tampered | log, ongoing;

Approximately an hour left before dinner, Eden was feeling rather restless, wandering around the apartment and fussing with Shanti. Motherhood wasn't a role which Eden had taken unwillingly upon herself, but neither was it one that quite fit her character, having had months to acclimate herself to field work, and months in the City testing out different occupations as well. After practically a lifetime of being cooped up in the house, being inside for too long still made Eden jittery, though she could never quite place her finger on why. As Molly was getting to be of an age where she could often handle herself, Eden allowed the girl to go visiting around the apartment, and she herself quickly bundled Shanti for a quick stroll outside, before Mohinder's return.

The baby was already sleeping, hair a warm auburn for the day, as she lay in the stroller while Eden headed out, with the intention of making it to Xanadu. Nevertheless, bad moods could often be quite palpable at best, and Eden squinted at the man who passed closely by, shoulders hunched and jaw set.

"Sylar," she quietly acknowledged, hurriedly tending to Shanti in the stroller and covering the baby girl as much as possible. "Isn't it a little early to be coming back from work?"

His eyes slid immediately to the side upon hearing Eden. He hadn't even noticed her, and that was something that would never happen if he had all his senses with him. He still should have seen her- perhaps he really was going blind.

He turned towards Eden with a glare. But that glare turned into something more curious as he took in the stroller, and he relaxed slightly. "Not on a Saturday. Hello, Eden."

He leaned over, trying to peek around Eden's efforts. "Could I see her?" he asked, glancing back up to Eden. As he did, he noticed a flash of blue directly above them, and he straightened up to try and see just what that was.

The splash of color hadn't escaped Eden's attentions, either, and before she could think up any sort of excuse to head off-- something she felt comfortable trying, given Sylar's admission to having traded away his powers, lately-- there was an extreme sense of vertigo, the world turning suddenly and perspectives skewing. Before she knew it, she was stepping several feet away from the stroller, feeling sore, a headache building in her sinuses.

Panic bled through her for a few moments, before she noticed that someone else was standing next to the stroller. Eden's eyes flashed, and she cried out, "Stay away from--"

Only to realize that her voice had changed. Shoulders hunching, she slowly looked around, raising her hands-- decidedly not her own-- before feeling around her face.

"What the hell...?" Eden whispered, brows knitting.

Sylar winced, eyes shutting tight at the sudden dizziness. He realized his hand was on something plastic, and looked to see he was actually holding the stroller. He let go, and then realized that hand was a great deal smaller than it should be.

He was also standing in the wrong place. His head whipped around to look in the direction of his own voice, just to see what looked like himself standing there in confusion.

"What happened?" he asked flatly, although he had a pretty good idea by now, and was not surprised to hear the soft voice that came out of his mouth. "Eden?" he asked the man in front of him, as if it were a foregone conclusion.

"Y...es," she replied, slowly, eyes widening upon realizing just who it must have been in her body before they flashed, dangerously. She pointed at Sylar, approaching as quickly as she could without stumbling. "You. You. You lied, you-- what did you do? Change it back, you need to change it back right now and get away from Shanti, you lying--"

Suddenly, she could feel her voice changing, spiking a couple of octaves as Eden felt herself briefly shrinking, then returning to her-- or his, rather-- former height.

"...what's going on?" Eden whispered, trying to approach Shanti, who was awake as a result of all the noise, fussing and starting to whimper and cry for it.

He blinked up at his own form as she stalked towards him. She started shapeshifting back to herself, and Sylar's mouth dropped open. She could use it? She could use it when he couldn't? And the want, he still had it, which meant...

"Stop," he said as forcefully as possible. And just as he thought, there was no real power backing it up. His expression went from shock to disbelief. "I didn't do this. I can't do this." He looked up, glaring at her. "You have my abilities."

He didn't move from his spot next to Shanti's stroller, hands shaking with barely contained rage. But the crying baby snapped him out of it somewhat, made him realize where he was. He sighed loudly. "I wasn't lying."

Mind pulled in two directions, Eden quickly glanced from her hands to the baby, and back again. There was immediately some level of fear which spread to her gut, since she knew what Shanti's ability was-- to be able to change appearances at will, or at least depending on emotion, and that was what her morphing resembled, on the surface. Her hands continued to change in shape, and it hurt, molten heat spreading over her skin and rendering it pliable--she could only look up to Sylar in fear, overriding the amount of relief that came at him being unable to use her power.

