(Untitled)

[abrasivealeida]

Date: Sunday, September 11
Time: 11:26am
Week Number // Name: 2 // The Gossip Train
Characters Open To // Involved: Kase // Aleida and Kase
Reason: Telepathy and Turning Points

Comments

[abrasivealeida]

Maybe she had been wrong; this was positively dreadful. Kase had free reign to do what she would (Aleida was secretly worried what would come of this - it wasn't as if the professor knew what was really going on in her head). And Aleida? She could sit... and be bored. So she did just that. Her impatience was nagging her; normally it only stemmed from her own incompetence, and perhaps that was the case now. She couldn't protect herself from Kase's prying..eyes or mind or whatever she used, and that bothered her. She had always been smarter than everyone else and now that she had encountered someone with a stronger mind than her own, her insecurities were practically eating her alive.

Aleida scanned the room, her eyes finally falling back on Kase. There appeared to be nothing else to do, so she set Kase under her critical eye. Slowly she picked Kase apart, but surprisingly not all was negative. She noticed, much to her dismay, that Kase was actually quite pretty. Other things were random and insignificant: her top lip was a bit thinner on one side than the other and she had more eyelashes on one eye than the other. She simply noticed silly things, but it was as she watched Kase that she noticed a change.

Kase's eyes seemed blank, as if there was nothing behind them. It was then that she realized what was happening. Kase had actually decided to dig through her mind. Aleida's brow furrowed as she shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though she was suddenly the one who was being scrutinized. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything she could do; she had agreed to this.

Twisting to look at the professor, Aleida opened her eyes wide, as if imploring them to step in. Naturally the professor did not, choosing instead to shake their head knowingly. Grumbling and narrowing her eyes, Aleida turned back to the other girl, suddenly hoping to see the regular Kase she despised. At least she knew what was going on when Kase insisted on fighting verbally. Kase had a habit of making Aleida feel entirely lost, and she did not like it at all.

[kaseofpsyche]

Grasping hold of the memory, Kase struggled to remain still and passive, letting the memory play itself out. She didn't hold tightly enough, however, and it quickly slipped away, slick as though it were covered in moss or seaweed or riverbed sledge. She let it go, not wanting to force anything. Patience. She had to remember to have patience. It was terribly boring, but it seemed extremely important now. She didn't want to hurt Aleida, contrary to whatever Aleida might believe.

She stilled again, letting the memories slip past her as she let her mind sink further and further into the other girl's mind. Suddenly, she realized she wasn't sensing any surface thoughts. That signaled to her that she was deeper in than she'd ever expected to go, which instantly made her anxiety set in, but she quickly forced it away, insisting that she remain calm and objective. Getting flustered and nervous would only do more harm than good for everyone now. She focused hard, ignoring everything that was not her power itself. She held to it as though to a lifeline; she used the mental imagery once more to paint her power in as a lifeline, tied firmly around her own waist. She checked the knots that held it, getting herself focused and calm once more.

Then she reached out again, searching Aleida's memories. Things were clearer here, though still murky. The memories were none of them pleasant, so Kase couldn't really blame Aleida for wanting to keep them hidden and shadowed, even from herself. Still, she wouldn't have allowed it in her own mind. An innumerable barrage of hospital stays and constant distance in family ties was everywhere Kase turned. So much to be sad about, so much to make a soul feel lonely. She didn't really want to stir these sorts of things up. She doubted it would help Aleida understand that Xavier's could be different for her, but the professors had insisted and so she pushed on, intentionally stirring up the memories and letting them swirl around, building up towards the surface. Come on, Aleida... Why aren't you even challenging me a little?

Then she caught hold of a memory that dealt directly with Aleida's power. It wasn't clear and it escaped Kase's ability before she realized, but it was enough to sense the emotions that had come along with it: pain, loss, anger, fear, loneliness... all too typical for mutants out among humans who didn't understand. Aleida was a real pain, but Kase couldn't let that get to her when she kept being bombarded by all this commonality. Sometimes it was a real curse, being able to read other people's minds; she couldn't simply dislike someone because she kept on knowing what made them act in ways that annoyed her.

She pushed the memories some more, stirring them up, trying to find a barrier or a way to get Aleida's attention from inside, or simply to make her presence known. Come on, this is what the professor wants me to do, isn't it? she thought, Stir things up and break through the defenses or whatever. Maybe I should have payed better attention when he was explaining... oh well. She'd just do the best with what she remembered, pulling at memories, trying to make them reach the surface, forcing them to be revealed as loudly and as clearly as possible.

