Recent Posts

Noel rolled her lips together to keep from interrupting Ty. "Oh. my. God. I can't believe you're pulling the whole 'I was only miserable because I missed her' thing. That's like TV teen drama." She she would know. Noel watched the dickens out of Dawson's Creek on her roommate's Netflix account.

"Look, obviously I don't know everything and you don't exactly look like you're suffering right now. Just... If you need back up. No. Before you think you might even need backup. If you get the ghost of an inkling that you need somebody, call me." Noel wondered if she could find a practical way to hide a body. Because if he called her, it miiiight just come to that.

It was so weird to feel this fiercely protective over somebody she apparently hadn't seen in months.

"I must have forgotten." Noel ran her hands through her hair until they got tangled in her stupid holiday earmuffs. "I mean, you're in my phone, but..." Noel shrugged. She didn't remember why she left since she didn't remember staying wherever Ty was staying.

She must have had her reasons, though, since he wasn't labeled as her roommate or suite mate or anything like that. "I went to a women's shelter." Which typically meant some man had made her uncomfortable somehow and she'd needed distance. Noel toyed with her ear muffs for a moment while she let that revelation sink in.

"I don't think you're an idiot." She put the peppermint earmuffs back on with extra force. "I know so." She smirked. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Ty was on her list. She didn't have to check the tattoo because it was a short list and she saw it just about every day. Ty was on it. And in her phone. And in her notes. They were sorta friends, she guessed, though she couldn't think of the last time... or any time she had met him.

When his face showed up on her screen, she scrambled to answer.

Aaand missed. Dang. Noel was spending the day awake since she didn't have to work tomorrow. She'd joined in the festive mood only so far as to drink hot cocoa instead of a coke. Oh. And she'd bought ear muffs.

> "Hey, Noel. It's Ty. Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and see if everything was okay. Also, thought I'd let you know that ex I had trouble with and I got back together."

Uh. What? All the notes Noel had on Ty said that the girlfriend was the be avoided at all costs. Like, Ty should avoid her too. Like, bad news. Like, they had talked about erasing her from his memory kind of bad.

She dialed him back right away.

"Where are you." Technically that was a question, but it didn't come out that way. It also wasn't preceded by a hello or followed by a goodbye after she mentioned that she was on her way.

Just in case, Noel packed her gun in her under arm holster. Earmuffs in place, Noel left a quick note for her roommate and then hightailed it over to where Ty was to... well, first she would meet him and then she would tell him how dumb he was.

> "Please don't tick him off more..."

That was exactly why guys like Saphirus needed to be punched in the baby maker taught humility. She'd dealt with guys like like this. Granted, she had limited exposure to both Saphirus and those other men she hoisted out of bars and night clubs, but this was one case where she could do something about it and not lose her job. Plus, it was worse somehow. She saw it in his eyes. Directed toward her... well, directed toward Evelyn, but it felt like a personal challenge.

He was strong. He could have found ways to use Evelyn's strengths, but instead he wanted to parade the woman's weaknesses around. Training schmaning, he just established himself higher in the pecking order. Evelyn's behavior toward him just reaffirmed the idea to Noel.

Saphirus displayed bad enough behavior that he should share in the responsibility of the clean up.

Noel was totally rationalizing and she knew it. Whatev. Evelyn was ready for her.

The memorymancer set a short timer on her notes so it would make her phone buzz and get her attention then she turned in her seat away from the frozen peewee game that she hadn't between watching anyway.

"Keep eye contact. It shouldn't take but a moment."

Once their eyes met, the pupils of Noel's eyes began to vibrate back and forth.

Forget.
Forget every false death.
Forget me.

She zeroed in on the specified moment in her mind and felt the command hum through her. Noel never could ask what others felt while she erased memories since it was almost always included in what she choose to take, but for her she got a quick review. Images flicked past. Evelyn waking in the night. Walking. Remembering. Reviewing. And of course the actual event. Their meeting. Their conversation...

Noel blinked. She'd done it again.

Her vision expanded out from black starting from a woman's clear eyes. The memorymancer turned away and sipped from the cup in her hand. Diet coke. Her phone buzzed and she checked for messages.

You just did a job. Walk away. Check your notes. 

"You won't pay me more." Noel hadn't realized that she'd pushed to her feet and clenched her fists. Information was still trickling in even as the connection to Evelyn's memories faded. "I'll take the rest out of Saphirus' face." Or knee caps. Yeah. Knee caps. She pat her ribs through her coat, but alas she tried not to make it a habit to carry her gun when it wasn't needed. She was just angry enough to use it too.

> "I'm sorry I just... Do you see it, like, as clear as I do, when you see my memories?

"Yes." She hissed the word, knowing full well that Evelyn still had it worse because each time had been crisp and exact. From the outside it was annoying. On the inside, well, this was exactly why Noel offered her services. For people like Evelyn.

Of course, this was tricky business getting payment from a douche nugget who seemed not to think through things to their consequences and had a flipping invulnerable half of his body. It was, however, a comfort to have all the information that Evelyn provided on the matter, even if a lot of it was extraneous.

She rolled her lips in on each other out of habit and pulled out her phone. She typed out every little thing that would help her get Saphirus to cough up some dough and then sat back down on the bench. Hard.

Breathe in. Count to ten. Breathe out. When Noel opened her eyes again she was more rational and refocused on what she'd actually been paid to do.

