Hunter could see Sara relaxing eventually. Her breathing was slow and even and she was reaching the state of open mindedness that he was trying to get her to reach. Rather than give further instructions he just let her be in the quite of her mind. He was interested in how long she could maintain it.

Personally he was pondering the problem of her switching senses. Pain triggered the switch she had said. That might not be true. It might be the perception of a threat to the eyes that was present with pain that triggered it. After all if pain were the switch then it should reverse once the pain had gone. If perception of danger was the cause however then that would explain the long period of time between activation and deactivation. Sara’s subconscious could be being over protective and refusing to turn back until it was completely sure it was safe. Now he had a theory he’d need to start testing it.

There was breathing, in and breathing out and breathing in and out in out in out. Sara began to wonder exactly how long this breathing exercise was going to last. Her ears twitched again to move her hair off of them. then flicked forward to listen to him, absentmindedly.

her breathing continued in, out, Innnnnnn-DUST ATTACK! Her nose wrinkled. Must resist urge to sneeze. Must resist-- Resistance failed.

Sara sneezed. It wasn't a hard sneeze, but clearly made her fail at this breathing thing and made her blink with her eyes flicking up to look at Hunter for a second.

Hunter gave Sara a reassuring smile as she sneezed and it broke her concentration. He’s seen her ears twitching but wasn’t sure whether they were unconscious movements. Attaining the true state of a calm blank mind was not easy and took a lot of practise.

“Achieving a calm state of mind is difficult,” he said reassuringly, “but I believe that it will help control your ability if you can gain control of your mind. Why did your power develop if you don’t mind my asking? The more I know about your powers the easier it will be to understand them.”

Sara rubbed her nose. "I was shot in the head." Sara said simply. she glanced up an hunter to see his reaction, then sat back and fiddled with one of her thumb claws while she let Hunter take in what she had healed from.

"It was the back of the head actually. If I'd seen the gun being aimed it would have never hit me. I heal but not actually that fast." Sara explained. Reliving the experience of feeling so helpless even in vag detail wasn't easy. "I should have died that night, but I was lucky. someone found me and brought me to another healer. someone who can actually use their abilities on others. Not involuntarily. The bullet was removed from my head and I actually had to be hospitalized for a night. I was blind for weeks straight. Then one day, It was like I just opened my eyes again. Since then it's been what I told you before. things go in and out."

Sara ended her story with a shrug trying to act as if things that happened were nothing. They should have been nothing.

Hunter’s face showed genuine surprise when she told him she was shot in the head. He knew that Sara could heal but gunshots to the head were difficult even for him. Twice he’d been shot in the head and the slow regain of function as his brain regenerated had been weird and deeply unpleasant.

He listened to the rest. When she was finished he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said and genuinely meant it. He decided to give her a moment to compose herself before telling her what he thought.

“It seems to me like as your brain healed your visual centres it also adapted to avoid this happening again,” he explained, “Had you the new sense you’ve developed you could have avoided the shot. That could mean that in a worst case scenario your brain is now hard wired, so to speak, to have the delay.” He paused to let that very real possibility to sink in.

“However there is also the possibility that my theory is correct and the reason it takes so long to switch back is that your subconscious has become overprotective in a way and won’t let you lose the sense until it’s sure that you’re safe. If that is true then we should be able to reduce the time it takes to switch back.” He left unsaid that it would require Sara to work through any lingering issues of being shot in the head. It was a traumatic experience being shot in the head. Unlike him she’d needed the help of others to survive and taken longer to recover. Being able to get back up on your own meant you didn’t feel helpless about it.

Hunter reached out to give Sara's hand a reasuring squeeze, and her muscle flinched in surprise. thought she had resisted the urge ot pull her hand back. Physical forms of what ever were easier to either ignore usually, or brace herself through. Hugs were rarely given and saved for a select trusted few. These were problems she had before being shot, There were issues piled on by two registration camps and her past before she came to New York, but Hunter didn't really need to know that. It was because of these problems that she normally ended up hurting those that she was closest to, like Luke.

Sara continued listening silently. The muscle in her arm had relaxed as quickly as it had flinched. Hunter didn't have to say the last part. Sara had actually known it for a long time but part of her feared not having fear. She'd gotten in a lot of trouble when she'd let her guard down.

"it makes sense." Sara admitted to the rest of what Hunter had to say. What was lost of her composure was almost back the rest of the way. It was true that Sara had a lot of fear, but she'd become good at controlling it and fooling people. "There have been days that I've fallen asleep without visual sight and wake up fine." Like hitting a reset button Sara thought to herself.

Hunter didn’t miss Sara’s reaction to his touch. She didn’t like being touched, that was fine. “I’m willing to try and help you,” he assured her, “But doing so is going to mean bringing back up painful memories. And there is the chance that this might not work.”

He wasn’t trying to be negative, but he wasn’t going to delude Sara either. This wasn’t going to be easy. Getting over this sort of trauma never was. He would only do this if she was willing to go through with it after she knew all the facts. “Do you want to try?”

