Psychic Roleplay: Introductions

[Lightfur]

OoC: Sleety… >. >

BiC: Gaerwn blinked at Robbie's sudden assertion, but as the youngest of his family he was used to everyone being older than him. He hoped that Robbie would want to be friends even though Gaerwn was younger. "Is that girl your sister?" he asked, gesturing towards Robbie's companion, whose name he didn't know, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Enid's my sister!" he informed the other boy proudly.

Enid smiled at the next girl who approached, who introduced herself as Esla. "I'm Enid." she repeated, which seemed a bit ridiculous after saying it so many times, but what other response was there to that? At the discussion of talents, she hesitated a little. People were uncomfortable around all psychics, but mostly around those who had any way to see into their thoughts, even if it was only by telling the truth from lies. "Gaerwn and I are both level 5," she began. "I'm a sort of… aura reader." Which was true enough, but Enid knew that if she looked down at her hand she would see a thin gray aura outlining her body, indicating that she was bending the truth. "Gaerwn… Well, it might be easier just to show you." She twisted and looked over at her brother. "Gaer, show these guys what you can do, will you?" she called.

Gaerwn looked up at the sound of his sister's voice, and a huge grin spread across his face. He loved flying! "Sorry, one sec, I'll be right back," he told Robbie, and flipped himself into the air, hovering when he should have flooded to the ground and spinning about slowly, in total defiance of gravity. Happily he waved at the group of kids near Enid, making sure that they saw him before he came back down feet-first to rest lightly on the floor, and looking back at Robbie for the answer to his question.

[Wildstar]

'Showoff,' Robbie thought, even though he knew full well that this new kid was sincere about his love of flying. It was easy to understand, but… whatever. It was best not to dig too deeply into things that could upset him. It would be better to patch up the mess he'd created first. But could he do it without embarrassing himself? He could feel Ramara's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head.
'Here goes.'
"Ramara... ain't related to me, but I like her." So far so good. "Cool flying, by the way."
Okay, good enough!

She'd been told her eyes could burn through steel. That'd be a cool power, but this wasn't X-Men. Realistic nightmares were about as close as she would ever get.
She winced at Robbie's poor grammar. All that to conceal a lisp. Must've been tough in kindergarten.
'I heard that.' The thought came unbidden to her mind.
'Shut uuup!' she sing-songed back. Mind-readers.
The new kids looked interesting either way. Gaerwn was ridiculously cute, and Enid seemed calm and collected. As long as she wasn't competition.

[Lightfur]

"Thanks!" Gaerwn said happily. "I didn't get to fly at all on the way here, it was hard to keep my feet on the ground! At home Mam and Tad let me fly all the time." At the thought of his parents, Gaerwn went silent and almost gloomy for a second, then shook himself out of it. "So what can you do, Robbie?" he asked curiously. "How long've you been here? Do you like it here? I was really nervous when we got here, but I'm glad there's someone my age here!" Remembering Robbie's earlier assertion, Gaerwn quickly corrected himself. "I mean, older than me, but not big as Enid."

[Wildstar]

Robbie blinked in response, and resisted biting his lip.
'Do I seriously have to, Ramara?'
'Go for it!' Wow, she didn't often use a peppy voice. Maybe it was sarcasm.
Tapping his head with a finger, he replied as simply as possible. "I'm a mindreader. Been here… awhile."

[Hawkpaw]

"I'm a technopath. Level 5," she explained. Without turning around, she used her abilities to turn on the TV and flip through the channels, "See?"

Ooc: I'm assuming there is a TV in here, right?

[Wildstar]

Ooc: -looks at Starry-

[Starlight]

((Ummmm... Sure!!! Actually, I had originally put them in a "meeting room," like what a business would have, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, so they are now officially in the living room. Ginormous TV, plenty of space and comfy seating and videogames, a bookshelf, and no windows. Have I mentioned that none of the rooms have windows? I should go check that, 'cause that's somewhat important...))

"He can fly?" Kael said, grinning. "That's so cool! Flying sounds like it'd be really fun!." His gaze returned to Enid. "And an aura-reader! What do you see? Moods and personalities? Apparently that's the most common..."

Cassie firmed her mental barriers, though they'd already been sufficiently strong, analyzing the situation. An aura-reader, or an aura-seer. While aura-seers were technically under the category of clairvoyant powers, as they could see something others couldn't, they worked similarly to telepathic powers, as they had to know a piece of your mind to see what they saw. This meant Cassie couldn't let her guard down for a second where Enid could see her. Her featured maintained their bored-looking mask, but she was grimacing on the inside. First Robbie, now this. Of course, maybe whatever Enid saw would be harmless to Cassie. For example, there were aura-readers who could see how close to death a person was. Cassie didn't care if Enid saw something like that about her. Not to mention she wouldn't be able to guard against it if she wanted to, since that had nothing to do with knowing the mind, but was truly a clairvoyant type of power.

