and i hope that you remember me...

Her sister’s word make her look over the little boy’s head at her. Just like her gaze had travelled over Jaxon, she took in her sister’s appearance. It didn’t take much for her to spot how worn and worried her sister looked and she wants nothing more than to be able to help. So while Nyx’s words might make her frown and leave her stumped for a little while it’s not long before she’s issuing a light, “Why not?” though there’s no denying the quiet challenge in it to an adult.

Before she’s really given enough time for her sister to answer, Gaia is moving swiftly on in an attempt to nip any arguments in the bud. She’d needed to be there, firstly because she wasn’t going back to New Orleans any time soon and secondly, it was obvious that her sister needed her. Whether or not Nyx would admit to that or not was yet to be seen. “You weren’t answering your calls, Nic Nac.” The use of her childhood nickname for her sister is both habit and an attempt to get her to listen. “I know there’s something going on and you know I’m not going anywhere when you might need me.”

“Besides I-” Stopping short she decided not to mention her other motive for being there just yet, knowing her sister would be quick enough to pick up on the lack of Caleb soon enough. “Besides, I’ve missed you.”

Nyx moves in to embrace her sister, kissing her son on his cheek since he’s still wrapped around Gaia too. She doesn’t mean to sound unhappy or ungrateful to see the younger woman, it’s just that now her reasons to worry have jumped exponentially. Gaia is too sweet and too prone to trouble for her to be around now. But the tone of her voice when she asks Nyx why she shouldn’t be here tells her she won’t be moved either. She’s staying.

When she lets go again, Nyx looks over her baby sister -- she looks well though there’s something a bit lost in her eyes. She picks up on it after she greets the two dogs at her feet and notices a very obvious empty space next to Gaia.

“Does he at least know you’re here?” she asks, not needing to specify. Gaia knows her and knows exactly what she means.

Hearing Nic Nac makes her cringe playfully as it always does, but it does the job in making her pay attention. She nods, well aware of the fact that her lack of communication would’ve provoked her family’s concern.

She hugs the young woman again, a bit longer and tighter this time.

In such a state she’d forgotten why she’d ventured out there in the first place. Her fingers had moved quickly across her phone screen without thinking, typing a messaged packed with worry to the man whose life she’d been trying to make better with her absence. The fact that she’d failed barely occurred to her as she searched for something to distract herself, turning on the news only to be greeted by images that sent a chill down her spine and let every worst case scenario run rife through her head. 

Gaia didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard a key in the lock, the two blonde heads at her feet lifting at the sound. On her feet in seconds, she turned to the door, not bothering to give her dogs the instruction to sit or stay. They knew who was coming through. “Where the hell have you been?” Conveniently forgetting that Nyx might have had questions of her own, like what exactly her sister was doing so far from home, Gaia continued to let her words flow freely and quickly. “ I saw the news, I saw - I’ve been so worried. Are you ok? Where’s the little guy - is he ok? ”

She’s not worried about herself -- she can handle her own defense just fine -- it’s Jaxon she’s nearly sick over. Her little boy is the only thing she has now since she’s left her family behind in Louisiana. Who knows if any agents had followed her or could track her here? To her baby. She’s been so cautious lately, almost too much so, and even though her son clearly notices, he’s far too carefree a child to fret over it. And he trusts her. That’s the scary part. He trusts her to take care of him, to keep him safe. Nyx can only pray her fighting spirit won’t lead to a betrayal of that trust.

There’s been less than no time for her phone. Between worrying about Jaxon and Rhys who she’s learned has gone missing and staying with Ariadne whose concussion hadn’t been helped by Orion’s disappearance, Nyx has been pretty tied up. She can’t even remember where her phone is, let alone when the last time she looked at it was. When she finally finds it (in her son’s underwear drawer) and notices the obscene number of missed calls and texts from her sister, she feels guilty and makes a mental note to stop and call the younger woman back before she does something drastic.

Like show up at her place.

“..............Gaia?!”

Her sister is the very last thing she’d expected to see when she and Jaxon came back from their walk, yet here she is, she and her babies all stirred up with concern and excitement. Jaxon peeks from around her legs and sees his aunt and lights up.

“YAYA!!!!!!”

