Girls Who Wear Glasses

Log Archive » Logs for March 2009 » Girls Who Wear Glasses

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Scene Title	Girls Who Wear Glasses
Synopsis	Rebecca and Zoe meet to discuss how she can learn to control her ability.
Date	March 18, 2009

Sushi-Me!

So the call that Rebecca made was responded to, and arrangements made for a meet up. Zoe is very conscious of the fact that her information's on the registry, and truth be told it's something of a relief to have someone try to reach for something that doesn't involve trying to read an object - particular in the hopes of revealing some recent event. She has to constantly explain the nature of her power, but few people are inclined to ever listen.

And that's why she's here today. Sushi-Me is one of those little NYC restaurants that you only know about if you're intimately familiar with a given area, and considered a gem if you do. It's in the financial district, a sushi restaurant with a little trolley track running through the length of the room with sushi on plates rimmed in various colors to indicate pricing. One eats one's fill, stacks their plates, and when finished the server counts them and presents the bill. Zoe has actually arranged for one of the tables reserved for large parties, even though there's only two of them, it affords more privacy. She sits and waits patiently, not having selected any lunch plates yet, but very much as she described herself to Rebecca: a redhead, wearing glasses.

Rebecca was so very relieved to have received positive response to her query for HELP! that she arrived a little late to the meeting, grumbling to herself each tenth of a mile that passed on her speedometer. When she finally pulled into the parking lot and made her way to the restaurant, she was relieved to see she wasn't all that late.

Red hair with glasses. Red hair with glasses. Luckily for her there were only one of those in this particular place, so she takes a slow step closer, just to make sure she wasn't the only one running behind. "Zoe?" she asks as the Japanese American woman steps forward. Believe it or not, Rebecca does not eat out all that often, usually bring a bag lunch to the lab and eats in between whatever analysis she's working on. "I'm Rebecca." Which would be obvious, but you can't help being a bit nervous at time.

Zoe rises from the table, owlishly pushing her glasses further up her nose with a finger before offering her hand. "Rebecca." she smiles easily. "It's so nice to meet you. Your call really suprised me, I've never actually gotten one from someone looking for help before." She doesn't actually mention help with what, not while their standing and their initial conversation is likely audible. "I hope you're okay with the venue? I love this place, it's not far from my office."

Rebecca's hand is soft when it slips into the other woman's hand. Soft and warm. "I didn't know where else to turn." She says simply, knowing that it's probably best not to announce to everyone her reason for being here. "I'm happy you agreed to see me. I'm hoping you can help." She has already glanced around the place. "I admit, I've never been here before. But I'm always open to trying anything new."

"Well, let's sit down and you can tell me what's been happening to you." Zoe says with sympathy. She slides into the booth. "I've lived with my ability since I was a little girl, so I can see how suddenly tapping into something like this could be such an unexpected shock. I sort of assumed you called me because you have something that's similar to my psychometric visions?"

"They are calling it 'post cognative' based off a trigger." Rebecca starts. She doesn't talk to loudly, though she never really has. "I've had a couple of incidents, ending with a couple of really strong headaches." She thinks. "They come randomly out of nowhere and the vision means absolutely nothing to me. I've no idea why I'm seeing it."

"Seeing the future?" Zoe's brows lift, and she helps herself to a plate of tamago. Taking the plastic lid off, she goes about unwrapping her chopsticks. "What were you doing right before your vision would trigger?"

Rebecca shakes her head. "The past. I see the past." She starts to situate her food as well, picking up her chopsticks. "Seems, as far as I can tell, to be trigger by looking into something reflective. The first vision occurs on a window in a conference room. I witness an old time cop gathered huddle. The second was the mirror in my lab where I saw the conclusion of an autopsy." You know, an appropriate discussion while eating.

Zoe doesn't seem to mind at all. Goodness knows, she's seen some horrible things, both in the past and right in front of her in the here and now. "Then 'they' are off to a bad start, since what you are is precognitive based off a trigger. Reflective surfaces, huh? Does it happen all the time? What was your emotional state when you had your visions?"

Rebecca thinks. "Well, I really wasn't doing anything. I was talking to someone when the first one happened. Hit me out of nowhere. The second I was going to open the medicine cabinet for some gauze, and it hit me again." She considers for a moment. "I'm a very puzzle solving person. I can usually find the answer to almost anything if I have all the pieces of the puzzle. This is entirely frustrating because it seems that it's just going to show me random meaningly scenes at random times."

Zoe seems content to nibble on her tamago as she thinks, and after a moment, takes her glasses off. Squinting briefly, she says in a friendly fashion, "I don't want to accidentally trigger you. Are the scenes as you're seeing them what may have been reflected on those surfaces at a previous point in the past, or are they showing you scenes elsewhere entirely?"

