Amnion 2.1
[x] Plan Serious Talk
- "Hello Emma, we have a lot to talk about. Why don't you take a seat right over there?"
- Be calm, be ice, but not agressive.
- If she refuse to talk, ask why she's so afraid of you.
- When she declared you're no longer friends, you let her go, thinking she made this decision in her right mind. But that obviously wasn't the case. So you're going to insert yourself back in her life whether she wants it or not, until you're sure she's okay.
- She needs help. You need help. When you two helped each other, you were stronger. You'll return that time.
- You want your sister back and are ready to fight for it, for the sake of both of you.
Granted, it wasn't much of a plan, but it would just have to do. I knew enough about Mercurial to have an idea of what she could do, but no more. But Emma had never tried to attack me, she'd pushed me away, but she was still the closest thing to a sister I'd ever had. And even if she did… it would take more than that to stop me now. Not until I was sure she would be okay. I might have been afraid or confused before, but that fear just felt silly now.
She'd already pushed me away, she was already hurting herself, it couldn't get much worse from here, could it. There wasn't a lot else she could do to me and she might have pushed me away, Sophia might have attacked me, but wouldn't I do the same thing, for her sake? If I was worried she would end up getting hurt?
I was tough. Part of me wanted to think I was too tough to kill no matter what they tried, but I wasn't that delusional. I was just a lot tougher than anyone without powers and probably quite a few people with them too. And I was only just getting started. I still knew barely anything at all about my powers (myself?), but that felt right.
Mr. Barnes might be tense, but I couldn't feel the same in me. If anything, I was calm. Maybe it was morbid, but even if I failed, nothing would change, would it? So I sat down in front of her door, cross legged and just breathed. There wasn't anything I could do but wait after all. The old me would have been nervous or afraid, but maybe something else died in that car crash. Or maybe I'd gained something extra, but I wasn't the same Taylor anymore and I wasn't afraid. I wanted my sister, back, but if she kept pushing me away, I couldn't force her without doing something even worse. So I tried to slow my heartbeat back down, to push back the anticipation and return to that calm. That feeling of purpose.
Once I got down to it, it was simple. A thing I was going to do. Like a simple steel knife, focused down to a point.
Even if it wasn't. Even if a large part of me would never go as far as I could go, I held onto that feeling. She would be back soon and I finally had a way to at least figure out what was going on. No more doubt, no more being confused at least I would know. And even if she was different now, she was also still Emma.
I breathed.
The front door opened. I could hear the confused 'Hi, Dad' coming from downstairs and I had to close my eyes and force myself to focus on Emma instead while I got on my feet. I'd just finished switching to leaning against the door frame when she finally started coming up the stairs.
I'm sorry Dad, but I can't. Not right now.
Emma's head was coming up the stairs. Eyes locked to mine. I couldn't do anything but half smile at her surprise. And almost as much at the annoyance. I hadn't given up at school and I definitely wasn't going to give up now. I just waited. Another me would have rushed forward, done something, said anything at all, but I wasn't going to be that me now. I had to wait.
Until she took the last step and turned to face me and the door again. I could see her confusion and how angry she was, but I couldn't help now. Not if I wanted her to see that I wasn't just going to give in. Or give up. Just a few more seconds. This was it.
"Hi Emma." I smiled slightly, then let it bleed away. I took another breath before I continued: "We have a lot to talk about."
Emma stared. A little more and her mouth might have fallen open. She stopped walking completely and I could see her hands had gone slack.
I opened the door to her room I'd been standing in front of. "Why don't you take a seat over there. I'd offer the floor, but it's not very comfortable." I'd tried. Almost talked too much. I used the continued silence to run a hand over my head and through her hair, then slowly started walking into the room, in front of the cupboard. "I thought here would be better than downstairs, I don't think either of us wants to get interrupted." Leaned against the wood. My feet didn't exactly get tired from standing too much anymore but…
"Hey!" There she was. Emma stalked into the room, hands in fists to her side. "I don't know what Dad's got you up to but do you really think you can keep this up? I know you, Taylor. I know what you're like, do you really think that act is going to work?"
I didn't shrug. I didn't even tilt my head, I just waited a breath or two. Because in a sense, she was right. "Isn't it? You're talking to me aren't you." And in a sense, she wasn't to a degree that was scaring me whenever I thought about it. "Do you really think, pushing me away is going to work? That I'd just leave my best friend behind like that?"
