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"I ain' got a reason t' hide either." Oh. So. Slow. He was the slowest. The most turtle. He was channeling raw sloth energy.

> "That's the last person you signal."

"She's pretty cute, though right?"

Okay. So he was fishing for compliments and not really taking this as seriously as he should, but that was only because it was freaking hilarious that Michael had actually shown up in the pizza laser space cat bikini he'd picked. It was part joke and... well, partly just because he liked it. If that'd been him in a bikini, he would have gladly fallen on a sword by now. But it wasn't. It was Michael. So that was okay, right?

N-not that he was attracted to himself! That would just be... something.

> "No bar. No help."

Well, boo. Noel lamented with an eye roll so powerful that it made his head spin a bit. He wasn't typically a pouter, but the comment merited pouting. Or, judging by his would-be captor's reaction, maybe it wasn't just his spinning.

> "What did you do? ...You'd better not be pulling something..."

"What like... dancing?" It was a long shot. The guy was all clenched up and growly, but Noel just felt like dancing. That it was dude on dude dancing had really not occurred to him, until he'd tried to get his would-be kidnapper to move his hips.

.... fudge.

Okay. Just... roll with it. Noel wondered if he could twerk and thereby embarrass himself to death. Would his power assist? It didn't seem feasible without mutant gene intervention, honestly.

"Are you sure you're not lookin' for someone else?"

How long could it take, really? If Noel was doing this for someone else? He’d call it after a minute. He was fast and precise, but more importantly, he really only had stolen memories at this point. What did it matter if he removed or replaced a section? He knew how to download and bail and then sort through things later… with actual memory on the line? Michael would be reviewing before she decided what to take.

He knew the rules and so did she.

”Okay.” Resigned, he let her drive. His heart and lips weren’t really in it. Maybe it was creepy, but he never closed his eyes. He couldn’t focus on her face, really. But he could see eye brow bunching and how still or not still she was. Eventually, she seemed to gain control of her arms. That was the beginning of the end.

He gripped her upper arms, willing her to speak. Afraid there was nothing. Afraid of what might be there, too.

It turned out to be… something.

”Yeah. Show me.” He let her take his hand and he realized he was tapping his foot. Again, he tried to dismiss it as stupid before all his senses were consumed.

”Wellll this is awkward.” It was her. A much younger her than she was even now. She noticed the accent, the clothes, the age. Noel didn’t have time to glean much else because she kept talking. ”You want me to talk to you? Like you’re me?” She breathed and shook her hands out.

”Okay. So. You’re poking around in your past, but that’s against the ruuuules. I sorta always knew this day would come so I’m leaving myself clues. I wanna be able to get back here, make my own decisions. I likely won’t always be with the psychic contingent. And if I am, who cares? I’ll just wipe it all again anyway. But at least I should get to go see. You know?”

The person acting as the “camera” for this scene nodded.

”Right. You’re not going to talk and incriminate yourself. Cool. So. Tattoo.” Angela turned around and showed off the peeking top of a feathered tattoo. ”I got the cliche angel wing tattoo. Full back. Hard to miss. That one’s obvious and tattoos are permanent. Hopefully I won’t ever forget my name’s Angela.”

She said it. She confirmed— but she was also still going.

”I worked hard to gage my ears. Aren’t I so freaking clever? My code name is Gage so hopefully I’ll put that one together, too. Or first. Or… I’m covering my bases, here. The gage isn’t so fat that it’s obvious, I don’t think, but this is definitely more risky. Pull them out and open them up. If they’re the ones I’m wearing today, your last known home address of Angela Selene Castillo de Jaager is in there. One in each ear. Re-freaking-dundancy, baby.

Oh. And you wanna know how freakin’ clever I am? Write down the name Noel and it’s just a few pen strokes off from Angela. Slap an A on the front and back. There’s no freakin’ way I’ll forget. There’s no way.”

That… that was it?

As his vision came back to what he could control, there was very little doubt in his mind that Noel was Angela. Not after that little… whatever that was.

”I was still a teen when that memory was made.” He noticed goosebumps racing up his arms and rubbed at the skin to make them go away. It was just so creepy. Out of body, totally zero recollection… or any of it. ”I guess I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was if I never put any of that back together.”

He looked back at himself, doubly disturbed to be talking to his own face. He scanned the earrings in Noel’s ears, but… there weren’t any. The memory showed a gaged plug and several rings in each ear. She’d looked a little goth or punk rock. The Noel of now wasn’t sure which.

”What kind of name is that…?”

The tea was good. ”I’ll find somethin’.” She was right, of course. He just kept thinking that this charade would end. They could find out how to swap back and he could leave the security business to—

> "Don't say a damned thing…”

He opened his mouth and then shut his mouth. A joke? Without moving his head too much, he tried to look around him. No one was taking too much notice of them, but his security guys were all still in place. So this was a guest of the party or at least he’d done a great job of sneaking in.

And he was in such deep doodoo, he didn’t even know.

Noel had no clue who this was. The voice wasn't’ familiar. Nor were the threats that he was supposed to understand. He briefly considered trying out a pro wrestling move that involved head smashing, but this was a party and he was under a social contract to not spill anyone’s brains out where the press might see.

He could turn and wink. Maybe flirt a bit and… ew. No. What he liked it? He wasn’t herself and kissing in this body would gain him exactly zero advantage.

”I am indeed not hidin’. Neither’re you, I notice.” Noel raised a hand slowly, nowhere near his new friend. ”Let me jus assure my company that I’m not ignorin’ her.” He tried to get Michael’s attention with a little wave before giving a goofy mouth open thumbs up. She’d settled into a hot tub. He likely didn’t need to disturb her for this... So he turned slowly toward his new best friend.

