How Does She Know

Participants:

kaylee_icon.gif huruma_icon.gif

Scene Title How Does She Know
Synopsis Kaylee has some quality time with Huruma; they cover important, death related bases, and go forth into the wild blue yonder that is training games.
Date September 23, 2009

Siann Hall: Kaylee's Apartment


Kaylee is loving these shorter hours at Biddy's, it gives her time to just sprawl on the couch and do nothing. And that's what she is doing, feet propped on the arm of the couch. She's wearing her PJ's, a pair of lavander sleep pants and a pale pink tank top. Her has her iphone in one hand, her other arm tucked under her head. Her thumb moves over the keypad as she texts someone, more then likely just a NYU buddy.

On the TV is playing the movie Enchanted, not that Kaylee is paying attention. A laptop sits on the coffee table with a pair of prescription bottles next to it, along with a half drank bottle of water.

Pretty uneventful night planned for the telepath.

It is very likely that after a certain point of time, Siann Hall is more careful about who comes inside; at least, that is what Huruma told herself. In truth, she does not know. In the end, she does not make the journey up the floors and to Kaylee's front door. Perhaps to make a point, perhaps simply because it is one of those days-

Tik tik tik tik, right in the middle of the television piping out 'Happy Working Song'. There is a tapping at the window on the opposite side of the room, reminiscent of the famed raven at the door. There are no other noises, though perhaps a sticky, static feeling if Kaylee has chosen not to ignore her ability.

"Ahh!" Kaylee is startled by the sound, iphone goes clattering to the floor and under her coffee table. She scrambles to her feet and stares at the window, luckily she can't get any paler. Who the hell is rapping.. Rapping on her…. window? She peers at the darkness of the window, approaching it cautiously. Though a touch from the telepath and she's pulling the window open and standing aside for the tall dark woman. "Huruma?" She sounds as confused as she looks. "Why…. are you here?" The belting out was glorious music from Giselle pulls her away from the window, so that she can hurry to the TV and turn it off… Oh god… so embarrassing.

Truth is- Huruma's not really very visible until Kaylee does get close to the window. Even then, it is those eyes that catch the reflections of light first. She waits silently as Kaylee pries open the window, coming in only when the blonde girl moves away to turn off the set. Even being so tall, and in boots- Huruma is able to fit through the window with relative ease, one leg, then stooping, and the other leg trailing in behind. She puts her hand to it, though only lowers it halfway shut.

"…No guessing game?" The woman's presence in here is a new contrast, and possibly quite strange. Her voice now is able to reverberate slightly with the music gone from the background. "It woul'be fitting if I were here on some emergency- but I am not." Just in case, to assuage any such curiosity. Then again, she doesn't say why yet, either.

"If it was an emergency, it's an odd way to show up." Kaylee smirks a bit, eyeing the taller woman suspiciously. Of course, this is probably the most the two have spoken to each other. She glances around her sparse, plain, rather undecorated apartment. It looks more suited for a bacholar pad then her place. "Uh.. welcome to my home?" She catches sight of the pill bottles and snatches them up, holding them to her, as she moves into the kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink. Don't have a whole lot. Water bottles. Ginger ales. I don't drink alcohol, so I don't have anything like that." The pill bottles are stashed in a cabinet to hide them from view.

Huruma's modes of observation are such as she does not look like she is actually looking around; it is a careful job, but she has seen the bottles before Kaylee is able to pick them up again. Her eyes follow the girl as she moves away from the table, and her feet soon after. Solid, yet silent steps trail after Kaylee into the kitchen, eyes still following the trajectory of the bottles, even after the girl looks back to her. From this, Huruma glances back to Kaylee from a moment of obvious observation of that cabinet. Though there are no outright words, Huruma's expression is questioning.

"I'm here because you need training." When she speaks again, her volume is low; the purr of her words is far more apparent than usual. Huruma's eyelids shade over her eyes as she watches Kaylee. "Of several sorts, no less…"

The telepath doesn't move to confess about the pills, only turns to face Huruma. "Training?" Kaylee asks curiously, brows dipping down a bit. "What sorts would that be?" She sighs and her eyes drop to the floor for a moment. "I imagine my ability as one…" She's pretty much failed at everything Adam has asked of her, so not a big stretch of the imagination.

