2019-05-30 - The Nightcap

Death avoided, shoes found, ride compromise made, Lilith's trunk is raided for towels to lay as precaution for her own peace of mind in Byron's seat. Then they're off from the theatre and park, back to her loft so she can have a proper rest for the rest of her mending and clean up. Even though Geoff had tended her and set her body on the mend to accelerate closing the hole in her stomach, she's a bloody limp mess there on the seat and awful quiet on the ride-- the extent of that probably indicates she's still sore and knitting on a finer level now that she's closed up. Abilities are nice, but some parts of the healing process are gradual and still suck when you're gouged hard enough.

She directs Byron to park in the back of the shop for ease, as the back door leads in through the office to the staircase that leads to the loft. When he opens the door for her, she looks tempted to just put her arms up to signify a hauling out and up to that room, but after steeling herself, she gets out and works to make it mostly at her own effort, unless he insists otherwise.

Either way, once in, it smells a little like laundry soap and cinnamon, like she ran a load before leaving and there's potpourri fragrance of some kind somewhere. "Home sweet home," Lilith drags out good-natured intro to the place that's neat and nice enough, but humble compared to his digs, "Watch out for the attack dog."

Ever since learning that Lilith was back in town, this was the first time that Byron's stepped foot into her pawn shop. He's only ever waited for her outside in his car. So when the door is open and he's scoping the place out, both visually and mentally, for intruders or any other forms of life, he also lets his attention be drawn to the interior. He didn't expect anything fancy. It was a pawn shop. And everything looked the way you'd envision such a shop in your head.

He'll assist her up the stairs to the loft when he senses that she may need a little help. Once she mentions the dog, he already knows that there's none here. Or else he would have felt its presence by now. "Nice and cozy." He'll come out and say, but she's been to his place and this really was simple and cozy compared to it. "You might actually want to look into getting one of those." He's slowly making his way through the place, taking care with any object that he handles. "You know," He starts, "After tonight, I think things are going to start looking up. Besides the... rain, it almost feels safe. Maybe we really did chase them off. For now."

"Maybe. Or they come back with more, pissed as all hell. I should work on positive thinking." Lilith supposes to Byron, her handbag hitting the floor with a little heavier thud than a purse should with the normal bits in it. Then with a hum in her throat while the door is closed behind, she eyes the bag and says, "I carry an attack dog with me these days. But honestly... the idea of coming up here to -something- and not having it empty does sound kind of nice. I can't have plants to bring life into the place-- when I get upset, they die. Got a fish once, turned into a floater. Don't think that was me, though, so much as fish just do that."

Putting her hands behind herself to try and reach up for zipper of her dress seems to only work comfortably about halfway before the reach back squirm of it is paining her. She gives up with drop of arms and casts a glance at Byron, "But now that you say that... it does seem lighter somehow. The air. I told Tobin when we were seated that the air was too thick before the show and I -thought- it was because of the content of the audience and the collective shine. But now, heh. Undo me?"

"Oh, I'm not saying that they won't, but at this moment?" Byron says as he continues to go through more random items of hers, neatly put on display, "I don't feel that darkness anymore. The past week or so, I felt... I don't know. There was this weird heavy feeling. One of dread. That's completely gone. Then again, I might still be running on this high that we.." He won't say killed, "got rid of what we needed to. Whatever is out there, that final voice in our head, I'm sure they'll be back." His voice grows louder now, "Which is why, I'd rather not be here when it does, but there's little that we can do right?" Because of Tobin's mother.

"You're right, You are your own attack dog." Though when she goes on about her own fears of having pets or plants, he murmurs, "I mean, if you're afraid you'll do harm to things of that nature, and if I'm being honest, I don't think of plants and fish as pets anything I'd ever concern myself over if they went belly up, but if you're worried about that, then things would be worse for living beings that you actually care about if something were to happen."

He doesn't notice her struggling with her zipper until a brief moment late and here he sets down whatever he was holding to move in and assist, easing the zipper down.

