Flipping through the book, it was a mix of translation and dictionary functions, Maddy located the section that sounded like what he had said. She had to look up and focus on him in order to understand, reading and listening at the same time was a bit beyond her English skills at the moment, and the book’s past was brushing her consciousness distracting her.

Scratching her wrist, Maddy nodded despite not completely understanding and kept flipping through the book until she found the section that sounded like what he had said. She didn’t want to ask a question until she looked up the word, because that might solve issue. Right now she felt like what he did must be either a game or homework, despite him seeming too old for such things. He was older than herself, so she thought he must be out of school and too busy for games. She didn’t even think of college because that hadn’t been an option for her before and had never thought about it, for herself or anyone else.

Biting her lip as she looked over the words on the page, she looked for ‘detective.’ Detect, detectability… Detector? No, that wasn’t it… Detective! Having found the word she read through the definition before finding the translation. Detectivi!

Looking up at Garrett warily, she kept the page open. “You is Politia? Is Police?” Where Maddy came from, detectives were police, and police were not good since she had become a mutant. And she knew police didn’t like the things she did to survive. Stealing, trespassing, and other various crimes were not approved by police.

Waiting for his response, she studied him for any indication of danger or lying.

The pair continued down the hall as Madlaina continued to wrestle with the meaning of detective. She flipped through the pages, seeming to believe she knew, but not really? As if she thought she might be mistaking herself. Garrett gathered this idea by the fact that she kept looking at an entry and then checking other things and returning to the initial entry. he was going to say something, but she quickly stopped and made her own revelation.

The look in her eyes was one of distrust, similar to the one she had worn a few moments ago in the lobby."You is Politia? Is Police?” Garrett couldn't help but chuckle out loud. " No, no. Not Police at all. I just follow people and keep track of them for ...other people. I am the eyes and ears for others who aren't around. " Others was easier than trying to explain what RUPERT was to Madlaina. Actually explaining what each letter meant could take a week with the language barrier.

Stepping to the glass door at the end of the hall, Garrett passed through first, holding it open for her and flourishing toward the stairs up to the apartments. " Ladies first."

At Garrett’s response she relaxed a bit, no longer afraid she was about to be tossed in a cell or attacked. But she should have known better, after all the Xmen and the Mansion wouldn’t have let him in if he was mutant hunter.

At his explanation, her head tilted and her face furrowed into a look of confusion and curiosity. She had many questions but, for now, they were best summed up with “Why?” It seemed an odd thing to do, unless he was a member of the police. Maddy couldn’t think of a good reason to do something like that. She had watched people but never for a good reason. If she had needed food or money she would watch to see when people left so she could steal what she needed…

With a sigh, feeling like she wasn’t going to understand anything ever, she bit her lower lip and turned her eyes back to the book in her hands. When he motioned her through a door she glanced up only to realize too late that they were headed up stairs. The toe of Madlaina’s shoe caught the edge of the first stair, torn between trying to step normally and trying to correct and lift for the stairs. With a familiar feeling her stomach lurched and she dropped her book in order to catch the railing before she fell.

As soon as her palms hit the surface, she did her best to quickly get up and remove the new noise that was crowding her thoughts, that her first priority. Wiping her hands on her pants as soon as she was upright again, she glanced at him, her face flooding with embarrassment. As uncoordinated as she could be at times, she should have gotten over it, but she still felt silly and awkward when she tripped over nothing or walked into a wall.

With a quick, sheepish look, she scooped up the book from where it had fallen and decided trying to read it while walking might be a bad idea. Madlaina would wait until they were holding still again. Glancing up the stairs, back at the way they had come, and the back door within reach, Maddy beat back her unease and attempted to change the subject. Pointing up above her head rather than up the stairs, she spoke again. “We go… up there?”

It would be just her luck to start heading up the stairs without asking and it would be wrong.

Madlaina seemed to relax, discovering that Garrett was not taking her to an interrogation room or whatever they did in Romania. Garrett had half heartedly wished he had gone over there to investigate, but at the time, he had no finances with which to do so. The time to himself had helped him to sort things out anyway. She still looked confused and her question summed it up. he had dodged one bullet only to stand in the path of another. " Because it pays well, I suppose. Also, I can do things on my own time without having to answer to someone." Again, a simplistic answer which wasn't entirely correct, but until her English improved, it only made things harder to explain.

As she passed through the door, she tripped and fell, fortunately catching herself on the railing. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she looked up at him. Of course, there was no reason for that. He placed his hand on her shoulder in order to reassure her. " Are you okay? You aren't hurt are you? There's no reason to feel bad." He was much more concerned with her well being than anything else." We go....up there?" Garrett nodded as they began to ascend slowly.

