In the past Tarin had thought of sleep as completely overrated. That was definitely not the case at the present time. Sleep was amazaing, sleep was wonderful, and he was not going to wake up for a long time. A really long time.

The spirit was gone and he was too exhausted to be pestered by spirits in his dreams, in fact, he was too tired to dream at all. There was just comforting blackness.

Someone was trying to mess with that though and it honestly didn't make Tarin very happy. The only person it could be was Lee, and she had to know how exhausted he was. A voice sounded and the deep masculine tone was more than confusing to someone expecting Lee's distinctly feminine voice. There was something familiar about the voice though, something that pulled at Tarin's short-term memory.

The problem was though, Tarin really didn't want to wake up. He felt fingers at his neck though and then a hand was shaking his shoulder, attempting to rouse him. Sudden worry squeezed its way in through the exhaustion as Tarin realized that meant that there was someone else in the apartment. Someone who'd gotten far enough in to find him...where was Lee?

Forcing his eyes eyes open a crack, Tarin looked up at the blurry form hovering over him. Slowly the form came into focus and Tarin blinked in confusion wondering if this was some kind of weird ass dream that he'd been dumped into. Out of all the people in the world, this was the last he'd expected to wake up to.

Eyes shifting around the room and landing on Lee, Tarin sighed in relief then turned his attention back to his aquaintence from earlier in the week. "Rupert?" he said, confusion heavy in his exhaustion slurred voice, "What the hell are you doing here? Did Lee call you?"

> "I told you he's a heavy sleeper."

Rupert gave a jolt; he'd been looking down at the man, and hadn't noticed the female mutant's approach. At least, he assumed she was a mutant: who else but a mutant could take a mutant down? Without a gun, that is.

> "But go ahead and wake him up. It'll make getting him into bed so much easier. And do you mind if I go get a cloth or something? I didn't exactly have a chance to clean him up before you got here."

"That... That would be fine." Unless she came back with a kitchen knife, or something. Rupert tried to keep his knowledge of just how truly bad of an idea this had been out of his voice. Sometimes, just rushing into a situation made a path open up. This was not one of those times.

> "Rupert?"

He startled again, his gaze swinging back down towards the injured mutie on the floor.

> "What the hell are you doing here? Did Lee call you?"

The injured mutie on the floor who didn't sound thrilled to see him here. Rupert couldn't blame the guy. There were some mornings he woke up and wasn't thrilled to see himself in the bathroom mirror; whatever had happened in here, Rupert wouldn't be his own first choice of people to see upon waking, either.

"Ah... no. No, he didn't." Something went 'click' in Rupert's mind. He pointed a surprised finger towards the woman. "Or, is that Lee? Sorry. Ah... she didn't, either. I was walking below when you almost took that nosedive out the window. Just wanted to check that you were okay. With her." He caught the searching look on Tarin's face, and the relief when the man's eyes landed on the woman. "Are you okay? I could just leave, if you are." Leave, and stop making an ass out of myself. Rupert was starting to have a sinking feeling that he'd read this situation entirely wrong.

"Was this," he waved his hand in a confused circle, indicting the entire scene, "because of whatever it is that you--or her, maybe?--can do?"

Lee was just turning toward the bathroom to go get a cloth when she heard Tarin's mumbled voice. Not calling for her, but asking the man, Rupert Tarin had called him, if she had called him there. At that, Lee furrowed her brow; how would she have called this guy here, she wondered. She hadn't even known about him. But she also know that Tarin was far too exhausted to go into questions like that at the moment. Now, the morning on the other hand...

Seeing Rupert point to her and ask if she were Lee, she simply nodded her head. Who else would Tarin have been talking about? Other than the three of them, the apartment was empty.

