Ilari had been doing pretty well, since the incident with Emerald. All he really had to do was spend some time along to put things into perspective. It didn't take long for him to realize that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. He'd taken painkillers for pete's sake. They made him do weird things.

Anyway, in his uplifted mood, work was going amazingly. He'd made plenty of extra money, and he was rewarding himself by a trip to a sandwich shop. He didn't often go out for food. Whenever he did, it was fast food, which he generally resented for being unhealthy and too expensive to bother with. Still, the sandwiches were pretty good for him, despite the fact that he could make his own for less money. Anyway, they tasted better when someone else made them for him.

So, there he was, in a sandwich shop in a better part of town, waiting his turn to order something absolutely delicious. Ilari slid over, in line, and pulled his hood down, ignoring the attempts at stealthy looks at the two scars, visible on his face and neck. He was used to them, and he really didn't care what other people thought of them. If anything, it sort of helped. They intimidated people and kept them from starting anything. The only thing he ever had to worry about, in regards to them, were that they were pretty defining features, though they weren't so noticeable that they could be spotted from great distances. Old scars were nice like that.

He had no idea that his day was about to get far more interesting than just ordering a treat that he only cared to managed once every month or so. Ignorance was bliss.

It was kind of hard to recognize the guy with street clothes on, and without his face being snuggled into Emmy's hair. If he hadn't spent long minutes staring at him, making sure he would remember, Gawain would have walked right past him now, without looking twice.

But he didn't.

It was not like he was stalking the guy, or anything. He was out on his usual patrol downtown, walking down the streets and across mirrors, and sometimes walking into some of the more crowded places to take a look around. He had long ago developed an abaility to scan faces for familiar features.

That's how he spotted Whatshisname standing in line for a sandwich. And it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. He owed him some kind of a thanks for saving Twyla (although he still didn't know the details), and also... well, Emerald was not so fond of him anymore.

"Hey." he walked up to him with a smirk, poking him on the shoulder in a friendly manner "Ilari, right?"

You'd better be.

A tap on the shoulder was one thing. Ilari was prepared to just turn around and ask the tapper what he needed, expecting to just need to hand the guy something. Before he could move, though, he heard his name, and that caused his whole body to freeze, eyes widening.

Immediately, his mind launched into possible explanations. He didn't owe anybody money, nobody was after him as far as he knew, and he didn't do anything to piss anybody off, though Emerald might've still been ticked at him. And, if she was, it would be her tapping him on the shoulder, not someone else. Oh, no, did he step on somebody's turf again, and now he's getting a warning? No, no, no, this would not do. Could not do! He couldn't afford another set of injuries this close together! Couldn't!

Despite his inner turmoil, Ilari cocked his head and turned a little bit, seeming for all the world like he was 100% cool as a cucumber, on ice, in a freezer, in the antarctic.

"Who wants to know?" he murmured. Despite the confrontational sound of the words, his voice was calm, as if simply commenting on the weather. He had nothing to fear, right? Please?

>>"Who wants to know?"

The mirror, you idiot.

Gawain could tell the guy tensed up when he tapped him on the shoulder. Was he afraid or something? He didn't mean to be menacing, not yet anyway. Really, he was more curious than anything else. Some lone hero who saves damsels in distress and sleeps with a werewolf in his bed? Must be a guy worth knowing.
Ignoring the looks he got from the people behind them in the line, he turned back to Ilari. They were about the same height, and the same build. That didn't mean they would be a match in a fight.

No! Bad Gawain! What's wrong with you, thinkin' about fightin' all of a sudden?! Get a grip, kid...

"Name's Gawain" he held out his hand to the older guy, with a friendly smile "I've heard about you from my sister. Her name's Emerald."

Ilari relaxed considerably at the admission, and he let an easy smile pass over his face at that. This one came naturally, an honest smile. He reached out to shake the outstretched hand.

"I didn't know she had a brother," he commented, and, though he didn't say it, he couldn't help but think "Nice to meet you, all the same." No longer was he expecting any kind of beat-down. That was nice. However, the people standing behind him in line started a fuss, and he had to finish ordering his sandwich and move to pay for it before the conversation could continue.