Without his intuitive aptitude, he wouldn't have been able to understand it so quickly anyway, right?

"What-- what's this ability, then?" she asked, holding up a hand that was still bending at the joints, shaking. "I haven't seen it. What else have you added to your laundry list of--"

Shanti's cries interrupted again, and Eden put her hand down, slowly walking over to the stroller, brows knit painfully. Priorities.

Sylar sighed and looked down at the stroller, trying to decide whether he should lean down and talk to her. He ended up opting for a compromise- standing still and yet still talking down, his head over the stroller. "Oh, Shanti, shhhh. It'll be okay," he said in Eden's most soothing voice. "The big scary man won't get you, promise."

That might have worked better on calming him than the baby, actually. He looked up, leveling a serious stare in Eden's direction. "Stop trying to change what you look like. You don't have a handle on it, it'll only be painful if you try. Just calm down and we'll figure this out." As if he wasn't just about to try and snap everything in two with his tiny hands. It's the only way he knows how to hold control of the situation.

"What is there to figure out?" Eden asked, incredulously, and her jaw worked uncomfortably at the sight of Sylar soothing her daughter, Eden fighting every last impulse to order Sylar away--or, if that wasn't an option, then at least to hit every last available inch of his body with her fists. "We just need to figure out how this happened and undo the damage. No matter how difficult the task is, that's what it boils down to. And I'm perfectly calm."

She continued holding Sylar in her gaze as she walked yet closer to the stroller. In the peripheral of her vision, she noticed a small and rounded pebble on the ground, and curiously, Eden tried to focus on moving it, one of the many skills she'd seen Sylar employ over the months. It jiggled for a bit, before coming to a rest, and Eden exhaled deeply, frustrated. She couldn't even put up a great fight against Sylar, barehanded as he was.

"Of course. That's why your body- or to be more accurate, my body- was wobbling like Jello just a second ago," he replied wryly, crossing small arms in front of himself.

His gaze followed hers, however, mouth opening slightly as he watched the pebble move. "It's like a muscle, you have to keep practicing. I can tell you how..." He probably shouldn't be offering, but he has three more weeks before he can use that power and he'd really like to at least see it in action, something a little more impressive than the shudder of a pebble.

"But we should really get off the street. I'd like to keep an eye on the Network." He gestured toward her, adding, "You'll find keys in your pocket if you want to stop by my place." He smiled slightly, knowing that she was unlikely to want to go back to her apartment in her current state.

"God, if you can change your appearance at will, I can't even... have you been changing at all?" Eden asked, crossing her arms and leaning her weight--although it felt unnatural to do so, in this body--on one foot, slouching slightly to look down at Sylar. "Have you been disguising yourself, wandering around this-- I can't even believe I hadn't thought of that possibility. There's no way that you wouldn't have explored something like this in its full."

At his comment about using the abilities, Eden waved her hand dismissively, staring to step in the direction of Sylar's shop, accepting the invitation without giving any sort of verbal acknowledgment. "It's not a muscle I'm particularly keen on practicing. It isn't like I'm going to be in this body for long, and I wouldn't want to keep it in shape for you, no offense. You should..."

She swallowed thickly, eyes still glaring daggers.

"You should push the stroller. It'd look weird if I did."

He was silent through the questions, because he didn't particularly want to answer them, and he didn't feel like reminding her of the lie detection either. He'd save all that for a little later in the conversation.

She didn't seem keen on using his powers, but he figured that might change, depending on how long it stuck. And then she tells him to push the stroller, and he can't hide the smirk on his face in direct reply to that glare. "Of course," he said, reaching forward. And then he jerked his head back towards Building 12. "The shop's still rather messy, however. And you'll be hungry shortly, if you aren't already. Maybe my apartment would be better?"

Without waiting on an answer, he started carefully turning the stroller around. "Did you happen to see the blue thing overhead right before we switched, by the way?"

The silence did speak volumes in itself, and to Eden, was more of an answer than she ever expected to get from Sylar, a man who lied, but not in the same way as others might-- Sylar lied as though he felt that he was entitled to it, to tell the story as he saw it, or to shape things in the way he desired with his words, with his hands. The silence told Eden that he probably already wandered the halls, that perhaps he had tried to sneak around all of their apartments using a familiar face-- the lady across the hall, the man next door. Eden made a mental note, of course, to check others before entrusting them with any information, or indeed with Shanti, after things returned to normal.

