bigapplesauce | a thankless job but somebody's got to do it [closed]

Current Location: Wilmot's End
Current Music: July 18th (still a little backdated yup)

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a thankless job but somebody's got to do it [closed]

Seth's not entirely sure how much he likes being called up as a newbie's guide to superpowers. Any recognition is still a bit too much for him, and he doesn't like meeting at a pre-determined time with someone he doesn't know. But Wilmot's End is just about the only place he feels is safe, neutral ground.

He'd actually showed up pretty early, thinking he might scout for other newbies with fresh powers they might like to get rid of, but he's felt far too anti-social to actually approach anyone. His anxiety's been kicking in, much earlier than he'd like. It's a worrying trend that he's trying very hard not to think about too much.

So he's sitting a little towards the back, nursing a drink and watching the door from his booth. Looking for anyone who looks a little lost and out of place, like they're searching for someone.

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Well, Seth appreciates the attempt, though it's really only apparent at the sudden awkwardness.

"I got it a couple years ago, back in my home universe," he answers. "There was a.. storm that gave people superpowers." He shrugs. Not really weirder than Ancients or whatever, just a different kind of weird.

"Huh." Daniel blinks. A storm. Okay, a bit on the unconventional side, but not unheard of. And what isn't unconventional these days? Apparently not power-dispensing storms or spaciotemporal relocation, that's for sure. "I can't imagine that'd be very easy for you. You probably get everyone asking you to give them this power or take away that one."

And here Daniel is, up until about a minute ago prepared to ask the same thing.

He shuts his eyes, takes off his glasses, and rubs at the bridge of his nose, immediately contrite.

"God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - if it's easier on you, I can hang on to this one. Really, it's, it's a minor inconvenience at the worst."

Seth stares in surprise at Daniel. He's used to this bit of information being met with fear and distrust, and if not that, considering Seth merely a way to rid themselves of bothersome powers or perhaps gaining new ones. And here's Daniel apologising for making Seth uncomfortable when he didn't even know.

Hell, even Gabriel, who is now probably Seth's most trusted friend in the city, had responded to the information by threatening to snap Seth's neck if he took one of his.

"Actually I made a bit of a business out of it," he answers after a moment, to calm Daniel's worries and reassure him that it's not actually that big of a deal.

"Oh." The man seems almost confused by the apology which leads Daniel to believe that either he doesn't see the need or he doesn't get them that often. He privately finds both options to be equally upsetting. "Well that's - that makes a lot of sense, actually."

He crams the glasses back on a little crookedly as his talking speed ratchets up significantly. "Either way, though, you probably don't want to take a power that might have an unpleasant side-effect or something that turns out to be harmful or is lacking a required secondary component or anything like that so it's, it's really not a problem if you want me to hang onto it. I don't even know the full extent or the limitations or what would happen if I try to control it. It's doable. It's liveable. It's not a problem. And it could be useful, you know, in case I forget a pen or, or need a post-it reminder or need a stapler to, I don't know, throw at someone's head."

He runs out of steam near the end, thankfully remembering around the same time that breathing is a thing that is necessary.

Seth can't help but smile at Daniel's mouth going about a mile-a-minute in an attempt to be.. polite? Considerate? Selfless? Very unlike 90% of Seth's friends, anyway. It makes Seth feel quite selfish, actually. Sure, most times his selfishness and disconnect has been a method of self-preservation, but he can tell there's no need for it here.

"Come here," he says, getting to his feet and gesturing for Daniel to follow, heading into the men's bathroom. There's just one guy washing his hands, and Seth pointedly stares at him until he leaves.

Daniel frowns, a little confused, but follows suit. The men's bathroom. Okay. He doesn't know where this is going. They enter and his hand automatically dips to brush against a sidearm that isn't there - pure, weary, hateful instinct. His jaw clenches a little in frustration at that.

