For once, Noel was glad for the warmer summer evenings. She stood on the bank of the lake in central park, legs shaking with pent up energy, trying to run through the events that got her here.

She knew the current events.

Noel had been invited to an after hours get together with some coworkers. That should have been her tip off right there. But nooo she had wanted to make friends and more importantly, make things right with the sister of a fallen comrade.

She was never going to trust another woman in her entire life.

Girl's night out had taken them to Central Park. Noel wasn't a drinker, but that didn't stop her acquaintances from emptying bottle after bottle. Secretary girl had brought a stack of mail to open and make fun of. The government didn't have too many fans, no one ever sent thank you cards. Usually just ridiculous theories and wild finger pointing.

It wasn't turning out to be a horrible evening even if the girls were more acidulous than she would have preferred. At least, it wasn't horrible until they started letting her open envelopes. The first one she opened dumped an unknown white powder all over her lap.

They all freaked. The girls pulled away and shouted procedure at her. There was no emergency chemical shower here, but there was a lake. She took everything off, even her shoes. Her phone was in her pocket. She even stripped off the ankle pouch by its velcro straps.

What else could she do? It was anthrax or cyanide or worse. She jumped.

By the time the memorymancer surfaced through the lily pad build up all she saw were tail lights and a slip of paper on the bank.

Run away. You're good at that.

Central park was a veritable viridian jewel nestled amongst the ashen toned pillars which comprised most of the city. It made for a pleasant change of pace from the typical hustle and bustle of the sprawling metropolis and even the air seemed marginally cleaner once one wandered far enough from the roads. Because of this it was a rather popular location for most of the city's denizens during the day and was a frequent meeting for many other nearby establishments.

When night fell however the park's activity declined sharply, there was always something ominous in the human mind about secluded locations at night, where gently rustling trees could so easily mask the approach of a threat and lack of luminescence made the likelihood of disorientation unpleasantly high and thus reduced the chance of a successful escape.

For those capable of defending themselves or able to navigate without sight or sound the parks nocturnal environment presented a special opportunity which was not to be missed. Meetings could take place away from prying eyes, victims could be stalked without fear of reprisal and simple transactions could be concluded at arm's length, provided of course that all parties involved knew what they were doing.

Fortuitously both Zephyr and his employer knew what they were doing, and though the was not overjoyed with the assigned hour he was willing to put up with it in order to get paid. Thus the elemental found himself pausing amongst the cimmerian foliage of the trees surrounding the lake located in the centre of the park at a little past midnight. According to the message the mercenary had received his payment would be taped to the underside of a park bench facing the lake, not the most original location admittedly but few people checked the underside of their seats.

The reason for the hessians hesitation was a lone, shivering figure standing on the bank of reservoir, the little which fell from the lamps surrounding the pathway coated the individual in varying shades of shadow yet it highlighted to mark the figure as female, female and naked.

Though Zephyr did not make a habit of indulging in nocturnal constitutionals within the park he was willing to presume that this was not frequent occurrence at the lake. There weren't any spectators for a start and the water couldn't have been that agreeable at this time of night, still the situation was certainly interesting.

After spending a handful of minutes to procure the clichéd envelope containing his payment as quietly as possible the hazel haired hessian slowly altered his course to take him pass the damp, disrobed woman and as he neared he began to pick out additional details, she was a brunette for a start and possessed a rather... fascinating, tattoo which began at her shoulder blades and descended southwards to the base of her spine in a manner which caused the eye to naturally continue down in a somewhat distracting manner.

"I wouldn't recommend standing there too long, you'll attract the wrong type of attention."

Noel reached up and pulled some lake weed from her hair. Mere minutes ago they had all been laughing. How careful they had all been to not tell a lie. She could see it now. Stupid hindsight.

Speaking of hindsight...

> "I wouldn't recommend standing there too long, you'll attract the wrong type of attention."

She was so wrapped up in the world that had crashed down around her, she'd forgotten about the rest of it. It may have seemed a bit senseless to suddenly attempt to cover herself. Even more senseless to touch cold lake plant growth to her skin and make herself jump from the temperature difference. She threw the mess of plant at the intruder and grabbed up the paper before dashing for a clump of trees.

"This is my pity party. No one invited you." She shouted around the tree in a decidedly grumpy tone. The paper made for a little bit better coverage up top, but it was not nearly enough. How could they? It had taken so much planning and spite and malice.