He runs at her and leaps into her arms as Nyx shuts and locks the door behind them and heads further into her house.

But he could appreciate the way she handles herself. The other agent is dispatched in brutal fashion and he can’t help but admire just how much blood she’s shed within seconds. Exactly what needs to be happening.

Her actions answer his question for him and he gives her a curt nod in return, though it’s possibly on the warmer side than the first one he’d given her. “Bern.” He left off a reply about them kicking ass together - whether it was a good thing was yet to be soon.

Had there not been bullets flying and the sound of glass shattering he might have almost smiled at the terrified expression on the man’s face as the question was raised as to who would take him. As it was, he didn’t let any amusement chink his armour, because his stony expression was as much a part of his protection as anything else. Made people think twice about approaching him and that was all he needed. Just a split second to get a hold of them and then it was all over.

“After you.” Usually he wasn’t one to pass up a fight but he wanted to see what this woman could do. If they were going to work together he neede to get some idea of ther strengths and weaknesses.

Definitely not his first name.

It doesn’t matter though -- what’s important is that he seems to have recognized that they’re on the same side. Just as the remaining agent apparently recognizes that he’s not going to have an easy time with either of them.

Curiously, Bern hands over the reins of their little skirmish for the time being, telling her in very few words that the last guy is hers to take care of. She almost smirks, but she’s too angry now -- she’d been having a perfectly chill day, she’d met a new drinking buddy... and now she’s fighting for her life, fighting to get back to her son and safety.

She’s fucking pissed.

And it shows when she picks up the chair from the table to her left. Nyx is a fighter, for sure, but not one of the fancy, martial arts kind: she’s a street fighter which means she’ll use anything and everything around her to her advantage. Including that chair.

their physical weak spots

their emotional/moral weak spots

scars or painful spots

best places to kiss on their body

guilty pleasures

their vices (physical or emotional)

bad memories or experiences

humiliating memories

fears or phobias

bad or petty habits

grudges and vendettas

what gets them flustered

ingrained habits or forces of habit

what it takes to make them cry

dark secrets or skeletons in the closet

regrets

things they’ll never admit

people they’ve indirectly hurt or killed, and how it affected them

what-ifs or alternate timelines

He rose to his feet as soon as they entered. Slowly and deliberately. The set of his shoulders and the way that he planted his feet showed them that this was not a surrender, he would not comply. No, he was standing his ground and not going down without a fight. His body tensed as he tried to summon the metal that was always resting underneath his kin but it didn’t come. Maybe it should have caused a bigger reaction than the smallest of frowns lasting only seconds but he wasn’t worried. Causing damage with his bare hands was something he’d been doing for ears.

She can appreciate that. She feels the same way.

His eyes scan the crowd as hers had done when she first sat down, but while she’d spotted several faces that she knew or at least recognized, he’s interrupted in the act by the hoard of yelling agents that came rushing into the tavern. The newcomer rises slowly to his feet, and every inch of his body screams fighter. Screams killer. 

She’s not disappointed when he (very, very nicely) handles the man who comes at him. While the other two debate whether or not to approach, Nyx lets go, letting the thick walls and guards she builds up around her power crumble...

And nothing happens.

“Fucking Corinthians,” she hisses, just as her new punchy friend asks her whose side she’s on. She quirks an eyebrow -- she really can’t help but be a smartass, it’s in her nature -- but before she can spit out a sassy retort, one of the men is rushing at her.

Nyx picks up the napkin dispenser in her left hand. The force from her backhand swing sends the man running at her crumbling to the ground screaming, blood dripping down the side of his face and off of the dispenser itself. With a foot on his crotch to make sure he doesn’t move or try anything, Nyx reaches down and relieves him of his firearm, disassembling it and throwing the pieces to the ground behind her with no trouble. She then turns back to the man in front of her.

Once they sat down at the bench again, Harlow took a sip of her coffee. “Minnesota,” she replied, “a small town about an hour away from the Twin Cities. What about you?”

Nyx pauses in taking another sip of her coffee to look over at Harlow, an amused quirk to her eyebrow.

“Minnesota. What the hell’s in Minnesota that isn’t the Vikings?”