"I guess you'll be wanting to keep everything about the training but the... deed." She closed her eyes and tried to review the memory, but without perfect recall she wasn't 100% accurate. "Tell me the point when there would be a logical ending to what you did. I can cut it like a film editing so you'll still have closure like walking out of that room. I'll also have to take every recall and I don't want your brain poking around at blank spots." Her brain sometimes poked at blank spots. It almost always ended in blinding migraines and someone else's memories. "Also, I'll be taking this memory, of us talking here and now, and all the lead up since it all points back and gives clues."

Noel opened her eyes and looked at Evelyn again. "In theory, this'll be a one-shot deal unless you want to leave a note for us to try again."

"Does your sister ever, uhm, age?" Did she hear that right? Her parents named their two daughters Laura and Lana? That poor mom must have spent her whole life tongue tied.

Huh. She commanded respect? Noel was oddly touched. And then actually touched. Like physically and emotionally. In a good way. She would not tear up. She would not tear up. "Thanks. I mean, geez. I feel like I should give a speech or something?" Joking really was the best way to avoid emotional woman-ness.

Noel screwed the lid back onto the nail polish and held it up like a microphone. "I'd like to thank the Classified section of the paper. For obvious reasons. Uhm. This couch. Super sturdy." They were eating cookie dough, after all. Thoroughly amused with herself and now free from the threat of an emotional outpouring, Noel let up.

"But really, when I forget things, I'm sure I can be like a different person. It's my fear that one day I'll wake up in a pile of booze and hookers or... something." Okay, so in trying to make a serious thing less serious, Noel had crossed over into Lana's awkward not-so funny joke territory. "Can it be your job to make sure I don't go to the dark side?"

Was that an unfair job? Maybe, but it wasn't like Noel expected to devolve into evil all at once even if it would feel that way to her. Lana would easily be able to catch the signs if she looked out for them.

> "Noel?"

Of course, the client showed up just as the brunette had taken a long draw of Diet Coke. Noel turned her head around and tried not to shoot carbonated goodness from her nose as she reached out her hand. Ah. It burned so good. She swallowed with only most of her dignity still intact.

Noel managed to shake the girl's hand without crushing it too. Score! "Yeah. Evelyn. It's good to meet you face to face. Have a seat if you want." Noel was entirely open with the way that she spoke and her mannerisms that even someone without hyper-analytical powers of deduction would know that she was the WYSIWYG type.

And then came the polite listening. Was Evelyn rude? The memorymancer let out a soft snort of air after Evelyn expressed that sentiment. Everything about Evelyn screamed princess from her artfully matched clothes to the slight insecurity. At least she was able to ascertain what she needed from the girl's speech. She was the one who wanted the wipe.

"I've never had a mutation be a problem before. Don't get me wrong, brains are screwy and genetics even more so." Ah. Was that confidence inspiring to say that? Noel sighed, removed her sunglasses, and turned her body toward Evelyn she she could meet her eyes.

"Look, I am more than willing to give it a try, but it's potentially permanent stuff we're messing with here so there are some..." Noel waffled as she decided on a word, her hand tilting between them in a direct reflection of what was going on inside. "ground rules, let's call 'em. I need to know that you know exactly what you're getting into.

First, I need to hear how much you want me to take out. I also need you to know it's not an exact science. Think ice cream spoon instead of laser or shovel. I can do time increments or a direct... thing. Person, event, so on, you know?" Noel rolled her lips in on each other as she went through her mental checklist to the next point.

"There's some disorientation afterward so you're gonna want to write down some basics. Maybe arrange to have a friend pick you up just in case? Definitely jot down some reminders to yourself, though. Not like everything, everything and you really shouldn't write down anything that will remind you of what you've just forgotten."

And the last point? Noel had to fish out her phone to remind her, but she definitely knew she should have three points. "And lastly, I gotta have payment up front. I don't want you forgetting that." She tried to lighten the comment by making it a joke. Yeah? Not funny? Noel cleared her throat and tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

"So, what's it gonna be?"

Female security had a unique role to play in the club scene. Not only was a woman handy to have around when it was a woman making a scene, but people tended to believe that Noel extended genuine compassion and understanding where the 250lb meat slab that was man handling them did not.

The brunette pushed a cold water bottle into the hands of a man who was red in the face and flailed against one of those unyielding bricks of a traditional bouncer. "Hey, we're just doing our jobs. Have a free water bottle, let's go outside and cool down, okay?" Noel tugged on the guy's sleeve and nodded to the big guy who let the rabble go.

Compassion was not Noel's first choice, but diffusion a situation was always better. She could see the wisdom in that now as this overly macho douchebag deflated in front of her.

"You're really kicking me out?"

"Unwarranted grabbing of other guests is a pretty big no-no."

The guy was sloppy drunk but could still put one foot in front of another so Noel escorted him to the side door marked EMERGENCY. It was discreet and monitored by her company so she knew they'd send backup if she didn't come back.

Once outside she dragged him to the curb and helped him grab a cab. He could have used a good kick in the teeth, but she wanted to avoid spending the rest of her evening in jail.

Noel brushed her hands off to erase the sleezy feeling and sighed into the night and her breath rose in a large plume from her lips. The cool air was a welcome break from the thumping and grinding.