Born To Be Okay

Participants:

jaiden_icon.gif lucille2_icon.gif

Scene Title Born To Be Okay
Synopsis The training of Lucille's ability begins but it's not long before one of the two are in tears.
Date March 16, 2011

Jaiden's Basement Apartment


"Okay, just sit there and relax." Those words should bring people comfort but when.. when you're about to get someone's ability practiced on you.. maybe that only ignites more fear in you. Well for Jaiden, who knows if that's the case. Sitting in front of him on the floor, cross legged is the woman whose been living with him ever November 8th happened. His roomie!

Lucille Ryans' hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail, she wears a dark blue tank top along with gym shorts. Light grey eyes wide in anticipation. She wiggles her fingers as she looks over at Jaiden. "I promise I won't hurt you," Beat, "Maybe." Oh boy..

Sitting in his comfortable chair in a t-shirt and gym shorts, no socks, is a slightly nervous Jaiden. Ever since Lucille had moved in and took possession of his couch, she's been quiet about her ability. Yes, he knew she had it and yes, she occasionally mentioned it, but when she sat down at dinner a few nights previous and asked, point blank, if he'd help her 'practice?' How could he say no? His sparring with Ygraine had already opened the door, so to speak, and now, sitting right in front of him is Lucille, ready to practice.

"Just go slow." His voice is calm, without a quaver or a shudder, but the way he shifts in his seat shows he's a little nervous. "Little changes, then change them back. Don't shift something, then shift something else. The last thing I need to do is go into tachycardia or something…and if I do, the adrenaline shot is in the refrigerator by the butter."

"Okay, I'll go slow." Lucille grins excitedly and leans forward to lay a hand on Jaiden's hand. Her breathing slows as she tilts her head and closes her eyes briefly, tapping into her power there inside of her. It takes a second until her eyes snap open, now flaring a hot golden color. The effect she's going for at the moment, shuts Jaiden's eyesight off. He's literally blind. "Just listen to my voice, relax.. you'll only be blind for as long as I touch you." She says softly.

Her breathing deep as she concentrates to keep that effect in place. Head tilted to the side, a side of hair falls into her face.

Jaiden looks down as Lucille lays her hand atop his, delicate, like her sister's, and possibly even softer. The flash of gold in her irises causes Jaiden to lean back slightly. "Perhaps you could…." And the lights go out. "Fuck." A soft sight as she explains what happened.

The darkened world surrounds Jaiden, the man turning his head back and forth to try and catch any glimmer of light without success. "Perhaps you could tell me what you're trying to do before you do it because….this is very, very disorienting. But…" Back to training, even though he's blind. "What did you feel when you did that? Did you shut off the optic nerves, the sight center in my brain, the ability for the rods and cones to absorb color? There are many ways you can do things like this.."

"Oh!" Lucille says and she jumps in surprise but her hand stays on top of his. "I'm sorry Jai." She says softly, eyes still that golden color and a pensive expression on her face as she thinks about what Jaiden is asking her. "Honestly.. I think I just turn all of it off. Everything." She says it in a reverent tone, she's grown to respect her ability way more.

Taking her hand off, the connection gets cut off. Jaiden's eyesight would slowly fade back into existence. Her eyes slowly fade back to their light grey.

"If you act on all pathways at once, that's a pretty unstoppable touch you have there." He manages to chuckle softly, reaching over with his other hand and patting hers (not after a few misses, of course). When she removes her hand, the sensation - there was one, a tiny one, he couldn't really describe it other that knowing it wasn't there - fades.

The best way Jaiden can describe what's happening when his vision fades into view is like an old television coming into focus. First outlines appear, hazy and indistinct as the world brightens then darker colors first, blacks and browns, but nothing bright. Motion shows up next - the twirling of one of the ceiling fans, the rustling of a curtain and the like, and as more information builds, his vision 'snaps' back into focus, the man blinking.

"Feeling dizzy?" Lucille asks and then she's sitting up straight, proud of herself but that's nothing compared to what she can do. She knows that, but most of what she can do.. has to be done out in the field. There's only so much preparation you can do inside. "I guess, I do have a pretty unstoppable touch. Now if I could just somehow.. tab into as range aspect of my ability.. if that's even possible. I'll not know for a while I guess."

When Lucille gets to talking on a subject it's basically, get the hell out of the way because.. she'll go on and on and on.. "The applications with this ability are fucking endless." Lu looks down at her hands and tightens her fingers into a fist before letting her hands relax. "I just want to learn as much as I can about this thing."

"Wait."

"Why do we have a shot of adrenaline in the fridge?"

Jaiden rubs his eyes and shakes his head in the negative. "Not dizzy, just a little…." he blinks away an afterimage. "Okay, yeah, a little dizzy. it's fading, though. Not having visual cues was disorienting."

As Lucille goes on about her ability, Jaiden nods, knowing some of the things that metabolism can be used with and can be affected by. Pain, blindness - heck, all the senses, and even strength and endurance can all be amplified, modified, or just plain turned off by the gray-haired woman standing in front of him. Her question about the adrenaline? Avoiding the obvious answer of 'it needs to be kept cool to keep the molecules from destabilizing before it's expiration date,' Jaiden sighs and chuckles. "It was for Delia, while she was unconscious, in case she was moved here. In case her heart stopped while she was asleep. When she woke up, I just….hung on to it. Be prepared, after all."

"Oh.."

Awkward question approaching in.. 1,2,3..

"So what exactly happened between you two? I mean.. the two of us don't talk. I hardly see her." Something that Lucille isn't losing sleep over, she'll see Delia when she sees her. She's a big girl she knows that Del can take care of herself. Repositioning herself to be sitting on the back of her feet. She stares up at Jaiden, she hasn't spoken to either of these two about what's been going on with them.

