Sara shrugged, as they walked. She was already pushing things out of her mind by the time he had finished. Right where they belonged. Still she shook her head. “there are some things that are done better without taking someone’s place. You just happen to be lucky you’re not scene as a big threat.” She truly believed that fact gave him a lot of strength.

There was relief, when she felt the conversation turn in a different direction. Things came out, that she should probably be just letting out to the empty chair. Her other side wandered out, and she forced her shoulders back, to relax. Choosing to accept what Luke told her about the lie, and about those that were close.

"So where do you go from here? Any chance of our being friends or will we simply remain acquaintances that are friends of Raina's?"

“Don’t know yet.” Sara suddenly realized she wasn’t sensing that sonar, that buzzed in her head. In the short time it was becoming a lot like background noise. Irritable background noise, But ignorable. Sara learned to ignore a lot of noises when she came to the city. Perhaps she should sit down, and try focusing on them again. It shouldn’t hurt to try and improve on her observations by hearing. She already had practiced tracking by sent. Willing to test her nose against a blood hound’s, any day.

Sara’s hand hesitated, above her pocket, before she pulled out the cell phone, and bumped Luke’s arm with it. “How are you getting around right now? There’s no buzz, or blimp or what ever you call it.”

Luke felt something bump against his arm and he slowly reached across his body with his other arm and after missing the object the first time, he was able to grab it the second time. "My cell phone." Luke thought with some satisfaction as he took the item and slipped it into the front right pocket of his pants.

"I had someone suggest working on my directional control as well as the ability to just turn my sonar on and off." Luke replied to Sara's question, "Right now I've got it strongly out in front of me but it's only out a few inches from my body in all other directions."

He was probably giving away to much information about his control and abilities but Sara wasn't an enemy... and even if they just stuck with being aquaintances he couldn't believe that she ever would becoming his total enemy.

"It's no good for combat or anything like that but it helps me focus if I'm trying to find something and it also works to make my friends feel a little more comfortable." He continued, "It's still not perfect... this will slowly develop a headache too but at a much slower pace than completely shutting everything off."

He could feel that slight... extremely slight throbbing in his temples that he knew would develop into a headache if he continued using his sonar this way but it would take an hour or so to get unbearable. He could handle the discomfort and hopefully it would help Sara be a little more forgiving.

Luke’s first try, to grab the cell phone missed, but Sara held it in the same place. Keeping it as steady as possible, till his fingers found it, and she let the thing go. Note to self. Find a way of getting a phone. Maybe one of those phones you prepaid for the minutes. She’d just have to figure out how to buy the cards. Seeing as those cards didn’t activate unless they were scanned at the register. Hopefully Johnny would help her with that.

Luke made the explanation about the sonar, and Sara nodded again. Forgetting that her companion, for the moment, couldn’t see the subtle movement. “I was wondering why I didn’t see you popping pain killers as much.” She remembered at the restraint, loosing count of how many he had taken. “Much more healthy. I wouldn’t know, personally, but I hear those pills can mess up your insides.” Sara was a healer. She was still mad at Luke, but there was no hate. He was a decent person, even if she still didn’t understand everything. Having a healing ability caused her not to understand the use of drugs, because they just didn’t work on her. So when others used them, she found it unnerving.

"It was rough the first few days." Luke admitted without any shame in his voice, "And when you saw me I'd come off a practice session so my head was already hurting and then I tried to keep it shut off while you were around because my directional control was basically non-existant."

That had been a rough day. Sure meeting Raina and Sara in the sushi shop had been wonderful. "Especially meeting Raina." But otherwise it had been rough. Luke had been looking for a quick quiet meal and instead he ran into yet another mutant that could hear his sonar and be disturbed by it.

"I even had a bloody nose develop one time when I was trying to keep everything shut off for so long." The blind man continued as they walked along, "It as strange because up until that time I didn't know that my sonar could bother and even hurt some people. I'd gone all through life thinking I had the perfect mutation because other than making people see shadows when I'm emotional, most weren't really affected by it. A girl I met in a bookstore and then you and Raina at the sushi shop showed me that I need a lot more control than I had ever dreamed of."

It was strange to keep reliving those few days... obviously Luke's control still wasn't perfect as he couldn't completely shut off separate arcs but only dull them down but his skills were still better than they had been.

"And what about you?" Luke finally asked as he ventured out curiously, "When did your mutation show and how did you learn to handle it?"

“I don’t remember not being able t just heal what ever was wrong.” Sara explained. She spoke of her child hood experiences though not of everything. “I use to have these light blond curls.” Sara smiled as she spoke, of what she use to look like. “I’d fall down, scrape my knees, get up and keep going. That’s one good thing about fur, you don’t scrape your knees when you fall. In fact, it’s a little like wearing padding everywhere.”

