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Stormy hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe not. But even adults can run away."

She kept her smile up at the second question, for a while just concentrating on making sure she cut Ever's bangs evenly rather than, say, accidentally jabbing the scissors into his skin. Her hands weren't always steady things if she became too distract. But well-adjusted, huh. She chuckled for seemingly no particular reason and answered, "Someone asked me if I thought of as many as six impossible things before breakfast, and before I knew it I decided to see how far the rabbit hole went, of course!" as if that should have been obvious. Silly Ever. "Or to give you a real answer, it's the same as a lot of other people's reasons: being here sounded like a better idea than being there," she added. "I've done so much more here than I would've if I had just stayed in my old life, so I don't regret it."

Though there were plenty of other things beyond that which she did.

Stormy gingerly took Ever's face between her hands considered him for a moment, checking to be sure his hair was symmetrical. "Don't get me wrong: I still pretty much ran here when given the chance. I knew I didn't have a future back home either." It was still quite chipper, still talking like it was some silly misconception of hers she had gotten over with time, because it was the only way for her to approach it: as if it had been a passing dark cloud rather than an oncoming storm. "Here you can find one," she said a little softer. "Whatever it is you want it to be."

Satisfied that she hadn't made anything uneven, Stormy went back around and unclipped the top layer of his hair, figuring a little layering couldn't hurt. "Whatever you decide," she said airily, "you'll do it looking quite handsomely if I do say so myself! What's your division again?"

"Yeah . . ." She didn't mean to sound so wistful, but it seemed no matter how many missions she went on, Stormy couldn't always get used to that part. She had been subjected to a complete personality overhaul thanks to the forces at work there, after all, and on top of that the apocalypse had basically been looming? Caelius's speech at the end of it had not been the most heartening.

"Try not to worry about it. Dr. H is your lead, and I hear he's a cool guy. Much less psychotic and angry." Well, her mentor had given her seal of approval and that was about the extent of Stormy's experience with the man, but it was close enough. "How d'you like Life so far?" she asked.

She made a face herself, albeit one that was tinged with amusement. "I think I got stuck with darts so much on that course that I got a free drug high," Stormy laughed. "It wasn't as bad as the Death training one, though. Holy cow, deathsweeper...deathsweeper is awful." And she'd just leave it at that.

A snip here, a snip there, aaaaand...She perused her work one last time, then stepped away to find her hand mirror. "Keeping your head down's a good policy sometimes, though, especially if you're just starting out. But I have faith in you, Mr. Ever!" It didn't matter that she only had known him for all of two days and several Twitter messages; sometimes trainees needed that confidence boost, and Stormy naturally wanted to believe in the best in others. "It's cage cleaning at first, but then you've got the infirmary, the labs...They do good work there." Life was a place for interesting things, for better or for worse.

She handed Ever the mirror and waited for a verdict, looking hopeful.

"Ah, sorry! Ever it is." Stormy beamed at the compliment and took the towel off his shoulders, somehow seeming to bounce while doing so (or at least looked so pleased with herself). "Thanks for the smokes, by the way," she said, finally noticing where he had left them. "Need anything else?"