"Didn't I say he was sleeping, but alright?" Lee asked the cop, still kneeling beside Tarin. But then the man waved his hand in a circle and asked a question that made Lee's eyes widen before she could stop the reaction. Widen more than they had even when she saw his badge.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lee asked, then turned her eyes to her fiancee. "Tarin, what's he talking about?" She knew that Tarin needed rest, probably more than he had any other time she had ever taken energy from him, but this was an even more unusual situation. How did this cop know that Tarin was a mutant, and if that was the case, why hadn't he done anything about it, like sending Tarin to the camp?

Rupert was confused, and Tarin completely missed the fact that he'd mistaken Lee for a dude until he corrected himself.

"Yeah..." he mumbled, "she's the fiance I was talking about..." Tarin couldn't help but laugh at the next comment then groan slightly at the pain it caused in his ribs. "It figures huh?" he said, still not moving from his curled position on the floor of the apartment. "Thanks for coming to check on me though..." before now Tarin probably wouldn't have called the detective a friend, but knowing Lee he'd gone to a lot of trouble to come in and see if he was alright.

Lee was back now and he smiled at her as she had an 'I told you so' moment with Rupert. The smile lasted until she crouched down and Rupert asked his question about what had happened in the apartment. Tarin groaned involuntarily. This was exactly why he'd kept the fact that he'd met Rupert quiet in the first place. He knew Lee would react like this....just like she was reacting.

"Lee...this is Rupert...he's part of a resistance....he's safe" Tarin couldn't remember the guy's last name...he was too tired to really even remember his own name let alone someone he'd met once. "God..." he sighed as a wave of exhaustion passed over him, then turned his look back to Rupert, "Yeah...a spirit..." Tarin was drifting again and he could tell he wasn't going to get the story out...but he wanted to stay concious long enough to find out how this ended. "Lee...a little help..." he said, turning pleading eyes to her even though she was angry.

> "Yeah... she's the fiance I was talking about..."

Fiancé...? Rupert searched through his memory of the one time he'd met this man, yet again. Finally, something came back to him: scotch wasn't his fiancé's drink of choice. Ah. If he'd remembered that sooner, he'd have potentially avoided asking if Lee over there was Tarin's mistress. That was just a little tasteless, in retrospect.

> "Thanks for coming to check on me though..."

Rupert gave a shrug. "I like to check up on people when I see them going through windows. It's a hobby of mine, really." Then the fiancé was back, in all of her why-are-you-still-here glory.

> "Didn't I say he was sleeping, but alright?"

Rupert gave another shrug, and skipped talking. She was right. He was an idiot. Excuse him if he still wasn't used to how habitually violent the lives of freaks were.

> "What the hell are you talking about? ...Tarin, what's he talking about?"

From the near panic in Lee's voice and that groan from Tarin, Rupert deduced a simple fact: the woman hadn't been told about his little visit to the man's shop. No doubt that would lead to some awkward conversation between the two after he'd left.

> "Yeah...a spirit... Lee...a little help..."

"A spirit?" Rupert asked, one of his eyebrows shooting up. Far up. Sure, he believed in ghosts. A bit like he believed in the weather forecast for next month. The people who talked about either were about as reliable. "You aren't seri--ah. The shop. Right." Rupert stopped crouching: he officially sat his butt down. "So you're a real medium, then? That's... just... yeah. So, a spirit. A spirit tried to push you through that window...?" He guessed, working on the limited information he had. Why couldn't all the freaks have the same power? That would certainly make his life a whole lot easier. It would give him something to wrap his mind around; something that didn't change with every new mutie he met.

Lee kept her ears peeled while she was in the bathroom, moistening a cloth as quickly as she could, and heard that while Tarin hadn't bothered to tell her about meeting this cop, he had mentioned her, if vaguely.

But then she was back, damp cloth in hand, though still standing a number of feet away from Tarin. And he was explaining, saying that this cop was part of the resistance and was 'safe'. He even went so far as to tell the man that it was a spirit that had sent him out the window not much earlier in the night.

