Participants:
| Scene Title | Failing Avoidance |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Warren Ray doesn't remember Kaylee, but she remembers him. She wants to believe this can't be the same man she met before, but it is! |
| Date | October 06, 2010 |
It's been a while since Warren has been in the Ichihara Bookstore. He knows this is the place Hokuto used to own, but he doesn't remember his interaction with Kaylee. Straightening the jacket of his unbuttoned black suit, the tie blows around a bit before the door closes. "Excuse me? Do you have any anatomy books?"
Back turned to the door, Kaylee Thatcher is busy shifting through a shipment of book, making notes on a yellow legal pad. The voice, she hasn't heard for awhile, but she remembers it. The familiarity of it has the young woman freezing.
Oh shit.
He doesn't hear that slipping through the young woman's head, instead he gets a small smile as she turns around. The legal pad is clutched to her chest. "Uh — Hi — um —" Her eyes flick to the bookshelves, before she moves over to a binder on the counter. "I'm — pretty sure we have something. Probably in the art section." While worry twists at her guy, Kaylee flips through the binder looking for specific books.
Warren's mind is almost completely different from how she'd remember. There aren't multiple people, or even disjointed thoughts, he's very focused. Alright, so the right material should avoid that occasional muscle strain problem I have… Looking up at her, raising his right gloved hand for the woman, he offers a friendly smile and motions his fingers for her to take it. "Warren Ray. I knew Hokuto."
Head tilting up slowly from the scrutiny of the book, Kaylee stares at the hand and then the man attached to it for a very long moment, before she reluctantly reaches out to take the hand. "Kaylee Thatcher." She sounds a touch confused, since she knows they met before fore on several occasions in the sleeping and waking world.
She only keeps a briefest hold of the gloved hand before letting it go to draw it down the printed inventory list. "It looks like we have few in stock — what your looking for that is." Eyes flick up a bit, before Kaylee adds, "I knew Hokuto too, I've worked her for sometime. It's under new management tho'"
"I hope her replacement does Hokuto's business justice, she was a great woman." Warren says with a hint of loss in his tone, placing his hand on the counter. "This must be a dream job, being surrounded by books all day." The Hokuto memories are disjointed, but I know there were dreams… I know I felt something for her.
"Her name is Lydia and she's just as mystical as Hokuto was." Kaylee supplies as she moves to side step out from behind the counter. "A good woman, too." The telepath probably knows more about Lydia then she ever did of the employer she never met in person, only dreams.
Sidling past Warren, she makes her way to the shelves, glancing at the book spines in passing. "And I like this job, but it's not a dream job per say, I do it to pay the bills. I've always been more of a computer person." Turning, she glances back over her shoulder, brows furrowing a bit, but she doesn't say anything. "Most of the books your looking for are down here." And the blonde disappears down the isle.
"I've never been good with computers, despite being an engineer and inventor. Did you know they have a thing called Wikipedia, where people just put things up there? I learned how to use it and Google the other day." Probably shouldn't admit how terrible I am with the internet. Warren follows her into the aisle, running a gloved hand over the book spines as she looks at them. "I don't want to be completely at the mercy of biologists when it comes to my arm. You may not be able to see it under my gloves and sleeves, but my left arm is mechanical. I built it, but it'd work so much better with more anatomical understanding."
There is an amused upward tick of a corner of her mouth at Warren's thoughts, while she scans the books. It's distracting enough that she starts to say, "I know. I've seen — " Kaylee's mouth snaps shut, about the time her eyes falls on one of the books.
She snatches it out of the book case, kinda quickly, "Here we go. Atlas of Human Anatomy, by Frank Netter." It's offered to Warren, but Kaylee doesn't look his way, pretending to scan the other books.
"Oh, thanks a lot! Maybe I could at least be the next Da Vinci, if I can't be Bill Gates." Warren carefully takes the book, staring the look through it as that silvery color completely fills his eyes, until all she can see is the text reflecting from the completely mirror-like spheres. The only way to tell they're even moving is by the way his eyelids twitch. I should have asked Elle if she likes books. I bet she likes books. "So, Kaylee? Are you part Chinese?"
"I — what?!" Kaylee looks at Warren with shock and confusion. "I — no. Do I look part Chinese?" Of course, she sounds a bit distracted watching his eyes change. It's completely fascinating… she hasn't ever really seen his ability.
Though the fact that something seems different and off, it's completely throwing her off. Her head shifts just a little as she listens into his thoughts and that's when it occurs to her — There is only one in there!
When did that happen?
The telepath studies her brother now as if looking at a total stranger now. "Bill Gates is overrated anyhow." There is curiosity coloring her voice, the words even more distracted. "What is your ability Warren — cause your eyes are silver."
"Mechanical Intuition. I know how machines work, at least that's how it's defined. I feel like my ability allows me to understand things on another level entirely, in a way that I can't describe." Warren raises his head to look up at her. Instead of really having the feeling that someone's staring at her, due to the lack of any whites or irises, just pure reflection, she mostly just sees, well, herself. "Take these books for example, the placement of the shelves in relation to the rest of the building. Then I picture people moving around and having to get to their books. It's like a machine, and then I can work out the proper placement of the shelves so people can get to their books more efficiently. My ability can be complicated, and I don't seem to be able to apply that logic to everything. The human body for example, it's too much of a variable. Thinking of people as parts in a machine is one thing, but thinking of the human body as a machine is like trying to figure out how to build a house with water."
