Hear Deeper

Participants:

eve_icon.gif kaylee_icon.gif

Featuring:

barazani_icon.gif

Scene Title Hear Deeper
Synopsis Kaylee comes to investigate Isis' claims of an old friend alive and not so well.
Date February 13, 2019

Ruins of Staten Island, The Lighthouse


Ever since Isis had visited her at Raytech, the news she brought with her had been at the forefront of Kaylee Sumter’’s mind. Eve had survived whatever happened to her back in New Mexico. Though by the sound of it, ‘survived’ might not be the right world.

Standing not far from the husk of the Lighthouse, Kaylee’s mind is distracted… casts out searching for a sign of life. Hands tucked into her leather jacket, eyes shut as she puts full concentration on what she is doing. Her ability seeking out the familiar hum of the woman’s mind.

“I am still protestin’ this… just so you know,” gripes her bodyguard next to her, his whole body is tense as he watches around them. Bob wears an AEGIS breastplate under this jacket, guns tucked into shoulder holsters, but still he feels vulnerable. “Luther put his faith in me keepin’ you safe and you’re makin’ it very difficult right now.”

“Your protest is noted, filed away… and promptly being ignored.”

That gets her a flat look that she can’t see in her current state, at least until she opens her eyes and turns to look at him. “Ungrateful woman. I don’t get paid enough for this shit,” Bob growls at her.

“Don’t you remember last time you drug me out here?” Bob asks glaring at her with disapproval, hands on his hip, looking stern. It was a bit like Joseph when she upsets him and instantly her own hackles are raise. Still she doesn’t answer him. “I do,” he comments flatly.

Bob points up at the sky, not breaking eye contact. “Bird’s fuckin’ happened.” He then points at her, “Then you fuckin’ disapeared under my nose.”

Bob!” Kaylee finally snaps out, holding up a hand to stall his protests any further protest. “I get it. You and Luther don’t like me out here, but I need to find Eve and see her in person.” There is a heavy sigh as she looks at the Lighthouse, expression falling into one of disappointment. “Doesn’t matter anyhow, I don’t think she’s here.” If she had, wouldn’t Kaylee be able to hear her?

The ruins were empty but also specks of life sprinkle through. The rustle and bang of a pair of squirrels prowling around down some ways away at a group of abandoned cars echoing towards Kaylee and her bodyguard. The Lighthouse is devoid of any and all life but there is something curious that can be noted around the edges of the already ruined building. Scorch marks long cooled off sprinkle the place with spots all over, the door that once stood sturdy and strong has the most burns the surface almost completely black and twisted.

Something had happened here.

The snap and crackle of something can be heard in the physical world, Kaylee's mind cast out doesn't feel the familiar maelstrom that was Eve Mas' but she does feel a shrill sound that can't be coming from the real world around her. It's static and the more that Kaylee listens the more piercing the tone gets, its coming from the Lighthouse itself, somewhere above.

“Good. We can go then,” Bob comments motioning her back the way they came. “The sooner—”

There is a hiss at the bodyguard for silence, a hand following to stall anymore protests. “You hear that?” the telepath asks quietly, looking back at the lighthouse, head tilting a bit. Of course, the suddenly look for concentration on Kaylee’s face makes anything he has to say die on his tongue.

“No. I don’t hear a fucking thing,” the bodyguard grouses, turning a glances in the direction she is. His hand dipping into his jacket to retrieve his weapon, ready to defend his boss if need be.

Cupping hands around her mouth, Kaylee calls out, “Eve?” Her mind reaches out and connects with something, the sound that shrieks through her head, elicits a sound of pain from the telepath. Hunched and fingers gripping the side of her head, Kaylee gives a shake of her head. “Something is out there.” The woman isn’t sure it’s her friend though.

Her bodyguard looks distressed, if there is one thing he can’t defend her against…. It’s a mental attack. Bob can only stand by helpless watching the area around them for something physical… of course, it is then he finally hears the sounds of snapping electricity and looks up. “I think something is up in that place.” A hand is waved at the lighthouse.