Apparently, even though Rupert knew that Tarin was a mutant, he hadn't known what his powers were until this point. Tarin was exhausted, though. Even if she hadn't known why, Lee would be able to tell simply based on how his eyes were drooping, how he was slurring his words.

"You're sure?" Lee asked in a whisper, glaring at Tarin slightly at his response. "Hey, don't get that way," she then said, her voice picking up a bit of an edge. "You're the one who didn't tell me about him in the first place.

"And simply put, yeah," Lee said, moving her eyes up to look at Rupert. "I guess you saw him going out as I was pulling him back in. The whole thing just wore him out, but physically he's fine."

Tarin had to laugh a bit when Rupert said it was a hobby of his to check in on people falling out of windows. It hurt his ribs though and he wheezed slightly. Now that Lee had let go of him and he'd been able to stop fighting the spirit, Tarin felt a little better. Rolling to his back and wincing at the crunch of glass that went along with the movement, he took a few deep breaths before sitting himself up, one arm wrapping around his middle as his ribs pulled again, Lee had done a great job tossing him back in to the apartment. Leaning forward slightly reduced some of the pressure and he leaned his head on his knees.

For good measure, Tarin rolled his eyes again when Lee's voice took on that hard edge and turned his head to look at her. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you." he said, hoping she'd pick up on the fact that he meant her suspicious looks and whispers.

They were discussing his powers and Rupert took a hard seat on the floor. Give the man a freakin' award for observation skills, because he was obviously an expert. Raising his eyes and regarding the other man for a moment, Tarin shook his head "Well it's good see you didn't just pull that detective's badge out of a box of cracker jacks." Tarin said dryly with a slight grin, then the smile faded as he prepared to explain, "But yeah...mostly I can see them all the time...talk to them...ask them for help from time to time. On occasion they get the upper hand...kind of take over..." Tarin paused for a few minutes. "I've never seen any with you though."

> "You're sure? Hey, don't get that way. You're the one who didn't tell me about him in the first place.

> "This is exactly why I didn't tell you."

Rupert tried to blatantly ignore the little mutie lover's spat going on in front of him, instead looking around the apartment a bit. Nice place. Less dog fur than his own place, and no mingled spice and sauce smells of a chronic cooker in residence. All in all, he had to say that he liked his own apartment better.

> "And simply put, yeah. I guess you saw him going out as I was pulling him back in. The whole thing just wore him out, but physically he's fine."

"That's good," Rupert said lightly, trying to pretend like he understood a half of what had gone on in this apartment. Spirits and windows and fiancés that seemed entirely unfazed by it all. He had to admit, they made a cute little freak-on-freak couple. For a moment there, he started picturing their abominable little gurgling babies. Fortunately, the man's voice dispelled that image from his mind.

> "Well it's good see you didn't just pull that detective's badge out of a box of cracker jacks."

Oh, those words dispelled it all right. They actually took quite a lot of his rational thoughts with them. Rupert glared at the man. The grinning man. The grinning mutie freak whose sense of humor tended to target Rupert's sore spots like a crossbow. Rupert closed his eyes, counted to ten, and tried to let it go. The guy didn't know that Rupert was on his first year as a detective, or that he'd spent most of the year before that in the hospital and in rehabilitation; he definitely didn't know Rupert's fatalistic suspicion that the main reason he'd gotten the promotion was because he physically couldn't handle being a street cop any more, and the force hadn't wanted to turn away a Sanctuary survivor who still wanted to work. He could have just taken disability. Unlike some other cops on the force, though, he wasn't afraid to deal with the freaks. Someone had to stand up to them, show them that they couldn't just rule the streets, that the law applied to them as well. Someone who had skipped his first appointment with death was perfect for that job, in Rupert's reasoning.

The smile was fading from the guy's face. Interestingly, it was fading just about as quickly as Rupert's urge to punch him in the face.

> "But yeah...mostly I can see them all the time...talk to them...ask them for help from time to time. On occasion they get the upper hand...kind of take over..."

