Kess shakes her head and draws back again. "It's not." Not okay that she
manages to upset everyone close to her lately. Turning away, she makes
herself busy with putting the dress back on the dummy, an affair that
requires both hands and wingtips utilised to hold the thing still while
she zips it up. "And yeah, you're right, about the job and Tulio and
everything. And yeah, the armour's about done now. I'll start on yours
soon. It's just... you know." She gives that double-limbed shrug again.
"When it really counts? The important stuff? I'm not there." She pauses,
then glances at Kitty's face. "Do people try to protect me, Kitty?" Is
that what it is?

"Maybe." Kitty's still watching her, biting absently at her lower lip. "I
mean - you get the same thing I do, from being little, and a girl. And the
people that know you've got wings - well, most people think of birds as
fragile. And people /do/ try to protect their friends. They don't /want/
to see people they care about getting hurt - the ones that're worth much
would usually rather throw themselves in the way." She pauses, and gives a
quick, rueful laugh. "Which is kinda silly. I mean - back when I was
active, back home, most of the time I'd've practically killed to get
somebody as sharp as you on my team. Well, maimed, maybe."

Kess finishes fiddling with the dress and steps away, before she gets the
urge to grab something and accidentally rip it. "I don't need protecting,
Kitty. No-one ever did back home, and I don't need it here." Her tone is
full of anger and frustration. So damn helpless. "I know I break easy.
Comes with having hollow bones. But, y'know, I fought for two years and
managed to not get myself killed." She's not angry at Kitty - of everyone,
Kitty has been the one to call her, to not be upset every time they see
each other. The glances she flickers up at her friend are apologetic
again, as she moves to the couch. A black jacket-like garment is thrown
over the back, matching her pants, and there's a pair of boots sitting
nearby, one fallen over on its side.

"I didn't say," and Kitty's gotten a wry tone, "people were /smart/."
She's stepped back to pull on her jeans, and her T-shirt - it's the one
that reads, 'Scan my network and die.' "Sometimes I think a lot of people
here don't want help because they don't want to admit they need it, too -
they don't want to admit the situation, whatever it is, even /exists/."
She tips her own head to one side, almost the way Kess did earlier, and
asks more quietly, "Two years?"

Kess sighs and shakes her head, wandering back towards Kitty. "I know. It
just... it's so frustrating." A shrug answers the question, and a wry
grin. "Yeah. Breakin' into places mostly, breaking people out, between
times trying to not get caught again." Did she mention that she's killed
people too? Maybe not the best time to bring that up. By way of
explanation, she adds; "Our kind weren't liked there much."

Now Kitty's expression is matching Kess's. "Sounds like we really
/could've/ used each other's help. Pete and I - well, not this Pete, the
one back where I came from - used to do some of the same stuff." And she
finds herself offering her hand out toward Kess. "We weren't real popular
there, either. Sounds kinda similar." If it was, and Kess made it through
that, she /really/ doesn't need protecting.

Kess tilts her head as she looks at Kitty, her expression a mixture of
sympathy and sadness. "Yeah, probably was. I've heard a lot of worlds are
like that." She'll take the offered hand only too willingly, curling her
fingers around it warmly, to draw Kitty towards the couch to sit down.
Wings curl around her as she folds her bare feet up under her. "There's
just... not the same problems here. But, y'know, I can still do stuff."
She's sure she can. It just doesn't feel like it right now, and she has no
idea /what/ she can do most of the time. She sighs softly and glances
ruefully at Kitty. "I started patrolling a bit. I talked to Constantine
the other day, and he told me some stuff." Which she assumes Kitty knows,
because he said he'd talked to her too. "About the tower, and Sera
mentioned something about stone circles." Another light, dismissive shrug.
"Haven't seen anything like that anywhere." And she gets around.

Kitty settles down by Kess, careful of stray feathers. "The tower in a
field of roses." She crooks a little, rueful smile. "I'm not sure it
exists physically. The important thing with that just - seems to be not
giving up. It really does. For once just being determined might actually
be an advantage." She regards Kess seriously, then. "And you can cover a
/lot/ more ground patrolling than most people. I almost wonder - how good
are you at night? I don't know if you can...?"

There's a wing stretched along the back of the couch, partly out of
comfort and partly because Kitty doesn't seem to mind. Kess waves Kitty to
lean on it if she wants; it won't hurt her, and she doesn't mind the
contact. "Fly at night?" she asks, head tilting. "Yeah, if there's enough
light, so it depends on streetlights mostly. I don't see any better in the
dark than, well, humans, just /further/. And with it getting dark so
early, by the time I'm free to patrol, it's pretty dark anyway." She
shrugs away concern for that. "If it was tracking someone, it wouldn't
make much difference, 'cause scent trails don't rely on light. Why?" Then,
she gives a soft, rueful smile and adds; "Don't worry, I don't give up
easily, on anything. Had practice at that."