She worried her lip until it bled. Getting home was going to be interesting. The memorymancer swallowed. She was a psychic that could erase memories. What did she have to be afraid of here? "Would you hail me a cab?"

The reaction Zephyr received for his somewhat informal greeting was not entirely expected; the mild jump and muffled exclamation of surprise were both rather typical under the circumstances, as was the rather belated attempt at modesty, even the abrupt dash for the aphotic shadows of the tree line and acerbic verbal response was within reasonable bounds of conjecture. What caught the elemental off guard however was the improvised use of a damp lily pad as a make shift Frisbee.

Zephyr had never truly held any fascination with physics and so his studies of the subject had not progressed beyond a high school level, however the azure eyed mercenary was reasonably certain that a moist lily pad did not possess the necessary material qualities or dimensions to make it in any way an accurate projectile. However the denuded brunette somehow managed to compensate for this through an unlikely combination of luck and skill and so the damp piece of vegetation hit the hessian squarely on the shoulder.

And he'd just gotten his jacket cleaned too...

Despite this though the elemental found that his curiosity managed to outweigh the mild amount of annoyance arising from the woman's imprudent and rather ineffective throw. It was only water after all and ideally wouldn't leave any kind of stain, he was still willing to humour her in order to satisfy his curiosity. The girl's words clearly indicated that her circumstances were due to something more than a sudden inclination for midnight skinny dipping and the hessian enjoyed a certain amount of schadenfreude just as much, or possibly more than, the next person.

Still though, that didn't mean he needed to make things easy for her, and so when the brunettes call for assistance came a mere moment after she reached the shelter of the nebulous trees the hessian leaned against a conveniently located lamp pole and tossed aside the moist vegetation with a certain amount of disdain before replying.

"You have an interesting way of asking for help." The statement was punctuated by the sound of the still damp lily pad falling to the tenebrous grass.

> "You have an interesting way of asking for help."

Plop.

Oh yeah. Of course the person who stumbles upon her in the hour of her need and in her most vulnerable state had to poke fun at her. "I'm not asking for your first born, I'm asking you to place a call. What's that cost these days? 50 cents at a pay phone?" She didn't have 50 cents on her at the moment, but she was sure she had that much at home.

She checked her tattoo as if somehow they might have managed to take that from her too. No. It was still there. She might also call her own phone just to be sure someone had it. That thing was her life's blood. Without it she was hosed as far as recognizing faces and knowing names. It was her own personal alarm clock/pokédex/flash card system/filing cabinet. There were embarrassing notes in there. If they looked through her ankle pouch then they knew how meticulous she had to be to even know what her favorite restaurant was.

Noel pulled at her wet hair. This was cruel. Really cruel.

"I'm not asking for your first born, I'm asking you to place a call. What's that cost these days? 50 cents at a pay phone?"[/color]

It was interesting how far sound could carry at night, without the heat from the sun to stimulate the surrounding air and generate everything from gusts to gales there was very little to impede voices or other nocturnal noises such as those made the by the variety of insects and other wildlife which inhabited the park at night. if one knew what to listen for they could even pick up far subtler sounds, a good example would be that of a lily pad hitting the grass.

Whether or not the disrobed brunette managed to discern such a such was up for some debate, however she had clearly not been amused with the elementals verbal reply which was something of a shame the hessian thought, after all in situations such as this it often helped to be able laugh at one's self, it relieved a measure of tension. And in any case if you couldn't laugh at your own misfortune someone else surely would.

Speaking of misfortune it was becoming increasingly apparent to the hazel haired mercenary that that the exposed girl was the victim of a rather unfortunate, but no less amusing prank. Presumably all of her attire and other belongings had been appropriated by the unknown malefactors leaving the girl utterly abandoned and forcing her to rely on the kindness of strangers... in central park, at night. Clearly the brunette was not well liked.

Still, the request for a cab struck the hessian as odd, sure the girl would have preferred to contact a friend for assistance in a such a vulnerable state rather than trusting herself to a total stranger? Unless perhaps it had been said friends which left her completely destitute? It was certainly a thought, and one which bore further investigation.

"Wouldn't you rather call a friend? This is the sort of situation they're meant to assist with after all."

If she had a friend that she trusted enough with her naked self, no doubt she would not be in this naked predicament. "Yeah. Okay. I get it, you don't want to help. Thanks a lot anyway, kid." The thank you tasted a little sour coming out, but acidic politeness usually did.

