Meld found herself curled in a corner in a dark alleyway. She had no idea where she was, barely even knew how she had gotten there. It was as if she had awoken from a dream and entered into some horrible nightmare. The last thing she remembered clearly was being on top of some unknown woman, pounding her head into the ground. After that things became a blur and before that...? It was even worse before that. There was nothing, a great gaping whole in her memory. What had happened to lead her to attack that woman? What had happened in the days and weeks leading up to it? Or was it months? Or years? She barely knew who she was anymore. Her brained pounded and she had fled, jumping off of the woman and past a second unknown woman and running into the depths of New York City.

Meld's flight through the city was a blur of confusion and concrete. Her mind kept spinning in circles, trying to make sense of where she was and why she was here. She wasn't quite sure when she had found the alley she currently sat crouched in, hands around her legs, shaking in fear and exhaustion. She remembered her sister, very clearly, lying dead on the ground and she remembered fleeing the scene. She remembered making her left hand, her first flesh meld and attaching it, becoming a proper mutant. She could still barely grasp the fact that she was a mutant let alone feel comfortable with it. Worse, her entire arm was now metal and her feet and she even had a metal tail. Where and when they had come from, she had no idea. Had she truly done this to herself? Her hand she had lost and had to make due as best she could, but had she realy replaced more than that? She could only assume she hadn't suffered mishaps to all her metal limbs could she?

Of everything that she remembered, and those were few things indeed, the image that kept entering her mind were the golden doors of Sanctuary. She remembered it as a place for mutants, remembered that she had lived there. Flashes of memories associated with fighting for an organization called The Order. Aura and Abyss, those were two names she knew. She had to find them, had to find out what had happened and what was wrong with her. That was the sole thought that brought Meld out of her hiding spot in the alley and back into the streets of the city. Now, if only she could figure out where Sanctuary was, exactly.

1 pot roast, such as beef chuck, about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil, 1 medium onion, sliced... Lenna's eyes scrolled down the shopping list in her hand. The list was long, on a lined notecard. She was making pot roast for dinner tonight. She'd earned it.

Her eyes rose for a moment, to scan the crowds. Which way was the shopping market again? Her brow creased with uncertainty.

"Hrm..."

Ahead of her, the crowd parted slightly to make way for a woman. Lenna's eyes locked on the flash of metal, Cyber-punk look, and signature tail.

Meld.

She was wandering right towards Lenna. The woman slipped the list away. Maybe Meld had something to tell her. Or, wait. Nope. She didn't stop before she hit the aura. If she'd noticed Lenna, she wouldn't have made such a foolish mistake. Lenna took a few steps back from the woman, and gave her room to regain her motor skills, and get up off the ground.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Meld noted the fearful and occasionally terrified or hateful expressions of the people around her. Half of her mind found it disturbingly familiar; she could recall, if only vaguely, similar incidents in the past. She knew this had happened before, many times and that the looks were nothing new. But she couldn't bring up the details of a single incident and so existed in a bizarre and frightening state that was one half familiar and one half disturbingly foreign. Was this the life she knew, one in which she could go nowhere without people being afraid of her?

Her tail blinked in time with her human eyes, when one set closed the other opened to give her a snapshot of the world around her. It should have been completely foreign because she couldn't remember having made the tail or ever having a tail, let alone a tail that she could see out of and yet the months of practice to perfect navigating with it remained in her mind. It was instinct now, almost as natural as seeing out of her human eyes or hearing out of her human ears. The split knowledge, however, couldn't' help but terrify her. What had happened to her? What was wrong with her mind?

Suddenly Meld had the experience of not being able to move her limbs. Her feet wouldn't lift off the ground and her tail eye went suddenly dark. She felt a moment of panic, just when things couldn't possibly get any worse they did. Then, a moment later, she was able to move again for no identifiable reason. Would she now have to worry about her limbs stopping working periodically now too, to add to all of her other problems?

"Are you alright?"

Meld's eyes lifted to meet a total stranger standing before her. She sounded concerned and, unlike so many others, she didn't flinch at seeing her. "I don't think so." Her voice wavered, confusion was evident. She was unable to hide it if she wanted to. "I don't remember...I need to find Sanctuary." She needed far more than that but at least that was a reasonable goal. Find Sanctuary, go home and hopefully fix everything.

