Thus far Luke's return to the mansion had been relatively quiet. Sure, coming back had given him that wonderful homey feeling he'd missed for so long and getting to see Sara had been great but he was missing out on seeing a lot of his other friends. There were plenty of new faces around the mansion but for the most part Luke hadn't had the opportunity to introduce himself to anyone. Besides, other than his old friends, who was going to care that he was a former regular of the mansion that had only just returned after quite some time away. And then of course there was that whole nagging question about the X-Men... was he still a member after so long gone? Were they even still intact?

For the time being, Luke did his best to ignore the questions that continued to try and nag at the back of his mind. Instead he focused on the positives. He was HOME!

***

Since he had gotten rid of his apartment in the city when he moved away for such a long time, Luke had instead returned to the bedroom here at the mansion that had been his so long ago. After making sure he was fully settled in, Luke had headed down to the living area to just relax and see what happened. After all, people were always passing through the Living Room on their way here or there.

After parking a large bowl of chips on the coffee table alongside a large glass of ice cold sweet tea, Luke relaxed back in the couch and opened up one of the Brail books he had stowed in his luggage before returning. "Might as well catch up on some reading for the moment... now where was I?"

When Kealey couldn’t find anything else to do and Shin wasn’t around, she usually made her way down to the Living Room. It was kind of the gathering place for people with similar problems, and she’d met so many interesting people that way. Juka was one, though she hadn’t really seen him since. The blond berated herself for that mentally, wondering if she was ever going to get the promised bubble ride.

It was the middle of the day, so most of the students were going about their business in one way or another. They were still all a twitter from the dance, and honestly Kealey couldn’t blame them. Seeing everyone dressed up like that already had Kealey making plans to get Shin in a formal situation a second time.

Images of dressy clothes and twirling couples danced through her head as she entered the large room with its multiple couches and large TV. Shockingly, the place was pretty quiet, and Kealey happily made her way further into the room to turn on the aforementioned television and see what was going on in the world.

It wasn’t until she’d switched the thing on and gotten the volume set to a proper level when she realized that there was someone there reading a book.

”Oh!” she exclaimed, turning to the reclining individual. It was someone she didn’t know and she hoped she wasn’t ruining them calm, comfortable bubble of relaxed emotions he seemed to be encased in. First impressions were important! ”I hope I’m not bothering you with the TV. I can go somewhere else.”

Luke was in a happy place when another person came into the room. From a quick sweep of his sonar he didn't recognize her but for a few moments he was still distracted by his book. It was always awful stopping in the middle of a page and then having to search to try and find your place again. While he worked on finishing the last page or two of his chapter, the young woman walked across the room to turn on the TV. After working on adjusting channels and volume she turned around and seemed to be somewhat startled by his presence.

”Oh!” The surprise and sound of her voice was familiar. Even though Luke had never seen her before, his memory was trying to make some sort of connection. Closing his book, he turned his face toward her, thinking as hard as he could as she continued to speak, ”I hope I’m not bothering you with the TV. I can go somewhere else.”

"No, you're fine." Luke replied with a smile as he placed a bookmark between the pages and then shut his book, "I'm Luke Jacobs but I think you already know that. Haven't we met before? I get the strange feeling that we know each other but it's rare that I forget someone's voice."

It was a strange way for most people to put it, but that was normal for Luke. With his blindness he knew everyone by the strange way his sonar mapped out faces and by their voice and while Kealey's voice sounded familiar something about it was off. Had he only heard her over the phone? Or maybe on a recording? Was she a singer of some type or something like that? It was nagging at Luke's mind but somehow the connection just wasn't being made.

The man said he didn’t mind, and Kealey nodded her head as she looked a little closer to make sure. His emotions didn’t give anything away, so the blond relaxed and momentarily turned her attention back to the TV. He introduced himself, and Kealey’s eyes narrowed slightly in concentration at the name as he pointed out believing they‘d met before. Luke Jacobs…it did sound familiar. He thought he knew her voice from somewhere…Kealey wasn’t shocked, accents had a tendency to stick in American minds.

But where, though? Kealey looked closer at Luke, trying to place his face somewhere in her memory. He was wearing sunglasses inside, which was might have been strange if they’d been anywhere other than a school full of mutants. He was also too old to be a student which meant he was probably like her, and working for the X-Men, or a member of the team. Surely if he was a team member, Kealey would have met him….