"That's..." Rupert didn't actually have words for what that was, actually. 'Damn creepy' came close.

> "I've never seen any with you though."

Rupert froze for a moment, his shoulders locking washboard-straight as he processed that one. That's good, isn't it? He started to relax again. "Does that mean my ghosts are resting easy?" He asked, trying to make it sound like a light, almost joking question. So his old partner wasn't with him? All the others from the Sanctuary Massacre, who hadn't survived?

None of the freaks, either? Rupert's eyebrows furrowed. "You're sure about that? Wait--if a ghost isn't with me, could it just be at the place where it died?" The furrowing turned into a full-out trench. "Does everyone who die leave a ghost behind? Aren't there some that... that pass on?"

Rupert realized something: talking to a mutant who dealt in the afterlife might not be healthy for his religion.

Lee just continued to glare at Tarin as he pointed out the reason why he hadn't told her about Rupert before then. Ok, yeah, the rational part of her mind did understand, at least to a point, what with her worries of late. Finding out that a cop, that a police officer who was supposed to be enforcing the law, which included the Mutant Registration Act, knew that Tarin was a mutant, yeah, that wouldn't have gone too well Lee was sure. But at the same time, if she had known, maybe this little encounter would have been easier.

But as she saw Tarin lifting himself up into a sitting position, Lee got an idea. Sure, this cop thought that she was a mutant, but he had no proof of it yet. And Lee was not about to give him that proof if she didn't have to, but at the same time, there was the problem of cleaning up Tarin's cuts. She couldn't simply stand there, damp cloth in hand, and not start cleaning them, that'd look extremely uncaring, but Lee was not ready to touch Tarin yet, not with how much she had already siphoned from him.

"You want to deal with everything yourself," she said, reaching out and carefully handing Tarin the cloth. "You can clean your own cuts." Then Lee also sat down, the movement carefully planned to put an additional foot or so of space between her and the two men.

But then Tarin was explaining more about his powers. A lot more. For some reason, he must really trust this guy, and Lee couldn't really understand it. They didn't seem to get along too well, the look on Rupert's face as Tarin tried joking around said that. But other than the fact that the guy hadn't turned Tarin in simply for being the way he was born, what was the reason for the trust?

Yet, even with how they didn't really seem friendly, Rupert was asking questions about Tarin's powers. Asking about what Tarin had said about not having spirits with him, seeming surprised by that fact. But being a cop, Lee supposed he must have seen people die, had probably killed some people.

It didn't seem like the best time for her to butt in, though, so Lee simply sat there listening to the two men talk, wishing she was actually able to get further away from Tarin at the moment without drawing Rupert's attention to that.

Tarin was starting to get a little frustrated with Lee if he were to be honest. She was getting all snippy at him because of his aquaintance with Rupert and was still being paranoid about his presence. If he weren't being stubborn and was really being honest with himself, Tarin would have been a little surprised at himself as well considering the fact that they'd only known one another for an astonishingly short amount of time, but he wasn't.

Lee was still being utterly paranoid about everything, even going so far as to try and hide the fact that she wanted to help him with the cuts that were on his face. She tossed him the towel, not missing the opportunity to get in a slap of a comment about doing everything himself. "It's okay to touch...you're not angry anymore." he said, giving her a long look before taking up the towel and attacking the small cuts that he could feel. She'd be mad at him later for possibly exposing her, but Tarin simply wanted to be rebellious.

Apparently that didn't mix well with an attempt at humor and the murderous look that crossed Rupert's face when Tarin mentioned badges and crackerjacks made him blink in a similar fashion as the one in the shop. He actually closed his eyes this time instead of staring the bejesus out of Tarin and Tarin held his tongue until it seemed like the man had himself in check. Noting the slightly more relaxed form of the cop in front of him, Tarin ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "If I could keep my foot out of my mouth where you were concerned for ten minutes...." he said loud enough for the guy to hear, then shrugged, "Sorry?" he offered up.

