Shin waited patiently as Alexandra spoke. Her eyes seemed half-there, like they'd flutter shut at any moment, and then he'd have a sleeping body on the counter, and oh no. That wouldn't do at all! Hopefully, the caffeine in the cup would keep her up long enough for her to take a seat in one of the poofy armchairs, so she could relax and be safe. He snuck a cup from below the counter, catching sight of her elbow on the way up. It seemed to slip and slide ever closer, ever closer. Was this a race against the clock? "Black coffee, coming up." He hastily replied.

The conversation continued in a blur as he turned to fill it up. He was speed racer, and the counter top was the track. First came the coffee, in a whirl like the wheeling turn of a car on the track, then the cream and sugar, added in as white streaks. The afterburn image of the Mach 5! He sat the cup on the counter top. The lid whirled in like a hup cap, his hand the rivet gun of the pit crew. Spin, pop. It clicked in place. A napkin wrapped around its side, as he passed it off to her, complete with a little red stirring straw!

"Your coffee, careful. It's hot." Hot like the melted rubber left on the track. Oh yeah. He glanced back at the clock. "And oh look, new record." His first morning record of 1 minute, broken by 30 seconds. He grinned at the group.

A hand dropped down on Shin's shoulder, and he turned to nod at Ghost. "I'm glad to help. Happy birthday, by the way. I have something for you, once the party cools down."

~*~

"Think... too fast?" Aurum blinked down the tip of his nose at Cailyn's finger as it slid away. "Don't tell me you can read minds?" Hmm, that was interesting. He took a sip of his cocoa and he stalled for time. If she could read minds, then... well, it was no use thinking about the 'and then' to that, was there? Instead, he focused on something entirely different. He reached into his blue bag and pulled out a tiny booklet, flipping it open. A man with wide eyes and a stupidly-oversized nose stared on the cover."So, what's a good noun?"

In his mind, the definition flared up like a test. Person, place, or thing. He smiled at her and waited. If she could read minds, this might be a very interesting conversation. Winnie the Pooh danced in his head.

"Don't tell me you can read minds?"

"Ok i don't tell then." She said with a serious look on her face. If he didn't want her to tell him then that would be fine. Ofcourse she had no clue that he ment it the other way around but that was something only normal people understood. She didn't read mind afterall, she got information from them.

."So, what's a good noun?"

If only she payed attention in class, ow wait she didn't have class. She had no clue what a noun was but all she got from him was winnie the pooh, dancing around. "Poohbear." She said to him while trying one of the scones. They tasted like chocolate, which was good ofcourse. Sip of the cocoa, also chocolate and hot too. She was about the enter chocolaty heaven located in a bookstore. If it was up to her she would eat and drink this forever. Even though it was very unhealthy.

Nodding his head as Martin looked at the small ice dove he created Sam smiled and said, “You saw nothing for I did nothing, the dove was here all along…” letting out a small wink to Martin as he continued to listen to the questions Martin kept bombarding him with. Questions that Sam often thought himself and had no problem answering for he was confident in questions such as these. Soon statements joined in with the questions ones that Sam didn’t like the sound of one bit. “If anything Martin it’s the things that I understand about myself that scares me the most, things that mere human understanding seems to know as well despite them being humans they all have overactive imaginations, imaginations that only take a second to think of a horrible way that my powers could be used, ways that scare even myself.”

Smiling and tilting his head slightly Sam quickly, “Your only as powerless as you think you are Martin, despite mutation or size I teach kids about half your size that can take men my size down with a simple pivot or a turn, you see I am a teacher of sorts at the Xavier Sister School, Self Defense is my area of teaching, even without a mutation I could have stopped the protesters…” he paused and frowned slightly, “if they needed to be stopped, frankly my brother over reacted slightly to the protester, who entered the store, granted he should have been thrown out but the uppercut was a little overboard.”

Waving his hand over the dove causing it to fall apart as small bits of ice bounced then vanished into thin air Sam looked to the man and continued, “As to what I could of done, well there are hundreds of ways I could think of off the top of my head however eighty percent of them were more severe then the uppercut my brother gave, I usually like to avoid using my powers on protesters if I can help it, they already fear us why add more fuel to the fire, however even without Ghost telling me not to restrain myself I wouldn’t take his life if that was what your asking, taking a life would only take a wave of my hand, one of the few things I fear about myself, not taking his life, would have been my decision however.” Sam smiled and nodded awaiting the response from Martin curious to see if Sam’s answer was good enough.

The dove disappeared beneath his fingers in a crackling of ice and vapor. Within a second there was nothing left of it. His hand simply fell on the counter though and immediately continued their previous action. There was no hesitation, no break, not even a hint of surprise. A simple continued motion, stroke, drawing. It seemed completely natural. He had undone his work.