Slowly moving to inch passed Huruma, she doesn't exactly look at the woman who is the polar opposite of looks from the pale blonde girl. "What else?"

Huruma's eyes remain fixed on Kaylee as the girl inches past, neck moving centimeters at a time to follow. "One, yes." Her gaze flickers from the kitchen and back. "It woul'no'kill you t'pick a weapon specialization. Or some manner of self-defense. As it stands…" The tall woman drawls, one edge of her lip lifting, chin doing the same. "You have little in ways of defenses. They coul'ave as easily shot you as they did Sabrina."

"I know." Kaylee admits blandly, a little sigh escaping her at the mention of Sabrina. "I should have grabbed that guys mind when I had the chance rather then…." … that woman… the telepath had been still reeling from what had happened to her. "Growing up I was use to using what I had available to beat the crap out of people.. but never learned how to use to a gun.. but then I could also just… tell them to go away." She gives a flick of her hand, staring off at a point in the room. "Not sure what's been happening lately…. I can't always manipulate people anymore." She frowns slightly, glancing back to Huruma. "Didn't need more then my ability before."

"I woul'be lying if I told you tha'everyone finds you disposable.." Huruma responds. turning on one foot and slinking along into the den again. As a precaution, her ability stretches out to feel at the walls. Neighbors, it feels like. Only neighbors.

"But th'main task I've been accorded with-" Huruma's head turns back to look at Kaylee over her shoulder, moments before she wafts along the room almost lazily, one hand floating in the air, fingers tempted by something invisible. "Is helping you t'broaden your ability."

Moving to lean against the table, hands resting pressed down on the top, to disguise the slight tremble they have developed recently. "I've felt what I could do.. Between that Maury… and Arthur Petrelli.. And that lady in LA." The looks she gives Huruma is one of a person on the edge of being consumed by temptation. "I tried to take control of one of those creatures in Pinehearst…." Her eyes unfocused as her mind goes back to that night, ".. I could have done it.. but it would have taken too much. That much power…." She shakes her head slowly. "… it's scary."

Huruma is suddenly back near Kaylee, drawing closer. "And it is yours." The woman's voice is dark, smooth, certain. "Do not waste it through ignorance." That is Kaylee's first obstacle. To see her power not as something to fear. It is increasingly likely that Huruma learned such a thing many years ago. Not that it was giving into temptation- but using what God gave her, by all rights and reflexes.

Kaylee licks her lips and swallows, as the woman moves slower. When she talks her voice is soft as if afraid to say the next words too loud. "But… Huruma… It felt too good when I pushed my mind into that security guard and made him….. " Well, the dark woman more then likely saw it. "I was pleased when he hen blew off his own head." There is a twitching at the corners of her eyes as she grimaces, "I shouldn't feel like that… I shouldn't be happy to take his life. I've been fighting that temptation since.." trailing off she shakes her head.

"The feeling of success is greater than schadenfreude." Huruma begins, leaning in closer. "An'per'aps being th'good girl you think you are- is not what you are meant for." Her hands alight onto the other side of the table, while her face concentrates on Kaylee's features. "Do not fear power, or you shall come t'fear living. You must use what'as been given. You are meant t'do so, or else you'd not'ave it in th'first place." Huruma's head tilts just an inch, as if to ask 'doesn't that make sense to you?'.

Her head turns to the side a bit as she studies the other woman, blue eyes narrowing some. "Soooo what your saying is this feeling is natural?" Why does Kaylee suddenly feel like she's having the birds and the bees talk? "I mean… I don't fear my ability. I love my ability. I just fear the desire to use it.. and the joy in the kill." Pushing to stand from the table, Kaylee rests her hands against her legs, "Either way, I want to be better for Adam. So I'll do what I need to do. I'm tired of failing… I'm worried he's going to toss me aside if I can't be useful for the groups." Her stomach twitches a bit, her shoulders move just a bit like she wants to hunch over, but she forces herself to show nothing, "I don't want him to feel he has to sideline me all the time."

"Fearing the desire to use is the same as fearing the ability itself." Because, as she said- one is meant to use it. To desire its effects as successful. Huruma watches as Kaylee continues, a hint of a smile on her exotic features.

"If you are uneasy, th'best thing t'do is t'make yourself indispensable. And that is exactly why I am here." It comes full circle smoothly, and it is clear that Huruma is pleased with the moment between them.