"I meant my purse gun. And I-- I wouldn't..." Lilith looks a little gut shot all over again and almost startles into turn before Byron is taking the zipper down and she stills for it, pushing her hair over a shoulder and out of the way. Apparently, she hadn't thought of actually hurting a cat or dog. Then her lashes fall to look at the floor, "I don't think I'm that much of an accidental monster. But fair point." After drawing in a breath, she gets out of the dress part of the way while walking with roll of her shoulders to let it lay with fold down and catch on the hips, examining her blood-stained torso. Her bra is a more electric shade of blue than her dark little bloodied sheath dress.

Pausing by the bathroom door, she bares her torso there like that to Byron without any real second thought about it, so he can see where the wound itself has closed over but still apparent, "I've... never had someone do that to me or been hurt like that. And I ache like all my body is compensating for rushing things up. And I'm coated in my own blood. Like..." She blinks like it's surreal, "Ow, though. Like after the fact, major ow. I think I'm still getting ghost pains, ache aside, while it finishes on the inside of the hole where my middle pieces are."

Her mascara-darkened lashes squint some before she tells Byron, "There's beer in the fridge and cold chardonnay. There's two joints in the nightstand. The -left- nightstand. Don't go poking in my right nightstand. And give me a moment to um. Be less..." Her hand suddenly flats on the marred expanse of her stomach like she realizes suddenly she probably didn't have flattering cleavage last time he saw her in a bikini. "Bloody."

"You can set people on fire. Why would you need a gun for?" Byron says with a laugh. The humor isn't that he finds it ridiculous that she'd need to be packing with what she's already got inside of her. No, the humor is just for humor's sake. A light-hearted joke. Still, he can sense the shift in her emotions, feeling the gravity of what his little warning made her feel, bringing up those insecurities regarding her own control over her powers again. "I don't know, Lil, you're probably right. It'll be fine if you got a few pets of your own."

As her dress drifts down her form, his eyes quickly seek out the injury he'd imagined she'd had. "If you don't need any assistance, you get cleaned up and I'll soak this in... something." There's this lift of his brows now, not sure if there's anything that will remove this much blood, but he'll damn well try. Does he take a peek of what more she has to offer when standing at the bathroom doorway half-dressed? Of course, he does. He tries his best not to look like he's staring though. "I'll get us both a beer. And whatever else you need."

As her dress was't discarded, he'll work on the drinks first, making his way to the fridge for some rummaging.

Lilith may have gotten a sudden moment of awareness in regards to how different she might actually look compared to last whatever state of half-naked, but she doesn't shut the door all the way and lock it or anything. Honor system is fine. Also she has no real clue other than that beat of awareness what she looks like to him. Does he still see old Lilith? She feels like he does for a moment. Then she paranoids into the territory of wondering if he sees who she isn't because of the tie she gave him to take home. Then she just hurts standing there with her hair up watching blood run off, so she stops thinking about it and moves things along as far as washing and rinsing goes.

While doing that, she rounds back to something Byron said before, even though she won't immediately be able to hear his reply, voice echoing out with carry, "Remember when I told you I was struggling after Grant called? Mirror went all funny on me. Or I went all funny. I'm not sure which. But it was real heavy and unpleasant, something to fight out from under, mentally. Maybe... it wasn't just him drowning me with that perception change. That's why I texted you that night, when I started feeling myself again... I had to say something real."

When she comes back out with her hair up in a pile because she didn't bother with that, she's wearing a towel. Because she forgot clothes. Of course she did. She's not feeling awkward with modesty or anything, but she does kind of have to inwardly sigh at herself.

Byron is already seated at the edge of her bed, a couple of chilled bottles of beer rests his feet. One of them is already open and partially drank from. She'd mentioned the joints, so he'd fished for them too and while she warned him not to go messing with one drawer or other, despite his curiosity, he has enough willpower to not be terribly nosy. Much of her voice coming from the bathroom is drowned by the water, but he catches bits and pieces of what was said.

He only responds once she joins him back in the main room, leaning forward to snatch up the bottle of beer he'd brought for her before reaching out to hand it over. "Do you feel the same now? That unpleasantness?" A younger Byron may have gawked, a little, at seeing a woman dressed in a towel, but Byron's been around since then and he can keep himself in check, not even letting his gaze rest upon her barely covered self as he goes in for another drink of his own.