But that would involve settling back, and Kitty's leaned forward and
twisted to one side to look at Kess more easily - physical evidence of her
attention. "Just trying to think of ongoing problems we've got /besides/
the crazy insane tower and dreams thing. Vampires came to mind. The
problem with those is that targeting's a real pain - you have to make sure
they /are/ undead, then what /kind/, since we've got a couple
currently-harmless ones in the area, and a slew of people who just wear
black for the heck of it. And most of us have to track from the ground,
which puts us nice and in reach - and therefore sucks. Er. Sorry about
that. Um - I was wondering if you'd have an easier time tracking 'em
without getting noticed, that's all."

"The tower's not supposed to be real," Kess agrees, but her brow is
furrowing in a frown. "Vampires?" No-one's told her anything about /that/.
"I only know of one - you're not talking about Angel, or Angelus?" Oh,
shit would that be complicated. Oh dear. But there was pluralness going
on, so... huh? And guess who's learning archery these days, too.

Kitty lifts her hands hastily. "As far as I know, Angel's still on the
side of the - uh - good guys. But we ran into at least three other
vampires while we were still living in our old place; two of 'em were
going after Angel, who used to run his investigation thing out of an
office near us, and one of 'em actually mistook /Pete/ for Angel and, uh,
well, bit him. And we've heard of a couple of other attacks. So there's
likely still some around in the city, someplace." And then - fascinated
expression let show, just for a moment. "The tower isn't?" And Kess
mentioned stone circles, too. Puzzles!

Kess' frown deepens at the mention of Angel and trouble associated with
him. Well, hmph, dammit. "Angel's working out of a hotel now." This isn't
a subject she's enthused with. Her and Angel - that's a complicated
subject, and a touchy one. "I'll keep an eye out for them, but they're
harder to track. They don't leave as much of a scent trail as people do."
She shakes her head at the latter question. "No, I think it's a... some
mental place. Another plane, maybe. That's what Sera and John said,
anyway." She shrugs - that's not something she knows anything about. "And,
for the stone circles... all Sera said was to stay away from them. They're
dangerous."

It's a subject Kitty's a little nervous about, too. And she's /got/ to
talk to Sera. "Maybe if we could arrange some kind of joint thing
sometime," Kitty comments absently. "One person playing bait, you
watching, keeping in contact -" Then she shakes her own head, tugging her
attention back. "At least Sera and John talked. I went over to look for
her a few days ago, but apparently she's moved out."

"Yeah, she's staying with Ray for a while." Kess tilts her head, then nods
at the 'bait' plan. If nothing else, she can dive in before anything too
horrific happens to whoever plays the part of the bait. "Sera was real
upset. She's really not taking this too well." Which isn't surprising,
really, considering it's Sera's life in the balance. "And, you remember
that shining thing in the picture you gave me? John mentioned a heart,
something important he gave to Sera. It's... there's something looking for
it. I think... maybe that's what those black-winged ones are after." Her
gaze is questioning - do you know /anything/ about that? It's still
guesswork, but she's trying to put the pieces together to make sense. "And
John mentioned something about Lorne being possessed by something?" That's
asked with a touch more caution and wariness.

Kitty nods slowly. "I had the chance to ask Claire what the shining thing
was - she said 'roses, red as heart's blood, and the heart of an angel,
bruised.' So you put that one together right, I think. I'm glad /somebody/
knows what's going on with that thing." Something he gave to Sera. She
swallows, then. "Yeah. Wish John'd keep his mouth shut - it's not
something Lorne likes to think about. I probably shouldn't've told /John/
about that, but he had to know, and he'd've found out some other way if I
hadn't said. Lorne got ... well, something talked through him for a little
bit, to Jack Celliers. Tried to get him to give up, to stop looking for
the tower. We learned some stuff from that. The opposition will try to get
people to sabotage themselves first, and only go after them directly if
they don't give up. And something's trying to bring the tower down.
Whatever the tower is."

Kess nods quietly, body language drawing in on itself. Does everyone not
want her to know about what went on with Lorne? "Did Jack tell you about
that, or did Lorne?" An odd question, perhaps, but it's of personal
interest to her. "And yeah... John mentioned the thing with Faith." And
the 'power', whatever it is, leading the kid to her death. Poor kid. The
birdgirl's expression tightens some more at that. And kids going
missing... that part doesn't make sense yet either.