”I don’t know…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before, but your name is so familiar. Maybe somewhere else? Have you been in the Mansion long? I don‘t remember seeing you before.

The cat wiggled as the ball rolled over it, on to bigger, better things. It hit a person, and then... inevitably... a rainbow. But not before the water spout. And sure, there may have been a few bounces along the way, a few lost lawn chairs, but that had all led up to the penultimate katamari pick-up.

Finally, he'd done it. The rainbow.

The ball had reached the appropriate diameter.

Shin put the controller down, and let out a wistful sigh.

"This game, this game, this game..." Hmm. This game was making him hungry for another game of equivalent awesome. Something on the Wii, rather than his old PS2. And also... it inspired him. He knew what he had to do.

As Shin walked down the hallway towards the Living Room, he hummed a little Katamari title theme music.

La lah lah law lah lala law lah lawlawlawlahlawlah~

His focus was on his finger tip. Tiny shards were dancing in the air above it as he walked, forming a miniature pyramid. He went down the steps, and his brow crinkled as another pyramid worked its way into the mix, and another, eventually forming a curve.

He focused. He really focused, on making the ball. The hallway loomed ahead, and still, he focused. The ball hovered on the tip of his nail. In his mind, Shin imagined the classic pose, thumb drawn back like the hammer, index pointed at the target like a gun barrel, imagine the trigger in your mind, and... BANG!

A streak of blue shot past him, crashing into Shin's right side with a heavy 'thump'. And suddenly, the walls of the hall were spinning, round and round, round baby, right round. As the yellow blur (sometimes red, this time, blue) blasted past him, Shin lost his focus, and suddenly... lost his sphere.

It cut across the wall like a spirit gun, a light-blue ball of triangles pressed into shapes, built up into a sphere, and as it went, it cut a path. The shard ball flew across the right side of the hallway, and Shin? Shin crashed against the left, wall dented slightly around him.

It seemed it didn't take much to damage mansion property. One little running man, and wham... ugh... His head was spinning. His eyesight? Failing. Triangular pupils didn't want to focus. His body was more focused on the pain. A bruised shoulder, bumped tailbone. The wind had been knocked out of him.

What the heck had happened?

As his eyes crept open, he saw it. He didn't quite believe it, but he saw it. Across the right side of the hallway, cutting off just a foot from the doorway to the living room, a thin gash had been cut.

His shard ball was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh... help?" He hadn't done that... had he?!

Luke frowned every so slightly in concentration as he tried to place where he had met this young woman before. It was extremely annoying for someone who had trained himself to recognize people by their voices. Why wasn't he making the connection? Something about the tonal quality just wasn't adding up.

"Have you ever sung in public or anything like that?" Luke asked curiously, not knowing that he was extremely off base. At the moment, the only connection he could come up with was that her voice had been distorted over some sort of speaker system. But then again, speaker system distortion had never messed up his memory this badly before. What else could it be?

Suddenly there was a loud thud from out in the hallway followed by more thumps, bumps, and tearing sounds that eventually ended followed just moments later by a familiar voice.

"Uh... help?"

"Shin?" Luke asked in surprise as he stood up from the couch, part of his mind happily noting that his voice recognition wasn't completely out of whack. Walking quickly, Luke moved into the hallway while extending his sonar out to see what had happened.

The damage wasn't pretty... cracked and dented drywall showed where Shin's body had apparently been thrown and on the other side a thin gouge of some sort ran for several feet. "What in the world... are you OK?"

Sang? Kealey actually burst out laughing at the accusation and shook her head. ” Goodness no, I’d never subject a large number of people to such torture.” she said, still struggling to place the name the man had given.

”Do you ever go to the Library downtown? I used to work there? Or anywhere around the Fashion Institute of Technology? I’m studying fashion…there….”

Kealey cut off at the crash from the hallway, followed by a ripping sound, eyes tracking along with the feelings as they careened into the wall. Someone was hurt…probably not badly, but Kealey’s brows drew together and a hand half reached towards her head at the resulting confusion.

Luke spoke a single word, a name, and the blonde’s eyes widened. Up she shot from the couch, stumbling slightly with the confusion in the hallway.

Around the doorway she turned, and there Shin was, on the floor and looking dazed. Down Kealey dropped to eye level, reaching out a hand towards the side of his face, ”Shin? Are you alright? You’re not hurt bad are you?”