"What's, uh -" Daniel glances over his shoulder as the guy leaves, the door swinging shut and leaving them in silence. "What are we doing?"

"It's just a bit too eye-catching to do among other people. See, usually when I take someone's power and then give it back to them, the power becomes more easy to use, less random," he explains once the door swings shut. "I could do that for you, maybe help you get a handle on it much quicker." He smiles and then holds out his hand towards Daniel, as if wanting to give him an important handshake. "It's no trouble," he adds, because given Daniel's apologies just a moment ago, he'll probably think this is way too much for Seth to do for him.

Edited 2014-09-28 08:45 (UTC)

"Um, all right then. If you're sure." Daniel nods to himself for a minute before seeming to notice Seth's hand is out and he hurries to take it.

Yup. Two guys shaking hands in a bathroom. Happens all the time. Absolutely.

"So what do I do now?"

"You don't, I do," he answers, making sure Daniel is ready for it, and then, well, he does. A bright light immediately shines out from where their hands meet, Seth's gripping Daniel's tightly as his body tenses while he metaphorically reaches into him for the power. And oh, he can feel there is most definitely something else there, but the one he's looking for is the most tangible, most accessible, and he pulls it into himself.

After several seconds, he lets go and stumbles back, his heart racing. That actually felt quite good this time, he was expecting worse based on his current anxiety, but seems he's more relaxed now.

Daniel braces himself but is still completely unprepared for - well, it's difficult to classify, really. There's a brightness and an odd rushing, and he can feel something pulling out of him. He shoves down the urge to resist, trusting that Seth knows what he's doing. Whatever it is, it's taking place on some level he can't fully -

- and, woah, okay. The light fades and Daniel can more acutely conceptualize its absence now that it's no longer there. The two stagger apart from each other. Daniel has to give himself a little shake to refocus, reestablish, reassess. Someone just rifled through the abstracted energy in his subconscious. He needs a minute.

"Wow," he breathes after a few seconds. "That was - okay, then."

Tentatively, he shuts his eyes and tries to re-access the Ascended memories locked away in the farthest corners of his skull. Sure enough, he can still detect them - annoyingly out of reach, as always, but present and accounted for. Good.

Seth would probably be interested to learn how Daniel could feel the difference - he's been told that other humans generally feel something is going on, but don't usually have the ability to detect what or how. But then that stuff probably changes when you die and Ascend. And the non-humans often can tell much better. He's just still a little used to the people in his home universe who didn't really feel any different.

He straightens up a little and watches Daniel for a moment to make sure he's okay. Then he looks down at his hand and tries to focus on the power, tries to make it work. Tries to make a paperclip in his hand.

Nothing happens, but that is not altogether surprising, given this is a very new and untested power for Daniel. It'll take a bit more practice. He still frowns at it though, he'd been hoping he could give it back right away, easily improved. But no.

"Can't make it work yet," he says, flexing his fingers a bit. "I can hold onto to it for the evening, or a few days or something, see if I can make it easier." He doesn't like suggesting it, assuming Daniel will think he's just trying to keep the power for himself when he (for once) is not.

"I mean it's," Daniel shrugs, still panting a little, "it's entirely up to you. Not exactly a, a life-changing power, as it were." He winces a little as he says it because, yeah, life-changing powers, no thanks. He's got his share of those already, however slight. "Just don't blame me if pens start raining from your ceiling or something. Seriously, it's like they intentionally choose the worst possible places to show up."

Seth smiles in relief, nodding. "Well, my neighbour has a similar power, I guess if I really need to, he can disappear them for me," he answer. Not that he would actually request any power-use from Gabe these days unless it was really necessary. Seems like everything has just kept piling onto him lately and Seth doesn't want to add to that.

"Anyway... Want a drink?" he offers, heading back out into the pub again. So far Daniel is proving to be pretty interesting, and a lot more likable than most people, so Seth finds he's not so eager to get out of here after all.