It's obvious that Kaylee is thinking hard about what Huruma says, then her head droops forward. There is a heavy sigh and she lifts her hands slowly, the tremble is noticeable. "Not sure it's important anymore, Huruma. I'm not even sure right now I can take the stress of heavy training." Hands drop and she looks up at the woman who is suppose to be her mentor. She can't keep is a secret anymore, she'll find out soon enough, "I'm dying." There are not tears, there is no whining about how unfair it is. Just a simple statement of fact.

Huruma is sharp as a tack, and she does little to hide that fact. Her eyes swivel silently towards where Kaylee had put away the bottles of pills, before sliding back to the girl. Her features have gone stony, and rather undescriptive.

While the smoldering stare says 'explain', Huruma verbalizes something else. "Who knows?"

Hands grip at the back of a chair tightly to still that trembling, Kaylee looks somewhat guilty as Huruma looks towards the kitchen. "The doctors at the hospital. No one in the gang… well, except Brian and that's only cause I saw him shortly after getting the news." Here head drops so that her eyes are focused on her hands. "Doctors can't figure out what is wrong. They said something is wrong with my brain. It's telling my body to shut down.. It's slowly strangling itself, the cells of all my organs are slowly dying." She looks up again and smirks, "I'm sure there have been rumors among Adam's goons that I was pregnant. I started getting sick shortly after we got back from LA… I'm on medication for pain and nausea." Her head jerks in the direction of the kitchen and the pill bottles.

"And why, praytell, have you not told Adam?" Huruma's voice is mildly suspicious, memories scanning back to that night in Los Angeles and onward. And she feels herself expert enough to have been able to tell if Kaylee was pregnant- so her explanation of the sickness is carefully regarded. "I wonder if it was tha'woman, or if it is your own body doing such a thing…"

"Because, in LA he said I was like a daughter to him." Kaylee actually saddens, shaking her head slowly. "I didn't want to disappoint him." There is a slow shrug of her shoulders, and she lets go of the chair. "I have no idea what caused it.. It might have been the woman.. It might not." She spread her hands out in a helpless gesture, "There is no way to know that I know of. I asked Sabrina about the woman, but all she knows it's persuasion. So when I broke through to her mind, she might have planted something there."

"Persuading your body t'simply die woul'not b'above someone of tha'particular… caliber." Huruma has softened only slightly in her stance, and her approach. Only just. "If you are like a daughter t'him, Kaylee-" She uses a name this turn, and the word on her tongue is strange and new at the same time. "He deserves t'know." This, and he may be able to help her to avoid the whole- death thing.

Slowly she shakes her head and glances up at Huruma, her head still still facing down, "I don't want him to have to worry about me when he's got this whole revenge thing going on." She scoots backwards in her smallish apartment and drops onto the couch, hands laying limp in her lap. "If he focuses on me, he'll lose sight of his goal." Her reasoning is slightly flawed, but it's true in a way. "I don't want to be the one that makes him lose sight of what he's worked hard for."
League> Adam says, "Too many meetings. Too many people to give orders to. How am I supposed to also be an international playboy?"

"He has had the same goal since they locked him away thirty years ago. His focus is not that poor." Huruma follows, wraith-like, across the room to behind the couch. Her hands reach down to draw back Kaylee's hair from behind. In normal society, it is called preening, often between female friends- but with Huruma behind her, the attempt at it is unsettling. Foreboding. Like some sorceress' delicate gestures.

"But if you do not tell him- I will. I would prefer not t'ave to do that…"

Maybe Kaylee is use to the unsettling at this point.. She is after all dying in some obsure way, her head pulling back a bit, she lets it drop back so she can look up at the tall woman. "Alright…. I'll tell him." She reluctantly agrees with Huruma, grimacing a bit at a thought, "I already feel bad avoiding him as it is. It's not easy."

"At most, I suspect he will offer you his blood. If he does, you should take it." Huruma peers down at Kaylee, voice low, eyes on hers and fingers straying through blonde hair. The tips of her nails barely meet scalp, traces of touches on her skin. For a second, Huruma's gaze falters down over the girl's exposed neck.

"In th'meantime…"

"I know about his blood. Doyle asked me to get some and Adam told me why…. seems. Kinda creepy." Kaylee says with wrinkle of her nose and then give the woman a small smile, "I… guess I didn't really think about that…." Her voice trails off a bit, watching the other woman. "In the meantime what?" Her head shift a bit, hair pulling taunt in places against Huruma's fingers, so she can get a better look at her, "Training? What do you purpose as a start?"

