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Scene Title | My Eyes, Your Eyes |
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Synopsis | While visiting Gillian at the Garden, Fox surprisingly manifests her ability. |
Date | August 25, 2010 |
Situated in a copse several miles away from the nearest stretch of asphalt, the Garden is accessible via an old dirt road that winds snakelike through the woods and dead-ends at the property's perimeter, which is surrounded by stone wall plastered with wicked coils of rusty barbed wire to keep would-be intruders from attempting to scale it. Those with a key can gain entry via the front gate.
The safehouse itself is a three-story brickwork cottage over a century old and covered in moss and ivy. It slants to one side, suggesting that the foundation has been steadily sinking into the wet earth; incidentally, this may be one of the reasons why its prior occupants never returned to the island to reclaim their property when government officials lifted evacuation orders and re-opened the Verrazano-Narrows shortly before its eventual destruction.
Inside, the cottage is decorated in mismatched antique furniture including a couch in the living room and an armchair nestled in the corner closest to the fireplace that go well with the safehouse's hardwood floors and the wood-burning stoves in some of the spare bedrooms. A heavy wooden table designed to seat eight separates the dining area from the rest of the kitchen, which is defined by its aged oak cabinetry and the dried wildflowers hanging above them.
An afternoon at the Garden was something that the kids from the Lighthouse used to do quite often. Not as much lately, but now— now Juniper's brought some of them over, to enjoy the sun, the fresh air, and most importantly… To see Gillian, who hasn't returned to the Lighthouse since her kidnapping a few months ago. Outside, the small group stands, with the baby passed over to Gillian to hold, and a few scattered kids standing about in the front.
"I didn't think there'd be kittens here anymore after the winter," Hailey says quietly, sitting down on the grass with her puppy next to her, watching the small groups of kittens play with the grass, and warily watch the intruders. Too bad they're all feral. No petting the cats today.
Fox has her hair in a ponytail today, poking through the back of a Yankees cap. Spotting the kittens that Hailey referred to, she crouches down on the other side of the puppy such that the heels of her sneakers (with different-colored shoelaces) lift a bit off the ground, and scratches behind its ears. "Maybe someone's house cat got loose before giving birth?", she suggests as one possible explanation. She glances around to see what everyone else is up to, then lets out a little 'eep!' when the pupply licks her hand.
"Maybe! I wish I could catch one— I bet Chandra would like a girlfriend," Hailey says, grinning down at her puppy being friendly, and reaching to ruffle the fur on his back a little. "He likes you." And she can tell, cause she's an animal empath.
"Chandra's a solitary cat, he may not like someone else taking his affection," Gillian says from behind, passing the baby over to Juniper again, who says something about the sun and begins to carry the baby inside out of the sun. "Sorry I haven't been able to come home. But I'll be here and I'm sure Juniper and Doyle will bring all of you to visit whenever they can." Visit, and get classes, too.
"Awwww," Fox says in response to Hailey's last statement, as she scratches beneath the puppy's chin. "I like him too."
Then, hearing Gillian's voice, she turns her head to face the source. "Gillian!" She quickly stands up with arms outstretched, leaning forward to offer a hug. "It's been so long…we all missed you!"
"I know it's been a long time— I wish I could have come back earlier," Gillian says honestly, though she's not going to tell them what all happened to her. The strange scarring on her left arm might be alarming enough already, with the remnants of the mostly healed attempt to slit her wrist. But while Fox is hugging her, her vision suddenly shifts from muffled red-stained darkness of closed eyelids, to a strange overlapped bright light of sunshine, and trees and grass. And Hailey looking up at her from a higher position.
The hug breaks, and the vision shifts, looking down, down at her. She can see her hair sticking out of the back of a ball cap, her eyes suddenly flutter open. For an instant it's like double vision. Fox able to see both herself, and Gillian at the same time.
Gillian's eyes narrow in worry, and that double vision suddenly shifts, looking away from Fox toward Hailey, "Did she manifest while I was gone?" the raspy woman's voice echos in an odd way, as if it's Fox's own voice.
Fox steps back from Gillian, staring at her as if in a trance. "What's happening— ?!", she exclaims in confusion. Closing her eyes, she experimentally raises a hand and waves it at Gillian. "I can see myself!" Upon opening her eyes again, "And you at the same time— ?" She turns to look down at Hailey and the puppy, and blinks several times before returning her attention to Gillian. She extends a finger up to the tip of Gillian's nose. "This is really weird, I think I'm seeing out of your eyes— !"
The double vision may be rather disorienting, and it's something Gillian can actually understand, to an extent. Though it never happened exactly like this. "Your eyes— " With them open again, she can see it more and more, like a neon light lit up behind her irises, making the color bright and stand out. Fluorescence, would be the right word. "Are you okay, though? You don't feel any pain or— " It's disoriently as the vision moves around rapidly, as Gillian looks for any sign of pain or bleeding.
Hailey's on her feet, and the puppy nearby as well, as they look on in amazement. "Oh wow, this is great! Lucy will be so angry. She wanted to manifest before Fox." Poor Lucy, the late bloomer of the group— at only eight.
"My eyes are glowing? Wait, stop moving!," Fox says to Gillian, then steps forward again and leans closer to her to get a better look on tip-toes. "Cool!" She stands flat again, then raises her hand between her and Gillian, and wiggles her fingers. "I feel a bit dizzy," she finally says in response to the question. "It's weird, I can see both sides of my hand at once…it's like wearing 3-D glasses for the first time…sortof." Then she closes her eyes, and reaches out to Hailey's shoulder to balance herself.