Still rubbing her temple, Kaylee straightens and looks up. There is a moment she ponders just leaving it and going, but almost as quickly she heads towards the Lighthouse. “Come on. Let’s go see what that is.”

Behind her Bob looks unhappy.

As Bob's eye look closer at the Lighthouse he sees a flash of ruby red, the light doesn't disappear now if anything it grows brighter. To the door that swings open loudly as if it's on its last leg, the howling wind outside that begins to pick up is kept away mostly by the stone walls save for the cracks and sections missing. The spiral staircase mostly intact as well but something on the landing above gives off a brilliant glow.

The cracking of whatever it is intensifies and that screech of static picks up around Kaylee mentally while physically both the telepath and her bodyguard are treated to a wail of pain. It echoes in the Lighthouse as if a tape was being rewound.

The shadows on the wall contort and twist, something is moving up there but the pair already knew that. Could already feel it. Kaylee at least.

Kaylee is rubbing at her temples when Bob, taps her shoulder and draws her attention back to the Lighthouse, but higher up. Turning as if preparing to leave, Bob comments gruffly, “This is the point in this crazy expedition where I suggest it’s time to go.” The telepath doesn’t look at him, while he stares at her with an expectation that she will obey.

“I’m going up,” the telepath comments after a moment and starts for the Lighthouse with a strange enthusiasm.

“No.” Bob says, standing his ground while she continues on. He continues to appeal to her common sense. “We are going to get out of this crazy place and go back to the Safe Zone… where it’s called safe for a fucking good reason.” But it is to no avail as the telepath continues into the ruins of the Lighthouse and starts upwards.

Lips pressed into a flatline of disapproval, Bob watches her for a moment until she is through the door. His eyes roll upward and he utter a prayer for patience with this stubborn and independent woman. Only then, does he let out a sigh and follow after her, moving quickly to catch up.

Their steps are careful as they ascend to the next level, most of the pieces of evidence that showed what type of people lived here have been stripped away or ruined though Kaylee doesn't need a reminder what this place use to look like. A thick sounding snap emits in the air as Kaylee and her bodyguard come to the landing bathed in a deep red light.

The static and piercing noise of the mind that sits in this place increases as they come close and there's a moment that a roar sounds in Kaylee's mind followed by the tiniest sound: Three.Three.Three.

The voice is weak but it's familiar, Eve.

At the same moment that Kaylee hears that voice that crimson red light has seemed to wash away and what the pair find instead as they turn into the opening of the landing is the pale, naked form of Eve Mas. Clutching her arms around herself, hair wet with sweat and she smells of jasmine that's been burnt. Rocking back and forth slowly, the spine of her back visible to Kaylee as the vertebrae stretch and slip under her skin followed by small chains of crimson lightning dancing up along her back and down her shoulders, leaping to the ground and leaving burn marks in their wake. There are larger scorch marks along the wall, the ceiling, various places on the floor. This must be a place that Eve likes to hover. A bottle sits in the corner far away from Eve, the gift from Isis. "Sweet girl. Sweet goddess." The former seer chokes out as she eyes the bottles, not yet aware of Kaylee's being in the room.

Bob almost runs into Kaylee as she reaches the top of the stairs and comes to a sudden stop. He looks past her in time to see Eve suddenly appear out of the frightening red mist. Eyes widen and he looks away quickly, while the telepath stares with wide eyes, hands covering her mouth in shock.

Isis had been right.

Instinct has Kaylee taking a step towards her friend; only to have Bob grab her arm, just in time for the snapping red electricity to flare up on the naked woman. The telepath jerks her arm out of his hand, but the lightshow is enough to get her to stay put.

“Eve,” Kaylee calls out to the woman instead, her voice thick with emotion.