As Sara walked, she bent over to pick up a stone, that was on the sidewalk. Tossing it into the air, and catching it. “I was almost a teenager, when I changed.” Sara didn’t know if the cat part of her mutation was a natural mutation or not, but at this point she didn’t care. “I’m a little jealous of you, being able to manipulate the sonar, even if it kicks your butt back. With my mutation, I have no control over it. It jut happens. I can’t help but be drawn to different details that require strong senses, and my healing kicks in without my even thinking of it. I suppose that’s a good thing though, in case I get knocked out, or can’t think at all.”

The stone again went into the air, and again, Sara caught it. “There is very little mental work, so I’ve taught myself physically.”

"I was your typical blind kid through most of my childhood." Luke replied, deciding that since Sara had shared her history he might as well give up some of his own. "Since my parents were gone my Uncle sent me to prep schools in Europe because he didn't have the time or desire to raise a child. I grew up basically as a loner because none of the rich snobs I went to school with wanted to be friends with a blind boy. Physically I was fit from lifting weights and things but where I excelled was in my mental game. If the other kids didn't want me around then I was out to prove that I was just as good if not better everywhere I could be."

It had been a rough time growing up and most of Luke's happy memories during that time period were of teachers that had taken a special interest him. Some had called him 'gifted' while others had described him as 'dedicated'. Whichever it might have been he had been a teacher's dream pupil, soaking up every bit of information and knowledge that he could get.

"When I was sixteen my sonar started to show up. At first it was in spurts; just little flashes of 'sight' but slowly it developed into something stronger and more constant. I knew well enough that if I told people about it I'd be shunned even more so I kept quiet, working by myself to learn how to us it."

Things had been strange for Luke at that age... already going through the difficulties of being attracted to the opposite sex having a mutation added on had made for an interesting year or two.

"But like you said, I was fortunate. I could always hide that I was different so people would just treat me like a disabled person instead of a mutant." He finished quietly. He really didn't know what it would have been like if he had been forced to grow up with people despising him because of what he was or looked like. "It's one of the few positive things that I learned as a blind person... we don't see color, race, or mutation. We have to get to know someone instead of going off of some preconceived notion."

Luke was giving her his story back. It was an odd exchange going on here, that Sara didn’t really understand. Still despite her frustrations with Luke’s constant appearances and contact the last day, Sara was enjoying the talk, as the walked, and as she tossed the rock up and down.

“I could see how flashes of sight could put you on a different level from other kid, other than being blind.” Sara paused. “Lets just say I was home schooled. No need to worry about other kids teasing me. I was automatically the best in my class.” Back at the labs, even experiments needed to learn how to read and write. Sara had showed quick progress, so those that had her, started training her. Reading and writing grew into understanding Math, a little history, Computer science, anatomy (Where Sara excelled especially with her art.) and then physical activity, where, before they would see what she could survive, they would see what she could get past. The lessons, and tests, were just starting to shift when Sara got herself out of that horrible place. Sure they taught her what she needed to know, but it was still horrible. Worst than the camps.

Just another thing Sara pushed to the back of her head.

"It's one of the few positive things that I learned as a blind person... we don't see color, race, or mutation. We have to get to know someone instead of going off of some preconceived notion."

“I can understand that… I guess.” Sara tilted her head, Man she failed that test. Though she still wasn’t sure of him. Still the words stuck in Sara’s mind. Wisdom that could only come from someone who actually lived that. “yeah, but I bet my tail shows up on your sonar.”

At the same time, she knew the sonar a off when she first met Luke, back at the sushi bar. She still had to point out the little technicality. “I see Wraith around, I’ll wave.”

"True." Luke chuckled softly as Sara's comment about the tail, "And if I were up close enought to see facial features I could even tell you had fur so I don't quite fall in the normal 'blind man' category. The color and race statement work for me but the mutation one doesn't always work."

Stopping his walk Luke turned to face Sara, his expression serious once more. "I was serious when I said I'll keep Wraith out of your business but if you're in trouble I'll be around. I'm sure you've figured out by now that I have enhanced hearing so if you need me, give a yell. If I'm within hearing range I'll be there."

Sara sighed. “To be honest, any trouble I get into, tends to be my on fault. The gang was a rare incidence.” Plus back there, Sara had taken out the gang. Who ever they were. She healed, she could handle it because she was meant to handle things. “Thank you though.”

She didn’t want to accept the help, but if he showed up, there was little she could do at the same time. Other than protect him too. She wouldn’t have someone hurt because they went back to help her. It bothered her Raina had at the camps. She didn’t know Luke as well as Raina, and, even with her frustrations, she didn’t want him sending wraith in to help her in a situation she wasn’t strong enough to get herself out of.

Well if he was going to rush in, Sara could return the favor. No it wasn’t her job, but she could. “It goes both ways. If I hear you, I’ll come running.” A sort of alliance, was a good thing.

