Participants:
Scene Title | Come With Me Now |
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Synopsis | Feeling alone, betrayed, and in pain…. Kaylee falls back on old habits to drown it all out. At least for one night. |
Date | January 26, 2012 |
A Club Somewhere in Brooklyn
The lights are bright.
Pulsing and rhythmic. Turning, twisting, and flitting across the writhing sea of humanity. Changing skin colors, blending the world together in a way that everyone looks the same in the bright fluorescent and LED glows.
The music is loud.
The pounding beat seems to invade every corner of the club. It vibrates in the chest and through each bone. It ties humanity together in a way that dates back to the earliest of men. Music has always been a part of the human experience and people will always be drawn to it.
Come with me now
Kaylee loves the clubs, always has.
They were crowded and potentially overwhelming for a telepath like her; however, the thumping beat of the music drowns out the humming that normally vibrates electric around her. Even though the pounding thump of the music threatens to give her a headache, it leaves her in a peace that was far better than negation ever gave… mostly.
Guided by the music, minds weave together, and follow the pulse that is created by each song.
It was primitive. It was raw. It draws her.
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
A place like this was Kaylee’s hunting ground.
Or it was before the virus hit.
For someone who could read and manipulate the minds of others, she was a predator here and they had no idea that there was a snake among them. Alcohol inhibited the brain, weakening defenses and letting the more primitive parts out to play. It made them… malleable and easy to invade. Allowed her ability to slide around their minds and trap them with a perfectly placed thought.
Standing above them, hands gripping the pipe railing that encircled the second floor of the club, Kaylee’s body sways with the music. Her eyes trailing over the sea of bodies writhing below as they move to the beat, a smile turning up the corner of her mouth.
She was dressed less like a club hopper. No mini dresses, but a pair of black jeans, a white tank, with a deep maroon shirt with a neckline too big that is slouches off one shoulder.
Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death
There was a sort of beauty in the chaos.
It was mesmerizing and it helped dull the emotional pain that gripped at her chest and clouded her mind.
And she wanted to stop hurting like that. She had already carried so much it from a dying world. Kaylee had been one of the few that had family left. He was gone and now she knew it was by the hands of someone she cared about. That made the loss hurt so much more.
It was why Kaylee was here. In her world, it was a rundown dump; but, not in this bright new world. Here it was alive. Filled with people who were probably dead where she is from.
I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight
In the flash of lights, behind the smoky smear of eyeshadow around her blue eyes, no one can see the redness from the tears she shed after that confession. No one is paying attention to the pain behind those blue-eyes and they can’t feel the heaviness of loss in her chest.
In a tangle of dark hair, no one sees her reminder of a world gone to her; a dark scar that runs along her face. Tonight she could almost swear she can feel the ache of it again.
While she can’t drink — can’t enjoy the escape of drugs, just being there was a rush of its own. It heated the blood in her veins and made her heart beat a little faster. It made her a little giddy and light headed in it’s own way.
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
Tonight, she wanted to forget those images she pulled from the mind of a man that had meant something to her.
The look in her father’s eyes…
The sound of his voice begging…
The sound of the button being pushed, extinguishing Edward Ray’s life…
Fingers tighten on the pipe, knuckles turning white, as she fights with her own mind to push away those images. Her breath hitches, the sound lost in the music. She pushes away the confession of a man she thought of as her friend; the brother of her best friend.
The best friend that her father had murdered.
She wanted to forget, so badly.
I think with my heart and I move with my head
I open my mouth and it's something I've read
I stood at this door before, I'm told
But a part of me knows that I'm growing too old
It was a sad thing that she could not just make herself forget. However, she at least knew how to distract herself and drown it out for at least a little while.
Fingers trail lightly along the pipe bannister as she moves slowly towards the stairs, gaze still on the scene below. Swallowed up by the ocean of humanity, with bodies pressing in around her; her ability flares to life, lazily uncoiling from where it is tucked away in the back of her mind. In her own way, she can almost see the tendrils slithering among potential victims. Seeking those most susceptible, touching briefly the minds around her, like the flicking tongue of a snake.
Confused what I thought with something I felt
Confuse what I feel with something that's real
I tried to sell my soul last night
Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite
The warmth of bodies pressing close, the blended smell of perfume and sweat; Kaylee joins them in the rhythm that fills the club. It’s like a drug going back to it. Eyes close concentrating on the rhythm, the bodies, and the minds of her potential victims.
