meadowlarklogs | ( closed )

( vanessa had met him for breakfast. it had been something they'd done several times since she'd returned from-- wherever.

though breakfast was a terrible habit of hers, more frequently not having it, he'd found somewhere wonderful for them to go -- a quaint little tea shop that had the most wonderful desserts.

vanessa was hoping, after everything that had happened recently, that this could distract her. though she's focusing on her tea and cake it's still easy to note that she isn't as relaxed or calm as usual )

( he'd become rather adept at finding places to eat.

Vanessa's particular tastes had posed an interesting challenge ㅡ he'd never been to London, was unfamiliar with its food and its customs; tea rooms and cake shops were not exactly uncommon in a city that never seemed to sleep, but many of them were too large and too loud. hardly suitable for their purpose.

Cherry on Top was a small business that formed part of the riverside promenade. he'd found it during a visit to one of the altars, cooling his heels over a mug of homemade cocoa and lemon cake.

he pauses over his breakfast, now. fork tilting in his fingers. )

You seem troubled.

( her own movements still at the comment, fork idling where it had been about to take a new piece of cake.

vanessa doesnt like being easy to read. even with friends she tries to keep her worries to herself, to protect them but he's intuitive even for her efforts )

Should I find recent events anything but troubling?

( though true its a deflection from what really troubles her )

That's not what I meant.

( the implication, in his tone, is clear enough. that he sees through that attempt to deflect and that he will not let it stand.

he should be kinder, perhaps. there's a delicacy about her that makes him want to be gentle. but, there is something in the way she withdraws that tells him that she needs to speak even if she does not wish to. )

You look like you're trying to solve a puzzle with half of the pieces missing.

Aren't we all?

( considering how little information they had about their arrival here, about their 'powers', something that vanessa was discovering more of recently )

Recently I've-- triggered an ability. I believe that is how it's been referred to.

( part of her had felt lost without her magic, without the senses she'd become accustomed to and now this. she was clueless )

( a brief glance around the room, checking to be sure that they are not overheard. as much as the altars suggest that there are people in the city that views them and what they can do favorably, he knows better than to think that there aren't just as many that find them threatening.

or, worse, are curious. )

When?

( recently, he thinks. had she been part of the recent mission? they'd never really discussed allegiances and he realizes, now, how that had been a mistake of his. )

At the safehouse.

( vanessa typically talks in hushed tones, her words careful and quiet no matter what the conversation is but this one is particularly hushed. she doesn't want to be overheard )

I'd been assisting with the wounded.

What happened?

( something unpleasant, clearly. it would explain her alarm ㅡ though, even with his own powers and knowledge, he had found his own ability alarming ㅡ as well as her reluctance to speak of it.

his fork is set down. and, after a moment's hesitation, he leans forward, covering her hand with his own. )

There is no reason to be afraid. Many have experienced something similar.

( many had and vanessa had spoken about powers and how people had accessed them before but... she fears not being in control. vanessa has experienced it before with her magic, with the possessions that had followed and though this is different she can't help that same instinct )

I could feel their pain, how afraid they were--

( everyone felt something from touch, from the bond that seemed to be between them all but this was different )

I felt it as if it were my own.

( Ah.

he understands, now. )

It seems to be something common among us. ( by "us" he means the other displaced. perhaps she will find comfort in the knowledge that she isn't alone in this. isn't alone in her fear and her uncertainty. )

You were overwhelmed, that's all.

( and the empathy bond can be very overwhelming. even he, with his experience of something similar, is wary of it. despises how easily he can be exposed by it.

his fingers curl over hers. )

It will get easier.

No.

( vanessa knows what he's thinking of. she'd felt that many times after first waking up, when they didn't know any better and believed themselves as free with their touch as they had been previously )

It wasn't that.

( vanessa isn't certain how to describe sit but she hopes that he can understand )

It was physical pain.

( he tips his head back at her insistence, brows drawing together. if they aren't talking about the empathy bond then they are talking about something close to it.

her ability, then? )

What happened next?

I'm not certain.

( she pauses, thinking it through. it had taken vanessa by surprise enough then that she hadn't really paid attention to anything else )

I'd been speaking to one of the injured, helping to dress their wounds. They were afraid.

( the fingers of his other hand tap lightly against the tabletop. )

They needn't have been. The technology here is advanced enough that there is little that could be done to them that couldn't have been repaired.

I lost hearing in one ear during the attack on our transport, bruised several ribs. ( he'd been resistant, initially. stubbornly so ㅡ and truthfully still held much of Morningstar's technology in suspicion, but it had its uses. ) Several hours in their medical pod and it was entirely restored.

It wasn't their injuries that frightened them.

( they'd been attacked, ambushed, kidnapped. vanessa understood the reasons for their fear )

But they seemed to calm, as if they no longer felt it.

( and she did instead )

( ah. )

You took their pain?

( that's ... a new one. her ability, then. it must be some kind of healing. )

A useful if taxing skill.

I believe so.

( doubly taxing with feeling it herself, not so extreme but it was there )

I'm not certain how it occurred.

Someone on the network was offering to train others in the use of their abilities. She seemed to have had experience.

( strictly speaking Daisy was the second to have made such an offer but Lorna, the first, had disappeared shortly after her arrival. Daisy, meanwhile, seemed like she would be sticking. )

If you have concerns — questions, she might be able to help you find answers.

She may.

( though vanessa did have concerns, ones that she didn't believe this woman could answer )

Did you believe in this before? That these abilities could exist?

Yes.

( there is no hesitation to his answer. )

Abilities like this are not unknown to me.

( though the variety is greater than he had experience with. his own ability is something he has only ever heard mention of in old histories. the kind of thing a curious child might hope for but would quickly learn how inconvenient it was to have in practice.

this is the third pair of gloves he has gone through in as many days. the second shirt. )

( that surprises her, something that vanessa doesn't hide from her expression. though others had talked about familiarity with such things she didn't expect many to know of them )

I also did though they were not called as such.

What were they called?

( the simplest question to start, then.

pinning down the source of her unease is trickier than he expected, but he thinks he might be beginning to understand. )

What I've heard of previously-- ( what she had before this place-- ) --is magic.

( though that is perhaps a different thing to believe in than these abilities. her voice is noticeably quieter now, even with the usual hushed tones that vanessa speaks in )

Something few believe in, I'm aware.

( closed )

( kylo ren )

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