Kaz thought she seemed unsure, though he didn't know if it was because of him, the situation, or perhaps lack of sleep. Nodding slightly, "Sure, I could probably do that." He glanced towards Demi, "I'm usually just home with him." Did she want him to leave but didn't want to be impolite about it? Or was he reading things incorrectly? Or both?

He was definitely starting to feel a bit confused, though it didn't stop the small smile from creeping onto his face. Kaz thought it was cute, in a slightly kiddish way, how she tiredly rubbed her eyes. He had planned to go inside earlier, but that was when she was sleeping. Asleep or awake, it didn't make much of a difference so why did he feel a small twist of apprehension in his gut? Kaz nodded and began to move towards the mansion.

Demi's head snapped up and looked out the window to see Kaz walking away, for a moment he forgot all about his half eaten sausage and tried to get the door, or window, open as fast as he could. Jacob rolled the window down for the little drake, so he wouldn't destroy the interior mostly, and picked up and held the sausage toward Demi. The drake was just about to leap out when he saw the sausage from the corner of his eye, turned gave Jacob a little chirp of thanks before shoving it into his mouth and jumping out the car. Two strong strokes of his wings before using them to glide, and he was only a few feet from Kaz. When he landed he began to walk on three legs, using his wings for balance, while gnawing on the meat.

For being so tired, she could still move fairly quickly, maybe it was the thought of a shower that drove her so fast. He thought as he watched her. "Alright, take your time. I'll be down here when you're done." Kaz stood at the bottom of the steps, not close enough to give the impression he was or had planned to go upstairs. After a moment, "You like eggs at all?" It popped out of his mouth and a moment had passed before he realized he had said it. Demi knew it, Kaz heard the drake's stomach growl ever so softly.

Ghost was perhaps four doors away from her own open door when she heard the question waft up from downstairs. Eggs? She stopped in her tracks. Food. She often forgot about it. Aurum had tried to feed her once already, but since it was a muffin she had declined. A few seconds passed before she made it back to the balcony overlooking the first floor entryway. She was glad to not be wearing a skirt for once.

"Yes, but I like bagels better." She offered him a little smile and then disappeared down the hall again. There was something just a little too Romeo and Juliet about talking to people from the balcony.

Once in her room, Ghost shut her door, something she only ever did when showering. It interrupted the feng shui of the air flow. She wasted no time but peeled yesterday's clothes off and dove for the shower. If she was going to eat breakfast and get a little sleep then she was going to have to shower the fastest shower of the century. And so that became her aim.

He had moved a couple of steps towards the kitchen when he heard Vega stop and turn around. When she was standing at the balcony above he turned to face her. He had to admit to himself, it was a bit of a different view, each time he had seen or spoke to her, they were always on equal floor level. He chuckled a bit, "Sounds good" He smiled as he watched her disappear quickly from view.

Once he and Demi were in the kitchen, "Bagels? You know how to make'em?" Demi looked up at Kaz with a mouthful of pepperoni and gave him a strange look. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Neither do I...Hopefully they have some fresh ones here." Demi hastily swallowed the meat and chittered at Kaz before hopping, jumping, and clawing his way into the counter. Kaz didn't waste time finding some bagels, fresh ones, getting eggs (to scramble), bacon and some cheddar to shred. He even enlisted Demi's help with cooking the bacon.

Kaz figured he could get things ready and done by the time Vega was done with her shower, though he started a bit early with a few bits of bacon during the cooking process.

Her shower was a quick thing, and her toweling off even quicker so that when she got some acceptable work clothes on, she'd obviously missed a few spots. The back of her arms clung to the blue work shirt with a tux-like front of frills. She loved ruffles. It was her compromise since she thought wearing floofy skirts to work was a bit unprofessional. She slapped on some mascara, grabbed her shoes from beside the door and left her towel on her damp head.

It must have been between classes when Ghost got out of her room fully dressed because the little rapscallions were darting through the hallways and into their rooms to swap out their books before lunch. The words "bacon" and "hot guy" floated around. It could be someone other than Kaz, but Ghost was betting he would be this afternoon's topic of hushed discussion. The teens next door to her seemed to crush on every mutant her age and male. A silly thing considering that they were about 4 years younger than Ghost.

Ghost daubed at her hair as she pattered down the kitchen's back stair. Sure enough it was quite clear that bacon was on the menu for this brunch.

"I didn't know you could cook." She couldn't but grin at Demi who's face could only be interpreted as pure need when he looked at said bacon. "Looks great. Want something to drink?" Ghost rooted around in the fridge for her usual V8. "We probably have some OJ in here if the Johnsons haven't polished it off already." Once she had caught Dom drinking out of the carton and she'd bopped him on the head for it. Not two hours later, she'd seen Sam doing the same thing. Brothers.

