"I have to, else i wouldn't know."

Meld nodded her acknowledgment. Obviously her words had been taken a little more literally than she had intended them. "What I mean was, do you believe what they say? Do you give credence to their words?" She didn't mind that the other woman was paying more attention to her puzzle than to her. She was interesting and unique and Meld had nothing much to do besides. The Order still hadn't given her anything substantial to do, despite assurances that that would eventually change, and she was only in the earliest phases of constructing her newest flesh meld. Conversation seemed like a good way to pass the time.

"Never forget the way you where born is they way your most familiar with. Replacing them might sound better but always has a downside to it."

Meld considered her next words carefully before replying. It was certainly a valid point that the other brought up, though she didn't entirely agree with it. "Do you believe our mutant powers to be any less natural than our more human traits? My power is my flesh melds. It allows me to enhance the body I was given in ways that most can only dream of. Would it not be just as unnatural for me to neglect my power than it is for me to change my limbs to those of my design? Or even more unnatural, since my power allows for these to be just as natural as the ones I was born with." She wasn't entirely sure that she was expressing herself properly. Her flesh melds became a part of her, almost as soon as she melded them with herself. It was true that it took a few days to get used to them, but after that they were no more unnatural than the flesh and blood parts that preceded them.

"What I mean was, do you believe what they say? Do you give credence to their words?"

"Yes." She said pretty sure of herself. "I take them into consideration." She added. It wasn't like you could ignore voices in your head. They where always there, talking, whispering, making you think about things you don't want to think about. They where always there and vigilante to bring chaos to her thoughts. Or to straighten her thoughts out, who know. She sure didn't.

She then responded to her earlier comment about things being fine the way they where. It was a explanation about what she could do and about mutant powers. Everything had a downside though. Some had bigger downsides then others. Cailyn wasn't a swimming star but she knew that with metal limbs you would sink to the bottom. Common knowledge they called it. Her powers had a bigger downside. She lost control of her body and thoughts and become a vessel to bring havoc to minds. Usefull if it functioned in your adventage, not so usefull if it didn't. "Every change has a downside to it, mutants included." She responded plain and simple. Mutants brought change to the word. Good and bad change. Good for evolution, bad for the people who believed they shouldn't be here. Mutants where threatened everyday for being what they are. That was the bad change they brought into this world. The good one would be being more usefull to the world. The bigger picture that most people failed to see.

Meld had no idea that the other woman was speaking of voices in her head and not actual people. Nevertheless, she supposed that sometimes it was good to listen to what others had to say, even if they were wrong. She wasn't so hard headed that she wouldn't at least listen to others, although she made no promises about actually doing what they said. Sometimes she did and sometimes she didn't it depended entirely upon whether or not she decided they were right and how much they were paying her.


"Every change has a downside to it, mutants included."

"True," Meld agreed easily. "But its a matter of weighing the strengths to the weaknesses. For example, I can't hide what I am because, well, I have metal limbs." She laughed a little at the obviousness of the statement. "But the benefits I receive because of them far outweigh the disadvantage of not being able to hide myself." There was a little more to it than that, a few more weaknesses and inconveniences, such as not being able to see well in bright light due to her electronic eye, but she didn't feel the need to go into the specifics. "What are your powers if you don't mind my asking?" She hadn't met a mutant who was uncomfortable about sharing their powers yet, but she supposed there was always a first time for everything.

"What are your powers if you don't mind my asking?"

The million dollar question. What powers did she have. That question popped into the minds of all the people she ever encountered in her life. Well the people who didn't know yet. Most of the people who knew avoided her exept for the big red man. He was fun. Never the less, the knowledge of her powers should be shared at the sanctuary. They should know what they where getting themselved into. She fitted a piece in and said: "You do mind asking." "your just not aware of it that much." Dropping the small hint of her powers.

They should figure out for themselves though what to think of her powers. She didn't know herself what the full extend of her powers where or the correct name for it. She just let that be thought up by the people who got the hint. Atleast she didn't shoot laser beam or something with this kind of control she had over her powers. That would be messy. Those type of thoughts kept her motivated. Some people always had it worse, and she was lucky somehow. Still she didn't have much control and the whispers ran through her head like little squirels looking for nuts. But she had gotten used to it, in her own unstable mental state kind of way.

"You do mind asking. your just not aware of it that much."

So, apparently she was some sort of mind reader. For some reason the idea disturbed Meld more than she would like to admit. But, of course, if her companion was a mind reader she probably knew how much the idea bothered her. Thoughts were supposed to be private things, not for the ears or the knowledge of others. There was a reason she didn't speak everything that went through her mind. She tried to smile but wasn't sure how successful she was at it. Not that it would probably matter anyway.

"Can you...censure what you do and do not read?" Meld asked awkwardly. She wished that she could be accepting of such a power. After all, this girl was a mutant just as she was and just like so many that she fought for. And she didn't truly wish her any harm, despite her discomfort, she just couldn't quite bring herself to embrace someone with a power like that. It was a personal bias that she would have to work on in the future.

"Can you...censure what you do and do not read?"

She got the hint into the wrong direction. She didn't read, she couldn't read. Well not books atleast. Minds she didn't read also, she just knew stuff that she picked up somehow. "No no no." She said soft and slowly. "You got it all wrong." She continued. How to explain it to her. "I can't read." She said hoping this explanation would help a little bit.

