in the wrong place -the back page [ota]

[mad_asahatter]

Despite having her own room, her own space to decorate -whether anyone liked it or not, and her own time to come and go without disturbing anyone, Ophelia was missing the companionship that came with a room mate. It wasn't so much the companionship as the steady flow of emotional connection. Even with everyone being so close, with the walls being

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[obx_spc_dylan]

Jesse was mellow, even a little bored, when he got off work. It was rainy again and after the little bit of a cold he got after the last time he played in the rain, he wasn't looking to go stomping in any puddles.

Heading to the mess hall for a little grub, Jesse slowed to a stop as he reached the doors. He felt like he was being watched and it was making him anxious. His eyes darted around but he couldn't see anything. Didn't mean there wasn't anything there though. Actually, the fact that they were being sneaky about it made it worse.

Jesse hurried into the hall and quickly shut the doors and locked them. He jumped when he saw Phe out of the corner of his eye, then relaxed when he recognized the crazy girl. "There's someone out there. I think we're about to be attacked again. It's safe in here but we should still hide." His hand went to the gunshot scar on his shoulder. "Yeah, we should definitely hide."

[mad_asahatter]

She paused in her movements, hand poised to reach her mouth with a slice of bread just there. It was unusual, that much she reckoned, for someone of a military position to be so jumpy. Then again, perhaps he was right.

Climbing to knee on the table, peering out the window, Ophelia tried to locate anyone she didn't recognise -there were a few less than familiar signatures, she was finding that more and more common once again, but nothing that bore any kind of ill will, save for the feral that constantly gave off murderous intentions.

"Think you're wrong, dear Captain to be. But best be careful, and prepared to see." Clambering from the table, Ophelia pushed into the deserted mess, grabbing a spoon and a spatula. "Arm yourself."

If she bothered to check, she might've found that she'd done it herself, but at the moment, she wasn't exactly looking for the cause of his jumpy nature.

[obx_spc_dylan]

He watched her nervously as she peeked out the window. "What are you doing? They could see you!" He whispered as he backed into the corner behind the serving area. "What if they are blocking you? They could probably do that. They probably know all about your powers now after the last time they broke in."

Something she said made his eyes grow wide. "Captain to be? You don't think they are after me this time, do you? Because I haven't earned a rank or anything. I'm nobody. I'm nobody!" He shouted at the doors to the imaginary kidnappers. Gone was his usual confidence or cockiness depending on the day. And when she said to arm himself he figured he could do better than that. Those serving trays were metal and heavy. They could probably stop a bullet. He grabbed a big one and wedged his arm inside to use like a shield and the smaller one went on his head like a helmet.

[mad_asahatter]

Now those were good points, and Phe suddenly found herself glancing towards the walls again, this time wondering if the possibility was there. She'd managed to protect herself the last time because of her powers, because they weren't blocking out empaths, it was how she'd taken a dozen men to their knees with unrestrained anguish.

While Jesse shouted at the doors, Ophelia edged closer to them, her spoon and spatula in her hand poised for attack, and peered through the glass at the top of the door. "It's not bright, not light, can't see to fight. Could be the end, could be the start, if we're willing to play this part."

Stress, anxiousness, worry, fear. She couldn't actually figure out where the hell it was coming from, possibly Jesse, but there wasn't really a reason for it, but Phe still found herself getting pulled down into it.

[obx_spc_dylan]

Grabbing a metal serving spoon, he took a step toward the door but only to call after her. "Hey!" He whispered loudly. "Hey crazy, get away from there. We've gotta hide."

The wind blew outside and the building creaked. It was just the building settling but to Jesse it was proof of impending doom. "You hear that? They're coming. Come here. Come here!" When she didn't come fast enough, he ran over to her, grabbed her around the waist and hulled her back to the corner for protection.

[mad_asahatter]

Being dragged back, pulled into the corner, Ophelia lets her own mind run wild with speculation. Conjuring up all sorts of horrible things, potential assailants, threats from unseen faces. Her own fear -or fear that she'd already felt and long since buried- spiralled up to bubble, making her hunch down in the corner with a shared paranoia about the whole situation.

"Crack and crunch, they've come for brunch." Phe was good at seeing demons in the dark, she had a vivid imagination and enough experience of 'monsters' to have an understanding about things going bump in the night. "We're doomed."

[obx_spc_dylan]

Oh, he really didn't need to hear that. Jesse was already swept up in a wave of terror. His arms wrapped around Phe like a small child with a teddy bear. A creep doom spouting technicolor teddy bear.

So when someone on the outside of the doors started jiggling them trying to come in, he held his breath. When that person also had a key and opened the doors, Jesse screamed at the top of his lungs and almost peed himself.