Training. Oh, yes. That. Huruma's nostrils flare just slightly. "I believe I died, once. When I woke, Adam was there. It was his blood." If it can do something like that- then perhaps Kaylee can be helped. Enough about that, though.

Dark hands slip alongside Kaylee's face, fingertips at the rear dip of her jawline. If she knew what there was potential for, would she be sitting as still? "Exercising what you are already capable of, in terms of …basic mind reading." And it looks like Huruma might be the one to be doing it- no mention of targets, no allusion to an outside body? Unless Kaylee expects to ask, Huruma offers no clear answer. "Make your essentials easier, stretching your default power level."

Kaylee's skin is cool to the touch, much cooler then someone should be, she even looks worn and exhausted as she sits there, "I can do that. It's frustrating coming up against all these mental blocks. But he wants subtly…. I can't do that and get what he wants. If I dig, they might know… not that I have tried doing too much digging." Eyes flick away from the woman and unfocus in thought. "If I dig into the wrong head…." She leaves that unanswered, as she sits there unflinching. One thing Kaylee does is trust…. of course, always the wrong people.

"That is the point of training your default power- you will know whenever you are using the least effort." Huruma's face tilts, observing. And finally, she reaches out with her own mind. An Empath's appearance niggling around your brain is considerably different if you know it is there. Possibly even moreso with a telepath being the commanded target.

The tickle of tendrils, alongside the feeling of one's brain being submerged in the soft pulsing of an idle liquid. Not uncomfortable, just new. A new awareness of something present that envelopes the mind; not to mention the distant static of Huruma's own mental forefront.

There is a sharp inhale from Kaylee as the empath's mind surrounds hers, blue eyes unfocus as she turns inward. «The hell…» The mentally spoken words flow between the two, tinny and hollow. The fingers of Kaylee's mind start in slip into Huruma's mind, like fingers into well…. jello, but they stop and withdrawl. She obviously has manners, she is however a touch nervous at this development. It covers the hint of fear for her health situation.

A great number of people do not know exactly what it is that Huruma does. Save Adam, her ability is as mysterious as it is effective. Even know, Kaylee just knows that it is extremely… different. The figurative jello of Huruma's mind seems to only go so far. Superficiality lies there. There's a solid wall underneath. But there's a door, somewhere. Perhaps a window, acting as a screen.

Huruma's face lingers above Kaylee's vision, eyes like moons peering back. A light crosses them, and between their connection at the same time. The softness on Kaylee's brain goes humming for a moment, as it searches with suddenly alert whiskers, only to fall relaxed a few seconds later. Once it does, Huruma's features crease in curiosity, the shadows there lengthening.

In the waking realm, Huruma speaks. If Kaylee still places herself where she can hear it, the words echo in her head. In limbo, her voice is darker, more bestial- though familiar in its smoothness. "Tell me. What is the most that you can do without exerting yourself, while looking into the mind of a stranger? How deep can you dig, without scraping your nails?" Initial test, begin.

"I can scan the surface thoughts of a person as they occur for sometime." Her eyes focus on the dark face above her… .Night and Day they are. A corner of her mouth twitches up as she admits, "Comes in handy for exams. I can skim just below the surface… Instructors strangely enough think about the answers when they wander the room. Of course, students… the good ones think loudly." She frowns a bit. "I haven't tried to go deeper really.. I find it rude for the most part. But when I hit that wall.." Huruma can feel the fingers slipping in again and press against the wall of her mind. "I consider it a stop sign." She pushes against the wall and of course Huruma can feel it, "People get edgy when I press." Then her mind pulls out again, like a caress of fingers.

Huruma's wall just below the surface feels more like lying one's palm against an underwater fortress, mossy, slick, and solid- layers thick and supposedly impenetrable. It almost feels as if Huruma's mind is a meticulous set of Russian nesting dolls, if she were to begin peeling something away. "Then we shall begin there, for now." Somewhere along the wall, the first doll's door opens. Alice would be proud.

If the first, outer layer was superficial, this foyer is not much better. "Tell me, some of what I did on Monday." A smile is in her words, even though not on her face. Alice would be proud, but the tiger's head that was The Cave of Wonders may be even moreso. Huruma almost dares Kaylee to fall off of the track laid out, but expects her to do her best in not doing just that.

