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Post by James Adler on Jul 14, 2011 21:51:58 GMT -5
James walked down the path, the steady rhythm footsteps lulling him into a hypnotic state as his mind swayed from topic to topic unsure of where to stay. This past week and a half or so, had been pretty good to him, he was in a safe comfortable environment with free room and board, and plenty of interesting people around to keep him interested. James wondered for a moment, if this is what college would have been like if he actually went. This place was great and new and a little scary, but he still felt like a spectator. He was no where near understanding the full implications of the choice he made to come here, and thus he found himself asking if it was the right one.
James swiveled his head from right to left as he contemplated his role here, and in the conflict at large. It was only then that he realized how close he had gotten to Alice as he caught her out of the corner of his eye at the same time that she had caught him in hers. He really didn't know how to react this had honestly caught him entirely off guard, he simply prepared for her reaction.
To his surprise she didn't seem angry, or even indifferent, she seemed happy? No happy was too strong a word really, but when he thought about the subtleties of all of her other emotions it made sense...though it was no where near what he was expecting. Before he could really decide what to do, if anything, she stopped walking.
"Sorry, just... need a minute."
Was she tired?Embarrassed?Wait wha-? James took a few steps to his right looking out into the field and shook his head for a moment. He must be getting tired he realized. Either that or he was just too far off in his own little world. After shaking his head and doing a quick squat on the ground he felt fine, and he turned around to see Alice standing there waiting for him. "So...What was that about...?"
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Post by alice on Jul 14, 2011 22:56:35 GMT -5
Alice stood there for several moments, taking slow, deep breaths as she tried to calm the anxious shadows. They weren't blood thirsty, not yet at least. Just.... Restless. They wanted to be be released, have some fun.... Only their definition of fun involved mass murder...
She didn't let on to the battle it was to restrain them. THankfully they weren't all that determined right now, and slowly back downed, the darkness returning to it's original shape. Anyone would think she won the war, but that was only the first battle. As soon as the darkness grew restless... It didn't settle until it won, or finally gave up after days of almost constant battle.
She glanced up at him when he suddenly, spoke, finally back to reality. Should she warn him? Or would he think she was insane? Well... She was... But still. Warning him... If something did happen, he'd at least be prepared, and know what exactly was happening. ".... When I told you I'm dangerous.... I don't mean me... exactly. I mean the darkness.... It gets restless..." Her gaze traveled, focusing on the darkest locations near them.
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Post by James Adler on Jul 14, 2011 23:46:05 GMT -5
"So...your powers are based on darkness?" As serious as this situation was, James couldn't help, but to do the mental equivalent of a massive face-palm in his head. Is this the power he had been so worried about? Wait....he was jumping the gun a bit here.
"And you have trouble with the darkness trying to control you? and your out in the middle of the night because you have an aversion to light?"
James now started pacing back and forth, both trying to process the situation, as well as simply coming to terms with it. This was ridiculous... insane even....this didn't happen....but again he could just be getting ahead of himself....there was no way to prove that his powers would have any effect on her 'darkness' whatsoever...and there was also no telling for now the adverse effects too much light would have on her body....he just needed to calm down for a second and relax.
James slowed his pacing until eventually he was standing still again. On one level this was fantastic, and on another it was utterly terrifying. He was never one to be proud of his powers, in fact he would go as far to say that they were an outright nuisance to an otherwise pretty good life. Sure his powers were useful from time to time, and they rarely if ever gave him trouble, but to be a mutant in this day and age was the same as being a target. He didn't have 'pride' as a mutant, in fact in many ways he didn't even identify himself as one.
And now he had to essentially reveal himself, if he was going to have a chance to help this girl...and he quite possibly was the only one who could.
"I.....I-think I can help you."
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Post by alice on Jul 15, 2011 0:27:54 GMT -5
Alice just nodded to that first question. Basically. She didn't explain what that meant exactly. People didn't always understand the 'corruption' her power caused.
She watched him pace, trying to figure out why he was putting such deep thought into this. "Not trying..... and it's not just that I hate light... My eyes can't adjust for it, so I can blind myself if I'm not careful." Why was he suddenly acting so strange? If she were normal, she'd call it unnerving. He almost seemed to be scheming something... Or it at least looked like it.