"Fine," she snapped, rubbing at her temples, suddenly cringing-- sounds flickering from loud to impossibly soft, thudding from somewhere, and the cranking of gears, and no more than a mile away, hundreds of clocks ticking in unison.

So much so that it was frightening.

"The apartment, then," Eden continued, more softly this time, now that her own voice echoed in her ears. "But yeah, I did... see something pass. Probably didn't see any more of it than you did; obviously, other things kept me preoccupied."

The way she was standing was bothering him. He wasn't meant to stand that way- of course, as soon as they started moving, he was sure he would dislike the way she was walking. He was kind enough to walk like she did, why couldn't she return the favor?

But it was a good idea to head to anywhere other than the shop. She wouldn't be able to handle that. He got the stroller turned around, making sure Shanti didn't get jolted, then looked back at her. "Obviously," he said. "Well, perhaps it'll provide a clue."

He stared at Eden, calculating for a moment as he tried to figure out which power she was using. "Eating will help that headache you're nursing. So will aspirin and someplace quiet. Although I daresay it won't go away completely, but I'm sure you know that."

He pushed the stroller, ready to move in relative silence until they reached their destination- interrupted with the occasional check on Shanti, of course. He was happy to be so close, to finally get a look- and there wasn't much Eden could really do about it.

"No, of course I didn't expect for anything to make this day easier than it's been so far; that'd be too kind of the deities," Eden groaned, still rubbing at her temples and largely carrying herself in the same way that she had before-- a slight slouch, unsure footing now that her heels were taken away from yet. However, given time, she began to slowly adjust herself to the body and to the way it seemed to want to have her walk. With a wider gait. Without tensed muscles and shoulders. "And funny thing about quiet places, here-- they make it start ticking. But I'm fine. Stop trying to... I don't even know what you're trying to do with me, here."

She bit her lip, once they'd gotten closer to his apartment, and more forcefully whenever he peered into the stroller. Would he notice the slight way in which Shanti's appearance altered, even in sleep? If she got his powers, but not whatever hunger had always been documented for him in the Company files, did that mean that the hunger had stayed with him and his soul?

It meant a great deal of danger for Shanti.

"Maybe I should carry her," she offered, rubbing her upper arms, feeling cold.

Sylar's eyes narrowed at the suggestion. But to be honest, it would offer him a better view, and get Shanti more acquainted with him (well, his body) besides. There was no reason to refuse.

"Sure, if you'd rather," he said, giving her a small smile. "And I'm trying to make things more comfortable for both of us. And take care of my own headache, if that wasn't obvious."

He looked far more comfortable than he felt. He thought he had noticed Shanti's hair changing color, but he'll need to see it closer to know for sure. He just knew that desire was tied in and something was setting it off. Shanti definitely had a power. He needed to stay on top of this situation as much as possible now.

He stopped the stroller for Eden, so she could pick the girl up. His gaze was just as sharp through Eden's eyes as it ever was through his own.

The moment that Sylar gave Eden access to the baby, she reached into the stroller and pulled Shanti out, who fussed-- but quickly fell silent, more placated by the attention than unnerved by the stranger who held her. All the noises Shanti was making did flash, now and again, against Eden's eardrums, and the sight of Sylar's hand messing with the blankets was unsettling-- there was a return of the scalding heat being poured over her skin, but with furrowed brows, Eden stopped it-- better to be in his body than risk hurting Shanti in the process of changing.

"I'm sure that you've managed ways to take care of this headache already," she muttered quietly, giving a fleeting glance in Sylar's direction. "Why should it make any difference whether or not I use it? The moment we switch back, your powers should be gone again."

Sylar watched Shanti- but then he was distracted by the ripple that started and stopped in Eden. The sharp desire to have it back spiked again, but there was clearly nothing to be done for it. He swallowed as she reminded him of his predicament. "Because I had the headache before we switched. Why, my powers giving you a problem?" He couldn't manage the same smirk with her mouth, but he certainly gave it a try.

He stared at Shanti for a moment- he could've sworn that her hair was a lighter shade a minute ago. Wouldn't that be something? He raised an eyebrow, then turned to continue on their way- they should be back to the building shortly. "She's beautiful," he said, glancing back. "But of course you know that."

"Am I supposed to be ashamed to admit that they are?" Eden returned, no trace of smirk in her expression, perhaps molding Sylar's face into more perplexed of a countenance than it had seen in quite some time. She was able to fixate quite a bit on the beating of his-- or really, was it her?-- heart, quick and at times, almost erratic, she could've sworn. Shanti's beat yet faster still, but she was only a couple of months old.