He gingerly kept his hand behind her back, touching more shirt than back, just to make sure she didn't fall again. While not wishing to be rude, he couldn't allow her to fall and hurt herself. Once they reached the top of the stairs, he directed her down the hall toward the door of his apartment, which was still open. Once they reached it, he entered first, picking up some newspaper clippings about Faust Pharmaceuticals and placing them in the kitchen. The living room was still fairly minimalistic, with only the small table and his leather sofa to sit at. The TV on its stand dominated the room, while his computer desk took up the other wall. Still nothing on the walls except the neutral paint, but at least his boxes were unpacked. Turning to her at the threshold, he announced, " Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?" His hand flourished like a game show host to either the table or sofa while he waited for her reply.

Garrett’s reasons made sense, money and no boss, but Maddy still felt like she was missing something in the translation. But it did remind her that she needed to start getting some of her own income, a job of some sort, though there wasn’t much she was qualified for. The unexpected touch on her shoulder made her flinch but she didn’t pull away. Covered by her shirt, she wasn’t as worried about the contact causing a memory link.

At his question she nodded. “No, I be okay.” But then as if to double check, she glanced down at her hands. There was a red line from where her palms had hit but it was already fading. It would be sore, but she wasn’t bleeding or going to bruise, so she nodded again that she was fine.

She knew she shouldn’t be embarrassed, but that didn’t change the fact that she was, and the fact that he mentioned that she was embarrassed made the blush brighter. She did her best to shrug it off as they climbed the stairs, and with her attention flickering between the stairs and the hand that she could almost feel/sense at her back.

With Garrett leading her Maddy looked around in curiosity and a bit of nervousness. There were other doors in the hall, presumably leading to other people’s homes… or apartments, she supposed. When he guided her into one of them, his home, she went a bit hesitantly. Though not afraid he was going to arrest her or anything like that it was still a new environment, and she still had her normal fear of new places.

Taking the moments while he moved around, she scoped out the place, locating the visible windows and other openings, the layout, any hazards… But instead of taking a seat she followed him, with the kind of boldness and lack of etiquette that a new puppy had not knowing that it might bother someone. It would be easier to pick something to drink if she could see it rather than fighting the language barrier, and Maddy liked to know her options. Seeing him pick up some papers which looked like newspaper clippings, she peered at them but they were in English so they lost her interest quickly.

Peering around with more of a girl’s eye rather than an animal’s survival instinct, she could tell something was missing but didn’t have the ability to know what it was or what would fix it. It was bare but at least it was inside so she shrugged it off. Madlaina had gone a bit in the opposite direction with her room at the mansion. Her family traditions and superstitions had combined with her recent poverty to make for a habit of collecting everything and decorating with it. A thought struck her which blended with her answer to his question.

“What drink you have? Does you like pisica?”

Opening the refrigerator, Garrett knelt down to see what was inside. Not being home much meant not having much to offer his lovely guest. There was a gallon of spring water, some raspberry/cranberry juice, and a two liter bottle of ginger ale. actually looking at it, rather than grabbing a needed component for a drink, made him realize that he needed a tad bit more domestication. Or a trip to the grocery store. Something. His life was becoming much too active to subsist on vending machines and bites here and there at work.

"What drink you have? Do you like pisica?" So immersed in his lack of beverages, he hadn't heard her follow him into the kitchen. His head popped out from around the fridge door to find her there, waiting for an answer. A line turned slightly upward on his face as he tried to recollect. " I don't think I've had it before. That's the stuff you wanted at the Mansion? the lemon and lime drink? no. I do have water, juice, or ginger ale." Pulling the juice and the ginger ale out, he set them on the counter before her, twisting the caps off and closing the door of the appliance so she could decide. Opening the cabinet above the sink, he pulled a glass down, his eyes flickering over the whiskey bottle standing at attention behind them. Placing a few ice cubes in a glass, he flourished toward the drinks. "Help yourself."

The kitchen was not very large at all. He scooted past her as she looked at the drinks, their bodies very close for the briefest of moments. Garrett tried to shake it out of his mind, but it stuck there. Entering the living room, he closed the door. Not to keep her in, but more to not invite additional guests, since open doors at the Clinic tended to do that. Picking up the scraps of newspaper he had left behind from clipping, he did a little spot cleaning as she remained in the nearby room. It wasn't much, but it was his home and he wanted it to look as nice as possible. Madlaina was all about impressions, so he wanted to make a good one so she might return sometime.