"No. I don't." Lilith comes right over for the beer to take it from Byron for a very long drink before she looks at him for a considering moment. She didn't wash her hair but she did take the time to wash the makeup off her face and lips and eyes from playing theatre and festival dressup. She's a little paler than natural from general blood loss and she looks like she wants to drop on the spot next to him. Instead she takes another drink of beer and does that gym-room change thing to stay kind of modest while openly getting dressed.

Turning to the dresser to put the bottle down for a spell, she digs out panties to slip on under the towel, then turns her back to Byron while taking her hair down and finding a t-shirt in a drawer to pull on before returning to ease herself down with seating wince. After drawing in a long, physically steadying breath, she wonders of him, "... do you wanna see up close now? It's kind of neat, considering..." Who gets shot with a crossbow? Her now, apparently. Then she looks at him while flipping up her plain white tee to show the mark closed over and round with reddening fade, "I wish I trusted myself to do this for people. Have you been healed like that before?'

Byron is relieved that it's not just him then. "Good. Thought so. This is a brief reprieve for now, until they decide to return." He can clearly see the pale of her skin and that really is hurting, he can sense it. There's that temptation again, but he's not sure that it will work, so instead, as she goes to get changed, he reaches for one of the joints. Bending forward to set his beer back down, sifts though his pocket to grab a lighter.

"Do I want to see what?" He then asks, lighting the sucker up, "What should be your scar before Geoff did what he did?" It is a curiosity to him now, this vibe, this feeling that he gets from people like Geoff and even Erin, it's very similar to what he feels from Lilith as well. Rising to stand and carefully stepping over and beyond the bottle he's left on the floor, he walks over to Lilith to bring her an offering of a joint to help settle things, maybe even dull her senses enough that she doesn't feel the pain. "No." He responds in short to the question. "Didn't need to be. And... while I could feel something from people, the same that I feel with you, it's not something you just asked people about."

"Mmhmm. Undo your tie a little, hell, take your shirt off, we'll be opposite halves of naked. Smoke with me. I'm a little done with moving, showering was exhausting for some reason, half-measure it was." Lilith reaches up to take the joint, then takes a long drag from it before going to settle herself with pillows at lounge on the bed, patting the space next to her. "I've done it before. After I hurt Hank, I panicked in the other direction and made him stop bleeding. Then I ran away." Once she's settled, she puts the joint to hold between her teeth and flips her shirt back up again when laid at stretched out, sitting recline in black panties and white t-shirt, preparing to show him as he settles.

She seems about to bring something else up while trying to settle in that slow motion, careful fashion, but a sudden knit of her brows has her wondering of Byron, "Byron? My attention was... everywhere when that was happening. I feel like I missed the things that matter when he was... talking. Were you hearing him and really... understanding? I know what he -wanted- but..." A pause, "Everyone was looking at a man too, before it went... chaos. I felt... pushed somehow into... finding him with my eyes... considering if he... Who was that?"

It's a little scattered, but given Lilith's seriousness and subject swap, she's probably talking about Keene... and that moment when people were fixating on Alexander. Once he's near, she passes the joint out to offer more share.

Byron has this feeling that Lilith's said those same words before to her clients, demanding that they remove their clothing. "Is that a request?" He asks, though now he's wary, trying to perceive if, somehow, she were intoxicated by that sip of beer or perhaps it was the blood loss. Of course, he doesn't really comply even if he will sit with her for a little smoke, after he grabs his beer from off the floor. Marijuana was not something that he, himself partakes in often, believing that it's always a good idea to have a clear mind. Yet, he doesn't openly decline. He does feel like the adult in the room, however.

"Was that the first time that you realized that you could do that? Heal people?" He asks, "I was wondering if you could do it or not. You project the same... I don't really know what to call it, but what's inside you is the same within both Geoff and Erin at varying levels." Though he's sure that she can feel that herself.

When the topic of what happened to the theater is brought up, he's already lifting his bottle for another taste. "The sacrifice, you mean? The guy they wanted is a man named Alexander Clayton. Now, I wouldn't risk my life to save his hide, but I don't believe we were given a fair choice at the time." When she offers him the joint, sure, he'll take it. One little hit wouldn't hurt.

