Rudolph nodded and walked along beside her, politely inquiring about her time in America and how she came to end up in Titan City.

Jeremy made it downstairs with a second wind of energy keeping him awake. He had thrown on an old t-shirt and his old high school gym shorts, which still fit in spite of a post high school growth spurt. He looked around as he brushed his hair out of his eyes and found Hypatia waiting in the lobby. "Oh hey, Pat. Thanks for the tip. Guess I know what I got myself into now."

Jeremy turned and smiled tiredly at Ron, "Hey. A bit tired, but I almost got a new trick."

Jeremy stepped back from Pat and Ron, held his hands a few inches apart and focused some energy. At first only a few small purplish-blue sparks flew between his hands, but the frequency increased, but after a quick flash it stopped. "That's all I got right now, but it's getting better! And I just realized I don't have my wristbands on."

What Jeremy didn't realize was the flash was only a visual of a much wider effect. Those nearby could feel a mild buzzing on their skin, slightly boosting vitality for a brief moment. Even Ron may feel a surge of ions that improve health.

"I think Hypatia right. I could feel the charge in the air.. and I rarely feel anything."

Hypatia raised an eyebrow. "Why is it that I don't think meant a shopping mall?"

"Mostly it's a shopping mall. However they have one section that's for super powered beings complete with a gym and safe rooms where you can let go. Like in Jeremy's case he could rev up his Ion powers with out fear of harming others." He tilts his head looking at Hypatia "Speaking of powers now that I got a closer look at you, that's not a dye job is it?"

"Yeah being a living being of magical forces kind of makes it easier to figure out illusions. Like that one about the space bugs. Hmm seems ya could use a trip to the Maul as well."

Jeremy confessed he didn't know, "That's usually when I'm done with my shift, and we went during lunch the other day.. I couldn't say when they close with certainty. Most malls in Titan City close by nine or ten, so maybe around that time?"

He glanced at the clock, realizing how little sleep he'd get tonight, getting up in less than three hours if he went to sleep right then. He passively considered if a power-nap after work to be sufficient before he would make his own trip to the Maul.

"Fangs for the advice. After pizza, then. The garlic should help."

"Pizza First, then we head to the Maul if the two of you are up to it. Oh Jeremy given that this is the second time I take you I'm sure they will ask if your my Side Kick. What you say? Care to see things my way?"

"That's just paperwork at the gym. I'm talking about the real thing going out on the streets with me, we can get the maul records changed."

"Hey Nova. Yeah that what I was thinking Jeremy more my style. Don't really see him fighting space creatures from planet X. Oh speaking of that Unknown thing... you didn't see the latest news turns out he or it broke into a lab stole some equipment."

Jeremy nodded with a smile betraying his nerves about the idea. He listened to the details about this Unknown but he had little to contribute to the conversation. "Yeah, I think I just need to make sure I can handle my own against super ex-girlfriends or a super ex-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend or ..whatever."

Jeremy shrugged, not knowing who knew already or should know just yet, "Well, uh, at least for now I don't see any cosmic threats being something I can do anything about, but someone angry about a breakup...I'd need to defend myself. Hasn't someone said 'we all gotta start small' or something?"

Ron got up "Well I think it best I go check on those Pizzas. It be quicker if I just Port over there and pick them up myself." Whistling he waved his hand and against the wall created a portal. Then walked through before Nova or Whipcrack decide to figure a way to get him back.

After a moment, Hypatia considered the money given to her for certain pizzas. "I hope Ron has enough to cover it."

A new portal appears and Ron stuck his head through. "Hey folks Pizza is done I had enough to pay for them all. Someone come over here and I pass the boxes through the portal. Oh and a few other folks are coming along. Wren flying a new comer to the city some girl named Grace who looks like an angel. Think she might be a mutation. Anyway there also a Robot named Levi and the boy who built him. They are having a race so should arrive soon. So on with the party!." His head vanished again and after a few moments two Pizza boxes came out of the portal for someone to take them.

Whipcrack righted himself and swung over to the portal, waiting so that Rotten could stack several pizzas in his arms, then he trotted over to the table to set them down.

