Summary:A trip for Ice Cream becomes a nightmare. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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"Can we get ice cream, Nick?" It's still quite warm despite the fact that summer is waning and autumn is being ushered in. "I want chocolate."
It's a little busy on the street, she and Nick generating a number of looks from passers by. "If not ice cream, can we get donuts? Or … apple pie. Apple pie with cream. That would be good." She's wearing a crop top and a pair of low slung jeans. Her clothing has been slowly changing over the last couple of weeks.
Nick has noticed and definitely appreciates the change in clothing, something that Isis can sense thanks to her gifts. She also knows he's been paying more attention to her than usual as she moves around and sometimes he does that when there's not a glass on the table too. Not that she's been quite so… catty, recently.
"Sure." The big brown werewolf chuckles. He points up ahead to an old fashioned ice cream parlor and soda shop. "How about there?"
The looks are partly because of their obvious mutant nature but also partly because of Isis' looks. She can likely feel THAT too, from the crowd, and Nick's not entirely sure she enjoys it. There's a few staring at them as they near the ice cream parlor. Not leering but… kind of close to it.
Nick knows Isis doesn't like it particularly, by the way she stays close to his side. She doesn't say anything but he can see her ears tilt forward and almost feel the growl of distress.
That growl disappears soon enough with his words, the feline like mutant "Really?" that stops the growl at least for the moment. "There would be gre—— They're looking at us, Nick."
No. She's not quite as catty but there's still something … young … about her.
"I imagine they're looking at YOU, Isis." Nick chuckles as they make the door and open it. There. Now they can't look anymore. Though if Isis is paying attention their mood shifts to something like 'intent'. They're very focused on doing something. And they're moving closer. That could be innocent but it also might be a problem.
Lucky Nick. He doesn't know and all he can feel is Isis pressed close to his side. "Two scoops. One chocolate and one strawberry, please." Nick says. He'll take the strawberry. Because if he gets the Chocolate/Peanutbutter he'll eat it all in one gulp.
The three minds that Isis felt now get a sense of… satisfaction, somehow.
"Why would they be doing that?" Isis asks. "Have I got toilet paper stuck to my foot or something?" She moves closer still as they pass the group, glancing at them without thinking. Nick can feel her falter as the mood moves, but there's icecream and he's ordering.
"Chocolates, my favourite." She says as she takes the cone, turning to face the door with a slight frown.
"Their emotions are … strange, Nick. They've done something they're proud of."
Why is that a problem, Isis?
Nick takes his cone as well and pays for it. "No you don't."
Nick isn't going to explain it to Isis here but she can likely feel his amusement. Amusement and affection. Which is kind of different from the affection she's felt from him before. Fonder, perhaps.
It only lasts for a moment though because after paying Nick's emotions just… blank out. When Isis looks up at him he's stiff and wide eyed and staring at nothing.
The amusement from Nick gets another frown as Isis looks to the door of the shop.
The 'blanking' of Nick gets her turning to look at him "Nick?" she grabs his arm and shakes it. "Nick!!!!" This has never happened before and it worries her.
"Nick nick nick…" Without really thinking, Isis drops her mental shields and lets the emotions in the area wash over her. Something is terribly wrong…
Nick's emotions come back but they're confused and racing and he STILL doesn't respond to her. Well. Not directly. The wash of her own panic gets an emotional response from him but not a physical one. He doesn't move. It's possible that he can't. And then Isis can sense another set of emotions.
Nick's got a telepath in his head. That's bad. That's very, very, very bad.
Almost as bad as the shopkeep panicking behind her and cowering under the ice cream bar.
"Nick, Nick, Nick!!!" Isis is becoming frantic which probably isn't helping the poor shopkeep back there. "WAKE UP!" She can feel his emotions as well as Nicks, but what else can she feel? What about those other that were just outside?
The other set of emotions, has the feline starting to growl. Isis is nearly beside herself. She's not trained to combat telepaths … oh, yes she is.
Turning to the shopkeep, Isis manages to control her emotions a bit, sending a calming feeling in the womans direction as she points to herself and Nick. "Call Paragon Investigations and tell whoever's there to come and get us. Tell them Nick needs help. And watch over us…" She's not sure this will work.
Is the state Nick's in like a daydream? She's going to find out as she tries to slide into his mind … or the vision, at least.
