallowed. His words were comforting even if she was nervous. As she began to relax so did her throat. She was no longer in danger of hyperventilating. He turned his body around and cradled her chin with his palm, forcing her gaze to his own. His eyes were fraught with emotion and, though there was pain, there was also hope and purpose. She believed in that purpose. She freed a hand and used a thumb to rub a bit of moisture from his cheek.

"...Thank you for caring for me, Ghost. I only hope I can be there for you when you need me. I will always be just around the corner." He planted a small, warm kiss on her forehead and smiled in a way that made that little something in her chest stir. The Last fingers of the dying sun cast her room in a reddish, fiery hue. She couldn't help but think that this was a moment that she would remember for a long time.

"But... you already have." She returned his smile inch for inch, albeit a bit light-headedly. She'd seen a lot in the last few days. It was a lot to take in all at once. Holding onto Garrett, she no long felt like she was in limbo.

For every wise word he spouted, he seemed every bit as lost as she was. It was nice to finally see the real Garrett, both good and bad, and determine that the good seemed to be winning. It was a nice change of pace.

"Are you hungry?"

"But... you already have."

She had wiped a tear from his cheek and was smiling up at him with those warm, honey brown eyes. He had never felt a touch so light, she herself must be inundated with all aspects of air. How interesting it would be to personify an element. The warm mix of color in the room between those eyes, the setting sun and her locks of ivory gossamer made his blood race through his veins. The possibilities were indeed endless just like he could stare into her eyes for as long.

"Are you hungry?"

The question snapped him from his self-induced mesmerism. Indeed he was. Apart from the pasta he had eaten this morning, he was empty. It had truly been part of the reason he had wanted to quit working early. " Famished. Not a thing since this morning , unless you count concrete dust." ,he said, chuckling lightly. He still didn't want to let go of her hand, so he would wait and let her release first. "What did you have in mind?"

"Famished. Not a thing since this morning , unless you count concrete dust."

She gasped in mock shock. "Did my sandwich not count for anything?" She blinked in faux-horror. Indeed, when they first met, she had brought a sandwich as a peace offering. It didn't surprise her that he didn't remember, he had practically swallowed it whole. She grinned impishly at him: she hadn't forgotten.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Dinner!" She called out as if it were the most wonderful idea she'd ever had. She then slipped out of their embrace - it was as if nothing could hold her - and pulled him by the hand gently out into the hall. She couldn't decide if she wanted to cook or if she was too light-headed to complete the task herself. It would all depend on if a communal dinner had been started or not.

"Did my sandwich not count for anything?"

Oh yes, he did remember it now and the chips too. He must have inhaled it after working and feeling ill. She seemed to have a crystal clear memory of the day. His own was improving as some of the veils of worry and self doubt had been vaporized. She seemed to float free of him, but she did remain tethered by hand.

"Dinner!"

Her energy came back immediately. He followed her into the hall and enjoyed the idea of cooking something with her. What he didn't know, he could certainly play off. He had done well enough with the wall. " Sounds great. I'd love to have some and help make it too. Not like I am a chef, but hey, I am sure we can whip up something."