[Humanity -2]
Emma hesitated. I could see it, hear her heart beating faintly. "You…" She tensed back up and set her face. "You were doing just fine in school weren't you? I told you, I'm not interested, you're weak, Taylor. Don't you get it? I can't deal with your crying anymore, and if you had just gone away that would have been fine. But you're weak, why can't you just accept that it's better if you stay away? " She was breathing a lot harder now. Her shoulders were shaking.
I shook my head. "It would have, if I could believe you that you're doing this in your right mind. I don't care if you think I'm weak, but I'm still here. You're still my best friend. And I'm not leaving. Not until I'm sure you're going to be okay." My eyes were fixed on hers, I'd taken my glasses off and put them on the dressed, useless as they were now. I didn't need to blink. Not really or maybe not yet.
She made a small shriek. I could see how tired she was through the make up. And I couldn't be sure she was angry of just in pain, but I knew which one she'd picked a moment later. "don't you get it? I don't care what dad told you, none of you gets it! You've got no idea what it feels like. Go on crying if you like. Ohhh poor Emma needs help. We're going to take care of you. don't worry." Her whole body was tense, leaning forward, standing, screaming, but it was so much less intimidating now. She looked heavier, but she was still shorter and I was stronger. "I'm not weak. I'm not hurting, you have no idea how much I'm not hurting. I'll get better. And I'm not going back. It's way too late, don't you get it?"
Despite everything, I couldn't help but stare at the fleck of purple I could see under her sleeve. "Then why are you bruised? Why do you look like you're not sleeping? Is that really what you would call okay?" I paused. Both to let it sink ion and to stay calm. To keep my voice calm. If I hugged her now, there would be no point, she would just push me away again. "If I don't understand now, then I'm going to listen. I'm done crying, I'm going to help you. You're my sister and Even if you're different now, I don't care. I'm still going to make sure you're okay."
"You wouldn't get it." she sneered, but I could see the insecurity there. "You have no idea what it feels like. These bruises, they're nothing. They'll go away and I'll be better for it. You're going to listen. You'll listen and tell me to wrap up and that everything's going to be just fine. Just take a bath, go sleep because everything will be all better tomorrow, won't it? Go. Away. Taylor."
"Get out of my room."
I sighed. "No. If you don't like what your dad told me, then tell me yourself. All you have to do to make me go away if convince me you're okay and I'll go. I'll leave you alone in school." But I didn't think she could. And it was getting harder to stay still to keep my voice even and I was sure some of that exasperation had bled through. But if I was weak now, I would lose. And I refused to lose if there was any chance left at all.
[ Humanity -5]
"Daddy told you, did he? He told you that I triggered and that I should stay at home and just be that little girl again so he wouldn't have to worry?"
"Not exactly. I'm not your Dad. I'm not going to tell you what you should do. If you don't like what he told me, maybe you should tell me what's really going on then." Because I would leave, if I could just be sure Emma would be okay, but the more I looked at her, the more I felt like something was very very wrong instead. I just didn't know what it it. She was shuddering. Shaking.
Then her arms fell to her sides and Emma laughed. Her skin was flowing into something else. Silver instead of pale, the hair turned silver too, her entire body flowed like liquid mercury. I could see myself on her face. Her limbs stretching. She bounced,and turned into a huge puddle, then back, then taller, with limbs ending in blades, before that too shrunk back and silver turned skin again. "This is me. I'm not unhappy, I'm not hurt, I'm just free and Daddy won't accept that. He can't control me and I'll figure out how to get rid of those bruises soon enough. He just can't accept that I'm not that little girl anymore and he can't stop me."
Her smile worried me more than anything else. Then it broke.
"So go away, before you get hurt."
"I've already gotten hurt. It didn't stick." I smiled, even if it hurt. I must have done something in that car wreck. I'd been unhurt when they found me. I took another breath and met her eyes again. Because it really didn't matter that much anymore if she knew. " Do you really think nothing changed at all after they pulled me out of that wreck? I don't know what happened. I'm not going to tell you to go back to normal." Even if her family was still there, it would be the wrong thing to say. "But you look like you're hurting. I'm not even going to say I'm not hurting too, but I'm not dead yet and I think I can get better. And I want you to get better too, so maybe we can get there together." I had no idea how I stayed so calm, why my voice didn't shake but I'd think about that later.
Emma was staring at me and I wasn't sure she'd gotten even half of what I'd said. "You Triggered."
I nodded. "It's not as obvious as your powers." but I did and I was somewhat lucky I could wear long sleeves or else it might be obvious soon enough.