Could excitement really count for so quick a pulse? Or was it frustration, anger?

Matt Parkman's powers would have been more useful.

"I've only had your abilities for a matter of minutes, after all. And I'm not exactly thrilled to have them. But even less thrilled than you are, I guess."

She inhaled shakily, calming her frayed nerves until she was able to present a sincere--tender--smile to Shanti.

"But you're right. She's beautiful, and I've known that since day one. She's changed things, you know. For a number of people."

Her reply nearly stopped him in his tracks. He was trying to get her worked up, make her just as annoyed and frustrated with this situation as he was, maybe moreso. He wanted to be the calm one, the one that knew what to do. And perhaps that was too simple a motivation, but it was the only method he had for control right now.

He pursed his lips and looked rather sullen, instead of replying. When she started talking about Shanti, he glanced back at her again. "I know she has," he says quietly. He wanted that for himself, that change- he'd had it, apparently, in one future. Before he'd so foolishly decided to kill the mother.

"You know, I never understood before when people would call their children a little miracle," he said, with a quiet, contemplative tone. "And maybe I still wouldn't, with theirs. But I can see now how one child could be. Especially one like Shanti."

They reached the doors to the building, and he opened one for her. She was carrying the baby, after all.

She walked through the door without hesitation, without any breaks in her stride, because she knew that Sylar would be watching as closely as he could-- and say what one might about forced calm, it still showed a level of control over those who needlessly broke out into emotion, into anger, whose distress only increased with the passing of time like a forest fire gone wild.

But her anger was stewing, after all. Bubbling inside, and only keeping her eyes on Shanti helped any of that calm down. Having the baby in her arms.

"Why especially one like Shanti?" Eden asked, bouncing the baby slightly in her arms as Shanti's eyes started to slide to a close. Was his statement pointed? Had he noticed? It was likely that he had, being the type of person he was and given the powers he was accustomed to. But it couldn't hurt to ask.

Or maybe it could, but her curiosity was too great for her to stop herself.

She was so capable of calming the baby, even with his large and unfamiliar arms. Sylar stared up at them, wondering if he could ever be properly like that. He doesn't even like babies, his mind protested, but maybe if it was his own...and Shanti certainly didn't seem so bad.

He smiled a little, less like a smirk than usual, as he pulled the stroller in with him. He headed towards the elevator, keeping an eye on Eden and her daughter. "Well, I'd been trying to avoid the word, considering. But Shanti is special. She's a child born of this City, during a period of extreme instability. And born to two unlikely parents- the man with the neglectful father and the woman with a faded past. She's a boon to both of you and a symbol of hope to others, a sign that they can live a life here." Realizing the weight of all that might be too heavy, he added, "She's also very sweet, for a baby."

Special.

That word was certainly had its share of implications-- or, at least, the possibility thereof, and once again Eden felt thwarted. She could think of a million ways in which her ability could help her in this moment, make him tell her the truth, all lines of morality set aside thanks to that little bit of a debt Sylar owed Eden, in the end. Being her life.

She stepped into the elevator, leaning against the wall.

"I could think of people who'd be far less unlikely parents than either of us. But no, it's not like this was planned for. Though... you know, Shanti has placed me in what seems like an ever-increasing minority of people who prefer this place-- or prefer that it'd exist, at least-- to whatever they have waiting at home."

That seemed to quiet him down, make him think as he stood and waited. "Well, you can count me among those few," he said, rather melancholy. "Despite the annoyances of this past week."

He didn't elaborate; instead he watched Shanti sleep until the elevator doors opened again.

"That doesn't tell me much. Any details to share with the class?" Eden asked, stepping out of the elevator and waiting for Sylar to lead the way, not exactly knowing where his apartment was, nor caring to try and remember the address.

He walked immediately toward number 1532, his apartment. It was a well-traveled way, obvious that habit moved him more than anything, and he looked back while talking. "I'd rather be here than at home. There's more hope for me here. Despite what it's done to me, it's given me...perspective."

It was leaving a large opening for disbelief. If Mohinder or Claire were here, they'd almost certainly have a scathing remark for him. He was never quite sure what direction Eden would go, given that sort of opportunity. But he was being honest with her, if somewhat vague. He didn't have much of a choice.

And there they were, thankfully. "Keys are in your left pocket," he noted as he nodded at the door.