Yes... No....Yes.....Maybe

Sara was silent as Hunter continued on. She knew she wanted this help but at the same time there was always that caution in the back of her mind that made it hard for her to make her mind up. "I came here knowing that things weren't going to be a, snap your fingers, easy fix."

"Yes." Sara made the decision for herself quite suddenly. She'd been at a stand still with this new mutation for over a year. She found it difficult but how was she supposed to move on without taking the chance. And so what about bringing back painful memories. She had dealt with them before. She could deal with them again.

Sara was willing to try. Then so was he. But first he needed some context. “Good, then let’s start,” he said, “First I want you to tell me what led up to the incident. How did you get there?” He needed a better idea of what happened to begin to help.

While Hunter had never done anything like this before he’d never tried to get someone over an addiction to violence either. Things were going well with Meld, and she’d managed to show resistance yesterday. So he was feeling pretty confident he could help her.

Sara's eyes flicked up to Hunters for a moment. She didn't want to go into deep details of that night. Other than the fact that he was helping Sara at the moment, he didn't really need to know the full details. she'd never even told Luke so much as the reason she'd gone into the cafe that night. Let alone the fact that she had gone into a cafe. She'd been shot on the street. The memory of the small warm sweet smelling coffee shop.

"I'd gotten ketchup on my shirt." Sara began. The reasoning for her being there came first while she decided exactly how to word things. "So I ducked into this Cafe to try to scrub it out and the man behind the counter wouldn't let me. I recognized him." Sara said the last sentence more as it flowed out before the sound of her voice jerked to a sudden stop in it's free flow of words. She could see Rupert's face in her head. The disapproved Staring expression. There wasn't really fear of her from Rupert, but more surprise that she could still picture the details of his face that night.

"We had a disagreement, and I pushed him. I followed him outside to get in my last words." Oh if words could have double meaning those words could. "And then I turned around." Sara didn't have to finish the rest. They both knew what happened.

Hunter listened as Sara told him what happened. She was reluctant to tell him, that much was clear. Although the memories were undoubtedly painful there seemed to be something else. That something was probably that she knew her shooter. While being shot by a stranger was terrifying and traumatic, but it didn’t carry the weight as it being someone you knew.

“How well did you know this person?” he asked. He kept his tone gentle and understanding. While he needed the facts she needed sympathy and support. Her emotional connection to her shooter was almost certainly a part of this. If it had been someone she trusted the bitter sting of betrayal would amplify her feelings.

This wasn't exactly something that Sara was comfortable doing. The hole talking thing. she liked it about as much as she liked the hole touching thing. Her mind kept jumping back and forth too during this time. reminding herself of both of the reasons why she was there.

"I had only known him for a few months. I don't think that you could really call us acquaintances, but we had talked briefly on a few occasions." During the registration camps. Sara continued on. The way Hunter was asking questions he'd probably ask this one soon enough anyways.

"He believed that I should have handled a situation where someone died, better. That I should have kept this person from passing away because I'm stron.... Because I'm a mutant." The part Sara left off was she was the one to kill this person, but it hadn't been her choice. This person hadn't given her a choice.

Sara was being very careful with her words. There was a lot that she wasn’t telling him. He honestly couldn’t blame her. If she knew anything about him then he wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t want to tell him everything. After all he didn’t have the reputation of someone who you could trust. Whatever secrets she wanted to keep he would let her. He didn’t need to know, at least not yet.

Seeing how uncomfortable bringing up the past was he tried a different track. “Ok, that’s all the questions that I’m going to ask about the incident today,” he assured her before moving on, “What I want you to do is think of someone or something, possibly even a place, that makes you feel completely safe. You don’t need to tell me what it is but I want you to hold the image clear in your mind.”

Sara was being extra open however there were times that she wondered if she was really that transparent. She thought about the instructions for a moment. She wasn't exactly sure of the answer. There was the mansion, but that didn't feel right. When Sara thought about it, there wasn't really a place in the city that made Sara feel fully comfortable.

So she thought about away from the city. A field, the woods, the Michigan Lakes. Sara's mind settled as if it had been jerked to a stop, on Lake Michigan. it was one of the first places that she'd experienced Freedom. Freedom and Ayesac. There were miles of trees around the Dunes and the sand. Warm sand. "I've got it.. .. .." Sara said as she remembered experiencing the that the waves first sounded. Her first time being held that wasn't force.

“Good,” Hunter said encouragingly after Sara finally settled on something. It had taken her a while, but that wasn’t too surprising. She had a very visible mutation and that led to a lot of unprovoked abuse as he had seen with Meld. “Now I want you to focus on the feeling of safety and comfort that go with it. Just remember how it makes you feel.”

“As you remember how it makes you feel I want you to press you palms together with your fingers pointing forward,” he instructed. He was going to try and anchor the emotion and corresponding mental state that went with it to that action. Unlike Meld Sara had a sense of touch, which should help to reinforce this better. “I want you to take the feeling of safety, comfort and security and focus it between your palms. Hold it tightly there and just enjoy it.”