It was get angry or get sad and this was no time to heap vulnerability on top of vulnerability.

Noel crammed the paper under one arm (she didn't have a pocket to shove it in) and turned to the clump of tree between herself and the passer by that happened to find her situation funny. (Were the situations reversed she decided that she would be doing a lot less... not helping.) She pulled at one of the lower branches hoping it would come down and bring all its big, fat shade leaves with it.

She should have known she would be better off on her own from the start.

"Yeah. Okay. I get it, you don't want to help. Thanks a lot anyway, kid."[/color]

Zephyr frowned slightly at the girls final word as she departed into the forest, admittedly it was dark and he hadn't caught a glimpse of her face but surely the woman wasn't much older than himself? Still there was little time to ponder upon such things for his diversion from boredom was stalking away, possibly without any intent of returning. That simply wouldn't do, she'd peaked his interest by this point and so the elemental was loathe to allow her to just walk away, however if he conceded to her wishes and permitted her to arrange for a cab than that would only speed her departure all the more.

A middle ground was needed, an option which would generated a reasonable excuse for him to accompany the woman as she went on her way , hopefully the brunette would become somewhat more amenable to his queries if she was unable to leave him behind. Unfortunately though the park was only across the road from his residence and so the hessian had neglected to bring his motorcycle, though whether the exposed girl would have agreed to ride the vehicle with him was somewhat debatable. Still if he couldn't use mundane means of transport that only left...

The elemental sighed and deftly withdrew his container of pills, he hadn't flown with a passenger for quite some time.

There are a number of limitations accompanying spatial awareness, perhaps the most prominent is the inability to distinguish anything other than vague outlines without additional, migraine inducing concentration. There is no concept of colour or texture to clarify the multitude of displacements in the air, no means by which to discern whether something was inanimate or simply acting motionless. And of course things which were hidden away from air, either under ground or water were completely beyond such perceptions.

Despite this though Zephyr found his sixth sense rather well suited to tracking the naked brunette through the caliginous forest, even if he could hear her quite overt movements perfectly well, after all what was the purpose of having such a perception if you never made use of it?

As it turned out the woman had not gone far, only beyond the weak light cast by lamps scattered throughout the park, thus it took less than a minute for the hessian to catch up to the girl, and nothing more than a subtle shift of the surrounding air to craft a vacuum and silence his movements before adopting a position against a tree behind the brunette as she struggled with the limb of a rather stubborn willow, presumably in an effort to procure some form of covering.

After watching the girl struggle for a few moments Zephyr dispersed his shell of silence and spoke, "You shouldn't be so quick to make assumptions, I never said I wouldn't help.. speaking of which, would you like a hand with that?"

Trees with healthy branches didn't like to give up their branches. Imagine that. She was busy focusing an worrying at a partially broken one when a voice came out of the darkness.

>"You shouldn't be so quick to make assumptions, I never said I wouldn't help."

"Holy mother of—!" Noel just about up and had a heart attack. She had closed that conversation and moved on mentally even if their proximity had not been that great. That coupled with the fact that she had not heard him coming... at all. Not even a crunch of a leaf.

>"...Would you like a hand with that?"

The memorymancer folded her paper back across herself and scooted so that she stood with the tree between them.

"Oh. Sure you'll help with the tree, but not the ride." He was a peeping Tom for sure just back for another free look. Well, Noel was not that kind of girl. "You can just march yourself back on home because I am doing just fine on my own. Thank you." How many times could she sarcastically say thank you before he got the message?

A vague expression of amusement danced across the elementals features as the brunette's open display of shock. He'd never been one to set much store by stealth in the past, preferring instead to simply blend into the surroundings and thereby cause other's to subconsciously overlook him. Such an approach generally only a mild amount of dissembling, confidence and luck which, all things considered, was rather less work than constantly endeavoring to be utterly undetectable.

Still, in an atramentarious environment such as this where sight was unreliable and hearing became the primary method for perceiving ones surroundings, well, little ratiocination was required to discern the potential gains entailed in being able to move silently. Were he a different type of man the prospect of turning his advantage to ill use in this particular scenario might have been more than just a passing thought, as it was though the hessian simply put the idea out of his mind, albeit it with a slight measure of reluctance.

Turning back to the matter at hand though, it seemed as though the exposed brunette was still rather bashful even in these poorly lit conditions. For a moment the elemental was tempted to chuckle; he could barely see anything as it was and though he could navigate via his spatial perception it was not the same as actual sight well, not unless he invested a good deal of effort into it at any rate and the resulting echoes of pain which occurred even through his medication were rarely worth it.