Demi had taken to slowly nibbling at his pepperoni while he and Kaz cooked, and had finally stopped completely as the smell of bacon became too much. The pepperoni lay on the counter forgotten as he stared at the bacon. "Yeah yeah, I know. When it's done you can have some." Kaz said to the scaled creature. Demi's response was brief as he smiled a very toothy smile and resumed staring at the bacon.

It had gotten a bit noisy after a short time, when Kaz looked out of the kitchen he understood why. Kids were moving around from one place to another somewhat quickly, some of them let their curiosity grab them as they came to check out the smells and sound from the kitchen, before skittering off again.

He doubted you would need exquisite hearing to hear what they were saying as they left. He couldn't help but smirk a bit. Bacon seemed to be one of those magical foods that drew people in from seemingly miles away at times. The comments about himself he basically dismissed as kids being kids, though not before having to pause and collect himself as memories of Nicki washed through his mind. She was 16 when he met her, it was coming up on three years since then.

After a quick shake of his head to clear it another thought crept into his head; Did they not notice a small dragon on the counter? He turned, nope, he wasn't blocking the view, and he could easily be seen. He let out a near silent sigh, "Makes me a bit worried for the future if they can't see past their hormones. I mean, you're a bit larger than a big house cat with wings, tail, horns, and bright red scales. How did they manage to overlook you completely? Oh well." He set a small pan on the stove and threw some bacon down on it, "Just for you kiddo."

By the time Vega entered the kitchen, the food was just finishing up. "Nice timing." He said as he looked up and saw her dabbing her still damp hair. "Sort of at least. Nothing fancy, just simple and easy stuff." He looked at Demi and motioned with his head, "Sorta had to learn a bit after that guy arrived." Kaz gathered up Demi's bacon and set it on a plate off to the side. "Sure, juice sounds good." He said as he grabbed two glasses and set them down near Vega. Kaz placed each item on their own plates for easier access and to let the stove cool off.

Kaz took that time to finally look around him and at Vega. She looked nice her her choice of clothes, business casual, is what he thought the look was called. Though the towel gave her a relaxed and comfortable look. "How was the shower?" A simple question, true, but he was curious to how she was feeling. People seemed to feel refreshed and better after showers for reasons he didn't quite get, and the look supported that, in his mind, but he really did want to know. He just didn't know how to go about asking without being invasive.

Kaz set out glasses and Ghost smiled at the scene. He was quite domestic. For some reason it was kind of a funny thing to see and she wasn't even sure why. She'd only ever seen Kaz be gentle. Ghost grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge and hipped the heavy insulated door shut. She set her can next to her glass and poured a nice glass for Kaz. "Anything for Demi?" She asked as she took the carton of OJ back to the fridge. If he needed something else for the drake then she'd grab it while she was up.

"It was a shower." She shrugged and let the towel slump down onto her shoulders. If he'd wanted more specific details than that he was just out of luck. He wasn't getting a play by play from her.

She took her seat at the table and clapped her hands gently. "いただきます." And without further ado her eggs were being scooped up onto the bagel which was topped with that magical bacon and then promptly sent on its way to Ghost's tummy.

"So." She swallowed the first bite and went back to stacking more eggs onto her bagel. "What is your favorite color?" She was pretty sure of all the people she had asked, Kaz had so far escaped this question of hers. And besides. Sometimes favorite colors came with stories.

"Thanks." He said as she poured a glass of OJ for him. Until Vega prompted the question, Kaz hadn't even thought about something to drink for Demi, what a nice guy was. He looked up at her at a loss for a moment before he thought of something, "Have anything carbonated in there?" He asked her as he glanced at Demi for his opinion, receiving a few quick nods of approval.

Demi stayed up on the counter and ate, the drakeling reminded Kaz of a cat quite a bit. The bacon Demi was munching on was still slightly chewy with the slightest bit of crunch. Kaz piled his plate full of two bagels, enough eggs to cover both, a 'healthy' amount of bacon, with a small bowl of shredded cheddar, and sat down across from Vega. As he started to put the eggs on the bagel, Vega said something in another language, he thought he had heard it before but he wasn't sure. Pausing his movements he looked at her, "Hmm? What language was that?"

Having piled on the eggs on the bagel, sprinkling the cheese and topping it with bacon, Kaz took a fairly large bite. It's not too bad. He thought to himself before Vega asked a very simple question. "Umm..." He said though a closed mouth, washing the food down with a sip of OJ. He hadn't expected the question, not that he was expecting something else, and drew a blank for a few moments. "I suppose gray and silver. Not the most interesting or flashy of colors." He said with a slight shrug. "Yourself?"