Self defense. A sad thing it had to be taught to children at school, though it seemed a necessary thing to be taught in certain areas of high risk. Being mutant apparently qualified for that in this country. But more interestingly this was the second time he had heard the name of Xaviers Sister School at through some unfortunate or in this instance more fortunate encounter. -His hands tightened for a moment while he thought of what he had done to Shin, who was now serving at the coffee bar. He just hoped the woulds would heal.- So more people of this school were here. They might even make up a prominent part of this gathering, if even he knew two faces connected to this school to show themselves at this place. It was obviously no coincidence, but also no surprise. A mutant school qualified for a top position on any kind of list about mutant housing density, which always came with certain obligations he knew well from one of his former employers. Preparing a rose garden for a business dinner and seeing the result afterwards had been more then frustrating and taught him more then one lesson. Why had he shown himself at that event anyways? Well he had forgotten to do certain things and was caught off guard during the final preparations. It most definitively had been an educational night. Night.. How long had he been keeping the cashier from doing his job now? Nobody had complained, but it ad been a while at least, for people were no longer standing in line behind him having moved to another location to pay for their selected books. But he did not want to lave right now without giving this Sam a little hint. A hint that might lead to growth, might be understood.

It was one of those moments, where there was a ripple going through reality. In no other way the expression of Martins eyes was to be explained properly. Where there had been plain interest, curiosity, even a bit of amusement at their discussion, a blink had changed everything. It seemed that those portals to a should had been disconnected, reconnected to somewhere else, for there was no hint at the feelings from before to be found in them any more. They had been changed.

Ice so cold it made the dove freeze in midair. Winds blowing mountains away, carrying them deep inside the seas. Fire so hot it made the sun seem pale. Those were the gifts of time. Calm that could outlast the ages. Stability that made mountains seem small, and sadness deeper then the seas. And yet he had only seen so little of it. Martin himself had only seen a small part of what there was to come.

Within the space of a split second it was all gone, replaced by the perfect image of a young looking adult, having a friendly but serious discussion with a new acquaintance. He straightened up and stretched out a hand, smiling a friendly and businesslike smile. A mirage maybe? Or just the truth?

“It is late, so I guess we will have to continue the discussion another time. I'm sorry to have kept you busy for so long.”

The discussion would continue another time. Maybe. If they met again. But even if they did not, he hoped to have made a little impact. And if it was just a change of course by a millimeter, another second thought, when certain things happened that always came about, then it had been worth his time. And if not he had seen another of the mansions inhabitants. They were an interesting lot. Maybe interesting enough for him. Lively enough. Meet again. Maybe. And Martin had a hunch that they would. Someday. Maybe.

Sara gladly accepted her cup of tea. Holding it just under her nose so the steam could drift into her nostrils. Mmmmmmm The corners of her eyes crinkled and her the sides of her lips pulled slightly into a light smile.

"Hey Sara. Hey Alexandra."

“Hey Luke.” Sara nodded in his direction. She was sort of wondering why his voice was so much different in greeting her than Alex’s before it dawned on her. Awww crap!

"Glad to hear your sight's back. I guess your healing ability must have kicked back in."

Sara’s lips tightened. But she was determined to keep her voice pleasant. Maybe she could talk to Luke in private later.. .. .. Soon… ish…

“Yeah. According to the Doc, my healing was never really out.” Actually Doc Prof had never really said that to Sara but she’d been injured and healed while blind. Just saying that Doc Prof said that, word for word, made it seem like her words might be believed. “However the exact details of why my eyes weren’t working, I don’t exactly understand.”

Sara stopped herself a little abruptly from continuing what she was saying. Quickly filling her mouth with tea instead.

"Ah, Pooh bear." Aurum replied with a silent nod, jotting it down on the Mad Lib sheet. His pencil scratched its way down to the next line, and he looked up at Hymn. The mental image of the lovable honey-bear shifted to Eeyore rolling on the floor of full circle. The words 'break dancing' flashed over Eeyore's head in neon gold. Pausing a second, Aurum reached forward to grab his cup of cocoa and took a sip. The warmth of the chocolate went from the tip of his tongue to the toes on his feet. He smiled appreciatively at the server behind the counter, then returned his focus to her. "For the next one, Cailyn, how about an action. Something someone is doing. When we put enough words into this story I'm making, it'll be finished and I can read it out loud." He added the last part as explanation.

Aurum set the cup of cocoa back down on table, letting it sink gently onto the top of a napkin coaster. He admired the way the decor of the bookstore was set up. Each table had a little coaster for a drink and a napkin dispenser. There were straws and all the utensils one would need for food by the coffee bar. Even the coffee bar itself was well-lit and welcoming. He caught sight of a white-haired woman behind the coffee-bar attendant who he remembered speaking towards the start of the day, and made a note. Must be the shop owner. Maybe he'd apply for a job once the day was done. The attendant was doing well, but he was sure he'd be able to show the entire bookstore a thing or two on coffee that knocks off socks.