She stared at him curiously, trying to figure out just what conclusion he'd seemed to come to... Until he took her by complete surprise by saying he thought he could help. Help? What did that even mean exactly? "I don't understand."
She honestly didn't. What was their to help with? How could someone help? Why did he even think he could help? How did he come to the conclusion that it was possible to help her in some way? "I don't think help is possible. All it does is increase the chance of you angering them. They don't like people to begin with. They wouldn't have any problem killing an intruder..." They, of course, would be acting through her.
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Post by James Adler on Jul 15, 2011 0:55:30 GMT -5
"Well honestly I'm not exactly sure right now." James said beginning to pace again "I have to think about it a bit..." He was excited, probably too excited with the prospect of being able to help her, part of it was definitely a lack of sleep that caused him to have such a strange demeanor, but mostly it was because this was a chance to do something that mattered and his brain still hadn't processed all the information yet.
James stopped suddenly and took a deep breath, he seriously needed to calm down for a minute, or he was going to scare poor Alice to death (whether she recognized it or not was another story). James took another deep breath and made sure he regained his composure before walking up to Alice.
"My power is to bend and control light." he said taking deliberate careful pauses between each sentence both for himself and her. "This probably means, at least in theory while I'm around the shadows would have a very hard time controlling you." I know for example, that fixing your eyes wouldn't be a problem at all. My powers have no lasting effect when I'm not around...so any help I could offer you now would be temporary, but with the resources this school has at its disposal it is possible that we could come up with a more permanent fix." He said pausing and watching her carefully trying to gauge her reaction "Of course its all up to you if you want to do this of course."
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Post by alice on Jul 15, 2011 1:44:00 GMT -5
Alice slowly blinked, shocked. He said he thought he could help.... And then had no idea how? What in the world...? "That makes no sense." And yet he was so ecstatic about his plan in the making.... She seriously didn't get it.
And then.. Just like that he'd changed tactics, calming down. And she thought she had mood swings...
Hearing his power, she actually stiffened. She hated, the light, obviously. And that hatred could, sometimes, carry over to those who manipulated it. But seeing as he hadn't actually done anything to earn her wrath... She'd see if he could avoid provoking her in some way.
"..... Are my eyes broken?" He'd used to word fixed.. Didn't that mean something was wrong with them? That they were broken? What if she didn't want her eyes to be fixed? She liked the dark. She could see in any darkness, even in complete absence of light. She was comfortable with that, and yet these light dwellers didn't seem to register to them.
She stared at him for several moments, obviously trying to come to terms with what he said. It was almost as if he was saying he wanted to fix her 'insanity'. Now, that wasn't a bad thing, but the voices in her head.... They were like her parents, having been there almost her whole life. Could she even imagine life with out hearing them?
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Post by James Adler on Jul 15, 2011 2:57:35 GMT -5
"..... Are my eyes broken?"
James wanted to laugh at the question, but he knew better. He had to be very careful with what he said(and did) from this point on, otherwise Alice would simply alienate him forever, and that was the best case scenario. He was on a narrow rickety wooden bridge, and one false step would send him plummeting into the rocks below. Worse yet his fall could break that bridge and that would be an even greater tragedy.
No your eyes aren't broken...in fact they are probably better then most people's eyes. What I meant was...here, just hold on a sec." James turned his back and walked away from her creating a comfortable distance between the two of them, and looked out at the school. "Do you see that light there? You don't have to look if its too bright, just trust me its there. I am going to bend that light into my eyes...no light will come anywhere near you...in fact you won't even notice when its...done." He said the last word just as he turned around to face in her direction again. If one were particularly astute, they would notice a sort of twinkle in Jame's eye as he turned around.
"Now I can see in the dark probably as well as you can. Like that squirrel on that tree over there, or the blue robins egg in the nest on the second tallest branch." He said pointing to a tree that would normally be just on the horizon in broad daylight, let alone at night.
"I could, with a little bit of trial and error, adjust your eyes the same way, except for the daylight as opposed to the night. This means that your eyes wouldn't be sensitive to the light anymore and you could see in the light just as well as you can see in the dark. I wouldn't be changing your actual eyes at all, just the amount of light that comes in and out of them."
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Post by alice on Jul 15, 2011 11:54:04 GMT -5
Alice's head had tilted as she waited for some sort of answer, curious if he had meant to say they were broken, or if it was something else entirely that he'd just explained poorly. If you looked at her, the action was actually sort of cute, making her look 'normal' for once.