Hypatia handed Ron the money she'd been given, plus some for hers. After finding the two pizzas piled high with at least a half dozen varieties of meat and sausage, both what would be "extra large" in any pizza place she'd been to in her six and a half years in the U.S., she asked Ron, "Watch that for me, please. I have to take this one up to Mouse, I'll grab plates and cups from my place."

Mouse would have finally crept down the stairs. Too-large sweat pants and a tank top that hangs on her tiny frame as if it's badly draped on a hanger, eyes ringed with bags within shadows within bags, she looks exhausted still. She stumbles into the lobby as Hypatia speaks, and lifts up her offerings with a smile.

"Got paper plates an' cups... just no napkins." her tail is wrapped around her left leg, the tip tapping against her calf. "Those mine?" she asks with a soft whine to her voice, her stomach grumbling loud and long.

"Yeap, hope there's enough meat on it for you. I'll run up and get some napkins. Ron, I'll give her a Look. Be right back!" She sprinted up the stairs.

Ron settled down on a seat and looked over seeing mouse. "I see you chose to come after all. I'm glad, Oh and you got the plates and cups just set them on the counter and dig in." Then sees her head to the corner "Or that."

Wren, holding her pizzas, laughs and tucks the bit of hair behind Grace's ear, and leads the girl into the lobby of the Whitehold.

"You ready for this, kiddo?" Leading the way, Wren opens the door, turning around to hold the door open with her wings. "Don't worry, you'll be just fine. And if you need a place to crash, I have an extra room, and a landing built into the balcony. Maybe tomorrow or something I'll take you to the guy who makes my clothes for me." She twists around , showing the flap that comes down from the high neck of her top, the downy 'body feathers' decorating her back and the extra set of shoulder blades the wings sprout from. She continues walking in.

Hypatia came back down the stairs with a jumbo pack of napkins as the two winged girls were coming in. She recognized the first, Wren. The second was new to her, and so was probably the one Ron had mentioned, so she Looked. A nice bright aura, mostly violet. Nothing that screamed out "I'm a divine being", though there was some energy behind it. Not like Hypatia's magic, although that could be a difference in tradition and training, or lack of it. It could also be psionic, which to Hypatia was another way of saying "a difference in tradition and training." She ripped the package open, and set a stack next to each pizza box. She wound up near Wren and the new girl. "Hi, Wren! Napkins?" The she held out a hand toward the new girl. "Hi! I'm Hypatia, my friends call me Pat."

"Likewise. Are you planning on moving in?" Hypatia asked as she opened the box she'd asked Ron to keep an eye on and extracted a piece, sliding it onto a paper plate.

Wings curled impossibly close to her back, Wren unties her pizzas and drops them off with the rest of the pile. She turns to Hypatia and Grace with a bubbly smile.

"Heya, hun. You've met Angel, yeah? Sweet kid. I'm gonna be taking her 'round the place and getting her acquainted with the city and stuff." she ponders for a moment then smiles, "And I -think- I have those turtle brownies still! Take care of our Angel, be right back!" she bounces up the stairs, small flicks of her wings helping her to rise up the stairs.

Jeremy assisted where he could with the pizza, but past experience with soda made him weary even with his wristbands. He took his pizza and a water and sat down near enough to the action to catch almost everything, He listened, mostly, as he always would in crowded situations. He watched The dance and body language and sized everyone up based on confidence and skills. Some had stronger morals, others just really wanted to be friendly. It rang an awkward note with him that this would be his crowd and neighbors.

These heroes weren't so coddling, but he saw a pride to it. To Jeremy, every last one of them could have been that special cult follower that convinced him to drink the kool-aid. And yet the yin to this yang, for now was just Katrina and Theo, felt complicated. To kill to protect, to betray to protect, the lies, the manipulation, even the coercion all could be equally self motivated from a prideful hero looking to stamp a brand on some unsuspecting startup they could parade around to show how good they were. Deep down it disgusted him, but on the surface he was happy to see someone get the help needed, just like he had.

Grace makes an amused sound, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"I'm still trying to figure out what 'super' means, I guess... I think I meant to ask it differently. If you two were... 'different', I guess."

