Date? Before Noel pulled another landlocked fish face she stopped to think this over. There was no point in denying it. She was not making the same mistake that Susan had, living in denial like that.

"Usually dates start with going out, eating dinner and then getting naked. We've got it all backwards." Therefore... it wasn't a date? Well. She shrugged at that thought. The order didn't really seem to matter in the end, did it? They had all the components in the mix. The man was even offering to pay... after some oblique prompting.

"Lettuce wraps for me." The brunette finally took her feet off the island counter and reached into her pocket for her... absent phone. Piece of crap! She was going to have to murder someone if her phone was damaged.... or worse, if they looted and changed the information in there. The memorymancer was way too dependent on the thing.

"You uh—want to call it in? My phone is gone." She dumped the last of her cooling coffee into the sink and poured herself a fresh cup. Sugar and cream did not make her missing lifeline better. But it certainly didn't hurt.

The elemental had been fully expecting, and even looking forward to, a blunt denial from his evasive host, he was somewhat surprised therefore when the woman instead made herself pause and, of all things, introduced logic into her statement. It was simply staggering, and so for a moment the hessian remained utterly nonplussed, when sensation passed as it soon did though it was replaced with an honest amusement which caused a low chuckle to escape the Kabal members throat.

"Duly noted, however I don't imagine many would care that our performance was somewhat avant-garde."

Noel had simply shrugged in response before shifting her feet back to the floor and making her selection from the menu's on hand, prompting the hessian to scan over the menu she'd just used; it would be somewhat more practical if they ordered from the same location after all. Just as he was glancing through the available options though a distinct sound of irritation escaped his companion and thus grabbed his attention, causing another amused expression to grace the hessians countenance as he watched Noel scowl and pat down her empty pockets.

"You uh—want to call it in? My phone is gone."[/color]

The remark was followed by a somewhat departure from the table as the woman went procure a fresh cup of coffee and thus once more leaving the mercenary with little say in the matter. If the situation weren't quite so amusing he might have resented being put upon, as it was though he merely laughed again and withdrew his phone to place the order, having finally decided to go with a simple chicken wrap. As he waited for someone to answer his call he briefly questioned Noel. "Do you want a drink this or are you fine without?"

After the order was placed there was little left to do but wait, and while Zephyr was generally rather appreciative of silence he was still rather curious about his hosts little episode earlier tonight and so he decided to once again broach the subject. "Will you be able to retrieve your things tomorrow?"

"You kidding? This is New York. If they think it's "edgy" and they can attach fancy words like "advant gard" to it, they will. And someone will pay top dollar for it." Not that they'd be selling the movie rights for tonight's performance or anything.

Noel raised her light brown coffee in response to Dio's question. As she turned around her gun bumped against the counter. The weight of it tugged at her pants. She'd nearly forgotten about the hunk of metal, but it really was best to keep it with her since there was a stranger in the house. The inconvenience would be worth it if she needed to inconvenience Dio (or any other stranger for that matter) out of her apartment.

Once the orders were placed and everything was squared away in food date land Dio had questions for her.

> "Will you be able to retrieve your things tomorrow?"

"Tch. I'd better." Was about as good as he'd get on the subject.

"No curfew for you?" That would at least tell her if he was dodging or if he was staying off campus. Considering he was a mutant with a quick way to commute, it wouldn't surprise her if he was off campus.

As the conversation came to a lull the resonance of metal on counter top echoed easily through the apartment, drawing overt attention to the firearm Noel felt was required and which Zephyr tactfully ignored. He'd already spotted the weapon once before when the woman had turned to make herself a second cup of coffee and discovered that he found the weapons presence more intriguing than threatening simply because of the myriad of things it suggested about his host.

In short it unearthed a collection of contradictions; one the primary purposes of a weapon after all is to defend oneself from another, yet if one felt threatened by a stranger they typically didn't permit said strangers presence inside their home, offer them dinner and turn the entire episode into a somewhat surreal dating experience. Granted there were some extenuating circumstances but everything the hessian could about Noel thus far suggested that this was far from her normal behaviour.

In short it was interesting, not quite as interesting as how he'd found the girl of course, but interesting none the less. Even her blatantly evasive answers had begun to intrigue him and without realizing the hessian found himself turning their discourse into a game.