Meld... didn't remember? Lenna blinked.

"Well, if you need to find the sanctuary, I can help you," She replied, with a hint of confusion. "What can't you remember?" And why was she acting strange. If she had suddenly been hit with a case of amnesia, this could be bad. A woman with abilities like Meld, disoriented on the streets of New York. They needed to get her to the sanctuary, and fast.

Did the strange woman know her? She was certainly acting like she knew her. And if she knew Meld then that must mean that Meld knew her as well. But why couldn't she remember? Why was everything so confusing and baffling? What had happened to her to cause such a thing? This was bad, she knew it was bad. She just didn't know much more.

"You can help me?" Meld's voice came out sounding vaguely childlike. "Do I know you? And I don't know why I can't remember I just can't." If she knew why then wouldn't' she be trying to fix whatever was wrong with her at the moment? Wasn't that kind of a stupid question? But the woman was willing to help so she let it pass.

>> "You can help me?" "Do I know you? And I don't know why I can't remember I just can't."

She sounded like a kid who'd lost her way. This was bad. Her previous fears had been confirmed. "Meld, my name is Lenna." She put her hand to her chest as she spoke, a 'me' gesture. "I'm not sure why you can't remember, but I can help." She wasn't sure what she could do to help her regain her memory, but she could help. "I know where the Sanctuary is. If you follow me... we can figure things out from there. But you have to be careful." She met Meld's eyes gravely. "I'm a mutant. I have an aura of about 6 feet wherein mutant abilties weaken. That's why your arms and legs stopped working before... I can't turn it off. I'm sorry."

So the woman's name was Lenna. Clearly the name should have meant something to Meld, the way she was acting showed that much. Which meant that Meld must actually know the woman, as she had suspected. "How do I know you?" If she couldn't remember on her own and, as much as she tried to strain her brain it appeared she couldn't, she could at least ask questions and hope that the answers triggered something. At this point she would be happy to remember that this Lenna had tried to kill her in the past because at least that would be something better than the horrible cloud that appeared to be shrouding all of her past memories for a completely unknown amount of time.

At the mention that Lenna was a mutant and what her powers were, Meld took a careful step back. At least it meant there was a reason her limbs had stopped working and it wasn't likely to happen again in the future, at least not all by itself. That was some minor relief. "I need to find Aura or Abyss," Meld stated. She was feeling better, at least a very small amount better, now that she had a purpose and a potential ally. At least she hoped Lenna was an ally and not someone just pretending to be an ally. She had vague images of someone trying to kill her, possibly more than one someone. Were they Lenna?

"I may not have my memory but I can still defend myself." Stated just in case it was needed. Except that maybe she couldn't around this mutant who could paralyze her just by standing too close. Oops, hopefully she woudln't take that the wrong way then.

>>"How do I know you?"

"I'm a friend. We work together," Lenna said. The look on her face showed she was stunned Meld couldn't remember something as simple as that. That was the look she wanted. This was very strange.

Meld's reaction, too, was the right one. They'd best be up front about that, and safe.

>> "I need to find Aura or Abyss."

"I'll take you to them."

>>"I may not have my memory but I can still defend myself."

"And that's good. You always were a fighter. Well then," She turned in the direction of the subway. "Shall we go, then? The sanctuary is this way. Remember, 6 feet."

With that, she started walking.

Meld could do nothing else aside from simply believe Lenna when she said that they were friends and they worked together. She wouldn't have any reason to lie about such a thing would she? Vague images of enemies floated around her head but none of the shadows looked like Lenna. At least she didn't think they did. So she nodded her understanding because there really was nothing else to be done about it.

Meld followed at the dictated 6 foot distance, her tail blinking behind her. She might not remember how or when she had gotten it, but the instinct on how it operated remained the same. She tried her best to block out the fearful looks of everyone around them when they caught glimpses of Meld, tried her best to block the discomfort of the way they moved out of her path when she came near.