"Perspective," Eden echoed, following Sylar quickly as they made their way to his apartment-- the sooner they got there, the sooner a solution would be found, hopefully. Extracting information from Sylar would have been a nice touch, but her normal ability would have helped just as much with such a task, if not more. She didn't know how to use the wide array of tools suddenly laid out in front of her, by Sylar.

There was no scathing remark that came to Eden's lip, although some measure of disbelief made itself known by the way her brows arched, just slightly. It was nothing really different than what Sylar had told her before, on some occasions. But repetition didn't mean too much of anything.

She tossed the keys in Sylar's direction, not wanting to get even close to him, if at all possible.

"Let's just get through with this. The sooner either of us looks on the network for... anything, the sooner this gets fixed."

Sylar opened up the door to his apartment and walked in, relaxing visibly as he left the stroller near the door. This was a place where he was comfortable- all the walls held built-in bookcases that curved and sloped elegantly, and all the bookcases were full. The whole place had been rebuilt a few times, and by his own hands. It was a testament to his skill (which most likely lay in his aptitude, he knew), and it was a relief to see that it hadn't all been destroyed.

"Make yourself comfortable. If Shanti needs to sleep, you can set her up in the guest bedroom," he said quietly. "I've got extra blankets in that closet." He pointed towards the linen closet in the hallway. "And if you're hungry- which you might be, I haven't had dinner- feel free to raid the fridge."

His laptop was in the living room, which they entered as they walked in. He dropped onto the couch and opened it, immediately looking at the Network. As soon as he seemed to settle into this task, he spoke, without looking up. "We can keep dancing around the subject as much as you'd like, really. But Shanti has an ability, doesn't she? I can tell."

Almost as if on cue, Eden's stomach did growl, although she merely sat herself on the couch and continued to glower a bit, not having much of an appetite, despite the hunger. All the tension, unanswered questions hanging in the air, served to make her feel more nauseated than she had been in quite some time-- which was saying quite a bit, given all the events that had taken place in the past year. Mohinder's changes. The pregnancy.

Shanti squirmed in her arms again, yawning for a moment-- but her eyes didn't open, and for that, Eden was glad. Less opportunities for the secret to come out, until--

Her breath hitched a little, and even without abilities, that was probably enough of a red flag, for Sylar.

"You can tell," Eden repeated, narrowing her eyes, gaze wandering away for a moment. "Maybe I shouldn't be staying here, after all."

"Oh, I don't know if it would be such a good idea to separate," he noted, glancing over to Eden momentarily. "We still don't know the terms of this condition."

Sylar floated around the Network for a moment, noting gladly that others were in the same position. He'd check on that in a minute. Maybe they needed to have this out now. "I know you think you need to protect her or I'll rip her head off, but I have no plans to harm your daughter." It was the truth. He found Shanti to be something that he had helped with (slightly- he had checked to make sure she was growing correctly, after all.) and he wouldn't intentionally harm a hair on her head. Unfortunately, he'd realized he'd gotten quite good at unintentional destruction, but that was why he'd left that part out.

Which was why he was going to have to play this card. "The sky is green, you know." A blatant lie, designed to set off the lie detection ability. He was confident enough that he felt he could ease around directly lying to Eden. He had been doing all right with it so far. He may not have much, after trading his abilities away- but this he was still good at.

While not nearly as skilled as Sylar himself in manipulating words to achieve a certain response or effect, Eden was also familiar with the idea of twisting words, of the gray area which lay between playing lies and truths. Crafting words just so had been both her strength and also, ultimately, her downfall-- meeting someone who was more than a match for her, as she crashed so painfully through the cell glass. Still, Sylar didn't have much reason to lie.

The tingling sensation hit almost instantly after his second declaration-- that the sky was green, of all things, and Eden hunched her shoulders slightly, unsure what it was. The sky is...

"You're a lie detector, now," Eden murmured, eyes opened slightly wider than usual, both stunned and apprehensive. After a momentary pause, she decided to pry a little more, as well as swerve the topic of the conversation. "Do you have a pen and paper? Could you try writing it?"

If there was anything that could distract Sylar, it was the discussion of his abilities- even if they weren't his right at the moment. He smiled a bit at the wide eyes and nodded when she questioned him. "I could, but it only works with the spoken word."

He grabbed a pen and pad of paper from the side table, and wrote in surprisingly loopy letters (at least surprising to him), "The sky is green." He passed it over to her and said, "See? Maybe it could be developed, but I have a feeling it operates entirely off voice inflection."

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