Her mouth opens, but then closes again slowly. "Huh," Kaylee finally says softly. "Sounds complicated." She murmurs watching her reflection in those eyes. It's weird, with what she knows it's like seeing him in a totally new light.
She still can't figure out her — their father's reasoning for Warren, tho.
"Fascinating… but complicated, not sure I could wrap my head around it." It's admitted with a bit of a crooked smile. Brows furrow a bit and Kaylee looks away, focusing on the books again, shortly another anatomy book is offered to him. "I have enough trouble with math."
"I'm not great with math either, except in blueprints." Warren takes the second book, then nods. "That's enough books for now, I think I'll be reading these multiple times." He holds both books in his right hand, looking down at the left. "I want to improve my arm so I can ride my motorcycle again, and play guitar."
"You ride?" It's asked with enthusiasm before she means too. What is she thinking?!? No… no Kaylee no bonding! The young woman reminds herself fiercely, taking a step back from Warren. "Ah — anyhow, those books should cover everything you need on arms and how they work."
Blue eyes shifts to the arm in question, curiously. "How did you lose it?" Attention going back to Warren again, brows lifting a bit, even as she slips back him. "If you didn't mention it, I would have thought it was a normal are as it is."
"Yeah, I ride, I've been working on converted it to electric like I did with my car, but it's a little more complicated with a motorcycle. More precautions have to be taken." Warren walks to the counter, sitting the books down so he can lift his sleeves up, then remove his left glove. He shows the bronze arm, with the thousands of gears and parts in between the cracks of the thin armor. It looks like something right out of fantasy.
Blonde brows shoot up and Kaylee's eyes widen a bit at the sight of the arm, "Whoa." She says softly, leaning over the counter to reach out and touch the bronze surface. Curiosity is a failing of the telepath's at times. "You made that?" She asks sounding almost like she doesn't believe him.
"That's insane." It sounds like a compliment more then anything. Moving to the register, Kaylee moves to pull the books over, so that she can ring them up.
She starts to ring up the order and stops, "You really don't remember me do you?" Kaylee blurts out the question, with an look of exasperation. "We talked, I believe and you bought some books. I can't remember by who, but you did."
"It's possible we've met before. I have memory issues lately, I lead a pretty complicated life. But you haven't called me insane in a bad way, or recoiled in horror, so I guess our meeting went well." Warren laughs at that, then carefully pulls his sleeve down and slips his glove back on. "I built it with one hand and in a pretty desperate situation, so it could be better. But from what I hear, I held a grenade too long, no idea why. I don't remember a bit of it." This woman's nice, maybe I can have at least one friend in the city.
She's staring again, in total shock. Kaylee can't be hearing this, he can't be different like this. What happened to the psychopath? "N-none of it? Any at all?" She listens closer to the man's head, brows burrowing a little, even as she punches in the cost of the books. No matter how she listens, there is only the one voice in the guys head.
This is so odd. He's not yanking her chain.
"Um… Our meeting was okay. I mean — you were a little odd." Okay, not little, but she can't get herself to tell this guy he was psychotically insane. Kaylee's failing at this keep him at a distance thing, but she also doesn't blurt out their relationship either. Part of her still holds that back. "That will be thirty nine and ninty-seven cents." She feels like she's in a total daze.
Was I really as crazy as people keep saying? Even if I was, not protecting Elle's memory is always going to be a regret. The one person who loved me, who didn't care about what people say I did… Warren takes a deep breath, his thoughts visibly changing his features to something a bit lower. "Oh, sorry. No, I don't remember any of it, but maybe that's for the best." He offers her forty dollars in two twenties from his jacket. "Just, keep the change."
"Ah… thanks." Kaylee murmurs taking the money. There is a sense of guilt about her, she doesn't know why, but it's there. It's enough that, a phrase tickles the back of her throat. Don't say it… don't say it. A smile touches the young blonde's lips, as the words slip past her lips —
"Come back any time."
Dammit, you said it. Kaylee still manages to keep that smile on. "Hey, don't look so down… seriously, Warren. Maybe your right, remembering might not be for the best." Since she remembers him making comments about how hot she is. In retrospect — Eww.
The books are pushed across to him, "Anytime you need a new book come on by, if anything we can special order books you might be looking for." Kaylee Thatcher is completely failing at avoidance. There is a soft sigh… Maybe Joseph can give her advice about this sudden change — or Cardinal.
When Madison leaves, maybe it won't be so bad. I am human, I'm not a machine. Cardinal doesn't know what he's talking about. Warren takes the books, nodding his head a few times as he shows a hint of a warm smile. "Thanks for… just, thanks." Thanks for treating me like a person. With that, he turns, and heads for the door.
Despite everything, Kaylee can't help but smile a little at what echos through his head. She watches him leave silently, looking — a little amused, but also thoughtful. It isn't til the door shuts, sending the soft jingle of bells back to her, that she says softly with wonder filling her voice.
"You're welcome."