I'll Be Your Messenger

Participants:

jim_icon.gif kaylee_icon.gif

Featured briefly:

carl_icon.gif

Scene Title I'll Be Your Messenger
Synopsis Kaylee and Jim have a chat about his visions and how the telepath can help him spread his message.
Date March 23, 2019

A Park in Elmhurst


There are still a decent bite to the air this early in the day. However, in the sunlight it was warm and inviting. With spring vacation in full swing this meant that this particular park in Elmhurst was going to be busy. The playground equipment was swarming with children of various ages, their shrieks of delight carry across the field where parent lounge and chat about what their kid was doing and how their kid was better than the rest.

This is where Kaylee asked for a meeting to take place.

Why? Because she was one of those parents and she had a young boy with a serious amount of energy. She sits at one of the stone picnic benches that dot the parks landscape. A cooling paper cup of coffee sitting in front of her, fingers curled around it for warmth. While she was bundled up in her worn brown leather jacket, her face is turned up towards the sun, with eyes closed soaking it in.

It had taken some work and asking Luther to help get her in touch, but eventually Kaylee was able to set up a meeting with Jim. There was some guilt in that it had taken so long to have this meeting; but, in her defense she had a lot of work and a family.

The message passed to him, along with where to meet, had been simply… Eve thought we should talk.

It’s quite a cryptic message — and yet, that’s more or less par for the course for Eve, so Jim doesn’t balk at the meeting. He looks like he’s just gotten off a night shift — he’s still in scrubs, these ones with Green Lantern paraphernalia all over them. Hey, he likes superheroes. So sue him. They’re covered with a jacket, since it’s still a little cold, and his hands are deep in his pockets as he hunches his shoulders a little bit against the air.

He walks, and as he walks he looks at the children playing in the park. His expression softens a little bit as he watches them for a few seconds, though not long enough to look weird that he’s a grown-ass man watching children play in a park without a child of his own. He’s meeting someone! It’s okay!

“Kaylee?” he asks as he comes upon where she’s sitting on a bench. She’s recognized, at least, from their brief meetings, and he smiles as he removes one hand from its warm place to wave. “How are you?” He isn’t sure what this meeting’s about, after all, but that doesn’t mean he’s unhappy about it.

“I feel like I should be asking you that after what happened at the tile painting party,” Kaylee answers, eyes opening and a smile angled his way. She saw something happen there. “Hello, Jim. Nice to see you outside of dire situations.” If the pattern of his scrubs is a bother, she definitely doesn’t show it.

Kaylee invites him to sit with a wave of her hand to the table. “And thanks for meeting me. I hope this is okay.” Her head nods towards the playground. “My son likes this park. Figured I would hit two birds with one stone.” Clearly, Carl is among the wild horde out climbing over everything.

“And it’s a bit of a go between place.” Kaylee looks amused at her own words.

Jim lets out a little wry chuckle when she mentions the school function and his slightly less than graceful exit from it. “Oh, yeah,” he admits as he sits down as well, resting his forearms on the table and clasping his hands. “I’m fine. I feel bad that I made a scene. I hope it didn’t bring things down too much.” Of course, Peyton had her own issues at that particular function, but that’s neither here nor there.

As for the meeting place, he nods, continuing, “It’s fine. I don’t usually come to parks since I don’t want to look like a creep, but since I’m with someone who has a kid, it’s okay.” His smile widens a little, though the joke is gentle and just a little bit self-deprecating. “It’s a nice park. And a nice day for it. Thank goodness spring is on the way.”

“Amen to that,” Kaylee murmurs looking up at one of the budding trees near them. “Lord knows I’m tired of the cold.” Slender fingers wiggle where they sit resting around the cup.

Attention dropping back to Jim, expression becoming a touch more serious. “Anyhow, to the point of why you were asked here.” Leaning forward a bit, Kaylee studies him. “Eve seems to think our abilities will compliment each other.” A hand comes off the cup, held up to stall questions. “That I should offer to do for you what I did for her. To help you share your visions, where they need to go.” Whatever that means.

The next words come with some reluctance, even stalling it with a sip of coffee. “I don’t know if Luther told you or if you just knew in general, but… well, I’m a telepath.” There Kaylee pauses giving him a moment to digest that. Possibly even run if need be.