Choosing instead to display his amusement through a wry shake of his head which the woman would likely miss completely Zephyr sighed, commenting briefly, "I was actually referring to your desire for clothing." before once more wrapping himself in silence and venturing towards her new sheltered position. Given her circumstances and current frame of mind she'd most likely labeled him as an individual of rather ill repute, an understandable assumption admittedly and it was even amusing to a certain degree, however it was now becoming apparent that he would not be able to barter his assistance for answers to a number of curious questions. The girl was simply too distrustful for that, a token of good faith was needed.

Stepping soundlessly around the tree Zephyr idly shrugged off his jacket before deftly placing atop the brunettes shoulders and taking a swift step back in case her shock was somewhat more... aggressive than before. He had no desire to acquire any bruises if he could avoid them, even if he was currently on high level pain killers.

"Are you generally so doubtful of others?"

>"I was actually referring to your desire for clothing."

"And I'm supposed to read your mind? What am I supposed to be some kind of-?" Psychic? Oh wait. She was. She just wasn't the mind-reading type. "It's not an abnormal wish to be clothed in front of strangers! Why is that so hard to understand?"

It was probably for the best that the boy had long since put himself in a soundless bubble.

Of course, that meant that he couldn't hear her either...

"Hello?" No way that scared him off. She didn't even get that mean.

And then... he tried to grab her shoulders and back to restrain her. Noel shoved her elbow back as hard as she could into his... jacket. It slipped off her shoulders and she had to bobble to catch it and clutch it to her front.

Dang. So... he was trying to help in his own way and on his own terms. There was no way she was going to end up at his mercy not naked now, not naked ever.

Noel put the coat on properly and buttoned it as modestly as it would button. It was shorter than she would have liked, but... she pat down the pockets and seams just in case it held surprises.

>"Are you generally so doubtful of others?"

The simple answer? "Yes."

The brunettes response was short, to the point, and essentially what Zephyr had expected, yet she had not shrugged off peace offering; though admittedly she had come close to lodging her elbow in his gut but she had still accepted the jacket even if said acceptance was more likely out of modesty than any sense of trust. Still it was progress, of a sort at least, and the girls tone had been somewhat softer than before which was certainly a positive sign.

Allowing the woman a moment to fasten the buttons of the jacket Zephyr noted her rather insistent attempts to drag the garment down further over her form, and while the girl was shorter than he was she was not that small and thus her efforts were largely futile. When at last she seemed to give up though the hessian cautiously ventured, "I don't know if it helps but in this light it's not really possible to see anything."

This was in fact true, as far as normal sight was concerned the most which could be discerned from the tenebrous environment of the trees was little more than vague outlines rather similar to the elementals own spatial sense. The likelihood of such images evoking any licentious thoughts were next to nonexistent. Still, given the situation, the hessian doubted his words would be of much comfort, the underlying issue was not the simple fact that she was exposed but rather the fact it had occurred in such a public place.

The girl would likely continue to feel a sense of vulnerability until she was able to return to a more private location. With that thought in mind therefore the elemental offered the woman his arm. "I can get you home as well if you want, I can promise it will be somewhat faster than a cab." As he finished speaking an abrupt but controlled updraft raised him a foot above the earth to illustrate his intended means of travel.

> "I don't know if it helps but in this light it's not really possible to see anything."

"I don't intend to spend the rest of my days in this lighting." It was a classic conundrum. The lower she pulled the bottom hem, the lower the v of the neck stretched. There was no winning, but she did feel a little better having at least something on her.

"Let me get your..." She reached into the pocket for her phone. There was something in there. A bunch of papers in an envelope but it wasn't hers. (It felt like money, but... that would have been a lot of money to loan to a stranger for clothing purposes. So it must have been paper.) She would check it out later in the light when (her coat wouldn't cover her so well and) her eyes worked properly.

Oh. Right. Wearing clothes didn't mean they were her clothes with her things in them. Noel's phone was not in this boy's pocket. "Tell me your name, at least? I'll return the jacket." After she had gotten home and clothed, sure. Why wouldn't she return it? And she could probably manage to remember a name long enough to write it down.

Her theory was dashed the moment he took flight. It was just... how had he been so silent before? Popping up when she didn't expect him in places that she did not expect him. She would have to think on it... or ask. "I guess that means you're not a teleporter then."