It took Cassie only two seconds to think this all through. Then she was left waiting patiently for Enid's answer to Kael's question, feigning indifference, keeping a careful check on her barriers.

[Lightfur]

Enid groaned inwardly. She was really interested by Esla's powers, since she had never encountered a technopath before. On the other hand, of course Kael had to ask her to elaborate regarding her powers when she was being specifically vague. Maybe he was lying and really a mind reader, although Enid had noted that her inclination towards the telepathic end of the aura-reading spectrum and constant exposure to a mind-reading younger brother and telepathic father had left her with some mental barriers to unwanted intrusion, so Kael probably wasn't reading her mind. Of course, both her father and Tristam were Level 3, and Enid wasn't sure if her mental walls were tall enough to withstand a Level 5 mind-reader. Still, she knew was being paranoid and ridiculous, since this was a totally normal question.

Thinking back to her family, Enid felt a sharp pang of homesickness already. She never got treated like a freak at home, since everyone was a psychic and used their powers openly. Half the conversations in the house were seemingly one-sided, since Tad didn't have to speak out loud (although he sometimes did) and when you were talking with Tristam you never had to say anything verbally. And then Gaerwn, floating around the house and helping get things off of tall shelves, and Mam keeping a psychic eye on the little ones with her flashes, which were always of her family members. And Enid knowing whenever anyone lied. Of course, Tad was old and experienced enough to have his own mental barriers, so she saw only what he wanted her to see, but Tristam had never developed his own walls. This made Enid an excellent babysitter for Gaerwn and Tristam, because she always knew who'd really started it.

Then there was the occasional ghost-voice in Gaerwn's ear, or Enid would glimpse the future and move fast to keep Gaerwn from tipping over a cabinet, but that was rare enough that it didn't play a major role in their lives. Enid didn't identify as a precognitive at all, really, or Gaerwn as a medium, which is why she hadn't mentioned those talents to their new acquaintances.

Which brought her back to her new problem. "You could say I read moods. Attitudes," she replied to Kael. This was, again, vaguely kind of maybe true, and she imagined her aura turning even darker grey, which was a nasty feeling even though she was only imagining it. "Nothing too interesting, my power's quite limited." She tried to shift the attention away from her powers. "Being a techopath seems pretty cool! And I've always wanted to meet a telekinetic." Enid glanced at Kael's sister. "You said your name was Cassidy, right? What's your power?"

Gaerwn was somewhat confused by Robbie's reticence, but guessed that the other boy was probably shy, so he continued on, trying to fill up the silences. He had to make friends with Robbie, because otherwise this place would just be too too lonely! And anyways, Robbie seemed nice, even if he was quiet. "You're a mind-reader, right? Can ya read my mind? My brother Tristam's a mind-reader, he got to stay at home though 'cuz the machine said he was Level 3. He said my mind was the easiest to read of my whole family, prob'ly 'cuz we talked together so much. Tristam's in third grade, he gets to go to school. I never got t'go to school, Mam said I couldn't fly there anyways, though. Hey, try to read my mind!" Gaerwn closed his eyes in concentration and thought hard. 'HI, ROBBIE!' he thought as "loudly" as he could. Tristam could hear Gaerwn's thoughts without him doing that, but Tristam was even older than Robbie, plus he knew Gaerwn better.

OoC: Twilight meets psychics!

Gaerwn: Robbie, how old are you?
Robbie: Older'n you.
Gaerwn: And… how long have you been older than me?
Robbie: Awhile.

[Starlight]

So the new girl wanted to play secretive, hm? That was fine by Cassie. It wasn't like she wouldn't know exactly what the newcomers could do within the next three or so hours, anyway. She was about to take her leave--she'd learned everything that mattered already, no point in staying--when Enid addressed her. Cassie's eyes narrowed for a split second. Then she was wearing her cold non-smile, and speaking in honeyed tones. "It's Cassie, actually, and I'm what they call a psychometer. And, seeing as you know what terms like "assessment" mean, and considering the look on your face* right now, I don't think I have to explain that to you." Her unsmiling smile widened, and she held her hand out, offering to shake hands. "Pleasure to meet you, Enid."

It was a test. How would the girl react, to her coldness and to the idea of shaking a psychometer's hand. Of course, the girl might also know how to block her mind from Cassie. That would be interesting, to say the least, if she could. But mostly it was a test for Cassie to decide how much respect, or lack thereof, she had for this girl.


