Standing on the bench didn't help Seyta with balancing in 3 inch heels but it did help the sound carry farther. And while playing a song Like Toxicity that was important in getting people to listen. Those who heard the song from outside her range dropped a tip on their way by and she did her best to nod in thanks.

Many people never noticed it though, even some of those who did weren't paying attention and fell to her ability and walked on by. Normally Seyta would ignore these people in turn but one caught her eye. They where wearing a heavy coat, hood covering their head and pushing through the small crowd rather quickly. Seyta stopped playing long enough to close her violin case, protecting her earnings as the person rushed passed.

Despite the hood Seyta got a decent look at the woman's face, defiantly a mutant, her nose stood out from her face almost like a snout and she had rodent-like whiskers as well. Wherever she was hurrying to get to was important and she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings either. Something fell from a pocket as she passed that caught Seyta's eye, an envelope.

Picking it up Seyta took a moment to watch the woman hurrying away, even if she did chase the woman down getting her attention would still be needed; too much effort in her opinion. Settling on the idea that it was her loss for not keeping track of her own things Seyta sat down on the bench and looked the the envelope. It was mailed to a P.O. box with no name, easy enough to track down and deliver to the woman later; there was not however a return address.

Since it was already opened she gave into curiosity and checked the contents. Seyta knew why the woman had been in a hurry now, she recognized the woman's face in several photos of her with the mayor, some taken well after a diner date. These were accompanied by a letter, her eyes widen as she read it to herself aloud.

>>"To whom it may concern... As you can see there is enough evidence here to ruin your reputation permanently. Not only would this look great on the nightly news but I'm sure your anti mutant supporters would be thrilled with this as well. If you want to avoid either of those situations then I expect considerable financial compensation. You have three days to come up with the money, I will tell you where to deliver it then."

The letter was short and to the point. Someone was blackmailing the mayor and his lover to keep their relationship a secret. Technically everyone around just heard that secret but her ability would deal with that; one of the few things they ever helped with. Looking back over the photo's and re-reading the letter Seyta sat thinking over the options. Getting rid of the evidence was the easiest, and left fate to clean itself up. If she want to the police it would hit the news anyway and the blackmailer would still win.

Just two normal gals, out for a power lunch. The meeting had been boring. And long. After a long and boring meeting with people whose power was only theoretical, Lori felt the need for a street vendor gyro.

"That was a complete waste of time." As most shows of goodwill and idea exchanges were. Lori wasn't interested in buying up this smaller pharmaceutical company. Their lack of motivation, innovation and diversity just put the blonde off. But at least she didn't have to sit through these things alone anymore.

She stepped forward and took her place in line at the gryo stand. It was a long line.

"Anything cooking at Mondragon?" Honestly, Lori hadn't had the brain power to spare in thinking about the medical lab. The world of drugs had consumed her. Maybe Lenna had a use for the little company? Lori would buy it for her if she wanted it. They stepped up a few paces and Lori noticed someone sitting on a bench reading to themselves...

> "...You have three days to come up with the money, I will tell you where to deliver it then."

her ears perked up at that specific combination of words and she whistled a long low whistle. It was hardly noon and already someone was blackmailing someone else?

The Pharmaceutical CEO nudged her companion with her elbow just incase the other woman hadn't heard the woman on the bench near them. Lori caught a glimpse and couldn't help but wonder out loud. "Is that the mayor...?" She'd never seen him quiiiiiiite like that.

>>"That was a complete waste of time."

"Yup." Lenna quite agreed. She never was one for business meetings. Yet she was dealing with more and more, as of late.

Speak of the devil.

Lenna shrugged. "I think the scientists are working on something. I've heard the words 'ground-breaking' and 'mind-incinerating'." Of course, one never could tell with the ranting some of these men did. What she'd overheard could just have easily been a gushing over a brand new video game. Her thoughts on that were cut short as the pair of them overheard something very interesting.

Lenna arched an eyebrow.

>>"Is that the mayor...?"

Another eyebrow arched. That was two. Two eyebrows. Ah ah ah.

"I've never seen something like that. Period." She stared.

>>"Is that the mayor...?"

"Yes it is." Seyta didn't even look up at the person who spoke.

>>"I've never seen something like that. Period."