Kitty gives yet another wry expression. "Neither. I was lucky enough to be
there for it. It was kinda weird - they were just talking, Kate and I were
off separately to give them some time, and then Lorne started raising his
voice - he doesn't /do/ that, you know? And telling Jack everything was
hopeless, trying to get him to give in. Telling him he didn't even know
where to look for the tower, and he couldn't get there if he did, and he
wouldn't know what to do if he could get there, and he wouldn't be able to
do anything if he /did/ know. Protesting just a /little/ much." She shakes
her head again. "Lorne doesn't remember a bit of it now. Thank goodness.
It shook him up a lot. When it stopped, he literally just fell over where
he was standing and curled up on the floor." Another pause, and she
finally does lean back, still careful of those feathers. No crumpling
them! "You probably know as much of the Faith stuff as I do, then. I just
know what was in the news, and what John said - how he did a divination,
and almost got himself killed, the idiot, and saw Faith ... yeah."

The answer about Lorne makes her relax a bit, and Kess nods as she absorbs
the information. So he didn't lie to her; she can let that angry fear
drop, then. One less thing to worry about. And she does look sympathetic
about what he went through; they might not be friends, but she wouldn't
wish bad things on him. "So, any ideas where we go from here? Has anyone
seen Claire recently?" She doesn't know if she should be checking the
hospitals yet or not.

"Jack and I saw her early this month. John was - in contact - with her
about ten days ago; the Faith thing. I think a couple other people have
seen her more recently, but I don't have details." Kitty sparks a quick
grin. "I guess we keep on trying to catch any glimpse of anything - and
keep an eye out for car accidents." Okay, /black/ humor, but still humor.
"And the second things start happening, or we get a clear idea what's
coming - which decisions really matter - I'll call you and let you know.
Promise."

The wing behind Kitty shifts a little, feathers curling around the girl's
back lightly. Just to make it more comfortable for both of them. Kess
smiles gratefully. "Thanks, Kitty." Nice to know someone thinks she's
worth calling. "I think I've got this stuff finished now-" she nods
towards the armoured garment she's resting back against on the couch- "-so
I can patrol a bit more." She wants to be helpful! Really she does! Her
patrolling efforts just never seem to turn out well, no matter whether she
finds anything or not. But she'll keep trying anyway. "This whole thing...
it's not what I'm used to fighting." But she looks determined anyway. She
has to be. Point her at the bad guy, and she's all good. This whole
mystery business just leaves her... lost.

Her and everybody else. Kitty can't help but laugh. "Us neither. I mean -
we've done some investigation-type stuff in the past, but there was always
something /there/ to /investigate/, you know? Not this nebulous kind of
... thing. Feels like trying to catch smoke in a butterfly net." She
twists and steals a look at the jacket, eyes widening just a touch. "You
know, the first time Tulio catches sight of you in that," wicked, teasing
grin, "you better be ready /not/ to do any patrolling /that/ night. You're
gonna look /hot/."

That she's not the only one struggling to find a way to battle this threat
makes Kess relax some more. It makes a difference, to not feel alone in
that. She just feels so useless, and tries hard not to relate that back to
when she could truly do nothing about what went on around her. Kitty's
comments about the jacket make her eyes widen in tandem, brown eyes dark
with surprise before she ducks her head, to let her hair fall forward to
cover her blush. "You think so?" For someone who designs and makes clothes
- and has just agreed to make 'alluring' wear for a friend - she really
has trouble applying it to herself. "I just... it's just armour." And her
in it. A hand lifts to run a contemplative finger along the line of a
kevlar plate beneath leather.

"And it's you in black leather," Kitty points out. "Which is enough of a
contrast to the way you normally dress to stand out. /And/ it's sort of a
present to him in the first place, isn't it? You made it in the first
place because he worries, right? So... it's you, only it's you looking
tough and hot, and it's /also/ you saying 'what Tulio thinks matters to
me.'" She might be about to say something else, but she cuts herself off -
because, ahem, Tulio and the birdgirl's sex life is /not/ her business.
Not gonna comment. Quite.

Kess blinks at Kitty, looking somewhat startled by that way of looking at
things. Then she smiles, shyly and gratefully, and seems delighted with
the idea. "That's... yeah. It's cos he worries. And the leather... it just
seemed the best way to do it." Her cheeks are still brightly coloured. It
might be worth noting that this jacket has an unbroken front piece; what
look like lacings fasten it up the back, with a small gap in the middle
where her wingjoints fit. "And, just so you know, yours'll be a bit
heavier. Not much, but, a little. D'you wanna feel the weight, see how it
is?" Moving swiftly on. Ahem, not thinking about sex with Tulio. Much.