He’d never been much of a drinker and any of the need to had all but vanished once he’d joined the Syndicate. Even if it had been whiskey fuelled rage that had led him to even be a part of it in the first place but that doesn’t mean he relished the lack of control it brought him too. From that day a month could easily go by without a drop of alcohol passing his lips. His rage wasn’t something to be played with and the chance of stoking it with the liquid wasn’t one he was willing to take most of the time. He’d be no good to the Syndicate if he ended up behind bars for making a mess of some guy who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

But for once he’d craved it. Not enough to get him drunk, of course but just a quiet drink at a bar. With the Initiative around more than anyone wanted he was tenser than usual, coiled like a spring and ready to jump into action at the first opportunity. There’d been no break through for him in finding the man Gwen had asked him to take care of and that alone had driven his frustration levels high enough to try to find something to take a little bit of the edge off. 

She’d gotten to the tavern just before the rush -- it’d been easy enough to order her drink and grab a table in the corner where she could be alone and watch everyone else get drunk and crazy. Laugh at everyone else causing themselves problems rather than contemplating their own. As business started to pick up, Nyx was more and more glad that she’d come early. Having to push her way through this throng of people to get to the bar and then be stuck without a table would’ve pissed her off to no end. Such was her mood. As it is, she’s already glaring off unwanted advances from half drunk suitors who wouldn’t even hold her interest were they sober.

It’s as one such rejected guy walks away that another shuffles up. For some reason, she’s not alarmed though he’s huge and, when he speaks, gruff as hell. She can tell he’s not the cuddly type, but that’s okay. She nods to the open chair regardless, offering him a quick smile.

Maybe his mind had been too focused on the current events, maybe he was thinking too much about how this would impact Sebastian since Rhys was involved as a member of the Syndicate. But his punches were getting sloppy, mind out of focus of its target and he was just about to catch on to that when he heard a voice from his left. The stranger literally snapped him out of his overthinking, making him take a step back and quirk a brow in her direction. He definitely hadn’t seen her around before, but it wasn’t going to stop him fromreplying back. Besides, it seemed like she was offering to help.

“Sorry my terrible punching offended you,” he teased with a quick smirk, giving a nod toward the woman, “care to show me the error of my ways?”

Oh, she likes him. She likes him a lot.

Not that she’s gonna tell him that.

“Your terrible punching offended me and my bag, and I really can’t have that. So come on.” She walks backwards to the center of the room, beckoning to him with a nod of her head. “Obviously you need focus.”

She figures throwing punches at something that can punch back will draw more of his focus than throwing punches at the bag, and that will definitely improve his form and his aim. She can tell he’s had some training, so she’s not worried about teaching him any basics. She just wants him to pay attention.

She smashes the two pads together then holds her hands out, her feet planted to keep her stationary.

“Let’s try this again. Do your worst.”

He doesn’t argue her self-assessment, even if it doesn’t answer the question. It’s nothing all that suspicious, not when LA draws a very specific kind of person. Not just the kind he’s hunting for. This might be his first time in the city, but he doesn’t need to stand on it’s streets to know it’s home to throngs of people with big dreams.

Maybe she left her home to be an actress, a model, a musician. Any number of things that might put her name in lights some day, and it’s probably the safer assumption than a mutant in her DNA.

It’s still always his first one. And it doesn’t hurt to ask.

“What brought you out here?“

Nyx knows he’s fishing for information, though she can’t say exactly why. But he’s not flirting with her either, not asking about her out of any sort of interest. And he doesn’t feel like police...

She’s glad that Jaxon isn’t with her -- this man should never, ever be within eyesight of her son.

“What brought you out here?” she counters. “You don’t answer nearly as many questions as you ask.”

Grinning she moved on. “He’s gonna be bigger than you before long then.” A frown sits on her brow briefly, as her friend doesn’t finish the sentence but she knows whose name should be there. “Good, he deserves to be happy.” 

Ariadne’s comment makes her snort, and she shakes her head laughing. “That’s not hard,” she replies. Her own frown forms once she sees her friend’s, and she knows instinctively that her slip up hadn’t gotten past the other woman. She’s too smart and knows Nyx too well for that. She sighs. “.......He doesn’t know we’re here. .....I didn’t tell him we were leaving.”