"Neither have I 'till..." Seyta froze in a mixture of confusion and fear. Both comments where directed at her; that couldn't happen. Looking up at the two women she wondered if they were involved with the blackmail and saw her pick up the envelope. They didn't seem like the kind of people who would be involved at first glance; but then again this was New York people weren't what they seemed. If they weren't she had to come up with an interesting explanation for everything.

Sliding the pics and letting back into the envelope Seyta regained her composure. No matter who they where she had their complete attention. She hadn't done anything to make that happen either."So what if it is? Seyta thought quickly, dealing with unwanted guests the old fashioned way was difficult after several years of just walking away."I found the letter and pictures, so unless you got something better for me I'll just keep them." If they where the blackmailers that would hopefully give them the idea of letting her go.

Never seen anything like that? Some people just hadn't lived!

"Oh honey." That was what you said when someone did something so... naive. It was 'oh honey' or 'bless your little heart.' "I don't think anyone would believe you just happened upon that even if you did." And she added the 'even if you did' purely for the other woman's benefit. Lori didn't believe it either. Nobody had that kind of dumb luck.

"You've stepped into a s**tstorm." And as Lori saw it, the lady had very few options at this point on what to do with those delicious photos.

Lori leaned her forearms against the back of the bench, her trench coat hanging open to reveal nothing more than a business appropriate skirt suit. "Your prints are on those. Are you sure you weren't set up?" Just a friendly neighborhood business woman, inserting her nose where it wasn't wanted.

She left the bad cop stuff for Lenna, if she cared to take on the role. The gyro line moved on without them.

>>"You've stepped into a s**tstorm."

Lori put it quite poetically. The girl was in trouble, whether she stumbled on to them by accident, or took them herself. The woman took the lead. Lenna supposed she had to follow.

"Maybe she's planning to set someone else up. Maybe she's just covering for herself."

Looking at those photographs in broad daylight on a street with children. The nerve.

>>"Your prints are on those. Are you sure you weren't set up?"

Seyta looked at the envelope in fear. Fingerprints... that was a problem she didn't think of before. Seyta really didn't want to put her name on a database that might have them already. That made the idea of being set up more likely. But who would know enough about her to do that?

>>"Maybe she's planning to set someone else up. Maybe she's just covering for herself."

Set someone else up? Know she was the bad guy? The more Seyta though the more she realized that she was in way over her head. As the severity of the situation fully sank in Seyta looked between the two women and back to the envelope. "I'm innocent in this, I swear... Even if she ran away right now, her powers had stopped working so they would be able to follow her. The only option Seyta could find was trusting that these two women would be willing to help her.

"Why don't you tell me what I should do then? If not just call the police or something, without my mutation I'm gonna get caught anyway." A desperate plea hoping they where sympathetic to mutants, not likely but with no other options coming to mind Seyta threw it out for good measure.

She was so anxious to convince them of her innocence. Meanwhile, Lori wanted those pictures. Or at least, she wanted the power those pictures might have over Mr. Mayor. And the wonderful woman was already asking Lori to boss her around. They were going to get along famously.

"What's your mutation?" Lori swung her hips around to avoid the back and arm of the bench in order to plant herself on the bench next to the woman. This was a friendly chat. Just three gals hanging out at the park. "You might still have a chance." Or pigs could start flying. Either one.

The situation was handling itself gloriously. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That was what Lenna had to say for the moment. She simply crossed her arms, eyes on the mutant girl whose power her aura was shutting down, and listened.

Not everyone knows how to listen. It's not really a hard trick once you get a handle for it. She had it down.

If all went the way it was looking like it would go, things would sort themselves out. It was a nice thought.

Seyta pulled her violin case into her lap, watching the woman sit beside her with a look of frustration. Her friend was still standing and waiting patiently, Seyta was confused by this. Maybe it was a safety in numbers idea but usually you tell people to go ahead and that you would catch up, since these two stuck together Seyta felt a bit nervous.

>>"What's your mutation? You might still have a chance."

"What?" Seyta wasn't expecting that but the woman's tone made it sound almost like an offer. Considering her situation making a deal wasn't a bad idea, especially once her powers finally turned back on. Rule one in making a deal though, know who you're dealing with. "How about I get a name first? I'm really not use to talking to random strangers."