> "I can get you home as well if you want, I can promise it will be somewhat faster than a cab."

And now he wanted to go above and beyond? He even offered his arm to her like a gentleman or something. Her automatic response was negative. No way, José. He could drop her. He would have to steer. He would know where she lived in the end.

But she opened her mouth to say no and then promptly shut it. She was alone in Central Park at night. She would still be naked if not for the limited kindness already shown to her by the boy.

Besides... she could always make him forget where she lived, what he'd seen and why he was even in her apartment building to begin with.

She was just stalling. What was the harm in having him take her home? She didn't have to let him in and she could pass the coat back right then and there before a good, clean wipe.

"Yeah. Fine. Let's go." But... if he dropped her... She would kill him. Noel took the boy's arm and held on for dear life. The updraft was going to have to take some getting used to.

A degree of decorum seemed to have returned to the brunette once she had slipped into his jacket, and though it was apparent that she felt the garment was not long enough her current predicament her demeanor did become markedly less hostile. It was a most welcome change really as her previous behavior had been somewhat trying to say the least, granted it had also been somewhat amusing but that was beside the point.

Then she had asked for his name, a relatively simple request one might think but for one in the elementals occupation names could be rather dangerous things, especially in New York, there were influential people in the city, many of whom preferred to remain discreet, mention their name to the wrong ears and you could likely find yourself on a previously unforeseen aquatic adventure with a new pair of lead lined shoes which you would soon find were unusually popular.

The hessian avoided the majority of this hassle by simply using a variety of monikers for both himself and his employers, however while ‘Zephyr’ was an excellent alias to use for less than legal activities it was obviously a false name and thus did not inspire much in the way of trust from strangers, most especially naked young woman who already doubted you to a certain degree. No something different was called for here; a somewhat more natural sobriquet…

A smile tugged at the corners of the mercenary’s lips.

“Call me Dio, and you would be…? As for the jacket don’t worry about returning it just yet; I do not intend to simply abandon you here, I’m not that irresponsible.”

That appeared to give the girl food for thought but as he illustrated his point by departing from the earth the brunette seemed to regain her voice and, for some odd reason, found it necessary to question the nature of his ability’s causing the elemental to grace her with a puzzled expression for a moment before understanding dawned and the grin on is features became somewhat more pronounced. It wasn’t a bad theory on her part to be honest.

“Not quite no, besides I rather enjoy this method of travel.”

The girl did not seem to share the hessians enthusiasm for flight and her hesitation was clear, eventually though she gave her consent and accepted the elementals arm and in response the winds which had kept the mercenary poised above the grass swiftly moved to encompass the brunettes meagerly covered form. As is typical of most who are not accustomed to flying in such a manner the girl failed to stay still, a rather necessary component for achieving balance among other things.

Zephyr however had been expecting this and after only a moment had used his grip on the brunettes arm to pull her towards him before deftly twirling her so that her back rested against his front. His free hand then encircled her waist to hold her in place as he spoke to her in a tone of mild amusement, “Do try to stay still, it’s easier that way.” The hessian then leaned back into the updraft and soon the pair was gaining height at a marked but steady pace before until they were hovering well above most of the city.

“Now then, if you would care to direct me it would be much appreciated, otherwise we may be here for some time.”

> “Call me Dio, and you would be…?"

"Noel." Dio tasted like a nickname. Not unnatural, but not as intrinsically true as a birth name. Lots of people did it. She could hardly call him out on it. And while he certainly thought himself responsible, as the two lifted off from the ground Noel had her doubts.

He repositioned her body. She didn't approve, but she had agreed to this so she could hardly complain. She could continue to hold on for dear life, though.

If she weren't so busy holding on to hands of her traveling companion she would have tried to keep her jacket down better. She just had to look down at that flapping coat bottom didn't she? Her heart sank down to her bare toes and she swallowed. Had Dio not warned her about wiggling she would have. This was a long way up and Noel was now realizing that she had just trusted her life to a cheeky guy who lurked in the park after hours and called himself Dio. She groaned.

"I'm not on Manhattan Island. Go down toward Brooklyn."

They were a whole island away. It would have been an expensive taxi ride or an embarrassing subway trip... or a dangerous as the crow flies adventure that Noel was going to experience with her eyes closed.

"Let me know when we're over Brooklyn." She gripped his hands tighter, closed her eyes and thought a prayer.