Kealey looked around at the damage to the wall, he’d had to have hit it pretty hard to actually dent the drywall. Up she looked to Luke, ”He’s confused…” Back to Shin, ”Want me to take it away, or is everything alright?” she asked.

Ugh... what had happened? That's what he wanted to know.

People had responded to his call for help. It took a moment for him to figure out who. Triangular pupils wavered, then focused on the first one out of the hall, quickly shifting to the second, more-familiar face.

Kealey... and... wait? He did a double-take. His eyes strained to focus on the sightless face, and his mind stretched, trying to recall and place the face to the name. "... Luke?" He said, confusion mixing with the disbelief in his voice. "When did you...?" His cheek turned, and met Kealey's hand. Triangular pupils locked on cerulean eyes. "I'm fine... just a bit... off... did... did you see the gash in the wall?"

She saw it. She turned her head, and saw it. "I think I... I think I did that... didn't mean to, but..." He shook his head at her. "I'm fine. Not as confused. See? It's going... away..." As Shin spoke, he tried pushing up off the ground. He got halfway, rising unsteadily. He nearly fell forward, but Kealey caught him, and kept him on his feet.

His mind turned to the more important matter here. "Luke," He smiled. "Glad to see you around again. How've you been?"

((OOC: Kealey-catch Kealey-approved.))

Thoughts of trying to identify this mysterious woman had been momentarily replaced by concern for Shin's well being but as it become obvious that the young man was OK, the thoughts were swiftly returning. Especially considering how concerned she appeared to be about Shin's condition. Was she always this caring or was Shin something special to her? Curiosity was threatening to get the best of him but this wasn't exactly the right time to be asking Shin if he was dating anyone.

Shin's confusion was obvious as he tried to regain his mental faculties but it was also slightly amusing now that Luke knew he wasn't hurt. He asked questions, stood up, and then fell into the young lady's arms.

"Nice catch." Luke commented with a half smile as he leaned up against an undamaged part of the hallway wall, "And it's good to see you too Shin. I've been doing well enough thanks, though being gone for almost a year was far to long."

It had been a long time since Luke had last seen Shin and from the way he stood... or half stood, and spoke it seemed like he had grown up some more since Luke had been away. Thankfully there were plenty of mentors for the young man to look up to, especially Sam who Luke remember had taken the young man under his wing. In almost a years time so much could have happened. Had Shin become a full blown member of the X-Men yet? Had he been forced to stare death in the face? Had he experienced love and loss? So many questions but Luke knew that most of them really weren't any of his business.

"Your friend and I were actually just trying to place if we've ever met before. Her voice is very familiar and she seems to slightly remember my name but we're not making the full connection yet." The comment was easy and friendly and made for the perfect opportunity to continue with one of the questions Luke was very curious about, "So, how do you two know each other?"

Shin said he was alright, but Kealey held his gaze for a moment, only nodding her head when she actually felt his confusion starting to abate. She’d have insisted he stay sitting longer, but had been distracted by the feelings and barely made it to her feet in time to catch Shin as he stumbled. Worry again replaced the look on Kealey’s face and she stayed close, just in case he needed steadying again.

Luke commented on her catch and Kealey shook her head and chuckled, ”Lord knows he’s caught me when I’ve fallen often enough.” she said, ”It’s the least I can do.”

It appeared that Luke and Shin knew each other, and Shin’s confusion did clear somewhat as they stood and spoke. Kealey took moment and glanced at the damage to the wall again, wondering exactly how Shin had caused the gash and worrying slightly more before Luke’s confusion drew her attention.

Luke and his sunglasses were leaning against the wall, and Kealey tilted her head again, trying to remember a time when she would have met someone like this and then forgotten. Luke pointed out that Kealey thought she remembered him and she nodded towards Shin, ”I’m certain I’ve heard his name before…but I simply can’t place his face. Isn’t that odd? How could you know someone well enough to remember their name, but not know their face.”

Luke said he’d been gone for a year and Kealey tried to think back to what she’d been doing at this time 12 months before. She’d been ready to start school…applying…wandering the city looking for inspiration. There were so many places they could have met. She shook her head, attempting to shake out Luke’s curiosity as it tried to pull her out of the conversation.

Luke asked how Kealey and Shin knew each other and Kealey smiled, dropping her head a little as her cheeks grew pink and she stepped even a little closer to him.