"Sounds like a deal to me." Luke responded as a slight smile once again slid across his features. Maybe there was a chance for him to be friends with Sara after all. It was a nice idea and about all he could hope for as he turned to start walking again.

"You heading home now or can I buy you a snack or something? Pretzel and hot dog vendors normally aren't to particular about their customers." He offered somewhat hesitantly, "Consider it a peace offering for me wrecking a lot of your day today."

There was the possibility of their being friends but still no guarantee and Luke wasn't sure if he was overstepping the grounds or not. Maybe offering to buy a snack was to forward... at least he hadn't offered to buy a full meal so that was something in his favor.

Sara let a soft, smirk slide across her face. He was lucky he wasn’t buying her a full meal. Poor Slade hardly had enough for his fuel when he bought her a meal. Hunger was always sort of there. “Sure. A hotdog sounds good.”

He didn’t wreck he day. Sara wrecked it. He just stepped in and she kept him from wrecking his day more. It was Sara that was doing the thieving, Sara who stole the cell phone, Sara that messed with his customers. She wrecked everything, and he was still willing to buy her a hot dog. She felt like a bitch.

“I was going to head home,” and movie to a different place tonight. “but a hotdog sounds good.” As if Sara hadn’t taken enough, she was taking a hotdog.

"Good." Luke said with a slight smile before falling silent and just concentrating on the walking. Picking up the pace slightly he pushed on in what people called a power walk as he reached out to maximum distance in front of him looking for the nearest hot dog stand. In approximately ten to fifteen minutes he and Sara were standing in front of a typical New York Hot Dog vendor.

"I'l take one with ketchup, extra mustard, and onions." Luke ordered with hesitation, "Also a bottle water and whatever my frind would like." As he indicated Sara with a slight nod of his head.

"You got it boss." The vendor replied as he immediately began taking care of Luke's order as the same time as he lifted his gaze to Sara. "And what can I get for ya?"

As Luke sped up, Sara let her strides lengthen, so that her pace, easily kept up with his. Her head was still ducked though. Instead of sight, she was relying on her Nose, and the sound of Luke’s foot steps to find her way to the stand.

They reached the stand, and Sara stood behind Luke, with her hood over her head, like she normally stood in the crowded streets. The hotdog vender spoke to Luke, and them to her, and she lifted her chin. To her surprise there was no backing down from the vender, Just a slight look of surprise, and then his lips closed. Not quite becoming a smile but the corners of his mouth relaxed.

Sara blinked. “I’ll take a hotdog with the works. Extra pickle relish.”

The vender nodded ”yes Ma’am

Mama. Yet again, that was a word Sara wasn’t used to being called. She glanced down at his hand, under the plastic glove that hotdog venders used, and saw he had a bubble like scale that poked out, under the hem of his sleeve. It was turquoise, like glass, against his olive skin, and the center looked like smoke instead of looking solid. Mutant.

Digging into his pocket Luke pulled out the spare, loose cash he normally kept in his front pocket for just this kind of situation. "Two hotdogs... say $8. Water, $3. $11, and tip." The blind man swiftly calculated in his mind. Most street vendors had about the same price so he shouldn't be to far off on his pricing. Feeling carefully he grabbed the bills he knew to be a ten and five and placed them on a flat surface on the hot dog stand.

"Keep the change." Luke said with a slight smile as he took the bottle of water and his hotdog. Holding the water in his left hand he cradled the snack in his right hand a took a bite. Flavors were something he enjoyed even more than most people because of his blindness and though a hot dog was nothing like a filet mignon, it was in a world all its own. When the flavor of hot dog was coupled with the bite of mustard, the smoothness of ketchup, and the crunch of raw onion it would becoming something special.

"You know something that's wrong in this world?" Luke spoke up after he had finished eating his first bite, "People can't appreciate the little things. A good hot dog is something special but so many people out there look down on it as crap. If people would learn to be happy in the small things then they could STAY happy."

Sara Took her hotdog, Careful to balance the bun on her palm so that the least amount of ingredients fell off of the top. She gave the hotdog vender a, closed lips, smile. She would have to remember where his stand was located, for later.

"You know something that's wrong in this world?"

“Huhh.” Ok mouth too full to make a reply. So Sara waited, for Luke to continue, while she chewed. Enjoying all the tastes twirling together in her mouth.

"People can't appreciate the little things. A good hot dog is something special but so many people out there look down on it as crap. If people would learn to be happy in the small things then they could STAY happy."

Sara swallowed her mouth full after some considerable chewing. “People would also rather pay, to have a TV, or a game system, rather than going out, and enjoy fresh air. Something that is still completely free to do in this world.” Sara picked at her onions with the tips of her claws. Using them as tweezers to pop the minced bits into her mouth one by one. “I don’t think hotdogs will ever really go out of style, though.”