Despite the verbal fiasco of a few minute before, the cop seemed to be intersted in what Tarin could do. It wasn't surprising, everyone was always interested in what Tarin could do. It was an absolutely fascination that people had with death.

Tarin wondered for a second if he should answer the cop honestly, any attempts at humor had failed miserably to date, honesty was the best he had though. "It means they've not been with you when you've been around me." he said, making eye contact, he'd heard somewhere that showed honesty. Rupert went on talking, and frowning and it seemed that he was surprised about the fact that he didn't have spirits following him around.

"No...not everyone becomes a spirit.." Tarin said after the man had stopped speaking. His slightly fuzzy mind and muted reflexes making extremely eloquent answers difficult. "Most of them have something holding them here...the whole 'unfinished business thing has a tendency to hold true." He paused again in thought.

"I have to say though, just because I've never seen any with you doesn't mean they're never there. They might be tied to places, or things, not just people. I'm not exactly sure how it all works...with a few exceptions the spirits don't do a ton of talking to me. They mostly just moan and beg...show me how they died...ask me for help...try and take over my body and do terrible things to my fiance..."

Tarin shut his mouth so hard it was probably audible to everyone in the room, he was launching into a bit of a pity tirade. Tarin turned back to Rupert, "but yeah...some...most spirits pass on. It has to be something seriously strong to keep them tied to something on Earth. Don't go asking me where they go when they do pass...I've never asked and frankly I don't want to know. I know you're not particularly comfortable about the whole powers thing...but if there's somewhere you're wanting checked out. I owe you two favors now. All you have to do is ask."

Tarin stopped talking and went back to cleaning up his face. Hopefully he hadn't said anything else to offend the cop. He really was a nice guy, as rough around the edges as he tried to act, him being there proved that.

> "You want to deal with everything yourself, you can clean your own cuts."

The glare the man's fiancé was turning on him very nearly matched Rupert's own. She even took the extra step of sitting a distinct distance away. Ouch, Rupert very nearly winced on behalf of the man.

> "It's okay to touch...you're not angry anymore."

He all thoughts of wincing stopped at that. With a normal human, he wouldn't have a clue as to the link between anger and it being 'okay' to touch someone else. With two mutants involved, he almost had too many ideas, and probably none of them were right. So her mutation was touch-based, was it? He filed that bit away, at least.

> "If I could keep my foot out of my mouth where you were concerned for ten minutes.... Sorry?"

Rupert ran a hand through his own hair, unconsciously mirroring the man's motion from a moment before. "That... wasn't your fault. It was nothing you could have known. Just... it wasn't your fault." His head turned slightly to the side, avoiding direct eye contact. His mouth worked for a second more, but no apology was falling over itself trying to come out. He shut it.

> "It means they've not been with you when you've been around me. No...not everyone becomes a spirit. Most of them have something holding them here...the whole 'unfinished business thing has a tendency to hold true. ...I have to say though, just because I've never seen any with you doesn't mean they're never there. They might be tied to places, or things, not just people. I'm not exactly sure how it all works...with a few exceptions the spirits don't do a ton of talking to me."

Rupert flinched, and flinched again as the man affirmed and reaffirmed that the ghosts might not be with him now, but that didn't mean they weren't there. How pig-headed of him to think they'd stick to him. There was a place that was much more important to each of them.

> "They mostly just moan and beg...show me how they died...ask me for help...try and take over my body and do terrible things to my fiance..."

Rupert's head shot back up and his gaze went back to the man's as that little gem dropped. He almost asked what the guy meant. Almost. Unlike Tarin, though, he occasionally knew how to keep his foot out of bear trap issues.

> "But yeah...some...most spirits pass on. It has to be something seriously strong to keep them tied to something on Earth. Don't go asking me where they go when they do pass...I've never asked and frankly I don't want to know. I know you're not particularly comfortable about the whole powers thing...but if there's somewhere you're wanting checked out. I owe you two favors now. All you have to do is ask."