“Me, too.” Jim doesn’t exactly lose the smile, but he does get a little bit more serious when she gets to the meat of the…well, meeting. As she goes on, though, he looks a little bit less certain. He doesn’t look like he’s going to run, but…yeah. “Oh, okay. He didn’t.” Clearly, since he looks like he had no idea.

He sits back a little bit, looking away from her and toward the trees. “Eve told me what she wants me to do,” he says after a second. “Not about you, but about me. The visions. Look deeper.” The corner of his mouth pulls up into a smile then, but it’s a bit wry. “I’ve kind of purposely not done that since they manifested. I’m afraid of losing my grip on reality.” He looks back to her, “I think the one at the school was important, though. It felt painful. More so than usual.”

His reaction doesn’t really get one from Kaylee, a bit of an amused smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Don’t worry. I am not in the habit of reading people’s minds for fun. It’s rude and unethical. Unless you do the mental equivalent of shouting, then I might. Besides, the minds of seers can be pretty dangerous.” It’s a lame joke, but it is still offered up to try to ease his mind a bit.

“So it was a vision?” Kaylee studies him thoughtfully. “Huh,” she adds softly looking towards the playground again.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to hold back,” Kaylee says about the visions. “It's a hell of a thing to put on anyone’s shoulders. If it's anything like what Eve experiences or what people experience through Joseph, my… husband’s, ability, I don’t blame you.”

Turning back to him, she can’t help but ask, “What did you see?”

However funny or unfunny the joke might be objectively, Jim does laugh, so it seems like he’s the right audience for it, at least. “Thanks for the reassurance,” he says, and while he does sound like there’s some amusement in his tone, it’s sincere.

He gets a little less amused at the next question, though he doesn’t quite lose the smile. “Yeah,” he says, “it was a vision.” His fingers find a little divot in the wood of the table, running back and forth over it absently as he talks. He nods once, but seems just a little distracted — perhaps thinking back on what he’d actually seen.

“Blood,” he says after a moment’s pause. “So much blood. A crowd screaming, wanting more of it. I saw faces looking down at me like I’d lost a fight, and they wanted me to die. Screamed for me to die. The faces looked like…animals. Rabbits and bears.”

Falling silent, Kaylee listens to what the man has to say. The vision and what it contains is concerning. It shows in the downward pull of her brows and a pursing of lips. “That does sound important.”

Nails click on the table top as she absorbs the words and tries to think of what it all means. “That almost sounds like fight of some sort?” Obviously, but Kaylee might be thinking out loud. “The rabbits and bears are kind of a weird touch, but when is precognitive visions ever straight forward?” She offers him a bit of a smile. “The one Joseph gave me had some biblical notes. Like the apple and snake from Genesis.”

After a moment, she lifts her hands towards his temple; but, does not move too close. It hovers there. “May I?” Kaylee asks permission quietly. “I promise not to look deeper, you only need to think about it and I can find it.”

Jim nods when she ventures that it was a fight. “I think so,” he says. “But it felt more like…I don’t know. Like a gladiator competition or something. A fight to the death.” He’s still calm, as he usually is, but there’s a hint of underlying fear that’s barely discernible, but there.

When she asks to look into his mind, he balks for a moment, leaning just a little bit back instinctively. However, then he takes a deep breath, and nods once, leaning forward again and closing his eyes. That’s what he’s here for, right? He didn’t know he was, but oh well.

His body stills as he calls the vision up in his mind. The crowd screaming for blood, the gritty sand under his back, the distorted faces.

There is no hurt when he leans away, just complete understanding for what appears at first to be his choice. Kaylee even offers an equally understanding smile. “Honestly, it’s okay. I will never force something like this. I learned that lesson long ago.”

Relaxing a little when he relents, Kaylee lets out a small breath she was holding. “Thank you,” she manages to say quietly, before cold fingertips touch his temple. She probably wouldn’t be thanking him after as, like with any pre-cog she is swept up into the memory and she lives it just as he had.

«Insert vision here when I get home. lol»

Kaylee’s heart is hammering with fear in her chest, like it was her laying on the ground. Hand jerking away, she lets out a gasp and a cried out “No! Wait!” Then, just like that, she’s back. There were no weird crowds and she wants in pain on her back.