At his response to her question, she hesitated for a moment, confused. Then realizing she had changed subject too quickly, and had used Romanian rather than English, she giggled abruptly. "No, not drink! Pisica is little… little animal, for pet?" Listening to herself she quirked her mouth to the side while she thought about how to explain it. When she figured out that he wasn't going to understand unless she made herself look silly, the translation book forgotten, she grinned.

Putting her hands on top of her head with a few fingers up she moved them a bit, then brought down one to make a pawing motion. "With the ears, and makes meow?" Her imitation of a cat's noise wasn't too bad if she thought so, and hopefully her hands had done a decent impression of pointy ears. Dropping the charades, she investigated the bottles he brought out, waiting to see if he would understand.

Attempting to read the labels yielded not much for her, but she understood one was juice and the other a type of soda. First looking down into the bottles, Maddy stopped herself from sniffing them… or at least sniffing them obviously. It was a habit she had gotten into because she had needed to smell things to know if they were safe to eat, but had found people tended to get offended. Ending up with the ginger ale, because it was something she hadn't had before and it smelled interesting, she took a sip.

It was not what she expected. Blinking, she glanced down at the drink before following Garrett out of the kitchen, hardly even noticing that he had gotten close to her in the small space. It wasn't bad, but it was an unexpected flavor. The sudden sound of the door closing had her head popping up, and had she been capable of it her ears would have been swiveling to locate where it had come from.

Though not concerned about being locked in, Madlaina did make note of where the locks on the door were and how they would be undone, but since he didn't lock the door it ended up being unnecessary. Watching him tidy up, she didn't follow him for that, she tested the drink again and found it to her liking. Hopefully she had been supposed to take the whole thing and not pour it in a glass.

As Spartan as the living space seemed, the tidying was somewhat un-needed. It wasn't cluttered or taking up seating space. Standing, her head tilted as her eyes followed him, Maddy found herself wondering why he was doing it.

"No, not drink! Pisica is little… little animal, for pet? her spontaneous bout of giggling seemed to be infectious, as garrett found it amusing and so delectably adorable he had to join in. When she made her little kitty charade, he watched closely, smiling more. His mouth began to rise without planning, naturally enjoying the display. Her mimicking meow sent little shivers up his spine. He wanted to pet her terribly. " Ah, a cat. A kitty cat. Sure, I am never home enough to take care of one right, though. I would not want it to have no food or water." Garrett was consciously removing contractions and simplifying his speech as he went now, making the conversation as smooth as possible.

The girl before him just oozed cute everywhere she went. Not a fake, annoying kind either. it was her own awkward approach to things that just made Garrett want to wrap her up in a blanket and keep her forever. She was looking at him as if his spot cleaning was silly, or it had some hidden meaning. The papers just fluttered into a wastebasket as he noticed she was just taking swigs from the two liter. he was sure his eyes were roaming over her form, but he didn't care too much. Something about the cocked stance of her hips with the two liter hanging in her fingers just made her seem like a work of art.

No reason to gawk though, so he smiled and pointed vaguely at the black leather sofa which dominated the room. " Please, have a seat." Stepping back to allow her passage without another bout of proximity, Garrett's eyes fell on something else that could not be ignored. An empty glass, full of ice. he could almost hear the cubes beginning to splinter in the room's temperature as his eyes moved naturally to the cabinet above. His feet moved him to the location of another source of desire, the Scotch whiskey being removed and opened, soon poured over the ice.

Returning with his own bottle and the freshened glass, he took a seat next to her on the sofa, placing the whiskey bottle on the floor in front of him. He sat back and took a healthy gulp of the spirits, smacking his lips slightly as the warmth crept down the back of his neck. He placed it on a coaster on the end table and turned his body toward hers. Whiskey and a beautiful Romanian girl. All he had to do next was wait for the Publisher's Clearing House people to knock.

"Cat, yes cat is word." Nodding, Madlaina couldn't help but think he needed a cat, despite his objections. They were valid objections, but cats tended to be okay if left alone. She would have to think about it more. She liked cats.

He was looking at her that way again. As if she had done something odd and unexpected but not outright wrong. Glancing at the bottle, she bit her lip. Maybe she had been supposed to use a glass after all. She had thought the glass Garrett had gotten was for him, and going through someone's cabinets would be rude, so... Culture confusion 1, Madlaina 0.