"You lost something important then?" He inquired with an air of idleness after his hostess responded with yet another one liner. Absently he wondered if he should have ordered refreshments along with meal, it would have made it easier to get a halfway decent answer out of the woman, a handful of seconds later though the hessian decided he enjoyed the challenge and put the thought out of his mind.

A short time later the conversation took a somewhat surprising turn when Noel abruptly found it necessary to ask about a curfew leaving Zephyr somewhat nonplussed for a few moments as he tried to decipher the logic behind the question. Surely he didn't look that young? When no rational answer appeared to be forth coming the elemental to simply express his bewilderment. "Why would I have a curfew?"

> "You lost something important then?"

"Everyday." That was the story of her life. And of course the word game wonder started playing word dodge. Hiding something? Probably not what she was poking at, but he seemed a private person much as Noel was. Had someone in the sky set up their naked blind date?

> "Why would I have a curfew?"

"Why would you answer a question with a question?" She shook her head and took a swig of coffee. The caffeine was setting in now and that was a relief. After pounding the pavement all day going out and then getting ditched, she was physically exhausted. And still a bit lake-y, to be honest. She should have been kicking Dio to the curb... and she still fully intended to. After their mini-date.

"Want me to dig the couch out or are you cool with standing awkwardly?" She could find him a chair somewhere, but really... it might not be worth it. She was just fine leaning on the kitchen counter. They could even sit on the middle island if need be. It was one of the cleanest places in the apartment.

Palaver was either a subject in which Noel derived great pleasure or disdain, her repartee of answers appeared to be getting shorter with each question she was given, yet her own queries were becoming decidedly lengthier. It was a minor a point, but still slightly amusing nonetheless and vaguely Zephyr wondered how long she'd manage to continue with single words answers before disrupting her current pattern.

"Why would you answer a question with a question?"[/color]

Finishing the remaining dregs of his coffee Zephyr permitted a slight smile to tug at the corners of his lips; not only at the irony of her statement but also the minor, and likely unintentional, ingenuity of the brunettes response, she'd manage to go a step further in her word play by moving from shorter answers to questioning responses. As the age old aphorism states however 'turnabout is fair play', though admittedly likely only in the eyes of the turner.

"You tell me." He stated with a small smile as he idly cradled his empty coffee cup in one hand. The liquid energy was refreshing but he was hesitant to accept another round, unlike his host the hessian had no desire to be up the entire night. There were things he intended to do the following day which couldn't be accomplished if slept past noon.

Eventually the conversation shifted as such things do and Noel raised the issue of where precisely they should eat their meal when it arrived. Zephyr took a single glance at the offered couch and immediately dismissed it when he saw the bundle of magazines and other notes currently occupying the piece of furniture. He could make do with standing through a meal, often times it was hard to live in New York if you couldn't. He gave a soft chuckle as he turned his gaze back to his host and shook his head slightly.

"Are you kidding? This is New York. Standing awkwardly is practically a public past time, if only to see what happens next."

She made one fatal mistake. She laughed.

How could she help it? He verbally countered her twice each time with a bit of wit mixed in with the flavor of her own responses. She... liked it. He wasn't rude and had been very helpful despite his dubious stacks of cash... Stacks of cash that he was willing to spend a bit on her.

She shook her head to herself. No matter the circumstances, she was not going to be able to keep him around. There was no point in getting attached. "There are stools that pull up to this thing... somewhere." She set down her mug to go look, but the doorbell choose that moment to ring. It hadn't been all that long, but then the restaurant wasn't all that far away if she remembered correctly. Which would have been a miracle. The brunette shrugged to her guest. I got it."

Noel turned instead to the intercom and pushed the reply. "Who is it?" Delivery. Delivery boy who? She eventually let him up. And eventually he knocked on the door. Noel slid the peephole cover aside and after scrupulous inspection undid the locks and chains that ranged around the perimeter of her doorframe. She dodged back to the counter to grab the bills Dio had left there and after the delivery boy made change, she gave him as close to a 20 percent tip as the bills allowed.