Carbonated? She was sure they did. Kids walked around with them, but she never cared for the stuff. Her white fingers closed around a Sierra Mist and sat it next to Demi on the counter.

Ghost chuckled when he asked about the Japanese. She wasn't sure, but she was almost certain they'd had this sort of conversation before when they first met. There was no way to be sure and it had been a while since then, but the conversation felt familiar and casual with the smallest taste of repetition. "It's Japanese. A sort of 'thanks for cooking' and 'I'm digging in now,' announcement." She didn't care much for cheese so she stuck to the basics on her plate.

Gray and silver. Like... metal or jewelry... or Silver Streak. Another little self chuckle before he turned the question around on her. "Not too many people think to ask the question back." Though it clearly pleased her that he had. "My absolute favorite color is a sort of blueish green. Mostly blue, though." She'd worn a dress in her favorite color to the Valentine's Day Ball and managed to get Sebastian to tell her a bittersweet story about his past because of it.

"The most clever response I've ever heard," She managed a few words between bites. "Was a little girl here in the mansion. She told me her favorite color was white because white holds every color. We can't see it, but they are there, a rainbow of colors just waiting for us to pick one out for whatever color you are feeling at the moment." She grinned quite proud. White, in the light spectrum at least, held every color. She'd come out of her science class with enough understanding for that answer despite the fact that Ghost reckoned she was quite young.

Demi accepted the can with a small noise of thanks. He sat on his rump with his forearms in the air as he examined the can. He looked at the tab questioningly before trying it. It moved a little bit and saw where it pressed down on the aluminum. Normally Kaz opened such things for him and he was slightly annoyed that he hadn't, but he wouldn't be deterred. Extending his 'thumb' claw, he set the can on the counter and shoved the claw into the metal. The soft metal bent and opened as his sharp claw bit into it. He got caught a bit but with a little wiggling he extracted his claw. With an audible sound of glee he picked it up carefully with both hands, emulating what he saw Kaz do once, and began to pour it gently into his mouth, lapping up the trailing bit of pop that ran down snout.

Vega's explanation of the Japanese phrase was slightly amusing to Kaz. He couldn't keep the lighthearted tone from his voice, not that he was trying, "Well, it definitely covers all that nice and simply." Kaz gave the word a shot, speaking softly, almost under his breath as he tried to remember the syllables, obviously butchering it with great flare. He looked at Vega sort of sheepishly and with a small laugh at himself, "How did you say it? Just once more please."

Her shoulders move slightly, he caught the movement when he looked into her eyes and thought he saw a pleased glint in them. "Oh?" He said somewhat surprised though softly, it seemed a bit odd to him that others didn't return the question. "Like a turquoise or teal?" Those two colors jumped to the front of his mind and were spoken before he thought about it, even though he understood what she meant for the most part.

Vega seemed to have a short story to share so he stayed quiet while she explained about the little girl. Kaz raised an eyebrow slightly as he listened, somewhat surprised. He remembered the art class he was forced to take in highschool after moving to NYC, when he actually went to school, where there were still those who were nearly 18 who didn't understand that concept. His smile matched Vega's, "Cute answer, smart kid too."

After another bite, "What do you do in your free time and not at work?"

"EE-ta-dah-key-mas." She was slow and careful with her lip movements so that he could follow along. It was obvious she'd done it before. "Some foreigners remember it by saying Eat a duck? I must!" Not that she wasn't a foreigner too. It was just that her command of the language was not so foreign.

"Teal, I think, is the color." But teal sounded like seal and seals really weren't all that romantic when compared to blue green.

"What do you do in your free time and not at work?"

"Hmmm." She had to chew on that one for a while. "Sleep, mostly." She really was at work a whole lot of the time. "Or train. Some times X-men missions can take you away for a while. Once we went to Hawaii." She thought for a while longer. "Or read... kind of repetitive for a bookstore owner to read." One distinct habit she was leaving out of the conversation was her unnatural ability to find and get into trouble. Though that could hardly be counted among her on-purpose hobbies.

"And Kaz? What does he do?" It was a question that had burned in her mind. Oh sure. She had a business card from him, but it was vague and spoke nothing of the ability to throw away half a million dollars on a silly girl's idea.

Kaz watched Vega carefully as she spoke and pronounced each syllable slowly and carefully so he could get it. He watched her lips move, the shadow of her tongue, the movement of her throat and the slight movement of her chest as she did and copied along. "Eat a duck huh? Hmm..." Starting out slowly and deliberately, his eyes closed as he concentrated on the impromptu lesson, the phrase rolled like a square wheel at first. The second time the sides were smoothed, the third rolled like a well oiled wheel attached to a car. He picked up the slight, what he thought of it as, accent she had used the first time.