What was happening? Her coffee was seeping through the cracks in the table, dumped over in her desperation to get away. The outburst has also drawn attention from those around them. “Shit…” Kaylee whispers out softly, cheeks flushed in embarrassment at her own reaction. “Sorry. I forgot what it’s like in the mind of a precog.” She brushes at the dampness of her jeans where cooled coffee soaks into the fabric. “Something in the ability just sucks me into the vision.”

“I’m sorry!” It wasn’t like Jim did it on purpose, but…still. When he sees the reaction he reaches for her as though to help, instinct taking over, before he jerks back again with the realization of what that might do to her. “Are you okay?” He looks chagrined, his own color rising in his cheeks.

Are you okay?” he says after a moment, a little bit more quietly as he regards her, almost like he’s afraid of the answer.

Taking a breath to calm down her nerves, Kaylee gives a bit of a nod that she was fine. “Yeah. Sorry.” Looking up again, her smile returns if a bit faded at the edges after that. Still she tries to reassure the man, even touching his arm to show it was okay. “I should have been careful. I didn’t think about it.” But she also doesn’t promise that it couldn’t happen again with the next one.

The minds around her finally catch her attention and a glace goes to the park as a whole. “Seems I’ve drawn attention, too. Sorry about that.” Kaylee finds it a touch amusing. She could push them away, but not all of them. Instead, the telepath lets actions speak for them. “But I did see it all. Experienced it really.” Cheeks puff out a bit as she huffs out a breath. “Intense.”

Finally, sitting up the coffee cup, Kaylee turns thoughtful. ”The question becomes how much of that was symbolism,” clearly some was, “and how much was actual. I mean, who would dare have gladiatorial matches in this day and age?” It boggled the mind really.

Jim shrugs, smiling a little bit wryly. “I’m used to it,” he admits. “There’s nothing like stopping dead in the middle of the street for a full five minutes with cars honking at you to get the hell out of the way.”

He gets a little bit more serious at the last question, a frown settling on his face this time. “Yeah,” he agrees, “it’s really hard to tell. I usually see in metaphors, and I usually don’t understand what they mean, either. There’s plenty of scary stuff going on, but…” He trails off, shaking his head. “And how to find out what it means?”

“My experience with this stuff, through my husband, my father… Eve and now you,” Kaylee takes a breath and just sighs out the next words, “It’s a guessing game. A lot of times you can’t really stop it, but with knowledge you can at least soften the impact. Other times it never happens and you wonder… did I stop it? Or was the prophecy wrong?”

A finger goes up to stall him, “However.. Sharing is the first step. Luther tell you much about the Ray family?” By her amused tone, she doesn’t think he’s heard much good. “On the outside we are a tech company, but our lives have mostly been about the future and trying to make it the best it can be.” Looking around her, Kaylee doesn’t really think they really ended up with the best, but… it is what it is.

“Should see the collection of prophetic art my brother has.” Motioning to the park Kaylee shakes her head, “These people go on living their lives never really understanding what all is happening under the surface to make sure they can have moments like this.” Her hand drops back to her lap and expression saddens. “I had hoped after the war people like us could finally just live those moments but…” Blue eyes focus on Jim again. “The worlds clearly has other plans and it seems you get to join us.”

Jim doesn’t say anything for the moment, just listens. He does nod at the statement that he can’t stop it, though, and his mouth twists a little bit wryly. Clearly he’s had experience with that in the past, but it’s not surprising. Most people who had visions of death and pain would probably try to stop them in some way, at least at first.

As for what he’s heard about Raytech, he shrugs, shaking his head. “Nothing, really,” he replies, and then he listens as Kaylee explains it. His expression has shifted back mostly into how it generally is — calm, even serene, despite the subject. There is an underlying anxiety, though. It probably wouldn’t be noticed by most people, but considering Kaylee’s talent, she probably wouldn’t miss it.

“Join you, how?” he finally says, his head tipping just a little bit to one side. “I don’t know if what I see is even useful. You said yourself, visions can’t usually be interpreted to do any good, and I don’t think mine are even as useful as Eve’s.” He leaves out the part he’s already said — that maybe they could be if he would let go of a part of his sanity, but of course, he’s already stated that it’s not something he relishes.

There is a soft chuckle from the telepath as she gives him a sheepish look, “The joining us is kind of metaphorical,” Kaylee admits. “I just meant that… your ability put you in the saving the world business.” There is a pause. “Somewhat.”