Then slowly her ability hones in on a specific mind in the crowd. Open to the touch telepathic thought, she wraps her ability around his mind.
Perfect.
Far away
I heard him say (come with me now)
He’s already looking at her, face filled with mild confusion, when she turns his way with a smile full of mischief and promise. Sliding through the moving bodies, with the grace of a predator; Kaylee studies what was found for her. Tall, dark of hair and eyes… She knows he came here with friends; hounded until he agreed. He hadn’t wanted too, he wanted to be with his fiance.
Already her ability is working, with a subtle prodding he finds that he wants to be here with here, with her.
An arm slides behind his neck and is soon followed by the other, her blue eyes search his thoughtfully. Why was she hesitating? The realization has her almost losing what control she has over the man. She had never done that before; it causes a flash of irritation, pushing her to act.
Don't delay
I heard him say (come with me now)
Fingers move to trail along his jaw, her ability slides over his mind like silk on skin, poised waiting for her to sink deeper. It makes her shiver with anticipation. Fingers curl inward to grip his face, forcing him to look at her; holding him captive she buries herself in his memories. With a sort of practised ease, Kaylee slowly weaves herself into his life, replacing his fiance with herself. The small changes were easier then creating an all new narrative.
But this was deeper than she’s ever done before.
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Woah come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
There is a thrill in the way that he looks at her; starting with confusion and slowly shifting into love… or whatever he feels for that woman. The telepath has never really known it… thought she did — Peter — but it had been a sham. His mind and heart with another even in those moments together in the darkness of their rooms.
Her father had warned her and she hadn’t listened.
By time the last thread is in place, this man pulls her in close with a familiarity that wasn’t there moments before; head dipping down to capture her lips into a heated kiss.
Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death
He was hers for as long as she desired. Though by the end of the night, she’ll be tired of him; because, in the end like all the others…. They don’t belong to her. There is always someone else.
The Next Day
Her departure had been quiet, but only after she had taken the time to return his fiance to where she belonged in his memories. Adding her where Kaylee herself had been. He’ll be confused when he finally wakes up. Where did his fiance go? When he calls her looking, she’ll deny ever being there with him.
She’ll call him crazy. He’ll insist. She’ll call him nuts. Still he insists. It may break them up or it might push them closer together.
None of that mattered to Kaylee. She had walked away and didn’t even giving him another thought or the fact that his life might ravel apart at the seams. However, it had succeeded in dulling the ache of grief and the twist of betrayal.
I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight
Standing in front of the mirror in her own hotel room, Kaylee finished getting ready for her shift down at the local dive bar, with carefully placed mascara. Her mind is at ease, the chaos tempered; but not completely gone. It will build up again until she finds herself in that bar again, looking for the next victim.
Grabbing her jacket from the bed, she pulls it on and heads out the door. Being late to work is often frown upon, though if she is… well, she is a telepath after all.
Part way down the hall, she’ll take a moment to pound on Kain’s door, just in case he is sleeping off another drunken stupor. Something that annoys her to no end. She has seen the pain he is dealing with; and is completely jealous of his ability to escape it. Maybe all of it is a bit vicious, like shouting in his head… «I’m off, Kain! See you guys for dinner later. I’ll bring back pizza.»
She might even strengthen a mental image of said pizza.
With a bit of a twist to her lip, she continues down the hallway.
Woah come with me now
Woah come with me now
The light is bright.
Stepping out of the Speakeasy Hotel, Kaylee squints up at the sky and smiles. The sky was beautiful as always. Even after a week or two, she still feels the need to look up. To close her eyes and feel the warmth of the sun on her face.
There is a flash of a memory. Of Peter his face twisted with rage and anger; people turning to ash around him. Her breath catches and eyes fly open. Already her demons were returning.
I'm gonna take you down
Woah come with me now
The world is loud.
The world in the daylight was a totally different sort of chaos. A river of people move along forward and back; some slow and others in a hurry. Each on their way to something important to them. Each with a purpose. Beyond them the tangle of cars, their horns blaring and people shouting.
In the murmuring voices Kaylee can hear one in particular… it begs like her father did. Her mind seizes up at the thought. Takes the breath out of her for a moment.
Kaylee shakes her head and steps into the river, swallows by it and forced to follow its path. Even so her mind is already looking ahead to the evening with it’s bright lights and pulse-pounding music.
Giddy with the anticipation of the next hunt.