A couple halfhearted thank you's from both sides of the transaction and they had their food. The sack and change she dumped on the counter near Dio while she did up the locks again, the last one being the bolt that went up into the top of the door frame. She nodded at her (sort-of) security. It was the best she could humanly do.

It was time to take up the banter again. "What kind of a name is Dio?" She wasn't accusatory, she actually just sounded curious. It just wasn't the name she would have picked out for this person in her home.

Noel's laughter was short and somewhat striking, it was not the clichéd type often associated with bubbling brooks or the cheerful resonance of a wine glance but it was a pleasant sound nonetheless. It also marked the first time girl had truly let down her guard since he had first met her at the park and so the elemental allowed a slight smirk to creep across his features in light of the mild victory and simply savored the moment.

As something of an added bonus, once the brunettes laughter had passed it appeared to have taken a measure of her acerbic nature with it, or at least made her overall tone somewhat brighter. In any case it was a positive measure of progress which the hessian saw no reason to discourage, and so when their order arrived the elemental spent a handful of idle moments arranging the kitchen for the midnight meal whilst Noel dealt with the delivery boy; a process which took rather longer than most would think given the considerable security measures on her door.

In short order however the food was brought back to kitchen along with what little change remained, and though the mercenary frowned briefly at the apparent expense of their dinner he made no comment on it. Instead turning his attention to the packaged food and deftly setting it out on the small island and de facto table. He noticed however that his host appeared to caught up in some train of thought and thus Zephyr slowed his actions to some degree, seeing no need to rush things if the girl would rather focus on other things.

Sure enough Noel initiated their repartee once again, putting to the hessian a seemingly innocuous query regarding his moniker, unlike before however Noel's tone lacked its denunciatory cadence, in its place was little more than an air of honest interest and so Zephyr caught the instinctive reply which had been on the tip of his tongue and instead appeared to give the question some thought as he removed the last of the complimentary condiments from the packaging before finally speaking.

"A short one I suppose."

Clearly this was not the answer the girl had been looking for and so after a moment to satisfy his own amusement at the brunettes expression of dissatisfaction he shrugged his shoulders and offered a short smile before waving her towards her stool. "I'd be happy to give you a more suitable answer Noel, however I'd like you to extend me the same courtesy if I do, such as how you came to be at the park as you were or why you choose to live in this neighborhood?"

The memorymancer glared at him ready to give his arm a good hardy punch for the evasion. She had honestly wanted to know. It was probably the honesty in her that prompted a change in tactic, but Noel liked to think that Dio sensed the impending beat down and decided to divert her anger into something far more productive: food and an offer to trade.

Noel pulled out her stool, brushed a dirty sock off the padded seat and took up residence there. Dio had already taken care of the rest. All she had to do now was open the shiny, white foam box and enjoy.

"You would like that, wouldn't you? A two for one deal?" As if she wouldn't notice that the flow of information he intended was rather lopsided. The polystyrene popped open when she slipped the tab backwards out of its pre-molded catch. The chicken lettuce wraps were new to her now, but her watering mouth told her that she had enjoyed them before.

Her fingers worked to rolled the stuffing into the lettuce. "Choose one and you first." She was in compliance with the childhood rule of firsts: If you were born first, you get to first pick. If you make first dibs, it is yours. If you ask first, you will get your answer first. If he refused now that would go against years and years of childhood reinforced courtesy and tradition.

Noel's negotiation skills were incredibly similar to her previous evasive answers, whereas most people would simply agree to a reasonable set of terms and possible ask for clarification and minor adjustments the brunette instead chose to misinterpret a key point of the elementals offer and from that construct her own, rather similar, proposition which was, of course, to her own benefit. However as the terms were still eventually the same Zephyr chose to argue the point as in either case he would get what he wanted.

Shrugging nonchalantly the hessian reached for his Styrofoam container as he idly replied "A 'two for one deal' would have been nice yes, however I was giving you the option of answering one question or the other, if you wish me to choose however that is fine as well." Pausing a moment to unwrap the final layer of paper encasing his chicken fajita the elemental took the opportunity to marshal his thoughts as he enjoyed his first bite.