"Being in other people's dreams really rocked her to the core, I think." Luci comments softly, a stray strand of hair brushed out of her face.

Yeah. It was an awkward question, but one that Jaiden has gotten a bit more adept at answering over the past few months since he and Delia had their break up. The dome happened since then, as well as a few other things. Jaiden sighs and rubs his eyes again. "Being in other people's dreams really changed her. When she woke up, she didn't want to see me at all. She….cheated on me. Twice. Said that the first one, she needed for her, and the second one made her feel pretty. Like I didn't, I guess."

His eyes open, gazing down at the gray-eyed sister. "I remember when you were ten, in the park with your mom and Delia, running. You both were having so much fun. It's when I fell in love with her, you know….she just fell out of love with me."

"She cheated on you?" Lucille asks in shocked tone, simply because the Delia she knows would never cheat on anyone.. she wouldn't have the heart too. "Whoa, I'm sorry Jai." She lays a hand on his arm with a sympathetic expression on her face, "Maybe it's for the best, not being with my sister." Does she feel like a horrible sister saying that.. well no. But it sucks that there two aren't together anymore. It's why Lu never tries to get attached to people that her sister might be dating.. because then she becomes friends with them and then it all tumbles into awkwardness and such.

"Ha.. I remember that. Which is so fucking strange.. like really strange." Luc chuckles and stretches her arms out behind her. "Listen, maybe you were meant to love Deli for a while.. maybe she gave you a life experience that you needed to have.." a positive spin to it.

"Yeah, ain't time travel a bitch sometimes?" Jaiden cracks a smile, remembering that day in the snow with Lucille and Delia, taking pictures. "Did Delia ever show you those pictures I took of you and her and your mother from way back then? If not, I can show you what I have still." A lot of the papers were destroyed in the bomb and Delia complained that there were no images of her mother left at all.

"But yeah, she cheated on me, and right now I have no idea where she is. I still miss her, but I'm getting over it." He reaches down to pat Lucille's head lightly, giving her a grin. "Yeah, I think it's the best that i'm not with her. If she comes back, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but for right now, Jaiden is single again."

"Time traveling messes everything up." She laughs as she listens to Jaiden. "Yeah, I'd love to see those pictures. Del and I.. we aren't exactly close. As you know, she never made mention of those photos to me." The oldest Ryans girl comes to sit on the couch, nodding her head to Jaiden. "You're single and ready to mingle, woooo, ladies watch out. There's a fox sliding through and he's hungry." she cracks up laughing at her own joke, grinning at the guy she really thought would be her brother in law.

"Don't worry you stud, you're find another woman soon. If there aren't like tons of chicks lined up outside right now, waiting for me to leave so they can devour your.. hot manflesh?" she chuckles.

"If you can wait a second I'll pull them up. I keep everything I take pictures of. You never know when they'll be important someday." He gets up and retrieves his laptop and a network cable, plugging into the storage he's got in the bunker, scanning through dates and times with the flick of a finger. "Ah, here we are."

In a folder marked 1999 are several dozen pictures, ready to be viewed.

"I'm not really on the prowl, Lu….I've got female friends, but Delia….her leaving really hurt. So right now I'm just having fun with the women that I know. And if something more happens, it does. I'm not actively searching right now, but I'm not adverse if it falls in my lap, either." Jaiden laughs at the assertion that there are herds of women waiting to devour him like a plate of appetizers at a weight watcher's meeting, an outright belly laugh, rocking forward in his chair and laughing long and loud and clear.

"Okay, I'm just saying. Just because you and my sister aren't together anymore doesn't mean we can't still be tight. Which means.. any bitch you think you're dating next? I most definitely have to approve of them." She chuckles before she leans over to look at the photos. She's trying to remember that, way back then. Some parts are clear other parts are fuzzier then others.

"You should.. totally take pictures of the government doing bad things and post them on the net? Have you ever thought of that? Kind of like an Eyes Only sort of deal. That'd be fucking awesome."

The pictures are of Lucille and Delia and her mother in the park on a snowy winter's day. Playing, having fun and the like A few solo shots of a young Delia, and a few solo shots of a young Lucille, on the swings, joyful in youth, without a care in the world as they swing in the cool winter's air. The one Jaiden is most proud of, however, is the last one. An image of the girls, hand in hand with their mother, walking away down the street, centered. "If you want copies…" Jaiden says softly. "I can make them."

"I've thought of that…I'm doing a show about the dome pretty soon, actually."

"These are nice." Lucille says, an impassable expression on her face. Inside, she's breaking but she's too strong to let that slip. Her heart has hardened so much over the past year. "I'd love copies of those, thank you." She says with a nod and a squeeze of Jaiden's shoulder to show her gratitude in showing her those photos.

It's not long before the woman is walking over to the kitchen area and digging out a water bottle and taking a sip. "I'm gonna go.. take a shower. I need to head out for a little while." She says softly, back turned to Jaiden.

Jaiden puts an arm around Lucille's waist, giving her a squeeze, patting her hip lightly. "You going to be okay?" he asks softly.

A roguish grin is flashed towards Jaiden as she lays her head down on his shoulder for a moment before padding away on barefeet towards the bathroom. "I'm a Ryans." She calls behind her shoulder, not daring to look over her shoulder at the man. "I have to be okay." It's as simple as that, without another word she enters the bathroom and closes the door. Turning the shower on, she sinks onto the toilet and stares at the wall in front of her. With the roar of the water hitting the shower wall, it disguises the thing she doesn't do in front of hardly anyone.

She cries.


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