"How is she doing?" he asked, perhaps a bit too insistently. He hadn't talked to her since the snuggling thing, and he hoped she wasn't taking what he'd done harder than she should have been. It was nothing. Not an incident worth mentioning again, save the apology he knew he owed her. While he was over the snuggling, he had a hard time forgiving himself for letting her leave without a word.

>>"I didn't know she had a brother."

Gawain smirked as he shook his hand. Of course he didn't. Gawain would have been surprised if he knew half of the things about Emmy than there was to know.
Walking with Ilari, Gawain shrugged.

"I'm not really her brother" he admitted "I just kinda got adopted into the family. But she's like a sister to me all the same." he smiled "And she's doin' fine. She's a strong girl."

Very strong. Could-break-you-in-half strong. Just so you know.
You probably don't know.

"Although I think she wouldn't mind if ya showed up to talk to her." he added. It had been a while, but he had a suspicion Emerald still needed closure on the snuggling business.

Ilari nodded to the explanation of the whole "brother" thing. He knew that the girl had sisters, but, hey. There was a lot he didn't know about Emerald. There was a lot she didn't know about him. They'd only hung out a small handful of times. They weren't quite on the level of friendship where they discussed everything.

"I'd talk to her if I knew where to find her," he admitted, moving to set his tray of food on an empty table. He motioned for Gawain to join him. Indeed, every time he and Emerald wound up seeing each other, it was because they ran into each other by chance. She usually wound up around his home, somewhere, usually beating some group of thugs up. He sank down into the booth, thinking.

"I guess you know what happened, then, huh?" his cheeks burned. It was silly to think that the incident would be kept between them. In some way, it was a relief. He could talk to someone about it before finally managing to talk to Emerald. This Gawain was something of a godsend.

>>"I'd talk to her if I knew where to find her. I guess you know what happened, then, huh?"

"Yeah I..." Gawain sat, and paused for a moment, wondering which one would be better, telling him Emerald told about that night, or telling him he'd actually saw them. From the mirror. At night.
Probably the former.
"... Ems told me about it."

Okay, so the Ilari guy didn't seem so bad at first.

"I can tell ya where to find her, she lives in a boarding school for mutants. So do I." he nodded. Well that was new, Emmy couldn't really expect a guy to apologize to her when he didn't even know where to find her. Not everone had the tracking abilities of a wolf. Duh. "It's not far from the city, actually."

Pause.

"So, have ya been in New York for long?"

Well, that was one interesting chunk of information. Boarding school for mutants? That was something to log away for future reference. Vaguely, he wondered if that was what Twyla was referencing, when she said she knew places for him to go. Places that would help... He didn't dwell on it for long.

"I'd love to know where to find her," he admitted, voice quieting a bit. "I have a lot to explain for." Content to leave it at that, Ilari tried to dissuade the subject by taking the first bite of his sandwich - heaven. Heaven on white bread. How he loved this little sandwich shop. It probably made it that much better, that he didn't let himself come here often.

The next question, almost painfully casual, caught his attention. He finished his bite and a little smirk passed over his face. It was a little bitter.

"My whole life." He did love the city, really. "I don't think I've ever been out of the city that far. I don't really remember. But, I was born here, raised here." A laugh. "I'll probably die here. You?"

>>"My whole life. I don't think I've ever been out of the city that far. I don't really remember. But, I was born here, raised here. I'll probably die here. You?"

"Seattle." Gawain smirked, doing his best to to stare at the sandwich. He was still capable of eating anything anytime in large quantities, but still, staring at somebody else's food was just rude. "Came here a couple of months ago. I was not plannin' on stayin' for long, but..."

Have I told you about my girlfriend?

"... change of plans." he finished with a grin. "Ain't that bad a place for a mutant."

He wondered if Ilari was one. Probably. Or a human of the very tolerant kind, who had a thing for girls with wolf tails. It happens. They were in New York City, after all.

"Besides, the school's a pretty neat place, an' it's free. I'll give you the address if you'd like."

And then you can come knocking, see how that works out.

Not a bad place for a mutant? Maybe.