"... yes. I just was kind of saying get comf--... nevermind. Sorry." Lilith bats her lashes a couple of times at Byron and slowly pulls her shirt down like she's suddenly self-conscious for a beat, then knocks a hand back through her hair, legs drawing up some in her recline against the pillows. She studies her thigh where the blood that was leaking from her before ran, now washed clean, other hand moving up to make absent rub atop opposite knee with small hand-motion of fidgeting.

Then after a distracted moment, she nods a little bit and sets her mouth in a kind of press before saying, "Yep. First time I accidentally lashed out on someone, first and only real time I've put a person and not a mere thing back together. I-- was going to do it for Tobin if I could, I was driven to-- something. But Geoff was there. And it was better that way." A pause, "It's not like... there's a way to really practice that, the way I can do with items. And I'm not a doctor. But it works different anyway, I can still sense...I don't know. Sickness. I know when someone is hurt without seeing the wound at all if I touch them too." She pauses, "... if you turn off all the filters and touch me, does something happen? Or does it not even take that?" Another pause, "... can you feel what I feel because we're-- I mean, because we used to be close?"

"I was joking." Byron says with his usual smile when Lilith apologizes. "But no, I'm fine. Even if I got caught up a bit in the rain, but thanks to your towels and the interior heating of my car, nothing was ruined." Yes, he did not bring the umbrella with him to the theater because it was a beautiful day. The rain that followed the performance came unexpectedly. While he doesn't quite loosen up his tie, he will remove his jacket and set it, neatly folded, off to the side.

It's been a while since he's had a joint, so he's savoring the moment by sucking in deeply before passing it back along. "I don't need to touch you at all to sense your emotions. You can be far across the room and I can get an idea of just how you're feeling. The objects," He starts, a hand idly reaching up to scratch at the side of his neck, "Those are memories or emotional residue attached to an object. Things drudged up from the past." Though there is this quirk of a brow, "Well, see, I can gauge people's emotions and feelings even if we'd just met. So while that's not the case, I'd like to think that I know enough about you as it is, but even that has time to change over the years."

After listening to Byron, Lilith nods a little, then sinks down in her recline some with small careful lean and wince to get at her beer for a drink. Keeping it to nurse after readjusting her sit, she takes a small hit, then another from the joint instead of burning it down quick, like she's dosing or pacing herself and waiting for the effects to dull her body more than she wants to be actually high at the moment, "I see. Well. I guess I certainly gave you the ammo to know more than necessary or wanted, in retrospect. I was so ashamed, I needed you to have it to see that I wasn't a whore, that it wasn't... I mean, I had rules, if they got off, time ended and they were on the black list. Not that what you saw was probably much better, but... people have... a perception about all of it that's all tied up with sex."

Yes. Lilith is assuming he's had his peek because while he might be plenty patient, she knows there's certain things that patience plays no part in. And she doesn't dare ask what he saw. Instead, she changes the subject and passes the joint back his way with offer, "I know there's things I can do that I can't explain, or feel just out of reach, too, y'know. Do your powers feel that way in any sense? The thing I did to try and save Tobin, I don't know what it was or if I can duplicate without figuring it out."

Yes, Byron had taken a deep dive into Lilith's past and yet, he had never once brought it up to her that he did. Not in person, not by text message or even a phone call. It was never brought up when they both discussed meeting up at the park to see the play. He's had his eyes on her this whole time. Not staring at Lilith directly, but quietly observing her every expression and watching her body language just to see how much pain she feeling at the moment.

This ammo that she mentions doesn't shy his gaze away, even if the very topic that he'd avoided bringing up was now briefly put under the spotlight. "I won't lie and say that I didn't that you..." He's not going to call her a whore, but he does explain, "Because I'd always thought it was part of the business. And I wouldn't have faulted you for it either because work is work and I'm sure that a lot of men and women out there, who are whores, don't feel ashamed about it at all. But yes, I took a glimpse into your life." He brings the bottle up to drink. Not to buy him time, but more because he had an urge to do so. "It wasn't an easy life, that's for sure." To give her this added assurance, he shifts in his seat, half-turning so that she can look on her directly when his gaze lifts, "I'm glad you made it back to us, even if admittedly it almost seems like you're that fish falling straight into that fire."