Even if people such as Cailyn could vouch that the sock-knocking process may have been a bit stronger than most could take.

Sara gave a quick explanation about her healing but them clammed right up again as she sipped at her tea. Alexandra seemed to be in a quiet mood as well and if her whole slightly slumped appearance was any indication, she was feeling tired. Maybe she'd exerted herself a little to much in order to get the blood cleaned off of the books?

Sam was busy at the counter taking care of customers and Shin was falling into that same category as more people approached to buy pastries and drinks. Ghost was running around, quite obviously the owner/manager, trying to make sure that everything was perfect for each potential customers that walked through those large Revolving Doors.

This was a place of business and as such it was time for one particular investor to step away and let that business flow. Finishing off his beverage Luke tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan and then took his cane in hand once more. "You all have a great day. Shin, please tell Ghost I said hi when she's a little less busy. The store looks great."

Turning to go, Luke nodded to both Alexandra and Sara, sent a friendly wave in Sam's direction and then headed out the door. With most of the protestors now restricted to protesting on the other side of the street, many of them had lost interest. Ignoring the gawkers that still stood around, Luke headed down the street and off to his own place of business.

"For the next one, Cailyn, how about an action. Something someone is doing. When we put enough words into this story I'm making, it'll be finished and I can read it out loud."

To bad her powers didn't really work on demand. She just picked stuff up from time to time and the previous answer was good seemingly. She tried to focus but it didn't work very well. She got nothing exept maybe the things she was throwing in herself. She was drawing a absolute blank for the answer that she had to come up with. Sad but true story.

"I don't know." She said a bit with a sad tone. It didn't work thinking about it too much though. "Sometimes i just know things." She added as a explanation. She wasn't really a mind reader more a information catcher of some sort. She hoped he understood that she couldn't help with it. She sipped her hot cocao and she had to ask the question that she had to ask. "Are you mad at me now?" She asked. Her father always got mad with her if she didn't get the answers right.

Still tapping her finger against the counter, she turned to Luke as he spoke and smiled tiredly. “That’s the good thing about my power. It has a large range of uses.” she said with a matching tired voice. After barely getting out the last word, her coffee was dropped on the counter along with the caution that it was hot. “Thanks Shin.” she said as she glanced at the coffee for a few seconds.

The sleepiness was still trying to conquer her but the smell of coffee acted like magic on her body. Shifting her eyes from the coffee to the counter where Sam was talking with someone else she pondered if she should go and ask him to cool her coffee a bit, before falling asleep in the bookstore.

Turning back just in time to see Luke nod in her and Sara’s direction, Alexandra waved and mouthed a ‘bye’. “I’m off too” she said as she got up from the chair with a sigh and picked up her coffee carefully. “Later.” As she passed the chairs, she touched Sara slightly on her shoulder and smiled. “Take care Sara.”

Moving at a slow pace, she forced her self to walk over to Sam, just as the man with whom he was talking was leaving. Watching him for a few seconds, she placed her elbow on the counter, careful not to bother if any of the customers showed up and put on her puppy look and pouted. “Sam, do you think you can do something for me? ”

"I'm not mad," Aurum replied, a bit taken-aback that she'd think that. "I didn't expect you to read my mind on every question. It's just a game, after all. It's supposed to be fun. If you'd like to do something else, that's fine. Let's see here." He ruffled through his bag for another activity book. Ami always had liked having these around, and now Aurum saw why. "Ah, here we go." He pulled out a book full of riddles and eye puzzles, flipping through it to the very center.

"Where will you find roads without cars, forests without trees and cities without houses?"

Oh, this one was clever. Would she get it?

~*~

"Bye, Luke. See you, Alex." Shin waved as they both took their leave. He turned to the next customer, and took the order.

"One coffee. Black, with sugar and cream." The middle-aged businessman requested. Shin got to work filling the cup for him. The man knew what he wanted. After that, a three-person group of a mother, her five-year old son, and a nine-year-old daughter approached the counter. She held her son's shoulder as she pushed him forward to order.

"I'll have a... uh..."

"You like chocolate, don't you Bobby?"

"Yeah!" He grinned. "One chocolate milk please!"

"And a mocha latte for me," His sister cut in with a toss of her hair. Her mother eyed her.

"Are you sure you should be having so much caffiene, deary? You know it stunts growth."

"But I doubt I'll ever be any bigger than you or dad." The girl shrugged, then shot a fearsome glare at Shin and added earnestly. "Make it a double."

"Coming up..." Shin smiled weakly, going through the motions. He set their orders down, then set down a cup of tea for the mother. "Mint, because I know you need it. There are seats over there. Take a load off."