Kitty shakes her head. "I've seen this kinda thing before - got the
general idea." Her eyes are just a trifle bright again, but gleeful this
time: not only is Kess blushing, but they're talking about /toys/. For an,
er, interesting definition of toys, anyway. "If it's fitted right, it
distributes out okay, right? And you can call me up anytime to handle
that. /And/ because I'm /still/ paying." Okay, now she's /definitely/
teasing Kess. "I talked to Pete about it, too - he's so grateful to you,
for doing this. Well, in that weird surly cynical way of his."

Kess gives Kitty a gentle smile, more assured of itself than before. "Oh,
it'll be fitted. I've got your measurements, and the guy that shaped my
plates said he could do some more for me." She tilts her head towards the
tailor's dummer - measurements, all there. Her smile deepens at the
mention of Pete. "Well, you can tell Pete it's my pleasure. And he'll have
to come by so I can measure him up too, if he still wants some too. And
you're only paying for the materials." On this, she's confident enough to
return the teasing tone. Let me do this little bit for you. It's just
time, and she'd give so much more if she could; money just doesn't happen
to be something she has a lot of for this kind of thing.

Kitty says gravely, "He'll come by if I have to find somebody to help me
/kidnap/ him out of the room he's holed up in. I swear, he gets hurt more
often -" And then the gravity blossoms into a brilliant grin. "This time.
You /really/ oughta turn this into a business somehow."

"I can always come to him if that's easier. I'm portable." Kess grins
briefly and tilts her head towards her wing. It's not like any part of the
city is a huge trip for her. Then her head-tilt turns thoughtful. "You
think I could? Maybe I should talk to the kevlar guy, see if we could set
somethin' up." It's not the sort of protecting people that she's used to,
but... perhaps it would be a start. And at least it wouldn't involve
killing people.

Kitty considers this for a moment. "Well - I don't know about the legal
aspects, or what kind of scale you could do it on, or how public you want
to get. But you at least might be able to make some spare spending money
now and then, even if it's just with the people you know yourself."

Kess grins and shakes her head. "There are legal things to this? I'm gonna
need to talk to someone who knows something about businesses. Tulio's
pretty good with that stuff, though, so I'll start with him. As for the
time... I dunno. I mean, the clinic doesn't pay much, but... well, I never
knew that my first aid stuff would come in so handy for other people." A
touch of wryness there. She likes to help others. She'd just prefer to be
on prevention rather than cure whenever she can.

Kitty reaches over to squeeze Kess's arm lightly. Very lightly, because,
well, hollow bones. "Talk it over with Tulio, yeah. Bet you can figure out
which way to go between the two of you." Not to mention that Tulio will be
living with whatever decision gets made. Hey, look! Ring! On Kess's hand!

Kess doesn't break quite /that/ easily, but she smiles at the contact
anyway; her fingers lift to cover Kitty's and give a stronger squeeze.
Which brings the ring up to view, which makes her smile deepen. "Yeah, we
will. Thanks, Kitty." Again. "Between armour and specially-made clothing
for those with... different bodily make-ups, I'm gonna be kept kinda
busy." Which actually makes her excited - something that's hers, useful
and legitimate, and more part of a 'normal' life than skydiving heroics.
Though she'll probably never give /that/ up either. "Um... did you want a
drink or anything?" The whole hostess thing is remembered eventually.

"If you need any computer magic done for it, let me know," Kitty replies
cheerfully. It's something /she/ can do for /Kess/ - that's useful and
legitimate and almost normal. Turnabout is fair play. And then there's a
laugh. "Only if you're up to me staying around for gossip and silliness.
You /do/ look pretty beat." Stern look! Okay, not very.

Kess smiles and twines her fingers with Kitty's warmly. "I'm fine, Kitty,
really. And... I'd like it if you can stay." She doesn't get many chances
to gossip, or do silly things, and it would be a welcome distraction for
her. "Hot or cold?" She moves to slip off the couch - which will require
her to draw Kitty to lean forward to release her wing, then heads towards
the stairs. Her glance is inviting - coming with me? - as she trots down
towards the kitchen. Now, how the hell is she going to come up with a
Christmas present for Kitty and Pete, to show them how she feels? Because,
they mean a lot to her.

Coming with! Yes. "Oh, hot, /please/. I think I've still got
almost-frostbitten toes." Grinning, Kitty follows after. And the funny
part is, Pete and Kitty have been wondering the same thing about presents
for Kess...

Kess, the mistress of hot chocolate, smiles and leads the way to the
kitchen, home of the kettle and hot, warming drinks.