Dark hair rustles as Eve turns and looks over her shoulder slowly, she knows that voice. Eyes that were formerly brown glow a deep crimson and flash as they widen at the sight of the blonde. There's a stuttering effect in her mind which is how it was before for Kaylee to read except the cold void that was the maelstrom of whispers and echoes from the future. Memories she clings to but can't hold for long. Otter Eyes and Lady Zeus. Odessa's green sparks, that Mars lady next to her. Kaylee. The portal, a flash of red filled her vision and then it's all black. "Miss Mind," she breathes softly and draws her knees closer to her chest.

"Three. Three. Three." Eve whispers this time to herself before she's holding up a single finger to her lips, "Shhhh. Listen for the Mother, she carries us always. Listen for the Father, his gaze is stern." Snapping out of that with a rough shake of her head sending black locks in every which direction. "You must have seen Isis," her speech coherent again, rasp more ragged then usual. Eyes bright before she looks away, "What happened?" Can't remember. Can't remember. "I can't remember." She echoes to Kaylee, gaze sliding over Bob and she tilts her head before moving a fraction to the left and flashing a grin that looks like its too wide for her mouth. "The portal, the Travelers came. Light, sounds, so much sound. So much light. Pressure. Could you feel it? I use to be able too," The last bit comes out in a whisper as if Eve is admitting a great secret.

In essence Eve was, "Blind. Blind. Blind. Three. The River runs no more for me," staring down at her hands with a squint.

“I did see Isis,” Kaylee confirms. “She didn’t want me to come out here… but Eve, I had to see.”

For a moment, Kaylee almost starts talking about what happened. However, there was a third party here that wasn’t there. There were secrets to be kept, even from those most loyal to her and her family. “Bob?” The bodyguard looks at her and she doesn’t even turn to him when she gives the order, “Go down and watch the entrance.” One thing about being a telepath was that Bob knows that he can’t eavesdrop.

“But what if—”

“Just go, Bob. Eve’s a friend. I’ll be fine,” Kaylee states firmly. The flat look leveled at the back of her head goes unseen and Bob sighs. Waving a hand and washing his hands of the whole situation, he thumps his way back the way he came, leveling curses at everything in his home tongue.

Once she knows Bob is out of hearing range there is a relieved sigh. Kaylee moves to lean against a wall and slides down to sit. “The entity came through and possessed your body, Eve.” Drawing up knees and resting her arms on them she watches the naked woman. “It flung Mateo and Lynette into the void and and jumped straight into you.” Looking away from her friend she added, “We watched you dissolve. It pulled the dark thing from my mind… Then it exploded when Richard and others attacked it with sound.”

Looking up, Kaylee’s eyes are filled with relieved tears, “Thought you were dead.” Then the worry sets in. “Glad you’re not, but clearly you are not okay…”

Nodding absently Eve takes a moment to consider herself and then Bob is departing to give the ladies some privacy and Eve is wiggling her fingers at the man on farewell, "See you later Bobito." That familiar devilish grin that seems to find Eve no matter what situation she's in flashes itself on her lips but there's a pause as she leans back and rubs at her temple listening to Kaylee tell her about dissolving, being unmade.

The Entity.

She had expected as much, felt it? She couldn't be sure. Eve wasn't sure of anything nowadays. The news of the Ruizes leaves Eve's hand rising to her mouth with red eyes widening. "Sacrifice, it was the only way Kaylee. Some of us gave more than others but we all bled." Her body shakes with pain and those ruby red eyes roll into the back of her head but she steadies after a moment, Lightning dazzling off her shoulders and striking the wall she leans against, black smoking stains like veins etched into it. Was it worth it if they lost Otter Eyes and Lynette? Eve couldn't say, "Families were reunited, families were broken. It's here. The Crossing was actually an Opening, A Door. I knew but," she says it aloud and gives Kaylee a look through that wet midnight black mane of hair. "Somethings are necessary, cause and effect. Walk in ordered steps or take a spin and see where you fall."