As for not being useful. Kaylee holds up a finger. He gets a matter of fact look from the telepath. “No. I only said you can’t always stop it, but never said it wasn’t useful. Never think that your ability isn’t useful. With the knowledge a vision gives, you can often be prepared for what is coming.”

Sitting a little straighter, Kaylee turns thoughtful. “Look at the vision you showed me. We might not have enough information to stop it. If it is a fighting ring with gladiators, we know it is coming or happening.” Her finger taps the, now sticky, table top. “That creates a starting point. Look into missing person reports, see if there are people suddenly going missing and if there are connections. Is there suspicious activity around the safe zone? On staten? What are the rumor mills saying?” Each thing gets a tap of a finger on the table, spaced out.

Giving Jim a bit of a smile and a brow tips up, as she says, “I’m not saying you should let go and lose yourself to the river… But if we don’t at least try with what you can give, the end results could be far worse and then yes…it is useless because we didn’t try.”

“Oh.” Jim laughs, shaking his head a little bit, but mostly at himself. He taps his hand on the table, considering the options, and the laugh fades into a more thoughtful look when she goes on. His head tips to the side as he studies her, the frown growing more pronounced, but he doesn’t answer yet.

“I’m just a nurse,” he eventually says after a moment of silence. “I’m not a superhero.” This draws a wry twist of his mouth, since…they sort of all are. But some supers are more super than others. He shrugs, turning to look at the kids playing, squinting a little against the light hitting his eyes.

“I guess I could try.”

The mention of superheroes gets a wrinkle of her nose and an amused laugh. “I know the media has made me and other Ferry out to be heroes, but I don’t think any of us see ourselves as that.” Kaylee waves off the idea. “We are just people that wanted to do the right thing.”

Mom!!” Comes an enthusiastic call from the playground equipment. Kaylee finds her son, Carl, at the top of the play equipment waving at her enthusiastically. Of course, she waves back..

“But, really, I guess the status of superhero is in the eye of the beholder. To the people you help, you’re a superhero.” Kaylee is still smiling when she looks at Jim. “Never say you are only a nurse. My life, and that of my son, was saved by a nurse. Megan Young. When I was stabbed multiple times on the island by one of Mitchell’s assassins, she performed emergency surgery with only the barest basics for equipment.” Her attention goes back to her son, who is back to playing with whoever is there. “She was only a nurse, too.”

And, in case he needs reassurance, Kaylee adds, “Not that you need to worry about being in that position. It’s a different world now.” Even if it was hard to admit it.

Jim looks when Carl calls Kaylee, as well, and he smiles a little bit again, watching for a second or two before he turns back. The more serious words have it fading again, but he nods, looking away again but this time not at anything specific, just into the middle distance, his eyes unfocused.

“Yeah,” he finally says. “I fought in the war, I remember how it was.” He seems like he’s just thinking out loud right now, though. Making it easier for her, apparently! “It is different. And yet.” He reaches up to rub his forehead, before he shrugs, turning back to her. “Okay. I can look into it. I don’t know how much I’ll find out, but you’re right. It‘s better than doing nothing.”

“So you get it,” Kaylee replies when he mentions the war. She didn’t fight in that but she had her own battles. “As my brother says… We’ll rest when we’re done. Though I don’t ever think we will be. Always that next thing waiting around the corner.” There is a sort of accepting way she says that.

Either way there was work to do… “You do that. I’ll show this to people I know. Get people to keep their eyes out.” Finally, pulling her attention back to the man with her, Kaylee offers a brighter, reassuring smile. “You have my number now. Anytime you need me, don’t hesitate. I’m just a phone call away. And that offer goes beyond just visions. I’m here to help.”

“Yeah. I get it.” Jim is quiet for another few moments, his eyes unfocused, looking off somewhere into the middle distance. Not unfocused like they were with a vision, though. Just normal unfocused.

He looks back at Kaylee again then, and he smiles in return. “Okay,” he says, “sure. I will.” He stands up then, though before he leaves, he continues, “Thank you. I appreciate it.” And despite his continued trepidation about whether he should go deeper into his gift or not, he sounds sincere. With that, he lifts a hand in farewell, and turns to start in the direction of the apartments. He has a lot of thinking to do.


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