With the discussion of power sets being explored further in Lilith's attempt to speak more of what he may have seen or even whether he had followed her instructions and burned the cord given him, Byron looks thoughtful to this change. "There are things that I'm still learning actually. The electricity thing? I knew I could cause a minor shock, sometimes I feel it when touching random things. Normal static electricity, but something being built up by... natural electricity sometimes. There's still a lot that I'm learning actually. Most recently, I found that I could erase emotional signatures from items rather than just reading them."

"No. It may be fine for other women, but it was never, ever for me. But I didn't know that at the time. You would have appreciated the business model I had set up through the company website, though. And yes, there was a small semblance of business running it to outsource us and match clients according to preferences, I didn't just pick up guys word of mouth." A pause, "Unfortunately, it was molded around them capitalizing on the advertising, not any protection. That's why I habit carry a gun still, I guess."

Lilith's features are truly conflicted, and so are her emotions to an extent, because she seems to be just as interested and fixated on the power thing as much as she is struggling on another front to really keep herself conversationally chill about other things while still kind of edged with weary discomfort. It's just weed and beer afterall, not a good bout of codeine. And she's doing a good job, but Byron is watching her and paying mind, and he's Byron, among other things.

After she's spoken, though, she takes another drink from the beer, puts it down, and shifts on her side to get more comfortable, turning to better regard the man in her reclining lay. It's her good side, opposite of where the issue happened, then unhappened with the residual still upon her. When she gets resettled, she seems calmer, an arm folding under her cheek with leaning on the pillowed recline, other hand reaching for one of his wrists nearby to give it squeeze and brush at the inner side with pad of thumb. It seems to be a silent gladness she made it back too, eyes on him. Then she can't help it. She ruins the moment by wondering, "If we merge fire and electricity, do we make a new element to tear ass with teamwork?"

Just as she's slanting a slightly stoned little smile at her own joke (ok maybe not joke), she visibly remembers something, "Hey. Frankie told me before I left her shop that... I mean, I told her to be careful, that I was just a text away, that kind of stuff. Then she told me pretty much the same then..." A pause, "She also said I could just holler. Then tapped her head. Can you -hear- me if I'm in trouble and calling out?"

Of all the things that Byron doesn't expect to hear Lilith talk about, it's business. He knows that she runs this shop, sure, but as children, while Byron was the one always trying to find every which way to make a quick twenty, most of the other kids had normal childhood things that they'd rather do. "You'll have to tell me more about that then. I'm always looking for a new venture to start." He's more or less kidding here at first, but takes on a serious tone with what he says next, "Not the exact type of business per se, but I'm always curious about successful business models. Then again, it is what I went to school to learn, but I'd like to see clever ways that others have made use of that and... to get more ideas on what to work towards as well."

The way in which Lilith moves to lay restfully on her side may have tipped Byron on the discomfort she must be feeling. So with this need to know for sure, he zeroes in to sort through the mixture of emotions. While he cannot feel pain, himself, there is a bit of anguish and suffering, this discomfort that he can sense... among other things as well. A whole mixture of highs and lows, though mostly lows and some of her senses may becoming slowly dulled by the weed and beer.

That's when he feels her gentle touch at his wrist, her fingers around the soft cuff of his shirt sleeve, a sensation which draws his full attention that way, before his gaze lifts as he smiles at her when she asks her superpowers questions. "Possibly. Or we could both end up seriously wounded, but I'd need more than just a beer in me to want to try that one out." There's laughter in his voice at least. It must mean that he doesn't think it's a childish question.

However, once she brings up what Frankie had told her, there's a lift of his brow as he thinks on this. "I can't say that I've delved into that very often, but I know that I have a connection with Tobin as we're both of a similar power set." That's when he takes pause to consider whether Lilith had that in her as well. He can clearly feel the edge of her dominant aspect, but perhaps there is a little something that he may have missed or overlooked and with a blink, he murmurs, "That's weird. While you're not like one of us, there is a little spark of within you. Barely noticeable, but I believe that it's there." In some, he may have been able to feel different levels of powers, but what usually comes up more often than not is the person's primary aspect.