Honesty would of course be the best solution, in the long run it simply made things easier to remember than an extravagant tapestry of falsehoods. The only real question was how much of the truth he should disclose, while it was entirely possible that sharing Katrina's name would have no serious ramifications, explaining why he had adapted the appellation she'd granted him however was likely a detail best left omitted or only vaguely alluded to in order to avoid problematic follow up questions.

"As you can probably guess Dio is not my given name, it's simply a moniker which was given to me some time ago by a young friend of mine during the American registration period. Over the years the name became more natural and I began introducing myself as such."

"As for the names actual origins I believe it can be traced back to ancient Greece, however I am not entirely certain as to its actual meaning. In short I suppose it is simply a name I have become comfortable with."

Placing both his elbows on what little space was left of the island counter Zephyr interlaced his fingers and glanced at his hostess over the top of his hands whilst treating her to an easy, amiable grin. "Now then, how did you come to be at Central park as I found you last night?"

Ah. A remnant o the registration. Noel wondered if he would become angry knowing that she worked for the government now. Probably not. Hopefully not, anyway. Though he likely wouldn't be too keen to learn that even back in those days of fear and disruption, she had a hand in the registration process and that her job today was to essentially continue that processes outside of mutant knowledge.

Well, she didn't have to tell him any of that. She just got to feel guilty about it. She had so been hoping for a lie so she could get him out of here already. Instead she'd gotten guilt inspiring truth. That meant she had to have some kind of truth to give back.

"Uhm. Well, people around the office don't normally see me unless they're in trouble and even when they aren't there's a bit of a bad taste in their mouth for what I do..." Maybe he could buy that as some kind of human resources when she left out the detail. "EEO probably got me that job. HR says for 'harmonious company culture' I gotta try to play nice. And it doesn't help that uh-well..." Things got complicated in this story now. She reached up and touched the raised scar tissue on her face. There was no point in trying to cover it. Nothing would.

"It was my fault that a man got killed. His sister engineered the happenings that lead to Central Park." She patted her pockets for the paper, her one possession from tonight. Ah. It was probably in the coat jacket that she'd returned... not that it mattered. She had already noted its contents and the happenings that she needed to know for tonight.

Her story was such a downer. Noel took a bite, though she was less enthusiastic than before, she didn't seem especially bothered.

For what was essentially fast food Zephyr found his midnight meal to be surprisingly palatable unlike a good many of the cheaper eateries around the city whose own 'cuisine', and the elemental used the word hesitantly, seemed designed solely for swiftness of consumption and utter lack of any desirable flavour with which to remember it by, yet somehow the industry managed not just to survive, but also thrive. It made one wonder at times whether commerce truly was logical.

The purpose behind noting the agreeability of the caliginous meal was simply that it had abruptly become the high point of the elemental's impulsive rendezvous with the odd brunette. Granted he had finally been given a glimpse as to how the soubrette had arrived at the park in her state but the hessian had been hoping for a rather more entertaining tale in lieu of one laced with guilt and dour acceptance. It was quite the mood killer to be honest and left the mercenary with limited responses.

The first and simplest would simply be to take his leave, while something of a social faux pas at this point it was nonetheless a viable option which would cost him relatively little aside from Noels company and the potential amusement of future rapports which, while lamentable, were a loss the elemental was perfectly capable of living with. He could always find other interesting people in the city after all, his fortune tonight simply proved that fact.

A second option would be to remain and attempt to cheer the girl back to her former mindset and hopefully resume the banter they'd previously been enjoying in order to end the night on more agreeable terms thereby allowing him to retain his newest acquaintance for the purpose of relieving future ennui. However while the theory might be sound putting such a course to action would be anything but, Noels current mien was decidedly dismal and thus eliciting any spark of amusement would likely be a challenge to say the least.

Another, less probable, alternative would be to pay the part of the therapist the brunette clearly needed to consult if she truly felt responsible for a death she likely had no part in. Zephyr had encountered such types before; individuals weighed down by unwarranted onus and a misplaced sense of duty; occasionally it could be quite amusing to toy with such characters sadly though this was not such a time. In any case the most he would be able to do in the present situation was get the girl to lay down the facts of the death and persuade her to see reason, if there was any.

Or he could attempt to turn the entire situation into a business meeting, petty revenge contracts were how he'd started after all.

