It was alright for Noel to make the best of her own situation with humor. It was not okay for other people to find her predicament funny. Unamused eyes met Susan's joke. It was true, fresh as uncooked broccoli. Didn't mean she wanted to swallow it.

Susan launched into her update. Whether she got the look or not, Noel had gotten what she wanted. A change of topic.

Xavier's school. Noel nodded. She'd been there many times. Held hostage by psycho... paths... The nodding stopped and the frowning increased. "You almost got roasted like a witch after being held hostage and you are sitting here telling me about skating? Back this train up." Noel reached over and pinched Susan. Was she a robot? Or just really internalizing? All the statements she'd said were true. Shouldn't she be crying or wanting revenge or something more that just a little shudder?

"Held by humans or mutants?" Noel honed down into investigative mode. She pulled out her notebook. "Tell me about the place, was it in the city? The country? How tall? How'd you get there?"

"Absolutely nothing has happened to me memorable enough to mark the passage of time. Well, besides an epicly heroic tag of a girl-name cat summoner, but that's business..." They'd tagged worse and scarier. Right now there were closing in on someone a heck of a lot scarier, but all troublemakers big or small deserved what they got.

"Back this train up. Held by humans or mutants? Tell me about the place, was it in the city? The country? How tall? How'd you get there?"
"Number 10, Apple Street." the witch shrugged "They said it was haunted, and there were a few mysterious deaths, and since I don't believe in ghosts, although I find the concept of them truly fascinating, I decided to go and see for myself. By seeing, I mean sense." she smirked "If anyone can pick up on supernatural phenomena, it is probably me."
It was not pride. Susan was just stating facts. Mostly.
"Turns out there were no ghosts in the house whatsoever, only a pair of mutants twins, one male and one female. They were telepaths, and could create sound and visual illusions together. They used their abilities to pull out words fears from our heads, and make them real."
The with shuddered at the memory, and frowned.
"Somehow they figured I was afraid of being burnt at the stake, and so they made that real. Fortunately, I was not there alone."

She had an address. And far more detail that Noel had thought the girl would have. It was a definite lead to follow up on. Mischievous devils had their place in the RUPERT database. Noel noted anything that seemed important. This alone made the trip worth it.

"Did you take care of them? You and the people with you?" There was a weight to the words take care of. She obviously wasn't asking if Susan and the others had tucked the bad guys in to bed and read them a story.

Noel inspected Susan for burn damage even though she said they did illusion work it never hurt. Anything to add to the twins' records.

"Did you take care of them? You and the people with you?"
Susan shrugged.
"It depends on what you mean by 'take care of'. There were a group of sutents there, and one teacher... one of them knocked the female out, and held her hostage. I don't know what their relationship was to each other... but he was willing to let us go in exchange for her, um, life. The teacher froze him up too, with ice. Other than that..." the witch shrugged again "We were just happy to get out of there alive. Those illusions were real."

Mansion teacher took a hostage? An eyebrow went up and the pen flew across the page. RUPERT thought the mansion was a peaceful establishment and so they had left them largely alone. Maybe they weren't as peaceful as they preached. High and mighty. Noel sniffed stiffly and rubbed her nose. A smudge of blue ink left its mark on the itchy part of her nostril.

"Explain. The ice teacher and the real illusions bit please. If we're going to look into this I would like to be as prepared as possible." Her coffee was abandoned on the ridiculously tiny side table and her pen poised, ready.

That little ink spot wiggled as she spoke.

"Well." Susan frowned, trying to compose an answer that was logical enough, and still didn't sound as crazy as reality was "The two mutants created illusions together. The female was responsible for the sounds, and the male for the visual effects. But more than that, somehow, they could make their illusions real. If you got hurt, you got hurt for real. That, by the way, explains the deaths that occurred earlier and the police didn't give a crap about."
A sip of the hot chocolate.
"The teacher, she was merely trying to get us out of there alive. I am sorry to say taking hostages was not her idea either. Sorry because that was the first useful thing anyone came up with that night..."
I didn't think about it either.

Illusions made real? The number of troublesome twins RUPERT tagged seemed obscene. Scribble, scribble went the pen. Twitch, twitch went the ink spot. The descriptors were lacking as far as the ice teacher went. Noel had wanted that information too, but if the Mansion wanted to be protective of its dirty secrets so be it.

The keeping and discovering of secrets was Noel's job.

"Thank you for this information. I will be sure to check it out. Anyone else try to burn you alive recently?" Because she could use a few more good leads.

"Thank you for this information. I will be sure to check it out."
Susan tilted her head. She didn't ask Noel to check anything out. She was still not sure what her job was as a government employee, and the young witch didn't feel comfortable sharing information with someone who was taking notes.
"Anyone else try to burn you alive recently?"
Blink.
"No." Susan answered promptly "That would be absurd."
Not like absurd things didn't happen. But being burned at the stake twice in such a short period of time, in the 21st century, was a rare phenomenon, bordering on Hollywood.
"I appreciate your help." the witch said cautiously, and smiled a bit, at least the smile was real "I really do."

"You know, I think that is the closest to a lie you've ever said to me." But it wasn't exactly a lie. Just like pine sol wasn't exactly a clean flavor.

"Besides I don't think that you can attach words like "absurd" to mutants. They're like the exception to the rule. They cause extremes to happen. It's just their nature."

The information seemed to have dried up so Noel put the lid back on her pen and tucked it away along with her pad of paper. Her coffee, now cooled, she sipped and then put aside. "I should probably get back soon. I hope that I helped you." Because if she helped enough Susan was likely to return to her and drop some other useful tidbit in the future.

"Tell your psychic boyfriend hello for me." That was an amusing thought. "Unless, of course, you think that inappropriate." What was Noel saying? This girl didn't know what was and wasn't appropriate. Otherwise she wouldn't have called her out of work like it was an emergency just to talk about a boy.

"Tell your psychic boyfriend hello for me. Unless, of course, you think that inappropriate."
The witch arched an eyebrow.
"He is not my boyfriend." she clarified "I... am not even sure if he is a friend."
Definitions, definitions.
"And I don't think it would be inappropriate, it would just be pointless. He doesn't know you."
That was said with a smile. Noel was decidedly weird. Susan knew she was weird too. Still, talking to Lady Amnesia was always... entertaining. She liked her.
Susan gathered her things, and stood. "... but if you are interested, I can tell you how the meeting went afterwards. I believe you would find it an interesting social experiment." she grinned "See you around, Noel."