Peas in a pod

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Elise was quite perplexed when the girl just suddenly started to walk away. "Wait, where are you going?" She asked, rushing after her. It had gone so well. That girl even seemed to have had fun for a while. Why the sudden change of heart?

"Did I say something wrong?" Not because she had said anything that could be seen as offending or bad. What was the big deal all of a sudden. Just minutes ago she had been excited over the free food. Or at least interested enough to compete for it. It was a very difficult person fate was trying to pair her with.
 
Irked as the girl rushed to catch up with hir Xan sighed softly. Why was she so persistent? Why was this strange person so focused on hir? Stopping up Xan turned and faced the illusionist and asked her bluntly: "You messed up on purpose, didn't you?"

It was just a hunch, just the feeling that it wasn't an honest win. Ze had survived thanks to a few hunches before. A hard gaze aimed at the illusionist revealed the annoyance ze felt, even more than losing Xan couldn't stand winning on false premises in a game.
 
Under usual circumstances, Elise would just have lied, but the gaze piercing her told her that it wasn't a very good idea. "I'm sorry, it's just that we've met three times in the last two days, every time by accident, and every time we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I kind of wanted to apologize for freaking you out, but just inviting you to dinner would probably freak you out even more. I really didn't mean anything wi..."

Elise froze up for a few seconds, seemingly staring at someone behind the other girl, following him with her eyes. For a moment she thought it was someone she recognized, someone that could lead a certain someone there. Fear was clear on her face, but then she relaxed. It wasn't him. The white hair was the first to have tricked her, but as the boy came a bit closer to them and the face became visible, it was obvious it wasn't him.

"I..I.. Think I should go home and rest, I'm not feeling very w..well suddenly." Even though it had been a false call, she was still quite startled, and now she couldn't help but looking around at people in a paranoid attempt to find whomever was stalking her. The blood might not be able leave the head of her illusion, but she could feel her true self turning extremely pale.
 
Staring down at her the teen listened to her explanation with hir arms still crossed. As she confirmed the accusation a bitter taste spread in hir mouth. It receded slightly as the girl explained why and the tension loosened slightly. Sighing softly the teen ran a hand through hir hair, about to say something when the girl froze, staring at something behind hir.

Frowning a little ze then thought back to what the illusionist had said about changing appearances a lot. Listening to the awkward excuse Xan grabbed her wrist and guided her out. "Come on, there's an ice cream place nearby. You'll blend in there." Calm, almost a sense of gentle, the teen clearly spoke out of experience, not having the same luxury of using illusions to mask hir appearance.
 
Just before Elise was about to take a step away from the other girl and return to her home, she felt a hand grabbing her wrist and she was pulled in another direction. It was definitely not the reaction she had imagined the other teen would have had. If anything, she would have thought the girl would have just been glad to get rid of her.

Stunned by the sudden gentleness in the stranger who had thought of Elise as nothing but annoying, all she could do was follow silently. It was first when they stopped at the ice cream place that she actually had collected her thoughts enough to speak.

"Thanks." She weren't completely sure what she was thanking her for. After all, there hadn't been any real threat, and the danger level wouldn't change no matter where she was. "I guess I'm just being silly. I'm already camouflaged. It's not like anyone can recognize me either way." Elise said with an awkward laugh, slightly embarrassed over her own reaction. As long as it wasn't a mind reader or someone with a great sense of smell, she would be safe.
 
Having put on the sunglasses out of habit the moment they had left the arcade the teen's thoughts were hidded as ze glanced back at the girl. Shrugging Xan just lead the girl inside shrugged and enjoyed the cool air, on the way the sun was still shining brightly, making it even less odd for them going for ice cream.

Inside Xan didn't really bother taking off the sunglasses, instead just leading the way to the register. "What flavor do you want?" Attention more on the ice cream disk Xan had made hir choice, chocolate was one thing ze genuinely preferred, otherwise food was just food.
 
Elise was quite surprised at the girl's actions. This was certainly a side she hadn't expected to see. Her behavior from both the other day and this very day had given Elise the hint that this stranger put herself first and rarely, or never thought about others. So why the sudden change of heart? Maybe it wasn't. Maybe she actually had a gentle side, though it wasn't shown too well towards strangers. Especially not strangers who seemingly stalked her.

"Strawberry." She said, wondering if the girl would just pretend that nothing had happened before. It was quite odd. Most people would probably have asked what was wrong even if they kind of knew already. Some would ask out of kindness, but others because of curiosity.

"Well this didn't turn out as expected. Here I thought I would treat you to food." Elise chuckled. It was certainly a strange turn of events, but quite nice to say the least. She couldn't help a small glance over her shoulder just to make sure no one was there though. It would probably take a while for her paranoia to die down completely.
 