"I still have pictures up on the site. They aren't half bad. If I felt like getting my phone, I'd show you. I think I'm done being weird about it now. Maybe." Lilith tells Byron, batting her lashes a few times while she happens to be looking at him, but hey, weed and bloodloss, right? If something looks a little shinier or prettier about him just then, she's not really registering so much as she's suddenly distracted by what he says and flashes a grin, "I think you can afford a proper bottle of brave potion if we want to ever go testing anything. I mean, we could make whole plasma beams or something, who knows." She's at least probably not serious about expecting plasma lasers.

"... you think so? Maybe she saw something and that's why she said it. Then again, maybe it's... I don't know. Nothing has ever happened when I touch things that feels... okay, things break and fix themselves, but... things are just things for me. How do you erase a thing, by the way?" She seems genuinely curious about this too now suddenly, and she starts to shift up some with lean on a hand, "How can we test if I can do anything?"

"I'll check it out later. Just let me know what the name of the company is." Byron says, not really wanting Lilith to move from this comfortable position either. It's been a long day and a harsh evening. What she didn't need to do right now, was move around unnecessarily. Then when she points out that he should be able to afford all manners of things to help them get through with this crazy idea she had, all he can do was laugh. "What we've got is dangerous, but you're right. Let's see if we can create plasma lasers by our powers combined."

In truth, he's really not sure if she has the same aspect as he does. He doesn't feel the connection with her as he does with some of the others. Tobin, especially. "To erase things, it's not all that different than from reading an object. You just have to set your mind to want any residue whatsoever on the item to clear. Not that I use it much," He quickly adds, before finishing off the beer and leaning forward to set the empty bottle on the floor by his feet. "It's pretty useless, really. But, to test out or to train yourself into being able to do what I can do...I don't even know why I do the things I can do. One of the easiest things would be to... try to gauge my thoughts, I guess." What he really means is emotions. "It's really not that different from just wondering how someone truly feels, but rather than thinking it, it's you like you concentrate, focusing on them. If not by sight, but by thought." He's now curious on whether she can do this. "Try it."

Lilith blows air over her lips and eases back down, listening on what Byron advises while she looks at him thoughtfully. She doesn't really seem to be doing anything at all actually, and when she's laid back to recline, she smiles some at him all of a sudden. Then she laughs and bats her lashes closed with flutter. What she just thought of there in that moment is anyone's guess, but she says after a moment, "... you're looking right at me and it felt like we were having some staring contest to see who'd blink first because you..." Here she starts to slow down. See, she didn't get anything when she was staring right at him, because she was seeing him physically.

But now? Now that she's distracted out of distraction and starting to explain the 'because'... her breath catches and she finishes her sentence more slowly. She's looking at Byron again, blue eyes vaguely widening with realization the more she parses through what she knows as mere curiosity (he is asking, afterall). There's the matter of how curiosity feels though, too, along with something else she has to phrase careful, "You. You're like a cat. It's not just because you're watching my face. It's because you're waiting and even though you're breathing, your mental breath is caught and waiting. So you're curious. But it's not a fleeting thing, you're like... really interested in what it means, it feels like."

Then abruptly she bats her lashes, "What -does- it mean?"

Though he may be watching her intently, Byron's not expecting Lilith to suddenly be able to reach emotions the way he does. So when his eyes look on her, he's still getting a read of her own emotions, but not through powers, but on sight alone. "Fine, I won't look then." Laughter in his voice, he even politely diverts his gaze from her, even if he is waiting to hear whether or not she's gotten any results.

By the time she begins to speak again, his attention had drifted back to her, more than eager to hear what she has to say. The answer, while not terribly unsurprising, given that he was just staring at her like someone waiting on their test results for something or other. "Well, I am interested in what it all means. While my connection is strongest with those similar to me, in powers, I know that there are others who have grasped the ability of performing feats, primarily my own, different from their dominant powers. I have no idea how they do it, but I know that it is possible."