A manic laugh as Eve beats her fist into the floor. "I'm broken Kaylee. Three. Three. Three. Third time's the charm!" There's fear in that expression though, something is missing an awareness that Eve always seemed to carry with her. She was surprised to see Kaylee almost, if she hadn't seen Isis it really would have thrown her. "No more Sight, no more Rivers. The echoes have moved on, someone else will listen. Look." As for what Eve is…

“I wouldn’t count the Ruiz’ out yet,” Kaylee offers after a moment. “I followed them into that place in between timelines.” There is a small wistful smile. “Wish you could have seen it. You could see all time and space at once. It was…” The telepath has to think about the word for it, but words fail really; but she does her best with a single word, “surreal.”

A finger tucks a stray lenght of blonde behind her ear as Kaylee recounts those events, about using her ability to save something of the others. Doing it in time for them to crumble away. “I ended up being pulled out of there shortly after I… God, I still am not sure what I did to them.. But they were both of each other. “But Mateo’s mom helped them, but they haven’t returned yet.” A glance goes to the doorway next to her, “But Eve… I know deep in my bones they are going to be back, their way is just a little longer than mine.”

Looking back, Kaylee studies her friend, concern etching itself into her features. “So not only did you turn into this, but it took who you are as well?” There is a soft huff out. “Damn, Eve. I am so sorry.” It was the type of ability that really defined someone, much like Kaylee’s so to lose it… she can’t even imagine.

Legs lower to stretch out before her, Kaylee watches the action, thoughtfully. After a moment of contemplation, she asks… “Do you remember the snake in my head? I told you about feeling like I was being split in half?” Blue eyes lift to watch the reaction of the other.

There's a look of being mystified on Eve's face at the telling of the place between worlds, where all time lives at once, "Eureka." she breathes with a sigh of relief, nodding her head. She's been preoccupied as of late and it hasn't left much chance to dwell on past visions of hers if she had seen something saying they would come home. In the end she comes to the conclusion that Otter Eyes was always destined to come here. To come home. "Of each other. One and the same but different. Two coins." Stacked.

Listening as Kaylee recounts her adventures on that mental plane Eve starts to lean forward but stops herself a moment later. "Gone. Twice stolen, the last times the charm. I lost my gift before my life. Three. Three. Three." Shaking her head as she rocks back and forth, "It's a piece, it's just a piece. It was me, all of me." Her tone sounds weak in that, she had come to rely and depend on it. She didn't always have to think she saw and knew. "Who am I?" The question is genuine but she shakes her head roughly, "No no that's how you trick you, asking that question." Eve scoffs at herself, silly woman.

Twitching she scrambles back and peers at Kaylee, "The Snake, the Other Side of You." Slowly Eve sinks back to her original position head tilted to the side, "The Snake always leaves you with the darkest knowledge. Forbidden. It was never her fault." Adamant on her stance on her namesake.

Kaylee’s head slowly nods, as she confirms, “The snake in the garden.” That is what it called itself.

“In New Mexico…” Kaylee’s eyes close as she concentrates on the memory. Brows furrow at the flashes of memory. “When that thing took you over… I suddenly felt a shift in myself. Like something was being pulled from me… I felt like I was unwinding, but it wasn’t me it was the snake.” There is a flash of fear in the eyes that open again. Legs move so that the telepath can shift forward, leaning closer to her friend.

“Eve. I watched it leave me. The snake. It left me and became one with what hijacked your body.” Kaylee reaches up to tap fingers against her own temple. “For the first time in a long time I don’t have something whispering to me. The temptation that was a part of my ability is gone.” There is a sense of freedom to it and it shows. “Something changed in me that day. Not to your extreme, but something did… I don’t know what to think anymore and… I feel… different.”

"All this time…" Eve's eyes close and her head thuds softly against the wall not once but twice. "They have been pulling the strings since the beginning. They knew. It pushed. Prodded. Liar liar. Deceiver." A look of understanding is given to the telepath, it was life changing what Eve had endured but she felt like Kaylee. There was freedom in no longer being chained to the echoes of the future but she too didn't know how to think anymore.