As he began to explain, she just stared at him like he was absolutely insane. Everything he did was odd to some degree. Like how he had his back to her, and was going on and on about bending the light, but not coming near her.. What exactly did that mean? And when he did turn back, she noticed that strange Santa Claus twinkle in his eyes. How couldn't she? "... Are you impersonating Santa Claus?" Wasn't a tinkle in his eyes a thing only Santa had? Now she was even more confused then before.
Each creature he pointed out in the dark, her own gaze moved to make sure it really was there, before silently looking back at him. It seemed his power was pretty useful, but he was doing near the same thing her eyes already did on their own... Just opposite them. "What if I don't want to be out during day time?
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Post by James Adler on Jul 15, 2011 16:06:12 GMT -5
James took a long pause and waited, honestly he wanted to keep talking, there was so much to say, so much to communicate, so much to figure out, but he had to give her a break. Any normal person would probably be overwhelmed by the amount of information he was sputtering, let alone Alice.
He stayed there and waited on baited breath waiting for her response, trying hard to not let the chaotic state of his mind show up in his body language. She could say anything right now, most likely if he had to guess should would reject the idea, or at least be reluctant. She was in her own world and she was comfortable there, there were problems, but they were comfortable problems. The devil you know is always better then the devil you don't.
At any moment she could flip on him...at any moment...."... Are you impersonating Santa Claus?"
Wait wha-? He stared at her somewhat dumbfounded for a second "...Oh..." he said blushing slightly from embarrassment. a second later the twinkle in his eye was much dimmer barely noticeable at all. ...Wait a second did Alice just make a joke?...
He didn't have time to think about it as the next statement came out of her mouth: "What if I don't want to be out during day time?"
James thought carefully for a moment: "Well you have to get up for school anyway right? And walking around being able to see is much better then moping around in the dark...My guess is that your eyes can't see things quite right in the light just like most people can not see in the dark. If that's true you are missing out on a lot of beauty in this world..."
"Of course that being said I would understand if you would rather not do it...it is entirely your choice, If I had wanted to I could have been able to see like this in the dark for our entire walk, but instead I chose to walk around virtually blind next to you. I just think that you would be saving yourself some annoying irritation, that's all"
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Post by alice on Jul 17, 2011 16:21:49 GMT -5
Thankfully, he had seemed to calm down a little since that last speech, but he was still talking more then she would have liked. Still, she could put up with it... As long as he didn't pick a topic she didn't like.
It seemed he hadn't realized that you really couldn't predict what Alice might say. One minute she could basically be threatening you, the next joking. No, the girl had no real... pattern to what she did, often leaving people wondering if mood swings could give you whiplash. As expected though, she didn't understand why he seemed completely lost by her change of direction.
Again, information overload. She almost looked horrified when she realized how much he was saying, and not by what it was being said. "I like moping around in the dark though. It's comfortable. People don't bug me when I do." She almost made a face then. What was it with people thinking being in the dark by yourself meant you needed their help for something?
She refrained herself from mentioning that she didn't believe daylight, or anything related to it, was beautiful. As a creature of the night, she would have thought it was obvious that hated the day with a loathing passion. Even if she could see during the day, why would she ever want to see any of it? All it meant was she could see all the things she hated even clearer!
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Post by James Adler on Jul 17, 2011 16:49:43 GMT -5
Jame's brain was in fact, finally winding down a bit, there was no doubt that this would be on his mind for some time, but at least he could now act with some level of social awareness again.
"Fair enough...I understand being comfortable alone...but, let me ask you just one more question...Why specifically do you hate the light, so much? What is your reason beyond blind hatred? pain?"
Honestly Jame's little hyperactive episode really did push things a bit too far. He played his cards far too early simply speaking exactly what he was thinking at the time. She was far too sheltered and far too scared to really deal with a situation of this magnitude, especially given how quickly he sprung it upon her...
To be honest James felt guilty, and a little sad. Putting aside the fact that all the things he was talking about may or may not be possible, he had still subjected someone to a life changing decision (one that he wasn't entirely sure he could even provide), and he tossed it around so casually, as if her life was simply a play thing, some experiment, some theory. That was rash and childish, but there was no real use in lamenting it now, the damage was done, and all he could do was move on.