Ordering their respective flavors of ice cream first Xan let go of the stranger to fish out hir wallet from the small backpack. Getting out a simple coinpurse with clouds on it looked more like the kind a kid would own rather than a teen. "I'm not gonna have someone that looks like a twelve year old treat me." Answering softly Xan's attention was split between the register, the girl and the surroundings.

Paying for the cold treats Xan then nodded to a spare table in the shade and partially out of sight. "That one. Could you go over and grab that table?" Turning back to the register Xan accepted the frozen treats before walking over to the chosen spot.
 
Elise hadn't even thought about that, though it wasn't such a big deal. A quick trip to the bathroom and she would soon be out as a different person, though it was probably not the right time to bring that up. She hurried over towards the table the girl had chosen and sat down. They probably looked like siblings when they sat in front of each other, eating their ice creams.

"Would this have gone the same way if I would have had the appearance of an adult?" Elise asked after a few licks on the ice cream, quite curious over if it only was due to her childish appearance that they were sitting there now.
 
At the table and in the shade Xan finally took off the sunglasses and hung them on the neck of hir hoodie. Taking some bites out of hir ice cream first Xan idly studied the chosen form of the illusionist before answering: "Exactly like this? No, I'd make you pay for these if you looked older." Gesturing to the ice creams Xan decided honesty would suit just fine.

Looking out at the bypassers along the street Xan's attention seemed to be on something else than the girl next to her. A person who was for some strange reason attaching herself to the callous thief. "Why do you bother with me? The truth and not some lame crap as 'fate' this time."
 
"Well that saved me money then." Elise chuckled, liking the honesty of this stranger. It was nice to know that she wasn't so cold-hearted as to leave a frightened person without a second thought, though at the same time she couldn't really blame her if she would have left a complete stranger just like that.

"Huh?" She wasn't really prepared for that question, and she didn't have a good answer to it either. Why did she bother? "I don't know." Elise replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Probably not the most satisfying answer for the other girl. "You might think that fate seems like a ridiculous reason, but we have met each other three times in two days, without me trying to search you up I might add." She started to explain.

"Though if you want a better explanation, it probably has to do with this." She poked the pendant that hanged on her chest. "You tried to steal it and I guess I just want to know why. It's not just you, I want to know why all humans tend to do things that hurts others to some degree without caring. I guess it has to do with my father. He's not the... Nicest person in the world." Just as she got into the topic she realized that it wasn't the best of things to bring up.

"If it's okay for me to ask, and you don't need to answer, just forget it if you feel uncomfortable, but I wondered.. Are you a.. Mutant?" She whispered the last word as silently as humanly possible. The best way of figuring out what she said was probably through reading her lips. "I mean, I guess there's a possibility you aren't, but the way you reacted to me yesterday, I found it hard to believe that you weren't."
 
Listining to the explanation Xan just felt tired, why was fate such an important thing to her? To Xan it was just bad luck and unfortunate coincidences. The two latest places weren't unusual places for anyone to be at. Anyone could read books at a library and same with playing games at an arcade. While a teen would occasionally stand out at a library or an adult would occasionally stand out at a game center it wasn't weird enough for it to be memorable.

As she told hir more of why Xan could only stare at the girl in disbelief. "What? You got thing back. Why care about the rest?" The teen shook hir head lightly, taking a bite of the ice cream. Ze couldn't fully relate wanting to know about something because your parents weren't nice. All the teen wanted was to never meet hir parents ever again.

While the girl had hit the mark on Xan being a mutant the teen was reluctant to show hir skillset. The more who knew what ze could and couldn't do the less trump cards the teen felt ze had. The thief knew that physical strength was something ze could only marginally obtain without spending all hir time on training. Likewise was hir powers, they were useful but neither were truly powerful in their own sense. "... No comment."
 
Elise sighed slightly, though it wasn't a disappointed sigh. She had expected that much. "Fair enough." She said. As long as the girl didn't start attacking her, she wouldn't have to care about her powers. In worst case scenario she could always just make an illusion that would blind the girl completely. Few were foolish enough to attack without knowing which direction they had to shoot in.

"Yes I got it back, and I'm very happy about that, but I still don't understand why you took it, or anything else, to begin with. I can overlook the cash because there's no emotional worth to it and most people can always get more, but things like pendants, they have a history and the owner might not have anything to replace it with. Sure they can go to a store and buy a replica, but the history they had with the old one won't be transferred into the new one, the feeling won't be the same. Hurting people, be it physically or psychologically, I just don't understand it." She tried to explain. This girl would probably not care much about it though. She had already shown that it sounded pretty idiotic to be attached to something.
 