Rupert stared at the man. He didn't know what to say to that; to any of it. The entire concept--that the man could actually see spirits, communicate with them--was absurd. Rupert didn't have any trouble believing him, though. He'd heard of far stranger things where mutants were involved. Teenage boys who couldn't be injured. Young girls who could form their own bones into a never ending supply of weapons. Lionesses that walked and talked. A thirty-something man who could speak with the dead was almost normal, next to that; mediums had existed throughout history. It was bipedal lionesses that were new.

The guy owed him favors, though? Two favors? It took Rupert a long moment to even realize what Tarin was talking about. When he did, it left him startled for a moment. He'd done what he'd done--he definitely hadn't expected anything in return then, or now. As for places he'd liked checked out: yeah, he could think of one. Somehow, though, it just didn't seem right to bring a mutie there. Disrespectful.

"You don't owe me anything," Rupert answered finally, shaking his head. "Thanks, though." Abruptly, he realized something: he was being rude. He looked towards the woman, and offered his hand over her boyfriend's legs. "I'm Rupert. Rupert Kelley. NYPD detective, mutant containment camp supervisor, and allowed to be the token human in the Resistance because of those last two. Sorry about hassling you earlier." He remembered something after he'd stuck his hand out: her mutation was touch-based. His hand jerked a few inches back towards his chest; with a conscious force of will, he re-extended it, and kept it steady. As steady as could be expected, at least.

Lee was about to stop glaring at Tarin, but then he had to open his mouth again, tell her that it was ok for her to touch him because she wasn't angry any more. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered her, normally it would have made Lee feel relieved because it also meant that Tarin was feeling better. But Lee also saw the look on Rupert's face as Tarin said it. Obviously, he didn't know everything about her powers, but especially at this point in time, it was far more than she wanted him to know.

The glare did fade off her face as Tarin explained about his powers, though. She simply sat there and listened, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Tarin certainly was going into detail with his powers, explaining them quite well. Even...

Lee sat up straighter but kept her knees tucked up when Tarin brought up the fact that sometimes the spirits merged with him and sometimes that resulted in the merged form, well, trying to kill her. Just what they needed, to tell a cop about that. At least Tarin didn't actually describe what had happened during some of those merges, such as her almost being brained with the crystal ball. Or the broken collar bone. Still, Lee gave Tarin a hard look for a couple moments, and a slight shake of her head.

But then, after Tarin had told Rupert that he owed the man some favours for what he had apparently done (since apparently scaring and worrying his fiancee like had happened was a good thing...), and Rupert saying that he owed him nothing, Rupert held his hand out toward her and introduced himself. Which, apparently included him being the...

The Mutant Containment Camp Supervisor[/b] was in her apartment, and knew that she was a mutant? Lee blinked, her eyes suddenly wide after that shock, as she looked at Rupert, glancing down as she saw him partially withdraw his hand, only to extend it again, if a little shakily.

"Thanks, Tarin," Lee said, her voice low, dejected, not yet unwrapping her arms from around her legs to shake Rupert's extended hand. "He doesn't even know the reason, but he doesn't want to touch me...

"Lee Smith," she finally said after taking a deep breath, moving to briefly clasp Rupert's hand before letting go and hugging her knees again. "Those collars shock when a mutant uses their power, right?" Lee asked a couple moments later, her voice flat. "How long do you figure before it'd kill me?"

Apology accepted...again. Tarin tucked away the fact that he'd made an ass of himself twice now in front of a guy who was doing nothing more than trying to help him...against his better judgement even. Tarin's eyes widened slightly as it looked like for a moment Detective Kelley would do some apologizing of his own. It wasn't to be though, Tarin honestly didn't mind though and was simply glad that the anger had faded from the other man's features.