"That's why you're not using your glasses! You can feel it too, can't you? That we're different now. We're free now. We're so much better!" Her grin stretched too far.
"We're different. But I'm not sure we're better. Are we?" Everything about it was just so wrong. Not maybe the better but if that was the price, if you had to break first, then… "Would you trade your dad for powers? Your sister? I don't know what you lost but it's got to be something." I had to force myself to stay calm. Take a few deep breaths I was sure Emma could see. "And it's not coming back, no matter how much we want it to come back. "But killing yourself won't fix that."
And my powers wouldn't let me kill myself anyway. "So what are you doing when you go out?"
Her smile was unsettling. Very unsettling. "I'm going out to show that scum their place. God, Taylor, how can you have powers but still be so weak? How do you still not get it? They're nothing against us and they're just a fucking plague on the city!" She was shaking still. Snarling at me like she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince me. Her voice was too high, too brittle.
Something taken away.
"They got you, didn't they?" I really hoped she didn't hear that, but I couldn't help it. Something had happened to Emma. Mercurial was a brutal vigilante. Mr. Barnes hadn't told me what happened, but it would fit. But still, even if I knew why or could guess, she was killing herself. Emma would get herself killed. "I'm not sure why I would have to. Even if they tried to shoot me, it wouldn't work now. Might sting a little at best and I'm definitely stronger than any normal guy now." Her eyes were just a bit too wide. Pupils a bit too dilated, maybe I should have stopped then, but I was having enough trouble keeping myself under control. "Even if they are a plague, is killing yourself really going to help?"
"Did he really get it into your head. I'm killing myself? Really? Maybe you don't want to believe it, but I'm getting better."
"You look like you might keel over and second. You're hurt but you keep going. If you want me to go away then make sure I won't have to worry someone will get lucky one day. I can't blame you for going ahead anyway, but if you're dead it's not going to help. So what are you doing?"
"I'm going out on patrol. That bruise? That's a bullet. And that's only because I wasn't fast enough to dodge it. Knives do nothing. Do you really think any of them could take me now?"
"Do you stay in your other form if you pass out? What about other things? Electricity? Bigger weapons? What if you meet meet a villain?" I had no idea what I would do about any of those things, but I could at least be confident about fire and really should test electricity. But this was about Emma and that bruise had looked pretty dark. I was just as tough when I was asleep, but Emma just smelled normal.
"I can dodge. I'm not going to sit at home and pretend everything is fine. They deserve it." She didn't have an answer for the villains and I wasn't at all sure she'd dodged everything so far. And I was pretty sure her expression and shudder meant she defaulted to her normal body.
"You can dodge when you're falling over from sleep deprivation? I'm not your Dad, but how do you think you're going to convince me if you more or less told me you've got a good chance of getting hurt every night?" I couldn't convince her not to go out. I had no idea what to do about her beating people up to the point of needing a visit to the emergency room, but I had to keep trying.
"I'm not that weak." I looked at the bruise she was hiding. "I told you I was getting better. I don't need a babysitter especially not one like you. Of course it'll work. They're prey. I'm a hunter, no matter what they do, I'm still better than them."
I breathed. "And hunters get killed by their prey all the time if they're not careful. You're shaking. Emma. Would it really be so bad to sit down and think? Do you really want to get hurt every night and go to school half asleep?"
"I just need to get better control over my powers." she flipped her hair. "I told you to stop being such a wet blanket didn't I? Maybe you're afraid of pain, but I won't be in pain forever."
"But you're in pain now. No matter what else you say."
"And you think you can just fix that with what? Bubble baths and hot chocolate?"
"No. I'd be a fucking hypocrite if I thought I could fix any of this, but you can train. We can train and we can get better. If you go out, you can go out fully awake and you'll be so much better at it. Don't you think you'd make a lot fewer mistakes if you were awake and didn't have to scramble? Why do you think I'm not doing anything yet?"
"Train? Just train and sit around and do nothing?"
"Even if I don't want to, I think the Bay is still going to look much the same in a few weeks. Are you really doing that well that you think knowing how to dodge almost every time isn't going to help? We need to talk. You need to slow down and..."
"I'm meeting Shadow Stalker at seven." Go away Taylor.
This wasn't going to be easy.
[ ] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
[ ] Follow them, but don't meet Shadow Stalker with Emma
[ ] Go home to think
[ ] try to talk Emma out of meeting Shadow Stalker.
[ ] write in
Hunger: 40/100
Humanity: 65/100
RL getting in the way. Tried to improve on my dialogue skills, tell me how it went.