"Do you even need to?" Xan asked the girl pointedly while idly wondering why ze bothered with entertaining this girl. They weren't even friends. "The answer is simple: Money." Halfway through the ice cream Xan glanced out to the crowd outside, it irked hir that this girl who was so naive apparently managed to survive while on the run when ze knew it was hard to scrounge up the needed money to have food at some days.

Thinking about the skills ze had gained out of the necessity to survive without stooping too low Xan was getting even more annoyed. Putting on the sunglasses to brave the glaring sun ze rose and took the ice cream with hir. "Whatever, this is boring."
 
Well that was a given. Money was a factor for all thieves. Getting her point through to this girl was rather hard, or maybe the point had already gotten through but she refused to care for it. Either way they didn't seem to get anywhere.

"Ah, wait." Elise rose and hurried after the other girl. "I still want to treat you to dinner. As an apology for the game, and thanks for the ice cream. I can make food look amazing. What do you say?" Look, sure, taste? That was something they could talk about when they got there. "My place isn't far from here." She added.
 
Staring down at her in yet another bout of disbelief Xan spoke with no regard to the feelings of the strange girl. "You know we've only met thrice? We don't even know each other's names. Hell, I don't know your real face. Why should I trust your place to even be safe?" Not wanting any answers Xan walked off, not in the mood to deal with this strange girl any longer. There was books to read and a good fence to find.

Finishing the rest of the ice cream Xan was finally out in the glaring sun. Spotting several posters on a wall in the distance ze walked towards there to scope out any money-making events. Ze hated being short on money, that meant being truly hungry. Sometimes ze even found some nice posters about soup kitchens and stuff, clothes were always best free.
 
"I..." She didn't really have an answer to that. They didn't know each other, they didn't have names for one another, and the other girl didn't know her true face. Not even Elise knew her own face very well. When had she last looked herself in the mirror without being in a disguise?

Standing still for a bit, the other girl had gotten quite far away from her once she started to run towards her again. She caught up to her at a wall filled with several posters. "I..If. If I show you myself, will that make you at ease?" She asked. It was clear the thought in itself made her extremely nervous. Anyone that knew her true face was a threat, still she wanted to believe that this girl wouldn't use it against her. "If.. If I told you my name, would it change your mind?" It was incredibly risky for her to give out her name like that, especially to a mutant who might or might not have connections to that man and might lead him there, but for once she wanted to get close to someone. She wasn't a lonely-wolf no matter how hard she tried to be one.
 
Looking at the posters for interesting events Xan tried really hard to ignore the girl next to her. In the end the teen sighed softly and shook hir head. "No, it won't. I will lose out by giving my name, you'll do the same. Why trust someone who lies to survive?" It was hard to tell if Xan spoke of hirself or this stranger who seemed so obsessed with hir presence.

The posters were mostly those of sales, lost pets and events for the elderly. Still there was one poster that caught the teen's intrigue. Reading the poster ze took note of time and place, and grinned at the offer of free food. Some fancy event at a fabric store? Eh, the teen could survive, plus ze might pick up a new trick.
 
"I never said you have to give your name." Elise corrected the girl. She had offered her own name, but she did not expect the same in return. She knew she wasn't trustworthy for this girl, but she wanted to show that she could be trusted.

"Okay, let's do something else. Outside. Among people. No alone time. No private place where one might attack the other out of the blue because they had a hidden agenda. Just us and the crowd walking around us as witnesses." She then said. Maybe she could gain some trust if she just didn't push a private discussion too much now. Though technically her illusions could be used even in a crowd without anyone noticing anything. While she were better at using illusions that was based on her changing the looks of the actual surrounding by using light to her advantage, she could also get into peoples mind and give one person an illusion at the time while the rest kept seeing the world as it is. Those illusions were the kind she rarely used though as it felt like an intrusion to mess with peoples heads.
 
Having the contents on the poster memorized Xan was starting to increasingly annoyed with the persistent illutionist. Glaring lightly at the girl ze spoke cooly, a contrast to the light slam on the poster ze had been reading on. "I'm. Not. Interested." Turning to face the girl fully ze was clearly not in the mood to play around. "I happen to like being alone. It's damn more peaceful." With that the teen walked off, this time with a faster pace with the intent of shaking off the girl.

Now that Xan had moved away the poster was perfectly in sight for the lonely girl. Gotten loose by the slam it fell on the ground, begging to get picked up. On it was written the program for the event, with the offering of free food written in bold letters.
 
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