Shock. Another emotion Tarin was used to seeing, after the almost unbidden curiosity about his powers wore off and people asked for more, the shock set in. The flinching was real and it made Tarin wonder what...who exactly it was that Kelley was so interested in finding out more about.

Lee was angry, Tarin knew it, and he knew that he was probably going to get an earful the next opportunity that she got. He deserved it, but at some point they had to trust someone. She was withdrawing though, further and further as he spoke and despite the fact that he was half exhausted still, Tarin started to worry about her. The looks she kept giving him continued to suggest he was in trouble, so Tarin did his best to convey to her non-verbally that everything was going to be alright.

Rupert's reaction to Tarin's explaination about his powers didn't go unnoticed and he looked levelly back at the other man then shrugged. "We've all got our demons. Mine are relatively harmless most of the time."

Rupert actually looked embarassed when Tarin offered him help should he ever want or need it. He obviously didn't know how few allies the mutants had on the human end of the gene pool. "Well..." Tarin said, after Rupert informed him that he didn't owe him anything, "At any rate, the offer stands."

Tarin watched curiously as Rupert held out his hand towards Lee and made his introduction. Holy effing god....did he say SUPERVISOR of the mutant camps? The SUPERVISOR of the mutant camps had come into his shop, given him an offer of safety, then came to check on him after he leapt from a window? Tarin almost laughed...almost. Rupert's hand flinched back and Lee didn't miss it. Damn her, she never missed a thing.

Her words were almost like a slap in the face, it really wasn't his fault. Espcialy now that he knew Rupert's position in the camps the risk the man was probably taking by being in their apartment without more cops and collars was huge. Lee's words still hurt though, and Rupert's hand still hung in the air between them. Lee clasped it briefly then spoke again and Tarin's heart jumped into his throat.

Realization crashed down on him with a shocking jolt and he stared at Lee a little dumbly as the pieces of her paranoia puzzle fell into place. How had he been stupid enough to wonder why exactly she was so worried about the prospect of the camps. Sure, he was worried too, worried enough to be passing up more real readings than he ever would have in the past, but Lee's extreme worry, the constant looking over her shoulder, the jumpiness, refusal to go out in public. This was why.

Rupert wouldn't handle the knowlege of what Lee could do very well, and Tarin knew it from their last encounter. The touching comment had tipped Rupert off, even though Lee was still siphoning even from the distance she sat. Tarin looked at her long and hard, regret written on his features. "You're right Lee, he doesn't know or understand. You can't really blame him. Besides...you heard him...he's a member of the resistance...he's the inside man." he said softly, then turned to Rupert, Lee's words warrented something of an explanation.

"She can't turn her powers off. She's not like the physical mutants where that's their physical appearance...her powers are working all the time.' Tarin's voice had taken on the same kind of flat quality of Lee's it was the only way, otherwise he'd think of her with one of those hideous devices snapped around the neck and likely snap himself. 'Granted we've only heard rumors...but the fact remains...it couldn't be good. You'll have to forgive her...she's scared." Tarin knew he was treading on thin ice with Lee, showing her vulnerabillity was risky but now even more than ever Rupert Kelley was an important ally to have. Besides, Tarin genuinely liked the guy.

"It is rather amazing though Rupert...you seem to think I don't owe you anything...but here you are, and here we are...and with what you just told us...it seems like we could be in a position to owe you quite a bit. You left that part out the ther day." It wasn't said with rancor, or in an accusatory tone, if anything it was respect that laced Tarin's voice as he continued to regard the other man in the room.

> "Thanks, Tarin. He doesn't even know the reason, but he doesn't want to touch me..."