((* I'm stealing Wildy's aestrick notes to say that I'm sorry for the powerplay, but I'm assuming Enid would have some kind of reaction to that revelation, and that she would know what psychometers do, growing up in the household that she did. Please correct me if I'm wrong.))

[Lightfur]

A psychometer? Enid has heard of them, of course, especially since they were another type of psychic whose powers hovered on the border between telepathy and clairvoyance. Kind of a cross between postcognition and mind-reading, although of course there were differences. As Cassie offered a handshake, Enid deliberated for a split second, thoughts racing. Of course Cassie had mental shields preventing Enid from reading her aura, but it didn't take a psychic to figure out that the psychometer was not actually thrilled to meet the aura reader. Psychometry was initiated through touch, but of course it was also a sort of telepathy and could thus be theoretically blocked by mental barriers. However, the walls surrounding Enid's thoughts had never been tested by a telepath over Level 3, and since Cassie was both presumably a Level 5 and a psychometer, which had bolstered mind-reading abilities with contact… Enid wasn't sure if her shields would hold. And the idea of her mind being rifled through by this obviously sarcastic, ice-eyed girl was less than pleasant, to say the least. Still, Enid was never one to back down from a challenge, and so it took her only a moment to bolster her mental barriers, grin widely into Cassie's falsely smiling face, and take the psychometer's hand firmly. "Likewise, of course," she replied, trying to keep any nerves out of her voice.

Enid carefully kept her gaze on Cassie's face and not on her own hand, because she had no doubt that her aura had flashed black.

[Starlight]

And Cassie approved. Not that she'd ever, in a hundred years, say that to the girl before her. Cassie could read nothing past Enid's mental barriers, besides a vague sense of determination. And a hint of dislike for the hard-eyed girl whose hand she shook. They must've been fairly strong emotions, to leak out from behind her barriers like that. But the barriers were strong, and the girl before her was strong, and internally Cassie nodded to herself. Outwardly, her cold smile became a smirk.

"Very good," Cassie approved in her condescending way. She released the other girl's hand. "Well, like I said, a pleasure to meet you, but I think I'll be going now..." And she didn't bother waiting for an answer before striding confidently past Enid and out the door.

Kael sighed as the door clicked shut behind his sister, running a hand through his rumpled hair. "I'm sorry about that," he said, his expression totally sincere (if a bit frustrated) as he looked Enid in the eye. "She's like that to everyone, though. Please don't take it personally."

[Wildstar]

Ooc: LAWLLAWLLAWL If I were Ramara I'd be burning holes in Kael right now. xD

Bic:
Robbie resisted the urge to sigh. He'd picked up the habit from Ramara, who usually sighed instead of yawning to save energy. Weird, right?
Drawing a deep mental breath, Robbie ran through a few things that he could say in response. For him, it was actually easier to get into peoples' heads than it was to figure out what to say. Still, it should be easy to talk to a little kid (even though he was aware he was also one, he was still older, and one had to have some pride in that).
'Hey Gaerwn. Do you mind if I talk to you like this instead of out loud?'

[Lightfur]

Enid watched Cassie as the blond girl finished sneering and left. Enid didn't think that the psychometer had gotten past her mental walls, and she suspected that Cassie would have had a different reaction if she had. Turning back to Kael, she grinned slightly as he let out the deep and harrowed sigh of put-upon siblings everywhere. There was not even the slightest hint of grey around him as he earnestly apologized and tried to explain, and this only confirmed Enid's own suspicions about the telekinetic's sister. "Don't worry about it," Enid replied. "It's not your fault, and so your apologizing isn't going to do much good." She grinned a little wider, glancing around at the others who had introduced themselves. "So what do you guys do for fun here? Besides being experimented on and pranking one another with your powers, of course." A facility full of psychic teenagers? If some form or another of pranking didn't go on, Enid would eat her boots.

[Starlight]

Kael grinned, first in thanks of Enid's easygoing response, and then in reply to the newcomer's question. He glanced at those still participating in the conversation before speaking first. "Well, I personally like playing videogames and watching TV. We play sports games in the gym sometimes, like dodgeball and volleyball and basketball. Oh, and we go on something like a field trip at the end of every month. It's shopping about every third time, since most of the girls like it so much, but we also go to really fun places, like the beach and Sea World and Disneyland. Anything in the general area of Southern California."

[Nightpaw]

Kara exhaled as the intensity of the moment passed, She could have sworn that even all of the spirits had fled from the fireworks coming from the confrontation, since the room had become much more still, and quiet. She was so used to the ghosts being all around her that she was almost unnerved to find that the area was clear of them. She looked at Enid, impressed.

However, before she could say anything, a small, handheld gaming system floated past her face to hover in front of Enid.