"Sleep, mostly." Kaz laughed a bit at that. He didn't know many people that would be so open about that. Though in the back of his mind, How many people do I really know? It was a question he hadn't ever asked himself and it 'sobered' him up inside, outwardly his expression didn't change too much. Even when she mentioned the X-Men again, he managed to suppress the twitch that he knew he had every time he heard it mentioned. "Hmm..Hawaii huh." I should go there sometime, I really don't go places outside NYC.. "I don't know about that. If you enjoy reading, than what better place to be or own? Books at your fingertips whenever you want them." He could mostly relate to the training, though he had no idea what sort of training she did.

"Kaz?" He said questioningly, unsure what he should say, or how much to say. "Nothing. A lot. A lot of nothing, really." It was obvious he wasn't quite sure how to respond. He knew he put himself into this spot with his question, he knew she could turn it around on him. Really, sometimes you just don't think much do you? A little voice said in his mind. Oh shut up. He told it, nearly snapping at his inner self. Kaz finished off his egg, bacon, and cheese bagel and washed it down with a healthy bit of OJ, before wiping his mouth.

"I'm co-instructor at Clashing Blades, a swords club, here in NYC. I train at home, occasionally enjoy a movie or two at home. Go out on the town at random times for random reasons. And I," He drew a blank for the most part, realizing he really did have a boring and pointless life. "I hand nice, cute girls in need half a million bucks to spend as they please." He sat back in the chair a bit, and clasped his hands together in front of himself on the table.

"Though you knew that last bit already." On the counter Demi snerked. "Anything specific you'd like to know?" His tone was very open, friendly, and inviting. If she was curious, at the moment, he was willing to answer whatever she wanted, most likely...probably at least.

Swords. Okay. She was okay with liking swords as long as he wasn't rampaging through the streets chopping people into tiny pieces. And an instructor. That was cool. And... random.. reasons... o... okay.

She waved off the money comment that was a gimmie. "You can't have passed out too many checks like that or else you wouldn't uh... afford limos. And. Stuff." You know. Like little drakes. Where do you buy those kinds of things? Not that she wanted one...

"Anything specific you'd like to know?"

Well, he did ask. She gave him a moment to realize exactly what he'd done before she launched into her mental list. "Were you born with hair that color? What about the ears? What about Demi? Where did he come from? Did he hatch or was he live born? Where do you get all your money? Do I really want to know where you get all the money?"

She ticked them off on her fingers as she thought of them. So far they were at seven questions. She only paused for a moment to breathe and get out a few more fingers. "Why did you really come today? Are you nice to all the ladies? Why were you at the Mansion before? And ... Why did you leave? That was eleven questions now. She'd meant to stop at ten, but... well, the last one... it seemed important.

She shrugged a little apologetically. "You did ask." She reminded him just in case he was now changing his mind. And it was clear she had even more questions sitting below the surface. She took a sip of her red tomato juice to stuff them down a bit and give Kaz a second or so to answer.

He nodded, "True I haven't. Though it wasn't the first time I gave out that amount of cash or more, though it was the first time giving that much to someone who was essentially a complete stranger." He said with a shrug, as if it wasn't a big deal. Which giving away money like that wasn't really a big deal to him, though he still wasn't exactly sure why he had done it, he just did.

Vega's questions flowed out like flood gates opening. He really hadn't known what he had gotten himself into. He sat back in the chair completely with a stunned look on his face, semi-wide-eyed as well to complete the look. Just when he thought she was done, but it seemed she had just stopped to catch a breath before laying a few more down. Most of the questions were innocent enough, well all of them were, but he knew what the answers were and what it might mean to the woman sitting across from him. She shrugged, "You did ask." He chuckled lightly. "Yes, yes I did."

Kaz took a deep breath and asked one question. "Do you really want to know?" His tone was serious, and gave a hint that she might, probably, wouldn't like some of the answers. There was a distinct silence and paused in the room before Vega gave a very small nod. "Okay."

"I was born with silver hair and red eyes yes. The ears happened...two years ago, after my first encounter with Haywire. Demi is...complicated and simple. He wasn't hatched or born. In fact I really don't know where or even how he came to be. I was in a coma for some months, but there by the Stalkers. When I woke up, these scars," He traced the three equally spaced scars on the right side of his face with his first three fingers, "Demi, and the mark on my back were just there. I do know that if you were to test his DNA and mine, genetically he'd basically be my son. Beyond that." He shrugged. "You don't want to know where I got my money." He said flatly and matter-of-factly.