"You can't hear my thoughts or anything though, right?" Gillian asks, making sure this isn't some kind of telepathy. And she doesn't care much for people actually reading her mind— seeing through her eyes when she's standing right there is okay. "I actually have a friend with that kind of ability, just seeing through your eyes. But she can't see through her own too…" She steps moving as much, even stepping forward to reach out and touch Fox's shoulders and try to force herself to be steady.
Fox shakes her head, eyes still closed. "No, I don't think I can," she says. Her lips part just enough to reveal her prominent front teeth, then she opens her eyes again. "I feel tired now—I want to sit down. Do you have any idea how I can turn this off?"
"I don't know— Maybe if you— if we close our eyes you can go back to your own body," Gillian says, sliding her eyes closed, so that a red overlay of sunlight streaming through eyelids as the backdrop.
Hailey holds onto Fox's arm and smiles, trying to offer some support. "It's weird the first time— I remember when I first started feeling animal's emotions, though Lance's was worst. Suddenly no one could hear him and it took him days to figure out how to turn it off."
"I'd hate to have to see everything Gillian sees for *days*," Fox says. "Actually, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be too happy about that, either," she adds with a smirk. Taking a deep breath, she seems to concentrate on something, and then her ponytail flops as if it were a cartoon character who looked down and suddenly realized it had to obey the law of gravity.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want that," Gillian admits with a laugh, squeezing the girl's shoulders. There's a surprised squeak from Hailey, followed by a "Your hair!" and the taller woman's eyes open. This time, Fox isn't peeking through her eyes, but she doesn't know that, yet. "Are you okay?" she asks the younger girl, looking over at Hailey, who is still making excited motions. She can't wait to get back to the Lighthouse and tell everyone!
"What about my hair?", Fox asks as she experimentally cracks her eyelids open. "I'm fine, just…a little dizzy," she says in response to Gillian. After a moment, she opens her eyes completely, and looks up at her, then realizes Gillian's eyes are open, and then that the double vision must be gone. She turns her head to look at Hailey. "I'm seeing normally now."
"Your hair! It kinda, was like— and then it was like!!" Hailey says, all excited and, well, blonde, as her hands wave around and she makes gestures. It's hard to figure out exactly what she's all excited about, though. Whatever it is, she thought it was cool. And Hazel, the puppy, barks a little in joined enthusiasm. Perhaps not understanding what the enthusiasm is.
The bark seems to make Gillian flinch a little, but she keeps her hands on Fox, and begins motioning her toward the house. "You should go sit down. It'll probably take you a while to figure out your ability, but try not to panic if it happens again. Make sure that everyone back at the house knows, too."
Fox arches an eyebrow at Hailey, then turns to face Gillian. "Okay. Though…seeing normally again almost seems…claustrophobic now," she says. "It's weird. Like watching a 2-D movie after seeing it in 3-D, I guess." She glances toward the house and raises her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
"I haven't been to a movie in so long," Gillian admits, touching her fiery red hair, dyed that way since her captivity. Part of her hiding. Perhaps a more visible change than not being able to go back to the Lighthouse. Or the scars on her arm. "But I can imagine it would be disorienting. We'll have to test it out, figure out your range, and how it happens. We were hugging, so it could be short range or touch based to start," she says, pondering as she walks, trying to figure out all the details, as Hailey follows behind.
"You can practice with me!" the young girl offers immediately, with the puppy following on her heels.
Fox moves toward the house. "Seeing through other peoples' eyes totally isn't something I expected," Fox admits. "It's kindof spooky. People who know about it might want to keep their distance so I can't tell what they're doing." And to Hailey, "Okay, if you're willing—but I think I need to rest first."
"There's extra beds here," Gillian says, just in case the girl needs sleep before she can make it back to the Lighthouse. "If you need to stay the night, I'll make sure Juniper tells Doyle and Brian what happened. And yeah, I know what you mean, about people wanting to keep their distance if they find out." Even if, in the case of Peyton, distance doesn't matter. She doesn't know if the same will work with Fox.
"Taking a nap might help," Hailey helpfully offers, before they get to the door, and she catches sight of Juniper, and immediately blurts out, "Fox manifested!"
"She's probably going to tell everyone before you get the chance…" Gillian says with amusement.
"Hailey…", Fox groans. "Somehow I think all the attention will be embarrassing," she admits, while rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out. Composing herself, she finds a sofa to flop face-down on, burying her face in her arms. With her ankles above one arm of the sofa, she uses alternate feet to peels her shoes off one at a time, making a 'clunk! clunk!' sound when they drop to the floor.
While Fox clunks her shoes off, Gillian steps over to Hailey and puts her hands on her shoulders. "Hailey— let Fox tell the other kids at the Lighthouse, okay? If you do that— I'll try to catch you one of the kittens around here, so you can get Chandra a friend." Even if she'd said earlier that she thought the ginger would prefer to be the only cat in the Lighthouse.
"Okay. I won't tell another person!" Hailey immediately says, making a zipping lips motion.
"I appreciate it, Hailey," Fox says as she peeks over her arm to her dorm-mate. Seeing a pack of playing cards on the coffee table, her eyes widen. "Oh, I just thought of the awesomest thing to do with this power, if I learn to control it!" Her lips curl into a mischievous grin.
Following the girl's eyes, Gillian spots the cards, and it doesn't take her long to figure it out. She laughs. "No one's going to want to play Battleship with you ever again, either," she jokes, reaching over to touch the bill of the ball cap with her fingers.