Nodding at the suggestion of sitting, she wandered over and set the ginger ale by the bottle he had retrieved. Then, with a small smile to show she wasn't ignoring his suggestion, she instead moved to the window, looking out briefly, then to an open door. Assuming it was the bathroom, but realizing that it might not be, she hesitated halfway through. It was only now that her brain started pulling its social weight. Yeah, going through his cupboards, you can't do, but wandering through his home willy nilly is fine? The sarcasm in her mental voice was almost funny.

Of course, it wasn't a bathroom, because these things happened to her. No, it was his bedroom. She caught sight of the bed and a few other furnishings before turning around quickly, but it was much like the rest of the apartment in that it was sparse. Blushing again she moved to the couch to sit, hesitating only a moment before, sliding down onto the cushion.

Flicking her fingers in a nervous gesture, Madlaina glanced at him. Finally she knew what to say, even if it was accented. "Sorry…"

As the amber solution slid down his throat, Garrett watched her float around the room. The whiskey was never good for chivalry, but he had been chivalrous enough for one day. Looking over at the cold bottle of ginger ale, he felt a kinship with its perspiration as a lone drop of it slid down the side of the bottle. his eyes focused from the nearer scene to a farther one as she happened to wander into his bedroom. He licked his lips as he took another swallow. Her face became another shade of crimson, a color Garrett was becoming fonder of by the moment.

As she finally sat on the couch next to him, she looked over at him, the rouge slowly sliding from her cheeks. There was nervous activity in her fingers as she apologized. Garrett smiled, the facial gesture coming easier with each sip. " You can go anywhere you like, Madlaina. You can stay here anytime you like as well, if you need to." Not on the couch, Garrett's mama didn't raise no fool. He would wait for comprehension of language or moments was more practiced before becoming more obvious about his interests. For now, it would be more testing of the waters.

Be it his thirst or his hunger, he found that his next sip was mostly whiskey flavored water. Frowning slightly at the glass, he placed it on the coaster beside him. In the spirit of swigging, he looked down and picked up the three quarters full bottle of delight and took a helping. Raw and potent, just what he had needed. Looking over at her, he smiled and handed the bottle over. " Want some? Not ginger ale, but you may like it anyway." Turning his body to face her, Garrett sat back against the arm of the sofa, his left leg propped up as a buffer, however temporary.

Garrett didn't seem as bothered by Madlaina walking into his room as she had thought he might be. From her limited and rarely accessed past experience, people generally didn't like other people to walk into their rooms uninvited. But Garrett… he just invited her to come over again and go anywhere she wanted, even stay with him if the need arose. Interesting.

"I… Thank you. For doing nice to me."Without warning, a small yawn slipped out of her. All the excitement, adrenaline, and the ups and downs of the past hour or so had caught up with her. Maddy's body was exhausted from the turmoil; now that she was sitting still, it was slamming on the brakes. Pulling her knees up, her feet coming to rest on the leather, she was about to put her head on them, before remembering her shoes. Her crappy, gunky, dirty, old shoes were on his nice couch.

Pushing her legs back down, she sighed, wondering if she was ever going to figure out how to be normal with people. Maddy would even settle for not completely awkward, if she couldn't get normal.

Turning to face him more, rather than facing forward on the couch, she leaned her shoulder then her head against the back of the seat, her legs pulled up in a way that kept them off the leather. Watching him through suddenly sleepy eyes, despite the fact it was early afternoon, her head jerked up at his offer. Taking it automatically, she had to look at it to figure out what it was.

She knew what whiskey was. Alcohol. She was raised in a European country; she had tasted many kinds of alcohol. So with first a small sip, to check if she should try a larger swallow, she then took a mouthful of the liquid. Though it was cool in temperature, it burned her mouth and she swallowed quickly. It seared it's way down to settle in her stomach with a swirling heat.

Madlaina managed to hand the bottle back before she had to gently cough against her elbow or any memories tried to speak up. In a slightly raspier voice, similar to what she sounded like when she just woke up, she thanked him. "Is good. Thank you."

Pausing, wondering if it was safe to ask, Maddy decided to do it anyway, thanks in part to the new liquid courage distracting her by settling in her belly with a curling sensation. "So we… we be friends?" And before she could stop it she had to cover another yawn with the back of her hand, leaning heavily against the couch again.

Madlaina's eyes were drooping. "I… Thank you. For doing nice to me." Garrett smiled, his eyes slipping a bit himself from the booze. " Being. Being nice. You are welcome, Madlaina." Doing nice would be for another time down the road. He watched her shift around on the couch, though it didn't seem like a way to be comfortable. She was worried about her shoes. They looked old and a bit dirty, but he didn't care. Still, it always seemed that talking caused more confusion than solution. Having a moment to look at her while he passed her the bottle, he could really see just how classically beautiful she was.