”Well,” she said, glancing to Shin, ”We met quite some time ago…this led to that, lots of action, adventure, and drama and I guess we’ve been together a little over a month now.” she shrugged, most people in the mansion had simply put two and two together. It wasn’t a question Kealey was used to answering.

”If I can ask…what were you doing just before you left a year ago? I spent a lot of time in the city then. I was working on my portfolio for entrance into design school.”

Had it really been a year? So much had happened. Everything with Kealey, Romania, X-men tryouts, this... Shin nodded slightly. "It is."

Shin smiled at Kealey's comment, leaning against her shoulder for the moment. Her hand was pressed against his chest. He was lucky to have her there, and he was glad. They'd have to talk about what happened once he was finished catching up with Luke.

For now, it seemed, Luke and Kealey were focused on figuring out where they knew each other from... and where he knew Kealey from. How he knew her.

Shin suddenly realized, not-too-embarrassedly, how things looked with her holding him up like that. He could walk now. The initial shakiness was fading fast.

He shifted out of Kealey's clutches as he pondered the serious question of footing. They moved so she could face Luke, and he could stand, not too far from her, in case he had another bout of falling, but not too close. He didn't want to risk being too far, and he didn't want to make things awkward by cuddling her in front of Luke.

Or make Kealey blush... which is kind of what she did anyways. Whoops~

>>"Well," she started, looking to him.

He smiled subtly, letting her know she could say it. ...And she did. He snaked out an arm and gave her a one-armed shoulder hug. "She's my girlfriend," He stated. Just to make things clear.

Plus, it was fun to say.

Shin looked curiously to Kealey as she tried piecing together a timeline for when and where she could possibly have met Luke, yet not remembered his face. Shin looked with interest towards Luke. Something about remembering someone, yet remembering them with the wrong face resonated something in his memory. He tilted his head. "You haven't had any out-of-body experiences, have you? Because a while back, before the new year, I was Abyss." He hardly remembered what had happened, but he had vague recollections of people he'd met. Some Texas-accent joker, egging him on, Kasumi as Jaxon... it was strange. Different face, same person. It was the only solution he could think of.

Yeah. Shin always did conjure up the most oddball solutions.

So Shin had caught Kealey when she fell? That fit perfectly with how Luke remember the young man and he just had to smile at the idea. He could picture Shin standing there in a hero's outfit with a full flowing cape, catching the damsel in distress as she fell out of the sky. Shin had always enjoyed the hero thing even more than Sam did and so it fit.

"The best relationships are built on action, adventure, and drama." Luke commented with a straight face. He didn't want to make fun of them but it was hard to keep from chuckling at least a little bit when one thought kept jumping into his mind as he watched them... cute.

Ah, but it was best to focus on the real question at hand. How did he know this young woman? "A year ago... I was taking full control of the family business and publicly announcing that I was a mutant." Luke mused as he tried to think back. Those had been the most significant things going on his life... had there been anything else?

""You haven't had any out-of-body experiences, have you? Because a while back, before the new year, I was Abyss."

For a moment Luke froze as his memory raced back to that fateful morning when he had awoken in another person's body. To be able to see through real eyes had been completely disorienting as he stumbled around, trying to find someone that could help him. But at the same time he had been getting to see through another persons eyes, he was also hearing through a different set of ears. That auditory distortion would have been in place when he went to the aquarium and met...

"Kealey!" Luke suddenly said triumphantly as everyone clicked into place. "Cute blond, beautiful blue eyes, and an accent you could never forget!"

Ok... so maybe he shouldn't have commented on those particular features in front of both Kealey and her boyfriend Shin, but they could excuse him becuase of the excitement... couldn't they?

"I had switched bodies with a boy named Juka and you saw me at the aquarium and knew something was wrong. That's what has been distoring my memory of your voice! I was hearing through another person's ears instead of my own!"

Kealey leaned slightly into the one-armed hug that Shin gave her, slipping an arm around his back but worried about sending him off balance again with too much pressure. He clarified their relationship status and the blond grinned and nodded, wondering just how often she walked around with that same stupid grin on her face. Luke was mentally “aww’ing” at them, but Kealey let it go, not everyone got to feel the emotions that went along with statements like that. Luke could “aww” all he wanted.

The blond chuckled at Luke’s statement about action, drama, and adventure and shrugged her shoulders, ”Well, in that case, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of the pack.” It was true, in terms of those three things, Kealey and Shin had been through enough before they’d even started dating that their karma had to be off the charts. Thankfully though, it seemed that things had slowed down.