Even seeing his face did not help. It was a very punchable face.

”That exit? All the way ov’r there? That seems real far.” In the truest spirit of malicious compliance, Noel started moving that way at the most glacial pace possible. Ohh and the bar was right there, too. ”Maybe we should get a drink first? T’ help get my strength up f’r the long journey?”

She saw him? But that was silly. ”I don’ have much a any my mem’ry before New York…”

But Michael wasn’t done. She saw her. And she was, by now, pretty acquainted with how she looked. Noel’s jaw shut with the mechanical slowness of someone who had started something, but whose mind was furiously running in different circles.

Anglea was not Noel. Noel looked at his forearm out of habit, but not only did his body not have the tattoos, neither body in this room did. That had been her cornerstone when she came to New York. She was Noel. Now she… was Michael.

He rubbed his face, determined to keep a lid on the bubble of panic rolling up from his gut.

A trip to the bathroom didn’t sound like a memory worth remembering. And Angela… it bothered him. He was bothered. 4 or 5? He tried to think back. Was t easier or harder to access her own memories without her power? Probably easier, he decided. No organization system to distract him. It was as hazy as any memory more than thirty years gone, colored by time and personal neglect. He could imagine it, but not with great detail. But was he remembering it or just hoping he could remember?

”Y’ think y’ could get to a- uh figure out a place an’ ti--?”

She squeezed his hand and… he saw it. Not with the patina of time, with the crystal clarity of her power. The edges were hazy. Her focus as a child had been narrowed solely to the woman and her objective.

The tiles were yellowish. The mirror had a crack. She couldn’t even remember getting as far as the stalls. What had struck her in that moment, what made her remember, was that her hair was growing long. She loved her hair and that day her momma had braided it for her. She said it made her look grown up. She felt grown up, when she saw it in the mirror.

And she turned and beamed at the woman. Noel felt zero recognition, but the emotion in the memory was enough to confirm…

”Pause. Stop.” He wasn’t driving this memory, but he wanted to see her longer. Memorise what he’d forgotten.

”I don’t… you found… something.” Wait… why was he seeing it? ”Noel? Uh- Michael?” He was seriously getting muddled about who was who.

A solid plan. He shouldn't complain. He could, but he shouldn't.

It was funny getting the same nervous flutter in this body as he did when he was a she. Funny that it was her body closing in. Did she look like that? Ever? Always? Every time? Or only when she looked at him?

And even funnier that when they kissed... nothing happened. Not nothing, nothing. There were still lips and feelings involved and he inched closer to slide his hands around the small of her back.

Feelings were a lot easier to ignore when he was somewhere else, mentally.

The timer went off, but he was kind of busy. Whether it was the timer or something else, Michael bit his lip one last time before pulling back.

Foo.

"Right." He was always such a gentleman, it was now Noel's turn to return that favor despite really incredibly feeling otherwise. He messed with the phone to stop it from beeping.

Michael needed a minute. Sure. Yeah. Noel just uhh… thought about baseball for a minute. Actually baseball sucked. He checked the weather which was… a temperature. He was looking at his phone without seeing while curling and uncurling his toes by the time she finally figured out words. Maybe she’d just gotten a huge info dump? Maybe she’d forgotten how to talk. It was hard waiting the 10 seconds to get there, even after the timer had clicked off.

> ”Does...Does the name… Angela mean anythin’ t’ you?”

Oh. He’d gotten spooked.

”No, but I got lotsa people in here. Probably one of the govermen’ issue people. Didja find somethin’ juicy? Embarrassing? Spill! Spill!”

The Ranger was trying to tell him something and he tried on a smile like maybe he sorta caught what was being mouthed at him. Yeah. That was his boss. He'd sorta been around for a bit today, even if he'd been trying not to cross her path much.

"Let me know if y' need anythin', ma'am." He hoped the implied I will drag her out and kick her to the curb if you want came across well enough as Sveta lured the pressuccubus away. That was wise considering the... everything.

A splash sent Noel scanning the crowd again. Yellow alert didn't just turn off and it was getting old being not herself.

Once it was just him and just her, Noel closed ranks with Michael and crossed his hands in front of his suit, grasping at the wrist. He didn't have to play bodyguard. The guys kept telling him over and over that he was de-aged and this event was in part for him. Even now he was getting rolled eyes from the fringe security.

"Did you want to get wet?" He wasn't about to suggest a drink after what Michael did at the wedding. There were too many cameras and not enough apologies in the world to puke at two parties in a row.

The question over the flag... it nearly broke him. This was why Noel never held anything precious, no attachments. With one glaring exception that had hijacked his body.

> ”...Texas.”

Michael wasn't the only one breathing a sigh of relief. Noel lowered the flag from between them, and tried not to look too stern or disappointed but...

"You need lessons, like, yesterday." The flag needed to go back on the wall. It was a nice physical reminder that Michael could come back to. Now that she was sufficiently scared, she might take Noel's power a bit more seriously.

"This flag is a physical thing that doesn't change, right? It sounds stupid, but... hear me out." He was feeling a little silly standing on the bed waxing poetic about memory so he stepped down and abandoned the flag to Michael's lady hands.

"Sometimes when there was somethin' I really needed to remember... if I knew I needed a reminder and none were forthcoming- no markers no paper. That kind of situation, y'know? I'd pick a physical thing. I'd try to memorize it. I'd try to find ways to associate the thing I needed to remember with the thing that wasn't going away on accident. You got a leg up. You got a lot of identity wrapped up in that physical thing so... don't waste it. And don't give me any more heart attacks like that." He was off to the kitchen for some water. And to take the boots off byt he door. If they were going to be climbing on top of beds, the boots weren't really suited.

"Scared y' off yet?"