She had no problem with the whiskey, taking a healthy swig herself before passing it back. She coughed a bit, clearly not accustomed to its taste."Is good. Thank you." He smiled back at her, watching her begin to fade away on the couch. "You bet. Would you like me to get you a pillow?" He didn't have any intentions on taking advantage of her. As sinister as his waters ran, they stopped at non consensual. Unless of course it was an enemy. Then it was okay. He was just so terribly smitten with the Romanian doll. Everything she did was just so new and fresh to him. Garrett wanted to continue seeing her.

A few pours into his own glass and he was quite subdued. Whiskey had an opposite effect on Garrett than most people. When every living nerve in your body was sensitive and aware, things that dulled them were nice. He just kept looking at her in a friendly way. "So we… we be friends?" it would have been nice had Garrett's tongue also been subdued, but it was quite awake, considering the general lack of inhibition provided by the amber solution. " Yes. Of course we are friends. I hope we can be more one day." He knew he could have possibly committed a faux pas, but his whiskey addled brain wasn't particularly concerned. It was more liberating and honest to just say what he felt, rather than play some game.

At his correction, she blinked at him. Then, with a soft comment in Romanian about how silly English was, Madlaina shook her head. "Being? You know so is right, but is dumb. It things you do, so needs be 'doing', 'being' is thing, human being…" Her voice had the cadence and rhythm of a sleepy child, a certainty in the explanation despite knowing that he was probably right, but the tone changed when she said 'human being'... For a brief moment there was venom in her voice, even though it was muffled by sleep. Deciding to try again, still without the word 'being' in her typical stubborn way, she added, "How this? Is nice. You is nice." It wasn't really a question the way she said it, but it placated her until she had a better grasp.

At his offer, she moved her eyes slowly around the room as if taking a moment to see if the object was visible so she would know what it was faster. But then she shook her head when it worked itself out. "No. No sleeping. Go back at mansion soon." But she made no effort to move, despite her words. She just needed to sit here and get some energy back before she rode her bike back to the mansion, which she still had trouble calling 'home'.

Smiling when he agreed that they were friends, she nodded. The meaning behind 'more than friends' went over her head, and she ended up understanding it differently than the words intended. "Okay. In some day, you my lots friend and I your lots friend. You tell me." It was apparent that Maddy had thought he meant they would be good friends, more and lots were similar, and having more friendship between them meant they would have lots of friendship.

Wiggling slightly, her body burrowing into the couch a bit, Madlaina blinked slowly. A small yawn made her close her eyes and it took a few moments for her to open them again. After that the time it took for her to open her eyes after blinking got longer and longer, her eyes foggy, until finally she stopped opening her eyes.

((OOC: forgive the misunderstanding for being awkward, I had some trouble with it.))

((OOC:It's always fine. We're getting there.))

Garrett watched as she corrected his correcting, only adding to her repertoire of surprises. Her explanation of the word's use was quite logical, so he waved it off. It really wasn't all that important, considering her just wanted to help her, which he seemed to be doing. Besides, he is nice, which was the sentiment he was after. Only his perception of the subtle caugth the slight accent on the word human, which he found interesting. A mind falling short of synaptic firing due to alcohol was not the tool to use in an ethics discussion, so he chose to save that topic for later.

She wanted nothing to do with a pillow. It was a valiant attempt on his part, but her decision to go to the Mansion in the middle of the night seemed to be only in theory, as her sleepy eyes and body decided not to move. "Okay. In some day, you my lots friend and I your lots friend. You tell me." He settled back in the sofa, cocking his own head on the sofa to line up eyes with her, grinning. He just nodded. " I would love that." He continued to watch her until she drifted away, her head slding back to the arm of the sofa.

Garrett sat there for some time, watching Madlaina sleep. He waited and watched until her breathing bacame even and her eyes began to move behind her eyelids, signifying REM sleep. Once this state of deeper sleep had been achieved, he eased himself off of the sofa, not wishing to disturb her dreams. Standing above her, he sensed the cool climate of the air conditioning made a blanket needless. It might wake her unexpectedly anyway. Kneeling down to his haunches, he brought his own face close to her own as the hum of the A/C went away, his senses focusing on scent. Without sharply inhaling, he allowed a slow breath to work its way through his nose, her scent trailing along like a melody . His gave a small sigh of staisfaction and rose, leaving the apartment briefly to go downstairs and get her bicycle. Returning shortly, he brought it into the room, locking the front door and turning in himself.