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So the lad was called Alex. Good name, strong name. "Nice to meet you too, know try not to move move around too much, won't take long." Names were pretty important to him. Sure, they might not define who you were but it was a part of what you were, your heritage and history. Its why he valued his own name so much.

If he wasn't complaining about anything particularly bad, chances are he was fine for now. As long as he got a proper check out by a doctor, preferably as soon as they'd gotten away from here, that would suit Artair fine. When he mentioned something about better than a doctor his interest was peeked. This he had to see, if only to make sure no one was scamming the poor kid and putting him in even more danger. "No lad, can't have you collapsing somewhere being on my conscience. That and those thugs might make another appearance. I'll get you to your friend."

Artair failed to mention how suspicious he was that Alex was going to actually get seen to. From personal experience he knew how much teenage boss loathed being told what to do, or being pressure to go somewhere.

Pulling out his phone and finding one of the taxi apps he'd been convinced into using, he turned to Alex. "What's the address, I can get a cab to pick us up right on the street." Who knows, he might even recognise the place, if it was one of the nicer treatment centres around. More interestingly, maybe the lad knew someone with a healing mutation.

Oh my god, oh my god, they were so fluffy! With Astrids' reassurance that she wasn't about to cause damage, all sense of holding back was gone. Gently stroking the feathers and marveling at the feel of them she started drifting off into a dreamlike state. They were just so soft!

It was such a strange feeling. In her mind it made logical sense that they felt like feathers, they even looked like feathers, but it was just so odd to be seeing and feeling them coming out of someones back. Being this up close to them, she couldn't help but marvel at how such fine things could make a person fly. They could even turn into crystal! That was so cool.

So deep in her own little word, Cait hadn't even noticed Astrid going through the music she'd brought, so when the young woman suddenly turned around, she got quite a shock. "Hmm, what sorry?" Taking the sheet being offered to her, her brain started to function again. "Oh, yes of course we can. It's a lovely piece, perfect for the two of us to play."

It was fascinating to see the choices Astrid made in terms of music. If Cait was guessing right, she was taking into consideration not just the song itself, but how it would sound when played with someone else. She could only imagine how popular a band with a literal angel on a violin would be.

Maybe with the right dress, and some well placed lighting, she could dominate an entire music hall. She was certainly skilled enough and would only get better with time. It may be hard to bring up with Becca, but it might be worth asking about considering such things for Astrid's future.

That very awkward conversation could wait though, they had some more playing to do. Picking her violin back up, she set the music onto the stand and shook the last remnants of fluffiness from her head. "Well then, shall we continue?"

She was right, plenty of time to leer at the pictures later. There was a job to do right now. Frantically checking her camera options and trying to find where to turn off the flash, by some miracle she managed without alerting their marks.

Snapping as many pictures from as many angles as she thought she could get away with, she hadn't been paying attention to what they were saying. All she got was something about plans, the X-somethings and wait, what was that? One of them had mentioned something about a rat tail. That couldn't be right, could it? Caits' eyes widen as she started to process the implication.

I think they know we clocked them. They said something about a tail, or rat or something.

Oh god, had the guy known they were following all along? This was bad, really bad. If they started a fight with the wrong person, or got caught up in a situation that was above their heads and Becca would likely skin them alive. She shuddered to think what Combatant would do to them if they lost a fight after all the training she'd put in with them.

Oh god, oh god, oh god. They might know we were following him.

Impact might actually kill me this time.

He was glad she hadn't asked him to elaborate on his little freak out. It was still something he couldn't talk to anyone about, not even his family, let alone someone he'd met for the second time. Some things were just too personal to share. The joking help though, helped ease his mind about the whole thing. He wasn't quite ready to deal with his trauma, at least not yet.

Looking around at the place, he could believe the ones spreading the rumours had never set a foot on the mansion's grounds. Something about the place just felt, good. Like the place was radiating something unseeable, easing away his concerns. Sure, he was going to need time to gauge the place properly, but the first impression was good. The promise of instant healing and only a short walk din't exactly dampen his mood either. Pain was a pretty good motivator.