The comment wasn't directed at him, but Rupert almost made the mistake of replying to it. Almost. He clenched his jaw, making sure his mouth stayed shut. He had plenty to say back to that. He was trying a new thing, though: thinking before he spoke. It had great results, when he remembered to do it. I know the reason. You're a mutant, and whatever your power is, it can harm people when you touch them--especially if you're angry, apparently, and I can't imagine you're in the best lily picking mood right now. Are you wondering if you can trust me? What the hell have you done to prove I can trust you? Freak. You could at least give me a few points for knowing that you could hurt me, and still letting you shake my hand. Or you could, if you weren't so busy being so damn self-righteously superior over there. So I'm a zealot. So what? I'm a zealot who's helping you people. He was definitely keeping his mouth shut. He hadn't launched into a full tirade in three weeks and counting, and he'd like to make that record last even longer.

> "Lee Smith."

He shook her hand robotically, nodding at the introduction. Saying 'nice to met you' would be a blatant lie. Worse, it would involve opening his mouth. He kept a straight face as she went back to hugging her knees: a carefully controlled, purposefully blank straight face. What? Going for the pity show angle, Lee? That's even better than the self-righteousness.

> "You're right Lee, he doesn't know or understand. You can't really blame him. Besides...you heard him...he's a member of the resistance...he's the inside man."

In other words, I'm a useful zealot. Great. 'Don't blame the useful zealot, children--he's the inside man!' A few moments passed. Rupert let them pass in distinctly wise silence.

> "Those collars shock when a mutant uses their power, right? How long do you figure before it'd kill me?"

> "She can't turn her powers off. She's not like the physical mutants where that's their physical appearance...her powers are working all the time. Granted we've only heard rumors...but the fact remains...it couldn't be good. You'll have to forgive her...she's scared."

Lee's voice had gone flat, and so had Tarin's. Rupert's made three. "I understand. We see muties like that at the Camps. We can modify the collars so they only deliver a charge for more extreme power usage." They probably didn't know or care to know that tidbit.

> "It is rather amazing though Rupert...you seem to think I don't owe you anything...but here you are, and here we are...and with what you just told us...it seems like we could be in a position to owe you quite a bit. You left that part out the other day."

Rupert shrugged his shoulders, shifting his legs so that one knee was off the ground; he hung an elbow over it. "You don't owe me anything. No one does. I'm not doing this for you--I'm just doing it because it has to be done. The Camps..." He shrugged again. "That's not what I wanted." He ran a hand through his hair, focusing on the motion to block out rising images of a woman who could sing up ice. "It's... just not what I wanted. None of this is."

Lee could tell by the look on Tarin's face that what she had said hurt. But then again, she was dealing with more than enough fear at the moment without also having to deal with people she didn't know being afraid to touch her without knowing what her powers were.

As Lee heard Tarin telling Rupert more about her powers, his voice also having taken on a flat, almost dead quality to it, she felt her legs start to bounce and hugged her arms tighter around them to try and stop it. She really had too much energy, and it really was amazing that she had been able to sit this long. The problem was, she really didn't have a whole lot of options for getting rid of it, at least not enough to make it feel like she wasn't going to burst out of her skin because of all the energy. And especially not with Rupert here too.

And then Rupert answered her question about the collars. She nodded almost absently as her brain tried to take in that information. If it really were true, then maybe being caught and put in the camps wouldn't be the definite death sentence she thought it would be. Chances were, though, they wouldn't likely be all that inclined to alter the collar that much for her. So if she got mad and started unconsciously siphoning more...And what would happen if she actually touched someone, cause that resulted in her taking more energy. Would that mean she'd be shocked then?

Even with her arms tightly hugging her legs, so tight actually that it was actually hurting a bit, Lee's legs were still bouncing and shaking. Letting go, Lee pushed herself up off the floor and started walking around the apartment. Turning, the apartment really wasn't that big to be able to walk around very far, Lee saw Tarin looking at her and shrugged slightly. "Can't sit still any more," she explained simply, then listened to Rupert's explanation about how Tarin didn't owe him anything.

"Then what did you want?" Lee asked, rounding on Rupert before she started pacing again. "Someone must have thought you wanted this to put you in charge."