Ghost nodded solemnly at Garrett's supposed secret. It was hardly a step below torture, but survival was sticky business. It was hard to fault him for simply trying to survive. If she could accept the torturer in him, she could certainly accept the part of him that used to mug people. "I'm pretty sure you've moved on from mugging people now that you're off the street, though." She readjusted under his grip so that her chin rested lightly on his shoulder. This way she could inspect every minor expression.

"Err... believe it or not, I kinda... helped knock off a penthouse suite the day before I came here." She hadn't exactly done much - she just opened the door, raided the welcome basket and fell asleep while Otieno had looted the place. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't exactly feel guilty about it either. She did feel a little guilty about accepting the clothes Otieno had bought for her, though when she had some perfectly good items left in storage somewhere. Or, well, they'd probably thrown it away by now.

"I think my dad sent me to camps on purpose." She confessed, as it was her turn to tell a secret. "I'm trying to stay under the radar, as they say. So I'm not using my social security number or identity at all. I found out some of my stuff was still at NYU and I even left all of that there to be thrown away. All of this just so he might think I was dead." Now that really was something she was beginning to feel guilty about. They were, after all, the last two survivors of their family. Things had just been too strained before she left. She figured he could really move on if he thought she had.

So it appeared that it wasn't such a big deal after all. Garrett was noticing a pattern here. He apparently had been building things up in his mind to such an extent as to expect an overblown reaction. In fact, he was causing the problem. As Maya shifted position in his arms, he relaxed more. That would have to be his new pattern. Her admission of B&E made him smile a bit as he realized he wasn't so tarnished.

She then told him that her father had sent her to the camps on purpose. On purpose? When she said it, his eyes widened with a bit of shock. What kind of person would willingly send their child to a hellhole like that? He then relaxed somewhat, remembering her father was military. She had probably not had it as rough as some. She mentioned herself being under the radar and hiding from being found out. He nodded and listened, all the while, a plan hatching slowly from an egg in his mind.

" You know, I have the opposite identity problem. No one out there is looking for me. Perhaps we could go to NYU and I could get your items for you. I can clean up enough to pass as a student or possibly some kind of social worker. I have seen enough of them. Maybe with our slightly criminal backgrounds, my low visibility and luck, we could pull it off and get your stuff back? They probably keep that stuff for a while."

He waited for her response, looking down at her with hope in his eyes and a smile. Hopefully, the plot would cheer her up a bit.

He exposed his plan to her and she did squirm a bit then. "Err.. well, actually... I kinda already went there and got something that was important. I left the rest, didn't tell the clerk, went incognito... kind of... you don't think he'll know just from that do you?"

She hated to shoot down his plan, but she didn't need the stuff. Actually, she was rather glad that she wasn't sending Garrett to root through her things for her under ware, kimono, and ihai. The idea was a little amusing to her, but she was glad to have avoided that situation.

"If we ever leave this place, I can show you what I took."

She seemed to be avoiding the subject. Garrett had distracted her, noticing a wry smile pass her lips for a moment, but continuing down this path was no longer necessary. She had mentioned that if they left where they were, she could have shown him some of her personal belongings. It started to leave his mind and then returned with a quickness. In her room.

" It's not a bad idea. I don't want to wake up covered in ticks, actually. Why don't you head on over to your room and I'll make my way over there as soon as possible. Sound good?"
He immediately started scanning the bushes for his original entryway. Though it was merely twilight, it caused the thorns and brambles to seem to meld together. The thought of spending the rest of the evening inside with her made him brave, however.

She blinked curiously as she noticed his sudden eagerness to leave. Were the ticks really that bad out here? She had no idea. "Are my things that interesting to you, Garrett?" She wished she could take him with her. She'd only really taken small things so far - clothes, small items in hand if she focused, shoes. It seemed that the closer to the core of her body, the easier it was to make incorporeal. She shook her head and knelt next to him helping him poke around for whatever hole he'd come through. She carefully found safe hand holds and tried to pull back a bit of the thorny mess to help him get started.

"Is this why your hands were bleeding earlier? You actually crawled through all this?" She was shaking her head as she faded into a misty version of herself. She seeped through the netted brambles with relative ease compared to how Garrett was making his way.

She would be waiting for him on the other side, solid and probably still shaking her head.

Maya seemed surprised that he had wanted to leave as soon as she had mentioned it, but she still managed to get up and start looking for him to find a way out. So, to Garrett, it wasn't too much of a shock. He smiled wryly as he started to get up, facing the ground as he did so to ensure the anonymity of the expression.. His legs, unlike Ghost's, were quite solid and incredibly sore from the various positions he had been sitting in. Another violet streak of pain shot through him when his now swollen palms held his body weight as he got up. It was all the price he had to pay.

She was shaking her head and probably questioning his sanity when she asked if he had crawled through the brambles. As he nodded his assent, he made sure to go out a little smarter. Since his legs and knees were still a bit numb, he crouched and scooted through the thorn vines on his feet. It was an arduous task, but gave him his hands to move particularly nasty tendrils out of the way. As he rose from the patch, he looked back at it and also shook his head in unison with her.

"Hmm. Apparently, I did. I guess emotion doesn't listen to reason often. But I think we are both finding that out together, aren't we?" He smiled and ran the fingers of his better, not-as-bloody hand through her hair. He looked down at himself. he was a mess. Dirt, blood, sweat and tears covered his clothes and body. " I had better go to my room and wash off and change. I will meet you in a bit at your room, okay?" He leaned in and planted a small kiss on her forehead, smiled once more and headed off across the grounds to get cleaned up.

(Continues in The Chosen Path)