She considers the question, then shakes her head. "You know. It's like I'm looking at it in the mirror. Like it's just a reflection of what's going on behind me. I can see myself, but then what I see behind me is what's going on in the past. Does that make sense?" Rebecca hopes she's saying it right, but she just doesn't know. "And I can't take my eyes away until the vision is over. I'm glued to it."

Zoe nods. "It does. And that, the not being able to take your eyes away? That's a feeling I know very well." She pauses long enough to request some tea from the waitresss who comes over to see if everything's alright and then, "Have you tried to trigger it deliberately at all?"

She nods. "Well, I was over testing for registration the other day and they tried every trick in the book to make me trigger, but nothing happened. But I guess there was enough of a reading that they were able to tell that something was going on." Rebecca shrugs softly as she lifts some food with her chopsticks. "There are times I try.. and times when I avoid going near anything reflective at all. So far I've only had those two occurances, merely by change it seems."

"Did they actually put a mirror or some other reflective surface in front of you? I mean, did they know exactly what it was, or were they still trying to figure it out?" Zoe inquires. Her tamago is finished, and she collects a plate of unagi, stacked on top of the first plate.

"Well, they tried several things at first, I guess trying to determine what it wasn't, which was very strange, I admit." She takes a quick bite before continuing. "They finally decided to try the mirror, some metal, anything that I can look into and see my reflection back. But nothing. I can only imagine that they're findings were based upon my experiences alone." Rebecca shakes her head. "Doesn't quite make sense, but I can only assume they know what they're talking about."

"Not if they called it postcognition." says Zoe wryly. "Initially, I'd suggest you see if your doctor will give you some stronger medication than Tylenol - like the kind they use to treat migraines, for any psychic headaches you get. They might work for you, but they might not. Fortunately, it doesn't hurt to try. It sounds like you need help preventing accidental triggers, and making adjustments in your daily life in the event that you do. Is that about right?"

Rebecca nods. "Right. If I can control when I have then, all the better, but if just stopping them from happening on purpose, that would be the best. Honestly, I have no idea how I would even begin to learn to control such a thing." There a hint of frustration coming from her voice. She carries just a hint of her Asian accent, but it's just barely there. "And after the first headache, I went out and bought some migrain meds. They seem to work okay, though take forever to do so."

Zoe nods. "That's over-the-counter stuff, but there's percription migraine medication that works differently and might do you better, like Imetrex." She lets out a sigh. "Do you do anything like meditation, or breathing excercises, or even yoga?"

Rebecca cocks an eyebrow curiously as she swallows her food. She then shakes her head. "I haven't. Would that help?" she asks. She doesn't know. If something will work, she's open to trying just about anything at this point. She does reach into her purse and pull out a notepad and writes down the name of the medicine provided.

"It could. I can only offer you what's involved in my own experience, really." Zoe tells Rebecca honestly. "Were you particularly anxious or upset when your visions triggered? Excited in any way? It's believed abilities are tied into the adrenal glands. Meditation, even if it's just a few deep breathing excercises in the morning and at night can help give your body some equilibrium. Though once I'm experiencing a vision, I can't break out of it on my own unless what I'm watching ends."

Adding that information to her notes she nods. "Okay." Then she considers the questions. "Well all I can tell you is that I was having a pleasant conversation with — " Rebecca pauses and looks over at Zoe. "I have been a little stressed. I had been worrying quite a bit about the fact that I tested positive for the evolved gene. I was afraid that my power my be one of the more dangerous variety and that I wouldn't be able to control it."

"Well, at least you're the better part of half right?" Zoe gives her a faintly sympathetic glace at that. "I mean, you obviously want to get it under control because it's your life, but you know you can't hurt anyone."

Rebecca smiles, nodding. "That's true." She appreciates the sympathy and the understanding. "I was just hoping for some insight on how to make this work for me, instead it pushing me around."

"I'd encourage you to learn some breathing excercises." Zoe says as she takes a bit of eel and enjoys it. "They may sound silly, but they might also be helpful in keeping you from accidental triggers. I'd also encourage you to try and deliberately trigger yoursef on a regular basis, like practice. Have someone with you when you do. And every time you trigger, once you're snapped out of it, document it as much as possible - how you were feeling when you triggered, where you were, what you saw, the nature of how you were brought out of it. Like a sleep journal, almost. You might be able to discover patterns."

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble. "Okay. So, probably not a good idea to lock myself into a room all full of shiny things and just see what happens." she grins, teasing. Rebecca takes the last bite of her meal. "I have considered that option."