Seyta knew it sounded childish for a twenty nine year old, but it's what came to mind. Besides, if she kept on long enough her powers might return and this would all be over. If not she would hopefully have a way out provided by these two women.

"Apologies, I have gotten ahead of myself." Saying 'apologies' was a good way to apologize without actually apologizing. "I'm Lori and this lovely young woman with me is Lenna. I can manipulate electricity and Lenna has her own special abilities." There. Nothing gained trust like a little trust shown. Plus it had the added bonus that everything Lori had said was true.

"I believe you about the pictures and I'd like to help you, if you'll let me. I actually run a shelter for mutants and we have our fair share of sticky situations. People sometimes want to exploit an ability or maybe just exploit the person. It's not always personal, sometimes it's just because they think you're expendable." Lori often did all of these things so, really she knew aaaaall about them.

"I may not know you, but I believe in you. You're not expendable." She was a mutant, surely that meant she could be useful. The question was, would she trust Lori to help her?

Introductions. Lori gave them. She handled herself, but kept Lenna vague, of which Lenna was grateful. Probably.

It's best to keep an ace up your sleeve, for when situations require such things.

Did this situation require such a thing? Only time would tell. Lady wasn't spilling her guts. Time would tell if someone else would have to help her with that. Time would tell.

She kept on letting Lori take the lead. Boss lady was good at that. Although, she chimed in with a murmur of agreement, and a look that said 'you should listen. Lady speaks truth.'

>> "...I may not know you, but I believe in you. You're not expendable."

Seyta nodded slowly, Lori seemed to know what she was talking about. Turning her gaze to Lenna she thought for a moment, special abilities was rather vague. Some people don't like being talked about though she Seyta let it slide, assuming she could have pressed the issue in the first place. "Name's Seyta, as for my mutation..." Explaining it wasn't the easiest thing ever. "People just, don't notice me. Honest its why I didn't worry about reading the letter."

That got introductions out of the way. What remained was how Lori would help Seyta. "So what do you suggest I do about this?" She waved the envelope slightly in her hands. In the back of her head Seyta knew she was giving in too easily but she didn't really care at the moment. "After my powers turn back on I'll probably be fine but until then I'm open for suggestions."

People did not notice her. Interesting and potentially very useful. "That just might be workable." Lori did have to think on it for minute though.

"Lenna?" She turned and offered up apologetic eyes to her cohort. "Is there any way you could grab me one of those gyro things? I'm too starving to think straight. Do you want one, Seyta?" Lori put her hand on Seyta's shoulder briefly under the pretense of getting the girl's attention. She wanted to study the electrical activity in this brain next to her to maybe someday get access to the secrets inside. But for that Lenna would have to go away for a little while. Also, with Lenna gone, Lori could maybe see what Seyta could do. Maybe.

She retracted her hand as soon as she'd gotten the link she wanted, but her attention was more on planning and convincing rather than brain studying at the moment.

"The first thing would be to ask yourself if you actually want to, you know, do what the letter implies? If not, you should probably burn the whole lot. But I'll be honest with you. The mayor isn't a big fan of the whole mutant situation so these photos... they're kind of huge. He's been twisting our arm for ages. First they want us segregated then they want us to integrate... it'd be nice, for once, to be able to twist back." Lori had confidence that her family could back up the threat better than any single person.

"There are enough of us that we can protect each other. We could actually pull this off." Lori sounded as if the idea had never occurred to her before, but now that it had it was a hard idea to forget.

Didn't notice, huh? Girl was a ninja. Lenna idly wondered if she could scrounge up a nice katana from one of her contacts. Maybe she could be trained. But of course, this was silly. Maybe she did not want to be a trained assassin. If she wanted to, and the issue came up, however, she could definitely be offered the choice.

One doesn't always have the choice to become a coldblooded killer, Lenna understood. She hadn't been given any.

She looked to Lori as the woman spoke her name.

Ah. Boss Lady wanted her to get lost.

"Sure," Lenna vanished. She disappeared into the crowd. It was time to buy some Gyros.

((OOC : Permission to skip me for as long as you two need to. Lenna can take as long getting Gyros as Lori needs. ^_^ ))