She smiled at Hypatia, not reaching for any food or drink, having just sated her appetite at Ray's fairly recently. "...It's funny-- If I would have met a witch five or six years ago, I think maybe I would have been afraid or something." She shrugged, her wings mimicking the movement somewhat. "Now, I'm just sort of curious what kind of magic you do."

Mouse continues to devour her pizzas at breakneck speed, curled around herself in her corner seemingly oblivious to her surroundings. Her magical shields are far stronger than they probably should be and wrapped tightly like a second skin, her sensitive ears flicking to and fro, catching everything that happened around her.

+++

Wren bounces back down the stairs, sort of floating the last few dozen steps. She triumphantly puts down a platter piled high with brownies, and a jug of milk tucked into a bucket of ice.

"Alright! We have pizza, soda, and dessert... I see a successful party shaping up. Now all we need is some music!" She laughs merrily, and goes to rejoin Hypatia and Grace.

Grace almost chokes on another bite of her brownie, her eyes round and staring at Whipcrack's energy work. She pounds herself lightly on the chest with her fist, recovering, and repeating over and over to herself in her head, "It's not polite to stare, it's not polite to stare..."

She turns back to Lady Nova, a bit flushed, and tries to distract herself from glancing at Whipcrack and the girl he'd lassoed by asking her, "If it's not rude to ask... what exactly do you do, miss Nova?"

Grace looks up, startled, at the sound of Nick's voice shouting in alarm, and jumps at the resounding crash of Levi landing on something expensive. Grace shoves the last bit of brownie into her mouth, chewing hastily and swallowing on her way over to get Levi and Nick, shepherding them back over to where she'd been standing. She gives Nick a sympathetic look, and turns that look up to Levi as well. She hesitated, then reached out and touched Levi's cool metal arm in reassurance.

She smiled a little again, wiping a smudge of chocolate off the corner of her mouth on her napkin, before taking the feather from Nick. "Birds, huh? Hopefully it wasn't any supers..." Her tone is light, hoping to improve his mood.

In an effort to make him feel less embarrassed and uncomfortable, Grace stands next to Nick, letting Levi stand next to him on the other side-- and reaches out to nudge him quickly, briefly, with a wingtip. Even through clothes, it's obvious that, though her wing feathers are soft, they're also /very/ strong and resilient.

"Hi Nick, hi Levi," she said with an encouraging smile. She tactfully doesn't mention the crash outside, instead saying, "Wren made turtle brownies-- they're pretty awesome, even if you're not all that hungry."

((No worries, it's nearing midnight here :P Headed to sleep!))

Grace giggled a little, nudging Nick a little harder with her wingtip, feathers rustling.

"He's right you know. Nobody wants to see your food while you're eating it!" She says playfully. Actually, she's a little bit surprised to find herself even capable of playfulness this early in her journey... it's a good sign, she thinks.

Ron was watching Mouse consume her pizza. Something about the behavior was very familiar. He went to where all the other pizzas were and snagged himself two slices of pepperoni lovers. Then walked closer to mouse to confirm his guess "Sucks don't it no matter how much one eats the energy demand of being a magical being makes it feel as if you are never full. Drives me nuts sometimes."

Mouse looks up at Ron, her mouth full even as she stuffs another bite in. She nods, mumbling somehow around the massive amount of food in her mouth, "Haven't eaten... four days. Forgot. Working too much." another slice finds it's way down, and this time she swallows before going on.

"Been like this all my life. Stupid woman." She grumbles to herself as she downs a few more huge, meaty slices. Halfway done with her second pizza and with only half of her second two liter bottle of soda, she raises her hand, and narrows her eyes at the pile of brownies. Four or six of the delectable chocolate squares float over to her, depositing themselves in the empty part of her pizza box.

Grace had paid her full attention for a moment to both Hypatia and Lady Nova in turn, duly awed by each description. Interestingly, the way each describes what they can do seems quite clear and understandable to the girl. Maybe living here wouldn't be as difficult as she had originally thought. ...