Zoe laughs a little bit, and moves to reach into her bag. "Here." she says, handing Rebecca a business card. Zoe Porter, Curator - Linderman Group. "Do you have some friends who might be willing to work with you through this? It's mainly a lot of time and practice, I should think. That's what helped me, but like I said earlier, I was very young."

Well, that's the question right there. That's a small hint of embarrassment when Rebecca answers. "I honestly have been wrapped in work — far too much, it seems, to make many friends. I mean, most of the people I know are at the office and they are always very busy. They're jobs are just as stressful as mine are." So, the answer simply put would be no.

"Well, now you can't say that anymore." Zoe says cheerily. "My work's kind of my life, but given that I do need to feed my cat, I have to keep some kind of normal hours. What do you do? If you don't mind my asking."

Rebecca smiles at that. "Well, I work Forensics at NYPD. It's what you could call my dream job. I get to solve things and analyze them. It's great. Busy and tiring, but almost always rewarding."

Zoe beams. "Oh, my job is very similar! I'm the head curator for the Linderman Group. I use my ability with my job, documenting the histories and keeping the archve on the works that have been collected. Sort of solving puzzles in my own way, but mostly the questions are about history."

"How funny. And a nice coincidence at that." Rebecca slides her plate to the side. "I might like to come see it sometime if you don't mind me dropping in when I've a free day." She stops and shakes her head. "No idea when that will be, but maybe I can sneak away.. maybe." she adds.

Zoe munches on another bit of her unagi roll. "You could always call it a professional visit. I touch items and see their past. I'm just not very good for reading anything that has less than ten years of history to it."

Rebecca nods. "I have no idea how far back my visions go. There's no way that I know of to tell how far back these things go. I mean, I see the vision and I actually hear what's going on. It's like watching a movie with headphones on." She chuckles. "If that makes any sense."

Zoe nods. "That's rather like my own vision. The only way you'll be able to learn more about your ability, and develop any kind of control, is to practice at it. I've actually got a program in my office that I start up every time I trance. It's got a timer and flashes instructions on what to do if I've exceeded a certain amount of time in trance while in someone's presence. It's very helpful."

Rebecca looks very curious. "I'd like to see that sometime. How do you trigger it? Oh.. I forgot you probably can control when you have your visions. Yeah, that will be helpful if I ever get control of mine."

"I can now," Zoe admits, "But objects that have very strong emotional resonances attached to them, especially if they're very old? Can still trigger me accidentally if I'm not careful. I once touched the side of this plane over at JFK with my bare hand, and let me tell you, those visions…hooboy. But that's how my ability activates, by touching the object I want to read. When I was a little girl, someone brought back a statuary to put in our home, and I touched it…I was six, or maybe eight, or so? But the visions were overwhelming."

She takes in every word. She almost wishes she could do what she does now back then. Though, she might have actually gotten locked up for it. Pass. She smiles. "Sounds like it can be an adventure each and every time."

"It is." says Zoe with enthusiasm. "Of course, it's easy to get caught up in all of it. I mean, I could stay in my archive and just become a complete hermit if I chose to. Going to museums is particularly wonderful for me." Her lips quirk in amusement. "You know what I'd love to do? Touch something like the Shroud of Turin."

If Rebecca had critter ears, they would perk forward at that. She reaches up and pushes her glasses more snugly onto her face. "I don't know what that is." she asks, wide eyes as if it might be some important treasure.

Zoe oh's, her eyes going wide. She shifts forward, eager to impart some historical knowledge. "It's a piece of linen cloth housed in a church in Italy. It has the image of a man somehow ingrained into the cloth itself, and the wounds on the image indicate the the person it was used on was crucified. Many believe it to have been the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, but no one's ever been able to prove it. Of course, if I touched it, I could probably find out."

Rebecca tilts her head. "I thought you couldn't go back that far?" she asks.

Zoe shakes her head. "No. My power works better the older an object is. That's why I'm useless for the most part to the police. Unless it's an old, old murder or the like, my visions would give me very, very little detail."

Rebecca nods. "I misunderstood earlier. I thought it was the less time the better. But that would be rather amazing." she admits. Rebecca glances at her watch. "Can we meet again? Maybe you can show me a few things?" Lunch time was over quite a while ago and she usually never leaves the lab in the first place. Hopefully all is well when she gets back.

Zoe nods. "Of course." she says. "You have my card, so just give me a call." Zoe is fortunately, the boss of herself on her day to day job, so unless she's working on a special project, her availability is fairly open. When the check arrives, she takes care of it.

Rebecca gives her one last smile as she thanks Zoe for the lunch and the insight. She slips from the restaurant and once inside her car she breathes a heavy sigh of relief. She finally feels that maybe.. just maybe there is hope.