"Thank you," She replied, leading her kids away from the counter. Shin smiled, turning to check on the percolator. Everything was running smoothly today again.

The day kept stretching longer and longer. Ghost nodded to Shin about the present. Honestly, it was present enough that he was here, helping her manage things. He was doing a lot more of the managing while she seemed to be doing a whole lot more running around and feeling stressed out. When a tapping sounded at the back door, Ghost was of course the one to answer.

The take out from next door had arrived and even though Dominic had asked for nothing more than muffins and chocolate milk, Ghost had ordered him some real food. She ordered something for Shin and Sam as well, but they would have to take their breaks on shifts after the party died down. For now, Ghost made her way up to the storage area and to where she still thought Dominic was waiting for her.

She ended up staring at the empty room. The scanner lay all but forgotten on the floor. Dominic. Was. In. Trouble. And then he ran away. Without doing a lick of work. Which put him in more trouble. She didn't know what was making her frown more, the fact that he left or the fact that he left without doing anything. Maybe she shouldn't keep Sam from socking it to him this time. Augh, what was she thinking? The lack of food was making her grumpy it seemed.

So instead, Ghost started scanning some things while she ate. It was her pity party and no one else was invited. After she finished, she would relieve Shin so that he could grab a bite. And Shin would in turn relieve Sam. Yes. It was a good plan. one that would take place after she ate.

Where will you find roads without cars, forests without trees and cities without houses

What type of a question was that. A riddle to be precise and it was a challenging one indeed. She tilted her head and her eyes went blank. Riddles made her think harder then normal, and sometimes activated her powers just a little bit. She looked up and moved her lips with no word coming out. The look in her eyes returned and she answered the question: "On a map." she said. Relitivly easy answer for a riddle. Never the less it required thinking. She sipped her cocao again and finished her chocolate scown. And that ended the rain of chocality goodness as both of them where now gone, into her belly.

"Good," Aurum nodded. He picked up his drink and took a sip, thumbing over the next page. His eyes trailed down the page past riddles about dinosaurs, animals, and celebrities. There were so many. 'What was round as a dishpan, deep as a tub, and still the oceans couldn't fill it up?' That one was interesting, but maybe she'd require an explanation of what a dishpan was. 'I bind it and it walks. I loose it and it stops.' Cool, but abstract. 'What goes round and round the wood but never goes into the wood?' All bark, no bite. Maybe this one...? 'What is that which goes with a carriage, comes with a carriage, is of no use to a carriage, and yet the carriage cannot go without it?'

Forget that noise. He turned 20 pages and his eyes fell on a couple image-based puzzles. They looked promising. He turned the book around and set it in front of Hymn, on this page. The letters D, N, A, T, and S went on the page vertically downwards, with a series of numbers next to the letter B going from 1 to 5. He smirked at her.

"Try and figure out what this picture means. There's a phrase hidden in the image." Would she get it? He took another long sip and waited for her response.

All the riddles that passed by, stuck in her mind. The answers just popped in her head on everyone of those riddles. "A sieve, a shoe, Treebark, Sound." She spoke up on a very fast pace. The riddles weren't really that hard, but most people would need time to think about it. She didn't have too. Even if she didn't have the answer then very perhaps she got the answer out of the readers head. Not that she would know if she was using that power but still.

"Try and figure out what this picture means. There's a phrase hidden in the image."

She picked the book from his hand and looked at it while helding it far away from her as possible. She tilted her head and turned the book upside down. The letters said Stand. The b's stood for be. The letters stood up and had numbers 1to5 standing next to the b's. "Stand up and be counted? " She asked and she put the book back into his hands as she found it. Funny riddles, but easily solved by a puzzle freak like herself. Maybe she sould ask a riddle to him instead. "I have a bed, but i don't sleep. I run but have no legs, what am i? " She asked the young man sitting next to her.

Aurum was impressed. She rattled off answers as soon as the riddles drifted through his head. They came out quick, they came out right, she scooped up up the booklet and turned it in her hands. He tilted his head, following her gaze at the page. The image was interesting. Even he was having a hard time guessing it. She turned around and returned the book to him.

>>"Stand up and be counted?"

Aurum turned the book over in his hands and flipped to the back of the page to skim for the answer. Sure enough! "Correct! Now..." He rummaged through the book for another, but her voice stopped him. He raised to look her in the eye.

>>"I have a bed, but i don't sleep. I run but have no legs, what am i? "

Aurum blinked. Now she was asking him riddles? Well that was fine. A smirk fell onto his face. The one she'd given him was easy enough.

"My dad told me that riddle when I was ten. The answer's a river." Aurum proudly announced. "You're pretty good with riddles, though. I'm sure you can find another one that'd stump me."