Laying down his food the hessian rested his elbows upon the counter and interlaced his fingers as he watched Noel avoid his gaze as she finally finished her story. "So in short you were stripped and abandoned in central park, in the middle of the night because another woman has rather misguided notions of revenge?" The hessian allowed the absurdity of his statement sink in for a few moments before continuing. "I can't help but feel you work with very strange people , that aside though, how do you intend to repay her?"

"It's not like they asked nicely. I thought I had good reason." A good anthraxy reason. "But yeah. That pretty much covers it." And she didn't have to be happy about it, she just had to take it like a man.

> "How do you intend to repay her?"

"If I take revenge for what someone else considered revenge it's gonna get petty. I don't know if you've ever been a woman, but most of them can't seem to let go, forget, or move on with their lives." There were times when Noel was clearly a hypocrite. She was a woman and a mutant and yet disliked identifying with either group. Women were helpless, weak, petty and often got in her way. They also lied more often than men, hence her preference for the less fair of the genders. Mutants? Well, they were a can of worms all to their own.

"I'll probably just forget about it and have her do the same." And that was the absolute truth. Wiping the incident from her mind may trigger later repercussions, but it might be worth it to wipe the smile off her face.

"Hmm, they must have had quite some story, care to share?" Zephyr azure eyes watched his host intently as he spoke and his brow lifted in quizzical interest as he watched for a response. Personally the hessian found it difficult to imagine a situation where one shed all their clothes and failed to have a story worth telling. Still from what little he'd managed to glean of Noel's persona she was a rather reticent individual and thus would likely need some manner of encouragement to continue her tale and even then she might not be forthcoming. "If nothing else talking about it could help you get things off your chest."

"If I take revenge for what someone else considered revenge it's gonna get petty. I don't know if you've ever been a woman, but most of them can't seem to let go, forget, or move on with their lives."[/color]

Azure eyes blinked briefly in surprise and a slow, genuine, smile crept across the elemental's features behind his hands as Noel's words reached the mercenary's ears and a low chuckle escaped from his lips. "Very true" he responded amiably, "however I never said you had to repay the woman personally, you could, for instance, use a recently encountered third party, thereby allaying you of suspicion." Zephyr's eyes continued to dance with mirth as he spoke and his tone altered slightly to place a certain emphasis on the mention of an outside party.

Zephyr pleased expression however swiftly changed to one of confusion as Noel seemed to decline his offer in favour of simply ignoring the entire event. "I'm afraid I don't follow. You just mention that most women are unable to let go of any perceived slights, what makes you think your coworkers won't try their luck again if you don't do something to dissuade them?"

Why wouldn't they try their luck again? Because she'd make them forget how to read. Or how to speak. She had re-learned a lot of things in her lifetime. Each time she got them down faster and faster. Though sometimes it still took her a while. Like now. When everything suddenly clicked into place.

The money. The lurking late at night. The offer. This man... he made his living like this. As expensive as this town was, maybe it was supplemental income like her ad in the paper, but still. He was a man for hire. And he had just offered his services to her.

Noel dug around in her pockets for her... "Augh! This is complete crap!" She was entirely too dependent on technology. With her phone gone... she was just so lost. "Paper." Paper still existed. She still had paper somewhere.

The memorymancer got up and rumpled through some scraps and newspapers beside the refrigerator until she came up with a legal pad with 4 or 5 pieces of paper left on it. Make that 3 or 4. The crumpled remains of some notes bounced into the kitchen sink.

"If you write down your number, as soon as I get a phone I'll see what I can come up with."

Let him think she had changed her mind. As soon as he had jotted down his number, Noel put a few notes down of her own. Medium height, brunette, air mutant, blue eyes, suit jacket, mercenary. Met in central park after incident. Known alias is Dio. He bought you dinner and then you kicked him out. After a brief moment of hesitation she added a final note before turning the pad face down. Cute butt.

"Actually. Could you help me with something real quick? Shouldn't take but a second."

A few nods and some steering from Noel and Dio ended up out in the hall in front of her door. Once he was squarely outside and she was certainly inside and he was beginning to suspect something... she made eye contact.

Forget meeting me.
Forget the last 3 hours of your life.