"Change comes as swiftly as the tide rises, we aren't always ready. Some just never are." A wry grin flashed as Eve reaches at the side of her for that bottle of edibles that Isis left behind. Popping four into her mouth with a light snort, "Relaxation station. The pain. It hurts. Do you feel an emptiness or is it pain?" Naturally curious Eve leans forward and looks Kaylee up and down with a studying gaze.

"If it was there all along, guiding you. Pushing you where it needed. We were pushed, no more Miss Mind. No more. Freedom was earned. You took it." Shaking her head as if trying to remove the non exsistent ringing from it. "So much to see- no. So much to do." Eve's mind reels with all of the things on her list, going on in the world. "Not enough answers. Maybe there's enough time."

“Empty,” Kaylee comments softly.

A twitch of brows as another word comes floating to the front of her mind. Teeth clench tight against it, but it won’t be ignored. “Alone?” The word is finally said and Kaylee looks a little uncertain if that is the right word to use. It was an odd one coming from the telepath who not only had a family, but spent her days surrounded by the minds of others.

“It is an odd sensation, like I’m constantly expecting to hear it there.” Fingertips of a hand press the side of her head, eyes unfocused as if her attention focused internally. Whe blue eyes finally refocus on the woman across from her. A disturbing feeling worms its way through her stomach. “I even catch myself trying to listen for it. Craving to hear it.” Kaylee’s head shakes a little.

“I need answers and I don’t know where to start,” Kaylee says, sighing out the words, hand dropping to rest in her lap. “So far everywhere I’ve looked has been a dead end. Finding answers has always been Richard’s thing.”

"Mmmmm." Rubbing a spot on her arm absently Eve cocks her head to the side, she can relate. "Missing pieces might not always be the most kind but usually they go missing for a reason," The tall woman shakes her head rapidly at Kaylee's assertion that she doesn't have the know how to find these answers. "The days where we operated in the roles that were written for us are over now Miss Mind," an encouraging smile on her lips.

"If we keep to the same narrative, it's all up in flames. Kablooey! Just like me except it won't snap back together." Eve has her humor even in this mess.

"That snake was not your power. Remember Miss Mind, you have to listen deeper and wider." A regretful expression on her face, "You all do," biting the bottom of her lip with nervous energy, "I can't anymore." Spreading her hands out in front of her to wiggle her fingers with a soft snort, "I've gotta learn my body- have you seen Hot Hands?"

“We don’t know that for sure,” Kaylee comments about their roles. “We may still be playing along the path that they planned for us. We are just thankfully more blind to it.” There is a blandness in her tone. “I’ve never lined knowing the future or even what could have been. It brings too much pain.” Too much heartache, she doesn’t say.

And when the subject turns to that very subject of heartache, Kaylee takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly through her nose. “He’s still in Kansas, but I’ll let him know where you are when I see him next.” Drawing up her knees and wrapping arms around them, she focuses on a point on her knee. “I don’t know much beyond what Bob tells me, but sounds like he’s enjoying his down time with his girlfriend. So that’s good at least. He deserves it.” There is so much guilt in her over what happened to him.

“From the reports, he did something insane.” Her gaze lifts to Eve, eyes widening in amazement. Even just the memory of those stories. “The mention a lot of fire, eyes of gold… like he was possessed himself. He caused some serious chaos.” Then her expression turns a touch more serious. “I saw his helmet, Eve. He’s lucky to be alive. Someone shot him in the head, which probably started all of that.”

"Before I thought I knew pain but oh no Miss Mind, oh no," shaking her head over and over Eve looks up to the ceiling, the hole leading up and out to the sky above them. "All I know is pain," it's not a complaint she's paid the price. The chance to do something is intoxicating. The former oracle had to believe she was released from the threads of time for a reason. This was her reason.