"By all means lass, lead the way. Getting this sorted sooner rather than later sounds perfect." A short journey later and he found himself seated a very nice doctors office with an older man giving him kind, but firm instructions. Artair was more than happy to comply though, rolling up his shirt far enough to give access to his injuries. "Cheers, sir. Can't tell you how much not having to deal with cracked ribs means to me."

The procedure was over and done with so quickly he didn't really have any time to examine it. The only thing he could make a guess about was it being some sort of psychic power, like his own. Well, maybe not quite like his own. "I would, but apparently my conscience got in the way of self preservation. Didn't quite expect that, I'll be honest." Quickly pulling his shirt down again, hoping his scars hadn't been too obvious, he tested his movement while the other two talked. He felt good, really good in fact. There was no way to tell he'd been thrown about like a rag doll by a metal-clad monster.

He didn't really want to interrupt the banter but he really needed to get out of here and find a bar. Today was very definitely an early drink day. "Is there anything else you're needing me for then? No forms to fill out or blood seals to complete?" What could he say, he was in a jokey mood right now. "Seriously though, thank you. The both of you. Don't know how I could begin to repay it."

He got a black eye just for some flirting? Guys had it so much harder, if they ran the risk of bodily harm every time they went out and tried it on. The worst experiences she'd ever had was spending a good half hour chatting up quite frankly the most beautiful guy she had ever seen, only for the guys boyfriend to arrive and them to start making out in front of her. That had been awkward. Cute, but still awkward. It was becoming a very annoying trend recently and was part of the reason she was interested to learn any other techniques she could when interacting with her own gender.

The other reason was more innocent. Combatant had opened up a little with her, told her some little details about her past. It might not have been much, but any little helped in forming a connection between them. Cait was under no illusions that she and Agnes would ever be close friends, but that didn't stop her at least trying to be more than just a team mate. Everyone in the X Men were important to the young Scot, yet her main way of showing that affection was a no go between them. So, here she was trying a different tack. Not that she was likely to give up finally getting one out of the grumpy ninja. She had her principles after all.

Back the main problem though. How the hell was she going to get away with causing this kind of damage. This was the quite obvious reason Becca was constantly reminding her to be careful with her power, making her promise to think of the consequences of throwing around razor sharp knives with her mind. Cait didn't like to hurt people and this aspect of her power genuinely scared her sometimes, its like it was designed to kill people. It wasn't helped her natural affinity with it were weapons well made for killing people. Too many people underestimated a rapiers' speed and deadly prowess and knives had stood the test of time when it came to combat.

Was Agnes trying to get hugged. Because she was so close to getting a hug right now. On top of all of her help today, all the progress she had allowed to happen and now? Now she was willing to get into another shouting match with the boss to protect her. "You do realise that the more you be nice to me, the more I want to hug you? Because I really want to hug you right now." The urge was very strong, nearly overwhelming, but she would hold it in, somehow. After this she was going to need a loooong session with Bijou to vent all her built up snuggle energy.

Holding up her hands to try to reassure the woman glaring at her she added "Don't worry though, I know how much it sucks for you when people do. I won't try to hug you without permission, as much as it will kill me inside." OK maybe she hadn't needed to add the last little bit, but maybe if the woman would relent at some point if she knew how much hugs meant to her.

"I appreciate the offer, and as much fun as your last shouting match with the boss was, I should probably face the music myself. It'd be the responsible thing to do after all." No point missing out on the rest of her training though, even if she was going to get the mother of all lectures afterwords. "God I'm starting to sound like an adult. Something's very wrong with that."

Power practice was probably off the cards for now, so time for some physical exercise. Grabbing a pair of practice knives, she started to set up one of the very battered dummies they had left. This particular one she had affectionately called David, after an ex. She had gotten a large amount of anger out on the poor piece of equipment and the nickname had kind of just stuck in her head. Dropping into a ready stance, she set too going through the various forms Becca, and the currently present grump, had drilled into her.