How to explain something you don't understand yourself. It is a very complecated matter like this. Cailyn tilted her head back to the other side and looked at the puzzle. She fitted in another piece and said: "I just know things." That would have been the most direct and most easy way of putting down her power. Just knowing things was the only real explenation she could give. "Reading people would be strange, wouldn't it. " She added and fitted another puzzle piece. Yup that would explain most of it though. There hasn't been any mention of what she could really do though. Planting sugestions and things into peoples head would be a very scary thought for the average person, even though the goverment did almost the same everyday.

Meld was a little confused when Hymn said that she couldn't read. If she couldn't' read then what exactly had her comment meant? What exactly could she do? It was clarified when she said that she just knew things, although Meld wasn't sure if that was better or worse than the prospect of her being able to read her mind. Better in the sense that she couldn't just pick and choose thoughts to acquire from her mind, but worse in the sense that she might learn things that Meld didn't want her to know that she wouldn't have otherwise thought to even inquire about. She tried to put it out of her mind, knowing that there wasn't much she could do about it anyway and the other didn't seem to be inclined to use any knowledge that she may or may not have gleaned from her head against her anyway.

Sighing, Meld flexed one of her metal hands. "There are some things that I'm sure you wouldn't want to know about people, some things that they probably wouldn't want you to know. I think I'm glad my power doesn't come with any major complications. I conceive of an improvement I want to make to myself and then I make it. Simple." Well, not really all that simple but not so complicated either. Mostly it just took time and planning but once the idea was in motion it really wasn't all that complicated. Like her soon to be tail. That had the potential to be her most glorious flesh meld yet, an experiment in a way, adding a completely new body part. But still, simple beyond the specifics of planning.

There are some things that I'm sure you wouldn't want to know about people, some things that they probably wouldn't want you to know. I think I'm glad my power doesn't come with any major complications. I conceive of an improvement I want to make to myself and then I make it. Simple."

If only everything was as simple as she said. It would make everything so much easier. Control doesn't come natural to most people who gained abilities. It had to be mastered somehow. Ofcourse cailyn had some control over them but not much. It was all just random. "Wish everything was simple." She said softly. She started working on the puzzle again. A few pieces fitted there and here but there where still many to be put in. It was a very big puzzle after al.

Something meld said struck her though. Not wanting to know certain things about people. How odd, information was always usefull right? "Knowing certain things is usefull sometimes. " She just said maybe a bit late. It would come of strange but if she hadn't pulled that off yet she had to work a bit harder. Simpler as that it couldn't be, information was the keystone of this society and she was receiving it daily even if people didn't want her too.

"Wish everything was simple."

Meld nodded, suddenly a little ashamed of her previous thoughts. It wasn't the other woman's fault that she had that power, after all, and she could only imagine what it would be like living with such a gift. She probably had many people judging and fearing her for it and Meld was supposed to be above such things. She was a fighter for mutant rights, she had no higher calling in life, so she should be supportive of all mutants even those with powers that scared her a little. She vowed to be more supportive and understanding from now on.

"Knowing certain things is usefull sometimes."

I'm sure it can be," Meld agreed. "When I need to know about someone I have to do it in more traditional ways though. Investigation and such." And sometimes torture but she didn't bother to mention that aspect. Nor did she bother to mention the fact that when she really needed to know about people it was usually for less than altruistic reasons. Then again, perhaps she had all ready gleaned that there was really no way for her to tell.

Now the real deal was showing even though she only thought about it. Torture was the key word that struck a nerve. Torture was inhuman and not something to be passed out like soda's. Cailyn was very much against it to say the least after what her father put her through. You could say that it was a way of torture aswel. "torture is never a option." Cailyn said a bit more loudly while fitting a piece of puzzle again. "Nobody deserves that." She continued. That was her point of view about the entire torture thing. Nobody deserved to receive pain just for knowing something. There where definantly less painfull ways of extracting information from people , and one of them was sitting there finishing her puzzle.

Enough said about that, The meld woman was going down on the thrust list just a little bit. Most people here have tortured people before, even her very own hero Abyss. Or well one of the 7 have atleast tortured somebody once. In the sanctuary you could only speak your mind about it. Though she was not a hypocryt. She never tortured anybody, maybe manipulated but still it wasn't her. It was her powers taking control.

"torture is never a option. Nobody deserves that."

Meld sighed heavily in response. It seemed that her thoughts had been read, or picked up, or however it worked. It wasn't that she liked to torture people, in fact it was one of her least favorite activities to engage in, but somethings it was necessary. "As you've surmised I've tortured before," Meld admitted, just a little reluctantly. "But the people who were on the receiving end...they were not good people." Maybe not justification but it was all that she had and it was true enough in her mind anyway. In fact, her most recent target hadn't even really been tortured, no more than a strike and a few threats to him and his oh so precious girlfriend. Plus, he had been involved in some less than authentic activities and the world wouldn't mourn his pain anyway.

Meld didn't want to talk about torture though. It wasn't something that she was proud of, it was a mar on her all ready blackened soul. She had done things, in the past for selfish reasons, but more recently for the betterment of her people. Most of the worst things she had done, in fact had been for the betterment of the mutant cause. She was willing to sacrifice parts of her would in order that they would be better off in the long run because if she wasn't willing to do so then who was?