Shin started talking about out of body experiences and Kealey did a mental double-take. He’d…been…Abyss? Confusion reigned now, even in spite of the obvious truth behind Shin’s words. Surely he didn’t mean literally…how could you just be someone else for a while? Kealey filed the information away for later, boy they had some things to talk about. ”Like…were as in…were Abyss? I’m confused.”

Through her confusion, Kealey could feel Luke working through the problem of her identity. The equivalent of a mental light bulb went off, and Kealey’s eyes jerked back to Luke’s as he finally remembered who she was.

Cheeks pinking slightly at the list of positive statements that next followed, Kealey shook her head, "I don't know about all that..." she said, confused and embarrassed until Luke pointed out exactly where it was they’d met.

”No way.” she gasped, eyes going slightly wide. ”That was you? I’m so glad everything worked out!”

Implications were raining like cats and dogs, and Kealey shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. This was a lot to take in. Something else Luke said caught Kealey’s attention and she choked slightly on a chuckle, ”That was Juka’s body? Oh my, that must have been a shock.”

Shin was still next to her, and Kealey turned her attention back to him, ”I was working on my portfolio in the aquarium…and suddenly I couldn’t concentrate because someone was so morose…you know me, I can’t keep my hand out of an emotional cookie jar, so I took the liberty of introducing myself and seeing if I could help. Don’t know what good I did…but obviously you figured things out.”

The blond held out her hand with a smile, ”It’s nice to meet you officially.”

>> "The best relationships are built on action, adventure, and drama."

Kealey shrugged. Shin shrugged. "I could do with a little less action, myself." Shin chimed in after Kealey, with a smile. They hadn't had much action recently, and frankly, he liked the quiet. Maybe he was getting old.

But even if he was old, he was still young enough to remember something as dramatic as switching bodies with a giant red man. Shin smirked at her. "I'll tell you about it later." He glanced back towards Luke. The cogs and gears were turning in the man's mind. He was considering what Shin had suggested... and surprisingly, it was exactly the situation.

Luke shouted Kealey's name like a scientist might shout out 'eureka', and made a big show of it. How could he forget such a beautiful... cute... h-hey! Luke had made Kealey blush! That was his job! Shin had half a mind to!!-- naw, it was cool. Who could fault a guy for stating the obvious? Shin arched an eyebrow, and made a show of looking "upset" about it.

"Bad Luke. Bad." He deadpanned. Innefectively. "But really? Body-switching?"

Luke had been Juka? "Luke-a?" Shin mused. That was weird. More people than him had traded places... definitely a shocker. He wondered if anyone had traded genders, as well as bodies. Oh boy. He was lucky he hadn't turned into Kasumi. That would have been strange!

It seemed Kealey was amused by the idea. She turned to him, and explained just how she'd met Luke. He nodded. So, Luke had been as confused as him. "It took me a while to get used to being in Abyss's body, too. Broke a phone." Shin broke off on a tangent. "Carried a motorcycle on my shoulder." And a Kasumi. "But yeah. Glad to see that all got sorted out. Hope you didn't find any tattoos when you returned to your body." Especially any tattoos as strange as he imagined his actually was. He still hadn't seen it... "They ever figure out what caused that?"

Now that Luke's mind no longer had the problem of identity to figure out, it was suddenly focusing in on one of the same fact that had perked Kealey's interest.

"You were Abyss? That had to be... different."

Luke's change into the young man named Juka had definitely been strange but at least he had changed into someone that didn't have any major power's he had been forced to deal with. For Shin to be dealing with Abyss' strength and whatever else he could do... would have been disorienting to say the least.

"It was strange being able to see like everyone else. Since I was born blind I had never experienced it. The colors were amazing." Luke commented, smiling slightly at the memory, "And of course that means that I vividly remember the hair color and eye color of Kealey because she is one of the few people I interacted with while I had normal sight."

Luke froze as the last comment from Shin spoke to something he had never even considered. "Tattoos?" Luke murmured, a slightly worried tone appearing in his voice, "I don't know... I couldn't see them if I did have them."

What if he did have a tattoo? What if it was something obscene? What if it was somewhere obscene?! How would he know? "This could be a problem." Luke murmured softly, his mind suddenly contemplating a new and even larger problem than the identity issue. "How in the world..."