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Post by alice on Jul 17, 2011 17:24:33 GMT -5
Why.... did she hate the light?
Alice was a little dumbfounded, staring at James with a strange look on her face. She'd never honestly thought about that... Did she need a reason to hate something?
The girl was silent for several moments, just staring at him with that odd expression as she thought. She honestly did, not just for his sake, but for her own. Why did she hate something for no reason?
Still silent, she finally just sat down on the grass, her gaze distant as she continued to ponder. Plucking grass absentmindedly, she didn't seem to notice what James did, whether if he continued to stand or sit as well, she was completely absorbed to the point of reality not existing.
She thought back to all those times when she did encounter the light. Of course it hurt her eyes, blinding her. Sunlight, and light based powers, burned her skin (Not like a sunburn, but it hurt to have any contact with it.). After enduring over ten years of the Light's torture.. How could she like it?
"..... I've never been given a reason to like it. All it's ever done is hurt me." The way she spoke... It wasn't just physical light she was talking about. Emotions as well... Maybe that was why she'd grown so detached from society (other then her chaotic power).
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Post by James Adler on Jul 17, 2011 18:10:05 GMT -5
"Hmm" Her response was genuine and thought out, if he wasn't so upset about his mistake just a moment ago, he would have been awfully happy about this. This was a sign that he truly got through to her, something he found extremely unlikely this early on. Granted several hours alone with somebody often did accelerate any kind of social relationship with them, and with both of them having few to no acquaintances that would only serve to accelerate the process that much further.
Answering her would be difficult though: he could modify her at the very least temporarily well he was around (this much he was sure of) so that she would experience light like any other person, but it all came down to a matter of trust. This was like if you met someone deathly allergic to peanuts and told them you had a power that nullified their allergy, so here have a peanut. Anyone would be hesitant it was natural.
"That makes a lot of sense, and I can tell you truthfully that at least while I am around I can make that pain go away, but that would require you to trust me, and I understand that that is something you cannot give easily, but if you are ever ready, I'll be there. And if you don't mind I'd still like to hang out with you if that's okay."
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Post by alice on Jul 17, 2011 20:00:22 GMT -5
Saying he'd 'gotten through to her', was a strong remark, and one Alice wouldn't use for this situation. Merely entertaining the thought was more likely. Or, at least she'd say so. Most people wouldn't agree though. They'd say James was right. A few though, would at least consider her reluctance to grow attached to others, to the point that she seemed incapable of them.
Why was he so determined to 'fix' her? Was there something wrong with her? Well, at least to other people, yes. But she didn't go around telling them to change.... Did he meant it that way, or did he think he was helping, rather then fixing?
He wasn't pressuring her though, just determined to help (or fix, she hadn't decided which it was yet) her problem. But would she welcome that sot of change? Over ten years of hiding from the sun... Would she be willing to go outside during the day? She didn't even need to think about it. No. Even if she could, she'd spent to many years hiding. She'd never adjust to a light filled world. "I don't want to be any different. I like things the way they are. I'd never see the light as a good thing, even if I could go out in it." She paused for several moments. "... You can stay."
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Post by James Adler on Jul 17, 2011 20:42:03 GMT -5
her reaction was entirely understandable considering the situation, and no amount of talking, convincing, or otherwise smooth talking was going to change her mind. The only thing that may eventually change her mind is experience in itself, but forcing her to experience anything was sure to be disastrous.
Really if James wanted to he could easily have her experience whatever wonderful light show that came to his mind. Altering her eyesight and protecting her body would most likely take a matter of seconds, and it would be nigh imperceptible to her at night, but that would just simply be wrong. He could possibly imagine someday in the future where he might take a chance with this maneuver, but with things the way they are there was no way he could possibly make that kind of leap of faith that everything would be okay at the end. In the end it was all simply a matter of trust.
However, the way she said her last statement struck an interesting chord with James. He of course found light to be a blessing for the most part, while she on the other hand found nothing redeemable in it.
"Light is never a good thing.....does that mean I am not a good thing?" The question carried some emotion with it. Though James wasn't particularly hurt by the indirect insult, he did care what she thought of him, far more then he initially realized. "Then all darkness is also good? Is Light for you not both a haven and a prison? The shadows have no control, yet you have no freedom?" Cruel irony
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