"I really came by just because. I had just finished a session at Clashing Blades with new students. I just felt like it, I didn't really have any ulterior motive." He looked pensive for a moment, before he gave a small chuckle at the next question in line to answer. "Nice to the ladies, yes, as nice as I am to just about anyone. Though I'll guess you were meaning something a bit more...specific?"

Kaz looked away from Vega, away from her eyes and out the window. Sighing he looked back at her. "I originally came to the Mansion to gather information and...well, spy on the X-Men and the layout of the place. It's and the X-Men's strengths, weaknesses, ways to exploit both if needed, bypass the meager security, in case we had reason to." It would be obvious he didn't feel the best about what he had done and why he did it, but he had done it. Without prompting, being told or asked to boot. "I left because other things needed my attention, and I had gathered all the information I needed. Though I did try to warn Tricity before I left for good. But she's too stubborn, or at least was, to listen."

Kaz didn't lower his eyes from hers, he sat back in the chair straight. He'd face her reaction and judgment head on.

She wouldn't have asked if she had not wanted to know. Kaz let the answers spill out in no particular order.

So the hair and eyes were old but Demi and the ears and the scars were new. Ghost didn't know about any mark on his back, she'd never seen his bear back and maybe it was for the better. She wondered if it was a scar or maybe a tattoo that matched Demi. Like proof of where he had ... what? Split off? Surely Kaz hadn't laid and hatched a coma egg.

And of course she really did want to know where the money came from. It was the root of her store. If someone were to trace it back to Kaz and it had come from unsavory beginnings that would discredit her whole operation. Kaz might not tell her. But she would try her hardest to find it out. Because If she could figure it out that meant just about anyone could. By denying her that information, Kaz had sparked a dangerous amount of curiosity.

"Nice to the ladies, yes, as nice as I am to just about anyone. Though I'll guess you were meaning something a bit more...specific?"

Nice to all the ladies? Had she really asked that? That was about as specific as she was willing to get in that area so she shook her head. Yeah. She didn't quite know much of anything about that kind of thing. So it was best to leave it alone. Lucky for her, Kaz was taking her last questions seriously.

"I originally came to the Mansion to gather information and...well, spy on the X-Men and the layout of the place. It's and the X-Men's strengths, weaknesses, ways to exploit both if needed, bypass the meager security, in case we had reason to."

"And what did you learn?" She prickled instinctively. What was with all the spies? Leila... and even Kaz. Shawn had been right to buckle down on security. Ghost didn't see the need to spy on anyone at the Mansion. It seemed like a waste to her. "And who is we?" Who had ordered him here? The mansion had plenty of enemies, not all known to Ghost. But Ghost had been under the impression that Kaz had been

"I left because other things needed my attention, and I had gathered all the information I needed. Though I did try to warn Tricity before I left for good. But she's too stubborn, or at least was, to listen."

Ghost looked at her empty plate. "You warned Tricity that you had been spying?" She never said anything to Ghost but then again Ghost and Tricity weren't bosom buddies and the subject of Kaz had never come up between them. They'd only ever really talked X-business. Would Tric be mad knowing that Ghost had invited him back here, to the Mansion?

"What did I learn..." Kaz was silent for a few moments as he thought back. "I learned who the X-Men at the time were and what they could do, if they were active or not, where they were stationed, if in town, state or out of the state and/or country. At least before the Registration Act and the rebuilding of the Mansion, I knew just about every inch of this place. Granted downstairs my knowledge isn't as complete, I had only been down there twice. Not to mention the security and defensive capability is...was? worse than what employ at my own residence."

Kaz took a few slow breaths. "I should have used the past tense, 'We' was the Order. I was one of the first members, numbering five or six in total. Before you ask or think of it; No, I wasn't ordered or asked to come here by anyone, and no, I never told anyone else what I found out."

Kaz couldn't help but chuckle softly, "No. I never told her I had been spying and gathering intel on them all. What I warned her about is...was, not to fight the Order. To stay away, that the Order was much stronger, and more than they could handle. At least at the time." Kaz sighed. "She didn't listen. She raced the X's to KP to fight blindly. They had no reason to be there except they felt they could do whatever they wanted as the self proclaimed 'Police of Mutantkind'." Kaz sneered. "I'd call'em a pack of dogs, but I'd be insulting the dogs. The X's were disorganized and bloodthirsty for no reason. They wouldn't listen to reason and didn't even attempt a diplomatic solution."

"I left the Order shortly after that, just as the first whispers of the Registration Act were going through the media, nearly two years ago."