"Thanks, man," he murmured, and moved so see if he had a pen in his pocket, or something. It'd be nice to have the address written down. To his surprise, he found one, and slid that and a napkin over to Gawan. "The best I can do for you." He didn't have a cell phone in which to leave himself little notes. He was, however, considering getting a little pay-as-you-go phone. That was neither here nor there, however.

He settled into a bit of a silence, eating his food as politely as possible. He'd managed to get through a few more bites before he blurted out, though quietly.

"I've been meeting a lot of mutants, lately." He set his sandwich down and wiped his mouth on a clean napkin. This guy seemed safe enough to talk to, about this kind of thing, of course. "I didn't think... many were all that open about it." Emerald was, but she didn't have too much of a choice. Even still, she'd probably crush the throat of anyone who said anything negative about it. Ilari, he'd taught himself how to deal with his power since he got it, to hide it. His mother always enforced that idea. He was raised to keep it a secret. Not to think it was bad, but to hide the gift that might get him in trouble. So, even though he was talking to a man who knew a mutant friend of his, and lived at a school for mutants, and must have been a mutant, he had trouble actually articulating it. He'd never really told anyone about it. The ones who knew found out because they saw him.

Gawain wrote down the address of the Mansion. he had a growing suspicion that Ilari was a mutant, and if he wasn't, at least he was mutant-friendly, and Ems liked her, or would snap his neck upon sight, either way, it was a safe thing to do.

"There ya go" he said, sliding the napkin back to him.

>>"I've been meeting a lot of mutants, lately. I didn't think... many were all that open about it."

"Yeah, I think it kinda comes with the big city, it's full of weirdoes anyway." he grinned "People are not all that surprised if someone's green, or has wings, or a tail. Until it means trouble, that is. We still get beaten up from time to time just for bein' mutants. Depends on the person, I guess." he shrugged.

Heh. Weirdos. Understatement of the century.

"I've always wanted to visit somewhere else," he speaks up. "If only to see a world without those weirdos. It'll be like a fairy tale or something." He gave another laugh and took the napkin with the address on it, looking it over.

Beating mutants up, huh?

"I never understood that," he joked. "Picking a fight with a mutant. Why would you want to tangle with someone who might be able to shoot fire from his hands or turn into a giant monster or something?" He'd witnessed a few interesting mutant-versus-human brawls. Hell, he'd taken place in plenty, though is power wasn't inherently threatening. It did provide a good edge in a fight, though.

If he had to venture a guess, he'd guess it just accentuated the stupidity of anti-mutant sentiments. "Oh, hey, I'm gonna go beat up this guy who has spikes growing out of his body, what could possibly go wrong?" He chuckled at his own thought.

>>"I never understood that. Picking a fight with a mutant. Why would you want to tangle with someone who might be able to shoot fire from his hands or turn into a giant monster or something?"

Gawain chuckled, the Ilari kid had a point there. Not like any of his own abilities were active, or combat-friendly... but with the right training, and the right environment that contained enough reflecting surfaces, it was an advantage.

"I don' think bullies usually think that far ahead" he admitted with a grin "An' most muties don' shoot nothin' from theit hands. Many mutations are awesome in other ways."

Oh yay hooray I'm starin' to sound like Aura.

"That reminds me, I kinda owe you a thanks for savin' Twyla too."

Let's see what ya've got to say about that.

Ilari was a mutant who shot things from his hands. Granted, those "things" were beams of light, so that wasn't a whole lot. He was very amused by this conversation. It was fun to cut loose and chat with another guy, like this.

And then Twyla's name came up. Right when he was taking a drink from his coke. He choked, then took a moment to smack himself on the chest and regain his breath.

"You know Twyla?" He said it as if he knew the girl well. He'd only met her once, but he still couldn't help but feel overprotective for her. And then he realized, of course, it made sense that Gawain knew Twyla. Emerald knew Twyla. Gawain knew Emerald. The school would have to be pretty big in order for Twyla to not also know Gawain. "I mean. Um." He shook his head to clear the hesitance.

"You don't have to thank me for that, man," he admitted, strangely humble. "I'm sure you woulda done the same. I'm just glad I was there." His ribs weren't. Well, they'd been neutral on the subject, since they healed, but right after the fact, oh, boy, were they screaming in protest.