[abrasivealeida]

In all of the silence, Aleida was suddenly shocked when she could hear her father's voice in her head. Looking around in surprise, she honestly expected him to be standing in the room. Upon finding only the professor, she listened more closely. Not that she really had to; his words were as cutting and clear as they had been the day he had said them, "I am NOT your father; no child of mine would be pleading after my affections." She realized when that had been: the first, and last, day she had called him "Daddy".

As much as she would've liked to have thought herself unaffected by these memories, her breathing and heart rate quickened quite rapidly. Along with that, the tips of her fingers began to tingle - a sensation she knew quite well. This simply would not do; she would not let Kase get the better of her.

Concentrating fiercely, Aleida began blocking out her own memories. She halted any memories that even tried to come to the surface, and in the process making them even fuzzier than they had been already. She built a stone wall, figuratively, not in front of Kase to keep her from exploring deeper, but instead behind her to keep memories out of her, Aleida's, conscious mind. Without thinking she confused dates, jumbled the series of events, and added people who were not there and perhaps had never existed to the memories that Kase had washed to surface, making them nearly indistinguishable.

Sighing quietly, Aleida rubbed her hands together slowly, checking for any signs that her control had diminished. A smile appeared upon her lips, granted an odd tentative smile but it was a smile no less. It was not for "defeating" Kase. It was instead for controlling herself. As much as the thoughts and memories Kase was stirring up bothered her, she had managed to control them, set them back where they belonged, and even further muck around with them to the point that she wasn't sure which memories had been altered and which hadn't.

Hmm. Odd how Aleida was so scared of Kase doing something to her, when she had already done it to herself.

((Sorry for the repost; it was all in italics! :[ )

[kaseofpsyche]

Kase kept on pushing random memories toward the surface, trying to reach Aleida's conscious mind, though she had no idea what was happening in the conscious world at all. After a while, she thought, I'm not getting anywhere. Maybe I should quit. I'm getting tired, anyway, and with that she began to slowly rise to the surface of Aleida's mind and try to make her way out without disturbing things or hurting Aleida or herself.

She passed a few memories that she remembered seeing from before. It gave her pause because they were different than she remembered them. Oh, no! Did I...? I don't think I did! I didn't try to! she fretted, but then quickly remembered that now was not the time for panicking about it. She forced herself to be emotionless and completely stoic again, ignoring the memories she was pushing past.

Soon she felt herself close enough to the surface that she felt safe enough to break away and swiftly did, returning to her self. Her eyes blinked and she shook her head as she resettled her mind to its normal state of being. She glanced to the professor, asking questions with her eyes rather than her voice. She didn't even bother to look at Aleida.

She was afraid that she'd let her power get away from her and it was her fault that some of Aleida's memories were altered. She didn't want to face the other girl if that were true. She didn't really want to face anyone. All she wanted was to run back to her room and hide under the covers on her bed. She swallowed hard as she waited nervously for the professor to notice that she wasn't in Aleida's head any longer and was decidedly in need of guidance.

[abrasivealeida]

Aleida crossed and uncrossed her legs in a bit of boredom, not exactly what she ought to do. There were no more memories seeping into her thoughts, and she was under the impression that Kase had stopped trying. Perhaps it was fortunate that Kase decided to leave when she did; Aleida dropped all of her fortifications and began hopelessly searching for something to entertain herself. If she made the holes in the arm of the chair any deeper, she would've poked through the top, which certainly was not discrete.

Looking at Kase, she noticed suddenly that the life had returned to her. That was not to say she had appeared dead, but she had seemed as if she were else where. And she had been, really. Aleida too looked toward the professor for guidance, though not in the same was Kase did. She wondered if this was over, and how this could have possibly helped anyone. She had to sit in a room with a girl she didn't like for a while, with no apparent outcome. Why wouldn't she want to leave.

The professor noticed both of the girls glances, but most pressingly Kase's. With a gruff voice they announced firmly, "I think that is enough girls. Ms. Burton, you have been helpful, thank you. You may return to whatever you will." Aleida excited rather quickly, not bothering to say anything and certainly not looking back.

The professor looked at Kase, their eyes soft with compassion. "It is alright. You've been more helpful than you know." With a nod toward the door, the professor then dismissed Kase, as well.

[Aleida out!]