In the end, Byron is left still wondering whether she had truly sensed something from him or if she was merely stating what was obvious. Emotions are a tricky thing and are something that you can read off of people without relying on mind tricks. Despite all of this, he allows a smile to form on his features, "But that was a pretty good actually. Maybe you do have it in you. Somewhere." Reaching out his free hand to pat gently at her side, he says, "I can stay here with you until you fall asleep if you like. I'll be sure to lock up when I leave. I don't know how your powers work or just how well you can Geoff can heal people, but I'm a little wary of leaving you alone." He won't come out to say that she looks pale, but she really does. "Need me to get some water for you? If you're not stocked up on Gatorade."

Lilith seems fascinated and dubious at the same time, herself, and as she nods her head some, she seems to be considering Byron's words pretty hard. She's probably running mental comparisons of what she just felt and wondering -did- she feel anything at all considering the moment? Then she's a disturbed level of quiet suddenly, but after wetting her lips she tells him, her own wants aligning perfectly with his, apparently, "... I want you to stay." There's a pause, "I've never bled like that before. And that was all so... yes. Water, please, if you would. And a lie down with me after to congratulate each other on not dying. Because I couldn't hug you when I was bloody."

She's not doing a great job at hiding what's disturbing her on top of what she's already said, but her distress is short lived once it's out of her, like she's taken a turn toward too damn weary to deal with either of those things, "What if I accidentally yell at you in the middle of the night mentally because of a nightmare and wake you up? What the hell else can I do? Isn't there a point where it seems like -too- much power?" She pauses with an arm slinging over her face to play hide away from some serious concerns, "Oh man, that all needs to stop. What if, what if, what if. Ugh, me."

As he continues to contemplate the idea that Lilith may have been able to gauge his emotions or not, Byron seems content when she asks for water instead of beer, in agreement with his suggestion. Taking up both beer bottles now, the one off the floor (his) and the one from the dresser (hers), he brings them to the kitchen in a polite attempt to keep her place as tidy as it was when he first stepped foot inside. Reaching up to open a few of the cabinets, he finds where the glasses are stored and begins to fill one up with water. "Don't worry about it then. I'll stay the night. If you're still asleep by the time I wake up, I might return the favor from when you slept over at my place last. I won't promise that the breakfast I make will be as delicious as yours, but I'm willing to try." He says with a bright smile that he shines her way, before turning off the faucet and bringing the glass over to her.

He doesn't settle down just yet, he moves his coat jacket from off the bed among other things and goes to set them off to the side. When she asks for him to lie with her, Byron's all too used to that. That was typical Lilith and as a trio, well, and among their other friends, she was also open with affection. Still wearing the rest of his business attire, he doesn't worry much about getting his dress shirt wrinkled or his tie caught on anything. Right now, he'll settle onto the bed beside her, wrapping her into a comforting arm. "From what I found, we have ways to block people out of our minds. I'm sure, it's for that very reason too." He's laying behind her, but she can still sense that he has a grin on his face by just the way his statement is carried out. "Drink some water, you're going to need it. And get some rest. If I am awakened by your mental anguish, I'll figure something out to try and soothe you."

Lilith peeks out from under her arm where she's hiding from her self-made paranoid concerns and watches Byron fetching water, his bright smile and promises (and disclaimers) about breakfast in the morning making her quirk with sudden smile of her own. Her arm slides down the rest of the way to push up on elbow for drinking from the offered glass when he gets back with it, and she continues to watch him while drinking. She gets it about half-way down with good champ flair before reaching it back to save the rest on the nightstand. And she is quiet, quiet, quiet after all that talking and that's as good as dangling catnip in front of Byron's inner feline, so to speak.

But maybe he doesn't have to really poke because when he settles in behind her and wraps the arm around, she hugs it in tight against herself with cross squeeze of her own arm. After nuzzling and nestling her body in a little bit unwittingly in the name of comfort, she breathes out a sigh that sounds perfectly content, the pressure on his arm releasing so she can be lax and held close. "Yeah. You'd figure something out. You're pretty amazing here and there." Then she's quiet some more and so still that she seems to be asleep, but he can tell otherwise, perhaps.

Out of nowhere, though, she eventually wonders, not actually expecting an answer since she's actually drifting off to sleep right after that dreamy-sounding drift of words, "Wonder if people can teleport."