"Do you live in Sanctuary?" She remembered the building in her mind's eye, with its great golden doors and its many mutants within. She remembered her simple room with its large art desk, small bed and laptop. In fact, Sanctuary was one of the few things that she seemed to be able to remember clearly about this city.

>> "Do you live in Sanctuary?"

Meld asked as they walked. Lenna kept up her pace. "I don't. I live in an apartment in the city. It's easier that way. Powers," She added the last word as her sole reason for off-site living. It was a good one.

She brushed through the crowd, and dropped into the subway. Paid the fare, led Meld on. They got on the rattling bullet train, and shot onwards, towards Sanctuary. Lenna sat on the train, a fair distance from Meld. She looked up.

"When we get there, I'm contacting Lori. Maybe she'll be able to help us sort this out."

Meld had forgotten for a moment about Lenna's powers. It made sense that they wouldn't function just on Meld's own powers. She nodded her understanding, distressed once more about her situation. Maybe it was understandable that the little things would skip her mind given her much more serious problems, but what if she was losing these memories too? What if she was soon to be a walking zombie, with no memories and no context of the world? She shuddered at the thought.

"Thank you," Meld said. She paused a moment. "Do I know Lori? Are you sure she'll be able to help me?" Not that she had any choice but to trust Lenna and whoever this Lori might be.

Lenna nodded. "Yeah. You know her. She's kind of our boss. If nothing else, I figure we'll be able to refresh your memory. She knew you better than I did," One would assume. If nothing else, they could make stuff up~

"Hold on a second. I'll call up Lisa to let her know we're nearly there." Lenna said. She reached into a pocket, and produced her cellphone. The Sanctuary was dialed. Lenna got Lisa's voice. She turned to the side, and spoke quietly into the phone. "Yeah. It's me, Lenna. Meld's with me. Can you let Lori know to meet us by the entrance? We're on our way. Should be there soon. I'll explain everything when we arrive. Thanks." She hung up.

Lenna turned back to Meld. She offered a thin smile.

They reached their destination a short while later. The train stopped, the two got off, and Lenna led Meld to the Sanctuary by foot, through crowds. The Sanctuary loomed overhead as they approached it, tall and imposing with its golden doors.

The two entered. Lenna alerted Lisa to their presence.

"She'll be with you shortly," was the secretary's reply.

So Meld had a boss. She remembered The Order and the fact that Aura had brought her into it but she didn't remember having a boss. It made sense though, being part of an organization like that. Of course there would be a boss and probably some kind of hierarchy below the boss as well. Of course, she couldn't remember for the life of her what kind of hierarchy that might be, possibly because she only clearly remembered two people that were a part of it.

"Does it work like the Mafia or the Yakuza?" Those were things that she remembered a little more clearly. Fuzzy images of money exchanging hands and acting as muscle for various organized crime groups flittered through her head. She couldn't quite grasp onto them and force their images to solidify, but at least it was something. At least her entire life hadn't been erased.

Sanctuary's golden doors Meld recognized and she smiled. This place felt like home, even if she didn't remember it much. There was just something about it that made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't have to worry about what people thought of her here or how they would react to her. Home. Yes this was.

Lisa seemed confused, though it was always hard to tell when the method of the message was passed through a middle man.

"Are you sure she said Meld?" It was a game of telephone alright. This game of telephone had even at one point included telephones. That was what the secretary said. So she packed her things and made her way back to the Sanctuary.

Understandably she arrived after Lenna had ushered Meld through the golden doors. Stairs took time.

>"Does it work like the Mafia or the Yakuza?"

Maybe it wasn't Lisa who was confused. Maybe it was Meld after all.

"Welcome back, Meld."

Mafia and Yakuza... hrm.

Well, technically, with the racketeering...

Lenna didn't answer that question. Lori had arrived. What a delightful diversion. "Hey," she said, giving Lori a two-finger salute. "Meld here lost her memory. I found her walking the streets, unsure... I thought we could figure out who or what caused it, and do something to fix it. If someone does this to one of our own..." She gravely shook her head.

Lenna turned to look towards the metal-armed mutant, remembering her. "Meld, this is Lori. The boss."