She had nodded in a friendly fashion to both women in turn as they stepped or turned away, and had thus been left with Nick and Levi again. This seems like a bit of a relief though, as at least she knows boy and robot enough to laugh a bit at both their reactions. "He's right again, that I'm not your mom-- that'd be really weird and yes even impossible..." She considers Levi with a tilt of tilt of the head and amused eyes, "I'm also not a Mrs. I'm pretty sure that term applies to women who are older, and married. And I'm neither of those."

Grace blushed a little, but added helpfully for Levi's information, "For somebody young and unattached like me, it would be Miss.... not that I think I really deserve a title or anything. .."

It's one of the longest things she's said since she got here, and that's probably a good sign. She rubbed her neck sheepishly, but had a smile on her face all the same.

Nick laughs and elbows Levi in the side, and then makes a face after realizing elbowing metal hurts, and says "Ha ha, so you DO make mistakes, big guy."

Levi states, "No, Master Ridley. I was making sure she was paying correct attention to our conversation." He looks to Grace, "I have come to the conclusion that everyone is worthy of a title. You are no different, Miss Grace," he makes an exaggerated medieval age bow, a strange gesture coming from such a foreboding figure. "Milady."

Nick grins, and says to Grace behind his hand in exaggerated secrecy, "I think he likes you,"

Nic is glad Grace is gaining confidence. She'd fit right in.

((Lemme change that aura bit, same color but meaning has changed: he is no stranger to anger, hate, and sadnesss. Sorry 'bout that.))

Grace blinked rapidly a few times, already blushing a bit from the obviously affectionate banter over her shoulder-- and somewhat above her. Her blush makes her rounded eartips turn pink as it spreads, taking in Levi's uncharacteristically gallant behaviour and bow.

She thinks for a moment, then spreads her wings slightly for balance and gives a surprisingly accurate curtsey to Levi. "Sir," she murmurs demurely in response... then has to bite her lip to conceal a smile that had wanted to stretch itself into a grin.

"Well, I think I like him, too," she says to Nick, though still looking up at Levi with that bitten half-smile.

There's a little pause, as if a thought is hovering but hasn't quite managed to work itself out yet... then abruptly lands.

"Oh! Nick--" She turned her head toward him, pulling one wing around her body to rub the 'wrist' joint. "--You said maybe I could stay in the room here that you don't really use tonight... What do I have to do for that? Do I need a key or something?" She hesitates, then asks shyly, "...Does it have a balcony maybe?"

It was always easier to start her flight by falling from a height.

Mouse nods rapidly at Hypatia and Ron, "Phones don't work long." she considers her next words, "No friends. And Work is ... complicated." she chuckles in a way that sounds like it has a soft purr in it. "Got an elemental might keep reminders... he likes fruit. Could stock up."

She finishes off her second pizza.... somehow all that food and soda isn't showing anywhere on her tiny frame... and starts in on the brownies. she munches for a while and burps behind her hand before replying to the offer.

"Sure. Been too cooped up workin' on the new shields for that new skyscraper. Big job... huge energy loss. Workout could be fun."

++++

Wren's wandering about, getting pizza and brownies for people, and generally just chattering happily with the neighbors.

Grace takes the keys, noting the room number dangling from them. It was several floors up... that would be pretty much ideal. She fights back a wave of unpleasant emotion, feeling unworthy all of a sudden of this type of treatment. She tucks the keys into her pocket, and turns her attention back to her new friends.

She's torn, of a sudden. Part of her is tired. She isn't used to all this attention, isn't sure she wants to spend yet more time around people she doesn't know with powers she doesn't understand...

But at the same time-- she hadn't, and couldn't, discover anything else about herself on her own. She'd pretty much figured that out awhile ago. And if her new friends were going... wouldn't it behoove her to know what they were capable of doing? Besides, she'd told her family that she needed to go out into the world and heal the sick and injured... if these 'supers' were going to spar against each other, she's /pretty/ sure /someone's/ going to get hurt and need her help.

She shuffles up next to Ron and Levi, and says shyly, "... If it's okay with you, I think maybe I'd like to come." That had been pretty bold, in her book, so she adds, "...I've never seen anyone 'different' except me, really. And if you guys are going to hurt each other, I can help."