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Kat opened the passenger door and pulled herself up into the SUV. "You don't like playing highroller, but you're all good to risk your life for a bunch of homeless runaway superhumans?" Kat gave him a smile. "Sounds like a comfy life. I used to play around in an arcade down the street from my house when I was a kid. I'd scour the couch for coins every weekend, and would always find enough for a few games. Mostly because my Dad would plant a hand full of quarters there on purpose. He thought it was more fun letting me treasure hunt, than handing out an allowance straight."

"So a non-spoiled rich boy, those are quite the rarity." Kat's smile drifted away a bit, "I don't remember. I was swiped when I was eight. It was blue-collar though, I remember his work gloves seemed large enough to fit half my arm, and were so dusty I thought they were made of dirt themselves." Kat shrugged her shoulders.

"Rarer than that, Cranberry boy." Kat watched out the window, half of her face hidden from view, but what was visible remained blank of emotion. Her voice however held a touch of softness to it, "My father was the type not to give up on the disappearance of his little girl. The keepers should have read that in him, but they didn't. When he pushed to hard, they produced evidence of my death, and it wasn't a pretty setup. It proved too much for him and he laid down on some train tracks." Kat paused, "They didn't tell me until I was old enough to handle it, of course. But to tell you the truth, Sometimes I wonder if he really laid down himself, or if someone helped him out a bit. It's policy not to tell the new bloomers if their family had to be quieted, after all.

"I wasn't able to find anything on my mother. I can't say I looked terribly hard, though." Kat looked away from the window and back at Jarred, "So where are your folks?"

Kat gave a slight nod, "You were lucky to have him." She looked Jarred up and down, her head tilting slightly as her eyes made note of the details, "care to share where the scar is?"

"Are you offering to strip for me?" Kat let out a short chuckle, "I may take you up on that some day."

Kat undid the buckle of her seat belt and slid out of the SUV. She started walking towards the store, though turned around to walk backwards a moment as she waited for Jarred. "So how long have you been on your own, Jarred?"

"He did a fairly good job of it then, as far as I can tell." Kat turned around to walk straight, placing her hand on the side of the cart as they moved down the cereal isle. "I was a blue, and a blue that at the time was capable only of flavored kisses." Kat paused by a bag of steel-cut oatmeal, looking at it before putting it into the cart. "You'd have to understand how the blues work, before understanding that life. Our numbers were very limited. If you're not useful, then you're just taking the place of someone who could be. They didn't bother with the kids who didn't have a solidly powerful ability.

"I wasn't considered useful until I was fourteen, when one man decided to make a rather unpleasant use of one of the pretty throw-aways." A slight shudder passed through her, but she hid it with a movement, grabbing an item from the shelf and tossing it into the cart. She had no idea what she'd tossed in, but didn't particularly care to look.

After a moment of quiet she decided to continue. She thought it only fair that she share, considering how many people she forced to share. "I couldn't scream with his mouth on mine, and could barely think with his godawful thoughts pulling into my head. There was this large firepit outside the base, and they kept it lit at night. All I could focus on was a wish that he would throw himself into the fire and die. And then he did. Just up and walked outside and fell into the fire...while I was stuck up in his head with him. They found out I was damn useful after that."

Kat hesitated a moment, "It takes a whole lot of kissing, a good amount of focus on my part, and only lasts for about an hour....but yes. Some people are easier to control than others, though, and it can be a matter of will-power as well."

"Not until I used it against them, no." Kat grabbed a carton of orange juice, setting it next to the milk. "I honestly have no idea. Perhaps you have some immunity, or a passive defense against mental attacks. Or it may have just been a fluke, and the next time I kiss you I'll be shuffling through your head like all the rest."

Kat turned around to look at him, "Whatever the case, it's been nice getting to know a person...the normal way."