"Monday?" Kaylee gives her a curious look, they a smile touches her lips and suddenly her eyes shut as she dives back into the other womans brain. Mental fingers slide along the shields within Huruma's head, checking for anything that will let her slip in. She ignores the pressure at the center of her of her forehead as she looks for each doorway, seeking what is asked of her. Those fingers slide of any memories she find like a hand across the files in a cabinet, dipping in here and there looking for the proper time. «Monday… »

Monday, monday, so good to me-

When Kaylee skims across the filed memories of a couple days prior, they begin like all days begin. The waking moments, the observations of the room, the empty bed, the warmth of sheets and the chill on the separate spaces of the pillow. Huruma's mind is detailed, to say the least. The mundane things look poetic now, from her point of view. First events of Monday: Waking alone, getting dressed, finding something to fill her stomach. Mundane being poetic or not, her day is very usual. Unusual, when you find that most people expect Huruma to be so strange and exotic.

For her part, the empath also makes sure that Kaylee keeps calmness about her, her presence physical and mental, not much unlike putting the girl through a different kind of water therapy.

Finding the right day her mind delves deeper into that day, Kaylee seems almost bored at what she finds. Sliding through the day, she suddenly stumbles on something. Eyes flutter open and her brows lift as she looks up at the woman. "You were busy…" There is no judgement there, just a statement of fact. She shares the thoughts she found of the day… to include her hunt.

Then the telepath withdrawals completely with a grimace, she suddenly sits up pulling away from the woman and hunches over, arms tightly holding her stomach. There is a grunt of pain and Kaylee moves to get to her feet. "I need my meds." The light headache from all her pushing, doesn't help with the nausea.

Now Kaylee understands why she's quite lucky, with Huruma's hands virtually wringing around her neck just minutes ago. The tall woman feels the disconnect and withdraws herself as well, facing Kaylee with an impassive stare, hands on the back of the sofa. She watches as the girl stands up, and does nothing to hinder her journey to the pills.

"What did I do on Monday, Kaylee?" Her voice filters slowly out of the next room, insistent, like a professor with a verbal pop quiz.

Moving as quickly as possible into the kitchen, Kaylee is quick to pull out the bottles. "You did a lot of rather normal stuff.. Though when you read the paper.. a headline about Africa upset you." Lids at popped open and pills are extracted. She doesn't bother with a glass, just turns on the water. "And you went…. hunting." It's the best way to describe it. Tossing the pills into her mouth she slides a cupped hand under the running water and then sips at the liquid pooled in her palm.

Turning off the water first and then wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Kaylee finally moves back into the living room. "I didn't go past that.. I figured I best no go beyond that point." She gives the other woman an apologetic look.

"Your first grade is a C-plus. Points f'trying, points fo'a dreadfully poor recap. Details are your friend, an'next time I tell you t'do something-" Huruma's eyes focus on Kaylee. "You do it." As it is, Kaylee only got to early Monday night. Not quite the day. "Today, fortunately, was for us t'warm up t'th'idea of-" The woman's smile twitches, amused, vaguely predatory. "Being so …intimate."

Huruma leans up off of the couch, lingering with her weight on one long leg. "…I expect you t'tell him soon. Even if he can do nothing, chances are tha'he may find someone who can."

"It was enough to give me a pretty good headache." Kaylee murmurs, pressing the fingers of one hand to her temple. There is no denying the young woman looks worn out. A mirror of Huruma's hint of a smile, touches Kaylee's lips. "It was an experience to say the least."

Kaylee nods slowly at the mention of Adam. "Yes, ma'am." She says it like a child who knows they done bad. "As soon as I can, I will. Promise."

"Rest. We shall pick up soon." The reason for leaving the window half open is clear now, as Huruma only needs to hook a hand under to hoist it wide open again, eyes flickering outside towards the fire escape along the wall. "Do not bite it b'fore we get t'ave some real training. I will b'very disappointed."

That gets a short bit of laughter from Kaylee. "I can't make any guarantees, but I really have no plans to 'bite it' anytime soon if I can help it." She inclines her head to the dark woman in reverence. "Have a good night Huruma….. And happy hunting." She gives her a wicked smile and moves so that she can shut the window again before thinking of bed.


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