Eve's head tilts at the words girlfriend and her eyes narrow as a older sister would, sniffing out this woman before a thought strikes her. "Ahhh she is a Force of Nature. Big Mood." Eve had heard the phrase from a group of kids that had come to drink at the Lighthouse at night. "The kids have the funniest ways of saying things," a snort she feels like a kid sometimes, other times as old as the version of herself in the flooded world. "Sometimes I play the part of the mournful ghost for them, scares them right out of any hangovers." That's a distraction and that's what she's good at. That's where Eve lives, in her head still. It's easier still. "Maybe it's for the best, maybe it's the worse thing that could have happened. The over Rivers show us the potential but we live in this here now. We still walk together, we even hold hands."

Then the eyes of gold runs through her mind and the woman rears back. "Hot Hands, a host?" Eve's hand goes to find a stone and she grips onto it to ground her pain and the news that the Entity had touched Luther in the way of showing in the eyes. "But he's okay…" something feels like it's ticking in her head an idea. Not yet though. Not yet. She- they weren't ready. "Information."

"It's what we need. There is a seer, his name is Jim." Eve looks closely at Kaylee and she leans a little bit inside the gap that is between them, "He's not like me. Not yet anyway. There was a way we could work together to achieve great things you and I with our gifts but that chance has passed. Don't let it pass with Jim. He needs to look deeper, you need to hear. We all need to understand." Eve's tone grows frantic by the end and she's crouching now with pale hands twitching and dragging along the ground, crimson light peeking out from underneath her skin.

"It might be time to go Miss, I can hold it. But body does what body does, I'm just a Passenger." For now, "A wayward passenger but I'll find my way home." That's a promise. "You can find me here! And other places, follow the rumors. Follow the noise." A devilish grin as she rises to full height and looks over at the large hole that was blown into the wall of the Lighthouse sometime during the war. "Find Jim. Pair with the Seer, I will protect them." From afar or as long as that lasts. "You can as well. Protect yourself, it is out there. I know it's searching." Her veins shine bright red underneath her skin and her eyes flare just as bright.

There is a touch of amusement at what Eve says about the kids and scaring them. If Eve had been around when Kaylee was a young troublemaker… she might have turned out far different. But the mention of the ‘rivers’ sucks the amusement out of her. “Maybe,” is all she says. Her thought on how it showed her things she missed in her own life… how manipulated it was.

BUT, there is light peeking from under Eve’s skin, it distracts her and Kaylee scrambles to her feet with back pressed tight against the wall. Oh shit. It wasn’t hard to see the naked woman was losing control. The mention of Jim’s name pulls her focus to Eve’s words. “What? Jim?” A seer? She honestly had only seen him only once or twice and couldn’t remember if came up in conversations. “I’ll talk to him, but I can’t guarantee he’ll listen to me.”

People are not big about telepaths in their heads even if helping.

As the red light starts to fill out the other woman’s veins, telepath can only gasp at the site. “Eve…” Kaylee’s voice actually chokes up with emotion, remembering what the other woman said about pain. She knows better than to stay, eyes shining with the threat of tears for the other. Fingers slide along the wall as she moves towards the door, unable to take her eyes off Eve even in her retreat. “Just… be careful yourself. I’ll check in again see if you need anything.” Did bundles of energy need things?

Eve gets another pained and tearfilled look, until Kaylee’s fingers snag the door frame and she is compelled to rush out the door and down the stairs to her waiting bodyguard below.

Footsteps thunder and echo up the staircase and a rumble tears through Eve and she waves weakly at Kaylee's retreating back. "Thank you! For seeing me!" It's all she can muster before she's doubles over and a howl fills the air as her body warps and red mist begins to snake out from her sides, her shoulders and her eyes seem to bleed the blood fog. The howl twist and bends as does her body and as the explosion rips through her and the structure of the Lighthouse it reaches a piercing pitch that echoes outwards and the cloud flies into the air.

Through the hole in the ceiling to hover above the Lighthouse like a large cloud of destruction facing if that's such a thing in the direction of Bob and Kaylee racing away from the place. Her howl echoes out after them and the metal filings twitch as the cloud sways back and forth in a lazy fashion.

She's trying to wave.


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