"Disappear them?" Daniel looks up from flexing his hand in an effort to shake away the weird, shifting tingling. "Um. I mean, sure." He follows him back out of the bathroom, still rotating his wrist experimentally. His alocohol tolerance isn't the greatest - in fact, it's pretty low as far as alcohol tolerances go - but Seth is agreeable and he doesn't have plans for the day, so why not?

"Yeah. Yanno, poof, no more pens. There are a lot of strange powers around, Daniel," Seth answers, weaving his way through people, and gently stopping a waitress on the way and ordering himself a gin and tonic, and gestures for Daniel to order something too, before going to slip back into the booth they'd been occupying before. "Paperclips isn't the weirdest I've seen, trust me."

Daniel asks for a nonspecific beer and immediately turns back to the conversation.

"What else is out there?" He tilts his head, ever the inquisitive explorer. "I've seen...certain sorts of powers but most of them were either derived from technology or were accelerated developments from further down the human evolutionary line. But apparently here, naturally-occurring developments like this are common." And it looks like the immediate population has adapted to these anomalies, something Daniel not only finds intriguing but almost commendable.

Seth pauses to consider for a moment, trying to think of what he would call the weirdest. "There was a guy whose power, involuntary mind you, was that whenever he walked through doors, they would play 80s songs at him," he answers with a smile.

"Wait, really?" Daniel grins. Whatever he'd been expecting, it definitely wasn't that. "No, you're - hang on, you're serious? What do you even do with a power like that?"

"...Be annoyed at it?" Seth suggests, suppressing a grin. "At least he usually made an entrance. Not the most stealthy, though." See, that's what he thinks of when he thinks inconvenient powers. How difficult would it be to even enter a public space?

"No, no, I can't imagine that would be." Daniel's pleased to see Seth smiling again. The man had seemed quite grim during their initial round of introductions. Hopefully it's Daniel helping him ease up a bit and not just the alcohol.

His beer comes and Daniel opens it.

"So, how long've you been here? Manhattan, I mean."

Seth sobers (metaphorically speaking) a little bit at that, but at the moment he's enough in a good mood that it doesn't drag him down. "What date is it? 18th?" he asks, taking a drink as it arrives for him. "About... nine months and a week?"

Basically, he's long since given up on the idea of getting back home to his own universe anytime soon. At this point he's not even sure what he would do if he did.

Edited 2014-09-29 05:00 (UTC)

Daniel's silent for a moment. Then:

"Woah."

He sits in private, subdued revelation as he digests this. He looks back up and leans forward.

"I'm sorry. That - that can't have been easy for you. I mean, damn, it, it still can't be." He shuts his eyes, head dropping downward. Of course Daniel had to bring up a rough topic.

Edited 2014-09-29 05:14 (UTC)

"You get used to it," he answers, looking down to stare at the table. He's not really looking at it, so much as he's trying to conjure up a pencil or a stapler or something.

"Well, you get used to most of it," he adds. "You staying with the rebels, then?" he asks, because he knows that's where Lucy lives and is registered with, so it seems likely. His tone is deceptively casual.

"Uhhh. Sort of." Daniel's not really sure where his allegiance falls. So far he hasn't heard anything stellar about the rebels or Romac, but he hasn't heard anything morally condemnable either. Yet, anyway. He's decided to reserve judgment on that front for now. "Lucy's moving out so she said I could have the apartment since I, ah, don't really have anywhere else to go. Not really sure where that puts me in terms of political statement. No one's approached me about it." He shrugs, noncommittal.

Seth looks up at that. Well, that's promising. "You might want to keep it that way," he answers. "No one's gonna force you to do anything unless they decide it's definitely in their best interest, but just the same, it's best if they don't know too much about you."

Just saying Daniel might not want to talk quite so freely about being Ascended and all that. Then again, if all the really active powers he has is making paperclips, and he doesn't seem like he'd be out making trouble or being a threat, then he'll probably be alright. Seth's glad of that.

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