Okay... he might have peed just a little.

[mad_asahatter]

It was the fact that she could read the person on the other side of the door. One of the kitchen staff. Surely they were not trying to assassinate the entire camp or steal away their Captain. Frowning, Ophelia pushed some calm into herself and then steadied her gaze on Jesse, frowning some more.

"You're not yourself," and she was terribly sorry for that. "You should sit down." Except they were sort of crouching near the floor already. "I'll be right back." And prying his arms off from around her, she started to crawl into the back of the kitchen, towards the fridge to get some milk. Milk and cookies, they made everything better.

All the while, letting some kind of calming emotions filter out so as not to give him emotional whiplash.

[obx_spc_dylan]

He didn't want to let her go. When he had to, he hugs himself. His eyes follow her and glance to the staff member that's cautiously watching him like he was crazy. No attack.

He could feel himself calm a bit.

"Are those cookies?"

[mad_asahatter]

Glancing over to the kitchen worker, Phe glared a little before nodding towards Jesse. "Cookies, milk and warm fuzzies." She tapped the side of her head for the warm fuzzies, crossing her legs and sitting on the floor in front of Jesse.

She just needed to give him a little time to calm down, she guessed. It wasn't like she couldn't easily bring him down from that anxious rush of fear and paranoia, she just tended to do it slowly.

"I'm sorry." At least she understood what she had done. A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have.

[obx_spc_dylan]

Just taking a bite of the cookie made him feel a little more mellow though he was still eyeing the door and windows. He still wasn't completely convinced there wasn't a threat.

Wow, these cookies were good though.

The distraction was nice though he would probably feel very foolish in a minute. His blue eyes come up searching hers. "For what? The cookies? Did you do something to them?" And the paranoia started creeping back.

[mad_asahatter]

"No." Stating it quickly and adamantly might not've been the best way to convince him, not even with the quick shake of the head and big innocent eyes. Answering too fast was a problem Ophelia hadn't ever really managed to break. "Nothing wrong with them."

This might take some work. Phe wasn't sure how much of her power he'd been subjected to, or just what kind of things he'd picked up from her. It was hard to tell when she wasn't consciously controlling what she was doing.

"It's not you, it's me, and it's hard to see. But there's something inside making you want to hide. It's not really there, just theatric flair."

[obx_spc_dylan]

No, the way she said really didn't ease his suspicion. In fact, anxiety he would have felt even if she hadn't been influencing him held firm. Jesse stopped eating the cookie and stared at it. Then his gaze drifted to the milk. It was a shame. It was cold and after a few bites of cookie it would have been refreshing.

It took a minute for his mind to wrap around the riddles. Word games weren't really his thing but it wasn't an especially hard one so he thought he got it. "You're doing this to me?"

[mad_asahatter]

She at least worked up something to make herself feel a little guilty, nodding slightly at him. "Didn't mean to though, sometimes it just..." Her hands flicked about, as if waving away smoke. There really wasn't a way to describe it.

"It just leaks, it seeps and peeks and spills. It's not meant to be but it happens sometimes. Not a conscious thought, no reason or rhyme, not thought of mine. It's just an act, just some dire attack." With her palms pressed to her face, Ophelia smears her make-up over her cheeks as she drags her hands down her face. "It's just not right."

[obx_spc_dylan]

Watching her beat herself up sort of snapped him out of the funk he was in. "Hey. Hey, hey, it's alright. No harm done. I'm okay. You're okay. Worse shit has happened right? Don't beat yourself up about it. Come on."

He picks himself off the floor, glancing at the windows and door again. So maybe he wasn't completely back to normal again but he wasn't in a panic. That was what mattered.

Once he was standing, he helped her up then grabbed a napkin and got it wet. Gently, he started wiping away the smeared make-up. First around her mouth then he just kept going until all the make-up was gone. He never really noticed how pretty she was under the face paint.

"There you go. All better." He said softly, handing the napkin to her.

[mad_asahatter]

The cleaning up was enough to stop her from sparking off any kind of punishment upon her self. He didn't seem mad, there wasn't any anger, but there was a small tendril of that worry still there. She could sense that there were bad things connected to his memory of the whole attack, and she really felt horrible for inflicting it upon him again.

"Ophelia's still sorry." Genuinely apologetic, she tried to make it up the only way she knew how. By taking in the bad and giving out the good. It probably wasn't what she was supposed to be doing, she'd been trying not to let too many bad things fester inside her like before, but a few little things couldn't hurt.

Taking the anxiousness and fear out of the air and letting feelings of contentment and happiness weigh heavy in the room, Phe figured that maybe that was a good enough start. "Not mad?"