The other three seem inordinately pleased. Like they've won something. Or accomplished something important. Nick continues to be unresponsive but his emotions are horrifying. Fear. Panic. Despair. It's almost soul crushing.
The woman behind the counter nods and Isis can hear her as she tries to slip into Nick's daydream. She arrives dirty and in rags of clothing, deep underground. There's water all around. Stagnant, smelly water. Nick is sitting in an outflow tunnel with his legs pulls up and his head down. Isis has seen this before. She knows that Nick contemplated some pretty awful things at this time in his life. And he's being forced to relive it, but a dozen times magnified.
It's not a daydream - those are fleeting and have a different feel to them. The colour is different in them too. Sometimes rainbow hued and sometimes sepia. This … is more like a dream, one she's being drawn in to.
"Nick, I'm here …" She says to the Nick in the dreams, trying desperately to protect a happier emotion and get a feel for where the dream is anchored. She could change it, she's sure - but this is a deliberate act and she's going to try and find the source.
When she does. They're going to be hurt. Badly.
The colors are grey and brown. Everything is pale and lifeless or caked in dirt. Nick barely stirs when he hears her. His ears flick. He looks up, eyes searching, hopeless.
"What are you doing here?" He asks in a rough, hoarse voice. "You should be at home with the others. They can look after you. I can't." He looks down again. It's more than a dream. It's a construct that's drawn from his memory and the emotional resonance of the worst times of his life. And he's locked in it. What this might do to him isn't entirely clear but it cannot be good.
"Looking for you." Isis answers, reaching out to stroke his ears. He normally likes that, helps him to relax. What others, she wonders - the ones from the Paragons? Probably.
Her mind casts around still looking for the source of this construct. "I thought I might look after you for a change."
Another push of a happier emotion, directly at Nick as Isis looks for the key to this prison. "Come home with me, let me do that. Let me take care of you for a change."
Nick's ears fold and his expression softens a little. Yes, he likes that. It relaxes him. He starts to rouse himself and then the despair comes crushing down again as an almost physical force. Nick whines and looks back down, tears glimmering in his eyes.
"Can't go. The registration folks will find me and…" He shakes his head and won't look up.
"Just go. Let me be. I'll… be fine."
No he won't.
Internally, Isis growls. When she finds this telepath she's going to scratch them to pieces. Hurting her Nick like this isn't allowed.
Running a hand along his muzzle and up the side of his eye, Isis moves closer "They'll find me too, Nick. I'll stay with you here, then. You and me, together." This time, the feline like mutant doesn't try to change his emotions. She's got a feel for this, she thinks.
Without warning, Isis lashes outward with her mind - sending a blast of fear and anger towards the telepath.
That DOES get an emotional response but not one that is felt in the dream. Isis can feel it in the other presence in Nick's head. It's sort of an emotional equivalent to what happens when you startle someone. There's a great deal of mental flailing and falling over. Then the presence starts to disengage.
Nick reaches out an arm as Isis comes closer and wraps it around her. The despair seems to lift a little. This daydream it pretty fragile now. It shouldn't be hard to bring Nick out of it.
"I'm coming for you." Isis growls lowly when she feels that flailing, letting the 'feel' of the telepath soak into her brain. One of the Institute telepaths might be able delve into her mind, not that she wants that, and find out more.
Maybe.
As Nicks arm wraps about her, Isis strokes his ears again and pushes her emotions outward one more time. "Time to wake up now, Nick. I'll look after you, nothing is going to hurt while I'm around."
Such a change.
Nick blinks. He's still in the ice cream parlor and not much time has gone by. He's got his strawberry cone slightly dripping into his hand which… is gonna be a mess. A sticky furry mess. He's got his arm around Isis, his non ice-cream arm that is.
"I… Isis, what…"
He's dazed and no surprise. "What happened?"
Isis growls and turns to the door as they come out of dream. She's so going to need to eat after this. Where are they, those minds that felt so pleased with themselves.
It's perhaps a sign of the changes that have occurred with her, that Isis doesn't bolt to the door and start to chase.
"You were telepathically attacked. Put into a daydream of sorts. I slipped in and … " she shrugs "Are you with me, Nick? How do you feel." beat "Something is wrong."
Hopefully the shopkeep got through to someone at the office.
"I… I feel dizzy. And sticky. Let me sit down…" Nick does, almost stumbling but he does. It won't take too long for someone from the office to arrive. And in the mean time there IS ice cream. It's just a pity they suddenly have other things to worry about.